Her Gun to His Head || Jinx x Garou

'Four, seven, three officers,' she counted. 'Turned away with package under arm… the pink one… no, the pink one mixed with the fizzy orange one,' her thought continued. 'Ugh, I gotta get Chuck to tell me the names of all those drinks…'

Jinx's focus had been darting back and forth between what she was supposed to be doing, and her night's plans, for several exceedingly long hours.

The conditions for folks to be able to gain passage through the bridge blockade appeared to have something to do with the color of one's shoes, she decided, having completely given up trying to make sense of it all.

It was surely just random, she thought. Twenty people each hour, or something — some arbitrary quota.

One moment of interest for her was when she managed to spy a couple of green glowing sky-trails below her, which she knew all too well to emanate from the hoverboards used by members of the Firelights. They'd only been visible for a few moments, but they were almost certainly heading North…ish — perhaps a clue to the location of their hideout…

'Do-good losers…'

Her face scrunched up in frustration as she heard the pitter patter of rain begin to sound on the sheet metal above her. Slippery surfaces meant she really might die trying to make it back down from her lookout point.

She pointed her lips and blew a lock of hair from her face, before giving a sigh.

She supposed it wasn't so bad — at least she was getting some missions lately that didn't have her working under Sevika's thumb. Though, she hoped the next one might involve some more action, or at least something to keep her more stimulated than merely sitting around.

Figuring her day's work to be done, she turned herself around, wondering what, if anything, could be seen through her spyglass if she faced in the opposite direction.

She supposed she recognized some places which resembled childhood hangouts from long ago, especially near the docks. Of course, the world with which she was most intimately acquainted lay below — the former deep mining sites which became the undercity Silco referred to as Zaun.

She sighed and lowered the magnifying instrument away from her eye. She sometimes wondered if this was really all there was — this push and pull between two shitty places full of shitty people, everybody having to pretend that being born one side of the river made you virtuous, somehow…

She wanted to believe that her father really could make things better, but deep down she was convinced that even if Topside sunk into the ocean, things wouldn't really change… not in the ways that mattered, at least…

'The world's gotta be bigger than this…'

She sometimes tried to imagine some faraway place, across the ocean somewhere, where things might look different…

She shivered a little, as the cold began to reach her — she wasn't exactly dressed for this type of weather. It made her increasingly reluctant to leave her shelter and begin her descent back down until the rain let up. She glanced down at a bundled up tarp laying beside her, wondering if she could maybe fashion it into some sort of poncho. If it kept her dry, it would have to do.

It kind of made her feel as though she were wearing a disguise, she thought as she tied the thread around her collar, affixing the thing over her body. She figured she would probably look a little silly to any onlookers, but at least now all she had to worry about were the water-slick surfaces she needed to navigate in order to return to the ground.

'Perhaps some arm-holes would help with that…' she figured, slipping her blade out of its sheath.

She really wished she had the ability to fly, sometimes. Surely there was a more elegant solution out there than trying to stay upright without puking on those dumb flying-boards. She'd dismantled for parts more of them than she could count, after failing somewhat miserably in such a pursuit.

'And yet he just keeps on makin' more… he really ought'a give it up already…' she remarked to herself.

Her blood boiled a little at the thought of her former childhood friend. She was half-sure she'd managed to snag him earlier that week in the scuffle on the cargo ship, though much of her memory of it was still a blur. She doubted she would have gotten rid of him that easily, anyway…

Her eyes widened as she misplaced her foot upon where she'd thought a ledge had been, sliding down against the wet surface for several seconds until she thankfully met something solid again.

She panted, cursing herself. The momentary lack of control over her body had almost made her feel the way she did as a child, learning to hop rooftops in Piltover.

She shot a glance at the carry pouch fixed to her hip, thanking herself that she'd left the gemstone behind this time — she'd hardly have enjoyed having to search through sewage grates for the thing were she to have dropped it during her descent.

