As the battle heats up, so does the pressure on Kha'Zix to deliver. Our Guardians need to stay on top of things, but that will get harder. Also, what was that mysterious quest and the other person sent off. Stay tuned to find out.
Chapter 8 - A Commuting Problem
As Lux looked over the city from the stop of Skypoint Tower, while Janna looked around the other side for the source of the mysterious energy that they sensed earlier, she took in its beauty, and how many people actually lived here now. People came from all over Runeterra to this city after the void almost destroyed their world. Built up around the camp that was serving the cleanup crews after that saw to the first void invasion, which is now Central Park, the city grew into one of the biggest on Runeterra. People came from all over, some with incentives for one reason or another. Others to seek a new life, and others to try and corrupt the new city. At the end of the day though, the portal was still on the outskirts, on the mountain where it originally stood.
"You see anything or get a sense?" Lux asked
"Nothing. I wish I could figure it out but nothing. Still though, I still get chills every time I look at this city." Janna replied as she gave a quick shudder.
"I know what you mean. So far in such a short period of time. It really is a testament to how fast we can put the pieces back together. Come on, let's go." Lux followed Janna back down the elevator and back to the tower. The library was busier than usual and that made it a bit more difficult to get to the tower, but not impossible. Getting down to the tower, both Guardians found Vel'Koz with a worried look in his eye. Shaking their heads didn't help.
"That is unfortunate. We need to have knowledge of where this new threat is, but Kha'Zix is being deceptively crafty with this. It is almost like he is taking every single step possible to hide his corruption, which makes our job harder." Vel'Koz said, a bit of disappointment in his voice.
"Is it possible that he doesn't know we can feel the void sense?" Lux asked.
"No he knows, but it is what level you can that sense it and how you can track it is what he doesn't." Vel'Koz said, some spunk returning to his voice.
"Except that the city is flooded with trace amounts of void energy. Enough to throw everything off." Janna said with the ever so slight touch of frustration.
"Yes and that is disturbing. I have already ruled out an attack on the water supply, as that would have its own issues. No the answer is right in front of us but we are not seeing it. What? Oh funny." Vel'Koz finished as the two started laughing. Getting the joke he walked himself into, he at least still laughed. They all stopped as Dorcha and Solas come down the tunnel from an entrance they could use. They were followed by Zepher a few seconds later. "Any luck?"
"No. It seems the whole city is saturated with the energy, but just enough to throw us all off. Maybe he is trying to figure out how much he can get away with before it becomes too much." Dorcha said, jumping up onto
"We also didn't seem to notice any patters. It was everywhere and yet there were pockets where it wasn't." Solas said as he joined his partner. Zephyr nodded in agreement.
"Well that's the key then. Figure that out and we have him." Vel'Koz stated as Zepher remained quiet still.
"I'd better get home. It's already a bit later than normal and I don't want to worry my parents."
"Of course Lux. Enjoy your evening. Janna a word if you please." Lux grabbed her bag and after allowing Solas and Dorcha to jump in, and headed out. Once Vel'Koz was sure they were gone, he turned to Janna. "I found this the other day down here. Care to explain?"
Janna looked down at the photo and a look of horror came over her face. Quickly snatching it from Vel'Koz, she put it in her bag. "It's nothing. Just…"
"Janna I'm worried about you. This isn't healthy. I know you want revenge for what happened, but letting it consume you isn't what they could have wanted." Vel'Koz tried to keep his voice neutral, but his concern won out.
"I know. Did you put him up to this?" Janna said, turning to Zephyr with an angry look on her face.
"No but I kept thinking I should have." He replied shortly. "We are both worried about you Janna. You need to get over this."
"I'll get over this as soon as I know what happened. I still can't remember and now I wonder if I just blocked those memories." Janna just fell back into a chair and cried. Zephyr jumped over to her.
"I'm sorry. I know it's hard." Zephyr said, curling up on Janna's lap.
"It is more did I lose those memories, block them, or did I erase them myself? That is what I can't figure out. And I need to." The amount of anger in Janna's voice terrified the two a bit, but they managed to hide it.
"I can try and help with that, but not right now. First we need to figure out how you passed through time with no memory. Then we can try and get those memories of the fight. I also advise against looking them up." Vel'Koz again tried to keep the concern out of his voice, but again failed.
