Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sonar sat across from Robert in the conference room of the SDN office, the room was silent and Sonar will admit he was curious to know why he was called in here. They all had a fairly productive day, though not without a few setbacks, Sonar himself felt like he could still feel his ears ringing from when one of his lovely team members decided it would be a fun idea to assault his senses with extremely loud sounds.

“So, I’m sure you understand why you’re here.”

Robert finally broke the silence, but Sonar was even more confused it couldn’t be because he was being cut, sure he had some inconveniences today involving Coupe, but last he looked Invisigal was still at the bottom.

“No, no idea whats up? Whats going on Robbie?”

Sonar replied attempting to apply his usual nonchalance to his words to not let his swarm of emotions show.

“Well uh… there is no easy way to say this, but I’m cutting you from the team…”

Sonar didn’t, or rather couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had been trying his ass off that entire day, sure he had some hiccups, but he was sure when he last looked it was still Invisigal getting cut he was sure he had done a good enough job.

“What… no, what about Invisigal she was… she was on the bottom she should be getting cut!”

Sonar could feel his composure starting to slip now that the truth of the matter was out. He didn’t understand how he could be getting let go, what would Malevola think this was supposed to be their shot at turning their lives around together and now he was losing that shot. Thoughts started swimming through his head, wondering what more he could have done, Sonar thought he had been improving, small improvements, but he swore he had been doing better. He knew he was far from perfect, but he was honestly trying.

“Invisigal’s last job for the day earned her just enough points to pass you, I’m sorry Sonar, but-”

“NO”

Sonar shouted as he woke up in his bed with fingers gripping the sheets tightly as he breathed out heavily.

“Fuck… man it was just a really bad dream…”

He said as he started to come back to his senses. He was fine, his job was safe and secure. He knew this because he not only witnessed Coupe making an ever so dramatic exit out of the SDN office building, but due to his enhanced hearing he was able to make out at least some of their conversation. Robert had chosen to keep him over Coupe, but the fact remained that Sonar could have very well been let go in her place; he narrowly escaped job termination and he knew that meant he still needed to work harder to show Robert that he was a valuable asset to Z-Team.

“Ugh… what time is it?”

Sonar turns his head to look at the clock on his nightstand which currently read ‘3:00 am’ which made Sonar groan, he couldn’t go into work tomorrow like a zombie especially when he just told himself he needs to work harder. More importantly he was worried his little outburst would have had a different effect that might be hazardous to his health. He decidedly never liked accidentally waking Malevola up let alone at this hour, in his years living with her he learned real quickly she can be less than pleasant if she doesn’t get enough sleep, especially ever since they started working at SDN and had a reason to need to be up early.

“Vic… what’s all the shouting for its like… three in the morning…”

Malevola said through bleary tired eyes as she peered into the door of Sonar’s room concern lacing her features even through the tiredness.

“Sorry Mal, just had a bad dream. You can go back to bed, I’ll be doing the same shortly, don't worry.”

Malevola’s tiredness won out as she did eventually make her way back to her bed, but not without muttering out a quick,
“Mmkay, but you can talk to me about it later if you need to Vic, goodnight.”

Once she was gone Sonar tried laying back down and falling back asleep, but after a bit of tossing and turning begrudgingly sat back up.

“Ugh no dice still can’t sleep after that. Maybe I’ll just check a few things to relax my mind and hope that lets me get some sleep…”

Sonar then reached over for his phone and upon opening it began checking a bunch of different stocks he had his eyes on to check for any notable changes, humming along as he did so sometimes muttering aloud to himself over a various number of changes he spotted. As he mindlessly scrolled through the various numbers and money amounts on his screen he began to once again reflect on the day's events. Malevola wanted them to go clean and he would be damned if he was the one who dragged them down, and yet there he was so close to doing just that. More than just that over the time he’d spent working at the SDN he’d found he actually quite liked the idea of using his skill set to help people rather than hurt them for a change, not that he’d openly admit that around anyone just yet. Then there was the team’s new dispatcher himself Robert, the man who earlier today had the unpleasant job of choosing someone from the team to cut on only his third day of work at the company.

Sonar had to admit he did not envy the dispatcher’s position. Three days of shift was hardly enough time for a single person to make an informed decision on cutting someone from the team. The longer Sonar’s thoughts hovered over Robert he eventually noticed he had halted his scrolling.

