"Where is your sister, little girl?" Powder looked up from the ground to see the man who had taken her family from her. You killed them, not Silco. The small girl felt more rage in that moment than she had ever known in her life. Her sister turned on her, the one thing she promised she would never do! Vi called her a jinx, the one thing she had promised powder wasn't!
In that moment Powder made a decision. Vi wasn't her sister anymore.
The little girl pointed up the block, to the alleyway that Vi had disappeared into.
Sevika didn't expect the girl to give up her sister so easily. Those two had been practically attached at the hip. The woman went to confirm that Vi was in fact, in that ally. She saw the head of pink hair, but she also saw that filthy rat, Marcus.
The enforcer was creeping up behind Vi, holding some kind of white cloth that was no doubt drugged. Vi meet Sevika's eyes, only to notice they weren't looking at her. The girl turned on her heel and immediately took down Marcus.
The kid had good instincts, even Sevika could admit that. She went to go collect the girl when a bony hand on her shoulder stopped her. Silco caught her attention and motioned back to the little brat still crying on the ground.
"Kill her." Sevika didn't always like her job, but she did have to listen to the boss.
Turning to look around the corner back at Powder, Vi saw Sevika was turning towards her. Vi put herself in to a fighting position. Then she realized, Sevika wasn't looking at her, she was looked at something over her shoulder. Vi spun around on the spot, barely brushing past a sweet-smelling rag, to come face to face with Marcus. The undercity girl didn't hesitate to punch the enforcer right in the face, breaking his air filter.
Little shards of the broken device made their way into Marcus's skin, causing him to cry out and rip them from his face, providing the perfect distraction for Vi to nail a kick to his head. With the enforcer down, Vi turned back to face Sevika, only to find herself staring down a charging, shimmer enhanced monster.
Vi faced to monster head on, angry enough to beat it into submission. But it was like punching a stone wall. Vi felt her already bruised and bloody knuckles give way into snapping bones. The girl cried out in pain but kept punching. Punching like her life depended on it. Because it did.
The shimmer creature barreled into Vi, forcing her back to the ground, still punching. Once the creature had her down, it went for her arms, punning them to the ground at her sides. Vi's breathing started to pick up. This couldn't be it, she had to keep fighting. The thing was now kneeling on her legs, preventing her from kicking out. So, with all her other options eliminated, Vi chose to headbutt the monster in the nose. And it worked. The monster filched away and lessened to pressure holding the pink haired girl down.
Unfortunately, Vi is the one who took the brunt of the damage.
Her vision swam and black spots danced at the edges, sounds were muddled and Vi couldn't even seem to think. She could, however, feel the creature roll her over and position both her arms behind her back before scooping her up.
When Vi came back to her senses, both her arms were trapped behind her, pinned between her back and the monsters stomach. Her legs swung uselessly in the air, unable to touch the ground. Behind her head was the monster's chest, making her unable to headbutt it again.
"No, no, no!" Vi was starting to panic "Put me down! Let me go!" the girl struggled with everything she had in her, but no one would have been able to know that by looking at the shimmer-enhanced monster. It barely reacted. Vi tried to kick at it's legs, but it still yielded no results. Not that that was enough to make Vi stop.
"Stop. You'll just damage yourself further." Vi knew that monotone voice. Silco. The industrialist approached the two, causing Vi to panic further. She was breathing at a rapid pace, looking desperately around to find something, anything, to help her escape.
"Now, now. Settle down." The creature squeezed Vi tighter at Silco's words, robbing her of her breath and forcing her to be still. "Better." Silco reached out and took Vi's chin in his hand, forcing her head up. Vi snarled but couldn't do much more restrained and injured as she was and still out of breath.
"The prize of Victor's little make-shift family." The look of pure confusion on Vi's face must have prompted Silco to keep talking. "He was always so proud of his star pupil. The fighter." He huffed "I suppose he wanted to make you into another one of him. To have you run the undercity like a coward. The way he did."
