Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The hand of cards hit the table to the applause of groans and curses. “Well, looks like it’s just my lucky night.” A smirk crossed his face, relishing yet another win. The pot had grown to a respectable size, a large mass of coins and various other valuables, and a nicely done up pouch of gold sat on top, the most recent bet thrown into the game. Ruko stood up out of his seat, leaning forward to collect his winnings, when he was met by his opponent standing as well.

“Lucky? Nah, I’m thinkin you’re a cheat.” He looked Ruko dead in the eyes, a scowl drilling into them.

Ruko chuckled. “Sorry. Looks like I’m just better at this than you.” His arms moved to sweep the pile towards him when a knife slammed down through the pile, driving itself into the rickety table. 

“You think I don’t know what you are? He growled, an underlying rage seeming fit to break free any second. Ruko had really done it now. His smirk became slightly more anxious, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips. 

“Look, there’s no need for this to get out of hand.” Ruko wasn’t going to win a fight with this guy, he was almost twice his size. That went for most people Ruko managed to piss off. 

“I’m thinkin, on account of you cheatin n’ all, I’ll take all of this…” The big guy dragged the pile of winnings to his side of the table. Ruko stood back, the corner of his lips curling into a slight smirk.. Fine, if this is how he wanted to play it, then that’s how they’d play it. He launched his leg up under the table, flipping it over onto the big guy. The pile of coin and other valuables went flying across the tavern floor, delving the ‘fine’ establishment into an absolute frenzy, as every lowlife, criminal and beggar tried to make out with their own share of the game. In a swift movement, amongst the chaos, Ruko swiped up the pouch of gold pieces and began to move towards the door. Looking at his newly ill gotten goods, he couldn’t help but smile to himself. Too easy.

“I’m not done with you, cheat!” Before Ruko could process the shout, a hand wrapped around the arm holding the pouch, spinning him around to face the big guy again. Great, just couldn’t be easy, could it?

“Hey, look, let’s just talk about th-” The asshole threw a jab straight into Ruko’s gut, causing him to keel over slightly. Honestly, of all the gut punches he’d taken, this one wasn’t too bad. The guy actually had quite a weak arm all things considered. Quickly recovering, he swung his own fist straight into the guy’s face, jabbing his nose and causing him to recoil. The man still gripped his arm like a vice. Ruko’s eyes darted left, he quickly snatched a half empty bottle off a table that was just within reach, swinging it straight into the guy’s head, it was a big target after all. The resultant impact shattered the bottle, unleashing shards of glass and drops of blood.

This attack was enough to cause the man’s grip to loosen, and Ruko wretched his arm free. Kicking the man backwards before he could recover, Ruko momentarily lost his own footing, stumbling backwards into the wall behind him, seeing the door to his immediate right. Glancing back, he saw the man attempting to pull himself up out of the wreckage of a table he crashed through. Ruko didn’t linger, he pushed himself off the wall towards the door, forcing it open as he barged through.

Ruko needed to get out of here, now. Thankfully, the streets were still fairly crowded, giving him easy cover to move away without attracting too much attention. Slipping the bag of coin into his jacket pocket, Ruko began sliding and weaving through the waves of people, his silhouette melting into the larger crowds. He pulled his hood up over his face to obscure it, but it did have the added benefit of keeping the cold rain off his face. From behind him, he heard shouting and yelling. A momentary glance back revealed a group of several large men, all cursing angrily, brandishing nice big intimidating blades. Time to go.

Ruko quickened his pace, ducking and weaving through all manner of trader, dealer and otherwise general scum that littered the streets. As he approached a side alley, he moved from a fast walk to a light run, his feet crashing into the puddles that sat on the uneven cobble. Turning into the alley, Ruko looked for a way out. Dead end, shit. But what about a way up? Then he saw it, a way out. Quickly launching himself up a makeshift staircase of boxes, he reached a gantry about halfway up the walls.

“Oi! There’s the rat!” The sound echoed from the alleyway entrance. Ruko hastened his ascent, moving off the gantry, grasping onto bricks and handholds that jutted out from the building. As he hoisted himself up the side of the building, a shot narrowly whizzed past his hand. One of the men had pulled out a flintlock. Thankfully, he was a shit shot. Ruko quickly reached the top, and he pulled himself up and over the ledge. As a second shot flew by him, he rolled over on to the roof, panting slightly.. He could still hear the angered shouts of the men below. Gathering himself, he got up onto his knees and peered back over the ledge, seeing the men gathered below him. 

“Nice meeting you assholes! We should play again sometime!” With that, he backed off out of sight from below, climbing back onto his feet as a massive grin took over his face. He really couldn’t help himself, he had to have the last laugh. He knew they wouldn’t be able to follow him up there, what with their size and generally poor agility and all. Still, it was smartest to make himself scarce. Ruko began traversing the rooftops, mostly flat for now. The rain continued to pour, collecting in large puddles for Ruko to avoid, lest he slip and fall off the roof quite unceremoniously. It would be quite a poor end for such a successful night.

As he navigated towards the port-side of the city, the flat roofs gave way to sloped peaks and much higher drops, as the city’s layout transitioned to the cliff districts that connected the upper city and the port below. It was tricky navigation, but Ruko had been here long enough to know how to move, where to place his feet, when to jump, when to hold onto something and when to let go. There was no hesitation, just instinct, he didn’t even really think about what he was doing.

Ruko slid down the peak of one roof, catching himself on a ledge at the foot of the slope, his boots barely gripping the brick. He slowly moved right, inching along the edge of the roof, moving himself into a position to jump. After shuffling a couple of metres, Ruko launched himself forward onto the next roof, this one much flatter, allowing him to roll into the landing. As he got back onto his feet, he looked out at the city beyond him. He could clearly see the bustling ports below, the sea of white cloth stretching for miles along the edge of the city. The docks bustling with people, moving too and from their stalls and their ships like little worker ants. Fishermen trying to hawk off their latest haul, stinking up the rest of the place while they were at it. The constant loading and unloading of cargo of all varieties, only some of it legal. Many ships carried visitors entirely unfamiliar with the city. Poor souls, the best they could hope for was to leave without any of their worldly possessions.

The city that neighboured that sea of sails was a complete mess. A hodgepodge of buildings and construction, no two buildings were identical. Various heights, sizes and materials made the city somewhat of an abstract canvas. From any one point above the city, you could look over it and see ten different images, ten different impressions of what the city was really like. Though, unless that impression was one of cutthroats, smuggling and generally disreputable behaviour, they’d be wrong. 

Ah, Bilgewater. Never change. Ruko pulled the bag of coin out of his pocket, tossing it a couple of times in his hand, gauging the weight inside. It’d be enough to last him a little while.. He needed more though. He always needed more. Still, it had been a fairly successful night out. He got to have some fun, play some games, make some money, even if he would’ve preferred taking the whole pot, and he made out with no injuries whatsoever. It couldn’t have gone much better for him. Leck will have something for me, Ruko reminded himself, pocketing the pouch, and returning his gaze to the cityscape. It was late, that would have to wait till tomorrow.

As Ruko eyed another ship slowly sailing into port, he pulled a set of cards out from his sleeve. He fanned them out, admiring all the duplicates. He scoffed, the big guy had been right of course, but only because he hated losing, Ruko was too good to be caught out by a dolt like him. As he slipped the cards back up into his sleeve, the rain started to pour again, this time much heavier. It was time to get going. Ruko looked over the ledge, spying a platform he could jump down onto. As his boots hit the rickety platform with a solid thump, he began to make his descent back to the streets of the city, the streets of his home.

***

The wooden hull creaked and groaned, waves colliding with the sides of the weathered vessel. The ship had seen better days. At least, Jinx assumed it had. She didn’t really know anything about ships, or sailing at all really. Maybe all ships sounded like this? The last one she had been on hadn’t sounded this bad though. Maybe this one was really old? Maybe the captain was just really cheap? Eh, it didn’t matter.

All it needed to do was get Jinx to where she wanted to go, without sinking along the way, that would suck. Her thoughts wandered, what was the ship’s name again? The Rose ? No, no, it started with a different letter. The, uhhhh, the Mercenary ? No, right letter, but the name was too cool to be the right one. Oh, oh that was it, The Marigold . What a stupid name for a ship. What even is a Marigold anyway? Soooooo boring. If Jinx had her own ship, she’d name it something cool, or scary, or both! Like, the Harbinger of Doom or Stinkmaw’s Vengeance or something like that. Those names are soooo much cooler.

Jinx sat on a crate, alone in a corner below deck, a hood and cloak obscuring her more… vibrant features. There weren’t many other people down there, the ship wasn’t really one to carry passengers. Still, she didn’t really want to draw any more attention than was necessary. One of the crew was already down a working arm for being too nosy. She hadn’t really wanted to, but he just wouldn’t leave her alone. He wouldn’t shut up, why wouldn’t he just shut up ? Why wouldn’t any of them shut up? This was supposed to be a new start, an escape. She wanted to leave them behind. But they followed her. Wherever she went, they were there.

You failed her… She’s dead because of you… 

“Shut up…” Jinx murmured, her hands coming up to cover her face, her heart rate rising. The obscuring of her face doing nothing to quell their torment.

You fail everyone, no one can trust you, no one can rely on you, no one can love you… 

“Stop…” her voice grew ever so slightly louder, her heart beating faster and faster, ready to burst out of her chest. She smacked her forehead twice with her palm, trying to make them go away. It was no use, they never listened to her, and she was forced to listen to them.

We’re all dead… you did this, we’re all dead because of YOU!

“Shut up!” Jinx lashed out, her voice raised now. She kicked a barrel across the deck, its contents spilling out, various fruits littering the floor as the barrel rolled to a stop against the side of the hull. She was panting, panicked, her whole body shaking. She sat there with her legs sprawled outwards for a few moments, her breathing uneven and rapid. Suddenly, Jinx readjusted herself on the crate, pulling her legs up, bringing her knees to her chest, her arms wrapping around them tightly. Jinx’s breathing began to slow, the tremors in her body dissipating as she returned to normal, her normal anyway.

Hugging her knees had always made Jinx feel safer, more secure. She felt like no one could hurt her like this. Jinx’s eyes glanced up from her self-hug, checking to see if anyone else on the ship had seen her little breakdown. She didn’t see anyone, good. Her eyes darted back down before she closed them, relishing the hug. She only wished she could share it with someone, anyone. Vi, Ekko… she’d left them behind, Jinx had already hurt them enough, she cared about them too much to stick around. So, now she was on her own, all alone. All alone…

Jinx wasn’t sure how long she’d been on the ship now, a week? Two? No, it was probably three, it was so easy to lose track of time, especially when she had spent most of the voyage below deck. She was ready to be back on dry land, this really sucked. Jinx wasn’t sure what it was specifically, the constant rocking back and forth, the uncomfortable wooden bunk she had to sleep on, the rancid smell of the sailors who clearly hadn’t washed in months. No, she knew what it was, it was all of it, it all sucked.

She would’ve blown the entire ship to smithereens ten times over by now if that didn’t end with her stuck out in the middle of the ocean. Still, the thought had crossed her mind more times than she could count, she only actually considered doing it twice. The first time was right after they had set sail, and the second time was when all the sailors congregated below deck, the smell from all of them combined was a relentless assault on Jinx’s nose. If they did it again, the pin might just get pulled that time. Uggghhhh, how much longer did she have to spend on this stupid ship, surrounded by stupid people with their stupid smells?

A decently large pack sat by Jinx’s feet, filled to the brim with all sorts of gadgets and junk. Basically whatever she could scrounge up before she fled Piltover. The contents of the pack had somewhat diminished in the intervening time, what with having to use her gadgets and grenades and so on, but she did try to restock her own supply. It wasn’t just gadgets though, there was some different clothing, food, other random trinkets and knick knacks she’d stumbled across on her journey, only to inevitably throw away later when she realised she didn’t actually want them.

Reaching down into a side pocket, Jinx pulled out a glowing blue orb, a hextech gemstone. It was the one she ejected from Vi’s fist when… when Jinx ‘died’. She had held onto it all this time, it was almost comforting. It was kind of like a piece of her sister was with her, somehow, but the stone also represented everything about Jinx, everything that made her, her. As she rolled the orb between her fingers, she heard heavy footsteps approaching. She quickly grasped the gemstone within her fist, hiding the little thing from the world.

“Oi, Crazy. Cap wants ya.” The crewman’s head disappeared behind the door just as quickly as it appeared. Great, what could he possibly want this time? Jinx sighed, placing the gemstone back into its side pocket before pulling herself up off the crate and onto her feet. As she stood, she noticed the rocking of the ship had eased off somewhat, it was much softer now.

Now on her feet, she slowly trudged out of the cargo hold of which she had made her home for the last couple of weeks. It was either that or with the rest of the crew and Jinx sure as hell knew where she wasn’t going to stay, so the cargo hold it was. Making her way through the deck, she passed the crew bunks. They were empty, everyone seemed to be up on deck. Still didn’t smell any better though. She scrunched her nose as she walked past towards the ladder leading up onto the main deck.

Climbing up the ladder through the hatch taking her outside, Jinx had to squint her eyes as the blaring sun suddenly hit her face. It had been a few days since she’d seen it last, and it wasn’t quite that bright. After a few moments to start to adjust to the blaring light, Jinx finished climbing up the ladder and out onto the main deck. No one seemed to notice her arrival, the crew were too busy running around, playing with ropes and knots or whatever they do to make the ship work. Looking around, her eyes still adjusting to the sunlight, she spotted a flock of birds above the ship. Wait. Birds?

“Blue!” A gruff voice called out from the quarterdeck behind Jinx. Turning around, she saw the Captain standing out, looking over his ship, his arms resting on the wooden railing. He was on the older side, a big beard, an eyepatch, he was everything Jinx had expected a pirate to be. Except he was nicer. He wasn’t a nice guy, or anything, but Jinx had wanted him to be a real hard ass, an absolutely dastardly villain. She had been disappointed. Still, he did let her on his ship, and he was the only person on board this damn thing that she actually kind of liked. 

“Yes, Captain!” She called out in a mock pirate voice, saluting him as well. The voice was terrible, truly awful, but he got a kick out of it. She crossed the swaying deck, past various members of the crew, many of them glaring and scowling at Jinx. That was okay, she didn’t like them either. She walked up the creaky stairs to where the Captain remained posted.

“We’re here.” His voice was incredibly rough, Jinx wondered how many bowls of gravel you’d have to eat to get it like that.

As she finished climbing the stairs, Jinx turned to look toward the front end of the ship. There she saw it, the large set of islands just ahead of them, that explains the birds. She’d forgotten what the islands were called, Blue something, she only remembered the blue part because it was also what the Captain kept calling her.

“See that?” He pointed ahead, towards a large stone arch between two cliff faces… no, it wasn’t just an arch, there were buildings littered all over it, and not just on the arch, all over the cliff faces too. “That’s Butcher’s Bridge…" the Captain carried on.

Jinx turned her head to look at the Captain. He kept talking but she had stopped listening, instead she looked him over again. She hadn’t seen him much, what with having sat alone in a corner below deck for most of the voyage.. He was a large man, much larger than her, very ragged clothing and hair, his beard ended way down his chest, she wondered if he ever shaved it? Suddenly his lips stopped flapping and he turned his head to look down at her.

“Thanks, I guess…” Jinx felt she should probably say that, she had no idea what he had said and that seemed like the easiest out. He also had brought her all the way here after all, for no payment either. Though in hindsight, threatening to blow up his cargo might’ve helped. The Captain’s expression dipped for a moment.

“Listen, kid, word of advice…” Ugh, he called her kid, she hated it. Why? She wasn’t a stupid kid anymore, she hadn’t been for a long time. Just because she was young and he looked like he was ancient before she was even born? “... watch yourself, anything goes here.”

He clearly had a soft spot for her, though Jinx couldn’t for the life of her understand why? Maybe she reminded him of a younger, well, him? Why would he even care what happened to her? She didn’t know, and she didn’t care enough to ask. Anyways, it’s not like this would be a big problem, ‘anything goes’ was like her middle name. The Captain refocused his attention to the fore of the vessel, a grin lighting his face, “Welcome to Bilgewater!”

***

Jinx stepped off the gangway, finally back on solid ground. Well, not exactly, the wharf they had docked at was old, and rickety, and was definitely not at all solid, but it was infinitely more preferable to being on that ship one second longer. The sea-air was just as potent as it had been out there, almost more so due to the sheer number of people who hadn’t bathed in weeks in one place. Looking around, it was difficult to see anything through the forest of sails going in almost every direction. Beyond those however, was the city itself.

The city was built into the island, buildings lining the cliff faces, an incredibly vertical layout in many parts. It was difficult to make it out from this distance, but the buildings looked hodge-podge, there was no uniformity. In some ways, it reminded Jinx of the Undercity, but in so many others, Bilgewater was like nothing she’d ever seen before. It was incredibly dreary, the geography of the island’s cliffs, including Butcher’s Bridge, blocked any sort of sunlight from reaching sizable areas of the city. And the further up the cliffs you looked, the richer and nicer the buildings seemed to get. Some things didn’t seem to change, go figure.

A shoulder pushing past her ripped Jinx back to reality. She realised she had just been standing there, in the middle of the wharf, lost in her own head. There were better places to do that. The owner of the shoulder continued on, not seeming to even notice they had pushed someone. Jinx didn’t really care, she had too much going on to care about some random asshole who was too stupid or blind or whatever to watch where they were going. Okay… maybe she did care, just a little bit. Jinx readjusted the strap of her pack slung over her right shoulder, and stepped forward into her new life.

The early morning sun slipped in underneath Butcher’s Bridge, coating the branching wharves and docks in a soft golden glow. Slowly navigating the intricate maze, Jinx got lost a couple of times, ending up down various dead ends and interconnected docks.

Eventually, she made her way to land proper, the docks giving way to a sprawling marketplace along the waterfront. Stepping off the rickety wood and onto the hard stone, Jinx immediately felt much more oppressed. The almost liberating if not slightly repulsive smell of the docks gave way to a much danker, pungent odour. Even the sunlight seemed to have dissipated into shadow. This felt much more real, much more like… home.

Jinx’s eyes darted around, scanning the bustling marketplace surrounding her. Fishmongers, antique dealers, fabric traders, scam artists, everyone was present. If you could make money off of it, someone was probably selling it here. Buyers and sellers were haggling, each looking to get the best deal they possibly can while screwing over the other.

Groups of kids ran through the various stalls, some of them pinching small items as they did. It reminded Jinx of another life, when she was younger… Vi, Mylo and Claggor, Ekko, Vander… She shook her head, it was no use thinking about that now, it was just a distraction, one she didn’t need.

Walking through the stalls, Jinx tightened her grip around her pack’s strap. In a place like this, she knew thieves and pickpockets would be running rampant, the last thing she needed was them poaching one of her gadgets, or doohickeys, or even a thingamajiggy, that would be bad.

The endless market stalls slowly morphed into buildings as Jinx ventured further into Bilgewater. Structures of all sorts of materials and designs made up the various buildings that she walked past. The streets had only gotten darker and dingier the further she progressed. The only sources of light were lanterns, placed at unequal distances apart along the edges of the street. It was an eerie atmosphere. There were people around, sure, but Jinx felt on her own, alone. Isolated….

Because you’re a Jinx…

It’s all your fault…

You’re the reason you’re alone…

You hurt everyone…

Push them away…

Jinx tried to force the voices out of her head. She redirected her thoughts back to her present situation. Where was she? A random street in Bilgewater, a place she’d never been before. What was she doing? Trying to find a place to stay. How would she do that? Find an empty building? Surely there had to be lots of those, right? Who would want to live in some of these structures?

They looked like they were about to fall apart. But she needed one that wouldn't fall apart on her, that might be a bit harder. And she needed a place that wouldn’t be easy to find. So, a recently abandoned building away from the main streets, down a back alley somewhere? That sounded like a plan.

Her mind snapped back to reality in time to see a group of kids scurry past her. Turning her head to keep watching them, she noticed, amongst the other pedestrians littering the street, a group of large men further down the street behind her, slowly walking her way. She didn’t look long, her head swivelled back forward after a second or so, but something about that group set off an alarm in Jinx’s head. But why?

She turned down the next main street on her right, this street was much brighter. There seemed to be a brightly lit tavern down here which drew quite a lot of business. Jinx increased her pace slightly, moving past the bright tavern lights and back towards the darker street ahead of her. As she did so, she swung her head back around, to see the group of men still behind her, briefly bathed in the tavern’s light. Yep, they were following her alright. And now she could better see their faces.

She recognised a couple of them, they were some of the crew onboard the ship that brought her here. Great, what the hell could they want? Had they been following her since the docks? Jinx felt a slight tinge of concern, but she didn’t think it was anything she couldn’t handle. She’d dealt with a lot worse than a bunch of wannabe pirates who could barely, uh, tie up the sails? Or whatever it was they do on a ship, how was Jinx supposed to know?

Continuing down the cold street, Jinx quickly ducked into the next alleyway she came upon. The group of sailors would’ve seen her do so, she hoped they had. The dingy alley was a few metres wide, more than enough for her to move if she had to. The ground dipped slightly in the centre of the alley, a natural drain to stop water from completely flooding the passage.

After about ten or so metres, Jinx stopped, and just stood there, her back to the street she had just come from. Jinx brushed her pack’s strap off her right shoulder, letting it fall to the ground, a slightly moist thump echoing through the alley. She craned her neck up slightly, letting the hood fall off the top of her head, freeing the short blue hair from its prison.

She could’ve wondered what they wanted, but that’d be a waste of time. She started thinking up numerous ways to dispatch them, if they attacked her that is. They probably would, no one would follow a crazy girl through a dirty old city just to tell her how nice her hair looked. Maybe they would? Now, how to deal with them? Shooting them would be the easy answer, a grenade would be fun. Loud, but fun. What about a-

“Oi, Crazy Girl!” A salty voice yelled out from behind her. Fine, she’ll just improvise. She turned her head to the right first, peering over her shoulder behind her before turning her body to the right as well, the gun holstered on her left leg obscured from their sight. Her eyes narrowed as she counted four men situated at the mouth of the alleyway.

“Whad’ya want?” Jinx eyed the men, they were all bigger than she was, not like that had ever been a problem before. Her left hand, hidden behind her body and further obscured by her cloak, moved towards the gun, her fingers wrapping around the grip.

“You. You…” the leading man pointed at her, “you broke our mate’s arm.” The man’s voice was deep, gravely, it looked like he wanted to break something in two.

“Hah!” A shrill laugh echoed through the alleyway. “I did, didn’t I? It was his fault, ya know?” Jinx’s tone lightened slightly. “He just wouldn’t shuuuuuut up. Just kept talking, blah, blah, blah, blah…” Her eyes widened, throwing her head side to side as her right hand mimicked a moving mouth. “But ya wanna know the kicker? He talked about what he was going to do with that arm, and I didn’t like it… So, I broke it!” The one in front was snarling, he clearly wasn’t amused.

“Fuck it, let’s just kill the bitch!!” One of the others chimed in, pushing in front of the group, a knife gripped tightly in his hand. Jinx’s eyes narrowed again, her fingers tightening around the grip of her gun, ready to draw. Her violet eyes lit up, she could feel the adrenaline begin to course through her veins.

Following the impulsive one’s lead, the other three drew their own knives, and the four of them began approaching her. Fine, if this is how they wanted to play it, then that’s how she’ll play it. As the group closed in, Jinx made her move. Ripping the gun from its holster, she pivoted her body, planting her left leg forward as she bought her arm up in an instant, aiming the gun at the “fuck it” thug..

Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger, the first bullet whizzing out the barrel and straight into the thug’s forehead. His body collapsed to the stone ground with a wet thud as the remaining three thugs quickly closed the distance. Jinx slightly adjusted her aim to the right, pulling the trigger again. The second bullet flew through the second thug’s neck, his forward movement halted as he fell to his knees, clutching at the gaping hole, blood gushing over his grasping hand.

Before she could readjust her aim again, one of the thugs was just about on top of her, swinging his knife wildly in her direction, no time to think, just react. She dodged in a flash, ducking to her right so fast the thug couldn’t keep track. The momentum of his attack sent the thug flying forward away from her, as she pulled her gun back up to fire at him, she was hit from the side. Shit, she’d forgotten about the fourth thug. He had dropped his shoulder and rammed into her, pushing her against one of the alley walls, the gun knocked from her hand by the impact. 

“You’re fucking dead…” The thug snarled, brandishing his knife, ready to drive it into her gut. As he went to thrust the blade forward, Jinx dodged, moving her whole body about a metre to the left. The thug’s eyes followed her, clearly too bloodthirsty to notice the speed which she was moving at. He stepped forward, swinging his knife wildly, a loud metal screech filled the alley as one of his strikes scraped his knife along the wall. Jinx quickly, but far from effortlessly dodged each strike, the adrenaline keeping her going for now, but she couldn’t keep this up forever.

Moving backwards, suddenly she hit a stack of crates behind her, nowhere to go. The thug lashed forward again, his knife driving straight for her eye. As the knife drove to within an inch, Jinx flung her head to the right in a moment, the thug’s knife driving right into the crate behind her, getting lodged within the wood. She moved back into the centre of the alley, quickly scanning it. She spotted her gun, a few metres ahead of her, just past her pack she had dumped before it all kicked off. She began to move towards the gun when she wondered, where was the third thug? Then he hit her.

The fist came flying from behind, the strong impact sending Jinx stumbling forward, tripping over her pack as she crashed to the wet stone. As she hit the ground, she saw the blue gemstone rolling away towards the alley wall, knocked free from its pocket when she tripped. She put her hands down flat, ready to push herself up off the ground when the thug grabbed her shoulder and ripped her up. He threw her against the wall, stunned from the impact, she couldn’t stop him when his hand wrapped around her throat. 

“Feisty one, aren’t ya?” The thug gave her a crooked grin, his grip around her throat tightening, and a knife still held in his other hand. Jinx brought her hands up to pull his away, gasping for air. She could feel her lungs emptying, not refilling, empty, empty, empty.

Her attempts to pull his hand away became more desperate, clawing at him feebly, no air, no air. Her vision blurred as her lungs caught fire, burning hot, too hot, stop it, what do I do? Breathe, breathe, I need to breathe. Going numb, vision narrowing, do something, DO SOMETHING!!!

Desperately, Jinx threw her leg up, her knee colliding with the thug’s groin. The strike caused him to relinquish his grip, she lurched forward, swallowing as much air as she could. No time to stop, she sighted the knife in his other hand. While he still recovered from her knee, she grabbed his knife hand with her own, and drove it at him.

The knife, still grasped within his own hand, plunged straight into his chest. His own hand released the blade in shock, but Jinx was more than happy to replace it. She twisted the knife before pulling it out and driving it back in again, and again, and again. That’s what you get. She released the knife grip after the fifth or sixth stab, she wasn’t counting. The thug stumbled back into the opposite wall, before slumping down to the ground, dead. Good.

Now that he was dead, Jinx became aware of herself again, realising she was heaving, still recovering from her near suffocation. She bent over, hands bracing on her knees as she coughed and spluttered, trying to refill her empty lungs. As she recovered, her mind slowly cleared, the haze of adrenaline lifting as her body‘s tension dissipated.

With new found clarity, she realised she’d only killed three of her attackers. She looked to her right, where she’d left the fourth one. He was gone, but the knife was still lodged in the crate. Hmmph, she must’ve scared him off with her knife rage. She wasn’t complaining though. As she stood back up straight, she brought her right hand up to soothe her winded, bruised, almost crushed neck.

It took her a few seconds to notice the wet sensation on her throat, pulling her hand away she realised it was red. Coated in blood, that guy’s blood, the one she stabbed a bunch. She stared at it for a while, it was dripping, drip, drip, drip. She walked over to the slumped over body, wiping the excess blood on his sleeve, and then pulled his limp arm up to wipe the sleeve across her neck, clearing up the mess she left there as well. Her hand was still stained red, but at least it wasn’t dripping. She could clean it up later.

The blood is on your hands… the voices chimed in. How very on the nose of them.

“Shouldn’t have followed me then…” Jinx shrugged, she knew what they meant. They were good at getting to her, getting under her skin. She tried to deprive them of the satisfaction.

You can’t wash it away… She pushed the voices out for now, she just wanted to get going. She turned around, and picked up her gun, holstering it beneath her cloak. That’s when she noticed all the cuts and tears it had acquired in the scuffle. Whatever , Jinx thought to herself, taking it off and chucking it away. Who needed to hide anyway? Given what she’s seen of Bilgewater so far, she doubted she’d stand out very much.

She walked over to her pack when something reminded her she had tripped over it. Why would it do that? Why was that important? Ohhhh, that’s right, the gemstone. Picking up the pack and slinging it on to her right shoulder, she turned to where it had rolled to and it was… gone? What? Where did it go? Where could it possibly have…  It dawned on her, the last thug must’ve scarpered with it while Jinx was suffocating..

“Well… shit.”

Chapter Text

The timber swirls above Ruko ebbed and flowed, a sea of patterns clashing with each other. He blinked, and when he opened his eyes again they were static, unmoving, lifeless. He let out a breathy sigh staring upwards, his mind drifted between all the usual subjects. Would he make enough coin to live? Would there be any new work for him? Why was he still drawing breath? Was he tired, or just hungry? Why did he keep going? Did he even care?

He wasn’t sure how long he had been lying there, but it must’ve been quite late in the morning. The bells of the various ships in port echoed in the distance, mixed with the shouts and bartering of the marketplace, and the small stream of light pouring in through the tiny window high on the wall signified the day was already in full swing.

Eventually, Ruko worked up the strength to do something, groaning as he sat up straight. The bed creaked as he swung his legs over the side, planting his feet on the floorboards. He couldn’t claim the bed was the most comfortable thing to sleep in, it was old and crappy, it didn’t even have a proper mattress. Still, it was comfortable enough for Ruko, and no one else was ever going to use it so what did it matter?

He bought his hand up, rubbing the sleep out of his half-lidded eyes. He stood himself up, slowly walking across the room, the floorboards narrating his movement. He passed a small fireplace, and a cracked mirror on the wall, not even turning to look at his reflection as he made his way over to a table next to it, his shirt lying on top in a jumbled mess. He snatched the shirt into his grasp, it was made of a soft flexible material, exactly what he wasn’t sure, but it was perfect for his line of work. He threw his head back and closed his eyes as he pulled the shirt over his head and down his body. Only when the sleeves sat snuggly around his wrists and the shirt was fully pulled down did Ruko’s head fall forward.

His head turned now to look in the mirror, his eyes scanning his features. His swept-back hair was even more of a mess than usual, he ran his hand through the dark brown mop on top of his head, pushing it back out of his face. His eyes darted across the few scars that detailed his face, not lingering on them for more than a moment. Several more were obscured by a scruffy stubble beard, the hair wasn’t very long, certainly not long enough to completely hide them, but enough that you wouldn’t see them unless you were looking for them. No one ever got close enough to Ruko to look for them.

