AN: Annnnd the time is almost 11:30 PM. Wednesday deadline met. Wasn't even close.

Sorry about that, but things got a little busy for me here, both at work and in my personal life. Anyhow, here's the next chapter. As usual, if you have any questions either shoot me a PM or drop a review.

And again, sorry for any typos... ended up finding a few on the last chapter and fixed them. Sorry about that, but sadly these last two chapters have been essentially posted hot off the press. I tried to write this one earlier on so I wouldn't have to rush it out, but sadly life doesn't always go that way.

Ionia (city), Ionia

"Well… this is just a fine mess." Mute said as her avatar appeared in the usual spot.

"Everything that involves us turns into a mess eventually." Isaac grumbled as he made his way through the corridors of the city's only prison, being led through them by a pair of soldiers.

"Is it just me, or do messes like these follow you around?" Ezreal asked, as he walked in step behind Isaac.

Isaac turned his head to look over his shoulder at Ezreal, who was followed by Blitzkrieg and Soraka. His noticed how Ezreal was less walking and more limping on his left leg as he followed.

"You gonna be ok?" Isaac asked the explorer.

Ezreal nodded, although he winced as he did. "Yeah. Not the first time I've been shot, and I've died for real on the Fields of Justice." He looked down at where his clothing had been patched up over the left side of his stomach. "It'll go away after awhile."

Soraka gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry I couldn't numb the pain for you Ezreal, but it was a deadly wound. You are lucky to be alive."

No fucking shit he's lucky… Isaac thought. A few of the dropship's .70 calbiur rounds had penetrated the barriers that Sona had erected, and one such round punched Ezreal's ticket. If not for this world's stupid lack of logical rules (aka, magic), he would have been a write off. Although, in this case Isaac was ok with the lack of logical rules. If not, Ezreal would've been dead within moments of being shot.

Ezreal shook his head. "Don't worry about it Soraka, you had to rush off to heal Syndra. Sona topped me off but… I'll be fine."

"He takes a .70 calbiur round to the torso and walks it off…" Mute shook her head. "For someone who looks like he came fresh out of a boy band, Ezreal's pretty tough."

More like determined…

Isaac actually respected him for that.

After the fight was over, the Ionians rounded up a trio of captured shock troopers. The other wounded troopers had committed suicide instead of being taken alive, so taking three Ascension troopers alive was all and all pretty good.

The Ionians had tried to scavenge the Ascension's weapons, but they decided to destroy them instead after Isaac warned them about the tracking devices the Ascension put in all their weapons. Irelia had asked about removing the devices, but he had shut that down too when he mentioned how the weapon's inner electronics short circuit when the devices were removed, causing internal damage to the weapons.

The only way to actually use Ascension tech was when you did the removal back at a lab with the proper equipment. Field removal wasn't going to work. Not unless you were Firewall.

Same went for the shock trooper's Battle Net links. When Starscream and the other troopers fled, any data left in the shock trooper's helmets got wiped clean. There was possibly some traces of data left, but the only one who would be able to recover any such data without proper equipment, again, was Firewall. He was across an ocean, likely sitting behind a desk in Piltover working alongside a pair of reliable and somewhat friendly partners… while Isaac was stuck in Ionia surrounded by people who either didn't trust him or hated his guts.

The prisoners were hauled off the city's sole prison, along with Syndra. Isaac and Blitzkrieg were none too happy when the VIP they wanted info from turned out to be, essentially what was Ionia's equivalent to Most Wanted Criminals. The fact that she was a League champion had been the only reason they hadn't been able to press charges before, but now that Ionia was basically telling the League to shove it…

Well… one step at a time. Isaac thought. Currently, he and his teammates were being taken to where the shock troopers were being held prisoner. Irelia wanted him and Blitzkrieg to help in the interrogation, or at the very least, in planning it.

Syndra on the other hand was about to get a public trial in the morning once she regained conscious, right before the army departed. She had been healed up and imprisoned with a crap ton of anti-magic countermeasures, but Irelia claimed the only reason things were calm was because the one called the Dark Sovereign was taking nap-time.

We're going to have to do something about that… Isaac thought. The Ascension singled Syndra out, over so many other champions. Why her? In fact, it made less sense when Irelia mentioned Syndra and Zed were allies. The same Zed who was getting Ascension support.

After this shock trooper interrogation, I need to play some cards with Irelia. Isaac thought. If Syndra is going to get the book thrown at her, I need to at least have the chance to talk with her first.

That was Isaac's plan. Seeing how he'd basically earned a lot of brownie points with Irelia thanks to helping her, he was hoping he could cash those in.

The drawback to his plan? Syndra seemed to be about as popular as he and Blitzkrieg was among the people of Ionia… which spoke volumes.

The guards led them to a room and remained outside. Inside said room reminded Isaac of the magic prison the Institute of War had kept him in when he had first arrived in Valoran.

It must have brought back memories for Blitzkrieg do, who scoffed.

"For fuck-sakes… does EVERYONE have a secret panic room magic prison like this?" The giant meta-human muttered.

"I wish we didn't need to…" Soraka sighed.

Isaac turned his attention to said prison. Inside, were all three shock troopers on their knees, tied up, and with their arms behind their backs. The soldiers were still wearing their armor minus the helmets, which the Ionian guards had managed to pry off with some tips from Blitzkrieg.