“Why am I even thinking so much about this man?”

Sonar asked himself as he closed down his phone and stared at the ceiling. The man was by all accounts fairly average, underwhelmingly so if Sonar had to say so, but at the same time he had to acknowledge the effort the man seemed to be putting into Z-Team. Most dispatchers they got barely lasted a couple days before requesting to be moved to a different team. Who’d have thought that a bunch of villains attempting to become heroes would be a challenge for most to manage, so imagine Sonar’s surprise when not only was Robert still here, but seemed to genuinely care about them. Sure he had a temper, was fairly grumpy and has already had to call a few heated team meetings when they all kept fucking up on the job, but Robert was giving a certain type of tough love that Sonar hated to admit Z-Team seemed to need. Sonar silently hoped that this dispatcher would stick around, and that maybe, just maybe he could be the hero that both Mal and Robert seemed to believe he was capable of being. As Sonar placed his phone on the charger and rolled over for bed his last thoughts were how he could prove to Robert he made the right choice to keep him.

Chapter Text

The first shift next morning went well, Sonar had managed not only to successfully complete more than a handful of jobs, such as a few public appearances on behalf of the SDN. Sonar even managed to handle a few drug busts, though not without losing the mental battle against his urges and nicking a little something for himself for later. All in all nothing that Sonar couldn’t handle, at least that's what Sonar thought until he heard Robert’s tired voice come over their earpieces.

“Okay team, I’m calling an early lunch break, I’ll see you all back at the office.”
No further word or direction came over the mic, just that simple dismissal from the morning shift. Sonar decided to make a stop and pick up a coffee on the way back to the office since he wasn’t exactly fond of the instant stuff they keep stocked in the break room. When he arrived at the coffee shop he frequents, an idea suddenly popped into his mind. Sonar didn’t know why he felt compelled to do so, but when it was his turn to place an order he ordered a second cup to bring back for Robert. Sonar chalked it up to just wanting to stay in the good graces of the boss man, besides he could tell Robert was somewhat exhausted from how his voice sounded over the comms today, well more tired than usual.

Sonar stumbled into the breakroom back at the SDN and immediately spotted Robert already on his way towards the coffee machine presumably to make some of that instant stuff that Sonar will argue barely constitutes proper coffee. Not wanting to waste any further time Sonar uneasily made his way over to Robert holding out the steaming cup of coffee out towards him.

“Oh hey Bobert, uh I stopped to get myself a coffee on the way back and figured I’d get one for you as well, sorry I didn’t exactly know what you’d like.”

Robert turned towards the hybrid; he could immediately spot the signs of exhaustion on the man no matter how hard he was clearly trying to hide it behind his usual brand of smug nonchalance. He looked a little uneasy on his feet like he could wobble and fall over at any second, his eyelids looked the faintest bit heavy and his usually perked up large ears had a certain droop to them. This was decidedly not the usual alert and sharp witted Sonar that Robert had grown accustomed to, and in large part the reason he had called for lunch break early. Robert had noticed that Sonar hadn’t been taking his required rest periods between jobs, even going as far as to offer to take a job Robert had planned to send someone else on, and not just the jobs that would get him close to that Vanderstank guy he idolizes.

Robert realized he was lost in thought over his team member’s alarmingly improved work ethic that he was just standing there after Sonar had offered him a drink, and so he cast an eye toward the cup before reaching out and grabbing it.

“Uhm… Thank you Sonar I appreciate it.”

Robert said as he went and took a sip of the warm drink, more than a bit surprised at the gesture from Sonar, who up till very recently he had barely spoken too much to individually. Robert was surprised a second time as he tasted the coffee that Sonar had brought him, it was honestly some of the best coffee he had tasted in who knows how long. It was definitely sweeter than he normally took his, he probably should have expected that though from what he gathered Sonar had quite the sweet tooth, but all in all it was a pleasant surprise from the man.

“Wow… uh this is really good Sonar thanks… though I normally don’t have mine this sweet.”
Sonar paused his drink to look up at Robert with a slightly apologetic look, of course he shouldn’t have assumed that Robert would like as much sweetness in his drink as Sonar did himself.

“Oh, uh sorry Robbie I just kinda ordered two of my usual cause I didn’t know what you’d like. I just wanted to get something for you since you sounded pretty stressed today and-”

Robert cut Sonar off from his rambling with a raised hand; this was as good a time as any to say what he needed to say to Sonar in regards to the morning shift.

