Convalescence
By: Eadon
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Riot; I just play with their characters.
Caitlyn was exhausted.
Than's trail was a perfectly clean one no matter how much she tried to look for anything out of the ordinary. There was nothing in his records that would explain why he would resort to violence against another officer, well ex-officer. Worse, Caitlyn failed to find a possible motive for the things he did to Vi.
The sheriff was so engrossed in reading over mountains of paperwork she jumped when a janitorial sentry bot entered her office before the night shift clocked in. With her mind finally out of its trance she became aware of two things. The first was of the orange rays that lit her office, night was rapidly approaching. The second was complaints from her stomach. Her head throbbed and her eyes were strained. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled as she rubbed her eyes.
A break was desperately needed; she would only make mistakes if she continued to strain herself. Luckily, the break room was empty and her lunch was left untouched in the fridge. She was tempted to eat her meal in her office, but she feared she'd just return to her investigation and forget about her food. It would be a few more minutes until the second shift poured in to place their own meals in the fridge so Caitlyn had that much time to eat in peace.
It was nearly impossible to clear her head, her mind continued to focus on her investigation as she ate. However, she was grateful for the distractions of the second shift officers greeting her as they came in and out of the room. Once she was done she visited the washroom and gave her face a thorough wash with cold water and then she picked up a cup of coffee before she retreated to her office.
She tackled her files and papers, but continued to hit dead ends. After her fourth cup of coffee she all but gave up. Her fingers rose to massage her temples and she squeezed her eyelids shut.
What am I missing, she thought to herself.
Among all these papers there was something that would give her the trail to Than's guilt, she knew there was, but she just couldn't find it.
Her time was running short. It was only a matter of time until Than took action and would finish what he started. When she rescued Vi she was terrified she had been too late. The image of Vi bloodied and still in a chair still disturbed her. She didn't want to see anything like that again.
Caitlyn bit her lip and felt her chest swell in sorrow and anger as memories of a scared, confused, and traumatized Vi cried on her shoulder. For all of the years she's known the woman she had never seen her shed a single tear. To see her friend succumb to such an emotional wreck hurt her so much.
New found determination cleaned Caitlyn's bodily aches and it somehow became a little easier for her to focus her thoughts.
Okay, I obviously can't find something from this angle. I need to find a different approach, she thought to herself.
She sat and stared at the mountains of paperwork she organized chronologically. Her eyes turned to the far left, the files of Than's and Vi's earlier life. They were connected somehow, and if she were to look at the paper trail from a different perspective then she would have to start from the beginning again.
Caitlyn grabbed the few papers she had and approached the board that stood in front of her desk. She pinned Than's papers on one side and the only thing she had on Vi's earlier life was the newspaper article about the miners that she set free, when she severed herself from her gang.
As the sheriff sipped on her fifth cup of coffee she mulled over what she had in front of her. Than grew up in the lap of luxury, he was raised by his aunt who was married to a wealthy statesman after he lost both his parents in an automobile accident.
Nothing connects them at this point of their lives, Caitlyn thought to herself.
She was about to remove the papers from the board when her eyes caught something in one of Than's files. When he was adopted by his aunt he took on her married last name. This bit of information wasn't anything spectacular, but she felt something in her gut. The feeling was like an itch that she couldn't reach. She scanned some of the other papers and found his original last name and something clicked.
One of the reasons Caitlyn was good at her job was that she never forgot information. Her eyes returned to the newspaper article about Vi's rescue of the trapped miners. She quickly read through each sentence without really reading it, she merely searched for Than's original last name and found it.
A small smile grew on her face as she finally found a trail to start on. She was sitting on the information but failed to see it because she was looking at it differently. The article included information on the good and bad impacts Vi's rescue had. She did free and save a group of miners by blasting an opening for them with her newfound gauntlets. However, when she cleared the blockage she also created instability within the cave. Rubble had fallen and injured five people and killed one.
The miner that was killed had Than's same last name.
Caitlyn went back to other papers about his family and found that he did have an older brother. She had the report of his death; he died at the scene of his job. She hadn't thought anything of it when she first read it. Again, she looked at the information wrong.
The smile on her face grew slightly bigger as she took up a marker and began writing on her board. There was a gap between the time Than's parents died and when he was adopted. The time gap didn't rouse any suspicion from her originally, she had assumed he was in foster care during that time.
