Hello everyone! WillTheYordle here back with another story. Promised myself I wouldn't do this until I was father into BRS Online and The Story of Kevin, but finished Akame ga Kill and I wanted to throw a brick at my bedroom wall. It was so good and made me cry at the same time. I've had some spare characters (including my League of Legends character based on my internet identity, if you've followed my twitter account it's actually CALLED Katsuo Twintail.) So since I couldn't get the anime out of my head after a few days I said to myself.
"Fudge it, if I don't write a fanfiction on this I'm going to have to hurt myself in some way." So yeah. I delayed BRSO and TSOK to write this. Halfway done with the prologue and plan on being at least 3-4 chapters in before my need will be finished and I can crank out a schedule for all 3 fanfictions.
Additionally, since the League Lore is literally scattered across the entire Riot HQ building in a foreign dialect of gibberish, if anyone spots anything regarding this half of the prologue, please let me know. I only address this half of the crossover at all because it's Katsuo's homeland.
Trying to think if there was anything else I needed to address…
OH YEAH! If you're a BRS Online reader reading this, don't worry I haven't abandoned the story. I just can't write anything else while THIS (Points at the fanfiction below) is still buzzing around in my head. Once I've finally brain dumped this out a few chapters I'll post a number of BRSO chapters to get caught up. Sorry!
Alright enough Authors Notes, Let's get down to it. WELCOME TO TRUE NIGHT.
Prologue One: A Yordle on Thin Ice
Katsuo Twintail
Time: 22:04
Location: Customs Bar – Piltover
World: Runeterra (Summoner Dimension)
Katsuo took another large swig of his drink, the mug going from full to half empty in under a second before returning quietly to its place on the counter as he let his mind go fuzzy from the alcohol. He sat on top of his bag at the stool at the far end of the counter, hood up. It wasn't unheard of for a yordle to be sitting at a bar, but it wasn't the most common sight either, especially with most yordles working in their labs until the wee hours of the morning. "Brainy Midgets" was a common label by the common man in Piltover, and it wasn't completely wrong. Almost ninety percent of the yordle population in Piltover were busy at the Yordle Academy of Science and Progress. However Katsuo was one of those yordles that didn't know or care a lot about science, and on top of that Katsuo wasn't exactly a typical yordle. You could almost say that he was special, and that's why he wore his hood.
From the inside of the cloth, his left ear twitched, a typical sign that Katsuo was not only keeping an eye out for trouble, but about to run into it head first faster than a bullet seeking its target. Focusing on the hushed whispers to his left, he managed to pick up the barely audible voices of a group of humans sitting at a nearby table.
"I'll bet you he'll give us the money without a fight." One voice snickered. Katsuo knew right away who he was talking about.
"Those science twerps never know how to defend themselves, and serves them right too. They don't deserve to be at our bars." Another voice, this one deeper than the first, replied with a note of anger. Katsuo sighed, another bunch of lowly hooligans who still thought that the smaller creatures should be below human. Just because they only grew to an average of two and a half feet talk didn't make them any less intelligent than humans.
Or any less dangerous.
Katsuo heard the men stand up, and Katsuo used this moment to down the rest of his drink. He was mildly disappointed; it was only his first of the night. He had sat down ten minutes ago and had simply stared at the glass mug for most of that time. Guess it's just not my day. Hearing the steps of the men approach behind him, Katsuo glanced down at his waist, checking to see if the sword attached to his belt was still there. Sure enough, like every other time he checked, it was. The gleam from the gem on the end of the hilt made Katsuo smile.
The footsteps stopped, and Katsuo heard the voice of the second man.
"Hey yordle, what's a smarty pants like you doing in a bar at this hour? Doesn't your kind like to tinker with your little toys in the labs until dawn?" The men laughed, and it sounded like there was a third man standing behind the first two, but Katsuo ignored them. Unless they laid a hand on him or tried anything that was actually threatening – and he was fully expecting the situation to escalate to that point – there was no reason for him to react.
And bar fights weren't uncommon in this particular bar anyway. Stories that stretched across the city told of frequent bar fights between unruly individuals fighting for pocket money were common. Katsuo had even sat at a table in the back of this place once before, and had watched as a fight broke out between two men over whose mustache was better. No one in the place seemed to notice, and the bartender was calmly calling the police as the men threw mugs at each other. No chairs or tables, all were bolted to the floor so they couldn't be used as weapons. From what Katsuo remembered of the tales, seeing the sheriff wasn't uncommon in this part of town, mostly because of this bar.
The laughter quickly died away when the men realized they were being ignored. Katsuo could feel them getting angry, the negative energy coming off of them in waves. He slowly began to move his right hand away from his mug and down towards his blade.
"I'm talking to you short stack!" In one quick motion, Katsuo's hood was down, and the gasps of shock quickly followed. Katsuo's long hair dropped. Long navy blue twin-tailed hair that stretched down his knees. Anyone looking at his backside without seeing his face would most likely mistake him for a woman. But he doubted that's what caused the men to gasp. With the hood down, the two cat-like ears that were on the top of Katsuo's head were revealed to everyone at the bar. It was the reason he always wore his hood, he was the only yordle in existence who was part cat.
