Chapter Text
First there was the sound - a blast like the universe tearing. There was a bright blue streak across the sky. A blast they heard across the river. Fire erupted from the council tower.
And Caitlyn screamed.
Everything else warped dreamlike around her - Vi's arm, the bridge, people running, people cheering - but her own scream echoed sharply in her mind, a raw blanket that kept her alive.
Vi half-carried her through streets made foreign by Caitlyn's shock. She was dimly aware that Vi was hurt, but Vi was moving, walking without asking where because there was only place in all of existence right then, and it hemorrhaged smoke.
Caitlyn smelled it now - acrid, metallic, chemical.
Someone once said that skirts like Mother's would burn easily. How would that smell?
"Hey! You can't go that way!"
Vi turned them both to face a square-faced enforcer, Officer Donnellson. At the sight of Caitlyn, his eyes widened.
"Kiramman? What are you --?"
"Where is my mother?"
"Your..."
"Councilor Cassandra Kiramman! She's-- She was--" Her brain ached. The air reeked now. "Where is she?"
He pointed north. "Try the old fields. There's a ton of folks there now."
It was Vi who asked, from a mile away and right beside her, "Are they okay?"
Donnellson made stupid little unsure gestures. "I ain't heard any different, but with that blast? I can't say. What happened to you, anyway?"
By the time he finished his question, they were off.
~
The old athletic fields sprawled in the shadow of the council tower, used for enforcer training and grade school sporting tournaments but mostly empty. Tonight, the track and field section crawled with people who hadn't run a mile in years. Journalists bumped into them in a hurry to reach people in the center. Ambulances waited on the paved track, unused.
Beside Caitlyn, her warm solid body keeping Caitlyn upright, Vi asked, "Is anyone missing?"
She looked around. In addition to the various journalists, Councilors Salo, Hoskel, and Bolbok stood in a clump nearby. Members of Noxian delegation spoke with Mel and Mel's aide. Dozens of enforcers, fire marshals, and assorted city officials wandered around making various "I don't know" gestures. Jayce shook his head at everyone and no one. Staffers and aides chatted amongst themselves.
And there was Mother, poised as ever even if she stood beside a sand pit, fielding questions from Sheriff Avery.
Caitlyn's stomach dropped from her throat and swirled around her guts a little as she watched Mother's familiar little nods at the sheriff, who seemed, from Mother's put-upon patience, to be repeating her questions.
And no one was dead. Mother did not even look disheveled from here - certainly not in comparison to Dad, who ran over to Mother and Sheriff Avery with his hair sticking up. From her body language, Mother was not thrilled to see him that way at this moment. Gods only knew how she'd react once she saw Caitlyn.
But they were not panicking like she expected them to following her capture. In fact, Dad laughed a little.
"Was anyone in the building?" Vi asked.
Caitlyn shook her head. "I thought... No. No, I don't think anyone was. There's the cleaning staff over there."
As they took in the crowd of completely unhurt people, a voice to Caitlyn's right said, "You are Councilor Kiramman's daughter?"
She turned. Jayce's partner, Viktor, leaned towards her on his cane.
She pulled her arm from Vi's shoulders and forced herself into better posture. "Yes, among other things."
Viktor's eyes shifted from her to Vi and back again. He looked paler than she remembered, but when had she last seen him this close? Last year? Mother invited him to every function she invited Jayce to, but Viktor never attended. Caitlyn knew that he was from the Undercity, that Jayce privately credited him with most of hextech, and that he was dying. Nothing more.
"What happened to you?" Viktor asked. “You look… hm.”
Dammit. She needed a script to answer that, and fast, but nothing came to mind, nothing that encompassed the pertinent details of Kidnapped By Jinx without causing a dramatic reaction. Her mind swirled around She's alive she's alive she's alive too much for anything else.
She looked to Vi. Vi's blinked heavily, like her head hurt. She'd been out cold when Jinx dragged her into that old warehouse. How long ago was that? Jinx must have knocked her out before...
Shut up shut up SHUT UP!
She’s my sister.
Make her go away.
"Officer Kiramman?"
Viktor was watching her. "Yes?"
"I was wondering if there were any other bombs? There was some speculation, but no one knows for sure."
She remembered Jinx walking away, up the ramp with her shark-shaped rocket launcher.
"More...? No. No, it was just one."
He dipped his head politely. “Forgive me. I shouldn't be questioning you right now, not in such a stressful time." Then he snapped his head to Vi. "You are from the Undercity, yes?"
Vi swayed on her feet as she nodded. Caitlyn took her arm, vague guilt sprouting in her stomach. Vi was tougher than anyone Caitlyn had ever met, but she wasn’t nearly as tough as she acted. When Caitlyn had cut the ropes Jinx tied around her, Vi had crumpled into the table, crying. It had taken her almost a minute to right herself, wipe her eyes, and help Caitlyn out of the building. And she'd apologized.
“You need to rest,” Caitlyn told her now. “It’s… things seem okay up here, actually. I think I… I overreacted with the…”
“Cait. Don't.” Vi licked her lips, looking everywhere but Caitlyn. “We both thought everyone would be dead. I wasn’t letting you deal with that alone, not after everything else.”
