"And you're sure she hasn't shown up at all?" Ekko asked a bartender who's name tag read "Roman".
"For the last time XII, Vi hasn't shown up since she beat the day lights out of them Factorywood Fiends." The man said to not only Ekko's disappointment, but also the disappointment of some company he had brought with him.
"Dammit." Ekko turned around to the rest of his friends, well actually, they were more like a family to him. "Does anyone else got any ideas?" Ekko asked, feeling a sense of urgency he had been feeling for a long while now.
"I don't know mate, It's been almost a month since she disappeared and we've searched every spot with no dam luck." A man said as he was tuning his favorite guitar, which had the signatures of every single Pentakill member on it, even Sona's before she left for her solo career. "Who knows, maybe them rumors about her biting the dust were true." He said as he plucked the strings of his guitar, thinking about a possible memorial song if the worst had come to pass. This made both Ekko and a few of the other members go pale, thinking about the worst possible outcomes: A factory explosion, getting jumped by a rival gang, being abducted by the glorius evolution, etc... Their were many rumors that spread throughout the communities in Zaun, one thing that was consistent however was that VI seemed to be getting involved in a lot of fights.
"No way VIII, with how much we've been searching we would have found a body buy now." said a woman named VIIctoria with augmented eyes and a leather jacket with VII written on the back.
"And if the Wardens had gotten her, it would be allover the news by now." Ekko added, with a sour taste when thinking about Piltover's Wardens. For all the supposed justice and order that they are supposed to maintain, Ekko felt that Zaun had gotten the short end of the stick, just like it always does. However all those sour thoughts were pushed aside when a small boy tapped his shoulder.
"Do you think VI is ever coming back Ekko?" The boy asked with a saddened expression.
"Of course she will Ajuna, It's Vi were talking about! She could handle anything thrown at her!" Ekko exclaimed. Just about everyone in the gang looked up to Vi, but Ekko probably idolized her the most, like how one would view a superhero. To him Vi was the perfect example of what made the Zaun side of the city so great. "I'm sure IX and X will come back with something." Ekko hoped, however the gang hadn't heard from X in a while, she said she wasn't feeling good.
"If you say so." Ajuna said, his attention soon turning to the one of the bars monitors. The news channel headline read "MAGE TENSIONS INCREASING" and the reporter seemed to talk about an incident involving a mage being assaulted by a man accusing him of being a part of a cult. Before anyone could pay anymore attention to the news headline, the entrance of the bar burst open, a boy on roller skates donning goggles , a backpack and a massive pair of headphones dramatically sliding in. He was slouching over, catching his breath.
"IX!" the gang exclaimed, surrounding him.
"Did you find VI!"Ajuna exclaimed, hope glittering in his eyes.
"Nope, searched every nook and cranny of both Zaun and even as much of Piltover as I could, but no pink hair in sight." IX said, before disappointment could wash over the gang he spoke again.
"But I do have something..." IX reached into his backpack, everyone leaned closer in anticipation. "I SAW THIS BEAUTIFUL SUNSET OVER THE PILTOVER BUILDINGS AND DREW THIS!" He exclaimed as he pulled out a notebook with a highly detailed and and magnificent drawing. "What do you guys think!" He asked, smiling under the cloth covering his mouth.
"It's... It's great IX." Ekko said, his disappointed tone matching that of the gang.
"BREAKING NEWS: A massive wave of destruction sweeping across Copper Street in south piltover! We bring you to Draven who is currently on the scene!" The TV was showing a helicopter view of what looked like a shoot out between a gang and the Wardens. Then after the woman had finished talking, the camera cut to a man with blond hair and a red suit, whom despite being questionably close to the shootout taking place he seemed to be grinning with a huge air of confidence.
"Thank you, oh and it's not Draven, It's Draaaaaaaaaven." He said as bullets flew past his hair."As you can see right behind me there is currently a huge shootout taking place between the Wardens and those who have been Identified as the vicious gang Old Hungry Scar's." The news reporter explained as he nonchalantly spreads his hands towards the fighting taking place. "Now it looks like despite their efforts the Wardens are having a tough time handling the situation." Draven said as a warden was picked up buy a deformed, mutated looking gangster with a singular giant metal arm and threw him at another Warden and slid near Draven's feat. "And now it looks like the Scars have brought out the big guns! Hah! He almost looks uglier than my brother!"
