To: CONTROL
From: General Edward Alcatraz
Subject: Additional Squads Requested/Jans Olsen
CONTROL,
The loss of Shadow Team at Guadalcanal raises a new problem, and recent satellite imaging and local reports are leading us to believe that there are still additional active Ascension bases in the Pacific. As a result, I respectfully request that additional Meta-Human squads (preferably BETA units to properly replace Shadow) be stationed in Los Angles and Hawaii. Until the base in Japan can be completed, TRANS-Ops bases in North America possess the only means of rapid deployment of Meta-Human squads to counter the growing Ascension threat in the Pacific. Unless we receive additional units, we may not be able to properly address the danger that the Ascension may pose if left unchecked.
I also looked over Professor Jans Olsen's notes on multi-dimensional travel. I find it hard to believe that such a thing exists in anything other than bad science fiction stories and films. However, the readings from deceased AIX unit BOSTON and his notes have too many similarities to be a mere coincidence. We will begin briefing all of our remaining Meta-Human squads on the precaution that they may encounter and entity like the one that Shadow Team did.
Regardless, my request for additional squads stands.
General Edward Alcatraz, Commander of TRANS-Ops NSNA Branch
On the Road
Ionia
It had been over half a day since they had set out for the Placidium. Unlike the time they had rode to Piltover on summoned horses that raced across the landscape without pause; the Ionian horses rode at a more realistic speed.
Summoned or real horses, Isaac still had issues with riding on horseback. When he had first saddled up, the horse was anything but pleased with the weight, and it had taken him a full hour to be able to ride without having an Ionian soldier holding the reigns as they galloped across the lush Ionian landscape.
Although he was riding on his own now, it was still far from what he would've preferred.
"I'd almost rather walk…" Isaac grumbled under his breath as he swayed in his saddle as his horse trotted over a small bridge.
"Still having troubles outworlder?" An Ionian solder behind him laughed at his struggle.
"Yes…" Isaac mumbled loudly enough for the soldier to hear. He was in the center of their convoy, with half of the Ionian cavalry in front of him, the other half behind him. It was rather clear that they didn't trust him to stay with them and try to bolt at any given time.
Like a certain stupid blue twin braided hair girl I know… Isaac sighed and looked over his shoulder at the bored individual tied to his horse behind him. Jinx was lying on the horse with her hands bound, tied to the beast around her chest, waist, and legs. She had somehow managed to free herself enough to rest her chin in her hands. The maniac watched the passing scenery as they traversed the road through a hilly forest with winding rivers. Her boredom couldn't be more obvious on her face.
"Couldn't I at leeeeast get Fishbones back?"Jinx whined.
"No." Four of the soldiers behind them responded in unison. Each one of them had one of her various weapons strapped to their horses.
"Arrrchhhyyy…" Jinx moaned, "Convince them to give me Fishbones back."
"No." Isaac responded, deadpanned.
Jinx lazily turned to look at him and (attempted) to give him puppy dog eyes. "Pleeeease?"
Isaac sighed, and turned his attention to the soldiers riding behind him. "Could you guys-"
"No." The four responded in unison, clearly unamused that he was even trying.
Isaac shrugged and turned to face forwards again, tightening his grip on the reigns to make sure he stayed in control of the horse. "I tied Jinx." He said.
"You call THAT trying?!" He heard Jinx half shout behind him. "You couldn't even get a nun to give you charity with that!"
Isaac sighed, again.
Mute's face appeared in his HUD as if on cue. "Remember, you're the one who wanted her to come along."
"Shut up Mute."
Within the first hour, and while Isaac was still having his greatest struggle with the horse, Jinx had gotten bored and tried to make a break for it...
"Yeeeeehhhaaawww!" She had shouted as she bolted away from the convoy and off into the country side. Nearly a third of twenty-seven Ionian soldiers had chased after her and, being far more skilled in riding, quickly overtook the lunatic. After dragging her back in a rather comical fashion, they had tied her like she is presently to the back of one of the soldier's horses. Of course, Jinx managed to annoy the soldier so much that they had stopped the journey to the Placidium long enough to untie her and re-tie her to the back of Isaac's horse.
"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Isaac had argued as he sat in his saddle. One of the soldiers had a grip on his reigns to keep the horse in check while they added the extra weight to his saddle. "I'm having enough trouble trying to ride as it is!"
One of the soldiers with his spear in his hand lazily resting against his shoulder as he oversaw the soldiers tying Jinx to his saddle scoffed at his complaint. "Your companion, your problem outworlder."
Isaac bit his lower lip in frustration, already regretting his decision to go along with the Ionians to meet this Irelia. Assholes…
"Aww, what's wrong?" Jinx taunted the five soldiers trying to tie her to Isaac's horse with her signature grin, "That last your mom joke hurt that poor 'witle Ionian's feelwings?"
"Shut up." One of the soldiers barked at her.
"You know, this trip is going to take at lot longer with her tied to me." Isaac tried to reason with the soldiers.
But the soldier with the spear simply reached under his helmet (which Mute informed him was nearly identical to that of a Zunarii kabuto helmet from Edo period Japan, which had meant little to Isaac other than a fun fact) to scratch at his chin. "With the pace you're setting for us? Doubt it. A child could ride faster and more skillfully then you, outworlder."
"Oh SNAP!" Jinx shouted back with a laugh.
"Shut up Jinx." Isaac mumbled. Assholes…
The blue haired criminal giggled and quickly turned back to the soldiers tying her up. "Hey! How many Ionians soldiers does it take to tie up an anorexic girl to a horse? Huh?! Anyone?!" Jinx looked around with a giggle to each soldier.
All of them dismissed her joke with various expressions, ranging from a sigh, to a headshake, to flat-out ignoring her.
"No one? Ok then…" Jinx took a deep breath. "About as many who survived the Noxian Invasion! Oh wait, too soon-" The girl was promptly cut off mid-sentence by the now angered soldiers tying her up who had previously been able to shake off her remarks. One of the soldiers grabbed her by her braids and pulled her head back and another soldier punched Jinx in the side of the head, knocking her out.
Isaac furrowed his brow in confusion. What the hell was that all about?
"Was that really necessary?" Mute's question echoed in his helmet, unanswered.
"What's going on here?" The green ninja, Akali rode up to Isaac and the soldiers. "I thought I said not to harm them."
