Runeterra: The Long Journey

by CupcakeLover7

Benjamin Tennyson's life in Piltover has always felt limiting to him, especially with a strict woman like Caitlyn as his sister. But when he discovers a journal left behind by his dad, he finds the desire to trace his dad's footsteps and discover what the world of Runeterra can offer him, from monsters, to legendary champions to even unexpected things like... love and friendship!

Author's Notes: HELLOOOOOOOOO!

To those who know of me still (somehow), I have been away since I got work, got married and had a child, so real life kinda took over, hehe. My work and family are important to me, of course, so consider this more like a hobby I wanna share with people and I wanted to get back to writing anyway!

To those new here, hello!

Now this isn't the first Ben 10 x League story a friend and I have made on my page, but we deleted it some time ago because we weren't proud of how it came out and started and we wanted to take it in a different direction this time. Don't worry if you haven't seen it. It won't affect this new story.

Anyway, why don't you go on and read! We got a lot of catching up to do!

---

It was a cold winter's night in Piltover as the chilling breeze swept past many civilians while snow gently fell from the sky. The so-called City of Progress was enjoying this white winter as each crevace of a gear-filled skyscraper, the simple walls of a gold lined house and even just the busy streets are all covered in snow. The children in particular are enjoying it very much, with some throwing snowballs at one another and few were laid on the ground to make snow angels.

However, one particular household was much too busy in their own home to be celebrating this time of year: House Kiramman. While tonight was a night of fun for the ordinary Piltovan civilian, the Kiramman family in particular still have much to do, especially since the lady of the house is busy preparing to run for the council.

"Oh, I cannot, for the life of me, know how you are able to handle all this." The man of the Kiramman household spoke, standing before the desk of his wife, who was currently signing papers on her table with a ink stained feather tip and skimming through several others on the other side.

The man was a fit, middle aged pale man with dark brown eyes, dark blue hair and a beard with silver streaks on them. He was fairly tall, especially compared to his dearly beloved, and is currently wearing a white business suit with straps on it, attached to his navy blue pants.

The lady before him is a middle-aged woman with blue eyes, pale skin, and dark brown hair with gray streaks, similar to her husband. She is wearing a dark maroon business suit as well as snow white gloves and a few earrings hanging from her ears.

This was Tobias and Cassandra Kiramman. Cassandra sighs after replaying her husband's words in her head, focusing her hands into signing the papers, to the point she accidentally spilt just a little bit of the ink she was using on her white glove, staining it. "I need to complete this by Friday! I start the trial next week and I wouldn't have time for any of these by then!" Cassandra spoke up, gesturing to all the paperwork on her desk, from the ones she has finished signing to the ones she hasn't even started on. "And it's only going to increase once I am finally a part of the council." She adds.

"If..!" Tobias, however, corrects her. "If you are finally part of the council."

Cassandra stops writing her signature on the next paper she was about to work on as she glares at Tobias, the look on her face showing how offended she feels. "Do you not have faith in me?!" She exclaims, but to her surprise, her beloved moves closer to place a hand on her shoulder.

As the man shook his head, he tells her, "That is not what I'm saying. It's still Sunday, Cassandra, and you've done nothing but stressfully overwork yourself when you can take some time for yourself."

The lady attempts to say, "But the council..."

Tobias, however, interrupts her immediately, walking up behind her seat and placing a hand on each of her shoulders and gently massaging her to help her relax. "The council can wait for you for five more days. They won't be mad if you just take some time with yourself. With your family. And on a Sunday, especially. Caitlyn and I have been nothing but supportive towards you, and we're excited for the day the campaign becomes successful. But if you keep drowning yourself in all these papers, you're not gonna have enough energy for next week."

Cassandra sighs as she felt the hands of her husband relieve the stress from both her back and her shoulders. It felt like absolute heaven, like weights were lifted from her body in an instant. His words were helping too. She places her elbows on the desk as she covers her face with her palms, breathing into them to calm herself.

"This is important to you, I get that. But there is no shame to taking a break here and there." Tobias finally says as his wife nods, relaxing her shoulders and her arms before finally holding onto her beloved's hands.

"Okay... Okay. I can work on these another day this week." Cassandra concedes. "I guess I already finished half of them for the past few hours already. It wouldn't be unreasonable to take a break."

Tobias smiles as he leans down to kiss Cassandra on the head, the lady smiling back as she stands up from her seat before giving her husband a hug, the man returning it with glee. "My ass was getting tired from all the sitting anyway." Cassandra suddenly said as she chuckles. Tobias laughs with her as they gently let go of each other.

"Very vulgar, Mrs. Kiramman!" Her husband jokes. "Rather unbefitting of a councilwoman."

Cassandra releases a hearty laugh from her lips, booping her husband's nose to tease him back as she replies, "I'm not part of the council yet, aren't I? Your words, not mine."

The happy couple share yet another laugh, but they were interrupted when they hear the slight creaking of the door to the room they're in. From the small space between the door and frame, they could see someone peeking from behind, and they immediately knew who it was.

"We know you're there, dear. It's alright." Cassandra spoke to their hidden spectator.

Tobias adds, "Come on in, Caitlyn. Come."

With the couple allowing the hidden person to enter, the door to the room fully opens as a young girl emerges, running up to her parents to hug them both. The girl has the same complexion as her father, as well as his dark blue hair, which is tied to a ponytail, but she has her mother's blue eyes. She's young, around the age of 12, and her height was barely reaching her mother's waist. She was wearing simple home clothing of sorts, consisting of a dark purple shirt, white cloth pants and pink socks underneath some slippers.

The little one runs happily towards her parents before jumping to hug them both, to Cassandra and Tobias' surprise as they both catch their energetic daughter, all three of them giggling all the way.

This one was Caitlyn, their one and only child.

"We're proud of you. mum!" Caitlyn spoke up, her bright smile warming the hearts of her mother and father. "We know you can do it!"

"Awww, thank you, darling. It's good to know I have two great and very supportive campaign managers for my run." Cassandra responds, her smile widening from her daughter's enthusiasm as she and her husband hug their child. "But you need to go sleep, Caitlyn. You still have classes tomorrow!"

This earned her a hearty laugh from Tobias and a giggle from Caitlyn as Cassandra could only give them both a quizzical look. "Oh dear, you really have been busy! Did you forget classes were cancelled due to the heavy snowfall this week?" Tobias tells his confused wife.

Cassandra, having just been reminded about what she forgot, lightly pats her forehead to scold herself as she groans. "Goodness, have I really been that out of it?" She asks but did not wait for an answer. "Well, forget all this bloody work then! Let's go have dinner! Let's skate in the park! Anything you two want."

"Anything?" Caitlyn excitedly says as her mother looks at her with a smile, tapping her daughter's nose like an adorable little button.

"Anything." Cassandra responds.

With the permission granted by her mother, Caitlyn looks towards her father this time, giving him a nod as he nods back before looking back to the lady before her. "Well, father did have something in mind!"

"Did he now?" The lady spoke in a teasing manner, as Tobias chuckles towards his wife. All of a sudden, the bell to their manor rings, it's sound echoing into their house for the family to hear.

"Ah, perfect timing." The man of the house chirps as he lets out a hearty chuckle. "I called him in today for old time's sake!"

Cassandra raises a brow at this notion as their bell puts out another ring. Fortunately, she finally processed her husband's words and realize what Tobias meant. "Wait, is he back already? When?" The lady spoke up in delight as her husband and daughter all smile in response.

It didn't take long for the entire family to finally leave the office room and head down to their front door, All three of them practically united to open the door as it swivels wide, they are greeted by a man at their gate.

He had messy, short brown hair and piercing blue eyes. He was about Tobias' height and age, and was wearing a nice green shirt underneath a big puffy, dark brown coat to keep himself warm, with similarly puffy gloves on each hand, with his left one used to ring the bell to the manor while his right was holding some sort of basket with various fruits, snacks and drinks in it.

While he seemed alone, one close look could tell that something, or rather, someone, is behind him.

"Carlton!" Cassandra cheers as she and her husband head down the steps of their front porch to get to the gate, with Tobias opening it as soon as they reach it. Cassandra immediately hugs Carlton, their friend, as Caitlyn follows her parents to the gate. Carlton chuckles as they hug before letting go as he and Tobias shake hands and pull each other into a hug as well.

"Oh, it's good to be back!" Carlton says as he and Tobias share a laugh.

Tobias pats Carlton's shoulder as their laugh dies down and their smile remains. "We were honestly thinking you were gonna come back for another week, Carl. With the snow and all." Tobias says.

"Ah, well, Demacia was... not as grand of an experience as I thought it w—" Carlton, or Carl for short, was about to say until he notices Caitlyn approaching them as he smiles, approaching her as well as Tobias takes the basket from Carl's hand. "Little Cait? Oh my, you've grown!"

Carl happily pats Caitlyn's head as she giggles. "I'm much bigger now, uncle Carl!" She says, with her and Carl sharing a laugh as well as Carl takes back the basket from Tobias' hand.

"Last I saw you, you were such a little bean!" Carl teases his 'niece' as she takes it in stride and giggles some more. "But wait! I have a surprise, too!"

As he says that, he takes a step to his left as he reveals the person behind him. The reveal certainly surprised all three Kiramman family members as what they see before them is a young boy, with the same brown hair as Carl, but his eyes were a beautiful and adorable emerald color as he wore an equally adorable jacket of his size with a fur hood. He was shorter than even Caitlyn as he was holding a small, rectangular box in his hand, wrapped with a red ribbon as he walks forward.

"Oh my lord... Is that Ben?" Cassandra says as she moves towards the young boy, apparently named Ben, crouching to his level to pat Ben on his head, causing him to giggle. "Oh, I haven't seen you since you were a baby!"

"Hello!" The young boy chirps as he smiles as the Kiramman matriarch continues to pat his head.

"He finally decided to come with me." Carl spoke as he smiles, with Ben fixing his own hair, albeit poorly, after Cassandra finally stopped patting his head, with both of them sharing a laugh. "Said he's gotten bored of playing Tellstones everyday with Mazuma."

"Well, you pay her to take care him when you're out, so I don't think she has not gotten tired of playing." Tobias jokes, with him and Carl chuckling. "Come on! Let's go inside before we freeze out here."

The three adults all nod together as Cassandra herself gestures the two children to follow them. As they go ahead, Caitlyn and Ben look at each other, giving one another a smile. "Hello, Ben! It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Caitlyn spoke, giving the young boy a very sweet smile. "I'm Caitlyn."

"Hello, Caitlyn!" The adorable child responds as he smiles back to Caitlyn. Then, to Caitlyn's confusion, Ben suddenly hands her the wrapped box in his hands.

Caitlyn tilts her head in bewilderment, taking the box in her hands as she looks back and forth between it and the young boy before her. "What's this?" She asks.

"It's yours!" Ben chirps, excitement and glee filling his smile and his eyes as they metaphorically twinkle. "Daddy wanted to give the food and drinks to your mommy and daddy and I wanted to give you something too!" He added.

Caitlyn blinks as she looks towards Ben again. She could have sworn her heart skipped a beat as she felt warmth and joy from the young boy's words. To think someone his age was already this much of a loving and caring person. "Aww, thank you! Come on! Let's go inside! Our daddies are probably looking for us already!" She says, the confusion on her face finally being replaced with a smile.

"Okay!" Ben replies as they climb the stairs to the mansion entrance. "Will you open the gift?"

"Of course! It'd be rude of me not to!" Caitlyn tells him as she closes the door behind them. Then, as she and Ben walk the halls to follow the adults to the dining room, Caitlyn gently unties the ribbon on the box, pocketing it in her pajamas before she opens the box. While she really had no clue what Ben could have gotten her, what she saw was the last thing she could have thought of...

A simple, green scarf.

As the two kids walk, they find a round table that has a lovely, decorative vase on it, though the table was big enough that it can have other things on it, so Caitlyn halts for a moment as she places the box on the table while keeping the scarf in her hands, spreading it out so she can see the complete design. Ben stops as well to stay with the older girl with him.

As expected, it was just grass green scarf, with frilly ends. However, a particular design on it caught her eye. It seems to be a stitched piece of purple fabric, contrasting the green of the rest of the scarf, and looks like it's the outline of one half of a full heart symbol.

Ben could see the puzzled look on Caitlyn's face on the design on the scarf, so he chimes in to tell her, "It was supposed to be a letter C, for your name, but big sis Mazuma messed up the shape. She said she was going to change it, but I told her it's okay. I didn't want her to feel bad."

Ben's big heart is really warming Caitlyn's heart further, causing her to smile. She could swear she'd probably feel warm with his positivity more than the scarf he had just given her.

"Do you... like it?" Ben asks, a worried frown forming on his lips.

"Hmmm... No..." Caitlyn suddenly said, which just increases the worry and sadness within Ben. But he gets an emotional whiplash as Caitlyn suddenly smiles, wraps the scarf around her neck and does a princess-like twirl. "I love it!" She says, which finally cause Ben to smile once more. Caitlyn swore his smile was even bigger this time around.

Surprising the young Kiramman, Ben suddenly hugs her, giggling as he tightens his grip around her waist, being able to only reach up to the part of her. Caitlyn didn't mind, though, as she hugs Ben back herself, smiling. "Thank you so much, Ben. I'll cherish it forever!"

"You better!" Ben playfully replies, continuing their hug.

As they do, they didn't know that their parents could see them from the living room door, the three adults taking a peek as they all smile at their kids getting along. "So precious..." Cassandra comments, her smile as warm as the fireplace they've lit in the room.

"Told you they'd get along." Carl replies, chuckling afterwards as Tobias pats him on his back.

"Let's leave them for now. I'm sure Cait can't wait to show Ben her books to repay him." Tobias tells them, Cassandra and Carl nodding as they head to the sofas to have their wine and food.

As her father expected, Caitlyn leads Ben to their library in their mansion, laughing in the hallways as they enjoy each other's company for the rest of the night, their smiles never fading even when they eventually fell asleep on each other's shoulders.

---

16 years later...

Thundering footsteps rumbled from the rooftops of Piltover's buildings, with the burning hot Sun shining from above as a chase ensues!

Multiple thugs, all wearing torn or dirty clothes, running away from the Piltover wardens as they all run, skip and jump atop the roof of every building they could land on. Leading the charge for the wardens was none other than Caitlyn herself, all grown up.

She is now wearing a short sleeved, slightly thick, purple top, lined with kevlar-like material, as well as having a similarly purple skirt extension that reaches just above her knees. She's wearing navy blue leather pants with straps attached to her thighs with pockets, as well as light but still protective knee pads. She had thick, dark brown combat boots that reach just below her knee, with her left boot having a knife in a small, leather sheathe attached to it via another strap. She also has dark brown gloves akin to her boots, with her right glove being fingerless.

However, her two most noticeable accessories are her green scarf, which she has tied around her waist this time like it was a belt, and her big, purple tophat, which also had golden patterns on it.

Apart from these, she appears to have a golden ring on her right hand's ring finger.

