Prompt: Guilt

Focus Agent: Brimstone
Featured Agent: Viper

Timeline: Neon is the most recently joined agent at number 19. Before the blackmail.

Summary: After a training mission gone south that has many of his agents limping home licking their wounds, Brimstone wonders why he insisted on welcoming kids into his protocol and if he is even worthy to lead at all.

Trials of a Leader

  "Brimstone, we really need to put an age floor on VALORANT. I can't take this... youth."

  "They're the future, Sabine!" Brimstone had responded brightly. "You know you love them."

He made this excuse so he could recruit Killjoy. Ever since the impressionable young age of eighteen, the German genius has been under Kingdom's thumb. Brimstone hoped getting her and her inventions out of their hands would benefit both her and the world.

He didn't know what or who would come after that. By the time he recognized Viper's wisdom, it was too late.

Agents began joining his Protocol faster than he could keep up. They joined the fight for various reasons: revenge, freedom, love. It was when the young British agent joined up, Brimstone realized the VALORANT Protocol offered something more. Protection.

The VALORANT Protocol provided sanctuary for young Radiants from prejudice and their own inexperience. After a string of Radiants entered their fold, Sage offered to teach those who sought control over their abilities. Brimstone readily agreed and gave her the role, especially after their newest edition Neon expressed fear over her lightning.

With the initiation of the next generation, it gradually dawned on Brimstone that the VP needed to be something more for them. He needed to be something more. Not just their leader, but their protector.

It was supposed to be a training op. A fake spike run on Everett-Linde. They had no intelligence Omega Earth was planning an actual attack there. He sent Killjoy, Phoenix, Jett, Raze, Skye, Yoru, and Neon to run some drills while he and another team went to another site to stop a real spike plant in Tokyo. He didn't realize it was a diversion until it was too late.

In the middle of a firefight, his comlink beeped frantically. He opened it, but before he could voice his irritation, Killjoy's panicked shouts cut him off.

"Brim?! They're here! They're on Everett-Linde!"

"What? Who's there?" Brimstone ducked to avoid a well-aimed shot from Omega-Cypher.

"The VALORANT Legion! They ambushed us in the middle of our training run!"

An explosion thundered against Brimstone's eardrum, followed by a cry from his protégé.

"KJ?!"

"They forced us to scatter. I think Yoru and Skye are hit and I can't find the others. They're planting a spike on site!"

"Hang on, Klara." He tried to keep his voice calm, breaking his own protocol by using her real name. "Take cover. We'll get to you as soon as we can."

"Brim, I have to find the others. We need to make a rush on the spike or else we're all dead."

"Killjoy, wait for backup."

"There's no time. You trained us better than that." Her panic had hardened into a resolve of steel. "See you when you get here."

There was a click in his ear followed by silence.

With renewed vigor and urgency, Brimstone barked orders to his team in a way that jerked their heads toward him with a look of concern. Despite their confusion, they finished the battle swiftly. Once the danger had passed, Sage pointed out with dismay that there was no spike to be found on any of the bodies and Brimstone had to tell the others of his failure.

KAY/O pushed the Vulture to its limit to get to New Mexico in time. They were still about half an hour out when Phoenix's weary voice filtered through the comm to tell them not to bother and to meet them at base.

Brimstone and others waited anxiously to greet the incoming agents home. The Vulture touched down and lowered its ramp, revealing its worn, torn, beaten team.

They walked out in pairs. A dirty, yet unharmed Phoenix supported Yoru, who was bleeding from his shoulder and scalp. Brimstone's shoulders sagged in relief at the sight of Killjoy. Her skin was cut in multiple places and her yellow puff jacket was torn and muddy, but she was strong enough to help Skye limp out of the plane. The Australian was bruised and bloody, clearly too weak to heal her squad. Raze and Jett followed under their own power, but they stood close by in case the other collapsed. The last one to leave was Neon, alone. Her small, shaking frame was crackling with nervous volts. When he and the others surged forward to help the team, she jumped back, firmly instructing them not to touch her.

With each agent accounted for, Brimstone felt the fist squeezing his heart ease. It did nothing for the sinking stone in his gut.

They helped their wounded inside. Upon their return, Sage had been busy prepping the medical bay. With her assistant healer as one of the injured, the monk was alone in her craft.

The leader surveyed the brimming med bay. All the kids but Phoenix took up a medical cot. The fire Radiant refused Sage's gentle suggestions to lay down and instead rotated between Jett, Yoru, and Raze's bedsides. Although he was unhurt, there was a haunted look in his eyes Brimstone was all too familiar with. Sova attempted to calm him by engaging in soft and casual conversation.