"I know. I'm sorry. I'll just head home." Janna grabbed her bag and headed home. Vel'Koz knew he was in the wrong there, but he also knew that this would torture her until they knew what happened. He floated back up to his office to check his voice and email and nothing. He knew he had the right people, but it might take years to figure it out.
Lux slammed her fist on the table followed quickly by Garen. "Well Lux wins." Garen rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair. "This was your idea."
"Don't remind me." Garen resigned himself to pizza without his favorite toppings as Lux just smiled. She liked the fact her reaction time was faster than her brother's, but he still had speed over her. Though with all of her recent training, that was becoming less of an issue. Lux carefully waited until Garen had calmed down a bit before she left to wait for dinner.
After Janna walked in the door, she carefully made her way to her room and after making sure she was alone, pulled a box out of her closet again. Opening it she carefully looked at its contents and smiled. She just sat back against her bed and enjoyed the memories. A loud slam brought her back to reality. Moving quickly, she put all of the stuff back into the box and had just barely got it back in her closet when there was a knock on her door. "Janna honey, your father will be late so I suggest you get your homework done, if you haven't already."
"Ok mom. Janna was thankful that she would have some time to enjoy time for herself and after resisting doing exactly what Vel'Koz warned against, she instead finished the homework load she was assigned from today. Janna knew that both Vel'Koz and Lux were right, but she couldn't bring herself admit it. Revenge was never a good emotion, but she knew that she could channel it for the moment until they found what she was looking for. The thoughts in her head swirled and eventually she just had to step back. Turning on her computer, she just decided to take her mind off of things until it was time for dinner.
In the Library, Vel'Koz also held a photo in his tentacle. Looking it caused him to almost cry. He quickly put it back in his drawer and turned out the window. He knew that his time of hiding was coming to a close, but there was perhaps a way to prevent Malzahar from detecting him. It was powerful void magic but with all of the void energy around the city, he just might have a chance. He turned out of his office and after heading down into the Library itself, found Nasus.
"Nasus, please join me. I think I have an idea about a common problem for everyone. With all of this void energy, we might have a chance."
"To say that is risky is an understatement. If one thing goes wrong, we could have major issues."
"I know, but we should alert the Guardians, because I have another theory about all of this void energy." Nasus just looked confused. "They might be using this energy to get to a critical point. When the energy hits that point…" his thoughts trailed off and Nasus' face went from confused to terrified.
"Why did I not think about that. We must move quickly." They both headed to the tower.
Back at their houses, Lux and Janna got a ping on their phones to come to the tower as quickly as possible. After checking they wouldn't be disturbed, they, along with their companions, headed to the tower via the pens they had. Arriving, they both knew instantly that Vel'Koz had bad news.
"Sorry to call you here so late, but I had a few revelations about this spike in void energy lately. I have two theories, both of which are supported by evidence." Lux, Janna, Dorcha, Solas, and Zepher nodded, or at least as much as possible. "My first theory is that it is just a byproduct of their attempts to harvest energy."
"Makes sense. There is always a trace." Solas piped up.
"Exactly. But the other theory is much darker. At a certain point, if enough void energy is in one place, it might coalesce into a portal, or into a new portal if one doesn't exist." That got everyone's attention. "To open the portal using other methods requires an enormous amount of energy, but with this void energy everywhere, they are getting it. How they are spreading is beyond me."
"Since we have ruled out an attack on infrastructure, what about using some kind of airbone thing." Lux's choice of words got stares from everyone. "Well I don't know we've seen him fly."
"True, but Kha'Zix can't fly for long distances. No there is another solution right in front of us, but what it is must be so obvious that we aren't looking at it, or it is subtle enough to evade us. Perhaps both." Dorcha stepped in before Vel'Koz could get another word out.
"Exaclty. Now I also have a solution to this void energy problem. When I was left behind, I kept a void collection device, it isn't a big one, but enough to get all of the void energy."
"What's the catch?" Janna asked.
"It will take time. It can collect it all, but it will take almost a week at present energy saturation. It will also be obvious that something is draining it. Now, we don't know Malzahar's plan, but I am confident that he might be working a combination of the two theories. Either way, we need to drain this void energy so we can get a positive reading on where it is coming from." Vel'Koz stated
"Right."
"I also have a void shield. It will hide the collector for a while, but not indefinitely. So we need to pick a central location and set it up." Vel'Koz said, turning to a city map. Lux and Janna carefully thought before they looked at each other.
