Rain fell from the heavens, coating Piltover in a frozen coat of ice, several inches thick as it froze on contact. Such weather is not unheard of; in the areas further north of Piltover. To the people living in the city-state, it was a new horror never experienced before. Not even Rosalee's grandfather's grandfather had heard of such a thing. Weather data from Demacia called it freezing rain, the locals called it sleet. Caitlyn personally called it rather unsavory names; loudly and often to anyone who would listen. It made her job so much more difficult. It is so hard to chase down perps if the roads are an ice rink.
Demacia don't really depend hextech like Piltover. Instead of reliable technology; tested, tried and true, their allies prefered mages. Human's can't be trusted to reliable, it's a fact she's learned the hard way on the job. So while Piltover got plenty of data on this Gods forsaken weather anomaly, there was no accompanying hextech support. A flurry of eager creators were constantly providing prototypes to help, nothing of real value had been provided. For the best Piltover has is a finicky de-icing robots that focus primary on keeping the main roads clear. Many of the wealthier business used various heating devices to keep their section of the sidewalks clear of ice. Her father determined that the sidewalks don't need to be kept ice free for everyone. Only those who are able to provide the hextech to clear sidewalks of ice deserve to have a safe place to walk. Caitlyn was no longer on speaking terms with her father, this was all gathered second hand from her mother.
At this point, Caitlyn's father had refused to have anything to do with his "useless" daughter. Since she wasn't following in his footsteps, doing what he wanted, he had no need of her. Instead, all of her family support came from her mother. At the age of seventeen she had moved out into a small apartment, within walking distance of her job. The sheriff had grudging hired her on the Piltover Police Force. His reasoning is that it saves him paperwork if he doesn't have to fill out the paperwork for 'helpful citizen'. Caitlyn didn't care, she was doing what she loved! Rosalee, with blessing from her grandfather, also moved into her small flat. To save on space, they used bunk beds. The flat was small, maybe four hundred square feet. Everything inside had to have a vital function, otherwise there would be no room for Caitlyn or Rosalee to work. The pressure for Chief Steele was massive to find the missing Zaunite. Often these days Caitlyn and Rosalee poured over their gathered evidence after spending the day on the streets asking questions.
Today has been one such a day where they didn't work in their office, but instead at their apartment. Thanks to there being no other yordles on staff, the office funiture wasn't very yordle friendly. No one would buy anything in Rosalee's size, and due to safety regulations, they couldn't bring in anything. Chief Steele barely tolerated Caitlyn, and was nice mostly because of her being on the council. This didn't extend to Rosalee, who was treated like trash. Caitlyn spent most of her day at the office holding back her tongue. As the youngest members, they were not treated with any level of respect. Did her fellow officers ever take into consideration her successful track record with Rosalee? No, all they saw was a 'little girl who shouldn't waste their time.' Nothing they said to deter her ever worked. A passion burned in her to make Piltover a better place. Weak minded idiots were not going to stop her!
Thack! A small rubber band bounces off her neck with a hard sting. Right hand flying up to the spot, Caitlyn is startled out of her thoughts. Gaze quickly shifts from the neglected paperwork under her balled up fists, to the source of the attack. Rosalee is making a finger gun at her, another rubberband already in place. As they make direct eye contact, Caitlyn's eyes looking into Rosalee's, she realizes just how much she'd drifted off the case. All it takes is a sharp nod of her head, for Rosalee to put down her loaded rubber band finger gun. Grateful for Rosalee helping her stay on track, she flashes a quick thumbs up. Then she drags her eyes back to a stack of handwritten reports.
Today the two of them had been at the docks, interviewing every they could. As it stands, with Noxus calling the city of Piltover weak, Zaun calling out for retribution for the loss of their prized scientist, and Demacia hovering a vulture, the city went into lockdown. No one gets in or out, by any means. There are roadblocks stopping any land traffic, the docks are under heavy guard, as well as the airstrip. Just as important as it is to prevent war, with the city refusing all traffic, food supplies are running low. Reports of food shortages are in the daily newspapers, along with with increased fist fights breaking out between the poorer members of Piltover. As it stands, her beloved city-state is a powder keg ready to explode into a violent riot. That would make her job hell, because she knows that a lot of poorer citizens will be locked up for just wanting to the basics needed to survive. As the laws currently stand, such arrest records will it make it nigh impossible for the people who honest work the most, impossible to acquire. Once there is a single incident of violence or theft, no reputable businesses will hire someone. That leads to an increase in illegal activities just for survival. Just a vicious cycle Caitlyn hates with undying passion. Her fingers tap against her desk, as her eyes read over the over reports one more time.
