Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was supposed to be an easy mission. Go in, get the stuff, head out before they are seen.

Easy, right. Now she only wants to scoff at the idea.

When people look up to you, you don’t get to be selfish.

She wants to punch something right. Anything, it doesn’t matter what as long as she can get her frustration out.

But whatever happens, it’s on you.

She knows that, damn it! But it isn’t fair! Why must they stay silent and lay low all the time when Pilties can live their life happily without a care in the world? Why must they keep dying one after the other, either from starvation or because of the fucking air they are constantly surrounded with, while the rich, fancy people of Topside never have to worry about a single thing?!

She sits in the old, worn out couch, a hand on her temple as she contemplates throwing her anger out on a punching bag, as she usually does. She is just about to get up and actually do it when the door opens again and Vander walks in.

He takes one long look at her before sighing while she averts her gaze to the ground.

“You still mad, Vi?”

She scoffs, rolling her eyes but refusing to look up at the man.

“Listen—”

But she never gets to hear the end of his sentence because his words are blurred. She frowns, looking up at him confused. Vander is still looking at her with those same eyes that would tell her he understands but he still disapproves, his mouth is still moving and he seems to still be talking normally. However, what comes out of his mouth is just gibberish she doesn’t understand, words slurred over the others, sentences that she can’t comprehend because most of the words don’t even make sense.

“Vander, what—?” she tries to interrupt him, straightening up and lowering her hand from her temple.

He is still talking, although now he is also frowning. From the look on his face, he seems to be concerned too, but Vi can tell it is not for the same reasons as her. She tries to read his lips, decipher what he is saying, and all she can make out is “what is going on? Is everything alright?”

She rubs her hands against her ears, trying to make the sounds clearer but to no avail. She still can’t hear correctly, and Vander still doesn’t seem to notice there is an issue, that what he is saying makes absolutely no sense.

She abruptly gets up, swaying a little on her feet and she can see Vander’s openly concerned face now, throwing his hands out to catch her, steady her if she is to fall.

The world around her starts spinning, and Vi doesn’t know what is going on. Her breath is coming in shorter and distantly, she realizes she is panicking. She throws wild looks around the room, tries to hold onto something but when her hands touch the nearest object — the couch’s arms — they phase right through.

She tries to call out to Vander, but by now the world around her is completely blurred and she can’t distinguish anything anymore. She opens her mouth to scream, call for him in one last, desperate, panicked attempt, but the words refuse to get out, stuck in her throat.

Before long, dark spots start appearing in her vision and everything turns completely black.

When she comes to again, her head is throbbing and her body feels heavy. She groans, feeling the hard, cold, uncomfortable ground under her. It takes her a few seconds to open her eyes but eventually she does. Her vision is blurry at first, but as soon as her gaze focuses on the very unfamiliar ceiling, she bolts upright.

Vi groans, putting a hand on her hand to stop the world from spinning. She throws quick looks around, turning around to be able to catch a quick of as much corners as she could. She is in a unfamiliar place, indeed. There is one big black screen and many fancy couches facing it. The room was big, but not too big either. Most importantly, she couldn’t see any doors or windows.

It strikes her, then, that the room is fancier than anything she can ever find in the Undercity. Immediately, her first thought is she was found. Somehow, Enforcers found her and brought her back to Piltover where they threw her in this random room and blocked her there.

Not that it makes much sense, but Vi struggles to come up with another scenario that would explain how she came to be where she currently is.

She feels her heart rate pick up as she nervously bites her lip, thinking about Vander and her siblings. She needs to find a way to get out, she needs to go back to the Undercity, back to her family and to everyone else. She imagines they must be worried sick by now.

How long has she been kept here? How much time passed since she was brought here? Was she unconscious for long?

As those questions raced through her mind, sweat pooling down her face, body tense and ready for a fight, her eyes dance from one direction to the other in search of an escape route, anything that could help her escape this situation.

It is only because she is so focused that she notices the slight intake of breath somewhere behind her. She swivels around, sharp eyes landing immediately on the silhouette that just emerged from the darkness.

Vi doesn’t think, she immediately rushes forward and clasps a hand around that person’s throat, pushing who she now notices is a girl around her age against the wall. Glaring light grey eyes lock into terrified blue, and Vi snarls.

“Who’re you? Where are we?!”

The girl opens her mouth but fails miserably at saying anything. Vi takes a better look at the other girl. Dark hair, a face that screams posh, and clothes that can be nothing other than Piltover’s finest. Vi doesn’t stop the sneer from forming on her face, but she does slightly release her grip on the other’s throat.

 “Do you know anything about this place?” Vi asks again, and the girl coughs, drawing in as much air as she can with her airways still slightly blocked.

“R-release me right this instant,” is all she says, glaring at Vi with the most intimidating look she can muster. It makes Vi scoff. Even the way she speaks is so ridiculously posh.

“Or what, you gonna call the Enforcers, Cupcake?”

The girl gulps. “I-I’ll scream.”

The idea seems so ridiculous that for a moment Vi wants to laugh, but then she remembers she was practically kidnapped and has no idea where she is while Vander is probably somewhere in the Undercity freaking the hell out because she disappeared right in front of him and now she thinks that maybe something happened to him as well. And to Powder, and to Mylo and Claggor.

“Try it, I’ll punch you.”

No matter how pretty the girl may be, Vi will do it. Usually, she abstains from violence against innocent people, but the girl is a Topsider: Topsiders are never innocent. For every breath they take, a trencher dies because of the toxic gases. For every meal they have, someone from the undercity starves to death.

The girl gulps, fear shining more prominently in her eyes. With one last snarl. Vi lets her go. The girl falls to the floor, coughing madly and catching her breath. Vi crouches down, determined to see if she could squeeze some information out of the other.

“So, Cupcake,” she starts again, grabbing her by the chin and the girl is forced to look at her, trying again to appear menacing and failing miserably. It could almost be endearing. Almost. “You have any idea where we are?”

But before the girl can respond, a sudden flash appears on their left and they both turn to look. Vi has to shield her eyes from the too bright light, and when she looks again it is to the sight of a woman. Another Piltovan, she notes immediately.

It doesn’t take long for the woman to gather her bearings. She takes one look at the girl on the ground as well as Vi towering over her, and she goes livid.

“Get away from my daughter, trencher!”

“Mother!” the girl screams, and Vi scrambles away as if burned.

The woman runs towards the girl and embraces her, all the while throwing Vi a glare so ferocious she is certain she would have been turned to ash in an instant if the woman had any power.

The thought is a terrifying one, and suddenly Vi feels extremely alone. The woman stands in front of her daughter protectively, hiding her behind the skirt of her dress, looking like a warrior ready to defend all that she holds dear.

Vi glares back because she would be damned if she let the woman know she has the slightest of impact on her. It’s just a woman and her daughter, Vi has faced much tougher in the Undercity, she knows she can defend herself, she knows she can win this fight if it came to it.

“Where are we, girl?” she asks coldly, looking at Vi imperially.

It makes her blood boil with anger. She throws her hands in the air. “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out!” she ends up screaming. She wouldn’t be stuck here with two Topsiders if she had the choice. No, she would be in her home, under the Last Drop, talking with the other three children who reside here with her while they wait for Vander to finish his shift for the day. They would complain about how unfair it is they have to stay stuck in this room and lay low for a while because fucking Enforcers are looking for them. They would discuss their mission gone catastrophic, then Mylo would get angry at Powder as he usually does and Vi would reprimand him for it because no one, no one was allowed to talk like this about Powder. Much less in Vi’s presence.

Instead, she is stuck in this room with two of the most disgusting people this world has to offer, two people she would very much like to see out of her way.

Another flash appears, and this time five people are standing between the two groups. Vi is dismayed to note they are all Pilties, and one of them is a fucking Enforcer.

All five of the newcomers are disoriented and Vi slowly backs in a corner before the attention can shift back to her. This is bad. Very bad. She could have won in a fight against two, but there is no way for her to win against seven. Not when one of them is an Enforcer

“Jayce?” she hears the girl call out, and one of the man with brown hair snaps his head to look at her as she peeks out from behind her mother’s skirt.

Vi notes the name and files it down. Who knows, she tells herself, it might prove to be useful later.

“Oh goodness, where are we?” the tiny Yordle speaks next, looking around the room.

The Enforcer is the one Vi is paying the most attention to, the one that can cause her the most problems.

“That is an excellent question, Professor,” answers the woman.

That tiny old Yordle? A Professor? If Vi wasn’t so nervous, she would have snorted. Or laughed.

“All I know is that this trencher was attacking my daughter when I got here,” she continues, pointing at Vi who curses.

She stops dead in her track, tensing all over as they all turn to look at her.

“Is that so?” asks the Enforcer. “Step into the light, child.”

Vi doesn’t want to, and she knows doing so would a horribly bad idea. She is outnumbered, they all know she is here, and if they know she was the one to raid that place…

“I don’t know where we are, either,” she ends up saying, refusing to move.

No, she will not show herself to them. She will stay in the shadows, hidden as much as she could until someone tried to drag her out of there or she found a way to get out. And let them dare to even lay a hand on her. She will fight with all she has, scratch and bite if she has to.

She scans the room with more fervor than before, silently praying for something, anything that could allow her to escape this place and go back to her family, her turf, her safe nest. Or, rather, as safe as the Undercity can get.

Surprisingly, her saving grace is the little girl. “She is telling the truth,” she speaks slowly, in a low voice that still echoes in the too silent room. “She got here after me.”

Vi feels herself breathe again when all gazes turned to the girl instead of her.

“Is that so, Ms. Kiramman?” the Enforcer asks. “And how did you get here?”

Before the girl could answer, the woman spoke again. “I don’t trust this, she had her hand around Caitlyn!”

Ah, so Caitlyn Kiramman it is. Cute name.

All eyes are back on her, and Vi feels like cursing again. She doesn’t feel sorry for the way she acted towards the Piltie, and she never will. She is very well aware she can’t say that, unfortunately, lest she wants to dig a deeper hole for herself. She doesn’t know what she is supposed to say, however, because she is acutely aware of the fact that whatever comes out of her mouth will be used against her by that woman, ready for anything to defend her daughter.

Vi can understand this, at least, herself ready to do anything to protect Powder. She brings her hands up, backing herself further into a corner. “Listen, you can’t fault me for reacting this way, can you?” she tries, wincing as soon as the words leave her mouth.

Way to sound weak, Vi, she chastises herself.

“You were attacking my daughter!” the woman, Miss Kiramman undoubtedly, screams at her.

“You would have done the same in my place!” she throws back, blood boiling, fists clenched, ready to throw hands.

Vi seethes, because how dare she? How dare she accuse Vi when she knows absolutely nothing about what happened? Vi being a trencher is enough evidence for her to be condemned, she assumes, and Vi absolutely loathes it. She only hates Topsiders more for it, for their prejudices and perfect prissy lives while she and the others suffer continuously, ignored and mistreated, forgotten, left to rot.

Vi is ready to bet this woman is an important figure Topside, judging by her expensive clothes and her way of holding herself. Not all Pilties act this refined, this distinguished, although they all have this air of superiority to them. More than that, Vi is almost certain this woman alone holds enough money to get the Undercity out of its misery and still have enough left for herself and her family. Instead, she chooses to live in luxury and leave the rest of them to die and watch her from afar, not even able to reach her level of stability in their dreams.

Miss Kiramman opens her mouth, ready to retaliate, more furious than ever, but the Enforcer puts a hand up, effectively silencing her. “Do you remember how you got here?” she simply asks, taking Vi aback.

She is torn between answering or staying silent. Is this some sort of trap? Why is she only asking Vi when she has six other people she could direct her question to, and leave Vi out of their little… reunion, or whatever it is?

