The Caracalla family home was truly an impressive building. Elegantly large with four stories facing out into the ocean, it is a rather solitary estate for one of Piltover's more illustrious families. Raymond and Edmund Caracalla, the two brothers who brought the family into prominence both in commerce and politics respectively were the ones who built this estate. They were also Hector's grandfather and granduncle, the former title belonging to the elder Raymond and the latter belonging to the younger of the two. Hector's father, Joseph, a tall human male with the tanned skin of his father and the brown eyes of his mother, chose to enter the military instead of immediately following his father into commerce and by the time he was 40, reached the rank of Commodore (1-star admiral) in Piltover's small airship fleet. He then retired and took over the family business from his father, who was pushing his 75th year at that time (Edmund was 73 at this time). Fortunately, during his career as a soldier, Joseph met and married Allura Goltorah, a young adult elf from a very well respected family and the two have enjoyed a loving 30-year marriage. Through this marriage, they bore three children: Hector, his twin Cato, and his younger sister Helena, who was five years younger than the twins.

The twins could not have been more similar, yet at the same time more different. While they both displayed incredible intellectual acumen and looked very similarly physically (though Cato was a great deal paler than Hector), Cato focused more on technology and invention, Hector was drawn to puzzles, books, and the physical world. This led to Cato setting up a Magical, Hextech, and Black Powder weapons department in the Caracalla business and was set to be the one to inherit the title as head of the company (and by extension the family) over Hector. Hector himself didn't mind this one bit as by this point, he had already set himself up as a private detective and a consultant for the Piltover Wardens and was living a nice if modest, life. Another thing that separated the two brothers was their love life. Prior to his finding out of his feelings for Caitlyn, Hector clung firmly to his bachelorhood while Cato married Roberta Deguin, a member of a high political family and was rather happy with her. They moved into a two-story house with Hector in a more central part of Piltover and had even started a family, starting the fourth major generation of the Caracalla family with little Nila.

Helena was something else entirely, she was born with wits to match (if not exceed) her elder brothers and with her grandfather's business acumen. If not for her age, she would have been the one to succeed her father as head; but now, she was the prospective number two for Cato's term as the head. This was until five years ago when everything changed, Hector can still remember as if it had happened the day before: Roberta and Nila were sitting in the living room with Roberta reading her daughter a story while Hector sat with Helena at a desk (Hector had been conscripted by his sister to help organize some papers) and Cato was rather late for some reason, though they all trusted that he would be back soon. That is until there was a loud pounding at the door. Opening it up, Hector was met face to face with Caitlyn, who had to have had the saddest expression on her face. It didn't take a genius to infer that something had happened. It had been revealed that the murderer was the elusive serial killer C. After that, the Caracalla family has been at the same time very distant yet very close. Hector and Helena became even more devoted to each other as brother and sister though Hector still kept himself at a distance as he had lost his brother and best friend. Roberta moved back in with her family and didn't really speak to Hector for the last few years though recently has begun speaking to him again. Nila suffered the worst as she lost her father forever but was too young to understand. It was also that night that Hector swore to himself that he would hunt down C for this offense.


Hector pushed these memories out of his head as he approached the house. Looking up, he saw that the party had already started. Whitish yellow light shone out of the house, making a stark contrast with the dark sky behind it.

"Sir, we have to check you for weapons." said a voice next to him that shook him out of his musings. Looking left, he saw a man dressed in a navy blue suit, it was a member of the security team that protected the estate. "I'm sorry Mr. Hector but it's the rules."

"I know, I know," responded Hector as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a four-barreled pepperbox pistol, the first one he ever made with Cato and one that he kept on his person at all times, affectionately named: Small Beginnings. "Careful with it, it's loaded." he said as he handed it over. The Guard simply nodded as he put the gun in the small guard box that next to the gate leading up into the property. After handing Small Beginnings over, Hector went up into the house and saw that about twenty families were gathering in the main hall, which was the first room that one would see when entering the house. Behind that main hall, there was the dining/banquet hall and behind that, there was a large balcony facing out into the ocean.

"Hector?" said a soft voice from Hector's right. Hector turned and was face to face with an Elven woman, with blue eyes and pale skin with black hair braided in an elegant fashion and wearing a fashionable green dress. It was Allura, his mother.

"Hey mom, I made it." Allura embraced her son and thanked him for coming before bringing him to see his grandfather and granduncle, both of whom were sitting on one of the main hall's benches. "Sir Raymond, Sir Edmund, Hector's here." Hector squatted down so that he was eye level with both of the elder Caracalla men.

"Grandfather, Granduncle, it's good to see you. You both seem to be in good health."

"Indeed." responded Edmund as he placed a hand on Hector's shoulder, "You seem to be doing well yourself my boy."

"Yes," continued Raymond, "word has gotten around that you've been proving yourself to be quite a detective."

"Well," said Hector, scratching the back of his head a bit embarrassed, "I still have a long way to go."