"Starpoint Tower. There are plenty of places around the base to hide this and I think we can hide it well enough to get a reading on the outskirts."
"Do it then. I will carry the device and drive you two to the location, but I would suggest being transformed when you place the device. Come." Vel'Koz just nodded. Lux and Janna quickly turned to each other again.
"Star Guardian Power Up." In a flash they were both transformed, and they turned to Nasus, who had dark cloaks ready for them. Quickly throwing them on, they helped Nasus load the void collector in the only truck the Library owned that wasn't marked yet. The ride to the location was unnerving as they all sensed the void energy all around them and Lux in the back, while Janna up front keeping an eye out wasn't helping. They didn't talk for really no reason apart from the whole 'secret mission cloak and dagger' sort of thing they were on.
Arriving at Starpoint tower, Nasus stayed in the truck keeping an eye out for the nighttime security, while Lux and Janna carefully managed to place the void collector near the base of the tower and flip it on. Looking back at the truck, Lux saw Nasus was still keeping an eye out and hadn't seen anything yet. Just as they were about to leave, a flashlight blinded them both. "Ok. Let's see some hands." A voice barked out. Lux immediately recognized it, and after turning to Janna, she lowered the hood on her cloak. The light went off immediately.
"If you two could kindly not go around in dark cloaks, it would make this go a lot better." Janna had also lowered her hood at this point.
"Sorry ma'am." Lux was being very careful with her words, while Janna noticed Nasus had taken cover in the truck to prevent being seen. Vel'Koz's work with the Guardians was still secret and they had to keep it that way. "We are just trying to find the source of the void energy in the city. Surely you have noticed it is chillier of late." Janna was impressed at Lux's word choice, making her sound much older than she appeared. "We have set up a device here that would allow us to collect the void energy to hopefully help us find the source."
"I'm assuming Vel'Koz doesn't know you have it?" Caitlyn asked. That caught them both off guard.
"I'm guessing he will eventually, but perhaps you could help with that. We only borrowed it since we figured he might have one."
"I will tell him. Now get back to well wherever you two spend your time is. And next time just come to me. Please." Caitlyn walked away and after waving saw a yordle following her. Clearly someone who was on a ride along and didn't expect to get into this. Lux just smiled and thought she looked familiar, but brushed it off.
"Well that could have been a lot worse." Lux said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"No kidding, but at least this way Vel is covered and the police know about the device. Let's get back to the tower before someone misses us." Janna replied, her voice betraying her relief as well. Lux and Janna sprinted for the truck pulling their cloaks on as they went. Nasus managed to hide himself in the back, somehow, and Janna took the wheel and managed to carefully drive them back to the museum. When they arrived, they noticed Caitlyn already there and after taking a quick peak, Lux did notice the yordle there. She was sitting the front seat and was just waiting apparently. She again seemed familiar but couldn't place it.
The three of them carefully made their way back into the museum where Nasus carefully made his way to Vel'Koz's office to play his part, while Lux and Janna made their way back to the tower. Inside they both powered down and carefully made their way back through the museum to listen to Caitlyn's conversation with Vel'Koz. Once they were close enough to his office, they both went through a secret door that allowed them to see what was going on the office while still remaining concealed.
"I don't have an explanation for it Madam. I did check and it was gone, but I fail to see the public security risk. If anything it will help. It was designed to drain void energy, not normal energy." Vel'Koz told Caitlyn, who as looking annoyed that he really didn't care. Or at least appeared to be.
"And why is that?" Vel'Koz was floating behind his desk while Nasus was by the door, and Caitlyn was in a chair.
"It was so that they could recover energy from destroyed minions or when leaving an area, bring as much energy as we could. I have a few theories about all of this void energy. Maybe if the Guardians had let me in on their plan, they might have been able to help prove or disprove my theories. I wish them the best." Vel'Koz finished, and his tone was more to end the conversation than anything.
"Scared of your former companions?" Caitlyn asked, noticing a tremble in Vel'Koz's voice
"Scared? No. Terrified and you should be too." Vel'Koz said, taking Caitlyn by surprise, but she hid it well.
"I am. I just hide it well." Caitlyn replied, keeping her voice collected.
"That you do. If there is nothing else then I do have a few things I'd like to do tonight while everyone is sleeping. One of the nice things about being voidborn, no sleeping necessary apart from a brief hibernation period every year." Vel'Koz said, with a slight uptake in his voice.
"I can see why. This place must be peaceful at night." Caitlyn said as she looked around.
