[AMY IN DISPATCH (2026)] CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

The three of them arrived at the press conference with just enough time to slip in through the side and find a place away from the main crush of reporters and cameras.

Mandy had insisted on taking the car, arguing that there was no reason to make an already complicated morning more complicated by flying across the city. Amy had countered that they could simply fly there and avoid traffic altogether, while Hunter had pointed out that neither of them should be allowed anywhere near the driver’s seat if Amy was going to be given control of the music.

In the end, Mandy had won all three arguments, which was probably the only outcome any of them should have expected.

Now the three of them stood several blocks from the venue, watching the crowds gather around the hotel entrance where the press conference was being held. Television vans lined the curb, satellite dishes pointed toward the sky, and reporters clustered behind barricades while security personnel did their best to keep everything moving. A few fans had gathered too—ordinary citizens holding handmade signs reading "THANK YOU MECHA MAN", "LA'S TRUE HERO" and others of that nature—their presence a loud testament to the legacy Robert was about to lay to rest.

Amy adjusted the hood of her jacket as she stared at the spectacle in front of them, her eyes widening as another cluster of reporters hurried past. “So this is a real press conference,” she said.

Hunter glanced sideways at her. “What did you think it was?”

“I don’t know. Something more dramatic?” Amy said. “Like a giant stage with fireworks.”

“It’s a retirement announcement, not the Super Bowl.”

Amy considered that for a moment, her gaze returning to the small stage at the other end of the room.

“…Could still use fireworks.”

Hunter rolled her eyes. “You and your pyrotechnics obsession.”

“It’s not an obsession. I just think things are better with explosions.”

“Famous last words.”

Amy grinned. “Also famous first words, if you say them loud enough.”

Mandy, meanwhile, was watching the building.

She had seen enough press conferences to know how this one would go. There would be questions, cameras, and endless speculation before Robert Robertson III eventually stepped in front of the world and announced that Mecha Man was done.

She hated the thought of it.

Robert had every right to step away after everything that had happened to him. The ambush, the time spent in the hospital, the near-total destruction of his family’s legacy, all of it had taken a toll that nobody could reasonably expect him to carry forever. Mandy understood that. What bothered her was that she knew what quitting could look like.

She had seen it before, when heroes burned out and the weight of the mask became too heavy to carry, when the gratitude of the people they protected could no longer drown out the memories of those they had failed to save. Walking away could bring relief, certainly, but she had learned that relief did not always mean someone was ready to move on.

Sometimes, it was simply grief wearing a different outfit.

Amy was still watching the crowd when she leaned closer and asked, “Are you nervous?”

Mandy looked at her. “About what?”

Amy pointed at her face. “Your face is doing the thing.”

“What thing?”

“The thing where you’re pretending you’re completely calm while your brain is probably doing seventeen thousand calculations. Your jaw’s tight, your eyes keep flicking towards the entrance, and you haven’t blinked in, like, twenty seconds.”

Hunter snorted. “She’s got you there.”

Mandy sighed. “I’m fine.”

Amy smiled. “Sure.”

Mandy gave her a flat look. “Don’t start.”

“I didn’t start anything.”

“You’re about to.”

Amy raised both hands innocently. “I’m just saying, you’re allowed to be nervous. It’s a big deal. We’re about to ask a man who just lost everything to trust us with his future.”

Hunter looked between them and shook her head. “You two are way too comfortable together.”

Mandy pretended she hadn’t heard that.

She turned her attention back towards the venue. More reporters had arrived, and security had doubled as people began taking their positions around the entrance. Somewhere inside that building, Robert was preparing to face the cameras, the questions, and the inevitable pity that would follow once the world learned exactly what had happened to him.

Mandy hated pity. It was one of the few things heroes never seemed to know how to accept.

“We’re not here to interfere with his speech,” Mandy said. “We’re here because Chase asked me to make the offer.”

Hunter nodded. “Recruit him.”

“Exactly.”

Amy studied her for a moment. “And if he says no?”

Mandy hesitated.

She hadn’t actually thought about that.

Or rather, she had thought about it, but every time she did, the thought ended with a strange sense of disappointment. She had spent the last three days going through Robert’s file, reading mission reports, watching footage of his battles, and studying the way he handled himself when everything went wrong. The more she looked, the clearer the pattern became. Robert simply refused to give up, even when the odds were against him. He threw himself into danger to protect civilians, seemingly without ever stopping to consider what it might cost him.

