"Ugh, why is this uniform so tight"

Jett was currently trying on the clothes that Brimstone was offering for her first battle alongside Valorant. There were many attempts Jett tried to convince Brimstone to just let her go with a t-shirt and pants but he still didn't budge. The layers of clothing that were constricting her chest were about to make her implode.

"Relax, wind girl" Raze said while bursting into the room with a wrench.

For only being at Valorant for almost a week, Jett was surprised to find that a few people in Valorant were able to talk to her without any issues. Though, 'few' didn't mean all of them. It was hard to have a conversation with Viper, Omen, Cypher, Sova, ..and Sage. Every time she ever engaged in any conversation with them, it seemed like they wanted to strangle her to death.

So eventually, she gave up and avoided talking to them. It was probably for the better anyway.

Though Jett was happy that she was able to make some acquaintances. Though, she was most comfortable with Phoenix and Raze. She knew Killjoy held a bit of resentment toward her, but she wouldn't be derogatory about it. She hadn't had any chance to talk to Skye since she was always out doing something, though the time would come when she would have to meet her.

Jett wanted to flick Raze off at the comment but instead, she flopped onto Raze's soft mattress with a loud thud.

"How do you wear this stuff. I mean, at Kingdom people would just wear cloaks over their casual wear and call it a day"

Jett respected Raze for one of the things that she wouldn't criticize her for talking about Kingdom. Jett found it hard to make any comments about her past to really anyone except for Raze.

Raze shrugged, "I didn't like it at first either. The stitching was tight and man was the fabric itchy. Though, many years of wearing uncomfortable clothing kind of grows on you"

Still, Raze's somewhat helpful advice didn't help Jett. She was tossing and turning in her uniform, "How am I even supposed to fight in this? My arms are practically being crushed!"

Raze sighed, "If you're going to keep moaning and groaning, why don't you do something useful? Like go to the shooting range, or help me with this stupid bot that apparently wants to keep blowing up in my face"

Jett chuckled, "You do know what happened last time I tried to help you with your little boom bot"

Raze remembered clearly. She had given Jett a simple task to screw a nail into a hole but ended up poking the wrong area and let's just say, she didn't have a fun time cleaning up the smoke and residue.

"I suppose you're right. I still don't understand how you managed to mess up screwing a nail but you're full of mysteries after all"

"What's that supposed to mean"

Raze leaned back into her chair and leaned one of her cheeks on her fist, "It just means that no one really knows what will you do or come out of your mouth. Basically, you're unpredictable"

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing"

"Sometimes good, but it can be bad sometimes"

Jett hopped back onto her feet and walked over to Raze, "I can't tell if I should be taking that as a compliment or insult"

"Take it as both. But now that you're here and we have some spare time to chat. Can I ask you something?"

"I'm scared"

Raze laughed, "It's nothing bad, well. Maybe, but you don't have to say if you really don't want to"

"Just shoot"

"So um-" Raze cleared her throat to give her a couple of seconds to think of what to say, "What's the deal with you and Sage?"

Ah. This.

Jett frowned at the question, "What do you mean by that?"

"Everyone knows in Valorant that you have some history. So, I kinda wanted to know what was the deal? As I said, you don't have to answer if you're not okay with talking about it"

Jett didn't know what to say to that. She wasn't a fan of talking about her problems with just anyone, including her and Sage's past. In fact, she's been trying to forget about it ever since the forehead incident. She knew that night she had made Sage uncomfortable, judging by how eager Sage wanted to get away from Jett.

Why had she done that anyway? Why did she think it was okay to get so close to Sage? She couldn't answer any of those questions because she herself didn't know why she did it.

"Hey, Jett? Oh man, I think I broke you"

Jett wiggled her head a little. She barely even remembered her spacing out, "Oh, sorry. There really isn't much to go into. We were just friends at an Academy. Long story short, she got accepted into Valorant, I didn't. Then I slowly lost faith in myself, and somehow ended up in kingdom and now bam"

"And..you decided to attack us"

If Jett had to take a shot for how many times people reminded her of one of her deepest regrets, she would probably be beyond wasted.