The soldier with the spear looked to the ninja. "Last I checked, we don't actually take orders from you, ninja." He motioned to the now unconscious Jinx with the butt end of his spear, "Besides from being annoying as hell, it's easier to tie her up like this."
Although her face was hidden behind her mask, Isaac saw the green clad ninja's eyes narrow. "And last I checked, captain, your unit was assigned to assist me and follow my instructions. On top of that, they came along willingly. They are not our prisoners and they don't deserve to be treated as such."
"Wow, She's coming to our defence. That's quite the one-eighty from her attitude when you fought her." Mute said privately to Isaac.
Well... we DID come along willingly... although I'm starting to have second thoughts... maybe we should've just booked it and gone to Bligewater on our own...
The soldier Akali was addressing, apparently a captain, bit his lip. "Yes... ma'am." He responded grudgingly.
"Good." The ninja nodded. "Now hurry it up! Or we won't make it to the Placidium by nightfall."
"About that…" Isaac interrupted, "We're going to be moving a lot slower with her strapped to me. I'm having enough issues staying in this saddle as it is."
The captain's face broke out into a grin that Isaac didn't like. He resumed leaning his spear against his shoulder and spoke the words that would piss Isaac off for the rest of the day…
"Don't worry, we got a solution for that…"
Isaac sighed as he remembered the whole exchange from earlier in the day, and looked down to his waist where the soldiers had tied him to his saddle with two different ropes.
Tied into the saddle like a novice… Isaac thought slightly bitterly at the way he was being treated. Mute had, of course, laughed as they tied him to the saddle.
"Still not a fan of the training wheels?" Mute's face appeared in his HUD again with her usual snarky grin.
"Shut up Mute…"
"You…. REALLY need to work on your comebacks."
Isaac shook his head and focused again on trying to ride as the cobblestone road twisted around another tree. Up ahead, between him and a few soldiers were Vega and Ezreal, each having their own conversation with a different soldier. At least they seem to be getting along with the cavalry…
Akali herself was up at the front of the convoy, apparently watching the road for traps and ambushes.
Why would they need to watch for traps in their own land so close to their capital? Isaac had wondered. He knew that, back on Earth at least, roads weren't exactly safe in medieval times. Bandits, wars, you name it, could happen at any time on the roads during those time periods. Guess it's the same here too.
"At least I thought it was a funny joke…" He heard Jinx mumble behind him again. She had regained consciousness about an hour ago, and quickly fell into boredom again.
It's like she's got hyper attention deficit disorder or something…
Isaac disabled his external speakers so he could converse with Mute in private. "Speaking of that joke… what was the deal back there?" He asked his AIX companion.
"Hmm?" Mute cocked her head to the side slightly in question.
"That so called joke Jinx made about a Noxian invasion…"
Mute's head returned upright and placed a hand on her chin. "Oh, that… what about it?"
"Well, it got the Ionians really pissed off… I was just curious."
"So was I… so I looked it up in my databanks and found the answer."
Isaac blinked. "Ok… so…?"
"It was in that book that reporter gave to us, you know… the one WE STILL haven't finished since SOMEONE HERE WON'T LET ME SCAN IT."
Isaac sighed. "You know, since you're so adamant about it, I might just say screw it and let you scan the whole thing."
"Thank you. Oh, and if you keep sighing like that, you're going to start growing grey hairs before your time."
"…. That sounds like a load of bull…"
Mute shrugged. "Probably, but still, with the amount you sigh, I'm starting to think your personal files are bogus and you're actually a sixty year-old man who just happens to look like he's in his early twenties."
"Moving on now…" Isaac tried to get the conversation back on topic.
"Right… well… according to that book, the city state of Noxus invaded Ionia around fourteen years ago, can't give you the exact time since we actually don't know what day it is today in the Runeterra calendar. But anyways, Noxus invaded Ionia without provocation and conquered a good part of it, apparently they even managed to nearly take the capital. After a lengthy and costly war on both sides, a treaty was signed hostilities ceased, but Noxus remained in control of the southern provinces of Ionia."
"I thought the League of Legends was supposed to stop wars in this world?"
Mute shook her head. "Ionia wasn't actually part of the League at that time, so they couldn't really do anything about it. However, part of the treaty was due to Ionia being granted membership to the League in order to stop the war... buuuut…"
I knew there was a but coming… there always is in this kind of thing…
"The Ionian's demanded a duel against the Noxians seven years after the invasion. They met on the Fields of Justice, the same one you fought in that match on, and lost. Noxus remained in control of the southern provinces and basically treated the Ionians there like third class citizens and were able to get away with it."
"Wait, wait… they were able to treat people like that simply because they won a bloody match?" Isaac was shocked. The League has THAT MUCH influence on such things? That's stupid! It sounds like the institute is basically a ticket to allow war crimes to be committed if they win one of those five on five matches.
"Yep…" Mute nodded. "Again, but, two years ago the public opinion across Valoran turned negative towards the Noxian occupation, and Ionia was able to demand a rematch, something Noxus surprisingly accepted to. And this time, Ionia won, forcing Noxus to abandon their occupation and cede the controlled southern provinces back to Ionia."
"And did they actually?" Isaac asked cynically.
"Actually, they did, believe it or not." Mute nodded. "Guess the League has a lot of pull after all huh?"
"Hmm…" Isaac replied. He still didn't like it. How many people died during that occupation that was basically internationally sanctioned... how many lives ruined…
Mute sighed. "You're thinking too hard again, aren't you?"
"Well… it's just…"
"You know something Isaac, you are rather weird…"
Mute's remark brought Isaac out of his thoughts. "Huh?"
"You're a superhuman soldier, assassin, and a killer… yet you have a conscious that is always going off and thinking way too deeply about morals. Especially when it comes to history."
"And that's why I hate history." Isaac mumbled.
Mute shook her head. "For someone who had been trained since childhood to kill, you sure have a lot of morals you know…"
Isaac furrowed his brow. "Says the artificial intelligence with human emotions…"
There was a pause in their conversation, the only sounds Isaac heard was that of horseshoes on stone and Jinx mumbling something about wanting to blow stuff up.
"Touché, Sergeant… touché…" Mute finally said.
Isaac sighed. "How did we even get on this subject anyways?"
"That's what's so inefficient about you organics… so easily distracted…"
"Didn't YOU derail the subject?"
