The more I added to this chapter, I found a different place to end it. Thus, this chapter will not be rated M. Next chapter will definitely, as some... immoral things happen to our dear characters. GLHF!

Jayce sat at the gate, yawning before the stones rose and looking at their enemies on the scoreboard. To his side was Talon, who impatiently paced the walls, likely eager to stick his blade in the enemy midlaner, Ezreal. Jayce felt sorry for the young prodigy. Poking down in the early game only did so much before the enemy hit their high point, Jayce knew that well.

Twitch was leaning up against the store table, standing on his tip toes and trying to haggle for one more potion with the shopkeeper. Yasuo stood beside him, trying to plan out some sort of jungle path. The wanderer slumped down beside Jayce, crinkling the map in his hands. "I hate jungling. I'm not a jungler. What's Kaco thinking..."

Bard hovered over to the two, playing a soft tune as he went, as if he knew Yasuo needed something to cheer him up. The wind warrior smiled at the pale mask, a silent thanks. Bard stopped the song as the stones rose, and placed his hand on Yasuo's shoulder in a sort of comforting touch. The team separated, and Jayce headed top with Yasuo trailing along beside him. The two stopped at the golem camp, and promptly tried to waste time until the rocky beasts spawned. Yasuo balanced the hilt of his blade on his foot, silently amusing himself. Jayce looked around wary of the bushes. You could never be sure with Rengar on the rift.

"I'd rather deal with the time kid in the jungle, honestly." Yasuo said quietly, staring towards the tribush further down the path.

"I figured he'd be in this game. I haven't fought against him yet. Not even with him actually, can you believe it?"

Yasuo shrugged. "I don't have much of a problem against him, but everyone else seems to. He's disabled anyways, I guess. Heard some sumoners talking about it before we transferred in."

"Oh shit!" Jayce flinched, nearly jumping out of his skin when a small critter ran out of the bush. It saw them and froze, as if they were blind to it when it didn't move. Jayce coughed and turned away, letting it flee back to the safety of the bush. Nothing more terrifying than a guy with a giant hammer and a robot with an orange sword. "Really? So soon? Why?"

"I can't remember what they said. Something about his equipment maybe?" Yasuo said absentmindedly, turning to attack the large golem that leaped out of the jungle. Jayce helped him the best he could before running up to his lane. Jayce frowned as he passed the first turret, seeing Rumble dancing in the middle of the lane, ignoring the dying minions around him.

'Ignore him, just farm.'

'He's open though, I COULD shock blast him right in his furry face.'

Jayce didn't receive an answer from his summoner, but complied, ignoring the mechanized yordle and focusing on last hitting. The next 10 minutes became a mindless farm battle. Little to no harass, per the request of his summoner. Rumble was left to his own devices, and Jayce fumed silently, aware that Rumble would vastly outdo Jayce in terms of teamfight potential. He couldn't just be left to farm. The inventor grit his teeth, fighting the urge to test his summoner's control.

In the corner of Jayce's eye, Yasuo made a swift dive out of the river bush. Wind wound around him, and he swept towards Rumble with impressive grace. One tornado flung, and Rumble was nearly flung from his machine. The yordle cursed loudly at them, and turned on Yasuo, his flamethrower blasting a horrid heat upon the wanderer. Jayce fired off an accelerated shock blast before switching his weapon to it's hammer form. He flipped into the air, using the weight and momentum of the hammer to deliver a devastating blow to Rumble's side. Yasuo sprang back towards them, dashing across the minion wave and sending a flash of electricity across his blade. The lightning slammed into Rumble, igniting a small fire in the mecha which quickly exploded, sending the little yordle flying.

Rampage! The announcer said intensely, as a testament to how well Yasuo had been doing this game. The two men walked towards their allied top tower, preparing to recall. The minion wave slammed into Rumble's tower, and the little creatures ignored the lazer blasting away at them, hitting the giant guardian with all their might.

Killing spree! Double kill! Triple kill! Rampage! The announcer said in quick succession, drawing Jayce and Yasuo's attention to the scoreboards. The respawn times of Ezreal, Ashe and Lulu popped up on the screen, and Twitch's kill count was at an impressive 6/0/1. Yasuo smiled, leaning against the tower as he initiated his recall. "Hah, what do you think Jayce, easy game, easy life?"

