CAITLYN II
Never in a million in years would I have been able to predict this. Nothing like this has ever happened before in the history of Piltover. Some were stunned in disbelief while others ran for the exit as if the girl on the screen was going to crawl out of it. "My name is Jinx and tonight we have a thrilling live performance that is to die for so sit back, relax and enjoy!" The six officers were lined up and each had a small whiteboard hung around their neck. The first had a drawing of a rat with purple eyes, the second had a drawing of a gun, the third through fifth were blank and the last one had a drawing of fireworks.
The lights dimmed and a spotlight was shone down on the first officer who was strapped to his chair. Jinx ungagged him and held a microphone up to his mouth, "Hello Contestant #1, how are you feeling today?"
"You crazy fucking bitch!"
"Whoa! Producer, we're going to need you to bleep that out," she said as she looked to someone offscreen. "Huh, what's that? We can't because there's no delay? Oh well, what can you do, am I right?" She turned back to the enforcer, "We are going to be playing a game called Truth or Dare! The rules are simple; I will ask you a question and you will have to answer it truthfully or be forced to fulfill a spooky dare. Are you ready? Great! Your question is: what can you tell me about Shimmer?"
"Someone turn that video off right now!" shouted Marcus and the enforcers beside him scrambled into action.
"Why?" I asked as I stood up from my seat and spoke out. "The perpetrators are broadcasting where they are right now. This is valuable information that could help us locate the hostages." His eyes burned with fury as he looked at me but this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn the truth of what was happening within the undercity. The most powerful people in Piltover were all present and if I had to give up my badge for them to hear it and be shaken out of apathy then I would gladly do so.
"Kiramman, you –"
"Caitlyn is right." An unlikely ally came to my defense as Councilor Medarda stood by my side. "Our priority right now is rescuing those officers. If watching this increases our odds of finding them quicker then we should do so."
"Councilor, we have no idea what those terrorists might do. The images may be too disturbing for someone of your status," said Marcus as he tried to convince her.
Unfortunately, something he said seemed to have struck a nerve within her and her brows furrowed as she straightened her posture. "Do you believe my stomach is too weak to see a little blood, sheriff?"
"N-No, that's not –"
The head of Clan Medarda did not allow him to finish as she turned to the rest of the aristocrats in the audience. "Unfortunately, our celebration will have to be cut short today. Given that lives are at risk, we will continue to play the broadcast in order to expedite our search of the culprits. As the sheriff has stated, the following video may contain disturbing imagery. If you do not feel comfortable watching, now would be the time to leave." Not a single person in the audience moved as her eyes scanned the rows. Now that was power that not even my mother possessed; the ability to influence and control a whole room with just a few sentences.
With the dispute settled, our attention turned back to the screen. "…I don't know what that is."
"Wanh-wanh! Wrong answer. Since our first player is feeling a little shy, let's see if the dare will change his mind." Jinx walked out of the frame for a brief moment before returning with a bounce and a steel cage in her hands. A small rat squeaked as she lifted the cloth covering. "Have you guys ever seen that movie where they put a rat in a bowl, place it open side down on someone's body, and hold a flame to it? No? Well, this is close enough."
A syringe full of purple liquid was injected into the rodent's body and it began to convulse as black veins became visible all over its body. The whites of its eyes turned purple and its temperament shifted from mild to savage. Its nails elongated into ugly yellow claws and its front teeth grew into menacing fangs. The sound of cracking bones could be heard as its skeleton and muscles expanded to twice their original size. It let out a feral growl as saliva dripped from its open maw and began ferociously attacking the metal bars of its cage.
"What the hell is that thing?!" asked Jayce.
"Some kind of…transmutation," said Viktor with a gulp.
"Corruption…" whispered Councilor Heimerdinger as he watched with eyes full of horror.
"Look at that thing go!" commentated Jinx as the rat rapidly chewed through one of the bars. "I think she likes you, it looks like she wants to give you a kiss on the cheek."
"Let me go! Somebody, help!" yelled the enforcer as he struggled in vain against his restraints. The monster chewed through another bar and started to force its enlarged body through the hole. A woman in the audience screamed as it finally got free and dashed forward. "O-Okay, I get it, I'll tell you everything!" Just as it was about to pounce on top of him, a young man in an owl mask knocked it back with his clockhand weapon. The rodent rolled back onto its legs and rushed at its new target but before it was able to reach him, its tiny head was pierced by a bullet.
