Right, so, this one fought me. Hard. but here we are (finally) moving forwardish again.

Of course, another one of the enforcers-cops, talk like these people and maybe they won't treat you like a kid or a crazy person-makes a break for it. It's not like it's super loud or anything, but the guy makes just enough noise to startle her out of the stupor seeing Ears call out an entire mob of enforcers in their station had put her in.

{{The balance of power here is obvious. Mirko has it, and the rest of the chaff don't.}}

Great way to look guilty, just up and running like that. Considering Ears'd took the asshole down without killing him, tagging him with the weird cludge between one of her old clockwork bombs and her newer Chomper grenades that she has with her is probably a bad idea.

She thinks. Maybe?

Whatever. She grabs the bomb and with a quick twist she has the lid off. Pulling the little magnesium strip fuse that's in with the gears out winds them up enough to get the jaws going. She rolls to her feet, careful to keep her fingers clear of the clockwork and throws.

The balance had been all fucky without the rest of the bomb, so she might just wind up beaming the guy in the back, or get the gears tangled in his shirt, or-

The enforcer screams and crumples to the ground when the jaws clamp on the backside of his knee. Is he… hyperventilating? Seriously? She's tagged people with dud Chompers before and none of them had-

([lOokS Like yoU hIt'iS tEndoN}]]

Oh. Oops. Going by the dark patch on his pants she'd actually cut tendon. Which, to be fair, totally not her fault. The jaws just got a bit sharper than she normally makes'em. Her angle-grinder ain't exactly new and those coin-operated air compressors are a bitch to work with. "-hell were you thinking kid?! I just told you less than an hour ago that you're right on the edge of self-defense now that I'm looking out for you!"

Oh. Right. Ears an' the other…

Ooh. Those are some pretty intense glares from…

Nine, ten, eleven…

Right. Everyone else in the hallway. "People who aren't up to something don't bolt when you see an enforcer?" She offers with a shrug. She's pretty sure she's heard topsiders say something like that a few times at least. Maybe half the cops in the hallway calm down at that though, so she'll take it. Ears just pinches the bridge of her nose, and Detective Boring mutters something about confidence cons.

The stretched out yordle heaves a sigh after a few seconds and waves her off. "Horaki, get the idiots in separate holding cells. I still gotta get Jinx' statement."

Jinx tunes the cops reply out, mostly because someone is poking at her bomb. "Are those, nails in there?"

"I mixed in some ball bearings, washers, nuts and bolts I found in there too." She informs the cop, leaning right over his shoulder to put her face next to his. Their cheeks are nearly touching and she has the biggest grin she can manage on her face.

Sure is nice when people appreciate your work!

The guy shrieks and throws himself sideways. Half a second later he stands back up and tries to glare her down. Doesn't work so well when his eyes are still bugged out and his chest is heaving as hard as it is. "And where did you get enough gunpowder to make a grenade, young lady?"

She rolls her eyes. "Black powder isn't that hard to make if you know what to look for."

"Jinx!" Mirko bellows from the doorway. Oh. Right, she still wants to have that talk. Jinx shoots the sputtering officer a toothy grin and a wave before darting off to follow the tanned lady. They should totally be fine taking that ChompCan apart. She doesn't think it was one of the booby-trapped ones at least. She follows the hero and the detective to the room they'd put all her stuff in in silence. She does a quick check once they're inside and all - well, most of her shit; the backpack is gone and there is a clean, empty duffel under the table now - is still there.

Detective Boring pulls out a weird little stick with some buttons on its side after him an Ears sit down. "Do you mind if I record this, Ms. Jinx?"

How's he gonna record anything without a… Wait, if the Stick-thing is like one of those Phone things, but only records stuff it'd probably be pretty easy to record a lot of stuff. Gonna have to be careful. She shrugs. "Dunno why ya'd wanna, but go ahead." At that, she flops down into the open chair on the opposite side of the table from the other two people, all her stuff spread out between them.

The detective nods. "Thank you. Now, to start things off, could you state your name for me please?"

"Jinx." Why's the suit asking that? Did Ears not tell'im or something?

He gets a weird look on his face, and pulls out a notepad to scribble something down. "What color is your hair?"

The hell? "Blue."

He nods, looking weirdly happy at her response. "Very good. Now let's try your name again."

"I already told ya. My name's Jinx." She growls back, crossing her arms and leaning back into the chair.

"And we both know that's a lie." He replies evenly, one of those 'I knew it' sort of looks flashing across the yordles face for a moment.

Jinx narrows her eyes. "The hell's that supposed to mean?"

The detective looks over at Ears, who just nods. Face perfectly placid, he replies "My quirk allows me to tell whether someone is telling the truth, or lieing."

Crap.

Crap crap crap crap crap. "Hey, easy there kiddo. We're here to help. You're not in any trouble." Mirko's reassurance mostly cuts off her panic, but there's still an unspoken 'yet' hanging in the air like a too-clean set of iron gauntlets that never seem to rust and glint ever so slightly of oil when the light hits them right.

"My name's Powder." She mumbles. Not like anyone around here knows what that means or has Jinx' rap-sheet. She hopes.

"Powder…" the enforcer prods, trailing off after repeating her old name.

Jinx snorts. "Just Powder. Do I look like some fancy-pants Piltie noble to you? First it was just Powder, and now it's just Jinx."

"Why the change then?"

Because Powder was a screw-up. Powder botched jobs and broke shit and couldn't make anything that worked ever and, and…

[(PowdEr waS a UsLeSs nO gooD JINX wHo goT aLl of uS killed))}

SHUT UP!

"Don't wanna talk about it." And whyyyy are both of them staring at her like she just grew a second head now?

Detective Boring blinks a few times and scribbles down some more notes. "We can leave that be for now then." He pauses for a second and it's totally obvious he's trying to get a read on her still. "Next easy question. How old are you?"

