"Oookay, lets see..." drawls Jinx as her eyes skim over the main hall, sipping from a soda can and looking for any and all hints as to where could she possibly look for her treasures. The layout is rather unfamiliar but simple enough at a first glance. Reception, benches, just three hallways, not counting the one she just went through. Wait, is that another vending machine? And with jellies? This is amazing!

Her eyes sweep the signs posted on walls in every hallway as she walks closer to this marvel of engineering.

Energetics, environment engineering and physics, yeah no. Electricity, chemistry, mechatronics... maybe. Robotics, transport, electronics and informatics development. Ugh.

So much stuff to choose! Sour, two flavours, chemistry, two flavour sour, with cream, electronics or robotics, with jam, coated in sugar... She flips her bag open to see how many packets she can fit inside. Well she did get rid of most bombs... should be enough for-

The girl winces when the shrill sound of alarm bells begins its wailing. She throws the still half full can away.

"Okay, okay- sheesh I get it! We gotta pick up the pace. Fishbones!" She shouts as she backs up a bit while activating Pow-Pow and training him on the glass of vending machine.

"Yeah?"

"I say chemistry, it should have something like explosives sub right?"

"I guess. You know where the labs are?"

"Nope!" She pulls the trigger.

"Enforcer?What are you-?" Begins the assigned lieutenant of security as Vi lets herself into the control room, where she has been told the man is contacting headquarters. Ezreal follows shortly behind, curiously glancing around at the people manning radio stations and what seems to be some kind of warning system. The young woman marches closer to the chief, still holding radiophone's handle close to his ear. "Never mind, just- wait." He addresses her and with that his attention goes back to the conversation which new arrivals have interrupted and to the man who has just finished furiously typing a report on the machine and is now giving it to his boss. Vi does as told, she's not about to cut in command call. Her blonde friend sits himself in an empty chair, waiting for her.

"Yes, she's here, yes" he grabs the paper sheet and quickly skims through its content. "suspect's movements erratic, broke into chemistry research section rooms one, two and seven and couple classrooms as of-" his gaze moves to a new red diode" and laboratories as of now. Eighty, snipers taking positions now, all exits cut off already. New orders? Understood." He mentions the pinkette to come closer and holds out the handle for her to take. "Sheriff on line, I'll be at the site entrance." He quickly moves out of the room after Vi takes the phone in gauntlet clad hand.

"Hello Cait." She says lightly, as if bringing a pack of doughnuts to the office, wanting brighten her boss' day as she sometimes does. For some reason Caitlyn never eats her own pastries, even though she gifts them to friends on occasion.

"What are you doing there Vi?" She winces, her boss' voice is tense, cold. But not angry, small mercies.

"I was in the library, with Jayce and Ez, alarm went off so I came to see what's going on." Well that's it really, all she needs to know anyway, because lets face it. She doesn't need to know that her subordinate is at the moment just a slightly bit tipsy. How would that help her in any way? It sure doesn't hamper her any.

Few seconds pass before a reply comes.

"There was a hit in the zoo already, tonight, a distraction I think, I sent half the force on chase throughout the city and it will take time before they all get in place. Long time. I'll be there in thirty, already on way. Do not let her escape." Her? Of course it would be her.

"It's Jinx right? I'll get her don't-"

"No! Listen, this isn't her normal game, it's a hit and run. She's looking for something and doesn't want to be disturbed. The zoo is almost untouched." What? No wonder Caitlyn is unnerved. Strange it may be to worry about lesser damage but it is rather weird given who's done it.

"Okay so what should I do? And I've got Ez and Jayce here to help." if Futureboy hauls his ass here quick enough to actually join up.

"Keep her in the building, laboratories are underground, I don't want a repeat of the treasury so don't corner her, just don't let her go. Can you give me Jayce?"

"Uh, no, he's getting his hammer now. I've got Ez here though." The man in question gives Vi his undivided attention at hearing his own name being possibly discussed.

"Alright, Jayce goes with you and give me Ezreal in a moment, I've got something different for him. First tell me, are you well enough to do it?"

"Of course I-" She begins confidently but is not allowed to finish.

"Vi." This one word she speaks softer, letting her concern shine through.

"...Yeah, I mean- I might get tired faster and I'm still a bit" A lot "sore but that's it. Relax."

She can almost hear Caitlyn's thoughts in the silence that follows.

"Alright then, go. And please be careful."

