Her Gun to His Head || Jinx x Garou

Her eyelids felt heavier than bricks, and yet hours passed by without sleep finding her. Surely it was the position in which she was sitting, or the fact that she still didn't really have any idea where she was…

Caitlyn attempted again to move her bound wrists around to the bend on the pipe they were affixed to, so that she might lay down, however something was catching. She'd given up trying to twist herself around to see what it was, instead resigning herself to waking up with an ache, if sleep ever did find her.

She wished she'd known who these people were…

She wished she'd never crossed the bridge at all, in fact — she felt so foolish…

Whoever this faction was, she was sure that they planned to use her as a bargaining chip, against her mother and the rest of the council. All of this after she'd already been pulled from the force, earlier that week…

She lowered her head, lamenting the fact that she would probably never be permitted to even hold a firearm again…

She felt a tear roll down her cheek, but she wiped it away with her shoulder. Instead, she reflected on the first real pieces of information she'd been able to attain since she'd first embarked on her mission, being on the other side of an interrogation.

Silco…

The name was familiar enough to her to set her mind in motion — was there something she'd missed in her investigation, amongst the files she'd previously pulled?

All she had learned about the figure was that he was thought to be responsible for much of the burgeoning economic activity in the Undercity over the past decade…

As Caitlyn thought about it, she did indeed find it strange that such a seemingly important figure would be so little known, unless… perhaps his enterprise were criminal in nature… in which case, was it possible that it spanned into Piltover? Even into…

No. The notion that Piltovan enforcers could be on the payroll of this man was too far-fetched for her to entertain — the organization her interrogators represented must've had some competing interest causing them to want to besmirch the other…

That said, if Silco's side were in fact the ones in possession of Jayce's gemstone, it meant that they'd been tipped off about its existence somehow — he hadn't even announced it to the public yet…

The case suddenly felt as though it were only a single connection away from being cracked — if she could just find a way out of here…

She peered around once again, seeing if she could spot something in the darkness… anything she could use…

Her rifle was all the way on the other side of the room, along with her notebook — no way to reach it. Seeing nothing else in her immediate vicinity, her eyes were drawn to the pipe she was bound to, itself. It appeared to be bolted to a central pillar, secured by a few rounded clamps. She wondered, if she gained the leverage, whether they'd be able to be forced apart.

She had little remaining strength, but she managed to shuffle her legs up and under her, in order to press herself away for the pillar. She strained greatly, putting everything she had into the movement, the metal components creaking against themselves as they resisted her.

She relented, panting, craning over to examine her work.

If nothing else, she'd managed to warp the pipe toward her, but it otherwise remained affixed to the pillar.

Perhaps she'd be better off waiting—

~

BOOM.

~

Caitlyn sat stunned for a few moments, before attempting to shake the dust from her face.

'What on earth…?' she wondered, a little rattled.

The tremor sounded as though it had originated from directly above her. The thought crossed her mind briefly that perhaps she was being rescued, but she knew it to be foolish. She needed to get herself out of here…

A hissing sound from behind her head drew her attention. There had appeared a small crack in the pipe at the spot she'd managed to bend it just a minute before, and it gushed hot steam to the side of her.

Perhaps…

She resumed the same position as before, using her newfound adrenaline to wrench her body with even greater force. She could feel it giving way…

Her face grazed the concrete as she fell forward with momentum, steam gushing out from the now snapped pipe and beginning to fill the room.

She knew she couldn't waste any time.

Her bound wrists were her next obstacle. Instead of standing up, she contorted herself, pulling her feet toward her body such that she could loop the wrist binding around to her front. She then clambered over to the source of the heat in the room, trembling in pain as her hand was blasted with steam, while she used the sharp, metal edge of the broken pipe to slice the binding in two.

'Rifle…' she thought to herself as she stumbled over to collect her belongings.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she found her ammunition still in her pouch. She unfolded her gun and loaded its cartridges — she prayed that her aim wouldn't be too greatly affected by her exhaustion.

