My Star Spangled Invisi-Gal [MCU/Dispatch]

[Simonbob]

The reason international tensions are so much higher in the MCU is because of HYDRA. Zola even explained in TWS that "For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war.", all to make the world so desperate for security that it would sacrifice its freedom

Click to shrink...

Fucking HYDRA.

Those guys are just..... There are groups that don't make sense in MCU, but HYDRA's the worst.


"We're the right people to be in charge!" Huh, ok, why?


Just cause, I guess. No ideology, no reasons, just greed. Nothing IRL does that. Nothing. It'd have to be half mind control, and half "the Nazi's didn't go far enough!".

 

[TheBiggerFish]

Just cause, I guess. No ideology, no reasons, just greed.

Click to shrink...

Greed is an ideology to some people.

 

[Simonbob]

Greed is an ideology to some people.

Click to shrink...

The only groups IRL that have Greed as their ideology are corps.

And even they usually aren't that bad. (Unless you get to the biggest banking/finatial organisations, but even then, there's rules.)


If you just want to switch your brain off, and go "Bad Guys! No excuse needed!", that's fine, but I'm now just a little too knowlagable about people and groups, so it becomes obvious the writers don't grok people very well.




Seriously, there are groups that want control over the World, but all of them have an ideology about why they should be in charge. Why they'll make things better.

 

[cliffc999]

Earth-Dispatch
Arrival: D Plus 10

"What are you doing, Steve?" he moaned into his bathroom mirror. "I'm- okay, obviously I'm attracted. My dream would never have swapped her in for Peggy if I didn't like like her, but-"

Steve's mumbled soliloquy continued without pause as he efficiently shaved, showered, dressed, and headed out. Normally he cooked his own breakfast, but given how distracted he was this morning Steve had decided it would be a good idea to simply let someone else be handling hot grease and kitchen implements today and so he'd stopped at a diner on the way to work. It wasn't until his order was being placed in front of him by the smiling waitress that Steve consciously caught up to the fact that he was sitting in the same booth that he'd shared with Visi yesterday, in the very same diner, and he groaned and buried his head in his hands.

Cap managed to avoid talking to himself like a crazy person while he hurriedly ate his breakfast and then started the drive to work, but as soon as he was alone on his motorcycle the pressure of his thoughts boiled over again. His not-so-internal monologue continued all the way into the parking lot.

"-it makes sense on some level, I suppose. I don't have all the pressure of SHIELD's constant op tempo anymore. I must have been a coiled spring that just had the pressure taken off. So my feelings would be running a little out of control under those kinds of circumstances. And she's a feisty brunette with a good left hook who's been struggling with things like vulnerability and trauma while trying to make up for a past she regrets… God, it's like somebody did a composite of Peggy and Natasha." Cap was still muttering to himself as he pulled into the parking spot and got off his motorcycle. "But I still don't have the slightest reason to assume that she likes me that way, and the last thing she needs right now is to be pressured into anything she might not want. So… don't push her away, but don't try to read anything into it. Don't pull a Robert and try grabbing and kissing her because you're imagining a signal that's not there. Just stay her friend. Just act normal." Cap took several deep breaths, getting his 'work face' straight with an effort, before squaring his shoulders and walking into SDN. Just another normal shift on another normal day.

Cap felt a small twinge of guilt at his relief that Visi wasn't doing her 'I wasn't waiting for you, I just happened to be standing in the lobby for a while before you arrived at work' thing today, so he didn't have to face a stress test of his new 'act normal' initiative first thing in the door.

Act normal! Steve reminded himself as he headed towards the conference room for roll call, until the sounds of an argument in the break room drew his attention. He turned his head to see what was going on, and his body went taut at the first glimpse of Flambae, his fist wreathed in flame, angrily waving that fist directly in the face of an upset Visi.

* * * * *
​

"So you thought she was in danger, and you reacted." Robert said flatly, his arms crossed as he leaned on the conference room wall.

"Yes." Cap said guiltily.

