Blisters and Bedrock was a small wooden house hidden within an abandoned mine beside Zaun's riverbed. It was where Vander and Silco's dream began, the birthplace of their shared vision.
Secluded enough, Silco and Vander, after reconciling, restored this place where their dream set sail, turning it into a secret stronghold.
The abandoned mine's exterior blended with the surrounding landscape, deliberately unremarkable to avoid unwanted attention.
Supply caches were hidden in wall panels, escape tunnels led to different parts of Zaun, and communication devices built from scraps were arranged according to Cipher's meticulous planning. He had prepared for the worst, even if no one wanted to believe it would come.
No child in The Last Drop knew about it, only a handful of adults.
With Cipher assassinated, Vander's fate uncertain, and Silco missing, the weight of Zaun's future suddenly fell onto the only remaining adult, Sevika.
She did not waste the chance Vander and Silco had fought for with their lives. She commanded the enforcers to retreat, taking everyone with her. Her mind raced through the emergency protocols, categorizing threats, assessing resources, all while carrying two children under her arms and leading a group of traumatized survivors.
"Fall back! Take different routes to the riverbed. Travel in groups of three, no more," she ordered.
The enforcers responded with military precision.
"What about Vander and Silco?" one enforcer asked.
Sevika's expression hardened. "If they're alive, they know where to find us."
"And what about the weapons cache?"
"Leave it," Sevika said firmly. "We need to move fast, not weigh ourselves down. Survival first, revenge later."
The Last Drop was no longer safe, so she led them straight to Blisters and Bedrock.
"Sevika, if you're too scared to help, then let me go! I have to go back for Vander!"
Vi, trapped under Sevika's arm, thrashed like a wild animal, struggling violently. Her fists pounded against Sevika's side, each blow fueled by desperation rather than technique.
"Vi, quiet. Stop messing around. We can't lose any more of our family."
Sevika, uncharacteristically calm, did not lash out at her tantrum. Instead, she only tightened her grip, making sure Vi wouldn't break free and fall.
"Family? You're acting like he's already dead!" Vi spat back, renewing her efforts to escape.
"I'm acting like someone who doesn't want to explain to Cipher why I let his sister run back to certain death."
Compared to Vi, still fighting under her right arm, Sevika was more concerned about Powder in her left.
The girl's eyes had lost all light. She neither cried nor made a sound, her face void of any emotion.
"Kid, come back to us," Sevika whispered to Powder. "Your brother wouldn't want you lost like this."
There was no response, just the faintest constriction of Powder's pupils at Cipher's mention.
Claggor approached cautiously, placing his large hand gently on Powder's head. "Come back to us..."
Mylo joined them, his own eyes red from crying. "Powder?" he whispered, reaching out to touch her hand. Her fingers remained limp in his grasp. "She's... she's still breathing, right?" he asked Sevika.
"She's breathing," Sevika confirmed. "But she's somewhere else right now."
An uncomfortable silence fell over the group as they kept going, broken only by their footsteps and breathing.
"How much farther?" Mylo suddenly asked.
"Not far now," Sevika answered, adjusting her grip on Powder.
She was alive, but she looked no different from the dead, painful to even look at.
But there was no time for that now. Sevika had to get them out first.
If they didn't make it out alive, Vander and Silco's sacrifice would be in vain.
She had never understood why Vander softened because of two girls, and why Cipher cared for his sisters to the point of spoiling them.
Even Silco, who had never spoken about it, never openly cared for Vi and Powder, his cooking always included their favorite foods, sometimes even ones they'd only mentioned in passing.
More than once, she had caught him in the kitchen, figuring out how to make something new.
But now, the burden was on her shoulders, crushing her chest, making it hard to breathe. This is what you meant, isn't it?
She looked at Vi, fighting wildly, and Powder, lifeless in her grip. Then at Mylo and Claggor, grieving yet silently following orders.
Suddenly, she understood Vander and the others.
What could be more overwhelming than raising children?
For someone like her, someone who swallowed her pain and kept moving forward, she was a rarity.
"Sevika, Vander is about to be killed, and if you won't help, fine, but why stop me? What kind of family does that make you?!"
