HEIMERDINGER

Another building had crumbled down, a part of it collapsing down into a newly made fissure, just ripped open like a *wound* on a person.

Except this wound claimed many more lives.

Something he beheld with clarity, from a vantage point offered by a flying board, a fruit of ingenuity. A sight he definitely didn't wish to behold, a curse to those with such a privileged position. The sight that froze and harrowed him, more than the one from the Council.

The curse of Cecil B. Heimerdinger, one whom was once so used to overseeing things from above he failed to take notice of what was happening at the lower ground level, and now fully witnessed the... culmination of his labors, if one would call it that.

Labors of ignorance, labors of neglect, labors of cluelessness. That culminated in ruins he witnessed that moment. Though the disaster could, it should have been natural, he *knew* deep down it wasn't - he saw those explosions rocking the shores of the southern isthmus. Something did happen down there, and now brought about the combined result of all that he failed to perceive.

But to investigate now, or even attempt to assist, was definitely beyond him. He had to first secure the future of those *closest* to him, he'd now need their help, and any other help more than ever. To return that place to life and make it better, the one thing he should've done, and now couldn't afford remaining passive any longer. He had to ensure those whom could aid him were safe first, and steer the wrath of the so-called 'Warden-Marshall' away from them.

The thought of... her again made his head hurt, as he descended the flying board close to the exit of where was the fissure for the Firelights' treehouse, no doubt hoping it'd still be there after all that tremor. From what he saw of that fissure, apparently it was one of the least affected areas.

As he got off the board and started walking, he still felt some aching from the previous action he faced when trying to rescue young Miss Medarda. Perhaps he should have simply settled with rescuing Miss Kiramman and Miss Vi, but the revelation of Miss Medarda being used as leverage by... her, to keep young Jayce on a leash, made his anxiety for a greater result overcome his reason, thinking he could use the chaos of the enforcer ladies' escape to his advantage.

He should've known better, that the likes of Camille wouldn't just leave such a prize as the once most influential of Councillors be left unwatched, even more when the news of a breakout just arrived to her ears...

Earlier...

"Leaving without saying goodbye? Tsk, tsk."

Both Heimerdinger and Mel stood frozen and surrounded, both by the energy fields that erupted around them in that garage, as like a very tight enclosured encampment, as well as by the lethal presence before them, the sophisticated combination of machinery and blood, Hextech and tea, staring at the duo that tried escaping the Sidereal Precinct, as a predator would it's pray.

"Get behind me, Miss Medarda.", Heimerdinger stepped a bit forward, as he and Mel had both their eyes at the Warden-Marshall.

"Quite the bulwark...", Camille stated, in a strong hint of sarcasm. "And the pieces to that inexplicable breakout have indeed come together. You *always* did overstep yourself, Professor."

"As if you were any better, Miss Ferros.", Heimerdinger stated, trying to keep firm in spite of his stature and circumstance. "Your forget your 'House' was displaced from the Council for a reason. That article was to be executed strictly in the case of a dire emergency!"

"And this isn't it?", Camille shrugged, glancing at Mel. "A dire emergency for an actual leadership?"

"An 'actual leadership' would be attempting to de-escalate all this!", Mel said.

"And you failed.", Camille replied, bluntly. "Both of you. And now, it remains to the most capable hands to see Piltover through this storm."

"Most capable?", Heimerdinger glanced, for a moment, at the intelligencer's blade-like legs. "Or the most blood-drenched?"

"Please, Yordle, neither of us were born yesterday.", Camille felt slightly offended. "Only *my stomach* remains strong, unlike yours. But then, you always had a soft spot for barely potential youth, be it that cripple or your new fissure mice..."

Heimerdinger's eyes darted away, before glancing back at her. Of course she'd have followed him all the way to Ekko's place, especially in his limped state when he first met that boy. "For as much of 'fissure mice' as they are, they still have more potential than all of your House.", was all he could state. "And more backbone."

Camille's face became a more serious one. "Yield.", she took a step forward. "Neither of you are going anywhere."

