Vi barely slept anymore. It had been a few days since her encounter with Whiskey Pete, but they felt like months. Commuting to the office every day with Caitlyn, going on patrol with her, doing casework with her, all the while lying to her face. It was tearing the enforcer apart. She tried to spend as little time with the Sheriff as possible, making excuses whenever she could about being tired, or having to work late to get paperwork done. She couldn't tell if Caitlyn was getting suspicious, but knowing the genius investigator that Caitlyn was, she probably did.

Vi was curled up on the couch one night, staring off into space while some dumb sitcom played on the television, lost in thought once again. Caitlyn snuck up behind her and started rubbing Vi's shoulders, causing the pinket to sigh. "Why don't we do something tonight?" she said happily. "Go see a movie or get dinner. I don't care what."

Vi gulped. "I would love to Cupcake" she said "but I'm beat tonight. My back's been acting up all day."

Caitlyn wrapped her arms around Vi's neck, just like she always did, and sighed. "Vi" she said quietly. "you would tell me if there was someone else in your life, wouldn't you?"

Vi spun around in surprise. "You think I'm cheating on you?!" she asked incredulously. "The hell Cupcake, Why would you think something like that?"

Caitlyn knelt down behind the sofa, now on eye level with the pinket. "Well you've been distant recently...really distant...it's like you...like you don't really want to be around me anymore."

Vi pulled the sheriff into a deep kiss, causing her to squeek quietly in surprise. "I love you Caitlyn." she whispered, resting her forehead on her lovers. "and that's not changing any time soon. I've just...I figured something out and...I just don't know how to tell you."

Caitlyn opened her mouth to respond when the phone rang. She shot Vi a quick glance before standing to answer. "Caitlyn and Vi residence, Caitlyn speak-...She what? How?!"

Vi stood in surprise. "What's going on?" She asked. Caitlyn raised a hand to silence her.

"Yes...yes we'll be right over." the phone hit the receiver with a clack and Caitlyn turned to face her partner. "Jinx just broke out of the station. They don't know how yet but theres a hole in her cell and she's gone." Caitlyn grabbed her coat and pulled it on. "Grab your gear and let's go. We're having this conversation as soon as she's back behind bars, you hear me missy?"

"Yes Ma'am." Vi said diligently, grabbing her own discarded coat from the floor.

Vi's car came to a screeching halt outside the front of the police station. The front of the normally quiet building was a buzz of activity, officers running in and out, cars being loaded with fully armed and armored men and women, and a table surrounded by the top brass, a huge map of the city spread out across it. The two officers exited the car and ran over to the table. Several of the men nodded to Caitlyn, and several more shot Vi a nasty look, which Vi returned.

"What have we got?" Caitlyn said, pushing through the crowd and planting her hands on the table, searching it wildly with her eyes.

"We've got every single officer out looking for her, Sheriff" One of the detectives said. "We've already hit all of uptown, doubled the guards on every museum and bank, and have men sweeping both the east and the west sides."

"What about downtown?" Caitlyn asked, pointing to an area on the map. "Anyone there?"

"We're doing the best we can, but we just don't have the people to search the whole city at once."

"I'll grab someone and do a sweep, Cait." Vi said, cracking her knuckles. "Call my car if you have any leads, otherwise I'll just drive around."

"Thank you, Vi." She whispered, squeezing her hand lightly. Vi nodded and shot her a quick wink. She slipped her hand out of Caitlyns and spun around, grabbing the first officer she saw.

Loyde turned, wide eyed, thinking he had done something wrong. "Looks like it's your lucky day, Loyde!" Vi said, wrapping her arm around his shoulder. "You're coming with me to sweep downtown."

"Y-yes ma'am!" he squeaked in terror.

Despite how quickly Vi drove, the work was slow. They had to drive up and down each street individually in order to do a full sweep of the area. If you had fifteen or so squad cars you could scan a twenty block area in an hour, but with just one, VI was lucky to hit just a few in that time. "Anything on that street?" Vi asked Loyde, clearly frustrated.

"Nothing again." He said. "I don't think she's downtown, we would have heard something. An explosion or a robbery or something."

"I'm inclined to agree with you" Vi admitted. "Where the fuck could she be?" she whispered. "Where would I be if I had just broken out?"

"Well if it was me I would try to lay low" Loyde chimed in. "Try to keep away from major streets, maybe skip town for a while. That's what most criminals do based on research, and really, that's the best thing we can go on..."

Vi let Loyde ramble on, not listening in the slightest. If she had just broken out of jail, she would want to find some friends and break some shit, let the cops know not to fuck with her again. She would go to an old safe house maybe, or a familiar location. Some place close by. Some place...

Vi's eyes widened suddenly and she spun the wheel around. The car spun loudly on it's heels and took off down the street, Loyde squealing in fear all the while.

"What in tarnation are you doing?!" he said, grabbing onto the dashboard with trembling hands.

