Marcus’s Martyrdom Chapter 3: Breathing Room, a league of legends fanfic

The surroundings were not those of Piltover. The room they met in was devoid of topside's charm, of its grandeur. Here, everything glowed or was dark and brown. Here, everything was real, as Silco used to say. Nothing gave more of a lie to that sentiment than the current room, however. While the surroundings were not those of Piltover, the people were dressed, and more importantly carried themselves, in ways that would put the elite of Piltover to shame. As distinguished industrialists and manufacturers, the kind that brought prosperity to the poor folks of the Undercity, it was only their right to be a little ostentatious. After all, they had only given the people what they wanted. Ask any reporter or investigator on Silco's payroll. Even if one found an honest one, well, didn't they want the power and pleasure that shimmer gave them? The addicts hardly turned it away.

Yes, they gave the people what they wanted, and they got rich off of it. Everyone won, except maybe those who were a little unwise in terms of what they actually wanted, but hey, that was their fault. So now, the chem barons gathered, ready to figure out what the hell was going on in their kingdom, and readied for some hasty plays. Silco's leadership was becoming increasingly questionable, and this latest development was only more evidence. Some of them thought this whole explosion business was obviously Jinx's fault, while others thought he must have gotten cocky with the wrong enemy. Regardless, they needed to know what was going on, and more importantly how it would affect their power and finances. When Sevika finally entered the room, notably absent one Silco, the majority grew frustrated while a select few saw opportunity.

"Where is he?" Someone piped up from the back. "Silco was in the middle of the explosion that just rocked the center of the Undercity," Sevika replied. "He is presumed missing." Holding up her mechanical arm, the weapons very prominently displayed even if not armed, she silenced the sudden eruption of objections and demands. "We will keep you informed as the situation develops, but until then, I would like to propose that Renni, controlling one of the largest shimmer plants in our operation, should temporarily be placed in charge of some of the currently unmanaged assets, at least until Silco can be located or a proper successor established." Finn was the first to object, because of course he was. "I would sthink sthat our illusthious leader would want his beloved daughter to inherit his sthrone."

This…was not the angle of attack that Sevika was expecting. She couldn't immediately see how Finn could benefit from such a suggestion, other than stopping a potential rival's ascension, which at first she was fine attributing as his motive, but then she wondered if he was trying to make it clear that Sevika was maneuvering against what Silco would have wanted. If he could convince the ones who still remained loyal to Silco's vision that Sevika was reshaping things to her interests, not his, then that might persuade some…but it really wasn't a threat. Jinx was too unstable to lead, and everyone but Silco knew it. Honestly, Silco knew it, he just refused to admit that she wasn't his 'perfect' little girl.

"Jinx will be given every honor due to her," Sevika responded diplomatically, "but I think that we can all agree that she doesn't have the right personality for such a responsibility." "Would you say sthat to his face, were he here?" Finn challenged her. Sevika gritted her teeth. "I would say, as I truly believe, that her talents are better suited to gadgetry and frontline fighting, not management. She'd probably find it boring as hell." Finn seemed annoyed, like she'd scored a victory, which satisfied her until someone else piped up. "I would like to remind everyone here that, while Renni may control a disproportionately large amount of the shimmer manufacturing, I have more experience trying to control our underground finances, and thus, if we're just having her take care of Silco's files, and not proposing that she overtake the operation as a whole," he emphasized that last statement, "then I personally believe that I would be more suited to the task overall, though I would not object to her assistance in any way she sees fit, of course."

Renni, to her credit, was already ready to pounce on that. "Well, I would be happy to assist you, but the largest matter is simply ensuring that none of Silco's operations have been disrupted by his disappearance, and thus your current tasks are far too important to lose out to mere stabilization." The upstart speaker gritted his teeth. He could easily ask why her own tasks weren't too important to be disrupted by something like this if that were the case, but then he'd be tacitly admitting that Renni's barony was more important than his own, something he was too foolishly proud to do. Sevika approved; her choice in replacement leader had exploited a man's pride to put a halt to his power move without losing any face or destabilizing the situation. She felt that she had made the right choice.