"By spinning him around and punching him into the wall so hard that we've still got a Flambae-shaped divot in the break room."

"… yes." Cap's shoulders slumped.

"Did you even know he had superhuman resilience?" Robert narrowed his eyes.

"Actually, yes." Cap nodded. "Or else I'd have scaled down the punch. I wasn't trying to kill him, I was just trying to cold-cock him."

"You certainly managed that." Robert relaxed. "And yeah, it definitely means a lot that you still had enough self-control to pick your damage setting. But you still overreacted, and I've still got to rack you for it. You helped me write the new training module for the usage-of-force escalation chart, so you of all people should not have taken a swing without at least giving Flambae a verbal challenge before using force."

"You're right. I was out of line." Cap exhaled. "I'm sorry. He just rubs me the wrong way, but I shouldn't have brought it into the workplace."

"Was that the reason?" Robert looked at him knowingly. "You just didn't like him?"

"… and it was Visi." Cap reluctantly admitted. "I felt… protective."

"You do know she was actually guilty of what Flambae was yelling at her for, right? Vanishing his brown bag in the refrigerator as a prank would annoy me too, if it were my brown bag. Now granted that he certainly shouldn't punctuated his objections with his fist, particularly not when it's on fire-" Robert began.

"Does he even know he's doing the equivalent of threatening someone at gunpoint everytime he does that?" Cap said vehemently. "It's deliberately brandishing a lethal weapon with intent to threaten harm. That's still aggravated assault even if he doesn't touch anyone."

"I doubt he's bothered to educate himself on the legalities." Robert rolled his eyes. "So yes, I will speak to him about that… when it's his turn. Right now it's your turn."

"Right." Cap braced himself back to the position of attention. "I did it, I'll accept the punishment."

"Barring emergency necessity, you don't get any more joint calls with Visi." Robert said immediately and Cap winced. "Hey. Take breaks together, go to lunch together, hang out after work, whatever you want. But you just admitted that your tactical judgement occasionally slips a little when she's involved, and that means no more field partnerships until further notice." He looked at Cap. "This is exactly why the HR policy about relationships is what it is, so that the management staff knows what's going on whenever things start to slip a little and we can fix it using the minimum necessary adjustment instead of not knowing what's wrong until there's a huge blowup that needs a more drastic fix."

"We're not in a relationship. We're just friends." Cap protested.

"You can't deny that you've caught feels, Cap." Robert shook his head. "It looks pretty obvious to me."

"Damn." Cap swore. "If it's obvious to you, it'll be obvious to her."

"Am I missing something?" Robert looked at Cap confusedly. "I mean, I'm not God's gift to women but I like to think I at least know the basics, and I really doubt you'd get rejected if you asked. She's more comfortable around you than she's been around anyone else here."

"And that's exactly why I don't want to press for more." Cap said. "Even by implication. She needs to finally have a friend she can trust much more than I need to have a new girlfriend."

"Really not seeing how those two things contradict each other." Robert shook his head. "But okay, it's your lives." He stopped and remembered something. "Oh yeah, and your pay's being docked to repair the wall."

"Fair enough." Cap acknowledged. "Anything else, sir?"

"Dismissed." Robert said with an encouraging smile. "Send in the hothead on your way out. And… good luck."

Cap wasn't sure whether to feel upset or relieved that Visi had already headed out on her shift by the time he got out of the office, and with a resigned sigh he mounted his motorcycle and headed out. His morning shift went otherwise without incident – Robert had made sure to give him and Flambae assignments spaced as far apart as possible, as much as the call volume had allowed – and soon enough it was time for lunch.

"How's the spaghetti?" Visi was giving him a medium-cocky grin as Cap took his first bite of the house special at the place she was recommending to him today.

"I could smell the extra garlic before she brought it to the table, Visi." Cap smiled back at her. "Fortunately for you, I like garlic."

"Next time, Gadget! Next time!" she portentously orated like a cartoon supervillain and then chuckled.

"And speaking of pranking-" Cap began slowly.