What a waste of time, what sort of idiot, what kind of cruel mentally retarded cripple built this place? It's for yordles, they don't need so much space, stick one in a cage and that will be enough for them but nooo, sure not only they might actually come around here so that's why doors are human sized but rooms don't need to be, or cabinets. Probably. Well at least all the stuff everywhere is neatly sorted. Hm, was sorted. She doesn't have time to browse, a quick look and she has to move on, it's the second floor she descended and there is nothing interesting that she has found as of yet. Some plants that really look untrustworthy, some flammable materials but nothing that she can't find anywhere else. Much less explosives. Oh this better be worth it because if she left the zoo so quickly and doesn't find anything good then she will be pissed. She doesn't like being angry, it draws away from the fun she's having.

This is not fun. Not at all, no sir! It is as far away from it as she had since the rush of adrenaline last week ended. And this whole time was pretty boring. But this is ridiculous, it's not even boring it's brain draining!

She shivers and wipes sweat off her face, mildly irritated at how icky she feels. If the fresh blood was uncomfortable then this is twice as much. And the sweating makes it even worse as she has to keep her eyes clean, all the stuff on her hands is almost like glue.

She's starting to think there is nothing worth seeing here, if they had an explosives research it would be put someplace easily reachable. Like on the ground floor. But there are only classrooms and lecture halls there. First research section was underground so she thought that it would be somewhere there but no luck either. And there is only pyrotechnics section on the floor she just visited (and while pretty, these aren't real explosives) so then why would there be anything noteworthy further down?

Jinx stops her descent down the staircase to the third floor when that thought surfaces in her mind. This is pointless, she won't find anything further down. Normally it wouldn't bother her. If her goal was to aimlessly wander around as it is in vast majority of cases then okay, sure whatever let's do it! But this isn't that. She want to find something specific and whenever she opens a cabinet and finds only trash like some fertilizer tagged as new, unique, experimental and cogs know what else she just can't stop herself from lashing out in frustration. It's the worst feeling ever. If she's angry then she can blow it off with some mayhem, it's not perfect but she feels better after that.

This. This is infuriating, in this messed up way that she can't do anything about it. Just- screw this.

She's about to turn around and visit pyrotechnics again to at least set that one on fire when her ears pick up on a set of boots quickly thumping against the floor over the noise that alarm is making, somewhere below her position.

Completely forgetting her decision from not two seconds ago, she pulls Zap out of his holster and walks down the stairs curious about the clamor. Or rather who's making it, or what. The alarm has been going on for a while and she heard some people making a run for it when she was checking one room after another. Bunch of losers, they're good at hiding though, so at least she could have fun playing hide and seek if such fancy struck her. Hm, on the other hand it may also just be this building and it's pinheaded layout that makes them so hard to notice.

How old is this place? Maybe the "architect" is still alive. Jinx isn't an altruist but she can do one good deed a year and make sure that he won't mess with people brains again. And then she'd have to get to those who forwarded the project and... nah. Too much work.

She squints as she passes a lamp on the wall. Ugh, lights are too bright here, they hurt her eyes whenever she passes under one. She could get goggles like Blockhead, hm. That's not a half bad idea since light in general has been irritating her for the last week for some reason and it's only getting worse with each day.

The girl rounds a corner and stumbles on the last step, nearly falling over under the weight of all the equipment she's carrying. There is still one bomb in her bag, that she decided to keep for making some mess here instead of using it in the zoo. Pity it isn't exactly strong, capable of gutting a room maybe but won't do much on its lonesome. Planting it in pyrotechnics though might be enough to at least burn this dump down.

She straightens up, and to her delight sees a vaguely familiar furball rooted in place right in front of her.

Ziggs knows full well that many decision he made throughout his life were not good. Actually, most of them might have backfired and only recently had his life finally began shaping up to consist of something more than never ending string of failures that his inventions usually were. The invention of hexplosives changed everything, suddenly his dangerous and irresponsible hobby became respected and desired occupation where he could tinker with more destructive nature of technology and magic to his heart's desire. Other than his life's one true love that he found in hexplosives he contributes to making hextech safer, ironic as it is. By reverse engineering unstable tech alongside the Revered Inventor, instinctively finding the issue and then helping in fixing it. Really it's alike looking for what he would put in machines to rig them, easy stuff.

His pride and joy may lay with explosions but he doesn't want his crowning achievement to be a weapon of mass destruction.