There were snickers coming from the men. Katsuo felt his anger starting to rise but quickly suppressed it. People had laughed at his hair and ears before, and he felt no shame or embarrassment in them, however it was easier to move around the city when people didn't notice. Cutting his hair would probably help, but there was no way he was doing that. He'd rather face down an army of experiments from Zaun first.
"I'm sorry miss, I didn't realize you were a freak as well as a brainiac! Did one of your experiments go wrong?" The first man laughed. Katsuo froze and his ears slowly flattened. His body now completely tense, and his anger surging above the boiling point. The one line in all of existence that he couldn't stand had just been uttered to him. In a low voice, he gave his growling reply.
"What did you just call me?" The men seemed pleased to finally get a reaction, as indicated by another round of amused chuckles. Out of the corner of his eye, Katsuo spotted the bartender reach for the phone attached to the inside of the kitchen wall. Smart man, by the time I'm done with these men I'll probably have enough charges on me to get executed.
"What? Does our little miss not like being called a freak? Should we call you 'kitty' instead?" In a single moment, Katsuo spun around in his chair and had his sword at the man's neck, his eyes stone cold with rage, and for the first time Katsuo saw the men's faces. All were in shock at Katsuo's sudden and violent reaction. It was obvious they hadn't expected to be armed, and trained.
Katsuo was in such a rage he didn't notice too much about the men, but like he had guessed, there were three in total. The one on the farthest left had spiked red hair, a long face, and a nose ring that Katsuo would probably end up ripping out before the end of the fight. The man on the right hand long, greasy brown hair that stretched all the way to the center of his back, and from the way he was passively scratching at his arm and the dark circles under his eyes Katsuo guessed the man was a drug addict.
Last but not least was the man who had a blade to his neck. While the other two men were built like twigs, this guy actually had some muscle on him, his facial features sharp like he had been in many fights already. His jet black hair was messy like he hadn't bothered to brush it, but it was obvious he at least had the sense to wash it every day. The slight amount of facial hair on the man's face plus the look in his eye would send many people running. It didn't seem to matter that he was two inches shorter than his companions, Katsuo could tell this man was a hardened criminal who was anti-yordle. But even more offensive to Katsuo, was the fact that he had just mistaken him for a girl because of his hair.
"I'll give you one chance to rephrase that statement." Katsuo said in a flat tone. The man's eyes narrowed and he took three steps backwards, putting some distance between Katsuo's blade and his neck. Katsuo hopped off the stool, keeping his sword tight in his right hand, looking up at the men towering over him. As the tense moments passed, the leader of the group's expression changed from one of shock to one of arrogant amusement.
"So not only are you a freak but you're a cross-dressing yordle with big talk and a tinted glass sword? This is gonna be fun." As if on queue, the two men on either side of the leader began to slowly move in on Katsuo, drawing knifes from their pockets as they went. Katsuo's eyes narrowed.
Despite his blade being called a sword, the seven inch knives that the men carries were half the length of Katsuo's sword. The only problem was, the men hadn't realized that the blade Katsuo carries wasn't actually made of tinted glass, but instead of true ice, stolen from the ice witch herself.
The man on Katsuo's right struck first, bringing his knife down in an overhead strike intended to pierce his skull. Katsuo leaned back, the knife passing by his nose by mere centimeters. Spinning around, Katsuo brought up his leg and planted a hard back kick to the man's groin, causing him to drop immediately. Spotting movement out of the corner of his eye, Katsuo bent over, feeling another blade pass over his head, just barely missing his head. Continuing to spin around counter-clockwise, Katsuo planted an elbow into the jaw of the second man, who had learned his head forward during his horizontal strike.
Despite being pissed off, Katsuo knew the consequences of actually killing someone in the middle of a public bar. He could be arrested for pulling a weapon, since he was technically the one who attacked first. It was best to minimize the damage and hope that catching someone who might be a criminal would save him from any legal incident.
With two of the men writhing on the floor in pain, the leader was the only one left standing, and if there had been anyone to bet against at the time, he would have bet a year's salary than this man was armed with a gun, not a knife.
Katsuo shot forward, his eyes locked right on the mans chest. However, the second he had started to move, the man pulled a gun from his back pocket, clearly aimed right at Katsuo's head. Or at least where it had been. Having expected the gun and the shot, Katsuo jumped upward, higher than what should have been possible for any normal human or yordle. So when the 'bang' of the gunshot rang through the bar, Katsuo had already front-flipped over the top of the man, landing lightly on his feet directly behind the man. Without wasting a beat, Katsuo whipped around, slashing at the man's legs, leaving a deep cut in the back in each of his lower legs. The man fell backwards, and Katsuo reactively jumped to one side. As the man fell backward, the second effect of his magic blade took effect, freezing the man's legs solid. Before the man could recover from the daze of his fall, Katsuo stepped over the man and kicked the gun out of his hands, leaving him weaponless and bound to the floor.
