Arcane: I have Plasmids F*** YEAAAAAAH!!!

The moment Lukas saw him—

He knew.

This wasn't just another business problem.

This wasn't a gang shaking him down, some thug looking to cause trouble.

This was something bigger.

Something far more dangerous.

Silco.

Standing alone.

Waiting.

Watching.

And Lukas didn't know why.

---

The early morning air was cold.

A rare thing in Zaun, where the heat of industry and the weight of the smog usually pressed against the skin like damp cloth.

But this morning?

The air felt sharp.

Like it had teeth.

Like it knew what kind of moment this was.

Lukas stood still.

Measured. Calculated.

Silco, as always, did the same.

Neither moved.

Neither spoke.

And for a long, stretched moment, the only sound between them was the distant hum of machinery, the faint murmur of Zaun waking up.

Two men. Two very different men.

But both of them knew—

This meeting mattered.

---

Silco was the kind of danger that didn't announce itself.

Not like Renni, who made threats and expected you to fold.

Silco was the kind of man who let you think you were in control—

Until you weren't.

Until you were already tangled in his web.

Until it was too late.

---

Lukas didn't like that.

He kept his hands in his pockets, kept his posture loose.

Like this was nothing. Like he wasn't already thinking ten steps ahead.

Why was Silco here?

Did he know about Renni?

Did he know about Fontaine Futuristics?

Did he know what Lukas was building?

Or worse—

Was he here because of who he was?

The air felt heavier now.

Lukas forced a small smirk.

"Hell of a way to start my morning."

Silco didn't react.

Didn't move.

Then—

A slow, almost lazy inhale.

"Mr. Fontaine."

His voice was smooth. Calm. Too calm.

Like this was just another business transaction.

Like he wasn't standing at Lukas's doorstep, waiting for something.

Lukas didn't blink.

Didn't give him anything.

"If you're looking for Job, The interviews start in the afternoon."

Silco's lips curled slightly.

Not quite a smile.

More like... amusement.

And then—

He took a step forward.

---

Lukas's body went tight.

Just slightly.

Just for a second.

Then he forced himself to breathe.

Silco didn't reach for anything.

Didn't raise a weapon.

Didn't even lift his hands.

But Lukas had spent enough time around dangerous people to know—

That meant nothing.

Silco didn't need a gun to be dangerous.

His words were weapons enough.

Still—

Lukas kept his face neutral.

Kept his posture calm.

---

Silco glanced past him, toward the factory.

Taking it in.

The newly repaired doors.

The smell of oil and metal from inside.

The faint sounds of work being done, even this early.

He hummed.

"You've been busy."

Lukas didn't react.

Didn't confirm or deny.

Just tilted his head.

"Zaun's a busy place."

Silco's eye flicked back to him.

Sharpened.

Like he was waiting for something more.

Then, finally—

A slow nod.

And a simple, quiet statement.

"I know who you are, I know What....you are."

( No you don't, fuck off.)

---

Lukas froze.

A half-second. Barely a breath.

But Silco saw it.

Of course he did.

And Lukas?

Lukas knew exactly what that meant.

Lukas didn't back down.

'If that fucker tries something, I'm going full scorched earth on his ass.'

He Didn't move.

Didn't even breathe.

Then—

Silco tilted his head.

And in a voice low and even, he said—

"We should talk."

---

A choice.

Let him in?

Or shut the door?

Lukas didn't hesitate.

Didn't show any doubt.

He tipped his head.

Gestured toward the door.

"Well? Don't just stand there looking ugly. Come in."

A small chuckle.

Then—

Silco stepped inside.

Through the doors of Fontaine Futuristics.

And just like that—

Lukas let the devil in.

---

Fontaine Futuristics was quiet at this hour.

The morning sun hadn't fully risen. The factory floor was still empty.

No Powder. No Ekko. No workers moving about, filling the air with chatter and industry.

Just silence.

Silco took it all in.

His eye traced over the blueprints scattered across the workbenches. The half-finished machines. The scraps of metal neatly stacked in the corners.

It was orderly.

It was efficient.

It was new.

And yet—

Silco could already see it.

The shape of something bigger.

Something dangerous.

Something that didn't belong to him.