The rush of affection, the heady desire to kiss Vi for being so sweet, made Caitlyn's head swim. Half of her body still thought everyone was dead.
She breathed deep and turned to Viktor, "How is no one hurt? From what we saw, we expected casualties." She’d expected them to be blown to pieces, now that her brain put that thought all together.
Viktor hummed. "Your mother warned us of this, so we evacuated with plenty of time. She didn't tell you it would happen?"
"No."
Vi slid beside her again. "How would your mother know that Powder was going to do this?"
"Powder?" Viktor repeated.
"My sister. She goes by Jinx, actually."
My sister likes you...
The memory slapped her like Jinx’s cold hand. She felt the ropes, the chair, the rapid-fire gun in her own hands. Then Vi's fingers brushed hers, and she was back at the edge of the field, and Viktor was frowning at her.
"Are you alright, Officer Kiramman?"
"Yes, I'm fine." She looked away from him, back to the middle of the field where clusters of journalists vied for Mother's attention. Dad stood off to the side now, chuckling with someone, probably about running around in a dressing gown and slippers. Then Mother turned and met Caitlyn’s eyes. There was a familiar pause in Mother’s conversation as she took in the sight of her. Caitlyn waited for the usual eye-narrowing, the slight frown as Mother assessed her daughter's appearance.
Neither happened. Instead, Mother smiled. It was a genuine, happy-to-see-you smile, the sort Caitlyn had not seen on Mother's face in years, and possibly never in public. The rest of Caitlyn's evening had unbalanced her, but that smile pushed her completely off center.
“What is she doing?” Caitlyn asked.
"Refusing the answer direct questions, I suspect," Viktor said. "She has been extremely reticent to share the source of her intelligence, and even more reticent to share why she waited so long to disclose it. The last I heard, some of the other councilors are growing, well, irritated might be a little strong. But they are not pleased with her for holding back such crucial information."
"She saved their lives," Caitlyn said without really feeling it. The world spun a little.
He shrugged. "Councilors tend not to be the most gracious individuals, in my experience. Jayce being a possible exception."
"Possible," she repeated.
Mother headed towards her now, Dad leading a cluster of journalists and clerks behind her. For a moment Caitlyn imagined the scene she'd expected to find, in which Mother was dead and none of them had anyone to follow.
Gods, every single person in Piltover was about to become absolutely insufferable, starting with Mother and Dad. She could hear them already
For heaven's sake, Caitlyn, it was hardly worth such an exertion. And you're hurt! Sit down!
Caitlyn squared her shoulders. She had no defense against any of it. She’d spent the whole whirlwind trip back up here bracing for a dead body, not arranging her thoughts against her parents’ inevitable fussing.
She'd be pulled from the enforcers again; that much was certain.
But they were looking at Vi, too, sweet Vi who'd half-carried Caitlyn back to a city that looked down on her, Vi whose sister had caused the whole mess.
They would blame her for this, somehow.
Caitlyn took Vi’s hand firmly in hers, silently promising to stand between her and whatever shit anyone might throw at her.
Then Mother reached them. Hands clasped at her midsection, she stopped her usual two feet away to study them both. Caitlyn stood firm, painfully aware of the pink paint and tear stains on her cheeks, tussled hair, and rips in her sweat-drenched uniform. She and Vi both reeked. Worse, there were at least two enforcers who could confirm that Caitlyn had screamed herself stupid because she thought she'd lost her mother, and that word must have gotten around by now.
Really, Caitlyn...
But Mother did not say that. Again she broke form, reaching out with one hand to gently cup Caitlyn's face. Caitlyn was too shocked to flinch, but more than that, she was too caught off guard by the desperate tenderness on Mother's face. She had not seen Mother look at her like since... since...
Since she was a child bedridden with pneumonia. That was when.
"What have you been up to?" Mother asked, not chiding, but curious, almost amused.
No one had told her, then, that someone broke into her house and kidnapped her daughter, which meant that no one knew, least of all Dad.
"Um," she managed, psychologically teetering on several unstable planks at once. "We... we saw the attack. We thought... Are you alright?"
Shit. Shit shit shit. If she were not very careful, she might start crying, and that would absolutely not do.
Mother lowered her hand to Caitlyn's upper arm. She seemed to be looking for something on Caitlyn's body and wasn't sure how to feel about not finding it. Her eyes were red, wet, and a little swollen as she inspected Caitlyn's face, like she'd been much nearer the smoke than other evidence suggested. When she spoke again, her voice broke. "I'm fine, darling. That's a nasty bruise, though. What happened there?"
Caitlyn glanced at Vi, who'd watched her own sister make that bruise on Caitlyn's face with the multi-barreled gun. "I wasn't paying attention," she told Mother, which was close to the truth. She had lost focus on Jinx, drawn to Vi's pleas, and Jinx slipped under her attention long enough to knock her out. It had only taken a second, maybe less.
"I see." Then Mother looked to Vi. "Are you alright?"