Ruko trudged out to the adjoining room, the sounds of the floor echoing through his little hovel. He approached the small workbench along the back wall, where he found the remnants of a sandwich from the day before. He grabbed it and took a bite out of the slightly stale meal as he began to gather his gear. His home was quite small really, only the three rooms; the bedroom this small living area and an even smaller bathroom.

He had found it a couple of years ago on a job he was doing. He had to obtain some items for a client, when the trail led him to stumble upon this little place. It was abandoned at the time, and Ruko moved in, assuming no one would turn up to claim the place. Two years later, no one had. It wasn’t the greatest accommodation, sure; the rooms weren’t very big, there was only the one small window slit in the bedroom, all the wood was old and loud, and it wasn’t very warm. But it suited Ruko just fine. It was off the beaten path, tucked away in a little corner of the city that no one would even think to check, and even then you had to know where to look.

He collected his grappling blade as he devoured the sandwich, re-coiling its length and hooking it onto his belt. He next grabbed a dagger, examining the sturdy steel blade, he noticed the blade had dulled somewhat, he would need to get it sharpened again. He plunged the blade into the sheath on his belt, leaving only the simple wooden grip exposed. He picked up his satchel, which he had hung on an old chair in front of the bench, so he could grab his jacket, draped over the back of that same chair, and put it on, obscuring his weapons from sight. The jacket was made of a lightweight, but durable leather material, perfect for getting into trouble out on the streets.

As he straightened out his jacket, he dropped the satchel back down on a table in the centre of the room, placing it next to the pile of coins falling out of the pouch he had made off with last night. It turned out to not have been as profitable as Ruko had hoped. Almost all of the coins were silver serpents, worth something sure, but nowhere near as valuable as the golden krakens that had been boasted of. Cheap bastard . Taking a seat in the old chair, he leaned forward to wrangle the boots he had kicked off the night before back onto his feet. He quickly laced them up and rose to his feet again.

It was time to get going, if it was as late in the morning as he thought it was, Ruko had already wasted enough of the day as it was. In a swift movement, he crossed the threshold, leaving the relative safety of his hideaway into the lawlessness of Bilgewater. Twisting a key, he locked the solid door, ensuring no one else could intrude on that safety.

The cacophony of noise that was the wharfside marketplace grew louder as Ruko approached. It must’ve been around midday, as Ruko turned the corner, the market was absolutely packed with people of various shapes and sizes, all looking to get the best deal on whatever illicit goods they were after.

The natural sunlight had already begun to fade away, Butcher’s Bridge above obscuring much of it. Thankfully, he didn’t have to navigate the sea of people, instead he walked along the edge of the market, sticking close to the buildings that marked the border between mostly legitimate trades and shady back alley deals.

As he travelled along the borderline, he began to come upon a much more prominent building, adorned with signage, that even though rudimentary, was still much more impressive than any other establishment down here. It was a tavern, and Ruko’s destination. Though it wasn’t just any tavern, it had a reputation amongst those in the know.

Its proprietor, Lecto, was a broker. Clients would approach him with something they’d want done, he’d make sure someone got it done. Ruko had been that someone many times, usually because the client wanted something of theirs returned, or something of one of their rivals’ stolen. There was also the general beat-down, intimidation kind of work, but Ruko never took those jobs, he wasn’t much of a brawler.

It’s not like Lecto was the only broker in the city, far from it. In a place like Bilgewater, they practically infested every dark corner and soggy gangway. Lecto stood apart for a couple of reasons. His tavern was in a prime spot right next to the marketplace in turn next to the ports. He often got the news of any valuable items or people going in or out before anyone else was even aware they should be looking.

And then there were his connections. He had operated in Bilgewater for a long time, he knew people, lots of people. Not only that, he knew who and when to ask for information, and he knew the best people to take on the different jobs that he was bought. When it came to thieving, Ruko was on top of that list.

As he approached the front door, it burst open out onto the street. Then, a rather large man was unceremoniously thrown out onto the wet stone, by an even larger man. Ruko would recognise that man anywhere, it was Karn, Lecto’s top enforcer and generally not someone you want to cross. Ruko had seen him in a fight once, the other poor sod didn’t even stand a chance. Karn had the strength to dish out some serious blows, and he could take them too. Honestly, you’d be lucky if you lasted more than 30 seconds in a one-on-one with the behemoth.

With the evidently drunk man now dispatched with, Karn turned back inside the tavern. A few moments later, Ruko followed him in, opening the door into the rather spacious and relatively warm tavern. It was still fairly basic, but compared to places like the haunt he was in last night, it was positively luxurious. A large bar was situated off to the left hand side of the door, tables of various sizes filled the rest of the establishment, and a staircase on the right hand side led up to some of the nicer booths in the establishment, as well as Lecto’s private office. Ruko had walked in just in time to see Karn take a seat at a table with a few others, playing a card game of some kind. Otherwise, the place was fairly empty.

“Ey, Ruko! My boy!” A warm though slightly hoarse voice called out from behind the bar. Ruko turned his head to see Lecto, clearly ready to see him. The plump bartender greeted him with a quick wave and a smile. “Come, sit.” He threw a hand towel over his shoulder, and patted the bar twice in front of one of the many barstools.

“Nice to see you too, Leck.” Ruko approached the bar and sat himself down one barstool along from where Lecto had gestured. Once he finished adjusting the seat to his liking, he looked over at the bartender, offering him an insincere smile. “Usual.”

“Hmmmph,” Lecto grunted, before pulling a glass up from beneath the bench. He reached out to the wall behind him, moving past bottles of whiskey and rum to grasp a Zaunite brew, nestled towards the rear of the shelf.. There was no chance the bottle would be empty, Ruko was practically the only one who drank it. “I don’t understand how you can drink this piss.” He poured the piss into the glass, filling it to half before hiding the bottle back behind the more palatable drinks.

“I don’t know…” Ruko raised his eyebrows, picking up the glass and sniffing the drink, his nostrils assaulted by a pungent smell. “Tastes good I guess..”

“Only person in this godsforsaken place to think that!” Lecto shot back, his laugh enough to shame even the most carefree person. Ruko paid him no mind. The laugh slowly tailed off, the bartender stood in front of Ruko, the bar the only thing separating them. “Haven’t seen you in a few weeks… you don't like money or something?”

“Yeah…” Ruko chuckled, “Turns out there was a bit more attention on that last job than I thought, had to lie low for a while.”

“You have any idea what went wrong?”

“I have a working theory…”

“Yeah?”

“Geedie. Little weasel’s the only one who knew about it other than us.”

"Wouldn't be surprised, he would put profit ahead of sense.”

“Mmmhhmmm.” Ruko’s agreement was muffled by another sip of brew. He didn’t put the glass back down this time, instead he gently swirled the liquid around, watching it move around the sides of the glass.

“So, this lying low? It wouldn’t involve you inciting riots in taverns up ‘there’, would it?”

 Ruko’s eyes left the swirling brew and met Lecto’s, his hand stopping sharply. “No idea what you’re talking about.” He gently shook his head. 

“Of course not, that would be the opposite of laying low.” Lecto smirked, then he turned his attention towards the group of men in the corner. “Ey, Karn,” he called out, raising his hand and curling his fingers repeatedly, gesturing for him to come over. The big guy promptly got up and marched over to the bar, resting his elbow on the side to Ruko’s right.

“What’s happening, boss?”

“Tell Ruko here what you were telling me.” 

Karn can’t have been there, Ruko would have seen him, surely.

“Yeah, a couple of my boys were up above last night, and they were saying some card game turned into a big brawl or somethin’.” Karn recounted, and it all made sense. 

Ruko’s eyes looked down to the wooden benchtop, as he slowly lowered the glass back down onto it.

“Would they recognise whoever started it if they saw them?” The bartender carried on the act, as if he didn’t already know where this was going. Karn turned back to the table and whistled at the group, nodding his head back to one of them. Promptly, one of the men approached the bar, this time standing to Ruko’s left. “What happened last night?”

“Yeah, well, me and a couple of the other guys were checking out this place up top, and there was a card game goin’ on and all, then one of them accused the other of cheating and all. Then before you know it, tables are getting flipped and people are gettin’ thrown.”

“Do you know who started it?”

“Yeah…” his hand attempted to come down on Ruko’s shoulder. Ruko immediately shrugged it away before it could settle. “... uh, yeah, it was this guy.” There it was. Ruko pulled his glass up and took another sip, letting it sit in his mouth.

“Thanks boys, you may go.” Karn and the other returned to their game, leaving Ruko and Lecto alone at the bar once more. 

Ruko flushed the drink from his mouth down his throat. “You happy?” He growled, shoulders raised and eyes narrowed as he put the glass back down more forcefully this time, his grip around tight around his drink.

“Not really. Last thing I need is my guys going around and making trouble in the nice establishments up above.” Lecto moved off to the side, pulling the hand towel off his shoulder to clean some of the glasses sitting on the bench.

“I’m not your ‘guy’, Leck.” Ruko spat out, his vision locked forward. “You don’t own me… nobody does.”

“So you say…”

“Besides, it can’t have been that nice, they let him in after all.” Ruko shot back, referring to the shit heel who ratted him out. This elicited a laugh from Lecto, though it wasn’t really a joke, the guy was a shit heel. 

“Well, did you at least make some money?”

“Some.” Ruko wasn’t lying, but it still felt like saving face.

“Good, then you’ll be able to pay for that piss, yeah?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ruko let out a muted breath before he took another swig, swirling it around in his mouth. He dropped his shoulders as he placed the glass back down more gently. He stared down at the nearly empty glass below him, his finger tracing the edge of the glass.

“So, whaddya want?” Lecto’s voice pierced the silence that had flooded Ruko’s mind.

“I need work.” His sight remained on the glass, his voice softer now. Lecto finished cleaning one of the glasses and threw the hand towel back over his shoulder, leaning against the bartop with his other arm.

“Is that so? What happened to working for yourself?” He poked, the intent to get under Ruko’s skin. This time it worked.

“Leck…” His eyebrows raised, pleading not to have this conversation. “Have you got something or not?” This time the question was much more exasperated. 

Lecto huffed, before shuffling back over to stand in front of Ruko. “Actually, I do… Good timing too, the client only gave me the job this morning…”

“Yeah? Well, what is it?”

“A robbery, your usual kind of thing. Maybe slightly riskier than normal, but nothing you can’t handle.”

“Riskier?”

“Apparently it’s hot, a few guards you’ll have to deal with, I'm sure it won’t be a problem.

“A few guards…a gang?” Ruko asked,but it was the most likely answer,  no one else in Bilgewater had the manpower to dedicate protection to things. “Which one?”

“Doesn’t matter, because you won’t screw this up.” Lecto’s face grew rigid. “This is a big one, the client is offering a massive pay. And honestly, you haven’t been the most reliable recently…” he jabbed at the last job.

“That wasn’t my fault.” Ruko defended himself, and it hadn’t been. He had done everything perfectly. Lecto didn’t seem to notice the retort.

“If you take this job-”

“If.”

 “... I need to know you’ll get it done, no complications.”

Ruko sat for a moment, before posing the question, “How much are they paying?”

“Fifty gold krakens…” Lecto said in a hushed tone.

“Fifty-!” Ruko blurted out, before quietening his voice, “Fifty gold krakens? That’s a serious payout…”

“Yes, it is. So I need to know if you do this, there won’t be any cock ups. Otherwise I’ll find someone else.”

Ruko let the opportunity sit for a moment. Fifty gold was a sizable chunk of money.. It wouldn’t last him forever but it’d certainly keep him going, alive, for now. “There won’t be…” 

Lecto remained tense for a few moments, before softening his posture. “Good. You’re still my-” he stopped himself momentarily, “-still the best thief I know.” 

“Damn right.” Ruko appreciated the man’s change of phrasing, and he knew he was good at what he did, he had to be? “What’s the score anyway?”

“A precious stone, or crystal of some kind. I’m not entirely sure.”

“A stone? Must be seriously valuable.”

“Yep. Apparently it’s blue or purple of somethin’. And it glows.” The bartender faked enthusiasm.

“Woah, very fancy.” Ruko did the same, he couldn’t give less of a shit about an expensive rock or crystal or whatever it was, that kind of thing was for people better off to worry themselves with. 

“Supposedly,” Lecto carried on, “it came into the city early this morning, off of one of the arriving ships. Not sure where it’s being kept now, you’ll have to find that out yourself.”

“That shouldn’t be too difficult.” Living off the streets meant you learnt where information leaked, where and how to get it. 

The bartender nodded. “Oh, and one other thing. Get this done quickly, yeah? The client emphasised urgency on this.”

“Quickly? Hot goods under guard and the client wants this done quickly?”

“There’s a high chance the stone will become unobtainable within a few days…” Lecto’s voice dropped slightly, almost as if he was challenging the young thief. 

Ruko sat there for a few moments, considering the situation. “Fine, give me two days and I’ll have it.”

“Aha, that’s the spirit!” Lecto became much more jovial again, throwing his shoulders up in success. Ruko shook his head, a smirk twisting his mouth upwards as he grabbed his drink again. The bartender moved back to his glass cleaning again, and Ruko closed his eyes, savouring the rest of his drink. “Hey, kid. You know, you really should have some fun every once and a while.” 

The bartender’s words pried Ruko’s eyes open again. “What do you care?”

“Well… I was a young man like you once…”

“Ah shit, Leck.” Ruko murmured, he didn’t like where this was going.

“After this job, you should head over to Marjolaine’s, the girls there will look after ya.”

“I’m fine.” Ruko took one last drink from the glass, throwing the remaining contents into his mouth.

“Or the guys, I’ve heard they’re pretty go-” 

Before Lecto could finish his sentence, Ruko slammed his glass down on the bartop. “I said I'm fine.” He glowered at Lecto for a few moments before pushing himself off the barstool. As he rose, his hand slipped into his pocket, pulling out a silver coin. He tossed the coin onto the bar, and turned to leave.

“Suit yourself.” The bartender mumbled behind him. Reaching the door, he pulled the door open when a yell crossed the tavern. “Two days!”

“Yep!” Ruko yelled back, promptly stepping outside and pulling the door shut behind him. “Asshole.”

***

Ruko closed the door as gently as he had opened it, careful not to be disruptive. The small foyer was dark, only illuminated by dim lanterns of various vibrant colours hung up along the tops of the walls. The thick aroma of various candles and incenses wafted through from the adjoining room, it wasn’t the best smell ever but it was preferable to the usual stenches he had to put up with. He put one foot in front of the other, careful not to make too much noise as he approached the doorway into the next room, faint whispers carrying through from within.

Arriving at the opening, Ruko peered around the frame into the room, the hushed whispers growing louder. It was a much larger, though similarly dark room. Again, the space was only illuminated by dim lanterns. A somewhat large, rounded table sat in the centre of the room, a purple cloth draped over its surface.

Two individuals sat around the table. On one side, an older woman, maybe of average size, it was difficult to tell while she was seated. From where he was standing, he could see her leg bouncing repeatedly and her voice wavered slightly. Looking to the other side of the table, sat a small, grey, yordle. His small stature made him entirely unthreatening, only an incredibly tall chair kept him at eye level with the woman across the table. Still there were advantages to appearing harmless, Ruko could recognise that. Between the two of them in the middle of the table sat a reasonably large orb.

The yordle proffered himself as something of a mystical seer; listening to people’s worries and woes, then telling them their futures, what they want to hear, that kind of thing. He was in the middle of doing that for this poor woman.

Ruko decided to let them finish, crossing his arms as he leaned against the doorframe, waiting for his opportunity to speak to the yordle. He didn’t have to wait long, soon after the woman stood up out of her chair and walked around the table, placing a small pouch down on the table, the yordle quickly stashed it. The woman began leaving when she saw Ruko in the doorway. She ducked her head and quickened her pace, flying past him to the front door. Shortly after, the yordle also noticed him.

“Oh, uh, Ruko, hi… been a while” the little creature’s nasally voice struggled to fill the room. Ruko waited for the door behind him to shut before he spoke.

“Does anyone actually buy the bullshit you peddle?” An accusation already underlying the comment.

“Well I, uh, don’t need them to. As long as they pay me.”

“Right…” Ruko pushed off the wall, walking across the room to the recently vacated seat. Sitting down, he kicked his legs up, bringing them to rest on top of the table, one crossed over the other. The yordle recoiled at his nice table being used as a leg rest. “So…” Ruko reached for the grip of his dagger, unsheathing it. “... thank you for the tip last time, well worth what I paid…” He placed the dagger down on the table in front of him.

“Yeah, uh, uh, of course” the yordle stammered, his eyes fingers twitched slightly.

“Except, someone knew what I was up to. I got the job done, but I pulled more attention than I would’ve liked. Do you know why that might’ve been, Geedie?” The accusation was all but spoken aloud. “I figured maybe someone would've told you something about it in your little fortune telling sessions.”

“I, uh, uh, I…” Geedie was fidgeting, his hands unable to remain still. 

Ruko remained motionless, except for his fingers dancing along the edge of the blade lying next to him. “Except I know what happened. You told someone, didn’t you Geedie?” 

The yordle hesitated for a few moments, before responding. “No, no, I’d never, I’d never tell anyone, I wouldn’t be a very good information dealer if I didn’t keep things conf- confidential!” Geedie argued adamantly. “Some- someone else must have tipped them off…”

Ruko saw some humour in what Geedie said, a confidential information dealer was a contradiction in terms.“See, I thought about that, but the thing is…” his hand moved back down the dagger to the grip. “I only told you.” He stared at the yordle relentlessly, waiting for a response. He watched Geedie fumble around in his own head, trying to save his skin. It didn’t take long for Geedie’s resolve to break.

“Okay, yes, I- I did.”

“How much did they pay you?”

“Twenty s-silver,” the yordle announced. 

Ruko turned his head away momentarily, then shook it. Twenty silver? That was all?

“Look, look, uh, I’m sorry, Ruko. I just, I uh,  needed the money, business has been slow recently.”

“Sorry’s not enough, Geedie.” Ruko paused, as if to brainstorm a new idea he hadn’t come into the building with. “But, I have a way you can make it up to me…” He wrapped his fingers around the grip of the dagger, beginning to point it Geedie’s direction. “You tell me what I want to know, no charge, and I don’t go around telling that you’ve been sharing the things people tell you in private.” 

Geedie’s body seemed to tense momentarily, his entire business revolved around most people not knowing he peddled the secrets they shared. Any semblance he might not agree only lasted a moment, before his posture drooped in defeat, and he nodded. “What do yo- you want to know?” 

“This morning…’ Ruko pulled his legs off the table and leaned forward, returning the dagger to its sheath as he did so. ‘... a rare stone of some kind arrived in the city. I assume you’ve heard about it?”

“Yes, yes I have.” Geedie nodded. “It uh, glows right?”

“That’s what I’ve been told, do you know where it is?”

“Uh, not for certain, but it’s, uh, incredibly likely it’s being stored in a warehouse down at the Slaughter Docks.”

“The Slaughter Docks…” Ruko repeated under his breath, committing the information to memory, “Which one?”

“It’s one of the larger ones, has direct access to the water.”

“Okay,” Ruko leaned back in his chair, “Anything else?”

“Yes, yeah, it’s being kept in a case of some kind, I’m not sure what it’s made out of but I was told it is quite obvious.”

“Thank you Geedie, you’ve been a great help.” Ruko smiled. “That makes us even then.” He pushed himself out of the chair towards the doorframe, and Geedie let out a heavy sigh, relief refilling his lungs. Suddenly, Ruko stopped, pivoting on the spot back towards him. “One more thing. I know you wouldn’t say a word, but this stays between us.”

He didn’t get a verbal response, only an appreciative nod.

“Good.” With that, he walked into the foyer, and left into the cool Bilgewater night. Ruko didn’t trust Geedie’s ability to keep his mouth shut, but he did trust in the yordle’s will to live. Frankly, Geedie had gotten off lucky. If he had crossed practically anyone else in this city so brazenly, he’d be face down bleeding out in a gutter by now.

***

Cutpurse Square was by far the city’s busiest marketplace. Visible from almost anywhere in Bilgewater, the Square saw more money moving through it than anywhere else in the city. There was no better place if you wanted to make a living, legitimately or otherwise. The prevalence of those with wealth made pickpocketing a highly attractive concept, but with wealth comes scrutiny and it was a dangerous game if you didn’t know what you were doing.

A delicate balance of caution, patience and ingenuity were required to succeed. You had to pick your mark carefully, someone who was wealthy, but not so wealthy as to be mindful of their purse. Once you had done that, you had to find the right moment to approach, and how to approach. Some marks could be as simple as slipping your hand in their pocket as you walk past. Others, you have to get more creative, distract them, draw their attention elsewhere, make them drop their guard.

Ruko’s eyes fell upon a larger than average man, his clothes much brighter than the crowd around him, the material itself no finer than something Ruko might wear. He rocked around like he owned the place, projecting his voice over the rest of the crowd. A perfect mark, brash and overconfident. No distraction would be needed.

Swiftly cutting through the crowd, Ruko approached the man, who was too busy shouting his mouth off about some recent glory of his to notice anything else going on. In a singular motion, Ruko dipped his hand into the man’s pocket as he walked past, grasping a small pouch and retracting his arm, careful not to make contact with the man himself. Maintaining his stride, he disappeared into the morning rush as quickly as he appeared, the mark none the wiser.

The Square was surrounded by buildings of various constructions, much like the rest of the city. While they didn’t quite match the grandeur of the buildings at the peak up on and around Butcher’s Bridge, they were generally much nicer than could be found anywhere else. Many of the buildings here also featured carvings of sea monsters, or of symbols and designs from the traditional Bhuru culture, resulting in a great variety in architecture.

A particularly notable building was the bow of a larger ship nestled in between two far less impressive wooden boxes. The former ship’s figurehead, a Longtooth, hung over the door into the splintered carcass, intended to intimidate any troublemakers. Pushing the heavy door inwards, Ruko was immediately met by a blast of hot air escaping the interior. Carrying on inside, he saw the forge going full blast, but no one attending it.

“Nayah?” he called out, stepping further into the smithy. He slowly walked to his left, gravitating towards a table covered in almost completed cutlasses, harpoons and other tools. He picked one of the swords up, outstretching his arm to assess its weight. It felt well balanced but truthfully Ruko hadn’t the first clue about blades this size.

“How’s it feel?” Ruko turned his head to see the blacksmith Nayah, standing by the forge, he hadn’t even noticed her come in. She wore a heavy apron and thick gloves, otherwise her clothing was light and her black hair drawn back into a neat ponytail, necessary when working around a hot forge all day. 

Ruko could already feel beads of sweat forming from the heat. “Good… I think.” He placed the sword back down on the table.

Nayah used a pair of tongs to remove a piece of metal from the furnace. “What brings you here? Oh, let me guess, you snapped the grapple again?”

“No, not this time,” Ruko said with a wry smile, moving across to the other side of the room to the workbenches. “I need some more throwing knives.”

“Already? How many did you use?”

“Uh, all of them. Do you have any made?”

“Yuh.” Nayah placed the hot piece of metal down on an anvil, before walking over to the other side of the workbench. “How many ya want?”

“How many,” Ruko pulled his newly acquired funds from his pocket, “will this get me?” He tossed the pouch onto the workbench, the coins all clinking together when they hit the surface.

Nayah looked askance, shaking her head before tipping the pouch’s contents onto the bench. She took off one of the gloves to finger through the pile of silver, silently mouthing numbers as she did so. “Twelve… thirteen. This gets you thirteen.”

“Then that’s how many I want.”

“Righthy then.” Nayah pulled a small piece of leather wrapping out from underneath the workbench, along with a tray covered in small knives. She counted them to thirteen, and then carefully placed the knives on the piece of leather. She counted the blades again. Upon reaching thirteen, she rolled the piece of leather up, the knives secured inside, and passed the roll over. “Here. Need anything else?”

“Actually, yeah.” Ruko unsheathed his dagger, placing it down on the workbench. “Blade’s dull.”

Nayah sighed, “Sorry kid, can’t do that for you right now. Got too much else to do.” She gestured towards the table behind Ruko, covered in weapons and tools.

“What’s all that for?”

“Some ship captain needs it all urgently. Says they lost all their old kit to a sea monster on their previous trip out.”

“That’s rough,” Ruko paused for a moment, then he proposed an idea “Okay, I’ll do it myself then.”

“Hah.” Nayah snorted. “Do you even know how to use a grindstone?”

“Yeah, I've used one before. It was a while ago, but I'll manage.” He smirked confidently, but a while ago was an understatement. It had actually been 14 odd years since he last had, when he was still a kid. 

“Alright then, fill your boots.” Nayah gathered up the coins that constituted her payment, returning them to their pouch and dropping it in the front pocket of her apron, before resuming her work, preparing to shape her next blade over the anvil.

Picking up his dagger, he made his way over to the smithy’s grindstone, nestled in a corner out of Nayah’s way. Staring at it, he tried to remind himself how the damn thing worked as the sound of clanging metal began in the background. Water. That’s right, it needed water. From the forge’s water supply, he collected a bowl full, and returned to the stone.

Using his hand, he turned it slowly, pouring the water onto the stone as he did so, wetting the surface in its entirety. He sat down in front of the grindstone, his legs straddling the contraption. At his feet were peddles, used to get the stone spinning. He pushed one pedal down, and then the other, and then the first pedal again. Again and again, now the grindstone was spinning properly. Now that the contraption was ready, Ruko began pressing the blade to the surface, grinding the blade against the wet stone.

It had been so long since he had done anything like this, and it all came right back to him, just like how his dad showed him. That was a lifetime ago, yet he couldn’t help but smile softly at the thought. He turned the dagger over in his hand, pressing the other side to the spinning surface.

But he couldn’t let himself enjoy it, shaking the memory from his head, attention squarely refocused on the blade in his hand. Pulling the newly refreshed blade away from the grindstone, Ruko ran his thumb across the blade, checking the sharpness of both edges. Doing so, he could feel its bite, its severe lethality renewed. 

“Good?” Nayah called out, the clanging of metal paused momentarily. 

Ruko stepped back from the grindstone. “Yeah, good.”

“Great, now unless you’re going to help me with all this,” she threw her hands up, vaguely gesturing at her workload, “get out of here.”

“Will do.” Ruko replied, briefly raising his eyebrows in agreement. As he left, he sheathed the razor sharp dagger, ready for tonight. He was fully prepared now, he just hoped he wouldn’t need to be.

Chapter Text

Her boot launched the chunk of rock at the wall, the collision causing it to shatter into smaller chunks. Each chunk hit the floor, the sound bouncing off the stone walls, echoing through the abandoned temple. Jinx had found it nestled amongst the menagerie of structures built into the cliffside, all boarded up with now faded messages in red paint warning people to stay out. She paced back and forth across the old chipped bricks that made up the floor, her arms folded across her chest. “I lost it, I lost it, I lost it…” she continually muttered to herself, repeatedly walking back the way she came.. 

It’s what you do. Lose things. They taunted her.

“No. No, no I… it wasn’t my fault, I-” she pleaded, her voice wavering.

It’s always your fault. You always screw everything up. The voices snapped back at her, venom lacing their words. You couldn’t even hold on to a dumb little gem.

“It’s not dumb…” Jinx trailed off, trying to reassure herself, still pacing in an attempt to distract herself. 

Why do you even care about it? It’s worthless.

“No! It’s not, it’s… it makes me feel safe…”

Safe? You’re never safe. Never. Everyone despises you… hates you… hurts you…

“It was Vi’s… she never stopped fighting for me, she loves me.”

I don’t love you. A singular voice pierced through the rest. You ruined my life, everything’s fucked up because of you. Why would I want to be your sister?

“That’s not… that’s not true. You never gave up on me! Even when you thought you had…” her voice softened, “even when I wished you had.” she painfully admitted.

Hah, you’re still as stupid as when you got Vander and Mylo and Claggor killed. He was right, you know? You are a Jinx.   Vi’s cold voice stabbed Jinx. 

“That was an accident, it was an accident, I never meant to…” It wasn’t real, Vi wasn’t really here, Vi didn’t really believe that, right?

If I loved you so much, why did you leave? Why did you abandon me, like I abandoned you?

Jinx dropped her head, “Because you love me… and I love you. And I didn’t want to hurt you anymore.”

Why would Vi love you? Why would anyone love you? All you do is hurt people, make them suffer. No one loves you. No one ever will love you. Why not just make them all SUFFER. The voices all cried in unison.

“I don’t want to hurt people, I-”

What do you want?

“I want… I want to be better. I want to be better.” She repeated, affirming to herself her hope.

What a joke. You’re nothing more than what you are, a Jinx. You’ll never be anything else. You will always be a waste of space, a fuckup. Worthy of no one’s love.

“Shut up… I can be more, I can-”

You were NOTHING. They interjected with a hiss. You were useless, frail, weak. Powder was weak. But Jinx isn’t. You’re powerful, dangerous… they fear you.

“I don’t want to be feared!” Jinx picked up another chunk of rock, hurling it at one of the voices, the rock shattering against the wall. “I want… I don’t want to be a Jinx”

You can’t be anything else. You’re Jinx. This is who you are.

“No, no…”

Why do you keep trying? You’ll never be better.

“Vi believed I could change, that I could be good.”

SHE WAS WRONG! You didn’t mean anything to her. She only tried to help you to make herself feel better, you were something to rescue, something to fix.

“You’re lying!” She shot back, conviction pushing the words out of her, “I know Vi, she loves me, she always will.”

No one ever loved you. Vi didn’t. Silco didn’t either.

“What?”

You were just a tool. A calm voice broke away. A weapon for me to point at my enemies. When you became more trouble than you were worth, I would have had you killed like anyone else.

“Stop it, stop lying.” 

If I loved you… the singular became the chorus again, …why would we lie to you?

“Stop it. Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, STOP IT!” She lashed out, ripping her gun from its holster and squeezing the trigger, firing a shot in the direction of Silco’s voice. The bullet lodged itself in the stone wall. She froze, staring at the new hole in the wall, her arm still rigidly outstretched, the only noise her heavy breathing. Slowly returning to her reality, her arm loosened as she dropped her arm back down, still staring at the wall. Ripping her eyes away downward, she looked down at the weapon in her left hand, and the right hand that had been stained red the day before.

You killed those people. They decided to chime back in. You enjoyed it didn’t you?

“I had to, they were going to kill me, I… I was defending myself.”

You enjoyed it. Taking their lives. It’s still intoxicating, isn't it?

“It was awful. I hated it, I didn’t want to kill anyone again…” Jinx couldn’t tell if she was lying to herself. They were going to hurt her. They were hurting her, and putting them down felt satisfying. She knew they deserved it, and yet she hated herself for it. She should feel guilty, but she didn’t. It terrified her.

You keep saying that, but everywhere you go you just leave bodies.

“No, they-”

You’re free now, you don’t need anyone at all. No one to hurt. No one to hate you. 

“I… I’m free?” She repeated, almost sure of herself.

This is what you wanted? Another voice sliced through the mass. No one to love you? Never being better? Is this really what you want?