Caitlyn was running ahead of her wardens as she lead them all, chasing after the thugs ahead of them. She managed to count them all before this chase even began, her keen eye never missing even the smallest detail. From memory, she remembers that these thugs were 10 in total, each of them armed with some sort of weapon that carry strange power sources that glowed green. It may very well be Chemtech, technology powered by toxic, extremely dangerous and unstable chemicals.

She also recalls that one of them, who was ahead of everyone else in their group, is carrying a chemical tank on his back, filled with purple toxins this time. They got it from one of the recently attacked Ferros factories, with the local guards managing to stop some of them from stealing more, though this particular sect of the attackers they couldn't prevent from taking this mysterious tank.

"Your wrinkles are showing!"

A voice spoke out just beside Caitlyn as they continued to chase the thugs. Caitlyn gives the owner of this voice a side eye, catching the person in her view just enough to get a good look.

This person was a woman, only a few inches taller than Caitlyn herself. She had messy pink hair, with part of it slightly obscured by the steampunk goggles on them on them that she's wearing more like a headband than an actual eyewear. She has bluish silver eyes, with a scar that cut the middle of her left eyebrow, and the letters "VI" tattooed under her left eye. She appears to be wearing a dark brown leather jacket and big, round, bronze shoulder pads on each, well, shoulder. On her chest was a more metallic piece of light armor, colored to be dark blue with a little bit of silver patterns and golden rims, with a big, brown belt around her waist to separate her outfit into two sections. She had similar leather pants to Caitlyn, though she wears more armor around her thighs held together by brown straps around each thigh. Even her boots were armored, with the boots themselves thicker than Caitlyn's and wrapped in steel and the sole thick enough to be compared to a brick, on top of the steel rims around it.

While her style of clothing was noticeably different from the rest of the wardens with her and Caitlyn, what really stands out are the large, mechanical gauntlets on her hands. They were so big, in fact, that even just one of them was much taller than her torso. The back of each "hand" of the gauntlets have glowing blue, triangular crystals attached to them.

Despite the combined weight of her armor, gear and the gauntlets, she was somehow faster than every other warden with her, with the only exception being Caitlyn, who was slightly ahead.

"You're overthinking things again." The walking tank of a woman said to Caitlyn with a toothy smile on her face.

"I'm assessing the situation, Vi." Caitlyn replies, calling the lady with her by her name. "Are Harold and the others in position?"

Vi nods, continuing her pace as she keeps up with Caitlyn. "Yeah. They're ready to corner them!"

"Alright! Let's show them the path!" Caitlyn announces to Vi and the rest of the wardens behind them. She then slides to a kneeling position as she pulls the rifle on her back, bringing up the two magnifying scopes on top of it as she takes aim. As she does, Vi finally runs ahead of Caitlyn while the rest of their fellow wardens catches up to the Kiramman lady, aiming their own firearms alongside her. "Fire!" Caitlyn commands as she and her wardens all open fire.

They did not fire at the thugs themselves. Instead, they shot at the walls of a tall building ahead of them, striking them and scaring off the thugs into not taking the corner they were about to take. They were about to take a window from the tall building itself, but Vi grabs a nearby steel crate and, with a hiss of steam from her gauntlets, throws it at the window the criminals were just about to use.

The crate she threw was bigger than the window, so it ended up embedding itself into it and the wall around the window, practically blocking the way. The basic, survival instincts of the mooks immediately told them that because the path to their right had just been shot, scaring them, and the window is now covered, they then instead take the path to the left.

All of them take that route as they find a building in that direction as well, jumping onto it's roof before running off. But while they thought they escaped, Caitlyn, Vi and their squad all smirk as everything was falling into place. They all continue to chase the criminals on the run, jumping onto the same rooftop and following their trail.

This kind of tactic persisted, as the wardens rinsed and repeated it to keep forcing the thugs into different paths until eventually, both groups now find themselves in an alleyway, which is surrounded by three buildings: One on the left, one to their right and one ahead, with the only path out is where they came from. With the thugs find three walls surrounding them and their only exit being blocked by the wardens, they all prepare to fight.

"You think you can corner us on one side and overwhelm us just 'cause we're against the wall?!" The leader of this group, the one with the purple liquid tank on his back, taunts Caitlyn, Vi and their squad as he and his men all finally pull out their weapons. Some wielded regular knives or other kinds of grungy, rusting melee weapons, while the rest had firearms of varying sizes. Their guns were all powered by chemtech the all glowed together as the darkness of the walls around them was slightly lit up.

Vi let's out a hearty laugh, though, as she slams one of her gauntlet covered fists onto the palm of the other, creating a small gust of dust from between them and a loud, metallic boom in the process, clearly finding the bravado of these criminals amusing. "We have you cornered on one side?" She retorts. "You guys really need to look up more often!"

While most of them were confused, some of the goons all look up, only to gasp or curse in shock as they spot, from atop the buildings surrounding them, were a bunch more of the wardens, all of them wielding rifles aimed at the crooks, with some cocking their firearms, mostly to emphasize what Vi had just revealed to them:

They're surrounded from EVERY direction.

"We have you outnumbered and surrounded." Caitlyn took her turn to talk to the thugs, most of them shaking and shivering in nervousness. "Surrender now and you will not be harmed, because otherwise, any offensive action you do now will be met with us opening fire." She warns them.

Vi maintains her toothy grin, pretending to "crack" the knuckles of her gauntlets as she taunts the criminals. "Trust me. Getting shot is actually NOT the worst thing that can happen to you while I'm here." As she said that, she emphasizes her giant, metal gauntlets by doing small boxing motions.

The threat of being pummeled by those big, metal fists scared the thugs more than the thought of getting shot, so in response, a majority of them immediately dropped their weapons to the ground, raising their hands in the air.

"They're always afraid of the vault breakers." Vi smugly proclaims as Caitlyn does a finger motion towards the thugs, silently commanding the wardens on the ground with her to approach the thugs to cuff them.

As they near the crooks, though, the leader wasn't exactly happy with this turn of events. He's forced to drop his weapon, as well as slowly dropping the liquid tank on him to the ground while two wardens approach him. In his head, though, he was cursing these wardens, wishing them nothing but death and despair.

He growls and clenches his fists as one of his eyes twitch. He was so close to finally finishing the job. He and his men were gonna get paid.

No.

This cannot stand!

In one quick motion, he pulls out a small grenade from inside his shirt, something Caitlyn was not able to see that he had one. Her eyes widen as her wardens all turn around to look at the thug leader.

They all aim their guns at him, and the snipers above were just about to pull the trigger, but they were too late. The leader had already pulled the pin of his explosive from within his shirt before he pulled it out, and he quickly turns, throwing his fist that's holding his grenade and uses it to punch the liquid tank he and his men had stolen.

As his fist connects, the grenade hisses just in time...

...as it explodes.

The fiery force of the blast was enough to tear through the tank and ignite the liquid within, which in turn creates a domino effect as the liquid bursts into flames and explodes as well.

The wardens near the leader, as well as his own men, were all caught in the blast. Vi, without hesitation, jumps in front of Caitlyn and crosses her gauntlets in front of her as the crystals on them glow and electrify before suddenly, it's creates a spherical barrier of energy around her and Caitlyn. While the barrier blocks the explosion, it's shockwave was still powerful enough that it still sent both Caitlyn and Vi flying back and out of the alley, the explosion and smoke rising to the sky and echoing across Piltover.

The snipers above weren't completely harmed, but the shockwave also sent them backward and onto their backs, knocking them all unconscious.

Caitlyn opens her eyes as all she could hear is a loud ringing in her ears, with every possible sound around her muffled while her mind was in a dizzied state. She's on the floor, barely able to get up as she could only look around, her blurry vision slowly returning to normal, but all she could see was rubble, ash and smoke.

She tries to stand up and walk, but she was still so disoriented that she almost trips and falls... had Vi not caught her in time. Caitlyn focuses her vision onto her pink haired partner as the ringing was starting to fade from her ears. Vi's lips were moving, but her words were still muffled. The Kiramman warden shook her head, gritting her teeth as she forces her mind and ears to clear up.

The muffled noises clear up in a quick rush that Caitlyn finally could hear again, and her ears were immediately met with the sounds of screaming civilians, rubble falling onto the floor and finally, Vi's voice.

"...ou okay?! Cait!" Vi's words, cut off from being muffled, echo through Caitlyn's head.

"What?" Caitlyn mutters but Vi drops her right gauntlet, which has been broken by the explosion and filled with cracks, and reveals her right arm and hand that had several scars and a ring similar to Caitlyn's on her own ring finger. She uses her now free hand to pat Caitlyn on her cheek.

"I said, are you okay?" Vi repeats.

Caitlyn groans as she gently pushes Vi away from her. Not out of discomfort, but simply to show that she can walk on her own now, her dizziness fading as she is able to stand on both feet without Vi's support. "Y-Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Is everyone...?" She tells Vi, though she trails off.

She did not like what Vi responds with, though, as she shook her head, a frown formed on her lips as Caitlyn closes her eyes in melancholy. "Damn it...!" Was all she could say.

However, they didn't even have time to mourn their fallen wardens, as from underneath the thick smoke in the alleyway they came from... a loud, inhuman roar bellows.

The ladies' eyes widen as they face where that noise came from. Caitlyn picks up her rifle from the ground, though she notices that the scopes of the weapon are now cracked and unusable, while Vi readies her only remaining, unbroken gauntlet, and enters a boxing stance with it and her free right fist. "Did we ever find out what was in that tank?" Vi asks as Caitlyn force the cracked scopes off of her rifle so they don't get in the way of her eye when she aims.

"It was from House Ferros. One of their bio labs..." Caitlyn replies as they hear footsteps walking towards them from beneth the smoke.

Vi grips her fists hard, her eyes focused, though she still asks, "And what exactly where they working on in their bio labs?"

The thud of each step grew louder, but the ladies were suddenly forced to duck as the corpse of one of the thugs suddenly rockets out of the smoke like it was flung really fast. As the two ladies dodge, the body splatters onto a wall behind them, which just increased the stress they already have as they maintain their sights towards the new potential threat.

But back to Vi's question, Caitlyn cocks her rifle and finally aims it forward, before replying to Vi...

"Animal research."

As if on cue, an abomination shocks the two women to their core as what emerges from the smoke was a hulking mass of flesh covered in fur. It was still bipedal, but it was simply grotesque, with a hunched back, it's right arm bigger than it's left and had a deformed, feline face, with a missing eye and it's only remaining one looking more like that of a fish's than a human's, and it's bulging out so hard, it may as well be popping out. It had tiger-like claws on each finger tip, though it had a malformed, tumor-like growth on it's left pointer finger instead of a claw. Not only that, but what appears to be a pair of bird wings are popping out of it's hunched back and seem to small to actually be usable, while it also has a torn apart crocodile tail extending from it's rear.

Before either of them could even question where this came from, both Caitlyn and Vi notice that it was wearing the torn clothes of the thug leader from earlier. Which meant only one thing: This beast and the leader are both the same.

The smoke behind the beast began to fade as it unveils that both the wardens and the other thugs are all indeed deceased, all of them reduced to torn body parts, bones and mounds of bleeding flesh.

"Fuck!" Vi can only shout as the beast roars once more and charges at them with great speed. Both of them dodge to the sides as the beast couldn't stop itself as it slams into the building behind Caitlyn and Vi. The force of it's charge was so great, it collapses the building on top of itself, but it immediately rose from the rubble with only a few scars.

Caitlyn takes aim and fires at the animalistic amalgam, her bullets actually managing to pierce it's flesh as blood spurted from each wound the Kiramman markswoman inflicted. It at least reassured her a little that her weapon can still hurt this thing.

The beast, however, would not let this slide as it quickly turns around and charges at Caitlyn. But before it could, Vi jumps towards the creature and delivers an uppercut to it's malformed face with her remaining gauntlet, blood gushing out of it's mouth as it fumbles back a few steps.

The ladies did not waste time as Vi runs towards their foe while Caitlyn gives her covering fire, shooting her gun at the beast as it tries to meet Vi's charge with it's own. Caitlyn fires at the creature's arms, shoulders and whatever part of it's hunched back she can shoot at, all in an attempt to debilitate it. Once Vi is near, she delivers another swing from her gauntlet, punching the beast straight in the face.

But this time, her attack only sent it a few inches back as it catches her off guard, this time retaliating against Vi by rocketing it's fist towards Vi, striking her gut and creating cracks in her armor, causing her to spit out some blood just before the monster's attack sends her flying back.

"Vi!" yelled Caitlyn as she runs towards her partner in blinding speed, placing her rifle on her back then catches Vi in her arms as the force and weight of Vi colliding with her cause Caitlyn to be knocked back as well, though she still caught Vi, fortunately.

The two ladies are on their backs, groaning in pain as their monstrous foe approaches them, bloodlust filled in it's fish-like eyes while it growls, frothing from it's mouth with a mix of blood and disgusting, purple saliva.

Vi gets off Caitlyn as best she could, slightly panicking as she refuses to go down at the hands of this beast, but the monster raises it's right hand above it's head and balls it up to a fist, reading to squash them both flat.

It is as though this might be the end... but...

"Hey, ugly!"

A voice yelled from above, which caught the attention of not just Vi and Caitlyn, but the monster as well, as they all turn their attention towards a nearby short building and, from it's roof, the silhouette of a person can be seen, covered in shadow as the Sun shines behind them. While their shadowy form was obscuring what they look like, there is something glowing on their left wrist.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?!" yelled by the person, taunting the beast.

"Wait... Is that...?" Vi says, befuddled at this sudden whiplash.

Caitlyn realizes this as well, as her eyes widen further and she seems more worried for the person atop the building than she ever did her own wardens earlier. "No no no! What are you doing here, B—?!"

She couldn't even finish her sentence as the monster was taunted enough that it roars and rushes towards the new arrival, sprinting in blinding speed as it left cracks and footprints on the asphalt as it bellows like a wild animal.

But just as it nears the building, it tries to jump up, but the building was short enough that the person actually JUMPS off the building, landing both feet on the mutated creature's face, disorienting it as the person then uses the beast as a foothold before flipping over it and landing on the ground, safe and sound as the beast, still disoriented from having it's face stomped in, crashes into the building instead.

Now that there's a full view of this new arrival, it was quite the shock to Cait and Vi.

He was a slim young man, likely in his late teens, wearing a light green jacket on top of a black shirt with a white stripe down the middle and a white circle pattern around the collar. He had navy blue pants, a blue belt and dark grey shoes. On top of all of this, the boy had short, brown hair and beautiful green eyes.

But his most noticeable feature was the strange, green, watch-like device on his left wrist.

This was none other... than Ben Tennyson, grown up like Caitlyn.

"You missed!" Ben taunts the monster as the building collapses on top of the monster just like earlier. Ben keeps his smile as he turns his back to run towards Caitlyn and Vi, arriving by their side just in time as the two women get up from the floor. "You guys okay?" He asks.

Vi was clutching her gut in pain as chinks of her armor are falling while Caitlyn places a hand on Vi's shoulder to keep her steady. "We're fine, little bro. Thanks to you. That was a good maneuver, though! Finally applying what you learned from me." Vi tells Ben, wincing a little but smiling to him.

"Thanks! I—" Ben replies, but he is immediately interrupted by Caitlyn.