“Okay first, I didn’t say it was bad. I actually like this quite a bit, it's just not my usual taste. Secondly, I was looking to speak to you when you got back to the office. I'm gonna have you take the rest of the day off, so once you finish up lunch you can head home.”

Sonar paused taking a sip of his own drink at Robert’s words, he couldn’t fathom why he’d be sent home early, he started trying to figure out what he could have possibly done wrong. Steadying himself against the counter in the break room all he could manage to get out was,

“What, why? I was handling all my jobs well. I barely made any mistakes… I…”
Robert simply sighed as he placed his cup down and reached over to place a hand on Sonar’s shoulder.

“You’re right, you were doing a great job out there and I appreciate the hard work I do, buuut you were clearly overworking yourself even right now I can tell you are about to topple over, you’re exhausted Sonar and the last thing I need or want is you hurting yourself because you pushed yourself too hard, so go home and get some rest the rest of the team can handle the remaining work for the day.”

“But-”
Sonar began to protest, but Robert quickly shut him down quickly once more.

“Sonar this isn’t up for debate, if you keep protesting I’ll go and get Malevola to drag your ass back home herself, is that clear?”

Something in Robert’s firm tone snuffed out any remaining fight Sonar had in him to argue his way back into more work for the day and he visibly deflated.

“Alright, Alright I get it Robbie I’ll head out once I finish up here, no need to bring Mal into this.”
Sonar conceded partly because he did not want to get an earful from Malevola over this, even though he knew his absence in the second shift would probably result in that when she got home anyway, but he’d like to delay that as much as possible.

Robert turned to head out of the break room, but not without remembering to pick up the coffee Sonar had bought him, he felt bad that he had to be so firm with Sonar right after he had gone out of his way to buy him a drink, but he’d have felt even worse if Sonar had collapsed out in the field because he wasn’t taking care of himself. As he approached the door he turned towards Sonar, noticing the dejected look on the man as he halfheartedly started poking at his lunch and decided to speak up.

“Hey, Sonar… I just wanted to say thanks again for the coffee. I really do appreciate it and… well I’ll see you tomorrow okay?”

Sonar gave a half hearted grin and nodded with a quick,

“No problem Robbie.”
Before returning to his meal as Robert made his way back to his desk ahead of the next shift.

This was how Sonar found himself where he was at this exact moment, sitting on the couch in his apartment watching a bunch of Law & Order reruns while tucked firmly into a blanket cocoon of depression, and this was exactly the state Malevola found him in when she walked into the apartment hours later.

“Yo Vic, you okay man? I heard the Boss man sent you home early today.”
When Sonar slowly turned his attention to Malevola she noticed a familiar white powder across his face and immediately got worried.

“Victor… I know today has been rough for you, but did you really need to do that?”
Those words seemed to snap Sonar out of his depression haze as he heard what Mal was assuming.

“Wait, Mal for once it is actually totally not what you are thinking, I just picked up a bunch of those little powdered donuts on the way home as a little depression snack, see?”

As Sonar says this his hand shoots up waving the hostess mini donut packaging to accentuate his point. Upon seeing this Mal immediately relaxed and fell onto the couch next to the bundled up bat burrito on the couch.

“Oh thank fuck, you had me worried there for a second man. Now I think we should probably talk about what happened today.”

In response as if it were even possible Sonar somehow seemed to shrink even further into the bundle of fabric surrounding him. He knew this was coming, but talking about his emotions was never really his strong suit. He trusted Malevola so that made the ensuing conversation easier if only marginally so.

Before Sonar could speak up Malevola spoke again,

“Does this have anything to do with what happened last night?”

Sonar let out a sigh, Malevola was as sharp as ever, and could read him like a book, a fact he normally would take comfort in, but right now felt like a huge double-edged sword.

“Sharp as ever Mal, I just, ugh give me a moment please you know I don’t do well with these emotional talks and shit.”

And so that's precisely what Malevola did; she simply sat there and waited, the room enveloped in anticipatory silence awaiting Sonar’s next words. When Sonar finally spoke again his voice was surprisingly shaken, missing the usual cool monotone indifference he tended to speak with,

“It was almost me Mal… If… If Robert hadn’t chosen to fire Coop I was next in line and, and I just hate the idea of failing, failing you, failing myself, and for whatever reason failing Robert.”