“Come on, child, we won’t hurt you!” the Yordle tries to reassure her, although it does little.

Vi would sooner die and burn than trust Pilties.

“Why should I tell you?” she settles for in the end, and she can tell it frustrates the lot of them, leaving her greatly satisfied.

“Don’t play games with us,” seethes the woman, speaking the words in a way that lets Vi knows she is close to snapping again. She almost wants to annoy her further to see it, rile her up and get her angry just because Vi knows it would be fun. But before she can get another word out of her mouth, another light flashes.

And Vi’s jaw drop as instant relief fills her.

“Vander!” she screams, immediately getting the man’s attention.

He turns around so fast she is sure his back would have cracked if he was sitting. It takes him a total of two seconds to spot her, and as soon as he does a relieved smile flashes on his face, the worry etched on it disappearing.

“Vi! Thank Goodness you’re okay!”

He opens his arms wide and she forgets herself, forgets she is supposed to hide from the others. Or, no. She doesn’t forget— she knows Vander will protect her. She knows she is not alone now and if push comes to shove, Vander will be able to deescalate the situation. That seems to be a superpower of his.

So she runs towards him. It takes barely a few steps before she reaches him and throws herself in his arms. He closes them around her almost instantly and she breathes in, relishing in the sensation of his arms around her, protecting her, hiding her from the world. Although she will never admit it, she loves that about Vander. The man has this capacity of making you feel protected, at home, and Vi wouldn’t trade this feeling for anything in the world.

“You got me worried, kid, suddenly disappearing on me like that,” he whispers, but the sound carries around anyway. “What happened?”

She shrugs, burying deeper in his embrace. God, her heart is only now slowing down, she realizes. She looks around, glancing at the others who are unabashedly staring at them. Vander senses her hesitation and looks over his shoulder. He is silent for a short moment before he turns back to her and passes a hand on her hair. “You can speak, don’t worry about them.”

Vi can tell it offended the woman who narrows her eyes, the only indication she will ever give of being bothered, Vi guesses. She buries her head back into Vander’s arms and tries to ignore the world around them.

“I felt was perfectly fine, then everything became blurry and I found myself here,” she simply says, because she is unsure how to explain it better. She doesn’t really understand what happened, so she doesn’t know how she can even start explaining it. “How are you here?” she decides to ask instead of trying to elaborate further.

Vander sighs. “One moment you were there, the next you were dissipating right before my eyes,” he explains, and Vi can feel his grip on her tighten. “Then, I got a headache and the world started spinning around. And now, here I am.”

Yeah, that sounds about right.

“How curious,” a new voice sounds, one she identifies as belonging to man holding the cane when she looks back at them. He looks pensive, holding a hand under his chin. “That is exactly what happened to me.”

“Me too,” joins the other man, the one the girl called Jayce.

“It would seem as if something similar happened to all of us, then” the Professor wonders aloud. “Curious indeed.”

Another flash of light, yet again.

Vander pushes Vi behind him and, although it annoys her slightly, she can’t help the happy feeling of knowing she is not alone anymore, so she doesn’t say anything. When the light dissipates, this time, more people from the Undercity stand in front of them, and Vi’s breath hitch.

“Claggor, Mylo!”

They are the first she notices and she runs towards them, taking them in her arms. They stumble, confused, before they half-heartedly push her away.

“Benzo, Little Man,” she hears Vander call behind her, “so you are here, too.”

“Where exactly is here?” Benzo asks, and Vi snorts for real this time.

This is the question, isn’t it? The question everyone has been asking, and yet none of them have an answer to it. As Vi looks around, she suddenly comes to a realization, one she is not sure she likes.

“Powder is not here,” she says, everyone turning to look at her. She couldn’t care less now that she knows her family is here, that she is not alone with Pilties anymore.

Her family is here, but Powder is not. And, although Vi is somewhat glad for it — after all, it must mean her sister is safe, still — it also means Powder is alone right now, and she does not like the idea at all.

Vander must sense her rising worry because he rests a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure she’ll be okay while we figure out how to get out of here.”

“But what if she’s not?” she raises her voice slightly, looking up at the man.

“Powder is strong enough to last a couple hours, you know this Vi,” he tries to reassure her, but Vi is not convinced.

“Pff, Powder? Lasting alone for more than five minutes? Please, as if,” comes Mylo’s voice, and Vi whirls around, grabbing him by the shirt.

“Repeat that, I dare you,” she seethes.

“Come on, Vi, you know that’s true! She can’t do anything right! How is she supposed to—”

“Remember this face, Mylo?” she speaks dangerously low, putting on the face she told him earlier today means he has to shut up.

And he does, not without rolling his eyes first.

“Come on kids, that’s enough,” Vander gently pries Vi off of Mylo, not without giving them both stern looks. “Fighting won’t help,” he adds while looking at Vi. Then, he turns towards Mylo. “And you should put a bit more trust in Powder. You know how she is, I don’t want to catch you speaking this way about your sister again, young man.”

They both look down and Vi kicks a nonexistent rock with her feet. The tension is thick, only cut by the Enforcer minutes later.

“Ah, I finally get a proper introduction to your kids, Vander?”

The man laughs, placing a hand on Mylo’s shoulder and tugging Claggor closer to him. From the corner of her eye, Vi notices Benzo doing the same with Little Man.

Good, she thinks. He looks terrified, being near Benzo ought to calm him down a little.

“You are right, Officer Grayson.”

Ah, here it is, a name to the shitty Enforcer.

“I believe introductions are in order,” starts a new voice, that of the only woman Vi does not yet know. “Since we are to be stuck here for a while, it could be a wise idea to get to know each other.”

“Stuck here?” inquires Miss Kiramman, looking distraught. “What makes you believe so?”

Vi has to refrain herself from smirking at the magnificent expression on her face. She decidedly does not like this woman.

In response, the woman hands a piece of paper to the Professor. “I found this under the screen, over there,” she says while pointing somewhere a few feet from them. She must have explored a bit while they were all busy arguing with each other.

The Professor takes the paper from her and clears his throat.

“My dear friends,” he starts, reading it out loud. “You must excuse me, but I have brought you all here to prevent great calamities. I have seen your future, a terrible and tragic thing, and I am to help you change it before it is too late.”

A few people audibly choke at this, Vi included.

“The future? How preposterous!”

“Councilor Kiramman,” says Grayson, “I believe we should listen to the whole letter before we come to any conclusion.”

The councilor looks extremely displeased and it greatly satisfies Vi, even if that little personal victory comes from an Enforcer.

“Piltover and Zaun alike,” the Professor continues, “you need to save Powder and prevent Jinx from being born.”

Vi feels herself tense. “Save Powder?” she interrupts. “Is she going to—?”

She finds herself unable to finish the sentence, the thought alone unbearable. Is Powder going to die in the future? Is that it? She feels her eyes water as image after image of her little sister floods her brain. In some, she sees Powder’s terrified eyes. In others, it’s her sister’s dead body that flashes, eyes empty and unseeing, overlapping with that of their parents, picture forever ingrained behind Vi’s eyelids. She feels her breath quicken, her chest tinge as a sharp pain renders her unable to properly draw air.

“Hey, hey, Vi!” she hears someone call for her. She feels hands on her shoulder squeezing her slightly. She tries to focus on the voice, but the images play non-stop in front of her, one after another, unforgiving and cruelly depicting one of Vi’s worst nightmare. “Breath, Vi, in and out.”

Distantly, she notes what is being said to her. She feels someone taking her hand and putting in against a broad chest — probably Vander’s. She feels the steady heartbeat under her fingertips, hears the slow and regular breathing of the man holding onto her, and she slowly starts imitating him until, finally, after what seems like an eternity, the images slowly dissipate from her mind and she is back in that stupid fucking room with her family and other Pilties she could not care less about.

“You with us?” Vander asks her gently.

Something about his tone irritates her, the way he talks to her as if she is about to break at any given moment. She shrugs, forcefully removing his hands from her shoulders. She glares adamantly at the ground, willing it to open up under her feet and swallow her whole. Gosh, she feels embarrassment creeping all over her body at panicking like this in front of so many people, in front of Topsiders.

“Powder is okay, Vi,” Vander tries to reassure her. “If something happens to her in the future, we will save her, I promise.”

For a moment, she wants to tell him to not make promises he can’t keep, but she feels like saying that might confirm the fact that something will happen to Powder, and she will do her damn best to prevent it from happening.

Who even is this jinx person anyway?

And where the hell is Vi in this fucking future? Why did she not protect Powder from whatever it is that is supposed to happen to her?

“Who is this Powder?” Jayce hesitantly speaks up.

Vander sighs. “My fourth kid, the youngest.”

“Ah, I… see,” he very ineloquently says.

“Uh, so,” the Professor awkwardly continues, “While you are here, time outside stopped. You will understand later on who we are, what force brought you here, how any of this is possible,”

It does not escape Vi’s notice that the mention of we means multiple people are behind this.

“But you will not be able to leave this place before you have watched everything you need to. Please keep in mind that anything you might use is already at your disposal, be it food or a place to sleep. So settle in, and please, I beg of you, save Powder, save Piltover, save Zaun. Save us all.”

An oppressing silence settles in once the Professor stops talking.

“Seems like we will be here for a while, indeed,” he echoes the woman’s earlier words.

“This sounds completely farfetched…” Councilor Kiramman whispers.

“And yet this power that brought us here is impossible to deny,” speaks Officer Grayson.

For once, Councilor Kiramman has nothing to say, for even she has to admit this is not something she can explain, that she can do absolutely nothing.

“So what? Do we just settle and watch?” speaks Benzo for the first time.

“Seems like it,” answers the unknown woman. She hums, “What kind of terrible future awaits us, I wonder, for people to have to contact the past and urge us to change it?”

“And why us?” the man with the cane wonders.

“We must play important roles in the future,” Jayce tries to come up with a conclusion, some sort of glint in his eyes Vi is not sure she likes. No one speaks for a while, unsure as to what to do with their situation. Then:

“I am Councilor Medardra,” the unknown woman introduces herself, silently inviting everyone else to follow her lead.

Great, Vi thinks. Another useless Council member.

“And I am Professor Heimerdinger!” the Yordle introduces himself excitedly. It almost makes Vi smile.

“My name is Viktor,” comes the voice of the man with the cane.

One by one, everyone introduces themselves and Vi is thankful to Vander for having introduced her himself.

“So, shall we sit?” Counselor Medardra asks, gesturing to the couches scattered around the place, around the screen.

Everyone goes to sit, some more reluctantly than others, and it does not escape Vi’s notice that there is a clear divide between the Pilties and them.

She catches Cupcake looking at her and she sneers, watching amused at the other girl quickly averts her gaze.

Once everyone is settled, Jayce asks; “What do we do, now?”

And as if it can hear him, the giant screen in front of them lights up.

Chapter Text

The screen is dark, at first, and nothing seems to happen. Then, embers slowly start to appear, like those of a fire still burning brightly. In the distance, a little girl can be heard singing.

“Dear friend, across the river,”

Vi tenses all over again, and she feels Vander doing the same on her left.

All she can think is oh no, not this. Why this?

The image gets clearer, showing a dark, red sky, the camera angled from somewhere under the bridge separating Piltover from the Undercity.

A few gasps ring out in the room, and Vi rolls her eyes. She looks besides Vander and is somewhat amused to see Mylo and Claggor reacting the same way. However much someone can be amused in a situation as grim as this one, presented with ghosts of the past.

“Is this…?” she hears Jayce ask.

“The bridge attack,” Benzo confirms with a grim face.

She spies Vander closing his hands in a fist and she frown, displeased. So this is the first thing those fuckers decide to show them?

