#dispatch trackstar

"Yeah, babe, I was joking."

"That was a joke, baby. I'm not seriously considering doing that. I love you, but not that much."

"Baby. I love you, but I don't care about your lack of sports skill. That team sucks. I don't care if their uniforms are pretty."

Chase was blunt. And everso a jerk with his sarcastic comments or retorts. He loved his girl, with all of his heart, and she had to learn that sarcasm equaled affection.

In other words, she had to take it with a grain of salt, even when he hurt her feelings (which his groveled for up to a week straight. He doesn't play about his relationship with her).

On the other hand of her taking what she could, he took what he could when it came to her. Her moodswings, her insecure moments that were stupid to him but everything to her.

The fact that she had almost no idea about what he was talking about when he ranted about his favorite teams, or how she would get frustrated when he didn't understand her hobbies.

Or the shows she watched, or the makeup from the dollar store she was obsessed with. Or how he didn't like her favorite craving even though it was actually healthy for once!

Who cares if it was unique!? She liked it!

Currently, the two watched Robert outside as the boy fiddled with some of his games that he got for his birthday last week. She leans into him, head on his shoulder and him on his phone.

She gazes up at him, staring a bit. She did that sometimes, Chase often playfully shoving her face away or swatting her with whatever soft object was nearby.

This time, he raises a brow.

"What, baby?"

"Do you ever think we could do this? Have any of this?"

"Girl. Does it look like I can afford any of this-?"

"I'm serious!"

She scowls as he cackles a bit, dragging her back into his side as she went to pull away in irritation. He shushes her fusses, places kisses on her forehead and temple.

"Yeah, maybe. Sure. But you have to get your sports game up. You're lacking, baby. It's embarrassing. You need to keep up-."

"How much of it would you want with me?"

She ignores the surface of it all. The teasing, the smirk, that goofy look on his face and how his eyes hid behind his glasses. She takes them off, their brown eyes meeting each others'.

His face was blank, but his eyes told it all.

"All of it, baby. Only with you."

____

Bonus:

"You guys are gross."

"And you're a little sh-"

"Hey! Quit it, both of you."

"Bossy."

"You're dating her."

Omg. There's another mini comic to the Dispatch series telling why Elliot became Shroud and why his name is Shroud ToT Basically, Eli was mad at Mecha Man Astral/Robert's dad/the previous Mecha Man/the leader of the Brave Brigade for canceling the vote that would allow Eli to join the Brave Brigade, so he challenged Astral in a fight, and if Eli won, he would get to join the Brave Brigade. Eli used his augments to make himself stronger and told Astral to get in the Mecha Man suit so that they can fight, but Astral was basically like, "I don't need the suit to beat you, you aren't worth the energy it takes to flip the ignition switch," then proceeds to throw a rag on Eli's face to blind him, punch him in the face, and destroy some of his augments, then Astral says word-for-word, "Let's lift the shroud so you can see this one coming," before lifting the rag off his face and winding his arm back to deliver the winning blow. However, Chase/Trackstar stepped in and saved Eli from being decked in the face again, being like "What the fuck, man?" Those were Chase's exact words btw. Anyway, yeah, so Astral's disrespect for Eli and his "Let's lift the shroud so you can see this one coming" line was why Eli became a villain by the name of Shroud

(Extra note: The rant above was before I finished the comic so I didn't even know THE HALF OF IT, so here's me liveblogging my crash out about what happened in the second half of the comic)

HOLY SHIT

THAT'S HOW ROBERT'S DAD DIED AT THE HANDS OF SHROUD???

I THOUGHT THAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED LATER AFTER SHROUD BECAME AN OFFICIAL VILLAIN, NOT RIGHT WHEN HE DECIDED TO BECOME A VILLAIN

OMG AND CHASE WAS RIGHT THERE IN THE ROOM WHEN IT HAPPENED, HE TRIED TO SAVE ASTRAL BY OUTRUNNING THE BULLET AND BLOCKING IT WITH HIS HAND, BUT THE BULLET WHEN STRAIGHT THROUGH CHASE'S HAND AND HIT ASTRAL IN THE CHEST

Chase was trying to call for help while Robert's dad was dying in his arms, knowing that if Astral dies right here, right now, Robert would have to take up the role as Mecha Man at the age of 14-16

THE AMOUNT OF GUILT CHASE MIGHT HAVE CARRIED AND COULD STILL CARRY BECAUSE OF THAT BECAUSE HE WASN'T ABLE TO SAVE HIS DAD

Maybe that's partially why Chase recommended Robert to Blonde Blazer to be the dispatcher for Z-Team after hearing about Robert stepping down as Mecha Man after the explosion because maybe the explosion would never have happened if Chase managed to save Robert's dad and apprehend Elliot before he got away...