Chapter Text
SILCO, 10:25pm
Finn’s choice of meeting place is the same abandoned factory where Jinx had her art show, which has more points of access than a leaky sieve. It’s also a place that reminds Silco poignantly of her.
A taunt, or a coincidence?
Finn is an arrogant prick, and he’s never been one for subtlety or nuance.
Perhaps he thinks this is the kind of power play that will keep Silco in check, a reminder that he knew of their connection, even then. And perhaps he’s seeking to show his confidence in the bargaining chips he holds for this… negotiation… by meeting in a place with so little protection.
Though in all likelihood, he’ll have all the exits covered.
All the ones on the ground floor, anyway.
As Sevika turns off the engine, Silco spears her with a long, heavy look.
“You remember what we discussed.”
“Yeah, yeah…”
“Promise me that you’ll do what you must.”
Her head shakes almost imperceptibly, nostrils flaring. But eventually she grunts.
“I expect you to do your worst, Lieutenant.”
“I’ll give it all I got.”
“Good,” He replies. “Because employee evaluations are coming up, and I’d hate to put you on probation for failing to meet my expectations.”
She snorts. “You won’t. I know how bad you want that brewery up and running by next quarter.”
“Then don’t give me a reason to be disappointed.”
Sevika rolls her eyes, and they both exit the vehicle.
“Keep to the plan,” Silco says, shutting the door behind him and fixing his cuffs.
The emeralds gleam under the waxing moon.
“I got it. I won’t let you down, boss.”
“You never do.”
He gazes at the cuffs for a moment longer before taking in a deep breath and rolling his shoulders. He leads the way to the broken chain link fence. Moonlight shows the path, leaving faint shadows as they trudge towards the lure of the building's generator lights. He can hear Sevika doing a series of taps on her earwig … long, short, pause … in several very specific series as they walk.
His fingers twitch at his sides.
Silco has never been one to dwell, but tonight it’s taking great effort to quell his apprehension. He doubts the feeling will disappear until he sees her again – and can confirm she’s safe for himself – but he has his part to play.
And so do all the rest.
So many moving parts, and still so many ways they could fail. But they calculated and mitigated what risks they could, and all they need now is time. That is something Silco can provide.
Through the window he spies only one other person inside with Finn – who’s leaning dramatically against the shipping container, picking at his nails wearing a bored expression.
Renni.
This is unexpected.
Of all the investors he’d anticipated would buy into Finn’s meddling, he’d have put money on Smeech.
Yet Renni has always been a cool customer. He's had great difficulty telling what went on behind those deep set, kohl lined eyes - beyond her recent, more vocal complaints against any new improvements he's planned for the school and its surrounding wilderness lands. She might have bought into Finn’s delusions of grandeur, that each member of the board is due a slice of Zaun’s pie.
Pie that Silco has allegedly been hoarding for himself.
If they bothered to read the reports, they’d see exactly how much of the land Silco owned made him any money at all (Less than 35%).
However, he isn’t here to squabble over money or territories, he’s here to waste time. She could at least prove to be useful on that account. Her presence means that she’s got a laundry list of woes she’d like to lever at him.
Silco slicks back his hair as they mount the stairs, and Sevika reaches for the door. He slips his hand behind his back as he sweeps through.
“You took your time getting here,” Finn says, pushing off the container.
He already sounds extremely annoyed.
So predictable.
“Finn. Renni. What a surprise.”
He inclines his head at the regal lady. She glares down her nose at him.
“I was beginning to think that you didn’t take my warning to heart,” Finn says.
“And what warning is that?”
“Calling in your precious friends at Piltover PD. Endangering your lady friend.”
“Ask the men you’ve positioned outside to run a sweep of the perimeter,” Silco says, extending his hands. “They’ll confirm that we’re the only ones here. As you requested.”
Finn looks loath to listen to any advice that Silco gives, but the struggle is abundantly clear. If he doesn’t run a perimeter sweep, then there could be someone out there, waiting in ambush. If he does, then he’s letting Silco jerk his chain.
Will wisdom win out? Or pride?
Silco isn’t much interested in which one prevails, but it is amusing to watch the obvious range of emotions that flash across Finn’s face as the internal struggle winds down to its conclusion.
“Leonards,” He barks, touching his ear. “Search the perimeter. Detain and question anyone within a one mile radius. No. Do NOT use lethal force. We don’t want to bring down the law on our heads.”