"Don't encourage him!" Caitlyn yells before turning her attention towards Ben this time, her face filled with a little bit of fury as she enters full "mom" mode. "You shouldn't be here, Ben! This is warden business! Don't you have tutoring with Jayce today?!" Caitlyn scolds Ben, doing a comical karate chop to Ben's head as he winces.

Ben grumbles as he looks at Caitlyn straight in her eyes. "Ow! Hey!" He spoke, rubbing his head where Caitlyn hit her. It didn't actually hurt physically, though is a bit emotionally affected. "There was an explosion and I flew here as fast as I could! I was so worried!"

"I know you've been getting the hang of your new... tool, but you can't just recklessly try and pick a fight with something we were combatting!" said the Kiramman woman, maintaining the stern look she's been giving Ben.

However, Vi pats Cait on her back as she gives her a serious look as well, telling her, "Hey! Go easy on him! He's big enough to make his own decisions!"

"He's 19!" Caitlyn exclaims.

Vi replies, however, "And he's turning 20 tomorrow! Cait, if he hadn't come, we would have been—"

Their conversation gets derailed, though, when the beast roars once more as it rose from the rubble of the second building it's destroyed. Seems it's recovered from being dazed by Ben's stomp as it turns around to face him and the two women with him.

"I got this!" Ben proudly states as he reaches for the device on his wrist, running towards the monster as Caitlyn tried to reach for Ben but was too late as he sprinted off.

Caitlyn could only yell at him, "Ben, wait!"

The boy did not listen, however, as his legs carried him towards the fight, the monster charging at him as well in blinding rage. But as they do, the watch-like device on Ben's wrist glows and suddenly, the dial on it pops upward before projecting a hologram of sorts. The hologram was a silhouette of a bipedal creature that looks like it's head was flaming.

With a smile on his face, Ben slams down the dial as his watch flashes green, engulfing the boy in a similar, emerald light. When the flash vanishes, in Ben's place was new entity entirely.

The one running towards the beast now is a bipedal creature made of molten lava and dark red, charcoal-like rocks all over it's body. The lava-like cracks on his body are glowing, especially prominent on his fiery hands and his strange, two toed feet. His two most prominent features, though, are the flaming head, burning brightly, with the flames flowing majestically, and a glowing, green, badge-like emblem on his chest that carries the same symbol on Ben's watch earlier, with itself looks like an hourglass symbol.

This new creature... is still Ben, though in this form he prefers to be called HEATBLAST!

Heatblast exclaims, "Let's turn up the heat!" Just as he and the mutant finally came close enough to one another, Heatblast jumps upward to dodge a swipe from the beast, rising into the air as his cups his hands together.

Then, between both hands, Heatblast conjures a ball of fire, growing in size until finally he releases the ball and unleashes it towards the monster as a beam of flame, bathing it in fire that it causes the beast nothing but pain.

Heatblast lands on both feet as he watches the creature, itself burning and screeching in pain as it waves around frantically trying to put the fire out. It didn't take long for the creature to just ignore it's flaming body entirely as it angrily retaliates by trying to punch Heatblast, forcing the transformed teen to jump backwards to dodge the attack as rubble and dust explode after the creature misses and strikes the asphalt instead.

The flaming hero was beginning to conjure more fireballs in each of his hands, ready to fight again, but then Caitlyn and Vi finally caught up to him, with Caitlyn stepping in front of Heatblast to stop him. "Cait? What're you—?"

"You've done enough, Ben. Go! Vi and I got this!" Caitlyn tells him as she aims her rifle at the burning mutant and open fires at it, with Vi moving in to punch the beast in the face, breaking it further than it already was.

Heatblast was not amused, however, as he tries to speak up and say, "But Cait...! I can help!"

"This is warden business! You aren't supposed to be here!" Caitlyn interrupts him, though, as she insists on the transformed teen to leave, reloading her rifle before continuing to shoot at their foe.

Heatblast, or rather, Ben, could only step back a few steps, in disbelief that Caitlyn is determined to keep him away from this fight. As the sounds of Caitlyn's rifle and Vi's metallic punches slowly get muffled by Ben's mind, his thoughts sank to despair as his hands fell limp.

I just wanna help...

---

Caitlyn continuously fires at the creature, piercing through it's flesh, knees, arms and legs while Vi pummels it on it's face, side and back. The beast was still on fire from Ben's attack and the rapid fire attacks from the two women are really weakening it.

As Vi karate chops the back on one of it's legs with her last gauntlet, it was enough to make it drop to it's knees. Caitlyn, taking advantage of this, finally aims her rifle at the creature's head, intending to finish it off once and for all. Squinting her eyes, focusing her sight and readying her trigger finger, Caitlyn fires...

...but as she did, the beast was actually fast enough use it's thicker, right arm to block the shot, with the bullet stopping within the flesh, unable to pierce through it.

The beast growls as it gets back up and, despite seeming like it has lost it's mind, it had enough of a mental power to recognize that Caitlyn had the audacity to kill it as it roars, jumping towards Caitlyn, ready to tear her apart.

But Caitlyn wasn't bothered by it, as she then pulls out an item from one of her pouches on her belt, unveiling a flashbomb from within as she pulls the pin and throws it at the creature's face before diving forward. In the same time Caitlyn has dodged the beast by diving underneath the monster, her flashbomb detonates and disorients the beast further, blinding it and causing it tumbling ionto the floor, falling on it's back.

Caitlyn manages to land her dive on both feet as Vi rejoins her side before she reloads her rifle. But just as the monster was rising, a torrent of flame bursts towards the beast, engulfing it once more in flames. The two wardens look to where the flames came from, and of course it was from Heatblast. "Ben!" Caitlyn yells out.

"I'm just trying to—" Heatblast tries to protest, but the mutated creature roars in defiance, catching his and the two women's attention.

This time, Ben's attack did more damage as the creature was now charred black, burning all over it's body as it's useless wings have been burnt down to the last feather. It's jaw has melted off but the guttural noises it was making from it's heavily damaged and burnt throat was still terrifying.

In it's rage, it once again switches targets, turning Ben into the new target of it's anger as it bursts towards Heatblast in terrifying speeds. "Ben, look out!" Vi yells as she too gave chase, in a vain attempt to try and stop the monster.

Heatblast, though, wasn't as worried as his fists glowed, lighting up with fire before he blasting the beast with a barrage of fireballs. Each shot explodes on contact as it actually damages the creature hard, with chunks of it's burnt flesh being blasted off it's body. When the beast manages to finally reach Heatblast, it tries to swipes it's remaining claws at him, but Heatblast shoots fire from his feet and rockets upward, hovering in the air as flames are shooting out from under the soles of his feet.

Heatblast was then about to finish the fight, raising both of his hands in the air as he gathers a giant ball of fire above him. But just before he could, several shots strike the beast in quick succession.

He looks to the left and sees that the wardens on the rooftops from earlier have finally woken up, all of them firing their rifles at the monster. Heatblast's initial attack must've severely weakened and burned the flesh of the mutant as their shots are now piercing through it's flesh so hard, chunks of it are being blasted off. "Oh come on! I had him!" Heatblast complains, just in time for Caitlyn and Vi to catch up.

Caitlyn then motions to the rooftop wardens as she points to the beast with two fingers, ordering them, "Open fire!"

She and the wardens all continued to keep shooting as each shot continuously tore apart the monster. It's fingers, legs and it's gangly left arm were all shot off as it fell to the ground, immobilizing the creature. Heatblast sighs, dispersing the fireball he had conjured as he gently floats back down onto the ground.

Caitlyn had emptied her clip from the earlier assault, so she reloads her rifle and approaches the fallen monster together with Vi and Heatblast. The beast was still trying to move, but all the injuries it's gained throughout the entire fight has finally caught up to it, making it too tired to do anything further. "You've been a real piece of work, you freak." Vi taunts the fallen monster as it tries to look at her, but it's eyes can't even register anything anymore.

As a flash of green engulfs Heatblast, turning back to Ben's human form, Vi raises a foot up before stomping on the beast's face, crushing it under her brick-like soles and finally ends the beast's life.

Silence finally filled the area as the wardens on the rooftops all try to find a way down their respective buildings. Vi releases the locks on her final gauntlet and drops it, freeing her left arm as she sat down on the floor, popping her neck. Ben sits down beside her, sighing to himself, which made Vi ruffle his hair playfully before pulling him to a friendly side hug, rubbing his shoulder to comfort him.

Caitlyn sighs as well, placing her rifle on her back while massaging her temple from the stress. Some of the remaining wardens with them finally found a way down and approach the scene, as Caitlyn tells them, "Get a clean up crew and some medics. And contact HQ..."

She sighs, gripping her fists as she takes a deep breath, before turning her attention back to the alleyway earlier, with all the dead wardens and thugs scattered in the area. This has been a disastrous operation. "...Tell them we have multiple wardens down..."

---

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" Caitlyn yells at Ben, causing him to wince in pain in the process as Vi facepalms. Caitlyn currently has a bandage wrapped around her forehead while Vi has changed to a tank top with a short sleeved, magenta jacket. She too has a bandage wrapped around her gut. It's slightly red, likely from her own blood, though she's moving like she wasn't even injured.

It has been several hours since the incident with the thugs. The area is currently being considered a crime scene as some wardens had enclosed it and surrounded the place with barricades, while the bodies, or what was left of them, including the mutated thug, have been taken to the nearest morgue. While investigations are being conducted and the autopsy reports are being finished, Caitlyn is taking her free time to give Ben the earful of a lifetime.

They are currently within Caitlyn's office in the Piltover Wardens HQ, as the plaque of "Sheriff" is nailed atop her office's door frame. Inside is quite the mess, as papers, documents and files are scattered across multiple tables, with some having fallen onto the floor. Among these tables was Caitlyn's own, just near the window with a great view to the entirety of Piltover.

Caitlyn, of course, was behind her desk, though she's not sitting on her seat as she prefers to stay standing, hands on her desk, as she scolds Ben, sitting in front of her desk, feeling a bit sheepish at the moment.

"I specifically told you to not interfere!" Caitlyn continues. "But you wouldn't listen!"

"I wanted to help! I... I needed to help! It's what you taught me! Help people in need!" Ben replies to her

Caitlyn, though, is insistent, telling Ben, "Yes, but not to put yourself in danger! Help in the forges! Help in the city! What business the Wardens have is ours! You're still just a civilian, Ben."

"Oh you know that's not true." Vi suddenly speaks up, crossing her arms.

Caitlyn blinks and this time turns her attention to Vi this time. "Excuse me?!"

Vi sighs at this, keeping her arms crossed as she moves forward to stand beside Ben on his seat. "Ben's got a lot of potential and you know that." She tells her partner.

"This isn't about his potential. He could have gotten hurt!" Caitlyn insists.

"If he didn't arrive WE could have gotten hurt! Or worse!" Vi, however, fires back, but Ben raises a hand with one finger up, scowling.

"'He' can answer for himself." Ben spoke up.

But the Sheriff of Piltover was not having any of that as she points a finger towards Ben, telling him, "You can, but whenever you answer or do anything for yourself, it's always at risk of yourself!"

"I just wanted to help! Why can't you understand that?!" The young lad finally yells, standing up from his seat as he glares at Caitlyn.

"Because I don't want you to get hurt! I just need you to listen!" Caitlyn answers back, meeting Ben's glare with her own.

The tension they're producing is making Vi uncomfortable, so in attempt to stop them, she tries to go in between, pushing them away from each other. "Alright, knock it off, you tw—"

It did not matter, though, as the two continue their argument, with Ben exclaiming, "I want to listen! But every time I try to help with this thing...!" Ben then lowers his jacket's left sleeve, showing his watch to put emphasis on it for Caitlyn. "... You always tell me to never use it at all! What's the point of having powers if I can't use it to help people in need? Especially you guys!"

"We...!" Caitlyn began, gesturing to her and Vi, though it seems more like she's gesturing to the entirety of the Wardens. "... Can do our job just fine! You have to study, train hard and be a scholar at the academy!"

"Stop deciding everything for me! YOU'RE NOT MOM!" Ben finally shouts out, that it practically echoes not just in Caitlyn's room, but down the hallway outside, as the door was slightly open.

This silences Caitlyn. Her anger was gone, replaced with shock and hurt, her arms going limp as she takes a step back, barely processing what Ben had just told her.

Vi, though, was not amused, clenching her teeth and then grabs Ben by his shoulder, this time, taking her turn to glare at him. "Hey! That is uncalled for! You don't get to tell her—"

"No."

Vi stops as she and Ben look back to Caitlyn, who's looking down, arms crossed as she sighs. "No, you're right. I'm not mom. I don't think I can ever be mom... But I am your sister." She tells Ben. "I just don't want you to see you getting hurt. I don't wanna lose you too."

Ben listens, scowling still, but now he's... uncomfortable from what he had just done as he looks away, his lips quivering a little. He wants to speak up, say what he wants to say and apologize... But he couldn't muster the strength to even open his lips anymore. Instead, he just moves Vi's hand off his shoulder before running to the door and opening it to leave, his footsteps echoing in the hallways as Vi tries to stop him.

"Ben, wait!" says Vi, but Caitlyn moves from her desk and places a hand on her shoulder.

"It's fine. Let him go..." Caitlyn speaks up, reassuring Vi before she moves towards the window nearby, opening it so she can get some fresh air and leaning on her window sill. "He needs time..."

Vi sighs, hands on her waist as she approaches the sorrowful sheriff, turning her back against the wall near the window and leans on it, crossing her arms as Caitlyn takes a deep breath. "He's had enough time. Years, Cait. You need to stop coddling him." Vi tells her, leaning closer to her partner.

"I'm just... scared." Caitlyn replies, massaging her temple. "I get what he's doing. And I admire that even after everything... With uncle Carl... And mom and dad... He's still the boy who wants to help people and make them smile. But I can't chance it. I can't afford to see him get hurt one day. Or worse..."

"Cupcake..." Vi suddenly calls Caitlyn with a nickname, moving from the wall and joining her on the window sill, before placing her hand on one of Cait's, the two of them holding hands tightly. "That's admirable. I get it. But there's a difference between keeping someone you love safe and basically locking them to what you want them to do."

Caitlyn slightly weakens her grip on Vi's hand, blinking at Vi's words. "What are you talking about?"

"Do I have to list it all down?" Vi responds, raising a brow. "You make him study under Jayce as a private tutor, for a scholarship in the academy you picked, in courses he did not even get to choose, and whenever he tries to help, the one thing he thought he gets a chance to do something, you tell him NOT to, because you can't handle the idea of him getting hurt. That's admirable, but let me point something out, Cupcake." Vi then taps Caitlyn's nose, before telling her, "YOU are hurting him. Maybe not physically, but emotionally. You keep this up, choosing everything for him, shackling his independence, he's going to resent you. And you know exactly how I know how that ends up."

Caitlyn looks Vi in the eye, her partner glaring back, though it's not towards Caitlyn herself, but to someone else. Someone that Caitlyn knows exactly who, which was enough to make her sigh. Caitlyn could even swear she can still hear the mad laughter of this unseen person. "... What do I do?" Caitlyn mutters, with Vi placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Start with something you've never really asked him: What does he want to do?" the pink haired brawler tells the sheriff.

