Act IV: What Were We Hoping For?
It's A Colour I Can't Describe
"You look like shit, Silco."
He had needed another half vial of Shimmer from Singed to walk for more than five painful steps without collapsing and had took it knowing the cost. But this was a choice he could not win. He could stay incapacitated and wait for the wolves, or wait for the convulsions, and buy more time. And the convulsions do return, what was once relegated to weekly affairs, now plagued him nightly and Singed could do nothing about it.
"I'm fine, Sevika."
"You haven't been fine since the brat dragged you back two years ago." She raises her voice. "Jinx! You need to take better care of your old man."
Jinx indignantly hangs from the rafters upside down. Her blue braids drape everywhere on his desk.
"What do you think I've been doing?"
"Enough, both of you."
He does not have the time or energy to watch them argue again. Jinx warps back to the rafters and disappears from view. He expects Sevika to bite back, but her expression inexplicably softens.
"Take some time off, Silco. The barons will start asking questions soon."
"After the war."
He glances at Jinx in the rafters, arms wrapped tightly around her knees. He can sense the fury radiating from her.
"Sevika, wait for me outside."
The door slams shut.
"This is not punishment, Jinx. What happened in here with your sister was not your fault."
"So why can't I go with you!"
Because this is a parley, he might have said, and I have burned both cities to the ground for you. To have you stand by my side as we negotiate for peace might be provocative.
Because we might be walking into a trap, he might have said, and I need you to stay behind and assume leadership if anything happened to me.
But there was one reason, above all else.
"Because your sister has finally resurfaced."
Jinx warps to his desk, eyes wide, fists clenched.
"Where?"
"The Topsiders made her a warden yesterday. They have assigned her to the corner of Warwick Avenue and Chesterfield Street as a first posting. Go to her. Finish this. Careful. Precise. Like we discussed."
He rises. He expected Jinx to warp away. He did not expect her to pause, to hand him his cane and coat., to bite his bottom lip and watch him. He knows what she sees. A man, standing resolute against the world, but also bone thin, as worn down by the fighting as the rest of them, despite never once stepping on the battlefield.
"Silco, are you sure you don't want me to go with you?"
He opens the door. Sevika is waiting for him.
"I'll be fine, Jinx. Focus on your sister."
And when she still hesitates, Sevika, of all people, empathises.
"I'll bring your old man back in one piece, Jinx. It'll be like the old days."
Jinx looks to him. He nods. She stays for a second longer, than warps away.
Ambition Tearing the Heart Out of You (II)
The Boy didn't even haggle. In the end, the Boy Wonder, like Piltover, never had the stomach for an unending war.
Their demands are quietly recorded, a seat at the Council, free trade routes, blanket amnesty for their actions, unrestricted access to the Hexgates, sovereignty for their new country.
"You could have had this two years ago if you had given up the girl. I hope she was worth the ashes of our cities."
He clenches his fist against his cane, drawing blood. He is on dangerous territory again. The truth which he had massaged as propaganda, now loudly proclaimed before his delegation. He feels some of them stir behind him, hears the whispers...
Then Sevika steps in, loud and clear.
"Stop the lying, Talis. We're all tired of your damned propaganda crap. Just sign the damned paper and give us what we deserve."
The whispers fall away and he smiles as the Boy Wonder writhes before them. He considers twisting the knife, asking for the Red Head in exchange for peace. But this was a parley, and he did not want to appear churlish before his delegation.
The Boy Wonder finally straightens himself.
"I need to take this away to the Council. We'll have to vote on this in a separate meeting before we can sign anything."
He rises and takes his cane.
"You know where to find us."
A nervous Piltover attendant approaches him, bearing a pen and the thickest book he has ever seen. Sevika stops her before she can go further. Undeterred, the attendant stands on tip toe to get his attention.
"Mr Silco, my name is Tabi. I'm the head archivist."
He nods at Sevika to let her pass.
"Yes, Tabi. What is it?"
She relaxes. Perhaps relieved that contrary to popular belief, he did not eat people alive.
"These are the minutes of our meeting today. Could you please sign it?"
She opens the book to its latest entry. He reviews the minutes, signs his name where she indicates, amused at the respect he is suddenly accorded, pride at how much his name is now worth in Piltover's eyes. The words on the page glow green as soon as he lifts his pen from the paper.
"What is this?"
"Anti-tampering mechanism, Sir. Proof that this was all that was spoken. All that was discussed. Nothing can be changed now."
"Fascinating."
"We've used it for hundreds of years now. This book records every meeting the Council has ever had."
He smiles at Tabi and she freezes at the unexpected amount of courtesy he is extending to her.