"I think you were paranoid about your ability to jungle not just 15 minutes ago." Jayce commented, eyeing the bushes.

Yasuo shrugged, "I've got Coco."

"What? Who?" Jayce laughed, starting his own recall. The only thing more laughable than Yasuo's issue with drunkards, while being one himself, was his inability to remember important things. Like being on time, pinging, and names.

"You know, the summoner. Popular. High in the ranked standings. Coco. Kaco? Fuck, I can't say his name right."

"...Kakao?"

Yasuo clapped his hands and gave Jayce a laugh of confirmation before disappearing. The inventor shook his head and chuckled, manually shifting his Mercury Hammer back into cannon form. He didn't know why, but the transformation felt kind of clunky in the past few battles he'd fought. He'd have to see what was wrong with it when he got back to his lab.

Jayce grabbed a couple potions and the rest of his Manamune when he arrived back at the base. He frowned to himself as he traveled towards mid, eyeing a fight that was about to break out. He pinged missing on Rumble, knowing full well that a surprise Equalizer could turn this battle on it's head. His thoughts turned to the new champion. Disabled after the first, what, two weeks here? Equipment issues? Jayce wondered about his Mercury Hammer, and the clunky feeling he just couldn't quite pinpoint. What if he couldn't find the problem and fix it by the time the Summoner's Season began? Would he have to ask to be disabled? Would the Institute disable him anyways, because the summoners complained about it? Jayce had never been disabled before. Never asked to be, and was never forced to be. He wasn't exactly a League veteran, but he'd been here long enough to have given the Institute and the summoners the good majority of his time. It would feel strange not having this. Jayce eyed midlane as he walked past the first tower, seeing Talon get slammed into the ground by the opposing Rengar. Jayce ran towards them, plowing his hammer into Rengar's flank and throwing him off the assassin. Talon scrambled to his feet, pulling out a potion and spitting at the jungler. "Glorified fucking house cat!"

Rengar leaped back up and roared at the two before disappearing into the bushes. Jayce caution pinged bot, who had pushed far past the enemy's second tier turret. He played defense for Talon, bodyblocking the pulse shots Ezreal relentlessly sent their way. Jayce cursed under his breath, turning to Talon. "Can you fight?"

Talon shook his head, retreating to the safety of their tower. "I'm out of everything. Summoner's got TP, drop a ward."

Jayce fired an accelerated shock blast at Ezreal, who blinked out of the way just a little too late. Ezreal brushed the burns along his arm and cursed, running towards bot side. Jayce pinged a caution again, seeing that Twitch and Bard had taken no heed to his first pings, and were locked in a bloody battle with Rumble. Jayce ground his teeth and decided to follow the prodigy, though begrudgingly so. He pulled a ward out of his coat pocket, tossing it into mid bush's left side. He never really cared where they landed, as long as they were pretty much in the area that he'd thrown them. The bush illuminated, and Jayce immediately regretted his exploration.

A pulse shot blasted him right in the face, and Jayce stumbled back. His body was pulled towards the ground as the effects of the frozen gauntlet took effect, and the inventor cursed his luck. Ezreal ventured closer towards Jayce, firing another shot that slowed Jayce even more. He turned to the boy, slamming his hammer into Ezreal's chest and flinging the prodigy back into the bushes. Jayce panted and tried to pull himself back into motion, irritated beyond belief. Nothing frustrated him more than being unable to move. A growl sounded from the bushes, and Rengar leaped out, slamming Jayce into the ground. The breath blew from Jayce's lungs, and his hammer landed a short distance away. Jayce coughed into the dirt and rolled, facing the beast. Rengar roared in his face, and the extendable claws on his forearm slid out. Jayce pushed against Rengar's chest with his foot, using the cat's weight to push himself out of the way of the jungler's stab. The gouging bones stuck into the dirt, missing Jayce by only a hair. In his peripheral vision, Jayce saw the ward he'd placed glow bright blue, signalling a teleportation. Ezreal turned to it, shielding his eyes from the nearly blinding light before realizing their impending doom.