“No, I don’t… I don’t know. I just want to do something… something good. I want to help people.”

Help people? They cackled at the thought. You? You’d just get them killed. After everything, you think you can just be a hero? You think you can be different and they’ll all forgive you?

“I’m not a hero! I just… I don’t want to be alone.”

We’re just trying to protect you, help you.

Jinx halted in place, caught off guard. Help her? Protect her? She didn’t need help, or protection. Did she? When she left, she thought she could go somewhere else, be a new person, start again. But no matter what she tried, it always ended the same way, violently rejected, and she moved on to try again, nothing ever seemed to work. The voices had been with her all the way, and as much as they attacked her, tormented her, as much as she hated them, she wasn’t alone when they were around.

Jinx collapsed, sitting down on a fallen stone pillar, letting her gun fall to the ground as she buried her face in her hands. She quietly sobbed, her body shaking as she desperately tried to quiet her mind. As her breath slowed and the tremors dissipated, she spoke out loud, her voice much more frail this time, “I don’t want to be her anymore.”

Then don’t be… It was a weak voice, barely distinguishable from the rest, but Jinx heard it. She couldn’t recognise whose voice it was supposed to be. Whatever else it was going to say was quickly drowned out again. She leaned forward, sniffling as she wiped her nose with her left sleeve while she recomposed herself. The three words echoed in her mind. She stood back up, her eyes still watery and puffy. With a newfound determination she couldn’t place, she marched over to her pack she had dumped in the corner, and began to rifle through it. She pulled out several grenades and extra ammunition for her gun, attaching them to her belts

What are you doing? The voices cried out in an irate barrage.

“I’m getting it back.”

***

The decks of The Marigold were much quieter than when she had berthed yesterday. Much of her cargo had been offloaded by now, hauled off to various buyers and sellers across the port city. Most of her crew had also vanished, recessed into the various holes and corners of the city that let them spend their hard-earned money. The ship’s captain however, stuck pretty close to his ship. Jinx wasn’t sure why, but she was glad he did, it made things easier.

The captain had been up on the quarterdeck, presumably looking at… something, when his heavy boots made thunking noises above, heading towards the stairs down to the main deck. The thunking continued down the stairs before coming back around towards the captain’s quarters that sat under where he had just been standing. With no care, he threw the door to the cabin open. It flew around on its hinges, bouncing back slightly towards the captain as he entered. It only took a moment for him to notice Jinx sitting on the desk in the rear of the cabin, one of his hats adorning her head. 

“Hiya Cappy,” she greeted cheerfully, a nice grin selling the insincere friendliness. She pointed at the hat on her head, “This is really funny, can I keep it?”

“Blue…” the captain slightly scowled, not taking his eyes off her as he closed the door behind him. “How'd ya get in here? And take that off.”

“Oh, it was easy.” She giggled, completely ignoring his instruction, leaning back on her left arm as attempted to twirl a finger through the bangs hanging to the side of her face. “There was no one to stop me. And your door isn’t locked.”

The captain shook his head and sighed, taking a couple of steps forward before speaking again, the scowl still on his face “You killed three of my guys.” 

Jinx nodded enthusiastically, a smile growing on her face. “Yeeeaaah, I did...”

The captain's expression remained unchanged. “They were good sailors.”

“Pfffffft, if they were so good they wouldn’t have gotten themselves killed…. Where is the other one anyway?”

“Cole? He said you murdered ‘em in cold blood. That you followed them and attacked.” His arms were tense, his fists clenched by his sides. “I think he called you a ‘psycho bitch.’”

“Hmmph.” She frowned. Really? That was the best name he could come up with? “I mean, I am kinda crazy…” She followed with a laugh, mostly to hide her own pain. But now she had a name.

“Hmmmmmm…” the captain’s tone was stern, completely unamused.

Jinx stared at the gruff old man, trying to decipher his facade, figure out what he was thinking. She could smell him now, he stunk of a liquor of some kind. “Look Cappy,” Jinx hopped off the front of the desk, and slowly walked around to stand behind it, putting the solid piece of wood between her and the captain, “they followed me, they attacked me, I killed them. Boo hoo.”

The captain’s scowl slowly transformed into a smirk. “Heh, I reckon they had it coming.” His posture relaxed, and the air in the cabin seemed to lighten in response.

That was… not the reaction she was expecting. “What? I thought… I thought they were good sailors?”

“They were… And they were right proper arsewipes too. Can’t say I'm going to miss em much.”

“Soooooo, you’re not pissed off? You’re not going to swear vengeance? No ‘ Arrrr, ye will rue the day ye crossed me! ’ kinda thing?” She would always take great delight in the fake pirate voice, it was so perfectly bad.

“Not for those little shites.” He approached a cabinet along the left wall of the cabin and opened it, pulling out a bottle filled with something. He popped the lid off and took a nice big drink straight out of the bottle. “They were good at their jobs, but finding another sailor who wants pay won’t be an issue.” He extended the bottle out towards Jinx, still behind the desk on the other side of the room, “Want some?”

She could smell the strong stench of the drink from there. “I’ll pass.” She said watching droplets of the drink dribble down his thick beard, only slightly put off by it. “Where’s Cole?”

“Why? You wanna kill ‘im too?” 

“He took something of mine, I’m going to get it back.”

“So you’re going to kill him.”

“Maybe.” Jinx tilted her head with a crooked grin. “If you ask nicely I miiiiiight consider letting him live while I shoot him.”

The captain snickered at the nonchalance. “Been ‘ere a day and you already fit right in.”

Jinx shifted on her feet slightly, the remark wiping the smirk off her face. “Yeah…” Any enthusiasm in her voice had been sapped out though she did her best to hide the complete dejection. “So where is he?”

“I don’t know,” the Captain walked towards the desk, planting the bottle down on it’s somewhat solid construction, “not exactly, anyway. But I think I know where he might be…”

She looked at him, waiting for the next part. After a few moments of silence, Jinx raised her eyebrows and softly shook her head. Well, are you going to tell me? He continued to stare at her… no, through her. His desk’s chair was behind her, and she was in the way. Rolling her eyes, she walked out from behind the desk, around the side.

The captain followed suit, lumbering around the opposite side of the desk to his chair. It creaked and groaned as he lowered himself into it, almost sounding as if he might end up with a million splinters in his ass. Leaning back in his chair, he finally decided to speak again, “The man ‘ad been rantin’ and ravin bout coming into a bunch of money, was saying he was gonna go and enjoy it.”

Jinx stood across the desk, hands planted on her hips. Her eyes were narrowed, trying to ascertain what the captain was on about. She could imagine a million different ways to make money in this city, what was he talking about?

The captain stared at her for a few seconds before sighing, “Drinking…” He leaned forward to grab the bottle and take another swig. He already reeked of the stuff, what was it? Rum? “Drinking, gambling, all that shite. In a den.”

“Okay… where? Which one?”

“Dunno. There’s a few of em. They’re not hard to find. You’ll be best checking round the docks, they litter the place ‘ere” 

His direction was remarkably unhelpful. “You don’t know where?” Frustration took over, her arms thrown up in exasperation.

“Why would I?” He drank from the bottle again, each time had been messier than the last. “They’re my crew, not my fucking children.”

“Uggh, you really have no idea?” Irritation seeped into her voice. This was supposed to be easy. Find out where the thief was, and go get the gem back. Why did everything have to be needlessly difficult?  She huffed, the irritation giving way to resigned acceptance. “The dens?”

“Yeah, the gambling dens. Where you go to piss away all the coin you slaved away to earn. Play a game, have a drink, get to know a lovely girl, that kinda thing. ” 

Jinx sighed, trying to find him sounded like it was going to be like trying to find a nail in a haystack, or whatever the saying was.

The Captain narrowed his eyes, almost as if he was trying to fight through the drunken haze he had dropped himself into “Actually Blue…” he began, almost sounding sober for a moment. “There might be one place.”

“Where?” she leaned forward over the desk, her enthusiasm returned, overtaking any other feelings in the moment.

“It’s uh, a den further along the waterfront. Called The Kraken’s Grave or something or other.” The words slurred together somewhat but they were still understandable.

“The Kraken’s Grave? That’s the place?”

“I think so. Ne’er been myself, only ‘eard him talkin bout it.”

It was something she could go on, a start. She backed away from the desk, and the drunken captain behind it. She began to turn around when she stopped, a question nagging at her. She couldn’t figure out why he had told her anything, people usually didn’t do that. “Why are you helping me?”

He sat there still battling the drink he had consumed. “When you’ve lived as many years… as I have, you learn how to… read people.” the words eventually finding their way out of his mouth. “You seem lost…” There was no sympathy or care underlying his words, it was merely an observation.

She chose not to dwell on that thought, she’d have plenty of time to do that for the rest of her life. “Well, thanks Cappy, you’ve been great.” Her chipper tone was undercut by a decidedly not so mental state.

“Yeah, yeah, now get off my damn ship.”

The pirate voice made its return “Aye aye Captain!” Jinx gave him an exaggerated salute. In a purple flash, she flung the door open and vanished, leaving the captain alone in his quarters, the door slowly swinging back towards closed.

The Captain remained seated, continuing to drink from the bottle he had now emptied. It took his alcohol-addled mind a few moments to properly process her leaving, he assumed the speed was just the drink playing tricks. It didn’t take long to be hit by a realisation. “Ahhh, shite.” She never took his hat off.

***

Jinx hadn’t really processed what her attackers looked like at the time, given the whole ‘trying to stab her’ thing they had going on. But she got a pretty good look at the man, Cole, when he had slammed her into the wall. He was taller than she was, maybe another half head or so in height. Bulkier too, though that wasn’t particularly hard to do. His hair was short and black, and his face was quite rounded.

The most distinguishing feature though, was a curved scar that had decorated his right cheek. She’d know him when she saw him, that was certain. She had spent an hour or so wandering around the waterfront, checking the different dens she saw for a ‘Kraken’s Grave.’ Her search had eventually taken her away from the waterfront itself back into the alleyways that sat behind.

She came across a canal back here, lined by small stone walkways on either side. Down the far end, she saw signs protruding out from the buildings, it was too far to make out what they were saying. It was worth a look, worst thing that could happen was they weren’t the place she was looking for, and she’s no worse off than she is now.

Walking along the canal, she passed various people huddled on the ground, or tucked away in little holes in the buildings. Their clothing was in poor condition, and their hygiene was worse.

Yeesh, I thought it was bad by the docks. Her mind travelled back to the streets of Zaun, where these sights weren’t uncommon either. It was strange, in all the time she’d spent away, in all the places she’d been, Bilgewater was already the place that felt most natural, the place that felt most like home. Jinx shuddered at the thought, but it really was eerily similar; the poverty, the criminality, the misery, it all bore a striking resemblance to her old home. At least Zaun had some semblance of laws, even if it was merely a veneer. Bilgewater had nothing of the sort. Jinx couldn’t decide which was better. 

Why do you persist? A snarled question poked from the back of her mind.

What’s the point? It’s just a rock.

She was determined to prove them wrong. She’d find it, of course she would. This was something she was good at, finding things.

And breaking them.

Coming up upon the signs, there were a few all roughly the same height, the first one blocking the view of the rest of them. The first read ‘Alvis’ Harpooning Supplies’, that’s not the one. The next sign was all beat up, only ‘-cary’ was visible, still not the one. The third one read… ‘Kraken’s Gaze’! That had to be it, this Cole had to be in here.

She pushed the flimsy door open, the sight of a somewhat well kept space inside surprising her. It almost looked too good to be back here. She had also attracted the stares of the many patrons of the place. Clearly they weren’t used to blue-haired girls disrupting their games. She stood in the doorway, staring back at them. She would keep staring at them as long they chose to stare at her. Thankfully for her own lack of patience, they all returned to their games, unbothered by the new arrival. Maybe they were more used to it than she thought.

Stepping inside the parlor, it was immediately warmer than outside, though not by much. A smoky aroma wafted over from the fireplace in the corner. She approached a small bar on the far side of the den, past a few of the tables playing different card games, nothing she was familiar with. Though, she couldn’t imagine it’d be too different from whatever game Sevika was obsessed with, they all had playing cards and stuff, couldn’t be that different.

She took a seat at the bartop, sitting right in front of the broad barman in front of her. She smiled at him, quite sincerely she thought. He did not return the gesture.

“You gambling?” He asked, almost entirely disinterested.

“Nope.” Jinx replied with a pop. She continued smiling at him. 

He shifted slightly on the spot, “Well then, what can I get for you?”

“I’m looking for someone.” 

“You’re… looking for someone?”

“Yeah!” She nodded her head enthusiastically. “I’m looking for someone. He stole something from me. And I want it back. So I'm going to get it back.”

“Okay?”

“You’re gonna help me! It’s easy, I tell you that he’s a pirate kinda guy, about yay tall,” Jinx moved her hand slightly above her head, “not really handsome at all, slightly puffy,  kind of an asshole, oh and he has a big ol’ scar over his cheek like this!” She dragged a finger in a curve up along her right cheek, mimicking the shape. “His name is Cole, apparently. And so now I’ve told you that, you tell me where he is and I go get back my something. Easy! Sooooo… are ya gonna help?”

“Yeah… I don’t think so.” He stood defiantly now, crossing his arms as he looked down at the girl across the bar.

“Ugh.” The smile on Jinx’s face vanished as she threw her head back in annoyance. With her left hand, she pulled her gun out of its holster and placed it on the bartop, keeping her hand firmly wrapped around the grip. “Why do you have to make this so difficult?” She glared at the barman, her eyes wide and eyebrows raised. “What’s your problem?”

His eyes darted to the gun, and then back to hers. “I ain’t no rat.”

“I didn’t call you that.” She said derisively. “I mean, you don’t look like a rat. They’re usually small, and fuzzy, and they crawl around on the floor. You don’t crawl around on the floor, do you?” She allowed the corner of her lips to curl up in a slight smirk.

He stared back at her, unshifting.

She looked back at him, her eyes attempting to bore through his. After several seconds with no success, she relented, relaxing her eyes again. “I know he’s here. Or he was here? I know he comes here so if you just tell me where to find him I can leave you alone.”

He began to move towards the bar that separated the two of them, his voice taking on an air of agitation, “I think it’s time for you to leave-” 

“Ah ah,” Jinx pulled the gun up and waved it around in his direction. “I don’t think you get how this works,” she chuckled. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me where he is.” The words rolled out with slight impatience. The barman must’ve placed some value on his own life, he had stopped in his tracks, his vision now fixated on the gun she was still absent mindedly waving around at him. His expression had almost opened up, the tension in his face had dissipated. He just needed that last push, “This guy isn’t worth getting shot for, is he?”

“Fine,” he gritted through his teeth, “he’s in a room in the back.” He pointed at a doorway off to the left.

“See? That wasn’t so hard.” She holstered her weapon and planted both hands on the bartop, pushing herself back onto her feet. 

“Yeah, now piss off.” the man snarled at her. 

Jinx rolled her eyes as she turned toward the doorway. If people just did things when she asked, she wouldn’t have to pull a gun on them. The Captain was much better in that regard. Approaching the entry, she peered down a dimly lit hallway, lined with more doors on either side. Down the far end, she made out the shape of a girl leaving a side room, a small stream of light emanating behind her from the slightly ajar door she had exited from.

She watched the woman disappear from sight again down the far end of the hallway, and Jinx made her own way down the hallway. She looked into the rooms with open doors as she went, all set up in similar or identical arrangements; a bed centered in the room, small tables on either side and multiple sets of candles in various locations. Charming. Reaching the stream of light at the end of the hall, Jinx quietly peered inside. She spotted him, a man right there in the room facing away from the door. And he was half-dressed. She decided to wait to let him get his clothes back on before confronting him.

Are you going to kill him? A voice pondered.

Didn’t you want to be better? Another asked.

Her mind began racing again, as she waited next to the door. Why now? Why couldn’t they just shut up? She needed to focus, she needed to-

This is a waste of time.

You’ll never get it back.

You’ll just mess this up like always.

Jinx was broken out of the rush by the thumping of boots, hitting the wooden floorboards. They were right behind the other side of the door. Reactively, Jinx kicked the door in, sending the thief flying backwards onto the floor.

“What the fuck!?”

Jinx pulled the gun from her holster, straightening her am as she aimed the gun directly at the grounded man. She could see his face now, the scar on his cheek, it was him.

He looked up at Jinx, taking no time at all to recognise the person he survived yesterday. “You?”

“Yes, me.” She replied with a fake smile. “Give it to me”

“How the fuck did you find me?”

She angled her arm up ever so slightly, firing a shot directly over his head before bringing the gun back down to bear on his face. “Give. It. To. Me.”

He laughed anxiously, “Give what?”

“I’m not-” She could feel her hand tighten like a vice around the pistol grip, her finger ready to pull the trigger again. She stopped herself, taking a breath. She’d never get it back if she killed him now. “I’m not dumb.” She started again, this time more controlled. “The gemstone you stole, where is it?”

“Oh, that pretty thing?” he chuckled, “I don’t know.”

Jinx moved closer to stand over him on the ground, the gun still pointed square at his face. “You don’t know? Bullshit.”

A grin formed on his twisted face. “I’m telling you, I don’t know.”

Jinx leaned in, staring him directly in the eye, and nodded. Then she whipped her left arm across, cracking the pistol on his scarred cheek and making him collapse to the floor on his side with a pained grunt. Stepping to her right, she threw her boot directly into his gut, eliciting a pained wheeze from him. She crouched down, resting her arms on her knees and cocking her head, she looked down at him while he writhed in pain. “What did you do with it?”

The thief clenched his jaw, his breathing laboured “I sold it.”

“To who?” Now they were getting somewhere.

“I… I don’t know who exactly, one of the gangs.”

“Where can I find them?”

“The Slaughter Docks. They run out of one of the big warehouses down there. They have it, I swear.”

Jinx nodded, that was enough to go on. Probably. She stood back up, and looked down at the man below her, her arm still pointed at his head. Her mind’s chorus returned.

Shoot him.

Kill him now.

You wanted to be better.

Do it.

He’s a waste of bullets.

Leave him to suffer.

Show him who you are.

She closed her eyes and breathed, she just breathed, in and out. She let her arm drop to her side, releasing the tension that had built up. Opening her eyes again, she looked down at the man, still wheezing from the kick. She had already done quite a bit of damage. She turned her attention back to the door she kicked in, it was time to go find this warehouse. While leaving, she heard the man slowly, clumsily clamber to his feet behind her. She didn’t bother turning to look at him, there was no way he was fit to attack her anymore.

“You’ll never get it back.” Cole laughed behind her. “That gang, you don’t know who you’re messing with.”

Watch me. She didn’t care what a rat like him had to say. Stepping out into the hallway, she looked down the dimly lit passage towards the door she came from. A crowd of a couple of people had gathered, they must’ve been curious about the gunshot. Not curious enough to actually come investigate though. Off to her side, back in the room, she heard Cole mumbling.

“Fucking bitch.” he hissed.

Her vision still directed down the hall, Jinx’s arm flew up, the pistol still firmly in her grasp, and she squeezed the trigger. A second later, she heard something heavy hit the floor with a loud thud. She refused to look back into the room, whether out of disdain for him, or herself, she wasn’t quite sure. The voices seemed to know though.

Good. Show them who you are.

Chapter Text

The scent of death lingered like a heavy fog over the Slaughter Docks, if the water or the gangs or the cutthroats didn’t kill you down here, the smell would. Twisting its way inside you, clawing at your every sense; burning your lungs, stabbing at your eyes, making you feel as though a stray cough will bring with it all your insides. You could get used to it if you spent enough time here, but it’d never go away.

Ruko had made it a point not to come here unless he needed to, and even then he didn’t stay any longer than absolutely necessary. So the fact he had to wait around was unbearable. The source of the repulsive odour was the slaughter docks themselves. Massive sheds built to house the most titanic of sea monster carcasses lined most of the water’s edge. Inside, workers slave away to carve all the meat and bone from the bodies. The slaughter fleets return each morning with new sea monster carcasses to carve, so they had to work quickly before it all started to rot.

Large stone ramps stained red trailing out from the sea allowed the butchers to move the prized corpses out of the water. The water itself was almost permanently darkened, dyed with the blood and guts of the sailor’s catches, attracting all manner of predators to come play, driven into frenzies by the smell. Entering the water itself would be a death sentence, you probably wouldn’t even realise you had gotten wet before you were ripped apart.

The sun had almost set below the distant ocean horizon now, slowly casting the place into shadow. Ruko stood at the mouth of a small alley, between two wooden lodgings, accomodation for the poor souls who had to work around the death and decay. The carving of slaughtered sea monsters wasn’t the only business that went on around the docks, despite the bloody dealings, it was still a port like any other, home to warehouses used for storing and processing the proceeds of slaughter. Black markets cropped up, just like anywhere else in this city, the trade focused on the rarer commodities sourced from the ocean.

However, the most notorious locale down here was MacGregan’s Killhouse, sitting right on the edge of the Slaughter Docks and the rest of Bilgewater. It’s name was rather apt, the place was well known for being where the rich and powerful of the city conducted their bloodier work. Mostly executions of rivals and the like. Much like the rest of the Docks, Ruko kept far away from anything to with MacGregan’s, and his continued existence sometimes thanked him for it.

Leaning against the splintered wall, he could see his target further along the waterfront, the warehouse Geedie had told him about. It wasn’t hard to find, there were many warehouses but none of them sat right on the water. It was big too, bigger than Ruko was anticipating. The size was almost slightly disconcerting, usually these kinds of buildings were owned by the more powerful leaders in Bilgewater. And yet, it seemed like it wouldn’t be.

The warehouse itself looked almost abandoned. The outer walls were particularly beaten down, not so much so that he could just slip in through a crack, but they’d be easier to scale than otherwise. Sitting out on the waterfront, three sides of the building were surrounded by blood-crazed predator filled waters, limiting the approaches for entry.

He kept his distance, nothing could be gained from being visible to anyone looking. From where he waited, he could see a few gang members out front, about what he expected based on the information Lecto gave him. But he couldn’t shake the feeling in the back of his head that something felt off. Why? All the information seemed to check out, other than the size of the warehouse, there was nothing to say things weren’t as they seem. Maybe it’s just the paranoid side of him talking, he thought. After the last job went south, that side of him is preparing for the worst. He was overreacting, it’ll be fine, quick and easy, in and out.

“Oi,” a kid snapped his fingers up at Ruko, who had gotten lost in his own worries.

“Hey,” Ruko blinked several times, reacquainting himself with reality. “What did you see?”

“Lotsa gang people behind the gate.” The kid wore a ragged shirt and patchwork pants, about the best they were going to get. Orphaned kids littered the streets of Bilgewater, all looking to scrape by to survive.

Ruko nodded, “How’s the layout?”

“Big area behind the gate, lotsa crates, and big doors into the warehouse. And there’s another smaller building behind them walls too.” Usually, the little street rats were your enemy, always on the lookout for an unguarded purse to snatch. But sometimes, they could be your friends as well. The gangs didn’t treat the little troublemakers as any sort of serious threat, they could get a lot closer to things than someone like Ruko could. To be fair, they really weren’t much of a threat. This kid wasn’t the threat, not tonight.

“Good. Anything else you saw?”

“Nah sir, couldn’t get inside, gangers all mean and such.” He paused, before speaking up again. “Actually, I did notice sirs, they’re them Jagged Hooks guys.”

“Jagged Hooks? Alright,” he nodded again, reaching his hand into a pocket on his satchel slung over his chest. He pulled out a small handful of silver and dropped it in the kid’s hand. “Well done.”

“Thanking yous sir.” The kid pocketed the change and darting off back to whatever mischief they usually got up to.

The Jagged Hooks? Gangplank’s old crew? They’re still kicking around? That was certainly a surprise to Ruko. Everyone had heard about the great and powerful Gangplank going down with his ship a year or so ago. It had been hard not to, the entire city descended into a chaotic power struggle until Sarah Fortune declared herself Pirate Queen and established an incredibly fragile peace through force. She had since gone about purging whatever was left of Gangplank’s old crew, so finding some of them very much alive was unexpected.

It didn’t change anything, job was still the same, in fact, their boss being dead somewhat allayed Ruko’s concerns. Still, it would be best not to be seen at all. Drawing his hood up, he retreated into the depths of the alley and around behind the buildings. Back there, in the shrouded darkness, he looked around for a convenient method of ascension, spotting a stairway leading up to a second story back door. One foot up in front of the other, he swiftly climbed the stairs, climbing on the handrail at the summit. Using the added height, he grasped the rooftop ledge, hoisting himself up and over on to the roof with ease.

Gathering himself on the roof he looked up and out to the ocean beyond. The sun had well and truly set beyond the horizon now, not a ray of light poking past. Darkness was taking it’s familiar hold over the city once more. Turning his attention over to his right, he reacquired the warehouse in his sight.

He began to traverse the rooftops on the waterfront in his target’s direction, leaping across the small gaps between the buildings, he bent his knees and landed on the balls of his feet, softening the impacts and quietening the noise for anyone who may decide to listen for such a noise. The flatness of the rooftops down here made it much easier to move across them than the much more vertical fare he often dealt with. Coming up on the large building across the street from him, he now had a better view of the place’s layout.

He observed from the second story roof off a building on the opposite side of the street, crouching down to reduce his profile. The people down there didn’t tend to look up, but e wasn’t taking any chances. The kid was right, there was a large courtyard behind the gate and walls, and from here he could see several men hanging around inside. The warehouse stood on the far side of the courtyard, fifteen or twenty odd metres from the gate, a gate being guarded by several armed thugs.

Within the courtyard itself, several stacks of crates organised in the space, and what looked like another smaller storage building built from the midship of an old frigate sat hugging the outer wall on the near right side of the place, a large mast protruding up and out from the roof. A pair of large doors would provide entry into and out of the warehouse itself, some old windows on what looked like a second story could provide an alternative way out if need be. But that was for once he got inside. For now, the challenge was reaching that point.

He had to approach from the front, the water surrounding the other three sides made sure of that. The walls enclosing the courtyard were to tall and flat to free climb over. And he couldn’t enter through the front gate, that would be suicide. Ruko’s eyes scanned the sight in front of him again, looking it all over again.

This time, he paid more attention to the walls themselves. The brick walls were cracked, beat-down, weathered; still strong enough to keep most people out despite this. Towards the corner of the perimeter walling on the far right side, there was one particular section of wall that appeared to be vulnerable.

The spikes sat atop the walls had either been eroded down into nubs or had disappeared entirely due to the ocean winds. If he could lodge his grappling blade over the other side of the wall, scaling it should be possible. It wouldn’t be easy, it was still four or five metres high, but it was doable, the most doable option he was going to get.

Conveniently, his infiltration would be concealed by some crates stacked between the thugs posted out by the gate, and the vulnerable entry point. Once inside, he’d just have to navigate across the open courtyard to the warehouse itself, and then find his score within, inside a case of… some description, he recalled from his conversation with Geedie, quite obvious apparently. He’d soon find out. With the sun fully set now and darkness setting in, the street would be cleared of people soon enough, leaving no one to see him climb the wall, and well on the way to another payday. This’ll be too easy…

Darkness had swallowed the Slaughter Docks, and the street was nigh on deserted, the occasional dockyard worker scurrying back to their lodging. Even a couple of the thugs standing by the gate had retreated inside… more people to sneak past, more eyes to spot him. Ruko lurked under the wall’s shadow, invisible to anyone not looking for him. He glanced down either end of the street, not a single soul in sight. Now was the time to move.

He pulled a scarf from around his neck up onto his face, covering his mouth and nose, leaving only his eyes visible under the hood. His hand grasped the coil hanging off his belt, letting it unravel as he took it in both hands. Looking up to the top, he spun the blade on the end of the rope and released it upwards, watching the blade sail up and over the wall. Hearing a small clanging sound, metal against brick, he tugged the rope repeatedly, until the grapple found a place to sink itself into and the rope fell taut.

Giving it a couple more pulls for ease of mind, he began his ascent. One foot, and then the other, he slowly pulled himself up the side of the brick wall. He moved carefully, quietly; slow was fast and he needed to be fast, no mistakes. One of the thugs deciding they wanted to take a stroll in Ruko’s direction would spell the end of this entire plan, and a sword to his throat. He snorted to himself, the thought of it amusing. There were worse ways to die, he could get stabbed in the back, or have a knife driven through his heart.

After a minute or two, Ruko reached the capstones of the wall, relinquishing his grasp on the rope as he reached his hands across and grasped the far ledge on the other side. Heaving his body onto his hands and knees atop the wall, just wide enough to do so. He sat back upright, freeing his hands to recollect his grapple. He reached down and pulled the curved blade out of its nook, pulling the rest of the rope he wound it back up and hooked it back to his belt.

His current vantage didn’t reveal much in the way of new information. Most of the gang members inside the walls had congregated in the middle of the yard, all huddled around something, cheering and hollering at each other. They had provided themselves with a distraction, surely it would be rude for Ruko not to take advantage of that. Just below his position was a mountain of crates and boxes, more than enough cover to drop down behind. And beyond that along the wall towards the warehouse was the old frigate hull light on walls, the racks within exhibiting its purpose as a cheap bunkhouse.

Enough hanging around, time to keep moving. Ruko dropped down the four-ish metre wall down to the stone below. However, due to the complete lack of light down there, he couldn’t actually see what was on the ground. And he didn’t know, not until his feet landed on an old plank leaning against the wall, snapping it and throwing his feet out from under him. Landing on one’s ass isn’t fun at the best of times, and being thrown onto it in the cold darkness really wasn’t fun. Ruko began to pull himself back up when he heard something on the other side of the crate pile.

“Coulda swore I ‘eard somethin.” a salty voice replied to himself.

Shit. Ruko catapulted himself to his feet, and pressed his back up flush with a crate. He heard the man’s footsteps begin to walk around the crates in his direction. He pulled his knife from its scabbard and kept his ears low, tracking the approaching footsteps as best he could. Thud. He would need to be quick. Thud. And quiet. No room for error. Thud. He could only assume how big the man would be, maybe slightly taller than him. Thud. Not that it mattered much, only where he’d aim. Thud. He tightened his grip on the knife, and took a slow, deep breath. Thud. Close enough.

Ruko threw himself around the corner catching the thug off guard, pushing him into the side of the crate stack. His free hand covered the man’s mouth, muffling any cries he would make. In an instant, he plunged his knife deep into the side of the man’s neck, blood spilling out slowly at first. The thug made an attempt at resisting, desperately grasping at Ruko’s arms, trying to pull them away. The cries for help blocked off from the rest of the world. It was too late. Ruko’s eyes were locked on the other man’s own, waiting for the spark of life behind them to fade. The knife still lodged in his neck, Ruko twisted it, before dragging it across, ripping the man’s neck wide open.

