"Caitlyn!" Hearing gunfire in the distance, Vi immediately turned and ran back toward Piltover.
A swarm of Firelights followed behind her.
On the other side, Caleb knew he would only get one chance.
He had to end this fast. Otherwise, no matter how bad the Enforcers' aim was, he'd still get turned into a sieve.
Still, it was worth the risk.
Marcus, meanwhile, was struggling with whether he should kill the girl in front of him. Her mother was a councilor. If she found out about this, he was finished. But if he didn't help Silco take care of this problem, then his daughter, Ren...
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, a furious shout nearly scared the soul out of him.
"Cease fire, all of you!"
Caleb lunged in and kicked Marcus flat onto the ground.
"Council investigator! By order of Councilor Mel Medarda, I'm here to investigate the Piltover Enforcers!"
He shouted so loudly that even he was starting to believe the lie himself.
And it really did stun everyone. The Medarda family was the most powerful house on the Council, and Mel Medarda had been Piltover's unquestioned leading figure before Jayce took office.
"Lady Medarda should already be here! I'm reporting this directly to Lady Medarda and Councilor Mel!"
Caleb barked the words out and flashed an identification badge bearing the Medarda crest.
Caitlyn had no idea what was going on, but she still kicked Marcus's pistol away and raised her rifle upward.
"Marcus! You colluded with the Zaunite crime lord Silco and protected his smuggling operation! I'm placing you under arrest! Stand aside!"
Caleb was rattled, but he forced himself to keep yelling.
"Is what he's saying true?" The other Enforcers had no idea what to do anymore. Beneath their masks, their faces had already gone blank with panic.
"Marcus really has gone down to Zaun before, but that doesn't necessarily mean—"
"Wasn't he just saying this whole thing was a Firelight setup? How's it suddenly collusion with Silco?"
Marcus's face was pressed against the ground. He bit down on his lip, and in the end, he still gave the order.
"Stand down."
The moment he said it, the tension drained out of his body all at once, as though he had finally put down a burden he'd been carrying for years.
"He's telling the truth."
All the strength went out of Marcus, and he collapsed onto the cold ground.
A faint smile tugged at Caleb's lips. He might have sucked at League, but he'd always been obsessive about details. He even remembered the Medarda family crest.
Zaun was full of talented people. Getting someone there to forge something like that hadn't been hard at all.
Jinx should have been busy working on Hextech right now, and Silco was about to clash with the Chem-Barons. As long as Vi found Jinx and calmed her down, Jinx wouldn't fire on the Council building.
Then Caleb could use what he knew to persuade the Council. With Heimerdinger and the Firelights taking over Zaun, everything would work out for everyone.
A perfect ending.
…
A buzzing sound came in from far away, as if a cloud of starlight were rushing toward them.
In the blink of an eye, it had surrounded everyone.
Caleb's expression changed instantly, and he shouted without hesitation, "Down! Everybody get down!"
Boom!
Before anyone could react, an explosion went off overhead, followed immediately by countless more.
The blasts themselves weren't especially strong, but there were too many of them.
Fortunately, the Enforcers listened, and Caitlyn didn't hesitate to trust Caleb.
Fragments from the explosions sprayed everywhere like fireworks.
As long as they curled up and protected their heads and abdomens, the wounds wouldn't be fatal.
Avoiding injury, however, was impossible. Wing-shaped shards of metal punched into flesh, drawing screams all around.
"Good thing I was being careful," Caleb muttered as he got back up and dragged the wounded, groaning Enforcers behind the barricades.
One of Caitlyn's legs had been hit too. The red-hot metal had seared her skin and flesh, cauterizing the wound so it stopped bleeding.
But that only made it more agonizing.
"Jinx... is she nearby?" Caleb frowned hard.
He had miscalculated.
That attack had clearly come from the mechanical butterflies Jinx had prepared in advance.
Drawn by the floodlights, plenty of ordinary insects had flown in. The clockwork butterflies had hidden among them, then detonated at the right distance. The metal that made up their wings and bodies scattered after the blast, turning into shrapnel.
Luckily, Caleb had made his clothes ahead of time with fibers structured something like Kevlar, enough to stop fragments effectively.
After all, he'd always had to consider the possibility of getting shot too.
"That was definitely a surprise," Ekko muttered from where he lay on the ground.
He was fine as well. The bullet had stopped in the plate hidden under his clothes, though the impact had left him dazed for a moment.
"Then get over here and help," Caleb snapped, still dragging the groaning Enforcers into cover.
If Vi came back, then Jinx would come too.
He might have gotten this completely wrong.
…
"Friend across the river, please... warm these cold hands of mine."
The song carried a faint sorrow, an old tune from long ago.
"I've lost everything. Please... spare me a little kindness."
Jinx came walking forward step by step, a machine gun slung across her back.
"Even just a single coin... would be kindness beyond price."
…
She had come onto this bridge once before. Back then, the air had been choked with that awful red haze.
The Enforcers had been like demons, killing her parents.
"Don't worry. I'm not jealous."
Vi had brought her here back then, made her see the bodies of her dead parents.
And later, Vander, the man who had taken them in.
"You have towers reaching the sky. I live in the alleys below."
After that riot, Vander had nearly drowned Silco, the man who still wanted to keep fighting, and became the leader of the Lanes himself.
After that, Vander never once entertained the idea of resistance again.
"Friend, come over to this side of the river and take a look—"
The song cut off.
Last time, the ones lying dead had been her parents, along with the wreckage scattered all over Zaun. This time, it was the Enforcers.
Jinx stared at Vi, who was helping Caitlyn stand, and her eyes filled with disappointment. She let out a cold snort.
There were no fallen Enforcers left in front of her now. They had all been moved behind the searchlights.
At Vi's side, Caitlyn even seemed to be wearing a mocking smile.
Jinx snatched up her machine gun, and bullets tore along the ground toward the two of them.
Vi shoved Caitlyn away, and the bullets ripped through the space between them.
…
A figure riding a hoverboard shot into view.
Ekko.
Jinx hurriedly raised her machine gun, but she couldn't match his speed. Ekko swung the pipe in his hand upward and knocked the weapon right out of her grasp.
He shot past her, then used the ground to spin back around. At the same time, Jinx had already drawn her pistol and taken aim.
The next few shots either missed Ekko completely or were blocked by his hoverboard.
Ekko closed in and tried to bring his pipe down on her, but Jinx kicked his hoverboard out from under him.
After rolling several times across the ground, Ekko dug the iron glove on his hand into the bridge to slow himself down.
A harsh grinding sound rang out, sending sparks flying, and Ekko slid back to the others.
"Go!" he shouted at the two of them.
Vi slung Caitlyn's arm over her shoulder. As she turned, she looked at the approaching Jinx.
Under Jinx's icy stare, Vi still turned away and left.
Caleb silently took Caitlyn's other arm and helped support her, tucking away the Hextech gemstone he had just picked up.
"You were scared."
Caleb only said a few simple words, but Vi fell silent.
"That's Jinx. Someday, I'll bring Powder back," Vi said, her face full of sorrow.
"We deal with Silco first. There'll be another chance after that," Caitlyn said, trying to encourage her.
Only Caleb let out a quiet sigh and said nothing more.