"Let's hear it."
"It's the chemist who used to be at your side—the one who made Shimmer. I need to find him."
"You're going to have to brace for some cold water, Logan." Silco looked at Logan calmly, his voice low. "He left my organization not long ago. I don't know where he went."
"Left? But wasn't he working with you?" Logan stared.
Singed left?
How was that possible?!
Logan remembered that at the end of Arcane, wasn't Silco relying on Singed to save Jinx?
How could he have left?
"We were never more than partners." Silco rested his hands on the tabletop, clasped them, then spread them again as he spoke. "He needed Shimmer for something, and I needed Shimmer to change Zaun. I got what I wanted, he got what he wanted. We went our separate ways. Isn't that perfectly normal?"
"The time he left was probably around when I first started working with you." Silco continued. "Shimmer production slowing down in bulk meant a lot of his research funding ended up being spent on you. Tell me—what reason would he have to stay by my side after that?"
"Do you know where he went?" Logan asked quickly.
Singed was dangerous. In science—especially alchemy and pharmacology—his talent was even greater than Heimerdinger's. The man was practically designed as Heimerdinger's mirror.
Heimerdinger really was Jayce and Viktor's teacher, but if you had to be precise… Viktor's real teacher was Singed. Jayce was the classic self-taught type, while Ekko was Heimerdinger's true student.
Put that way, Councilor Talis really was impressive—founding his own school of thought and all.
In any case, Singed was a genius on par with Heimerdinger, but unlike Heimerdinger… their hearts were different. Neither cared about power, but Heimerdinger had no cravings—he lived cheerfully, day after day. Singed, though?
It was obvious.
He was trying to save his daughter.
And a father who loves his daughter that much will do anything for her. How could someone like that be allowed to roam Zaun freely?
"He's probably still in Zaun," Silco thought for a moment, then said. "Some out-of-the-way place around the Entresol, maybe. You might be able to find him." He added, "His experiments require a lot of equipment. He can't be moving constantly, and he has to avoid crowds. So he won't be hard to track down. With his situation, he also can't go to Piltover."
"But Logan, why are you looking for him?" Silco's tone turned serious. "He helped me, sure, but at the end of the day he's still an topsider. If you're hoping he'll truly join us, you're overthinking it. People like that aren't something you can control. I can't, either."
Silco meant it.
Because he'd worked with Singed for a long time, Silco knew exactly what kind of man he was.
He looked refined and fragile, but in truth Singed was deep, ruthless—just look at the things he used for test subjects. Human life meant nothing to him. He had no moral compass to speak of.
There was a time Silco even believed that if he weren't keeping Singed on a leash, and that man started stirring trouble in Zaun with someone else… Zaun would be in real danger.
He was too cruel. Too cold.
Zaun, in his hands, was nothing but a tool.
"This matters to you too. It matters to me, to Jinx, to Vi—to all of Zaun." Logan rubbed at his temple, a headache forming.
The reason he hadn't gone looking for Singed before was simple: Logan had too many things to deal with. And even if Vander really had come back… communicating with a man turned into a werewolf would be a whole other nightmare. Searching then would've been inviting trouble.
Another reason was that Logan had always assumed Singed belonged to Silco. Once Logan and Silco were on good terms, finding Singed would've been as easy as asking.
But now it was clear Logan had been arrogant.
Still—so long as Singed was in Zaun, Logan could find him easily, because Zaun was his turf now.
Hadn't Silco even put his second-in-command at Logan's disposal?
Sevika, in Zaun, was Silco's symbol. Everyone knew she was Silco's most trusted right hand.
"Important to me too?" Silco frowned. "But Logan, I don't see what could possibly be on Corin Reveck that would matter to me now."
"It's Van—"
"Wait." Logan snapped his head around toward Silco, his voice jumping. "What did you just call him?"
"Corin Reveck. What, you didn't know his real name?" Silco knit his brows, clearly exasperated.
If he could, he really wanted to personally teach Logan what it meant to be steady.
This was someone about to become the boss of all Zaun, yet he was jumpy and rash—what kind of look was that?
But Logan wasn't listening. He was stunned.
Corin Reveck?
How was Singed Corin Reveck?!
Logan had seen rumors before—people claiming Orianna was Singed's daughter, because the little girl in Singed's pocket watch looked exactly like Orianna. But those guesses were immediately shut down by others.
They said you couldn't point at a face and a single scene and declare "xx is XXX," and that doing so was stupid.
Like—see that rock over there?
Go on, pick it up. Congratulations, you've picked up "young Malphite."
Looking similar, having one image—none of that makes someone a champion.
And Orianna's story was complete and self-contained: her father had a shop in Piltover; she became the Lady of Clockwork because of an accident; her father couldn't let her go, and so he rebuilt her.
It didn't hinge on other champions. It was Orianna's story.
But now Silco was telling him that Singed's original name was Corin Reveck!
How could Logan not be shocked?
So… Singed really was Orianna's father?
But in the Rift, the two of them didn't even have any real easter eggs together!
"Why are you so surprised?" Silco asked.
"I don't even know how to explain it to you." Logan's head throbbed.
"So unsteady." Silco's voice stayed even. "Fine, then tell me—why is he important to me? Shimmer is already stable. Now we have Ekko and Jinx researching it. Maybe they're not as talented as he was, but add Heimerdinger into the mix and—"
Logan looked at him, desperately wanting to spit out, You don't know a damn thing.
That name is a shock to me, alright?
But in the end, Logan only shot Silco a look and snapped, "Because he's resurrecting Vander, you idiot. Got it? Vander is alive—and he's in that man's hands!"
"Bang—!"
The chair flipped backward as Silco surged to his feet. His eyes went wide, and he shouted—nearly crazed:
"What the hell did you just say?!"
"Vander is alive?!"
Everyone in the room heard it.
Silco lost control. He was normally elegant, always composed—but now his lips trembled, his eyes bulged, and he'd even cursed.
And in the same instant, two pairs of blue eyes snapped toward him.
Jinx's lips quivered as she collapsed onto the floor, while Vi sprang up and charged over.
"What did you say?"
"Silco—didn't you kill Vander with your own hands?!"
"What do you mean he's still alive?!"
Vi demanded it, her voice loud and raw.
Silco didn't even acknowledge Vi. He just stared at Logan like he was trying to tear the truth out of him by force.
Logan looked at Jinx—she was staring back, hope and fragility trembling in her eyes. Then he looked at Vi—furious, like she wanted to kill someone, but tears were already spilling from the corners of her eyes.
Finally, he met Silco's gaze.
"Yes." Logan said. "Vander is alive."
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