Ground level was at least in sight now, though she considered whether or not she felt like returning immediately, in order to report back. After all, part of her did wonder what might be so interesting on the 'other side of town'…

"Jinx…?" she heard a deep male voice say, just as she landed on solid ground. So much for the 'disguise'…

She turned and recognized one of her father's goons — the large, heavily tattooed one — as well as a couple others standing by behind him. She figured them to be one of the crews sent out to keep tabs on this side of the bridge.

"Ya guys might be waiting here an awful while…" she spoke up.

None of them appeared to be too amused.

"Boss said to make sure nobody causes a scene up there," he said.

Jinx shrugged. "I ain't goin' up there, don't worry…"

She got a grunt in response. She noticed the other two looked to be a little on edge around her, which amused her somewhat. She raised an arm up, slowly curling her hand into a finger-gun, pointed at the younger-looking of the two.

"Bang," she whispered, performatively.

The big guy she'd been speaking to curled his lip up, unimpressed. "Zeke thinks he saw a Piltie enforcer this side of the river, pokin' around—"

"—I did, I did!" the one she had her finger-barrel pointed at chimed in, and then seemed to regret speaking just as quickly.

Jinx gave a childish grin as she finally lowered her 'gun' and put the boy back at ease.

"Well, maybe I'll go find him," she offered, in a cutesy tone.

"It was a girl, a girl…" the boy murmured in response.

Jinx cocked an eyebrow. "Oh…" she replied.

For some reason, that information made her all the more motivated to find the person.

"Maybe go talk to Silco first, before you—" the bigger guy began again, until he was met with a harshly pointed stare.

After a moment, she seemed to succeed in convincing him to back down from thinking he was in a position to tell her what to do.

She huffed and promptly took her leave.

She supposed she could take her time heading back — a rogue enforcer sticking her head where it shouldn't be in The Lanes was hardly something Jinx felt she could let go unpunished.

The lady ones all seemed to wear those dumb, blue dresses, she remembered — hardly appropriate attire for if one were to get into a fight. It kind of bordered on ridiculous, actually. Not that many of them would ever even have seen combat, those pampered airheads…

She stopped by a nondescript hotel building, which had a hefty set of pulleys and belts installed against its exterior wall that Jinx knew to drive the elevator inside. She wondered how many enforcers passing by this place in years past knew that the elevator also went down, with a push of the correct button.

Jinx tended not to enter The Lanes that way anymore though, especially at the busy time of day — bustling crowds weren't really her thing.

'No, that's not it...' she thought to herself painfully.

She sighed, casting her mind back as best as she could.

If anything, she associated the ride down with the feelings of failure she was often forced to harbor when she was younger, back when she went by a different name…

Everything would always find some way of being her fault, no matter what — she was just a scapegoat to them, nothing more…

She trudged toward the building and burst through the door, her pistol drawn. She almost hoped she'd see them all there, somehow, standing against the elevator gate, so that she could blow them all away…

Her head twitched.

A drop of water made its way down from the ceiling and collided with the tip of her nose, snapping her back into reality. She wiped it off, turning to look up at the gauntlet of water-damaged ceilings through to a sliver of sky above. The place was somehow even further in disrepair than it once was, she observed of her weathered and overgrown surroundings.

Out of curiosity, she called the elevator, and was half-surprised to find that the contraption still worked. The machinery all jolted to life, whirring and squealing away, as her ride approached from below.

Perhaps she ought not keep her father waiting, she thought, as the thing finally thudded to a halt before her…

She wrapped her fingers around the safety gate, and, with some effort, slid the rusty thing open.

~~~~~

~~~~~

His breaths were labored, from behind his mask, but he figured he wouldn't have to change positions again for a while — this was it, he'd been led to right where he wanted to be.

Word travelled quickly through The Lanes. The unrest was seemingly starting to spill out, with people taking the fighting into Piltover itself. They'd shut the bridges over it — it was anyone's guess what they'd do next.

It was surprising, at the same time — he doubted Silco would have allowed anything like this to happen, given it would only hinder his strangle-hold over the undercity if the Pilties tried to bring the hammer down.

It had led him to the conclusion that whatever parties were involved, they must have been acting in defiance of Silco — perhaps they'd had enough of his tyranny, just like everybody else who were too afraid to say it.

