Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Life can be seen under many different lights.

For some, life is pleasure; it’s about seeking that which pleases one, that which brings the blissful feeling, the sweet release. It’s about giving in to desire, to the most carnal, primal, animalistic, territorial part of one’s self, damning the mind, the wisdom, the knowledge and the purity it seems to demand to Hell. Life is about getting high, going down, getting off. Life is about seeking pleasure, delivering it, selling it and buying it, whatever it takes. It’s about being in the heat of it all when it comes to liquid ecstasy running through your veins; whores, pimps, clients. Drug addicts, drug dealers, the drug in itself. Lovers, affairs, adultery, commitment. Lies, secrets, escapades. Moaning and whimpering and sweating, writhing and squirming and turning while someone else makes you come undone under their hand, under their body, unter their tongue, while you yourself make yourself come undone under your own hand, your own imagination, your own moaning and whimpering and panting, your own sweat and your own self.

Life, for some, is about pleasure and one could find it anywhere and in any shape or form; from the loneliness of their own bedroom to the suffocating sea of bodies that any dance club could be, from the simple touch of two fingers to the rush of a laboratory-made substance, from the exertion of physical exercise to the smile on a loved one’s face.

Pleasure.

For others, life is business; it’s about seeking power, about being the strongest, about being at the top of the food pyramid, being the dog that eats the weaker dog and the being the slyest entrepreneur of all time. It’s about climbing the ladder, step after step, no matter what, even if sometimes it’s required that one steps over somebody else’s head. It’s about making it to the top and crowning oneself as the king; about having no equal, about being the most powerful one, about being able to lift a finger and with just that make sure someone is doomed. Emperors, kings, presidents, governors. Policemen, vigilantes, criminals, mafias, organizations. Spies, wars, deceit, domination, destruction. Companies and their owners and tax evasion and wealth and richness and far more money than what one could ever need, far more than one’s enemies will ever have, success and crushing the other one under the suffocating pressure of one’s thumb and not letting them raise their head, not letting them think for themselves, not letting them fall out of line, not letting them bring one down.

Life, for others, is just a big business where one must do whatever it takes to reach power. Power can be presented in many ways, from wealth to knowledge, from strength to charisma; from the man who steals a wallet to the one who can crush a skull with just one punch, from the one who finds the cure to a lethal disease to the one who can sweet-talk a whole crowd.

Power.

Then there’s the people who think of life as a search for wisdom.

Or the people who see life as a search for meaning.

And how could one forget of the ones who see it as a search for happiness.

“Are the subjects ready?”

She believed neither her nor her only friend could see it as any of that.

“Yes, doctor.” Another deep, male voice replied.

They both saw it for what it really was, she guessed.

They saw life as an obstacle race for survival.

“Perfect,” The doctor replied. “Bring one of them in.”

“Any, sir?”

A beat of thought. “The small one would be better, but any of them is good at this point. Now, hurry.”

She couldn’t see much, her cell completely dark, save for the light that came from the hallway through underneath the closed door. Still, she could hear a few things. She could hear her cell partner, the other girl, her breathing shaky and accompanied by nonsensical mumbling. She could hear other cells’ inhabitants as they wailed and screamed in pain, in anger, in hunger, in fear, in desperation and madness. Last, but not least, she could hear the doctor’s assistant’s footsteps as he approached. Step after step, she heard his boots resonating throughout the halls, the sound waves sneaking into the room. She could tell he was coming from the eastern area, growing closer and closer.

“Go away,” She heard her little friend’s broken voice as she swayed back and forth on her heels, her dirty hands going to her ears as she tried to cover them, “Go away, go away, go away, go away—”

Her eyes moved to the space between the door and the ground, seeing a shadow there where it hadn’t been before.

Someone was standing right outside the door.

She closed her eyes, held her breath.

She heard the click of the lock as the door was being unlocked and opened—

“Hello, girls,” He said, ignoring the look of fear he got from both of them, “Guess which one of you is coming with me, today?”

The only reply he got was the shuddering breaths of both girls as they stared in terror, as they drew back from him.

“No guesses, huh?” He said, before laughing once, “ I’ll tell you myself, then.”

She watched as he moved towards the other girl—

“ No!” She heard the other girl scream, the sound guttural and desperate as the man tried to grab her, failing as she clawed at him in response to his attempts, pure survival instincts taking over. “ No! Go away!”

She couldn’t help herself as she got between them, pushing the man away, putting the other girl behind herself, joining in on the smaller girl’s screams as she also roared out a “ No!” Though hers came out angrier.

She did sound terrified, but she didn’t sound sad.

She sounded angry.

She was angry. So angry she felt like an artery in her neck would explode anytime soon, but not soon enough, because the fear tampered it down.

How long until it doesn’t tamper it down anymore?

The man glared at her, his jaw feathering as he gritted his teeth, before smiling sickeningly so, “Seems we have a volunteer today,” He said, before grabbing her by the arm and pulling her away—

“ No!” The other girl screamed, terrorized, “ No!” She tried again.

But it was already a bit too late.

The man walked out of the room and closed the door, locking it up, before walking back the way he had come from, dragging her by the arm alongside him.

She looked around the hallways as she helplessly followed him to whatever they had in store for her, her eyes going from left to right and scanning the whole hallway, before climbing up and down the doors she could find to both sides, all perfectly distanced from one another, all perfectly symmetrical, the numbers on each of them painted with black paint, flawless. She heard everyone’s screams, so similar to her cellmate’s, for they were screams of pain, of fear, of horror, of sadness, of hunger, of restlessness.

Of anger, much like her own.

It was hard not to see life for what it was, she thought. It was hard not to see life as an obstacle race for survival when all of her thoughts, all of her wishes, all of her dreams and nightmares revolved around that one single goal: survival.

Life was about it, she decided, then; about living to see another day, to witness another dawn, to glance at another dusk. About managing to juke death one more time, by eating a meal before dying of starvation, by drinking a glass of water before dehydrating, by resting before being too restless, by finally manage to reach the shore after swimming for so long, before the sharks caught up or tiredness did and drowning became inevitable, by doing what one must do in order to survive, by climbing the ladder up to the one step that would allow for survival, by bringing pleasure to the ones who would see one as a valuable asset, thus ensuring they keep one safe, protected.

Alive.

Life was about remaining alive, about surviving no matter what, no matter the cost. About doing what is needed, about winning when winning was necessary, losing when losing was necessary, suffering when suffering was obligatory or required and relaxing when peace and quiet came and allowed it to happen, maybe in the darkness of her cell, in the arms of her little friend or in the shuddering breaths they shared in secret, both between them and with the rest of the locked up ones, all of them trying not to breathe too hard for someone could maybe hear them and take them all away.

Like they had done with her.

She kept on thinking about how life was about struggling and fighting and surrendering and going with the flow as the man finally dragged her into a room.

A big room with a stretcher in the center.

“Ah, the bigger one of cell one-zero-six.” He eyed his assistant, “I thought I had said bring the small one?”

His voice made her tremble as she turned to look at him.

“I tried, sir, but she got in the middle. I think it’s best to teach her what happens if you get in the middle.”

The doctor looked at her, before looking at his assistant once more. “She’ll be more suited for this test, anyway. I now doubt the other girl could have handled it without giving up.”

Where giving up meant dying.

The doctor, all dressed up in his white scrubs, got a face mask and some gloves on while motioning at his assistant, “Get her ready.”

So the assistant picked her up from the ground and placed her on the stretcher, quickly restraining her with straps around her ankles, legs, wrists, arms and torso.

She thought that maybe if she didn’t fight, if she surrendered and went with the flow, they’d spare her and let her move on.

She didn’t struggle as the doctor’s assistant finished getting her ready, as the doctor finished getting ready himself.

“Good girl,” The assistant cooed.

But she was not released.

Her heart kept pounding hard in her chest, making her believe that, maybe, if they all remained quiet for a second or two, they would all be able to hear it, thundering against her ribcage.

She feared it would break through.

“Okay, girl,” The doctor said, turning around with a big syringe, a dark green, thick-looking liquid filling it up. “Let’s begin.”

The man brought the needle closer.

She hoped her heart would actually break through.

He got closer to the skin on the inside of her elbow.

She began to struggle.

“Stay put,” He said in a monotone, cold voice. “It will only hurt harder if you don’t.”

Still she struggled, not letting him get a clean shot at the one vein that could be seen through her ill-looking, pale skin—

The assistant grabbed her arm and held it in place with all of his strength.

“Yes, keep her still,” The doctor commanded as he was finally able to operate.

She hissed as the needle pierced her skin, but that pain was nothing compared to the one that came when the liquid began to be pushed into her bloodstream.

Her screams were ear-piercing, shattering, heartbreaking, but the doctor did not stop.

It was as if no one could even hear her.

Or maybe they did, but they feared they’d be next in line if they helped her.

She kept screaming, even as her throat became sore, as she lost her voice.

The doctor did not stop pushing the liquid into her, though. “Now, child,” He said, the only acknowledgement she got, “Don’t throw a tantrum. It’ll end soon.”

She kept on crying out, begging for it to end, begging for him to stop, slowly feeling her whole system being invaded by the strange liquid.

As seconds ticked by, she slowly stopped screaming, feeling as passing out yet not managing to, completely out of control of her body, of her senses, as it all was overriden by whatever poison the man that unjustly called himself doctor had just tainted her body with. Eventually, though, for all things must come to an end, he finished.

“Done,” He said, before pulling the needle out, discarding it to a side as he took out his mask, his gloves. “I’m glad you brought her in the end. It will allow us to see flaws in these two strains by keeping a close eye on both subjects from cell one-zero-six.” He let out a hum, “Maybe using this strain on the other girl would have counterproductive; it would have mixed the diagnostics.”

The assistant nodded his head. “Yes, doctor.”

“I think the other girl has already been showing secondary effects, hasn’t she?”

The assistant nodded his head once more, “She’s shown signs that indicate she’s been going through the third phase of delirium trémens, doctor. It’s hard to tell whether she’s seeing things but, considering she seems to be talking to someone who’s not really there, it would make sense to conclude this is the case.”

“Delirium trémens, the excessive energy we’ve detailed before, shaking, mydriasis, perspiration, tachypnea, tachycardia and migraines.” The doctor thought out loud. “Good.” He said, before the doctor turned and looked at her , still on the stretcher, “Now, we must see whether this strain has secondary effects as well.” He got closer, “So now she’ll be the brain and you’ll be the brawn.” He smiled, “How does that sound?”

She simply looked at him in fear.

She saw his expression harden.

For a second, she thought she had seen it display fear.

It made her feel good.

“Let’s go and deal with the third strain,” The doctor said, “We’ll be back before it kicks in.”

And they left, leaving her behind, still strapped to the stretcher.

She didn’t feel okay.

She felt strange.

She felt her body heavy, weak, sluggishly slow.

She felt like she was drowning, like she was about to pass out.

The beeps from the machine that monitored her heart rate began to slow down.

She started to fear she’d die if she closed her eyes.

The beeps became slower.

She tried to breathe faster, tried to spur herself into life, but failed and knew she failed when the machine’s beeping became even slower.

She was reaching death.

Her eyelids felt heavy.

Her body felt like it was not her own anymore, she felt as if only her head belonged to her, the rest being phantom limbs, parts of a body that wasn’t hers, but someone else’s.

The good doctor’s.

She couldn’t open her eyes for long enough, anymore.

And when the beeping became a constant sound, one that indicated there wasn’t anything alive in her anymore, her eyes didn’t open again.

She failed the one mission that she had in life; to survive it.

But then why can I still hear the beep?

She guessed her soul was trying to become a ghost, not ready to leave that world behind, eager to torment the good doctor into an early grave.

But then she felt a rush, as if the blood that had accumulated in her head had rushed to her limbs, making her feel renewed, her body completely hers again, in complete control once more, the beeping machine proving her deadly theory wrong as it quickly sped up, the constant beep turning into a rapid fire of them.

Suddenly she wasn’t feeling sluggish, anymore.

She felt as light as a feather, yet as heavy as a rock if she willed herself to be.

She felt strong, swift.

Angry.

The adrenaline that had suddenly invaded her body, renewing her energy and making her feel stronger, faster and better than ever before made even her brain rush through a series of thoughts in the same fashion.

And when the thought of breaking free tried to pass by, she quickly caught it and didn’t let it go.

She struggled a bit but, in the end, she ended up easily releasing herself from her restraints, pulling her limbs from them.

She felt unstoppable, high with the sudden power.

And she knew what she had to do.

She got out of the operating room.

She came face to face with the doctor and the assistant, as they made their way back to her.

They both looked at her with pure shock.

“Sound the alarm,” The doctor said, “Alert the guards!”

The assistant ran—

She ran towards the doctor.

He couldn’t do anything to stop her as she tackled him to the ground.

And even if she felt in control, it was hard to tell whether she was or not, for it didn’t seem too controlled when she grabbed his jaw and broke it, almost taking it out of his face.

The sirens went off and it broke her out of her bloody trance, spurring her back to action once more as she ran away from the scene, from the broken, screaming man.

Towards cell one-zero-six.

The door was locked.

She thought she would be able to break it down.

She ran towards it and hit it with her shoulder.

It didn’t budge.

She did it again.

It didn’t budge.

She got angry.

She started hitting it, time after time, stampeding towards it, charging at it, growling in frustration—

It began giving way.

She kept on going, she kept on pushing—

The door fell down.

She made eye contact with the other girl, her eyes filled with fear.

Without saying another word, she offered her her hand.

The girl hesitated for a brief second, but took it anyway.

And just like that, together, hand in hand, both girls ran.

Knowing herself to be faster than the other girl, she quickly picked her up from the ground and kept on running.

“Left!” The other girl commanded, her order making her quickly turn on her feet, navigating the halls with ease. “Now right!”

And so on, and so on, and so on until—

They reached a dead end.

But there was a window there.

The sirens were deafening and they could both hear people coming their way.

So they shared one final, long look and, without hesitation, she sprinted towards the window and jumped through it, shattering it into a million pieces of glass as she did so.

They fell to the ground, two levels underneath them, but somehow they managed to survive it. She guessed that whatever they had injected on her made her more resistant, for she had received the most of the impact, letting the other girl use her as a cushion.

They could still hear the sirens, the angry shouting of the doctors inside, the only indications they needed to know that they couldn’t stop and stare at the outside world just yet, they couldn’t stop and breathe the outside’s air just yet.

So, without another word, without another moment or second of thought, still together, still hand in hand, both girls ran into the night and finally managed to flee the scene.

Chapter Text

“I’m hungry.”

She sighed, “I know. You’ve said it many times.”

“Yes, but you’re ignoring me.”

“That’s because I’m hungry too and you’re reminding me of it.”

They walked around the main street of the flea market, their eyes scanning the crowds, the vendors, what they sold, everything and anything at once but they always came across the same things; trinkets, technology of dubious origin, artifacts from long ago and not too long ago, tools and curiosities and hand-me-downs and whatever else.

No food whatsoever.

That was the thing with this city they were in; apparently, technology and science were far more valuable than essentials that could satisfy basic human needs like hunger.

It had only been three days since they escaped whatever hellhole they were in and in those three days they hadn’t had a thing to eat. That place could have been terrible in more than just one way but they had to give them one thing; they did keep them well fed.

Did.

Because now they were starving and that was putting it lightly.

Her stomach growled loudly enough that a woman turned and looked at them. After glaring at her, she turned away once more.

“There’s no food here,” The smaller girl complained loudly, before dragging her fingers down her face in frustration. “I feel like I’m going to lose my—”

“ Shhh!” She told the small girl, placing her hand against the smaller girl’s mouth. “Don’t say it.”

She released her, watching her as she frowned at her. “Why?”

“Because you’re going to jinx it.”

The girl’s eyes softened at her words, “Ah,” Was all she replied, before zoning out, her eyes unfocused.

She sighed, very well aware that, maybe, she herself had just jinxed it. After leaving the facility, it became too hard to ignore her little friend’s peculiar mind and the way it worked; she wasn’t old enough to know what, exactly, had been done to both of them, but she was smart enough to know that they both had been parts of some experiment or test of sorts; they had both been injected with something those pretend-medics wished to test. Whatever it was, she wasn’t sure, but she knew a few things to be facts; First, whatever had been injected in her made her stronger and faster than a normal kid of her age, but made her far more short-tempered than she used to be, making her feel a blinding fury whenever something overwhelmed her and she found herself to be easily overwhelmed. Second, whatever had been injected in her friend made her far smarter than average, but made her see things that weren’t there, specially when she got inside her own head. The only way to keep her above sea level and prevent her from drowning in her thoughts was to keep her entertained; distracted with something she didn’t exactly need to understand, but just experience.

Only use your brain when necessary had been the advice she had given her a day earlier.

She hoped her friend would stick to it, but knew her to be a bit stubborn.

Just like herself.

So they kept walking sluggishly, fantasizing about a meal that they felt like they’d never have the chance of having—

The sharp inhale of her friend made her snap into focus. “What?”

Without speaking much, the smaller girl gripped her arm and pulled her away from the main street of the flea market, into a smaller walkway which was, at the same time, far more crowded.

It made it more difficult to move around nor see anything the vendors offered, so she got annoyed, “What did you do that for?”

But she couldn’t be angry at the other girl, specially when she saw the look of fear in her eyes as she said, “I just saw the doctor.”

Fear installed itself in her heart and she wondered if it would count as jinxing it if she were to say you imagined him.

“You saw wrong,” She settled for saying.

But the other girl shook her head, “I saw him and I’m sure he saw me.”

She shook her head, afraid of believing her.

But then she heard something going on behind them and, as she turned to see what the problem was, she saw the doctor, accompanied by two of the facilty’s guards, pushing his way through the crowd.

His eyes on them.

He motioned at the two men who flanked him before pointing at them. “Those two!”

To Hell with hunger and lethargy. She suddenly felt invigorated.

“Piggyback,” She said to her friend, helping her as she quickly climbed her back and wrapped her thin legs around the bigger girl’s waist.

And without any other second thought, she began to run.

She pushed whoever came in her way aside and willed her legs to move faster, to push the ground harder, to make her swiffer.

The doctor wasn’t as fast and it proved on how he quickly was left behind, but his two friends were big enough, strong enough, fast enough to catch her.

And they proved it in the way they closed in on her.

She didn’t dare turn back to see them in fear of slowing down, but she could feel them coming closer; she could make out their stomping boots, differentiate them from the rest of the sounds she could hear, distinguish how the sound of their footsteps became louder and louder, thus meaning they were closer and closer—

She was so focused on what she could hear that she forgot to pay attention to what she could see in front of her.

She felt her heart stopping as she tripped over some boxes, having ran through some merchant’s stand by accident.

She fell face first to the ground, the momentum of her sprint making her roll on the ground, her small friend doing so as well along with her as she refused to let go and only gripped her harder, fearful of letting go.

When they finally came to a stop, she realized they were cornered; boxes, trade-goods and stands all around them, while the people moved away from them but not enough so as to give them an exit, for they had formed a circle around her and her friend, desperate to move away from whatever danger there was, but not fearful enough to leave the area without witnessing whatever slaughter they imagined would take place.

Only two other people were allowed into the circle.

The doctor’s friends.

They both stared in fear as they approached them.

They took another step—

They stopped as they heard the sound of a metal thing hitting the floor and bouncing on it, the artifact catching their attention as it slid into view from between their feet, coming to a stop right in front of their boots.

And then it exploded.

The two men shouted in fearful shock as the device exploded in a cloud of smoke.

She tried to remain still—

“Hey, kids,” They both heard a hushed voice coming from somewhere within the smoke cloud, before a girl appeared very close to the both of them. “Those of us without a brain,” She moved a finger around, pointing at both of them and at herself, “Have legs to run.”

The smaller girl glared, “I do have a—”

“Not the point!” The other girl replied, before grabbing them both by their shirts’ collars and pulling them up with her, only to push them all to run with her.

She quickly picked up her little friend once more, letting her latch herself to her back like she had done before, as she tried to keep up with the girl who had just saved their lives.

They ran away from the two men, trying to find a way to get out of the flea market while they were distracted—

They came face to face with the doctor.

He had bandages all over his jaw, covering his mouth.

He glared at them.

The girl who saved them had her eyes locked on him before he said, “Twelve, it would be cool if you made a grand entrance, now!”

The doctor took a step—

A little kid —smaller than the three of them— suddenly appeared in between them, having ran towards them all without them noticing.

He took out a small device from his pocket and he threw it high in the air.

The two other men were getting close to them, having escaped the smoke.

They looked at it, confused. “What—”

The small boy looked at the three girls as the other two men reached them, “Run.”

And as they started running, the device hit the ground.

With a loud bong-like sound, it exploded in the middle of the medical team.

They looked back only to find the men intact, unharmed, yet frozen in place, like time had stopped for them there.

Still, they weren’t going to stick around and ask any questions, so the four of them kept running away; the two girls followed their two saviors as they took turns and went left, then right, then right again, another left, going on and on and on, not daring to stop for a while, until they reached what looked like an avenue, quite crowded but not as busy and suffocating as the flea market they had been in before.

They stopped running, all of them trying to catch their breaths for a moment, before the girl who had saved them spoke, “Come,” She said, motioning for them all to follow her towards a small, empty alleyway.

The two girls looked at her warily, before the smaller one spoke, “I’d rather eat—”

“You like oranges?” The boy said, handing each of them a fruit, before pointing at a small stand which sold orange juice, which was on the avenue’s sidewalk, “I don’t think the juice man will miss those two.”

They frowned, “How did you—”

“We can tell when we see a hungry kid,” The girl said, a smirk on her face as she winked at them. “Now, let’s go.”

They followed her to the small alleyway, looking at each other with a serious look, a bit nervous, for it was deserted.

But did they have an option, really?

“That was quite the show back there,” The girl said, turning to look at them. “And judging by your looks, you both come from the same place as those guys, am I right?”

They stared at her in silence.

A beat.

She raised her brows, “Oh, wait,” She snorted, “Kind of rude of me not to introduce myself, no?” She asked them, “I’m Centum and this little guy over here,” She motioned at the boy to move closer to her, “Is Twelve. Who would you be?”

The girls looked at them before looking at each other, then looked at them again.

Centum frowned, though there was a smirk on her face, “You don’t really know how to answer to that, right?”

“My name is the bigger one from cell one-zero-six and it’s been for a few years, now.” She said, glaring, “I don’t remember my previous name. Hers is the smaller one from cell one-zero-six. That’s all I know.”

“All you’ve known for a while.”

She looked at her before nodding, “Yeah, guess so.”

“Well, bigger girl from cell one-zero-six and smaller girl from one-zero-six,” Centum replied, “You’ve got no names.”

“You don’t have names either,” The small girl replied, her mouth full of an orange slice, “He’s just twelve and you’re just centum . Those are not real names, you both are just a number and a…” She trailed off and rolled her eyes, “A whatever.”

“A fancy way of writing a hundred.” Centum replied, “So I’m a number, as well.”

“Why numbers?” The bigger girl asked.

“If you want to know, you’ll have to come with us.” Centum said. “If you want to come with us, we will have to find you names.”

The smaller girl rolled her eyes. “Fine, I’ll fix this.” She pointed at herself, “I’m Ten and this one ,” She pointed at the bigger girl, “Is Six. Now, Twelve, get us more oranges.”

Six raised a brow at her friend, before looking at Centum, “There, we’ve got names.”

Centum raised a brow, “That’s not really clever, ten and six, considering your cell number…” She sighed, “Fine, you win.” She turned and started walking, “Let’s go.”

“ Where?” Six said, glaring at her. “Why would we even follow you?”

But it was Ten who replied, “Do we really have any other choice or somewhere to be, really?”

“Exactly,” Twelve said, reappearing with two other oranges, “So let’s go.”

Centum and Twelve started to slowly walk away.

Ten aimed to follow, but Six grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. “No,”

“ Six, think—”

“Do not call me that.” She replied, glaring. “That’s not my name.”

Ten pulled away from her, pushing her hand away, “What is your name, then?” She pressed, staring at her as she remained in silence, before she rolled her eyes. “That’s right, you’ve got none, so we might as well be Ten and Six.” A beat, “And we might as well follow them. Think about it; they practically saved us, they fed us, they helped us figure out what to call each other and we’ve got literally nowhere else to go, nowhere to hide from the doctor. If we follow them, we might stay safe, fed and hidden. Now, stop being an idiot and let’s go.” She finished, turning and walking.

And thus there could be no more hesitation on Six’s behalf, so she joined them.

“Where are we going to?” She asked as she finally caught up with them all.

Centum eyed her, “To the orphanage.”

“Orphanage?”

She took a few steps before turning around and walking backwards, looking at them, “Twelve and I are The Lost Children Of Zaun. We’re a group of orphans that lives on an abandoned orphanage nearby, along with a few friends of ours who also belong to our group.” She turned to look ahead again, “The owners of the orphanage couldn’t keep us under control and, after having tried it all, they simply deserted us by leaving. They thought we wouldn’t manage to survive without them and we’d eventually leave as well, but the orphanage is still our home, after all that mess. We are even better without them than we were with them.”

“We’re just a gang composed of orphans who live in an abandoned orphanage,” Twelve said, shrugging.

“And what’s up with the numbers?”

“In our orphanage, there were too many kids, so the administration came up with a system,” Centum explained. “Sometimes, when many of us had the same given names, it would get messy and somewhat difficult to address one without addressing the other, so the administration gave us each a number to identify us with; he got the number twelve while I got the number a hundred as mine. They’d act as last names of sorts.”

“Then why are you Centum and not A Hundred?”

“Because A Hundred doesn’t sound as cool as Centum,” She said first, before laughing. “The last names we were given were our respective numbers inside the orphanage but in an old language, so that no one but people within the orphanage could tell that what they had given us as last names were simply identification numbers.” She shrugged, “Something about it being too objectifying and dehumanizing. My last name is Centum, while his is actually Duodecim, but it sounds a bit too—”

“ Uncool,” Twelve said, “So I decided to use our language’s version of it.” He shrugged, “Twelve. Simpler.”

“And we are going to your orphanage because…?”

“Because we have food to share with you both there,” Centum replied, “And you seem hungry.”

“But why share food with us?” Six finally said, “Why are you helping us?”

A beat.

“You’ll see if you follow. You won’t if you don’t.”

And despite their doubts, despite the quietness they decided to stick to, they followed.

They walked for a while, before they reached one of the worst parts of Zaun. Nevermind the slums, whichever part of it they were in was far, far worse.

Far poorer.

Far dirtier.

Far.

Far from anything one would ever aspire to be, to have, to see.

Far from the facility they both had been in.

They reached a big, old building, its’ doors open, a few kids coming in and out as they ran around and played.

“This is the orphanage,” Centum said, before entering the building, “Come.”

They followed her in and they were quite surprised to find that the building was actually intact inside, having been kept in the best condition possible.

They reached what must have been the administration’s office and Centum quickly walked to the chair that was placed behind the desk before sitting down on it. She looked at Twelve, “Bring us Five, please.”

Twelve nodded his head and left.

Six and Ten looked at Centum, “What’s all this about?”

“You’ll see.”

A few seconds later, Twelve came back, pushing a wheelchair.

Six and Ten looked at a boy, his body maimed to a point it was unusable, his eyes the only part of him that moved.

“Six, Ten, this is Five.” A beat, a shared look with Twelve, and then she said, “He’s Huxley Quinque. We found him on the streets a few months ago. His body was unresponding, only his eyes moved.” She opened a drawer and took out a few papers, “We found him laying there, on the ground by a dumpster, with these papers by his side.”

Six retrieved the file from Centum’s hand, before inspecting it and, upon finding it had letters on it, she gave it to Ten, “You can read now, right?”

Ten nodded, before grabbing it and giving it a quick look.

“I’ll tell you what’s in those papers, anyway,” Centum said. “Huxley was stolen from his house when he was just a baby by one medical facility which tested out different experimental drugs on him. They used him for so, so many tests that his body ended up unresponsive, completely paralyzed. He ended up in the state you see him in; trapped inside his own body. Since he couldn’t communicate whether he felt pain or not, the doctors started carrying out experiments on his body; cuts, alterations, taking this out and adding this other thing, etcetera, up to a point where they left him as he is now; without a body he could ever use, were he to regain control of his own body.”

Six stared at her in horror, before looking at Ten, “Is it true?”

Ten nodded, her expression contorted into a frown. “Except here it says they were testing his lack feeling when it comes to pain.”

“It says he doesn’t feel pain and that they were testing the limits of this lack of feeling, yes,” Centum replied, “But how could they ever know whether he felt it or not? They never asked him.” She looked at Five. “And I can tell he does feel it, because the eyes never lie and, when we found him, his eyes were teary.”

Six looked at Five, then, and stared intently.

Those pupils locked on her.

His eyes were glassy.

And she realized that a girl, probably around her fifteens, was far smarter than any scientist in the world.

“We’ve helped you because we feel the need to help those who escape those facilities. It’s not everyday that it happens, so it’s not everyday that we do it.” Centum said, “Do not get us wrong; we only look out for our own, the kids of this orphanage, but we cannot help what we feel when we see another Five on the streets. We are a closed group, a gang that knows at a very young age that here in Zaun it’s one for all, anything goes, survival of the fittest, but that sometimes cannot help the need to help and ends up incorporating new people.” She shifted on her seat, “If you want, you can join us, because you,” She looked at Ten, “Are very smart and you,” She looked at Six, “Are very strong and we could use some help, just like you could use some help as well. What do you say?”

Six and Ten looked at each other, knowing their response already, but not ready to voice it yet.

“We could help you find out what has happened to you,” Centum continued, “We could help you get your files from the facility and maybe find the families you both come from. We could help you get back to where you once belonged.”

“We don’t want that,” Ten replied, “Our families never bothered to find us, so we can’t be bothered to find them, either.”

Centum didn’t expect her to say that. “We can help you find out what your names are—”

“My name is now Six,” She said, “And hers is Ten. They might not be great names, but they are the names we chose.” She looked at Centum, “And we already know everything that’s happened to us, Centum. I’d rather learn how to read, instead.”

Centum raised a brow, a look of mirth in her eye, “Is this a yes, then?”

Six and Ten looked at each other, before Six spoke, “It’s a yes.”

Centum smiled, before getting up from her seat and walking up to them. “Then let me introduce myself again, properly this time.” She stretched out her hand, “My name is Mallory Centum,” She shook Six’s hand, “My small friend is called Ekko Twelve.” She approached Ten and shook her hand as well, letting Ekko do the same as her.

“Welcome to The Lost Children.”

Chapter Text

Life with The Lost Children was different.

A good different, for once in their lives.

Ten and her were fed, had access to proper hygiene, were provided with good clothes, all without having too much being expected from them, except for their collaboration with the orphanage and the gang, were it needed.

They hadn’t been informed much about what, specifically, the gang does and what their main goal is, secrets seemingly following them everywhere they went, in or out of the facility but, truth be told, at the point she was in, she couldn’t care less about it; she was safe, her friend was safe and no one experimented any more on them. Did it really matter whether those kids were doing shady things or not? Did she really want to know?

I don’t care.

And she really didn’t. She didn’t trust any of them, anyways.

But as safety became a granted wish, survival stopped being the main objective she possessed, at least for a while, as it ended up in a secondary position.

And if survival wasn’t the main goal she was after, then some other things would come to take its’ place as the big prize she’d pursue.

Knowing more about herself seemed to be the biggest contestant, the most promising competitor to win the role of main goal in her life.

She could feel how it became progressively harder to ignore. Every night, questions about herself would come and haunt her harder. Questions she hadn’t had the time nor the nerve to ask herself before and that she knew she wouldn’t ask ever, but being exposed to Mallory’s constant curiosity was making the blissful ignorance she had been under quite suffocating and quite unblissful.

Quite hard to remain under the veil of ignorance she had placed over herself.

It had started innocently enough.

They were in the living room, she was laying down on the couch, when Mallory sat down next to her head, “How old do you think you are?”

She had her eyes closed when she replied, “I don’t know.”

“I know you don’t know how old you actually are,” She replied, “I was asking you how old you think you are.”

She sat up, an angry scowl already on her face, “I don’t know my actual age, so what’s the point in trying to guess it?”

“But I’m not asking you to guess it, I’m asking how—”

“How old I think I am, yes, I heard you the first time,” She replied angrily. “And I think it’s useless thinking what my age could be. There’s no point in it, so stop asking me.”

Silence.

Mallory stared at Six’s neck.

“It’s hard to tell because you’re still malnourished and thus you look smaller than you should, but I think you’re fifteen. Sixteen, maybe. Your little friend must be fourteen.” She said, looking away as she saw Six about to turn. “I’m seventeen.”

She glared at her. “You don’t look it.”

Mallory raised a brow, “What would you know, if you don’t even know your own age?” With that, she left.

And that had been just the first time.

There had been several other questions after that one.

Six had been helping around the orphanage, a few days later, and she had stared at her while she did so, not caring to help.

“You’re strong, Six.” She said as she watched her lift and move things around with ease. “Maybe a bit too strong, don’t you think?”

It pissed her off, so she dropped what she had been holding, before turning to look at her. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t mean it like an insult. I just think you’re really strong, you know?”

“Even though I’m malnourished?”

“Yeah, despite it, you’re strong.” Mallory said, ignoring her angry tone. “It’s not normal.”

Six walked up to her, feeling her anger rise. “Maybe I’m not normal.”

Mallory’s head lolled to a side. “I never said you were.” She replied, before leaving.

Then days passed and she came back again, this time when she was having dinner, alone.

“How long were you in that facility for?”

She got angry that time.

Six got up from her seat, pushing it away roughly, before turning and walking to Mallory.

The girl didn’t even flinch as Six pushed her to the wall, her hands gripping her shirt tightly, “Why the fuck do you harass me with your stupid questioning!?” She growled at her face. “Why are you this insufferable with me but not with others!?”

Mallory’s expression remained neutral, “You don’t know—”

“I do know because I’ve been watching you as much as you’ve been watching me!” She roared, “I’ve been trying to avoid you so as to avoid your stupid questions and, in order to do that, I had to watch you closely and let me tell you that you don’t annoy others the way you annoy me, so you’ll tell me right fucking now why you chose to torture me, of all people in this fucking orphanage!”

Mallory stared at her, her expression unreadable, before she finally spoke, “You wouldn’t hurt the one person who helped you get out of the streets, now would you?”

Six growled at her face in frustration, before releasing her and walking away, bracing herself on the table she had been dining on before being rudely interrupted, placing her hands against the wood, leaning her weight on them, as she breathed in and out, trying to calm down.

But Mallory wouldn’t let it be without one final push, “So?” She started, “How long have you—”

She sighed as she cut her off, “I don’t know how long I’ve been in there for because I was trapped in a cell without any kind of contact with the outside world. I don’t know how many days passed, I don’t know how long it’s been, I don’t know shit, I don’t even know why I know how to speak, I don’t know how I learned the things I learned and why I don’t know the things I don’t know. I don’t know my name, my age, whether I have a family or not, if they’re still alive or not, what they do in that facility or don’t, what they did to me or didn’t, I don’t know shit. All I know is that all I remember is being in that stupid facility, that I don’t remember anything other than that and that I’ve got a very short fuse and a strength that’s not normal, so, please, for your own sake, stop pushing me, before I push your eyes into your brain!”

Mallory stared at her, as unreadable as she’d always been.

Six held her stare, trying to relax, doing her best to calm down.

A minute or two passed and Six exhaled slowly, looking away.

It prompted her to speak once more. “What do you mean by short fuse?”

She sighed. She didn’t see the point in trying to avoid her anymore.

“I mean I get really angry really fast and it makes me very violent.”

Mallory frowned, “I’ll take it you know this because you’ve gotten really angry really fast and thus really violent before?”

Six sighed in defeat, “What’s your obsession with me?”

Mallory smiled, “Don’t take it personal, Six.” A pause, “Or maybe do,” She said, moving closer, “ Do take it personal,” She patted Six’s shoulder, “Because I can easily admit I haven’t done this incessant questioning to anyone else in here, just you.” She shrugged, “I’d just like to know you, I guess.”

Six scoffed, “You guess?”

Mallory nodded her head, “I don’t doubt what I feel, I just let myself feel it and act upon it.” She shrugged once more, “I felt curious about you and decided to get to know you better, even if you don’t seem too keen on it.”

“But why?”

“Because why not?” She replied, “The fact that you don’t know yourself doesn’t mean I don’t want to know you.”

Six stared at her for a moment, before looking away, sighing. “Will you torture Ten like this, as well?”

“No,” She replied, sincerely, “Truth be told, I’m not as curious about her as I am about you.”

“And what about me makes you this curious?”

Mallory stared at her, before shrugging, “I just like you enough to be curious about you.”

“So it means you don’t like Ten, then?”

She thought of it, before nodding, “I don’t like her as much as I like you, no.”

Six looked at her, before looking away and sighing.

A few minutes passed.

Mallory was still there.

“I am not entirely sure of what, exactly, went on in the facility I was in. I can’t remember much of my time there and what I do remember is blurry, as if all the days I’ve been in there had been fused into one big, messy day.” She exhaled through her nose, “I don’t know how long I’ve been there, how many things have been done to me, how long Ten had been there, how many things have been done to her, what kind of things were done to any of us, I don’t know absolutely nothing of it. It was as if life ended every time you fell asleep and it restarted every time you woke up, as if you lived through the same day over and over again, forgetting the last run of it that had been embedded into your brain. All I know, all I remember is my last day there,” She frowned, “Ten and I were in our cell. The doctor’s assistant came to take her away but ended up taking me away instead, because I didn’t let him take her. He took me to a laboratory of sorts where the doctor strapped me to a stretcher and gave me a shot of some sort of thing.” She closed her eyes, “Once he finished, it didn’t take too long for me to slowly stop feeling my own body; sensation went away everywhere, my eyelids were closing and I felt my heart slowing to a stop.” She raised her brows as she opened her eyes, unfocused, “I felt like I died. I really thought I had, but it made the fact that I could still hear the beeping of the machines around me inexplicable. Then I felt the rush,” She looked at Mallory, suddenly closer than ever, in a trance due to her story, “I suddenly was in control again, but my body wasn’t as it had been. It felt stronger, faster.” She frowned, “Then, I felt angry.” She focused on Mallory’s pupils, “It was a different kind of anger, though. It felt much stronger than usual anger. It made me feel…” She shook her head, “I don’t know—”

“Wild.”

Six nodded, raising her eyebrows, “Yes, that’s the word. Wild.” She looked away, “In my wildness, I broke the doctor’s jaw, then broke Ten free of the cell and, together, we ran away.”

“That’s why he wears a face mask, now,” Mallory said, making Six look at her. “We’ve seen this guy before, around here. He takes kids from the streets to use for his experiments.” She looked away, “We try to save them from him, but sometimes we don’t reach in time, you know?”

“That’s why you and Ekko helped us that day, isn’t it?”

Mallory nodded, “We’ve seen him around enough and we know the places he frequents enough to track him and follow his footsteps when he’s lurking. When we saw him, we were a bit surprised to see him with a face mask, but we decided there wasn’t much time to stop and ask him what was up with his face.”

Sxi laughed, “ I was up with his face.”

Mallory laughed along, “That you were!”

As the laughter died out, Six realized Mallory wasn’t the only one with questions. “Can you answer me something?”

Mallory smiled, “I just did, but I’ll let you ask me something else.”

Six rolled her eyes, “Don’t push your luck with me, we’re just now being a bit friendly.”

Mallory chuckled, “Consider my luck unpushed. Now, ask me.”

Six frowned, “What do you know about the doctor?”

Mallory hummed in thought. “We don’t know much about him , but we know he’s a scientist who goes by Singed. He used to study in Piltover, the city above our heads, before being kicked out from there because of being immoral and unethical. Now, he carries out his crazy and pretty much illegal experiments here in Zaun. He steals kids from wherever he can find them and uses them for his tests and stuff.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“Huxley’s file gave us information on him.” She replied, “I don’t know, I guess it’s the facility’s protocol on experiments, but each file has information on both the test subject, Huxley in this case, and the scientist who’s working on the case.”

“Singed.”

Mallory nodded. “After learning his name, we simply searched for all the information we could find on him.” She frowned as she thought, “Apparently, he became quite popular down here due to what happened to him in Piltover.” She looked at Six, “Nothing good can come out of being popular down here Six, let me tell you that, because it’s always the wrong kind of people learning your name.”

“Who learned his name, in this case?”

“I’ve heard that it was some man from Noxus. Apparently, he became interested on Singed’s experimenting, so he bought the facility where now Singed works in and named him the head scientist and lead investigator.” She shook her head, “We don’t really know much of what he works in, but we know he carries out different lines of experiments and tests out things that have weird effects on people. Usually, he’s trying out new harmful things, poisons. He tried one with Huxley, which left him paralyzed. Then, he tried to study his lack of pain. I’ve heard of millions of his experiments and they all usually finish with pain, death or something alike for his subjects.” She raised a brow, “Your case is the first one I hear of that has a different ending; unnatural strength.”

“Second.”

“Huh?”

“I’m the second case which doesn’t end as badly.” She looked at Mallory, “Ten was the first one, with unnatural intelligence.”

Mallory raised a brow, “Looks like you both were parts of a new line of experiments.”

Six nodded, “Looks like it.”

“Well,” Centum said, placing her hand on Six’s shoulder. “Don’t you worry. We’ll find out more—”

“No.”

She raised a brow, “No?”

“I don’t think I want to find out more,” Six said, “Maybe it doesn’t make much sense, but I wanted to know a bit more about the doctor so I’d know who to avoid.” She sighed, “I’d like to forget I even met him, in the first place.”

Mallory thought for a second, “What about learning more about your family?”

Six shook her head, “Rather not.”

Mallory stared at her, before nodding. “Okay, I understand. You’ll still let me know you, though. Right?”

Six glared at her for a brief second, before sighing. “Maybe.”

The older girl smiled, before standing up, “Great.” She said, “I’ll see you around then, Six. I’ve already tortured you enough, tonight.” She sentenced, before leaving the room.

And when a few minutes passed and Mallory didn’t come back, Six cursed under her breath and stood up, going after her.

And as time passed, they became closer.

“You’re seventeen, then.”

“Yeah, I am.”

“I think you were right when you said I was sixteen,” She replied, “But I doubt Ten is younger than me. For some reason, I think she’s older.”

Mallory snorted. “I doubt she is.”

Six shrugged. “Call it a hunch.”

“A hunch, we shall call it.” Then, “When do you think your birthday is?”

She shrugged again, “I don’t know.”

Mallory hummed, “Let’s settle for today, shall we?”

“Why today?”

“So I can congratulate you.” She walked up to Six, before giving her a kiss on the cheek, “Happy birthday, Six. You’re seventeen like me, now.”

She laughed, “Thanks, I guess.”

“Get ready for Ten’s birthday. That’s next week.”

“Sounds good.”

As time passed, conversations like that became much more frequent than not.

“They made you stronger with whatever they shot into your bloodstream, right?”

A hum of confirmation. “Much stronger, enough that I don’t know the limits of my strength, yet. They also made me angrier.”

“I’ll help you control that anger, somehow.”

“What if I don’t want to control it?”

“You will learn, anyways, because you can’t go through life angrily, Six.”

“Maybe I want to go through life angrily, Centum.”

