A/N: Sorry it has been so long since my last update. Life and other things got in my way. Also writers block. Very bad writers block. I'm hoping to start pushing a bit more regularly as I'm ramping up for something big. Thank you all for continuing to read and I hope you continue to enjoy. Thanks!
With a full team at last, the Guardians are at their most powerful, or at least they should be. Jinx is certainly a welcome addition to the team, she is still very much out of control and needs to time to integrate into the team, if she ever will. Meanwhile Kog'Maw's plans still continue as his agent presses further towards recovering Malzahar's tome. Can the Guardians figure out Kog'Maw's before it goes into effect, or will they be scrambling to respond?
Chapter 28 – Turning the Page
"Watch out!" Poppy yelled as Jinx again sent bullets flying over her head, aiming at the training dummies. Poppy was getting frustrated, and Jinx seemed at least apologetic.
"Well did you want it to hit you?" Or not. Lux just shook her head at Jinx's snap reply.
"I knew where they all were, just focus on what you were told to focus on." Poppy was clearly angry but seemed to be more focused on trying to synergize with Jinx, but that really wasn't working too well. She was too independent for the time being and while Poppy and Lulu had managed to integrate after a few times, Jinx just wasn't. And Lux was still debating with herself whether or not it was her fault. Maybe she shouldn't expect the same from someone who had just a wildly different personality than the rest of them, but then maybe she should be a bit more forceful in trying to get Jinx to integrate.
The team recovered enough and Lux just called off the rest of training for the day as it was clear that tensions were running high. "Ok I think that's enough for today. Let's head downstairs." Poppy was still giving Jinx a glare, which Jinx just seemed to ignore, or she didn't care. They all powered down and Lux was the last to leave the room as she sighed before heading downstairs.
With three new additions, the room felt full for the first time. Dorcha, Solas, Zephyr, Pix, Shiro, and Kuro were enjoying themselves on the counter while Lulu was scribing away on the table. Jinx was leaning against the counter, while Poppy and Janna were pacing around but stopped when Lux entered. Lux took a deep breath before she began.
"Ok I think we can all agree that was less than successful." Lux looked between Poppy and Jinx in particular, the former seemed annoyed, the latter, not caring. "So here's the bottom line, we need to work together and the only way that is getting done is if we learn to trust each other. Something that isn't easy sure but we are all here for the same reasons." Lux stumbled over the s in reasons when she realized that even she had multiple reasons for being here. "So we need to learn to work together, despite all our individual ideas and thoughts. Sometimes it is harder than we expect but if we don't learn to work together, then we will fall one by one, and where we all be then?"
Lux let the last sentence hang and looked around. Janna nodded as she looked between Lux and Lulu. Poppy was still looking at Jinx, but her expressions softened a bit. Lulu had even stopped drawing and smiled when Lux looked her way. Jinx had her head down, but gave a small nod nonetheless. Lux took that as a sign of encouragement. "Now everyone go home and we will take tomorrow off as we just need a day away from each other."
Lux watched everyone go. Janna left first after letting Zephyr jump up onto her shoulder, giving Lux a smile as she headed out. Lulu wasn't too far behind as she packed up her supplies and left her drawing on the table. "I'm not sure what it means, but I have a feeling you should look at it." Lux nodded as Lulu headed out, Pix not far behind. Jinx grabbed her bag, Shiro, and Kuro and while she didn't look at Lux, her attitude of being a bit reckless seemed to be on hold, at least for now.
Lux turned to Poppy as Jinx closed the door and it was clear that she wasn't leaving until she spoke to Lux. "She's reckless and you know it."
"I know, but we don't have a lot of choices right now. We don't know how to transfer the powers from one person to another, unless you found out how." Lux sat down at the table and Poppy sat across from her.
"My point is that we need to keep an eye on her. She's got ulterior motives and maybe it goes so far as to see this as a fun activity, but I still doubt her full commitment. Until I see something, I'm going to keep that attitude." Poppy finished, grabbed her bag, and headed out. Lux just put her head onto the table as she heard the door close. Dorcha and Solas hopped over from the counter and after much struggling, managed to get Lux to pick her head up.
"It takes time and you know that. Maybe a bit longer this time, but there is still something that is bothering me about Jinx." Lux looked at Dorcha, and just shook her head.
"Yeah, I don't think we know the full story. There's something about her life, or lack of what we know about it. I don't want to go digging, but we need to know. I guess it will have to be one of those things that there won't be much we can do about it unless we need to. Everyone has a right to their secrets, for better or worse. Still though, there is something she isn't telling us." Lux just looked between Dorcha and Solas and they both shrugged. "Come on, let's go home."
Lux grabbed her bag, allowed the two to jump up into it, and headed out the door. During the walk home, Lux couldn't help but turn things over in her head and she realized that she wasn't as distrustful of Janna, Poppy, or Lulu, probably because they showed commitment. Lux just turned everything over and before she knew it, she was at her own front door.
Entering, Lux made her way past her parents and headed up to her room, where she just decided to work on the homework she had been neglecting for a while now. Working until dinner, Lux finally came down and largely ignored the dinner conversation, which focused on Garen's upcoming games and how he was still trying to get someone for the upcoming dance. Lux managed a little smile at that knowing he was still tripping over himself to get Janna, who politely refused every advance.
