Maybe Vi had gone a little far. She was a big enough person to admit that maybe beating the man to the point of nearly putting him into a coma was overboard. She had foughten dozens if not hundreds of people both in and out of Stillwater, and she told herself that this was no different. That man was just another obstacle, this was all in the name of self-defense. That thought didn't sit well in her mind though, it felt like an excuse not an explanation.

She didn't feel the bones breaking under her fist or the slickness of the blood on her knuckles. The gauntlets kept that at bay; made it easier to do. The man wasn't innocent though. He was just one of Silco's thugs who hadn't gotten the memo that he's dead, and Piltover was ready to come for everyone in the Undercity's head. All she needed to know was where Powder was...where Jinx was.

Vander taught her that in a fight you have to keep your wits about you. It doesn't matter if you're stronger or faster than the enemy, it matters if you hold your ground and keep on fighting.

He used to say "There's only two reasons to fight, to protect yourself and to protect your family." Vi never really understood that sentiment. She fought for a lot of reasons, and most of them didn't boil down to something so simple, at least not at first, but Vi thinks she understands now. What she did today wasn't either. It wasn't just, or good, or to protect anyone. She tried to rationalize that it was. To protect Powder, to protect Caitlyn, hell even those stuck up assholes in Piltover, but none of it was true. It was an excuse. Vi nearly beat a man to death because she was angry. Each broken bone didn't register beneath the gauntlet, and if she closed her eyes she could almost imagine it was Silco, or Sevika or hell, even herself.

But she knew that beneath the fists was a man who didn't deserve it. She was pissed, and sad, and betrayed and all the horrible emotions she could possibly feel all at once. Somewhere out there was Powder, someone she let down time and time again and here she is being the one thing she promised she would never be.

Maybe Powder was right when she said Vi had changed too. Vi became the kind of person that beats a person from the Undercity half to death because she can. She became the type of person that Caitlyn wants to stop, the type that abuses their power whenever they can. The type of person that killed her parents.

Vi climbed to the top of the nearest building possible, so she could 'get a better lay of the land', but she just needed to be alone. Alone, not as "The Enforcer", but as herself. The gauntlets slam against the ground with a metallic thud, and the cool breeze passes through her sweaty fingertips. She slams her now bare fist against the nearest concrete wall. The stone cracks under her knuckles, and the pain reminds her of what fighting should feel like. There are consequences. You fuck up, and you get fucked up. You feel it.

She slams her other first against the wall, and the crack deepens. When she fought Sevika she needed an edge, but she still knew what she was fighting for. Who she was fighting for. Her knuckles slam into the stone once more, and blood begins to form. Each punch leaves a rorschach of bloody knuckles.

'Here's to the new us.'

She lets the tears come finally. Weeks, and months and years of tears that have waited for this moment. She never let herself cry in Stillwater. Tears made her look weak, and she wasn't weak. She didn't have to mourn Vander anymore, and there was no use crying over Powder because one day she would see her again. And she did. Vi finally sees her little sister again and she's worse off than when she left her.

Every decision that Powder makes, every person she kills and every life that's affected is because of her. She did this to them, she made Jinx.

Jinx. Not Powder.

Jinx chose her seat, and she chose who she wanted to be. That's what Caitlyn and Jayce keep telling her, that she made her choice and Vi should accept that her sister is gone. That her sister is a corpse being puppeteered by some lunatic who tried to assassinate the Council. The tears burn against her face, and she realizes she's been screaming, but the sound doesn't reach her ears. All she thinks about is Powder, or Jinx, she failed both of them.

Vi failed her sister, but she was still her sister. Jinx chose to save Vi, she chose to kill Silco to save her. She made that decision herself, and that means that somewhere inside that head was a little sister who still loved Vi. Vander died telling her to take care of Powder.

Vi can learn to take care of Jinx too. She just has to find her first.