"Powder, I'm sorry, but I had to. He was suffering and going to die anyway," Vi confessed. She extended the pistol grip first to Jinx.
Jinx felt like she had crawled a long distance through a city-sized sewer pipe. She looked to Caitlyn, but she seemed discontent and ambivalent. Jinx looked back at who she'd thought was her sister.
"He–he could have recovered. He probably had the fast healing abilities like Singed and you have," Jinx argued. She slowly took back the pistol and rehooked it, but felt too disoriented to get off her knees.
Vi shook her head. "The creature clearly hated Singed, but only he could have kept him alive. I doubt any of us know much about his sick medical science."
Jinx felt the familiar drug of rage building in her. How can she justify it so easily? She can murder a family murder like he was an insect while I get tormented by it for years semi-constantly? She gets superpowers from it and I become–I become me?!
"What should you do now?" Claggor asked.
"She's mad that she didn't get to kill Vander this time," Mylo jeered.
Trembling, Jinx reached out and took Caitlyn's hand to get up instead of Vi's. "But Vander saved us."
"He may have been a good man. But Warwick was not Vander," Vi asserted.
That's it, huh? She kills family if they disappoint her. That doesn't keep the name she remembers them having. 'You're Pow-Pow or you're a corpse.'"
Despite how drained she felt without it, Jinx pushed her rage away as best as she could and tried to reach her deeper feelings. "Violet, do you know how afraid I am of you?"
Vi blinked and frowned. "P–X," Vi began like her mouth was full of sand. "I am sorry. That was frightening. We can talk about it after I eliminate the threats to us."
What would Ekko say if he was here? He'd try to soothe me by touching me gently and encourage me to be patient and see it from her viewpoint. "That is a large part of what scares me. I don't think if you beat and kill people you'll end up happy with 'Powder.' Because I've shot and killed a lot of people to be with you, and I'm not happy with 'Vi.'"
Vi's fist clenched and her bright pink eyes narrowed; Jinx braced herself. She really could kill me with her bare hands now. No chance for me to stop her, even if I had it in me.
"What are you thinking then?" she asked after a couple of loud silent moments.
Sighing, Jinx slumped her shoulders slightly. "I think we need quiet for at least the rest of today. Let's go to the Firelights hideout. Ekko will have someone watching the abandoned arcade for us. Then plan the next fight, maybe."
"Pardon my interruption," the captain said. She'd checked the hoverboards. Or at least that was the pretense for giving us semi-privacy. "But I second that. Assuming I'm still not a prisoner, I'd like to go with you two there and speak with–the leader about matters."
Cait paused. Jinx saw her sister looking like she was considering it. Cait continued. "And I'd like to tell Jinx that Vi went through absolute hell. I don't tell you this to make you feel guilty, but the shimmer procedure was the most horrific thing I've ever seen. After her lungs were healed, she kept saying your other name between her screams while being semi-conscious. I don't know your past beyond what you've told me, but I don't believe a family member that cares for you that much would hurt you."
I had to save her, though. I couldn't lose her again. And you're clearly not right about the last point, Piltie princess. "Vi, I didn't know how awful the doctor would be to you. I'm sorry."
"And Vi," Cait turned to the other sister, seeming to have gained confidence that she hadn't been told to shut up. "Your sister's efforts to find and save you have been incredible. I've never seen such sisterly devotion that she risked her freedom, safety, and life for you. Again, I don't know the whole story, but that should matter more than if she wants to call you Jinx, Powder, X, or Matilda."
Vi finally relaxed her fist. After a couple of seconds, she turned to her Jinx with the hint of a grin. "For an enforcer, she sure is sweet."
Jinx chuckled. "Like a… doughnut. We're going?"
Nodding, Vi joined Jinx in going back to the main room. Jinx snapped her fingers. "Oh, before we leave, you should probably put on some clothes."
Vi looked down and realized she still only had underwear that was mostly stained deep with her blood and a little of the others blood. "Oh, yeah. I may be less sensitive to temperature now. Caitlyn, what did that mad chemist do with my clothes?"
Caitlyn, who had been focused on the operations, the fight, and the sister's conflicts, just seemed to notice Vi's half nakedness. "Hot or… I mean, in a box by the table." Her pupils were dilated and she had blushing cheeks.
Jinx caught that with a raised eyebrow. "Before you dress, you should probably try to wash away the blood. We'll attract too much attention if nothing else." She turned to Cait with a subtle mischievous grin. "Do you know where Singed had sponges or a hose?"
Her detective instincts kicking in, Cait eyed the walls for pipes. Spotting some, she followed it and found a medium length hose.
"Rub-a-dub-dub," Jinx's grin deepened as she looked at Vi. "Remember when you'd hose Ekko and me off after playing in the scrapyard?"
Vi nodded. "I don't know how you all thought getting blasted with the cold water after getting filthy was worth it, though you two made interesting inventions a lot of the time. You want to play big sister now?"
Shaking her head, she walked to and jumped on the hoverboard she'd arrived in. "I have the most experience with these 'interesting inventions' so I'll scout outside to be sure it is clear. Caitlyn, would you hose her down?"
Cait's blush return. "I–I could. If you want me to, Vi?"
Nodding, Vi came close to the drain. JInx shot off on the hoverboard. This feels rejuvenating. No blindfold; no urgent plan; no other rider. If Ekko would and would be allowed to market these, he'd be as rich as a Medarda.
She went as high as she could without worrying about being spotted. Late afternoon? We may be able to have supper with the Firelights. Or at least have their food. More of them shouldn't have been hurt from Dystopian Dynasties, but they'll be a real target of the Pilities now.
She took her time returning to the doctor's lab. Vi is so formidable now. She always was, but now she is a one-woman army. If she knew the details of Silco's organization, she could blast it into fragments like she was a chomper.
She landed and walked just outside the room. And then there's Caitlyn. Where can she fit in? She is one of them, but she's already saved Vi twice. She'll have to return to them eventually though, right?
Her fists knocked on the metallic frame that had the pretense of being a door. "You two finished?" she asked in a playful tone.
"What do–yes, of course," a flustered Vi replied. Half-suppressing a smirk, Jinx walked around. Vi's clothes clung to her wet skin and Cait looked a bit annoyed at the little sister's return.
"You sure? You don't want me to go for another ten minutes or…."
"Let's go," the fighter and enforcer said as o.
Jinx shrugged. "Okey-dokie. I know the path, so you two can ride the other hoverboard together."
They didn't fight her.