'The Firelights could always use more allies,' Ekko thought, as he silently affixed his inactive hoverboard to his back.

It brought him to his current target — this tall, lean looking dude who didn't look like he was from around here, at all. Ekko had received a tip a couple nights ago, from one of his guys, that some dude had thrown hands at the gaming lounge where Ekko knew Sevika liked to gamble. Apparently he'd been pretty successful, too, putting more than a few of Silco's men in the med ward.

And, the description the tip had given him seemed to uncannily match this dude that Ekko had spotted little over an hour ago… so, he'd decided to tail him ever since.

'White, spiked-out hair,' he thought to himself. He supposed that not too many people he came across shared the same hair color as him.

He'd since seen all he'd needed to see — whether this dude was working alone, or with a group, was another question, but Ekko had little doubt he was working against Silco.

It was cleverly hidden, in the rock-face, but Ekko was certain he'd been led right to one of Silco's secret Shimmer processing facilities — he even recognized one of the goons standing outside the entry door. Ekko could effectively trace in his head where the supply line must have led, as a small storefront stood at street-level adjacent to a couple of 'not-so-abandoned' warehouses which dotted the cliff's edge. It was all so obvious that he kicked himself for not discovering it earlier.

No matter — he was here now. He deftly pulled out a small transmitting device of his own design, punching a message through it, before returning it to his pocket.

He cast his attention back to his target, who had simply perched himself on a nearby rooftop, seemingly deliberating upon his next move. Ekko wondered whether or not it was worthwhile compromising his position before backup arrived, in order to try to make contact with this guy. After all, they'd be way more effective if they teamed up…

He was forced to suppress the thought, as the dude was on the move. He had dropped to the ground, and was making his way up to the entrance where the two guards stood. Ekko could just tell the dude's fists were clenched, inside of his pockets — he had the body language of somebody gearing up for a fight.

Ekko slowly stood, unsure of what exactly was about to happen. As he laid a hand on his hoverboard, he noticed in the faint green trails of his fellow Firelights in the distance, as they rapidly approached.

He exhaled. This would be it — their big hit on Silco's regime. He'd be reeling from a loss like this for months.

The dude below didn't disappoint — he dispatched the two guards out front in so little time Ekko's head almost spun. His movements were not only incredibly fast, but struck him as some perfect balance of strength and form, unlike anybody he'd ever seen fight before.

Ekko's eyes widened as the dude marched up to the entry door, and all but knocked it off of its hinges by striking at it with the open palm of his hand.

'What the hell…?' he thought to himself in disbelief.

The other Firelights finally reached him, dismounting their boards with barely a sound — they all understood that they were pretty deep in enemy territory at this point.

"What's the play…?" one of them whispered.

"I wanna hit it now — we don't have time to wait," Ekko replied in a low voice so that everybody could hear him. "Entry's been made. No doubt the alarms'll trip any second now."

"Who…?" the Firelight puzzled, looking down at the broken-in door.

"I'm not sure yet exactly, but he's in there doing damage," Ekko said. "C'mon, we can try to recruit him later. Let's take that window, so no one can get the drop on us." He directed them to the tall, rounded window visible high above the entry door.

As if on cue, a siren began to wail from inside the building.

"Let's go!" Ekko commanded, as they all launched themselves onto their boards.

He pelted his melee weapon at the window ahead of them, shattering it before their approach. The other Firelights responded enthusiastically, shouting war cries in unison.

As they crossed through to the inside of the factory, Ekko realized they had their work cut out for them — his eyes darted between an expansive complex of mechanical infrastructure, every element pumping purple fluid. It seemed there was more that went into the production of Shimmer than he'd previously thought.

The next thing he noticed was the staggering number of workers on each of the factory floors. But, something wasn't right…

His comrades had gotten to work, dismounting and then bashing in any breakable observation windows they could find along the pumping channels, allowing Shimmer to spill out onto the ground.

"Trash it all!" one of them shouted, pulling out a flare and lighting it.

"Wait—!" Ekko commanded.

It was the workers. Once Ekko had gotten closer, he'd realized it — they were all children. Every last one of them.

