Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As soon as they got the door open and entered the room, Powder already knew that this wasn't owned by an ordinary Piltie, so many books lined the shelves on one side of the room, bits and pieces of small machinery both unfinished and completed and a huge blackboard filled with calculations, drawings and schematics written and drawn in chalk which Vi noticed.

"Must be an inventor."

Powder hummed in agreement, like the rest of her siblings, she started looking for anything that could sell a lot in the undercity to put in the sack and in her search she had found a small, round object, it looked like a basket that was gold, it was lined with diamonds and within the basket is an egg that was dark blue in color. She immediately focused on the small object and picked it up with wonder and excitement.

"Woah, I think this is a real valdiani."

She pressed the "egg" and it opened like a blooming flower, a small sphere with 3 rings spinning around it while a soft tune played like a music box.

"Oh yeah? What about this!"

Mylo presented a metal stick that was white and gold, typical Topsider design, it had a pair of tweezers on the end, Mylo pressed a button on the side and the tweezers opened and closed at a rapid pace.

Powder was unimpressed.

"That's a nose hair trimmer."

Vi then came to her vision carrying many things in her arms before dropping them in the sack.

"Keep an eye out for anything that looks valuable, Powder. Before Mylo fills the bag with junk."

Powder mentally giggled and went down a short corridor where a door was at the end. She opened the door to see a small bedroom that was turned into a workshop, she hummed a small tune picking up a book reading it. She looked around before and to her delight, saw a sandwich on the table. Powder let out a small whoop of celebration and took a big bite out of the meal, sighing in relief and enjoyment from the flavors of the meat, vegetables and bread.

She noticed something hidden under the blueprint and went to move it out of the way but something on the paper had caught her attention. She grabbed it and  laid it on the floor, letting the sun shine on it to give her a clear view of the blueprint.

It was a giant war hammer with different shifting parts and a round slot was placed in the center of the head. From the notes it looked like it could shoot something like a cannon, she didn't know what it was and saw on the top of the blueprint the name of the invention.

"Mercury Hammer"

'Ekko's gonna love this!'

She folded the paper small enough to fit it in her pouch and went to grab for the box that was hidden until suddenly a hand grabbed her arm and Powder jumped in fright before noticing the wraps. She would have relaxed if she hadn’t seen Vi’s worried and anxious face.

“Powder, we have to go now!”

Vi dragged her by the arm running out of the room and towards the balcony where she saw both Claggor and Mylo climbing to the roof.

“Wait, what happened!?”

Vi didn’t answer her but the banging on the propped door and the angry voice behind did, prompting her to move faster and climb up with the rest of her siblings. Just as she made it up, they all heard the door open with a loud bang and hurried footsteps nearing the balcony causing them to move away from the edge out of sight.

Vi motioned for them to keep quiet and still, Powder held her breath and stood frozen with her heart beating loudly in her ears, after a few minutes they heard the door close and breathed in relief.

“Alright guys, let’s go home.”

Powder couldn’t agree more.

Jayce was explaining his work to Caitlyn who was listening while carrying a box full of parts, she didn’t notice one leaning out of the box and it fell on the floor halting their walk. She went to pick it up before Jayce spoke up with a laugh.

“Careful, that’s your parents' money you’re dropping.”

Caitlyn playfully scoffed before picking up the fallen object and putting the box down to reorganize it. Jayce went ahead to unlock the door with the key but the door didn’t budge when he twisted the knob, he tried again with force this time and heard something crash inside and voices panicking.

“Hello? Is someone in there?”

Jayce saw a silhouette run past the room through the glass, Jayce dropped the boxes he was carrying and tried again for the lock and knob.

“Hey! Open up!”

The door didn’t budge so he resorted to ramming it twice with his shoulder, Cailyn noticed this and dropped the box on the floor before hurrying to Jayce.

“What’s going on?”

“Someone broke into the apartment! Can you help me with this?”

Caitlyn nodded and went behind Jayce and they rammed the door with their shoulders together, after a few more times the door finally gave in and both people did not waste time entering the apartment to find the culprit. The room was a mess and Jayce saw the balcony door open and turned to Caitlyn.

“Stay right here where I can see you. If you see anything or anyone here, scream okay?”

Caitlyn nodded and Jayce went to the balcony and looked outside, he gazed downward and saw nothing out of the ordinary, people walking down the streets and enforcers patrolling it. He looked up to the rooftops and saw nothing either, chimneys and a few birds perched resting. He sighed and shaked his head before turning back inside to see the bluette gone.

