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Silco was a man who understood that morality was just a weight that slowed you down. In another life, Jinx would have been his daughter, a mirror reflecting his own trauma and a soft spot in his iron-clad heart. But without her, Silco had no mirror. He had no weakness. He was a pure, predatory monarch of the Sump.
The old Silco might have wasted breath trying to "educate" the Chem-Barons on the necessity of loyalty. This Silco didn't bother.
He waved a hand. Sevika, already wearing a pressurized rebreather, twisted the valve on a metal canister. A thick, violet chemical fog hissed into the room. Within seconds, the Chem-Barons were clutching their throats, their lungs burning as they collapsed toward the floor.
Silco opened a small iron box, pulling out a filter mask for himself. He didn't offer them to the gasping lords of the Undercity until they were on the verge of blacking out.
"I was going to give you a speech," Silco said, his voice muffled by the mask as he tossed the filters onto the table like scraps to dogs. "But I realized it wasn't necessary. If you're tired of being a Chem-Baron, there are plenty of corpses in the Lanes ready to fill your seat."
He didn't wait for a reply. He walked out, Sevika looming behind him.
Once the air cleared, the Barons sat in a stunned, terrified silence. Finn, the roguish baron with the mechanical jaw, slammed his fist on the table. "He treats us like gutter trash! And you're just going to take it?"
The others didn't look at him. One by one, they stood up and left. Even Renni, the Baroness who usually held a grudge against everyone, looked at Finn with pity. "What makes you think you can fight him, Finn? He doesn't have a heart to stab anymore."
Finn flicked his lighter, the flame dancing in his eyes. "I have friends in Noxus. As long as I help them eliminate one high-profile target, they'll give me enough fire to burn Silco off his throne."
"Eliminate who?" Renni asked, curious despite herself.
"The Noxian executioner, Urgot," Finn whispered. "He's a loose end they want tied up. Once he's gone, Noxus backs me. In the meantime... you have the Oswald Asylum, Renni. You have the tech. Why not use that Shimmer to build something that makes Silco's warriors look like toys?"
Renni considered the offer. It was all upside. "I'll see what my doctors can cook up. Good luck with your executioner."
In a damp, lightless ward of the asylum, two orderlies pushed a gurney toward the high-security wing.
"New patient," one grunted. "The Baroness wants the 'Extreme Transformation' protocol on this one. Says he offended her or something."
"Tough luck. What's his name?"
The orderly checked the chart. "Mundo. Says he was a purple-tinted enforcer before he 'lost it.' Well... he's about to lose a lot more than that."
Early the next morning, Powder shook Chen awake by jumping on his bed. "Get up! Get up, get up!"
Chen groaned, burying his head under his pillow. "It's 6 AM, Powder. My 'Grasp of the Undying' doesn't even proc until 9."
"I want to see Vi!" she pouted. "You promised!"
"The city is on lockdown! We can't just stroll across the bridge!"
Powder tilted her head, her eyes sparkling with a dangerous intelligence. "Don't you have that blue magic trick? The one where we go 'whoosh' and end up somewhere else?"
Chen froze. He had completely forgotten that his Teleport summoner spell could be used for things other than "emergency escapes from certain death."
"Fine. But it's a long cooldown—I can only do this once a month. We go up, but we're stuck there until things cool down. We won't be able to teleport back."
He gathered his gear and asked Ekko if he wanted to join. Ekko just looked at the blue light beginning to swirl around Chen's feet and backed away. "I've got a Sanctuary to lead. And if you get stuck Topside, who's going to stop Silco from gassing us again? You go. I'll keep the tree alive."
"Powder, grab your bag. We're going to the Academy."
The brilliant blue light erupted in the Firelight hideout.
In Heimerdinger's lab, a small, prototype game console on the workbench began to vibrate. Suddenly, a pillar of celestial blue light smashed through the ceiling, depositing Chen and Powder right on top of the Professor's blueprints.
Heimerdinger, who was mid-calculation, nearly fell off his stool. "Chen? Powder?! How in the name of the Great Science... I locked the doors! The windows are reinforced! I am a Councillor! Did you phase through the walls?!"
"It's... uh... a new propulsion theory, Professor," Chen lied, hopping off the table. "Don't worry about the property damage. We're here to help."
Chen handed Heimerdinger a stack of photos he'd taken in the Undercity—clear, horrifying shots of the Shimmer Warriors and Silco's factories.
Heimerdinger's ears drooped as he looked at the monsters. "Singed... what have you done? Science is meant to lift us up, not turn us into nightmares."
"He's purely chaotic neutral, Professor," Chen reminded him. "He doesn't care if the juice heals a lizard or kills a city. But we can stop this. We just need to stay here, under your protection, while the Council deliberates."
"Of course," Heimerdinger agreed. "You're safe here. No one searches the Dean's laboratory."
"And Professor?" Powder asked, her eyes hopeful. "Can you get Vi? And... the Cupcake?"
That evening, a soft knock sounded on the lab door. Heimerdinger entered, leading Vi and Caitlyn.
Chen watched Powder tense up. He suddenly realized he'd made a tactical error. He'd spent so much time worrying about Silco that he'd forgotten Jinx's most powerful "trigger" was standing right there in a blue Enforcer uniform.
Vi rushed forward, her eyes wet with tears. "Powder! Oh, baby, I thought I'd lost you!"
But as Vi reached for her, Powder's gaze shifted to Caitlyn, who was standing just behind her sister. The "Jinx" in her eyes flared—a jagged, electric violet light.
The monster from the drawing is back, the voices whispered.
Chen stepped in between them, his hand resting on the streetlamp on his back. "Easy, everyone. Let's keep the 'Get Excited' passive at zero for now, okay?"
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