Part Two: Hard Way
Steam clouds rise up into the midday sky from the buildings built in iron and steel, and from automobiles roaming the metallic streets of Piltover. Pedestrians fill the sidewalks hurrying through the day's rush hour, unaware of the utter mayhem about to unfold in their midst.
First, a rumble in the distance shakes the streets of the financial district. Then another, and another each becoming louder and closer and more violent. Finally, the peace of the otherwise quiet city is thrown into chaos by multiple police sirens abruptly sounding all the way down to Zaun's belly and up Piltover's iron-frame buildings. Another loud boom followed by an alarm and a rising black pillar of smoke from a jewellery store. The chase is on.
Four of her fingers are decorated with rings of different colours that she just purchased from one of the more quaint jewellery retailers in the city. With her shopping for the day finished, Jinx decides it's time to go to meet her client, though not before having some fun first. Sprinting through the crowds of unaware pedestrians, a dozen police officers trail not too far behind her yelling for her to halt and waving about batons, while twice as many squad cars speed along side them on the road.
One of them drives right up next to her on the street. Both driver and his partner get a real good look at her. Cloud-decorated arms swing in pace with her pink leggings, and two long, blue braids flutter in the wind behind her. She meets his eyes with a wide smile and pink irises that are filled with unadulterated ecstasy. Seeing the wanted criminal up close for the first time makes the young rookie partner uneasy with fear. He struggles to raise his handgun to take aim.
"Don't shoot!" the driver yells to his inexperienced partner, "You could hit civilians!"
"Aw!" Jinx shouts to them as she runs, "You're no fun!" She tosses two chomper grenades into the window of the moving vehicle.
The two officers don't have time react before it explodes and the vehicle is sent up into the air in a spectacular display of red and orange fire. The fantastic heat from the blast and thrilling loss of life only sends chills running up her spine. She swears to herself that she's an artist and she's done some of her best work lately.
That'll get her attention for sure, she thinks to herself and in a strike of luck, immediately receiving what she wants. Jinx stops her sprint, panting with a sinister smile still stuck on her face. Before her stands at least twenty more policemen in a vacated area, and none other than queen Fat Hands herself, Vi. Her two giant metal arms clenched at her sides with steam hissing out of intricately made exhaust pipes as she moves her fingers.
How does she even stand with those things? Her thoughts are interrupted by the enforcer's annoying voice.
"Don't even think about moving," she orders.
Jinx scans the armed forces behind Vi. With only Fishbones and Zapper at her disposal, she thinks of ways she can get only the most glorious explosions. She can blast that one with the moustache, and then zap her with the wide hips, and cut the skinny one's throat herself. The rest is improvisation.
"Now," Vi is still talking, "You can do this the easy way, or the—"
"Hard way!" Jinx gleefully yells as she aims her rocket launcher and fires wildly at the line of foes. Many of them get out of the way in time, but some are engulfed in the bursts of creative anarchy. She puts Fishbones away to save some of them for later.
Vi commands for her forces to take cover, as if ducking will help. In quick succession, Jinx zaps more of them before they could get away, their bodies falling limp and twitching from the electric surges. Only a few are left. Fishbones shrinks down to its travel-friendly size as she works up another sprint headed straight for Fat-hands. Vi reciprocates her actions with a charge and upheld fists. Once she's in striking range, Vi slams down a right hook punching a crater into the asphalt, but the nimble crook leaps up over her, smiling as she leaves her last two choppers at Vi's feet.
Jinx hears the explosion behind her, but she doesn't look back. Her eyes are fixed onto another officer taking cover by a squad car. A smile widens cross her face as she unsheathes the knife holstered on her lower back and zeros in on her next victim. A swift swipe across his throat and the man collapses.
She can't even breathe with how much fun she's having, but she's all out of ammo and more troops are on their way by now. Time to disappear. She sprints across the street, weaving through gunfire and launches her final rocket from Fishbones leaving a wall of fire and mayhem where the police blockade used to be. Once out of their view, she vanishes into civilian traffic and under a manhole cover down the sewer underbelly of Piltover.
The stink of privileged Piltover waste stings her nostrils. She's been waiting there for five whole minutes in the dark, occupying herself with a spray can on the wall of the concrete walkway. She's almost done with the outline of the blue skull when a slippery, sly voice creaks out from behind her.
"Sorry I'm late but, well I don't really like being early to anything."
The rodent crawls out from the shadows into the dim light of a low hanging bulb. He sniffs about with each step, stopping once to lick something up off the floor. His beady eyes lock on Jinx as he encircles her on all fours, familiarising himself with her scent, then stands before her on his hind legs. His back is hunched over in a manner that looks as painful as it is bent crooked.
The rancid creature looks up at her, spitting out his noxious breath as he speaks. "You have it, yes?"