Jayce felt fear grip his heart and worry for the girl whom he saw as sister and started calling out to her.

“Caitlyn!?”

“I’m in here.”

Her voice came from his small workshop and ran towards the door and saw the girl looking at a sandwich. Jayce exhaled and leaned on the doorway with his hands on his knees.

“Oh Janna! I thought I told you to stay where I could see you!”

“I know but you know that I can’t stay put and do nothing when something like this happens.”

Jayce went to retort but it died on his tongue once he realized she was right, for as long as he knew her, Caityn had a very curious mind with a passion for solving mysteries and cases, he had seen her from time to time talking with Sheriff Grayson about joining the enforcers. Combine her detective mindset and unmatched aim with a rifle, Jayce knew she would be a damn good enforcer when she grows up.

“While you were gone I looked at the mess that was left behind and I concluded that there were more than one person involved in the theft.”

“How could you tell?”

“Well for one, there were many things stolen from different sides of the room including this one meaning one person couldn’t have done this in a short time, and for another, there were footprints left on the floor, I counted four and one of them are small enough to be that of a child’s, probably the one who entered this room and took a bite out of the sandwich.”

Jayce looked down on the floor and saw small, child footprints on the floor leading to the table where two sandwiches lay, one of it having a corner bitten off. To say Jayce was impressed with Caitlyn’s skill was an understatement, he could only wonder why her mother still bars her from joining the force.

“So far, it looks like they didn’t steal anything important but do you think we should still report this to Sheriff Grayson?”

Jayce thought about this for a few minutes before coming to a conclusion.

“Well, you said that they haven’t stolen anything important right?”

“From what I could gather, yes.”

“And they haven't hurt anyone, so this doesn’t need to be reported to the authorities.”

Caitlyn looked thoughtful before nodding at Jayce, agreeing with his decision. She went outside the room and once she was out of range, Jayce quickly looked for the box, opened it and relaxed once he saw that the stones were safe and accounted for. He closed it, placed it somewhere hidden and out of reach and went back to the main room and looked at the mess.

“Well, I guess we can start cleaning now, the supplies are in the closet next to the bathroom. You know where that is right?”

“Yup!”

“Okay, you can go get those, I’ll get the boxes we left outside.”

Both went to do their tasks and started cleaning the ransacked room, while doing this Jayce felt like there was something missing, it would be by night would he realize that the blueprint of his hammer was not there and was instead inside the pouch of a blue-haired undercity girl.

Chapter Text

Another bead of sweat dripped to the side of Ekko’s face as he worked on the grandfather clock that he was looking forward to finishing. It had been gods know how long since had found the clock and started to fix it in hopes of making it easier for him and Benzo to tell the time. 

Everything was going normal until they heard the door opened and in came Vander with a large, probably heavy bag slung over his back. Ekko mentally patted himself in the back when he saw the sack but he froze when saw the look on Vander’s face, unamused and disappointed. The boy immediately went back to work in hopes of not being caught since he was the one who gave Vi the tip of the Pilite’s place, he didn’t even haggle.

“Ekko! What’s goin’ on with that thing?”

“Give me a few seconds, the cannon pinion’s still busted”

“Finish later. Vander and I need a word.”

“But-”

“Uh-uh! Off you go.”

Ekko threw his wrench down and picked up the boxes of spare parts before going outside. After making sure no one was looking, he placed the boxes on his self-made monocycle, went to an alley beside the store and climbed up the wall to a secret door that led to a hidden floor above the shop. He lifted the door and then-

“Ekko!”

Powder’s wide smiling face appearing out of the darkness terrified the albino haired kid and the poor boy didn’t even get a chance to scream before she pulled him inside. He collapsed on a chair, trying to calm his racing heart and get oxygen back in his lungs before looking up to Powder.

“Powder, why?”

“Hmmmm, no reason.”

The girl smiled at him with a wink which made Ekko’s face heat up and butterflies start to fly in his belly. He looked away so that she couldn’t see him smiling too and looked back at her once he got control over his face.

“So, any reason why you’re here? I.. I mean it’s not like I don’t want you here but… you never go here without me.”

That little space above the shop had been a sort of safe haven for the two whenever they wanted to be themselves, invent new things and play games with each other. Powder never stayed in it without Ekko because she didn’t feel safe being somewhere small without having someone with her.

“Wait actually forget that question, what happened to you guys? Did you get any loot?”

Powder lit up before straightening up, lifting her chin as if she had done something very well and had received praise.