Two were male. One trooper seemed to scream grizzled veteran, while the other was clearly a man in his early twenties… if not younger. The other was a young female whose face looked like something that came right out of a horror movie, most of her face was scarred with what appeared to be third degree burns.

The two males seemed to be cautiously looking about themselves, and unimpressed with their circumstances. The scarred female on the other hand looked like she was already dead on the inside.

Never thought I'd think this… but I kind of get why those three are so miserable. Being help captive in one magic prison things sucks ass…

Isaac turned his attention from the prison to the two dozen guards, mages, and summoners who were maintaining and policing the field. They were clearly not taking any chances.

Aside from the soldiers was Irelia, Akali, Shyvana, Sona, and Ahri. Abesnt were Galio, Fizz, and Nami, who had volunteered to help prowl the streets along side the Ionian troops to help calm down the panicking district where the fighting had taken place. A lot of citizens had woken up during the firefight, and were understandably afraid.

Among the usual group, Isaac spotted two new figures that bore a striking resemblance to Akali… in the fact that both were ninjas. One was a tall and muscular man with a blue ninja uniform instead of Akali's green, and it had noticeably more protection then Akali's. Next to him was a kid with a purple ninja uniform, that seemed to be closer to Akali's in terms of visible armor pieces.

"Mute?" Isaac asked his helmet's residential expert on everything he had no idea about.

"Those two are Shen and Kennen, both ninja League Champions from the same faction Akali is part of. Guess they're here to help."

Shen… I feel like I've heard Akali mention him before… Isaac thought. If his gut was correct, then Shen was probably pretty important. As for Kennen…

"Before you ask, Kennen is a yordle, not a kid." Mute added, answering Isaac's next question before he asked it. "And please do not pull a Shyvana with Shen! He's the leader of their ninja order."

"So he's her boss then?" Isaac asked. "I thought Irelia was Akali's boss."

Mute shook her head. "No, Shen's Akali's superior. I couldn't tell you why she appears to be working for Irelia. Maybe she's on loan?"

Their debate ended though, as they approached the group Irelia spotted him.

"Archangel." Irelia nodded to him, causing the conversation amongst her group to stop as all eyes turn to Isaac.

Hate being the center of attention… you'd think I'd be used to it by now…

Isaac nodded. "Nice prison." He said, motioning towards the magic prison the troopers were being held in. "View's better on the outside though."

"Oh right, you've been in one of those right?" Ezreal said as he came to a stop next to Isaac, cautiously looking out at the prison.

"And inside one he should have remained."

Shen turned to face Isaac with his arms crossed over his chest, giving him an imposing and intimidating look. Isaac noticed how Shen's eyes were glowing blue, and his HUD immediately highlighted Shen's body.

UNKNOWN: CAUTION

…. Uh oh.

Isaac's hands flew to the hilts of his swords on his back, Shen mirrored his actions with just as much speed as Isaac.

"WOAH!" Ezreal shouted and leapt back from the sudden outbreak in hostiles.

"Shen wait!" Akali shouted.

"Enough!" Irelia bolted around Shen and stood between both parties. "Gentlemen please… we need to work together."

"He backs down first!" Isaac growled.

Shen said nothing.

The entire room's attention was now on Isaac, Shen, and Irelia who stood between them both. Others quickly jumped in between too, trying to keep the two away from one another even though neither Isaac nor Shen moved a muscle, both having their hands on their blades.

"What's his problem?" Mute scoffed.

You're asking ME?! I never met the guy!

Shen narrowed his glowing eyes at Isaac. "Tread carefully… outworlder." He said in a ominous tone. "Your presence disturbs the balance of the worlds."

"What?" Isaac asked, shaking his head slightly. "You greet everyone like this?"

"Do not make me end you."

"Try me asshole!"

"I SAID ENOUGH!" Irelia shouted, her weapon hoisted on her back broke apart, with two blades floating on either side of her, as if she was ready to fight both of them at once. "We share a common enemy, there is no need for hostilities!"

"Tell that to him." Blitzkrieg scoffed, Isaac would've have looked over his shoulder to see what his teammate was doing, but he had a feeling that if he took his eyes off Shen for even one second, it would be his last mistake.

"Shen…" Akali approached the larger ninja from behind and gently put a hand on his back. "Archangel is here to help us against the Order of Shadow and the Ascension. He is not our enemy."

Irelia nodded. "He is our ally Shen… I know you have your duty, but please, now is not the time."

His duty? The hell are they talking about. Isaac thought, his eyes darting around. The others such as Ahri, Shyvana, and Sona had backed away, but all of them seemed tense and confused at the situation that was suddenly unfolding in front of them.

The stand-off remained as such for several seconds, before Shen blinked first.

He lowered his hands from his blades and nodded. "Very well… truce." He spoke in a calm voice.

"Truce…" Isaac growled in a not-so-calm voice. This guy pissed him off.

"When I said don't pull a Shyvana, I must have jinxed it." Mute sighed.

Shut up Mute…

Even in an Ionian prison, he was finding Ionians who hated him… great.

Irelia lowered he own weapons, which flew back to rest behind her. "Lets focus on the matter at hand, please."

