Prompt: Trauma

Focus Agent: KAY/O
Featured Agent: Brimstone

Timeline: KAY/O is the most recently joined agent at number 17

Summary: KAY/O struggles to remember where he is and in what timeline. 

War Buddies

KAY/O was built with the superior technology of his time, yet he still had trouble remembering which timeline he was living in. 

When he stepped out of the portal, KAY/O first admired the beauty of the tiny island in the Bermuda Triangle. Since the Radiant War began, much of Mother Nature had been destroyed in the crossfire. 

Even though he was fully aware of the status of the VALORANT Protocol in this universe, KAY/O nearly short-circuited seeing Brimstone alive again. Knowing the value of Brimstone's trust, he was grateful the leader believed his story and accepted him into team. Yet he couldn't help that the man's suspicion of him stung a little bit. 

KAY/O tried to have a better reaction upon being introduced to the team. Although he was technically a member of his timeline's version of the VP, he had been created and initiated during a trying time when the team was in shambles. He pushed back the images of the still faces and unseeing eyes of each agent that had died in the struggle, especially of those he's killed. Upon meeting the Radiant members, he fought against his programing. When Reyna was introduced, it took all of his willpower not to end the potential future right then and there. She will never earn his trust. 

After his introduction and the meeting had dissolved, KAY/O sought out Killjoy in her lab and quietly requested some adjustments in his programming. Afterward, the instinctive urges to kill his Radiant teammates ceased. 

In his timeline, KAY/O only really grew to know Brimstone. Others were his enemies or had died before he could know them well. As he interacted with them, KAY/O sank deeper and deeper into guilt. He never thought about how some of them were just kids or how society mistreated even the kindest Radiants. 

Phoenix thought he was so cool and peppered him with questions about where he came from, what he could do, and if he had seen The Terminator franchise. KAY/O feigned annoyance and was gruff with him. Beneath the irritation, KAY/O struggled with the horror that he remembered killing a boy that looked exactly the same as this hyper puppy bursting with adoration and curiosity. 

Killjoy also found him extremely cool, except she understood his ins and outs and wanted to learn what she didn't. He found it in his better interest that he didn't tell her she was fundamental in his creation. Instead, he warned her not to lay a single finger on a single wire, trying to forget comforting his friend when the girl he considered a daughter was killed by Reyna's army. 

The most difficult one to deal with was learning Reyna's motive was not so sinister as he was led to believe. Yes, she was not shy about her opinion that Radiant's were superior to humans and how she should rule them. Her very codename meant "Queen" and she knew it. 

While searching for Viper one day, he accidentally stumbled onto her preforming an experiment on a little girl in her private lab. She snapped at him to get out, which he quickly complied, stunned by what he witnessed. Later, she explained in confidence that the girl was Reyna's little sister Lucia. She was plagued by a mysterious illness that was slowly taking her life. Reyna joined the Protocol on their promise that they would help save Lucia. Viper somehow figured out how to use the souls Reyna took on the battlefield to feed her sister and keep her alive for now.

  "Why are you telling me this?" KAY/O had asked, surprised by the tremor in his robotic voice.

  "Because you know better than any of us what will happen if I fail."

It was difficult fighting alongside Radiant's at first. His computer brain calculated how to counter their powers and take them down. He had to alter his ZERO/POINT to harm only enemy Radiants and not his team. Even then, he would acquire targets in his system only to realize he had accidentally targeted his new Radiant friends, to whom he apologized.

However, the hardest person to fight alongside with was Brimstone, his dead best friend.

KAY/O knew all of his moves and strategies too well. He caught all the strange looks Brimstone threw his way when he accurately predicted his gameplay before he even uttered an order. The understanding was unfortunately one-sided as this world's Brimstone had to learn all of KAY/O's moves and strategies. Every untaken opportunity, every confused expression, and every explanation KAY/O had to give was a disappointment and a reminder. It wasn't enough of a reminder for him to keep his timelines straight. 

  On one mission against Omega-earth's VALORANT Legion, KAY/O called to the leader without thinking, "Brimstone, game plan! Let's do what we did at the battle of Hell's Bridge."

  In a gentle tone, the commander replied, "KAY/O, I have no idea what you're talking about."

  "Oh, right. Sorry."

After his mistake, Brimstone finally seemed to warm up to him in more than just respect and camaraderie. He behaved more gently around him during downtime, asked him how he was doing, and listened to him about the Radiant War and their friendship.

KAY/O was known to be forward as he lacked the complexities of human emotion. He felt plenty, as he told Phoenix when the young man teased him about being an unfeeling toaster, but his emotions are not muddled and complex like humans and Radiants alike. So one day, he marched into Brimstone's office and confronted him on the change. Their growing friendship was much too... familiar. In the past, KAY/O longed for this Brimstone to be his Brimstone and for their relationship to be exactly as it was. But he's come to terms with the fact that this was a different Brim and that the one he knew and fought alongside was gone. This new yet recognizable relationship was jarring.

  Brimstone leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, and studied KAY/O's face screen as if he could read it. "I may not know you like my doppelgänger did, but I know a fellow war dog when I see one. Sometimes, we get confused about what battlefield we're on and what war we're fighting. And it never seems to go away. Having someone who understands makes it a little bit easier."

  "I... Thank you. I appreciate that."

  Brimstone nodded. "What are friends for?"

  KAY/O felt hope thrumming through his circuits again. "You died in my timeline because I failed. I won't fail you again."

Expression serious, Brimstone stood and extended his arm. KAY/O met him by clasping his forearm strongly. 

  "I don't doubt it."