Mallory leaned close, a raised brow and an inquisitive look to her face, “Do you?”

Six couldn’t help smirking as she said, “Maybe not.”

In their closeness, Six became comfortable with Mallory and, in her comfort, she learned quite a lot about the older girl.

For starters, she learned Mallory was actually very clever.

“I want you to teach me how to read and write.”

Mallory raised a brow, “Read and write?” She saw Six nod. “Why? You don’t really need to know.”

She exhaled loudly, “Every time I’m around you or Ten I feel stupid and I’d like to stop feeling like that.”

The older girl laughed, “Okay, I’ll teach you.”

She then learned the girl knew a thing or two about fighting.

“You’re strong, but what do you know about throwing a punch?”

Six made a face, “I just get angry and do things. I don’t need to know how to throw a punch.”

Mallory scoffed. “Getting angry will get you so far, Six, but know how to fight and you’ll get even further.” She shook her head, “At some point, you need to learn that anger isn’t good enough and control is better. Here,” She said, “I’ll teach you how to box.”

“Box?”

“Yes,” She got her fists up, “Imitate me.”

She also learned the girl was actually an inventor.

“Six, come here. Do you know what this is?”

Six stared at a table with— “Junk?”

“No, this is technology. Hextech, to be exact.”

“Okay,” Six said, “And why are you telling me this?”

“Because you may not think you are, but you’re actually very clever, yourself.” Mallory replied, “You learn fast, so I’ll teach you how to mess with tech and get something useful out of it.”

Six chuckled, “You’re just trying to get me hooked on your hobby.”

Mallory laughed, “Maybe I am. Do you think I’ll succeed?”

“Maybe.”

So, as days passed and turned into months, she grew awfully closer to the other girl.

She learned about her passions and fears, what she liked and disliked. She learned the girl wasn’t as strong as her, but was strong enough to fight, just like she wasn’t as smart as Ten, but was smart enough to outsmart the rest. She could come up with funky gadgets, land a good uppercut, crack a funny joke, lead a gang.

She could distract her with those bright green eyes or that shoulder length, straight black hair that she usually wore in a ponytail. Maybe even by wearing a tank top and showing off some of that bronze skin of hers—

“What’s up with Ten?”

She was never as grateful as she would be whenever Mallory broke her out of those thoughts.

No time to think about things like that.

Rather know myself.

And that spoke a lot about how little she wanted to address those other thoughts.

“What do you mean?” She asked her, doing her best not to let her eyes wander away from the other girl’s.

“She talks to herself, sometimes.” She explained, “But she isn’t thinking out loud, she’s literally talking to someone who’s not there.”

Six sighed. “The doctor had experimented on her before me. I remember him mentioning something about testing two different strands on us. Whatever he shot her with, it made her really intelligent, but it also made her see things when they are not there.”

Mallory’s expression faltered, “That’s why she refuse to admit she had legs to run, then?”

Despite the nature of their talk, Six smiled, “Yeah, because she does have a brain. A faulty one, but a smart one anyway.”

Then Centum’s expression became hard again as she took a step closer, “Sometimes, I hear her mutter something about not jinxing it…?”

“Oh,” Six said, ignoring the sudden proximity. “That might be my fault. You see, when I noticed her brain worked differently and that she’d sometimes get lost in her own head, I also realized she can avoid that by avoiding the whole process of thinking, so I told her not to think about it and to actually not think at all, doing it only when necessary.” She had a sheepish look, “I told her that if she did, she’d jinx it.”

“So that’s why she keeps saying—”

“ Don’t get jinxed.” Six said, before nodding her head, “Yeah. She started calling it that some time ago because of me and now she fears getting jinxed.”

So, by getting comfortable with Mallory, she learned a lot about the other girl, just like she allowed her to learn about herself and about Ten or, at least, as much as she could offer her.

Mallory knew they had both been experimented on; Six being the brawn, Ten being the brain.

She knew Six was a bit temperamental while Ten was a bit delirious.

Delirium trémens, excessive energy, shaking, mydriasis, perspiration, tachypnea, tachycardia and migraines.

She knew Six had a quite remarkable memory —at least auditive memory—, which made her question whether she remembered more about the facility or not, whether they tampered with her memories or not.

She knew Ten was afraid of jinxing herself.

Six had expected Mallory to learn a lot about them, eventually.

What she hadn’t expected was to end up learning things about herself.

She learned she was really strong and that her anger was controllable, if she focused hard enough on it, on her breathing, on her mind.

She also learned that she was actually quite smart or, at least, a fast learner.

She learned she had a good eye for hextech and a good hand for messing with it.

She learned that Mallory, Ten and her were taller than what was average for girls; while Ten and Mallory were the same height, she was a few inches taller than both of them, though she doubted they knew, for it was a very subtle height difference.

She learned she didn’t feel attraction for boys, but she did so for girls.

She learned she was really attracted to Mallory for whatever reason there was.

And then one day, she learned that Mallory was the leader of that gang of hers —the Lost Children of whatever, she didn’t care much because the girl didn’t talk to her nor Ten about it for too long— for a reason.

She entered the girl’s office, only to find it empty, a folder laying on top of the desk.

Curiosity got the best of her, so she approached it and checked out the small label placed on its’ top right corner.

Cell one-zero-six.

And she felt her own blood freeze off.

“You were right.”

She turned, fast like the crack of a whip, all at the sound of her voice.

Mallory was standing by the door of her own office, laying against the door frame, her arms crossed, though she held an orange in one hand. “Ten is older than you.” She smirked, “Just by a year, though I swear she looks younger.”

Six looked at the fruit in her hand. “What’s the obsession Zaun seems to have with oranges?”

Mallory was surprised at the change of topic, “Six—”

“What is the obsession for?” She pressed, her eyes deadly locked on the other girl’s.

Centum sighed, walking towards her, “We can talk—”

“About oranges,” Six finished for her. “Will you tell me why are you so obsessed with them or not?”

Mallory studied her expression for a moment, before nodding, looking at the fruit in her hand. “Zaun doesn’t get as much sunlight as Piltover,” She looked at Six’s eyes, “You know, the city above us,” She said, pointing up. “Anyway. We don’t get as much sunlight as them.” She huffed a laugh, “Practically speaking, we don’t get any at all. That’s what’s up with oranges and our obsession with them,” She said, throwing the fruit in the air and catching it once again, “They’re a good source of vitamins and while they will never replace the Sun herself, they are good providers of the vitamins we miss out on due to the lack of sunlight in our lives.”

“C.”

Mallory raised a brow, “What?”

“The vitamin oranges give you is vitamin C.” She raised a brow, “The one that sunlight gives you is vitamin D. They’re not the same.”

Mallory smirked, “Ah, but oranges do give vitamin D, as well. They provide much more C than D, but they do give us that one as well and it’s the easiest way we’ve got to get it down here, so that’s why we’re so obsessed with it, us Zaunites.”

Six nodded her head, “I see,” She said, before her eyes fell back on the file’s label, on the desk.

“You’re smart,” Mallory said, trying to catch Six’s eyes. “Smarter than you think. Smarter than anyone thinks—”

“How did you get this file.”

It had not been tuned like a question.

She couldn’t ignore the elephant in the room, anymore.

Mallory’s eyes laid on the one-zero-six, so perfectly neat on the folder’s label. “How do you think I got it?”

Six’s eyes moved towards hers. “With you, I never really know.”

Mallory’s unreadable expression turned into one of mirth, “You think you wouldn’t be able to guess?” She chuckled, walking around the room, circling her, “Well, I could have met up with Singed and asked him to very kindly give me your file,” She walked right next to Six, “Or maybe I just traded with him; I gave him Ten in exchange for—”

Six grabbed her and turned them around, trapping the older girl between herself and the desk.

“I’m serious,” Six deadpanned, glaring into Mallory’s green eyes.

But all the response she got was, “You’re taller than me by a few inches. It’s not much, but I had never noticed.”

“Until now.”

Mallory nodded, “Yeah,” She said, her gaze relaxing, despite the situation they were in, “Until now.”

“How did you get the file.”

Her voice had dropped almost to a whisper.

Almost.

It had sounded more like a growl, but both of them knew she hadn’t meant it to.

“I told you that I wanted to know you, Six.” Mallory replied. “And while I adore our conversations and how we both try to delve into the mystery that you are, I must admit it’s frustrating when we both reach a wall we cannot climb nor just stampede through.”

“So you decided you’d just ignore my request of not learning too much about my past and went on with it?”

“It’s not like that—”

“It is like that,” Six replied, “You wanted to know more about me and now you’ve got a fucking file on me.” She huffed a mirthless laugh as she took a few steps away from the girl, throwing her arms up in surrender, “You always get what you want, don’t you?”

“Don’t think I don’t know.” She started, making Six look at her, “Don’t think I don’t know how badly you sleep at night, Six, because I know.” She took a step towards her, slow, tentative, “I know that it’s not the lack of knowledge regarding your parents what keeps you up at night, but the lack of knowledge regarding yourself. I know that not knowing whatever they did to you in there kills you. ” She sighed, “So I tried to find a solution to your problem.”

“ How did you—”

“I snuck into the facility with a little bit of the gang’s help.” She shrugged, “We reached Singed’s office when he was out, looked for both Ten’s file and yours. Thanks to Huxley’s file, we knew that they keep a folder per cell and place each subject’s file in the respective cell they’re in, so we quickly, found them inside a folder labeled cell one-zero-six, stole the whole folder and then we just took off with it.”

“Did you read it.”

Again, not a question.

Centum stared at her, before closing her eyes, sighing, then walking back to her desk. “I wanted to surprise you with answers to questions that you make yourself, that we make each other regarding yourself.”

“That we both agreed on guessing but not on confirming,” Six shot back, staring at Mallory’s back, intently. “And that doesn’t reply my question.”

“Because it hadn’t been a question and because you know that yes, I read it.” Mallory replied. “I read your file so many times that I know it by heart, by now.” She turned and looked at her, “We were right when we guessed you were sixteen, but we were wrong to think your birthday was that one day we celebrated it.” She grabbed the file, “Your birthday is in two days.” She placed the file on the table once more. “And you were also right; Ten is older than you, by a year and a half.”

“Why did you do it?”

This time, it had been a question.

Mallory stared at the file, before letting her eyes move to Six’s. “There’s too many secrets within these walls, but I happen to be the one that knows them all. When Ten and you walked in, you did nothing but present me with a puzzle I didn’t know how to solve.” She bit her lip, “Then I noticed that not even you two could solve it.” She sighed, “It would have been fine, I would have been able to let it go, had it not been for the fact that I started to like you, Six. Not the girl on the file, but the girl who sat on the couch and, when asked for a hand to help sweep underneath, she’d just get up and lift the whole goddamn piece of furniture with ease.” She sighed once more. “I started to like you for who you were and that made me curious. Then you showed curiosity alongside me.” She smiled, “Then we became close and I could see how much not knowing with certainty bothered you—”

“So you made it your personal crusade?” Six accused, raising her brows, “To learn about myself, when there are things I do not wish to know?”

“I know what you want to know and I know what you don’t want to know, Six.”

She scoffed, “Because you know me so well, don’t you?”

Mallory raised a brow, “More than you know yourself.”

And this time, she had a whole file to back her up.

Six glared, opening her mouth to retort—

“I wanted to give it to you, on your actual birthday.” Mallory confessed. “I wanted to give you your own file and, in time, give Ten hers, were she to want it. I wanted to give you a chance of getting to know things like your age, your name, your family, where you come from, how long it’s been since you’ve been in there, what they’ve done to you, but I know there are things you don’t wish to know.” She kept looking at her, her expression unreadable, “I know you wish to leave whoever you were behind and know only the things that could affect you now, in the present, so I grabbed your file and I crossed out all of the information you do not wish to know.” She grabbed the folder and stretched her arm out to Six, “You’ll only find information that’s relevant in there, but nothing about your parents nor your name. Just your birthday, your stay in the facility and the experiment carried out on you.”

Hesitantly so, she took the file in her hands. “ The experiment? Not many?”

Mallory nodded, “Both Ten and you had only one experiment carried out on you, but it took many visits to the doctor’s laboratory, because he had to examine you and make sure you both were able to be tested on.” She started explaining. “Apparently, he’s been trying to find a way to create a superhuman; someone smarter and stronger than the regular.” She watched as Six opened the file and inspected it, relieved to see the black ink that hid information from her. “He created a drug that seemed to improve intelligence and strength and used the first strand of it on Ten, drugging her several times with it to test it. Once he saw the flaws of his creation, he created a second version and tried it out on you, but managed to inject you with it only once, because right after it, you broke out of the facility, taking Ten with you. Ten’s strand focused more on intelligence, while yours focused more on strength, but you both still have the same kind of drug inside of you, so Ten is probably stronger than she looks and you’re smarter than you think.”

“Not as smart as her,” She said with a frown as she read her own file. “And she’s not as strong as me.”

“The fact that she doesn’t eat much won’t help her with that lack of muscle, either.”

Six inspected her file a bit longer, “Where’s Ten’s?”

“In my desk’s drawer.” Mallory replied.

“You’re not the only one who knows secrets,” Six said, before walking up to Mallory, pushing the file she had on her hands against the older girl’s chest, “I know a few of them as well.”

Mallory looked a bit surprised. “What—”

“Ekko’s not an orphan,” Six cut her off. “So at least a part of what you told us when we arrived is bullshit.”

She didn’t seem pleased by this new knowledge. “How do you know?”

“I saw him with his parents.” She simply stated, a smug look on her face. “Well, kind of. He was simply following an older couple who looked like him, but he wasn’t exactly—

“With them,” Mallory finished for her. “Observant much, aren’t we?” She said, before smirking. “Ekko comes from a family of inventors. They wanted to send him up to Piltover, give him a better life than what you can get here in Zaun, but it was killing them, making them fall into debt and, truth be told, Ekko didn’t want that.”

“So he simply abandoned them?”

Mallory nodded, “Pretty much. He reached out to us and ended up joining the Lost Children.”

“Why lie to us?” Six asked.

“Because it was much easier to explain it the way we did than to tell you all of that, that one day.” She raised a brow, “We were being followed, I must remind you.” She exhaled, slowly, “All the kids who live in this orphanage are either orphans from when this place still worked properly or simply kids we found on the streets and in need of help. The gang is a different story; it’s a group composed of people we consider are good enough for it. We all have our little things, secrets that we hold on to, I guess. Ekko’s secret are his parents.” A pause, then, “We kept the numerical system with which we labeled each other because it proved to be helpful; calling each other by numbers or funky nicknames like Centum instead of our actual names while on the job has proved to be good to keep ourselves anonymous and out of the police’s reach.” She smirked, “They can’t find you if you’re just a number.”

“You need to be an actual person for that,” Six said, nodding her head absentmindedly.

“And it also helps create a reputation for ourselves amongst gangs, so it’s a win win situation.” And as she got hit by the question, she asked it, “Why did you come into my office?”

Six shook her head, “I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to see you,” She sighed, rubbing her eyes with her index and thumb. “But now I feel a little bit—”

“Overstimulated?” Mallory inquired.

Six looked at her, before nodding, “Yeah, that’s the word.”

Mallory nodded as well. “Yeah, your file said you could suffer it from time to time.” She said, earning a deadly glare from Six, which made her laugh, “I’m trying to play with you here, Six.”

“A little bit too soon, Centum.” She sighed, “Alright, I’m going to bed,” She turned to leave, “Catch you tomorrow,” And, as she reached the door, she turned. “Do not hide anything else like this from me, ever again.”

Mallory smiled, “I won’t if you promise to do the same.”

Six raised a brow, “I never hid anything—”

“Then, next time, tell me you like me instead of just waiting for me to notice.” She shrugged, “You would have found out it’s mutual, you know?”

She had not expected that, “What—”

Mallory smiled, “It’s okay, your secret is safe with me,” She winked, “Now, go sleep this all off, because we’ve got a big talk tomorrow.”

She didn’t even have time to react, “Big talk about what?”

“About how I want both Ten and you in the gang.”

Despite not being able to finish processing whatever she was telling her, Six rolled her eyes, “Sure, Mallory.” She turned once more, “See you tomorrow.”

“You were right earlier,” Mallory called as she watched her go, seeing her stop on her tracks, smiling as she said, “I always get what I want.”

And now you’re it.

But that didn’t have to be said.

So, without turning to look at her once more, Six walked away.

She knew she wouldn’t be able to say no when the morning came.

Chapter Text

Jab and step, jab and step, cross to cross-hook.

Feint, dodge, feint a dodge then just block while stepping forwards and hook, cross-uppercut—

She got Mallory on the chin and watched the girl as she stepped back, turning around, doubling in pain as she groaned in pain.

Six lowered her guard, “I’m so—”

Mallory turned around and landed a perfect, wound up hook on Six’s temple, knocking her off her feet, for she had not been prepared to receive it.

She laughed, “You’re too compassionate, Six.” She told her, approaching the fallen girl. “You’ve got awesome reflexes, but you let your guard down so badly that you don’t manage to use them all the time.” She offered her hand, “Don’t let that happen.”

Six stared at her hand before grabbing it and pulling forcefully.

Despite having predicted what she’d do right before she did it and getting ready for it, Mallory fell to the ground with her.

Six laughed, “You should have seen it—”

Mallory cut her off by putting her hand over Six’s mouth, “I did, but you’re, like, crazy strong!” She smiled, “Jerk.” She teased, before moving her hand away.

Six smirked, snaking her arms around her waist and pulling her closer—

The door to Mallory’s office was pushed open and Six quickly pushed her away from herself, making the girl stand up.

Mallory laughed at the gesture, but said nothing as Ten and Ekko came into the room, watching Centum offer Six a hand, letting her stand up.

Ten raised a brow and looked at her.

Mallory shrugged. “Boxing practice. Your sister is no match for me.”

Six glared at her, “Sure, Mallory.”

“We’re not sisters,” Ten said, a look of disgust on her face. “We just come from the same awful place.”

“How can you be so sure that’s all there is?”

At Mallory’s question, Six and Ten shared a look.

The older girl looked both amused and annoyed at the joke.

The younger, disturbed.

Are we actually sisters?

Only Mallory would know.

She’s the only one who has both of our files memorized, after all.

“Cut the crap, Hundred.” Ten said, a smile on her lips despite the annoyance on her eyes. “If I were related to this brute, I wouldn’t be as toothpicky as I am.”

Six glared at her, “Hey!”

Ten laughed, the sound loud and obnoxious, “I’m just messing with you. Take it as a compliment!”

“What’s so important than you both, little twerps, come and bother me in my office?”

“We want to talk about our next hit,” Ten said, “The big one.”

Mallory chuckled, “Six and you got into the gang just a few months ago and you’re already asking me about upcoming hits?” She shook her head, “Take it slow, Ten.”

“If I took it slow, it would be boring.” She replied, crossing her arms and scrunching up her nose, “And I don’t like being bored. I’d rather be excited.”

And Mallory laughed, but Six didn’t.

Because when you’re bored, you think.

And when you think—

“Okay, you win this one time.” Mallory said, raising her hands in surrender. “Our next score is a mining facility.”

“What?”

“What?”

Even Ekko turned to look at her, “A what?”

“You all heard me.” Mallory said, moving stuff from her desk and placing a few files on top of the now free surface, “There’s a mining facility nearby which belongs to the higher ups from Piltover. They’re mining precious stones and have already accumulated a wild number of them, so we’re going to go in there, steal them and get the Hell out of there.”

Six approached the desk and inspected the files. “They’re working nonstop in there,” She mused, “There’s bound to be some security in there.”

“There will be,” Mallory replied, “But I’m positive that we can take care of them.”

Six raised a brow—

“Do we kill them?”

They all turned to look at Ten at that.

She shrugged, “What?”

“Let’s try not to, but if things get too complicated, we may do what we need to ensure our own safety.” Mallory replied.

It made Six stare hard at her.

When Mallory had invited her and Ten into the gang, she had told them they committed crimes; mostly theft, to earn the money necessary to survive and live rather comfortably.

She had forgotten to mention how, with time, she had started to generate a certain liking for the life of a criminal, though.

And how she went from stealing to survive to stealing for sport.

But she couldn’t complain: the more Mallory enjoyed being an actual gang and not a goody-two-shoes one, the more Six had the chance to go out and let out her anger on someone else’s face.

The more I can show off in front of her.

And she loved doing that.

“Let’s try not to kill them, though.” Six said, looking around.

“Last time someone seemed dead, it was your fault.” Ten reminded her. “Maybe the man’s not actually sleeping with the fishes today, but he won’t have a nice picture of him taken ever again.”

“You did go a bit nuts on his face,” Mallory said, nodding her head.

Six shrugged, “He asked for it.”

“Then stop complaining,” Ten said.

“Mining caves are known to be unstable,” Ekko said, looking nervous about the plan, “Don’t you think it’s a bit too risky, considering our usual property damage reports?”

Mallory looked at him, “We will have to be extra careful, but I think we could do it.”

Ten clapped her hands together, “All right! Let’s get to it.”

Mallory laughed, “Come closer, I’ll tell you what’s the plan.”

Nighttime in the mining facility seemed peaceful enough. The night sky with all its’ stars was hard to see from there, but the gentle sound of crickets was enough to compensate for it. The two men standing by the mine’s entrance were shifting on their feet, visibly tired from standing guard like perfectly trained dogs, one of them slouching on his posture, the other one trying to stifle his constant yawning.

They turned their heads violently at the sound of a girl crying loudly, the situation prompting the both of them to pull out their guns.

“You go and check, I’ll be here.” One of them said, watching as the other one nodded his head and walked away.

He made his way on a slow prowl, circling the area until he found a girl with long, wild, electric blue hair on the ground, her back to him, curled up in a ball.

The source of the crying.

“Hey,” He called out, aiming his gun at her, but sensing she meant no harm. “Girl, what’s the problem?”

He kept approaching her as her whining subsided a bit, her small, fragile-looking body trembling as she curled into herself more and more.

He was almost above her when he aimed away, slowly bringing a hand to her hair, wishing to move it away from her face—

She turned quickly towards him and placed the end of a pistol-looking artifact against his face, not hesitating as she pulled the trigger.

A shot of electricity ran through him, giving him seizures as he fell to the ground, battling against his own convulsing body, his muscles contracting violently and uncontrollably.

Ten quickly got up from the ground and picked up the gun, placing it between her body and her shorts’ belt, before kneeling again and holding the seizuring man against herself, her body eerily strong, enough to hold him in place, a hand on his mouth to keep him from grunting, the other on on her gun as she heard the other guard walking towards her and she took aim.

But her aim was awfully off, for her hair fell like a curtain over her face.

She grew nervous as his footsteps came closer and she couldn’t move it away—

She heard Six’s voice as she grunted, before hearing the man whine in pain at the sound of one, two, three punches. Then, a thud and she knew the man was out cold, on the ground.

The man she was holding finally passed out, so she released him and moved her hair away, only to see Six standing over the guard she had just knocked out, her hands protected from any fighting wounds by some altered grappling gloves she wore during heists.

“You need to reign in on your own hair, Ten,” she heard Mallory say as the woman crouched right behind her, finally entering the scene, “Here, stay put and I’ll help you with it.”

Six stared as Mallory caught all of Ten’s waist-long hair in a thick braid, hearing Ekko’s footsteps as he finally caught up to them, “The guards on the east section are now knocked out. Nine and Thirteen are standing guard. What about yours, Centum?”

“West has been cleared as well. Twenty and Eight are there.” she replied, before patting Ten on the shoulder, “Done. No more wardrobe malfunctions for you.”

Ekko nodded, “Right. Let’s go in, then. Eighteen and Three will stand guard here when we enter the caves.”

So they entered the mine through the only way in.

As they started to descend into the mine’s tunnels, the gang got ready to follow their plan. The concept was simple; guards would be at every single corner, the ones outside and on both the east and west areas being just the first of them, so they’d split in two teams and walk through the tunnels, taking down every guard the found as silently as possible and thus minimizing risk of being spotted, before meeting again in the mine’s heart, the place where all tunnels met, the spot where their treasure hid, getting their goal and getting the Hell out of there.

The plan’s easy, Mallory had said, Six and Ten go left while Twelve and I go right.

So, following her indications, they split in two, with the pink haired girl and her blue-braided friend going left, while the small boy and their boss went right.

“Keep your finger off your Zap’s trigger, Ten,” Six whispered, “Or else I’ll be forced to clean up the mess.”

Ten smiled at her, those pinkish eyes standing out in the dim lighting of the cave, “As if you didn’t like cleaning up the mess I usually leave.”

“I do, but this time it’s different.”

“How so?”

“See the cave?” Six asked, pointing all around herself with one finger, “It doesn’t do well with blunt impacts.” She pointed at herself, then, “I deal blunt impacts.”

Ten rolled her eyes, “What’s the worse that can happen?”

But she had spoken a bit too loud.

A guard heard her, turning to look at them—

In a quick, adrenaline induced spur, Ten pulled out her electric gun and shot him.

The man quickly started convulsing, the sound slowly getting louder—

Six punched him hard on the face once, the blow being enough to make him bounce away from her fist and against a wall.

The impact of his body made the whole cave tremble, before a big boulder got shaken off its’ rightful place above the man—

Both of their breaths hitched as they saw the rock land on top of him, squeezing him as if he were just a bug, his blood splattering all around.

They stared at the image for a moment, before looking at each other; Ten with a sheepish look, Six with an angry scowl.

“And that isn’t even the worst that could happen,” Six scolded her, before aiming for her to follow her, “Come on.”

They kept sneaking through the tunnel they were in, trying to ignore the turns and to follow the main path of the tunnel so as to end in the core, taking down guards as efficiently as they could, hoping to find the cave’s heart sooner rather than later—

They heard loud yelling, coming from both miners and guards, the sound echoing throughout the tunnel they were in, quickly followed by the footsteps of the remaining guards on their area as they ran towards the source of the complaints.

“Let’s go,” Six said, more nervous than before.

They quickly moved through the tunnel—

They reached the mine’s core, where they came face to face with the worst case scenario they had pictured while they planned their heist; Centum and Twelve were held in a headlock each, the remaining guards approaching them as the miners turned to see them.

There were too many people in the core.

And the team conformed by Ten and Six had one issue, one flaw in its’ system; whenever Ten could think with a cold head, Six couldn’t.

So, when Ten got ready to shoot them down, one by one, her Zap in one hand, that guard’s gun in the other, Six ignored her calls for her to stop and charged at them.

They didn’t have time to turn towards her before she caught one of them, an uppercut to his chin, her metal coated gloves breaking his jaw and making him fall to the ground.

She quickly turned to the guard she now had to her side and punched him, landing a perfect hook to his ear, the ringing of the hit making him fall to the ground as well.

The cave trembled.

She then looked at the two guards who held her friends.

Their headlocks got harder—

She heard two gunshots, one right after the other, at the same time as she saw the guards’ foreheads suddenly impacted by the bullets, one on each, the lead going right through their heads in two clean shots.

And as they fell to the ground, limp, she noticed Ten was standing right behind her, Zap forgotten while it hung from her belt, another firearm taking its’ place in her hand—

“How?” Six said in a bit of shock.

Ten shrugged, “Stole it from the bouldered one.” She said, her aim shifting as she shot another guard who was running towards them.

Then, Hell broke loose.

As the four of them were free, they started fighting against both guards and miners as they approached them as well; Twelve used his hextech bat, Ten wielded her brand-new firearms —though she did switch one with her electric-shock gun— and both Six and Centum wielded their steel-coated grappling gloves, though Centum did wield a firearm as well.

The adrenaline of the fight made blood rush to their ears, making them all none the wiser to the shaking of the walls all around them as the cave itself trembled with the force of their impacts and blows.

They ended up clearing the core, with most of both miners and guards knocked out cold and a smaller number of them dead.

“Okay,” Centum said breathlessly, her face bloody as a few blows she received landed on it, leaving behind a cut on her cheekbone, a broken nose and a split lip, “That was the last of them.”

They heard an engine, which prompted them to turn towards one of the tunnels—

A man who was inside a sort of robotic mining rig entered the core, his body perfectly protected by the exoskeleton suit he wore, its giant fists the more intimidating as the man approached them, more miners behind him as they followed him into the core.

They looked pissed.

“Think again,” Twelve said at the sight.

“I’ll handle the big boy,” Six said, cracking her knuckles, “You should all handle the rest of them.”

“Are you sure?” Centum asked, her eyes on the robot man as he moved towards them, “He’s—”

“Mine,” Six finished for her, “It’s okay.”

And without another word, as her colleagues got ready to handle the miners, she prepared to lunge on the big man.

She saw him charge towards her and changed her plan, waiting for him to come—

She dodged to a side as he reached her, managing to make him run past her, hitting a wall with all of his robotically armored body.

He turned to her just in time to see her pounce at him, fists at the ready.

She punched him where his gut would be, then she alternated between his spleen and his liver as she delivered hooks to his body, one right after the other, nonstop.

The unnatural strength she possessed —which grew by the minute as adrenaline shot through her body—, along with her steel-armored fists were very slowly but surely dealing damage to his suit.

But then he managed to respond to her punching with one deadly hook to her cheekbone using one of those humongous gauntlets.

Her face ricocheted off his gauntlet so badly that the vertebrae of her neck popped in a quick succession of cracks as he sent her flying through the air and into the wall that was opposite theirs.

She fell to the ground, but the adrenaline that ran in her veins, so unlike that of a normal human being, kept her from feeling too much pain, allowing her to stand from the ground, ready for round two.

She charged at the machine as the machine charged at her, meeting in the middle.

She dodged its punch by ducking and landing a body blow to where the man’s liver would be, before bringing back her fist and dealing another blow with it; a hook to the man’s face, which would have hit him, had it not been for the glass that served as a sort of helmet.

The man tried to punch her again but she dodged one more time, landing a body blow to his spleen with her right fist in a shovel punch, then repeating the motion she had done before, landing a hook on the glass that protected his head.

He tried to land another hook—

Six ducked, then hugged the man’s waist and started running until they both hit a wall. She hooked the guy’s leg with her own, managing to make him fall on his backside. As she stood tall over him, she used her body to prevent him from moving, delivering punch after punch to his glass helmet, speeding up as his head banged against her fists and the wall behind him.

She started to see the glass cracking underneath her knuckles—

She stopped when the world started trembling all around her.

Everyone stopped what they were doing at the sound of it.

And even if they stopped moving, the sound still continued.

The miners looked between themselves—

“ Cave in!”

They all started running at the sound of alarm—

The one underneath Six pushed her to a side and ran, metal body still on.

Six looked for Centum—

She flinched when the older girl grabbed her by the arm, “Let’s go!” She shouted, pulling her along as she started running to the labyrinthian tunnels, Twelve and Ten following as well.

The mine started collapsing around them as they all ran for their lives, desperate to get out, crashing against each other as they tried to make it past the tunnel and out through the only exit the mine had.

The tunnel they were in trembled with the pressure of so many people in it, so most miners dissipated by running into other tunnels, looking to get out of the way as—

A rock fell right in front of them, blocking the path.

They quickly turned right and kept on running, the robot man and a few other miners with them.

They kept on running and, at some point, Ten and Twelve managed to get ahead.

They reached an intersection and they had three choices; to turn left, right or to go straight.

Going back wasn’t part of the choices.

Twelve moved towards the left, “This way!”

The cave trembled—

Ten turned to Six—

Twelve grabbed her by the hair and pulled her towards him, preventing a humongous boulder from crashing her down like a bug.

And like that, they got separated, the cave itself preventing the rest from following.

Six got nervous, not knowing where to go—

The cave trembled once more—

“ Six!”

She turned to look at Mallory.

She was far behind, caught in the sea of miners as they didn’t let her through.

The adrenaline kicked in, hard.

She ran towards her as the cave kept growling in warning.

Mallory tried to run towards her.

The cave trembled violently.

Six stopped and looked up.

A humongous boulder.

Ready to fall.

She looked down again, at Mallory.

She was a few steps away from her.

She froze as she stared at the older girl.

The rock started to move—

Mallory reached out with both her hands—

The rock fell down, forcing Six to cover herself as it crashed.

When the dust dissipated a bit, she looked again, hoping to find Mallory on the right side of the newfound wall.

There was no one there.

And she had been too close to where the rock now laid.

There was a ringing in her ears, preventing her from hearing anything, but she knew the other girl was no more when she managed to look at the ground, only to find blood pooling up with the dirt.

“ This way!” She distantly heard a miner shout behind her, the sound, along with the adrenaline that ran through her veins, managing to make her enter a state of survival, successfully breaking her out of that trance, leaving the grief that would surely come for later.

She turned and followed the miners as they kept on running, unable to count the twists and turns as they kept on going, her mind only focusing on going back to the thought of how distant she was growing from the girl that was splattered on the ground—

Survive first, whine later.

She managed to clean her mind from unwelcome thoughts, though the beasts remained at bay, right behind the line, waiting for the perfect moment to come back, always toeing the line.

But she was in control. She was in her element.

She was striving for survival, as she had always done.

Nothing could shake her off.

They reached a dead end, and looked at each other, desperation clear on their expressions, before one of the miners hushed them all.

So they all quieted down and listened.

Ragged breaths, some shaky ones as well.

Then silence.

“The cave in stopped,” One of them whispered, afraid his own voice would make the boulders move once more.

The man inside the robot suit collapsed onto the ground and Six stared as many miners rushed to help him.

“What’s wrong with him?” She asked in her trance, the one she only then realized was slipping in and out of.

Guess it’s hard to just survive when you’ve known what it means to actually live.

One of the miners who didn’t help him stomped his way towards her, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt, “What’s wrong with him, you ask!?” He growled, “ You’re what’s wrong!”

“Leave her alone!” Another miner roared at him.

“Had it not been for her punching, he could have survived being in that suit for that long!” He roared back, “She’s the one who killed him!”

“Well, it’s done!” The other one replied, “Killing her won’t help anybody. Let her be.”

His anger didn’t subside but, with a final growl at her face, he let go of her.

Six, unable to respond or maybe just not wishing to, simply moved to the man in the suit. “What did he mean survive in the suit?”

The miners around the dead one looked at her, before one of them replied, “The suit is made of hextech technology, designed to make mining easier with the humongous fists, but it releases deadly heat into itself, so it might literally cook you alive. That’s why it’s not advised that we wear it for too long.” He looked at his deceased colleague, “When we heard the chaos in the core, he decided to keep it on, despite the fact that he had to take it off.”

“To fight me.”

The miner nodded, “It ended up killing him.” He inspected the suit, moving it out of the way a bit as he looked at the inside of it, “Melted him, so his own flesh is all over the suit, ruining it as well.”

“We cannot use it to escape,” Another one said with a sigh. “We’re dead.”

“And we don’t know if the cave will finish collapsing at some point.” Another one added.

“Do you think the rest of the crew might be alive?”

“No,” The one that had attacked her replied from the other end of the small place they were in, “I don’t think they survived.”

“They might have—”

“Didn’t you see how those rocks fell?” He asked, teary eyed, product of his anger. “They’re dead! End of story!”

Silence. A tense one.

But Six didn’t care about their bickering. She was too busy thinking—

“You said it’s hextech, no?” Six asked, in all seriousness. When she saw the way they all looked at her, she pressed, “The suit, is it hextech?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Okay,” She said, nodding with a frown on her face. “I know how to work with hextech,” She told them, “Maybe I can fix it or,” She shook her head as she thought, “I don’t know, recycle it, in a way—”

The angry one huffed a laugh, “And do what with it?” He smiled at her, the gesture devoid of mirth, “Kill us?”

Six shook her head, “Get us out of here.”

He stormed towards her, “If you touch that suit—”

“If I touch that suit and manage to do something good with it,” She said, puffing her chest out as he reached her, confronting him as he got close, “Then you can thank me for saving your ass.”

“And if you fail?”

“If I fail, then you’re not getting out of this cave anytime soon, so you might as well kill me and eat me for dinner.” She stretched her arms out to the sides, as if offering herself, “I’ll even let you do it.”

Because it’d mean I have no way out, either.

The man stared her down for a few moments, before sighing, “Fine.” He turned and walked away, “Better get to work, scum.”

She ignored his words and approached the suit, taking her gloves off and shaking her hands a bit so as to release the remaining stress from them, “Okay, let’s get the suit off him.”

The miners who had approached the fallen one helped her on the task, obeying her commands as they all, as carefully as they could, took the suit off the dead man.

They did not look at him more than necessary, ignoring his broken, scorched body as best as they could.

Six inspected the suit, looking at its’ interior, at its’ limbs, its’ hard exterior, the parts she had impacted earlier.

Her eyes landed on the metallic fists and she remembered how painful it had been when the miner hit her with them, the memory and the sudden fall of her adrenaline making her feel her jaw and the pain located on it, the sudden realization that she probably had a few broken bones making her groan loudly, before she ignored it to move onto a better thought; the gauntlets were very strong.

Too strong.

Maybe strong enough to punch a way out of the cave.

“Okay,” She said, before she grabbed a gauntlet by its end, her other hand on the armor, and, with all of her strength—

“What are you doing!?” A miner asked, trying to stop her—

She managed to rip the gauntlet off the rest of the armor, before proceeding to the other one—

“ Stop!”

She ripped it off as well, letting out a few heavy breaths at the exertion both gauntlets had implied, for they were heavier than expected. 

“We only care about the gauntlets,” She told them, “Clean them off any receding flesh and I’ll dismantle the suit, checking which parts we can use for the gauntlets and which are useless.”

They didn’t feel too content with her new orders, but they obeyed anyway.

An hour passed before both Six and the miners were finished, but they managed to get the job done; Six had new hextech parts to use with the now clean gauntlets.

“Now what?” One of them asked her.

“Now you wait while I work,” She said, getting the goggles that laid idly on top of her head on and taking out she pocket-sized tools kit she carried hidden in one of her pants’ pockets.

“Do you always carry that with you?” One of them asked.

She got a miniature blowtorch out of it, turning it on, “You never know when your gear might need a quickfix.”

They watched her as she worked, getting out a few unnecessary parts from the gauntlets and updating them with some of the metal scraps she had taken out of the armor.

Time passed slowly for the men, as some of them even fell asleep waiting to see the results.

For Six, time flew by.

When she finished, she inspected both gauntlets with her eyes, searching for a flaw, an indication that everything might go wrong and that whoever wore them would lose their hands.

She found none.

So, slowly, tentatively so, she slid her arm into one of them.

Once she finished sliding into it and her hand was located in its’ socket, she closed  her hand in a fist; the way to turn the gauntlet on.

She tried not to flinch as it did so and its’ security system activated, locking tightly into her arm.

It woke up the miners, enticing them to stare at her as they wondered what she was doing.

She slid her other arm into the other gauntlet. Repeating the motion, she turned it on and locked it tight.

She tried not to clench her probably-fractured jaw at how painful the pressure of the gauntlets was on her arms, slowly trying to get up with them on, groaning at how heavy they were.

She still managed to stand and she still managed to lift them, though.

She flexed her fingers, feeling as the machines growled yet obeyed her commands, the big metallic fingers doing exactly the same as she did.

She looked at the miners, “Time to get out of here.”

“Wait!” One of them stopped her, his hand on the metal one. “What about the rest of our crew?” He looked into Six’s eyes, “Your friends?”

She stared right back at him, before looking at the one who had tried to attack her, earlier.

He’s right.

“They’re dead,” She said, watching as he nodded his agreement.

There’s no way they survived.

“So we leave this cave.” She sentenced, “Stand behind me,” She ordered.

When they stood behind her, she got on guard and ready to strike.

Nighttime in the mining facility didn’t seem peaceful enough anymore, its’ entry closed off by the cave in there had been.

There was a constant trembling, shaking of the ground, as if giants were walking on it.

In it.

Out of it.

The dirt’s growling grew louder and louder—

The entry to the mine opened in an explosion as a figure shot itself right out of the ground in a flash of blue light.

When the dust settled, Six turned to look at the mine, “Are you all okay?” She asked in a loud voice, watching as the miners walked out of the facility right after her and through the hole she had left in her wake, for they had been following her all through the cave as she punched her way out of it.

“We are,” One of them said as they all finished walking out.

They looked between them, before looking at her.

“We are,” He repeated, “Thanks to you.”

They were all in a certain shock, unable to process whatever all of that had just been.

Because Six had saved their lives, but she had also doomed some others. The cave in might have not happened, had it not been for her and her gang.

And she knew all of that.

She nodded her head, also shocked at the fact they had made it out. “Okay,” She said.

“What do we do now?” A miner asked, looking at her.

She realized they were giving her the chance to escape with no repercussions coming for her.

She had the chance of choosing what happened next.

“Now, you all go back home,” She said, “And speak half truths; a gang produced the cave in, but those who had tried to rob you died in it. The names; Centum, Twelve, Ten—”

One of them had heard them as they spoke to each other and could confirm those were their names, so he interrupted her, “That doesn’t seem like a half—”

“And Six.” She finished.

They looked between them, before looking at her again, “Are you su—”

“I am certain Six died in the cave,” She said, her eyes glowing with the threat that hid behind her words.

It was a third chance at living.

Third, because the second one had been giving to her by Centum, back in the orphanage.

The first had never really existed, inside Singed’s laboratory.

“If Six is dead,” One of them started, “Who are you?”

“No one,” She replied, already turning to leave, “I’ll keep the gauntlets!” She called over her shoulder, already running away.

The miners watched until she was gone.

And as they also fled the scene, silence settled again.

Chapter Text

The thing about wounds is that, with time, they heal.

No matter the nature of the wound, whether it’s physical or not, time will always work its’ magic on it and help it close. It might leave a scar, but it won’t bleed anymore.

She learned that as years passed.

She learned that because things from the past which would have hurt awfully, had her wounds not closed, didn’t hurt as badly as she had expected them to.

Some didn’t even hurt at all, leaving behind a certain feeling of nostalgia, but not of pain.

The past always seems better.

But the past she remembered as her own was not of her property; it belonged to someone else who had lived in her place, in the same body she now inhabited. Someone she saw die inside a mining facility, three years ago… Or was it four? She wasn’t exactly sure, anymore, for time blended into itself when she was alone.

And she had been alone ever since Six died.

Well, died.

It was nothing but a form of speech and that much she knew because, in a way, she kept her and her memories alive.

When she decided to ditch that one persona of hers, she had tried to get rid of her image but, at the same time, she had tried to keep her around, in some ways: she hadn’t dyed her hair a different color, letting be the pinkish hue it usually was, though she had to admit she had tried to do it, having failed miserably the moment she realized she had to keep it up by periodically yet constantly re-dying her hair. She kept forgetting to do it, so she ended up giving it up. One thing she did, though; she changed the way she styled her hair, shaving both sides of her head, letting her shortish hair get longer the closer it got to the back of her neck.

She couldn’t do anything about the lilac of her eyes, but she could change her appearance a bit; she started training and, eventually, her slim figure transformed, giving way to a much more built own self, with defined muscles anywhere you touched her.

Her skin got more flawed as time passed, with more scars here and there, her hands and forearms seeing the worst of it all as the gauntlets she usually wore and the crafting she usually spent her time on took their toll on her.

The biggest imperfection, though, was not on her hands, but on her face, in the shape of a tattoo, located on her left cheek, that was composed of simply two letters: a V and an I. She did have more ink on her skin, cogs that ran down her neck and onto her back, over her left shoulder, but the VI located on her face was the one she considered the most offending.