"I hope you've learned your lesson." Katsuo said with the same neutral voice as before. "The next time you call me a girl, I freeze your brain and cut out your heart, got it?" The man scowled before spitting right in Katsuo's face. Blinking twice and wiping his face, Katsuo sighed and slammed the butt of his sword into the back of the man's head, knocking him out. Without so much as another glance at the thugs Katsuo walked over to the stool where he had been sitting, and walked towards the door to the bar. He was halfway across the room when the door literally exploded, revealing a large gauntlet and the violent deputy who wore them.
"Freeze, nobody move!" Katsuo mentally hung his head and slapped himself before raising his hands into the air. He had hoped that Caitlyn would show up to the scene alone, so he wouldn't be caught up in another scene. But apparently that was a wish too big for the universe to grant him. He already knew that causing trouble in this particular bar was going to bring the top law enforcement, but it had been the closest bar and he had been too tired to care that Customs was the most violent bar in the city. Meaning of course they would send the most violent officer to deal with any reports. Fight fire with a bigger fire. Damn even I should have expected this.
Vi scanned the room, clearly looking for the hooligans who were causing trouble and trying to start a riot, but when her gaze finally fell on the two men on the ground, then the man sitting uncomfortably on a bar stool, and finally Katsuo afterward, she simply sighed in disappointment.
"Again?" the enforcer muttered before turning to call out to someone behind her. "It's Katsuo again." From the tone in her voice it sounded like she had been expecting it to be Katsuo causing problems. There was a sigh of disappointment before a tall woman wearing a (long purple dress with tall leather brown boots and a massive purple top hat carrying a polished hextech sniper rifle.) walked past Vi to scan the scene for herself. As expected, Caitlyn was also here. Great, they sent the dynamic duo.
"Again Katsuo? This is the fifth time this month you've ended up in a bar fight in the last two weeks." Caitlyn spoke with a received accent, something common among Piltover's highly elite class. Katsuo sighed. There was no denying that he had gotten himself into a lot of trouble lately, but it wasn't like he had intentionally started the fights.
"It's not like I'm trying to start these fights." The yordle exclaimed in frustration. With a deep sigh, Caitlyn walked passed Katsuo, kneeling down next to the two passed out bodies on the floor. "I just seem to be a magnet for the drunk and dumb."
It was almost sad, because of how enraged he got when someone called him a girl, and because of his work, Katsuo ended up seeing the sheriff and the enforcer at least three times a week. Twice would be for fights in a bar, and the third would be for a job taking care of some business outside of the city to make up for disturbing the peace, unpaid. It wasn't the greatest deal for Katsuo but it kept him out of prison, and took more dangerous guys off the street. Especially since Pilteover's Finest we're often caught up in their hunt for Jinx, a woman dead set on the destruction of the whole city for no other reason than to amuse herself.
"Look Kat, I know you need a few glasses at the end of the day, but can't you drink back at your place where you won't cause trouble for us?" Katsuo rolled his eyes in annoyance at Vi.
"I would love to, but since Yordles are technically social creatures I can't exactly shut myself off from the rest of the world without going crazy!" It was the downside of being a yordle, at least that's how Katsuo saw it. He didn't mind being short or anything, it just bothered him that his brain cells required him to be around people nearly twenty-four hours a day to prevent him from having a total mental collapse.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure that yordles don't have to be around others all the time." Katsuo snorted but didn't reply, keeping her eyes on the sheriff as she inspected the 'victims.' "You could always try cutting your hair." Vi suggested.
"That happens the day the world ends." Katsuo retorted sharply.
"Well this is a surprise." The voice of Caitlyn drew the pair's attention back to the scene in front of them, preventing the situation from potentially escalating further. "It would appear that Katsuo has caught Theo Roberts." Katsuo raised an eyebrow in surprise. Despite not having heard or seen a physical description of the man, he knew who Theo was.
Thanks to Jinx and the massive wave of chaos that follows her around, Piltover's crime rate has spiked in recent months, leading to an increase in robberies, kidnappings, murders, and gang activity. The worst of these criminals have their faces on wanted posters around town so people can recognize them. Theo was an extremist anti-yordle activist who spent his days kidnapping yordles and torturing them to death. His body count was at least a dozen, making him a top priority for the police force. Brought down by the very thing he believes to be inferior, typical.
"Wait are you saying that Kat here just accidentally bumped into one of the most wanted criminals in the whole city!?" Vi gave Katsuo a punch in the arm that caused him to stumble. The enforcer would have called that a light punch, to Katsuo it was like getting smacked. "Nice job short-stack!" Katsuo regained his balance and let out a breath before turning around.
"Yeah and I did it without having to destroy any property. I'd say it's a job well done." Katsuo pulled his dark blue hood over his head and walked towards to exposed entrance to the bar, walking over bits of broken door along the way.