'Breathe…'

She was beginning to hear voices from beyond the room she was in — shouting, screaming, fighting… she nestled the stock of the rifle into her shoulder, and slowly inched open the steel door to the outside.

'A tree…?'

The night was illuminated in flashes of green, and orange, a chaotic mess of combat which took to the air as well as on the ground. Moonlight glinted off an enormous, rounded object which lay in two pieces behind the equally enormous, monolithic tree standing in the centre of the area.

Her eyes darted up to the open night sky. She struggled to imagine a way up there, if that was to be her escape.

She crept out instead, hugging the wall, attempting to find the next set of doors.

The green streaks in the air seemed to emanate from whatever it was the combatants were standing on in order to fly around, however they all were taking heavy amounts of fire from those on the ground, being picked off one by one.

Caitlyn stumbled backward as one flyer came careening toward her, hitting the wall hard in front of her. She peered over at him briefly — he was out cold. It looked like he was just a kid…

She instinctively raised her rifle as she spun in the direction he'd come from, lining up a shot on a man approaching the site of the crashed flyer. He held some type of blade, and opted to make a run at her once he'd noticed her aiming at him.

She squeezed the trigger, and continued on moving before he'd even hit the ground.

The next opening she came up on was a tunnel, but she pulled back against the wall again when she saw two combatants engaged in a scuffle, one trying to wrestle a weapon from the other's grip. She caught her breath, deciding what to do next.

Over at the base of the tree, she made out what appeared to be a person dumping fluid from a dark canister all around the trunk. Oddly, her left arm seemed to be encased in some fashion of metal armor…

Caitlyn took a peek into the tunnel again, to witness the victor of the scuffle beat the other unconscious, before hopping onto his flying contraption and zooming past her.

Before hopping up to make her escape, Caitlyn watched the woman at the tree complete her work, dumping the canister on the ground, before pulling out what looked to be a matchbook.

While every fibre of her being urged her to make haste, Caitlyn instead raised her rifle again, taking aim at the woman's metallic left hand, holding the matches.

'No, you don—'

Caitlyn's entire body was jerked forward as she went to fire the shot, striking only the dirt before her. She was swiped at the legs, sending her to the ground, her weapon being wrenched from her grip. She held her hands up in defense, anticipating a further attack.

"How'd one'a you end up down here, eh…?" her assailant said, examining her rifle.

He was young, like her. His stark white hair jutted out at odd angles, and his smirk unnerved her.

She scrambled to her feet, attempting to make a run for it.

As she turned, his foot came rushing into her periphery.

It was the last thing she saw.

~~~~~

~~~~~

Pow-Pow sure had a kick, alright.

So much so, that her arms had grown tired before she'd even finished a full belt of ammo — the Firelights hardly let up attempting to escape out the mouth of the funnel she'd created for them.

'Like the little bugs they are…'

Worse still, her aim wasn't as good as usual tonight, so not all of them even went down…

Jinx dropped the gatling gun in favor of her pistol, hoping for a boost in accuracy.

"Hey, Bangs," she yelled to the woman beside her, "you been keepin' score, right?"

The woman scoffed, but otherwise ignored her, keeping on her targets with her rifle.

Jinx rolled her eyes, suddenly growing discontented with their strategy. She plonked her pistol back on her belt and went fishing through her duffel bag, instead.

"Hold down the fort for me here, toots," she said, finding what she was after.

The woman looked at her incredulously, as Jinx affixed the end of a rappel rope to a sturdy part of the balcony side railing, beginning to lower herself down to the edge of what was left of the glass dome.

She tightened the rope around her waist, before kicking off again, sending herself down through the hole.

She began to realize that she'd made herself somewhat of a sitting duck with her entry—

'—or a floating duck, really,' she thought, amusing herself, as a Firelight sped toward her on his board.

She drew her gun quickly enough to nail him in the shin, causing him to plummet into the tree.

