Chapter Text
“You want me to have a child?? In less than a week?”
“Our sources just recently told that the Kingdom school for gifted students had some suspicious experiences onto students. We have no choices but to contact you to act fast.”
“Not any child, but a radiant child? Chale, I love you, but this, this is-”
“You’re the Cosmic Hunter, remember? We can’t wait to hear your news of another flawless mission completed.”
The calls ended with a frustration noise came from the Ghanaian girl. She thought she might spoiled them too much with many flawless missions so they got such high expectation of her. Now they wanted her to get a radiant child to enroll that cray-cray Kingdom school?
She didn’t join Valorant to be a parent, no?
“Fooled them with fake weapon containers? You want dead or what? Now they’re gonna find you, Mr. Professional Weapon Dealer. Why you have to get their attention by those risky plan?”
“You know I’m in love with anything shiny. They got some good sparkle things in those lab in that school. And some inhumane experiences.”
“You’re a dealer. You don’t choose side, remember? You want war, we want war, you like money, we get money.”
“I know.” He didn’t like it when they try to make him remember that phrase. Well, no more putting a façade. “You should count me out of this.”
“What? You wanna throw this deal away? But they’re Kingdom!”
“No, this time I want to quit. For real.” He did consider quitting this organization for a long time. Corrupted and classy didn’t go well together, to be exact.
“Why? What do you think you’re doing, Chamber?”
He replied their raging questions with a big laugh, and suddenly a weird thought cross his mind. He loved ticking those people, so he would throw them off with the cheesiest and cringest reason that they would never expect him to.
“I’m gonna get married soon.” To freedom, of course. His laugh was definitely going to haunt them for a while, and Chamber couldn’t help but chuckled with that thought.
Vincent never thought that one decision could draw him into some chaotic situation. One of this must be, this lady in front of him.
“Yo, yo.” Her fingers waved in front of his eyes, snapped him out of his own thought. “You’re alright? What did you do to have those mafia-looking chasing after you?”
“Ah… no.” He tried to adjust his clothes and also his voice. “Just some old friends tried to mess with my life.” They dared to hire those dirty mafia to get on his neck? Bad move, bad move. Just wait until he got his hands onto the money, his money, and they would all have to pay. “But anyways, merci, mademoiselle, for saving my life.”
Vincent tried to give a little kiss on the lady’s hand, only to realize it was a metal arm. He quiet caught onto her exciting energy sparkling in her eyes and, he didn’t know how to put this into words, but around her there was some… cosmic aura. Felt like a bright star. Oh no, his weakness. He surely did into shiny and sparkle things.
Vincent might be too caught up in her gaze and didn’t realize there was also a little girl behind the bright star lady. Now that made him curious, those two strong and lovely ladies had some strange aura around them, cosmic and electricity. Radiant?
“Don’t try any weird thing with momma. Or you will get zapped.” Her small fingers snapped at night, sending him chills.
“Haha… it’s just a gesture, don’t take it too seriously, little girl.” So a family it seemed, protective little daughter and fierce sparkle mother. Why were they around this area at this hours, especially when they were radiant? They could head into danger. Those mafia was known for radiant trafficking.
“Tala, don’t be like that.” She told Tala to be polite, but carefully shield her daughter away from him. The lady whispered something to her daughter and he couldn’t hear what she said. “You can’t zapped any person. He could be in serious debt, that’s why those bad guys chasing him. We have to help him, not threaten him.”
If Vincent knew what she said about him, he would have laughed until morning. Him being poor was the comedy class of its own. But he didn’t know that so he assumed that she was being cautious. They were radiants after all.
What kind of person they thought he was? He wasn’t going to reports them to the authorities, especially after this lovely lady had saved his life.
“I’m sorry, my daughter is scared around strangers. Hope you don’t mind her words.” She tried to laugh things off and Vincent couldn’t help but staring at her flustered face. It made him want to protect her, he couldn’t explain this feelings, but there was something inside him want to make her feel safe. Obviously she looked absolutely stunning when she got that shining smile and exciting energy, more than the cautious and pitiful (?) expression.
