When Worlds Collide

by Evolution Legacy

People all across Runeterra are disappearing and the League of Legends can't figure out why. But when a superhuman soldier from Earth get caught in an accident on a mission and sent to Runeterra, he becomes a catalyst that will spark a war between worlds. After all, the League of Legends never considered that the culprits behind the missing people is an Earth-based organization.

11. Chapter 10 - Ionia

A/N: Alright, here is the complete chapter 10. My apoligies for the long delay in finishing this chapter, but this is due to the fact that I had posted the first half of chapter 10 with around 4k words... and believed that 4k was half of what I had planned. Turns out... the finished chapter ten is over 21k words...

So as you can probably guess, it took a bit longer to complete then I had thought. If you find any errors in this chapter, its because editing/re-editing a 50 page word document gets rather tedious, so if you find any errors, please excuse them. If they are very notable errors or something of the like, let me know so I can correct them for the future.

As usual, enjoy and please review. I would like to know what people think of this story so far.

- Evolution Legacy

Demacia

Demacia

The gate guard's horn bellowed its report to the soldiers below to inform them of approaching riders. Within seconds of the horn's sounding, Demacia's main gates began their slow ascent. The great chains clanked and clattered as they pulled the heavy iron gates up to allow passage into the city. By the time Garen and his companions arrived at the gates, it was already open.

"Strange for the gates to be closed at this time of day." Quinn noted quietly, but loud enough for Garen to hear.

Garen responded with a "hmph" and a nod. Strange indeed... usually the gates are bustling with traffic at this time of day. It was still in the afternoon, Garen and his companions had rode hard and long for nearly twenty hours. No one in his party of seven had muttered a complaint throughout the entire journey, but Garen could tell they were relieved to have finally reached home.

"No time to waste my companions..." Garen half-shouted over the sounds of their horse's hooves clamoring on stone as they passed through Demacia's triple gatehouse. "We make for the palace immediately."

"Sir!" We're the only responses from behind him.

On the other side of the final gate, a column of a dozen soldiers stood guard, each armed with spear and shield in hand, and a blade at their waist. As Garen and his companions rode through the final gate, the soldiers all snapped to attention and saluted upon seeing him.

"Make way for Lord Garen Crownguard!" One of the soldiers riding behind Garen, likely the standard bearer, shouted. "Make way for the heir of House Crownguard!"

The column of soldiers guarding the gate parted to allow Garen and his retinue to pass, the seven of them riding straight through the middle of the foot soldiers.

Even with the gate's non-existent traffic, the city of Demacia was bustling with life. Soldiers patrolled the streets in groups, merchants at their stalls shouted to passing by citizens to come and buy their merchandise; children ran about playing, it seemed like an ordinary day in Demacia.

"Make way for heir of House Crownguard." Garen's companion continued to shout as they galloped through the streets of the city. Both city guards and city dwellers alike made room for them, the guard's snapping to attention as they rode past, while the citizens called out to them.

"It's Garen! Look, its Garen!" One man pointed and called to his friends.

"My Lord Garen!" A woman called out to him waving.

"Look mommy, look!" A small child pulled at her mother's dress, pointing at them as they rode past. "Its Garen and Quinn! Look!"

Garen raised one of his hands up slightly to acknowledge the onlookers here and there as they made their way to the city. Quinn on the other hand, waved a bit more excitingly.

Still a lot of youth in that one. Garen thought as he watched the purple haired girl wave to a small group of children who were waving back at them. The child jumped for joy and ran off at the sight of her waving, earning a smile from the scout.

But then again, I was once like that too... Garen solemnly thought to himself.

As Garen and his retinue approached the Demacian Royal Palace, the soldiers guarding the gates scrambled quickly to open them. Garen took notice of the fact that the Palace's decorative gates were closed as the guards opened the path for them.

Even the Royal Palace gates are closed... has something happened? Garen frowned as the passed through the Royal Palace's gates. As the last of his party entered, Garen could hear the gate's being pushed closed behind them.

Suspicious indeed... He thought as he dismounted from his horse.

"Good work everyone, return to the barracks and get some rest." He said in his usual commanding tone. "Quinn, come with me."

"Sir!" Were the replies as the rest of his companions dismounted. As Quinn got off her horse, she brought two of her fingers to her mouth and gave a loud whistle. As she followed after Garen, he saw Valor pass overhead to return to his master.

A strange pair those two... but effective. Garen thought as he marched up to the great doors to the palace with Quinn and Valor following behind him. He also heard Valor squawking at Quinn behind him.

"What? You saw something?" Quinn asked her companion.

"Squawk! Squawk!" Valor replied.

"What?! How?!" Quinn's voice was filled with surprise and shock, something that Garen took notice of. "You aren't messing with me by chance are you?"

Valor responded with (unsurprisingly) another squawk.

"Commander!" Quinn shouted out to Garen as they were climbing the steps to the palace's Demacian crested doors. Garen stopped with each foot on a different step and turned to face the young woman. He noticed that her face had a slight look of worry.

"What is it?" He asked, curious to hear what it was that Valor had said that caused the scout to become worried. Something that bird had seen...

"Valor says he saw a hole on the roof of the Royal Palace." Quinn reported her partner's findings to Garen. "Right where the audience chamber should be."

What?! Now it was Garen's turn to be surprised, and although he maintained his composure, he couldn't help but to raise his eyebrows at this finding.

He pondered this for a second. Why were all the gates closed? Why was there a hole on the roof of the Royal Palace's audience chamber? Could they be related?

And who or what killed Captain Reynolds and destroyed The Wings of Honor?

More questions. That was all he had.

Time for some answers then. Garen thought, nodded to himself, and turned away from Quinn to continue up the stairs.

"Come Quinn, it's time we talked to the prince." He said. "We have much to discuss."

Even more so then I thought...

Parting Ways

Avadari, West Ionia

"Well... that was quite the adventure now, wasn't it?" Caitlyn said with a laid back tone as she hoisted her sniper rifle up against her shoulder.

Isaac shrugged in response. "Sure, we can call it that... an adventure."

"Well if that's an adventure, then our whole lives have been one long adventure then." Mute chuckled.

"I'd say." Firewall nodded, "Not as enjoyable as it sounds though."

Vi snorted in response. "You can say that again kid."

A brief silence fell over the five of them where they stood on the wooden Ionian pier. The only sound anyone heard was the soft sound of the ocean waves, and the squawking of the seagulls in the distance. The sun was setting itself behind the ocean, basking everyone in an orange light. Caitlyn leaned herself up against one of the wooden columns on the pier as she gazed at the setting sun. Isaac glanced over at her, and found his gaze lingering.

She looks so... relaxed. And calm for someone who just got told that her world was being invaded a few hours ago. Isaac thought to himself with a frown. Although... He thought as he looked at the blue haired beauty. Her hair was fluttering in the breeze slightly; causing her to raise one hand to brush a few stray strands behind her ear as she seemingly lost herself in the sunset. The sunset sure makes her look even more stunning...

It wasn't until he noticed Mute's grinning face looking up at him from where she was floating that made him realize he was staring.

Right... not wearing my helmet...

Isaac quickly glanced away, hoping that no one else had noticed.

To his relief, no one else had... although, that was because Firewall was also very obviously staring at the oblivious beauty, with Vi glancing between him and her partner and then shaking her head.

"Ahem!" The pink haired enforcer cleared her throat loudly made Firewall snap out of it.

Mute chuckled quietly. "Busted." She whispered just loud enough for Isaac to hear, and threw him a smirk.

"Now that we're all done sightseeing..." Vi threw the younger meta human an accusing look before bringing her attention to Isaac and continuing, "What are you going to do now?" She asked.

Isaac crossed his arms over his chest and looked out at the sunset for a second as he thought about it. "I'm not sure. Vega said that we have new... orders... so to say." He said, returning his glance to look at Vi. "I guess we'll have to see what he's got say first before we decide anything."

Vi frowned and shook her head. "Well shouldn't it be obvious? We have to put the smack-down on those Ascension bastards!" She slammed one massive metal fist into one massive metal palm as to but emphasis on the "smack-down" part.

"But first." Caitlyn interjected her head turning away from the sunset and towards her partner. "We have to find out where they are."

"Uhh... Right..." Vi mumbled, her head dropping slightly. "Anyone got any ideas?"

"Well the Ascension likes to move around a lot... most of the time they operate off mobile command centers of some sort, like that Overseer class submarine." Mute explained, "But they have to have some sort of headquarters somewhere on Valoran that's more permanent."

"Yeah..." Firewall rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke. "But that's a whole continent to search... without any sophisticated technology."

Caitlyn sighed as she stood back up straight from where she had been relaxing. "Nobody said it was going to be easy." She nodded. "But at least we know who our foe is now."

Right... too bad our enemy is like smoke and mirrors... Isaac thought as he looked back out at the sunset as he thought back to the day's earlier events...

---

Shortly after their escape from the Overseer class submarine, Isaac and the others had remained submerged in their stolen midget submarines until they had put a good distance between themselves and the Overseer. They had emerged from the water in the middle of an ocean, without any idea where they were. Without any better ideas, Ezreal had fired a flare gun that he had found inside one of the submarines, straight up into the air.

Isaac was skeptical that anyone would see it, but he was glad when he was proven wrong. A trading ship from Piltover on its way to Ionia soon came by, and rescued them.

Well, it was about time lady luck threw us a bone... spending the night in the storage compartment of a trade ship sure beat death by either starvation or heat stroke in the middle of an ocean. Isaac had thought back then.

After they all had some rest and some food and water (which they ended up paying for because Caitlyn didn't want to take any more freebees from the merchants and sailors that had picked them all up), Isaac, Mute, and Firewall had to give them all the rundown on who the Ascension was...

"The Ascension," Mute had explained. "It a worldwide terrorist organization from our world, although paramilitary is a better term for them. Formed by a very powerful meta-human named Enzo Lefèvre, the Ascension possess technology that is years ahead of most countries on our planet."

Mute's avatar flickered and then vanished, and in its place was a holograph of Earth.

"What is that?" Vi asked.

"This is Earth." Firewall pointed at Mute's new avatar. "That's the world where we come from."

Ezreal bolted up from where he was sitting to get a closer look. "Wow! That's your guy's world? There are so many more landmasses and islands!" The young explorer didn't appear to even try to contain his excitement.

"Yes." Mute acknowledged, still able to speak even though her avatar had completely changed. "Judging by the maps of your own world, I'd say Earth is much larger than your world… but I'm not sure by how much."

Ezreal's excitement seemed to only increase by hearing that. "That's amazing!" He said with his voice full of enthusiasm. "Where are you guys from on this?"

"Well, we're kind of from all over the place." Firewall answered while scratching the top of his now exposed head. The younger meta-human had considerably less scaring on his face then Isaac, only a single one at his chin could be seen clearly. Like Isaac, his hair had been shaven off, but enough of it had grown back that it covered the top of his red head. "Like I'm from a massive country called the United States of North America, while someone else on our team is from a country called Greece, which is on entirely different landmass."

"Well, if we had to put us all from somewhere…" Mute spoke up. The holograph spun around quickly, stopping when Europe was directly in front of Ezreal, a brighter light appeared near the middle of the continent. "Here, this is where our headquarters is."

"Right there?" Ezreal pointed at the light. "What's it called?"

"Geneva." Isaac answered. "It's a city." We shouldn't be telling them this… but… what harm can it do I guess? While our headquarters is in Geneva, our team itself is based out of Los Angeles.

"Pardon me…" Caitlyn tapped Ezreal on the shoulder. "But can we return to the matter at hand before you start bombarding them with questions?"

"Oh…" Ezreal gave the sheriff an apologetic look. "Sorry… kinda slipped my mind for a second there."

Caitlyn shook her head slightly with a slight grin on her face that told everyone that she was used to it. "Mute, continue please."

"Of course…" Mute began again. "Four years ago, the Ascension staged a worldwide assault on most of the world's wealthiest nations. Tens of thousands of people died on a single day that we know call Ascension Day. The Ascension launched several missile strikes and set off various explosives in several economically important cities and military bases around the globe."

The light that was emitting on the holograph where Geneva was disappeared, however several new lights appeared in various locations in both North America and Europe.

New York, Washington, Halifax, London, Lisbon… the list goes on… Isaac thought. He already knew all of the cities hit. Only cities near the Atlantic Ocean were hit on Ascension Day.

