Author's note(11.06.15):I'm rebooting this fic after two years of inactivity. I will try to better stick with it this time. I'm going to see if I can't decrease the complexity a bit as I know that hindered my writing before. Too many loose threads and it would take too much time to gather. That also means I'll avoid putting in too many champions as I can't write them with the respect they deserve if I cut off the threads that come with them.
I've polished this chapter, put in some dialogue about Jayce's organization "The Resistance" and added Jinx into the mix in the background.
Chapter 1: Piltover Trouble
The future... to him, a word that was loaded with all the meaning in the world. In what direction would it be shaped, and by whom? Would he be able to create the future he desired, or would someone else beat him to it? And what about the more mysterious and unknown parts of the world. The matters that only a few know of, what will the effect of those be?
It was with such heavy thoughts Jayce made his way down on Piltover's main street, more or less oblivious to his surroundings. All the people on the street, the warm sun and the soft breeze, it went unnoticed.
As per his usual attire, he wore a mix of metal and fabric, an armor smartly concealed as casual wear. It was of course his own invention, all from the big metal gauntlet and shoulder-guard that covered his right hand and shoulder, to the chest plate decorated with the symbol of a red gear etched onto a round plate. His proudest invention, however, wasn't his semi-practical armor, but the mercury hammer, or as he liked to call it 'the future of weaponry'. The weapon was as the name implied a hammer, about as tall as him, but hang in a tilted position on his back that made it possible to carry without it scraping against the ground. While it looked massive, and most certainly was, it didn't affect his movement the slightest bit. It gave off the illusion to simply hang there, unaffected by the law of gravity.
After walking in his own thoughts for a while, he arrived at his destination. It was a great stone building with intricate stone work. Symbols of a shield with a star made up of clockwork parts was carved into the matte masonry. He walked up a set of stairs, until he reached two big wooden doors. A sign, hanging above the doors told him he had come to the right place, it read, 'Piltover's Police Department' in bold letters.
Taking a break in the shadow of the building before entering, Jayce stopped to clear his head. He couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness that had set in him, whom never seemed to leave him completely. What he had just gotten knowledge of worried him deeply, especially since it fell under his responsibility for the position he had in the city. A position he had both earned through hard work and taken for himself by his accomplishments
"The Defender of Tomorrow..." He whispered the words out slowly, as he tasted each word and weighed them. To have such a title... it was big. So many put their trust in him, too many for his taste, he was only one man. No-one should have so much responsibility on ones shoulders. He was glad that he wasn't entirely alone in the matter though, thinking mostly on the work the sheriff had done for the city before his time of league admittance.
With his hand on the door, he paused. He realized that he had given no thought to how he should phrase his departure to the sheriff herself. It wasn't just up to him to leave as there were nobody who could fill the 'role' he had in the city, even if that role had proved to be more status and less actual work. In addition he didn't really want to leave, but his duties called to him, and he knew he must.
Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open, flooding the interior with warm sunlight. The lobby was filled to the brim with people, some in uniforms, some in clothing that didn't exactly scream 'law abiding citizen'. After a quick visual scan, he found the desk he was looking for in the back of all the people. It was situated to the back of the room, in a straight line from the door.
Behind the desk, an officer sat slowly scratching his head at a paper he held in his hand, Jayce walked up to him and let out a little cough to make his presence known. Luckily the officer seemed, despite the first impression, to be aware and put up a finger without diverting his gaze from the paper in his hand. With a quick sleight of his hand he wrote down a few fast notes, before looking up.
The officer then froze for a second, and his eyes grew. The pen he had been holding simply fell down on the desk. A little confused at the officer, Jayce raised an eyebrow.
"J-jayce?!" The officer snapped out of whatever had locked his mind. To which Jayce responded with an awkward smile, he hadn't been prepared to be greeted so unofficially.
The officer blinked a few times, before excusing himself and started anew, "Ahem... I mean, Welcome to Piltover's Police Department. How may I help you, Jayce?"
"I need to talk to the sheriff and the deputy. it's urgent." Jayce went onto business. It was best to hurry in informing them.
"Sorry, they're out at this moment. We got a hint of a major smuggler band some days ago, and we've been working around the clock to get the offenders apprehended. The sheriff is out leading the assault on what we presume is their current hangout." The officer replied.
"Isn't that a little excessive for a couple of smugglers?"
"It's not just some smugglers, they're the biggest band we know of, and we suspect that they're supplying Jinx with her munitions. Even from all her madness she needs things to shoot." the officer shrugged.