"Ahem!" Mute fake cleared her throat, clearly paying his factual remark no comment. "Anyways, what are we going to do when we get to the Placidium?"
"Well, were-" Isaac began but stopped when he realized his horse was about to lead in into the path of a tree branch that was bent over the path, perfectly at his torso height. "Oh shit…"
"What?" Mute asked, confused.
Isaac gripped the reigns and tried to move his horse. The animal reared its head around as if annoyed with him, but didn't tread off its path.
"Come on you stupid…" Isaac cursed at the four legged animal. Who would've thought horseback riding would be so damn difficult…
AS they approached the branch that was soon to reach Isaac's face, the horse finally obeyed and ventured to the side. But too little too late.
Oh shit…
As a last second effort, Isaac leaned forward to duck. He felt the forehead of his helmet hit the lower half of the branch, creating a "thunk" nose and causing his head to whip back. Isaac clenched his teeth at the discomfort in his neck at the motion.
Ow...
As he passed under the branch, Isaac sat back up straight and shook his head slightly, his neck a bit sore. Of course, at the sight of the black armored soldier hitting his head on a tree branch, the soldiers behind him broke into laughter. As did Jinx.
And Mute.
"Shut up…" Isaac mumbled.
"Having issues there outworlder?"
"What? They don't teach people how to ride on Earth?"
"Are you a soldier or a slapstick comedian?"
"Looks like they let just about anyone into the League these days as long as there weird."
"What's with that name anyways… Earth? Couldn't think of a better name other than a synonym for dirt? Why not just call it planet dirt?" Were the various jests behind him.
Isaac gritted his teeth in irritation.
"Mute?"
"Wh-what?" Mute managed to get out between her own laughs.
"The first thing I'm doing when we get to the Placidium… is tying each of those soldiers to their horses…"
The Undercity
Noxus
Katarina tugged on her black cloak and hood tightly as she wandered and weaved through the subterranean levels of Noxus. Nearly half of the city's population lived in the underground districts that were either under the earth or carved into the granite mountain that the city was built on and around.
It was also the place where a good portion of the abductions were taking place.
Here, and in the poor outer districts beyond the city walls… Katarina thought. While her sisters might not be interested in doing anything about the missing people, Katarina thought otherwise. Better to handle this issue now, then wait till it becomes something larger.
But what? Katarina had nothing to go on other than some numbers and names on a piece of paper, and either she or some of her house's (or another house) had investigated each of those, and that was after the local guards did when people first started going missing.
It might be fruitless, but it's better than waiting for something to happen and then wishing we did more to prevent it.
Talon was like minded.
"I can feel it in my gut… this is something larger… larger then we are prepared for." Is what he had said when she first brought it up. So they hatched a quick plan to investigate more, she would search the under districts, he would search the outer districts.
And so far today, she had been wandering around the various underground streets for the better part of the day and had learned nothing. In fact, the only thing she had gained was an empty stomach.
Better find something to eat… because if I run into trouble on an empty stomach, I'm going to have issues…
The dark red hair woman pulled her hood down so that it covered the top of her eyes, finding her way through the streets off memory from the countless times she had been down here. While most nobles didn't spend too much time in Noxus's underground districts, Kat never minded them. Aside from the smell at first, but like everything, she got used to it.
Doesn't stink as bad as a corpse.
She made her way through the crowded streets towards her destination, dodging people as they came by, still keeping her senses sharp for anyone who may pose a threat. She had honestly hoped that someone would try to abduct HER, so that she could see the face of the enemy for herself. Otherwise, she hoped that she would see an abduction in progress.
But so far, even with the large amount of people going missing, no one in the streets of Noxus, be it underground or above ground, seemed to pay it any notice.
I wonder if it's the same in the other districts…
Kat shook it off, no sense speculating on that one since Talon would meet up with her later to tell her how it is out there.
She looked up to see the various signs stretching out over the street, trying to eye the one she was looking for. It didn't take long for her to spot it. It read: Sinful Succulence.
Bingo.
She weaved her way through the street, avoided a cart rolling by, and pushed the door to the bakery shop open, the sound of the bell ringing lightly in her ears to make the owners away that they had a customer.
"Be there in a minute." A familiar woman's voice shouted at her from the bakery's kitchen, which was out of sight. Katarina glanced around to make a check to see who was in the shop. There only seemed to be a few customers, five in total, and they each seemed occupied in either talk or their food.
Must be a slow day… Katarina thought, keeping her hood down. Even though there weren't many people around, she didn't want to attract any attention. See simply stood with her arms crossed at the counter, waiting for the owner to make her appearance.
She didn't have to wait long. After a few seconds, a woman with purple hair, long pointed ears, and with large black colored angel wings that seemed damaged appeared entered through a door behind the counter. "Can I help you?" She asked in a tone that didn't really seem to fit the baker's outfit she was wearing.
Katarina shook her head lightly and grinned at the sight. She never thought that outfit suited her, not once, and she had to do her best from poking fun at her for each every time she saw it.
"I'll just take the usual." The red head responded, lifting her hood up slightly so that her face and eyes could be seen by the fallen angel.
Morgana's face broke into a devious smile. "Well, well, look who it is." She said in a tone that Kat couldn't tell if it was mocking or happy, even though she knew it wasn't the former.
"Long time no see." Kat smiled slightly back. "How long as it been now… a few weeks?"
"Nearly a month actually." Morgana crossed her arms. "Normally I would think that that means I lost a customer, but I know you would always come back eventually. Never could stay away for too long huh?"
Katarina let out a light chuckle. "Well, what can I say? I've been a busy woman."
Morgana replied with a "humph" and returned to the kitchen, emerging a minute later with a pair of Katarina's favorite choice of stuffed bagels.
A few minutes later, the two were sitting down at a booth.
"So… missing people huh?" Morgana asked as Kat chowed down on her purchase, still wearing her baker's cloths but minus the silly hat, her dark purple hair extending down just past her shoulders.
Ahh… that's hitting the spot… She thought happily as she enjoyed her quick meal. She nodded in response to Morgana's question. She had first mentioned it the last time she was here.
"Still no luck?"
Kat shook her head.
"Did you take it up with the League like you were planning?"
She nodded, still enjoying her food.
"And? How'd that go?"
Damn, not a yes or no question… Kat swallowed and took a sip from her water. "Not as well as I hoped, but not as bad. Turns out the problem is worldwide."
