When Sage had run down the stairs to meet with her huddled comrades, she was expecting something intimidating or maybe even a past enemy judging from how easily they were able to capture this so-called "strongest" division.

But when she approached the inner circle, the sight she saw nearly blew her away. The person laying on the ground, barely conscious and clearly in pain, was no other than Jett.

The person who had brought her so much pain yet was the one who was able to put a smile on her face at any chance she saw her.

"Jett?" That was the first thing she said. She almost cringed at how cracked her voice became when she said her voice.

Her comrades looked at Sage awkwardly then back at Jett who had a widened gaze yet it looked so distraught. Beneath the emotionless facial expression, Sage could still see the old person Jett once was. Other than the physical pain, the emotional pain Jett was pushing against Sage like a tidal wave.

"Sage I-" Jett began but Sage couldn't stay in the same proximity as Jett. She just couldn't bear the raw feeling of what she felt two years ago.

Nothing but dry utter suffering.

Sage relaxed her shoulders, she wasn't about to do the same thing Jett did to her. Walk away and forget everything they ever had. "What are you doing here, Jett?" She then said.

It took a while for Jett to come up with words, still stuck in her head. Her tendencies to hide any sort of feeling or emotion was beginning to show and her walls were coming up. Jett knew she would eventually have to encounter Sage but she didn't think it would impact her this hard. Why had it been so easy to forget her? But the moment her eyes lay on Sage, all her efforts burned to ash.

"I..can't tell you that" Jett muttered.

"It's a simple question, Jett. We either force you to answer or give an answer right now. Oh and why you are doing so, you should tell me why you decided to leave-" Sage caught herself from speaking rashly at the moment. She looked around at her teammates who continued to look at her with confused gazes, then managed to compose herself from speaking any further unnecessary comments.

Sage didn't even have to finish her sentence for Jett to know what she was about to say. Sage always was able to control herself in situations like these, something that Jett failed to do. But as of right now, the idea of keeping quiet was the most ideal thing for Jett right now.

"What do you want from me?" Jett said through gritted teeth.

Sage was about to answer but Brimstone placed a calm hand on her shoulder, "It's alright, I'll take it from here. Let me talk to her-"

"No, she's my-" Sage began but Brimstone sharply gazed at her and she instantly nodded and took a step back. Though her heated gaze at Jett continued to burn into her skin.

Brimstone took a small kneel and stared at Jett's wounds first then back at Jett, "I know who you are"

If Jett's eyes weren't widened enough, they were surely opened fully now, "You do?"

"Yes. Your application photo...I remember you all to clear, you were one of the highest-ranked in your Academy. I can't believe that I would see you here, fighting against an organization that you wished to be in" Brimstone said, with a click of his tongue. His face held disappointment and Jett couldn't help but feel even more guilty under his superiority gaze.

Jett had hardly known this man yet she felt like she was getting in trouble with someone like her dad. Why does his disappointed gaze upset Jett? Why does she feel the need to prove him wrong?

"I- You..rejected me. So I didn't know what to do" Jett replied.

"So you're a quitter?"

Jett's face turned a bit red, "No! I wanted to get into Protocol..but I just didn't have the dedication"

"I think that's the definition of a quitter," Someone said in the back, causing a couple of chuckles to spread around the group. Except for Sage.

Brimstone let out a sigh of exasperation, "Quiet, Omen. And, the rest of you, get back to your posts. I'll deal with these two"

Everyone stayed silent at Brimstone's command and walked back into the direction of HQ. Brimstone waited for everyone but he noticed Sage was looking down at the floor with clenched fists.

"Sage. That means you as well"

"Brimstone, with all due respect, I wish to be here. This..person you are talking to, we have somethings I would like to discuss"

"If you would like to conversate with our enemy about past issues, then it will have to be later"

"But, I've waited two years-"

"Sage, I understand. I know you have a lot of patience, so please put that to use as of right now. We have much time"

Sage found it hard to compose herself more than usual, clenching her fists even tighter. Without a word, she nodded and stared at Jett with a pained expression before turning around and walking back.

Jett's heart ached at the gaze Sage threw at her. All she wanted was to go up to Sage and apologize for all that she has done, but she knew it would take more than that. She knew she had to talk to her, and express her feelings. Which is something she poorly lacked in.

"Jett, did you hear what I said?"

"How do you know my name?"

"You think I don't remember your name on the application? I didn't accept you in for the first time because I believed you still needed to be more mature. Not because I think you lacked poorly in performance. I still believe you need guidance but if you would like, I would like to welcome you to Valorant as our new duelist. Including your friend over there that needs to um- Get checked out into the medical ward" Brimstone gruffed.

This was Jett's dream. To be in Protocol, her dream of becoming a member of Valorant was finally here. She and Sage's dream was coming true at this moment. Except...their dream of working in Valorant together is probably nothing but a menace to Sage.

For Sage's sake, and her loyalty to Kingdom..she had to decline.

"I'm sorry, I can't"

Brimstone looked taken aback at Jett's response, "What do you mean? Isn't this what you always hoped for? I understand you work for Kingdom, but we can always change that"

"I'm loyal to Kingdom. It's like my second family, and...I'm sure a particular someone doesn't want me to be around here anyway"

"You are being brainwashed into being loyal to someone that is wreaking nothing but havoc. Why do you ally with someone who is trying to push the good of Radianite into the bad?"