"Indeed it is. Now if anything else goes missing I will let you know, but considering I didn't even notice that was gone, because I don't use it anymore, the Guardians probably will come to me sooner or later." Caitlyn gave a quick nod and headed out the door. After making sure she was really gone, Lux and Janna emerged from the wall. "Well my cover is intact, for now. That was a nice job you all did with your quick thinking. Now we just have to wait to see if either of my theories are proven right."
Lux and Janna made their way back to the tower and finally home. It seems like they weren't missed as they both changed and got into bed for tomorrow. Hopefully the void energy will be less annoying then.
"Kha'Zix I hope you aren't trying to reopen the portal with this energy. There is way too much spread all over the place."
"That is the point Rek'Sai. We hide our plan in plain sight while the Guardians wander around aimlessly. We can't get to critical mass with the little energy we have left, but this allows us to harvest what we can almost directly. This plan is going…"
"Don't count your victories before they happen Kha'Zix. The Guardians are no doubt trying to find out what you are doing." Cho'Gath said as he wandered into the room.
"I know that. But I also know that it will be difficult. There is so much energy spread all over the place that pinpointing our sources will be difficult."
"Indeed." The voice got all three to turn around. Malzahar was floating there. "This is an interesting plan. Now how do you propose to collect all of that energy and when? We need it Kha'Zix and quickly."
"I know great prophet. I was hoping to get one more day out of the process, then scoop up everything tomorrow night and bring it back here. Even if the Guardians intervene, they can't stop all of the collectors."
"Yes but be careful. I sense something amiss below on the planet. I don't know what, but I think our plans will be interrupted yet again. Meanwhile, I have a personal plan set in motion. Something I will take charge of personally. Continue, but I need at least 50% of that energy Kha'Zix. No excuses. This time, if you get caught, it is your fault."
"Yes prophet." Even though the tension in the room could be cut with a knife, all three voidlings turned to each other. Malzahar had always gotten others to do his bidding, but for him to undertake a plan by himself was something that caught all three off guard.
"Well whatever he is planning, I don't like it. His plans are overly ambitious and usually have a critical fault."
"Don't let him hear you say that Cho'Gath."
"Don't worry burrower. I won't. and if he does, well, I guess I have dinner with two." The large beast wandered out while Rek'Sai turned to Kha'Zix. Despite all of their fighting, one voidling's success was everyone's success, and likewise with failure. Kha'Zix turned back to the image of the city showing it almost at peak saturation. While there was enough energy there to reopen the void portal, it also required a massive amount of void energy to properly utilize it. Something they didn't have. Kha'Zix noticed a pattern switching in the summoner magics and quickly made his way back down to Runeterra.
Lux could barely wake up the next morning for school but she did notice a drop in the void energy, if only a little. Perhaps Vel'Koz's device was working but it was also possible they were getting used to it or there was so much that it felt normal. Any of the options weren't good. Lux made her way downstairs where Garen was laughing at the TV weatherwoman trying to explain the cold snap they were in. 'I know exactly why but if I say anything I'm going to be looked at like an idiot. So just stay quiet.' Lux ate her breakfast quickly and began the walk to school.
"Lux come on girl wait up." Lux turned to see Amy running to catch up. "You could have waited you know."
"I did. You were late this time." Amy looked at her watch, then back at Lux with her tongue out.
"Fine, but this is so weird. Jackets and hoddies at this time of the year. It's just so weird. Also your parents don't take public transit right?"
"My mom does. My dad drives to work. Why?"
"You didn't hear? There are people who are just falling asleep on buses and trains and could barely be woken up. It's so strange." Amy's voice kept going but Lux tuned it out. Whipping out her phone, she sent Janna a text. 'Public transport.'
Janna, who was trying to get out the door, heard her phone buzz and after quickly grabbing it, saw a message from Lux. Reading it, she dropped the brush she was using on her hair. 'That makes sense. It's everywhere and in plain sight. Message Vel. See what he wants us to do.' Janna quickly picked up her brush and after hugging her parents goodbye, grabbed her bag and ran out.
Lux was trying to hold a conversation with Amy while messaging Vel'Koz at the same time. Amy seemed to take it as she was trying to get something done, so she just went on with yes or no questions. "So you have a boyfriend or what?"
"Nice try." Lux said as it was now her turn to stick her tongue out.
"Oh you are no fun." Amy said, trying to reply but couldn't.
