#mechablazer

His back cracked like a dry stick.

But adrenaline overtook the pain, as Robert desperately was trying to force his hands to move, taking the suit out of the line of the next attack. His head hummed, blood poured over one eye, making it difficult to see, the ringing in his ears was terrifyingly loud and he couldn't understand if it was just a concussion or a system error notification.

But as much as he wanted to keep fighting, his body was on the edge, his focus was so poor, he felt like a whole world was a colorful smash of lights and noise. So when his suit was pushed into the wall, he didn't register it first. His head smacked against something and that was enough to make him black out.

The next moment he opened his eyes, he was surrounded by darkness, where only a few lights were on. The protocol activated immediately as his vitals dropped, so now his suit was an armored blocked piece of metal junk, meant to stay closed by all means. A desperate measure to prevent Shroud from taking Astra Pulse. He would have to find a way to crack the robot open to get something he wanted. A last resort Robert placed out of pure spite and stubbornness. Therefore, even if Shroud won, he would have to work hard to get what he wanted.

But that didn't really stopped the pain. Robert didn't move, moving was making everything worse. His head was spinning; a few lights were too bright for his head right now, making him sick, while his back was in agony. Not a good sign, he thought with swirling mind before blacking out again.

After that, he was drifting in and out unconsciousness, feeling cold and sick. His blood was slowly getting sticky and his back was in so much pain that soon it went numb. He heard voices outside. Loud, desperate, urgent. But he couldn't understand what they were saying. Probably Shroud's subordinates. Or someone from SDN if they managed to protect the suit from being taking away. He couldn't figure it out. He was too tired and too hurt to think. Plus, he didn't want to risk opening the cabin to Shroud and his gang. To see who was outside he needed to reach a console. His limbs felt too heavy for such a task.

A couple of times he surfaced to the reality when he thought he heard Chase's voice outside the cabin or felt a few powerful shakes of his metal trap. Something tightened in his chest, making tears ran down more steadily. A heavy mix of emotions now threatened to suffocate his, as both mental and physical pains started pressing on him.

"I don't want to die in that suit."

Bullshit. It didn't matter if he wanted or not. He will die here. Alone and in the darkness he himself designed. Just like he was afraid of.

But as Robert was about to close his eyes the metal screech made his head explode with pain both from sound and light. He couldn't see clearly, couldn't hear properly, but he saw a silhouette. A short man in a golden light.

"Holy shit, Robert!" Chase's voice rose in panic and Robert sobbed in response. It hurt. A lot. And when he heard the voice of his older brother he felt like a kid. Chase was in a hospital, this was just a cruel play of his mind. Too much pain and too much head trauma in a matter of hours. But fuck it all if Chase's voice wasn't making him feel like a little kid. Fuck it if his voice wasn't making him wish that Chase would actually be here.

"Hold on, kid, hold on!" The voice kept rumbling, as huge pieces of metal were practically torn away, making Robert wince. He tried to shift his head so the noise wouldn't be so loud. There were a few other exclamations, both worried and terrified but Robert couldn't concentrate enough to grasp what they were about. He barely had the strength to stay conscious.

When the warm hands finally reached to him, ripping away belts and trying to get him out, Robert screamed from pain. It felt like his whole back was on fire, all the anguish resurfaced, making him wish he would’ve passed out earlier. His spine felt weird and hurt so much that he groaned even at the slightest shift of his upper body.

"Careful!" Mandy's voice came from somewhere on his right, while Robert was trying to grind his teeth and survive what felt like hell. She sounded scared, panicked even. It wasn’t like her at all.

"I know, I know, dammit!" Chase's ghost somehow managed to pull him out, and before Robert could cry out in pain again, he was placed on something softer than his chair in the suit.

The vision was blurry but he saw the lights of the ambulance, before he finally found some relief in darkness.

***

Waking up on the hospital bed now was a tradition. Robert glanced around, feeling how his head was still throbbing but luckily, it was now bandaged and treated. He felt tired and slightly lost, sluggish mind had difficulties with understanding reality, but it was better than he expected. The clock on the bedside table showed a few minutes after midnight. Robert stared at the small device, not remembering why any hospitals ever had those. He closed his eyes for a second. Probably those who made sure he was at the hospital left it here. It wasn't unusual for heroes to leave something like this for their colleges. Some weird tradition that started out of someone's habit. It was a way to let people see what time it was when they just woke up. But ever since every hospital had a wall clock in each room it was illogical. Yet older heroes kept doing it.

Robert sighed, because… Chase did this. He was a fan of that tradition. And since he had the chance to place a clock here… he was fine. That made Robert feel a little better, even if his whole body was now a huge bruise. Because of the growing pain and head spinning, he looked around, searching for a call button. Pressing it carefully he tried to shift a bit in attempt to sit up, only to hiss from the shot of pain in his back.

The nurse on duty came a few seconds shortly, jumping on her place as she noticed that he moved.

"Sir, I'll have to ask you to stay still!" she hurried to help him lay down. She was careful and professional, making Robert feel like an idiot.

"Sorry… Just woke up…" he mumbled, not fighting her manipulations, before glancing at the window. The dark sky was all he saw out there. "The pain is getting stronger… can't fall asleep again."

