The air was sour and thick with fear. It made it hard for Graves to drag each breath into his lungs, but he did it, and kept running as the source of it sought him out. Cold sweat pricked his forehead and trickled down his face and neck, and he wiped it from his eyes with one gloved hand while the other kept hold on his trademark shotgun, barely missing a stride as he continued on.
Lucky. He was lucky to get away. The enemy pinned him down early in that skirmish because his summoner became careless, and he just barely made it out. It would be an easy kill if they caught him now, and his summoner urged him on through the twisting corridors of trees, toward the safety of his team's deeper defenses. Short-cut brown hair was slick with the same fear-chilled sweat that irritated his face, made his beard one big itch. He would be glad to get away from that wretched scarecrow, if only to be free of the annoying effects of its magic.
Graves's summoner was still fidgety, which probably meant he was still in for a fight even now. The effects of the fear were fading now, at least. He cleared the last patch of tall grass to find—
That Fiddlesticks was right there waiting for him.
Predator: The immediate thought that took hold of his brain and sent Graves scampering to and fro, clawing at the dirt from the mere presence of the animate scarecrow. His mind was too overloaded to work out what to do next, and his body barely able to carry out the frantic commands it did manage to send. Somewhere beyond the terror, in the part of his mind that was preserved by the summoners' magic for sanity's sake, Graves could feel the last of his vitality slipping away. 'Damn,' so he wouldn't be getting away after all. It was so annoying to be dead.
The cascading slap of shuffling cards rattled out from behind Fiddlesticks before the Harbinger could finish off his prey. Fiddlesticks stopped dead as a golden card exploded across his back, his onslaught brought to a screeching halt by the interruption. Even though the scarecrow realized what would come next, his impossible smile never wavered even once through the temporary stupor that afflicted him. Graves used the opportunity to pull himself free of the remaining fear and opened fire on the wretched phantasm, shattering its wooden frame and shredding the burlap body that encased him.
Fiddlesticks's string and stick joints creaked with disappointment as the vigor of animation left his body bit by bit. A single card finished him off, causing him to drop to the ground like a distorted marionette with its strings cut.
Graves could hear his summoner snapping at his comrade as he glared at the source of his rescue.
For some moronic reason the Bilgewater team had decided that it would be a good idea to put Twisted Fate and Graves on the same side, despite the obvious problems that would result from it. Their reasoning was simple, if other sworn enemies could cooperate and fight side by side, how could these two not? The match had been going well up to this point, though Graves couldn't really bring himself to care about the shipping rights that Bilgewater was fighting Noxus for. He looked up in time to spot that Twisted Fate giving him a mocking tip of the hat and a smirk as he sauntered past.
"Somethin' amusin' ya, Fate?" Graves growled, his temper already flaring.
Twisted Fate turned, but didn't bother to look Graves in the eye; that was an honor only for people he actually took seriously. "Ah nothin' much, just the look on yer face when Fiddle was on ya." The smirk widened into a malicious grin as Twisted Fate heeded his summoner's urgings. And as he started to make his way back to the safety of their turret he added, "Just that every time y'make that expression, it reminds me of the same one y'wore when you got hauled off to Priggs's prison."
"Heh...that's real funny, cause I also remember an expression on yer face." Graves got to his feet, stomped over to Fate, grabbed his shoulder and spun the Card Master around. He then belted Fate's chin with a strong right hook and hollered, "Gettin' yer ass kicked without me around to back y'up! I remember that look damn well!"
The Card Master staggered from the blow and ducked out of reach, an infuriating smirk still firmly in place despite the blow. He dabbed at the thin line of blood that flowed from the corner of his mouth as he chuckled.
Guys? their summoners asked in a futile attempt to regain their attention.
"Now what's so damn funny?"
"You really haven't changed much over the years have you, Malcolm?" Twisted Fate sneered.
"Naw, I haven't. That's what she liked about me, but you? Heh, soon as you were done with her, you went after that blue bitch."
Twisted Fate's head snapped up, giving Graves a good look at his eyes. The anger was clearly there—Graves had broken through Twisted Fate's wall of indifference and actually provoked an honest reaction.
"Aw, lookit that..." Graves bellowed a mocking laugh. "Looks like y'got yer panties all twisted up! Now, are they hers, or are they-"
Graves didn't have the chance to finish his insult as Twisted Fate lunged at him, covering the distance between them with surprising speed as he took a swing at the Outlaw. The blow hit Graves full in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, but he managed to grab Twisted Fate's forearm before the Card Master could move beyond his reach again.
