"What do I say? What do we do?" Vi asked frantically under her mask, adjusting her uniform as the elevator ascended. Her lady parts and frame pressed tightly against it in certain spots and no amount of pinching or tugging eased the discomfort twisting across her face.
"Nothing," Atlas replied. "Just shut up and walk."
The elevator jerked to a halt and hissed as it opened.
They walked out and only the warden stood there with his extremely bored expression that drifted toward them.
"Enjoy your time off," the warden chuckled darkly, giving a little cat-calling whistle too. "Just remember you have to be back tomorrow to do the same fucking shit again and again."
Atlas glanced back at the brief sparkle in the warden's eyes brought on by mere bitter amusement before they exited the entrance hall. Their walk to the trolley was boring and uneventful. Once inside, after it jerked into movement, he finally took off his mask opposite Vi.
Her eyebrows twitched, looking him up and down after taking hers off before skeptically asking, "So now that we have a bit of time I'll ask you again, how do you know my sister?"
"I met her after you got locked up. She's working for Silco right now."
"Bullshit!" Vi spat. "There is no way she would work for that fucking monster who killed our dad!"
"Yeah well, she is. After you disappeared Silco became her new father figure. But she didn't know you were locked up until recently. She'll be outside when we exit."
A mixture of expressions crossed Vi's face. Seconds later, she pulled her knees in close and wrapped her arms around them.
"I shouldn't have walked away," Vi whispered emotionally. "Because I walked away... Is she angry with me?"
Atlas shook his head with a reassuring smile. "She was about to storm Stillwater alone to save you."
"Yeah?" Vi hiccupped through an emotional chuckle, wiping a tear from her eye. Her gaze drifted to the soft blue light washing through the trolley. "It's been years since I've seen the light."
There was an awkward pause.
"What about you?" Vi sniffed. "Who do you work for? And don't you dare say Silco."
"Eh..." Atlas bobbed his head side to side. "Kind of in-between jobs currently. I used to run the sweets shop down the road from The Last Drop."
"Oh I remember! Powder and I used to get sweets there all the time," Vi reminisced. "How's your mom and dad? They used to give us free~"
"They're dead."
"Oh," Vi flinched, shifting uncomfortably when Atlas began reaching into his pouch, speaking as if she never said anything.
"Ekko's still alive. He actually gave me some tools to help if-"
"Ekko's alive?! What about... never mind, you wouldn't know any of them. What did he give you?"
Pulling out the two yellow crystal orbs, Vi squinted.
"Those look like piss balls."
"...Yeah."
"These can incapacitate people for five minutes if we-"
The distant blaring of Stillwater's alarms silenced Atlas as he spoke. Immediately, Vi jumped to her feet and looked out the metal gate's slits.
"I can see land! We'll be in for a fight the moment we get out!"
She glanced back at Atlas, crackling her knuckles with growing excitement.
"Are you ready? Cus I am!"
------
~Stillwater Loading Docks~
"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts bum bum bum!"
Jinx twirled between unconscious Enforcers who got a little frisky with her. She tapped one of several still-conscious Enforcers on the knees.
"There they are standing in a row! Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head!"
She frowned and paused, tapping her chin. "But what's a coconut? Ah, I'll ask him when he gets back~"
Her gaze wandered to the trolley approaching, and a grin spread across her face as the angry blaring of alarms drifted over the water.
"You guys-" A kneeling Enforcer began.
"And ladies!" Jinx interjected.
"-have no idea what kind of nest you've stirred! Now that the alarm's been sounded, all of Piltover will come running and-"
"And they will chase us down with guns and angry words and blah blah blah," Jinx rolled her eyes before kicking him square in the face, sending him flying onto his back while she performatively continued.
"Justice! Peace! Prrrrrogress!"
It ended with a giggling laugh and a bite of her lip until the metallic bang of the trolley coming to a stop recaptured her attention.
She took a step forward but then paused, her eager eyes disappearing into uncertainty. Without hesitation, she immediately and hastily began knocking out the others lined up with kicks and the butt of her gun before turning back.
Her heart was beating, her breath shaking, and her hands were back at her chest as she took nervous, small steps forward...
"Powder?"
------
"Powder!" Vi cried out her name as she ran forward, embracing Powder in an emotional hug.
Powder's eyes swelled up with tears, looking stunned and in disbelief as they darted between her sister and Atlas before burying her face into her sister's shoulder, returning the emotional hug.
"I'm so sorry Powder," Vi croaked, breaking apart but continuing to tenderly hold her shoulders. "I-I was going to come back but I was taken and~"
"I know," Powder sobbed, trying to wipe away the tears that wouldn't stop. "It was Marcus. I didn't know otherwise~" Jinx's lip trembled. "I-I would've tried to get you out sooner."
"It's okay Pow-Pow," Vi whispered reassuringly, brushing Powder's tear-stained face. "I know you would've. It's okay..."
"Things changed when you left. I changed..."
"It's okay Pow-Pow, I know. You did what you had to do to survive."
"Ladies," Atlas coughed, taking a step forward.
They paused, glancing back toward Atlas as he gestured urgently toward the fences.
"As much as I'm happy to see you together again, we need to leave. Like, now."
Vi closed her eyes, forcing the emotion out into a more serious expression.
"Yeah," Vi nodded, beginning to guide Powder toward where he gestured. "Let's move."
After several steps, the Enforcer Powder hit with blood still streaming from his nose, scrambled to his feet and began to bolt for it. They paused to glance back when a loud gunshot echoed.
The man screamed out, beginning to fall sideways when his body dissolved into a mist of red petals, each one slowly eroding into the wind.
Atlas, Powder, and Vi crouched slightly at the knees, stunlocked when a voice echoed through the dock.
"Shall we begin the next act?"