"Then I look forward to having Zaun's words represented in that book, Tabi."
A sense of purpose and a sense of skill
Days became weeks, and still, nothing. So he continues the raids, the bombs (it was all he could do, he had precious few men and nearly all of them had to be in Zaun to defend their chokepoints and the Shimmer factories) to focus Piltover's mind.
And then one night, a knock on his door. It barely registers in his fevered mind, wholly preoccupied as he is to stop his limbs from convulsing. Why did he give into his pain and administer his analgesic alone in his office tonight? Why? Why?
He does not know how long the knocks last, how long he is curled in a ball, hiding under his desk, his body shaking, ravaged by heat. Until he glimpses blue braids, pink eyes. As she lifts him up towards the blinding light and rests him against a hard surface (the floor? The wall? The sofa?)
"I was already coming back! Why didn't you go to the roof and wait for me?!"
Because your sister has been slipping away from you for weeks and you need to focus your efforts on her, he wants to say. Because I did not know when you would return, he wants to say. Because I was weak and my body was on fire, he wants to say. But nothing comes out.
And the pounding begins again. He hears the door open and shut. The silence. He closes his eyes in blessed relief.
Someone eventually shakes him awake hours later. Or perhaps it was only seconds? He can only hear the ticking of the clock in his mind. Time no longer matters.
"The Topsiders are working with the Firelights. They've blockaded the Lanes. Sevika's guarding the Shimmer plants. She's too far to help."
He mumbles something incoherent. But his mind registers the word "blockade" and he is already halfway up before his legs give way. Something catches him, sets him against the same hard surface.
"Don't be stupid, Silco! You're sick!"
"Block..."
"Yeah, I know, I know."
He struggles to focus through the haze. Everything is soft and blurred around the edges. Jinx drifts in and out of view. She pushes him somewhere dark (his desk?) and thrusts something under his head.
"I'm gonna go see what's happening. You stay here."
He tries to reach for her but only manages to cling on to her little finger. She drifts back into view. He can see her anxiety, even through his addled mind.
"You...ready..."
"I'm just gonna stall'em. You come soon as you can, okay?"
He feels her forehead lightly press against his. Then he hears the door slam shut, Jinx's voice in the distance.
"He wasn't even in the office you frigging idiot! What's the big deal!"
He stumbles, crawls, and somehow makes his way to his window. He sees lights in the distance. Fire?
His eyes close and his head hits the floor.
It is dark when he comes to. He can smell thick smoke, hear chatter beneath him. He grabs Vander's knife from his desk, hobbles to the door, nearly trips over a cushion on the floor. Limps down the stairs to see…
Cheers. Celebrations. Someone grabs him and drags him into the crowd. Others shake his hand, slap his back. He can only nod, smile.
He has no idea what is going on.
He pushes, rides the wave of bodies to the front door, bursts through…
And he is greeted by more people bustling about with quiet efficiency, by smoke in the distance, ash on the ground, the acrid smell of burning wood around him.
Charred shells of buildings lie in the distance, the wounded lie by the side. He immediately kneels, tends to the closest one (for he is their leader, and he is expected to do so). But he is not needed. Organised teams of medics are already on the ground.
He later hears of how Jinx broke the blockade around the Lanes. How she engineered a turnaround against the Enforcers so brutal that the Topsiders now feared her name. This is a victory which will soon become the stuff of legend, a victory where songs will be written and sung. The victory of a leader.
And she did it without him.
He could not be prouder.
If it can be fused, then it can be split (V)
He rides the crest of Jinx's wave of popularity, installs her as the new head of the War Council before the councilmembers can disagree. For there is a change now, the groundswell of support for Jinx now comes from the public. He is not surprised. Men on the streets may not be able to understand her gadgetry, but they can understand war, and they can understand a victory.
Still, she is not as pleased with this as he is. This takes away the time she has been using to pursue the Red Head. He tells her that this is also important, that she is his successor and he must prepare her for what comes after.
To her credit, she did not complain, showcasing a growing maturity which he had always hoped she would develop one day.
"You will shadow me for the moment, Jinx. Some of the barons are displeased with your promotion. Our position is not as secure as it could be."
She rips her bun in half, stuffs it into her mouth. She never misses her meals now, he cannot remember the last time he has to coax her to eat.
"But you won the war! And you restarted negotiations for the peace treaty again."
Piltover had never been so responsive, so cooperative since the blockade. Jinx had cut them off at their knees. Zaun's victory was all but assured.