"I know where she is." Vi replied simply. There was only one place near the police station that she could be, and Vi knew it just as well. After all, they used to call it home, along with twenty or so other criminals.

Caitlyn ran her hands through her hair in utter frustration and defeat. "Two bloody hours and still not even a peep." Caitlyn said, scanning the map for the millionth time.

"She might be gone, Sheriff" one of the detectives said, but Caitlyn just shook her head.

"That's not a bloody option, officer" she said. "We're finding this psycho before she kills anyone or blows another landmark up, or it's on all of our heads for letting her go."

"Well she's staying quiet, Sheriff." another officer said. "No reports of crime, explosion, or blue hair anywhere. Shit, we're getting more complaints from people about our sirens than tips."

Caitlyn slammed her fist down on the table, silencing all of them. "If you have something productive to say than spit it out, otherwise, stop your fucking complaining and go help look" she shouted, beet red in the face. "because your useless complaining is doing nothing but prolong the investigation and get in my way."

The men around her went quiet. It always amazed Caitlyn, she thought suddenly, how quickly they could be silenced. They were the toughest, the smartest, the most brutish men that Piltover had to offer. Each day they stood toe-to-toe with the most vicious criminals in the world, and each day they came out on top. Despite how tough these men were, how hardened and no-nonsense they were, they all still cowered in fear of the sheriff.

"So get back to work" she growled "or you can leave your badges on the table."

Every single one of them scurried away like roaches, and Caitlyn studied the map once more. Her blood was pumping a million miles an hour, her jaw clenched, but it didn't distract her: It focused her. Anger always did that to her. Any case she couldn't solve only fueled her need to solve it more. C was to thank for that.

"I'm missing something" she whispered. "we're all missing something..." Where would Jinx go? No, that wasn't the right question. They had been trying that rout all night and had found nothing. It was time for a different angle...where could she go? Caitlyn bit her lower lip. They didn't know if Jinx had any safe-houses, and hardly any of their contacts knew that she even existed. No, that wasn't right either. Jinx made all of her weaponry, all of her ammunition, even her clothing, what little of it she wore. All that precise and specific manufacturing would require equipment; drill press',precise calibration machines to measure out gunpowder and drill exact barrels. A mind like that would need space...

Her eyes drifted on the map. Skyscrapers, research labs, residential areas, warehouses...warehouses. There were six major warehouse districts in the city. Four of them were just on the edge of the city, one was in uptown, and most of the wealthy residents of the city used that one, and the last...

Caitlyn's fell open half-way. How had she not seen this? "I need a radio operator over here right now!" she shouted.

There were six warehouse districts in the city. Four of them were just outside of the city. One of them was in uptown.

Caitlyn drove past the last one on her way to work every morning.

Cold. Dirty. The stench of blood and flesh wafting in from the butchers, not a block west. Dark; no streetlights to speak of, the only light shone from the massive skyscrapers that towered above. Vi's car coasted down the tight alleyways between the hulking buildings. Lights off, engine quiet, like a ghost prowling the streets. Vi pressed the brakes lightly, gliding to a stop in an alley the car just barely fit in. The pinket pulled the keys and handed them to Loyde. "You take these" she said. "and if I'm still in there when you hear explosions, or gunfire, or some other shit that sounds bad, you drive back to the station and you tell the Sheriff where I am."

"Vi this is hardly protocol!" he protested "if Caitlyn knew you were out here without telling her-"

Vi held up her hand to silence him. "Calm down. Get that stick out of your ass and focus. You drive back to the station if you hear anything. If you crash my car..." she trailed off, clenching her fist. "I will end you, understand?"

Loyde nodded quickly. "We really should just tell Caitlyn where we are, we could get some backup in case-"

Vi rolled her eyes and climbed out of her window. Ignoring the officers worried whispers, Vi walked slowly around the corner. The door was rusted and old, but the lock had never worked. She turned the knob slowly, letting the old hinges squeak to their hearts content as the heavy steel thing opened. Light poured onto the pinket from the building, blinding her for a moment. She rolled her fingers nervously, sending her massive gauntlets into motion. They followed her motions perfectly, just like they always did, putting her mind a bit at ease. She took a deep breath and stepped inside.

It was nothing like she had remembered. Most of the inside was empty, a stark contrast to how it used to be set up. Huge machines sat idly in the center of the huge room, like hulking monsters above a single workbench. Racks of guns, knives, swords, belts of ammunition, rockets, and boxes of gods know what surrounded them, seemingly haphazardly strewn about with no rhyme or reason. Vi walked forward slowly, hunched low in case of danger. Her eyes were fixated on the lone figure that leaned over the workbench, hunched over in concentration. A faint electric drill was the only sound that cut the otherwise silent scene.

"Jay?" Vi called out softly as she reached the first machine. "Jay is that you?" The figure didn't seem to hear her. "Jay" she called slightly louder, taking a few steps closer.