Just when Ekko thought he didn't have any scorn left in his heart for that monster…

"Don't torch it until these kids are out of here!" he instructed his team.

Just as he said it, he spotted another of his Firelights taking some hits from a few older teenagers that had apparently taken up arms to defend the fruits of their labor.

Ekko cursed to himself, quickly looping around to where his melee weapon had fallen after he'd thrown it, retrieving it and zooming back over to help his comrade.

He swung his board out against them as he dismounted, catching them off guard and pushing them back.

"Get the hell out of here! You don't wan't any part of this, hear me?!" Ekko barked, poking them away with his bludgeon, in warning. "We ain't here to hurt you, but we will!"

They seemed to get the message, backing up and then booking it in the other direction.

Ekko locked hands with the other Firelight, and helped her to her feet.

"You good?" he asked.

"Yeah— fine, thanks," she replied, promptly returning to the task at hand.

Ekko had all but drowned out the sound of the wailing alarm, but strobing red lights dotting the ceiling reminded him to stay on the lookout — they'd likely have company before long.

He hurried over to the balcony, to see if he could make out anything down where the entry door once stood. Nothing.

'Maybe that other guy took care of it,' he thought to himself, instinctually flipping out his pocket watch, and checking the second hand.

He put it away, and leaped down one level, to where he'd spotted a large control valve. Now that they'd busted some of the piping open, the pressure would have released, he figured. He needed to open the valve all the way in order to pump the rest of the Shimmer out…

A piece of debris zipped by his head and clanged against the wall. He quickly spun around. Most of the workers had evacuated by this point, but he and his Firelights certainly weren't alone — several large adversaries advanced toward them, on each floor. They appeared to be armored suits of some kind, with long, pointed blades affixed to each arm. He could see the wearers inside of the suits twitching in a Shimmer-induced frenzy, through their windowed helmets.

This wasn't good.

Ekko locked eyes with one, and it barely gave him a chance to react — it bolted toward him with its serum-enhanced speed, as Ekko hastily clambered over the railing and kicked onto his board. Even still, it launched itself toward him, bursting through the railing like it were paper, forcing him to contort his body in order to narrowly avoid its attack.

As it plummeted down to the lower level, Ekko searched for his other Firelights, in panicked fashion.

Instead, he spotted the white-haired dude from earlier. He dashed around on the ground floor, taking on three of the armored Shimmer-monsters at once.

'Shit, he's tryin' to fight them all,' he thought, shoving his hands in his pouch, searching for throwables.

As Ekko circled back around, he thought he heard the dude laughing…

His friends came first, though. He filled his hands with crystalline explosives, and flung them in the direction of one of the monsters that was going for a Firelight on one of the upper floors. He boosted toward it for a strike, as he'd landed a direct grenade hit — the yellow, crystal structures expanding around its body and immobilizing it.

It wouldn't be held for long, however, as the thing immediately used its strength to burst free, thrusting its sharpened blade in Ekko's direction as he made his approach. He bailed from his board in order to avoid being skewered, and catapulted onto the floor beside the monster while trying to land on his feet. He barely had time to pull his weapon into both hands and block the next strike the thing launched his way, being forced to backpedal against the monster's strength.

Luckily, he'd already called his board back to him — it provided a useful distraction as it circled around in the air back to them, and thudded against the monster's helmet. Using the brief window for attack, Ekko channelled all of his might into swinging his bludgeon up over his head and into the monster's helmet, the momentum carrying the blunt end of the weapon through the glass, and managing to impact its skull.

Ekko's eyes widened as he realized the thing still wasn't down for the count, backing up as quickly as he could while it flailed around, his bludgeon still jutting out of its helmet.

The Firelight he'd covered for hobbled over, and returned the favor by tossing a lit flare at the monster's shattered helmet. The flames instantly ignited the Shimmer mixture pooled around inside of the suit, burning the thing alive in a frightening display.

Ekko grimaced, and caught his breath, noticing his fellow Firelight holding her side.

"I'm okay, let's get the others," she said, breathing heavily.

"No— get yourself to the roof, I got this," he ordered. "See if there's another way out up there, for if things go south."