Purple blood leaked out of the hole in its head and its body twitched for a few more seconds before it finally died. "If you thought that was cool, you wouldn't believe what it could do for humans," said Jinx with a chuckle as she blew out the smoke from her gun.
Grayson's autopsy report came straight to my mind. She died from deep slashes across her chest and back and her cause of death was attributed to an animal attack since no human was thought to be capable of making those marks. It was then closed on the basis that it was an accident and not a murder, however, now that I saw first-hand the effects of Shimmer, there was no doubt in my mind that it was no accident. He pushes the Shimmer. Silco. My hand clenched around the seat of my chair. He killed Grayson. But how did he know she was in the undercity that night or was it a coincidence?
"Now, you might be thinking, 'Phew, thank goodness that stuff's not in Piltover!' but you would be wrong. Contestant #1, where did we get this Shimmer from?"
"…The Hexgates Warehouse."
"And how much would you say is there right now?"
"They were stored in X-marked 42 gallon barrels…there were too many to count."
"But I thought anything that passed through here was logged and approved!"
"We don't review them. A man who goes by 'S' pays us a fee to move the unauthorized merchandise each month. It's been like that for years." Jayce looked heartbroken as he listened. His life's work that was meant to improve lives was being used for drug smuggling while the enforcers watched it happen. I had told him about some of my experiences in the force but he must have never thought the corruption ran this deep.
"You're tellin' me that stuff is in our city right now?!" bawled Councilor Hoskel.
That ignited the fear within the other nobles and the venue quickly devolved into a mass of hysteria. Insults were hurled towards Marcus and the other enforcers for compromising their safety and the sheriff was forced to do damage control. "Everyone, please calm down," he said as he put up his hand to block a bag of popcorn that was thrown at him. "I assure you that this issue will be investigated and those responsible will be appropriately punished."
"How can we trust you to do that when you're the one that has allowed this to happen?" fretted Councilor Salo.
Even the automaton, Councilor Bolbok, expressed his displeasure, "Unacceptable. This level of gross negligence does not inspire my confidence."
Councilor Medarda stepped in, "Mr. Talis, you are not responsible for this yet it is your life's work that is being misused. I believe all present would agree that you have the knowledge necessary to secure the Hexgates. Given the situation, I propose he be given the resources and authority to protect all our investments henceforth." She looked to the rest of the Councilors as they all nodded in turn before resting her eyes on Jayce. "Would you accept this duty?" He was never one for politics but at that moment, he nodded with conviction. "Then for your first task, see to it that all traces of this substance is removed from the warehouse before the dawn."
"It will be done," he said before exiting the venue.
With the threat of the Shimmer addressed, the crowd settled down for the next act of the show. Something told me that this wasn't the only piece of bad news we were going to get tonight. "Thank you Contestant #1 for participating! Everyone, please give him a round of applause!" said Jinx as Owl replaced the first enforcer with another one. "Up next, Contestant #2, the game you'll be playing is called Bilgewater Roulette! Here's how it works, we take a revolver and empty each chamber except for one round, then –"
"Y-You won't have a problem with me, I swear! Please don't kill me!"
"Wh– Producer, is this allowed? Yes? Fine. No Bilgewater Roulette, I guess," she muttered with disappointment in her voice as she put the revolver away. She walked over to the rat's corpse and dug out the bullet that was stuck in its cranium before coming back to the officer. "What type of bullet is this?"
The enforcer looked at it closely but I could tell from a glance. ".22 LR…It's the same type used by the enforcers."
"Hmm, that's weird because I get shot at by these all the time and they certainly don't look like enforcers. How does that work?"
"When the Criminal Law Amendment Act was passed, many firearms and ammunition had to be disposed of, including those used by the enforcers. They were supposed to be sent to a pre-approved smelter, however, this was around the time when the Hexgates were being built. There was no excess capacity to handle the work so they sub-contracted it out to a company in the undercity. We later learned that the smelting company in the undercity was just a front and stopped the shipments. There were ten batches in total, by the time we caught the mistake, seven had already been bought by an old gentleman who goes by Chross."