Just the thought made Vincent want to bite his own tongue. She had a child, oh my lord Vincent, get a grip of yourself, he couldn’t have feelings for someone who was taken.
“I’m not scared momma! I’m gonna zap zap and pew pew him!” A small light sparkled up on her fingers and the mother are trying too hard to cover it.
“A ha ha, I’m sorry.” The radiant lady had immediately pick up and holding her child close to her chest, trying to change the subject. “How about you, chale? You sure you can walk by yourself?”
Now had he realized he got a little bleeding, but sure for him it was a minor problem. “I’m fine, mademoiselle. You should worry for you and your daughter. This is not a place for…” He hesitated for a moment. “…someone like both of you.”
If she was uneasy and cautious about people finding out they were radiant, he should have pretend he didn’t know too. “Heading toward the second intersection and you should be safe out of here.” Reading her confused and concern expression, he chuckled. “Don’t worry, I know this area like the back of my hand.” He got his trap around here, so he definitely sure this road was secure.
She put down her hood and reveal her braid Mohawk hair, which was absolutely fierce and stunning in his eyes. “Thank you, chale. May you be safe too.”
With his heart was being checkmated and the little girl glared at him with caution, Vincent let out a sigh and giggled. “My pleasure, mademoiselle.”
“I don’t want her to enroll that Kingdom school, Brim. She could be in danger and she is one of our kind! One of us!”
“I could fake the files to be a teacher and investigate inside that school. We don’t have to take this far, she’s just a child.”
“They don’t accept any adults into the school anymore and they are progressing their plan, fast. And they are already suspicious of Yoru. We don’t have any choice, Astra.”
“They are experimenting on radiants! Radiant children! How could we let her in there knowing it’s dangerous, Viper! Viper, I know you’re not that heartless. We could find another way.”
“You only had her yesterday. We are only sending her in for two weeks for them to let their guard down. Yoru is in there and will protect her at all cost. We will let her carry Kay/O knife and teach her how to use it if it means for her own safety.”
“I don’t want this either, Astra. But the victims risk their own lives reaching us for help, now they’re trapped and also in danger. Yoru isn’t succeed in gaining their trust and those children could be paid by their lives for our mistakes. We have to act fast.”
“Boomer, I don’t wanna lie to Neon.” Deep down Astra knew she didn’t want to make this child feel like she was just took advantages of her. She found Tala, well that little Filipina wanted to be called by the name Neon, but as if she was found a piece of something missing in her heart. A family. They were both broken, but they found each other.
She only had Neon a day and a half, but if anything happened to her daughter, she would make the world explode and then died.
“We will try to protect her at all cost. Reyna would be there too, we will find a way to sneak her in.” A little bit risky, but Valorant was that kind of place. “Just thinking it this way, Neon is just a distraction until Cypher find out their shenanigans.”
“Our witnesses said Kingdom could use some kind of hypnotize to lure the children to the lab and their parents to let them do it. Be careful, Astra.”
“I will. I have a daughter to protect.”
Vincent didn’t know anymore. Why he always met this radiant lady at his worst timing?
“It’s you.” She spotted him almost immediately as he tried to sneak away. “Again. What a pleasant surprise.”
“I can’t deny that we are truly destined to be run into each other, mademoiselle.” This time she wore a more casual outfit and her daughter was in a little floral dress. And him? Sleepless nights and he bet that he could cosplay a panda in the middle of the stress and everyone would never notice a single different thing.
“You seemed to be not in a good condition, chale.”
How embarrassment, a gentleman was never meant to be this kind of pathetic. “I’m fine actually. You shouldn’t be too friendly with stranger, I could be a bad guy trying to kidnap your kid.” He tried a light-hearted joke but immediately regretted as he saw she shielding her kid away from him. “I… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”
“You could tell a person from their first action.” She cut him off. “I know you’re not a bad guy just from that, but please don’t try this kind of joke again.” This fierce aura came from her and even try to eat him up make him awake and a little bit scared. “Because we could be the bad guys too. Don’t be too friendly with us, or else this little Neon will zap zap you, right?”
“Right!” Her kid happily lighting her fingers and ready to, as she said, zap zap him, and the atmosphere suddenly warmed up. They trusted him enough to get the little kid showed her power in front of him, wasn’t it a bit… reckless?
