Chapter Text
Its not uncommon for superheroes to be famous as well. It comes with the territory, you start out saving a couple of people and they tell their friends and family. You save a few more and you're on the news. Next thing you know the governor is shaking your hand and giving you the keys to the city. (not that they actually do anything seeing as no keyhole can possibly fit a three foot key, but hey its the thought that counts) And if you do a really good job you get into the real perks of being famous, thousands of internet strangers who hang onto your every move merchandise, and if you're really lucky advertising and all the money that comes with it.
Now all that being said it can be very difficult to reach the greater heights of internet infamy. Normally its a long slow slog of saving people and gaining recognition while doing so. The easiest ways to quickly gain popularity are to join an established network such as SDN on the west coast, or the GSG on the east coast. Sometimes a lucky hero can get their big break by helping out in a major event such as an alien invasion or by protecting someone important — like when Super Shot saved the mayor of Chicago. Finally there are the few heroes that have a lineage, these tend to be rarer, most of the time new heroes want to establish themselves and not piggyback off the work of someone else. Mecha Man is one of these lineages, for 50 years there has been a Mecha Man protecting the people of Los Angeles, as a result the hero has become quite popular.
-=-
Robert was mostly used to the Z-team's antics by now, after a couple of weeks they seemed to have run out of derivative nicknames and had seemingly accepted the fact that he was here to stay. Of course the loud argument with Blazer that no one should be cut on his second fucking day of work and practically begging for the team to get a week to prove themselves had probably helped a lot too. He had gotten used to the constant bickering and borderline sexual harassment level jokes, what he wasn't prepared for the current conversation topic — favorite superheros.
"Look man all I'm saying is Brickhouse can bend me over any day of the week, alright shes wasting herself on that random shes dating." Sonar's voice cut through the background chatter of the SDN bullpen pulling a groan from Robert's throat.
"Guys can we clear comms these are recorded and I really don't want to deal with HR any more than you do."
"Booo don't be such a fucking buzzkill Bob Bob"
"Yeah man we're just trying to figure out who everyone's favorite hero is, nothing wrong with a little team building."
"I bet Roberto is just too ashamed to admit he jerks off to a poster of Ms. Invicta every night"
The overlapping jeers of the Z-Team cut off any attempt of redirecting the conversation.
"Actually now I'm curious, Rob-Rob who is your favorite superhero?" Invisigal questioned, "I mean unless you actually jack off to a poster in which case keep that to yourself you perv."
Robert sighed leaning back in his chair debating whether to answer the question, glancing around he caught a glance of Chase leaning down to grab Beef off the floor for a quick cuddle. Robert smirked quickly making up his mind, "Yeah I have a favorite hero, and no I don't have any posters of them."
"Oh really well now I'm curious, who could possibly have captured the heart of our darling dispatcher?" Invisigal shot back genuine curiosity in her voice. The rest of the Z-team quickly quieted as well displaying their curiosity at his answer.
"My favorite hero is Trackstar." Robert stated blandly struggling to keep his face even as from the corner of his eye he sees Chase whip around to stare at him. "I mean he did a lot for LA when he was active even after the Brave Brigade broke up. I also always appreciated his honesty during interviews."
"You mean the fact that he called a reporter a bitch and a motherfucker to their face on live TV?" Golem asked, "Cause that was tight as fuck, that reporter was being a real bitch about the victims from that fire."
"Holy shit yeah Trackstar is my fucking icon, I have his greatest callouts saved on CriticalView. Love that guy, I was so sad when he retired." Invisigal chimed in. "Nice pick Rob you just might not be a complete loser."
"Girl just cause you both have the same favorite hero doesn't make him cool." Prism cut in, she paused for a second before continuing: "Honestly Robert I thought you would be a Mechafan considering you're a normie and all. You know have some normie solidarity or something."
Robert paused feeling his eyebrows come together at the new term. "Mechafan? What the fuck is that? Some sort of online term I don't know."
"O-oh th-thats actually what people who are big fans of MechaMan call ourselves." Waterboy spoke up, his stutter slowly vanishing as he continued. "I-I've been a fan since I was a kid. I just think it's really i-impressive that there's a whole legacy and the same family keeps stepping up to the plate to help the people of LA, I even have some of his merch! A-and I cried for l-like a week when he retired."
"Ugh shut up about mecha-bitch, no one cares about that fucker and I for one definitely don't want to hear about how much you want to fuck him." Flambae cut in sounding annoyed, "It's bad enough I have to hear you metaphorically suck his dick everyday during break I don't want to hear it over comms too."
"Okay Flambae that's totally why you and wetboy were watching 'MechaMan beats the shit out of villains for 20 minutes and 35 seconds' together in the break room yesterday, and totally why you got into a fistfight with someone for a MechaMan body pillow last week. Its all because you hate the guy and not at all because you're a massive fanboy." Sonar lazily drawled, "Totally had me fooled bro, I completely fell for your diabolical scheme."
"Shut the fuck up bat bitch, I'll fucking set you on fire. How the fuck do you even know all this?"
"Not even trying to deny it, smooth."
"Damn laddie I knew yer were a fan but I didn't realize you were a-'" Punch-Up paused snickering for a second "-a mechafan."
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
Robert dropped his face into his hands thoughts whirling. How the fuck do you even begin to unpack… that groaning again he dragged his hands over his face before dropping them. He knew MechaMan was popular, he was at somewhat aware of the amount of shrines and displays that had popped up during his coma. But it was a whole other situation to hear that two of his team members, one of whom was Flambae, were apparently fans of him. Sighing Robert resolved to avoid thinking about it for as long as possible and hope that no one ever mentions MechaMan again. It shouldn't be that hard, he retired so surely people would move on soon enough, yeah it won't be that ba-
"Wait what the fuck do you mean merch?"