He was stubborn. He was reckless. He was exactly the kind of person the Phoenix Program needed.

More than that, though, he was the kind of person Mandy wanted to see succeed.

“Then he says no,” Mandy said finally.

Amy looked at her. “You don’t sound like you believe that.”

“I don’t.”

That earned a small smile from Amy. “Good.”

Mandy looked at her. “What?”

“You care.”

Mandy opened her mouth, but Hunter cut in before she could answer.

“She obviously cares. She’s been talking about this guy for days.”

“I have not been talking about him for days.”

“You have.”

“I have not.”

“You literally spent yesterday reviewing his old missions.”

“That was research.”

“Uh-huh.”

Amy giggled. “Research. That’s what we’re calling it now?”

Mandy looked between the two of them. “This is why I brought you both.”

Hunter raised an eyebrow. “To what?”

“To make my life harder.”

“Fair. We’re very good at that.”

“You are.”

Hunter smirked. “It’s a talent.”

Amy suddenly looked towards the hotel again. “Is that him?”

Mandy followed her gaze.

A black sedan had pulled up near the rear entrance, and security immediately moved into position around it. A familiar figure stepped out.

Robert.

He looked worse than the photographs had suggested. Even from this distance, Mandy could see the stiffness in his posture, the fatigue in his expression, and the way he carried himself as though every movement had to be negotiated with a body that had yet to forgive him. His left arm hung at a slightly unnatural angle, healed but clearly not fully recovered, while there was a hollowness behind his eyes that spoke of sleepless nights and too much time alone with his thoughts.

Amy’s expression changed immediately, the playful brightness disappearing from her face as she watched him.

“He’s hurt,” Amy murmured.

Mandy nodded. “Yeah.”

Hunter narrowed her eyes. “He looks exhausted.”

“He is,” Amy said, already taking a step forward.

Mandy caught her by the shoulder. “Not yet.”

Amy stopped. “But—”

“I know.”

Mandy looked towards the building. “Let him have his moment.”

Amy hesitated, then nodded. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides, an instinctive response from the healer in her, desperate to reach out and fix something she knew she couldn’t touch yet.

The three of them watched as Robert disappeared inside.

For a few seconds, none of them spoke.

Then Amy looked up. “So when do we talk to him?”

“After the conference.”

Hunter folded her arms. “And what exactly are we saying?”

Mandy took a slow breath.

“The truth.”

Amy blinked. “That’s vague.”

Hunter frowned. “That’s not a plan.”

Mandy smiled slightly. “It’s the only plan that works with someone like him. If we try to sell him on promises or platitudes, he’ll see right through it. He’s spent his whole life being lied to, by enemies, by allies, probably even by himself. What he needs from us is honesty.”

“So we’re just going to tell him that we want him to join the programme?” Amy asked.

“More than that. We’re going to tell him that his career as Mecha Man may be ending.”

She looked towards the entrance.

“But his career as a hero doesn’t have to.”

Amy’s smile returned. “That’s actually really good.”

“I know.”

“Modest, too.”

Hunter was quiet for a moment before nodding slowly. “Might actually work.”

Amy reached out and squeezed Mandy’s hand.

Mandy blinked. “What’s that for?”

Amy shrugged. “You seem like you needed it.”

Mandy didn’t argue or pull her hand away. She simply stood there, watching the hotel and waiting for the man inside to finish saying goodbye to the life he had built.

The crowd murmured around them, and a helicopter circled overhead while somewhere nearby, a reporter was probably already preparing an opening line about the fall of a legend. Mandy barely noticed any of it. Her thoughts remained fixed on the press conference taking place inside that building and what it must cost someone like Robert Robertson III to stand before the world and admit that he couldn’t do it anymore.

She thought about the offer she was about to make and wondered whether he would even be willing to hear it. After everything he had been through, Mandy couldn’t blame him if the last thing he wanted was another responsibility, another uniform, another reason to put himself in danger. Still, she hoped he would at least give them a chance to explain.

She exhaled slowly. “Alright. Let’s go.”

Amy raised an eyebrow. “Now? The press conference hasn’t started yet.”

“I know. I want to be close when it ends.”

Hunter nodded. “Good plan.”

They began walking towards the hotel as the crowd continued to gather behind them.

Above them, the sky was clear, and the noise around the venue seemed to grow louder with every passing minute.

Mandy only hoped Robert would be willing to listen when she finally got the chance to speak to him.