ViLeonce
Chapter 2
Vi trudged down the hill with Leona walking along to her right. The speaking between them was brief and mostly involved the law. Vi's tendencies regarded more to results more than method. Leona's attitude was more tempered on the subject, like she was advocating caution when chasing criminals.
"I believe all people, even wrongdoers have a chance to prove their innocence," Leona said calmly.
"Suppose a guy shoots a family man in broad daylight and is making a run for it, why should I run him down and ask him to explain himself?" she answered, slightly annoyed, "I'm just going to pummel him until he can't hurt anybody anymore."
"Perhaps he deserved it," Leona said quietly, "But maybe there will come a time when the answers aren't so easy."
The back and forth between them kept Vi constantly agitated until they arrived at the edge of the City of Piltover. When they got to the main street, Vi turned to say goodbye.
"Well listen Leona," she began, "It was swell of you to keep me safe last night while I was busy making an ass out of myself. Thanks. Maybe I'll see you around?"
"Of course officer," Leona said smiling sweetly, "See you around."
With a nod, Vi turned on her heel and walked towards her home with Leona walking towards downtown. She felt a slight numbing in her head as Leona walked away, but Vi chalked it up to her headache from the hangover. When she arrived home she went straight to bed and fell asleep quick from the headache.
When she awoke, Vi went to her kitchen and fixed some scraps to choke down because she was starving. She kept thinking about Leona and the conversation they had. Then she turned her attention towards work and decided she was going to go on night patrol with or without Caitlyn's permission.
"To the Void with her," she muttered bitterly, "They need my help. I'll just make sure not to get caught."
As the sun was going down, Vi put on her armored civilian clothes instead of her uniform. She then strapped on her massive gauntlets and powered them up. They instantly hissed to life and she could feel her muscles and nerves connecting to the fists. The fingers began to move with hers and finally she moved out of the workshop and took off towards the rougher part of town.
As she crossed into the districts that were poorer and more rundown than the rest of Piltover, Vi began to wonder what would happen if she ran into Caitlyn or any of the other officers on duty tonight. She finally pushed it out of her mind and began to look for trouble. Where a uniform would have attracted a lot of attention in this part of town, her gauntlets were something of a legend among the Piltover underworld and she kept spotting ruffians scooting out of sight when they spotted her.
It almost became a game to them when Vi would chase someone down only to have them disappear down an alleyway. She was getting frustrated when finally she saw a punk shaking a shopkeeper down as he was closing up for the night. She rushed over to help.
"What's going on here tonight?" Vi asked mockingly, pushing her fist into the other open palm.
The thug looked to her, a bit startled then took off with Vi chasing him close on his heels. They rounded a side street and then another all the while Vi calling after him to stop. Finally the thug darted into an alleyway and she made the split second decision to go after him. It could have been a trap but it could also have been the kid getting cornered.
She dashed in after him knocking over trashcans in her thunderous pursuit. Finally the punk turned sharply into an alcove with several armed men coming out to replace him, sneers on their faces. Vi ground her heels to halt and held her massive armored hands up to her face just as the first bullets pinged off of them. She retreated to a dumpster and hid behind it. She reached for her communicator to call for backup but realized it wasn't there.
"Ah, yordles," Vi cursed, "Time to crank it up I guess."
With that Vi turned the dial on her harness shield to maximum and felt the surge of power as more energy was diverted to her shields buffing them intensely. She charged out from behind cover and rushed her attackers. Their bewildered expressions were buried under her flurry of blows while their bullets bounced harmlessly off of her shield. It was exhilarating. Vi laughed maniacally until her shields fizzeled to nothing.
She had only one attacker left but she was out of his reach and her shields were gone and useless. Vi thought this was going to hurt really badly when she saw sparks above her head.
"Jayce!" she yelled.
Jayce dropped to the ground in front of the assailant and deflected his onslaught of bullets with a shield made of static electricity. He then gracefully smashed the thugs head to the side with his hammer and turned to face Vi who was panting.
"That was a nice save J, thanks-" she began.
"What were you doing here Vi?!" he yelled angrily.
"What are you talking about?" she asked defensively.
"You are supposed to be off duty tonight! I was helping the police catch a black market hextech dealer," he said, frustrated.
Vi suddenly remembered that operation and that Jayce was usually called whenever Vi wasn't available for police force muscle.
"And now he is spooked and we'll never catch him," he leaned in close to Vi and whispered, "As your friend, get lost now before the Sheriff shows up."
Vi swore under her breath and thanked Jayce, then left in a hurry. She ran all the way home, upset about her stupidity. She changed when she got home and decided for a repeat of the night before. So she headed off to the bar and proceeded to get hammered again alone.
She was deep in the cup when she got in an argument with another patron and got into a fight. It was a brief and ugly affair and it resulted in Vi getting thrown out onto the street. As she struggled to stir from where she was, she heard a voice from next to her that was very familiar that started with a sigh.
"Officer, let me know if this becomes a regular thing and I'll consider moving here."