"You got an interrogation planned?" Isaac lowered his own hands from his weapons, motioning his head towards the three shock troopers in the prison.

Irelia nodded. "They refuse to answer anything this far. We were discussing our options when you arrived, and someone derailed the conversation." She threw an accusing look at Shen, who didn't react in the slightest.

"He's got a good poker face." Mute mumbled.

Ignoring her, Isaac turned his attention back to the shock troopers. "What options did you have in mind?"

"I'm against the idea of torturing, but it is an option. Otherwise we were planning on having Ahri absorb their essences, since she would be able to recall their memories then."

…

Isaac was mixed on hearing that. As much as he could get behind this method since it would give them plenty of answers, it also meant that Ahri would be privy to all that information.

And that meant she would be free to withhold that information.

Given how Isaac saw Akali shuffle her feet for a split second as she glanced in Ahri's direction, he had a feeling that thought wasn't reserved for him.

But it still, personal qualms aside, it's our best option… it would get us the truth.

Isaac was about to agree when Blitzkrieg walked up to them. "I got an idea."

Isaac and Irelia turned to him, and he continued. "Torture isn't as cracked up as you think it is. When under that kind of physical pain and pressure, some might just say whatever they think their captors want to hear, just to make the pain stop. It works sometimes, but just as often it doesn't." He looked away and towards the magic prison. "Intimidation, mixed with a little torture might work better."

Isaac leaned his head to the side. Well, he is massive. He could easily intimidate them.

Irelia didn't seem to agree. "Why not Shyvana then?" She asked. "She is a dragon, that would certainly be more intimidating then yourself, as large as you are."

"On one hand, yeah but you're forgetting something." Blitzkrieg nodded. "Meta-humans are basically the boogeymen of our world. That familiarity could also help with scaring these prisoners. Sure their Ascension and they work with lots of metas, but that means they're even more aware of what we can do. They'll also recognize me as an Alpha."

"If it doesn't work, you can always send in Shyvana, although by then they might get the idea that we're just trying to scare them." Isaac pointed out. "I'm for sending Blitz in."

Somewhat for… Isaac thought. Honestly, he was sure Blitzkrieg would get the job done. However, he also knew from experience during the Ascension War, that Blitzkrieg was not the most… gentle… with POWs.

Irelia paused for a moment before nodding. "Very well, we'll let you into the prison."

As she left to lead Blitzkrieg into the prison, the larger meta-human tapped Isaac on the shoulder.

"Can I borrow one of my guns back for a moment?" He asked.

Isaac sighed. He knew he was likely going to regret this.

Isaac stood amongst the small crowd of onlookers as Blitzkrieg walked into the magic prison alone, sidearm in hand.

As soon as he entered, all three shock troopers looked up at him with various responses. The young man looked tense, the female made no reaction, while the more grizzled male scoffed.

"TRANS-Ops puppet!" The older prisoner spat at Blitzkrieg.

"Ascension cannon fodder." Blitzkrieg responded in a much more neutral tone, making it sound as if he was hardly regarding the three prisoners as anything but.

The grizzled man picked right up on that and snarled at Blitzkrieg, spitting in his general direction.

Mute sighed. "Here we go…"

Blitzkrieg walked up to the three and stopped in front of the center prisoner, which was the younger man.

"Alright you guys know the drill." Blitzkrieg said, "you tell us what we want, and you guys get to live."

The two male prisoners laughed in his face at that, while the female did nothing but stare at Blitzkrieg.

Blitzkrieg turned his head to said female. "Was zum teufel?" He moved from the young prisoner to the scarred female one. "The hell happened to your face kid?"

The scarred girl said nothing, but after a few seconds the younger male next to her scoffed. "She doesn't talk."

"What? She a mute?" Blitzkireg asked as he leaned over a grasped the girl by the head from the top with his oversized hand that encompassed the whole thing. He slowly turned her head side to side, as if inspecting her. "Third degree burns… you look like a young Freddy Krueger. Not as ugly, but still."

Mute gave a low whistle. "Ouch…"

Isaac ignored her comment, primarily because several people looked from Blitzkrieg and the prisoners towards himself with questioning looks.

"Who's Freddy Krueger?" Ezreal asked, which seemed to be the question on the mind of everyone else.

How the hell should I know? Isaac thought and was about to answer with just that but Mute beat him to the chase as he avatar whisked itself into existence next to Isaac's head for all to see.

"He's a fictional serial killer, used to scare people." She explained. "Nothing important."

"Shh!" Irelia shushed everyone, her attention focused solely on the scene playing out in the magic prison.

Isaac returned his attention to that as well, just in time to see the grizzled prisoner spit at Blitzkrieg's armored boots.

"Traitor! We'll never tell you anything!" He spat again.

Blitzkrieg let out a sigh and released the female prisoner, standing back up straight and casually walking over to the grizzled prisoner.

"I have a feeling that you won't give into any kind of torture huh?" The large German meta-human asked the grizzled prisoner, who snarled up at him in response.

"Didn't think so…" Blitzkrieg sighed and rolled his neck. "Well, you look like you're close to my age… got some good war stories to tell?"

The older prisoner's face started to cloud over with confusion as to why Blitzkrieg would ask that. From outside the prison, Isaac started to bite his lower lip.

