"… Now I see it, you too have touched the Arcane. Your mind suffered," the being, Viktor, spoke through the blond man's mouth, his eyes clouded white, then it left, releasing the host.
The man was thin, wearing a set of robes that covered his face, he had some kind of metal augmentation on his legs and five fingertip metal marks on his face, three on his forehead and one in each side of his face.
"If you'll excuse me," he smiled, lifting the two cylinders he had taken off the strange contraption. "I must return to him."
"I can't let you leave," said the newcomer, his tired breath causing the air to condense.
He was wider, with muscles indicating some kind of physical worker, both his brown hair and beard disheveled as if he had been fighting, one of his legs seemed wounded, but he still appeared stronger.
"I'm sorry you feel that way," the blonde said, continuing to walk without looking back.
"I'm sorry too."
With some effort, the newcomer lifted his hammer and smashed it down, completely crushing the blond man's upper body and spreading his blood and something else all over the transparent floor.
Fear turned her head sideways, taking a closer look at the near human body, the substances leaking from it looked somewhat similar to the anomaly hanging in the air, and the veins embedded all over the hammer's surface.
It was not dissimilar to how her kind conquered a planet.
When the dead man had walked into the room, she had jumped into the ceiling, clinging to it with her claws and remaining immobile. The average human rarely looked up unless given a reason.
She had watched the man work, then the newcomer arriving, the power she had sensed from the anomaly fluctuating wildly when he first appeared.
Finally, she turned her gaze back to him, the man had appeared through some kind of transportation event, his body seeming to materialize from the void without any kind of portal forming.
Breathing hard, he nearly collapsed, but managed to right himself using the hammer for support, his face a mixture of rage and fear… Jayce, according to what she had found, one of the inventors of Hextech.
Releasing her grip on the ceiling, she twisted midair, gently dropping in front of the entrance.
Fear landed on the balls of one feet, the impact barely making any noise,, then she just continued walking towards the man, claws tapping the glass, hands still in the pockets of her new coat.
Jayce finally noticed her and took a few stumbling steps back, but she stopped beside the corpse, curiously glancing down at the spreading pool of substance leaking from it, then towards the cylinders the dead man had been trying to carry off.
"… Huff… Who… Haaa… are you?" Jayce asked, one hand tightening around the shaft of his weapon.
Taking one hand off her pocket, she lifted a hexcore pinched between the claws of her thumb and forefinger. "You created this?"
The man narrowed his eyes at the core, his tired legs doing their best to keep him straight as he finally recovered enough to talk. "Drop that, you don't know how dangerous it is."
Fear didn't tend to talk with humans, most far too fragile to even consider communications, but she couldn't understand the energy core in her hand, it's technology was completely alien to anything created by her queen, or the human equipment she was partially familiar with.
Staring at the man in front of her, she put the hexcore back into her pocket and considered what to do, she needed his help, but she simply had no experience with interactions, would she need to explain herself?
She also didn't understand humanity, not truly, would he be one of the ones to defy her and kill himself, obey out of fear or simply become entirely useless? The variety or their response made them… curious and frustrating in equal amounts.
"How do the hexgates work?" She finally asked, ignoring her uncertainty. "Could you increase their range? Could Viktor?"
In the end, the hexcore was interesting, being capable of acting as a near C-Class core for her kind, but getting back to her hive was the priority.
Jayce winced, lifting a hand to his temple and squeezing his eyes shut for a second, then he shook his head and tried to ignore her. "Out of my way, I need to do something."
Staring at him with a blank face, Fear considered letting the man pass and just following after him, maybe he'd be more willing after completing his goal? But it would just waste more time. "No."
Slowly shifting his stance, Jayce held his hammer with both hands, fingers tightening around the shaft and twisting a switch, he closed his eyes and, when he opened them again, there was a new purpose there. "Please, haaaa… Get out of the way."
Behind him, a spark of blue lightning ran through his hammer, the hexcore inside energizing the weapon and increasing it's power.
"No."
With a shout, he stepped forward, swinging the hammer in a diagonal strike towards her shoulder, meant to disable her instead of killing, Fear just stared, interested in the result.
The blow was incredibly slow, a strike from a normal person, not a knight but, as the head of the weapon struck her biological barrier in an explosion of sparks, blue lightning flying in all directions, it only stopped for a moment before the released energy broke through.
Fear took her other hand out of her pocket, catching the head of the hammer in her open palm before it could reach her, the lightning actually leaving the tip of her fingers a little numb, even if the impact was negligible.
Out of breath, the cold making large puffs of smoke leave his lips, Jayce stared at her with wide eyes, surprise causing him to look at his own hammer, then back to her face.
Fear considered the weapon, would a shot powered by this actually hurt her?
