Lissandra stood in Silco's office and watched the leaders of the Twin Cities try to accept the impossible.
Silco was behind his desk, fingers steepled, his expression calm enough that most people would have mistaken it for confidence. Jayce stood near the window, arms crossed, brow tense, still wearing the exhaustion of the workshop on his face. Mel sat with controlled grace in one of the chairs, but her eyes had not left Lissandra since the explanation began.
None of them interrupted her.
That was wise.
"The meeps will open a path," Lissandra said. "Not a star gate like the one on Targon. Something smaller, created through Bard's power. Soraka believes it can bypass the places watched most closely by the Aspects."
Jayce looked like he had a dozen questions and disliked every one of them. "And this path leads to the Void?"
"To the border between creation and the Void," Lissandra corrected. "After that, the meeps will guide the rescue team through the darkness."
Silco's eyes narrowed slightly. "Small golden creatures will guide people through the Void."
"Yes."
No one spoke for several seconds.
Mel finally leaned back a little. "I thought the last few months had already stretched the definition of possible. Apparently, we were still being conservative."
Jayce let out a humorless breath. "We are trusting cosmic spirits to open a private portal past Targon and into the edge of nonexistence."
Lissandra turned her covered gaze toward him. "You are trusting the only path that exists."
That ended the complaint before it could become an argument.
Silco tapped one finger against the desk. "We are not doubting you, Lissandra. If anything, that is the problem. This sounds absurd, yet after everything we have seen, I find it difficult to dismiss."
"That is because you are not a fool."
Mel's gaze sharpened. "How reliable are these meeps?"
Lissandra thought of the two small creatures floating near Soraka's shoulders, chiming softly as if they did not understand the horror of what they were offering. They had seemed harmless. Almost ridiculous. Round little golden things with simple bodies and bright sounds.
And yet the space around them had bent with Bard's authority.
Lissandra did not like underestimating anything. She had survived too long for that. Those creatures might have looked comical, but the power behind them was not. She doubted she could defeat one easily. Perhaps she could not defeat one at all. The thought irritated her because she believed it.
"Do not mistake their appearance for weakness."
Silco read the answer beneath her words. "You are saying they are dangerous."
"I am saying they belong to Bard. That alone should be enough."
Jayce frowned. "If they are that powerful, why are they only guiding the team? Why not fight?"
Silco nodded faintly. "That is the obvious question. If these meeps can open a path no one else can, why not bring Logan back themselves?"
"Because Bard does not think like you," Lissandra said. "Neither do his companions. Soraka understood only part of what he communicated, but one thing was clear. Bard is not a soldier responding to a chain of command. He acts according to balance."
Mel folded her hands. "Balance can be a convenient excuse."
"In mortal politics, yes. With Bard, it is closer to instinct. He will open a road because creation has been disturbed. He will send guides because the rescue is possible. That does not mean he will solve the problem for us."
Jayce's expression darkened. "So he helps just enough."
"Perhaps. Or perhaps what you call 'just enough' is the only kind of help that does not make the situation worse."
Silco leaned back in his chair. "And what of the team?"
"That is why I came here."
The room stilled again.
Lissandra placed both hands over the top of her staff. "Beings like me are too noticeable. Too loud, in Bard's terms. If I enter the Void in full force, things will gather. If Soraka does, the same. The Aspects may also detect us before we even reach the border. The team must be capable, but not so powerful that every predator in the dark hears them coming."
Mel's face changed slightly. She understood immediately.
Jayce took a step forward. "You want mortals."
"I want the right mortals."
Silco's mouth tightened. "Then I assume this discussion moves to the laboratory."
"It does."
...
The laboratory had become crowded.
At the center of the room stood a large glass chamber filled with a faint violet haze. It looked like an oversized tank, reinforced with Hextech barriers and petricite-lined supports. Inside it, Vi and Ekko were testing the newer prototypes.
Their suits looked far more complete than the earlier versions. The armor still had an organic unpleasantness to it, as if the material wanted to remember being alive, but the shape was cleaner now. Plates moved with their bodies instead of resisting them. Thin lines of Hextech light pulsed under darker outer layers, while petricite nodes helped keep the suit's worst energies contained.
Viktor stood near the control panel, watching the readings. Singed observed beside him with the calm interest of a man studying a disease he admired.
"The haze is stable," Viktor said. "Increase the pressure by two percent."
Singed adjusted a valve. "Their responses remain within acceptable limits."
Inside the chamber, Vi rolled her shoulder and grimaced. "Acceptable for who?"
