A/N: A bit of a longer chap this time, but something tells me y'all are okay with that.
Chapter Summary: Zel and Evi's operation begins, and they aim to make the most of it! Evi does her best to turn up a profit while Zel tries to uphold their end of Sevika's deal. Bad luck strikes in many ways, but for one of them? It comes in the form of Jinx.
Word Count: 9,984
—EVI—
She hated this.
Working through the night, Evi and Zel stayed up in the trash heap, scavenging for parts nonstop for his undermines. They walked out of The Last Drop with an extra eleven vials of Shimmer for a total of twenty, but also with a dangling fate tied to their skills… skills that got them caught. She hadn't said a word to Zel the entire time he stocked up on Shimmer or when they made their way back to the Northside heap. She just got straight to work at scavenging, already knowing they'd need the parts for the supply they just received.
Zel, she knew, was aching to say something but held back.
She was thankful for that for the first hour or so, because she would've yelled at him non-stop and probably said something she wouldn't mean if he said something. But when dawn was on the rise, and the growling of their stomachs could be heard even trash mountains away from each other, she felt bad he wasn't speaking. Evi hated words. She could use them to whisper sweet nothings and beg toward privileged Pilties or to scare off Zaunites trying to rob them through intimidation and confidence. They could be used to belittle others, or to spark the egos of overconfident bastards. She understood them well—but she wasn't always good with them.
Zel had a bit of a problem with twisting her words into his own meanings, and Evi could rarely understand how to word what she said in a way that wouldn't sound bad to him. She loved him, but he could be so hard to get through to sometimes. The frustration of knowing he wanted to say something but held back ate her as much as her desire to speak up arose. She understood that to Zel, he was internalizing all of this was his fault. And sure, when you put it all on paper and systematically broke it down to the series of events that occurred? You could say it was his "fault" for what led them to this outcome.
But that didn't matter.
If they couldn't pull this off at their best, with their minds clear and determination at its peak, they were screwed. So Evi tried to find a way to bridge the topic as they jumped from roof to roof, making their way back to the sewer path they knew would lead to the plaza. Noon was only a couple hours away, and they still needed to scope the joint to make sure they had a fresh route. Their typical operation would've already been scouted out beforehand but the haste today required everything to be last minute.
The only fortunate thing about this job was equally the most unfortunate thing they'd ever done. It was far from any site they'd ever ventured in Piltover. Which meant Wardens and Enforcers wouldn't be expecting Zel's undermines, but it also meant navigating literal uncharted territory both to and from Zaun. They'd be running nearly blind—hence the scouting. But by Janna, could Evi use some positive reinforcement right now.
"Hey," Zel called out as they got to the last rooftop just before the sewer entrance.
It startled her, hearing his voice after so much silence, but she immediately fixated on him. "Yeah?"
"Remember when you tripped down the mudslide after you were trying to learn how to walk on your new leg?"
The random subject made her blink a bit, but still elicited a chuckle. "Yeah. I fell down and probably slammed my ass on every step near the rails." That day—that period in her life—was perhaps worst than losing her mom. She never felt more frustrated with her own body in such a long moment in time and hated everyone and herself every step of the way.
But she still managed. With Zel's help of course.
He chuckled back, turning to face her with a hesitant smile. "Back then you said you were too mad to laugh when you saw me laughing, but told me we could laugh about it someday?"
Evi's brows raised as a snort escaped her. This guy was a dork! "Is that your way of telling me ya found something hilarious last night but couldn't share?"
"E, you were bickering with the club owner of The Last Drop like a bunch of children," Zel dryly remarked with a small grin, "That was hilarious."
A moment passed.
Then the two burst into an enormous fit of laughter, holding their stomachs as they fell to the roof and giggled like children. In spite of it all, Evi could find the humour in it. Honestly, the joke was perhaps funnier if you considered how old Sevika was compared to her. Evi and her had a straight up banter and the fact she got away with that was honestly amazing.
As their laughter began to die and the humour's high fell, Evi's smile fell upon her partner. He knew how to make her smile too. She could always count on that. She hated that she had to rely on him to breach the uncomfortable topics but when the chips came down to it? He knew how to.
"Y'know I don't blame you… right?" she softly asked. She knew the answer, even well before his face fell into a knowing smile, because she knew him.
"I know."
"I was just upset is all," she explained. "We're a team. We fail together and succeed together." She walked over to him and held out her fist, lightly dabbing it against his shoulder. "When we make hard calls we gotta do it: together."
He nodded, sighing all the while. "I know, I… know." He took a couple seconds, staring at the floor of the roof, before he returned his gaze. "I just want to do right by you."
She scoffed. "Zel, you do that everyday by being by my side."
"That's not enough!" he suddenly shouted and stomped his foot. His eyes widened as he realized his tone, clearing his throat he awkwardly ran a hand through his spiky brown hair. "I don't wanna keep being the screw up for us, I wanna prove I'm more than that."
Evi smiled. "Zel, I know you are." She grabbed his shoulders and shook him lightly. "I wouldn't have been able to make it this far without you. You got it? Or do I gotta beat you with your own dumb goggles to get through that head of yours?"
He laughed, shaking his head as he shrugged off her hands and raised his own placatingly. "I'm good, I'm good." He sighed. "Can I at least apologize?"
"Only if you accept that I've already forgiven you."
Zel rolled his eyes. "Always ahead in the conversation."
"Always ready to light the fuse," she shot back.
They shared a smile at each other for a couple of seconds before Zel crossed his sleeveless arms over his chest. "Fine. So what's the plan?"
She grinned back at him. "To make the most of this." At his confusion, she took a breath and rotated her wrists a bit, thinking out her words carefully. "Sevika basically said even if we pull this shit off we're still indebted to her, so we gotta prove our worth and more."
His eyes went wide at that. "You want us to work for her?"
"Better than us just being her blackmailed slaves," she darkly quipped. Zel chuckled at that, shrugging in acceptance. None of this was ideal, but Evi could only see opportunities whenever things went shit for them. "So we go beyond. I say we pull our standard op—you set the undermines off and I start a swiping spree."