Morgana raised an eyebrow at that. "Really now? Worldwide?"
"From Demacia to Ionia."
"That's not really worldwide dear… just Valoran wide..."
"You know what I meant." Kat took another bit from her food.
"So? What do they think?"
The assassin tried to chew her food and swallow it before answering, Morgana grinned at the sight of her trying to rush. "Your noble upbringing is showing again. No talking with your mouth full."
Kat threw her a glance that said "F-off". She swallowed her food before saying anything "like the noble she was".
"They don't know anything. I took the report straight to the Minister of Valoran Security himself and he shrugged. No suspects he said. Nothing. Either they're just as lost as we are, or there holding something back."
"And what do you think?"
"I think…" Katarina paused. Was it really alright with her to just tell Morgana everything? What if she had a hand in all of this? She eyed the fallen angel carefully before mentally shaking her head. If I start seeing enemies in every shadow I come across, I'll miss the big target. "I think that Archangel is connected to it somehow." She said in a hushed tone.
Morgana raised her eyebrows. "Archangel? You mean that new champion?"
Katarina took another bite of her bagel and nodded.
"I didn't get to see his debut match, but I heard he was good." The fallen angel's mouth turned into a devious grin again. "Aside from the fact he gave first blood."
Kat sighed at that. How did that happen? He was able to take on me and Vayne alone before Garen took him down… and he gave first blood to the Spider Queen?
Morgana raised both her arms up and rested them on the table, leaning forward slightly. "Your right, he does seem odd though… did you get to read that interview with he had with Ram Steed?"
Kat nodded. She had done that as soon as it came out, it was the only information they actually had on him. And even then we can't actually clarify it… It doesn't seem believable, but then again we have people from other worlds already here, and I'm talking to one of them.
"Is he from yours?" Kat asked.
Morgana shook her head. "Never heard of him. Choice in name aside, he doesn't seem like an angel. We don't have technology like that where I'm from."
"That's what I thought."
"Although…"
"What?"
"There was this rumor I heard…"
"What rumor?"
"The one about you and Archangel."
Katarina stopped eating. What? What rumor about her and Archangel? I don't like where this is going…
Morgana noticed her hesitation and once again broke into a devious smile. "You don't know dear? The one about how you've fought him… and lost."
Katarina felt a tinge and annoyance flare within her. That was a rumor being spread around? How did that get out?
I bet Demacia did it… and probably put emphasis on the fact that Garen took him down.
Kat couldn't help herself from scowling, and that gave Morgana the answer she wanted to hear. Or see.
"So it is true!" Morgana laughed. "What happened?"
Katarina sighed in annoyance and frustration, her hands falling onto the table as she looked away from Morgana and out the window. "I underestimated him. Badly."
"Oh?"
"But next time…"
"Hmm?"
"Next time I'll take him down." That black metal armored… outworlder… even had the nerve to mirror my stance in battle. She felt her competitive streak flaring even brighter. No one can beat me in a duel. I've even made Garen taste dirt.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Morgana's laughter.
Kat looked back at the fallen angel. She was holding her sides laughing for some reason. "What?"
The angel didn't stop laughing, although she did seem like she was trying to repress it.
"What?" Kat asked again, although this time she wasn't able to keep her annoyance from showing in her voice.
"You know how you look right now?"
"Huh?"
"I'll bet…" Morgana stopped to repress her laughter, successfully this time. "Garen looked the same way when he met you and found his rival he always wanted."
"Huh?" Katarina expression went straight from annoyance to complete confusion.
"Well dear, you looked, and sounded mind you, like a little girl who was just told that she wasn't actually mad at someone, she was just experiencing her first crush."
Kat blinked at her remark. Until it settled in.
"What?!" Katarina shouted at the fallen angel, which only made her laugh even harder, and drew the attention of everyone in the shop. Kat lowered her hood down over her face further to cover up her scared eye that could give her away. IT wasn't because she was embarrassed at her outburst. Or the sudden turn in the conversation. No it wasn't for either of those reasons.
Not a chance.
"What the hell are you talking about?" She spat at the angel in a hushed tone.
"I'm just calling it how I see it." Morgana responded between laughs. At least she had the courtesy to lower her voice in return.
"I. Do. Not. Have. A. crush!"
"Well, that's what it looks like to me."
"Oh you are just…" Katarina shook her head and took another bite of her bagel. She couldn't believe this! Where the hell had this come from…
Morgana's laughing fit calmed down after a minute of Kat munching on her food in extreme annoyance. "Oh come on Kat. When was the last time you dated?"
"That has nothing to do with this."
"Maybe not, maybe it does."
"No maybes involved Morg, it doesn't have anything to do with this or him."
"Regardless the question still stands."
"Got to hell."
"So never huh?"
"I said go to hell."
"Well when was the last time you had a romp in the sack?"
"Fuck off."
"No way…" Morg leaned back in her seat and looked Kat up and down, as if seeing her for the first time. "You're not a virgin are you?"
Kat responded to that question by spitting her food out all over the seat opposite of her, missing Morgana by inches.
"Well THAT wasn't very noble like!" Morgana seemed someone shocked at the sight of Kat spitting her food out. "What was that all about?"
"Well don't ask stupid random questions!"
"I didn't get an answer though."
"The answer is fuck off!"
"Still one huh? Ouch…"
Katarina threw her hands up in the air. "WHY ARE WE EVEN HAVING THIS CONVERSATION?"
"Because its fun to mess with you that's why… all cold hearted assassin here, and you haven't even had sex before."
"Well SORRY! I've got better and more important things to worry about then my sex life!"
"There are few things that are better than getting it on my dear, trust me."
"You know what I mean!"
"Not sure I do, I mean, even I know I need to get some around here every now and then."
"I didn't ask, I don't want to know, I don't care!" Katarina was doing her hardest not to shout and storm out of the shop.
"Well, thought I might share what you've been miss…. Are you blushing?"
"What?"
"Are you blushing…..? You totally are."
Kat's hands raced to her face, covering her cheeks. I can't believe this! Why! What the hell…. Why am I still talking about this?
"You totally are. HAH!" Morgana broke out into laughter again.
"Fuck it, I'm leave-" Kat began.
But was cut off at the sound of breaking glass coming from outside.