Ekko flexed his fingers and looked toward the glass. "This thing still feels like it's trying to whisper through my bones."
"That is the point of the test," Viktor replied. "Keep moving."
Jinx was not watching them at that moment.
She was standing beside Kai'Sa with the biological analyzer in both hands, dragging the scanner over the surface of Kai'Sa's living carapace with intense concentration. Kai'Sa stood very still, her expression caught between patience and irritation.
"You have scanned that area three times," Kai'Sa said.
"Four," Jinx corrected. "The third one had interference."
"The second one had interference."
"See? That means we needed four."
Kai'Sa closed her eyes for a moment. "You are rubbing me with a machine."
"I am gathering priceless biological data."
"You are enjoying this too much."
Jinx grinned faintly. "Science is supposed to be fun."
Then her eyes shifted and landed on Lissandra.
The grin faded, replaced by suspicion. "Ice queen."
Lissandra ignored the nickname and looked over the room. Kai'Sa, Jinx, Viktor, Singed, Vander, Ekko, Vi. Each of them carried a different kind of weight. None would shake the heavens simply by stepping forward.
But weak was not the right word either.
Kai'Sa drew Lissandra's attention most of all. Her carapace was not merely armor but a living adaptation. Bard's strange requirement almost seemed written for her.
Yes.
Kai'Sa was close to perfect for this mission.
Jinx lowered the analyzer. "What are you doing?"
"Observing."
"That's creepy."
Lissandra turned her attention to the glass chamber. Vi and Ekko were moving through a series of simple combat drills. Their motions were slower than normal but controlled. The haze curled around their suits, trying to seep into seams that no longer existed. The suits reacted with pulses of light and small shifts of the outer layer.
Behind them, Vander stood near another frame of armor, much larger than the others. The prototype around him had been removed in sections, leaving marks where it had connected and adjusted around his altered body. He looked tired, but steady.
"How did he fare?" Lissandra asked.
Viktor followed her gaze. "Better than expected."
"Best so far," Singed added.
Jinx crossed her arms. "Which is annoying, because his suit is a nightmare. It has to be bigger, the joints need a different layout, and the internal regulation is weird because Vander is…" She waved one hand vaguely at him. "Vander."
Jinx turned back to Lissandra. "Point is, we can make it work, but it'll take more material and a different structure. We can't just stretch one of the others and call it done."
"Then make it," Lissandra said.
Jinx stared at her. "Oh, sure. Thank you, ancient ice lady who knows nothing about science. Why didn't we think of that?"
Vi's voice came from inside the chamber. "Hey!"
"What? She walked in and started giving orders."
Lissandra stepped closer, cold gathering softly around the end of her staff. She did not raise her voice. "He is strong enough to survive what will kill many others, and weak enough not to announce himself walking into the Void. That makes him a good candidate."
The room grew quieter.
Vander's expression shifted first. Understanding.
Jinx looked from Lissandra to Vander, then to Vi inside the chamber. "Candidate for what?"
Lissandra turned so everyone could hear her.
"A rescue team."
The words landed harder than any threat.
The testing stopped. Viktor's hand hovered over the controls. Ekko looked through the glass, posture suddenly tense. Kai'Sa's face went still. Vi stepped closer to the chamber wall.
Lissandra continued. "The meeps will open a path and guide a small group toward Logan and Ahri. The team cannot be large. Too many presences increase the chance of attracting attention. Too much power does the same."
"You already chose," Silco said from the entrance.
He had arrived without fanfare, Jayce and Mel just behind him.
"I have narrowed what is practical," Lissandra replied. "The final team will be Kai'Sa, Vander, Jinx, Vi, and Ekko."
Jayce looked troubled, but he did not argue. Mel's expression was controlled, though her eyes rested briefly on each chosen name as if weighing the cost. Silco's face revealed almost nothing, except for the tension in his jaw when he looked at Jinx and Vander.
Lissandra let them have that moment. Only a moment.
Then her voice cut through the room.
"Understand this clearly. Your mission is not to fight the Void. You may be capable of killing Voidborn. Some of them, at least. Against others, you will have no chance. Against the Watchers, you are nothing."
Jinx's fingers curled around the analyzer.
Lissandra did not soften the truth. "If you encounter something beyond you, you run. If you find Logan, you bring him back. If Ahri is with him, you bring her back as well. Nothing else matters."
Her gaze moved across the selected team one by one.
"This is a rescue," Lissandra said. "Not a battle."
No one spoke.
For once, even Jinx had no joke ready.
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