Figures.

“How can watching the past help us prevent the future?” Caitlyn asks, confused as she looks at the varying expressions on everyone’s faces.

“Understanding the past is often key to resolving problems from the future, young Kiramman,” Heimerdinger wisely explains to her, although his expression was somber.

Vi only wants to gag.

And throw herself in a ditch, somewhere. With Powder, of course.

 “My hands, are cold and bare,”

There are faint screams in the background, only adding to the horrifying feeling of this melody. Then, the screen flashes,

Some of them jump, startled.

And pans to show another angle of the bridge, a statue of a head.

“Dear friend, across the river,”

It shows now another angle of that face. Looking at it this way, it seems as if it is angry, perhaps judging those who thought rebelling was a good idea. On the other hand, the soot, dirt and blood makes it looks as if it is crying, knowing of the fate of those on the bridge.

“What a horrifying start,” Heimerdinger murmurs, not quite low enough.

This time, no one answers him, everyone either too busy starting ahead at a scene they were only told about or reminiscing the terrors of that fateful day that shapes Zaun into what it is today.

Another shot of the bridge is shown, this time from the gate.

“I’ll take, what you can spare,”

Suddenly, an explosion sounds, and the screams get louder.

Let it be known that every single soul present in that theater flinches alongside the on-screen explosion.

Vi closes her eyes, biting her lip hard, and Vander puts a hand on her shoulder, gripping her so hard it hurts. She stays silent however; she knows he needs the reassurance that she is alive and well.

Ekko whimpers slightly, and Benzo engulfs him in a hug. Claggor and Mylo look at each other, dread and terror filled in their eyes. This thing is starting badly. Extremely badly.

Meanwhile, Caitlyn covers her ears with her palms put flat over them, shutting her eyes close in an attempt to tune it out. She knows it is useless though. She opens them slightly, peaking at Enforcer Grayson — her role-model — who is unflinchingly looking at the screen, and she wonders if those are truly the heroes she admires so much.

She lowers her hands, gulps, and prepares herself for what is to come next.

There is the sound of a body hitting the ground, static silence then—

“I ask, of you a penny,”

An Enforcer shoots at the body that just landed from the impact of the explosion.

This sparks outrage among the Zaunites and, although they don’t admit it, some Piltovans.

“He died from that explosion already!” Mylo yells at the screen, throwing his hands in the air.

“This was unnecessary!” Vi joins in, ready to scream at Enforcers whenever the chance comes by.

Surprisingly enough, no Piltie says anything. It is Vander that reprimands them instead.

“Kids, I know how you feel but—” he takes a deep breath, and Vi turns to glare at him. “This already happened, there is no point in getting angry now.”

This, more than anything else Vander could have said, sparks Vi’s anger to higher levels.

“No point in getting angry?” she repeats with disbelief lacing her voice. “Do you hear yourself right now?!”

“Vi.”

She hears the warning call for what it is, but she chooses to ignore it. If they are here to change the future, then she will not stay silent. Not when she is shown images of the fight that led to her and Powder losing their parents, not when she now knows this thing is going to show probably much more than that. Moments no one should be privy to, moments she would rather keep for herself. Moments that might not only be a complete disregard to her personal and private information, but also her family’s.

“Enforcers are just asshole criminals in fancy uniforms,” she declares, “and yet they think of themselves so righteously!”

She doesn’t care that there is an Enforcer in the room with them, she doesn’t care that she is basically antagonizing said Enforcer and everything she stands for. All that she cares about right now is getting her point across, even if that means getting a few glares here and there.

“Why do we stay silent when they all treat us like trash under their boots every day?!”

She can see something tick in Vander’s expression, she knows he is thinking about giving her the same speech he gave her just a few moments before they were teleported here.

But whatever happens, it’s on you.

A few seats to her right, Councilor Kiramman opens her mouth to interject, but one look from Officer Grayson and a shake of the head is enough to convince her otherwise, so she only huffs and pinches the bridge of her noise.

Vander stares into Vi’s angry eyes, and for a few seconds he stays silent, contemplating what to tell her, how to explain to her that she is going down a path he once did, and it only ended in more pain and misery. He wonders how exactly he can make her understand, how he can explain to her that what she is making the same mistakes he once did, but the answer doesn’t come to him.

He takes a quick glance at his kids. Claggor who is rubbing his feet on the floor, looking uncomfortable. Mylo, next to him, who is rubbing his neck in that way of his when he just wants to disappear, pretending as if he can’t hear what is happening right next to him. Then there’s Ekko, although not a kid under his care, he is under Benzo’s and Powder closest friend. Ekko who looks at Benzo with worry clear in his eyes, Ekko who is barely older than Powder and is currently reminding Vander of his missing kid. A kid that he is worried about, despite what he told Vi earlier.

He sighs deeply, turning back to look at Vi.

“If my hunch is correct,” he starts, and he can hear how tired he feels, “this thing will explain to you everything in due time.”

He can tell Vi is about to protest, so he quickly continues. “Remember what I taught you about patience, Vi?”

She grumbles and shoots him a glare, arms crossed, but at least she stays silent. Vander is grateful for that, and he watches her with concerned eyes as she turns her head back to the screen, clearly displeased and still angry. He finds that he cannot blame her for it.

Vander sees so much of himself in Vi that it scares him sometimes.

“My fortune,” the singing voice continues as if it was never interrupted, “it will be,”

The screen shows an Enforcer carrying a gun emerging from the red smokes, mask covering his face as the screen flashes and drawings of a face smirking evilly overlaps with the mask.

No one says anything, but the trencher kids all unanimously think wow, what an accurate depiction.

“I ask you without envy,

We raise, no mighty towers,”

The screen shifts to the right, showing wreckages among which there is the dead body of a man.

Ekko flinches, hiding in Benzo’s arms as the man draws them protectively around him.

A few seats down, Caitlyn holds Jayce’s sleeves in a deathly grip, knuckles white as sheet.

Heimerdinger simply shakes his head, praying for the souls lost that night. The silence that reigns in the room is tense, air heavy with mistrust and barely concealed furry.

“Our homes, are built of stone,”

Flashes come and go sporadically, white lines turning into crosses over the man’s eyes then his whole face.

“So come, across the river”

The screen moves again, showing someone walking towards the camera. At first, only an arm is shown before it pans to a dirty shirt and then, next to the mystery person, a small girl with blue hair, hand covering her eyes as she continues singing.

“And find…”

Vi’s breath hitches and she sits straighter, uncrossing her arms. She surges slightly forward as though to get closer to the screen, closer to Powder.

“What a hunting voice,” Heimerdinger whispers, sadness etched deep into his voice.

The girl falls silent, looking up from between her fingers at the person standing at her side, seeming to be holding her hand.

The angle changes again, showing the view of the little girl through her fingers before they disappear from screen as the girl lowers her arm and we see the person who’s hand she was holding. On screen, there is a younger Vi, looking ahead with wide, terrified eyes.

Vi doesn’t let her gaze stray from the screen. She watches, bracing herself for what she knows is about to come. She refuses to look away from the horrors of that day. She feels it would be a disservice to everyone who died on that fucking bridge, it would be accepting how powerless she actually is in front of all of this, and she refuses to bow down to Pilties or their stupid order and laws.

“How old were you here?” a quiet Mel asks her.

Vi sneers, but she answers nonetheless. “Ten years old.” And, just because she can, she adds, “Powder was five.”

She hears a few breaths hitch, barely from two or three people, but she doesn’t really care. Let them see what they did to them, let them see how much they suffered, how unfair all of this was. Still is.

“You were far too young to experience such a thing,” Heimerdinger whispers.

No shit, Vi thinks, lips pressed thin. She feels eyes on her, and when she turns she finds herself looking at the Piltie girl, frowning and a hint of pity in those blue gems of hers. In response, Vi only raises an eyebrow and the girl ducks her head again.

She doesn’t need that pity, and she certainly doesn’t need it from fucking Pilties.

“So that’s Powder,” Viktor whispers, but everyone hears him.

No one says anything further, and the viewing resumes.

Vi gasps and exhales, chest heaving. The screen shows a view of both sisters now, side by side as Powder looks in the same direction as Vi, shoulders hunched and hand now by her side. There is smoke dancing menacingly all around them before the images changes, showing rubles and chaos, bodies on the ground against the rails of the bridge, fire cracking and embers floating away.

The wind gusts and Vi’s hold on Powder’s hand tightens.

What Vi wouldn’t give to be able to have her sister at her side right now, holding her just as tightly as in that stupid screen, never letting her go again.

Then, there is a close up on Vi’s face as she gasps, expression falling as she takes in her surroundings.

A bit farther away, metal clank against metal as two figures fight, hitting one another. One of them is pushed to the ground and the other punches the fallen on the head repeatedly.

Vander and Benzo are just glad for the thick red smoke that prevents the children from seeing that fight in details. They hope that, in future scenes, things will remain as non-graphic as possible, but they know the chances of it actually happening are low.

Benzo tightens his arms around Ekko and rubs soothing patterns on his back. Ekko hugs back just as tightly.

The figure still standing turns his head, and the viewers get a closer shot of the man’s face. It is Vander, breathing heavily, brows furrowed and ready to pounce on the next person who approaches him.

The screen shows him completely turning around as he notices the two sisters looking at him, backs hunched and holding onto each other.

The wind gusts again and little Powder cowers behind her sister, gripping her arm tightly as she looks up from beneath her lashes at Vander

The man walks up to them, silent, and a sudden realization seems to cross Vi’s face as she frantically looks around then back up at the man with a questioning look on her face.

Vander simply closes his eyes to recompose himself before looking to the side.

Vi grips the arms of the couch so tightly she feels as if she might break it at any moment. She gulps and braces herself for what she knows is coming, for what she is not certain she is ready to face yet another time.

Vander puts a hand on her arm and, although she doesn’t say it out loud, she is grateful. He is telling her he’s here, affirming his presence, letting her know she is not there anymore and that she is not alone.

Both Vi and Powder follow his line of sight, looking at a pile of bodies on the ground.

For the trenchers, this is no surprising sight. They remember it as if it was only yesterday, the taste of ash on their tongues, the smoke that blurred their vision, the blood flying everywhere and the piles formed by family members and old acquaintances.

For the Pilties, however, it’s another story. The councilors weren't on the scene when it happened. They only heard of it through the multiple papers and report they either had had to read or write. Jayce and Caitlyn had been too young to understand what had transpired. None of them had realized just how one sided this fight had actually been. It’s jarring to witness it this way, instead of hearing or reading about it in passing.

The smoke dissipates, revealing the dead, unseeing eyes of a woman who shares trait with both the sisters, notably distinguished by her blue hair, a shade darker than her daughter’s.

Caitlyn gasps, bringing her hands to her mouth, eyes wide with terror.

She glances at her mother and imagines for a moment if it was her in that pile, eyes dull and lifeless staring up and yet forever unable to look at anything ever again. She imagines the pain of losing her family so suddenly, it being snatched away brutally in an unforgiving war, and the thought of it alone makes her eyes water and her chest throb with a pain she wishes to never have to experience. She looks up at her mother who looks as unbothered as ever and wonders if that is really how she feels or if she is simply pretending to not have an ounce of sympathy for the two girls on screen.

Somehow, she has an inkling her mother is just faking it, that even she is hit by the atrocities that are being shown to them. A quick look at the way her mother sneakily brought a hand closer to Caitlyn is enough to confirm her suspicion.

Then, it strikes her that the person experiencing that pain a second time is sitting a few seats to her left, and Caitlyn abruptly turns her head to look at her. Those eyes that Caitlyn embarrassingly wants to have fixated on her have a hard, dangerous glint in them but also pain. A pain etched so deeply Caitlyn wonders how can the other girl — Vi, she reminds herself, and wonders if it is short for something — not cry rivers.

