The banging on the door was enough to wake both of them up with a start.

It made Irelia flinch, trying to quickly get up, but the fact that the scare made Riven grip her tight and pull her close prevented her from leaving the former Noxian's side.

What a bad way to start the day, having to fight an anonymous enemy naked.

They looked at each other as the banging continued in successions of three hits and a moment of silence, wondering what to do, how to proceed—

"Open up, you damn bastards!" They heard Vi's booming voice, a certain undertone of annoyance to it, "Stop being gross for a minute!"

Irelia frowned, "How come she doesn't open it with her code?"

She felt Riven shrug, "I may have changed the code while you were sleeping. You snore a bit when you're dead asleep, by the way."

"I what—"

Another three loud bangs, "Open up!"

They remained quiet, still underneath the covers, "Do you think that if we're quiet enough," Riven whispered, "She'll go away?"

They listened as two loud bangs came, the third one being cut off before it happened. Frowning at each other, they heard mumbling behind the door before four calmer knocks were heard.

Their frowns deepened in confusion—

"Captain Lito," Another voice said, one which Riven didn't recognize but apparently Irelia did, for she was grimacing, an alarmed look on her face, "It'd be great if you opened the door."

Irelia quickly stood up, running to Vi's wardrobe and getting whatever she could get her hands on, ending up with a black tank top and some training shorts, throwing a red muscle tee and another pair of training shorts in Riven's direction, whispering one command, "Get dressed!"

They both dressed up quickly, moving to the door, Irelia trying to compose herself as Riven punched in her new code—

The door got pushed open as soon as it unlocked, Irelia and Riven coming face to face with an annoyed looking Vi and a bored looking Caitlyn.

Irelia's face was red, while Riven simply snorted, trying to stifle a laugh as she said, "I'm guessing you're Caitlyn."

"I am," Caitlyn said, "Glad to see you're back on your wits," Her eyes wandered from the white haired warrior to the blue haired one, "I deduce you weren't the one texting me but I still must ask," She smiled, "Did your chat go well?"

Irelia turned red.

"Judging by the clothing," Vi mumbled, raising a brow, "I'd say it went just dandy."

Caitlyn raised a brow, letting her eyes roam the two women in front of her, analyzing their clothing and body language. "I'll agree with you on that. Well," She looked at Irelia, then at Riven, "May we come in?"

They moved out of the way, letting the pugilist and the sniper through.

As they moved into the safehouse, Caitlyn walked straight towards the sofa, sitting down, her blue eyes still on Irelia's.

Vi, on the other hand, eyed the mess that was the bed, before looking at the both of them with a smug look on her expression.

Riven stared back with just as much cockiness.

Irelia felt her face heating up, so she pointedly ignored her. "Seeing Vi around here is something I've come to expect, but I definitely didn't expect to see you, Sheriff."

"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures," Caitlyn said, squaring her shoulders when she said, "We've got a lead on Singed that might be of your interest and, considering how delicate the situation we're in is —with Noxians on your tail and Urgot on the lead —We decided it was better if we came here, instead of making you both go back to Piltover."

"A lead?" Riven asked with curiosity, moving towards the couch and taking a seat.

"We've discovered they're trying to hunt down a…" Caitlyn raised her brows, "How do I put it—"

"A crazy mutant," Vi offered an interpretation. "Urgot and Singed appear to be interested in hunting down a… Man who goes by the name Dr. Mundo."

Irelia frowned as she walked towards the couch, sitting right next to Riven, "Judging by the way you said it, he's no man and no doctor, either."

Vi joined in, sitting next to Caitlyn, "He isn't," The Sheriff said, "He must have been human at some point, that's certain, but he isn't anymore. His skin is purple, his body is unnaturally big—"

"And he's completely insane." Vi said, earning a glare from Caitlyn, which she shrugged off, "What? He is."

"Being insane doesn't make him any less human," Caitlyn raised a brow, "I'll have you remember you're completely bonkers too and yet I still consider you rather…" She clicked her tongue, eyes wide, as if she had just realized she was wrong, "Nevermind. You're right."

It took Vi a full three seconds to realize what just happened, reacting with an offended Hey! While Caitlyn hid a smile by looking away.

"I don't understand," Riven said, cutting their banter off, "Why would they look for him? What's there for them to earn from finding an unstable, not-human being?"

"According to different tests that have been run on Dr. Mundo decades ago, he cannot feel any sort of pain." Caitlyn explained. "To top that off, his body heals itself inexplicably fast; shoot him on the chest and the bullet wound will be healed in a matter of hours."

