12:10 a.m.
Jayce was in his office seated firmly at his desk, staring off into the distance. After a few more hours working his Viktor case, he couldn't bury the topic into the back of his mind anymore. He had no idea if the decision he made was right, or why he even made it at all.
Was I right to do that? She has done so much harm to us and this city, played us for fools at least half a dozen times, and has even gone far enough to strike us in a personal manner; holding Caitlyn hostage in front of Vi, staging a gang war in midtown just to get a hold of and destroy Caitlyn's rifle..even burning files relating to my case to draw us out..
Jayce remembers that one the most..the nightmares and sores in his leg never stop. But just today alone was so ..unique to her, I actually had doubt about her. Or maybe I'm a sucker for a pretty face. She is kind of cute, I mean.., The Defender let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. He just stared at the ceiling while remaining lost in his thoughts, not noticing the hum of the generator starting up.
She was extremely passive during the fight in front of the station, fighting for her life even. She throws down all her weapons, and holds her arms out in defeat. Then..after being locked down, has a chance to break out, and instead steals back her weapons, and dismantles them completely. Not to mention the photo she'd shown me, and the bullet.. Jayce's thoughts were interrupted by the station's lights coming alive, startling him and making him lunge for his weapon.
He realized the only person who could do that was Caitlyn, and relaxed a little, knowing she had come back to check up on things since it was no longer Vi's birthday. Caitlyn is extremely punctual in that way.
At least I'll get a bullet to the leg and not a broken chest frame for this..
He got up, and decided to meet his punishment head on. He walked down the steps and took a look around. No sign of the Sheriff. He checked by the cells and noticed the scrap of garbage Jinx had left in the cell was now organized on the bed.
Yep, she definitely knows.
Jayce knew the only place left she'd be right now is in her own office, going over the security footage. He could not imagine the panic she was in right now, and how many bullets she's already loaded into her rifle for him. She's gonna need a few mags if she wants to freely hit me, that's for sure. I'll stick by my decision until the end, like a man should.
He approached the office door, and knocked lightly. "Come in." Jayce gulped. Opening the door, and gently sliding his way in, he was met with a bullet fired right next to his head, grazing his ear, blood immediately presented! He stumbled and fell back down the wall onto his butt and put pressure on his ear with his hand. Blood was trickling between his fingers now. His blood was boiling now, anger rising up in him from being attacked so blind sidedly, he stood up in a roar and charged Caitlyn's desk. Caitlyn had her rifle mounted on her desk before Jayce had entered, and she was in the motion of picking it up, but Jayce's anger made him faster. He reached her desk, took both hands, and flipped it, causing the Sheriff's laptop, files, lamp, and everything to either crash straight down with the desk, or launch at her. She put a foot up on the desk at the last moment, and kicked forward, sending her in her chair backwards to the wall to avoid the objects.
Jayce stood there a moment, breathing heavily, staring at Caitlyn, letting the blood from his ear slowly drip onto his shoulder and cover his neck. It was more than a graze, Caitlyn had blown a bullet sized chunk out of his ear. He hissed at the pain, and removed his coat, balling it up, and pressing it against his ear for the time being to stop the bleeding.
Caitlyn stood up, brushed herself off, and with an authoritative demeanor, stared into The Defender's eyes with cold fury. "What you did, is treason, and I could kill you right here and say you were siding with Jinx. I have video evidence of that, and everyone in this city, even The Enforcer, would believe me. I know you realize this, Defender.
Jayce's breathing calmed and he stood up straight, staring right back into Caitlyn's eyes. Like a man should. "Jinx had already broken out of her cell to retrieve her weapons and Vi's multitool. Me going to get the keys, she was already out of the cell. I had no control whether she wanted to leave or not."
"That's horseshit, and you know it, Jayce. No more formalities. What you did is a serious crime, and a serious problem for everyone in this city. You let her walk right past you, and go out the window. "
"Why? Jinx dismantled her weapons, you saw it. She left this station with nothing. "
"She has access to an arsenal of bombs and devices, not just her main kit, you fucking tool. She kisses you on the cheek and suddenly , some flat chested, no ass bimbo wraps you around her fucking finger, is that it?" Caitlyn was slowly making her way towards Jayce. She stopped in front of him, and her attempt to slap him was immediately caught by the Defender's hand.