Heimerdinger, however, immediately triggered his shock dispenser to fire at Camille, whom jumped aside as Heimerdinger did at the other direction. "Run!", he shouted, and Mel got the message as he fired again, but the shielding within Camille, at her knees held firm.

As Mel reached the energy barrier however, she tried touching it and it was indeed as solid as a stone wall, even as she tried bashing it with her hands. "It's no use!", she cried out loud.

Heimerdinger shut the shock dispenser down before it could overload, allowing Camille to return to her feet as he backed away. "You will leave at MY leave!", the Warden-Marshall exclaimed as she jumped to strike with her blade legs, making Heimerdinger run away, almost tripping and falling as he tried to fire again the shock dispenser.

Camille, however, used her momentum to perform a spin and strike an upper sweep with her right leg, effectively slicing away the mechanical arm holding the shock dispenser, which collapsed to the ground. As Heimerdinger was taken aback, Camille wasted no time in grabbing him and tossing him to the other side of the energy barrier, on which he collided with it like a rag doll and fell to the ground, feeling hurt as he didn't for generations.

"Professor!", Mel shouted, as Camille locked eyes in her and these then darted to the ground, to something she could use to defend herself against the intelligencer. She rushed to pick up the mechanical arm, holding it with two hands as Camille shrugged.

As Mel tried a bash, Camille's shield reacted and bounced the arm back, on which Camille grabbed the mechanical arm and yanked it off Mel's hand before she backslapped and then hit the mechanical arm at the Councillor, making Mel fall back and trip over the high heels to the floor.

"What you could've learned with your mother...", Camille whispered in contempt as she dropped the mechanical arm, but then something hit her shield from behind. She turned around to see Heimerdinger with one of the wrenches in hand, one of the two he carried, ready to throw at her, no doubt expecting Camille to advance on him.

The intelligencer, instead, headed to the downed Mel, whom was getting on her feet, grabbed her by her hair and pulled it back, holding her left blade leg towards the Councillor's neck, whom held her breath, frozen, as Camille's right thigh fired a hook at a nearby support pillar for support.

Heimerdinger remained frozen as well, in horror.

"A single move.", Camille said, slow and clear and loud. "Just give me that."

So much Heimerdinger's as Mel's hearts were running rampant at the present situation, both apparently witnessing the real Warden-Marshall before them.

The Yordle's hands, especially the one holding the wrench, were shaking. "No, wait.", he stuttered. "You wouldn't, Ferros, she's too valuable for y-"

Camille suddenly yanked Mel's hair and lightly moved the leg, cutting a small wound on Mel's throat that made that one yelp and hold it at the same time. The familiar stream of a crimson liquid started trickling down, but Mel was still breathing and alive.

"WAIT!", Heimerdinger yelped out of instinct.

"You think that's an *impediment*!?", Camille raised her voice.

"Very well!", Heimerdinger rapidly said, dropping the wrench to the floor and showing his hands open, for Camille to see. "Very well."

Camille, however, remained immobile, keeping Mel under the blade leg. "Your calculation remains correct, however.", she replied, resuming her control, eyes darting down towards Mel. "Miss Medarda is *still* of value. But what of you?", her gaze returned to Heimerdinger. "Disappointment, deserter, defector. What value would *you* have?"

Heimerdinger tried searching his mind for a possible answer, for something that could pique her interest. "I'm still a Professor, an inventor.", he said.

"We have that a plenty, nowadays.", Camille replied. "And you'd still remain a risk, with your collaboration with those trenchrats."

"No, leave them out of this!", Heimerdinger pleaded.

"Should I?", Camille asked. "They invaded the Academy, pilfered our most prized secrets."

"They did return them!", Heimerdinger retorted.

"*Did they*?", Camille shrugged. "And they'd still remain a risk. Their success had proven our vulnerability."

"They were desperate, they'd never have done it, otherwise!", Heimerdinger pleaded. "Please, Ferros, leave th-"

"Manners, if you'll please.", Camille raised her tone.

"Miss Ferros, please, leave them alone!", Heimerdinger was nervous, eyes darting everywhere, beyond words. "If, if there is anything..."

