Archive of Our Own ^omega

“How much longer do I plan on doing this.” Zhao Yu thinks to himself as he lies down on his hotel room bed. He had to temporarily book a hotel room for his assassination mission and his target’s schedule got a bit messed up from what he was given so he’s planned to keep an eye out for the target. A researcher. Apparently her research has been stopped for some unknown reason and she found her way back to her research which could be highly dangerous. From the given information, she’s been researching on Radianite. He knew what it was and what it can do. However, instead of assassinating the target immediately, he plans on taking her research for himself. He’s aware of the dangers that it holds but the reason for doing so is to get stronger. It was the only reason he wanted to do the mission. Stealing the Radianite.

5:45.p.m.
Zhao Yu does not mistakenly see the suspect and quietly followed her into the shadows of a nearby dark alleyway that somehow leads into an abandoned laboratory. It’s probably where she did her research. He prepares to take action and flank them off guard while also listening to their conversation. A few minutes later, a “Let’s move out” was his cue that he heard from a distance that’s neither far or near but close enough to hear the researcher. She’s clearly not alone. Zhao Yu counted 3 guards surrounding her. “She must really be a star researcher huh?”, he thought. Followed by a distraction of an empty boba cup he threw without getting caught then peeking out and killing all three guards with 3 clean headshots. Seeing the researcher on the ground in a vulnerable state, he threatens the researcher to give him the bag of radianite and asked her a bonus question of how to use it before he pulls his trigger on his sheriff. In defeat, she puts her hands up dropping the radianite bag and tells him to inject the radianite in small doses until all the capsules are empty to get the full power of having a radiant ability. He lowers his sheriff and she obviously took that as an opportunity to get up and run but Zhao Yu lifts his arm up and finishes her off clean and walks away from the crime scene.

8:03.p.m.
He returns to his hotel room and updates his boss on the successful mission. He sits on his bed opening the bag with 3 similar purple capsules that contains the power he wants for himself. He knew he was being selfish and greedy but if he wanted to become a better assassin he needed to do this. By luck, he found a syringe which can help him inject the small doses of radianite until he’s left with 3 empty capsules. “This might take some time. I should eat a meal first and do it tomorrow”. It was reasonable he wanted to do it tomorrow since the syringe couldn’t hold much and he had to go through 3 capsules of radianite then he needed to check out of the hotel early too. Even though Zhao Yu isn’t the type to delay things since his sleep schedule is also messed up, but a simple 2 or 3 hour sleep can help charge up his energy tomorrow to get back to his current headquarters where he heard the boss won’t be around for awhile which gives him time to use up the radianite in the bag in his assigned dormitory. It was originally supposed to be filled with more people but his boss assigns a dormitory by rank and Zhao Yu just happens to be the current highest rank earning himself a big room to himself which he still to this day commends himself for it.

It’s the next day. Zhao Yu packs up to
leave, not leaving a single trace of him staying there just in case. His guard is always up and he’s always ready for anything that comes his way. Later, he checked out of the hotel and called a cab to the nearest drop off point to his headquarters since he doesn’t want the driver to assume he had any affiliations with Scions of Hourglass. He’s cautious of his surroundings walking towards the entrance but he finally makes it in into the headquarters after spending a day and a half in a hotel room. He rushes towards his dorm and surprisingly the hallways that he had to pass through to get to his dorm were empty. No signs of any other hitmen which made Zhao Yu feel a bit suspicious but regardless he still made it into his dormitory and locked the door. It was time to get to pumping the radianite into his skin. He rolls up his right sleeve exposing his vein to inject the radianite into it.

It took more or less around 14 pumps to finish every single capsule. The time shown was already 2:30.p.m. it took a little too long for his liking and now he wondered when will it start kicking in?-

Zhao Yu felt an awful pain throughout his body. He felt tears coming out of his eyes only to find out it was the exact purple substance he injected himself with. His hands, legs, whole body were shaking from the intense pain of the radianite now being in his body. He feels vulnerable. He can’t see from the purple liquid filling up his vision. Zhao Yu at that moment in time questioned himself, what he had gotten himself into? He didn’t plan on dying so early but there was no antidote to help him out with his suffering. Zhao Yu lays down on the cold floor, unable to see or feel anything then, he passed out.

He didn’t know how long he has been out for but he knows for certain it’s already nighttime. He lays still on the floor being unable to move then he pushes himself up with the leftover strength he had before passing out. Everything was purple and his senses have multiplied which made everything so overstimulating that ended up leading to a headache. He gets up and tries to find his way to the bathroom only to see that his eyes were in a darker purple color in the mirror. “Shit.” He cussed to himself, if the boss knew about it, he'd lose his title as an assassin that he's worked so hard for. These thoughts were slowly cut short by Zhao Yu vomiting out a purple liquid. After he was done with his horrible head piercing vomiting session, he picks his phone up and texts his boss that he’s unavailable for missions for the time being. Since Zhao Yu easily succeeded his given mission, his boss lets him have a break. Zhao Yu thought to himself that it was a miracle that his boss allowed a few days off but he is also glad that he’s able to not do any missions for now.

The next 3 days it had been the same routine of Iso waking up from nightmares of a purple dimension with crazy inhumane senses which shocked him awake with a pain from his still ongoing headache. Which is followed by getting up and using his memory to find the bathroom since his eyes are filled with radianite. Not to mention the constant vomiting too.

Zhao Yu hates being sick. Or weak in general because as an assassin himself he’s supposed to always have his guard up. You’ll never know when someone can sneak up behind you with a knife. He groaned in pain. There was nothing he can do since he’s also trying to hide from his boss that he injected himself with radianite 3 days ago. Could he even call himself a radiant if he couldn’t handle the amount of radiant powers he possesses? He shrugs off the thought and grabs the last bread packet he kept in his snack cupboard. His snack cupboard is the reason he singlehandedly kept himself alive these past few days of being sick so he mentally thanks past Zhao Yu for having the genius idea of having a snack cupboard.

This night when he jolted awake it was different. There was no urge to vomit or being unable to see with the purple liquid filling his eyes. It’s like he’s a whole new person. His body found its way to adapt to the radianite. He gets up easily and his body feels a bit more lighter which could’ve been because of the bread packets he’d been snacking on these past few days but he definitely feels different. His vision is more focused than before and it’s also tinted with a very light purple but that doesn’t disrupt his eyesight. His shivering stopped and his arms feel full of radianite abilities. He unlocks his door after locking it for almost half the week and decides to get a real late night snack instead of eating the sickening bread that kept him alive, he swears he’s never going to eat another one of those again. (New trauma for him. Bread)

He finishes up, updates his boss and tries to fall back asleep but fails miserably by tossing and turning until his phone lit up to see a new notification. A new assassination mission to be carried out.