Yet.

---

Lukas gestured toward a table near the back of the room.

"Take a seat."

Silco didn't hesitate.

Didn't question.

He sat.

Lukas grabbed two glasses from a nearby shelf, along with a half-empty bottle of Whiskey, Courtesy of the system.

He poured a little into both glasses, pushing one toward Silco.

Silco's fingers curled around it, but he didn't drink.

Neither did Lukas.

They simply sat there.

Watching.

Measuring.

Waiting.

Like two men playing poker with loaded guns under the table.

---

Silco was the first to break the silence.

"You've done well for yourself."

Lukas leaned back slightly.

A slow smirk.

"Flattery? I was expecting threats."

Silco exhaled softly.

"Threats are for those who don't listen."

He tilted his head.

"And you, Fontaine, are not one of those people."

Lukas didn't react.

Didn't give him anything.

He knew the game.

Let the other guy reveal himself first.

And Silco?

Silco was a man who never said what he meant outright.

Every sentence was a tool. A blade. A wire tightening around your throat.

So Lukas just took a slow sip of his drink.

And waited.

Silco's gaze flicked around the factory again.

Then—

"It's impressive, what you've built in such a short time. I see your 'Gifts' were put to good use."

Fuck.

His eye settled back on Lukas.

"Most would call it… ambitious."

Lukas raised a brow.

"Ambition's not a crime."

Silco's lips twitched.

"No. It's not."

He let the words settle.

Then—

A quiet exhale.

"But in Zaun, ambition is a risk."

---

There it was.

The first real move.

Lukas set his glass down.

Folded his hands together.

"Everything's a risk."

Silco studied him.

Then leaned forward slightly.

A shadow of amusement.

"But some risks are bigger than others."

Lukas didn't blink.

"You here to warn me?"

Silco exhaled.

"I'm here to offer you understanding."

Lukas tilted his head slightly.

He gestured loosely.

"Go on, then. Enlighten me."

Silco let out a slow breath.

And then—

He spoke.

"The Undercity is changing, Lukas."

His voice was soft. Measured.

"The assassin at the Brothel."

"The Barons at each other's throats."

"The civil war."

He tapped a single finger against the table.

"You stand at the center of it all."

FUUUUCK, he knows.

Lukas exhaled through his nose.

"You've been watching me."

Silco's eye gleamed.

"I always keep my eyes on those who may be of interest to me."

Lukas didn't react.

Didn't let anything show.

But he knew what this was.

An offer.

A pull.

Silco was testing the waters.

And Lukas?

Lukas was not an easy catch.

---

Silco leaned back slightly.

"You think you're building something new."

His gaze flicked around the factory again.

"You believe that by shaping the future with your own hands, you can avoid the past."

His voice was quiet.

Not mocking.

Not cruel.

Just… knowing.

"But history doesn't work that way."

Lukas's jaw tightened.

Silco saw it.

He knew.

And so—

He pressed on.

"The people up there?"

He gestured vaguely toward the ceiling.

To Piltover.

"They will never let you be their equal."

His voice was soft. Almost… gentle.

"They will let you build. Let you grow. Let you dream."

A pause.

And then—

"They will take it from you."

---

Lukas stayed still.

Silent.

Because the thing was—

Silco wasn't lying.

Lukas knew how Piltover saw people like them.

Not as equals.

Not as partners.

As tools. As problems to be managed.

And he hated that more than anything.

Silco's voice lowered slightly.

"There is only one way to change Zaun."

His fingers tapped against the glass.

"Not through invention. Not through diplomacy."

His eye met Lukas's.

"Through control."

---

Lukas finally spoke.

His voice was calm.

Even.

"Through war."

Silco didn't blink.

He didn't need to confirm it.

The silence did it for him.

And there it was.

The line between them.

The one thing that separated their ideals.

Silco wanted Zaun to be free.

But his freedom?

It came through blood.

Through force.

Through fear.

And Lukas?

Lukas wanted a future that wouldn't need war to survive.

A future where Zaun could stand on its own—without needing permission.

Rapture.

His dream.

---

The air was thick.

Heavy.

Neither of them spoke.

Neither of them moved.

Then—

Silco finally leaned back.