The man let go of Vi's chin to avoid the blood trickling from her mouth. "Oh no. I have much bigger plans for you." Vi snapped her head to look at Silco.
"What? No! there is no way I will ever- AAAHH!" Vi cried out as the creature squeezed again, tighter this time. Vi could swear she felt something snap under the pressure.
Upon her release, Vi found Silco's hand yanking back on her hair, pushing her back into the monster. "Yes, you will! I'll make sure of it. Bring her." With that, Silco and his goons walked back to his last base, Vi kicking and screaming the whole way.
No one in the undercity dared to try to stop Silco, not even as Vi begged and screamed for help. Her captors didn't seem to find it important to make her be quiet. Instead, they paraded her around the undercity as a testament to Silco's new power and as a warning to anyone who might oppose him. No, the citizens didn't help Vi, they only looked on with pity, as the man dragged the last of Victor's children away, to afraid to do anything else.
It had been days. Days since Silco stuffed her into a dark room with nothing. Days with no food any no water. Saying that Vi was going crazy was an understatement. The girl had spent hours on her arrival to the room screaming and slamming into the walls. She screamed so long her voice became hoarse, then unusable. Her hands had been broken, but now her whole body felt like one big bruise. Vi had scrambled to find a way out for hours, but it was useless. The room was pitch black with absolutely nothing in and a door that locked from the outside. Vi was trapped.
She lay there on the cold floor for what felt like hours, or maybe it was just a few minutes. Time was a little topsy-turvy anymore. Vi was starting to think that Silco might just let her starve to death when the door opened.
The light was blinding to Vi who had been in the darkness for who knows how long, but eventually her eyes adjusted to see Sevika standing in the open doorway. Vi tried to get up, tried to scream, but her body simply would not obey her. Nothing but a hoarse whisper came out when Vi's legs gave out as she tried to stand.
Vi couldn't see it, but this made Sevika smile. Vi would be so much easier to handle this way. Sevika made her way over to the teenager, picking her up bodily by the arm and dragging her to another area. Vi tried to fight, but many days without food and water, plus all her injuries, had taken its toll. If Sevika hadn't been holding her up, Vi was sure she would have fallen.
Vi could feel the same burning in her chest as she was dragged to whatever new hell Silco and his goons could come up with. Whatever it was, she deserved it. Vi had failed to protect her family, failed to protect powder, failed to protect even herself. Her father figure and brothers were dead, powder was alone, and Vi couldn't even drag enough fight out of herself to stand up properly.
Vi's self-deprecating thoughts are interrupted as she in thrown to the floor of a new room. The pink haired girl looked up to see Sevika standing in the open doorway, Smiling down at her in amusement. That was when she smelled it. The soup. Well, more likely just broth, but to Vi it smelled like something sent down from the heavens above.
Taking another quick Look back at Sevika to see in the woman was going to stop her, Vi summoned the will to try to get up again, only to have her legs buckle a second time. Vi was remined of her broken noise as it cracked into the ground. She heard Sevika bark out a short laugh at her, clearly not intending to help her again, and Vi's same returned tenfold.
That broth was feet away as she lay on the ground, unable to even stand. Vi felt despair deep in her chest, the desire to give up was overwhelming. To just finally lay down and rest. She was just so tired…
NO! Vi needed to get up. needed to keep going. If only to wipe that damn smirk off Sevika's face. Vi summoned everything she had in her, the steel she had carried in her soul since that day on the bridge so many years ago. She needed to get up because that sacrifice was for her and there was no way in hell Vi was going to insult her parent's memory by starving to death with salvation just feet away.
Standing up was all effort, then every step was pain. At first the room seemed to be only a few feet, but it soon felt like miles. Vi kept herself upright, even as her leg buckled, she kept walking, even as her vision swam, she kept her eyes on the bowl. She kept going until she could reach out and grab the bowl.
