Piltover
"You jerk! You moron! You!" PJ was running out of energy. Of course she had, he took a lot of it away again.
"PJ!" Vi was starting to run that way. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I just needed to . . . relax with a fun hobby." It was hard to talk right now.
"So?" Vi looked at her expectantly, as she looked at the dead Firelight. "It's okay, Powder. There's other things we can do."
"Hm?" What did she mean? "There isn't. That Firelight is dead. Anatoly killed him." She glared at him.
"He attacked. Self defense," Anatoly said.
"Liar."
"No, I can clearly see that he's dead. I mean about the wedding," Vi said to her. "There's other things we can do."
Do? "Not really. I'll see you soon though, in two weeks for the wedding."
Vi looked shocked. "You? You just kicked his ass down a fleet of streets, and you are still going to marry him?!"
"Yeah."
"And, ya think he wants to still?" She looked toward him.
"Yeah." She gestured toward him, he was grinning. "Getting his butt kicked by me is kind of his thing."
"Oof!" Vi pointed at him. "You are a horrible person, and you aren't getting away with this!"
PJ tried to think about what to say. How could she make her understand? A Firelight show was beginning not far in the distance. "I didn't do this."
"I know you didn't, PJ, but he did." Vi pointed toward Anatoly. "How?"
PJ watched as they started to head straight toward them. Oh no. Ekko was going to think it was her, that she was flipping again. "It wasn't me. It wasn't me!" They were still moving way too fast toward her, no one was trying any fighting back yet. What?
"Powder, behind!"
She heard Vi's voice as she got lifted to a board. "Whoah, whoah, whoah." She wasn't ready for that one. "Let me down, what are you doing?"
"Powder!"
"PJ!"
She could hear both Vi and Anatoly calling for her. "I'm sorry about your friend, but it wasn't me. It was the other bozo."
"Oh, it isn't the illustrious dead Jinx?" One of them called her out. "Bull. You are defenseless though, out on the town without a single weapon."
She was the weapon. "Let me off of this crazy thing." She couldn't move around, she would make it crash, killing them. "I'm not your enemy."
"Not another word!"
"It wasn't me."
"It's always you!"
PJ found her ring getting taken off her self, getting shook off over a huge body of water in Piltover. Oh, this is gonna hurt. It would hurt, but it wasn't going to kill her. It wasn't high enough.
"Powder!"
As soon as Vi saw the Firelights grab her, she rushed back home for her gauntlets. Yes, they were illegal with hextech. It wasn't allowed anymore. She could wear them just for that extra punch power was her excuse, but she kept a hextech crystal just in case for an emergency.
Just in an emergency, with authorization from Cait. The world had really changed in the last two years. She needed them now though, to save her sister who had been flown over a body of water. It wasn't very high, but that wasn't the point.
She was going to be there for her.
She caught her over the water before she fell, and got them back to land.
She held onto Powder while yelling out "Assholes!" toward them all. Assuming things. She wasn't carrying a weapon, there was nothing saying anything bad about Powder at all. They wouldn't have even recognized her if she had been wearing something like yesterday with her hair the way it had been. Today though, they had just been hanging out.
In Piltover, hardly anyone knew what Jinx actually looked or sounded like. All they had was an old wanted picture, that was out of date with her now. No one could recognize her from it. In Zaun, it would be another matter.
"I'm okay," she assured Vi. "Really."
"Those jerks. Acting without even knowing things," Vi insisted trying to hold her again. "I know you're fine. Don't let this get to you." Please don't let this get to her, she's made good progress with herself.
"I know I didn't do it, but I did do it several other times, but- I am going to downplay the negative and focus on the positive," Powder insisted. "Focus on the positive. I live somewhere where I am appreciated and loved and safe. Right. That's what matters. Take corrective procedures."
Yeah, she was mimicking that Shields woman again. At least, it helped her pull her into a better frame of mind.