"I literally just turned the bag around and moved it to the other corner. I didn't even take it out of the fridge. It's why Robert didn't bust me. I didn't actually break any rules." Visi eye-rolled. "And then Flambae crashed out entirely just because he didn't see his brown bag right away, how is that my fault?"

"Sorry. The version I'd heard made it sound like you'd tossed it out. I should have known better." Cap said guiltily. "But even if the justice of the situation isn't against you, is it smart to keep throwing gasoline on an open flame like that?"

"If was a 'do the smart thing' person I wouldn't be in the Phoenix Program." Visi grumped. "… oh God, that look. It's like someone just strangled your puppy or something. Please stop that look, you're making me feel guilty even for crimes I haven't committed." She facepalmed. "Did you get enough sleep last night, Cap? You've been jittery all morning." She paused and continued more seriously. "As if the part where you slammed a guy almost through the wall wasn't a clue."

"…I could have slept better." Cap gratefully seized on the exit line.

"Did you get in trouble for punching him?" she asked after several minutes of both of them concentrating on their food.

"I am being punished by not being allowed to have joint assignments with you until further notice." Cap explained.

"Yeowtch." Visi winced. "Okay, maybe I should tone down the goofing around the office a little. Ordinary busts are one thing, but when the new supervisor wants to get creative about making sure people don't want to get called into the office more than once-" She laughed slightly. "I guess that's why they special-hired him to be the hardass who had to whip this misfit squad into shape. Kinda like Major Payne, he'll do ironic punishment to scare us straight."

"Major who?" Cap asked. "Is that a superhero?"

Visi laughed until she snorted. "It's a movie, you goof! Guy who spent his entire life in the Army doing all the super-tough missions and never having a life ends up finally hitting retirement age and so they won't send him out anymore, so he ends up as the new instructor at this military school for kids and it spends the next ninety minutes playing it up for laughs." she cheerfully rambled on, oblivious to Cap's expression. "But eventually he bonds with the screw-ups around him and learns to appreciate his new life, even if it's nowhere near as intense or important as his old one was."

Cap sat there frozen, making a titanic effort not to show any reaction on his face at all as he tried to process why on Earth what Visi had just rambled about would even make him feel like he needed to process anything, while steadfastly ignoring the analogies that could be drawn between what she'd just said and his own situation.

"911. Barricaded hostage stand-off." Robert's voice came from Visi's communicator as he punched the command override. "SWAT's stuck outside the building, they can't make any moves because they have no idea what room the asshole's in or what he might have stacked in front of the doors. Lunch break's over, Visi, they need you to scout for 'em."

Visi and Cap both stood up immediately, before he remembered with a guilty flinch that Robert had only called one of them and he was currently forbidden to do ride-alongs without specific permission. He slowly, reluctantly sat back down.

"Can you settle up for me here, Cap?" Visi asked him, and Cap nodded. "Thanks. Got to go!" She grabbed her coat and headed out without a backward glance.

"So that's what it feels like." Cap reflected sadly, as he watched his superhero friend head out into the fight while he stayed safely behind. He dutifully finished his now-tasteless lunch, paid the check, and left.

* * * * *
​

"Finally." Flambae said icily as he confronted Steve. The man had actually followed him home from SDN, although Steve had readily noticed the flying man trying to discreetly tail him and had simply pulled off into the nearest large parking lot and waited for him to swoop down. "I've been trying to catch up with you all day!"

"I apologize for overreacting." Cap said stolidly. "I should not have leapt to the worst possible assumption."

"Yes, that is precisely what we are going to talk about, flag-man." Flambae hissed as he drew nearer. "Because I want you to understand me very clearly when I say-"

"I don't care what you say." Cap felt the last of his patience snap. "What, are you going to set my stuff on fire? Hurt me? Kill me? Over petty pride? As if that would change anything? You're nothing but a bully! An ordinary, petty bully, just one with more power to abuse than he should ever have had been given!"