Caitlyn, with a sigh, just gives in, resting her head on Vi's shoulder as Vi gives her a one armed hug. "I'll go talk to him after—"

"Sheriff!"

They get interrupted, unfortunately, causing them to turn to the door to see an warden at their door. Caitlyn and Vi move away from each other gently, as it was time to be professional again. "Ahem... Status report?" Caitlyn tells him.

"The chemical tank those thugs stole. That was just one of them. Someone managed to take another one away." said the warden at the door, standing at attention as he tells them what happened.

"What? How the hell did they slip past? Mir and Kepple had a squadron guarding the Ferros factory!" Vi points out, hands out in a gesture of disbelief.

The warden before them, though, scratches the back of his head, and in response, tells them, "That's the thing, ma'am... They didn't 'slip' past them. Mir and Kepple... are dead. Alongside both the wardens and enforcers left to guard the Ferros property."

Shock was all that remain in the eyes of both Caitlyn and Vi, before shifting into something more of anger. "Explain." escapes Caitlyn's lips.

---

In the deepest parts of Zaun, the undercity beneath Piltover, filled with toxic fumes, chemical spills, unhinged criminals and mutated monstrosities, there are many cave formations where some people use to hide from the rest of civilization, mostly to stay away from the horrible influence of Zaun's worst of the worst.

However, some of these "worst of the worst" themselves live deep within these caves, plotting and scheming to one day fulfil their plans, mostly to benefit themselves.

And one person in particular is no different.

In one of these caves, surrounded by a small moat of water that come from the sewers nearby, lies a hidden lab filled with animals within tanks of strange, chemtech-like liquid, all green and glowing. Aside from the hum of the ventilation fan in the lab's ceiling and the occasional popping of bubbles within the tanks, the place was completely silent.

But that's when the steel door of the lab opens as the shadow of a creature being ridden by a person comes in. Each step of the creature was heavy, giving an audible thud on the floor as it moves forwad.

The beast in question seems to be a gigantic, mutant prairie dog, looking like a big, four-legged canine-like mutant. It has a pale brown skin and brown fur on its back, neck, tail and legs. It has four claws on each feet. Its body has several lumps, while its face has spikes and orange pupil-less eyes. The teeth from its lower jaw come out in the opposite direction, which resemble spikes.

Within it's toothy mouth was blood, leaking out, alongside a severed arm that it is chewing. It's growl was deep and it's tongue licking each torn flesh, blood and bone marrow the arm still had as it walks into the lab, then swings it's tail to close the door as it's rider finally gets off of it. The beast sits on the floor as it continues to chew the arm while the owner of the beast walks towards another door within the lab...

...carrying the missing, second tank on his back.

"You did well, my pet. Those wardens are more of an appetizer to you, however. Here. Have your reward."

The person said, pulling on a nearby lever as a hatch from his ceiling opens and drops so many dead fish, plopping onto the floor with slime, water and blood. Seeing the new meal it was given, the mutated animal immediately bites, breaks then swallows the arm it was chewing on then scarfs the numerous fish on the floor, enjoying it so much.

It's owner then smiles as he pulls a second lever, turning on the lights within the lab as he unveils his form.

He was an old man, with graying white hair, slightly long enough to reach just below his neck. His skin was a pale, green, with his body being skinny and almost malnourished. His nails were almost a dark grey and long, that they haven't been trimmed or months, and were sharp enough to be mistaken for claws.

He's wearing a dark, greyish green tank top that has a strange, mechanical device on his chest, attached with straps across his body and wires all over it. He had black boots and similarly black, finger gloves, alongside light brown cargo pants, with the legs tucked into the boots. Other than these, he's got a belt with multiple pouches and a sling bag across his chest.

This... is Dr. Aloysius Animo.

Animo let's his mutated prairie dog keep eating as he moves towards the second door, pulling the lever nearby and opens it. The door was heavier than the first and was causing the lab to rumble and shake a little.

Once the door had finally fully opened, Animo enters as he kneels to unplug the tank off his back, letting it down onto the floor gently, before walking to the side, to yet another lever.

"Hiring those thugs proved to be more successful than I had thought." Animo starts speaking, seemingly to an unseen audience. The room was still dark, so whatever was inside with Animo cannot be seen yet. "What I thought would be a waste of money, considering they were some of the cheapest thieves around and made me worried they'd be incompetent, turns out could be a useful distraction. They gave those wardens the chase of their life, and their leader was so incompetent, he blew up the canister and mutated himself, giving those pigs the right amount of beating they sorely needed."

Animo then reaches the lever at last and it was heavier than the last two. With one heave, Animo uses much of his strength to finally pull down the lever, finally turning all the lights, each one flashing one by one as the room begins to light up.

The room was well lit up now and shows that it is extremely wide and big, and it needed to be, as what is inside was horrific.

It was a drake. It is smaller than a regular dragon, but was still larger than even two elephants combined. This one seems to have pale blue scales, though it's wings was darker than the rest of it's skin. It's tail was the same shade of dark blue as it's wings, with the tip being three pointed, akin to a trident.

What was horrific about it was it had multiple metal parts nailed and grafted onto it. It had shoulder pads attached to it, a metallic helmet that extended from the back to it's neck down to the top half of it's head. There were various, green chemical tanks on it's back attached, with tubes going through and into it's neck connecting it to them, as if the liquid was being pumped into the winged creature.

The dragon seems to be either asleep. So deep in sleep that it might seem dead. It has been experimented on many times, from all the scars and holes across it's body.

"And that mutated goon's rampage was the perfect test run of my serum!" Animo exclaims rather happily. "Now I know my initial prototype experimental serums were unstable. But with this...!"

Animo then opens one of his many pouches around his belt and pulls out a small capsule, filled with a red liquid, as he goes back to the canister of the purple chemtank. He then turns a valve atop the canister, opening it as then breaks the capsule in two above the canister, making the red liquid drip onto the purple substance as it mixes. In just a few seconds, the red and purple mix slowly swirled into one another and become something more like magenta, glowing as ominously as the red and purple liquids before.

"... my serum is complete!" Animo celebrates, watching his new mixture as his eyes practically sparkle in glee. "Now they'll rue the day they ruined my life... and my work!"

Animo then pulls out a syringe from another one of his pouches and uses it to suction some of the new magenta serum, the liquid glowing within his apparatus before closing the canister. He then finally unveils what is inside his bag, which turns out to be helmet of sorts, with two horn-like antennae protrusions with wires wrapped around it and connected to a cylinder at the back of the helmet.

The mad doctor finally finishes his process by injecting a port on the helmet connected to the previously said canister as he fills it up with his liquid mixture, filling it up to the max as parts of the helmet begin glowing the same magenta color, including the tips of the antennae before Animo casually tosses the syringe aside before putting on the helmet on his head, all the while laughing madly as he looks towards his experimented, mechanically tampered dragon.

"And now... for your reward!" The mad doctor announces, grinning from ear to ear as his teeth chatter in excitement before his helmet's antennae's suddenly gather energy between them and it suddenly fires it towards the dragon, causing it to jolt up and awaken.

Animo kept the magenta blast going as the winged beast screeches in pain. Then, it's wings suddenly burst and expand into bigger ones. Then, some of it's spiky scales grow much larger than it does before finally it opens it's eyes open, changing from a lifeless greying white color to the sinister magenta like the serum.

Once Animo stops the blast, he smiles as he then turns a switch on the device on his chest, before his helmet's antennae then releases the soundwave that calms the dragon down, stopping it from roar and screeching. "That's it, my Chemtech Drake... I am your master now!" Animo commands, with the dragon moving closer to him. "Now that we've done some testing... It's time for our conclusion."

The dragon then, under Animo's mental command, raises it's head and then breathes fire into the ceiling. The power of it's flame was so strong, it was basically tunneling through the cave, burning the stone above them.

This attack was causing the cave to rumble, which gave the prairie dog in the other room stop eating it's meal as it then heads into the dragon room to reunite with it's master. Animo then mentally commands the dragon to stop it's fire breathe. Once it stops, the dragon has created a big enough hole for it to fit through. The beast then flies up, taking to the skies as it screeches, it's roar echoing across Zaun.

The mad scientist then laughs mad as his remaining mutated beast grabs him with it's tail and places Animo on it's back. With great agility and leg strength, the beast jumps up towards the dragon's exit, clinging onto the walls with it's claws, with Animo himself clinging onto his pet using it's tough fur.

"And that conclusion can only end one way: the death of Heimerdinger!" Animo exclaims to himself, his grin remaining.

---

The door creaks open as dust flies from the floor, with the afternoon sun just barely shining through the dust covered windows of the room as Ben steps in. After running away from Warden HQ, Ben really didn't know where else he could go, so after thinking things through, he instead goes back to his old home.

The home he and his father once lived in.

And because he didn't get to have his own room before he even turned 10, the only bed room in the house belongs to his dad, which is where he also slept. Mostly because Ben's father, Carl was... was...

Ben sighs at the thought of his father. He steps in further into the room as memories of his childhood play back in his head. He opens the window nearby, letting the sunlight in and the dust out. The boy then takes off his jacket, slinging it over his shoulder before stepping towards the bed and sitting on it.

With a grumble and yet another sigh, Ben presses his hands onto his face. After thinking about his past, his mind finally came crashing down to the present, especially recent events. He can't believe he just said that to Caitlyn. His sister! Especially after the Kirammans took him in and treated him like family after...

After...

"Ugh!" Ben cried in anguish, shedding some small tears. He mentally scolds himself, cursing how he couldn't even apologize to her before storming out like a child. "So... stupid! She's just trying to protect you, you impulsive, little... Agh!"

Ben yells to himself, hopping off the bed as he clutches his head.

With the window to the house open, Ben inadvertently made his presence known, causing people passing by the house to hear a random person screaming his head off from within this dusty old, abandoned house.

Still, even if Ben knew he can be heard, the embarrassment of it would likely not match the anger towards himself he's having right now. In his fury, Ben just felt the need to do something physical. Anything. So, in a moment of pure impulsiveness, Ben kicks a nearby drawer within the room, causing it to crack a little.

A moment of clarity fills Ben as he suddenly realizes what he's done. He's throwing a tantrum like a child. He should be better than this. Caitlyn taught him better than this.

"Cait..." whispers Ben, sighing as he slumps down to the floor and sat down, arms limp and head slump down. "I'm so sorry..."

The boy takes the moment to stay in his place, resting and keeping a clear head as he musters the strength to go back to Caitlyn. Before he could even get up, though, the drawer he kicked finally collapses, causing Ben to wince. Seems he kicked it too hard, especially for how long the thing has been in this home, it's become fragile enough to break. "Sorry, dad..." Ben whispers, sighing in sorrow.

But from the wooden rubble of the drawer, Ben spots something amongst them. The sunlight coming from the window was making something shine within the wooden pieces of the collapsed furniture. Ben crawls a bit closer, ignoring the dust from the floor sticking to his sweaty palms, as he reaches for the object, pulling it all out from the rubble.

Once he's finally taken it out, he finds it to be a... key. Silver in color, but with golden trims on it's biting. It's bow is shaped strangely, as rather than being the usual round shape like most keys, it's square and has the same, hourglass symbol as his watch.

"What is this for?" Ben asks himself, spinning the key in his hand. As he does, his eyes spot... a strange keyhole that was hidden by the drawer. And not just that, but from the square outline around it, seems there's an entire hidden compartment behind this drawer this whole time. "What have you been hiding from me, dad?"

Ben moves closer and reaches for the keyhole, placing the key within it before turning and twisting it, causing the compartment to make a clicking sound from within and then opens slightly. Ben takes this opportunity to open it, but the hidden vault appears to have rusted within all these years, so he grabs onto it and pulls with all his might.

"Come... on!" He said between heavy breathing as the more he pulls, dust is being expelled from the compartment's door. With one last pull, the vault finally swings open, with dust bursting out of it, causing Ben to cough. It's time like these he's thankful he's not allergic to these.

Once the dust settles, Ben sees the contents of this hidden compartment... and is surprised to see all it was is... a book and a piece of paper.

Ben pulls both of them out, holding the book firmly while pulling the paper closer so he can see it. It seems empty at first, but then he turns it around and, to his surprise, it's a photo of him and his father, posing rather happily as they are smiling ear to ear with the rhinos from the local zoo in the background behind them. He can see that this was taken from when Ben was 10 years old. One year before...

Ben shook his head, trying not to go back to that memory as he places the photo in his pocket before finally checking out the book, dusting it off so he can see it much clearer. Once done, the book's cover was a brownish gold, with outer trims colored in a much darker brown.

On the front cover was the universal symbol for Runeterra, the planet, and the words "The Runeterra World Journal: Volume 1" engraved just above the emblem. The book wasn't too thin in pages but also not too thick. Just enough, as Ben opens it, turning to the first page.

It was his father's handwriting. With each page he turns, he kept seeing more of his dad's writing. These pages weren't just random, either. Each one appears to about many varied subjects pertaining to different regions across the world. He goes back to one of the first few pages and sees it has a table of contents, each separated to a specific region. The first one is Ionia, followed by Noxus, the Frejlord and finally, Demacia, which seems incomplete, as compared to the rest of the regions listed, it has the least amount of subpages.

Now Ben remembers. Before his father worked in the academy, Carl used to be a traveling researcher, sponsored by the Kirammans. He traveled across Runeterra, gathering data and research from people, fauna, cultures and many more. Cassandra even once told him that it is one of these trips did he suddenly come back with a child... The child being Ben himself.

He never really questioned it before, content with being with his father, but now, he wonders... where did he even come from? Why did his father stopped traveling to be a professor in the Academy of Piltover? Well, obviously, part of that answer was because he has Ben now, but even then, he remembers that when he was 4, his dad apparently went to Demacia, leaving Ben with a maid his father had hired named Mazuma. Then his father came back not even a week later and stopped traveling after.

"Is that why the journal is incomplete?" Ben asks, looking back at the book, or rather the journal, in his hand.

Still, the more important question remains.

Where did his father have him? And why did he never tell him?

He can never know the answer now, but... Perhaps Caitlyn can help him. But would she even be willing to talk to him now?

The boy sighs as closes the journal, taking it with him. "Well, guess I'll go talk to her to find out." says Ben, closing the window then heading out the room to get to the exit of the house, with this new revelation and the new questions hanging from his head.

---

With flashes of light from cameras, the afternoon sun beginning to set and the wandering of footsteps of the investigators and wardens present on the crime scene, the Ferros facility broken into is a big mess. While the bodies of those that have been killed have been transferred out, there was still blood and viscera all over the walls and floors.

Caitlyn and Vi, who only has one of her gauntlets still as her other one is still under repair, pass by some of the investigators taking pictures of the scene of the crime, with the two ladies following the warden that called for them to come here.

"What the hell did this? Did the bastard that come here take in some of that purple chems those thugs stole?" Vi asks.

The warden with them shook his head as he points to some tanks nearby. They all resemble the one the thugs took, but are all completely empty apart from one of them that has fallen over, with the chemical inside spilled.

"No, ma'am. We weren't able to completely ID the suspect, unfortunately, because... well..." he responds, but Caitlyn continues for him.

