Disclaimer: The usual items apply here. I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or League of Legends. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am but a humble writer attempting to work on my skills with characters and worlds that I love.
The Hero of Zaun - Part Six - Reap What You Sow
Piltover Council Chamber
The meeting was going as normal as always. Hoskel and Bolbok were arguing with the council about raising taxes to increase export rates while Kiramman tried to calm the rising tempers and voices. Medarda was watching silently, taking in the landscape to find the most profitable side to cast her vote on.
All of this normalcy was broken when the main doors burst open, admitting a dirt caked Sheriff Grayson and twenty armored enforcers with rifles at the ready. As they marched into the room Heimerdinger jumped to his feet.
"Sheriff Grayson, what is the meaning of this?" The Yordle exclaimed in shock. Never in the history of Piltover had arms been bared in the council chambers. These were halls of peaceful debate and merit after all.
When the aged enforcer turned her eyes on him the small man blinked. In all the years he'd known her Grayson had never held clear rage in her eyes.
She answered by gesturing to Councilman Hoskel and waving her hand. Immediately the enforcers she'd brought swarmed his desk and chained him in iron before frog marching him out of the room. The entire way he squealed like a pig and demanded to know if these men knew who he was.
The other councilors were speechless during these proceedings. None could make any sense of what they were seeing.
When the doors finally closed behind them Grayson addressed those that remained. "I just got back from my meeting in Zaun." She started pacing before the circular desk in clear agitation. "Things were going well. The Red Eye was willing to deal with me and even provide prisoners to stand trial for the explosion. Can any of you guess what happened next?" She stopped and glared at the council that had allowed things to get this bad.
Mustering her courage, Councilor Kiramman stood, "Sheriff Grayson I must insist you-"
"Marcus and a bunch of Hoskel house guards armed with weapons manufactured in his armament plants burst into the meeting! Marcus stated unequivocally that he had council approval to invade the meeting and then he launched a godsdamned grenade into the bar!"
Shocked gasps erupted from the councilors.
"Only one person was injured but surprise surprise it was the man I was meeting. Red Eye contained the blast to himself and lost an arm in the process. Thanks to this council we have now lost any chance for peace!"
Medarda stood then, "Pardon me sheriff, but did you say the man contained the explosion? How is that possible in what I am assuming was a crowded bar."
Grayson smirked at the newest councilor. "Turns out the Red Eye is a mage. I saw myself how he used arcane power to contain the blast. He sacrificed his arm to protect his people and from what I witnessed they're all willing to die for him now because of it."
"Preposterous!" Councilor Shoola was speaking now. "By Piltover law if a mage was found they would have been turned over to the academy."
"What part of the last decade makes you think the Zaunites would purposefully give you one of their citizens? Regardless it happened, and as a result you just saw Councilor Hoskel be arrested for treason and incitement to cause violence. Now we have one last chance to prevent war. They gave us an ultimatum and if we don't meet the terms the peace will no longer be on the table."
Trying once more to level the raised voices in the room, Kiramman very calmly asked, "What are these terms?"
Without inflection the sheriff answered, "A draft of emancipation for every citizen of Zaun. They want independence and if you don't give it to them they are willing to make this kingdom bleed."
Stunned silence greeted her. She assumed the councilors had thought that they'd want easy concessions, not freedom.
"They can't seriously think they'll beat us?" Kiramman asked.
"Oh they do, and so do I." Grayson responded. "I said it before and I'll say it again, the strategy will be different this time. They won't fight us at range but instead make us come to them. We have better ranged weapons but in terms of sheer numbers of fighters they beat us two to one. On top of that they provide three fifths of our labor force. If they draw back into Zaun then Piltover industry crumbles. So in reality they don't even need to defeat us in the field. They can outlast us. After all, they have never received anything they need from us that they will lose."
Kiramman was clearly shaken. "Then we need to mobilize our forces to strike first. We must hit them before they have a chance to prepare their defenses."