"We believe that Urgot wants to become a little bit like Dr. Mundo in the sense of being unable to feel pain and possessing the ability to heal so quickly," Vi said, a frown on her focused expression, "Which, I bet you can imagine, is not a very good thing for the rest of us."

"How come you both know this much about what happens in Zaun, when your jurisdiction is Piltover?" Irelia couldn't help herself as she asked, "Was that chatter all just to rile me up that one time, Sheriff?"

"This is quite out of our jurisdiction, Captain, I'll agree with you on that," She started, "We did not lie when we told you Zaun is not, theoretically speaking, our problem. The thing is that both Piltover and Zaun exist in a sort of mutualism; one cannot survive without the other, no matter how badly we want that to be true," She said, looking at Irelia, "So a certain balance must be maintained. That's why Piltover's police force will get involved in Zaun's complications, whenever said complications are far too difficult for Zaun to deal with by themselves."

Irelia nodded her head, "I see."

What she did not see, though, was Vi's expression.

Riven was the one to catch it.

The tense jaw, the unfocused gaze as she tried to drown out Caitlyn's voice in her head.

Irelia did tell me she's originally from Zaun.

Maybe there is a side to her boss that she does not enjoy.

The entitled, arrogant, bigoted one.

"Interesting lead, I'll say," Riven said, cutting off the whole Piltover-Zaun talk, for Vi's sake, "But I believe we're still rather empty-handed. No matter whether they're after this Dr. Mundo or not, we still have no real way of finding them."

"Finding Mundo is easier than finding Urgot or Singed," Vi replied, "I mean, for starters, he's easier to identify; big, purple, insane. And second," She smirked, "He's got a thing for… curing patients on the streets."

"What?"

"He goes around butchering people, thinking he's helping them feel better." Caitlyn explained. "He's quite erratic, but what isn't is the trail he leaves behind; bodies, blood and Singed's footsteps as he goes after him."

Riven's grip on the couch's cushions tightened. "Singed," She repeated.

Caitlyn nodded her head, but it's Vi the one who spoke, "We've got someone who might be able to lure Mundo in."

Riven and Irelia shared a long look, before Irelia spoke, "I'm guessing that means you've got a plan."

Vi nodded her head, "I do have a plan, but you're going to need help with it."

Both Riven and Irelia raised their brows at that.

"Singed is definitely not tracking Mundo on his own," Caitlyn started, "And Mundo alone is already quite problematic."

The huff of a laugh escaped Irelia's lips, "Are you implying what I think you're implying, Sheriff?"

Caitlyn chuckled, "Please, Captain, I'm not helping you. Neither is Vi. We are just accidentally passing by Zaun and we will coincidentally come across you two while you both chase criminals." She shrugged, "That's all."

Vi leaned over Caitlyn, getting close to her ear as she mumbled, "I'm guessing we will not be doing paperwork regarding this escapade, no?"

Caitlyn looked at her, frowning eyes and confusion all over her face as she said, "What escapade? I don't know what we're discussing here. This," She pointed all around her, at all of them, "Never happened."

Vi smiled, an exaggerated expression of gratitude on her face as she pretended to be about to cry when she said, "You're a godsend, I love you."

Riven snorted at that.

Vi glared.

Caitlyn noticed.

"Okay," Irelia started, ready to pull them away from Vi's love interests, "So, what's the plan?"

"Well, if we want to find Singed, we must find Mundo first," Vi said, "It isn't that easy, you see, but I know someone who has had Mundo's eyes on him for a while, so as long as we stick to him, we should find the purple man in no time."

"The idea is to follow Vi's contact from secured hiding spots, waiting for Mundo to arrive." Caitlyn picked up from where Vi left it. "Once he does, he's going to try and kill our contact, but he's clever enough to survive. We shall not intervene nor come out of our positions until Singed arrives; It's then that we appear and catch him."

Riven narrowed her eyes. "Okay, I'm guessing your contact is a honed warrior, then."

Vi nodded her head, a smug look on her expression. "Something better like that."

"A kid!?"

"He's not a kid," She heard Vi's voice over the comm on her ear, "Not really."

Riven and Irelia shared a long look, both of them feeling the same uneasiness at Vi's plan; to contact some kid who lived in the slums of Zaun, letting him know about their plan and thus pushing him into letting them all follow him, thus ending up following Mundo and, lastly, Singed.

The plan wasn't all that bad, to be honest. It was the best they had, but…

...But Vi hadn't bothered enough to tell them that the contact was, apparently, an orphaned teenager.

She hadn't talked with him about the plan, either, leaving that task on Riven and Irelia's hands, for reasons unknown.

So, with their hextech equipment at the ready, one breath away from activating, thus armoring them and weaponizing them, they both walked slowly around the slums, alarmed, unsure about it all, trying to reason with a pink haired pugilist and her cold boss as they followed from a safe distance.

