VALORANT: Stories

Recombinant 015 (Various)

Recombinant 015
Pairing: Viper x Killjoy

The entire laboratory was almost painted black by the shadows, the wall lights and the desk lamp being the main sources of illumination within the room, which was considerably not much. In such a late hour, anyone would probably think everyone who was supposed to be off-duty would be asleep by now.

They should be, but Viper wasn't exactly the type to follow the norm when it comes to schedules, unless it involved an urgent operation or meeting.

Seated on her chair behind the desk, Viper fiddled with a pen, which she occasionally dropped whenever her fingers would twitch, while she listened to the audio logs Fade shared with her. Classical music would've been a much preferable pick to immerse her sense of hearing, but that wasn't a choice she had in her cards at the moment.

After Cypher assured them that Yu Zyn had been found, all those looking for her in the first place gave their versions of sighs of relief. Each and every one of them later parted ways and retired in their respective quarters for the night.

Except for Viper, of course.

The scientist knew that listening to these audio logs would be an extremely unpleasant experience, but then again, she held out hope that the children's tormentors might mention a clue that could help her from succeeding with her project concerning the artificial heart she's been trying to make for a long while now.

Unfortunately, after an hour worth of recordings, Viper decided to turn the device off and take it with her as she finally stood up for her night's rest. She checked on Lucia before leaving, making sure the alarm was in place and that any sort of shift from the girl's current status would notify her in an instant.

Viper swiftly made her way to the sleeping quarters, but instead of heading straight to her own, she stopped by at Killjoyʼs on the way, which was somewhat surprisingly empty. She immediately assumed the techie was in their son's room, where she then set course for.

Much to the doctor's surprise, when she peered inside the room her child, she found no one but the boy himself, fast asleep with a little bit of drool dripping out of his relatively open mouth. Viper nearly pitied the Killjoy doll, which was the unfortunate victim of the leaking saliva.

Viper felt a bit guilty as she fixed the blanket covering her son, brushing some of his hair back. "I'll tuck you in next time."

So much for being there for their child.

Though Viper was sure she and Killjoy weren't the only ones lacking the time for their adoptive child, it still didn't lessen the guilt she would feel whenever the end of the day came and the last thing she would see of her son would be his slumbering self.

Before the Legion became overly active, Viper was already encountering a fair bit of difficulty in finding time for Luthor. She made time as much as she was capable in doing, which she sometimes had Brimstone to thank for since the old man lightened her workload as much as he could without disrupting the daily itinerary whenever Luthor was with her. But, with everything seemingly boiling over to the brim all of a sudden, it left Viper no choice but to try even harder than before.

Even though she never saw herself being the family-oriented type, ever since she and Killjoy took Luthor in, a great deal of things seemed to have shifted from what she thought she originally. The change was considerably massive, but Viper surprisingly found that she didn't mind it at all. She adjusted to parenthood somehow as easily as Killjoy seemed to have done.

Speaking of the German, even when she checked the sentinel's quarters, Viper still didn't find Killjoy. Her workshop was already locked down when the scientist passed it on her way to the quarters, so there was one last place where Killjoy could still be at. Despite the confidential room where the multi-dimensional portal could be found being quite a bit of a far walk, Viper merely sighed, ignored the protests of her tired body and made her way to the mentioned location.