"Are you a hypocrite Councilor?" Medarda asked the only woman on the council that held a modicum of her respect.
"Excuse me?" The younger woman asked in shock.
"Are you a hypocrite? It's a simple question. I'm only asking because you said in our last meeting that Zaun stays in our hands solely, in your opinion, to convince other nations of our strength and to not attack us. If we do not draft that letter of mass emancipation then we will be in a state of civil war. Like it or not that fact will spread beyond our borders and the nations of the world will take notice. Even if we win the conflict our forces will be decimated by the fighting and with or without the population of Zaun we will be easy pickings to any nation that wants to expand its own borders."
"So what in your opinion is truly better for all? Letting a people that clearly want to separate from us, and that we do not truly provide for, do so, thus saving our military might for the defense of Piltover itself? Or wasting our strength to put down people that are tired of our rule, thus weakening us to the point we won't be able to put up a defense when the fight comes to us? Before you answer keep in mind that I know how many Zaunites are employed at below minimum wage to run your distilleries and smelting plants."
Kiramman couldn't meet her eyes. Instead she brushed off the question and turned to the Sheriff once more. "This issue will take deliberation. How long have they given us?"
"Until the morning." She glared at her superiors. "It shouldn't take that long to make a decision. I've already taken your requirements for a majority down by one vote." With that she spun on her heel and left the room. The great doors crashing shut behind her.
Heimerdinger stood then, "The requirements for the expatriation of Zaun is a unanimous vote. Everyone must agree." His eyes panned those sat before him. "We do not have long, so let's begin our arguments."
Piltover Academy of Innovation - Research Room - East Tower - Dawn
"No, no, no Viktor," Jayce argued with his research partner while waving a stack of fresh notes in the air, "The math shows that the polarity of the arcane flow must be focused clockwise."
A crutch snapped against the floor in annoyed exuberance, "And I am telling you zat math cannot be used to quantify ze exact flow of ze arcane. Ve must Vork Vith trial and error. Ve already tried Clockwise last week in ze actuator. Ve must try ze other vay zis time."
Jayce sighed in resignation and acceptance. He knew that Viktor was right, as he had been with all of his arguments. Ever since that night in his forge with Heimerdinger the two had been working together.
When he'd finally confessed to the professor what he was working on he'd been understandably nervous, but when he'd explained why he was working on it, as a final tribute to his brother and to make the lives of his fellow citizens better his professor had looked into his eyes and known what he saw. A man determined to follow his dreams no matter what. Heimerdinger had decided then and there that he'd rather a project with this much potential danger be supervised by him, and that the student running it had the proper support. He'd brought in Viktor the next day to act as his research partner.
Jayce expected to chafe under the idea of sharing the work that had dominated his life for the last six years with another, but had quickly been proven wrong. He and Viktor had bonded almost immediately over a shared love of the unknown, and the pursuit of its secrets. From there one of the strongest friendships the two had ever known began to grow.
Now the two were setting up their Arcane actuator for another test run. Once they could make it work properly they hoped to use a larger version to provide free energy to every home in Piltover.
The two were seconds away from flipping the switch when the door to their lab was pushed open and a girl with big bushy hair and an armload of scrolls and books stumbled inside, dropping at least half in the process before she managed to right herself.
The two stopped and stared at the strange intruder. Guests aside from Heimerdinger were rare seeing as their lab had been situated in the only empty tower on the campus as an extra security measure. The only ones that even knew people were working here were the department heads, though they didn't know what the area of study was.
Jayce gave his partner one last look before covering their creation with a tarp and approaching the strange woman.
"Hello." He began. watching as the mystery girl finished picking up her dropped items, "Can I help you miss?"
The girl beamed at him. "Yes! I heard a rumor there was magic being researched at this academy and immediately spoke to Professor Heimerdinger. He said that if I wanted anything to do with the project I should talk to you."