Anger and disgust coursed through Ekko and the rest of the lost children, while they themselves were gangsters, they at least had a moral code, and only targeted the worst of the worst, never innocent bystanders. "It's people like this who give Zaun a bad name." Ekko gritted his teeth.
"Holy smokes! Even The Sheriffs bullets can't pierce through that thing!" Draven smiled as the Gangster's metal arm was blocking the gun fire, it seemed that the arms had some high quality Chem-tech built into it. The camera then turned upward, showing Caitlyn firing rounds at the gangster, not being able to find a weakness. With one quick glance she notices the camera man and Slams her fist on the ground, speaking into her radio.
"Uuuuuhhh boss? I don't think we're supposed to be this close?" The camera man said, shaking in fear, not wanting to be in the middle of the carnage and suffering an injury... again.
"C'mon! This is where the all the fun is! what other reporter has the guts to jump in the face of danger and-"
"Look out!" The camera man said as one of the Old Hungry Scar's charged at Draven with a gun, Draven effortlessly dodged the first bullet and round house kicked the gun with flare and knocked him out with the microphone in style. "That what happens when you mess with Draaaaaaaaaaaven."
"This guy is all kinds of fucked up in the head." VIII said
"But kind of a badass." IX added, inspiration for his art flowing through his mind.
"Sir we urge you to leave the area." A Warden hurried to Draven's location, He had a an identification tag that read Mohan.
"Leave, why cause it's dangerous?" Draven asked. Mohan seemed to be baffled as he quickly scanned the restricted area.
"Yes!"
"Oh Please this is nothing!" Draven turned to the Metal armed gangster. "Hey Ugly! How about you and your friends take me on, see how it feels to go up against the DRAAAAAAAAAVEN!" Draven provoked the Old Hungry Scars, Arms spread wide using his hands to taunt and beckon them forth.
"Are you insane!" Mohan exclaimed.
"Aaaaawwwww not again!" The camera man groaned. The giant thug began to charge up it's metal arm to fire some sort of cannon, still shielding itself from Caitlyn's sniper shots. Tension and fear began to fill the whole bar.
"I can't look!" Ajuna said, hiding himself behind Ekko.
"GGGGGRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Draven cried, charging forth, but before he could get close enough or the giant gangster could fire his canon kiling the news crew, something seemed to suddenly dive in from the sky, slamming into the giant metal arm; shattering it into pieces and causing a massive shockwave that knocked back not just Draven, but all the gangsters and the front line wardens.
"What the heck was that?" VIIctoria exclaimed, the figure crashing down to fast for her augmented eyes to identify what it was, but thinks she saw a blur of pink.
Once the smoke cleared, the bar was left jaw dropped at what they saw, the huge gangster was knocked out with his weapon shattered in pieces, and standing on top of him trimuphantly was a pink haired woman with two massive hextech gauntlets and a cocky smile that was ready for action. "VI!" the lost children exclaimed as Vi turned and punched a charging thug, her gauntlets admitting a shock wave that sent the thugs behind the punched one flying and knocked out.
"She's alive!"Ajuna exclaimed with glee.
"And kicking a lot of ass!" Ekko added. "Go show those psychos what Zaun is really about!"
"Amazing!" VIIctoria stated as she analyzed Vi's gauntlets. "I can't analyze the specifics through the T.V but looks like she replaced that Mining bot's gauntlets with hextech!" She said, wondering how VI could have gotten her hands on so much hextech, or more so how was she even capable of holding up the massive weight.
VI continued to beat down the thugs, despite showing her signature pummeling, the entire bar noticed that she seemed to be holding back slightly, especially the bartender whom helped keep VI in check. VI had activated a force field that protected her from gun fire that came from her flank, A shield formed around her, but it would only last for a few seconds so she quickly closed the distance with her vault breaker, making short work of the marksmen.