Yet at the moment, standing before the gore covered, lanky figure that seems to have just noticed him, he has no doubt that deciding to stay behind in order of saving his newest project was the worst mistake he ever made in his entire life. What was he thinking? Staying behind in spite of his assistant's pleas and for what? To gather files detailing production of enriched high mining explosives. Glorious achievement of his and his alone, a method of fusing highly unstable material with magical energy using nothing but machines. Brilliant, ground breaking. And something he can with some effort make anew. But no, he had to be stupid about it and try saving it. He can imagine his grave already.

Here lies Ziggs, he died for science.

Has a rather nice touch to it actually.

The momentary standstill between them ends when a wicked grin forms on the face of psychopath in front of him. Showing perfectly white teeth, the only part of her face not covered in dry blood and dust, it is hideous, just a bit too wide to easily pass as human smile. The Dean drops papers he's been carrying to make a run for it further into laboratories. He manages to turn around and make first couple steps before something hard slams into his back.

For a short moment he wonders why is he sailing through the air, until he crushes head first into wall making all coherent though leave his mind. The small body falls face down onto floor with a thud. Dazed, he lies there for a minute, incapable of doing anything more than listening to the ringing in his ears. When he moves it is not by his own accord, Ziggs is only vaguely aware of the fact that something is rolling him onto back as well as of additional weight on his chest. But when his eyes finally manage to focus again, the first thing they see is a wide grin of a blue haired girl who is pinning him down to the ground. Yordle's mind catches up nearly instantly after that.

"Oh no, dongers- no please don't kill me!"

The grin adoring his captor's face transforms into a confused frown.

"I'm not gonna, you're the one making those- uh- um..." She bites her bottom lip in thought, apparently struggling with remembering, she looks somewhere above him and a bead of sweat drops from her chin onto his face." Oh! Hexplosives, right? I'm right right?" His heart is hammering so fast it is almost painful, his tongue tangled, he energetically nods. The filthy smile returns onto the criminal's face, it makes Ziggs quiver in dread. This isn't a human smile, humans don't smile like that!

"Great! I was lookin' for your stuff but, heh. Couldn't find it. This place stinks, where are your bombs? Different building?" The girl lifts herself off his small body and gives him an expectant stare. He must swallow couple times before finding his voice.

"N-no, my lab's downstairs, fourth floor." Her brows furrow and she turns head towards the shark-like rocket launcher hanging over her shoulder.

"Why would anybody put all the fun stuff so deep? Doesn't make sense." She murmurs, the Yordle starts slowly inching away while she's distracted with- whatever this is.

"Maybe so it would be safer?" he supplies, her voice suddenly changes, becoming deep and almost boy-like.

"Nah that's stupid, you put useless things there, like- uh... dunno, brooms? Hey, Rat, why did you guys put the fun stuff all the way down?" He freezes, noticing that Jinx is addressing him.

"Uh, safety reasons?" She blows a raspberry at hearing that. Ziggs holds his breath hoping he didn't just dig himself a deeper hole.

"Safety, you guys are just- urgh, okay whatever come on," She extends a hand to her victim. "show me your lab." He did. He's so dead, he should have just run and maybe she would leave him after beating to unconsciousness. She doesn't always kill her victims from what he knows, often leaving them after serious trashing when they lose her interest.

He reluctantly grabs her hand and he involuntarily notes that it's almost burning hot in addition to being covered in sticky gore.

"Well? To your lab, lead on." He is forcefully turned around and given a light kick to his back, not enough to make him stumble but it still hurts since he was already developing a bruise there. Not wanting to give his captor any reason to hurt him, the yordle complies and begins the walk to his laboratory.

He hears a plastic rustle from behind him and after glancing backwards sees a sweets packet in his jinx's hands.

"Wanna jelly?"

"Fuck." Vi is the first one to speak as the yordle claiming to be the Ziggs' assistant finishes his story. Of course things could not have been simple, no, she could have predicted that something of the like must happen. Jinx being four stories underground is too great an opportunity of catching her so fate has to go and screw that chance up. If they manage to block her below second level then no matter how much her weapons can pack, it just wouldn't matter, they could barricade the entrances and just make sure to keep her contained. The fire escape is already closed off and heavily guarded, only thing remaining to do is sending a strike team into the building proper.

That plan has crumbled in on itself when a disheveled aid of the local explosives expert ran out the building and told them how his boss hasn't come up after him in the time he should have.

Idiot, if he didn't wait and informed them straight away Ziggs would have a lot better chances. Admirable of him to wait for his boss considering the alarm, but straight up moronic.

"Took that right outta my head." Responds the lieutenant in charge of security force. "Son of a bitch. Do we even have a hostage situation here? Enfocer?" He turns to Vi, looking for input of the only person around who has dealt with the terrorist in the past. The pinkette scowls at the thought of being an expert on Jinx but realises she's the only one who can even remotely guess as to what will that red eyed freak do.