“Guess what? We managed to get in AND out of the place without getting spotted or chased by enforcers and we got past the bridge without any trouble until we did on our way going down.”

Powder scowled, making Ekko worry.

“What happened, did you get into a fight?”

“Some group of assholes decided to jump us when Mylo kept on bragging about a nice haul, we got into a fight, Vi tossed me the sack and told me to run and hide it and I did. Someone was chasing me though but I managed not only to escape but also still have the haul.”

Powder suddenly started jumping excitedly with a very happy face.

“Vi and Claggor told me I did a great job and Mylo told me I did good, he didn’t insult me once and I saw him smiling when he tried to hide it!”

Ekko had a very happy smile too, hearing how excited and happy Powder was with what happened today.

“But that’s not the best part!”

“Then, what is it?”

Powder reached behind her pouch and pulled out a folded blueprint and layed out the unfolded paper on the floor, Ekko quickly grabbed a lamp to shine on the paper and marveled at the schematics.

“I found a new project to work on! So what do you say? Partner?”

Ekko saw Powder’s hand stretched out for a hand shake, he looked at her with a raised eyebrow before letting out a grin.

“Let’s do it, partner.”

He clasped his hand with hers and started discussing the details in the print and the parts that they would need to build it.

Viktor was confused but curious of the request from his mentor Heimerdinger, stating that he had found someone who can be a reliable partner, the yordle quoted that having one can be beneficial towards progress but deep down, the undercity student knew that the professor was worried for his health, having been caught and reprimanded many times for not prioritizing his health.

He owed a lot to the yordle for giving him the chance to be a student in one of Piltover’s most greatest school, giving him the freedom to invent and create machines and things that could help improve and make better the lives of his people on the other side of the river, even if he’s dressed up like the topsiders he’ll never forget where he came from and how much it took for him to get here.

Back to the present, he was walking up the stairs towards the apartment of the “partner” Heimerdinger mentioned, after a few minutes he arrived on the floor, a little out of breath making him lean on the wall to catch a break and went to their door knocking to announce his presence.

“Just a second!”

He heard his voice, telling him that they were a man, and heard something shuffling inside, he looked at the watch on his wrist, telling him that is nearly 9:00 P.M., making him wonder what he could be doing at this hour, thinking that they could be one of those arrogant, lazy “inventors” that he sees at the academy everyday. He heard the knob turn and saw the door open inwards, he turned to greet him but it died on his tongue once he saw his “partner”.

Handsome, chiseled face with tanned skin that was wet with sweat, piercing amber eyes that seemed to glow under the door light and a lean physique covered by a tank top and sweatpants. Judging the stains on his clothing, Viktor concluded he must have been working for hours on something, he looked back up to see a small smile on the man’s face which made his heart skip a beat and his knees a little wobbly.

He could hear the teasing laugh of his mentor in the back of his head, teasing him for being smitten so quickly, he just knew that he had deliberately planned for this to happen. The professor had asked and teased him from time and time again if he had found anyone interesting, he trusted him enough to tell about the type of partner that he wanted and it seemed that he had given him an answer.

‘Damn you, Heimerdinger! I’ll shave you once I-’

“Um… are you okay?”

Viktor snapped out of his stupor and saw the man looking at him with one eyebrow raised.

“Oh! Um… forgive me, where are manners? My name is Viktor, Heimerdinger’s assistant.”

He held out his hand towards him, the man's eyes widened once he heard his position and shaked his hand with a steady pace.

“I’m Jayce, Jayce Talis, I’ve heard stories about you, an undercity person with a brilliant and innovative mind so impressive, Heimerdinger pulled you under his wing.”

Viktor felt his face heat up and coughed looking away hoping Jayce wouldn’t see his blush.

“So, is there anything you need from me?”

“Well, I assume you’ve heard anything from Heimerdinger about a partnership?”

Jayce looked at the floor thoughtfully before snapping his fingers.

“Oh yeah! He did mention something about a partner to me. I’m guessing you’re the said “partner”?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, come in and make yourself at home.”

Viktor entered his apartment and saw cleaning supplies scattered across the room.

“Sorry about the mess. A theft happened here a while ago.”

Viktor hummed in understanding before realizing what he said.

“Wait, what?”

“Well some people decided to target my apartment to steal some things and they managed to escape unseen just before we got in.”

“You didn’t report this to the authorities?”

“They didn’t steal or break anything important and they didn't hurt anyone so I thought it didn’t need to be worth the trouble for the enforcers.”

