A/N: I noticed there's a proper Arcane section now. There wasn't when I first published this, as far as I could tell. What are the rules on that? Anyway, I hope you find it passable.
--
The battle was going Caitlyn's way. Even the enemy goons could see that as she picked them off one by one. Numerical superiority should have given them the day, but here they were, falling to a better position and superior skill, and their morale was wavering. Much to her own shock, she thought she was going to win this fight. Maybe, just maybe, going in guns blazing would actually be the best way to rescue Vi. Who would have thought?
--
Vi wished the last several days of torture hadn't happened for a lot of reasons, but at this second the chief among them was that she really needed to think about this situation and the wooziness she still hadn't gotten rid of was not helping. Powder was clearly unstable, and for good reason given what Vi could see of how she had grown up, but good reasons didn't change the fact that she had a hair-trigger temper and one wrong word could turn her into a violent enemy.
She really didn't want to hurt her sister again. Plus, another enemy at the moment was the last thing she needed. Unfortunately, the only thing for them to talk about at the moment was why Vi was not chomping at the bit to take out an Enforcer who was currently shooting at denizens of the Lanes, which Powder seemed confused and irritated about, which in turn meant that her apparently short fuse was getting even shorter…
"come on, Vi, let's go kill her, you and me, as sisters. We are still sisters, right? You didn't lie to me, did you?" "Let me think!" Vi shouted, somewhat ironically, without thinking. "Can we go somewhere quiet, away from the shooting, somewhere where we can talk?"
Powder looked at her oddly. "Vi, this is the Undercity, the great nation of Zaun, no, that was Silco's name for it, and he was a liar, so it's the Undercity. There is always shooting here. There's always violence." Powder started laughing, though there was no humor in it. "You can't get away from it down here. You want to get somewhere quiet, we can't afford the quiet! Vi, you should know that better than anyone. Shooting is what we do down here! What, has topside gotten to you?"
As Vi, without meaning to, recoiled in horror, not at Jinx's words, for they were simple truths that Vi had in fact internalized a long time ago, but at the tone with which Jinx talked about them. She wasn't sad about it, or bitter, nor was she entirely gleeful (though Vi sensed a bit of that, disturbingly), but she sounded…accusatory, like she was mad that Vi made her have to say it.
"Topside has gotten to you, hasn't it? That's why you're hesitating about killing that Enforcer girl. You've been corrupted, brainwashed, turned against your home."
As Powder formed the increasingly bizarre conspiracy in her head, Vi was ashamed of the fact that she had nothing to say before her younger sister came to an apparent conclusion. "I can save you. I'll kill her, I'll kill all of topside, then you'll be free of their influence. Then I'll have my sister back. You won't be so crazy." Pointing out the hypocrisy of that statement did not seem wise, but noticing it left Vi no more mental energy to dedicate to a proper response, so she could only say, "Powder, please."
--
It all made sense to Jinx now. Silco hadn't been lying when he told her Vi had died, just speaking metaphorically. Vi, her wonderful older sister who stood by her side through everything and would never betray her was, in fact, dead, and replaced by some weird Topsider loyalist.
She got that her father might have been trying to spare her feelings, but, really, this should have been her choice to make, and she still had hope that her sister, her real sister, could be saved. Unfortunately, the first part of saving her would be to incapacitate her. It wasn't pleasant, but current fake-Vi might try to stop Jinx from saving real-Vi, and thus she had to be taken out (but not killed of course).
Thankfully, now that she realized Silco wasn't a liar again, that meant she could work with his followers again, and she was pretty sure they would follow her orders. They were Silco's men after all, weren't they?
"Hey, guys, this poor victim of Piltover might be an enemy, but she's an enemy that we can save. Help me stop her from getting physical, would ya?"
They looked at one another, startled by this turn of events. One of them, his knees shaking (now that was an odd action; how would it benefit his work to move his legs like that? He should have a doctor check it out), blurted out, "we're not hurting her again! We shouldn't have done so in the first place!"
Jinx rolled her eyes. "We're not hurting her, you idiots, we're saving real-Vi, and I just need to make sure that fake-Vi doesn't try to stop me."
"What the hell, Powder!" fake-Vi yelled.