Vel'Koz was doing his morning rounds when he got an alert on the bracelet he wore. Initially hating this thing, he now found it invaluable, considering he couldn't carry a phone, nor did he trust them, but a messaging program he created allowed him, Lux, Janna, Nasus, and Renekton's scout group to communicate in private. He quickly made his way up to the computer, seeing the message from Lux, he the equivalent of falling back into his chair, which means he feel onto the floor. It made perfect sense, and it was also brilliant.
'Don't do anything. He will probably collect tonight. Be ready.' He sent back to Lux and Janna. Both of them acknowledged the message while carefully hiding their phones from their ever present teachers. Lux now knew with a fight approaching, that the day would drag on, but no sooner than did she think about it, that the bell for lunch rang. Since the schools were close, Janna and Lux made arraignments to meet. There was a park about mid way between the two schools where they finally saw each other.
"Well this day is going by faster than expected." Lux said as she sat down.
"Speak for yourself. My day is dragging on." Janna replied. She was clearly annoyed but didn't held something back.
"Yeah but things could be worse. At least our night will be interesting. How do you think Kha'Zix will collect the energy?" Lux grabbed a part of her lunch as she spoke.
"Probably using collectors all over the city. Vel's has collected enough for him to do what he wants with and hopefully we can prevent Kha'Zix from getting away with too much." Janna replied.
"Agreed. Incoming." Lux and Janna quickly changed topic as Garen approached.
"So you two do know each other well?" He asked sitting down.
"Hard to forget someone who knocks you over." Janna said, trying to keep from laughing.
"True. Janna I hate to pull you away, but you said you would help me with that homework." Garen said as he pulled his notebook.
"Just pull it out. I'm sure your sister knows." Janna said, grabbing hers.
"Who do you think helped him before." Lux managed a quick laugh before turning to Garen's math homework. While he was quite intelligent, math was always an issue. After 20 minutes they all managed to get the work done to where Garen understood it.
"Thanks again. Sorry for interrupting." Garen made his way back, while Lux and Janna also packed up and headed their separate ways. For Janna the afternoon passed much faster and for Lux it was almost like it didn't happen. There were a great deal of things that were thrown at them, but they managed to get to the end of the day. Heading out of school quickly, they ran for the tower. Reaching it, they were careful to pay attention to the energies in the city as they waited for Kha'Zix to make his move.
A short while later, Vel'Koz entered the tower and seeing the two Guardians, made him visibly relax a bit. "He'll probably make his move after the rush hour. That way he can get the most energy. Also there is something to note. The energy here is enough to reopen the portal, but they also require a large amount of energy already stored to do that. Considering their operations lately, I would assume that they don't have it and this is their solution to it."
"Good then we can stop them." Lux said, standing up.
"We can't stop them all, we have to know where these collectors are placed first and shut down as many as possible." Janna reminded her, and Lux looked a bit put out.
"Good thinking, but there are probably hundreds. They are small like the one I gave you, but their collection devices would be the same. Breaking the orb would scatter the energy, but it wouldn't go anywhere. Unlike the energy he's collected before, this is direct void energy. He's converting it directly here, which is normally something we wouldn't do because it was vulnerable to Guardian interference. However, this time there isn't a risk of that. Or as big of a risk." Vel'Koz clarified.
"So what we have to wait for him to begin?" Lux asked.
"Yes. We do." Janna and Lux just bowed their heads in frustration. Waiting wasn't something either of them was good at. They both went back home to wait for the cold to lift, a clear sign that Kha'Zix had begun harvesting. The evening seemed to stretch on until it was after dark, they both noticed the air temperature starting to increase. Looking outside, they knew it was time.
Carefully making their way outside, both of them managed to get by parents and siblings to be in the clear. Meeting at a secluded park, they both waited until they got the clear from Vel'Koz to transform. Vel'Koz, for his part, was watching the temperature of the area, once it hit a certain point, Kha'Zix would have to go around to empty the collectors and refresh them. That is what he was waiting for. As he watched, the temperature stopped increasing. Messaging the two Guardians, 'go'.
"Star Guardian Power Up." Both transformed and quickly headed for Starpoint Tower. Looking just from the base, it wasn't hard to find a large bug like creature near city hall. They both moved quickly and as they approached, they were almost hit with an orb.
"Useless. This thing is broken." Kha'Zix turned to where he threw the orb to see his most annoying people. "Great, you two tricked me somehow. I don't know how but I will find out."
