Chapter IX


"The Winter's Claw?"

"No. It was Vayne."

Ashe frowned. She let out a frustrated sigh and rubbed her hands over her face. Stray locks of hair fell over her eyes but she didn't care anymore.

"Who received Jarvan's call?"

Tryndamere shifted his weight from foot to foot, looking down at Ashe sitting at her desk. He hesitated briefly before answering, "Gragas."

"I want to speak to him."

He nodded and headed out. Before long, a large man stepped in, the button on his suit holding on by just a thread.

"Sit down," Ashe said calmly and he took a chair opposite her. "What did Jarvan say when he radioed you?"

He cleared his throat. "He said our tanks were coming in and that he hadn't agreed to this. He was angry and his voice crackled over the radio and I couldn't understand everyth-"

"And what did you do?"

He swallowed hard. "I told him we did as he asked."

"And how did he respond?"

"There was silence over the radio for a moment and I waited for his message to come through. Then there were voices. Then he yelled that we order them to retreat."

"Did you?"

"Of course. I tried to get through to the soldiers we sent but their radio must have died. They didn't reply, but I assumed the message got through anyway and-"

Ashe's hands came down onto the table with a loud bang. "You assumed?! They didn't reply and yet they somehow must have heard you?"

"Ashe I-"

"You compromised a whole alliance is what you did, Gragas. And the lives of so many."

The man avoided her gaze and took a deep breath. "I didn't know what else to do."

"Did you tell anyone else? Who did you inform straight away?"

"I got the sergeant on duty to tell General Tryndamere and-"

"When was this?"

"When Jarvan's line went silent."

Ashe nodded. "That was too late."

Gragas agreed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry. It won't happen again."

"I can assure you it won't." He let out a sigh of relief and got up to go.

"Take him."

"What?" He whipped round in time to see the two men grab him. He writhed against their grip but they restrained him and placed him in cuffs. "What's going on? Ashe? Ashe!"

"That'll teach you for working while drunk. Drown him in the cellar."

Gragas was dragged out and forced into the elevator where he was tasered and collapsed to the ground. His breathing was desperate and he begged the guards to let him go. He tried to bargain with them but they were emotionless behind their black suits. Finally, he was dragged out onto the cold stone floor of the cellar and brought to a torture room.

Ironically, he had been here many times. The smell of the wine he had down here as he was carrying out his orders still reeked and he closed his eyes and wept silently. The screams of all the people he killed and tortured were about to become his own.

Tryndamere appeared. He caught a glance of him enough to notice him putting a pair of black leather gloves on and lifting a bandana over his mouth and nose against the smell. He didn't say anything as he chained Gragas to the shackles on the wall, his arms pulled taut above his head as he kneeled on the ground. His torso hung down, defeated and his red hair fell over his face to hide his shame.

"To hell with you," Tryndamere whispered as he poured a keg of wine over Gragas' head.

The shackled man shook his head and spat out some of the wine that made its way onto his face. Tryndamere wasn't pleased with the way it was going.

"Hold his face up," he said to the two guards and they grabbed Gragas' hair and held his neck craned upwards. He winced and gasped from under his wine drenched beard.

Tryndamere forced him to drink from another keg, forcing the wine down his throat. Gragas gulped desperately in an attempt not to choke when Tryndamere threw the keg to the ground and grabbed his throat. He tightened his grip around his pulsing neck, watching his face redden and his eyes open wide. He tried to choke and gasp and his chest rocked violently.

Tryndamere let go. A grin was making its way onto his face.

Gragas coughed up drops of wine before gasping for air.

The General grabbed one last keg and lifted it up for Gragas to see.

"You'll like this one."

He jammed the opening between his jaws again and forced him to drink. After the first mouthful, Gragas writhed once more and attempted to scream from beneath the liquid and his pried open mouth, but only muffled, pathetic groans came out. He began to froth at the mouth as he felt his throat burn until the corroding substance leaked into his lungs. He felt it burn his chest.

Blood now escaped his lips as the acid ate its way through his mouth.

Satisfied, Tryndamere let the keg drop and watched Gragas gurgle up his own blood as he struggled to breathe.

"Rot in hell," the General said, before leaving him to die alone. The guards followed him out, and they never even bothered to clear the corpse away, leaving the froth-corrupted man to lie lifeless in his shackles.


Quinn burst into the kitchen of Ekko's cafe. All heads turned towards her and no one said anything for a moment until Shyvana and Fiora also joined them.

"So what's the plan?" Shyvana asked excitedly.

She made herself comfortable on a stool and helped herself to a cinnamon bun, which no one minded.

Vayne sighed. "Well there's obviously been an interesting turn of events." Her gaze never left Quinn, making her cheeks burn. "But we hope to get back on track as soon as we can and move on to the next phase."

"Unless, of course, Quinn has another plan she wants to show us?" Leona added.

Fiora glared at her momentarily.

Quinn cleared her throat. "I have nothing, my earpiece is gone and all ties to-"

"We know. Fiora told us. You don't have to explain yourself anymore." Vayne picked up a stack of papers that she had in front of her on the table and handed them out.

"I think the next obvious target is securing key supply points before Noxus gets to them. With the death of Demacia they're sure to want to scavenge whatever they can."

"Wait," Diana began, "You mean to tell me that after everything we did, our next step is to just steal pointless shit?"

"Well actually, it's worth a lot of money and if-"

"That's bullshit. We need to keep fighting."

"Diana, please-"

"Here's what I think we should be doing instead - set up traps around key points and take hostages so we can find out the best way to infiltrate Noxus."

"I'm not taking prisoners, Diana."