"Would you, now?", Camille asked, amused, a second later. "For those brats, rather than your so-beloved city?"

"Enough, Ferros!", Mel pleaded. "You've what you want!"

Camille's eyes darted down for a second, towards Mel, and then back at Heimerdinger. "Verily, I have.", she said.

Camille then finally let go of Mel, retracting her leg and letting Mel crawl forward, grasping her throat wound and breathing as if she had just left a lake and she barely knew how to swim, and this was her first breath of fresh air. As Camille regained her composed stature, the hook retracted back to her thigh.

Heimerdinger kept staring at it all, frozen and ears lowered, feeling the one thing he shouldn't have before the likes of the Steel Shadow, but it was inevitable in his case.

Fear. Tangible, *delicious* fear.

"There is something you can do.", Camille said. "You said your trenchrats did return what they had stolen. Not everything, they did not.", she then noticed Heimerdinger staring at her, a subtle tinge of confusion. "Clearly you weren't told, not even by your new sandclock companion."

'Ekko?', Heimerdinger thought. 'What else he could've taken, other than Hextech, to peak her interest?'

"The device is akin to a disc, with a gemstone of it's own on top of it.", Camille continued. "I suppose I don't need tell you further."

"And, would I bring you that... you'd leave them alone?", Heimerdinger asked.

"Even with all reasons not to...", Camille answered, coldly, after a couple of seconds. "Get it, and then... you come back home."

"Back home?", Heimerdinger asked, already suspecting the answer a second later. "Piltover?"

"The place you should've had a care with, first and foremost.", Camille said. "And you will, this time."

Heimerdinger slowly realized, in an imperceptible dread, the meaning of those words.

"Welcome back, *Councillor* Heimerdinger.", Camille savored each of these words.

Mel took her own glance at Heimerdinger and then at the Warden-Marshall, at awe and then at disgust. "You wouldn't, Ferros, you can't, not just like that!", she said. "We dismissed him, unanimously!"

"Times of crisis, Medarda.", Camille shrugged. "Of your making, I'd add..."

"Miss Kiramman and her friend, then.", Heimerdinger then said, suddenly. "Call off the pursuit and let them free."

Camille's confident expression was broken, imperceptibly surprised. "At your current situation, you still have the gall to dictate terms?", she asked.

"You want a puppet in the Council, that is clear.", Heimerdinger replied, apparently regaining some of his courage. "But putting a puppet and getting him to move by your string pulls are *two* different things. I will recover whatever this device it is the Firelights had stolen, but for their sake alone. If you want me to dance to your exact tune, Miss Kiramman and her friend are my condition."

"Cecil, don't! They aren't worth-", Mel started.

"A Councillor by your side, or a couple of locked up enforcers that don't have as much to offer?", Heimerdinger raised her voice. "Calculate this, miss Ferros."

Camille's eyes tightened for a brief second as she stared at the Yordle, before they then darted aside for a moment. Apparently the Professor did get what he wanted, for her to calculate, to measure. To determine values.

After a couple of seconds of silence, Camille then walked to the severed mechanical arm and lifted it, contemplating it as she then stared at the Yordle, whose heart resumed racing again.

She then walked slowly to him, the arm in hand.

"A reminder, at the least...", Camille deadpanned, before she then struck the arm at the Yordle, making him collapse to the ground, yelping in pain. "Do not tarry with the device."

The energy barriers then collapsed, as Enforcers then moved in.

The rest was obvious. Miss Medarda was taken away to another location, and Heimerdinger to a point where he was given his board back, and warned to not try 'any amusements', as if the recent threat and the fates of everyone he was supposed to help on his back wasn't enough.

And now there he was, still a bit hurt, before the vision of the treehouse, which survived the quake and but days ago gave him an inspired confidence of renewed hope, the perspective of a new home. One that now he'd have to leave again, for a city that clearly lost itself a long time ago and he was too myopic to see it.

And that indeed hurt him more than the bruises.

