Sevika stabbed Silco in the eye. He doubled over in agony from the needle and waited for the tiny shimmer and medicinal solution to relieve it. She won't like seeing me like this, but she understands it as a show of the loyalty between us. Maybe she's thinking about Jinx too.
The pain subsided and when he looked up she seemed placid. He composed himself and stood up from the crate. He extended his hand and she passed the injector to him.
"Did you confirm that Chross had the pneumatube delivered?" he asked and they began a slow walk.
"Yes, though we are risking so much on him not turning on us. Especially with me and our best lieutenants being indisposed for these crucial hours."
"We've been delaying too long. In card game terms, we are short-stacked and need to go all-in."
She tilted her head. Silco was never a big smiler, at least not since he let a weak man die and even less recently. Still, his lips came close. "I used to play back when. Remember?"
"Not well, honestly."
Too many lifetimes ago. Sevika was the youngest, scrappiest of us. The bigger-than-life Vander. People-knower Benzo. Me. Let the past go; secure the future. If not for us, for the next.
"Well, if my distant observations of Heimerdinger are worth their salt, he hasn't played in even longer. He'll likely bring the seemingly sympathetic Shoola and Mel whose connections to Noxus are a trump card."
Sevika frowned. They were close to the bridge now. "Not one of the warmongers, to try to agitate us? Or even Kiramman?"
Silco shook his head. "Predicting Council politics from afar is challenging, but the yordle seems to want peace. But he also wants the status quo in Piltover. He will have to choose."
The two finished the walk and joined their longtime soldiers at the mouth of the bridge. Silco nodded to Ran and Lock. In a way, they're status is being afforded the equivalence of councilors.
They walked a quarter the way across the bridge. Two enforcers stood vigilantly at the Piltovian quarter mark. Between them was the Shoola, Heimerdinger, and the Man of Progress. Interesting. A political novice, but the hextech inventor. The individual most responsible for stymying Zaun independence. Him or perhaps… her.
"Be model hostages. Eyes and ears open, but stomach slights. At least for now," Silco directed. Sevika, Ran, and Lock began the slow march onward and the Piltover side did likewise.
After a long minute, Silco extended his hand. "Councilor Shoola, Councilor Heimerdinger, and Mister Tallis. A pleasure."
Shoola and then Heimderdinger accepted the handshake quickly but Jayce acted like he didn't notice it. "Unpleasurable circumstances, surely. A killed sheriff, half a dozen enforcers assaulted, the hextech gemstone robbed, and my friend kidnapped."
Caitlyn Kiramman is also Jayce Tallis' friend? Chross missed or hid that. Finding her is all the more valuable.
"There is much to discuss and show. The Undercity, what many are calling Zaun, has become fractious and militant. That has created problems and loss in your City of Progress," he stated as a matter-of-fact.
Shoola brought a finger across her chin. "Zaun? Our city? Are you implying these recent crimes are the precursory actions to a secessionist revolution, Silco?"
She knows that is the implication, but wants it spelled out for her colleagues. And she's trying to elicit information or even emotion out of me.
"I know of the groups responsible for those actions. Their crimes were done out of their own interests and self-empowerment instead of improving the Undercity or independence for Zaun. I am glad to provide information or at least my perspective, but let us begin our walk. It has been a long time since a councilor set foot on this side of the Pilt."
Heimerdinger sighed as the four began to move. "The last point is certainly accurate, Mister Silco. While I certainly don't wish for Piltover to be cleaved, I recognize the Council and I've been negligent for our denizens here."
To say the least, but farther than I'd expect him to go, especially at the beginning. "An open-mind is key to successful negotiations. Incidentally, it's just Silco. Zaunites rarely have surnames."
"Your one name is getting more attention lately, Silco. Before we get far into this tour, we should discuss you more," Jayce said.
Silco turned his damaged eye to him. A little tricky as the daylight was getting stronger and Silco was not accustomed to it. "You have a focused mind, Man of Progress. I imagine it helps in your line of work. For mine, versatility is more beneficial."
The chemking paused for a moment to take out and light a cigar. "Anyway, there is not much to tell. Orphaned young–one I never knew and the other crushed in the mines. Followed her in working them. I did my small part enriching House Hoskell–maybe some the minerals went to the Tallis factories too. Became a community leader. Disfigured in a fight with an old friend. Supported innovation; attempted to unite this side of the Pilt; have controlling interest in many businesses here."
Shoola had been watching him the closest. "Not much, huh? Sounds like your tale could make for a compelling opera."
"And that's just the information he's volunteering. Silco, some say you're also a murderous drug lord who rules the Undercity through a cabal and that you'll do anything to break Piltover apart," Jayce accused.
Silco blew up a circle into the air and shrugged. A bit too melodramatic if I were to blow it into his face. "On this side of the Pilt, you may be surprised by what is said about you. Cards on the table, many in the Undercity have found taking lives necessary for protecting themselves and theirs. I have promoted shimmer, as it needed to heal many diseases and injuries that happen here, including my own." Silco paused to gesture with the cigar to the infected part of his face with one hand and slowly drew out the injector with his other.
He tossed the stub of the cigar into a metal receptacle as he led them into an abandoned hotel lobby. "This way out of the Promenade." The four went into a large lift.
"And the rest of the accusation?" Jayce pressed.
Silco pressed the buttons and they headed down. "I have not been judgemental in collaborating with other leaders in the Undercity for its improvement. Indulge me in taking a large sniff, if you would."
The scientists joined him in doing it, but Shoola stayed cautious. "What are we smelling?"
A half-grin formed on his face. "It is what you are not smelling. The general pollution, noxious fumes from the mines, the grey itself. It was far more murderous than any non-laughable rumor about me is, especially over the decades. As a former child of the mines, I've increased safety measures, reduced airborne pollution, and ensured the availability of medicinal shimmer among Zaun's healers."
Jayce stayed skeptical. "Hextech can and probably has been a factor in safety and less pollution too. My partner likely saw to it quietly."
Ah, Viktor. Piltover's best kept secret. Chross had reported to him and the chembarons that the wayward Zaunite was more than just an assistant and would be valuable if he could be turned back to his people. Unfortunately, he is almost as reclusive as Singed and pressure points could not be determined.
The descent stopped. "Let's call it an amelioration that was done despite Zaun being under Piltover instead of because of it." Bolder, but they'll become suspicious if I'm too pliable.
Silco took a few steps forward as the Piltovians looked around like they had been brought to an alternate world. Even Heimerdinger seemed taken aback, though probably by the difference in his city than by its exoticness. Silco waved for them to continue.
Much of the next leg was less confrontational. There was discussion about street shimmer they saw being used openly. Silco acknowledged it as a necessary evil becoming less necessary and more evil. He claimed credit for the Firelights treatments and drugs to help ween people off it.
As they left the Lanes and passed into the lower entresol layer, he answered questions around the chembarons and some of their operations. The information provided was nothing a random chempunk couldn't provide, but Silco was glad to gain goodwill from the profering.
Long out of the Promenade's sunlight and with the outer neon lights of the commercial and industrial lights becoming faint, the Piltovian envoy were becoming unsettled by the new light–an immense neon light shaped into an eye on top of a precarious tower.