Chapter 4

The look of betrayal on Caitlyn's face was still fresh in Vi's mind as she swung a leg over her hexbike. She exhaled hard and put on her wind visor, trying to focus on her current task. She stomped on the starter hard and the machine roared to life beneath her. She felt a sense of comfort from the bike's rumbling and relaxed slightly. Ensuring that her gauntlets were stored securely in their holsters at each side of the bike, Vi grasped the the throttle and released the clutch. The hexbike shot forward towards the exit of the garage. Vi ducked her head slightly to narrowly avoid losing it on the barely-open garage door as she screamed past. Her tires squealed in protest against the stone street as she turned onto Progress Avenue. The wind whipped her dyed hair into a frenzied dance as she sped down the artificially-lit streets of Piltover. The lights passed her in a blur as she careened down the almost deserted streets. Vi lived for moments like this. The moment Caitlyn has presented the bike to her as a gift for breaking up the Alturi crime syndicate, Vi took to it instantly. Any moment that she wasn't working on a case, she was working on the bike. It was her pride and joy. She had caused Caitlyn several agonizing headaches as she spent countless hours looking for Vi after she had taken off on her bike. The times where all there was in the world was Vi and the road beneath her were the times where she felt free. As she expertly maneuvered around a hextruck pulling out from an alleyway, Vi began to feel that sense of freedom that she loved so much.


Unfortunately, the feeling faded as quickly as it came as the flash of red and blue police lights signaled that she was nearing the crime scene. A policewoman flanked with Sentry Bots waved Vi down as she rolled to a halt. Vi felt a twinge of sadness as the hexbike powered down beneath her, but quickly turned her attention to the approaching policewoman. She took off her visor and lept off the bike, lifting her chin slightly as a greeting. "Sup." The policewoman paused momentarily to salute Vi.

"Ma'am."

She glanced around, frowning. "Where is Sheriff Caitlyn?"

Vi forced down the pang of guilt that welled up at the mention of Caitlyn. Instead, she cracked her neck and turned to don her gauntlets. "She's busy. I can handle this." Her gauntlet hissed and whirred as it came to life. Vi curled them into fists and nodded in satisfaction. The policewoman spoke to Vi's turned back, and Vi could hear the concern in her voice.

"Enforcer Vi, I don't know if this situation can be handled alone. Maybe we should wait for-"

Vi felt her temper flare up as she turned on the policewoman.

"I said I can handle it now just tell me where the blue haired bitch is!"

Vi never really cared much about the other officers in the police force, and in fact viewed most of them as a nuisance most of the time. But this time she knew she was just taking her anger out on them. It was evident by the shocked look on the policewoman's face. It reminded her of how Caitlyn looked at her before she left. Averting her gaze, Vi continued on as if her outburst had never happened. "Give me the situation, tell me where she is, and I'll take her down."

The policewoman fumbled for words momentarily.

"I...well...err...We-we've managed to contain her on Jager Street, but I only believe it's because she's letting us. I had a feeling she was waiting for you and Officer Caitlyn. We sent in a strike team before you arrived to get the remaining civilians out and maybe take her down, but we haven't heard-"

The policewoman was interrupted by a massive explosion. A large brightly colored ball of flame burst from around the corner. Vi grimaced and charged forward, shouting orders to the officer behind her. "Get your people clear and leave this to me! This is my fight now!"


Vi rounded the corner and was greeted with a scene she was all too familiar with. Flaming debris was strewn all over the street. Most of the nearby buildings were littered with graffiti, most of which depicted poorly drawn versions of her and Cait with their perspective nicknames, Hat Lady and Fat Hands, scribbled underneath along with gratuitous profanity. What wasn't destroyed, scorched, or drawn-on was riddled with bullet holes. Sitting in the middle of the intersection on a makeshift throne of various parts of fallen Sentry Bots, was the loose cannon herself. Jinx flipped around one of her ponytails lazily as she moved the bottom part of the shark's mouth on her rocket launcher, talking to herself in a low voice.

"You know, it isn't very nice to cause all this destruction when the police are already busy with those murders."

Jinx growled and smacked the rocket launcher off her throne, causing it to fall to the ground. "Ugh, you stupid gun! It's been soooooooo boring! Hat Lady and Fat Hands haven't been able to play cuz of this stupid guy. It's like they forgot about me!"

Vi took a menacing step forward and shouted at Jinx.

"Hey pain-in-the-ass!"

Jinx swung herself around in her throne to look at Vi upside down. Vi felt her fury rising as she saw the look of joy in the young criminal's eyes. Slamming her fist into her hand, Vi grinned darkly. "Don't worry. I'll only forget you when I've beat your skull in."

Jinx let out a burst of the laughter that Vi hated so much. Flipping herself rightside up, she grabbed her machine gun from her hip and leveled it at Vi. "Pfffft! Yeah, like THAT'LL ever happen." Vi saw the barrel begin to spin and only brought up her gauntlet just in time as the barrage began. Bullets flew all around her and pounded against the face of her gauntlet as Vi dashed for cover. She found refuge from the attack behind a large chunk of debris that had fallen off a building during one of Jinx's rocket strikes. Over the gunfire, Vi could hear Jinx's maddening cackles. "Quit hiding and keep dancin', FAT HANDS!" Vi prepared to throw some choice words back at her, but as her gaze lowered, her words died on her lips. Beneath the large chunk of building that currently shielded her, an arm protruded from beneath it. The fingernails on the forefinger were worn to bloody stump. Underneath the arm, scratched into the stone street, was the word "Help." Vi stared at the arm. She didn't even flinch as a bullet grazed her cheek, causing a small rivulet of crimson to slowly fall down her cheek. The world began to fall away. Why...Why could she do nothing? People were dying left and right in her city, and all she could do was watch.

