Her Gun to His Head || Jinx x Garou

'Well, what a lousy decision this turned out to be…' Jinx thought to herself in boredom, unravelling and redoing one of her braids of hair, in order to occupy herself.

The evening light had begun to wane, through the window to Silco's office — he still hadn't returned yet.

'It's been, like, an hour… or two, ugh…' she groaned.

She could've been out there tracking down that idiot girl enforcer she'd been tipped off about, instead of this — laying patiently up in the rafters with nothing to do.

'The one time I decide to be a good daughter, and look where it gets me…'

Her ears pricked up to the sound of doors opening and shutting downstairs.

'Bout time…' she scoffed.

Silco finally entered the room — she knew it was him by his recognizable, measured footsteps.

She craned her head, observing him having already lit up a cigar before he'd even made it to his chair.

"What happened — somebody needed straightening out?" she greeted him snarkily. "Was it Sevika?" she grinned, hanging the top of her body down below her perch, so that he could see her.

He only offered her a short glance. "You should remain up there for now, Jinx," he replied wearily, "we'll have a visitor in a few moments…"

"Oh, okay…" she responded, begrudgingly doing as she was told. Though, she couldn't say her interest wasn't at least a little piqued. "Anybody I know…?" she prodded.

"…I'd hope not," he sighed. "Was your day at least… productive?" he wondered earnestly.

"Hmm, yes and no," she mused, "I'd have to read off of my notebook, I don't really remember what I wrote down—"

"—That may need to wait a moment, Jinx," he cut in, as they heard footsteps up the staircase outside.

There was a knock on the door.

"Enter," Silco replied.

Only then did Jinx bother to peek over the rafter she lay upon, to see Sevika letting in—

No…

'How in the hell…?' she panicked, ducking back out of sight.

The door shut again, leaving just the three of them in the room together.

"Sit, please," Silco issued.

She heard Garou's amused little grunt, as he took his time making any kind of a move.

'Why in the hell is he in here?!' her mind kept thinking on repeat.

The room was silent, outside of Silco's delicate puffs of his cigar.

It sounded as though Garou eventually did as he was asked.

"I hear little voices around here, you know," Silco began, "and they seem to be telling me that you're the one who put twenty Piltover enforcers in the hospital earlier this week…"

Garou was silent, prompting Jinx to risk a little peek below at what was happening. He sat across from Silco about as casually as one could, short of also having his feet up on the desk. She didn't feel she even had to look over to verify that her father didn't find this very amusing.

"My question is… to what end?" Silco asked, a hint of irritation in his voice.

Garou let out a shallow chuckle. "You're more worried about them, than 'bout your army'a monsters that I just sent back to their maker…?"

"—With the help of your little Firelight friends, you mean to say?" Silco pointedly interjected.

Garou quickly turned his nose up at such a notion. "Eh?" he puzzled, "I don't know those losers…"

Silco exhaled another slow, wispy ring of smoke.

"Mm," Silco concurred after a moment. "Yes— luckily for you, our new prisoner has already corroborated as much… I'll say, I'm certainly far from thrilled that losing an entire processing facility would turn out to be the price of finally obtaining the location of their hideout…"

"…Them?" Garou snickered, grinning wickedly, "They're your big nemesis?"

Silco was silent at the insult. "…A minor thorn," he eventually shot back. "On the other hand, depending on the outcome of this conversation, you may find yourself with enough enemies between both cities that even your strength won't be enough to keep you alive..."

Garou seemed to almost salivate at the threat. "You'd really team up with them to take me on, eh…?" he mocked, unable wipe the smirk off his face. "Bein' faced with ultimate evil'd have ya drop your differences, like that—?"

"Spare me your delusions, boy…" Silco replied dismissively. "You're clearly far too young to have learned this, but outcomes in this world aren't determined by merely possessing strength—"

As Silco talked, Garou's gaze unexpectedly drifted toward the ceiling.

Jinx froze, startled, as they locked eyes for a moment.

Garou quickly returned his attention to Silco, smirking to himself over the revelation.

Jinx lay back against the wooden beam, her heart thumping.

'Ugh, he'd better not say anything…' she grimaced.

"—as simple as choosing the wrong ally to put your faith in—" Silco continued to lecture.

"—I don't put faith in anythin' outta my control…" Garou cut in.

Jinx tilted her head over the other side of the beam in time to see Silco subject him to a look of ridicule.