"Yes" Jett sighed "I did, and I regret it"

"Sometimes feeling regret is a good thing, It's what makes us realize our mistakes to make us a better person"

Jett waggled her eyebrows, "Since when did you get so wise, you bot head?"

"Killjoy spends too much time with Sage, so that rubs off on me"

"Did you just make a sex joke?" Jet chuckled

Raze instantly turned red, "No! Why you- Why are you such a pervert in the worse situations!"

"Mmm, probably because you make it so easy. Anyways, so you've been spending some time with Killjoy?"

"I mean, yeah. We're both robot nerds, so of course, we're bound to make some sort of connection"

"A 'connection' you say?"

"Don't get any ideas, Jett. Killjoy spends enough time with Sage, I'm not surprised if they've hooked up by now"

Jett almost flushed red, "W-Wait, you think they're actually hooking up? Like, for real?"

"Uhh, I don't know. I was just kidding, they're really close friends so I hardly doubt that they'd do anything like that. But it's not something impossible for them to do"

Jett felt her palms become sweaty. For some awkward reason, she found it weird to imagine Sage getting together with someone. After all, Sage had never dated anyone except this one boy back in the academy, which didn't work out. Then Sage claimed that she will never like a boy ever again.

"Well good for them"

"Yeah" Raze sighed. Jett noted the sad sigh after she soft mumble. Jett felt her heart tug at that. She got the vibe that Raze had some type of attraction to Killjoy but never admitted to it. But, it was pretty obvious.

"Let's play truth or dare"

"That was random" Raze said with a smile.

"Well, you say I was 'full of mysteries"

"I did"

Jett bounced on her feet, "Come on just say one of them!"

"Okayyy, truth"

"Tsk, you're boring. Okay, you gotta answer truthfully. Promise"

"Fine"

"Do you have any type of attraction to Killjoy"

It seemed like Raze had the ability to turn into a tomato at that moment because her face was red hot, "You!- What is that kind of question out of nowhere. A-And, that's not fair!"

"What do you mean not fair? I told you one of my secrets"

"How is that a secret! It's your past!"

"Shh now, you made a promise! I thought you said you never go back on your word"

"You cornered me"

"Uh-huh, you put yourself right in that corner"

Raze let out an exasperated sigh, "Okaay, fine. I will admit, I respect Killjoy and I wouldn't trying out a relationship with her but I hardly doubt anything beyond a friendship will happen with her"

"You're talking to formal, it's scary"

"Well, you wanted to truth didn't you?"

"I did"

"Well then that's the truth. Anywho, truth or d-"

Jett grinned and dashed out of the room, but not without peeking her head out through the doorframe, "Nope! That was only for you. Now, I gotta blast!"

Raze was tempted to throw her grenade right in Jett's face but she simply rolled her eyes and faced away from Jett with a tiny smirk.

"Don't come back into my room, ever again!"

~~

"Nervous?" Brimstone asked.

Today was finally the day she had been dreading. She was finally going to fight alongside the members of Valorant on an actual battleground. She was literally sweating pinballs and her palms were sticky.

She had finally gotten comfortable with her clothing since she had spent hours in the shooting range basically running and dashing around. One thing she loved about Valorant's shooting range is that her abilities never ran out. She could probably dash for hours if she wanted to. It was therapeutic for Jett.

But clothing was the least of her worries. She was scared. Scared to fail or end up messing up. She didn't want to watch anyone get hurt because of her. After finding out how amazing the people of Valorant were, the last thing she wanted was to watch one of her teammates die.

"A little" Jett gulped.

Brimstone watched Killjoy steer the airship towards the landing zone and resumed staring at Jett with a comforting smile, "Everyone's nervous during a battle. But that's why we train for situations like these"

Jett tried to take in his comforting words, but it seemed to backfire and make her more nervous. Had she trained hard enough? What if all her countless hours in the shooting range wasn't enough?