With a nod, she says, "The assailant killed all the wardens and enforcers present here."

"Yes. Warden Mir was the only survivor of the attack but she was so heavily injured, she died on the way to medical. She did managed to..." The warden says before pulling out a photo from his pocket. "... take this before the assailant left."

Caitlyn is given the photo as she and Vi both take a look at it. It was rather blurry, with a bit of blood on it, both within the picture itself and also on it, both instances likely Warden Mir's blood, with the former being her blood splattered on her camera's lenses, most likely.

As they take a closer look, the photo looks like a giant monster being ridden by someone atop it, with the chemtank attached to their back. They can see the tail of the creature, as well as a poor Warden being stepped on by it.

"What the hell is that?" Vi asks, utterly confused at what is presented to her.

Caitlyn shakes her head, eyebrows furrowing as holds the photo. "I don't know, but these are now two consecutive attacks regarding those chemicals. We need a complete list of everything House Ferros was keeping here, and I want details on each and every one of them, especially those chemicals."

The warden she's speaking to salutes her before heading off to go do what was told of him as Caitlyn and Vi are about to head deeper into the facility... until a sound catches their attention and made them look to their left.

Some of the nearby crates made a noise. A struggle. Cait and Vi look at one another and give each other a nod as Vi moves closer while Caitlyn pulls out the rifle from her back and cocks the rifle. As Caitlyn aims her gun at the box, Vi approaches it and, using her non-gauntlet hand, pulls on the box's cover, opening it then using her gauntlet hand to grab what's inside...

...and it turns out to be a person. He was wearing glasses, had messy hair and has a typical scientist's long coat over him. Vi pulls him out of the crate by the back of his collar and presents him to Caitlyn, who lowers her gun as some of the nearby Wardens join them. "Please don't hurt me! I was just hiding!" The now revealed man pleads.

"We won't hurt you, sir. Don't worry." Caitlyn reassures the man as Vi gently places him on the floor on both feet. The man was shivering in fear and his lips quivering out of nervousness. "We'll let you go, but we just need some answers. Do you work here?"

The man nods, clasping his hands, and tells the wardens around him, "Y-Yes. I am professor Gaz. I work in this facility for House Ferros and we were in charge for animal research."

"Can you tell us what happened here?" Caitlyn asks. "Tell us something about the assailant."

Professor Gaz replies, rather nervously, "Yes. Yes, of course... Ummm... Well, you see, our research here has been divided into multiple groups, like animal health, vaccinations, food production and distribution—"

"We don't need the science lesson, Gaz. We're asking about the crime scene and the one who made it." Vi interrupts, earning her a glare from Caitlyn. "What?" Vi asks, an eyebrow raised like she didn't make a mistake.

Which is true, as Caitlyn begrudgingly agrees, telling Gaz, "She's right though, professor. We want to catch whoever did this. He's still out there with a dangerous chemical that can cause animal-like mutations. Which came from here, if I'm not mistaken."

"I was actually getting to that, before I was rudely interrupted." Gaz tries to be sassy, but all he gets is a glare from Vi that pierces into his soul and sends a chill down his spine, so he just continues talking. "You see, those chemicals were going to be disposed of earlier today. We've been trying to find a way to safely dispose of them, as they are highly flammable and extremely toxic. They were created by one of our lead scientists, Dr. Aloysius Animo, one of professor Heimerdinger's proteges way back when."

"Heimerdinger? The head of the academy?" Vi asks.

Gaz nods. "Yes. See, Dr. Animo was one of the best in our animal research. He's the inventor of the cure for the bird flu 15 years ago and helped develop the basis for vaccines for our wildlife around Piltover, especially the zoo. But then, just 7 years ago, he was caught creating an extremely toxic and unstable serum he claims would help with 'evolution'. He's concocted this during his time under Heimerdinger in secret, sampling various animal blood he's collected over the years. He claims it would empower us, make us stronger and become 'one with the beasts'. Like a scientific way to imitate the spiritual connection of people in Ionia."

"But he was caught before he could finish that serum. I was still a fresh recruit back then, but how did I not know this arrest happened?" Caitlyn asks.

"Because there was no arrest that happened, and it was enforcers, not Wardens, that tried to apprehend Dr. Animo, who had used his serum on one of his pets to escape. Back then, that mutated pet of his was the size of a rhino. Now, from his attack today, it's bigger than a Noxian basilisk." Gaz tells her.

Vi huffs as Caitlyn places a hand on her chin, thinking things through. "If this... "evolution serum" was unstable, how was he able to mutate his pet perfectly?"

"Nobody really knew, ma'am. Maybe he found a way to stabilize it after all, but like you said, he was apprehended before he could replicate that... counteragent." Gaz responds.

Vi, though, seems to connect some of the pieces together, with Caitlyn thinking the same thing. One by one, even the other wardens with them began putting two and two together. "And now that he's back, he took back the vats of serum..." Vi says.

Which is then completed by Caitlyn, saying, "He's finally replicated his counteragent. His serum is complete!"

As if on cue, a loud, screeching roar echoes across Piltover that can be heard even within the Ferros factory as everyone steps out to check out what caused that. And they are horrified to see that the Chemtech Drake from earlier has come, flying across the sky as it dove towards the biggest structure in Piltover: The Hexgate.

A spire that nearly pierces the sky, with a big, globe-like structure attached to it at the very top, the Hexgate is used for transport for Piltover to other regions. But now that may very well be the end of it's use as the mechanically and chemical enhanced drake flies to it, clinging to the side of the tower as it breathes green, toxic flames below, burning and melting through.

"What the fu..." Vi cut her curse short as she looks at the winged abomination before them. "The hell is a dragon doing here?!"

"It's a drake." Caitlyn corrects her. "It's smaller and significantly weaker, but it doesn't make it any less dangerous. Contact the enforcers! This is a code red! Initiate an evacuation order to—"

Suddenly, Caitlyn's radio on her belt interrupts her as it creates some static before someone finally speaks up. "All units! All units! There's a deranged old man on a giant... dog.. monster thing attacking the zoo!"

Caitlyn, Vi and the other wardens blink, a little confused, but then remember the story they were told minutes ago. "This is Sheriff Kiramman. Say again, warden."

---

On her steampunk motorcycle, a warden wearing the typical uniform associated with her work, alongside a bike helmet and some goggles, as well as a cape on her back, drives through the road and arrives at the zoo as she spots Animo on her mutated pet attacking some wardens and even some zoo guards.

"Sheriff! Ma'am, there's some mad man riding a monster attacking the zoo!" This rider of justice speaks through her radio, attached to her motorcycle, before getting of her vehicle and pulling out a peculiar revolver with a very long barrel, checking the chamber to see if it has any ammo in it. "Suspect was seen coming with the dragon attacking the Hexgate, and we have suspicions he may be responsible for it."

On the radio, Caitlyn responds from the other side and tells the justice rider, "Keep him busy! Reinforcements are coming. Evacuate as many people as you can from your area, but do not engage the suspect directly. We have reason to believe he's too dangerous to fight with few numbers!"

"Roger that ma'am!" The rider replies, placing the radio back to it's slot on her bike as she runs towards the zoo entrance, yelling to running civilians she passes by to evacuate immediately.

However, Animo has already made it to the deeper portions of the zoo. The first part of it that he finds is the mammal sanctuary, filled with mammals of all kinds. With a mad laugh, he fires another beam from his helmet antennae and blasts the nearest creature, a hamster, as it writhes in pain before suddenly expanding and enlarging into an abnormal size. Animo then blasts all the other mammals within the place as he continues to laugh like a madman, mutating everything he could see.

Just outside, the rider had grouped up with the wardens that managed to survive Animo's attack as she helps pick them up from the floor, but their moment of reprieve was not meant to last as the mutated animals from the zoo finally emerge together with Animo and his giant prairie dog. They wardens can only stare in horror as Animo grins with his new army of beasts. "Go, my pets! Show them the results of my genius!" Animo exclaims as the beasts all roar, screech and squeal in unison and charge forward towards the wardens.

But before they could get near, Vi emerges from the rooftops nearby and lands on the ground on one knee and with a slam of her gauntlet on the ground, creating a shockwave that knocks them all back. "Sorry we're late." Vi quips, pulling her gauntlet from the ground before doing a boxing motion, like she was cocking her fists like guns. "Let's put these beasties down, shall we?"

Giving them the signal, the wardens that arrive with Vi emerge from the same rooftop she jumped from as they take positions from above and start firing their rifles at the mutated creatures, with Vi leading the charge as she punches the mutant hamster trying to tackle her, knocking it into a different mutated animal.

Animo, seeing this as an opportunity, mentally commands some of the other animals to spread out and go cause mayhem across Piltover, with Animo himself and his closest pet head towards a different location: the Academy of Piltover.

"Hey! Get back here, geezer!" Vi taunts Animo, jumping onto a mutant lion to use it to boost herself and launch towards Animo in an attempt to stop him, but then something grabs her by her leg and is pulled back before she is thrown towards the wall of a nearby building, creating cracks on it. "Damn it! Ugh... When am I gonna stop being thrown around today?"

As she rises from her spot, she looks towards the beast that threw her and is more than shocked to see it to be a mammoth. It was a goliath, larger than even Animo's own rideable pet, towering over Vi, with it's incredibly dark green fur looking sickly, with patches of it peeling off. It's tusks were long and sharp, with the left tusk having a small crack on it while the right was leaking a strange, green ooze from where the tusk is coming from on it's face. The trunk of the creature was even longer, with smoke ejecting from the end of the trunks as it growls at Vi.

"We have mammoths in the zoo?" escapes from Vi's lips, confused at the sight of the beast in front of her.

The big beast attempts to charge Vi, trying to ram it's tusks at her, but the Piltover enforcer uses her superior agility by running at the beast as well before taking one big leap to reach it's face, swinging her gauntlet armored fist into a punch to strike the mammoth back and make it skid a couple of feet and landing on it's side. "That all you got, you oversized, walking trumpet?!" Vi taunts the mammoth.

Despite being a wild and berserk animal, the mammoth seemingly responds by finally standing back up and glares at Vi once more. Her punch must've been so strong as it left some blood leaking from where she stuck the mutated animal.

Vi was about to ready to fight again, but a voice calls out from the rooftops, "Vi!"

The Piltover enforcer looks above and sees one of the Wardens, holding her other gauntlet as he throws it from the roof. With the weight and size of the thing, it cracks the floor it lands on, fist first. Vi chuckles, just as the mammoth trumpets it's trunk, charging towards the pink haired brawler once more. Vi was still faster, however, as she dives out of the way of the beast and lands next to her gauntlet.

She gets a much closer look at it and sees it has been repaired to the point that it looks and even smells factory new. Vi slips her free hand and arm into her newly repaired vault breaker, feeling the mechanical parts within as the crystal on it glows, allowing her to pull it up, completing her set of boxing armaments.

As the mammoth turns back to glaring at Vi, the enforcer smirking at it, teeth and all as she slams and clangs her gauntlets onto each other and pretends to crack the knuckles of her gauntlets. "Alright, peanuts... Let's wrestle!" Vi mocks her animalistic foe as she and the mammoth charge at each other once more, both of them giving equally ferocious roars at one another.

---

The rumblings of explosions, the sky being set on fire by the chemtech drake and now the city's sirens blaring all across has alerted a majority of Piltover's citizens, which includes Ben himself as he runs down the streets opposite of the people running away.

The sky has already darkened as afternoon starts becoming night, though the drake's green fire was giving it an ominous green glow. Whatever worry Ben has for his sister and Vi now has skyrocketed. He sees a few wardens, and even heavily armored, tactical suit enforcers, passing by and heading towards the battle.

Ben looks around, holding his father's journal in his hand, as he tries to find any warden he could ask. He finally manages to stop one as he pulls the warden aside by his shoulder. "Sir, what's going on?" Ben asks, worry in his tone.

"We're under attack. Some maniac brought some animals with him and started rioting across the streets. We also think he brought that big drake with him." The warden responds as he points towards the chemtech drake attacking the Hexgate. "The enforcers are going to take that monster down. The wardens are regrouping to handle evacuation and apprehending the mutated animals. Orders from your sister."

"My sister? Wait, where's Caitlyn?" Ben asks.

The warden he's speaking to, though, shakes his head. "We don't know, but last she called in, she was still in the Ferros animal research lab and—"

"All units!"

Caitlyn's voice emerges from the radio of the warden present, with Ben being able to hear her as well. "We've spotted the primary assailant heading towards the Academy of Piltover! Suspect is an old man, somewhere in his 50s, wearing a strange helmet with antennae over his long, graying hair and has mechanical devices on his person. He's riding a mutated animal on all fours. I am in pursuit. Requesting immediate assistance!"

"Roger that, sheriff! Back up's on—" The warden responds, but then a flash of green light in front of him nearly blinds him and the sound of something zooming out of there, dust kicking up as the man sees that Ben had somehow disappeared. "—the way..." says the warden, confused at what had just happened.

---

"What is happening out there?!" The panicked voice of the head of the academy could only exclaim as he looks out his window.

He was a Yordle, being a creature with a diminutive stature, with lush blond hair on his head, which alternates between curly and straight, blue eyes, as well as his white mustache. He wears typical laboratory dark grey coat, gloves, as well as goggles currently around his neck.

This was, of course, professor Heimerdinger himself.

As he hears footsteps enter the room he's in, he moves from the upper balcony he's on to see that two enforcers have entered, clad in their dark blue and black typical tactical gear and armed with heavier weaponry than the wardens. "Professor, we need to move you out of here. The suspect is heading this way." One of them announces.

Heimerdinger blinks before changing his stare into more of a glare, though he is not angry at the enforcers and more concerned, as he tells them, "The students and the staff need to be evacuated first! Have you managed to—"

The professor was unfortunately interrupted when in mere seconds, the windows and walls behind him explode into dust as he is thrown off his balcony from the force of this explosion. Luckily, one of the enforcers caught the Yordle professor, but as he opens his eyes, he sees above that Animo, with his Prairie dog mutant, has arrived, with the beast entering the hole it had made seconds ago before dropping down to meet the enforcers and Heimerdinger.

"Hello, professor!" Animo mockingly greets his former mentor as his beast growls. "I hope I'm not late for class!"

Heimerdinger blinks in shock as the enforcer that caught him gently puts him back on two feet on the floor. "Aloysius? What are you doing? What have you done?!" Heimerdinger could only bellow out, quivering at shock at his old protege's doing.

"To make you pay for what you've done!" The mad daughter yells, but then the enforcers all aim their big guns and fire at Animo.

Unfortunately for them, Animo's monster swings it's tail and blocks the shots, each blast bouncing off it's thick skin before the creature swipes it's tail and strikes the enforcers, knocking them into a wall, which then causes the balcony atop them to collapse and fall on them, crushing them both to their demise.

Heimerdinger was about to flee, but Animo's beast jumps over him and lands in front of the only door to this room, blocking the professor's only exit. "If you have any ill will towards me, Aloysius, then let us settle this! Do not involve innocents in our quarrel!" Heimerdinger tries to appeal to his former protege but Animo only shook his head, hopping off his prairie dog's back before approaching his former mentor.