She remembered one of those knights almost killing her, he had won that battle, shattered her mask and, when she was about to die, hesitated. Absentmindedly, she touched her face right where his sword had almost cut her.
She had... Enjoyed that fight, it had been far more exciting than sparing with her Brother, would such weapons make fighting more interesting or less?
"… What?" Jayce started to say.
Fear had enough, digging her fingers into the metal, the strain causing the material to groan, she yanked the weapon away from him, then lifted the man by the throat, his feet struggling to touch the floor even as his hands fruitlessly struggled against her hold, air quickly running out.
She made sure not to squeeze too hard, his eyes growing wild as he grabbed one of her fingers with both hands and fruitlessly tried to pry it back, Jayce also tried to kick her, then braced one foot against her waist and pushed, but she was beyond him.
When he finally passed out, she slung his body over a shoulder, grabbed the two cylindrical containers and gave the anomaly in the middle of the room another look. It pulsed with power, the sphere seeming to call to her with every beat.
Fear knew better than to approach it, not before she learned more from Jayce. Turning around, she left.
She hadn't come here to kidnap anyone, just to check on the constant stream of power radiating from the place, but she was still incredibly satisfied.
She was making progress.
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Ethan sidestepped, a chemtech projectile exploding in a cloud of purple against his hastily made blood shield even as he made sure to stay moving and out of the trajectory of another brass bullet. Those were still too fast for him to deal with, as proved by the leaking wounds on his arm and belly.
Flicking the shield to get rid of the corrosive chemicals, he touched his wound, soaking his fingers in more blood, then forced the flow to stop before flinging the remaining liquid at his assailants.
Hardening midair, the blood shards flew like spears, shredding through enemy cover before exploding, forcing most of his attackers to scatter and leaving two screaming on the ground.
Something inside him roared in elation, his senses sharpening even more as he got deeper into the fight. Strangely enough, he was in agreement with it, adrenaline making his heart beat faster in excitement.
He was in one of Zaun's wider but poorer roads, makeshift houses made of mismatching sheets of metal or large abandoned crates filled the street, dozens of rusty green pipes pumping chemtech through the city.
Discarded trash littered everywhere, from crumpled papers, cardboard boxes and rotten food piled in the corners to pieces of damaged factory equipment acting like road blocks and giving his assailants a lot of places to duck behind.
The street was empty, everyone scattering at the minimal hint of a fight, most Zaunittes too smart to get caught up in the crossfire.
With an effort of will, he lengthened his shield, shifting it into a thin sword even as he dropped low and attacked, dashing towards his enemies before they could regroup, the world seeming to slow down around him.
There were six of them, four of which were still in the fight.
From around a corner to the right, an average grunt aimed his pistol at him, so he grabbed a loose sheet of metal that acted as part of a wall and threw it towards him with enough strength to break bricks, then drove his sword through a fridge door, piercing the shoulder of a woman taking cover behind it.
Feeling his shirt getting wet, he noticed that he was bleeding through his pores, the liquid quickly hardening into some form of living armor around his vitals, then his left arm, becoming a deep red gauntlet.
From the left, another man pointed his prosthetic arm at him, the chemtech device looking like something out of a horror movie, a large machete held at the ready in his normal hand.
In an explosion of purple, a spiked chain shoot out of the prosthetic, moving fast enough that Ethan couldn't dodge, so he blocked with his new gauntlet, the serrated spikes wrapping around his limb but failing to pierce through the armor.
With a hiss, glass tubes pumped purple chemtech from the prosthetic into the flesh of the man's shoulder as he lifted the machete. "You're dead, you fucker!"
Grabbing the chain before the man could do anything else, Ethan braced himself and pulled, his enhanced strength causing the guy to fly through the air towards him.
As he approached, Ethan drove the pommel of his sword into the prosthetic, causing the metal device to shattering under the impact and sending the man tumbling through the ground, his back hitting a rock as loose bolts and pieces of metal flew everywhere.
Then he caught movement from the corner of his eye and jumped back while lifting his sword for a block, a chemtech projectile passing right where he had been and exploding against a wall, the chemicals eating through the metal to leave a large hole.
A few dozen meters away from him, the man pressed the trigger again, but the gun jammed, hammer refusing to drop even as he desperately beat against its side.
Ethan's face broken into a predatory smile.
Throwing the useless weapon at him, the guy pulled a vial of shimmer out of his pocket and plunged it straight into his neck. He screamed, then roared, a mixture of pain and rage as a flash of purple flowed through his veins and his muscles started to bulge.
Ethan wasn't about to wait for a transformation sequence, shifting his sword into a javelin, he threw it at the man as hard as he could.