"Hold it right there Mr. Twintail." Katsuo, with hands in the pockets of his shorts, stopped and let out a snort of annoyance at Caitlyn's order. "Despite catching a very dangerous criminal, you still broke the law. I'm afraid you'll be coming with us."
Katsuo let out another long sigh and hung his head with eyes closed. This hadn't been the first time he'd been arrested, in fact he was probably on the top ten list for the most charges of DTP. Turning around Katsuo raised his hands up, elbows bent so his hands were at chest level.
"Fine, but can we go without the handcuffs this time?" Katsuo asked with a note of sarcastic annoyance. "We both know I'm not stupid enough to try running." Caitlyn, who was done cuffing the three goons, calmly walked over to Katsuo. Grabbing his hands, he forced them closer together in front of him before placing them in their own set of handcuffs. "I'll take that as a no."
Since two of the goons were still unconscious, Vi carried the pair of them. One over each shoulder with a hand on their backs to keep them from sliding off and hitting the stone below, not that the enforcer would really have cared. In fact, she was probably hoping one of them would slide off just so she could get the satisfaction of hurting the criminals. The third criminal was being dragged at the color by Caitlyn at the front of the group, with Katsuo casually walking in between them. Caitlyn hadn't confiscated his weapon, a sign that either she wasn't the slightest bit afraid of him or that she really did believe he wasn't trying to run at the first possible opportunity.
And Katsuo wasn't planning on it somewhere in the back of his mind either. The Piltover Police Force had been his greatest customers in recent months. Because most of the forces recourses were tracking Jinx, it left them shorthanded fighting the rising surge of everyday crime. It wasn't normally like Caitlyn to accept help from mercenaries, but Katsuo's record, and the situation the PPD had found themselves in, had spoken for itself.
He had been working as a mercenary for the last five years, and never once had he accepted a job that required him to break the law. Had he done it on a job? Sure, if it was to save innocent lives. There was no point in making money if you couldn't go out and spend the occasional night on the town. As for how Katsuo got involved with the PPD, in the last year and a half that he had been approached by the force with jobs on over two dozen occasions. At first it had been a compromise, Katsuo stayed out of jail for his charges of disturbing the peace and the force got additional help. It worked out for everyone.
That didn't mean that Caitlyn liked him by any means though. Like Vi, Katsuo didn't do things "by the book." He often made rash decisions that bit him in the back later on, was violent, and probably enjoyed the job too much. In fact if it had been up to the sheriff alone, he would have probably been locked up last week. However the one upside to his personality was befriending a certain punch-happy deputy. Despite not having great diplomatic skills, Vi had kept Katsuo out of prison a number of times with a few well placed words. Katsuo doubted this time would turn out the same though.
At the end of the block were two vehicles, one a large silver armored prison truck with two officers standing guard over the rear compartment, each of them holding long brown rifles that were standard of the PPD. In front of the truck was a standard navy blue police automobile. Low to the ground, dome shaped with a large trunk and a small front, it was clearly one of the early models that Caitlyn seemed to favor when she had to take an automobile anywhere.
The walk seemed to take forever, it was like Katsuo was watching the end of his life. For the next roughly two to three years he expected to see nothing but iron bars and terrible meals. The price to his aggressive policy to people who dared call him a girl. This is just my luck. I pull my sword too early a few times and now it's off to prison. Dammit it all!
However Katsuo became surprised then confused as he watched the doors close behind the three men from the bar who were hastily thrown into the truck, and speed off shortly afterward. The yordle stood there dumbfounded, completely clueless as to why he wasn't in that truck as well.
Pushed from behind, Katsuo was forced into the backseat of the PPD vehicle, which was small and cramped compared to the spacious front seats, which were leather instead of wood covered with a small cloth like the seats Katsuo was sitting in. Even for a yordle, the space was cramped and uncomfortable. The interior was similar. It didn't look at all cozy, in fact from the tinted windows and metal bars that separated him from the two officers in the front seat it seemed like he was in for a lot more than he was. Roaring to life, the automobile sped off towards the central districts, where the police headquarters was located.
After twenty minutes Katsuo found himself being dragged by cat ear into the police station by Caitlyn. Although no words had been spoken during the drive, the sheriff seemed to be quite frustrated although she was doing her best to keep it from showing.
"Watch the ear, watch the ear!" Katsuo complained as he was dragged into the sheriff's office by Vi and nearly thrown into a chair on the opposite side of a desk that seemed to tower over Katsuo, and not just because it was as tall as he was.
"You've been causing a lot of problems for us lately Mr. Twintail." Caitlyn began coldly as she sat down in her chair on the opposite side of the desk, with Vi leaning on the doorway behind Katsuo. "The number of bar fights this month is absurd, you've broken the law on a number of jobs we've given you for your punishment, and you still believe it's okay to leave us with the mess." Katsuo felt the sweat trickle down the back of his neck, although he didn't flinch or give any other sign that he was nervous.
"If I could, I would lock you up right now and see to it that you never saw the light of day again. However there is a matter that has the department worried." Katsuo slowly came to the realization that he wasn't about to get locked up, rather he was about to get put on a very dangerous job.
