Chapter 1

Uzui was in a daze as he looked around him. People screamed, running away, as a cloud of thick smoke filled the air. Around him, buildings were in ruins, burning down or partially destroyed. It was obvious that a huge battle had taken place. Gunfire rattled through the air, sounding quite familiar to him for some reason.

Strewn about, bunches upon bunches of corpses and bodies littered the streets. A good majority of them were burned, with many others having numerous bullet wounds. They looked like soldiers, with an insignia on their back, looking like a weird abstract "K". WHy did it look so familiar…?

Coughing a little, Uzui picked up a gun from the ground. It was long, with a long thin barrel and a scope. It…. looked like a Scout from an fps game, Valorant he played. Just a minute ago, Uzui had just loaded up some Fallout, along with a modded version of V.A.T.S….. It straight up just removed all of V.A.T.S restrictions. Though it would completely unbalance the game, honestly, Uzui just wanted to feel good about his crappy aim….

Uzui trembled a little, as in front of him, from a huge important-looking building, two…. Twins of sorts ran out, lobbing fire and shooting at each other… They looked identical, both young black men, wearing white jackets and some snazzy shoes, with a dreadlock-style haircut.

His pupils dilated, looking at the Scout in his hand, the familiar "K" logo, and the two people in front of him. Radiants. Pheonix. Kingdom. Valorant.

*Beep*

His first instinct was to run and get the hell away from the two pyromaniacs, but a wall of fire had already encompassed the surrounding area, making escape impossible.

Besides him and the two Phoenixes, there were five other people. Three were injured Kingdom agents, and the other two were civilians.

The two Phoenixes seemed preoccupied with each other, while the Kingdom agents were all out cold. As for the two civilians, they were trembling. One was a short brown-haired man with glasses and a green sweater, while the other was a young teenage girl with pink headphones and a white sweatshirt.

Spinning around, Uzui could not find a way out. Maybe they would be burned alive…

"Heh! Well, well, well…. There can only be one Pheonix… I'll burn you along with the rest of these chumps!" One of the Phoenixes, wielding a Stinger, an SMG that had pretty high recoil rates, but up close, this was a sure kill…

On the ground the other Phoenix looked around, sort of panicking a little, trying to come up with some cocky line. His Shorty had been knocked out of his hand, lying a few meters away.

"Listen cuz…. Can we talk about this…? I mean, c'mon….. We're both Phoenixes… At least spare those dudes?" The one on the ground backed away, cornered into a wall.

"No can do…" The evil Phoenix smirked. "I'll roast you along with the rest of those losers." His body flickered in flames.

Uzui stared at the exchange. If the ground Phoenix died…. They would be next. But what if he missed the shot? Uzui looked at the Scout in his hand, grimacing a bit.

As chaotic emotions raged through his head, the evil Phoenix raised his Stinger, pointing it at the good Phoenix's head.

Uzui narrowed his eyes. Though he did not want to kill someone, it was to save a lot of lives. Though he was no hero, Uzui had morals, which helped him carry forwards.

Cocking the rifle, Uzui looked through the scope, aiming it at the evil Phoenix's head.

"But… What if he missed? What would happen? Why? Why di-"

Suddenly, everything around Uzui changed. The world turned black and white, time seemingly slowing down to almost a halt. A green glow illuminated Uzui's face as a few options presented themselves. It was V.A.T.S! The one he had just installed minutes before! Gritting his teeth, Uzui selected the evil Phoenix's head.

"I'm sorry," Uzui whispered. Pulling the trigger.

"Bang!" The telltale sound of a Scout being fired echoed through the city, evil Phoenix whipping his head around, as a bullet embedded itself right in the middle of his skull. The evil one did not use Run It Back, so it was a sure kill. V.A.T.S. was deadly accurate, with a one hundred percent hit rate.

The good phoenix on the ground widened his eyes, as the dead body of his counterpart fell to the ground with a thud. As dead as a doornail….

"Woah…." Phoenix said, standing up, patting some dust off his jacket. He looked towards Uzui, who was holding the still-smoking Scout, and said three words.

"Dang, good shot!"

Uzui smiled sheepishly, dropping the Scout to the floor, looking at the dead body, for some reason, not at all affected by the fact he had just killed a guy… Maybe because the guy said he would kill everyone here?

Phoenix walked over, smiling. "Howdy! Good save man! Good, save."

Of course, that witty guy would get over almost dying so easily.

"Thanks." Uzui panted a little, wiping some sweat off his forehead, the heat around him sort of unbearable. "Anyway… How the hell are we going to get out of here again?" He craned his neck a little, watching as the fire slowly closed in on them.

"I mean… I could get out, but about you guys…" Phoenix scratched his head, also looking around.

"Don't suppose you have a fire extinguisher on hand?" Uzui asked uncertainly.

"Why would I?" Phoenix looked back at him questioningly.

"So you don't like, burn your house down or something?" Sitting down, Uzui waved his hand in front of his face, smoke all around.

"...." Phoenix thought about this for a second, before changing the subject. He took a transceiver out of his pocket, attempting to call someone. It was pretty cool, Uzui had not seen anything like that before. It looked like a sleek black phone, but a small hologram seemed to be projected from the top of it.

[No Signal]

"Ah, well that is a problem…." Phoenix scratched his head, racking his brain for any solutions, while Uzui dragged him back as the flames grew closer. Even if he was fireproof, it never hurt to be careful. The transceiver was slightly broken from the battle….

"By the way… Your…. Twin seemed to be throwing fire at you. What's with that? I don't know anything about sibling bonds or whatnot, but arent you fireproof?" Inspecting a piston on the ground, Uzui asked him. He was pretending to be oblivious to the current situation, as it would make them grow suspicious...

"Sorta hard to explain…. I don't get hurt by normal fire… But Radiant caused fire, yes. But if I kill the Radiant, most of the time, the Radiant fire will disperse back into normal fire. Still… fire. Really annoying stuff to explain…" Phoenix pondered over the thought for a while. "Anyway… We need to get Sage down here, asap."

"Sage?"

"She is our doc. But can also extinguish stuff." Phoenix replied vaguely, as they gathered the rest of the civilians and soldiers around an empty marble fountain.

Uzui sat there, on the side of the fountain, looking at the bright orange flames, which were sucking up all the oxygen in the surrounding area, making it hard to breathe.

After a few minutes, the flames were within a few feet of them. Phoenix didn't seem to be really affected, but Uzui and the rest felt it extremely hard to breathe. It seemed like almost all hope was lost, Uzui taking off his sweater and wrapping it around his face when suddenly, a crackling sound was heard. Like ice breaking.

"Whew…. That was a close one." Phoenix breathed in a sigh of relief, as through the smoke and smog, a tall woman emerged, crackling cold jade spreading about, jade walls emerging on either side of her.

"Sage…" Uzui thought, as the woman walked over.