“Is it okay for you?” Vincent hesitated before spoke up. “For me to know…?”
“We know you’re not bad.” Her face light up when she looked at him, confidently full of trust. “You can call me Efia.”
“Vincent, nice to meet you, again, mademoiselle.” Efia, what a lovely name. But somehow his eyes were attracted to the little jacket she was holding. It had a Kingdom logo and by the size of it, he guessed it was her daughter’s jacket. Her kid was going to enroll that school? It was the Kingdom’s school uniform.
“Your kid is accepted to Kingdom school?” Vincent knew what kind of horrible and inhumane things those people did for the radiant children in that school.
“Not yet. This little genius passed the entrance exam, but we will have to take an interview before they accept her.” She patted Neon’s head. “It’s kind of relief, you know? The only school which accept “specials” like her, the first school, is Kingdom.” She smiled, but somehow he felt sad and concern just from her eyes. “You are the first person who didn’t look at us like we are some kind of scary monster.”
“Well, from my experience, a lovely lady like you cannot be a monster.”
“Chale, you’re too kind.” She held her Neon’s hand tenderly and lovingly. “And they are the first school accepted her and give her a chance. I mean, it will take a long times for people to fully accept us as human, but isn’t it good?”
Even when she was talking positively about the hopeful future, he couldn’t help but sensed some fear in her voice.
“I think Kingdom isn’t a good school…” Vincent just knew.
“It’s the first step for a better future. I have to hope.” Efia smiled, at the same time Neon looked at him with the most innocent eyes ever.
He wanted to tell them they shouldn’t let Neon (he remembered last times she called her Tala right?) go to that school, but why? Why did he care…? They were strangers, mere acquaintances at best. They saved his life once, and he already paid it back by showed them the safe way out of that area. He shouldn’t care for them, it was none of his business.
“You should discuss this with your significant other about this school. I heard that there were many weird things in there, Kingdom doesn’t have a good reputation.” It was their family problem, not him. At least he made an attempt to help.
“Ah no. I only have Neon and myself.”
And they were going to straight into danger but had no idea about it. She was a single mom, if it wasn’t struggle enough, now they had to deal with Kingdom?
“Let me show you this.” She suddenly meditated and a shining thing appeared under his feet. With a flick of her hand, her metal arm shined with small violet glitter, and a lovely purple smoke popped up from the ground. Interesting. Was this how radiant get their power? From a specific body part that absorbed radianite? Her arms must have some kind of mechanics that could receive radianite when First Light happened.
Vincent wanted to know more about this kind of power. He could even upgrade his weapons.
“What are you staring at?” Her exciting aura spiked up again and he could see clearly happiness and even some mischief in her eyes. “Lost at the scene?”
And now had he realized how close they were inside the smoke. It was kind of true when he was just lost at the stars in her eyes.
“I just don’t understand how they would think a lovely smoke like this could be dangerous to society, you know?” She let out a little laugh at his attempt to change the subject. Because heat was crept up his face and if he didn’t do anything, she would realize how flustered he was at her sudden closeness.
He wasn’t used to aggressive flirting, okay? That was his only excuse when it came to Efia case.
“True, I don’t know either. Society is something weird right?” Her laugh was full of happiness and suddenly the purple smoke disappeared, let him totally got into the exciting version of her.
“But what choice do I have?” She shrugged, her eyes looked at her Neon who was trying to electrify some rocks on the street. “We are already live in danger in our daily life. Kingdom is the only corporation that promises us safety.”
“I don’t know why I tell you this. But thanks for listening to my rant.” Her child called her again, it seemed that they had to prepare to their interview tomorrow. “You’re such a good person, Vincent.”
This should be the end. He could just ignore them and let them do whatever they want. He even tried to stop them once, and if Kingdom did something horrible to them, it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t his fault that this child could be torture, or this radiant lady would never smile such brilliant and happy ever again in the near future.
It wasn’t his fault, Vincent knew it, but he couldn’t stop himself. He thought he might be crazy. Why he decided to interfere in other people’s business?
Maybe because she said he was a good person. It was a long times since someone talked something positive about him.
