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Dispatch E 1 Pivot

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Pivot

Original Release Date: October 22, 2025
Directed by: Nick Herman and Dennis Lenart
Written by: Pierre Shorette and Mayanna Berrin

Summary

Dispatch E 1 Pivot Recap
"Listen, if I didn't love him, we wouldn't be here, right?"

"The Company provides personal leave for compelling/urgent reasons. Employees having any questions regarding this policy should contact HR."
SDN Employee Handbook, pg. 30

The game starts with the main character, Robert Robertson stating plainly that of course he loves his father, given their blood connection, to the evident interest of an off-screen therapist listening to his woes, as he rests, tired and brooding on the concrete floor. When Robert questions their interest in what he said, the therapist points out his use of the word "obviously" in his statement implies that the truth of the matter is less obvious than Robert wants to admit, so he'll ask again; how does Robert feel about it, soothingly saying that it's completely understandable if the truth is more complicated. Robert states that he does love his dad, to which the therapist fires back that he "loved" him, citing his improper use of grammer to described their past relationship, to which Robert quips at how "sensitive" they are.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/complicated_feelings.png
Good therapy is hard to find these days.

Roberts starts bleeding from his nose as he coldly states that if he didn't love his father, neither of them would be here right now, to which the therapist tells him they don't need to get into his emotional issues if he doesn't want to, which Robert very much does now, as his flowing blood attracts the attention of his pet dog to come lick his face. Robert starts talking about how he wouldn't be trying to track down the man who murdered his father if he didnt truly love him, why would he be doing any of this — at which point he brushes his bloodied face with his bandaged hand and realises he's not getting "emotionally snotty" from their talk, to which the "therapist" cites it's probbaly an after-effct from his kicking him in the face. Robert thanks him for jogging his memory, to which he lays out the whole situation to his conversation partner and the player both: in a dingy, featureless high-rise flat, Robert has captured, blindfolded and tied up a minion of "Shroud", his father's killer, and he's about to hang him over the room's balcony until he tells him where his boss is, or Robert is going to drop him to his death. When the criminal cites they were just having a "breakthrough" in getting to know each other, Robert fires back that, even with the guy being pretty easy to talk to, the only breakthrough he needs right now is Shroud's location.

At this, the goon drops all the pretences and starts hurling vitriolic insults at Robert as he drags his chair outside, claiming he'll tell him nothing and that he hopes Shroud spanks Robert's little "dady issue bitch ass" to death. Unpeturbed by his tirade, Robert hauls the goon over the railing until he's hanging upside down, precariously balanced on the edge, to his panic as he realises Robert's serious about his threats. Telling his captive to keep the noise down so he doesn't wake Robert's neighbours and use his inside voice to tell him Shroud's location, the criminal blurts out that Shroud is holed up in Llewelyn Steel Mill (with Robert having the opportunity to either drop the goon out the window anyway - albeit onto a mattress in a dumpster - or pull him back to safety). Roberts suits up into his Superhero suit as he does the Identity of "Mecha Man" glancing at his String Theory board of Shroud's criminal actions and newspaper clippings after his father's killing, including organising a breakout from the local prion to recruit several thugs into his gang, one of which is the tattooed Mook he was just interrogating.

Heading to the building's parking garage, Robert boots up the Mecha Man power suit, rocketing through the city skies to the steel mill. At the mill, Robert find several cybernetic criminals patrooling the gangways and corridors, working on tech augmentations according to Shroud's designs. Robert suceeds in stealthily dispathcing several minions from the shadows or with brief combat, but his attempt to utilise the thugs' communications to narrow down Shroud's location hits a snag when their device gets busted in one scuffle. Using his hacking skills to piggyback off the device, Robert narrows down Shroud's position to the building's security room.