"You can put faith in this," he warned, extinguishing his cigar, "the chemtank soldiers are far from my most formidable agents—"

'Gulp,' Jinx worried, understanding that he was referring to her. 'They'd better start getting along soon…'

She heard Garou chuckle. "Startin' to sound like my old master now," he shot back. "Thought he could stop me from wastin' that place…"

"…How touching," Silco condescended. "There's no shortage of young men in this city taking their rage out on one another because they lack aim — I do hope you're not under the impression that you're somehow unique…"

Jinx shifted back over to see Garou lazily get up out of his chair. "Yeah, yeah — I don't need the lecture, old man," he said casually, slowly turning to leave. "This dump is just a steppin' stone for me…"

"These 'steps' of yours have a habit of interfering with my plans, I'm afraid," Silco warned, his ire becoming palpable. "I won't allow you to leave here without an assurance that you'll be spending the next few days laying low…"

Garou hummed in amusement. "What sorta hospitality should I be expectin' if I spend the night in the bar down there, where you can keep as many eyes on me as you want?" he smirked.

Jinx found herself holding her breath for some reason while she listened, awaiting her father's answer.

"…I'm sure you'll be able to handle yourself," Silco reluctantly agreed.

Garou huffed, before finally making his move toward the door. Sevika swung the thing open before he'd even reached it, presumably having been listening on the other side of it the entire time. The two engaged in a brief stare-down as they passed one another.

Jinx rolled onto her back once again, releasing the breath she'd been holding onto. Questions swirled around in her head all at once.

'Why prod me for info 'bout the Topside attack if it had been him the whole time?' she puzzled. 'Or… had he only cared about the rumors…? Did he really bust into the factory just for a fight with some Shimmer freaks…? And why were they talking about the Firelights being with him…?'

She swept her racing thoughts to the side for a moment, so that she could eavesdrop the conversation with Sevika.

"No need to look at me like that…" Silco began.

"Well, you're gonna have to explain to the crew," Sevika grunted, taking a seat and lighting up, "how he's just gonna be cool now, like that…"

"What would you have had me do — attempt to lock him up in our basement, with the Firelight…?" Silco replied disinterestedly.

"Boss," she shot back, "I know the only reason he isn't dead right now is because you think you can use him…"

Silco gave a begrudging sigh. "Well, I doubt the boy's some Noxus spy — you heard his delusions… hard-headed young men like that are always tempted by the promise of power. He won't be difficult for me to control."

"Hm," Sevika reluctantly agreed.

"How is our prisoner doing…?" Silco asked.

"I'm confident we can get him to talk," Sevika replied, "I told the men to keep him away from Singed, though — I doubt pumping the kid's brain with hallucinogens will help keep his info coherent…"

"Mm," Silco agreed absently. "Perhaps you'd like to go and oversee — the moment we're able to rid ourselves of the Firelights, there won't be any further barriers to our operation against Piltover…"

"Uh, yeah, sure thing," Sevika said, putting out her cigarette and then exiting the room.

"Jinx…" Silco quietly called, the moment Sevika had left.

'Okay — play it cool, play it cool,' she pep-talked herself.

She dropped down onto his desk in front of him as she always did, awaiting whatever it was that he would decide to share with her about everything going on.

Instead, the Shimmer injecting device was placed in her hands, as he lay back exhaustedly in his chair.

She supposed it was fair that all of the recent hubbub around here would be stressing him out…

*click*

He took the eye injection without much fuss, but she lay back silently and let him gather himself.

She wondered if he was going to ask her anything about Garou… who was presumably sitting only downstairs, at the bar, right at that moment…

She was mostly certain that he'd only agreed to stay in the building because of the plans he'd made with her—

'Right…? Surely that's it…'

"You know," Silco began after a moment, "a piece of positive news in all of this right now is that Marcus is supposedly still alive — he was among those incapacitated, but is apparently making a recovery. He may still be of some use to us, even after we make our move…"

"Oh," she offered, though half of her mind was still elsewhere.

He turned to her.

"That weapon of yours may be useful to us sooner rather than later, depending on how quickly this prisoner of ours talks," he added.

She managed to meet his eyes without her mind being distracted, for a moment.

"Will you spend some time on it tonight…?" he hoped.

She scoffed playfully. "So much for 'don't work so hard, Jinx'," she joked.