"Nonsense," responded Raymond, letting out a hearty laugh, "Your mind is one of the best I've seen. I believe that you'll eventually become one of the best that Piltover has seen."

"Thank you Grandfather." said Hector as he rose and turned to his mother, "Where's Helena and father?"

"Your father is over there with some of his business friends," Allura pointed her finger to the center of the hall where Joseph stood surrounded by several men, talking intently, "and your sister is over there with some of her friends." Hector once again followed her finger to see Helena, with her black hair, pale skin, and brown eyes, laughing happily with some girls her age.

"Did Roberta come?" Hector didn't know if an invitation was directed at her, but he knew that his mother would definitely have sent an invitation.

"No, she didn't, she says tomorrow's the day and she wanted to prepare." Hector froze and his heart sank a bit, he had forgotten that tomorrow was the fifth anniversary of Cato's death.

"I see, I guess that would make sense." he said quietly before making his way across the hall to Helena. When his sister caught sight of him, her eyes widened and her face beamed.

"Big brother!" she said happily as she ran across and practically jumped onto her brother.

"Hey, hey, hey!" said Hector happily as he spun her around. She was a least a half foot shorter than him so he had to look down while she had to look up.

"I thought you weren't coming."

"To be honest, I completely forgot until Conder came to my office."

"I see, how've you been?"

"The same as before, nothing much has happened recently. Consulting a bit here and there."

"That's amazing. For me, it's been meeting after meeting. It's tedious."

"But you're good at it."

"Yeah, but still."

"All right, I'm going to see dad, have fun with your friends." Helena nodded and then headed back to her friends while Hector went to the center of the hall and stood quietly within the sight line of his father. When his father saw him, he excused himself from his friends and made his way over to his son. His 6'0 built frame stood face to face with Hector. "Hey dad." he said firmly. Joseph gave a small smile.

"Hello Hector, I'm glad that you could make it. How have you been?"

"I've been great. Business is fine." Joseph's face twitched a slight bit before smiling again.

"That's good, I hope you can enjoy the party."

"Thank you, I will." Joseph then turned on his heel with military precision and headed back to his friends. Hector let out a deep sigh and headed into the banquet hall, filled a small plate with food, grabbed a drink and headed to the balcony, it hadn't even been ten minutes and already he needed some air. Once outside, he set his plate on the balcony and stood there sipping his drink and looking out into the night sea, occasionally munching on some of the food on the plate beside him. Then, he heard footsteps behind him, a distinct clack of heels on marble.

"I thought that you'd be out here." said a familiar voice." Hector didn't even have to turn to know who it was.

"Hey, Cait."

"You know, I was playing a little game with myself to see how long you'd last before coming out here, guess I owe myself some cash." she said in a joking tone. Hector chuckled before offering her some of the food to which she took a small piece of pineapple. Caitlyn was wearing her hair in a braid that went down her lower back, a blue sleeveless corset dress, and blue heels. Hector thought that she looked stunning, to which he told her and she answered with a smile before asking him to dance with her. Hector, not the best dancer in the world, agreed after some hesitation.


It was nearly eleven when Hector returned to his shop, which is, in actuality, Cato's former home, which was left to him by Roberta. Entering his room, he tossed his coat onto his bed and changed into some working clothes before heading down into the basement where Cato kept his workshop.

Sitting at the work desk, he looked at his current project, an improvement of the six barreled pepperbox that he created a few years before. He felt that he was on the cusp of discovering something new but he figured that an improvement to the pepperbox first was necessary. This, the pepperbox version 2, would change some of the fundamental looks of the firearm (it would have the six barrels of a regular pepperbox and the handle part of a revolver) and reduce the chances of it jamming. He had dismantled his previous pepperbox: A Lone Prayer in order to create this version and had spent the last ten days putting it all together. He figured that he could finally assemble it completely, so he got to work putting it together: Placing the barrels into the firing chamber and then into the revolving axis in the center of the gun. Screwed the barrels in tightly so that it would fly off in combat and checked the single action hammer to see if it was working correctly.

Overall, it took him a half hour to fully assemble the weapon and check if was working correctly in every place. Now, all that was needed was a live fire test. Looking through a drawer, Hector found the stone that held a silence spell that Cato had created for this purpose and then loaded the pepperbox with six rounds. Holding the stone in his off hand, Hector spoke the command word and then all noise around him ceased. Quickly, he kicked a chair over and sure enough, no noise. He then quickly made his way over to the little firing range that he kept in the workshop and pointed the new gun at a target and squeezed the trigger six times. Six silent flashes shone as the bullets pounded into the target, tearing off parts of the hay and leather that held it together, and as a special trait of the barrels, the final shot packed a bit more of a punch due to the hextech accelerator (courtesy of a birthday gift from Caitlyn) installed in it. Satisfied, Hector dispelled the magic and then headed back to his room, placed the new pepperbox that he decided to call Studiopolis Zone on the bedside table alongside Small Beginnings, took off his clothes and then collapsed onto the bed and immediately passed out.