The thug’s resistance faded, his arms dropped and his knees buckled, his body slumping down to the ground, a waterfall of blood gushing from the gaping tear on his neck. Ruko let the body drop, pulling his knife away, now dripping red. Any noise the body may have made was drowned out by the raucous noise of the other gang members. He leaned over the slouched body, drying the knife off on his clothing and sheathing it before quickly rifling through his pockets for any valuables. He pulled out a ring and a couple of gold krakens, stashing them in his satchel, he quickly moved behind behind the cover of another stack along the perimeter wall. He ducked behind the old frigate bunkhouse, squeezing into the shadow between it and the wall to get himself closer to his goal undetected. He moved in silence, placing the front of his feet down first with each deliberate step.

Reaching the far end of the bunkhouse, he was only a few metres away from the warehouse itself, however the only way inside was back towards the centre of the building. He peered around the corner, sighting the large doors, left slightly ajar, a large lantern lit overtop. The shadows would cloak his presence for most of the distance, then it would be a simple case of not getting spotted while he entered.

Moving with care, he left the cover of the old ship and moved out into the open, taking cover behind a rack of barrels, about six odd metres from the door. From here, he had another view of the gathering in the centre of the yard. Everyone was singularly focused on whatever was entertaining them in their circle. A quick head count of the ones he could see put the number of them at nine, excluding the ones on the gate out front, and any that may be inside. Too many to handle in a fight. So don’t get caught. Taking advantage of their engrossment, Ruko dashed out of his cover towards the door, balancing moving fast with remaining silent, and he slipped inside unseen.

Holy shit. The inside was not what Ruko was expecting. It was decidedly massive, though that wasn’t the surprising part. No, it was that the building was damn near filled to the brim with treasure and valuables, far more than any one person could possible know what to do with. Treasure chests and crates filled with piles of gold lined the walls, each bursting at the seams with the mass of its contents. Giant sea monster skulls, adorned with all manner of rare gems and crystals hung down from the roof.

His shock was disrupted by the sounds of sleazy banter, sending Ruko scrambling for cover behind a large statue, probably of Noxian origin, just in front of the doors. Peering out, he spotted a small canal directly ahead of him in the centre of the warehouse, leading out to the harbour, with a rowboat sitting within. Three men hung around the boat, offloading small crates into the mass of loot that was the inside of the warehouse. They weren’t likely to be an issue, they seemed entirely consumed by their unsavoury conversation.

Looking around the building, a second story sat along the left hand side of the cavernous space. Two large rooms stuck out from the walls at the front and back ends of the warehouse, a wooden walkway connecting the two of them, a staircase leading up to the room at the far end of the warehouse. If the score was as valuable as it seemed to be, it’d probably be up there somewhere. Carefully, he made his way to the left of the space, moving to cover behind the piles of treasure, hugging the wall to limit the directions he could be spotted from. The edges of the space were dimly lit compared to the brighter lights in the centre, but he didn’t get sloppy.

As he creeped towards the far end of the building, he heard more voices. Peering out from behind his current hiding place, an old obelisk this time, two more gang members stood at the bottom of the staircase, talking much more quietly to each other than the other three. He shifted forward, trying to get as close as he could to the pair without alerting them.

He crouched behind an old cannon, just shy of the staircase. The two were still conversing, oblivious to Ruko’s presence. He looked back over to where the rowboat was. He could barely see it, or the three men from here, the treasure hoards obscuring the view. Resting against the cannon for a moment, he drew two throwing knives from the sheathes strapped to the upper arms of his jacket, prepping them in his hands. He’d only have one shot at this, he needed to make it count.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped up and out from behind the cannon, launching the first knife at the furthest thugfacing him, lodging it deep in their neck. The other one turned towards Ruko in shock, in time to receive the second knife burrowed into his own neck. The two bodies collapsed at the foot of the stairway, allowing him access to what was hopefully a treasure store upstairs. He peeked back towards the three men in the centre, who appeared none the wiser as to the demise of two of their friends. Covering his tracks, Ruko shifted the bodies one at a time, carefully and quietly tucking them away in a nook underneath the staircase, they’d have to be looking to find them.

Ruko slowly scaled the old staircase, each step as gentle as can be to avoid an ill-timed creak or groan. He reached a landing halfway up, the stairs turning to the left towards the upper floor of the building. The thick railings obscured him from the view of the three thugs across the warehouse. The wooden planks below his feet seemed prime to scream out his presence with each step up.

Ruko breathed a soft sigh of relief when he reached the top of the stairs, the wood having chosen to be merciful. Arriving at the door, he noticed the keyhole underneath the door handle, wrapping his hand around the handle he gently pushed the door to test it. The door didn’t budge, locked. Of course it was, an unlocked door would just be too easy now, wouldn’t it?

Reaching into a side pocket on his bag, he removed a lock-picking device, it was a small cylindrical object that housed numerous picking shafts for different sized locks. It was quite a smart device, incredibly complex design. Ruko wasn’t sure where exactly it came from, he nabbed it off a vendor who was selling tools and gear from all over Runeterra.

He had always been incredibly careful with it, making sure not to break it because he sure as hell wasn’t going to be able to fix it. Nayah probably could but then he’d have to pay her and she’d make fun of him for it. He rotated the device’s outer cylinder, each rotation ejecting one of the picking shafts. He did this several times until he found a pin that seemed to roughly match the size of the keyhole in front of him.

Taking a knee on the wooden floorboards, he pushed the pick inside as far as it would go and pressed it up. Placing his other hand flat on the door, he slowly dragged the pick back out, counting the notches the tip hit. 1… 2… 3… 3 notches. 3 notches, 3 pins. A fairly simple lock, nothing he hadn’t cracked before. Ruko glanced over his shoulder behind him, checking that no one had snuck up the stairs while he was distracted. Still hearing the various conversations scattered around the warehouse, and no one in sight behind him, he set to work breaking into his target.

He carefully reinserted the pick, finding the first notch and pushing the pick up against the light wooden pin until he heard a satisfying click, the pin now set. He moved the pick further in to the second notch, repeating the process, another click telling him to move on. Pushing the third pin in, click, he felt the resistance of the door’s bolt give way, allowing him to slowly push the door forward. It squeaked slightly on its hinges, the old building daring once more to give him away. Thankfully, it was no more than a faint noise, far from being detectable to anyone who wasn’t right there with him. Ruko slinked through the door, pushing it closed behind him to cover his tracks.

Clicking the door shut, Ruko pulled his scarf and hood off as he took stock of the room in front of him. At first glance to an amateur, it’s contents would seem far less valuable than the floor down below. And there was a lot less of it to. But that was were an amateur would think wrong.

The ancient trinkets, the unassuming statues, the jewels of various colours and sizes; these are the kinds of items that are one-of-a-kind, that would really fetch a good price, if you knew what you were doing. That was the key, you had to know how much these things were worth.

The layout of the room itself was fairly basic; four walls, windows next to the door looking back out to the large store he’d just come from, it would be best to keep away from them. The wall to the left featured another door, this one without a lock on it, the owner clearly didn’t see the need for more than one. Otherwise, the somewhat decently sized room was fairly packed in, tables and benches lined the walls with all sorts of presumably ill-gotten gains.

As he scanned the room, something on one of those tables caught Ruko’s eye, a faint blue glow. He approached the table, backed up against the right side wall, its surface rendered imperceptible by the blanket of artifacts and jewellery strewn across it. At the forefront of it all, a small blue crystal sat on top. He gently reached out, clinching the orb between his thumb and index finger.

Rolling it around between his two fingers, he bought it up to his eye-level, admiring its purity. It was flawless, its surface completely smooth, not a scratch or dent on it. Ruko hadn’t the faintest idea what it was, but he couldn’t deny its perfection. It didn’t think it was what he was here for, thinking back to what he had been told: I’d know it when I see it. It wasn’t even in stored in a box. Still, something like this had to be worth a good bit. Letting the orb roll down into his palm, he closed his fist and stuffed it into his satchel.

Casting his eyes back across the tables, he began to filter through the rest of the hoard in front of him, picking out whatever would be worth the most. He couldn’t grab everything of value, the entire room wouldn’t fit in his small bag. It was the objects that he could conceal and carry easily that were the priority. So the statues, the artwork, the ceremonial armour were all ignored. Medallions, necklaces, jewels, and the like were grasped in generous helpings and stashed into the bag at his side.

On one table sat various antique tools, a small ceremonial hammer inlaid with jewels stood out the most, but it was too big to fit. Another was covered in maps, scrolls and papers, Ruko didn’t bother looking at them. It would have been a waste of time anyway, he wouldn’t have a clue what they said. His bag was slowly growing heavier on his shoulder as more and more of the room’s valuables went into it.

Eventually, Ruko came around to a table on the wall almost opposite the door he came in from, and on it sat a nondescript box, a case, about the size of a cannonball. I’d know it when I see it. Unlike the other tables, this one was much cleaner than the others, the case sat centred on the surface, displayed with pride. A small, plain, wooden box… displayed with pride. The contents surely had to be more impressive. Ruko picked up the case that presumably held his prize, a small padlock held the thing shut. He was about to place it back down and retrieve his picking tool when he noticed something odd. It had no keyhole.

“What?” the confusion escaped his lips in a whisper. What the hell was the point of a lock you couldn’t open? How was he even going to get it open? He noticed a faint engraving on the face of the lock, running his thumb over it, he could feel the grooves in the metal. He couldn’t make out the actual shape of the design itself, much of it seemed faded. There was a squiggly line, or two, and a dot? It didn’t matter, what did was getting the box open and getting out of there as quickly as possible. The box was too big for him to take with him. Well, not exactly, but he’d have to dump most of everything he’d already grabbed.

Ruko’s mind began to race through all the different options in his head. He took a couple of steps back, turning on the spot he looked over the room, trying to think of some way, any way to get into this box. His eyes ran over the various piles of bounty he had been pilfering from, and they laid to rest on the ceremonial hammer he found. The padlock may not have a keyhole, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t be opened, right? Maybe it just needed some force, enough of it on the shackle and it should just break open. Assuming it worked like a normal lock, what with it missing a keyhole and all.

Ruko scurried over to grab the hammer and returned to the plain case now sitting wonky on the table. He shifted the box’s orientation, sitting it on its backside, the lock now facing straight up. Gripping the hammer in one hand and holding the box down with the other, Ruko brought the hammer up above his head, and was about to bring it down onto the shackle when he hesitated. This wasn’t going to be silent. Did he have a choice? He could see no other way to get into it. His hesitation remained brief, and he brought the hammer down, striking the padlock’s shackle.

Ruko winced at the small clank reverberating through the treasure room. He stopped, turning his attention back towards the door, and waited. And waited. Part of him was screaming to keep going, to break the lock and get out. But if they hadn’t heard the first strike, there was no reason to get sloppy now. And he waited, eyes locked on the door.

It didn’t open. There was no yelling, nothing to indicate they were aware someone had even snuck in, let alone that Ruko was about to take this stone right from under their noses. He let his shoulders drop, a soft breath escaping his mouth as he turned his attention back to the case.

Examining the now damaged lock, the shackle was already severely deformed. With luck, one more strike should break it. He bought the hammer up above his shoulder again, making sure to bring it down exactly the same way he did last time, lest he inadvertently make more noise than he had to. Another small clank filled the air, and the padlock body launched itself away across the room, leaving just the shackle looped on the box. He didn’t bother to check his surroundings this time, placing the box back on its base, he pulled the now incomplete shackle through the staple and lifted the hasp away.

With a hand on either side of the box, Ruko gently lifted the lid back on its hinges, revealing the lock-box’s contents. An almost otherworldly glow emanated from inside, on a padded base sat a purple stone. It featured a faceted, angular shape, six sides, with two pointed ends. A marking of some kind lay upon it’s surface, glowing blue, brighter than the rest of stone. It was an angular symbol, one line zig-zagging back and forth, up and down.

There was something about it that Ruko couldn’t quite grasp, it almost seemed to… unsettle him. It felt as though the air around him had grown colder since he’d opened the box, he could feel the hairs on his arm stand up underneath his leather jacket. He slowly reached his arm inside the box. Uneasy, his hand approached the curious stone, and after a moments hesitation, he picked it up. It was ice cold to the touch, sending a shiver coursing through his already tense muscles. He bought it up away from the box closer to himself, flipping it over in his hand, it sat perfectly in his palm.

It hummed with a strange energy, seemingly pulsing in Ruko’s hand. Holding the cold stone, that energy felt as though it was growing, reacting to his touch. As he inspected the stone, practically entranced by its gleam, it’s pulsing seemed to quicken, and without warning it emitted an incredibly intense flash. Ruko recoiled, rapidly turning his eyes away to avoid losing his vision. The room around him was bathed in a purple haze for the briefest of moments, and as abruptly as it had happened, the colour drained and Ruko’s surroundings returned to their brown timber aesthetic.

Turning his head back to the stone in his hand, a confused muttering escaping his mouth, trying to comprehend what he was looking at, it was like nothing he’d ever seen. Is this magic? He’d never seen magic before, he was aware that it existed somewhere in the world, but he never expected to encounter the stuff for himself. He shook his head, clearing the confusion from his brain. It didn’t matter what it was, he got what he came for. He needed to focus on getting out of here now, stashing the magic rock thing in his bag, his mind began to think. How do I get —

The door behind him flew open, and Ruko spun around on the spot to face the intrusion. The three large men from downstairs were standing in the room just through the door now, two of them pointing flintlocks straight at him. “Looks like we got ourselves a wee lil’ rat.”

Shit. He instinctively raised his hands up, getting shot would be fairly inconvenient. “Huh… this isn’t MacGregan’s…” His sly quip was more to ease his own mind, still unsettled from the stone, than to actually get himself out of here, “You guys wouldn’t be able to point me there, would ya?”

“Right, yer looking fer MacGregan’s,” the big one in the middle said, “and I’m King of Demacia!” The other guys on each side him, a small one to his right side and a skinny one to his left both started laughing and howling, their firearms remaining trained on Ruko.

It wasn’t that funny… he thought, as he offered them a chuckle anyways. How had they found out he was in here? They can’t have heard him breaking the lock, they’d have already barged in before he’d even grabbed the stone. The three men continued laughing, but Ruko’s sight flew past one guy, the one on the right, and to the background behind him, windows looking out into the warehouse. It clicked, the flash from the stone, it must have beamed out through the windows. Something that bright’d be hard to miss.

The three men collected themselves again, and their smiles turned back into scowls. The middle one opened his mouth again, “You got some nerve to be robbin’ this place.”

“Wait, I’m robbing you guys? Somebody should’ve told me.” he said with a smirk, trying to stall for time, enough time to figure a way out of his new mess. Was it just these three who knew he was here? Could he take them? It was almost ten or so metres between him and them, and they were all bigger than he was anyway. The chances he gets close to them without being shot were basically none.

“Oi,” the middle one turned to his right, looking at the unarmed of the three of them, his own arm still outstretched, the pistol still pointed at Ruko. “Go and tell the others we found ourselves a rat.”

“Aye.” the small one dutifully replied, turning on his heels and back out the door they had entered through, pulling it closed behind him.

More people knowing about this was not high on Ruko’s list of wants. How many had he counted outside again? Eleven? Didn’t matter, he wouldn’t be able to take everyone, he had to move soon. Forcing a smile, he began to speak, “Look, guys, this is just a big misunderstanding, no need to get all —”

A low rumble cut off his fruitless bargaining attempt. It didn’t sound big, it must’ve come from outside, muffled by the building’s walls. The two men still pointing guns at Ruko seemed as perplexed as he was.

“The hell?” The skinny one asked, their arms didn’t waver. Before anyone could answer, a second rumble sounded out, again muffled. What was going on? There were other sounds, faint, barely audible back here. Were they... shouts?

That sense of unease that Ruko had felt earlier crept back in, attempting to take control over his senses. He needed to reassert control over himself, he needed to think, how could he get out of here? Whatever was happening outside, he could use it to his advantage. “You guys expecting someone?” he asked with a nervous laugh, trying to distract them, or throw them off balance, something, anything. As long as their guns were trained on him, he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Shut yer trap.” the big one replied.

Maybe it was Fortune’s people, come to finish off what was left of Gangplank. Normally this would be pretty poor timing but in this case, it could work out. “Hey, if you’ve got something going on, I’d hate —”

“I said shut it.” he snapped back through gritted teeth. Ruko decided that would be for the best. His eyes darted around the room, at the door behind the two men, the windows to the right hand side of that door. He re-spotted the side-door, now off to his right. He didn’t know where it went, presumably onto the walkway he saw from below and the room beyond but from there he couldn’t say. It was certainly better than getting caught. Glancing back at the two weapons still aimed at him, the question was whether he could make it to the door without being hit. Running directly at them would make Ruko an easy target, but across the room away from them was a different story. They’d only have two chances to hit him before they’d have to reload. If he was quick, and he picked the right moment, he could make it.

His focus was redirected back to the men when the door behind them opened again. The small man who had run off earlier fell through, falling flat on his face… dead. The other two men were looking away from Ruko now at the body behind them, but their weapons were still pointed at him, he just needed them to point away. A small object came flying through the now open door, landing between the two guys and their dead friend. It rolled around on the floor, making an irritating clattering sound. Ruko was too absorbed by the strange object to notice the two men had dropped their arms. Then the clattering stopped.

The small object erupted into a booming crack, and the room became engulfed by a bright orange blast. Ruko whipped his head around, bringing his arm up to protect his eyes as the two men ahead of him were thrown backwards. The blast wave smashed into him, forcing him backwards onto his knees. A sharp slicing pain cut across the side of his lower torso, as his ears rang out loud. He desperately gasped for air, his lungs battered by the shockwave. Trying to stand back up straight, Ruko bought his eyes back up, the other end of the room scorched, two dead bodies splayed on the ground. He clicked into survival mode. Get out, now.

He launched himself onto his feet, straight at the door to his right. Yanking the door open, he burst out onto the catwalk, sprinting across the old wooden bridge. Reaching the other end, he slammed his way through the door, entering some kind of private office. He kicked the door shut behind him and immediately looked for a way out. Large windows on the far wall behind an ornate desk caught his attention, the ones he had seen from outside. It would be a drop but it was just about all he had. He hastily stepped forward when an intense pain hit his side. Looking down, a patch of his light-coloured shirt had gone red on his left side, a clean rip travelled horizontally across. A piece of debris from the explosion had grazed him. That would be the least of his problems if he didn’t get out of there, the owner of that bomb wasn’t likely to be far behind.

Ruko quickly looked over the windows. They were large, couldn’t be opened and were noticeably thick. Wondering how he was going to get through, he saw quite a nice chair sitting behind the desk. That’d have to do. He picked it up and with all his strength threw it straight at the middle window, shattering the glass panes.

Without any hesitation, his head now singularly focused on escape, keeping his hands away from pieces of jagged glass, he carefully climbed through the frame and outside, hanging down off the sill. To the hard stone ground below, it was not a small drop, probably about three of four of his height. The landing was going to hurt regardless, but if he could land on his feet, his legs could absorb most of the shock. He released his grip. When his feet hit the ground he immediately slipped, collapsing to the ground, the side of his body that had been cut open taking the brunt of the impact.

“Fuck.” he snarled, the pain may not have been the worst he’d ever dealt with, but it sure wasn’t the best. He righted himself onto his hands and knees, and climbed back to his feet in a hurry. He was back out the front of the warehouse, in the courtyard he had only just snuck through not fifteen minutes ago.

Where there was once a crowd of people huddled around something and a gate that would’ve been impossible for Ruko to get through, the place was now a wreck, bodies all strewn outwards from where they had been congregated, the large gate now blasted inwards, debris littering the ground. There was no one else here, who’d done all this?

Accelerating from his stand-still, he stepped over several of the gang members that now lay cold on the stone below him, his left hand clutching the slice on his side. The now devastated gate allowed him to leave with no resistance, thankfully so on account of his current condition. Turning out onto the street, he was met by a few bystanders who had been attracted by the commotion. Ruko paid them no mind, he fled the scene as fast as his weakened body could carry him.

As he ran, he looked back at the chaos he had become entangled in, checking for any other threats. No one seemed to be following, whoever had stormed the place must not have known he was even there. That was the hope anyway. As he turned his head back, he collided with a stranger on the street, the impact stopping Ruko in his tracks. He immediately untangled himself from this person, noticing they were dressed in the robes of one of the native priestesses of Nagakabouros, her face was slim, framed by greying hair, harmless.

“My apologies, I didn’t see you there.” A wizened voice spoke out softly.

Ruko offered no response, he pushed past and got moving again, no time to stick around. He dipped into the next alleyway he came across, pulling his hood back up over his head as he slipped into the shadows. Now he needed a way up, onto the rooftops, off the streets, that was where he’d be safest.

Running through one alley into another, he searched for any easy path up, a way that he could actually manage with his injury. It didn’t have to be much, just something to boost himself up. Turning into another alley, he locked onto a ladder rested against a small shack along the wall. Turning his head back again briefly to look for any tails, he reached the ladder and climbed it up to the shack’s roof. From here, he could scale the upper half of the building, using the even brickwork of the wall as handholds as he liked to do.

Now on the roof of the building, he let a small sigh escape him, being up here was a comfort, even if things hadn’t gone perfectly. Any job you can walk away from. He kept moving at a moderate pace, the buildings here were more densely packed, more rooftop surfaces and less alleyways to jump over or navigate around. Crossing the slight elevation changes in the roofs, his mind wandered back to when everything went to shit, not five minutes ago. What had happened, who else had been there? Were they also after the stone he had taken?

He crossed over onto a stone rooftop, not too large, a few metres across both ways with a low parapet around its border, slightly below knee height. Ahead of him was another roof at the same level. To the left a wall of a taller building, and to the right, a drop to a lower roof. His feet came to a stop, allowing the rest of his body to catch its breath. Ruko clutched at the wound on his side again, as soon as he got this stone dropped off to Lecto, he’d need to get it sorted, for now he’d just have to endure. Deliver the stone, get paid, get —

His thoughts were rudely interrupted by a clang behind him. Turning around, the source of the sound was another one of those explosives, clattering away again, a couple of metres between them. As quickly as the initial turn, Ruko spun away, attempting to get clear, but he could only put out another couple of metres before the device detonated. The shockwave knocked him off his feet and he rolled into the parapet on the far end of the roof.

Picking himself up onto his hands and knees, he attempted to shake the ringing from his ears, wondering how many more times he could end up on the ground in a single night. The acrid smoke burnt at his nostril as he glanced back in the direction he had been thrown from, and through the lingering smoke cloud he saw a figure, a girl, standing at the other end of the roof.

Getting himself up onto his feet, his hand drifted to the grappling blade coiled on his belt as he tried to examine his assailant. It was difficult to make out any specific features in the darkness, the striking blue hair was hard to miss though, even with a roof length’s distance between them. He could make out her size, she was of a slightly smaller stature than himself, thinner too. He uncoiled the grapple’s rope through his other hand gripping it loosely, and began spinning it. If this was the person who just cut through an entire gang, then what chance did he have? But this was feeling like a corner, and he was backed into it.

The girl pulled a gun from her side and raised her arm out straight at Ruko. He launched the grapple straight forward at her, the line wrapping around her weapon. He yanked the line to the side, a loud bang sounding out as he did so, a projectile impacting the ground to his immediate right. He watched the gun fly across the roof, unravelling itself from the rope as it landed off to the side between them. His focus on the weapon was only momentary, but it was already too long, the girl covered the distance between the two of them impressively quickly. A fist smashed into Ruko’s face, spinning him off balance.

He caught himself on the parapet behind him, tasting the blood already beginning to pool in his mouth. Releasing the ropes from his grasp, he launched himself back and up to land a strike of his own against the girl, jamming his elbow into her gut. He took advantage, throwing another one… two strikes, the adrenaline coursing through his body now. The girl twisted her own body to dodge, and threw her leg out to kick him.

She followed with her own flurry of attacks, each more fierce than the last. Her fighting was wild, unpredictable, fast and vicious, Ruko was finding it incredibly difficult to keep up. The attacks were lightning fast, many of them he couldn’t even see coming. Before he could even feel the pain from one strike, another would land somewhere else. He was put on the defensive, attempting to block attacks in rapid succession while trying to find space to make his own.

A wide swing of her arm gave him an opening, dodging the hit, throwing his own fist up into her chest. Forcing her to keel over, he brought his knee up into her gut, leaving her momentarily stunned. Ruko wound up another punch of his own, but as quickly as the girl had been right there, she had shifted off to the side, and Ruko’s body carried the momentum of his throw through the thin air ahead of him.

Stopping himself just before the roof’s edge, he turned back to face the girl again, his vision blurring slightly and his breath heavy as he drew the dagger from his belt, brandishing it clear to see. It was a plea, from a wounded thief desperate to get out of this fight alive. Don’t. She giggled, and for a moment her eyes seemed to glow and she charged forward in a purple streak.

Ruko swung the knife wildly at the incoming streak in desperation. She dodged the swing as if it were nothing, instantly twisting his right arm form behind, forcing him to release the knife from his grip. He turned his body, grabbing one of her wrists with his other arm, he dragged her forward in front of him, her grasp on his arm released.

He lunged at her back, wrapping his arms around her neck and tightening into a chokehold. She clawed at his arms and kicked at the air, her body writhing as he held his grip, using his height over her to keep her putting her feet flat on the ground. Frantically, the girl threw her arms back, trying to fight back, a wild elbow rammed into his open wound.

The pain shot up through his body, Ruko roared in pain as he was forced to relent his hold. A kick into his gut sent him stumbling. He reached the parapet behind him, tripping backwards over it, he fell two or so metres onto the next roof, landing on his side, crashing like a pile of bricks onto the wooden surface.

He gasped for air as if his lungs had just been ripped out as his vision clouded over. He attempted to get back onto his feet once more, his weary body struggling to support his own weight. He made it onto his hands and knees as he faintly heard a pair of boots land next to him, the swirls of the wooden planks seemed to move through his blurred sight. Feebly, Ruko turned his head in the direction of the thud. The last thing he could make out through the fog of his vision was a knee rapidly approaching his head, before his whole world went black...

Chapter Text

Distant bells chiming across the docks began to pierce the silence of Ruko’s mind. The squaller of seagulls above began to pull him back to the consciousness, stirring as he slowly pried his eyelids open. Looking up into the dark blue sky, he tried to remember where he was. What had happened? The stench of the Slaughter Docks assaulted his nose again, though it was nothing compared to the crushing headache he had.

Lying on his back with his head pounding, he tried to sit upright, only to be greeted by a colossal ache in his… well, everywhere. His entire body felt as though it had just been thoroughly tenderised. He slowly managed to sit up, using his arms to help prop himself up. His breathing was slow and deliberate, trying to ease his pain as he buried his face in his hands, an effort to clear the fog from his mind. Things started to come back to him in his groggy state. The job, the explosion, the girl… the girl who kicked his shit in.

He removed his hands from his face, looking out at the view. From here, he had a decent view of the Docks, and he could see the numerous white sails of the Slaughter fleets, their hulls slowly filing into the harbour, their catches in tow. That meant it was early morning, he must’ve been out for hours.

His thoughts drifted back to the previous night. Who was that girl? Did he know her? He didn’t think so, he was pretty sure he’d remember if he’d met someone who looked like that. Regardless, why was she there? Why didn’t she kill him? Was she after the magic stone thingy too? The stone… his thoughts trailed off as if coming to some conclusion. The stone!Ruko reached for his side, where his satchel should be, only it wasn’t. Panic was starting to set in when his eyes darted up and spotted the bag lying on the rooftop, a couple of metres away from him.

Rolling forward onto his hands and knees, he crawled forward through the pain to his discarded bag. Seizing the bag, he leaned back onto his knees, pulling the bag open to find… nothing. His gear was still there, but the stone was gone, and so was everything else he’d nabbed. The trinkets, the medallions, the blue orb, all gone.

“Fuck.” He chuckled at the misfortune of it all. His grip on the bag tightening, he threw it down into the wooden planks with any strength he could muster, which was admittedly very little. “Fuck!” The emphatic curse strained his aching body. He clutched again at the wound on his side, touching the damp opening in his shirt.

Tracing his fingers along the wound, he could feel it’s length. It cut right across his side, far too large to simply leave it be. He pulled his fingers back out and looked at them, the tips lightly coated a dark red, with a strong metallic smell. He was still bleeding, though not profusely it seemed. He wasn’t feeling light-headed yet either. He had time. Time to go and see Lecto.

That’s what he’d do. He would go and talk to Lecto, find out what’s going on, and then he would fix himself up. Yeah, that seemed like a plan. Not a good one, but a plan. He slowly forced himself onto his feet, getting one foot planted down first before using that knee to push the rest of his weight onto his legs.

He looked out across the harbour now, the sun’s light now slightly peeking over the towering cliffs and mountains to the east, and slowly began to gather his things. He slung the satchel back over his shoulder. Climbing with difficulty back up to the roof he had fell from, he recollected the dagger that had been twisted out of his hand, still stained with blood. He’d need to clean it, though that was far from his top priority. Winding up his grappling blade, he started limping in the direction of the main port. Time to speak to Lecto.

***

Ruko slammed his fist into the reinforced wooden door repeatedly, waited a couple of seconds, and then did it again. Someone open the damn door. After some short time, a slot in the door opened, a pair of beady eyes peering through.

“Tell Lecto it’s Ruko, I need to talk to him.” Ruko answered the unasked question, and the slot slammed shut. He let out a laboured sigh, resting his back against the wall next to the door on the second floor landing, leaning his head back as he closed his eyes, trying to ease the aching in his mind. He didn’t have to wait long, he heard the deadbolts being unlocked to his side. Hobbling back around in front of the door, it opened, the pudgy bartender standing on the other side.

“Shit kid, what’d you do? Fist fight an Ironback?” Lecto exclaimed, making reference to Ruko’s battered appearance. “Well, did you get it?”

Ruko shuffled inside as quickly as he could, Lecto closed the door behind him. They were in Lecto’s office, upstairs of the bar itself. Usually it was easier just to go in through the front door, but the back was better when you wanted to avoid unwanted attention. When he heard the second and last deadbolt shut, Ruko turned back. “What the fuck have you gotten me into?”

Lecto paused for a moment, “What are you talking about?” He walked away from the door around his desk, taking a seat in the old office chair, groaning under his weight.

“This simple job didn’t turn out to be so simple.” Ruko remained standing, his anger dulling the pain in his legs.

“Yeah? Coulda been on account of you making so much racket?”

“What?” Exasperation filled Ruko’s voice. “What are you—”

“Whole lot of explosions down way of the Slaughter Docks last night. That’s the rumour anyway. Word travels fast round here.”

Ruko laughed incredulously. “Seriously? You think that was my fault?” He pointed at the man sitting in the chair in front of him. “Fuck you.”

“Well what happened then?” Lecto asked.

“I don’t… I don’t know.” Ruko rubbed his brow, trying to make sense of it all. “But that small time gang? Yeah, Jagged Hooks.”

Whatever Lecto was planning to say in response seemed to vanish. He hadn’t quite had the wind taken out of his sails, but he was taken aback. “Jagged… are you sure?”