Hours passed and Caitlyn finally had the tax information of Than's brother and found what she was looking for: proof that Than was being looked after by his brother. They lived together for several years before the tragedy that took the brothers life. It was then that Than was taken in by his aunt.
This is motive; Caitlyn thought to herself, he blames Vi for killing his brother.
Luckily for Vi, the law hadn't declared her responsible for the miners injuries and the one death. Okay, so she had a motive, but her work wasn't done. She had suspicions of how Vi's gauntlets were taken from under her nose, but she was too late to find any proof of it now. Then there was what Vi said when she was taken the night she got drunk and went home with a man. Was that man Than or could it have been the man Caitlyn killed when she rescued Vi? Or was it a completely different guy?
There were still a lot of questions that needed answers and evidence to back them up. At least Caitlyn made some progress. She took another sip of her coffee and tackled her papers again, she had a good feeling she was on the right track.
As tired as Jayce felt, especially after the light abuse his body took, he couldn't bring himself to sleep. He glanced at Vi, she still sat and leaned against the wall, her eyes closed. It was understandable for her to sleep, besides her taking a worse beating than he she's also had difficulty sleeping since she moved in his house. So he could understand why she was able to rest in their current situation. Jayce shut his eyes tight and tried to clear his mind, he still couldn't devise an escape plan.
Well, one thing was for certain. He couldn't stay sitting down on the hard, cold tile floor any longer. His muscles ached and were getting stiff. If he wanted to put up a fight with their kidnappers when they returned he needed to be quick and nimble, not stiff and slow.
It was difficult to move away from Vi, he was fearful to awaken her, he knew she needed the rest. Once he broke their contact his body immediately felt cooler. Getting to his feet was more difficult than he expected, his muscles ached and burned and his joints creaked painfully. He did his best to shake his arms and legs to hopefully get the stiffness out of them, but it didn't seem to be working.
Vi twitched, her brows furrowed and her eyelids slowly drifted open. Jayce cursed at himself. She brought a shaking hand to her face and rubbed her eyes.
"Sorry, did I wake you?" Jayce asked her. He stifled a groan as he squatted in front of her, his thigh muscles complained as they stretched.
The pink haired woman shook her head. "Been awake," she mumbled. "Was jus' restin' my eyes." She struggled to climb up onto her feet.
Jayce offered her a hand and remembered to slowly pull her up; if his muscles ached he didn't even want to fathom how Vi must be feeling. He kept her hand in his and held her by the elbow with his other hand to steady her.
The act of suddenly standing must've agitated Vi's injuries. She cried out, but immediately clamped her mouth shut and bit her lip. Her free arm still clutched her ribs. They were definitely broken. Jayce wanted to take a look at her bruised torso again to see if he could judge the severity of her ribs. But even if he did it wasn't like he could wrap them up like her other wounds.
His thoughts were disrupted when Vi hugged his jacket tighter around herself, as if she could sense what he was thinking. "So what's the plan?" She asked as she leaned back against the wall. Her blue eyes and pink hair stood out even more with how pale her skin became.
Jayce hesitated and shook his head; he still remembered what Than told him. "We're being watched."
The woman frowned at him and lifted an eyebrow. "No we're not."
He was unsure if she simply didn't believe him or if she knew something he didn't. "How do you know?"
Vi nodded her head towards the ceiling. Jayce followed her gaze and looked up, there was nothing save for two hanging lights. He noticed nothing and looked back to her with confusion displayed on his face.
"I don't see anything," he confessed.
"Those lights were recently installed. You can see marks on the ceiling where the original lights were, but they were removed."
Jayce shook his head. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"This building is abandoned. All light sources are removed to prevent hextech salvagers. Than had to have installed these."
He still felt confused. "How does that contribute to us not being watched?"
"He won't steal hex energy to power the lights, it's detectable and Caitlyn will be lookin' for energy usage in abandoned buildings. So he's usin' his own energy and judgin' by how dim the lights are he won't have enough to power some sort of surveillance."
The inventor was quiet for a long moment as he processed what Vi said. He was surprised he didn't think of it himself. It made sense. "You have great perception skills."
