Chapter Text
When Caitlyn came to, she did not know where she could even possibly be. Her vision was blurry, her whole body still waking up, but even in a groggy haze she could tell her hands, feet, and chest were bound. It smelled like absolute hell wherever she was, the harsh scent of chemicals overpowering everything other than a distinct scent of rot.
She struggled against her restraints, the sound of their metal clashing against the metal of the chair she was bound to resounding throughout the place. The chair did not move, seemingly either glued or nailed to whatever surface she was on, and her restraints were tightly secured. Whoever had captured her knew how to keep her here, which begged the question of who had such capacity?
As her vision cleared, she began to take in the scenery around her. She seemed to be on a wide and long propeller of steel, securely rammed into the stone wall that surrounded. From the looks of it, she was in a makeshift home in a giant chasm. There was a couch near the back stone wall with some metal mannequin-like sculptures positioned on it as though they were relaxing. The entire area had been lit up with neon paint and lights of all different hues, giving an almost carnival-esque accent to the dystopically poor setting.
It almost reminded her of a jail cell, if you took away the paint and lights and kept all the misery and isolation. Caitlyn immediately thought of Vi, wasting away in her cell for years, and her heart hurt.
Vi. Oh my god, was Vi here too? And where the fuck were they?
“Vi?” Caitlyn called, the desperation in her voice surprising even her.
“You don’t have the right to say her name!” shouted a loud, shrill voice from behind her. A voice Caitlyn was able to place immediately.
“Jinx, please, tell me if Vi is okay. Please, I-“
A gunshot rang out, interrupting Caitlyn. She braced herself for the wound, not knowing where it would pierce her, just that she would likely die. And then she saw the impact in the steel to her left, mere inches away from her arm.
“I said don’t say her name — you don’t have the right, you haven’t earned it, you took her!”
“I didn’t-“
“Shut up!” Jinx interrupted immediately. A chill crept down Caitlyn’s spine and she backed down. She was already tired and unarmed, gambling with her fate even further was unwise. “And you, Mylo, nobody fucking asked!”
“It’s…okay, though. It’s okay now. We’ve got you now, so it’s even, it’s even, even though they have Vi, it’s — I said shut the fuck up, Mylo!” screamed Jinx above her, and then Caitlyn watched as a grenade was lobbed over towards the couch, only getting part of the way before Jinx shot it.
The resulting explosion was harshly loud and extremely bright, but after the sparks and fire had cleared, Caitlyn noticed the blast hadn’t destroyed the entire space like she’d expected. It had exploded lately in the air, the blast seeming to have affected nothing but one of the mannequins, whose smoking head was firmly trashed in a pile at the back wall.
That was an incredibly impressive mastery of both marksmanship and explosives. Just who was Vi’s sister, truly?
Caitlyn was bewildered. She had scarcely seen such a display, even amongst the best marksmen of the enforcers. Just how war-torn was the underground? The thought was scary, if she was honest. This whole damned situation was scary. She couldn’t even see Jinx, placing her completely at the mercy of the other girl.
“Silco says you’re not a threat. He says you’re nothing down here, not without your guns and your badges. He says I’m not supposed to hurt you.”
“And, um- are you going to hurt me?” Caitlyn asked.
“I dunno.” said Jinx, honest. “Didn’t you come down here to hurt us?” The rage seemed to have faded at the drop of a hat, or in this case, the detonation of an explosive. Caitlyn wasn’t sure how to feel, as Jinx seemed both genuine and dangerous.
But Vi would talk to her. Try to reason with her. Vi would, so Caitlyn would where Vi couldn’t.
“I have never tried to hurt anyone. I wish I would never have to.” Caitlyn answered honestly. Her skills with a weapon was something she took pride in, but truth be told she’d never wanted to have to shoot another person. The mere thought was nigh unbearable.
“Bullshit. You’re a scion of a noble family, Silco told me. Your kind loves to hurt us.”