Not the scar over her left eyebrow, not the piercing she got done on her nostril, on that same side: the tattoo on her left cheek was the worst.

And, if she was honest, she loved it like that; she loved the perfect imperfections she had transformed herself with, having chosen all of them for different reasons; whether they had a deeper meaning or she simply fancied the look, there was always a reason behind everything she did both to herself and to others.

She loved being perfectly imperfect and she rejoiced on the looks of disgust she’d get from Pilties.

Because maybe she stopped working for gangs, choosing to be a gang on her own, one on a different level and league, but she still despised those who’d look down on others just because they were born in the wrong place.

Because Pilties hated Zaunites just for that; being born in the wrong place.

And she was proud of who she was; a self-made Zaunite who would always try to help those in need, elderly or younglings, and who would always enjoy having the chance of bullying bullies.

Because gang life, being a criminal and living on the wrong side of the law hadn’t been her thing; truth be told, she had never really enjoyed it, even if the adrenaline got to her sometimes.

No.

She had suffered the lack of protection once in her life, having been nothing but a lab-rat, and making others suffer it hadn’t sat well with her.

Like those miners.

Like the one who had worn these gauntlets before me.

So, after the mining facility’s incident, she decided she’d leave that life behind and, instead of harming those who might not be asking for it, she’d do the opposite; harm those who’re looking for trouble. Surely, she wasn’t on the right side of the law, exactly, for vigilantism was frowned upon and considered a crime, but she wouldn’t hurt those who didn’t deserve it anymore.

She’d show those who did do that that they weren’t untouchable, though.

She still was a street rat, a criminal of sorts who’d steal to live, but no longer out of malice; she’d steal out of necessity, even out of a need of asserting her dominance, if need be; she’d let the bad guys rob the good guys and, then, she’d rob them from what they had taken without permission, let them know how it feels like.

She’d fight those who thought they could get away with anything, leaving would-be rapists, thieves and any other kind of criminal at the hospital’s door, always badly wounded after a nasty encounter with her; the first fight was always a warning, because they wouldn’t be able to come out in one piece from the second one.

The third? They wouldn’t be alive to tell it.

Luckily, most of them learned at the first fight.

And she loved it, she could easily admit it, but it could get tiring.

She wouldn’t exactly feel it, but she would see it in herself; in the way her figure slumped, how she’d sigh more often, how she’d need to roll her shoulders and crack her neck.

How she’d start getting used to it all and the monotone-yet-not lifestyle of being an unpaid, unofficial, Zaunite vigilante.

Even getting her hands on her gauntlets didn’t excite her anymore; after fixing their weak points, improving their strong ones and even going as far as building herself an armor to protect herself and to make the wielding of her gauntlets easier, there was nothing else she could do, nothing else she could come up with.

It was all so dull. No one to catch her, no one to run away from her, nothing new to come up with.

So it all reduced to this; coming home from a long day of work, late at night, armor and gauntlets still on, but her steely resolve that made her spine sit straight was gone as she walked with a bad posture.

Home; a warehouse that was hidden deep inside Zaun’s uglier neighbourhoods, a safe haven in the middle of the chaotic hell of a city she lived in, for her house had enough security systems that it was practically impossible to break into it.

She walked through the dirty hallway-like streets of Zaun, delving deeper into its’ slums, not reacting to the sounds that she heard around her as she moved, shrugging them off as familiar.

She moved a box away from her path with her foot and she heard an old woman screech.

“Relax, Jessalyn!” Her voice boomed, “It’s just me!”

She kept on walking, laughing to herself at the woman’s reaction, mostly because it never failed; whenever she made a loud noise when coming back home, the old hag would screech, making her apologize before coming out of her house to berate her for scaring her, not without thanking her for the protection and help she always was eager to provide.

She walked a few more steps before freezing, realizing.

Jessalyn had not come out this time.

The mirth died out and the tiredness that had made her slump and walk with a bad posture was gone, replaced by the steely resolve that flexed her legs to an ever crouching position, contracted her muscles, made her frown in deep focus.

She moved slowly then, like on the prowl, making as much noise as a mouse would, not even breathing deeply enough for it to be perceivable.

The warehouse that served her as a home was just a few steps away.

Was it safe for her to get into the house?

She didn’t think her neighbors were in trouble; Jessalyn still reacting to her mischief was indication enough that, whatever trouble there was, it was not there for them.

It was there for her.

It was glaringly obvious that she was in the heat of it. She didn’t need to worry about those around her.

For the first time in a few years, she had to worry about herself.

She was standing near the end of the last hallway-street before she’d have to go out into a small clearing of sorts; a circular, open area where many hallways met.

Where the only entrance to her warehouse was.

Fuck.

Who told me it was a good idea to relocate to an opening?

Surely, it was hard enough to navigate the alleys, which made her hideout hard to find, but…

But when they find it, I’m dead meat.

She suppressed the groan that threatened to come out of her throat.

She tried to gather her surroundings a bit, tried to find what was off in the picture.

Failing to see what she had to pay attention to, she decided to focus on what she had going for her.

It was dark, which gave her a huge advantage; no one could see well in the dark or, at least, not as well as her.

Blame it on the science.

She knew it would be best not to turn her gauntlets, her armor on, letting all lights out, letting herself blend into the darkness.

To reach her door, she had to walk towards her door, which was just a few meters away. She had a wall to her right and the opening to her left.

That was good; contrary to popular belief, despite her orthodox stance, she was left-handed.

It had confused her enemies more than once.

It had won her fights more than once, as well.

So she glued her right side to the wall, getting her left fist up to guard her face.

She moved slowly towards her door—

She heard a click go off—

She suppressed the hiss that wanted to come out at the feeling of iron teeth closing around her right ankle.

She looked down, only to find her foot caught in what looked like a bear trap.

She crouched lower and forcefully pushed her metallic fingers in between its’ teeth, ripping it open and getting her foot out.

The trap had been strong enough to break through her armor, but not strong enough to maim her ankle too badly; she could still move, despite feeling a certain pain.

Good.

She looked around a bit, only to find more of those traps scattered on the ground.

They were camouflaged well enough that she wouldn’t have noticed them, had she not been aware of what she was looking for.

She knew she wasn’t alone; whoever placed the traps was there with her.

There was a dumpster nearby her and she had the clear way towards it.

She was exposed; she had to move—

She heard a sound; it resembled a gun being loaded.

She sidestepped a few traps and then rolled towards the dumpster, taking cover behind it.

“ Come out,” She heard a deep, female voice, shouting at her from somewhere she couldn’t see, “ We just want to talk to you.”

“Yeah, right.” She mumbled, “And I want you to get the fuck out of here, Piltie!” She let out loud, growling back at her.

She didn’t need anyone to confirm where they were from; the posh accent would give them away in Zaun and anywhere else.

“ You’re surrounded,” The woman shouted back, “ Come out and talk or refuse and be arrested.”

She snorted at that.

Arrest me.

She looked at the buildings around her and noticed there was, at least, one sniper on location, ready to shoot her on sight, though unaware of her current whereabouts.

Doesn’t look like an arrest to me.

And having heard a gun’s click…

Fuck being stealthy.

She turned on her gauntlets, her armor.

She knew they could now see her or, at least, they had an idea of where she could be hiding, but it’s not like she cared about remaining hidden, anymore.

All she cared about at the moment was being very seen.

She charged a punch and released it upwards in an uppercut, using it to impulse herself high in the air, landing on the rooftop where she had seen the sniper.

He got startled, but took aim.

She brought her fist up—

“ Do not—”

He shot at her and it was all she needed to start running towards him, seeing him take cover behind a small concrete structure that was built into the building’s rooftop.

One more shot, then another one, she pressed a different button inside her right gauntlet which made steam fill the mechanical fist’s knuckles and, being already close enough—

She punched the obstacle that stood between her and the man and the steam blew right off her knuckles, the shockwave the impact produced being enough to push him off his balance and off the building.

She heard, at least, three guns cocking.

I think they might have spotted me by now.

“Stand down!” She heard that female voice roar, though she couldn’t see her.

You’ll see who stands down.

She jumped from the rooftop to the ground—

She saw something metallic coming for her face.

She hissed as the big, sharp projectile barely missed her, one of its’ wings leaving behind a cut on her right cheek as it brushed it.

The distraction didn’t allow for a clean land, the woman falling over her left side.

She tried to get up, taking a quick step to the left—

She couldn’t fight the loud grunt that came out of her mouth as she stepped into another trap.

Adrenaline shot right through her and, in one swift, angry motion, she ripped its’ teeth apart, breaking herself free.

She sidestepped a few traps and, in an unexpected move, she turned off her gear once more, leaving the place in the dark again.

She knew how the Piltovian police forces worked; they wouldn’t shoot if they couldn’t take aim, let alone if they couldn’t make out who they were shooting at.

It’s always better safe than sorry with these dudes.

She moved around quietly, listening to them, to their breathing, their hesitant steps.

She heard two sets of boots, a bit distant, and one of heels, quite close.

The woman.

She’s wearing heels for an arrest ?

She suppressed the huff of a laugh that wanted to come out.

She managed to get her eyes on her.

She couldn’t see her very well, but she could make out the woman’s silhouette; not only was she wearing heels, she was also wearing a dress and a top hat.

Ridiculous.

She turned just one of her gauntlets on—

She charged towards the woman, the blue light of her gauntlet allowing her to see her better.

Long, straight, blue-ish hair that flowed freely and steely, ice-cold blue eyes were locked on her.

No surprise to be seen in them.

She had been expecting her.

She had a rifle in her hands and, before she could reach her, she aimed it—

To the side?

She couldn’t help but watch as the policewoman aimed her rifle to the side and fired—

She got fired off the way, successfully evading her attack.

She tried to stop her attack, her momentum, but it was too strong—

One extra step and her already injured leg got caught in yet another trap.

This time it hurt and badly; she cried out at the feeling in an attempt to deal with it, before getting ready to lunge at the officer one more time—

She saw that rifle aimed at her.

She charged her gauntlet—

She didn’t notice how her eyes shot down for a brief instant.

She charged and, while lunging for her, she noticed the officer’s aim shifted ever so slightly—

The woman fired, the strength of her rifle making her fly back a bit more as a net got shot out of its’ cannon and towards the vigilante’s legs.

Her eyes widened in alert as the net got tangled on her legs, managing to bring her down, practically shutting down her attack as she fell to the ground, her teeth clattering as her jaw hit the concrete.

Her right gauntlet, still stretched in the woman’s direction, landed on yet another trap, its’ teeth digging into the metal and, along with the fighter’s tiredness, making it impossible for her to move it.

She heard the other woman’s heels as she took a few slow footsteps towards her, rifle still in hand but its’ end not aimed at her face, as she would have expected.

She looked up, only to find her already staring back at her.

“Let me give you the benefit of the doubt,” The woman said, “Did you come out to talk,” She got a pair of handcuffs out of one of her pockets. “Or did you just get arrested?”

She raised a brow, “Arrested for what, exactly?”

She looked at her with a bored expression. “Are you the Zaunite vigilante known as Vi?”

She scowled, “No.”

A second of silence, before the standing woman huffed a laugh, “That tattoo on your face says otherwise.”

“I’m just a big fan of her work.”

“Yes, a big fan who happens to own the same equipment as the reported vigilante.” She then raised a brow, “And that’s without mentioning the uncanny similarities between her and you in terms of looks.”

She groaned as a response.

“That’s what I thought,” The woman said, “So, which one will it be?” She asked one more time, shaking the cuffs in her hand a bit for emphasis. “Will we talk or will we talk with you handcuffed, on our way to your cell?”

She sighed, “Doesn’t look like I’ve got much of an option here.” She said, all the bite that there had been to her tone completely gone, replaced by the only thing she felt; tiredness.

The other woman then crouched, getting her face closer to the fighter’s, “You do have quite the options here, though.” She replied, “We could talk in my office, with no officers there to interrupt us. Your alternative is to miss this conversation and rot in a jail cell.”

She sighed, once more. “Fine.” She nodded, “I’ll do it.”

At her words, the other woman pressed a button that was located on the side of her rifle and all the traps that had caught her suddenly opened, releasing her.

“Try not to do anything stupid,” She warned the pink haired woman as she watched her move, slowly reaching for the net around her feet. “You’ve seen I’m perfectly capable of bringing you down by myself . I’d like not to see myself forced to do it again.”

“No, no,” She said, finding the net annoyingly hard to get off of herself, “I think I’ve learned my lesson well.”

She struggled a bit but she managed to stand, not before removing the net that had tangled her legs.

She stood in front of the Piltovian, paying attention to the details that caught her eye; the heels she wore made them both of the same height, which meant the posh woman was actually shorter than her. Her eyes were cold and unreadable, her hair long and silky. Her expression, completely neutral.

“Take off your gauntlets and place them on the ground.”

Cold. Calculating.

She obeyed, raising her hands in surrender.

“Hands behind your neck.” She said and the pink haired woman obeyed.

She was in control.

It struck her then who the woman standing in front of her was.

“Officers,” She called, “You’re all dismissed, the situation is under control. Send a notice to the station to evacuate it immediately.” Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly, “I want the place empty by the time I reach it.” A beat, “And take Officer Stone to the hospital for a quick check up.”

She almost didn’t hear the collective Yes, Sheriff that the officers barked out as a reply to the woman’s commands, too busy seeing the similarities between the face she saw in front of her and the face she was used to seeing in Piltovian news portals, papers and channels. “You’re the Sheriff of Piltover,” She finally said, “Caitlyn Wright.”

Caitlyn looked at her, “That would be me, yes.” She confirmed for her, “I must admit, I didn’t expect you to know who I am.”

“I’ve got to know,” She replied, before a smirk made its’ way to her lips, “Got to know who to run away from.”

The Sheriff raised a brow, having not expected the brutal honesty. “I see,” She said, her tone barely yet noticeably lighter. “You will come with me to the station,” She informed her, her eyes immediately falling in the metallic hands she had worn, knowing what worried the other woman, “Someone will carry those to the station for you.” Before she could say anything, the Sheriff replied to the question she knew she was going to be asked, “No, you can’t carry them yourself. It’s protocol.” A beat, “And I have to cuff you.” She smirked, “ Company’s policy. ” She said in a mocking tone.

So Caitlyn cuffed her hands behind her back, ordered one of her men to take care of the woman’s gauntlets and took her to one of the police cars that had been waiting for the Piltovians, just a few blocks away.

“Don’t worry about your equipment,” The Sheriff told her as she closed the front passenger’s seat, the caught ruffian seating alone in the car’s backseat, “The boys will take it to the station in another car. Once they all clear it, we will talk.”

After having said that, the Sheriff pressed a button and a tinted glass rolled up right between the front seats and the back seats, separating them and ending that conversation right away.

She sighed, before letting herself lay against the right side’s door, looking out through the window.

She hadn’t known how Piltovian police cars were; she had imagined they were like Zaunite’s, with a cage of sorts being the only separation between one side of the law and another.

She hadn’t imagined it would be this different, this isolating.

It was the first time she was caught, after all. She didn’t even know the inside of Zaunite police cars by personal experience.

One thing was for certain; Piltovian cars were definitely better suited for protection of the good guys, but worse for the criminal’s mental state.

She sighed.

Not much to be done.

“We’re here.”

The Sheriff’s voice startled her, making her snap out of the sleep-like trance she had fallen into.

She sat there, blinking away the drowsiness as the Piltovian woman got out of the car and opened the door for her to do the same, helping her out of it as well.

They were at Piltover’s main police station, already, but unlike what she had expected to see, the place was empty, practically desolated, looking as if it had just been abandoned; the building was in perfect state, but there was no one around. “Where’s everyone?”

“I ordered the building to be cleared so we’d have the privacy we need to talk,” She looked at her, then, “I don’t think you’d be as inclined to talk with me if there were too many officers around.”

She blinked at the woman, surprised at her thoughtfulness, the strategic reasoning behind her decisions because, while true, it was a bold, even brazen move that not everyone would have thought of, let alone followed. “You’re right.”

Caitlyn then uncuffed her, “Do not mistake the gesture, though.” She warned, “Now, follow me.” She commanded, taking the lead as the entered the building.

And while it looked like she could run, like she could get away and escape whatever was waiting for her inside the station, she knew that, somehow, there was nowhere for her to escape, nowhere to run; the Sheriff had been right; no matter whether she was in cuffs or not, she’d be brought down.

The best she could do, the only thing she could do was follow her in and listen to whatever talk she wished to have.

So, feeling cornered yet intrigued, she followed the Sheriff.

She guided her through a maze of hallways, floors and offices with the ease of an expert that had been walking those same steps day after day with no stopping. She followed her with a bit of hesitation and uneasiness but well aware that there was nothing else she could do. Her eyes scanned the place, realizing it looked like there had been a lot of movement in there just mere seconds before they arrived; papers were scattered all around the place, it’s lights all still on, as if the people who had been working there had left on a hurry.

No one dared cross Sheriff Wright, apparently.

After a few minutes, they reached the woman’s office, which was one of the very few private ones, hidden behind a door with textured glass that displayed the word Sheriff on big, black letters.

Caitlyn took out a set of keys from one of her pockets and unlocked the door, entering the room and motioning for the other woman to enter, as well.

Despite the lack of people in the building, she closed the door behind the pink haired woman.

She looked around the office, taking it all in; it was small yet smart,  with tall libraries on the walls to each side of the one she had behind her, stacked with books of many different natures and topics. A deep red carpet on the floor, the Sheriff’s desk laid above it with two chairs, one on each side of it, and lots of paperwork neatly placed over it. On the wall opposite to her, a big window that occupied all of the far end wall, the City of Progress visible through it, its’ lights making it stand out in the darkness.

“I doubt this will take long,” She heard the Sheriff say, “But please, take a seat.”

She obeyed, following the other woman with her eyes as she saw her take off her hat and hang it on a coat rack that stood by the door, before walking to her side of the desk, leaving her rifle behind herself and taking a seat.

Despite being well aware of the fact that the criminal knew her name, she still took off her glove and stretched out her hand, “Sheriff Caitlyn Wright,” She said, as a sort of introduction.

“You really are a woman of protocol, aren’t you?”

The hint of a smirk on Caitlyn’s mouth, “Habits die hard.”

So she took her hand and gave it a firm shake, “Name’s Vi.”

The smirk disappeared from her face as quickly as it came, “I feared you’d say that.” Caitlyn said, letting go of Vi’s hand.

“Why so?”

“It sounds more like a nickname than a name,” Caitlyn simply stated.

She raised a brow, “Well, it’s a name for me.” Her head lolled to a side, unamused, “ My name.”

“Any last names?”

She shook her head. “Just Vi.”

She held Caitlyn’s stare, well aware of what the woman’s questions, statements, her whole behavior indicated.

She was pondering whether to believe her or not, whether she could believe her or not.

After a moment that seemed way too long for Vi, despite being abnormally short for Caitlyn’s standards, the Sheriff broke her stare. “Okay, Vi.” She said, subtly indicating that she found her trustworthy enough, “I guess you know why you’re here.”

“Because I take care of your job in the lower city and in the slums of yours.” She replied, looking at her with a bored expression.

“Because you have an endless list of crimes filed under your name.” Caitlyn corrected her statement, her expression still neutral, though her eyes weren’t as passive, anymore.

She hadn’t liked Vi’s little joke.

“I haven’t seen someone with a record as kilometrical as yours before and trust me, I’ve seen many things in my years as the Sheriff of Piltover.” Caitlyn continued.  “What we do with people like you is very simple,” She brought her hands together, “We throw them into a cell and let them rot there for the rest of their lives. If they behave too well, we consider granting them house arrest. If not, they remain in a cell.”

“For life.”

Caitlyn nodded, “For life.” She echoed, before her eyes moved to the papers on her desk, her hands following as she added, “But you might just be the exception.”

She had not been expecting that. “How come?”

“I’ve been following your work for quite a while, Vi.” Caitlyn continued, “And it’s struck me that you’re a policeman with no badge, in a way. You don’t beat up civilians, you beat up gangsters. Sure,” She said, raising a brow, “You might have your…” She trailed off, searching for a word, “ Methods, which have nothing to do with ours, mind you, but there’s one thing we do share.”

Vi raised a brow, “Which is?”

“Our interests,” Cailtyn replied. “We’re after the same kind of people. Thieves, rapists, murderers, criminals. We want to make the place we live in safer for those around us.”

“I guess you could say that.”

“And that’s exactly why you’re here, in my office, and not down in the dungeon, inside a cell.” Caitlyn said, before hunching forwards on the desk. “Off the record, it is known in the station that the Mayor of Piltover wants you arrested for life, because he finds your mere existence insulting; not only is your work as vigilante illegal, being just one of the many crimes you’ve committed, it also shines a light on how inefficiently the police forces of Piltover have been handled under his command.” She raised her brows, “I might be the Sheriff, but he has been trying to keep me on a tight leash, I’ll have you know.”

Vi huffed a laugh, “I must admit, I’m surprised a man can keep you on a tight leash, Sheriff.”

And just like that, Caitlyn’s expression changed, a glare making her brows furrow. “No man can,” She grunted, “Proven by how you’re here, with me.”

“What do you want with me?”

“I want you to join Piltover’s police force.”

Vi laughed, “Come on.”

But Caitlyn wasn’t laughing.

“Oh,” The brawler said, “You’re serious.”

“Very serious.” Caitlyn said. “I want you in my team, if only to piss off the Mayor, to see if that gets him off my case.”

Vi laughed, once more. “As if they’d let you hire me, boss.”

“He might have the final say on the police force’s most important actions , but I’m the Captain who steers the ship in one direction or the other, Vi.” Caitlyn said. “What I say, goes.”

Vi stared at her for a second, studying her. “Okay, Sheriff.” She leaned forwards, “And what’s the catch? I don’t mean to offend you by questioning your job offer, but it sounds too good to be true; I get to choose an alternative that saves me from going to jail, which simply consists of me getting paid for beating up the bad guys?” She huffed a laugh, “Sounds dubious, at least.”

Caitlyn raised a brow, “There’s no catch, Vi. It really is as simple as that.”

“But what do you gain, though?” Vi asked her, “You haven’t been the only one in this room studying the other one, you know? I’ve been following your work for quite a while,” She echoed Caitlyn’s words from earlier, “And I know enough about you to know that you wouldn’t do something as bold as hiring me as an officer just to fuck the mayor up. You must earn something else, there must be a catch, somewhere.”

Caitlyn held her stare, one of the corners of her lips raising ever so slightly, “It hasn’t escaped my eye that you’ve avoided both Zaunite and Piltovian police with ease, Vi. You’ve fooled my squadron and not once have I seen someone manage to do that.” She did not react at Vi’s smug look, “And I don’t want to comment on how you’ve managed to do it more than once. It required me on the field to catch you and that speaks volumes of the skills you possess and just how much you’ve honed them.” She relaxed onto her seat, “I want you in my team because you’d make a great asset for our police force. On the side, it’d be a great way to piss the Mayor off .”

Vi laughed, shaking her head. “I wouldn’t work for a Piltie for all the money in the world, but the offer of working for a Piltie only to piss off a bigger Piltie really sounds enticing.” She raised her hands in surrender, “I’m in, Sheriff.”

And she knew there was much more to be said, way more to it all than the Sheriff was willing to let her know at the moment, but she was also well aware that there was no way she’d get it out of her, all the information she managed at the moment being enough for the time being.

One step at a time.

So she watched as Caitlyn stood, “Excellent, Vi,” She said, walking up to her as the brawler stood up, “I’m happy to welcome you into Piltover’s police force,” She said, offering her hand for the woman to shake once more.

Vi took it—

“On one condition, though,” She said, gripping Caitlyn’s hand firmly, yet not shaking it just yet.

“I’m listening.”

“I work with you and only you.” Vi said, her eyes alit in a hot glare. “I will not have another boss but you, I will not cooperate nor work with anyone but you and I will definitely not respond to anyone else but you. Sounds good?”

Caitlyn raised a brow.

Truth be told, she had not expected her to accept her offer at the first try. Surely, the desire to work only with her made a bit of sense with Vi’s character, she guessed, but it was all still quite unexpected, hard to predict.

Surprising.

It had been a long time since the last time she had been surprised by anything, let alone anyone.

Maybe there was much more to Vi’s persona than she had imagined.

But she wouldn’t find out too soon. That much she knew.

I must earn her trust first.

Just like she must finish earning mine.

“Sounds perfect,” Caitlyn said, thus causing Vi to shake her hand.

“When do we start?”

“Tomorrow.” Cailtyn replied. “I want you here at eight in the morning, sharp. There’s a lot of paperwork to do related to your incorporation and I will need you around to tackle it.”

Vi nodded, “Okay.”

“That’s all for now,” Caitlyn finished, “You may go home, I’m sure you know the way back.”

“Wait, you’re letting me go?” Vi asked, raising a brow.

“Yes, I am.”

She chuckled, “Don’t you think I might, you know, get away? Sell you out? Something?”

And Caitlyn could answer a million different things.

You couldn’t sell me out; no one would believe you if you were to tell them what’s happened here, today. There’s no evidence to prove it.

You couldn’t get away; if I’ve caught you once, I can catch you twice and trust me, I will go after you if you dare betray my trust and there won’t be a job offer to save you, were that to happen.

What could you possibly do? Where could you possibly run?

But she settled for none of those, opting to say the most honest truth, for once.

“I have the feeling that you won’t do any of those and that you’ll be here tomorrow at eight in the morning,” She narrowed her eyes, then, “Or maybe you’ll be here just a few minutes late, but you’ll still find yourself in my office, filling out the paperwork with me.”

And such an answer was enough to throw Vi for a loop, for she had pinned Caitlyn down as someone rather rational and logical, not so instinctual. “Are you really just following a hunch?”

“You will soon learn, Vi, that you don’t get to the position I’m in by just being strategic and calculating. You need a little bit more than that, something you don’t learn from textbooks and actually goes against them. Yes,” She said, nodding, “I am following a hunch.”

Vi nodded her head, surprised. “Okay,” She turned to the door, “See you tomorrow, then.”

“See you tomorrow,” Caitlyn replied, watching as the other woman approached the door, turning the doorknob and pulling it open

“I’ve never been caught before,” She suddenly heard Vi say, her back to her. “And it takes a lot to knock me down, Sheriff,” She looked at her over her shoulder, “So props to you for managing to do that.”

Caitlyn hummed in acknowledgement.

She wondered if Vi knew just how badly her main plan had gone, how hard it had been to catch her, in comparison to what she had expected to go through. Truth be told, there was a lot to be said on Vi’s performance while resisting arrest, none of it bad.

All of it, too good.

And too unexpected.

“I appreciate the compliment.” She simply said.

And with that, Vi nodded her head once and left Caitlyn’s office.

Her new boss’ office.

Chapter Text

She was so used to getting up before the Sun was out to the point where she didn’t even need an alarm to wake up; she’d do it automatically, her inner clock working like a perfect machine. Usually, she woke up between 5:34 AM and 5:49 AM.

She opened her eyes, still laying in her bed, rolled to the side and looked at the time on her digital alarm, only to find out that, indeed, as she had expected, it was a bit too early, yet perfectly set in between her waking times; 5:42 AM.

A bit on the late side, if I do say so.

She didn’t blame herself, though. After all, she had seen herself forced to pull an all-nighter.

She got out of her bed and opened her bedroom’s windows, breathing in the fresh, cold even, air of autumn’s night.

With the Moon still high in the sky, she knew she had at least another hour before the day officially started; the Sun was coming out around 6:57 AM, considering the season they were in.

She got a robe on and draped it around her figure, getting her slippers on as she moved to the kitchen.

She got a frying pan and the ingredients she needed for her breakfast; two eggs, two slices of toast and some baked beans.

She started cooking, though her mind was elsewhere.

It was still trapped in last night’s events.

Caitlyn’s plan was simple; Vi would walk into the opening backwards, with her left side glued to the wall. Her right foot would end up on a trap, she’d expose herself and thus the Sheriff would be able to approach her and talk to her without needing to scream at her. As a nice addition, she’d be able to dismiss her team and deal with it alone.

Caitlyn’s plan, while simple, was bad . Either that or no one briefed Vi on what she had to do.

The fact that she had entered the scene with her right side glued against the wall hadn’t been too terrible for her plan, but Caitlyn didn’t expect the other woman to just rip the traps apart.

She had never seen anyone do that before.

Ever.

And that was indication enough of how her plan would fail miserably; the traps, while annoying for the brawler, weren’t enough on their own to catch her, so she’d have to intervene.

And she had to be both clever and fast about it, or else Vi would get in her close quarters and punch the lights out of her.

But would she, though?

She had a feeling Vi wouldn’t exactly punch her. Not as badly as she had treated Officer Stone, at least.

Surely, she didn’t even touch him, but she did make a mess out of him.

A broken arm and a few fractured ribs, Stone wasn’t going to be seen around the office anytime soon.

Good.

She wasn’t pleased at all by the lack of obedience displayed by him the night before; she had ordered her men to stand down and not shoot and the man had done just that.

She’d have to scold him, if not fire him. His trigger-happy habits were hard to deal with.

But that would have to wait. She had more pressing matters to take care of—

Her breakfast was done, so she moved the pan from the stove, getting her food on a plate. Then, she filled a kettle with water and placed it on the stove that was still on.

She ate her food while the water heated up, her eyes moving lazily from her plate to the kettle and back. She finished eating around the same time the water boiled, placing the dishes in the sink before turning off the stove and placing a teabag in the kettle, letting it sit there for a few minutes while she cleaned her plate. Once she was done, she poured herself a cup of tea and moved back to her room..

She sighed as she looked out through the window at the City of Progress, the sky still dark.

6:11 AM.

It wasn’t exactly too early for her; she usually was at the office by seven —sharp—, and according to her calculations, she’d have around twenty to thirty minutes to dress after having breakfast.

So she sighed and drank her tea slowly in sips while looking down at the Piltovian streets, her window open, the chilly air making her tighten the robe around her body.

Her mind kept going back to the newest addition to the police force.

Vi.

After their discussion in her office, she had watched the brawler leave the station through the building’s security cameras, their live stream accessible through her personal phone.

Vi had walked out of her office and had made her way back to the station’s door, where she found her gauntlets, got them on and then left.

No detours around the station, no peeking at the paperwork on the numerous desks.

She had memorized the way she came in and had left taking exactly the same steps.

Truth be told, she had expected the girl to be more curious.

Or more impulsive .

She imagined she had a certain intrigue regarding the station, but decided not to act upon it, maybe feeling watched.

If that had been the case, she had been right.

If she simply had not been curious, that was something Caitlyn was bound to find out sooner rather than later, for Vi’s shift started in less than hours, one hour after her own shift began.

She finished her tea and poured herself another one, placing it on her nightstand as she got dressed.

It was a big day for her.

She had to recruit the pugilist and, through doing that, she had to basically tell the whole station —and all of Piltover, for that matter— to suck it up and deal with it.

Because she was the Sheriff and she’d do whatever she pleased.

A huff of a laugh crawled its’ way up her throat.

If only.

The day promised to be both amusing and tiring at the same time.

Being ready for the day, already dressed and her second tea finished, she left the mug on the sink and headed to work.

Unlike what most people at the station believed, Caitlyn didn’t drive to the station. She didn’t own a vehicle and she didn’t use her patrol car outside of patrolling, so she turned to other alternatives when going to work.

And public transport wasn’t one of them; she hated the feeling, the heat, the sweaty smell.

So she walked.

She didn’t live too far away from work, the walk there being as long as fifteen, maybe twenty minutes, depending on whether she took a detour to grab a coffee on her way or not.

She quickly made her way out of her building with her bag on one hand and her trench coat in the other, having chosen to wear black pants and a white blouse instead of her usual dresses, though her heels remained in place.

Although twilight tinted the sky with pink hues, it was still dark and rather cold outside, so she got her trench coat on, leaving its’ front open and letting her bag hang from her shoulder.

She enjoyed the city when it was like that; the City of Progress might be busy even at night, but the first few hours of the morning were always slow, comfortably dark and somewhat chilly, even if there was no wind. Some stores were closed while others opened in a groggy haze, like they weren’t ready to face customers yet.

She knew her favorite café would never let her down, though.

She walked past it as they opened the door, its’ owner greeting her and welcoming her in, knowing full well she had all the intent of going in and grabbing a coffee for herself.

“Looking good, Sheriff,” He said, preparing her usual order. “Maybe a bit too good. Big day ahead?”

“You could say so,” She replied quietly, her expression neutral though her tone was light, her eyes alit with mirth.

The man finished preparing her usual order; two coffees for takeaway, black.

She paid and left, both coffees in hand, continuing her short walk to her work, checking her watch as she did so, realizing it was 6:51 AM by the time she was out of the café and back on her route. If her calculations were correct, she’d arrive at the office at exactly 6:59 AM.

She walked quickly, not because of being on a hurry but because she was used to it; spine straight, chin high, long and quick, precise steps.

She crossed street after street, sometimes with the green light, sometimes not, taking advantage of how the streets were practically empty.

She was nearing the station, crossing the street that separated her from the block it was located in—

She caught a familiar-yet-not-familiar frame; a figure, someone who was simply standing there on the corner opposite to the one she had just left as she crossed, a hoodie keeping their whole head hidden. She wouldn’t have thought much of it, but she had done the same trip for quite a while and never had she seen that person there, before.

They weren’t part of her morning routine; they felt out of place for her.

She slowed down her pace as she finished crossing, letting herself be anything but subtle as she watched this person, hoping they’d turn around and let her see their face but to no avail. She knew they felt familiar, though, like she knew them, though not for long—

“Vi?”

The figure turned around, taking off the hood, revealing pink hair and face tattoos. “Sheriff Wright.”

“What are you doing here so early?” She couldn’t help herself as she asked, though the answers revealed themselves to her in the bloodshot eyes, the dark circles under her eyes, the slumped shoulders.

“What do you mean so early?” Vi asked her, “What time is it?”

“Did you even sleep?” Caitlyn asked, raising a brow, before replying, “It’s 6:56 AM.”

Vi groaned, “I’m still missing a whole hour !?” She dragged her fingers down her own face.

“And four minutes, by the looks of it…” She trailed off, “How long have you been standing here?”

“Ever since I walked away from the station.”

That didn’t answer anything. “And why did you walk away from the station?”

“Because the officers that were standing there were looking at me like I was a snack.” A thought hit her, “And not in the good way.”

Amazing. “What kind of snack did they think you were, then?”

“The kind they can throw in a cell.” Vi said, looking tired at the thought. She remembered, then, that Caitlyn had asked her something. “And no, I didn’t sleep. I tried, but I was too wired after last night. I think I barely caught a wink of sleep. When I realized there was no way I was sleeping, I just got out of bed and started driving around the city, until I decided to stop and wait by the station for 8 AM to arrive, until those cops looked at me like I was breakfast and I decided to wait here for 8 AM to arrive.”

Caitlyn noticed the lack of something. “ And you decided not to fight them because you don’t have your gauntlets with you?” She raised a brow, “You’re not wearing your armor, either.”

Vi scoffed, “I can beat those chumps with both hands tied. I decided not to fight them because I didn’t think it’d give a good first impression, you know? Considering... I’m about to…” She trailed off, realizing what she was about to say, her voice getting lower as she said it, “Become a chump like them and all that.”

Caitlyn had not expected that and, along with the sheepish look the brawler was giving her, looking away like an embarrassed child, it made her laugh.

“Welcome to the chump team, Vi.” Caitlyn said, turning towards the station and resuming her walking, “Come, follow me.” She had a feeling, “And don’t get the hoodie on.” She added, turning to see Vi as she followed, her hands freezing as they had moved to cover her head once more, “Let them see who’s with me.”

She looked rather uncomfortable at the idea, “Are you sure about it?”

“Quite.”

“Okay,” Vi sighed, “If you say so.”

So they walked together, Caitlyn on the lead and Vi trailing closely behind.

The Sheriff looking straight ahead.

The vigilante looking around, like she was robbing a store and feared being caught.

Neither of them missed how the chat that went on around them died as they walked past.

Neither commented on it, either.

They climbed up the stairs to the station’s entry and they both stopped as they reached the door, a man in uniform standing between it and them.

Caitlyn looked at him with her ever neutral expression. “Officer Payne, you’re standing in the way, I’ll have you know.”

He frowned at her, “Did you notice the person who’s been following you, Sheriff?”

Cait looked over her shoulder at Vi who stood there behind her, her posture relaxed, her hands together in front of herself, a serious glare on her face as she stared at the man, glancing into Caitlyn’s blue ones only when she turned to look at her.

That’s good.

“ Her , you mean?” She said, before looking back at him, Vi’s eyes following hers onto his face, “As the tattoo on her face indicates, her name’s Vi.” She raised her eyebrows, “Yes, it is her actual name. Trust me, I was as surprised as you must be, right now, but it happens to be true.” Her head lolled to a side, then, “And she hasn’t been following me; she’s been walking with me.” She raised a brow, “Those are two different things.”

The man blinked slowly once, as if annoyed by Caitlyn’s oblivious behavior. “Vi, as in the Zaunite criminal, Vi?”

Caitlyn clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth twice, “No. Vi, as in Vi, the Piltovian police officer, Vi.”

The man laughed.

Caitlyn did not.

“ Her? A policewoman?”

“And none other than my newfound partner, actually.”

The man cackled, “As if you’d have a partner!”

But no one was laughing.

So when he finally quieted down, Caitlyn continued, “Yes, I would have a partner if I managed to find someone who’s up to par with the job. Luckily enough, I have found that one person and she’s standing right behind me, right now.”

“Right,” He said, trying to be sassy about it, but feeling more and more inadequate as time ticked by. “And she’s applying for the job because suddenly she felt like having a change of heart?”

“Yes, actually.” Caitlyn said, looking at Vi over her shoulder, “Isn’t that right?”

Vi nodded automatically. “Yeah.”

Caitlyn looked at him, “Every Sheriff needs a…” She trailed off, looking for a word.

“Enforcer.” Vi filled in for her, nodding her head.

Caitlyn nodded. “An Enforcer.” She smirked at him, “Every Sheriff needs an Enforcer to help her enforce those who won’t follow the law on their own.” She sighed, as if actually tired, “Now that I’ve answered all your irrelevant questions, we both have work to do, you’re in our way and my coffee is getting cold, so step aside.”

The man froze, standing still for a second or two before finally stepping aside.

“Let’s go, Vi.” She said, moving into the building, the pink haired woman following closely.

For the first time since working for the police, Caitlyn set foot in the building at 7:21 AM.

When it came to her being late for the first time in years, Payne’s distraction didn’t matter too much; Vi’s surprise apparition and their conversation had already delayed her too much. According to her calculations, she would have arrived at 7:03 AM.

Late.

But she didn’t mind it too much.

Once they were alone, nearing her office, Caitlyn spoke to her once more. “That was a great job, out there.” She commented quietly, “You kept calm and didn’t fall into his rather lame taunting.”

“Can I be honest with you?”

She stopped by the door to her office and turned to look at her, “Tell me.”

Vi’s eyes were wide as she looked at her and said, “I have no clue what was going on back there. I didn’t hear anything he said, I just improvised on your words.”

Caitlyn couldn’t believe it. “You didn’t hear a word of what he said?”

She had a sheepish look when she replied, “I find it too hard to concentrate on someone when I don’t respect them enough, so no, I didn’t hear him at all.” She winced, “Is it bad?”

She couldn’t help herself as she laughed.

Hard.

The whole office turned to see her.

“No, not at all,” Caitlyn replied to her, unbothered by the unwanted attention. “You did a wonderful job. Now, let’s move on to more pressing matters, shall we?” She said, entering her office, letting Vi follow her in before closing the door.

Hearing how the silence that had been created as they walked past everyone slowly gave way to hushed whispers.

Let them whine.

She sat down on her desk, having Vi already done that same thing.

“Those are new,” The Zaunite said, pointing at the extra pile of paperwork that was laying on the desk, next to the one that had been there the night before.

“Yes, they are,” Caitlyn replied. “And they’re all about you.” She grabbed the first one and handed it to her, “Take a look.”

Vi inspected the paper with a frown. It was the official application form she’d need to fill in to be legally allowed to enter the police force.

“I guess there’s no running away from these, huh?”

Caitlyn hummed a negative. “There’s a few forms I’ll need you to fill in. One demands you state your birthdate, full name, residence and other personal information. Another, a statement on why you wish to join the police of Piltover and your previous experience on similar jobs.”

Vi chuckled, amused at Caitlyn’s words, “Should I write because Sheriff Wright told me to in the second one?”

“If you were to write that, I’d rather you called me Sheriff Caitlyn or just Caitlyn. Having said that,” She raised a brow, “It’d be best if you wrote it was your idea.”

Vi raised a brow, “You want me to lie?”

Caitlyn stared at the paperwork for a brief instant. Then, she closed her eyes for a second, before opening them again and staring into Vi’s. “Vi, there’s exactly twenty-seven forms on this pile that I’ve got over here and, if I want to recruit you as my partner, I must fill in all of them. Do you have the faintest clue why?”

“Because someone doesn’t want me being your partner, isn’t it?”

Caitlyn nodded, “Because all of the police force is taking direct offense on the move I’m pulling by recruiting you and because even the Mayor of Piltover is angry at me for even thinking of recruiting you. Officially speaking, no one can stop me, but they can try their best to deter my attempts.” She placed her hand on top of the pile of paper sheets, “ This is their attempt.”

“I don’t understand though.” Vi started, earning a raised brow from Caitlyn, which prompted her to ask, “Why would you go through so much trouble for just one person?”

Caitlyn’s stare remained impassive. “Because you were right last night, when you said you do my job in the lower city.”

She hadn’t expected her to answer that. “What?”

Her voice lowered, “Truth is that Piltover’s police force isn’t exactly righteous, Vi.” Caitlyn confessed, knowing the other woman needed this one vote of trust before being able to proceed, “I can’t tell you all of it right now, but know that some people are more interested in power than justice. By now, you should know I’m not exactly one of those cops.” She relaxed onto her seat. “And I know you wouldn’t be one of them, either. That’s why I want you in; because you’ll send the right message and you’ll help me do my job the way I want to do it.”

“Which is?”

She smirked, “The message? That I’m not crooked. The way I want to work? Correctly.”

Caitlyn watched her as the pink haired woman assessed her. She could tell her words and herself were being judged; Vi’s eyes had relaxed but were set on her, the smirk that she usually wore on her lips being gone and giving way to neutrality.

Vi was processing her confession as well as analyzing it, pondering whether she believed her or not.

It dawned on her that joining the police meant she wasn’t going to be some average cop; surely she already imagined that from the moment she had been promised a job as Caitlyn’s partner, none other, but now she knew exactly what her role to play was going to be.

She knew Caitlyn was suggesting they’d work against corruption, the criminals they were to catch being bigger than what she was used to, more powerful and politically dangerous.

It made her feel a few ways.

All of them, positive for Caitlyn’s interests.

So Vi sighed, “Well,” She grabbed the forms she’d have to fill in, her eyes on them as she said, “We’d better get started then, right?”

Caitlyn had liked her reply. “Right.” She said, offering the woman a pen.

Vi took it.

With her left hand.

