She has never visited a Piltovian hospital before. They are oh so very different from what she got used to in Zaun. So... neat and clean and white, pale lime occasionally but bleh, so boring. And the orderlies are very different too, no stun guns nor handcuffs on them, they're not exactly big either. Jinx remembers that they were always beasts in human shapes, two meters tall mountains of muscle- and meanies to boot, that's how they ought to look, not like yordles, what sane person hires them as hospital staff? Now, she knows they are fluffy and bumbly along with cute but still. Yordles. She can lift one without any trouble (well, usually, not now) and that kind of contradicts the entire point of having them around.
Then again, she's not good at this logic stuff so maybe there is some merit to having them litter the area. The girl pushes the subject out of her head before it starts hurting as it is prone to doing. She looks around the lobby not really knowing where to go from now-on. It's... an unfamiliar feeling to just walk in somewhere and not be immediately recognized. Right, yeah, it's nighttime and no one is paying her much attention in the new outfit but really. It seems that a hood does make all the difference, as it conceals her unusual hair, now stashed under the hoodie and from the looks of it- that's all she needs to do, she always thought it stupid how Noxians wear hoods to remain inconspicuous but what does she know. Master assassins nailed it when thinking up the idea. Alternatively, it could be the fact that the security officer is reading a newspaper, she has no clue to be honest. But it's so strange! Not one person doing a double take at her sight and running away in terror right after.
Or maybe it's her wanted posters, they're sooo inaccurate, she's much prettier than what they show, what are they. Trying to insult her?
Whatever the reason, it's advantageous for now. She only has Zap with her and it's stashed inside the backpack, long-ass way from her hands. But it being one of her trademark weapons she can't exactly parade it around in her current condition, that condition being lack of her other friends strapped to her many (many) belts. And her legs are killing her too, but it can be taken into consideration later, it's not like she can't function at 100% or above, it's just that the side effects are usually not worth it. But she knows her body won't fail her as long as she needs it to work and knows that it will take something more than jumping roofs for the aftereffects to kick in. Like a chase, she won't risk being chased now.
To that end, she probably shouldn't just stand in the middle of the hall and look like a lost puppy, lest someone asks her- "what seems to be the problem?" Ugh, although... heh, yeah no. That wouldn't go over too well.
Priorities girl! Keep them straight!
She can't help but let out an amused snort at that thought, keep her thoughts straight, priceless.
Seriously- focus, just... walk, yeah, walk, somewhere. Anywhere is good as long as she walks, no one will pay her any attention as long as she's walking right? Exactly!
As Jinx strolls through the building she soon deduces that the place is completely backwards, the doors aren't locked, there are no bars anywhere and the whole place is entirely too bright. She would know, she spent... she doesn't actually know how long had she been treated before breaking out, as the time meant little in the gray walls of that tedious place, but she thinks it was long. She remembers her hair reaching no further than her bum when she didn't bother to braid it. As she later learned, hair grows rather slowly, it was probably years but the idea of time baffles her, she can't really tell how long is long, long is boring though, that much she knows.
As is silence, and it's so silent too! No screeching, no howling, no whispering, just unnerving unnormal silence. Back at home she can at least hear the distant noise made by the clock's machinery, background noise is everywhere in the city, here? Only electricity burning in light bulbs.
She doesn't like it, the sooner she finds Pinktard the better. She quickly discovers that there is no use in checking door after door (The cells are wrong too! All hard surfaces and actual furniture!).
The resolution to that particular problem hits her when her eyes land on the words painted on the wall. It takes a moment, but with some effort, she manages to put the letters together into a sentence.
MATERNITY WARD
…
...yeah she probably should have tried to read the caustic thing earlier. It would also be a good idea to only check the wards where her Enforcer can (probably) be, that's a smart thing to do, and since she is a smart person that leaves her with only one option.
PERSONNEL ONLY
This looks promising. People sure love their restrictions, and for good reason! She loves restrictions too, wherever she finds them they always mean something interesting is behind the doors, figuratively or literally, as is the case now. Besides, rules are in place only to cause the itch to break them, and it's so fun!
Sure, walking through door may not seem like much, but she can't help feeling smug about it.
Only it has a lock, locks are evil, she's always known it, as far as her memory reaches. Thankfully, Fishbones is an expert at opening them, then again, he's not here- bummer. It poses a question that normally she never needs to bother herself with. How is she supposed to get through? She grabs the handle and gives it a couple experimental pulls, yup, undamaged.