"Dream on. We are the Star Guardians you crazy monster. Sworn to defend the universe against all those who would throw it into chaos. And that means you."
"Seriously. Again? You just do that to annoy me don't you?" Kha'Zix laughed as he finished.
"Also this." Lux said. Kha'Zix turned and barely had time to avoid a tornado from Janna and was then hit with an energy blast. Lux turned to see Debonair there, waiting and ready.
"The link between temperature and void energy wasn't that hard to make. Need a hand?" Debonair asked.
"Yeah find the minion." Lux replied, and he nodded.
"Good luck." Kha'Zix roared and attempted to prevent Debonair from escaping, but was hit with Lux's binding and Zephyr to slow him down. Debonair was gone before Kha'Zix could stop him. That flew him into a rage, only to get hit by a tornado full in the face. Lux to advantage of the knock up to blast Kha'Zix with a singularity and Janna threw a shield on herself as Kha'Zix attempted to attack her, but was repulsed by the shield and then Lux's barrier as he attempted to turn on her.
Kha'Zix jumped into the air and managed to rip open a portal before retreating. Janna and Lux quickly turned around to see where he had gone to but only to see him on top of City Hall again throwing orbs into the portal. Lux decided it was enough. Gripping her baton she focused her energy and jumped into the air. "Final Spark." Kha'Zix had enough warning to avoid it this time, but when he turned, he saw the refinery was ruined and the remaining orbs were useless. He threw them at the two Guardians before fleeing across the rooftops. Lux and Janna were quick to pursue.
While lacking the sense of the Guardians for void energy, Debonair was still able to rely on his other senses. Mainly the colder it got, the closer he probably was. Reaching the City's public works building, he was almost freezing. Climbing to the roof, he saw what he wanted, the minion. Carefully changing out orbs to keep the refinery going. Knowing that only the Guardians could corrupt the void energy to prevent it from being used, he instead decided to go after the refinery. Transforming his hammer, he threw out his gates, than an energy pulse. It hit clean on.
The minion turned around in surprise, but that quickly turned to anger. "It seems I have a guest. I do apologize for the state of things. I wasn't expecting company." With that he lashed out and charged at Debonair, but was instead met with his hammer. Lacking the defenses of the Guardians however, he did get a nice scratch on his arm for his troubles. Grunting, he turned to meet the next attack.
Again the minion charged and again was hit with the hammer, Debonair managed to dodge the scratches however and hit the minion with an energy pulse has he moved around the roof.
"You don't play nice. I want you to leave now. People who hurt me aren't welcome here."
"You attacked first. I just defended myself."
"Exactly." He charged again, and this time he managed to dodge the hammer, but was hit with the pommel as he tried to scratch Debonair again. For his part, Debonair did get a scratch in the leg, worse than the arm, but the pommel strike followed by a full hammer hit was enough to send the minion running for cover. "No one has ever defeated the great Larn. You will not be the first to fall to me." He said attempting to throw Debonair off of his trail.
Looking around, Debonair noticed the orbs, and knew that he could put Larn into possibly going to scatter them. He moved towards the orbs but was quickly diving himself as Larn jumped on him, or attempted to. His kick however landed and sent Debonair into a wall. Debonair was shaking off the impact when Larn charged again. His arms had become blades and he was preparing to swing, when a light formed around him, sending Larn flying backward. Looking up, Debonair noticed Janna standing there. "Need help?"
"From you? Always." Debonair got to his feet when he noticed the large amount of orbs that were there were now missing. Looking around, they saw a void portal closing. It seems that Kha'Zix was attempting to get as many as possible and was doing a good job of it. Larn had also vanished, probably through the portal. They took out two refineries however and that was just the start. "Were is your partner?"
"We split up to find the refineries. I heard your fight and thought you might need a hand. There are two more in the city and I know where my partner is going, so we should head to the other one."
"Well let's not waste time then." Janna carefully lifted the two of them off the roof and they took off towards one of the sports stadiums to intercept the one Lux wasn't going to.
For her part, Lux wasn't having much better luck. Following her senses she arrived at the Yarni tower to find Kha'Zix had already gotten away with the orbs and the refinery. He apparently didn't have time to get his second stash as she found that and send the orbs shattering. Only one refinery was left. Lux thought why weren't there more, but not having gotten a look at one of them yet, she probably reasoned they were bigger than she thought. She left the tower and sprinted towards the stadium.