Caitlyn knows she would in her stead.

Instead, her knuckles are white with the force she uses to grip the couch’s arms, her shoulders are hunched, her whole body looks tense and her mouth is pressed in a thin line. She looks as if all she wants to do is bolt and hide, escape from the reminder of what happened that day. Caitlyn wants to say something, but she is not convinced it would be appreciated.

So she stays silent and continues watching.

The little Powder averts her gaze, adjusting her grip on her sister’s arm and looking up at her. She seems to not really understand what is going on, even if she notices that it is bad.

The screen shows Vi’s face again as realization slowly sets in. She huffs, inhales and exhales sharply before her features get twisted with grief, eyes watering. Powder notices her sister’s state because she leans in closer to her, and Vander looks at them with pain in his eyes.

Then, Vi sinks to her knees as she starts sobbing, unable to stay strong anymore, even for the little girl still clinging to her at her side,

And Caitlyn thinks ah, here it is.

Mylo and Claggor share sympathetic looks, because they know better than anyone else how this feels, who those people were. They understand what it’s like to find your loved ones on the ground, not breathing anymore because life was stolen from them. Vi bites her lips so hard she tastes blood, but she refuses to let tears flow in front of so many people, in front of Pilties, in front of the people who killed her parents in the first place.

Vander seems to notice because his grip on her arm tighten and she knows that if she is to look up at him, she would see on his face the same expression portrayed on screen. So she doesn’t, because if she meets his eyes, if she sees those same eyes full of pain and regret, she is certain she will be unable to refrain her tears from flowing.

Powder throws her arms around her sister, and the screen pans out, showing the girls and Vander from afar, among the carnage, red smoke and bodies littering the floor.

Vander looks around before his gaze settles on his gauntlets. He drops them to the floor with big thuds on impact. The next image shown is that of one of the sculptures carved on the bridge, looking down at the chaos, before the camera shows Vander walking on the bridge, carrying the two girls in his arms.

The man tries to not let the guilt swallow him hole as a scowl appears on his face. Seeing the two girls in this state again when he has come to care for them as if they were his own kids is like a direct stab in the gut, multiple needles piercing his skin at once. The only thought that runs through his mind is that this is all his fault. Their parents were killed because of his ideas of rebellion, they lost all that they had because of him, and that is something that he knows will forever haunt him, something that he will always think about.

Then, Vi opens her eyes, watching as they get further and further away from Enforcer who lower their guns and go back to Piltover, and Vi’s gaze hardens, pure loathing shining in her eyes and a promise for revenge.

No one says a thing as the screen fades out. No one really knows what to say as an uncomfortable silence fills the room.

“This, uh,” starts Jayce with an overwhelming feeling to say something, fill out the silence in the room. “This isn’t what I expected,” he finishes awkwardly.

Vi has had enough. She gets up from the couch, grabs Ekko by the arm and sits down on the ground, besides Vander’s feet. She gestures for Claggor and Mylo to join them and they do, without hesitation, smiles breaking out on their faces. Claggor throws himself down in an attempt to break the tension, and it does bring a smile to Vi’s and Ekko’s faces as Mylo complains about getting crushed. Benzo gets up, also, and moves to sit next to Vander, in the seat that was previously occupied by Vi. Vander smiles at the man, grateful to at least have him present.

Heimerdinger clears his throat awkwardly. “I am… truly sorry for your losses.”

His condolences are not really appreciated by most trenchers. After all, if he is really, truly sorry, he would have tried to do something, if not before then now. Instead, he stayed silent, turning a blind eye to the suffering of the people of the Undercity.

As she opens her mouth to reply and confront him, the screen changes and she finds herself focusing again, refusing to miss a single moment that could prove to save Powder.

A bandaged hand grips an edge, tatting it to make sure the person has a good enough grip. Said person is very quickly revealed to be a much older Vi, panting and groaning as she climbs and almost loses her footing.

A few in the room wince when her foot slips, and Vander frowns, worried despite himself.

“We’re almost there,” she says while looking down.

Below, Mylo, Claggor and Powder appear, climbing after her.

“Aw, man…,” Mylo grunts as Vi reaches the roof, panting as she heaves herself up with one final push. She looks ahead as she exhales before calling out to her sister.

“Hey Powder, come take a look!”

This time, more people pay attention to the mention of Powder’s name, everyone focusing on the fact that this is the little girl they have to save.

Powder grunts as she too reaches the roof.

“Whoa,” she breathes as she approaches her sister.

“It’s nice getting above it all, huh?” Vi asks while they, alongside the other two boys who just joined them, admire the view of Piltover.

“What is this?” asks Mel, brows furrowed as she tries to figure out the timeline. “Are we already in the future?”

Vi grinds her teeth as Mylo, Claggor and she exchange knowing and meaningful looks. This is not the future yet, they notice. This happened barely a few hours ago, still too fresh in their minds for them to have forgotten.

Vander sighs, already dreading the rest of this viewing. “No, no this is not the future yet.”

No one questions how he knows, although a few curious looks are sent his way.

An airship suddenly passes over their head, flying over Piltover.

“One day,” Powder announces, “I’m gonna ride in one of those things.”

“And one day,” Mylo adds, joining the frame, closing an eye and making a makeshift gun with his fingers, “I’m gonna shoot one of ‘em down.”

His hand is pushed aside by Vi as she steps forwards, and Claggor chimes in, hesitation clear in his voice, “Vi, are— are you sure about this? Look, if we get caught, we’re—”

“We’re not gonna get caught,” she interrupts him. “We’ll be in and out before anyone notices.”

This causes a few raised eyebrows in the room, notably from Vander and Benzo. Vi grumbles under her breath, crossing her arms and sinking lower on the floor. The motion is imitated by Ekko who silently prays his role in this will not get revealed.

Birds fly by, startled by the sudden movements of the kids. They all look down before Vi continues.

“All right, everybody, follow me. Just don’t look down.”

She takes a step back before jumping to slide on the roof, taking a hold of the border and dangling her feet in the air.

Jayce and Caitlyn gasp. They know now this is the past and that nothing happened to the girl on screen — one look at her is enough to tell that although she seems hurt, it is certainly not injuries resulting from a fall that high. Something like that would have been fatal to her.

Besides them, Cassandra does grip her daughter’s arm this time, startling her. Her mother’s grip is tight, but Caitlyn knows better than to make mention of it.

Vi is quick to put her feet on the ledge of the balcony. She moves swiftly until she reaches the other end and jumps to the roof opposite her. Once she lands, she looks back at the others. Mylo closes his eyes and stretches his arms, ready to follow her. As Claggor approaches, he pushes him back and makes his way over. Soon after he lands near Vi, Claggor also does, sucking slightly on his finger as he shoves in a cupcake stolen from the balcony.

The Piltovans make disgusted faces. No Topsider would tolerate a child eating improperly, after all.

Mylo halfheartedly punches Claggor in the shoulder.

“You ruined my dramatic landing!” he whines, to which Claggor laughs.

“You call that dramatic? You looked like a flying squirrel!”

This has the merit of getting a laugh out of Vi, while Ekko mouths “flying squirrel”, imitating the movements with flailing arms. Mylo rolls his eyes, punching Claggor in the arm once more for good measures.

Not Ekko, because there is an unspoken rule between the three of them — Mylo, Claggor and VI — to never touch Ekko. That also means they defend the Little Man as if he’s one of their siblings. Sometimes, he might as well be with how much he hangs out around Powder.

“Couldn’t we have at least just walked there?” Claggor complains.

“Gotta stay out of sight for this one,” Vi answers, not looking at him.

Instead, her gaze is focused on Powder who has yet to join them. The girl breathes heavily, looking down with wide eyes, unsure about the jump and questioning whether she would make it.

“Called it,” sing-songs Mylo. Then, he turns to look at Vi, “This is on you, Vi.”

The girl groans.

In the room, Mylo looks like he wants to make the same remark, but one single look from Vi is enough to dissuade him. So he rolls his eyes and stays silent.

Jayce, who had been observing this altercation, turns to Caitlyn and whispers in her ear: “Why do I feel like this happens often?”

She shrugs. “Feels like it does.”

“I’ll get her,” Claggor proposes, sounding dejected.

“No,” Vi interjects before the boy can do anything. “Powder, look at me!”

This has the effect desired as the girl turns her eyes from the street below to her sister, although she is still breathing as heavily. “What did I tell you?”

“That…,” Powder starts, then she exhales, “…I’m ready.”

A look of determination crosses the girl’s face.

“That’s right! So?”

Powder closes her eyes, takes a deep breath then gets closer to the edge of the roof, letting herself fall. She yells as she slides down, lands with a grunt then throws herself at the balcony with a little scream.

The people in the room all hold their breath. Rationally, they know nothing happened to the little girl or else everyone — even the Topsiders — would have heard about it. After all, the news would have covered the events of a girl falling from this high up, if not her death, and even if they would have glazed over it because of her origins, or maybe even dragged her name because of the reason of her presence in Piltover, they would have still talked about it.

“Phew!” she says as she balances on the balcony, relieved that up until now she managed the little stunt. She moves carefully and grips the edge of the balcony, getting ready to jump. When she does, she slips back and almost falls, if it were not Vi’s hand grabbing hers just in time.

“Thanks.”

A collective sigh of relief can be heard all around the room. Cassandra discreetly pats a hand to her chest in an attempt to calm its erratic beating. Vander has to close his eyes and rub them with the tips his fingers, all the while shaking his head at his stupid and yet brave kids. Them running through rooftops is one thing, but endangering each other and almost getting one of them killed is another.

Sometimes, he fears their want for adventure will get them killed.

Vi grunts slightly as she pushes her sister up to safety and, as Powder passes by Mylo he rolls his eyes and scoffs.

There is indistinct chatter in the background as the kids stealthily make their way over to their destination.

“What if Vander finds out we’re all the way up here?”

Vander breathes shakily. He would scold them heavily, that’s what.

Claggor turns around and smiles apologetically at the man who gives him a stern look in response. It has the merit of making the boy turn back around very quickly.

“Look around you,” says Vi. “You think anyone Topside’s going hungry?”

She still stands by what she said, Vi thinks. That, and her hatred for all Pilties.

“Besides, this is exactly the sort of job Vander would’ve pulled when he was our age.”

Vander told them way too much about what he used to do, he notes with regret. While it used to be fun little stories to tell, they are now backfiring against him in the worst ways possible.

“You know this is no excuse to endanger yourselves. Right, Vi?” he asks, looking at the girl in question.

Those kids look up to you.

Vi clenches her fists.

You know but you don’t know.

Whatever happens, it’s on you.

Yeah, she knows now. Save Powder, they said. Don’t let Jinx be born. Those words keep on re-looping in her mind, and it’s driving her crazy.

“I’m going. Are you with me or not?”

Mylo and Claggor look at each other. The former shrugs, an unbothered look on his face and the latter sighs. “Vander’s gonna kill us.”

“At least, that is something we agree on,” said man responds, and the three kids gulp.

I knew it, Claggor thinks, sweat falling down his face. I knew something was gonna happen.

“Yeah, only if we screw up,” Vi says matter of factly. Then, she looks them dead in the eye: “so don’t screw up.”

Well, this aged badly, Vi thinks as she nervously passes a hand through her hair.

Whatever happens, it’s on you, Vander said.

Vi lands on another balcony with agility, surveys her surroundings then, “All clear.”

Jayce frowns. There is something familiar to this place, but he has trouble putting his finger on it, figuring out what exactly is so familiar about it.

