Hey guys! Sorry for the long absence once again. Had a few back-and-fourths with my uni so I've been busy. Here's a large chapter as a compensation! :) Hope you enjoy. I feel so bad for taking so long that the next chapter is going to be posted on Monday the 5th of April, stay tuned!
Hope you guys stay safe out there! See you next time!
Chapter 5: The First Battle
The two officers spent the rest of their weekend peeking around the building that Kira had pointed them at. But as soon as it came to a close, they realised that as the heads of the Piltover Police Department, they had other responsibilities as well, besides the murder of Jinx. Since her death on the previous Friday, there has been a staggering fall in the crime rate. Whether that is because she was responsible for most of the crimes in the region or whether she acted as an inspiration for others to carry out misdeeds, they will never know. But they figured if there was someone in Piltover and Zaun who could kill off one of the "biggest" criminals in the history of Piltover with one fell swoop, the rest of the criminals would prefer to lay low for a while until things calmed down a tad.
Caitlyn walked in the department, finding Vi on her desk looking over some paperwork. It was surprising due to the fact that Vi was usually arriving late. The Sheriff could tell that everything going on had a major impact on the bruiser.
"Morning, any news?" She greeted, leaning over her partner's shoulder.
"Good morning cupcake, and yes. The facial recognition results came back. The old man has been identified as Andrew Von Yipp. I did some light research on him and he came up to be the director and lead scientist of a rather secretive company called PROJECT. Ever heard of them?" Asked Vi, seeing the sceptical look on her partner's face.
"No, I haven't. But I suppose if I did, they wouldn't be that secretive, now would they?" Replied Caitlyn, trying to piece it all together. "Let's look further into them. See what they have been up to. Probably, if we were to understand the exact aim of the company as a whole, we would get a better understanding of what they wanted with Jinx."
The two women agreed on a plan. Caitlyn would search for more information on the company, while Vi would go out and patrol the area around the building. But she had to be conspicuous about it. If PROJECT was an enemy to Piltover, she couldn't let them realise that the PPD was on to them.
Vi was on her motorbike cruising around the block where the company supposedly was. If they truly were in that building, they did a good job hiding themselves from the public. The building they were using appeared quite old, abandoned even. She was heading in a straight line, looking in all directions, just in case she sees anything suspicious. Taking a turn on the left, she noticed something suspicious. Something which she thought she would never see again. Right next to the entrance of an alleyway, she saw Jinx's signature. A small little sentence that Jinx made a habit of leaving every time she committed a crime, no matter how big or small. "Jinx was here!" read the graffiti in pink. Even though she had seen it a hundred times in the past, it was still weird to see it after everything that happened within the past three days. For some reason, she felt the dire need to inspect it, probably to reminisce on the times the bluenette kept the entire department busy. Vi parked her motorbike close to the entrance of the alleyway and walked towards the graffiti. She brushed her hand on top of it, remembering all the times she ended up chasing Jinx around the city, only to be surprised when she looked at her hand. The paint of the graffiti came off and stained a tiny part of her finger. The paint was fresh, as if it was laid upon the wall a few hours ago. The thought of someone imitating Jinx, despite everything the bluenette had done to the city, infuriated the bruiser somehow. She couldn't decide as to whether it was the fact that someone was impersonating her, or the possibility that Jinx might still be alive. But that would be impossible. She was there. She saw what had happened to her. Hell, she saw her fucking corpse at the morgue. There is no way that she could be alive. Millions of questions ran through her mind until she decided to contact Caitlyn and let her know of what she found. Vi picked up her radio and pressed the speaker button.
"Caitlyn, are you there?" Asked Vi, impatiently waiting for an answer.
"I'm here Vi, what's going on?" Replied the Sheriff through the radio.
"I need you to come and see this. I'm at the corner of 7th and Paradise. Quickly!" Shouted back the enforcer before releasing her finger from the radio. Vi walked into the alley, hoping to find something. She inspected around for a while, waiting for the Sheriff to arrive. She couldn't help it but for some reason, she felt as if she was being watched. She looked around her, not seeing anything at first. But when she looked down, she couldn't decide as to whether she should feel mesmerised or horrified. The ground was wavy. As if she was staring at a paddle of water. But instead, she was staring at a puddle of cement. Cement that acted like water, and as if something was swimming in it. It was at that moment, that every fibre and instinct of her being was begging her to pull away, and she did so just in time. With blinding speed, a muscled arm holding a knife flew out of the paddle. She dodged just as it was about to slash her throat. She jumped back, barely avoiding the edge of the knife. Immediately, she pulled her gauntlets which were hanging from her back and put them on. She was still trying to process though what had happened. How could a man, quite literally, swim in cement. The man in question rose from the cement and stared at Vi with a bloodthirsty look. He kind of looked as if Pirates of the Caribbean and the Terminator had met (Vi was a big pop-culture fan).
