Katarina watched as Riven's white hair faded into the darkness below and looked up, unable to process what had happened. She looked at Singed, looked back down at the pit and then time stopped for the girl. "Wh-what the hell?" She stuttered, still in shock from her mentor's demise. Her shock only furthered when her own doppelganger stepped directly out of her figure and turned on her heel to face the original.
"Let me loose, Katie" The clone said. Katarina's eyes widened as she recognized the feral eyes that belay the cold, calculating killer's mind in the brain behind them. She recognized the grin, that sadistic craving for bloodshed. This was the old Katarina. This was the Katarina that had killed Jinx and Vi's parents.
"Come on. Set me free on those pathetic fools. I'll make each and every one of them pay for what they've done," the killer implored. Katarina swallowed. She could not handle the pain of losing Riven. She could not take the mental anguish. But she knew someone who could.
Katarina let go, disconnected herself from the world once again as the assassin within took control. Time returned to its working order just in time for Katarina to catch a soldier's blade in her hands. And she grinned her lustful grin. The last thing the poor man felt before he died was terror as his own blade went up from his jugular to his brain.
Katarina kicked the man aside, tossing him down the pit and leapt into the mass of cronies, disregarding the cuts, bruises and other wounds being inflicted by her targets as she dashed around, blades flashing in a deadly dance performed by a woman possessed, her mind on one thing only: revenge.
Singed and Cassiopeia wasted no time in retreating, shoving minions in front of them as meat shields while they ran for their lives, finally finding the door they'd came from and diving through. Having already killed over a hundred men, Katarina's head whipped around to Talon and Warwick, who were all the way across on the other bridge. Like an animal she raced around, stabbing a man bound by Lux's magic in the throat and throwing five knives from her person into the foreheads of five men.
Katarina finally met her match in Talon, who took Katarina by the wrist and flung her backwards to crash into Caitlyn and Lux. Jinx's eyes followed her, and then shot back up to the bridge still full of her enemies. "Catch," She hissed as she hoisted Fishbones high and launched a rocket straight at the bridge. Another hundred men cried out as the ground underneath them exploded, sending them plummeting them to their demise. Warwick used his inhuman speed to bound from the heads of the doomed soldiers and across to safety, while Talon used his teleportation to save his skin. The two glared at their assailant from across the gap before they bolted at the sight of Jinx aiming again.
Just as Talon's cape disappeared around the corner, the sound of grinding metal from behind them heralded their objective complete as Vi's tampering lowered the force field. "Wow, Jess. Nice shot," Vi commented as the door opened. "Come on, let's keep-" Vi stopped cold at the sight of the other bridge and Katarina in front of it. The bridge was littered with dead bodies, each mutilated beyond recognition with knives in their bodies. And at the head of that bridge was Katarina, sobbing uncontrollably.
"…Where the fuck is Riven?" Vi realized as she looked around. Jinx closed her eyes and shook her head.
"She got injected by some poison by Singed and he threw her off the edge. She's-"
"Lucky that you had eyes in the sky, that's what she is," A voice familiar to Vi spoke up from beneath them. And with that statement, Morgana soared up from the darkness of the pit, Riven limp in her arms but alive. "She's alive, but she's not moving," The angel added as she lay the swordswoman down.
"Kat!" Vi called. The redhead looked up, still crying and rubbed her eyes. Turning around, she froze at the sight of her fallen friend and ran forward, falling to her knees at her mentor's side. Katarina put an ear to Riven's chest, opened the girl's eyes and nearly fainted. Her best friend had survived… somehow. The Noxian looked around wildly; not that she was complaining, but unless Riven had recently grown wings… Her search finally ended when she laid eyes on Morgana.
"Hey!" Morgana shouted in surprise as Katarina latched on to her. She looked at Vi and gestured awkwardly as if to ask, "what do I do?". Vi smiled and made a hugging motion, remembering when Jinx had hugged her in her old home. Morgana shrugged as best she could and put her arms around Katarina, feeling like a fool but yet for some reason she smiled for the first time in a long time.
When Katarina pulled away, she caught sight of her other side's handiwork and swallowed hard. Jinx sidled up next to her and slung her arm around Katarina's shoulder with a smirk.
"Let the killer loose, eh?" She asked knowingly. Katarina laughed softly and nodded. Of course, Jinx would be the one to recognize it; Jinx was the only other one among them that really had that killer inside. "Sis was right… we're gonna need those killers at times like these. Don't sweat it, they knew what they were getting into," She said, gesturing toward the bodies.
Katarina smirked. "No, they didn't. But I get your point," She said. And then she saw something that made her blood freeze, just like all the others.
"…Help," The voice of Miss Fortune called weakly. Lux was the first to spot Sarah's pale fingers clutching to the side of the remaining bridge. Good thing for Sarah too, because Lux was the most merciful of the group that was still able to stomp Fortune's fingers. Not that said mercy was really at the front of her mind as she walked forward at a calm, even pace and removed her left shoe. She rested her bare foot on Sarah's fingers; no sense needlessly breaking the pirate's fingers with the hard sole of her shoe. Besides, the cool stone floor of the cave felt nice after the heat of the previous battle.