"FUCK YOU!" Flambae screamed, immediately firing a full-strength flame blast that would have incinerated a normal person on the spot. Cap easily blocked it with the shield, then charged forward and knocked Flambae sprawling with a shield bash. The man flew back ten feet and hit the ground rolling, but immediately rolled to his feet with more agility than Cap had expected and took to the air again.

"It is long past time someone put your arrogant ass down!" Flambae raged as he swooped and soared, firing blast after blast towards the ground-bound Captain. Cap weaved through the barrage, cartwheeling over one blast and slipping under another, parrying a third with his shield, and leading him away from the store and towards the emptier corner of the lot.

"I have the mobility, fool! I have the high ground! I command the flame, and my skin does not-!" Flambae ranted as Cap was pressed hard but gave no ground. However, the slight pause Flambae took to monologue was just the opening Cap needed, and he threw his shield in a hard, slightly arcing toss-

-that soared several feet wide of Flambae's head as he easily leaned to one side.

"Hah! You missed -!" Flambae grinned, stopping to sneer down at his now-shieldless opponent,.. right before the shield that had just rebounded off the lamp post behind him came soaring back to catch him directly in the back of the head.

Flambae was knocked out of the air and sent sprawling forward to tumble towards the ground, only he landed on Cap's fist first.

"Try that again, and it ends even worse." Were the first words Flambae heard as he struggled back to consciousness.

"Fuck." Flambae swore as he shook off his grogginess, all the fight suddenly leaving his body. "All right, you win." He looked up at the Captain sadly. "I just wanted to- it doesn't matter now."

"Are you injured?" Cap asked concernedly. "If I hit you too hard-"

"No, no, I am fine." Flambae reassured him dully. "Except for my pride, of course, And my hoped-for future as someone who was not going to be in prison. I just tried to fucking kill you, that's enough to void my probation. How long until they get here?"

"I didn't call them." Cap surprised him. "In the Army they'd have called this a 'wall-to-wall counseling session'. Two guys taking it out behind the supply shed to settle their differences when they couldn't settle it any other way. Officers learn not to see what happens when that happens, unless it gets out of hand."

"Attempted manslaughter isn't 'out of hand'?" Flambae asked in honest confusion.

"I don't know yet." Cap replied. "Why did you even do it? I was expecting a punch, not an incineration. Are your powers that hard for you to control?"

"No, no, my control over the flame is perfect." Flambae insisted. "My control over myself, on the other hand… is not so perfect."

"Well, in my experience, there's generally two causes for when a man is always boiling over that way. Either he's got something eating him, or he's just a natural born asshole." Cap agreed. "So, what's eating you?"

"What, not going for the asshole theory?" Flambae said challengingly.

"Originally, I had been." Cap admittedly frankly. "But you heard the speech the other day. Robert was right. If we can't believe that we're not entirely hopeless then we shouldn't be here wasting each other's time. And I suppose that also extends to trying to believe that the guy next to you isn't entirely hopeless either." Cap rolled his eyes. "Even if he makes that kinda hard sometimes."

"That… is more forbearance than I was expecting, under the circumstances." Flambae said slowly. "But you have a point. As to what is 'eating me', as you say…" Flambae looked up at Cap. "You are from the past, the 1940s. They had opinions about gay people back then. And you always looked at me as if I were something to be scraped off of your shoe. So yes, from day one I wanted to punch your bigoted ass into the ground."

"What you saw my disapproval of your manners, not your orientation." Cap sighed wearily. "I grew up in Brooklyn, near the Navy Yard. The largest homosexual community in New York at the time was around there. I regularly saw people like that as a kid growing up. They were just people. Some good, some bad, some indifferent, just like any other people."

"… I see." Flambae admitted embarrassedly. "But I think you must see as well. For I grew up in Afghanistan." Flambae surprised him. "Ah, you wince. You are familiar with that culture?"

"Mostly through briefings, didn't deploy there." Cap said. "But… yes. I know how that culture feels about it."