Zel cringed at that. "I dunno, E, that'd be a lot more panic than you're used to."
"I'm quick and nimble, and ain't nobody gonna give a fuck 'bout a Zaunite kid when they think Jinx is 'sploding shite." She noticed the way he flinched at her using the Loose Cannon's name. "Zel, it's alright, she won't come after us. She hasn't so far, and you've been still blowing shit up!"
"But now I'm actually impersonating her!" He flinched again, covering his mouth as if someone was listening.
She rolled her eyes. "I bet that crazy bitch isn't even paying attention to us. Now you in or not?"
Zel took a breath before lowering his hands. He held out his fist. "We're a bit crazy too, aren't we?" he asked, amused.
Evi laughed as she knocked her fist against his. "How else have we survived?"
—ZEL—
"You sure about this?"
"Nope."
"You were supposed to say yes."
"You weren't supposed to ask," Zel muttered as he finished setting up the fifteenth undermine. He heard her snort from behind him. Though she didn't say anything, he knew she wanted elaboration. "I built the rest of these in like under an hour, E, of course I'm not sure. I'm sure nine of them will go off the way I think, but I'm saving two of the good ones I made before we got nabbed in case."
"So seven of them will work as intended," she said with a hint of frustration.
He chuckled. "You can do math—nice!"
"Shh!" she hissed, causing him to turn back and witness her pointing above them.
The plaza of interest was way more populated than they anticipated. When they got to the site, near one of those old fancy Piltie buildings, they realized releasing a bomb here might incite more casualites than they thought. Sevika didn't seem to mention that idea with them, but Zel assumed their track record of hardly any Topsider injuries and no deaths were why she enforced his work into her operation. Evi didn't seem to have any grievances about setting it off near the building, but Zel noticed the Plaza Guardian stationed outside.
If they set off a single bomb, that robot would chase them nonstop. They were huge, well armed, and well programmed to give a good pursuit after petty thieves and crooks.
So he suggested sneaking through the grate system below, and planting them underneath its guard post. Hopefully the explosion would kill it, or at the very least, cause it to fall in the ground below and give them a head start. Of course that meant they were setting up bombs literally right under the Piltie's noses but Zel sensed Evi took some pride in that humour. He also planned on utilizing the three of the twenty undermines as a bit of a fireworks display—just a bit of showmanship, because that was Jinx-like, right?
In all honesty, at the prime of the explosives going large, Zel felt confident. Even when he was getting beat up by that thug a couple days ago: he knew his bomb was going off and killing that woman. In this instance? He knew his undermines would deliver on the explosion. The "how" was always the question but that didn't mean they wouldn't work. But that didn't mean he was "sure" about any of this.
"Countdown's thirty?" Evi clarified.
He turned back from the timer he had primed and nodded at her. "Thirty seconds."
She walked past him, heading toward her exit leading up topside. "And we meet back at the sewer entrance in Zaun. As per usual."
"Fifty minutes after the explosions go off. We wait seven minutes and if the other doesn't turn up we start searching," he recited.
Just as she reached the bottom of the ladder, she turned back and met his eyes. "And?"
He smirked up at her, chuckling. "Don't do anything stupid—"
"—and don't do anythin' slow," she finished, throwing up a two-fingered salute.
And just like that, she was up the ladder and out of his sight.
He was on his own now. He took a deep breath hovered his hands over his undermine's timer, ready to set it off. "You're not gonna screw this up. Not for her. Not for us," he whispered as he brought his forehead down and leaned it up against the bomb, tapping it gently with his temple. There was too much on the line now to fuck everything up. This was everything he could offer. Everything he was good at. "I can do this!" he said to himself, nodding against the bomb.
With adrenaline and courage pumping in his veins, he pushed off from his undermine and clicked the timer. Thirty seconds until boom. He dashed away from his spot, running toward the opposite end of the hall from Evi's exit. He quickly climbed up the ladder and out from the grate entrance, popping just out of one of the many alleyways that led into the plaza. And like they planned, he went straight toward the dumpster nearby, mantling with haste as he hopped off and over to a pipe just above. Then began the climbing.
Pipe after pipe, loose brick after loose brick, he scaled the building with all the speed he could summon and soon enough: he was on the roof. With exhaustion on the rise, he took a few breaths before running to the roof's ledge and fixing his eyes on the Plaza Guardian. It continued to spin and wave at passersby, its mechanic and clockwork movements entrancing all who passed. He couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the machine. "Pilties think that's a marvel of design?" he asked as he dug into his bag and pulled out three undermines. He flicked his finger against all their timers, setting them to two seconds and then launched them high into the sky, right over the plaza.
And the bombs went off.
Zel's smile widened as he watched the colourful purple and fiery flames mix into the air with plumes of ashy smoke. Three puffs of explosions covered the sky like clouds while a huge column of smoke suddenly overtook the centre of the plaza and the guardian that once stood there was gone. Better yet? Its mechanical limbs were sent flying everywhere! Like a snowfall of gears, wires, and metal, Zel chuckled at the sight of the scattered pieces as they flew about. In spite of all the chaos of the past few days, the very fact their lives were on the line, and the terror such an explosion caused… Zel found the picture in front of him worth a thousand golden hexes.
"Run Pilties, run," he bitterly muttered.
And on that topic of coins, his eyes averted from the marvelous explosion as he scanned the panicking crowd. Sure enough, he could spot a small blonde with messy hair and a flashlight headband, pushing through the crowd. He smirked at her before turning away. She would hold up on her end. Just like he did. All that was left was to meet back up. Just like usual. But that wasn't the only end of the operation. He turned over to the other end of the roof, and watched as just out from the gates leading into the shipping docks, several Wardens and Enforcers rushing out from within, hastily making their way over to the scene.
He'd done it. He'd upheld his end of the deal. At the very least? Sevika wouldn't kill them. Now? It was a matter of making it back to Zaun.