Mylo breathes deeply as he drops besides the other teenager, looking wholly unimpressed. He reaches a hand to open the door, but finds it locked.

“Who locks their balcony?” he groans before crouching down and getting a lock picking key out of his pocket, working it on the locked door.

“I lock my balcony,” Jayce points out before he can stop himself. Then, his eyes widen as he suddenly realizes what he just said. He sits straighter in his couch and points a finger at the screen, then at the group of teenagers sitting on the ground then back again.

“You’re robbing me!” he accuses while glaring at them.

A few people in the room let out an “Oooh”, suddenly understanding where this is going.

They shrug at him, not feeling sorry in the slightest. Ekko murmurs a small “too gullible” that makes the teenagers snigger. Although the mission went extremely badly, it is a relief to know that the gullible guy Little Man tipped them about is that man and not the other guy, Viktor. Although they don’t really understand why, they find that they like him better.

Powder and Claggor join the other two on the balcony. “Whew, there’s tons of enforcers down there,” the latter notes.

“Means we’re in the right place. You gonna get that door open any time soon?”

“Working on it,” Mylo grumbles. “Seeing as I’m the only one who knows how to pick locks, I suggest—”

Except he never gets to finish his sentence because Vi grunts, kicking the door open with her foot, startling him into dropping the key. Vi enters the room without sparing him a second glance, and she is followed by both Claggor who taps him on the neck and Powder who simply looks at him.

“Animals.”

Ekko press a hand to his mouth to stop himself from laughing out loud. It seems Mylo notices anyway because he still sends him a dirty look. Oh well.

Vander shakes his head, amused.

The kids look around the apartment, gaze landing on all the trinkets and materials scattered here and there in the makeshift workshop. Vi lets her bag drop on the floor as she inspects the bookshelves, Claggor close behind her.

“You know, Claggor, for once you’re right,” Mylo declares, “We are definitely not supposed to be here.”

Definitely not, Jayce thinks with dismay. He can already tell where this is going. He knows. There is no way this isn’t the day something that he very much hopes will not be shown exploded in his apartment. Although, to be quite honest, he has little faith that it will not be shown.

Maybe, with a little bit of chance, this thing will only focus on the people of the Undercity, and the screen showing Jayce’s apartment is just a result of the kids’ adventures.

Mylo rubs his hands as he grabs two tools from a table. “Hmm,” he shrugs, not really understanding what it is he just grabbed exactly. He stuffs them in the bag anyway.

Claggor opens a drawer and throws even more random things in the bag.

Jayce winces at the sight. Those are lost anyway and he knows he is not getting them back. However, it still bothers him to see his possessions being carelessly handled.

Powder joins in on adding things to the bag while Vi watches complex equations written on the board.

“Those look interesting, my boy,” says Heimerdinger. “What are you working on?”

Jayce flinches, feeling trapped. “I-I’m sure this thing will show us at some point…”

Yes, now he has little doubts about it. Showing them his work? His equations? This thing might as well tell them he is working on recreating magic.

Viktor leans forwards, watching the little he can see of the board and the complex work on it with interest. He sends a curious glance towards Jayce and resolves to talk with the other inventor about it when — if — they get a break.

“Must be an inventor,” Vi notes.

“Huh.”

Then, as Powder passes by a round object, she does a double takes and marvels at it. “Whoa, I think this is a real Valdiani.”

“Oh, yeah? What about this?” Mylo retorts.

“That’s a nose hair trimmer,” is Powder’s unimpressed answer.

Ekko laughs out loud this time, uncaring about the looks he is gathering to himself. How he misses Powder.

“Keep an eye out for anything that looks valuable, Powder,” Vi says, coming back into the frame. “Before Mylo fills the bag with junk,” she adds as an afterthought.

Mylo throws away the trimmer with an uncaring look and pushes aside some paper to reveal a glowing blue crystal. “Uh… guys?”

Jayce tenses. Now he knows for sure, there is no way the source of the explosion and his research, as a consequence, aren’t going to get revealed.

“Wait, Vi, how the hell did we find this place?” Claggor asks as he inspects the crystal behind Mylo’s shoulder. Said boy dangles his finger over the object and it gets zapped.

A few curious and suspicious looks are sent towards Jayce.

“It was a tip from Little Man.”

Crap, Ekko thinks. If Vander and Benzo didn’t know before, now they do for sure. He’s a goner.

“Little Man?”

“Yes,” Benzo grunts. “Little Man?”

Ekko sinks on himself, trying to merge with the floor.

“Just leave it,” says Vi as she turns away. “Come on.”

“How can anyone have so much stuff?” Claggor asks, and Mylo’s answer makes it seem as if it is a very obvious one. “Simple, just get born lucky.”

Those from Piltover frown at this and reluctantly have to admit that, as much as they would like to credit all that they have to hard work and efforts, they can’t deny the truth behind the boy’s words.

Powder opens the door to the bedroom, humming as she inspects a few objects before her eyes land on two sandwiches. “Woo-hoo!” she gasps excitedly.

She walks over and immediately takes a bite, before abandoning it as she notices a blue box.

“Well fuck,” Jayce mutters, earning a look from Caitlyn who quickly glances at her mother to make sure she hasn’t heard.

Powder tries to lift the box, but finds it too heavy. As she tinkers with it, she finally finds the way to open it, revealing six glowing crystals, not unlike the one Mylo noticed earlier.

Grayson frowns, leaning forward to try and get a better look at the crystals.

Powder takes one in her hand, bringing it up to better see it.

In the other room, the three teenagers are still looking through stuff, packing what they’ve got. However, as the sounds of footsteps approaches, Vi frowns and turns her head around, eyes focused on the door. When the doorknob clicks, her eyes widen and she whispers urgently for Mylo to block the door.

The boy gets up, grabs the chair he was sitting on and uses it for that exact purpose before the one behind the door can open it.

“Powder we gotta go!” Vi whispers to her sister, still in the bedroom, while a man’s muffled voice is heard behind the door, giving a “Hello?”. The voice sounds distinctly like Jayce’s. “Is someone in there?”

Powder grabs all six crystals and, in her hurry, one drops to the floor.

Jayce winces, rubbing a hand tiredly over his face.

“Come on!” Mylo urges the two sisters when he sees them approaching. The crystal on the floor chimes strangely. Vi crouches down, closing the bag as she orders: “We’ll be fine, just get back on the roof!”

Except, the crystal breaks and, just as Vi is about to get out of the apartment, an explosion detonates, sending the kids flying.

The people watching all flinch at this, expression varying from shock to concern. Seeing it like this, the explosion seemed more violent than what they expected.

“So this is what happened,” murmurs Grayson pensively.

I am so dead, is Jayce’s only thought.

The kids gasp and cough, Vi walks out the apartment to meet them and they all watch as the floor of the balcony cracks.

“Hold on!” Vi yells.

The part that was cracking fell to the ground below, much to the shock of the bystanders and Enforcers watching.

“Whoa! Look out!” one of them shouts in warning as pieces of debris come tumbling down.

“Watch out!” another says, scrambling to get out of the way.

Still on the balcony, Vi looks down at the carnage. “Shit.”

Yes, yes shit indeed, some find themselves thinking.

The sound of a honk is enough to snaps Vi back to attention as she looks around. The kids run amidst the indistinct shouting of the crowd, panting as they try their best to escape the Enforcers hot on their trail.

“Stop right there!” one of them grunts as he throws a trap that latches to a lamp post, narrowly missing Claggor. “Get them off!” the same enforcer yells as the crowd clamors.

Vander knows the kids escaped, he knows that very well, but his heart, beating loudly in his chest, does not seem to know. Benzo puts a comforting hand on his shoulder for which he is immensely grateful, but he can tell the other man is also worried sick, anxious of what is to come.

Powder grunts, Vi desperately screams “Faster!” before they run down stairs.

“Hey! Hey!” a man behind them exclaims, but they ignore him, continuing their mad dash for freedom.

“Look out!” a woman says, and another one of the Enforcer’s traps almost gets Powder this time. “Down there!” he calls for the others. “You can’t get away!”

“Come on, come on,” Ekko chants under his breath.

Caitlyn glances at him, finding that she, too, is encouraging them, nervously watching the screen and hoping they got away without much issue. She looks at her mother, the woman having her arms crossed and an expression even more disapproving than before is painted on her features.

No, she decides, I definitely cannot tell her what I think of this.

The kids make it to the bridge, Vi grunts as she bumps into someone. Said bridge is being lifted in an attempt to keep them trapped. Seeing this, a desperate expression crosses their faces and they sprint faster, jumping over the small divide between the two parts of the structure, the separation not yet big enough to pose them any real issue.

“Hey!”

The Enforcers jump after them, but one stubs his foot and falls into the water.

Despite the tension coursing through her whole boy, Vi allows herself to smirk at this. Serves you right.

“This way!” Vi pants as she leads them into a dirtier part of the city on the other side of the bridge.

“Keep going!” an Enforcer yells, still hot on their trail.

As they get into a narrow alley, Vi knocks down on one of the pipes, releasing a stream of gas at those chasing them, slowing them down slightly.

“Go, go, go!” Mylo yells urgently as they turn sharply, pushing his brother into another narrow alley. The Enforcers stop, looking around.

For a moment, the people watching think they finally lost the kids, but one Enforcer walks a few steps, look around, and guides half of them down the same alley the four runaways took while the other half continues forward.

“How did he know?!” Mylo yells at the screen, throwing his hands in the air with great frustration as others groan, some despite themselves.

Meanwhile, Vi grunts as she grabs a hunk of metal, pushing it forward, revealing a sewer entrance from which something slimy is dropping, flies swarming around it. Mylo crouches down with a dejected look on his face.

“Oh, man, not again. I just got this shirt—!”

He yells as Vi kicks him in the back, pushing him down the sewers.

“Come on, Vi!” he snaps, looking at the girl sitting beside him.

She simply shrugs, unapologetic. “Now you know to not wear new shirts on a job.”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen anymore!” he glares at her, gesturing wildly as if that will help him prove his point.

“Well deal with it!”

“Kids,” Vander says behind them, slight edge to his voice letting them know this is all the warning they’ll get before he separates them. They both settle down, unwilling to have to sit anywhere else, even if it means glaring at each other while they’re sitting shoulder to shoulder. They would much rather have this than getting separated, and despite their little arguments they know they would prefer being side by side, relying on each other and having the presence of the other kids nearby. Someone to lean on if things turn out rough in the next segments.

And they have a feeling it will. After all, no message saying “Save Powder, prevent Jinx from being born” means they will watch happy stuff.

They slide down the pipe, retching and screaming.

While the trenchers simply either frown or glare at each other, seeing this elicits very strong, disgusted reactions out of the Piltovans, unused to such a sight, and they have no choice but to look away to try to hide the disgusted look that is determined to stay on their faces, despite how much they try to keep it at bay.

Heimerdinger looked highly amused, if not wincing a little bit at the grunts of the kids hitting the metal of the pipe, while Viktor simply shakes his head.

Mylo is the first to land on a pile of metal and debris. Claggor soon follows, falling and making his brother slip with him as they both yelp. They grumble, Powder and Vi landing behind them.

“Thought last time was the last time we were gonna do this,” Mylo complains as he removes a piece of garbage from his hair.

“Exactly!” he retorts, pointing at his counterpart while Vi simply rolls her eyes, shoving him in the shoulder.

Caitlyn winces, trying her best to not react with a face she knows will show just how queasy all of this is making her.

“Well, this time’s the last time,” Vi declares, annoyed.

“Guys, what was that?” Claggor asks. “What the hell happened back there?”