Jinx shrugs again. She hasn't really been keeping track since, well… for a while. "Old enough."

Ears squints at her. "The hell's that supposed to mean?" Detective Boring huffs a little sigh and side-eyes the hero lady, but doesn't add anything.

When the quiet starts to get boring she lets out a big sigh and rolls her eyes. Switches out which arm is on top and which is underneath with how she's got'em crossed for good measure right after that too. "Old enough to earn my own keep. Ta not need someone looking over my shoulder because I'm too little to know any better or too much of a fossil to watch out for myself."

Tsukauchi squints at her. "In years please."

Well, crap. "Not sure." ((i Was kEepiNg TracK fOr boTh oF Us./

Which doesn't help right now!

"Try guessing for us?" The detective presses.

She blows her-finally dry-bang away from her face and shrugs. "Something-teen. There, ya happy?"

The detective nods agreeably enough. {[No wAy iS he aCtuAlly hAppY wITh thAt anSWer)}]

Well he's not pushing for more either so shove it. "For my next question, I'd like to know who's responsible for you."

"Already told ya that I take care of myself." She shoots back defensively. Well, not too defensively, but if ya start backing off on the wrong things people might start thinking you're just another mark, sooo…

Detective Boring makes one of those 'I'm Important and I Understand' type noises, but Ears waves her answer off with a dismissive snort. "Yea yea, you take care of yourself. Doesn't mean you don't have someone keeping an eye on you until you've got a few more years of the whole 'flying solo' thing under your belt. So spill. Who is it?"

"Why do you wanna know?"

Miruko rolls her eyes "Because whether it's a parent, a sibling, a boss, some other relative or just a damn social worker that's been backing your corner and is probably freaking the hell out trying to find you is gonna change how I come at things to smooth shit over once we get you back to where you belong."

[[Not foolin' anyone like that kiddo.]]

Ugh. "Fine. Our parents haven't been around since Vander tried getting everyone to cross the River that first time. Gave a few of us rooms at the Old 'Drop until… until he couldn't anymore. Silco let me keep my room until everyone started whining about 'her music is too loud' or 'I can't sleep through all the explosions' and 'why is my bedrooms wall gone' so he got me my Shaft, and I was… good enough to start doing jobs for him not long after that. Ya happy?" That she also gets some of the least polluted sleeping air in the Lanes out of the deal can stay her little secret.

Ears looks over at Detective Boring, he nods and Ears calms down again. "Who exactly is this… Silco, to you?"

Greeeeaat. The last thing they need is more people calling Silco a kiddie-diddler. Which he isn't so what idiots all say doesn't really matter as far as she cares but cleaning up what's left of the people who say that kind of crap after she deals with'em is a huge pain. "Silcos Silco."

Ears arches an eyebrow and cracks her knuckles. "He the guy you were making fun of when we first met up? Something about a speech about names he was giving you?"

"Look, it's complicated." Ears cracks her back and makes an 'I'm waiting' sort of gesture after settling back into her chair.

The detective sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "For simplicity's sake, can this Silco be described as a fully grown adult that looks out for and treats you well?"

{{Of course I only want what's best for you, Jinx.}} "Yes?" She answers.

The detective looks at her for a long moment before nodding. "Then any more questions about your guardianship can wait. What matters now is getting you back to your home." He pauses to turn the page in his notebook. "And to that end, Where are you from?"

"Zaun." She shoots back, all but daring the enforcer to claim that it isn't a separate city.

"Can't say I've heard of it. Mind showing me where it is on a map?" He replies, still perfectly placid and calm.

({(He couLd maKe a kIlliNg in tHe GambliNg denS. iF he diDn,t KeeP going bAck to The sAme pLAce.] That isn't helping right now, idiot.

She shrugs again. "I mean, if ya have a map handy I don't see why not."

He nods to Ears, who reaches over to a side table shoved up against what's totally not a one-way mirror on the wall opposite the door they'd come in through and grabs another of those phones. Well, it looks like one, but is way bigger and blockier. It'd probably be an absolute bitch to shove it up against the side of your face to talk through. She taps it a few times, slides some of Jinx' stuff around then sets it on the table between them.

Jinx looks down at the map and can feel her gut dropping down to the floor and heart leaping up into her throat. "Haha. That's neat, but… I kinda need a real map if you two want a geography lesson." That is definitely not a map of Runeterra.

The kid had been doing a pretty good job of keeping her nerves held together up until now. The constant switching between clamming up and over-sharing once Tsukauchi had explained his quirk to her had been… understandable, considering what Mirko has been able to cobble together about Powders past and her history with law enforcement.

"This is a perfectly up to date map of Earth." The detective reassures the suddenly too-still teenager. As if to prove his point, the borders of one of the hot spots shift a few inches.

"Earth, not &! ^*#&&/ ?" Jinx asks, voice still and a bit small sounding.

Mirko nods. "Some people like to call it Terra, but that's just 'earth' in a dead language, so…"

"I can't say I've ever heard anyone call our little blue planet Rhontella before though." The detective prods. Braver than her, trying to pick the name of the girls home out of the too-fast rumble of her accent.

Powder stuffs her hand into her pocket and pulls the weird glowing blue gem out of it. She winds up to throw it at the one-way glass, leaning back so far it looks like her chair will topple over backwards with her face scrunched up into a hateful mask, clearly ready to scream again. She freezes just before following through with the clear impulse, looks around the room then slams the gem down on the table. As soon as the crystal hits the bare metal a to-loud to-low thwump that Miruko can feel in her bones fills the room, and wild arcs of vibrant blue energy skitter off of the gem, across the table and over the kids' stuff.

Powder proceeds to re-cross her arms on the table, plant her chin on them and glare at the innocently glittering gem like it's the source of all her problems. "Rune-Ter-Ra." She slowly sounds out the word, syllable by syllable. "And that's cuz it's not. I've seen plenty of maps an they don't look anything like yours. Either you're lying, or I'm from waaaaaay outa town. And stuck, probably."