"Then you know what I survived, and why I might be just a bit oversensitive about the issue." Flambae said meaningfully. "And even after I fled from that environment I lived as a vagabond, on the outskirts of many other societies, and such places often have their own intolerances. And again, I was often alone. Most people run away to join the circus or to become a criminal to find freedom. I ran away to such places to find more support, more structure, than I had ever known before then… even as fragmentary as it was. For I had previously known none at all." Flambae breathed out heavily. "So yes, I have much anger. Anger has been my truest friend since I was a boy. Anger kept me from being killed simply for the way I was born. Anger was what let me survive attempts by entire gangs of older boys to beat me to death. And when my power came, anger is what fueled the flame."

"But it also burns you out." Cap countered. "When my best friend died in combat, I was angry enough to try and fight the entire German army by myself… and I made a very good attempt at it. But-"

"Was he avenged?" Flambae asked simply.

"The man who pulled the trigger. The rest of the men he was fighting alongside. The man who commanded them all. All of them died by my hand, or at my command." Cap agreed soberly. "And it changed nothing."

"It meant that those Nazi bastards went on to kill no more good friends." Flambae protested. "That is not nothing."

"I meant, it changed nothing for me." Cap corrected mildly. "My friend was still dead. My heart was still empty. And if I'd filled that emptiness with nothing but anger… I wouldn't have liked who I'd have become."

"Perhaps you should have tried." Flambae countered. "Because I did. And that anger has let me fight harder and longer and faster than I could have done otherwise, to survive many places and people that would otherwise have taken my life." He looked at the horizon reflectively. "So that is why when the people keep telling me that I must have less anger, that I must change my ways, I always wish to ask them. Why should I be so quick to abandon that which has helped me survive so many times? Where would I be without it?!?" he finished impassionately.

"You'd be at peace." Cap answered simply, and the evening air fell silent.

"Peace." Flambae said slowly. "And have you actually found this peace?" he challenged.

"Not for a while." Cap admitted. "But… I think I might finally be starting to."

"To find peace." Flambae said musingly, before chuckling. "And suddenly I am amused to realize that that that actually reminds me of what I originally came here to say. Which was that… even back when I still wanted to set you on fire, I also wanted to be entirely clear with you that I was not even thinking of attacking Invisigal to get to you. When I have a problem with a man, I take that problem straight into that man's face. I do not strike at those precious to him, or around him, just to try and torment him. That is coward shit, and I am no coward."

"… do you realize that you were originally phrasing your reassurance in the single most un-reassuring way humanly possible?" Cap finally managed to get out after a shocked pause. "And that's why we ended up punching each other?"

"In hindsight, yes, I have realized." Flambae chuckled. "In my anger management training I should also ask for advice on diplomacy, perhaps?"

"It might help." Cap smiled. "And this is you after anger management training? Good God."

"Hah, no, they only just started." Flambae reassured him. "Apparently I should have been getting it earlier, but you know what they said at the meeting."

"How's Sonar doing?" Cap asked. "I definitely know he needs counseling."

"I am not sure, I do not know him well." Flambae replied. "As for us, Captain… we are at peace now, if you accept. You could readily have taken my job and my freedom, and you chose to let me keep them free and clear. I will respect that."

"Thank you." Cap nodded.

"But that having been said, the next time she hides my lunch I will not be held responsible for my actions." Flambae continued. "The cafeteria food at SDN is absolute shit, I would rather starve than touch it."

"I'll ask her to please respect the food a little more." Cap conceded. "If you'll remember to just check every bag in the refrigerator before you assume it's missing. Also, it might help to write your name on both sides of the bag."

"Or at least a big red 'X' or something." Flambae agreed. "Captain, a question for my curiosity. That origin story you gave us, was it true?"

"Every word." Cap reassured him.

"Bullshit." Flambae countered. "You are no man grown in a tank, no living weapon. You are too emotional, you have too much empathy. And are also too prone to making an idiot of yourself over a pretty girl." he teased.

"Flambae, just because everything you know is true that doesn't always mean you know the whole story." Cap said knowingly. "That paragraph I gave you was the outline. I just left out all the off-duty parts."