Vi dropped to her knees in front of the table (It was a lot shorter than she first thought) and reached out with shaky hands, bringing the much-needed liquid to her mouth. Vi tried not to drink too fast and accidently throw it up, but she somehow got the speed right and the broth went down and stayed down.
The bowl fell to the floor with a clang as Vi dropped it and sat back to lean against the wall, staring at Sevika. The brawler knew there was a price to pay for that soup, a game to play. She just didn't know what it was yet. Vi's answer came in the form of Silco entering the little room.
"Oh, good you've eaten." Vi pushed herself further back into the wall, if only to get a little bit farther away from Silco. Vi had always though she knew fear, having lived in the undercity her whole life, but nothing she had ever felt could even compare to the mind-numbing, bone-chilling terror that currently raced through every part of her body at seeing Silco again. She wanted to scream, wanted to run away, but her body was frozen in place as the man who killed her family approached.
Silco kneeled down in front of her, reaching out to grab her chin in the same manner he had back in the alleyway. He moved Vi's head around as though examining it for injuries, though Vi was sure showing that he had to power to manipulate her.
"Fix her." Silco barked at Sevika before releasing Vi and walking out of the room.
Vi was starting to feel drowsy. She hadn't slept in days due to hunger pains and now that she finally had a full stomach, the brawler felt her eyes sliding shut, letting her slowly sink into oblivion.
Vi was brought back to reality as a violent pain shot through her hand. The girl yelped and tried to yank her hand back, but found it trapped in Sevika grip, her sadistic smile did nothing to comfort Vi. Her distress was proven correct when Sevika yanked on Vi's finger that had dislocated during her time in the dark room, popping it back into place.
"Oops." Vi glared at Sevika until she popped the next finger back in. and the next. And the next. Vi passed out before the end of it.
The girl's trembling was unexpected, though better than her trying to fight or bolt. Silco left Vi in the old cell for a bit longer than anyone before, he knew she would be fine. She is too stubborn to die. Silco knew it would take more than a few days in the dark to break Vi, the defiant look in her eyes confirmed that. But Sevika was going to have a go at her soon. Vi wouldn't last long.
Soon she would become the greatest weapon the undercity had ever seen. For now, though, it was time for phase two.
The next few days passed by Vi in a blur. She had woken up to find one arm tethered to the wall using a long chain and both her hands in huge casts. Vi had no way to move her hands. Apparently Vi had damaged them more that she thought, but with the cement mittens on, she had no way to fight back against Silco and his gang.
Sevika came by every couple of days, mostly to poke fun at Vi but sometimes the one-armed woman decided she needed a beating. She never broke anything and kept the bruised areas to under her clothes. This lead Vi to believe that Sevika wasn't doing this under Silco's orders. The thought made the pink haired girl sick. She had known Sevika most of her life, seen her work with Vander, even let her watch powder one time! but now here she was, slowly beating a teenager to death. So much for loyalty.
Silco came by twice everyday to bring Vi some food. It was usually just broth as that was easiest for her to eat after starving for so long. However, the weirdest part was that Silco would often hang around to talk with Vi, as though she were his colleague or something. Vi tried to not listen to Silco, tried to tell herself that everything he said was a manipulation to hurt her, that he had killed Vander. But that wasn't true. Poweder's bomb had killed her family. And the more Silco talked the more Vi could understand what happened.
Silco told her about how he and Vander had been brothers, and how they had lead the charge of the bride that her parents had died in. Silco talked about the great plans he and Vander had for freeing the undercity from Piltover's grasp, to save it citizens from the uncaring council that would oppress them at every turn. He sounded so heartbroken when he spoke about Vander's betrayal, about how Vander tried to kill him in the river. After that Silco left Vi alone with her thoughts for a while.
The way Silco talked about wanting more for the undercity sounded… exactly like the argument Vi made against Victor when he wanted to roll over for the enforcers. He and Vi had the same desire for the undercity. Vi chose not to focus on that train of thought too long.