"I see," it made sense, and it was an important mission, but the timing was bad for Jayce. He had already informed his own people, The Resistance, of the situation and it was important that he got to ask Caitlyn if she would take care of them while he was gone.
"It's very urgent my business with the sheriff, where are they? I need to speak with them now." Jayce was impatient, and gave the officer a harder tone than he had intended.
"I'm s-orry, but that's c-classified information." The officer seemed a bit shaken by the changed tone.
Classified information... Jayce hadn't thought about that. Of course the police would want to keep the location of such a mission a little in the shadow until it was dealt with. The less that knew, the less that could interfere.
"I can't authorize the release of such information without an officer's badge presented," the officer continued.
An officer's badge. It struck a memory. Jayce put his hand inside one of his pockets, and after fooling around for a while, he found what he hoped was there. A golden shield with the imprint of a star made out of pieces of gears on the front. It was similar in design to the sigil on the building outside, but was at the same time different. It looked, more prestigious.
He put the badge on the desk, and with a confident smile and added attention to his tone, he asked, "Will this help?"
The officer picked up the badge, and looked at it for a second before returning it with a relieved smile, "Yes! That'll actually grant you full access."
"Great! Can you show me where they are now? I'm short on time." Jayce motioned towards a big map of Piltover that hung on a wall behind the counter.
"Yes of course, just give me a moment to double check their position and status." The officer said before he started moving some papers around . Within seconds he picked one them up and continued "As I said, they're currently cracking down a smuggler ring of suspected Zaunite origin. The smugglers have their hideout in the warehouse district, which is also where the mission is happening." He said while pointing at a distinct part on the map.
"...and the last reports from the scene indicate that a firefight has broken out between the police force and the criminals." The officer slowed a little down at the last line, and gave Jayce a worried expression.
"Well, let's hope Vi doesn't get too angry when I beat up some of the bandits before she's gotten to them." Jayce tried to cheer the conversation up with some humor about Vi's preference to 'punch first, questions later' tactic.
"Heh, guess she'd be pretty riled up then," The officer chuckled ever so slightly.
"Well, I'm off then, thanks." Jayce pushed himself off of the counter and grabbed his badge at the same time. "Take care." He waved to the officer.
"Yes, bye! Jayce, sir!" The officer saluted him as Jayce walked away, to which Jayce responded with an informal half salute, half wave. He didn't even know they practiced the salute formally in the police force, but guessed the officer might have picked something up from watching the Demacian soldiers that he knew practiced the gesture. It was nevertheless a sign of respect. Which made the load on his shoulder feel a bit heavier.
Well outside, Jayce let his legs go from walking to a light sprint. One part of him was eager to join in on a battle with his friends, another a little worried about the fact that it had escalated into a full blown fire fightt. It wasn't Caitlyn's style, she preferred tact before power.
Deciding he would need to hurry more, he popped out his hammer from it's magnetic holster on his back. It landed, as if guided, right in his hands. With a flick, the hammer began transforming. What had previously been the sides of the hammer head, turned outwards, and a couple of hex-tech guidance antennas poked out from inside the hammer, aimed in direct line with the shaft. Arcs of blue energy surged through the weapon.
With a firm press on a specific part of the trigger, the weapon activated, and shot out two metal orbs that on each side. A split second later, the metal balls crackled, and a bright beam of blue lightning came to life in between. Bracing himself for the acceleration, Jayce ran through.
The next few city blocks were skipped in mere seconds, and the world blurred as he rushed past. Surprised by-standers had to jump out of his way as he maneuvered through them, trying to not hit anyone in his way.
It didn't take more than a minute before Jayce had arrived in the vicinity of the scene. The accelerating effect had worn off by now. Unfortunately, and not so very surprising, a pair of armed officers and a road block, blocked the path to the warehouse. In the distance he could hear the distinct 'crack' of gunpowder being ignited.
Not feeling in the mood to bicker about authorization, Jayce got an idea, and shot out a new gate of the bustling blue energy. He ran through, accelerated and turned on a part of the shaft of the hammer/cannon. A moment later the weapon responded with a thrust of heated gas out from nozzles on the bottom of the shaft. With another twist, the thrust increased. The officers, whom had just noticed him, only got a glimpse of a confident smile as, he proceeded to jump into the air. The lift provided by the miniature rocket engine propelled him above and beyond the block.