"Deputy Vi of the Piltover Police Department, I presume." Said the android pirate, who was covered in orange and black LEDs. Even his voice could barely be classified as human. It was as if he was speaking through a filter, which made his voice sound scary and robotic.
"The one and only!" replied the pinkette, taking a fighting stance and charging up her gauntlets.
"The name is Pyke, and I work for PROJECT." Stated the futuristic-looking pirate, waving his fancy looking dagger around. Now that Vi was taking a closer look at it, the dagger seems the type that would be used for gutting animals. Judging from this guy\s get up, most probably fish and sea serpents. Vi let out a sigh, knowing very well how tiresome this day was going to be. And yet, she couldn't help but feel excited. It had been a while since she last went all out, and she knew that today was one of those days. She decided to pretend as if she didn't know what PROJECT is.
"Ok, so? What is PROJECT? Some kind of secret boy-band or something? Am I supposed to ask for an autograph or something? I don't get it." She replied mockingly, trying to get an agitated response from her pursuer. The pirate smirked.
"We know that you are aware of our existence, deputy. Don't waste your time." He replied. Even though he was wearing a mask, Vi could tell that he probably had an evil grin on his face.
"Ok then, what can I do for you, puke - I mean, Pyke?" Joked Vi, trying to give off the impression that she was chill, while knowing full well that this was just the calm before the storm. Just like she predicted, Pyke dashed forward, trying his luck once again to slice her.
"You can die!" He shouted in a fit of rage. Pyke tried to slice her right across the gut, but instead he was met with one of Vi's infamous right hooks. The iron gauntlet made a distinct sound as it crashed with his face, sending him flying off towards the wall to her left. Despite the woman-to-gauntlet size ratio, Vi was so used to her gauntlets' weight to the point where they felt more like gloves to her. They barely affected her punching speed.
"Sorry dude, but you're gonna have to try a lot harder to get to me!" She shouted, as Pyke was standing back up, ready for more. He adjusted his mask which was hanging from his face after Vi's brutal counter attack, and then prepared to dash again. Instead, he jumped and disappeared into the cement. Vi knew he did not flee. He just didn't seem the type. She remembered about the puddle and started looking for it. Unfortunately, she just could not locate it anywhere. She looked around, trying to think of a way to pin him down without letting him "swim away" again. Lost in her thoughts, Pyke saw the opportunity to jump out of his puddle, which was right behind the deputy. He flew up high and released two orange, scale-looking chains from his arms. A giant orange X appeared right under Vi.
"You know the saying deputy? X marks the spot!" Practically screamed Pyke, right before he brought down the chains on Vi. Pyke thought he had won, but right before his attack landed, he could swear he saw Vi smirk for a moment, before doing the unimaginable. Vi clapped with her gauntlets to her left. This entire time, she was charging up her gauntlets, to the point where they were wheezing. She created a shockwave strong enough to propel her to the right, far enough so that she could dodge Pyke's what-seemed-to-be finisher. Pyke's chains slammed on the ground, creating a dent on the cement and throwing pieces of gravel everywhere. He then turned around to see Vi recharging her gauntlet. He tried to pull away but his chains were stuck in the ground. He only heard one last thing before he was sent flying.
"Vault Breaker!" She shouted charging forward with one punch extended, the surplus power radiating from her gauntlet. She struck Pyke right on the abdomen. She sent him crushing on the wall, clearly hurting him by the way he spit blood on the point of impact. He tried to get back up but could barely move after that attack. Pyke felt lucky that he was covered in a steel-made armor, due to the fact that if he wasn't, the bruiser would have definitely blown a hole right through him. He was on the ground, hardly breathing, his armor and left shoulder-guard shattered to a million pieces. He then looked up to the Enforcer, who walked towards him. Vi kicked away his knife, making sure he wouldn't pull a fast one on her. Pyke felt ashamed. He had been defeated so easily by Vi that she didn't even seem to break a sweat.
"Any last words before I bring you in, asshole?" Asked Vi, supposedly cracking her knuckles through her gauntlets
"Yeah, you - you should probably run." Stated the pirate, right before he dove back into his puddle. Vi was stunned for a moment before hearing a couple of very familiar sounds that sent a chill down her spine. The wiring of a machine gun and a maniacal laugh. She thought she wouldn't ever hear those two again. But there was something different about them. She looked towards the direction the two sounds were coming from. She looked up the roof of a building which faced the alley she was in. There she was. It was Jinx. But she looked so much more different. She looked like an...android. Just like Pyke. The only difference being her get-up. She was dressed from head-to-toe with some kind of metallic armor, covered in her signature purple LEDs.