Caitlyn couldn’t help herself, staring as Vi started reading the forms and, meekly, she started writing on them. “You’re left-handed,” She commented out loud.

Vi looked at her with raised brows, “I am,” She replied.

Caitlyn raised a brow, “Yet you fight using the orthodox stance. Wouldn’t it make sense for you to fight using the southpaw alternative?”

Vi stopped writing at that, looking at Caitlyn with an inquisitive look, “My soon-to-be-boss knows some boxing terms, doesn’t she?”

“I am the Sheriff.” She shrugged lightly, “I need to know a thing or two about martial arts, even if I don’t really favor those fighting styles.”

“ Those fighting styles?”

“Those which require me to approach my opponent. I’d rather keep them a few meters away from me, if possible.”

Vi scoffed, eyes going back to her paper, “Let a gun do the dirty job for you.”

And Vi hadn’t expected her to reply, “Exactly.”

She looked up at her once more, only to find Caitlyn grabbing the first of twenty-five sheets of paper she’d have to fill in and reading it intently, pen at the ready on her right hand.

She looked down at her own form once more and continued writing in it.

Name.

Surname.

Date of birth.

Minutes ticked by—

“I fight in orthodox because the person who taught me was right-handed. My able hand is my left, though.” She continued filling in the form, “I know how to fight in both stances and I learned to be ambidextrous in a few things, but naturally I tend to stand with my left side in front, despite my right side being weaker.” She sighed, continuing her writing, “It confuses most of my opponents and it has given me advantage on most of my fights.” She raised her brows as she thought, “It’s won me many fights.”

“It’s made my main plan to catch you go wrong.”

Vi looked up at her, “Really?”

She hummed in confirmation, not looking away from the paper she was writing on, “It wasn’t exactly the thing that made it fail, but it was already a bad start.”

“And what was the thing that confirmed your failure?” Vi said, raising a brow, offering a cocky smirk.

Caitlyn glared at her, her pupils the only thing moving on her body as they locked on Vi, “I didn’t fail at catching you, now did I?”

It made a chill run down Vi’s spine. “No, ma’am.”

Caitlyn’s stare relaxed, “That’s what I thought,” she said, before looking back at her paper.

The silence settled over them, then, both of them filling out their papers; Vi taking long enough on the two she had to work on that Caitlyn was almost done with her twenty-five.

It wasn’t like she couldn’t fill them in quickly, it’s just that…

She sighed through her nose.

Half of the information they ask for is information I don’t have.

Parents’ names… Fuck if I know.

And the other half was information she wasn’t willing to share.

Address.

Previous experiences.

No offense, Sheriff Caitlyn, but you haven’t earned these yet.

So she was taking long because she had to lie quite a lot.

And lying wasn’t her forte; she didn’t have enough practice on the matter, for she usually just denied people information.

She took so long, in fact, that Caitlyn actually finished her work —and her coffees— before her, placing her signature on the final form she had in her hands. “Okay, I’m done.” She said, looking at Vi’s paper as the other woman froze, a blush on her face, “You’re not done yet?”

“I’m trying to come up with a good reason why I’d want to join your chump team, boss .”

Caitlyn still eyed the papers she was working on, casually taking away the one she had left to the side for the time being, inspecting it.

Vi stopped writing and stared.

Caitlyn’s expression remained neutral, yet she didn’t feel neutral.

This is rubbish.

At all.

She could tell the brawler was lying in most of her answers to the form’s inquiries.

Then again, she knew she wouldn’t be honest in the official paperwork. She had a criminal’s background; expecting her to be honest in the first assessment would have been idiotic of her, like expecting pears out of an apple tree.

Of course she’s going to try to cover both herself and her former partners.

After all, she has a moral code.

Unlike cops.

Truth be told, not only did Caitlyn expect her to lie, she also hoped she would; official paperwork is the one that gets looked at by other departments and by people with enough influence or political power. Considering where Vi came from, the background she had, the number of enemies that were after her and she wasn’t even aware of... 

To make her speak her whole truth in those papers would be the same as making her sign her own death sentence.

She might be about to enter the police force, but it didn’t mean she was untouchable. Only people with power could get her.

It also meant they had her on their sights now, though, unlike when she was just a rather anonymous vigilante.

A step forwards doesn’t come without its’ risks.

And a big one meant bigger risks, that much she knew.

Her eyes went back to Vi, who had stopped looking at her just to continue filling out the other form.

She placed the sheet she had been inspecting on top of the twenty-five she had completed and signed it. “Let me know when you’re done,” She said, opening one of her drawers and taking out a small booklet of sorts, placing it on the desk.

Vi looked at her as she opened the booklet on its’ first page, grabbed a pen and started writing on it, making the woman in question look up at her, “So?”

She turned red, “Sorry,” She quickly mumbled, before going back to her work.

Many minutes ticked by before Vi finished, “There,” She said, “Done.”

“Let me see,” Caitlyn said, receiving the paper from Vi’s hand and reading its’ contents; the justification as to why she’d join the police force.

Caitlyn blinked once, slowly.

Twice.

“Vi.”

“Yeah?”

“I highly doubt none of your fucking business is a valid response for this question.”

Vi’s face heated up, “Well, I—”

“And did you really take this long just to write these five words?”

“I was thinking what to write, okay?” She scoffed, “Don’t call me out like that.”

Cailtyn huffed a laugh, “It’s fine, though.” She said, placing the paper with the rest of them.

“Is it, really?”

“It is,” She confirmed. “After all, the one who has to look at these papers and either approve them or reject them is me.”

“Really?” A nod. “Then what about the ones you filled?”

“They are mostly forms in which I acknowledge your criminal status and grant you a sort of pardon for it. I also accept to take full responsibility for your actions as an officer, as well as punish you strictly and deny you second chances.” She shrugged, “Not like I grant many of those, anyway.”

Vi couldn’t believe it. “ All of those papers for just those things?”

“I just gave you a very short, generalized answer of what those papers said, but yes. We write everything down in here, in as much paper as it takes.”

Vi grimaced, “That’s a lot of writing.” It dawned on her, then, “Will I be forced to do it, as well?”

Caitlyn smirked, “Yes.” And then she had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at the other woman’s loud groan. “Don’t look so devastated, Vi,” She said, signing the last sheet of paper she received from Vi, “You’ve just given your first steps in the world of paperwork!”

“Hopefully, the last as well.”

“Oh,” Caitlyn let out in a chuckle, “Definitely not.”

She watched Vi as she groaned and let herself fall on her desk, her arms around her face as she mumbled some intelligible curse.

Caitlyn got up from her seat, “Come on, we aren’t anywhere near done yet.”

Vi sat straight, her face contorted in an expression of desperation, “I’ve got to fill in more of these!?”

The way she found doing paperwork so devastating was amusing, to say the least, “No, someone else will be doing it for you, but they need to assess you to do it.”

Desperation gave way to confusion. “I don’t know whether that’s better or worse, to be honest.”

Definitely worse.

“Probably better.” Caitlyn replied. “Let’s go,” She ordered, opening her office’s door and walking out with Vi, closing it and locking it once they were out.

She didn’t need anyone snooping through Vi’s personal information, no matter whether it was fake or not.

And I know for sure they’ll consider doing it.

Vi followed Caitlyn as they made their way out of her office and towards another area in the station, the brawler completely unaware of where they were going until they reached the—

“Oh, Hell no.”

Caitlyn turned to look at her, “Are you afraid of infirmaries, perhaps?”

“No,” Vi said, crossing her arms in front of herself, “But I can tell where this is going and I tell you, Sheriff, it’s not happening.”

“Medical examinations are required.” Caitlyn stated. “You see, for you to be allowed to actually join the police, you have to do a few things and meet a few requirements. First of all, you must fill in the forms you’ve just filled and have me approve them. Secondly, you must bring us your medical record. In case there’s none, you must run a few routine check ups on the police’s infirmary so that we have a record on the things that matter, like bodily weaknesses, blood type, measurements, etcetera, so, unless you have a medical record I am not aware of, we must do this.”

Vi looked bored, “Are there any more steps after this?”

“Yes, two more, but we will talk about that later.”

“I am not your usual recruit,” Vi started again, “Can’t we just skip this?”

“You’re not my usual recruit,” Caitlyn repeated, “Which means I have more and more controls, restrictions and who knows what else that I must handle in order for me to hire you. We can’t skip anything because if we do, not even I will be able to get you in.” Caitlyn raised a brow, “They can’t unallow me to try, but they can make me fail at it. By refusing to obey me, you’re aiding their cause to keep you out of here.”

Vi approached the Sheriff, then, leaning in close as she let out in a quiet voice, “We both know I lied earlier,” Her stare hardened, “What makes you think I’d let you know something true about me?”

“Nothing,” Caitlyn said, honestly surprised at the woman’s awareness, even her brutal honesty, “You can lie here as much as you lied earlier and no one would be none the wiser.”

“You can’t lie to needles, tests and analysis, Caitlyn.”

Caitlyn raised a brow, “You can’t lie to me, Vi.” She corrected, “And you might not be able to lie to needles, but you won’t need to.”

Vi scoffed, “What do you—”

She grabbed her arm, then, pulling her closer, as if such a thing were possible, if only to emphasize the necessity behind her words, “This needs to get done.” Her eyes were stuck on Vi’s, “You will need to trust me, here.”

She didn’t know what it was but, despite the uneasiness that had settled on her stomach, Vi felt like she had to do that for Caitlyn, if only this one time.

So she nodded her head once, watching Caitlyn as she let go of her.

They entered the infirmary, the place empty save for a woman that was there, short brown hair in a ponytail, curious brown eyes setting on Caitlyn as she saw them come in, “Good morning, Sheriff Caitlyn.” She said, her gaze then locking on Vi, “A new face?”

“Something like that,” Caitlyn said, “This is our freshly recruited rookie, Vi.”

The nurse chuckled, “I could have guessed by her tattoo.” She stretched out her hand, “I’m Harriet,” Vi took her hand in hers, “If you’re ever feeling anything but optimal, I’m the girl to call.”

“Harriet’s been around for a few years, now.” Caitlyn told Vi, “She’s actually the last person I’ve hired personally before you.”

“I knew she had something special about her the moment I saw her walking in here with you, Cait.” Harriet said, raising a brow, her eyes wandering back to Vi, “I rarely see her in here and I’ve never seen her walk a rookie to the medical wing, let alone the infirmary, you know?”

Vi was slightly surprised by this information, but more by Caitlyn’s. “How many people have you recruited by your own hand?”

“Counting Harriet and you?” Caitlyn asked, earning a nod from Vi. She crossed her arms, “Two.”

And that surprised Vi more than just slightly .

But it didn’t just surprise her; it also sent her a message, something Caitlyn had tried to imply in her earlier statement on how she had hired Harriet personally.

She’s trustworthy.

“I feel important, now,” Vi half-joked.

“That you should!” Harriet intervened, “We’re part of Caitlyn’s very important people program, apparently.”

Caitlyn shook her head, hiding a mirthful smirk that came out at Harriet’s comment, “Vi’s here with me today because she has to go through all of the usual procedures new agents need to get done in order to enter the force, Harriet.”

She frowned, “Okay, we can do that, but why didn’t you go through your check ups with your usual Doc and just bring the results?” She raised a brow, “Isn’t that easier for you both?”

Vi gulped.

At least five answers came to Vi’s head at the speed of light.

Because I’m a criminal, I can’t see doctors unless I want to risk prison.

Because I can only see illegal, unauthorized-to-work doctors, in case I ever want to see one and I doubt that’s of any use or value to you.

Because I don’t trust doctors.

Because it’s none of your goddamn business.

Because fuck you, that’s why.

“Because she doesn’t have an usual Doc,” Caitlyn replied, lowly. “And, Harriet,” She approached the other woman, “If I may ask this of you,” Her expression turned serious as she grabbed her by her forearm, “I’d rather her analysis remained undisclosed.”

Harriet’s expression mirrored Caitlyn’s at the sound of her words. They held each other’s stare for a moment, before the doctor finally nodded her head. “Alright,” She said, “Give me just a minute.”

After saying that and having Caitlyn release her arm, she left the infirmary.

Vi looked at Caitlyn, more and more uncomfortable with the whole situation as seconds ticked by. “I don’t think this—”

“She knows exactly who you are,” Caitlyn said, aware of what Vi must have thought of Harriet’s apparently oblivious behavior. “She knows, but she’s giving you the benefit of the doubt, acting kind not only because she actually is, but also because she wants to give you a chance at feeling comfortable and realizing you have allies in this station. Do you want to know why?”

“Because I’m here with you?”

“No,” Caitlyn replied, “Because she knows I hired you, just like I did with her. If I did that, it must mean I saw something special in you, just like it must mean I must have seen something special in her, as well. After all, you’re the only two people in this station to ever be recruited by me.”

“Yeah, you said that,” Vi said, before curiosity got the best of her, “Let me ask you something,” She started, watching Caitlyn raise a brow, “What did you see in me? I know, I might help you with your job and all that stuff, you told me this before and while I know I’m the best there is to help you —because, mind you, I’m that good—, I bet you could have found someone else to do the job as well, so…” She trailed off, waiting for an answer.

“First of all, Vi,” Caitlyn started, “You’re the best to help me because not because you’re the best, but because you’re different to your average cop due to your criminal past. Think of the police force as trained dogs and yourself as a wild one on a leash.” She said, earning a loud Hey! from Vi, which forced her to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at her face, “Secondly, I saw in you the same I saw in her.”

“Which is?”

“A good natured heart.”

As she replied, the door to the infirmary was pushed open by Harriet, who was carrying two loads of papers in her hands.

She looked at Vi, “Close it for me, please?” She said, letting out a small thanks as the brawler did what she was asked, walking to the small desk there was in the room and placing the paperwork she had on her there.

She turned to them, looking around the room for a small second before finally speaking in a low voice, “Okay, Vi, this is what we will do,” She started, “We will run the protocolar, required tests , but the first time they’ll go wrong, so we will run them twice,” She said, her eyes wide as she pointed at one of the piles of paperwork she had brought with her, “In this one, we will get the results that will go wrong.” Then, she pointed at the other one, “In this one, we will get the results that will go right and will get filed as official. Are we clear?”

Caitlyn rubbed her eyes with her index and thumb, “Harriet, you know you can just go ahead and say it, right?”

She looked at her, “Say what?”

“That you’ll just hand in a fake duplicate of her tests for filing.”

Harriet looked distressed by Caitlyn’s comment, “But that’s not what we will do, Sheriff!”

Caitlyn snorted at that, “You’re right, doctor.” She gave up, “Let’s just get on with it.”

Vi simply looked confused, “What—”

“Alright, let’s get started,” Harriet said, moving towards Vi, “I’ll need you to strip down to your underwear.”

She whipped her head to look at the doctor, “Sorry?”

Harriet’s expression had turned professional, “I’ll need you to strip down to your underwear,” She repeated, before looking at Caitlyn, “Sheriff, I’ll need you to leave the room.”

Caitlyn nodded her head, “Right.” She walked past them towards the door, “I’ll wait outside.”

I’ll guard no one comes around.

Harriet smiled at her, knowing the implied response, “Thank you.”

With that, Caitlyn was gone.

Vi looked at her once more, “So, you need me to—”

“Strip.” She finished for her, getting a pair of eyeglasses out of her pocket and putting them on.

She raised her brows at the authoritative command, so unlike the meek woman she had met second ago, “Okay,” She said, before obeying and taking off her clothes.

She didn’t feel comfortable, the feeling even worse as the other woman approached her and studied her scars, but if Caitlyn said it was okay—

“What happens in my office, stays in my office, Vi.” She heard Harriet murmur as she took a long, hard look at the brawler’s body. “Caitlyn, you and I will be the only ones with access to your actual file, but I promise nothing of what we learn today about you will be used against you. I’m your doctor, so only you can access whatever information I’ll have on you. No one else is allowed. I won’t give it to anyone else, either.”

“Anyone else but Caitlyn.”

She halted her moving around as she stepped in front of Vi, offering her a small smile, “We’re on the same team, us three.” She offered an apologetic smile, “And I kind of have to report to her, not only as our boss, but also as your partner. If she’s to be side by side with you on the field, she needs to know what weak points to look out for.”

“I know,” Vi replied, “And I’m grateful for that, it’s just that,” She trailed off, sighing, “I don’t have a very good history with doctors.”

Harriet nodded, “I can get that. Maybe after today I’ll even know why, but for the time being let me tell you that there’s nothing to worry about.” She said as she grabbed a clipboard and placed one of the forms she brought with herself on it, pen at the ready on her free hand, “Because that changes today.”

Vi grimaced, “Will you have to stab me with too many needles?”

Harriet chuckled, “Technology moves fast. Just one small prick on your arm and I’ll have the results in a bit.”

“Okay,” Vi said, sighing, “Let’s get started.”

She lost count of how many hours passed.

She looked at her watch.

12:58 PM.

Vi had been there for, at least, four hours.

Caitlyn sighed.

She was a patient woman.

Maybe not that patient.

The door opened and she quickly turned, ending up face to face with the doctor as she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

“Vi—”

“Is quite the special person,” Harriet finished for her, handing her the paperwork she had filled.

Caitlyn took it from her hands and inspected it, though Harriet gave her a short summary of it.

“She didn’t lie to me in the questions I’ve asked, but there were a few where she refused to answer,” She told her, “From what I’ve gathered and judging by the looks of it, Vi used to be a test subject on a Zaunite scientist’s illegal experiment.” She turned the pages Caitlyn held, reaching the one where Vi’s blood analysis’ results were. “As you can see here, there’s more testosterone in her blood than what’s usual on women. Not only that, there’s also a few alien agents I couldn’t find the name for just yet, so that I’ll have to give you in a few days but, basically, she’s abnormally strong and agile, much more than a professionally trained, average human.” She turned another page, “To top that off, she’s also got more white cells and resistance factors than what’s common, so she’s practically immune to quite a number of diseases.” Caitlyn looked at her, which prompted her to explain, “It’s almost impossible for her to catch the common cold.”

Caitlyn raised a brow, “Fascinating,” She said, before looking back at the pages.

“That she is,” Harriet agreed. “She seems to have been through a lot, but it’s also what’s shaped her as who she is nowadays.”

Cailtyn nodded as she hummed in acknowledgement, still eyeing Harriet’s report.

Numerous scars, mostly on hands and forearms.

Hair naturally pink, eyes naturally lilac.

Tattoos on back, shoulder, arm and cheek, left side.

Body type; mesomorph. Body fat, low.

Injured left ankle; Sheriff Caitlyn’s fault.

She huffed at the last one.

“I’ve read enough for now,” Caitlyn said, handing it back to Harriet.

But she looked like she was having none of it, “We both know you’ll take it home and read it thoroughly tonight.”

Caitlyn nodded, “But that’s for later,” She said. “You know you didn’t have to act all naïve regarding the double check-up, right?” She smirked, “You could have just said—”

“ Someone I know,” Harriet cut her off, “Taught me that words get blown by the wind and that the best way for the wind not to carry my words to unwanted ears, was to avoid saying things that might come back to make me pay for them.”

Caitlyn raised a brow,, “Sounds like I gave you this advice.”

“Because you did,” Harriet chuckled, before turning and going back to the room with Caitlyn following closely behind, finding Vi already dressed once more.

“Okay,” She walked towards the desk and grabbed the other form she had brought with her, “ This one is the one you should file.” She said, “And this one is the one you should keep somewhere safe.” She finished, giving both of them to Caitlyn.

“Right,” She replied, “Thank you, Harriet.”

“Anytime. Now,” She smiled, “Get out of here before someone comes.”

Vi stared in surprise, while Caitlyn merely chuckled, turning to leave, “See you around.”

“Bye!” Harriet replied, waving them off as they left the room.

“So, what do we do now?” Vi asked Caitlyn as they moved away from Harriet’s infirmary.

“Now we go to the shooting range.”

“ Oh, Hell no.”

Caitlyn stopped walking and turned to look at Vi, “First, doctors. Now, bullets?” She raised a brow, “Is there some traumatic experience you wish to share with the class?”

“Definitely not,” Vi said, crossing her arms in front of herself, “I just happen to be very bad at shooting and, as if that weren’t enough, it’s not my weapon of choice.” She smirked, “I’d rather beat people up.”

“That’s okay,” Caitlyn started, “But I must make sure you know the basics on how to wield a gun.”

Vi groaned lowly. “What’s next after the shooting range, is there anything else?”

“Just one thing.”

“Which is?”

“An exam on laws and police protocols.” And Vi groaned loudly at that, “But I’ll handle it for you,” Caitlyn added, “Surely, you will have to learn these things as we move, but I’ll fill in the exam for you. I actually started doing that in the office, while you wrote those five words on the form you filled in.”

Vi sighed, “I can’t talk my way out of the studying nor the shooting, now can I?”

“Definitely not.”

She groaned one more time. “Fine, let’s go get this over with.”

The day had been long.

While she was the kind of person to stay at the office for longer than what was required, she would always end up coming back home at reasonable hours.

11:47 PM didn’t seem like a reasonable hour.

She entered her apartment and went straight to bed; she didn’t wash the mug that was waiting for her on the sink nor read through Vi’s files —both fake and not— one more time. She went to her room, left all the papers on her nightstand, got out of her clothes and dropped on her bed, the rest of her activities be damned for the day.

She didn’t even finish answering Vi’s exam.

The shooting range had taken years out of her lifespan; not only was Vi terrible with guns, she refused to learn. It took them two hours for her to manage to hit the target, another two for her to hit its’ centre.

Cailtyn wouldn’t scold her, but Vi still felt the need to justify herself every time she missed.

And she had missed quite many times.

You made me nervous!

Don’t look at me like that!

The Sun was blinding me… Yeah I know it’s setting, it still blinded me.

Guns are just not my thing.

But still, despite the complaints and the whining and the excuses and the everything, they managed to get through the day with most of Vi’s application to join the police force done; Caitlyn just needed to finish Vi’s entry exam and go over all the papers one more time before filing them off as approved, but the exhaustion she felt took over her, forcing her to leave it for the morning.

After they were done for the day, having seen the time and being shocked by how late it was, Caitlyn gave Vi a handbook with all she’d need to study to be a proper cop, telling her to try and give it at least one look before the day after that one arrived.

She doubted the woman would do it.

If she was honest, though, she had to say she didn’t blame her; the pugilist looked as tired as she herself felt, so she really didn’t expect anything but for the woman to get home and immediately pass out.

She couldn’t even wash the mug she had used in the morning. Was she really in the right place to expect someone else to be productive at such time of the night, after having had such a long day?

Definitely not.

Definitely not because, after all, it had been Sheriff Caitlyn who had left the station, entered her house, left the paperwork on the first flat surface she found, undressed and gotten in her own bed, all lights already out, with no desire nor intention to finish what she had to finish that same day.

So, knowing she was no one to judge others’ actions or lack thereof and that no one could really blame her for her own lack of action, Caitlyn managed to fall asleep before 12:10 AM arrived.

Chapter Text

6:09 AM.

The time made her still drowsy eyes widen in surprise.

I slept until 6:09 AM.

“Damn it,” She cursed through clenched teeth, before getting up from the bed.

A shower and some minutes later, she was already out, on the streets, walking at a quick pace, her morning routine having been reduced to just getting changed, not stealing any more of her precious time.

She did make a quick stop at her favorite café, though.

“The usual?”

“Yes.” A beat. “And two cupcakes, if you will.”

“ Two cupcakes ?”

She narrowed her eyes as if in calculation, but she still replied immediately and without any actual thought, “Yes, two.”

The man quickly handed her what she had ordered, retrieving the money from the desk as she slapped it down and took off quickly.

She power-walked up the stairs, through the halls, ignoring everyone and anyone, reaching her office only to find—

Her door ajar.

She frowned.

That can’t be right.

She checked her pocket, only to find the key to her office in it.

Her frown deepened.

Someone picked the lock.

She pushed the door open—

Vi stopped spinning around on Caitlyn’s chair, staring wide-eyed at the Sheriff, “Oh, hi, Cait,” She said in a nervous voice, standing up, “I was not expecting you here this soon—”

“ I should be the one saying that,” Caitlyn said, entering the office and closing the door, “What are you doing here?”

“I couldn’t sleep again and this time I decided to come straight to your office—”

“And you thought it was okay to let yourself in, uninvited?”

Vi’s face turned red, “I didn’t mean—”

“If you lockpicked my office’s door, you certainly did mean.” Caitlyn scolded, raising a brow.

Vi sighed, “Okay fine, I didn’t know where to wait and I prefered to wait here over waiting out there with all those idiots.”

She placed her coffees and pastries on the table, “I don’t appreciate people sneaking into my office, Vi.” She narrowed her eyes, “Not even my partner, I’ll have you know.”

“I’m sorry,” Vi apologized, still red on the face as she moved towards the chair she had occupied the day before, “I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

Caitlyn took her seat on the chair Vi had used to spin not too long ago, staring at her with a stern scowl, “I’ll let it be this one time, but for my sake and yours , don’t do this ever again.”

“You need to relax, Sheriff,” Vi said, laying back on her chair, a bit taken aback by Caitlyn’s reaction. “It was just me.”

“Vi, just a heads up for our future conversations,” Caitlyn started, before looking at Vi with an annoyed, even uncomfortable look, “ Don’t tell me to relax.”

“Damn,” Vi said, eyes wide. “Okay, fine.”

“You didn’t sleep again?” Caitlyn said, subtly changing the focus of the conversation.

Vi shook her head, “I mean, I did sleep, but not enough, you know?” She sighed, “Guess I’m nervous for my first day.”

Caitlyn stared at her for a moment. The dark circles that had been under her eyes the day before were still there, maybe even a little bit darker. Her posture was relaxed, partly due to her being more comfortable around her, partly due to her exhaustion.

“You didn’t get more than two, maybe three hours of sleep, did you?”

Vi nodded, “How did you know?”

Caitlyn smirked, “I can tell.”

She huffed a laugh, then, “I can also tell you didn’t sleep well last night,” At the inquisitive look she got from Caitlyn, she pointed at the pastries with her chin, “You’re having on-the-go breakfast, which you didn’t have yesterday.”

Caitlyn hummed, before saying, “I see someone’s paying attention.”

Vi sat straight and raised a finger in the air, “ The key to being a good officer is having a keen eye.”

It made her freeze. “You read the handbook?”

“Why do you look so surprised?”

“Because I honestly believed you wouldn’t read it.”

Vi’s face contorted into an expression of hurt, “Ouch, Sheriff. That lack of faith hurt.”

“It’s not lack of faith—” Yes, it is, “ It’s just that I was exhausted last night, so I expected you to be as tired.”

Vi stared at her for a moment, “I see,” She stretched, “Well, I read it: I got home, cooked myself some dinner and studied the new game-rules as I did that, ate, did the dishes, then passed out on my bed.” She shrugged sheepishly, “Okay, I wouldn’t say I studied, if I’m honest, I mostly skimmed through it, you know? Like a first read-through, but I did read it! I promise I’ll learn it better this week, but yeah,” She nodded, her hand on her neck, “I was tired as well.”

“Yet you did all of that,” Caitlyn said, earning a curious look from Vi, “Cook, eat, clean, read.”

“Well, of course I did,” Vi said, chuckling, “Didn’t you?”

“No,” Caitlyn simply stated, earning a surprised look from Vi as she took all of the woman’s paperwork out of her bag.

“You went straight to bed?”

“Yes.”

Vi stared at her, blinking once, twice.

Caitlyn got a pen and Vi’s unfinished entry-test, “Do you have the handbook with you?”

“I do, actually.”

“Good,” Caitlyn said, “Maybe use these minutes to study.”

She tried not to voice her surprise as she watched Vi while she retrieved her book as quietly as possible from somewhere underneath the desk and started reading in silence.

From all of their conversation, Caitlyn managed to learn a few new things about Vi.

First of all, she learned the other woman was too curious and impulsive but, judging from their previous conversations and encounters, she didn’t let herself act on it unless she felt comfortable enough doing so.

Along with a few things she had heard just a mere moment later, it took Caitlyn to the second thing; Vi was quite disciplined and obedient, despite the deceiving looks. Surely, it only shone through when she respected whoever commanded her, but it was still there.

Thirdly, she had an inhuman stamina; not everyone could manage to function so properly with so little fuel. Whatever they did to her in those experiments certainly tampered with her stamina, not only her strength, which led her to believe that maybe it altered some other physical abilities of hers, maybe her dexterity, her speed, her coordination… She had yet to see it, but she could imagine it being possible.

Fourth, she was organized in her own way. Quirkily so, perhaps, but still.

Not too long passed before Caitlyn heard Vi yawn, making her glance at her for a moment, before glancing at the two cups of coffee she usually bought herself.

She grabbed one of the cups and offered it to her, earning a curious look. “Take it,” She told her, “It’s just coffee, still hot.”

Vi took it, before giving it a tentative sip, grimacing at the taste, “This is too bitter, do you really drink this?”

Caitlyn grabbed the other cup, bringing it to her lips, “I do,” She took a sip, “Two cups of it every morning,” She eyed her, “But you looked like you needed one, so I’ll grant you one, for today.”

“Thank you, you’re a real savior,” Vi said, still grimacing at the cup.

“Drink it,” Caitlyn commanded, “It’ll help keep you awake. Try to ignore the taste.”

Vi brought the cup to her lips once more, reluctantly so, before taking another sip, “This is disgusting,” She said, eyeing the cupcakes, before taking one and taking a bite out of it.

Caitlyn raised her brows, “Excuse me?”

“What?”

“Did I let you take one of those?” Caitlyn asked, “That’s my breakfast.”

Vi shrugged, “I didn’t have breakfast either and I need something to wash the taste off my tongue.”

Caitlyn sighed, “Fine, you can have one, but the other one’s mine, so don’t you even think about it.”

Vi smiled a toothless smile, “Thank you,” She said, looking at the cupcake in her hand, “Of all pastries there are, why cupcakes?”

Cait looked at the cupcake in Vi’s hand, before looking back at her exam. “I just like them, I suppose.”

“No, it’s not that,” Vi said, placing her elbow on the table, the cupcake high in the air as she studied it, “I think you like them because, deep inside, you’re sweet like them,” She said, before looking at Caitlyn over the top of her cupcake, a smile creeping its’ way up to her lips, “You’re a Cupcake yourself .”

Caitlyn stared, expression neutral, before blinking, “I’m a what?”

“A cupcake.” Vi stated matter-of-factly, “A pretty, posh cupcake.”

Caitlyn narrowed her eyes in a futile attempt to follow Vi’s train of thought, “You’re calling me cupcake?”

“I wasn’t exactly doing that —I was just saying you resemble cupcakes— but, you know what? I’m going to call you that from now on.” She smiled, “ Cupcake.”

Caitlyn closed her eyes, “You did not just call me—”

“ Cupcake,” Vi finished, “And yes, I did.” She grinned, “Sheriff Cupcake sounds better than Sheriff Caitlyn, if you ask me.”

She glared at Vi, “I didn’t ask you, I mean, I literally didn’t—”

“Still sounds better.”

She sighed.

I learned yet another thing.

She can be insufferable.

“Vi.”

“Yes, Cupcake?”

“Study.”

“Yes, Cupcake.”

She sighed again in order to stop herself from groaning.

Very insufferable.

They spent the following minutes in silence, Caitlyn finishing Vi’s entry exam, Vi studying what she should have known in order to complete said test, both finishing off their coffees, Vi eating the cupcake she had on her hand.

It was almost comfortable.

Almost.

Caitlyn couldn’t help but wonder how long she’d keep the Cupcake thing up.

There’s two alternatives.

Number one, she just dropped it and it’s not coming back to annoy me any time soon.

Number two, she will not drop it.

Whatsoever.

She tried not to react at her own thoughts, for she knew option number two was more plausible.

And it made her want to groan.

It didn’t take too long for the Sheriff to finally finish answering all the questions in the rookie’s exam, before turning to the first page and, with a red marker, grading the test, giving it a perfect score.

“Vi.”

“What?” Vi replied, snapping out of the trance she had fallen into while reading the book only to move her eyes to Caitlyn’s, finding her staring back and offering her the exam.

“I need you to sign it at the back.”

Vi took it in her hands, inspecting it, ”I don’t have a signature.”

Why doesn’t it surprise me.

“Create one.”

So Vi grabbed a pen and in only one line, she drew something the paper, before giving it back to Caitlyn.

The Sheriff looked at it with a curious look, but said nothing.

“What?” Vi inquired.

“Nothing,” Caitlyn simply commented, before grabbing a pen and drawing her signature underneath the line that said Sheriff’s Signature.

She didn’t feel like asking her about the spiralling line she drew, the one that looked like a poorly drawn six.

Not yet, at least.

“Well,” Caitlyn started, making Vi look at her as she grabbed the other cupcake, “Considering you’ve passed your entry exam, gave us a copy of your medical history, had me run a background check ran on you and had me sign off all the pardons, acceptances of responsibility and liability contracts that had to be signed, I can proudly inform you, Vi, that you’re now part of the Police Department of Piltover. Your equipment —that is, your firearm, radio, cuffs and badge— will be in the office by the end of the week and you’ll share desk with me until we manage to free one for you. “She smirked at her, “Congratulations. Do you feel any different?” She asked, taking a bite out of the cupcake.

Vi finished eating hers, “I feel the same way I felt yesterday and I feel the same way I’ll feel tomorrow, probably.” She swallowed the final bite, “I thought police forces had a special ceremony of sorts when there’s a new recruit.”

“We do,” Caitlyn said, “We have a big ceremony where the Mayor recognizes you as part of the police force but, you see, the Mayor doesn’t like you being here one bit, so he refuses to officially recognize you as part of the force. Therefore, there’s no ceremony for you.”

Vi nodded, “Sounds fair, I guess,” She said, “But not even like a handshake or something?”

Caitlyn stared at her, before stretching her hand out for her, “Welcome to Piltover’s police force, Vi.” She said, grabbing Vi’s hand and giving it a firm shake, “I’m proud to have you here,” She let go, huffing a laugh at herself before saying, “Even if the rest aren’t.”

“ Now I feel different!” She said, exaggerating her expressions, “Thank you for this one-of-a-kind opportunity! I’ll make sure not to waste it.”

Caitlyn stared at her, harshly.

Something tells me you’ll make me regret this.

“What are you looking at?”

“I see you’ve come in your armor today.” Caitlyn pointed out.

“Considering how you called me out on how I wasn’t wearing it yesterday, yes, I am.”

“That’s good.” Caitlyn raised a brow, “Did you bring your gauntlets, as well?”

“They’re underneath the desk,” Vi replied, “Where else did you think I stored this?” She asked, waving the book she was studying from a bit.

“I didn’t really think about it,” Caitlyn confessed, “Going back to the main topic of conversation, don’t you want to know why it’s good that you’re wearing your armor?”

Vi pouted as she thought, “Because you’re going to make me fight someone?”

“Because we’ll go out on patrol today,” Caitlyn replied, standing up from her desk, all of Vi’s papers in hand, “So get ready to leave while I go file your information in the station’s archive.” A beat as she walked to the door, “And wait outside.”

Vi stood up abruptly, “We’re going—”

Before she could finish the sentence, though, Caitlyn was out, the door closed behind her.

She sighed, “Oh boy.”

It didn’t take Caitlyn more than ten minutes to be outside, top hat on her head and sniper rifle in her hands.

She eyed Vi up and down, checking out the armor, the gauntlets, knowing the other woman was looking at her and doing the same thing, all while laying idly against the side of the patrol car. 

Assessing.

“Rifle and top hat,” Vi commented, “Dreadful weapons.”

“Fists,” Caitlyn replied as she walked to the driver’s side, “Not so dreadful.”

“These babies could hurt worse than your bullets, ma’am.” Vi said with a smirk, before pouting at how Caitlyn opened the driver’s door, “Won’t let me take the wheel?”

“We’re just getting to know each other, Vi,” She said, throwing her rifle onto the backseat and getting her top hat off so as to get into the car, “You haven’t earned that right just yet.”

She got into the car and, after one long pout, Vi did the same, taking one gauntlet off and throwing it onto the backseat, before sitting on the passenger’s side, the still armored hand on top of her lap, the other one hanging idly to her side.

Caitlyn stared at her, at her bare hand, at the bandages that were wrapped around it, hiding most of the skin underneath them, leaving just half of her fingers uncovered.

“What?” Vi asked, shrugging, “They’re too big for me to use them in the car. I need to take off at least one.”

Caitlyn hummed, “That might be a problem. We might have to get a different patrol car. Bigger or, at least, without a roof.”

Vi laughed, “Admit it, Cait,” she said, dropping the nickname like it was nothing, “You want a convertible just so there’s no roof above your head to prevent you from wearing your hat twenty-four seven.”

Caitlyn started the engine, a smirk sneaking its’ way to her lips, having noticed the nickname but choosing not to comment on it, finding it more pleasant than Cupcake, “Maybe.” She said, driving away from the station.

Vi chuckled, “I knew it. Your evil plan, all along.”

“Discovered, just like that,” Caitlyn said, clicking her tongue and shaking her head, “I should be ashamed of calling myself the Sheriff.”

“You should,” Vi joked, before looking around the car, eyes locked on the police radio that replaced that of a normal car, “So, how’s the whole patrolling thing?”

“We get on a patrol car and we drive around a certain area that requires us to patrol, slow enough to analyze our surroundings and maybe detect anything odd that’s going on.”

“Okay,” She replied, nodding her head, “And where are we headed off to, today?”

“We remain in the uppercity. We’ll patrol the lowest-income neighbourhoods.”

Vi narrowed her eyes, “ Uppercity…” She raised a brow, “Piltover?”

Caitlyn nodded, “Within the police, Piltover is called the uppercity while Zaun is called the lowercity.”

“As if they were two parts of a same whole?”

Caitlyn nodded, “Within them, it may look like Piltover and Zaun are two different cities, but truth is they’re both part of the same system; our government is a dual city state, after all, so they’re both interconnected and, while in a more specific view they might be two different cities, with their own leaders and such, in the greater scheme of things, they’re both one big city divided in two sections: lower, which is Zaun, and upper, which is Piltover, with both governors —the Mayor of Zaun and the Mayor of Piltover— as the sole governors of the state. While popularly and colloquially both parts of the state are known as Zaun and Piltover, in the more formal sense we call them the undercity and the uppercity.”

“So, the part of the state with money and the part of the state without.”

A second of silence, her eyes still on the road. “There are poor districts within Piltover, just like there are rich districts within Zaun, but yes, in a general sense and talking off-the-record, the city-state is divided in lower class and upper class.”

Vi was surprised by Caitlyn’s words, the way she had instantly agreed with her, which allowed her to relax a bit, let her guard down. “So, if both cities are the actually parts of one bigger city—”

“There’s two departments of police,” Caitlyn continued, interrupting Vi but mostly due to the fact that she knew where the other woman was trying to get, “Zaun’s police handles mostly Zaun’s issues, just like Piltover’s police handles mostly Piltover’s issues, but we’re actually all part of the same system, so yes.” She looked at Vi as they reached a red light, “A Piltovian police officer could work legally in Zaun. It’s not normal, it’s not common, but it’s definitely not illegal, either.”

Vi nodded her head, “Okay,” she said, zoning out as she looked through the windshield, “I get it.”

It had given her something to think about.

“You’re a cop now,” Caitlyn said, “Within and without your shift. It means you’re constantly on duty, so you’re constantly allowed to work, just like you’re allowed not to, when you’re off-work, so to speak.”

Vi nodded once more, “Thank you,” She said, knowing very well why the other woman had felt the need to say that.

They drove around for a few minutes, then a few hours, something on Caitlyn’s mind, taking space in it as she assessed it.

She felt the need to talk with Vi about the real reasons why she had hired her.

At the same time, she feared it could be a bit too soon.

It might not be time just yet—

“Where did you get the rifle from?”

It broke her out of her focus, “Excuse me?”

“Where did you get your rifle from?” Vi said once more, eyes on Caitlyn.

“My parents made it for me.”

“They’re inventors?”

“Hextech artificers,” Caitlyn corrected, “Both retired by now, though my mother still has a workshop down in their basement, where she experiments and toys around with a few gadgets and trinkets.”

“I guess your father experiments as well.”

“ My father had turned his back on the whole artisanry of his craft many years before retiring,” Caitlyn said, “He stopped caring so much about his passions  and started being far more interested in the lucrative side of it all.”

“So I’m guessing your mother did all the handiwork while he just shaked hands with dudes in suits.” She popped her own neck, “Mom invents, dad turns it into cash.”

Caitlyn scoffed yet nodded, “Yes, she’d do the hands-on part and he’d do the whole talking.”

“Did he also take the credit from your mom?”

Caitlyn let out a bark of a laugh, “No, thankfully. Had he ever tried something like that, I think my mother would have had none of it.” She raised a brow, “And my father would have never had another chance to do something like that, ever.”

“Damn, she sounds terrifying.”

“She can be,” Caitlyn said, “Though they both say I’m worse.”

“No, I don’t think so.”

Caitlyn raised a brow at her, “You don’t think so?”

Vi shook her head, “You’re not terrifying at all.”

She huffed a laugh, “Wait until you get used to me as a boss, Vi. Then we’ll see.”

The pink-haired woman laughed at the comment, letting them both fall into a rather comfortable silence for a few minutes, before—

“Where did you get your gauntlets?”

It made her freeze for a moment, but she guessed telling her was only fair.

After all, she’s already pardoned me for my crimes.

“I got my gauntlets from a mining robot.”

It made Caitlyn’s eyebrows shoot up.

“A mining robot?”

Vi hummed in response. “Yes.”

A beat of silence.

It dawned on Caitlyn that, were she intrigued and wishing to learn something specific about Vi, she’d have to pry it out of her through incessant questioning.

“Mind explaining how?”

Vi sighed, getting comfortable on her seat, “A hit on a mining facility went wrong and there was a cave in, due to which I ended up trapped inside the mine along with a few miners, one of them wearing this exoskeleton-like, robot suit with gigantic fists, used to break through rocks.” Her eyes relaxed as she looked at the road, “The suit was broken, so I tore the gauntlets off of it and, after a few hours of working on them and trying to make them usable, I managed to make them work. I got them on and got us out of there. Then, I left.”

“The incident in Baron Wyers’ diamond mine, three years ago.”

Vi looked at her, a frown on her face.

Caitlyn eyed for briefly as she drove, “The incident was quite famous and it involved people from both Piltover and Zaun, so both police departments were working on it. I was in charge of investigating it on behalf of Piltover’s force, so I interrogated the miners. Do you want to know what they said about you?”

Vi stared at her for a long second, before nodding, voicing her reply when she saw Caitlyn wasn’t looking at her, “Yes.”

“They said absolutely nothing,” Caitlyn replied. “Those miners said they had gotten attacked by a group of thieves, which died during the cave in, them being the sole survivors. When questioned about how they had managed to escape the caves, they affirmed they had used the mining suit, but that it had been destroyed during their attempt to survive.” She looked at Vi for a second, “You were never mentioned. I even pressed them about whether there had been someone else helping them, but they said nothing.” She looked ahead once more, “I had closed the case for the sake of not leaving it unfinished, but I knew something was up.”

Vi smirked, “I was up.”

“ You were up.”

“I’m glad to see none of them ratted me out.”