"You need to calm down" Brimstone warned "You will burn yourself out before the fight. Try to close your eyes and tell yourself that you will do your best"

Jett nodded and made her way to the back of the airship and sat down. Instead of closing her eyes, she observed the others. She saw Cypher in one corner, tapping and screwing at his little camera. Phoenix was laughing with Killjoy about whatever. They were always giggling about something. And..Sage. Sage was standing at a window with her eyes crossed, clearly deep in thought. Jett could tell Sage was nervous if the foot-tapping and nail chewing was anything to go by.

Jett felt the need to slip into the role of a comforter to Sage. Yet, she stopped herself from doing so because she felt that coming up and talking to her will make her more nervous than she already is.

But that didn't stop Jett from contemplating her decision to talk to Sage the whole way. She eventually stopped when she felt the airdrop slowly hit the ground with a light thud.

She soon watched everyone meet in the middle on a small table. Jett didn't know what to do, so she simply walked up to the table and listened to Brimstone's commands.

"Remember, we need to work as a team. I can't be on the battlefield this time because I'm deciding to let Jett take my place as our second entry frag. I believe we can pull off entering and defending a site without having long smokes. Jett has smokes but remember, they only last approximately 4.5 seconds so when she throws them down, utilize them wisely"

Everyone stayed silent at Brimstone's commands.

Brimstone looked at everyone sternly, "Listen everyone, I understand Jett hasn't been the most trustworthy. But, we need to learn to forgive. Jett is going to be replacing me, so you have to learn to work together as a team. Not everyone joining Protocol is going to be perfect, and will have flaws. You all have flaws, except some are worse than others but we learn from our flaws. So please, do me a favor, and win"

Jett felt an emotional tug at her heart with Brimstone's words. She hadn't felt that emotional with words in a long time. It gave her courage to speak up.

"I um- would also like to say that I appreciate everyone for not chopping my head off by now. I'm going to try my best to work with the team and make Brimstone's kindness to me be worth it"

She felt like her words were okay, but still, everyone looked a little unsure. She didn't expect any forgiveness right away, but this was a start. Jett's eyes roamed at everyone, to which they eventually landed on Sage. Her heart almost seized when she saw the smallest glimpse of sympathy in Sage's eyes until it was washed away when their eyes locked. It was as if Sage didn't want to show any emotion to Jett.

Jett looked down and felt the urge to huddle in a ball.

"Let's just..get this over with" Cypher mumbled.

Brimstone looked at Cypher with a low glare but looked away at the ground with a sigh. Jett slid up next to him and patted his shoulder, "Don't worry. I'll try my best to make it work"

"Thank's Jett"

The round was starting soon and they all got into formation. She recalled hearing that the map was Icebox. She found the map a bit intimidating due to how much open space there was, but she didn't complain.

"Alright, I wish you guys luck," Brimstone said, before closing the hatch to watch the battle.

The five watched Brimstone ascend up into a small window box and then turned back. They were given forty-five seconds of discussion before the round started. This was the first time Jett has ever experienced a real battle. She was given maybe a brush of information and that was all. She hardly knew the layout of the map and who she was up against.

"Jett, did you hear me?" Phoenix said

Jett stared at Phoenix blankly, "What?"

"See, she's not even paying attention. This is exactly why I didn't want her on this team" Cypher grumbled.

"Cypher, don't say that" Killjoy muttered.

Jett looked down, "I'm sorry. I'm spacing out-"

"Space out later! We're about to fight, and you're our entry to get in! Get your head in the game!" Cypher yelled, completely ignoring Killjoy's angry gaze.

Jett wanted to crumble at Cyphers words until she heard Sage's voice, "There is no use for negativity. If you want to fight, do it later. Yelling at each other is the opposite of what Brimstone wanted"

Everyone became quiet at Sage's words and heard the loud clicking at the timer which signified that there were only two more seconds left.

"Now we've spent all our time arguing, now we hardly have a plan. Let's just sacrifice this round" Phoenix groaned, loudly running into A site.

Sage wanted to scold all her teammates for being so careless, yet she looked at Jett's slumped shoulders before following in close behind Phoenix.