Jayce blinked. He hadn't expected the professor to send anyone else his way. After all by necessity the group that knew about arcane research needed to be kept small until real progress could be reported.
"So you asked about a random subject and he just sent you over here?" The man was skeptical to say the least.
The new girl blushed lightly. "Of course not. I had to show him all the notes I made from the materials in the library and explain all of the theories I had made about arcanic function before he even considered telling me there was actual arcane research being conducted. When he saw my dedication to the research he said that an introduction might be in order, so here I am." She finished by reaching a hand out for a shake… coincidentally dropping her materials all over again.
Jayce sighed and squatted down to help her pick them up, but she'd moved at the same time and the two bumped their heads against each other. They grunted and fell onto their collective backsides as Viktor laughed from his chair. He eventually got a hold of himself and shuffled over the two, helping them to their feet.
"Very vell miss. Ve can discuss your credentials and see if you are vourthy of joining our little group."
The girl smiled. "My name is Hermione Granger. I love your accent. Where are you from?
Viktor's grin faltered for a moment but he carried on regardless. "Viktor. I grew up in ze undercity of Zaun.
"Oh." Hermione's face dropped. "I don't mean to offend, but I wasn't aware there were any Zaunites in this school."
Viktor scowled. "Vell maybe if Piltover invested in ze schools in Zahn zere vould be more of us here. Excuse me." On that note he pulled his crutch under his arm and stalked off to check the equipment again.
For her part Hermione looked horrified as she turned to Jayce. "I am so sorry."
He frowned, "You should be. Don't you know anything? Viktor is the first Zaunite in eighty years to be admitted into the academy and it's all due to the fact that he's a natural born genius. If he'd been forced to rely on the schools of his home for an education he'd never have left his hometown. They just don't have the resources for advanced education there."
He sighed and forced himself to relax. "That aside, let's talk. You explained your credentials to Heimerdinger but I want to hear them too. If you seem as smart as he must think you are then we'll be able to make use of you."
Two Hours Later
"Alright Hermione I'm convinced you know enough to be of use here. Come on over." The two made their way over to where Viktor had finished working with the machine and sat down.
As they started cranking the device counterclockwise Hermione couldn't help herself from asking, "Why are you doing this exactly?"
Jayce stopped cranking. "What do you mean?"
Hermione scrounged up her recollection of the libraries records of arcane magic in the world. "Arcane magic has had a pretty scary history. It seems safe to say that people will react negatively if it is brought into the general public. So why risk the exposure? Aren't you worried the people will try to hurt you?"
"A couple of reasons." Jayce responded. "First, it was the last thing I told my brother I'd create before he died. Second, it has the potential to be the single greatest benefit to mankind in centuries. Some people will have reservations sure, but the majority will see the benefits arcane power could provide. Imagine being able to travel vast distances in a moment, healing the most grievous of wounds, or completing tasks that should take hours in moments. To have the potential to harness that power to benefit everyone… It would be crazy not to use it."
"Yeah," Hermione nervously chuckled, "That certainly sounds crazy."
"Of course it does to you." Viktor muttered much to Hermione's discomfort.
She decided to speak up to the clearly crippled man. "I'm sorry if I offended you Viktor. I'm not from Piltover originally and I am still getting used to how things are here."
The two men shared a look of understanding, but before they could say anything a massive boom sounded from outside and the glass of the windows shattered all over them. It would have gotten on Hermione too except Jayce had jumped forward to shield her with his body.
"Wh- what happened?" Hermione stuttered from the safety of her savior's arms.
Silence was the answer. Jayce looked over his shoulder to where Viktor was and saw him staring out of the broken hole in the wall that had been a large window seconds before.
"Viktor?" Jayce asked. "What happened? What's going on?"
"Zey finally did it." he muttered. "Zey blew zem up."
Now Jayce was more worried than ever. "What do you mean Viktor? Who blew what up?"