"Got it," she nodded, before going through necessary procedures, while Robert tried not to fall asleep from tiredness.

***

"Splinter fracture of the lumbar spine. The initial surgery was successful, but he is unlikely to make a full recovery. The most that can be done is a few more operations and even so he would need a cane for the rest of his life," the doctor concluded, making both Chase and Mandy turn pale. They knew it was bad but, apparently, it was even worse than they expected.

"Well… As long as there's still a chance he can walk again…" Mandy said quietly, earning herself glances from both men in the corridor. Chase was still frowning, but… well, she was right. There was still a chance and it's not like they would give up here.

After the doctor left, she sat down on the chair, covering her eyes with her palms for a second. She was tired, without her amulet she was just a mere girl and she was running three days without any sleep. There were simply too much things to take care of, all while trying to find time to feel terrified at what happened to her… well, boyfriend. They didn't talk about it and probably won't in a couple of following weeks, but she liked to think it was like this.

Chase sat down next to her, placing an arm on her shoulder. It was weird how silent he got, but she herself wasn't too talkative right now, so no offense or accusation here.

"He'll be fine," Chase finally said after a few minutes, pulling Mandy out of her trance. She lowered her hands, resting elbows on her knees.

"Yeah… We'll make sure of it," she nodded, taking seriously, which earned her a smirk from Chase. After a few more minutes, they both got up and walked towards the noise.

The room was full. Z-team collectively came here, crowding the space. Jokes, laughter, pushing and pranking. Everyone were trying to ignore the obvious reason why they were here, simply preferring to act on Robert's nerves, making him sassier than he was. Mandy smiled at the sight of Prism taking a selfie with him, while joking about his rolled eyes. Flambae was fooling around with gifts they all brought, passing around sweets and fruits, glancing at Mandy and Chase with a difficult emotion he was hiding behind bravado. Others simply took the space around the bed that was available, commenting and joking.

As Mandy got closer to the bed with Chase on her right, Robert turned to them with a smile, even if a moment ago he was pretending to be annoyed.

"Sorry, Chase, but I still can't get used to seeing you in this form," he scoffed, making the older man frown and reach to his hair to ruffle it even more than it already was.

"Hey, watch it, motherfucker, I can now kick your ass twice as faster and twice as harder than before!" Chase scolded him jokingly, while Mandy chuckled over their interaction.

They all were slightly tense beneath jokes and teasing. After all, it was a close call that made everyone terrified of the opposite outcome. Yet right here and right now they were happy it passed without greater consequences.

Being superheroes' anti-stress reliever is way funnier than can be expected. You just need to get used to it. And Robert did just that, because it was all he did when his life was taking ridiculous turns. What else he could offer with constant insomnia, high-level cortisol and three mugs of coffee in the first fifteen minutes of the day?

It started weirdly innocent with Mandy coming to his desk during breaks to check up on him, because, God knows, he was terrible at taking care of himself. They had short conversations about work, some food they shared if any of them brought something, some jokes about bureaucracy and every day routine. Sometimes Mandy would hug him from the back, taking advantage of the higher build in her super form. Robert wasn't against it, mostly because he rarely cared about people's opinions but also because he loved her breath in his hair. It made his brain melt, like touch-starved workaholic he was.

But time went on and Robert started noticing how Blazer was sticking around longer than a couple minutes, hugging tighter and sometimes lifting him from his chair from time to time. As a naive and slightly apathetic dispatcher, Robert didn't mind, as long as he could get his girlfriend around, especially when he needed at least some break from his kindergarten named Z-team. His ignoring backfired into his face when Blazer simply took… and carried him away from the desk he was working at.

At the first time, he was too stunned to comprehend what happened, as Mandy carried him around like some sort of teddy bear, hugging and nuzzling into the back of his head. At the second time it happened, Robert tried to ask what was going on. Mandy gave some vague answer about migraine and returned him to his workplace only because she had a meeting to attend to. During the third time Robert tried to protest, but was conquered by puppy eyes and a free cookies Mandy handed him. With conflicting emotions, he gave up on the idea to do something about it before getting used to it and learning to enjoy it. At times, he wondered if Beef was feeling the same, but quickly dropped the thought after another sudden "pick up".

Chase was laughing his ass off, while Robert simply shrugged his shoulders, chewing sweets Blonde Blazer gave him, while she hugged him around his ribs, floating a little. It was actually a nice feeling.

For month or so, everything was fine, until the moment Phenomaman came with confused and lost look. And like a kind-hearted idiot Robert asked what was the matter. That turned into a few questions about different social situations, where the alien superhero was unable to understand what was going on and then quickly escalated into therapy session Robert had to orchestrate. For a time being, he thought the problem was solved but, apparently, he underestimated Phenomaman's problems with socialization. Because after finding reliable source of humans' knowledge he started coming to Robert with everything that had something to do with talking to other people.