Vi shook her head. "Nah, I just pick up some of the things cupcake rambles about when we're investigating crime scenes." She winced, but quickly tried to hide it. "So you gotta plan or what?"
Jayce's mouth opened to answer her question, but then he immediately hesitated. Would she expect him to have a plan? Maybe she had one herself. "Well…I don't know," he confessed. "The best I could think of is to take my hammer back when they return. Once I have it I can get us out of here."
Vi shook her head. "That's your plan? Attack them and run?"
She doesn't like the plan, Jayce thought in disappointment. Then he noticed the corner of her mouth pull into a small grin.
"Sounds good to me," she said.
Jayce felt his worry deflate. Then he realized his worry was for naught, of course Vi would approve of a plan that was simply to fight. Yet worry still churned in his stomach and the more he thought about it he realized it wasn't Vi's disappointment of his plan. It was actually the thought of fighting two people on his own. With Vi's injuries she couldn't possibly help him, she'd only hurt herself more.
The wait was excruciating. Without any sense of time, Jayce wasn't sure if minutes or hours passed. He and Vi didn't speak, he wanted to let her rest. And speaking with a dry mouth was difficult enough. To prevent his joints from getting stiff, he tried to pace about the room as often as possible. His body still ached, but the movement helped him get used to the pain.
Far too often he kept his attention on Vi. Despite how low the lighting was he still kept an eye on her facial expressions and movement. He continued to feel helpless every time he noticed her pained expressions. She did her best to hide her discomfort and always gave him a small glare when she caught him staring at her.
"I'm fine," she assured him.
He had no choice but to take her word even though he knew she was just putting up a strong face. Still, he wished he had something to do other than stand around and pace. It was beyond stressful to worry about their fates and he kept mentally acting out his plan. He desperately needed something to distract him.
After some convincing, Vi allowed him to look over her wounds. Her leg bandage would need to be replaced, the cloth was too bloody. Luckily, after he peeled off the bloody cloth and looked at the wound it appeared to have stopped bleeding. His poor shirt had to lose another two inches of its length to be used as a bandage, but it was a good thing his shirt was fairly long to begin with. Now, if he lost another inch or two then his abdomen would be exposed.
He shouldn't complain about his ragged shirt though. At least he still had his clothes; Vi didn't have the same luxury. Before he could ask her if she needed anything else bandaged his stomach decided it was time to complain loudly.
Vi grinned. "I second that." She rubbed her own stomach. "What'd I do for a hot meal right now."
Jayce remained silent. The last thing he wanted to fantasize about was food, or a bottle of water. He grew restless again and resumed pacing about the room. His thoughts returned to Vi and her first kidnapping. The thought of being tied to a chair for days sounded terrible. At least he was able to stretch his legs. He walked about until his feet and legs ached too much for him to tolerate standing and pacing any longer. Before he took a break he stared at the door and willed it to slam open. If he joined Vi on the floor then he would not be ready for a fight if their kidnappers returned.
"You tryin' to open that door with your mind or somethin'?" Vi asked him.
Jayce closed his eyes and took a deep breath and exhaled. The lights seemed to have gotten a little weaker, but he was grateful they still worked. He didn't want to think how Vi would react if they were engulfed in total darkness again.
Getting onto the floor was much more difficult than he thought, he all but let gravity take over and he just plopped onto the ground, which hurt more than he wanted to admit. "How're you feeling?" He asked his companion.
Vi had been sitting on the ground for what Jayce assumed was the past few hours. She tried to pace to keep herself from getting stiff, but her body was taking its earlier beating badly. Jayce's jacket kept her well covered, but it seemed like it didn't do much to keep her warm. Too often he noticed her body would shiver and she would curl up against the wall. He urged her to rest her eyes, but she remained awake.
"F-fuckin' cold." She kept her arms wrapped around her torso. "You don't even look cold, and your shirt is in rags."
Jayce leaned toward her and placed a hand on her forehead. "That's because you're still feverish." He inched closer to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. It was a bad idea to get into this position, if Than stepped in he would be slow to stand up, but he couldn't let Vi continue to shiver.
"Now isn't the time to cuddle, ya know."
A small smile grew on his face. "It can't be helped; we don't want to freeze, do we?"
She replied with a scoff. "Whatever."
They remained silent for a long time. Jayce continued to fight off sleep even though Vi eventually succumbed to it. It didn't help that her soft snores became like a lullaby and made him feel even sleepier.