Vi screamed, sinking her teeth into Sevika's arm with all her strength, drawing blood.
"Hah—"
Sevika sucked in a breath, resisting the urge to smack Vi off her.
"Go ahead. Bite. You can tear off a chunk of flesh, and I still won't let go. At least this pain distracts me from the worse pain inside."
A bitter laugh escaped her lips, mocking her own weakness, her powerlessness against Camille.
She held Vi even tighter, refusing to let go no matter how hard she bit.
Vi wasn't the only one who wanted to die from the pain.
"Child, Sevika is right. Going back won't change anything, it would only be a meaningless death." Carried away by an enforcer, Heimerdinger watched the scene unfold and couldn't help but speak up.
His long ears, usually perked up, drooped in defeat, his face filled with sorrow.
"Professor, even you? With my help, Vander might still be able to defeat that woman!"
Vi loosened her grip, staring at Heimerdinger in shock.
She hadn't known him for long, nor did she care much for studying, but she respected him as a selfless scientist.
"You didn't see what I saw," Heimerdinger said softly. "You can't win. She isn't someone an ordinary human can defeat."
"I'm sorry, Vi. By now, he is most likely dead."
"You're wrong!" Vi shouted. "Vander's stronger than anyone. He wouldn't just... he wouldn't..."
Heimerdinger looked into Vi's eyes, which dimmed instantly, and shook his head.
To him, Vander had already been slain by Camille.
"No… No, this can't be happening!"
Vi finally stopped struggling. She knew that someone as noble as Heimerdinger would never lie to a child just to deceive them. The fight finally left her body, tears streaming down her face.
If he said Vander was dead, then the chances were... he really had been killed.
"Who exactly is that woman?"
"What kind of modifications did she undergo? Why does she have such a powerful energy shield? And what's her energy core?"
Viktor clenched his fists. Due to his leg disability, he had to be carried on the back of an enforcer as they retreated, now lying against the enforcer's back.
He had witnessed Camille activating her energy shield, tanking every attack without a scratch.
"I saw her tank explosive rounds without flinching. Even Vander on shimmer couldn't scratch her..."
He understood that for an energy shield to function at such a level, it required an energy core capable of continuously supplying an immense and stable power source.
Piltover's technology hadn't reached that stage yet. Even Hextech was far from achieving such a breakthrough.
He suspected that Camille's energy core might be her weakness.
If he could uncover its mechanism and develop a countermeasure, perhaps there would be a way to neutralize her.
"I don't know."
Faced with Viktor's questions, Heimerdinger shook his head without hesitation before offering an explanation.
"If I had to guess, the one who modified her was probably her former lover, Hakim."
"The craftsman from Shurima? I've read his treatises on biomechanical integration."
"His published work barely scratches the surface of what he achieved with Camille," Heimerdinger replied.
"The energy core and modification techniques likely originate from ancient Shuriman artifacts, but that is a field I've never studied."
Even Heimerdinger didn't know. Viktor's fists clenched even tighter.
He had always opposed the development of weapons, but today, Zaun had been pushed to the brink by Camille.
Cipher had detonated some kind of grenade. Vander had sacrificed himself to hold the line. Silco's fate was unknown.
And all of this happened because they weren't strong enough.
"We are too weak," Viktor murmured. "All our progress... meaningless against a single enemy."
"What are you saying?" Sevika asked, glancing back at him.
"Cipher understood," Viktor said absentmindedly. "It's not enough to build. We must also be able to protect what we build."
If Zaun had been powerful enough, how could Camille have stopped its rise?
Weapons. They needed stronger weapons. Zaun needed the power to defend itself.
That thought took root in Viktor's mind like a seed, growing wildly, unstoppable.
Gritting his teeth, he made a decision, one that went against the original purpose of his and Jayce's Hextech research.
He would use Hextech to develop weapons. He would arm Zaun, make it strong, ensure that no one could ever stop Zaun's rise again.
All for the glorious evolution!
Viktor reached out, as if grasping for something just beyond his fingers, then clenched his hand into a fist.