On the way out, he passed the conference room and started down the stairs. A moment later, glass crashed behind him and Punch Up came flying out of the conference room, rolling down the hallway. Then he got up, dusted himself off, and simply walked back in.
Robert approached the glass door and saw the entire Z-Team inside. He pushed his way inside and observed a disheveled conference room—a poster tipped sideways right next to a chair stuck in the wall.
Punch Up took his seat and Malevola told him, “You’ve got a little…”
He glanced at his arm, noticed the massive shard of glass sticking out of his bicep, and said, “Oh. Cheers, lad. Good lookin’ out.” Then he just flexed at the glass pushed out, the wound healing a moment later.
“Hello everyone,” Robert said. “What’s going on?”
“What’s it look like?” Prism asked, leaning against the back of a chair. She gestured towards Golem. “This dumbass kicked that dumbass,” she indicated Punch Up, “out the fuckin’ door.”
“Okay, cool,” Robert said. “Now that we got all of the details clear—why?”
“Ah, just a difference of opinion,” Punch Up shrugged. “I got heated, got in Golem’s face. He had every right to punt me froo the wall.”
“Right,” Robert responded. “It’s a door, and I doubt you were actually in his face.”
“More like ankle,” Prism agreed. “Which made him easier to kick—”
“What the fuck is going on?!” Robert finally snapped.
***
“We want her out,” Prism said.
“We basically took a board vote,” Sonar added. “It’s why we’re in the boardroom.”
“She shouldn’t have done what she did,” Waterboy said. He sat down in a chair. “I think she should go sir… Boss… Robert.”
Robert locked eyes with Flambae, then looked at the rest of the team. He stepped forward. “Who wants her to stay?”
“Me,” Golem rumbled. “But the team is more important than any one of us. So, I won’t stand in the way.”
“You coulda led with that,” Punch Up noted.
“I feel the same way as Golem,” Flambae said. “You all let me back in when you didn’t have to. But, I won’t make you keep someone you want gone.”
“We heard about the suspension bullshit,” Prism said. “It ain’t enough, Robert. Not for what she did. To put everything we been building at risk. And for what? I like the bitch, but she gotta go.”
“You cut Coop for a lot less,” Punch Up added.
Robert looked at Malevola. She was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. She hadn't spoken yet.
“Mal?” Robert asked. “You with them?”
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “It’s a tough call.” She pushed off the wall. “She was right—if we had done nothing, Shroud would’ve gotten the Pulse anyway. At least she tried.”
“She went fuckin’ rogue!” Prism yelled.
“Like none of us have fuckin’ done that before?” Mal shot back. “Flambae was setting shit on fire on Robert’s first shift. Golem was hammered fuckin’ today! And Punch Up all but told Robert to go fuck himself day after he cut Coop.”
Punch Up looked at Mal over his shoulder. His voice was somber, not angry. “I didn’t put Chase in a coma.”
“That’s on Shroud,” Malevola snapped. “Not her. If he hadn’t showed up at the last second, we’d all be singing her praises.”
Robert was quiet for a moment, then he let out a long breath—like a pressure valve releasing. “Look. I probably don’t say this enough, but I’m proud of all of you. How far you’ve come. A few months ago, you wouldn’t have been in a room like this discussing the needs of the Z-Team and if you did, there’d be a lot more than one broken door.”
***
He paused for a moment.
“You all have excellent points, and it’s clear how much this team cares about one another. But, as you know, this isn’t the first time Invisigal has disobeyed an order and put us at risk. I’ve done my best to salvage things and work with her, but it’s not fair to the rest of you to put all your progress at risk for one person who can’t keep up. I’ll let Blazer know of your decision, and… I’ll let her know that I support it.”
It hurt Robert to say, but it needed to be said. He was still holding Beef under one arm.
The dog sneezed.
Robert looked over his shoulder and saw the door move on its own.
“Visi?” Robert called out as he got down to the locker room.
As he walked around the corner, she was in the middle of undressing, standing in just her underwear. “Sorry. I can come back.”
“Why? First time we met, you were in your underwear.” She opened her locker. “Fitting, right? Last time you see me that I’d be in mine. I heard everything. You don’t have to double fire me, okay? I’m going.”
