CAITLYN IV

The undercity was a night owl not suited for early mornings. When the party was over and the loud dubstep music and bright neon lights were turned off, the place looked like a ghost town. The Zaun Gray blocked out the morning sun and drained the sky of its pastels. A cold mist covered the roads like a graveyard and the only ones awake were Shimmer junkies, stumbling around like zombies as they awaited their next fix.

From within the mechanized clock tower, I had a good look at what life was really like for the less fortunate. It was one thing to read the statistics on a piece of paper but another to stare at it with your own eyes. "You guys grew up here?"

"Yup," said Powder as she pointed my scope toward various parts of their city. "You see that bar with the ugly glow sticks all over it? Our dad – well surrogate father – Vander used to run it. He took us in after enforcers gunned down our parents on the bridge."

She said it so nonchalantly that for a moment, it didn't fully register in my mind. When the shock wore off, I tried to find the right words to respond with. "I'm…sorry you had to experience that."

"Wipe that stupid look off your face. I don't want your pity. I'm telling you this so that when Vi eventually tells you, you don't say something dumb."

"What should I say then?"

"Don't say anything! Just give her a nice big hug to show your support!" As soon as she finished, I decided to put her advice to the test. I think that took her by surprise as she froze up for a few seconds before quickly pushing me away. "Ahem. Good, you learn quickly, Top Hat." Powder looked away but I felt like I had scored some positive points with that. The two sisters were similar in the way they craved love and affection but refused to admit it.

"Does me being a topsider bother you?" I asked candidly after a moment of silence.

"Bother? You terrify me! Like a froghemoth with four tentacles and three eyes…but good-looking somehow," she exclaimed as she used her braids to mimic the tentacles.

"We aren't monsters, you know? We're people, just like you."

"You don't get it."

"So help me understand."

She sighed as if I was a five-year-old child and pulled out a sketchbook along with some oil crayons. "Let's say this whole thing works out perfectly, what's your idea of a happy ending?"

"Uhh well, assuming the negotiations with the councilors go well and the crime lords of the undercity are eventually arrested and fairly tried for their crimes…"

"Yeah, yeah, evil has been defeated, world hunger has been cured, yadda yadda yadda."

"I would like to get to…know your sister a bit better." I felt my cheeks heat up as Powder furrowed her eyebrows. "Maybe we could keep working together as a team to mend the relationship between our two cities. Go on a few dates during our free time and if that's going well um I was hoping to introduce her to my parents."

"Uh-huh," said Powder as she stopped her drawing and turned it around. "See anything wrong with this picture?"

"You actually drew me as a frog?!"

"Yes, I needed to make sure you knew what a froghemoth looked like, but that's beside the point! Look!" Apart from it looking a little childish (and me being a frog), it was a simple picture of Vi and me holding hands in front of, what was presumably, my house.

"What's wrong with it?"

"You and Vi get to live together in a big fancy mansion in Piltover but what about me?"

"That's why you're scared of me? That I'm going to steal your sister away?" I chuckled as I patted her head. "Powder, if anybody is moving, it's going to be me. Your sister broke out of Stillwater Prison for you. I would have a better chance of transforming into an actual froghemoth than keeping you two apart. So don't worry, your sister isn't going anywhere."

"What about introducing Vi to your parents?"

"When I do, I think my mother might chase me out of Piltover herself."

"Vi, your girlfriend ain't half bad!" Powder shouted as soon as we got back to the Firelight hideout.

The two sisters shared a hug and a few words before Vi came over to me with a smile. "What'd you do?"

"I worked my magic; charmed her as I did you."

"Hopefully not the same way," she said with a wink which earned her a soft elbow to the sides. "Come on, follow me, Ekko has called a meeting to discuss the plan for the trip up top."

As we walked through the sanctuary, I once again felt like an outsider with the stares and whispers that followed my every step. A few were kind enough to give me a wave but most looked at me like I didn't belong there. When we arrived at the meeting room, I could hear an indistinct shouting match from within before a young man everyone called Worm stepped out. "Talk some sense into your boyfriend about the topsider, Jinx."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Powder with a tilt of her head.