“Believe it or not, my mother and I do not always see eye to eye. There are many decisions the council makes I would not have made myself.” Caitlyn replied. It was not a lie — the more she learned of the undercity, the more she wished that council seat was hers, if only to be able to provide some kind of help and relief.
“Silco wants to know about her. Told me to get everything about her from you. Said you’re stuck here until you’re no longer useful.”
Caitlyn swallowed thickly.
“And after I’m no longer useful?” she asked, not sure if she really wanted to hear the answer.
“He didn’t say. Think that means it’s up to me, don’t you?”
Caitlyn grit her teeth. Breathing in the acrid air was making her feel lightheaded, the bright blinking colors quickly becoming too much for her eyes. She likely wasn’t going to make it out of here alive, likely wasn’t going to see Vi again. Her heart hurt. She was scared. Jinx was probably enjoying every moment of this, but as Caitlyn still couldn’t see her, it was up in the air.
“And you hate me,” said Caitlyn finally. “so are you telling me I’m going to die?”
“You’re so dramatic. Aren’t you listening? I already said-“ Jinx paused, and Caitlyn heard the sounds of scrambling down metal. The sound of Jinx’s boots squeaking against it was a shrill sound only made worse by the echo of the chasm. She ended up in front of Caitlyn, balancing on the armrests of the chair Caitlyn was tied to.
“-I. Don’t. Know.” Jinx finished. Between each word, she poked Caitlyn’s nose with the pad of her finger. Their bodies were close, their faces closer, leaving Caitlyn with an easy way to truly take Jinx in.
Jinx looked both somehow worse and better than the last time Caitlyn had seen her. She looked more pale, a little sicker, and her eyes flashed a bright purple. Caitlyn gasped.
“Did you take shimmer?” Caitlyn asked in horror, knowing such a thing would crush Vi. Beyond that, a Jinx amped up by drugs was likely not to be a particularly benevolent Jinx. Both thoughts were unpleasant to think too hard about.
Jinx, it seemed, also found it unpleasant to think about. She went from staring wildly into Caitlyn’s eyes to shying away, averting her gaze with a grimace.
“Silco had to save me. The doctors down here don’t have much to work with.” said Jinx, a statement that came out sounding far more like she was trying to convince herself than Caitlyn.
“…I don’t really know what he did.” said Jinx in the resulting silence. Before Caitlyn could respond, Jinx whipped around to point harshly at the couch.
“You don’t know Silco like I do!” Jinx exclaimed. Caitlyn followed the line of her point right to the other mannequin, a pathetic looking construct with near-destroyed goggles strapped to the top. “He wouldn’t hurt me, he loves me! Not like you would know! None of you would!
“Not one of you.” finished Jinx, voice barely above a mumble. She seemed to almost shift in on herself, rage giving way to pain. A part of Caitlyn wished she could hug the girl.
“Who are you talking to?” asked Caitlyn cautiously. She couldn’t hear whatever was causing Jinx’s outbursts, and the name Mylo meant nothing to her, leaving Caitlyn at a loss. As far as she could tell, they were alone down here.
Jinx turned, fixed her with a glare. She seemed to be almost analyzing her.
“What’s your mom like?” Jinx asked finally. Caitlyn couldn’t tell if Jinx had just chosen to ignore her or if she had been too wrapped up in the moment to even hear, but talking to the girl was becoming quickly frustrating.
“Strict.” said Caitlyn. She probably shouldn’t be answering, she was an enforcer after all. Yet, everything she’d seen in the underground plus her hazy state had loosened her lips and she didn’t seem to care. “Careful. A little vain.”
“A little.” echoed Jinx, a moment later giggling mockingly.
Caitlyn chose to ignore her. She wouldn’t rise to Jinx’s challenges, it would only damn her further, so she simply continued.
“She’s stuck in her ways but loyal to a fault. Ridiculously stubborn, she runs a tight ship of our house. My father is, well.” Caitlyn paused, deciding on the right words. “He is not weak, more that in the face of someone as strong as her, he tends to be seen as unthreatening and open.”
“She hate us?” asked Jinx, who seemingly had sank to the floor to tinker with some machinery, her back to Caitlyn.
