Chapter 2: Broad Focus
From the hill beside Piltover, directly opposite the city's harbor, you could see the newly reconstructed main spire sitting atop the small mountain. The air running through the lightly forested valleys around the city caused the trees to sway in unison almost like a sea of green moving waves against the bay. The hill itself had little density of tress along its landscape and as the air reached it you could almost imagine it crash on the hillside as the trees swayed carelessly in the many ways the wind broke and flowed up to the top. It all looked so peaceful.
BLAM-CRACK!
Caitlyn spun around from looking at the city to wincing at the man who had just opened fire right next to her ear. Barely able to her herself, she uttered loudly, "Son of a bitch!"
"Pay attention!" She could faintly hear the man next to her say.
The man to her left looked at her with stone-cold eyes. He was a tall and broad man. From the front you would think his gut big and fat, but it was a dense grouping of muscle that had grown from years of chasing down criminals and fighting some bare-handed. He was in his late forties and his age showed in his gray hair cut short and encircling his face in a thick beard with no mustache. He wore Leather armor clad in thin iron to complete the rustic ensemble. One brown eye and one silver eye was enough to show he was blind on his left side. Reinforced by the scarring around his left eye's socket. Years ago in his early thirties he was at the mercy of a mugger that had him at gunpoint with the barrel aiming directly at the eye point-blank. Either luckily or unluckily as it was for him the mugger had rushed the packing of the pistol's muzzle and had forgot to load a round in with the black powder. The rest is obvious. The gun blazed out a scorch of fire across his eye and knowing he wasn't dead he reached out and grabbed hold of the mugger's neck giving it a tight twist and severing the connection to his spinal cord. Earning him the title "Blind Justice" for the ironic incident that occurred. His real name was Roy and he was the current Sheriff of Piltover. A positioned ratified solely by the citizens of the city-state.
"When your mother promised me you would be serious about becoming a deputy I did not believe her until I saw a look of promise in your eyes," he said bluntly, "but all I have seen from you this week is a distracted teenager!"
The statement got deep under Caitlyn's skin and it hurt to hear it but she knew he was right. A few months ago a mugger had attacked and robbed her father on his way home from work. She had decided to sneak out later that night and track down the culprit with her father's rifle. She completed this first unofficial arrest at the age of fourteen and had earned praise from the police department instead of being chastised for her vigilante-like behavior. The praised landed her an opportunity to become the youngest deputy every in the city-state of Piltover. Although many of the citizens believed it was a stunt from the politburo to achieve public admiration, she knew it was her chance to follow her heart in protecting the city she loved her whole life.
"I know, I know, its just that the city looked so peaceful and I was dreading what it would look like if no one was able to protect it if anything every happened to you." She half-lied.
"DO not bullshit me!" He barked as he pointed his right index finger at her face. For some reason he quickly calmed himself and said, "I know this is a lot to take in at a young age, but you agreed to take on this lifelong commitment and as such you must remain focused to the responsibilities it entails."
"I'm sorry, I will try- do better."
Almost cutting her off he exclaimed, "How many times must I remind you there is no try. It's do or do not!"
"Yes, I will do better!"
Roy sighed deeply, "Alright then let's return our attention to the range."
"Right! You want me to hit the target if it attempts to get up again or begins to reach for a weapon."
The far end of the range held a few straw dummies on sticks and wires. Each dummy had control wires leading to its opposite at the firing side of the range. That is where Roy was able to control the movements of each dummy from a box holding different wires labeled for each dummy. In a real situation Roy would approach a downed target with a deputy, such as Caitlyn, providing ranged cover for him. But in this simulated scenario he had a dummy on a clothesline to signify his approach. After all, accidents can happen in the field, so it's better to just play it safe in a practice. Three wires a piece were in groups in the box. The three wires were: one to down the target; one to simulate the target rising; and finally one to pull the dummy's arms in close as if to reach for a weapon. As a man of justice and order he had trained all his deputies to the same codes of using guns. Never point the gun anywhere you do not intend to shoot it and always remember to never aim for a kill-shot.
At this point in the simulation the culprits had just ran out into the open and the sheriff and his deputies have commanded 'Halt, and surrender your weapons!' When they had not the officers would have then shot them down in a blur of gun powder, blood spray and wincing screams. Caitlyn and Roy had done that right before she had started dosing off. What Roy didn't yell at her about is the fact that whatever reason she got distracted for. It had to have been right when she got the last dummy culprit down, because she missed a takedown shot and merely grazed the dummy's right leg. Now that they were about to do step two of the arrest Caitlyn was finally clear-headed enough to see the missed shot she took and a feeling of self-disappointment started to shake her up and offset her grip on her rifle.