"I apologize if I've offended you somehow, sir, but I'm only here to he–"

"I don't care what you're here to do. You're a topsider, you'll always find a way to screw us."

"You better watch your mouth, little man," said Vi as she stepped up.

Worm chuckled lowly. "She's got all of you dancing in the palm of her hand. Mark my words, as soon as you escort her back to Piltover, she'll stab you in the back and hand you right over to her councilor friends. Then, since she knows where we are now, the enforcers are going to come for the rest of us or maybe they'll send a tip to Silco and have him do the dirty work for them. Anyhow, when this place is in flames, it'll be on you."

"It's okay, just ignore him," I said as I held Vi back from ending that man's life.

Once Worm left, we walked into the room where Ekko was sitting with his head in hand. Aside from us, I noticed there were surprisingly few people who were in attendance. "Glad you guys made it back safely."

"What's up with the clown that just came out of your office?" asked Vi.

Ekko sighed. "There are still those within the sanctuary that would prefer we slit Caitlyn's throat and keep the gemstone. They see her as a symbol of our oppression – noble clan, enforcer, topsider – all wrapped into one and some eager individuals have volunteered for the job to invoke a sort of revenge on Piltover." I swallowed nervously as I waited for him to finish. "I'm, of course, trying to prevent that."

"He's spoken out against you before. I fear he may try something drastic if we don't move soon," said the demi-human, Wengo.

"How's your leg doing?" asked Ekko.

"It's not fully healed but I can move fine on my own."

"Good. Since time is of the essence, we'll be leaving tonight." A map of the city was laid out in front of us and he pointed to the bridge that connected the two sides. "Our intelligence says that enforcers have been seen holding a blockade here so we'll be crossing the river by water instead." He then turned to me again. "If we approach your mother first, would she be willing to set up a meeting with the councilors in good faith?"

"My mother is a rational and honorable person. I believe she would listen if you are able to show that your intentions are good."

"Then our plan will be to stay under cover until we reach the Kiramman residence, strike a deal with the matron and move on to negotiate with the councilors. Since this is a stealth mission, the squad will need to be small to avoid attracting unwanted attention."

"I want to come," said Vi as she stood up. "Vander always talked about settling our problems with Piltover another way. I want to see his vision through."

"You're an escaped felon, are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Ekko. "They are no doubt still out there looking for you."

"When you guys exposed Marcus during Progress Day, he was only temporarily suspended as sheriff given that the evidence wasn't concrete. If Vi comes, she can testify that Marcus was there the night Grayson died, proving that he lied before the Council and withheld critical information from the investigation. If he tries to discredit her then we can bring out the correspondence he had with the warden and the lack of records in Stillwater. We can make him pay for his crimes and exonerate Vi at the same time."

"The sheriff certainly needs to go if changes are to be made." The young man paused as he weighed the pros and cons and came to a decision. "Alright, you're in."

"Oh, oh, pick me next! Pick me!" said Powder as she raised her hand and sat up in her chair.

Her inclusion seemed obvious but for some reason, Ekko was hesitating. He ran a hand through his hair and tightened his jaw, "I'm sorry, Powder, but you can't come with us this time." There was a quiet, almost silent, gasp that escaped her mouth. For the first time, I saw genuine fear and raw vulnerability in her eyes that showed a glimpse of the deep trauma that was still haunting her.

"I'm not ready…Why…" she mumbled to herself.

"This isn't your fault," said Ekko as he tried to reach out for her but she moved away and dashed out of the room before anyone else could stop her. "Powder!"

"What's wrong with you?!" yelled Vi. "You know how hard she took it when I told her to stay behind last time! You said yourself that she was capable so why exclude her from something so important?!"

I placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down a little and added, "Powder was the face of the terror attack during Progress Day. I think it would strengthen our position if she joined us. Are you sure she can't come?"

"There's a bigger power at work here," said Ekko as he struggled to find the words to explain. "In my dreams, no matter what I did, she always got hurt when we crossed over and everything would fall apart. If we could just get past this event…"

"You hurt my sister over some stupid nightmares?!"