Jayce cursed at himself for falling asleep. He was roused by a sudden, loud slam. His mind was foggy and slow, by the time he noticed movement beside him he was blinded by a bright light. Rough hands pulled him to his feet and every muscle in his legs and torso screamed in agony.
This was it; he desperately fought off the lingering effects of sleep and swung at his assailant. His fist hit true and he followed with a second punch with his opposite hand. The second punch failed and his arm was suddenly twisted behind him.
"That was a mistake." A voice growled in his ear.
Before he could struggle, something hard hit Jayce in the back of his head and darkness quickly engulfed him.
When Jayce came to his first thought was that he was blind. He knew he was awake, his eyelids were open, but his vision was pitch black. Panic flooded his veins and he hastily sat up, then immediately laid back down when his head exploded in pain.
He wasn't sure if he passed out again. Without any sense of time and unable to see left him clueless of how long he had laid there. With extreme slowness, Jayce tentatively sat up. His head still throbbed, but it wasn't as debilitating as it was earlier. Once he was up he rubbed his eyes, spots still danced behind his eyelids when he rubbed a little too forcefully. He still didn't know if he was just in a dark room or he was blind.
"Hello?" His voice came out weak and cracked. Still, no one responded.
It seemed best to remain on his hands and knees, he wasn't sure if his headache would render him dizzy if he stood up, and it seemed safer to remain close to the ground if he stumbled. He groped around himself and immediately figured he was no longer in that room. The floor didn't feel tiled, it felt rough like hard dirt. He tried to find a wall by crawling in one direction, but instead of bumping into a hard surface his head touched something soft.
After groping the object in front of him he deduced it was a person, most specifically a woman.
"Vi?"
It had to be her even though after groping a bit more he noticed she was fully clothed and no longer in his jacket.
What is going on, he thought.
Jayce felt for her shoulder and gave it a gentle nudge. If they both were just in a dark room then there was a strong chance Vi would panic. Or, if Jayce really was blind then she should awaken just fine.
"Vi, wake up." He shook her harder.
Then he heard her groan and mumble sleepily. Relief coursed through him, she was alive.
"Let go of me!"
The inventor heard something scrape against the dirt and his hand then felt nothing. So he wasn't blind! Now he had to calm Vi, which wouldn't be easy as he couldn't even see her.
"Vi, it's me. Where are you?"
The scraping noise got louder the further he crawled and the noises weren't from him. He continued to pat around and he found her, she yelled at him again and he suddenly felt a blow to his jaw. He felt lightheaded and saw stars, despite the darkness.
"Vi!" So long as she was panicking she would attack anything that touched her. "It's me, Jayce!" Another blow caught his shoulder. "Listen to me, please!"
By sheer luck he managed to catch her arm as she tried swinging at him again. He tightened his grip and registered just in time that her other hand would attack, he lifted his free arm in time and caught her second fist. Well it was more like she landed a punch to his arm and he was just quick to reach around and hold it. "Vi, listen to me! It's me, Jay—."
Something hard smacked him in the nose and he blacked out for a second. His grip on her arms loosened and something soft was suddenly pressed against his face. A pair of hands were on him and tried to push him away. "Vi…"
Jayce wasn't sure if he had blacked out again. A warm liquid poured out of his nose and he sported the worst headache in his life.
"Jayce?"
It was Vi. She was right in front of him. He realized something warm was pressed against his face and he felt her breath on his forehead.
"Y-yeah, it's me, Vi." With caution, he slowly groped around himself. The more he moved the worse his headache got, but he did his best to ignore it. "I'm right here." His voice was so weak he was unsure if she heard him.
He felt movement and two hands felt his head. Judging by their close proximity he was practically on top of her. Now that she was touching him he placed one of his hands on one of her own. "It's me," he assured her again.
They both remained silent. Jayce could hear her panicked panting dissolve and he could still feel the warmth of her breath. His mind raced to their situation. Where were their kidnappers? They weren't in that room anymore, so where was they?
Jayce licked his dry lips. "What happened?"
Vi's hold on him loosened and her hands dropped from his head. Jayce squashed the disappointment he felt when her fingers broke contact, now wasn't the situation for such feelings. Still, he made sure to keep his arm touching her, he was fearful of her falling into another panic if they touched after breaking all contact.
