𝑮𝑬𝑻 𝑱𝑰𝑵𝑿𝑬𝑫!

@blubombs ♡'d for a starter !

Jinx was the most hated girl in Piltover, huh? Didn't matter where you were from, everyone had an opinion. She paces around, humming a song to herself. She knew she was technically in enemy territory. She knew that she was in danger. But so what? That was what kept life from getting stale. Jinx didn't really care if she lived or died. She's sooner blow herself up than go to Stillwater though. "I mean, you could try to drag me off. But who knows if you would be able to. I guess you guys never get bored of sending enforcers to die for you."

"You know, you guys were all ready to offer Silco a deal before he..." YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT. She shook her head. "Quiet...! I'm trying to TALK to her." She whispered to the voices of her dead family. A manic laugh slips out. She couldn't even say it. She still hadn't processed her grief , her GUILT. "Well, anyway... I'm kinda his successor so... I wanted to meet with someone with sense, you know. Not someone that is like, obsessed with revenge or whatever." Not naming names, but most of the other councilors.

"I don't know! I haven't really done much thinking ahead these past few months, I was kinda hoping to keep doing that." Just not thinking in general. Thinking hurt, fighting hurt, drinking hurt. Her heart hurt as much as her head. And she couldn't figure out if she wanted to run from all of this shit with her sister or run back to the one woman universally hated by Zaun now. Fuck.

It's pounding now, her skull. Like Noxian war drums. "If. I'm still not sure about this Viktor guy. I know some of his friends, but don't really know him. Everything feels wrong about this place. It's too perfect." The ringing in her head almost felt like alarm bells.

"What medical problems? I think what was done to Vander goes far beyond any medical problems." She refused to believe it could be about her, even if she was the one who ate punches for dinner. Couldn't be Jinx, she looked like her usual self.

Jinx mentioned bombs, and her mind went reeling back to the dinner party. That scream haunted her. The council weren't the only people to die that night, she held the other as she screamed, everything she was and stood for, leaving her body with her mother's last breath. "No! No bombs! No bullets! Or are you forgetting how we got here in the first place?" All that anger that had built up over the past six months felt dangerously close to the surface. All the blue fucking uniforms reminding her of the one she couldn't get back.

"Well, sis... Thinking was never your forte anyway." She mumbles, quietly enough for it to barely be heard. It was mostly meant as teasing but she lost her steam partway through the act. Luckily, her sister assumes the problems were about Vander. She shrugs, letting the false assumption stay there. Easier that way, right? After all, this talk of running away was just fantasy. Nothing ever worked out. She would find some way to jinx it.

"How we got here? What? Here specifically? I dragged your ass out of a shithole and brought you here." She plays intentionally obtuse. She knew what Vi meant. And honestly, there were a lot of regrets bubbling below the surface. Jinx had accidentally killed Silco, the only person that had ever loved and accepted her as she was. She had made things objectively worse aside from bringing the underground a little more together, even if their lives were harder than ever. And she still hated the pilties and the council. But she hadn't expected things to go quite so badly. Just another one of her many mistakes. More blood on her hands. Another reason Jinx should have died a long time ago. If Silco hadn't dragged her to Singed and had her pumped full of Shimmer, everything would have been better.

Part of her wants to ask 'so what' about being killed. If there wasn't a risk to Isha being hurt in the process, Jinx couldn't imagine a better death than going out in a blaze of glory. But it wasn't that easy, huh? Not when she was looking after the kid.

"Vi..?" She saw her sister slump back against the wall. Feelings were funny, huh? Even though they had bother betrayed and hurt each other, the ghost of love clung to her — haunted her. She clamored to her feet and rushed to her, hands gripping the taller woman's shoulders.

This nightmare? What? Being here with her? Life itself? Fear fluttered in her chest. She didn't want Vi to leave her again. Not now. Not when they were just making progress, even if Jinx was making it more difficult than it had to be.

"Hey, can we go get you some water? You look like crap, sis." She couldn't hide the worry in her voice. Her breathing hitches. She bites her lower lip. "A nightmare, huh?" Why did Vi have the power to make her feel small — feel like Powder all over again. A blessing and a curse, or whatever.

"Or let's side down for a sec...."

"Not a trap, but you clearly wanted a conversation." Lest replied calmly before taking a drag from her pipe and blowing out the smoke. She then held out the pipe to offer the younger woman a drag from it. It wasn't a normal pipe of course but one that she could burn medical mixes from. It was currently loaded with a mixture to promote relaxation, a small indulgence after dealing with Salo.

Truthfully, she had good reason to hide and not directly go to her. Jinx stares at the pipe for a moment. She remembers Silco and his cigars. She doesn't take the offered drag. She didn't really trust her, even if she just took a drag herself. Jinx wasn't exactly prepared to let her guard down just like that. Not when she was the number one most wanted in the undercity.

