Chapter Text
He wasn’t sure what dragged him back down. Up there, things were moving to put his face on an entirely new technology, but something Viktor said—Jayce could not get it out of his head. During the short party afterwards, where all the councillors who had decried him were playing nice, a worn-down sentence had planted a single seed.
“I don’t think you understand the undercity, Councillor Kiramman.” Viktor’s voice was tighter than usual. Less smooth and happy. “You don’t see them, so it’s hard to resolve their problems.”
He was here before, but he was more concerned with leaving as soon as possible. This time, though, his eyes were open in spite of the thick air. The filter on his face made a noticeable noise that drew the attention of the people that no doubt associated it with the Enforcers placed everywhere.
Something was strange , though.
While the enforcer presence had doubled, due to the recently revealed murder of the previous Sherrif, the city held a peace of weariness and worry.
The undercity was grieving as well. He heard whispers of the man named ‘Vander’, who had kept the undercity peaceful for many years now. But whenever they said his name, their eyes lost what little light they had left and they retreated into themselves, ignoring the heavy breathing of his filter.
It was the smell that his filter couldn’t block out that drew him towards an empty bar. The Last Drop stood proud and tall in the middle of the green hues of smog and undercity gunk.
He opened the door slightly, finding himself nearly stumbling over a thick wire before deftly jumping over it. Unfortunately, his loose footing and the heavy air made him trip over to the counter, nearly bashing his head onto it.
Wheezing, he pushed himself back up—and came face to face with death.
Behind that counter sat a girl with red and swollen eyes. She was holding a gun, or something like one at least. Nuts and bolts that were hastily thrown together, and by the look of that trigger mechanism, absolutely capable of firing a single shot before it would fall apart.
Jayce raised his hands.
“I’m… unarmed?” he tried. The girl’s hands were shaking. Soot and bruises marred her face. Small burns were around her fingers, and cuts ran up her arms. “Did you build that?”
He nodded towards the obvious tripwire that was attached to a crude grenade right near the entrance.
She nodded shakily, the gun lowering slightly. “I… it’s going to blow you up! So just go!”
“I can do that,” Jayce said. “But you’re injured and I’m not comfortable leaving you alone right now.”
“You’re from up there, aren’t you?” she asked, her voice between fear and worry. It was a wonder she didn’t bite her tongue with how her teeth were rattling. “Why’d you care?”
He wished he could give her a straight answer. He wished he could say, with absolute conviction, that Piltover and its undercity didn’t matter, as they were one and the same, but he knew that wasn’t the truth.
And he knew he had been part of it. Still was a part of it.
“Because I like helping people,” he said, the closest thing to the truth he knew how to say, coming from so deep within him that it made his throat burn. “And you look like you could use some help.”
She lowered the gun further, aiming at the ground. After a moment further, she threw the gun to the side. The trigger made a click, the bullet didn’t fire.
“Careful,” he said, jumping over the counter. “That could’ve gone off—”
“Nothing I do works,” she said, snapping at him. She balled a fist, smacking her hand on her head a few times, emphasizing every word. “Nothing, I do, ever-”
He reached out, holding her wrist as gently as possible. She didn’t flinch back, but the way she froze up made it clear she wasn’t comfortable.
“I’ll let go,” Jayce said. “If you promise not to hit yourself.”
The girl narrowed her eyes, then raised her other hand and smacked the filter off his face. He coughed, trying his hardest not to let the heavy air get to him.
“I won’t hit myself,” she said. Jayce coughed again, nodding and letting go. He fell backwards, sitting across her and under the counter. Taking a moment to gather himself, he nodded, slowing his breathing enough to reach into his bag. Bandages and disinfectant.
“Are you a doctor?” she asked. He shook his head. “Why do you have that stuff with you?”
“I’m a… student, of various sciences,” Jayce said. “They blow up by accident, so I always have something for burns and wounds on me.”
“By accident?” she asked, tilting her head. She didn’t flinch back when he tapped some cuts with disinfectant. “How does that work?”
“Nevermind about that. What’s your name?” he asked, slowly wrapping the bandages around her fingers and up her arm.
“Pow-” came a single syllable from her mouth before she stopped herself. Her face twisted as if the word left a sour taste in her mouth. “Jinx.”
“Alright,” he said, nodding. “I’m Jayce. It’s nice to meet you, Jinx.”
She swallowed. Her body shuddered when he said the name. It didn’t sound right, but far it be from him to mention it.