Malevola took in all of her friend’s words, and understood immediately what had happened, Sonar nearly had lost his chance at redemption, and he wanted to be sure he didn’t run that risk again. Before she could speak again he continued,

“So today I worked extra hard today, taking as many jobs as I could sometimes even running from one to the next without returning to SDN which I know, I know is against protocol, and as Robert pointed out hazardous to my fucking well-being, but I just wanted to prove to everyone that I deserved to still be here, prove that Robert made the right choice.”

Malevola immediately leaned over and hugged the blanket mound that was her best friend, just letting the silence settle in the room for a bit before speaking again.

“Vic, I am very proud of you, this whole SDN thing was my idea, but you’ve been taking the job surprisingly seriously, though I do have one question for you mate.”

Sonar craned his neck up from his current position, slumped against Malevola’s side to look at her properly for the first time since he started explaining himself.

“What is it Mal?”

“Why do you care so much what Robert thinks about you anyway? Most dispatchers our team gets don’t even last a full week anyway, so why now?”

This was not a question Sonar was expecting, and even less one he really wanted to face answering right now, but he knew he couldn’t really give Mal a bullshit answer she’d see right through it and no doubt become even more curious about the answer.

“I don’t know Mal, he just seems… different, like he actually gives a shit about us bunch of fuck ups, why else would he sit us down multiple times to talk sense into us, he clearly cares somewhat about seeing us becoming heroes, believes in us, and…”
Sonar paused as he thought about the words he was about to say next.

“He… he sees me Mal, like very few outside of you do in this world, he doesn’t look at me and just see some loser drug addict, or some criminal scum, or even some half animal freak or some sort of monster. He just sees me… sees Victor. He for whatever fucking reason seems to see something in me that almost no one else ever has, and I want to prove that his faith in me wasn’t misplaced.”

In all her time knowing him, Malevola had never heard Victor speak about anyone like that, let alone a seemingly average completely unremarkable man who they’ve known only for a short while. She didn’t know fully yet what to make of her friend’s new found attachment to their dispatcher, but she’d never seen him this motivated before, not even at the promise of a wild weekend long bender.

“Well I can’t say I expected you to get in so deep over our new dispatcher like this mate, but I’ve always had your back and whatever this thing with Robert ends up being is no different just promise me one thing kay?”

Sonar didn’t quite know what to make of what Malevola was saying, he didn’t really have a thing for Robert did he? I mean Mal was right he was painfully average, really truly unremarkable by most metrics Sonar would care to measure him by, and yet he found himself drawn to the man, Robert Robertson the third, the man who saw some unseen potential within Victor that he himself struggled to see. Sonar was no stranger to being with men, sure he preferred women more often than not, but truthfully when you live life as a hybrid with a bat head you learn to not be too picky with your choice in partners, and he said it himself, Robert seemed to actually care about Sonar, to what degree remained to be seen, but enough to send him home early for his own well-being, and barring a few interactions when he had first met the man rarely seemed to react at all to his bat features.

‘Shit I am in deep aren’t I?

“What is it Mal?”
Malevola leaned further in and gave a cheeky grin before responding.

“I better be part of your wedding!”

“Oh fuck off…”
Sonar groaned as he playfully shoved Malevola off of him.

“Okay okay, but in all seriousness I just want you to take better care of yourself, that's something both me and Robert can agree on.”

“Okay fine, I’ll try and take things a little easier starting tomorrow, now you wanna join me for my Law & Order marathon? Now with 100% less depression?”

Sonar asked already waving the remote towards her a small smile finally creeping back onto his face having felt exceptionally lighter getting all of that off his chest.

“Sure thing mate got any more of those donuts left?”

Sonar reached into the plastic bag sitting on the other side of him from Malevola pulled out another package of mini donuts and tossed them to her as they both settled in for the night with Sonar feeling ever so slightly better about the coming work day.

Chapter Text

Okay so after some deliberation and listening to feedback I will continue this story further, though the next few chapters might take a small bit longer to get out since I hadn't really planned out the next bits nearly as much as this first part. However because of my ever flowing ideas for Sonar and Mechabat fics, and to avoid creative burnout from this story I might begin posting a few other fics on the side to add some variety to my writing schedule so the next thing I post may be a continuation of this one or it may be a completely different idea of mine.