*New target : Omen*

Now, for this mission he had to be recruited into the ‘VALORANT Protocol’. The only information he has heard about the place was that there were many different types of radiants in that one place. Being the nonchalant assassin he is, doing this mission actually scares him a bit. Will he be able to pull it off? He needed to come up with a plan. He already came up with the codename Iso but his plan to get them to recruit him? It’d be hard since he hasn’t even tested out his radiant abilities yet and the whole protocol are agents with abilities (or so he’s been told) and would have easily overpowered him since his current abilities are unknown. The mission itself doesn’t have a deadline so he’s able to finish the job whenever he wants, provided he actually gets the job done plus his boss knows he’s the only capable assassin to pull this off. Therefore, Zhao Yu doesn’t plan to fail any of his missions to disappoint himself or others around him. He tries to not get used to showing human emotions but it really feels humiliating for Zhao Yu to disappoint anybody. So he comes up with the first step of his plan.

Number 1. Radiant ability training
After all those days of being sick, he doesn’t know if using his abilities would cause him to be sick again which was why he’d been holding off his radiant ability training. He didn’t want to feel or be sick anymore neither does he want to remember those sickening bread packets. Gives him the chills. “Ugh, what am I doing right now. I need to focus.” He leaves his dorm and heads towards the exit door, of course he had his hoodie up just incase anybody spots his obvious difference of eye color.

He didn’t know how long he was walking for to clear his mind but he walks around a neighbourhood where it feels so lively but with his hood on he definitely felt like an outcast or looked like a kidnapper. As he was about to leave, a skateboarder skated towards him and started circling him. “Oye, haven’t seen you around here! Sure hope you’re not planning to kidnap any of these young children here,” says the skateboarder while he still circles around him. Zhao Yu sighs and pulls his hood down which made the skateboarder almost lose balance on his skateboard which confused the purple radiant. “There. Are you happy now?” Zhao Yu speaks with an almost sarcastic tone. The skateboard was then picked up in the most skateboard way possible(?) he didn’t know much about skateboards until he realised the skateboarder was standing right infront of him. Has he ever felt such a way with someone where he wanted this random guy he just met for himself? He admired his looks, the tattoos, ugly but also attractive neon green hair and his face. It’s his face that he found the most attractive. He couldn’t tell how long each other were staring for but he clears his throat and the green haired started talking and stuttering at him. “o-oh um yeah right! So like, you shouldn’t be around areas like these looking like a creep ya know?” Zhao Yu smirks at him. How cute. He already knew that but he wanted to play around with him a bit longer. “Hey. I’m sorry I never expected to look scary with my hood on, I was trying to hide-“ that last part slipped out of Zhao Yu’s mouth a little too easily. “Fuck.” he said mentally. The green haired raises his eyebrow in confusion as to why the other stopped talking. “Hey man what could chu possibly be hiding? Those beautiful purple eyes of yours? You must be crazy!” he chuckles. But did Zhao Yu hear that right? He just called his eyes beautiful? He felt a bit red in his cheeks then replied with a “you think they’re beautiful?”. Which made the green haired froze in place. He obviously wasn’t registering whatever comes out of his mouth. He obviously should’ve thought of every word that was about to come out of his mouth which kept as a mental reminder for himself. The tips of the green haired guy’s ears became red as he looked away. God he was so easy so tease.

“Um anyway I didn’t catch your name. What is it?” They were now walking to an empty part of the neighbourhood because it started to get noisy. As much as Zhao Yu wanted to tell him so much more about him, he really doesn’t know if he should trust him. “You can call me Iso.” Right. He was on a mission. His eyebrows raised up and his mouth did an ‘o’ shape. “Aye that’s a cool name whether it’s a nickname or not, but you can call me Mateo”, he smiles from ear to ear which makes Iso blush a little but he tries to hide it. “Wait. Nickname?. Does he know that it’s not my real name? How could he tell…?”. As Iso went into a spiral of thoughts, Mateo snapped him out of it by sitting down at an empty alleyway where no one can find them. It was Mateo’s secret spot where he liked to hang out with his buddies. “You okay my guy? You look like you’re thinking a lot. What’s up man?” As much as Iso wanted to tell him so much more about himself. He couldn’t. He was still on a mission and in the nearby neighbourhood of the ‘VALORANT Protocol’.
(can we assume the valorant building and scions of hourglass building are in the same region cuz im lazy 🤫 😁) Iso smoothly avoids the question and asks, “where are we Mateo?”

The walls in the area were spray painted with graffiti and somehow looked comfortable enough while being abandoned. “It’s my safe place. Nobody ever comes here and to make things even better…..there’s no cameras! I can do whatever things I want with my buddies”. Iso tilts his head at the word buddies. Right, Mateo has yet to show him his buddies which he hopes he doesn’t find weird and he actually mentally prayed he doesn’t which could potentially make him leave and call him a freak. ”Okay please don’t freak out…”, the veins on his arms glow in a beautiful shade of blue as he pulls out a green slime ball with a face from his assuming slingbag and summons a yellow looking creature but his veins turn a slightly clear color and lastly spawns a blue looking….fetus? with a shield around it. “Calm down homies he’s a new friend Iso,” he calms down his radiant creatures who were all tensed up by the new face around Gekko. There, Iso found his key into joining the VALORANT Protocol. He needs Mateo to invite him into the protocol but he’ll talk about it later since Mateo just summoned his radiant creatures. There’s no way Mateo wasn’t a radiant like him but he obviously had more control over his ability. The yellow looking creature runs up to him and hides in the hood of his hoodie looking comfortable which earned a giggle out of Mateo. “Heh, that’s wingman or wings for you! He’s always finding somewhere comfortable to sleep”. Iso smiles back at him but he secretly doesn’t trust the idea of having a radiant creature being so close to him making him feel trapped since he doesn’t know what each are capable of. “Then this is mosh and dizzy” respectively showing the green glob is mosh while the blue… yeah… he should keep these thoughts to himself. “Looks like wings is comfortable in your hood” he laughs, “he’s already dosed off in there!” Iso trusts that the radiant creature is currently asleep which makes him feel less tense about having to worry about what it’s capable of. “So what do you need these cute creatures for? Clearly they’re capable enough to possess their own ability, helping you out”. That’s just what Iso deduced. “Damn, okay smarty pants you’re right. They each possess their own ability that can help me out. To be frank, I shouldn’t be saying this but I can’t help myself. The line of work i’m in is dangerous. So dizzy here helps me reveal the enemy’s position by spitting out a blue slime temporarily blinding them. Then mosh over here, can spread out into a big green pool of…death i guess… mosh bubbles up and explodes and lastly wings! Ultimate best buddy he’s able to chase down enemies! Any questions?” Mateo hasn’t realised he’s been rambling on for so long Iso looks almost tired listening to him. In reality, Iso was just mentally taking down notes. Not that he hopes they’ll ever be enemies but it’s still good to know what each creature is capable of. “Oh my gosh was that too long of an explanation? I’m sorry if that bored you out and I don’t know why I even told you this”. He continued on rambling and Iso puts his hand on his thigh unconsciously trying to tell him its okay until Iso sees Mateo’s face glow in a very obvious red which made him realise his hand was on his thigh which made him hastily remove his hand. They both looked away embarrassed of what just happened in lesser than a minute and Mateo even puts his hands to his face to cover his embarrassed reaction which wingman woke up to and makes some weird bubbling sound as if it was communicating to Mateo. “Shut up wings!” (wingman translation : it’s obvious) Iso was dumbfounded when Mateo could actually understand wingman but in a way, having the ability to control 3 radiant creatures already says enough about their relationship so he would naturally understand his buddies. “Oh uh it’s getting late. We should probably go.” Iso didn’t want the day to end any sooner so he initiates another conversation. “Actually.. my place is quite far from here and I don’t have the cash to get a cab at this hour.” To be fair Zhao Yu decided to walk all the way to the neighbourhood to clear his mind which he didn’t account for that it was 3 hours away from where he came from so in a way it wasn’t really a lie. “Ionno if brimstone’s gonna like this…”, he mumbles but it’s loud enough for Iso to hear him due to his new ability of being able to hear even quiet mumbling clearly. “Is he your leader or something?” Which made Mateo surprised, not expecting Iso to hear him. He scratches the back of his neck, “more like mentor but he sure is a leader yeah”.

