Her Gun to His Head || Jinx x Garou

Vi's anxiety increased the closer they drew to the shoreline. It looked to be out of some sort of nightmare — she could make out several large airships strafing over the Southern District, with their spotlights bearing down upon the city streets. The repeated booms following the flashes of blue light only grew louder, though she still couldn't discern their origin through the fog.

"No— take us through the shipping lanes," she urged Cheese, when he attempted to bring them to port.

Her thoughts raced — had an uprising against Piltover finally come to fruition while she'd been locked up?

'Or— is this the beginning of it…? Taking Stillwater— the first real act of rebellion… one they decided they wouldn't forgive…?' she theorized.

Her hand tightened around the boat's support railing.

She hadn't been here… to help… to fight…

She needed answers.

He would be able to tell her…

She turned to him— the kid who'd helped break them all out.

He only seemed to be intrigued by it all…

"What's happening up there?" she demanded, having to shout in order to be heard. "Are we in a war with them— with Topside?"

"The old man wanted it…" he yelled back. "Looks like he got it…"

Her facial muscles twitched around her lip.

"You work for him—?" she pressed. "For Silco? — He wanted you to take Stillwater?"

Cheese suddenly rushed over to extinguish the lantern strung up by the stern of the boat, as they approached land. They all looked up to spot an airship pass directly overhead of them, its spotlight briefly illuminating the patch of river upon which they floated.

It looked as though dark confetti were raining down from its gondola…

No— they were paper leaflets…

A handful of them fluttered down onto the deck of the boat. Vi caught her breath, hastily closing the boat's regulator valve so that they could slow to a stop. She picked up one of the leaflets, slick wet from sea-spray. She strained to read it:

~

THE CITY OF PILTOVER REQUESTS CIVILIANS OF THE UNDERCITY TO EVACUATE BOTH THE ALCOVE DISTRICT AND SOUTHERN DISTRICT IMMEDIATELY, WHILE A SWIFT MARTIAL OPERATION IS CONDUCTED TO RESCUE THIRTEEN CAPTURED PILTOVAN ENFORCERS, AND TO RETRIEVE SEVERAL HIGHLY VOLATILE HEXTECH ARTIFACTS TAKEN AND HELD BY A CRIMINAL UNDERCITY FACTION.

SHOULD ANY CITIZEN OF THE UNDERCITY ATTEMPT TO SHELTER, OR IN ANY WAY AID THIS FACTION, THEY WILL BE APPREHENDED AND IMPRISONED.

BEWARE.

~

Vi felt the blood rush to her face, as she became flushed with rage. She cast the paper aside, unconsciously balling up her fist.

"Hey, c'mon—" Cheese urged. "We're here— we gotta go."

He offered her a hand in stepping off of the boat.

She managed to catch a glimpse of what was causing all of the noise… something out of this world…

A large ball of violent blue light erupted from what look to be a hulking, mechanized cannon, from across the river. The ball shot through the air, before seemingly detonating itself over the water, before it reached the other side.

The explosion was deafening, up close…

'They're herding us all away…' she thought numbly.

The kid hopped off the boat after her.

"Landed us in the thick of it, eh…?" he remarked, as a troop of enforcers passed ahead of them, their torches piercing through the darkness.

Vi crept up to Cheese, crouching against a nearby alcove to stay hidden.

"We can't let them do this," she said, in a forceful whisper. "We have to fight…"

He seemed to grimace at the thought. "…What about the kid?" he wondered. "We trust him…?"

She glanced over to see him wander out ahead of them both.

"Hey—!" she called out to him, still attempting to keep her voice hushed. "Where're you going…?"

He turned back nonchalantly.

"Got a score to settle with these assholes…" he answered, slowly flexing his bandaged fingers back and forth.

He strode off again, causing Vi to turn to her comrade.

"We can worry about trusting him later…" she said.