Another reason I want to explore some of my other fic ideas, is because while I love writing Angsty pining depressed Sonar, because I truly do feel they sort of glossed over the lasting effects of episode 3 a bit with who gets fired and who stays I do feel I want to write some stuff with Sonar acting much more like he normally does in game with his almost smug confidence and seeming indifference in his tone of voice because thats the version of Sonar that first got my attention, but I also really wanted an excuse to start to touch on all of my headcanons surrounding Sonar's backstory using my analysis of all the crumbs of info and dialogue from both the game and the comics. I do hope that I accomplished so far writing Sonar in a way that feels like it could be canon accurate and compliant while trying to add a little extra depth to his character. Anyways I think I've rambled on long enough thank you again for giving my work a read and I will see you all next time whether it is with another chapter here, or the start of one of my other ideas.

~ Zephyr_Otter

Chapter Text

Sonar’s next shift came and went without any major issues, he had taken Malevola and Roberts concerns to heart and actually paced himself more, even taking some of his time in between jobs and shifts to visit Robert at his desk and also spend time with Beef who had seemingly taken quite a liking to the hybrid eliciting some jokes from Robert that his dog was beginning to cheat on him with another man. All in all this was a good shift and this time Sonar truly felt it. As Sonar was making his way back to the office at the end of the shift he decided it was as good a time as ever to bring up what he’d been thinking about all day. He had planned to try and ask Robert to meet up after work so he could properly thank the man for keeping his sorry ass on the team and perhaps explain his behavior the day prior.

“Hey, uh Robbie my man?”
Sonar spoke still a bit nervous about what he was planning to do, he wasn’t used to being vulnerable around anyone outside of Malevola and even then it could be hard sometimes, but he knew he wouldn’t feel right until he did this.

“What's up Sonar? Is there a problem?”
Robert’s voice coming through Sonar’s earpiece made him briefly pause trying to think of how he wanted to say it. However the lengthy silence caused Robert to call Sonar’s name with a layer of concern laced into his voice this time.

“Oh uh, no there’s no problem Bobert, I uh just was gonna ask… are you free after work today? I was gonna see if you wanted to go out, maybe get a drink somewhere or something.”

Before Robert could even formulate a response a cacophony of comments came from the rest of the team.

“Aw yeah!, a night out for drinks after a long day sounds awesome! Come on Bobby boy about time you joined the rest of us for some time outside of work for once.”
Came Prism’s voice first giving her usual flare to her tone clearly excited at the prospect of a night out.

“Aye not a bad idea lad I’m in too.”
Chimed in Punch-up sounding almost as equally enthusiastic. This started a chain reaction of agreements from most of the rest of the team, barring Malevola who likely understood what Sonar was aiming for after their talk the previous day.

“Uh… you know what? What the hell why the fuck not?”
Robert’s voice finally cut in relenting to the team’s sudden eagerness for some last minute team bonding over drinks. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t like the prospect of getting to know his team a bit more outside of just work. With Robert’s agreement the comms flared to life once more with the team trying to settle on where to go, with almost every idea shot down because one of the other members of Z-Team had been previously banned from one of the establishments brought up.

Sonar for his part hadn’t really said much other than chiming in whenever it was his turn to say a place was a no go. He was too preoccupied with playing mental damage control over the derailing of his plans. He wasn’t expecting to have the rest of the team around when he planned to try and be vulnerable with Robert and talk about emotional shit. He’d have to try and catch Robert alone at whatever establishment they end up choosing to spend the night in.

Eventually the group lands on the only place in town that not a single person from Z-Team had been banned from yet, the local villain bar, The Sardine. Being a villain bar made it a bit of a challenge managing to get Robert in with Invisigal even having to make up some story about Robert’s fake villainous ways to get him passed the bouncer. Sonar had to admit this was not the type of place he had in mind when asking Robert to come out with him somewhere tonight, besides a bar like this was probably not the best place for him to be while trying to work on his recovery, but it was the only place everyone could go to so he just had to try and keep himself together.

Sonar began the evening watching Malevola arm wrestle some of the other patrons at the Sardine taunting each one of them when they failed to outdo her, he honestly thought it was funny when some of them claimed it was a fluke and would challenge her a second time only to lose just as badly as the first time he really rubbed those repeated losses in their face even harder. Eventually Sonar had excused himself to find a quieter area of the bar well, as quiet as one could probably get in a place like this. It was easy for Sonar to get overstimulated in noisy crowded places like this, normally he’d be drowning himself in drugs and booze to dull his senses a bit and make everything more tolerable for the duration, urges that he was fighting hard not to give into right now.