So Mateo took the risk of bringing Iso to the VALORANT Protocol which he makes a sneaky attempt of trying to sneak him in but with Cypher’s active cameras, there’s no secrets hidden. So Cypher automatically knew there was an unidentified person in the headquarters. Cypher started identifying this unknown person. Of course he saw Gekko though so he lets him off the hook until he’s done his research. It looked like Gekko trusts this person enough to have the bravery of bringing an unidentified person into the HQ. He hoped that he has an explanation for himself if any of the agents catches him with that guy.

He clears the halls as if he’s on a mission and wingman actually carries out his duty to help him clear out a clear path into his room. Once it’s clear of any agents in his way, Mateo grabs Iso’s hand and makes a run for it like they were taking cover from an explosion. The moment they made it into Mateo’s room, Mateo lies down on his bed with his arm covering his eyes laughing. “Man! That was nerve-wrecking! I haven’t done something like that ever since I moved in here”, implying that he did it very often before. Iso lets out a small smile. Again, he feels safe around Mateo. Which came as a surprise as an assassin himself. Usually emotions aside and tucked away in one corner while he focuses on his main goal of completing his mission. In a way he felt so different when it came to Mateo. “Don’t mind the mess, gotta give space for the buddies to sleep ya know?” It’s true that Mateo’s room was a mess. There was also a mural on his wall with a desk filled with spray paints and gadgets. Looks like a very artistic desk if he says so himself. “Take your time to look around man if you’re even able to walk around…”, Mateo internally cringes that he had Iso in his messy room. He would’ve cleaned it up if he knew there were gonna be visitors.

Iso on the other hand had memorised the first and second floor of the HQ. He saw a glance of the floor layout while Mateo was busy trying to not get caught and had it printed it out as a guide in his mind. It’s surprising how much the radianite enhanced his senses and memory. Still skeptical about the ability part though. Iso basically knew there was no one coming down the halls due to his senses but he didn’t say anything. His main target was omen and he’s just one step closer to completing his mission. He kept all this a secret while examining Mateo’s room. Since it was already late, Mateo laid out a makeshift bed beside his bed since the area was cramped but he has to make the best out of it to make iso feel comfortable.

In the middle of the night, he once again jolted awake. He woke up from the similar dream of being in a place alone standing on a large purple platform with 3 walls standing in front of him which dropped after a few seconds. The dream was so clear he remembered every single detail. However, there was also an overwhelming amount of radianite in that place. His senses were also messed up once he woke up. Everything felt so overstimulating he hadn’t realised he’d been hyperventilating from the overstimulation. Hell, he didn’t even realise that Mateo was awake trying to calm him down but he’s in his own headspace not caring about who’s beside him. Out of fear he summons a shield around him while being unaware and Mateo falls backwards being unable to get any closer to him. It was then his senses weren’t so overstimulating and calmed down a bit. It was around 6 or 7 in the morning already since he could see the sunlight peeking through the curtains of Mateo’s room. With the help of the faint sunlight, he saw Mateo’s worried face and also being confused about what had been surrounding his body. “Iso, breathe please. Listen to me.” Mateo’s on his knees kneeling in front of the shaken individual. He couldn’t get any closer with the shield he had formed around him. Once Iso slowly came to his senses and the shield around him had dropped and Mateo pulled him into a hug immediately. How long had Mateo been up for trying to help him from his nightmare? He pats Mateo’s back trying to say that he’s okay now. Though he still has yet to find out what this occurring nightmare is but he found out one of his radiant abilities, forming a shield around him. I guess in a way he had to thank the nightmare for finding out he’s able to form that shield. He snapped out of his thoughts when Mateo’s playfully punches him to not hurt him too much after scaring the living shit out of him. “Dude you can’t just scare me like that.. I felt useless trying to help you out with that shield around you, which you need to explain yourself for that too”, saying all that while hugging Iso tightly. Iso softly apologises to Mateo, he doesn’t have much energy after what had happened. He never expected to be comforted by a stranger he met yesterday and not to mention in his room too. Iso felt pathetic but hugs Mateo tighter to wash his thoughts away. All he wanted was Mateo’s comfort.

They pulled away from the hug and there came the radianite questions. “So are you a radiant too? Like what are the chances I befriend a homeless radianite that decides to walk around a lively neighbourhood!” Then Mateo also tensed up and remembered that Omega earth also existed and one notable difference between Alpha and Omega earth is that Omega agents have purple auras around them which he examined him since his whole appearance is purple and thankfully theres no purple aura around him. While being lost in his thoughts, he heard a soft “water” where Iso strained his voice looking at Mateo. It didn’t even register to Mateo how inconsiderate he had been to not realised he had no energy so he quickly got up and walked over to the kitchen where he saw Jett and Sage eating breakfast and talking. He simply greets them with a simple ‘good morning’ until Sage calls him out. “Gekko, what are those tiny purple shards on your white shirt?” Just by luck he had to be caught by Sage and his stupid white shirt. Even Jett raises an eyebrow towards him while stuffing her food down. “Oh yeahhh you never really get a glass of water for yourself, it’s most of the time for someone else”, Jett added. It’s true. Gekko on the daily basis drinks an energy drink instead of drinking water unless he’s working out.“Is someone sick today? Theres no sick updates in the group chat today though”, Jett was thinking out loud but Sage walks up to Gekko picking up the tiny purple shards. It’s like she’s a genius or something because she found out that the shards were made of radianite. Sage doesn’t know any agent associated with the colour purple that leaves purple shards when using their ability. Reyna was more to the pinkish-purple side, Astra doesn’t leave tiny purple shards when she uses her abilities. So the star question came, “Is someone who’s capable of possessing radiant abilities here?” and Jett dramatically dropped her fork she was holding and looked at Gekko. “Look Gekko, is this person safe? That’s all I ask and care about. Strictly speaking, this is an unknown radiant I do not know about.” Gekko obviously has the face of a defeated person. Sage and maybe Jett were too smart for his liking but he’s glad it wasn’t Reyna who had been the one in the kitchen. “Fine, fine. I snuck someone in last night because it was already late at night and he had nowhere to go and he started having problems in the middle of the night which I had to help him with since I snuck him in the HQ so now i’m helping him by giving him a glass of water. Happy?”, Gekko sighs. “But if he’s okay with it and if you’re okay with it…. could you maybe give him a check up? Sorry Sage, i’m worried about him”. As long as Gekko had told Sage the truth, she was willing to help the unknown radiant that had snuck into the HQ. “However, you must tell it to Brimstone yourself about what happened last night all I am doing is a simple check up that I do for every agent here.” To that Gekko nodded and hurries to his room. “Never would’ve expected Gekko of everyone to bring someone into the HQ I thought our first visitor was gonna be Phoenix’s sister I can’t lie.” Jett speaks to Sage who was walking towards her after talking to Gekko.

