CHAPTER 2:4

He never actually told me where he came from, nor what his parents names were. I know nothing about him than his looks and his first name, but he was probably lying about it all.

Jayce rolled over onto his stomach and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. The night had been tough to endure and not only because of the horrid weather, but due to his nightmares as well. They had been incredibly vivid and much too real; he had dreamed about Kayden and his horrible past and being cut up into pieces by Viktor. He didn't know what dream was the best.

Kayden... why does that sound so damn familiar? Where is it I've heard exactly that name? The news or the radio? Maybe from Caitlyn and Vi? Or Viktor?

Then he remembered the last words the stranger had told him. It was obvious that Kayden had meant Caitlyn when mentioning "officer", even though Jayce couldn't recall even once hearing of Cait with any other title than sheriff. She was the embodiment of Piltoveran justice, the brilliant city's symbol of low-criminal ratios and excellent police force. Surely someone had heard or knew about Caitlyn's past in more detail but that someone could be anyone Jayce saw on the street. Any man or woman; maybe her old school teacher; her mother's friend; her cousins; her father's nieces; anyone. It would be practically impossible to track them all down to interrogate them and they would probably not even be able to answer all of his questions, least of all willingly take part of his private interrogation of the Sheriff of Piltover.

"... and we'll be back after the news! Good morning Brenda; what's going on right now?"

"Hi, Brad, and good morning to you too. After a lot of debating, the Council of Equity have finally chosen to act, which was required of them to do all along. The body of Vessaria Kolminye has also been identified – the third member of the Council – and it has now been made official: Evaine Leblanc, I repeat, Evaine LeBlanc has been put up as a wanted target all over Valoran. Thus far, Ionia have still not agreed to this contract nor the Shadow Isles, but I am guessing it will only be a matter of time. Whomever finds, contacts or sees this person is to report immediately to his or her nation's government and there will be a reward for eventual bounty hunters seeking the wanted out. But extra warning is to notify as the two remaining councilpersons strictly forbids any civilians to take action. If you are not a member of a legitimate guild, you'll have to be tested in the Institute of War for a permission. That was it for the day; Cathy White reporting for Piltover Channel One from the Institute of War. Have a continued good morning."

Jayce turned off his radio and sighed. If only I could, he thought grimly and hastily rose from the bed, leaving it unmade. He readied himself onto the wooden floor and quickly did a dozen of push-ups and some stretching exercises. As he quickly got up on his feet again, he happened to to knock an empty glass over and it rolled under his bed.

"Damn," he muttered and crouched down to reach for the fleeing cup when his hand met something razor-sharp.

Ouch! What was that?

Furrowing his brows and retaliating out of pure instinct and unpleasant surprise, Jayce carefully put in his hand in the space between his bed and the floor. His hand glided across the smooth wood and searched for the sharp object again. It had inched away even further because of his earlier motion but he soon found it again and gripped it immediately, almost if he was afraid to lose it. The glass which had gotten him there in the first place was all forgotten.

He pulled out his arm and found a streak of blood tracing down his forearm but ignored it. Instead he focused on the small thing which was the source of his wound, unfolding his fingers to reveal it. Jayce almost cried out in sheer happiness.

It was a shard, but not just any ordinary piece of rubbish; he could in an instant recognize the soft, blue-glowing pattern all across the object and his hand started shaking in anticipation. Is this truly a piece of the ancient artifact that Ezreal found? It must be, Jayce thought excitedly and examined it closer. Yes it has to be. With this I have proof; I must take this to Caitlyn immediately. The government can't take this away from me. This will be enough to show her reality of the total domination Piltover demands from its citizens – and those who fail to follow these rules.

The usual route to the Sheriff's private police station was heavily trafficked due to the arrival of Katarina Du Couteau, later that day. She was to hold a speech some time after four, Jayce remembered, and later on dine with the statesmen of Piltover. Caitlyn had told him some while ago that she was ordered to govern the safety of Du Couteau's arrival, together with her escort, and that this event hardly was an easy job to pull off. Not only would they have to station hundreds of more police officers and other security guards all over Piltover, but keep an eye out for the mazes beneath the city as well. Everything was barricaded for just this day and Jayce had forgotten it all, due to his personal problems. He only hoped that he would be able to catch Caitlyn at the police station, or at least Vi, to show the shard. It was pulsating in his pocket – still unexpectedly heavy for its tiny size – like it was poking for his attention as he finally parked his bike outside his goal.