"I…" Vi's own voice sounded dry. Jayce guessed he was holding her wrist, he could feel the rapid beating of her heart. "I dunno, the lights went off and then they came in with flashlights. They knocked me out, but I was still kinda awake."
A moment passed and her pulse continued to pound under his fingertips. Wherever they were moved they're obviously alone. With the extreme darkness there was no reason to tie them either; they were blind to find any escape.
While they had this opportunity, Jayce needed Vi calm. He kept hold of her wrist and slowly pushed himself with his free hand off the ground so he was sitting next to her. "Hey, it's okay." He gave her a gentle squeeze. If only he could give her a reassuring kiss or an embrace, but now wasn't the time for intimacy. "Did you see anything before you fell unconscious?"
"Uh." Vi mumbled aloud. "I heard somethin', a robotic voice. I think there was a sentry bot there."
Jayce frowned, but felt a spark of hope. "They said there were sentry bots patrolling this area, Caitlyn is close." Then he remembered the plan their kidnappers had, they wanted to hack any bots that got too close to their hideout. But if there was a bot there, why would they be moved elsewhere?
Vi sighed. "There was somethin' weird about it though, it sounded like it kept sayin' one word over and over again."
The faintest of hope that was within Jayce faded out of him as he sighed too. "So they hacked it?"
He felt Vi move and her pulse quickened. Jayce braced himself for fear she was going to have another panic attack.
"If they did hack it, then they gave themselves away!"
"What?" The male felt his own pulse quicken.
"When I was still too weak to get outta bed, once when cupcake came to visit she told me that since I went missing she had Heimerdinger and a small team of his most trusted scientists install a tracking device into every police bot."
"Wait," Jayce interjected. "I thought the police sentry bots gave out a mild shock to anyone that tried to temper with them? To ward off anyone that tried to steal or hack a bot."
"Yeah." Said Vi. "They do, it hurts like a bitch."
A brief image of Vi trying to open up one of the sentry bots in the police station came to Jayce's mind, and her reaction to suddenly being shocked. But the image was quickly forgotten as Vi continued to talk.
"Cait couldn't exactly prove it, but she suspected the person that stole my gauntlets from evidence was one of our own sentry bots, well a hacked bot. It was the only explanation. So, she kept this hack failsafe secret from everyone else, just told them they were undergoing a routine checkup or upgrade or somethin'."
"So you think Than or that other man tried to hack the bot?"
"No doubt they did try. It would explain why they rushed in and took us…here."
A smile grew on Jayce's face. He had a hunch that their kidnappers were in the room cleaning it up. So long as he and Vi were in their hands then Caitlyn wouldn't risk barging into the building, so that gave Than and his friend time to clean up.
And it gives us time to put some distance between them, he thought.
"But," Jayce began. "Where are we?"
"My guess would be there's a tunnel underneath the building we were in."
Jayce felt his blood turn cold. "Tunnel? You mean tunnel like the hundreds of tunnels underneath Piltover?"
He felt Vi's arm move, she probably shrugged despite him being unable to see her body movement. "One other thing I remembered before passing out was we kept going down. So either this is a basement with dirt for the floor or we're in a tunnel."
"Aren't these tunnels unnavigable?"
"Nah, so long as you have a map. But only certain people have access to the maps of these tunnels. And no one dares to come down here to figure them out, except for Ezreal as he's the one that mapped them out."
"Do you think Than has a map?"
"Dunno, for all we know he just put us in a basement."
Jayce thought a moment. "Should we 'look' about? See if this is just a basement or a tunnel?"
He felt Vi move. Thankfully his headache didn't flare as he tentatively climbed to his feet, even better was that he didn't get dizzy. He then helped Vi climb to her own feet.
"Which direction?" She asked.
That was a good question, one that made Jayce a little uneasy to decide. What if he had them walk right to the building they were trying to get away from? After he thought a moment, Jayce pulled Vi's wrist, he hadn't let go of her, and they used the wall on their left side as a guide so they wouldn't walk into anything.
Exactly what Jayce dreaded happened; they took no more than five steps when heavy footsteps and voices echoed around them. Realizing he chose the wrong direction, Jayce didn't have time to run in the opposite direction when there was a sudden bright white light that stabbed into his eyes.
