Flambae stood up and started throwing flames toward Robert, but Golem stepped into their path.
"Move!" Flambae shouted at Golem as he blocked the attack, before getting a glass of water thrown in his face. The others bursted out laughing.
"So that's how it is, you know what, fuck you, fuck all of you, fucking fuckers." Flambae said before igniting himself and taking off into the air.
"What a loser." Malevola commented.
"Thanks, you saved my life." Robert said as he got up and looked at Golem.
"Yep. And thanks for the drink earlier." Golem replied calmly.
"Well, I was expecting to be burned alive by now, so I didn't plan anything. Anyone else got something to add?" Robert said, addressing all of us.
After a brief silence. "Um, my name is Courtney." Invisigal said.
"Nice to meet you, Courtney." Robert replied.
"Katon-ur was the name given to me on my planet. When I arrived on Earth, the ladies at the Nordstrom Rack where I worked called me Dumpy because of my large posterior. You may call me either." Phenomaman said.
"My name's Victor, because I'm a fucking winner." said Sonar.
"I'm… Alice." said Prism.
"Bruno." Golem said simply.
"Malevola. My last name's Gibb."
"I'm Miguel." I said in turn.
"My name's Colm…" said Punch Up.
"Janelle." Coupé followed.
"So what now? Orgy time?" Invisigal said.
"Oh sure, mega fuego sauce and ass play sounds like a great combo." Robert replied sarcastically.
And we kept talking, the mood lighter than it had been all day.
The next day, we were all gathered in a high-tech hangar, with only one person missing: Flambae.
"Hey everyone, thank you all for coming. Your support really means a lot." Robert said from behind the glass, inside his Mecha.
"Of course it does, I've got dollars to collect." Punch Up said.
"We're here because these broke asses want proof before they pay." Invisigal explained.
"That actually makes a lot more sense." Robert replied.
"Can't believe you hung out with these..."
"What, you jealous old man?" Invisigal shot at Chase.
"Jealous of what? Let me guess, you got into a bar fight, right? That's what criminals do in bars, ruin everyone's fun." Chase replied. Invisigal and Chase kept trading jabs.
"Oookay, Proto Pulse test nineteen commencing. We good when you good, Mechaman." said Royd, a guy I'd seen around the offices a few times but never really talked to.
"Engaging Proto Pulse now." Robert said.
I stepped closer to the computer displaying all the data on the Proto Pulse and the new Mecha, scanning it out of the corner of my eye. "Royd, tell him to get out. Something's wrong. The calculations don't add up. The Stellar Core in your Proto Pulse is producing too much plasma for the Mecha. It won't be able to handle that much energy. It's going to explode."
"W-what? Are you sure?" Royd asked, turning toward me. I nodded to confirm. He trusted me. "Robert, get out of the Mecha, there might be a problem!"
Robert exited the Mecha and came back into the room with us. Just like I had predicted, something went wrong. The Mecha began producing thick purple smoke, then exploded.
"What happened?" Robert asked.
"I don't really know, bruddah. I still failed to recreate the Astral Pulse." Royd said, sounding defeated.
"No pulse means I can't build the man Mecha… But maybe with this guy, I can succeed. He spotted the problem, and thanks to that I was able to warn you before the explosion." he said, pointing at me.
"Your intervention was kind of hot." Malevola whispered in my ear.
Robert stepped toward me. "Spider, no, Miguel, thank you. I don't know what would have happened without your help... Do you think you could help Royd create an Astral Pulse? Since you were an engineer, I figured maybe the two of you together....Sigh… please." he asked.
"I was a genetic engineer, not a mechanical engineer." I said, then added more seriously. "but honestly, I think we can do it. That said, you're going to have to raise my salary."
"Thank you again." Robert said gratefully, while Royd laughed and gave me a friendly slap on the back.
"Okay, everyone listen to me, let's get to work. Um, Miguel, stay here with Royd and try to make progress on this. I'll explain to Blonde Blazer why you're staying behind during the morning shift." Robert said, pulling himself together.
"Alright, see you later." I said to Malevola and the others.
"See you in a bit." she replied, giving me a small wave as she walked toward the hangar exit with the rest of the Z-Team and Chase.
I was left alone with Royd, working on the Astral Pulse and Mechaman.
"These are the man Mecha plans." he said, projecting a hologram of the mech that had exploded just minutes ago. As I studied it, an idea formed.
"Can I modify your design?" I asked.
"Yeah, sure. You got something in mind, Spidah?" he replied, unlocking the holographic schematics with an access code so I could edit them.
I immediately started doing my own thing. I scrapped most of the existing project and rebuilt it from the ground up.
"Here's the core issue as I see it." I said. "Every Astral Pulse prototype you've made tries to solve the same equation. You're forcing a compact containment unit to generate and regulate massive plasma output, then channel that energy into a mech that's way too large and energy-hungry. The transfer losses alone are brutal, and any miscalculation overloads the system. That's why it keeps destabilizing."
I gestured at the hologram and began reshaping it.