The weapon pierced almost all the way through his target's chest, sending the mutating guy stumbling back for quite a few meters before he managed to stop, staring at the few centimeters of shaft sticking out of his chest with an uncomprehending expression before dropping to his knees, then face first into the ground.
Slowly, the adrenaline started to leave Ethan's system, his senses fading back from their heightened state and the presence retreating further into his mind.
He just stared at the body.
The guy used to be small, maybe just about one meter sixty, with fading dirty brown hair, his face wasn't too young, maybe about twenty-five or so and he had a lot of tattoos, most of them covering his arms, at least it hadn't been a kid.
Taking a deep breath, he looked away from the corpse and checked around the street, confirming that everyone else was out of the fight but would survive, then started walking towards the dead guy.
With a thought, Ethan used the complete control he had over his blood to soften all shards back into liquid form, then forced it to shed every speck of dirt before flowing back into his body through the bullet wounds, leaving him completely healed.
Staring at the guy's empty eyes, he sighed. He hadn't meant to kill anyone, even during the fight, he hadn't really felt the need to kill, only doing so out of reflex.
"Goddammit," Ethan shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Now it'll take forever to convince Pyrrha to awaken my aura."
For fuck's sake, he had just wanted to get some fresh air. Granted, considering he was in the lower city, that would always be a challenge, but he thought the problem would be the pollution, not fucking assassins, incompetent as they were.
Turning around, he walked away from his first kill. Honestly? He'd though killing someone would be… He didn't know, more? Maybe that it would be harder or make more of an impact, but he just felt… numb.
Ethan certainly regretted that he'd killed the guy when he didn't mean to… But he expected to throw up, maybe cry or rage a little. Instead, he just felt terrible that he didn't feel terrible… If that made any sense.
Sevika suddenly dashed through a corner, her feet sliding through the dusty road as she took in the situation, one hand on her metal arm. "...You're... Fine?"
Ethan shrugged. "For now," kicking a piece of rubble away, he thought about how some of the girls would react and grimaced. "Any idea why someone just sent six guys to kill me?"
Taking a moment to breath, the Zaunitte straightened, her muscles relaxing as she thought about the question. "There's always someone looking to become a new Chem-Baron. Chross and Margott were never enough to control all of the lower city… and beside the redhead, you guys still haven't made much of a name."
"So I was an easy target…" He stepped over the body of a guy pretending to be unconscious, smart, and stretched. "Make sure nobody else dies, will you? And try to find a name while you're at it, just don't use torture, most of the girls wouldn't approve and, now that I think about it, I wouldn't either."
"That makes things harder."
"Deal with it."
Nearing the hideout, he heard two pairs of steps behind him, his senses immediately going into overdrive until he felt a sense of familiarity coming from one of them, he recognized the rhythm of her heartbeat.
A few seconds later, Jinx jumped on his back, her hands grabbing his shoulders and her legs wrapping around his waist. "Hey!"
Grabbing her legs to help keep her in place, he looked back at the thin girl. "Hey yourself, I see you've found your sister?"
With both hands on the pockets of her beat up jacket, Vi gave him a once-over, her eyes going from head to toe before giving a little snort and shake of her head.
Lifting an eyebrow, Ethan copied her… Then he snorted too. She really didn't have room to criticize anyone right now.
Vi narrowed her eyes.
"Sooooo, what were you doing?"
"Getting some air, killing a guy…" From the corner of his eyes, Ethan caught a few insects freezing in place… good thing he wasn't trying to hide.
Vi paused, but then continued to follow, only taking her hands off her pockets in order to react faster.
"Cool, anyone I know?" Jinx asked.
"Short guy, little older than us, had three metal fingers and tattoos all over his arms?"
"Guess not," Stretching her legs on both sides of his body, she leaned forward, wrapping both arms around his neck and pressing her breasts against his back. "So, what did he do anyway?"
"Attempted murder. Apparently, someone thought I was an easy target when walking alone and sent six guys after me."
"Don't you hate when that happens?"
Shaking her head, Vi passed him, pushing the door to the hideout open and walking inside.
"See, I told you she was boring," Jinx fake whispered to Isha.
Releasing her legs, Ethan let Jinx fall to the ground, then gave Isha a nod and took the chance to tousle her hair since she was without her helmet.
Leaning away from his hand, Isha hummed in displeasure, quickly putting her helmet back on before glaring at him, but he could sense she had secretly loved the attention.
Entering the room, he saw Taylor dropping down from the upper floor, her aura completely absorbing the impact as she stared at Vi "Don't touch them."
Jinx's sister hadn't waited for them, instead she had found Maelle and Pyrrha still in the painting and was looking at them with curiosity, one hand suspended centimeters from Pyrrha's shoulders.
"I thought they'd have came back by now," Ethan commented.
He'd agreed to visit Viktor with Taylor, but they couldn't just leave both girls unprotected, so he went for a walk while Taylor guarded the place and… shit happened.
