Vi stared at her hands,the thin silver links of the chain that connected them standing out against her pale skin. She studied the crevices and scars on them, numb to her surroundings. In the back of her mind, she realized that Caitlyn was talking, but she couldn't really hear it. "Vi" she heard her faintly say, causing her to look up. "are you even listening to me?" the Sheriff asked quietly.
Vi lowered her eyes once more. "Sorry Sheriff" she muttered. "I guess I was a bit distracted."
Caitlyn shook her head, staring intently at the top of the enforcers head. Silence filled the room. Vi would have liked nothing more than for Caitlyn to scream at her, to cry, to shake her in anger...this silence, this disappointment...it was almost too much for her to bear.
"You should have told me she was your sister" Caitlyn said. "You should have told me you knew her. All of this could have been avoided if you had just told me."
"I know" Vi croaked. She wanted to cry, but her tears were all gone. "I should have told you everything."
Vi's fingers twitched, missing the comfort of her gauntlets. If she had them, she would be safe; safe from Jinx, safe from the police...safe from Caitlyn. Or at least that's what she told herself, repeating it over and over again in her mind until it was all she could think. But even they couldn't protect her, she realized, and her whole mind tore itself apart. Jinx had found a way to break one of them. If that psycho could get through her defenses, anyone could.
"Now I have the mayor telling me to fire you, the commissioner telling me to arrest you, and a dangerous criminal on the loose because you couldn't just let me help you."
"I know" Vi whispered.
"You know." Caitlyn repeated. "How could you know? How could you know what this does to me? Knowing that you don't trust me enough to help you, after everything we've been through?" her voice was starting to shake as her emotions got the better of her. The rock solid Caitlyn, sheriff of Piltover, breaking before Vi's very eyes.
But she didn't look up. She couldn't stand to look at her, not now. If she saw Caitlyn breaking, she would break too. She just sat there without a word, staring blankly at her hands.
"Say something!" Caitlyn screamed, slamming her hands on the table.
Vi opened her mouth, trying to form the words. I'm sorry. I should have told you. Please forgive me. Nothing seemed to come to her.
Caitlyn stood, one hand wrapped around her chest and the other on her forehead. "I can't trust you if you can't trust me" she said said. "How can I?" her voice shook again as she took a deep breath.
"Officer Vi" she said, her voice on the verge of breaking. "You are hereby suspended from the Piltover Police Force until further notice. Your gun, badge, and weapons will be held until it is seen fit to return them to you, if ever." tears began to run down her face, but she wiped them away quickly. "Look at me." Caitlyn sobbed.
Vi did. She wished she hadn't.
Six Months Later
A warm trickle of something ran across Vi's face, intertwining with her hair. It ran down her matted pink locks to the back of her head, where it sat between the ground and her skull, pooling. She coughed weakly, spitting up a bit of the same warm liquid. It tasted of copper and iron, two metals she was very familiar with. A smile split her lips and she laughed, coughed again, and laughed more.
"The fuck is this bitches problem?" she heard a voice call out. One of the fucks she had been fighting, she realized numbly. She whipped the warm liquid off of her mouth and stumbled to her feet, barely staying upright. She grabbed a nearby lamppost for support and laughed more, sending a little dribble of the stuff down out of her mouth and down her face again. "Gods, you ever give up?" one of the larger men asked.
There were four of them, all heavy-set and stupid-looking, dressed like they were wannabe-banger. She spat a glob of what she now realized was blood onto the street and smiled wider. "Ccome on boys" she slurred, half from the swelling in her jaw and half from the booze. "'s that all you girlies got? My fffffffuckin' grandma hit harder than you."
"Crazy bitch!" one of them shouted as he took a few steps forward and pulled back his fist to throw a punch. Vi raised her hand to catch it, but to slowly. The blow sent her tumbling backwards into the wall of the bar she had just been thrown out of. She spat up another glob of blood. "Can't be all you got" she said, her voice cracking. "Why don't you try taking those pillows off your fists. I'm sure you'd do some damage then."
The man's face filled with anger once more. "You little" he started, grabbing the front of her torn, dirty shirt and pulling her in as he drew back another punch.
"It's not polite to hit a lady." a deep, sultry voice called out across the street "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"
Vi rolled her eyes as the man let go of her shirt. Captain-Douche-Face himself, here to ruin all Vi's fun. Before she even saw him, she knew what look would be on his face; that smug, cocky, ass hole look he always sported.
Jayce's boots clacked across the asphalt as he cracked his knuckles. The men began to back away, and Jayce feigned surprise, sticking his arm out to the side. "What?" he asked "Afraid to fight someone who'll hit back?"
"Let's get outa here" one of the men muttered. The other two nodded in agreement and took off at a quick walk down the street.
"Hey I'm not djone with you!" Vi shouted, waving her arm vaguely in their direction. "Come back you pussyses!"
"Give it a dam rest Vi" Jayce said, taking her arm over his shoulder to steady her. Vi started to complain as her legs gave out beneath her. The words caught in her throat, and instead she of insulting him, she just coughed up blood. "Ya that's what I thought" he replied, half carrying, half dragging her body across the street. "I've been looking for you for days, where the hell have you been? Caitlyn said you hadn't been home in months."
"I've been around" she croaked, feeling a stab of pain at the mention of her name. "Why do you care? Run out of people to gloat to?"
"No you ass face" he replied. "I've been worried about you, and with good reason I see. Another minute and those guys might have finished you off."
"Maybe I wouldn't be such a burden then" she replied weakly. "I certainly wouldn't be causing so much trouble for..." Vi gulped. She still couldn't say her name.
Jayce stopped dead in his tracks, locking eyes with the enforcer. "Don't you ever say that again" he growled, sending shivers down the Drunken, half-dead woman's spine.
"Who would care?" she asked, blankly staring back at the angry scientist. "None of my old coworkers would mind seeing me go. My old crew is dead, I have no friends, my sister is a psychotic mass killer. Hell, I doubt you would mind all that much."
Without warning, Jayce hit her hard across the face. She stumbled back hard against the wall, and she felt her back buckle and clench in pain. Her suit had broken days ago, she remembered, and since she was to afraid to go back home to repair it, the thing had stayed broken. The metal hung from her body like a memory that wouldn't let go. She gasped as pain tore through her entire body, emptying her lungs of air.
"You say that again and I'll break you worse." Jayce said, pointing a single gloved finger down at her. "You bet your sweet ass I would care you fucking prick, and Caitlyn would too." He grabbed her arm roughly and hoisted her back onto her feet. She gulped air down as her lungs started to work again, and before she knew it, Jayce had thrown her into the back of a car and climbed into the drivers seat.
He turned around to look at her limp, lifeless figure. His look of anger faltered, shifting in an instant to one of concern. "You can drink yourself to death when other people aren't counting on you" he said firmly. "but like it or not, we need you right now. So get your shit together, suck up your pride, and help save this damnable city."