When Mateo returned back to his room, Iso looked like his soul had left his body. His eyes were closed and breathing is slow, then he softly nudged the tired person who somehow slept sitting up and passed him the glass of water. Iso quickly gulps it down from the dehydration and the lack of energy, well water doesn’t help with the energy part but it’ll help him stay awake. “You better now? I have to explain some complications that happened while u were napping.” Iso nodded giving him the ‘okay’ to have him explain what he has to say. “Alright so I got ratted out and two other people know about your stay last night”, Iso widened his eyes and looked up at Mateo immediately. “but hey, hey i’ll sort this out and one of the people i’ve been caught by can do a check up on you if thats okay of course.” Mateo reassures him while squeezing the top of his hand. “If I go for this check up, will you be there?” Iso questions. It was obvious from Mateo’s reaction even before he said anything. He made an awkward looking face before telling him, “sorry man, gotta tell Brimstone all about this.” Iso sighs he clearly knows this is his fault for even getting close to one of the agents in the protocol but then again his main focus is completing the mission. Omen is an agent who worked for Valorant. Sooner or later he’ll have to meet this ‘Brimstone’ guy who’s the leader then meeting the rest of the agents. Once he meets the agents, he’s only going to lock in on his target Omen, observe his every movement and get a smooth clean kill on him in secret and once he finishes his mission he plans on never returning back. But there’s this lingering feeling in the back of his head where he didn’t want to leave because of Mateo.

Two knocks on the door could be heard. Mateo automatically assumes that Sage is done with her breakfast and decides to check up on the radiant. “I promise she won’t hurt you okay? Just… think of her as a doctor attending to your wounds!” Mateo smiles and opens the door. He was right the knocks were Sage and a nosy Jett behind her. Jett wanted to get a peek of a possibly new agent before she goes back to her room. “Jett you’re too obvious. You’re gonna scare the guy man.” Gekko said to Jett while leaving the room. “Can’t help it, curiosity killed the cat” she shrugs at him. Which got a sigh out of him as he makes his way to find Brimstone.

Now, Jett definitely wasn’t expecting the guy to have a hood on before Sage closes the door on her. A loud “UUUNNNFAIIR!” echoed through the halls before she went back to her room. Sage sighed then turned her back around to see his hood on. No wonder Jett couldn’t see anything she chuckled to herself before sitting down on Gekko’s bed next to him. “Hello, I am Sage. I assume Gekko has told you about me?” Iso nodded. “Mateo’s codename is Gekko? It’s cute and reasonable because of his creatures.” He thinks to himself. Sage asks him to lower down his hood and there Sage immediately notices the overflowing radianite in him. She could tell from his eyes and pale skin. “Last night you were facing problems of what I assume is a nightmare? I think it has to do with your ability.” He tilts his head in confusion. There’s no way he could summon that purple dimension. “I know you’re confused but that’s what most of the agents here go through.” She then took out a green color looking ball and heals Iso’s pale body, neutralising the radianite in his system. Sage smiles and asks if the radiant is feeling better. In fact he felt so much warmer and his vision wasn’t tinted purple as much as before. And a small ‘thank you’ could be heard. As soft as it was, Sage couldn’t help but notice the familiar accent. “Do you speak mandarin?” Iso looked up at her with a shocked expression. He hasn’t been back in his home country ever since he worked at Scions of Hourglass. Sage laughs, “wow I haven’t seen another Chinese person ever since I joined the protocol” she speaks to him in mandarin. Which he comfortably responds back to her in mandarin too. Iso felt a connection towards Sage even though he hasn’t told his name to her yet.

[Gekko’s POV] He wouldn’t be lying if he said he was scared to meet Brimstone. He dragged his feet so time can flow by until he heard Cypher calling his name. “Great! More time to waste!” he hurried over to Cypher’s work desk and questioned him what he needed him for. “Gekko, can you really trust those who you trust?” Obviously he didn’t get it the first time but Cypher didn’t elaborate any further. “Sorry dude could you maybe like explain whatever you just said so I can understand you.” Cypher lastly added, “trust can only bring you so far, until you don’t know when betrayal comes next.” Cypher’s words were so serious but what could possibly be the reason he decides to randomly give him a pep talk? Gekko brushes off the thought and unfortunately makes his way to Brimstone’s office. Once he reaches his office, he knocks, which Brimstone invites him in and asks the reason for being in his office.

“Heyy how’s it going man? I have to talk about a little something that happened last night..” Brimstone was in the middle of doing paperwork and he had glasses on so he looks up at him giving the sign to continue whatever he has to say. “Ya know those stories where you sneak a friend into a strict parent’s house? That’s basically what happened last night..” He starts tapping his foot against the floor anxiously before continuing. “Last night I brought in a friend who possesses radiant abilities and he’s now getting a checkup from Sage.” … Silence … Brimstone took his glasses off and neatly sets his paperwork aside. “So you brought in a radiant you were unaware of and he’s now in the HQ?” Gekko shamefully nodded. Brimstone pinches the bridge of his nose asking Gekko to take him to the radiant. “You aren’t going to kill him right?” Gekko anxiously asks. Brimstone replied to him with a ‘depends’ which made Gekko gulp from anxiety.

Back to Iso’s pov, he could comfortably get along with Sage and he respects her. While they were busy chatting away in their mother tongue, Iso could sense two people coming his direction. He could easily sense that one of them is Mateo but the person who was following behind him had heavy footsteps. So he puts his guard up while Sage was still busy chatting away how she misses China. They were near the door and he expected a knock but he wasn’t expecting wingman to barge into the room with Mateo trying to stop him. “Sorry, did we interrupt you guys?” Gekko apologised to the two people in the room while scolding wingman. Heavy footsteps drew closer to the room. Iso saw a very muscular man who he’d assumed is the leader, ‘Brimstone’ standing at the doorframe. “You must be Gekko’s friend.” Gekko slowly turns his back to face Iso making an awkward face, mouthing ‘Gekko’ and pointing at himself behind Brimstone because he hadn’t told Iso his codename. Well yeah he already figured that out from Sage but he pretends to figure out that information from Mateo for the first time. He averted his gaze back to Brimstone replying with a ‘yes’. “It’s time for questioning, follow me.” He walks away from Gekko’s room and Gekko and Sage wishes Iso a ‘good luck’.