"I'm okay, really," Powder insisted. "I should expect this, but the past won't dictate my actions."
"No. No, it shouldn't." Still, Vi didn't look as good. "Do you . . . no. I? I'm glad you're okay, Powder."
"I really have to get going now," Powder insisted. "We aren't going to be welcome much longer. Can you take me to the ships real quick?"
"Yeah." Vi helped take her to the ships. There, her whole crew and her annoying future husband and mother had been waiting on her. I am figuring this out with Ekko. This marriage isn't going to happen.
They'd figure out what the codes were and get whatever it was that she needed, but that was it.
There would never be any marriage.
Some Time Later . . .
Sevika heard a knock on her door. Not an odd occurence. What was odd, was the person. Second day that month the wildest guests come visit. "You? Really?"
The leader of the Fireflies. "I need to talk to you. About Jinx."
"What about? She's getting married and she's not in anybody's way." She wasn't going to join in any war against her.
"I need to get her to legally be down here, without being wanted."
Long sigh. "That's the village's deal."
"Permanently."
Hm? "What are you on about?"
"You are on the council. Make them take it off," he said. "Zaun needs it off of her."
The leader wasn't stupid. "Why?"
"She's got the vaccine to shimmer."
"What?"
"I need to come in."
"Sure. Let me just make tea for the annoying kid that kept interrupting my business shipments."
"Not tea again."
"Don't worry, I can't stand that shit either."
He didn't say anything.
"This better be legit." She let him in. "What is it, it someone messing with the captured parts of the lanes again?"
He explained how when Jinx visited, her touch had killed one of his Firelights. It also saved one of his Firelights. As he got the details from the survivor, and checked her over?
"She was a hiding addict," the leader said to her. "She used to have the usual signs hiding behind the neck, so she grew her hair long. Sometime later, after she survived, she came to see me to tell me all this. All the damage in the back of her neck was gone."
Hm? "No shimmer damage?"
"She said that she always had a craving, but tried not to do it more than every six months."
"Infected one of you little bugs?" Yeah, they exchanged looks. Neither one was fond of the other. They only associated for the betterment of Zaun. She couldn't help Zaun and be against the Firelights, a really beloved group of it.
"Anyhow. She said she didn't even want to use. She didn't see any allure in it anymore. She knew that didn't just happen, she wanted to quit in the first place by joining us. Her dad died to the stuff a long time ago. She really wanted to quit."
"So what did you do?"
"I said in so many words that I'd kick her out if she didn't let me hop her up on a whole thing of shimmer and examine her. You see, Jinx's new marriage interest is a mage, and I think her body's shimmer system is using his power in a different way. I watched the Firelight for days afterward. No change, good or bad, and it just passed out of the system like it was just waste."
"It passed out of the system?"
"Yep. Urination and defecation both showed signs of it's presence."
"You mean pink poop and piss?"
"Bright and shiny."
"Is it temporary?" Was this a short term solution?
"I'm still watching her. So far, she's stayed healed and clean. I am going to stay hopping her up once a week. Even if it is temporary, it can really give that boost of will power to say no to it."
"A vaccine to shimmer." An actual vaccine.
"If it doesn't work, people don't buy it for themselves. If people don't buy it, then the industry can't survive."
"If people don't buy it, then it's just survival of the fittest down here. Again. Those who take and those who don't. Again. We already had that."
"My crew didn't ask to be touched. That mage touched them and like, made them all brittle is what my Firelight said. In seconds, they were breaking bones. So, Jinx touched them. All she has to do is touch someone."
"You said one survived, but one died."
"I have a theory. I am going to get it confirmed when I go to the village. Vi is going to help."
All of the problems with shimmer. "People would stop abusing it." Then again? "It still brings in profit to the Underground, albeit not as good as Silco. Not half as good. Not even a quarter as good. We all messed up when we got rid of Silco."
"He's dead, end of story!" Testy.