"You see Kat, there's been an odd string of thefts and murders on some of the top scientists in Piltover. Just yesterday, a device was stolen from the labs in the Y.A.S.P. The culprit left three scientists dead and the lab a mess. A week ago someone tried to get Jayce's hammer-gun thing." Katsuo raised an eyebrow. It was one thing to go on a large series of murders and blow up a whole city for the fun of it, but it was another if someone was deliberately targeting the best and the brightest in the city.
"We believe there is a possibility that whoever is behind this attack is working towards some larger goal, of what we're not sure yet." Caitlyn continued. "That's why we want you to catch this woman so we can interrogate her." This deffinitley wasn't the suicide mission Katsuo had been expecting. Catching one criminal was like asking him to freeze a glass of water, even the most green of mercenaries could handle it.
Caitlyn must have spotted the confidence on Katsuo's face, because her expression darkened further. "Don't expect this to be easy Katsuo, if it were you would be sitting in a cell right now. This girl can turn herself into smoke, and move around incredibly quickly. She's obviously a highly trained assassin."
"She took out Freddie and Jacob the other night." Vi said solemnly. Katsuo finally realized the seriousness of the situation. It wasn't chance that both Caitlyn and Vi had shown up at the bar this time, they were hoping that Katsuo would be involved in whatever call came in for tonight's round of bar fights. Freddie and Jacob were two of the finest officers the PPD had in the force. They had taken down some of the worst criminals, and the duo were second only to Piltovers Finest themselves. The fact that they had been killed by a single assassin meant that this girl, whoever her identity, was a lethal threat.
"I understand." Katsuo replied in a neutral tone that held a touch of understanding and a hint of anger. Katuo may have been a mercenary, but he still cared about the city. It was after all, his home. He had made a lot of friends in the PPD as well, especially Freddie and Jacob. It was almost tradition for the three of them to go drinking once or twice a month and have a good time. They were probably the closest friends Katsuo had, which means this job had just become personal.
"Good. Unfortunately the departments situation hasn't changed. The two of us need to go down to the northern districts to interview a few witnesses of Jinx's last attack. The situation is in your hands Mr. Twintail, I trust you'll get this done." Caitlyn stood up, and Katsuo did likewise. The pair shook hands briefly before heading for the door. Vi however, had her own interests in mind.
"Yo Cait, I'm gonna stay here with Kat and help him with Smoke Girl." Caitlyn had just passed through the doorway, and she looked back with annoyance in her eyes, but despite that she simply nodded. It was then when Katsuo noticed how down the whole place was. The loss of Freddie and Jacob clearly hit the entirety of the PPD pretty hard, and where there would normally be the sound of laughter and conversation, there was only silence. Everyone was mourning the deaths of their good friends, and it wasn't surprising that Vi wanted some kind of payback.
Five minutes later the sheriff was gone, leaving Katsuo, Vi, and a half dozen other officers left in the headquarters building with a single box office holding all the information on Smoke Girl that Freddie and Jacob had put together. It was more empty than Katsuo had ever seen it.
"So Kitty, what's out plan?" Katsuo ignored the terrible nickname the Enforcer used for him and began looking over the wall where all the evidence had been stuck to the wall. Small pieces of string tied clues together. Names, dates, places, weapons, stolen items. In addition to all of this was a bunch of scattered files on the table to the right of the wall. Pulling up a chair to stand on, Katsuo began to work.
Katsuo looked at the various locations that Smoke Girl had attacked. Jayce's lab, the Yordle Academy, every major lab in the city, and a few remote locations that didn't seem to have any importance. These random locations caught Katsuo's eye. If your target was the best and brightest that Piltover had to offer, why go after some homeless guys in the poorer districts? If Katsuo was going to catch Smoke Girl, he needed to know exactly when and where she was going to attack. To know that, he first had to know what she was after.
At first glance she seemed like she was going after anyone and everyone who was a brainiac in Piltover, but it didn't explain why she stole from some locations and not others. In fact there seemed to be no connection between the murders and the thefts at all. This left Katsuo with one of two conclusions. Smoke Girl was either insane, which he very much doubted since every kill she had made was very controlled, or she was another mercenary. Which meant that Katsuo was probably dealing with an organization, not a single criminal. The notes on the wall seemed to agree as well, meaning that this conclusion had been reached before.
Katsuo looked at the reports from the locations that didn't seem to be as important, looking for the connection that Jacob had found. The board didn't say much about what kind of connection there was, since it was all mostly photos, small notes, and string. But it did let Katsuo know that there was indeed a connection between the smaller locations and the bigger picture. The only question is what.
Jayce's Mercury Hammer, the new power source at the Yordle Academy, several other locations with powerful objects. It was obvious that Smoke Girl was going after some powerful items. But what about the murders, why would someone want to start killing random people? Katsuo took another look at the connecting lines on the board, and realized that every murder was connected to a kidnapping. Each of these people had either witnessed a theft or a murder or had been kidnapped themselves! But that still didn't explain why some of these people would be kidnapped in the first place.
