Fade Collection

[Omega] Istanbul - Part 5

The air inside was thick and humid, the smell of smoke and alcohol stung Fade's nose. As colorful beams of light cast down and swung around. Fade craned her neck, looking through the swarm of people as she repeated Brimstone's email to herself, "tall man, in black..."

The man sat alone on a horseshoe couch. Fade shouldered her way towards him. He was unmistakably professional, as he sat straight up with his hands clasped together over his legs. "Selam." Fade said as she took a seat across from him. [Her body sunk into the cushioned back and her stomach folded under the shadow of her chest].

"You are Fade?" the man asked.

"Yes." Fade said. And when he went quiet. She cocked her eyebrow, waiting for him to give a reply. Despite the ruckus of the party, the space and silence between them was awkward. She called a waitress to bring them drinks.

"I heard your men are searching for the Valorant protocol?" He finally spoke.

"Yes, and we need to know where they are."

The waitress came back and placed two drinks in front of them. Fade nodded in thanks as she reached for the blue glass. [The precipitation on the glass soaked through her gloves. As she leaned back into her seat, she threw her left arm over the back and let her hand dangle].

"I will get to the point. Our team has been tracking them, but the agents haven't done anything strange yet." the man said.

"It's been many days. They must have moved somewhere from the teleporter. I need to know their location, not if they did anything 'strange'." Fade replied

"We don't have the ability to know their location."

[Fade placed her drink down and now she let her forearm rest on the table, her hands in a loose fist. As she spoke, she rubbed her thumbnail with her index finger] "That is not what my research tells me." Fade's voice became hoarse.

"Apologies, but that I have nothing to give you."

"I will ask again. Where are they?" Fade stretched out her words.

"I don't know what your organization told you. But we do not know their whereabouts."

Fade chuckled under her breath, "Bullshit. I found the softwares you use. You know where they are."

"I'll tell you again. I cannot give you anything."

"If you won't give me information, I will get it myself." Fade hissed [her frown lines creased]. After a pause, Fade's expression softened "How is your daughter doing? Is she doing well at her new school?"

The man blinked in surprise, "We are having a professional conversation."

Fade's lips stretched in a smirk, "Abi, I am asking you out of good intention. I would be terrible if you couldn't go home tomorrow to see her, ya?"

He said nothing, but his jaw tensed and his teeth clenched hard. Dark mist started to permeate through his clothes. His fear was strong and the nightmare could taste it.

"You wouldn't make it in time for her birthd-"

"My daughter has nothing to do with you." He rushed.

Nightmare pushed against Fade's skin, hungry, craving to come out. "Okay, okay," Fade thought to herself, "bring him down." And prowler pounced on him. The black mass tore itself open, ripping threads of black until they became teeth, and it screamed and screeched in anguish. The man was met with the vibrant pink pit of prowler's throat. It wrapped around his body and engulfed him until his face could no longer be recognized.

Fade sat with a blank expression as his body spasmed and collapsed onto the floor, nightmare spilling out through every hole on his body.

Fade walked over to his body and heaved him up. [She took a firm grip of his torso and her lips pressed thin as she struggled to pull him up. "Shit he's heavy," she cursed under her breath. And Fade sighed in relief when she finally threw his head back over the couch.]

Fade tugged his arm over her shoulder to support him [her other hand dug into his blazer. His heavy breaths were warm, and Fade could feel them through her hair]. She patted around him for a pocket. Feeling a hard plate, she cautiously peered around, in case anyone was watching, and then slipped her hand into his breast pocket.

The tablet turned on as soon as her finger touched it, and the screen lit up with a map of the lost city. [The fine blue lines of the hologram glowed over Fade's dark nails and her mehndi.]

TRANSLATIONS:

Selam - Hello

Abi - Brother

AUTHORS NOTES- LORE ACCURACY:

I wish I could give more detail about the identity of the man Fade got the tablet from. I rewatched the cinematic and looked at Brimstone's office archives but I'm still unsure. (This is also why this update took so long!)

I first thought the man might be a REALM agent (because of his knowledge of Harbour and Lotus), but REALM only exists on Alpha earth, so it doesn't make sense why he would have contact with Omega Fade. And, to our knowledge, Valorant are the only ones who can teleport from one earth to another. This theory is unlikely. So, I'm sorry I couldn't specify who he was.

Another question I had is how Fade convinced the man to have a drink with her. It's very unlikely a man with such important information is just a douchebag that hits on girls for no reason, so Fade couldn't have done something like seduced him (though this would've been very fun to write). I also thought that he might be someone Fade freelanced for in the past, but we don't know that much about Fade's work history so I couldn't be sure, and it can't be a REALM agent, because again, REALM doesn't exist on omega. If she used to work with him, they could've met up as old friends, and he didn't give up information so Fade turned to other methods. Or is he a complete stranger? This also posed the question of what language the man would speak with her. If he was a stranger, he might've used Turkish because I don't know why he would be in Turkey other than him being Turkish himself. If his purpose was to meet Fade, then he might've spoken English because he comes from an international organization. I had no idea, so I used English.

So, I'm sorry for the lack of explanation in this chapter! If we ever get lore updates, I might edit this. For now, he is just a guy who somehow knows about Lotus, and Fade was arranged to meet with him, but he would not comply. (I decided this because of how relaxed Fade seemed to be sitting.)