Chapter 2

As the small party left for Noxus, Jayce flipped himself so he was facing backwards, staring straight at the guards. Or so they thought. It was rather unnerving to those two, to have his longing eyes facing right at them - wait, longing? One of them glanced behind him bemusedly, and then realized, oh. Piltover was right across from Zaun, with a small inlet breaking the two cities. Not that he could actually see Piltover from where they were, but that didn't stop Jayce from looking.

In fact, as the day drew nearer to noon and they had escaped the smog of the city into a rather open plain, Jayce's spirits had sunk with the realization that he was further and further from both his hometown and any hope of rescue. Not that he didn't know what he'd signed up for; when he took on the small Noxian group (a small squad of foot soldiers and a captain), he was fully prepared to fight til the end if it meant protecting Caitlyn and Piltover. What he wasn't prepared for, however, was the appearance of Katarina at the scene.

As Jayce struck down the last of the soldiers, having taken care of the captain first, she appeared in a storm of daggers, each one flying straight for vital points. Gritting his teeth, Jayce knocked away the ones from his heart and neck while dodging to the left. Unable to avoid all the blades, his arms were cut up quickly, his overcoat torn to shreds. Katarina smirked, rather unnecessarily.

"Ms. Katarina, what a nice surprise," Jayce said sardonically, his chest heaving up and down as blood ran from his arms and dripped steadily onto the grass. "Come to do what your little minions couldn't?"

"I didn't expect them to be able to deal with you in the first place," she replied haughtily. "You, however, weren't able to kill off our captain before he said your name. And that's why I'm here," she added, her expression changing into a wicked smile.

"While I'm quite honored by your presence," Jayce answered sarcastically, "You wouldn't be leading a small, unknown squad of mediocre soldiers. Which means..." He trailed off as his eyes widened.

"Noxus may or may not be closer to Piltover than you think," Kat laughed, a gleeful smirk playing on her lips. "But that doesn't matter now. Now, you're dead."

With that said, the Noxian assassin disappeared with a flash of light, appearing right behind the wounded Jayce. Expecting this, Jayce turned and leaped, bringing his hammer down as Kat slashed her knife down his left thigh. He caught her square on the shoulder (he heard a crack) as pain flared up his leg, and she staggered back as he fell after the blow. "Dammit," Jayce spat, one hand fumbling with the wound, the other reaching into his ripped overcoat. He knew enough that he wouldn't be able to stand, or that he'd at least be very wobbly, something that was synonymous to suicide when fighting against Katarina.

Katarina. He looked up, and there she was, a furious glare in her blue-green eyes. Her right hand was clutching both her left shoulder and a knife as she headed towards the bleeding man. There wasn't much time. Taking the device out from his coat, he attached it to the Mercury Hammer, and with a soft, bright glow, his beloved weapon disappeared. "Given up already?" Kat snarled as she reached Jayce, pointing the blade at his throat.

"I don't have much of a choice," Jayce shrugged, indicating his battered body.

"Weak," the Noxian answered disdainfully. Pain coursed through her shoulder, running down her arm and neck, even down her back. Newfound fury enveloped the assassin, and she elbowed Jayce right in the side of his head, not holding back.

He grunted as his vision blurred and he fell sideways, but before he blacked out, he swore he could've heard a familiar voice crying, "Jayce!"

"Jayce!" Diana snarled, bringing him back to the present.

"What?" he blinked. "Did you say something other than complete Poro shit for once?"

The lunar woman scowled, her shadowed eyes narrowing into slits. "Fine, no lunch for you then," she said, dropping the bowl of soup she had onto the ground.

"It probably tasted like crap anyway," Jayce muttered under his breath. His stomach berated him with a loud growl, bringing a slight pinkish tint to his cheeks. This failed to escape Diana's notice, and she smiled to herself as she and the guards ravenously downed their lunch.