Already there, Janna and Debonair scoped out the site and found the refinery with relative ease. However it was already destroyed and the orbs were still there. Debonair just looked puzzled, but after a quick examination, Janna noticed telltale marks of both Vel'Koz and Nasus on the refinery, along with the fact it was an elaborate fake. Probably they took one so they could study it. "Well, clearly someone else doesn't like these things. So that's all four where would the last one be. Clearly there is another." Janna threw a tornado as she spoke shattering the orbs.
"Well where would the best location be. Where has it been the coldest?"
"The portal." They both sprinted towards the large abandoned warehouse near the portal ruins. Previously, it held the materials that were being used to clean up the site, and was occasionally used by companies from time to time. It was also the coldest point during this whole thing, and since it was infrequently used, it was also the perfect place for a large collector as it was out of the way and no one would care to look there. While they were running, they almost literally ran into Lux and after a few quick explanations, the three of them were running towards the refinery. However the site they found wasn't the one they expected, nor in the manner they expected.
Surrounding the warehouse was a full police presence. Lux and Janna carefully made their way to the barricade, where they were allowed to pass by the officers. Lux had to try hard to not show recognition as her father was one of the officers there. Debonair somehow made his way through the barricade and joined them as they approached the warehouse. Lux was waiting by the front door when Janna shook her head and they made their way around to a back door where Debonair was already waiting.
"Well, kick the door."
"With pleasure." Debonair smashed the door with his hammer and they all spilled in to see a very surprised Kha'Zix who had clearly expected them through another door. Also clearly not expected them.
"Well it seems my plan has been found out but I was expecting those useless police to knock down the door and not you three. Oh well. I guess this will be easy then."
"You wish." Lux threw a binding that while missing Kha'Zix hit Larn who roared in rage. Transforming his arms into blades again, it was clear they would be getting more cuts during the fight. Lux threw a barrier on Janna and Debonair while Janna responded in kind as they were charged by Kha'Zix who's spikes did get mostly absorbed but Janna and Lux took a few in the arm and leg respectively. Fighting through the pain they both went after Larn who was only just getting out of the binding. Debonair went after Kha'Zix and managed to get a hit with his energy pulse dodging out of the way of Larn's blades.
Lux quickly threw a singularity at them both while Janna sent Zephyr to slow down Larn and it just barely half worked. Debonair dodged the blade, but still got a cut on his uninjured leg. Now clearly in pain he collapsed after dodging on the floor. Lux threw another singularity and a binding hoping to get both, but only hit Kha'Zix who jumped back into the fight only to be rooted in place. Lux threw a couple of bolts at the two of them, but it didn't exactly hold them back. Kha'Zix charged again, but Lux managed to bind him, but took a blade from Larn in her other arm. Also falling to the floor, she still somehow managed to get her baton moving to create a barrier over Janna as Larn and Kha'Zix went after her.
Janna watched carefully and she also looked at Debonair and Lux as they both struggled to get to their feet. Moving just a bit she turned to her attackers as her hand gripped her staff. As they both jumped, Janna grabbed her staff and focused her energy, creating a monsoon inside the building. The resulting wind threw back Kha'Zix and Larn, shattered some of the orbs in the building, and provided the much needed healing to Debonair and Lux. With all three of them back on their feet, they all turned to the two voidlings, who were now the ones slow to get to their feet. The fact they flew through a few shelving units probably didn't help with that.
Kha'Zix managed to recover first, and turning to Larn he nodded. Larn went after the three while Kha'Zix managed to rip open a void portal to get the remaining orbs through. Lux, seeing this, turned to Janna, who quickly slowed Larn, Debonair hit him into another wall with a very loud and satisfying thud, Janna then sent a tornado after the orbs, while Lux also threw a singularity at the same target. Kha'Zix seeing his time was up, jumped through and closed the portal. The tornado and singularity shattered the remaining orbs. Turning to Larn, it was clear that he was in trouble.
Janna again sent Zephyr to slow him while Debonair knocked him into another wall before hitting him with a charged energy pulse. "Do it." Lux drew her hand across her baton and focused her powers before charging her beam.
"Final Spark." Her beam instantly hit Larn who disintegrated. "Dusted. Finally. Now let's get out of here. I'm not sure how you will but we'll try to distract the police."