Jett didn't know how to answer that. She knew Kingdom were the bad guys, and since she is now a part of that..she is now part of the bad guys.

"Kingdom gave me my power and gave me a purpose in life. Who wouldn't want that?" Jett said with a shrug.

"Valorant could give you the same thing. We could give you a home, family, and a better purpose in life. The place you are in now will not benefit you in the future, so why not take the opportunity to make yourself a better person?"

Jett hung her head in guilt, "I'm sorry, I just can't. If you let me leave...I will try and convince Hench to not try and fight you guys anymore"

Brimstone and Jett both knew that those words were nothing but a lie. Kingdom will never stop trying to attack Valorant until it is confirmed disbanded and all its members are dead.

"Well, If you aren't going to stay here. I leave you no choice but to keep you here. You were the one who attempted the attack on us first, so I have the ability to keep you here...under my command"

"What do you mean? I don't work for you"

"Oh, this isn't a request. I'm taking you by force"

~~

Jett sighed as she tugged on the chains of her restraints. The cold metal of the handcuffs was basically impossible to break free from. After Jett's talk with Brimstone, there was definitely no chance of escape. Especially since now, she's inside HQ with even more heavily guarded security.

Jett continued to move her wrists or maybe find some momentum to break free from the handcuffs but soon after five minutes of fail, she gave up. Jett was eventually going to be sent to the medical ward so that she could be checked for any serious issues. Though, Jett was mostly concerned for Yoru. He seemed pretty banged up when she last saw him, but luckily she will be able to check up on him once she gets into the medical ward.

Time felt like it was moving at the rate of a snail and eventually Jett was able to close her eyes and find some rest. But the attempt of getting any type of sleep was shortened when she heard the sound of keys clanging against the lock of her cell.

"Get up, it's time to go," The man said with a thick Russian accent.

Jett was surprised when she heard the Russian accent. She hadn't been around a lot of people with thick accents besides Yoru and Phoenix. Jett cringed at the idea of seeing Phoenix roaming the halls again. She knew that he would be very disappointed in her.

Lazily, Jett got up with a sigh and shuffled outside the door. She felt both of her hands get tugged into an, even more, tighter constraint, "Ouch! Can you at least loosen it-"

"Silence"

Jett whined in protest but she continued to walk in the direction she was guided in. The more her hands were bound, the tighter it felt. Eventually, they came to halt when the sign, 'medical ward' came into view.

Jett didn't have any time to look around her surroundings since she was being pulled into the medical ward. There was no one in there at the time except for Yoru who was fast asleep in a leg crutch.

She let out a sigh of relief and heard the door be locked from the outside. Jett realized that this was the one moment that she could be left alone with no real supervision. She thought about thinking of a plan to escape but the tight restraint was the main issue.

Though, her struggling came to an end when she heard the door be unlocked. Jett turned around instantly to see who it was and she felt her heart pick up speed when she saw who it was.

"Jett" Sage replied dryly

"Sage..fancy seeing you here. What are you doing here?"

"I work in this facility. I am a healer"

Jett stared at her for a second then backed up when she saw Jett begin to come closer to her. "What are you doing?"

"I'm doing my job, so do us a favor and cooperate so we don't have to be in each other's presence no longer than we need to"

Jett gulped and continued to fiddle with the tight restraint, she didn't know how long she could go with the feeling of her blood circulation about to be cut off.

"Sage"

Sage continued to keep quiet as she examined the nasty wound on her left shoulder.

"Sage" Jett eventually croaked out louder.

"What?"

"Can..you please release some of the pressure on my hand bindings?"

Sage's eyes narrowed. She knew that the bindings weren't that tight, she isn't this stupid to fall for this trick.

"You're bindings are fine. Stop exaggerating, and I'm not going to fall into one of your tricks of possibly releasing you by accident"

Jett didn't know what to say at this point, "Well, if you just look at my hands, then I'm sure they're purple by now"

Sage rolled her eyes and eventually gave in. She let out a small gasp at the color of Jett's hands. They had turned a bit blueish and the veins of Jett's hands were popping out from being clenched so hard.

"Oh, Jett...I'm sorry, that must hurt. No one should have put your restraints that tight" Sage mumbled, quickly releasing her hands from the bonded cloth.

Jett gave out a sigh of relief and wiggled her hands in the handcuffs, "Wow, that hurt. Thanks for uh..releasing me. These handcuffs are bad enough as it is"

"You're lucky that is your worst punishment. Worst case scenario for people like you is death. Brimstone let you off the hook" Sage muttered under her breath.

Jett looked down and frowned, "I'm sorry"

"Apologies can't fix everything, Jett. Once you've checked out, we're done here. For good" Sage gritted out as if her mouth was speaking for her.

Jett knew Sage had changed over the years, but the one thing she knew about Sage was that in some situations, she was a terrible liar. Her words would sound stiff and wouldn't sound sincere if she was lying

"You know...after all these years, you're still terrible at lying" Jett chuckled dryly, rolling down her sleeve once Sage was finished stitching her open wound.

Sage looked at Jett with narrowed eyes, "I'm not lying. I don't want to talk see or talk to you again. After all, isn't that what you did to me?"

Instantly, Jett felt guilt wash all over her body, "I don't think I ever got the chance to explain myself-"

"I don't need your explanation, Jett"

Jett went to touch Sage's shoulder when she saw her go for the door, "Sage, please-"

"No, we're done here. Also, try not to get into any more trouble than you already are in"