He stepped forward, through the unguarded, non-exit other end of the treehouse, one that had no way out but up, back to the small, still rebuilding, gathered, grounded anxious Firelight younglings that clearly could stand the brunt of that quake. He could see the Vastayan, Scar, amongst them, helping a few pick apart the debris of some collapsed housing as some others stood watch over the breach resultant of that dreadful battle... and his former apprentice, whom indeed opened it with a vengeance long overdue, one which would haunt the Professor for the days ahead, besides this.

Heimerdinger took a deep breath, knowing this would be the most difficult thing to do - to have to look at the people he was starting to look up to and having to hide what was really going on.

And even the supposed 'perfect cover' of the catastrophe wasn't of much help in this respect.

"Mister Scar!", he shouted, stepping hurriedly, as the others were caught the attention, with some stepping towards the Yordle, the Firelight lieutenant included.

"Are you alright?", Scar asked. "We thought..."

"*I* should be the one asking that.", Heimerdinger replied, gesturing around, but the phrase clearly having been asked with a bit more difficulty than Heimerdinger thought.

"I think we got lucky, for once...", Scar said. "Ekko! He's back!"

Heimerdinger's heart raced a bit as he saw the young, hourglass tatooed man run forward, from a downed house he was picking apart with others, towards the Yordle. He blinked a bit his eye, nervous, an instinct he had to fight, no matter what. For their sake.

"Thank Janna, small guy, you made it.", Ekko said. "Tell me you saw it."

Heimerdinger shook his head. "More than I should have, lad.", he said. "It's a total catastrophe up there, new fissures have opened, most of the surface buildings in this side of the river have crumbled. And this *wasn't* a normal tremor."

"What?", Ekko asked.

"There were explosions everywhere, across the whole coast of the isthmus.", Heimerdinger answered. "Of the likes I've only seen when..."

As Heimerdinger lost words, Scar and Ekko stared at each other, their expressions becoming one of realization upon hearing the 'E' word.

"Jinx.", Scar said.

"She's really upping the ante...", Ekko followed.

"That manic girl, you mean?", Heimerdinger asked, before he shook his head. "No. No, I mean, even if I only saw her recently, this was just too large in scale, even for her..."

Ekko and Scar then looked at each other and nodded, seeing some sense in Heimerdinger's point.

"And... what of them?", Ekko asked. "Vi and her girl, did you..."

Heimerdinger glanced at Ekko, an imperceptible look of worry and sadness within him at the same time, as his eyes did dart away. "They are free, lad.", he said. "And... they're safe."

Ekko did notice some hesitation in the Yordle's voice. "Let's hope so...", he replied. "Take a moment, you've done more than enough, little guy."

Heimerdinger nodded as he then walked towards the workshop, the young hourglass man remaining behind with his Lieutenant.

"You heard the same I did?", Ekko asked, by the time Heimerdinger entered the workshop.

"The answer or the tone of it?", Scar asked back, glancing at Ekko, whom glanced back as well and nodded, both agreeing what words weren't needed.

Something did happen topside.

"What you wanna do, then?", Scar asked.

"What can I do, you mean?", Ekko asked, eyes shutting in subtle denial and worry. "We wait."

Within the workshop, Heimerdinger took a breath, feeling the pain of it, a tear almost gushing out of his eye as he then beheld the workshop, made a mess by the tremors, no doubt, as well as left-out, shot up robotic assistant he crafted up. How, in a few days, that did feel like his home, instead of the vast Council Chambers and clockwork-like table which he spent the last decades taking decisions, for good or ill, regarding both the City of Progress and the fissures that scarred it.

He took a glance at the door, knowing he'd need to make his move soon, but then he looked back, and then at the retractable flying board he carried and let it out on the ground. Then, a small green-ish light started flying about as it then landed close to him on the ground.

One of those Firelight insects which gave the rapscallions their name. He extended his hand open for the insect to fly close to him, landing it, contemplating the majestic, furry creature.

That caught his attention, the metaphor as explicit and obvious. An apparent glimmer of light, of hope, in a dark, cold, uncaring place that was the vastness of the world. What Piltover originally was meant to be, and he failed to take care of, as Camille reminded.

He glanced at the door again, and took his decision.

"For you, little ones...", he said, waving his hand and letting the insect fly free once more.