"Probably, Jinx's not dumb, batshit crazy but not stupid. She'd be dead already if she was. Boss says she's looking for something, dunno what but she's methodical. More or less. If she caught Ziggs then yeah, I think she will use him to get out of killzone." She doesn't add that if that happens then it's back to their game of cat and mouse, nobody needs to be reminded of that, nobody wants to be.

The man sighs, he was probably hoping not to have to deal with it, cruel as it is.

If only it wasn't Ziggs. Vi knows perfectly well what would happen in a case where say- it was the assistant and not his employer that got trapped with the psycho inside. Sacrificing a noone in order to get Jinx, death cause?

Truly unfortunate case of overdosing iron which nobody would know when or how happened.

It's cruel and dirty, but given the situation the Force would get away with a slap on the wrist from both public and press. And administration? Medal would be given to whomever made the call to salvage the hostage, speeches and all, about importance of duty and how big of a tragedy it is to make difficult choices.

Fucking two-faced backstabbers. Just thinking about it makes the enforcer angry. Yeah, she could and would make that call too. But to actually go around parading what would basically be signing a death warrant on an innocent? And as a gears damned right thing to do? She couldn't do that, no matter how justified, murder is murder, done by stray bullet or Jinx herself? Doesn't matter. And if indeed it was her call to make then she wouldn't feel regret- no. It just pisses her off when people are unwilling to just take such call for what it is, a tragic necessity that doesn't deserve any praise.

The fact that Ziggs is being treated differently because of who he is only further serves to fuel that anger, it's not that she doesn't want to rescue him more than she wants to cave the maniac's face in, it's that the reason they will actually try and get him out alive is because he's a champion, were he anybody else they wouldn't even try.

Knowing and understanding the reasoning behind it is yet another thing she hates. It used to be so easy before joining Police, a life without rules others than the ones she decided to abide to. She didn't give thought to this type of bullshit back in the day, ironically, that life often seems to have been so much more honest than the one she's living right now. She misses it sometimes.

She sees Jayce approaching and waves him over. She relayed Caitlyn's orders regarding herself and Futureboy to the lieutenant, Ezreal was sent into tunnels beneath the university in case Jinx managed to break through the cordon and go there. The sheriff probably just didn't want him directly on the scene, he has less experience in this field but having a backup in form of his amulet? That could be useful, and she doesn't have to worry about him winding up dying (too much), the depths are not a safe place either.

"So what did I miss?" Asks the vigilante as he joins her by side.

"Ziggs is in there." She answers tersely. The man gives her a startled look and glances towards the building before opening mouth to speak again.

"Okay people." He is interrupted be the security leader. "We're sticking with the original plan, hostage is priority one, don't engage the suspect unless necessary, check and secure all rooms, cage the whole area and stall for time until sheriff arrives. Go, go!"

"Come on." Says Vi to her friend. "We're going in first, these guys barricade staircase and make sure She doesn't slip out." She starts to jog in direction of the building. Assessing the damage done to the entrance as she climbs up the short steps, made so specifically for yordles attending the courses here. This type of stairs is the go to for new buildings in Piltover, there is a paragraph for in the state law actually, as she has learned when plowing through it at Caitlyn's whim. Zaun mostly has this kind of stairs too, only nobody enforces their construction. Funny how they don't need so many regulations and yet go toe to toe with Piltover in their rivalry.

"Where is Ez?" He asks after catching up with her on stairs leading to the entrance.

"Somewhere underground, Cait sent him."

They fall silent after that, The mechanical door that was constructed by young yordle scientists as a part of last year trade sector mechanics competition is blown apart with broken glass everywhere, cracking under two champion's boots. Those may not be the ones they both use for combat but Piltovian fashion, while at times seems to be on a trip to la la land has one consistent theme, solid shoes. Even the pair that Jayce is wearing, fitting for a battle as well as a party. He pays attention to these things, Vi? Not so much, she prefers army boots unless she knows the place she's going to has a dress code. She doesn't go to many of those unless dragged by her friends.

The lobby is almost untouched, beside the bullet ridden vending machines with sugar drinks just beyond destroyed entrance and another one with sweets closer to reception desk, well, and a spilled soda laying some distance away from the second vendor.

The pinkette shakes her head in disbelief, looks around and points to the hallway marked with CHEMISTRY on the sign hanging beside it.

Their silence is broken as they pass a second room without checking the inside.