"That same day, the Ascension announced to the world that they were responsible for the attacks, and that it was the beginning of the Ascension War. Over the course of the next year or so, the Ascension launched attacks and raids worldwide and was somehow able to convince some nations to attack others, and through the support of other nations the Ascension was able to take control of several countries around the world."

As Mute continued her lesson, more and more little lights appeared on her Earth avatar, showing the locations of various cities hit, what countries had been taken over, and where major battles had taken place.

Isaac's eyes fell onto one such light that highlighted Japan. As he listened to Mute's continued explanation, he continued to glance back at the country, feeling a chill going down his spine as he did.

Bad memories there… very bad...

"So… what happened? Did they win?" Vega asked during one of Mute's pauses.

"No." Mute answered with a single word before elaborating. "The majority of the world's military powers formed an alliance to counter the Ascension, and within just over a year of Ascension Day, they managed to eliminate the vast majority of the Ascension bases around the world, and crippled their leadership and logistics to the point that the Ascension couldn't keep up the fight any longer. Without their Ascension allies, the countries that had supported them either surrendered to superior force, or withdrew completely from the world stage."

"So…" Vi tilted her neck to the side as she spoke. "Although millions of people died… everyone lived happily ever after?"

"Well, not exactly. Some countries had their infrastructure so badly damaged that there still under reconstruction today, and while the world wants to believe that the Ascension is gone…"

Isaac shook his head. "You can see that's clearly not the case."

---

Yeah… if that was the case they wouldn't have cared to keep me and the other meta-humans around as some international anti-Ascension army. Isaac thought, looking back to the other four now that he was returning to the past. Before anyone could say anything else, a somewhat fat man who appeared to be in his late forties with a trimmed beard came up to them from farther down the docks. Isaac recognized him as the captain and owner of the trade ship that had picked them up.

"Sorry to interrupt ladies and gentlemen." The older merchant said as he approached them. "But is' time we got 'a going. The sea is calm at the moment, and it's supposed to stay tha' way for tha' rest of tha' night." He turned to Vi and Caitlyn. "If ya' want to stay until a different ship comes, then now's ya' chance to say so ladies."

"No, we can't afford to stay the night." Caitlyn replied. "We'll take you up on your offer captain."

The fat merchant nodded with a smile. "Glad ta' hear it. Not every day we fish out League Champions in tha' water, let alone our very own city's famous sheriff an' deputy."

"Yes… Well… It's been quite the adventure." Caitlyn nodded with a slight smile on her face.

"Well then!" The merchant captain rubbed his hands together. "Best be sayin' 'ur goodbye's now ladies. We be setting off soon." The captain turned to face Isaac and Firewall. "And best of luck to ya' lads, and… err… fairy lady." He added in as he glanced at Mute.

Mute sighed in response as the captain walked away. "How come everyone who sees me either thinks I'm a ghost, or a magical fairy? Is it because I'm glowing?"

Isaac looked down at his AI companion. "Did you really just ask that?"

Mute responded by throwing Isaac a glance that said "oh shut up".

"Well then." Vi yawned. "Time to get aboard and spend the night on a smelly ship and rocky waves." She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Well, good luck guys. Next time you boys are in town look us up, and we'll hit a night on the town." Her expression changed from a grin to a more annoyed look. "I'm still pissed about Jinx though…" Vi grumbled before turning around and following after the ship's captain.

After they had gotten picked up by the trade ship, they had put Jinx in the ship's brig while Vega tended to her. Shortly after they had docked however, one of the sailors had informed them that they had found the brig empty, with the lock smashed and a note left behind that has said "Suckaz" in bright pink writing.

"Yes... well…" Caitlyn began as she started to walk after her partner. "As much as I'd enjoy the... night on the town… best not to get ahead of ourselves." She said before coming to a stop in front of Isaac and looking at him in the eyes. "If you have any need of us don't hesitate to ask, Archangel. This is our world and if this Ascension thinks they can do whatever they want here, I've got a nice jailhouse for them in Piltover."

Isaac nodded. "I'll keep that in mind sheriff, I'm sure the Ascension will be thrilled to see it one day."

Caitlyn gave him a small smile and a nod in response before turning to walk away. She took three steps before stopping and turning to Firewall.

"Oh, and… my offer still stands." She said to him, and walked after Vi and the merchant captain. This time, she didn't stop again.

Offer? Isaac turned to Firewall, who was frozen in spot.

"What was that about an offer?" Isaac asked, raising his right eyebrow as he did.

After a second, Firewall turned to face him, his expression hidden behind his helmet with the enlarged visor.

"She… uh…" He paused, rubbing the back of his neck before continuing. "She offered me a place in Piltover Police Department."

…. Huh? What? Isaac was taken aback. He hadn't expected this at all.

"She offered you a job?" Mute asked after waiting a second for Isaac to respond.

"Uh… yeah… something like that." Firewall's head fell down towards the ground as he spoke.

Isaac found his voice again. "Something like that? That's exactly what it is."

"Uh… yeah…"

"So?" Mute asked, her avatar floating up to rest on Isaac's shoulder. "What are you going to do?"

"I think…" Firewall paused, took a deep breath, and exhaled. "I think I'm going to take her up on it."

"Really?" Isaac asked, raising his eyebrow again. "Why?"

"Well, the way I see it…" The younger meta-human began as he raised his head to look back at Isaac, "While you're out there chasing whatever leads that guy… uh… that summoner, gives you, I can follow up on any leads that come out of Piltover. Not to mention I'll be working with at least two people who know what's going on." Firewall paused again, his head moving back down to look at the wooden dock they stood on. "That… and I kind of want to see this place... Piltover."

Isaac bit his lower lip in thought. He had planned on having Firewall stick with him. Having his old squadmate watching his back was a huge plus, even more so in this strange new world they had found themselves in.

But he does raise a good point… aside from the "wanting to see Piltover" part. If Firewall was in a different city where he was with others who knew what was going on, it could be a good asset as well. He could see if the Ascension were involved with anything more in Piltover and the surrounding area, which would allow them to check more than one place at a time. Additionally, Vi and Caitlyn seemed competent enough to be of help. The latter more so then the former when it came to technical work.

Isaac sighed. "Alright, I see your point... It's better if we split up."

Firewall looked back up at Isaac. "Yeah… you get what I'm trying to say?"

"Yeah." Isaac nodded. "But that leaves the question, how do we stay in contact with our long range COMs offline?"

"Caitlyn said something about some super scientist guy in the city. Some… yordle was it? By the name of Heimerdinger. I was thinking that I could maybe enlist him, which will be easier if I'm part of the police force."

Isaac brought his right hand to his chin in thought. "Maybe, but we can't just go spilling the secrets to everyone. I'm not sure if this world is ready for our technology."

"Well… Yeah… I get that, but if it gets us to stay in contact, we'll need it to fight the Ascension."

"Uh, hate to interrupt you two…" Mute spoke up. "But isn't that ship leaving?"

Oh… forgot…

"Oh shit…" Firewall turned around quickly to check on the ship that hadn't left yet. "Right! Uh…" He spun back around to face Isaac. "Look, I'll figure it out when I'm there."

"Yeah…" Isaac nodded. "You do that. I'll keep at it with the League then."

"Sounds good… I better get going." Firewall turned around and started to run down the pier towards the ship. He got partway when he stopped and turned around to face Isaac yet again.

"Sir!" Firewall snapped to attention and gave Isaac a salute. "Good luck out there sergeant!"

Isaac returned the salute. "Same to you corporal! Hopefully neither of us will need it."

"Agreed! I'll get in contact as soon as I can!" Firewall hollered back to him, and then he ran off after the duo from Piltover.

As Isaac turned away from the docks and back towards the village he, Ezreal, and Vega were staying in for the night, Mute's avatar vanished.

"So… do you really think this is for the best?" Isaac heard her voice in his ear as he sealed his helmet back over his head, hiding his face from view. "I mean, splitting up?"

Isaac bit his lower lip tenderly has he thought about it. "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure… but he is right, we need to widen our search... and…" He looked up at the alien world's sky that reminded him so much of the one back home, of the one sky he saw looming over the city when he and his sister watched the sunset when they were children.

Had I known what life had in store for us... I would've enjoyed moments like that more…

"And?" Mute's voice brought him from out of his sudden daydreaming.

"And… I'm still not a hundred percent sure on if we can work with the League forever. After all, right now we're still on their chain. There might be a time where we'll have to break off of it."

Hopefully, that time isn't coming anytime soon…

Recruiting

The port town they had landed in was more like what Isaac expected from the more medieval like setting that the world of Runeterra. The buildings and docks were comprised of mainly wood, with the majority of the buildings looking well maintained, although there was the odd run down shack here and there. Most of the roads were dirt, but there was the odd paved road here and there.

"These buildings and roads seem quite new actually." Mute suddenly said as they made their way through the town to the inn the others had settled in at.

"Oh?" Isaac humored her, even though he was sure she was just trying to start a conversation to get his mind off the fact that, once again, some people were staring at him. This is going to take some serious time getting used to… wait, how can she even tell these buildings are new? They look rather… damaged.

He mentioned that to Mute, and she nodded in response. "True, but see how the road has no overgrowth? Neither is there really any on the homes."

Isaac glanced around. She was right; the stoned paved roads had nothing of the sort. Although there are lots of puddles and cracks…

"Now, judging by the current state of the town, my guess is that this town has had a recent powerful storm hit it." Mute explained with one of her hands on her chin and her eyes closed. "That would explain why the buildings and roads are somewhat damaged… that, and the fact that there are puddles of water everywhere."

"If it was hit by a storm that bad…" Isaac began but took another glance around and noticed that most of the buildings seemed to have been repaired. That and some of the people walking around were carrying what he believed to be building materials. Hmm, looks like the majority of the damage, if it really was that bad, has been repaired already.

"What?" Mute asked, "You were saying something?"

"Ah, well, I was going to mention that there didn't seem to be too much damage, but it looks like it the majority has been repaired already."

"Hmm… strange though…"

"What is?"

"The building's architecture… it strongly resembles that of East Asian cultures."

"Oh?" Isaac studied the buildings a bit closer as he walked through the streets. Now that she mentions it… it does look a little familiar…

"Perhaps Ionia is this world's equivalent to our world's Japan? Or China?"

"I'm not sure if we can compare our world to this one."

"Hmm?" Mute cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean by that?"

"If Ionia is Japan, then what was Piltover then?"

Mute opened her mouth to say something, only to stop a second later. "Hmm… good point. Piltover really doesn't match anything from our world. But that's strange, Piltover is on a whole different level then what we're seeing here in this port town."

Isaac shrugged. "Maybe the so called city of progress doesn't feel like sharing its advancements with its neighbors?"

Mute shook her head in response. "I wouldn't really call Ionia much of a neighbor, there is an ocean separating the two."

Isaac spotted the inn the others were staying at up ahead, and let out a brief sigh. "Well, let's see if Vega's managed to get into contact with his boss."

Isaac pushed the doors to the inn open and took at quick glance around. The inn had a rather generic layout and appearance, wooden structure, wooden tables, a bar, with the rooms on the upper floors. Majority of the tables and chairs were empty, and the ones that were populated were far and between. Aside from the barkeep, no one noticed him enter.

Room five on the second floor… Isaac thought as he made his way through the dining area and past the bar to the staircase beyond it.

"So, how do you think that minister guy is going to take all this?" Mute asked him as he made his way up the stairs.

"He'll grumble about it, but I honestly believe he'll be relieved." Isaac replied without much thought.

Mute's avatar, in its usual spot in his HUD, blinked. "Relieved? How so? That a hostile enemy force from another world is invading?"

Isaac rolled his eyes. "No… I was referring to the fact that he'll know for sure who is enemy is, rather than suspecting everyone and everything."

"Hmm, true I suppose, but how do you think he'll feel when we gets word that the Ascension is an advanced invading army that can be just about anywhere when it needs to be?"

"I'm hoping Vega has a bit of tact when it comes to telling him that part."

"From what I've seen, tact doesn't seem to be Vega's strong point." Mute smirked.

Isaac shook his head. True…

As he approached their room, he heard something fall over on the other side of the door, followed by a quick yelp. Isaac paused for a second before opening the door, and then he heard another yelp followed by another light bam.

What the hell is going on in there?

"What is going on in there?" Mute asked as if reading his mind.

One way to find out… Isaac placed his hand on the doorknob to room five. Just don't be what I think it is… He thought and pushed the door open, quickly walking inside and closing it behind him.