"…ing…." She mumbled out. That sounded like it came from the alley next to the building…
Suddenly, Katarina remember why she had come out to the undercity in the first place. The annoyance at Morgana's conversation forgotten, Kat bolted up from her seat and raced out the door. She turned the corner and looked in alleyway. On the ground was broken glass from a bottle or something, and a trail of blood leading around the opposite corner. She caught a glance of a pair of shoes disappearing from behind the wall of the building in the distance.
Shit! An abduction?!
"What's going-" She heard Morgana calling behind her, but Kat ignored it. She sprinted down the alley, throwing off her hood and cloak as she ran.
I need to be quick! She thought as she stepped on the broken glass, crunching it under her boot. She grabbed the hilt of one of her many blades and rounded the corner, other hand already producing a trio throwing knives between her fingers.
In her sight, were five men, all rugged and armed with various weapons from swords to clubs to staffs. And two of them, were dragging an unconscious man and woman.
"Stop! Guards!" Kat shouted loudly, hopping to draw attention to the alley.
"Shit! Get the bitc-" One of the kidnappers started to bark orders, but was cut short when all three of Kat's throwing knives ripped into his throat.
The other men wasted no time and dropped the victims, charging at her while the man with the staff stayed back.
The first sword armed ruffian swung vertically at Kat, who nimbly sidestepped the attack and lashed out with one of her own swords, slicing the man clean across the throat. The ruffian dropped his weapon immediately, both hands darting to his throat to try and stop the bleeding.
Kat took a step back away from her defeated soon to be dead opponent to prepare for the other two. At seeing their comrade drop so easily, the other two kidnappers stopped their charge. One raised his sword at her and approached cautiously while the other, wielding a club, tried to circle around her.
"Oh please…" Kat grinned at their feeble attempt. She quickly drew a larger throwing dagger and threw it at the man trying to encircle her, the blade embedding itself in the man's chest. The attacker dropped to the ground screaming in pain.
Before the third attacker could react, Kat charged at him. The ruffian tried to swing at her, but she simply parried the blow and drew a second sword in reverse grip, slashing the ruffian across the waist as she did so. As the man began to kneel over in pain, Kat thrust her other sword up and into the man's head, blade sticking into his skull and stopping as she felt it hit the other end of his skull.
She yanked the blade out and kicked the man to the ground in a fluid motion. She twirled her bloody blades around, and faced her last opponent, who seemed rather shocked she had taken down his comrades so quickly.
"Just our luck, we would run into Katarina Du Couteau…" The staff armed ruffian grumbled.
"So you best drop your weapon." Kat grinned, "Or you're gonna end up like the others here."
"I think not!" The man with the staff waved his weapon at her, and to her surprise, fired a ball of fire right at her.
A mage, shit! Kat made to roll to the side, but just before she did, she heard a strange sound and a blue magical shield appear in front of her. The fireball struck the shield, and dissipated into the air, leaving her unharmed.
Kat looked over her shoulder and was slightly surprised to see Morgana a standing in the alleyway behind her in her usual attire, apparently having stripped off her baker's outfit when she had ran after Kat. One of her hands was raised and with blue magical energy glowing at her fingertips. "What the hell is going on?!" The fallen angel snarled.
You're gonna find out. Kat looked back to her foe, who seemed shocked at the sight of Morgana's Black Shield. Kat wasted no more time. She dropped one of her swords and drew and threw another knife at the rogue mage all with lightning speed. The knife caught the man in the shoulder of his staff arm, causing him to lower the staff and grunt in pain. Before he could counter attack, Kat focused and leapt forward. As she did, the world around her flashed, and suddenly she was in front of her enemy.
Her foe had just enough time to look scared before she tackled him to the ground.
"Who do you work for?!" Kat shouted at the man as she mounted him, holding her sword in reverse grip to the man's throat, while grabbing and twisting the knife embedded in the man's shoulder with her free hand.
"Agghh! Stop it! Stop!" The man begged, clearly in deep pain.
"Answer the question!"
"Ok! Ok! I will! I'll talk!"
"Then ANSWER IT!"
"I don't know their names! They just came to me and my mates in the night and started paying us a ton for every person we brought in!"
"What do they look like?!"
"They wore caps and had masks on! I don't know if they were even men or woman. Please! Just spare me!"
"Then give me something USEFUL!" Katarina vented her frustration by pushing down harder on the knife in the man's shoulder, causing him to wail in pain.
"Stop! Please! I'll tell-" The wailing man began to shout when Kat heard a loud bang. Suddenly, the side of the man's head exploded, soaking the granite ground with blood and brain matter.
Kat sat straight up in shock. What? It took her a half second to realize what had happened. Oh shit! She pushed off the man as hard as she could and back flipped off the dead body when she heard a second bang; the wooden wall next to her burst, sending splinters everywhere, and confirming her fears.
Someone was shooting at her with a gun.
Before her unknown assailant could fire again, Kat shunpo'd to the last person in the area, a very confused Morgana.
"Kat! Wha-" She started to shout as Katarina appeared behind her.
"GET DOWN!" She screamed at the angel, wrapping her arm around Morgana's neck and pulling her down from behind.
Morgana gagged hard as she fell backwards on-top of Kat, just in time as the third gunshot sounded. The window in the distance that had been even to the height of Morgana's head shattered from the force of the bullet.
"Crawl!" Kat barked as Morgana rolled off her. She crawled quickly towards the corner, just in time as a forth gunshot hit the ground inches from her head.
He can still see us! Kat looked ahead, she was nearly at the corner of the alley, if she got around that then she would be out of sight. But would she make it in time?
No choice! Kat focused and shunpo'd a third time, appearing right behind the corner. As the world came back into view, she heard another shot.
I bet that was meant for my head right where I was! Kat quickly got to her feet and saw Morgana stumble into view.
She's still in sight! Kat cursed mentally at it all and grabbed the angel's wing closest to her and pull her around the corner. As she did, she heard yet another gunshot, followed by several feathers from the wing opposite of the wing she pulled scatter out.
Morgana cried out in pain from the bullet going through her already damaged wings. The fallen angel fell at Kat's feet, out of the alley where the gunman was shooting at them.
We need to get out of here! Kat looked back the direction she had originally come from and saw several curious onlookers staring at them from back on the street. Among those people, was a pair of guards with her family's crest on their shoulders.