"Shit, run!" The prodigy shouted to Rengar, quickly blinking out of the bush. The escape attempt was useless, and a homeguarded Talon dashed from the bushes, zoning Ezreal down and bursting him into oblivion. Jayce struggled against Rengar, who had accepted his fate and was now determined to drag the toplaner into respawn with him. Jayce pushed back against the hunter, trying to inch himself towards his weapon. A bright object in the sky caught his eye, and Bard's ult rained down upon the two, freezing them.

It felt warm. Comforting almost, and Jayce nearly relaxed in the serene setting. But within seconds it was over, and he was still laying under Rengar, watching helplessly as the jungler's sharp blade swung down towards Jayce's chest. Suddenly Talon threw himself into Rengar's side, pulling him off of the inventor and flinging him away. Jayce dove towards his weapon, swinging it around and blindly firing a shock blast towards the enemy jungler. The explosion smashed into Rengar's back, sending him reeling with a pained cry. Talon took the opportunity and leaped up, shoving his blade deep into Rengar's throat. The beast fell back and Talon clung to him, rolling away with the momentum when Rengar finally hit the ground. Talon gave his blade a quick shake as he stood, flicking the blood onto the grass.

Double kill! The announcer declared, displaying Talon's holographic portrait in the sky. Talon was silent as he looked at it, his face emotionless. It was evident he was having a sort of mental argument with his summoner when Talon suddenly twitched, turning away from the holograph and walking over to Jayce. He held his hand out to the inventor, and Jayce took it, appreciative as the assassin helped pull him to his feet.

"Watch where you shoot that thing." Talon commented, walking past Jayce and heading towards his turret to recall.

"Aha, shit, yeah that's my bad. Sorry kiddo." Jayce snapped his mouth shut, turning and walking briskly towards toplane. He didn't dare turn to see how Talon reacted to being called 'kiddo', but he could hear a confused 'wha?' come from around the turret. Jayce shook his head as he walked through the jungle. He felt like he hadn't done anything all game. It was partially because his summoner seemed tired and it felt like his mind was in a different place other than the battle. But Jayce knew part of the problem was himself, and he just couldn't focus completely on himself and his fighting. Blindly firing a shock blast? Had it hit the noxian, Jayce would have been gutted, teammate or not.

His mind trailed to other things. His weapon, the clunky feeling, the new champion and his disabling. All of Jayce's unfinished projects and that glowing green device. The Primal Gear, and the stranger that commissioned it's creation. Jayce breathed a sigh of relief as a surrender vote popped up, signalling the enemy's acceptance of their defeat. Jayce nearly laughed when he looked at the map. With everything happening mid, Bard, Yasuo, and Twitch had shoved past the inhibitor and taken down one of the nexus towers, not letting Rumble, Ashe, nor Lulu stop their reign of terror.

Green light swirled around the champions on the rift, transferring them back to the Institute. The tingling of the teleportation returned, but this was a different kind of feeling. This was warm, too warm, as it healed their wounds and rested their bodies. Jayce thought it felt like the Shurima Desert. Hot, humid, and was maybe pleasant for a short while, if you'd lived in Freljord all of your life. Jayce tried to relax in it, but an unease prickled under his skin. He felt like he was forgetting something. Like when you're paranoid that you'll somehow oversleep an important meeting, despite the copious amounts of alarms you set up. And then you jump awake, only to find that you've woken up hours before you were supposed to. Jayce had the eerie feeling he should have jumped awake long ago...

Jayce felt his boots tap on metal, and he opened his eyes. He stood in the transferring chamber alongside 9 other champions. Two transferring platforms stood empty, and would stay vacant until Hexakill returned later in the year. He stepped off the elevated panel, feeling tired as he rested his Mercury Hammer against the wall. Rengar gave him a friendly pat on the back, showing a toothy smile as he passed. Jayce smiled back, thankful that despite everyone trying their damnest to kill each other on the Rift, some people could still consider each other friends off the battlefield. Rengar was one such being. Always friendly, if a bit threatening while doing so.

