Note: Been a bit of a draught on this one and I apologize for that. The truth is that I started hot on this one and after a while the muse just went silent on me. But its back now, and I'm ready to keep going. So buckle in for the next great chapter in the ongoing adventure of the Red Eye.
Standard Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Harry Potter or League of Legends. All properties therein are those of their creators. I am just a writer working on my skills with characters and worlds that I love.
Part Nine - Reunions
"Ow! Damn it Jinx!" Hadrian bellowed as the younger girl tightened yet another screw on the mechanical arm she'd insisted on building to replace his lost limb.
"Oh suck it up ya big baby." She laughed in her disjointed way before finishing with the last bolt and wheeling her chair back away from him to join the host of spectators that had arrived to witness the creation of her contraption.
Silko and Vi were waiting with hope that it would work as well as promised, while Vander was leaning against the wall in expectation. The boy hadn't asked permission to propose to his daughter after all, so if the limb worked as promised he was dragging him into the ring for a little payback. Finally, Caitlyn was positioned at the back of the group with Sevika standing guard over her. She didn't know why she was present, but she was honestly just glad to be out of that basement. For the most part Hadrian had treated her well there, but the lack of sunlight got to a girl after a while.
"Well? Give it a try." Jinx waved him on lazily.
Hadrian grumbled a bit about sadistic inventors before standing warily from his own stool and slowly raising the mechanical limb. He couldn't feel anything from it of course but the actions were fluid and it moved as he wanted it to so it would suit his purposes at the very least. As he curled and unfurled his new fingers, the prince of crime in Zaun couldn't help but smile.
"You done good Jinx." So saying he ruffled her blue hair affectionately, much to her annoyance. Then he made his way over to the others. "Vander, I know you want a piece of me, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow. We've got shit to do now."
"I hear ya boy." The bearded man grumbled, earning a heel stomp from Vi that he promptly ignored.
"Sevika, keep your eye on Caitlyn. We have a stop to make before the exchange."
Caitlyn's head perked up at those words. "Stops? Exchange? Where are we going?"
Hadrian stared into the familiar girl's eyes. They'd had a great many conversations in that basement, and more and more he was feeling as if he really knew this person. As if the veil of his past was slowly starting to lift. He had no wish to cause her undo fear. "The council of Piltover has agreed to our terms and intends to sign our order of emancipation today. As agreed we shall be returning you to them at the same time."
Caitlyn swallowed the happy note that was building in her throat and asked, "What about the men and women that came with me in the assault? Are they to be returned as well?"
"The council has not paid their ransom, so no. They have been put to work in the mines of Zaun. Where so many of our brothers and sisters have fallen to serve their greed in the past. Do not worry though. They shall be released within a couple of years having served their time. We don't work people to death like your council. As to our next stop though, well, it's a surprise."
Caitlyn tried to ask more questions, but the Red Eye was already moving on. When she tried to grab his shoulder to stop him, Sevika took hold of her own. "Just follow for now." The large woman ordered before pushing her to do so.
An hour of walking later and the small group found themselves looking down on a bubbling green lake. Small shanty homes and makeshift cabins littered its banks along with vast amounts of refuse and waste. Caitlyn could see the elderly and children hobbling about on crutches and carts and they all appeared both sick and miserable.
"What is this?" The heiress from Piltover gasped, unable to take her eyes away from the suffering before her.
Seeing the dilemma, Hadrian simply moved to stand beside her. "Before handing you over I wanted you to see what your kind were turning us into. Why we couldn't stand the subjugation you created any longer."
"What does this horror have to do with Piltover?"
"Everything Cait." The Red Eye took hold of Caitlyn's chin and moved her face to the side until it was staring off at a previously missed feature of the original tableau. A waterfall of the same sluggish green liquid that made up the lake… falling down from an exhaust pipe leading out of a very particular factory.
"It's easy to read about factory fumes and waste causing sickness, disease and pain, but its something else entirely to know exactly where it comes from. Welcome, Cait, to the Kiramman Manufactory."
"No." The blue haired woman whispered, unable to tear her gaze away even after the Red Eye removed his grip on her. "This isn't right. My mother wouldn't allow this to happen."
"Yes she would." Hadrian growled. "Your entire family would. For decades we've begged for the Kirammans and all the others to find another way to deal with their toxic waste and runoff. We gave them studies that showed exactly how what they were doing was killing our people, sent them pictures of the sick and dying, and we even researched dozens of alternative ways to handle the substances. But do you know what they said? That no Zaunite findings could be trusted and that their own experts would find out for themselves if what we said was true. But of course none ever came to investigate. It didn't take us long to find out the truth. That handling this shit any other way would hurt their bottom line too much to be enacted. Our lives were worth less the quarterly average." Hadrian was shuddering with anger by the end, and it was only Vi's quick hand in his only feeling one that stopped him from going into a fullblown rage.