She looked upon the great, old thing with some awe, as she'd not seen anything quite like it before…

She gained an idea, beginning to shift her weight backward and forward. She gradually built up enough swinging momentum to reach the thing, she only needed to—

She was swiped out of the air just as she let the rope go, disorienting her to the point of dizziness. She frantically tried to gain some kind of footing, as they sped around, but the Firelight seemed to have her in their clutches. Hands found her throat…

She grasped around, finding the pistol on her belt — the Firelight was forced to divert a hand to keep her from aiming it. They clipped a small tree branch on their way back around, causing them to lose altitude, but still she failed to gain control in the scuffle.

She was running out of oxygen…

She decided to drop her legs out from under her, forcing them to either support her entire body weight, or release her. The maneuver worked, in that it sent them both hurtling toward the ground.

The Firelight attempted to flatten out the landing at the last possible moment, but they were both sent tumbling across the dirt.

Jinx's muscles felt like jelly as she attempted to raise herself off of the ground. Everything felt scraped up…

She made it to her knees, and had to rub her eyes a couple time to process what she was seeing.

An intense orange glow filled her vision. She realized it to be fire by the time she began to feel its heat.

The great, old tree was to be engulfed by flames, it seemed.

It felt kinda weird, seeing such a thing burn…

An item on the ground nearby distracted her — a Firelight mask. With some pain, she got to her feet and trudged over to where her adversary had landed — they appeared to be frantically fixing up their board.

Something bothered her about the sight, as she drew nearer…

'Oh, it's…?'

She went to draw her pistol, but he was faster. He pelted her in the shoulder with a blunt object before she could take her aim, causing her to drop the thing.

'Should'a taken that damn shot Silco gave me…' she grimaced.

It was still in the pouch on her waist, but there was no longer an opportunity to do so — she was tackled to the ground again. She raised her hands to stave off his punches, but she was in an incredibly precarious position.

He had tears in his eyes…

She managed to pull the pin on a Chomper grenade, holding it up so that he could see it chatter. He backed off of her immediately, attempting to kick the thing away before it went off. He decided to stomp on her wrist so that she'd drop it, causing her to yelp in pain.

While he disposed of the bomb, she pulled herself across the ground away from him, as quickly as she could.

Ekko turned to her again, and she could sense his fury.

"This was our fucking home…!" he cried, as the tree turned to cinders behind him.

She had nothing. He hadn't been wearing the kind of mask he usually wore, so she hadn't even expected it to be him, but…

She cautiously reached around behind her for the pouch it was in — if she could just take it without him noticing…

Too late.

The manner in which he advanced upon her had her convinced he'd really kill her, there and then.

She tried to kick at him to prevent him from getting on top of her again, but she was far too tired to keep it up for long. He pressed his fingers into her trachea.

"Destruction's all you know now, isn't it…?" he whispered morosely.

As her vision darkened, she managed to glimpse Ekko take a hit from the side.

She gulped air down, regaining herself, as she saw Garou kick him a few times, corralling him away from her.

Ekko seemed to find a metal pipe on the ground, but Garou parried his swipes away fairly effortlessly.

Jinx found herself coughing some blood up, as she rolled over onto her hands and knees.

She glanced up to see another Firelight land by her, presumably to assist Ekko. She looked around, realizing she had nothing left on her to fight with.

The Firelight tossed a bronze orb Garou's way, of which Jinx knew full well the contents.

Ekko's reaction to his comrade seemed to tip Garou off, as he leapt off his feet the moment the crystal bomb made impact. His foot was snagged as the cluster expanded however, temporarily tethering him, and sending him down to the ground.

Oddly, this only amused him, as he let out a strange laugh when he looked upon his trapped foot.

Jinx stumbled to her feet, looking for something she could use to free him.

'Maybe the fire…?' she thought, spotting a broken off branch that must've fallen from above.