The man who talked took a deep breath before continuing. He seemed scared of something; she wondered if the gun-fight outside was frightening him. "We all owe debts to Vander, and she helped remind us of that…"
"Vander betrayed us!" Jinx shouted back. "Real-Vi would know that! He was working with the Enforcers the whole time! How many raids, how many beatings, how many 'random searches' of your daughters, did you endure? What did they do to you, just because you tried to take something from a topsider who wouldn't even miss it so you could eat? Vander helped them! Vander was part of that!"
They were hesitating. "Silco worked with them too," one whispered. It wasn't that the flaw in her argument was pointed out to her, though she didn't like being contradicted, it was that he referred to Silco in the past tense only seconds after she concluded that he was still alive (since he wasn't a liar) and that that was a good thing. She shot the man who spoke, but didn't get to see whether the bullet landed or not as Vi's fist slammed into her.
--
After taking a bit longer than she normally would have to line up the shot, Caitlyn fired and took out two with one bullet. That shattered what was left of their courage. Some kept firing in her general direction as they fled the scene, but most threw down their guns and ran for the hills. Torn between rolling her eyes at their cowardice, puffing her chest out in pride at her victory, and forcing down the vomit that threatened to come up when she considered how many people she had just killed, the Enforcer ultimately ignored all three impulses and leapt down to finally rescue her friend.
From the sound of things, a rescue attempt was certainly in order, as she heard scuffling and other signs of fighting coming from within the building. That…was disconcerting. Steeling herself to an even longer fight, Caitlyn sighed as she barged in, gun ready.
--
The pain in her shoulders from a loose bit of metal in her new replacement arm distracted Sevika way too much. She really didn't trust herself to react to the next bit of bad news. For once in her god-damned life, that didn't mean she immediately got some.
"Renni managed to escape the Firelights, and she claims that she knows where they're headquartered. If we mobilize everything we have, we can crush them now." One didn't live long chomping at the bit at every offer that sounded too good to be true. While she trusted that Renni's information was accurate, at least to the best of the woman's knowledge, she wasn't certain about this 'commit everything they had.'
Of course she was sure that taking out the Firelight's home-base would take a lot of firepower, but she didn't want to send enough men that she had little to protect their own resources from a local populace that might be less afraid of them or, well, other men in Silco's operation who didn't like the idea of Sevika playing Queen or Kingmaker and wanted to take their own shot at glory. Finn, as far as she could tell, had been the only one to actually try something thus far, though what he actually ended up doing with that Violet-lookalike she wasn't certain, but trusting the rest of the barons was a fool's errand.
So, what should she do? How much should she dedicate? And, if Renni was back, then should she return to her original plan of putting the woman in charge? No, this wasn't the time to hesitate. Sevika was handed an opportunity on a golden platter, and it was time to take it.
--
Renni was very concerned about where she actually stood with her current colleagues. Before her kidnapping, the plan had been to make her leader, or at least do so temporarily. Sevika had apparently stepped up in her absence.
Now that the chem baroness was back, should she remind the woman who thought of herself as a follower that she thought of herself so? Should she assume that Sevika had found a taste for leadership? Should she be worried that Sevika might now find her to be a threat, whether she sought power or not?
Thinking on this, she did not go to Sevika immediately to report on her findings and discuss the organization's future, as she had been planning earlier, but instead went to the center of what was once the shimmer plant she controlled directly to assess, gather her forces, and ascertain what her options really were. Who would stand by her, and who with Sevika, if it came down to it?
Also, she wanted to see her son. In fact, though she briefly chided herself for her weakness in doing so, her first act upon returning to her old make-shift office was to summon the boy.
He entered cautiously. He was so stiff. So formal. He looked like an underling terrified of disappointing his boss, not like the light of her life. It was how she had raised him…but she couldn't help but wonder if that was really…no, he had to be strong. She had to make him strong. A loving mother in Piltover might smother their child in affection, but a mother in Zaun showed her love by ensuring the brat grew into something that could survive adulthood.
After giving herself a few moments to reassure herself that she had made the right choices in raising him, Renni took note of his appearance and stated, "you've kept up your uniform. Your torso seems well-developed for your age. You are clearly working hard; I approve of your work performance."