On the ceiling, the spiders were crawling about in agitation, but not nearly as much as he thought they would, maybe Taylor wasnt pushing as much of her reactions on them. Regardless, he just knew she was frowning at him. Her eyes looked over his body, seeming to stop at the two holes in his shirt, one dangerously close to his stomach.
Well, it wasn't like she had never killed anyone, only Pyrrha could make that claim… probably, so he was ready to disagree with the former hero.
Taylor crossed her arms and released a breath through her nose, her swarm seeming to calm down a little, she seemed far more tired than angry. "Why did you kill him?"
"A mistake," he said, being honest. "The guy injected himself with a huge dose of shimmer and, in the middle of the fight, I just reacted."
"Yeah?" Vi said, taking a few steps away from the frozen redheads. "Don't seems like you're feeling very sorry."
"I'm not," he shrugged, but his eyes didn't leave the former hero/villain/savior. "They were trying to kill me."
"Well, sounds like the guy was gonna die anyway," Jinx yelled from the kitchen where she was getting something to drink. "There's a reason they sell shimmer by the drop nowadays."
Instead of saying anything, Taylor nodded and started tapping a finger against her leg. "We'll need to start avoiding leaving this place by ourselves. I'll also see about spreading my swarm a little wider."
"I thought you'd be angrier," Ethan told the raven haired girl.
Taylor looked away from him, but she still spoke. "...You're thinking of me at the start, I was far less self-righteous by the time it was over."
Shaking herself, Maelle stepped away from the painting, quickly followed by Pyrrha, the huntress giving Maelle a heated glance, her eyes shinning with a dangerous light.
"I take it you enjoyed the sparing?" Ethan asked when he saw that.
"Five to four for her." Pyrrha answered, excitement on her voice. "We'll need to have a re-match later."
Maelle eyes shifted away from Pyrrha. "I couldn't beat you outside my paintings…"
"No... But you don't have your semblance yet."
Shaking her head, Taylor turned back towards him. "Are you still willing to go with me?"
"Wait," Jinx said, finally getting out of the kitchen while liking a spoon of milk cream she stole from Piltover. "You guys are going somewhere?"
"I need to talk with Viktor."
"Viktor like, creepy puppet people, Viktor? Why?" Jinx asked, scooping another spoonful before handling the nearly full bottle to a grinning Isha. "You wanna kill him before it becomes a problem too?"
"We're not killing anyone," Pyrrha sighed.
"What? Don't look at me like that," Jinx defended herself, then pointed at him with her spoon. "I'm not the one going for enthusiastic walks."
Ethan facepalmed, couldn't she let him broach the subject without...
"Maybe because they know you?" Vi said.
"Says the one who was following the enforcers," Jinx huffed. "I bet our parents would be really proud, huh, Sis."
"Prouder than…"
"Enough!" Ethan took one for the team and got between them before things started to get heated up.
Vi took a step away from him and continued to glare at her sister, then she finally seemed to notice she was outnumbered and shook her head. "Nice team you've here, let's just hope-." Vi swallowed her words before she could finish, seeming to realize she was about to go too far.
"Hope what?" Jinx asked, eyes narrowed and glowing a dangerous purple.
"Nothing," the older sister sighed, grabbing a glass of water and leaning against a wall, arms crossed. "How did you guys meet anyway."
Everyone but Jinx traded awkward looks, how exactly where they supposed to explain the entire thing.
The blue haired girl seemed to have the perfect answer. "In an orgy," she said, smirking when Vi spewed water all over the floor. "After that, I found out about Vander and wanted help, they wanted to help Zaun and needed a place to stay, so we stuck together."
"Riiight."
"Helps that Ethan is a great fuck," Jinx shrugged. "Plus, we're all hot and I'm pretty sure at least a little bi, I'm just waiting for the others to figure it out."
This time it was Taylor and Maelle's turn to splutter, both of them blushing heavily, even as Vi banged her head against the wall.
"Oh Gods, I don't wanna hear it! Nope, don't wanna picture it too. Can we please talk about something else?"
Right, Viktor, with everything that was happening those last few days, Ethan had almost forgotten about the guy before Taylor reminded him but, if he could keep Jayce from shooting him, maybe the guy would stay sane longer, possibly enough to help Vander?
That would make Jinx happy AND help with Zaun, both through Viktor's intellect and Vander's authority on the place, even now, people still remembered him.
"About that," Ethan jumped at the chance to change subjects. "I'm not certain of the timeline, but getting Viktor's support is probably the easiest way to help Vander, once we find him anyway."
And that's how, an hour later, they all found themselves at the entrance to Viktor's commune, a man Vi seemed extremely eager to punch receiving them.
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