A quick look around the once neat inn room, and Isaac let out another sigh. It had been exactly what he didn't want it to be.

One of the nightstands had been knocked over, bed sheets and pillows where tossed around, and Ezreal was lying in the center of his room curled into a ball on his side holding his groin, mumbling gibberish.

And nearby, was Jinx standing on top of one of the beds with a pillow in her hands, ready to throw it at a very irritated Vega.

"Jinx! Just calm down for one-" Vega began to shout, but was cut off by a large pillow hitting him right in the face. As he struggled to toss the pillow aside, his face red with clear frustration, Isaac suspected Jinx's high pitched "Hah" probably didn't help; he tried to shout at her again.

Just as he opened his mouth, Jinx leapt down from the bed and drop kicked the young blonde haired summoner right in his privates. Vega's eye's went wide in response and he dropped to the ground with a high pitched yelp of pain, both hands grabbing his groin.

"Hah! Welcome back to pre-puberty sucker!" Jinx taunted the summoner in extricating pain as he rolled on the ground, falling into the same position that Ezreal was currently in.

Isaac just watched the scene in near disbelief. Is this REALLY happening…?

"Well… isn't this a comical scene." Mute chuckled.

"Shut up Mute…" Isaac muttered and slowly walked into the room, as much as he didn't want to enter.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Isaac asked out loud. Jinx spun around, with an expression on her face similar to one of that of a five year old kid caught with his hand stick in the cookie jar.

"O-oh! Uh… uhh… Archi!" Jinx stammered a bit, "Uh... hi!"

"Yes, hi Jinx…" Isaac said, motioning his head to the two blondes on the ground. "Why are you castrating Ezreal and Vega?"

"Uh... cuz… uh…" Jinx franticly looked around the room, as if trying to find a weapon. After another few seconds of uh's and cuz's Jinx's expression suddenly changed to sorrow. "Oh Archi! Thank god you came!" She shouted and leapt at Isaac, wrapping her arms around him and suddenly started sobbing.

Isaac was taken so off guard by the change that he didn't know how to react. Mute's expression also changed to one of disbelief. W-w-what?

"Oh Archi! It was so bad! These two… uh… criminals!" Jinx exclaimed as she sobbed, her head on his shoulder as she hugged him tight. "They tried to strip me and force me down! They tried to take my virginity in the most… dire… uh… criminal way possible!"

Isaac blinked… still unsure of how to react to this sudden change in emotion from Jinx.

"Yeah…. I don't buy that…" Mute sighed and pressed on hand against her face. "What is with this girl?"

Yeah… I agree with you on both accounts Mute…

Isaac cleared his throat and tried to push the skinny blue haired girl off him. "Yeah… sorry Jinx, but I don't buy that at all."

Jinx leapt back from him, her expression now one of total shock. "What!? Why not!?"

"Because these two are the biggest goody-two-shoes I've met since I've come here… aside from Caitlyn that is."

Jinx paused for a second, her face freezing. A second later she brought one hand to her chin and started tapping her lips as if deep in thought. "Shit… if that excuse didn't work… how am I supposed to explain this?" She mumbled out loud.

Oh for god sakes…

"Arch…" Vega mumbled, his voice showing clear signs of being in pain. "Just punch her in the ovaries already…"

Jinx looked down at the summoner with an un-impressed look. "Oh shut up blonde! I didn't say you could talk!" She gave him a quick kick with her army boats in the shin, causing Vega to yelp in pain yet again.

"This would be funny, if it wasn't so pitiful…" Mute muttered.

"Agreed." Isaac shook his head.

"Ok!" Jinx faced Isaac again with her familiar grin. "While thank you for saving me from… whatever those guys are…" She flashed him a peace sign before continuing. "I've got places to destroy, and people to kill! Goodbye!"

And with that, Jinx bolted for the door, trying to run right past Isaac as she did so.

Oh no you don't… Isaac rolled his eyes at this clearly amateur escape attempt. As Jinx flew past him for the door, he simply darted out with his hand closest to her and grabbed one of her abnormally long pigtails and tugged.

"BLLLLEAAAHHHHH!" Jinx shouted out a word that wasn't in any known dictionary that Isaac had read as she came to a complete stop, her body falling backwards as if someone had close-lined her.

"Well that's one way to stop her…" Mute chuckled at his choice of action.

Isaac, holding onto her pigtail firmly, turned around to face Jinx, she was squirming on the ground with both hands to her hair. Her eyes closed shut a she dealt with the pain of having her hair pulled.

"Owowowowow!" She mumbled, her eyes opening slowly to look up at Isaac who was now standing over her. "That… hurts... a lot…."

"Well, it worked." Isaac sighed. "Where did you think you were going?"

"Uhh… Piltover?"

"We're in Ionia."

"So?"

"You gonna swim across an ocean?"

"Uhh… steal a boat?"

"Can you pilot a boat?"

"Uhh… stowaway?"

Isaac shook his head. "Ok, assuming you somehow get back to Piltover, what are you going to do?"

"Huh?" Jinx shifted as she laid on the floor, bringing one leg up to rest on the other and her hands behind her head as if to get comfortable. "Uh, duh! What I always do. Break stuff, cause havoc, panic, and make life a living hell for Fat-hands and Hat-lady."

"And what about the Ascension?"

"The Ascen-ca what?"

"The guys who ambushed you and kidnapped you in that tunnel."

Jinx's grinning face froze as if she had forgotten about that part. "Oh… right… those guys…"

She actually forgot?!

"Yeah… those guys… you know, who kidnapped you, beat you, strung you up to some machine and did who knows what to you?"

Jinx's goofy expression shifted to that of slight fear. Isaac noticed her body shiver slightly at being reminded that part about the machine she had been hooked up to when Isaac, Ezreal, and Vega had found her.

"Uh…" She paused for a second before her grin returned. "Well, duh! I'm gonna blow them up! Get revenge! That sort of thing!" She answered, adding a "Hah!" to the end of it.

"And where are you going to find them?"

"Uhh…"

"Isaac, what exactly are you trying to achieve here?" Mute asked him, giving him a questioning look from her usual window.

Wait Mute, I've got her now.

"Listen Jinx, here's the deal alright?" Isaac leaned over so that his head was directly over the grinning Jinx's. "Those guys, the Ascension as they are called, are from my world. And whatever there doing here is nothing but bad news. They're kidnapping people all over the world and doing who knows what with them. Maybe there making them into slaves, maybe their using them as test subject, maybe there hooking them ALL up to machines like the one that you were strung up to." Isaac explained to the criminal on the run. He noticed that when he mentioned that machine again Jinx's shivered slightly. Barely, but it was there.

"Sooo….?" Jinx raised an eyebrow, giving him a questioning look similar to that of the one Mute was giving him, just less suspicious.

"So, we're going to stop them. If you want your chance at revenge, or to wreck some havoc on something new, here it is. Come with us, and help us fight them."

"Wait! What?! Isaac!" Mute was bewildered. "You want that lunatic to JOIN us?"

"Annnnd if I refuse?" Jinx raised her eyebrow again as she asked from her comfortable spot on the floor.

Isaac shrugged in response. "Then you're free to go wherever you want."

Nobody said anything for a few seconds. The only sound Isaac heard was that of Ezreal groaning and stumbling to his feet.

"Huh?" Jinx answered, her grin changing to a confused look.

"You heard me. I'm not going to force you." Isaac replied. To reinforce his point, he let Jinx's hair go and stood back up straight. "Your guns are lying around here somewhere too. Ezreal?" Isaac glanced at the still moaning blonde.

Ezreal responded by pointing at the only cabinet in the room. Jinx sat up and followed his finger. Upon seeing the location of where he was pointing at, she bolted up and ran at the cabinet, opening it with a swoosh.

"Fishbones! Pow-pow!" She shouted with glee, grabbing both her weapons, slinging Fishbones behind her back and her minigun's strap around her waist so that it hung down to her legs.

"Isaac, are you sure this is a good idea?" Mute asked, not sounding convinced with his choice at all.

Isaac disabled his external audio before explaining to Mute. "There really isn't a good idea here. I doubt we can force her to stay with us, we don't have the manpower to keep an eye on her every day and night and still fight the Ascension." Isaac explained as he watched the crazy blue haired girl stroke her rocket launcher affectionately for a moment before slinging it behind her back again. "If she stays of her own free will it'll make this ten times easier."

"But why do you WANT this crazy person with us?"

"Because we have no idea what that machine did to her. It could've done anything from plant a sleeper device in her, to inject her with god-knows-what-it-does fluid, or anything strange like that. If she's with us we can keep an eye on her."

"But if that's the case, why give her the option of leaving?"

"Well, she'll go back to Piltover right? Where she's a wanted criminal? While the police duo there hasn't had any luck catching her before, with Firewall on their squad now, I highly doubt she'll be able to evade them for long now. Once they catch her and throw her in a prison, someone will always have an eye on her then."

Mute bit her holographic lip in response, but didn't say anything else.

That seemed to satisfy her… for now… Isaac re-enabled his external sound and focused back on Jinx, who was now twirling her glowing pistol on her index finger and tapping her chin with her free hand as if deep in thought. Let's see if this pays off…

Or if she just decides to blast us all now… that would really mess with things…

"So… I'm free to go… or I can team up with you guy to fight the Ascen-ca whatever…" Jinx mumbled. "Fishbone is ok with it… but… do I REEEEEEEEALY want to…?"

"Amazing… I'm actually watching someone have a conversation with herself in front of me." Mute exclaimed in mock shock.

Shut up Mute…

After a several second wait, Jinx suddenly let out a shout of frustration and grabbed her head with both hands, still holding her zapper with one.

"Gah! How do you people do this!?" She shouted out.

Isaac, once again, was unsure of how to react. "Uh… do what?"

"Think!"

"What?"

"Think! How do you people do this?! My head hurts!"

Isaac blinked. I'm already regretting my decision to invite her…

"Ugh!" Jinx scowled, her arms dropping to her sides. "Fine!"

"Huh?"

"I said fine!" She turned her head to look at him. "I'll join up with your little party."

"Oh?" Isaac replied calmly. Really? I'm kind of shocked... she didn't seem the type to go for it.

"Yeah…" Jinx's usual grin returned as she placed her zapper back in its holster on the side of her thigh. "You see Archi, it's like this. Sure stopping some world invading menace from another world is… alright in all, but really, Hat-lady and Fat-hands we're starting to get boring."

Jinx reached up high into the air and stretched before continuing. "That and I've got a hunch that tagging along with you won't be so boring, so sure. I'll join up."

"Great… more crazy…" Mute mumbled.

Isaac nodded in response and took a step towards Jinx, offering his hand out for a shake. "Welcome aboard then."

Jinx looked down at his hand for a second, shrugged, and then took the shake. "You know…" She started, "It's really hard to read you with your face hidden behind that helmet all the time."

"Helps with the poker face."

"So what now?" Jinx asked, hands on her hips and grinning.

"Well… we need to wait and see what Vega's boss says… speaking of which." Isaac turned to face the summoner, who was still on the ground.

"I WAS going to contact him… then some crazy champion started trashing the room and throwing pillows everywhere." Vega replied, his voice still held a bit of pain to it.

Not surprised… that was quite the drop-kick to the balls…

"And also went nut-cracking!" Jinx exclaimed with excitement, sticking her hands out and forming pistols with her fingers, one aimed at Vega, the other aimed at Ezreal, who was now standing.

"ANYHOW!" Ezreal waved his hands in the air, as if to misdirect the blue haired felon. "I think… I'm going to go and get something to eat…" He said and made his exit, a bit slower than usual.

Probably still in lingering pain…

"Are you going to contact your boss today or tomorrow?" Isaac asked the summoner.

"I'll do it in a minute… Just give me a few…" Vega mumbled. "Wait… where is Firewall?"

"He joined the Piltover police." Isaac answered bluntly. I doubt he or his boss is going to approve of that.

"W-what?!" The pain in Vega's voice was outdone by the shock.

"Laaaaaaaaaaaaaame!" Jinx over-dramatically responded.

Isaac nodded. "If you or your boss have a problem with it, take it up with HIS new boss. Although I doubt Caitlyn is going to let him go." Or if he is willing to go… He said and turned to leave the room. I need a drink after all this…

"What are you going to do Jinx?" He asked her before leaving.

"I wanna talk to this summoner's boss. See if he's got anything good he can offer me for my help." Jinx gave Isaac another wide grin. "See if he can, spice our deal up a bit."