"Just my luck isn't it?" She grins as she says that, it's a pity no one ever laughs at her jokes, mostly because people don't listen to them, and her friends don't seem to find them funny, they're always so serious. Well maybe Pow-Pow would but he's mute, he makes for a great listener though.
Alright then, keys, she needs to find keys. Who has them though? This place is big, like big big. The security officer at the entrance might, but his absence would be noticed rather quickly since she can't just leave him unconscious or dead at his post, and how would she move the body without anyone seeing anyway? It's not busy but it's not so late into night that people aren't walking through hallways. What a drag. Who else keeps keys on their person? The girl growls as she feels a headache building up, it's a curse. The more she thinks the more painful it becomes, the more painful it is the harder thinking becomes, so she must focus even more which leads to even worse pain and it goes on and on like that.
She is brought out of her reverie when she hears a creaking further down the hallway. Red eyes snap to the source and dilate in excitement as they land upon a cleaning cart being pushed by an old lady. The cart stops as the woman notices the intense stare directed upon her.
"Is there something wrong miss?" she asks, mildly uncomfortable but clearly trying to be helpful. How very nice of her.
Jinx's smile turns into her trademark maniacal grin.
"Nah, it's just my luck." Her voice pitches upwards, as it tends to when she's in good mood. The lady is clearly taken aback by it and when Jinx starts moving towards her she nervously looks around, like a deer (if Jinx's old books are to be believed), not knowing where the danger is coming from nor how. Like an old and slow deer too. She releases the cart's handle and takes a shaky step back.
"Aw but why are you running? Wanna play tag?" The bluenette's voice has now taken another note, low and raspy, one of displeasure and underlying anger. "Because I've got things to do and you're stalling." The woman turns around and tries to run and scream for help but is not nearly fast enough. Jinx rams into her and they both fall, the maniac on top, she is ready to pummel the woman's head into tiles when she notices no resistance on her part. The criminal frowns as she closer inspects her victim's face.
She's fainted, huh. Heh, hehehe, her heart just ain't what it used to be huh? Let me tell you, back in the day- hah! Lucky her, there is no fun in beating up the unconscious, she looks for reaction from her victims and there is none to be expected from this one it seems. Oh well. She unceremoniously lets the head drop onto hard floor, undoubtedly leaving a bruise.
Jinx looks around to assure herself no one saw them. Nope. Clear. She shifts to kneel beside the body, wincing at the stinging in her back, it's not bad, not really. Just a bit worse than a harsh case of sunburn, she got sunburned exactly once in her life. When she first encountered the Sun and didn't yet know how nasty it can be. It's a lying bastard, luring her with promise of warmth only to burn should she happen to accept it.
"Let's see... let's- oh hello sweetie, nice of you to show up." She chirps as she finds the keychain. Ugh, there are so many of them, well better find the right one before someone comes. She takes hold of the cleaning lady's collar and drags her beside the door where she first saw her.
"Okay... not this one, not this one, ugh, nope, not you, nor you... hey lady, which one opens this lock?" she turns to the prone body beside her and waits a few seconds to no effect. Irked, she starts trying different keys anew "Well that's just rude, I'll have to tie you up you know? Since you're not really cooperating, I mean okay yeah sure you helped, so I'm not gonna do anything real nasty to you but could you be a little bit less apathetic you know? I'm just trying to find miss Fatass to... to- whatever! And you. Are not. Helping!" The last few words come out as a snarl and she kicks the woman in her side to vent her frustration. It's a good outlet she has learned, for headaches, pain and anger. It's like she gives her own to others since they are always angry or hurt after playing for a bit. She spends the next minute fuming, silently trying different keys until she gets the right one and her mood lifts yet again, uncaring for the trouble the nasty old lady put her through.
She drags her victim inside and pulls the cart in right after before closing the door and flipping on the light.
"Ka-ching!" her eyes sparkle with mirth as she sees a wall full of drawers, she gives the lock a sideways glance and sticks the key into it as to avoid interruption. Next in order, time to properly tie her shabby company up, she has no rope though and definitely won't use her precious belts, no way! So she sits herself down, legs crossed, in front of her and rips a couple of strands from her skirt to tie her hands and legs up. Three simple knots atop each other should do the trick, Jinx finds them to be the biggest pain in the ass to unknot, as with them- the problem is to find the right strand and then to somehow grab it, which while not overly complicated, is still hard to do. She makes her knots tight as they get. The last scrap she rolls into a ball and stuffs it into the woman's mouth. Now unto business.