Lux volunteered to clean up to give herself more time alone to think and while it worked, her thoughts instead of being on homework, kept diverting to her other life. She kept thinking about Kog'Maw and what he was going to do next, but she knew that dwelling on it wouldn't help unless they could do something about it. And for new, there was nothing they could do until they knew what he was targeting. They all knew, well hopefully, that it was something connected to Malzahar but what it was. They still had his robes and his book, and given the fact there was little to no information on them, it was likely that he was going after whichever was easiest to get to. The other problem was they had no idea which that was.
As she finished the dishes, Lux headed up to her room and tried to play games, but found herself working on her homework after a while, needing something to focus her energy on. Lux was so into her work that she failed to notice Zephyr had been on her bed for about 20 minutes. Lux turned to see the cat and she jumped a bit.
"Sorry I didn't want to interrupt, but Janna asked me to keep an eye on Jinx, and well she's definitely one to do random things. She likes to just blow stuff up in her yard, but she fawns over Shiro and Kuro. Clearly she has at least one soft spot." Zephyr stood up and stretched while Lux leaned back in her chair and was clearly deep in thought.
"Well just as long as she can fight, and stay focused during it, maybe we can start to chip away at that. Jinx clearly has some issues and is probably borderline psycho, but still she seems stable enough for us to continue working. I just hope she can come through when we need too. The last fight was an anomaly in that we were all over the place, next time, we probably won't be that lucky. Of course it would be nice to know when and where out next fight would take place." Lux turned to Zephyr with a bit of a look, before turning to Dorcha and Solas. They all just kind of shrugged.
"We're working on it." Dorcha said in that voice of "please don't be angry at us". Lux just sat back as a response, and turned back to her homework but now found that now she couldn't focus on that. Groaning, she just pushed her chair back and looked out the window. The full moon caught her eye and she just looked up.
"What are you planning?"
Malzahar was indeed looking up at Runeterra as well but was more frustrated that his robes and tome couldn't be located, let alone get a hint about their location. Kog'Maw was running around doing nothing, or at least that is what it appeared to Malzahar. In fact, Kog'Maw was trying to locate Malzahar's tome but it wasn't going well. Because of the destructive nature of the Void Wars, magical tomes were controlled and shielded to prevent exactly what Kog'Maw was trying to do.
Irinis wasn't have much luck on the planet as trying to get access to one of the archives was not only dangerous, but could end up going nowhere as she would be exposed in seconds. Even then, it might even be in an archive, it could be out in the general world. Irinis was under enormous pressure and even with Kog'Maw helping as best he could, it wasn't enough. They weren't moving fast enough for Malzahar, and sooner it would act, but they needed to act before he did.
Kog'Maw looked for Irinis at their meeting place and eventually found her. "Report."
"I haven't had much more luck, but I have eliminated a few places. It's a good news, bad news situation. I can't get access to these archives, so I'm going to go back to the source. Malzahar's old guild and see if I can find what happened to the tome. There is no way I can get in and out of there undetected." Irinis finished and held her breath.
"Then it must be done." Kog'Maw opened a portal and disappeared through it. Irinis breathed a sigh of relief and made plans to accomplish her objective the next day. It wouldn't be pretty or easy, but she had to do it. The only things standing in her way, were 70 extremely powerful summoners of all ages, and they wouldn't take kindly to her presence.
The following morning saw the team waking up to a day where anything can, and probably would happen. Too many times Kog'Maw has acted at random and today was no reason to expect anything less. They all went to school where Janna was still keeping a careful eye on Jinx, and hoped that whatever happened would happen later. Unfortunately, as lunch came around, and Jinx joined them for the first time, they all felt the cold rush down their spines. Jinx looked a bit confused as there was no way to transform without exposing themselves. However, she just followed the rest of the team as they sprinted for their favorite grove of trees. Already the alarms sounded.
As they reached the grove, Lux turned to the rest of them. "Ready?" They all nodded.
"Star Guardian Power Up!" They all transformed and they sprinted off towards the source of the cold. When they go there, not even Jinx could come up with a joke. They all knew what it was, and that was bad. Kog'Maw, or someone was attacking one of the Mage Towers, and this one in particular was the one where Malzahar was trained. Not waiting for orders, Jinx rushed towards the door, while the rest of the team followed behind, knowing that in this case, she was probably right. Deal with the problem fast.
As they burst through the door, one of the summoners was there to greet them. "Upstairs. She's barricaded herself in the records room. We have no idea what she's looking for. We've managed to keep her away from the most dangerous things, but who knows."
Jinx and Poppy tore off up the stairs, followed closely behind by Lulu and Janna. Lux however stayed in the lobby.
"Is there anything left here related to Malzahar?" Lux turned to the senior summoner. He paused and started to think before his face just washed with terror.
"Oh no. Yes there is. The records room contains information about the various summoners who trained here and what happened to them. Whiel she will be pressed to remove the spells around them, the records contain what happened to Malzahar's items after the void corrupted him. Or at least as much as we could track down. We need to hurry."