The rest followed, while Jett cocked back her pistol and checked all her corners while entering A's site. She looked behind to see Cypher setting up his camera near A belt to get a better look, only to have it get shot down.

Jett instantly looked into the direction of the shooting and noticed it was on rafters. She knew she had limited abilities in the first round, only leaving her with a single dash. She had to think wisely.

She felt a sharp sting when a bullet shot into her arm, instinctively dashing to the left to hide behind a box. She grimaced but the pain was eased when she saw Sage direct her healing orb to Jett.

When Sage saw Jett shot, she felt herself turn to worry and stopped all that she was doing to direct her healing orb to Jett. She knew it was dumb to use it so early, but it just felt wrong to see Jett hurt and not do anything about it.

"Sage! You're healing, please!" Cypher said.

Sage looked down and shook her head to which Cypher looked at Jett bright glow surrounding her. Cypher clicked his tongue and stayed back and waited for her heal to regenerate.

Once Jett's healing was done, she turned the corner and managed to tap the enemies head. She grinned when she saw the body disappear. She just had to get one more kill and her dash would be back again.

She saw Phoenix throw down his fire molly to enter in and heal himself at the same time. He turned the corner and saw himself. He smirked and at the enemy phoenix, grimacing when he saw all his shots missing. The enemy phoenix ended up winning.

Jett's eyes widened when she saw Phoenix disappear. She felt nothing but anger when she saw the enemy phoenix hiding behind screens. She chose to use her alt-fire which made her classic have a bigger fire spread. Clearly, that was the better decision because all her bullets landed on the Phoenix, and he was gone.

She saw shots being shot from behind, but by the time she turned around the round had ended and her body was being teleported.

Jett almost gagged when she was being teleported. She felt like her body was turning into jelly but it stopped when she was transported back to the Attacker side spawn. She stumbled back and held onto the railing, she felt like her head was spinning.

"Wow, you look.." Phoenix was about to say but Jett forgot about being dizzy all together when she saw him.

"P-Phoenix?! You're okay?!"

"Well..yeah? I spawn back every round?"

"What?"

"You do know how this works right? We just have to win 13 rounds and we're done!"

"Y-Yeah, but you don't die?"

"Nah, I just get spawned somewhere to watch you guys from afar"

Jett breathed a sigh of relief, "I just thought once you kill them, they're gone forever"

Phoenix let out a breathy laugh, "That's funny. I wonder why Brimstone didn't teach you how this battle works"

"S-So you're fine?"

Phoenix was about to say something but someone's voice stopped him from speaking.

"Will you two please stop chit-chatting. We have only 20 seconds and you guys are having a soap opera over there. You two are standing there with pistols, you should've gotten a sheriff by now" Cypher snapped.

Jett and Phoenix both looked at each other and sighed, "Alright"

~~

The second round started and Jett was finally finding her groove. She was only able to kill two people last round, which meant she didn't know who the other 3 were. While entering, she saw two people entering to defend the site. Jett smirked and threw down her smokes and ended up dashing behind them.

The enemy Phoenix and Raze seemed confused as to where Jett was. Jett pulled out her sheriff and shot them both in the head, watching them grunt and fall to the ground.

"Be faster" Jett said with a smirk as she dashed away to get a better view of the site. She was up until she heard the words, 'Last person standing'.

What did that mean?

Jett looked around at the site and noticed that none of her teammates were left on site. Did that mean she was the only one left? She looked around and saw 3 enemy bodies and 4 of her teammates' bodies.

They were all dead. How was she supposed to do this on her own?

Jett rubbed her forehead and smacked it, "Get it together"

Her eyes landed on the spike that was on Sage's dead body. She clenched her jaw when she saw the motionless body on the floor. Even if Sage came back, she was going to avenge her.

She yanked the spike and quickly engaged it into planting mode. It took her a few seconds to check the site for clearance before planting it onto the ground.

She heard a bunch of footsteps which meant they were coming. She, unfortunately, used up most of her utilities, leaving her with only 1 smoke and 2 updrafts.