The assistant looked at him questioningly before dropping it and went to sit in a chair near the table. Jayce decided to sit on the floor and looked at him expectantly.

“So, since we’re gonna be partners, maybe we should get to know each other first. Do you wanna go first?”

“Hmmm, yes I’ll go first.”

Viktor set his cane leaning on the table and turned to Jayce with his elbows resting on his knees.

“Well, I was originally from the Undercity.”

Viktor looked at Jayce expecting to see a change on his face, any negative signs but he was surprised when he saw that he became a lot more intrigued in what he was saying.

“Go on.”

Jayce looked like a sitting puppy waiting for a treat making Viktor let out a small laugh, he coughed and sat more relaxed.

“Um… the part of the undercity where I was born in was not a very safe place for anyone to live in. Everything in the undercity wasn’t clean or healthy but where I’m from, no one would come out of there without any changes.”

He gently rubbed his knee and looked at his cane, Jayce understood what he meant from this small act.

“Is that why you walk with that cane?”

“Yes, the chemicals in the air made my body weaker and I wasn’t able to run or even properly because of it, inventing had been my only source of joy and I used it to distract myself from the one thing that I don’t have, a normal, healthy life.”

He looked down on his hands and his knee, reminiscing his life back in the Undercity. 

“I’ve seen a lot of my people suffer worse than I did and I’ve always wanted to do something, to create something that helps them live better and safer over there. Heimerdinger’s offer was my chance to do something and I took it. This is my only chance to make a change and I don’t intend to waste it making useless inventions people would throw away after using it once, I want to help everyone and make a change for the better.”. 

Viktor looked at Jayce to see an unreadable expression and was worried he might have jinxed it up. Jayce then looked at the entrance door and the balcony before turning his gaze on him. 

“Can you keep a secret?”

Not being able to form words out of nervousness, Viktor nodded and his eyes followed Jayce’s form moving somewhere down the corridor, moments he saw him carrying a box and setting on the table next to him.

“This can never be found out by anyone outside this room.”

Viktor opened his mouth to question him but nothing came out once Jayce opened the box and presented its content.

“Jayce… are those..?”

“Yes… they’re magic crystals.”

To a random person, these crystals would seem harmless and be considered as jewelry, but Viktor wasn’t like most people and he definitely knows what these crystals could do.

“Jayce, you know what these could do and what could happen to you if people find out!”

“I know.”

“You could get banished for harboring something dangerous like these! They’re unstable magic!”

“I know but… hear me out.”

Jayce stood up and went to the blackboard and flipped it for Viktor to see. The assistant stood up and walked towards the blackboard and saw sketches of a contraption along with calculations and schematics.

“You said that it’s unstable magic. But what if we can harness it?”

Viktor looked at Jayce with a skeptical look but motioned for him to go on.”

“What if we could convert it into an energy source that could power anything, imagine how many things that we could build powered by those crystals. Not only that, magic is a very versatile power, making it useful for anything! Medicine, agriculture, prosthetics, you name it and it can change it into something better and more efficient!”

Viktor had never seen someone so passionate, hopeful and confident on something that could change everything, Jayce gently grabbed both of his shoulders and faced Viktor towards him.

“You told me about yourself and… I guess you could say that we're not so different from each other. I want to build inventions that could help so many people and change the lives of everyone in the world, especially the people in the Undercity. So what do you say, partner?”

Jayce held out his hand and Viktor did not hesitate choosing his answer.

“Let’s go change the world and save lives, partner.”

Viktor grasped his hand and did a firm handshake before looking back at the board.

“So, what would you call this energy?”

Jayce looked at the diagram with narrowed eyes before coming to a conclusion.

“Hextech. We’ll call it Hextech.”

Viktor nodded and they both went into a deep discussion concerning the things they need for their goals and dreams to happen.

Chapter Text

It had been a month since Jayce and Viktor presented and convinced the councilors of the proof of harnessing hextech, one month of building new inventions powered by the arcane magic, thirty days since she had not spent time with her big brother.

So far, nothing interesting had happened, another test aced perfectly, another day of boring, monotonous lectures from equally boring, monotonous teachers, another day of trying to convince her mother of letting her join the higher ranks when she becomes older without success and another night of cleaning her rifle on the floor of her bedroom.

The young sharpshooter wondered when this boring, monotonous cycle would end and when she would see her older brother. If given the chance to hang out with him, she'd definitely kick him in shin and scold him at first before continuing on with their day.

She sighed for umpteenth time of the day and she finished cleaning the parts and started putting it back together, and then she would have to finish her essay due tomorrow, and then she would have to study for the test that is also tomorrow and then she-

Thump!