The summoners from the game walked out of the summoning chamber, mingling with their champions and talking over the battle. One of them latched onto Yasuo, laughing and patting the wanderer's shoulders. Yasuo laughed as well, pulling that summoner into a side hug while trying to juggle talking to those who had watched the battle. Jayce saw Lord Armon walk out, looking perturbed. He turned away from his summoner, walking out of the transferring chamber. He wasn't interested in listening to the man talk about their gameplay, or try and plan their date. Or, dare he say it, complain about the clunky feeling in Jayce's ult. He KNEW, dammit. Jayce escaped out the wide door, scurrying away alongside Talon, Twitch and Rengar. Rengar walked quickly passed Jayce, leaning forward and practically snatching Talon from his speedwalk. The noxian froze, turning to stare at the grinning cat.

"I almost got you, little assassin. Next time." Rengar laughed, patting Talon's shoulder and walking off. Jayce chuckled, only for Talon to whip around and glare at him. He nearly stumbled back from the sheer aggression, but settled for holding his hands up in mock innocence. The assassin walked off, ignoring Twitch snickering loudly at him. The rat trotted off, seemingly heading to one of the many diners in the Institute. The entire building was large and had many different wings within it. The main building was a large circle, with the transferring chamber, the summoner's chamber, the teleportation room and the audience arena being in the middle. Dotted around the outer circle were shops, restaurants, bars: you name it. Many people, whether tourists, summoners or champions, came to the main building to partake in or watch the battles that went on in the rift. What better to watch a battle with than a soda and a burrito? If it was a particularly good fight, sometimes you even got to watch the fight off the Rift, usually initiated in the transferring chamber or closely outside it by angry champions, or even, though rarely, angry summoners. Because of such fights, the walls around and inside the transferring chamber were dotted with dents and tears. Someone had taken to marking them, putting dates and the cause next to each mark of damage. Some found it kind of amusing. The Institute did not.

Jayce watched Twitch walk off bemusedly, noticing the strange capsules of green attached to his belt. Jayce stopped and stared, wide eyed, before taking off after the rat. "Wait! Wait, Twitch!"

The marksman paused a few feet away, turning to stare up at the inventor ran over. Twitch sneered at him, glancing towards the diner like he was tempted to stealth out of the impending conversation and eat. Jayce pointed towards it, trying to be as accommodating as possible towards the rat, and offered him a free meal. Twitch eyed Jayce suspiciously, but accepted. They didn't talk often, if at all. Twitch had zero reason to listen to nor answer his questions, and Jayce hoped that bribing him with dinner would help. Jayce sat down at one of the smaller tables outside the diner, pulling a taller chair from a neighboring table for Twitch, who climbed up the rungs to sit on it. The rat adjusted his glasses and placed his head in his paws, staring at Jayce. "At least you bought me dinner first, hmm?"

"Haha, yeah. This is going to sound strange, but you haven't lost any of your bottles of... goo... have you?" Jayce asked, waving a waitress over. The inventor eyed the menu, crinkling his nose. This diner seemed to specifically cater to zaunite gourmet, if you could even call it that. Terieye Mainch? What even was that. "Filet of terieye, freshly caught and steamed in a homemade and homegrown zaunite herb mixture lovingly refered to as 'mainch', for a lemon and grain flavor" Jayce shrugged. It didn't actually sound bad.

The rat twitched slightly, glancing away from the menu and at his small green potions. He seemed to count them slowly, and then recount them, before looking back up to Jayce. "No, no. Not mine. I hardly ever lose things, you know."

Twitch gave a toothy smile, which grew wider when he noticed Jayce's discomfort. "Why, dare I ask. What did you find?"

The waitress walked over, her fluffy purple hair tied up and hairsprayed to the point of plastic consistency in a bow formation. At the base of the 'hair bow' was an actual bow, bright pink and covered in small white dots. Jayce tore his eyes away from the monstrosity, trying to concentrate on the meal. "Uh, Terieye Mainch, please."

Twitch ordered a Regin Burger, and Jayce didn't dare look to see what the menu said about it. The inventor frowned, thinking back to the green cylinder he found at the stand. As he was close now, Jayce could clearly see that the capsules were very different. Twitch's glowed a bright lime green, which radiated from the liquid inside like poison. Which, Jayce would bet, was exactly what it was. "I found something that looked like your bottles, but doesn't really, I suppose. Sorry to bother you about it."

Twitch sniffed, looking almost disappointed. "What does it look like then?"