The officers did nothing else but stare in state of confusion and amazement as he flew past over them. He made sure to land a good distance away from the roadblock, and then continued with a hurried sprint away towards the warehouse.
Back at the roadblock, the two officers looked at each other, before the shortest of the two asked the other. "Wasn't that... Jayce?" He scratched his head while he kept his eyes on the figure that was fast disappearing towards the scene.
"Yeah think so, but what's he doing here?" the other replied. "He's not with the police, is he?"
"Don't ask me, you know how the league champions can be. Special permissions and all." Jayce had crossed halfway through to the warehouse by now, far enough that he could make an analysis of the situation.
The front of the warehouse was littered with numerous officers taking cover behind their vehicles. The officers were dressed in armor with similar aesthetic design to the one he himself wore, but were less customized. A design he had shared himself with the police department. The vehicles were showered by hailstorms of bullets, forcing the officers behind to keep crouched. He tried to look around to see if he could spot Caitlyn, or Vi for that matter, but couldn't see either. The lack of the long ranged sheriff made him uneasy, as he knew, she wasn't one that went for short melees, that was what Vi liked to do. He had figured she would be among the other officers coordinating the firefight.
Jayce took of running again, intent on getting in cover with one of the officers so he could ask questions about the whereabouts of the sheriff. He eyed the vehicle closest to him, and made a run for it.
The officer behind the vehicle narrowly dodged a bullet, and crouched behind the vehicle with her rifle clenched in her fist and sweat on her forehead. She looked up just in time to see a brown-haired man with the golden hammer on his back run towards her. He threw himself towards cover and came to a stop with a slide. With heavy breaths and a confused look at the appearance of the famous man she spoke: "Jayce? What are you doing here?"
"Thought I'd give the ladies a hammer-wielding hand." He responded with a charming smile.
The officer, seemingly a bit fumbled by his appearance blushed ever so slightly, and for a second seemed to forget the situation at hand. Jayce flashed a sheepishly smile at the woman. He was used to have that effect on women at times, however, this was the wrong time, and he needed her attention back to the situation at hand.
"Where's Caitlyn and Vi?" His tone changed to that of a more serious one. He scanned the area in another vain effort to try and see if he could spot either of them. The officer regained her focus, and snapped back to the seriousness of the events currently happening. At the mention of her bosses she made a worried frown.
"They're currently pinned down inside... I think Caitlyn might be hurt... Vi rushed in again without support, and Caitlyn well... she tried to stop her, but got caught in the crossfire." The armored officer's tone made it easy for Jayce to see that she was distressed at the mention, and he couldn't help, but to share the feeling. He made sure it didn't show, however.
"That might be... problematic. Guess I'll need to do something about it." He shot the woman a calm smile, in direct opposition to his current feeling, before turning his attention to the warehouse in the distance. She simply nodded at the man who now looked out over the vehicle.
Jayce analyzed the situation "Hmm... " He thought aloud. "The warehouse has a big garage door that had been opened to the fullest, inside I can see a number of smugglers shooting in two different directions. One against them, the other towards a corner in western part of the warehouse. I think I can hear the distinctive sound of Caitlyn's rifle from there, and another woman yelling sharp and angry words in between the cracks from the bullets."
"I'm betting it's Vi." The officer shot in.
"Pretty certain." He nodded. He noticed that most of the smugglers hid behind makeshift covers like vehicles, crates or metal parts. They were put up like a perimeter, effectively giving defense in the two directions necessary, while giving them the ability to fire back.
"Hey, is there a way to get around and behind that perimeter?" Jayce looked down at the officer while she carefully sneaked a peak over the edge. She seemed awfully careful for an officer, but he reasoned she either was afraid of being shot, which most should be, or she was a rookie. He didn't judge her for it. With his experience from the league, where he couldn't really die, he had gotten a little more careless about cover. He knew, however, that his armor would protect him from most injuries.
"There might be some maintenance entrances in the back, but we are pretty sure they are booby trapped, and they won't take you directly to the smugglers either." She took up a piece of paper from her pocket before rolling it out on the ground. It was a blueprint of the building with a few marks in red, indicating the enemy's position. She pointed towards a number of symbols on the back of the schematic. They were set up by two lines lines a little apart from each-other.
Jayce looked at the blueprint, the doors would take him through a set of narrow rooms, or hallways. If he got caught there not even his armor would stand up to the hail of bullets, so he looked for another way. He noticed that the smugglers were close to a wall on the east side that was drawn with a smaller line than the others. A note on the side said: 'Repaired on 23.4.22 CLE'
"Do you know anything about this wall?" He asked, putting his finger on the wall. It was situated to the right of a red ring drawn with a marker. He guessed it symbolized the smugglers position.