"I do not care for those imbeciles. They've serve as good distractions to reduce the amount of wardens and enforcers that can help you as they try to fight my mutated horde." Animo taunts Heimerdinger, moving ever closer as the Yordle headmaster is walking backwards to a wall.

"You... You've actually done it, haven't you? You've actually completed your serum!" Heimerdinger responds, continuing his backward pace. What Animo fails to notice is that the professor was actually walking backwards to a shelf on the wall, with a remote on the lower ones that Heimerdinger was reaching for. He's doing his best to stall his protege long enough for him to reach it.

Animo chuckles, pride practically painted on his face as he gives the Yordle professor a toothy grin. "No thanks to you! Now, I am able to not only mutate nearly any non sapient creature, but command them as well, using a frequency that ties directly to the mutative radiation I have given them."

"That goes against EVERYTHING we've worked together on!" Heimerdinger yells. While he's still stalling as he kept moving back and Animo approaches in kind, the Yordle professor meant those words genuinely, his disappointment in his former protege reaching levels he wished he didn't feel. "Where did you obtain the right counteragent to stabilize your serum?"

The mad doctor before him maintains his grin, though this time it widens further, as he gleefully tells Heimerdinger, "Oh. Just another one of your 'failures'."

Heimerdinger squints, pondering what Animo meant... and then it clicked for him. "No..." was all he could mutter, stopping in his tracks, just as he was just a few inches away from his remote on the lower shelf behind him.

"Yes, professor Heimerdinger! I was spending years, trying to recreate the counteragent I had made for my pet here..." Animo says, gesturing to his mutated prairie dog. "The same one I used to create my beautiful creation so I can escape those enforcers your threw at me years ago! But I must admit, I struggled! Without the right parts, chemicals and blood samples, it was a hard process. Especially down in the undercity... But then a man came along. Claims he, too, worked under you years ago. Someone you disappointed as well."

Heimerdinger could only clench his teeth, glaring at Animo. Though his anger towards his former protege was present, the glare he was giving doesn't seem to be for Animo himself, but the man he was speaking of.

"He told me that he'll help me recreate my counteragent and perfect my serum, at no cost! I was suspicious of course, but he reassured me it was free of charge..." Animo chuckles, and even has his helmet create sparks on the antennae just to give himself some dramatic effect, bathing himself in magenta light to give him an ominous feel. "...because the only payment he needs is to know you'd suffer!"

The Yordle professor still has his teeth clenched, balling up his hands into fists after hearing such a thing. However, he has a moment of clarity as he remembers what he was doing. Ignoring his feelings for now, Heimerdinger forgets pretending and just sprints to the shelf behind him, surprising Animo as the good professor grabs the remote and presses a button, activating something.

Animo swipes the remote away and tosses it aside, with his gigantic pet smashing it with it's tail, but it was too late, as in the middle of the room they're in, a large, round hatch opens, steam rising from within as a mechanical marvel rises from it.

It was tall, it's top portion nearly reaching the ceiling. It's top half resembles that of a tank, with multiple blasters, cannons and even exhaust pipes emerging out it's back. It's bottom half was basically mechanical spider legs, each one sticking out in four different directions.

"Turret MK-07: Armored Stomper, activated." The machine announces itself in a mechanical, toneless voice as each of it's turrets glow blue. "Attacking intruder!"

The colossal machine turns it's targetting towards Animo's mutated pet. Before it could fire it's weapons, though, the beast tackles the machine into the walls of the room, tearing through them as it and the giant turret are launched outside, with rubble from the roof following them inside.

While Animo was distracted, Heimerdinger tries to flee, running past Animo to try to reach the exit now that it's not blocked, but Animo was still bigger and faster as he grabs Heimerdinger by the back of his shirt, pulling him up before wrapping one of his hands around the Yordle's neck. "No! You are NOT leaving my grasps again!" Animo angrily yells as he pulls Heimerdinger with him towards the hole his beast and the machine had made.

Once at the hole, the two scientists can see the courtyard of the academy, with students and staff running from the school as the statue of Heimerdinger himself in the middle of the courtyard has been torn down as the mutated animal has thrown the Armored Stomper towards it.

Animo then uses his helmet to send a signal to command the drake at the Hexgate, keeping Heimerdinger in his hands. But as soon as he does, a shot rings out and echoes around the academy as a shot just narrowly misses Animo's head, causing him to accidentally drop Heimerdinger back on the floor behind them.

Animo looks where the shot came from and sees that Caitlyn has arrived, standing in the courtyard and with a rifle aimed at Animo. "Dr. Aloysius Animo! You are under arrest! Come quietly and you will not be harmed!" Caitlyn yells out.

"Ha!" Animo taunts the Kiramman Sheriff. "You should have aimed for the head! Your professionalism will be your downfall!"

Caitlyn cocks her gun, however, as she keeps her sights on the mad doctor. "This is your last warning." She tells him.

"How generous of you. Here's a gift in return!" Animo shouts back to her.

Caitlyn was confused at first, but then gusts of wind blow from above and the sound of thundering flaps catches the sheriff's attention as her tophat is blown away. Caitlyn then looks up and sees just in time that the chemtech drake has come.

The Kiramman markswoman took a quick glance and sees that the Hexgate has been damaged heavily, burning with green flames. Caitlyn wishes she had waited for the reinforcements, but she couldn't stop thinking of the students and the staff in the academy that Animo could have harmed. Especially Ben. She still doesn't know where he is, but she can't risk it as he could potentially be within the academy as well.

But that's the least of her problems now as while Heimerdinger's Armored Stomper was fighting the prairie dog, shooting at it with a hail of missiles and lasers, Caitlyn was now face to face with the chemically enhanced drake, snarling at her as she backs away slowly in the hopes of not provoking it.

Animo did not even give her time, unfortunately, as he mentally commands the drake using his helmet and tells it to stomp her. The winged creature raises it's foot, reading to slam it down in breakneck speeds as Caitlyn doesn't even have time to judge as she braces for the end...

...but the sound of something zipping in blazes through the courtyard as the beast stomps on the ground, breaking through the floor and even releasing a shockwave in the process. However, once the drake lifts it's foot, it was utterly shocked to see that there was no body, viscera or bits and pieces of Caitlyn underneath it's foot or the crater it had made with it.

"What?!" Animo yells, confusion and fear overwhelming him for a brief second before something runs into the hole he's still standing near and hits him in the face, rocketing the mad scientist to a wall and knocking him down on his face as he groans.

The new arrival resembles a semi-armored raptor of some kind. He has black orbs on his feet, a black tail with five blue stripes, and bulky claws on his 3 fingers. He wears a black cone-like helmet with a protective, X-shaped visor that slides over his face. The creature then lifts his visor to reveal his blue face, green eyes, black lips, and some stripes running under and in between his eyes. He's also got a black bodysuit and turtleneck-like shirt with a big white stripe on the center, which houses the same symbol on Ben's watch and Heatblast's chest.

This is once again Ben, having transformed into a new form, appropriately named XLR8.

He's currently carrying Caitlyn as the dust trails he left from grabbing her and saving her from the drake's stomp begin to disperse. "Ben?" Caitlyn mutters as her transformed brother gently places her back down on the floor. "Where did you come from? Are you okay?"

"Long story, but I'm here. And I wanna help!" XLR8 tells her as he nods.

Caitlyn blinks for a moment. She wanted to say something, especially after the last time they had spoken, with Vi's words even echoing in her head. The sheriff speaks, "Ben... Look, I know that you—"

"I won't get in your way!" XLR8 suddenly says, which shocks Caitlyn, perplexed by his words. "I don't want you to be mad anymore, so I'll help you, but I won't fight! Just tell me what do you want me to do!"

Caitlyn once again blinks, still flummoxed at Ben's sudden submission to her. She's told herself that she had been waiting for Ben to finally listen to her, and it's finally come...

...and yet it doesn't feel good at all. Wasn't this what she had been waiting for? For her brother to be... responsible? Why does it feel... wrong?

Are Vi's words finally clinging to her conscience?

The sound of explosions catches their attention, derailing Caitlyn's train of thought as they look back outside to see that the enforcers have arrived, firing heavy weapons at the chemtech drake from the ground and mortars raining from the sky as some of them are blasting from a balloon airship. The beast roars at them as it swipes it's claws, tail and even fires the occasional toxic flame breath it had at it's hunters.

With sigh, Caitlyn pushes her thoughts to the back of her mind for now, placing her hands on XLR8's shoulders and tells him, "I want you to check every possible corner of the campus for any remaining staff and students. Get them all out of here as quick as you can. We'll handle these monsters."

XLR8 nods to his sister, determination plastered on his face. Once he puts back his visor to cover his face, XLR8 dashes towards the exit of the room, dust and wind kicking up as Caitlyn's hair flows majestically, though it ended up covering her eyes.

She fixes her hair back, but once she regains vision, she is shocked to see Animo holding Heimerdinger in his hands once more. The sheriff mentally slaps herself for forgetting the target as she had been preoccupied with her more personal problems with Ben. Caitlyn tries to grab her rifle from her back, but when she reaches for it, it wasn't there anymore. Then she recalls that Ben as XLR8 swiped her before the drake could stomp on her. In the process, she must've accidentally dropped her weapon somewhere in the courtyard.

She'll have to search later. Right now, her priority is...

"Animo!" Caitlyn yells as she tries to tackle the mad doctor, who only smiles as he jumps out of the window all so sudden, shocking Caitlyn as she collides with the wall nearby instead, missing Animo entirely. She glances to the side to see that the professor's Armored Stomper has been torn into scrap metal, likely the doing of Animo's favorite pet.

Just when she thought the doctor has truly gone mad, the mutant prairie dog swoops in from below and catches Animo and Heimerdinger on it's back before landing back down on the courtyard grounds. "I'd say it has been fun, sheriff, but I'd be lying!" The mad doctor mocks Caitlyn as he kept Heimerdinger in his hands, commanding his beast to head out.

Caitlyn was not going to let Animo get away again. He's done too much damage on Piltover and has taken the lives of so many people. He must, and will, face justice!

Looking around for anything that can help her, Caitlyn spots a loose, long wire coming from the wall she had just collided with earlier. It was big enough to be a rope and it appears it's been disconnected by whatever made this big hole in the room in the first place, so it's no longer being powered by anything.

So, in one big pull, Caitlyn forces the large wire out of the wall, tearing through some of the concrete as she then jumps out of the hole and swings back to the side of the building, using the rope like a makeshift rope as she places both feet against the wall before she quickly rappels down the side of the structure, going as fast as she could while the wire was still attached to the walls and while Animo was still basking in his victory.

Eventually, the wire gets torn and gets detached from the walls, which made Caitlyn drop rapidly. Thankfully, by the time this happened, she's already a few feet above the ground. She lands on her back and although it was painful, the adrenaline within Caitlyn made her ignore it long enough for her to spot her rifle, just beside Heimerdinger's broken statue.

The sheriff did not hesitate to sprint towards it. In between the explosive payloads the enforcers were dropping, the swinging of the chemtech drake's tail and the hail of gunfire and rubble flying everywhere, Caitlyn ducks, dodges and dives past them as best she could, gaining only a few scratches as she finally reaches her rifle.

Once she has it in her hands, Caitlyn quickly cocks it, aims and fires, not even caring if she was accurate so long as she shot in Animo's direction. Luckily, even when she's not trying, Caitlyn's a good shot, as her bullet narrowly misses Animo's head, the shot grazing his cheek and causing it to bleed as he jumps from fear, once again accidentally letting Heimerdinger go as the poor old Yordle drops to the ground.

"Gah! You just can't stop making yourself a nuisance to my plans?!" Animo angrily yells as he commands his prairie dog mutant to turn around and face Caitlyn. "Fine! No more interruptions. This time, you will be food for my pets!"

"No! Aloysius..."

The mad doctor hears someone mutter, turning his head to whoever spoke, and sees Heimerdinger, getting up from his spot, tired, bruised and out of breath. "That's enough. If you want your vengeance, then have it. But leave these people alone..."

Animo growls. His anger towards Caitlyn was a furious forest fire, but his hatred towards Heimerdinger was the blaze of a volcano. He can't help himself as he commands his pet to attack Caitlyn while he gets off the beast, dropping on both feet as he approaches the tired Yordle and grabs him by his collar.

"Do you think this is just about you?!" He snarls, his spit practically spraying from his mouth like he was a feral dog, all the while Caitlyn is forced to dodge and duck while firing at his Prairie dog mutant. "You held me back, stopped every bit of research and experiment I suggested while I was under you! Telling me it's too much or that I'm not ready yet! But then over time, all I was able to provide under you were so miniscule in scope while the biggest things you told me to hold off on are put in the back burner, with no hope of seeing the light of day!"

Caitlyn could hear Animo's words as well, keeping her focus on the monster attacking her while still glancing and listening towards Animo and Heimerdinger, hoping to find an opening to save the professor from the mad doctor.

"While you took in more proteges, who built you machines and their precious Hextech, you relegated me to a glorified veterinarian!" Animo continues, tightening his grip on Heimerdinger's collar, nearly choking the poor Yordle. "You limited my potential, and so when I finally decided to take action and do my experiments, even in secret, your new favorite, that Talis boy, just couldn't help but snoop around and report me to enforcers! I had thought that even in our darkest hours, our friendship would be enough. That you'd help me because you know what I was doing was ultimately because I thought it could help. That I could help!"

Caitlyn hears Animo's words. For a brief moment, she just recalls Ben's words, back in HQ earlier today.

"I just wanted to help! Why can't you understand that?!"

Caitlyn throws a flashbomb at the beast as it detonates, blinding the creature as she hides behind the Heimerdinger statue to regroup her thoughts. She took a deep breath, processing what Animo had said. It was near verbatim to what her brother has been saying.

"YOU are hurting him. Maybe not physically, but emotionally. You keep this up, choosing everything for him, shackling his independence, he's going to resent you."

Vi's words also plays back in her head. While she was always going to consider them, hearing it from someone like Animo, with venom in every word he said towards Heimerdinger, Caitlyn found a comparison.

"Is this what I've been doing to him...?" The Kiramman markswoman whispers to himself, all the while the mutated pet of Animo shakes it's head, blinks a few times and snarls, finally able to hear and see.

Meanwhile, Animo kept speaking, glaring into Heimerdinger's eyes as he tells his former mentor, "But no. You let them take me. Because you were just so disappointed. Disappointed that I allowed myself independence!"

"...Aloysius... You know that's not true." Heimerdinger manages to utter from his lips, struggling to breathe in between it all. "... I wasn't disappointed you became independent. I wasn't disappointed that you did your own experiments in secret. I was disappointed... because your experiment was dangerous. You threatened to force evolution on animals and on people. You say you did it because it would help. No..."

The Yordle professor then grabs both of the hands of Animo that were gripping onto his collar as he nears his face towards his former protege's own, whispering to him. "You did it... Because you wanted monsters of your own." Heimerdinger finally drops the truth bomb on Animo, who could only clench his teeth.

"Indeed..." Animo seemingly agrees, but then loosens his grip on one of his hands as he raises his fist, ready to strike his former mentor. "And because YOU failed me, I will unleash the worst monsters on this you've carved!"

