Hello! I just wanted to say (someone mentioned this in the reviews) that I know none of them actually live in the Institute, they just do in my stories for plot purposes. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter! :D
Chapter 4
Ziggs P.O.V.
"Well, it's not so much a lead as it is a hunch?" Vi smiled cheekily as she led us along the hall.
"A hunch? A hunch!?" Caitlyn narrowed her eyes, irritated. "You know hunches won't do, Vi! We can't just continue the investigation with a hunch."
"I say we try it." I whispered. "It's the only thing we've got."
"Okay, so…" The pinkette looked around for a brief moment before leaning in and whispering. "Remember when Heimerdinger left the room before anyone else? Well, I kinda thought it was suspicious so I decided to follow him."
"So that's why you left…" Caitlyn bobbed her head slightly, a small smile forming on her face as she understood the reasons behind her partner's strange behaviour.
"Yeah, so listen up. He didn't go to bed, he went to his lab."
"But it was awfully late…" The other frowned, before gazing into Vi's eyes, who was watching her with interest. "What did you discover?"
"He was in there for over an hour. When I tailed him he went back to his place. And also, this morning? I went over to his lab and waited and he came out of there before heading to the canteen!"
"Do you think he's hiding something?"
"I honestly don't know." Vi hunched her shoulders with a sheepish grin on her face. It was almost as if she had something in mind.
"We can't really barge in without permission." Caitlyn muttered, frowning. "But I agree, it's too suspicious."
"Hey, how good's your hearing, little one?" Vi cocked her head, her intense eyes on me as she showed me a smug smile.
Yordles have very good hearing. Mine wasn't the best due to the fact that I'd been blowing stuff up for years – and that led to quite some devastating ear damage if you weren't careful, which I couldn't honestly say I was. I was about to answer her when Caitlyn started speaking.
"Well, the other option is to get Warwick to sniff around, see if he can pick up on any scents, but I'm not sure he'll be up for it."
"I've got pretty good hearing." I answered, sceptical about using Warwick.
"So, what if" Vi smiled cockily "We wait until Heimerdinger is in his lab and get this one to see if he can pick up anything that might be a lead. With that we get permission to investigate his lab and look, if we find nothing, no harm done!"
"Vi, you tailing him might not be that obvious, even if it is you. But the three of us will never get away with it."
"What do you suggest, then?" The enforcer frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.
"We don't get permission to enter his lab, we just do." She answered, committed.
"I like that attitude!" The other laughed, leading us down to the labs. "Let's do it!"
When we reached them, Vi hurried over to his lab and kicked the door down, stepping aside to let us enter before she did. She was smiling as she did so, obviously very pleased with herself.
"No, no, no!" Caitlyn frowned. "We were supposed to go incognito."
"How long has it been?" The pinkette murmured, walking over to Heimerdinger's desk and looking for clues.
"How long has what been?" Cait hissed.
"How long have you known me, Cupcake?" She'd looked sorta angry before, but a smug grin was on her face as she turned around to face the other woman. "You should know how I operate by now."
"Stop pissing me off and stop making a mess. This is trespassing. Stop making it so damn obvious."
"I say since we're here, we go all out." The enforcer answered, frowning as she threw some papers to the floor. "Nah, these are all blueprints."
"Hey, let me see those." I whispered. Something in the flying papers had caught my eye. Something familiar.
My right paw caught it before it hit the floor. I opened it and a gasp escaped my mouth as I realised what it was.
"This is Rumble's… Rumble's design!"
I took a closer look as Vi and Cait gathered next to me, watching closely. Something was off.
"This isn't Rumble's style… or writing."
"Well, duh. We're in Heimerdinger's lab. If I had to guess, I'd say these are old Heimer's blueprints. You know, I don't know why I think that… what could it be?" Vi seemed to be biting on a smile as she spoke.
"Stop being sarcastic. I get it already. You're happy your hunch's looking pretty positive right now." Caitlyn told her off. "But we're still not sure."
"Well, stop yakking and start looking."
I couldn't stop holding the blueprints. Something was pulling at my heart and I couldn't tell what it was. I stood there, unable to move as I watched Vi lift the desk up with one hand and look underneath. Caitlyn had finally decided to follow through and was inspecting some turrets that were neatly stacked on a table at the back.
"I… hear something." I whispered, loud enough to be heard by the police women. They turned their heads as my ears started twitching frantically. "It's getting louder."
My breath was ragged. My heart was pounding so hard it was getting in the way of the sounds I was hearing. I was so happy for a moment, thinking I had finally located Rumble, that I nearly tore the blueprints in half when my eyes landed on Heimerdinger instead.
"What are you doing in my lab?" His gaze fell on me. He wasn't questioning the police, he was asking me directly.