"There are winners and losers in every change of leadership. The winners, us, rejoice. But the losers will remonstrate, complain. Most of these complaints will peter out to nothing. But for now…"
He stirs his soup. His appetite had deserted him since the nightly convulsions, he has to coax himself to eat now. And coax he does, because food is sustenance and he does not need the ticking clock in his mind to remind himself of that.
"For now, we have to be careful."
"Okay."
He can tell that she has other matters in her mind and waits for her to come to him. Their little dance, like the days of old.
And come to him she does. She always does.
"The Council. They wanna disband the spy network after the war."
"I understand it is a question of resources. We have taken too many losses; we cannot maintain both a standing force and an intelligence network."
"You think it's a good idea?!"
"No, I think it is foolish. Nations always need an intelligence network. But we cannot oppose them so openly for the moment."
"Why not! I'm their leader! I can do whatever I want!"
"There is more to being leader than getting your way all the time. You must navigate this carefully. You are still new and one military victory is not sufficient ammunition to disagree with the entirety of the Council."
"But how'm I gonna get to her? I need them to gimme information! Set traps for her!"
He sits back. He has finished his bowl of soup for dinner, even managed a slice of bread, this was one of his better nights. And as he tries, fails, to light his cigar, he sees now how he can help Jinx focus her mind.
"You still have some months before negotiations conclude, Jinx. Get to her before that, and you will have no need for our spy network after."
In the end, they didn't have months. They had days.
What Were We Hoping For?
In those days, Jinx steps in to chair all the War Council meetings, gives him the time to focus on the negotiations for the peace treaty, but more importantly, to rest. And he finds that he can sleep a little longer, eat a little more, and ultimately, feel a little better.
And so his last convulsion does not attack him with the same ferocity as before. Perhaps because this time, he is in Jinx's den and she is ready. And when he wakes in the morning, he is lying on a sofa, a blanket over him. Jinx is sitting on the table, tinkering with a device. He glances at his pocket watch, jumps up (as much as his body still allows him to).
"The negotiations for today started three hours ago. Jinx, you should have woken me!"
"You were still sick this morning! And I think Sevika already went."
Panic rises within him.
"Did she see me like this?"
"Nah. I kicked her out last year, remember? She isn't allowed in."
"Then how did you…"
She shoots him an odd look.
"You crazy? I'm leader of the War Council now. I hear things all the time."
Of course she would. He sinks back onto the sofa, exhausted.
"Some of the barons have insisted on an additional meeting in the afternoon to discuss the peace treaty. Come with me."
Jinx sits beside him.
"You expect anythin' bad to happen?"
He considers this.
"No. But it pays to be careful. Do you remember our conversation last week? About winners and losers?"
"Yeah I know."
She continuously tinkers with the toy in her hand as she speaks to him. Then sets it on the table just before him. It is a small robotic shark with mismatched eyes.
"Can I show you what I've been working on?"
"Mmmm."
She nudges the shark forward. It glides across the table, breaks itself into three smaller parts, a tail, a body, a head, which glide away from each other, then explode simultaneously.
He does not say anything, for he has seen better bombs from Jinx and he knows there would be more.
She thumps her fist on the table. The exploded parts reform themselves, glide back towards each other and reform into a perfect toy shark, which flies into Jinx's hand.
She sets it back on the table, on the same spot as before.
"Do you like it?"
He smiles, suitably impressed.
"Of course."
"Really?"
She excitedly warps around her workshop, chatters as she breaks the shark apart, shows him a component, uses it to illustrate something. Her words wash over him. He does not comprehend everything. Still, he nods, he smiles. Because it is important to Jinx that he understands.
And for the first time in a long time, as his eyes close, it doesn't feel like the world is fighting him.
When he next wakes, he finds a cup of cold tea waiting for him, a note stuck to its side.
"FOUND HER AND HER STUPID GIRLFRIEND. GOING TO GET HER. CAN'T FIND SEVIKA. TOLD CHUCK TO FOLLOW YOU TO THE MEETING."
He works in his officer, busies himself by reviewing yesterday's documents, pretends that he needs more time. Sevika would have returned to the meeting by now and he does not expect violence. Still, he delays the meeting, sends a message to Jinx to return as soon as she has dealt with the Red Head.
She does not warp through the door as time passes, and he is increasingly agitated. He knows she is fine (he would have heard if she was not), but he also knows that she finds any meetings with the barons boring, and he knows she is dragging her feet.
And then a knock on the door and Chuck enters.
"The barons want a meeting, boss."
A touch of impatience in his voice.
"I am busy. Tell Renni that I will speak to her later."
"No, boss. All of them want a meeting. Now."
His senses heightened. He had just attended a meeting with them yesterday. What was going on?
