Chapter Text
For once in her life, Jinx wasn’t regretting her life choices.
Ok, maybe this statement looked a little bit out of place in the moment, as Jinx was currently hiding in a janitor closet, waiting for the posh Piltover scientists to pass through the hallway. But she was so close to obtaining more of those fancy crystals, and she hadn’t had to kill anyone yet!
And the lab door was left unlocked. Perfect.
She entered quickly, making sure to make no noise as she closed the door again, and looked around.
Then she noticed the room wasn’t empty.
Among the stack of papers, the blackboards with formulas and the fancy tools, next to the even fancier crystals she was going to steal, sat a child.
A child in an oversized t-shirt, who looked very lost.
They stared at each other, blue and amber eyes locking for a few minutes before the kid spoke.
“Where am I?” He asked.
Jinx blinked. “…Piltover? Did your parents leave you here?” Damn it, was she gonna have to kill a kid? This was going great so far, why did the universe decide to ruin this for her?
“What? No, this can’t be Piltover.” He said, with a really funny accent.
“Where are you from, kid?” Jinx asked, moving closer. She was not going to console this kid, she was just going to grab the crystals and leave him to the fate of enforcers.
“I’m from the Lanes.” The kid said. He tilted his head. “Are you from Piltover?”
Jinx let out a short laugh. “Me? Piltover? They wish they could have me.” She grabbed a handful of crystals and slipped them into her bag. She grabbed a few fancy tools as well, she could always use new stuff to tinker with.
The kid giggled.
Oh, no, she was not taking this kid with her. She was not.
“Have you seen my cane? I can’t find it.” He asked.
Ok, maybe she would take him back to the Undercity. Back to his parents, but that was it. She was not keeping a child. She was not fit to raise one.
“Nope! Do you want me to carry you?” She proposed, closing her bag after grabbing one final notebook. Luckily, it would be about what she just stole. If not, well, she wouldn’t mind snooping around someone’s diary.
“I’m heavy.” The kid said.
“Well, I am strong.” Jinx said, and, as if to demonstrate, she grabbed the kid and held him in just one arm. “Ready to go, kid?”
“Ok” the kid said, holding on to Jinx’s neck. “Don’t drop me.”
“I make no promises.” Jinx said. “Got a name?”
“It’s Viktor”
“Nice to meet ya, I’m Jinx.”
Silco could feel a headache forming, along the loud footsteps of his daughter as she made her way to his office.
Please, no more explosions, he pleaded to a nonexistent god.
Jinx opened the door with a kick, and Silco repressed a smile. Of course she would.
“SILCO” She screamed, just as he turned to face her. “YOU’RE A GRAMPA NOW.”
“What?” He asked, before looking at her.
Jinx was practically vibrating with excitement, holding a bag of stolen goods in one hand, and a small child in an oversized shirt in another. The kid looked a bit confused, but waved at him with a nervous smile.
“This is Viktor!” She proclaimed, dropping the bag and holding Viktor with both hands in front of her. “I found it while stealing some of those glowy crystals you liked so much!”
“Hello sir.” The kid said.
“You took a kid from Piltover?!” Silco said, standing up and circling his table. “What were you thinking, you can’t just steal him! They’ll come back for him!”
“No they won’t.” Jinx said, holding the kid against her chest. “And he’s from the Undercity. Like us. Also he needs a new cane. And clothes. And food.”
Silco sighted, “Jinx, you are not adopting a child.”
“Already done.”
“You’re a teenager!” He said.
“And you were an evil mastermind, that didn’t stop you from adopting me!” Jinx said. “Anyways, can you get him new clothes or do I have to go annoy Sevika to get anything done here?”
“I–” Silco sighted again, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Fine, you can keep him. Just– show me what else you got, and then we can get him some clothes.”
“And a cane. And food.”
“And a cane and food.”
Viktor was sitting on the floor next to the window, drawing with some crayons Jinx had given him, when a tall scary lady entered the room.
“Sir, the chem bar– Is that a kid?” She looked at him, then looked back at Jinx’s dad.
“His name is Viktor” Jinx’s dad said, sounding resigned. He had had the same expression since he got him new clothes. Like a dad that had gotten a dog he didn’t want, but had ended getting attached anyways. “What were you saying about the chem barons?”