The air in Zaun is thicker than usual, each breath a weight in his lungs as he slips quietly through the half-empty streets. Enforcers seem to be on every corner, holding down what little power they still hold in these streets.

Suffocating as the air may be its charged with the promise of change.

Nature abhors a vacuum, after all. And the recent chem baron deaths left gaping chasms all were surging to fill.

Viktor is not here to capitalize on this. No, he's far from the running for that position, half-dead and without any real power to his name here. A lifetime in Piltover means he carries its stink, and his hands had helped craft the weaponry the Enforcers now old. However against his will this may have been, he had been warned of the risk of what would be done if this technology were placed in the wrong hands and then naively handed it over with a smile.

( What a fool I was. )

No. He's here for shimmer and Singed, and maybe together they could do... something to repent for his role in all of this. Even if Singed's goals did not align with his own, Viktor's research in his hands could still do more than it had done when held jointly with Jayce.

He could try to repair some of the damage he'd done in the time he had left. Even if his efforts to save himself failed, it was better to do too little too late than nothing at all.

A hand lifts to muffle the cough trying to force its way out, leaning against the alleyway wall. The enforcer patrol passes without even a glance, engrossed in their own conversation. Quickly as he can he darts from the alleyway, pavement turning to stone under his feet as he heads for those familiar caves.

He doesn't get far.

A fluxuation in power means suspicion and scrapping over territories. A strange face may well be an enemy, and Viktor supposes it's a small mercy he never much cared for the lime-light. If he had, they wouldn't be grabbing him by a scrawny arm - they'd be pressing a bullet into his temple as thanks for all he'd done.

Maybe they would have anyway, as a warning to all outsiders. Yet the hand attached to the scrawny arm is made of metal, so finely crafted it catches them offguard as it glints in the light.

"Who made this?"

"I did. Let me go, I want no trouble, I am just trying to see a friend."

But it does not matter what he wants.

The grip on his arm does not relent, and Viktor laments not equipping something better suited for battle. These new parts - recently replaced, still aching where they attached - were meant to to replace the ones he'd lost in the accident. Not enhance them. Just as the box of mechanical organs under his arm was meant to repair what was killing him with every wasted, heavy breath - if only he could get access to enough shimmer to make them take.

Silco's death shook things up. Most of the underground hated her. They blamed her for Silco's mistakes. Which... was probably true. Even if he tried his best to keep her from hearing, she knew. Jinx lived up to her name. Everything she touched turned to ash. Silco wasn't even safe from her. He died because of her. She had killed him.

When he appeared and announced his death. Most blamed Vi and her enforcer friend. She didn't correct them. She couldn't say it. Even to herself, she refused to say the words. That she had killed him. Don't cry. You're perfect. Every time she thought about it, she couldn't stop herself from getting sick. And she only thought of it at least once an hour if she didn't have distractions.

Which, at the very least, all the chem barons trying to kill her provided. There was one thing she had learned from Silco... Fear kept people in line. And after her attack on the council, people were scared. The Last Drop was hers now. And anyone that tried to contest that ended up full of bullets or missing limbs. She liked to think he would be proud of her.

Jinx had become something more. A symbol on union and rebellion to those in Zaun. A boogeyman to those topside. And the chembarons that struggled to go against her... Well, they usually ended up dead or worse. Chaos was something she thrived in.

She wonders, what is she to this guy? He was dragged in to see her. She whistled, pink eyes scanning over him. As a tinkerer herself, she felt curiosity overtake her.

"When I said I needed some scrap metal, I didn't expect 'em to bring me somebody made outta it." She sits on Silco's desk. She imagined he was still sitting in his chair. She couldn't bring herself to occupy it. "So, what are you supposed to be? Did the pilties send you?" She moves closer to him, shimmer-eyes glowing as she closes the distance too quickly to be nature. Painted nails tap on his metal arm.

"I kiiinda wanna take you apart. Who put you together, scrappy? I'm the only one down here that's crazy enough to do that."

Vi hadn't been a child since that night on the bridge when Vander took them back home. Home, it wasn't home after that night. The Last Drop was home. Their old home had become a haunted house, and then it was just... gone. Like it was never there to begin with, the only evidence being the stone that marked their growth when mom and dad were still alive.

But Powder deserved to have a childhood. Vi could cope with it, she was tough, she had to be. Powder needed her older sister to watch her when Vander was busy. And Vi knew how she had adored her, looked up to her. And she let her down when Powder needed her most. There was no way that was going to end well, though. Hindsight gave her that insight but it didn't mean she didn't relive those last moments every damn day she was in prison.

Just like there wasn't a day when she didn't see Jinx fall. If Cait hadn't made it, Vi didn't know what she would do, maybe join the Firelights, but there was no way in hell she would have ever recovered if she lost both of them. The only reason she didn't spiral as it stood was because Caitlyn wouldn't let her.