Jayce shrugged, staring off into space. "It glows like yours, but not the same color, nor the same intensity. The closer I looked, the more it seemed like it wasn't the liquid inside the capsule that glowed, but the air. Though now, I'm questioning whether it's actually even air or not."

Twitch stayed silent, thinking hard. The waitress arrived with their food and Jayce stared wide eyed at the plate that was given to him. Jayce thought terieye was a fish. This... was not a fish. The meat was blue and scaled and had spines growing out from it in seemingly random areas. A small barbed antennae hung from the top, with a bluish orb resting at the end. It looked like the hide of the mud lizards that pulled people into the bubbling bog. Jayce held his stomach, suddenly feeling ill. To his side, a thin but wide burger sat in front of Twitch, who dusted it with pepper and salt. Twitch licked his lips, and Jayce tossed money onto the table, standing up and looking away from the vile food. The rat stared up at him, eyeing Jayce's food out of the corner of his eye. "Leaving so soon?"

Jayce steadied himself with a white knuckled grip on the table, reminded that all he'd had that day were three cups of coffee and one last piece of the wrapped mints Ashe had been handing out three weeks ago that Jayce just happened to find in his coat pocket. Despite his low blood sugar and impending headache, Jayce was probably going to opt out of eating for the rest of the day, knowing all too well the images of this terieye thing were going to haunt his stomach for a good long while. "I think I'm just gonna go home actually. Dinner's on me. Enjoy."

"The device you mentioned, it does sound familiar." Twitch said, pulling the plate of terieye mainch towards him. "Might be one of Singed's things. An acid bomb, perhaps. I'd watch your fingers when tinkering with it."

Jayce stared at the rat, watching him pull the top bun off his burger and rest the filet of terieye on top of the meat steak. Twitch slathered it all in a concoction of salt, pepper, and mayonnaise, and slammed the top bun back on. Jayce looked away, feeling dizzy, and walked off. What Twitch said stuck with him, and made the inventor saltier than he'd been all day. Jayce wasn't in the mood to deal with Singed today. He was, and would never ever probably be in the mood actually. Singed spoke with a distinct noble accent, and always had a mocking tone. Somehow Singed always had information that in no uncertain terms he should have access to, which he used for blackmail and incessant teasing. Jayce couldn't stand the scrawny chemist. If this device did belong to Singed, he would definitely take it apart in stead of giving it back. Just as Twitch said, it could be a bomb.

Jayce walked to the teleportation room, slouching as he went. Damn he was tired. And just the thought of having to head back to his lab and work further on stabilizing agents and animal tech made him even more so. Jayce looked at the screen beside the platforms in the teleportation room. A digitalized map of Valoran lit up across the screen, with different circles dotted around the map, signaling where an Institute Tower was, and where teleportation was enabled. Jayce tapped the dot for the Institute Tower in Piltover and stepped onto the platform. Jayce had become so accustomed to the teleportation, he had to remind himself sometimes that it was quite comfortable. At times, the inventor became so caught up in what he was working on and doing, that he forgot to pay attention to the little things.

Jayce arrived at the Tower to find it relatively empty. The skies outside were dark, and the room was illuminated only by the outside street lights shining through the windows. Astounded, Jayce searched for a clock, finding it far later than he expected. No wonder he was so tired...

Despite being referred to as "Institute Towers", they were more like "Institute Beacons", as the building itself was actually rather short, being only around 2 to 3 floors tall, depending on the city it was in, and generally not very wide. A tall runic beacon pieced the middle of the building and ran far up into the sky. The beacon caught the particles that were teleported, and reassembled them at it's base. The beacons acted like magnets, each separate one on a subtle but extremely effective frequency that tuned in on particles and pulled them towards the chosen area.