“Is he yours?” The scary lady asked.
“No, he’s Jinx’s.” Jinx’s dad said.“Trying to convince her otherwise didn’t work, I’m afraid.”
“Jinx stole a child?” The lady asked.
“She prefers the term ‘adoption’” Jinx’s dad said. “Speaking of Viktor, could you obtain a cane for him? He needs it to walk.”
“I, yes, I suppose I could.” The lady said. “Anyways, the chem barons are–”
Then Jinx came back inside, holding a platter with cupcakes on it. “I brought food!” She announced. She handed a small cupcake to the scary lady “one for you” another medium sized to her dad “one for you” she grabbed another medium sized “one for me and–” she set the platter in front of Viktor “–the rest for my growing kid.”
“Jinx, you can’t feed him cupcakes, that’s not a healthy lunch.” Jinx’s dad said.
“Why not?”
Jinx’s dad sighted. “Sevika, could you go get Viktor something healthy to eat?”
“But sir, the chem barons–” The lady–Sevika– said.
“The chem barons can wait. You’ll tell me later.”
Viktor took a bite of a cupcake. It was tasty. Jinx ruffled his hair.
Sevika sighted, and looked at Viktor. “You allergic to anything, kid?”
Viktor shook his head, swallowing. “No, ma’am, I don’t think so.”
Sevika shrugged, took a bit of her tiny muffin, and left the room.
The days went by, and the sight of a child running from place to place with a cane became less of a strange phenomenon, and more of ‘another one of Jinx’s weird things’ category. Goons and thieves became used to the presence of the boss’s grandkid, who was constantly asking questions and borrowing things. At least he didn’t steal anything. And he was tamer than Jinx had been.
Even the chem barons grew fond of the bright eyed inventor wanna be.
And, if anyone had tried to threaten him to get to Silco…
Well, I’m afraid Jinx got to them first.
All in all, Viktor spent most of his time drawing and inventing, either with Jinx or Silco or both. Sometimes he went with Sevika, to walk around the market in search for something interesting, but those mostly ended with Viktor on top of her shoulders pointing at the stuff he needed for his inventions.
Jinx had been a bit disappointed Viktor hadn’t shared her loved for explosions with her, but she had to admit, sometimes things that didn’t go boom were also pretty neat.
Meanwhile, on Piltover, a scientist in the Council was about to have a nervous breakdown. And a young determined enforcer decided to venture down in search of a missing inventor.
But let’s leave those for later, shall we?
“I just can’t get it to work well.” Viktor complained, sitting in Jinx’s lab. “It doesn’t have enough energy, and no battery I try works.”
“What’s it ‘posed to do?” Jinx asked, looking over his shoulder.
“Fly. It’s a rocket. It flies up and then… I dunno, falls?” Viktor said, scratching his hair. “I haven’t worked out everything this far.”
“Ohh, it could blow up!” Jinx said. “Go BOOM and leave no survivors!” She made a gesture with her hands, making Viktor giggle.
“I was thinking more about carrying things?” Viktor said. “Like messages, or small packages.”
Jinx pouted. “You gotta let your mother have some explosions, not all of your inventions can be explosion-free”
Viktor stuck his tongue out. “They can and they will.” He claimed.
Jinx ruffled his hair. “Weirdo.” She said. She moved to grab one of the Hextech crystals. “This one should have enough energy to make it fly, try it.”
Viktor ran the small crystal between his fingers, frowning. He then shrugged, and placed it inside the battery compartment. He had to make a few adjustments, as it was smaller than the normal battery charge, but it only took him a few seconds.
Placing the rocket on the table, he cleared the space near it. “Ready?” He asked, to no one in particular.
Jinx approached him again, leaving his new bomb half finished just to witness this. “Ooh, let’s go!”
Viktor smiled, hitting the switch.
The result was almost immediate. The rocket vibrated for a brief moment, before shooting up to the sky above, and exploding just as it reached the surface.
Jinx laughed. “Ha! That is one hell of a rocket you made there, kid!”
She turned to congratulate Viktor further, but stopped when he saw his face.
“Hey, no, no, don’t cry, it was amazing!” She said, holding his face in her hands.
