Days. It had been days since Caitlyn had heard heads or tails of Vi since the two had parted ways in Piltover. The hug had been shorter than she would have liked, and with less emotion than she should have portrayed but that wasn't the time.
Vi was hurt and alone, and no matter what Caitlyn could do or say it wouldn't fill the hole that Jinx's absence created. So, Caitlyn let Vi go. She let her go on her little mission to the Undercity to track down Jinx and…do whatever she had planned.
Caitlyn hadn't fully rationalized what she thought would happen when the two saw each other. She had no doubt of Vi's abilities to fight and with the upgraded HexTech Gauntlets that Jayce had made for her she doubted that Jinx would win out between the two sisters, but what clawed at the back of her head is what came after.
She'd bet a year of her salary that the Council would want to vote for capital punishment to make up for the attack or rather, what's left of the Council that is. And Caitlyn didn't fully disagree with them. She knew deep down that to indulge that sense of righteous justice is the same school of thought that caught an innocent kid in the crossfire. Caitlyn refused to walk that path; accidental as it may be.
But what was the alternative? She tried to be better than that, but the thought always loomed. If her mother had died in the attack would Caitlyn still be able to call herself good or would she want Jinx's head on a spike? It was better to not indulge it.
But Vi would never go for it. Vi could never forsake Jinx and that was part of what she loved about her; though she'd never worked up the courage to voice that single powerful word. So, best case scenario is that Vi took her back to Stillwater for the rest of her days. Lock her up and throw away the key but even then, she couldn't be sure that was what Vi would choose either.
Vi spent almost a decade trapped in those walls; could she really imagine that she'd put her sister there? So, the stream of consciousness boiled down to this:
Vi will either kill her sister, or the two of them will leave Piltover forever. Neither idea left a good taste in her mouth, so she hoped that whatever lay at the end of this trail of clues led her back to Vi.
Somewhere back to what she could consider normalcy.
"Er...Sheriff?" The voice breaks her out of her melancholy thoughts and for once she's kind of glad for the interruption.
"Yes, Erik?"
"You've been staring at the body for quite a while ma'am. Anything I can help with?"
He couldn't help with the thoughts that swirled in her mind, but he was still an Enforcer. They were still Enforcers, and he probably felt the same cold terror in his gut when he stared at these empty eyes.
"What's your report of the body?"
He didn't expect her to ask that; she could tell. The immediate sound of him choking on his spit and stumbling over his words is a clear indication. He's just as scared as you are Cait; let it go.
"Erik, your report?"
"Yes, ma'am. The corpse was neither reported to us or to any of Sevika's people. This one came from what's left of the Firelights, ma'am. Seems everyone is after Jinx nowadays."
"Noted, and the body?"
"Uh…clear indication of death would be the large *ahem* slashes across their torso? Either four downward slashes from a blade roughly two inches wide or shrapnel that perfectly mimics a blade."
The sigh leaves Caitlyn's lips before she can pull it back. Erik immediately stiffens at the sound, probably assuming there's a scolding behind that breath. In truth she had the same exact idea but none of it was Jinx's MO. Bombs and bullets? Absolutely. Cutting someone with blades from mouth to waist? That wasn't her style.
And unless Vi had completely gone off the deep end, it wasn't hers either.
"I think-"
The words are ripped from her mouth as the Undercity shakes with the sound of an explosion. The sky fills with a familiar purple and blue light of a distinct explosion from none other than Jinx herself. Caitlyn tears through the alley towards the sound of the explosion. Far in the distance the mushroom cloud of neon rises into the atmosphere followed not far by the cacophony of machine gun fire.
She found her, or someone else did.
—-
Vi was pissed. Completely and utterly pissed; inconsolable even. She had finally managed to track down Sevika's little hunting party and the Firelights had already beaten her to it. She didn't really hope that she would run into Sevika but after the last few days she'd had Vi wasn't totally against the idea.
