#z team

Like maybe he's thinking about how "granny needs another medicine, the cats need to be taken to the vet, the water damage is causing mold, i need to be a hero, etc." and when he spirals he just.

shuts down.

he doesn't talk much, he doesn't say hi to the z-team, he only mumbles affirmative and negative answers to different jobs.

On the other hand, during a mission, he gets struck by the villain. hard.

He groans (or makes any wounded noise) and asks for assistance before growing mute.

Z-team HATES when he does this. the second one especially. It makes them anxious because they go "hey waterboy are you alive.. hello??.. hellooo.... 🙁".

Robert has to look at his stats and reassure them that he's alive (he also felt incredibly anxious).

They hate seeing their bubbly, stuttering, personified ball of sunshine be so sad/hurt to the point of turning mute.

Honestly that whole “ah ha..ha..ha….mm…excuse me” moment he did I totally see this happening. I think it also happens when he’s like, upset.

When he’s stressed out he usually stammers more than usual and tries to keep calm but sometimes he just..can’t speak. He’s so stressed that speaking is a chore. He just…can’t. So he goes quiet.

When the others notice this they know he’s having a bad time and he’s stressed. Even when he’s stressed he’ll talk and panic, but..this is the mind trying to preserve itself.

When Waterboy gets hurt to the point he goes quiet, it has to be something REALLY bad. Mind you in his voice lines, he’s pretty chatty when he’s LITERALLY ABOUT TO LOSE CONSCIOUSNESS. So it has to be REALLY bad cause this guy is chatty when he’s hurt.

This has to be near death stuff. Like his body can’t heal his wounds fast enough and he’s bleeding out stuff. He goes quiet cause talking is too tiring. He tries but..he can’t.

As for upset, he’ll go quiet before he gets angry. He’ll definitely do an “excuse me” a couple of times cause he just wants to calm down. Other times, he doesn’t say anything. He’s just silent and he gives short “yes” and “okay” answers. He’s the sunshine of the team and these moments everyone feels guilty even if someone didn’t DO anything.

Heck it might not even be the Z team! Maybe it’s a REALLY bad villain or more than likely, a REALLY bad customer. An ungrateful hateful asshole who doesn’t even care Waterboy helped them. They are still mad.

He’ll go quiet for a bit but if it’s first shift, he gets it together. If it’s second shift well…he still does his best but he’ll be quiet and hurry off home when he can. If he does get caught by someone though..they’re concerned. And Waterboy feels ashamed he lets people get to him like this. He just..hates being told his powers are useless, or he’s useless or what that customer said, “a waste of space”.

So….

Aka Rosalind Smith and Dove Lablanche.

Rosalind is a Normie and I'm sure you can guess the general idea of Dove's abilities lol. They get added to the Z-Team post-Shroud Apocalypse, both because the Z-Team is doing so well under Robert's Dispatching but Also because the higher ups are still trying to find an excuse to scrap the Phoenix Program. Robert is now Dispatching the biggest team in SDN history.

yeah, probably.

i think they laughed their asses off when they learned that herm is taking robert's last name.

after they got married, sonar asked if herm is their boss #2 now since he's robert's husband. robert said that... no, that's not how it works, but it just stuck now.

Ok though this is TOTALLY A GAME THEY’D PLAY.

It’s difficult and lip reading is hard due to the water but..it’s also tricky cause even if they get the answer right, waterboy can’t hear them.

I think if Waterboy got the right shoes and improved his balance he DEFINITELY could run really fast, power control be damned. I do not know who the fastest runner is but I do think if he got himself sorted out and some grippy shoes he is GONE.

Heck watching him bolt and be super fast would shock the hell out of everyone. He’s also got long legs so that definitely helps get him farther.