Viktor shook his head. “It wasn’t supposed to explote!” He said, about to cry.
“Well, don’t worry! Things go wrong all the time! We can build another! It’ll be better, and stronger, and it won’t explote. And I’ll paint it with your favourite colours!”
“You promise?” Viktor asked, sniffling.
“Heck yeah, little guy, it’s gonna be amazing.”
Ekko couldn’t believe his eyes.
Was that Jinx on babysitting duty? Did Silco decide to get another child and twist it for his evil empire? Or was the kid a hostage?
If Ekko had to bet, he’d bet it was a little genius kid Silco had stolen for himself.
He turned to the rest of his group and gestured them to go back to the base.
He’d talk to Jinx alone.
Hopefully he wouldn’t get shot at with a kid present.
Hopefully.
Lowering his hoverboard to the ground, he jumped off a few meters away from Jinx. “Hello Jinx”
Jinx looked at him, and then proceeded to throw away the lollypop she had been eating. “Are you here to fight? ‘Cause I’m kinda busy.”
Ekko frowned. “Who’s the kid?”
The kid looked at him, with his own lollypop. He was resting on a wooden cane, that didn’t seem to be holding his weight properly. He waved at Ekko with a shy smile.
“Oh, Viktor? He’s my kid!” Jinx said, ruffling his hair.
Viktor groaned and pushed her hand away. Jinx only laughed.
“You stole a kid?” Ekko asked.
“Why does everyone assume–? No, I did not steal a child.” Jinx said. “I adopted.”
“I– what?” Ekko said, not knowing how to properly respond.
“Anyways, we gotta go, I’m getting Viktor some ‘proper’ food as dad puts it.” Jinx said, turning away from him. “I’ll fight you to the death some other time.”
Viktor waved him goodbye before trailing behind his mother.
Jinx had a kid.
Ekko was an uncle.
He was going to need to process this.
A few days later, before Jinx and Viktor managed to get one of his rockets to work, a metal cane appeared on Jinx’s doorstep, perfectly made for Viktor.
She decided not to question it much, after making sure it wasn’t a secret explosive or something.
Viktor seemed to appreciate it enough.
Sevika didn’t know if kids were supposed to learn how to gamble. But, since neither Silco nor Jinx paid her enough to babysit, she supposed it wasn’t her job to care.
“So, those are the rules of the game. Did you get them?” She asked, looking at Viktor’s cards. They weren’t too bad.
Viktor nodded. “What do I get if I win?”
“Whatever we’re betting.” Sevika said, looking at the table. “Which, right now, is a bunch of money and three vials of shimmer.”
“What is shimmer?” Viktor asked.
“Drugs.” Sevika said. “Never take them, your body wouldn’t be able to handle them.”
Viktor nodded. “Like alcohol.”
“Worse than alcohol.” Sevika said.
“Are we gonna start or what?” One of the goons playing with them asked.
“We start whenever I say we start.” Sevika growled. “Now, Viktor, are you ready?”
Viktor nodded again, smiling.
And then someone interrupted their game.
“YOU–” A pink haired girl–Jinx’s sister? Jinx’s sister. Fuck.– said. “Where is my sister?!”
The jerks she’d been playing with scattered, taking the bets with them. Sevika left Viktor on her seat as she stood up, cracking her neck.
“That’s none of your business.” She snarled.
“None of my business?!? You bitch, I’m go– is that a kid?” Jinx’s sister said, looking at Viktor.
Viktor, tilted his head. “Hi, I’m Viktor.” He said, waving.
“Viktor, don’t tell your name to strangers.” Sevika scolded.
Viktor pouted. “Sorry.” He mumbled.
“I– You stole another child?” Jinx’s sister asked. “Was my sister not enough?!”
“I didn’t– I don’t get paid enough to explain this.” Sevika said.
“Who’s that lady?” Viktor asked.
Sevika sighted. “Jinx’s sister, who was supposed to be dead.” She shot the pink haired brat a death glare, which only seemed to infuriate her further.
Viktor smiler brightly. “I have an aunt?!”
“What?” Jinx’s sister asked, her scowl dropping in favour of outright confusion. “Wait, wait, he’s Powder’s kid?!”
Sevika sighted once more. She needed a pay rise. “Yes. He is. Any more questions or can I beat your ass so you leave us alone?”