"It states it was repaired, but I don't know anymore. The thin line might indicate a different type of wall?" She put her head in a slight angle with a puzzled look.
Jayce scratched the back of his head at the idea that had formed in his mind, it wasn't the most elegant way, but it might work "Can you create a distraction?"
Looking even more confused, but trusting to the man, she pressed a button on her arm, and began speaking with a much calmer voice than she showed in her movements "This is private
Reveck, requesting immediate smoke screen on the whole area from my position to the east wall"
Jayce raised an eyebrow to her, a little set out on the fact she was only a 'private' and her sudden initiative at his request. Privates were the lowest ranked in the force, literally rookies. He wondered a little why she had been accompanied to an armed intervention at all.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Her tone ran with hint of confusion and a slight sheepish look.
"Oh. Nothing" Jayce shook off the look that had unknowingly sneaked its way to his face. He gave the private a reassuring smile. "Good job."
A crackling noise appeared from the comm device, and a serious and slightly angered man spoke back: "Reveck! What's the purpose of this? You have no authority-" Jayce cut him short, "This is league champion Jayce speaking, consider private Reveck's request as mine."
The private, 'Reveck' breathed a out after Jayce had stopped speaking.
"Yes, sir," the voice replied, it voice was calm, but Jayce could feel a hint of hesitation run in the two words.
A moment later, a barrage of cylindrical canisters with a trail of smoke behind them showered the area. Most of them landed in a straight line from his position to the wall, but some landed outside the line. That would mean the cover was tightest where he needed to run, but it wouldn't give an obvious trail to his destination. He made a mental note to compliment the officers later for their strategic covering.
"Time for me to go, so long! Don't be caught flatfooting now, as Caitlyn would have said, eh?" Jayce nodded a smile at the private before he turned up and skirted out into the smoke.
His fingers itched on the trigger to transform, or to shot up an acceleration gate, but he knew the energy read-off would reveal him. The officers behind him gave him covering fire for as long as they could see him, but with about a quarter of the distance behind him, they stopped in fear of hitting him. The smugglers would most likely already know something was up, but Jayce trusted the officers to try something to not make his smoked approach too obvious.
The run was exhausting and exhilarating, bullets hailed around him like they were rain in a storm. He could feel the impact of some, drilling their way into his armor, but stopped by the defense mechanism before they could tear away at his flesh. Jayce prayed the system would hold. It was partly experimental.
Within a few elevating moments, he had reached the far east end of the warehouse, and was now panting with his back towards the wall. He joked to himself that he wished Vi had been there with him, as it was her specialty to break through stuff.
While trying to calm a heart threating to jump out of his throat, Jayce looked over the smoke covered area he had just crossed. He could see small flashes of light, and the sound of bullets cracking the air, showing that the officers had started to trade shots again.
"Guess I'll see if I have learned something from the lady then." Jayce said to himself as he took a few steps away from the wall. On the way away from the wall he made some slight configurations to the shot he was preparing. The first modification was to see if he could make his attack go off inside the warehouse, instead of just exploding on the wall. The second was to minimize the lethality of the blast, but still have enough power to either knock them out cold or incapacitate them with electricity.
After walking to a distance Jayce judged would be secure enough, he took up a firm stance with the cannon pointed towards the wall. He pressed down on the trigger and felt the cannon charge up, a split second later, it let out a big ball of blue sparking energy. The recoil that was produced, kicked him a small step back. The orb of electricity, moved at a constant, while not exactly fast speed, towards the wall. He smiled, and fired off a gate in front of the shock blast. It was made of the same blue sparkling energy, and was caught in between two emitters.
Normally it would have been gate first, then shock blast, but he was practicing a new method he had found out to be more effective. The shock blast, then gate, was harder to dodge, and it was more surprising.
When the energy ball hit the gate it gave of the very specific sound of energy being channeled. Then it increased massively in velocity, before slamming straight through the wall. He took off running after the projectile while yelling to the people inside, "Power slam!"