"Where is Sevika? Ask her to attend on my behalf. I will join them when I am ready."
"Don't know where she is, sir."
He does not want to attend the meeting. But to flee would be to admit weakness. So he beckons Chuck forward to take a message.
"Get Jinx. Now. Do not take no for an answer."
Chuck nods and practically runs out.
And then, because he has run out of time, and because he cannot delay this any longer, he rises and reaches for his cane, one final time.
He strides into the meeting room, flanked by his enforcers. The first thing he notices is not the chembarons, but the flowers. The chembarons saw it as power, status. He saw it as wasted resources, the efforts to maintain a flower would have been enough to send twenty men into battle.
It annoys him to no end.
"We aren't due for a meeting."
He is met by stony faces, Sevika's empty seat at the end of the table. Sevika had never missed a meeting. The ticking clock in his mind threatens to overwhelm him. Something is very very wrong.
Still, he stands his ground. To turn his back would be to leave blood in the water for the wolves to feed on.
Renni is the first to speak.
"Sevika attended the negotiations today."
"And?"
Sevika's voice booms from a corner.
"It went well, like you said it would."
She steps into the light. Any relief he has of seeing her immediately gives way to wariness. He cannot read what should his biggest ally in the room right now.
"Good."
"When it ended, they showed me the notes. Asked me to sign it."
"Yes. Tamper proof evidence of what was spoken during the meeting."
"The signature block had your name on it. So they had to fix it. There was a mix up, I ended up with the book for a few minutes. So I flipped through it."
Sevika was always methodical. Brief. He does not like how she is now stringing the story along.
"Sevika, you do not need to call a meeting with all the barons for a procedural footnote…"
Sevika slides the book across the table, opened at a page in time. It stops before him. He reads it, and his heart plunges.
This Council agrees to recognise the Nation of Zaun as a free and independent country, in accordance with the terms of the parley offered by Councilman Talis to Baron Leader Silco (attached to these minutes as Appendix A), in exchange for:
(a) an immediate shut down of Shimmer production in Zaun; and
He knows what comes next and his heart plunges.
the immediate surrender of the criminal known as Jinx.
He slams the book shut, pushes it away.
"Lies!"
But the barons are not so easily cowed now. The war has worn them down, their losses have hardened them. Their voices grow to a ruckus, drowning him out. Sevika remains silent through it all.
"We always knew there were rumours…"
"We refused to believe them. Thought it was propaganda…"
"We trusted you!"
"I lost my sons!"
He slams his fist on the table to silence them.
"The war is won. We made sure of it! Do not let this distract you!"
Their voices grow louder in retaliation.
"We did not need to fight your war!"
"You betrayed us!"
"We lost so much!"
"I have compensated your losses, honoured your dead! Their sacrifice will be remembered every minute of the day when we become a new nation, when our independence is recognised! They will be immortalised!"
"What are you gonna do! Build a few statues? Say a few words every year? They aren't here to see it!"
"Why didn't you just take the deal! We could have had everything!"
He loses his temper then.
"What happened to the bonds we formed! The loyalty we prided ourselves on!"
"You used our children when you wouldn't even give up your own! Why is she so special!"
"Because she is my daughter and I have to protect her! As you would have protected your own!"
And finally, the straw that breaks the camel's back. They brandish their weapons, rush at him as one.
He stumbles away, manages to sidestep a swinging arm. Smashes Vander's knife into the back of a chembaron (adrenaline is coursing through his veins and he cannot recognise who it is).
He grabs one of his enforcers.
"Go to Jinx. Tell her to leave. Now!"
But the final crumb of security he has hesitates, the fury on his enforcer's face at what he just heard is palpable.
Then he hears before he sees the swish of a blue blade, the tip of it emerging through his stomach, he can smell the blood blossoming on his shirt. Time stops and his mind latches onto the most absurd aspect of it all - at how his blood could still appear on his vest and shirt. Dark red on red, he thinks. Who knew that dark red could be seen on red?
And then reality breaks through. His body explodes in pain as he collapses. He sees Sevika above him, grimly readying her blade for one final plunge.
There is no pleasure on her face, he notes. Only disappointment, tinged with understanding. She always understood loyalty even if no one else could.
Something erupts around him. An explosion. Another explosion. He feels the heat of flames breathing down his neck, and a second later, Sevika disappears from view.
And then he is in an alleyway, rain drops on his cheeks. He glimpses blue braids, pink eyes.
"Jinx."
She came. He knew she would. He notices the way her eyes glance at him, the way they skip over the gaping wound in his stomach.
"Silco, you're hurt real bad."