I don't like where this is going…

"I've got a bad feeling about this…" He heard Kennen mumble. Next to the yordle, Shen and Akali remained motionless.

Back in the prison, Blitzkrieg towered over the grizzled prisoner and slowly leaned over him. "Well, I got a good one for you, Du Stück Scheiße."

Blitzkrieg slowly stood back up to full height and started to pace around all three prisoners. "You see, I'm an Alpha, so when I was a teenager I was out on missions every bloody week. There was this one mission that I remember reeeeeal well…" He began, circling around the prisoners, who were more or less listening, although Isaac could tell everyone outside the prison was listening very closely.

"I was twelve during this mission… in fact it was on my birthday. It was a rather cold night in Berlin… and there was this hot-shot reporter who was getting a little too close to the truth about how our good friend Halcyon had acquired its… resources. You know, the bastards who made meta-humans."

Yeah… Yeah I really don't like where this is going…

"Halcyon wanted the reporter silenced… and they thought, eh, why not give Alpha Forty-Seven a birthday gift, which turned out to be a handgun, silencer, and some orders: Assassinate the reporter, no witness." Blitzkrieg lifted the sidearm in his hand up to his helmet's visor, as if he was inspecting it. "Actually… I think it was the Glock back then too…" He mumbled before lowering his arm.

"Anyways, I scope out the house the reporter was in and find that he's got some friends over… three other guys and two girls. However, this made things a little difficult for me… I needed no eyewitnesses, and here my target was with plenty of eyewitnesses. So I decided to do the best thing and wait for them all to leave before I carried out my orders."

Blitzkrieg rolled his neck and stopped in front of the three prisoners, who were eying him carefully.

"I updated my handlers on the situation and they told me that if I didn't like using my birthday gift on my birthday, they would give me a new present, one that I wouldn't like. I'll leave it to your imagination as to what they told me." He shrugged. "Either way, orders were clear, it had to be tonight."

"So, I noticed that the pizza delivery guy was pulling up to the house, and bingo, there was my ticket in. I approached the guy while he was stepping out of the car and went and greeted the man with a good evening right before I..." Blitzkrieg's arm shot up into the air with the sidearm and fired, the gunshot made everyone in the room jump with how sudden it was.

"So much for conserving ammo…" Isaac muttered under his breath. Damn it…

Blitzkrieg nonchalantly shrugged. "Quieter then that though, I had a silencer and all that. Anyways, I pushed the dead body over, grabbed the guy's hat since he didn't need it anymore, and brought the pizza to the house. I rang the doorbell and announced that pizza was here. One of my target's friends answered the door, I handed him the pizza and while he was putting it down, I let myself in. Guy didn't even get a word in before I grabbed him and put a bullet in the side of his skull."

As Blitzkrieg continued his story, Isaac glanced about himself. Everyone had mixed reactions, from impasse like Shen and Akali to what the fuck ones like Ezreal and Ahri had.

Isaac had heard this story before… he knew where it was going and he couldn't help but feel a little out of place. Mind you, when he had heard this story, Blitzkrieg hadn't told it like this.

Should I stop him…? Isaac thought as Blitzkrieg continued on.

"Naturally, someone noticed the commotion and called to ask if everything was all right. I yelled back and said that your friend just dropped all the pizzas. Before anyone could come and investigate I walked into the room where my target and the rest of his friends were and shot ever one of them in the head. They didn't react until I had already killed three of them, but meta-human reflexes and lots of training meant I didn't miss a single one of them. Within two seconds, I had killed everyone." Blitzkrieg shrugged. "Job done… nothing major… except then someone else entered the room to investigate the commotion."

Blitzkrieg stopped in front of the female prisoner and leaned over far enough so that his helmet was in her face. "Turns out, the guy had a wife… she had been sleeping, tired because she was pregnant."

That got some more reactions from the various on lookers… and Isaac sighed, bringing his armored hand up to his visor and face palming.

Ezreal noticed. "This is about to get really dark, isn't it?" When he asked that, others such as Sona and Soraka looked over at him too.

"Yep…"

Oblivious to Isaac's conversation, Blitzkrieg continued. "She entered the room, and saw the dead bodies of her husband and his friends. She froze."

Blitzkrieg moved from the female to the young man, who seemed to be getting white in the face. "Now then… what did my handlers tell me?" Blitzkrieg asked as he leaned his face in towards the young man. When he didn't respond Blitzkrieg shoved the sidearm into the man's face. "WHAT DID THEY TELL ME?!" He suddenly shouted.

That shocked the soldier back into reality and he quickly nodded. "No witness! No witness!"

"Very good…" Blitzkrieg lowered the weapon and moved over to the grizzled prisoner, who was eying Blitzkrieg cautiously.

"What the fuck is the point of all this!?" The grizzled prisoner shouted.

Blitzkrieg walked around behind the prisoner and pulled out a small combat knife.

"I walked up to the wife and told her to stay quiet…" Blitzkrieg spoke as he cut the grizzled prisoner's binds loose, earning confused expressions from everyone watching. "Then…. Well, its actually easier if I just show you."

"What?" The now released prisoner asked as he brought his hand in front of him and started to rub his wrists.

"Stand up." Blitzkrieg ordered in a low tone as he put the knife away.

"Why?"

"Never-mind, this works too." Blitzkrieg said and grabbed the shock trooper with one hand, lifting the surprised trooper up and stood him up.