However, when he bursts into the room to face his father's killer, Robert finds the cameras playing footage of his actions in infiltrating the mill, along with the thug he'd "interrogated" awaiting him in the control chair instead of Shroud, revealing it's an elaborate trap for him instead. Unfazed, Robert summons the Mecha Man suit to thrash the thug as he continues to trash-talk the manner of his father's death, having realised from his confident demeanour that the goon actually has superpowers he's been hiding to lower Robert's guard. As the minion's mangled body painfully pulls itself back into shape, Robert suits up, telling the goon to start using his "suprise powers" so they can get to the real fight already, to which his enemy glads does, his skin turning green and acidic, burning off his clothes...and leaving him "swinging in the breeze" to Robert's discomfort.

Introducing himself as "Toxic" the two begin brawling, Toxic showing an array of powers besides his Acid Attack, such as Flight, Super-Strength and the ability to recover from any hit Robert lands on him, which he attributes to Shroud's ability to "augment" others with tech reaching even higher applications when used on a powered individual. Despite that, Mecha Man's suit has the raw power to overwhelm Toxic, but their fight distracts Robert long enough for the rest of Shroud's minions to get into position, more powered individuals joining Toxic in attacking Robert from all angles as a small army of laser-toting goons lay on suppressing fire. Eventually, the super-powered minions succeed in a combination strategy to stick a crane hook into the suit's back, allowing the lightning-using villain to shock and knock out the suit and Robert together, hoisting the Mecha Man suit into the air as a gigantic target for everyone to wail on.

Robert rouses from his stupor and quickly activates the suit's energy barrier to block most of the hits, but not before the villains succeed in impaling the mech's foot with a harpoon, further pinning it down. As Robert frantically tries to work out a means of escaping from his remeaning options in the damaged suit amist the ceaseless barrage of attacks, Shroud finally emerges, calmly observing his helpless foe and relaying an ultimatum to him through Toxic: surrender the Astral Pulse, the suit's power source, or get killed. Defiant, Robert chooses an all-or-nothing gamble, diverting his shield power to his jet boosters to tear free of the harpoon before the barrage punches through the suit's hull. After tearing free and skyward at the cost of the suit's foot, Robert thinks he's escaped...only for the suit's system to detect a timed bomb strapped to its back during the chaotic fight, which detonates just as Robert reaches for it, leaving the unresponsive suit and unconsious pilot to fall together towards the city streets below as the title appears...

   DISPATCH
  

....Some time later, a news broadcast covers the aftermath of events, showing footage of Robert's crash accidentally filmed by civilians on the ground and citing that it's been four months since the people of Los Angeles believed they'd witnessed the death of Mecha Man once again. Diving into the history of the Superhero, the newscaster reveals that "Mecha Man" is a Legacy Character, a super-heroic figure who has protected the people of Los Angeles for nearly 50 years using their powered suit to save people, disregarding their innate lack of powered abilities. The original Mecha Man was dubbed "Prime" by his fans, eventually losing his life saving civillains from a collapsing building. His son and sucessor, "Astral" joined a superhero team dubbed "The Brave Brigade", sucessfully enacting a period of peace in the southland for years, until he was betrayed and killed by a former member of the Brigade, Elliot Connors AKA Shroud. After this, Robert emerged as the newest holder of the title for the current generation and a bulwark against crime in in the Greater Los Angeles area, until earlier today, wherein a barely-recovered Robert makes a public announcement.

Cutting to the scene of said press conference, Robert address the concerns about the state of both his health and the Mecha Man suit he inherited from his forebears. Shroud's ambush has inflicted too much damage to the suit, more than Robert can repair, so reluctantly, he is forced to step back from Superheroics, effective immediately. Robert fields questions from reporters about his thoughts on the fans who held vigils for him after his near-death and whether Robert considers himself "retired" as Mecha Man, until one reporter, Charles Kingsley, speaks up. Citing how Robert was left comatose after the ambush for months, he asks why Shroud didn't kill Robert when he was helpless and recovering in hospital, to which an equally-perplexed Robert guesses Shroud merely wanted to steal the Astral Pulse core and remove the heroic legacy of Mecha Man — Robert himself was evidently Not Worth Killing. This leads to Kingsley's next question: whilst most superheroes try to avenge their family, all Robert succeeded at doing was effectively killing his family's legacy with his efforts, so how disappointed would his predecessors be by his failures? Robert has the option to either walk away, respond diplomatically to Kingsely's insensitive questions or give him a well-deserved beating for his callous remarks.