***
“Well you gave me no choice,” Robert said. “I know it’s probably hard for you to hear right now, and I don’t even know if you’ll think I’m telling the truth, but… fuck,” he turned around to face her. “Courtney, you’re a good person. You aren’t destined to be a villain, it’s not written in the stars or some bullshit—I truly believe that, okay? And I can’t have you walking out of here not knowing that.”
She was standing with the locker door open still, but she at least had pants on now.
“Look, you went in knowing the risks,” Robert continued. “What you were willing to put on the line to help me. What you didn’t know was what Chase was willing to put on the line for you. But as good of intentions as you had, at the end of the day, you still disobeyed orders. Again.”
***
He took a step toward her. “I tried my best, really. And I think I tried the most with you… but it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t enough. Which is why this is on me. Okay? I failed you. And I hope one day you can forgive me for letting you down.”
“They’re right,” she shook her head. “I don’t deserve anyone’s forgiveness, anyone’s help, anyone’s love…” she lifted her shirt over her head, still facing the locker. “Because I can never repay it. Nothing I do will ever make up for what I’ve already done to you. I’d hoped getting the Astral Pulse back would help, but… I couldn’t even do that.”
“Visi,” Robert said. “You don’t owe anyone, anything, okay? Least of all, me.”
“I was there that night.”
“What’re you saying?”
She closed the locker door, standing before him, naked from the waist up. Along her ribcage glowed red implants.
Red Ring implants.
“I never ran with crews,” she said. “Always did my own thing, but my asthma was getting worse and worse and they had an augment that could increase my lung capacity. Only catch is I’d have to work for them, paying down… for years.
“Then one day Shroud came to me and said I could have the whole debt cleared if I was able to do one thing… place a bomb on the back of Mecha Man, undetected. I quit the moment I placed it. I walked out before it even blew. My augments conveniently stopped working. So I signed up for the Phoenix Program the next day…” she pulled a shirt on and sat down. “Which gave me the chance to fuck your life up twice.”
Robert was lost for words.
“You gonna say something?”
“Well, I forgive you,” he finally said. “So there. Will you fuckin’ chill out now?”
“You can’t fuckin’ forgive me,” she breathed. “You haven’t even like… processed what’s going on.”
“You did villain shit while you were a villain,” Robert responded. “Does it change things that you directed it at me? No. It doesn’t. That’s in the past. You’re not the same person that was there that night… neither am I.”
***
Visi stared up at him. “That’s sweet but… all I wanted from this was for you to look at me the same way you look at her… even if it was just once, you know? That’d have been enough.”
“Her?” Robert asked.
“Don’t play dumb, Robert,” Visi said, her voice cracking. “Malevola. You look at her like she’s the only thing in the room that isn't on fire. Or maybe she’s the one thing that is and you want to burn in it.”
Robert opened his mouth but no words came out.
Invisigal stood up and shouldered her bag. She walked towards Robert and disappeared. He stood there quietly for a long moment. And just as he took a step to leave, Visi reappeared. Her back was to him and she was slowly stepping backwards, her shoulders tense. He saw why a moment later.
Malevola emerged from the shadows, her yellow eyes cutting through the dark.
Robert’s breath caught. “Mal. How much of that did you hear?”
“All of it,” she said calmly, moving into the light.
“So what?” Visi asked with a shaky voice. “You gonna try to fuck me up again for blowing him up?”
Malevola looked at Robert for a long moment, then cocked her weight to one hip. “Don’t be so dramatic. I did think about it—I don’t think I would have let it go on my own, but… if he forgives you then… so do I.”
Visi was flabbergasted. “Why?!”
“Because regardless of why you set that bomb, it’s the reason I met Robert.”
Visi’s expression grew confused and she looked at Robert.
“Mal is the one that pulled me from the wreck after the bomb went off,” he said. “She healed me then, just like the other day when the Proto Pulse failed.”
“You might have broke him,” Malevola added, “and it was fucked up. But it did give me the chance to put him back together. And I’ve… since become somewhat fond of the little guy.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“I’m not that little,” Robert muttered.
They both cocked eyebrows in his direction.
Then Mal shrugged at Visi. “And you’re not complete shit yourself. Robert’s right—you suck at following orders, but you’re a good person.”