“My sister left me,” Jinx said. There were no tears left, just a defeated voice he never wanted to hear again from a child. He imagined Caitlyn and it made Viktor’s voice just echo louder in his head. He saw, and he wouldn’t be able to unsee. “She… she might come back.”
“Well,” Jayce said, standing up. “You can wait here, if you want.”
She stood up as well, her hand reaching out and grabbing his sleeve.
“No,” she said. “Do… do you have to go? We can wait together—”
“I’m afraid I can’t stay here,” Jayce said. “My family’s waiting for me, and I have work to do.”
“Oh,” Jinx said. Her voice fell. “I—I understand, your family—”
“Jinx,” Jayce said, pursing his lips. “Do you… want to come with me?”
“Why?” she asked.
“I like the design of your grenades,” he said, not sure how much truth and how much lie was in that statement. “If I had half your talent at that age, I’m sure I’d be a professor by now. And your sister, if she comes back, she’ll have an easier time finding you up there, right?”
The population difference was staggering, the population density as well.
“M-maybe,” she said. A moment of silence. A heavy breath. A shudder of her shoulders. She looked up, wiping her tears. “Yes, she’s… she’s going to come find me.”
She was clutching something at her side, attached to her belt. A flare, in an outdated design.
“I have a friend, kind of a little sister,” Jayce said, taking her hand and walking out of the Last Drop. “I’m sure she’d love to meet you.”
Jinx said nothing. Her hand, however, tightened in an iron grip around his own.
###
Caitlyn knew her job didn’t make her family happy, but playing babysitter in her uniform wasn’t going to change her mind. If Jayce hadn’t insisted she’d not be here in the first place.
It was Progress Day after all, and as hectic as it was, she was glad to see the citizens happy.
And no one was as happy on Progress Day as the Academy’s Finest, winner of the second place in a competition ran by Professor Heimerdinger himself.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Caitlyn said, holding onto the small device up. Jinx laughed, which did nothing to ease Caitlyn’s worries. Jinx took it, jamming it into a telescope-like machine.
Caitlyn could hear the announcer from behind the screen.
“Science speaks for itself, Cat!” Jinx said. She pointed the machine towards a wall and activated it.
“Without further ado,” the announcer’s voice echoed. “The youngest student in the Academy, Jinx of House-”
The screen lifted up. Caitlyn stood there, watching as the machine activated and started blasting a song like a radio of ridiculous sizes.
“Where is she?” the announcer asked. Caitlyn looked around. The girl wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
###
Jayce wasn’t sure what he expected when he walked into her lab, but if he had to put a name on it, it’d be ‘chaos’. Despite the ridiculous amount of machinery on the ground and materials he was certain she didn’t have the permits for, he couldn’t fault her enthusiasm.
The thin wire that he had to step over, rigged to a paint bomb, was certainly hidden better than the first bomb he nearly walked into when he met her, but it was still a bit too obvious.
“Hey,” Jinx said, hanging from the ceiling off a rope. He pretended not to be startled, and turned to her.
“Hey,” he said. “Professor Raul is looking for you, he said you-”
“Wait, wait, let me show you something first-”
She dropped down, grabbing his hand and pulling him through various more traps before reaching a metal sphere. Intricate runes were etched into it, some he wasn’t sure he had seen before. In it, a small crystal—
“Jinx,” he said, his voice tight. “Where did you get the crystal?”
“Leftovers,” Jinx said. “Victor, he, uh, said it wasn’t that dangerous in this quantity. I could keep it as a decoration.”
“And you immediately started experimenting,” Jayce said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Victor had always been too nice when it came to Jinx. The kind of camaraderie that came from one’s place of birth, he supposed. “What does it do? It looks similar to the Hexgate, but no transportation rune.”
“I call it a scrying ward,” Jinx said. “With it, you can contact anyone anywhere! I haven’t figured out how to do audio transmission yet, but I’m close-”
“A visual radio transmission? Does it work two-way?”
“No, you’d need one in each person’s hand,” Jinx said, waving her hand over it. The device activated. “The range is practically infinite, though air density can affect quality.”
“And with how little quantity of gemstones it needs, it could be easy to manufacture. That’s… good?”
“I know, I’m great!” Jinx said, puffing up her chest.
Jayce laughed, letting her drag him around the lab. “You know that you were supposed to hold a presentation, right? You’re the runner-up in Academia this year, Ms. Youngest Student Ever.”
“Psshh.” She waved him off. “Come on, Jayce. This stuffy publicity stunt isn’t where our life is at- oh, look! Here!”
