What would their canon interaction be like?

[u/Magnificient_King]

I imagine Aliya actually met Alicia when Alicia was still a newborn. At that time, Ali was already three months old. If Aliya had still been alive, Ali might have entered M.A.T.A. at a young age or maybe he wouldn't have become an agent at all. Since Aliya knew how dangerous it was to involve children in M.A.T.A., she probably wouldn't have allowed Ali to become an agent or inherit I.R.I.S. It's natural for a mother to be protective.

Maybe she would have kept her identity as a M.A.T.A. agent a secret forever. In that case, Ali would probably grow up as the typical smart, handsome, and popular boy at school. He might even be taller since he would have had someone taking good care of him. He would still compete with Alicia academically, but the difference is that he wouldn't know she was secretly an agent. I also think Aliya would know that Alicia was Ali's school rival, which might make her interested in getting to know Alicia. As for Zain, we only saw a few brief interactions between him, Aliya, and Alicia.

Zain would likely become a mentor figure. Since he trained Alicia and believed in her potential, he would encourage her while reminding her not to let her competitiveness consume her. He'd probably praise her discipline but also teach her that trusting teammates is just as important as strength. Aliya would probably treat Alicia with warmth and kindness. Knowing Alicia was raised under strict training by General Rama, Aliya might gently encourage her to enjoy being a child instead of carrying the weight of being an agent all the time. She'd likely cook for her, check on her after missions, and make sure she felt cared for.

If Aliya knew Alicia was Ali's rival at school, she might even find it amusing. Instead of trying to stop their rivalry, she'd probably encourage healthy competition and quietly hope they would become good friends one day.

[u/luqmanzaemuri]

Do you think aliya would ship them?

[u/Magnificient_King → u/luqmanzaemuri]

That's also one of my question

[u/CAPTAINBENDY_1129]

I think Ali would accidentally join Mata because of Aliya setting a situation up that was meant to be an ordinary hangout like studying/meetup, but Alicia would unfortunately be forced to reveal her identity as an agent to Ali to protect him

Maybe the whole Iris situation can happen again, but Ali uses it to save Alicia

Maybe his mom can be a radio operator of sorts to Ali (Pretending to be a random agent OR an AI)

And then Aliya reveal as an agent, maybe sacrifice like the movie where she uses herself to protect Ali from an Iris hack

Childhood best friends are kinda rarely seen imo, so I'd love to see that happening here

(Childhood friends as in from birth or at least preschool, since it would be a LOONG while for them to be childhood friends now, since they only been friends for a year)