"Sniper!" Kat shouted at the guards. As to put emphasis on her words, another gunshot sounded, which made Kat instinctively duck down. Both of the guards drew their weapons and started barking orders at the crowd, who scattered and screamed at the sound of the words "sniper" "get down" and "take cover".
Kat reached down and grabbed Morgana by the shoulders to help her up, while she was nursing her wing which now had a fist sized hole in it. As she helped the fallen angel run out of the alley, she felt a pang of guilt in her gut. It's my fault she got injured… she didn't need to come after me…
It didn't take long before more guards showed up to quarantine the area and search the buildings and crowd for anyone who had a gun. But after hours and hours of work, they had turned up nothing.
Kat shook her head in frustration at it all. All she had found in the end was a series of dead bodies… even the two people who had been in the process of being kidnapped had been shot by the sniper in the heads.
After a long day of searching and a long night of working with the guards to try and locate the sniper, Katarina Du Couteau would go home empty handed.
The Will of the Blades
The Placidium, Ionia
The Placidium was not what Isaac expected it to be. In fact, he wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Even as he walked through it he wasn't sure if it was a city, a nexus of temples, or just a massive temple itself. It was built on the edge of a mountain and seemed to nearly climb all the way to the top. The whole place had a mystical feel to it, and it wasn't just because of all the temple like structures. Throughout the temple-city, nature seemed untouched. It wasn't overgrown, it was cut down, it seemed as if the buildings and nature at the Placidium had simply… co-existed. A waterfall or two could be seen or heard at nearly every angle, and several of the buildings had shining blue crystals of various sizes hovering above them.
Mute had scanned them the second they came in range and confirmed that they were massive mana crystals. That means this place is probably on the Ascensions hit list… Isaac suspected. After all, all he had seen the Ascension have was just small mana crystals… and that was bad enough. If the Ascension got their hands on crystals as big as the ones just floating in the air here…
We could see cities getting demolished…
Akali led Isaac up the countless steps and turns to (what he suspected was) the top of the Placidium. The others had stayed behind, with the guards keeping a close eye on Jinx. Probably for the best… If they want to keep this place looking nice…
Akali herself didn't say a word the whole journey up. Even when Isaac would stop to look at something, or to have Mute scan some object, she simply stopped and waited for him to finish before resuming the climb.
Can't tell if she's leading me up here to a meeting… or to be executed…
As they climbed the steps (which Isaac had long stopped counting and was very thankful he was in such good physical shape), Isaac tried to fish a bit of information out of the ninja.
"So… who is this Irelia I'm supposed to be meeting?" He inquired.
"You'll find out soon enough." Akali responded curtly.
Typical answer…
"Well… she seems to know about me, so I was hoping to get on a bit of an even ground."
"She's the Captain of the Guard, and has authority of all soldiers in Ionia."
"So… she's basically a general then."
"Not… quite the same thing, but similar, yes." Akali answered vaguely.
"Is she going to try to kill us, or offer us some tea?" Mute chuckled.
Hush…
"I'm sure you have many more questions," Akali spoke, "But you will find answers soon enough."
Isaac shook his head. Why does everyone I meet on this island either annoy me, despise me, or act like there my betters in every way?
He glanced around at the scenery, his eyes catching on the sight of several waterfalls in a cluster, each spreading into its own river and twisting down the mountain and between the buildings.
At least the scenery here is amazing…
"We are nearly there." Akali said abruptly.
"Really?" Isaac looked up. To him, it seemed like they still had a ways to go till the top. "Seems like a long way to go still…"
"You assume we are going to the top of the Placidium. We are not." Akali stated. "That is the School of Transcendentalism. It is not a place for the Captain of the Guard to sit at on matters of war."
"Oh," Mute rolled her eyes, probably at Akali's matter-of-fact-don't-ask-stupid-questions-how-didn't-you-know tone "Pardon us for not knowing about an alien world and culture."
Isaac rolled his eyes in response to both of them and simply followed the ninja in silence.
Like she said, after ten more minutes of walking, they arrived at what seemed to be a small but glorified temple like structure. Ionian soldiers wearing impressive appearing armor stood at either side of the double set of doors, spears at the ready.
As they approached the doors, Akali came to a stop.
"I have brought Archangel to see the Captain of the Guard ." She announced to the door guards. Isaac expected to be challenged, but one of the guards simply nodded, and the other grabbed the door handle and opened it for them.
"Finally, some common courtesy…" Mute muttered.
Isaac paid her no mind and followed Akali inside, hearing the door close behind him. If we have to make a break for it, I don't think closing that wooden door behind me will do them any good…
The entrance of the building was rather… empty, aside from a set of stairs at the back of the entrance that lead to another door at the top with another pair of guards. Isaac also noticed two more pairs of guards at either side of the entrance's walls.
Well, I guess you got to keep your generals guarded…
Akali came to a sudden stop in the center of the room. "This is as far as I go." She said, turning to face Isaac. Her face was still hidden behind her mask from the nose down, making it difficult for Isaac to read her.
"Go up the stairs and Irelia awaits you in the next room." She informed him. "May we both find our answers inside."
"Uh… yeah. Thanks." Isaac nodded. Not quite sure how to handle this one either…
Akali nodded, and walked past him back towards the doors they had come from.
"Why not just tell us that outside and wait there then coming in here, then telling us, and then going back outside?" Mute asked.
Isaac shrugged and resumed walking towards the staircase at the end of the entrance. "Maybe its an Ionian custom thing…"
But first… we got to climb yet another set of stairs.
As soon as he reached the top of, what he hoped, was the last set of stairs he had to climb today, one of the two guards by the doors raised his hand as if to stop him.
"Please wait. We will notify the captain of your arrival." The guard said. He turned his head to nod to his partner who in turn opened one of the double doors, just wide enough to enter but not wide enough for Isaac to peer inside, and entered the room beyond it.
After a few seconds, the guard exited the room and returned to his position. "You may proceed Archangel."
"…Thanks…" Isaac responded, and pushed open one of the doors.
Guess they don't hold the door for us at this set…
He entered the office like room and closed the door behind him, taking a quick glance around. It wasn't a very large office; in fact it was maybe a fourth of the size of the unnecessarily large entrance. Near the back of the room was a desk with a woman sitting it in, and to her side was a second desk with several bladed objects and some kind of orb resting on it. Behind her was a large flag (which Isaac suspected was the Ionian flag) and on either side of the room was a map of Ionia stuck to each wall. He also spotted a window on each side, and a sunroof.