"Shouldn't we take a look, you know for a bomb or the like?" Speaks up Jayce.

"Nah, she's looking for something. I bet my everything that this something is Zigg's lab. I mean, I can't think of anything else that psycho would put together a plan for. Think about it, all of the city and she winds up here, in this section." Jayce's expression turns from confusion to terror, it's quite interesting to see the point at which he realizes he missed a crucial fact in his reasoning.

"Gears... I forgot, shit, you're right! Come on! I know where his lab is exactly, she blows it up the whole building may just come down." He breaks into a run.

"What?" She blinks and after a second picks up the pace, not quite understanding the rush. "Isn't it it four floors down? What is he working on?"

"Same as always, just- you know. Skipping some regs." Which in his case means keeping more destructive material than allowed or working on something too dangerous for controls to approve of.

"Oh come on, seriously?" An image of a depot filled to the brink with fireworks surges in her mind.

"You're the one to talk!" He answers as they run down the staircase, uncaring for all the instructions they got about checking and securing level after level, door after door, leaving entire floors without even peeking about.

"Shut up! I'm police, I break regs to save assholes that do it in the first place."

It's like a candy store, only better. One might not expect Jinx to be overjoyed at the sight of stacks of paper over explosives samples but that is exactly what she's hoped to find. Yeah, bombs are great no arguing about that, so what is better than having a bomb?

Knowing how to build one of course!

Not that her knowledge on the matter isn't extensive, it is! One could almost call her a specialist in that field. Thing is, materials she uses are not top of the line, custom made goodies that dorks from the other side of the law have unrestricted access to. One look at scattered notes lets her know that making these 'hexplosives' is something she absolutely has to learn how to do. The concept to be honest, simple. Supercharging materials with energy, magic in this case as it is supposedly the most stable. Funny, she was taught it is the most unstable resource in the world.

She snorts. And it still is the most stable one for this. Hah! Stupid Tinhead.

Well it's simple in theory anyway. Building a charging station, not unlike a battery charger, is what complicates the process so much. There have been attempts to do just that for years already, it's just that Rat, who is at the moment safely secured under a heavy metal table near the exit, is the first one to have actually made it without blowing up the charger. And the lab, and himself. Really, the power of these famous explosions is something of a legend in circles concerned. One in particular is said to have wiped out a town, like a hundred years back or so during a Rune War. Jinx sometimes wonders how awesome must have that explosion been, what colour, what blast, the heat, the noise. What wouldn't she give to see it.

She glances at the door when the sound of alarm finally stops it's annoying ringing, well about time. She had half mind to find the damned contraption and shoot it to pieces.

The girl turns back to the overturned table under which her new friend is trapped.

"So you're sayin' this charger's the working one yeah?" She taps the device on a whim.

"Which one? The red is working, others are dummies." he squeals from under his prison, not seeing which of his prided invention the terrorist refers to.

Jinx turns to check the colour. Blue. Huh, she thought she had the red one, where is red? Ah. In her bag, she put in in her bag already, didn't she? Can't remember, she checks the bag to be sure and indeed, a small cylindrical object is lying securely between packs of jellies and a folder of documents detailing proportions, type and power of explosives that can be supercharged. It is the only part of the whole device she can't somehow make herself, seeing as the whole thing is rather big she decided to only take what she can't create on her own.

She can repair or remake it if it breaks, probably. She thinks.

Maybe- oh who cares! She's got what she came for, worrying in advance is stupid. Well, now for a distraction. She moves to the back room where most of the good stuff is located, shame she won't be able to take them back with her, oh well. Beggars can't be choosers.

"Hey Fishbones, five or ten?" She asks as she removes her last bomb from the satchel and lies it in the middle of explosives filled room.

"I don't think you should do it at all, we have what we came for, there is no need to-"

"Shut up! I asked you a question. Five or ten?" He stubbornly remains silent and she turns head to look at him. He's glaring at her, clearly unhappy with what she's planning. Dumb rocket launcher, of all the times he's going to give her trouble now? Who does he think he is? "Fine! Five it is."

"Wait."

"No, I asked you and you're giving me crap. Screw you, I'm setting five and you can go stuff it." With that she fixes the timer and then sets it off. An angry expression gives way to a smile as the familiar rush of adrenaline immediately sets in. She has five minutes to get out, from what she understands about the power of hexplosives, (and it is still relatively little) after five minutes, the explosion will fry everything underground and who knows, maybe even above and outside.

She abruptly stands up and runs to her furry friend.