"Why should I help you after you just nearly got us killed?" Lux asked dangerously, putting some weight into the left leg. Sarah groaned as Lux's foot caused unbearable pain in her hand, making it harder to hang on. The fact that the mage's toenails were digging into the sensitive skin on the sides of her fingers wasn't helping matters, either.
"Listen, I've been hard up lately ok? The gold they offered… It would have been enough to put me on the high life. They told me that I was simply scouting so they'd know when to meet you to discuss the mines. They didn't say anything about attacking you," Sarah said between grunts of pain.
"Hm… Jinx, you're better than I am at interrogation, right Kat?" Lux said, grinning at the pair. Both women went scarlet and nodded. "Maybe I ought to let Jinx take care of you, Fortune," Lux called down, stomping her foot down for emphasis and causing Sarah to yell.
Sarah was panicking. The story of the torture Jinx had inflicted had quickly gone from Katarina to Cassiopeia during a visitation, then from Cassiopeia to pretty much all of Noxus, which included most of Bilgewater. She'd felt shame about herself when she'd realized that she led the only people to extend a free friendship into a death trap, and despite the fear-driven panic in her head that shame continue to grow in the back of her mind.
Jinx inched her way forward, making sure the toe of her shoe was within the pirate's view. The girl was shaking with silent laughter as she peered down to see the look on Sarah's face, causing Lux to sigh. "Demacia believes in second chances, Sarah. This is yours," She said, lifting her foot and extending a hand. Sarah's mouth dropped in surprise. They were seriously going to trust her again?
Lux felt Sarah grab her hand and started to pull when she felt someone poke her in the ribs. She yelped and nearly lost her grip, causing Sarah to scream. Lux whipped her head around to see Vi standing behind her. "The hell do you think you're doing?" She snapped as she began to pull again.
Vi grinned. She remembered Sarah toying with them back at the Institute with her whole "maybe I do, maybe I don't" routine. And Vi sure as hell wasn't going to let this perfect chance to turn the tables pass by.
"See Sarah," Vi called down, "Lux here is pretty ticklish," She said, demonstrating by again grabbing onto Lux's ribs momentarily. Lux nearly jumped out of her skin and lost her hold on the pirate, scrambling forward and diving to her knees to catch her hand.
She turned her head back again, this time highly annoyed. Vi was using her worst weakness to get back at Sarah. Not cool. Vi smirked and continued.
"And to be honest, it's pretty fuckin' funny to see Lux hop around like a bunny eating a carrot made of crack," She said. "So yeah. If you aren't willing to spill a few secrets about Noxus, maybe, just maybe I find it too funny. And it's pretty hard for her to keep a good grip when I'm making her jump all over the place," Vi added. Sarah paled as she realized that she was now being played as the victim.
"You are SO paying for this later," Lux hissed. Caitlyn rolled her eyes. Vi was such a bitch when she wanted to be… Lux tensed as Vi put her hands to rest on her ribs again. "I'd recommend talking before she does it again," Lux called.
"OK, OK! Fine! Just… just don't do that again. What are you after?" Sarah cried out. Vi smirked.
"That's more like it. Surely when you were dealing with those faggots they must have told you something about what they were doing with the mine. A good pirate never accepts a half-informed job," Vi added. Sarah felt a poorly-timed sense of pride and nodded uselessly.
"Yes… I asked them why they wanted to talk with you about the damn thing. They told me that you and them had talked about splitting the spoils of the mine between yourselves as sort of a peace offering," She said quickly.
"Interesting… What did they want with the mine?" Vi asked.
"Uhm…" Fuck, Sarah thought. Not a good time for her memory to fail. A yelping laugh from Lux and the girl's grip loosening cleared things up pretty well. "OH! Ok! Fuck, I remember now! They talked about weapons rumored to be in the… I think they said 'secured area' or some shit," She explained.
Vi turned to Jinx and her sister looked over the edge into the eyes of the pirate. After a good, hard look she nodded. That was everything. Vi backed off of Lux and the Demacian quickly pulled Sarah up and to her feet. Then she marched up to Vi.
"I don't know when. I don't know how. But you're going to get it for that," Lux threatened, poking a finger into Vi's chest, unable to hide the tolerant smile. Vi laughed as she led the way past the door she'd opened.
"I know," She said. After everyone else had passed through the doorway (not quite so easy for Morgana, who nearly re-broke her wing on the frame) Vi stopped and made a U-turn, heading back to the door they'd came from. Sarah, who'd been recovering from the fright and the physical strain, looked up and noticed that the group was waiting for her.
"Oh!" She said, running for the door… and running smack into it as it closed on her face. "Hey! What the hell? Some help over here?" Sarah asked.
Vi removed her gauntlet from the control panel on the other side of the door, leaving the machine firing sparks at random. "Sarah, it's Vi. Looks like the door controls malfunctioned. I'll try to re-wire it again," She said.
"Okay… thanks," Sarah said in relief.
"Just kidding. Fuck you, bitch," Miss Fortune's jaw dropped again as she heard Vi's laugh retreat down the hall behind the door. She stomped her foot like a petulant child and looked around, finally finding the only still-intact way out.