“You saved their lives,” Caitlyn said. “It was a payback of sorts for what you did for them.”

“If they were good people, they would have told you about me.”

“No,” Caitlyn said, shaking her head, “If they were good people, they would have hidden your identity, like they did.”

Vi raised a brow, “That’s against the law.”

And she knew she wouldn’t forget anytime soon the way Caitlyn turned to look at her and said, “Sometimes the law is against what’s right.” She parked the car, “Come on, I saw two suspicious men down the street.”

They got off the car, Vi with her gauntlets on, Caitlyn with her rifle in her hands, her top hat on her head.

They could see two men standing many meters away from them, down a narrow alleyway, their backs to them, their figures close and hunched, as if whatever was going on between them couldn’t be seen by the world.

It was already dark, so it was hard to see properly. “What’s your bet?” Caitlyn asked Vi as they slowly approached them.

“Huh?”

“Their business.” She clarified, “What’s your bet? What do you think is going on?”

“Oh,” Vi said, understanding Caitlyn, “I think it’s a drug deal.”

“Who’s the dealer and who’s the buyer?”

She looked at Caitlyn, a bit surprised by the questions, “What does it even matter?”

Caitlyn looked at her with narrowed eyes, “For someone who literally told me to relax not too long ago, you can’t play a game for the life of you, Vi.”

Vi let out a long sigh through her nose, slightly embarrassed, “Left is the buyer, right is the dealer.”

Caitlyn nodded her head, “Okay.”

A step, two steps—

“What do you think?”

“Minors, underage drinking. Sixteen,” She pointed at the one on the left, “And seventeen,” She said pointing at the other one, before adding, “Turns eighteen soon, but they still wanted to break the law to feel like they’re doing something risky.”

Vi frowned at her before huffing a laugh, “That’s ridiculously specific.”

“And ominously accurate,” She added, nodding once, “Trust me, a Sheriff’s eye never fails.”

Vi rolled her eyes, “If you say so.”

They walked up to the two figures, both turning as they heard Vi’s boots, Caitlyn’s heels and the Sheriff as she cleared her throat—

Vi’s eyes widened, her mouth open.

No way.

They were teenagers.

And the one on the right had a beer in his hands.

Their eyes were locked on Caitlyn as one of them acknowledged her, “Sheriff Wright,” He said, his voice high pitched and shaky.

“Hi boys,” She said in a casual tone, getting her arm through the loop formed by her rifle and its’ strap, letting it hang idly to her side as she crossed her arms, “Mind explaining what’s going on?”

The boy on the right, slightly taller and with the incriminating drink, tried to get the bottle behind himself, “We were just—”

“Drinking in public.” Caitlyn finished for him, “Which is not a crime in itself, but the fact that neither of you looks to be of age is.”

“And how would you know that?”

Caitlyn’s eyes locked on the smaller one, standing to the left. “Show me your identifications and prove me wrong.”

“Sheriff, come on,” The taller one stood between them, “It’s just a minor offense—”

“ And you have the nerve to say the word minor, right now.” Caitlyn said, before raising a brow, “I’m not letting this one go.”

He glared at her, “My dad—”

“Will pay a fine for this,” Caitlyn finished with a mocking smirk, before nodding her head at the patrol car, “Get in it.”

The smaller kid looked stressed by the information, “You can’t take us to jail, we’re—!”

“I can’t believe you’re about to step over your own tail like this,” Caitlyn said in a mocking tone as she shook her head. She moved to stand in front of him, “For my own sake, please don’t finish that sentence.” She narrowed her eyes, “And now get in the car.”

They looked ready to retort—

A banging sound made them flinch.

While Caitlyn and Vi entered alert, they didn’t jump.

“A gunshot,” Vi stated.

“Give me your IDs.” Caitlyn said hurriedly to them, gazing at them just once with a scowl, successfully making them obey her right away. “Now go home.” She looked at Vi, putting the identifications in her pocket, “Let’s go.”

Vi made a move to go back to the car—

“On foot,” Caitlyn said, “It wasn’t too far away.”

Vi nodded, “Right.”

They both moved quickly yet quietly through the alleyways, Vi taking the lead naturally as Caitlyn walked behind her, her rifle ready in her hands.

One left, then one right—

Far from them, they saw two men standing over another one as he laid on the ground.

They could tell there was a gun in one of the men’s hand.

Caitlyn wasted no time as she picked up her pace, “ Freeze!” She screamed, watching as they looked at her before running away.

She reached the fallen man first, kneeling next to him for a second as she grabbed her radio and, after pushing her thumb against its’ talk button, she spoke, “ This is Caitlyn. Civilian down in—”

She stopped abruptly as she saw a ball of blue light moving at an immense speed behind her.

“ Vi!”

She tried running after her, tried calling her name and making her stop, but it was already too late; Vi was on the chase and in too deep, maybe twice as much as her.

“Bloody woman,” She cursed under her breath, before running after her, pressing on her communicator once more, “ Man down on Helm and Steam, I need medics!” Yelling into it and then running after the pink haired woman.

She did her best to keep up with the brawler, who was running after the escaping, armed man with ease, using her gigantic hextech fists to impulse herself forwards whenever she could.

She charged one fist—

The man turned at the whirring sound and aimed his gun at Vi—

Caitlyn kneeled for a brief second, taking aim at the man’s—

He saw the red dot on his firing hand and looked behind Vi, his finger on the trigger, his own firearm aimed at—

Another gunshot resonated.

Vi stopped moving.

She saw the man scream and grab his hand, the gun having flown from it.

She looked behind herself and found Caitlyn, one knee on the ground, smoke coming out of her rifle’s muzzle.

She watched as Caitlyn sighed out slowly, almost imperceptibly, were it not for the way her whole posture relaxed as she did so.

The way she closed her eyes for a second.

Vi’s lilac ones shot up at unexpected movement, the all too familiar glimmer of a knife—

The whirring of cogs was still ongoing—

Caitlyn held her breath as she saw Vi charge at her with that blue fist, missing her by a hair’s breadth as she flew over her head, taking her top hat with her, the movement making her whip her head around to find her landing the punch on the other escaping man.

A switchblade falling from his hand, clattering as it bounced on the ground.

He was going to kill her, maybe slice her throat open.

Vi had seen him in time and reacted with no second thought, successfully saving her life as she punched him hard enough that maybe she broke a few bones, but not hard enough to kill him with the impact.

She just saved my life.

I can’t believe that she just saved my life.

Not because she didn’t think Vi was capable, but because she didn’t imagine she’d need her life being saved.

How is it that I didn’t see an assault from the back coming?

But then again, she hadn’t expected to chase after them so abruptly either. She thought she’d get to play the game as a cat, not as a road runner.

Variables. Vi and her variables.

Vi and her bloody variables, who just happened to save me from the inevitable death and the awful situation they had put me into.

Caitlyn stood up from the ground and walked to the man she had shot, watching him as he tried to move towards the gun that had landed on the ground, trying desperately to reach it—

She kicked it out of the way and placed her rifle against his head, “You wouldn’t try that, would you?”

The man stopped moving.

“Hands behind your neck.”

The man obeyed and, as he did so, she cuffed him.

“Vi, I want you with him.” She said, hearing as Vi walked towards her, watching as she grabbed the cuffed man and throwing him over her shoulder.

She stared for a second, knowing the other one was too badly injured to even try to escape, “I didn’t exactly…” She trailed off at Vi’s wide eyes.

“Do you want me to put him down?” She asked, pointing at the ground with one of those gigantic fingers.

“No, no.” Caitlyn said, shaking her head. “Keep him there.” She walked to the other man, getting her arm through the loop of its’ strap and slinging it over her shoulder as she cuffed hims as well and—

She didn’t need to help him to his feet, for Vi walked up to her and threw him over her other shoulder, “There,” She said, looking at Caitlyn. “Now, back to the patrol car, no?”

Caitlyn looked at her, a bit surprised by the woman’s strength, a bit surprised by the uncanny, personal protocol she seemed to have.

She crouched on the ground and grabbed her top hat, placing it over her head, “ Now yes.”

They moved back to the patrol car in silence, only their breathing being heard as they both came down from the adrenaline of the past events.

They heard the sirens of the ambulance as it arrived at the scene of the crime, finding the fallen man to actually be alive as they placed him inside the vehicle on a stretcher.

They reached the patrol car and Caitlyn got on the driver’s seat as Vi placed the two criminals on the backseat, before taking her rightful place next to her partner.

As they started driving, she asked Caitlyn something that bugged her. “Hey, Cait.”

“Hm?”

“For someone who had the balls to tell me what you told me before leaving the car, taking those kids’ IDs while they were just drinking one beer was kind of shitty of you, don’t you think?”

Caitlyn side-eyed her, before pressing a button on the car’s wheel.

Vi watched as a thick glass raised itself between them and the backseats.

Caitlyn then took the identifications out of her pocket and handed them to Vi. “Read me their names, please.”

“William Dean and Rohan Dodge.”

Caitlyn nodded her head. “William Dean and Rohan Dodge, like Officer Dean and Officer Dodge, from the police department.” She looked at Vi, “Sons of policemen think they have the authority to do whatever they want.” She looked ahead, “William and Rohan have been reported for bullying by their peers at highschool and while I can’t do nothing about that, I can make their fathers pay for the actual crimes they commit, in hopes of making them see that I keep an eye on everyone and that I won’t look away, no matter how deep into the police forces someone might be. With me, you’re either righteous or out of the force, there’s no in between.” She looked at Vi once more, a sly smirk on her lips, “I wouldn’t have stopped any other seventeen-year-old for underage drinking, Vi. I did it myself when I was young.”

Vi stared at her in surprise as the woman looked at the road, “You did—” She cut herself off, “Wait,” She said, as she realized something else, “Does this mean you knew who they were when we guessed who they were and what crime they were committing?” She raised a brow, feeling like she had caught Caitlyn red-handed. “That would be cheating, Sheriff.”

“No, Vi, it wasn’t cheating because I didn’t know, I just guessed and I guessed correctly,” She said, before a smirk snuck its’ way to her lips, “Though soon you’ll find out that, while I don’t exactly play dirty, I do bend the rules to win.”

Vi stared at her, before laughing and shaking her head.

“That’s a game style that I can respect.”

Caitlyn nodded her head, then she said, “Vi.”

“Yeah?”

Caitlyn gave her a side-glance. “Read the arrest protocols and, next time, obey me.”

Vi felt her face heat up. “Oh, yeah. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t apologise, today’s procedure ended up working. I’m talking about next time.”

Vi nodded her head, “Okay.”

“You did a great job tonight,” Caitlyn told her, feeling like the woman could use some reassurance, “You had my six and I had yours. That’s the way it has to be, between us.”

“And it will be,” She smiled smugly at her, “Sheriff.”

“I certainly hope so, Enforcer.”

Vi looked at her with a frown, “ Enforcer?” She raised a brow, “Like the word I said when I bullshitted that man, Enforcer?”

Caitlyn shrugged, “There’s no Sheriff’s partner position in this job, Vi, so I had to come up with a new position just for you.” She looked at her, an inquisitive look as she said, “How else was I supposed to meet your demands to work with me, only me and to answer only to me?” She shook her head before looking ahead, “Officers all respond to me and to each other and have to cooperate and collaborate with each other, as well. The Enforcer, though, is a whole different story.”

Vi stared at her for a long moment, before looking out through the windshield once more.

“I think we’re going to be the best team there is.”

It had been an unexpected yet flattering comment.

Caitlyn hummed, careful not to react in any way, except for a small, nonchalant, “Do you?”

“Yeah.”

She let out air through her nose in a silent laughter, “Will we be Piltover’s greatest asset?”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t sound cool, you know?” Vi said, “And we are kind of cool.”

They remained in silence for a few minutes, mirth dying out, letting the topic be a bit more serious.

“Piltover’s finest.”

Vi looked at Caitlyn, seeing the woman was still staring ahead, though a small smirk laid hidden on her lips.

A complicit smile made its way to her lips.

Vi nodded.

“Yeah,” She said. “Piltover’s finest.”

Chapter Text

“Do I have to get used to this or will you drop it at some point?”

“To what? Because there are at least four things that could make you say that.”

“I’m talking about you coming to work early.”

“Oh.” A pause. “Maybe.”

A huff of a laugh. “I doubt you’ll keep it up.”

“Well, maybe I will keep it up just to spite you.”

“That you’ll definitely do.”

“You know me so well, already, Cupcake.”

Caitlyn stared at Vi, both pleasantly surprised by her punctuality and slightly irritated by her persistence as they bumped into each other at the end of the stairs that led up to the police station’s entry, Vi being there for a while, judging by how she was sitting on the stairs, Caitlyn having just arrived, two coffees in hand.

No cupcakes, this time.

It didn’t take Vi too long to notice, as she stood up when Caitlyn neared her, “I know, I know,” She said, “You’re embodying the concept of Cupcake, that’s why you didn’t bring any today.”

And despite her resilient use of the annoying nickname, Caitlyn chuckled, “I had breakfast at home today. I managed to wake up at my usual time, though I’ll admit it was harder than what it normally is.”

Vi raised a brow, “Your usual time, which is…?”

“Five forty in the morning.” Caitlyn stated, watching as Vi’s expression turned to one of horror. “What?”

“Why on Earth would you do that to yourself?”

“Do what to myself?”

“Get out of bed before the Sun even rises.”

Caitlyn rolled her eyes, moving to the stairs and starting her climb up. “It’s not that bad, you get used after a while.” A step, two steps, “And you seem to be preaching one thing, but practicing another.”

“That’s not normal for me, though,” Vi said, running up the stairs to catch up with her, “I don’t usually wake up this early!”

“Then why do you do it?”

“To impress you.”

They both stopped moving.

Caitlyn turned to look at her, “What…?”

“Well, come on!” Vi moved up a few steps, “We’ve got work to do, don’t we?”

Caitlyn watched her for a second, before following her to the door and entering the station with her.

And as they entered, the lively chatter died out.

All eyes on her.

Caitlyn started walking, her shoulders squared and her chin high, sensing how Vi fell into step right as she did so, her posture, her gait, her pace as proud, as confident as the Sheriff’s.

They both walked together, side by side in a silence calculated by the older woman, a quiet demonstration to everyone who had stopped talking to stare at them of how they were well aware they were of their prying eyes.

It also was a quiet declaration of how they felt about it.

Above them.

Αnd while Caitlyn knew exactly what she was doing and why she was doing it, she couldn’t help but feel surprised at how Vi was following her, mimicking her actions, no questions asked.

It spoke a bit about the respect Vi seemed to have for her.

Trust of sorts.

They reached her office in no time so she took out the key to her door from one of her pockets and unlocked it. Much to her surprise, Vi opened the door for her, motioning for her to go in first.

“Thank you,” Caitlyn said before obliging, hearing as Vi followed her in and closed the door behind them, taking a seat as she said, “Yes, they still hate you,” As if she knew what Vi was about to say. “And they will for quite a while,” She raised a brow, “Maybe forever.”

Vi groaned, “Honestly, I’m not surprised.” She moved towards her chair, “I’d be shocked if it were the other way around, actually.”

“Today they hate you more than usual, though.”

She rolled her eyes, “What did I do, now?”

“You caught two criminals on your first patrol,” Caitlyn replied, “Not only that, you caught two criminals we were actually on an active search for, all while saving an innocent citizen from them.” She stared at Vi as the woman frowned, deciding to make it easier for her to understand what the situation was, “They’re envious of how quickly you’re progressing in such a short time and, if we’re honest, they don’t like you succeeding.” She grabbed one of her coffees and brought it up to her lips, “They want to see you fail.”

She huffed, “Well, they should wait seated for that.”

Caitlyn chuckled, “I don’t think they’re going to have to wait that long.” She said, earning a curious —and, dare she say, hurt— look from Vi, which prompted her to talk, “I doubt you’re going to enjoy your next task. After all,” She grabbed a folder with due paperwork in it, before slamming it against the desk again for emphasis, “You don’t look like the kind who would enjoy the desk-work part of this job.”

She noticed how Vi’s expression relaxed at the newfound awareness of Caitlyn’s words being banter rather than her actual beliefs, before she looked disappointed, “This is the moment where we sit down and write my will before I commit suicide, isn’t it?”

Caitlyn nodded her head, “Exactly.” She said, making Vi groan, watching her as she dropped her head on the desk, “Come on, now, Enforcer.” Caitlyn raised a brow, “I’ll teach you how this is done.”

Vi raised her head, “I’m already hating this.”

“And you’ll hate it more when you have to do it on your own.” Vi groaned loudly once more. “But it has to be done.”

“Can’t you be the one to do it while I catch the bad guys?” Vi questioned, “You already know how to do this.”

“Let me get a few things straight, Vi.” Caitlyn said, “There’s no way in Hell you’re escaping your paperwork.” She raised a brow, “And I will not be doing your work. I dislike it as much you do, so get a pen and focus.”

“Fine.” Vi said, angrily grabbing a pen, though Caitlyn could tell there was no malice behind her behavior. “Teach me, master of paperwork. How do we get this done?”

“Okay,” Caitlyn said, placing the folder in front of Vi and opening it, before getting up from her seat and moving towards her, so as to stand over her and supervise her work. “So, this is the case’s folder. These forms in it are a way to make our job easier when we’re trying to detail the cases we’ve got open. First things first, you fill in this part,” She pointed at the top of the sheet of paper, “With your information; name, position within the force and badge number.” She realized Vi didn’t know hers, for her badge hadn’t come in yet, “So you’ll write Vi, Enforcer of Piltover and your badge number, which is one thousand, seven hundred and thirteen.”

“You know my badge number by heart already, Cupcake?” Vi said with a smirk, before shaking her head, “I knew I was irresistible, but I didn’t know it was this bad.”

Caitlyn frowned, before Vi’s words dawned on her.

She retorted by slapping the back of Vi’s neck lightly, earning a yelp from the pink haired woman. “Focus.” She said, watching as Vi quickly scribbled down the information she had told her to write on the form. “Okay, now you must follow the instructions on the rest of the form. Basically, you will have to retell what happened last night from your point of view as objectively as possible and using as formal vocabulary as possible.” She raised a brow, “I don’t want to see any curse words in here, so please, take it seriously. Your paperwork, from now on, will serve as a reflection of who you are at work and the way you handle your job. I wouldn’t be able to defend you from those who want me to fire you if you come off as someone who’s rude and doesn’t take her job seriously.”

A scoff and then, “I don’t need you nor anyone to defend me.” Vi said with no second thought.

And she could take her banter, her joking, even her cocky, unapologetic smugness and occasional rude behaviors, but if there was one thing Caitlyn couldn’t take, was her being as self-absorbed as the rest of the station.

So, before letting such a behavior take root, Caitlyn grabbed the collar of her armor and pulled it back, making Vi sit straight as she leaned over, if only to make eye contact and say, “I know the way you’ve been working thus far, Vi, but in here that way of doing things doesn’t go anymore. You will need a partner, whether you like it or not, just like I will need you by my side, if I ever want to make things right.” She narrowed her eyes, “Don’t you dare think I need you and you don’t need me, because that’d be as wrong as what all the people outside of this office think about you. If you dare think things are that way, though, then maybe what they think of you is right and maybe, instead of giving you countless opportunities to do what’s right, I should just grab you by the neck and throw you in a cold, dark jail cell just to watch you rot for the rest of your life in prison. ” Her cold eyes were hot on Vi’s, “Did I make myself clear, partner ?”

Vi stared into Caitlyn’s eyes, shocked by the sudden change in her tone, though the thing she felt the more was anger. “Let go.”

“Did you understand or not?”

“I did, now let go.” Vi said between gritted teeth.

Caitlyn released her, before going back to her seat, “Get the job done.” She commanded, before starting her own report on the case.

And Vi felt many things about the woman in front of her, none of which were amicable, but—

No.

She sighed.

You’re better than it.

She had realized a few years ago that there was a way to fight her own blood’s wrath. A way that, while effective, it could be hard to do sometimes, but she always gave it a shot, nonetheless.

So she counted to ten.

Don’t feel it without thinking about it.

She sighed again, breathing deeply, Caitlyn’s words still resonating inside her head as she allowed herself to slowly calm down and analyze what had been said.

She didn’t like feeling like you felt above being in a team with her. Truth be told, you aren’t. After all, she did save your ass last night.

She looked at Caitlyn as she wrote down her report.

She needs you.

Caitlyn looked up, an icy stare that she could tell was devoid of both mirth and malice locking itself on her eyes.

Just as much as you need her.

Vi nodded her head once, “Right,” she said, before she started to write down her report.

She hadn’t been joking when she affirmed she didn’t need anyone defending, but she knew she had spoken lies the moment the phrase left her mouth.

Apparently, Caitlyn knew as much as well, but she refused to let it go that easily.

And it’s only fair, so suck it up and write the stupid report.

And that she did.

The atmosphere in the office went from tense to simply focused as they both wrote their reports, Caitlyn going faster than Vi due to her experience, though the Enforcer didn’t take that long to finish either.

“Now what?” She asked Caitlyn, once she was done.

“Now you put the file in the case’s folder and then you hand it to me, so I can put mine in it as well.” After she finished doing that and both their reports were in it, Caitlyn spoke once more, “Now, we put a colored tab on the file that will indicate the nature of the case at hand. Yellow tabs are for minor offenses, like shoplifting. Orange tabs are for bigger issues, like robberies and heists. Red is for homicides and then we’ve got another colors, like pink for abduction and grey for rape.”

Vi raised a brow, “Grey? What about, I don’t know, blue or purple?”

“Blue is for crimes committed by former or current police officers and purple is for gender-based violence.” A pause. “Brown is for hate crimes.”

Vi stared at her for a brief second before nodding. “Okay.”

Caitlyn nodded, “Okay, so which one do you think applies to this case?”

Vi narrowed her eyes, “You said the thugs we caught were wanted already, right?”

Caitlyn smirked, eager to see where Vi was going with that, “I did.”

“Well, in that case, I’m not sure.” Vi stated, “Because I’d label it orange, call it an attempted homicide or maybe even a hit and run, but if these two men already had a search warrant over their heads, then maybe the issue is far more complicated than that.”

“Good reasoning,” Caitlyn said, “On cases like these, we label it with two different tabs, one right next to the other; orange, as you’d correctly guessed and black, which is the label for—”

“Gang-related crimes.”

She hadn’t expected that. “Someone’s been studying.”

“Took me a bit to remember the colors, but yes,” She replied, “I studied.”

Caitlyn nodded her head, “That’s very good.”

“So, orange and black, then?”

“Orange and black,” She confirmed, placing the labels and handing the file to Vi. “Now, you’re to take this to the administrative area so they can file it.” She remembered something, “Oh, you’ll also take this,” She handed her the two kids’ identification cards, “So they inform the respective officers about it and get it sorted, somehow.” She waved her off, “Come back to me once that’s done.”

Vi nodded her head once, “Yes, ma’am.”

She watched as the pink haired woman left the room and, waiting a few seconds, she entered the security cameras’ live stream, following the brawler as she made her way through the station.

The problem she had with security cameras was that they didn’t record sound. She had filed a petition to put the police’s funds to use and replace the old cameras with new ones that would allow for sound recording, but that was a long conversation she had yet to have with the Mayor. After all, there were security cameras all over Piltover and one could only go so far before breaching people’s privacy.

That was the moment when she called Harriet.

She was aware of how everyone’s head turned to follow her movements as she walked from Caitlyn’s office to the administrative area.

She liked it like that. She knew they didn’t respect her, let alone like her, but one point remained true; she was the only person to work alongside Caitlyn and not underneath her.

Ever.

And while they didn’t respect her, they surely respected Caitlyn.

Of course, she did wish they’d back off due to her being herself and not due to her partner being the Sheriff, but Vi guessed she’d get there at some point.

So she walked, her boots loud as they hit the ground with every step she took, uncaring for the looks she got, but wise enough not to respond to the unwanted attention in any way.

She finally reached a door that had the word Administration written on its’ textured glass. Knocking twice, she heard a female voice that invited her to come in, thus she pushed the door open.

In the rather spacious yet still crowded-looking office, she came face to face with a counter-like, reception desk that divided the room in two; the area for officers to come and talk with administration and the area for administrative employees to move around and do their job. Behind said counter, there were two desks that faced each other; one small, fit for just one person, while the other one was a bit longer than usual, looking like it allowed for two people to work on it and share it. Surrounding the administrative area, there were metal cabinets with what Vi lazily counted as thousands of drawers filled with millions of files.

How do they ever find anything in here?

“Can I help you?”

She was brought out of her trance as she looked around the office by one of the three people who were on the working area of the big office; a woman with dark skin and long, dark hair which was fashioned into lots of braids, some of them caught in a half ponytail, was leaning over the counter, trying to catch Vi’s attention. Behind her, sitting on the desks, there were another woman, dark skinned as well, though hers was lighter than her colleague’s, with a head of curly hair, an organized chaos that caught Vi’s eye immediately, and a man with lighter skin and black, gelled hair, which matched perfectly with his bushy yet seemingly looked-after beard.

“Can I help you?” The woman repeated a bit slower, emphasizing her words, trying to catch Vi’s fleeting attention once more.

Vi shook her head, snapping out of it, “Yeah, yeah.” She said, moving towards them, “I had to bring this to you,” She said, trying to give her the folder she had on her hand—

The woman dodged the folder and offered her hand, “Victoria Reynolds,” She said, “In charge of the administrative area of the Piltover police department.”

Vi felt her whole face turn red, but she still took her hand and shook it, “Vi,” She said, hesitating a bit before adding, “Enforcer of Piltover.”

“ Oh,” Victoria said in a singsong voice, a smirk on her lips, “So you’re the famous Vi, Caitlyn’s little friend, aren’t you?” She made a sound in her throat as she allowed her eyes to scan Vi, going up and down her figure, “From Zaunite vigilante to Piltovian police woman, what a drastic change.”

“Well, Caitlyn recruited me,” She said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, shrugging her shoulders. “I’m her partner.”

“Yeah, right, we know, but do you have the faintest clue of how weird it was, finding out Caitlyn of all people in this station got a partner?” She shook her head, a look of surprise on her expression, “Man, I thought I was delirious or something, I even had to ask whether someone had spiked my coffee!”

Vi frowned, “Why so surprised about it?”

“Because Caitlyn works alone, sweetie.” Victoria replied, “So you can’t blame me nor anyone for believing maybe the woman was high or something when she recruited you.” She realized how that sounded and, with wide eyes, she quickly said, “Not to say you’re not fit for the job, I mean, you look fit as Hell and I bet you know a thing or two about kicking ass, but I really didn’t imagine Caitlyn Wright, of all people—”

“It’s not personal, girl,” The other woman said, cutting her colleague off and approaching the counter, “We ain’t surprised at you in the minimum. We’re surprised at Caitlyn.” She smiled and offered her hand, “Amanda Barker.”

Vi’s stare moved from Victoria’s dark-brown eyes to Amanda’s light-green ones as she gave her her hand and tried to present herself once more, yet the only thing that came out was, “I love your hair.”

Amanda chuckled, “I like yours as well, Enforcer.” She said, before pointing at the man who stared at them from his chair, “That’s Ethan. In case you want to make fun of him, his last name is Dickson.”

The man let out a mirthless laughter, a sarcastic response to his friend’s, comment, “How funny, jokes about how I’m a dick’s son. Truly hilarious, top notch comedy.” He glared at them, “This is why I never take you girls out for drinks.”

“Wrong. You never take us out for drinks because we have to drag your ass out of your apartment.”

Ethan stood up and walked up to them slowly, “Not my fault I’m an introvert. You should complain about it with my dick of a family, not me.” He said, earning a snort from Vi, which prompted him to smile at her in a manner that was in between genuine and sarcastic, though his light-blue eyes shone with mirth, “Glad to see I have someone who enjoys my comedic prowess.”

“Let’s see what we have here,” Victoria said, asking for the folder Vi still had in her hands, making the pink haired woman give it to her. She opened it and inspected it, “Attempted homicide committed by two low-ranked members of a Piltovian mafia .” She nodded her head, “Not bad, Enforcer, not bad.” She said, before moving towards the cabinets and quickly finding where she should place the folder. “Whenever Caitlyn and you interrogate them, you’ll have to come and let us know, so we can give you all the filed reports that involve them and the organization they’re in.”

“So you can advance on the investigations and stuff,” Amanda finished for her, watching as Vi nodded.

“Caitlyn also told me to give you these,” The pink haired brute said, handing them the identification cards she carried, watching as Ethan and Amanda inspected them, “We found them trying to drink on the street and Caitlyn took their IDs, mostly because their parents—”

“Are dickheads,” Ethan finished for her as he stared at the last names on the cards, before looking at her eyes and saying, “And I’d know a thing or two about dicks, you know?”

And that time, even Amanda and Victoria laughed.

“Man, sometimes you catch me off guard,” Victoria said as she approached the counter.

“I live to entertain you, girls.”

“Did the Sheriff tell you what to do with these?”

Vi shook her head, “She told me that I should bring them here so that the respective officers get informed and it gets sorted, somehow,” She quoted Caitlyn, before shrugging, “But I’m not exactly sure what she meant by that.”

The three administrative workers looked at each other before looking at Vi once more, “And what do you think should be done?” Ethan asked her.

Vi frowned, “Honestly, I didn’t think it was worth it, punishing two seventeen-year-olds for trying to drink one beer, but if they’re the children of two police men and think they can do whatever the Hell they see fit due to it…” She trailed off, before adding, “And if their parents are just as bad…” She looked up at Ethan, “Just how bad are they?”

He opened his mouth to speak, before closing it once more as the door to their office was opened.

“Sorry for the interruption!” Harriet’s voice floated into the room, “I just came in here to say hello and get some paperwork sorted.” She approached the counter, “Hi, everyone!” She said cheerfully, before looking at Vi, “Hello, Vi. How are you holding up, being Caitlyn’s new partner and all?”

She smiled at the doctor, “We’re doing just fine.”

Harriet smiled back, “That’s good to hear—”

The door banged against the wall as it was forcefully pushed open and two men in uniform entered the office.

“Oh, perfect.” Vi heard Ethan mutter, “Full house.”

She quickly scanned the two intruders; blue uniforms, badges over the left side of their chests, both looked somewhat similar; light skin, short, dark hair. One of them was a bit taller, with lighter eyes and brownish hair, stubble covering some of his face, while the other one was a bit shorter, with darker eyes and black hair, his face shaved clean, a folder with a red tab on it on his hands.

Vi’s eyes quickly read their last names, located on their uniforms right above their badges.

Officer Dean and Officer Dodge.

“We’ve got a murder case to file,” Dean, the taller one, spoke loudly, as both approached the counter. He leaned over it, though his eyes had caught Harriet, who was standing to the side, “Hey, Harriet.” His eyes moved up and down her body unashamedly so. “Nice dress.”

It made her uncomfortable, something Vi could tell by the way she shifted on her feet, her shoulders rolling inwards.

“Stop looking at her like she’s a piece of meat, jerk,” Ethan quickly cut in, his eyes set on Officer Dean’s, a deadly glare in place, “Aren’t you capable of minimum decency?”

“Decency?” He repeated, scoffing, “Who’s going to teach me that? You?”

Dodge laughed, “You were born without it, how come you even know what it is?”

Amanda quickly intervened, pushing Victoria and Ethan aside as she grabbed the folder from Officer Dodge’s hand, “I got the file, you may leave our office now.”

Dean looked at Vi, disgust written over his face, “Not like we wanted to stay, anyway,” He said, moving towards the door—

“Actually,” Vi spoke up, making everyone stop what they were doing to look at her as she grabbed the identification cards once more and swayed them lightly in the air in front of her, “You can’t leave just yet.”

The two officers approached her with frowns on their faces, before reaching her and taking the cards from her hand, giving them a look.

“What are you doing with my son’s ID?” Dean asked in an accusatory tone, a scowl on his face.

Vi raised a brow, “We found your kids trying to drink a beer while patrolling last night.” She said, trying to sound as formal as possible.

“And what the fuck made you think you could take their IDs?”

“The fact that I’m a police woman and, as such, it’s my duty to apprehend those who don’t abide by the law.” She said, “Your kids are minors and, therefore, they cannot drink alcoholic beverages. Last time I checked, beer contains alcohol.”

“Sure, right.” Dodge said, before standing right in front of her, his chest out as he tried to intimidate the slightly taller woman, “Let me make one thing clear, punk,” He barked at her, between gritted teeth, “You mess with my kid, you’ll end up getting messed up by me. Am I clear?”

Vi didn’t lose her composure, staring right back at him as she said, “I’m not messing with your kid. You see, things work in a very simple yet efficient way: you break the law, you pay for it.” She took the cards from their hands, giving them back to Victoria, “As the law indicates, you have to pay a fine before you can take those IDs.”

“I don’t have to pay shit.”

Vi’s eyes moved to Dean’s, “Well, actually, no. Your kid has to pay for it but I doubt he has the money, so it all ends up on you.”

He pushed Dodge aside and stood in front of Vi, “Listen you fucking moron,” He growled on her face, “I do whatever the fuck I want and I won’t have some child molester like you trying to tell me what to do or what to not do, you got that?”

Vi frowned, “ Child molester?” She said, incredulous. “Because me and my partner took your kid’s ID for breaking the law?” She raised a brow, looking seriously concerned, “Are you perhaps projecting on me, Officer Dean?” She placed a hand on her own chest as everyone around her gasped at her words, “I’m truly concerned for your mental health.”

Dean grabbed her by the collar of her clothing, “What did you say about me!?”

Dodge pushed him back, separating him from Vi, “Calm down,” He said, “You know she’s Caitlyn’s lap dog.”

Vi huffed a laugh, “Lap dog!” She said, amused by the nickname.

“Fitting, such an annoying little bitch to serve as the stuck up Sheriff’s personal pet.”

“Let me tell you two something.” Vi said, looking at them with a serious expression, one finger raised in the air. “First of all, I’m Caitlyn’s partner, so that means I work next to her, not underneath her. If anything, those underneath her are you, guys and while she might order me around on specific things, it also happens that she’s above you in those same aspects as well so, if that makes me a pet, it makes you pets as well.” She said, before she raised a second finger, “Secondly, I’m no lap dog, give me some credit. “A thought, “And, judging from what little I know about her, Caitlyn doesn’t strike me as the kind of person to want a lap dog.” She had moved towards them in slow steps, ending up right in front of them as she said, “If anything, she would want a guard dog.” She smiled as she let out in a low voice, “And that I can happily be for her.”

Everyone stared in silence.

Silence which saw itself interrupted as Dean started laughing.

Vi raised a brow, but said nothing.

“Oh, I see how it is.” He nodded a smile on his lips. “You aren’t underneath her but you surely want to be on top of her, don’t you?” He said, a sickening smile on his lips, a pervert look in his eyes which managed to remain in place, even with Vi’s deadly venomous glare,  “You accepted this job because you want to fuck her proper, like the big dyke that you are, see if maybe you manage to turn her into a faggot like you.”

And that seemed to earn a reaction.

Just not from Vi.

“What the Hell is wrong with you!?” Harriet yelled from where she was, unable to tolerate standing in silence anymore.

And Vi noticed how both Amanda and Victoria moved to stand next to Ethan, both flanking his sides.

Containing him.

She didn’t need to see his face to know what was going on there.

She didn’t need to see the rage, the sadness, the frustration that were probably on display.

Not the first time he’s faced words like these.

“It’s okay, Doctor,” Vi called, an amicable smile on her face, “Let him be.”

Dean nodded his head, “That’s what I thought,” He said. “Too coward to reply.” He sentenced, before moving towards the door, “I’ll be around to pay that fine later—” He stopped moving, stopped speaking as he heard Vi chuckle, which prompted him to turn around, “Did I say something funny?”

Vi shook her head, “Sorry, it’s just that it’s not a matter of cowardice, it’s a matter of respect for you and your condition.”

Both Dodge and Dean seemed to be confused. “My condition?”

“Yeah, I mean,” She looked apologetic, a hand going to the back of her head as she scratched the hair there, “It must not be easy, you know?” She nodded her head, her eyes looking as sorry as her whole body language, “Having a penis that can only be visible with a microscope—” She heard Amanda and Victoria chuckle behind her, “And knowing mine is bigger than yours, even though I don’t have one—” Harriet joined in the laughter, “It must be terrible.” Then she made a face, as if about to say a secret, “Not to mention your lack of ability to properly satisfy a woman, which, by the way, I can totally teach you how to do one day.” She raised her brows, “I have quite a lot of experience on that department and I’m deemed as a professional on the matter.”

“Oh, my God,” She heard Amanda say behind her, prompting her to look over her shoulder, only to find tears in her eyes, “Just leave the office, man, she just burned you so badly you’re still on fire.”

Vi winked at her, before looking at him again, “It does smell like toast in here, I must admit.”

They were all laughing but the mirth died out rather quickly as the man stomped his way towards her, his face red and his veins popping, stopping only a hair’s breadth away from Vi’s face as he pulled out—

Vi didn’t even do as much as blink when the man pressed the muzzle of his handgun against her temple, the woman as tranquil as she had been from the very beginning while he looked like he was about to explode, “I dare you to fucking say that again—”

“ I dare you to give me a very valid explanation as to why you’ve got your gun against my partner’s head, Officer Dean.”

They all turned at the sound of Caitlyn’s voice, none of them having noticed her as she slid into the room, Dean quickly trying to hide his gun as he saw her.

“Sheriff—”

“Save your breath, Dodge,” Caitlyn said, without even bothering to look at him. “I don’t need you giving me more reasons to suspend you.”

Dean was trying not to shake, not to let the gun fall from his hands as he hid his gun behind his back, “Caitlyn—”

“ Sheriff Caitlyn, Officer Dean. It’d do you well to remember I’m your superior. Now that we’ve cleared that, I’ll patiently wait for you to explain why you were aiming at my partner’s head with a gun and I’ll be kind enough not to mention that you’re doing all of that in the administrative office of a police station, of all places.” She raised her brows, “That just adds like ten layers of gravity to what you were doing, I’ll have you know.”

“Sheriff Wright,” He tried once more, not even daring to say her first name, “This woman over here—”

“ This woman over here is Vi, the Enforcer of Piltover, my colleague, partner and potential second in command.” Caitlyn cut him off once more. “It’d do you well to know she’s actually above you, just like I am.” She raised a brow, “That only makes this all the more terrible, doesn’t it?”

And her patronizing tone was enough to drive him over the edge once more, though not as terribly.

“Your partner has been picking a fight with me, Sheriff,” He said in an accusatory tone, doing what Caitlyn would have described as pulling a tantrum, “So I did what I felt compelled to do by her actions.”

Caitlyn frowned. “I doubt my partner was picking a fight with you, if I’m honest.” She looked at the rest of the people in the room, “Was she being insulting to this man?”

“Absolutely not,” Amanda spoke, while Ethan shook his head and Victoria hummed a negative.

“The only one being rude here was you,” Harriet suddenly said, looking angry, “With your homophobic slurs.”

“Ah, yes,” Vi said, nodding her head, a smile on her face, “For a second I had forgotten about how I’m a faggoty dyke.”

“So, let me see if I’m correct, because I honestly doubt I can be.” Caitlyn started, a frown on her expression. “You came into this office and, upon finding my partner, you taunted her by calling her homophobic slurs.” She started, raising her hand so as to make him shut up and allow her to go on, knowing he wanted to interrupt the moment she saw him open his mouth to speak, “Knowing my partner, I’ll say that she spoke back to you.”

“She said—”

“I don’t care to hear what she said, let alone from you.” Caitlyn cut him off with a glare. “Because she probably either spoke facts or told you to leave her alone. In any case, you felt like her words compelled you to pull out your gun in the middle of a police station and aim it at her head?” She looked at him with wide eyes, “Do you think this is the logical, rational way in which an adult, let alone an officer of the police would behave?” Silence, “It sounds like you’re unfit for this job, Officer Dean, so let me inform you that you’ve got two days to pick up all of your things, put them in a little box and get the Hell out of my station.” She glared at him. “You’re fired, for representing everything that this station stands up against; hate, racism, abuse of power, corruption,” She shrugged, “You name it! After all, you’re the troglodyte who represents it.”

Dean opened his mouth to speak—

“Your badge and your gun,” Cailtyn said, stretching her hand out for him to hand them to her. “Right now.”

He shook his head, tried to speak, “Caitlyn—"

“ Now!” She said in a loud snarl.

And that made him admit defeat.

He handed her the items she had asked for.

“Officer Dodge,” She called, “You too. You’re not fired, but you’re suspended and leaves like that require you to leave your badge and your gun in the station.”

Dodge obeyed immediately, handing her his belongings.

“Now, you two will disappear from my sight, immediately.” They reached the door, “ Oh, by the way, you both have to pay fines for your children’s misconduct.” She smirked, “ I personally took their IDs last night, though I bet you already knew this. I won’t start a criminal background on them yet, but next time I catch them red handed, I will.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Dodge said, before quickly leaving the room first.

Dean was about to leave as well, trying to leave right behind his former partner—

“Dean,” Caitlyn said.

He turned to look at her.

“I will fill in a lawsuit against you for this.” Caitlyn said, “So I’ll see you in court, next time.”

And after that, he left.

The office was deadly quiet, though.

Harriet sighed, “If you excuse me, I must leave,” She said, before quickly mumbling out a quiet, “I’ll start smoking at this rate,” And disappearing through the door.

Caitlyn turned to look at Ethan, Amanda and Victoria, “I’m sorry you’ve all had to bear witness to this.”

“It’s okay, Sheriff,” Amanda said, “They were after your girl’s neck this time, after all.”

But the tension was still there, the silence was still uncomfortable.

And it wasn’t due to Amanda’s, Victoria’s or even Vi’s discomfort.

“Ethan.”

The man looked at the Sheriff.

“Behavior like the one I’m sure Dean displayed in here is frowned upon in this station, specially under my watch.” She said, “If something like that ever happens again, report it to me and I’ll get it under control, but I can’t do anything if I don’t get informed.” Her eyes were softer than usual, “Am I clear on this?”

The man nodded, “Yes, Sheriff,” He said, and his discomfort was visibly eased.

“Same goes for you two, ladies. If you see behavior that strays away from our code, you inform me.” She said, watching them nod before looking at Vi and saying, “Let’s go back to my office, shall we?”

Vi nodded her head, “Let’s.”

They reached the door—

“Thank you,” They heard Ethan say.

“Nothing to thank,” Was Caitlyn’s only reply, before they left the room.

They reached Caitlyn’s office before Vi finally spoke, “You know he’s gay.”

Caitlyn nodded her head, “And I know he’s not completely comfortable with it yet, hence the lack of reports on homophobic attacks within the station.” She replied, “I will not force him out of the closet, but I’ll definitely help him feel comfortable enough to come out by his own means, one day.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Vi said, genuinely feeling it.

“Thank you.” Caitlyn replied, before speaking once more, “I won’t tell you to report to me whenever things like that happen but because I know you’ll handle it just fine by yourself. You seem to have done that, after all.”

Vi frowned, before looking at Caitlyn, pretending to be offended, “Did you just assume I like girls, Sheriff?”

Caitlyn’s expression was one of boredom as she said, “Vi, I try not to be judgmental and I try not to fall into my own personal prejudices when first meeting a person, but at the same time I must admit that stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason,” She said, before adding, “Pink hair, muscular body, piercings, tattoos and an undercut do not go hand in hand with heterosexuality, specially when we’re talking about you.” A thought, “And I won’t believe you if you dare tell me you like men. That would be lying and we both know it.”