Why did Vander never mention Silco? It would have been nice to know if someone wanted to kill them. If Silco had intended to kill them. Vi shook her head, that didn't matter, they were dead ether way. However, the more Vi thought about it, the more inconsistency she saw regarding Vander. Vander had always stressed the importance of family, yet he tried to kill his own brother. Okay maybe not brother by birth but still, Silco had been his brother, and from Silco's story, Vander really didn't seem like he wanted to talk it out before resorting to violence. Something he always got after Vi about.
Vander never told them any of this. He had tried to kill someone and never told them! Vander had been content to let the undercity die slowly, suffocating under Piltover's oppression. He was going to leave Vi and her family a dead city with nothing and nowhere to go.
However, the thing that bothered Vi most was that Vander always told her "When people look up to you, you don't get to be selfish." He said that over and over and over again. but only to Vi. Never to Milo or Clogger. It was only Vi who didn't get to be selfish. She was the only one who got little to no sleep to stay up and keep lookout for enforcers. She was the only one who got blamed when a job went sideways. And she was the only one who worked her tail off to give powder the childhood she could never have.
These thoughts ate away at Vi. That is why, the next time Silco came for a visit, Vi confided these thoughts to the scarred man. She told him about all the work she put into her family, only to let them reap the rewards. She told him about how she and Vander always argued about the fate of the undercity. and She told him about how all she had really wanted was a better life for her sister, but she couldn't even manage that.
Silco listened with a sympathetic ear, offering condolences and reassurance throughout Vi's story. He told her how she was too young to have all that pressure put on her and Vander should have never encouraged it. Silco told her how she deserved to have a childhood, even if her adopted father had tried to rob her of it.
Vi didn't know what to think about Silco's sympathy. She didn't know if he was to be trusted, or even if she wanted to. The situation was all kinds of messed up, but Vi didn't have any family left, and if Silco wanted her… well that was a bridge best crossed later.
Sevika knew working for Silco would be different than working for Vander, but he was taking this too far. Sure, Sevika was fine with torturing someone for information of giving them incentive to make a deal with her boss rather than someone else, but this was just cruel. Vi had nothing to offer Silco, no real reputation or business opportunities so Sevika had no idea why he was so intent on breaking her.
Silco also gave her weird rules and a script to follow every time she was to give the girl a beating. He said it was the most effective way to break her, but Sevika was having second thoughts about his latest ploy. He wanted her to break her down physically then tell her about killing powder. Now, Sevika was no phycologist, but she was pretty sure that would put the girl into a rage and ensure she would never bend to Silco's will after that. Sevika believed it was best just to let Vi believe that powder had been killed in the explosion like the rest of her family, but when she brought her fears to Silco, the man growled "Just do it." And sent her off. Sevika just hoped this wouldn't come back to bite her later.
Silco Had been overjoyed when Vi finally confided in him. It had taken a few weeks of earning her trust though food and thoughtful conversation to get her to actually talk to him and in doing so, Vi revealed her greatest weakness. Powder. Even if the little girl was dead, she was still a good guilt manipulation tactic. So, all that was left was to send Sevika in with the final plan, not that she knew all of it. Soon Vi would be willing to do anything for him, then the real plan would begin.
It was a slit second mistake. Vi didn't jump up to fight soon enough. Now Sevika how her cuffed to the wall, her hands stuck above her head high enough that the brawler was forced to stand on the tips of her feet, just to keep the pressure off her shoulders.
"I just got a new arm." Sevika said lowly, leaning in close to Vi until they were almost nose to nose. "What do you say we test it out?" that was all the warning Vi got before she was taking a metal fist to the face.
Vi hacked up blood after Sevika struck her stomach. "Hmm. This thing packs quite a punch." Another blow. "Don't you agree?"
"Do you have Silco's permission for this? Or have you finally grown a spine?" Vi spat out the words, along with another mouthful of blood.