“I…” Caitlyn began, wanting to say no. She wanted to say her mother cared about all the citizens of Piltover, even the ones she would’ve called ‘distasteful’, but that in itself was a perfect example of her mother’s cruel attitude towards those less fortunate. “…don’t know. Maybe.”
Jinx stopped whatever she was doing, the sounds of metal and electricity from whatever she had been doing stopped with her. “Silco hates all of them back. He said if he had it his way, he’d march on Piltover and take back what was rightfully ours.” Jinx said, still not facing her.
“And you? If you had it your way?”
Jinx was silent for a while, but the sounds of tinkering resumed. Caitlyn waited. She hoped Jinx would surprise her and would long for the same things as her – peace, unity, and collaboration. It’s what Vi had wanted, and Vi had raised Jinx-
“I would blow topside to shit until they left us alone forever, probably.” Jinx said finally, wiping the sweat from her brow and sighing. Caitlyn hung her head, cursing under her breath. Maybe Ekko had been right, maybe Jinx was really just Silco’s monster now. The thought of that person being her captor was not exactly something she really wanted to consider.
When she looked back up, Jinx was now standing, admiring a long metal…shark? Caitlyn blinked just to make sure she wasn’t just seeing things, but no, clear as day it was a shark. It’s mouth was open and it seemed to have a chamber within that went all the way to the back, though she couldn’t tell exactly.
The ropes were starting to get incredibly uncomfortable, continuing to dig farther into her skin as she tried to move more, but just sitting perfectly still (being given ‘manners’ lessons as a scion had to have some benefits) was straining her already pained muscles.
“Jinx, if I promise I won’t try anything, will you let me out of these restraints?” Caitlyn asked, trying to keep her voice level and neutral. It was becoming harder to think about staying alert, the pain in her head spreading. Caitlyn had experienced migraines before, and this felt like the beginning stages, something that would pose a problem to the image she’d been able to maintain up to this point.
“No!” came Jinx’s cheery voice. The girl had not even looked over at her before answering, enraptured with the creation. Caitlyn watched as Jinx then removed a small blue bead from her pocket, and her jaw dropped.
“What are you-” Caitlyn began, but stopped immediately when Jinx spun her pistol up into her hand and pointed it directly at her.
“Quiet.” said Jinx, not even in a particularly threatening way. If anything, her tone came off as though she was completely uninterested in Caitlyn. After a few seconds of silence and the spiking of Caitlyn’s heartbeat, Jinx turned to her and winked.
“Good girl.” cooed Jinx, spinning her gun back into it’s holder. She knelt down, carefully using her hands to open a small compartment at about the middle of the shark. Caitlyn felt dread pooling in her stomach, a nauseous nervousness overtaking her as Jinx lowered what looked to be an exact replica of a gemstone down into the compartment.
The machine whirred to life, magic sparking and crackling around the machine for several seconds.
Caitlyn braced herself.
And nothing happened.
“Dammit!” yelled Jinx. She reared her leg back and forcefully kicked the shark with the heel of her boot, only to then gape as the creation fell off the side and down into the bubbling mess below. A silence descended over the space once again as Jinx just stared, almost stupefied by the outcome of her own actions.
“Fuck!” Jinx yelled. She brought her hands to her face, and only after a small whine and subsequent sniffle did Caitlyn realize that Jinx was crying. She felt her heart hurt for Jinx without even knowing what the device had been, it just seemed like Jinx had been so pleased. Once again, she felt herself wishing she could hug the girl.
Maybe it was the stench, maybe it was the pain, or perhaps it was just all the stress on her shoulders as of late, but Caitlyn was starting to go under. Her vision was blurring, she wanted to speak but could barely think of the words to say, her head was pounding so hard. Caitlyn watched Jinx whip around, and vaguely realized she’d swung a punch at nothing over her shoulder. She’d also yelled something but it sounded so far away.
Consciousness faded from Caitlyn, the last thing out of her mouth a desperate attempt to form Jinx’s name.