“Hell if I know,” mutters Vi, eyebrows furrowed as she tries to figure out what those crystals were. She looks at the inventor in question but he refuses to meet anyone in the eyes. She snorts and rolls her eyes, figuring it will be revealed anyway.

They all turn to look at Powder.

“I don’t know,” she replies defensively, if not a bit offended that they are accusing her. “I didn’t do anything.”

Right, Mylo scoffs.

“You could fill a damn library with all the things you didn’t do,” he snaps.

In the room, the boy finds himself nodding alongside what is said on screen, only stopping when Vi elbows him sharply. He grunts and opens his mouth to defend himself and tell her to stop defending Powder when we all saw this was clearly her fault, and this would have never happened if you didn’t insist on taking her with us! But then he notices the look Vander is throwing him and he closes his mouth, displeased and distinctly annoyed, feeling wronged.

It’s not fair, he thinks, how Vi always defends Powder the way she does, how she pretends her sister is ready when she is clearly not. It’s very much not fair that he has to get reprimanded for pointing out the obvious, for trying to show Vi that she is wrong and that Powder very much is a problem, a jinx.

At the mention of jinx, something inside him stirs, a foreboding feeling he can’t quite put his finger on.

She jinxes every job!

Prevent Jinx from being born.

Save Powder.

It can’t be, right? Sweet, innocent little Powder? Her? Suddenly, he’s not thinking about stopping the birth of a baby anymore; he’s thinking about stopping a kid from becoming a villain who terrorizes the nation. He doesn’t want to believe it. He can’t believe it. For all that he judges Powder and throws harsh words at her, she never did more than glare at him a little and defend herself. With words. Not her fists, no, never her fists.

It’s unfathomable for him to imagine this kid who is unable to hurt a fly, become the one they have to stop for the sake of the future, and he hopes, he really fucking hopes he has come to the wrong conclusion because it doesn’t make sense to him. He shoves the uneasiness down and decides to deal with it later.

“Guys, we just emptied a Piltover Penthouse right under the Enforcers’ noses,” Vi reminds them. “So, if you’re done beating yourselves up, let’s get this home.”

In another alley, dirty and looking abandoned, Vi climbs out from a sewer and helps Powder out, soon followed by the two boys.

They walk through the streets of Zaun amidst indistinct chatter. As they pass by a blond boy around their age, lazily rolling a barrel with his feet, he asks: “Nice haul?”

Mylo sneers. “Fucking Deckard.”

Vi and Claggor roll their eyes, sharing the sentiment.

“You could say that.” Mylo answers him, receiving a look from Vi.

“I heard there was some action across the river.” the boy continues, inciting them to talk about their heist. The four kids stop walking, turning to look at the boy nonchalantly flipping a coin. “Someone, uh, someone really kicked the nest, huh?”

“Is that so?” Vi asks, disinterested as she turns back around, only to be met with two other boys blocking the other way down the street.

Viktor frowns. As a disabled child, he was often picked on when he was younger. Some people think it is fun to bully the weaker ones, but that is the way of the Undercity, and that is something he learned to live with a long time ago, before moving to the Topside.  However, seeing people like those kids being picked on when they look like they can and will fight back just as fiercely is not something Viktor thought he would ever see. And yet, here we are.

The blond boy gets up, walking up to the group, chuckling. “But now you’re- you’re tracking this mess of yours through my streets.”

“Your streets? What makes you think—”

“Listen, we don’t want any trouble, okay?” interject Claggor, sensing that this could easily blow up and it is the last thing they want right now.

“Hear that, Deckard?” one of the other guys mocks him. “They don’t want any trouble.”

“You know, in my experience,” Deckard continues, “trouble finds you. There’s no reason this has to get ugly.”

Except, many people watching in the room just know. This will get ugly.

For the Piltovans, this is a new experience. Besides the whole being kidnapped and forced to watch some events unfolding, of course. No, the novelty comes from seeing this side of things, a side they never considered, a side they never even thought was as bad as what is being shown to them. It’s strange, really, how you don’t fully understand the bad before it is right in front of you, before you are directly confronted with it, before you have no choice but to face it.

“How about you… share a little taste of your treasure there,” Deckard proposes, advancing on them, “and we’ll call it even?”

“No, no, no,” Mylo immediately interjects, pissed. “We worked too hard to—”

Vander sighs. He knows the feeling all too well, of working hard for something and having someone try to snatch it right under your noise before you even get to taste the fruit of your labor. And yet, this is how the Undercity works. It has always been like this, and he fears it will never change. There is no point in bargaining with words. In the Undercity, this gets you nowhere. If you want to make a place for yourself, gain respect and be heard, you need to use your fists and fight, defend your honor and prove you deserve this fruit.

This is an unspoken rule of the Undercity, one he taught his kids long ago. To this day, he knows they abide by it, they know how to fight, how to defend themselves, and he couldn’t be prouder of them for it. However, this doesn’t mean he wouldn’t like for them to avoid fighting as much as possible, to stay out of trouble and avoid other people’s turfs, because that would mean whatever you have in your possession is automatically theirs to claim.

Vander knows his kids, Vi especially, won’t go down without a fight, and he knows they come back home safe and sound, although without their loot. He still finds himself tensing, preparing for the fight he knows is coming.

Vi puts a hand on Mylo’s shoulder, interrupting him as she walks forwards, towards the blond boy.

Mylo and Claggor smirk to each other, so ready to watch Deckard get punched again.

“Just a taste?” she asks.

He looks sideways, smirking. “Just a—”

He yelps as Vi slams the bag of loot right in the face, sending him to the ground.

“Yeah! Go, Vi!” Mylo cheers, fist bumping with Vi as she snorts proudly, smirking at the expression on Deckard’s face. Claggor claps his hands while Ekko cheers loudly alongside Mylo.

Meanwhile, Vander places a hand on his face, hoping the damage will be minimal. He taught them to use force only as a last resort, but clearly the memo seems to have gone over their head.

Vi tosses the bag to Powder as Mylo and Claggor look at each other in confusion.

“Huh?”

However, they quickly compose themselves and get ready for a fight. Deckard gets up, murderous expression on his face. One of the teenagers on his side rushes towards Mylo, tackling him to the ground, hitting him with multiple punches. Powder looks at the scene, eyes roaming all over as she tries to make herself as small as possible.

Claggor avoids the first guy that comes at him and lifts the second one, throwing him on his accomplice.

Ekko whistles, impressed at the teenagers’ strength. Claggor blushes a bit, a pleased smile on his face.

Powder’s expression becomes worried and scared as she presses herself against the wall, unsure as to how she could help and unwilling to join in on the fight.

For the Piltovans, the fight that ensues is much more brutal than anything they ever witnessed. On the streets of the Uppercity, no one ever fights, much less like this. It is brutal enough for Jayce and Caitlyn to wince every now and then, when one hit looks to have hurt or when someone is tackled. Even for Mel, who is used to the fighting in Noxus, frowns at the chaotic, unorganized way of fighting, so different from what she observed growing up.

Caitlyn finds herself silently cheering for the kids she barely knows, kids she barely spent an hour with. And yet, every time they land a hit she smiles just a tad bit more.

Vander, although wishing this fight never even started in the first place, can’t help the pride surging through him as he watches his kids stand their ground.

As Claggor throws one of the guys to the ground, that person lands directly in front of Powder, shaking her out of her stupor as she notices the look the guy gives to the bag she is tightly holding.  She gasps, looks at the absolute mess that is the boy’s face and takes this as her cue to leave the scene, the boy running after her, going for the bag of loot.

“Guess we’ll see how she lost it,” Claggor whispers, with his nails between his teeth.

Mylo is thrown against a wall before he shoves the other boy away, hitting him in the guts repeatedly. Vi coughs and doubles over, Deckard taking the opportunity to punch her in the face. She quickly recovers, grabbing the boy and hitting him in the stomach with her knee before grabbing him by the hair and throwing him against boxes disposed by the wall, finishing him with a kick on the back.

“Yeah!” Vi yells, punching the air and relishing in watching this victory again.

It’s now Claggor’s turn to being pushed against the wall. He yelps, clutching his stomach as he falls to the ground before cleverly grabbing a fistful of dirt, throwing them in his assailant’s face who shrieks. Claggor uses this opportunity to get up, grunting as he grabs the other teenagers by the legs and slams him hard on the ground.

Jayce winces, mouthing an “Ouch” as he watches the fight unfold, imagining the sheer pain this must have caused. Suddenly, he is glad to have never been caught in a fight. He isn’t sure he would have been able to stand his ground against these guys.

Mylo is thrown on the ground, expression twisted with clear annoyance as he kicks the guy who attacks him. Vi grunts, looking around before she cracks some piece of wood with her foot, running before she slams it face first into the guy attacking Mylo, knocking him unconscious on the ground.

Claggor throws a completely beat up Deckard down next to him as his brother gets up, kicking him one last time for good measures, and the three teenagers walk away.

The fight finished, the tension in the room breaks completely. Jayce gets up, fist in the air and wide smile on his lips, reflecting exactly the way Caitlyn feels, giddy from this small victory. All heads turn towards the boy, a mix of surprised and amused eyes trained on him, turning his cheerful smile into an embarrassed one, red on his face as he sinks back down in his seat.

One look at her mother is all Caitlyn needs to know that she too, alongside Councilor Medardra and Professor Heimerdinger, share her friend’s excitement and enthusiasm, from the way their shoulders relaxed or they sigh in relief.

Cassandra may not have had a good first impression of those kids, but that doesn’t mean she managed to ignore the prickling worry at watching them fight. Kids no older than her little, precious daughter, holding their own against boys their age. She doesn’t want to feel that way towards the trencher who attacked her daughter, and yet…

And yet, the more she watches of this girl and her siblings, the more Cassandra thinks she understands her character, understands why she attacked Caitlyn in the first place, even if it doesn’t mean Cassandra likes it.

“This day’s turning out all right after all,” Mylo snickers proudly as the blond boy behind him gets up.

“Wait!” Deckard yells, knife in hand.

And tension rises again among Topsiders.

Vi walks back up to him menacingly before she lowers herself down to his level so they can be face to face, despite the knife posed threateningly a few inches away from her face.

“Wanna see how that ends?”

Deckard only glares at her, lips busted and bleeding.

This move isn’t particularly appreciated among the Piltovans as they all frown.

“This is reckless,” Heimerdinger mutters, looking back and forth between the girl on screen and her counterpart sitting among her family members.

Yes, Cassandra thinks, indeed. When looking at those kids, it is hard to remember that they are just that. Kids.

Kids who were shaped by their circumstances, by their living conditions. Kids who do whatever they have to in order to survive, kids for whom violence is always the answer, because to them, sometimes it is.

However, watching them through this screen is an eye opening experience as she comes to realize that they are only kids, and she might have judged them too harshly.

Caitlyn finds that she agrees with the professor’s statement, but her respect and admiration for the girl only grows, although she hates to admit it. This is, after all, the same girl who tried to choke her as soon as she got here.

Deckard backs away, clutching his side and he runs.

“Where’s Powder?” Vi asks as she looks around, noticing her sister is nowhere in sight.

That’s what I would also like to know, is the thought that runs through the minds of many.

“And that boy is still following her…,” Jayce points out, worried about the blue haired girl who looked so terrified in the recordings just moments ago.

Powder pants, checking behind her every now and then as she keeps running, pushing boxes to the ground in an attempt to slow the boy down, and they land right on him as they shatter.

“Oh!” he groans. “Oh! You little…”

Powder resumes her escape and he doesn’t waste a second longer, getting up and chasing after her like a madman.

“Come on, Powder,” Vi cheers for her, fists clenched as she watches them reach the harbor.

