#dispatch z-team

I wished the game went deeper into Robert's depression and truama. I HATE how romance focused it is. and this is coming from someone who LOVES dating sims. I need more about Robert, his life as mecha man, his daddy issues, him dealing with his identity issues. Cause it really feels like with how focused the game is on Invisgal and the romance with her especially it feels like Robert is a secondary character in his own story.

Or if they're gonna do romance. have him and Invisigal bond over having issues with abandonment and not being good enough. Actually have her emotionally mature as the episodes go on and have her become a better person outside of her relationship with Robert. Have him and blazer bond over being reduced to their hero identities for so long and trying to find themselves outside of those identities. Give us more Blond Blazer scenes in general!

Give us more bonding and found family moments with the Z-team!!

Robert is so jumpy and flinchy in that scene where he's arguing with Invisigal EXPLORE THAT. there's so many things that happen in this game that would give the characters so much depth and you think that's gonna get talked about later and it never does

And I will forever argue his and invisgal's relationship would have been 100 times better if she was a troubled teen and they had an older brother/younger sister dynamic or a Father/daughter dynamic that mirrors Robert and Chase or Robert and his father and have Robert realize maybe his dad messed him up more than he thought and then that's makes him want to do better with MENTORING (not romancing cause invisigal needs a friend not a lover at that point in her life) Invisigal

Summary: Says what it is on the label. (Can be seen as platonic z-team or poly)

Warnings: Reader is a vampire so obviously they drink blood and it’s implied to be human. Also implied and mentioned that reader can and will kill things and people (they’re from the Phoenix program). Gender neutral reader (ie: no mention of specific anatomy, gender, or pronouns).

Author’s Snip: Wrote this late at night while I was binging vampire content and got in one of my vampire moods. I’m open to more of this if anyone wants it like specific characters and dynamics (platonic/romantic). Please give me vampire reader stuff to do. I love vampire readers and there’s never enough in any fandom. I want to be a vampire damnit!

Notes: Not proof read.

I’ll shut up now. Enjoy! And don’t be afraid to request. Reblogs appreciated but no pressure.

When news broke out among the team that a new member was joining, they all got to talking. When they heard that the person in question was apparently a vampire, they all started joking and Robert was the only one who had a sense of professionalism about it. Even if he also couldn’t believe the fact. Not that he was refusing to believe vampires were real. Mal is a demon and Phenomaman was basically an alien, and Sonar’s pretty close to one already. So who’s to say that vampires aren’t real? It was more so that fact that it was someone completely new coming into a group that had already gotten used to each other and have a record of ragging on people who they deem an outsider to the group (ie when Waterboy joined)

But Blazer did a pretty good job explaining the situation and where you’re at. It was a long story. Apparently your coffin was found and someone accidentally let you out, to which you started feeding on people and things lurking in dark alleyways, got caught, and someone working with the Phoenix program thought you’d be a great hero. And from what Blazer says you’re not actually violent or a homicidal maniac, claiming “They’re just a messy eater, I guess.” So…

Meeting you was weird. As your dispatcher, Robert took it upon himself to introduce himself to you first before you stepped into the meeting room with the others before the night shift. You were in a different room just quietly sitting there, calmly, staring at nothing in particular till he came in, and most attention grabbing, you were holding a big intimidating sickle in your hand occasionally twirling it around with a swiftness that let Robert know that you know how to handle it. He wasn’t necessarily scared of you, more like put off by something about you. The way you looked so eerily calm and neutral. It was like Coupe’s with some additional uncanny energy. He sucked it up though, gave you a simple but effective introduction and shook your hand, trying not to mind that your hand is deathly cold, and lead you to your new team.

As for the group, they were all talking amongst themselves about different things. Some arguing or bickering, others just having a casual conversation. But when Robert came in with you they all immediately stopped whatever they were talking about to look at you. This was the first time anyone was seeing you and you had been a bit of a conversation piece for them since the news of your addition. You didn’t say anything, no hello or introduction, you just quietly took a seat at an empty chair around the table.

They all must have expected something from you because after a beat or two of complete silence Flambae finally spoke up. “So what? You think you can just come in here like you’ve always been here?” followed by Prism saying “I was honestly expecting to see thunder and lightning, or something when they came in. I’m disappointed.”

The rest of the night consisted of the expected questioning, banter, and jokes at your expense, but you just didn’t seem to care or mind. You just answered the questions honestly and didn’t seem to get too hurt about the jokes.