Lux didn't need to be told as she sprinted off up the stairs. The records room was on the 5th floor and when Lux finally got up there, Jinx and Poppy were looking at the door. Not only was it thick, it was enchanted. Poppy just turned to Lux as she rounded the corner to the room and shrugged. While it was clear Jinx was trying to figure out how to blow a hole in the wall, even she looked a bit defeated.
"Is there another way in?" Lux asked one of the summoners who was outside.
"No. The room was designed that way. She can't get out of there through a void portal. We've seen to that. However, the issue isn't magic, it's just weight. She's piled a lot of things against the door and we don't feel like blasting our way in." Jinx looked a bit put out by that, but still looked for a more explosive solution.
Inside the records room, Irinis was furious. Not only was the room fortified, but the records themselves were sealed with magic. She knew that eventually the summoners or the Guardians were going to get in. That barricade she built wouldn't last long, but she also couldn't get the box open without help and time. Knowing she wouldn't leave the building with it, she had to find a way to get it open.
Just when she was considering her options, a loud crash at the door caught her attention. "Apparently brute force was the only option they looked at. No matter." Irinis readied herself for a fight.
"Again!" Poppy yelled and they swung the large stone pillar against the door. Everyone but Lux and Jinx was on the pillar. Poppy was in the front, underneath it, Lulu was using her magic to help make it a bit lighter, while Janna used hers to give it an extra push before it hit the door. The summoners had quickly got a rig up to hold a battering ram. Sometimes brute force, and the simplest solution was the best option.
They swung the hammer again and they heard a cracking from the other side. "It sounds like the furniture is cracking. One more time." They swung again, but it still didn't move.
"One more time!" Poppy yelled and she threw all of her weight against it, and the door finally cracked open. Poppy grabbed her hammer from her back, but was almost hit right in the face by what looked like large blots. Janna quickly shielded Poppy as she ran into the room, followed closely by Jinx. Janna followed them in while Lux and Lulu stayed outside in case whoever was in there ran.
"Come and get me guardians." Irinis spat as Jinx missed with her Zap and Poppy missed a swing. Janna managed to get Zephyr to latch on, but that was only temporary. Irinis managed to avoid further attacks and get out of the room only to get hit with Lulu's glitterlance and Lux's singularity. Lux also tired throwing a binding, but that missed and Irinis started running for the stairs. The team took off after her while the summoners began to search the room for what she took.
Irinis managed to get to the second floor before she got caught by a summoner and that bought enough time for the Guardians to catch up. Lux and Janna slowed her down, while Jinx peppered the area with bullets, hitting Irinis more than once. Grimacing at the pain, Irinis threw more ink behind her which got Poppy stuck as she tried to pull herself free. Lux threw another binding but missed. Jinx however, landed her Zap which bought enough time for the team to catch back up to her in the atrium.
Now there was a real problem. Irinis was caught between 6 very powerful summoners at the door, and the guardians behind her. 11 v 1 was not good odds. She looked for a solution but quickly realized there wasn't one without them all believing she surrendered.
"Ok now just give up. You are outnumbered, surrounded, and you have zero hope of getting out of here." Lux moved forward as she spoke and her voice echoed the confidence she was feeling internally. However, she also knew to expect something unexpected. Knowing she had only one shot, Irinis just kneeled on the ground, put the box she had next to her, and put her hands over her head. Lux motioned for Poppy and Janna to move in, but they had barely taken a step when the front doors flew open, sending the summoners scrambling for cover.
Kog'Maw burst through the doors and started opening up on the guardians. Lux threw a barrier around Lulu and Jinx, while Janna shielded Poppy and jumped backwards, only to be shielded by Lulu. Jinx didn't waste time peppering Kog'Maw and trying to keep him off balance. Irinis on the other hand, grabbed the box and jumped for the door only to get Zephyr clamping on again. Cursing the what she assumed was an air elemental, she fell before she reached the threshold. Kog'Maw tried to help, only to get a face full from Jinx. Irinis tires again to flee, only to have Lulu transfigure her.
Kog'Maw, seeing this, unleashes everything he has and it causes Lux to throw a barrier over the whole team. Irinis finally manages to get the box and they sprint out the door. Jinx, sped up by Lulu tries to pursue but they are through a portal before Jinx can do anything. As Jinx reenters the tower, Lux looks at her and Jinx just shakes her head. Lux nods in reply. Jinx stays near the door with Shiro transformed in case they come back while Janna and Lulu see to the summoners who were injured. After what seems like ages, the head summoner comes into the atrium. Lux stands to meet him.
"Well we managed to figure out what they took and it is a good news, bad news situation." Lux's face betrayed her 'can I have one day without that situation please' feeling. "What they got away with is both a good and a bad thing. They were clearly here to get something about Malzahar, but what they got away with won't help them as much as they think. After Malzahar was corrupted, we hid away as many objects as we could. One of the most powerful, his tome, was locked away in a vault in the nearby mountains. The vault is sealed, so it offers some protection. They didn't get that information." Lux smiled as that seemed like a good bit of information.
"Now for the bad news. They got away with Malzahar's record. It contains everything we knew about him and what happened after he was corrupted. While it doesn't contain specifics, it does contain enough information that he could piece it together and find the objects he's looking for."
"Well we do know what he's looking for two remaining objects, his tome and his robes." Janna said as she hovered over. Lux nodded.
