A crack ran through the glass of the picture frame, it sparkled as Vi played with it in the ray of afternoon sunlight. Four kids with dirty, smiling faces pulled a nostalgic grin out of her as she examined their features. It had been some years since that picture had been taken, and Vi could only recognize herself because of her fluro-pink hair. The others in the picture could be mistaken for any of the other gutter rats in Zaun, but their memories they represented were unforgettable. Another heavy crash from downstairs snapped her from her daydream. Wrapping the picture in a jumper she stuffed it into the backpack on her bed.
She swore, realizing that she would have to leave most of her things behind. Throwing the backpack on, she slid her arms into her chemtech gauntlets. Her wrecked blast-shield generator sat in pieces on the floor. She could make another one easily enough, but right now she'd just have to avoid getting shot. As if on cue another crash came from down stairs, followed by what she could only assume was sound of the door hitting the floor.
"POLICE! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!", Vi rolled her eyes, it was the same shit every time. She looked out the window, taking in the sight of the city, its radiant copper tipped spires shining in the low sun. Then she jumped out of the window. She landed on the pavement hard enough to crack it, the shock absorbers in her heels putting in work to keep this from being the shortest chase in police history. Using the redirected momentum, she launched herself down the tight side alley. The shouts of the police came from the window behind her, unable to replicate the 10 meter fall. The Alley spat her out onto a twisted and narrow street, the tightly packed houses crowding out the afternoon sun. Vi had discovered that thanks to the gargantuan factories that now loomed over the smaller buildings billowing hexmechanic steam, all the people had gradually moved out of this area, which made this part of the city the perfect hide out. She wasted no time, she could already hear the thunder of footsteps from the security bots and police pouring out of the house and onto the opposite end of the alley.
She took off in the direction of the nearest factory, she could lose them in the gigantic steam ventilation systems or if she was lucky the dense, winding streets that surrounded the factories would lose them for her. Every time she settled into a new hide out, she scouted out all the possible escape routes, just like back in Zaun. A frown crossed her face, this was not how things were supposed to turn out, running like a fox before hunting dogs, she had left Zaun seeking a different life, however this is not what she had in mind. This set back was on top of being forced into the industrial sector. Vi didn't like coming back to the factories, they were a close match to some of the Zaun Chemtech labs and reminded her of the life she had left behind 6 months ago, and exactly why she never wanted to see Zaun again.
Nobody knew for certain where she had come from, and Vi had long given up on finding out herself. Distinctive Pink hair and VI tattoo aside, she was fairly normal as an orphan could be in Zaun, perhaps stronger than her otherwise wiry frame suggested, she also seemed be able to bounce back from injury with vigour. It wasn't until she was in her early 20's during the mining heist with the factorywood fiends that she was certain she wasn't like anyone else. Her rage at the factorywood fiends for needlessly trapping the miners and leaving them to die was absolute. As she piloted the overloading mining golem she had felt something run through her, a pulse made of ice that made her feel like she could breath for the first time, a rush of life and power that she had never experienced before. It had allowed her to lift the 200 kilogram gauntlets after the Golem had expired and gave her the strength smash her way through to the miners. It was a feeling she could now draw out at will, but the ice shiver in her blood that accompanied drawing deeply of the power was always made it initially quite unpleasant.
Bolting around a bend she was confronted by a police car walling off the middle of the empty street, and Vi's frown deepened. From the amount of police around the apartment and how many streets they would have had to block off, Vi got the feeling she wasn't just dealing with the small operations that she attracted previously. However, presented with the problem at hand, there was a car blocking her escape and she had experience with dealing with obstacles. Vi and things that blocked her way had what might be considered a one sided and rather abusive relationship. The police stood behind the hextech automobile, guns raised and expressions defiant. A call came from one of them as she approached.
"STOP IN THE NAME OF PILTOVER. DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND SURRENDER WITH YOUR HANDS RAISED." Vi weighed up her options. She could beat them all up, or just run through them. Beating them up was probably safer for her to then run off, but she just didn't have the time. She'd just have to blitz them and hope the shock kept them from shooting her in the back.
Raising a gauntlet in front of her body like a shield she began to pull and draw strength into her other arm, the concentration that it required causing her to slow her pace as a now familiar chill set in.
"THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE, COMPLY OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE!" The voice had an urgency about it that suggested to Vi that the officer had just expected her to submit. Vi kept drawing on the strength, her drawn back arm pulsing with the feeling of ice running through her veins, the usually heavy gauntlet now near weightless.
"OPEN FIRE!" a couple of shots sparked off her gauntlet, and one whizzed like an angry hornet past her head. A couple more steps and she'd be in range to throw a punch that would drag her along with it like a Vi powered missile. She felt another set of shots ping off her gauntlet, Vi counted one less than the first volley and then searing pain as the last one tore down the side of her thigh. She growled in pain and grit her teeth. It wasn't the first or second time she had been shot in her life but that doesn't mean it's something she had gotten used to. She cursed the absence of her blast shield as she stepped into range and threw the punch.
She crossed the remaining gap faster than the police could react as the punch dragged her forward. She connected with the police car sending it skidding down the street. The two officers that were standing behind it taken along for the ride as the now decidedly bent car came to a halt a considerable distance down the road. Vi couldnt help herself as she delivered a solid punch to one of the officers who wasn't caught behind the car before he could come to his senses, throwing him clean through the front window of a house and into the blackness beyond. She then grit her teeth as she bolted past the car and knocked out officers as fast as she could, her leg wound burning. chancing a look behind her she saw the last officer recover and raised her gun. Ducking and side stepping the shot she knew was coming Vi spied a side street to her left and made a dash for it. Vi stumbled as something took her in the left shoulder before it bloomed with pain causing her to drop the Gauntlet. She heard the gunshot behind her and a third bullet pinged off the gauntlet she was still holding as she staggered forward.
Vi made it into the side street before letting out a cry of pain, falling to one knee. She saw her gauntlet lying just off the sidewalk on the road. As much as she wanted to get it she did not want to risk getting shot again, she could already feel hot blood starting to run down her back. Firearms were rare in Zaun but it seemed every monkey in Piltover had one, and up until she'd accidentally dropped a building on herself when she was beating the shit out of the Hexrunners gang, her blast shield had been doing an admirable job of stopping her from getting shot. Her Vision wavered for a second as she lurched against a wall out of sight of the officer, she shrugged her backpack off her wounded shoulder, the pain causing her stomach to threaten emptying its contents on the floor. She breathed hard as she focused, she had to keep going, or they'd catch her. She came here to start a new life, and going to prison now would just move her life from Zaun to Piltover. So she limped on, her left arm hanging by her side, a trail of crimson drops spattered behind her.
The officer who had shot her had apparently not chosen to hunt down Vi by herself, but that did not mean the chase was off. Vi forged a new path through the abandoned houses so she could tie off the leg graze with her working hand. The whole area was now probably crawling with police and she had to stealthily maneuver her way through the streets, as sneakily as a tall, bleeding, chemtech gauntlet wielding woman could. She took the jumper from her bag, carefully nesting the photo inside the other essentials. Tying it off on her leg as best she could on an old dining table she experimentally stood on her leg. She hissed, she could more steadily walk and probably run for a very short distance now, but it still hurt like a bitch and it had still cost her minutes of her window to escape, it'd have to do. There was nothing she could do about her shoulder right now but something would have to be done when this was all over.
The thought that she was quite lost now dawned on her and she had no map to figure out a new escape route. Vi's head snapped round at a noise. Another patrol close by calling for her surrender, she hastily moved down a hall and into what she assumed would have been a bedroom at some point. Peeking through the tattered curtains she saw them heading to the house she was hiding in. She hadn't noticed them sooner because she had been busy with her leg. Holding her breath as she heard the door being opened. She had already forced open the lock and broken it and she hoped that they didn't notice.
"Come out wiv your 'ands up! We know you're in 'ere!" a voice called out, in a thick Piltover accent.
"That's horse shit Delancy, she's not gonna be in here, half the fucking houses in this dump are unlocked." A second voice stated
"We're 'ere to find 'er and, if possible, bring 'er in. We're not gonna do that if we don't check the 'ouses." The voice belonging to Delancy pointed out
"Why the fuck do you wanna find her, you saw what she did to Max's unit." The second voice challenged
"Relax, she probably bled out somewhere, we're searching for a body." A third voice interjected
"You wanna end up like Johannson? Cause I sure fucking don't, so stay alert just in case huh?" No retort came from the other voices, which Vi gave a pained smirk to. The foot falls carried through the floor boards so Vi could roughly tell where the 4 of them were as they spread out through the house. A thought flashed through Vi's mind. She probably bled all over the Table.