“That’s very wise.”
That definitely rankles Finn, and the boy can never resist running his mouth.
“I’ll admit I’m disappointed in you.”
“Pray tell.”
“That the Great Eye of Zaun could be brought so low by something so predictable as a woman.”
“I even surprised myself.”
“So it’s true,” Renni raises her chin. “Your head got turned by that slutty little shop girl?”
Silco tilts his head to examine the woman more closely. In her eyes he can read all the accusations and assumptions he knew would come, though her opinion doesn’t bother him in the slightest. No person in the room is in a position to sling mud on grounds of moral superiority.
But behind that apparent disgust is something else.
Triumph.
He knew he’d been right in his belief that the Board would frown on the relationship, but what he’d failed to recognize was that it would be far less about her, and more about Silco.
How he was the big bad wolf, devoured by little red riding hood. Achilles brought low by a shot to the heel.
A god, cut down to the measure of a man.
His shoulders relax.
She truly is safe.
It’s Silco’s head they want on a pike.
Then let me give it to them.
“I’m surprised to find you caught in the middle of Finn’s many schemes,” He says.
“This one has some merit. He made good on his promises for equipment and personnel, and pays me well for my work.”
“And what work is… Ah…” Silco pauses as the pieces slide together. “So you haven’t given up using your degree in chemical engineering as you once intimated, Professor Renni.”
“Finally catching up, are we?” Finn taunts.
“My mistake was assuming the personnel were outsourced,” Silco eyes the woman with a new level of appreciation. “So you’ve been the one cooking up so much trouble.”
“With the help of my son,” She says proudly.
“Who’s following in his mother’s footsteps,” Silco nods. “He still goes to ZCC, if I recall. And he also happens to be enrolled in many of the classes where the first students were offered your strange new wonder pill…”
“It’s a safe testing field.”
Silco’s smile turns feral. “One of the girls who took it almost died in the hospital from undiagnosed congenital heart disease.”
“She was an acceptable risk. And in the end we were able to farm some very important data from her case.”
Silco shakes his head. “So much intelligence and so much talent, wasted.”
“I wouldn’t consider my work a waste,” She answers coldly. “Unlike some, who pointlessly chase after some idealistic, unachievable vision for this shit pile called Zaun.”
“I work to build a safer place for our children. You, Professor Renni, are working to destroy them.”
The woman bares her teeth.
“We aren’t here to talk about politics,” Finn cuts in with a bored drawl. “We’re here to negotiate a trade. Your cooperation in exchange for the whore.”
“One that’s practically half your age,” Renni spits.
“I did my best to dissuade her.”
“Oh yes, I’m sure you put up a good fight,” Finn replies with a sneer. “But she clearly offered you something you couldn’t refuse. Maybe something that makes you feel more… like a man? I know how lonely it can be at the top.”
“That’s not what Rodriquez intimated to Callum the other evening.”
Finn's sneer drops.
“It sounds like you’ve been sleeping in many beds, and tasting many exotic pies,” Silco nods. “And not just figuratively. He’s starting to feel neglected. You really should be more careful when handling professional entanglements. Take it from the lonely man at the top.”
“You always think you’re one step ahead,” Finn spits. “But that’s about to change. So I’m only going to tell you once. Quit poking your fucking nose into my business.”
“Or what? You’ll kidnap the people closest to me? Oh wait, you’ve already made that mistake.”
“I’d be very careful how you speak to me, old man. Remember, I hold the key to your darling girl’s life.”
Silco tilts his head as he takes several slow steps forward until Finn looks visibly nervous.
“I’ve always thought you a fool, but never a masochist. You won’t harm a single hair on her head.”
“You don’t fucking know me.”
“Don't I?"
His hands twitch toward his coat as Silco leans forward.
“You won't touch her, because you’re a coward.”
“I’m not a coward.”
“Oh, but you are. Only cowards slink in the shadows of greater men, bastardizing their innovations and progress for nothing but their own greed. And all of them fail to recognize who they’re trying to depose.”
“Men who think they’re gods,” Finn declares boldly. “But I know how to make gods bleed.”
“But will you draw the knife,” Silco asks in a silken voice. “Or leave that task to someone else?”
Finn looks back, jaw stubbornly set.