He shielded his face with his free arm and held onto Vi tighter. After a moment he risked taking a peek and saw a flash of blue. By the time he realized that the blue light rapidly approached them it was too late for him to either move Vi aside or shield her. The blue orb struck him and electricity burned across his limbs. The electricity spread and struck Vi as well, Jayce heard her cry out and she collapsed onto her knees.
His headache returned and Jayce felt sick. He, too, collapsed onto one knee and his grip on Vi's wrist was lost. After a long moment his senses finally returned and his vision somewhat adjusted to the bright light. Standing before him were two tall figures, Jayce didn't even have to guess who they were.
"This thing is awesome!"
Anger brewed in Jayce's chest as he slowly recognized his Mercury Cannon in one of the figures hands. So that was what struck him and Vi. His instincts told him to grab Vi and run through them, but too many variables worked against them. For one, the bright light was blinding. Two, they'd probably be struck with another shock blast if they approached them. Third, Jayce's limbs felt shaky and weak. There was no way he would be able to charge through them.
"Don't knock them out!" Than's voice shouted, his voice echoing loud within Jayce's throttled skull. "We need to get going."
A set of arms were suddenly on Jayce's collar and hoisted him up on his feet. The sudden movement intensified his headache, and the bright light didn't make it any better, but Jayce's concern for Vi helped him ignore the pain. He watched as she was roughly brought up to her feet the same way as he. Suddenly the end of his Cannon was practically kissing his face.
"You both start walking." Than told them. "When I give orders to turn left or right you obey. Don't obey, or try to run away, and you'll be feeling another shock blast."
Jayce cursed mentally, grit his teeth in anger, but nonetheless nodded. His legs were still wobbly, but so long as he wasn't rushed he would be able to keep a constant pace. He expected Vi to fall into step beside him, but the sound of his Cannon threatening to fire rang loud.
"Didn'tcha hear the man?" Than's ally taunted. Jayce turned and watched him stab the tip of the Cannon in Vi's back, she was still hunched over on her knees. "Start walkin'!"
Another curse escaped Jayce's lips and he stepped closer to Vi. The man with his Cannon noticed his movement and immediately pointed it towards him. Jayce lifted his arms. "I'll help her."
"Fine," Than replied. "Move, now!"
Not needing to be told twice, Jayce bent beside Vi and wrapped one of her arms around his neck and stood. She hissed through clenched teeth. He took a few steps and half carried and half dragged her with him. It looked as if she had difficulty moving her legs. The electric shock must've stunned her.
"It's okay," he whispered to her. "I got you."
"Legs're wobbly," Vi told him. "Feels like I'm gonna fall."
Jayce nodded and continued walking. His own legs felt weak as well, even he was clueless as to how he was able to force himself to continue on.
Sure enough Than frequently told them to hang a left or right. With the light behind them Jayce could see they were indeed in tunnels. Some tunnels were narrow and long, some short and wide, and some had either high or low ceilings. None of them seemed to be of even level either. Sometimes the ground dipped or lifted.
His muscles screamed, sweat dripped into his eyes, and his breathing came in hard pants as he continued to force himself to walk with Vi in tow. He checked on her frequently, but it was difficult to see her face with the shadow that covered her.
As they walked Jayce desperately thought of a plan. The first one that came to mind was for him and Vi to run and try to make as many turns as possible. However, Vi's dependence on him hindered that plan. Another idea was for him to collapse onto the floor and feign unconsciousness. Then he could catch one of them by surprise once they checked on him. It was a dangerous gamble to take, but Jayce had to do something.
Coincidently, his foot caught onto the sudden rise of the ground and he lost his balance. The ground rose up and slapped his cheek. The fall throttled his injured head further and Jayce thought he blacked out for a moment. When he came to he saw Vi's pink hair scattered on the ground beside him, it worried him that she wasn't moving. He tried to push himself up but his body had gone through so much it finally ran out of steam and refused to obey his commands.
He heard voices, but they sounded strange as if he were hearing someone speak underwater.
"—Stay and rest—."
"Keep—plan."
"—Can't carry—."
His head continued to pound so he let his eyelids close for a moment. It wasn't rough hands or a blinding light that roused him sometime later though; instead it was the vibration of the ground. Once his eyes opened he grew confused at what was happening around him.