"Hahahaha!" Flambae laughed. "You would think after having been in the criminal lifestyle so long I could spot the trick, but no, entirely under our noses! Good one!"

"What does the team think about me, now that you're asking?" Cap wondered.

"Opinions vary. Some believe that your backstory is a fable, and you are actually some SDN veteran brought in to try and stealth mentor us or do an 'Undercover Boss' thing. Some actually believed your little trick about being more weapon than man, and so give you as much space as you ask for. Some simply don't give a fuck so long as you don't annoy them." Flambae shrugged. "Me? I thought you were a self-righteous hypocrite lording it over- well, it doesn't matter what I thought. Clearly you are not."

"I'm starting to think that the problem with the Z-Team is that it's not a team, it's just a bunch of people who work near the same building." Cap thought out loud. "A loose assembly of little sub-cliques or loners where people don't even really know each other, but we're still all expected to be able to work with anybody else in combination as the assignments come in."

"I understand some other branch offices function better than ours, but the Torrance branch has always been the least well-regarded and well-funded. In fact, it sometimes feels like an outright dumping ground." Flambae agreed. "SDN may be keeping us out of jail, but there is a reason none of us are particularly enthusiastic about it as an organization. Before Robert all the dispatchers they gave us were fucking idiots and assholes, that's why we couldn't stand them. At least our current boss is only one of those two things."

"I'm not even going to ask which." Cap replied amusedly. "And he's only been here a few days, so he can't fix everything right away. Still, if you think it's a good idea then I'll put the 'not quite a team yet' item in the suggestion box."

"We have a suggestion box?" Flambae looked at him surprisedly.

"Yes, it's called 'using your words and actually talking to your supervisor of your own free will about your ideas and/or concerns'." Cap replied amusedly.

"No wonder none of us ever found it." Flambae snorted.

* * * * *
​

Earth-Dispatch
Arrival: D Plus 11

"I caught an interesting view through some parking lot security cameras the other night, when I was curious as to why a certain transponder was paralleling the route I knew you use to drive home." Robert greeted Cap in the hallway the next morning.

"I walked into a door." Cap replied evenly.

"… you're certain?" Robert asked, and Cap gave a confirming nod. "All right then, if you say so." Robert chuckled while briefly tapping his nose, and Cap acknowledged the gesture with a brief smile.

"Aww, who's this?" Visi's voice came sweet as sugar over the cubicle wall, pitched almost in baby-talking tones. "Who's this little guy?"

"His name's Beef, and get your damn hands off him." Chase grumbled. Cap and Robert both looked over to see Visi kneeling down by a dog bed up against the wall of Chase's cubicle, vigorously belly-rubbing a cute little black-and-white dog who eagerly rolled back and forth waving all four paws in the air while Chase glowered thunderously down at both of them.

"It's fine, Chase." Robert called out tolerantly.

"Well, he is your dog, but-" Chase looked up and saw the Captain adjacent to Robert and broke off. "Don't you have a meetin' about to start?"

"Come on, both of you." Robert told them, and Cap and Visi headed towards the conference room.

"Walked into a door?" Flambae asked Cap curiously as he entered with Visi trailing him. Robert had stopped outside to wait for Blazer.

"Private joke." Cap reassured him.

"Okay, hold up, since when are you two talking to each other without disses bein' served or hands bein' thrown?" Prism gaped incredulously at them.

"We settled our differences like men." Flambae waved a hand lazily. "He's all right."

"Hah!" Punch Up laughed. "I could've told you that already, lad!"

"Really?" Malevola raised an eyebrow. "Hmmm." she rubbed her chin and gave Cap a thoughtful look.

Visi crossed her arms and gave Malevola an icy stare from where was standing slightly behind Cap, and Malevola looked back at Visi and widened her smirk. An angry flare of Visi's nostrils was met with Malevola giving Cap a leisurely up-down gaze-

"Good morning, everyone." Blazer greeted the room, and Cap and Visi cleared the doorway as Blazer and Robert entered together. The tension instantly deflated.