Could use those windows to escape if I need to.
Isaac focused on the woman sitting at the desk, who he assumed was Irelia. She was much younger than he expected given her title, in fact she didn't appear to much older than himself. Her hair was a shade of bluish grey that fell down past her shoulders and parted at her forehead, not a single strand seemed to be in her face. Her armor seemed to be a mix of cloth and metal half of it a bright red, the other half a light grey, and left her skin exposed from the breasts up with the expectation of her shoulders and arms. Hovering behind her head was a strange object that seemed decorative that arched up above her head.
I was expecting an old lady…. Not someone so… attractive…
Irelia seemed to barely notice his entrance; instead she was looking over a piece of paper in her hands.
"Isaac?" Mute's avatar appeared in his HUD.
"What is it?"
"I just scanned her… and something seems strange."
"What?"
"There seems to be some kind of signal between her and that orb on the other desk… I'm not sure what it is… but they seemed linked somehow-"
"Archangel I presume?" Irelia suddenly asked in a voice that seemed to carry weight to it.
She sounds like a person in a position of power at least…
"Yeah, that's me." Isaac replied, casually walking up to her desk. "You sure knew I was on this island quickly…"
As he spoke, Mute's avatar vanished from his HUD.
Guess she'll tell me later…
"I would be a terrible captain of the guard if I didn't know when danger people entered the realm I am sworn to protect." She stated, setting the paper in hands down to look at him for the first time as he was within arm's reach of her desk. "Wouldn't I be?"
"I suppose that would be true..." Isaac responded. If this really turns out to be a trap, I'm at least within arms reach of her...
Of course, if she let him within arms reach, then it likely wasn't a trap... or she was coffident that she could take him down.
Or overconfident... overconfidence gets you killed...
Tense silence fell over the two of them. Isaac stood with his hands at his sides looking down at Irelia, watching her eyes for any sudden movement. Irelia sat at her desk in a relaxed posture with her arms resting on her desk with one hand on top of the other, staring at his visor without blinking.
After several long seconds, Irelia sighed. "I guess what reports I have on you so far are accurate..." She said in quieter tone, just loud enough for Isaac to hear.
"Oh?"
"Yes." Irelia looked away from him and slowly stood up from her desk. "You seem to be very... cautious..."
Isaac shrugged slightly. "Do you blame me? The one you sent after me attacked me at first."
"I apologize for that, and no i don't blame you..." She replied as she walked over to the second desk and opened one of the drawers. Isaac's eyes followed her the whole way. As she reached into the drawer, Isaac slowly moved his left hand towards one of his few remaining throwing knives on his thigh.
Doubt she's gonna pull something on me... or else they would've let me in here armed to the teeth... but just in case.
"I don't blame you for being cautious..." She said, and drew out a piece of paper from the desk and turned to face him, her face neutral. "But there is such a thing as being overly cautious when one invites you into their own home of your own free will."
Isaac frowned at her words, relaxing the hand that was reaching for a weapon. "Look lady, I'm on an alien world where I'm clearly not welcome, and my old enemy is potentially lurking around every corner." He crossed his arms over his chest and took a more relaxed stance. "I'm going to take every precaution I need to survive."
Irelia looked him up and down. "You suspect we want to harm you?"
"A bit. You DID send a ninja to get me. Ninja's ARE assassins."
"Then answer this." She lowered her head to give him a more danger stare. "Are you behind the abductions?"
"No. But I'm hunting those who are responsible"
Irelia's dangerous face returned to a neutral one and she raised her head. "Then you have nothing to fear." She said, walking around her desk so that she was within arm's reach of him. "In fact, then we are on the same side. Look at this." She stretched out her hand and offered him the paper she had fished out of the desk.
Isaac took the paper from her and eyed her with a bit less caution then he did a few moments ago. Irelia was slightly taller than him, but seemed to be around even weight.
Yep, definitely attractive too... He thought, but pushed that thought out of his mind. No was not the time to think of such things.
He looked down at the paper and saw that it was written in a language he didn't understand, aside from a four digit number that was on the side of the paper.
"Two thousand, eight hundred and seventy." He glanced away from the paper and back to Irelia. "That's all I can understand, I can't read your language."
"You don't need to, but that number..." Irelia's expression fell. "Is the amount of people who have gone missing last month alone."
Isaac felt his stomach drop. That many people having been kidnapped by the Ascension? In a month?
Now that he thought about it, he never heard from Caitlyn about exactly how many people had been abducted from Piltover. Could it be the same?
What does the Ascension need with all these people?
"As you can guess..." Irelia began, walking back around to her side of the desk. "We're facing a crisis. People are scared, towns feel unsafe even with soldiers protecting them, and we know next to nothing about the enemy we face." She turned to face him, her expression changing to one that was asking for help. "Can you tell us anything?"
Isaac paused and let out a sigh, setting the paper down on Irelia's desk. "There called the Ascension..."
"The Ascension?"
"Yeah... there a global military or terrorist organization, depending on who you're talking to, from my world." Isaac recalled everything he knew about Earth's greatest threat. "Around four years ago they launched attacks all across Earth and started a world war that killed God knows how many people. They convinced countries to attack other countries and sent the world into a state of chaos."
Irelia's face grew grave at Isaac's words. "And there here in Valoran?"
"... Yes."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I've seen them, as have others. There's a sheriff in Piltover named Caitlyn and she's seen them as well."
"Caitlyn has?" Irelia furrowed her brow. "But I had messaged her last week and she claims to know nothing."
"She just found out, we all did. When you found us in that village, we had just finished our first encounter with them."
"So... how powerful are they?"
"Very... they managed to threaten a world with over seven billion people on it."
Irelia sat back down at her desk and rested her elbows on the wooden surface. "I... see... So how do we fight them?"
Isaac shook his head dropped his arms to his sides. "To be honest, I'm not sure you really can."
"What?"
"The Ascension poses technology that's more advanced then my world's militaries possess, maybe even more advanced then this suit of armor I'm wearing. Your world is still in a time period where you're fighting with bows and spears, sure there are some guns and some technology, but so far I've only seen a single city state with that. The Ascension has weapons that can turn an entire city district to ashes."
Irelia's expression grew even graver as Isaac told her about their enemy.
"Isaac..." Mute's voice interjected. "Crushing our potential ally's morale is not a good battle strategy..."
