"Who is it? Who are you?"
Caitlyn had a sack over her head and could not see anything. Through the faint light, she could only make out that something seemed to be drawn on the sack.
Her body was tied tightly to a target with coils of rope.
As Caitlyn struggled to understand what was happening, a series of footsteps came from outside, and she instinctively held her breath.
Bang!
A sharp crack suddenly sounded beside her. Since she often practiced shooting outdoors, Caitlyn could clearly tell it was the sound of a bullet hitting a target.
Very soon, she realized exactly what situation she was in.
She had been tied to a target.
Caitlyn's heart went cold.
Bang! Bang!
A few more sharp cracks rang out, and the targets being hit seemed to be getting closer and closer to her. Caitlyn could not help panicking.
"Who are you?! What are you trying to do?!"
"All right, stop messing around."
A low male voice sounded, and the gunshots stopped at once.
Van pressed down Jinx's gun hand, putting an end to her little act of pure torment.
"Hmph…"
"Well then… Miss Enforcer?"
Van slowly walked over, looking at the ridiculous graffiti on the sack over the captive's head. It was clearly another of Jinx's twisted little jokes.
"What brings you here? Were you on some kind of mission? Mind telling us?"
"What mission? I came here to find someone. I didn't do anything! Why did you grab me? This is a crime! Do you understand that?"
"Hmph. Sneaking around and still claiming you had no bad intentions?"
Jinx spoke coldly. She did not grab people at random. If this woman had not been dressed like a topsider while wandering suspiciously around the Last Drop, trouble would never have found her.
"I wasn't sneaking around… I ran away from home without telling my family! I followed someone here…"
Caitlyn still had no idea who these people were, so she did not want to drag Jayce into this directly. If they went after Jayce too, that would be even worse.
Jayce had been right. The Undercity really was dangerous.
"Heh, so you're a little runaway mongoose? You said you were looking for someone. Who?"
Van found a sofa, sat down, and asked.
"Uh… Blast."
Caitlyn hesitated for a moment. For that person's safety, she chose not to reveal his real name and instead used the false one he had given her.
It was fake anyway, so there should not be any danger in saying it.
"Bla… st?"
Van raised an eyebrow. For some reason, that name sounded strangely familiar.
"Huh? Blast? Who would use a dumb name like that? Must be rough having parents who name you that carelessly, huh?"
Hearing Jinx's jab, a spark flashed through Van's mind, and a long-buried memory suddenly surfaced.
He quickly opened the Enforcer ID, and sure enough, he saw a face that looked somewhat familiar.
"Caitlyn Kiramman?!"
"Yes, that's my name… What did Enforcers even do to you people? I haven't even sworn in yet!"
"Ha~ I just love how shameless you Enforcers are. Right, I guess in your eyes, Undercity people live or die and it's all the same."
"Ahem…"
Van cleared his throat, cutting off Jinx's mockery of Caitlyn, then looked at Ekko, whose expression had changed too.
Kiramman? A councilor family from topside?
Powder really did have a gift for causing trouble.
Van rubbed his chin. If she had been sent by Marcus, then no matter the reason, Van would not mind leaving her in the fissures forever. In the end, Marcus would only be cleaning up his own mess.
But this was Kiramman. If nothing else, plenty of the Lanes' business in Piltover was tied to that prominent councilor family.
"Blast? Oh~ you mean Torvan?"
Van quickly composed himself.
Caitlyn's heart jolted when Van casually revealed Blast's real name.
"Guess what? We're looking for him too."
Van stood up and slowly walked toward Caitlyn. His heavy footsteps seemed to land directly on her heart, making her tense up.
"That brat really was up to no good. He even drew an Enforcer here… Ah, looks like we'll have no choice but to kill him."
"What?! No… I came here on my own! Who are you people?! You can't just murder innocent people!"
Van gradually stopped in front of Caitlyn, but through the gaps in the rough sack, all she could make out was a very tall figure.
"I don't know how Enforcers offended you, but if you have a problem, take it out on me! It has nothing to do with anyone else!"
Van grabbed the sack over Caitlyn's head and pulled it off.
"How touching, my hero."
The sudden light made Caitlyn narrow her eyes.
"Long time no see, Cupcake. You've changed quite a bit."
"Blast?!"
Caitlyn's eyes finally adjusted to the sudden brightness. As she stared at the tall man's face, shock and confusion filled her gaze.
"Mm-hm. Let's get properly reacquainted. My real name is Torvan. Just call me Van."
Van helped brush the sweat-damp bangs from Caitlyn's face and tucked them behind her ear, then started untying her.
"No… Wait! What exactly are you people? You kidnapped an Enforcer!"
After the brief shock passed, Caitlyn questioned him again. Even if they were old acquaintances, this was still an obvious crime.
"This was a misunderstanding. I apologize for my sister's rough behavior."
"Your… sister?"
Rubbing her wrists, which had been tied until they were red and swollen, Caitlyn finally saw the culprit who had kidnapped her: a small, slender blue-haired girl.
This little thing had subdued her?
After receiving Van's look, and after glancing at Ekko, who was pretending very hard not to see anything, Jinx knew she had caused trouble again. She helplessly rolled her eyes, accepted defeat with a sigh, and spoke.
"Yep, yep. I'm crazy. I even have a doctor's note. Hope the big Enforcer lady can be generous."
Listening to Jinx's exaggerated, completely insincere apology, with her hands clasped and shaking up and down, Caitlyn looked at Van in confusion and anger.
"Mm. I can explain…"
…
…
"So that's what happened…"
It took only a short while for Caitlyn to accept that her kidnapping had been a misunderstanding.
Even Van had not expected it to go so smoothly. He had simply told her a little about Powder's childhood, about the tragedy on the Bridge of Progress, and Caitlyn's hostility toward her had turned into sympathy for a troubled child.
Unexpectedly easy to comfort. Expectedly innocent.
If Van were in her place, he would never trust a group of people who dared kidnap a topside Enforcer, no matter how many excuses they gave.
"Um… Powder."
"Call me Jinx."
Jinx squatted on the table with her legs hugged to her chest, staring at Van with a wronged yet furious look.
Van smiled awkwardly and could only pretend not to see it.
"I'm sorry for what happened to you. I had heard about that incident, but I never knew it was that terrible…"
Caitlyn reached out, wanting to pat Jinx's head, but Jinx tilted away to avoid it. Embarrassed, Caitlyn turned the hand hanging in midair into a handshake instead.
"I don't know all the details, but as an Enforcer, I want to apologize to you. No matter what, killing innocent people is wrong."
At Van's urging glance, Jinx curled her lip and reluctantly took Caitlyn's hand.
"That had nothing to do with you, so there's no need to apologize… And I was wrong to kidnap you without knowing the whole story. There. We're even."
"I'm glad to see the misunderstanding cleared up!"
Van appeared at just the right moment and put one arm around Jinx's shoulders and the other around Caitlyn's.
"So, how about I buy you both a few drinks?"
"Forget it. I'm tired. I'm going back."
Jinx slipped free from Van's arm, stood up on her own, and left the hideout.
Ekko, who had been watching the show from the side, shook his head helplessly and followed her out.
Time to work again.
Van sighed almost imperceptibly, then put a smile back on his face and looked at Caitlyn.
"Then would you do me the honor, Miss Caitlyn?"
[End of chapter]