Shifting the chair over to the table, Katsuo began to look at the files of those Smoke Girl kidnapped, looking for some kind of similarity. But it seemed like everything about each of the victims was different. Some grew up poor, some were rich, some were well educated and others drug addicts. It didn't make any sense. Think Katsuo, there has to be a reason.
Slowly, Katsuo began to see the connection in his mind. All of the people kidnapped had proficiency with some type of magic or had some kind of power. Whoever was behind this was after anything that had power. Looking at the reports filed, Katsuo realized that there was also a day between attacks, giving Smoke Girl enough time to bring the object or person back to her boss, give them time to inspect it, and determine its worth. Clearly whoever was behind this was looking for something, since everything stolen had ended up returning. Now all that remained was to identify the next potential target, but as Katsuo ran over the list, he realized something. He hadn't been attacked yet, and he had one of the most dangerous combinations of magic and magical items in the city. A True Ice sword combined with a talent in ice magic. Katsuo continued to scan the list at a more rushed pace, behind him, Vi had picked up on the yordle's sense of urgency.
"Did you figure it out?" Vi asked from outside the office. Katsuo finished scanning the list and whipped his head around to give the enforcer a serious stare.
"Yeah, I know who the next target is." Katsuo replied. "It's me."
Vi raised an eyebrow and was about to reply when she froze, he eyes moving to something behind Katsuo. Without even waiting for a warning, Katsuo drew his blade and slashed behind him, locking with a blade behind him with a loud clang. The action wasn't without consequence however. Unlike the incident at the bar, the chair Katsuo was standing on wasn't stable, and as a result he crashed to the ground, the assassin jumped down from the improvised wall to strike at Katsuo's exposed head with a set of long push daggers, but she was thrown back through the wall before she could reach her target.
Sitting on the floor, Katsuo turned his head around to find Vi in a fighting stance. There was now a hole in the small wall that had been used to connect the dots in the Smoke Girl case, but most of the papers were now flying all over the place.
"Thanks." Katsuo breathed, picking himself up off the ground.
"Don't drag your feet she's getting away!" Vi replied with a growl while charging through the hole in the wall. Katsuo followed.
Thanks to the cat DNA, he was able to keep up with some of the fastest humans in the city, allowing him to easily keep up with the enforcer as they raced through headquarters to try and catch up to Smoke Girl. They currently stood on the third floor of the building, running through empty hallways heading east, which made no sense since the stairs were on the west side, on the other end of the hallway. On top of that the stretch of building they were in didn't loop around in a circle, it just kept going until you reached a large window. A dead end, unless of course you could turn yourself into smoke and fly away. Dammit, if she gets to the window she'll get away!
Katsuo picked up the pace, sprinting past Vi before creating a small pillar of ice angled toward the end of the hallway under his feet. Catapulting forward, Katsuo flew past closed brown doors and fresh interior while paint, rapidly gaining on the girl. Flying Horizontally, Katsuo had his sword gripped tightly in his right hand, his arm bent in front of his face, ready to cut off the legs of Smoke Girl. Just another three feet and…
Katsuo's eyes widened in shock when the girl turned to smoke the half second before his blade touched her legs. She continued forward at the same running pace, like nothing was happening. Rolling forward, Katsuo landed on a knee and watched with a scowl on his face as Smoke Girl reformed just long enough to smash through the window before retaking smoke form as she dropped to the ground below.
Vi slowed to a stop next to Katsuo, who was roughly two feet from the broken window. Her face was filled with the anger of letting the assassin get away.
"Damn!" The enforcer exclaimed, sticking her head out of the window, watching the smoke girl weave through the crowd. Katsuo watched a few individuals try and grab her with no success. "There's no way I'm letting her get away from me!" Vi took a few steps back, looking like she was going to jump out the window. Katsuo stood up and held a hand in front of her, stopping the enforcer from charging forward.
"Don't do anything stupid. Even with your gauntlets it would be too dangerous for you to jump from this height. I'll go after her." Vi looked like she was going to protest but Katsuo gave her a stern look. He was right and they both knew it. Vi could probably survive a jump if she used her gauntlets to break the fall, but the flying rubble such an explosive fall would create could get someone hurt. Besides, Katsuo had a way of following Smoke Girl that was both safe and effective. With a reluctant nod, Vi stepped back.
Running forward, Katsuo headed straight for the shattered window, catapulting himself forward the second he reached the edge. He scanned the crowd as he flew, spotting Smoke Girl exiting a large crowd and heading south towards the edge of the upper city. She can jump right off and not worry about getting hurt. Katsuo realized. But two can play at that game. Spawning a long pillar of ice from a nearby building on his right, Katsuo ran up the pillar to the rooftop. Keeping one eye on Smoke Girl as he went, the yordle jumped from rooftop to rooftop as quietly as he could. He hoped that by following the girl in the manner, she would lead Katsuo to whoever she was working for.
