"Next time you'd better be more gentle with me, fly boy," she continued to gripe while securing the last of the devices to the rafters of the pavilion.
Ekko huffed as he poured fuel around its sides. Isn't that the sumps calling the entresol layer dark? "As I said earlier, S doesn't sharpen his spear for hairstyling, E isn't a beautician, and I've little practice cutting a butt-length braid on a hoverboard before."
Jinx did a low volume test on the recording. "Help! In here! Please help–" She stopped and reset it. "Uh-huh, save it for the opening curtain, kiddo. And as for you," she said, hovering down in spins, clearly relishing the freedom the hoverboard provided. "Just be sure not to lose it. Silco and the chembarons already have one and I might need you to slap together an anti-voodoo doll with my hair to save me."
Smiling and shaking his head at the same time, Ekko hopped back on his board. I don't usually cling onto mementos, but I'll accept the token after the troublesome haircut. "For what it's worth, it doesn't have a formal style, but it still suits you. It reminds me of the type you had long ago," he offered.
The smile was returned, though hers was more wistful. "Si–he used to redo the braids. At the end of the week, even if I had maintained it well, he'd take them off, wash and dry my hair, and then rebraid them."
And a couple of hours ago you were saying Vi and I need to assassinate him. After going to her level, he offered a match box. It had two girls in a circle on it, their eyes not quite meeting each other. "I tried a mohawk for a while after you told me Silco takes care of you and before I formed the Firelights. When I asked the group about changing it, a landslide agreed. They prefer my dreads."
Blinking, she took the box and opened it slowly. "I never saw you with it. And Vi will've never seen me with the pigtails," she said, seemingly to herself instead of Ekko or her dead brothers.
"You always have a choice," her near once-again-friend proposed. "But if you want help with a new style, you could ask Vi to cut it for you."'
Her eyes widened and dampened at that idea. With subtly unsteady fingers she drew out three matches and closed the box. "She wasn't really good at it, still that's not a bad idea, arson kid."
Groaning, he took the matchbox back. "The fuel will make the fire fast and low, so just the canvas should burn. As for your part…"
Her hoverboard lifted and spun back to her contraption as she scoffed. "You've already got my hair. That's the only part of me you should have your mind on, lech," she teased.
You've got to stop setting her up for those. But the ribbing is probably a good sign. Even it is partly manipulative. She won't let this get too bad. Right? He double checked the coast was clear through the opening.
Jinx finished rewinding to the start, pressed play and plunged down with the hoverboard. Pulling out her pistol, she held it by the barrel and slowed down. She struck the three matches against the grip, igniting all. Jinx flicked the first match and sped over to the opposing wall and tossed another there.
Ekko tilted his head. Already battle capable after a couple hours on it. It is much easier to admire her when she isn't fighting you. What would have happened if… stop it. Stay in the present or you'll have more to shed tears over.
Smiling, she offered the last match to him. Not my place. He lightly held up his palm. With a one shoulder shrug, she backslid the hoverboard to near the front and tossed it.
Ekko circled in front of her as she paused. Oh, no. Is the fire making her relive that night again? No… she looks pleased. She loves the flame. She backflipped with the hoverboard and was at the small exit. Wordlessly, he joined her and they took to the sky and waited.
Taking out a telescope, she held it out for him. He took it. "Ah!" Ekko exclaimed while trying to stay quiet.
She looked at him with a raised brow. "You shocked me," he explained.
"I do that." She shrugged. She cupped her hands around her eyes like it was functioning binoculars. "Six right? One on each emergency side exit and four up front, lounging around?"
Ekko frowned and shook his head. "Seven. There's a captain up the stairs, doing paperwork. She's… she looks better than any enforcer I've seen before." What does that matter?
Jinx slapped the back of the head in a playful way. "Can you not be a horndog for five minutes?"
"You want me to look at enforcers, I'm going to look at enforcers," he answered with his trademark smirk.
She shook her head. "Imagine getting hot and bothered by an enforcer. There should be a jail for that."
The first four showed and took the bait. "I'm a little girl and you're all so brave for coming to save me," Jinx echoed the recording as they went into the pavilion. The captain and the other two guards had arrived. Just a little closer.
"But it's late and you all should go beddy-bye." Having extinguished enough of the fire in the front, the three entered the big tent. Ekko felt his throat and mouth dry. Please work. For everyone's sake.
"Lullaby and goodnight, go to sleep little jackboots. You'll have a mild to moderate headache, but sadly you'll still wake."
A series of tiny neon green explosions happened from the top of the tent. For a moment, the shape of the monkey face was visible from it at their vantage point. In a moment of exuberance, Jinx took Ekko's hand. He held it in return, though he didn't exhale. Not over yet.
Inside the tent, the released knockout gas worked on its objectives. It filled down over the tent, depriving the weakening fire of its oxygen. More importantly, at least to the watching robbers, it was quickly breathed in by the unexpecting enforcers and would render them unconscious for at least half an hour.
Ekko felt her release his hand and heard her sigh. "Anticlimactic. You can quibble about human life or even enforcer life, but aesthetically an incapacitating agent doesn't hold a candle to big booms."
Ekko closed the telescope. There's no love lost with the enforcers, but we shouldn't dehumanize them. He handed it back to her. Yeah, another morality lecture to her will definitely work this time. Or is this not the first time you've spoken to her? "Thank you for the indulgence. It will make my case easier to the Firelights about the prison break that I can swear you'll protect allies and minimize casualties."
"Hmm… if needed." Jinx dove towards the Progress Hall building and he tailed after. She still didn't have the landing part down fully and stumbled a little getting off. Ekko didn't say anything as he stuck his. It still earned him a glare.
Together, they passed the threshold and entered. "You don't know what it is. Are we looking for things locked up or roped off?" he asked.
Shaking her head, she sprinted boldly toward the stage. "You've been fighting Silco and the chembarons for so long you've forgotten the Piltie mindset. They are self-loving and grandiose. And that goes double for their 'Man of Progres.' Did I ever tell you he didn't lock up the hex crystals I found? A few seconds and the twist of the wrist… that could have changed… almost everything."
You can drive yourself crazy thinking like that. But what is she getting at about the first part? "So, it will have a sign?"
'You aren't listening. They will think it is too great and spectacular to need a sign." She found a giant chord at the side. "The fancy-schmancy invention will be..." She found the giant chord and almost jumped on it to cause the great curtains to open. "...on a big pedestal. So theatrical."