“I’m an aunt? I’m an aunt.” Jinx’s sister said, mostly to herself. “I’m not ready to be an aunt. Gods, how did Powder even get a child? Did she steal it? I hope so, she can’t have gotten pregnant. Does she even know how to take care of a child??? She’s a child herself!”
Sevika considered grabbing Viktor and running just there. Maybe pink hair wouldn’t run after them.
Viktor stood up, grabbing his cane and walking up to Jinx’s sister.
“Hi.” He said. “I’ve never had an aunt.”
Jinx’s sister let out a short laugh, near hysterical. “I’ve never had a nephew.”
“Do you want to see my rockets?” Viktor offered. Goddamnit, did this kid not know about basic security?
Jinx’s sister blinked confused. “I don’t think she’ll like it…”
Viktor looked at Sevika, using puppy eyes. Puppy eyes that might have worked with Silco or Jinx, but Sevika wasn’t affected.
“No.” She said. “We’re leaving.”
She grabbed Viktor and set him on her hip. He gripped his cane and pouted.
“Wait, where’s my sister?!” Jinx’s sister said, going back to her initial goal.
“Mom said she was going to–” Viktor started.
“Nowhere.” Sevika interrupted. “Get out of Zaun before I find you without the kid around.”
Viktor didn’t like grandpa’s friends. They were scary, and not good scary like Sevika, but rude scary. And they looked at him like he had murdered their kittens in cold blood.
But grandpa had asked him to come with him, and he hadn’t been to Piltover in a long time.
And this girl had so many cool toys! Right now they were building a tower with wooden cards. Maybe they’d have enough to make it higher than them. If they didn’t topple over. They just had to find a way to avoid the laws of physics.
Then a man in enforcer armour entered the room. The girl playing with Viktor seemed happy to see him, but Viktor just froze.
He heard his grandpa talking, but he wasn’t paying much attention.
“–it would be horrible if anything happened to her…” He was saying. Was he going to hurt Viktor’s friend? “Come, now, Viktor, say goodbye to your friend.”
Viktor looked at the girl, who waved at him goodbye with a smile. He offered him a weak one in return.
And then grandpa toppled over their tower.
Before Viktor could say anything, he was picked up and they exited the room.
He waited a few moments before turning to Silco.
“Opa, are you... Are you gonna hurt my friend?” he asked, afraid of his answer.
“Not if Markus does as I say.” Silco said. “But don't worry, I know he'll make the right choice.”
Viktor frowned. “But why hurt her? Hurt him, if he's being bad, not her!”
“You're too young to understand, Viktor.” Silco said, not meeting his eyes.
“No I'm not.” Viktor said. “I know a lot. I know that only bad people threaten children and I know you're not a bad person.”
One of grandpa's friend snickered. Silco shot him a look, and they shut up.
“We'll talk about this later, ok?” He asked.
Viktor pouted “Ok” he muttered.
“Hey, hey, buddy?” Jinx called, poking at Viktor. Viktor who was lying his head over his arms, looking at his last rocket prototype with anger. “What did the prototype do to you? Do I need to kick its ass?”
“what? No, I was just–” Viktor said, snapping his attention back to her. “I was just thinking, that's all”
“Thinking bout what?” Jinx asked. “Do I need to kick the ass of abstract concepts?”
“No, I was think about grandpa.” Viktor admitted.
Jinx frowned. “am I going to be forced to kick dad Silco's ass?”
Viktor shrugged.
“Come on, kid, what did dad do?” she asked, nudging him gently.
Viktor shrugged again. “It doesn't matter”
“It matters if it's making you upset” Jinx said. “It matters to me.”
“Opa threatened my friend today” Viktor said. “He threatened her for something her dad might do. And it's... It's just not fair.”
“World's not fair, kiddo” Jinx said. “Dad wouldn't hurt the kid, unless her dad really really crossed him.”
“That's not the point! He can't make some pay for the bad things of her father!” Viktor said, looking up. “How would you like if that happened to me?!”
“I would never let that happen” Jinx said.
“Then why do you let him do it to others? It's not right”
Jinx sighted. Damn this kid and his conscience. Couldn't Jinx have adopted a less morally righteous child? Someone a bit more unhinged?