She opens the first drawer and her eyes widen at the sight of dozens of medical charts, complete with photos and case info. Well, this will do nicely in speeding things up.
She quickly discovers that entries are arranged by date which leaves her with much less garbage to skim through. Unfortunately she doesn't find what she's looking for and is again forced to kick the cleaning lady on her way out of the room, just for good measure. She locks the door shut and sighs, it's faster, but still boring and she has yet to find Vi. She turns in a random direction to search for another such room when her eyes land on the wall's inscription.
MATERNITY WARD
Oh wait yeah that's right! She completely forgot about that little detail, Fats must be somewhere in the emergency ward. She was pretty beat up after all, must have scored a concussion at least. Does that qualify her for emergency? Do burns or dislocated bones do?
Probably. And if not then well too bad, she's not gonna waste a whole night searching for her, if she's not there then Jinx refuses to bother herself with looking any further.
She ends up checking three more departments before grudgingly going to the second hospital on her list. She wrapped the first one up in just under one hour and still has a lot of time, hopefully. She has no way of knowing when will that old lady wake up, or rather when will someone find her. It is a chore and she hates chores. She's never telling Fishbones. He will laugh his bony ass off if he knew what she went through just to see Pinktard. Stealth is not really her thing and snatching keys from the janitor was something she would have rather avoided. But following him somewhere secluded would have been even worse.
She is now skimming through the folders that should contain Vi's file if she's here. Which with elation flooding her whole body turns out to be the case.
Jinx triumphantly picks the folder up and her eyes land on top of the page. She does a double take and makes sure that it's surely her photo before once again looking at the name.
She manages to hold her laughter in for a whole second, making a few unidentified sounds before giving up and falling flat on her back, giving no mind to the pain it causes her as she simply can't hold back the maniacal mirth. This is just too precious. It takes her full two minutes before she starts coughing and she forces herself to stop her cackling, lest someone hears her. She lets the last couple amused snorts escape her before managing to stand back up, feeling light headed and definitely in better mood than when she came in. She checks which room Fatshands resides in before putting the folder back in its place, probably in its place. Wow, she never would have guessed that just one word could make this whole trip worth it.
Vi! Vicious! Violence! Hah! Look at me I have a badass name. Oh she won't ever let this one pass.
She slips out of the room and locks it before dropping the keychain on the floor. No more need for it, maybe the janitor won't think it was stolen, maybe not. Who cares.
She rolls her shoulders when she finally stops before the door behind which Vi should sleep. Hopefully, she would very much prefer her to be asleep as she doesn't exactly know what is she here for anyway. Without further delay she enters the room and immediately sees her.
Victory! Hah. No really she needs to start carrying a notebook to write these down.
She's unruly as ever, even in her sleep. Jinx closes the distance and stands beside her bed, finding herself staring. Well, she's no picture of sophistication and frankly she expected no less of her. Messy hair, open mouth, body in position she can't acutely describe other than 'this can't possibly be comfortable'. Well at least she's not snoring. She somehow though Vi the type to do, no particular reason, it's not like she's imagining her sleeping. Often.
She's not sure how long she stands there, simply looking- content with knowledge that Vi will be up and kicking in no time, before the memory of Pinktard's full name resurfaces in her mind and she turns away clasping both hands over her mouth to stifle her giggling.
She bites down on her chapped lip when she calms down and gives her Enforcer a once-over, she doesn't look bad, considering. Bruises everywhere but nothing the file didn't mention. Hm, now what? It's not like she came here with anything concrete in mind. She looks around and grins as her eyes land on a piece of paper and pen, both lying on Fathands's nightstand.
It is with a groan and more than a couple of curses that Vi awakes, the first thing she sees being a mountain of paperwork waiting to be filled. She gets up to go through her morning routine when her eyes land on the report she worked on last evening. One sentence underneath it all that she is sure was not there before.
She picks the card up and pales.
Mornin viOlet, dRopt by 2 say hi but yOu wer slepiN.
X
Yeah! Full Jinx chapter.
Used to be me and Miss Chocolat updated our stories around the same time. Alas, all that is good will some day pass.