Work Text:
“Damage report, stat,” R-T ordered, snapping his fingers.
“Damage contained within west Super City,” Max replied, removing her helmet.
Meg walked up to R-T and showed him the statistics and damage through Rob. As she and Max explained the extent of the damage, Surge spoke with Larry and Lawrie about the incidents. There were about 5 brawls back-to-back in Super City, all involving many brawlers testing their hypercharge potential… outside of arena limits. Even though the Super City and Starr Hub trios were able to contain the damage, it was too late. The west side was destroyed, save for some nearby vehicles.
Once Surge finished his explanation, Larry and Lawrie shook their heads. The twins glanced around and saw the exhausted brawlers lying on the ground. They then scan their conditions, and the ones in their vicinity are in rough shape: bruises, cuts, and gashes of various sizes are scattered across their bodies. Blood and oil were just oozing out of them, making the robots cringe lightly. While they didn’t register emotions as well as humans did, they knew what oozing oil felt like.
It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.
“Listen up, I radioed the support brawlers, and they’re on their way. Max is doing what she can to lessen the injuries of the brawlers. In the meantime, we need to find both the other brawlers involved in the fight and the guests who didn’t make it to the bunkers in time. Surge, you go out and search. I’ll be joining the search party while the rest stay here. Got it?” R-T commands, tapping his foot.
Everyone saluted at R-T’s order and separated to do their tasks. Surge leaves the area, walking down the street. As he walked, he examined the true extent of the damage. He knew it was bad, but not this bad. Damaged walls, walkways, flat-screen televisions–all gone. The glass windows were shattered into tiny pieces, only visible by the sun’s reflection. Peering inside the buildings, a lot of furniture was scattered and battered, their original placement now in disarray. Once a beautiful part of Super City, now a run-down slump caused by chaos and adrenaline. It reminded Surge of the 90s gem incident, a time he didn’t want to remember again.
Never again.
Surge cleared out the harsh memories and turned the corner. He heard groaning, and he noticed a few brawlers lying on their sides, curled up in a fetal position. He stepped forward and felt his foot touch a puddle. His sensors told him it was blood, and he immediately radioed R-T to get a support brawler to his coordinates. The party planner got confirmation, and Surge was asked to hold his position. He waited patiently, and a moment later, he heard the familiar sound of Gray’s portals. The mime waved and began to check on the brawlers nearby.
Gray winced at the injuries and began to perform first aid to stop the excess bleeding. The support brawler gestured for Surge to assist him. While helping Gray, Surge started to think about y/n. She was somewhere in the city; his inner systems told him so. But where was she now? He didn’t know, but he hoped she was in the bunkers, safe and sound. Sure, he would be sad if any bystanders got hurt.
But this was y/n.
Among his many, many, fans, y/n is one of the few that he remembers by name and face. Y/n was always around Super City, cheering him on as he took down the various threats. She always attended his brawl matches, cheering him on from the stands. Even when he lost, y/n was always there, dedicated to him and his work for Super City and brawling. Surge even remembered the many letters y/n wrote to him, talking about how amazing he was and how much he meant to her.
Gray snapped his fingers near Surge’s face, dragging him out of his thoughts. He glanced at him, and the actor gave him a thumbs up. The hero got up to stretch his joints and saluted to Gray. He saluted back, then resumed relocating brawlers for medical care. As Surge left the scene, he radioed R-T the update, which the watcher bot responded to with a map in his system. Surge looked through the map, and apparently, there was a human in Surge’s vicinity.
“Roger that, R-T.” Surge states, following the directions.
After a 15-minute walk, Surge reached the destination. He looked up and saw it was Super City’s movie theatre. The ‘movies’ shown here are mostly past battles of his trio fighting various brawlers, beasts, etc. While the theatre also played mainstream movies, Super City movie theatre just preferred to show the trio off. Surge didn’t mind this, as he loved the attention, but he did wish to see other movies being played occasionally.
‘Perhaps I should bring this up with Super City at some point,’ Surge ponders, walking inside the movie theatre.
Inside was just as wrecked as the rest of west Super City. Surge moved the various furniture around and turned his scanners on to locate the human. After using the heat sensors, he located the human slumped on the bathroom floor. As Surge walked over, he noted the heat on the human’s leg was blue. His concern grew and he paced faster to the bathroom. Surge slammed the door open and stood shocked, as the human he rescued was… y/n.
Y/n’s wearing the Super City movie theatre uniform, dark jeans, and non-slip shoes. Surge then glanced at her injuries, and they weren’t pretty– the leg was bleeding out slowly and the skin around the wound was turning purple. A quick scan of her leg told him that the wound was infected, and his systems repeated that she needed immediate medical attention. He panicked and radioed R-T.
“R-T, I have located the human. She needs immediate medical attention– large, infected wound in the left leg,” Surge reports.
“All the support brawlers are busy trying to load the other brawlers up into ambulances. You will have to bring the human back to the supports. But try and get her to wake up,” R-T orders, hanging up shortly after. As soon as Surge propped the door open, he heard groaning. He turned and saw y/n waking up, attempting to sit up. Her eyes widened, and she smiled weakly.
“Oh, hey Surge…” y/n yawned, trying to sit up again.
“Please don’t strain yourself. Scanners indicate you need medical attention, and I am required to bring you back.” Surge began, spilling his usual mantra, “Please answer the following: your name, age, and date of birth.”
Y/n answered groggily, holding her head in her hand. Surge fired off another round of questions, and she slowly answered back. The headache and fever were making this difficult, but she managed to answer the last of the questions. After sending the information to Larry and Lawrie, they quickly reported they received it and are currently waiting for him and Y/n.