Jett threw down one smoke to cover the entryway of screens and undrafted up onto rafters. She knew the enemies could hear that, but they also didn't know where she up-drafted to. An enemy finally came into view when they used the entry of rafters. She raised the crosshair of the gun to the enemy Reyna. The gun let out a loud pop and the enemy Reyna was dead.

Good, only 1 left. Now, where were they?

Jett's eyebrows perked up when she heard the sound of a beep. What did that mean? She quickly jumped off rafters and held her gun up. She heard the sound again and it was coming from the spike.

They were defusing.

Jett quickly turned the corner and when she saw the person defusing all the bones in her body stopped. Her hands struggle to aim her sheriff at the head because of how much they shook.

The enemy was Sage. And, it looked exactly like Sage.

And by the time she snapped out of it, she heard the words over the loudspeaker.

"Spike defused"

All the life from Jett's face drained when she was being teleported back to the airship. She wasn't even affected by the sudden motion of being transported. She looked down at her shaking hands then back at the rest of the team.

Everyone stared at her awkwardly until Cypher came up and grabbed her by the collar, "What the hell do you think you're doing? Sabotging us? Another one of your secret plans for Kingdom huh?! I knew Brimstone was a fool for trusting you so quickly"

"N-No I-" Jett tried to say but she felt Cypher push her back onto the wall harder.

"This isn't a game. Some of us are doing this to survive and trying to do good in this world. Unlike you, who does nothing but bad! You don't deserve to be on this team and you never will!" Cypher said with gritted teeth.

Cypher finally dropped Jett and turned his back to her, "You have already let this team down enough. It's better for you to just stay there and not do anything"

Jett felt the rise of a panic attack as she watched Cypher walk down the airship, "Wait- I'm sorry. I blanked out. I didn't mean to- to sabotage anything, I tried. I did..and I lost. That's my fault, you have every reason to blame me for what happened back there. But, I promise, I'm trying"

"Well then try harder," Cypher said.

Jett looked at everyone who wore disappointed faces. Except for Sage. Sage was looking at her with confusion and something other than anger. Jett tried to read her expression but once again was shut down by Sage.

Jett sighed and dragged her feet over to the rest of her team in silence.

~~

Luckily for the rest of the rounds, she didn't need to pick off the enemy Sage. It seemed the rest of the team was targeting the enemy Sage so that Jett didn't have to deal with whatever she went through on the second round. Which silently, she was grateful.

Everything was going great, the score was 12-8. Except they weren't winning on the defender side for some reason. Every round since the first round of Defenders, they lost. Everyone on the team was getting antsy.

Jett was starting to lose a bit of hope until she had an idea. But she didn't know how to address it to the team. So she decided to be straightforward with her idea

"Guys-"

Jett was cut off when she heard Cypher sigh.

"We don't need to hear it, Jett"

Jett frowned and slumped back against the wall, "I have an idea to be able to win this round"

"Freeze up?" Cypher said dryly.

Jett was about to speak but for some reason she was surprised to see Sage walk in between her and Cypher.

"Cut the negativity, Cypher. Didn't I tell you in the last half to cool it. As you can see, Jett is trying and trying to offer an idea. She has been a valid asset and has been helping us win the round, so until you can prove me wrong, I say we let say her idea"

Jett froze in place when she heard Sage. It came as a shock to Jett when Sage came in between them because she thought that Sage was going to back Cypher up and agree that she should keep her mouth shut. Except..she did the complete opposite.

Cypher curled his hand into a fist and became tense, "Are you really going to support her? After what she did?"

"Yeah, I am. Because she is making it up to us by standing with us on the battlefield! That should be enough for you"

Cypher wanted to keep his ground be he knew he already lost the moment Sage spoke. He dropped his head and sighed, "Fine. But if her plan doesn't work, then she's to blame"

Jett smiled at Sage to which Sage responded with a small nod before huddling everyone in to get them to listen to Jett's plan.

~~

Jett's plan worked and she couldn't be happier. It worked and she was able to prove Cypher's negativity wrong.