“Pretty fucking sure, yeah.” Ruko leaned against the back wall, trying to ease the load on his legs. “Oh, and there was someone else there too. A girl. She was there for the stone, same as me.”

“A girl…? For the stone? No, that’s not possible.”

“Considering she blew the place up, yeah, it’s pretty damn possible.” Ruko pushed off the back wall and approached the desk, standing in front of it over Lecto. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing! You know what you need to know, that’s the business.”

“Bullshit!” Ruko slammed a fist down onto the desk. It was of incredibly solid construction so it hurt his hand far more than he meant for it to. He just channeled the pain into his anger. “Gangplank’s old crew. Someone else playing the same score. Oh, and the stone? Yeah, it’s some magic shit. So you’re going to tell me everything right goddamn now.”

Lecto hesitated for a moment. “You know how this is… confidentiality, anonymity—“

“Everything. Now.” He scowled, Ruko’s patience was growing thin and he was just about done being fucked around. What was supposed to be a good job with easy pay was turning into a nightmare. He should’ve seen this coming, it was too good to be true.

Lecto sat there for what seemed like an eternity, before he finally opened his mouth again, “I… I don’t know much more than you do. I was told nothing about the gang, and I was under the impression it was an exclusive contract.”

“Clearly your impression was wrong.” Ruko starred for a few moments, curiosity begging the next question, “Who is the client?”

“I never met them. They organised it through an intermediary. A, uh, a mercenary, I think.”

Ruko stood back up straight. “Great. So I’ve been dragged into the shit by a mysterious client who decided to screw us.” He buried his face in his hands.

“Seems to be about the way of things.” Lecto watched Ruko, the next question was inevitable. “Did you at least get it?”

Ruko grimaced. “No. The girl took it.” He decided he didn’t need to go into detail on exactly how it happened.

“The girl took it? You just let her take it?”

“I didn’t let her take it. She didn’t give me much of a —“

A knock came on the door next to Ruko, and it swung open, Karn stood leaning in. “Ey boss, he’s here.” With that, he closed the door again, leaving Ruko and Lecto alone in the face.

Lecto rubbed his own forehead. “Ah. Shit.”

“What?” Ruko wondered. What the hell was going on now?

“It’s him. The client’s mercenary. I told them to come by today because you said you’d have the goods in two days.”

“Fuck.” Ruko muttered.

“Yes. Well, I think I’ve got some questions of my own.” Lecto stood up out of his chair and walked to the door. As he passed Ruko, he stopped, “Stay up here. Let me handle this.” It was out of concern for his business rather than Ruko’s well-being but he wasn’t going to argue. He left the office and headed downstairs, leaving the door ajar.

Ruko, out of curiosity leaned back against the open doorframe, keeping himself just out of sight while still being able to peer around and down to the tavern proper. He sunk down to the floor, taking all the weight off while still clasping the open wound. Peeking around the corner, there were only three people in the tavern; Lecto, Karn, and the third man, the mercenary.

“Ahhh Lecto! There’s the man I wanted to see.” The mercenary spoke out. His voice was deep, experienced.

Lecto walked around behind the bar, while the mercenary moved to take a seat in front of him. “Same as last time?”

The mercenary grinned, a cigar hanging out the side of his mouth, “Yes sir.” He placed a gun down against the bar, two barrels, looked like some strange kind of shotgun, nothing Ruko had ever seen before. He had dark brown hair, neatly swept back with mutton chops and a moustache, cleanly trimmed. A crimson red shoulder cape with gold accents covered his back.

Lecto poured what looked to be some kind of beer into a large tankard, passing it to the man sitting across from him.

The mercenary picked up the tankard and took a swig, savouring the liquid in his mouth for a moment. “So, are the goods ready?”

“About that…” Lecto began, his posture confident but his voice not so. “There’s been some complications.”

“What complications?”

“Well, how about the job being to rob from the Jagged Hooks?” Lecto almost lurched forward across the bar, save for his moderate professionalism. Huh, he really didn’t know.

“So what? They’re a bunch of piss pots and cunts.” The mercenary didn’t look up from his drink, unphased by the question.

“I should’ve been told.” Lecto demanded. “That’s how this works, if the mark is someone powerful, even if they’re dead I need to know. To cover my bases, keep shit clean.”

“It didn’t matter, stealing the stone should’ve been a piece of piss.” He took another drink from his tankard. “Where is it?”

Lecto sighed, “I assume it’s with whoever else your boss asked to get it for him.”

The mercenary stopped, taken aback he looked up at Lecto. “We didn’t go to anyone else.”

Ruko pulled back for a moment, resting his head against the old frame. Didn’t go to anyone else? Wait. His head, preoccupied with his slowly deteriorating condition, tried to put things together. If she wasn’t sent by the client? Then who sent her? This seemed to be getting more and more complicated every minute, and Ruko was stuck squarely in the middle of it all. He leaned his head back around, tuning in to the conversation again.

“— had you’re best thief on it.”

“I did.”

“Where are they then?”

“Not here. But he was. And he had some interesting things to say about your stone.”

“Mmmhmm” The mercenary seemed only half-engaged, chugging through his tankard.

“He said it looked like magic.” Now Lecto had the man’s attention, even more so than before.

“Did he now? And you believed him?”

“He’s not the kind to lie.”

Sure. Ruko couldn’t deny the irony.

“Hmmmm.” The mercenary looked to finish his drink. “Well, my employer is going to be very disappointed.” he complained, starting to step away from the bar.

“Likewise.” Lecto commiserated.

Ruko pulled his head back, resting his neck against the frame again. His eyelids felt heavy, as he still held a hand over his injury. His body was drained, the energy sapped out of it. This wasn’t so bad a place to sleep, to just get some rest. His eyelids had almost closed up tight when a loud bang echoed through the building, jolting Ruko back to consciousness.

He looked back downstairs once more, and his eyes found Karn. The hulk of a man lay still on the ground, a gaping hole blown through his chest. Looking further, he could see the mercenary, his large gun now in hand, pointing it at Lecto on the other side of the bar.

“Shouldn’t’ve asked questions.” The mercenary threatened. “Where is he?”

“Who?” Lecto quivered.

“The thief, the one you gave this job too.”

Lecto hesitated for the briefest of moments. Shaking, he pointed up towards the office. “He’s up there.” he stammered.

“Good man.” A second loud bang rung out, and Lecto flew back into the shelves of drinks behind him, the crashing of glass accompanying his fall to the ground.

Spineless asshole. Adrenaline started pumping again, and Ruko desperately pushed himself up, using the wall to slide back onto his feet. He hobbled over to the reinforced door, pulling the first deadbolt. He heard heavy boots slowly ascending the stairs in the tavern, each plank yelling out under the weight. He had maybe ten seconds. He managed to pull open the second deadbolt, his blood stained hand leaving it covered in red. He pulled the door open and left, closing the door again as he went, anything to slow down the approaching death.

Descending the stairs in a hurry, his tired body missed its footing about halfway down and he tripped, rolling the rest of the way down to the stone ground. He didn’t stop, picking himself up as quickly as his body would let him, he was back on his feet, and running as fast he could towards the nearest side street, breaking line of sight from his origin. He kept going, not stopping to check if he was being followed, ducking into different nooks and alleys, anything to get away.

After the tenth or so alleyway, Ruko found a small alcove in between two buildings. Ducking into it, he waited for the mercenary to appear and blow a hole through him. He waited, but no one came. He let out a desperate sigh of relief, he was safe for now. As safe as one could be in Bilgewater anyway. The adrenaline dissipated, and he pain shot back through his body. He needed to get home.

***

Ruko fell through the door, giving way as it unlocked. He stumbled inside, catching himself on the table in the centre of the room. His vision was slowly going blurry again, he could barely see the small pile of coins still spilling out of the pouch he’d dumped there. He turned back around and closed the door, fumbling to find and latch the lock, for his peace of mind more than anything else. If he had been followed, the lock wasn’t going to stop them.

He stumbled over to the workbench, pulling off his bag and jacket as he did so, dropping them on the floor. Searching through the various bits and pieces scattered across the surface, his hand fell on a small metal rectangle, he assumed it was lighter. Holding it close to his face to visually confirm what it was, he made his way to the small fireplace in the room. He struggled to ignite the lighter, making a few attempts at it before the flame finally caught.

He leaned down, pressing the flame up to the logs already sitting in the fireplace. He held it there, his arm trembling, until the wood caught fire. Pulling his arm back, he shut the lighter and threw it back onto the table behind him. He grabbed a stoker leaning up against the side of the fireplace, and pushed the log around, trying to get it to burn faster. When he was done, he dropped the stoker, leaving the end of it sitting within the fire.

Ruko made his way back to the workbench, he snatched up an old rag, twisting the fabric into a strip. He grabbed a chair from the table and dragged out over, sitting in front of the fireplace, the flame now building, growing hotter. He sat down on the chair, and ran his fingers over the slice on his side. The shirt surrounding the cut was now quite red, and his fingers were now dripping with his blood.

He looked down at the fire, the metal poker he had left sitting now glowed a bright orange. Taking a deep breath, he took the twisted rag and placed it in his mouth, his teeth gently gripping it. He reached down and grabbed the cold end of the stoker with his right hand, removing the metal rod from the flame. He trained his eyes upward at the top of the wall as his left hand curled around the bottom of his shirt. Lifting it up, his fingers trailed across his skin until they rediscovered the wound.

He held the shirt just above the wound, keeping the fabric clear. Still looking up at the wall, he moved the poker close to where his hand held the shirt. He could feel the heat radiating off the metal rod, hovering above the cut. Closing his eyes, he pressed the metal against his body.

Ruko threw his head back, his jaws clamped down on the rag, intense pain clawed at his body. The stoker seared his skin, slowly burning the tear in his skin closed. He held the stoker there for a minute, before removing it, and pressing it back against his skin further along the cut. His teeth bit into the rag again, the pain nigh on unbearable. The smell of burnt flesh, almost like cooked meat, filled the room as he did this several more times, across the entire length of the wound.

After the fifth time, he pulled the metal away, the wound now completely cauterised. Ruko dropped the shirt back down over the burning hot skin as he let his head fall back forward. He spit the rag out to his side as his muscles relaxed. His vision was slightly clearer now, but his body still felt like hell. He hated having to do this; it had gotten easier, but never any less painful.

His hand trailed back up to the hole in his shirt. Poking through, he traced his fingers along the newly scarred skin, the burn was incredibly sensitive, causing Ruko to wince at the slightest touch. But he ran his fingers along it anyway. At least it wasn’t bleeding anymore. He did this for a few minutes, back and forth, over and over again. Eventually, the wincing stopped.

His still disoriented mind drifted back to his current situation. Lecto was dead. It was bold, killing a broker. Bilgewater may not have any laws or a government but there’s a code. Brokers were the middle-men, they were supposed to be beyond reproach. In exchange, they were supposed to maintain confidentiality.

Lecto had always been a spineless hack but he was good at what he did. Killing him meant one of two things. The client was powerful, or they just didn’t care. Or both. Even in his exhausted state, Ruko could recognise the danger that posed. If Lecto was dead because someone was trying to keep a secret, then Ruko was probably next.

Ruko let his lead fall back, releasing the tension in his neck, trying to think his way through the haze. What if… what if he could get the stone back, and get it to this client, they may look more favourably on letting him go. He had no idea who they were or how to find them, but that was a bridge to cross when he actually had the stone.

He could find it, he could get it back, if he found that girl. He didn’t know who she was but he kind of remembered what she looked like. It was a bit of a blur, but he could remember the blue hair, messy as it was. And the purple eyes… that glowed? He wasn’t so sure on that part, he was probably imagining it, last night was still hazy.

He really should get moving as soon as possible. Get on her trail while it was still fresh. But he just couldn’t make himself stand up, the energy wasn’t there. He had fully come down off the adrenaline now, and he was exhausted. Maybe it was best if he let himself recover for a moment. He let his eyelids fall shut. Just a few minutes… His grip on the stoker loosened, and it fell to the floor, the heat dissipated.

***

When Ruko had come to, it had been less like a few minutes and more like a couple of hours. He had been kicking himself, every second wasted was going to make it that much harder to get the stone back. Part of him knew he couldn’t have helped it, and heading back out in the state he was in would’ve been pointless, his current state wasn’t really any better. It pissed him off anyway.

The Slaughter Docks certainly hadn’t stopped because of last night. The streets were filled with people; the workers heading to and fro, crews celebrating their latest catches, it was business as usual. Apart from the plume of smoke emanating from the dockside warehouse where everything had gone wrong.

Ruko kept his distance from the place. He didn’t think anyone would’ve survived who could’ve identified him, but his paranoia had started whispering again, and this time he was listening to it. Even from the distance he kept, he could make out a group of men questioning passers-by, presumably about if they saw what happened. Their leader, the one doing the talking was neatly kept, sporting a red bandana on top of his head.

The hood obscured Ruko’s face as he stood to the side of the street, keeping out of the way of the foot traffic. It was a bit like a river, the way the people flowed from the docks out to the taverns for the midday break. It was also a prime opportunity for someone small to to help themselves to someone’s savings. That’s what Ruko was counting on.

He observed the flow for a while, keeping his sight low to the ground, around waist height. When one particularly big dockhand made his way through the crowd, Ruko eyed a smaller body following close-by. As the pair of them passed Ruko’s position, he stepped into the crowd right behind them. Past a few people between him and the dockhand, Ruko could see a small kid deftly sliding their hand out of the man’s pocket. The kid stopped as the crowd moved passed him, and Ruko got a better look. It was the same kid as the one Ruko had paid last night. He reached the kid’s position, who was greedily admiring the spoils of their theft. Ruko walked into the kid, wrapping his hand around the kid’s arm, and yanked them off to the side out of the crowd. The kid yelled at him, and started trying to wack Ruko’s hand with their free arm.

Ruko dragged him to the mouth of a small alleyway and pushed him forward. “Alright, spill it.” he demanded.

The kid and looked up to the face under the hood, his expression softening slightly. “Oh, it’s yous sir.”

“What did you see?” Ruko asked sternly.

“I don’t know what yous are talking bout.” the kid replied, failing to hide a smirk.

“Don’t try and tell me someone paid you to scope out a place and you weren’t at all interested in finding out what he was going to do? Come on, I know you were watching, what did you see?”

“Hmmmm, well, I see lotsa things,” the kid began, their face widened like they had some massive realisation, all for show of course, “I saw you go inside the big building, and then a bunch of booms. And then you left, and someone else followed.”

“A girl?”

“I’m thinking so.” The kid didn’t say anymore.

“Okay… and?”

“I’m not so sures, sometimes my head gets all dumb and forgets things.”

Ruko really didn’t have the time or patience for this right now. Not trying to hide his annoyance he reached into his bag and chucked a piece of silver at the kid. “Spill.”

“She followed you and then took a bunch of stuffs from that bag there,” he pointed at the bag on Ruko’s side. “And then she left.”

“Where did she go?”

“I don’t knows… but they do.” the kid gestured towards Ruko.

He turned around to see two more kids standing behind him, who raced past to join their friend in front of him. Ruko laughed softly, “I see, you’ve got yourselves a little gang.” He looked at the two new arrivals, “You know where she went?”

They nodded, then they began whispering amongst each other. Ruko really didn’t have time for this. He was about to interrupt them when they stopped and turned back towards him. “She went to a market. They’ll show you.”

“Alright, let’s go then.” Ruko said.

They huddled again, whispering words Ruko couldn’t make out. This huddle didn’t last long, and they faced him once more. “10 silver.” the first kid said.

“No.” Ruko replied, irritation seeping into his voice.

“Okays, suit yourself then.” The trio of kids stood in place for a moment, before they turned to walk away.

“Fine.” Ruko relented, the anger in his voice palpable. He needed to find her, even if it meant paying these kids too much. “Show me,” he leaned back out of the alley, spotting the group of questioning pirates, slowly making their way down the street in his direction. “Just not that way.” He gestured for them to lead the way ahead. The two new arrivals set off down the alley behind them, and Ruko followed them off towards his goal.

The two kids took Ruko through several back alleys, onto main streets, across canals and back onto narrow side streets, slowly heading uphill as they went. They left the Slaughter Docks, heading towards the larger marketplaces near the ports. He kept his head down under his hood without hiding it. It was impossible to know who could be a problem on these streets at the best of times. He held his head low but kept his shoulders high, confident but unremarkable. Trying not to draw attention would make him stand out. Standing out brought trouble. If you looked like you had something to hide, you probably did.

The cramped side streets slowly opened out into a marketplace, sitting on a small plateau overlooking the wharfs and adjoining markets, as well as the lower fringes of the city. The market itself was on the smaller side. By no means was it physically small, Bilgewater just happened to boast some incredibly large markets. Most if not all the stalls appeared to deal in more boutique wares; valuable antiques and heirlooms made up much of the stock on offer. It would’ve been a good place for Ruko to fence his ill-gotten gains had things gone to plan.

The kids led him around the perimeter of the bustling market. Three sides of the roughly square area was ringed in by buildings, much like the other markets in the city. The fourth side, which they were walking along, was an overlook at the top of a small cliff, fenced off only a small parapet. Ruko looked out over the edge, the cliff-face was covered in buildings cut into it surface, pocked by them all like a termite mound. Looking up, he could see the masts of the fleet of ships sitting in the harbour, and Butcher’s Bridge sat above them. He didn’t tend to frequent this side of the city west of the Bridge. It was dominated by more physical labour industries, meaning less opportunities for his kind of work over here.

His train of though was broken by one of the kids slapping his arm. Ruko looked down at the kid puzzled, and saw the kid pointing.

“There.” They said with no fanfare, holding their arm straight out towards the market.

Ruko followed the arm up, and through some of the crowd he saw her. The girl with the blue hair who’d left him out cold on a roof and stolen his stolen goods. She was right there. He went to step forward when one of the kids stood in front of him, staring up at him, his open palm outstretched. Ruko rolled his eyes and reached into his bag, pulling out ten silver and dropping it onto the kid’s palm with a sharp clink.

“Thanks.” the kid said with cheer in his voice, and the pair of them set off back the way they came. It had cost him, but there she was, just ahead of him. His vision locked onto her, he moved into the market proper, slipping through the crowd, never shifting his focus. He could see her talking with a vendor at one of the stalls. He couldn’t hear what was being said, but the vendor shook his head, and the girl threw her head back in exasperation. Ruko closed in, only a few metres between them now. She turned her head towards him slightly and he could see that she had spotted him out of the corner of her eye. But she didn’t move, she just stood there. Just then, the misfortune palpable, a dense group of people walked past between the two of them, forcing Ruko to stop. It was only for a moment, but when they passed, the girl was… gone? She couldn’t be, not like that. He looked at the group of people who had just passed, walking away. He couldn’t see her with them. Where? How?

“Hiya.” a voice in his ear sent him spinning backwards to face it. There she was, just, standing there. His body tensed up, waiting for her to attack.

“Oh relax, Dummy. I’m not going to hurt ya. Unless you make me.” Her voice was cheery, it was unsettling.

“Yeah? We’ll see how that goes.” he growled.

“Jeez, you’re angry.” She planted her hands on her hips. “What? Do you want a Round Two?”

“Not really. I just want that stone back.”

The girl chuckled, and shook her head. “Not happening, it’s mine. I was getting it back.”

Ruko chuckled in return. “That’s not how stealing works.”

“It is when it was yours in the first place.”

This was making less and less sense. Why would someone like her need a magic rock? “I need it.” Ruko was getting desperate to avoid a fight, given how the last one ended, and he still wasn’t all there. “You can keep everything else, just give me the damn stone.”

“It’s mine.”

Ruko’s hand drifted towards the grip of his dagger. “I’m getting it back.”

The girl’s own hand moved down to her gun. “I could’ve killed you.” The tone in her voice was almost sad.

“Maybe you should have.”

They both drew their weapons at the same time, and then froze. The clicks of at least a dozen flintlocks sounded out around them. They were surrounded by a whole gang of guns pointed straight at them. Ruko glanced off to his side, past the men pointing guns at them. He saw the leader with the red bandana on his head, handing a pouch to a kid. That kid from the docks.

“Little shit.” he murmured. He should’ve seen this coming. How could he have been so blind?

The kid scampered off, and the leader approached the circle, his men parting to allow him into the centre. “Drop the weapons.”

Ruko’s grip on the knife remained steady, and the girl kept her gun up straight.

“That wasn’t a request.” he clarified.

Ruko stared at the girl, straight into her eyes, and she stared right back. Fighting wasn’t going to work, too many guns, he was likely to get shot. As if thinking the same thing, they both let their hands flex open, dropping their weapons. The knife and gun clattered to the ground.

The leader smiled, clapping his hands together. “What a pair we’ve got here.” He clicked his fingers and pointed down at the weapons. Two of his men holstered their weapons and picked up the weapons, before coming over to take anything dangerous off of their bodies. The leader pointed at Ruko, “We’ve got ourselves here a thief, and a…” he pointed at the girl for a few moments, his face contorting trying to finish the sentence. His men backed off, having finished stripping the two of them of weapons; Ruko of his grapple and throwing knives, the girl of a belt of ammunition and multiple explosives. He dropped his arm, clearly having given up, and addressed them both again. “You two have caused a whole bunch of trouble, so we’re going to go for a little walk.”

Ruko glared at the man, his situation had gotten decidedly worse.

The man looked back over at Ruko and smiled again. “Don’t look so glum boy, Boss just wants a word.”

Chapter Text

Jinx really couldn’t say that this was how she expected her day to go. And yet here she was. Thrown into a dark, dingy cell, just her and her thoughts. And the voices. And the idiot who got her stuck in here to begin with. She had really just about had it with this place, like, really had it. Been here three days and she’s already imprisoned. Ain’t that just swell.

She wasn’t sure where they were. They had put sacks over their heads, which was quite silly of them. She didn’t know this city at all, she wouldn’t have known where they were anyway, and they wouldn’t have had to deal with her tripping up all the time. Well… they might’ve anyway, she had been doing it on purpose.

The cell itself was miserable. Dark and grotty, the only light coming from torches down the hallway outside. The stone was cold, damp and slightly mossy in places. It wasn’t particularly big, only a couple of metres across. Jinx could hear the drip of water somewhere in the room, but she couldn’t see where it was. She had practically blocked the sound out at this point. It felt less like a prison and more like a dungeon, which it probably was. But she didn’t actually know what the difference was, or if there even was one. She decided that didn’t really matter, this felt like a dungeon, and so it was one.

She sat against the wall to the side of the door. Her legs laid straight out, her back straight up against the stone, the bare skin of her midriff had already adjusted to it’s cold sting. Her eyes had glazed over as she stared across the room, while her hands roamed the floor at her sides, fiddling with the little stones and pebbles littered within the cracks of the bricks. Occasionally picking them up, she threw them across the room, hitting the opposite wall with a small click, missing her target.

The thief had kept to himself on the other side of the room, nestled in the back corner, his arms rested up on his bent knees. His eyes were shut, completely shut off, the only sign of life was the occasional huff of breath. He hadn’t said a word since the market. When they were thrown in here he’d just gone and sat in the corner. He had been ignoring the little pebbles landing around him.

Jinx had made no effort to speak to him, why should she? He hadn’t been anything but a nuisance. First he takes the gem that’s not his, then gets all uppity about it and tries to get it back. Why does he even care so much about it anyway? But this was getting boring. Incredibly boring. She just wished whoever was in charge here would just get on with it and kill them or whatever.

Can you do anything right? The venom was evident.

She hadn’t messed this up this time. She had done everything right, it wasn’t her fault…

You should’ve killed him. You let him live. You’re weak.

That stung. “I’m not weak.” she whispered, the first words either of them had spoken out loud since being thrown into this hole who knows how long ago now. The thief didn’t really seem to notice. She quashed that nagging voice, for now. But her head was plunged back into silence again. She couldn’t stand it. She needed to do something.

“Hey. You got a name?” Her words were softly echoed by the darkness. She received no reply, or any movement at all from the other side of the cell. Dummy, Jinx answered back in her own head, desperate to keep this going. She paused for a moment, deciding whether to give him her real name or not.

Eh, screw it, maybe this’ll get his attention. “Name’s Jinx, nice to meet ya.” She stretched her arm out ahead of her,offering a handshake. They were both seated across the room from each other, too far away to reach out, but she didn’t really care. She pulled her arm back when it was clear he wasn’t going to budge. Squinting at him, Jinx attempted to see right through him. Nope, solid as a… solid thing.

Still nothing. It was like talking to a brick wall. No, scratch that, talking to the wall behind him would be easier than this. Jinx huffed. Frustrated, she grabbed one of the stones by her side and launched it across the room. It hit the thief’s cheek, causing him to recoil, his eyes finally opening. Jinx smirked. He turned his head to look at her, annoyance plastered across his face.

“I’m talking to you.” Jinx declared.

“I noticed.” he responded drily.

“You’re supposed to talk back.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I look like I wanted to talk to you?” he shot back. “That’s my bad.”

Two could play at that game. “No no, it’s fine. It’s just, usually when you get someone locked in a room with you, it’s because you reeeaallly want to get to know them.”

“Are you talking from experience?”

“Nope.” Jinx beamed. “People usually just lock me in the room alone.”

“I can see why.” he hit back. “Being a pain in the ass.”

“That’s rich, coming from the one who got us thrown in here in the first place.”

“Oh, right. So this is all my fault?”

“It kind of is, yeah. You’re the reason I even got caught.”

He sneered back at her, “You know, things were going just fine for me before you showed up, with your bombs and your —”

“Chompers.”

“What?”

“My grenades. They’re called Chompers.” She tried winding him up.

He shook his head in exasperation. “Whatever. Everything would be going the way it always had if you hadn’t have turned up.” He didn’t know it, but that arrow hit true.

Jinx went quiet, not sure what to do, or say. She couldn’t say she liked this guy. Frankly, he was a bit of an ass. But here was yet another person telling her that she’d messed everything up. Ruined everything. She couldn’t help feeling hurt by those words. But hey, who knows? Maybe he deserved it?

The thief scoffed and turned his head, leaning it back up against the wall behind him.

Jinx wasn’t going to let him win, she wasn’t going to let him shut her up. She found another pebble and grasped it in her hand. “I’ve been wondering… how’s your head feeling?” She tossed the pebble at him, hitting the side of his head. “Because my knee feels great.”

Any semblance of composure he had broke, and he snatched up one of the stones that had landed by him and flung it at Jinx. Her head zipped off to the side, the stone cracking against the wall where her head had been. She flashed a grin back at him. He groaned, returning to his self-imposed silence. Jinx had definitely exhausted any sort of conversation with him, if you could call that a conversation anyhow.

The lock on the metal bars rattled, and the door holding them in was pulled outwards. A man stepped inside, it was Bandana Man, the one from the market. He looked down at each of them, squinted, and then left the room. Four others came in in his place, two of them went over to the thief and grabbed his arms, pulling him onto his feet without much resistance. The other two approached Jinx, leaning over they grabbed her arms and pulled her up to her feet. There, one of the pirates took both her arms behind her back and tied them together with a length of rope. The other stood in front, staring at her. She stared back.

From there, the one behind pushed her forward and out of the cell. She could see the thief had been similarly restrained, standing just ahead of her. The man ahead, Bandana Man, simply nodded at his crew, and began to walk down the dim corridor. The thief began to follow. Jinx was about to step forward when the pirate behind shoved her shoulder, forcing her ahead.

“Alright, I get it.” she snapped back at them. “Sheeeeesh.”

The thief glanced back slightly for a moment, the corner of his mouth curved up slightly, amused by what he was hearing.

Yeah yeah, glad you’re having fun.

The two of them were led through the dark corridor, passing a couple of torches on the walls and several cells like the one they were put in before they reached a small room at the end. It looked like a guard room, a set of various keys hung off the wall, and a table with several chairs sat off to the side, playing cards littered across its surface. Several other corridors broke off from this room, probably leading to other cells. Only one path featured a door, and that was the one they were led through.

They were led out of the room, through a series of small corridors and passageways. They passed numerous different rooms as they went, and Jinx tried to peek inside when she could. Stores, a mess hall, one room looked to be an armoury. There was a large stock of weapons within, mostly swords and spears that she wouldn’t have had the first clue how to use. In the brief moment she had to look through the open door, she spotted a small table on the back wall past the racks of weapons, with a couple of bundles lying on top. They looked like what her gear had been stowed in earlier.

Outside one room, Bandana Man stopped at the front. He muttered to himself, something about not knowing where he was. Jinx peered to her side, looking into the room they stopped outside of. Laying within were a series of contraptions and machines. One of them was a rack. An old man lay strapped down to it, weeping. His limbs stretched out, his body broken and bloody. She dared not show it, lest she give her captors the satisfaction, but the sight was chilling, even to her.

Before long, Bandana Man said something about remembering where he was, and they continued onwards. Soon enough they were led up a small staircase, spiralling up towards the distant sounds of hollering and cheering. As they reached the top, the stone surroundings transformed into a warmer wood setting. The shouting continued to grow louder.

The hallway they were being taken down now was populated with armed pirates. The walls and ceiling were ribbed, like the inside of a massive ribcage. At the end of the hallway, was a pair of large wooden doors, and a skeleton, a shark of some kind hung over it’s frame. Approaching the doors, the commotion was growing louder and louder. Entirely out of tune singing emanating from the other side. Bandana Man reached the door first. Placing his hands on each one, he threw the doors open, the noise coming through in its entirety, but just for a moment.

With the opening of the doors came the attention of the entire room. All the celebrating inside was silenced, as Jinx and the thief were paraded into the space. Many of the pirates sat around long tables on either side of the room, covered in food and drink, scarcely being touched now. The two of them were moved alongside each other, the thief to her right, towards the centre of the room. There, a hand on her shoulder from behind stopped her, then pushed Jinx down onto her knees.

The crowd in front of them slowly separated, revealing a throne made from the jawbone of a large monster. In it sat a large, bulky man. His head was down, so Jinx couldn’t see his face under the large black hat, but she could see a long beard falling down his bare chest.

“Shit.” the thief to her side hissed. Before she could think to even look towards him, a voice bellowed out from the throne.

“These are the bilgerats who stole from me?” The man lifted his head

“Yes Captain.” Bandana Man’s voice came from behind them.

“Really? They don’t look like much.” The Captain smirked, and everyone else in the room laughed, as if on command. The Captain stood from his throne, his tattered coat trailed behind him as he slowly marched forward. Jinx could see the lower half of his left arm was a prosthetic, made of metal. It was actually kind of impressive to see in this backwater. “You must not know who I am, else you’d not have stolen from me.” He looked over at the thief, who was looking down at the floor. “You know my name, don’t you?” he asked.

The thief sighed, “Gangplank.” he said out loud, looking up at the massive pirate, his voice grim.

“Smart kid.”

Wait. Gangplank? Seriously? Was that name supposed to be scary?

“So, why would you want to rob me boy?”

“You’re… you’re supposed to be dead. I didn’t —”

A snort escaped Jinx, grabbing the attention of the entire room.

The imposing figure turned his attention to the disrespect shown to him. “What’s so funny, girl?”