Vi had been unable to walk on her own just a few minutes ago but now she was in a fight with the guy that had his hammer and appeared to be winning, so Jayce immediately thought perhaps his concussion was making him hallucinate. Once his vision cleared and the world stopped spinning, Jayce shakily got to his feet and quickly jumped aside from an energy blast that hurled right toward him, well it was actually aimed at Vi but she had sidestepped the electric orb.
How is she able to move like that, Jayce thought. He blinked hard a few times before he hesitantly joined the fray. If Vi was able to fight in her condition then he had no reason not to do the same.
He intervened at the perfect time too.
Vi half caught the newly transformed Mercury Hammer but still suffered the blow. Jayce was at her side instantly. He grabbed the very top of the handle of the hammer and kicked the man away who stumbled and landed on his back. It was too easy to get his weapon back, but he wasn't in a position to complain. The hammer crackled and yellow static surrounded Jayce, he didn't want the man on the floor getting back up and aiding Than so he lifted the heavy hextech weapon above his head and swung downward.
A cry erupted beside him. Jayce turned and was met with a gun barrel staring right at him. His eyes drifted upward and found Than behind the gun barrel and Vi beside him, his free arm was wrapped around her neck.
"I warned you not to do anything stupid." Than said, his voice was eerily calm.
Jayce glared at him and switched his hammer to its cannon form. The adrenaline from his earlier scuffle helped him ignore the pain in his head, and he was confident he could dodge at least the first shot from Than's pistol. It helped that he had plenty of practice dodging firearms when he competed in the fields of justice. One dodge was all he would need to fire his own weapon.
I can't fire a shock blast, it'll hit Vi, he thought.
The only sound in the tunnel was the hum from Jayce's weapon until Vi began to laugh. The act of laughing seemed to pain her and eventually it tampered off into a cough. "You shoot him and your little plan won't work."
Than pulled at her neck harder. Jayce lifted his cannon and prepared to fire, but Than pulled the hammer of his pistol. The bullet inside the chamber glowed red and could be seen through the barrel.
Despite the tighter grip that had to be cutting off her oxygen, Vi still managed to speak. "I don't use guns, wouldn't it be a lil' suspicious that the Defender of Tomorrow has a bullet wound but was suppose'ta die by my hand? Well, my gauntlets."
Than remained silent and Jayce wished he could see his expression. Since the main light source came from the side of Than's head his face was cast in darkness. The light that emanated from Jayce's hammer lit the tunnel in a very dim blue color, but it wasn't enough to see Than or Vi's faces.
Vi's comment worked, it distracted Than and he hadn't fired yet. Jayce took the initiative and—last second he realized if he fired then Than would be able to use Vi as a shield. His plan was to make it look like he and Vi fought each other.
Jayce cursed. He couldn't fire, he wouldn't risk hurting Vi. It was hard to tell, but it looked like Vi nodded at him. Her gesture confused him, did she want him to fire? Maybe if he fired a shock blast he would stun Than long enough so that he could close the distance between them and attack him. Vi would be caught in the attack as well though.
She struggled to breathe and took a loud and long intake of air. "Do it!"
The Defender of Tomorrow grit his teeth and charged his cannon for the shock blast. His eyes caught movement, Than pulled the gun and aimed it at Vi's temple. Jayce cursed again and aimed his shock blast high and over his target's head.
"Very well, I may not be able to shoot you," Than told Jayce. "But I'm the hero this time, remember? After Vi kills you, I kill her to defend myself. So no one will question why she has a bullet hole."
A low growl of irritation rang in the back of Jayce's throat. What could he do now? Maybe he could stall him long enough for Vi to stun him. "Plenty of people will question why her bullet wound is in her temple."
Jayce had another small window of opportunity, the gun moved away from Vi's temple. He quickly aimed his cannon, muttered an apology to Vi, and fired. As he predicted, Than moved Vi in front of him, but the blast still spread to him. They both cried out as their bodies were wrecked in electricity and they collapsed to their knees.
The cogs within Jayce's weapon whirled and light flared as his cannon transformed into a hammer. Adrenaline continued to fuel him and his once exhausted leg muscles moved so fast Jayce was quickly inches away from Than. He lifted his hammer to deliver a final blow, but paused with he saw the gun slip behind and between his target and Vi.