That's because it's the truth... and I haven't gotten to the part yet where we stand a chance.
"How..." Irelia began but stopped. "No. There must be a way to fight them. Ionia will not surrender, we have never surrendered."
"Then don't."
"We won't."
"Good. If you surrender to the Ascension then that just makes them stronger. The Ascension's weakness has always been its numbers." Isaac nodded to her as he spoke. "They don't have the actual manpower to meet a nation in an open field of battle, they have to fight dirty. On Earth, the Ascension would kidnap people and force them to fight for them as a way of boosting their numbers..."
Irelia blinked. "You mean to tell me there abducting people to create an army?"
Isaac nodded. "The Ascension would do things like... if you don't fight for us we kill your family, and stuff like that. We called these troops 'Volunteer Divisions'. They were just meant to bolster the Ascension ranks and were only a threat because anyone with a gun is dangerous."
"And you fought these innocent people?"
Isaac looked down at his hands, feeling guilt in his gut as he remembered the war four years ago. "We didn't have a choice. We couldn't just negotiate with hundreds of thousands of individual people and make empty promises. They shot at us, we had to shoot back... and it's not like we could tell the difference between someone in the middle of a battle who willingly fought for the Ascension and someone who had been forced to."
Irelia paused for a moment and shook her head. "I... can understand that... but the thought of having to fight the people I'm sworn to protect simply because we couldn't protect them..."
"I know." Isaac nodded solemnly. "But the numbers your showing me... the Ascension never did any mass kidnappings, not numbers like that. You've got nearly two thousand people in a month from an island, we might've had around ten thousand people worldwide who were being forced into volunteer divisions in a month during the war, and our world has way more people in it than yours." Isaac shrugged slightly. "Besides, the volunteer divisions were just supporting and emergency troops, there weren't any armies of them, the Ascension wouldn't be as big as a threat if they were all untrained. No, there dangerous BECAUSE they've got troops who are so well trained and equipped that most of our standard soldiers in Earth's various armies can't go toe to toe with them."
Irelia paused and looked down at her hands. "So in the end, you don't know why people across Valoran are going missing..."
"No... no I really don't know why..."
Its strange though... if the Ascension needed so many people, why haven't we heard about such mass abductions on Earth? They don't seem to be kidnapping people on Earth...
So why are they kidnapping people on Valoran?
Is there something different as to why people are being abducted on Valoran and not Earth? What makes it different...
Difference between Earth and Valoran...
Differences...
Magic... magic is the biggest and most obvious difference... and the Ascension was gathering mana crystals... but then what do they need the people for?
Isaac started to feel a chill in his body as he thought of a possibility.
"Irelia... how can people here use magic?"
"What?" Irelia looked quite confused at the change in topic. "How do people use magic? Why ask such a strange question?"
"Because there no magic on Earth. Nothing. Its superstition. Even my powers were created by science, not magic."
"It's..." Irelia paused and furrowed her brow. "I've never really had to explain it... mana is in the air, its natural. Just about anyone can use it some way, shape, or form. Anyone can use magic, some people are just more talented than others. Some people are just born with way greater capacity to use mana, or they have raw magical energy born in them."
"And how do you all use it?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean if it's so natural..." Isaac raised his hands and pretended he was casting magic from how he had seen Vega do it. "Why can't I use magic?"
Irelia rubbed her chin, seemingly deep in thought. "I... I haven't the slightest clue. But what does this have to do with-"
"It might just have to do everything with it."
"... How?"
"On Earth, just before I arrived here, me and my team had found a crate full of mana. Mana doesn't exist on Earth. So we believe that the Ascension is bringing it from Valoran." Isaac looked out the window to his left and saw a mana crystal floating atop a building. "The Ascension was gathering mana crystals in Piltover."
"To take to Earth?"
"That seems the most likely... now... when one of the crates holding mana in it took a hit during a fight with the Ascension on Earth, it exploded and incinerated one of my teammates through her armor. Since no one on Earth can use mana, we assumed that the Ascension was either going to use it as bombs or weaponize it. Which may still be a possibility... but it doesn't answer why they would abduct so many people from Valoran... unless it's for one of two possibilities..."
"Go on, I'm dying to hear this from the think tank..." Mute's voice echoed in Isaac's helmet. He ignored it.
"And those are?" Irelia asked, keenly listening to Isaac's theories.
"You told me that some people are born with raw magical energy, while others have greater capacity for mana. Now, when we were fighting the Ascension here on Valoran, I saw a strange device hooked up to Jinx, and it was doing something to her." Isaac paused as he tried to put his thoughts into words. "I think the Ascension might be sucking mana and magical energy out of people. Is it possible?"
Irelia's eyes darted around the room as she thought about it. "I... don't believe it is... no..."
"With the Ascension's technology..."
"It... might be possible if there as advanced as you say..." Irelia shook her head and brought one of her hands to the bridge of her nose. "So... they could be abducting people... to harvest mana from them? But such powerful individuals are not common. They wouldn't need to abduct so many people..."
"If you didn't have a way to find out who had the most mana, wouldn't it be easier to just kidnap everyone?" Isaac asked.
"Well... that is..." Irelia shook her head. "I guess that makes sense in a twisted way. What's your second theory?"
"Its the one I hope I'm wrong about..." Isaac sighed. "Remember how I said that people on Earth can't use magic? And how there is no mana in the air on Earth? Now, I know I said it's unlikely that the Ascension would abduct so many people to use them as an army, since it would result in a untrained army. But... if they weren't using Ascension weapons and instead, using a ton of mana crystals..."
"You think the Ascension is making an army of magic users?" Irelia finished for him.
"Yes."
"But what about the children they've been abducting?"
"That's the fault in my theor-"
"Wait..." Irelia paused and scratched the side of her head. "Never mind, even the children can use magic to a high level."
That was news to Isaac. "Wait... they can?"
"Yes. There's even a child mage in the League of Legends named Annie who might be one of the most powerful mages in the world."
"Well..." Isaac sighed. "That actually makes my theory even worse..."
"But why would they need an army of mages to conquer Valoran when they have their advanced technology."
Isaac looked out the window and bit his lip. "Exactly. The Ascension would just need to come in guns blazing and that would be the end of it... which is why I don't think there after Valoran in either of my theories..."
"What do you mean?"
"I think... the Ascension has plans for Earth..."