"Why do you have this?" I spat at him and we both stared daggers at each other, an odd silence falling on the room.
"Ziiiiiggs!" Vi whined. "And you said you had good hearing!"
I looked at her, and she had a plan, I could tell. She took two kick steps and swooped me up in her gauntlet hands, distracting Heimer's attention long enough for me to throw a smoke bomb at his feet. She placed me on her shoulders and quickly withdrew to a smoke-free place.
When the smog was gone and he'd stopped coughing, Caitlyn was pointing at him with her gun and Vi spoke.
"What have you done with Rumble, you disgusting little rat?"
"I haven't done anything. And you." Again, his angry gaze fell on me. "Are breaking the law."
My paws reached into my pockets and grabbed onto a small, circular bomb. If this got any worse, I wasn't afraid to use it. He was going to pay. For what he'd done to me and what he'd done to Rumble.
"Who gave you permission to break into my lab this way?"
"WHERE'S RUMBLE, HEIMERDINGER?" I shouted, lifting my paw and with it, the bomb I was holding.
"You'll kill us all!" He took a step back. "You've gone mad!"
"WHERE'S RUMBLE!?" My arm was trembling. I could feel my anger rise and with it the urge to bomb his ugly face right off the face of this planet augmenting.
"Alright. Move a step further and I will shoot." Caitlyn spoke, her voice sending chills down my spine.
"You wouldn't dare!" he retorted.
"You wouldn't resist so much if you were innocent." She grinned, pulling at the trigger slightly.
"Enough!" The yordle with an afro sighed, finally lifting his paws up. "I give up."
"Ziggs, put that bomb away immediately." Caitlyn warned, her gun still pointing at the furry animal. Vi placed me on the ground and walked over to Heimerdinger, cuffing his hands at the front of him.
"If you're as smart as you say you are, you'll lead us to Rumble."
The yordle muttered something under his breath but started walking towards a corner of the lab. He stopped in front of a bookshelf.
"Move this."
With one quick push from the enforcer, the furniture was on the floor, and she was on her knees, opening a hatch.
"You lead." Caitlyn pushed the yordle forward by nudging his back with her gun.
We walked down the stairs and he turned the light on.
In front of us was a very naked and very scared Rumble. He looked overly thin. His eyes widened when he saw us, and I just wanted to run to him, take the gag off and hug him tightly. I was about to do just that when a hand was placed on my shoulder and I was immediately thwarted.
"Don't." Vi whispered. "He might be in shock."
I didn't know what that meant or what the consequences of that was, but I watched as Caitlyn walked over towards my friend, who flinched in fear when she tried to touch his shackles.
"Hello Rumble." She spoke softly, smiling at him. "Ziggs came to save you."
His eyes turned to me and my insides churned horribly. He looked awful, worse than I could have ever imagined.
The sheriff managed to remove the gag from his mouth, and a dribble of saliva came trickling out.
"Release him." Vi snarled, pushing Heimer forward. The yordle tut-tutted, before telling us the keys to his shackles were in a drawer in his desk. The enforcer huffed in annoyance, picking him up and taking them both upstairs. She came back a few minutes later, keys in her gauntlets, striding quickly towards the chained animal. She released him and Cait caught Rumble before his body gave in and she quickly placed him in my awaiting hands. He felt lighter than I remembered him as I muttered words of encouragement in his ear. He seemed so out of it.
"Is he drugged?" The enforcer asked, touching his head gently.
"I didn't give him anything." The other yordle answered, looking away, embarrassed.
"I think he's just very weak." The sheriff muttered, a warm look on her face as she watched us. "I think you should carry him, Vi."
"Sorry little one." She said as she took Rumble out of my arms and cradled him like a baby. He still looked terrified, but he turned his head to me and spoke, his voice raspy.
"Ziggs… buddy" He croaked.
"You'll be alright." I answered, lifting my paw to squeeze his, hoping that would give him hope.
"You came for me."
"Always." I smiled at him. It was my usual toothy grin. He tried to smirk but gave up half-way.
"You… didn't forget me."
"I'd never!"
He closed his eyes then, and I think exhausting took the best of him and he fell asleep. We took him to the hospital and they immediately started running tests on him. I stayed by his side all the time, holding his hand unless I was told to move away from him.
I spoke to him softly, not knowing if he was asleep or in a coma, and not wanting him to wake up if it was the former.
The other yordles were told of the news and most of them came to see him. Tristana came rushing in and cried in my arms when she saw him, sobbing loudly and in relief.
"You were right, Ziggs." She muttered, trying her best to stop the tears from falling.
Rumble slept all day and through all the night. He woke up late the next morning, and I was still there, next to him, gripping his paw tightly.
He looked at me groggily and smiled faintly.