"Mm," he gave the faintest smile. "Even if just for a while, please…"

"Okayyy," she drawled. "Only 'cus ya asked…"

'You're not saying I have to go do that right now, though…' she thought to herself, not about to be deprived of her plans for the night.

Silco gave a tired nod. "Good. I'll be taking some rest, while I can get it…"

Jinx frowned a little. "You're okay, right…?"

"Just fine," he replied, giving her a delicate pat on the knee. "We'll speak in the morning, Jinx…"

She pressed her lips together for a moment, but had to admit that she wasn't exactly feeling much reluctance to leave to go downstairs.

She shut the door quietly behind her, and took a peak down at the floor below.

She kind of expected there to be less people, considering there was apparently a whole busted-up factory that needed cleaning up…

'A lotta these idiots don't contribute very much, if you ask me…' she thought, 'just as well — sitting around and drinking is all most'a them are good at…'

She suddenly pictured Garou sitting at the bar, with Chuck there attempting in vain to make small talk with him. The thought tickled her.

She ventured down a couple of steps to see if she could verify the image she'd imagined, but was disappointed — only a bunch of wanna-be-tough-looking grunts ordering drinks.

'He's gotta be 'round here somewhere…' she thought, resolving herself to descend into the room full of people.

She was met with a few uneasy stares as she hopped on down, and made her way toward the bar. Nobody ever really seemed to want to be near her. Except Chuck, she supposed — he was a good egg. A little on the skittish side, but good nonetheless.

He'd usually spend the first few minutes after she'd taken a seat pretending as though she wasn't there just to talk to him, but this time he shuffled over to greet her the moment he saw her.

"Chuck!" she exclaimed with an overwrought grin. "What's the news?!"

"Oh, hey, uh," he waffled, "there was, uh, there was somebody that asked about you." He hastily wiped dry some tumblers for the demanding customers to their side, who seemed to anxiously shuffle away when they realized Jinx was sitting on the barstool beside them.

"Wh— what do you mean…?" she played innocent, hoping to extract as much information as possible.

"He, uh, didn't really look like he was from around here," he replied. "Wasn't really sure what to tell him, but he seemed like he knew you, or something. Had like, tall, pointy hair."

"Oh, sure," she said coolly, "like, what— did he say anything about me…?"

"W— what do you mean?" he puzzled.

"Nothing— forget it, Chuck…!" she declared, hopping off of her seat and attempting not to blush.

"I think he might be over by the jukebox," he offered.

"Oh, okay," she returned, attempting to see past a couple of tables full of people that obstructed her view.

She huffed and plunged herself into the crowd. She didn't bother trying to chit-chat with any of her father's goons, who all but averted their gaze, pretending she wasn't there. Wishing she wasn't there. They could all go to hell.

"Hey man, quit changin' the song!" one of the grunts beside her suddenly yelled. She turned to see the man curse under his breath and shake his head, returning to his drink. She hadn't even really noticed the music change, but they were now listening to that one song that she recognized with the dirty, thrashy beat — the face of the record portrayed an image of a face-painted baby clown shedding a tear. The contents of that jukebox were like the back of her hand to her, having spent countless hours of boredom down here poking around with it over the years.

She pushed through the remaining people in her way and spotted a familiar side profile. Garou stood leant against the machine, lazily flicking through its contents using the button controls.

She excitedly hopped over toward him.

"Hey!" she opened, leaning her head into his field of view.

He turned to look at her and cocked an eyebrow.

"Oh, hey… you made it down," he answered.

Her eyes darted away from him for a moment. She was still unsure of how she wanted to account for all of that…

"C'mon— we should get a drink, or something…!" she replied instead. "I see ya already met Chuck, huh?"

"Hm…?" he looked at her quizzically.

"You know," she pointed in the general direction of the bar, "he said you asked about me, or whatever…"

He gave a little head shake. "I ain't gonna be rememberin' a bunch of names, aight…?"

"Bet ya still don't even remember my name, do ya, Garou…?" she retorted, in exaggerated fashion.

He gave a prideful little huff. "Maybe it'll come back to me at some point," he said dismissively.

She could've sworn she caught the hint of a smile, though…

He suddenly turned to her. "Hey, uh… didn't wanna continue this somewhere quieter, did you…?"

"Wh— I mean, we should go up and see Chuck, first…!" she replied, half considering grabbing him by the arm.