Before anyone could comment, Blitzkrieg darted to the man's left side. "When she didn't react, I grabbed her like this…" Blitzkrieg grabbed the man's shoulder, hard enough that Isaac saw the shock trooper's armor give in silently and the grizzled trooper winced.

"Got her down onto her knees…" Blitzkrieg continued and he slammed the bottom of his boot into the side of the shock trooper's knee, breaking it. The grizzled trooper fell to his knees with a gasp of pain.

"What is he doing?!" Irelia shouted from outside the prison.

"Oh dear…" Mute sighed and face-palmed.

No stopping him now…

"Grabbed her hand like this!" Blitzkrieg grabbed the shock trooper's arm and lifted it up into the air violently, dislocating the trooper's shoulder in the process.

"Gave her my gun…" Blitzkrieg slammed the Glock into the shock troopers and roughly twisted the grizzled prisoner's fingers around the trigger, breaking his hand and fingers in the process with such a loud series of cracks that those who were squeamish started to wince.

"And I went!" Blitzkrieg slammed the barrel of the side arm into the side of the man's head and pressed the shock trooper's fingers against the trigger.

The gunshot rang out, and the trooper flopped to the ground with a bullet hole in his head and the sidearm still grasped in his hand. Isaac heard Soraka gave a gasp.

Blitzkrieg stood back up straight and raised his hands in the air as if he has just performed a magic trick.

"And done! Suddenly it goes from mass-murder to mass-murder-suicide, to confuse the police just long enough for Halcyon to burn all the evidence of their involvement in what the reporter was researching." Blitzkrieg casually walked around the dead shock trooper's body to stand in front of the other two prisoners, both of whom had their eyes glued to their dead comrade. "I called my handlers to tell them mission accomplished, and they told me… happy birthday Alpha forty-seven."

Blitzkrieg leaned over to the young man and grabbed him by the shoulder, shocking the trooper back to him to look him in the face. "Now then… you can either talk to the Ionians, or we can have more story time. What will it be Scheiße kopf?" He asked.

The young man looked up at Blitzkrieg with wide eyes, but said nothing. Blitzkrieg gave the man a light pat on the head.

"That's more like it." He said, stood up, retrieved the Glock from the dead shock trooper, left the prison.

No one said a word.

As soon as he left the prison and it sealed behind him Blitzkrieg looked over to Isaac and everyone else. Isaac looked at Blitzkrieg, then turned to look behind him. Everyone else was staring at the larger meta-human with various expressions, from Shen and Akali's passive ones, to the more common expression that perfectly read "what the fuck dude…?"

Even Shyvana had a furrowed her brow with an expression that read as such.

Noticing the attention he was getting Blitzkrieg cleared his throat. "Yeah…" He addressed everyone. "They weren't gonna tell me anything." He said, throwing the Glock towards Isaac who caught it.

"I'll be outside." And with that Blitzkrieg left the area, no one tried to stop him and Isaac noticed that the guards were really eager to get out of his way.

Mute's avatar disappeared and returned to her usual spot in Isaac's HUD.

"Yeah… I don't think that won us any favors." She pointed out.

You think?!

Ionia

"None escape the shadow!"

Hitomi's eyes shot open, and it took all the inner strength she had to not suddenly bolt upright screaming.

Her eyes focused on the world around her, the dirt, the faint light of a campfire, and the sleeping bag she was in.

Just a dream… just a dream… She told herself over and over again, trying her hardest to calm herself down with some degree of success.

Zed. Again, that monster had plagued her dreams. There was no escaping him. Every night she saw him, killing her teammates, but just before he finishes her off, she wakes up.

Hitomi slowed her breathing, calming herself down. As she did so, she could hear the voices around the campfire.

"… no choice. We'll have to risk it." She heard Yasuo say.

For some reason, Hitomi decided to remain where she was, eavesdropping on their conversation while pretending to be asleep.

"Are you sure? If we move fast enough…" Wukong began but trailed off.

"No, we won't make it in time. We could end up missing them." Riven, the other other female aside from herself said. "We waited too long to depart, so we have to take the risk."

"It can't be that bad, right?" Jackhammer chuckled. "I mean, you guys ARE League Champions, they won't risk jumping us… will they?"

"The Lhotlan have always been territorial to some extent… but in recent times they've grown to be more hostile towards humans." Yasuo explained. "Even going as far as to stage attacks outside of their territory."

"What changed?" Jackhammer asked.

"While, there was always tension between the Lhotlan's and Ionia, the Lhotlans rely on a raw, more chaotic form of magic to survive, which is a form that can't be used by humans. Over time, as humans settle more lands in Ionia, build more cities, and tame the magic, the Lhotlan have been forced back farther, and farther into the wilderness." Master Yi explained. "This state of passive-aggressive hostility was the status quo for many generations… that was until the Zed's Order of Shadow started to openly attack and raid them."

The mentioning of Zed's name sent a wave of fear over Hitomi. Zed… he's an evil man… isn't he?

"So… what? Zed's little gang started a war between humans and Lhot…" Jackhammer passed. "Is it Lhotlai? Lhotlans? Lhotlanians?"

"Vastayan." Wukong corrected him. "Lhotlan are a race of vastaya. You know, like how Demacians and Noxians are both human, but not the same?"

