Chapter 2
A Desperate Plan
"Well that could have gone better," Vi lamented to herself.
She was back in Piltover, along with her partner Caitlyn. In a League match when one is slain the fountain of life within each team's headquarters will revive the fallen champion in order to continue the battle, until one team's nexus of power is destroyed of course.
Unfortunately for the Piltover Enforcer's however when the Pridestalker, known as Rengar, slew both women he did destroy their nexus of power and everyone was returned home.
"It was for the best," Vi muttered to herself, her place was in Piltover, her beloved, and terrorized, city-state.
"What was?" asked Jayce, another renowned Piltover citizen, also a good friend of the enforcer's.
The two of them were in Jayce's work shop, Vi typically went there to blow off steam, she cared deeply for Caitlyn but the sheriff was always business and Vi needed the occasional break. Jayce was as laid back as they came in their city-state, and he could almost always be found in that same exact spot, tinkering away.
He stood up from his workbench, where he had his massive Mercury Hammer laid out before him. "Just talk to me, something is obviously bothering you Vi, you've barely said a single word to me this whole time, usually I can't shut you up," he teased, hoping to lighten the mood.
It didn't work, Vi looked directly at him, eyes squinted with subtle threats of broken bones.
With a gulp he pressed on anyways, "just answer this then, are you upset due to your lose to the Pridestalker, or is the Loose Cannon of Piltover still got you down?"
"How can you even ask that!?" Vi exploded.
She didn't know where her sudden anger came from, Jayce meant nothing ill, but how could he even think Jinx wasn't constantly on her mind, the psycho was destroying her home!
"I'm sorry," she started again, "it's just that I can barely even sleep these days, not when Jinx could destroy a building, a district, or even the city itself at any moment, I have to be ready."
With a sigh Jayce leaned up against the same wall Vi was resting on, "Jinx won't destroy our city yet, this is her playground, you her favorite toy, no offense," he quickly added when he noted Vi's heated glance, "and she knows that she needs all the parts of this city turning in order to keep her game alive."
The thought was sobering for the Enforcer, that she was just a pawn in Jinx's game, the psycho's favorite pawn in fact, but Jayce was right. She had to relax and get some sleep in order to stay alert, if she continued down this rode Jinx would out smart her on every turn.
With that realization in mind she bid her friend farewell and thanked him before heading off to her place to catch some much needed rest.
*LATER*
"Oh, who am I kidding?" Vi asked herself later that night, as she sat at the bar of a local pub.
She had gone home intending to get some well needed rest, but surprisingly the image of that savage hunter, Rengar, slaying Caitlyn right in front of her kept popping up in her mind. She knew it had not been real, but the thought of it happening due to that Loose Cannon was all too real, and she couldn't let the sheriff see her in such a state of worry, it was embarrassing, so she decided to try drinking away her worries.
The pub was fairly packed that night, many wanting to buy their local hero a drink, but Vi just wanted to be left alone to her thoughts this time.
She had to find someway to relax herself, she had to forget both Rengar and Jinx somehow, it was the only way to ease her head that night, that and her drink of course.
A strange thought came to her mind just then, and she pictured the Pridestalker and the Loose Cannon killing each other, in cold blood, for real.
"Another?" the barkeep asked, pulling her away from those dark thoughts. She nodded and he slid another her way.
But had those thoughts been so dark? Wouldn't Piltover, or even Valoran as a whole, be better off without those two? Would that not make them goodly thoughts?
No, Vi knew better, thoughts of death were dark ones indeed, but she was in a dark place herself these days, so she welcomed them.
As if on queue then she overheard some patrons behind her babbling about Ezreal, the Prodigal Explorer, and how he was heading out to the Kumungu Jungle that very night to do some research.
She jumped up without a second thought and slammed her hands down on their table to grab their immediate attention.
"Where is Ezreal going?" she demanded. With a confused look the one who had just mentioned him spoke up again, "we heard he was heading to the Kumungu Jungle, to do some research…"
She had tuned him out already, the Kumungu Jungle was where Rengar supposedly resided, and her plan of action began to take shape in her troubled mind.
"Vi? You there?" She looked up, realizing he had finished his whole explanation already. "When is he leaving?" She asked him, garnering another concerned look, "this very night, he may very well already be on his way now."
With that last bit she bolted out of the establishment and down the road towards Ezreal's residence, she had to hurry!
*LATER*
What an exciting trip this would be, Ezeal thought as he packed all the gear he needed.
He had made an interesting discovery, involving a dark figure depicted on almost all of Valoran's nations architecture and art, so now he was off to the Jungle to see if he could find more.
However his excitement was put on hold as he heard a furious knocking at his front door.
"Who is it?" He shouted, and as an answer his door burst open, flying off the hinges, and sending the poor Ezreal spinning through the air to land hard a few paces back, to reveal a flustered Piltover Enforcer standing in the opening.
She just knocked down my door? He thought to himself as he brushed his blonde locks out of his face thinking maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, and in such shock of the moment he didn't even realize he hadn't even bothered to ask it out loud.
"I'm going with you!" Vi announced to him suddenly, bringing the explorer back to reality.
"You're what?... Where?... Why?" He had too many questions to sort out apparently.
"To the Kumungu Jungle Ezreal, I need to find Rengar!"
The vocalization of her thoughts had him reeling a bit, why the Pridestalker?
"I do not know where the cat lives though Vi, it's only rumored he resides in the Jungle." He was being completely honest to her, no one knew for sure where he lived, he wasn't exactly a social butterfly among the Institute of War's champions.
However, a thought did come to the prodigy then.
"I might know someone who does though," and with that Vi's expression changed from utter defeat to one of true hope, what was she playing at? Ezreal couldn't help but wonder, what was Rengar to Vi? It didn't matter though, he saw his chance and he was going to take it.
"On one condition though!" he announced. "Name it," Vi responded without missing a step, she was surely baffling the poor prodigy this night.
"I need a new telescope, my current one has cracked, and I hear Jayce has developed a new form of goggles that allow the wearer to zoom in and out at will. I'd like a telescope with that technology."
Again, without missing a single step, Vi responded with an immediate "Deal!"
Ezreal thought himself clever for bartering such a deal, he didn't actually need a new telescope and he didn't even know if she could convince Jayce to make what he wanted, but he didn't think Vi would have cared at that moment even if he had told her the truth. She was up to something, something involving the dangerous Pridestalker, and just that fact alone made the explorer dislike it.
But it was too late to reconsider anyways, and they set out for the Kumungu Jungle that night, in search of the first cat on their new list of the things do.