Graves! Fate! Listen! Get moving! Y-
Graves pulled Fate in close to him and aimed a sturdy fist at the Card Master's jaw. Fate was an old card to this fighting style, however. He allowed the blow to connect, and instead of fighting against it he let it slip past him. Graves was wide open now. He didn't need luck to win this fight.
Fate threw his arm down, breaking Graves' hold on him as he tightened his own grip on the Outlaw's arm. He quickly darted behind Graves, locking the arm he had managed to grab and started to fire rapid hammer punches roughly where the Outlaw's kidneys roughly were. Fate's success was noted by the bellows of pain that came from Graves.
Graves responded by rearing his own head back and slamming the back of his skull against Fate's forehead. He always had a harder head than the Card Master, and this proved true as Fate reeled back from the blow.
That was when, despite the ringing in their ears, they noticed something scrambling to be heard in each of their heads. The fight stopped for a brief moment as the pair tried to figure out what it was. It sounded like Summoners were screaming about something. They yelled in unison, "What?! What is it?!"
BEHIND YOU, YOU ID-
It was too late: A knife firmly embedded itself in Fate's forehead, just scant millimeters from instant death. Graves blinked, and burst out laughing. By the time he got out one, "Haw!" another knife followed, which bounced off of the Card Master's skull and cut through the Outlaw's scalp. The two released one another, each grabbing their head or face in pain.
An irritated, yet sultry, voice spoke up, "Oh no, no no. Don't stop hugging. It was just getting good."
A blur of scarlet darted in front of them. She was fast, but the daggers she threw were faster. The blades flew out at ridiculous speeds, making Twisted Fate and Graves into makeshift pincushions. Despite her seemingly random trajectory, she was sure to aim for the tendons in their legs, their arms, and all non-lethal areas in their chests. Both Fate and Graves had done card counting in their lifetime, and they could easily count more than twenty knives in each of them.
Stop fooling around, Katarina, her summoner chimed in.
"I'm not. They'll die... Eventually," she flicked a blade up and down carelessly with grace that would have been admirable if it were not for the sadistic light in her eyes.
Then finish up quick. Before the rest of their team arrives.
"Just a little longer? I was the one having to deal with the card thrower."
No. They may yet escape if you delay, so get to it.
"I cut their tendons. Unless they have mages at their... Oh right," she said with a mockery-filled laugh. " Fine."
A blade seemed to appear out of thin air in each hand, and she flitted over to the two of them like some terrifying bird of prey. With a single twirl she slashed both of the staggering mens' throats. Katarina walked away, a slight spring in her step as her long scarlet hair swung to and fro with her stride. She smoothed some loose strands of hair from her face, showing a scarred left eye. At exactly five steps she smiled and looked back at the Card Master and Outlaw. They fell to the ground at the same time, which was followed by a loud feminine voice calling out, "Double Kill!"
"Damn right it's a double kill."
Back in the halls of the Institute, the Bilgewater summoners clamoured for a premature end to the match, stating that rule violations on the part of the champions made it null and void. The senior summoners came to a conclusion within a few minutes: the match was to be cancelled and rescheduled for a later date, hopefully one that Miss Fortune would be well enough to participate on.
"Match cancelled due to rule violation. All champions prepare to be removed from the Rift at once."
Katarina sighed, "I knew it was too good to be true."
A shame they can't control their champions.
It did not have to take a mind link for Katarina to sense the relief that flooded from her summoner, despite his attempt at hiding it with false bravado. Noxus had not been performing all that well during the match, and her summoner was partly to blame. She would have to ensure that he did not show up for the rematch.
"Have either of you been successful?"
"No," chorused the two summoners who stood before the Council of Equity.
High Councilor Kolminye leaned forward in her ornate chair so as to see the pair of them better. "Did you get anything out of Fate?" she addressed this to the woman summoner who stood on the right.
"Not much at all. I even let him take me out to dinner and all he did was dance around the issue. Never got a straight answer," the summoner replied, the irritation that edged her voice hinting at the aggravating evening she had experienced the previous night. "Whatever he's hiding he guards very well."
"And you," Kolminye addressed the other summoner now. "Did you get anything out of Graves?"
"It started with me offering him to buy a drink. I did, and..."
"And?"
"Well, he said that I have until he finished the drink to ask him what I wanted."
"So? What was the problem?"
"The problem was I had to buy him ten more drinks to give me time to ask him my questions. By the time I asked, he was drunk and angry. In regards to Twisted Fate, he said, and I quote..." The summoner took out a notepad, cleared his throat and read aloud, "'The day I make up with Fate is the day that Cho'Gath puts on a tuxedo, wears a top hat, a monacle, sips daintily from teacups, and has a genuine gentlemanly accent.' This was followed by him prodding my groin with his shotgun."