Iso closes the door behind him and follows Brimstone in a room where there’s a table and two chairs opposite each other. They both took a seat and Brimstone started questioning Iso. “What’s your name and how do you know about this place.” Brimstone was straightforward with his questions, asking without any delay. “Iso, I didn’t know this place until M- Gekko brought me here, we met at a park and became friends from there.” Brimstone crosses his arms on the table. He had a feeling Iso obviously wasn’t his real name but he didn’t push any further and continued with his questions. “When did you get your radiant abilities.” Now, Iso didn’t know how to respond to that question. He wasn’t exactly sure of his radiant abilities yet, but he knows the amount of radianite in him is easily noticeable by other radiants. “I only found out about my radiant abilities when I was sleeping over in Gekko’s room. I wasn’t aware that I possessed radiant abilities.” It technically was a half lie as Iso knew having radianite in him would obviously come with radianite abilities, he doesn’t tell Brimstone the truth while keeping a straight face so that he would gain Brimstone’s trust. Brimstone sighs. He straightens his back and offers Iso a deal. An invitation to join the VALORANT Protocol. There it is. He’s close to finishing his mission. Iso accepts Brimstone’s offer to be a new agent for Valorant. “Alright, I should let you know that the enemies we go up against aren’t who you’d expect, take care i’ll get a room ready for you and call Gekko in here to give you a tour around the place.” Brimstone stood up, pushing the chair back in and heading towards the door. “One last thing, there will be a team meeting tomorrow, you’ll introduce yourself there and meet the other agents. Can’t guarantee Gekko’s gonna be the one to lead you to the meeting area though, you better pay attention during his tour.” After his last message, Brimstone leaves. Iso already memorised the place enough. He wasn’t sure about the upper floors yet but the lower floors are mainly used so he’ll find his way without help eventually. Gekko peeks his head into the room where he saw Iso sitting down alone. “Ya guys done? I was getting impatient to show you around man!” Grinning from ear to ear, Iso gives Gekko a small smile as he heads out of the room.

[Cypher’s POV when Iso snuck into the HQ]
He witnessed Gekko sneaking someone into the HQ and checked every camera in their area to get a good look at his face. “Gotcha.” He stopped his camera recording, zooming into the suspicious individual. Black hair, a dark purple hoodie and a white bandaid under his eye. Then noticed his dark purple glowing irises which made him suspect that he’s a radiant. Cypher searched high and low for any news or updates near him that could possibly be related to this guy Gekko brought in. Cypher just didn’t want to believe this friend of his is safe, especially not with those eyes overflowing with radianite in them. He was right on the money when he finds an ongoing rumour that started a few days ago. "Dead Lilac", a bulletproof wizard who could take out entire squads with one round. He shivers at the thought of a singular person having such a capability. He’s been through too many resurrections by Sage, so obviously he definitely needs to keep his guard up if he ever encounters this person. Continuing on to read up more about the rumour, apparently this individual was last seen in a nearby alleyway beside a hotel on the cameras before leaving not even a single trace of his presence there. Cypher leans back into his seat crossing his arms. How can he confirm that Gekko’s friend is this person he just read up about? Which made an idea pop up in his brain. “Lilac.” Gekko’s friend wore a purple hoodie and had purple irises. He’s technically associated to the colour purple and the rumour started just this week. Which makes him even more skeptical about the situation. This was all just an assumption of course, personal information on ‘Dead Lilac’ about their gender is unknown together with any clues about being a radiant. All he knows is that they’re a dangerous individual in the region so he’ll tighten the security around the HQ to the point Gekko won’t be able to sneak him in. This is all just a precaution. He’s definitely going to keep an eye out for him.

[Back to Iso’s POV]
Gekko showed Iso every room and was occasionally stopped by different agents to have a small chat with them about him. If he’s being honest, it didn’t feel half bad. Most of them acknowledged him as a friend even when they met for the first time. It didn’t feel bad since Iso didn’t have any friends ever since he got his job. That was until he met Mateo, becoming his first friend after a few years. Back at his workplace, he’s able to work alone. If there’s any complications he’ll just call backup but it’s too rare of him to do so. He flawlessly completes his missions alone not having to worry about any teammates. Mainly the reason why he prefers working alone. Teammates either drag you down or if you happen to be close to them and a casualty happens…. it’s a heavy burden to carry. “Alright that’s all the rooms you need to know! Brimstone should be done with assigning your room by now so I trust you know where the bedrooms are at right?” Iso nodded and faked a yawn indicating that he’s already tired. They both said their goodnights and parted ways as Gekko heads to his own room while Iso went to his.

It was a small bedroom. Enough to fit a bed, desk and a closet. For some reason, Iso had the need to find a space to make a snack corner. Every mission he does, he’ll snack on something plus, even when it’s his day off he’ll still be snacking. Iso doesn’t know how long he’ll be staying but he wants to make sure that he’s leaving the impression that he’s a full time agent at VALORANT so he plans on decorating the room a little bit to give it a bit of personality. He opens the given laptop on his desk and it welcomes him into the protocol. He went online, searched up his favourite songs and artists then printed them out with a convenient printer placed by the side of his desk. Took him an hour or so because it was already midnight by the time he had all the paper posters printed out. Iso takes the tape that’s in the drawer and posted them all up. He was proud of his work, he hadn’t done anything like that before. At his workplace dorm it only had a snack cupboard. There was nothing else he did with his dorm. He lays on his bed checking the time, 1:47.a.m., turns his phone off then fell asleep.

5:53.a.m.
Iso wakes up from his bad sleep schedule from his previous night of going through a nightmare. He sighs, gets up and heads to the bathroom to take a short shower which is shortly followed by putting on a purple coloured hoodie. After he showered and changed, he decides to eat breakfast to pass the time. When Iso reached the kitchen, he didn’t expect to see 2 other agents awake so early. One wore a hat and his face was covered up while the other was a woman who wore a skin-tight suit with one arm exposed with tattoos and had long black hair with purple-dyed ends. The two agents noticed his presence and the hat guy observes him closely but he expected it since he hasn’t been officially introduced into the protocol but the woman on the other hand got defensive and started asking Iso lots of questions so early in the morning. Of course Iso didn’t have the energy to answer all her questions but he just tells her he’ll be working with them as a new comrade. Additionally, he mentions that he will be joining the team meeting later at 8:00a.m.

He walks over to the coffee machine while the other two just observes him cautiously making him feel a bit uncomfortable. “Look if you have something to say, just ask after I drink my coffee to get the energy to respond.” Iso could feel the piercing gazes behind his back so he had to say something to break the tension. He makes a simple coffee and walks over to the table and takes out his phone and starts scrolling since the two agents still haven’t said a word after Iso spoke.