Visi’s breath caught and she choked back a sob. Then she shook her head, disappeared again, and her footsteps echoed off the walls as she ran past Mal, leaving the room.
Robert closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them again, he just quietly said, “Thanks.”
Malevola blinked slowly, nodding to him. Then she turned and left as well.
***
Robert took Beef for a walk, fed and watered him, then took him to see Chase. He set the dog on Chase’s lap, petted him on the head, and said, “Alright, you boys don’t stay up too late.” Beef laid his head down on Chase and Robert walked out the door.
It was still raining as Robert rode through L.A. in the back of a rideshare. A text message came in from Blazer:
Robert took a minute to think before responding. Then, finally, he typed out:
She replied:
He wasn’t.
Robert found himself at the Sardine, drinking alone at the bar. It was quieter tonight than the last time he’d been here.
A man at the end of the bar with a close cropped beard was saying, “I mean. I hope they all die. I’m serious,” he laughed. “Any dumbass walkin’ into a trap that fuckin’ stupid should have the plug pulled right now. Just, pillows over their faces.”
“Oh man,” the bartender responded, “have you seen what the poison does to their faces? They get all red and puffy—”
The glass shattered in Robert’s hand, making it bleed. He hadn’t realized how hard he’d been gripping it.
“Goddamn. Alright,” the bartender made his way over to Robert. “Somebody’s a little fuckin’ impatient.” He started sweeping the glass off the bartop.
“I’m sorry the Beard Guy said. “It’s my fault. I’ve been distracting you.”
“Get me another drink,” Robert said flatly, his eyes hollow. “I smashed mine.”
“Sure,” the bartender responded. “Are you alright? You seem… perturbed.”
Robert hadn’t been looking directly at him, but his eyes finally locked with the bartender.
“Oh. Fuck,” the Beard Guy said. “I know what’s goin’ on. Kid probably lost someone there. That’s why he’s been starin’ at that shit all night.” He took a drink of his beer and looked up at the TV. “Get him a drink on me.”
The bartender glanced down the bar at the Beard Guy, then back to Robert, who held up a bloody thumb’s up. He stood straighter. “Nah, this one’s on me.”
He poured a fresh glass of beer from the tap, set it in front of Robert, then filled three shot glasses with whiskey. He gave Robert one, slid the second down the bar to the Beard Guy, and took the third for himself. Then he glanced up at the TV and said, “Oh my.” Blonde Blazer was speaking at a press conference about Chase.
“Track Star,” the bartender said. “That guy sucks. I was fast but now I’m old. Get fucked.” He raised his shot glass and said, “Cheers fellas. To the fuckin’ dream…” He held it toward the TV with Blazer still on it. “To five minutes with the tightest ass in all of LA county.” Then he made a motorboating noise, chuckled to himself, and drank his shot.
“Can you motorboat an ass?” He continued. “Probably not, right? End up blowing air up her butthole.”
The Beard Guy took his shot and set it down on the bartop with a hard click.
“What’s up?” The bartender glared at Robert. “You don’t like asses?”
Robert’s grip on the glass tightened until his hand shook. After a moment of staring each other down, he grabbed the bartender’s shirt, pulled him forward, and slammed the glass into his face, knocking him to the floor. Robert was breathing hard and tried to calm himself down.
“Not as far as I was gonna take it, but good on ya kid.” The Beard Guy hopped over the bar. “Let me replace that drink.”
The bartender pushed himself back to his feet, glaring at Robert. Robert glared right back, his eyes locked on the man.
And then the Beard Guy shot him in the face.
Robert recoiled from the sound, closing his eyes.
He felt warm blood splatter onto his face.
He opened his eyes and looked down in shock at the man’s body. Blood was pooling on the floor underneath the head. The Beard Guy placed a foot on the corpse and shook it a little, his back to Robert.
“I respect her,” Beard Guy said. “Blazer. A real fuckin’ superhero.” His head finally turned where Robert could see the right side of his skull. He had a small, glowing red canister implanted there, the same size as the Astral Pulse. “I know we’re in a villain bar but have some fuckin’ class, ya know?” He took another shot.
Robert looked back over his shoulder and realized everyone in the bar was watching them.