"Okay Mascot, gotta scram it if we wanna die sometime else!" She grunts with effort as she raises the heavy furniture he's under just enough for him to scramble out from beneath it. Damn, it wasn't this heavy three minutes ago, what is it, some new anti theft table tech or something, gaining weight when disturbed? She shoots Ziggs a wicked smile although her tone takes a darker note. "You better hope this charger works, you don't want it not to." The last part she very nearly growls out.

"Red one works, I swear!" He manages to choke through the swelling throat, he's battered all over come to think of it. His breath is heavy, possibly from being squished under table, blood is seeping from his brows and his moves are still stiff after being electrocuted by low charged Zap. Jinx is bad at discerning if people tell the truth, so she had to roughen him up a bit just to be sure he himself won't want to lie. She grins happily and pats the yordle on head, having him flinch away from it in fear.

"Great! Come on!" She whips around, swaying slightly and trots out of the lab, trying to remember which way to go when her thoughts are interrupted by a thud behind her, she turns to see the cause and scowls at the sight of fallen Ziggs, wheezing in pain. She briskly walks over to him and turns him over with a kick to his side. She thinks something cracked in there but that's not her fault, it's his for not listening to her. She sighs and crouches beside him.

"You doing this on purpose or are just that dumb? This place's gonna blow you know?" Really, didn't she tell him that? She did didn't she? Jinx can't remember over the buzzing in her head.

"C-can't. Walk." He manages to cough out. Before passing out. Bugger.

"What do you mean you can't- You know what? Whatever, I'm not- just whatever." Her good mood ruined, she picks him up bridal style and begins running in direction she's nearly sure is the good one, whatever his issue, he can explain himself later. They have to get out of here before the bomb goes off, but they are going to have words and he will explain himself for messing up he most fun part of the entire game. She just wanted to have a nice night, blow something up, get chased around for a bit. Oh oh! Maybe Fathands will even show up but he just had to go and mock it up. Now she has to carry his lazy butt outta here. He might be an idiot but they made friends, and what are friends for?

She dashes madly in direction of the main hallway, trying to remember how much time has Ziggs wasted, fifteen seconds? Twenty? Plus when she got him out from under the table. Hm, maybe she should have set the timer for ten... nah. That would be boring, way, waaay too much time to get away. Well that and she had to shove it in Fishbones' face. Idiot. Wait what is-

She stops and her red eyes widen in surprise at the sight of her Enforcer and Dunderhead, both coming to a stop when they see her. They look... different. Without any armor and somesuch, Fatass definitely looks differently.

It bothers Jinx in a way she can't quite put her finger on.

The lapse in movement lasts for an entire second before a charging sound of Vi's gauntlets fills the silence, followed immediately by a similar noise made by transforming hammer, the bluette can't recall if it is the ranged version or not, whatev. She has an advantage anyway.

She changes her hold on the yordle, with some effort managing to hold him with right arm only while the other hand drops to her side to rip Zap out of his holster. She puts his barrel straight into her new friend's ear, freezing both her adversaries in place. A hideous smirk graces her lips.

"Sup Masher, sup Vi-" She snorts, not able to finish her name as she intended, because of a laugh trying to simultaneously leave her throat at the memory of her full name. "V- Vi-" She starts choking for all her effort.

"Shut up psycho, let him go and I might just not beat you up too much." barks out the Enforcer. The maniac listens but only for the promise of a chase with her favorite officer, eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Huh? But we're friends, what friend would I be if I left him here to be blown to pieces?" Yeah that wouldn't do at all.

"You little-"

"You planted a bomb?" Cuts in Jayce, the mad girl nods energetically, leaving her a little bit dazed for some reason. "How long?" The question seems to confuse Jinx before she catches on after couple seconds.

"No idea!" She admits gleefully. She knows she knew a moment ago but she can't remember now. "Might wanna check huh?" She looks over them as she hears a new noise, coming from the staircase. Huh, backup. Well that way is busted, oh she could shoot her way through a barricade but it would take time, something they are all quite short on right now and even then, there is a limit to how many cops she can take at once, that limit being something like a full blown siege always waiting outside the main entrance that's for sure, and she's not just turning herself in, nuh-uh. She will either find another exit or die here.

Huh. She didn't think of dying in some time.

"Let me through." Says the local hero to Jinx. "Vi, get your guys out of the building."

There should be another way out, Piltovians have this obsession with safety as she has learned, always leaving at least two ways out of the building. Well, two doorways anyway. Normally she is granted the courtesy of making a new escape, sadly, she can't make one here so she just has to find an existing one.