Vi laughed at her words, “Fine, fine, you got me there.” She made a face of discomfort, “I never really saw the appeal with men.”

“And that’s perfectly fine,” Caitlyn said, before sitting down on her desk, getting ready to face some more paperwork.

Vi had other plans. “Cait.”

“Tell me.”

“What about you?”

“What about me?”

Vi rolled her eyes, taking a seat in front of her, “Do you like girls?”

Caitlyn’s pen stopped moving.

“Vi.”

“Tell me.”

“That’s none.”

She frowned, unable to understand. “That’s none what?”

She looked up from her papers at the woman right in front of her. “That’s none of your business.”

“Oh, come on!” Vi said, “I managed to go through that hell in the administration’s office just for you to refuse to tell me your sexuality!?” She banged her head against the desk, “How unfair.”

“Life is unfair,” Caitlyn said.

“I know it was a test.”

That took her by surprise. “Come again?”

“The whole send Vi to the administration’s office,” Vi said, “I know you were testing me.” She frowned, “I don’t know exactly how but I know you were.”

Truth be told, Caitlyn was testing her.

She was trying to test how well she works with receiving and following orders, as well as how well she can handle the badmouthing and even power abuse her colleagues are bound to try and carry out on her.

She had passed the test wonderfully.

But she didn’t want to give Vi the satisfaction of knowing all of that, so she just said. “So, what about it?”

“I think I did well,” Vi said, a smirk on her face.

Caitlyn scoffed. “Maybe you did.”

“And because I did well,” Vi said, a smug look on her face, “I would like to go out for a few beers to celebrate.”

“Perfect,” Caitlyn said, “Have fun.”

Vi pouted, “Not going to take the bait and let me invite you, will you?”

Her pen stopped moving once more.

She looked up at her partner. “Invite me?”

“I know the mighty Sheriff Wright is married to her job, but a small affair with her partner wouldn’t hurt the relationship, you know?” Vi said, before realizing how it sounded, her face turning beet red as she said, “ I didn’t mean it like that! I just meant beers! Just—”

She stopped herself at the sound of Caitlyn’s laughter, at the sight of the other woman throwing her head back to laugh at her antics.

She stared, a bit surprised, a bit glad to have made her laugh, before Caitlyn calmed down enough to reply, “I know what you meant.”

“So what do you say?” She asked, feeling nervous after that slipup.

“My answer is still no, Vi,” She said, “But thank you for inviting me.”

Vi narrowed her eyes, “One day. One day, you’ll say yes.”

“Today is not that day.”

“That I can see.”

Silence.

“Vi.”

“Yes, Cupcake?”

“If anyone comes to you letting out slurs like whatever was said in that office, you can also report it to me. You know this, right?”

Vi laughed, the sound rich and deep. “Yes, Cait.”

Caitlyn nodded her head, before resuming her work. “Just making sure you knew.”

Vi smiled and nodded, “I know.”

And it was a small second of silence before she spoke once more;

“After all, we’re a team, right?”

Caitlyn nodded.

“Yes, that we are.”

Chapter Text

Thirty two.

In just one week, that had been the number of proper arrests Vi had carried out in the lower city.

Thirty two.

In just one week.

Caitlyn had been pacing around around her office as she read, one by one, every report the pink haired woman had written.

Judging by the way she wrote them, she took her job seriously; formal speech and a handwriting that got more and more proper with every report she read. By the time she got to the last one, she couldn’t tell whether that was Vi’s handwriting anymore; it was twice as neat as the one on the first one.

Not only had she improved her protocolar behavior in field with every arrest, arresting criminals in more acceptable ways than in the beginning, she also improved her more desk-related task-handling, writing less like someone who hadn’t written a report in her life and more like someone who knew how to write reports, just chose not to.

Clear indications that she was getting the hang of the job.

That, and it proved she took it seriously.

A smirk drew itself on Caitlyn’s face.

I knew it.

She signed the last report and piled all thirty two of them, neatly on her desk.

I knew she had what it takes.

She heard a knock on her door, which had her automatically saying, “Come in,” Before turning to see who it was, “Vi.” She said as a way of greeting. “Good morning.”

“Morning, Cait!” She said, before closing the door behind her, “Sorry for the tardiness.”

Cait hummed, “I must admit I was surprised  to see you weren’t one hour early but right on time today.”

“Yeah, I had to make a quick stop,” Vi said, before leaving three take-away cups on Caitlyn’s desk and taking off her gauntlets and opening up one of them, taking out a small, brown paper bag. “After all, I still owed you breakfast from that one time, didn’t I?”

It took her by surprise, to say the least. “You didn’t have to—”

“Ah, but I did,” Vi cut her off. “After all, you shared a part of you with me,” She winked, “Cupcake.”

Caitlyn rolled her eyes with a groan, “That was just terrible.”

“Face it; my puns are funny!”

“No, no.” Caitlyn said, shaking her head. “They aren’t.”

Vi rolled her eyes, “Whatever, I know the truth.”

“Sure you do.” She said, watching the brawler as she took a seat, “Why three cups, though?”

Vi frowned, stopping mid-movement as she was taking the cups out of their holder, moving two towards Caitlyn and one towards herself. “Did I get it wrong and you don’t actually drink two black coffees in the morning?”

“I do,” Caitlyn said, surprised Vi remembered, “I actually took two, already.”

Vi looked at her, before looking down at the cups she had pushed her way with a frown, “Oh, okay.”

“But I can take two more,” Caitlyn quickly added, grabbing both cups and bringing them closer to her, so that Vi wouldn’t take them away. “What’s the worst an overdose on caffeine can do to me?”

The gesture surprised her, but she didn’t let it show on her face as she chuckled, “I hope your pulse doesn’t shake today when we go out on patrol.”

Caitlyn grabbed a cup and eased onto the backrest of her chair, her eyelids pleasantly closing as she brought the coffee near to her lips, letting out a, “My pulse never shakes, Vi.” She took a sip, licking her upper lip as she swallowed, “So you can always trust me.” And it was then that the taste struck her as familiar, so she frowned and said, “Where did you get this from?”

Vi turned the paper bag around as a reply, letting the bakery’s logo be on display in front of Caitlyn’s eyes. “I remembered the name from when you bought those cupcakes, so I searched for it online and bought it there.” She raised a brow, “The man there seems to know you well; when I said I wanted two black coffees, he asked me if I was your partner.”

“And how does he know I’ve got a partner?” Caitlyn asked, taking the cupcake from Vi’s hand as she handed her one.

She took a big bite out of the remaining cupcake and threw the empty bag in the trash can. “Apparently news spread fast in Piltover.”

“And gossip even faster,” Caitlyn deadpanned, “Like a virus.”

“A highly contagious one.”

“Tell me about it.” Caitlyn grunted out, before biting into her cupcake and letting out a hum of appreciation, “This one’s not the one I bought for us last time.”

“No,” Vi said, washing down what she had swallowed by drinking from her cup, “It’s another one. I asked him what kinds he had and this one caught my eye.”

“it’s better than what I usually get, I must admit,” Caitlyn said, “I never thought I’d like the ones with cream on top. You’ve got a good eye for sweet stuff.”

Vi smiled, “I like to think I do.”

A thought hit her. “You don’t like coffee.”

“No.”

“Then what are you drinking?”

And for a moment she thought she was imagining it but then it dawned on her that she was actually seeing a blush creep up Vi’s face when she said, “You’re going to laugh.”

“I won’t.”

“You will.”

“But I really won’t.”

“I really think you will.”

“Vi,” Caitlyn tried to emphasize her pronunciation of the woman’s name, trying to call her attention and persuade her, “I won’t.”

Vi sighed, admitting defeat, “You will laugh, but that’s fine, I’ll tell you.” She looked away for a second, before looking back at her and saying, “Hot chocolate.”

Caitlyn stared at her for a few seconds, “Hot chocolate?”

“Yeah.”

“Hot milk and a chocolate bar inside, melted?”

“Yes.” A beat. “And some added sugar.”

That’s a lot. “You add sugar to hot chocolate?” Caitlyn asked, incredulous, “Don’t you think it’s a bit too—”

“Sweet,” Vi finished for her, “And no. It’s never sweet enough.”

“You worry about my pulse, when maybe you should be worrying about yours.”

“I don’t need to have a perfect aim to get the bad guys, Cupcake.” Vi said, before taking a big gulp from her drink. “It’s you who has to aim a gun.”

Caitlyn rolled her eyes, “Whatever you say, sweetie.”

Vi chuckled at the nickname, “That one was funny.”

“I didn’t laugh.”

“I tell you you’re funny and this is how you repay me?” Vi asked, feigning to be hurt. “That’s cold, Sheriff, even for—”

“I mean about you drinking hot chocolate instead of coffee,” Caitlyn clarified. “I didn’t laugh.”

“Oh,” Vi simply said, surprised. “Yeah.”

“And, for the record, Vi,” Caitlyn said, looking at her seriously. “ I’m not funny.” She downed what remained of her first cup and threw it into the trash can. “I’m hilarious.”

An abrupt, strong knock on the door made them snap out of their conversation.

Caitlyn opened her mouth to—

The intruder didn’t wait for the Sheriff to finish inviting them in as they pushed the door open, revealing themselves.

“Payne,” Caitlyn glared at him.

“Sorry, Boss,” He said, looking rather sheepish, his expression morphing into one of discomfort as he looked at Vi and nodded his head in acknowledgement, “ Enforcer,” He greeted her with a rather tight tone before looking back at the Sheriff, “But I’m being rushed.” Before Caitlyn could speak, he explained himself by entering the room with a telephone in hand, “The Mayor.” He said, handing it to Caitlyn and quickly leaving the room.

Caitlyn looked at Vi for a second before raising the telephone to her ear.

“Caitlyn speaking—”

Vi winced at the loud voice on the other side of the telephone, which quickly silenced the woman and made her pull a face of pain as well, leaning away from the telephone for a second.

Vi saw her sigh and quietly mouth something to her, “Remember when you asked me why I don’t have a telephone in this office?”

Vi nodded.

Caitlyn mimicked her, “ This is why.” She finished, bringing the phone back to her ear, letting out a string of yes, okay, will do and a plethora of other words like that, ones Vi knew she was simply speaking to make the man on the other side of the call shut up.

A few minutes ticked by before she finally said goodbye and hung up, letting out a long and loud sigh and bringing both index fingers to her eyelids, rubbing them.

“ Payne!” Cailtyn said out loud, the only command she needed to make the man reappear in her office, “Take the phone, please.”

“Yes, ma’am,” He simply said, taking it and leaving once more, closing the door behind him.

Giving it a few seconds to ensure they were alone and Payne wasn’t on the other side of the door, Vi finally spoke, “I’ll take it the call didn’t go very well?”

“The Mayor wants us to go see him in his office.” She sighed, “No, it’s not good when he comes around saying he wants us in his office. It means we pissed him off.”

Vi groaned, “What did I do now?”

“Actually, if I’m honest, he doesn’t want you in his office, he only wants me,” Caitlyn said with an unapologetic smile, “But we’re a team and that means that my problems are also your problems, so you’re going to come with me when we go see him, which will be in…” She checked the time. “Seven minutes, approximately.”

Vi nodded her head, “Seems reasonably. Alright,” She said, getting up, “Let’s go.”

Caitlyn looked at her with a frown, not bothering to get up yet, “You’re not going to ask my why the oddly specific time?”

Vi puckered up her bottom lip as she thought for a second, before shaking her head. “No, no. That just seems like something you’d do; have everything perfectly timed up.”

Caitlyn chuckled, getting up. “I like the amount of trust you put on me, Vi.” Caitlyn confessed, before grabbing her top hat and her rifle, “We got to make a stop by the administrative area, so they can file all these reports you’ve handed in,” She said, placing her hand on top of the pile of papers.

“Oh, that’s why we leave on seven minutes and not now.”

Caitlyn nodded her head, “It shouldn’t take us longer than that. Once we deliver them, we go on our patrol car. After the meeting, we go out on our patrol.”

“Alright,” Vi said, getting all the papers. “You got it, Cait.”

It took them twice the time Caitlyn had expected.

Plus six extra minutes, since Vi realized she didn’t have her gauntlets on by the time they were in the car, already a block away from the station.

“I can’t go on a patrol without them!”

“And why didn’t you bring them?” Caitlyn asked. “Didn’t I tell you we were going on patrol after the meeting with the Mayor?”

“You did.”

“And then how did you forget them?”

“I’m very used to them!” Vi said in a squeaky voice, her face red with embarrassment, “I don’t feel the difference when I have them on or not!”

Caitlyn sighed, “You will run to get them,” She said as she turned, going back to the station, “Or you will run to the Mayor’s house.”

Caitlyn didn’t have enough time to park the car that Vi was already jumping out of it and sprinting up to the office.

Once she came back down with her gauntlets on, Vi got in the car once more, finally realizing one thing, “You really did get the convertible.”

“Did you just now notice the lack of roof?”

“No,” Vi said, “It’s just that I noticed how you’re still wearing your hat.”

Caitlyn glared at her.

Vi looked apologetic once more, “I was too busy trying to figure out what was missing earlier for me to realize there was something different with the car, okay!?”

Caitlyn frowned, “How can you be so keen on detail and, at the same time, so oblivious to the obvious?”

Vi shrugged, “The obvious is boring while the details are fun.”

Caitlyn sighed, “Right.”

“So,” Vi started, getting comfortable on her seat, one metallic hand on her lap, the other one hanging idly by the side of the car, “What did the Mayor want that we’re going to see him so suddenly?”

“He made it very clear that he’s pissed at me for firing Dean and wants to privately talk to me about the matter.” She looked at Vi, “It’s just him trying to get him back on the force.”

“Which will not happen.”

Caitlyn nodded her head, “Which will not happen.”

“Isn’t it a bit weird that he has such a liking with one specific cop?” Vi asked her then, looking at her with a frown.

“The Mayor has his favorites,” Caitlyn replied, “And, unsurprisingly enough, I’m not amongst them.” She had a bored expression, “I’m glad I’m not, if I’m honest.”

“Why so?”

Caitlyn drove in silence for a few seconds.

“The Mayor’s favorites aren’t the best of people.” Caitlyn stated carefully, measuring her words. “It’s too early for you to see it but, with time, you’ll notice his favorites stand out due to being the most out of line of them all.”

“Well, it makes sense, if you ask me,” When Caitlyn looked at her with a raised eyebrow, she continued, “Having the Mayor by their side is bound to make them feel powerful, even more powerful than you. I can see why they’d give no fucks about anything.”

“It’s not just that, Vi,” Caitlyn said, her expression hard. “They aren’t simply a bit mad with power.” She looked at the brawler one more time, “They’re straight-out crooked.”

Vi’s expression mirrored hers, “How so?”

“A few months ago, I’ve noticed that Dodge and Dean were always taking care of all cases regarding a specific Chem Baron’s gang from Zaun.” Caitlyn said, “Not only that, I read the files and have my reasons to believe they’re helping the gang out; I believe they’re covering for them, since there’s never significant progress being made in their cases, a big question mark being the only thing we have on their file, but suddenly, when Dean and Dodge get assigned to work on another gang’s cases, they have the biggest breakthroughs, managing to even catch the big ones in their ranks.”

Vi raised a brow, “Maybe they’re just having bad luck with that one gang?”

“They haven’t even discovered who the Chem Baron, the leader behind the band is, Vi.” Caitlyn said. “But when it comes to their opponent gangs, they manage to arrest every single person amongst them.”

Vi’s eyebrows rose in surprise, “They’re bringing down the enemy gangs for them, through the police’s support.”

Caitlyn nodded. “And that’s not even all of it.”

Vi looked straight ahead once more, eyes wide. “And they’re the Mayor’s favorites…” She looked at Caitlyn, “That can only mean one thing.”

“That he might also involved,” Caitlyn said, nodding her head, “But I just don’t know how, yet.” She admitted. “I have enough evidence on how Dean and Dodge were involved, but not a thing regarding the Mayor.” She sighed, “I don’t have evidence that proves he’s involved at all. He can be as dirty as them, which I believe is the case, just as much as he can be completely oblivious to it, which I must consider a possibility, no matter what. ” She looked at Vi, “And that just means we must be extremely careful. He can’t know we know.” A pause, “Nobody can.”

Vi nodded her head, resolute. “I’m honestly surprised you would share this information with me.”

“You’re my partner.”

“You don’t strike me to be the kind of person who trusts her partner in just a week.”

Caitlyn tried not to think about it.

Because Vi was right and logically speaking, Caitlyn would have never trusted such information on someone she knew so little.

Or on anyone, no matter how much she knew them, for that matter.

But that was the case; it was not logic moving her around.

It was instinct.

Or stupidity.

She felt she could trust Vi and so she did; No matter how hard she tried to follow reason, she couldn’t help but feel herself leaning on the Zaunite. It felt like the right thing to do.

Let’s hope I’m not wrong.

Because, for someone in her position, being wrong meant losing it all.

“Don’t worry, though,” Vi filled in the silence she had left behind. “I feel it too.”

Caitlyn looked at her, then, “Feel what?”

Vi shrugged, the movement exaggerated, “The familiarity of it all, a sense of complicity, like we’ve known each other for longer.” She smiled at Caitlyn, “Because, come on, we both know we’ve personally known each other for a week, but we’ve known each other for centuries.” She looked ahead once more, “I’m not even going to pretend I didn’t know everything about the mighty Sheriff Wright before she stepped in my neighborhood and it’s not like you didn’t know everything there was to know about me before even thinking of hiring me, either.” She chuckled, “We’ve done our research.”

A smirk drew itself on Caitlyn’s lips. “Is it this obvious I already knew your blood type before even meeting you?”

“Okay, creep, you didn’t know that much.” Vi said, a raised brow, “You didn’t know I was a leftie!”

“I had my slip ups.”

“Miss Wright? Having slip ups?” She smiled, baring teeth, “Unheard of.”

“The thing about you, Vi, is that you’re a bit of an anomaly,” Caitlyn said, a smirk on her face as she spoke truth veiled like simple banter.

Vi chuckled, “Am I this unpredictable?” She shook her head, “I would have thought myself to be rather boring.”

“ The obvious is boring,” Caitlyn said, repeating what her partner had said earlier, “And you’re not boring.” A pause, “A bit annoying, yes, but not boring.”

Vi smiled, eyes lazily droopy as she said, “Am I entertainment enough for the Sheriff?”

Caitlyn made a noise in her throat.

She had to admit, she really didn’t expect Vi to also join the ranks of those work colleagues who flirted with her, desperately hoping to share her bed. Truth be told, she foolishly hoped Vi would be an exception.

She should have seen it coming.

She didn’t have it in her to shut her down too violently, though.

So she simply steered the conversation away.

“It was quite the entertainment, seeing you call Dean’s penis microscopical.”

Vi’s expression quickly morphed into one of confusion and embarrassment, “How do you know I did that?” She glared at nothing in particular, “Who told you?”

Caitlyn raised a brow as she looked at Vi, “If you really think Harriet was there to deliver some papers and not to let me eavesdrop the whole scene through a call on her phone, then you really did a lousy job studying your current boss, Vi.”

Vi gasped, realization shining in her eyes, “I knew she hadn’t delivered any papers! I couldn’t remember seeing her even enter the room with papers!”

Caitlyn shook her head, “Harriet’s always been bad at lying, but no one really picked up on that, except you.” She smirked, “I’m honestly surprised you didn’t ask me about it.”

“I thought it was just Harriet being forgetful…” She looked at Caitlyn, “This just adds a whole new layer of meaning to your glorious entrance to the office that day,” Her eyes widened, “You covered for me, knowing what I had said to him.”

“I had my personal reasons, as you now know with what I’ve told you.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Vi replied, “You could still have sanctioned me for bad behavior at the office.”

“That’s true,” Caitlyn said, “But, truth be told, you were in your right to speak the way you did and, if I’m to be believed when I say I wasn’t in the room and I didn’t hear a thing, I must act like I don’t know a thing of what actually happened, so I can’t really sanction you.”

“What were you testing me for, exactly?”

Caitlyn smirked, pointedly ignoring the frowning Vi right to her side. “We’re almost there,” She announced, completely changing the topic.

And Vi looked ready to protest, but her complaints got immediately shut down by the view.

Because she had completely lost track of time as she talked with Caitlyn, having not noticed the moment when they exited the most city-like part of Piltover, snapping out of her trance as they slowed to a stop by a gated entrance, the only way in and out of a neighborhood that reeked of cash in Vi’s point of view.

Caitlyn greeted the man who guarded the entry, watching as he did the same before opening the gate and letting them in.

“Damn,” Vi mumbled as she looked around at the landscape; ridiculously big houses on even bigger gardens, with pools on their backyards that she could see from their car and roads that guided visitors from the main street to the houses’ main doors, some of them gated and some of them open.

“I know,” Caitlyn said, “Fancy, isn’t it?”

Vi’s expression remained one of shock as she replied, “It’s a big waste.”

Caitlyn looked at her with a raised brow, “A waste? ”

“How many people live on these mansions?” She asked Caitlyn, a look of offense on her face, “Families of three, maybe four, tops?”

Caitlyn thought, knowing very well the type of people, even the families that lived in such a neighborhood. “Yes.”

Vi scoffed, shaking her head, “I can’t fucking believe it.”

Caitlyn had a hard time following her, “What—”

“You know how many kids live on the streets, Cait?” Vi asked her, genuinely angry, “You know how many kids don’t have roof above their heads, a safe place to be in?”

Cailtyn simply stared at her, surprised at the turn the conversation had taken.

“Maybe you don’t but I do, because I was one of them,” Vi growled, not angry at Caitlyn but too heated at her own thoughts. She looked ahead once more, “I can’t believe there’s Pilties living here with all this money being wasted just for the sake of luxury, when there’s kids on the streets who have to fight to have one proper meal one day in their lives.” Caitlyn could see the way her jaw feathered as she gritted her teeth, “Makes my blood boil.”

She kept on driving quietly, but her mind was running to try and figure out Vi.

She won’t get mad at a man pointing a gun at her head, but she will be pissed at another man spending money on luxury.

Interesting.

She didn’t miss the way she had spat out the word Piltie, with such venom in her tone.

Vi’s views still segregated Zaun from Piltover, considering the latter to be upper class.

And I can only imagine what she thinks of the upper class.

“The one at the end of the road,” Caitlyn said, breaking the tense silence, “ That’s the Mayor’s house.”

And then she only heard the way Vi’s breath abandoned her lungs in pure, complete awe.

The neighborhood’s street ended at the Mayor’s house’s gate, the iron fence serving as the sole indicator of the point where the street turned into the road that would take them to his mansion’s entry, going from public domain to his private, owned piece of land.

The mansion he lived in had three floors and it was big enough that Vi could say it had an eastern and a western wing; the walls weren’t painted, letting the perfectly, metrically measured brickwork exposed, lending the house a warmer look. Windows that went from the ceiling to the ground, occupying the whole wall, even going as far as going from highest point in the house the very ground level, displaying all three floors at once, perfectly visible from the house’s exterior, their current location. The roof was the only unlit part of the building, as it was of a dark color that matched the gates.

Caitlyn stopped the car right next to the doorbell, where a camera looked at them for a second, before the gates opened mechanically, letting them in.

Vi let out the huff of a laugh as they rode up to the man’s house, “He even has a fountain,” She mumbled, her eyes on the structure that rose to her side, as Caitlyn parked the car right on the entrance.

“Vi.”

The woman looked at her.

“I trust you the way I do because you’re different to others. Special.” Caitlyn confessed, doing it with no real motive other than the fact that the words had been sitting at the tip of her tongue for several minutes, “I feel like you deserve my trust and you keep proving it to me time after time.”

And before Vi could reply, she opened her door.

They got out of the vehicle leaving their weapons behind and, before they could even move towards the door, a butler opened it from inside and ushered them in.

“Miss Wright,” The man said in a posh voice, his eyes going up and down Vi’s figure with a bit of disgust.

She simply raised a brow.

“Mister Duncan didn’t expect you to have a guest with you.” He continued, his eyes going from Vi to Caitlyn.

“This is Vi,” Caitlyn informed him, “She’s my newly recruited partner, so she must be here if I am.”

“Very well,” The butler said, “Let’s not keep him waiting, then.” He turned on his feet, “This way,” He said, walking up the main stairs that extended from the entry and up into other levels of the house, as well as into their two different wings.

While they followed him, Vi’s eyes ran all over the place, going up and down the fancy paintings on the walls and all over the expensive furniture, before landing on Caitlyn’s, who stared at her.

Vi frowned, before seeing Caitlyn mouth something at her.

Keep your cool.

It dawned on her then that she had been stomping her feet, her shoulders shrugged and rolled forwards and her body leaned forwards in an aggressive way.

She inhaled and exhaled slowly for a moment as she counted to ten, keeping her posture in mind, relaxing her stance.

They reached a big, wooden double-door which the butler opened for them, walking them in before walking out and closing the door behind them.

Leaving them seemingly alone in a humongous room that, judging by the long wooden desk in its’ center and the chair that laid behind it, turned away from them, it seemed to be the Mayor’s office.

Vi looked at Caitlyn, ready to ask her where he was—

Caitlyn pointed at the chair with one hand, pressing her other’s index finger to her lips in a sign of silence.

The chair turned then, a rather short and bulky man with little to no hair on his head and bushy sideburns that merged into an even bushier moustache looking at them with glarying, dark grey eyes, the darkness in them contrasting with his light, pinkish skin and his reddish, ginger-y hair.

Vi tried very hard not to laugh at her own thought of how the man uncannily resembled a walrus, with the whole look of a hairy moustache, prominent chin and a hidden upper lip.

She managed not to laugh but she could tell there was a smile on her face.

She could tell Caitlyn had seen it, too.

She’s going to fire me for this.

“Sheriff Wright,” The man said, “I thought I had called only you to my office.” He said, glaring in Vi’s direction.

“Evening, Mayor Duncan,” Caitlyn said first, before addressing his concerns. “Please, allow me to formally introduce you to Vi,” She said, her eyes going from the Mayor to the brawler, then back at him.

“The Zaunite vigilante.” He noted with distaste as he got up from his seat and walked up to them.

Vi tried not to laugh at just how close he was to actually being a walrus, with the whole lack of height and being comically round.

That mischievous smile still drawn on her face, she nodded her head in acknowledgement. “Mayor Duncan,” She started, “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” She stretched her hand for him to shake, “I’m Vi, Caitlyn’s new partner.”

“I know exactly who you are, Enforcer.” The Mayor replied, his upper lip raised, though he tried to reign on it and turn his expression into a more neutral one. He looked at Caitlyn, “I still asked only for you, I didn’t call your partner as well.”

“She’s still learning her position and the responsibilities it implies, so she’s bound to follow me wherever I go for the time being.” Caitlyn replied courtly. “I hope you understand and that her presence is not too much of an inconvenience.”

The Mayor’s glaring eyes went from Caitlyn to Vi, before he said, “She was involved in the matter that brought you here, so I think her presence can actually be for both of our best interests.” The man walked back to his desk and took a seat, motioning for both Vi and Caitlyn to move closer.

There were no chairs for them to seat with him.

He wanted them to stand there.

“Let’s get straight to the point, shall we?” He said, looking at Caitlyn. “I want Dean back in the force immediately.” He raised a brow, “And I think it goes without saying that you cannot sue him.”

“I can’t reincorporate him and I must sue him.” Caitlyn said as a response, her back straight and her shoulders squared, hands held together behind her back, “Once fired from the police due to misbehavior, one may not return to the line of work: it’s the rules.” She raised a brow, “And it’s my duty as part of the police force to—”

“I didn’t ask you!”

Vi’s jaw clenched at how the man suddenly raised his voice at Caitlyn, silence following his voice.

“I gave you an order, Wright.” He added in a calmer voice, yet the authoritative tone was there.

Caitlyn closed her eyes for a brief second.

Vi counted the seconds until Caitlyn spoke once more.

One, two, three, four—

“No one is above the law, Lawrence.” Caitlyn said, addressing him by his first name, as if she did that pretty often and felt like she had the right to do so. “And, as part of the police force, we are the ones most required to follow it. If we break it, the consequences are much harsher than with a common citizen.”

“I don’t need you to explain the law—”

“Officer Dean broke the law, not only by not respecting the station’s work policies, but also by committing hate crimes against homosexual men and women and, in case you believe that’s not enough to fire him, by protecting a gang from the Piltovian police.”

Vi’s eyes widened at that, specially so at the sight of the Mayor’s expression of surprise.

Didn’t she say we shouldn’t mention this?

The Mayor looked at her with narrowed eyes. “A gang—”

“John!” Caitlyn said in a loud voice, the only thing needed for the butler to suddenly open the door and chime his head in.

“Yes, Miss Wright?”

“I need you to fetch a few papers from my car.” She told him. “It’s open and they’re on the glove compartment.”

“Right away, Miss.” He said, disappearing after her command.

The Mayor glared at her, “What’s the meaning of this, Caitlyn?”

“I’ve been investigating Officer Dean, Lawrence.” She said. “And what I’ve found is not pretty.”

The man kept his eyes on her, a look of angry concern on his face. “What have you—”

“Miss Wright,” The butler appeared once more, a folder in his hands as he came into the room and delivered it to Caitlyn, who thanked him quietly, before turning and leaving, closing the door behind him.

“That was fast.”

Vi’s quiet comment got lost in the sound of Caitlyn’s footsteps as she moved closer to the desk and placed the folder right in front of him, opening it so he could inspect it.

“Dean has been spotted loitering around with two men who, two weeks later, were caught in a drug deal.” Caitlyn said as the Mayor looked at the pictures the woman had taken. “Later on, he has been spotted with other two, a man and a woman, who later on were also caught in a raid to a drug-trafficking warehouse.” She pointed at a report in the folder, “The caught dealers later on confessed that they belonged to a Piltovian drug trafficking ring which is known for obtaining, altering and re-selling all sorts of synthetic drugs, mostly to Piltover’s upper class. In that folder, there’s not enough proof to demonstrate that Dean was directly, actively involved with them if you want to be extremely nitpicky and demand obvious proof, but there’s enough to claim he has known about them and has been avoiding them, aware of their trade and so as to not get them in trouble with us.” She straightened her spine. “That can be considered covering for a criminal gang and is, in itself, a crime.”

The Mayor looked through the folder with that same look of concern, in quiet contemplation. “How long have you known about this?”

“For a few weeks, maybe even months, now.” Caitlyn confessed.

“And why didn’t you bring this up any sooner?” The man asked her, his eyes on hers.

“Because I didn’t have a proper chance. Accusations like this are tough and they demand a lot of evidence.”

They watched him as he went through the folder, his look of angry concern turning into one of cold calculation. “You’re right,” He said, before closing the folder and looking at her. “You don’t have enough to accuse him of being involved, though you do have enough reasons to believe he’s unfit for the police.” He frowned once more, “You’re planning on taking him to court over this?”

“No,” Caitlyn said, “I plan on taking him to court over a case of discrimination in the workspace.” She stared into the Mayor’s confused eyes before explaining, “A week ago, Dean encountered Vi, amongst other people, in the administration office, in the station.” She raised a brow, though her expression remained neutral, bordering bored, “He spat out sexist and homophobic taunts to everyone present in the room, before addressing Vi directly through quite aggressive slurs.”

The Mayor stared at Caitlyn in quiet assessment, before moving his gaze to Vi, “What happened, exactly?”

Vi shrugged, “I think he was mad at me for having his child’s ID, Mister Duncan.” She said, carefully addressing him with respect. “Caitlyn and I took his ID to the station, along with Dodge’s son’s, due to a case of underage drinking. I told him he had to pay to recover them and then both Dodge and Dean proceeded to call me a child molester. ” Vi said, trying to look as bored as Caitlyn. “Later on, Dean nicknamed me faggoty dyke or something along the lines of that.”

The Mayor’s gaze remained on Vi for a second, before slowly moving to Caitlyn’s, “And you didn’t stop them because…?”

“I wasn’t there,” Caitlyn responded. “I was made aware of this later.”

The Mayor looked at her for a long minute, as if looking for what to say, what to do in order to defend the ex-policeman.

He shook his head, “Well, Caitlyn, you know there’s rules against discrimination, but to take him to court—”

“What I did witness was the way he aimed at my partner’s head with his firearm, in the middle of a police station.”

The Mayor’s eyes widened, his calm demeanor lost, “He did what!?”

Caitlyn raised a brow, “When I entered the administration’s office, having gone there just to look for my partner, since she was taking too long to return, I came face to face with a grown man who is considered a professional pressing the muzzle of his handgun to my partner’s head.” Caitlyn explained. “I proceeded to do what is protocolar in cases where there’s abuse of power but no real harm done; I fired him and warned him I’d take legal actions, as it’s required when you’re in my position.” She sighed, “Later on, I questioned those in the room and found out about what happened through their testimonials, so I’ve got more than enough to take him to court and put him in jail.” She remembered the other man involved, then, “Dodge didn’t really do much, so he’s only suspended for the time being.”

The Mayor looked at her, before looking down at the folder, Dean’s pictures in it. “I see.” He closed the folder and held it out for Caitlyn to grab, giving it to her as she did so, “Well, there’s nothing to be done about that, then.” He said, a resolute look on his face. “Continue investigating his relationship with the drug dealers, Wright. In the meantime, carry out the legal actions required after his tantrum in the administrative office.”

Caitlyn nodded her head once, “I will, Mayor.” She narrowed her cold eyes for a second, “And take this as well-intentioned advice,” She said, “Next time you call the station to complain about one of my decisions, please, take the time to get well informed about it before you do, if only to avoid uncomfortable situations like this from happening again in the future.”

Don’t waste my time like this, again.

The Mayor didn’t like the implied message.

“There are decisions you make that make no sense, Caitlyn.” He simply said.

And they all knew what he was referring to, so Caitlyn replied in a more direct manner.

“The decision I made that makes no sense carried out thirty two proper arrests in just one week, Lawrence.” She said, “And that’s more than what Dean did in the last six months.” She straightened her spine, “Do you need us for anything else or can we resume our duties?”

The man’s grey eyes darted from the posh Piltovian to the brutish Zaunite, back and forth, before he sighed, “You may leave.”

So Caitlyn nodded her head once, “Have a good day, Sir.” She said, turning and moving towards the door, hearing Vi shoot out a quick Good day! before quickly following her out of the room and the building, neither of them speaking until they were in the car, already out of the Mayor’s mansion and property, having just crossed the gate that had let them in in the first place.

“That was wild.” Vi said, a toothy grin on her lips, “You really shut him up, Cupcake!” She laughed, watching Caitlyn as the woman sighed, before speaking her thoughts out loud. “I wonder why he’s so hellbent on protecting Dean, though.” A pause, “I mean, we still don’t know if he really is involved in the whole Chem Baron thing, but even if he were, he’s taking too many risks for just one dude.”

“Because he’s his nephew.”

Vi looked at her, wide eyed. “Really?”

Caitlyn nodded. “Dean entered the police force just because he happens to be Duncan’s nephew. Dodge did because he happens to be Dean’s best friend.” She sighed, “I was always against their incorporation but there’s not much to be done when the Mayor of Piltover is demanding they’re admitted.” She looked at Vi, “I can be really persuasive but even my influence has a limit when compared to the Mayor’s.”

Vi hummed in understanding, “So you had to let them in.” Vi shook her head, “If you’ve got the right last name, you can get away with whatever you want.” She scoffed, “I hate that.”

“It doesn’t mean I can’t be on the lookout for the right chance to kick them out, though.” Caitlyn said. “Surely, I couldn’t kick Dodge out just yet, but at least I got rid of the greater evil.” She said, smirking when she heard Vi’s boisterous laugh at her words.

“Greater evil,” She echoed, before her eyes widened, having remembered something, “What was all of that about the drug ring?” She looked concerned, “Didn’t you say we shouldn’t mention it?”

“It’s not what we talked about earlier,” Caitlyn informed her. “It’s a completely different thing.”

Vi gasped, “ What!?” She saw Caitlyn nod.

“I didn’t want to bring that up in front of the Mayor, but sometimes we’re forced to give some information up if we want to make progress.”

“Man, Dean had his hands full.”

Caitlyn hummed affirmatively, “I investigated him upon his arrival at the police station a year ago and discovered he has had a troubled past with drugs.” She moved her head around, managing to make her neck pop and ease some tension. “He went through rehab reluctantly so. I knew it was only a matter of time before he got involved in it again.”

Vi let out a low whistle. “A man with a history of drug abuse and refusal to get it right was allowed into the police force? Just because the Mayor wanted him in?” She cackled, “You guys are a joke.”

“You mean we are a joke.” Caitlyn said. “You might be in just to work with me but it doesn’t take away the fact that you’re a cop now, Vi.” She smirked at the angry pout she received from her partner, before silence stretched and she turned serious. “I wasn’t lying when I told you Piltover’s police force isn’t exactly righteous.” She looked a bit crestfallen, “Unfortunately, Piltover in itself isn’t exactly righteous. There’s corruption to be found anywhere you look, if you look hard enough.” She looked at Vi, “I didn’t hire you to have a good cop in my ranks, I hired you to have a partner who’ll help me fight against corruption, whatever it takes, because I could feel your goal was the same as mine; protect the innocent from those who aren’t. From the police force to the Mayor himself, I want you to help me weed out the bad ones and leave only the good ones behind, even if it means risking our necks, because that’s why I joined the police: to bring justice to the unjust, not to help power-hungry men get away with whatever they want at the expense of others.”

Vi stared at Caitlyn for a brief moment.

“I hate the police force,” Vi said, making Caitlyn look at her. “And this is no news; everyone knows I hate the police force, even you know it.” She smirked, “And yet you told me to become one and I did. It was like I would make an exception with you, like I’ve always felt like you were different, as well.” She shook her head, shrugging. “I don’t know. Call it a hunch if you will, but I always knew you and I, while we had our different ways of handling it, we were doing the same thing; fighting the bad guys and helping the good ones.” She looked at her again, “And that’s exactly why I accepted your job offer; not to run away from jail, but because I knew you and I would end up doing what we both wanted to do from the very beginning.”

Caitlyn smirked, “Catch the bad guys.”

Vi nodded her head. “Catch the bad guys,” She echoed, before sighing. “I guess that what I’m trying to say is that I understand what we’re here for and I’m in, all the way. I’ve got your back, Cait. I’ll help you get rid of the bad guys, even if it means busting open a few heads in the police station.”

Caitlyn huffed a laugh, “Something tells me you want it to mean exactly that,” She said, hearing Vi laugh, “But yes, if we want to stop this, we must start somewhere and the police force in itself seems like the best place to start.” She glared at Vi, then, “But don’t bust anyone’s head open yet. We must be smart about it.”

Vi laughed, “I won’t.” A pause, “I’m still surprised the Mayor is this obvious about his crookedness, though. I mean, letting a drug addict into the police force?” She laughed once more, “Even I wouldn’t be that stupid.”

“Because you’re not stupid at all,” Caitlyn said, “But I must warn you that there literally is zero evidence regarding the Mayor and whether he’s involved or not. Surely, he has used his position to give his family advantages and things like that, but that’s pretty normal amongst powerful families in Piltover. Not only that, he’s made quite the number of mistakes just out of sheer ignorance.”

Vi frowned, “So there is a chance he’s not bad, just stupid?”

Caitlyn nodded, “Exactly.”

Vi groaned, “I hate Piltover.”

“Makes two of us.”

An emergency call from the police’s radio cut their conversation short as they entered the most city-like part of Piltover once more.

“Wright here,” Caitlyn said, taking the call. “Brief me in.”

“We’ve got a loose shooter, male, around his thirties in the lower city, nearby the slums.”

Caitlyn and Vi shared a long look.

That’s Vi’s neighborhood.

“No more information regarding the shooter, but there’s people injured and we believe the shooter has taken hostages.”

“We’re on the case.” Caitlyn said, hanging up and turning on the siren.

No time to waste.

Chapter Text

She had never felt so compelled to drive like Hell itself was opening up underneath her.

She had had car chases in the past, situations where she’d have to turn on the siren and drive like a demon, but never before did Caitlyn feel such a necessity, such a primal need to drive and arrive at her destination before—

Focus, Caitlyn.

Nothing crucial will happen if you arrive in a matter of seconds.

She felt like a horse with blinders, unable to see anything but the finish line, the goal in mind.

And that’s how she missed the look on Vi’s face.

The sheer look of desperation in her eyes.

Because Vi’s focus wasn’t as trained as Caitlyn’s and she had to put all of it on not clenching her fists, in hopes of not destroying their car.

So she couldn’t focus on looking calm and collected.

Mostly because she wasn’t.

Hearing the call, knowing there was a shooter in Zaun’s slums, of all places…

She swallowed the hard lump formed in her throat, her jaw clenched and her teeth gritting.

It made her mind speed up and go so fast all thoughts were just blurry words passing by, just like it made it slow down to a complete stop, her mind’s eye blank, thoughtless.

She hated the feeling. It made her want to open up her skull, take her brain out and throw it away.

She was thankful of the fact that she didn’t feel it often enough to call it familiar, but she cursed the fact that whenever desperation came, it came with stomping steps, always making its’ stay unforgettable.

She could count the amount of times she had felt like that. She could remember each of them, vividly.

Which was the reason why she hated it.

So she hoped whatever was going on in the slums wouldn’t give her reasons to remember it later on and tried to focus on anything but the loud silence in her head.

Her eyes went from looking straight ahead to her right, to the passing by scenery, then to the interior of the car, to the radio and the details on the surfaces, before finally settling on Caitlyn.

Had she felt better, had she been relaxed, she would have joked about how her top hat seemed to refuse to leave her head, the speed at which they were driving and the fact that there was no roof to prevent wind from hitting them not being enough to make it fly from her head.

But she was not relaxed, so her eyes weren’t analyzing Caitlyn.

They were on her face.

The furrowed brow, the gaze that seemed so lost in itself that, paradoxically enough, reached an absolute focus, the bottom lip that had been nervously taken in between teeth, which bit into it mechanically, absentmindedly-yet-ever-so-present so.

Before being part of the police, Vi had encountered Caitlyn a few times in the past.

Never face to face, never with the Sheriff chasing after her, but she had witnessed Caitlyn’s most serious side in the past, maybe once or twice, before having her on her own trail.

Thinking of those vague, fleeting encounters, of when Caitlyn managed to catch her, comparing it to what she could see, to what she could feel in that very moment, Vi realized one thing.

While Caitlyn was precisely concentrated, like a doctor during an open-heart surgery, she was also tense in a way she usually wasn’t when focused.

She had a bad feeling and she was trying to brush it off.

Caitlyn drove like it was an ambulance and they had a patient dying on the back; sirens on, she dodged cars with millimetric precision, ignoring red lights and even driving on the wrong way in more than just a few streets.

It was a good thing she did, though: in a matter of minutes, despite the trip feeling longer, they were already entering Zaun.

She was quick to leave the car parked in the first place she found, taking her rifle with her, barely waiting for Vi as she put her gauntlets on once more.

The shooter’s last location had been just two blocks away from Vi’s warehouse.