"Good. It really did happen."
"It's over now, buddy." I grinned at him and he nodded, closing his eyes.
I spoke to him about all the things that had happened while he'd been kidnapped. He nodded from time to time, but his eyes were still closed so I wasn't sure he'd listened to all of it. It didn't matter. He was safe and with me, and that's all that I cared about.
He was suffering from severe malnutrition, the doctors said. They had him on drips but I still forced him to eat when he was awake. He didn't seem too displeased with this, but it did take him a while to finish, and most of the time he wasn't even able to.
Tristana came to see him on a regular basis and this got him in a very good mood. She seemed very happy to see him safe and back, and even Teemo seemed pleased that he was alright. Rumble even seemed to tolerate his visits, especially when he came alone.
"Ziggs" Rumble spoke, eating the apple he'd been forced on by me at tea time. "I have a… question I need to ask."
"Yeah, buddy? What's up?"
"Are… are…" He stopped, looking away nervously. He swallowed hard. "Are Trist and Teemo getting married?"
"What!? No!"
"Is she… is she having his baby?"
"Did Hei…" I stopped myself. I'd already discussed this with the other yordles, and we had promised not to speak his name out loud or talk about his time kidnapped. We didn't want to bring up any painful memories, and I wouldn't press about what had happened while he was chained up in his lab. I was aching to know and I wanted to punch the yordle responsible, but I didn't want to cause any more trauma, or force Rumble to end up with PTSD. I breathed in. "What did he say?"
"He told me they'd gotten engaged and she was expecting his child. He told me no one would come to rescue me because no one cared for me."
"Aw, buddy. You know that's not true, right? You've seen how they all care for you, how they've come to see you, how I rescued you."
"Yeah, I know." He looked away, his gaze falling to the window.
I could only stare. Stare at his tired, sad eyes as he looked outside. Stare as his paws twitched, as his fingers slowly moved.
I didn't even begin to understand what he'd been through, and here I was, playing the saviour and forcing him to be a victim.
"Hey Ziggs." He whispered, turning his head to look at me.
"Yeah, Rumbs, what's wrong?"
"Why don't you go home?"
His words hurt like a punch to the stomach, but in the heart. I knew he meant no harm, and I was sure he'd said it to help me, since I'd been by his side for over 15 hours, but it didn't sit well with me.
"Don't you want me to stay?" I tried hard not to stammer and he looked worried when I answered him in that way.
"You saved me, so now I want to do this for you." He looked back at me, a weak smile on his face. "I want you to rest."
I eventually gave up on trying to persuade him of the fact that I needed to stay with him. I did smell kinda bad and my back was starting to protest the fact that I hadn't been in a comfortable place for a long time. So I waved goodbye at him with my most cheerful fake smile and walked over to my home. I stopped by the cafeteria to get some coffee, still too agitated to get any sleep and found myself walking over to Teemo and Tristana.
"Hey, Ziggs, heard the news?" she asked, a faint smile radiating from her face.
"What news?" My cup was on my lips and tilted in a way the beverage entered my mouth, scorching my tongue. I bit down swears as Teemo giggled.
"They've judged Heimerdinger already." She spoke, leaning back, getting comfortable. "Turns out he was a psychopath all along. Yikes! Scary, right? You think you know a guy… Psychologists have been running tests on him. I heard they're gonna make Rumble do them too."
"To see if he has PTSD?" I inquired, not knowing much about mental diseases. It seemed like a normal procedure after what had happened to him.
"I guess so." She shrugged before turning to Teemo and tugging on him. "Hey, Teems, let's go and check on him."
"Again?" He sighed, rolling his eyes. He seemed slightly annoyed, maybe even jealous.
"Let's ask about the tests then, I'm really curious." She pulled harder, this time getting him to follow along. They waved goodbye at me, Teemo looking slightly resigned as he did. I tilted my head, un uneasy feeling forming in my chest.
It was obvious he had feelings for her. I just hoped he was subtle enough to not make Rumble notice, the last thing I wanted was for him to get upset over Tristana again.
I blew on my coffee this time and took a sip of the noticeably cooler drink. My tongue was still in pain but there wasn't much I could do about it, so I ignored it as I drank it down in one go, making my way over to my room.
Coffee and caffeine had never really had much of an effect on me. I was already high-strung enough as it was, and overly enthusiastic and hyperactive, so people assumed that giving me caffeine would just augment my over the top personality, but they were wrong. Proof of that was the fact that I collapsed on my bed just minutes after I'd downed a full mug of the canteen's strongest blend.
When I woke up it was seriously late. Midnight, and I was starving. I pushed myself off my mattress and quickly made my way to my kitchen, hoping I could find something relatively easy to prepare to sooth my hunger. A part of me thought maybe I should just go to sleep again and eat in the morning, but my rumbling tummy hoped otherwise. And I wanted to go see Rumble again, or see if they had any updates on him.
