Work Text:
Sage heaves a sigh as she finally finishes off the enemy she was in a fight with. "Enemy removed," She states into the comms as she watches mirror Reyna's knees buckle, face planting on to the sand shortly after.
She then hears the sounds of cheering from her team's youngest agents. Sage wipes the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and soon after, reloads her gun. She then stealthily scans around the remaining area to see if there were any more enemies around.
"Great work, Sage!" Jett chirps happily into the comms.
"Yeah! For a healer, you sure beat them up pretty good." Phoenix teased.
Sage rolls her eyes.
"Has anyone seen the last enemy yet?" Brimstone asks with a stern tone.
"Big man, don't worry too much! We literally took down most of their team already. Whoever the last one is surely can't beat all four of us."
Jett chuckles. "Don't get too cocky, pretty boy."
Sage couldn't see Phoenix, but she was sure his face scrunched into one of mock annoyance at Jett's comment.
This in turn causes the corners of Sage's mouth to twitch upward slightly. She found their bickering to be endearing, in a way.
Her amusement, however, was short-lived as she sees a white blur zoom past her and crash into the wall beside her. She quickly whips her head towards the direction of the crash and sees a white knife stabbed into the wall.
Her eyebrows furrow in confusion for a moment before her eyes widen at the realization of who this knife belonged to.
As quickly as she could, she raised her gun to fire at the knife. But it was already too late.
The area around the knife forms a purple, laser "webbed" ball.
She suddenly felt as if a part of her being was taken away.
To test her suspicions, she grabs one of the crystal balls in her satchel and tries to manifest it into a slow orb.
But it was no use.
"I can't use that." She curses as she tries to run away and take cover. She had to give herself enough time to get her abilities back before the enemy Kay/O could harm her.
As she ran away from the area, she could hear bullets being shot from behind her. The bullets were clearly headed towards her direction.
Her heart races.
She thankfully manages to dodge almost all of the bullets and tries to call for backup while on the run. However, as she was about to place a finger on her earpiece to turn her mic on, a bullet went straight into her right shoulder.
She yelps at the contact, vision blurring due to how much it stung.
After running for what seemed like forever, Sage spots a pile of boxes and decides to take cover there. She rushes to crouch behind them, taking a moment to breathe properly; after her adrenaline dies down, her legs start to ache painfully.
She turns her mic on.
"Sage! Nice of you to-"
"I need help, now!" Sage cuts Jett off.
"Woah, woah, woah. Calm down, Sage-" Phoenix tries to reason out.
"Their Kay/O is nearby and I'm injured. I can't heal myself because my abilities have been disabled."
"Shit. Don't worry, Sage. We're on our way. Where are you?" Brimstone asks worriedly through the comms. She could hear him running off to what she assumes a random direction to cover more ground.
"I'm... behind a pile of boxes, near B site." She tries to explain as best as she could but the pain in her arm gets worse.
She groans. "Please... hurry."
On any given day, Sage could have handled this situation much better. But because of how tired she was from fighting off Reyna alone a while ago, she was having a hard time reacting and recovering from Kay/O's attacks.
Sage closes her eyes and leans her head on the wall behind her, all the while clutching her injured shoulder. She was growing tired.
This was not good.
Thankfully though, she suddenly felt a sense of ease course through her body.
Ah, her abilities must have restored now.
She grabs a crystal orb again and tries to manifest it into a healing orb.
It worked.
She tears her dress open at the shoulder with her knife to remove the bullet in her shoulder and sighs in distress.
Her struggle did not end there.
Because as she was about to heal herself, she hears footsteps come from the other side of the pile of boxes she was hiding behind. And guessing from the unique, distinguishable, metal creaking noises these footsteps made, she knew it was enemy Kay/O.
The robot had caught up to her. And she was not very pleased with it.
She held her breath as she heard the robot walk around the area.
As quietly as she could, she raised the healing orb up to her chest and manifested for it to heal her wound and aching body.
While her body healed from the pain, she breathes out ever so slowly and closes her eyes in exhaustion, she leans her head on the big box beside her. Hoping that Kay/O doesn't check this part of the area.
It seemed like luck wasn't on her side today, though. Because Kay/O ended up walking over towards the exact spot where she resided in. Yup, she was done with.
"Enemy spotted, B." Kay/O says aloud, footsteps growing closer and closer to her.
As she holds her breath and mentally prepares for what may happen next, she hears a loud gun shot reverberate around the area. She opens her eyes hesitantly and looks up.
That was when she saw Kay/O had a hole on his chest.
"It is not very gentleman-like of you to come after a poor, injured lady, monsieur." A man- who was definitely French- (Sage figured out due to his accent) who she did not recognize the voice of said towards Kay/O.
The monsieur in question had now turned around to look toward the direction of where this newfound voice was, the voice who had also been the cause of his injury.
The unknown man did not give the robot a chance to react as the next bullet he shot went straight through Kay/O's head.
"It is a shame I had to do that. We could have worked fantastically together, non?" The man talked as if the robot was still alive and well.
A shiver went up Sage's spine. Who was this man? And why did he save her?
"Sage? You still there?" Jett asks hesitantly.
She was too stunned to reply.
"You can come out of hiding now. I promise, I won't bite." The man says. His footsteps growing closer to where she was.
She gulps nervously.
"What the..." Phoenix voices out his confusion into the comms.
She had already fully healed herself but alas, she was still tired.
"Hm. Perhaps no one was actually here?" He questioned to no one in particular.
Please go away, Sage thinks as she readies her gun. She did not want to fight for any longer.
"Ah. There you are." The man finally says.