And so Zel began running, leaping from roof to roof, making his way back to the alleyway he knew would lead to the sewers. The screams of the crowd and the crackling flames faded behind him as he ran across the rooftops. Between the frantic sprinting of the Enforcers below, and the cries of the crowd fleeing from the bomb, he was totally unnoticed by the Pilties. But he knew from plenty of parkour experience that you didn't need bombs to do that—Pilties barely paid attention to anything around them.
It was how they were able to operate in Piltover for months and months now.
It was how they managed to survive.
It was also how he was able to slip back down into another alleyway, making as much noise as a blown out speaker falling down an empty shaft and still go unnoticed.
He chuckled to himself as he walked over to the sewer cap. One good twist, and the stench of that running sludge water suddenly graced his nostrils. Though thanks to his experience, he barely recoiled from the smell. "Homestretch from here, eh?"
"Hey!"
A voice shouted, startling him. His attention flew up above him, where he'd heard the source. His eyes widened in shock as a fearful chill sent him into a stiff state. Just above him, on the very same roof he'd drop down… staring down at him with angry purple eyes:
It was The Loose Cannon.
Zel barely recalled anything after that as he tripped down the shaft and fell into the sewers. And the second he got onto his feet?
He started running.
—EVI—
She already managed to lift three wallets and swipe a coin purse in the thirty seconds Zel had prepped.
Evi internally laughed, this was child's play! There was such a hustle and bustle, Pilties already didn't notice her. And those that did avoided their gaze or steered clear. She barely had to do anything and they already gave her everything. She managed to catch one elderly gentleman with a pitiful look and capitalized on it. Pouting her lip after releasing a small cough, she tilted her head up and held out her hand. "Everythin' hurts…" she muttered, quivering her lip a bit more. "Spare a coin?"
He shot her a sad smile as he quickly fished around his pocket and produced a silver cog, placing it into her palm before stepping around her—with a very wide berth. She scoffed, covering it up with a louder cough, as she pocketed the coin. One cog? Cheapskate.
It didn't matter: time was up.
A loud series of deafening explosions erupted, and Evi ducked down, covering her head for three reasons: safety, to blend in, but also to hide her smile. Call her sadistic, but hearing all the cries and screams made her laugh a bit. Thankfully, no one could hear her over the roaring sounds of the Plaza Guardian getting shredded by flames. Chunks of metal flew all over but Evi couldn't care less about them. The swiping had already begun.
She started off smartly by darting toward some student with a big bag, they were frantically crawling up from the ground in a haste to run from the explosion and Evi took advantage of it. She raced forward, bumping against their shoulder as she passed, and discreetly pulling off the bag slung around their shoulder in one move. Already merged within the crowd, that student would already have lost her by the time they realized.
Upon her transition into her crowd cloak, Evi grabbed two wallets from people passing right before her, tucking them into the bag immediately. She would continue this procedure, expected weaving through the crowd like a scared child but also as an elusive rat—plucking pockets of change and Pilties of coin purses—least until she reached the alleyway they had first emerged from. There? She would duck into the sewer system and take an easy trip back to Zaun.
Zel didn't know she would be doing that, and she didn't tell him because he would've fussed about her leg. But taking the sewer slide back to the Undercity was the fastest way back. As she passed by dozens of Pilties and swiping their money, nearing her exit, she also knew how close she was to being in the clear. She couldn't be bothered to worry about Zel right now. She just had to hope his distraction was enough. Enough for Sevika's guys to pull off their end. Enough for the Enforcers to be caught in a state of confusion. Enough that she could make away with orb one of their biggest hauls of all time.
The pack was getting heavier now, and Evi knew it was time to cut her losses. She shouldered on both straps, throwing it on her back, then dashed straight toward the sewer entrance. Right as she arrived, she had heard the cries of Pilties leading Enforcers and Wardens toward the source of the fire, as well as the hastened march of the armed assholes following in suit. She chuckled to herself as she twisted the sewer open and slid right in. Going down the sewer pipes was like a fun slide!
She'd seen some of those across Piltover but she bet her way of sliding was cooler… because it was certainly longer.
And right as she came out from the pipe, she landed in the trash pile hard. "Fuck!" she cursed before tumbling down the pile of trash and landing on the bag of loot. She lifted her head up and blinked at the dirty ceiling. She lifted her right leg staggeringly and sighed. Janna, she hoped her left leg was fine. She made a move to lift it and sighed out of relief when she felt it move with no problems. With worry out of the way, she pushed herself up and made her way toward the door.
But a wobbling feeling in her leg caused her to shake and almost fall to the ground. Evi groaned as she flicked on her headband flashlight. She gripped her left leg in agony and looked at it.
Oh no.
Her shin's scrape was a lot larger than before. The wiring was getting exposed now. She gulped as she sat down and moved her legs in a crisscross, inspecting her left leg closely. The wiring… it wasn't damaged. Or at least, with her limited knowledge it didn't seem damaged. But maybe having it exposed was bad? Evi took a breath as she made a move to stand up, this time slower, to test the feeling. When no pain arose she sighed and took another small step—a big burning wave of pain erupted from her stump, causing her to shake once more. But she persisted in staying upright.
"C'mon, E, this is nothin'," she muttered to herself, stabilizing her footing. Another deep breath, and she stepped forward once again. This time slower, now limping in her pace. By Janna, she must've looked pathetic. But she still had to meet up at the sewer entrance she and Zel agreed upon. It was still a bit away from here, and in her current state? Well, she hoped no one would see her. She turned off her flashlight and limped over to the door, pushing it open slowly and cautiously.
Now more than ever, she had to make sure she wasn't attracting attention.
Hobbling out into the alleys, Evi hunched in on herself and kept her hand gripped onto the backpack's strap. This was the easy part. The hard part? Getting to their meet up spot required her to pass through the open street—right out in the open. Normally crossing over using the roofs would be her choice, but that obviously wasn't an option right now. She took a deep breath as she neared the open path and stepped through, this time hurrying her pace. But it was too late. She already felt a set of eyes lock on her. This wasn't just paranoia. This was instinct. It was something you needed to have in Zaun.
Evi's instinct told her to run.
And so she did.