He picked up his glass.

Took a slow sip.

And then, without looking at Lukas, he said—

"The time for change is coming."

A pause.

Then—

"You can stand beside me, Lukas."

He set the glass down.

Or—

"Or you can stand in my way."

The air froze.

The choice hung there.

An invitation.

A warning.

A moment that would decide everything.

Lukas inhaled slowly.

Then—

He smirked.

And finally, finally, he answered.

---

Silco watched.

Lukas smirked.

But his fingers?

They tightened slightly against the table.

Because this was it.

The real moment.

The part where men like Silco showed their hand.

---

"You're really giving me an ultimatum?" Lukas said, voice light.

He exhaled, leaning back.

"I gotta say, Silco, I expected something a little more…"

A pause.

Then, with a slow grin—

"Subtle."

---

Silco chuckled.

It was quiet. Low.

But Lukas saw the shift behind his eyes.

The way his shoulders stayed loose.

Controlled.

Unbothered.

But his fingers tapped against the table.

Once. Twice.

A rhythm.

A sign.

A calculation.

Silco had been prepared for this.

---

"This isn't an ultimatum," Silco murmured.

His voice was softer now.

Softer than it had been before.

Because now?

Now he wasn't pressuring.

He was persuading.

"You are a brilliant young man, Lukas."

He gestured around them, around the factory.

"This proves it."

A slow exhale.

"But brilliance, alone, does not change the world."

His eye met Lukas's.

"Power does."

---

Lukas tilted his head.

"Is that what you think?"

Silco nodded.

"It's what I know."

---

Lukas exhaled through his nose.

Then, finally—

He sat forward.

Mirroring Silco's posture.

His voice was quieter.

Darker.

But still controlled.

Still his.

---

"You think power is the answer," Lukas murmured.

He tapped his fingers against the table.

"You think the only way to change things is by taking control. By cutting throats and denying people their ability to Choose a better future."

Silco didn't deny it.

Lukas leaned in further.

"We all make our choices..."

His eyes burned.

"But in the end, Our choices make Us."

---

Silco's breath slowed.

For the first time—

His fingers stopped tapping.

His shoulders stiffened.

Lukas smiled.

---

"You want to rule Zaun?" Lukas murmured.

He shrugged.

"Fine. Go ahead."

He picked up his glass, twirling the liquid.

"But a king is still a caged animal."

A slow, lazy sip.

And then, as he set the glass down—

His eyes locked onto Silco's.

"I don't want to rule."

His voice was like steel wrapped in silk.

"I want to build."

---

Silence.

A long, weighted silence.

Then—

Silco exhaled slowly.

A small, dry chuckle left his lips.

"You really believe that?"

Lukas smiled.

"I have to."

"It's everything I have left."

---

Silco leaned back.

His fingers trailed against the table.

For the first time since arriving—

He looked tired.

Not weak.

Not hesitant.

Just… tired.

And then—

He spoke.

---

"I knew your father, Lukas."

---

Lukas froze.

The words hit harder than a bullet.

But his face?

Didn't move.

Didn't react.

Didn't break.

Silco saw it.

He studied it.

And then—

He pressed.

"Alonzo was..."

The name felt heavy.

Like the weight of a city had been dropped into the space between them.

Lukas's grip on the glass tightened.

Silco continued.

"He was a dreamer."

A pause.

"A fool, in many ways."

Another pause.

"But he was a good man."

His voice lowered.

"And good men don't last long in Zaun."

---

Lukas stayed silent.

But inside?

Inside, the world cracked.

---

Silco watched him.

Saw it.

And then—

He sighed.

Not victorious.

Not smug.

Just… quiet.

---

"You think you can change things without war."

His voice was soft.

His gaze unreadable.

"But war is coming, Lukas."

He studied him.

A slow, steady breath.

"You can't build a city on ideals alone."

---

Lukas exhaled.

He stood up.

Silco followed.

They stood facing each other.

A step apart.

A chasm between them.

---

Silco finally spoke.

A last offer.

A final word.

"I'll say it again, when the time comes… will you stand with me?"

A pause.

Then—

"Or will you stand in my way?"

---

Lukas inhaled slowly.

And then—

Silco walked away.