Isaac rolled his eyes. "If you say so Jinx." He replied and opened the door to leave. As he left their room, he glanced one last time inside, only to see Jinx pestering the young blonde summoner.

"Come on pretty boy! Call your boss already!" She poked him from where she sat on top of him.

"Get off me! It'll be faster if you don't sit on me!" Vega barked back at her.

I'm starting to feel sorry for the kid…

---

Isaac let out another sigh as he made his way down the stairs.

"Well, that went… ok I guess?" Mute shrugged. "So why the long sigh there?"

"I just feel like a long day of work is coming to an end." Isaac replied, rolling his neck around to loosen up.

"Well we sure did a lot today. We boarded a submarine, we fought the Ascension, nearly got lost in a ocean, oh, and we recruited a lunatic!"

"You're not going to let that go are you?"

"Depends… I think I might enjoy seeing your own choice torment and annoy you from here on out." Mute smirked.

Oh brother… Isaac rolled his eyes. As he descended down into the main lobby/dinner of the inn, he spotted Ezreal sitting at the bar, waving him over. As he walked over to the young explorer, Isaac noticed a strange figure sitting at one of the far tables in the back. Male or female, the lone individual was wrapped up in a cloak, reading a book of sorts.

Normally he wouldn't spare much of a glance at such a person, but whenever he looked at the cloaked figure, his spine tingled a bit.

That one is watching me…

Isaac narrowed his eyes slightly at the realization, but decided not to do anything about it for now. Not like he could do much, aside from causing a scene in the middle of the inn.

So he ignored the person of interest, and took a seat next to Ezreal.

The bartender noticed that he had a new patron, and approached Isaac. "Can I get you anything mister Archangel?"

"Ah, yes I'll have a…" Isaac began as he started to take his helmet off before halting. "Wait. How do you know my name?"

The bartender tilted his head to the side as if puzzled. "Sir? Well you are a Champion of the League of Legends. I watched your match just over a week ago."

Oh… right… Isaac still wasn't used to people recognizing him, or standing out in general. It was going to take some serious getting used to.

"Ah… sorry." Isaac resumed removing his helmet. "I'll have… uhh…"

That's when it hit him. He had no idea what any of the liquor in Valoran was called.

Shit… now I look like an idiot… I can't even order a bloody drink..

The Explorer

Travel log # 927

It's been a hell of a day. First, we arrived in Piltover in early afternoon and went straight for the sheriff's office. By "we" I mean me and Vega, since Archangel had gotten lost along the way… for a guy who's supposed to be like a super-soldier from an advanced world, he doesn't seem to be very good at navigating a city.

To make a long story short, we arrived at the Sheriff's office and got to see Vi drag him in a few minutes later under arrest half-conscious.

Ezreal shook his head and chuckled a bit at that memory. It had been comical to see the black armored soldier getting dragged into the office by Vi. The bartender placed his drink down next to his arm and he gave the man a few coins as payment. Grabbing it with his free hand, he took a drink of the cool light alcoholic beverage.

Ahhh… that hits the spot… He thought. It had been a long day. He took another quick drink from his cup before resuming writing in his travel journal.

After meeting with Piltover's finest, we set out for the Everdeen Mines in search of clues for Archangel's missing companion, Firewall, (Do they all have weird names from where there from?). The search lasted for the better part of the remainder of the day, and we had found nothing. Eventually though, Vi found a hidden tunnel (by found I mean she punched through a wall in frustration after finding a trap set by Jinx) and we started to explore it. However, Jinx herself and several other hostiles from Archangel's world had appeared and we got trapped inside a flooded cavern after a brief skirmish (that really only involved Archangel, Jinx, and said hostiles).

Ezreal heard footsteps coming down from the stairs and looked up from his pencil and paper, spotting Archangel himself coming down and glancing around.

Speaking of the devil. Ezreal thought as he waved the otherworlder over. This might be a good time to get to know our mysterious companion. Sure they had heard about his world, and sure they had learned ALL about this new enemy who called themselves the Ascension, but they knew little to nothing about Archangel himself.

For starters, I'm willing to bet that Archangel isn't his real name.

As Archangel made his way over, Ezreal resumed writing.

Luck was on our side though, as while we were trapped in the cavern, Archangel's companion, Firewall, found us. After we arrived at his hideout in the mines, we discovered that these hostiles from their world are known as the Ascension, and that they had a very advanced submarine hiding in a cove inside the mines. Unfortunately, we also discovered that Jinx had been captured and taken aboard said submarine. The decision was made to board the vessel and rescue The Loose Cannon (with some minor resistance to the plan from Vi).

Ezreal heard Archangel take a seat next to him and start fumbling with his helmet.

"Can I get you anything mister Archangel?" Ezreal recognized the voice as belonging to the bartender that had just served him.

"Ah, yes I'll have a…" Archangel began, but suddenly stopped. "Wait. How do you know my name?"

Ezreal glanced at Archangel. He had been beginning to take his helmet off and his hands were still at his visor.

The bartender tilted his head to the side as if puzzled. "Sir? Well you are a Champion of the League of Legends. I watched your match just over a week ago."

Archangel seemed to relax a bit at that answer. Ezreal shook his head and returned his pencil to his paper. Rather tense guy isn't he?

"Ah… sorry, I'll have… uhh…" Archangel began to order his drink.

After formulating a plan, we attacked the submarine. The Ascension guards outside the ship possessed exotic weaponry far ahead of our own. They used machine guns that fired nearly as fast as Jinx's minigun, but were compact and smaller then Caitlyn's rifle. After a difficult battle towards the submarine, we managed to board the vessel and set out to rescue Jinx and potentially damage the submarine even further so we could make an escape.

Ezreal paused for a second. Something seemed… off. He waited for a moment for it to come to him, when he shrugged and was about to resume writing when it hit him.

I didn't hear Archangel order…

He turned to the side to see that Archangel had frozen, once again, in the middle of taking his helmet off. The bartender across from him had one of his eyebrow's raise in a questioning manner and seemed to be waiting for something. Archangel slightly turned his head in Ezreal's direction, and even though he couldn't see the soldier's eyes, he knew he was looking at him.

And that's when it dawned on Ezreal. Archangel, the super-soldier from another world, couldn't order a drink.

Ezreal couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing, dropping his pencil and holding onto his gut with one hand and trying to hold his mouth with the other to snuffle the loud snorting and laughter that was coming from his mouth.

He can do ALL THAT FANCY stuff in a fight, be he CAN'T order a drink!

Through his teary eye, Ezreal looked at the Archangel and the bartender, one who seemed shocked, the other was confused, the bartender being the latter. Ezreal glanced over his shoulder and noticed that nearly everyone in the inn was now looking at him as if he was a maniac as he tried to force his laughter to a stop.

"S-sorry… sorry." Ezreal cleared his throat, still giggling a little bit and waved at the bartender. "He'll have what I'm having."

The bartender nodded in response and started to pour a light teal colored liquid into a dark brown cup. As finished pouring, Archangel finished removing his helmet and placed it on the bar, next to the cup that the bartender placed in front of him.

Ezreal tossed another coin at the bartender, who then bowed and moved onto another customer. Ezreal chuckled again and leaned over to Archangel. "It's called Bilgewater Seawater." He said quietly to him.

Archangel's now exposed face had a tint of red to it. It appeared that he was slightly embarrassed about the whole display.

"Err… thanks…" He replied, his thanks sounded half-hearted though. Ezreal pretended to resume writing, but through the corner of his eye he watched Archangel slowly grasp the dark brown cup and bring it closer, looking inside as if to observe its contents.

"…. Its teal?"

"Yeah, that's because the Bilgewatians want to know that you're drinking their stuff."

"… So… is it… like beer?"

Ezreal had to suppress another laugh. He was being SO careful with something as simple as a drink.

"Yeah, it's like beer."

"Ah…" Archangel seemed satisfied with that, and took a quick drink from his cup. He seemed to hold it in his mouth for a few seconds before swallowing, shrugging, and taking another drink.

As he did so, Ezreal gave his face a quick look over. He had seen it only once before, at Caitlyn's office in Piltover, while he was repairing his helmet after Vi had smashed his face in during their encounter in the city. He didn't seem much older, even though he acted like he had a decade on him and Vega, but the scaring all around his face did make him appear much more mature.

A real mystery isn't he?

Ezreal returned to his journal for a moment and let Archangel enjoy his drink, or at least attempt to.

"How strong is this?"

"It's a bit on the lighter side. In fact, it's the only light alcohol to come out of Bligewater at all. All the rest of their stuff is guaranteed to knock you on your ass." Ezreal replied. He wasn't speaking from experience; he hardly drank at all himself. But he had heard that around a lot.

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes, which allowed Ezreal to make some more progress on his log. However, he was curious, as he always was. He wanted to know more about this world Archangel had come from, Earth. After seeing the image that Mute had showed them, it was all he could think about.

A whole new world to explore… He felt himself tingling with excitement at the thought. At the same time, might learn a thing or two about Arch here…

However, if there was one thing he knew about Archangel, is that the guy didn't like sharing his secrets… and he treated nearly everything that involved him or his homeworld as some kind of secret.

Start with small talk then.

"So… where are Vega and Jinx?" Ezreal asked.

"In our room. Vega is trying to get into contact with his boss." Archangel replied, setting his now nearly empty cup down on the bar counter. "Whether or not Jinx actually lets him is another story."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well she was sitting on him when I left."

"Ah…" Ezreal remembered the painful memory of her kicking him in his balls when she woke up. It had been Archangel's idea to smuggle her off the ship. He and Vega had opposed the idea at first, but he convinced them after a short period of time. Smuggling was not his or Vega's strong point, but Archangel's friend Firewall was good at it, as were a few of the sailors made willing by the sound of a few coins in a bag.

While discussing what they had learned during their meeting about the Ascension, Jinx woke up and immediately freaked out. Ezreal's groin was the first victim of the battle.

He pushed that memory out of his mind.

"Now that I think about it…" Ezreal began after bringing his own cup to his mouth. "What happened to Firewall?"

"Caitlyn hired him."

Ezreal almost coughed up his drink at hearing that. After wiped the mess from his mouth, he looked at Archangel with confusion. "She did what?"

"She offered him a spot on her force. He took the job. One part cause he liked the idea, the other part to do some… err… sightseeing."

"Oh…" Ezreal scratched the top of his head. "I doubt Kasubel is going to like that."

"I was thinking the same thing. But that's Firewall's decision."

Ezreal shrugged. He was right, but he wouldn't be surprised if the League tried to push for Caitlyn to either give him up or turn him into a champion himself.

"So… what is your world really like?" Ezreal asked the question that fueled his desire for exploration.

"… It's…" Archangel paused, biting his lip for a second before continuing. "Not all that different from your world actually, minus the magic part. I would say that Earth is around seven hundred or so years ahead of your own in terms of technology, but that's only in around half of the world, maybe not even that. The other half is poor, and the people suffer from poverty and smaller scale conflict quite often. The rest of the advanced world is more fortunate, for the most part."

Archangel paused for a second to take a sip from his cup. "That was, until the Ascension War. After that, nowhere in the world was safe, not even the most powerful nations."

Ezreal noticed that Archangel's eyes changed a bit when he mentioned that part; as if he was remembering things that he had seen. IT was without question that he had fought in this Ascension War, but Ezreal didn't have it in him to ask about it. It had clearly scared him.

Let's change it a bit… "Well… what about the world in terms of geography?"

Archangel didn't answer at first, instead he swirled the remains of his drink around in his cup. "Vast… and diverse… Earth itself is… something else…" He began… before expanding upon that beginning, much to the delight of Ezreal's curiosity. "There is just about everything, from vast plains, to mountain ranges that nearly crosses an entire continent, to savannas' full of exotic creatures. There's a mountain that's twenty-nine thousand feet tall, and a canyon that spans two-hundred and seventy-seven miles long. Seven continents, countless islands, and so many different kinds of animals, fish, and creatures that I can't even remember how many there are. There are cities that make Piltover look like a tiny village, over a hundred and ninety countries and god knows how many different nations. One such country holds over a billion people alone."

Ezreal had to try as hard as he could to contain his excitement at hearing all of that.

A mountain that's twenty-nine thousand feet tall…. Seven different continents…

Archangel stopped for a moment and looked over at the stairs they both had come down from earlier. Ezreal followed his gaze and saw a small cat sitting on one of the steps, looking around the inn.