Breaking into as much of a sprint as she could, she hobbled right into the alley over and darted straight for the route leading toward the sewer entrance. But she heard the stampeding of people pursuing behind her, and she groaned. The stinging pain of her putting so much pressure on her leg, the anxiety of holding onto her haul, and the fear of how many were after her—
Janna, what if it was Sevika's crew?
Had they not done a good job?
Was Zel's distraction not enough?
All those thoughts vanished the second a body came crashing into her back, sending her to the ground. She thrashed as much as she could, turning herself free from the person atop her and moved to grab her knife, but was immediately greeted with a punch to her cheek, sending her back down. "Fuck," she coughed as she tried to push herself up. And that was then she saw about five sets of boots gathered around her. Her eyes widened as she looked up and realized they were rummaging through her backpack. "You assholes! That's—" a kick to the ground sent dirt into her face, causing her to sputter and spit.
They laughed and continued to yank the bag around, all looking inside in awe. A group of grown ass women and men, mugging a child. Yeah, there was no such thing as luck down here.
"How the Hell does a sumprat pull this shit on her own?" one the men asked.
"Probably stole it off someone else, ya see the way she's limping?" another answered.
"Got lucky, no doubt," a woman sneered.
Another round of laughter and Evi was done spitting out all the dirt. Her eyes fixated on the nearest person. She grinned as she saw the pouch sitting on the woman's belt. This was Zaun. Nothing was fair. With another cough, she curled in herself, erupting another round of laughter from the group surrounding her. And at the peak of it, she launched herself from the ground and swiped the pouch, yanking with all the strength and speed she could summon. And with the high and adrenaline surging through her, she started running straight towards Zel.
Just one undermine and they'd be a laughing track of ash.
"Yo, she stole my fucking wallet!"
"Ha! You idiot!"
"Shut up, let's get her!"
Evi panted as she continued running, the sewer entrance was so close. But they were gaining on her. And her leg couldn't put up with anymore abuse. So she fell, tumbling down the alley. Evi pushed herself up, but knew it was pointless with how soon they would catch up to her. This was probably the most vulnerable she had ever felt in a long while. And with a humourless laugh, she proceeded to do probably the most pathetic thing she had ever done. She cried out, "Zel!"
Hope was rarely a thing she could ever hold onto.
But she hoped he could hear her now.
"Evi!"
Relief overwhelmed her all over as she laughed, looking toward the direction he'd come from. She was close. "Zel! Over here!"
"Evi! We gotta run!" Her eyes widened as she saw Zel come right into the alley. The panic in his face nearly vanished as he got a look of her. "E, what… what happened?" he asked as he ran over to her.
She shook her head. "Forget that. We gotta go. Prep an undermine! People are—"
"There she is!" and suddenly, the five muggers were surrounding them. "Two of 'em? I bet he's the one who pulled the weight for this haul, huh?"
"Give me back my wallet you brat!" the woman shouted.
"You can get it when we take it off their corpses!" another shouted.
Evi gulped as she crouched down and unsheathed her knife. Zel backed up alongside her and began rummaging in his backpack. A bomb here would catch all of them in the explosion. But what other option was there? She internally sighed as they backed up against the wall. Was this really the end for them? Some shitty turn of luck and now everything goes South? They couldn't even make it to fifteen years old? Was this all Zaun was at the end of the day?
"Hey!" a perky voice shouted from the rooftops.
She noticed Zel froze while the others jumped like her, startled by the newcomer.
"R-Right, that was what I was going to tell you about," Zel shakingly pointed out, looking up toward the source.
All seven of them looked up to the rooftop above and froze in fear as they realized who was standing there. With her long blue braids and infamous minigun aimed down at them. Her Shimmer purple eyes shone in the afternoon sky as she narrowed them into slits.
"Whattya doin' to these brats?"
There really was no such thing as luck in Zaun.
—JINX—
Returning to Topside was the last thing Jinx wanted to do… especially because she wasn't here to blow things up.
No, Jinx needed a lead on this bomber. And if her brain was using its full abilities, like it always was, she figured that the marketplace closing down on Shimmer would mean the Rookie bomber would be out too. That was another difference between her and this fake! She knew how to resupply her Shimmer and ration it. Whoever this fraud was, didn't. Or at least, was very terrible at doing so. Releasing a bomb at the marketplace was not a good strategy, which meant they were as sloppy as she thought. And if that was the case, they must've also been sloppy with their Shimmer supplies.
She decided to start tailing known Shimmer smugglers and traders—well known enough that Zaunites would know they smuggle it, but not too well known it was obvious to Wardens that they were smuggling them. Her first target on her list: The Last Drop. A shell of its former meaning, it was just a high end (well, for Zaun) bar/club that pumped Shimmer and alcohol 24/7. Jericho telling her they were overwhelmed for business meant their Shimmer supplies would be too, including their paying customers.
Chances were that this bomber would also target that ogre's goons—
SILCO'S OLD GOONS!
Jinx hunched over from her perch atop one of the Piltover buildings that peered toward the shipping ports. She had her knees up to her chest as she squatted and hugged her arms around her legs. "This makes sense," she muttered to herself, ignoring the familiar faces she saw down below, ones that belonged to people she once worked with… people who used to work for—she gulped, shaking her head. "This makes sense," she told herself once more. "They need to resupply. If they know about chemtech, they know who smuggles the purple shit, and that means they also would be desperate enough to steal from her."
Sevika was well known enough in that she didn't possess as much power and fear as the previous owners of The Last Drop, but people still knew what she did do. Including her dealings. Whoever was doing all this, would have to consider stealing from her while also bombing a Piltie port. Because if they were like Jinx, they would also seek every opportunity to screw over the Uppercity whenever they could. So she had to watch over these goons, look out for anything bomb-like or bomb-worthy. Or even the bomber themselves, no doubt hiding somewhere or on their way: there'd be an opening worthy of exploiting, and then they'd be in her sights in no time.
She knew this for sure.
She had to focus on that.
Because then she'd have to realize the most unsettling thing about this whole "operation."
And it wasn't the fact that there were a lot more goons transferring and loading shipment here, implying a lot of Shimmer was being sold.