"How many guns were inside each batch?"
There was a moment of silence before the enforcer looked down in shame. "25 Lewis machine guns, 10,000 rounds of ammunition, 50 semi-automatic rifles, and 200 pistols with shells."
"Holy shit that's a lot of guns!" exclaimed Jinx as she looked off-camera. "Did you guys know it was that many guns? That's like, one gun for every…twelve people! The guy leading our last revolution fought with fucking cast iron gauntlets." With that much firepower plus the Shimmer, if war broke out again between our two sides, the fighting would not end at just the bridge. Hundreds, no, thousands would die and that was something the Council could not allow to happen. But what were the options? If enforcers were to start making mass arrests, it would only incite retaliation from the trenchers and ignite the very thing that we wanted to prevent.
"How did it come to this?" lamented Councilor Heimerdinger.
"For too long has the underground been left unchecked," said Councilor Hoskel as he clenched his fist.
"We've lost touch. They may not be your preferred constituents, but they're still our people," said Councilor Shoola with a hint of optimism.
But my mother quickly gave her a reality check. "The undercity cannot be controlled. Not by us."
"So where does this leave us?" asked Councilor Salo and nobody had the answer.
"Wow, we are halfway done already, can you believe how quickly time flies when you're having fun? To begin the second half of our show, we have a special game that involves not one, not two, but three contestants at the same time!" Three of the remaining four enforcers were sat back-to-back in a circle and each was handed a crayon. "There is no communicating allowed. Each player will write the answer to the question on their whiteboard. If your answer does not match the majority, you lose. If none of the answers match, you all lose. Get it?"
Once is chance, twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern. Whatever bombshell she was about to drop next, she wanted to leave no doubt regarding the validity of it. "Your question is…" I leaned forward in my seat. "Who is Silco's mole within the enforcers?" By the looks on their faces, all three knew exactly who it was but none of them wanted to be the first to betray the pack. A part of me wished that I was the one doing the interrogating so that I could shake the answer out of them. Who was the one who shook hands with the devil and trampled upon Grayson's memory?
"W-We can't…Silco will kill us too."
"Oh you silly goose," said Jinx with laughter as she slung her arm around the officer's shoulder and suddenly all humor drained from her voice. "If you don't write a name down, I'll be the one to kill you." The juxtaposition sent a shiver down my spine while the enforcers on the screen began visibly shaking. "Decide. You can die tonight protecting a piece of shit or you could do something good for once and take your chances with Silco." They gulped and after a moment of contemplation, each wrote down a name. "On the count of three please reveal your answer. One!"
Someone who would benefit from hiding the crime lords of the undercity.
"Two!"
Someone high in the enforcers' chain of command.
"Three!"
The answers were revealed and a spotlight shone down on one man in the audience.
"How could you betray her…" I asked in a whisper as I turned around.
Marcus.
He was stunned for a moment as everyone in the venue stared at him in disbelief before he scoffed, "This is nonsense, you can't possibly believe what she is saying. The officers are clearly under duress and she must have coached them to write my name beforehand."
"Then answer this," I said as I walked up to him. "The night Grayson died, she took her squadron of men with her down to the undercity." The eyes were the windows to the soul and I stared right into his. "Were you there?" His guilt was laid bare in front of me, clear as day, and for a split second, he looked ready to confess.
But then his jaw clenched and with a cold tone he replied, "No, I was sick that night."
"Liar…"
His eyes met mine, almost as if daring me to do something, but before I could my mother grabbed my shoulder. "Enough, Caitlyn. This is not how justice is done in Piltover." It took all my willpower to not sock him in the face but in the end, my mother was right. Assaulting him wouldn't get me anywhere and it was a prison cell, not a hospital, that I intended to send him to. "Sheriff Marcus has been accused of a serious crime and the Council intends to find out the truth. In the meantime, while the investigation is ongoing, a substitute sheriff shall be chosen by the Council to fill in his place. Any objections?"
My mother shot him a challenging look and Marcus wisely conceded. "If that is the wish of the Council, then I'm happy to cooperate." The report was right, it was an animal that killed her. Only a snake could be so cold-blooded and I would prove that the snake was him.
"Enjoy your freedom while it lasts, 'sheriff,'" I whispered as he was escorted out.