Caitlyn and Vi entered an area that was completely dark, Caitlyn's steps slowering as they entered the slums, her gaze narrowed in a cold, calculating stare.

Truthfully, Zaun had never been darker before; the battle with Vi a few weeks ago had taken its’ toll in the lowercity’s neighborhood; Vi had damaged the power supply during the fight, resulting in an electricity issue that would last for a few weeks before it got properly fixed.

It had just been a bit collateral damage, back then.

It was a problem, now; neither of them could see properly, Caitlyn being barely able to see in the dark alleyways.

She felt Vi’s presence more than heard it; the woman was even quieter than herself as she prowled.

Caitlyn was thinking of the plan to follow and what to tell Vi—

Two gunshots resonated throughout the darkness.

Caitlyn gritted her teeth, before hearing sound behind her and as she turned—

“ Vi!” She let out in a loud, harsh whisper as she watched the brawler spring into action, the gunshot having forced her to make the switch as her quiet steps turned to hurried ones.

But she wasn’t going to let her get out of hand again.

So Caitlyn reached out and grabbed Vi by her arm before she was out of reach, making her turn and pushing her against a wall, her hand on the other woman’s chest, keeping her in place as she said, “We follow my orders, am I clear?”

It seemed to bring her right back down to earth as she frantically nodded, “Got it.”

So Caitlyn got on the lead again, “Follow,” She said, glancing back at Vi only once, making sure the other woman got it.

She let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding as she saw her fall into step.

She analyzed the case in her head.

We’ve got a shooter on the loose nearby and he seems to have targets.

We need to move quick and, ideally, we’d split to flank him.

But I don’t know if I can trust Vi with a move like that.

Yet.

She sighed through her nose.

We don’t split, then.

She kept on walking through the alleyways, trying to approach the place where the sound had come from.

Judging by her calculations, the sound had come from the clearing where she had fought Vi just a few nights before.

Cannot be coincidental.

Her steps quickened, Vi’s as well.

She could see Vi’s warehouse at the end of the alley—

Another shot.

And she saw it impacting on the wall right ahead of her.

The shooter was in the clearing, shooting at Vi’s warehouse’s door.

Caitlyn approached the end of the alleyway, inhaled and—

“ Freeze!” She commanded as she turned on the corner, her rifle perfectly aimed at—

A frown drew itself on her face at the sight.

“Dean?”

The man’s narrowed eyes moved towards her figure while she scanned him from head to toe.

Disheveled look.

Unregistered gun in hand, grip loose. Finger on the trigger.

Eyes hazy.

Slight sway to his feet.

Bottle on his other hand.

He’s inebriated.

“Dean,” Caitlyn said, her eyes directly on the man rather than through her rifle’s scope. “You’re drunk.”

“And jobless, Wright!” He shouted at her, “Jobless because of you.”

Caitlyn lowered her aim a bit, already sporting a bored expression, “You’ve been fired because of your own wrongdoings and now you’re under arrest.” She glared at him, “Gun on the ground and hands behind your neck, now.”

The man looked at her for a long second, his figure swaying as the weight of his body translated from one foot to the other. “Or what?”

Caitlyn glared. “Or else.” She said, feeling as Vi lowered her guard and came to stand next to her, in front of him.

Dean’s eyes swayed from one woman to the other. “Oh, would you look at that.” He scoffed, “Miss faggot came with you.”

Caitlyn glared, “Don’t listen to him,” She mumbled at Vi, eyes still on Dean.

“Don’t worry,” She heard the other woman mumble back, making her look at the brawler, managing to see the relaxed look, the calm, almost relieved expression, “I don’t.”

Caitlyn stared at her for a second—

“ Come on!” The voice of the inebriated man made them both turn to look at him. “She’s already turning you into a dyke.” He said, his words slurred, “And here I was, thinking you were an actual woman.”

Caitlyn rolled her eyes, starting to walk towards him. “Dean, hands on the back of your head and—”

She stopped walking at the image of the man’s muzzle aimed behind her.

At Vi.

She sensed the way Vi’s body tensed, a few steps behind her.

The sound of whatever was going on around her was drowned by her own calculating mind as she analyzed the scene.

His posture is odd, his feet sway, just like his aim.

He still manages to get a very clear shot at her, though.

Judging by the trembling of his hand and the directions which he aims at with the muzzle, he will get her either on the head, the shoulder or the abdomen.

Will, because it’s evident due to both the look on his face and the way he’s remarking every letter he speaks in such an obscene way that he has all the intention to shoot and no apparent reason not to.

At least, no apparent, sound reason comes to his mind.

Her eyes locked on his.

Rifle on one hand, unable to take aim before he could shoot, her free one ghosted over a revolver she always carried with her.

She was taking measures.

Measuring just how fast she’d have to draw and shoot before he could shoot at her partner.

She got ready, her fingers barely grazing the gun—

His aim quickly shifted to her—

Damned variables—

She saw his finger pull on the trigger— 

Before his gun went off in the instant she expected it to, she felt a powerful yet, at the same time, gentle push on her torso, moving her away from him, something getting in the way between him and her.

Someone.

Her eyes widened as she saw Vi, standing between her and the shooter.

She had been expecting him to do that.

The bullet impacted on her gauntlet, but Dean was already getting ready to shoot again—

Vi pushed Caitlyn aside, hissing as a bullet hit her on the shoulder.

As soon as she regained her balance, Caitlyn pulled out her revolver and shot once.

Dean let out a painful scream as the woman shot the gun off his hand, damaging his limb in the process.

She quickly put her revolver away, aiming at him with her rifle and pressing on a button that was located right next to the trigger.

A net came out of her rifle, successfully tangling itself on his legs.

Caitlyn moved towards Vi, who was standing there, her left gauntlet clutching her right shoulder—

“I’m alright,” The brawler said, her eyes focused on Caitlyn as she came close, “Don’t worry.”

Caitlyn nodded in acknowledgement and moved towards Dean, who was on the ground, gun a few meters away.

She looked at him from where she was standing, a scowl of disgust on her face, which she didn’t even bother to hide.

She lolled her head to a side, before crouching to come close to his face, “How many years do you think I’ll be able to make the jury give you for this?” She asked him, a sly smirk on her face, “I bet I could convince her of giving you fifteen, as a minimum.”

Dean laughed, which felt sinisterly wrong for Caitlyn, “I bet she’ll give me around thirty.”

It made the confidence in her heart falter, “Thirty?”

And she could see the malice in his eyes as he glared at her and said, “They won’t give me just fifteen when you discover the bodies.”

She felt the cogs in her mind freeze for a nano-second.

And that was all the time it took for her to lose control of the situation.

Vi was on top of him in just the blink of an eye, one gigantic metallic hand grabbing his neck, the other one heating up, with steam coming out of it. “What did you just fucking say!?”

Caitlyn didn’t have enough time to react and stop her, for Vi was getting up from the ground, holding him high in the air, before stomping her way to the nearest wall and slamming him against it.

Vi’s face was contorted into something that was definitely not human, as she glared at him with fired up eyes, baring her teeth as if she were about to bite his throat off his body.

“ What did you do!?”

And Vi could tell there was fear hiding in those dark pupils, she could sense it on him.

But he refused to let it show, even as his heart beat hard against his chest.

He wished to keep up appearances, even if he felt his life on the line.

So he replied to her.

“Ask your little neighbors. Start with Jessalyn .”

At his words, Vi immediately threw him to a side and ran off in the opposite direction.

Caitlyn ran towards the man, pulling a small radio out of one of her pockets while she crouched to help him, “Shooter’s down in the lowercity, high chances of encountering injured civilians, send an ambulance right now!” She put the radio away, before taking out the handcuffs and leaving his arms as immobilized as his legs by putting them on his wrists, “When the ambulance comes, I want you to be a good boy, Dean,” She said before getting up from the ground, “And if I find out you weren’t, I’ll get you in the same cell as the gangsters you helped arrest.” She smiled at him, “I bet they’d love to see your face again.”

Before he had time to complain, she ran off after Vi.

She entered the deteriorated apartment complex she had seen Vi enter earlier.

She saw a trail of blood.

She ran up the set of stairs that she could see right in front of her, following the path the drops of blood mapped out for her.

It didn’t take long to find Vi.

The apartment she was in was small, yet cozy. Judging by the decorations, it was an old woman’s apartment. A bit disorganized, but it was a calculated mess; as if someone had gotten tired of the delicacy of the view and had purposefully tried to ruin it, only to make it even worse, by leaving behind a rather tame disorder of slippers on the ground and a television on, which only served the purpose of amplifying the sense of coziness.

But Dean had managed to make a mess that could ruin the scene.

Vi had a knee on the ground, using one of her metallic hands to cradle the old woman’s head, holding her up with it, the other gauntlet forgotten to a side as she had taken it off, using her own hand to hold Jessalyn’s, as she used both of hers to clutch Vi’s, tight.

Her nightgown was covered in blood.

Vi’s expression was calm.

She saw the alert on the woman’s eyes as she saw Caitlyn, which prompted Vi to look at her as well, just then noticing her presence.

“It’s alright,” Vi said, before looking back at Jessalyn. “She’s a friend.”

“She’s the Sheriff,” The old woman said, her voice weak. “How can she be a friend?”

Vi raised a brow at the comment, “She’s got a good heart, I promise.”

The conversation died then.

Jessalyn died a few moments later.

Vi slowly laid her body on the ground, closing the woman’s eyes with her free hand.

Caitlyn looked at her, “Vi.”

The brawler offered no response, putting her gauntlet back on.

She was still bleeding from her shoulder.

It looked like she didn’t feel it.

Caitlyn tried one more time. “Vi.” She said, a bit louder.

The woman walked past her, out of the apartment.

Caitlyn followed her out, just to see her walking towards Dean, her gauntlets falling from her arms as she released them.

She crouched on top of him and—

“ Vi!” Caitlyn barked out as she ran towards the woman, who was beating the man’s face up.

She heard the sirens of the ambulances as they approached.

Vi was still beating him up and was completely unresponsive to Caitlyn.

She got in front of her, her arms on the woman’s shoulders—

Vi hissed as Caitlyn accidentally put her hand over her wound, before shaking her off and continuing her task.

Caitlyn had to act and she had to act quickly; she had to make Vi stop before the other officers arrived, but the woman was blinded by fury.

And with good reason.

It was as if she was on autopilot; like she couldn’t hear her.

Nor anyone, for that matter.

Caitlyn would have to use force.

She aimed her rifle at the woman in front of her and, with no second thought, she shot.

The calculated impact, along with the blood loss, made Vi lose consciousness.

The sirens getting closer, Caitlyn lowered her rifle and quickly got the scene ready before the backup arrived.

The first thing she became aware of as soon as she regained consciousness was the beeping of a machine nearby her.

The second thing, the sterile smell of the room.

By the time both registered in her brain, Vi quickly incorporated and sat up, ignoring the pain on her shoulder and her neck as her eyes opened wide in alarm, her breathing fastening with adrenaline, the fear settling as she moved her hand to yank the needle that was attached to her arm—

“Vi!”

She froze as she heard Caitlyn’s voice, her eyes quickly moving to the side, only to find the Sheriff seated on a couch by the bed she was in, a book in hand, teacup on the small coffee table she had nearby, a few centimeters away from her top hat and rifle.

The woman had an expression of annoyed shock. “Calm down,” She said, eyes still on the brawler’s, noticing how her shoulders relaxed a bit, though her breathing remained uneasy.

“What happened?” Her tone was hurried, like she was running out of time.

“You lost conscious—”

“Where is he?”

Caitlyn closed her book with a loud bang, making Vi flinch.

“Take it down a few gears, will you?” She said, no room for questioning left behind as she took on a more authoritative tone.

Vi’s breathing slowed down progressively as she allowed herself to look around.

Pristine white. Sterile smell. Slowed down beeps. A few windows, a bathroom and a door, probably leading out of the room.

She was in a hospital bedroom, it was unmistakable.

But where were the other—

“It’s a private room,” Caitlyn replied to the question she was formulating inside her mind, grabbing her cup of tea as she did so. “I requested one for you.”

Vi raised a brow, “And they just gave it to you?” A beat. “To me?” A raised brow, “For free?”

Caitlyn nodded as she took a sip. “Perks of being the Enforcer of Piltover, who happened to be on duty the moment she got injured.” She put her cup down, “You get the best medical attention, free of charge.”

And Vi didn’t like receiving medical attention. She really didn’t, actually going out of her way so as to avoid it at all costs.

But...

She sighed and laid back down on the soft pillows.

But damn if it isn’t good.

Relaxing didn’t last long for her as the door to her room was opened by a nurse, the sound making her sit up straight in one quick motion as the man entered the room.

He stopped moving as soon as he walked past the threshold, his eyes going from Vi to Caitlyn, then back to Vi, before finally settling on Caitlyn, “Is everything alright, ma’am?”

“Yes,” Vi said with a stiff tone to her voice, “Why wouldn’t it be?”

The nurse looked at her, feeling her angry stare burn holes on his forehead, “Your heart rate was too high, so—”

“So?” Vi said, her eyes almost coming out of their sockets.

He gulped, “So I thought to check up on you, but I see now that you’re awake. I should call the doctor—”

“ No!” Vi barked, immediately, “No doctors.”

The man looked completely lost, “But it’s part of the protocol—”

“It’s alright, darling,” Caitlyn said in a much calmer tone than her counterpart, making the man look at her with eyes of relief. “Don’t call the doctor, just leave and keep doing whatever task you had at hand before coming here.” She smiled a bit at him, “I’ll take care of this.”

Despite the relief of being dismissed, he was rather confused as to how was the Sheriff of Piltover going to fix the issue at hand, the issue being the Enforcer. Still, he nodded once in acknowledgement, simply saying, “Right away, ma’am.”

The nurse quickly left, closing the door behind him, leaving them alone once more.

“What is up with everyone addressing you instead of me ?” Vi said, officially angry at that, “Am I so low for them that they cannot even address me directly, especially when the topic at hand is myself!?”

“Vi.”

She turned to look at Caitlyn, “What!?”

Caitlyn was looking at her with a bored expression. “You scare them away.”

Vi was frowning, but she still looked annoyed, “What do you mean I scare them away?”

Caitlyn raised a brow, “When was the last time you looked at yourself in a mirror?”

Vi’s frown faltered, “What about it?”

Caitlyn stared at her for a long second, “Vi, you look scary.” Her eyes were still on Vi’s, “You scare them enough that they avoid approaching you.” She fought the smirk that attempted to grow on her face at the look of confusion the pugilist sported, “I doubt it’s personal.”

Vi stared back at her, wide eyed, before blinking twice and breaking eye contact. “Oh.”

Caitlyn leaned back against the couch, “I mean, some people do ignore you out of spite, but most of them, the nurse included, ignore you out of pure, unadulterated fear.”

“Can’t do much to help my looks.”

“Try smiling a little more.”

Vi looked at her and smiled, though it looked fake and pained.

Caitlyn grimaced a little, “I take it back, keep looking intimidating.”

Vi barked a laugh at that, before pain shot down her arm at the movement and she hissed.

“From one to ten, how badly does it hurt?”

“Two.” She replied.

Caitlyn raised a brow, “Judging by your tone and your expression, it hurts an easy twelve.” She said, before taking out her telephone and typing on it.

Vi looked at her shoulder, only to find it covered in bandages.

Nuisance.

She moved her free, unharmed arm’s hand towards it—

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

She looked up at Caitlyn, who was staring at her, phone at the ready for her to keep on typing on it.

“Why not?”

“Do you perhaps not remember that you got shot, Vi?”

The woman’s eyes widened, as if she had just remembered it. “But I’m already stitched up, aren’t I?”

Caitlyn allowed the phone to lay against her lap, “Vi—”

“How long was I out for?”

Caitlyn had not expected the second question. “Five hours, thirty minutes since the last time you were sedated.”

Vi nodded. “That’s a lot.”

“A lot?”

“Yeah, a lot.”

Caitlyn was frowning, “When they gave you the last dose of the sedative, the doctors said it’d be a wonder if you woke up in less than two hours, a straight out miracle if you woke up in less than one.” She said noticing Vi’s expression was one of confusion, she continued speaking. “The bullet had exploded in your shoulder, so you had to undergo surgery to remove it. Not only that, you had also suffered a terrible blood loss and the loss of consciousness due to the restriction of air and blood flow to the brain, worsened by the fact that your blood was all over the place, rather than inside of you, where it belongs.” A beat, “And you also had a concussion.”

Vi looked confused, “How did that happen?”

The narrowed eyes she sported widened. “You don’t know?”

“I remember Dean shot twice. One bullet on my guantlet, the other one on my shoulder.” She looked around, as if searching inside her own memories. “And I know I walked around like it was nobody’s business and I moved my arm like it was nothing, so I understand the blood loss, but I don’t know how I passed out…” She trailed off at the end, her eyes focusing on Caitlyn’s. “What—”

“You were out of control, completely unresponsive, so I had to act and I had to act quickly.” Caitlyn told her, her voice a bit lower. “I shot a net aimed at your head, so the edge of it would tie around your neck and force an abrupt stop to air and blood flow to the brain, successfully making you pass out. The hit of your head against the concrete caused the concussion.” She confessed. “After that, I cleaned up the scene a bit by getting rid of said net, so nobody would know about how I intervened.”

Vi’s eyes narrowed in a dangerous way, a fire slowly building itself up inside of her. “Why did you do that?” She felt the anger growing, “Why attack your partner?”

“Because my partner had knocked out a man who was not only alcoholized, but also bleeding out and was on her way to killing him, bare handed.” Cailtyn responded, her energy matching Vi’s, taking control of the situation before she sighed and brought down the tension a notch. “I didn’t attack you to hurt you, I attacked you to stop you. It was all calculated and it was the only way to prevent you from actually killing him, Vi.” Her eyes were calmer, yet focused, “I will remind you that you did not respond to me calling your name and I did so, numerous times.”

And while she still felt tense, while she still felt somewhat betrayed, Vi felt how her anger slowly, but surely, dissipated.

Not just because of Caitlyn’s statement, but also because it had finally dawned on her: the implications behind the Sheriff’s words.

Caitlyn had committed not one but two crimes, if only to cover for her: First, she shot a policewoman. Second, she tampered with a crime scene and covered a crime.

All so no one would ever know she had to be stopped from killing Dean.

She literally saved your ass and you’re here, being a whiny little bitch to her.

What a fucking moron.

“Can you answer me something, Vi?” Caitlyn broke the silence they had fallen into, making Vi snap out of her own thoughts, the Sheriff feeling invited to continue speaking as lilac eyes focused on her, “How come Dean taunts you and aims a gun at you and you don’t react at all, but the moment he aims his ill intentions at someone else, you lose your mind and go berserk?”

Vi looked at her, before looking around the room a bit, clearly uncomfortable. “Cait—”

“Vi, I just confessed I tampered with a crime scene to hide my own tracks, because I had shot my partner on a wonderful display of friendly fire a few moments before it.” Caitlyn looked at her with the most bored expression she could muster. “If I did that with no fears, it should be indication enough it’s safe to speak in here. Trust me,” She laid back, “I’m the least trusting person you can find. You could bet your life on the fact that I’ve double checked this place before sitting down to read and wait for you to wake up.”

Vi sighed, “I know, Cait, it’s just that…”

Caitlyn watched her in complete silence, expression completely neutral.

Well, almost completely neutral.

The short time they had spent together allowed Vi to learn a lot more about Caitlyn and how to read past the Sheriff mask she always wore.

And right now she could see it in the blue eyes that stared into hers, in the way her eyelids dropped ever-so-slightly more than usual.

Caitlyn was relaxed.

Vi sighed.

It was a sigh of defeat.

“I don’t care about what happens to me.” She admitted, “You can call me names, pick at me, even throw daggers at my face and actively try to kill me. I won’t care.” She shrugged with her good shoulder, “But hurt someone I respect— No.” She cut herself off, “Hurt someone I care about and that’s the last thing you’ll do in this life.” The alit eyes drooped as she looked away, “ Especially if they’re innocent people who don’t deserve it.”

Especially if you’re someone like Jessalyn.

Caitlyn knew the anger had turned into sorrow. She could tell what Vi was thinking, who she was thinking of.

She will not do anything to protect herself, but she will do everything to protect anyone else.

In a spur of action that was completely foreign to her, Caitlyn’s body moved before her mind could think through the process and stop her.

And her hand placed itself on top of one of Vi’s, on her bed.

The brawler looked at her with inquiry in her eyes.

She wasn’t certain of what was going on, but it seemed as if it was her turn to be on autopilot, “I’m sorry about your loss.” She said, her mind racing, asking her questions like What do you think you’re doing? and Why are you holding her hand? “I wish I could tell you it’s fixable, but unfortunately the damage has already been done and there’s nothing an apology will do to help you.”

The words came out a bit slow, like they stumbled upon themselves, the empirical proof that the woman felt incredibly uncomfortable with talking without thinking.

Vi was watching her, mute.

Caitlyn went on. “But there is something that could be done and it’s already on the works.” She said, seeing how Vi’s attention focused even harder on her, as if such a thing were possible.

It made her feel off.

Bear through it, Wright.

“While you and Dean were being attended to here at the hospital and after all the paperwork required for your surgery and admission into a private bedroom was done, I went back to the crime scene and checked for other injured.” Caitlyn said, “There were no other harmed, but I managed to get a feel of who the people of the apartment complex are. More specifically, I managed to learn who the ones you care about are.” She sighed, her voice dropping. “I doubt Dean knew anything about them so they’re all safe and sound.”

Except for the obvious case.

“The man, as you know already, isn’t too smart.” Caitlyn continued, “But if we’re honest, neither is anyone working on the legal system.” A pause, “Well, most of them. Some of us do have a few synapsing neurons. Anyway,” Caitlyn made a gesture with her free hand, never letting go of the one that laid on top of Vi’s, “What I’m trying to say here is that I managed to imply another attack was possible and, through the implication, I got your neighbors in our witness protection program, so they’re perfectly safe in a new, undisclosed location, with everything they need to tend to taken care of for them.”

Vi looked at her with an open mouth, trying to articulate a thought but being rendered useless every single time, until she managed to let out the one thing she kept on thinking to say, “Why did you do all of that?”

Caitlyn raised a brow, not in question but in surprise, as if not ready to answer. Still, she quickly piloted the situation and replied, “Because even when we’re certain our opponent is braindead, we must give them the benefit of doubt and act as if they were actually smarter than what we know them to be. That, and,” She sighed, her shoulders slumping millimetrically, “And I feel like the old woman’s death is on me. I feel like I put the target on your head and that I told Dean to aim at it.”

Vi blinked once, twice.

She’s repaying me for putting Jess in danger.

“Caitlyn.”

The Sheriff looked at her.

“You didn’t kill her.” She said, “Dean did.”

“And why did Dean kill her?”

“Because he’s one of the bad guys,” Vi simply stated. “It doesn’t matter how or why. What matters is that he did it out of how spiteful he is. You didn’t put a gun on his hand and tell him to kill her; he did it out of his own wish to do it.”

“But he wouldn’t have done it, had he—”

“Whatever you’re about to say, I will just tell you that we don’t know that much, because things played out this way and not any other way.” Vi said, surprisingly calm. “It’s not your fault what he did. He’s a grown man, he should take care of his actions.”

Caitlyn looked away, not really believing Vi’s words much.

And Vi could see it.

The Sheriff looked back at the Enforcer not a moment before she felt calloused hands squeezing her own.

Vi smiled at her, “But I’m eternally grateful for what you did for me and trust me when I say that I will not forget it anytime soon.”

Caitlyn smiled back. “I know.”

They stayed like that for a few seconds, before Vi sighed once more.

This time not out of defeat, but out of surrender.

“I’m not a normal human being.” She said, looking far more nervous than before, speaking lower and faster than usual. “When I was a kid, I was experimented on in a Zaunite laboratory of sorts.” Her eyes frantically looked around Caitlyn, remaining on the other woman’s eyes only for short spans of brief instants, before rushing away again. “I’m uncertain of what they did to me, but all I know is that, whatever they did, it managed to make me much stronger and faster than your average Joe.” She sighed, “But all perks come with their drawbacks; it’s given me quite a temper that, sometimes, gets a bit too out of control and I go into this zone of anger which is difficult to take me out of because I practically drown out everything around me, except for the thing that made me angry.” She looked at Caitlyn, “And that’s why I couldn’t hear you when I was rearranging Dean’s face with my fists.”

Caitlyn nodded. “I see.”

A beat. “You don’t sound too surprised.”

She shook her head, “I knew some of it from Harriet’s medical report on you.” She told her, though she imagined Vi already knew. The lack of change in her expression indicated that she did. “A fun fact about yourself that you probably didn’t know; you don’t get sick easily and you’re practically immune to the common cold.”

“Really?”

Caitlyn nodded. “One of the perks of having a doctor check you up.”

“Yeah, well,” Vi looked at her with a grimace, “I didn’t have a very nice childhood around doctors, you see.”

“That much I can imagine.”

“There’s something I don’t get, Cait.”

“Which is?”

“I lose my shit on a case, I almost kill the criminal and I almost cost you your job and all you do is come here, wait for me to wake up and simply ask me the reasons behind it?” Vi looked genuinely confused, “How come you’re so calm?”

That one was an easy one to answer.

“I just wish to understand you better Vi, that’s all.” Caitlyn said.

Vi seemed eager to talk some more, but Caitlyn’s phone went off, so she picked it up, replying a few short words to the person on the other side of the line, before hanging up and talking to Vi, “Harriet is right outside the door, ready to come in and see you, because the nurse was kind of right when he said a doctor should see you, so I figured you wouldn’t have too much of a problem if someone familiar saw you.”

She seemed surprised once more. “No, I wouldn’t mind Harriet that much, but how can she work here?”

“She’s the police’s doctor, Vi,” Caitlyn said, “And she’s got me on her side, so she can do pretty much whatever she pleases around here.”

Vi snorted, “Like me?”

But Caitlyn replied in all seriousness, nodding her head, “Yes, pretty much like you.” She got up from her seat, “I will leave you with her, for now.” She said, slowly walking to the door.

“Cait.”

She turned, “Yes?”

“Thank you for what you’ve done.” Vi said, nodding her head. “I appreciate it.”

Caitlyn waved it off, “It was nothing.”

She finished walking to the door, her hand on the handle before she froze, turning around quickly, her eyes on Vi’s as she said, “I wasn’t this calm all the time, Vi.” She confessed, “While you were out, I argued with practically everyone, from Dean’s son to the Mayor, to get that man in jail with a rather long sentence as soon as possible and to get your people under protection, because it was the least I could do.” She turned to the door, then back to Vi once more as a final thought hit her mind, “And, just because I know you may be wondering, no,” She said, “I haven’t thought any of this through, not one bit, so I apologize if I sound a bit off right now. It’s mostly because I am.”

She didn’t expect to see Vi smile at her, “Don’t apologise; I like you even more when you’re off.”

Caitlyn left the room after that, no more words shared between them for the time being, as Vi was left to Harriet’s mercy and Caitlyn walked out of the hospital to have a bit of fresh air.

And while Harriet talked with her, all Vi could do was apologise in her head as she mindlessly nodded here and there, for she was not paying attention, letting the doctor examine her with ease as she zoned out and thought of something else.

Someone else.

Because she couldn’t help but wonder who Caitlyn was behind the Sheriff’s desk and the hextech rifle.

Because I know you more but I’d like to know you better.

Because you can call what you did duty all you want, but I won’t buy it.

And she couldn’t help but wonder if Caitlyn thought this much about her as well and, truth be told, the thought ate her alive, because she had no way of actually ever knowing.

She couldn’t find out and it killed her.

She couldn’t read her mind.

She couldn’t see her out of the hospital, eyes on the sky as the brawler’s words repeated themselves on her head, only one thought of her own being produced.

I’d like to know you better.

She looked down at her hand, the one she had impulsively laid on the pugilist’s.

Like the palm of my hand.

And that was the first time Caitlyn didn’t question something that occurred out of the blue.

And maybe it was the first time she should’ve.

Chapter Text

“It’s incredible.”

Silence.

Ice cold eyes narrowed.

Her pupils scanned the x-rays, though she could easily admit she wasn’t very well versed on the topic. “You told me the wound wasn’t deep enough to deal any permanent damage.”

“Yes and it was true. The armor she usually wears did spare her shoulder from dealing with a more complicated issue, but still, she should have struggled.” A beat. “Recovery should have been slower, taking a few months for her to be back in optimal shape.” The doctor looked at her, “She managed to get that process of... “ She trailed off, “Say, five months, in under three, almost two.”

Narrowed eyes relaxed, looking almost droopy. “I did scold her for her misbehavior and told her to properly rest.” She confirmed, her mind quickly recapping the last two months, especially the one interaction she had had with the Enforcer;

“You dare move more than what you’re allowed to and you’re fired.”

Vi had immediately obeyed her, right arm staying put by her side at all times ever since that one deadly threat, doing nothing but what she was asked to by Caitlyn, using nothing but her left hand.

I would have granted her a paid leave if she weren’t unable to write…

She smirked.

...But paperwork can still get done with just one hand.

And I already know she’s left-handed.

She quickly came back to reality, “And she didn’t force her arm in these two months.” A pause, “At all.” And, just for clarification, “Whatsoever.”

Harriet shook her head, “No matter how little she used her arm, it still shouldn’t have healed this fast.”

Caitlyn raised a brow, a light shrug of her shoulders, “We knew she was above the average.”

“Yes, but this is more than just above the average, Caitlyn,” Harriet said, looking pleasantly surprised and slightly worried in equal parts. “I imagined she’d heal a bit faster, but in half the time?” She let out air, blowing a few strands of hair away from her face as she paced the room, her eyes falling on the medical reports she held, “It’s a wonder how we are so certain we can call her human.”

“You’re the only one certain about that.”

Harriet looked at Caitlyn, the deadpanned words making her frown in shock at the other woman—

Caitlyn laughed at the expression, waving her off, “You need to calm down, Harriet. You take everything too seriously.”

Harriet ignored Caitlyn, quickly putting away Vi’s medical reports. “Whatever. How is she doing?” She asked her, “Because the x-rays say she’s all healed but it’s just a paper in the end. Not the actual woman.”

“I thought she had come to see you yesterday.”

“Caitlyn, honey, we both know she comes to see me not because she wants to see the doctor, but because she knows she’s kind of forced to.” Harriet said in a bored expression. “So we both know she probably just smiles, nods and lies her way out of it.”

Caitlyn sighed, “You’re probably right.” She said, before adding, “Well, she hasn’t complained about it in these two months.” A short pause, “It did bother her a few times here and there, but it was long ago. I haven’t seen her whine about it for at least three weeks.”

“So she’s genuinely feeling better.” Harriet said, “I guess I’ll have to sign her off as done with her recovery treatment.” She raised a brow, “How have you been keeping her busy, though? Someone as restless as her is bound to hate being forbidden from moving much.”

“Threatening to take her job away has proven to be quite effective,” Caitlyn commented. “But I must say she did comply quite easily. She even took care of keeping herself in check for me.” At the confused look on Harriet’s expression, she explained. “She offered to help me with my paperwork during her shifts, since she can’t do anything but exist until she’s cleared to work by you.”

Harriet’s eyes were wide open, her pen stopping mid-way as she was placing the final signature on Vi’s release. “You mean to tell me she’s been doing your paperwork for you?” At the sight of Caitlyn's nod, she added, “And she was the one to suggest it?” Another nod, “And I’m expected to actually, actively believe this?”

Caitlyn raised a brow, eyelids low in a bored expression, “Have I ever lied to you, Harriet?”

“If you did, I have no clue.” The doctor said, shaking her head in disbelief, resuming her original task. “Either the concussion she had gotten was rather destructive and she has some unchecked brain damage or she clearly isn’t human, to be requesting to take care of your reports for you.” She sentenced, handing Caitlyn the papers she had in hand.

Caitlyn barked out a laugh as she received them. “Probably a bit of both.” Before Harriet could respond, she added, ”Alright, I’ll get going.”

“Tell her I say hello.” The doctor absentmindedly told her, sitting on her desk once more as Caitlyn approached the door.

“Will do.”

She left the doctor’s office and walked back to her office, quietly thinking once more of the last two months.

It didn’t take more than two days for Vi to leave the hospital, not because they wanted to release her, but because she couldn’t tolerate the place anymore. Caitlyn had to make her sign a report where she swore she’d take care of her wound, which hadn’t been too hard to accomplish; the Enforcer seemed ashamed enough about not listening to her during chases that it made her more eager to comply than what was usual of her.

And usually, she was more than eager to comply.

Caitlyn raised a brow.

How long until you stop being interested in impressing me and show me your true colors?

She wasn’t stupid; knowing Vi was attracted to women and seeing the way she behaved around and for the Sheriff, it didn’t take her more than a few seconds to put two and two together.

At some point you must give in; ask me out, have me reject you, then become a lousy worker that will make me contemplate kicking you out.

It always goes like this.

You can’t be happy to help me with the paperwork forever.

So after two days being hospitalized and having a few visits from Caitlyn, Vi went home and obeyed Caitlyn’s commands in and out of the office, doing nothing but paperwork from 9 to 5, both hers and her boss’.

And that same process had been like that for two months.

Caitlyn frowned.

Has it?

Admittedly, she hadn’t been around Vi that much ever since Dean’s little escapade in Zaun’s slums; she had been going back and forth between court visits, police meetings and the Mayor, being basically drowned under work and things to deal with, unable to navigate the sea of tasks— let alone go out on patrols— in shifts that started earlier than 6 A.M and finished not before 11 P.M. came.

Nevermind that Vi wasn’t even there to patrol with her; not even she herself was.

The process of managing to get Dean into prison had proved to be trickier than she had originally imagined it would be and she had considered it to be quite challenging: with the Mayor trying to persuade her, the court and practically any and every person with a percentage of influence in Dean’s legal conditions to release him, it was rather hard for her to convince them of the opposite; to let him rot in a cell.

But she refused to let the man walk free, so she’d work herself to the ground and an early grave if need be, but Dean was going to end up in jail.

So it had been two months and some change of her running to all places, trying to be in all of them at the same time, sleeping the bare minimum and having virtually no breaks from work.

Barely any time for patrols, absolutely no time for paperwork nor Vi.

She sighed.

I have to admit it; her help has been quite useful these months.

But it wouldn’t be necessary if I kept better tabs on my subordinates.

She still felt Jessalyn’s death was her fault.

Even as she saw Vi get over it and move on, the Sheriff was still rather caught up on it; not due to a feeling of loss, but due to a feeling of not having done enough.

She felt she had failed at her job.

And that was one thing she couldn’t let herself do.

And maybe that’s why she was overworking herself without second thoughts; to try and prove the opposite, to make amends, to right the wrongs.

What she considered to be her own wrongs.

But just as much as she knew she was overdoing it, she could easily admit that her workaholism wasn’t something she was a stranger to: she had done it before on a few occasions.

More often than not.

She could feel a headache forming, already.

She opened the door to her own office, her eyes landing immediately on a head of pink hair, the pugilist sitting on her usual chair, with her back to the door, her whole body leaning over it as she focused intently on whatever task she was carrying out.

“Did you find it?”

Caitlyn frowned at Vi’s words. “If I found what?”

Vi turned on her chair then, coming face to face with Caitlyn. “Oh, Cupcake. I thought you were Stone.”

Caitlyn’s eyes narrowed. “Stone, as in Officer Stone?”

Vi nodded.

“The man whose ribs you broke when we tried to arrest you, Officer Stone?”

“The one and only.”

Caitlyn stood there for a brief second, before disregarding it. “Oh well.” She closed the door and entered the room, “No, it’s just me.”

“ Just the mighty Sheriff.” Vi joked, before going back to her task, eyes already on the sheet of paper she was filling out, “The donut and the coffees are for you, by the way.” She told her, nodding her head in the general direction where she had left them, on Caitlyn’s side of the desk. “Coffees might have gone cold, but they were scalding when I bought them, so maybe they’re just right.” She shrugged, “You’ll have to give them a try.”

Caitlyn sat down on her side of the desk, her eyes narrowing at the sight —or, better said, lack thereof —of Vi’s armor, while her fingers reached for one of the cups of coffee.

Vi felt the stare and looked back at her, before raising a brow and looking at her own clothes. “Did I stain it already?”

“No, no,” Caitlyn quickly replied, “It’s just that I noticed you weren’t wearing your armor. I think I haven’t seen you wear anything other than that for a while, now.”

Vi raised a brow, “What do you mean, Cait?” She got up from her seat, twirling once in front of Caitlyn, displaying her outfit composed of black jeans, matching boots and a white button down, lazily tucked into her pants. “I’ve been dressing like this for weeks, now.”

Caitlyn’s frown deepened. “Have you?” Eyes unfocused as she tried to remember, the headache she had felt forming earlier making its’ grand appearance as she felt a pounding pain on her skull, which made her place her elbow on the desk, her index and thumb catching the sides of her head as she laid on her hand, the digits pressing themselves against her temples, a sigh running out of her mouth between her lips.

“Not very useful, wearing armor if you aren’t fighting, don’t you think?” Vi said as she sat down once more, quickly retrieving and handling Caitlyn something she didn’t manage to see well— “Here,” She said, handling her a pill, “Don’t tell Harriet I’m sharing my painkillers with you or she’ll have my head.”

Caitlyn took the pill, “Thank you, Vi,” She said, before placing it in her mouth and downing it with a gulp of coffee, which was pleasantly warm, still. “The coffee’s still fine.” She said, before taking another quick gulp, “You’ve really been dressing like that?”

Vi raised a brow, “I guess someone has been too busy to notice the lack of metal all over her partner.”

A groan escaped her throat, “Don’t even comment on it.” She sighed, laying back on her chair, “It’s starting to catch up with me.”

“What is?”

Caitlyn looked at her, though her head remained on the chair’s backrest. “Exhaustion.”

Vi huffed a laugh, “Cait, I think exhaustion has caught up with you.” A pause, “A while ago.” She leaned over the desk a bit, resting her weight on her good arm as she placed her forearm on the surface, “I’ve never seen dark circles under your eyes before. Now they seem to be permanent residents.”

Caitlyn huffed a laugh, “You haven’t known me for long enough, it seems.”

“The Sheriff has a bad habit of overworking herself?” Vi teased, a raised brow and a small smirk on her face. “I figured, if I’m honest. You don’t become the Sheriff by working the usual amount,” Vi reasoned, “But I didn’t think it was this bad.”

The door to the office opened then, making Caitlyn glare at the intruder, while Vi merely turned her chair to greet Stone as he peeked into the room, a few papers in hand as he started saying, “You won’t guess how long it took me to—”

The words died out as he saw Caitlyn in the room.

Vi watched as an automatic switch went off; Stone’s spine straightened as his eyes widened, his arms falling to his sides on two stiff lines, his chin going up and his pupils getting lost on the wall as he tried not to look at Caitlyn.

Vi got startled as suddenly Stone’s arm shot out towards her, the papers hitting her on the face as he handed them out, “The files you asked for, Enforcer.” He said on a stiff, almost robotic voice, his arm returning to his side as Vi took the files and placed them on the desk.

“Thank you… Officer?” Vi said, looking at him quite confused.

“Is there anything else you need, Enforcer?”

“Not really—”

“I’ll see myself out then,” Stone quickly let out, before vanishing from the women’s office.

Vi stared at the door for a few brief seconds, before slowly turning to Caitlyn, “What did you do to him?”

Caitlyn had her eyes narrowed, as if she was trying to recall— “Threatened to fire him.” She saw Vi getting ready to complain, so she quickly intervened, “He had tried to shoot my potential partner.”

“I also happened to be a potential threat to all of you!” Vi complained.

Caitlyn rolled her eyes. “You were in a stickier situation than all of us.”

“I literally almost killed him.”

“But you didn’t.” Caitlyn retorted. “That much collateral damage was calculated.”

No it wasn’t.

“No it wasn’t,” Vi said, furrowing her brow, “You were taking chances there, Cupcake. Not only with your job in general, like you told me, but also with your life.” She inspected the files Stone had just brought her, “The fact that you were there yourself, in person, tells me as much.”

“Lie to yourself all you want, Vi,” Caitlyn said, a bit taken aback by how on-point her deduction had been, “But it was all calculated. After all, you wouldn’t kill without need.”

Vi huffed a laugh, but didn’t reply.

Caitlyn knew she was right, though.

“Will you tell me now how is it that Stone enters my office without permission and talks to you so freely?” Caitlyn asked her, watching as the Enforcer raised her eyebrows, before frowning as she stared back. “What?”

“Damn, you’ve really been missing out on things these months.” Vi said, before explaining, “I can’t really thrive in this office if I don’t make a few friends, now can I?” She questioned with a cocky smirk, “Let’s say I’ve been trying to prove that looks can be deceiving. ” Her smirk turned into a smile, “I’ve been succeeding thus far.” Her phone went off, so Vi quickly took it out of her pocket to see the notification, before smiling a bit to it and quickly typing out a reply to whatever message she had gotten.

“I see you’re in a good mood today.” Caitlyn mused out loud.

“I am,” Vi confirmed.

“Mind sharing why?”

“I’m going out with Ethan, Vic and Amanda today,” Vi said as she locked her phone once more, “They just invited me to some bar, after work.”

Caitlyn raised a brow, “You got their numbers while I was busy?” She watched as Vi nodded.

“I’ve got a few contacts now,” Vi joked, wiggling her phone a bit for emphasis.

“And you’ve got your very first after-office today.”

“That’s right.” Vi said, finally putting her cellular away, in her pocket. “And, between us,” She said, in a lower voice, leaning over the desk as if about to share a secret, “You could come with, if you wanted.” She sat straight once more, nodding her head, before adding, “But you didn’t hear that from me.”

Caitlyn chuckled, “Are you inviting me?”

Only Vi’s pupils moved as she looked away, as if trying to think of it, before looking at Caitlyn again, narrowing her eyes slightly as she said, “ Maybe.”

Caitlyn shook her head, “Thank you but no, thank you, Vi.” Caitlyn said, “I’m not too big on after-offices.”

“Oh, come on, Cait,” Vi said, leaning over the desk once more, “It’s just a beer…” She looked up, as if thinking, “Or two.” A beat, “Or three, but still, you get the idea.” She leaned back, “It’s just a break! So we get to know each other better out of the office. It won’t hurt, I promise.”

Caitlyn sighed, rolling her eyes.

There she goes.

Vi narrowed hers, “Would it maybe be your first after as well?”

Caitlyn looked at her with a bored expression. “No, it wouldn’t.”

“Then you’re already well versed on the matter!” Vi teased, “You should come.”

“I won’t, Vi.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t mix work with leisure.” Caitlyn said, before placing the paper she had brought from Harriet’s office on the desk, “This is for you, by the way.” She watched Vi as the brawler inspected the file, her expression morphing into a frown before widening.

“Am I allowed to patrol again?” She questioned, watching as Caitlyn nodded her head.

“You are, starting tomorrow.”

“So there’s no way I can convince you of coming with us tonight?” Vi said, completely disregarding the good news, returning to the previous topic.

“There is no way.” Caitlyn said, a glare on her eyes. “And I have a lot of work, anyway.” She downed one of the coffees, “I just came by to give you Harriet’s report and to have a small break.” She relaxed onto her seat. “I’ve got another meeting in a few minutes.” Her phone went off, so she looked at it, before sighing through her nose. “In a few seconds.” She corrected her previous statement, before standing up, slowly making her way to the door.