She set off skulking after him, wondering what it was the kid had up his sleeve to make him so headstrong…

He didn't keep her in suspense for long, performing an effortless wall-jump up to a nearby balcony as they approached an intersection in the path. Boots on pavement could be heard marching toward their position.

Vi checked behind, verifying that Cheese had caught up to her.

She spotted the coal shovel from back on the boat in his hand. He presented it to her.

"Take it— a weapon…" he whispered, while they both heard the troop of enforcers draw nearer.

She vehemently shook her head.

"You know I'll be fine — keep it," she assured him. "Just, boost me up…"

She gestured to the balcony above them, and let him lift her by the feet. She grasped the railing and hopped herself over, before turning and giving him a hand up.

The strafing spotlights from the street briefly illuminated the inside of the apartment. It had seemingly been left by its owners in such a hurry that a set of half-eaten meals remained on the table.

She attempted to situate herself, as the place returned to darkness. It sounded as though the enforcers had come upon their original position, back at street-level.

Vi scanned around further, as they were granted another moment of illumination. She immediately realized the mistake in her previous assumption, as she spotted a young couple cowering silently in the corner of the room, fearfully observing the intruding party with wide eyes.

Vi attempted to present them with a reassuring expression before the light expired, placing a finger over her lips and giving a slow nod.

She then scurried over to where she'd last spotted the kid, at a secondary opening which overlooked the main street.

"I'm assuming you get into it with these guys often…?" she whispered. "What's your play…?"

Cheese crept over to join them in observing the troop of enforcers below. It seemed they'd paused to await further orders, simply blockading the street for the time being.

The kid shot her a dismissive expression. "Lookin' ta get yourself locked back up again or somethin'?" he quietly replied. "I can handle these clowns…"

She furrowed her brow slightly, while he clambered over the railing to hold himself over its edge, seemingly readying himself for some next move.

She only guessed what it could have been a mere moment before he did it — he launched himself laterally into a nearby standing street lamp, his feet pointed into a flying kick. The thing toppled over without much resistance as he sailed through it with an impressive amount of force — at least four unlucky enforcers below lay in its path.

Vi's eyes were trained on the kid in awe as he landed gracefully on the opposite side of the troop, and proceeded to lift the flattened lamp from the ground and heftily swing it into the wall of the building from which he'd launched his attack, taking out a further three Piltovans before they'd even had a chance to turn in his direction.

Vi hopped down after him, making a charge for one of the remaining enforcers, scrambling with their weapon in panic.

They took a right cross to the side of the head before they'd even noticed her — down and out.

The pointy-haired kid's fighting style was difficult for her to put a finger on — he spun and kicked with a ferocious speed, maintaining a low, crouched stance through it all. His evident flexibility allowed him to gain an incredible reach against his opponents, being able to contort his body with little effort, in order to catch his opponent off guard — dodges and parries flowing into immediate counter-attacks.

'He's pretty strong…' she thought warily to herself.

Cheese thudded down onto the cobbled street finally to join them, as the last few enforcers were taken out between the two of them.

It felt good, being in a fight again, as little contest as it had been…

"You's work quick…" Cheese remarked, hitting a partially conscious enforcer in the mask with his shovel, before they could struggle back to their feet.

Vi's ears pricked up to the sound of gunshots and fighting, off in the distance. The booming of the cannon back over the river still hadn't let up, either…

"If we clear them all out of here, tonight," she said to him, "then maybe they'll be too chickenshit to come back."

Cheese nodded. "How 'bout all these ones — their weapons…?"

She pried from a knocked-out enforcer's hands a particularly beefy bronze rifle. She pointed it at a graffitied over wall, in curiosity, and squeezed the trigger. It fired with a brief jolt of blue light, its projectile buzzing out and embedding itself deep into the thick concrete, in a startling display.

Weird…

She tossed the weapon at him, causing him to drop the shovel.

"You have it," she said. "Ain't really my style."

Cheese examined the thing with some fascination, before leaning over to raid the same unconscious body of their remaining spare ammunition.

