Jinx POV

It was late into the night when Jinx finally woke up, swearing so loudly that her voice echoed through the building she was being kept in. Her head throbbed and her throat was so dry that it burnt. The handcuffs dug into her wrists and her injured shoulder screamed in agony. Metal chains wrapped around her stomach, keeping her back pressed against the cool metal pole in the center of the room.

After ten minutes of straining her limbs, twisting them this way and that in an attempt to free herself, she relaxed against her restraints. The room she was in was bare, save for the pole she was tied to and a single wooden chair in the corner.

"An interrogation room if I've ever seen one," she muttered to herself.

You're alone, the familiar voice of Mylo whispered in her ear, chuckling as it faded away.

Jinx closed her eyes. "No."

An image of her friend, Claggor, drifted behind her eyelids, telling her, no-one is coming to rescue you.

"I'm not trapped!"

"Kind of seems like you are," came Ekko's strong voice, chasing away the ghosts of her past.

Her eyes snapped open and narrowed slightly as Ekko strolled through the door. He dragged the chair in front of her before sitting down, never taking his eyes off of her own. Time had a funny way of making people look different, but the eyes never lied. Jinx had recognised him the moment she drew her gun in that alleyway. It was the only reason why she hadn't pulled the trigger.

"I knew it was a kidnapping," she told him with a sweet smile.

Ekko shook his head slowly. "If you had just trusted me -."

"Trust?" Jinx tipped her head back and stared at the rust on the ceiling panels as she spoke. "In this entire world, the dumbest thing anyone can do is trust someone else."

"That's not true."

She tilted her head back down to stare at Ekko, feeling the stirs of a fire burning within her very core. "There was a time when I trusted those around me. We both know how that turned out."

"I'm not going to sit here and go down memory lane with you, Powder."

"That's not my name," she snapped.

Ekko rubbed his face with one hand, sighing as he said. "No, I guess it isn't." Dropping his hand, his eyes bore into her own. "But she's still in there, isn't she?"

"What?" The wrath and anger Jinx felt herself being drawn into vanished. Was he serious? Surely this whole thing couldn't be about trying to save his childhood friend. There's no way Ekko would even care. "Powder died long ago."

"I don't believe you, and,"- he briefly paused -,"I know Vi wouldn't either."

It was exactly the right thing that froze Jinx to her core. Of all the people she'd lost in her life, not being able to say goodbye to her sister had torn her heart apart. The knowledge that Vi died hating her for the damage she'd caused, and never having the chance to apologise, was too much to bear.

"What do you want me to say?" Jinx whispered, more so to herself than Ekko. Her brain was at war within itself, arguing over forgetting the past or wallowing in the pain she'd caused. "Vi's dead. Her opinion doesn't mean anything."

"Vi isn't dead," said Ekko.

Ever so slowly, she sat up straighter and narrowed her gaze. "Excuse me?"

She could tell immediately that he wasn't lying to her. After years of watching her back from those wanting to put a knife in it and being threatened by everyone who wanted to use her to get to Silco, Jinx has become good at reading people.

When he didn't speak up, she tried to inch closer, pulling at the restraints. "Ekko, tell me you're not joking? Vi… No, she can't be."

"She's in Stillwater Prison. Some years back she was thrown in there by the enforcers. I still don't know what she did, but when it happened no-one could find you." Ekko shrugged and gave her a small smile. "I honestly did try searching for you."

It was all too much, too fast. This entire time Vi was alive, and Silco had lied to her. He'd said that Vi died after she'd left, that she'd gotten herself into some dumb fight. No-one was coming back to take care of her. No-one remembered her or wanted her. She was all alone in the world, but Silco was there. He was always there, providing her with a home, food and the strength to fight.

Silco was her safe space, and if she didn't have that, then what was left? He'd raised her to believe that she was unwanted. She had spent years training her body to become a weapon and using her brain to build gadgets for destruction. All to do his dirty work.

They don't want you, whispered Mylo's snickering voice. They just want to use you.

Claggor was next, spinning in circles within her mind. Wouldn't it be easier to be all alone?

"No. Stop. I need to think," she told them in a rush.

"Powder…?" Ekko stood up and reached a handout, as if going to touch her, before pausing halfway.

See, Mylo pointed out, forcing Jinx to look up at Ekko, they're all too afraid of you.

"Just leave me alone!" She screamed into the open air, shaking her head and dislodging the images of her dead friends from her mind.

Ekko frowned as he dropped onto his knees in front of her, this time not hesitating when he reached for her. She barely noticed when the chains around her stomach went slack. Tears flowed from her eyes, blurring her vision, and she was concentrating on pulling in her next breath. All the while, Ekko reached around her and fiddled with the cuffs on her wrists.

The moment she heard them click open her arms slid under his own as she threw herself against his chest, locking her hands together behind his back. Jinx held onto him tightly, ignoring the searing hot sensation in her shoulder. All the tormented voices in her head stopped and she felt a calming serenity she hadn't felt in ages wash over her.

"They w-won't go a-away," she sobbed against his chest, clawing onto him for dear life. Jinx had spent too long bottling everything up, believing everyone hated her as much as she hated herself. "I k-killed them all."

A strong hand patted the back of her head, the feeling comforting rather than threatening. "Hey, it's okay. That's all in the past. You can stay here as long as you'd like if it'll make you feel better."

No demands? No 'earning your keep'? Ekko was offering to let her spend time with him, in a safe place, without needing her for anything. It was a strange concept after growing up believing you always had to prove yourself.

Jinx sat up, but remained in his lap, not willing to let go of his warmth just yet. She hiccupped as the last of the sobs left her body. "I want to free Vi."

"You think I wouldn't have already done that if I could?"

"I can do it."

Ekko narrowed his eyes. "How?"

"It's all about who you know," she replied with a shrug.

"Powder -."

"Jinx," she corrected with a little more venom in her tone than she'd expected.

He regarded her for a second before continuing with, "Okay, Jinx, let me ask you this. Does your plan involve killing anyone?"

"Only those that stand in my way." Immediately she could tell from his expression that that had been the wrong answer. "Fine! No killing."

He rolled his eyes at her and moved to stand, pulling Jinx up with him. Their height difference instantly caught her attention, probably because they hadn't actually stood beside one another until now. The boy she'd known was long gone, replaced by a towering young man with muscle wrapped arms and a sharp jawline. But the kindness in his eyes was still there, if only diminished slightly by the horrors of the world they live in.

"By the way, you really suck at kidnapping people," she told him, spinning in a small circle as she patted her clothes down.

"I wasn't kidnap - Is that a bomb?"

Jinx tossed the small grenade to him with a single wink. "Be careful. It's my last one."

"Where were you keeping this?"

"That's a girls secret," was her only response as she breezed past him towards the door.