He leapt back onto his board and boosted down to the ground level, where it seemed most of the fighting was still taking place. He observed a warpath of shattered yellow crystals, and several defeated Shimmer-monsters laying motionless in their armored suits on the ground. He landed next to his remaining two comrades, who appeared to be trying to perform some emergency repairs on one of their hoverboards.

"Shit…!" one of them exclaimed, throwing a small spanner to the ground, "it's busted!"

Ekko marched over, to take a look. He was right — the turbine was bent well out of shape. There was nothing to be done.

"It's all good," he assured them quickly, "we can share a board. It'll get you back, at least — I've done it before."

He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, as he could hear fighting still taking place, even though he couldn't see where the remaining enemies were.

One of the other Firelights lit up a flare, and went to finally set ablaze the Shimmer mixture that was pooled around them.

"Let's torch it, and bail," he said to Ekko.

Before he could respond, the sounds of violence broke out next to them. An armored Shimmer-monster was flung in their direction, knocking all three of them onto the ground. The flare was sent careening into the flammable liquid.

Ekko hastily pulled the other two away from the flames that erupted, which quickly engulfed the Shimmer-monster that had bowled them over. It became an even more menacing creature covered in flame, screeching with pain as it went into a slashing frenzy.

Ekko stood, prepared to defend his men, but was spared the trouble — the monster took a strike in the chest and was launched back into the heart of the fire, where it presumably perished.

The dude with the white, spiked-out hair stood where the monster had just a moment ago, panting, with his back to them.

No, not panting — he was chuckling to himself…

"Hey…!" Ekko spoke up, removing his mask.

The dude craned his head to look back at them, seeming to notice the weapons they had in their hands before anything else. He turned around fully, taking an aggressive stance.

"We're on the same side, man, chill…!" Ekko protested, but tightened his grip in caution.

The dude cocked his head to the side. "Side…? I ain't on anybody's side…" he snarled.

"I'm just saying, man," Ekko attempted to reason, "you're trying to take on Silco — us too. Where'd you learn how to fight like that…?"

The dude curled his lip up at Ekko, and went to march right past them all.

Losing patience, Ekko moved over to intercept him. "There's no point going alone, man," he said, now irritated. "We'd get twice as much done by teaming—"

The moment he put a hand on him, Ekko's arm was twisted nearly out of its socket. He attempted to recoil, but the dude wouldn't let go.

"—The hell?!" Ekko protested, enraged.

He was ignored, as the dude leaned over toward him.

"I don't want nothin' to do with any damned hero squad…" he growled menacingly.

The other two Firelights advanced over to help, weapons drawn and grenades in hand, but the dude seemingly lost interest and cast Ekko aside.

Ekko straightened up, attempting to calm himself down.

'Who the hell's this guy think he's talking to…?' he angrily thought.

Ekko noticed a glint out of the corner of his eye. Before he realized what it was, the gunshot rang out and his comrade collapsed to the ground, holding his shoulder in pain.

The white haired dude was no longer a priority — Ekko's stomach turned as he locked eyes with Silco, standing at the entrance, flanked by his crew on either side of him.

The one holding the firearm reloaded for another shot, as Ekko stumbled over toward his friend, attempting to get them both onto his board.

"—Go!" he barked at the other Firelight, who still had a functioning board.

They managed to make it airborne, but more guns must have been drawn by that point, with bullets zipping by them as they climbed.

The Firelight he'd instructed to wait by the roof poked her head out, and he pleaded her with his eyes to lead them to an exit.

He heard a cry as a bullet found its target beside him. He looked back in horror as his comrade spiraled back down toward the ground, out of reach.

"Shit…!" he cursed, already trying desperately to keep his other injured friend upright on the board with him.

He considered it for a moment, but there was no chance of rescue now, not with them being lit up from all angles. It would haunt him later, he was sure…

As they sped away, he reminded his passenger to keep pressure on his wound. He gave a forlorn glance to the female Firelight flying beside him, who'd all but pieced the situation together.

He closed his eyes for a moment, seeing red. He imagined Silco burning in those purple flames.

That other dude could too, for all he cared…