It wasn't too long before the crowds were behind them, and Smoke Girl reformed herself, continuing to run at the same steady pace that she had the whole chase. Katsuo considered jumping down and launching a surprise attack right then, but thought better of it. He couldn't risk her dodging his attack again, especially before he figured out who was running the show.
Another few building hops later Katsuo stopped. He was on the top of the southernmost building in the upper city. He got onto his stomach and peered over the edge, watching as Smoke Girl stood at the fence that stopped people from walking right off the upper city, often preventing deaths from a mile long drop. The teenage girl looked around desperately for any sign of Katsuo, even checking the rooftops. However, Katsuo was a yordle, and not very easily spotted, especially under the cover of night. One the girl was satisfied, she began climbing the fence, jumping right off once she was safely over.
Creating a pillar that stretched from the roof of the two story building to the ground below, Katsuo returned to the ground briefly before climbing the fence himself. Once on the top however, he didn't jump like the girl did, he instead placed a foot flat against the outer edge of the fence and froze it, doing the same thing to his other foot before defrosting the first. Using this system, he was able to scale any wall, even upside-down, which he was going to have to do here. It always made Katsuo a little bit dizzy, but he didn't have much of a choice.
The upper city was shaped almost like a mushroom with a flat top. The elevator that transported people and vehicles between the upper and lower city was thicker on the ends than it was in the center, giving it almost like a thin hourglass like shape. From a distance, people saw the large lower city on ground level, and a massive utopia in the sky. It didn't look so grand these days though, the metal that reflected the sun having lost its shine in the days since what has become to be known as Jinx Day, the day when over a dozen massive rockets exploded into the city.
Once Katsuo was on the underside of the top section, he released the ice around his feet and began to free-fall next to the elevator, enjoying the wind on his face as he dropped. His hair flying in the wind, and his ears flattened to block out the noise of the rushing air. Once Katsuo was halfway down the elevator however, he pushed the enjoyment of his fall out of his mind and did what he had done so many times before for fun. Placing his feet parallel to each other by the elevator, Katsuo began to create a trail of ice in front of him that he slid down, his posture of that like one of the surfers that traversed to the northern beaches. He held this all the way down the elevator, slowing decreasing the angle of his descent to slow himself down. Creating a ramp for himself roughly six feet from the ground, Katsuo did a series of cartwheels and flips in the air before landing on the ground, his right knee lightly tapping the soft grass. Ten point landing, that's probably the best I've ever done.
But this was no time to be proud of himself. Looking around quickly, Katsuo spotted Smoke Girl running towards a series of cliffs that ran along Piltover's southwestern horizon. Since the lower city was located on the opposite side of the elevator, Katsuo doubted that anyone spotted the pair of them landing. By this time though, Katsuo was a little fatigued from all the magic use. Normally a stunt like the one Katsuo pulled along with his rooftop adventure would be all he dared do in terms of ice magic. But today he had also completed a job that had forced him to use a heavy amount of magic in combat, and Katsuo was drained as a result.
Still, he couldn't let that get in the way of his objective. Forcing himself to his feet, Katsuo took off at a steady jog, following Smoke Girl from behind. He was easily out of Smoke Girl's earshot, and since she no longer suspected Katsuo to be behind her, he only take to take minor precautions as he trailed behind, having to hide behind a bush every once in a while when the girl decided to take a break.
It was probably a good fifteen miles from the city to the cliffs on the horizon, so Katsuo had time to recover some of his energy. The adrenaline of his chase had worn off by this time, and Katsuo began to feel the creeping claws of exhaustion begin to poke at him. It was rare for him to be awake past midnight because of the strain his mercenary work put on his body. Katsuo tried to push the tiredness to the back of his mind. He couldn't afford to lose focus. Even if he wasn't in the best physical condition there was no way he could let Smoke Girl escape here. There's no way someone kills friends of mine and gets away with it.
If Katsuo could, he probably would have called for backup by now, and that had to be frustrating the hell out of Vi. She never had been one to sit on her hands and wait for other people to get the job done. It wouldn't surprise Katsuo if the entire police force was out searching the city for any sign of him. But at this point if there was one thing Katsuo was sure of, it would be that he wasn't getting any backup on this one.
After what seemed like years of jogging, Smoke Girl disappeared into a cave at the foot of the shortest cliff. Pressing himself against the wall on the outside of the cave, Katsuo strained to listen for any voices. Katsuo heard a sigh from a deep voice inside the cave, even deeper than the one at the bar.
"I warned you that caution was necessary for this target. Aleksandr won't be happy about this."
"I apologize master, the error was mine." A young female voice, presumably Smoke Girl, responded neutrally.
"Nothing we can do about it now. Pack it up, we're leaving." The first voice commanded. What, just like that? Katsuo thought in astonishment. These people are really careful. Once again Katsuo considered charging in, but he still lacked an idea for how many were in the cave.
"Aww man, I didn't even get to make anything explode this time! Didn't even get a chance to meet that other woman who was blowing shit up all over the city!" Another woman, this one probably just a little older than Smoke Girl, and from the sound of it, very hyper.