Sevika laughed at Vi's statement, sticking her again and again. Vi was struggling to hold on to consciousness.
"You think I need Silco's permission for this? You are just a little girl who doesn't matter." Sevika leaned in again. "Just like powder."
Vi snapped back to awareness at the name. Powder? What did this have to do with Powder? Wasn't she dead? Sevika just laughed at the confusion written all over Vi's face.
"You don't know! Oh, that's rich!" more laughter. "Powder didn't die in the explosion." Vi staired desperately at Sevika. Was her sister still alive? "No, she was thrown from the building a landed in the gutter a little way away… where I killed her."
No! this couldn't be right. Sevika killed powder? Looking into Sevika's face, Vi knew she wasn't lying. The brawler felt a scream of rage leave her, but she couldn't really hear it with all the ringing in her ears. Vi strained and pulled at the restraints, but they wouldn't give way. All Vi could think about was avenging her baby sister, she wanted to Kill Sevika.
The woman in question was just smirking as Vi pulled and pulled at the cuffs. "I killed one useless pipsqueak and now I think it is time I killed another." Sevika lifted her new metallic arm, letting the fingers click into place so they formed a point. One sharp enough to stab through a person's chest.
Vi was panicking. She was going to die here. There was no way for her to avenge her baby sister. "I'm sorry Powder." Vi whispered as she closed her eyes to wait for the blow. The blow that never came.
Instead, a loud bang filled the room and Vi opened her eyes to see Sevika laying on the ground in a puddle of blood and Silco standing in the doorway with a gun in his hand.
Vi didn't know how to react. On the one hand Sevika was dead, and her sister's death was avenged, but Silco had saved her. Plus, he still had a gun. Silco ran to Vi, getting her loose and letting the girl fall into his arms. Due to the shock, he was the only reason she was standing. Silco scooped Vi up, princess style, and caried her to his office where he proceeded to treat her wounds.
"You shot her." Vi whispered while Silco worked.
"I did. The threatened you, Violet. Despite how I may seem I care about you. See a lot of my younger self in you." Silco fell silent for a moment. "And I didn't know she killed powder." Vi couldn't see Silco's face as he was still bandaging her wrists, but he sounded sad. Or maybe that was the concussion taking. But Vi wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe that this time, someone would save her.
"I believe you." The words were so quiet but carried so much meaning. Silco looked up at her with an unreadable look on his face, then moved to wrap the girl in a hug.
In that moment Vi knew she would do anything for Silco. If only to feel this kind of safety again. yes, she might end up doing horrible things for this man, but it would be well worth it.
A few months passed and Silco declared the undercity to be the independent nation of Zann. No enforcer dared to set foot on Silco's turf, for no one ever came back from a patrol down there. No matter how many enforcers sent and no matter how skilled, they were all always picked off one by one in the dingy alleyways of the undercity.
Only one enforcer ever managed to make it back topside after an undercity patrol. He spoke of someone called "the guard dog" who could sneak up on the group and kill them without effort. He said the guard dog had bright pink hair and lots of machinery tattoos covering her arms. He also said that he only got away because the Guard dog decided to spare him, growling out "run-away" before disappearing in a flash.
That enforcer quit the next day.
When the council tried to deny Zann its independence, the people discovered that the guard dog could just as easily attack. Several council members found family members dead in their homes, each one beaten to death. They declared Zann its own nation the next morning with serval trading and traveling benefits.
No outsider ever dared to venture into the undercity again, there was no reason to go down there, unless they sought death.
Silco ruled Zann with an iron fist, for everyone knew just who they would meet should they cross him. No one dared mess with Silco, not as long as he had his guard dog.
AN This is a one shot, but I am making a series were vi gets taken by Silco in each one and Powder/jinx had a different path in each. Obviously, powder/jinx just dies in this one. The next one is shaping out to be a little more complex MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