"We just had no idea where to find them, but we can understand why you were keeping it a secret." Lux kept her voice neutral, while bashing her head into a wall in her mind because why didn't they think to come here a few weeks ago.
"Malzahar's robes however are the one thing we can't help you with." Lux and Janna's faces soured at that. "We have no idea what happened to them. We can however search for them. If we do manage to find them, where can we forward the information to?" Lux now had to think but before she could even get started a voice interrupted her.
"You can forward that information to me. I've been trying to locate the "great prophet's" artifacts for a while now and when I felt the attack here, I figured I would come down." Vel'Koz floated around the corner and past Jinx, who let the "we don't know or work with each other" slip for a few seconds. It seemed to go unnoticed. Lux kept up her part and adopted a curious look.
"Why you?" Lux asked, her voice a bit harsher than she wanted it to be.
"Because as I have said, I don't care about that imposter anymore. The void is nothing but hunger, power, and those who try and capture it. I managed to throw those off, not easily mind you, but I did. Now I want to help as best I can." Vel'Koz kept his voice nervous for effect, but privately.
'Nice tone by the way. Very authoritative' he shot at Lux, who barely managed to keep up her end of the charade. Lux carefully "thought" for a few moments, then nodded.
"That is acceptable. I should go back with you then to set up some way of contacting us." Vel'Koz just nodded while the summoners who were injured were now being tended to by the local healers. Lux turned to the rest of the team. "Head back and I'll join you when I can." Janna nodded and the rest of the team followed her, Jinx abet after a push. Lux rode back to the museum with Vel'Koz and Nasus, all of them were careful to keep up the charade until they were behind the doors of the museum and back into the tower where the rest of the team was waiting.
"Ok then, at least there will be something out of this. I already received information about this vault they were talking about." Vel'Koz pulled up the hologram of the city and moved it to the mountains. "It is isolated and while it isn't completely impervious, it is heavily protected. Malzahar will need a lot of firepower to get in there. It is heavily fortified with summoner magics. Malzahar knew about the fault before he was corrupted but didn't care. This vault holds a lot of tomes, information, and other things that are dangerous."
"So basically getting in there is bad for us?" Jinx asked, with a rather sarcastic tone. Lux was about to throw her a look, but sometimes the obvious needed to be asked or said, and she just shook her head.
"Yes. Very bad. Malzahar will have to burn a lot of energy to get in there so there is a comforting thought." The team breathed a sigh of relief as they knew the void was still low on energy and they needed to get more of it. So either another energy attack first or a direct attack on the vault.
"So then be prepared for anything at any time. Hopefully we can get away if something should happen, but who knows. Just be ready." Lux said as she turned to the team, who all nodded. Well Jinx nodded as she yawned a bit. They all agreed to head out for the day. By now, their parents were used to the "I just ran" excuse when they got home, even Jinx got a message from her parents about it.
The evening passed with more reports about the attack earlier in the day, but nothing else major happened. As Lux settled down for bed she looked up at the moon again, this time with a bit of apprehension.
On the moon, Malzahar had indeed put the pieces together about where his tome was, and he wasn't happy. After sending Kog'Maw to recon the site, he was even less happy.
"As you can see Great Prophet, the entrance and all sides are heavily fortified with summoner magic. They clearly don't want anyone getting in there. It would require a great deal of energy to breach these defenses." Kog'Maw let his voice trail off as he looked at Malzahar who was visually angry. Irinis was also apprehensive because they couldn't do much at this point. Kha'Zix, Rek'Sai, and Cho'Gath were also analyzing the situation and it wasn't until Cho'Gath spoke up that they all noticed it.
"You said this was fortified against magic attacks right?" Cho'Gath turned to Kog'Maw, who just nodded as he swallowed another snack.
"What about physical attacks? I mean that door can't be that strong." They all looked at the door and Malzahar shook his head and laughed.
"Of course it isn't. They wouldn't expect that. However, that leaves us with another problem. How to get into it?" Malzahar walked around as the plan came together. They could all wail away at it, but that would take too much time. They all just thought until Kog'Maw ate another snack, then paused. Everyone turned to look.
"What about just blowing it open?" Malzahar, well everyone really, just looked between Kog'Maw and the vault door. Then Malzahar floated over to the nearest wall, and slammed his head into it.
"Of course. The answer is so simple. Quickly find a place with plenty of explosives. But um…anyone know how to use them?" He added as an afterthought. No one did anything, but then they all reasoned it couldn't be that hard. Cho'Gath quickly identified a construction site with an ample amount of explosives. Irinis and Kog'Maw were quickly sent to gather as much as they could. Their presence would be known to the guardians, but Malzahar reasoned they have to sleep at some point.
Lux woke up in a cold sweat as she felt the shiver run down her spine. "Seriously, it is 2 in the morning." She whispered as she reached for her locket. Dorcha and Solas quickly woke up as well and grabbed Lux's phone. No one had responded, but Lux still peaked out her door to ensure everyone was asleep.
"Looks like I'm going solo on this one." Lux held the locket up. "Star Guardian Power Up!"
Lux jumped out her windows, quickly followed by Dorcha and Solas, who were going to try and get the rest of the team up. Lux quickly followed her senses and it lead her to a construction site at the edge of the city. She crouched as she got close, only to find Kog'Maw and Irinis trying to unlock a container. Lux didn't know what was in it, but whatever it was, it probably wasn't good.