"What I'm proposing is the opposite approach. Instead of a small Astral Pulse feeding a massive Mecha, we build a little larger, more stable plasma container and integrate it directly into a smaller platform. Not a full-sized Mecha, an armored exosuit. Something closer to a combat armor than a walking tank. That way, the Astral Pulse doesn't have to overcompensate. Energy production, containment, and output stay within predictable thresholds, and the pilot becomes part of the energy loop instead of just sitting inside a shell."
I adjusted the proportions again, refining joints, power conduits, and thruster placement.
"Shorter distances for plasma flow. Less structural stress. Faster response time. And since the armor is smaller and lighter, you can trade raw mass for mobility, precision, and efficiency. The Astral Pulse finally works with the machine instead of fighting it."
After more than three hours of designing, modeling, and recalculating, I stepped back.
"This is what I'm thinking." I did my best to create something similar to Iron Man's armor, but it ended up looking more like War Machine's.
Royd stared at the hologram in silence for a few seconds.
"But… this is, this is fantastic." he finally said, grinning as he held out his fist. I bumped it.
"With this." I added. "Robert will be way faster than with the older generations of Mecha. More control, more adaptability."
"For real, bruddah." Royd said, visibly fired up again. "Now I just need to find the right materials, rebuild new Astral Pulse cores, assemble everything, and run tests… but yeah. We've made a huge leap forward."
"Alright, go on, Spidah, take your break." Royd told me as he turned back to the schematics.
"I'll leave you to it." I replied, heading toward the cafeteria.
Inside, I found a few members of the team already there.
"Well, well, look who's back among us?" Sonar said.
"Yeah, I'll be back with you guys this afternoon." I answered.
"So, did you manage to help him?" Malevola asked as I walked to the fridge and grabbed the meal I'd left there that morning.
"Yeah, I think we're onto something pretty solid." I said, sitting down at the table next to her.
"You don't want to tell us more?" she asked, Sonar joining in at the same time.
"Not yet. For now it's just sketches, basically. And you, how did it go?" I asked.
"We had to deal with some Red Rings lads again." Punch Up replied from farther down the table.
"It'd be faster if we just wiped them all out." Coupé commented beside him.
"I agree with you." I said.
"Other than that, we thought we'd go over to Robert's place tonight, kind of organize a team party." Malevola said. "You'll need to bring a lamp or something. According to Royd, his place is empty."
"If that's the case, I'll grab something on the way." I replied.
After a few more minutes of talking, it was time for our second shift.
Beep beep* A mission popped up, a woman was asking for a cat sitter while she went grocery shopping.
Beep beep* Another mission appeared, this time someone wanted us to stand in line for them in front of a store where a new game was releasing.
I managed to avoid getting sent to those two, only to end up assigned to clean an apartment. I arrived on site.
"Young man, perfect timing. You got here quickly. That's already better than the one from last week." an elderly woman said, pointing out the areas that needed cleaning.
"Alright, I'll take care of it." I replied, getting to work and quickly cleaning the hallway and a few other rooms.
"I'm done, ma'am." I said, signaling the client. She came to check, then told me. "No, redo the bathroom. It needs to shine more."
So I went back at it, taking a deep breath and dealing with it.
"Flambae still hasn't come back?" Robert asked over comms.
"No. Sick of your shit maybe, but yeah, I haven't heard from him since last night." Prism replied.
"Funny, I thought he'd catch me on my way to work, fuck me up in the parking lot."
"Yeah, I thought so too…" Prism said.
"I'm done, ma'am. This time everything's perfect." I told her. She checked again.
"It's wonderful. I'll call more often." she said.
"Yeah… sure." I replied, leaving her apartment and marking the mission as complete.
Beep beep* new mission. This time, a gang war was going on in the Warehouse District.
"Shit, the Red Rings closing in on this biker gang." Robert comments.
"Actually it's the Freegoes, and it's an e-biker gang. Even worse." Invisigal comments in return.
This time, I was dispatched with Prism.
I arrive on the scene first, swinging between rusted silos. The scene below looks like pure chaos.
Bikers, leaving trails of blue and green neon, against the Red Rings, armed with improvised weapons and Molotov cocktails.
I report to Prism. "There are about thirty of them."
I see Prism appear on the roof of a warehouse, she creates a glowing duplicate of me.
Below, shots are fired.
A Red Ring guns down a Freegoes rider still on his bike.
I drop down, stick to a wall, then snap, two webs shoot out and rip a biker off his motorcycle, sending it crashing at full speed into a group of Red Rings.
"One neutralized." I say calmly.
"Only one? I'd say a bit more." Prism replies.
She raises her arms, and suddenly the light from the dock's streetlamps concentrates. A beam bursts out like a fan, blinding half a dozen Red Rings.
"In your eyes, bitches!" she yells.
I charge into the mess, jumping and beating down anyone in my path, accompanied by my duplicate.
A Red Ring tries to hit me with a chain. I grab it, wrap it around my arm, and yank hard. He flies, lands in front of me, and I punch him in the face.
To my left, a bike comes at me to ram me. I dodge by jumping, plant my feet into the biker's chest, and send him flying into a wall. The bike keeps going on its own and crashes into some other bikers.
The Freegoes start to panic.
"Red Rings and Freegoes are retreating." Prism announces.
"Good." I say. "We finish it."
A few minutes later, everything was cleared.