Part Five: Warming Glow

Demacia is a lot colder than she expected. Jinx isn't entirely sure how far up north the place is, but it's definitely already colder than the bitterest winters in Piltover and it must just be the middle of spring there. She spent the night in an alleyway tightly hugging her bare knees into her chest huddled next to the warming glow of the canister, though still unable to sleep because of the cold wind stabbing at her skin.

She passed the time counting how many times she heard vehicle sounds passing by on the street, and the footsteps of the few who walked there that night, though she lost count of both after a while. The former was somewhere around two-hundred and four, surprisingly none of which were royal horse-drawn carriages or Crownguard patrols. She must be in a more remote part of the kingdom.

Now that the sun is up, the warmer air causes her freezing flesh to thaw allowing her to move about freely. Her arm doesn't hurt nearly as much anymore. She can actually feel it now, and move it around in the shoulder joint without it hurting her too much. Of all the times she had broken some kind of bone in her body, none of them had started healed this quickly. Especially given how badly it was hurting just a few hours ago, she shouldn't be able to even feel her elbow, let alone play around with her knife with her hand. Oh well. When life gives you the lemonade, don't ask why it's not a lemon.

She now has to find her way out of there and back on her way to Zaun where her Vi-zapping ways fit better. Though mostly quiet, more people are out and about now, and more cars pass by headed towards the main city with the highest buildings Jinx had ever seen.

The rising sun ensures that the majesty of Demacia shines itself deep in her mind. Piltovans pride themselves in calling their home the City of Progress, but this old, crumbling kingdom of Demacia seems to be decades ahead of anything she's ever seen. The neck-bendingly high buildings in the city, the queer looking cars, even the people look different. Some of them look like they may also be from Zaun judging by how similar to Jinx they dress. All the more reason for her to avoid any kind of attention and not arouse the Crownguard's notice to her presence. She can't risk getting caught there.

A soft sound comes from behind her. On impulse, Jinx snatches Zapper from the holster and spins around to face her foe. She doesn't see anything there at first, until she looks down and sees a tiny, green-eyed, black ball of fur licking it's paws. It meows once more as it's tail curls about its seated feet.

Jinx lets out a sigh, half relieved that it was just a little cat, half embarrassed that she felt so threatened by such a small, harmless creature. As she replaces her gun, it stares at her, head cocked to the side and bushy tail sweeping the ground like it's waiting on her for something.

"Dumb cat," she scoffs as she begins to walk to exit the alley. Four little paw-steps follow behind her patterning on the cold asphalt. Jinx stops in her tracks, and so does the cat. She takes three more steps, and then the cat follows her actions with short strides. "Get outa here!" she kicks at it with her boot causing it to move away from her, though only for it to plant it's furry bottom down in the same spot again. Gleefully accepting her surrender, the cat follows Jinx onto the street.

The walkways on the sides of the road are at least five times the size of that in Piltover, and even so, pedestrians flood them, spilling over into the busy morning road. The city itself may seem more advanced than her home on the surface, but the gas-powered automobiles they use appear odd and extremely out of place. Such technology was long since surpassed and forgotten by Piltover and Zaun centuries for the more powerful and versatile hextech. Of course, no one can match the minds of Piltover nor the City of Iron and Glass so it is expected that everywhere else is still behind.

Cold air washes a chill over her. Even with the sun out she still can't help but hug herself for warmth. Orange lights switch on from a store across the street with warmly dressed mannequins displayed at the windows.

A smile is stuck on her face as she hums one of her favourite songs often played in the main marketplace of Zaun while skipping along in her new winter coat with the black cat following closely behind her. Stealing it was easy enough. She could have detonated her whole arsenal in front of the old man's face who was watching the place and he likely wouldn't even have noticed she was there.

Her smile soon fades as she spots a uniform driving in what only could be a police vehicle for Demacia. He's approaching fast, heading in her direction though it doesn't seem like he's noticed her yet. Should she try to blend in with the crowd? Why take the chance when she can take him by surprise now.