Jinx was twitching all over. There was a standoff between the Firelights and some of Sevika's (no, Silco's, because he's still alive, she reminded herself) men, apparently involving some kind of ambush and trickery and deceit and betrayal and blah blah blah. All she cared about was that the man who said he knew where Silco was hiding lied to her. The fact that he had been tricking a Firelight and was almost certainly unaware of her existence was, of course, irrelevant, because she hated being lied to. Silco knew too, which was why he was still alive, because he promised and wouldn't lie to her. But this man did. So he had to pay.

Unfortunately, he was currently being held by a Firelight who also happened to be holding a gun to the liar's head, also apparently threatening him for being a liar, and now some of Silco's men were laughing at the idea that they would be curtailed by the Firelights taking someone like him hostage, and were about to attack, which meant that things were about to get chaotic and thus she might not be able to punish him properly before someone else got him. Fortunately, she thrived in chaos. It was practically her best friend. Hoping that these guys weren't too important to Silco (she still remembered the last time he had been disappointed with her over friendly fire), she exploited the firefight that suddenly erupted between the factions to leap around and start placing bombs at the appropriate places.

They were currently in an abandoned building, one that probably once belonged to some crime operation but had been deemed 'no longer useful' (just like you will be one day, Milo sneered, but she ignored him), so finding opportunities to ensure that the whole place went down when she wanted to wasn't difficult at all. Once the fighting started, the liar that she wanted was kicked to the ground, so it should be even easier to nab him than expected. Setting the time to be just right, or close enough anyways, she waited, watching in amusement as someone tried to inject shimmer into themselves before a Firelight threw something that looked like a bug that made a small explosion (hmm, there was an idea), until the ticking wound down…there!

Jinx leapt from her perch, kicked the man who had been holding the hostage in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground, grabbed the little liar, and told everyone there, "be sure to go out with a bang!" Before jumping away once more as multiple explosions rocked the entire structure. Already having her escape route planned, it was no problem at all for her to get out before anything bad happened, but most of the others weren't so lucky. Good. She didn't want them to be.

As she tossed her quarry to the ground, Jinx came to the quick realization that what she wanted didn't actually matter, as one of the Firelights had, in fact, made it out. He looked like a Thomas. "Hey, Thomas, don't bother me, I need to talk with this liar." "My name's Ian, and what the hell, weren't those your people…you know what, it doesn't matter, you psychos kill each other all the time. This guy, however, is clearly important if he's the only one you wanted to save, so if you think I'm going to sit here and let you get away with this-" Jinx had not waited for him to finish talking, nor did she pay attention to what he said. She merely exploited the time he spent trying to work things out in his head and intimidate her to line up the exact shot…and there! He hadn't even noticed that she was fiddling with a gun as she got it pointed straight at his neck. As he fell to the ground, choking on his own blood, she felt the need to correct one very important misconception that he was clearly operating under. "Anyone looking at your face can tell that your name is Thomas. Stop trying to confuse me." With that, she left the Firelight alone so that she and the liar could have a pleasant conversation. That was not a lie; Jinx, at least, would find it very pleasant.

Caitlyn could hardly believe what she was hearing. Having gotten into a position where they could listen in on the meeting between what she barely recognized as some of the Undercity's wealthiest businessmen, she made sure to take note of every bit of admission to shimmer operations that they foreclosed. Not only was Silco, in fact, funding all of the criminal enterprises that she had long suspected were controlled by a single man, but she now had several of the most important associates of the conspiracy gathered in one place and, dammit, if she actually had the support of the Enforcers at large for this operation they could do so much good right now!

Her fist clenched, which Vi noticed. "Cool yourself, cupcake," she whispered, "if anything I'm madder than you are. These rats betrayed Vander, and I know some of them. That one over there, he saved him from getting killed in a street fight, and the one beside him would have been forced into the brothels against her will without Vander's aid, but now they sit here getting rich off the man who killed him…it disgusts me, but we have to be smart about this." Calming herself, Caitlyn nodded and looked about the room to see if there was anything that they could use. She wasn't actually certain what she was trying to find. A way to kill them? Was that the right angle to take? She doubted that she could properly arrest all of them at one by herself, but in a fight, even outnumbered, she was an absurdly good shot if she could get an early advantage. If there were a way to incapacitate them all…of course, as her mind went through such opportunities, it did occur to her that a recording device would actually be her best option.

