Chapter Text
The door to Blonde Blazer’s office slammed shut, hard enough to rattle the glass. The blinds that blocked the view from the bullpen swayed slightly, as Blazer sat back in her chair. She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.
2 days, she thought to herself, that’s a new low for the Z-team.
In the past months, she had hired 9 new dispatchers for SDN, trained them, gone through onboarding, assigned shift schedules, and set them to task, dispatching the “Heroes” on the Z-team. Not one had made it longer than a week. The Z-team was a special case, part of SDN’s Phoenix program, an initiative to “Take former supervillains who wanted a second chance, and rehabilitate them to re-enter society to use their powers for good”. A worthwhile endeavor, and chance to help people who needed it, all rolled together? How could she have said no?
The reality was much less pleasant than she had hoped for, when she took on the phoenix program as her project. The former villains, despite having volunteered for the program, had proven nearly impossible to work with. They refused orders, sabotaged each other, and seemed to relish the opportunity to test the patience of every person in the building.
This latest incident had been particularly bad. Flambae, having just been reprimanded for causing “unnecessary property damage” (set multiple trees on fire) while searching a park for a lost pet (that he didn’t find), had decided to get back at his dispatcher by setting his car on fire.
Blazer couldn’t blame the man for quitting on the spot.
Her heart sank as she looked over to the pile of paperwork on her desk. Property damage estimates, incident reports, disciplinary records and formal complaints covered her desk’s polished wooden top. She gathered the papers into a neat pile and placed them in Flambae’s file. All the heroes who worked out the Torrance branch had a file folder in a cabinet in her office. Sat next to the filing cabinet, was a box that held 8 large binders. The box had the words “Z-team” written on the side in marker. The regular folders had run out of room for new paperwork in the first month.
She looked at her computer screen to see more than a dozen emails that demanded her immediate attention. Head office had sent a follow up to her report on the Phoenix program’s lack of progress. They were being more than generous, telling her to take her time with the pilot group, and that they would continue to grant leeway for “inappropriate workplace conduct”.
Good news I suppose.
She typed up a response, thanking the operations director for his support with program. Her hands paused over the keyboard, about to type out “despite our difficulties, I expect to see positive improvement soon”.
Can I expect that?
The entire Z-team was a mess, constantly screwing up, making her life harder. She saw the potential in all of them, the determination, and believed still that they could do better.
I just wish the team could see what I do. I just don’t understand why they don’t seem to want to improve, why they push back so hard?
There was a personal message from Phenomaman, asking how the new dispatcher was working out. It included a blurry picture of a dog he had seen that day, as well as an invitation to dinner with him in Tokyo on Friday. Apparently, Tokyo Dream Sushi had asked the couple to come and sample their new menu, and offer endorsement. She smiled at that, but there was a lingering feeling in her that she couldn’t quite nail down.
She liked Phenomaman, he was kind, earnest and thoughtful, even if he needed some of the nuances of human social interaction explained from time to time. But he was – what? Shallow? That’s unfair – uncomplicated. He was happy with how things were, the two of them doing superhero work, and occasionally going on dates in superhero costume.
That’s fine for him, Phenomaman is all he is.
Sometimes she envied him for that. At the end of the day Phenomaman was his entire identity, he was a superhero, Blonde Blazer’s boyfriend, and that was all.
Would I be happy with that? To always be Blonde Blazer? To never take the amulet off again?
She had considered it. Her powers came from the red jeweled amulet that hung around her neck. It transformed her, with it she was taller, more muscular, her hair changed from a plain brunette to a brilliant golden blonde that thousands of women and girls tried to copy. She felt more confident, respected, and admired. Without the amulet, she was just Mandy. Only a handful of people knew Mandy, Blonde Blazer was known the world over. She was Blazer at work, with Phenomaman, and Mandy only when she was alone.
It would be so easy to just never take it off. I could just be Blazer.
But it would feel like abandoning part of herself. She loved being a superhero, loved the look in people eyes when she arrived at the scene of a disaster, that she could be the reason people smiled even when their life was falling apart. But she wanted a life for herself too.
I want to get takeout, sit on the couch with my boyfriend and watch shitty tv. I want to go have dinner without the superhero costume. I want to be just Mandy, to have more to look forward to than a lonely apartment after work.
A knock at her office door disrupted her thoughts. Chase peeked his head around the door.
“I thought that fucker had more of backbone than that” he said, with a characteristic dismissiveness.
Who? Phenomaman? Or – Right, the person who just stormed out of my office, cursing.
She realized she had been spiraling internally about her personal life so much, she had forgotten the immediate problem that needed solving.
Blazer sighed, refocusing on work, pushing her personal problems aside again. “I hoped so too, but having your car torched on your second day could make anyone change their mind”
“At least Flambae had the fuckin decency to wait till end of shift before doing it. I didn’t want to have to juggle two teams mid shift again” Chase said.
She leaned forward a little in her office chair as Chase entered the room properly, closing the door behind him.