It was its familiarity. The faces down there were some of the same faces she'd seen countless times on countless escorting jobs. People who used to reluctantly carry her on their shoulders during tireless mornings. Guys who used to begrudgingly take her out to Jericho's after boring jobs. They were goons she grew up with, barely knew the names of, but faces she couldn't forget. They were his men. And now they were hers, that ogre's people. They still carried out their jobs like nothing changed, like nothing ever happened.
And no one seemed to care about it.
JUST LIKE WITH VANDER?
"Shut up," she mumbled into her knee, hugging her legs closer. But this was one of those times her voices were just… right. Was this what change was? Accepting new norms? Accepting strange shit? People "accepted" her as The Loose Cannon of Zaun. They accepted the chaos and crazy she exuded on a daily basis but… was it because she acclimated to the norm? Did she become a part of a norm? Jinx gripped harder at her shins. "Am I… can I have normal?" she whispered softly.
She hated thinking.
She hated being alone.
She hated… this.
"This is boring," she sighed, slumping her chin atop her knee. "Can the Rookie just blow somethin' up now?"
It was as if Janna was gracing her wishes that afternoon, because an explosion did go off… behind her. Jinx jumped in alarm as she turned around, watching in awe of the massive chemmed up explosion just a couple blocks away. They didn't target the docks? She looked back down at Sevika's men and widened her eyes as she noticed a hurried pace in their movements as the Enforcers patrolling around began fleeing their posts.
Was the bomber working for Sevika?
Were they always working for Sevika?
Was this coincidence?
Jinx shook off those thoughts as she turned and ran toward the beautiful explosion. Whatever the case, the bomber wasn't at the docks, which meant her sights had to focus elsewhere fast. She did have to commend them this time; the bomb actually looked a lot bigger and better than the last. Maybe part of it was because she was running toward it this time, but she still saw the beauty in its destruction. And boy was there destruction! All the yelling and screaming, the haste of the Enforcers and Wardens—and then she heard someone scream it.
"It's Jinx! She's here!"
Her eyes narrowed at that scream.
They actually thought it was her. And as she neared, she could see why. It was nearly similar to her own Chomper explosions. If she didn't know any better… they were trying to mimic her entirely this time. Jinx scoffed once she came to a stop, looking at the plaza and the Pilties scattered about in a panic. They thought it was her. If she could be so easily replaced by some copy…
LIKE WITH VI?
Jinx closed her eyes in frustration.
She would not be framed here.
Her explosions were like a hundred times better.
As she opened her eyes, with her goal in mind, her target was also in her line of sight. Just a few rooftops away, there was some punk parkouring down the block. Jinx's eyes widened as she knew that they were a Zaunite. She leaped after them, dashing straight toward their pathing. She watched as the impersonator jumped into an alleyway, no doubt to escape through the sewers into Zaun. She couldn't believe some Zaunites still used that technique! But she knew almost all of Zaun's connections to Piltover at this point, she knew that was their plan.
As soon as she reached the roof, she caught the man opening the sewer hatch down below. He thought he could get away? "Hey!" she shouted. The way he flinched told her all she needed about this man's resolve. And then he fell in. Fell being the key word. She heard him yelp and a loud thud echo within. She laughed as she hopped down. "Easy pickings I guess!" she muttered before sliding down after him.
As soon as she landed, Jinx whipped out her sidearm but no one was there. She looked both ways down the pipeline, and she heard the echoes of laboured breathing and footsteps receding to the South of her. She cocked her head. He was doubling back another way to Zaun, but the route he was taking wouldn't take him anywhere near The Last Drop? She began sprinting after the bomber. Did that mean he was hired for this job? That he didn't want to be traced back to Sevika? Or was he just trying to lose her by taking as many turns as possible?
Or was he just panicking?
Whatever the case, that damn copycat could run like Hell. Every corner Jinx turned, she just barely caught them turning another corner just ahead. It was honestly impressive how fast he was running. Part of her wondered if he was hopped up on Shimmer or something of the sort, because he was booking it. But then again, most people ran really fast when she chased them—it was like a fear response granted them all a speed boost, like Janna came down and gave them all the wind they needed to run.
It made her laugh if people needed that much help just to get away from her.
Especially since she could catch them in her sleep.
(She has, actually, that was a crazy sleepwalking experience!)
"You can run all you want, but I'll catch you eventually!" she shouted, leaking a bit of her manic laugh into her taunt. "Might as well save us the trouble and just drop dead now!" He continued to sprint, ducking into another turn. Jinx growled at the man's persistence, deducing to pick up her pace and make this chase worthless. As she started to sprint, putting more effort into her run, she shouted, "That was your last chance!" She turned the corner—
A bomb.
Her eyes widened as she pushed off her foot, leaping back around the corner as the explosion went off. The chemmed up smog blew past her as she fell to the ground, covering her head. The sounds of sizzling flames and the reverberating echo of the bomb's explosion throughout the pipes were all that flew in her ears—well that and the ringing. She shook her head as she sat up, cackling.
"I'll give him props," she said as she hopped onto her feet, "didn't think he had it in him!" She turned her head to Fishbones. "Ya good ol' pal?" He didn't look damaged at all, which was good.
But that was the first time she saw a chemtech bomb up close there wasn't hers. Is that what people saw when she launched her Chompers at them? Wow, how lucky! It looked awesome. Heck, she had half a mind to compliment the bastard after she caught him because it actually looked better than she thought.
Oh right!
Jinx turned the corner and frowned. The pipes hadn't caved in, but it was a massive mess: charred and full of Shimmered up ashes, it would've definitely been lethal if she was a second late. She did a mental recall in her head, noting the closest sewer entrance from this point, and took comfort in knowing there wouldn't be any more pursuers. But it did mean Wardens would be all over this soon, given the noise it created, there was no doubt about it. Great, that would be an escape route lost. She chalked that up as another reason to exact her revenge on this impersonator.