"Hey? Caitlyn? It's urgent," he called and entered the lobby. There was still no attendant there and he could freely continue towards her office. "Cait? Are you here?"

"Jayce? What are you doing here?"

At first he thought the mocking voice to be Caitlyn and turned around with a snappish reply at his lips, but Vi gave him a grin and waved her gigantic gauntlet of a hand at him. "Did I get her tone good enough? Or didn't I sound stuck-up enough?"

"Yes, I think you got it quite alright," he answered and relaxed. Maybe Vi would be the easier one to talk to, since she, after all, is a former criminal. Double standards or not; I think she will support me, Jayce quickly thought and cleared his throat. And maybe she knows something about Kayden. "You actually had me for a while," he admitted and smiled slightly.

Vi shrugged but seemed happy by his answer. "Well, I've had better imitations." She smirked. "'Oh, look at me; I'm on the case'."

She made such a good impression that it made Jayce laugh. "I see you've got enough time to perfect even her sill-" He interrupted himself before she could notice anything and continued. "-striking accent."

"Right."

He couldn't help smiling. "Don't tell her."

"Then you tell me what you're doing here searching for her," she instantly replied and placed her hands on her hips. "I've already guessed that you two are on cool terms, but I thought you told me she'd threatened to shoot you in the head."

Jayce scratched the back of his head and just then realized that he hadn't shaved nor eaten breakfast yet. As if on cue, his stomach rumbled so loudly that not even Vi could have missed it. "Maybe we should talk this over some brunch?"

They arrived at a café shortly afterwards, just a five minutes walk from the police station. Jayce ordered black coffee and a vegetarian sandwich, and Vi, surprisingly enough, declined his offers to pay.

"And here I thought I finally had met a woman who didn't care to follow a diet," teased Jayce as they sat down in a comfortable corner with pillowy chairs in red and yellow. He had never been there before but the service went smooth and fast, and the place was comfy so he didn't mind, even though the sound of the traffic right outside was loud and pierced through the windows. Fortunately, someone had thoughtfully installed some speakers into the roof and the sound from the street was slightly dampened by soft, acoustic songs.

"Uh-uh," replied Vi and held up a warning finger. "I can't eat with these on. And don't try your charms on me, sir."

Jayce sipped his hot beverage while raising an inquiring eyebrow. Vi shrugged and leaned back in the chair, folding her legs meanwhile. "You know what I'm talking about," she continued nonchalantly. "You just walk around dazzling women from left to right but that won't be happening to me, nope."

He almost choked on his coffee and quickly put it down. "What are you blabbering about?" he asked confusedly. "I just talk normally with everyone, whether it's a woman or a man, Noxian or Demacian." He grimaced. "Which makes me wonder: will Cait be busy all day today?"

Vi nodded. "Oh, and guys as well. I guess gay people adore you. Maybe you could forget Caitlyn and get together with eh... what's his face?"

"Who?"

"Blonde..."

"Next?"

"Young..."

"Hmm..."

"Cocky..."

Jayce sighed and rolled with his eyes. "Ezreal? You serious? Worst joke ever, Vi," he said and took a bite out of his sandwich.

"Come on, that's the only thing you can read about in the Journal of Justice." Jayce shot her an angry glare and she quickly corrected herself. "Not about you two; the kid has joined the League," she continued and grinned widely. "They are already mocking his age and looks."

"You are too, apparently," mumbled Jayce. "Though you're making fun of his sexuality as well. And what rubbish are you reading? I haven't heard anything about Ezreal's acceptance into the League."

"Well, it was rather loud about that," Vi answered and scratched the back of her head with one large, metallic finger. "But also quieted a lot. He was frankly forced into the place. What I heard it was some of his adventures that got him there, ironically enough." She scoffed. "Seems like it isn't especially hard to join the League. You just need to do something grand."

Jayce drank his coffee again. "You sound awfully well-briefed, Vi," he replied sternly. "Are you sure this isn't some foolish rumor?"

This explains why Ezreal wasn't able to 'prove' the box to be true, Jayce thought grimly. He was at the Institute all along. I must find a way to talk to him. "And why does it feel like you're very interested in joining the Institute of War? You want to become a 'champion', to be summoned and used as a toy?"

"To answer your first question, yes I am," she said. "Caitlyn told me herself. She even asked me to help her file the report." Vi sighed. "She's so tired nowadays that I don't even know what can make her smile. All of my efforts are completely in vain."