"My sister used to call me that" she replied in an even tone. She tilted her head to the side, pausing her work only for a moment. "But she's dead now. She died in a mine collapse that I caused."

"Jay" Vi whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. "Jay I'm here, I'm not dead."

Jinx set her tool down and lifted the device she was working on up, examining it closely. It was a round, flat disk. Four prongs were evenly spaced around it, making it look like some kind of huge, metal bug. She spun around in her stool, face split by a huge smile. "Do you like it?" she asked excitedly. "I was kinda rushed in making it, seeing as I only just got out of my cell like today."

Vi looked back and forth between the object and her sister. "Didn't you hear me?" she half whispered. "Jay it's me! It's your sister!"

Jinx burst into laughter, clutching her stomach and flailing her legs as she did. The sounds echoed throughout the half empty building, bouncing from wall to wall. Suddenly a thousand Jinx's were laughing, from every nook and cranny of the room, from every angle around Vi. "You're the dumbest person in the universe, Fat Hands!" Jinx cackled. "You actually think I'm your sister!" her laughter continued. "My sister's dead you dummy" she wiped a tear from her eye, her laughter subsiding. "and now, so will you!"

Before she could react, Jinx Frisbee'd the disk at Vi with all her strength. She raised a steel fist to stop it, hearing a strange clank as the glove closed around the device a bit harder than she had intended. She heard a hum, felt a slight tingling in her hand, and suddenly she couldn't move. Her hand struggled and flexed inside its home, but the gauntlet refused to respond. She looked up in surprised at Jinx. "Yes!" she screamed, throwing her arms into the air. "It works! Gooooooooal!" she held her arms up and ran around the table like a chicken with it's head cut off. "I was worried the frequency was too low to magnetize hard enough, but it's sooooooo perfect!" The blue haired psycho grabbed up a handgun from off the table and pointed it at Vi. "Now the fun starts!"

Vi raised her useless gauntlet to protect her face as bullets pinged off of her armor. She felt hot death dig into her unprotected thigh, causing her to cry out in pain as she stumbled back behind a machine. Jinx's gun went click, and she heard it clatter to the floor. "Don't worry Fat Hands! I've got a million of 'em!"

Gunfire filled the room once more as the machine Vi was behind was met with a hail of lead. She hunched down lower and looked at disk that locked her glove in place. Before she could study it at all, the bullets stopped once more. She peaked her head out from behind the huge steel thing and her eyes widened. The tiny pale-skinned girl was hoisting a rocket launcher that was bigger than she was onto her shoulder. "Go big or go home!" she screamed as a puff of smoke shot out the back of it.

Vi heard the Whoosh and ran. Her leg screamed loudly in pain with each step, but louder still was the explosion that filled the room as the machine she had been hiding behind exploded in a shower of fire and metal. "Stand still and let me kill you!" Jinx screamed happily, dropping the launcher and picking up another. The second rocket went right past Vi's half-bald head, blowing out the side of the building as it struck it.

She didn't think. She just acted. Swinging her useless gauntlet as hard as she could at Jinx and pressing the tiny button inside of it detached the massive glove and sent it tumbling towards the psycho, flying like a Discus that had just been thrown by a drunkard. Her smile quickly turned to a frown as the heavy thing collided with her head. The tiny girl shot back into a rack of guns, which broke instantly and sent the weapons flying. Vi fell to one knee, clutching her bleeding leg. "Fucking stop this!" she screamed. "Just listen to me! I'm your sister, Jay! I'm not dead!"

Before she could say any more, the short wall closest to them blew open, and a flood of officers poured in. Jinx shot to her feet. "Looks like we'll have to do this another time, Fat Hands!" she shouted, running full speed towards the opposite door. "It's been fun! Kill ya' later!"

Vi tried to stand, but a stab of pain pulled her back to the floor. Her one good gauntlet struck the floor with all her might, cracking the concrete and sending little chips of stone skyward.

"Vi" a familiar voice whispered above her. A wave of dread washed over the pinket as her stomach turned over. She raised her head slowly, locking eyes with Caitlyn, silently begging her for forgiveness. "What did you do?"

At that moment, Vi had never felt so empty.

Wow that took me longer to write than I thought. Hey all, finally finished chapter 14. I'm hoping to get a legit schedule up soon. Got a few more projects coming soon as well, so I'll try to post a new chapter every Monday or Friday, and something different on the day I don't.

We're getting into the real meat and potatoes of part 2 now. I won't spoil anything, but let's just say that it's going to look pretty grim for Vi from here on out. Following the basic tenants of storytelling, the second part in a trilogy should be the lowest point for all the characters, and that is certainly true here. I'm extremely excited to finish part 2, as part three is basically the reason I started writing this in the first place. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, though! First, we've gotta deal with Jinx. She's already sent cracks through Caitlyn and Vi's relationship. Find out next time if they're deep enough to shatter it.

Abe