"Aye, but from the sound of it she sounds like one crazy lady. Best to avoid their kind in me own opinion." What the hell is with that guy's speech? This fourth person had a deep, growling voice, similar to that of the pirate Gangplank. This is one strange group.
Katsuo remained pressed against the wall, not even attempting to draw his sword. His plan was to remain as silent as possible until the last possible second before attacking. If there was one thing he knew about these caves, it was that all of them only had one way in or out. In order to escape, they would have to run right past Katsuo, and that's when he would strike. He stood tense and ready for five minutes, then ten, and finally after twenty he got the impression something was very wrong.
Drawing his sword, Katsuo peered around the corner and slowly walked into the cave. After about ten feet it made a sharp turn to the left, which held a six by twelve space where Smoke Girl's group was hiding. Jumping around the corner, Katsuo ran over the plan. He would jump the leader first, kill him before anyone had any clue that he was there, then he would go for the hyper girl and next-
No one was there.
And it wasn't just void of people, but of anything. There were no supplies, no traces of a fire, nothing to indicate that people had ever been there. Katsuo's eyes grew wide in shock. They had a mage who could teleport an entire group to another location? No, it wasn't possible. Teleporting one person was hard enough, but a group of four or more plus supplies was near impossible for one or even two people.
"Dammit!" Katsuo shouted in anger, smashing his sword against the cave wall. His blade wouldn't break, so the only result was a loud clanging sound echoing throughout the cave. It was so obvious, why else would you make your base inside a cave with only one exit unless you had some kind of teleportation ability? Katsuo slammed his fist against the cave wall, causing a large section of it to instantly freeze over. It didn't however, protect Katsuo from the instantaneous pain and swelling that followed, but he didn't care.
It was the first time he had been this angry about anything outside of someone calling him a girl, and it was also the first time anyone close to Katsuo had been hurt. Throughout the nineteen years Katsuo had been alive, he hadn't made too many friends, and he never let any of them get too close. He was after all, not born naturally.
His birthplace was Piltover's rival city of Zaun, and he had been an experiment at producing life forms with magical abilities. He had been the first – as well as the last – subject. Katsuo had been created with two separate types of DNA, ninety percent yordle, ten percent cat. It's why he had cat ears, and also why he had no relatives and kept mostly to himself. To this day Zaunite assassins were still trying to track Katsuo down and drag him back to the other city to continue being experimented on.
So as a result of his upbringing, Katsuo didn't know how to deal with the loss of close friends. He saw things die all the time when he was younger, but none of it actually meant anything to him. The pain that he was now feeling left Katsuo more angry than anything else, and all he wanted to do right then was track down Smoke Girl, her crew, and cut them all into little pieces. There is no way I'm going to let them escape, not after everything Freddie and Jacob did for me.
The police duo had been nice to him when no one else was willing to even see him as a person. Their first encounter was when Katsuo had first turned sixteen, now able to legally drink. It had also been the time when Katsuo returned from a long trip up north, Frelijord regions. It had been the first time Katsuo had set foot in a bar, so he had no hood, little money, and no clue what to expect. It was late in the evening, and five men who had been drinking too much didn't seem to understand that Katsuo wasn't a girl. He had been trained in the sword back then, and he was only moments away from cutting each of them in half, an offense that would surely put the young yordle in prison. But that's when Freddie has stepped in, and without having to throw a punch, took down all five men. After that, Katsuo had been invited to join the officer at his table. After several drinks and many stories, it was clear that the trio would be lifelong friends.
Katsuo suppressed his anger and turned it into focus. Spinning around, he ran for the outside of the cave. If there was one thing was he was sure of, it was that there was no way they could have gotten that far. If he could manage to scale the cliff quickly, he might be able to find some kind of trace of the group Katsuo could use to track them down. Katsuo erupted from the cave, and instead of seeing a field under the darkness of night, he found himself in an empty white room.
His first thought was a booby trap, some kind of imprisonment magic set up to capture thieves stealing the already stolen valuables from the group. Katsuo howled with rage. These kinds of traps wore off with time, or an incredible amount of a certain type of magic force. Katsuo didn't have the power to break the room, so all he could do was wait as Smoke Girl and company escaped. I failed. I let rage take over and did something stupid. Dammit.
But something felt off. Somewhere deep inside Katsuo, he felt like he was more free than ever before rather than stuck in a cage. He didn't quite understand it, since the room was blank. There were no doors, windows, or lights. The room wasn't dark at all, like the room being lit without any lights in the room was something that could just happen. Katsuo sat down cross-legged, wondering what to do next.
Do you wish to pursue those you seek? A voice asked in his head. Katsuo slowly brought himself back to his feet. He didn't know who the voice belonged to, but his answer was immediate without hesitation. Yes. He wanted to hunt down Smoke Girl and her crew and stop them from committing any more atrocities against Piltover, or the rest of Runeterra for that matter.
Very well, then you shall be our second chosen. Protect what you love, and save all that you know.