The other man sighed and slid to the floor. Exhaustion coloring his tone. "Ze bridges. Ze Zaunites blew up ze bridges." His eyes rose to Jayce's, "It's war Jayce. Piltover is at war."
Zaun - The bridge Ruins
"Excellent." Hadrian smiled darkly at the ruins of the main bridge. His signature top hat sat at an angle on his head and his left sleeve waved freely in the breeze. His right hand was holding Vander's pipe before his lips. The man had made a gift of it after he'd commented to him how much he'd liked the taste of the pipe weed.
As he looked upon the devastation of this and the other four bridges formerly connecting the two cities he thought back onto how this plan had been set into motion.
His father and advisors had tried to get him to take the rest of the day and night to himself after the attack at The Last Drop, but he'd had no belief that the council of Piltover would give them what they wanted and needed to plan his next move. The biggest issue was the connecting bridges. With them Piltover could march their troops from five separate directions. Effectively forcing him to split up his own defenders.
The question had been nagging at him for an hour when Violet had entered his office and embraced him from behind. "If I can give you the destruction of those bridges will you come to bed with me and just relax until tomorrow? You lost your arm only a couple hours ago Hadrian. You need to rest."
He turned to face her. "How would you deliver?"
She held a pouch up to him and inside were several azure rocks. They seemed to be glowing.
Hadrian stared, "Are these?…"
"The things that blew up the building in Piltover and also killed my crew? Yes. Each one has massive explosive power and there are quite a few in that bag. Put four or five on every bridge and attach a timed explosive to them… Those bridges will be gone in seconds."
The young man smiled and kissed his girlfriend. "What would I do without you Vi?"
She gestured to the bed and pulled him down to lie beside her. He was already getting drowsy.
"You'd be working yourself into an early grave. That's what. Now sleep."
As he started to drift off Violet heard him mumble out, "I couldn't do this without you. I love you Vi." And then he was out like a light.
With a start Hadrian came back to himself amidst the destruction and debris. He'd been right about the need for action. That morning had dawned and no notice of emancipation had been reported anywhere that his spies could reach. Which meant they were now at war and action was needed. Violet had been right about the rocks. They'd done their job well and no Zaunites had been injured in the blast. It was a good day.
Now the only way for Piltover to send troops across to fight them was a single small stretch of calm river called "The Belt" on the north side of the city. Everywhere else the flow of the river was too choppy and dangerous for a crossing. And he knew for a fact that the richer city didn't have troop transports that could carry more than ten enforcers at a time. They'd need to stagger their numbers and Hadrian's forces would pick them off as they landed. His war was off to a fortuitous start.
Below, Powder grabbed his loose sleeve in one of her hands. Ever since the blast that had killed her and her sister's crew, the girl had insisted on being referred to as Jinx, and she had refused to be any more than a room away from him at any given time. Saving her life from a grenade, and being a beacon of emotional support after she'd accidentally killed her friends had apparently left a mark on her mind.
"Hadrian?" She asked, staring at his satisfied smile with open curiosity. "What happens now?"
He turned his smile down on her, placed the pipe in the corner of his mouth, and gently brushed his free hand through her hair.
"Now," he said, "we watch, we plan, and if they send anyone over the river we make them pay for it."
Powder's curious expression morphed into a murderous glare at his words. "Good." Was her only response.
Enforcer Headquarters - Piltover
"Get the fire brigades to Market Square and Fleet Street! Search for any injured and try to mitigate the fire damage!" Sheriff Grayson was shouting orders left and right to deal with this unmitigated disaster. She had expected a response when the Zaunites demand was not met, but this was beyond any escalation she could expect.
Those bridges served as the lifeblood and connection between the two cities. Without them workers wouldn't be able to make their way between. And she'd been informed that all the Zaunite workers in the city had left the night before. No goods could be shipped either. The Red Eye had officially marooned them both.