"Might go better when it ain't so lively." He was looking past her. "I'm just sayin'…"

She spun her head around to see half the people in the bar stealing glances in their direction, none of them looking particularly pleased by what they were seeing. It was enough to make her feel self-conscious, but at the same time, it was exhilarating — she was the 'bad' girl talking to the 'bad' boy in town… Them against everybody else.

'Well, maybe that's a tad dramatic of a way to put it, but still…' she mused.

"C'mon…" she heard him say.

He'd begun to move toward the door, so she decided to follow him.

"There's no way those guys in there are enough to scare ya…" she pestered, as they stepped out onto the street.

"Yeah, well…" he replied, "I'm pretty sure beatin' on the entire bar was one of the things your dad up there woulda wanted me not to do…"

"Uh, yeah… that, uh," she bumbled, reliving the moment he'd seemed to put all of it together. "That was kinda…"

He turned to look at her as she trailed off. "It don't, like, boggle my mind or anythin' that you're the daughter of some crime boss — seem like you're about it…"

She looked at him, hoping to say something witty in return.

"By about it, I mean kinda… y'know, off the deep end, by the way…" he cut in, before she had the chance to feel flattered.

"Pfft, how 'bout you?" she scoffed, "seems as though you're in a contest with somebody to see who can get themselves killed the fastest."

He smirked at her. "Ain't nothin' down here that can kill me."

"Suure," she retorted, "you should take a swim in the deep waters some time…"

He did appear to show a slight interest in the prospect of battling with titanic sea creatures.

"So, um…" she began, "what's the deal with that, anyway? You totally trashed the whole plant, or something…?"

"Eh...?" he responded, "that was those wackos in the masks, flyin' around like idiots…"

"Oh— right, yeah, I heard that…" she replied. "He prefers keeping me outta the loop sometimes…" she pouted.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Well… anyway, you told me 'bout how takin' the purple stuff makes you strong, so… wanted ta see how strong…"

"By… taking on the knifey chemtank dudes…?" she asked, finding the notion amusing.

"Yeah… got wind of some hyped-up monsters in suits guardin' the place, so I went lookin' for 'em," he replied.

"Really? That's… pretty weird…" she giggled.

He turned up his nose a little at her making fun of him. "…Seems like your old man's tryin' to spin it like it was those flyin' wackos that took 'em all out anyway… guess he doesn't want me to be public enemy number one, for now…"

It fascinated her to no end that he would want to be…

She remembered the rush she'd felt spray-painting over Piltover's ornately decorated city square with her patented monkey-face for everybody to see, little over a week earlier — seemed like they both might crave it…

"How'd you beat 'em all, though?" she wondered, mostly to give him the opportunity to brag about it.

He gave a little shrug. "…Seem like you're pretty good with that," he nodded at the pistol holstered by her waist. "I'm good with these." He held up a clenched fist, half-wrapped in vaguely bloodied bandages.

'I've got these… and you've got those…' she heard echo in her head.

The statement precipitated an unexpected flashback for her. Feelings of self-doubt, unaccepted reassurance… her world, her role-model, her betrayal…

She'd spaced out into a memory haze for a moment, but his voice brought her back.

"…Hey— You alright…?"

She blinked a few times, steadying herself.

Weird…

Garou stood in front of her, puzzling over her vacant expression.

"You been eatin'?" he asked. "Seem like you're gonna faint, or somethin'…"

"No, I'm okay…" her cheeks suddenly became flushed.

He gave her a dubious look-over, then turned to continue walking.

"…Wait— which way are you taking us?" she said after a moment, surprised to find them skirting the Wharfside docks now that she was lucid again.

"Thought you wanted'ta go for a swim," he called back absently, slipping his hands into his pockets.

She skipped up to reach him as they crossed onto the boardwalk, the old, sea-ridden timber creaking beneath them. Pungent ocean air filled her lungs.

"Whad'ya normally do for fun, anyway, eh…?" he asked as they strolled beside one another.

She shrugged. "Not really a whole lot to do 'round here… I dunno, shoot things, blow stuff up…?"

He side-eyed her with a raised brow. "Blow stuff up…?"

"With these…!" She retrieved from her belt and presented him one of her colorfully decorated Chomper grenades. She kinda hoped he found the thing cute.

He reluctantly took it from her, rotating and examining it with some curiosity. It was kinda cool, she thought, having somebody besides her father to show off all of her stuff to…

She noticed Garou's fingers eventually find the grenade's pin.

"You gotta toss it, if you pull that…" she quietly giggled.