"All right." Robert began. "We have a special project today, regarding our former member Coupe. Just because she got fired doesn't mean she doesn't still have friends in this room… or enemies outside of it." He reached into the manila folder he was holding and slid some pictures out on the table. "These are known assassins from the organized crime outfit Coupe was working for when she got arrested. We don't know which one of them have been sent here to Torrance. We don't know if they've sent anybody else that isn't a known associate. For that matter, we don't even know if Coupe is still in town or if she's already cleared out. But what we do know is that her old outfit has sent someone, both because Coupe herself has gone entirely dark – even to Punch Up – and because some of our information contacts have reported that new faces in town have very recently started offering money for any current info about Coupe."

"So it's time to get out there on the street and kick arse!" Punch Up said vehemently.

"A branch manager has the privilege of putting all non-911 calls into the bit bucket and declaring that we're having a 'limited services day' if they deem it necessary to free up manpower for a greater tasking." Blazer spoke up. "This isn't exactly the sort of tasking corporate normally anticipated it being used for, but I don't have to get their permission every time I want to do it. Obviously the branch office can't do it all the time or else questions would be asked about why none of our subscribers are getting what they paid for, but I haven't invoked the privilege anytime recently… and I'm choosing to do it now. So for today Robert's board will be dark except in case of actual emergency. And that frees all of you up to hit the streets and roust out all the usual suspects until you find someone that knows something."

"Not a problem, boss lady." Flambae grinned cockily.

"I've drawn up lists of targets and teams." Robert continued. "One special note; Visi, you're the one who has her ear to the street to the best, so today you'll primarily have legwork taskings and not rousts. But we still don't want anyone caught alone on the street today if we have assassins in town, so you'll take some muscle along. Sonar? That's you."

"I'm… not really a bodyguard." Sonar said nervously.

"Visi's no slouch in a fight, we all know this." Robert said reasonably. "And your enhanced hearing is also an excellent information-gathering tool, so putting you on the legwork team makes sense. Plus, you do have a reasonable amount of muscle… and more importantly, you're capable of flying while carrying Visi. Most of those assassins don't have flight powers, so you don't need to be a bodyguard. You're an escape option."

"Cap, since you don't know people in town and Golem is not exactly an investigative resource, you two are the brute squad today." Robert continued. "Both of you stay loose and ready, and if any other team needs backup today – or we get a location on the primary targets – then you roll out and drop on them."

"Strategic reserve. Yes sir." Cap acknowledged stolidly, and Golem grumbled a slow acknowledgement.

"Oh, and one last thing. Coupe's out of contact, so she doesn't know that we're still trying to look out for her. So don't be subtle out there. Make sure everybody on the street knows that even if she's no longer employed at SDN, she still has friends." Blazer said encouragingly. "Maybe if we're loud enough, she'll hear that message out there too."

"God, I hope so." Punch Up nodded eagerly.

"So let's get to work." Robert said, and everybody got up and moved with purpose.

"Chill, Cap, I'll be fine." Visi reassured him breezily as she briefly stopped to say goodbye. "I used to do these legwork runs by myself all the time."

"You saved my job out there, and I owe you one. I'll do my best, Captain. I promise." Sonar assured Cap soberly, and the two men traded a nod as the new partnership headed out. Cap and Golem themselves squared up and headed for the parking lot to make sure that the heavy truck Golem normally used to get around was fully fueled and loaded.

"It's the lowest-danger tasking in the entire list, and she has backup, and he still looked like he was watching her step in front of a bullet." Blazer sighed after they were gone. "Are we going to have to put them on different shifts?"

"I think it was just the whole 'assassins in town' thing that had him worrying a little extra today." Robert said reasonably. "Plus the fact that he's still getting used to the new feelings at all, and kiiinda seems spooked at himself about how intense they might be. Things should settle down soon enough."