'Something to beat your head against might make you feel better.'
Those words seemed like a lifetime ago spoken from a ghost. Vander told her that when they finally got that boxing bot in the arcade up and running. Something that she could beat her head against for sure.
The Firelights were just little disciples running their little errands like Ekko had asked them to. Same as her really, except they beat her there first.
Cupcake was right, everyone really is after Jinx in this city. The remaining Firelights were kind enough to point her in the right direction after licking their wounds at least. They got the information but got their ass kicked too well to actually pursue Jinx.
Better this way.
The rooftop air stung against her lungs with each desperate gulp as she danced from shingle to shingle. She probably looked as desperate as she felt, but she didn't care. Find Powder and get out of here.
That's all that's on the agenda for today. Maybe swing by Cupcake's and see if she's ready to leave this shithole city behind but that was objective B. Vi doubted that very much so, but it was still okay to hope.
She could always visit on holidays.
"Should be getting close."
With one final leap Vi throws herself across the last chasm of buildings in front of her, and lands with a roll. Her breath still shallow and a faintly metallic taste rests in her mouth as she reaches her destination. She peers over the edge of the building in front of her, to what should be the location of the body in question.
"Please, please don't screw me Ekko."
Peering down into the alley below was a now familiar scene throughout the Undercity; a corpse lying dead and rotting in the streets with nary a soul around. Even from here the body looked like something out of a nightmare.
Ragged and torn with scraps of flesh and bone carved through like it was paper, but no signs of an explosion or bullet casings. Vi wasn't a detective by any means but from twenty feet up she could tell this guy was definitely not blown up.
Not enough neon gunpowder on the walls or even a smiley face painted in his blood for it to be Jinx. Either she was slacking in her artistic expression of death or this wasn't actually Jinx's work, and god she hoped it wasn't.
"Sherriff! I think I've found it!"
Vi can feel her very insides curdle at the newcomers making their way towards the body. Of course, it just had to be Sherriff Cupcake with some of Piltover's finest not far behind sticking their noses in where it didn't belong.
Or well maybe it did belong, but definitely wasn't appreciated.
"Lieutenant, secure the perimeter and check for anything that could be useful. Jinx could still be around here."
Whelp, there goes her chance to actually look at the body. Now it was down to watching Caitlyn inspect from afar and maybe that was just a little bit too stalker-y for Vi's tastes but desperate times and all. Caitlyn had already begun to look through the corpses pockets and sift through whatever was left besides tattered flesh and bone.
Vi had barely noticed that she was now leaning on the ledge above Caitlyn watching her with an absent-minded look in her eyes. I mean could you really blame her? Caitlyn was strong, and smart and one hell of a detective and probably the closest thing she could call a girlfriend and-
And Vi has already lost focus of who she is actually supposed to be after. Barely out of Stillwater and she's already looking to be sent to horny jail watching Caitlyn inspect a body.
Vi can already hear Powders words in her head "You call me crazy? At least I'm not getting my rocks off staring at a crime scene."
"Touché."
The voice of Powder was so close but the actual girl herself was gods know where in this hellhole she called home and she was no closer to actually finding her. Tracking trail after trail and all she had to show for it was one more corpse in this city that just keeps racking the numbers up no matter what she did. She couldn't really stop the slide, but she at least hoped that her influence would lessen the destruction.
In a moment of complete poetic irony an explosion rocked the very city streets of Zaun as the shockwave blasts Vi in the face blowing her hair back. She shields her eyes with her gauntlets choosing to hunker down against the roof hoping that Caitlyn was doing the same below.
She could hear the voices beneath her begin to scramble and rush to and frow, but they were lost in the panic in the city; Vi had no way to know if those screams were from Caitlyn or just another scared shitless person in this city. All Vi knew was that somewhere in the distant rooftops was a cloud of neon smoke and debris that rose up into the sky.
"Got you."