“Look, Vik” Jinx said, sitting next to him. “Dad has a huge empire down here, and he needs to protect it. But he can't do that without getting his hands dirty from time to time. And everyone does that, heck, even me! I've lost count of the folks I've killed...”
Viktor didn't seem reassured with that. “We could be helping people instead of killing then”
“Well, yes, but that wouldn't be near as fun!” Jinx said. “And I wouldn't get to use as many bombs”
Viktor laid his head back down on the table. “I knew you wouldn't understand”
Jinx sighted, ruffling his hair. “You'll get it when you grow up, kid”
Silco should’ve known Jinx’s sister would be a bigger problem than anticipated.
Jinx had stormed in earlier, screaming at him about how he’d been lying to her. It had taken Silco minutes of careful words to calm her down.
After that whole ordeal, Sevika entered their room, interrupting their family drama to ask about Viktor’s whereabouts.
“I thought he was with you?” Jinx said, rubbing away half dry tears. “He said he was going to ask you to go buy new stuff.”
“We did, but then he said he was going to talk to you, sir.” Sevika said, looking at Silco.
“…He hasn’t been around here since yesterday.” Silco said, standing up.
“Fuck.” Jinx said. “Fuck, we gotta go find him.”
Caitlyn had had very shitty days before. A lot of them. Like that time all her friends forgot it was her birthday and didn’t go to her secret birthday party. However, she had never had a week where she met a girl, got dragged through the Undercity, and then proceeded to get her ass kicked by this girl’s sister.
So yes, everything was going great.
Vi was pissed. She had hardly gotten three words with her sister before she had gone wild. Caitlyn couldn’t help feeling remorse. She hadn’t meant to make things worse.
And then the firelights appeared.
All in all, Vi didn’t get to talk with her sister properly, and Caitlyn still had no clue where Viktor might be.
She left Vi talking with her friend, Ekko, and went just right outside the Firelights hideout. She just needed to pace and think. Just walk around to clear her head and think of a new plan.
Vi would probably refuse to help. Maybe she could make a deal with the Firelights, their help to find Viktor in exchange of… what could she help them with?
Just as she was about to come with a solution, she heard a kid. A kid crying.
Following the noise, she arrived to a small river. Next to a drain pipe, sitting in the dark, was a child hugging his knees.
Caitlyn approached him, crouching to his level. The kid noticed her and dragged himself back.
“Hey, it’s ok.” She assured him, showing him her hands. “I’m just here to help.”
The kid didn’t seem reassured. He tried to move farther away, but there wasn’t much space for him.
“Hey, hey, no, I’m not gonna hurt you.” Caitlyn said, backing off. “I’m just trying to help.”
The kid didn’t seem convinced.
“Here.” Caitlyn said, passing him a handkerchief. “My name is Caitlyn, what’s yours?”
The kid seemed to hesitate, before grabbing the handkerchief and clutching it to his chest. “Sevika says it’s bad to tell strangers my name.” The kid mumbled. “Sorry.” He had an accent, from somewhere Caitlyn couldn’t place exactly.
“That’s ok.” Caitlyn reassured. “Is Sevika your mom?”
“No, she just… took care of me, sometimes.” The kid said, using the handkerchief to clean his face from tears.
“Oh. Are you… are you hurt?” Caitlyn asked. “I can help.”
“Why? You’re an enforcer.” The kid said. “Enforcers never help.”
“I… I’m not very good at being an enforcer.” Caitlyn said. “I’m pretty sure I’m about to get fired.”
The kid chuckled. He looked at Caitlyn, and she swore there was something familiar in those amber eyes. “You promise you won’t hurt me?”
“I promise.” Caitlyn said, not hesitating for a second.
The kid nodded, before making a ball of the handkerchief and putting it away. He grabbed at something behind him, before attempting to stand up.
A battered, half broken metal cane. It barely held up his weight, twisted as it was.
Caitlyn repressed the thought that came to mind. It was just a coincidence. A weird, probably sleep deprivation induced connection her brain had made. There were more than one person in the undercity with brown eyes, a limp and an accent.
“Do you want me to carry you?” Caitlyn asked. “To that rock, for example, it looks comfy enough to sit.”