"Whelp!" She clapped her hands and stretched. "Time to catch me a rat!" She then burst into a sprint, speeding down the pipe with laughter. Locating the guy wasn't too hard at all, there weren't many places he could escape to that led back to Zaun. And she was proven right as she came around another turn, watching as the supposed dead end brighten with daylight as the bomber pried open the hatch. The man must've seen her turn as soon as the hatch breached open, he shoved himself through and began running and screaming.
She cackled at the frantic shouts she heard as she neared the exit, the guy sounded like a kid the way he was yelling! As soon as Jinx hit the open alley, she was surprised to see a semblance of the man's shadow trailing down the alleyways. Any good Zaunite would've tried to climb up to high ground and stay out of her sight, but she supposed this guy thought he could lose her in the nearby alleys and streets.
She scoffed as she rolled her neck around. He was grossly mistaken. With a burst of speed, Jinx clambered up the wall and onto the roof, continuing her pursuit. She followed after the screaming, the man was wailing about some girl named, "Evi" nonstop. Backup, perhaps? It didn't matter. Chompers reduced numbers to a satisfactory sum of zero. She giggled as she chased after the source, watching as the man's shadow and body shakingly darted from wall to wall, dumpster to dumpster, nearly tripping over himself. If he had the balls to impersonate her, then he had the right to suffer to her chasing.
And then she heard more footsteps.
And yelling.
Jinx slowed her pace, caution taking over as she listened.
"-el!" a girl's voice called out.
"Evi!" the man shouted.
Jinx came to a halt as she reached the edge of a roof looking down into a small alleyway clearing. Her eyes narrowed with suspicions as the scene before her unfolded. A group of five men and women, ganging up on… kids? The man she was chasing was a brat? And that girl standing beside him with a knife, looked like his partner. The two looked scared out of their minds. Even Jinx could see the fear in their eyes from all the way up here. The girl's eyes darted around frantically, hungry with anger while the boy fearfully looked around, as if for an opening to flee.
They were so small.
So little.
So… weak.
my hands… are cold… and bare…
Jinx blinked, shaking her head. What? How long had it been since she heard her voice? She looked around in a flurry, but saw no shadows. Where…
i'll take what… you can spare…
Jinx grabbed her head. Why was… why was she hearing her? She's never heard her before. Mylo… Claggor… Violet… Vander… but… her? When did that become a thing? She shook her head, trying to centre the voice.
i ask you… without envy…
Suddenly the images of a little boy and girl were all but gone. Suddenly, Jinx was staring at two little girls on a bridge. A little wimpy brat with a head of blue hair, covering her eyes. Then a taller, lankier, red-head with scared eyes. Their eyes met hers, and it was as if they were calling out to her. It was muted, silent, but she could feel like something was being said. She saw their mouths move to beg and plead, yet she heard nothing. Nothing came out but she felt like something was calling her. Then she blinked… and they were gone. It was just a pair of Zaunite brats and a group of grown ass people about to mug a bunch of kids.
Jinx scoffed, tilting her head. Whatever that was, whatever she saw, it didn't change the fact that these five were some wimps if they had to pick on kids. With a grin, she stomped her foot and called out, "Hey!" as she spun up Pow-Pow and aimed it down at them. The fear that struck all over the seven of them made her swell with joy as she narrowed her eyes at the adults of the group. "Whattya doin' to these brats?" she asked.
"Oh Janna," one of the men muttered, "it's her."
Her grin grew at those words. If she had a bronze washer for time she heard those words, she'd be richer than the damn Piltie Council combined! She stepped off the roof and landed on a ledge, smiling all the while. "Well, anyone gonna answer?" she asked before hopping down another storey and landing right before the group. She spun up Pow-Pow and smirked as she aimed it towards them. "Or am I gonna have to pull the answer outta your corpses?"
"W-We don't want no trouble," a nasty looking bearded guy pleaded, holding his hands up.
"Y-Yeah!" a woman with short, pixie styled black hair nodded.
Jinx's grin grew as she lowered her minigun. "Perfect! Now how's 'bout you all skedaddle while I talk with these brats," she sweetly said as she stepped through the group, which parted like curtains.
The kids, now up close, looked scarily young to her. Jinx couldn't recall the last time she saw a Zaunite brat, least of all ones that looked as hardened as these two. The girl had an air of confidence despite her frame and trembling knife in hand. She had a bit of a messy blonde situation with her bangs, and what looked like a flashlight headband wrapped around her forehead. She had a black t-shirt and yellow and brown striped pants where her left leg ended at her knee, exposing her prosthetic leg. Her stance told Jinx all she needed: she knew how to use that knife, and she was prepared to do so.
Jinx cocked her head as she looked at the boy. He… had a bit of Mylo's hair but wore goggles that reminded her of Claggor's. His physique was well built too. But all that crumbled under his shy and fearful expression.
"L-Listen, M-Miss Jinx, I'm—"
He kinda sounded like Claggor too.
If he dropped his balls sooner.
She chuckled as she shook her head, silencing his mumbling. "You're the impersonator, are ya?" she asked, tilting her head.
He visibly gulped while his partner took a step in front of him, holding her hand out to keep him behind. "What're you going to do?" she asked, her voice was a bit pitchy.
Jinx frowned before taking a look around. The gang was still here for some reason. Sighing, she threw her head up. "Whelp! We ain't talking with present company, that's for sure." She turned and looked at the bearded fellow, motioning him to leave with her hand. "Ya mind? I thought I told y'all to scram."
Three of them made an effort to step back, but that pixie cut woman and bearded man remained still. She raised a brow, daring them to speak up.
The woman looked past Jinx and one of the kids. "That brat stole my wallet! I-I ain't leaving 'til I get it!"
Jinx followed the woman's gaze and smirked in surprise as the young blonde narrowed her eyes back at the woman. Crafty kid, huh? "We're in Zaun, toots! If ya can't keep your wallet ya don't deserve it!" she shouted at the woman.
At that, the woman's anger seemed to falter as she looked to her mates for help, none of which seemed willing to back her.
Jinx merely scoffed as she waved them off and turned toward the kids. But the blonde's angry gaze seemed to grow and turned back at the lady. She gripped at her knife as she shouted, "But they have my—they took my stuff!"