Powder hides behind a wall just as the teenager round a corner. He stops, looks around then walk in the opposite direction, still searching for her. Except, as she looks to see if the other is gone, she fails to notice the wooden planks that fall and clatter on the ground before she can stop them, alerting the boy of her presence.

“Oh, no.” Vander frets. He knows Powder came back without a single scratch, so rationally she must have escaped this without fighting. However, at the moment, all he can think about is his youngest being beat up, and that is something he really, desperately doesn’t want to see.

The sentiment is shared by everyone in the room, gritting their teeth in apprehension at what is to come.

Powder clutches the bag tighter as the teenager slowly gets closer and closer to her, panting heavily and panicking before an idea seems to come to mind. She reaches down a pulls out a contraception from around her waist, hands trembling, nervously putting in nails and shaking her invention.

“Come on, Mouser, I need you!” she whispers to it.

“What is she doing?” Viktor asks, the other two inventors sharing his curiosity.

And just because she likes him, Vi answers. “That’s Mouser, one of Powder’s inventions.”

“It’s supposed to explode,” Claggor adds.

“Except it never works,” Mylo snidely comments, earning another well placed jab from Vi, making him groan in pain. “What? You know I’m right!”

“If it didn’t work before doesn’t mean it never will!” she hotly defends her sister, daring the other boy to continue arguing.

Except he does, because Mylo doubts Powder will one day perfect this stupid Mouse of hers. “Oh yeah? You’re always so quick to defend her, but you know damn well I’m right!” he yells, not backing down one bit.

“Okay, that’s enough!” Vander once again interrupts, fed up with his kids. They both turn to look at him, a mix of betrayal and anger on their expressions.

“Come on, Vander! You always defend Powder, too!” Mylo throws a nasty look in Vi’s direction. “Someone ought to tell her this is useless!”

“Useless?!” Vi argues back. “Just give her a chance! You know she is capable!”

“Capable my ass! She always ruins our—”

“I said enough!” Vander interrupts, feeling a headache forming at the back of his mind.

The two arguing teenagers instantly shut up. They hate it when Vander raises his voice. He rarely does, but on the occasions where his buttons are really pushed far, that’s when they know to stop arguing and listen to whatever he has to say, although they don’t always like it.

And this time is one of those rare occasions. The room is tense, the others either pretending not to listen — although that is ridiculous because it is impossible not to in such a room — or trying to quietly disappear (and failing).

“I do not want to hear another word out of the both of you,” Vander orders them sternly, glaring at them both. “You’ve caused enough problems as is. We will talk about this once we’re out of this place, did I make myself clear?”

He waits for the answer, but they both look down, simultaneously ashamed, embarrassed and still angry.

“Did I make myself clear?” he repeats when both fail to answer.

Mylo nods his head, and Vi responds with a low “crystal.”

“Good.”

Vander falls back in his seat, looking more tired than ever, the anger completely drained out of his body. He hates this, hates reprimanding his kids in front of people, but they need to understand; fighting over this will not solve their differences, nor will it change anything that has already happened. After all, the past is set in stone.

No one says anything, and the viewing continues.

Powder throws Mouser, it rolls and stops at the boy’s feet. He looks at it, apprehensive, and the girl bites her lip, hoping desperately it will have the desired effect and react.

Except, all that it does is release a small, pink explosion that does absolutely no damage, except for spreading a sort of pink smoke.

I knew it, Mylo sulks, crossing his arms and looking at the screen with a bored expression.

Looking around, it is evident that the other people watching don’t know whether they should be happy the thing didn’t explode, or worried for the girl who has now no way of escaping.

“No…,” Powder laments as the teenager chuckles, amused, menacingly advancing towards her as she backs away, colliding with the fence, breathing heavily.

Panicking, she does the only thing she can think of: she unclasps the bag from under her shoulder and throw it over the fence, letting it fall into the water, sinking and forever forgotten.

“And here it is,” Mylo grunts. “Our hard work gone, just like that.”

He mimics a “poof” with his hands and Vi sneers at him. She doesn’t say anything, not wanting to get another reprimand so soon. Sure, she too was disappointed when she learned their loot was thrown into the murky, toxic water, but she is glad that Powder found a way to get away. Even if their loot was lost, it matters little to Vi in front of her sister’s protection and well-being.

She will take her sister’s safety over some loot any time, and if Mylo isn’t happy with that then fuck him, she couldn’t care less.

Meanwhile, Jayce passes a tired hand over his face, lamenting the loss of his possessions. Sure, he would have never gotten them back anyway, but he would rather have them re-sold and re-used by people instead of seeing them thrown into the water, sinking to the bottom to never be retrieved and seen ever again. It’s disheartening to see the fate that befell his materials.

Besides him, Viktor hesitantly brings a hand on his shoulder, understanding the internal conflict Jayce is currently going through. From one inventor to another, he knows all too well the effect of losing work materials, as insignificant as they may be.

Jayce smiles at him, grateful, and Viktor returns it.

The teenager pants over the fence, looking at the water in dismay before a new surge of anger flashes on his face. He turns around, ready to fight the little girl, except that she is nowhere to be seen. Seagulls caw as the boy looks around, confused, searching for a trace of the girl who disappeared.

In the room, sighs of relief are released.

“Good for her,” Mel utters, thinking about what could have happened had she been caught. From the little glimpses of the Undercity that she has been seeing, she can say for sure it would not have been a simple slap on the wrist or a little, harmless fight. No, she has no doubts the boy would have beat little Powder to the ground for daring to throw away such a precious possession.

Her sentiment is shared by many in the room, all frowning and pressed, thin lips at the prospects of “what ifs”. No one really wants to see a child being beaten until blood is all that can be seen. Powder, from the small glimpses everyone has been able to see, would have been no different. The little girl seems to hate fighting, or at least not know how to. From there it is a safe bet to say she would not have fought back efficiently enough to be able to land more than a few, meager punches and scratches that would barely do anything for her in the face of someone twice her size and, possibly age too.

Vander sighs again. It seems to him as if this is the only thing he does, now that this viewing has started. At least, he is proud of little Powder’s quick thinking. This bag she threw in the water means nothing, absolutely nothing compared to her safety.

“You did what?” Mylo snaps at Powder, anger evident on his face as the girl backs into a corner, head lowered in shame.

“I’m sorry! I tried to fight him off with Mouser, but… she didn’t work,” she adds regretfully, guilty about what happened.

“Who saw that coming?” he replies mockingly, raising a hand in the air.

Caitlyn frowns. She doesn’t have any sibling of her own and, more often than she would like to admit, she finds herself wondering what it would be like to have a sister or a brother. Someone to talk to, someone to entertain her and vice-versa, someone to bond with similarly to the way she did with Jayce.

Watching this, and judging from the interaction between the boy and the pink haired girl, she can see the boy and this Powder don’t exactly have the best of relationships. It makes her consider; do siblings not always have good relationships? Do they not always bond over the same things, support and forgive each other? She doesn’t understand how the boy — Mylo, she reminds herself — can be so mean to little Powder. It’s not as if this is her fault, after all.

She sneaks a glance towards the group of trenchers and, sure enough, he sports the same expression on his face as his onscreen self. She doesn’t know what to make of it.

“We never should have gone over there,” Claggor complains, passing a nervous hand in his hair.

I fully agree, Vander thinks, more than a little annoyed.

“Doesn’t matter, the stuff’s gone,” Vi says as she walks up to her sister, putting a hand on her shoulder. The girl looks up at her hesitantly, still feeling guilty. “It’s all right, Powder. At least you’re okay.”

Vi tenderly passes a hand on Powder’s cheek before walking up the stairs.

This, Caitlyn thinks immediately. This is what I imagined it to be like. She looks at the loving expression on Vi’s face and feels as if she is intruding once more into an extremely private moment. Really, who knew the girl who choked her when she first saw her could make such an expression on her face? It makes her look soft, almost cute.

Caitlyn’s eyes widen, feeling heat rise to her cheek as she furtively looks at her mother, making sure the woman is not looking back at her and somehow reading her thought. Caitlyn could get reprimanded for this, she knows. For sympathizing with people from the Undercity.

You do not need to worry Caitlyn, she would say in one of her endless speeches. They are not your concern.

“Okay? What about us?!” Mylo indignantly protests. “I get my face bashed in and she just gets a pass?”

Exactly, the boy thinks, still bitter about this whole ordeal and Vi’s favoritism. If it was him losing the loot, he would have never heard the end of it.

“Yup.”

They step into a dusty, abandoned looking place with shattered mirrors and paint peeling off the walls. As the door softly closes behind them, Claggor sits in an old looking chair, Mylo and Powder lean against the wall while Vi activates some sort of mechanism. Instantly, two lights turn on and the makeshift elevator goes down.

“Every time,” Mylo adds, looking far too used to this and now almost expecting it. “Every time she comes, something goes wrong.”

He leans towards the girl and; “She jinxes every job!”

Mylo freezes, anger extinguished in the wake of something he fears he can no longer deny.

Calling Powder a jinx in his mind is one thing. The word being reiterated on screen where, apparently, everything they are shown holds some importance is another issue entirely.

She jinxes every job!

Looking at the concerned look on Claggor’s face and the dread on Vi’s, Mylo knows instantly his siblings are thinking about the same thing. But no, he tries to rationalize, it can’t be. And, even if it is…

Hypothetically, even if Powder grows up to be some maniac who can actually fight, Mylo knows for a fact both Vi and Vander would be there by her side, preventing her from actually falling into the maniac side and allowing her to grow into… whatever, Powder is not this Jinx person.

Churning down his doubts and ignoring the chill that goes down his back, he focuses on the screen.

Powder raises her head, meeting Mylo’s eyes and glaring at him before turning away when Vi’s tired voice interjects.

“Just drop it, Mylo.”

The teenager also looks at her, frowning and annoyed she is taking Powder’s side again. Vi doesn’t look at any of them, instead focusing ahead as the Undercity comes into view.

Heimerdinger, Jayce and Caitlyn sit at the edge of their seats, eager and curious about this place they never saw.

The Undercity is a grim, dark place, where dirty and seemingly barely kept building feel stacked one over the other, and where the light barely reaches. Pipes spread around everywhere, chains hanged from every other place.  It is a sinister looking place where green is the most prominent color. More specifically, a grimy, neon green that drenches the streets lined with shady back alleys and various kind of goods sold.

None of the Piltovans says anything, instead only gaping at the sight, so very different from what they are used to Topsides.

Vi looks up at two tough looking men discussing with each other and she raises her hood, covering her bright pink hair.

Yes, that makes sense, Viktor thinks. Hair this bright only ought to attract more attention. He can definitely see the appeal of concealing it, especially when you really don’t need the added eyes on you.

The elevator reaches the ground, letting the kids out into the bustling part of the Undercity, people walking between stores, beggars extending their hand and waiting for someone to put some coins there. A merchant is passed out over his bags, behind his stand of strawberries. Mylo stelas one as he passes.

The boy shrugs, only regretful that he was caught. He did get a free strawberry out of this, though, so there’s nothing to really regret. After all, fruits are not exactly the cheapest thing in the Undercity, and strawberries in particular often are a luxury few can afford. Vander only gets them some on occasions like birthdays and such, so Mylo finds himself justified in his act.

Plus, it’s not like anyone even saw. Except Powder, but he knows she won’t say anything.

A man is dragged into a brothel by some woman. Another man dressed suggestively and face smeared with makeup holds a pose at the entrance, near an old smoking Yordle who looks up as the group passes by her. She looks at Claggor, smirk appearing on her face as she appraises him, letting out a delighted “Ah!” and he immediately looks away, accelerating his pace and grimace on his face.

The boy blushes while Vi snickers, raising her eyebrows suggestively towards her brother and biting her lip. His blush deepens and he bats her face away, only increasing her amusement.