Roy noticed this and laid his hand on her shoulder saying softly, "Its ok. We all get distracted. That is why we practice, so we can get used to ignoring those distractions."
And just like that Roy had put the sharp edge back on her relaxed smile and she fell into a near-perfect stance cradling her weapon like her whole body was a mounted gun placement. She would not miss anymore. She also was feeling better with such a nice and sweet man as Roy helping her become a better marksman.
Caitlyn was a normal looking girl. By normal I mean she had no apparent uniqueness to her features or the characteristics of her attitude. She was tall, for her age, brunette with long hair, deep violet eyes, and near-pale white skin. She wasn't technically on duty so she was allowed to wear as she liked. But all she had were the modest day clothes her father would let her have. A full blouse and pants suit that constricted her movements and made her shooting experience feel, not-at-her-best. Like it or not she knew she was the daughter and only child of a statesman and even as a deputy she still had appearances to keep up.
When she was all ready to start the second step she got into a standing position that was stable and said, "Trained and ready, sheriff."
"Alright then here I go forward to inspect the culprits and clap them in irons." He said as he started to work the dummy-him down the range to the dummy-culprits.
Immediately Caitlyn started looking over each dummy. In short crisp movements she used her left hand on the forend of the rifle to position her up, down, left and right movements to each of the dummies. Keeping her right eye tight on the lenses she stopped at the arms of each culprit long enough to notice changes and then moved to the next one in a cycle.
This is how the deputies are trained. Under ideal circumstances, three or more deputies would be on the flanks of the sheriff as he made his approach. But the city has always needed a constant flow of shifting patrols. So the deputies are placed in teams of two or three and given a leader to fulfill the role of the sheriff in his absence. Then with less and less deputies so close to the sheriff as time passes in a day, and multiple crimes are being handled, Roy has found it better to train his best deputies to be a single point of cover. He expected nothing less than the same from Caitlyn.
She did not disappoint. Her movements were so crisp and precise that it appeared she had been doing this routine for twice as many years as her age. In short she was a natural.
Caitlyn's mother is a pioneering hextech researcher, and through her field she was able to outfit her father's rifle into a more battle ready weapon. The rifle bears the look of its original muzzleloader form. The barrel has been rifled and a chamber has been added to the stock end of the barrel. The chamber has been designed with four functions for the four different kinds of rounds her mother has designed for the rifle to fire. Under the rifle near the chamber is a slot opening for a quarter-circle magazine to be placed snuggly into it. The magazine held a small amount of the special rounds and had a max capacity of 45 normal rounds. Being that Caitlyn is right handed a special hammer for her three special rounds, referred by her mother as the 'equipping hammer', has been added to the right side of the chamber. The normal rounds are fired via a hammer inside the chamber at a semi-automatic rate. The four rounds are: the normal brass enclosed shot; a tight-stitched cloth round containing a special net large enough to wrap a man Roy's size; a plastic covered round (like for a shotgun) holding an expandable blade that is as wide as Caitlyn's wingspan; and the never-been-seen-before-this-weapon, super, hextech, magnum round that would increase the drop-off point of the bullet to four times the rifles normal range. Using the equipping hammer, one would pull it back for one click to activate the net round. Two clicks for the precision expandable blade round. And for the sake of not making mistakes you would need to pull back the hammer to four clicks in order to use the SHM (shimm) round. To solve the problem of over-heating in the barrel her mother designed a hextech engine attached to the gun to channel the excess heat energy into every sixth normal shot. It made the round twice as powerful and destructive as a normal bullet. Finally the barrel had no original sights on it. Begging the question of how talented this girl was, seeing as though she used the original design of the gun to take her first mark down from 100 meters away. So her mother equipped three lenses to the front end of the chamber, another a few inches up on the barrel, and the third at the firing end of the barrel. With these sights a normal marksman could make her famous 100 meter shot with ease. But with Caitlyn behind the sights the round could go hit a target 200 meters away with barely any effort. The SHM round had a max range of 800 meters, but you would need a good telescope to see that well. And so her mother had given her the top hat her grandfather wore in the service. It was purple with a bronze ring around its base and two yellow vertical bars going across the front symmetrically. Attached to it is a hinged arm that holds three other lenses that scale down to the front one. Making her vision go through six lenses when they were all used, and giving her a clear line-of-sight to a target nearly a kilometer away.