"A bullet…to the back can easily be explained." Than muttered.
Jayce was so close to victory. All he had to do was swing his hammer downward on his head and this entire nightmare would be over. Vi would be free of this asshole and she could continue down the road to recovery. And he would be there with her.
But he wouldn't risk him shooting Vi. He wasn't sure where he had the barrel pointed. Than was right handed so it was possible he didn't have the gun aimed at Vi's heart. Still, it didn't matter where he shot her. They were in the middle of a maze beneath Piltover. It would be impossible to get out before Vi bled to death.
Very slowly, Jayce reluctantly lowered his hammer.
"Now that's—"
A gunshot rang in Jayce's ears and his heart stopped.
Both Than and Vi collapsed to the ground, neither moved. Jayce recovered quickly and used the light from his hammer to view Than. A bleeding hole sat perfectly in Than's temple.
Caitlyn was glad she asked Ezreal for his maps and for his advice on clearing through the tunnels beneath Piltover as quickly as possible. They discussed chokepoints and techniques to hide for ambushes. It seemed like a farfetched plan at the time, she doubted Than would resort to using the tunnels, but now she was grateful she covered this route as well.
Once one of the sentry bots let out a signal she immediately pushed all of her best officers to the building the signal originated from. So long as Than had Jayce and Vi she couldn't break into the building by force. Sneaking into the building underground was her best bet.
Precious minutes were spent analyzing the tunnels to see which ones connected to the building Than was in. Luck was on her side when she noticed that most tunnels connected to busy parts of Piltover, like the middle of a main street. Only one tunnel route connected the building Than was in to a section of the city that was mostly abandoned for repairs from Jinx's assault. It made the most sense that Than would seek out another deserted place, if he went to a normal and busy part of the city he'd risk being spotted.
Soon Caitlyn and a few of her officers and sentry bots were underground and heading towards Than's hideout. She didn't expect, however, for Than to already be on the move. Echoes of voices first caught her attention, but it was difficult to judge whom the voices belonged to.
The closer Caitlyn and her party got to the source of the voices the more distinct it was to hear the struggles of a fight ensuing. By the time she could see lights and movement across a long tunnel, Caitlyn quickly unshouldered her rifle and peered down the sight.
It was interesting how often Caitlyn came to observe scenes like this through her rifle sights. Than held Vi and Jayce was hesitating to strike him down. Caitlyn aimed the cog shaped cross sight at Than's head and waited. She expected Jayce to swing down his hammer but he continued to hesitate. Was he afraid to hit Vi?
Caitlyn's thin finger wrapped around the trigger of her rifle and squeezed. She had the opportunity to stop the madness now, but a part of her didn't want to resort to this. Every criminal deserved a trial, even Than. And despite the horrors that Than did to Vi, it was still difficult to squash her feelings for him. Just a few weeks ago they were—Caitlyn shook her head. She couldn't think of that now, she cleared her thoughts and continued to watch the scene several feet in front of her.
Then she saw it. Than's hand moved behind Vi and she arched her back. Protective instincts took over and she focused the cross hair from his arm back to his head. Different scenarios raced through her head of how she could intervene without anyone getting hurt. Somehow, every plan and its cause and effect ended with either Jayce or Vi getting hurt, maybe even her own officers, possibly worse.
No, there was no other choice. Vi's life was directly in danger and she couldn't risk any more harm to befell her. When a life was in danger then lethal measures took place.
I'm sorry, Than, Caitlyn thought before she pulled the trigger.
Her shot struck true. She watched Than collapse to the ground. Strangely, she felt nothing but relief. Maybe she was just in shock or denial; the feelings would hit her later. For now, she needed to check on her friends.
She couldn't simply walk to the scene, her pace went from long strides to short but quick steps and she fell into a jog. Than laid motionless on the ground, a puddle of blood already was spreading around his head. Her heart stopped when she noticed a gun within his grasp.
Caitlyn looked at Jayce and her blood turned to ice. He was on his knees, his hands bloody and pressing against Vi's upper chest. Blood was quickly spreading through her shirt. She immediately realized what transpired.
Either Than fired before or after she took the shot. It didn't matter which one it was, she was either too late or she directly triggered Vi to get shot.
She felt sick.