The area was suddenly lit up in blue streaks of lightning, and a shock wave tore through his body, making Jayce lose his balance. With what had now turned out to be a dive, he transformed his cannon-now-hammer, and activated the thrusters. Jayce managed to point the end on the ground in his tumble, and the thrust accelerated him upwards, before stopping mid-air a few meters over the smugglers. He smirked at the sight, most of them were either on their backs, or too disoriented by the blast to do anything other than watch him. He hung in the air for a moment before gravity grabbed hold of him, and pulled him down.
Using the momentum he swung his hammer behind his back, with a tremendous swing, he slammed down on the ground. The entire building seemed to shake at the impact, and bolts of lightning sparked to life around him. They struck the smugglers, and the air was quickly filled with the their screams.
A moment later, after the electricity field had faded, Jayce looked around himself, he was pleased to see all the bandits laying incapacitated on the ground.
From over to the western corner he could hear familiar voices, one seemed to almost gasp out in surprise, while the one gave a 'hmph'. The officers on the outside stopped shooting as soon as the electricity engulfed the warehouse.
"Come out, they're out of the game!" Jayce shouted to the voices. Knowing it would most probably be the two women he was searching for. After that he turned to the officers and waved them to come and apprehend the smugglers.
Slowly two silhouettes appeared from behind the structural support they had used for cover. The first woman was dressed in a variation of the armor that the other officers wore, but more specialized. It was seldom he saw her in her combat armor instead of the short dress she usually wore everywhere else, including the league. On her head, she wore a very distinct purple hat with telescopic sight on it. Out from below the hat, beautiful fluent brown hair. Jayce noticed she had a few bloody cuts and some flat bullets embedded on her armor. She was holding her left hand carefully with her right, and drops of red could be seen, slowly dripping out from it. It worried him, but the fact that she was still walking put helped on his worries. It couldn't be that bad, right?
The other, pink-haired woman wore another type of armor, if one could call it that. It looked like the rest of the character, rough. It consisted of tight and slightly revealing clothing, with plates of metal strapped to the outside of her hips. A corset was tightly wrapped around her upper body, with the addition of more metal. On the end of the corset, the end of a pink skirt stuck out. Her shoulders were protected by a couple of heavy shoulder guards with symbols in violet paint painted on. What was most striking with the woman, and with 'striking' he meant more like 'fearsome' or 'slamming', was what she wore on her arms, or rather on one arm now. As if taken straight out of a mining rig, she wore a gigantic mechanical gauntlet. In it's palm, she held another one of the gauntlets, but it was bent like a broken hand. Obviously damaged.
As with Caitlyn, Vi too had some cuts and scrapes. Jayce noticed she was slightly limping, and from a red spot on her thigh he could see a small streak of blood running down. Since the discovery of the hex-tech kinetic dampener, the amount of police officers that had sustained injuries from firearms had significantly dropped. The kinetic dampener functioned, simply put, that it exerted a force equal to the kinetic force that was applied by the bullet, effectively nullifying it. It only worked on bullets, however, since most melee weapons had been enchanted or modified to interrupt with the detection system. Another draw back was the easy overload of the system, usually it was the energy source that decided that. Jayce figured she must have come under a lot of fire to cause her system to overload, as he knew from a personal inspection just how much it was able to sustain.
Jayce actually liked the pink haired woman in as opposed to what most would think, she was smart, witty and brave, and while she would never admit it, she cared for both Caitlyn and him. He did not, however, like her attitude she often used against them. And he often wondered how Caitlyn managed to endure it over long periods of time.
Jayce smiled with a smirk as they arrived. Vi was for herself focused on her glove.
"Jayce. Fancy seeing you here," Caitlyn held a friendly tone at the welcome sight of her friend and fellow champion. The smoke outside the warehouse was beginning to dissipate as the conversation began.
"Thought I might drop you two ladies a visit." He smirked at them, and made a slight bow, earning a little laugh from Caitlyn, while Vi simply scuffed her feet at the notion.
"You could have arrived a moment earlier, so that 'Smashed' wouldn't have gotten too beat up! The pink haired woman with the welding glasses on her head gritted teeth to him. She pointed towards her damaged gauntlet to state the point.
"I thought you were a 'one woman army'?" Jayce couldn't help but tease her a little. A moment later he acknowledged to himself it was probably a bad idea to try to rile her any more up.
"It's only because of miss Cupcake here, not letting me do my thing!" Vi pointed with her thumb over to a slightly amused Caitlyn.
"It's you, and your hotheaded head. That did that." Caitlyn coolly shot back. Vi glared in return, and Jayce saw her flex her fingers in frustration. While others may have been worried by that, Jayce knew that Vi would never hurt Caitlyn with intention, no matter how angry.