Zapper hums as it charges up, glowing brighter aimed at the car. Jinx focuses on his face, and sees when his eyes meets hers that he smiles rather than immediately calling for backup which is the usual response.

Her heart starts to pound in her chest, and sweat rapidly collects on her skin despite the cold weather as the car slows to a halt beside her. The window slides down but Jinx keeps her weapon pointed, waiting for him to make the first move. Her hands begin to shake uncontrollably, much more than even when Vi had her off the ground by her throat.

"Can we help you?" he asks. His face changes when he gets a better look at Jinx's face.

Jinx doesn't move. She can't move. She's been shocked static still by there mere presence of law enforcement. She just stares at them with puzzled eyes. This isn't how it usuay goes. Usually, the officers are the ones frozen in terror at the sight of her distinctive cloud tattoos, but it's not the officers that she's afraid of. It's something else, somewhere, that has her blood vessels pumping and lungs exercising and sweat dripping. She doesn't know what's happening to her.

The black hair of the officer fades in with his face and then everything duplicates itself. Her head sways forward and back and her eyes glaze over as she feels her head hit the pavement behind her.

She's not out for long. She awakes with the two officers above her staring into her pink eyes with a crowd of Demacians behind them, and police lights flashing on their faces.

"Give the girl some goddamn air, people!" one of them shouts to the crowd.

"Get those things off of her!" the other says.

She feels five fingers attempting to jostle Zapper from the holster. She stands to her dizzy feet before he can get them off.

"Lady, I need you to let us help," he says.

"What—" Jinx is so disoriented she can't even form a sentence.

"Just come with us." He moves towards her with an outstretched hand, but is met with her knife pointed at his chest.

"Don't come any closer!" she warns. Everyone takes a few steps back and the officers hold their hands up. While she can still walk, Jinx stumbles away down an alley and out of sight. She always was good at disappearing.

Her memory isn't the best thing in the world, but Jinx managed to find the house she woke up in. Everything was fine before she woke up in that boy's bedroom. He must know something. Anything.

Her arm begins to hurt again as she climbs up to the bedroom window. So much so that by the time she gets to the second floor, she can barely move it. It seems like with each passing second, she becomes weaker and weaker and less able to process what's in front of her.

The boy's inside, and he's finally turned off the room light. Jinx struggles to open the window with one hand and clambers her way inside. She is able to move quickly still, quick enough to get from the window to his bed, and her knife next to his cheek before he can sit up all the way.

It's a new moon out and dark inside so neither of them can see each other except for the soft green glow of the hextech canister still in Fishbones' jaws, but they still recognise each other. It stays quiet for a while, save for Jinx's heavy breathing. She's getting worse and worse.

"Are you... okay?" he says in the quiet dark. "What happened to your arm?"

"Shut up," Jinx snaps back. "I'll ask the questions, got it?"

He hesitates. "Okay then, ask away." He clearly doesn't seem threatened by her presence, or her knife pressing on his neck. It's likely due to the fact that she is shaking so violently her bones almost chatter aloud in their joints. Though, he hasn't tried to tackle her down or anything.

"This," Jinx coughs out, "What's happening to me? I can barely even hold myself up on my feet."

"Yeah, you don't look too good. Why don't you—" He tries to move her hand but she presses the knife harder. A little too hard. She lightly cuts his skin no deeper than paper would. "Hey, just relax okay!" the boy pleads. "I'll shut up, I swear!"

"You, you, you; you must have something to do with this! You gotta know something! You did something to me!" Her breathing increases.

"What? You just broke into my room yesterday! How could I have done anything?"

"Stop lying to me!" Her vision gets blurry. "How can I get out of here? Back to Zaun!"

"Back to—?"

"I can't let them find me... You gotta help me get away from them or they'll... get me..."