"That certainly is a… unique conclusion you've come to Powder. Care to share why with us?" Tsukauchi presses gently, his gaze lingering on the gem as much as the girl.

The teen shifts around to glare off at nothing and bark something that sounds suspiciously like either 'shut up' 'shove it's or 'stow it' before returning her pouting glare to the gem. "Pilties use whole big arrays of these-" She nods her head at the gem "-to power their big planet-wide teleporter towers. They've been gettin'em to do other weird shit by doin' different stuff to'em too, apparently." She takes a deep, shuddering breath in and out. "One minute I'm listening to Silco talk at me down by the river and getting dunked while some whakadoo is having a float with a grenade on'is neck upstream. The next I'm here an getting exploded out the side of a building. So either you're gonna lock me up to sell back to Piltover for having one of their super-secret magic gems, try to beat how they work outa me so you can use'em yerselves, or dump me on the street cuz I'm no use to ya now that you know why I'm here and that there's nothin' anyone can do about it."

"Incorrect assumptions about what will happen to you aside, you seem to have a solid handle on how we all wound up here from your end of things, Powder." Tsukauchi replies after taking a moment to process what the teenager had said, and to call for a pitcher of water and some cups. "What does the word 'quirk' mean to you, Powder?"

The girl's response is to start swinging her legs back and forth, and continue glaring at the supposedly magical gem. Mirko knows what the detective is trying to do, and that it won't work until they get around the kids' trust issues. "Look, I know you don't have many reasons to trust us right now, but we do have a way to verify if what you think happened is what did happen." Mirko interjects, jerking her head at the detective. Powder squints up at her at that, hand twitching towards a gun that had very intentionally been moved out of her reach. "Could you draw a map of this 'Runeterra' for us? Maybe throw in some of the big cities and landmarks?"

The door next to the one way glass opens, and a deputy carrying a cracked plastic tray thats probably from the break room, that has a tall glass pitcher filled with ice water and the glasses Tsukauchi'd requested walks through it. He sets the tray down on one of the table's few clear spots, turns and takes a few steps back to wait for something without saying a word.

The three of them pour themselves glasses one after the other, Powder slamming her glass in one go before refilling it. "Fine, I'll do it." The teenager grumps at them. The deputy shoots a glare at Powder before leaning over to inform Mirko and the detective that the IED which Mirko highly doubts had been improvised at all had been made safe. He side eyes the dozen or so similar cans piled on the table as her and Tsukauchi both nod in acknowledgement, then turns to leave and collect the paper and pencil Tsukauchi had asked for in turn.

Powder shoves most of her stuff to the sides once she's been given the paper, and gets to work drawing. It's probably nowhere near to scale, but she starts in the north, and works her way down. A single huge continent takes up most of the sheet, along with a smaller landmass connected to it's south by an isthmus. An even smaller landmass is a ways off to the east of the largest, with a single island off the larger landmass close-ish to the isthmus, and a sizeable looking atoll at the bottom right corner of the map.

On her second pass, she adds what's probably supposed to be mountains, fjords and snow to the top of the largest continent. Verdant plains to it's center, with deserts and what's probably supposed to be an arid plain rather than a wasteland to it's east. The next largest landmass gets mostly desert and jungle, with the one off to the east jungles and mountains. The far-off atoll she shrouds in either mist or clouds, and the lone island by the isthmus is left stark, plain and harsh.

Mirko could probably have stopped her by now, as the map she is doing her best to draw from memory clearly isn't Earth, and Tsukauchi hasn't called her out on any falsehood yet. However, it's becoming increasingly clear to her that making something, even something so simple as a rudimentary map is calming Powder down. Rumi shares a glance with the detective, he nods slightly and they leave her to it.

On the last pass, she adds in little symbols with writing in a language neither Mirko - or Tsukauchi, going by his expression - know or recognize in the same messy handwriting that had made what was probably the third set of notes-in-the-margins of Powders book. The number of question marks surrounding what are probably supposed to be cities makes it clear that she's less than confident on where she put them on the map. She also starts talking again.

She talks about how the Freljord is (apparently) really cold - a fact she drives home by showing one of the monkey caricatures she's been drawing on the map in lieu of people getting it's literal frozen ass snapped off by another - and has bad-weird food that smells worse than it tastes, but really fills you up. She talks about how most of the biggest thugs either come from there, or have a parent or grandparent who did. How most of the best paid hookers do as well (and how only Ionian girls can ask for more because they're so exotic). Some of the best steel comes from there as well, apparently. Powder goes on a nearly fifteen minute long tangent on how fool-proof her method for helping herself to a part of the shipments of them that wind up in Zaun is. Most of the monkey-people she scribbles as she talks are wrapped up in thick furs, though two particularly burly guy-monkeys are topless, one with a shield as big as he is, and a pair of what look like tiny shaggy cows on his shoulders, the other gripping a pair of axes in his paws. One of the girl monkeys has a bow and a hood up over her head, while the other is wearing a fancy looking dress and is shooting ice crystal from her hands. Powder yammers on about how they apparently have talking bears and riding bears and how it would be totally awesome if she could get a talking riding bear but it'd probably be super hard to keep fed and hidden so maybe not.

They also, apparently, make some of the best beer and vodka, but Vander had never let her try any because she was too little. Silco might have but someone named Sevika always stopped her. "You're already enough of a menace when you're sober. I am not letting you add alcohol to the equation." That quote got the 'I'm-mocking-your-seriousness' voice, big lazy air-quotes when she started it and raised this Silco and his people up a few tentative notches in Mirkos opinion.

Tsukauch'is silent approval continues throughout, save for a few smirks or subtle chuckles where one embellishment or another had probably peeked over into an outright lie. Before either of them can inform her that she can stop, however, the girl launches into a description of Noxus that's just as colorful.