"And a punch in the face for you! and you! and finally you!" Vi exclaimed as she knocked out what looked to be the last thug. "Okay, if you're all full of the knuckles sandwitches I served ya, I really want to go home and get some shut-eye." After VI had finished her taunt a gangster psychotic looking goon sprung into the air armed with a dagger.
"VI!" Ekko exclaimed, but before VI could be given a head full of rusted metal, the hand holding the knife blew apart from a gun shot, causing the man to fall face first on the floor. VI looked to the direction of the gun shot , seeing that it was Caitlyn, giving a confident nod and a wink as thanks.
It was here that the lost children began to notice something was really odd, in their minds it was weird that the Sheriff would save VI's life, and on top of that some of the wardens began to approach her, some of them giving compliments and thanks while a few were irritated at the late arrival.
"Did she just give one of the wardens a high five?" Ekko thought.
"Camera man! did you get all of that!" Draven asked as he got back up and brushed any dust off of his suit.
"Y-yes sir!" The camera man and Draven ran towards VI.
"Excuse me! Chick with the pink hair!" Draven called while shoving some of the wardens to the side. VI turned to the man calling her and gave a small confident smirk as she noticed the camera. "Who the hell are you and where on earth did you come from!?" Draven asked like he was introducing a new professional wrestler.
"Hmph, The names VI; stands for Violence." Vi said with her signature confidence.
"VI! You mean the same as the infamous leader of the lost children! Strange to hear all the rumors from your disappearance, and suddenly your helping out the wardens?" Draven asked, presenting the same question that everyone was wondering in the bar, but a few like VIII and VII were able to pick up what this was leading to.
"That's because she is our newest member." The camera slightly turned to see that Caitlyn had suddenly appeared.
"WHAT!?" Everyone exclaimed, Ekko, lost children, Draven, and all of Demaxia that was watching the RuneTerra news.
"Did she just say what I think she said?" Ekko couldn't believe what he heard the sheriff say, in fact he wasn't sure if he even heard the TV correctly. "T-This is a joke right." Ekko said with a slight nervous laugh, hoping this was just a bad dream. The group simply watched the rest of the segment in shock as The sheriff began to explain the situation and also go into some vague details about VI's hextech gauntlet's functions. Draven tried to pry into how VI had even been able to apply as a Warden but both the now enforcer of piltover and the sheriff kept their answers vague or simply brushed it off as classified information.
"Well now, looks like we have an unlikely and kinda hot new ally here in piltover! Now if you excuse me I'm gonna go get a drink, now to Janna for the weather. Where the hell is-" Before Draven could continue to be unprofessional the bartender turned off the TV, everyone in the bar trying to process what they had just witnessed.
"Holy shit she's a-"
"She's alive!" Ajuna interrupted VIIctoria, the kid simply being happy that his friend was safe. "Hey, this is a good thing right?" Ajuna asked, noticing everyone wasn't experiencing the same joy he was.
"Yes it is, just... bloody hell, a month of silence and suddenly this fucking bombshell..." VIII said, he and the lost children were glad VI wasn't dead, but the situation was still a lot to process.
"I mean, this is VI were talking about, their has to be some reason for this." IX said.
"I mean, those gauntlets looked pretty state of the art, and working for the Wardens is pretty high pay." VIIctoria suggested.
"She wouldn't sell us out like that!" Ekko spat out, everyone being taken aback buy the small out burst. "She... She wouldn't betray Zaun."
"Well now, the DRAAAAAAAAAVEN thinks I'm hot." VI chuckled before being elbowed buy her new partner Caitlyn, witch didn't really hurt all that much.
"VI stands for Violence? Really?"
"What, It's what I always say." Vi shrugged.
"And what you always say just so happens to be very unprofessional." Caitlyn explained as she surveyed the area, scrutinizing all the damage.
"What do you mean cupcake?" Vi teased.
"Uugh, You almost make Jayce seem like a gentlemen."
"The hero of tomorrow?" VI asked.