"He's really sweet on her, isn't he?" Blazer said warmly. "And I can certainly relate to that. Finding someone new that really clicks with you, then having to juggle that and also being their co-worker… it's definitely an adjustment. But often one that's worth it in the end."

"Stop, you'll make me blush." Robert teased her. "But I've already gotten the whole 'I don't think she sees me that way, I don't want to push, I just want to be a good friend' routine from Cap, so I don't think it's quite at that stage yet."

"… Robert, I would bet my amulet against a box of donuts that she's already fallen for him like a ton of bricks." Blazer looked at him incredulously.

"Has Visi said anything to you about it?" Robert asked her.

"Obviously not or I wouldn't have offered to wager on it. That would be cheating." Blazer said cutely as she kissed Robert on the cheek. "But a girl just knows sometimes." She chuckled. "Besides, Visi was ready to come over the table at Malevola just for looking at him."

"I think that you're lucky that I can't afford a box of donuts, because then you'd have to walk around as Mandy alllll the time." Robert said flirtatiously. "Not that I don't think Visi easily could fall for him, if Cap just gave her a little bit of encouragement." he continued more thoughtfully. "But I don't think she'd risk making the first move. She feels to me like life's kicked her in the teeth too often in the past for her to be up to taking that kind of leap of faith now."

"And you just said that he won't make the first move either… oh Lord help us. They're both idiots." she moaned sympathetically.

"Well… at least we'll have front row seats to the show." Robert consoled her sagely.

* * * * *
​

Author's Note: Poor Steve just cannot deal with all these feelings right now. But hey, surely the relaxed slice-of-life pace in Dispatch will give him a chance to sort himself out at leisure before he has to make any big decisions, right? Right? Guys?

And yes, the reference to the amulet – or, rather, that Blazer has told Robert about it already – means that they've both already had the dinner date scene together. It's just been offstage, as the lives of everybody else are happening offstage. But hey, I told you this Robert was solidly on the Blazer route.

Finally figured out what to do with Flambae. Tried to keep in the 'he's not entirely stable' with 'he's actually not horrible', threw in some childhood trauma, a misunderstanding or two, but hey, they settled it like men.

BTW, that was not Visi torturing Cap deliberately, that was her in full ADHD ramble mode and not consciously realizing exactly what kind of analogy could be drawn between the movie she was talking about and the person she was talking with. But hey, Visi secretly loves romcoms, and now she gets to be in one!

 

[LZB1285]

"These are known assassins from the organized crime outfit Couple was working for when she got arrested.

Click to shrink...

I suspect you've been hit caught out by the "auto-correct".

 

[Gindjurra]

Blazer wasn't blowing smoke up your ass when she told you this morning that we'd done everything we could to get those corpo fuckheads at the head office to pull their heads out and give us a fair chance to fix the mistake instead of dumping the blame on you, and they didn't.

Click to shrink...

Given the lack of training, the entirety of Team Phoenix actually has a very solid court case against SDN for this - firing someone for screwing up because they weren't given the training their contract required is wrongful termination.

Doing it to someone in order to sabotage criminal court-ordered rehabilitation might even result in jail time for the saboteur!

only to be cut off by a smashing of glass as Coupe angrily came out of the man-sized hole that had just opened up in the glass panel adjacent to the conference room door and stormed furiously towards the exit.

Click to shrink...

Even if the rest of the team doesn't join as co-plaintiffs, Coupe has a solid case for wrongful termination due to that lack of training.

I can't figure out why things are so different here."

Click to shrink...

I can, and it has five letters beginning with H.

Oh my God.

Click to shrink...

Some men need a clue-by-four. Steve's a hardier sort, but even he can't ignore a clue-by-rod from god!

 

[cliffc999]

Some men need a clue-by-four. Steve's a hardier sort, but even he can't ignore a clue-by-rod from god!

Click to shrink...

To quote Martya Koudelka from Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan series - "Some fellows you have to hit with a brick to get their attention. Some you have to hit with a big brick."

 

[Lillie Jones]

Thanks for the chapter