"…. We have cats too…" Isaac mumbled.

"Really?" Ezreal found that a bit interesting. "You have the same species?"

"I guess so…" Archangel replied before finishing off his drink.

"How about dogs?"

Archangel nodded in response, waving the bartender over and asked for another drink.

"Sorry, can you pay? I don't even know what kind of currency you guys uses aside from the fact its coins."

Ezreal nodded. "Understandable." He paid the bartender again after he refilled Archangel's cup.

"Well… you world sounds… amazing." Ezreal said to him truthfully. "I would like to see it someday, if we even knew how people were getting transported between the two."

"Hmphm." Isaac responded.

"Well, how about you?" Might as well try and see if I can learn about him now.

"What?" Archangel looked at Ezreal as he asked that.

"I mean, you, in particular. You know about me, Vega, and such, but we don't actually know a thing about you."

"Ahh…" Archangel replied, turning away and staring straight ahead at the various bottles behind the bar. "Sorry, I really don't like to talk about myself."

Damn… Well so much for finding out anything about Arch himself. But a little more prodding couldn't hurt, could it?

"I figured, seeing how you never talk about it." Ezreal took another sip from his own drink. "Just curious, seeing how you ARE basically at the center of all this, even though it's not your world." Ezreal put a little more emphasis on the last part of his sentence.

"Hmm…." Archangel replied, bringing up one armored arm onto the counter and setting his elbow on it, resting his head in his gauntlet. "If you really want to know… I'm from such a city that I was talking about earlier."

"Oh? What is it called?"

"Toronto."

"Is it a nice place?"

"Didn't spend much time there, I… left when I was a kid, didn't spend much time back there since." He replied, swirling his drink in his cup again. "Kind of cold though…"

"Ah… well… how about… this whole super-soldier thing you got going on? How did you land THAT as your job?"

"I….." Archangel started, but stopped. He remained silent for several seconds before Ezreal realized that he was prodding too hard.

"Right, sorry." Ezreal apologized. "Don't like to talk about yourself right?"

"Yeah…. Sorry." Archangel replied, still looking at his drink. "I… was kind of just chosen, you could say. Not much to say after that."

"Gotcha." Ezreal nodded. That's all I'll get out of him I'll bet. Better stop or I'll just be stepping on his toes.

They didn't say much else for the next half an hour or so. Soon they both ordered food, and before long two plates of pasta were at the bar for them.

"Oh by the way…" Archangel began as they at their noodles. "Don't look now, but in the far back corner to your right… There is a cloaked figure there."

"Huh?" Ezreal raised his eyebrow. He stopped eating for a second, his fork inches from his mouth, as he tried to figure out what Archangel meant.

"Don't act strange either…" He mumbled.

"Oh!" Ezreal resumed eating. "Wait, how is stopping eating acting strange?"

"How often do you see someone stop themselves from putting their food on their fork into an open mouth?"

"… Fair enough. What about this… person then?" Ezreal asked between munches.

"He or she has been watching us since I came down from the stairs."

Ezreal froze for a second. He felt the hairs on his back go on edge. He didn't turn around, but his eyes darted all over the place, taking in all the faces, and any potential escape routes should they need to make a break for it.

"What did I say?"

"Oh…" Ezreal realized he had stopped with the fork inches from his mouth again. "Sorry…"

Archangel just shook his head. "Relax, doesn't look like he's going to do anything… yet."

"Is it a he?"

"Can't tell, he's wearing a hood."

"Then why is it he and not she?"

"Because saying he or she is a waste of time…" Archangel threw Ezreal a look that said "Why are you asking stupid questions?"

Sorry….

After they finished, they both ordered a water and Ezreal decided to resume writing in his travel log; although with less motivation than before. He still felt on edge after being told that they were being watched.

Is it the Ascension? If they start using those advanced weapons in this village… there's no telling what might happen to the townsfolk…

Archangel slowly stood up, and picked up his helmet.

"What's up?" Ezreal asked, looking up from his pencil and paper.

"I'm going to see if Vega had his chat with his boss." He replied as he placed his helmet back over his head. "And then see if I can get a little shut eye."

Ezreal nodded. "Yeah… I'll be up myself soon as well, just need to finish up here." He motioned to his logbook.

Archangel nodded, his helmet back on his head, becoming a faceless soldier yet again. "If you ever want to know more about Earth, just ask Mute sometime. I'm sure she'll be able to fill you in on all the details… every little detail."

Ezreal smiled at that. "I'll have to take her up on that sometime."

Archangel nodded, turned, and made his way up the stairs.

Ezreal himself finished up his water and resumed his log yet again. A real mystery that one…

---

The Institute of War

Kasubel stacked up all the papers he had gone through tonight in a neat pile, proof of a hard day's work. However he was far from content. He had yet to hear back from Vega on how he and Archangel's investigation was going. It bothered him, he had restrained himself from contacting them, but his patience was reaching its end.

He looked over at his summoner's orb. Still nothing. No note had come through, no glowing light to inform him that someone was trying to reach him, no nothing.

I'll contact them tomorrow, if they don't send anything through during the evening. Kasubel stroked his beard as he rose from his chair. The sightings from Bligewater was starting to bother him now, he wanted to know if it was related to anything Archangel had said.

If the abductions are from his world… we could be in trouble… He shook his head at the constant thought that had been invading his mind for the better part of the last few days. He was starting to turn into a worrywart and a paranoid person.

I need to consider getting a hobby… or relaxing more… Kasubel thought solemnly as he started to make his way to the door. It was high time he got some rest after all.

It was as he reached for the doorknob that his office lit up. Kasubel quickly turned around and saw that his summoner's orb was glowing a bright white.

I'm being contacted! Kasubel quickly made his way over to the orb, but as he got five steps in, there was another flash. This time, a piece of paper appeared and floated to the floor in front of the stand his orb was resting on.

Kasubel reached down and picked the paper up, and as he did, the glowing from his orb ceased.

A message… not a call… He sighed. He was hoping to speak with them directly. But no matter, what was important is that they had contacted him.

He looked at the paper in his hand. It was a letter, sealed with a summoner's insignia on it, and on its back was both his name, the receiver, and Vega's name, the sender.

Well, lets see what they found out… Kasubel returned to his desk and reached for the letter opener. So much for getting some rest…

He opened the letter and unfolded the paper inside, and read.

To the Minister of Valoran Security,

Arrived in Piltover and met with Caitlyn and Vi. Investigated Everdeen Mines at their suggestion. After search, hostile contact with otherworlders from Archangel's world of Earth. Enemies are known as the ASCENSION. Ascension are responsible for world-wide abductions. Witnessed Ascension capture of champion Jinx in the Everdeen mines. Met with figure seen in Caitlyn's photos, name is FIREWALL and is a comrade of Archangel, sent to Valoran by same means.

Attacked Ascension submarine located in Everdeen mines. Ascension in possession of advanced weaponry and equipment. Rescued champion Jinx and escaped without any causalities. Escaped into ocean and picked up by passing merchant ship en route to Ionia.

Currently awaiting new orders at Ionia port town of Incala. Jinx has joined us, wants League compensation for joining (don't give it to her). Firewall recruited by Caitlyn to join Piltover police, done on own terms without League advice. Firewall now en route to Piltover with Caitlyn and Vi as a new recruit.

Awaiting new orders.

Junior Summoner Vega Tiarl of Avarosa

PS. Sorry for the brief summary, but this is my third attempt at writing this message to you. Jinx doodled and ruined the first two attempts, so I just made this one brief. Again, don't give her any compensation. Personal favor to me.

Kasubel read the message over twice, and let out a sigh. It really is invaders from another world… they really are responsible for all the kidnappings…

Kasubel didn't know what to think. On one hand he was relieved; they now knew who their foe was. On the other hand, their foe was something of the like the world had never seen.

And we don't know where they even are… He looked at the one part of the message again, the one about the Ascension submarine. A submarine…

It hit him. The Bilgewater message about sightings! Of course! They couldn't find their enemy because they were moving around constantly. The sightings from Bilgewater might be enemy ships; submarines, appearing then diving beneath the waves again to escape. And then lights in the air…

If they possess advanced equipment and have advanced submarines… I wouldn't be surprised if they had advanced aircraft too…

But if all that was true… then this enemy was here in force. And if each enemy soldier possessed weapons and equipment similar to that of Archangel, then no military force on Valoran could hope to stand up against it alone.

But… we do have one upper hand on them… Kasubel remembered the silver lining. Magic. According to Archangel, magic is absent from his world. And people such as Archangel are rare and far. But such a triumph card is useless if we don't know where to strike first…

Kasubel knew what he had to do for Vega's orders. Bilgewater. Bilgewater is their next destination.

As he took one last glance over the letter, he looked at the part about Jinx again. At least one of them is having fun it seems… I'm surprised Jinx joined them though… that doesn't sound much like her… I wonder what happened?

Kasubel wrote out a letter to reply to Vega, as well as giving him his new orders. He hoped Archangel won't argue too much, seeing how he didn't seem all that enthusiastic about following Kasubel's orders in the first place.

Once he was done, he locked his office up, and set out to get some direly needed rest.

He did not, however, see the shadowy figure behind him as he locked his office door. Nor did he see said figure enter his office after he left.

The Otherworlder

Demacia

The Meeting with the prince had gone as Garen had expected it. They arrived in the prince's office, showed him the reports (which he scowled over for nearly an hour), and it wasn't until after he finished did Garen decide to ask him about the current state of the palace. The hole in the roof turned out to have an identical in the floor directly underneath it, so it was easy to suspect that whatever the source of the blast had been that it had come from underneath the audience chamber, in the palace's basement.

Rather than answer his question, the prince, Jarven IV, decided it would be easier to show them.

Garen and Quinn followed Jarven into the lower, more dimly lit, levels of the Demacian Royal Palace. No one said a word as they made their way decent into the basement levels, passing by fewer and fewer guards and nobles until they were alone in the hallways beneath the palace.

These, these are the Summoner's Chambers. Garen thought, his curiosity starting to rise. Why was Jarven leading him and Quinn to the Summoner's Chambers beneath the palace?

The Summoning Chambers in the palace were similar to the ones found at the Institute of War. They were where summoners would practice their craft, or where powerful spells were prepared.

So what is down here that is causing so many grave and tense faces? Garen thought, a tinge gnawing at the back of his mind.

"Squawk!" Valor said which made sense only to Quinn. The purple haired girl petted the bird's head affectionately.

"Hush Val, it's alright." She said softly to her companion.

At the end of the dark hallway was a large pair of doors engraved with the Demacian Crest. Garen knew that behind those massive doors was where the most powerful spells were always prepared before use.

And behind them is likely the cause of the tension in the palace.

Jarven came to a halt just in front of the doors. "Everything you see or anything that is said behind these doors." The crown prince said to the uneasy pair of knights behind him, "Does not leave this room." And without waiting for a reply he pushed the doors open, a loud creak emitting from them. Without another word, the prince entered the dark room.

Quinn threw a quick worried glance over her should at Garen before following. Garen steeled himself and followed suit.

The chamber was of typical design for a summoner's chamber: a dark cycler shaped room with dim lighting off the walls. What caught Garen's eye immediately in the unremarkable room was the large yellow magical prison in the center of the dark room, which illuminated the rest of the large chamber. The prison was being maintained by six summoners who surrounded it. But upon seeing the figure inside the prison, Garen's battle-hardened blood went cold.

Inside the cubical magic prison was a black armored figure wearing a very familiar suit of black armor.

Garen looked over the figure cautiously. The armor the imposing figure wore was so similar to the suit that Archangel wore that it made Garen believe, without a doubt, that he or she was of the same origin. What separated this one from Archangel however was that the one currently in the prison appeared much larger in size, and stood towering over the summoners who were maintaining the spell that kept him or her confined in a small area. The armor that this figure also wore seemed to be a bit more… heavy in appearance, and appeared as if it could take even more punishment then Archangel's suit. Like Archangel, the prisoner's face was hidden behind a pitch black helmet and visor. Although, this one's visor stretched from where Garen would expect the top of the individual's forehead would be, and down to where the chin would be.

Garen looked the imposing individual up and down. The figure's stance gave off the impression of being either really bored, or of being indifferent to his or her current predicament of being held captive in a magic prison.

As he observed the prisoner, Garen felt a tap on his right arm. He turned to the side to see a shorter young blonde woman standing next to his with a smile on her face.

"Welcome home brother." The young blonde said with a warm tone.