Regardless of his choice, it's revealed that Robert is watching the replay of the news broadcast from a window-display TV later that night, chugging alcohol from a flask as he sees interviews with fans who express their disappointment with his choice to step away from heroics, calling him a "Mecha quitter". At that point, the storefront is smashed open by a gang of robbers, disregarding Robert's presence as they commit a brazen robbery. Regardless of his choices, a weary Robert still suits up as Mecha Man to thwart the robbery, despite his obvious injuries. Whilst he gives a good effort, his wounds still prevent him from fighting effectivly, and the gang are primed to give him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, until they're taken out by the timely arrival of Blonde Blazer, a Flying Brick corporate superhero who's affiliated with the Superhero Dispatch Network. After helping to fix up Robert's dislocated shoulder, Blazer offers to take the weary ex-superhero out for a drink.

At the local superhero drinking joint, "Crypto Night" Robert and Blazer proceed to hit it off chatting about the robbery and Blazer's own hard-drinking habits (a side-effect of her powers making it hard to get her buzzed). Blazer questions how Robert managed to keep his crime-fighting career going for so long, wondering about all the repairs he must have had to perform on his suit, to which Robert sadly clarifying that he spent millions, including all the money he had from his inheritance, poured into keeping the high-performance machine going, until the last few years were just "duct tape and sheer determination". Though stunned by Robert's commitment, Blazer is appreciative of the lengths he's willing to go to help others, citing that she'd been hoping to learn a little bit more about him and perhaps offer him a proposition. Though intrigued by her seemingly-flirtacious manner, Robert accidentaly ruins the moment when he mistakenly sips from Blazer's glass instead of his own, discovering that it's actually pure alcohol in a pint glass, and doing a spit-take into her face in surprise.

As Blazer leaves to get herself cleaned up, Robert is acosted by Flambe, a pryokinetic Ex-Supervillain that Robert had previously fought, leaving him with a grudge against the former hero, citing that, as the bar is only for superheroes, the retired Mecha Man has no place there, threatening to throw him out personally. Robert casually deals with Flambe either by tossing water from his glass or Blazer's full-alcohol one into his face, leading to a humiliating defeat for the hothead. Either action leads to the bartender taking issue with Robert as a troublemaker and ordering him outside. Blazer meets Robert outside with two nightcap drinks, offering to take him to a place she knows, going for a flight throughout the city skies as she carries Robert in a romantically-charged atmosphere. As they land on a billboard sign with a view of the famous Hollywood logo, Robert admits he thought she was flying to to sit on the logo itself, to which Blazer sheepishly admits that it seems there's a couple up there already.

As they continue chatting, a tipsy Blazer accidentally lets it slip that she knows Robert's full name, something that's supposed to be kept top-secret to protect the current Mecha Man from being attacked out of costume, as happened with Robert's father. Realising that there's more going on with their meeting than he thought, Robert questions why Blazer sought him out, to which she says she'll explain if he explains how he ended up with a name like "Robert Robertson". Robert quips that he's actually "Robert Robertson the III" after his father and grandfather, a family tradition, passed down with the legacy of Mecha Man...and sadly ruminates on the other family tradition: that every Mecha Man before him has died in the suit one way or another, yet he failed to achieve the same. Seeing Blazer studying his face, Robert allows her to tenderly remove his superhero mask to get a good look at his face, something she says they can work with... at which point Robert either has the choice to follow her seemingly romantic intensions and kiss her, or let the moment pass.