“If you’re gonna blow some fucker’s brains out,” Beard Guy muttered, mostly to himself, “nonslip mats are a must… need some for the hideout.” He turned back to Robert. “Feels silly calling it a hideout.”
And only then did Robert realize who stood before him, unmasked.
“Can you take care of him for me?” Shroud asked. “Obviously, you two don’t need an introduction.”
Through the mirror behind the bar, Robert saw a familiar figure step up behind him.
“With pleasure,” Coupé said, and kicked him in the head.
“You, your Dad, Chase,” Shroud’s voice said in the familiar bass-like warble that his mask emitted. “Your little team of turncoats. You think you can beat the bad guy just by being good, but there’s no solving human nature. You can’t stop evil. All you can do is control it.”
Robert hung upside down by his feet in the Sardine with his arms bound behind his back. Coupé had been beating the shit out of him and cutting gashes into his abdomen.
“I believe him, boss,” she said. “If he had something to say, he would’ve said it by now.”
“I thought you wanted revenge,” Shroud said as he approached. He crouched down and held a revolver up. “This was your father’s gun. Kept it in his locker. Fully loaded. 6 shots. He couldn’t have predicted I’d use it to kill him. The first bullet grazed his shoulder. I hadn’t adjusted to the adrenaline spike. The second hit his upper chest. The third burst his heart. He was lying on the floor, eyes full of fear, when I put the fourth through his face.”
He opened the revolver up, displaying the single bullet left in it. “A bit of a waste to put the fifth through that idiot’s skull, but I wanted to make sure it worked after all these years.” He closed the revolver again and held it up. “Your father was the last person to touch this bullet… and now,” he spun the chamber, “there’s a sixteen and a half percent chance it touches you next.” The barrel of the gun pressed to Robert’s forehead. “Your invisible girlfriend stole my Astral Pulse to give it to you.”
He cocked the hammer back. “Where the fuck is it?”
“I don’t… have it…” Robert said through his swollen face. “Never… did…”
Shroud squeezed the trigger.
The chamber rotated and the hammer clicked.
Empty.
“This is why I hate luck.” Shroud spun the chamber again. “Runs out.”
“If I… had it… why’d I let you… string me up like a fuckin’ pinata? She didn’t… get the Pulse.”
The eyes of Shroud’s mask flashes with symbols of code as he ran probabilities. “You actually believe that. Show him.”
One of Shroud’s henchmen tapped his cybernetic eye and a holographic screen appeared in the air. It showed the CCTV footage of Visi escaping the ship right before she was attacked by Shroud, the critical few seconds before Robert had gotten access to the feed when the power was killed.
“Invisibitch has the Pulse,” Shroud said. “That I know… what I don’t know is why she didn’t give it to you.”
On the recording, Visi stopped in the doorway as soon as the power went out. She set the case down, pulled the Pulse out, and slipped it inside her jacket pocket.
Shroud had taken an empty case away from her.
“She played you too,” Shroud said. “Here I am thinking she’s working with you but she’s fucking us both. She didn’t take it for you. She took it for herself.”
The hologram disappeared and Shroud crouched down next to Robert. He placed a hand on his face and turned him to look directly at Shroud. “It’s okay. She fooled me too.”
His mask flashed with probabilities again and he stood up, took a step back, and looked at the door. It exploded off the hinges a second later, flying across the room, barely missing Robert, and slamming into a goon by the bar.
The bouncer’s silhouette was illuminated in the doorway. Then he fell forward to reveal Blonde Blazer. She slowly walked forward and several of Shroud’s men stepped back to make room for her.
“The Blonde Blazer,” Shroud stepped forward. “I fired the bartender, but I can still get you something to drink.”
“No thank you.” Her eyes darted over to lock with Coupé.
“Then to what do I owe the pleasure?” Shroud asked.
“I’m here for him,” Blazer nodded toward Robert. “In five minutes, this bar will be surrounded by SDN agents, heroes, and whoever else you and your Red Ring have pissed off recently, which happens to be every gang in Los Angeles. Now, if—”
“Okay, mooomm,” Coupé said, loud and sarcastic. “She’s fucking bluffing.”
Shroud’s gaze snapped to Coupé. Even through the mask, he looked pissed.
Coupé stepped back.