“Come on, get out of here!” the woman from earlier yells, pushing out the man she invited in only moments prior. Meanwhile, the Yordle goes back to her smoking session, amusement flashing on her face at Claggor’s reaction.

Vander chuckles, shaking his head fondly. That’s good old Babette for you.

Mel looks greatly disturbed by all of this. Her looks often offered her an advantage, and help greatly when she tries to seduce someone, but that is very different from the very concept of a brothel, and she is not sure what to make of it.

Meanwhile, Cassandra scowls, tapping Caitlyn on the shoulder and ordering her to close her eyes. No daughter of hers will be subjected to such sights. The girl obliges, but not without throwing a resigned look at Jayce.

“You gotta pay!” the woman indignantly yells again, while the dressed up man by the door gestures to the one who was chased out while speaking to the Yordle.

“Look at that!”

Babette nods, agreeing.

A bit further away, where people are gathered, stands a building crowned by a lit sign on which reads “The Last Drop.” From the beer in the center of it, it’s not hard to guess this is a bar.

The trenchers all smile at the familiar sight. This is their home, their little safe heaven.

Cassandra narrows her eyes and watches the next couple of scenes as Vander appears, pouring glasses and giving them out to a customer who walks away to his table, not before accidently bumping into a tougher looking guy and wincing. Then, she nods and decided this is much more appropriate for her daughter. “You can uncover your eyes, Caitlyn.”

Not out of earshot of the two, Vi throws an incredulous look at the woman and watches, amused, as the little Piltovan princess sighs when her mother looks away, her friend patting her shoulder in sympathy.

“That’s you, Vander!” Ekko exclaims happily, pointing at the man on screen.

“You’re right, kiddo!” he laughs, patting the boy’s head.

The man carrying the beverages reaches a table in a corner, sitting in front of a bored looking man.

“Well, I, uh, suppose that concludes our business, then.”

He throws a pouch of money towards the one wearing glasses who almost chokes on his drink, laughing nervously.

“I suppose it does,” he confirms while opening the pouch, checking its content.

Vander and Benzo frown.

“Is this normal in the Undercity?” Mel asks with confusion and distrust, mirroring the thought of the Topsiders.

“What, the shady deals?” Benzo asks, and when the Councilwoman nods, he answers. “Yeah, they’re kinda common, nothin’ new here.”

“But that doesn’t make them any less concerning,” Vander adds.

Indeed; in the Undercity, two parties having an accord over one thing or the other is a pretty common occurrence. Someone is in need of help to beat up people that wronged them? A deal can be negotiated. In need of someone to steal something for you? Or are you looking for someone to defend you on a dangerous mission? Depending on the job and the amount of money offered, you can get yourself a decent bodyguard. That’s how the Undercity has always worked.

However, the deal in question could vary from a relatively innocent one to something borderline dangerous, and that’s the worrisome part.

“Do you know what this could be about, Vander?” Grayson asks, nothing in her voice betraying curiosity or concern, unfazed as she seems.

He regrettably shakes his head. No, no he does not. They can only hope they will know, eventually.

“All I know is that they owe Huck some money but failed to give him the amount promised.”

The scrawny man with glasses — now identified as Huck — goes through the purse, not satisfied with its content.

“Uh, wait a minute,” he calls out.

“Looks like someone’s been played,” Benzo remarks.

Yes, not unusual indeed.

“This, uh…,” he chuckles nervously, bringing a coin up closer for observation. “Uh, this… isn’t what we agreed on, so…”

“Well,” the one in front of him replies nonchalantly, “demand for your wares has dropped since we made our arrangements. This is the new value.” he shrugs.

“Uh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We, um… we shook on it,” he tries desperately to negotiate. “Ten thousand,” he points a finger on the table, demanding the full compensation.

“Such are the risks of business.”

“Ten.”

“It’s a fair price, I think you should take it.”

“No, no, no, no.” Then, he repeats as if this will change the other’s mind. “No, no, no, no, no.”

Huck passes a nervous hand through his hair and looks incredulously at his drinking companions. “I can’t do that. I can’t do that!”

He throws the pouch across the table, one coin rolling on the table, stopped in its track by the knife of the man’s companion, stabbing right through its center.

Topsiders flinch at the sound the blade makes as it’s unsheathed, watching with wide eyes as the woman’s bright, golden colored eyes narrow.

She removes her knife, not once looking away as she deposits it on the table near the pouch.

“Make your choice.”

“How— what— ho-how is that even a choice?!” Jayce sputters, mouth hanging open. A choice between an incomplete payment or death? How is that fair?!

It’s Caitlyn who voices his thought out loud. “That’s not fair,” she frowns.

“Fair?” Vi snorts mockingly. “Nothing is fair, and particularly not in the Undercity,” she spits out with a deprecating look in the direction of the Topsiders.

Cassandra opens her mouth to reprimand the girl, tell her what she is saying is nonsensical and things can’t be that bad, when she remembers the first few scenes they watched. The bridge attack and the failed heist. The person who looked like the girl’s mother, lying dead on the ground, the little kid falling to her knees as she wails, hugged by her sister, her last blood related family member.

Just be born lucky, the kids said.

And suddenly, her reply dies in her throat before it can make it out.

Huck gulps, looking at the other two with terrified eyes, when they are interrupted by a familiar voice.

“You folks need anything?”

Eyes turn to look at Vander and Ekko whoops, throwing his fists in the air.

“Vander to the rescue!” he yells, earning another laugh out of the man.

“Leave us,” the bulky man orders him, but the bartender only raises an eyebrow.

“You sure about that?”

He looks at the knife displayed next to the money pouch and sniffed, obviously not done. “Sounded to me like—”

“Piss off,” the woman snarls, turning her icy glare towards him.

“How rude!” Heimerdinger exclaims in indignation for the man, and Ekko nods his head along.

“Yeah! The tiny man’s right!” he points at the Yordle who almost chokes on his saliva. “How dare she talk like that to Vander?!”

“T-tiny man…?” the Yordle stammers, starring at the kid with wide eyes. “I’m a Yordle!” he tries to clarify, but Ekko only looks at him briefly before shrugging, seeming to say whatever, it’s the same thing anyway, still pissed about that woman.

Heimerdinger sputters some more, confused between indignation and amusement, but eventually he lets it go.

Vi snorts, enjoying this interaction probably more than she should, bumping shoulders with the white haired kid. “Way to go, Little Man.”

After all, this is the kid who ran around with Powder throwing the middle finger at Enforcers. She was so proud when she heard of this.

Vander raises his eyebrows in astonishment, gaze moving quickly between the three occupants of the table, letting out a simple “Ah,” understanding the situation Huck finds himself in.

He walks away and the staring contest resumes before their attention is once again grabbed by the sound of a chair scrapping against the wooden floor as it is dragged up to the table.

“I think I know what you need,” Vander announces as he sits down, earning himself a second round of glares.

The woman lean on the table, sneering at him. “You don’t seem to listen, barman—”

“A bit of advice,” he interrupts her before leaning in conspiratorially. “Don’t threaten the guy who pours the drinks.”

Mylo woops loudly, clapping his hands. “Yeah! Don’t fucking talk to Vander like this you bitch!”

This earns him a few disapproving looks from the Piltovans’ side for the language but, ultimately, even they agree. That woman is quite rude.

Vander motions with his head towards the other tables at the bar and, when the other two turn to look, they found everyone staring at them, some already getting up and ready for a fight.

Benzo whistles, and Mel is suddenly assaulted with a vivid image of her mother’s men standing up for her in this way. A bitter and heavy feeling creeps up her chest and settles over her heart as she thinks about Ambessa Medardra and the country she banished her daughter from.

I’m going to show you, Mother, that I too can be a wolf and a fox.

“So you’re Vander,” the man acknowledges and Vander snorts, lightening up his smoking pipe.

“Hound of the Underground,” the woman adds as he nods his head in her direction, confirming what she is saying. “I expected something… younger.”

“The man who controls the Undercity,” Mel remarks, taking note of the way everyone seems ready to fight if only he would give the command.

As a Council member she knows; this takes a lot of respect, but it’s more bark and no bite. The Undercity, as part of Piltover, is commended by the Council and, therefore, these people aren’t much of a threat. Still, it is worth it to keep an eye on the man, lest he decided to put his gantlets back on.

“You’re not much younger yourself, lady,” Ekko snorts quietly, except it’s heard very well in the too quiet room. Vi, Claggor and Mylo all burst out laughing.

“Ekko, we don’t say that about people,” Benzo reprimands him, failing to prevent the smile from forming on his face. Ekko simply shrugs, not regretful and fully standing by what he said.

These kids, Vander sighs, secretly amused. Not that he will admit it, of course. This would set an even worse example to them, and he doesn’t need that right now.

“We were expecting traders who would honor their word,” he throws right back at her, extinguishing the flame he used to light up his pipe and leaning back on his chair. “So I guess we’re all disappointed.”

Ekko and Claggor nod as if Vander’s words are sacred.

“You got us all wrong, my friend,” the man trader retorts back, trying to diffuse the tension. “We were just… negotiating.”

Jayce snorts and Viktor throws a sad smile.

Negotiating, what a funny word that traders and scammers in the Undercity often like to use to downplay the injustice of their trades.

“Now you’re speaking my language,” Vander says, before pointing towards the scrawny man at his side, drinking and eyes dancing all around to avoid looking directly at the traders. “How about you just give Huck the rest of what you owe him, and I’ll let you walk out of here in one piece?”

Jayce and Caitlyn both shudder at the dark, dangerous look Vander sent toward the two sitting across from him. He means business. He is threatening them, using the same method the traders employed on this Huck guy. He is turning their game right back against them.

In this moment, Vander looks like a man ready to make good on his threat.

The man trader shifts his eyes to his companion then back towards Vander, assessing the threat for what it is and deciding whether or not it is worth taking the risk.

“Do we, uh… have a deal?” Vander smugly finishes, extending his pipe towards them.

The woman exhales, frustrated and annoyed, taking the offered pipe and inhaling once before immediately coughing.

“Guess she can’t handle your stuff, friend,” Benzo throws at him.

Vander only shrugs, not at all bothered. More for him, really.

“This is vile!” she complains as she hands him back the pipe.

“You’ll learn to love it,” he retorts, unbothered.

“No, no I don’t think she will,” Benzo continues. “She is right on this point.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re too afraid to try it,” Vander smirks, and his friend sputters.

“Excuse me? Where did you get that from?”

He shrugs again, chuckling.

From the corner of his eyes, he spies his kids entering the bar. His gaze lingers on Vi’s hood still covering her face, on the way they all actively avoid his eyes and he instantly knows something is up. He doesn’t waste a second and rises from his chair.

“Welcome to the Lanes,” he says before immediately walking away.

Oh no, here we are again, Vi thinks, shrinking herself as the next scenes readies to play. She doesn’t want to hear Vander’s reprimand again, and she certainly doesn’t want everyone else to hear it too.

But whatever happens, it’s on you.

Vander shoots her a worried look when she refuses to meet his eyes. He tries to look at Claggor and Mylo next but both of them are reacting the same way. Benzo pats his shoulder understandingly and Vander is grateful for it.

On the Piltovans’ side, they are still reeling from the overload of information that was just sent their way through those meager twenty-thirty minutes of screening — it is easy to lose track of time when there is no clock available. The Undercity is… not exactly what they expected it to be, but at the same time it is. Shady and dark, giving off a sinister atmosphere and so run down you can barely believe there are people still living there. Even the people there and their dynamics, the way they act around each other… all of it is so very different from what they are used to, what they usually see Topside, and it is heavily throwing them off.

Welcome to the Lanes indeed.