“This may seem obvious, but are you able to walk?” Surge asked.
“I-I doubt it…” y/n guessed, trying to stand up using a nearby toilet.
“Okay, never mind. Er…” Surge cringed, holding y/n up.
‘R-T, can you not send any support brawlers over? She can’t even walk!’ Surge asked R-T, praying R-T could do something.
‘We’re stretched on medical staff as is Surge, you’ll have to carry her back.’ R-T answered, sending waves of annoyance over the comm link.
'So I have full permission to break rule number-’ Surge began.
‘Yes, and yes, I’ll also deal with Larry and Lawrie myself. Now get her here.’ R-T interjects.
Surge sighed internally and began to explain to y/n what he was going to do. She waved her hands, frantically apologizing. He waved it off, saying it’s his job to get everyone to safety, no matter the cost. Y/n nodded sheepishly as Surge picked her up bridal style. She squeaked and held onto him, her face burning more than it was already. Surge chuckled to this as he slowly walked out the door.
Once they were outside, Surge began to walk to R-T’s location. While doing so, they chatted about how and why Super City called for a lockdown. Y/n shook her head at what happened. She mentioned how she lost track of the number of fights, brawls, and quarrels that happened over the years, but within the years she’d worked in Super City’s movie theatre, she never saw it get bad enough for a lockdown. The brawlers, generally, knew to hold back and be somewhat civil.
Usually.
“Do the brawls get this intense outside the arenas? Is civility a thing for you all?” y/n asked, leaning on Surge’s chest.
“We brawlers can be civil… but if our hypercharged states are involved, that’s thrown out the window,” Surge muttered, shaking his head.
Y/n frowned at this, thinking about the many times Surge used his hypercharged state during brawls. The way he took opponents out while charged up was amazing to look at but must be exhausting to use. Perhaps it was y/n’s own exhaustion all the time from work, but she didn’t like seeing her idol like this.
“Do you like using your hypercharge?” y/n asked.
“I love it, but…” Surge starts, pondering his words, “But it saddens me how susceptible we brawlers' minds can be when in such a state.”
“That’s completely fair. Especially now since I’m seeing all the destruction that took place…” y/n replied, glancing around Super City. Surge nods to this, turning a corner. In their line of sight were R-T and the twins. The three wave while a nearby support brawler began asking y/n questions about her state and condition.
A while later, y/n woke up to bright lights and the soft beeps of the heart rate monitor. She attempted to rub her eyes but was stopped by a sharp tug at her arm. A quick glance showed two needles in the right arm, both were connected to the nearby IV unit. After taking in the spacious room, the nurse walked up to her to ask a few questions. Y/n sighed internally, as nearly everyone had so many questions today. It started getting annoying, but she bit her tongue and answered– it was rude to not answer. People were just doing their jobs after all.
“Would you take visitors after I change your IV out?” the nurse asked, pulling small cart forward.
“Um, sure, that’s fine…” y/n answered.
The nurse nodded and began changing the IV unit out. Y/n felt the nurse pull the needles out gently, disposing of them and the now-empty unit. She turned around to grab the full IV unit and asked to confirm the information on it. After reading it over, she nodded and the nurse inserted the new needles in different spots. Y/n watched in fascination as the clear liquids went into her arm. It was an odd thing to watch, yes, but did it matter? Nope. Not at all.
“Alright, your IV unit is changed out, Mrs. Y/n,” the nurse called out, smiling brightly.
“Oh! Sorry, I was watching the thing,” Y/n replied, smiling back.
“All good! Just relax for a bit, and I’ll bring in the guest shortly.”
After the nurse left, the first thing y/n did was to examine her injured leg. It was in a cast, propped on a few pillows. She sighed, feeling the cool cast and her thoughts wandered. What visitors would come in? It’s not like Surge would come back, as he’s most likely busy with his stuff. The rest of her co-workers were in West Super City still, probably being assessed for injuries as well. Even after that, y/n had doubts that they would visit– even if they did like her. The one person she hoped didn’t visit would be her boss. That is possibly the worst-case scenario, but she doubted her boss would come in either.
A knock on the door interrupted y/n’s thoughts, and people came in shortly after. The nurse came in with a cart, and Surge walked in after her. Y/n’s eyes widened to this as Surge waved sheepishly. The nurse put the tray of food on y/n’s lap. She began to nibble at the food, which consisted of rice, shredded chicken, and softened broccoli. It was bland, but anything tasted a lot better when hungry. After the nurse’s footsteps disappeared from the hall, Surge sat next to y/n. She smiled, taking another bite of her food. The room then fell silent, except for the soft chewing noises and Surge’s foot tapping the floor. It was a comfortable silence, just them in a room, basking in each other’s company. This was something y/n always wanted one-on-one time with her idol.
“So… are you feeling any better?” Surge awkwardly asked, rubbing the back of his head.
“Ah! Mostly dizzy, but I’m fine. I hope more time in here will help.” y/n replied, taking a bite of rice. Surge nods to this and scans the food, frowning internally.
“There’s no seasoning,” Surge points out, reading over the notes in his system.
“It’s bland on purpose,” y/n explained, biting into the broccoli.
“I know that, but you deserve better.” Surge retorted. Y/n’s face reddened, sipping her water. A compliment from her idol? Another one off the list!
‘People say that Surge’s a hero… but right now, Surge is my hero. And I’ll always be grateful to him…’ y/n thought, as the conversation continued.
They chat once again, talking about any and everything this time. Surge was just so easy to talk to once he wasn’t brawling or partying. Speaking of parties, Surge mentioned once she was better, he was going to throw a party just for her. Y/n grinned at the idea and pondered food ideas to him. He nodded, making many notes in his systems for future use.