"What? You can't be serious we have her!"

Maybe leading through like, a maintenance section, or a depot or something, they have to keep their stuff somewhere right?

"That bomb blows up and we're all dead!" He raises his voice. "Make sure she won't get out through front and get the back."

Or a kitchen, there are back doors in kitchens too, does this place have kitchens? Hard to say, she got away through kitchen once, was about to give her position up by blowing a hole in the wall but she was lucky enough to find a way out. Who would have thought that canteens have kitchens? It was quite a surprise for her.

"What? How much of that shit's even there?"

It wasn't that much of a thrill, that chase. She only vaguely remembers it because it was in that canteen that she had pancakes for the first time in her life. And the last as of yet, they don't really serve her anywhere anymore.

"Too much, just do it. I can disarm bombs, if I have some time. Just cut her off and we got this either way."

She can't really cook either. Like anything at all, the fire was nice sure but she generally avoids stoves these days after burning down her last hideout, it's a bother, finding a new one.

"Damn it! Don't die on me okay? Hey freak!"

Well at least she has jellies for later, if she lives that is.

"Jinx!"

"Huh?" Her attention is drawn back to the present. She steadies her grip on Ziggs as he began slipping from her hug.

"Let Jayce through, give me Ziggs and I'm gonna leave you, for now." The girl looks around until she spots a sign showing the way to fire escape. Why is she looking for a way out again?

"Wha-? Why?"

"We don't have time for this, We start fighting and we all blow up." Vi is wondering if she should mention that the men sent as their backup would die too but is not sure if it would serve as a good argument or a bad one with Jinx.

'Blown up? Oh... bomb. Oh the bomb!'

They needs to get out, the blast will fry everything in here, that much she knows. And while she doesn't care so much for the square jaw over here, she doesn't want Pinktard to actually die. And while she's a moron she got one thing right. They will all die.

She hasn't even finished Super Mega Death Rocket!

"Okay. Drop your weapons and we let you through." Her head whips to the side, anger pained on face when Fishbones answers for them both. What does he think he's doing?

Vi exchanges an uneasy look with Jayce, he shakes head, hoping she won't start a fight, even while distracted, Jinx has proven time and again how dangerous she can be.

"Who let you speak? I'm in charge here." She spats, irked that he hasn't even tried to consult her before making the decision. Really, he's been exceptionally unruly lately and it's grating on nerves more and more every day.

"Really? I'm trying to get us out of here in one piece and you're complaining?"

"Yeah maybe you should ask me first huh? Jerk. Ugh." He's right though, they do need to bail and just agreeing to what they want seems like a good way to do it. It's a wide spread opinion that she can't see reason but that's just not true, were they somewhere outside, say... not on the top of a skyscraper where she would encounter similar issues as here, she wouldn't even think about striking a deal. Give her a smallest chance of success and she will take it, but she recognises a tie when she sees one. An unpleasant gran leaves her throat.

"Okay Nerd Boy, go, drop your... stuff and go. You too Fathands, tut tut."

Futureman shoots his companion a pointed look, then lets his hammer fall to the ground without a word, Vi growls and kneels down to gently lie clenched gauntlets on their fists, then slips her hands out from them. The maniac mentions Jayce to move and he cautiously steps around her, both of them eyeing the other for any sudden movements, he breaks into a run after passing the terrorist and she turns back to her Enforcer.

"Well? Let him go." Demands the pinkette. Jinx answers with a sunny smile before words.

"Nope, I'm keeping him. We're friends you know?"

"What? You said you'd let him go!" Jinx's smile fades a bit and the girl blinks, trying to recall what she said only to find that she can't.

"Yeah whatevs, don't remember." She starts making her way in direction of the exit, meaning she has to pass the Idiot on her way there, she takes the barrel out of yordle's ear and trains it at seething Vi.

"You're not getting out of this one, we've got all exits covered." She snarls, Jinx simply shrugs, as she can find no witty comeback in her foggy mind. She's already passed the police officer when a shout momentarily distracts her, making her glance sideways.

"Enforcer! Are you there?!"

It's enough for Vi to close the short distance between them and sock the criminal on the jaw. Making her lose grasp of the hostage, though not her weapon. She nonetheless falls over from the blow, painfully aware of all the hard edges on both Fishbones and Pow-Pow. She tries to aim at her opponent but a kick to her hand sends Zap further away into hallway. Okay then, if she wants to play like that. Pity she won't get Rat out of here too but she can do without him.