There is steel in her voice, but he can hear the fragility she is trying to hide. She presses her hand against his stomach to stop the bleeding.
And for the first time in a long time, he screams in pain.
She drops her hand in shock. She has never seen him like this before. He doubts he has seen himself like this before.
"I'm gonna take you to the doctor. He's gonna fix you up."
She lifts him up for the last time, but the pain flares again, beyond any convulsion, any burning, any drowning he has ever experienced. His body instinctively twitches, and he struggles against her fiercely without realising so.
"Stop fighting me, Silco! What are you doing!"
He stops. Something else has momentarily taken his attention from his daughter.
The ticking clock he has been hearing for so long has finally, finally left him. In its place is nothing but silence.
And he knows this is it.
"Jinx, put me down."
He forces his voice to be calm.
"But…"
"Put me down."
She sets him against a wall, stubbornly presses against his stomach to stem the bloodflow. He bites back a groan; realises he is sitting in a puddle of his own blood. The rain falls harder, forming small rivers of blood and water flowing away from him. He is not sure how much longer he can survive without this much blood. Minutes? Hours? Did it really matter now?
He sees Jinx fighting back sobs. She realises this too.
"Please. Please. We gotta go to the doctor and fix this. Please, Dad, please.""
His heart soars because she has never called him that before. His heart breaks because this will be the last time she will ever call him that.
He takes her hand and gently pulls it away from the wound.
"Singed can't help. Can't take any more Shimmer. It'll kill me."
And her tears finally fall.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I should have listened! I should have gone with you! I shouldn't have gone to the bridge."
"No. No."
He had no doubt he would have survived if Jinx had been beside him. He would never burden her with that knowledge when she had to fight so many monsters of her own. And why should Jinx have to apologise for what she did? Pursuing the Red Head was the right choice.
"I jinxed it! I jinxed it!"
"No. No."
Her voice trails, reduced to voiceless screams. He can read her signs, he has not seen one so bad since that night at dinner, two years ago.
So he pulls her close, holds her as best he can. He can feel her shaking wordlessly, he knows she is crying and he stops her because hearing her sobs will break them both.
"Jinx is who you are. Jinx is strong. Don't change."
Jinx's eyes widen. Her tears stop falling. This sinks in.
"It's us or them."
He nods, his head is so heavy now.
"That's right. Not your fault."
Her voice is stronger, clear of tears and self-doubt.
"It's not my fault."
And time plays its last trick on him as he grips his daughter tightly, as his vision blurs.
Was he sitting in the rain in front of the burning cannery, embracing his daughter as if she were a child in the rain who was abandoned by the world, when he had all the time in the world to raise her?
Was he sitting in the rain in the pits of Zaun, embracing his daughter as if she were a child in the rain who would feel her father's love for one last time, when he had run out of time to care for her?
But he would become her Dad, and he would die as her Dad, and for a man who never had a Dad, that was enough.
He lifts her head towards his, presses his forehead against hers. And as he glimpses those pink eyes through an elongating tunnel, he knows that she has a fighting chance to survive the world without him. And so long as she had a fighting chance, he knew Jinx would be okay. Because he had taught her everything he knew and he had given her everything he had.
He barely hears himself whisper his last words, but he knows Jinx can hear him. She always could.
"It's okay. It's okay."
Silco smiles. His eye glazes over with love as he looks at his daughter for one last time.
When you broke me and left these pieces
"It's not my fault," says Jinx as she buries him with his Monkey mug and his plush and his ash tray. She made them for him. No way she was going to let anyone else use them.
"It's not my fault!" screams Jinx at the voices after she has buried him. She never hears his voice among them. She knew she wouldn't. Cause he said the voices were hurting her and he was her Dad and he wouldn't ever ever hurt her.
"It's not my fault," says Jinx at the bodies of Zaunites around her. She fires Fishbones at the chembarons meeting place. She fires Pow Pow at the soldiers who come running after her.
"It's not your fault," she says to Jinx one day. Her with her stupid Hextech gauntlets and her stupid red hair and her stupid everything. "Give me your hand." Jinx gives her everything, Zap Zap and Pow Pow and Fishbones. And when it's over and everything burns around Jinx, Jinx looks for her in the ashes. But all she sees among the bodies is another Enforcer girl with red hair. Quite dead. Jinx bursts into laughter. Because she wasn't supposed to cry.
"She's a loose cannon! She's crazy!" Jinx hears this. Again and again and again, until she doesn't know if it's Zaun, or Piltover, or the voices. They want to break her and burn her and hurt her. And maybe she would have been sad last time. But she wasn't sad now. Because she was Jinx.
And Jinx was strong.