She rambles on about the nation, painting a picture of what sounds like a violently and aggressively expansionist empire in the terms of a gang that doesn't know when enough turf is enough but hasn't gotten to the point where all the other gangs around them group up to teach them a lesson. A people who are prickly and prideful but almost always good at what they do, and who will only respect you if you're good at what you do too. The fact that almost all of the monkeys she draws around what looks like a bog standard fantasy shows 'evil empire's capital' have at least one bladed weapon on them, Mirko doesn't feel the need to try to press for more about that.

Which, of course means that two sentences later she does anyways, going on about how great Noxians are for wetwork, and almost as good as she is at stealth. After a few more self-incriminating anecdotes about the good and bad examples of a culture that will, apparently, 'end anyone for the right price' Powder is - of course - on to their food. It's good but lite and if you don't order it right, well…

She did draw what looks like a street side vendors stall by the giant suit of monkey armor and the snake-monkey lady. The little comic shows two monkeys buying food, eating it, then screaming with flames coming out of their asses in what looks like an outhouse thats either supposed to be down the street or across it. If they can't find a way to get the brat home at least she's got a potential career as a Mangaka if someone can find a way to get her to slow down and put more work into the details.

Then Powder is off again, scribbling wild embellishments across the ocean between the main continent and Ionia. She spends nearly five minutes on how ridiculously hard and dangerous crossing that ocean is supposed to be. The girls description of the place itself…

If Mirko had to reduce Powders description of the Freljord down to a single sentence it would be: Nerds with a vague understanding of how cultures work smashed all of Scandinavia together. According to Powders rambling description of magic gone wild, spirits 'hanging out' with people and noble warriors 'hung up' on 'totally bullshit codes of honor', Mirko would actually be disappointed if she ever manages to visit the teenagers homeworld and not feel like she'd just stepped into the typical mishmash of all things Asian you tend to get in a Xianxia novel were she to visit Ionia.

This time Powder doesn't have so much as a peep about the food, but she does go into great detail about how much 'Piltie Nobles' are willing to pay for just about anything Ionian. She even learns the names of a few fences that sell to pawn shops high enough that daring young Nobles willing to 'slum it at a pawn shop' will buy back what she'd stolen at what sounds like a ridiculous price. Powder notices the lost look on her and Tsukauchis faces mid-explanation, and with a nervous chuckle, clarifies that a couple pieces of art or conversation starters are typically enough to either 'eat good for a month or so' or pay someone to buy her the sort of supplies Piltovers authorities really doesn't want people from her side of the river to get.

Mirko is also starting to suspect that 'Piltie' is the sort of slur a girl her age really shouldn't be saying. Especially around authority figures.

As the girl starts rambling about how much of the good stuff for what's either chemistry that's hilariously more complex than Rumi could ever hope to understand, or actual alchemy - seeing as Tsukauchi has yet to call the kid out on her mentions of magic yet - she more-or-less tunes Powder out to look at the doodles she'd added to her attempted rendition of the continent. Katanas and over-the-top suits of armor abound, there's a monkey balanced on a flying bo-staff and half a dozen or so robed figures with what's probably supposed to be magic coming from their hands.

Demacia gets even less of a description than the other nations. It's largest city is sketched to look clean and well maintained. The 'people' she surrounds it with all have big square jaws and are wearing plain clothes that look a bit too tight or stiff - one of them is actually manipulating a stick that's been shoved up it's ass - and the armed ones tend towards blunt instruments or shields. All of them are glaring across the continent at Noxus. Powder rambles on to explain that the people from there who do visit Piltover mostly stick to the upper city, and the ones who cross over into The Lanes tend to either be desperate, easy marks or both. Their food - because of course that's a vital bit of information for her to share with them - is affordable and keeps well, but is kind of bland.

The teenager takes a deep shuddering breath as her attention turns to her home. As she starts filling in the blank space with unique districts and neighborhoods. All of them are populated by distinct groups, making it perfectly clear to both Mirko and the detective that the map isn't at all to scale, and that Powder had probably anticipated them wanting her to describe her home town to them.

Piltover sounds like a marvel of a city. A shining beacon of innovation and luxury, where a new technological wonder or scientific breakthrough is unveiled on a nearly daily basis. Clean streets filled with healthy, wealthy, well fed and well educated people. Nearly all of the little monkey people she draws in the City of Progress are dressed fancily, and look to be totally absorbed in either conversations with each other or workbenches. The handful facing Piltovers sister city are sneering at best.

The chain of bridges connecting the isthmus' coasts are manned by uniformed and armed figures. Each and every one of them is wearing a wide-visored helmet with a bulky, face-concealing respirator. The front rank all have an arm outstretched, open palm facing the far side of the bridge. Two more ranks have rifles leveled towards the far shore. The bridges have a scattering of dead monkey people dressed more-or-less like Powder is trying to either slink their way across them or bridge the gap some other way.

The girl takes a deep breath and launches into a description of a dystopian hellscape. A place that had been forced to build down rather than being allowed to go up. Dirty, cramped alleyways lit by neon lights if they are at all, even in the middle of the day. A city where 'how polluted is too polluted' is a question that citizens have to ask themselves about their drinking water daily.

Piltovers dumping ground for dirty or overly dangerous manufacturing processes. Where unethical researchers run amok and unchecked. A place of slave labor and factory waste and run-off being dumped on whoever's below you is just a matter of course. All of it coated in the cloying, toxic Gray that makes gas masks as much of a necessity as they are statements of wealth, fashion and power, while everyone else has to pay for a few breaths of clean air at Breather Stations, and pray that they aren't too far from shelter when a Grayout hits.