“Do you know Gekko.” Iso looks up from his phone and put his cup down, eyeing at the woman. “Yes, he was the one who introduced me into the protocol.” Her eyes widened. She had a thinking face and Iso just watched her have many thoughts running through her head then she left the kitchen to probably go to Mateo’s room. Iso wondered who that agent was towards Mateo but shrugs the thought off and finishes his cup of coffee.

“20 more minutes left. I should probably head to the meeting room now to be safe.” Iso doesn’t say it out loud then kept his phone in his pocket and as he was walking to the meeting room he saw Sage. They both noticed each other and gave a simple good morning before entering the meeting room together. Iso saw all the seats with a nameplate of the different agents so he looks for an empty one or if he’s lucky, a seat with his name on it to sit down. To his surprise, he actually found a seat with the nameplate ‘Iso’ so he took his seat and looked around the place as if it was his first time there. In the meeting room there were 4 other agents who were currently present. The two agents he saw in the kitchen, Sage and an agent who looked like they were a butterfly in their past life. The new agent he saw had short hair with pinkish ends and wore many layers of clothes but the pink jacket really stood out to him. “But… whats up with agents having dyed ends? Is it a trend in the protocol?” He thought. Iso looks at the nameplates of the other agents that were in the room with him. Cypher, Reyna, Clove and lastly Sage who he already knew. As he got to know the names of the agents who were in the same room as him, the rest of the agents came into the room together with Brimstone indicating that the meeting should be starting soon.

“Alright everyone here should be present except Deadlock, she informed me last night she’s sick”, Brimstone announced while walking to his seat. Brimstone then continued, “Today we have a new mission and a new member of the protocol!”, which Brimstone then signals to Iso to introduce himself to the other members of the protocol. He saw some of them already because of Gekko but his eyes immediately spotted Omen. There he is. “Yo are you gonna introduce yourself mate,” said an impatient agent who had a thick British accent. Iso snapped back to reality and cleared his throat. “For personal reasons, I won’t say my real name yet (he doesn’t ever plan to) but you can call me Iso. I look forward to working with you all.” He didn’t know what he was expecting after that small introduction speech but he definitely wasn’t expecting warm, welcoming smiles and being bombarded by questions from the talkative agents. While he looked around in the chatty atmosphere, he didn’t realise Mateo had been sitting next to him the entire time because he only looked in one direction the whole meeting. Mateo looks up at him and smiles brightly which made Iso look away to hide his red cheeks and he slowly sat back down.

“Raze! Did you see that! … Do you think Iso and Gekko might be~” Killjoy whispers into Raze’s ear not completing her sentence because Raze would obviously know what Killjoy had been talking about since she’s been looking at Iso. Raze giggles as she looks at Killjoy. “But Gekko’s like that to everyone babe,” as Raze sneaks in a kiss on Killjoy’s cheek.

“All right, all right. Settle down everyone. Today we have a new mission, Omega’s tryna steal our radianite again.” Brimstone silencing the noisy room. “i’ll be the on sidelines with Sage just in case, which 5 agents want to carry out your duty let me know by the end of today. We’ll be heading there tomorrow.”

Iso obviously had no clue who or what is “omega” but he had a feeling that this ‘omega’ has been a long term enemy towards the protocol. When Brimstone dismissed the meeting, everyone head towards the exit. However, when Iso was about to leave, Brimstone called him for a short talk.

“Hey Iso, don’t push yourself and take on that mission the first thing you join the protocol, alright? I don’t want anyone going into a war-zone without any training,” Brimstone assures Iso as he places a hand on Iso’s shoulder. Iso obviously had the intention of taking up the mission but this war-zone he was going to walk into had agents who have the ability to possess their radiant powers well when he obviously couldn’t which puts him at a disadvantage.

Iso nodded. He wasn’t ready going up against radiants who are able to use their ability well. He thanks Brimstone for the small talk and walks out of the room. With his hands in the pockets of his hoodie, he obviously wanted to see and know which agents were going to the mission. He concentrates and tries to navigate which room has the most agents there. Surprisingly, it was the kitchen. It was already lunchtime so maybe Iso could get a meal while listening into their conversations and get to know them.

He peeks his head into the kitchen and one of the agents spots him immediately. It was a guy with spiked hair with two shades of blue, one light and the other being much darker. “Hey it’s the new guy! Come over here, we don’t bite,” said the two toned hair guy. The kitchen was combined with the living room so there was enough room for a lot of the agents to comfortably eat or chat. Iso looks for an isolated place in the area and sits down.

There were mixed conversations about the food that’s being cooked and who wanted to take on the mission. “Food’s almost ready everyone! Just making sure it’s enough for everybody,” said a white haired ponytail girl. “I can get info on site with my Haunt ability, I just need some who’s able to watch my back.” Iso heard overlapping conversations until he hadn’t even realise his breathing got faster but half of his face was hidden his hoodie. Despite being in the corner of the room, he’s able to listen to all their conversations like he was standing next to them.

In the end, he actually did get his answers to who’s going. Waylay, Harbour, Fade, Breach and Vyse. He honestly had no idea who is who but he’ll find out sooner or later. “Bonjour monsieur, cooking’s done. Want to grab some together?” Iso looked up and saw a French guy offering his hand out. Iso willingly accepts his hand to calm down his nerves then walked towards the big pot of freshly cooked food. Everyone sat around the area, whether it was at the abnormally large dining table or on the couches. There, everyone was happily enjoying their lunch. Iso hasn’t felt this enthusiastic in such a long time. It was like Iso was slowly adapting to his multiplied senses over time. But there’s this feeling that Iso feels like he’s being watched ever since he was sitting in that isolated corner. It’s not easy to spot who could be the culprit in the room full of agents. “Ooh! Jett really outdid herself for today’s lunch! What do you think handsome?” Iso froze in place. ”Handsome?” he thought. “It’s- uh yeah, great. Haven’t tried Korean food before to be honest.” “Hey, don’t take Chamber’s flirting too seriously. He does that every mission and everyday,” came an unamused voice opposite him. A woman with jet black hair and venom green eyes. “Viper’s the name, Chamber’s the name of that flirtatious bug next to you.”

After Iso finishes his meal and his short conversations with some of the agents at the table, he heads to the range. He remembers the range since there were practice bots to train with. He wanted to test out his radiant abilities and practice his aim since he’s still technically on a mission he almost forgot about. Iso was too laid back in the protocol which scares him. He arrives at the range and he already sees someone placing down a recently used gun. “Oh hey, wasn’t expecting you to come here. Tejo’s the name, i’ll head out first and have any leftovers from lunch. Have fun man!” Tejo leaves Iso alone in the range. He looks around the range and sees the variety of guns that were left unattended in the room. He picks up a vandal and spawns the training bots. He sure is rusty. His score was a 23/30 for the bot practice. He starts it up again and he got lower than his first. Frustrated, he sets the vandal down and sits down for a while. He pulled out his phone and notices a new groupchat. “VALORANT UPDATES🤪✌️”

“Is this a serious groupchat? With a name like that?” He clicks on the groupchat and there’s a lot of messages spawning before his eyes could even keep up.