Invisigal asked, mostly as a joke, if you slept in a coffin to which you just answered with an honest and deadpan yes and even explained that SDN and the Phoenix program offered you a ‘living’ space that was basically just a personal morgue.

You sort of go through an initial period of being the latest team joke but after a while and a few team calls you’re able to prove that you have what it takes to be in the group, both with holding your own on the field and in the workplace. You’re actually pretty chill. You don’t bother or harass anyone. Flambae got bored with trying to get a reaction out of you because you just… don’t react at all and so he’s literally left with just acknowledging that you’re here.

Mal and Sonar have been chatting with you in general just wanting to know what you’re about. As a paranormal/supernatural being and related to bats I’m sure both felt like you’d understand a lot of things. Sonar offers you the occasional rat to eat. Mal (and Coupe when she’s feeling sociable) can admire the skill you have with your sickle and enjoy when you show off tricks with it.

Punch Up is just casual. He’s glad to meet you and finds you fascinating, and hot. What can he say? He has a type for hot eerie people with extremely skilled work with sharp objects and powers.

Waterboy however is very curious and asks a lot of questions. At first he was scared of you because you know… vampire and also Robert team you two up for a call and he saw you slice clean through a person and tear through another with your sickle. So like… yeah you scare him at first. But he just has so many things to ask and you’ve caught him staring at you a couple of times till one day you corner and just tell him to spit it out. After that and the first round of questions, he gets over his unease and fear towards you and now just asks questions regularly and you even joke with him while you give your answer.

“H-how old are you?” “Hasn’t anyone told you it’s rude to ask people their age?” “O-oh- I-I’m so- I don’t know th-that it-” “I’m just messing with you. I’m old though. I’m probably older than all your bloodlines combined.”

Visi likes to try and sneak up on you sometimes but you can always tell she’s there even when she’s invisible because you can still hear her heartbeat. Sometimes you pretend not to though, just so she can have her fun. Other times you let her get really close before you say “I know you’re there, Court.”

Golem, I’m honestly not too sure what your little synergy thing is. He definitely thinks you’re cool, thats for sure.

I think all in all, they get used to you and you are able to fit in alright provided you can handle the hazing ritual they do of making fun of you for a bit and prove that you can keep up with the rest of them. If you’re able to manage that then soon you’ll get invited to after work bar crawls and late night trips to food places, and they’ll have your back in fights and avoiding threats to you

((I think Royd would have some feelings, given the talk that Robert and Royd had in game about the fact that, upon leading Royd to the path of Heroics- that Astral and Royd had more of a conversation than Robert and Astral had in Robert's entire lifetime.))

And, with that resurrection and presentation- comes all the unbridled angst and unprocessed feelings with it. The Z-Team sees Robert, not as Mecha Man Blue or as their Dispatcher, but as someone who just wanted his dad to love him and be proud of him and who undoubtedly has some complicated feelings about 'avenging' a man he probably didn't know well enough to like, let alone love as thoroughly as a son should love his father and who likely has a plethora of parental issues and emotional issues related to it.

Blah blah, it gets to Astral is laying into Robert about not "getting up" the right way, destroying the suit and not beating Shroud the first time around, losing the Pulse initially, his failures to upkeep the suit and relying on others for help- who knows what the man would complain about. Astral would probably not excited that Mecha Man Blue is working for SDN, moreso if he gets into Robert being the Z-Team's dispatcher. More and more, Astral is just laying into Robert and knowing him, Robert is probably just taking it on the chin and not doing anything about it.

(I may be making Astral a little OOC here, but as far as we know about him- He refused to let the Brave Brigade hold a vote to allow Shroud publicly entry into the group likely for severely selfish reasons, and openly beat the breaks off of Elliot when the man finally snapped and challenged him to a fight because of that- all of which led in large part to his death. Astral repeatedly left his son in the custody of the youngest member of the Brave Brigade, which is a whole other thing, and when Robert tries to express his frustrations in the damaging of the Mecha Man suit, Astral is famously less than sympathetic to Robert's injuries. While I'm sure with more characterization, he could be described as a father who maybe prioritized his own wants over others and who may have wanted his young son to be able to bravely stand in the face of dangers and injuries- especially for when Astral is gone- his current characterization does Not paint him kindly and the fact that in-game Robert does not seem.. overly upset about his father's death beyond the expected "He killed my dad, I'm supposed to be upset about that" interactions.. yeah)

ANYWAY blah blah, Chase comes in. Astral sees Chase and is about to lay into him to, for whatever reason- I'm sure Astral would find some, and Chase just throws the most incredible haymaker right in his mouth. Just decks him sideways, knocks him right on his ass.