The mad doctor's attempts are thwarted, though, as a gunshot rings out and suddenly, he found his raised arm suddenly gets pierced through, his blood gushing from his wounds like a geyser as Animo screams in pain, letting go of Heimerdinger once more as he falls on the floor and writhes in pain.

Caitlyn, determination and righteous anger on her expression, glares at her successful shot as the barrel of her rifle is still smoking from her shot. "The only monster I see here is you." She voices her mind, cocking her rifle.

However, her moment of bravery unfortunately caught the attention of the now recovered mutant pet of Animo as it spots her behind the broken statue. In response, the beast turns and swipes it's tail, smashing the remaining parts of the statue as it explodes into dust and rubble, firing everywhere as Caitlyn is hit by the attack, knocking her back as she falls on the floor.

Before she could get up though, some of the rubble falls on her, causing her to scream as the marble and steel pin her down by landing on her legs, rendering her unable to move. The sheriff winces and growls, trying to push the rubble off of her, but to no avail.

Her troubles were just beginning as the mutated prairie dog approaches her with thunder steps, mouth frothing and snarling as it licks it's lips. Caitlyn clenches her teeth. She was not going to die here. She refuses!

The sheriff moves her right hand slightly on the ground and felt her rifle. Thankfully, it was still beside her and unharmed. She'll need one good shot on the beast to finally be rid of it. Though the chemtech drake was still around, fighting the enforcers, she needs to take these problems one by one.

Careful observation throughout the entire fight and previous reports of the beast has made Caitlyn deduce that the creature's hide is so thick, almost nothing it pierce it...

... But it's eyes are still vulnerable. No matter what mutation it could have, it's eyes will remain a weak spot. And just behind those eyes... are it's brain. She'll need a good shot or this is her end.

So Caitlyn slowly reaches for her rifle, hoping the beast would not notice and become provoked. However, the beast immediately took notice, so it charges forward with a roar, mouth open and ready to maul her.

Caitlyn grits her teeth and just goes ahead and grabs her rifle, but the beast was nearing her position, as she barely has time to aim.

But before disaster could strike, the monstrous animal could not finish it's attack as XLR8 returns in blinding speed, running towards the beast before jumping at it's face and unleashes a flurry of rapid kicks. While a single kick did nothing, XLR8 was kicking so fast, there was very little delay on each strike, so it was practically like the prairie dog was getting hit by cannonball... being fired like a machine gun.

While it did not injure the beast, it was certainly enough to distract it, long enough that Caitlyn blinks, recovers the momentary surprise of her little brother returning, and finally takes aim. "In my sights..." She whispers, her gun warm, her aim steady and her trigger finger itching.

With one pull of the trigger, Caitlyn's rifle fires, the flash of it's muzzle brightening her position as her bullet flies faster than the speed of sound, glistening in the darkness of the night as it heads straight for the beast's eye, with the creature having no time to react to it at all.

"Boom..." Caitlyn whispers...

...as her shot tore through it's ocular organ and pierces into it's brain. Within it's skull, the shot fired was so powerful, it practically explodes a huge chunk of it's mind, causing blood to spray from the beast's ears, nose and mouth... and falls limp on the ground, finally dead.

"...headshot." The Kiramman markswoman proudly ends her quip, the barrel of her gun red hot and smoking.

XLR8 looks at the beast he had just kicked multiple times, dead on the floor. While he's always uncomfortable to see an animal perish, this one in particular had taken the lives of many people already, so he won't lose sleep on it. Finally, he turns his attention towards his big sister, zipping towards her in a blink of an eye as the symbol on his chest started beeping, flashing red before he himself gets bathed in a red light, turning back to his human form.

"Cait! Are you okay?" Ben asks before pulling on the debris that had fallen on his sister's legs.

Caitlyn helps him out, and by extension herself as well, by pushing the rubble off, combining their strength as the successfully remove them off of her. The adoptive siblings notice, however, that her leg is heavily injured, with wounds all over and visible now that part of her pants have been ripped. Though thankfully none of her bones are broken, Caitlyn thinks there might be cracks in them. She's going to need medical help for now.

"Come on! Let's get you out of here." Ben tells her, helping her up as best as he could by putting one of her arms around his shoulder and placing a hand on her waist to support her. The siblings try their best to walk slowly so that Caitlyn's legs aren't pressured, approaching the gates of the campus to get out of there.

"Is everyone safe?" Caitlyn asks, earning a nod from Ben.

"Yeah." He replies. "I found some scared students hiding in the dorms and some in the classrooms. The only other staff in the premises were some of the teachers that stayed behind to protect the students. I took them all to the nearest shelter guarded by wardens."

Caitlyn smiles, proud of her brother being able to help people. Though her thoughts wander back to what she was thinking of before. Of how it didn't feel right that she's basically ordering him around and him become so subservient.

As they move, though, the sound of battle and mayhem catches their ears, derailing Caitlyn's thoughts again as they turn their attentions towards the enforcers fighting the chemtech drake. The beast on all fours was just the beginning, as this winged monster has actually taken down some of the enforcers already, with it crashing the airship some of them came on with a swipe of it's wings.

"They're having trouble!" Ben exclaims, worry and fear on his face as he sees the highest level of law enforcement and technological weaponry of Piltover being overwhelmed by this force of nature that's been mutated and enhanced by the schemes of a mad scientist.

Caitlyn begrudgingly agrees, nodding to her brother. "They've never fought anything to this scale before. This is beyond Chem-Barons and violent revolutionaries." She deduces, the drake breathing toxic fire into the sky like a sign of superiority.

The sheriff closes her eyes. There's only one person in Piltover that can fight something to this scale... And he's currently carrying her around. Her mind tells her that this is the exact situation she'd keep Ben away from as far as she can. If she could, she'd take him to a different region entirely just to make sure he'd be safe from this beast.

But... that's not right.

It's like Vi said. His potential is vast. And she'd be wasting them if she coddled her for too long. Jayce has taught him. Vi has trained him. Even Caitlyn herself has mentored him. And now the city's in danger, with Ben capable of stopping it from getting worse.

Her mind keeps telling her no... But every fiber of her being, especially her heart, is to tell him...

"Ben." Caitlyn finally opens her eyes, facing her little brother eye to eye. "I need you to—"

"Get you away from here as far as I can then call for back-up." Ben interrupts her so suddenly. "I know. I won't fight it and—"

"No."

Her next response shocks Ben, making him blink as he replays that "No." from his sister.

Caitlyn continues, "I've held you back for too long. Because I was always afraid you'd get hurt... or gods forbid, die. I've — No — We've lost so much. Your father, then our parents when we took you in. We've lost some friends over the years as well, and it's made me afraid of losing you too. But you are so much stronger than I believed. You'll get hurt, no matter what I tell you, in one way or another... And for so long, it's been me that's hurt you. Hurt your emotions, hurt your aspirations, hurt your potential."

Ben's eyes widen as they also begin to tear up a little. Caitlyn takes a moment to let go of her younger brother as she places a hand on each cheek of his as she continues, tears in her eyes as well, "I won't stop worrying for you. I'll always be afraid something will happen to you... But I'm sure you've felt the same every time I'm on the field, with the chance I may or may not come back. And that's unfair of me, to hold you back. I'll always want you to be safe, but it can't be worth it if you'll grow never knowing how much you could change not just Piltover, but maybe even the world."

With that, Caitlyn lowers Ben's head a little as she gives her brother a warm and loving kiss on his forehead, the two of them surrendering to each other's arms as they hug one another, letting each other's shoulder dry the tears on their eyes.

"Now..." Caitlyn whispers, gently letting go of her brother as they look at one another eye to eye. "Go be the hero you've always wanted to be. The hero I know you can be."

Ben's eyes were still tearful, but they've been replaced by tears of joy as he smiles, wiping them away then giving an affirmative nod to Caitlyn. "I'll make you proud." He tells her.

"You already have." was Caitlyn's response, smiling back to her brother.

Before Ben goes, they hear the sirens of a vehicle coming in as a medical evac vehicle arrives from the gates of the Academy. The drivers and passengers inside were a combination medical staff and wardens, here to help. "I'll go with them. Be safe." Caitlyn reassures her brother, giving him a knowing nods as Ben nods back, the two of them letting go of one another.

As Caitlyn is attended to by medical staff that exit the vehicle, Ben sprints to the battle, the drake now approaching the crashed airship as it seems there were survivors in it. Ben's heart is now no longer filled with anger, sorrow or fear. But with pride, willpower and duty as he continues his pace. He lifts the watch on his wrist to look at it as it slowly flashes from red to the usual green, a sign that's ready for use again.

With a twist on it's dial, it pops up once more as Ben turns it to select the right form for the job. After sifting through his selection, he found the perfect one for the job. Slamming the dial down, Ben is engulfed in the familiar emerald light as his body changes and his form shifts.

Now, sprinting in his place is a tall and bulky, crystalline figure, with a greenish blue hue to his body and the same diamond-like spike protruding from the back of his torso. He's got a sharp head, a big, crystalline jaw and glowing green eyes. His arms were bulky as well, with his hands nearly as big as his head. He's wearing a sleeveless clothing that is all black with one large green stripe down the middle up to his belt, and wears black pants. He has a green belt with white stripes on which he wears that familiar hourglass symbol.

One of his most powerful and durable forms, Ben, as Diamondhead, is confident he can handle this winged beast.

By raising his hands, Diamondhead suddenly conjures several diamond prisms from the ground, a total of 6, levitating them into the air before he waves his hand towards the beast. The crystalline debris were so huge and heavy, that they actually manage to topple the beast down, causing it to fall on it's back as some of these gigantic shards actually pierce through and embed themselves onto the drake's back, making it scream in pain. Diamondhead then runs towards the crashed airship.

Upon reaching it, the crystalline hero casually rips the door to it open with his strength, giving himself a way to enter, though he is surprised that the survivors are already at the door way. "Is anyone else inside?" Diamondhead asks the enforcers, who all shake their head in response, so the shapeshifting hero gestures to get out of the ship.

As the enforcers evacuate their fallen vessel, the drake gets back up, bleeding from Diamondhead's attacks. Seems whatever strange, almost alien mineral his body is made out of, Diamondhead is the first thing that's managed to get through the drake's thick scales, which gives him a boost of confidence, on top of the one Caitlyn had already given him earlier.

The chemtech drake then turns to swing it's tail at Diamondhead, who uses his smaller size, compared to the beast anyway, to dodge the attack, diving forward before recovering on both feet as he sprints towards his colosal foe. The crystalline being then aims both hands at the creature and, in a flash, morphs both hands into multiple, crystal spikes and suddenly started firing those spikes as shard-like bullets towards the drake.

Like the gigantic prisms he threw before, each shard he shot all tear through the scales of the creature and even pierce the mechanical parts that's been attached and grafted onto, making it screech in pain.

Diamondhead was not done as he then follows this barrage by changing his hands back to normal and motion one of them from the ground and towards the drake, like he's commanding something. True enough, a tidal wave of crystal spikes shoot from the ground like a tsunami as they surround and then envelop the beast's tail and basically anchors it to the ground.

The winged monster attempts to flee, spreading it's wings wide then flapping them as hard as it could, trying to take to the skies and force the crystals to break in it's attempt. Unfortunately for the drake, Diamondhead's crystal trap is not budging, keeping the monster pinned and barely able to fly. In it's mindless fury, it then tries to breathe it's toxic, green flames at the crystals, but the strange minerals trapping it was not only not flammable, but also not meltable.

"Now, let's finish this!" Diamondhead yells, sprinting towards his colossal foe once more as he morphs his hands again, this time, turning both of them into crystal blades, both creating an audible sharp ring as he ran with them.

The chemtech drake sees him coming, though, so it's switches it's attention from it's crystalline anchor to Ben himself as it takes a deep breath and unleashes it's toxic flames once more, firing it towards the shapeshifting hero. Diamondhead's eyes open wide for a moment before his is completely engulfed in the green fire spewed by his foe.

Caitlyn, who was just being evacuated to the medical vehicle, saw this happen, her eyes widening in utter shock and despair at the sight of her brother vanishing into the flames. "NOOOO!" escapes her mouth, tears firing from her eyes as the wardens try to hold her back from moving towards the dangerous battle.

Her moment of anguish was cut short, however, as her fear of losing her brother would not happen today when suddenly, several spikes of crystals emerge and grow from where the drake had breathed fire on. This growing crystalline spikes would then shoot towards the beast and pin it down on the academy walls itself, keeping it in place as each spike has struck the right targets: the drake's wings, especially the membrane, as well as it's knees on it's back legs and the soles of it's front legs. It could only screech in pain as it felt helpless and unable to move.

Then, from the green inferno the drake had made rose Diamondhead, unscathed, as he jumps through the flames and lands on one of the spikes piercing and pinning the beast.

Caitlyn gasps in relief as she smiles, happy to see her brother alive and well. And it was only gonna get better from there.

Diamondhead then runs up the crystal spike he's on, heading towards the creature's head. In a desperate instinct to survive, the drake once more takes a deep breath before firing it's toxic blaze at the shapeshifting being. Seems it didn't learn it's lesson as Diamondhead simply powers through the inferno around him, not even leaving any marks on his diamond-hard skin. Once he was close enough, he takes yet another leap and aims towards his main target:

The drake's mouth.

Diamondhead takes a brave dive towards his draconic foe as he let's out a battle cry, shooting towards the beast like a bullet. The chemtech drake was desperately trying to breathe it's fire at him, but Diamondhead remains unharmed. With the beast's mouth wide open, the crystalline hero finally reaches it and got inside, surprising and shocking the drake at his actions so much, it stops breathing it's toxic flames and coughs.

Caitlyn, the wardens and the remaining enforcers in the area were all waiting in anticipation as the beast kept coughing... Until it's final one had some blood come out of it's mouth. Then, crystals began forming from within the mouth of the beast and began to crawl outside of it's mouth, slowly surrounding it's snout, then nose and eyes until finally it covers it's head. The beast stops moving completely, and even stopped breathing, before the crystal spikes of Diamondhead crumbled away, unpinning the creature off the side of the campus building and causing it to fall to the ground, making a loud, thundering thud and causes the ground to rumble.

Before any of the observers in the vicinity could even ask where he was, Diamondhead finally comes out of the dead monster's mouth, covered in both the creature's saliva and it's blood. "Ergh... Gross." he quips one last time before wiping himself off.

The crowd cheers as they celebrate the defeat of the colossal beast and Ben's victory. Caitlyn had the biggest smile out of all of them, as she wipes away her tears and pushes the wardens holding her back, limping towards Diamondhead, just in time for him to flash into a red light and turn back to Ben.

The elder Kiramman sister did not hesitate to hug her brother, who makes an audible and surprised, "Hey!" when Caitlyn hugs her. But that initial surprise subsides in a mere second as Ben chuckles, hugging Caitlyn back with a smile. "You know I'm covered in drake drool AND blood, right?"

"Oh please. You've smelled far worse when you were 10." Caitlyn manages to joke back, keeping her arms tight around her brother.

The two siblings share the moment for a bit longer as they appreciate how much they've been able to change each other's lives, all for the better...