Jayce chose not to comment this, afraid that Vi was just testing him out. "Then what about the rest of my questions?"

Vi was quiet for a while before answering and she sounded more honest than he had ever heard her before. "I guess I don't really feel at ease here. Caitlyn and I haven't had a good investigation in what feels like years and something is bothering her more than I could ever get a grip on. We're just sliding apart, slowly but surely, for each passing day and I don't know how to stop it." Her shoulders hunched and she placed her hands in her lap. "Maybe if I could get a semester things will be alright when I return. I just need some time away from her, I guess, and I thought that today would be a perfect opportunity to proceed with that. I was thinking about traveling to Demacia or to Bilgewater, and just live life for a while. Something I have been hindered to do all along."

"I understand," said Jayce and gave her a reassuring smile. "We all feel like that sometimes. If you want, I could talk to Caitlyn as soon as possible and explain. You can go whenever you want to, but please tell me before."

Vi smiled widely. "I will, thanks."

They were silent while Jayce finished his meal. He felt that Vi had a thing to ask – as he had of her – but was polite enough to wait for him to eat up. This was something he had never expected from the pink-haired woman and as a passing employee cleaned their table, he was ready to answer practically anything for her as the waitress tidied up and left them.

"So... what was it that you were searching Caitlyn for?" she asked curiously.

"Well," he started and searched his pocket for the fragment. "I was assigned by the government to study a foreign box of some sort – an artifact that Ezreal actually found – that wouldn't open for anything, and I accepted the job." Jayce pulled it out and gently placed in on the table. "Viktor came to visit me and-"

"Woach, take it again from there." Vi furrowed her brows. "'Viktor'? That crazy robot-dude?"

"He's not a robot," Jayce snapped, surprised by himself. Why do I defend him? "He's only partly made of synthetic materials. Other than that, he's as human as the rest of us. And he... well, I guess I could say he was my friend."

Vi whistled impressed. "So you were friends with the most crazed man in this world," she said with a serious tone but then couldn't stop herself from laughing. "You really are something, do you know that?"

"It seems so." Jayce sighed. "Can I continue?"

"Please."

He rolled with his eyes. "Well, he came to visit me as old friends do," continued Jayce, putting weight on the words "old friends". "And by accident, he touched the box and it awakened." He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "It was as good as dead; I had tried to pry it open for hours but it never even budged. But as it activated, an azure light illuminated from the pattern," he held up the fragment and traced a blue-glowing line with his finger, "and I don't know if it fried his hardware, but suddenly he showed his true self."

Jayce sighed again. "And he stole it. We didn't have some melodramatic argument nor a fistfight. He just left," he said. "And when I asked Caitlyn to help me, she declined and explained that the box had never existed in the first place. Nobody knew anything of it nor that I had it."

I better leave out the fact that I showed Caitlyn the artifact shortly after having sex... it wouldn't be especially appropriate for either of us, Jayce thought and stretched out. And that about Ezreal is surely obvious by now. Let's hope she will understand.

Vi furiously slammed her fist into the wall. The whole building groaned in pain and Jayce jumped out of his seat in shock. What the...

"That is completely fucked up!"

The pink-haired woman punched the wall again and worried employees looked at her in fear. Jayce tried to calm her down and gently put his hand on her arm, afraid that she might hit him if he moved too fast.

"Vi, take it easy now, this café isn't made out of titanium," he said as he gripped her elbow. "Now let's take these off, shall we-"

"How can she do something to you? After all you've been through?" exclaimed Vi furiously and stared into the tiled floor. "Is she really that damn cold?"

"Vi," warned Jayce. "I'm not planning on dying today and especially not because of your temper."

Her arm was tense for an additional ten seconds before she calmed down. Vi took a deep breath and lowered her hand to be hanging on her left side. Jayce hesitated, ready to act if she would punish the wall again, before sitting down on his chair and exhaling. "I know, I know," he said and rubbed his prickly chin. "And I was wondering if you could talk her into some sense together with me."

He took the dark fragment and placed it inside his chest pocket. "Now that I have some proof, she'll be glad to listen to me." I hope.

Vi abruptly stood up. "She'll be damned if she declines. I'll make her feel some real pain." She then grinned mischievously. "Seems like I finally have a good excuse to knock some sense into that woman. This must be my lucky day. Let's go, handsome."