"Things were better with him. The Underground could be strong to fight back."
"Are you on the council to better Zaun or what?! Shimmer ruined Zaun, it made it into a fucking disaster!"
"It was a disaster before that," she said.
The leader took a moment to breathe deeply. "Jinx can fix the shimmer problem."
"Jinx is getting married. She doesn't live here."
"She'll be back."
Oh, he was going to try and abduct her? "Don't be stupid. She's actually doing okay. Leave her alone."
"I can't believe someone like you is on the council! I am giving you a chance to get that toxic thing out of here, just give amnesty to Jinx! She can't be wanted with a huge bounty, and help!" He took a step back. "Look. I know that you know what's smarter for our future."
"Fucking little gaw dam stupid . . ." She was trying. He was glaring just as hard. "Grow up, Kid!"
"Fuck you!"
"No, Fuck you! Still a stupid kid! Get your ass out!"
She was expecting him to yell longer and then get out.
He remained, breathing hard, but he didn't move. "I'm not leaving."
She crossed her arm and biomechanical arm. "You stay, and your either getting your ass beat, or your getting a lesson about how stupid your being get rid of shimmer."
He threw his hands up, and fell into one of her chairs. "Fine. Teach."
"If we lose shimmer, we lose everything. It's not good. Even Piltover is involved in it now. Silco would hate to see that, them, horning in on our industry. We have lost a lot of ground, and we have a lot of dead end users that abuse it, but it still gives the underground something. It's our product. Our jobs. Do you know how many people get a paycheck working those factories? Industry pays workers. Workers go buy stuff. The money moves. The economy blossoms. Without it? You get endless strings of nobodies with no money!"
"Shimmer kills people. It's addicting, and only the corrupted people working there are the ones making it," he pointed it. "It took everything good, and it made it . . ."
"Don't you get it? Are you that stupid? Yeah, you Firelights have always wanted to get rid of that product. It's bad. Yes, it is. It's addicting. Yes, it is. It can kill. Yes, it can. It also allows us to survive in this dreck! You want to get rid of shimmer, bring in another industry! What's going to replace it? It's a disservice to just get rid of it, without a backup!"
He stood there for a little while. Quiet.
"All of Underground was just a jobless waste. No one made money. Minor trading here and there. Vander could barely keep it even fair. No one could afford anything, we were scraping up coins on the street to make it. Not 'til shimmer came along."
"Not everyone. Without shimmer-"
"We'll all be equal losers."
"You know? I used to be a lot different a couple years back. I went through something very personal though. And. I know that what you're saying . . . is true."
Hm? Wasn't that against those Firelights' code?
"Zaun does need an industry. A new industry sounds like a good idea. We can think about what to do for Zaun, but we can't do it like this. With strung out citizens hurting. Underground is bustling with people who used to love to invent and create. We used to be the whole center for that. Bring our people back. Then. We can take that idea of industry, and run with it. Not just one, and nothing dangerous. There are plenty of things we can create that people would want." He gestured toward his board. "We can create all kinds of things that help, and don't hurt."
"Fine." She took a seat, to actually sit down too. "You are giving way too much credit to that idea though. Maybe some make things. Not everyone. A lot of people punch and fight. That whole thing about artists and inventors ending up here because they didn't want to work mundane jobs above? More of a fairy tale to make kids feel better when they got stuck down here. We do have more, but as they got better, guess what they did? They moved upward. That's what progress looks like, they leave Zaun."
"Then we can make progress, and not leave Zaun," he pointed out. "I won't leave Zaun."
"Also, you need capital. You need investment money to get started. You have to pay people to make things, so that people can buy things."
"Now this?" He gestured between them. "Is a conversation we need to have more than one night, but do you see it?"
"Yeah, it's smart. It'd be great if Piltover would just see that if they gave us a loan, we could make it through," she said to him. Oh, now he pulled himself out of the slouch in the chair and sat up better. "I'm on the council. Think I haven't asked? Didn't think we asked all those years ago? You think Shimmer is the first thing Silco ever tried? Vander?"
