"Click!"
"Clack!"
Flickering firelight danced in a dimly lit corner of the casino. A tall man sat at a table, his gaunt face covered in tattooed patterns. Beneath the striped tattoos, near the corner of his eye, was a teardrop-shaped or perhaps sword-like design. Metal covered his entire jaw, giving him an "iron jaw." At this moment, his eyes were darkly fixed on the dancing flame of the lighter in his hand, his confidant standing behind him.
"Silco summoned all the Barons, yet he 'forgot' about you... Could it be...?" The confidant hesitated for a moment, unable to help but speak.
"Clack!"
The lighter snapped shut, the flame vanishing. The man, with his half-long, punk-rock hair, held a hand to his forehead. Hearing his subordinate, he said, "No, it couldn't be. Although they know my intentions, they would never betray me. After all, in the last meeting, their hatred for Silco was no less than mine."
"Why should we all work together, helping him make big money, but only get a pittance of the wealth that trickles through his fingers? Just because he's blindly determined to rebel? Damn it, he can't even control his own subordinates, so why should he lead us to suppress the people of the Upper City?" Finn said darkly.
"Everyone has long been dissatisfied with him. Zaun doesn't need him anymore."
"Click!"
Firelight appeared again as the lighter danced like a sprite in Finn's hand, his fingers skillfully manipulating it. He picked up a small flask from the table and held the flame to its bottom, heating it.
"Then could it be... Sevika? After all, this sudden summons, and Silco excluding only you... he must know something..."
"That's even less likely," Finn sneered, shrugging. His yellow coat, draped over his shoulders, rippled twice. "Sevika's dissatisfaction with Silco is no less than ours. She could abandon Vander back then because of his weakness, and even depose him. So now..."
"But she didn't agree," his subordinate interjected. The last time Finn had privately invited Sevika over and expressed his intentions, even personally lighting her cigarette, Sevika had given Finn no definite answer to this day. This made Finn's confidant suspect Sevika had leaked information to Silco.
Finn heard this and chuckled. He put down the flask, the lighter now dancing in his other hand. "Sometimes, no answer is an answer."
"Silco..."
"He's blocked too many people's paths to wealth. His era is over. That old man... should have stepped down long ago. There are plenty of people more capable, more visionary, and more ambitious than him. Does he still think he's the old him? Ever since he adopted that blue-haired monster, he's changed into a different person, becoming weak, pathetic..."
His subordinate looked at Finn's confident expression, a hint of excitement on his face. Finn's self-assured, spirited demeanor made him wonder what benefits and status he would gain once Finn took power.
Finn scoffed, snapping the lighter shut. "A man like him, his end is not f—"
"BOOM!"
A massive explosion suddenly erupted. Dust and debris rained down from the wall. Finn, whose words were cut off, felt his ears aching and instinctively covered them. As he cleared his head slightly, he immediately grabbed the lighter from the table, his fingers still fiddling with it, and quickly headed for the door.
Pushing open the small door, Finn's face was filled with rage. "Who the hell dares to come to my establishment... cough, cough, cough!"
Unable to finish his sentence, Finn coughed violently, covering his face, tears streaming from his eyes. He looked at his casino. The power was out in the casino; the entire place was plunged into darkness, save for a few oil lamps burning brightly, illuminating some areas. Blue and pink smoke intertwined, seemingly forming a large, wicked grinning face. The casino guests scattered like birds and beasts in the smoke, and his own subordinates were in chaos.
"Who, who is—" Finn coughed, his lungs feeling as if they were burning. The irritating gas he inhaled left his mind hazy. He struggled to straighten up and looked ahead.
In the shadows, a group of figures appeared. Accompanied by screams, Finn's people began to fall, unconscious, losing limbs. He took out his lighter, flicking it open, attempting to use its light to see what was happening.
A voice rang out. "Found him! The one the boss said who likes playing with lighters!"
"Over here! The one who likes playing with lighters is over here!"
"Big Sis, hurry!"
As the flame flickered, Finn saw a group of people approaching him. Beneath the grinning smoke, faint glows emanated from their bodies—those glows were... various strange patterns? Like petals, and also monkey figures, cat figures.
The strange blue and pink smoke, along with these glowing graffiti, made Finn suddenly realize something. With a jolt, Finn instantly threw his lighter, then ducked down, hiding himself, and began to run towards a corner.