Garen smiled back. "Thank you sister, it is good to be home." He said back to her with genuine happiness.

Lux Crownguard stepped closer to him and gave him a loving hug, which Garen returned.

"Glad to see you safe, little sister." Garen thought warmly, happy to see his sister's smiling face again.

As the two let one another go, Garen took a better look around the room. Aside from himself, Quinn, the prince, his sister, and the six summoners, he spotted three other familiar faces in the room. Near the prison, the blue skinned half-dragon, Shyvana , sat on her knees with her eyes closed. A bit of a distance away, sat the blue haired Mavan of the Strings, as she silently plucked the strings on her etwah. At the far back of the room Lucian, the Purifier, stood leaning against the wall, keeping a watchful eye on the figure in the magic cube. Garen and the dark skinned man's eyes met for a second, and the two nodded at one another in acknowledgment.

"Who, or what, is that?" Quinn asked the question that was on both hers and Garen's mind, although Garen already had a good suspicion as to who he was.

"We don't know," Jarven answered with his arms across his chest. "Whoever he is, he appeared over a week ago in a nearby chamber where some of our summoners were assisting the League in investigating disturbances in the Void. Suddenly, this..." Jarven waved his hand at the imprisoned black armored figure. "Appeared in the center of the chamber. The holes you saw in the palace's roof and floor we're the results of the battle between our forces and this… warrior."

Garen looked over the man in the magical cell and thought about what his long time friend had just said. That sounds just like what happened with Archangel… Their sudden appearances, the battles after they appeared, the identical armor… it was all far to similar to be a coincidence.

"My prince," Garen began, "That sounds just like what happened with Archangel."

Jarven turned away from the prisoner and faced Garen. He nodded, "After reading your reports, yes… it does seem far to similar to be a strange coincidence."

"So… their related?" Lux tilted her head to the side. "Archangel and this guy I mean."

Garen nodded. "I would suspect so."

Lux brought a hand to her chin as if deep in thought. "According to that newspaper I read, Archangel is supposed to be from some other world right? So does that mean that this guy is from another world too?" She asked.

"Wait…" Quinn interjected. "If they're both from another world, then how can Archangel speak our language?"

There was a brief pause as everyone thought it over.

She asks a good question… Garen thought, but it matters little right now. He was about to say as much but his sister spoke up first.

"But… doesn't that mean that if Archangel can speak our language, that this guy can do the same?" Lux asked.

There was a sound equivalent to that of a low roar that interrupted their conversation for a moment. The source of that interruption was Shyvana getting up from where she had been sitting and stretching. The half dragon rolled her neck and flexed high into the air before coming over to join the conversation. "So in other words…" The dragon-born began, "That prick in the cell has been ignoring us the whole time?!" The half-bred let out a slight growl as she finished.

"Have you guys been trying to get him to talk?" Quinn asked.

"Constantly." Lux shook her head. "But he just stays silent."

"So… how do we get him to talk?" The scout asked.

No one had a response.

After a minute of silence, while everyone thought about how to get answers from the prisoner from another world, Lux snapped her fingers. "Wait! I've got an idea!" She practically shouted.

"What?" Quinn asked, interesting in what the blonde had to say.

"If he's from the same world as Archangel, then maybe they know each other right? I mean, they DO look very similar." Lux lightly pounded her fist into the hand of her other palm. "So what if we showed this guy a few news papers and articles on Archangel?"

Shyvana rolled her in-human eyes. "And that'll help HOW?"

"Well, if he knows him, we'll get a response of some kind right? Then maybe he'll open up some more."

Garen rubbed his chin at his sister's idea. Hmm… a long shot, but it's not like we'll lose anything in trying…

"Sounds like a really long shot…" Quinn muttered. Valor seconded her with a squawk.

"But we won't lose anything if we try." Lux pointed out. "Besides, were getting nowhere as it is."

"Agreed." The prince finally spoke up. "Miss Crownguard, go gather the needed articles, you, your brother and I will see if this plan fairs any better than anything we've attempted yet."

After his sister ran off to grab what she needed, everyone went their separate ways. Shyvana returned to sitting by Sona, staring down the prisoner like a hawk did to its prey. Garen was going to speak to the prince, be he noticed Quinn rush up to him first. The scout seemed to be a bit shy when speaking to the heir to Demacia, which the prince didn't seem to fully understand but was patient with her nonetheless.

Garen on the other hand, understood why, and decided to give the two some space. The girl is utterly taken with him… and he's still clueless as ever. Garen thought amusingly. His long time friend had been stoic around others for years now, even more so by those of the opposite gender. Garen secretly hoped that he wouldn't turn the young knight away. Maybe she can be there for him, when I cannot.

With the option of speaking to the prince no longer on the table, Garen decided to spend the time waiting for his sister's return by speaking to the Purifier. As he crossed the chamber towards Lucian, Garen passed by Sona.

"Good to see you well Sona." Garen greeted her as he passed her by. The mute looked up from her musical internment to greet him with a smile and a nod.

I pity that girl… so kind, so kindred… yet unable to speak a word.

Lucian stood leaning against the wall at the back of the chamber, inspecting one of the two pistols he carried with him. He looked up from his weapon to see Garen approaching him, and proceeded to twirl the gun around his finger several times before returning it to his holster.

"Lucian." Garen nodded to the man in greeting.

"Garen." The darker skinned man responded.

"Can you tell me more about what happened with the otherworlder?" Garen asked, curious as to what exactly happened when the alien black armored being appeared in the palace.

Lucian crossed his arms and relaxed against the wall. "Well, I was asked to watch over the summoners while they did their craft. Just in case something came out of the Void. Didn't expect it to be that guy though." Lucian nodded at the black armored figure. "Anyways, he appeared out of nowhere and the summoners went into a complete panic."

Not surprising…

"Before I could figure out what exactly had happened, that guy in the armor got up and raised some kind of rifle at one of the summoners. I reacted just in time to shoot it out of his hands, and that's when things hit the fan." Lucian paused to remove his signature sunglasses and give them a quick wipe off his uniform, continuing his story as he did. "The big guy slammed the ground with both his fists and sent out this shockwave that sent everyone in the room flying against the wall, you're truly included. I managed to recover quickly, but this guy managed to break the floor and throw a piece of concrete at me. Barely dodged it in time. After that the fight went how you can imagine. Shooting, dodging, charging. Suddenly, just as it seemed as was winning, he suddenly was able to close the gap across the entire room in a heartbeat."

Lucian shook his head. "It was as if he was Malphite or something, he just closed the gap like that." The undead hunter snapped his fingers. "Sent me flying across the room, and I dropped both my guns. I would've been in deep shit if the cavalry didn't arrive at that moment." Lucian motioned with his hands at Sona and Shyvana. "Sona and Shyvana were nearby and had come rushing in to find out what all the commotion was, your sister following them. I'll spare you the details, but it took all four of us ten minutes to bring the big guy down."

Garen furrowed his brow. A four on one that lasted ten minutes? He must be even stronger then Archangel… The dark armored enigma managed to take on Vayne and Katarina each before Garen had arrived, but by then Archangel had been on his last legs.

Garen was about to ask Lucian about the new prisoner's powers when his sister returned.

"Looks like its time to get this show back on the road." Lucian stood back up straight. "Good luck. The sooner you get that guy talking, the sooner we can all get out of this dark room and get some sunlight."

"Agreed." Garen nodded in affirmation, turning away to join his sister and the prince.

Lux had returned with a cloth bag in hand, likely containing the papers she had decided to gather. As his sister approached the cell, the summoners lowered the field just slightly, enough for Lux to push the three news articles she had collected through a small gap in the magic cell. As she did, the larger black armored figure looked over at her, but made no other movements. After Lux finished pushing all three articles in, she took a step back and the summoner's resealed the field.

"Weaken it enough so we can have two way communication." Lux instructed the summoners.

While they did so, Garen and the prince stood back a meter away from Lux, who was close enough to touch the cell. Garen watched carefully as the events unfolded in front of him, hiding the worry for his sister behind a mask of caution.

"Ahem." Lux began, addressing the prisoner.

The prisoner looked up from the news articles that were lying on the floor of the magic cell to look at the blonde mage.

"Hi." She waved. "My name is Lux Crownguard. I was hoping we could finally convince you to break your silence." She said in her usual friendly voice to the prisoner, who didn't seem to react to her words at all.

Lux didn't seem to notice, or care. "Those news articles I just gave you are about another black armored warrior who appeared in our world, around the same time you did. Just in a different location."

At those words, the larger figure looked back down at the articles on the ground, and cautiously approached them.

Lux kept going. "He appeared in the same fashion you did. Just… appeared out of nowhere and attacked the people nearby. He spent some time in a cell just like you're doing now. Except… he apparently he started to talk sooner."

The black armored figure picked the news articles up cautiously and turned them over in his hands, as if inspecting them for traps.

"This other guy… he calls himself Archangel. Does that ring a bell at all?" Lux asked with an innocent tone to her voice.

At that, the large armored figure froze for a second. He glanced at Lux, and then began flipping through the papers see gave him, seemingly skimming though them. As he did so, Lux decided to remain quiet. After several minutes, the black armored figure lowered his arms and looked down at Lux.

He's much taller than Archangel… Garen observed. He towers over my sister… I wouldn't doubt that he could snap her like a twig… At that thought, Garen slowly moved his hand so that it rested on the pommel of his sheathed sword. Otherworlder or not, he would rather die than let his sister come to harm.

"Sooo…?" Lux tilted her head at the large figure. "Do you and Archangel know each other?"

"You could say that." The voice that emitted from the large armored figure was deep, fitting to a man of his size. "Although I find it ironic that it says here that he agreed to do an interview with a news reporter."

"Ironic?" Lux asked, tilting her head to the other side questioningly. If she had been fazed by the man suddenly opening up, she didn't show it.

"Because in our world, we… err… people like me and Archangel aren't allowed to talk to the press."

"Why?"

"Long story kid, not important." The large armored figure shrugged.

"So you can talk after all." Jarven finally spoke up and approached the cell, walking up next to Lux. Garen decided to follow suit.

"Now you see…" The large man put his hands on his hips. "At least the lady here introduces herself BEFORE bombarding me with questions."

"You're speaking to the crown-prince." Garen responded. Are all people from their world so disrespectful?

"Ahem!" Lux cleared her throat, throwing a look at Garen and Jarven that said "Let me handle this."

"Sorry," Lux spoke up to the otherworlder. "They just want to make sure your not going to break anything else."

"Ah…" The large armored man nodded. "Understandable… I suppose."

"Umm, may I ask your name… sir…?" Lux asked the question that many had on their minds.

"Call me Blitzkrieg." The large man responded.

"Bliss, keg?" Lux asked, seeming having some difficulty understanding.

"Blits-kreeg." The large man sighed. "I know its difficult for some, but come on…"

"Sorry, err… Blitzkrieg?"

"Much better." The large armored man, Blitzkrieg nodded as if pleased. "Now then." He waved the news articles around in the air. "Where is Archangel?"

"Hold it." Jarven interrupted, earning a quick glare from Lux for his interruption. "If you want answers to your questions, we deserve the same."

"Oh? What do you have in mind there goldjunge?"

What? Garen raised an eyebrow at the man's choice of words. He didn't understand it, but he guessed it probably wasn't a polite word.

Jarven seemed to pay it no mind. "As you can see in that interview you just read, Archangel provided us with answers as much as we gave him his."

"Question for a question then?" Blitzkrieg asked.

"You have the honor."

"Alright then." Blitzkrieg waved both his hands in the air before shouting, "Where zum teufel am I?!"

Unwelcomed

The morning light peaked at the sleeping figure between the cracks in the blinds.

Bloody things don't do their job… Isaac grumbled in his mind, cursing the blinds that covered the window. He rubbed his eyes to drive the sleep from them, but it failed. Instead, he wanted to sleep even more now.

Screw it, better get up and at em'… He pulled the bed sheets off his body, exposing part of his muscular but slender body.

Which was also naked.

Huh? Don't recall going to bed naked… He thought, but shrugged. And why aren't these sheets coming off? He gave a slight grunt as he tried to throw them off again, but something was keeping them pinned down.

"Stop it…" He heard a mumble to his right. Isaac nearly jumped out of his own skin for a second as he quickly looked to his right. Lying next to him was the source of why the sheets weren't coming off the bed.

A silver haired girl was rolled up next to him.