"One and only, you a fan?" Caitlyn questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"No, but having heard about some of the stuff he's done, he seems like a good dude." Vi said, having seen the news and heard things from people that have witnessed his "heroism".
"Take it from someone who has met him in person, there is a reason people say to never meet your heroes." Caitlyn said as she moved closer to the shattered pieces of the giant thugs metal arm.
"Looks like these guys got some pretty good Chem-tech." VI said, she hadn't seen anything that advance from Zaunite gangsters before.
"Looks like that at first glance doesn't?" Caitlyn said as she slid her fingers across the shattered tile.
"Yeeees?" Now it was VI's turn to raise an eyebrow, not exactly following what the Caitlyn was thinking.
"But does this look like something that Chem-tech would have?" Caitlyn asked as she raised two of her fingers close to VI's face, the enforcer noticing shining tiny blue shards spread all over the sheriffs finger tips.
"Hextech?" VI immediately recognized them as tiny shiny residue of hextech crystals that shattered from her punch earlier.
"Bingo, looks like whoever these Old scars got them from tried to disguise them as Chem-tech." Caitlyn looked around the surveying area, she deduced that she had everything she needed, now they just had to take in the suspects for interrogation.
"Hey VI! could you help us with the big guy over here?" Mohan asked , the wardens were having trouble trying to move the giant thug.
"Sure thing ju-" VI didn't finish her sentence when suddenly a ringtone started blaring from her phone. " SHE'S A MISFIT! ALWAYS READY TO ROLL!" specifically a song that the lost children had made in dedication to her. VI hastily took off her gauntlets and grabbed her phone to lower the volume and see who was calling her, and she knew it was either one of the lost children or as it was right now, Roman. Ever since she went off the radar she had been getting constant messages from her gang and Roman, avoiding them as much as she could. But now that she had made her debut as a warden, she knew that she had to take this call sooner than later, especially since it was Roman who was probably going to be the easiest to talk to.
"Hey boss, I gotta take this call."
"Are you serious , in the middle of a-" Before Caitlyn could scold VI any further, the enforcer showed her who was calling, and the sheriffs face quickly went from irritated to understanding. Caitlyn leaned in to whisper into VI's ear. "I understand your going through a lot, but you can't tell them anything classified." She said, giving the order with an unusually soft tone.
"I know..." VI said, it pained her to keep secrets from those close to her, but she didn't want to get those close to her involved in things they shouldn't, and coming from her, that was saying something. VI secluded her self a fair distance from the rest of the Wardens and gazed at her phone with a deep breath.
"Hey... Roman." VI said, her voice failing to hide her unease.
"VI; you have a lot of explaining to do." Roman said with a more concerned tone than an angry one.
"Y-yeah look Roman, I know there is a shit ton I have to explain but first, are the guys there?"
"There in the bar, and they've been worried sick! Where have you been!"
"A lot of shit has been going on, and... ever since everything went to shit in the mines I just needed some space." Vi explained, recalling how the miners would have been crushed if it weren't for her quick thinking and the makeshift gauntlets.
"That part I understand, but that doesn't explain how you became buddy buddy with them wardens." Roman said, quitting crime was one thing, but becoming a warden was the last thing eh had ever expected.
"Look I... I can't get into the details, but let's just say instead of just wandering around and beating the crap out of shit heads in the street, I came across an opportunity to do it as a job." VI said, keeping things as vague as she could.
"You mind explaining HOW you came across this opportunity." Roman asked, hoping to figure out more of what was happening.
"Its... classified." VI said, the pain of keeping things secret from her friend showing through her voice.
"*sigh* you really have gone through a lot of shit." Roman took a deep breath before continuing, If VI said something like "It's classified," he knew for dam sure this was something serious. "Anyways like I said the gang have been worried sick, is there someone you want to talk to first or should I put you on speaker phone?"
"No!" VI blurted out, Roman being taken aback from the sudden outburst. "I mean, no I... I can't right now."
"What do you mean? I'm sure they'll understand." Roman reasoned.
"Well X sure didn't." VI said, Romans eyes widened at the mention of the currently absent member.