The Definitively-Not-Viktor-Turned-Into-A-Child–Caitlyn would shorten that to Not-Viktor– nodded.
Caitlyn grabbed him carefully, settled him against her hip and then left him down to the nearest adequate looking rock.
“Ok, where are you hurt?” She asked, kneeling in front of him.
The kid showed her his hands, full of scrapes and little spots of dried blood. “I fell trying to run.”
Caitlyn sighted, pulling out another handkerchief and her water canteen. She doubted the river water would be safe for this.
She cleaned his hands gently, trying not to hurt him. “Why were you running?”
“I wanted to get away from a scary man.” Not-Viktor said. “I just wanted to know about shimmer.”
“You’re too young to take that stuff.” Caitlyn said, remembering the addicts she’d seen on the street. “You should just stay away from it.”
“I didn’t want to take it!” Not-Viktor complained. “I just wanted to know what it was meant to do.”
“Hurt people. That’s all it does.” Caitlyn said.
“I know…” Not Viktor said, wordlessly pulling up his pant leg to reveal bloody knees. “I just thought that maybe if I understood it, I could change it to something that could help people.”
“You have a good heart, kid.” Caitlyn said. “Just stay away from the shimmer, you can help in other ways.”
Not-Viktor sighted. “Ok…”
Caitlyn finished cleaning him up. She grabbed a bandaid from her pocket–you never know when you need bandaids, dad had told her– and placed it on his knee. “There! Fresh as new!”
Not-Viktor giggled.
Then Vi appeared behind some bushes.
“Caitlyn! There you are, I thought you’d left back to Pil–” She stopped and stared at Not-Viktor. “You found my nephew?”
“Hi Aunt Vi” Not-Viktor said.
“Hi, kiddo.” Vi said, approaching them both. “You ok there?”
“I fell and rolled downhill while trying to run away from a scary man.” Not-Viktor–Vi’s nephew????– said. “I’m ok now. Caitlyn helped.”
The way he said Caitlyn’s name was only even more familiar, but Caitlyn shook that thought of her mind. It was impossible.
“You have a nephew?” She asked Vi instead. “I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah, neither did I ’til a few days ago.” Vi said. “My sister adopted him, apparently.”
“Jinx adopted a child?” Caitlyn asked. She thought of Jinx, of that maniacal unstable teenage girl, taking care of a small kid. It was surreal.
“Well, she technically stole me.” Not-Viktor said. “But I was lost, and my parents hadn’t been around for a long time, so I didn’t mind.”
Vi let out a short laugh. “Yeah, seems like something Powder would do.” She said, smiling softly. “She tried to get Little Man added to the family once, but Benzo refused to let his kid go.”
“Why do you call her Powder?” Not-Viktor said. He frowned. “Her name’s Jinx.”
“She used to go by Powder when we were kids” Vi explained “and my mind just… hasn’t processed the change yet.” She sighted, sitting on the ground next to them. “Anyways, what are you doing around here?”
“I wanted to use shimmer for good stuff.” Not-Viktor said. “But the man in charge is scary and he wanted to experiment on me… Mom’s gonna be angry at me.”
“It’s ok, Viktor, I’m sure she’s just gonna be worried about you.” Vi said.
“Wait–” Caitlyn said. “Your name is Viktor?”
Not-Viktor, or, actually, Viktor nodded.
“Oh, yeah, like the fancy scientist you were after, right?” Vi said. “Funny coincidence.”
Caitlyn refused to think her theory was right. What were the odds that Viktor had:
1 turned himself into a child and lost all his memories
2 gotten rescued by the sister of the girl Caitlyn got out of jail
3 gotten found by Caitlyn after an encounter with said crazy sister
?
None. Almost zero. Shouldn’t be possible.
But the accent was the same, and he even had the same eyes, and the mole on the right place. And the leg. And the name.
There were too many coincidences.
“Cupcake? You still with us?” Vi asked, snapping Caitlyn out of her thoughts. She laughed nervously. “Jeez, you ok?”
“Viktor, where did Jinx find you?” Caitlyn asked, momentarily ignoring Vi.
Viktor stopped to think about it. “Weird lab place in Piltover.” Viktor said. “I don’t know how I got there.”
Shit, Caitlyn thought, how do I fix this.