"Anyway, while it might not seem like we had the situation under control, we had a plan up and running, and since we never called you, I'm guessing there's a second reason you're here?" Caitlyn got to the chase as the trio began walking out to the approaching officers outside. Caitlyn motioned to a couple of officers, and not before long a number officers went past and began arresting the now unconscious smugglers. Jayce directed the two woman over to a medic truck, knowing they had to be pushed a little to receive medical treatment.
"Yes there is a matter that made me interfere with your business. It's rather sensitive and should be discussed in private" Jayce lowered his voice a little, and looked between the two other champions.
"What? You're finally admitting your love to Caitlyn?" Vi shot out, blunter than ever.
Both Jayce and Caitlyn glared over to the pinkette with a dismayed look. She might have been riled up, but such attitude was unnecessary. Jayce couldn't help but feel there was something else that was bothering her, specifically her, him and Caitlyn. And of course their pasts.
"Hmmpph..." She grumbled at them. Keeping her mouth shut for the moment being
"We'll check out with the field medics, and then we'll take this back at the office?" Caitlyn offered to Jayce while keeping an eye on Vi. She felt something was up with her deputy.
"Agreed" Jayce nodded. "So how did you end up being pinned back there at all? It's not like you" he couldn't help but shoot a smile at her.
Caitlyn scoffed at him as she sat down in the medical truck, and began taking off her armor "As always I had a plan, but you know how plans work with Vi" she shot a little glare at her partner in justice, who was staring angrily back at her.
"Don't blame this on me! It was your useless infiltrator that messed up!" Vi had begun to strip of her armor plates by now, and a medic, who barely braved to look at the three league champions, began gathering some medical supplies after inspecting their wounds for a moment.
"We still had backup plans, Vi..." Caitlyn had turned her attention away from the medic who was helping her out of her outer armor, and towards Vi for the moment who was holding herself upright on the edge of the truck.
"Mind filling me in?" Jayce looked at the two ladies. They always were like that, logical planner vs 'the heat of the moment'. It never failed to amuse him.
The medic began wiping some scratches with a disinfectant, making Caitlyn shoot a grimace "Sorry..." The medic said. After cleaning the wounds, he grabbed for some bandages and band-aid.
"It's okay" Caitlyn smiled at him before turning her attention to Jayce, who she thought seemed a little amused for some reason. "We had an infiltrator that was supposed to deliver a gas bomb that would knock them out, but either it didn't go off, or the infiltrator got caught, we-"
Vi cut her short and added her own version "-That was when I decided I had to act, the smugglers had become aware of us and we had lost the element of surprise"
"You stormed in against twenty armed smugglers!" Caitlyn snapped at the bruiser.
"You didn't have to follow!" Vi glared back at her.
"I didn't want for you to get killed!..." Caitlyn shouted, but her voice lost momentum at every word spoken and in the end it was like a whisper. She looked away from the both of them, leaving Vi bewildered.
The medic, who seemed very distraught at invading the conversation slowly made his presence known to his second patient.
"Ahem... Vi. I-if you may?" He motioned over to a seat next to Caitlyn, who by now was covered in various bandages and band-aids. Vi threw a couple of metaphorical daggers from her eyes at him for intruding.
"Vi. Do as the doctor say." Caitlyn said, her voice returned to normal, but before Vi could take the seat next to her, Caitlyn had jumped off and walked over to Jayce
"Mind if I have a word with you? Alone..." She looked at Jayce before looking back at Vi at the last word. Jayce nodded and they walked away, out of earshot from the truck. Caitlyn turned her head up to the slightly taller man.
"I guess you heard that..." She looked with little sheepish gleam at him.
"Oh, I did hear it." Jayce confirmed.
"Well..." Caitlyn seemed a little lost with her words, which was a very uncommon thing to see in the ever so confident sheriff. The air was filled with a silence as Caitlyn looked away from him, eying an empty smoke canister.
"You care for her, don't you?" Jayce finally asked her, he had never seen Caitlyn like this before, and while he felt asking the question might be a long shot, he felt it was the only reasonable explanation for both of their behaviors.
"Yeah, I do, as expected of a superior, but she just gets under my skin sometimes," Caitlyn confessed.
"Hey, Vi's a good person. There's always a reason for why people behave like they do. Maybe she rushed in to save your reputation?" He placed his hand on her shoulder, and smiled at her. A little part of him was sad. It meant she had finally moved on, but now was not the time to think in that direction. The mission he was about to set out on might not fare him well, and the less ties he had, the better.
