"Why are you in prison when there's no file on you and no record of your arrest?"
"I was too optimistic, I guess," Vi answered distractedly.
"You beat another inmate. Why?" Caitlyn pressed.
"Do I need a reason?" Vi still sounded absentminded as she paced back and forth through the cramped room.
"We're investigating a case. He's an eyewitness."
Vi's pupils widened slightly as Caleb's words echoed in her ears.
"By now she should've killed six Enforcers and blown up a building."
"Assuming today is Progress Day."
"What case?" Vi stepped up to the bars, her eyes locked on Caitlyn.
"Does this look familiar?" Caitlyn opened her notebook and pulled out a photograph.
In the photo was a wooden board painted with a snarling monkey face.
Bang!
With a loud crash, Vi grabbed the bars with both hands, as if she might burst out of the room the very next second.
"Where did you get that?"
"There was an attack. These are pieces of evidence." Caitlyn closed the notebook and looked at Vi. "You know who did it."
"Silco." Vi spat out the name through clenched teeth. He was the one who had caused her father's death, her friends' deaths, and Powder's disappearance.
"I need evidence from you before I can believe your accusation against Silco."
"I can give you evidence, but first you need to get me out."
Vi pointed outside the cell and continued, "And there's one more person you need to let out too."
"Heh." Caitlyn let out a sharp, mocking laugh. "I'd have to be completely out of my mind to trust someone like you."
"Someone like me? Figures. You Enforcers are all the same. You look respectable enough, but underneath, you're worse than animals." Vi's eyes burned with rage.
"Then stop wasting time and go find Silco yourself!"
Caitlyn raised an eyebrow. "I will. Thank you."
"Hmph. The Undercity will chew you up and leave nothing but splinters of bone." Vi sneered at Caitlyn's retreating back.
…
"Inmate 2120, you've been pardoned."
A guard pulled out a key and opened Caleb's cell door. "By order of Councilor Talis, you're to assist Miss Kiramman with her investigation."
"Nice." Just as expected, Caleb rose to his feet and gave himself a long, satisfying stretch.
As he stepped out through the prison gates, the troll-like warden seated behind the desk curled his lip into a grin.
And standing in front of him, the two women fixed their eyes squarely on him.
"He's the one who can find the evidence?" Caitlyn asked, full of suspicion as she looked at Vi.
"Don't let the look fool you. He's sharp." Vi grinned wickedly and stepped onto the boat.
"Hello, Vi, and Miss Caitlyn." Caleb gave them a slight bow, greeting them with a pleasant smile.
"Do we know each other?" Caitlyn asked, knitting her long brows together.
"The Kiramman family's daughter likes working cases in the field, and she's an excellent shot too." Caleb stepped onto the boat after them.
…
In the Lanes, Caitlyn struggled to climb down from a platform, and luckily Caleb caught her steadily from the side.
"You're welcome." Catching the piece of clothing Vi tossed at him, Caleb turned, draped it over himself, and smiled at her.
"Still, thank you." Caitlyn panted lightly as she followed the two of them into the surging crowd of the Lanes.
Vi was the first to sit down at a fish stall by the roadside. The owner was a fat fishmonger, and several cleavers were stuck into the wooden board hanging from his left shoulder.
At that moment, he chopped off a fish head and tossed it into a bowl.
"I came here to investigate a case, not to sit around and eat garbage with you."
"I came for the meat. Prison food is disgusting, you know that?" Vi was already dipping pieces of fish into a sticky sauce and wolfing them down.
"Where's Caleb?" Caitlyn looked around in confusion. "Where did he go?"
"No idea…" Vi still didn't look up. "Did that attack really kill six Enforcers?"
"It did, and something very important was stolen too, a Hextech Gemstone."
Caitlyn opened her notebook and pulled out a photograph. "A very important piece of technology."
"Then forget about him. I'm taking you somewhere." Vi took the napkin the fishmonger handed her, gave the pattern on it only a cursory glance, then stood up.
…
"So, did Sheriff Marcus come by?" Caleb sat in a chair, looking at the man across the table, a long, narrow face with a black sclera and a red iris set into it, like some man-eating demon.
"You're interesting, I'll give you that." The cigar in Silco's hand glowed faintly in the dark as he slowly exhaled a stream of smoke.
"He left with evidence tied to the Firelights." Silco reached out and crushed the cigar into an ashtray covered in graffiti.
"Then I'll get straight to the point." Caleb waved a hand in front of his nose to clear away the smell of smoke.
"I want to help you build that Hextech weapon, and mass-produce it."
"What did you just say?" A small figure dropped down from the ceiling. Her hair was tied into two long braids, and one side of her body was inked with swirling cloud patterns.
"Oh, what a great guy you are, wanting to take some of the load off me."
"I'll build the device. Jinx can test it." Caleb curled his lips into a faint smile. "Of course, I'll need the kind of core the Hexgates use."
"Hahahaha, interesting. You really are interesting." Jinx burst into loud laughter. "You?"
A dagger slammed into the wall right beside Caleb's face, and in the blink of an eye, Jinx had already vanished.
"She's the only one I trust." Silco folded his hands together and stared at Caleb. "But that doesn't seem to be what you really came here to talk about."
"Singed could do it too. Didn't he create Shimmer for you in the first place?" Caleb shrugged. "You really do rely on your daughter."
"Get to the point." Silco leaned back in his chair. "My patience is limited."
"I have information, valuable information, enough to let Zaun achieve autonomy and stand on equal footing with Piltover."
Caleb cleaned the dirt from under his nails and spoke in an offhand tone. "But you'll have to agree to my terms before you get any of it."
"Heh. What a joke." Silco looked at the young man in front of him with contempt. "Do you know whose territory this is?"
"For example, Vi never died."
Caleb's next sentence visibly shook Silco.
"She's spent the last few years in Stillwater, and thanks to her, I only got out recently myself," Caleb went on as if he were talking to himself.
"She's walking around the Lanes right now with the Kiramman girl, so the condition attached to that piece of information is this, you don't get to take either of their lives."
"And why should I believe you have more information that will help me instead of harm me?" Silco had already straightened up in his seat.
He had never seen this man before, not in Piltover and not in Zaun.
Who exactly was he? How could he so easily seize on Silco's weak point while revealing so many buried secrets?
"I'm more useful alive than dead, and our goals align, don't they?" Caleb smiled at him.
"Hoo…" Silco let out a long breath. "I understand."
"Then, pleasant working relationship?" Caleb extended a hand. Silco hesitated for only a moment before taking it and giving it a shake.
"Pleasant working relationship." Silco's voice remained steady, but there was fatigue in it now.
The man before him was unfathomable, enough to make even him waver.
Whistling, Caleb walked out of the bar and disappeared into the crowd.
"Mm… I've got a lot to do next."