So as she cooed in his ear he forced himself to calm down and led the depressed former captive from the scene. "The last request was sent to your mother two years ago and it was written by my hand. She responded by cutting the workers wages by a third. I just thought you should know."
Caitlyn remained silent the rest of the way to the bridge, just thinking over what she'd seen. She didn't want to believe it. How could her family, her mother, have allowed something so horrible as that toxic runoff to exist? Part of her rebelled and claimed it was all a trick, but the rest believed what she had seen with her own eyes. She just knew that she and her mother were going to have an interesting conversation when they were reunited.
The group made their way through the streets of Zaun (Caitlyn was amazed at the way people reacted to Hadrian, bowing and smiling as if royalty walked amongst them) to a thin, makeshift platform that had been erected across the water in the time since her captivity began. It was more a long dock than anything serious, but it got the job done. They were met by an eclectic group to say the least.
Piltover's contingent consisted of the Council, Sheriff Grayson, and a dark haired man, perhaps a few years older than Hadrian himself. Caitlyn saw him and had to stop herself from bolting. What the hell was Jayce doing here? Knowing the reaction her captor had whenever his elder brother was mentioned she shot a look at him and sighed in relief when she realized he hadn't noticed him yet. Jayce was at the very back of the group, hidden by taller heads, and Hadrian only had eyes for the Council.
"Well?" He tilted his top hat back to glare at the assembled aristocrats with his red eye, delighting in the nervous gulps the act created. "Do you have something for me?"
Heimerdinger, the selected spokesman for this meeting, stepped forward with a rolled scroll in his hand. "As agreed, we have signed a charter of emancipation for your people. As of this moment you are known as the free nation of Zaun."
Hadrian scooped the document out of the man's hands, tore it open to peruse its contents, and gave a tooth filled smile at what he saw. "Yes, yes, very good. I notice there are couple sections about exclusive trade agreements of certain materials…" He gave the council a few minutes to sweat before finishing, "but I can overlook that slight for now seeing as it it stipulates we can set the prices. And you only ask for food stuffs after all."
"A-And the mines." Kiramman burst forth, earning a stern glare from Heimerdinger. It had taken him hours to convince her that such an addition would not be feasible and he had succeeded in having it stricken from the document. But now that the moment was at hand it seemed she was going to try for it anyway.
It was an act that formed a glare on the top hat bearers face. "The mines are not specified in this document."
"They are the property of my company." She insisted, before stepping back as her tone earned the hostile attention of the Zaunites, each of which were bringing forth weapons.
Hadrian's glare could have melted steel. "We say they are the property of Zaun. Our people were the ones that dug them, died inside of them because you wouldn't cough up the coin for air filtration or gas masks, and hauled the raw materials to the surface. We bought them with our blood and dead. Do not press me on this."
Kiramman searched rapidly for support from her fellows, and upon seeing none, scowled before stepping back.
"Good." The Red Eye praised and looked back down at Heimerdinger, "Very good. Now, as promised, Caitlyn is yours." He waved behind him and Sevika pushed the blue haired girl forward. She almost fell off the edge of the walkway before getting her feet under her and moving to join the delegation from Piltover. "I promise you she has not been harmed."
The Yordle nodded before inquiring, "The bridge repair?"
"Will be started in the morning. We already have the materials and men in place. They were just waiting on this." he waved the scroll. "Trade should continue within a matter of weeks. In the meantime we have food ready to be transferred to hold your people over."
"Excellent." Heimerdinger didn't know what to think of this young man. By rights he thought he should be speaking to the older gentlemen over his shoulder, yet they were letting him handle the entire exchange. Dimly he wondered what the future held for his people without Zaun. They were in a new age now to be sure. Suddenly a new idea popped into his head.
"Mr. Red Eye, may I call you that?"
Hadrian nodded his ascent.
"Would you consider attending our council as a trading partner?" Behind him the rest of the council gasped but he refused to look. His eyes were only for the young man across from him. His hat somehow staying on his head despite the constant sea breeze. He needed to make ties with him now before some other nation could.
Hadrian was surprised to say the least. Never had a citizen of Zaun been asked to attend the tower of Piltover, let alone sit upon its council. "I will… consider it. But I must attend to the needs of my people before doing anything else."
The Yordle nodded, he had figured as such, but he was glad he'd voiced his idea regardless. "There is no rush. The offer is an open one and I will eagerly await your answer whenever it comes." Having said his piece, he turned around and marched back towards the city, the rest of the council eagerly following on his smaller heels.