So much of their life would be different if just one little thing changed. Didn't matter what it was that changed, just as long as it was one little detail that was different. Maybe they could have stayed a happy family. Maybe Powder would still be Powder, maybe Vi wouldn't have been left to rot and be abused in that prison. But Caitlyn was right, you couldn't change your past.

But you could learn from it. Vi had given up on Powder once, but she wasn't giving up on Jinx now. She needed her just as much now as she did then.

Vi just hugged her tighter, trying not to let fresh tears sting her eyes. Maybe she was afraid that if she let go, she'd lose her forever. She could be satisfied in the knowledge that she survived, but... was that really enough? "You didn't have to do anything at all. You're my family. I'll love you no matter what." She deserved her and so much more. She deserved the life that was stolen from her by Silco.

Jinx pulled away first and Vi let her arms hang limply at her side, a dull sting in her shoulder serving as a reminder of that night (which night? When half the building collapsed on her after Powder's bomb went off or when she landed on the beam after Viktor's hold was severed?). Vi took another good look at Jinx. Her hair was growing out again; it looked like it was in desperate need of a trim. It was the least of her worries.

Vi sat down against the wall opposite her, wincing only a bit as she slid down against the wall, sullying the back of her red uniform. "Things are working out. Despite losing you, that is the one thing that I couldn't move past. But I'm working as a liaison for Zaun to Piltover. Caitlyn gave up the Kiramman seat to Sevika so Zaun could have a voice. Slowly, it's getting better." She looked down. Jinx was right, Caitlyn may have been able to move past things, but there were still those in Piltover who would cry for Jinx's head. Vi chewed the inside of her cheek. "That could be an issue, yeah." But no one had to know she was here, right?

What would happen if Jinx went to a safe house or something? How long would it be before things went up in flames? Misfortune followed her. No. Not even just that. Misfortune implies no one is to blame. But that wasn't the case. Every single thing bad that happened in her life was her own fault in some way or another. Jinx was a curse. That's why the name fit so much more than Powder ever did.

Had she ever stopped loving Vi? Even if she wanted to hate her, she couldn't. Was it the same for her? Why did it feel more like she was holding her hostage? or maybe it was Jinx's own guilt and self loathing telling her that.

Pink eyes linger on her for a moment. Sevika on the council? She can't imagine it. But maybe it's a good thing. Sevika is pure Zaun. She was loyal to Silco to the end, even looking out for HER despite their dislike of each other. She never got that part. Maybe it was lingering loyalty to her 'father'.

"Sounds like the last thing it needs is me Jinx-ing up the place." All she was good for was building weapons and causing damage. Zaun didn't need her anymore. Maybe it was time to set off. But to where? Things really would have been easier if she would have just died that day.

"What should I do, sis?" She isn't sure. It's scary to think about. Living was hard. And aside from Vi, she'd be alone. She was always clinging to someone, huh? Vi, Silco, Isha.... Until she either got them killed or ruined their lives. She didn't want to do that to Vi again.

"Aside from being your sister, would me being in your life actually make it better?"

     𝗵𝗲  𝘄𝗮𝘀  𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹  𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲  𝗼𝗳  𝗷𝗶𝗻𝘅  𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲  𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺,     but  his  focus  remained  on  marcus  and  listening  to  the  way  the  enforcer  droned  on.     marcus  was  an  extremely  easy  man  to  keep  in  line,  he  wasn't  brave,  he  wasn't  bold  and  he  certaintly  wouldn't  go  against  him  without  exposing  his  own  part  in  it.     he  was  pawn,  easily  controlled  and  silco  knew  exactly  what  he  was  doing.     expression  softens  as  she  lands  in  front  of  him,  a  simple  shrug  of  his  shoulders,     "     he's  a  necessity  that  is  still  somewhat  useful  for  now,     "     silco  explains,  something  that  he  knew  she  was  aware  of,  but  he  was  aware  that  sometimes  he  talked  and  she  stopped  listening.     yet  her  observation  about  marcus  was  not  lost  on  him.     a  lot  of  people  had  wanted  him     𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗱     over  the  years.     people  had  tried  and  failed  to  take  him  out,  he  highly  doubted  that  marcus  would  be  the  one  to  succeed,  like  he  had  observed,  marcus  was  not  brave  enough  to  pull  off  such  a  move.

She could never do his job. Silco's burden as the head of the underground (more or less) was tolerating the most insufferable people. Jinx could only go so long before she got rid of annoyances. She hated being bored. And if someone held her hostage in a boring conversation, she'd either lose it or fall asleep. The same old excuses. Whatever. That's why Silco was the one sitting behind the desk countless hours while she focuses on her inventions and art.

"Aren't your concerns also my concerns?" She was supposed to be working for him, right? Not only that, Silco was the only person in the city that tolerated her. She sighs again. She didn't want him to cast her out. Would he?