"Guys," Ekko interrupted them, "I also think you should know something first." They all looked at him expectantly as he seemed to be searching for the right words to continue. "Someone got in touch with me a couple hours ago. She said she heard what we did and she's been questioning her stance on everything ever since... well you know, ever since Cait's death and-"

"Who is it, Ekko?" Vayne butted in.

"It's Vi."

There was a period of silence as they looked at each other, piecing the information together. Diana broke the silence as she burst out laughing.

"You're kidding," she said. "She finally got in touch after all these years of doing jackshit?"

Ekko straightened up. "She wasn't doing jackshit."

"Bullshit. She's been sitting on her ass all along and now she wants to get in touch when things are actually taking off."

"That's not true Diana. She's been giving us ammo and weapons and-"

"And sitting on her ass."

"She had a job to keep."

Diana rolled her eyes. "So did Cait. Until she realized there were more important things to be fighting for."

Ekko looked away defeated.

"We don't get to judge the decisions others make," Jhin said. "Our mistakes are not shackles, but scripts that can be scrapped and rewritten."

"Anyway, what did she say?" Vayne asked.

"She said the police have caught an interesting trail, and they wanted our help with it. She wants us to team up with them."

"And what trail are we talking about?"

"She couldn't say. Classified police business or something. But if we were to agree on her deal we'd get in on it. She said it was a good chance it would move us forward. I think it's the best we have at the moment unless you guys want to go back to calling dibs on old storehouses."

"I need time to think it over," Vayne replied.

"I said I'd get back to her as soon as I can."

Vayne sighed. "Fine. Call her and say we're in."

Ekko nodded and went outside to make the phone call.


Vi's cell phone buzzed in her pocket and she set down her doughnut to answer it, her feet up on her desk. She didn't take her eyes away from her computer screen.

"Hello, Officer Vi speaking."

"It's me."

"Ah good, you remembered me."

"Vayne agreed to your deal. Now tell us what you got."

"You sitting down?"

"I'm good."

She chuckled. "Your call. You ever done drugs?"

Ekko frowned. "No? What the-"

"Good because we have some solid leads into the current wave of drugs going around the city and-"

"So all you're doing is hunting down druggies? This won't help anyone."

"No, you dumbass. Lemme finish. The Frostguard developed a pharmaceutical sector. They're pumping drugs out around the city and the results are terrifying. They're... transforming people."

"Bullshit. I ain't ever seen no mutant round here."

"Look harder. Sightings are coming in from the North. We don't know what they're doing to people but they're... monstrous. I've emailed you some photos we have of the sightings."

"What's our job?"

"I'm deploying a team to investigate the Frostguard. I need all of you on it."

"I'll let Vayne know immediately."

Ekko hung up and checked his emails. He was frustrated at the lack of information he got and at the fact that he didn't think it was helping them get any closer to bringing the mafia down. He logged in and sure enough, there was a new email from Vi. He opened the attachment.

His eyes widened and he felt his throat tighten. He locked his phone and headed back into the kitchen to tell the others, the image of the drugged man ingrained into the back of his mind. He felt sick and his stomach burnt.

He told the others. Quinn's thoughts jumped back to what she saw in the basement of Demacia as soon as she laid eyes on the photo. She rushed into the bathroom and threw up, both with disgust and fear.


What's our next plan, Sejuani?" Udyr asked.

Udyr, Volibear, Olaf, and Sejuani were gathered in the conference once more, seated around the table with Sejuani at its end.

All operations and plans had been put on hold while Sejuani had withdrawn from the others. "She's just angry that our plan with Quinn didn't work out." Udyr had told the others, though that's not what he was told to say. No one was told anything, but Udyr knew better than to let them make their own assumptions, so he made sure they had a clear reason for Sejuani's disappearance. "It would be a bad idea to come up with anything while she's still fuming with rage." He kept telling them, and they believed him thankfully.

He had gone to see her to bring her something to eat and to make sure she was ok. He knew that she didn't want to talk but he saw right through her. He squeezed her shoulder and gave her the time she needed. He would talk to her when she felt ready for it.

"The Avarossan surely took a blow after Demacia's fall. They won't be back on the radar for some time now," Sejuani began. "That means only one thing to us."

"We turn our attention to the Frostguard," Volibear chimed in.

"Exactly. It won't be easy, we'd have to send scouts further North to gather the information we need. I want one of you to lead a team of them. I want to know what they've gained since we last tangled with them."

"I'll do it," Olaf offered.

Sejuani nodded. "I'll get the equipment you need ready. That will be all for now."

Olaf and Volibear looked at each other for a moment, obviously expecting the meeting to be more productive, but Sejuani had already packed up and headed towards the door. Udyr followed her and shortly they were out of sight.

Sejuani stepped into the elevator and Udyr hurried in after her.

As the doors closed he turned to face her. "You alright?"

She kept her gaze on the doors. "I'm fine. I don't know why you'd think otherwise. It was only a minor setback." Her face didn't show any emotion.

Udyr frowned. "We've had bigger setbacks than that and this has never happened."

"I was busy thinking."

"And yet you didn't come up with much for this meeting."

The doors opened and led onto the ground floor. "I'm not done thinking."

She stepped out and headed outside, but Udyr followed her into the cold. "Would you like any help?" he asked.

She stopped suddenly and turned to look at him. "What?"

He hesitated. "Help. I asked if you needed help."

Her face darkened. "What makes you think I do?" Her voice was lower and Udyr could sense she was moments away from yelling, but he smiled.

"That's the Sejuani I know. I'm glad she's back."

She smiled back, now at ease that he wasn't suspicious of her.

Truly, he just wasn't letting his suspicions show any more.