What scared her most however was that the Red Eye was incredibly smart, and if was skilled enough to pull this off then he would already be thinking about the future. The most effective move would be to ally Zaun to a neighboring country with a strong navy and fully blockade Piltover. Since the city didn't have an agriculture industry of its own the citizens would begin to starve within a matter of months. That was after all one more dirty job the council had pawned off to Zaun.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of her newest recruit. Caitlyn Kiramman had applied to the enforcer department two years ago because she wanted to make sure what had happened to her friend Jayce's brother didn't happen to anyone else. She'd arrived with fire in her eyes and true purpose in her heart.
Grayson had seen this, and noticed the road blocks the girl's mother was putting in place to keep her out of danger. So she had intervened herself and taken the rich girl under her wing so to speak. Now, two years later she had become her right hand, and she was damn effective.
"Sheriff Grayson." The girl greeted.
"Enforcer Kiramman, I need you to get on the message board and manage the emergency response."
The girl looked troubled. "I would rather accompany you. Someone else can man the lines, I would rather help you work to fix this."
Normally the woman would have insisted but right then she was too overwhelmed by events and could definitely use the girl's help. "All right, but stay close. I'm going to see the council." She handed the girl a satchel full of maps and response plans and the two left the bustle of the emergency in the hands of her lieutenants.
Piltover - Council Chambers
Everyone was scrambling, arguing, and altogether doing nothing to fix the problems they were experiencing when the doors opened to admit sheriff Grayson and her enforcer associate. Everyone quieted down instantly to listen to what she had to say.
The aged enforcer didn't keep them waiting. "We're fucked."
Councilor Kiramman kept looking back and forth between the sheriff and her daughter. She had not agreed with her little girl joining the enforcer legion but the stupid girl refused to listen. Why couldn't she just see that she knew what was best for her, and what was best was not potentially dying in the line of duty. She had tried quickly to use her contacts in the department to stonewall her and relegate the girl to the most mundane of tasks and guard duty rotations of the wealthier districts. It was her hope that the spirit breaking work would deprive her daughter of her near suicidal urge to protect people. All of those efforts had been ruined however when the sheriff herself had taken an interest in her career.
Putting her annoyance aside she asked, "What exactly do you mean by that crude remark sheriff?"
The woman in question sniffed haughtily. "They took the bridges. Do you have any idea what that means?"
Everyone else in the room seemed confused by the question so she answered it herself. "Some rulers you are. The Zaunites aren't just our industrial workers, they're our farmers. Without those bridges we have no access to our cities food supply. Not to mention trading into the inner continent. We've been cut off."
The councilors were shocked. "How can this be?" Asked councilor Medarda as she looked at her fellow councilors. "Did any of you know they had the capability to carry out an attack of this magnitude? Why would they do something this drastic in the first place?"
The sheriff exploded. "Are you fucking kidding me? As far as ability, it doesn't take much to procure explosives and we've been standing on the wire for years now." She jabbed a straight finger out the window toward the wreckage of the main street bridge, "And they did this because you wouldn't sign the godsdamn mass emancipations. They said not doing it would result in war but did you listen? No? You just assumed the 'miserable little Zaunites' would back down and lie in their holes like the arrogant asses you are."
The councilor's were aghast. "How dare you speak to us this way Sheriff-" Kiramman began, not wanting her daughter to get used to the idea of someone mouthing off to their authority, but was interrupted by the very person she was trying to intimidate.
"Why shouldn't I councilor? Was I wrong in my statement? And more importantly what are you going to do about it, fire me?"
"We just might." Kirraman snarled. This woman was the worst possible influence for her daughter.
"Bring it on," Grayson responded, "and when the people riot in a month from lack of food and the market's collapse you can be the ones to handle public safety."
While the councilwoman floundered for a comeback of her own Heimerdinger chose to take up the task of lowering the room's tension.