"Expect that different races of vastaya have noticeable physical differences. Wukong is a vastaya himself, although he's a Shimon, not a Lhotlan." Riven said. "Anyways, back on track. It risky, but if we cut through Lhotlan territory, we can meet up with Irelia's army at the Placidium, since they'll have to pass through it."

"Agreed." Yi acknowledged. "Regardless we should be prepared for the worst while in Lhotlan territory. Even though we are champions of the League, we cannot expect that to keep us safe forever. Many of the Lhotlan people have grown to be so spiteful of humanity that they may not care for our status."

"I thought you guys said there were Lhotlanian…. Err, vastaya champions? Like our boy Caeser here. Couldn't they just vouch for you guys?" Jackhammer asked. "Aren't you all supposed to get along aside from the odd asshole?"

"Who the heck is Caeser? Wukong asked. "Does he mean ME?"

"While yes, there are vastaya champions, two of whom ARE Lhotlan, its unlikely that they'll raise so much as a finger to help us." Yasuo explained while seeming to ignore Wukong's outburst. Hitomi could hear him pause to drink from something. "Rakan we could maybe reason with, but Xayah? She's only been pouring fuel on the fire, and those two are always together, so it's a coin toss. They're inclusion into the League of Legends has been seen only as symbolic by many, in an attempt to quell the possibility of all out war between the Lhotlan tribes and Ionia."

"Did it work?" Jackhammer asked.

"Well there sure isn't a war going on, but that doesn't mean there isn't fighting. Zed's Order of Shadows hasn't made things easier."

Jackhammer scoffed. "I see what you guys mean when you say the League is going out of style like a boy-band after their third album."

"A what?" Riven asked.

"Never mind." Jackhammer shook his head.

"Alright." Hitomi heard Yasuo getting up as he spoke. "Lets get some rest then. If we're going to be doing this tomorrow, we better be well rested."

"Agreed. It's going to be tiring." Riven said.

"I think it's going to be awesome!" Wukong said.

Hitomi heard the shuffling of bodies and the lit from the campfire vanished.

She didn't say anything, but without the light of the campfire, Hitomi felt fear creeping into her mind.

… He lurks in shadows…

Ionia (city), Ionia

After Blitzkrieg's display, the prisoners were actually much more willing to speak to the Ionians. At least, the male was, the scarred as shit female stayed quiet.

The male prisoner told them what he knew. Their objective had indeed been the capturing of Syndra. Apparently the Ascension had somehow convinced Zed to cut her loose, so that they could capture her without provoking his ire. As for what they wanted to do with her…

"I dunno, probably the same thing they're doing with all the other people we've been kidnapping."

After that, Irelia had given a big sigh and gave Ahri permission to extract the man's essence.

Honestly, even Isaac had at that point realized they should have gone with that to begin with.

While Ahri went off to do her thing, Shyvana approached Issac.

"Outworlder... is there something you need to tell us?" She said, although Isaac could pick up her hostility.

"No...?" Isaac replied.

"Don't lie to me!" Shyvana growled, and quickly, they found themselves separated by Soraka, Sona, Ezreal, and Akali.

"Do NOT get into another fight please!" Ezreal begged them as they were separated.

For fucks sake! Everyone seems to either think I'm a magnet for trouble, or I'm a magnet for people who want to fight me!

"I heard it back during the fight too!" Shyvana said with an edgy voice, one that was basically begging Isaac to start something. "They called you traitor!"

"You know... I was actually kind of curious about that too..." Ezreal muttered.

The ones trying to separate them stopped, and Isaac realized he was going to have to give them an explanation. Even though it was nothing major.

"The Ascension believes themselves to be the only option of meta-humans. That they are the only ones who give a shit about metas." Isaac scoffed. "In a way they are right... no one else in the world gives a shit about us. So, the Ascension considers any meta-human who doesn't fight under their banner to be a traitor."

"So... why don't you fight for them?" Shyvana asked with a raised eyebrow.

Isaac felt his anger boiling over again. God did Shyvana piss him off!

"Because fuck them! That's why!" Isaac shouted, not caring who heard him. God he was getting pissed off at all this! And he had just managed to let loose a little bit a few hours ago...

"You hate them, don't you?" Soraka asked. "That's why I saw you show no mercy back there. Even when those troopers begged you to, you killed them without remorse." She almost sounded accusatory with that.

Isaac, however, didn't give a damn.

"Damn right!" Isaac nodded. "And I'd do it again, and again. The Ascension shows no mercy and they deserve none."

"For a group that's supposed to be everything for your kind..." Shyvana began, but Isaac turned away before she could form it into a taunt or something else to get under his skin.

"I don't answer, to you." Isaac cut her off with that and walked away, instead, he turned his attention to the scene playing out in the prison cell.

Watching Ahri extract someone's essence was something that gave Isaac mixed feelings.

Ahri had simply walked up to the young male and placed her hands on his checks, getting him to look her in the eyes. Suddenly, some kind of mist flew from the soldier's eyes and mouth into Ahri's, and Isaac was a little off-put by Ahri's seemingly joyful reaction. After a few seconds of this, the mist cut off and the male slumped back with a dazed expression.