Now that Caitlyn was getting familiar again with the alertness she used in the training, she started to relax a bit. Perhaps she relaxed too much because just as the dummy-Roy was about to reach the closest dummy-culprit, the one farthest away began to rise up and simultaneously reach for a weapon. And as Caitlyn focused on the rising dummy she almost missed seeing the one next to it do the same. She acted like it was a normal occurrence. In a fluid motion she kept her aim between them to hold her vision as her right hand swung around from the trigger to the equipping hammer and pulled it back two clicks, before fitting her hand tightly back into a firing position. Pulling the butt of the gun deep into her shoulder, she squeezed her trigger hand gently to fire the expandable blade round. It hit the second rising dummy on the right first as it came by in between them slicing their hamstrings, or where their hamstrings would be if they were real.
"Beautiful!" Roy exclaimed. "That was the level of focus I was expecting from you, and you did not fail to be on the ball. Brilliant!"
"Sir, are we not still engaged in an arrest?!" Caitlyn asked in a sturdy voice.
"Oh, don't you start with me!" Roy bellowed. "Don't you act smart with me about focusing."
Caitlyn had intended to get this reaction for her question. So she smiled when he replied and said, "So it's ok to let my guard down before they are in cuffs."
Roy was about to scold her for being a little smartass. Instead he started to laugh as if it didn't matter that they were in the middle of a live fire exercise. "Okay, okay, maybe I was too harsh before. I wanted you to be prepared for a real situation but besides shooting at a target that can fight back there really isn't anymore training that can prepare you. You are ready. But remember even the most experienced marksmen still keep up practice and take it seriously."
Caitlyn nodded sharply. "I will try." She started to smile big and before the rage building in Roy could explode out in a harsh tone she cut him off and said, "Haha, just kidding, I will do."
Again Roy found himself chuckling over the young lady's humorous attitude. 'She certainly is still a child,' he thought to himself.
"Hey Roy?" Caitlyn asked.
He looked at her and replied, "Hmm?"
"If we're done here then do you want to join me for lunch?"
Suddenly it became apparent to Roy it was almost 1 pm and he and Caitlyn hadn't eaten since 6 am. As if his body had just realized this too he heard his stomach growl. He looked down at her standing there patiently awaiting a response and a horrible realization dawned on him, much worse than his hunger. Caitlyn was a teenaged girl and didn't go to school anymore because of the lifelong vow she took to protecting justice and order in Piltover. She would no longer have the chance to pass the normal milestones those her age would endure growing up. She was treated as, and expected to behave in a manner befitting, a normal deputy. A normal deputy was generally accepted at the age of 22 unless circumstances granted an earlier induction. So because she wouldn't know a normal teenage life she would be kept from the co-ed activities that would've ensued. Roy understood well that because she was part of this life working for justice, her only real interaction to the opposite gender was the other deputies and himself. He thought about his life growing up. The girls in his teenage years crushing on him and his friends. She wouldn't get the chance anymore to learn how to grow healthy relationships or understand the difference between love and infatuation.
He could imagine the damage that would be caused if he put her in her place at such a young age and explained how inappropriate her request is. But he didn't want to destroy her before she has even had the chance to grow. He knew that he should try to bring her down gently but to do that outright was too blunt.
"I would love to eat lunch with such a beautiful young lady." He replied, almost feeling like 'beautiful' might have been too much.
Her face lit up and she said, "You will? Great!"
He decided then and there to build her confidence in herself up instead of destroying her self esteem. He thought briefly on how her parents gave little time and perhaps, he speculated, little thought to her emotional well being. He could show her how to build a healthy relationship. Make her understand how to judge a man by how he treats a lady. So she doesn't end up in some abusive relationship. He felt a new feeling he had never felt before, but had always desired. He felt like a father now and he found that he was pleased to do this for her. He knew she would grow too close to either him or another deputy. It was only a matter of time. Her body and mind is still undergoing changes she will not understand until she is in her 20's. But he felt if he could build her up to understand how strong and beautiful she is then she would just shrug-off a rejection and move on to boys her own age. He thought with a sense of pride, 'People can think what they want when they see us together. It matters not what they gossip. If I can help Caitlyn grow the way a young lady should naturally then I will do that for my deputy. After all I would take a bullet for any of my deputies, why not take a little emotional pain in just the same way.' And with that he grabbed his gear and set off down the hillside, Caitlyn following close by, smiling sweetly holding her rifle on her left shoulder by the strap.