Eventually he made his way over to the billiard tables deciding he’d play against a few folks, maybe earn some quick cash by placing a few bets here and there if he liked his odds of winning well enough. After a few rounds Sonar heard Roberts voice calling his name and turned to see the man approaching with a drink ordered for him that he placed down on the billiard table next to Sonar. Realizing that this was probably the best chance he was gonna get all night and when Robert turned to leave after delivering his drink without letting himself think too hard on it Sonar reached out and grabbed Robert’s arm to stop him.

“Hey, uhm.. This is kinda hard for me but, uh…”
He started, causing Robert to turn around and place his attention back on Sonar, recognizing the man had something he wanted to say, but was likely struggling from it based on the look on the hybrid's face so he silently stood there letting Sonar get out whatever it was he wanted to say.

Sonar gripped his billiard cue tightly wringing it between his hands as he prepared to get things off his chest.

“Look I know it was probably a by the books, bottom line type of decision, but… thanks”
Robert gave Sonar a faint smile recognizing how hard that must have been for him to get off his chest and patted him on the shoulder before heading back out presumably to get everyone else their drinks.
Once Robert is out of the room Sonar visibly deflates as he lets out tension in his body he didn’t even notice he was holding. He still had more he wanted to say to Robert, but he’d wait till a better time than in some villain bar. Sonar proceeded to play a few more rounds and win a nice handful of cash off some of the other patrons who he lulled into a false sense of security by throwing the first bit of the game only to turn around and skillfully win the game once they got cocky. Eventually he decided to head to the bathroom as his drinks were finally hitting him, plus he wouldn’t say no to somewhere even more secluded to let his sensitive ears get a break from the constant bombardment of noises.

Once there Sonar remembers the packet of coke he had nicked from one of the drug deals he had helped bust the other day at work. Pulling it out he began eying the packet of white powder, but before he could actually put it to use his mind raced with thoughts. First of Mal and how he knows she’d react if she found out he relapsed again, he’d already done it once earlier this week, which he’d admit he didn’t cover that one up too well… okay he didn’t cover it up at all. Then his thoughts shifted to Robert, the man who for reasons Sonar still could not explain put his faith into him and seemed to truly believe he could be a better man than he currently was. The longer he stared at the bag, thinking of what they’d think or say made the prospect increasingly less appealing, but before he could make a decision he heard the bathroom door slam open.

Turning around he is surprised to see some large man with reptilian-like features dragging Robert into the bathroom and throwing him against the mirror shattering it in the process and spitting a fireball towards Robert that he just manages to dodge. Sonar watches as the man approaches Robert and pinning him against the wall as his throat glowing bright orange as he was preparing to blast Robert with another burst of flames, Robert struggling to reach a broken shard of the mirror to attack the man with. Before he fully registers what happens Sonar changes into his more monstrous form and approaches the man from behind before clobbering him, sending him onto the floor out cold. Once the threat had been evaded, Sonar's eyes met Robert’s realizing this was the first time Robert had seen his full bat form in person and not just as an image on the screen during work.

“Uhm, so… you alright?”
Sonar asked, being the one to finally break the silence.

“Yeah, yeah thanks for the help Sonar, though we should probably go help the others with the mess outside.”
Hearing this Sonar turned his attention to the sounds he now noticed coming from outside the bathroom he could hear shouts, screams, the sounds of punches being thrown, glass being shattered, it sounded like all hell broke loose while Sonar was hiding out in the bathroom. Sonar agreed and the two made their way out, Sonar didn’t even bother to ask questions as he joined the fray.

Later that night, or was it technically early morning? Sonar didn’t really care to think about that at this point his whole body was sore as he sat at one of the outdoor seating tables at some Mexican fast food joint. The team had eventually been evicted from the premises following what Sonar would likely call the most exciting bar brawl he’d participated in, at least in a long time. Sonar had to admit what made the entire thing worth it was seeing Robert in action, for a man with no apparent superpowers Sonar was impressed at how well Robert handled himself in a bar brawl with literal super villains he had made a mental note never to get on old Robbie’s bad side after seeing the state he left a few of those patrons at the bar in. That sight alone was more than worth the sore body and torn up suit he was now wearing. He would likely regret it in the morning when all the bruises really start hurting like a bitch, but in the moment he was happy.