Vi spotted the kid gazing casually down the street.

She wandered over to him.

"You don't seem like you're itching to report back to the boss, or whatever it is you guys are supposed to do…" she remarked.

He gave her that dismissive look, again. "Never said I worked for him…"

"For Silco—?" she pressed.

He slowly raised an eyebrow. "Got an axe to grind with him, or somethin'…?"

"Look, whatever—" she shook her head. "I just needed to know for sure that he's the one that's been running things down here, all these years…"

The kid grunted.

"You two should go find some place to hide," he said derisively. "These assholes've been gearin' up, over the past few weeks…"

"These assholes are the ones that locked me up and left me to rot in their shithole prison for seven years," she shot back. "You'd be surprised what that resentment can make someone capable of…"

He looked at her again.

"Can throw a punch, I'll give ya that…" he remarked.

She scoffed a little, glancing back at Cheese lining up all of the unconscious enforcers against the wall.

"Listen— my name's Vi," she said. "That's Cheese. Stick with us — we'll take the fight to them…" She pointed in the direction of Piltover.

He was silent, for a moment.

"Eh, sure…" he finally replied. "See how long you two manage to survive… name's Garou, anyway…"

She nodded, hopping back over to help Cheese with discarding the enforcers' weapons.

"He cool, or—?" Cheese enquired.

"Think so…" she responded. "Look— before anything else, I've got to find her…"

"Your sister?" he assumed.

She nodded. "I just— I know she's still down here, somewhere… I know it…"

Garou strolled over to them.

"You mind covering us while I try to find somebody down here, first?" she asked him. "It's important— and she can help us…"

He cocked an eyebrow…

~~~~~

~~~~~

~~~~~

"He knew it'd lead to this… he just didn't care…"

Ekko handed Scar back his flask of water, after he'd had his fill.

"There are innocents down there," Ekko replied. "We can't just leave them all to fend for themselves…"

The two of them were perched upon the flat, concrete roof of a tall housing tower, just outside of the cordoned-off Alcove District. Their mask-wearing days lay behind them — there had no longer been any need for secrecy ever since the Firelights were reduced to a decimated, inoperative faction…

There remained a few of them left, at least, scraping together what they could in order to begin again. They sorely missed their old sanctuary, however, and unfortunately, those who suffered the most from its loss were their children. Hopping between decrepit, abandoned apartments that rarely had clean drinking water was hardly an adequate life for them, for their upbringing…

No Firelight that had managed to escape the assault weeks ago had done so without their young, if they had any, however, for those who fell, their children had been taken by Silco's men, and almost undoubtedly had been put to work…

Ekko had since taken to spying on Silco's operation, hoping to spot a face he recognized heading into a Shimmer factory somewhere, but with little luck.

And now this…

The Piltovan airships crept through the air in darkness, casting condemning eyes upon the District with their search beams. Scar and himself had managed to help a few civilians get themselves out of the area, before the enforcers had shown up…

Ekko turned frustratingly to the sea, at the now-compromised Stillwater Hold. Silco's stunt surely mustn't have helped the situation, but Ekko was fairly certain that Piltover had already planned their incursion long before such a move.

"Yeah— well," Scar replied, "if you wanna head there, then that's the choice — we can't do both…"

Ekko pinched the bridge of his nose, in thought.

"You remember—?" he asked him, "how many of ours would have been in there?"

Scar tilted his head back, for a moment.

"Well, there'd be Annika, there'd be Holdo…" he paused. "Karlos, oh— and Raya, from the botched job on the air-bridge…?"

"Raya lost her mask on that one…" Ekko remarked, shaking his head. "Silco's guys might have recognized her, I don't know…"

"Still gotta try, for the others…" Scar urged him.

He hummed in thought.

"They're landing there with them," he pointed. "Wharfside — the ferries dock and then set off again, about every half hour."

Scar pulled his board closer to him.

"Okay— what are we waitin' on, then?" he replied. "We keep our distance, see if we can spot any of our guys…"

"…Okay," Ekko finally agreed. "But, listen to me—" he held Scar by the strap on his shoulder, before he could take off. "If you spot Jinx… you point me to her immediately, got it…?" he commanded, almost with a growl.

Scar met his eye, and he seemed to understand.

He gave Ekko a nod, and they both activated their boards, silently taking to the skies.