When they arrived back at HQ, Brimstone couldn't help but give the top of Jett's head a rub with his fist.

"Do you drink?" Brimstone asked Jett while guiding her over to the main conference room. They stopped at the door to let Jett answer.

"Uhh..sometimes?"

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad. Just beer"

Jett nodded and watched Brimstone open the door to see the rest of the Valorant team all in their designated chairs. They all seemed already tipsy judging by how a bunch of the people had drinks in their hands.

"There's the star of the show!" Phoenix yelled, running over to grab Jett into a headlock.

Jett groaned and pushed Phoenix's arm away, "You reak of beer, dude"

"Come on, you're not gonna have one?"

Jett contemplated it then shrugged, "I guess so. I haven't had once since the academy"

Phoenix shoved the cold drink into Jett's hand and brought her over to one of the seats that surrounded the table. She looked across from the table to see Sage looking down at her drink quietly.

Jett could tell she was deep in thought, but she decided to leave her be. She popped the bottle cap open which her thumb and chugged the drink.

"Shit, dude. I forgot how much of a drinker you were" Phoenix whistled

Jett smirked, "But you know I'm a lightweight"

"Yet, you drink like a mad man"

Jett formed a fist and hit his arm playfully, "And you're the one who can't chug beer and a lightweight. At least I have one of the perks"

Phoenix rolled his eyes and was about to say something but his eyes lit up when he saw Yoru walk into the room. He lifted himself off his seat and scurried over to Yoru.

Jett watched the two interact and leaned back in her chair. She slowly began to regret chugging the beer since her was starting to pound from a headache.

She didn't even realize that when she closed her eyes, she had fallen asleep. Her eyes blurrily opened and Jett could barely even process where she was.

Sage was still sitting across from Jett. Everyone had left except for Yoru who was shaking Jett quite harshly.

"Please don't do that. She might end up throwing up" Sage warned Yoru.

Yoru shrugged, "Well, how else is she gonna get to her cell. She can't sleepwalk, and she's too heavy for me to carry"

Sage sighed and got up from her seat, quietly inspecting the tired and drunk Jett. She walked next to Yoru and moved Jett's seat so that she was facing her.

"She won't be staying in her cell. She's going to stay in the medical ward" Sage informed, already trying to rouse Jett gently.

"Medical ward? Why?"

"Because Jett can do stupid things when she's drunk. Trust me, It's happened a lot back at the academy"

Yoru stared down at Sage, "She means a lot to you still..doesn't she?"

"She will always mean something to me"

~~

Jett felt a soft tug at her arm when she was finally beginning to wake up. She felt like she was waking up into a dream because of how blurry her vision still was.

Except for this time, when Jett woke up she remembered where she last was. But why wasn't she in a chair, surrounded by her teammates? Did she die?! Her eyes winced when a bright light came into view.

She definitely died.

Jett tried to sit up but her headache was practically a killer.

"Don't push it. I don't know why you drank when you know you can't handle alcohol that well" Sage suddenly said.

Jett narrowed her eyes when she heard Sage. Why was Sage talking to her all of a sudden? She had to be in a dream.

"Am I dreaming?" Jett said groggily.

Sage shook her head, "Of course not. You're just a bit intoxicated still. Also, take this. It will help with your headache"

Jett watched Sage set down a tablet and a glass of water onto the table next to the bed she was laying on.

Jett still couldn't believe this was real.

"Why are you talking to me?"

"Am I not supposed to?"

Jett smiled, "Well, you've kind of been ignoring me this past week. So It's kind of a shock to hear you talking to me"

Sage rubbed her forehead and sighed, "I just- I decided I wasn't being fair to you. I should have let you talk to me, instead, I decided to act childish and ignore you. I'm sorry"

"You don't have to apologize, It's okay-"

"No, It's not okay. You didn't deserve that, and- I would really like to hear what you have to say" Sage replied honestly.

Jett stared at Sage with a soft expression and nodded slowly. She swallowed the medication down with water before speaking.

"What would you like to know?"

"Everything"