When she moved onto the female shock trooper, things got out of hand in a real hurry. The scarred prisoner suddenly fell onto her back, chest violently rising and falling, with red liquid flying everywhere.

She had bit her own tongue off and attempted to drown herself in her own blood. Not a painless way to go out…

Surprisingly, that didn't stop Ahri, who managed to get her to hold still long enough to extract her essence. Unlike the male prisoner, who had been left alive, when Ahri was done with the female trooper she had died. Whether it was from blood loss, drowning, or Ahri stealing her entire life-force away, that was up in the air.

If she's able to do that so easily… I really need to make sure I'm careful around her… even more so then I thought. Isaac frowned. Sure, the original idea was that Mute could keep an eye on Ahri for if she started to take his essence, but judging how Ahri's victims reacted, there appeared to be nothing he could do if she started.

After her work was done, Ahri left the prison and returned to everyone, some of whom were giving her cautious looks. If that bothered her, she didn't show it.

Irelia pulled her aside with Isaac, Shen, and Sona. At first, Isaac didn't understand why those two were to take part in the meeting, but then he remembered that Sona was in communication with Demacia and needed to pass the info along… and Shen was just an asshole.

"Well?" Irelia asked.

Ahri nodded. "He was telling the truth… not all of it though." She tilted her head to the side and appeared to be in deep thought. "I managed to get some more details, but these shock troopers appear to only really know the details if they were directly involved in events. Otherwise they seem to be only privy to small details."

That sounds about right…

"The Ascension had managed to get Zed to offer Syndra up to them in exchange for technology. Weapons." Ahri explained, "And they've been making these exchanges on a few occasions."

Isaac noticed that Shen seemed to tense up at this. "Weapons?" The ninja asked.

Ahri nodded. "Yes. The soldier's memories don't recall what weapons, only that several crates filled with weapons and technology made directly by the Ascension were given to Zed in exchange for his assistance. They believe Zed is building an army of sorts, but otherwise this shock trooper has no idea who

Irelia put her hand to her chin. "We already knew about the technology… but if Zed has so many weapons as his disposal, then this might be harder then we thought."

"Aren't we going to fight him anyways?" Isaac asked. She better not be getting cold feet…

Thankfully, that didn't seem to be the case, as Irelia nodded. "Yes. It just means I might need to gather more troops then I thought and have them meet us along the way."

"There was also something else…" Ahri spoke up, looking away from Irelia and faced Isaac with a concerned expression. "The girl, she had been one of the ones to deliver weapons to Zed directly… she worked along side some kind of meta-human named… uh… Flammenschwert?"

Isaac groaned loudly.

"Yeah…"Ahri sighed. "I think it's a stupid name too."

"No… well, yes." Isaac nodded before continuing. "Flammenschwert… whatever he calls himself now, is a dangerous meta-human. He's also twisted." He looked at Irelia. "His ability is actually pretty close to yours, in how he can control several blades through telekinesis."

Irelia bit her lip. "He can, can he?"

"Yeah… well, only hes got way more then you."

"That wasn't all though…" Ahri interrupted. "When they brought Zed this particular shipment, they picked up three prisoners…" Ahri paused and looked Isaac up and down, causing his blood to go cold at her next words. "They were all wearing armor similar to yours."

Isaac didn't respond as his mind raced with this new information.

Armor similar to mine.

Three…

Could it be Oracle, Athena, and Jackhammer?

"How did they get captured? Did the memories tell you about that?" Isaac tired his hardest to not sound desperate, but he needed to know. Now.

"According to her memories, the Ascension had laid a trap for a squad of TRANS-Ops meta-humans back on Earth… your homeworld. They had transported them to our world where Zed and his forces ambushed them and took them prisoner, as a way of covering up their tracks on Earth without having to actually engage them." Ahri mulled over something in her head for a moment before adding. "Oh, and Zed apparently killed several of them before taking the others prisoner."

That's not how it happened for us…

Irelia turned her head towards Isaac slowly. "That… isn't what happened to you, is it?"

"No…" Isaac answered slowly. "That's not what happened to my squad…"

That meant one thing only. The Ascension had brought more TRANS-Ops soldiers to Runeterra.

"If it means anything..." Ahri continued. "That Flammenschwert guy called them... Gammas?"

... Fuck!

Isaac voiced his curse. The Ascension HAD brought in more TRANS-Ops soldiers... and not just any soldiers. Fucking Gammas! The newer and greener meta-humans, most of whom, if not all, were just teenagers! Most of them were still in training when he had departed for that mission in the Solomon Islands.

"We have to rescue them…" Isaac growled. "Did the memories tell you where they took them?"

Ahri shook her head. "No, the troopers took the prisoners to some kind of ship off the coast of Ionia and dropped them off there before going to another base… in Zaun. They have a main base somewhere else on Valoran, but neither of these troopers were aware of it's location."

"Zaun?" Isaac asked. He had no idea what that was.

"Zaun…" Mute's avatar appeared next to Isaac's head, visible for all to see. "Zaun is like… Piltover's twin city. More or less located underneath the city. Actually, Zaun is more like Piltover's evil twin."

Irelia nodded. "That would be an accurate description… unfortunately we can't do anything about Zaun."

"Would Caitlyn be able to?" Isaac asked. He could call in a favor with Caitlyn, and Firewall was in Piltover.