A steel hand graced her shoulder, frightening her for a moment.

"Watch out, kid," said Sevika, strolling past her.

She twisted a knob on her prosthetic arm, causing a canister partially filled with Shimmer to spring forth, and be injected into her. Jinx watched her body shudder as she felt its effects.

Jinx lumbered over to the fight, her entire body feeling numb. She watched Garou free himself in a gravity-defying twirling motion which shattered the part of the crystal which had enveloped his foot. He carried the momentum of the movement into the face of the other Firelight, who collapsed into Sevika. She discarded them, while they advanced on Ekko.

Jinx hoped she wasn't the only one who noticed that he'd almost made it back to his board…

Another crystal bomb was flung from elsewhere in the air, encasing Sevika's entire body. Jinx thought to duck herself down, as the Firelight landed with another one primed in their hand. Sevika's Shimmer-fueled self managed to simply crack the structure in a raw feat of strength, making a lunge at the startled kid.

Jinx looked back over at Garou, who suddenly had Ekko pinned down, his foot on his chest.

She hurried over.

"Wait…" she urged Garou. She hardly had much voice left.

Ekko was staring him down with almost as much ire as he was her, moments ago.

"You…" he spat at Garou. "Of course you went and joined them…"

Ekko's eyes darted at Jinx, as she joined Garou's side.

"Where is it…?" she demanded, her tone raspy and weak.

Ekko tilted his head back, the fight fading from him.

"…I would've used it to keep us all safe…" he glared, misty eyed. "From you, from Topside, from everything…"

"Yeah, well…" Jinx grumbled, "you clearly didn't think that through…"

Garou applied some pressure to his chest, causing the boy to groan in pain, while he reached down and opened one of his pouches. Garou reached inside, retrieving a glowing, blue orb.

"This it…?" he asked her.

She took it from him, brushing it off.

Ekko caught his breath, looking at her again.

"This place…" he murmured through tears. "It's what Vander would've wanted… Powder…"

Her head twitched, as she furrowed her brow.

'Why the fuck would you say that…?'

Her head felt loud, all of a sudden, as she noticed Garou look over at her too.

'You think I fucking care…?!'

She turned away, beginning to breathe more heavily.

She was ready to leave… that was it. Tired — home, sleep. That's what she needed.

She heard a muffled voice behind her.

'Go to hell, Mylo…'

"—Hey… Blue…?" Garou said.

She exhaled shakily, and turned to him.

Behind him, she spotted the green sky-trails of Ekko's board, from where he had been a moment ago.

She froze, staring at Garou in disbelief.

"The hell…?!" she scolded, "you let him go…?!"

He gave her an odd expression.

"Eh…?" he puzzled. "You got your thing…"

Any response she might have had was stifled, as smoke was beginning to fill the entire space, the heat becoming unbearable as the fire enveloped the uppermost branches of the tree.

Jinx managed to spot Sevika, storming toward her.

"You two'll get yourselves toasted alive— c'mon!" she ordered.

The rest of her father's goons were filing out of the oversized ducts, their shirts over their mouths, the night's work done.

She almost stumbled over herself following in their direction.

Garou seemed as though he might've been about to extend a hand to help her, so she moved away from him.

She didn't feel like talking…

She turned back again at the pyre they'd left in their wake, contemplating it in her delirious state.

And— there was something else…

Now that she was on the other side of the thing— something at the base… some type of mural…?

She thought it looked like…

The paint had mostly melted, so she gave up straining her eyes to look at it.

She pinched her nose between her fingers, as her head still ached.

Powder…

Sharper pain.

'Shut up…'

She picked at her nails, as they trekked back to the docks.

Garou wasn't with them any longer, she realized, taking a glance behind her.

As they filed onto the boats, Jinx noticed an unconscious girl with a bag over her head be thrown onto the deck. Her clothing looked kinda like…

The drift back home saw the sun slowly peak over the horizon, over the water…

It was pretty, she thought…