Chapter Text
“SDN, responding. What is the state of your emergency?”
Chase had to admit, he was having a shitty day already. Worked his ass off to get Robert a job here, then chicken shit, no calls, no shows on his third fuckin day. Now he had to be stuck with this hack job team of super shits who couldn’t do shit for shit.
“SDN, responding. Can I have your name and emergency?” Chase asked again, trying to avoid being ticked off. Blonde Blazer was already getting at him for needing to be more positive at work. But he couldn’t help but get pissed off when he had people prank calling. “I’m going to ask one more time. What is your emergency?” Chase asked once more, looking at the hangup button. No caller ID, no tags, no registered number on his end, nothing. This had to be a burner phone.
Just as his finger hovered over the hang-up button, a frail voice finally spoke up on the line. “Chase…? There was a robber. I think.”
“Robert? You missed out work for a fuckin robber and left me with these assholes?”
“We can hear you.” “No one cares, you emo ass demon.”
“No… they… I don’t think it was a robber, Chase. Th-they didn’t take nothin they just…” Robert seemed to be struggling to formulate his words, concern starting to peak for Chase the more he listened, “They dn’t take nothin just… group of em were here and…”. An audible grunt filled the air, followed by a wretching sound, “Shit, should there be this much blood? I’m used to bleeding, but… but not like this.”
Break in, multiple robbers, ex-hero down. He’d need a specific team for this.
“Keep talking to me, Robert. Some of these wack jobs will be on the way soon.” Finally settling on a pair, Chase decided to send Malevola and Flambae. Normally, he’d be opposed to sending the prick in spandex, but considering that Coop and Punch Up were currently off dealing with a riot, he was his best bet for handling any remaining intruders. And for a half-demon with a massive sword, Malevola was pretty damn good at taking care of any wounded.
“I got Flambae and Malevola on the way, you still with me, kid?”
There was a dry laugh from the other line, “You really sent Flambae..?”
“I could have sent no one, you ungrateful prick.” Chase cursed under his breath, seeing several more calls pull up at the same time, “Look, I have to go. They’ll be there soon. I promise. Just hold on.”
“Hold on… jus hold on. I can do that.” Robert let out a shaky breath, fighting against the lull of exhaustion as hard as he could.
“Who the hell would rob a place like this? There is nothing.” Flambae scoffed, looking at the pathetic excuse of apartments as they made their way up to Robert’s place.
“Maybe they weren’t after anything valuable.” Because there certainly wasn’t anything that was, “What if someone found out he worked for SDN? I mean, I’m sure there’s lots of information that people want out of that company.”
“Well, they chose the worst person to get information from. He’s only had two days to work.” Flambae stopped as they approached the apartment, finding the door wide open. Looking at Malevola behind him, flames crept up the man's arms as he stepped in first. While they all thought that Robert was a pompous prick not meant to last in this job, a job was a job.
Malevola followed Flambae in, looking around the small apartment while she kept her sword on hand. The she-demon crinkled her nose in disgust as the apartment reeked of sex and vomit, “He called us for a sex adventure gone wrong?”.
A hoarse laugh left Flambae, stopping to look back at her, “You think a guy like that gets any action?”
Hardly any furniture existed within the apartment; it was quite depressing, actually. All she could see was a shitty plastic chair and a dog pillow. Just by glancing at the place, she could see what looked like acid burns all along the walls and floors. Walking around Flambae, she finally saw Robert lying on the ground by the balcony's sliding door. This raw sense of dread ripped through her when she saw the condition he was in.
Robert was still on the ground; she would have assumed he was dead if he hadn’t been the soft parting of his lips from breathing. Naked, entirely save for the corroded remains of his uniform thrown over his intimates. Despite how furious she was with him for kicking Sonar off the team, Malevora was at his side in an instant. “What the hell happened, Rob?”
“Robber. Ss-someone broke n and- robbed the place. Bloods gonna stain the carpet, but I… I don’t wanna get up.” Robert stammered on nonsensically, staring at her but also staring through her.
Malevora glanced at the corroded remains of his pants, blanching at the sight. From what Invisigal said, his body was always a mess of scars and bruises, but she doubted it was anything like this. Deep scratch marks were embedded above his hip bones, bruises lined up on his inner thighs, and blood smeared all along the pale skin.
Flambae lingered behind Malevola, scrunching his nose at the reek of semen. Trying not to look at his nude body too long, Flambae could see some coating on Robert’s stomach and thighs, an inhumane glow coming from it.
“Flambae, stay with him. I’m going to get a towel and call this in.” Before Flambae could begin to argue, Malevola was already hurrying off towards the kitchen.
Letting out a huff, Flambae turned his focus to Robert. “Bobert, how are you doing down there?”
“Mm cold… Think I left a window open or somthin. Did I leave a window open?” Robert babbled on, curling in on himself more.
Any other time, Flambae would have responded with a snarky response, but not when he was like this. Rubbing his hands together, Flambae blew against them, letting a small flame kindle in his palms. “Don’t worry, Robert. I cannot burn, and I will not let you burn.”
For the first time since his incident, Robert eased up, looking at Flambae relieved. Heavy heels followed behind them, Malevora kneeling beside the two. “Robert, I’m gonna make us a portal to headquarters, but we gotta clean you up first, okay?” She understood how demeaning this experience could be for people; she wanted to be sure he had some modesty left.
Slowly, she parted his legs open to clean them, Robert immediately latching onto the first thing he could in a panic. Flambae bit back a hiss as nails dug into his chest, a horrified choking sound coming from the man. “Robert, calm down. It’s just us, we’re gonna help you, mate. Breathe, breathe.” Malevola kept her hands on his legs as she had to clean him, but she made no gesture of moving. Shaky breaths left Robert, a glassy look in his eyes as he attempted to regulate himself.
Once he was finally calm enough, if you could even use the word calm, Malevola began to gingerly blot the damp rag along Robert’s legs. “Deep breaths, mate. I’m nearly done.” Malevola tended to be the more gentle member of the group, shushing Robert gently as she cleaned him.
While Malevola continued cleaning Robert, Flambae looked around the apartment with growing disdain. “Who did this?” The was fire in his words, the man scowling as he looked at all the corrosive damage around the apartment.
There was a stutter of syllables, the only hearing ‘ic’ at first as if he was going to vomit again. “Robert, speak. Who did it?”
“Toxic.”