"Let's all just take a breath here." The Yordle soothed, "No one is firing anyone so let's just talk about our next move."
Grayson said, "That's easy. Sign the emancipation and we can start working on a new bridge. With luck we can reestablish trade and bring in fresh food before the citizens start to starve."
"We can't capitulate to terrorism!" Kiramman responded with a gasp. "What kind of message would that send to the people?"
The sheriff threw her hands into the air, "You still aren't taking this seriously! It wasn't a terrorist attack, it was an act of war. Why can't you seem to grasp that we are at war and they have the advantage!"
Hoping to avoid another escalation of insults Heimerdinger said, "As disappointing as it is the council will not unanimously vote on the emancipation. That means we have to end this with force. What are our options for military action?"
Grayson glared at councilor Kiramman. "I can guess where the main dissent came from, but that aside, there is only one safe place to cross the river, and it isn't wide enough to transport troops in force. It'll be a prolonged battle to claim a beach landing point. We'll lose thousands of enforcers and it will take years for our military to recover even if we do win."
The council stared in shock.
Kiramman broke the silence with a resolute look on her face. "If that is our only option then we must proceed. You Sheriff, will lead the first assault and claim the beach."
Grayson looked upon the other faces on the council and saw nothing but downturned faces. So this was it. None of them thought the plan would work. All of them knew they were sending her and thousands of others to their deaths. But they were just too stubborn to admit defeat and give freedom to those they saw as their worker class.
Still, there was nothing she could do if that was their order. "If that is the will of the council I will start preparing the landing crafts." She bowed stiffly and turned toward the door, only to interrupted by her subordinate.
"Sheriff, I volunteer for a position on the first craft beside you." Caitlyn spoke with passion.
Before her mother could object with a look of horror on her face, Grayson said, "I would be honored to have you by my side in this fight. Be ready on the dock by 0800."
Councilor Kiramman exploded, "She most certainly will not! MY daughter is not some filthy streetfighter boxing in the mud! She will stay at home where it is safe!"
The sheriff rounded on her once more, "The entire campaign is going to be a streetfight in the mud, and you are fine with sentencing thousands of others to that fate so why is your daughter different from them? You think their parents feel any different? For that matter she is one of my enforcers and is therefore under my command. The only one that can deny her request is myself and I will not deny her the chance to fight for her people!"
Medarda spoke then, "You are absolutely right sheriff." She stared at her fellow councilwoman until she sat down. "We await word of your victory."
The grey haired woman gave the very slightest of bows and marched out the door. Caitlyn left behind her after giving her mother a look of pure murder.
When the door closed everyone sighed and Heimerdinger rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. "This would all be so much easier if you would only agree to let the Zaunites go Kiramman." He spoke imploringly to the stoic woman.
"We've already been over this!" The woman nearly screeched. To her mind she was the only one seeing the bigger picture anymore. "Distasteful as it is we need them in order to keep our city running, and we need to be able to call on their numbers if we are attacked."
Medarda stood next. "And we keep telling you that if we are attacked after wasting our strength to put them down it won't matter anyway. We can always hire people from Piltover to take those positions up Kiramman."
The older woman stood firm, "But they would….." She trailed off, not wanting to finish the response. She knew how it would sound.
Medarda wouldn't let it go however. "They would have be paid the full rate of at least minimum wage. That is what you were going to say right? I guess I was correct then. You are a hypocrite. In the end this really is only about money for you."
The other woman bristled. "The economy, market, and military might all go hand in hand! Why do you all refuse to see that?!"
The arguing continued unabated until hours into the evening.
Docks of Zaun - North Side - The Belt
Hadrian stood on the dock, looking out at the sparkling city of Piltover. Behind him men and women were unloading boxes of Shiver canisters and weapons in key locations. They also covered traps on the ground and boarded up areas of possible escape. Tomorrow the first battle of the war would be waged… and he was ready.