“I’m hoping you’ll take on dispatching the Z-team again in the meantime, until we can find another person to fill the role?” asked Blazer.
Chase had been a good sport about substituting in during the periods in between dispatchers before, the team even listened to him sometimes. But he was, by his own admission, a poor fit to lead the Z-team. He had serious doubts about their ability to reform ex-villains.
He doesn’t believe in them; doesn’t think they have what it takes to be heroes. But I do.
So why did the Z-team believe Chase and not her?
“Yeah, I’ll do it” Chase agreed.
“Thank you, Chase. Sincerely” Blazer said, gratitude in her voice.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re welcome. I suppose we’re lucky, that prick quit so fast this time, you hadn’t even had time to assign me full time to another team” Chase replied. “No need to fuck over anyone else in the meantime.”
Blazer grimaced at the reminder. She’d received multiple complaints from other teams about the constant reshuffling of shift schedules and personnel due to the high turnover rate of the Z-team dispatchers.
Silver linings.
“I’ll let the team know.” She paused. “I’ll also loop you in when I have a list of potential candidates for the new Z-team dispatcher”
Chase perked up a bit. “I actually wanted to talk to you about that” he said, a little to quickly, like it had been on his mind for some time, and he was jumping at the chance to finally bring it up.
“Oh?”
Does he want to take over Z-team full time?
No, Chase had made his opinion on that clear. He would step in to help if needed, but that “Dumpster fire of a PR stunt” as he had put it, was no place for him.
And I agree. Because they need someone who will support them, guide them, and encourage them to do better. Chase is a kind person at heart, and he was an incredible hero as Trackstar, but he’s too cynical, he’s been through too much. Not being able to use his powers has been difficult.
Blazer tried to imagine that. Knowing you had the power to help people, to go out and save lives, but doing so would cause you to age so rapidly, that Chase risked dying of a heart attack if he used his power for even a second.
There's something in there about the self-sacrificing (self-destructive) nature of hero work, I guess.
“I have a recommendation” Chase said, before Blazer’s thoughts could wander too far.
“If this is about cancelling the Phoenix program, save it.” She said, interrupting him. “We’ve been over this before, Chase. I’m not giving up, this is more important than – “
Chase raised a hand, stopping her. “I fucking know that, and I don’t want to argue about it again”
Blazer felt a little embarrassed. She was very defensive about the viability of the phoenix program.
It has to work. This is important. Everyone deserves a chance.
“I actually had a potential candidate in mind for the Z-team dispatcher” he continued. “Someone external, not from within SDN. I’ve been putting together a file on him in my spare time”
It was then Blazer noticed the plain white folder tucked under Chase’s arm.
“His name’s Robert. Robert Robertson.”
Blazer suppressed a chuckle at the name. “How do you know him? Who is he?”
“I worked with his father during my days on the Brave Brigade” Chase replied. “I babysat him some nights when his dad had work. He started working as an independent hero after his dad passed, and has been for the last 15 years. He’s dedicated, brave and – “ Chase paused. “I’m so fucking proud of the man he’s become.”
I’ve never heard him talk like that about anyone before.
“That’s a very strong endorsement, especially from you” Blazer said, surprised at the emotion is Chase's voice. “But independent superheroes are usually independent for a reason” she continued cautiously. “They tend not work well in teams, and we would need to offer this Robert something pretty substantial to both step back from field work, and take on the Z-team”
“Y’know who else doesn’t fucking work well in a team?” Chase replies sarcastically.
Point taken.
“The Z-team needs a strong hand to guide them, but they also need a genuine hero, someone who believes in the good they can do.” Chase continues. “Robbie’s a good kid, I believe he can do this. And frankly, he might need this more than we do”
Blazer frowned. “What do you mean?”
Chase dropped the folder on her desk. “I haven’t spoken to Robert in years” he admitted. “I kept tabs on him as best I could, but recently he bit off more than he could chew on a mission, and it left him in the hospital for while. Even if he wants to, he might not be able to return to the field”
Ouch. That’s going to hurt anyone.
But it explained why Chase wanted this. He had always said that his work at SDN was good for him, still able to help even without his powers. If Robert Robertson was in a similar situation, Chase would want to reach out.
“I provided as much detail as I could in there” said Chase, motioning to the folder on the desk. “Look it over and tell me what you think?” he asked.
“Will do” she promised.
This could work. Really work.
15 years as an independent superhero. Blazer wondered at that. That was longer than she’d been at SDN for, longer than she'd been a hero, period. That was an incredible achievement, especially alone. Most heroes worked in teams or for Corporations like SDN, the independent ones were few and far between, and they usually only remained so for a few months as they were getting their start.
She frowned again, as a question popped up in her brain, one that was so obvious, that she wondered why she hadn’t asked it yet.
“Chase?” she asked, as he turned to leave.
“Yeah?”
“Who is he? This Robert person? You said he was a Superhero, but which one? What are his powers?”
Do I know him? She almost added.
“Oh, right. Stupid fucking old age, leaving out important details.” Chase grumbled to himself.
“He’s Mecha Man”