"You know, girls still need their beautry sleep, but I guess I'll just have to teach you the hard way." Lux threw a binding that caught both of the void creatures off guard, and while they both responded quickly, Lux had already jumped down from where she was as acid and something else exploded there. Lux threw a singularity and it exploded in their faces. Taking a quick look around, Lux realized she was on her own.
"Deal with that, I'll take her." Kog'Maw yelled and opened up. Lux managed to either dodge or shield everything he threw at her. Throwing another binding, she missed, but the singularity did hit its mark. Lux was careful to hold onto her spark since she didn't know what they were doing, and what they were dealing with. Lux dodged out of more acid from Kog'Maw but knew she couldn't keep this up much longer, at least not without help, and judging by what she felt, it wasn't good.
As Lux focused on the fight, she finally slipped up by tripping on a rock and losing her balance. Kog'Maw managed to get a few shots in but Lux shielded the damage. However, it wouldn't last much longer as Kog'Maw closed in for some real damage. Just when he got close however, something exploded in his face. Lux turned to see Jinx tearing down the hill firing Kuro. Lux rolled to the side and got back on her feet. As she did so, something blue rushed past her, and Poppy swung her hammer right into Kog'Maw's face.
Now outnumbered, Kog'Maw looked behind him and saw Irinis waving towards a portal. Kog'Maw quickly sped towards it.
"Stop him!" Lux yelled and Jinx fired her Zap, but missed. Poppy also tried a tackle, but ended up hitting the side of a shipping crate. Kog'Maw managed to slip through. Both Lux and Poppy were angry but Jinx was carefully looking over the container they had opened. Poppy moved to keep watch while Lux joined Jinx, who was carefully examining container.
"So what did they keep in here." Lux asked, only to have Jinx ignore her. Sighing, Lux headed back out as to not crowd her. She still had Shiro transformed as Kuro hopped about some of the things in the container. Lux knew Jinx was a bit off, but still, if she was focused on something, it wasn't good.
Finally, Jinx came out and she looked both happy and apprehensive. "Well this won't be good." Poppy muttered. Jinx just stuck her tongue out.
"Correct. But not in a good way. Come to my place tomorrow and I'll show you why." Jinx hurried off as Lux and Poppy got a look in the container. The word "explosives" was written all around and they both didn't like that.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Poppy asked, turning to Lux.
"Because even Jinx does. As much as a nut she is, when she's worried, it is a good reason to worry. But for now, let's get home." Lux and Poppy headed away from the site just as the police were rolling up. Lux was sure to get Caitlyn get a passing view of her before leaving for home.
Dorcha and Solas were there to greet her. "So what about Janna and Lulu?" Lux whispered as she powered down.
"Well Lulu was just out cold, and Janna refused to wake up. Even after Zephyr walked all over her. He said that usually gets her up." Dorcha said as she and Lux turned to Solas.
"Zephyr even hissed and that still didn't do it. Did wake up her father though, who thought he wanted to go out. That was embarrassing to watch." Solas was suppressing laughter but Lux was too tired now to do anything.
"Just ensure I don't miss school please." Lux said as she laid down, and was out in a few seconds.
On the moon, Malzahar was pleased. "Think it will be enough?" He asked as Irinis carefully organized the explosives.
"Should be. I took enough to blast a sizeable hole in the ground. Along with the things we need to detonate them. I'm a quick study." She added after Malzahar looked at her curiously. "Also here's the manual." Irinis threw a book, but immediately regretted it. Malzahar however just caught it and after reading a few pages, just threw it back.
"I'll take your word for it. Just don't mess it up. We will get one shot." He floated out and Irinis breathed again. She had just resigned herself to being fed to the Baron, but it was a relief.
While everyone else, slept, Jinx was busy. Working some equations on a white board, occasionally being corrected by Kuro. When she finished, her face went sour. "Well that's not good. Still what do they plan to do with it." Shiro chirped and Jinx had a pained expression on her face.
"Uh…how do people do this."
The following morning saw Lux and Poppy wake a bit slower than usual, Lulu sending 10 "Sorry" texts, and Janna waking to a very angry Zephyr. As the four walked to school, Lux turned to Janna.
"Just keep an eye on her and if she passes along anything, then we need to hear about it quickly." No sooner had Lux finished talking, then did her phone buzz. Jinx had already texted.
'meet at lunch not good' Lux just sighed and knew that nothing good ever came out of a construction site robbery.
"At least they didn't take some of the heavy equipment."
The morning dragged on as everyone tried to get through it. Lux kept checking her watch between taking notes. Lulu was off in her own world, but even she seemed nervous. Poppy was her usual self, almost stoic in her appearance, but Lux knew she was worried too. Janna passed Jinx a few times, but they had no time to talk. On their second passing, Jinx passed Janna a note, which once Janna managed to translate her handwriting, she was puzzled.
When lunch finally arrived, everyone met up at the park between the two schools. Jinx was the last to arrive, with a small notebook. "Wow she can write?" Poppy said, and again Jinx just stuck her tongue out.