Caitlyn quickly looked outside the window where she heard the noise, after a few minutes she dismissed it as the wind blowing and went back to assembling her rifle.

Thump! 

"Shit."

She heard both sounds and she was suddenly alert, she quickly assembled her rifle under her record time and quietly rushed to her cabinet where she stored her ammo in a hidden drawer in the side.

She loaded two rounds and slowly approached the window, rifle locked and loaded. She quickly crouched on the side of the window where she heard the thump, as she held her breath she heard quiet footsteps and hushed murmurs on the other side.

'You've trained for this, Caitlyn. You can do this.'

She heard the intruder stop in front of the window and saw the shadow casted into the room, they stood there for a few seconds before they opened the window.

She waited until the window hit the frame, she leaped in front of the intruder with the rifle raised at their face, her finger away from the trigger.

"FREEZE!"

The intruder was startled backwards with a yelp, they began to fall backwards and grabbed the closest thing to catch themselves. 

Caitlyn jolted forward to the window by the unexpected weight and pulled on her rifle. She managed to catch herself by grabbing the window frame and surprisingly, she also managed to catch the intruder who was now nearly horizontal grabbing on her rifle.

Their hood fell down and Caitlyn froze as she gazed upon the prettiest girl she had ever seen.

Pink hair slicked back with one side shaved into a buzz cut, soft cheeks smeared with traces of dirt, chapped lips and a forming strong jaw coming out from her baby fat. The one that catches her attention was her gray eyes that shined sky blue under the moonlight, completely putting her in a trance where she and the unnamed girl are the only thing that she knows. She saw that her eyes were also wide in shock and awe as she looked at her face.

"Hello."

"H...hey."

Caitlyn had fallen for this pink haired girl.

———————🔨🔫⏱️💣———————

She does not sulk. Vi does not sulk. She knows she never sulks.

Sure she's frustrated that Powder's not spending time with her lately, making excuses and outright telling her she can't hang out with her because she's busy with a "project" with Ekko, sure she's moody for the past month because of this but that wasn't sulking. Vi wasn't sulking.

Vander had said it, Mylo had said it, Claggor had said it, everyone she knew had said it. They were wrong and they didn't know what she was going through.

'I'm not sulking.'

She thinks to herself as she approaches the house she targeted for looting in the middle of the night in the quiet streets of Piltover. Half the reason she's doing this is for earning more cogs and the other's to distract herself from the issue she's facing.

'I do NOT sulk.'

She quickly climbed the fenced gates and scurried to the wall with the ledge that she could reach. She jumped and hoisted herself up the ledge and continued to climb up to the window.

'I NEVER sulk.'

She made it to the ledge that's on the same level of the window, she leaned forward to see the window but she leaned too much, nearly sending over the edge but thankfully she righted herself in time and leaned back with a thump to the wall.

Eyes wide and the sweat forming, she breathed heavily and calmed her racing heart from her near-doom experience.

'This isn't something a sulking person would do.'

She continued to shimmy her way to the window, as she got closer a piece of the ledge gave way under her foot, sending her to another near-doom experience and making another back-aching thump against the wall.

"Shit."

She quietly cursed and continued her way, her heart raced as the window was merely inches away from her.

"This is not sulking, I am not sulking, I never sulk."

She got to the window and peered inside, the lamp on the desk was on and there were papers and books on it but other than that, there were no signs of life within the room. She could already see items and things that could sell a lot back down there at home.

'Perfect.'

She grabbed the window and was surprised to hear no lock clicking. She scoffed at this and slowly lifted up the window to the frame.

A blur suddenly appeared from her peripherals and as she blinked a gun muzzle was in front of her face.

"FREEZE!"

'FUCK!'

The gun and the order sent her in a panicked state, causing her to flinch backwards over the ledge, she grabbed the gun muzzle and for a few seconds she went on a free fall before her body stopped, her arm and hand straining to keep a good grip on the gun and to keep herself from falling.

She was going to spit an insult at whoever pointed a gun at her but she froze as she saw the prettiest girl she had ever seen.

Long, blue hair framed the girl's face, sharp cheekbones covered by soft, creamy skin, soft lips that are parted to show a tooth gap that made her look so adorable. Her eyes were the bluest color she had ever seen and the moonlight framed her body making her look like an ethereal angel.

"Hello."

'HOLY SHIT SHE'S ADORABLE!’

"H…hey."

Vi had fallen for this blue haired girl.