VALORANT UPDATES🤪✌️

Skye 🐶 :
Deadlock!! How are ya? We haven’t heard from you in a while!

Neon ⚡️:
Hey guys who cooked lunch just now? That was bomb!!😛

KAY/O 🤖:
Is Killjoy free? I could use some repairs.

Killjoy 🧡 :
I’ll be right there lmk in dms!

Sova 🏹 :
Did everyone already confirm who’s going for the mission tomorrow?

Yoru 🗡️ :
Yup. Waylay, Harbour, Fade, Breach and Vyse.

Phoenix 🔥 :
Tuff man I lowkey wanted to go lol

Jett 🍃 :
Calm down pretty boy

You just went last mission

Take a breather will you🙄

Veto 🐋 :
You’re not alone Phoenix

Deadlock 🐻‍❄️ (replying to Skye) :
I feel so much better now, thanks for the heals.

Fade 🐈‍⬛ :
Where’s my thank you for staying by your side??😒

Deadlock 🐻‍❄️ :
Can we not-

And the messages continued. Iso turned on dnd and switched his phone off. He picks up the gun he sets down earlier then focuses. He forms a shield around himself and starts shooting at the bots. “Ughhh 27/30 how rusty have I gotten,” Iso wipes the sweat off his forehead and angrily throws the gun on the floor.

“Those guns are fragile by the way, that’s also why they’re there.” Iso jumped and turned to his side. “Calm down cariño, I heard annoyed and aggressive gunshots. Need help?” How did Iso not realise that someone walked into the room while he was aim training? “Here, pass the vandal.” She held her position and continued, “look your enemy in the eye. It helps with accuracy.” She easily got 30/30. Iso was in awe. Her accuracy was on point and precise with every bullet she shot.

“I’ve heard from Gekko how you two met. If you do any funny business…” her eyes glowed a dark pink towards Iso. “I won’t hesitate to take your soul.” Whoever this agent is to Gekko, she must be important to him. He has to play his cards right. “I wasn’t planning to. Gekko’s a nice guy. I’ll even help you protect him if you need me to.” Reyna laughs. “I was making sure you don’t have any bad intentions cariño, I hope you do not break my trust.” Reyna walks away after showing off her precise gunshots. “Oh, I didn’t even get her name.”

It’s the next day. Iso woke up even earlier than usual. He does his regular routine of showering and grabbing breakfast. As he got his coffee, he sees the agents who were ready to leave for their mission. Some of them rushed out while a few of them were considerate enough to acknowledge Iso’s presence and gave him a quick goodbye. Iso finishes up and heads over to the range once again. He hasn’t found anything else to do for the time being other than aim training. Then it clicked. Omen. He hasn’t found Omen alone in a place where he can sneakily assassinate him. He aims to get 30/30 for him aim training then go after Omen.

3:50.p.m.
Iso is out of breath. He looks at the score. 30/30. He felt like he was about to lose consciousness from the amount of nonstop training activity he had done since the morning. He placed the gun back and heads towards the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Iso gulped the glass of water and once he’s done in the kitchen, he’ll make his attempt to find Omen.

He lightened his footsteps as he focuses on what agents are present in the protocol as of now. With the help of his ability, he knew where Omen is. Iso effortlessly made his way to an indoor garden where he spots Omen. He pulls out his hourglass phone one last time before he pulls the trigger on his signature gun. He glances at Omen and back at his phone. He pointed the gun right at the back of Omen’s head for a clean kill. He hesitates. Why did he hesitate? Then he heard a familiar voice in the distance yelling, “Oye! Monster on the loose!” Iso turns his head swiftly to the slimy, slithering sound coming towards his direction.

Even with the help of his gun, he wasn’t able to stop the fast creature zooming across the floor catching him. He dropped his gun. Feeling light headed and sticky, he drops to the floor then noticed a familiar pair of legs standing in front of him. “Sorry, I didn’t want to do this to you either.” He blacks out from the impact he received from the back of his head.

[Gekko’s POV]
“Wings? buddy whats wrong? Calm down with the pulling!! What is it?” {wingman is trying to tell Gekko to use thrash to find Iso near the garden} “Oh like a surprise cuz he doesn’t know about thrash? I don’t see why not.” “Oye! Monster on the loose!” He takes control of thrash’s eyes and helps her lead the way to where Iso is according to wingman. Whatever Gekko was expecting to see, this was the last thing that he expected. He saw Iso holding an unfamiliar gun aiming it at Omen. Gekko doesn’t hesitate to stop Iso. He made thrash’s movements unpredictable to successfully detain him. He runs over to where Iso is and slowed down when he stood in front of him. Gekko felt heartbroken as he looked down at Iso. “Sorry, I didn’t want to do this to you either.” Gekko gives Cypher the approval to knock Iso out. “Why? I thought he already proved his innocence and he pulls this on us?” Gekko bursted into tears. He felt a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry Gekko. Nobody expected this either.” Cypher’s words were an attempt to comfort Gekko.

[Cypher’s POV]
Cypher wasn’t ready for the situation that was about to unfold. He’s been watching Iso on the cameras. He especially monitored his range practice. It wasn’t any ordinary movement you’d expect from a newbie. Iso was experienced in using guns before joining the protocol. He watched Iso finally get 30/30 for his score and going to the kitchen. “I think this is where I physically observe him.” Cypher gets out of his chair and sneakily walks down the hallway where Iso is opposite him. He already had suspicions that Iso is the Dead Lilac but this was his last piece of evidence to prove his suspicions right. Of course Cypher is right when he saw the gun Iso pulled out and aiming it at Omen. In the corner of his eye he even noticed a small radiant creature peeking the corner and quickly running away. “Looks like Gekko’s gonna make his move soon. I should hide and pretend don’t know about the situation.” Once he heard Gekko’s successful ability usage, he pops out of the corner and saw Gekko. Cypher signals to him whether he should knock Iso out. Once he got the signal, he lands an impactful hit on the back of Iso’s head. He watched Gekko break down into tears and tries to make an attempt to comfort him. Thankfully, Omen took over his position and took care of Gekko. Now, Cypher wanted to fully inspect Iso since he had his own gun this entire time without anyone noticing. It was then Cypher found out about the hourglass phone. “Target : OMEN” Cypher was shocked. There’s no way someone could be that committed to complete an assassin mission where you risk everything. An assassin trying to make an attempt on of the Valorant agents? To Cypher it sounded like a joke. He kept the phone to show Brimstone later. “Tie him up and keep him in the meeting room. Wait until Brimstone comes back. They should be coming back soon.”