"Thanks, Jayce. I'm lucky to have you as my friend." She looked at him with a genuine look in her eyes, and a lips that curved upwards.
"What are friends for, eh? Beside saving each other from gun-crazy smugglers?" He laughed a little with her." Now let's go back, before the jealous knives Vi's throwing at me turn real."
Vi, who by now, was patched up likewise as Caitlyn stared at them with a frown, directed specifically at Jayce. She had a large roll of bandage wrapped around her thigh.
The medic turned to them as they returned, and seeming a little more confident now, he spoke to them "I found no major injuries on any of you. Vi was the worst, a bullet actually managed to penetrate the hex-tech dampening system. You need to check into the hospital for further checks, both of you." He eyed the last words at Vi. "I don't see any injuries on you Jayce, so I'll skip you."
"Thanks" Caitlyn nodded to the medic, who saluted before walking away to another officer with a bloody arm.
Caitlyn turned to her fellow league champions, "Mind waiting a bit? I just need to usher some orders to the officers."
"Sure," Jayce answered. Vi just shrugged.
Like that Vi and Jayce was left alone for a bit. The air felt tense, and Jayce was just about to speak when Vi cut her short. "Those smugglers were definitely supplying Jinx."
It was a relief , "What makes you certain?"
"I found several boxes with rockets. When we hid. Even tried to toss one at em. Didn't blow up of course, but, heh ya shoulda seen his face." Vi scoffed.
Just as Jayce was about to inquire more about Jinx, as if they had seen her, Caitlyn returned.
"Well then, let's go. We'll have to walk, I've tasked the vehicles to transport the smugglers and their contraband."
"Shouldn't be an issue. It's short walk." Jayce responded, "So did you confirm if this was Jinx's responsibility?
"Too early to tell, we found several munitions for weapons we believe she uses, but I can't be certain without a detailed analysis."
After that none really said anything, and while Jayce pretended he didn't feel it, he could feel Vi bore her eyes into him. He tried to figure out something to say that would ease Vi's jealousy, but it proved hard.
It took him the whole walk to the police department before he found the right words "You know, I'm going on a trip soon. That was the reason I needed to speak to you, both of you," he motioned with his head over to Vi, making sure the woman knew he was talking to the both of them, and not only Caitlyn. It seemed to ease her a little, luckily.
"A trip where?" Caitlyn asked as she opened the door to the police department.
"A certain jungle," he lowered his voice. It was not unusual for champions to go on trips, either business or pleasure, but he wished to keep it low-profile, even within Caitlyn's ranks of officers.
"I see..." Caitlyn simply answered, she had picked up on the scarcity of details, and hurried her step a in the direction of her office.
When they arrived, Vi shuffled her gloves a little, as to mention she was still there. She had not really listened too much to Jayce, too upset about the whole glove and Caitlyn incident. Caitlyn closed the door to her office, and locked it when they were inside. She took up the place behind her desk, and gave a notion with her hand towards a few chairs in front of it. Both Vi and Jayce sat down, and put their weapons of the ground. The hammer was put down on the end of the shaft, and kept itself almost magically balanced even has he took his hand away.
"So, now Jayce, mind telling us?" She folded her hands together and put her chin on them.
"I'll put it simply. You both know of the arcane crystal I found some time back?" He looked at both of them. Caitlyn did of course follow, but he wondered if Vi was still ignoring him. He needed her to hear him so that he could defuse her attitude towards him. Luckily he noticed she was following his words, and breathed a mental sigh of relief.
Vi felt compelled to answer and spat in "That shit that Viktor stole, and caused you to invent that?" She pointed her finger on the hammer that stood upright with the hammer-head pointing upwards, it seemed to defy the laws of nature. A simple trick by a flywheel and gyroscope she knew ofcourse.
"Yes..." Jayce went away for a minute, memories of his past clogging his mind. He quickly snapped out of it "It is discovered that, it was not an isolated case..." He looked between the two women to observe their reaction.
"And your source is reliable?" Caitlyn put in, her mind churning over the news.
"Yes, Ezreal was the one that picked up the initial readings, and Heimerdinger confirmed it. I would trust those two with my life" Jayce had great respect for the other league champions. Ezreal for his exploration, and Heimerdinger for his unparalleled genius. The trust came from their common deisre to protect Piltover.