"What's up, Fathands!?" She screamed with her android-like voice, before unleashing a barrage of bullets.
"Oh shit!" Shouted Vi as she ran for cover at the nearest wall. She was trying to cover herself, but she knew that she couldn't run towards the street, cause cyber-Jinx over there could turn her attention towards them. Vi grabbed her radio from her side and pressed the speaker button.
"Caitlyn!" She screamed, mostly trying to listen to herself over the rain of bullets.
"Vi? What's wrong? What's happening there?" Shouted the Sheriff over the radio, the sound of concern laced all around her voice. She was sure she heard the sound of bullets coming from Vi's radio when she spoke. The bruiser hesitated for a moment, as she didn't know what kind of impact her next words would have on her partner.
"It's Jinx! She's alive!" She screamed. The words did not register with Caitlyn for a moment. She thought she misheard for a moment. Because it was impossible for that to be true. It was only three days ago when Vi burst into her office saying the exact opposite sentence.
"Wait, what? Are you sure? This can't be possible!" She screamed back.
"Tell that to her fucking mini gun!" Screamed Vi, still trying not to get hit.
"Hey fathands, should we make things a bit more interesting?" Shouted Jinx in her cold, mechanical voice. Caitlyn heard that through the radio. That was unmistakably Jinx's voice. Jinx had seized the rain of bullets. She pulled out her rocket launcher which was hanging from her back. Jinx aimed the weapon towards the corner of the wall facing the hiding enforcer. She squeezed the trigger and a rocket flew off. Vi took a peak as to why the bullets seized coming and, as soon as she noticed the rocket flying her way, she took off, literally running for her life. She barely managed to get out of the alley by the time the rocket came into contact with the wall, creating a giant explosion in the process. She sat with her back against the wall, catching her breath and then took a look at where she was sitting a few moments ago. The spot she was hiding at, in order to protect herself from Jinx's minigun, was momentarily engulfed in flames. She knew that if she hadn't noticed the rocket flying her way, she would have been roasted. The people walking around that area started running, panicking like headless chickens. Who could blame them though? One minute, they were enjoying their ordinary lives, while the next, the sound of bullets and missiles filled the air around them. Too much information for anyone to take in at once. Especially for Vi and Caitlyn.
"Vi!? Vi!? Are you okay!?" Shouted the Sheriff. Vi took out her radio and pressed the button.
"Yeap, and still in one piece!" Replied the bruiser, suddenly feeling a searing pain in her left leg. She had been burnt by the fire created from the blast.
"Hang on Vi, I'm on my way!" Shouted the Sheriff, as she turned her cruiser's blinkers and the typical police siren on. The vehicles on the road moved out of the way. Vi put away her radio and turned her head to look at the charcoaled and blown-up alley. She decided to move in on the alley, hoping that Jinx had fled the scene. As they were standing right now, Vi had no way to close the distance between them, alas no way to actually attack the bluenette. It appears she did so, seeing as to how the entire alley was silent now, the only that could be heard was the distant panic of the passersby. She looked around the alley, looking at the destruction that Jinx had caused, supposedly in the one day she was "back from the dead". It always baffled her as to how or why she caused all this chaos. A few moments later, she heard the Sheriff's cruiser park rushingly next to the entrance of the alley. The bruiser was in a slight trance until her partner walked up to her. She was tense at first, but when she saw Vi, just standing there, she eased up a bit.
"You okay, are you hurt?" Asked the Sheriff softly. The bruiser took a minute to stare at her partner, then run into her embrace. Caitlyn was stunned for a moment but as soon as Vi started sobbing uncontrollably, she returned the embrace wholeheartedly.
"What the hell is going on?" Asked Vi, in between sobs. Her mind was in shambles. She still hadn't processed the fact that Jinx was there a few moments ago, standing on top of that building. It took her a good five minutes before she pulled herself together. The two walked towards their respective vehicles, but before they took off for the police department, Caitlyn took out the small first-aid kit in her cruiser and tended to Vi's burned left leg. It wasn't a serious burn, and a small dose of antibiotic ointment and a few bandages would do just the trick. As soon as Vi's leg felt better, Caitlyn followed her to the police station, in order to take an official statement as to what happened in that alley. By the time they were done, it was time for both of them to clock out. They decided to go back to Vi's apartment for a change, watch some movies and relax from the stressful and agonizing day. It wouldn't be until the next morning when they decided to talk about what to do.
Well, well, Jinx is alive! Who would've thought? xD I mean, it cannot be a Vi and Caitlyn story without Jinx, am I right? :) Also, massive thanks to Kinetics Solutions for granting my fanfic its first favourite! Cheers, lad/lass. I'm gonna be reading your Personal Chef story!
Cheers everyone for reading, don't forget to review! :) See you all again on Monday the 5th!