Isaac just stared at the back of the girl's silver hair, half in disbelief and half in shock. Then he remembered who she was and why he was naked.

That explains all that then…

The silver haired girl rolled over so that she was facing him, her eyes still closed. She was of Japanese origin, a beautiful girl with flawless, youthful skin. She yawned deeply before opening her eyes, her red eyes looking right at Isaac.

"Must you always be an early bird?" She mumbled.

Isaac scratched the back of his head and gave her a goofy grin. "Sorry…"

"Whatever…" The girl said, she reached over Isaac and grabbed the other end of the sheets, revealing to him her own naked body. She grasped the other end and pulled it back over Isaac, covering them both up again.

"Hey!" Isaac protested. "It's time to-"

"Snuggle?" The silver haired girl giggled. She moved closer to Isaac, and he felt half her naked body rest on top of his, and one of her slender legs wrap around his. "My thoughts exactly…" She gave him a devilish smile as she said that, her hand that had grabbed the sheet dropped down underneath said sheets to rest on the far side of his chest.

As tempting as it was, Isaac knew they had to get up. "I'd love to, but-"

"But what?" The silver haired girl climbed completely on top of him, her face right above his, looking into his grey eyes with her own ruby colored ones. "The only one who should matter to you…" She began, before leaning in closer until Isaac could feel her breath on his lips. "…Is right here…"

As she said that, he felt her press her lips onto his, with her long silver hair falling over both their heads. He returned the kiss, and wrapped his arms around her.

The two remained like that, seeking each other for a period of time, before the girl finally broke the embrace.

"Well…" She said, licking her lips, as if savoring a taste. "As enjoyable as this is… you are right… it is time to get up."

The silver haired beauty threw the sheets off both of their naked bodies and nearly leapt out of bed, leaving Isaac still lying there.

"A shame really…" The girl spoke as she walked a few feet away for her clothes, which laid on the floor where they had thrown them in their previous night's passion. "That we won't be able to spend any time like this together for awhile…" The girl sighed. "But I guess it comes with the job we have…"

"Yeah…" Isaac muttered. "You leave for Japan today don't you?"

"Yes… and as much as I relish the thought of seeing home again…" The girl finished collecting all her clothing in her arms, and glanced over her shoulder, a somewhat sad look on her face. "It's on the other side of the world from you…"

Isaac felt his face redden a bit. This girl… doesn't even know what shyness means….

Isaac scratched his cheek and looked away in embarrassment, trying to think of what to say. "Well…" he began, looking back at her, only to see that she had looked away.

Huh? Weird, the naked silver haired girl was just standing there, facing a wall, with her back turned to him, and with all her clothes in her arms. Motionless.

"Kasumi?" Isaac called out the girl's name. "Something wrong?"

No response. Isaac blinked and was about to call her name again, but when he opened his eyes the scene had changed. There was a crunching sound, and Kasumi's left arm fell off.

"Kasumi!" Isaac shouted, not hiding his shock as his lover's left arm hit the floor in a bloody mess. Blood spewed from where her shoulder was, painting the floor red with blood. The clothes she had gathered fell to the ground and soaked in the red liquid.

And the whole time the girl named Kasumi didn't move.

Isaac tried to bolt out of bed to rush to her, but instead of sitting up, he felt himself pushing against something. He looked down at his chest, only to see leather straps and buckles holding himself in place across his chest, stomach, arms, and legs. He tried to turn back to Kasumi, but found his head unable to move, another strap across his forehead prevented him.

What the fuck is going on?!

He looked over to where Kasumi was, only to see her slowly walking over to him. Her body still naked, but now the left side of her body was covered in blood as more leaked out from her wound. Her expression was stoic, never changing.

Isaac blinked again, and the scene changed yet again. Instead of a room and bed, he was in some kind of operating room. Now there were people wearing surgeon clothes surrounding him. Technology, surgeon equipment, and the various needles surrounded him.

Isaac started to panic, his eyes darted everywhere, trying to figure out what was happening to him. He looked back at Kasumi, who was now standing over him, still ignoring her wound.

"Alright people." One of the surgeons, a man spoke. "Let's get it right this time. Subjects eight one five and seven six seven didn't make it through the night." The speaking surgeon turned to Isaac and walked over to him, a small device in his hand. Isaac couldn't see the man's face behind his mask, or his eyes.

"Let hope two eight two here fares better." The man said and pushed a button on the device in his hand. Isaac heard a sound of a machine powering up, and looked right above him. A large circular device with several needles and syringes was descending down towards his chest. Isaac felt a shiver go down his spine. That device was dangerous, no doubt about that.

HE struggled to move, but the straps wouldn't budge.

"Don't struggle two eight two, you'll only make your survival more unlikely." The surgeon said.

Isaac could only scream as the device and all its horror of needles fall to his chest, and he felt a needle go in between each rib.

And the whole time, Kasumi Sasaki just stood there watching and bleeding.

---

Avadari, West Ionia

Isaac's eyes shot open. He grabbed the knife that was under his pillow and brought it forward in a reverse grip, ready to slice open the throat of his first enemy.

Only that there wasn't any enemy. No surgeons, no device.

No silver haired girl.

Isaac's eyes darted around, trying to figure out what happened. Instead of a surgeon room, he was in some dark wooden inn, on the floor.

Isaac blinked twice, still holding his knife out. It was several seconds before he felt the adrenaline leave his body and he felt his rapid heartbeat slow.

Just a bad dream. He let out a sigh of relief. His knife arm lowered to the ground, and he placed the knife back behind the pillow he had been resting his head on. He looked down at his body to reassure himself that he wasn't in any danger. He had half of his armor still on; the other half of it was on the floor next to him where he was sleeping.

Isaac didn't feel completely safe in this inn, so he had only taken off half of his armor before going to bed. He had also put a knife under his pillow, and his four swords were on the other side of him, opposite of the remainder of his armor.

"Another nightmare?"

Mute's voice was almost a whisper. Her hologram appeared next to Isaac in the air lighting up the room somewhat. Her armored arms were crossed over her body, and she was wearing a seriously concerned look.

Isaac let out another sigh. He scratched an itch on his chin and one on the back of his neck. "Yeah… another nightmare."

"That one seemed worse than the last few…" Mute said softly. Her hologram disappeared with a slight flicker, and reappeared right by his face. "Do you want to talk about it?" She asked, her expression held nothing but concern for him.

Isaac bit his lip and looked down at the ground. He really didn't. He never liked to talk about his nightmares. He'd had them for years now; they weren't going away anytime soon. What good would talking do?

Isaac shook his head. "No… just… a more rare one."

"Rare?" Mute asked, still trying to help.

"Yeah… not Isabella…"

"Then who?"

"…"

"…. Was it Kasumi?"

"…. Yes…." Isaac rubbed his eyes with his armored fingers before lying back down. His senses were back to normal now and he remembered where he was. He was in the room 105, where he, Vega, Ezreal, and Jinx were staying the night. Ezreal and Vega were sharing the far bed together, while Jinx herself was sprawled out over the other bed, hogging it all to herself as she snored softly. Isaac had decided to sleep on the floor to prevent an awkward situation with the somewhat crazy girl and not sharing a bed with her.

"Isaac…" Mute whispered to him again. "What happened to Kasumi was not your fault…"

Isaac let out a sigh. He was not in the mood for this, not here not now.

Not ever.

"I've heard it a million times Mute…" Isaac mumbled quietly, as to not wake the others. "Don't start right now, not right after another nightmare."

Mute was silent, she just looked at him with a look of concern.

"Alright…." She lowered her head slightly with a bit of guilt appearing on her expression. After she said her piece, her hologram vanished.

Isaac stared at the roof. No way he was going back to sleep now. He rolled hi head to the side to look at his helmet resting next to him on the ground.

Thanks anyways Mute… I still appreciate the thought...

He stretched out his body again and rolled onto his side, eyes still open. Bligewater… that's our next destitution… Isaac thought. Vega had relayed the minister's new orders to him and the others. Apparently there had been strange sightings that just screamed Ascension from the island of Bligewater. The sailors in the area were worried, and even worse, several of their ships had not returned recently.

Bligewater is supposed to be some kind of pirate nation… or something like that. That's what was in that book that journalist gave me… Isaac thought. He scratched his chin again. Wonder how we're supposed to find anything there. Sounds like its just a sitting duck. Cut off from everyone else, just waiting for the Ascension to close in on it. If the Ascension wanted to, they could hammer Bligewater hard and blast it into smithereens, and no one would ever know it was them. How could they ever find out? All the Ascension has to do is fly aircraft around and make sure no ships are in the area and then bomb the coastal city of Bligewater until it was a smoking crater…

So why weren't they doing it?

There had to be some reason the Ascension wasn't just conquering the world of Valoran. Sure smoke and mirrors was the Ascension's forte, but it made Isaac wonder…

What was the Ascension up to? At first he and Mute thought that the Ascension were just on Valoran to harvest mana and turn it into weapons, which was still likely. But then they had found out about the abductions. So what did the Ascension want with so many people? Sure they had kidnapped people on Earth before, and in no small number, but that was during the war. What did they want the people on Valoran for?

Wouldn't it just be easier to them to kidnap people on Earth, rather then going to some other world and kidnapping people there? I mean sure its probably easier to abduct people in this world, by why invest so many resources into traveling to another world?

Maybe they're just kidnapping people to slave away in some mana crystal mine or something...

As he was thinking, Isaac noticed that he was hearing something in the distance, some kind of rumbling from the outside. What is that sound? Almost sounds like a group of people marching really fast… He rolled onto his back and stood up. As he did so, the rumbling from outside was getting louder.

"Hmm…" Isaac muttered, and he slowly walked over to the window of their room, trying not to wake anyone. Although Jinx's snoring might do that instead…

But the noise from outside was starting to get louder then Jinx's snoring, which made Isaac frown and start to wonder what it could be. He reached for the blinds to the window and slowly pushed them to the side to look outside.

Outside, the village of Incala was asleep in the dead of night. No one was around, and the village was essentially dark.

Aside from the large group of touches riding up though the town and towards the inn.

So that's what that rumbling was… not marching feet…

Isaac bit his lower lip again, and scowled. Outside, there was a group of twenty or thirty soldiers mounted on horseback riding through the village.

And were heading towards the inn.

… It's the sound of cavalry…

"Vega! Ez! Jinx! Wake up!" Isaac shouted. He turned away from the window and shut the blinds. At the sound of his voice, Ezreal bolted up, but Vega and Jinx stirred in their sleep.

"W-what?!" Ezreal rubbed his eyes, shouting back half asleep. "What is that rumbling sound?"

"Vega!" Isaac shouted again, giving the side of the young summoner's bed a kick. The long blonde haired summoner's eyes shot open and he shook as if someone had just scared the living daylights out of him.

"W-what?! What?!" He groggily got up.

Jinx slowly rose out of bed too, stretching as she did and yawning. "It's not morning already is it?" She mumbled, eyes still closed and rubbed one of her eyes. "It's too dark to be morning… unless this is an Ionian thing…"

"What's that sound?" Ezreal asked again, seemingly awake now.

Vega stumbled out of bed. "Sound like… hooves?"

Isaac motioned towards the window. "The cavalry are here… and there heading this way."

"What?" Vega mumbled, and tossed his summoner robes on, stumbling to the window. He opened the blinds slightly and peered outside. "Ionian cavalry? What are they doing here?"

Isaac peered over the summoner's soldier and looked outside. The cavalry were easy to spot; several of the riders were all carrying torches in the dark.

And they had all galloped up to the entrance of the inn and halted in a triple formed line outside it.

Isaac got a better look at the so called Ionian cavalry. Each soldier was clad in armor that resembled that of a samurai, similar to that Mute "wore". Each soldier had a katana sheathed to their side, and several of them were holding long spears, while others held a second katana in hand.

They've come ready for a fight... but are they after us?

One of the mounted soldiers in the front rode and extra few feet up towards the entrance of the inn, and looked up at the upper floors.

"Archangel!" The soldier shouted. "We know you're in there! Come out at once!"

Shit… there here for us.

"What's going on?" Jinx asked. Isaac felt her lean up against him too look outside.

"We've somehow pissed off the Ionians." Isaac mumbled.

"I don't understand how… we just got here, how did they even find us?" Vega asked out loud.

"Well, if there here to fight us, let's just shoot them all." Jinx stated as if it was easy.

Isaac rolled his eyes. "No…. that would make things worse…"

"How? They can't catch us if there all dead." Jinx grinned.