Jinx finds it difficult to ignore the odour emanating from the rat. After the few times they've met in the past week, she has still not come close to getting used to him nor the smell of the sewers.
"Here it is," she raises the back of her palm up to display the emerald ring.
The rodent swoons at the shine given off the rock. He slides his goggles over his small black eyes to examine it further, but Jinx pulls her hand away before he can touch it.
"Ah, ah, ah, rat. The deal."
He whips his tail behind him and scowls. "I've told you before, girl, my name is Twitch!" He mumbles something about surface dwellers to himself as he reaches into his green, stain-covered coat. The light glints off the silvery base of a small cylindrical object. Jinx smiles as she sees the thing she's been after for so long. The last piece of the puzzle.
"It wasn't easy getting this you know," the rodent complains. "Do you know how bright they keep those research places at night?"
"And you think it was easy getting this?" Jinx asks with a widened grin. She pulls ring off and drops it into his dirty, gloved paw and holds her palm out to receive her end of the bargain.
Hesitating at first, he hands her the canister, sending it's green glow spilling over onto her arm.
"That's the end of it then?" he asks after tucking the ring in a pouch inside of his coat.
"Yep. I got what I wanted."
"Good, now get out of my sewer." He scurries off past her sending echoes through the dark halls and vanishing as soon as he enters the shadows, though his stench lingers long after.
The infamous rat that spreads terror throughout the underbellies of Zaun and Piltover alike seems drastically underwhelming to Jinx. Sure, he has a scary toxic crossbow, and even more frightening breath, but he's not so bad. Perhaps it's the two types of crazy that cancel each other out. She makes a mental note to remember to cause some havoc in a few Yordle towns with him in the future.
The cracked window creaks as it opens, letting in the cold Piltover evening draft. In a swift vault, Jinx enters the recently abandoned apartment via the fire escape, shutting the window behind her.
The ceiling fan squeaks as it spins around, making the crack in the rotting sheet rock slightly worse with each revolution. They've yet to cut electricity to the place, so Jinx called dibs on it until they take it off the grid. With a satisfied sigh she yawns and stretches out the knots in her back. Tired from her eventful day, she drops onto the old dirty couch in a puff of dust and lays back to look up at the rings on her fingers. The rat had only asked for one of the rings, so Jinx took the liberty in borrowing three more for herself. She didn't like the green one anyway, and besides, the red brings out her eyes. She switches on the old FM radio as she starts to remove her gear. The news plays on in the background covering her play-date from earlier.
"… another horrific attack by the self named criminal, Jinx. Piltover's Finest says that the suspect is still at large and is to be considered heavily armed and extremely dangerous. If anyone has information of her whereabouts, please inform…"
Jinx was done listening once they stopped talking about the masterpiece of mayhem she created while she was there. Such a shame that was only a one time job. She would have relished in the opportunity to do bigger and more insane heists, but oh well. She got what she wanted from the rat.
The cylindrical hextech isotope sits atop the small decaying coffee table between her and the old television. It's emerald green glow washes over the assortment of flame chompers and Pow-Pow rounds littering the table around it. That baby will help her to make the biggest, blow-upiest and most badassiest Super Mega Death Rocket that city has ever seen. It'll be absolutely magnificent; a sight to die for. Already eager to put her delightful plan into motion and unable to contain her giggling giddiness, she drags one of the massive pink missile shells over to the couch and begins spraying her signature sinister smiling face onto it.
Suddenly, the room goes black, illuminated only by the rising moon outside. The ceiling fan begins to whirl to a halt and the television abruptly shuts off, allowing only the radio to be heard in the silent room. Puzzled at first, Jinx soon realises that the city must have finally erased that complex from the grid. What a poor chance of timing for her though. Just as she was getting to the good parts of her plan. No matter. She'll just find another place to go to. The clocktower near the city's edge has always seemed promising.
An all too familiar sound that she would recognise from a mile away catches her ear. The constant propelling of the Piltovan Police Department's pursuit helicopters, and it's getting closer fast. This isn't just a coincidence. They've found her little hiding spot, but how? No one's been in that remote part in months to arouse any suspicion.
The closed window beside her suddenly shatters in a loud crash, followed a second later by the loud roar of an all too familiar hextech rifle. Of course! So that's how they found her. That Hat Lady must be as good at tracking as they say, though by the sound of things this time she brought the whole damn city with her! A wide smile creeps across her face once again. More fun.
She crouches, evading another shot. After all of the dances she and the Hat Lady have had, she knows exactly how long it takes for her to reload. While she has time, Jinx quickly grabs her weapons and a handful of chompers and awaits for Caitlyn to fire again. A moment of silence, then another bang, and her FM radio flies across the room in pieces. She runs out of the door and up the stairs onto the roof floor in a blur.