"Hm." Kolminye leaned back in her chair as she processed this news. "We cannot afford to have our champions throwing matches like this."
"I don't understand..." The Summoner scratched the side of his head, "How is this possible? We have Morgana and Kayle in the League and they've never caused trouble during a match like this. That's the real question here, what is it between these two that causes them to be able to override the mind link so... Well, so easily?"
"We will have to find out, won't we?" Kolminye's voice held a nearly-hidden edge that made the two investigators flinch. It never did good to get on her bad side.
Graves scowled as he tried to see beyond the pitch black that surrounded him. Where in the hell had that summoner gone? He was right there in front of him when they entered the room and then suddenly everything went dark. It was starting to test his patience, people forcing him to stand here and waste his valuable time. Who did they think they were, anyway?
The lights flicked on just a few moments later and Graves shielded his eyes from the sudden brilliance, pain flaring in the pits of his eye sockets from how much time he'd been in the dark.
"Fancy meetin' you here, Malcolm," Graves lowered his hand to find none other than Twisted Fate standing next to him inside a single pale spotlight. The rest of the room was still shrouded in darkness, but the two could now sense that there were others watching them.
"What the hell?" Graves snarled, leveling a glare at Twisted Fate before casting his venom-filled gaze around the darkened room. "Y'got an angle here? What's th'game, Fate?"
"Got led here by some summoner, don't have a clue on what this's about," Twisted Fate sounded bored, but Graves could sense that it was an act this time. He knew the Card Master too well. Whatever was going on, it had him on edge.
"So nice to see the two of you here," a woman's deep, smooth voice echoed through the chamber as Kolminye appeared, seated behind a long table with two other summoners. "And you haven't even tried to kill each other yet, very good."
"With all due respect, ma'am..." Graves shifted his stance slightly. He crossed his arms and growled at the high summoner, "At this current moment in time, you've got my full attention. Because in all honesty? This is a real damn, stupid, idea that y'got here, putting me here in range of him, so how about y'get t'the point, or else-"
"Damn stupid?" Kolminye's voice held a definite edge now, sharp as a dagger and just as deadly. "What is, in fact, damn stupid is when two champions think they can interfere with the League's official matches and not receive any punishment," her fingers drummed the table once, the sound causing the two to involuntarily twitch. "What is damn stupid is that we have the Judicator Kayle and her sister Morgana, who despite being timeless beings, are able to be coerced into cooperation easier than the two of you."
Twisted Fate crossed his arms over his chest but had the good sense to keep his mouth shut. This was one of the League's most powerful summoners, after all. Anything he could do wouldn't hold a candle to the sort of magic she could dish out.
"However..." Kolminye steepled her elegant, pale fingers before her nose. "Since this is the first time you two have done this, I will forgo punishment in favor of some... Clarity."
Graves raised an eyebrow. What was she going on about? "Clarity? What's not clear t'ya? I want him ruined and broken, he's a ponce, and there ya go: Clarity," his lips broke into a thin smile as he exaggerated his accent, "That right there is the genuin' truth and nuthin' but the whole truth, lil' missy. Is there anythin' else that you've missed, did y'know that we got these little fellas called Yordles—"
"Dammit, Graves," Twisted Fate whirled on Graves, an unusual amount of anger on his typically-smooth face. "We're in trouble already and yer' too busy mouthing off t'the High Councilor to even realize it!" he took a step closer, and looked as if he might strike Graves out of anger. "Are you going to get us both in worse trouble again?"
Kolminye smiled. "Again? But you've been in trouble since you had your little cat fight during the shipping rights match. Unless..."
Graves raised his hands defensively. His tone changed to his usual gruff one, but he had a surprising air of honesty about him. "Hey now, I have no idea what he's talking about. There was that one time, but that's cause my shoulders were too big fer th'dress. He had to play that part, he knew that. And 'sides, he got his bit o' revenge fer that! He screwed me over, I never dun' anythin' to him!"
Kolminye's eyes flicked over to Twisted Fate, who had backed off and clamped his mouth shut. The Card Master's face was obscured by his hat, but the high summoner could see the tension in his body. "I fear that you are apparently as unobservant as you are angry, Malcolm Graves," she said.
"And you've got knickers the size of Grag..." Graves surprisingly stopped himself. He laughed and waggled a finger at her. "Clever girl, you are! Very clever! Right, so obviously it's something I don't know, but good ol' Fate does. So I'm just gonna mosey on outta here, and leave you with him, alright? Alright," he gave a quick two fingered salute to Kolminye as he made his way for the door.
A/N: And here we start publishing another project! This one is a joint effort between myself and Viper_of_Grand, hope you all enjoy!