Enough...

Vi clenched her fists, her gauntlets releasing steam as several hundred pounds of pressure built within them.

I'm sick of this.

She pulled back her fists, her whole body shaking with a rage that threatened to consume her. The barrage of bullets stopped for a moment as Jinx reloaded, shouting jeers at Vi as she did. "Jeez, what's with you Fat Hands? Ever since those people got themselves all ripped up, you and Hat Lady aren't any fun! Oooo, maybe I should start tearing up people too~!"

Vi felt something in her snap. A little voice in the back of her mind whispered the simple answer she always wanted to hear.

To hell with whatever's in my way. Kill her.

With a feral scream, Vi unleashed the full force of her gauntlets on her debris cover, shattering the concrete and sending it flying towards Jinx like bullets. The lunatic criminal was caught off guard by the attack, but managed to duck behind her makeshift throne at the last second. Snatching up Fishbones from the ground nearby, Jinx looked down the sights to see Vi's fist barreling towards her. Jinx quickly dove to the side, narrowly dodging Vi's attack. Vi spun on her heel...only to find her face full of grenades. With a furious grunt, Vi swiped her arm to the side, knocking the grenades away. They flew into a nearby building and exploded, bringing down the entire side of the complex. Jinx shielded herself against the dust, coughing. For the first time, she looked shocked at the sight of destruction. The look of shock quickly turned to one of glee as she squealed happily, unfazed by the menacingly advancing Vi. "Wow Fat Hands. I didn't think you had it in you! That was so COOL. Let's do it again!" She danced out of the way as Vi charged again. "Or not~", she giggled. Vi's violet eyes only held bloodlust. The pair continued their path of destruction down several more blocks. Vi didn't care about anything that got in her way. All she wanted was to feel Jinx's skull shatter in her clenched fist. A swift strike from Vi narrowly missed its mark as Jinx twirled away. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something that she thought she would never see. As she landed, the pink-haired woman's foot landed on a wayward piece of debris and she stumbled. Mustering every ounce of strength she had, Vi slammed her fist into the momentarily confused Jinx. She felt a surge of immense satisfaction as the loud crunch of Jinx's face made under her gauntlet. The criminal was sent flying into a nearby building. Cracks spiderwebbed in the concrete as Jinx struck it, falling to her knees in a daze. She coughed and blood splattered the ground before her. A shadow loomed over Jinx and she looked up at Vi's powerful visage. Blood dribbled from Jinx's lips as she chuckled weakly.

"Heh heh...not bad….Fat Hands…" Vi raised a fist slowly, the pressure in her gauntlet building to critical mass. She didn't plan on leaving anything left of Jinx.

"This is gonna hurt."

A repetitive beeping noise suddenly flared to life, causing her to pause. Her eyes flicked back and forth as she tried to locate the origin of the sound. She didn't notice Jinx's hand creeping towards one of her many, many belts.

"Ya know, Fat Hands...ya reeeeeeeeeally shouldn't ignore me...You never know what way I'll shock you next!" Bringing forth her trademark volt propulsion gun, she aimed at Vi's chest and pulled the trigger. The electric current struck Vi's metal chestplate, delivering a shock of several thousand volts. Vi's cry of pain was lost as the electricity surging through her body caused her muscles to clench. She was flung off of her feet by the spastic tightening of her muscles, and lay on the ground twitching. She could only watch as Jinx struggled to her feet and grinned weakly at her. "Close...but not close enough. We'll have to play again soon, Fat Hands~."

Vi tried to move, but the electricity still had a hold on her. Jinx limped over to pick up her machine gun, then vanished into the smoke and flames. The rage that had driven Vi on her rampage drained from her. With enormous effort, she lifted her gauntlet to her face. A small yellow light was blinking just beneath her pressure gage; the source of the beeping. It was an emergency signal that Caitlyn had her install in her gauntlet that only she had access to. It only flashed when Caitlyn was in mortal danger. Vi had never heard it before now. Pressing the release trigger that stopped the beeping, Vi hoisted herself to her feet. After a fleeting glance in the direction that Jinx ran off in, Vi shook her head violently and rushed back towards her bike to go save her partner.


Vi bit her bottom lip hard enough to break the skin as she lay eyes on the chaos of the police headquarters. Several bodies were strewn across the floor, slashed to ribbons, their faces contorted into expressions of shock and horror. Officers and paramedics scurried about in pandemonium, tending to the wounded.

"Vi!"

Vi turned to see the Chief of Police storming down the hallway, his arm covered in a bloody bandage. A paramedic seemed determined to try to get the Chief to stand still, but kept getting shrugged off. He gave up after the Chief stopped in front of Vi. In lieu of his usual disdain for her, Vi saw relief and worry in his eyes. "I'll be damned if it's good to see you in one piece."

Vi swallowed weakly and managed to choke out a response. "What...Happened here?"

Chief Linkon grimaced and averted his gaze. "We got hit out of nowhere. Some...creature came tearing in here. It took out nearly anyone standing in its way. That piece of filth managed to slip away during the confusion." Vi didn't need to hear a name to know that the Chief was talking about Simon. But at the moment, Simon was the last person on her mind.

"Where's Cait?"

The look on the Chief's face confirmed her fear. Even though she knew the answer, she still persisted to ask.

"WHERE'S CAIT?!"

Chief Linkon sighed and shook his head slowly.

"It took her, Vi. She's gone."