Jayce , with enough force, pushed Caitlyn back several steps, and stood his ground. "You know as well as I do, the changes happening to her. This is not Jinx, this isn't the normal Loose Cannon that we're used too. Something is wrong with her, it might be good for us, it might be bad for us. She gave me the option of putting her back in the cell, she gave me the multitool back, she didn't blaze this building to the ground, or harm me when she had the perfect chance. The normal Jinx we know would've had a fucking fiesta in this building late at night with nobody but me wrapped up in work a story up. Don't stand there and act all high and mighty and ignore this, now is not the time to lock her up, now is the time to figure out what the hell is going on with her. We have always done that, haven't we? She acts weird, we investigate it, not prolong the inevitable."
His response recoiled Caitlyn a little bit. and she turned around to retrieve her laptop off the ground. Crack in the middle of the screen, but it was still usable. She replayed a clip from the security footage that showed Jinx leaving her cell, retrieving her weapons, and beginning to dismantle them. She fast forward to the part where Jayce confronts her, and when she hands him the two items. "What did she hand you?"
Jayce had the items in his pocket, but refused to tell Caitlyn that. "Enough to get me to doubt her. She is my responsibility now, I accept that, and what she's shown me, will stay with me and only me, even if you have to terminate me. Whatever she is going through, is best left to her and her alone in my honest opinion. If i show you or Vi this, you'll poke and prod and interfere."
Caitly replied, "Why are you doing this. You have an upstanding career, an easy job since she never usually targets you, lots of resources at your disposal, even women who woo over you. Why would you risk throwing all that away on a whim? If I terminate you, your reputation will be tarnished, and your membership with the League put under question. What could make you come to this rash of a decision to go against your badge, Defender?"
Jayce looked her dead in the eyes, and said with complete confidence, "The same intuition you had when you recruited Vi." Caitlyn\ smirked. "Is that so?" She walked over, and held out her hand. "Whatever the case, I've dealt to you my punishment. Instead of terminating you, I decided it'd be best to just blow off a piece of you and keep you here to clean up after your mistake. Now that I know about it, I'm in this pot of boiling shit alongside you. Vi is going to find out tomorrow. She won't check the cameras though, she'll come to me. For the sake of this station's reputation and the confidence the city has for us, I am going to lie. Whatever Jinx showed you to give you this doubt, I hope it was worth it. If Vi finds out the truth, I will turn a blind eye. Got that, Jayce?"
Jayce sighed and kept his demeanor, he grabbed Caitlyn's hand and shook it. "Understood. In any case, if my intuition is right, We will not be seeing Jinx for a while. She said she wanted to get far away from here."
Caitlyn replied, "I hope your intuition is right as well. As much as a danger Jinx is to this city, she controls herself enough to not cause destruction so large that it levels districts or kills innocents. But Vi won't have that kind of control, not after what I saw tonight.."
Jayce's eyes' widened, "The cell door.."
Caitlyn replied, "Was Vi..something happened..she did that..without her gauntlets."
Jayce's heart raced at the sudden fear of Vi's wrath. She ripped off a wrought iron door by herself? That's …..no.
Caitlyn interrupted his thoughts once again, "The League's championship series will be underway in a matter of two months, with the season beginning very soon. Jinx will be back by the time the LCS starts, that is for sure. She must keep her status with the League in order to stay out of our custody , or any other city's for that matter. Maybe this city can get some peace, while we start to plan a future defense for her for that day. The public will know once Jinx hasn't shown up for more than two days. We'll have to make it public then, but first our priority is to handle Vi's response.."
Jayce scoffed, "Vi might level this building and anything in her way when she learns of this tomorrow. It might be best if we take her out somewhere open and tell her, otherwise, she could hurt a lot, even by accident.."
Caitlyn smiled, walked to her window, and stared out into the lit-up night sky of Piltover. A highway nearby with cars just zooming by, slight sounds of chatter from the street below. It relaxed her for some reason. Her cold demeanor was back and she turned to face the Defender.
"Then do your job, start defending."