[Change of Heart: Redemption - RP] @valentinomothdaddy
Vox finds out first.
Through the sudden commotion in the Val's studio. Through the chaos in the streets, detected by his cameras.
Through Angel Dust, breaking into his office in tears, barely coherent.
"The contract is gone!" he screams hysterically in Vox's face, forgetting the fear of Media Overlord completely in his despair. "It's g o n e! Val broke my chain, he l-let me go. Oh, Vox, something must have happened. How come he doesn't want me anymore?"
Vox probably should be angry and scared for the future of his company. Val let his souls go. All of them. The ones at Voxtek. The ones that he won in turf wars. He cut their chains and set them free.
Vox should have taken safety measures. Should have made sure that at least those who worked at Voxtek had no way to escape, in case all of this was some horrible mistake. In case Val made some lousy deal, or some other Overlord, like that fossil Zestial, managed to get his revenge.
But all Vox does is order Ethan to manage the crisis and prevent the panic among other employees, and then he zaps into the nearest camera, and moves from one point to another - from inner security camera to the camera in the street, then some Sinner's smartphone, then one of his drones.
Oh, how foolish and cowardly of him was to give Val space. He pretended it was for Val's sake, pretended to respect his boundaries, his disdain for Vox, but really he was just trying to find the necessary words, to mend things without losing what he got, and he was afraid to fail, so he postponed and postponed, watching Val on his territory with his drones from time to time.
It's all his stupid pride. Fuck the boundaries. Fuck the space. He should have come and taken Val back to the studio by force on the first day of this madness. After all, it's his associate. His partner. It's someone he loved for forty years, even if he always avoided the word love. No matter how things changed, Val was family.
He zaps right in front of the warehouse and knocks the gates to the warehouse down by one powerful surge of electricity. Which is reckless, considering he is still not half of the Overlord he used to be. But if anyone hurt Val, Vox won't need power to fuck them over - his rage will be enough to give his attacks an impact.
The warehouse is vast and empty; there are no signs of fight. Vox's heart skips a bit when he notices the colors on the wall. At least it's not dark and gloomy. At least Val accepted his gift.
He hears a growl. Then a whine. Then a very uncertain purr.
"Cupid," he whispers, as he sees tiger's eyes glowing in the dark. "Easy, girl. Where is your owner?"
The tiger whines again, and then she bumps Vox's leg with her forehead, and runs forward into the darkness, and he follows her, trying not to pay attention at how his heart sank at that small gesture.
He finds Valentino on the other side of the warehouse. He doesn't look quite like himself. His new, broken-up costume is gone and replaced by something much simpler.
But most importantly - there is a low hum around him, and an entire swarm of white and golden dots.
And he glows. His entire body glows, and, somehow, Val looks more relaxed than he did in ages.
Vox doesn't know, what is happening. Val doesn't look angry or sad. There is an unusual look of peace on his face, and somehow, in combination with what Vox knows, with the fact that Val let go the souls he owned, it feels wrong, so wrong, that all the things Vox was going to say, everything he thought, leave his head at once.
He rushes to Val, breaking the swarm of white and golden dots, and hugs him with all his might.
"Oh, Val," he whispers, holding Valentino, feeling the tears welling up in his eyes despite his best efforts. "What have you done? I am so, so sorry for hurting you. I should have come immediately. I should have never let you leave that room. You deserved a proper explanation. You didn't deserve to feel abandoned. I... I handled everything horribly, I know, I should have talked to you about everything long ago. But you didn't need to... I could have solved everything for you, I could have handled this entire turf war thing, we could have spinned it the other way, make the fools out of other Overlords and come out on top. Val, what is happening to you?"