As soon as the man was in front of Sage, she stood up and raised her gun to point it towards what she assumed to be the unknown man's head.
She then realizes that this man was a tad taller than her, so her gun was essentially pointing at his chest instead.
The man in front of her was dressed up in a white, collared, long sleeved button up with a rather colorful necktie adorning his chest. He paired this with a matching navy blue suit vest (which had bullet-shaped buttons instead of regular ones) and pants (nothing out of the ordinary there).
"I know, I know. I look incredibly dashing. But, it is rude to stare." He says smugly as he looks down at Sage.
"State your purpose." Despite how tired Sage was, she spoke with authority.
"Come on, not even a 'thank you' for saving you?" He pouts at her.
This causes Sage to cock her gun.
"Woah, woah, woah. No need to be so hostile." He raises his arms up in mock surrender.
Her eyebrows furrow in concentration.
"Allow me to introduce myself." He clears his throat.
"I go by... many names. But you, my dear, can call me Chamber." He grins at her. "What's yours?"
"None of your business."
"And I thought we were getting along so well."
Sage, ever so slightly, raises her eyebrow at the comment.
Chamber must have sensed Sage's hesitation to fire at him. So, he speaks up, "What are you waiting for?"
Sage does not reply.
"Shoot me." He says confidently.
"I..."
"Can't?" Chamber finishes the reply for her.
She sighs. "I do not know who you truly are. So, until further notice, I must keep you alive."
Silence hung in the air for a while.
"Do you really think you could hold me hostage while you are in... that state?" His eyes take in every single detail of Sage's body, from her slightly wobbly legs to the scar that rests on her right shoulder.
To say Sage was ticked off was an understatement.
While Chamber was sizing up Sage, she suddenly sees gradual movement to her left; in the corner of her eye.
Chamber must have noticed too because one of his hands started to conjure a sheriff (mind you, he was still looking at Sage while doing so). As the entity inched closer, they both pointed their guns towards it.
To Sage's delight, it was Jett.
Jett's eyes widen in surprise. "Sage, you're okay!"
Relief washes over Sage. About time, she thinks.
Chamber cocks his sheriff and aims for Jett's head. This, in turn, alarms Sage. Resulting in her pointing her gun back at Chamber. The man in question, however, did not pay mind to the gesture. "Sage? What a pretty name." He says with (faux?) adoration, his attention now drawn back to the woman in front of him. "And who may this young lady be, ma chérie?" His eyes have now settled with looking straight into her eyes. She stared right back.
"Who are you?" Jett asks incredulously, as if Chamber had said something mind-boggling.
Why was he not alarmed? Jett and I could literally shoot him at any second, Sage thinks.
"What the hell is going on?" A new voice chimes in.
"What took you guys so long?" Jett replies to the voice.
"It doesn't matter. We're here now." Sage could make out that this was Brimstone's voice and that the other was Phoenix.
Phoenix had arrived somewhere at Sage's right with Brimstone behind him.
Despite how Chamber was essentially cornered by all four of them now, his gaze was still locked onto Sage.
He chuckles. "Ah, Brimstone. So nice of you to join the party. I didn't know you had such a lovely lady on your team. If you had said so in the first place, I would have accepted the offer to join the protocol without hesitation."
"Wait, what does he mean by that?" Phoenix questions aloud, wanting Brimstone to answer him.
"Hold fire, everyone." Brimstone commands.
He stares at Chamber. He felt slightly protective over his friend as he saw her being stared down by this man.
Despite Chamber saving his life that one time (which is a story he'll get into another time), he still couldn't trust the man.
He felt like... he was definitely hiding something.
But, for now, he will let him off the hook. Since, he did save his friend's life after all.
"This man...had saved me from a life threatening situation before and has now done the same with Sage. It's best we keep things peaceful between us." As Brimstone finishes talking, the three other agents hesitantly lower their guns.
Soon after, Chamber vanishes his sheriff into, what appeared to be, thin air and lowered his arms to his sides, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants in the process.
"I'm glad we have come to a compromise, old friend." He finally looks at Brimstone.
"We are not friends."
"Oh, I am hurt. But, this isn't my first rejection." He glances towards Sage, who gives him a puzzled look.
Brimstone walks over towards Chamber and pats his back, twice. "Come on, we need to catch up on a few things." He says as the hand he placed on his back tries to push him towards the direction of the chopper the team had arrived in.
But, Chamber holds his ground and turns to Sage one more time, smiling at her, of course.
He extends his hand towards Sage and she raises an eyebrow at the gesture.
"Just take it." Brimstone says, rolling his eyes.
Sage begrudgingly places her hand onto Chamber's and he kisses the back of it softly.
"I look forward to working with you, ma chérie." He grins yet again. Sage only nods at the gesture as she slowly pulls her hand back, letting it fall to her side.
"Alright, enough chit-chat. Let's get moving." Brimstone announces as he successfully nudges Chamber away from Sage. As they walk away, they start chatting about something.
Unfortunately, Sage and the two other agents couldn't quite make out what they were saying.
///
"So..." Jett starts. "Ma chérie, aye?" She wiggles her eyebrows as she teases Sage over the nickname of endearment.
Sage groans and decides to just walk off and catch up on the two men who were already far ahead from them.
Phoenix joins in, "Don't lie, Jett. You know you wanna be called and treated the same way." He nudges her shoulder and wiggles his eyebrows at her.
Jett pushes him back.
"Do not." Jett says with mock disgust.
"Do to." Phoenix grins at her.
"Do not."
"Do to-"
As the two carry on their bickering, Sage only rolls her eyes at the scene.
This was going to be a long day.