"Wait X found you!?"
"Yeah, she didn't tell you guys?"
"No! we only found out about this today!" VI's heart stopped, If X didn't tell them, then that meant that they had only found out about her warden status literally half an hour ago. The thoughts that could be going through their heads, viewing her as a traitor, a sellout as she triumphantly smiled at the camera. Fearing the worst, she abruptly hung up the phone, but instead she accidentally crushed it with her bare hand.
With and angry grunt she through the broken device in the distance, holding back tears. Suddenly she felt a hand rest on her shoulder; VI quickly turned and would have punched whomever caught her off guard in the face, but quickly stopped herself once she realized it was Caityn. Caitlyn was taken aback buy VI's sudden movement, but quickly composed herself before speaking.
"Were returning to the station, getting ready to investigate the suspects." Caitlyn explained, finding herself in an odd situation given VI's vulnerable state.
"Oh yeah, I'll be there in a second." VI said, trying to calm herself down by counting up to twelve.
Caitlyn was tempted to ask if VI was feeling fine, but it was obvious she wasn't. "I know it isn't any of my business but, would you like to talk about it later?"
VI wanted to decline her partners offer, but without Roman available to vent to, she had no one else to talk to and she knows from experience things will only get worse if she keeps her feelings bottled up inside. "Yeah, I could use someone to vent to." Vi said, forming a small, appreciative smile.
"Splendid, what's your favorite tea?" Caitlyn asked.
"Don't know, never had any before."
Tonight was not a great night for Ekko. The boy was currently walking in the streets of Zaun, staring up at the night sky as he tried to process everything that has happened. Roman told them about the call with VI, about how she needed time to herself ever since the last heist went to hell. Everyone had varying feelings on the matter, VIIctoria thinks VI sold out for the money and hextech, VIII believes she may have been blackmailed and IX wasn't sure what to think.
"Are you mad at VI?" Ajuna asked as he walked side by side with his best friend.
"Yes? No? I-I'm not sure how I feel. I mean, I get that she needed space, that we probably could have had a stricter code, hell I would have been okay with quitting crime altogether, but selling out to the pilties without even a single word! What the hell!?" Ekko said, trying to keep his emotions under control infront of Ajuna. "What about you?"
"I'm just glad she's alive, I don't know why she's working with the wardens, but I'm sure she has a good reason for it." Ajuna smiled, being the most optimistic of the group.
Ekko wished he had the same optimism as Ajuna, but with everything going on he just wasn't sure. "Umm Ekko? That's the wrong way." Ajuna said as Ekko made a left instead of a right.
"I'm gonna go check up on X, see if she's feeling better." Ekko explained.
"Oh okay, oh are you gonna give her the letter?" Ajuna said, his eyes sparkling while Ekko blushed.
"What!? of course not, this would be the worst time for that." Ekko said.
"Oh; right." Ajuna said, realizing the poor timing. "Well anyways tell her I said hi!" Ajuna requested before the two friends parted ways.
It took Ekko a while but he soon found the apartment complex X was currently living in, remembering how happy she was when she told everyone she was able to afford her own place. Ekko knocked on door 10, know one answered, but after a second, harder knock the door opened itself. "She left the door open?" Ekko thought, worried that something had happened to herhe rushed through the door and was shocked at what he saw when he turned on the lights. Allover the place their was destroyed furniture, walls, graffiti of manic smiles and explosions. "What the hell..."
Ekko searched the house, panicking that their might have been a break in calling for X only to be met with silence. However he began to notice something odd, as he searched through the room. Ekko noticed that there were bullets on the floor near the door to the bedroom, at first he thought there was gun fire, but he quickly noticed that the bullets still had their casings. With a gulp he opened the door and his eyes widened when he saw various boxes filled with ammo and explosives scattered around the room, the bed riddled with bullet holes. But what really caught his attention was the giant words that spelled "VI IS A STUPID FAT HEAD!" on the wall, and a broken picture frame pinned to the wall holding a photo of the lost children, with VI's head bearing devil horns and a curly mustache in pink marker.