As the girl rambles on about which gangs are owned by or own which of the Chem Barons, mad scientists or businessmen that run the city, she starts scratching out the eyes and faces of the Piltoveran nobles on the far bank, and painting the Enforcers barring passage between the cities with crosshares. Each gang gets sketched into their respective neighborhood as she describes their methods and morals - or lack thereof - and what piece of blackmail, leverage or implied threat Silco is keeping them in line with.

How the Crime Boss that took her in - and is probably manipulating her towards his own ends as well - controls the market on a highly corrosive, mutative narcotic with an iron fist. She rambles on about what bits and pieces of his plan to make Piltover recognize them as equals she can recall.

When Powder pauses for a breath, Tsukauchi reaches across the table to rest his hand on hers, waylaying any further work on the map. Powder flinches back from his touch, the pen clattering on the table. "That's more than enough to prove that you aren't from this world, Powder."

She shoots a petulant little glare at the detective. "Still doesn't explain how I got here." She shifts her gaze back down to the gem. "Like I said before, Pilties need whole big arrays of these things to make those transportation towers of theirs work. I've just got the one."

The Detective scribbles a bit more down in his notebook before returning his attention to the kid sat across from them. "That's where my question from before comes in, so I will ask it again. What does the word 'quirk' mean to you?"

"It's a personality thing. Something that makes ya stand out or whatever." Powder grumbles, pencil reclaimed and once again working on her map.

Mirko shrugs. "Yea, that's the oldest definition for the word in the dictionary. Not really the one people mean most of the time when they say it though."

"And yer point is?" Yea, the look on her face makes it pretty damn clear she'd already known that.

Tsukauchi sighs. "Roughly eighty five percent of people on Earth have some form of superpower, and they are, collectively, referred to as quirks."

The teenager looks up from her busywork, dots clearly being collected in her mind. "Ya think someone used theirs to bring me here." She guesses. While the last half hour had made it abundantly clear that Powder had no formal education, there's no question in Rumis mind that the brat's smart.

Mirko nods "Which is where we run into a bit of a good news bad news situation."

Powder groans "Lemme guess, whoever yoinked me wasn't ready for an explosion."

Tsukauchi nods. "Assuming that what paperwork we recovered from the apartment complex that was at the epicenter of the blast was up to date, there were a dozen children in the age range where quirks typically manifest for the first time."

Powder leans back to drag her hands down her face, braids whipping over the chairs back. "Just great. Some kid gets their superpower, gets blown up an strands me here. Don't see how there's any good news to that, Ears."

"The good news" she replies, taking a sip of water as she does so "is that the victim of unlicensed quirk usage - intentional or otherwise - is entitled to compensation. When the guilty party is deceased, government foots the bill."

"And to me, it sounds like you lost not only your home and employment, but nearly all of your possessions and all of your forms of personal identification." Tsukauchi drones on, pen scratching away at his notepad as he holds the kids gaze and attention. The utterly gobsmackcmed look on her face one of the most honest expressions Miruko has seen on her since they'd met. "Luckily for you, a fairly high ranked, well respected and connected detective is handling your case, so you should be back in the system and receiving a large enough sum to get back on your feet before the weeks over."

Powder tenses up and squints at the officer, clearly not trusting the act of charity. Before she can open her mouth, Miruko steps in. "Speaking of stuff, where'd you get yours?"

Powder shrugs. "Pulled the tools and scrap from dumpsters. Aside from my gun, book and the hexgem, I made it all." Miruko can feel her jaw drop, and the detectives pen slows to a halt at that.

"Erm… what's it all do?" She can hear herself dumbly asking.

Powders gaze bounces back and forth between her and the detective, bright blue eyes squinted and assessing. "Clockworks just the basics for alarms an traps, nothin special." She runs a hand through the mound of gears and worked metal, before pointning out two disting piles of modified soda-cans. "Flash and frag, chompcans are… well, I kinda figured you wouldn't appreciate me turning the moron into ground poro which is why I pulled the chomp-bit off to take'im down. No clue if my take on the bolo-ball works and the knuckles…"

She trails off and her hand goes to the pile of stuff, and pulls one of them out. She shoves her hand-drawn map off the table, then gropes around her body, clearly looking for something. After a few moments of that, she looks down at her borrowed t-shirt and shorts, huffs out a sigh, blows her oversized bang out of her eyes and goes back to her mound of crap and pulls out a stick of chalk. After that she makes a few marks to complete the circle of them surrounding the gem setting in it's palm.

With a grin and a flourish she plucks the gem off the table and holds it over the setting that looks almost the right size for it. She mostly suppresses a flinch, then drops the sparkling gem into place. She does draw back and squeeze her eyes shut when it starts sparkling a bit brighter..

After a few heartbeats, Powder opens her eyes and lets out a satisfied little 'huh'.

"So… what's it do?" Mirko asks the apparent inventor.

Powder shrugs. "If I got the math right, it should be a nasty little stunner."

"And if you didn't?" Tsukauchi presses.

"Anywhere from an annoying tingle to needing a broom and dustpan to clean you off the floor." She pauses to slide the knuckles over her right fist, palming the gem and pressing it into the knuckles as she does so. "Who wants to help me test it out?"

Mirko slides away from the brat as she side-eyes Tsukauchi and deadpans "Pass."

After a moment, the Number Six Hero comes to a decision on the brat. Leaving her on the street is a recipe for disaster. Probably just as big of one to leave her with CPS. The only really good option she can think of is gonna cost her though. The shifty little rat never passes by an opportunity to get a leg up or turn a situation to his benefit. "Hey Detective, think you can finish up with Powder without me? I gotta make a quick call."

Wait. Seriously?!

These freaks are just gonna let her off the hook like that? Not that she's gonna be complaining if they are, but this really smells like shit. "So... what's your angle?" Jinx asks as Ears struts from the room.

"I don't know what you mean?" The guy replies, a too-obvious overly-clueless look on his face.

Jinx rolls her eyes. "Yer an Enforcer and a walking lie detector. Two questions and you could have me locked up and be on with your day, and ya haven't asked either yet. Why?"