As if on cue she heard Delancy's voice.
"What the fuck is- SHIT, She's here!" A shrill Whistle pierced the air. Vi had to get rid of them right now. Tearing open the door she ran back to the dining room where she bandaged her leg and almost ran into the man called Delancy as he tried to run out of the room. A second of hesitation passed as they assessed each other. He was shorter than her but probably ten years her senior with a hard face and an immaculate crew cut. Vi acted first with an uppercut that would have put him through the ceiling. Delancy tumbled backwards onto the floor narrowly avoiding the blow. Vi heard footsteps behind her as another officer came running to the call. Taking in the sight of Vi before him, the new officer fumbled to draw his gun. Vi swung as he pulled the gun out, but this time she did not miss. The backhand travelled straight through the dining room's door frame, knocking the officer through the wall next to him. Vi grunted, the wound in her shoulder causing pain to spike through her body. Delancy had used the distraction well. He sprung up and punched Vi's wounded shoulder hard. Vi cried out in agony, and retch from the pain as she staggered. She didn't get time to recover as another punch connected to the side of her face, knocking her to the floor. Vi's vision swam, but she remained conscious despite the pain. A large piece of the door frame lay inches from her gauntlet clad hand. She grabbed at it and swung wildly at where Delancy was probably standing. The sound of splintering wood signaled that hit connected, followed by a torrent of swearing from Delancy. Vi looked up to see Delancy bent over holding his head, blood dripping though his fingers and matting his black hair. Vi staggered to her feet, her gauntlet almost too heavy to lift all of a sudden and kicked the still swearing Delancy in the side of the knee, sending him tumbling to the floor. She heard someone running down the hall, one of the officers that had fanned out upstairs was coming to aid his coworkers. She breathed raggedly and pushed deeper into the core herself. Her veins surged with ice and she gained the strength to lift her gauntlet, her vision stabilizing. She hopped over Delancy, who had assumed the fetal position and took an ambush position in the dining room on the other side of the wall the new officer would have pass. Hearing the foot falls rapidly approaching she heard Delancys cry
"WAI-" she cut him off by punching straight through the wall and connecting with the officer on the other side. The officer let out a grunt and Vi heard him hit the far wall. As she tore the gauntlet free it hissed as its internal force multipliers vented. Something caught the corner of her eye. The first officer had pulled himself out of the other room and was clutching his chest with one arm, a tonfa in the other. He charged her, and as an experienced brawler she instinctively planted her foot in his chest as he closed. The blow would have normally would have laid him out but her wounded leg gave way to the force causing them both to collapse in a heap. He landed on her, and she landed on her backpack, the wound shoulder forcing a scream out of her. He untangled himself from her and raised the tonfa to strike but was beaten to it as Vi grabbed his neck and shoulder with the huge gauntlet and headbutted him in the face, forcing him backwards leaving him clutching his nose as it streamed blood. Vi retched from the pain in her shoulder. She shakily got up on one knee using her gauntlet as support. The high-pitched whistle of the last officer coming from the front of the house as he called more police to their position. She had to go before they showed up. The gauntlet wouldn't budge as she tried to lift it. She tried to draw out more strength. The ice in her veins grew so cold it seared her but the gauntlet didn't move. Sinking back to one knee she focused on remaining conscious as nausea and lightheadedness threatened to knock her out. She'd have to leave it. Letting it go she staggered toward through the dining room to the back door. She pressured her leg, the jumper had fallen off at some point and the wound still oozed blood. She reached the door and leaned on it for support. She fumbled with the mechanism, her working hand now slick with blood. She leaned hard on the door to open it, stumbling as the support vanished. Her vision flickered as she put one foot in front of the other. For some reason she looked up to the sky. The cool yellow highlighted the clouds so vividly, she'd never really appreciated how beautiful dusk was. Her strength faltered sending her to the floor with a weak groan. She could fight the pain no more as her senses slipped away.
A/N: yo whats up. Ive had this idea banging around for a while and maybe i can actually finish it with all this free time i now have.
I will be continuing my other story but I wanted to undertake a serious writing endeavor considering how stupid the other story is. check it out if you like really shit rap battles.
as always feed back is appreciated, and I want to treat this as a learning experience so reviews that aren't just "fuck you" are always appreciated.
also call me out on my grammar if you see something.