“I could give you my number.”

Caitlyn frowned at her, stopping. “Why would I want that?”

Vi shrugged, “So that you have the opportunity to change your mind about going out tonight with us.” She smiled, “It will be fun, I promise.” Then the smile turned into a cocky gesture, “I’ve been told I’m hilarious.”

Caitlyn snorted. “Nice try, Vi.” She said, turning and leaving, unable to hear what Vi would reply.

She got out of the office and started walking downstairs, to the cab the Mayor had sent looking for her. She glared at Stone as she walked past his cubicle, only to keep him on his toes.

She smirked when she saw him flinch.

She left a few minutes after that.

It was dark by the time she was able to return to the office.

Not darkening, but already dark.

Night.

She looked at her telephone, checking the time.

21:57.

She sighed.

10 PM.

I’m finishing work at 10 PM.

It was already a step in the right direction, though; the day before, she had finished at midnight.

A groan escaped her lips.

She entered the building and went straight to her office, ignoring the emptiness as she walked past deserted desks, lights on just for her.

She let out a long exhale through her nose as she walked, her shoulders rolling forwards as her figure slumped, the Sheriff finally letting her façade fall and shatter into pieces, the exhaustion of the last days, weeks and months dominating her and holding her on a tight leash.

I need vacations.

But it was not like she was going to ever get them, anyway.

She entered her office, eyebrows raising in surprise at the state her desk was in.

Organized.

Completely.

Vi had left her desk clear, with the paperwork neatly filed and on top of Caitlyn’s side of the surface, while her top hat and her rifle remained where she had left them before abandoning the office.

She approached the papers and checked them, one by one.

They were the latest reports on different cases by other officers, as well as some office requests for different things.

A cubicle for her, out of the Sheriff’s office, amongst the petitions.

Vi had gone out of her way and had worked on all the reports and requests no one had had time to work on.

And now they were all waiting for her to just sign them and they’d be ready to be presented, filed.

Approved.

She had never had the time to present the request for Vi’s cubicle.

Vi did her homework for her.

Her eyes roamed the desk.

The coffees had been discarded, but the donut Vi had bought for her remained in place.

There was a small note underneath it.

Caitlyn abandoned the paperwork and inspected the note;

Hey, Cait!

Files are organized from most important to least. Didn’t know if you’d come back to the office or not, but I noticed you didn’t take the donut so I decided to leave it here for you.

Yeah, not cupcakes today. I was feeling risky, like trying something new.

See you tomorrow!

Vi.

Something like a chuckle sounded in her throat.

Her eyes went from the note to the pastry, before going to the papers.

She was tired, she really was, but—

She exhaled loudly through her nose, before sitting down on her chair and approaching her desk.

It’s just a couple of signatures.

But placing her name in some legal papers meant reading them at least once.

And reading all those papers meant spending more time in the office.

And spending more time in the office meant watching the clock go from 10 PM to 11 PM in the blink of an eye.

She finished with them all, though.

She finished the pastry, as well.

She cracked her back and sighed as she finished piling them up on the out bin, ready to be delivered to administration, when the morning came.

She got up from her seat, grabbed her coat, top hat and rifle, turned off the light and abandoned the office.

She turned off all the lights in the building as she walked past the switches, feeling tired but relieved as she knew she was done with work.

She got out of the building, the silence of a week’s late night greeting her—

Loud laughter interrupted the quiet.

Caitlyn turned her head to look in its’ direction, her eyes landing on three figures that were moving towards the station.

She didn’t need to look twice to know the one in the middle was Vi.

Vi was walking towards the station, her arms linked to both Amanda’s and Victoria’s as they flanked her, all three of them laughing uncontrollably at whatever joke one of them had made.

They got closer and closer, Caitlyn able to hear them as Vi said, “Okay, you both let me know when you get home, right?”

“Yes, mom,” The two girls said in unison with an annoyed tone, yet the smiles on their faces indicated they were just teasing her. “God, stop being a pain in our asses and let us walk home in peace.”

“I just worry!” Vi exclaimed, laughing yet serious at the same time. “The streets can be tough, I know about it.”

Amanda raised an eyebrow, “You were probably the one that made them tough.” She said, making Victoria laugh.

“The reports don’t lie, Vi!”

“If you aren’t letting me walk you home, at least let me know you got there safe.”

“We let you walk us here, that’s a big enough sacrifice, already.”

The women laughed, before their eyes finally landed on Caitlyn, who was standing there, looking at them curiously.

“Cait!”

The mirth slowly died as they approached the Sheriff, Vi more relaxed than Victoria and Amanda, though they didn’t flinch at the sight of the older woman.

“What are you doing here?” Vi asked her as they reached her, her eyes scanning the dark building before landing on Caitlyn again, “Did you just finish working?”

Caitlyn nodded, “I came back from my meeting an hour ago and finished some paperwork you had left on my desk.” Her eyes jumped from one of the other girls to the other, “One of us will pass by the administration tomorrow to deliver them.”

They both nodded their heads at that, Amanda letting out a small, “Got it.”

“Okay girls,” Vi said, releasing herself from them. “I’ll catch you tomorrow.”

“We’ll text you when we get home.” Amanda said, making Victoria roll her eyes.

“See you tomorrow, Vi.”

“See you, girls!” She said, watching them as they walked away from them.

“What are you doing here?” Caitlyn asked Vi.

“We just came back from the bar we had gone to.” Vi explained, “Amanda and Victoria are neighbors and they leave nearby, so we decided we’d come back to the station together before we parted ways. Ethan already left, his apartment is near the bar we went to.”

“And you?”

Vi shrugged, “I tagged along with the girls.”

Caitlyn nodded her head slowly, “I see. Will you drive home, now?”

Vi tried to stifle the bark of a laugh that attempted to come out, “Cait, I wasn’t cleared to drive until today.” She smiled as laughter made it harder to remain serious, “By Harriet.” A small pause, “And you.”

Caitlyn’s eyes widened a bit, feeling embarrassed at her own slip up. “Right.”

Silence.

“So you—”

“I’ve been taking the subway to come to work,” Vi replied, knowing Caitlyn’s mind was too tired to make deductions.

Caitlyn nodded, “I see.” She exhaled loudly, her exhaustion demanding she rested, “Well, I’d better get going then.” She turned to leave, “See you tomorrow—”

“Wait.” Vi called her, making Caitlyn turn to look at her.

“What is it?”

“Can I walk you home?” Vi asked her.

Caitlyn raised a brow, a laugh threatening to come out of her mouth. “Vi, I’m a big girl.” She gave her a knowing look, “I can take care of myself, alone.”

“I know, Cupcake, I know,” Vi said, “But I would still like to walk you home, if that’s okay with you.”

Caitlyn stared at her.

She really didn’t want to, but she knew Vi and she knew the woman would insist.

And she was very tired…

A sigh of defeat escaped her lips.

“Okay,” She said. “But I live really close, so it doesn’t make much sense.” She slowly turned once more, pointedly ignoring Vi’s victorious smirk as she moved to walk side by side with her, “You’re just wasting your time.”

“I’m not wasting my time,” Vi said, “I’m just merely looking for excuses to spend time with you.”

Caitlyn did not like the sound of that. “Which you do because…?”

“Because we’re still strangers, Cait.” She offered with a slight shrug of her shoulders. “I’m getting to know you better.”

“Right.”

She didn’t buy that, not for a second.

She felt annoyed by her already; couldn’t Vi take a hint, back off, let her breathe?

Apparently not.

Because, in the end, she was just like everyone else: interested in one thing and one thing only.

Well, you’re definitely not going to get it.

Vi adapted to Piltovian life far faster than she imagined.

Or maybe people in Zaun were just as disgusting as people in Piltover.

“How has your meeting been?” Vi asked, breaking the silence.

“It was fine,” Was all she offered at first, “The Mayor updated me on things that had been happening while I was busy with Dean’s arrest.”

“Really?” A nod. “Like what?”

“Zaunite police are on strike.”

“ What?” Vi said, a bit in disbelief, “Why?”

“Because, apparently, a certain Piltovian officer has been doing their job in their city better than them.” Caitlyn said, giving Vi a side-glance, “The Zaunite Mayor demanded Piltover cease activities in Zaun, at least until animosities die out.” She looked ahead once more, “I was going to talk about it properly tomorrow, since it implies a few changes in the rules.”

Vi didn’t like the sound of what. “Changes like what?”

“Do you still live in the slums of Zaun, Vi?”

“Yes,” She nodded her head.

“That’s one of the things that will have to change.”

“ What!?” Vi was glaring at nothing in particular, “ Why!?”

“Because we have to leave Zaun, Vi.” Caitlyn said, feeling like the woman hadn’t paid attention to her. “We must consider Zaun completely out-of-bounds, at least temporarily so, while things settle once more. It means you can’t live in Zaun any longer.”

Vi sighed, hating the sound of Caitlyn’s words, “So I have to move here.” A nod, “When?”

“As soon as possible.” Caitlyn replied, “I will bring a few apartment options to the office tomorrow so you can see a few alternatives. Since you’re being forced to move, you’ll get a better price.”

“Great.”

“And Vi,” Caitlyn said, making the woman look at her, “You can’t go back to your house in the slums.”

“You can’t ask me to do that.”

“I am not asking you, Vi,” Caitlyn said, a stern look in her eye. “I am ordering you.”

Vi groaned, “Fine, fine.” She looked at Caitlyn with a defeated look, “I will stay out of Zaun.”

Caitlyn nodded her head. “Good.”

“What will happen to our little investigations on that one gang, though?” Vi said, curious, “Will we have to stop them, as well?”

Caitlyn frowned, “Well, how can we stop it if it never happened, in the first place?” She said, before smirking at the sound of Vi’s laughter, “The investigation is off-the-record, so we can keep it up. We just have to be a bit more careful about it.”

“Sounds like a plan, Cupcake.”

“Thank you for working so hard these months, Vi,” Caitlyn said, “You’ve been really helpful and you’ve even finished tasks that have been hanging for weeks.”

“It was nothing, Cait,” Vi said, smiling at her, “You were working even harder than I was and, I don’t know,” She shrugged, “I’m just glad that I could help make it easier for you.”

“That you did.”

“I’m just still brokenhearted over the fact that you didn’t come drink with us.” Vi said, pouting at her.

Caitlyn rolled her eyes. “I couldn’t go.”

“And you didn’t want to.” Vi said, still sporting a look of sadness, “Just admit it.”

So Caitlyn pretended to think for a minute, before nodding, “Okay, you’re right, I didn’t want to.”

Vi gasped, placing a hand on her chest, “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“The sound of my heart, shattering into a million pieces.”

“Oh, my God.” Caitlyn said, rolling her eyes.

“What?”

“You’re being a drama queen.”

Vi gasped again, “I am not—”

“Don’t worry, Vi, you will grow up, one day.”

“You’re so mean to me, Caitlyn.” She said as they reached the Sheriff’s apartment building, Vi deducing as much just because Caitlyn stopped walking.

“I am the worst.”

Vi nodded as she smiled, “That you are, but I wouldn’t like it any other way.”

And so Caitlyn couldn’t take it anymore.

“Stop.”

Vi looked at her. “Huh?”

“Just stop, Vi.”

She didn’t get it. “Stop what?”

“You’re not exactly sly ,” Caitlyn said, looking annoyed, “And this,” She moved her finger back and forth between them, “Is not going to happen.” She glared, “ Ever.” Her expression relaxed, “So you might as well just stop trying.”

Vi was frowning, “You think I’m hitting on you?”

“I’d find it insulting if you told me you thought I didn’t know.” She raised a brow, “It would take an idiot not to see it.” She sighed, “So you might as well just—”

She couldn’t finish her sentence, for Vi was laughing.

Loudly.

Caitlyn stared at her.

“You think I’m hitting on you,” Vi repeated, “You really think I’m going to just try and flirt with my boss.” She said, looking at Caitlyn as her mirthless laughter died out. “I know I don’t have the sharpest mind, but don’t mistake me for a moron either, Caitlyn.”

There was a certain bite to her tone.

Caitlyn glared, “You’re not the first one to try, Vi. I’ve seen it happen before and it’s not going to end well, that I can promise.”

“You think I just walked you home to try and see if I get you to invite me in and then end up fucking on your bed?” Vi said, her voice getting louder as she confronted her, her chest out as she squared her shoulders, a deadly glare on her expression. “Not like I literally tried to walk Victoria and Amanda back to their houses as well, right? Or do you think I want to fuck them too?” There was a look of disgust on her face, “What, just because I’m a lesbian you think I’m going to act like all the dudes you’ve had in your life, to see you and treat you like a piece of meat, like I’ve been starving for weeks?” She was shouting, “Do you really think I’m like them? That I see you like that? That you’re just some bitch I want to fuck!? ”

Caitlyn watched as Vi threw her hands up in surrender, walking away a few steps, before turning to look at her, “It’s not my fucking fault if everyone else you’ve met in your life has tried to use you!” She declared, before coming right back, scoffing again, moving close to her, her voice lowering, “And it’s certainly not my fault if you’re an insecure little jerk who gives herself too much credit.”

Caitlyn glared right back, lifting her chin so as to confront her, “Take that back right now.”

“You need to earn the right to ask for that.” Vi barked back, “But Pilties like you don’t know how to earn shit, so how could you even manage to do that?”

Caitlyn didn’t even know how to respond at the sudden aggression—

“Look at me!” Vi said, stretching out her arms, “Not stupid enough to hit on her boss, but more than moronic enough to insult her.” She pushed a finger against Caitlyn’s chest, “Why do you think I’d grab the only good thing that’s happened to me in my life and throw it to the trash like it means fucking nothing!? Do you really think you’re this high above anyone else!? That literally all of us, mere mortals, are here just to praise you and want you!? Maybe the one who needs to grow the fuck up is you, Caitlyn!” She roared at her. “The world doesn’t revolve around you!”

Vi then turned and walked a few steps away, before stopping, “You’re pretty on the outside,” She said, “And I thought that maybe you were pretty inside as well, but I see now that it’s completely disgusting. After all, you can’t fucking tell the difference between flirting and just being friendly.” She turned to leave, “Get yourself a partner as empty-headed as you, Caitlyn, because I’m quitting tomorrow.”

And after that, she walked away.

Caitlyn stood there, watching her as she disappeared in the distance, her mind still processing what had happened, anger swiftly leaving her mind so as to make room for something different.

Regret.

Because what had just happened had been a first for her. Many firsts.

It was the first time someone screamed at her like that.

It was the first time someone confronted her like that, so easily, with so little fear.

And it was the first time she could admit she had made a mistake.

A terrible mistake.

And the truth remained that Vi was right.

We don’t know each other.

Not that well.

Not well enough to tell the difference between flirting and being friendly.

So Caitlyn took her hat off as she sighed and, with her head low, she entered her building.

Chapter Text

The Sun wasn’t even out by the time she parked her bike nearby the police station.

With stomping boots, she entered the empty station and made her way to the Sheriff’s office.

Her eyes narrowed at the thought of the Sheriff.

She didn’t even bother turning on the lights as she walked, knowing she’d just slam her notice of resignation on the desk and leave, letting it sit there until Caitlyn’s shift started.

She reached the office—

The creak of the door as she opened it made a figure inside the office jump—

Vi’s grip on the handle tightened as she watched how Caitlyn quickly sat up, rubbing the sleep off her eyes in a brief gesture with her index and thumb, before blue was looking at her, the grogginess of sleep quickly giving way to the ice cold that characterized her.

“You don’t knock,” Caitlyn said, her voice husky with sleep, cracking as she tried to push it out of her throat.

“What the Hell are you doing here?”

“How come you didn’t expect me here?” Caitlyn asked, “Didn’t you wonder why the door was unlocked?”

Vi stared at her for a second, “I just had a feeling it was open.” She shook her head, “Whatever, I don’t owe you explanations anymore,” She said, slamming the paper she carried on the desk, “I’m out.” She sentenced, as if the explanation was needed, all while looking for her badge, which she also placed on the table before she turned and walked towards her door, her hand moving towards the handle as she heard Caitlyn’s chair move behind her—

“You don’t get angry all the time.”

The statement had been rather simple, yet it held a heavy air to it; it weighed on the atmosphere, like a haze.

It froze Vi’s hand on the door’s handle as she was turning it, leaving it as stiff as the rest of her body.

It made the silence thick.

Seconds stretched before Caitlyn spoke once more, her voice piercing through the quiet like the rumble of a movie’s dialogue on a television that hadn’t been turned off, the noise coming out of it shaking Vi awake as if the volume had been turned louder;

“You get angry only when you care.”

Vi frowned, before twisting her head to look at Caitlyn, no words coming out of her mouth.

Caitlyn was standing, slightly disheveled but looking as formal as ever as she spoke once more, her eyelids faintly droopy, sleep quickly leaving her, “You don’t get angry unless there’s someone you care about involved in the matter that has the potential to anger you.” She swayed on her feet before slowly moving around the room, “That’s why you don’t care when police officers look down on you, but you do when they look down on someone you like.” She was right in front of Vi when she said, right after a sigh, “And that’s why you didn’t react to Dean being homophobic, but immediately exploded when I did the same.”

Vi’s frowning eyes were moving from one side of Caitlyn’s face to the other, as if looking for an answer in the icy blue that stared back.

Caitlyn went on, “That’s what I was testing you for, when I sent you to the administration office that day.” She confessed, nodding her head. “I wanted to see what made you tick.”

Vi pressed her lips together. “Well, congratulations. You discovered that.”

Caitlyn shook her head. “No, I found out what made you tick by accident, by being the one to push your buttons, which I didn’t mean to do.” She sighed, “That day in the office I only realized you’ve got your priorities better set than the rest of us.”

“Of us?” Vi echoed, before huffing out a laugh, “One would believe you’re speaking for yourself, as well.”

“Because I am.” Caitlyn simply stated, “Because I should have focused on getting to know my partner better, the moral way, rather than through testing with her as if she were a lab rat.”

“Ballsy of you,” Vi said, her eyes cold in a way Caitlyn hadn’t seen before, “To call me a lab rat to my face.”

“I’m doing quite the opposite here, Vi,” Caitlyn said, hyper-aware of the underlying statements that floated in the air. “I’m saying I was wrong for doing this with you; for treating you like that.”

Of all people, you.

“So you’re being Captain Obvious and stating what we all knew from the very beginning, right?” Vi said, pretending to be genuinely intrigued by Caitlyn’s words. “Thanks for letting me know what I was already well aware of, Wright!” She smiled and patted her twice on the shoulder, “Good luck with your next partner.”

Vi turned to leave, pulling the door open—

The pink haired pugilist’s eyes went from a hot glare to a bored expression as Caitlyn quickly stepped in between her and the door, shutting it close once more as she pressed her back against it, a defiant look in her eyes as she held Vi’s stare.

“I gave you a chance when we first met, didn’t I?” Caitlyn said, the defiance quickly giving way to a fake, subtle submission as she knew the former wouldn’t sit well with the brawler. “I ignored everything I had heard about you and I gave you a chance to prove everything I knew about you wrong, didn’t I?” She said, giving Vi a few seconds to answer which she didn’t use, so she kept on going, “All I’m asking is that you do the same for me this one time, Vi.”

Vi didn’t look like she was buying it. “And why should I? You gave me something I had never asked for.” A pause, “And I’m replaceable, anyway.” She scoffed, “Get yourself a straight girl as your partner, next time.” She placed her hand on the handle and tried to open the door—

Caitlyn slammed her palm against the flat surface and shut the door once more, defiance back in her eyes, “You’re not replaceable.”

Vi rolled her eyes, “Yeah, sure, whatever you say, just let me go and get yourself another—”

“ I don’t want another partner!” Caitlyn barked at her, posh accent getting thicker as she lost her composure.

Surprisingly enough, Vi’s first reaction to her outburst wasn’t anger.

It was silence.

Not out of meekness, though, but more out of being taken aback.

She knew the window of time before Vi talked back was small, so she quickly spoke, “I don’t want another partner.” She sighed, “I can’t have another partner,” Cailtyn said, her voice tense, electric in a way as her words spat the static of her anger, “It’s you or no one , Vi.”

“Then have no one, Caitlyn.”

“I can’t have no one!”

“Why not!?”

“ Because you’ve shown me how much of an idiot I can be!”

This time, her silence was out of honest surprise.

Caitlyn was glaring at her, but the brawler could tell it wasn’t exactly directed to her as the Sheriff breathed deeply, her voice lowering as she brought it down from her angered frenzy, “You’ve made me look like an idiot just by being yourself.”

Vi looked at her, bored. “No one thinks you’re an idiot, Caitlyn.”

She shook her head, “I do.”

Vi’s bored expression gave way to one of surprise, again.

She had not been expecting Caitlyn to tell her she had made her look like an idiot in front of herself.

She sighed as she tried to bring her own energy down to that of an annoyed defeat, her index and thumb pinching the bridge of her nose.

Vi watched her as seconds passed, Caitlyn’s eyes closed as she simply breathed in and out.

“I’m very bad at teamwork, Vi,” Caitlyn said, anger gone but the energy of it still in her, “In this city, either you use who you meet for your own benefit or you get used for theirs and there’s no other way around it.” She looked away for a second, “I guess I got too comfortable with Pilties to remember some people aren’t like us and are actually nice human beings.”

She looked at Vi, finding her staring back at her, a bored expression on.

Then, she raised her eyebrows.

Caitlyn tried not to groan, suppressing it through a long exhale. “I owe you an apology for the way I behaved last night. I was rude to you, my attitude was completely uncalled for and you didn’t deserve that treatment, let alone from me.” She sighed, “The truth is that all you said last night was true. I’m not used to people not using me, let alone treating me nicely just because they feel like it.” She shrugged, “I guess I’ve not had enough experience with people like you.”

Vi cocked her hip to a side, before raising only one eyebrow.

Caitlyn sighed, “And maybe I’m a little full of myself.”

Vi snorted, “A little?”

Caitlyn’s eyes narrowed, “Don’t get too ahead of yourself, Vi.” She warned, “I might be a bit self-absorbed but it’s not that I believe everyone is after me.” She looked bored, “I just happen to be in a position of power and it makes sense for some people to want to step over me.”

“Yeah, well,” Vi said, getting closer, “You’d do well in remembering I’m not like the people you’ve met thus far.”

“And you’d do well in remembering me neither.”

Vi huffed a laugh, “That I can tell; it’s not everyday that a Piltie apologizes, let alone to some Zaunite pleb.”

Caitlyn glared. “I don’t think like that.”

Vi nodded her head slightly, “I know you don’t.”

“Well, if you do,” Caitlyn stretched her hand out for Vi to shake, “Will you give me a chance to prove it through actions?”

Vi looked at her hand, a dubious look in her eye. “I’m not convinced yet.”

Caitlyn searched her eyes with quiet annoyance—

There was mirth in her eyes, no matter how badly she tried to downplay, mask it as anger.

Vi was enjoying it.

She knew immediately what she wanted her to do, then.

Because I told her I owe her an apology, but I never gave it to her.

Caitlyn sighed, “I’m sorry for being an idiot to you.”

Vi smirked, nodding her head, “Okay, that’s what I was missing,” She said, before grabbing Caitlyn’s hand, gripping it strongly as she let out on a low voice, “Don’t let me down again because I won’t give you another chance.”

But Caitlyn matched her energy as she let out her own warning, “Don’t insult me again.”

They held each other’s stare for what felt like an eternity, before Vi offered a small smirk, “I will not do paperwork.”

Caitlyn’s eyes narrowed. “Absolutely not.”

“For a month.”

“For a day.”

“For a week and that’s my final offer.”

Caitlyn groaned, “Fine.”

Vi shook her hand then, “Pleasure making business with you,” She said, before walking back to the desk and grabbing her notice of resignation with both hands, one on each corner, her face becoming serious once more then, “I want you to know that I’m doing this because I genuinely think you just made an honest mistake with me and deserve a chance to prove me you’re worth it, Cait,” Vi told her, “But know this is the only time I will agree to this. Next time,” She tore the paper in two, before getting ready to rip it in four, “I won’t say yes.”

“There won’t be a next time,” Caitlyn said, somewhat relieved she managed to convince Vi.

“You will have to tell me what you learn of me, as well.” Vi spoke her thoughts, “Like this whole you get angry when you care thing.”

Caitlyn nodded her head, frowning slightly as she thought, “You also let go of things fast when you feel like the other has learned from their mistakes.”

“Wrong.” Vi warned, making Cailtyn look at her, “I let go of things fast when I feel like the other is genuinely sorry for their mistakes.”

Caitlyn nodded her head, “I see.” She walked up to her side of the desk, opening up a drawer and taking out a few papers out of it, handing them to Vi, who looked at them with skeptical eyes.

“I told you I was not going to do any paper—”

“It’s not work.” Caitlyn said, “Read them.”

Vi inspected the sheets of paper as she flipped them over, skimming through them. “A lease contract?”

“A flat in the upper city, all for you.” Caitlyn said, taking out her telephone from one of her pockets, her thumb playing around the screen, “It’s a few streets away from mine. I know I had said I’d bring alternatives but I consider this one to be the best of all alternatives, so I chose for you instead.”

Vi’s eyes didn’t move from the pages as she read the characteristics of what would be her new floor. “You’re telling me you were this confident about me not quitting?”

“No,” Caitlyn said, honestly, “I didn’t imagine I’d manage to convince you, but I like to be ready for all possible outcomes.”

Vi eyed her for a second, before putting down the lease contract on the desk once more. “Okay.” She sighed, “And how much will this hurt my pocket?”

“Zero,” Caitlyn said, her eyes on her phone.

Vi snorted, “Yeah, right. Who will pay for it? The Mayor?”

“I will.” She said, side-glancing at the brawler, watching her expression of mirth give way to one of surprise.

“You can’t pay for this,” Vi inspected the characteristics of the flat once more, “It sounds a bit expensive.”

“Special price requested by and received from the Mayor since he’s the one forcing you to move and more than enough money in my bank account to afford it.” She said, seeing Vi ready to complain, “And before you say anything about it,” She pressed her finger onto the screen of her telephone once more, “I just paid for the first six months in advance. After that, you can start paying the contract yourself.”

Vi sighed, “And how am I supposed to repay that?”

“That’s the thing,” Caitlyn said, “You’re not.”

Vi glared at her, not anger pushing the expression, but a sort of awkwardness instead. “I can’t accept something like that, Caitlyn.”

“You will have to,” Caitlyn said, matter-of-factly, “Because the payment already went through and I cannot get the money back.”

Vi groaned, self aware, before sitting down, letting her head hang off the backrest.

Caitlyn sat down, her spine straight.

The air was still somewhat tense.

Air blew out of her nose as she thought of the situation like placing a band aid on top of a cut; the wound was hidden, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t there, still.

Laughing at the poor patching, threatening to bleed through it with each throbbing pulse.

She forbid herself from reacting, flinching as Vi unexpectedly leaned forward, “So, what do we do now?”

Caitlyn stared, “There’s still three hours more before our shifts officially start.”

“Okay,” Vi said, “When do you think I could be moving to the new apartment?”

“As soon as I deliver the signed papers to the owner, he should be handing me the key.”

She quickly grabbed a pen and ran through the contract one more time, typing her new address in her phone, placing her signature in the places where it was required, before handing them to Caitlyn, standing up and moving to the door.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to dismantle my place in Zaun, gather what I want to move in with me and get it ready to go,” Vi said, looking over her shoulder at Caitlyn, “I’ll come by when I’m done to see if you’ve got the keys.”

Caitlyn raised a brow, “Why not just call me to check?”

“Because I don’t have your number.”

Her expression went back to neutral, “Oh.”

Vi nodded her head once, “I’d better get going,” She said, opening the door to Caitlyn’s office, “I’ll see you later.”

And then she was alone.

Again.

Her eyes fell on the one piece of paper none of them had glanced at, the only one that she had not signed last night.

Caitlyn grabbed the request for Vi’s desk and inspected it.

The ride back to Zaun in her motorbike was fast, but the silence made it slow.

Inside of her there was turmoil; Her most natural instinct, the defensive rage, screamed at her to go back, to quit the job Caitlyn had tied her to.

And she would have followed it, she would have done it, but…

But.

But the whisper on her shoulder, the curious-toned voice that suggested she tried one more time had caught her attention.

So despite all odds, she had followed it.

She drove her motorbike at a comfortable speed, goggles finally not on the top of her head but on her eyes, helmet forgotten as it hung from her elbow, useless.

She drove to a mechanic’s workshop, a voluminous man with a balding head, a bushy beard, a blind eye and a prosthetic leg was standing right on its entrance, trying to fix a car as its front was raised in a platform, half of the man’s body underneath it as he worked, his body laying on the ground, only sign of life being his arms as they frantically moved back and forth.

Vi parked her bike and took off her goggles, “Henry.” She called out, watching his arms abruptly stop mid-movement before he slid from under the car, his face finally visible, dusty with the car’s residue and rust, visuals that made her raise a brow as she said, “You need a shower.”

The man smiled, a tooth glimmering stronger than the rest of them, “Says you!” He spoke in a loud voice, before getting up and hugging Vi, the woman careless of his current hygienic state. “Long time no see, Vi.”

She nodded, “That’s true.” She smirked, “Silver tooth, really?”

The man gave her a toothy grin, “I was tired of having that one whole on my perfect smile!”

She laughed, “ Perfect smile. Yeah,” She looked at him with mirthful eyes as he lightly punched her arm, “Sure.”

“Shut up, punk,” He said in a growl, though it was evident he was being playful. “What brings you here, girl?”

“I’m moving to Piltover,” She said, no rodeos to her words, going straight to the point with a grimace, “And I need your truck to do so.”

His eyes remained wide, though his smile vanished ever so slightly, his hands busy as he had grabbed a rag, attempting miserably to clean them even if just a bit. “Becoming a Piltie, Vi?”

She looked annoyed at the words, “Don’t even mention it.” She sighed, quickly replying to the question he had yet to ask, “Work demands I move.”

“Ah,” He nodded his head, the intensity of his gaze diminishing as his stare became lazy, “Sheriff Wright wants to keep you on a tight leash, I see.”

Vi scoffed, “Good luck to her.” She let out on a quick breath, “Anyway, I was here to ask you if you could help me with it.”

“Surely,” The man said, “When do you need to move?”

“Today,” She said, watching his eyes widen slightly before saying, “Right now.”

“Okay, now that’s quick decision making and the rest is bullshit.” He commented, nodding his head, before his eyes darted from Vi’s to the car he was fixing, “Do you think you can wait until I’m done with this? I just need to finish adjusting a bolt and then I have to inspect the engine. The owner says she hears a rumble coming from the hood of the car.”

Vi walked towards the front of the car, “Finish with the bolt, lower the car and I’ll check it while you get yourself a bit more presentable.” She raised a brow in a playfully disapproving look, “Wouldn’t want you looking this disgusting in the uppercity.”

The man let out one loud huff of a laugh. “You’re right! They wouldn’t let me in.” He placed himself underneath the car once more. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Vi.” He said, tightening the bolt before coming back up and lowering the car. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

The pink haired woman lifted the hood of the car and started checking the engine out, looking for whatever was not working.

She found it quickly: the cylinders were misfiring.

Problem with the fuel injectors.

She took a look at them, testing them out for the different, possible issues they could be having, to reach the conclusion they were clogged, leading to a weak fuel pump.

In a matter of minutes she took them off the car.

Enough time had gone by that Henry was back, all ready to go. “Found the issue?”

“Fuel injectors,” She told him, “Pass me new ones?”

The man obliged, watching her as she dexterously placed them on the car, lowering the hood and securing it once more right after installing them properly.

She hit the hood twice with the palm of her hand, “That should be good to go.”

“We’ll test it once we’re done with your moving.” The man said, giving Vi a damp rag so she could scrub her hands. “Come on, now,” He said, unlocking his truck as she finished cleaning herself, “Let’s go.”

The man got on the driving seat as Vi got on the passenger’s, immediately taking over the radio as she changed the station up until she found one that played music she fancied.

The man laughed as he started driving, “Some good old fashioned glam rock to ease the soul?”

Vi nodded, relaxing onto her seat. “And please the ears.” She said, leaving a few seconds of silence between them before she finally spoke once more, “How’s Zaun been holding up recently?”

“Shouldn’t you, of all people, be aware of how things are around here?” He frowned, “Didn’t I see you arresting someone the other night?”

“We can apprehend robbers and stuff over here, but we aren’t informed of what happens around Zaun unless it’s really big and Zaunite police needs Piltovian police to come and help.” She shrugged, “They don’t really like us snooping around, say we make them look bad, so they keep us in the dark.”

“Do you inform them of what goes on in Piltover?”

Vi shook her head. “We don’t. It’s really one-sided, this whole thing.” She frowned at Henry’s frown.

“I have a feeling you shouldn’t be telling me this.”

Vi held his gaze for a few seconds, “I have a feeling your feeling is right.”

They stared at each other for a few seconds, before laughter managed to bubble up its’ way up and out of their mouths.

“You’re a wild ride, Vi,” The man said, wiping a tear from his eye.

“Thanks, Henry,” She replied, trying to calm down. “I try to be.”

They got to Vi’s warehouse in no time, the man parking the truck nearby the door so they could load it more easily.

As they worked, he spoke.

“Things have been weird in Zaun, to say the least.” He said as he helped her pack everything up in boxes. “Explosions all over the place which are tenfold stronger than what Zaunite technology could ever do, discoveries of grand thefts of hextech machinery…” He frowned, “And someone keeps rampaging the zoos, letting all animals free, especially the big or dangerous ones, like they’re purposely letting tigers and elephants out, you know?”

“Like they’re trying to wreak havoc.” Vi said, worry, curiosity and mirth dancing in her eyes, all over her expression.

“But the thing is that I’ve not seen death. I mean, surely, there have been some people killed in all these events, but the people behind them are not actively trying to kill people,” He scratched the back of his neck, “They’re just trying to destroy the place.”

“And they’re succeeding.”

He nodded, “And they’re succeeding.”

“How are you so certain they’re not after people?” Vi asked, “Maybe they’re after certain groups of—”

“No, Vi,” He replied, sealing one of the boxes with tape, “The people who’ve been killed have absolutely nothing in common between them, let alone they’re not related to the robbed companies nor the destroyed ones; they literally just happened to be passersby with absolutely no luck whatsoever.” A beat, “And I have a feeling that the people behind the killings, were they to actually pursue killing sprees, they’d be killing at least ten times more than now.” Another beat, “Hundreds, for sure.”

“You think these people are terrible like that?” She said, a frown on her face.

He grimaced, as if the thought he had conjured up was crazy enough he himself couldn’t believe it, “I think that the person behind this all has the potential to be insanely dangerous, but for now they’re just insane.” His grimace deepened, “Does it make sense?”

Vi frowned, “I guess so.”

They finished loading the truck and got inside, the pink haired pugilist informing her friend about her new address and trying to relax onto her seat as he drove.

Relax was the one thing she couldn’t do, though, for his words kept resonating in her head.

The person behind all this…

She broke the silence, going back to the topic as if they had just been talking about it a few seconds ago, when in reality quite the couple of minutes had already passed, “ The person? You think it’s only one person behind all that?”

“It sounds crazy, doesn’t it?” He said, nodding his head almost in the same rhythm as Vi nodded hers, stealing a few glances at her, “But somehow these are all too crazy crimes, I don’t know,” He shook his head, “They’re all so out of nowhere and unexpected that the only thing they have in common is their randomness, so I think that yes, maybe they have a team, maybe they don’t, but it’s the same person behind them all, no doubt about that.”

He took a left in a slow motion, his eyes right back on the road as Vi’s own thoughts claimed her.

The only thing they have in common is that they have nothing in common at all.

But if they had nothing in common, why did Henry suddenly decide they were all linked in some way?

It just didn’t make sense to her.

“I see I’ve given you something to think about,” He said, noticing how distracted her companion was. “My bad.” He chuckled.

She shook her head, “You’re fine,” She told him, “I just find it all a bit…” She trailed off, looking for a word, “ Interesting, I guess.”

He huffed a laugh, “I see.”

The silence they had both settled in was broken by the sound of Vi’s telephone going off once, the indication that she had gotten a text message. She quickly took it out of her pocket to check it;

I’ve already got the keys to your flat. I’m waiting for you by the entry to the building.

She frowned and typed a reply;

Caitlyn?

And quickly, the reply to her own came;

Yes, Vi.

She texted her a quick Ok before putting her phone back in her pocket once more, genuinely embarrassed at that last exchange, because who else could it be, talking to her about her flat?

She just didn’t expect to receive a message from Caitlyn of all people, for it meant the posh woman had gone back to her file, searched her phone number and used it to text her, subtly giving the brawler her own number in the process.

And she didn’t need anyone telling her that Caitlyn didn’t give her phone to just anyone.

They arrived at the destination only to find the Sheriff already waiting there, arms crossed in front of herself as she took a few idle, slow steps.

“The Sheriff in the flesh,” The man said at the sight of her. “She’s got the keys to your apartment, I’ll take it?”

Caitlyn’s eyes landed on the truck and she raised one of her hands, flashing the key.

“She does.”

They parked the truck—

“Not a word to her about Zaun,” Vi said under her breath, well aware the man had heard her.

“Why not?” He said, moving his face to the side so that Caitlyn couldn’t read his lips, tell he was speaking.

Vi didn’t know how to reply.

Why not?

“Hunch.” She simply said, smiling at him as he said so, if only to pretend the topic was something else, aware of her boss’ eyes through the windshield.

They came out of the truck and quickly walked up to the door, Caitlyn approached them, “Do you need help?”

“Just open the door and lead us to the right one.” Vi said, “We can deal with the boxes.”

“She didn’t pack much, anyway.” Henry piped in.

Caitlyn nodded once, “This way.”

The Sheriff led them to the building’s elevator, spacy enough to let all of them in at once, their boxes included.

Vi saw Caitlyn press the button 14 and raised her eyebrows, “The flat’s the highest floor in the building?”

Caitlyn nodded, “That’s right.”

Henry frowned at the buttons. “Where’s number 13?”

“Number 13 is usually omitted in Piltover,” Caitlyn said, looking at him, “It’s the unlucky number.”

Henry huffed a laugh, “Didn’t take you Pilties for superstitious people.”

“Doesn’t that just mean that I’m on the 13th floor, only the name has been changed?” Vi said, frowning.

Caitlyn raised a brow, “You could say so.”

The brawler snorted.

Lucky me.

They reached the floor, only to find a door that blocked the exit of the elevator.

Vi frowned at it while Caitlyn placed the key she had been holding on its’ keyhole, turning it and pushing it open—

Vi gasped at the space that opened right in front of her; she didn’t need to do math, she could already tell the place was at least twice, if not thrice as big as the one she had in Zaun.

A whole floor, all for her.

“This is your new home, Vi.” Caitlyn said, giving an awed Vi the key she held, “I hope you enjoy it.”

“That I will,” The brawler said, being pushed aside by Henry as he started entering boxes into the room.

Time flew as they unloaded the truck, leaving it empty as they brought all the stuff that had been placed on its’ trunk to Vi’s new floor, the Zaunite man helping her unpack the most important things.

It was only then that Vi, who had been too busy thinking of Henry’s gossip earlier in the day, noticed they had brought not one of her sofas, desks or chairs.

“You’re going to have to buy some furniture,” He said with a funny tone, “Because I will not bring your awful sofa nor that broken bed here.” He raised his chin, “My truck has some sense of dignity.”

Caitlyn, who had been standing, leaning against the counter of the kitchen, quietly chuckled at what she heard, while Vi groaned.

“Oh, come on!”

Caitlyn’s phone went off, making Vi turn to look at her.

There was a frown on the Sheriff’s face.

A deep one unlike whatever she had seen before.

“What’s the matt—”

“You’ve got your gauntlets already unpacked, right?” Caitlyn asked her, not even bothering to look at her.

Vi glanced at them. “Next to my armor, yes.”

“Get it all on,” Caitlyn said, shoving her phone in one of her pockets before she looked at Henry, “Thank you for your help, let me walk you to your truck.”

Vi watched her as they both got into the elevator and left.

Quickly, she put her armor and one of her gauntlets on, carrying the other one with her weaponized hand as she used her free one to lock the door to her apartment as she left.

Downstairs, she found Henry was gone, Caitlyn already on the patrol car of theirs.

She climbed in.

“What happened?”

“Reports of violence in Zaun.” Caitlyn said, starting up the car. “Explosives went off.”

Explosions greater than what Zaun can achieve.

“I thought we had said we weren’t getting involved in Zaun’s affairs anymore?”

Caitlyn looked at her with a deadly, serious focus.

“They found stolen Piltovian hextech technology in the place of the incident, which matches up with reports of missing artifacts of one of our still open cases.” She got her seatbelt on, “Whoever it is, they’re not only Zaun’s problem, anymore.”

Vi frowned, deeply.

Discoveries of grand thefts of hextech machinery…

She sighed and put her seatbelt on.

“Let’s go.”

Thus Caitlyn stepped on the accelerator.

Chapter Text

The speed at which Caitlyn had driven was insane. Had they both been paying any sort of attention, they’d be thankful for their lives, for it was most definitely miraculous that they were still alive; in just a matter of minutes, they arrived at the destination: an old, abandoned toy factory.

By the time they had gotten there, the fire had been put out by a humongous team of Zaunite firefighters, the police ready to enter the building to inspect it.

They didn’t like what they saw as Vi and Caitlyn entered their sights.

“This is a situation for us to handle, Wright,” Zaun’s police’s Sheriff said, the glimmer of a glare in his eyes as he stared at the approaching women, his eyes always darting away from Vi and landing on Caitlyn. “I’ll kindly request that you leave the area, immediately.”

“I’m afraid we can’t, Marston.” She replied, using his last name as well, “The technology used to cause the explosion was Piltovian hextech machinery and it was missing, having been stolen.” She looked at him with a no-nonsense look. “So you will find out that this is a situation for us to handle, too.”

He hadn’t liked her reply. “We won’t let you in before we go in.”

Caitlyn took a step forward, “And why haven’t you gone in, already?”

“ Ladies, ladies,” Vi intervened, stepping in between them, “You’re both pretty. Now, how about both your guys and us go in, Sheriff?” She asked Marston, “The factory is too big for just us or just you. We could comb it in half the time if we go in and we split.”

He looked like he was considering her words, a certain awkwardness to his gaze as he looked away—

“Kyle,” Vi said, one robotic hand landing on the man’s shoulder like a friendly pat, making the embarrassed man turn his head to look at her again, “Come on, for old time’s sake?” She nodded her head once, a smile on her lips, “I wouldn’t want to have to remind you of—”

“ Fine!” He said, his face red, “Fine, you win, Vi, you win.” He groaned, “Little shit,” He said under a breath, “We will both enter the factory. Since we're the majority in numbers, we’ll cover all floors of the factory minus the ground one, which will be yours to comb.”

Caitlyn opened her mouth to protest—

“Perfect,” Vi said, not letting her speak, “We will let each other know if we find something interesting,” She raised a brow.

Caitlyn wanted to speak—

“Sounds fair,” Marston said, “We’ll use channel five to communicate on the radios.”