Sonar’s thoughts are interrupted as Phenomeman, the team’s new replacement recruit to fill Coupe’s slot, strode over to the rest of the team carrying trays of all the food they had ordered announcing his arrival in his usual boisterous loud voice of his.

“I am happy to provide the team with these inauthentic Mexican calories to help us all refuel after that eventful night!”
He said as the group began dividing up the food according to who ordered what. As Sonar unwrapped his food he noticed a cockroach scuttling across the nearby trashcan. Snatching it he dropped it squarely onto the middle of his food, his bat physiology tended to call for some less than conventional dietary habits that Sonar had grown used to. He did however decidedly attempt to ignore the look Prism had given him as he began eating his food; it was a look he was unfortunately used to getting from people due to the things he tended to eat, something he’d dealt with for as long as he could remember.

After some time for the team to eat and enjoy some idle chatter Sonar heard Robert clear his throat and begin to speak and so Sonar actually turned his attention back to the conversation the others were having to find out what it was Robert was gonna say.

“So there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you all. This guy, Robert that you all know, its a mask, he’s the man who sits behind his desk, biding his time, dreaming of the day he gets back into the fight.”
Now Sonar was really interested, and judging by the looks on everyone's faces he wasn’t the only one. There had been bets going on the last few days as to what Robert’s superhero identity was, which had been proving exceedingly difficult due to his lack of any obvious super powers. As Sonar had stated when discussing how Robert had allegedly managed to mess Flambae up at a hero bar prior to joining SDN, he really did seem like just a guy, though after tonight’s brawl Sonar really started to doubt that.

“I hadn’t told you all who I was because, I’m really starting to like you all, and I’m not sure you’re like the real me, but the difference between this team getting by and this team being great is trust…”
Sonar ever the attentive man, as one needs to be when in the conman business didn’t miss Invisigal’s expression shifting when Robert mentions the word trust, but rather than interrupting Robert’s speech he decided to simply file this info away for later. Choosing to instead hear the rest of what Robert had to say.

“So you should get to know the real me, uhm, I’m Mecha Man.”
A brief silence followed as Sonar was surprised to say the very least, Robert, Z-Team’s dispatcher, who by all accounts until tonight appeared to be some unassuming average joe every day man, was THE Mecha Man? Sonar suddenly became even more interested in this man, and to his surprise even more determined to prove himself. This news made the events tonight at The Sardine make much more sense to Sonar how Robert seemed to handle himself so well during the brawl.

“No Fuckin way… can’t be…”
Punch-Up was the first to break the silence sharing his disbelief at the revelation they had just been given.

“I mean, it could be.”
Malevola interjected next, showing a bit less skepticism than Punch had.

“Thats like, a real superhero.”
Prism chimed in, mirroring Sonar’s own thoughts only moments prior when he took in the news.
“It is you, you little shit.”

Sonar watched as Flambae approached Robert flames beginning to ignite across his arms as he sent a burst of flames hurdling towards the Z-Team’s dispatcher. Before Sonar even had a chance to react himself Golem had moved to block the flames with his own body standing firm until flambae’s flames receded. Before he could send out a second round of flames Malevola took the remainder of her drink and doused Flambae with it, extinguishing his flames entirely. The fiery man cursed out the rest of the team in a heated outburst taking off and leaving the scene with a very aggressive,
“Fuck you, fuck all of you you fucking fuckers.”

Sonar wasn’t sure if they’d even see Flambae again after whatever the fuck that was that just happened, but right now he was just glad that Robert hadn’t gotten seriously hurt, he definitely owed Golem a solid for that one.

After everything cooled down the team went around the circle if you could call it that and each took turns revealing their own real names in a show of respect for Robert trusting them with his identity as Mecha Man. Malevola opting to give her last name instead seeing as how Malevola was actually her real name having never bothered with an actual alias. Eventually it was Sonar’s turn.

“The name’s Victor, cause I’m a fucking winner!”
He proclaimed proudly as he slapped his hands down on the table. Seeing Robert crack a smile, and what Sonar thought he could detect as a faint chuckle at Sonar’s declaration had Sonar falter a bit, and for the first time he was thankful for the fur that covered his face as it hid the light heat that he could feel creeping up on his cheeks.