Jinx whipped back and noticed the giant sack the bearded guy had strapped over his back. His eyes widened as he turned his shoulder, as if hiding it from view made it disappear. Though any Zaunite with a brain knew that sack was hardly the kid's, so it was obviously stolen loot from Piltover. But still, these grown ass adults really just mugged a bunch of kids? And from the looks of things, they were axing to finish the job too. She looked back at them, chuckling at the way the two flinched at her movements. They were tough kids… still skittish. What was the deal with them, then?
Was Sevika tied in? These thugs weren't hers.
Did she miss something big in the Zaun grapevine? Why were these kids such centres of attention otherwise?
Either way… she wasn't going to get anything done with this much attention. They just bombed a Piltie plaza and now had a bunch of thugs ganging up on them. But was she going to do with them? Scare them into talking? Yeah, that made sense. They had a nice air about them, but they were still kids. Just kids.
who're you trying… to convince here?
Jinx blinked. She… she didn't know. Why was she hearing that voice? Why was she hearing… that little girl all over again? She shook her head, ridding the annoyance from her thoughts as she opened her eyes and found the kids staring at her in fear. Fear. Because they were kids. Just a bunch of scared kids.
Ah Hell, she couldn't believe she was about to do this…
"Change of plans," she spun up Pow-Pow and aimed it right at the group, "hand the brat's bag over and ya can walk." The gang's eyes widened in fear.
The bearded man held his hands up as he stammered out, "B-But y-you just said i-if you can't keep it you don't deserve it!"
"Exactly!" she sweetly smiled, tilting her head. "If ya can keep it from me? Then ya deserve it! So go ahead and try!" She narrowed her eyes and lowered her head, shifting her smile into a scowl. The five of them exchanged looks, sweat beading down their foreheads as they looked between each other. They were all silently asking the same question, Who had the death wish? But they all had the same response, None of us were crazy.
She chuckled at their fear.
Crazy was how you won in Zaun.
"J-Jerma," one of the men in the back whispered, "j-just hand it over."
The bearded guy—or "Jerma" she supposed—let out a small sigh as he unstrapped the sack. He threw it at Jinx's feet then turned around, muttering, "Let's get the Hell outta here!"
The sounds of people fleeing in a hastened panic would never get old to Jinx.
She heard the footsteps near behind and she turned to see the blonde reach for the sack on the ground. She whipped her body and stepped in front of it, shaking a finger as she said, "Ah, ah, ah!"
The girl froze as she looked up, clenching her knife more fiercely.
"E," the boy hissed, "fucking drop the knife already."
Jinx chuckled while shrugging. "Drop it, don't drop it," she let go of Pow-Pow and reached for her sidearm, spinning it on her left finger in one motion before aiming it at the girl. "A bullet travels faster than your measly swing, I bet."
you wouldn't… shoot her…
Jinx internally scoffed. She wasn't going to. She just wanted the brat to knock it off for a bit.
"Ya wanna test that, yeah?" the little urchin spat out, narrowing her eyes.
Jinx's eyes widened at that. Well, damn! "Ya got spunk, Kid. And since I like that I'd rather not make good on my end of this threat." She grinned, shaking her gun. "So how's 'bout you answer my questions and," she stepped aside and nodded at the sack on the ground, "I let ya grab your loot?"
The girl lowered the knife and dropped her stance, sighing.
"Smart girl!" she grinned.
The boy stepped forward and gulped. "Wh-What do you need to know?"
She cocked her head at him. "Lotta things, Kid!" She scoffed with a shrug. "But for starters: why are ya going around stealing my act?" She narrowed her eyes as she dug into her back satchel and tossed up a Chompers, catching it in her free hand without looking. The kids' eyes trailed after it—the girl in cautious shock, the boy with a mix of awe and fear?
"I-I—"
"We were hired to," the girl chimed in, "Sevika forced us to do it."
Jinx's brows raised. "So you were creatin' a diversion for them at the docks."
The boy's eyes widened. "Y-You knew about that?"
"Dur, how'd ya think I followed ya?" she dryly remarked. "'Course I was actually staking out the ol' ogre's goons, but when I saw your bombs go off—" she dropped into a devious smirk as she stepped closer. "Somebody was copying me!" she said in singsong. "So naturally I had to rush over and see what the hoopla was 'bout!" She giggled as she glanced to the girl, who flinched, then back to the boy. "So how'd ol' Seviky get you two under her thumb, anyhow?"
"S… Stole from her."
She cackled at that. "You stole from her? Gotta hand it to ya kiddies: that's ballsy! What'd you take?" she asked, glancing between the two eagerly.
"Shimmer," the girl supplied.
Jinx's laughter died down a bit as she bit her lip, grinning. Well, that certainly explained the manpower at the docks. Which also meant her theory about them being low might be right. But that didn't explain the other incidents. "This a one time gig or—"
"It literally just happened last night," the girl answered in a low mumble.
The woman's eyes widened at that. "So… what?" She crossed her arms across her chest, keeping her finger on the trigger guard of her gun. She shrugged. "The other bombings were just, what? For funsies?" she mocked. "Because they seemed a bit more random to me." They hushed up at that, exchanging wordless glances.
Jinx scoffed at their expressions. She recalled once upon time the silent messages she used to exchange with Vi. Vander hounding them for whatever h-jinx they got into, and them trying to silently tell each other not to say anything. Most of the time the message was lost in expression anyways. But boy did she realize how obvious it looked now. "Like, the bomb going off at the Golden Boy's statue, that was you right?" she asked the boy, narrowing her eyes into slits.
His eyes widened back. "You know about that?"
"I know lots of things," she replied and tilted her head owlishly. "Why'd ya do it?" He gulped, averting his gaze as he seemed to think on it. Ugh, this was getting annoying. She sighed as she threw her head up. "Kid, answer today please. We ain't getting younger—"
"I hate the guy," he spat out. She shot her head up and smiled, that was the most confident, convincing thing he said so far. His fists were clenched as he said, "'Man of Tomorrow' stands on a mountain of corpses for all I care…" he scoffed, shaking his head. "'Progress' never seemed to make its way to help us out."