“Sorry about that,” Shroud turned back to Blazer. “If they weren’t shit, you wouldn’t’ve cut them. You were saying?”
Blazer’s eyes narrowed and she glanced around the bar. “I can see I’m outnumbered. That eventually, I would fall. But by my read,” her eyes closed, and when they reopened, they burned gold, “I’m taking a lot of you with me.”
Her feet left the floor as she rose into the air. “So, all of you can leave now,” she clenched both fists and they erupted with golden light. “Or half of you can die here.”
The crowd exchanged nervous glances without a word.
Shroud slowly began clapping. “Now, that’s a fuckin’ superhero. Chills. Top notch. You made them nervous.”
He paused for a moment while Blazer continued hovering—a golden beacon in a den of evil.
“Okay,” Shroud continued. “We’re out of here. Take your piss soaked pants out the back please. Don’t want to tempt this tiger.”
The crowd of Red Ring began dispersing.
“Now’s not our time, Blazer,” Shroud began walking backward. “But it’s coming. Sooner than you think.” He turned to leave but paused and looked back over his shoulder. “Oh, and by my calculations it was closer to 32%. But…” he shrugged, “half sounds better.”
He finally left, Coupé following behind him.
Only when they were gone did Blazer let the golden light fade and fly over to Robert, pulling him off the chain that had him strung up by his feet.
“You… you were bluffing,” Robert said.
“About the backup?” Blazer was undoing his restraints. “Yeah. Absolutely. About taking out half of them? I don’t think I was.” She threw the chain aside.
Robert tried to stand but couldn’t.
“Don’t worry,” Blazer said, picking him up. “I’ve got you.”
***
She flew out of the bar into the rainy night, carrying him all the way to the same sign they’d sat on the first night they met. Robert pulled on his shirt once she set him down, wincing in pain. He hissed as the fabric touched the fresh cuts Coupé had carved into him.
“She cut you pretty bad,” Blazer noted.
“Yeah,” Robert breathed. “But… nothing that Mal shouldn’t hopefully be able to patch up.”
“I kept trying to call her,” Blazer said. “No answer though.”
“Well… it is the middle of the night…” Robert leaned back against the billboard. His side was throbbing with pain.
Blazer watched him for a moment, then a small smile pulled at her lips. “I’ve noticed you two have gotten close.” She sat down next to him. “I didn’t expect the interaction we had last time we were up on this board to drive you into the arms of a demon.”
Robert laughed weakly and then grimaced. “Ah—laughing hurts. No… no, turns out her healing me in the lab wasn’t the first time. She said she found me almost dead after the bomb took out my suit. Healed me then too.”
“Oh shit,” Blazer said in surprise.
“Yeah.” Robert groaned again.
“Well she seems good for you, Robert. Seems like she grounds you. In a… strange, chaotic way.”
They sat there quietly for a few moments.
Finally, Blazer asked, “Are you sure he’s right about Invisigal?”
“Yeah,” Robert breathed. “I saw the footage.”
“What is her play? Why wouldn’t she tell you if she has it? I don’t understand what she would want it for unless she’s trying to keep you out of the suit.”
“I’m not sure,” Robert answered. “But… I trust her. That’s what matters.”
***
“I think you’re more optimistic than I am,” Blazer said.
“You’re probably right,” Robert said. He let out a heavy sigh. “Just need to sit here for like… a few weeks… then I’ll be… right as rain.”
“Take your time,” Blazer said. “I don’t know how you’re conscious.”
“See, when the pain’s constant, it’s easier to get used to. That goes for physical and emotional.” He laughed but immediately winced, grabbing his side. “Really is nice up here. Thank you. Don’t remember if I thanked you before but—”
“About fifty times,” Blazer said. “You were muttering it the whole flight.”
“Then I take it back.”
“You should know,” Blazer said, “I was going to take you to the actual Hollywood sign. Not as sturdy as you’d thin—”
An explosion rang out several blocks over. Blazer flew into the air to look at it. Then there was another explosion. And another, and another. Blazer flew higher, looking around to see them all. Robert staggered to his feet as explosions continued to rock the city. Blazer looked distraught as all of LA burned.
“Hey,” Robert called up to her. He was down on his knees again but he forced himself up and reached a hand toward her. “You’re not leaving me here again.”