"No Jinx." Vega lowered the blind and turned to face the lunatic. "We're not shooting anyone. I'll handle this."

Jinx make an expression of mock surprise. "Oh really? A big bad summoner like yourself is gonna turn away an entire UNIT OF IONIAN CALVARY?" Jinx put a great deal of emphasis on the last part.

Vega just growled in response and shook his head. Isaac stood back as the young summoner opened the window to talk with the Ionians.

"My name is Vega Tiarl, Junior Summoner of the Institute of War. What brings you here?"

The lead Ionian soldier's horse reared back as if defying every world Vega had said. Once the horse had settled down, the soldier shouted back up at him. "Summoner! We know the new champion Archangel is in there with you! Bring him out at once!"

"I will do no such thing!" Vega shouted back. "Archangel is assisting the League with an investigation under orders of the Minister of Valoran Security. You have no right to take him."

"We have every right to take him! This is Ionian soil! Your League has no say in this manner!"

"The League has say in EVERY manner!"

"Not when the people of Ionia are going missing, while your minister does nothing to aid us!" The soldier thrust an armored finger out at Vega as if commanding him to die on the spot. "Archangel! Come out now!"

Vega looked over his shoulder at Isaac, with a look of concern on his face. The summoner shook his head and turned back to the soldiers outside. "Under what charge is he being detained?"

"That is for Captain of the Ionian Guard to decide! She has ordered for his capture, and to be brought to the Placidium at once!" The soldier in charge shouted back up at them.

"The Captain of the Ionian Guard?" Ezreal shook his head. "That's Irelia. What is she thinking?"

"I don't know, but I don't think we're getting out of this easy." Isaac answered in the so-called captain of the guard's place. He quickly walked over to where his armor was on the floor and began to put on the pieces he had removed earlier.

"This Irelia person sounds like she's out to get us." Mute stated.

Wouldn't be the first person, won't be the last.

"Soooo…. You're SURE I can't kill them?" Jinx asked again, slinging her rocket launcher, Fishbone, over her back again.

"The last thing we need right now is a fight with the Ionian military." Ezreal replied, although as he said that he grabbed his over-sized gauntlet and shoved his hand inside it.

As the three of them discussed the situation, Vega still tried to negotiate with the soldiers outside.

"We're not here to cause problems for Ionia. We came here by mistake." Vega hollered back at the soldiers.

"It matters not!" The commander outside shouted back. "Regardless of your intentions, Archangel is to come with us. Now either hand him over, or we will come inside for him!"

"Try it you samurai rip-off…" Isaac muttered under his breath as he finished reassembling his armor.

Mute's hologram appeared next to him in the air. "Either way…" She said, with her arms crossed. "I don't think we're getting out of this one easily…"

"True…" Ezreal said as he inspected his goggles that were resting on his head. "But we don't know why they want Archangel, and we can't just let him get arrested here. Not when we have to get to Bligewater."

"So let's just blow them all up and move on!" Jinx waved her arms in the air. "Like… BOOM!"

"And killing them is just going to make matters worse." Vega shot back at her over his shoulder before turning his attention back outside.

Two peas in a pod those two… Isaac sighed as he strapped his blades over his back and placed his helmet over his head, sealing himself inside his armor entirely.

"So what's the plan?" Ezreal asked him.

If we fight them, we`ll end up making matters worse. If they arrest me, it's just going to make a mess of things anyways… Isaac thought. That left one solution.

"We run." Isaac replied.

Jinx let out an overdramatic sigh. "Laaaame!"

Isaac ignored her for now. "Vega, can you buy us some time to find a backdoor?"

Vega looked back at Isaac and nodded.

"If there isn't one, we'll just have to take a page from Vi's handbook." Ezreal chimed in.

"Fat-hands?" Jinx tilted her head to the side, confused. "How did she ever have a good idea?"

"Sometimes Jinx…" Ezreal gave her a thumbs up. "You gotta make a door."

Silence followed. Isaac face palmed, Vega looked back over his shoulder with an un-impressed look, and Jinx just stared at him as if Ezreal was the lunatic and not her.

"Did you SERIOUSLY just use that line?!" Jinx shouted in bewilderment, dashing over to Ezreal and immediately started throttling the poor blonde explorer.

Mute sighed. "Ok, now is not the time for comedy."

Agreed. Isaac took a step between the two and separated them. "Let's focus on the more, pressing, matter yes?" He asked, glancing at both of them. Ezreal coughed and rubbed his now red neck, while Jinx just crossed her arms and "humphed".

"You are stalling! This is your last chance summoner!" Isaac heard the shouting soldier outside. It didn't sound like Vega was going to be able to buy them much more time. Time to leave.

Isaac opened the door to the hallway and peered out into the dark hallway, one hand on one of his swords sheathed on his back. The hall was empty, and he heard several clicking sounds from various locations.

Sounded like doors locking... Seems like everyone else in the inn just locked their doors and is waiting this out. The idea of getting innocent people caught in the crossfire didn't appeal to Isaac, so he was glad they were all laying low. Hope they stay hiding if a fight breaks out.

Isaac glanced over his shoulder back into the room behind him. Ezreal and Jinx were right behind him, with the latter holding onto her zapper pistol. Vega was still at the window, shouting something back at the soldiers outside.

Isaac turned back to the hall and took a step out, glancing around. There has got to be another way out...

As he took a second step into the hall, Isaac felt a chilling sensation crawling down his spine.

There's danger nearby...

Survival instincts took over and Isaac tumbled forward, rolling back to his feet facing the opposite direction as quickly as he with a sword in each hand in reverse grip. Right where he had been standing was a cloaked figure that had dropped down from above.

He was above me? Hiding in the roof?

"What the?" Ezreal who was standing in the doorway raised his hand to shoot at the cloaked figure, but as he raised his hand the figure slammed the door shit hard with his foot.

"OW!" Isaac heard Ezreal's scream of pain from the other side of the door. Now it was just him and the cloaked figure in the hall alone.

That's the same cloak that the person who was watching us in the dining area below wore... It made sense then; that was why this person had been watching them. Probably told the Ionian army where we were.

"I take it talking is out of the question?" Isaac asked, still crouched with his arms across his body and blades out.

"Surrender." A feminine voice responded from the cloaked figure.

It's a girl, makes no difference.

" I'm not getting arrested... again." Isaac replied, shifting the grip of his swords to hold them normally, taking up a fighting stance similar to the one he had seen the red-haired girl use back in the Institute of War when he had first arrived on Valoran.

I have to be careful; I need to avoid killing anyone here. The last thing we need is to be wanted for murder, even if it is in self defence.

"Very well." Was all the girl said, and dropped her arms to her side and flicked her wrists, causing two weapons to fall from her cloak and land in her palms. A kama in each hand.

Oh shit...

The cloaked woman leapt at him with lightning speed, swinging her kamas sideways as she did so. Oh shit she`s fast! Isaac leaned back and cart-wheeled, barely dodging the kama aimed at his head saw the second kama scrap his left arm`s armor as he performed his maneuver. As he stood back up, he saw that the cloaked woman was on him again, swinging at his midsection and shoulder at the same time from the opposite sides.

Shit! Isaac leaned back, again barely dodging the kama aimed at the upper part of his body, while parrying the second with his opposite sword. The cloaked figure swung at him again, flaying her kamas at him in a skilled manner that made Isaac realize that this wasn`t just some regular spy or grunt.

He parried and dodged (barely) both blows again, and again after that, but on the fourth series of swings one of the kamas slashed the left side of his chest, leaving a gouge in his armor. An inch to the right and that would`ve been stuck in between my ribs.

She`s got me on the ropes...

The figure swung at him again, and Isaac wasn`t completely positive he would be able to dodge it.

No choice...Time-Slow!

The cloaked attacker suddenly slowed down and moved as if in slow motion as Isaac activiated one of his powers. He parried both attacks and spun to the left to get off the line of attack. As he did, he kicked his leg out and delivered a hard roundhouse kick to the attacker`s side to send her down the hall as soon as time resumed its normal pace. Before his power expired, Isaac took several steps back to maximize the gap between him and the attacker.

Can`t just kill her... Isaac reminded himself. The last thing we need right now is to be wanted for murder as well...

Although this was technically self defence, Isaac didn`t want to bet on that holding up in some Ionian court somewhere.

Time resumed, and the cloaked figure let out a grunt of pain and slammed onto her side, rolling down the hall. Her rolling stopped when she launched herself off the ground and backwards, even farther away from Isaac. As she was in midair, she threw her cloak off, landing flawlessly on both feet and into a fighting stance.

Isaac got his first good look at who his attacker really was. She was dressed in a somewhat revealing green ninja outfit; her shoulders, forearms, and shins were protected by plated armor, but the rest of her uniform appeared cloth. The lower part of her face was hidden behind a green mask, and her long black hair was tied back in a ponytail.

A ninja... are you kidding me?

If he could've afforded to take his eyes off his opponent for one second, Isaac would've rolled his eyes. Mute was right, this island nation is sure going for the whole East Asia thing... with samurai and ninjas.

Isaac heard a door open behind him and through the corner of his eye saw Ezreal rush to his side, armored hand raised and pointed at the green ninja down the hall. Isaac noticed that Ezreal's nose was bloody and he seemed to be fighting back pain, but as soon as he laid his eyes on their enemy, he stopped.

"A-Akali?!" Ezreal sounded shocked. "What are you doing?"

Isaac glanced at the blonde and then back at the ninja. Wait, they know each other?

"Ezreal, this has nothing to do with you." The ninja, apparently named Akali said in a calculating tone. "Stay out of this."

"What are you talking about?" Ezreal shook his head. "I'm on HIS side! This has everything to do with me."

"While we're on that subject," Isaac said, maintaining his combat pose and keeping both eyes on the green ninja, "Why am I suddenly a hot commodity?"

"People across Ionia are going missing, even children, and villages are being attacked and burnt to ash." Akali's voice had traces of contempt as she spoke. "We found evidence that bears resemblance to Archangel... therefore you ARE coming with us." She motioned her head at Isaac as she finished.

Evidence?

"I'm rather curious as to what this evidence is." Mute once again read his mind.

Ezreal shook his head and lowered his hand. "Archangel isn't responsible for the abductions, it's some group called the Ascension." He tried to reason with his acquaintance. "They're the ones responsible! I've seen them myself, so have Caitlyn, Vi, and Jinx here!"

As if on cue, Isaac heard the sound of metal spinning, and risked a glance over his shoulder. Behind him and slightly to his side, Jinx stood with her signature wide smile. In her hands, she held her minigun which was already spinning and pointed right at Akali.

"Come on ninja-girl," Jinx laughed, "Make my day!"

Akali said nothing. She just stared the trio down.

Maybe we CAN negotiate with them... it'll clear things up, and this evidence she's talking about could give us some new leads.

That, and if people think I'M the one who is causing the abductions while the Ascension are here... it'll just make things more difficult.

"So let me get this straight..." Isaac twirled one of his swords around in his hand to make himself appear more relaxed to his foe. "I'm NOT really under arrest am I? Because we've got bigger problems like the Ascension."

"I don't know anything about this... Ascension." Akali replied coolly, "But if you really ARE innocent, then you should have nothing to fear if you come with us." She paused for a second as if she were contemplating something. "But that's not for me to decide."

Isaac bit his lower lip in thought. She really didn't answer the question about the whole being arrested part... It was a gamble... if he went with them and found some more information on the Ascension it would pay off. On the flip side, if they just arrested him it would make things even more complicated.

Or maybe this evidence isn't the Ascension, and it's related to one of my squadmates?

Isaac shook that thought from his mind. It was too far of a speculation. Or was it?

"Where do we have to go?" He asked.

"The Placidium, it's a day's ride from here." The ninja responded.

Isaac bit his lip again as thought about their options. If we go with them we can just clear this whole thing up and be back on our way… the other option is to fight them all and somehow avoid killing them in the process, but that would make me look guilty. The last thing I need right now is a country calling ME the bad guy here.

Mute's avatar appeared in his HUD, and gave him a nod. "I think we should take our chances with her. It might not pay off right away, but in the long run, NOT having a bunch of ninjas and samurai after us would be helpful." She stated her opinion on the matter.

"Agreed." Isaac whispered to her, before returning his attention to the ninja who was awaiting his answer while retaining her fighting pose. "Alright, Akali, I'll bite… just tell those morons outside to calm down, and we'll be right out."