The Detective shrugs at her. "My jurisdiction is extremely limited outside the greater Tokyo metropolitan area, and ends at Japan's borders entirely. So what you did to get what few possessions you still have while in another country that is also on an entirely different planet is, quite frankly, none of my business." He pauses to scribble something down on his notepad. ({hEre ComeS thE oTheR Foot]}) "That said, from what I've been able to gather, you haven't broken any laws outside the bounds of self defense while in Japan, so it is my civic duty to ensure you receive what you are entitled to."

Seriously?

"Just like that? Gonna dump me on the curb with a sack of coin an a 'sorry for taking your time'?" Jinx can hear herself asking him.

"Not quite. There are a few more questions I need to ask you. Family name, legal address, things like that."

Jinx side-eyes the guy. "Don't have either of those, and probably won't have or know the answer to any of the other stuff you're about to ask about."

"Procedure has to be followed, even if we both know what your answers will be ahead of time." Tsukauchi replies glibly as he taps on the tiny stick recording their conversation.

"Then turn the stupid recording off and pencil-whip it. Don't have any coin to bribe ya with, but I figure saved time is good enough." Jinx dryly replies, as she pulls the zap knuckles off her hand. She pauses to note down the maybe-working rune array from that project before smearing it out and putting her gem back in her pocket. "And how the hell am I supposed to come up with a last name even?"

The Detective shrugs. "If this were witness protection you would have one assigned. Orphanages do something similar. Otherwise people pick something they like the sound of, that the meaning some of the characters making up the name can be read as resonates with beliefs they hold, or the name of someone important to them."

"Just do the first one."

"You have until your paperworks is being finalized to come up with one. At least try before leaving it up to some bored clerical worker." The Detective chipperly counters.

He's getting some sick pleasure out of this. He's gotta be.

"Now, if Mirko is calling who I think she is, this next one is going to be important. Do you consent to this recording being shared with other interested parties?"

"The hell would I wanna agree to that?"

"The alternative is repeating this conversation with every institution and agency I'll need to work with to get you re-integrated with the system." Ugh. The way he says that makes it super clear that it's just doublespeak for getting her really really good fakes, but the stupid recording won't pick up on that and…

Fuck it.

"Yea, no, screw that. Don't go spilling my crap to every Tom, Dick and Johnny you meet, but if ya gotta…"

The Detective nods. "Of course, I will be as discreet as is possible." Jinx slumps back down on to the table and let's the guys questions wash over her.

Date of birth? Don't know and using a different calendar system to boot.

Legal guardians? Dead. Current guardian? Not legal and waaaaaay out of touch.

Blood type? Red.

Education? What she'd picked up growing up.

All that and way to many super boring questions she can't, or is barely able to give an answer for. Half an hour of boredom later and some wet-behind-the-ears rookie enforcer walks into the stuffy room through the door by the one-way glass at the same time Ears comes back in through the door she'd used after finishing her shower.

"You done Detective?" She asks as she pulls the door shut behind her.

He nods, presses one of the buttons on the side of the recording device and flips his notebook shut. "Aside from what Powders new family name will be, I have everything I need."

The tanned lady nods. "Great. Now I've just gotta take her to one last place and we should be able to get the brat on her feet without CPS messing shit up and her winding up right back where I found her."

"I'm right here ya know." Jinx interjects.

Tsukauchi stands up, and puts his hat back on before pulling his trenchcoat off the back of the chair he'd been in. "I take it your call went well then?"

Ears nods. "As well as I'd expected it to. Principal Rat agreed to meet with the kid at least."

Detective Boring slides into the trenchcoat, and pockets the recording stick and notepad. "I take it you want me to send him a copy of the interview we just finished then?"

"Hey! Assholes!"

Ears shrugs. "I mean, if ya can sure? Gonna be a pretty long night if we have to repeat this whole dog and pony show for everyone it's gonna take to get this done right."

"Hello? Don't I get a say in any of this?" She tries to interject again.

({YoU caN't SeRioslY be misSiNg tHe trap Here.]}

Ears finally turns to look at her. "Kid after everything you just told us about where you came here from, and knowing that you are pretty smart, are you honestly gonna try to tell me that you're about to turn down a potential free ride out of living in shitty slums, doing whatever it takes to survive and dodging the authorities because doing exactly that puts you on their shit list?"

Jinx freezes. She raises her finger and opens her mouth, then closes it back up and crosses her arms.

[[We did try leaving The Lanes before we started trying to fix them.]]

She blows her bangs clear from her eyes again. Before shooting a side-eyed glare at Detective Boring. "So do I at least get to change back into my shit before we go wherever it is you wanna take me now?"

"I mean, yea. The guy you borrowed that shit from is probably gonna want it back." Ears deadpans. Jinx rolls her eyes and walks over to where her weirdly clean clothes are folded up. "And you're packing all your shit up too. We aren't your personal maids."

Jinx waves the woman off. "Yea yea. Even if ya were offering I'd wanna take care of my crap myself." She starts loading up the new duffel bag they'd set her up with. Scrap and parts first, any of that getting smashed up isn't that big of a deal. "Where're ya takin me anyways?"

"A school." Ears voice responds from behind her as one of the doors audibly opens then closes.

Jinx tilts her head "The hell are you taking me to one of those for? I ain't stupid."

"Cuz that's where kids go."

She growls and starts shoving some of the loose clockwork she'd fabbed up since getting here into the bag. "Already told ya I'm not a kid."

She can feel Ears eye-roll in the silence that follows. "Getting left to fend for yourself doesn't stop you from bein' a kid, kid."

"Killed people too." Jinx shoots back as she starts cramming Chompcans and tools into the duffel. It's bigger than the crappy backpack she'd salvaged at least.

"That just means you're a kid that's had a shitty life so far." Ears retorts lazily.