They did. After eating a large bowl of badly made pasta, I ran to visit him but I wasn't let into his room. They'd told me it was very late and I'd get to see him in the morning. I rolled my eyes at this, but walked away, trying to not sulk about their decision. I knew they were professionals and knew what they were doing. That's when I overheard the conversation. Two yordles I had never seen before were discussing something over a few pieces of paper, but what I got from what they were saying was clear.
Rumble had depression.
I'd never suffered from any mental illness, as far as I knew. Of course I'd never always been happy, but I could guess depression was a serious matter. Maybe that would explain his lack of eating and his secretiveness. It's true that we'd distanced each other lately, and I couldn't quite pinpoint when it had started happening. It was annoying me that I considered him my best friend but I hadn't noticed these key things about him.
And my mind wouldn't stop nagging at me about Heimerdinger's condition. He'd always been a psychopath? What did that mean? How come we hadn't noticed? Was it something you don't notice? Is it something easy to hide? I'd heard tales of psychopaths that murdered people and were horribly violent, but I wasn't sure how true that was. Heimerdinger hadn't murdered anyone. Having said that though, he had kidnapped Rumble and had had him in shackles, completely naked, dehydrated and starving, which was inhumane.
I went to visit him again in the morning and walked in on him arguing with a nurse, refusing to take his medicine.
"I don't want any pills!" He waved his arms, still attached to the drips. "I don't need them!"
I was in half a mind to walk away and pretend I hadn't seen anything. I didn't really know what to do or say in this kind of situation, but as his friend I kinda had to do what he needed best. And it seemed that the white capsules she was trying to give him were what was best for him so I sighed, pulling on an agreeable smile as I walked into the room.
"Now, now, Rumble." I mumbled gently. "You need them to get better."
He turned his head to look at me, staring into my eyes strangely. He calmed down immediately, his arms going back down to rest at his sides. He opened his mouth and let the woman place a pill in his cavity and drank from the glass of water she offered him. She complimented him and gave me a thankful look before leaving, closing the door behind us.
"Apparently I have depression" He confessed. I was surprised he'd just spilled it out, with how closed he'd been with others recently. "Which is stupid."
"Why's it stupid, buddy?" I asked, grabbing a seat and sitting next to him. He just shrugged his shoulders, still not daring to look at me.
"I'm not depressed. I'm just listless."
I was no expert but that seemed like a symptom. I frowned at him, worried.
"Okay, so, maybe I'm depressed." He finally agreed, sighing in frustration and throwing his head back against the pillow. "But I don't want to take the stupid medicine."
"Why not?" I whispered, trying to hold back the surprise his actions and words were having on me.
"I don't want them messing with my head." He admitted, finally looking at me. "You understand, right, buddy?"
My fingers tickled with a new sensation, the burn of me wanting to hold onto his paws tightly and I reached out to calm my nerves by doing just that. His eyes trailed my action before returning to gaze into my face.
He looked so much better now. Well rested. His blue fur was shining like it hadn't done in a few months. And his eyes didn't seem like there were an unending pool of misery anymore. He didn't look perfect, but obviously after everything that had happened that would still take some time.
"I… guess I do." I finally answered, squeezing his paws in my grip and turning my quizzical look into a gentle smile. "But I think you need to take them. You won't always need to take them anyway, someday you'll get better."
"I wanna get better without them." He sighed.
"It will be faster if you take the medicine, buddy." I whispered, coaxing him with my smile and words. "Trust me. Your work will be fine."
"It's not just my work…" He closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them and focusing his on mine. "But okay, I'll do it for you. Because you asked me nicely."
And I think that, that day, when I left him, something had changed inside of Rumble.
So this site won't show the lovely piece of fanart which I have received, so I'll just give you the link: post/180833464888/rumble-drawn-by-the-lovely-olary-go-check-out. It was made by Olary! Go check out her DeviantArt ( bondsky) and send her some love!
I was so very touched to recieve a drawing of Rumble since he's the best 3 and the drawing is so great, I love it!
To anyone wondering why Heimerdinger gave the idea that the security cameras had been tampered with - which ultimately led to him getting caught - was because he was planning on tampering with them to make them look like Rumble had done it, but because the investigation started he wasn't able to.
I want to thank all of the response this fanfic has received, I am very grateful of every kudos and like, thank you for sticking with me :)
I've also created a twitter for my writing! if you're interested follow me Calucadu. I want to preview little snipets of the next chapters of my works, if you'd be interested in it. You can also always DM me or tweet me telling me what you'd like me to update next :)
Have a wonderful day!