As suspected, she is met with more helicopters than she can count quickly approaching the vicinity with the rising moon at their backs. Just as many squad cars completely surround the apartment building, without any lights or sirens. They must have really planned this ambush out before hand. Jinx is left completely speechless at the sight of all the guests attending her surprise party.
Like a planned routine, all of the choppers switch on their spotlights, lighting up the rooftop brighter than Zaun after the Festival of Flight. The cars on the ground all sound their sirens coating the base of the building in red and blue.
"Give it up, Jinx," the Hat Lady's pampered voice speaks through a megaphone from one of the helicopters. "Come quietly and this can all end here and now."
Won't they ever learn? Jinx forms a megaphone of some sort with her hands and takes a big, deep breath in and yells with all of her might, "Bite me, Hat Lady!"
Fishbones enlarges as she takes aim of the sheriff's helicopter and fires. A maniacal laugh cackles out of Jinx's lips as she fires again and again. The ones that don't move out of the way in time erupt in fire, lighting up the remote area like fireworks, though there are still many more closing in and foot soldiers on their way up to the roof. If she wants this party to last, she has to move somewhere a little more roomy.
Using her Zaunite upbringing, Jinx skilfully exits the rooftop over it side, landing on the dirt of the Piltover's uninhabited outskirts. The roar of the ocean can just barely be heard crashing against the nearby bluff, over the many sirens and propellers.
With a little more room between herself and the horde of police, Jinx takes aim once more, this time at the fast approaching ground vehicles. Fishbones knocks her back in recoil as it spits out another rocket. Awaiting her precious boom, Jinx is left annoyed as Vi leaps out of a low flying chopper, and blocks the impact with her Hextech Gauntlets. With a grimace, Vi charges at her enemy, her gauntlets sparking in the dark charging with electricity.
Finally, some real fun. Jinx slings Fishbones across her back and unsheathes her knife. As the two collide, Vi throws a powerful left fist headed for Jinx's skull, but just missing by a hair. Jinx swipes her knife back and forth at Vi's face, just barely breaking the skin once under her facial tattoo. Noticing her cut, Vi scowls at the crook, becoming more enraged by the second.
"Aw! Fat Hands got a boo boo?" The warden responds only with an angry growl. "Let's see if we could make things a tad more symmetrical." Relishing in her foe's frustration, Jinx strikes forward with her knife at the other side of Vi's face, though Vi was a step ahead of her. Jinx's hand stops short as Vi catches her arm in her gauntlet, immobilising the criminal.
A wicked smile spreads across the enforcer's face as she lifts Jinx's whole body off the ground. She holds her there, unable to move from the pressure being put onto her elbow joint.
"Wait, let's ta—" Jinx let's out a whimper as the metal gauntlet squeezes tightly onto her joint. Her heart speeds up its beat, so fast she's sure it would pop out of her chest at any moment. The pain only gets worse and worse, and her breathing only becomes faster and faster until she locks eyes with Vi and see the raging fire burning inside of them, and then it happens.
For a moment, the thought of how much she enjoys the sound of the ocean crashing on the cliff enters her mind, only to be drowned out by the ensuing, intense agony of her elbow joint snapping backwards. The knife drops to the dirt and she screams, a sound that usually comes from her victims. With sweat draining down her face, Jinx's mind is overwhelmed with how horribly painful it is. It's worse than anything she ever felt. Has her fun finally come to an end?
No, not like this. She summons every once of will in her being to grab Zapper, and fire it into Vi's side. Vi wails in pain and releases her grip allowing Jinx to fall to the ground, yelping once again as her broken arm slams onto the dirt, though it seems as if her efforts were too little too late.
The full force of Piltover's Finest now surrounds Jinx in a crescent shape, with the cliff's edge at her back. She picks up her knife and struggles to her feet, holding her pulsating arm in sweat and tears, not allowing herself to shed one. Still gripping Zapper in her right hand, she slowly backs away until the bluff is at her heels. Caitlyn now stands beside her colleague with her rifle trained on the fugitive. She slowly lowers her gun and extends her hand.
"Come with us, Jinx," she pleads. "You don't have any other options." And she's right. For the first time, she's finally, actually been beaten. She's bruised and broken and she even considers taking her hand, but when Jinx looks past the sheriff at the hundreds of guns pointed at her, most of them eager to put her down like an infection, she doesn't see a way out. She doesn't see any kind of home for her there.
She frailly says with her last morsel of strength, "Bite me, Hat Lady." She only just catches a glimpse of Caitlyn's opened mouth and wide eyes as she falls backwards, allowing for the ocean to take her away. With her eyes closed she falls waiting for the quick impact, but never hits the bottom.