“Seriously? That’s your name?” Jinx chuckled, and proceeded to put on her gruff mock pirate voice, “Oh look at me, I’m a big scary pirate, my name is Gangplank!”

The room filled with murmurings and mutterings, barely audibly over Jinx’s laughter. A scowl took over the captain’s face. “D’you think this is a game?”

“Hah. I wish. I actually enjoy games.”

Gangplank growled, coming to stand directly in front of the two of them now, his figure towering over them. “Where’s my stone? Give it back to me, and I might think about letting you live.”

“What stone?” the thief replied.

Gangplank’s metal hand shot forward, wrapping itself around his throat. “Don’t play coy with me son, you’ll live to regret it.” His grip tightened. “And I’ll make sure you feel every second of that regret.” He released his grip, and the thief spluttered. “You know the one. Purple, marked with a blue sigil, locked in a box. Not something you pick up by accident.”

Wait a damn minute, that doesn’t sound like my gemstone... There’s a different stone? And the idiot sitting next to her thought she had it? Well this day just keeps getting better and better.

“That stone took a long time to find. And then, days after it arrives here, it gets taken from me. My most closely guarded secret.” He leaned in towards the thief. “So tell me how you knew about it?”

“I didn’t. I was hired to steal it.”

“And who hired you?”

“I don’t know, there was a go-between.”

Gangplank backed off slightly, “And where is it now?”

“I don’t know, I don’t have it. She took it from me.” he gestured with his head in Jinx’s direction.

“I have no idea what he’s talking about.” she protested.

Captain Stupidname looked as though he was about to speak again when the thief interjected, “You took it from my bag.”

“Yeah? I did take a bunch of your stuff, it was easy. But there was no… purplely stone, thing.” She looked up at Gangplank, hulking over her.

“That’s a load of shit.” the thief jabbed.

“I have no idea what this thing even looks like!”

“Enough!” The bickering gave way to silence as Gangplank walked back towards his throne. “You will tell me where my stone is. I will get it back. The only difference will be how much pain I inflict before then.” He sat down on his throne, grinning back at them. “Ohhhh, how I’ll enjoy your cries.” he mused.

Jinx was violently yanked back to her feet and pulled out of the room, back the way they came. They were dragged all the way back, down the stairs, through the stone passageways and back to their deep dark hole. The rope around Jinx’s wrists were cut loose, and they shoved her back inside. The thief followed behind, catching himself on his feet just past the door. He turned around and launched himself back at the cell door as it shut, wrapping his hands tight around the metal bars. He shook the door as the pirates walked off, it barely budging.

Jinx didn’t pay him much attention, she was focused on the old stone around her. She ran her hand along the wall, searching for any give. Releasing his grip on the bars, the thief started laughing. “You really are something else.”

Jinx shrugged, “That’s what they all tell me.”

“You don’t know where the stone is?” he repeated in disbelief. “Really, if you wanted me dead you should’ve just done it last night.”

“I don’t know where it is. I don’t even know what it is.”

“Yeah right. Oh and really? Making fun of him? That’s your plan is it?” he said, obviously referring to her little laughing fit.

“What? You can’t tell me his name isn’t dumb.”

“You must be new here.”

“Really? How could you tell?” she asked sarcastically.

He carried on, “It’s not his name you fear. It’s who he is, The Reaver King—”

“That’s a cool name, much better than Gangplank.”

The thief shook his head, resuming his little lecture, “His reign was built on fear and punishment. The stories were that he personally enjoyed torturing his prisoners. He’d rip everything out of you and put them back in before you die. And he’d keep doing that until he gets what he wants, or he gets bored.”

“Was?”

His eyes squinted at her.

“You said ‘His reign was’. What happened to him?”

“He got killed.” he said, sounding pretty unconvinced.

“I dunno, he looked pretty warm blooded back there to me.”

He sighed, slumping down to the ground. “Yeah…” his voice trailed off. “What are you doing, anyway?” he asked, the derision evident in his voice.

“I’m getting out of here.” she replied. “If I’m going to die, it’s going to be in some massive explosion or something, not being tortured to death by Captain Dumbface.”

The thief laughed at her. “Yeah, right, let me know how that goes for you.”

Jinx’s mind wandered through the darkness of their prison. There had to be something, surely. She wouldn’t accept dying down here, not now. The thief wasn’t going to be any help, he had returned to his moping against the other wall. He seemed entirely resigned to his fate, making no effort to save himself. She knew the feeling. She stopped herself for a minute, trying to clear her head. Think. Think.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

She let the sound of the dripping water back in. Dripping water… It had to be dripping from somewhere! Attempting to find the source, Jinx slowly moved around the dark cell, listening for its position. She heard it off to her right somewhere, towards the back of the cell. Attempting to find the source, she stepped along the rear wall, listening out for another drip when a drop of water hit her head. Looking up, another drop of water landed on her cheek. Squinting, trying to make out the ceiling through the dark, she couldn’t even see any sort of gap or hole in the stone. Wherever the water was coming from, the hole was too small to do anything with.

Damn, she huffed. Adjusting her footing, her boot landed on an unstable section of the floor. What? She had put her foot right underneath the leak, and the stone brick was loose. Reaching down to run her hand over it, Jinx noticed that whatever stuff was supposed to hold the brick in place had eroded, and the stone itself had become slightly deformed. Squeezing her fingers in between the thin gap of the somewhat loose brick and its surrounding brethren, she attempted to pry it free of its place. The stone, not being totally free, put up some resistance. It took a few tugs, and a couple of grazes to her knuckles before Jinx managed to pull it free. And there she was. In a cold, dark cell, with someone who couldn’t seem to care less about his impending doom, and a brick sitting on the palm of her hand. And no idea what to do with it…

She stood there for quite some time, trying to come up with something, anything, to get out of here. She hadn’t kept track of how long exactly. She had an old brick, cool. What the hell was she going to do with it? The door to the cell rattled behind her, the key turned in the lock and the door pulled open. Jinx leaned her shoulder against the back wall opposite the door, holding the brick to her side, obscured from sight. A lone pirate now stood in the doorway, one of the ones from before, holding a wooden club in his hands. The only thing more noticeable than his wide jawline was the large tattoo of an anchor on his forearm. The thief hadn’t moved from his spot on the ground, though he was looking up at the new arrival.

“Whose going first?” the pirate asked. No one else stood behind him.

A plan was starting to form in Jinx’s head, and she made sure she was next to speak, “He was telling me all about how excited he is to get tortured.” she said, gesturing towards the thief, volunteering him for her plan.

The thief looked over at her, astonished, “There’s really nothing you won’t do, is there?”

Great. He was selling it well. She glanced her eyes down towards the brick in her hand, visible from his angle, hoping he’d notice it. Squinting, he attempted to follow her eyes down to her hand. Jinx assumed he had seen it, his eyes widened slightly as the pirate stood in front of him.

“Get up.” he demanded.

“Ah whatever, let’s just get his over with.” The thief got to his feet with the pirate standing in front of him, his back essentially turned to Jinx now. Springing her ‘plan’ into motion, she dashed forward, swinging the brick into the back of the pirate’s head. The brick broke into several smaller chunks as the impact knocked the pirate off balance. The thief, realising what was happening, threw one fist into the pirate’s gut, and another across his jaw. The pirate dropped to the floor with a thud, out cold.

“I think it’s going pretty well so far.” Jinx said with a smile, heading towards the open cell door. The thief rolled his eyes. Picking up the club the pirate dropped when they fell, he tentatively followed her out of the cell. They snuck down the narrow corridor, past a few of the empty cells towards the guard room. Clinging to the shadows, Jinx could hear the chatter of what must have been the other three pirates ahead of them. The thief stood behind her, club in hand. Not convinced he wouldn’t wack her over the head the second he had an opportunity, she kept her wits about her. Whatever wits she still had anyway.

“They’re going to be armed.” he whispered.

“Probably.” Jinx said, before jumping out of the shadowed corridor into the room ahead.

“No, wait!” she heard him whisper harshly behind her.

Coming into the room, Jinx looked directly at the where she remembered the table being and smiled. The three pirates sat around the table, cards in hand. Only one was facing her direction however, the other two had their backs turned. He glanced up at her for a moment then looked back to the cards in his hands. She could see the moment of realisation wash across his face as his eyes shot back up at her, the cards falling face up on the table. The other two, clearly none the wiser began to laugh, proclaiming their own respective victories as they peeked at his now exposed hand.

The two of them were too caught up in their game to notice their friends’ astonishment, and he was too dumbstruck to tell them what the problem was. Clearly this wasn’t a usual occurrence. Any other time, Jinx might’ve made a fuss about it, got the attention of all three of them. But at this point, she just wanted to get out of here alive, so she’d take what she could get. With a shrug, she dashed forward behind the two laughing pirates and with all her strength slammed the head of the one to her left straight down into the table. A loud thunk put him out cold immediately, his body slouching to the side. The dumbstruck one launched backwards out of his seat, tripping backwards on his own chair.

The sight of it made Jinx giggle. That was when the pirate to her right lashed out at her. Ducking under his throw, she kicked the closest leg of his chair, pushing it out from under him. Having put him on his ass, she went to finish him off when he kicked his legs out at her, giving himself space to try clamber back to his feet. Jinx was about to go in again when a scuffle broke out right behind her. The clumsy pirate had picked himself up and gotten into a fight with the thief. She had only turned her head for a moment, when the thief pushed the pirate away from him and straight into Jinx, sending the both of them stumbling overtop of the other pirate still trying to get off the ground.

The two of them crashed to the floor. Jinx hurried back onto her knees when she looked over to her side. The pirate had fallen backwards, hitting his head on the solid stone. He was out, probably forever. Looking back from where she fallen, she saw the pirate once again trying to get to his feet. Standing over top of him, the thief gripped the club tight in his hand and bought it down on the pirate’s head with a loud crack, splitting the club in two. The pirate’s body collapsed to the ground once more, this time it didn’t move again. The thief stepped over the body in front of him and walked to the door behind her, the one they were taken through earlier. He strode straight past Jinx, still on the ground, without saying a word or even looking at her.

Jinx huffed. “Gee. Thanks.” she muttered to herself. Picking herself up, she dusted off her legs as she proceeded through the door behind him.

Following behind him, they retraced the path they had been led down before, careful to move swiftly but quietly. At one junction however, the thief suddenly turned down another corridor.

“The armoury is this way, Dummy.” Jinx spoke in a hushed tone.

The thief spun around, looking perplexed. “The armoury? What? I’m trying to get out of here, and that’s not the way out.”

“You don’t know where the way out is.” Jinx said. “I want my stuff back, don’t you? Besides, I doubt you want to be wandering around here unarmed.”

“I’m not sure where you got the idea we’re doing this together. You want to go that way, be my guest. It’ll be one less problem for me.”

She hated to admit to herself that he might be right, but he was. She could do this on her own. “Alright then, suit yourself.” She shrugged her shoulders and headed down the hallway in the direction of the armoury, leaving the thief to his own devices.

She followed the earlier path, the cheering and singing coming from the throne room echoing down the halls until she reached what she remembered to be the armoury. The door was closed now. Placing her hand on the door, she was about to push it open slowly when she decided speed was the best option. If anyone was in there, she’d rather catch them with their pants down then give them time to get ready for her. Throwing the door open, she caught the surprised attention of… nobody. Well that’s kinda boring.

Closing the door behind her, she moved past the racks of sticks and blades to the small table at the back, flanked by more racks and barrels of gunpowder. Laying there were two bundles, and a bag, the thief’s. Opening the bundle in the middle, she found a stack of blades. Not her stuff. The largest blade was stained red, around three quarters of its length. It should probably be cleaned off. The rest of the bundle contained a collection of throwing knives, as well as one blade attached to the end of a rope. She was glad that had only wrapped around her gun last night, with how the blade hooked it probably would’ve ripped her arm open.

Moving over to the other bundle, she found her belongings inside. An ammo belt, grenade belt with three grenades still attached and her gun, all there. Looping the ammo belt around her waist and slinging the grenades across her chest, she took a hold of the gun when she heard the door creak open behind her. She whipped around, finger on the trigger as she took aim at the door.

“Hey, easy.” The thief stood in the doorway.

Jinx sighed, dropping her gun down to her side. “My idea better than yours?” she asked with a smirk.

He rolled his eyes again as he walked over to collect his gear. While he reequipped himself, Jinx moved back over to the door. Poking her head out, she looked either way down the dimly lit corridor outside. To her left was where they had come from. To her right was where they had been taken earlier, and where the festive noises were coming from now. Time was of the essence, presumably someone was expecting one of them to turn up in a torture chamber or something, and they’d be beginning to wonder why they hadn’t yet. Hearing the thief approaching behind her, she stepped out into the corridor, facing the way they had come from, her gun still in hand.

“This way.” she murmured, barely loud enough for the thief to hear as well. It didn’t really matter, either he’d follow her or he wouldn’t. Based on the soft sound of boots on stone behind her, he must have. She took a few turns down new hallways, the best way to find the way out would be to just stumble upon it, with everything looking all samey and all. The halls had been quite empty to this point, though Jinx remained on edge. They were probably all partying and getting drunk or whatever pirates did. Still, better safe than sorry.

“Do you know where you’re going?” the thief whispered, slightly irritated.

Without turning around, Jinx offered him a shrug of her shoulders and kept walking. He was probably rolling his eyes or shaking his head back there. She seemed to be having that kind of effect on him. She couldn’t deny that she was enjoying it. As they navigated the damp hallways, a distant yell seemed to echo from… somewhere. It was hard to tell where, but it sounded like trouble. Their absence had probably been noticed.

Soon enough they came across a small set of stairs, spiralling up and down, nestled within the wall. Jinx stopped and stood in front of it, “Hmmmmmm.”

“What?”

“Up or down?” she pondered.

“Up or… up. It’s up.”

“Why?”

“Because you go up far enough, you find a roof, and the outside.”

“But what if it’s too high up? I mean, down there might be a back door or something.”

“Who knows how far down this is, there may not even be a—”

His response was interrupted by the sudden shouts of pirates down past the far end of the corridor. They turned the corner into sight, their pistols at the ready. In a rush, they fired their weapons down the hall without aiming at all, completely missing the two of them. The thief didn’t hesitate, dashing forward up the stairs out of the line of fire. Jinx fired her own gun at the approaching pirates, dropping two of them to the stone floor. She could hear more of them approaching from either direction.

“Up it is.” She launched herself up the spiralling stairs, ascending at a rapid pace. She kept going up, around and around for what seemed like an eternity, the stampede of feet below her keeping her moving. As she went further and further up, the dark staircase seemed to slowly brighten. As she rounded the centre pillar once again, she spotted a dim beam of light ahead. Breaching from the darkness, she was met by the natural light streaming into some sort of large cavernous area. Sure it wasn’t outside outside, but it was an improvement.

Jinx dashed across the small area towards the ledge of the stone structure, the thief standing over it. Looking over the edge, she was greeted by the sight of a significant drop into a large body of water below.

“There’s got to be another way down.” the thief spoke to himself.

Jinx glanced back at where they had emerged from the building. The sounds of the approaching horde of pirates was growing louder and louder each second. Any longer and they’d probably be swamped in the assholes. “There’s no time.” She ripped a grenade from across her chest and pulled the pin. The little explosive began chomping down to zero. “Hope you can swim.” she said with a smirk and lobbed the chomper forward, landing directly between them and the stairs. A little gift for such warm hospitality. Taking a deep breath, Jinx turned around and stepped off the ledge, plummeting into the water below.

Chapter Text

The worst part about being soaking wet was the clothes. The way they cling to the skin. Thankfully, Jinx mitigated this problem by avoiding baggy clothing. The tight leather pants and crop top didn’t feel like they stuck to her any more than usual. However they were still soggy, and that would never not be uncomfortable.

She lay on her back by the water’s edge, softly panting as she reclaimed some of her energy. After she had landed in the water, Jinx had swam along the waterfront until she found a place to climb out of the water and back onto dry land, in a small alcove hidden away behind several dilapidated buildings. Looking directly up, all she could see was rock and stone above her. Wherever she was must’ve been underneath the island somewhere, she didn’t have the first clue where she was or where to go.

Splashing from the water’s edge caused Jinx to lift her head up to see the thief pulling himself out of the water, his somewhat baggier attire absolutely soaked, and his hair was slicked back. Looks like he had jumped after all. She didn’t particularly envy him in anyway, but she certainly didn’t want for his style of clothes right now. That stuff was going to cling like crazy. The thief stumbled forward, dropping to the ground and lying on his back panting. The two of them lay there for what seemed like a long time, recovering from their narrow escape.

“You’re insane.” the thief finally broke their silence.

Jinx grinned. “That’s me.”

He leaned forward and stood back up again, his clothes still dripping. His hand moved to clasp his side. “Alright, where is it?”

“What?”

“The stone. We go get it, return it to Gangplank, maybe he lets us live.”

“Ohhhhhh, so now it’s ‘we’, right…”

“He’s going to want you dead too, you know?”

“Since when did you start caring about lil’ ole me?”

“I haven’t. But I need that stone.”

“You do, do you?” The idea of this guy not getting what he wants was very appealing. “I don’t have it. The only thing I know about this stupid rock is that it’s causing me all sorts of problems. Like you.”

“What was all that about it being yours then, huh?”

“Hah. I thought you meant my gem.”

He simply stared at her, begging for some kind of explanation.

“Small? Round? Glows blue?”

“Wait… wait, wait, wait wait. That little thing? How is that yours?”

“Well, it was stolen from me and then sold to someone or whatever and ended up in that warehouse. Then you stole it again. And it was the only stone I pulled out of that bag of yours.”

“No… No, that can’t be right.” he muttered to himself. “Where’s yours anyway?”

“I stashed it.” she smiled. “I wasn’t going to lose it again.”

The thief slowly paced back and forth, seemingly racking his brain for something, “You have to know where it is. There’s no where else it could’ve gone…”

“I dunno. Looks like you aren’t all that good at this whole thieving thing. You couldn’t hold onto that rock for more than five minutes.”

“It could be anywhere by now…” he continued talking to himself.

“Why does it even matter? You’re out of that creepy dungeon, just forget about it and move on.”

“That’s not how this works. Gangplank has power. There’ll still be people loyal to him even if he’s ‘dead’. If he wants you dead, you won’t last long in this city.” He turned his attention to the world at large, “I need to find that stone…”

She let him stew in his predicament. But Jinx began to realise this wasn’t just his problem. No matter how inadvertent it had been, she had apparently managed to piss off someone with serious power. And a silly name. Granted she had seen sillier… Focus! She snapped her mind back to the issue at hand, being the enemies she seemed to make wherever she went. As much of the money she had was just taken away from her, it’s not like she could up and leave this place. She was stuck here, and she’d have to weather the storm. Preferably coming out the other side alive.

Her train of thought was broken when she noticed the thief begin to march off down the nearby alleyway on a mission.

“Hey, wait!” Jinx scrambled to her feet after him. “Where are you going?”

“Nowhere with you.” he snapped back.

Jinx was realising how difficult this problem was going to be to solve. She knew next to nothing about this city, or this stone everyone keeps going on about. It’d be impossible for her to find herself. The thought of admitting it made her slightly nauseous, but she probably needed this thief’s help. Probably. Maybe. But that presented a whole new problem, actually getting it.

He can’t help you, a voice hissed at her.

“Why? You don’t want my help?” she asked after him.

“Not really, no.”

“Hmmph, you definitely need it.”

The thief stopped in his tracks and turned back towards Jinx with an incredulous smile. “I don’t need help. Yours or anyone else’s.”

“Umm, that’s not what I just saw back there. What if you get into another fight? You’ll lose.”

“Oh you know that do you?”

“Pretty sure. I mean, I beat you. And I don’t think I left you in a great state.” She gestured towards his hand which had been nursing his side. He quickly let it drop away when he realised. “Besides, you don’t want to have to fight me as well. It’ll be easier for both of us if we get this thing… together.”

A look of consternation crossed his face, as if he were actually considering the possibility.

“Come on… we’re in this together now, whether you like me or not.” It wasn’t the most convincing argument, but it couldn’t hurt.

He let out a heavy sigh, “Fine.” he sounded incredibly reluctant.

“Wait, really?” That actually worked?

“I’m happy to change my mind.”

“Uh, nope, that’s fine.”

He carried on, “Don’t go thinking this makes us friends. It doesn’t.”

“Hah. Wouldn’t dream of it.” Jinx snorted.

“You do as I say. We get ourselves out of this shit, and then we’re done, got it?”

“Yes Sir.” she saluted.

He hook his head, “The sooner we’re through with this, the sooner I can go back to not knowing you.”

He began his march forward down the alley again, and Jinx quickly followed into step behind him. They came out onto a street, not particularly busy, stopping for a moment while he looked either direction. Quickly, he picked a direction and started moving again. As they moved, Jinx looked up. There was no sky to speak of, only a rocky cavern roof above, and the place reeked of dead fish and rotting wood.

“Where are we?” Jinx asked.

“We’re in the Grottos.” the thief replied curtly.

“And that is?”

“The lowest part of the city, most of it’s underground like this. Built into the island’s caverns. If you’re down here, you’re poor; have contraband to sell; or are trying to hide. Gangplank’s probably here for number three.”

“Right…” They continued along the streets, twisting and turning through the maze of shacks and hovels, seemingly wandering aimlessly. “Do you know where you’re going.”

“No. I’m not down here very often and even if I was, I wouldn’t recognise half of this place. It’s a mess.” He carried on. “But I am trying to find somewhere I do recognise. I know a guy down here, a smuggler. Specialises in moving all sorts of rare shit… And knowing where stuff is.” he added. “If that stone has turned up anywhere in this city, he probably knows about it.”

Carrying on, the larger streets were filled to the brim with crowds of people, indigent and disparate. While the thief was still trying to place himself, they passed a couple of pirates bigger than they were. He seemed to pay them no mind but they caught Jinx’s attention. “We should probably be trying to hide, stay out of sight.”

“Waste of time.” he replied. “Best way out is to keep moving forward, quickly. Most of Gangplank’s men won’t know what we look like anyway…” he looked back at Jinx behind him. “Well, they don’t know what I look like.” he amended his statement. “Your hair is kind of a give away. You got something to cover it?”

“Uhhhh no, not here. And trust me, it’s even less discrete.” she said, referring to the hood that sported teeth.

“Of course it is.” They continued on through the patchwork, the thief looking for something, anything he could recognise to orient himself. At least the journey had allowed their clothes to dry off, making for a slightly more comfortable exploration. Getting bored, Jinx decided to re-open the decidedly one sided conversation from their cell.

“Sooooo, you’ve got a name?” she asked.

“Nope.”

“Alright then, Dummy.” She heard him groan in front of her.

“What’d you do to piss your parents off, anyway?” he asked.

“What?” she asked, taken aback by the question.

“Your name. Must’ve done something to earn that.”

He’s right… echoed through her head.

He knows what kind of person you are.

What you’ve done…

“No he doesn’t.” Jinx quietly spat back at them. “He doesn’t know a thing.”

“What?” the thief turned his head back with a puzzled expression .

“I wasn’t talking to you.” she replied.

“Uh huh…” his voice trailed away. “You going to answer my question or what?”

“Only if you tell me your name.”

“Forget it.” he stood his ground.

“Do you usually not tell people your name?”

“Only people I don’t like.”

“Wait… you don’t like me?” she joked. “I had no idea!”

“You know, it’d be harder to hate you if you shut up.”

“Hmmph. Rude.”

He gave her a side-eye backwards and carried on. They kept wandering the back streets and alleyways of the grottos. The thief kept his head on a swivel, seemingly looking for any sort of landmark that he might recognise. Jinx couldn’t tell half these streets apart. Each one looked much the same. Rundown shacks, and rotting structures comprised practically the entirety of the city down here. It made her feel better about her choice of hideaway. That was if she could find it again.

After quite a while of wandering and exploring, the thief seemed to have spotted something, and began moving through the streets with a quickened pace, with purpose. Jinx followed along, keeping up with him as he pushed through small gatherings of people in the narrow streets. There was no attempt to let her into what he saw or where he was going. His direction led them to a waterfront at the edge of the cavern. From here, she could see the rest of the city, climbing up the cliff faces, small lights everywhere illuminating the sprawl in the evening darkness.

Following the thief along the waterline for a short distance, the pair of them came to a small wharf, a decently large ship tied up to it. Along the wharf were several people working, loading and unloading cargo from the ship. Where the wharf met the city stood a large, unassuming man. A pirate by the looks of it. The thief led the two of them towards the pirate, who glanced over and smirked.

“He’s not gonna want to see ya.” the pirate called out, presumably to the thief.

“Doesn’t matter, I need to talk to him.”

The pirate chuckled. “You really think that’s a good idea?”

“Come on. He can’t still be upset can he? I made good didn’t I?” the thief asked. “It’s not my fault he didn’t give Leck the right place.”

“Hmmmmm.”

“I really need to talk to him. Don’t make me beg, for everyone’s sake.”

“Ohhh? Now that would be a sight.” Jinx teased.

The thief turned to look at her, his brow furrowed. Before he could say anything, the pirate spoke up again.

“Alright.” he whistled, beckoning over one of the dockhands along the wharf. “Go let the boss know, kid here wants to see him.” The dockhand nodded and ran off towards the ship. The pirate turned his attention back to the two of them, his eyes landing on Jinx. “Who’s this? Thought you worked alone.”

Jinx was about to speak up when she was cut off, “She’s nobody.” the thief stated.

Not content with being nobody, Jinx supplied an answer of her own, “She’s somebody who kicked his ass. Oh, and saved it too.” she said with a grin, nudging his arm with her elbow.

The thief shook his head, sighing.

Her answer gave the pirate a good laugh. “I like her.”

“That makes one of us.” the thief grumbled.

As the pirate came down off his laugh, the dockhand returned and simply nodded to him. “He’ll see ya. You know how this goes.” He extended his arms, opening his hands. “Weapons.”

“Sure.” the thief replied, unsheathing his dagger and placing it in one of the open hands.

Jinx didn’t particularly like the idea of giving up her weapon at the best of times. After the day she had just had, she really didn’t feel like it now. “Nah uh.” Her hand wrapped around the grip of her weapon, still holstered at her side.

“Really? Do you ever make things easier?” the thief asked, the irritation evident in his voice as he unsheathed his throwing knives. “Hand it over.”

“Fat chance.”

The thief threw his hands up, “Okay then. I’ll go in alone.”

And a new ultimatum had been presented. Go in and give up her weapon, or leave him alone and have no idea what was happening. She liked the idea of the second option even less. “Fine.” she hissed reluctantly, pulling the gun from its holster and slapping it down in the other open hand. She left the grenade belt strapped to her chest, and made every effort not to draw attention to them. They didn’t seem to recognise them as weapons. Similarly, she had noticed that the thief had only handed over his dagger and throwing knives. That roped blade thing he had was conspicuously absent from the lot. Expecting trouble? With a smile, the pirate stashed his weapons in a small sack and kept Jinx’s gun in hand, and led the two of them down the wharf, towards the vessel.

“Let me do the talking.” the thief spoke softly.

“Why? Scared I’ll piss him off?”

“Yes, actually.” the thief kept his voice low.

Jinx giggled.

“I’m serious. Last thing I need is someone else trying to kill me.”

“What about me?” she asked, feigning offence.

“Couldn’t care less.”

“You’re not giving me much of a reason not to talk.”

An increasingly common sigh escaped him, “Just stay quiet and let’s get this over with.”

Although the idea of doing as he said was loathsome, the quicker this whole mess was fixed and she could get on with… whatever it was she was even trying to do in this city, the better. So she resolved to keep quiet. For now anyway. Smiling, she motioned her fingers across her lips, sealing them tight. They were led up onto the ship towards a small stairway leading down into the hold of the ship, and the pirate ushered them down ahead of him. Descending, they were greeted by an eclectic range of boxes and trophies, stacked neatly along the sides of the hold; and an aroma much more pleasant than that outside, it smelled like what she imagined a rich person’s flower garden would. At the far end of the hold stood a man, surrounded by a forest of much larger pirates. Was that supposed to be ‘Mr Serious Business’? He didn’t look very intimidating. He was hardly taller than Jinx was. Perhaps it was the posse of larger pirates around him that did the heavy lifting. Notably, he was quite well presented. Clean clothes, nicely groomed, about the opposite of what Jinx’d expect a smuggler to look like.

The man looked over at the two of them approaching, and pointed at the thief. “Heh. Ruko, been a while, ain’t it?”

Ruko? That was it? Huh. She wasn’t quite sure what she expected, but it wasn’t that. With how stubborn he was being about it, she expected it to be something stupid. Like Chuck. Jinx smirked at him, though he hadn’t seemed to have noticed his name had been let slip.

“Yeah Finley, it has.” The pair came to stand just in front of the man named Finley, his posse surrounding them. Greeeeaat. Once again surrounded by pirates while unarmed. What a day this had been.

“Ya got balls on ya kid.” Finley said, his expression stern.

“Hey, I made it up to you didn’t I? Made up the difference and then some.” Ruko argued his point, “We can all move on, yeah?” His stance was tensed, waiting for everything to go wrong.

Finley’s expression remained unmoving for a short time, before the corner of his mouth curved up ever so slightly. “Ahhhhh! O’ course we’re good.” The curl quickly expanded into a wide beaming smile. “How ya been?”

Ruko’s shoulders dropped, a slight smile appearing. “Been better. How’s business.”

“Slow, but cannae complain too much.” he reached behind him, grabbing an idol of some kind from the pile and examined it in his hands. “And who’s the lassie?”

“She’s—”

“— a friend.” Jinx spouted with glee. Ruko glared back at her with that kind of look that said ‘I hate you so much right now’.

Finley’s sight darted between the two of them, picking up on the looks they were giving each other. Ruko starring daggers and Jinx way too enthusiastic. “Sorry I asked.” He handed the idol over to one of his lackeys, who promptly sorted it into a crate behind him. “So… what’re ye after?”

“I need information.” Ruko spoke up again. “Had a job last night. Things went to shit.”

“I’m not sure what you want from me. I cannae help with fixing a bad job. What bout yer broker?”

“He’s dead.” Ruko said bluntly.

“Ah. My condolences.”

Ruko shrugged. “I was hired to steal a stone, from a warehouse down in the Slaughter Docks. Turns out I was stealing from Gangplank.”

Finley didn’t visibly react. Jinx had half-expected him too, given what Ruko had told her about the pirate’s reputation and fear-i-ness and whatever. Finley began to laugh, “Nice one aye, you almost got me good there.”

“I’m serious. He’s alive. Just got out of one of his dungeons. He was there, right in front of me.”

“You got away from Gangplank? Really?” Finley’s laugh only grew. “Now I know yer pulling me leg.”

“I wish I was.” Ruko almost sounded unconvinced himself. “This stone, it’s missing now. And he wants it badly. I was thinking, I get it back for him, I might get to keep walking.”