Jinx coils her whole body and throws both her legs out, managing to hit enforcer's own and trip her over. She doesn't think much of it when she sees a hand in front of her face, lurching out and biting into it and tasting the blood. The pinkette's pained cry can be heard even on the ground floor.

"We're going in, move, move!"

Not wasting time, Jinx scrambles to her knees and grabs hold of Vi's arms, not really managing to pin them, as she's the physically weaker one of them two. It is enough though for the Enforcer not to have the time to cover her head as the maniac rams her forehead into Vi's temple. Momentarily stunning the taller woman, she falls to the side, stunned herself but not to the point of being unable to move, and she has to move quickly if she wants to get out of here before she's overwhelmed.

She scrambles to her feet and grabs Fishbones, at the same time moving towards Zap and away from Vi who she knows will be up in just seconds. The girl aims her best friend at the stairs and fires. She doesn't wait to see the effect of her shot.

It misses by leagues as she is not quite capable of steadily aiming with her shaking and weak hands. But it's enough to dissuade the officers trying to get down from doing just that for long enough that she can bolt to where Zap lies.

She looks over shoulder when her friend is once again safe in her possession to see Pinktard putting her gauntlets back on. She shoots again, this time with her energy pistol but misses yet again. The criminal snorts and mock salutes her before turning around and running in direction of the fire escape. Her steps followed by bullets and shouts.

"Stop! Stop! Cease fire!" Vi orders the men that flooded down from the staircase and look just about ready to give Jinx a chase. "Bomb hazard, Jayce went to disarm it but- get me a real sapper, we're getting out!" Gears damn it does her arm hurt! She bit a fair amount of people back in the day herself, but never thought it'd be quite like that! She's just hoping Twerp is clean.

"I'm a sapper," One of the officers says. "where to?"

"Damn, uh, this way." She points to direction Jayce went. "Ziggs' lab, dunno which one just call Jayce out he should answer. You two, get Ziggs out and to an ambulance. Everyone move it!"

"Mister Jayce! Jayce!" Oh what now? As if the mess that happened when he went to disarm the bomb wasn't making enough noise to distract him from his work.

"What?!" He shouts back, if it's not Jinx he should be safe doing that, shouldn't he?

A man in police uniform barrels through the door to the back room a moment after that. He's stunned into silence for a moment by the amount of hexplosives amassed in here before snapping out of his thoughts and moving over to where the Hero is kneeling.

"I'm a sapper, move over newbie." Futureman scowls at the name but does as he's told, while he knows how to disarm the explosives it is indeed better to leave it to a specialist when it's possible. "Huh, that's, not bad actually." The man says after seeing the state in which jayce left the bomb. Bah! Of course it's not bad, he knows what he's doing." Still, get out, it's a job for one person only." He knows that, he may be an amateur but he knows how this works.

"Whatever you say." He runs back to where he left his hammer, it's still there. Oh he's going to have words with Vi when this is all over for leaving his baby behind like that.

A couple of police trucks with reinforcements, Vi among them, her bitten- left arm hastily banadaged on the way- arrive on the other side of the building by the specific fire escape, nearly a kilometre away from the main entrance. Lieutenant claimed it to be guarded by twenty officers, given how much of a choke point the solid exit makes he thought it enough, impossible to get through. And it should be. After the strike force scrambled out of the building's front he sent three trucks with additional thirty people just to be sure anyway.

It is carnage that greets them.

All twenty officers lying in pools of blood, lifeless.

"Gears..." One of the people Vi came along with breaths out in horror.

The enforcer's mind for one, goes blank for a minute, just standing beside truck, unmoving. Until cold rage starts filling her. Urge to scream incoherently that she can't help but indulge.

She smashes her gauntlet into side of a truck, making it jump a meter away from her and leaving a sizeable dent in the metal. It doesn't diminish her anger in the slightest. It takes her a moment to notice she's being addressed by one of the men. He flinches away at the murderous look she gives him but soldiers on.

"Something is wrong with the bodies." Idiot.

"Of course something is wrong, they're fucking dead!" The man draws in on himself but finishes his report anyway.

"No it's- All the wounds. They were all shot from behind."

That gives her a pause.

"Show me."

"Next chapter will be much shorter" my ass. I thought It would be at 5k and in next chapter content-wise. Whatever. I had trouble writing this one, thankfully I got inspired some halfway through and it was enough to improve the first part too.

Anyway! We're finally getting to the meat of the story. The focus of this chapter I think was to show Jinx on her not-so-good days. Because this isn't what her bad days look like, not by a long shot.

Also, Ziggs! :D