While most of the battle-weary agents had all but collapsed onto the beds, Neon was not so eager. She hovered by the exit, practically begging to be taken to the containment chamber Killjoy designed should her suit malfunction and she would be unable to control her lightning. Brimstone himself was too firmly planted in the doorway for her to escape.

To everyone's surprise, it was Chamber who was bold enough to gently take Neon's trembling hand into his own, taking a small electric shock. He barely reacted above a wince and guided her to the beds, skipping one between her and Jett for her peace of mind. In her distress, Neon seemed to forget her rivalry with the French agent and let him lead. The moment her head touched the pillow, the exhausted, scared girl was out. The electricity around her body calmed, but Brimstone could still smell a hint of ozone in the air.

Even Viper, who reserved no love for Sage, quietly obeyed her every order. With hands gentler than when she handled her chemistry tubes, the scientist cleaned dirt and bandaged wounds with care.

Cypher spoke to Killjoy in a low, gentle tone. She sat on her bed rather than lie in it. Her injuries were minor, but her shoulders slumped with exhaustion and her eyes were wide and hazy.

Shaking himself out of his stupor, the leader of the VP made himself useful. Grabbing a bottle of anesthetic, cotton pads, and sealing tape, he sat in front of Killjoy and began washing and bandaging the cuts on her hands, face, and knees. Aside from a look and a smile, she didn't interrupt Cypher's questioning of the recent event. Brimstone listened intently and tried to convince himself he wasn't patching up his agents out of guilt.

When Sage's work was done and all the young agents were asleep, Brimstone sat on the floor outside the med bay doors, aching back pressed against the wall and his arms on his knees. Gradually, the other agents left to let their teammates rest and Brim sent the tired healer to her quarters to do the same. Inside the med bay, his agents slept not knowing their captain was watching over them.

Hours passed before Brim heard determined footsteps he had learned to recognize over their years of working together. Viper turned the corner and marched straight towards him, her expression oddly compassionate beneath the permanent scorn.

"You should go rest, Liam," she told him pointedly. "They're safe here and you're exhausted."

Brim shook his head, clearing the bleary fog in his brain. "I'm fine, Sabine," he responded, short and gruff.

Viper sighed and moved to slide down the wall. They sat together in silence for a long moment, staring at the door protecting the agents behind it.

"It wasn't your fault," the scientist finally said. "It was a diversion."

"Yeah. The oldest trick in the book. I should know better."

"Liam–"

"I'm supposed to protect them!" he growled, the self-loathing cutting in his tone. "How can I lead them if I can't keep them safe? They're just kids, Sabine!" All the anger rushed out of him in a wave and he sighed, feeling cold and empty. "Maybe you were right about putting an age limit on the VP."

"I'm right about a lot of things," stated Viper matter-of-factly, "but recruiting those "kids", that was the right call. They came to you–came to us–for more than just safety. They joined the cause to have a purpose. They're good kids, but you know how hard it is out there. Without the Protocol, Radiants may have to use their powers in ways they don't want to or Kingdom will get their hands on them like how they used Killjoy and her genius."

A shiver traveled up Brimstone's spine as he recalled how they scooped up the eighteen-year-old prodigy, put her on a pedestal, then used her inventions to harm those who stood in the way of their own interests.

"You said so yourself," the chemist continued, "they're the future. We need to nourish that future in order for them to become better than us. They couldn't ask for a better person to lead them."

"And why is that?"

"Because you care, Liam. Not every leader cares for or protects their team. That's what sets you apart."

Brimstone was stunned to silence, mulling over her words. Wisdom was a surprise to hear from the vengeful and toxin-obsessed woman, but she was by no means not observant. The turmoil of guilt still swirled within him, but maybe that was okay.

It meant he had compassion.

Unable to suppress a cheeky grin he saved only for a select few, Brimstone chuckled. "I was right about another thing. You do care about them."

Viper merely scoffed and lightly punched his shoulder. She rose and offered him a hand. He took it gratefully, annoyed by the soreness in his legs and the ache in his back. Sparing one more glance at the silent medical bay, Brimstone followed his old friend through their Headquarters, his heavy boots echoing down the empty hallways.

Far away in another country, a prowling Nightmare feasted off of his fears. She knew better than himself what he feared most, and she was going to exploit his compassion.