"Laugh now but you have no idea what they took do you?" Jinx used her brief superiority of knowledge to its fullest as Poppy sucked with her own tongue out. Jinx put the notebook down as Shiro and Kuro joined Dorcha, Solas, Zephyr, and Pix.
Jinx cleared her throat. "They got away with a lot of explosives last night. What is worrying is they got away with a manual and some blasting caps." Everyone just looked like she was speaking in tongues. Jinx sighed. "Is this what it's like to think all the time?" Lux just nodded. Jinx groaned.
"What that means is they got away with the tools to create a large explosion, and one that can do a lot of damage. I did some math" Jinx shot a look at Poppy who was just flabbergasted at this point, "and they could bring down a building with this. Or create a very large hole. I have no idea what they would be doing with it, but there you have it. I'm sure the cops have already figured it out." Jinx sat down finally and took a huge bite of her lunch.
Janna grabbed the notebook and after reading it, passed it to Lux. While she didn't fully understand, Lux knew that it was bad news. "Why would they need so much?" Janna asked as she turned to Jinx. Jinx just shrugged as her mouth was full from shoveling her lunch.
"We'll talk with Vel'Koz later today and see if we can get an answer. Clearly they are going for something, but what?" Lux said as she put her head down and looked at her lunch, suddenly not so hungry. Lulu, seeing this, pushed Lux's lunch a bit closer, and Lux chucked a bit, nodding. Lulu gave a quick hug before returning to her own lunch.
The afternoon dragged almost like the morning had. There were a number of things that just made it worse as Lux, Janna, and Poppy kept turning over ideas in their heads and they kept coming around to new ideas and solutions to those ideas but until Kog'Maw actually did something, they were powerless to act without exposing themselves. Janna kept an eye on Jinx throughout the day, and she seemed to be annoyed and Janna couldn't figure out why. Texting Lux for answers, the answer made her eyes roll.
'she likes action remember that'
The school day ended without much activity and Lux ordered everyone to the tower to wait out Kog'Maw. Lux, Janna, and Lulu waited in the bottom level of the tower, while Poppy and Jinx were on the second floor hitting things and shooting things. After about 40 minutes, Poppy came down a bit annoyed. Lux turned to her.
"Jinx is going crazy up there. I mean I know it won't break, but I think she's letting off more than pent up steam." Poppy powered down, pulled up her homework, and started working. About 30 minutes after that, Jinx came down and she seemed relieved. "Work out whatever you were." Jinx just stuck her tongue in response and powered down.
"I'm not good at sitting around waiting." Jinx said, sounding almost apologetic, but she didn't look it. Lux took it as almost explaining rather than apologizing, but she was at least trying to communicate and work together. It was at least a positive sign. It still wasn't enough for Lux to be complete satisfied. Jinx sat down, pulled a tablet out of her backpack, and just started watching movies.
Vel'Koz even floated in as the team started to get restless. Even Lulu was getting restless since she had finished whatever she was working on and was looking around, eventually joining Jinx watching moves. Lux noticed that Jinx made room for Lulu to come over. 'Well I guess the odd ones always find each other.'
Lux was just looking at menus as to what to order for dinner, when they all felt it. Lux quickly jumped to her feet, Janna put down her book, Poppy jumped up as well, while Lulu and Jinx looked up. Lux looked at the city map, and saw they were outside the city, right at the vault.
"Well it seems like the waiting is over. Let's go." Lux looked around to everyone and they pulled their pendants.
"Star Guardian Power Up!" Once they were all ready, they sprinted out of one of the secluded entrances and headed towards the outskirts of the city. Once they arrived, it was clear that they were going to have issues. Kog'Maw did have a few Zzs, but not nearly as much as previous fights. He also had Irinis going straight for the vault door.
Lux turned to Jinx and Janna. "You two deal with the Zzs." Jinx looked a bit put out. "Remember you can shoot more things this way." Jinx immediately perked up and tore off towards the small horde, which seemed to be doing little more than keeping people occupied. Jinx immediately started opening fire, even though she was still at range. Janna just shook her head but followed.
"I need you two to keep that minion busy and keep her away from that door." Poppy and Lulu nodded and headed off to keep Irinis busy. Lux looked towards the summoners and identified by the robes who was in charge, or at least high enough to know what was going on. Lux saw a small horde of Zzs going after them, and quickly vaporized them. Heading into the building, Lux quickly turned to the summoner.
"Ok what is going on here?" Lux's voice betrayed her fear of lack of knowledge, however it seems that the summoner was also confused.
"I'm not sure. We know Malzahar's tome is in the vault, but they have little way of getting into it. Even if Malzahar was here himself, it would take hours to penetrate the magical defenses. We aren't sure what their objective is, but they are focused on keeping us away from the door." Lux looked puzzled, but shook her head.
"Then we need to get to that door and stop them from doing whatever they are doing. Just out of curiosity, can they create a magic drill?" Lux turned with a curious expression.
"Possibly, but it would still take hours." Lux just shook her head and took off towards Janna and Jinx, who had now Zzs and Kog'Maw to deal with. Looking around, another small horde was keeping Poppy and Lulu from getting to Irinis. Lux knew that Kog'Maw was the greater threat, and the horde in front of Janna and Jinx. Lux threw a singularity to announce her arrival and Jinx turned for the briefest second to acknowledge her. Lux kept focused on the horde, as Kog'Maw kept the horde between them and him. Given the fact he usually charged in, this was odd.
