Arcane: Starting in Zaun Chapter 36: Jinx's Return

[Check Out My P4treon For 50 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!! And get chapters before publishing them here for free on my p4treon][sp4treon/roaverse]

===

"Who is your 'Little Cupcake'? Don't move, or I'll put a hole in you!"

Caitlyn's voice was a jagged edge of threat and betrayal as she leveled her rifle at Ekko's chest. Her eyes shifted to Vi, burning with a cold, righteous fury. "I trusted you. I pulled you out of that hellhole, and this is how you pay back? Aiding and abetting terrorists?"

Ekko didn't back down. He gripped his tal rod, his knuckles white, and shot a look of pure venom at Vi. "This is your 'friend,' Vi? A Cop? An Enforcer?"

The trust Ekko had rebuilt with Vi over the last hour vanished in an instant. He stepped onto his hoverboard, the motor humming a low, aggressive vibration. "I never thought I'd se

e the day you'd beco companions with the blue-coats. Have you forgotten whose hands our parents died in? Have you forgotten the bridge?"

Vi stood in the crossfire, her hands raised as she tried to bridge a gap that was widening by the second. "Ekko, she's not like the others! She wasn't even an Enforcer back then. Tis have changed!"

Ekko shook his head, a bitter smile twisting his face. "You're the one who changed, Vi."

"Ekko, people have to change," Vi pleaded. "Vander taught that this war only ends in a body count. We have to find another way!"

Ekko couldn't take any more. He looked at Vi with a gaze full of disappointnt and a bone-deep lancholy. He pivoted his board, intending to vanish back into the shadows.

Caitlyn's finger tightened on the trigger. She wasn't about to let a primary suspect in a Hexgate bombing just fly away. But before she could fire, Vi stepped directly into her line of sight, her chest inches from the barrel.

"You can't shoot him," Vi said, her voice low and steady.

"Get out of the way! Or I'll shoot through you!" Caitlyn yelled.

To Caitlyn's horror, Vi reached out, grabbed the cold steel of the muzzle, and pressed it firmly against her own heart. She t Caitlyn's gaze with a terrifying resolve. "My heart is right here. If you want a body for your report, take mine. Shoot!"

"This… let go!" Caitlyn's voice broke. The fierce Enforcer facade cracked as she looked into Vi's eyes. She couldn't do it. She couldn't pull the trigger on the woman who had protected her in the Sump.

She watched, helpless, as Ekko's green trail vanished into the night sky.

Caitlyn glared at Vi, her eyes wet with frustration. "He's gone. Let go of my gun."

Vi released the barrel. She tried to explain, her words tumbling out in a desperate Zaunite rhythm. "Little Cupcake, listen to . The Firelights... they aren't the villains. They're trying to burn Silco's Shimr trade to the ground. They're doing your job for you!"

Caitlyn holstered her weapon, her face set in a mask of Piltie law and order. "And what about the innocent people, Vi? The porters, the administrators? Three dead, seven injured. Do their lives not matter because they were standing near Silco's cargo?"

"They were helping pirates, Caitlyn! Regrets are for people who didn't choose to work for Silco. Destroying that trade saves thousands in the Zaun."

"It's not your place to decide who lives and dies!" Caitlyn snapped. "You've killed people right under my nose, and you expect to call it 'justice'?"

"If we don't manage it, who will?" Vi's anger finally boiled over. "Your Enforcers? Silco has been poisoning my ho for years, and you lot haven't discovered a single vial of Shimr because you're too busy patting yourselves on the back! If you won't clean the gutter, don't complain when we do it ourselves!"

"You can't use these thods, Vi. You're just creating more ghosts."

"You don't understand Silco! You don't understand the Zaun! You're just a girl in a gold-plated cage!"

The stalemate was absolute. Neither would yield, two souls from two different worlds colliding and finding no common ground.

Then, the rain began to fall—a cold, rhythmic downpour that washed the tension out of the air but left the bitterness behind. Vi looked at Caitlyn one last ti, wanting to reach out, but the images of Powder and Ekko stood between them like a wall of iron.

She took two steps back, her eyes lingering on Caitlyn's face, then turned and walked away into the dark. Every splash in the puddles felt like a pang in her chest. Ultimately, Vi thought, we really aren't from the sa world.

The Academy Lab

Inside the Piltover Academy, Chen and Powder were focused on the internals of a prototype combustion engine. It wasn't Hextech, but it was reliable. It was pure.

Whirrr. A green light lanced through the window.

"Chen, it's Ekko," Powder said, her eyes lighting up as she tugged on his sleeve.

Chen frowned. His strategist's brain imdiately went to "Defcon 1." Ekko doesn't just pop in for tea. Sothing is wrong.

Ekko landed his board in the middle of the lab, his face a mask of grief and fury. Powder ran to him. "Little Man! What's going on? Why the long face?"

"Vi…" Ekko wheezed, his voice trembling. "Vi is back."

"Oh, boy," Chen muttered, covering his eyes. He knew exactly what was coming.

The reaction was instantaneous. Powder began to shake, her breathing becoming shallow and erratic. "Vi? She's… she's here? Right now?" Tears began to carve tracks through the grease on her cheeks. As much as she hated the mory of being abandoned, the hunger for her sister's love was a bottomless pit.

But Ekko's next words were a serrated blade. "Vi betrayed us, Powder. She's forgotten everything. She's forgotten the parents we lost, the bridge, the blood… she's cozying up to a female Enforcer."

"What?" Powder took a step back, her face pale.

"I saw it myself," Ekko spat. "She didn't co to find you. She went straight to that Cop. And that Enforcer? She pointed a gun at . She wanted to arrest us both, Powder. Vi just watched."

Chen lunged forward, covering Ekko's mouth. "Shut up, Ekko! You're making it worse!"

But the damage was procced. The "Jinx" passive was stacking.

"No! No, no, no!" Powder clutched her head, her screams hitting a hysterical pitch that rattled the glassware in the lab. "Impossible! Vi wouldn't… she would never!"

"Powder, look at !" Chen shouted, trying to grab her shoulders. "Ekko only saw one side of it! Maybe it's not what it looks like!"

But Powder's eyes had already changed. The fragile, scholar-blue had vanished, replaced by a sharp, electric violet. She tilted her head, a jagged, terrifying smirk spreading across her face.

"Powder?" she whispered, her voice a low, lodic threat. "No, no, no. I think Powder's gone for a nap. I'm Jinx."

The Loose Cannon was back, and she looked like she wanted to see the world burn.

===

Note: This story is currently available up to chapter 60 on my Patreon, go check it out.

exclusive 18 character images, and early chapters, please visit my Patreon. Thanks for your support!

sp4treon/roaverse

if you want more updates == supports with power stones

Every 40 Power Stones == Bonus Chapter

every three 5-star reviews == Bonus Chapter