She handed him a shark-shaped toy. Its eyes glowed green.
“What’s that do?” he asked, turning it on its head. No discernible mechanism from the outside.
“Pull the tail,” Jinx instructed. He did, and the eyes turned red. It flew forward, chasing after nothing before running out of fuel. “I’m working on making it heat-seeking, it’s-”
“A weapon,” Jayce said, pursing his lips. “Could you replace the teeth with something more… electrical? A stunning shock?”
“Yes, but-” Jinx began, turning to him. The look on his face made her pause. She hesitated, clenching her fist over her arm. “Yes. That’s… a good idea. Tell Caitlyn I’m sorry, by the way.”
“You can tell her yourself, she’s coming over in a bit,” Jayce said. “Don’t bully her too much, alright? She’s trying her hardest to prove herself to her parents.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Jinx said, nodding. “I’ll play nice.”
Jayce smiled, putting a hand on her head. She smiled up at him, happy and content.
###
Caitlyn hated babysitting, especially when said baby was intelligent and dangerous enough to take over the city eventually. Jinx was childish in ways that made Caitlyn jealous when Jayce initially introduced them. No expectations, a family that was supportive of anything she wanted to do, it was all the things that Caitlyn already envied Jayce for.
But Jinx was fun, too. And no day was boring with her around.
But sometimes, some days, Caitlyn would notice a wound that wasn’t there before. A bruise here, a cut there. While it was easy to dismiss as injuries by her experiments and tinkering, Caitlyn knew that not all of them were.
Handprints, bruises in places where Jinx wore safety equipment like her eyes and mouth.
“Stupid,” a small voice whispered. Caitlyn wasn’t sure what made her stay quiet, but as she approached the lab she could hear the whispers grow louder and more frantic. “Jayce doesn’t like weapons, why’d you build something sharp. You’re an idiot, Powder. You’re stupid-”
Uncomfortable silence, then a smack. Then more whispers, and another smack. Caitlyn walked quietly, entering the backroom of the lab where Jinx had made herself a small room to sleep in whenever she didn’t want to go home yet.
In the back of her head, Caitlyn remembered that Jayce once said Jinx had a rough upbringing. She grew up in the undercity, of course, but even then she had suffered a great loss.
But despite that, Jinx was always full of joy. Whatever was going on here wasn’t joyful at all. Jinx was hitting herself, hard enough to leave bruises. It was when she grabbed a wrench that Caitlyn jumped in, grabbing Jinx’s wrist tightly.
Jinx’s face twisted from internal fury and struggle into one of horror. As if the act of being caught in this was so much worse than injuring herself. “Cat, you—”
“Are you okay?” Caitlyn asked. Jinx’s hands shook, and the wrench was dropped with a loud clang.
“No,” Jinx admitted. “No, I’ve… I’ve not been okay, she didn’t come back.”
Caitlyn wasn’t sure what to say. But she knew who could help.
“Come, I’ll call Jayce and we can-”
“No,” Jinx said. “No! Nononono— he can’t know, I promised. I promised I wouldn’t do it again, I promised!”
“He knew?” Caitlyn asked, blinking. Shaking her head, she continued. “You know him, he’s not going to be angry.”
“He’ll make me go back,” Jinx said. “I promised I wouldn’t do it, and he would help me, and now, I— I…”
“You’ll be fine,” Caitlyn promised. “And Jayce won’t make you go anywhere, if anything he’ll stick by your side come hell or high water. You know him, he’s a busybody—”
“NO!”
The word was followed by silence.
Heavy, heavy silence. With air so thick the undercity itself would choke on it. Caitlyn held her breath, steadying herself as she reached out with her other hand, putting it on Jinx’s shoulder.
“I’m here for you,” Caitlyn said. “And so is Jayce, and his parents. Whatever it is you’re going through, we can do it together.”
“I don’t want you ,” Jinx said, pushing Caitlyn away. “I want her . I want my sister . I want Vi!”
A spark of something. A piece of blue crystalline energy appearing by her words ran over the ground, lighting up the metallic eye in a myriad of colours.
It screeched, as if answering her own pain with its own, and painted a picture on the wall. Jinx forgot how to breathe.
She was there.
Sitting in a cell, bleeding from the back, glaring at nothing. She was older, now, much like Jinx was. Thinner in the face, tattoos and scars running up her skin.
“Jinx,” Caitlyn said. The girl gave a start, and before Caitlyn could say a word, Jinx was gone.