Kingdom is the only corporation that promises us safety.
Or because he never saw such hope in one person like her. He didn’t want Kingdom to crush her hope into pieces. It was beautiful and radiant, no pun intended.
“I could promise you safety, mademoiselle.” He hold her hand, of course he asked for her permission first. “You and your child don’t need to attend to that school.”
“But we were already registered her name. They could use that information to report us to the authorities if we don’t let Neon enroll that school.” Efia’s confused face somehow broke his heart. Radiants truly didn’t have any choices, let alone equal, in this society.
“You could use my name. No one could dare to harm you under my name. At least in this city.”
“What?” She didn’t understand his sudden reach out for help. She didn’t know she and her child was already heading to danger. “Why are you hating Kingdom so much? Did they do anything to you?” No, they didn’t. Not yet. “And how can we use your name if Kingdom was truly as bad as you say?”
Neon was too busy playing with the rocks on the street while waiting for her mom so she couldn’t hear her mom’s surprised voice when Vincent talked. “Let get married. Kingdom couldn’t lay a finger to a member of the city’s council. They couldn’t dare to touch a Fabron.”
The power of money was you could climb the political ladder easier. This promised safety for anyone, especially for her and her child.
“What? Marriage isn’t a game, and you’re that Vincent? Vincent Fabron?” He never felt such confident when his name was mentioned like that before. Fabron Corp. was a powerful tool enough to scare off anyone.
“It’s just a paper marriage.” Was it a good idea? Absolutely not. Maybe because sleep deprived for revenge those guys made his brain run out of good ideas. But somehow he wanted to keep her close too. It definitely because of her metal arm. “It… could be too sudden for you. Just takes time. You just need to see they are not meant to be protect you and your child.”
Now had he realized he sounded like a fucking pervert. “I’m sorry… this sounds so ridiculous.”
“No, no.” Efia was surprised but she was kind enough to see Vincent had good intention more than just someone who could take advantages of them. “I… will consider this. Kingdom must shit themselves so much for a good person like you to hate them…” She did sound nervous, which wasn’t a good sign. But somehow she still trusted him. Oh no, there was no way he let Kingdom lay a finger on them now.
Did Vincent just act totally out of character and offer someone his help?
It was definitely because of sleep deprived.
“So, Vincent Fabron, huh? You got yourself a big fish.”
“Don’t start on this. I just want to find someone to be my temporarily significant other because that Kingdom interview required both parents. What choice do I have?” As if everyone in the protocol was too busy with their own missions and no one was here to pretend to be her significant others.
“Ah yeah. What are the odd? Helping someone and turn out they are actually billionaires? So you tried to flirt and got that Vincent.”
“Chale, you know I don’t want to do anything with a Fabron.” A weapon dealer? Gaining moneys by making wars? There was no way in hell she let Valorant get involved with that kind of person, or his corporation.
“His criminal record are clean, and he is an important person in city council.” Too clean mean, he was either have a good reputation, or good at hiding the truth. Cypher said that once. Astra didn’t know this guy was good or bad, he was like, gray-gray something something in between. But he seemed good. Or she was too easy to fool by his acting.
“The interview is in two days. We don’t have much times anymore. Yoru said there was a girl missing insides the dorm for three days but Kingdom hides the informations to the public. She is a radiant. We need to act fast.”
Guess she had no choice now.
“He could make sure Neon could be safe. And you just need to be careful not to reveal your true identity. We don’t know Fabron Corp. take which side in this fight.”
“I know.” As long as Vincent didn’t know who she was, and after two weeks, she could disappear into thin air and never have to meet him again. Neon was put under the Witness Protection Project so that girl could be safe and her information wouldn’t get leak into the public.
“Be safe, Astra.”
“Be safe, chale.”
But she already made a mistakes. She told him her real name. Efia. Maybe she was caught up into emotions at that times.
It was just a name. She reassured herself. It’s nothing.
Astra must be careful from now on. Becoming a wife and a mother wasn’t an easy task, let alone an agents in this mission. Don’t let a Fabron distract you from protecting Neon and destroying Kingdom.
She was the cosmic hunter, after all.