"You think he's so tough?" One masked man asked another, searching through the desks of Piltover's prison for a ring of keys to open the cells.
The second man looked up from his desk, "I don't know Vor, I've heard some pretty serious shit about this guy. He doesn't mess around. We need to be quick."
Vor snickered, "Oh boy, you're scared aren't you, Kinan?" The second man, Kinan, shrugged. "Well, don't be, that's what these are for, right?" Vor gestured at a large gun in his right hand. It was filled with high caliber bullets, sure to pierce armor.
"Yeah, I guess…"
"Here! I've got them!" Vor said excitedly, holding up a ring of silver keys. "Let's cause some trouble!"
As Vor turned back to the door, he found himself face to face with a tall, brunette man with a knowing grin. He was wealthy looking with red and gold clothes and had dozens metallic gadgets lining his coat pockets and belt. "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I late for the party?" He held up one hand, a blue light flickering to life on his palm. Suddenly, they keys in Vor's fist started to pull with an unbelievable force towards the tall man who laughed as Vor struggled to keep hold. "If you keep holding on like that, I'll have to drop you!"
Vor didn't listen and kept straining to hold on as Kinan reached for his gun and pointed it at the new man. "Let him go Jayce!"
Jayce flashed Kinan a grin, his blue eyes twinkling. "Why haven't you shot yet, scared?"
"N-no, I'm just giving you a chance to surrender!"
Vor spoke up loudly, "Idiot! Just shoot him!"
"Go ahead, try," Jayce cackled. In response, Kinan pulled the trigger on his pistol and a loud bang sounded through the prison. Many confused calls came from prisoners down the hall, wondering who shot whom and what was going on. Jayce stood resolute as the bullet hurdled towards him, not even flinching. His faith was well founded. Both Kinan and Vor watched in shock as the bullet fired point blank at Jayce seemed to curve away from him and hit the wall behind.
Jayce let out another fit of laughter "Magnets. Pretty cool huh?" He gestured at the gun and looked Kinan in the eye, "See, that's the kind of weapon that bugs me. All firepower no smarts. Next time try something a little more… modern." He turned back to the man struggling for the keys, "Just let go, friend. Just let go."
"N-no!" Vor stammered, clambering to keep hold of the keys in his sweaty hands.
Jayce rolled his eyes, "And I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this."
"Do what?!"
"Shhhh" Jayce put a finger to his mouth, making a pulling motion with his other hand. The keys moved towards him and pulled Vor with them. Swiftly, Jayce delivered a punch to his cheek, grabbing the keys from his hand as he fell limp to the ground. Then Jayce closed in on Kinan who backed into a wall. All the brunette had to do was punch him once and the second criminal joined the first on the floor. Jayce put his hands oh his hips and surveyed the scene with a bright smile. "Who tries to rob a prison in the middle of the day and thinks they can get away with it? After all, Piltover's got me to defend her." Suddenly, he turned around, hearing footsteps behind him drawing closer and closer. "Caitlyn, I did your job, again!" he called, hearing an audible sigh before the sheriff even had a chance to round the corner into the room.
The Sheriff of Piltover strode in and straight up to Jayce, sniper rifle in hand. She wore a purple dress with brown leather belts holding extra bullets and even small knives crisscrossing her waist and legs. "What exactly is the meaning of this?" she barked at him angrily, lowering her gun to the cement floor and holding it by the barrel.
"Well, I just, you know, thought I'd save Piltover again," Jayce's charm was all but lost on Caitlyn as she smirked and pushed him aside to look at his handiwork on the ground at their feet. "Kinan and Vor," Jayce told her, "Probably thugs running with Syndicate Seven." Caitlyn nodded in agreement. Syndicate Seven was a gang on the underground of Piltover with massive influence over the criminal justice system. If they wanted to, they could arrange for two of their members to end up alone in a room in the prison. Caitlyn sighed in shame, turning on her heel back to the door. "Officers, clean this mess up," she breathed, her tone chilled with frustration. "And no press releases either," she added as she stepped out and started down the hall again, her boots clicking on the ground with every step.
Jayce smiled and gave the police officers polite nods and briskly followed the sheriff. "Wait up Cait."
Caitlyn groaned, "It's sheriff to you Jayce."
Jayce arrived next to her and began to slow his pace to match, walking side by side down the hall towards the exit. "Then why do you get to call me by my name if I can't call you by yours?" he snickered.
Caitlyn eyed him, knowing the answer to her coming question wouldn't be a serious one. "So what do you want me to call you then?"
Jayce mimed as if thinking for a moment, dramatically stroking his stubble with his right hand while shrugging his left shoulder. "Maybe hero."