Eventually as the night began to wind down, each of the Z-Team had slowly made their way out for the night and made their way back to their respective homes. All that remained was Sonar, Malevola and Robert.

“So Robert, me and Vic should probably head home and crash ourselves soon, but if you want I could drop you home first with one of my portals.”
Malevola offered with a warm smile towards the man who both her and Sonar could tell was absolutely beat, both literally and figuratively. Robert considered her offer for a few seconds before a large yawn escaped his body answering his question for him.

“I’ll take that as a yes then.”
Malevola said already readying her sword and after getting the location of Robert’s house channeled a portal as the three crossed through it arriving just outside of Robert’s apartment building, thankfully at this time of night everyone was likely asleep as to not have concerns raised about Malevola’s portal opening in the middle of the street at like four in the morning.

“Thanks for the ride, er… portal home Malevola, have a good night you two see you guys at work.”
Robert said, raising his hand in a small wave before turning to head inside.

“Hey, uh Robert?”
Sonar spoke up, stopping Robert right as he was about to reach the door causing him to turn around as Sonar approached him.

“Whats up Sona-, Victor, sorry still getting used to calling you all something besides your aliases. Well with the exception of Malevola apparently.” he quickly added with a dry chuckle that Sonar found that he couldn’t help, but reciprocate. He couldn’t explain it, but there was just something about Robert that he found infectious.

“I was wondering, uh, would you like to go out somewhere just the two of us sometime? Totally cool if you don’t want to after tonight, I mean I promise I won’t start any fights like what happened tonight. I just kinda wanted to maybe hang and get to know you more I mean now that I know my boss is fucking Mecha Man and all you suddenly became much more interesting and-”

Robert smiled to himself as he found himself once again cutting Sonar off from his rambling, as he saw Malevola clearly trying to hold back a chuckle herself.

“It’s a date, just give me the details when you have it planned out.”
Robert said, giving a slight smirk that Sonar absolutely did not know what to make of.

“Cool, cool yeah sounds good see ya later Robbie.” Sonar said returning to his usual monotone voice as he began to turn back toward Malevola to head home before stopping right as it clicked what Robert said and he spun around eyes wide.
“Wait! Who said anything about a date? It’s just two work friends hanging out off the clock thats all!” Sonar shot back clearly ever so slightly flustered, not sure at all how to respond to that.

“Sure sure whatever you say Vic sounds good, I’ll see you later goodnight.”
Robert made his way back inside feeling rather pleased with himself and the reaction he got out of his team member.

Once Robert was out of sight and the door was closed Malevola finally approached Sonar who was still just standing there unmoving.

“Okay come on loverboy, it's time to get some sleep.”
She said teasingly as she hooked her arm around his and dragged him through the portal back home all the while Sonar’s eyes didn’t leave Robert’s door already thinking about the next time he’d see the man.

Chapter Text

Okay so I know I said I'd expect the next time we'd see each other is in chapter 4, and that still very much be the case, but I did want to raise a question with all of you. So this very well could just be me getting into my own head, but I do feel the way I'd been writing Sonar so far has been focusing on my own headcanons on his backstory and not enough on his, well usual demeanor and such. So I've been contemplating a soft rewrite of chapters 1 - 3 and I wanted to hear from you all on whether you think what has been shown so far is alright as is, if thats the case I'll just focus on rebalancing Sonar's sides to his personality starting from chapter 4 onwards. Again I admit this could all just be me overthinking things since I have seen the lovely comments so far, its just something I was thinking of doing and figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to get some reader input.

See ya all next time and thank you for being patient with me and my first attempt at writing anything for this fandom

~Zephyr_Otter

Chapter Text

Okay so after some epiphanies came to me on some ways to further flesh out a couple specific scenes I have decided some tweaks to the story will still happen, it won't be a full "rewrite" in the traditional sense just some scenes will be tweaked and expanded upon a bit, but the flow of the story will remain the same. I am undecided on if I will choose to just post the tweaked chapters within this fic as an "update" or leave this one as is and post the rewrite as a separate fic post, if I do decide to make it a new story I will likely update this Authors note to include a link to the reworked one somewhere.

Thanks thats all for now I should be back with this story's actual new chapter either sometime today or later this week once I finish tweaking the existing chapters since I'll probably continue the work flow directly into chapter 4.

Edit: https://archiveofourown.info/works/74659811/chapters/194980081
Here's the new version.