The restaurant Caitlyn and Roy went to was a sandwich deli near the Police Department. Not to be confused with the Sheriff's Department fourteen blocks further down the road. The place was named Mart's and it served an original kind of sliced meat famously called "Sweet Mystery Meat" which was a favorite in the community because oddly enough it was sweet. Not too sweet to eat but enough to make the meats inside all the more better. Speculations were always made about the recipe but Mart always said, "It's just my favorite blend of meats and its worth too much for me to share my secrets, I mean I am trying to run a business." After newcomers would ask the question about the recipe you could almost see all the regulars lip-sync the words Mart used every time. Mart was his own head chef and decided long ago to hire a manager to deal with the customers so he didn't screw up the atmosphere of his own deli. So the restaurant-deli had waiters, busboys, and entertainers to give the restaurant better appeal than just a back-alley deli.
When the waiter assigned to Caitlyn and Roy sat them down to a table near the center of the room he pulled out a pad and immediately asked, "What can I start you two out with?"
Roy looked at Caitlyn and said, "Go ahead and order first."
Caitlyn didn't even have to look at her menu. She set her rifle behind her chair against the backrest and said plainly, "I will have the ham and turkey supreme on wheat bread, half sandwich, please."
The waiter quickly jotted her order down. "And to drink?"
"Lemon fuzzy-water, please." She replied after a moments thought.
The waiter turned to face Roy, "And you sir?"
Roy looked over the menu and sighed, "Always the same old same old Mart. Just tell him he knows what I want." He then handed both menus to the waiter.
"And to drink sir?" The waiter asked while fumbling with the menus and his notepad.
"Same thing. He knows." Roy replied cheerfully.
Roy looked straight ahead at Caitlyn and after a few moments of silence he awkwardly asked, "So how goes your home schooling, are you keeping up with your basic studies?"
Almost as if she had been holding her breathe she exhaled a fury of words that would have shocked a lesser man. "So, yeah. The home schooling is just aweful. Like how does my mom and dad expect me to take being a deputy seriously if they keep forcing all these hard studies on me? And why do I need anymore schooling, I thought this was a lifelong commitment thing? Ya, know? I mean it's not like I need to know about history in order to take down bad guys all my lifeā¦"
This went on for 14 minutes, but felt as though they were 14 hours to Roy. He had forgotten for a while that she was a teenaged girl and wanted to talk a lot and whenever possible. He was briefly reminded of how he used to sit patiently as a young man and ask a pretty girl questions while he did his best to pay attention. She was normal and she deserved to be treated that way. 'Everything's fine.'
After she was finished with whatever it was she had gone on about, he decided to push his luck at testing her emotional state. He asked as nice as he could, "So, is there a young man in your life you may be fond of?" His tone almost sounded like he was hinting he knew something. He didn't, but he accidently asked it like he did.
"No fucking way would I tell you!" She almost screamed. Other people in the deli quickly glanced at her and she started to blush.
Roy exclaimed calmly, "Caitlyn there is no need to be so cross I am only curious."
"Well that's not really normal for even my parents to ask." She said still blushing.
Roy pondered if his original idea about her parents were true. What if they don't care enough to even ask, just so she knows they care? 'I am sure they do care just not enough to do something this bold,' he thought. It was all speculation, he would have to push more to get her to open up more.
So he decided to push just a little more. "Are you saying you don't fancy any boys?"
She looked at him with a quizzical face, "I don't-"
Just then Caitlyn's eyes widened and it looked to Roy as if she had just been left dumbstruck by his question. As he reached out to grab her shoulder she jumped to her feet grabbed her rifle and quickly ran out of the restaurant-deli.
He cursed under his breath. 'Shit! I went too far!' But as he followed her outside it became obvious that the stare she gave him was actually looking past him out the window and into the street.
BLAM-CRACK!
He hadn't jumped from the sound of a gunshot in years, but in the confusion Caitlyn's shot managed to ravel him. On the ground 50 meters away was a fury little male yordle with a grazing wound in his right thigh. All around police were storming in to surround the yordle. She had shot perfectly, the graze left him immobile, if the shot had made full contact it would have chopped the leg clean off. Normally Roy preferred to use a zapping pistol to bring them down safely, but He was impressed by Caitlyn's incredible talent. Clutched in the yordle's hand was a bag that had spilt out gold pieces onto the ground.
A yordle is a miniature humanoid like creature that either has a furry body and/or a smooth blue skinned body. This one was a little of both and was strapped with a crossbow.
Roy would later ask Caitlyn how she spotted the yordle holding the money and running nervously away from chasing police from so far away? Also how she was able to focus so well when the prior conversation they were having was quite intense? She would say she just saw the situation and decided to react, as if she had better awareness than Roy naturally. Roy looked her over standing there holding the rifle in a perfect stance and trained on the yordle's other thigh. It finally dawned on him what the importance of helping this young lady's emotional state would be. She would be the next Sheriff of Piltover, without a doubt.