"If you saw what I did, you wouldn't risk it either."

That's when I recalled my conversation with him about his visions. 'Also…not all of it is happy stuff.' "What did you see?"

There was a pause as Ekko looked up at me before he responded with a single word. "War." After that, he explained everything and although I didn't know whether his visions were real or not, the ending he described to us would have led me to make the same decision. Vi had a difficult time accepting that her sister could do such terrible things but in the end, she also agreed that it was better to avoid such a disaster no matter how unlikely.

"Any luck?" I asked as Ekko and Vi came back but based on their expressions, I could tell neither was able to cheer up the bluenette.

"She won't talk to either of us," said Ekko as he glanced back at the treehouse worriedly. It was clear he didn't want to leave Powder like this but simultaneously, time was not in our favor. "I'll call Ava maybe she'll be able to pull Powder out of her own thoughts."

"No, I'll stay," said Vi with a sigh. "I'm sorry, I know my testimony is important but I can't leave her again. Not like this."

"Take care of her for me," said Ekko.

"Leave Powder to me, you just focus on creating a different future." Then Vi turned to me and wrapped me up in a warm hug. "I'll miss you, cupcake, don't be gone too long."

"Me too," I said as I hugged her back. "Go look after your sister, I'll take down Marcus and clear your name, I promise."

The gentle hum of the boat engine was accompanied by the songs of the crickets on the water. Ekko sat in the back of the boat, guiding its path, but his gaze was fixed on the bridge the entire time. "You've done everything you can," I said, trying to reassure him.

"They tried everything too – my 'other selves' – none of them were able to save their version of Powder or Jinx. Some of them had already given up. They had already mourned and buried her," he said as he shook his head. "Sorry, I'm rambling."

"Things are different this time." He didn't respond to that and just simply tucked his pocket watch into his shirt.

Once we got to the other side, we looked for a spot to hide the boat and that's when I heard the click of a gun's safety. "Don't move."

"Marcus…how?"

"When they set up the blockade, I knew you would try to cross by water," said the past sheriff as he held us at gunpoint. "Where is the gemstone?" Ekko and I shared a look and Marcus raised his gun to my head. "I'm not here to play games. Now I'm going to ask one last time, where is the gemstone?" Ekko cursed under his breath but opened the cylindrical container that stored the Hextech sphere. "Good."

"No!"

BANG!

The shot echoed loudly through the streets and my heart dropped as I watched Ekko's body hit the floor. "Ekko!" The smoking gun was then immediately trained on me again as Marcus leaned down to pick up the container. "Is this it then? Betray the city and everything Grayson stood for to shake hands with the devil? How much money is Silco paying you for you to stoop this low?"

"You have no idea what you are talking about," he said as he clenched his jaw. "When I first spoke to him, I didn't know it was going to be like that. And after…I didn't have a choice."

"You always have a choice!"

He laughed mockingly before finally meeting my gaze, "You think you're some kind of hero, Kiramman. But you'd do the exact same thing if it was your loved ones' lives that were on the line." The revolver spun to the next round. "I warned you to leave this alone but you didn't listen." His hands were shaking but I could see, he had already made up his mind. As I stared down the dark barrel of the gun, I saw my life rewind before me.

"I'll miss you, cupcake, don't be gone too long." I didn't want to go. Not yet. Not when I had finally met someone that made me feel right when I had thought there was something wrong with me for so long. I wanted to heal our city together and show everyone that even people from different worlds could love each other. I wanted to eat at more of her favorite restaurants and watch her laugh as I tried not to make a mess of myself. I wanted to take her to balls and hear her complain about having to wear formal clothes. I wanted to wake up next to her every morning and put up with her complaining that it was too early

There were still so many things I wanted to experience with her by my side. "I took you for one of Piltover's finest… Am I to assume that you are abandoning your post?" At that moment, my mother's stern face suddenly popped up in my head as if saying, 'that's not the kind of daughter I raised,' and she was right. What was I doing reminiscing about the past and dreaming about an unfulfilled future? There was still time to change the present!