"Can you get to the door?" Janna yelled over the commotion, and Jinx firing away.
"No but the summoners are just as clueless as we are. They have no idea why Kog'Maw is attacking as it would take them hours to penetrate the door." Lux yelled back as she threw a barrier to shield Jinx from another Zz charge. Lux kept up the fire with Jinx, but she knew she was missing something. There was just something that she wasn't getting, and given Kog'Maw's extremely unusual behavior, and the fact Poppy and Lulu were still struggling to get through the small horde, which Kog'Maw was resupplying from his.
Lux had just thrown a barrier, and wasn't ready throw another when a small horde came up on her right. It however, was quickly vaporized by an energy pulse. Lux turned to see Debonair running towards them, firing his staff the entire time. Lux moved back into a defensive and support role while still turning over what was going on in her head. Kog'Maw was still continuing to reinforce the horde between Poppy, Lulu, and Irinis.
Jinx was continuing to fire, Debonair was continuing to fire, Janna was providing support, and still Kog'Maw was not attacking except when needed to keep the Guardians away from him. The horde however was thinning enough to where Lux could move to help Poppy and Lulu when suddenly she stopped dead. Moving forward, Lux grabbed Jinx, who was taking aback by the sudden movement, but the panic on Lux's face caused Jinx to move behind Janna and Debonair.
"You said earlier that the amount of explosives they took could leave a big hole? How big?" Lux at this point wasn't able to keep control of her panic, and Jinx, who was about to crack a joke at the situation paused and thought, it almost looked painful to Lux.
"It could blow a sizable hole in one of these hills. Why? Hey!" Jinx looked a bit panicked as Lux grabbed Jinx by the arm and ran off towards the summoner that she had talked to earlier. When they arrived, he looked just as confuse as Jinx did.
"Ok what is going on?"
"Ok I know that vault is defended against magic attacks, but what about explosives?" Jinx's face went from confused, to thinking, to sharing Lux's panic. The summoner's face went through the exact same transition.
"It isn't. We never considered that, but then things like that are a more recent invention. We need to get to that door as it won't hold against that."
"Ok but it's still a think door how will it not hold up?" Jinx asked, and Lux turned to her with a bit of a look in her eye.
"Because it is a wood door. It is better for enchanting than anything else. Including stone, but we might look at that differently if we all survive this." Jinx didn't need Lux to tell her what to do next. Jinx sprinted out and began helping Poppy and Lulu, with Lux not far behind her. Debonair and Janna saw what was happening, and after Janna threw a powerful twister, and Debonair sent a large number of accelerated energy pulses, they moved to join them. Kog'Maw clearly knowing that his plan had been revealed, targeted the Guardians directly, only to have Lux and Jinx fire everything right into his face, and Kog'Maw had to pull pack.
The team started making quick work of the horde, and Kog'Maw went back to Irinis. "We can't keep this up much longer, the guardians are on to us."
"We will have to hope that we can blow a hole with what we've got. I think I have this right, but I can't be certain. We will have to hope. We will need reinforcements while we search for the tome because I doubt it will be obvious. Move back."
Irinis and Kog'Maw came around the corner from the door and Lux saw what was happening. "GET DOWN!" She yelled and the entire team took cover. Irinis saw that they weren't going to catch the guardians, but they had no choice and detonated the explosives. The explosion was devastating, but it did accomplish his objective and the door was blown open. Irinis and Kog'Maw ran into the vault, while throwing the rest of the Zzs charged the guardians.
"We need to get into that vault. Everyone ready up!" Lux was the first back on her feet, and that was enough to get everyone else up. Lux jumped into the air and opened up. "Final Spark!" Lux carefully aligned her spark and wiped out a huge chunk of the line. Debonair, Lulu, and Jinx opened fire quickly afterward, while Janna threw a huge numbers of twisters, and Poppy charged right into the horde, swinging at everything in her sight.
After what seemed like a long time, they destroyed the entire line and charged right into the vault.
Kog'Maw and Irinis were shocked at the amount of tomes in the vault, but several were singled out. Looking at what they took from the summoner tower earlier, they navigated through the vault and sooner than expected, they found Malzahar's tome, but getting out wasn't going to be easy. They couldn't open a portal in the vault because while the door was destroyed, the enchantments were still intact.
The entire level of the vault where they were was filled with magic that had been forbidden, and given Malzahar's tome and what it contained, it was sealed by summoner magic. "Well this could be an issue." Irinis said while Kog'Maw kept an eye on the door. The enchantments were strong, but they weren't as strong as the ones around them. Kog'Maw could hear gunfire and everything else from outside and knew the guardians were still being occupied by the Zzs, but not for long.
Irinis looked carefully over the pedestal, and realized something. "Um how about we just do this." Kog'Maw looked around to see Irinis transforming her arm, and swinging into the pedestal. A few minutes later, Irinis managed to free the upper part of the pedestal, with the book, and she and Kog'Maw threw open the door only to encounter the guardians.
Lux and the rest of the team charged through the vault looking for where Irinis and Kog'Maw were. "So what exactly are we looking for?" Poppy asked as they looked around.