She whistled, impressed by his response. "Wow." She looked at the girl. "And what're ya?" She bristled at the attention, narrowing her eyes back. "Kinda short for it, but lemme guess… the muscle?" Her face remained unchanged as she gripped her knife harder. Jinx laughed. "Ahh, Blondie, no answer's still answer!" she wagged her finger, turning around. She crouched down and picked up the sack.
"Hey—" the girl was cut off as Jinx tossed the bag toward her gut, causing her to stumble back.
"Something tells me that ain't part of Sevika's deal," she impishly remarked, jutting out her hip as she spun her gun on her finger.
The girl hugged the bag close as the boy stepped forward. "P-Please. This is all we have—"
"We earned this loot," the girl affirmed, stomping her foot. A wince came out of her expression, but she held her glare. "Nothin' 'bout Sevika's deal said we couldn't make off without our own profit."
Jinx stared at the girl as she shouldered the bag in one smooth motion and flipped her grip on the knife, comfortably preparing it for a quick stab or slash. Jinx could tell the girl was familiar with movements like those. "A pickpocket, eh?" The fact the girl's eyes widened made Jinx chuckle. Janna, they were bad at hiding things. "So… all those bombs are what, diversions from your act?"
"She begs and swipes, I make a mess to create an opening," the boy answered.
"Zel!" she hissed.
"What! She's already asking the questions and we've already told her everything!" he shot back.
"But this… 'bomb' thing, this is a bit of a new shtick ain't it," Jinx pointed out, "How long ago did ya pick up on this?"
"Zel" shrugged. "I dunno… about a few months ago?"
Her brows raised at that. In a few months this kid managed to make bombs while it took her years to perfect a bomb that went off intentionally! That was… honestly impressive. "Wow… cool shit, Rookie," she stepped forward and ruffled his spiky brown hair, causing him to flinch. "I'd say keep at it and ya'll be better than me—" his eyes widened at that, "but I'm gonna hafta ask ya to stop so…" she shrugged.
"W-What?" He blinked.
She sighed, rolling her eyes. "What you're doing? It's my thing. And I don't like you going 'round blowing shit up! 'Specially when you're pinning all the credit for it onto me!" She jerked her thumb to her chest. "Now you've got Pilties thinkin' I'm some unimaginative, lame bomber! You're ruining my cred!"
The girl scoffed. "Are ya fuckin' serious?"
"Serious as those damn uptight Piltie Councillors, ya little Urchin!"
She gasped at that. "What'd you call me—"
"W-Wait, you'll leave us alone if we just… stop bombing stuff?"
Jinx blinked at him. "Uhhh, duh?"
"That's it?" he incredulously asked.
"Kid, did your bomb make ya deaf or something? I already said yeah."
The boy turned to his partner, shooting her a look. Jinx sighed as she stepped back, knowing they needed a moment to elaborate.
"Zel, we can't," the girl hissed, "we literally can't afford to!"
"Evi, what the Hell was the point of grabbing this then?" he shot back as he shook the bag in her hand. "We have money!"
"For now," she argued, "but we both know that ain't gonna last. Plus, Sevika is gonna still come after us—she said doing this wouldn't make us square, we still owe her!"
Jinx sighed, very audibly expressing her impatience. "Yeesh, just go hide," she muttered. They stopped and stared at her. "What, like brats your age don't know how to lay low? Go to whatever hideout or hole ya sleep in and wait. She'll blow off like a fuse in no time."
Their faces flushed for some reason; the boy looked to the ground in shame as he rubbed his arm while the girl clenched her knife and bit her lip. "We don't have one."
She blinked. "What?"
"We don't have a hideout, okay?" Blondie spat out. "So our options are kinda limited here."
Jinx cocked her head as she watched the girl's scornful stare. Was she really thinking about this? Well, it wasn't like any of her other voices were talkative for some reason, so it must've been her thoughts considering this. She chuckled to herself as she shook her head, if that wasn't a clear sign she wasn't in her right mind to do this, Jinx didn't know what else was. She could not have been really thinking about doing this. But too much of her curiosity had already been peaked.
Between the bombs, their attitude, and Sevika getting mixed in, Jinx couldn't help but want to fish out for more. But at the same time?
"How old are you two?"
"What's it to ya?"
"Jeez, Blondie, just answer the damn question."
"I'm twelve, Evi's thirteen," the boy quietly answered.
"Thank you!" she gestured to the boy. "Zel, was it?" He shyly nodded. "That's how ya answer your elders, take notes… Evi," she snidely chided.
The blonde scoffed.
"Well, today's your lucky day!" She turned around and holstered her gun, waving her hand for them to follow. "C'mon along now!"
"Wait… what?" she heard them both say.
Jinx turned around and frowned, noticing they were in fact not coming along now. "Do I really gotta spell it out for you kiddies?" She sighed at their confusion. "Ya can stay with me 'til the ogre cools off. Then you hit the road." She raised a pointed finger at them. "Only… if ya don't go 'round blowing up more shit! Understood?"
They wordlessly nodded.
"Good, now follow me and hurry up."
A/N: Yes, yes, Plaza Guardian is also a card in the LoR game. And yeah, i did use a bit more of Zel and Evi's voice lines this chap too. But here we are! The three have finally met! Our duo has made good on their end of deal but not without incident! The little sewer trip Evi takes is actually the same place Vi and the gang ended up back in episode 1 of Arcane.
Lot of fun memorable places. And in Jinx's case, it's ALSO memorable faces. In case it wasn't clear, the voice Jinx hears is in fact Powder, but a much younger Powder. It seems our loveable Zaunite has a lot on her mind and lot to work through. But so does our duo. Evi and Zel making up was definitely a matter I wanted to overcome briefly, while also covering how their dynamic sometimes gets strained. But now they're essentially stuck with Jinx? Well, I guess we'll have to see how the three of them work through their own issues, huh?
Next chapter update: June 1st!
Stay safe, and stay lovely y'all.
Until next time,
- Bleh