Work Text:
Courtney remembers the week after she turned fourteen, when a burglary quickly turned into battery then murder. One of her friends, though perhaps that's too generous of a term for her fucking supplier, told her it gets easier. He didn't lie exactly, it gets easier but never easy.
No one told Courtney/Invisigal/bitch how hard it is to be a hero. Even with a clean slate, or at least the closest thing her blood covered hands would allow, it was hard. Lying and stealing suddenly stung despite doing it to protect the Z team, to protect him.
Of course he doesn't forgive her. Invisibitch told Robert not to and like a good little dog man, he complied. That's what she hates/loves about him.
She picks up the mask. She can't stand to look at Robert anymore, but still a part of her wishes he would give her those puppy dog eyes, if only once. And with bated breath, she vanishes.
Invisibitch isn't entirely sure why the Red Ring picks leadership as if it's a fucking lion pride, but she doesn't fight it. She was always destined to be hidden in the shadows; "Shroud" fits her perfectly. Robert was right to give up on her, he was wrong about fate.
After a few months, things mostly go back to normal. The media questions if the Z Team is a benefit or detriment to society and why Shroud didn't kill Mechaman; again. Courtney, Invisibitch, Shroud continues to fuck over Robert's life too.
It was surprisingly easy to find some batshit evil genius to tweak the augmentations. Shroud is now invisible to all machine censors and can hold her breath for hours. Shroud is now waltzing on the Mechaman suit. She wants him to hear her footsteps, to have the vaguest idea where she is. The metal can sputters as the tin mask adjusts to face her.
It no longer matters what expression Mechaman has; fury, confusion, sadness, or if it flesh or metal is glaring back, as long as his eyes are only fixed on her, she can pretend this is what she wanted.
Looking back, what Shroud wished her old "friend" told that it's easier to kill people than that last little bit of lingering love.