(('LeasT she Didn'T Jump sTraIgHt to 'bAd DEcisIons'/

Jinx growls at the stubborn old hag. "The hell do I have to do to make you agree that I'm not a damned kid?!"

She can hear the weird not-yordle walking towards her. Ears leans over her shoulder, plucks her handgun and holster off the table, loads it into the bag and zips it shut. "Unless my guess is way off, that's an easy one. Ask me again in three years or so." Jinx glowers up at Ears. She just grins back for a few seconds before picking her actual clothes up and shoving them into her arms, patting her on the cheek and shoving her towards the door. "Now hurry up and get changed. It's a long-ass ride to UA from here, and I don't think either of us wants to spend any longer in this shitty prefecture than we absolutely have to."

===Hexslinger===

Vi has had a hell of a week.

Yea it's a Wednesday and most people would say that's the middle of the week, but at a full seven days after things had went from shitty but predictable to utterly insane, she's calling it a week.

It had started normal enough. Get woken up from her latest beating by a bucket of ice water then getting let out of solitary. Eat whichever meal of the day they were on in the mess hall. Spot one of Silcos goons on her way to ask one of the inmates she was on speaking terms with which meal it had been - the guards never kept her on a regular sleep or meal schedule when she was in solitary, which was most of the time - and detour to break his jaw.

Get beaten again and put back in solitary.

Cupcake had turned up a while later and asked some questions instead of beating on her - first weird thing - and then set her loose of all things a few minutes after their talk. Getting to see home again had been great, even if almost all of the changes were for the worst in her opinion.

Getting some real food in her had been even better. Almost as great as messing with the prim'n'proper enforcer before getting to work on holding up her end of their bargain. She'd just landed the first few hits that traitorous bitch Sevika had had coming for years when half the fucking river exploded. By the time her and Sevika we're on their feet again, the moron's Silcos top lieutenant had been gambling with had run off, and Cupcake was taking potshots at the older woman, forcing her to run as well, and allowing Vi and Caitlyn to escape topside where things weren't actively on fire.

The next two days had been… hectic. As a kid, mom and dad had made it perfectly clear which neighborhoods had and hadn't been safe for her. Which streets and alleyways were the borders between violent rivalries, not paths anyone could just walk down. When she was a bit older, it'd been plain as day that things were as peaceful as they were because Vander said so, and enough of Zauns leadership we're following his lead that anyone dumb enough to try breaking that peace would have most of the cities criminal element coming down hard on them.

From Stillwater, Vi had been able to keep up to date with things on the outside to know that Silco had kept that peace with blackmail, beatings, shows of force and killings far more often than he had with bribes, rewards for good behavior and honeyed words. So when he went down to the river with his explosives expert only for both of them to go up in a ball of flame, every last rivalry, grudge and mutual enmity that had been forced to fester and simmer for over a decade had went violently active again.

Maybe Sevika could have rallied Silcos personal gangs and gotten things under control. If the - grossly exaggerated - rumors that she'd gotten her ass kicked by a girl half her age that hadn't been out of Stillwater for an entire day at the time of the beating and a Piltie noble who was just as wet behind the ears hadn't been flying as thickly as they were at least. Last anyone had heard the woman had barely managed to keep Silcos core thugs, bouncers and minions loyal to her, and is under siege at the neon monstrosity the supposedly dead man had turned the Last Drop into. The rest of his lesser lieutenants and gang underbosses had torn whatever men and resources they could from the corpse of the late Industrialists criminal empire and set off on their own.

For the entirety of her second day of freedom, she'd answered to 'Deputy' and Caitlyn to 'Officer' as they did their best to keep the tide of power-drunk, overly confident or just plain desperate fisherfolk and criminals streaming across the underground ford's and crossing that the Enforcers had apparently forgotten about during the decade they'd went misused from turning both sides of the coast into a series of bloodsoaked infernos.

The day after had mostly been her answering runners questions about whatever gang, syndicate or corporate "security force" their comrades were trying to deal with were the sort that could be reasoned with, turned away with a show of force or best left cold for whatever gods they believed in to sort out. That and a dozen other different types of 'requests for Intel' as the rest of the Enforcer Corps figured out what exactly Caitlyn had 'recruited' her for.

All of that had come to a screeching halt when some bigwig in an ostentatious - but just as dirty as all the others' - uniform had loudly and obnoxiously pointed out that "Officer Kiraman was dishonorably discharged over a week ago, and the scrap of paper she flashed to break that criminal out was for a job offer from the new Councilman that she declined." The following shouting match lasted all of five minutes before the next gaggle of runners shouldered past the ass to bombard her with questions. By the time they were done, a different bigwig was arresting the bastard claiming that he was with Internal Affairs, and that the first guy was under arrest or investigation or some shit.

A secretary type had taken her and Cupcake into an empty office and half an hour later Cait had been reinstated as an officer of the Enforcer Corps, and Vi - retroactively - properly deputized by her. Something she'd have violently objected to if it hadn't also came with the fattest sack of coins she'd ever laid eyes on, and an announcement that not only was it payday but that the Enforcers pay their snitches, er, informants based on results, not hourly or on how long they'd been on the Pilties side or some other stupid crap.

The rest of the week had passed in a blur, her and Caitlyn being bounced from one station to the next, Vi answering questions, pointing out crossing points and keeping the people they'd captured from getting themselves killed trying to break out. Cupcake helped with whatever investigations the different stations were running, mostly more internal affairs stuff that was putting all the other Enforcers in a shit mood. Cupcake also acted as her minder the handful of times she'd spotted a cache of shimmer or explosives close enough to the far coast to hit without getting the whole squad of Enforcers, or even more innocent Fisherfolk killed in the crossfire.

Mostly, she'd kept herself useful enough to ensure a few more good paydays. She'd figured that when they get bored of her once Piltovers borders are secure and they go back to ignoring the Lanes she'll have enough money to - hopefully - find her sister and get them the hell out of this city.