Something about her reports seem off, but Caitlyn can't put her finger on it exactly. All it is one of the dock workers explaining why he was late to work that day. Anyone working in transportation areas are required to say where they are any given day for the past two weeks. This particular worker is a bit of thorn in her side. Despite a lot of circumstantial evidence pointing towards him being a smuggler of illegal hextech, not once has she gotten enough concrete evidence to place charges on him. His alibi is solid, but it doesn't feel right to her. Supposedly, Marcus Mason had been visiting his brother, and his sister-in-law. They had just had their first child, and he was helping around their place. Of course she'd checked it out, and it had proven solid. Both Lukas Mason, and his wife, had a child recently, and had both had vouched that Marcus had been very helpful around the house in that time.
"It just seems odd that Marcus would take time off work to help his brother, and sister-in-law. I thought he hated his sister-in-law." Caitlyn mutters out loud, still unable to get past how weird it feels.
"H-he does. D-didn't t-t-the i-inventor v-v-vanish i-in the same d-d-distract L-l-lukas l-lives in?" Rosalee asks, her eyes widening some at the realization.
Thanks to yordles being extremely curious about their neighbors, and having eyes in every small corner of the city, Rosalee's gossip is often vital to their success rate on cases. Caitlyn jumps out of her seat, one hand reaching for her favorite top hat. Her mother made her a scope for sniping, that rests rather neatly on her hat. Roughly once a month, her mother gifts Caitlyn with some fancy, experimental hextech. Rosalee is right behind her, putting on boots. It's a gift from her mother, auto-adjusting metal cleats on her boots, that allow her to easily chase down perps on the icy streets. Caitlyn's mother also gives a smaller, yordle sized, version of any hextech she gives Caitlyn to Rosalee. That way her partner can keep up, as her mother explained once.
As Caitlyn is running out the door when she spots two figures from the corner of her eyes. A woman in white wearing a black wolf mask, and a dark black canine shape wearing a white lamb mask look at her, before completely fading from view. Caitlyn hates when she spots those two, because always when she does, someone dies. Rosalee's grandfather had explained to her, in very hushed tones, of the legends of Wolf and Lamb. They are Death, and they're something like a force of nature. Not exactly a God, certainly not a mortal, and always able to be there for when someone dies. Caitlyn has never seen them taking a life, usually she spots them from the corner of her eyes. By the time she turns her gaze to focus in, and get a good luck, they're gone. It's frustrating! Of course, she's since sketched them over a dozen times in her personal notebooks. They've almost got the same number of sketches as Vi. However, now she's really worried.
Before this case threatened war, whenever she saw them, it didn't really phase her. People die all the time. Innocents are killed by evil people, and she's killed many a evil person on the job to protect the innocent. However, this case rides heavily on finding a certain Zaunite alive. Because, if he isn't alive, then war will happen. Zaun will cry foul, like the whiny cowards they are, and Noxus will provide aide. Piltover, of course, will demand protection from Demacia. It's their right to request military aide in times of war, they just haven't needed to for a nearly a century now! Not helping the matter, is her own father seems to rousing up the cries for war himself. So many innocent lives depend on her finding this scientist alive! Please, let Wolf and Lamb not take the scientist. Caitlyn lets out her silent prayer, as she pounds down the icy steps of her apartment. Rosalee is close behind her, two small pistols resting lightly on her tiny body.
"Be careful what you wish for, mortal. You never know when your prayers will be heard, or granted." A gentle voice whispers in her ear.
Caitlyn shivers at the tone, knowing that it was probably Lamb talking to her. Fear goes down her spine at how close she is to the living embodiment of Death. However, this means that the one person that the fragile peace of her home resides on likely won't die! Relief floods her.
"I don't care. I just want Piltover safe." Caitlyn mutters softly in reply, ignoring the continued feeling of two sets of eyes watching her every movement.
"W-who?" Rosalee asks, voice damped by the falling sleet.
"Don't worry about it! We got a case to crack. All of Piltover depends on us to find this scientist." Caitlyn shouts back, hands holding her rifle tightly. The stakes are too high to think about anything other than complete success.