"He's basically a teenager who lives in the streets," Irelia retorted, backing up Riven, "He is not only a kid, but a homeless one, at that." She frowned, "Aren't you supposed to take care of those in need?"

"Trust me," Caitlyn's voice came from the other side of the communication instead of Vi's, all of them in one same channel, "He is not in need."

"Whatever," Riven said, frowning in worry, "How will we find him, anyway?"

"He'll be—"

"Behind you."

They both turned around at the sound, their equipment sensing the sudden rush of adrenaline, quickly turning on and getting them ready to fight—

No one was there.

"I said behind you."

They both turned again, this time seeing the owner of the voice.

A boy, a bit shorter than them, with black skin, white hair and a white hourglass painted over his face glared at them, a sort of metal club being on his grip as he laid its' end on the ground, leaning his body over it with a relaxed look, body language, not even flinching as they got ready to attack him, a few feet away from him. "Relax, relax, ladies," He said, not bothering to get defensive, "No need to get like that," He huffed a laugh, "It's not like it would help you much with me, anyways."

Riven was still about to attack—

"Don't," She heard Vi's voice on the other side of the comm, "That's him."

"You're Ekko, aren't you?" Irelia mused out loud, just to be sure, "Vi's friend?"

He scoffed, "I'm not her friend," He said, "But yeah, I'm Ekko. Where is she, though?"

"What would you want her for?" Riven asked him.

He crossed his arms over his chest, "Is she so scared of facing her truth in the eyes that she sends some rookies in her stead?"

"Her truth?"

Ekko narrowed his eyes, "That she's a sellout."

"What a way to talk about your friend," Riven said, raising a brow.

"I told you, she's not my friend. Now, regarding you two, Pilties," He rolled back his shoulders, releasing some tension from them, "You're still on time to go home."

"We're not Pilties," Irelia started, "And we're not going home."

"Vi said you would help us," Riven interfered, before he could reply.

"Because I owe her one, for reasons I will not tell you, not while you got that comm over your ear." He said, making them both believe that maybe the debt Vi's owed is due to helping him escape from the claws of justice, "I just didn't imagine she wouldn't have the guts to come ask for a favor herself, that's all."

"Because the favor's not for her," Irelia said, trying to calm down his spirits, "It's for us."

Ekko frowned, "What do you want?"

"You can find Mundo, no?" Riven said, nodding her head, "We need to find him."

Ekko narrowed his eyes, "What for?"

Riven raised a brow, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I would, actually," He said, not trusting them, "You see, last guy who wanted to find him, wanted to use him for experimenting."

"Well, we just want to find him so that we can find the last guy who wanted to find him," Irelia said, honestly, earning a frown from Riven, which made her look at the former Noxian and say, "What? Might as well tell him. No reason why we should hide that part."

The information did surprise Ekko, "You're not after Mundo, exactly, then?" He asked, making them both shake their heads.

"We're after Singed."

He raised one brow, "What for?"

Riven was about to speak, feeling like antagonizing him, but Irelia spoke first, "That's something we cannot really tell you," She shrugged, "All we can say is that we do not wish to befriend him, if that's what you're hoping to prevent."

"We're actually here to unfriend him."

"Even if we were never really friends."

Ekko looked at them both, a serious frown on his expression, "Let me see if I got this straight—" He stopped himself, flinching, as if hit by a thought, his eyes wandering from Irelia, to Riven, before he twisted his body as he looked for something in one of his back pockets.

They both stared at him, Riven with curiosity, Irelia with worry. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," He said, before finding what he was looking for, "Here," He added, turning to give what he had been looking for to Riven, "Take—"

He flinched again, watching Riven as he blinked once, twice, three times, before quickly turning to Irelia, "Take this," He said, giving it to her, instead of the former Noxian.

Irelia stared at her own hands only to find—

"A stopwatch?" She asked with a raised brow, "Why would you ever give me this?"

"When you feel like…" He searched for a word, "...Like stopping." He said, before nodding, "Yeah, like stopping." He looked into Irelia's eyes, nodding once more, "It's important you use it only then."

Irelia raised a brow, "When I feel like stopping?"

He nodded, "You'll know when the time is right."

Irelia was quite confused, "Okay…?"

Riven shook her head, as if trying to snap out of the weird interaction, "Will you help us or not?"

Ekko nodded his head, "Yeah, I will. After this, though, I owe nothing to Vi."

"Tell him I'm good with that."

"She's okay with it," Riven said, "So, guide us to the purple man."

Ekko nodded, "Let's go Mundo-hunting."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Can you feel the end coming closer?