He took it out, and was mildly alarmed when the thing began chattering in animated fashion, as its countdown to detonation elapsed.

Deciding he'd had enough of the thing, he teed up an overarm throw, snapping with his forearm at the apex of the motion. The grenade splashed into the sea in the distance, followed immediately by a muffled explosion which spewed water into the air.

Garou managed a little chuckle at the experience.

"Where d'you get those things…?" he wondered.

"Oh… y'know… I put them together using parts from old Piltovan junk that Topsiders throw out…" she answered, a little bashfully.

"Yeah…?" he replied, leaning up against a post.

"I've got other kinds, too, back at— you know, back at home…" she added.

"Hm," he responded, his attention being drawn to her belt again. He gave a little nod at her holstered pistol. "Reckon I could try that out…?"

"Oh… okay, sure," she blushed, unclasping it and presenting it to him handle-side forward.

He plucked it delicately from her hand, and then attempted to find a suitable grip.

"I keep 'em loaded," she explained, "so, you can just cock back the hammer and, y'know, go nuts…!"

He did as she said, then closed an eye and toyed around with aiming down the iron sight. Satisfied, he glanced around for something to target.

"Reckon that'd make a tough shot…?" he asked of a chimney pot atop a tall housing building nearby them.

"Only if you can't shoot straight," she teased, though she hoped it wouldn't discourage him from trying.

He scoffed quietly, setting up his shot. He took a moment, deciding at the last moment to use a second hand to assist his aim.

He squeezed the trigger, and they both observed his projectile strike brick, just below his intended target.

"Eh, whatever," he said, in slight frustration. "Could probably throw it and be more accurate than this thing…"

She snatched her weapon back from him before he could do such a thing, straightening up and preparing her own shot. She fired with her dominant hand, the tin chimney pot ringing out in a metallic chorus as it was struck.

She immediately turned back to Garou, stifling a cheeky smirk. Surprisingly, he reciprocated it.

"I ain't givin' you a medal…" he retorted.

She poked her tongue half-out at him.

"C'mon, little soldier…" he teased, shaking his head and continuing on.

"How 'bout I get to boss you around now, instead?" she chatted, skipping to catch up with him.

He chuckled a little. "Yeah? Boss me 'round — go ahead."

"Uh, tell me where exactly you're taking me," she demanded.

"…Nowhere," he shrugged. "Just walkin' around." He turned to look at her. "Wasted it — you gotta win back another one, now. I'll figure out how'ta work that thing eventually…"

"Jee, fine," she giggled, "but whad'ya mean, 'work this thing?' It's just a gun…" she teased.

He smirked and shook his head. "Never got trained with crap like that — ain't how you get strong…"

Jinx scoffed, entertained by his statement. "Trained— like, what, how to fight? Like there's a school for it or something?" she laughed.

"Mm," he side-eyed her.

"What— for real? Where?" she puzzled.

"Not here," he said nonchalantly, stopping walking. He turned to the sea briefly, but then seemed to reconsider. "No— it'd be the other side…"

"…You're from across the ocean?" she inferred.

He shrugged, stubbornly insisting on keeping his mysteries at arm's reach from her. "Journey here was hell in itself — been nice to sleep back on dry land for the last few weeks…"

She wanted to dig deeper. "What's even out there…?"

"Other lands…" he mused. "Place where they train the body and mind in alignment, or some such crap… after years'a that, I wanted the hell outta there…"

She found herself staring out toward the ocean, ignoring the silhouette of Stillwater Hold and attempting to peer further, imagining distant lands completely divorced from the world in which she lived…

"What's it called— where you're from?" she asked as she turned back to him, suddenly completely entranced by the idea of this faraway place.

He gave her a weird look. "Didn't say I'm from there…" he answered, "just that I was there…"

"Oh…" she replied.

"Anyway… place's called Ionia. Ain't nothin' like this city, tell you that…" he said.

She immediately wanted him to tell her what it was like, but she'd become a little conscious of prying too far. She was actually surprised he'd been willing to spend time talking with her for this long… this kinda thing didn't ever normally happen for her — the idea that she might even have a friend in this guy…

"Hey, c'mon," he nudged, "there actually is somethin' I thought I could show ya…"

Instead of walking off as he typically did, he actually seemed to wait in order to gauge her interest.

She found his eyes, and she liked the feeling she got when he stared back into hers.

"Is it fun…?" she wondered enthusiastically.

He snickered slightly. "C'mon…"