The sheriff laughed out loud and increased her pace. "I'm not calling you hero. I might call you fool though."
"Well that seems a little mean," Jayce bartered, "After all, I did just do your job- again!"
Caitlyn spun on the spot, pointing at Jayce with a sudden flare of angry passion in her eyes. "I have given everything to protect this city from those who mean it harm! I have fought hard every day and bled too much for some vigilante with a superiority complex to come and say he did my job. You get the fun parts where you get to take credit for saving the day even though the fight isn't actually won while I have to explain why they got into the prison to begin with to a gaggle of reporters who want my head. Syndicate Seven is still out there; you didn't win entirely."
"Well…" Jayce pondered, "You get paid for it," he smiled.
Caitlyn sighed, "Not nearly enough for this line of work."
As they reached the tall wooden doors that held back that cascade of light shining outside upon the dark prison walls, Jayce swiftly moved his hand up to touch the sheriff's shoulder, "Now, have a look at my line of work. Maybe you can even enjoy the fun side of law enforcement." Jayce displayed his bright, charismatic smile before pushing both doors open and striding out into the sunshine. Around the prison, police had set up barricades that held back mobs of reporters and curious bystanders, trying to figure out what exactly had happened inside the prison. Jayce took slow, powerful strides towards them all, his signature grin and pompous attitude turning attention from the police onto himself. His red and gold lined trench coat waved gently in the breeze as he raised a hand to wave to the onlookers "Hello everyone!"
Jayce's presence had a certain effect on the public of Piltover. He was well known throughout the city as one of the foremost experts on weapons technology and even more so, electromagnetics. In Piltover, which has been dubbed by the rest of the world as 'The City of Progress,' being renowned the way Jayce was a rarity and an honor. This inventor, however, enjoyed the limelight that came with using his inventions in public, showcasing his talent and vast intellect as well as his looks by taking down criminals of all sorts. Life had never been hard for Jayce. With talent like his, it was no surprise that he was constantly on the front page of newspapers, going on dates with the most beautiful women, and making millions of gold pieces every day. As far as the people of Piltover were concerned, Jayce was the model to look up to, the hero to cheer for, and most importantly, hope for the future in the midst of all of the gangs, corruption, and instability that threatened the very foundation of Piltoverian society.
Jayce simply waved at the crowd for several seconds before proceeding to draw near, allowing one reporter to get close, stretching his arm as far as it would go over the wooden barricade to extend a microphone to the hero. "Jayce, sir, what happened inside the prison?" He called over the ruckus of competitors trying to gain the inventor's attention.
Jayce looked over the swarm and held up a hand to silence them. Immediately, the people fell quiet to listen to him. The obedience of the Piltover public was always pleasurable to him so Jayce chuckled as he smiled at them all. "Well," he started, placing his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest slightly, "Upon discovering the breach at the Piltover Prison today, I came on down and was able to arrive on the scene promptly enough to incapacitate the two intruders with haste and secure the area. Soon after, Sheriff Caitlyn and other brave members of the PPD arrived in time for me to hand over the criminals."
The reported stared, dumbfounded at Jayce in admiration, "So you defeated the intruders BEFORE the police arrived?"
"Well absolutely," Jayce smirked, "I couldn't let them gain access to the prison so I let the police clean up after I was done." As if on queue, the fans and reporters erupted into thunderous applause. Not at all surprised by the sudden adoration, the hero raised his hand again to wave as Caitlyn crept up behind him and yanked on his coat. "Get out of here!"
Jayce entirely ignored her and continued to accept the attention as Caitlyn struggled to get to the microphone. "Mister Jayce's actions today were unnecessarily reckless and could have resulted in more harm than good. He should have waited for the PPD which was only moments behind him with the proper training, equipment, and manpower to effectively handle the situation without need of a vigilante!" Caitlyn called out her words over a deaf crowd, still cheering and applauding Jayce as he bowed and clapped for himself.
"Just leave it to the police because- ugh!" Caitlyn glared furiously at the town's hero as she turned away and walked back towards the prison. Jayce was a thorn in her side that would not be going away any time soon.
Author's notes: Hello, I hope you liked chapter 1 of my new story. I decided to go with a little more of a fun approach to this story and while it will contain content such as excessive violence and possibly some moderate sexual content (sorry smut fans) in the future, I intend to keep tension lower through a lot of the story and not shove the higher levels of T (verging on M) rating down your throats just because I can.
I am not sure how often I'll be updating this story but since I am no longer living near my co-writer for Legacy of the Shadows, I figured a solo project was just what I needed in the mean time. Welcome to "No Tomorrow!"