Jayce found himself as the sole person in the Piltover Tower, and evacuated immediately. The though of his bed pulled him towards his lab, and he silently thanked whoever laid the foundation for the Institute Towers, as this one was quite close to where Jayce lived. He quickly made his way through the city, passing the park, his favorite coffee shop, the area where Vi tackled him into a wall the first time they met after Jayce jaywalked a busy intersection, and finally past the market street. His home was in view, and Jayce breathed a sigh of relief. A few people still strolled the town, but as the sun went down you could seem them start to scurry for home. Piltover wasn't like Zaun in the way that the streets were bad after night. Hell, the streets were bad in Zaun in the daytime. Bad people were everywhere, and they weren't constricted by city lines. Their attitudes, and the way they went about things did differ from town to town, however. A good portion of the bad people in Piltover were cunning and conniving, and knew exactly what they were doing. Jayce pulled his coat closer to him as he entered his building, feeling an eerie chill in the air. He made his way over to the elevator and rested his head on the doors, jabbing his thumb into the button to summon the machine. The doors to the building opened behind him, and Jayce froze. But almost as if opened by the heavens, the elevator arrived and the doors opened to him.

"Hey, wait! Are you Jayce?" A young voice called out from the building's lobby. Jayce cursed, pushing his number into the keypad on the elevator, thankful when the doors started to close.

"I'm uh, I'm really tired, we'll talk tomorrow!" Suddenly a boy slid through the elevator doors, making it through just as they closed. Jayce nearly had a heart attack, between the boy jumping in and the thought of him getting smashed in the doors, and he stared wide eyed at the kid, who stared back just as wide eyed. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"You're Jayce, right?" He asked, relaxing against the doors when he realized he'd made it through unscathed. Jayce twitched, his irritation growing the more the boy ignored him.

"Yes! What the fuck are you doing?" Jayce yelled, becoming angry. He wasn't up for this. He was too tired, and was actually starting to get kind of hungry. His mind may be petrified by the thought of the terieye, but his stomach cared little for what his brain feared. The kid glared at Jayce, pointing his gloved finger at the inventor. "Don't fucking yell at me! You stole my capsule!"

Jayce dropped his hands, "Don't curse at me, you're like 12!"

The kid's jaw dropped and he looked indignantly at Jayce. "What? Are you fucking kidding me? I'm 16!"

"All the same. And I didn't steal anything, kid, who told you that?"

"I could piece it together myself, I tracked it all the way here, it took me fucking days! Just give it back!" The kid yelled back, sneering at Jayce. The man rubbed his face, leaning back against the elevator walls. He was so, so tired. He didn't need some loud, foul mouthed kid screaming at him about a stolen toy. Jayce looked up suddenly, thinking about the device he'd bought in the market. He stared at the boy in front of him, eyeing the dirt, mohawk, and scroungy zaunite clothing. There was no way the device could belong to him. Stolen maybe. Jayce frowned, glaring the kid down. "Yours? How do I know that?"

The kid gave him a blank look and then threw his hands up in exasperation. "Seriously? You're a fucking champion, Jayce. How do you not know me?"

Jayce stopped, staring at the boy before laughing. "Oh shit, you're the new champion. Time kid, right?"

"Ekko.." The kid said, a frown set deeply into his young face. The elevator doors behind him opened, and Ekko fell back, smacking his head against the gate and landing on the ground. "Fuck, oww."

"Stop cursing." Jayce walked over him, opening the gate and walking through with a chuckle. "So, what is it?"

"Better question: Why'd you fucking steal it?"

"I told you, I didn't steal it. I bought it. So, technically..." He watched Ekko closely, dropping his coat on a chair. The kid stared around the lab, looking at different items and devices in a keen wonder. He smiled, "Technically, it's mine."

Ekko stopped, turning towards him with a look of horror. "What? But it was stolen, you can't fucking keep it!"

"Fine, I'll give it back." Jayce said, staring Ekko down. "But, you have to tell me what it is."

The boy frowned, glaring at Jayce. "I don't trust you though."

"Well that sucks, I'll have a great time taking it apart." Jayce chuckled, turning away from Ekko. The inventor could practically feel the kid bristling. Jayce had no intention of just giving it away. Not to some zaunite punk, Champion of the League or not. His attitude had to be turned down significantly. And the cursing...

"I'll tell you what it is, just fucking give it back." Ekko said, grinding his teeth. Jayce turned back to him, a wide smile plastered on his face. He could tell this might as well be torture for the chonotechnic. Ekko glared at him and made a waving motion. "Well? Happy?"

"Very, actually. So what is it." Jayce sat down in the chair, relaxing as Ekko begrudgingly sighed.