~~~~~

~~~~~

~~~~~

She crouched with her back pressed against a corner wall, kicking herself for not packing an additional rocket for Fishbones, from her prior mission. She almost salivated at the thought of what she could have achieved had her entire stockpile been with her, actually…

The spotlight passed her by, without compromising her position. She stepped out to watch the hulking airship drift away overhead, raising a finger-gun to it, and quietly blasting it down in her mind.

She heard Mylo from behind her, celebrating the notion.

"Quiet…" Jinx murmured, without bothering to look at him.

"He's fine— he's stronger than me," she argued, after another silent instigation. "Just gotta find him— Isha, too… they're both fine…"

The thought did trouble her, a little… but she wasn't about to let him know that…

She swung the shark-shaped launcher back over her shoulder, jogging across the street into the safety of a covered alley, while the strange rumbling sound continued to repeat behind her, somewhere.

She'd had a near run-in with a troop of enforcers some moments ago, but they weren't very observant...

She should've wasted them…

As she moved, she slipped her fingers around Zapper, for good measure, but she was confident that she was out of harm's way — Topside's stupid raining notes had intimated that they were afraid to enter the Fissures, for now.

She decided to head straight for the safe-house — god knew where she'd find Silco, at a time like this…

She was hoping that Garou wouldn't do anything too stupid, and perhaps would meet her there…

'Everyone sure looks panicked about all of this…' she observed of some people running ahead of her.

The grunts guarding the entrance seemed almost reassured by her presence, for a change, as she approached them.

"Hear that out there—?" she remarked. "That ain't thunder, folks…"

The two exchanged glances with one another briefly, before letting her in.

She hopped down some steps, before being greeted by Isha's alarmed hazel stare.

The kid ran up and flung her arms around Jinx's waist.

"Easy, tiger—" she responded, "we're okay…"

There were a scant few other people in the safe-house, mostly strange-looking, and mostly keeping to themselves now that Jinx had shown up.

'Probably not the greatest of company,' she imagined.

She pulled Isha off of her.

"Hey— c'mon," she offered, "let's head back to my workshop, I've gotta stock back up, anyhow."

The kid nodded, pulling her helmet over her head.

"Garou hasn't been back, has he…?" Jinx wondered, as they headed out.

Isha shook her head.

"That's okay— didn't think he would've," she replied.

'He'd more likely come back to mine, if anything,' she told herself.

They rounded back toward the familiar street on which The Last Drop sat. She spotted her favorite street vendor packing up his things, seemingly readying himself for travel, not excepting the rambunctious, young Krug he kept caged beside him.

The creature was certainly bigger than last she saw it, almost to the point of outgrowing its cage.

"I've heard they get pretty formidable once they're grown," she remarked, approaching the man. "If I were you, I'd use him for protection."

The man didn't pause from his packing. "If you wish to be me," he replied gruffly, "then purchase it from me, and do as you please — its only use to me now is in gaining a ticket out of this place…"

Jinx pursed her lips in thought, watching Isha subtly attempt to elicit an interaction from the thing, from the bounds of its enclosure.

'Could freeing the thing actually be at all worthwhile…?' she wondered. 'More importantly— will Silco notice if the drawer where he keeps some spare Coin is half-emptied…?'

"Will you wait—?" Jinx finally replied.

The man set curtly set down his carry satchel. "Fine— ten minutes."

She was surprised to see the Krug and Isha engaged in some type of silent conversation, mostly involving head movements and blinks.

'Jee, well that settles it,' she decided. It did mean that she'd have to lug Fishbones up some stairs, though…