“Assuming you ain’t absolutely batshit…” Finley entertained the notion. “… You think Gangplank would just let someone walk away?”

“Not really, but I don’t see a better option.”

“Righty. And you want my help to…?”

“Find out where this stone might have ended up. You keep an ear out for this kind of thing, right? Surely you’ll have some information on this stone.”

“I might. But I’ll need specifics. There’re a lotta precious rocks floating round this heap. And it won’t be cheap…”

“I don’t have money on me… but I will get it to you. You know I’m good for it.”

Finley gave it some consideration, before nodding his head, giving the go ahead, and turned his sight to another trinket in his hands.

“It’s purple, inscribed with a blue icon. It glows pretty bright.”

“Pretty basic stuff aye? Gonna need more an’ that”

Ruko seemed to hesitate, his eyes firmly shut, lightly tapping his foot on the deck. Soon enough he relented, speaking up again, “Uh… it’s magic.”

Seriously? His stone was magic too? Jinx hadn’t given it too much thought, but suddenly things made more sense now. Why a big ol’ ‘scary’ pirate lord like Gangplank would be so interested in a glowy rock.

Finley’s head lifted to look at Ruko again. His warmth had disappeared, replaced by a dour stare. He clicked his fingers and motioned for one of his entourage to approach him.

“You know what I’m looking for?” Ruko asked, a glimmer of hopeful smile appearing.

“Yeah…” Finley replied, leaning into whisper with his grunt he just called over. Jinx couldn’t make out what they were saying, but she felt uneasy. Her eyes darted to either side, the thugs surrounding the pair of them had tensed up now, and their hands had drifted towards their weapons. She looked over to Ruko at her side, making eye contact. That glimmer of hope had disappeared, replaced with something Jinx knew well. Concern. His own hand had also moved towards where she had seen him pull his rope from before, hidden under the bottom of his jacket. She really wanted to reach for her own weapon, only it was in another man’s grasp behind her, and going for the grenade would be too obvious.

Whatever Finley was whispering to his lackey was complete, as they nodded at their boss, and ducked their way through the gathering, back up to the main deck of the ship. Finley returned his attention back to his guests. “You’ve gotten yourself into a wee bit of a hornet’s nest, kid.”

“You’re telling me.” Ruko replied, his voice still somewhat hopeful, just a charade now.

“Aye. Real shite luck, eh?” Finley’s words could’ve been mistaken for being reassuring.

Jinx looked behind her, out of the corner of her eye spotting the man with her gun at the back, not too far behind them, but far enough. She was going to need her weapon. The problem was getting to it.

“Means bad news for you two.” The gang around them all drew their weapons now, a variety of pistols and swords.

“What the hell is this?” Ruko exclaimed, his hand now gripped tightly.

“Look, I don’t wanna kill ya… or ya friend.” Finley began, his earlier friendly attitude completely gone now. “But I gotta. Boss wants as clean a mess as possible. Ain’t personal.”

“Boss…?” Ruko’s voice trailed, sounding puzzled.

“Ugh screw it.” Jinx’s eyes lit up and she flung herself to the side, straight at one of the guys with a pistol. She flew into him, the speed knocking him straight to the ground. The ship erupted into noise as people started yelling, guns went off and an air of chaos ensued. Jinx stomped on the thugs head, knocking him out cold, and swept up his pistol for herself. Another thug lunged at her with his sword, and she whipped her arm up, pulling the trigger and firing the shot straight into his head. The now dead pirate collapsed forward, hitting the deck in front of Jinx.

She glanced over to the see what was happening with Ruko. He was on the other side of the hold, rope blade in hands. He launched the blade forward and across at a pirate in front of him, cleanly cutting across their throat. A stream of red flowed from the wound as the pirate dropped their weapon, clutching at their neck as they fell to the deck. Not bad. He swivelled to try and meet another behind him, but they were already too close and he was forced to drop underneath a fast sword slash.

Jinx’s attention was ripped back to her own situation when she caught the large man with her weapon, now holstered on his belt, approaching her. Reflexively, she aimed the stolen gun straight at the man and pulled the trigger… click… nothing. She quickly examined the weapon and groaned. Single-shot? Really? Looking back up at the man still approaching, she smiled nervously, “No hard feelings?” He didn’t answer, instead winding up his fist and throwing it straight at Jinx. Throwing her head to the side, she dodged the attack, “Hey, what happened to liking me?” She brought her leg up to kick him, but he wrapped his hand around her leg before she could, throwing her against the stacks of goods along the side of the hold, leaving her dazed.

Through the now slightly blurry vision, past her attacker, she could see Ruko, still struggling with his own fight. Just past them, she could make out a group, maybe two or three of them, with pistols drawn, ready to shoot him. Without thinking or reasoning why, with the man approaching her, she ripped the last remaining grenade from her chest, pulled the pin and lobbed it past the scrap, landing at the feet of the armed pirates. Before she could do anything else, two hands landed on her shoulders, ripping her from the stack and down to the ground. The man towered over her now, she could see her gun on his belt, way out of her reach. A boom from across the room drew his attention, turning to look for only an instant, but that was enough.

From the ground, Jinx kicked into both of his knees, forcing him to stumble back a couple of steps. Now with some space, she scrambled off the ground to face the man again. He began to charge forward at her and she got low, diving past his side as he arrived. As she dove past, she reached one hand out, grasping her gun on his belt and ripping it away. Coming out of the dive into a roll, she ended up back on her feet again. She pointed the gun at the man, waiting to pull the trigger. Once he turned around, catching sight of the gun pointed at him, his eyes widened. That was when she pulled the trigger.

With the biggest of the lot down, she turned her attention to the rest of the hold. Ruko had finally finished up with his guy. Took ya long enough. He pulled himself up away from the now dead body, trying to catch his breath. She was about to holster her gun when she saw someone who hadn’t quite had enough of a beating drag himself up off the floor behind Ruko. Jinx flicked her gun up, aiming just past Ruko’s head. His eyes widened at the sight of this, and he flinched as the bullet whizzed past his head, landing in the pirate behind him. After he realised he wasn’t the one who had been shot, he slowly turned to look at the body behind him, a hole pierced right between the eyes. He whipped his head back around to face Jinx, exasperated. “Shit.”

“What? You didn’t think I was going to shoot ya? Did you?”

He shook his head in disapproval and began to walk across the hold. Jinx took in the aftermath of their little fight. A bunch of dead bodies everywhere and she wasn’t one of them. So it could’ve been worse.

“So much for you doing the talking.” she laughed. “You’re really not good at it.” Standing over the big guy, she took the sack filled with Ruko’s weapons off of the body. “Nice name—” she started as she turned to face Ruko once more, seeinghim standing over a body where her grenade had gone off, his head hung. “—by the way…” The body was Finley’s.

“He’s dead.” Ruko growled, “You killed him.” There was more than a hint of anger in his words.

“Well yeah. He was going to shoot you. You’re welcome.”

“I didn’t need saving. What I needed was him alive.”

“I didn’t think that—”

“No. You didn’t.” He cut in. “He knew about the stone! We could’ve found where it is, or where it might be or whatever! You want to try asking him now?”

“He was going to kill us!”

Ruko snorted. “You started it!”

“He seemed pretty set on killing us.”

“Yeah? Well, it doesn’t matter now, because he’s dead, and so is whatever he knew. Because you blew him up.”

“He was going to kill you…”

“Why do you care? Not that it matters, I’m dead anyway.” He threw his hands up in despair. “We have nothing. Nothing. We don’t have a clue where the stone is and nothing to go on, nothing.” he emphasised as if she hadn’t heard him the first time.

Jinx didn’t say a word. Her eyes drifted to look at the wood behind him, tapping her foot on the planks. As if Ruko wasn’t enough, the voices had decided to barge in too…

You ruined it.

It’s all your fault again.

You can’t stop yourself, can you?

You can never get anything right.

She so badly wanted to scream at them. To tell them to shut up, to get out, to leave her alone. She knew it wouldn’t work. But she wanted to anyway.

“What? Nothing to say? That’s a first.”

She tried to ignore him, to ignore them. But it was difficult. They sounded so sure of themselves, so confident that they were right. Jinx didn’t want them to be. But they were convincing. Why couldn’t she get anything right? They were right. She couldn’t help herself. Even when she tried to help, she just made everything worse. Why couldn’t she just get it right?

Jinx was unwillingly snapped back to reality when Ruko started laughing. It was a hysterical one, the one you make when you don’t find something funny. “I get it.”

Jinx re-engaged eye contact with him, the laugh clashing with everything else about his demeanour.

He walked towards her, “Your name. Jinx. I get it now.” He stood right in front of her and pointed, “It suits you.” Walking past her, he pushed through her shoulder back to the stairs leading out of the hold. His laughing continued, only more subdued. Behind her, Jinx heard him kick something across the floor, before he yelled, “Fuck!”

Jinx looked down to her hands, still holding the sack with his gear. The words echoed through her head, going round and round. It suits you.

He’s not wrong. He knows you.

Did it even matter? Her grip on the sack tightened. All she’d done since she got here was make things worse for people. As she seemed to keep doing. She couldn’t escape. She tried. But wherever she ran, she couldn’t get away from herself. Everything was telling her to go. To leave Ruko to solve his problems on his own. He clearly didn’t want her help. She’d find her own way, she always did. But in the recesses of her mind, Jinx could hear that small, faint little voice again. The one she didn’t recognise. All the way in the back, behind the cacophony of voices she’d heard for so long. It only said one word.

Try.

Chapter Text

This is stupid. This is so damn stupid. Why am I even doing this? Jinx climbed the stairs out of the hold onto the vessel’s upper deck, the sack of weapons in hand. The dock it was berthed at was empty, as were what she could see of the streets. Towards the front of the ship, she could see Ruko sat on a small set of stairs at the ship’s bow, his head in his hands. I should just leave him to sulk. That’s what he’d want anyway. In spite of her own protestations, she approached him anyway. He didn’t seem to notice her arrival at all, or at least made no acknowledgment of it. So she lightly kicked his foot.

He lifted his head from his hands, “What do you want?” His voice was decidedly deflated now. All that anger present a few minutes ago had evaporated.

“You left your stuff behind, Dummy.” Her own voice rather subdued, she dropped the bag at his feet with a clang as all the blades bounced off each other.

He didn’t move to pick it up, or move at all. He just sat there. No thank you or anything. No anger either. Just… nothing.

Jinx nudged the bag closer with her boot, “Your stuff.”

“What are you doing?” Ruko mumbled.

“Giving you your stuff back, duh.” she evaded the actual question.

“I must not have been very clear.”

“What? That you don’t want to put up with me? Yeah, I got that.”

“Then why are you still here?” he asked, his tone defeated.

Jinx feigned pondering for a moment, “Beats me. Guess I just enjoy pissing you off.” she claimed, planting her hands on her hips.

Ruko snorted, the corner of his lip curling up ever so slightly, “Of course you do.”

“Did I… did I just make you laugh?”

Brushing his hand across his face, he wiped the hint of a smile away, “Nope.”

He may have denied it but she knew she did. And there the two of them stood. Completely aimless, on the deck of a smuggler’s ship, with said smuggle dead down below. “So… what do we do next?”

“There is no next. It’s over.”

“There has to be something… what about that one guy?”

“That one guy?” he repeated back to her, confused.

“Yeah. The one who good ole’ Fin sent away before we killed the rest of them.”

“They could be anywhere by now. Not an option.” he dropped his head back down into his hands.

Jinx huffed and took a step back, trying to come up with something else. Her eyes scanned her surroundings, looking for any inspiration, any at all. Towards the rear of the ship, she looked over the quarterdeck at the back, and a door leading underneath it… Where did that door go? “What about in there?” she asked.

“What?” Ruko lifted his head, squinting.

“In there. Through that door. There might be something in there.”

Ruko huffed. “Okay, sure.” he conceded. Collecting the bundle of weapons at his feet, he slowly raised himself up from his seat. “I guess there’s no harm in looking.” He walked forward, though not at any pace, across the deck to the door under the quarterdeck. When they arrived, he tested the door, trying to open it. It wouldn’t budge. He let out a small sigh, and reached into the bag at his side, pulling out a cylindrical object. From it ejected a small stick, a lockpick of some kind. It was the kind of contraption Jinx might’ve seen back home. He began to fumble through different picks of various lengths and sizes. This was going to take a while, wasn’t it?

Jinx’s patience was long gone at this point. Pulling the gun from her holster, she fired it at the lock, completely destroying it and rendering it useless. Luckily, Ruko hadn’t put his hands on or near it yet, so he was still in one piece. Was that lucky? Lucky for him anyway. He didn’t say anything, but he did grumble while stashing his device back into his bag. Leading the way, Jinx pushed through the forcefully unlocked the door and into what must’ve been Finely’s quarters.

The place was a complete mess, like someone had picked the room up and shook it. It wasn’t particularly large, just in through the door to one side of the quarters sat a small crowded desk; to the other was a bed, now going to be unused. Notebooks and loose papers overflowed out of many different drawers and cabinets strewn across the space. There was no sign of anything in the way of valuables or anything else you might expect from a smuggler who was apparently successful as he had been. She assumed he had done quite well for himself, the stuff below deck was quite impressive. Though maybe all these books were more impressive. And maybe one of them held the key. The vital piece of information they needed. One of the many, many, many, many journals.

“There might be something in one of… these.” Jinx gestured to the entire room.

Ruko grunted in what she assumed was some form of tacit agreement.

She was going to have to take charge, wasn’t she? “Alright then. I’ll read the ones by the bed, you go through all the ones over on the desk.”

He hesitated for a moment, “Uh… yeah, sure.” He didn’t say anymore, simply trudged across to start picking through the stacks of journals. Jinx separated to the other side of the room, and started going through some of the books piled up on her side of the room. She nabbed one off the top of the pile, and flicked the cover open, revealing a scrawl of neat but hurried handwriting on the first page.

987 AN – TERROR fallen, USURPER ascended, no evidence of interference, entirely internal.

What the hell? What does that even mean? The only piece of information she recognised was the date, assuming it was written at the time, that put the text as being written at least a year ago. She flicked through the pages. It was a lot of vague, cryptic nonsense that she wouldn’t write even in her most manic state.

TERROR may yet live. Hierarchy uncertain. USURPER seemingly unaware. Immovable, unsympathetic, obstacle. SHARPTOOTH lacks desire. No others suitable.

Were these supposed to be people? But who? Not that she would know, but she couldn’t help but be curious.

New shadow. Noted as STALKER. Cannot determine identity. Exerts influence. ROYAL demands more. Need to exercise leverage.

Okay, this was a waste of time. There was nothing in this stupid book about a dumb rock. Just boring indecipherable garbage. It definitely didn’t help that she had no idea what she was looking for. Jinx had absoltuely no clue what this stone looked like or how it might be described. At this point, she was just hoping to stumble upon something. She slammed the book shut and threw it over her head, crashing into the floor behind her. “Soooo… did you know this Finley guy well?” she asked, flipping through another book.

“Not really, didn’t even know he had a boss, thought he worked for himself.” Ruko answered, his tone still dejected. “Did jobs for him a few times, that was about it.”

“Sounded like you two had history.”

A small chuckle came form the other side of the room. “Yeah, I guess so. He gave my broker the wrong info so I could never get what he wanted in the first place. Still owed him though.”

“Broker?”

“They’re like a middle-man. People who need shit done go to them, and they set it up with people who can get that shit done.”

“Huh.” Jinx thought for a moment. “You said earlier that your one was dead.”

“Uh, yeah. He set me up with the job to get that stone. When I didn’t come back with it, he got killed.”

Shit. Another person dead because of her. How did she manage to get people she hadn’t even met killed? “I’m… sorry.” she said, her voice low.

“Eh, don’t be.” Ruko replied. “He was an ass anyway.”

Strangely, that made her feel slightly better. Only slightly. She returned her focus to filing through the different journals and scribblings. Looking for some mention of a magic stone, or that warehouse or whatever might be a connection. Cutting her way through the pile of information, she found nothing relevant. Nothing she assumed was relevant anyway, it was practically all written in that same sort of code. Jinx heard a groan behind her, and assumed Ruko was just finding a similar frustration. Then he spoke up.

“Can you read this?” he sighed, his voice sheepish. He held an open book out in his hand towards her. The page contained a scribbled image, and some words underneath.

Jinx walked across the room and snatched the book from his hand, “Of course I can read it, why? Is it important?”

“I don’t know. The drawing there looks like the stone. But I’m not sure what the writing says…”

The writing looked perfectly legible to her. At least the handwriting was, the words themselves might not make any sense if it was anything like what she was just reading. She cocked her head slightly and squinted, pressing for an explanation.

“I… I can’t read.” he spurted out.

“You can’t read? Seriously? What the hell have you been doing this whole time?” Jinx was taken aback by the confession. Admittedly, she hadn’t thought about it at all. Why wouldn’t he be able to read?

“I don’t know! Just read the damn thing.”

“Dummy.” she smirked, and turned her attention to the book in her hand. At the top of th epage lay a drawing of a six sided object, with a symbol in the middle. Below it, the text read,

CATALYST found. Across the SERPENT. In Bhuru hands.

Jinx read the words aloud, “What?”

Ruko began to laugh in disbelief, “Of course… how could I have been so blind?”

“You want to let me in on the joke?”

“Oh it’s a joke alright.” He spoke again when his laughter began to subside. “Last night, when I was trying to get away from… you, I ran into a woman. I didn’t think anything of it at the time but… she must’ve pocketed the stone. Shit.”

“How the hell did you get that…” she pointed at the page, “…from this?”

“She was wearing robes like the priestesses’ at the temples do. Their biggest temple is connected to the city by a bridge. The Serpent Bridge.”

That made sense. Kind of. “Soooo, that’s good right? We know where it is.” After taking a few steps towards the door, she looked back to see Ruko still in his place. “Let’s go?”

“You don’t know where it is.”

“Well, duh? But you sound like you know.”

He shook his head, or rolled his eyes, or something like that. They all seemed to bleed together. “The place’ll be locked up tight by now. We’ll have to wait until morning.”

“Sure, that’s only… many many hours away.”

He shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t make the rules.”

“Sure you don’t.” she quipped back at him.

Jinx pondered their next move, “We need somewhere to go in the meantime… you live somewhere?”

“Yeah, I do.” he said. And didn’t continue. He just stood there, staring at her. Okay, so they weren’t going there then.

“Welp, I have a spot. Since you don’t want me to know about your super secret hidey-hole.” Jinx said reluctantly. She didn’t really want to show off her own little retreat, but they needed somewhere to keep out of sight. And it’s not like it was an amazing place to being with. And she could do with recollecting her gear.

He raised his arm, gesturing towards the door, “Lead the way then.”

“Love to. Except I still don’t know where the hell we are.” she flashed a smile at him, hoping he’d at least get them out of these grottos or whatever they were called.

“Fine.” Ruko moved past Jinx, his shoulder brushing against hers, though not nearly as aggressively as last time. The journal still in her hands, she ripped the page with the drawing out, and tossed the book across the cabin. Dashing out through the door, she caught up to Ruko who was already disembarking the ship, making no effort to wait up for her.

“We need to lay low, got it?” he stated as he led the two of them back towards the city. “We don’t draw attention to ourselves, we get the stone back tomorrow, and then we’re done.”

***

Jinx was pretty sure she recognised where they were. Not the exact street they were on, obviously. But the area seemed vaguely familiar. Ruko had called it Rat Town or something. The name seemed fitting enough, though she wasn’t sure if it was for the animals or the people. Either way, it was close to where she had arrived nearly four days ago now. She was pretty sure she could find her way back to her hiding spot from there. Now if only Ruko would hurry the hell up.

He had led the pair of them down here to he could collect something, or talk to someone… Jinx didn’t really know, she hadn’t been paying full attention, and he didn’t really want to talk to her in the first place so the communication wasn’t at all clear. The building she was waiting outside of however did look like some kind of store, so maybe buying something.With what money?

The street was dark, but the moonlight and the few windows with light behind them meant that Jinx could still see all but the darkest corners. It was relatively empty, only a few passers by at this time, nothing like the amount of people she had to barge her way through previously.

Raised voices down the street grabbed her attention. Looking across, even with the moonlight she still had to squint slightly to see. What she saw was a pair of what looked to be thugs, standing over a third smaller, much more meek person. They weren’t loud enough for her to hear the exact words being exchanged, but it didn’t sound friendly.

Leave it. A hiss dug in the back of her mind. It’s not your fight.

They were right, it wasn’t. And she was content to leave it that way. Besides, she was supposed to be not getting into trouble. But that didn’t feel… right?

They probably deserve it.

But what if they didn’t? What if they needed help?

You? Help them? They laughed at her, the shame filling her head.

No. She could help them. She could do something good for the first time since getting here. That had to start somewhere. With a determination that seemed to come and go, she pushed herself off the wall, down the dimly lit street towards the discontent. As she approached, one of the thugs pushed the meek man down onto the cold cobble street.

“He ain’t runnin’ a charity.” she heard one of the thugs speak out now. A foot then flew into the smaller man’s gut.

Jinx pulled her gun but kept it down by her side. There was some, though not too much distance between them. Enough that they’d have to take several steps to reach her. “Hey!” she yelled, “Back off.”

The two thugs turned to face her, and both grinned at the sight. “Lookie ‘ere, we got ourselves a hero.” The one on the left was the taller of the two, his face was slim and his limbs lanky.

“Mind yer’ business girl. This don’t involve you.” the other one added, he stood shorter though was still taller than Jinx. His build was much thicker, though only partially muscle. There was a word for it, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. The man had no sleeves, displaying his tattoo covered semi-muscular arms. Stocky. That was it! The word was stocky. The pair of them held their ground.

“I’ve decided it does.” Jinx scowled at the two of them. “Back. Off.” Her eyes began to glow in the darkness of the street. There was a right choice for them to make here… they didn’t make it. They each took their first step in her direction. They didn’t have time to make their second. Jinx raised her gun and fired a shot straight through the knee of the stocky one, taking away the immediate threat of a much heavier fighter. Launching forward at the slimmer one, she threw her fist up high into his jaw with a crack. At least two teeth were catapulted from his mouth as the man fell backwards onto the rough stone street.

Jinx looked down at her fist. She didn’t think she put that much force into it. His teeth must’ve already been halfway to falling out. He’d just taken one too many hits to the jaw or something. Her thoughts were interrupted by a hand weakly wrapping around her ankle. She looked down to see the stocky thug had reached out to grab her, his other hand clutching his knee. His grip wasn’t particularly strong. She raised her other foot and brought it down hard on the outstretched arm, causing a surprisingly high-pitched yelp to come from the wounded man. He released his grip and feebly began to cradle his knee.

Holstering her gun, Jinx looked down at the smaller man, still curled up on the ground, his arms covering his face. “Hey. You okay?” she softened her voice.

It took the man a few moments to withdraw his guard, before he removed his face from behind his arms. When he did, he looked up at Jinx with a soft, friendly sort of expression. “I, uh, yes. I’m fine.” His speech was deliberate, but not slow. He knew exactly what he wanted to say.

“Ya sure?” Jinx wasn’t particularly convinced, given the whole ‘beat-down’ thing those thugs just tried to pull. She offered her hand out to him.

“Uhhhhh, yes?” Even he didn’t sound so sure. He accepted the offer, his own hand grasping hers and letting himself be hauled up from the ground. He was fairly well-presented, his dress was of a higher standard than most people Jinx had seen here. The only blemishes to clothes and skin derived from his recent trip to the ground. “Thank you.”

“Ahhh, it’ ain’t nothing.” Jinx responded, trying to hide the warmth she was feeling. People didn’t often say that kind of thing to her.

The man’s eyes widened at her… no, something behind her. At the same time, she heard movement behind her. Spinning on the spot, her hand flying back to her gun, she turned to find the slim thug she dropped before had picked himself back up behind her, only to have his arm twisted behind his back by Ruko.

“This isn’t laying low.” he scolded her.

Jinx ignored him, looking to man grimacing in pain, several teeth noticeably missing. “You’re gonna leave this man alone.” she demanded. She gripped his straggled hair and turned his head to look her in the eyes, still faintly glowing violet. “Or I’ll make sure it’s the last thing you do.”

The thug nodded as vigorously as he could and Jinx nodded to Ruko. Shaking his head, he pushed the thug off towards his wounded friend still clutching his knee. Taking his friend’s weight, the pair of them hobbled away, disappearing into the darkness.

“What’d they want anyway?” Jinx asked, turning back to their former victim.

“They were demanding money from me. Said I had to pay up or I wouldn’t be safe.”

“A protection racket.” Ruko concluded.

“Yes, exactly.” The doctor continued, “Seems like there’s always a bully wherever you go in Runeterra.”

“You’re not from here?” Jinx asked.

“Is that surprising? Don’t tell me I look like I fit in.” he laughed. “No no, I only arrived here a few weeks ago. I was forced out of my home.”

“Where’s that?”

“Ionia. Lived there all my life…” he said ruefully, “…but Noxus decided it was time to invade again. I couldn’t stay this time.”

“I was there for a while.” Jinx recalled her time there. It was a truly beautiful place, nothing like the Undercity or Topside. Much more spiritual. For a while she really thought it could be a place where she could start anew, much moreso than anywhere else she’d been. But as always seemed to happen, trouble found her. Or she found trouble. Either way, she had decided that she wasn’t going to find what she was looking for there. In hindsight, it was the closest she had got. Certainly far closer than here. “It was nice…”

“Yeah, not so much anymore.” the man responded. “My name’s Laan, by the way.”

“Jinx.”

“Is this your place?” Ruko asked form off to the side, peering through a window of the building in front of them.

“And he’s a pain in the ass.” Jinx introduced him as well.

“Yes, it is. Spent all the money I had left to get it.” Lan answered the question, Jinx’s dig causing a smile to form.

“Lots of tools and bottles in there… you’re a doctor?”

“That I am, you have a keen eye.”

“Oh, oh, you should take a look at Dummy over here,” Jinx pointed at Ruko, “I think he needs a doctor.”

“No.” he bit back.

“Are you sure? Because I really did a number on you earlier.”

Ruko glared back at Jinx, the unspoken words clear in her mind. Go fuck yourself. The corner of her lip curled up ever so slightly.

“Uh, is everything alright?” Laan asked, not knowing the half of it.

“Fine. Perfect even.” Ruko replied flatly. “We we’re just going.”

“We were?”

Instead of answering, Ruko turned and started off down the dark street.

“Uh, thank you again.” Laan spoke up, moving towards the door to his place, “I’m in your debt, both of you, if you ever need anything, please uh, don’t hestiate.” He slinked inside and shut the door behind him, a locking sound followed.

That went… well? Jinx didn’t question whether it actually had gone well, because she was confident it had. It was more-so the fact that it did go well. She actually helped someone. And didn’t screw their lives up in the process. It was a small thing, but it was a start. Maybe her ‘friends’ would stop giving her so much stick for it. She had a feeling they’d keep on at her though. They never seemed to quit. Never seemed like they wanted to. Tormenting her was too much fun.

Catching up to Ruko, who had made some distance down the quiet street, he lobbed a question back behind him. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why’d you get involved? We’re trying to go unnoticed, remember?” he scolded her.

“I dunno… he needed help.”

“Because you’re so good at that, aren’t you? No one wants your ‘help’.”

“You don’t know that…” the little win was fading rapidly.

“You know what those kinds of people do?” Ruko stopped in his tracks, turning back to face Jinx, “They extort people for money to ‘protect’ them from rival gangs. If they don’t get their money, they clamp down harder, send a message.”

“I—”

“Yeah, not feeling so good about your little ‘heroics’ now, are you?” he said sharply. “You’re better off keeping to yourself.”

Jinx wanted to fight back, to shut him up. “Do you try to be like this or were you just born this way?” It was weak, but the best she could muster. “Don’t you give a shit about anyone other than yourself?”

“No, I don’t. That kind of thing gets you killed, or worse.” he replied, sure of his words, “You wanna go on trusting that doctor? Or anyone else you meet? Go ahead, just don’t expect anyone to pull the knives out of your back.”

He’s right… you can’t help anyone. Of course they agreed with something that cynical. But a part of Jinx agreed, regardless of how much she wanted not to admit it. It was difficult to trust people not to hurt you. It was difficult to trust herself not to hurt others… But she wanted to try… to be better. And then when she did, here was Ruko to swat any speck of hope away. To tell her she’d screwed up anyway. That instead of helping that man, she just made everything worse for him. Her fist tightened at her side. She wanted to hit him so badly. Why? Why did this all have to be so fucking complicated?

Her eyes darted past Ruko and the inner turmoil to her surroundings, recognising some of the store signs from before. She pushed past Ruko to lead the way without a word. At this point, she couldn’t care less if he followed her or not, all she wanted was to get off these damned streets. Why was she even trying to help this idiot?

***

The worn, run down ruin was as she left it. Not a single pebble had moved since she left. A second pair of boots hit the ground behind her, having dropped through the hole above.

“This is it?” Ruko asked, judgment oozing from the first words either of them had said for a while.

“You gonna tell me you live in some palace of luxury?” Jinx wasn’t really in the mood for snark, but if he was going to dish it out, then she’d fire right back.

“No. But it’s certainly nicer than this… shithole.”

“Well ‘Your Highness’, if this isn’t good enough for you, you’re more than welcome to leave.” Jinx walked over to the far corner of the main room they were in. She pulled a large piece of marble away from the wall, revealing a nook within the wall, her pack still stashed within. Dragging it out of its hiding place, she reached into a side pocket, finding her gemstone with her fingers. When she felt its smooth surface, she breathed a sigh of relief. At least she still had that. Not everything had gone completely wrong.

“That’s a turn.” he started. “Earlier you were begging me to let you ‘help’. Now you sound like you want nothing to do with me.”

“Ooooohoho aren’t you smart!” Jinx snapped back. “Ugh, look at me, I’m Ruko.” she started mocking his voice. “I’m so cool and smart and tough and I know better than everyone.” She seized the gemstone in her hand and stormed towards a hallway that could get her away from this.

“Like you’re perfect.” he replied.

Turning down the dark and decrepit hallway, the only response she gave was her metal middle finger flicked up at him.

She didn’t actually know what was down here. Exploring the rest of this ruined temple wasn’t exactly high on her priority list. She just needed space. There wasn’t a lot of options for places to go in the darkness, but a faint light seemed to highlight the room at the end of the hall. Passing through the narrow doorway, Jinx wasn’t greeted by a room slightly smaller than the one she had just left. A crack in the rock face the temple wasn’t built into allowed a stream of moonlight into the chamber. A series of small pillars around the edges of the room held the roof up, while the floor sunk slightly in the centre of the room, shallow steps lining the edges to bridge the height. Much like the first room, this place as was also completely untouched.

Jinx took the couple of steps down into the sunken area, taking a seat on them. She unclenched the fist that contained the gemstone and rolled it around in her palm.

“What am I even doing here?” she asked.

Trying to be something you’re not. The chorus answered.

She resisted the urge to tear up, poorly it might be added. Still, she carried on, trying to ignore the poison. “I don’t even know why I’m trying to help him. He’s an annoying ass.”