[Iso POV]
Iso slowly regained consciousness after god knows how long it’s been. He blinks once, twice and notices the tension in the room filled with 3 other agents with him. Brimstone, Viper and…oh. He didn’t even have to look up to know that Gekko was there in the room too. He didn’t even realise he’d been tied to a chair. Under normal circumstances, he would usually been able to break out of it but looks like someone pat him down. He doesn’t even feel his hourglass phone and gun with him. He didn’t even want to look up. He knew he was already fucked the moment he messed with radiants. He couldn’t even master his radiant abilities yet and he had the confidence to take up the mission. “Iso, or should I call you Dead Lilac?” Viper spoke. “Just kill me if you have to. My hands are already stained with blood.” He had no clue why he said that. He didn’t want to die. Isn’t it already the end for him? “Look, eyes up here. We placed our trust into you and you broke it.” Brimstone had a stern tone. “Iso, did you even want to be friends with me in the first place? Was I all just a part of your plan?” Gekko’s voice cracked. Tears in his eyes ready to fall. “NO!” Iso yelled. “I’m sorry Gekko you saw it that way. I never wanted to use you.” Viper cocks her gun as she aims at Iso. “If you see us as a threat, we’ll also see you as a threat. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you in the first place. There was barely any info on you.” Brimstone sighs disappointedly. “We already have enough enemies from Omega earth. Assassinations in the protocol on Alpha earth was the last thing i’d expect.”

Iso didn’t know what to do. He lost the trust from the 3 people standing in front of him. In that moment. He felt something forming in the palm of his hands. It was a last resort. He had to use his unknown ability once she shoots. Viper pulled the trigger and Iso summons a purple domain he had been dreaming of. He’s free from the chair and when the walls dropped, he saw Gekko on the other side of where he was standing. “I-I-Iso..? What is this place..? Everything’s so loud.. my eyesight is going blurry..” Iso ran to Gekko. He hugged him tight and repeatedly apologises. “Gekko i’m sorry I never wanted to use you. I only wanted to get closer to you and know so much more about you but I never told you the real me. Please forgive me just this once. I’ll leave my past behind and start anew.” Iso was tearing up when he said he’d leave his past behind just for Gekko. He wanted to do anything to stay with Gekko. “You’d need to build my trust for you again.. you can start by getting us out of here..” Gekko was clearly losing his consciousness every second. The domain around the two fell apart and they both return back to the real world. Iso was hugging Gekko tightly with his face buried in his shoulder. “Soo, you gonna explain what happened or do you want punishment that’s worse than death?” Viper still had a gun in her hand ready to shoot. “S-Stop. Do-n’t kill.. Iso.” Gekko tried his best to stop Viper from shooting Iso but it was too late. She fired a bullet at Iso.

Out of instinct, Iso summons a shield just before the bullet could reach him. His shield broke then he stands up with his hands up to try and reason with them. “I’ll work for Valorant for real this time. I’ll leave my current job right now in front of you guys for proof. I don’t want to have anymore connections with that place. And on top of all that, i’m sorry for betraying everyone. I never saw myself working with other people. When I was introduced to Gekko and the protocol, everyone was so welcoming unlike my current job. I was used to working alone like a little pet for my boss. But I want to quit that. Fuck that job. I’d rather work with you guys. Obviously it’ll take time for me to adjust since I always go alone but i’m willing to have a new beginning here.” Viper and Brimstone both look at each other. “You seem very genuine but this isn’t over. Take Gekko to Sage and we’ll continue here. He doesn’t look to be doing very well right now.” Iso looks down at Gekko. He was right. Gekko looked very pale. Iso picks up Gekko and immediately went to find Sage.

Once he placed Gekko in a room where Sage was present. He looked worried for Gekko and the door was slowly shut on Iso. He still had to settle things with Viper and Brimstone. When he came back to the room the chair with the ropes was gone. He took a seat opposite Viper and Brimstone. It felt like déjà vu. Viper passes Iso a document. It was a document where if he were to betray the protocol again, he’d be killed with no hesitation. He gulped as he signed it. “Our discussion is over. You already know what happens if you pull that trick again.” Viper stands up and leaves the room first. Brimstone stands up. “I hope this time we can actually be a team.” Then Brimstone leaves. Is that really it? He escaped death twice and now he signed a document where if he betrays the protocol he dies? There was no time to think about the consequences of his actions. He needed to see Gekko immediately.

He left the meeting room and is now in front of the door where Gekko is in. He takes in a deep breath. Knocks on the door and Sage unlocks it. “I’ve briefly understood the situation with you. I must say, Reyna won’t be happy about this. Oh right. Gekko’s fine now, you can see him.” Sage leaves the room to leave the two alone. The door behind him closes and he sees Gekko talking to his buddies on the bed. Like he was purposely ignoring him. “Gekko…?- no Mateo. You can call me Zhao Yu.” Gekko looks at Iso with a shocked expression. He didn’t expect the conversation to start off like that. “Wow if this is a way to build up my trust for you, you gotta do better than that.” Gekko rolls his eyes and looks away as if he’s just seeking attention from him. Zhao Yu sighs in defeat. He locks the door and climbs on the bed with Mateo. “Look at me, i’m sorry okay?” Mateo was still pouting and looking away. “Is all you’re gonna do is apologise? Then you’re forgiven. Anything else you need?” Still looking away. “You” Zhao Yu’s response made the tip of his ears turn a light shade of red. Zhao Yu cups Mateo’s face and made him face his direction. Even with all this force, Mateo is still avoiding Zhao Yu’s face. That’s when Zhao Yu decides to make a bold move. He kisses Mateo on the lips. “What-”Mateo’s words were silenced by another kiss. Iso showered Mateo with kisses all over until he fell on top of Mateo.

“This is new, it’s like you just want me even more now. What happened to the angry pouting?” Zhao Yu teases the embarrassed Mateo under him. “uuughhgh shut up can you not talk about it.. I really like this side of you…” he mumbles that last part but of course Iso heard it. He just pretends to not hear him. They make out on the bed until they heard knocking on the door. Thank god Iso locked it. The hickeys on Mateo’s neck were too noticeable so Iso lends him his hoodie. He told Mateo about the hickeys and if anyone asks why he’s wearing his hoodie, he’ll just say he’s cold.

Iso unlocks the door to Reyna’s worried expression immediately changing upon seeing Iso’s face. “I told you what would happen if you. mess. with. GEKKO.” Her eyes glowed in a dark pink as her voice gets higher. “Reyyynaaa do I not get a hello??” Reyna looks at Gekko and walks over to embrace him. “I heard what happened from Sage,” she looks back at Iso, “From what i’ve heard he’s been a threat to the protocol and made my sweet cariño cry.” “Chill, chill, me and Iso are friends now. He promised to never do such a thing again.”

Gekko explains the whole situation to Reyna. He even admitted that he has feelings for Iso. Reyna was confused. “You like someone who betrayed you? Are you mental?” Gekko furrowed his eyebrows. “Hey I told you he’s willing to change remember? Also you too have to tone down your ego for your wifey Sage, Reyna.” Reyna softly slaps him out of annoyance and gets off the bed. “Rest well, I heard there’s a new mission coming up. I hope to see you two working with me soon.” When Reyna finally left the room Iso couldn’t help but let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. So that was Reyna. She has a caring mother relationship towards Gekko. He wouldn’t be lying if he said he’s jealous.

Gekko gets off the bed and walks towards Iso. He holds his hand. “Round 2 in your room?” Iso smiled. “Say less.”