"Silco's dead," Vi said by way of an answer. "My sister killed him. That's what we were paying attention to."
The topic switch distracted Caitlyn from the strangeness of Mother's behavior, and distracted the journalists, too. Murmuring stirred up around them. Dad scowled. Mother's hands stayed on Caitlyn's arms, though, and for once she was grateful. She needed the support to stay upright. Then Mother hummed and nodded as though this piece of information explained some long-chewed-on mystery. Then she asked, "Your sister - Jinx?"
"Yes."
Caitlyn tried to say something again, something about where they'd left Silco's body in case anyone wanted to collect it, but her head throbbed again. Behind her eyelids she saw Jinx laughing, shouting, waving her gun around, taunting.
You want my big strong sister to come and save you, poor little Piltie-poo? Ha!
Vi's voice brought her back. She'd been talking, but the only words Caitlyn heard were, "You should rest."
"No, I'm fine," she protested. "Jinx is still --"
But Vi shook her head. "Let me handle Jinx. You're gonna crash any minute."
"I'm fine." Dammit, she was already a fool for getting kidnapped and tied to a chair, already pitiful for not shooting the biggest criminal in the twin cities when she could have, already pathetic for crying when she thought she'd lost her mother. For god's sake, Vi had been through so much worse, but she wasn't about to bring that up now.
Both Mother and Dad frowned at her now. Behind them, journalists scribbled, and from farther away, the Noxian delegation drifted towards them.
Dad sighed and rested a hand on her shoulder, then another on Mother's back. "We can discuss that in the morning. For now, I agree with your friend. You should sleep."
She pulled back, but not very far. "But... the sheriff needs to be briefed. I'll have to file a report."
"Later," Vi said, her voice straining again. "Your dad's right, you need rest."
"But with Silco dead, the Undercity will --"
"Cait." Vi leaned closer. "The Undercity isn't going anywhere, and if you start cracking up, you're gonna make shit worse. You need to rest."
Mother drew one of her deep taking-control-of-things breaths and dropped her hands back to her midsection. She looked familiar again. "Indeed. Briefings may wait until dawn, at least, and then you may fill us in on all the pertinent details."
She might have said more, but the Noxians arrived, with Mel trailing silently behind. General Medarda managed easily to stand in everyone’s line of sight, her thumbs hooked into her hefty belt. "With all due respect, Councilor Kiramman, I disagree. You must act, and swiftly, before the enemy has a chance to regroup. If your daughter witnessed the attack, I see no reason whatsoever to delay. She will doubtful have crucial, possibly even life-saving intelligence, much as you did tonight."
Caitlyn drew herself up. The general bore the scars of past battles and the muscles for several more. If anyone could lead an army to victory, it was her. Caitlyn felt stronger just standing near her. She opened her mouth to agree and lend all of her intelligence to the cause even if it meant disclosing that she'd spend the afternoon tied to a chair.
Then she saw Mother's face.
Caitlyn had seen disdain on Mother’s face before plenty of times, usually in her own direction, but the look she gave Ambessa Medarda went miles past that. Mother's lip curled. Tendons in her neck strained. When Mother said, "General Medarda," a vein in her forehead pulsed. Everyone stared at her now.
She did not seem to notice or care. "My conversations with my family are not your concern. Nor, quite frankly, are any of Piltover's affairs, past, present, or future. Now excuse us." Then she turned and walked away with a swish of her skirts.
Caitlyn watched, hand still warm in Vi’s, as Dad chuckled awkwardly beside her.
"Forgive us, General," he said, chuckling awkwardly. "It's been quite a stressful evening, I'm sure you understand." Then he cleared his throat. “I believe it’s past time for us to retire. Caitlyn?”
With a gentle tug of Vi's hand, Caitlyn moved to follow him, nodding in turn to the general, Mel, and Viktor, who had watched the entire exchange.
But Vi didn't move. She had the same look she'd had on the bridge two days ago just before Jinx killed an entire company of enforcers. "I can find her. This is my fault. I can fix it."
"Vi..."
Vi shook her head. She seemed ready to collapse at any moment, but Caitlyn knew she would not let herself do so until Caitlyn was out of sight. The others loomed, especially Ambessa Medarda, who exuded an air of arse-kicking strong enough to knock people over. Caitlyn had seen Vi kick a bit of arse, but beside the general she seemed soft as a kitten. Maybe it was the evening they'd just had. Caitlyn wanted to return Vi's favor, scoop her up and carry her home, but her legs could barely carry herself, and Vi would never allow it.
Then Mother called from down the lane. "Caitlyn? Vi? The car is waiting."
Caitlyn squeezed Vi's hand. "Please?"
That did something to Vi. She walked carefully beside Caitlyn away from the athletic field, pretending to ignore Caitlyn’s attempts not to limp. “I thought your Mom hated me.”
"Hate” was too strong a word where Mother was concerned, but she had a point. “She’s had a shock,” she told Vi as they rounded the path to the car that would carry them home, where they may or may not notice the signs of Jinx. Caitlyn pushed that thought away in favor of another. “She must know she could have died tonight. I suppose that’s enough to make anyone a little odd.”