---

A couple hours had passed since the incident, as Vi and several of the wardens and enforcers had managed to take down and knock out the mutated animals and were then told to bring them to the academy. They found the biggest trucks they could get and placed them within there before taking them to the designated location given to them.

Upon arrival, professor Heimerdinger and some enforcers had managed to take off Animo's devices off his person and the good professor, with his intellect, manages to find and activate the reverse function of Animo's invention, allowing him to reverse the effects of the mutations on the animals, wearing the helmet on himself but keeping the chest device in his hands, as it was too big for him to wear.

While they were handling the animals, Vi takes off her gauntlets, dropping them on the floor, and reunites with Ben and Caitlyn, sitting on one of the remaining benches in the school courtyard. The older Kiramman now has bandages over her legs and some metal braces around them to help her walk without severely breaking her bones further. Vi sits next to her partner and reaches towards Ben with her fist, to which Ben responds by fist bumping her. All three of them move closer to one another and enjoy this moment they have been blessed with.

"Heard you took down that dragon, little bro." Vi comments as Caitlyn chuckles, resting her head on Vi's shoulder.

Ben chuckles as well, scratching the back of her head. "It's a drake, Vi. It's basically a dragon in it's teenage years. And severely weakened, with all it's enhancements reducing the power of it's natural capabilities, ironically. If it were a real, adult dragon, I'd be screwed." Ben corrects her, which just earns him a puzzled look from Vi. "... Okay, okay, I have been listening to Jayce's lessons. He can just be so... boring sometimes, you know?"

Caitlyn giggles, ruffling Ben's hair before raising her head from Vi's shoulder and pulls Ben's head on her own shoulder, making Ben smile and close his eyes. "Well, at least I know you've been paying attention in class."

"Guess that's why you knew how to kill that thing." Vi gestures to the dead drake, which is currently being moved by various construction equipment by the enforcers and wardens combined.

"Yeah. No matter it's mutations, it still needed to breathe. I wish I didn't have to do that, though." Ben replies, his smile shifting to a frown. "Poor thing was basically already dead, but whatever that mad scientist did, he forced it to keep fighting for his own benefit."

"Hey." says Caitlyn. "You saved lives today. If you hadn't fought this thing, and won, the drake could have taken more lives than it already did. Besides..."

She turns her head, glancing to Animo behind them as he is being dragged away by enforcers, bandage on his gunshot wound courtesy of Caitlyn earlier. Ben and Vi look at him as well, following Caitlyn's sight. "...What he did isn't your fault." The sheriff reassures.

"Yeah..." Ben mutters. He then turns his attention back to Caitlyn, looking at her in the eye. Caitlyn notices his gaze, causing her to look back at her younger brother with a beffudled look.

"What's wrong?" Caitlyn asks.

He replies, "I just... Thanks... for finally letting me help. I just wanted to do what's right, especially for you and Vi. I'm sorry I messed up before, though."

Caitlyn shakes her head, though, and was having none of that as she holds Ben's cheeks again, telling him, "No no no. I am sorry. I was so caught up in my own worries, my own paranoia, that I ignored everything you wanted. Everything you could have done. You're about to be a man in a day now, and you get to make your decisions. I can't stop you from getting hurt, but I can tell you to do your best and be safe in anyway you can manage."

Her words really got to Ben, causing him to smile sweetly. Normally, he'd tear up again, but it feels like he's used them all up earlier when Caitlyn gave him the chance to be a hero at last. So now, he just hugs her, and Caitlyn hugs him back.

Vi smiles as well, arms crossed as she feels pride in the two people before her, joyful at how they finally mended things. The pink haired brawler closes her eyes and relieves her own memories.

Memories of a family she once had.

"Vi?"

Vi hears, opening her eyes and looking towards the two siblings. She is then surprised to see them both offering her a hug, arms stretched towards her as they wait for her response. Vi chuckles at this, trying to act cool and collected... but then hugs them both anyway, the trio sharing this moment with each other in pure bliss.

All three lost family.

But now they have each other. They are each other's family.

"Okay... Hehe..." Caitlyn finally speaks up after taking in the moment, Ben and Vi pulling away from her as they all share a warm laugh with one another. "Sooo... Your sister-in-law here had managed to talk my ear out in HQ earlier today." Caitlyn says, jokingly pinching Vi's cheek, who pretends to be hurt for comedic effect as Ben laughs at this scene before him. "But she did point out something. I've made nearly every decision for you since we lost mom and dad. But I want that to change. And I want to ask... What is it that you want to do? Nothing related to me or anything enforced by me. Just... what is it you want to do?"

"And we'll support it no matter what." Vi tells Ben, holding Caitlyn's hand while doing so.

That made Ben ponder. He blinks for a moment before putting a hand on his chin, deep in thought. He's sort of lost, himself, as he's never had time or the luxury to think about his own future before. Always in the present. But then, it hit him. His eyes widen a bit as he can practically feel a lightbulb turn on atop his head.

The shapeshifting boy reaches for the inside of his green jacket and pulls out the journal of his father that he found earlier in their old home. The journal itself left Caitlyn and Vi puzzled a little as Ben hands it to them. "To be honest, I've never really given my future some thought before. You've kinda decided a lot of it for me for years now that my thoughts were just reduced to wanting to help you around here." Ben admits, just as Caitlyn opens the journal and Vi reads with her, but they're still listening to Ben.

"Maybe, a part of me thought, I just become a warden or an enforcer, like you guys? But I don't think that was less what I really wanted to do, and more of staying within the same profession as you guys so you could keep an eye on me." Ben adds. Caitlyn closes the journal, having just skimmed through enough to understand what it was. Vi wasn't done reading, though she felt it would be rude to keep going so she starts focusing on Ben again like Caitlyn is. "Then I found that journal. It was dad's and when I first read through it, it finally made me question... Where did I actually come from?"

"Yeah... Mom and dad mentioned once you weren't actually born in Piltover." Caitlyn comments, handing the journal back to Ben.

"Maybe you got Zaunite blood?" Vi asks, half jokingly, which made Caitlyn elbow her a little. "What? It's possible."

"Maybe, but I think it makes more sense I came from somewhere else. Somewhere not here. Somewhere..." Ben says and taps the journal in his hand. "... in these regions dad's been to."

"... And you want to retrace his steps and hope to find your mother... Your real mother." Caitlyn final puts it all together, gripping her fists tightly.

"Yeah... I just... wanna know the truth. But... not just that." Ben replies, hugging the journal close. "You asked what I wanted to be... Well, now I finally know." Ben adds as he smiles, looking at Caitlyn eye to eye. "I want to do research and be an adventurer, just like dad! I wanna meet and help as many people as I can along the way while also learning more about the world and what it can offer. And if trouble finds me, I can defend myself with this watch, and the lessons you and Vi have taught me!"

Caitlyn could see the fire in Ben's eyes, the likes of which she's never seen in him before. Sure, she's seen him determined to leap into action before to help those in need, but the enthusiasm he has for this new, self discovered interest is unmatched. She felt conflicted earlier, afraid Ben will leave her...

...but now, who is she to deny him his new, sense of purpose? Especially after she's done so to him for most of his life.

"Okay." escapes Caitlyn's lips.

Ben blinks, as for a moment, he thought she was going to deny him this, as he asks, "Really?"

"Really-really." Caitlyn adds, smiling, causing her brother to gasp out of joy and then hug Caitlyn, who gives him a hug back. "By tomorrow, we'll celebrate your birthday, then we'll get you a transport for your trip. Consider it my birthday gift to you."

"You're... not coming with me?" Ben asks, gently letting go of his sister as she places a hand on his head.

Caitlyn shakes her head, telling her little brother, "You know we can't. We still have a responsibility here in Piltover, and the mess Animo made has given us plenty of things to do for the coming days. But know... that I have complete faith in you."

Ben nods, a small smile forming on his lips as he held the journal in his arms. Vi moves from her spot and gives Ben a brotherly hug from behind as well, comforting him.

The night was getting late.

And Ben's got a big day tomorrow.

---

The next day, Ben, together with Caitlyn, Vi and some friends in the force, decided to celebrate Ben's birthday in secret, not wanting to be insensitive as to throw a party after the losses yesterday. Instead, they all just gathered together, ate, talk and congratulated Ben. It was quick but plentiful. Especially since the true purpose of this morning was just coming:

To see Ben off.

Apparently, Caitlyn and Vi had managed to ask a favor from Jayce and they managed to get him an old skycruiser model that House Ferros wasn't using anymore. Since the drake heavily damaged the Hexgate, it could not be used to transport Ben instantaneously, so he'll have to settle with a manual flight.

A few hours after the short birthday celebration in the Kiramman manor, Ben is now waiting atop the Wardens HQ, with the skyrcruiser already there, alongside it's pilot. Ben is still wearing the same set of clothes as last night, though they seem to be a completely new, much cleaner set that just happen to look the same as the one he wore the other day.

He's currently carrying with him a big, sling travel bag, with many items like food, clothes and water inside. He's also reading his father's journal to pass the time. He's still currently in the Ionia section, as it is first in the journal and likely the first one he'll visit.

Finally, the door to the roof finally opens as Caitlyn and Vi come out of it, approaching Ben. Caitlyn appears to be holding something in her hand but she's hiding it behind her back. "Ready?" Vi asks Ben, who nods as he closes the journal and puts it in his bag.

"Before you go, we got you some final presents." Caitlyn says, smiling all the way, though she gestures to Vi for her to go first, who rolls her eyes playfully as she approaches Ben.

Vi reaches for something behind her and pulls out what seems to be a pouch from her back pockets. The pink haired brawler then places it on Ben's hand. Now that he's holding it himself, it seems really heavy and he can hear the clinking of small, metal objects inside. "Alright, kid. I scrounged up every favor I could for those, so don't spend them all in one place, alright?" Vi quips.

"Your gift to me is cash?" Ben jokingly asks, smirking at Vi, who playfully wraps her arm around Ben and gives his head a noogie, causing the shapeshifting hero to laugh.

"Don't you go mocking what I'm giving ya, little man!" Vi retorts. "That's not just cash. It's different currencies. Golden Hexes, Silver Gears AND Silver Serpents, and a few Securi. Maybe some Demacian coin there too. You might need it in the places you'd go."

Ben chuckles as Vi finally lets him go, before they share one last hug with one another. "Thanks, Vi. I'll probably need it... Take care of her for me, okay?" He asks.

The pink haired brawler kept hugging her brother-in-law, patting his back before letting go as the two share a fist bump. "I will, champ. Kick ass out there. Well, at least the ass of those that deserve it, yeah?" She jokes one last time as they share one last laugh.

As Vi moves aside for Caitlyn, it was the sheriff's turn to give her brother a gift. "I suppose it's my turn." says Caitlyn before finally revealing what she has in her hands behind her back.

Once she does, Ben is shocked to see that it's the same box he gave her all those years ago. The very first time they met. Caitlyn hands him the box and curiosity got the better of him immediately. He opens the box in his hand...

... and sees inside is...

A simple, purple scarf.

It wasn't like the one he gave Caitlyn then. As Ben pulls it out, it had a simplistic design, a soft texture and flat ends. He was a bit too stunned to put it on, as he could feel the tears coming out of his eyes once more, a smile forming on his lips.

Caitlyn makes a small giggle, a bit amused at her brother's surprised state, so she gently takes the purple scarf from his hands, placing it around his neck and letting it down gently on his chest. "Do you... like it?" Caitlyn jokingly asks.

Ben didn't even answer right away before hugging Caitlyn instead, surprising her but ultimately filling her with joy as she hugs him back. "No... I love it!" He tells her, echoing one another's words many years ago.

"It's got one more thing I wanna show you." Caitlyn says, pulling back one another's hug as she grabs one hands of the scarf...

...and shows to Ben a stitched design on it being...

...the other half of the heart shape of Caityn's own scarf. She unties her own scarf from her waist to bring up her own half heart design and places it together with Ben's completing the heart with each other's scarves. "I suppose you can see this as me telling you... you'll always be in my heart, no matter where you go." The Kiramman sheriff tells her brother, who nods back.

"And you'll be in mine." Ben replies. With one last hug, the two share their final goodbyes as Ben, Caitlyn and Vi gather together one last time.

It was sadly time, as Ben gives Caitlyn and Vi one last salute, bringing his bag with him as he enters the skyrcruiser. The partners wave goodbye as they watch the young — nay — the hero in their lives depart, the vessel flying off into the sunrise.

From inside one of the skycruiser's rooms, Ben peeks through a window, watching as Piltover slowly grows farther and farther away, including his home. His family.

He'll see them again someday... But for now... Runeterra awaits. As he places his bag on his bed, he pulls out the journal one last time, holding it close. He finds his way to the cockpit and finds the pilot, who appears to be in his late 40s, having grown a beard and a pot belly. With him was a small Poro, an adorable creature that basically looks like a sentient cotton ball made of fur with cute, round eyes and small goat horns.

The pilot's Poro makes a cute, friendly barking noise towards Ben as he pets it before the pilot finally speaks up, "Good to meet you, Ben! Name's Axel. Jayce has told me all about you."

"Ha. Hopefully not literally everything..." Ben bashfully says.

"A few embarrassing secrets, here and there, ye." Axel the pilot teases Ben. The two then share a chuckle at these jabs. "Alright, sport. Where are we headed?"

"Ionia." Ben confidently answers, not even a second wasted. "It's where my dad first started. It's where I'll start too!"

"Ionia it is!" Axel happily chirps as he flies the skycruiser to it's max, the Sun rising in the horizon.

And thus was the beginning of Ben's long journey... across Runeterra!

---

To be continued...

---

ENDING NOTES: Aaaand that's a wrap!

I hope you guys enjoyed it! I know that we basically took a couple of liberties with both source materials, so I suppose I should make it clear now. We're basically doing our own thing. Sure, a lot of the Ben 10 and League of Legends stuff was still be heavily based on many elements from the canon sources, but we're also altering some things to fit our narrative. If that's not the kind of thing you're into, that's okay.

So first things first is that we really enjoyed writing this and wanted to set this up as a grand adventure across the world of Runeterra, where we'll meet many familiar faces, all of them either from Ben 10 or League of Legends, with elements from the Ben 10 reboot and even Legends of Runeterra, as well as the various Riot Forge story games! So I hope you guys are excited for what we'll bring to the story!

Oh, and to address what forms Ben has, he'll be starting to off with the original 10 from the OG series, minus Wildmutt, who is replaced by Blitzwolfer instead (or Benwolf, to those unfamiliar with his name change). Like the series, though, he'll be gaining more as time goes on, even forms scanned from Runeterra creatures!

And lastly, my friend, Just Q, also helped out with some concepts and ideas for this story, and she even provided the cover art! She currently is accepting commissions over at Devianart under the name IamJustQ, though she is currently dealing with the lose of one of her beloved pets at the moment so she may not be available immediately. The concepts she helped write here were done weeks before her pet had passed away and I will give her the space she needs to grieve.

So, I hope you all enjoyed the story and look forward for the future! Hope to see you all again! And I will accept any criticism so I can see where we can improve on our story in the future, just be civil about it, yeah?

Have a pleasant day!