"How do you ask?" He was still interested.
"To get money from them to invest in Zaun? I saw it once. When I first got on the council, I had everyone's eyes and ears finally," she said. "They want plans and procedures. Who makes the money. How much money. Where's it gonna be invested. What are we making. Work pay. Service pay." She shook her head. "How the hell can I answer that?"
"Not off the top of your head, and not in a day, but you just found a gateway. If . . ." Topsiders invested in them.
"Look. What's your name again?" Sevika asked.
He looked annoyed. "Ekko."
"Ekko. Let me make this clear. Do you know what a FUBAR deal is?'
Yeah, he sunk back in the chair. "Knew it."
"The plan, procedures and all that legal crap it's not just a plan. It's a promise. We don't make it, and we'll be hurting even more than when Vander was in charge. I mean, shit!" The shit they said! "People in Zaun aren't even trackable. Do you want everyone to have ID's? When we scraped up the coins we got to survive, we got to keep those coins, they didn't go to Piltover for taxes or penalties before we got to use them to eat. We'd have better luck going it alone."
"Maybe," he said. "But. Maybe we can. Don't count anything down yet."
She just told him how impossible it was, and he still . . . "You know what?" Okay. This Firelight wasn't just trying to wreak havoc in shimmer. He was a thinker, and he had a real unshakeable spirit. He could be the next Silco. Not that she'd say that out loud, that would ruin this conversation real quick.
She gave him a nod. "Ekko. I'll take a gamble with getting rid of shimmer. But. Jinx is actually getting better."
"I know."
"She was off her freaking rocker all the time. A loose cannon. I couldn't stand the little bitch." Sevika shook her head. "She started changing after her eyes turned pink. Thought maybe that shimmer was helping her not be nuts, but that was nothing to what I saw when she visited."
"I know."
"You steal Jinx from her help she finally got, you bring that maniac without feeling back just to try and stop shimmer, and you will regret it. I will get so much on you, you'll be carrying her sentences instead!" Decent warning.
He didn't seem moved, just started leaning in her arm chair. "You didn't even meet the guy she's supposed to be marrying, did you?"
Ooh, that didn't sound good.
"I haven't either but Vi had to hold herself back so much not to punch him. Jinx is marrying him because she has to, not because she wants to. The help is with him. So? I'm gonna steal the help along with her."
Oh. "You're going to go kidnap some people?"
"Yep."
"Steal some shit?"
"Yep."
"Well. I didn't hear it." Amnesty. "She could innoculate Piltover too, we could all be on even ground." Hmm. "I'll bring it up. Don't expect anything until we actually see results."
He exhaled. "Thanks."
"There's no guarantee. All the others on the council are not Zaun. In order to see results, you would have to bring her in. Once you do that, there's no guarantee they won't just arrest her instead. Just a heads up." Let's see what he does now.
Yeah, he exhaled this time in a more exhaustive fashion. "She's going to have to be wanted and make a good dent in Zaun before she gets that, doesn't she?"
"Yeah. If even. Good luck. You'll need it."
He gave one nod, and got up out of the chair. "This was a worthwhile talk tonight. Sevika."
Shortly after the Firelight left, there was another knock on her door.
"Good evening, Miss Sevika. I wonder if I may trouble you for your opinion on something dealing with Silco. I will pay for your time of course."
This little guy. "Weren't you on the council for a long time?"
"Yes. I got voted off because I said what they wanted was too dangerous." He scoffed. "Well. Clearly. You saw how that went."
"Well. I wouldn't shout 'I told you so', but I would bring that back to attention."
"No need, I don't need the council. All I need is your help. I have been making some big waves to make things come together for a big project. All that's left is making a contingency plan for a worst case scenario. For that, I need your help."
"With what?"
"Your part in breaking out Miss Jinx."