This... this must be Jinx's doing! In all of Zaun, only her weapons had this kind of style! Damn it! Silco had targeted him?! Why?! By targeting him, wasn't he afraid the other Barons would feel like the fox grieving for the dead rabbit, and resent him even more?! Didn't he get enough from the last meeting?!
Finn panicked instantly, completely forgetting how he had just scoffed at and belittled Silco in the small room.
"B-Boss!" His confidant also rushed out, standing exactly where Finn had been moments before. Finn instinctively looked back, only to hear a "bang." His confidant's body swayed, then collapsed to the ground. This intensified Finn's urge to escape. In the darkness, taking advantage of the chaos created by the fleeing gamblers, Finn found an opportunity and desperately scrambled towards a hidden spot. In this casino, there was a secret passage only he knew about.
Reaching the wall, Finn frantically pressed a button. With a click, the floor split open, revealing a passage. Finn quickly ran inside. Then, following the passage, he soon left the casino.
Coughing incessantly, Finn had successfully escaped. Looking back at the pitch-black casino, a flicker of hatred crossed his face. Silco... He gritted his teeth, intending to seek refuge with other Chem-Barons and inform them of Silco's actions against him. The Chem-Barons had to unite!
But after stumbling a few steps, Finn heard a voice ahead.
"Heh, just as Silco thought, a guy like you would definitely prepare an escape route for himself."
Finn looked up in terror, seeing a tall figure emerge from the shadows at the mouth of the alley ahead. Closer and closer she came, and then, Finn saw her face clearly.
"Sevika, you... you betrayed me?" Finn's face turned ashen as he looked at Sevika.
Sevika shook her head. "I never agreed to cooperate with you, so how can I betray you?"
"By the way, Finn, where's your lighter?" Sevika suddenly asked, seemingly out of nowhere.
Finn paused, not understanding what Sevika meant.
"Is it gone? What a shame," Sevika frowned, speaking softly. "I quite liked that lighter of yours."
"You know, last time when you were playing with that lighter in front of me, I really wanted to take your head off. But I couldn't, because Silco wasn't going to move against you. He chose to spare you, to give you another chance. It's all Jinx's fault; she made him soft, to actually believe you would change, heh."
"But this time is different. He's made up his mind to make some changes."
"No, you can't kill me! Sevika, sister, sister! Silco is already failing, yes, Jinx! You know better than any of us how many terrible things he's done for Jinx, don't you? He's always made you clean up that brat's messes. You're Zaun's second-in-command! I—I'll make all the Barons help you, I'll help you become Zaun's leader!"
Finn stumbled backward, shouting as he retreated, "Don't you want to be Zaun's leader? I don't want that position, it's yours, sister! You have the ability! Silco's people all respect you! You should be their boss, shouldn't you? The business, the territory, everything is being done by you! He just opens and closes his mouth to give orders, he does nothing else! We don't need to obey him!"
Sevika slowly approached Finn, her expression calm. "Finn, the last time you were in front of me, you weren't like this. Now, you look like a dead dog."
"Tell me, in the face of death, why do people change so much?" Sevika's expression seemed to drift. She suddenly recalled that night many years ago. Vander, donning a gauntlet, facing a monster head-on, fearless in the face of death. In that instant, Sevika felt a pang of regret. Perhaps... Vander truly was exceptional. At least, he wouldn't become this pathetic in the face of death, unlike Finn.
"Listen to me, Sevika, listen to me—"
Shaking her head, Sevika cast aside her distractions. Then, she strode forward, quickening her pace, approaching Finn and raising her left arm. Her chem-tech limb emerged from her cloak, and under the night sky, Sevika raised her arm high.
"No, don't!"
"Don't come any closer!" Finn shrieked.
"Finn, Silco asked me to give you a message—"
"Do you know? The fact that you have your current status, that you crawled out of those dark, sunless mines, isn't because you have strength or cunning."
"He never expected you to help him with anything. There was only one thing he needed you to do, and you couldn't even manage that. You truly disappointed him, Finn."
"You forgot who gave you your status, you forgot who gave you your wealth."
"You forgot why Zaun could develop to this point under Piltover's oppression."
"You forgot loyalty!"
Sevika's expression was cold, her left limb raised high.
"He said, 'Don't go too fast, wait for him in hell, he'll be waiting for your revenge!'"
She swung her arm down. Under a purple glow, blood sprayed into the sky, and onto Sevika's cold face.
"Traitor."
What do you think of this operation? Did it go as smoothly as Leo expected, or were there any surprises?