After the bowls had been washed in a nearby creek and stowed away in one of the packs, Diana addressed the two guards. "We'll reach the Ironspike Mountains in about three days. Until then, we'll need to keep an eye out for any potential rescue attempts. Not that they'd succeed," she added. "This area is mostly just the trade routes between Zaun and Noxus, which means it'll be easy for someone to disguise themselves as a merchant. Don't talk to anyone other than us, and make sure that our prisoner isn't able to get any outside interactions."

"Well, what if I need to pee?" Jayce interjected, drawing a pained glance from each of the guards.

"I'll throw in a bucket," Diana shot back. "Anyway, I'll turn on the soundproof force walls for the cage so no one will be able to hear him. We should be safe once we reach the mountain pass." The two guards nodded in unison, and walked back over to Jayce.

"Hey you two, listen," Jayce started chatting up the guards. "I think-" Abruptly, his voice was cut off, and one of the guards looked at Diana, who was holding the controller. She shook her head at them, and walked back in front. "Let's go," she ordered.

They continued on as before, but Diana once again stopped the group after a short while. "I think we should disguise our... cargo," she said carefully. "Throw a blanket over him and it'll look like we're carrying an animal. Which he pretty much is," she added in under her breath.

The guards nodded, and one of them took a cloth out of his pack, draping it over Jayce's cage so that he could only see out of a small sliver of it by hunching down and pressing his cheek against the floor. "This is completely unfair," he complained from inside the cage, though no one could hear. Diana nodded in satisfaction, and they once again moved on.

Two days passed without event, and the mountains loomed up ahead, the pass just within sight. "After the pass, we should reach the rendezvous in another three," Diana informed the guards. Jayce's heart sunk, and he sighed. He could only prepare himself for the inevitable.

Suddenly, one of his guards lurched forward as if pushed. Jayce crouched down, just in time to see the guard fall to ground, a pool of blood forming around his head. Boom, headshot? That could only be...

Diana gritted her teeth, drawing her crescent blade just in time to deflect a bullet aimed straight for her heart. She looked at where the bullet came from, and saw Caitlyn taking aim once again. Diana leapt into action, rushing straight for the sniper. She zigzagged through Caitlyn's barrage of bullets, until she was close enough to send a burst of lunar energy from her blade straight at the sheriff. Caitlyn took careful aim and shot a net at Diana, sending the Piltover woman flying back. Diana quickly cut through the net, but before she could run to face her adversary, she heard a scream from near the cage.

Looking back, she saw the other guard fall as Ezreal's bow retracted back into his gauntlet. He also raised his head to look at her, but then pulled the cloth off the cage, revealing the bloody Jayce. His mouth dropped the slightest bit before he said, "We'll get you out of here, I promise."

Jayce nodded, drawing a finger over his lips to signal he wouldn't bother talking. Ezreal took it differently, swinging around, his bow drawn so quickly that it sparked with mystical energy. Ezreal charged up his attack for a few seconds, before letting loose with a huge barrage of energy, aimed straight for Diana. "Hmph," she snorted. "I think it's about time they find out the special properties of that cage." She stood still, much to Caitlyn and Ezreal's bemusement, as the attack passed straight through her.

The explorer caught a glimpse of movement through his peripheral vision, and he turned to see Jayce writhing in pain, electricity surging from the walls and into his body.

"Stop!" Caitlyn yelled at Diana, fury written all over her features. Diana, no worse for wear, laughed. "That's right honeybuns," she hissed. "You try to kill me, and he dies instead. So what now?"

Ezreal started up towards the two women. "Noxians... I hate you guys," he snarled.

"I wouldn't bother fighting," Diana laughed. "I can just knock you all out and take three prizes instead of one. Any blow you make will just harm your friend more."

The two Piltover friends glanced at each other, knowing she spoke the truth. "Retreat for now, Caitlyn," Ezreal urged her. "We will rescue him." Caitlyn's eyes watered at the prospect of leaving Jayce behind for a second time. "We can't win this," he prodded. Finally, Caitlyn nodded, and the two of them turned back towards Piltover.

"I swear, once this is all over..." Caitlyn glared at Diana. "You'll be the first one I kill."

Diana chuckled, brushing off her threat. "You can try, sweetheart. You can try."