Meanwhile, Caitlyn was falling back to speak to Jayce. "What the hell are you doing here?" She hissed.
The man in question looked back at the retreating Zaunites before responding. "I got your message, and I needed to see him for myself. Grayson agreed to let me tag along. I just can't believe it, but it's him. You were right."
Caitlyn nodded sadly. "Yes. What are you going to do?"
He was silent for several moments before responding. "I can't keep this to myself. My mother needs to know. She needs to see him, and so do I"
"But travel between our two countries isn't exactly going to be easy and citizens of Piltover aren't very popular in Zaun."
"I'll make it work. Somehow."
That Night - Kiramman Residence
Caitlyn had been sent home immediately upon her return to the city while her mother followed the other councilor's back to their tower to discuss the events of the day. She had tried to sleep, unsuccessfully, in her own bed. Then she'd tried to make a snack, and then even read in her family library. But the entire time her mind was occupied with the image of the toxic lake, and Hadrian's words telling her that her mother had known all about it and the suffering her factory was brining to his people. She needed to know for sure.
So it was that a few hours later, the main office was where Cassandra Kiramman found her daughter, shock on her face and a pile of letters and hazard surveys lying on her desk. Dozens of empty files littered the ground at her feet, clearly torn from the nearby cabinets.
"Mother." Her tone was ice as her shock turned to anger, "Tell me… I need you to tell me you didn't know about this."
For her part, the councilor was torn. She had hoped the day would never come that her daughter found out about the dirty part of their family's business. She only ever wanted to protect her. From the dangers of the world, and the truth about their family. But she supposed she would have to know eventually when she took over. She just never wanted to see the look of disappointment in her little girl's eyes. The look that was now currently aimed right at her. "Know about what, honey?" She entered the room with slow, measured, steps, hoping to avoid causing an explosion from Caitlyn. She needed to be calm, explain the situation in a way she would understand, and that meant she needed to know how much she actually knew.
"This!" She swept her hand across the wood of the desk, scattering hazard reports that verified the Zaunites claims that her factory was slowly killing them. Then she rounded the desk herself to stand before her and shoved the dozens of letters from those same Zaunites begging for quality control and proper handling of waste into her arms. "And these!"
Cassandra could only stand in silence as her daughter broke down and angry tears fell down her face. "You knew! You knew that your factory was killing people!"
"Our factory." In contrast to her daughter, the mother's voice was soft, consoling, trying to calm rather than accuse. She knew what it was to hear these words. "It will be yours someday, Caitlyn, and it was a situation I too inherited. And just like our ancestors I had to make a tough choice. The cost of making that factory safe for everyone would have cost four entire years earnings. I couldn't do that to our workers in Piltover, they would receive no salary."
Her daughter stared at her in shock, and Cassandra realized for the first time that Caitlyn was actually taller than she was. When had that happened? "So you decided that a few paychecks was more important than the deaths of thousands!"
"When you say it like that it sounds horrible. But I don't have to look the Zaunites in the eyes. I do have to look our employees, distributers, traders, and shareholders here in theirs. As I said it was a tough choice, but I made the right one. I chose our people. Our economy. Our earnings that help to support this city."
Caitlyn was shaking now. "You're a monster."
It felt like an arrow was cutting through the councilor's heart at those words. "No, no, honey. I'm a businesswoman, and a councilor of Piltover. I did what I had to do. And because of what I've done, someday everything this family has built will still be around to be passed down to you."
"No." Caitlyn spoke softly for the first time that night and looked down. "No it won't." Then she let loose with an uppercut that took her mother completely by surprise in the chin. She was unconscious before she hit the floor.
For a few frantic moments the blue haired girl freaked out over what she had just done, but then a cold sense of calm washed over her. She hadn't done anything wrong. Her mother… she truly was a monster. She had knowingly endangered so many, and that meant she could no longer stay with her. She needed to get out, atone for the mistakes of her family, but she couldn't do it alone. An idea began forming in her mind then, about some others that wanted to get out.
An hour later saw her knocking on a very particular door. It was opened a second later to reveal the drawn face of Jayce, and behind him sounded the sobbing of a woman in distress.
"You told your mother then?" She asked, earning a short nod in return. "Are you still planning to try to see your brother?"
"Yes." The sound was filled with years worth of regret.
"Good. Cause I need to go to Zaun tonight, and I could use some traveling companions."
Jayce looked into her eyes for a moment before saying, "Give me a moment to calm my mother down and we'll both join you."
"There's just one thing, Jayce." Caitlyn steeled herself before saying, "Hadrian is convinced that you tried to kill him all those years ago on the bridge."