"It's the container for the chonotic particles in my Z-Drive. Whenever I want to alter it, I have to take all the particles out. They're very unstable, and they'll disperse if they're released from the container, so I have to put them into a pressure controlled cylinder. Those particles are one of a kind, and I'll never be able to get them back if you fuck it up!" Ekko explained, emphasizing the last sentence. Jayce yawned, resting his head in his hand. The concept was actually fascinating, and Jayce wished he was more awake so he could ask questions and try and convince Ekko to explain a couple things, but right now Jayce was close to nodding off. If he had opened that device, what would have happened to the chronotic particles? Would they have dispersed like smoke, or would the sudden change in pressure have caused a reaction?

"I didn't mess with it, I promise. I'll go get it for you." Jayce said genuinely. His words seemed to calm Ekko a little, who went back to looking around the lab. Jayce pulled himself to his feet, pausing for a moment to mentally find the capsule and realizing, that he had no idea where it was. He froze and almost laughed out loud, astounded at the level of bad luck he was producing today. He walked past Ekko, motioning for the kid to look around as he pleased, and tried to track down the capsule. Jayce looked across his tables, searching through all of his trinkets and finding nothing. He plopped down in a chair, racking his mind. Memory of the annoying alarm sang through Jayce's head and he jogged towards his room, finding his jacket on the floor of his bedroom. Jayce pulled the cylinder out of the jacket pocket, smiling as he looked at the glowing green device. It was dainty, almost beautiful in a way. And... cracked? Jayce frowned, looking at a tiny crack in the top of the glass that hadn't been there before. It wasn't cracked all the way through, but there was still a visual break. Almost as if it had been stepped on.

Jayce stopped, realizing slowly that when he had left for the Institute, he'd hung his jacket up. He looked around, noticing small things misplaced. With horror and a fast beating heart, Jayce recalled that he had not had to unlock his gate when he'd arrived from the Institute. Someone had been here..

Jayce backed out of his room and heard a low clunking sound, making him nearly drop the cylinder. He wound it in the blankets on his bed and threw them off the other side, hidden from view by the door. He ran out of his room and through the hall, racing into the room Ekko was in. The boy glanced up at Jayce, holding part of the Primal Gear, which he quickly tossed down. "I wasn't-"

Jayce held his finger to his lips, giving Ekko a look. His mouth immediately snapped shut and he turned, looking around the room. Jayce walked over to him, nearly plucking the boy off his feet. "You didn't come up here looking for me, did you?"

The boy's startled chocolate eyes stared at him and he shook his head. Jayce let him go, looking around the room wildly. "Look, I'm really fucking sorry about this, and I promise I'm not trying to cheat you out of your chonotic device, but we have to get the fuck out of here."

Ekko stared at Jayce, studying him for a moment before frowning and nodding. Jayce placed his finger over his mouth again, making it a point to keep quiet. He pointed towards the elevator, motioning that he'd be right with him. Ekko walked slowly towards it, and Jayce turned, wildly looking around his lab. There was nothing he could take, nor lock up in the amount of time he thought he had. Who had been here? No one knew his input code in the elevator. It had to have been hacked, but it should have been noticeable. That is, if Jayce had been paying attention to the keypad at all. His focus was on the gutterpunk child that invaded the elevator and avoided being smashed in the doors by less than a hair. Jayce ran his hand across his mouth and cursed, at a loss of what to do. From down the hall, Ekko yelled out, and a sharp tingling struck through the room. Jayce's hair stood on end and there was a metallic taste in the air. Electricity? Jayce sprinted through his lab, finding Ekko near the elevator, sprawled across the floor. The boy twitched and writhed in pain, and Jayce could see five shards stuck shallowly in his back, sending currents of electricity through him. 9 people filled the room, all wielding weapons and staring Jayce down. He ground his teeth, holding his hands up in surrender. He couldn't fight this. There was no way.

One of the men held a gun up, a long blue streaked weapon with five shards sticking out of the end. Jayce dashed to the side, but the shards found their way into his chest, sending bolts of lightning and pain streaking through him. He screamed in pain, shuddering on the floor as his consciousness faded. He panted and groaned, listening to dulled sounds of the men talking. The words were muffled and dim, and Jayce's sight slowly fell into darkness.