"We shall see." He was more confident than I was comfortable with and something told me he was going to wiggle his way out of this unless we nailed him soon. The Council could only suspend him for so long and once he got his power back, he would certainly tie up any loose ends that could incriminate him. I needed concrete proof that would put him away for good before that happened and luckily, I knew exactly who to get it from. I turned my attention to the blue-haired girl on the screen and the only question remaining was: where was she right now?
I closed my eyes and organized all the information I had so far. At the festival, they marked Jayce so presumably, it is somewhere that he has restricted access to. Each drawing on the whiteboards has corresponded to their act on-screen so going by the last one, it looked to be something related to fireworks. If they wanted to set off fireworks that were visible to where we were then they would need to be somewhere high up. But I thought anything that passed through here was logged and approved! Here. The Hexgates!
"As you can see, there are a lot of problems downtown and while we've been doing our best, as honest and law-abiding citizens, we don't have superpower drugs or guns…not as many guns…" They were going into their final act, I didn't have much time left. If they escaped, there's no telling when I would be able to see them again. Without a second thought, I grabbed my rifle and sprinted out of the venue. They got away from me once, but this time was going to be different.
My heart hammered in my chest as I ascended the thousand winding steps. The runes basked me in their blue florescent light as I reached the top. It was quiet but signs of activity were clear everywhere I looked. The area had been vandalized with childish drawings and items from the show littered the floor. The camera lay discarded and pointed to the last remaining enforcer with a countdown clock in his lap. I rushed forward to unbind him but stopped as a voice suddenly called out to me from above. "Officer Caitlyn." I raised my weapon and saw Owl perched precariously on one of the frames in the ceiling. "Is that the new enforcer uniform?"
"Freeze, hands in the air where I can see them!" He hopped down and landed a few steps in front of me with his hands raised. My eyes looked for any suspicious movements while at the same time keeping a mental count of the time remaining on the clock. "What happens when that clock hits zero?"
"Piltover gets reminded that progress doesn't only belong to one city."
"You did all of this just to blow up the Hexgates?" He didn't answer nor could I get a read from his masked visage. "Where's your friend?"
He tilted his head, "Which one?"
As he said that, a dozen more masked figures walked out of the shadows, and in that brief second of distraction, a blur of blue came down from above and I felt my body go numb. "Missed me?" asked Jinx playfully as she put away the stun gun and kicked my weapon away.
"Props to you, first figuring out that we were from the undercity then finding us here, that's pretty impressive."
"An enforcer that does her job? It really is Progress Day!"
"Don't do this," I begged as the countdown reached the final ten seconds. "If you destroy the Hexgates, you will start a war. Thousands will die."
"We're not here to start a war with Piltover, we're here to end the one in the undercity."
The countdown hit zero but instead of a violent explosion, the dome of the tower opened up and thousands of firelights rose into the air like stars. They formed a stream like a jade river cutting through the dark nebula of the night sky. Within that band of light, images of people I didn't recognize were projected. A stout man with a kind smile and a lanky boy with wild hair were among the dozens I saw. As the last image appeared, Jinx raised her hand towards the sky, revealing the blue cloud tattoos that traveled up the right side of her body. "Hey sis…are you watching?" The emotion in her voice was raw and the image was seared in my mind.
The picture of the girl with short pink hair.
Voraces Lector: That's actually a really good idea, I think it would be cool to write a side chapter from the perspective of someone like Heimerdinger or even Silco! Hmm, you've given me a lot to think about…
DashBoy47: Wow that is way too high praise for me XD I originally started writing fanfictions as a way to improve my English and although I do see some improvement in my writing compared to my earlier works, I'm definitely still a fledgling compared to the pros but thank you for the compliment!
PandoNee-chan: Thanks for taking the time to leave a review, it means a lot!
Iskandar06: Thanks for the encouragement, hope you enjoyed this week's chapter!
MysticSpider: With butter, I hope 0.0
Warlocktoungue: You are right on the money about that scene being lifted from The Dark Knight when the Joker crashes the party! Glad you liked Cait's debut and speaking of Jinx, writing her without her inner thoughts was a lot harder than I expected. Balancing her in-character craziness and not going over the top took a lot of re-writing and I hope I got it right .
Guest: Glad someone got that reference XD