"So where is this crystal?" Vi inquired, her initial anger fading. She knew that in the next few seconds he would say that he was going to leave Piltover for an unknown period of time, leaving Caitlyn all to her. A door was beginning to open up, but it also came with a bit of guilt.
"It's in the Kumungu Jungle" Jayce slightly tapped his pants.
"Isn't that were that cougar girl lives?" Vi looked at him.
"Nidalee, Vi" Caitlyn corrected, earning an eye from Vi
"Yes," Jayce confirmed to Vi and Caitlyn
"Have you tried to get into contact with her? She won't take it easy if she catches you invading her turf" Caitlyn voiced her concern.
"No. I can't. The only channels that are usable are through the league and then the league would know. I need to keep this low. I'm sure Viktor would hear it about it from a spy or something in the league." His voice had turned hard and serious at the name of the scientist that was more machine than man now
"I guess you'll be leaving Piltover then. Is there anything we can do?" Caitlyn spoke on Vi's behalf too, and the pink haired girl glared a little at the sheriff when she did.
"Take care of the city, and The Resistance. I might not return from this..." His eyes and tone voiced his seriousness with a hint of sadness.
"The Resistance? You're leaving us with the responsibility for them?" Caitlyn was a bit perplexed. The Resistance was Jayce's organization. Often named the "Sentinels of Piltover." It had quite the influence, and Caitlyn knew that a lot of her own officers supported the organization with their own skills. It was surprising that he would give it over to her. She wouldn't do it with her police department.
"Yes, they're mostly autonomous so you won't need to oversee day-to-day activities, but I want you to keep an eye if something happens. I've also notified them that they should treat you as they would treat me. In practical terms, they're at your disposal." Jayce told her. It was a bit hard, like giving something dear to him away, even if it was just temporary.
"Doesn't that go outside your agenda?" Caitlyn asked.
Jayce was about to answer, but was cut short from Vi, "Don't turn this down Caity, with the extra force from that, we can double up our efforts in catching that blue haired bitch." Vi had a devilish look on her face. Jinx really irked her. Suspiciously much sometimes.
Jayce cleared his throat, "As I was about to say, the goals of The Resistance and the police department often find themselves on common ground. It's true it was started as a defense force from Viktor, but our wish is the same. To protect Piltover."
"I understand. I'll respect your wish then. I'll find a use for them when you're gone.
"Great:" Jayce smiled. "Be nice to to em now Vi, ey?" He playfully mocked Vi, but was only greeted by a glare."
"Is there no way you can send someone else on this mission though?." Caitlyn asked. She kinda knew the answer, but it was worth a shot.
"No, I need to be the one doing this. The situation is too delicate. I might be able to discuss with Nidalee as she knows my champion status, my colleagues won't."
"Don't die on us now Jayce." Caitlyn'ts words turned hard.
"I'm not planning on it, but this is going to be dangerous," he began to rise up from his chair, while using the balancing hammer to support him
"I understand," Caitlyn pushed herself off the desk before going over to the man. She put her arms around him, and gave him a friendly embrace. It caught Jayce a little of guard by the sudden intimacy, it reminded him of the past, but nevertheless returned the hug "Take care," she said.
"You too... I'll be going then." He said as he separated from Caitlyn, making sure to not linger too much in front of Vi.
"I'll... I'll walk you out" Vi suddenly said, earning a confused look from the others.
"Sure," Jayce simply smiled at her.
"I'll be right back, Cupcake" Vi smirked at Caitlyn. "Just gotta make sure he actually leaves"
Caitlyn sighed a little at Vi, before she left with Jayce. Her thoughts were that of uncertainty, she hoped Jayce would be able to handle this.
Vi stopped at the exit of the police department, and when Jayce noticed it, he stopped too "Hey, take care now... I know that I might not always show it, but I do consider you a close friend..." Jayce was a little taken back at the sudden show of emotion from the otherwise abrasive woman, but he made sure to not give her a hard time for it.
"Hey, thanks. It means a lot, and I do consider you a close friend too," he gave her a charming smile. "Take care of Caitlyn now, eh?"
"I will, don't worry" Vi smiled at him as he exited the building.
End Chapter 1.
For those wondering, I have named Vi's gloves 'Smash & Smashed'. Making a slight wordplay out of the fact that when she attacks the first punch 'smash' the target, and the second results in it being 'smashed'.
Remember, I appreciate feedback and critique, so voice your thoughts!
PS: Thanks to Kiravu for editing the original two year old draft.