You hate him. Why bother?

Jinx paused, “No…” She didn’t think she hated him. He was a pain sure, but he hadn’t done anything to her to earn that. It’s not like she liked him or anything… No, definitely not… Maybe not? But there was something about him that piqued her curiosity. What led him to be this way? Maybe there wasn’t an answer, this is just who he was. Did it even matter? It wasn’t likely he’d let her find out either way.

Why do you keep trying? Everytime you think you make things better they just get worse. Vi’s voice cut through the chatter like a blade. Where was that quiet little voice when she needed it? Maybe she was just imagining that one, telling herself what she wanted to hear.

“I’m trying my best.” she defended. “I just… I just always manage to screw it up… I’m sorry, Vi.” Once more, her thoughts drifted back to that cell. Vi telling her she could use her talents for good. Jinx wanted to believe her, she really did. But it never seemed to work out. This was just who she was, a curse bound to destroy whatever it comes into contact with.

“Who’s Vi?”

Jinx quickly wiped the swelling tears away from her eyes and whipped her head around, looking across her shoulder to see Ruko standing in the crumbling but stable doorway, leaning against his shoulder. “Nobody.” her voice low. She expected him to probe further. But he didn’t.

“Look, I guess I should say… thank you.” His words sounded stilted. “You know, for not letting me die earlier. Honestly though I’m not sure why you bothered.”

Jinx let out a low laugh, “That makes two of us.”

Ruko returned his own quiet laugh.

“I thought you’d be gone, me not wanting anything to do with you.” Jinx said.

“I considered it. Very heavily. But, as much as it pains me to admit it, I need your help. So, here I am.”

“Your sure about that?” Jinx’s voice remained low, repentant, “Seeing as I keep screwing things up for you.”

“I mean, yeah. I wouldn’t even be in this mess if you hadn’t shown up.” he reminded her, entirely unnecessarily. “But since I am in this mess, might as well take whatever I can get.”

“If you insist.” she wasn’t going to argue with him.

“Since I’m not going anywhere…” he diverted the conversation, “Where am I supposed to sleep?”

“Sleep? Oh. I hadn’t really got that far.”

“Of course not.”

“You could sleep on the floor. Or against the wall. Or perched on one of those old statues out there.”

Ruko huffed, before reaching into the bag at his side and pulling something out. It was too dark to make out what it was from where Jinx was. “Catch.” Ruko threw a something vaguely round at Jinx, who caught it with no problem. Now that it was in her hands, she could see it was a fruit, red in colour. “I managed to snatch a few coins from Finley’s quarters. And I was hungry.”

Jinx chuckled, admiring the fruit. She realised she hadn’t actually eaten for a couple of days at this point. “Thanks.” she acknowledged in a low mumble.

“Don’t get used to it.”

“I won’t Dummy.”

No one spoke for what could’ve been hours but was almost certainly a few seconds. “Hey…” Ruko began again, “I don’t know you, and I don’t think I really want to. But things like trust? It only ends up hurting you. Believe me.” There was a sad sense of conviction in his voice.

What happened to you? The question swirled around her mind. But for the first time since they met, admittedly not that long ago, they weren’t at each other’s throats, and she decided she’d enjoy that while it lasted. She had a feeling the question would only serve to piss him off. Jinx didn’t know where this attitude had come from, but she wasn’t complaining. Maybe he was just tired. She certainly was, it had been a hell of a day.

“Look, tomorrow we’ll get this stone and be done with each other.” Ruko backed away down the hall, and Jinx turned her head forward again, looking back down at her hands, a fruit held in one, the gemstone in the other. She was struggling to figure him out, though that kind of seemed like the point. He had been angry, stubborn and entirely self-centred. And yet, there seemed to be something more there. He had practically just proven it. And it made her curious. Not that he’d ever open up to her or anything. That would require him to like her first, which was definitely off the table by now.

Not like any of that really mattered either way. Tomorrow they’d be done with this little team-up of theirs, and they’d go off on their separate ways. That was assuming Gangplank didn’t kill them both anyway. He’d be off by himself again, and she’d have to go back to trying to find herself or whatever the hell she was actually trying to do. This had been a… good wasn’t the right word… it had been a distraction from everything else. Part of her didn’t want this to end so soon…

Chapter Text

“You’re right. It isn’t discrete at all.” Ruko commented as he led the pair of them through dingy backstreets. Of course, he was referring to the hood currently sitting over Jinx’s head, coloured purple and decorated with shark teeth around it’s opening. It wasn’t for hiding, but it was never meant to be. It covered up her rather bright hair sure, but it was mostly just trading one obvious feature for another.

She smiled under the hood. “I don’t really do subtle.”

“You don’t say.” Ruko replied, adjusting his course around a group of armed pirates as they walked along the warmly lit street. Jinx followed suit. Looking around her, she hadn’t realised just how tall the cliff sides were, casting a very large shadow. It was late morning now, they had set off later than they’d probably intended to because Ruko was too busy sleeping. Jinx on the other hand hadn’t slept in. Quite the opposite in fact, she hadn’t slept at all. It was far from unusual for her not to; her dreams often gave her no respite, only further torment. So she avoided them as much as she really could.

Jinx hadn’t really had a chance to take in the scope of the city around her yet. They had ascended up the cliffside a small way, but with how massive they were they might as well still be right at the bottom. The city covered the cliff faces, and stretched out across the various rock formations and arches protruding from the island. There was scarcely an empty space left. If it could fit a building, there was one stuck onto the side somewhere. Numerous wooden platforms and rope bridges connected the constructions in many different directions above them. Even just looking up at them, Jinx felt more at ease down here. It was a layout much more akin to what she was used to.

Unlike the docks, where the smell of dead fish was abundant, around here it was a more pleasant, though still nowhere close to actually being pleasant, smell of smoke and saltwater. A small bit of sunlight brought a brief reprieve from the oppressive gloom of the city, for as long as it managed to peek past the rocks and cliffs. The Undercity never really got sunlight either, but this was different. Sunlight was never really going to get down there to begin with. Here, it was like the upper levels of the city actively worked to keep the sun away from the people who lived at the bottom, to keep it for themselves. But occasionally, the sun would win and break through, if only briefly.

Ruko led them up a narrow stairway between two creaking buildings, and out onto another street further up. He gestured forward, “There it is, Serpent Bridge.” Just ahead of them lay a very obviously old bridge. It looked old enough to be ancient. It spanned out quite a way ahead of them, crossing the wide channel of water below, the bridge high enough to allow a ship’s mast to pass underneath. The bridge itself looked to be made entirely of cobblestone, uneven on it’s application. The way it was assembled made it look as though the bridge was constantly swirling, spiralling. That would explain the name.

What awaited them on the other side was the most interesting. Compared to the rickety and ad hoc city that was Bilgewater, lying just across the water was a much more natural sight. The land was green, covered by a thick forest and surrounded by comparatively bare, jagged cliffs. It was a stark contrast to the lawless haven situated next to it. Directly ahead of them, at the far end of the bridge lay a large stone temple, similar in it’s construction not only to the Serpent Bridge, but to the old ruins Jinx had initially taken refuge in.

Beginning the trek across the bridge, they passed a surprising number of people, most dressed in religious looking robes. Many of them much meeker than the usual fare in Bilgewater, even then some of them looked like they could still put up a fight if they wanted to. The bridge seemed to just go on and on, forever and ever. It was the kind of length where you’d feel like you’d be almost there, just to look forward and realise you were only around half way across. And there was no way to speed the crossing up either. She needed something else to think about.

“What about that one?” she asked.

“Huh?” Ruko grunted.

“Is that the one who took the stone from you?” she nodded her head towards a random priestess she had picked out walking along the bridge.

“No.”

“What about that one?” Jinx motioned to another.

“No.”

“Maybe it was that—”

“No. It wasn’t. And it wasn’t this one here, or that one over there either.” His demand was clear. Stop asking. So she changed the subject. Kinda.

“Why would a priestess steal the stone anyway? What would they even want with it?”

“How would I know?” he replied, annoyed.

They carried on some distance across the bridge, neither one of them saying anything more. That was until Jinx noticed Ruko looking at her, disapprovingly. “What now?”

“Do you really need all of those?” Ruko asked, pointing at the bandolier of explosives strapped across her body.

“Obviously.” she laughed. “Ya never know when you’ll need to blow something up. Or someone.”

“How many people could you possibly be planning to blow up with all that?”

“They’re not all bombs. Just most of them.” she smirked.

“Uh huh.” Ruko sounded unconvinced. “So which one is which?”

Jinx’s face lit up at the question. Regardless of whether or not he actually cared, she quickly reached for her signature explosive first. “Remember what this one’s called?” she asked, juggling it in one hand repeatedly.

“No idea.” he said, slightly apprehensive of the blasé attitude she was showing the explosive.

“Ugh, were you listening to anything I said in that stupid dungeon?” Jinx exclaimed, very visibly frustrated.

“Not really. Last thing I wanted to do in that hole was talk to you.”

“And now?”

“Not the last thing, but it’s pretty damn close.”

“Hah, I knew it. I’m growing on you.” she teased.

“Oh no no no, you’re not, trust me. You just happen to not be quite the worst thing in Runeterra.”

“Whatever, Dummy.” She knew the truth. Or at least, that thinking that would probably piss him off, and that thought was fun. “Well, what do you think it’s called?” she asked, holding out the grenade for him to look at.

Ruko furrowed his brows, looking at the device without getting too close, examining the distinctive teeth shaped contraption. “I dunno, Jaws?”

“No, you idiot. It’s a Chomper. Get it? Because these chomp.” she pointed at the jaw mechanism.

Ruko didn’t say anything back, he just flashed a stupid, cocky grin.

“You knew.” she declared. “You got it wrong on purposes didn’t you?”

“Nope.”

“Yes you did!” She lightly punched his arm..

“I really didn’t.” he denied again. “It’s just funny how much you care about a bomb.”

“You’re such an asshole.” she groaned.

“Never said I wasn’t.”

Jinx huffed as she strapped the Chomper back in its place, taking another device in her hands. “This one is a Mouser.” she continued, showing off the painted face on the front.

“What, does it squeak?”

“No. It’s a nail bomb. When it blows up, it throws sharp little nails everywhere! So uh, don’t stand near it.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”

“I haven’t come up with a name for this one yet,” she said, replacing the Mouser with a more cylindrical object, “But it creates a big smoke cloud.” Jinx grinned at Ruko, “See? They’re not all lethal.”

Ruko smirked, “Alright fine, you have one that isn’t just for painfully killing people.”

“More than one.” she corrected him, grabbing another device, this one was a small, round canister. “I call this one a Firelight.” The name came from the people she… borrowed the idea from.

“What, uh… what does that do?” he asked hesitantly. She assumed he just didn’t like the sound of it.

“It’s got this orange gooey crystal stuff inside it. When it explodes, the crystals grow around the first thing they hit.”

“What does that do?” he repeated his question.

“It traps people. So they can’t move.” She simplified as she stowed the Firelight. It hadn’t really been tested though. She had managed to make a few of them, but the materials needed were hard to come by, so she had been keeping them for when she really needed it. Still, if the Firelights had made theirs work, then surely her contraption would as well.

Ruko shook his head and scoffed. Out of unique explosives to show off, Jinx rewinded the conversation back by about a minute, “So, what is it?”

“What’s what?” Ruko asked, the confusion evident.

“If it ain’t talking to me, what’s the last thing you wanna be doing right now?”

“Answering this question.”

“Come on, I’m serious.” she pleaded.

“I don’t know…” Ruko huffed, “Lifting heavy cargo all day.” he shrugged.

“Really? That’s it? Just carrying big boxes? That’s the last thing you want to be doing right now?”

“Yep.” He didn’t elaborate. Instead he looked back at Jinx, who was visibly annoyed. “My answer not good enough for you?”

“I was just hoping for something more exciting, like wrestling a monster! Or like, being stuck in a burning building. Ya know, that kinda thing.”

“Sorry, that’s my answer.” Ruko smirked ever so slightly. “But those wouldn’t be far off.”

They carried on, inching across the expansive bridge, inching closer and closer to the other side, the temple growing larger and larger ahead of them. The nearer they got, the more Jinx could see the sheer size of it, especially compared to the small ruins they had just come from. The walls were decorated with ornate and intricate carvings into the stone of a myriad of different snakes. Wrapping and weaving around each other, the snakes were painted in vibrant colours, standing out against the grey backdrop. The snakes framed a two large grand doors at the top of a short set of steps. The doors half open each, led through to a what looked to be a spacious courtyard within. The pair stopped at the end of the bridge, just short of the steps leading up and into the temple.

“So? What’s the plan?” Jinx asked, looking around for a way to sneak in.

“We walk in.” Ruko replied, pointing towards the doors.

“Really? Booooring.” Jinx sighed.

“Boring is safe.”

She rolled her eyes, “Besides, won’t we get caught?”

“Walking in the open front door?” Ruko gestured to the myriad of people coming and going, “Not if we’re quiet about it. No one will notice.”

Jinx shrugged and let him lead the way. She’d do it his way for now. Ruko climbed the steps up to the doors, and Jinx followed behind him. They passed through the gap between the large, heavy looking wood doors and entered into a short passageway. At the other end, they came out into a large, and rather colourful garden courtyard. Neatly kept plants lined the pathways winding through trees and past the small ponds that filled the centre. Along the edges lay the main structures of the temple itself. Doorways led off to different places, of which Jinx had no knowledge, and the walls and pillars were decorated with murals and banners, prominently displaying the motif of a four tentacled kraken.

“What now?” Jinx could already tell this place was large, and they had absolutely nothing to go on other than that the stone was here. Somewhere.

Ruko took off along the outer edge of the gardens, “It’s magic, right?” he asked, keeping his voice down.

“Apparently.”

“So… a place like this, you don’t just leave that kind of thing lying around.” They passed by several people, worshippers mostly, as they navigated the perimeter. “They’ll probably be keeping it locked away somewhere. Somewhere secure, out of sight.”

“How do you even know this?”

“I don’t.” They arrived at one door a fair way around the outside, pretty well obscured from view by the rest of the gardens. “Call it a hunch.” he added, as he pushed the door open and slipped inside.

Jinx followed him in, letting the door swing closed behind her. The small room wasn’t very well lit, the only light coming in through the high set windows on either side of the door. Just ahead, lay a much larger chamber. Presumably everything connected to each other.

Ruko stopped ahead of her and turned back to face her. “We need to be silent. Our voices will carry in here so not a word.” he instructed very softly. “Got it?”

“Ye—”

“Not. A. Word.”

Jinx nodded, smiling to deprive him of the total satisfaction of shutting her up. He nodded back and led the way, out of the small space and into the much more expansive halls ahead of them. The chambers they passed through were dark, the only light coming from dim candles along the walls and pillars, and the occasional gap in the roof, letting sunlight stream down in concentrated patches. They seemed to all blur together in her mind.

They arrived in a more central chamber, if Jinx’s sense of direction was working in here, she figured they were on the opposite side of the garden from the entrance now. Voices seemed to linger in the halls, though no body was seen to accompany them. Towards the rear wall, Ruko’s attention was grabbed by an entryway, different from the others they had been moving through. Where those ones had just been plain frames, this passage was framed by the face of a kraken, like the icons outside, its tentacles wrapping around the frame. As they came to the beginning of the passage, it didn’t go forward, rather down. A long staircase stood in front of them, going far enough down that they couldn’t see the bottom.

“Whadya think’s down there?” Jinx whispered, breaking the rule imposed on her.

“No clue.” he whispered in return, then began his descent. Jinx took a look behind to make sure no one had walked in and spotted them. When she was satisfied they remained undetected, she followed the way down behind him. A musty odour assaulted them as they kept on straight and down, deeper into the temple, far down into the earth by now. Even though no one seemed to be down here, every step was light, and no words exchanged. Arriving at the feet of the stairs, what looked like a large ceremonial chamber greeted them, decorated much like the rest of this heap.

“Woah.” Jinx feigned a gasped, entirely unimpressed. Again the only light came from torches arranged neatly along the walls. A plinth sat in the centre of a circular seal on the floor, serpents defining its surface.

“There.” Ruko pointed to the far side of the room. A massive stone door slightly protruded from the opposite wall, once again decorated with snakes. Because these people couldn’t make it any more creative, could they?

“It’s got to behind there.” he said, crossing the room with haste to examine the obstacle in their way. He ran his hand across its surface, tracing over the designs adorning its surface, his fingers getting caught in the cracks and wear. Despite the age it still looked impenetrable, but maybe—

“It’s sealed tight. And it’s thick too.” Ruko commented.

“No shit. It’s not like they were going to leave their big ancient door open for us.” Jinx snapped at him.

“Keep your voice down.” he hushed her. She hadn’t even realised she raised her voice. “We’re trying not to be found, remember?”

“Pffft. Whatever.” She replied, lowering her voice.

Ruko redirected his attention to the door while Jinx paced back and forth behind him. Her focus was centred on the stairs they had just come down, waiting for one of those serpent gooks to come along and find them out. She doubted it would be anything she couldn’t handle, but she really wanted to avoid another argument about screwing things up. So she’d bite her tongue and keep her gun away. For now.

“I can’t find a mechanism.” Ruko spoke again, standing back from the door.

“So how the hell do you open it?”

“I don’t know… If I had to guess…”

“Guess?” she interupted.

“I’m sorry if I’m not an expert on this, I don’t make a habit of breaking into ancient temples.”

Jinx rolled her eyes, “Go on.”

“If I had to guess…” he repeated, “I’d say it’s locked with some form of magic.”

“Ugh, of course it is.” she scoffed. “I’m so sick of all this arcane, magic-y bullshit.”

“Boo hoo, doesn’t change the fact this door is locked up tight.”

Jinx eyes lit up with an idea, “I could blow it up.”

“Blow it—” he started to repeat, stopping to quieten himself, “Blow it up? Seriously?”

“I have explosives, remember?” Jinx replied, reaching for one of the Chompers strapped across her chest.

“No!” Ruko whispered harshly. He began to reach to take the grenade off her before he hesitated, seemingly wary of touching the bomb, instead grabbing her wrist and moving it away. “You do know explosions are loud, right?”

“Uh yeah, that’s kind of the point.”

Ruko shook his head, “We’re not blowing it up.” He told her, releasing his grip on her wrist.

Jinx groaned in disappointment, “So what’s your big smart plan to get in then?”

“I… don’t have one.” he admitted. “There, I don’t have an answer for everything, happy?”

“Eh.” she shrugged her shoulders.

Ruko turned back to look at the door again. “Maybe we’re in the wrong place… maybe it’s not even in here.”

“Are you kidding?” Jinx asked, “Magical door hidden underground, of course the magic rock thing is on the other side.”

“We don’t know that…” Ruko responded, trying to give himself some hope.

“Yes we do.” Jinx smirked at him. “Admit it, you just don’t want to accept my way is the only way.”

“No, it’s not—”

“Two souls trespass where they should not!” a voice bellowed out behind them, interrupting the admission Jinx was waiting for. Slightly disappointed, Jinx twisted around to face the stairs. An imposing figure descended them, a green glow emanating from the large object she carried with her, it looked like a gold… face? A massive idol of some kind?

“You will be tested.” the figure spoke again, “Prove yourselves, or die down here. Nagakabouros demands it.”

Jinx took a couple of steps back, brining herself to stand next to Ruko. “This wasn’t me this time.” she preempted his accusations, reaching for the gun at her side.

“Yeah, sure.” He pulled his knife from its sheath, gripping its hilt tightly as their opponent approached them. The woman in front of them was huge, dressed much like the other priestess’ they’d seen. Her eyes glowed green, and intricate tattoos decorated her muscular physique. It seemed to bear no effort at all for her to lift the massive idol in her hand. Still, it couldn’t be anything a few bullets couldn’t handle, right?

“Is she the one?” Jinx asked half jokingly.

“What? No.” His reply was dismissive, focused entirely on the threat in front of him.

Jinx pointed her gun straight ahead, and pulled the trigger, firing a round straight into her head… well it should’ve been. In the instant that took place between the projectile leaving the barrel and reaching the target, a green force knocked the bullet away. Instead of lodging itself within flesh and blood, it found itself embedded within rock far off target.

The woman smiled, “My God protects me. Does yours?”

You’ve gotta be shitting me. Jinx grimaced. Just like that, things weren’t looking quite so easy. Should she have seen it coming? Probably. Just shooting the woman dead would have made things trivial. She wished it could’ve been.

“No god has ever done anything for me.” Ruko declared off to her side. He tightened the grip on his knife and chargedforward.

What the hell? What was he going to do to her? And Jinx thought she was the suicidally reckless one.

Ruko lunged forward, swiping and slashing the blade at the large woman, who managed to move her body out of the way of some of the attacks. The others were deflected once again by that green aura. She swung the massive idol at Ruko, but he shifted himself out of its path, looking to land more stabs and cuts where he could. It was beginning to look like a stalemate. The priestess was heavier and stronger, but Ruko’s comparatively smaller size and agility kept him out of harms way. He was holding his own quite well, but every move of his needed to be perfect.

Jinx took the opportunity presented by their duel, aiming high to avoid hitting Ruko, she fired another shot at the priestess. There was no deflection this time, the bullet cutting across the surface of her shoulder. Oh goodie, her god powers aren’t totally limitless. Amazing. She fired again, once more the bullet ricocheted off to the side. Simultaneously, Ruko swiped his knife across her thigh, the steel finally making contact with flesh. Jinx figured whatever was protecting her could only do so for in one place at a time. He continued to dance around her, trying to find another opening to strike while Jinx kept firing until her gun ran empty. Unfortunately, the opening never materialised. Instead his footing slipped slightly on the smoother tile of the seal, and that was it. The priestess landed a strike on him with her open hand, before kicking him across the room into the stone wall. There Ruko lay on the cold floor, barely stirring, still alive. Maybe.

This could’ve been going better. Any slight pang of concern Jinx might’ve felt for him was quickly and overwhelmingly drowned out by the immediate threat now standing in front of her. The priestess seemed not to notice the flesh wounds she had received. Quickly reloading her weapon, Jinx readied for the main event. “Look lady, you should just give up now. I’ve fought tougher.” she taunted.

“Ha!” the priestess laughed, “Prove it.”

The adrenaline surged once more, challenge accepted. Jinx was ready to fight. How she was going to win, she had no clue. She’d just make it up as she went. Pulling the trigger on her gun once more, she fired one… two… three more shots, all ricocheting ain different directions. The priestess lunged forward, swinging the idol across her body. Jinx ducked, zipping across the priestess’ side to get behind her. Gliding across the smooth floor, her feet came to a stop behind the priestess, who truly towered over her now. Now how was she going to win on her own? Anything she’d try would just be reflected. She knew that the priestess could only do that for one attack at any time… maybe if she moved fast enough, she could break though.

Usually people this big lumbered around, throwing their weight at you, trying to squash you. But the priestess was much more intentional, precise. She swung the idol back around behind her, reorienting to face her opponent. Jinx dodged with a back step, then charged forward into a follow up swing. Jinx went to the ground, ducking below the swinging idol and sliding between the priestess’ legs. She reached for the Firelight strapped at the end of the bandolier. As she came to the end of her brief slide, Jinx reached up and slapped the grenade onto the priestess’ lower back, ripping the pin out as she pulled away.

In short order, the device detonated into a large cluster of orange crystals, quickly stretching across much of the priestess’ body. But not enough. They should’ve covered her completely, kept her from moving… she must’ve been too big, it just wasn’t enough. Still, it’d slow her down. Enough for Jinx to do something. She dashed forward at her opponent, who was struggling against the restraint she now found herself in. Jinx went in low first, punching one place and then kicking another as close to the same time as possible with her speed. The first hit didn’t connect, but the second landed, her foot slamming into the priestess’ knee. It worked. Jinx did it again. And again. And again. While the priestess fought to regain control. It was like her own little dance, moving from one place to the next in an instant. If only Ruko could see—

Without warning, the crystal prison shattered, and leaving no time to react, the idol swung around and collided with Jinx. She was launched through the air, rolling as she landed. The hit sapped the energy out of her completely, as she lay on her side panting, the adrenaline fading. It felt as though she had been wrapped in a cold fog, unwilling to let her go.

“Swim. Or drown…” she heard the priestess speak in a faint echo. Rolling off her side, Jinx went to push herself up off the tiled floor when she submerged her hand in water. Looking down, she saw that what was the floor a moment ago was now water.

“Huh?” she murmured to herself as she looked up to where the priestess had hit her from. The priestess was gone, and what had once been the chamber they were in had been replaced by a seemingly endless expanse of water, lit under a night sky. What the hell was going on? Where was she? How was she even here? She slowly stood up, the water ankle deep, and surveyed her surroundings, or rather lack of surroundings. There was nothing here. Great, this annoying priestess had banished her to some stupid empty void. Jinx groaned, magic sucked.

“Have you had enough?” a familiar voice called out from behind.

Jinx turned in to face whatever direction the question had come from in this infinite pool. Finding the source, she spotted a tall figure ahead of her, well dressed and… no, it’s not. She froze, her head trying to make sense of what she was seeing. No. No it can’t be. This isn’t… he’s not real. He’s dead. “S- Silco?” she stammered.

“Quite the mess you’ve made.” he began to slowly approach her, the water rippling as he walked forward. Was this all in her head? It had to be. But… it didn’t feel like it. Whenever he’d talk, she could feel it within her. She couldn’t feel this.

“That’s… what I do.” she remarked with loathing. If this wasn’t in her head then… how? Could it be… was it really him? She didn’t dare believe it.

‘Silco’ continued his approach, “What are you running from, Jinx?”

“I’m— I’m not running from anything.” She folded her arms, directing her gaze to the rippling water at his feet.

“But you are. Don’t you see it?” His stride was constant as he closed the distance.

“Ugh, fine, I mess things up and then I run away. Happy now?” She made the admission stubbornly, slamming her eyes shut as he got closer, desperate to look at anything else.

“Ah. But that’s not the truth, is it?” he interrogated, standing right in front of her now. “You’re running from yourself.” He placed his hand on her arm.

The contact caused Jinx to flinch, forcing her eyes open. She looked down at his hand. The touch, it felt… real. But it couldn’t… no, it was. Jinx slowly let herself look up at the slender face before her. It was exactly as she remembered it, even down to the makeup he used to hide that stupid scar over his eye. She never could work out why he cared about it so much. But that hardly mattered now. He was here, alive… or whatever this was. Jinx launched herself at him, wrapping hr arms around him as tears welled up in her eyes. “I’m sorry.” were the only words she could muster, muffled as she spoke into his vest. “For everything.”

Silco reciprocated the hug, his arms holding her close. “Don’t apologise.” he said, his voice soft, warm, caring. “You never need to apologise. You’re perfect in every way.”

It had been a long time since anyone had spoken to Jinx like this. But… she wanted to believe him, but she knew it was wrong. “I was a screwup.” she snuffled. How could she be perfect? She hurt people, messed things up, got things wrong all the damn time. “I still am. I’ve been trying, I really have but… I keep screwing it up.”

“Why are you trying to change?” his tone shifted slightly cooler. “There was nothing wrong with you.”

“Yes, there was.” Jinx pulled her head away to look up at Silco, “I hurt everyone I ever knew. You, Vi, Isha…” she paused, the pain particularly visceral.

“Is it to please your sister? The only one you didn’t get killed?”

Jinx pushed herself back, out of the hug, away from Silco. “She believed in me! She would still if she…”

“What? If she knew you weren’t dead?” he answered correctly. “It’ll never be enough for her, you must realise that. That’s why you let her think you died, isn’t it?”

This wasn’t much different then what her ‘friends’ told her regularly. Yet it hurt far more. She wanted to go back to thinking he wasn’t really there, but he had felt so real. She wasn’t manifesting her own doubts and fears this time. Someone else was telling her these things. Silco was telling her these things.

“Stop fighting who you are, Jinx.” he commanded her. “Stop trying to be someone you’re not, it will only be failure after failure.” His voice had grown much colder now, more detached.

For a moment, she considered it. Every attempt so far had been a disaster. On and on. It would be easier to stop trying. To just be. But she hated who she was. All that pain and misery. She wanted to be rid of it. Vi’s words echoed through her head. Use all that explosive potential for good, maybe we could rewrite your story…

“No.” Jinx responded defiantly. “I’m not going to stop. I’m done being her. I don’t know who I’ll be, just not her anymore.”

Silco laughed. The expanse rumbled, and Jinx blinked. When her eyes opened, she was somewhere else, somewhere new… No, no it wasn’t. It took a second to see through the dark, but she recognised this place. It was the cannery, where everything went to shit all those years ago.

“Why do you resist it?” The question echoed through the old structure.

Jinx spun around to see the long table she had set up, arranged exactly as she had remembered it. At the far end Vi sat, bound to the chair. That was right. But Silco stood next to her. “You gave her a choice then. And she didn’t choose you. Why would she now?”

“Because I’m trying!”

“So you keep saying. When will you be able to stop? You will always be trying because you will never be what you want to be.” His words were harsh, crushing.

“No, no I can be. I know I can be.” her voice wavered ever so slightly, undercutting the conviction.

“You need to make a choice, Jinx.” Silco reached forward, picking up a gun that had been sitting at the end of the table, her old gun. He pressed the barrel against the side of Vi’s head, his finger hovering over the trigger.

“No!” Jinx yelled out, pulling her own gun to bear on Silco. Her breathing was quick now, and her body trembled. “Leave her out of this!”

“How can I? You’re the reason she’s here. She’s why you insist on this foolish endeavour.”

“Just… just don’t shoot her. Please.” Jinx pleaded, her voice wobbly.

“You have a choice.” he ignored the plea. “Accept who you’re meant to be and let her die. Or kill me.”

“Please…” she asked again. She dreaded killing him again, but the thought of losing Vi… Again...

“Three…” he began counting down.

“Stop…”

“Two…”

“Don’t do this!” Tears began to roll down her cheeks.

“One…”

Jinx shut her eyes and squeezed the trigger, the shot echoing out throughout the cannery. She was hesitant to open them again, seeing Silco dead once was already more than enough. But she needed to know. Shaking, she pried her eyes open. The tall figure of Silco no longer stood where he had been, but Vi remained in the chair. Alive. Jinx breathed a sigh of relief, despite having just killed Silco again.

“Well done.” an ethereal voice rung out behind her, accompanied by a rhythmic clapping. Jinx turned to see the figure of Silco once more, this time his scarred eye glowed green. “You are in motion.”

“Huh?” Jinx rubbed her eyes, still watery. “The hell is this?” she asked, her voice shakey.

“You may live.” he continued, ignoring her question. “Now go.”

“No no, what is—” Before she could finish, she blinked, and when she opened her eyes again, she was lying on the dark cold floor, back under the temple. Remembering how she got here, adrenaline began to kick in and she rolled onto her back to look at the room around her. What she saw was the priestess towering over her, her hand outstretched, offering a way up.

“You swim well.”