If they were arrested, they would just have their lackeys make the evidence disappear and it would ultimately be a minor inconvenience for most of them, and she doubted that, even in their apparent panic and confusion, they were stupid enough to have brought all of their documentation and papers and whatever they used to keep track of their criminal enterprises with them to this meeting. If she could just use this opportunity to figure out all of their names and identities, however, she could use this distraction to check out their homes and places of businesses…finally having settled on a plan, she turned to realize that Vi had made the decision to act.

Vi was significantly less surprised than Caitlyn about who was involved in the internal rot among the Undercity, and was also far more certain about what she intended to do about it. These bastards had to die. When they had lost all power and influence, when their fangs were pulled from their mouths, when the only ones standing were the ones begging for mercy, then they could discuss a peaceful arrest and future settlement. Besides, she was doing them a favor. Vi knew what Piltover's prisons were like, all too well, and she had no interest in what the people who had built them considered 'justice.'

So, when she saw from the corner of her eye some box that one woman had brought (was that Renni? She was the pregnant one, right? I wonder what happened with the baby?), and then noticed that the goon transporting it was eyeing it nervously, she had an impulsive idea. It looks like someone brought a weapon to the party, Vi thought, and wouldn't it be a shame it someone else used it? Moving from her perch to the walls outside where the barons were meeting, Vi found a guard standing by himself, leapt down behind him, and gripped simultaneously gripped him by the throat and mouth. Applying enough pressure to down him for a while, she grabbed enough of his clothing to obscure her features and pass herself off as one of Silco's goons and casually walked in through the front door. Standing by that box, taking a quick glance inside, she saw canisters. Some kind of deadly gas, perhaps?

Ekko was trying to coordinate his men while simultaneously figuring out whether or not the direct assault or the stealthy approach would work best here when he saw someone take out one of Silco's goons. It was a woman a few years older than him, with red hair, and even with her quickly using the stolen outfit to cover up her appearance he recognized…was that Vi? Wow, it was. So she really was still alive, and looking into Silco's operations. That was a good sign, but it didn't rule out the possibility of working with Enforcers. They at least pretended to want to stop the shimmer trade, and unconfirmed rumors held that some Enforcers had died in that recent explosion. Checking around the area, he saw some unidentified woman hiding on the roof, watching in on the chem barons' meeting. Something about her bearing screamed 'Topsider,' which only reinforced the possibility that she was, in fact, an Enforcer, and that his once friend was that far gone.

Without confirmation, he didn't want to act in a way that could put her in jeopardy, but he also knew that he couldn't just sit still paralyzed by possibilities when this big of an opportunity was in front of him. So many of his biggest enemies in the Lanes, all together in one place, clearly panicking, and Silco not to be seen anywhere, which meant that he had either really bought it or, as the pessimist in him was inclined to claim, was damaged enough to not keep control of the situation, either of which spelled 'major Firelight victory within your grasp.' If there were really were Enforcers here, antagonistic to the Barons and not just collecting bribe money, then that meant that his enemies would be distracted fighting each other and even more vulnerable to his assault. Sorry Vi, he thought as he calculated every potential angle of attack, every chokepoint that his followers could exploit, every weakness in the enemy's defense that he could see (the fact that he hadn't already been noticed revealed several by itself), and signaled to his followers to move in, but the well-being of the Lanes comes first. I think you of all people would understand that.

Sevika noticed the sudden shift in which guard was overseeing that strange display Silco had prepared that she and Renni still had no idea how to use, but was too focused on maintaining momentum to figure out what it meant. The new goon looked familiar for some reason, but she couldn't place it, so she instead focused her gaze on the chem barons that hadn't already been convinced of her and Renni's side. There weren't many, as the meeting overall had gone far better than she could have hoped for in her wildest dreams, but there were still loose ends that could unravel a lot if she left it like this now…which, of course, she had no opportunity to deal with before the windows shattered.