Irelia shook her head. "Although they are sibling cities, Piltover and Zaun do NOT get along. Caitlyn would have no authority in Zaun. She could investigate, but it would have to be through unofficial channels and in the shadows. Which is not her style."

Yeah… but that's a meta-human's style.

"I need you to get this info to Caitlyn anyways." Isaac address Irelia. "We've worked together in the past and she would be willing at the very least. Besides, it would be good if Piltover knew that their neighbor, sibling city, whatever… Zaun, may be working with the Ascension."

Irelia nodded. "I agree. I'll have someone send her the information. It might not hurt to inform the League as well. As much as we don't see eye to eye anymore them knowing would surely not be in the Ascension's favor."

"Umm…" Ahri awkwardly raised her hand in the air to get everyone's attention. "There was one more… thing."

Everyone looked to her and Ahri sighed. "There was someone with these shock troopers when they went to make that exchange with Zed… someone we know."

"Don't leave us waiting in suspense Ahri." Irelia shook her head. "Who was it?"

"Jinx."

Goth's Meta-Human Lecture Number Four: The Uprising

"Now… I wasn't there for the event we call the Uprising mon amie… but most Beta and Alpha meta-humans are aware of its events. Sure, some of them were absent from the Uprising, having been active in other parts of the world or in hiding, but nearly every meta-human still working and serving under Halcyon had taken part in the violence that almost exposed, and in a way, did, the existence of meta-humans to the world."

"While the Ascension had played a major part in instigating the Uprising, it was not their actions alone that caused it. The meta-humans were tried of their treatment. While they had been brought up in this environment, many indoctrinated to its cause, their constant exposure to the outside world made them wonder… why don't we have that? Why can't we be free?"

"Halcyon was having none of that. Whispers were spread among the meta-humans of a secret project Halcyon was working on. A form of brainwashing, mind-control, so that the meta-humans would be loyal to them forever, essentially turning them into robots!"

"Oh, did you know, in one of Earth's languages where our term for robot first came to be, the word meant slave? Really! Fascinating that your world uses the term robot for the same modern term yet it has a different linguistic origin! Oh, sorry, where was I?"

"Right! The Uprising!"

"Well, as you can imagine, this whole rumor did not sit well with the meta-humans, who had noticed how the scientists and employees of Halcyon had started to get a little on the twitchy side when dealing with them."

"On that fateful day, when tensions boiled over, the Uprising occurred. The majority of the meta-humans, almost seventy percent, rebelled against Halcyon. The remaining sought to remain loyal, since it was all they knew."

"Now, not all the rebelling meta-humans were secretly aligned with the Ascension, only a third of all betas had made that choice, although that itself is an estimate, since more would join the Ascension in the time that pasted the Uprising."

"Now, as for the Uprising itself, when the fighting first broke out it remained inside the facilities of Halcyon… for a whole ten minutes or so. I mean, you try to tell hundreds of rebelling superhumans with superpowers that they had to keep the fight indoors…"

"Fights between individuals and groups spilled out onto the streets of downtown Los Angles at night, between security personal and meta-humans on one side, and une tonne of meta-humans on the other. It didn't take long for people to notice… and panic quickly erupted. Police quickly thought it was a joke, a mass prank, that was until their own officers started calling in that they were under attack. Then they thought it was a terrorist attack."

"When they saw the battle that had broken out in the heart of their city, the police force also panicked. The military was called in and what had been a two-way battle turned into a three-way one, and the city burned as a result."

"This escalation of the fighting and the massive collateral damage and the firestorm that enveloped entire downtown blocks quickly provided the smokescreen the rebelling meta-humans wanted. They broke off from the fight, fleeing into the city and into hiding. Even among those who remained loyal to Halcyon had taken the chance to run. Those who remained…"

"Well, what the fires didn't take, the military did. Either as prisoners or by killing. And at no small cost to the soldier's lives. Many died that day."

"Naturally, when a catastrophic event occurs on our world, the entire world takes notice. The government quickly tried to uncover what had happened and arrested the leadership of Halcyon, including Mr. Ito himself. Images and videos of the events spread throughout the world like a wildfire, and recounts of eye witness, both false and true, of fighting between superhumans took the world by storm."

"Of course, the local government would have preferred to keep the whole thing under wraps to prevent mass panic… but by the time they had figured out what had occurred, mass panic was all over the world. They had no choice but to release the truth."

"Well… some of it."

"The story they told the world was that Halcyon had been conducting illegal and morally wrong experiments on human beings of the genetic and biological origin. And that those experiments broke free, which caused the destruction of the Uprising. The government claimed that nearly all of the experiments had been killed, and those that escaped had either died or been captured."

"Unsurprisingly, many did not believe this statement. But in the wake of no other facts or even speculation that could counter this statement, it was nonetheless widely accepted."

"And thus… all the negativity and attention fell right onto the laps of Adam Ito and his fellow coworkers and board of directors. The world was so busy condemning them for the crimes that they essentially forgot the fuss of where all the meta-humans had gone. Sure, the military looked under every rock for those who escaped… but no trace was found."

"Some, joined the Ascension. Some, ran for their lives and never looked back."

"Some… struggled to find a place in the new and open world."

"But the Uprising was only the prologue for what would come four years later…"

Next update will be on August 28th.