He bowed. "Thank you, mother. I aim to impress you." "I am grateful for your service." "I am grateful to serve."
That was as close to 'I love you' as their interactions ever got. Renni understood that. She assumed that her son did too, though she never asked him. That…was a thought that led to weakness, and whatever the assessment of her current situation revealed, she could not afford to be weak.
As she dismissed him, she summoned one of her more loyal underlings in his stead, and asked him about the loyalties of everyone he could estimate. Assuming that Sevika would want to attack the Firelights' main base at the earliest opportunity, she plotted to send along the least loyal forces under her command to aid her technical superior and keep her closest companions where they could protect her from any paranoia on her 'friends and allies'' part. It was simple business strategy.
--
I promised that I would never hurt her again, a part of Vi thought. Not a big enough part of her to stop her next punch, but it was there. That Powder managed to twist out of the way didn't assuage her in the least. I promised that I would be there for her this time. Still not being in the best frame of mind, she let her instincts and muscle memory take over the fight, but that seemed to be a mistake as Powder dodged everything she threw at her.
It was like her sister had memorized their childhood spars and still applied it all these years later…no, she needed to focus on resolving this situation, not getting distracted by memories of their youth…SMACK!
Powder's fist slammed into Vi's jaw. This was immediately followed up by a kick into the redhead's stomach as she staggered back from the blow. Powder tackled her, and had her on the ground. Vi's vision and hearing were still fading in and out, but she barely heard her sister scream something at the men surrounding them before a shot rang out and the little girl Vi was dedicated to protecting collapsed on top of her.
--
Caitlyn arrived just in time to find Vi on the ground being beaten by some blue-haired thug, presumably one of Silco's, and immediately took the shot. Nailing the criminal right in the back, she charged in and threatened all of the remaining goons, reminding them that things didn't have to get messy if they all surrendered quietly.
"Oh, come on!" One of those very goons shouted. She got the impression from his face that he hadn't had the best day, but he could join the club and unlike him, she wasn't a criminal. Seeing that the crook she had just shot was still alive, and would stay that way with immediate medical treatment, she didn't take her weapon away from the men as she inched her way toward Vi.
It was apparently an impressive rescue, so impressive that her would-be companion was in utter shock. "I said I wouldn't let you get hurt again," she muttered. Caitlyn had no idea who she was talking about, but repeated her order that the goons surrender quietly and let them get out of there.
"Fine," one of the men spouted. "After the last few minutes, getting arrested sounds outright peachy." They threw whatever weapons they had on them down as Caitlyn examined the area, seeing the corpse of what looked like one of Silco's higher-ups (had Vi done…that? The corpse's state indicated that its death was brutal) and various signs of an intense struggle. Assuming that it was Vi alone versus Silco's forces, Caitlyn had to say that she was impressed.
There had to something about this situation she could use to ensure that the woman didn't end up right back in a cell as soon as she reported this back to her superiors and brought these men in. She had been useful. She had been impressive, and dammit, Caitlyn had to admit that she somewhat enjoyed the convict's company.
But for now, she had information about the conspiracy running the Undercity, she knew that it was falling apart at the seams, and she had several criminals in her grasp that she could take into custody. She could go back proudly, and she should do it quickly. One of the captives really needed medical attention, and it seemed like Vi felt sorry for the girl in question.
--
Ekko had expected that, high on their earlier victory, Silco's (or whoever was in charge now) men would be eager and aggressive when they came upon their intended prize. For once, he was glad to be disappointed.
There was a shootout, and some more of his guys got injured, but something caused the gangsters to retreat pretty quickly. Some part of him thought they were just that good, but internally he pieced together what he knew about his enemy's movements and behavior patterns, and came to the conclusion that they had switched their plans to a different target.
If he was lucky, then it was an internal power struggle and whoever was leading this group of psychos needed them to fend off another psycho who thought he should be the next Silco. Even with Silco biting it, Ekko hadn't felt lucky recently.
So, he sat there, letting someone with an unfinished medical degree stitch his wounds, in that relatively unimportant Fissure hideout, and waited for confirmation of whether anything was happening to the Firelights' more important hangouts. It wasn't long before he heard that Renni escaped. He didn't wait for more information before trying to flee back to the main base. Someone had to keep it safe.