"Fireli-" someone unhelpfully shouted before a burst of energy from one of the enemy gang's weapons shut him him up for good. Not hesitating for a second, Sevika extended her arm and knocked one who had hoped to swoop in on one of their stupid boards and take her out in a sneak attack to the ground, where she spared less than a second to stomp on his legs and then stab into his chest before another idiot thought she would be a good target to take on in melee.

Caitlyn did not want to admit that she was panicking, but she was panicking. The convict that she had risked so much to spring from prison had just jumped into the middle of what turned out to be a firefight, a firefight that was blowing up the very people she hoped to take into custody! Apparently some rival gang, probably some underling trying to take power now that the boss was gone, had decided to use this opportunity to attack, and now…she recognized Vi, ducking behind a strange box and trying to hide from the fighting, apparently uncertain as to what side she should be on. When some criminal came toward Vi, with intentions Caitlyn couldn't really be certain of, something within her reacted before she could think about it. Her gun was held up, pointed straight at the enemy's head, fired…and she missed. That was shocking; Caitlyn couldn't remember the last time she missed, but something about the situation had her arms shaking. It must be the air down here, she thought, it's affecting me somehow.

Vi had no idea who the hell these new guys were, nor did she particularly care. More enemies only meant more reason to figure out a way to use this gas weapon, which she was pretty sure she was about to figure out before some imbecile shot the canisters and the gas inside them sprayed everywhere. With a disturbing hissing noise, the gas inside did turn out to be dangerous; when it assaulted Vi's lungs, she barely recognized the stuff at the worst of lowest 'inhabitable' points of the Fissures. This was stuff from the parts of the underground where merely existing was a health hazard. She didn't think there was anything good about her prison cell, but it had meant that she had spent the last decade breathing something closer to Piltover's air, a blessing she hadn't even recognized until it became a curse as she fell to the ground gasping. She wasn't the only one, from the sound of things.

Ekko considered himself a man of the people, someone who spent his time getting to understand the plight of the average Undercity resident. Still, today he was reminded of how good his followers actually had it with that tree, as all it took was air from the bad parts of the Fissures to effectively poison them. "Grab who you can and-uhk-retreat!" He barely managed to shout through a fit of coughs.

He himself grabbed some random red-haired woman, he thought she ran one of the shimmer manufacturing plants, and tried to bolt as Sevika, who was somehow still standing in all of this, charged forward, mechanical arm whizzing past at full strength…remembering everything he could about her attack patterns, thinking on what he knew of her personality and combat-style even in the current haze of his mind, he dodged. It was at the last second, but he managed it, her weapon only managing to stab into the leg of his hostage much to her increased fury. He had made it, he thought, as he escaped the room where those barons had been meeting, where he hoped to do some permanent damage to their operation, where he hoped that he had at least sent a message (and confirmed that Silco was incapacitated if not dead in some way, as otherwise he definitely would have been there), and where many of his comrades hadn't. That was unfortunate, but it was the life that the current situation forced on them. Besides, he had at least one of the barons under his control, and who knows what good could come of that?

Vi lay on the ground, coughing her lungs out, as someone else who was also coughing their lungs out grabbed. As she was unceremoniously pulled to the nearby door, this person, whoever it was, laughed at her, "what an excellent reminder of who we usthed to be. I thsuppose that thSilco planned that one?" Vi could barely understand what he was talking about. She could barely understand anything. "I sthink you should come with me, pretty little henchman."

Caitlyn stared at what she had caused in shock. She did, in fact, take out the guy she was aiming at; he collapsed to the ground coughing his lungs out. But now, all of them were choking on something, something that she had inadvertently released, and in her paralysis she couldn't even bring herself to do anything about the man that grabbed Vi. What kind of weapon is this? She thought. Is this what they're making in the Undercity? Is this what the Council has been ignoring? Getting a hold of herself, she noted that many of these 'chem barons' were down but not dead, which would have made a perfect condition for arresting them all had she had any allies with her today, and could bring her legs to move, damn them, and that the man who grabbed Vi had a very prominent golden jaw. She was just about to go after him when a rather large woman, the only one who was still standing after the effects of whatever gas had been just unleashed, noticed her, mechanical arm buzzing and face contorted in rage…the sight finally prompted her legs to move, as far away from there as possible.