Honestly, Robert wanted to laugh at first, because what his antisocial ass could suggest? Ignore all your problems as long as they don't cause permanent damage to your duties? That wasn't a really a good thing. Maybe. He didn't know, because he was using it since his 16th birthday and so far it was working. But after a few suggestions to visit a real therapist were declined Robert ended up being a "human relationships encyclopedia". He honestly tried to make an effort to convince Phenomaman to look for a real help, but… well…

Now he had two heroes coming to him, when they felt overwhelmed or stressed by something. Robert wasn't fighting it as long as he could work himself into early grave with breaks to cuddle his girlfriend slash boss and have weird social clues discussion with one of the strongest units in his team.

For half a year the routine made itself obvious, swallowing Robert in his primer duties as a dispatcher, Mecha Man’s rare works in the field and paper work he barely could stand. Even if he loved his idiots of subordinates, they were still idiots that could destroy some useful stuff he needed to report. Twice a day. God, he hated his job.

When the season was slowly shifting towards winter, he started noticing some other changes. The closer Holidays were getting the more nervous Colm was getting. Losing focus during fights wasn't like him and Robert couldn't help himself and came to the dwarf with straight and blunt question. The answer surprised him. Colm wanted to make Coupé a Christmas present that would make her happy. And that wasn't an easy task by any means. Robert almost left it there but honest and raw emotion in Punch Up's eyes made him stretch out helping hand.

Together they spent a few remaining weeks to organize and prepare everything, while making sure Janelle couldn't find out. It was fun in certain way and helped Robert to choose his own gift to Mandy, which earned him a couple of sleepless nights that weren’t caused by insomnia.

When Christmas passed, Robert found out that Janelle and Colm made it even further, because now he had a wedding invitation in his hands and a few things he needed organize since he agreed to help. How he ended up helping with wedding organization? He didn't know, barely remembering what the conversation was about, but since he was trusted with such an important mission he wasn't going to ruin it.

And that should've been it, but suddenly Flambae was now inviting him to the bar with Prism and Invisigal where they all vented to him. He learned about Flambae's problems with understanding kids, his niece in particular, Prism complained about label’s rules and difficulties with new instruments and Courtney was teasing him about being Mandy's hugging toy. He couldn't say he loved those evenings since he wasn't that much of a fan of drinking, yet a free snacks and meals that his knuckleheads paid for were a good reason to stay each time, since he really wanted to spend time with those he started seeing as family. And nope, he would never admit that he saw right through their plans to feed him properly. He simply wanted free food. He didn't see how they were picking out salads and balanced meals to "put some meat on his bones" as they said. Nope. All in the name of free food and being a parasite while sharing some "tea"!

Robert loved how his life finally took the turn for the better in recent couple of years. Yeah, he still was struggling sometimes with getting out of bad, but now it wasn't an everyday occurrence. Only on bad ones and only after tiring shifts. Therefore, when he caught sight of Waterboy struggling with his self-esteem during work, he just had to open his mouth and share a few tips on how to get at ease and be chill about certain things. After their first conversation in the janitor room at the beginning of Robert's work at SDN Herman showed a great improvement, yet still was afraid of interacting with others, especially the press. And while Robert shared the hatred towards reporters who couldn't stick to being ethical he couldn't have one of the youngest members of the team to fall between cracks. So yeah, he started giving Herman classes how to talk with people as a hero, once or twice a week. Interview, paparazzi, victims and witnesses. All sorts of people and situations. And when he noticed that Waterboy started using his teachings at work, he felt confident that the kid would go far.

By the time Sonar and Malevola came to him with their troubles, Robert already knew they would stick to him like others, seeking guidance or simple company outside of the working space. What he didn't expect that he would be invited into growing business of selling homemade trinkets. Funny clocks, some decoration things, merch of other heroes or famous characters. He was a test subject to their new ideas, leaving reviews about different products they were about to start selling. And even if Robert didn't know how Sonar managed to control accounting without turning it into another scam project he felt impressed by their growing online shop he found honestly intriguing. However, he would never admit that now half of his kitchen was ordered from their shop. Never in thousands of years.

But what actually shocked Robert is when he caught a sniff of things Royd and Bruno were up to. Due to the guys' sizes and generally nice characters the two became friends in and outside of the SDN’s building. At first, Robert simply noticed a few phrases, some facts dropped during conversations. But when Royd came to him with a request to let him teach Golem mechanics he simply started at the man with wide eyes. He, of course, gave his permission and even participated in a few classes, becoming somewhat of a guiding mentor, but honestly? Robert just didn't know how these two found common ground. He wasn't against it, of course not, but seeing how Golem was starting getting better and better at working with his hands made him convinced that Royd and Bruno were just two peas in a pod. It was even a little embarrassing that Robert didn't see the root of engineering skills in his subordinate. Nevertheless, he made it up with a few quite expensive books and a few engineering science magazines. It cost a small fortune and Robert felt conflicted about how exactly present it, but the way Bruno smiled when he got a present left Robert with bitter-sweet understanding how young and lonely Bruno was before ending up in Z-team.

So yeah, people that saw support in him and were ready to support him back now surrounded him. And even if Robert didn't know how to react, he made his absolute best to be there for his weird family in all possible ways, no matter how small or big. Even if sometimes tempers flared and arguments arose, he knew they now were bound to stick together. For the better or for the worse.