That was before she found herself in the head Enforcers office, glaring at the reason she'd spent the last few years in Stillwater from across his desk, a badge and stack of paperwork sitting between them. "As I doubt that the fact that I entered Silcos employ under duress, and arranged for your incarceration at his bidding will win me any sympathy from you, or assuage whatever righteous rage you must feel for years of wrongful imprisonment I will cut straight to the chase. I'm offering full amnesty for all past crimes and a sealed criminal record in exchange for officially joining the Enforcer Corps."

"Pretty sure I could get all that by going to your council with the news that you're on the take, if I actually wanted it." She shoots back, crossing her arms, and leaning back into her seat so she can cross her ankles on his desk too.

The stiff chuckles. "If that were all I have to offer, we wouldn't be having this conversation." He glances over his shoulder to the mostly closed blinds and adds "Nor would it be in your best interest, or that of any friends and family you may still have across the river."

"How do you figure that?"

He shrugs. "Because there is no guarantee that my replacement, should you go that route, will not be one of the men who would benefit more from the campaign against corruption I'm currently leading coming to an early end, and returning things to how they were during your childhood."

She scoffs and resists the urge to kick the paperwork from his desk. "That's bound to happen either way once the Councilor calling for it gets fired or replaced or whatever for rocking the boat too much."

The man snorts out a laugh at that. "I highly doubt that the man who brought hextech to the city's star will cease rising for at least a decade. As to his fixation on reform, while the rumors cannot agree on whether the mans right hand is his brother, lover or both, the fact that Victor spent his youth on your side of the river is well known, and the man is as fixated on elevating the status of his old home as he is medicinal application of hextech."

"Say I bite, what's in it for me?" She asks, honestly kind of curious what the jackass keeps alluding to having to offer her.

The smug bastard smirks and crosses his arms over his chest as well. "Promotions, commendations and pay raises for you and the Kiraman girl. As many as I can reasonably manage, at least."

"Oh, so I get to burn too when someone else finds out that you've been Silcos sock-puppet, bought and paid for these last few years?" She counters. Does he really think she's that stupid? "And why Caitlyn?"

Markus rolls his eyes. "Every last officer that has worked with you reported that you don't trust anyone else on the force when interviewed about the interaction. Considering your history, I honestly can't blame you, and in light of that, instead of forcing you into a meteoric rise that will leave you both isolated and surrounded by men you do not feel you can trust, I decided it would be for the best to link your rise to the one Enforcer that you do seem to trust."

He… kind of has a point. "Still doesn't make either of us any less screwed when you do burn. Or answer why you want me."

"I am under no illusions as to what my fate will be." The guy pauses, reaches under his desk to pull a small bottle of what looks like whiskey and takes a quick drag from it. "However, if I can, in the limited time I have, flush the corruption from this force, and lay the groundwork for a unified, peaceful and prosperous Piltover, instead of two separate and feuding city-states, the revelation of my… youthful indiscretions may well be overlooked."

"How do you figure that?"

Markus lets out a mirthless chuckle. "Because I intend to take my ill-gotten gains and retire to the countryside before the piper comes to collect. You aren't the only two I'm making an offer like this to, but my successor will be at the Enforcer Corps helm before the years out, I suspect." Her confusion must have been pretty clear, because the asshole actually laughs at something he can see. "No, it wouldn't be you, it would Kiramman. And if you're wondering why I seem so calm about this… becoming a parent has a way of changing a persons priorities."

So the asshole wants to take his kid and run before the consequences catch up with him. Respectable. "Still doesn't answer why I'm one of the ones you're making this offer to."

"Again, I did not ask you here blindly, Violet-"

"You don't get to call me that." She cuts him off. The flash of offense quickly fades to a more considering expression.

But he doesn't lash out like she'd been expecting him to either. "-noted. And as I was saying, I did my research, and if you're even half the woman your adopted father had likely wanted you to grow into, you are exactly the sort of person I want on this force."

She can feel her cheeks heat a bit at that and her hackles rising at him having the gall to mention Vander so casually, after what he did. "When did you-"

"I tell the precincts on the coast to stabilize matters in preparation for wider, more penetrative operations that are in the planning, write Internal Affairs a blank slate to start a witch hunt with, then…"

He's got a shit ton of time to himself. "So, all the Shimmer-pushers, asshole chem-barons and corporate goons making life hell for fisherfolk that are just trying to live their lives are gonna get whats coming to them?"

Markus shrugs, mild as a poro. "After the abusive Enforcers that were the other half of why your childhood was so harsh get theirs."

Fuck.

She reaches out and takes the badge. Guess it's the high life on the right side of the river for her and Powder - once she finds her sister that is - after this craps all said and done. "You've got me, but if I think for even a second that you're going back on this agreement-"

"You go to Kiramman and her parents and the pyre for my career will be lit before the end of the day." She nods, and pushes herself up from the cushy chair, pocketing the badge, and turning to leave his office. "The paperwork, Officer Vi. I won't suffer anyone in my employ not knowing what is expected of them." She turns to look at her new boss, and his face may as well be carved from stone. With a whimper, she flops back into the chair and takes the first sheet, and immediately sees a half dozen spots she has to initial at.

Shoulda stayed in her cell.

My initial plans had been to also cover Jinx and Mirko actually going to UA and her talks with varius faculty and staff there, but, well, yea. Also, if I flubbed any LoL lore, please dont shoot me, I'm years removed from the game AND trying to write it from a self-taught street kid halfway in the grips of a mental breaks perspective, so, well, yea.

Also, Vi, Piltover and how things are going there wasn't gonna be a thing until waaaaaaaay later on, but then I realized that some of my plans wouldn't make any sense if I didn't at least toss a bone in that direction, so here we are. Hopefully the next chapter will come a lot quicker, heh.