"Probably that." Jinx said, pointing to a closed door. No sooner had they spotted the door, did it fly open and Irinis and Kog'Maw ran out of it. Irinis had in her hands a tome in a sealed case.
"Ok you two, this is far enough. You two have caused enough damage today. We are the Star Guardians. Sworn to defend the universe against all those that would throw it into chaos. And that means you." Kog'Maw and Irinis laughed, but Jinx and Poppy didn't wait for them to regain their senses before they opened fire and charged respectively. Irinis used the case to absorb the damage from Jinx, while Kog'Maw dodged around Poppy and the entire situation fell into chaos. The enchantments along the bookshelves absorbed the rampant spells and everything else, but the battle quickly became Kog'Maw and Irinis running towards the door while the Guardians tried to catch them.
Janna threw a twister but missed. Poppy charged, and also missed. Lux fired a binding and singularity, but both missed. Jinx fired her Zap, but that missed as well. Lulu couldn't even get close to use anything in her arsenal, and focused on trying to speed someone else up, but it wasn't enough. Irinis and Kog'Maw got out of the vault, and quickly jumped through a portal before the Guardians could even get a shot off.
The team was clearly defeated, just sat down against the sides vault and on the ground. Debonair, instead of usually vanishing, stayed as even he seemed to sense that the team was just defeated. Even Jinx was holding back on the sarcastic comments as she sat on the ground next to Poppy. Lux looked at the team and they were all clearly defeated. The summoner in charge, or at least the one Lux talked to looked defeated as well.
"You mustn't blame yourselves for this for this is our mistake. We did not update our defenses and you did everything you could to try and stop this from happening. It will take them a while to penetrate the defenses on the tome, but they will get into it eventually. Now please, take your leave, and we will clean up our own mess. Do you need assistance to get where you are going?" Lux just looked up and after standing up, shook her head at the summoner.
"No, but as much as this is your failure, it is ours as well." Lux looked between her team and no one, not even Jinx, offered any resistance to her words. "We didn't put the clues together fast enough and we failed to respond quickly." Lux was fighting back tears at this point. "We should have…"
"Enough please. From what I understand from reading up on Star Guardians, you cannot sense anything, or do anything until they attack. You did all you could, and you all did your best. Do not blame yourselves because we all make mistakes."
"Except these mistakes are big. Malzahar will use the tome at some point against us." Lux managed to shake the tears from her eyes.
"While yes it is true that the tome will make Malzahar more powerful, there is a price he will pay. Malzahar was a powerful summoner, but the tome will require him to use a lot of energy to penetrate the defenses around it. Maybe those plans will be delayed." Lux turned to the summoner as he finished and started walking away and smiled, and so did the rest of the team. They all knew that Malzahar was low on energy so they hoped that the summoner was right.
"Come on, let's get going." Lux looked at the team and they all nodded. Debonair nodded and headed off his own way. Once they all got back to the tower, Vel'Koz just looked at their faces and knew they had already going through a lot of things.
"I hope that you all know that even with the energy Malzahar got away with, he will have to expend a lot to get past those defenses. Hopefully that will prevent him from getting access to it. The summoners have promised to send over a copy of what is in it, when the manage to find it. Their records room is still a mess. You all did everything you could. Don't doubt yourselves and what you did."
"Yeah but we didn't…I didn't put the clues together fast enough." Lux was now fully in tears with her head on the table. "I cost us a lot."
Janna and Poppy went over to her, while Lulu and Jinx stayed back. Jinx was using everything she could to hold back a sarcastic comment. The last thing this needed was a bit of humor. Janna finally managed to get Lux to stop crying and pick her head up. Lux looked up at her team, and they all nodded, even Jinx.
"Come on Lux, everyone has a brain fart now and then." Jinx's sarcastic humor broke the tension that was in the room. While no one laughed, everyone seemed a bit more at ease. Lux just rolled her eyes and shook her head at Jinx, who was struggling not to laugh. Lux nodded and stood up.
"Live and learn right?" She looked around and the team was nodded. Jinx was still trying to hold back laughter but Lux still gave her a hug, which Jinx promptly tried to escape from. Much to the laughter of the everyone else in the room.
On the moon, Malzahar was both happy, and furious. While Irinis and Kog'Maw had succeeded, the tome Malzahar had for years was now locked away beneath layers of summoner magic that would take a lot of energy to break though.
"This sets us back, but nevertheless, you accomplished your objectives. Now go and find my old robes and then return. We can't breach this now." Malzahar turned to look out the window as Kog'Maw and Irinis looked puzzled, but left. Outside Cho'Gath was curious.
"Surprised he didn't start the process at least." Kog'Maw said as Cho'Gath made his presence know, which wasn't hard.
"Not really. He's planning something big. Very big. He's kept me in the dark, but if I had to hazard a guess, the guardians won't know what hit them. However, he will be using a lot of energy and it will put us in a dangerous situation. He has a plan for that too, which makes me even more nervous."
"Don't be nervous Cho'Gath, for this time, I have been careful. Prepare for the return of Baron." Cho'Gath couldn't even hide his surprise, but laughed as Malzahar and Kog'Maw laughed. Malzahar knew his plan, even if it is partially successful, will drive the war back in their favor, which is what they needed.