"No need. I can get out on my own. Just do your thing. I'll be find. Thanks for the heal by the way." He said turning to Janna who just nodded in return.
"You had best be going. It won't take them long to enter." She said. Debonair quickly made his way out of the building and somehow managed to get through the barrier. Lux and Janna made themselves look like it was nothing before heading out the front door. The headlights from the police vehicles were immediately dimmed as they saw who was exiting. Lux turned to try and see Caitlyn but she was absent. Vi instead approached.
"If you are looking for the chief, she is currently sleeping at her desk. Now can I assume that the problem is solved?" Lux and Janna just nodded. "Good now we can clean this up. For all the trouble you cause, it causes a lot of mess. Thankfully the less work we have to do, the less paperwork I have to do, and more experience for some with cleaning up things. Also training for new officers. Now excuse me."
"She is rather blunt."
"Yep. That's her way. Caitlyn is the grace, she's the muscle. Who also loves punching things with those hextech gloves. But let's go before I get the urge to talk to my dad for no reason."
"Good idea." Lux and Janna made their way through the crowd only to run into Vel'Koz on the edge of the police zone.
"So you are the two who borrowed my collector." It was a statement not a question. "Well I have already collected it so there is no need to return it. If you two need something in the future, or need advice, I'm sure you two know where to call." Lux and Janna began walking away as it was clear that staying for what Vel'Koz said next would be extremely suspicious.
Vel'Koz shifted to private telepathy. "Good job. I collected one of the collectors as I'm sure you noticed. Now meet me back at the tower in about an hour. I should have a few answers to what was going on. And perhaps more information. Again good job, hopefully we won't need you two for a while so you can rest." Vel'Koz made his way to the warehouse and entered it while Lux and Janna continued their way through the zone and only once leaving it, Lux was ready to power down, but was stopped by Janna who pointed to a cruiser. Inside was the same yordle from the other night, and while her attention seemed to be focused on the action at the warehouse, powering down in plain sight wasn't a good idea.
Eventually finding a secluded spot and making sure they were really alone, they both powered down and headed home. Keeping an eye on the clock they waited to return to the tower. Back in her room, Lux saw Dorcha and Solas waiting for her. "Everything go well?"
"Not really, Kha'Zix got away with a few of the collectors and a lot of energy."
"That's pretty bad but given one theory Vel'Koz was talking to us about, it is probably not as bad as we think. When did he say to meet?"
"In about 20 minutes." Lux sank onto her bed and just picked up her phone and read news articles and browsed around while waiting for the 20 minutes to pass. When it finally did, she picked up the pen and created a portal to the tower. Entering it, she saw Janna already there, along with Nasus, but Vel'Koz was still absent.
"He said he'd only be another minute or two. Or now." Nasus changed as the door opened.
"Sorry. But my theories were both correct. There was enough void energy to recreate the portal, but the problem is that it also needs a large amount of void energy to incuse the energy already present to coalesce into a portal. They don't have it. That is what this was about. Getting void energy. As I'm sure you noticed, Nasus and myself recovered a collector and found that it is only a scaled up version of the one I provided you. Now with the void energy we collected, I have enough to reinforce the magics around the planet, making it harder for them to get in."
"Wouldn't it be better if we saved it in case they did mount an attack against them?" Vel'Koz, who was looking proud, suddenly changed his expression.
"Not a bad idea Janna. Not a bad idea at all. Let's go with that plan. Keeping the void energy here isn't going to hurt me, or anything else here, just make my lab colder than it already is."
"Which is already freezing." Nasus piped up. Vel'Koz just shrugged. Or at least as best he could. Lux nodded but could do little else, she was so tired. "Vel, why don't we let the two of them go. They are clearly tired. Anything else can wait for tomorrow can't it?"
"Of course." Lux and Janna quickly walked out and back to their rooms where they feel asleep instantly. Once they were gone Nasus turned to Vel'Koz.
"I have misgivings about what they were doing."
"As do I. Clearly they were trying to gather as much energy as possible. That means two things. They are going to attack a major target soon and they desperately needed energy."
"What could they attack?" Nasus turned and no sooner than he did that did he stop and turn back around. Vel'Koz looked at him worried. "I know." Nasus pulled out the tablet that was kept in the tower for whatever was needed and after moving through news stories, quickly found what he was looking for. Turning the tablet over, all of Vel'Koz's eyes went wide.
"Oh no." he said.
So what is this target? Stay tuned to find out. It will be one chilly story.