Either way, Blazer pulls away from Robert, clarifying that she didn't intend to lead him into thinking she was romantically interested in him (though it's implied she's lying to herself about it) and apologising for her unprofessional behaviour, confusing Robert as to how that'd apply to their interpersonal meeting. Blazer explains that she's actually supposed to be meeting him on offical buisness, asking Robert if he recalls a superhero named Track Star. Robert fondly recalls that he was the youngest member of the Brave Brigade, basically serving as his babysitter for a while, and he considers him as close as family, despite them having drifted apart since his father's passing. Blazer explains that Track Star recomended Robert to her to serve as a Dispatcher for SDN, using his experience as a crime-fighter to mentor and direct some of their rookie heroes in the field. In exchange, SDN promises Robert the resources and capital needed to restore and rebuild the mecha Man suit to functionality again.

Blazer tosses Robert a holographic VR headset to put him through a virtual training module on handling and directing heroes to tackle various crises around the city district, full of cheesy dialouge and Bad "Bad Acting" from the heroes involved. Robert nonetheless aces the test, exiting the simulation to find the tipsy Blazer taking a nap on his shoulder. When she appologies for her behaviour again, Robert brushes it off, citing that he can see why she and Track Star thought he'd be a good fit for the job. Asking him to meet her at the SDN offices tomorrow, Blazer flies away, citing that she's not done saving Robert yet....whilst the former superhero realises that there's no easy way for him to get down from the billboard.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/broken_dreams.png
"I met a nice lady. She wants to help us out."

Later that night, Robert returns to his appartment, greeting his pet dog as he curls up next to him on the busted remains of the Mecha Man suit, using his phone to watch interviews of Blazer at SDN, telling his pet that he's met a nice lady who wants to help them out, as he takes a moment to rest amongst the shattered remnants of his family legacy...

Tropes for this episode include:

  • Action Prologue: The first chapter involves a full fight scene between Mecha Man and Shroud's goons composed of quick time events.
  • And There Was Much Rejoicing: Choosing to attack Charles Kingsley during the press conference leads to Robert beating the tar out of the reviled reporter, with reports of cheering for Mecha Man until someone broke them up...five minutes later.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: Not only is Shroud's trap successful getting the Mecha Man suit destroyed, he is also able to steal the Astral Pulse off-screen at a later point for his own ends.
  • Bait-and-Switch: The episode opens with Robert lying on the floor and having a conversation with someone off-screen about his feelings for his late father. It seems like he's either in a therapy session or at a friend's at first - before the reveal that he's actually talking to a thug he kidnapped to get Shroud's whereabouts.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Despite being fully aware of who Robert is, Toxic not only mouths off to him but cruelly twists the knife about his father's death. Robert promptly responds by having his mechsuit either punt Toxic or land right on top of him. In the ensuing fight, Toxic repeatedly gets the stuffing beaten out of him by Robert and only makes headway once the rest of Shroud's minions provide him with back-up.
  • Chair Reveal: When Robert bursts into Shroud's command centre at the Steel Mill, he starts mouthing off towards who he thinks is Shroud sitting in the high-backed chair in front of him, only for it to swirl around and reveal it's actually the goon he was interrogating before, who picks back up where they left off, insulting Robert repeatedly over the manner of his father's passing. This and the security cameras showing video feed of the goons Robert fought he'd stealthily taken out undetected serve as Five-Second Foreshadowing that the whole events is a trap that Robert's walked blindly into.
  • Downer Beginning: Not only does Robert fail to avenge the death of his father, Shroud, the same man who killed said father, manages to not only destroy the Mecha Man suit beyond repair, but also steal the Astral Pulse from Robert while he is in a coma. This forces Robert to retire from being Mecha Man for the time being, much to the scrutiny of a lot of the general public.
  • Everyone Has Standards: As indicated by the fact that no one sought to aid Charles Kingsley while Robert stomped the living shit out of him if the option is taken, the crowd of reporters did not approve of him being such an insensitive asshole towards a still recovering Robert, with them even cheering him on for several minutes.
  • Exact Words: "I control the fire and the flame, and my skin does not burn." So goes Flambae's Badass Boast. If you use alcohol when he tries to pick a fight with Robert, he will quickly learn that hair is not skin, and thus subject to ignition.
  • Five-Second Foreshadowing: Robert tells the goon he's interrogating to keep the noise down because he has neighbours he doesn't want to wake, seconds before the player is given the opportunity to let the guy drop. Naturally, a Superhero is not gonna commit a cold-blooded murder right where he lives, and it turns out Robert prepped a mattress to cushion the goon's fall if he didn't crack.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • In the opening, Robert, despite owning and operating a high-tech mech suit, stays in a featureless apartment absent of creature comforts (with him confirming to Toxic that he does live there and doesn't want to wake the neighbours, rather than it being a room he rented for his interrogation) and keeps the Mecha Man suit in the building's parking garage alongside the resident's cars. He later reveals to Blonde Blazer that he blew all of his inheritance and assets trying to maintain and repair the suit, leaving him destitute when Shroud's trap wreaks it.
    • In Shroud's trap, the Diabolical Mastermind repeatedly showcases how he's always one step ahead of Robert, from the security camera showing footage of him during his "undetected" infiltration, to Toxic being revealed to be a super-powered minion rather than a low-level goon he succeeded in interrogating, to calculating the exact amount of damage and functions the Mecha Man suit can perform with the damage being heaped on it even as it happens (citing the suit's power reverses have been weakened to 28% just as the counter clicks down to it, even with the delay caused by Toxic passing the message along). Naturally, when Robert's last-ditch effort to escape seemingly succeeds despite Shroud's warnings, it turns out that the latter's minions took the opportunity during the chaotic brawl to stick a timed bomb to the back of the mech suit, which explodes just as the suit's restored systems detect it.
  • Handicapped Badass: Despite having a broken arm in a sling and being without his suit of armor, Robert still manages to punch one of the would be robbers with said broken arm and puts up a decent fight against the rest of the group before needing to be saved by Blonde Blazer.
  • I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: By her own admission, Blonde Blazer was being more unprofessional than she was supposed to when meeting with Robert and trying to recruit him for the Superhero Dispatch Network, coming across as less than a job interviewer and more a flirtatious love interest.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Robert is only seen in three outfits throughout the entire episode: a "casual" hoodie that he evidently uses when going undercover or incognito, a leather jacket that he mainly wears to cover up his Mecha Man Chest Emblem when in public areas, and his Mecha Man costume itself, which seems the most "complete" ensemble. The wardrobe in his featureless apartment doesn't feature any other items of clothing bar his suit, as well as a photo of a younger Robert playing with his father. It's implied that this is all a side-effect of Robert devoting all his available resources and funding into keeping the Mecha Man suit running, such that he doesn't have any items of clothing that aren't related to his superhero career in some manner.
  • Mouth of Sauron: Despite being physically present at the scene, Shroud has Toxic personally give Mecha Man his ultimatum in his stead, indicated to be mainly because he doesn't feel Robert's worth speaking to directly.
  • Man on Fire: Using alcohol on Flambae when he tries to start a fight with Robert causes his hair to catch on fire — his powers render his skin immune to flames, but his hair, not so much. His eyebrows are missing from being burnt off in the following episode.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: One of Robert's optional reactions to Charles Kingsley's less-than polite public accusation to him about failing his family legacy. According to Kingsley, Robert was stomping on him for about 5 minutes with no one in the crowd inclined to break it up.
  • String Theory: Robert's shown to have one such board constructed in his apartment about Shroud's activities since the day he murdered his father, including organising a prison break to recruit many criminals into his gang, among which is the tattooed Mook he was just giving a High-Altitude Interrogation to, with scrawled notes indicating he may be serving as a lieutenant under Shroud.
  • The Tooth Hurts: Using water when Flambae tries to start a fight with Robert leads to the former slipping on a puddle and landing mouth-first onto the bar, losing a tooth in the process. The tooth is still missing in the following episode.
  • What You Are in the Dark: Despite it being the middle of the night with seemingly no one else in sight, Robert still chooses to don his Mecha Man mask and attempts to stop the robbery occurring in front of him even with a broken arm.

 
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