Silco’s smile turns caustic. “You see? The problem with cowards is that they're unwilling to do the dirty work. To sacrifice their own pleasure and their own comfort and reputation to achieve their goals. How do you think men like me make it where I am today? Because I’m clever? It’s more than that. I do what I must in order to survive. And that is why you won’t harm her. Because you know exactly what I’m capable of.”
“And she’ll know too, if you don’t cooperate,” Renni says.
“She’ll know what?”
“What you did to that girl, in Ionia.” Finn finishes hastily.
Silco blinks, affixing the blank mask though his heart is suddenly thundering.
“Or that small guerilla army in the desert,” He adds, emboldened by Silco’s silence. “You dare preach to me from your high horse when you murdered those children in cold blood.”
A damnable reproof, but those youths' faces had haunted him for months. Their fervor for their leader had far outweighed any words of wisdom, or fear of death.
“Those were in self-defense,” Silco answers evenly. “They attacked us. We attempted to disengage.”
“What about that toothless old man you strangled in Egypt?”
Khalid.
His face twitches. “Death comes to us all, in time.”
“He was lame, and blind.”
“Civilians often make the mistake of associating old age with frailty, and impute innocence. They feel the need to take pity on the ailing body while failing to take into account a lifetime of wickedness.”
Blind though the man may have been – and without the use of his legs – his ears and mind had worked well enough. He'd been informing on his neighbors for years, feeding information to competing crime syndicates through his sons. He’d been the root cause of rapes, murders, and grand larcenies across the city without once rising from his rug in the city market.
Fucking coward.
But he didn’t feel the need to explain all that, especially not to Finn, who was looking like he’d won the argument.
“I don’t give a damn about your excuses,” Finn says. “But I’m sure she will. Do you think your pure, perfect love will let you take her into your bed if she knew?”
“Knew what?”
“That you're a cold-hearted murderer."
“What you're accusing me of is participating in a war. Though I suppose to a coward like you, they might appear to be the same.”
Finn is manic now.
“We've got your entire case file. When she’s done with the grand tour, I’m sure she’ll need something to read to pass the time until she’s released. It’s real Tom Clancey shit. She’ll eat it up."
Dread hits like a hammer to his chest.
“Unless you cooperate. So if you don’t want that sparkling, worshipful devotion in her eyes to turn into disgust at your very presence, then I suggest you shut the fuck up…”
Silco stiffens as he hears a familiar rolling crack. Before he can brace himself, he feels a solid hand on his shoulder. Then a fist connects with his gut.
The force of the punch brings him to his knees, doubled over. He can’t breath, though he can feel Sevika rooting around for his pistols as he struggles to suck in a gasp. Tears gather in his eye as he looks up and sees her looming over the top of him, his guns well in hand.
“...And listen,” Finn swaggers forward looking incredibly pleased. “Thank you lieutenant.”
He holds out his hands, and though Sevika’s face twitches, she hands them over.
Finn examines them with great interest. “Turns out your special little inner circle isn’t as tight as you thought. And you’ve made some very serious enemies.”
Sevika’s face is still as stone.
Finn squats down to Silco’s level, and waves the guns beneath his nose. “This is what I want. To be the principle shareholder in the brewery, and you’re going to sell half of your investments in this factory town to me. I’ve got some bastardizing business plans I’d like to test out.”
“We,” Adds Renni.
“We,” Finn concedes. “and you’ve got more than enough land to share. I don’t see why the school needs it all.”
“That’s protected land for… good reason,” Silco wheezes. "There are endangered -- "
“You’ll also allow us to continue to operate within the city,” Finn stops him, pointing the guns at his face. “And provide protection. I know you've got Marcus in your pocket, and we’ll have a lot of product to ship out soon. It will be a long, mutually beneficial relationship. You don’t bother us, we don’t bother her. Oops, I’m sorry. I mean you. Sounds fair, doesn’t it?”
“So your lab is… in the interior...”
“Of Zaun city limits? Yes. Does that make you nervous? It should. It’s a whole lot closer to home than you thought. You’ve been blind, old man. I have your darling girl to thank for that distraction. Maybe I’ll go deliver my thanks to her in person, as soon as this negotiation is complete.”
“Go… piss yourself.”
Finn grins. “I was hoping you’d try to put on a tough show. But we’ll see how long you hold out.”
He gets up and jerks his head.
Sevika hauls Silco to his feet. Their eyes meet for the space of a heartbeat.
Then her fist connects with his jaw.