I ducked low and tackled Marcus to the ground as he shot over me. My ears were ringing from being so close to the blast when he pulled the trigger but I didn't care. I knocked the gun out of his hand and scrambled to his backside using the same move Vi used on me to get a chokehold. But as Marcus fought me, his arm pressed into my injured leg and the pain forced me to let go. He crawled toward his revolver and just as he was about to reach it, a foot stepped on the gun.

"Not bad for a Piltie," said Ekko as he knocked Marcus out with a kick.

"You were shot…" I said with jaws hanging as he helped me up, "I thought he killed you."

"Almost," he said as he showed me the bullet hole. The round had been blocked by his pocket watch. It was a miracle; a few centimeters to the left and it would have been his heart but instead of being concerned about his near-death experience, he looked back at the bridge again. "No explosions, no deaths, and we still have the gemstone. Do you know what that means?" He turned to me with a bright smile full of hope. "We've just created a new future."

I had never felt more like a stranger than when I stood at the door of my own house. So many thoughts were racing through my mind. It had been years since I'd been kicked out for doing what I thought was right and here I was again. The last time we spoke it had been nothing but arguments yet now I needed to convince her that our cause was worth putting her political career, something she has built up over her entire life, at risk supporting.

The more I thought about it, the less confident I became. If I was the prim and proper daughter she had always wanted then maybe we had a chance but I had always rejected the path she wanted for me. I chose to be an enforcer instead of a councilor. I caused trouble within the force instead of honoring the Kiramman name. I sided with the people of the undercity instead of noble men and women more 'befitting my status.'

Such a daughter didn't deser–

The door opened before I had even knocked. "Caitlyn…" My mother froze for a second as she saw me caked in dirt and blood; something akin to concern reflected within her eyes until she saw Ekko standing behind me and she put the matron mask back on. "The Owl."

"Good evening, councilor."

"What's going on out here?" My father rounded the corner and as soon as he saw me, he brought me in for a hug. "Oh we were so worried, thank goodness you're safe!"

"So, what do you want? A ransom for our daughter's safe return?"

"He didn't kidnap me," I explained, "I brought him here."

"You're hurt! Let's get you in and treated first," said father as he helped me in. My mother also reluctantly stepped aside for Ekko and had the funniest expression as he dragged an unconscious Markus behind him.

"Well, you certainly did as you wished," said mother after I explained everything and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. There was a pause as she thought about our proposal while stirring the tea in her cup and I could have sworn every second felt like an hour. "I'll schedule an audience but you and your…friend can address the Council yourselves. I suggest you prepare accordingly."

"Thank you," I said as I let out a sigh of relief.

"Dear, please see to it that our guests have rooms." My father led Ekko upstairs and just as I was about to follow behind them, my mother spoke up again. "Sit."

I sat back down and for a moment, we just sat in silence. "You can say it, you know?"

"Say what exactly?"

"The big 'I told you so' lecture you've been saving up ever since you kicked me out," I said as I threw up my arms. "Everything you said about the enforcers was right. I'm a big disappointment for joining the force and I have brought shame to the family name for being such a misfit. Go on, nobody's around anymore."

"Is that what you think of me?"

I looked down as I tried the hide the tears welling up in my eyes. I heard the sound of her tea cup being set down as she got up from her seat and I fully expected her to walk away. But instead, she came next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "You are my daughter, Caitlyn. Would I prefer you pursue a safer career? Of course. But ultimately, you will always have my support, no matter what."

Tears rolled down the side of my cheeks and I felt her hand caress the back of my head. "I probably don't say this enough since my mother never said it to me but…I am proud of you and I love you very much." It had been a long time since I'd heard those words. Not since I was a little girl and hit the bullseye with the family rifle for the first time. Perhaps that was what had set me down this path; to one day hear her say it again.

I leaned in and she allowed herself to set aside all of her other roles and just be a mother for the night. At that moment, I realized how lucky I was to still have my family even after so many years of discourse. People like Vi, Powder and Ekko would likely give everything they had just to have another chance to be held by their parents like this. "Now, please tell me you aren't in a relationship with a wanted man."

"No…but you might want to sit down for what I tell you next."