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Everything happened so fast. The explosion took out the closest soldiers, but Vander kept fighting, uncontrolled and unrelenting. The Noxian army pressed on, but they weren’t strong enough to capture or kill him. In the end, Vander fled, wounded but alive. What was left of Ambessa’s army limped away from the battlefield, their leader nowhere to be found. Not that it mattered anymore.
Vi tried to talk Jinx out of it but she wouldn’t leave without Isha’s b-
Without Isha.
It didn’t take Jinx long to see the blue hair. She reached Isha in the blink of an eye but she wasn’t ready for what was in front of her. Green electrical sparks traveled throughout Isha’s limp shape.
It didn’t make sense.
Unless…
“She’s alive…” Jinx whispered unconsciously as she tried to reach for Isha. “Aahh!” She yanked her arm back immediately as the green electricity touched her hand.
Isha’s alive, I need to take her out of here to somewhere safe.
“Jinx, c’mon. We need to go.” Vi tried to reach for her but Jinx pulled away.
“No! I need to take Isha.”
“Jinx, I’m sorry but she’s…”
“No! She’s alive! I don’t know how but… Look at her!” Jinx got out of Vi’s line of sight. “Look!”
Vi saw the sparks still running through her. “You saw the explosion.” Vi took a few more steps closer to Jinx, holding herself up as best as she could. “I’m sorry but there’s no way-” Vi’s eyes widened as she looked at Isha. That explosion should’ve killed her but…
“We don’t have time, this place isn’t stable enough and it’s better if we got back before Ambessa has the chance to spin this into something more convenient for her.” Caitlyn’s voice was cold, her body rigid. Her new training kicked in and her commander mask was firmly in place.
Caitlyn looked around, they were in an open space with no real means to defend themselves if they had to, the last thing she needed was to think about Vi. Or Jinx.
Jinx kneeled to take Isha in her arms, no matter how much it hurt. They needed to save her. She needed to save her. Whatever it takes.
The first arcs that made contact with her skin hurt the most, an intense pain running through her. “You heard Commander blue belly, let’s get out of here!” The pain was getting dulled, most likely her body shutting the pain down so she could keep moving. It’s going to hurt in the morning.
Vi saw the pain in Jinx’s eyes beneath the tough facade she was putting up. Vi wanted to offer to take Isha herself, hoping the gauntlets would be enough to shield herself from the sparks but she was sloppy during the fight and got too hurt to be able to help. With nothing else to do, Vi nodded, “Let’s go.”
They moved as a group. As hurt as the surviving soldiers were, they were still dangerous and the General hadn't been seen since the explosion. There was only one way out so they needed to be fast and not draw too much attention to themselves.
Vi kept an eye out just in case she spotted any sign of Vander. It was a long shot but she needed to hold on to the possibility to find him again.
As the group moved around them, it became very clear the soldiers were not going to try to stop them. They faced no resistance as they walked to the single path out.
They were almost out of the narrow passage when a loud voice echoed through the corridor. “Cait!”
Caitlyn could recognize that voice anywhere. “Jayce!” Caitlyn ran towards him. “What are you doing here?” She hugged her friend tight. “Are you ok?”
Jayce was bracing his side and using his hammer to help move around. “I’m fine. I just need to get out of here. I-” He bent himself over, coughing blood.
“You’re not fine, we need to take you to a doctor and-”
Jayce interrupted Caitlyn. “A doctor won’t help, I need my tools.” Jayce felt his body phase again.
Jinx, on the other hand, didn’t care about any of it. “I’m not waiting for your girlfriend.” Jinx kept walking the path, only glancing at her sister as she spoke.
“We need to keep going. We don’t know how much time Isha has.” Vi urged Caitlyn and Jayce not to prolong the situation, without taking her eyes off Jinx.
Seeing how Jayce moved with difficulty, Caitlyn held his side as they walked. Vi felt even more useless for not being able to help Cait as well. Stupid body!
The fact that Jinx wasn't running out of there wasn't a good sign either.
“What happened to the kid?” Jayce asked, lowering his voice to try to avoid being heard by anyone other than Caitlyn to avoid further complications. Good! There’s no time for that now.
It was Jinx who answered. “She loaded a gun with 3 gemstones and pulled the trigger.” Her voice might have sounded cold to a stranger but Vi could tell she was actually worried.
“Why would someone do such a foolish-”
In a second Jinx was in front of them. “You’re lucky both my arms are full right now or you’d be dead before finishing that thought.”
“Jinx…” Vi wanted to reach out but she didn’t feel it was her place anymore. She had lost the privilege long ago.
“What happened to her?” For the first time, Jayce was close enough to see green sparks running through the kid’s body.
Jinx turned around and resumed walking out of that place. “I told you already, did you hit your head during the fight or something?”
“But she’s alive… And the hextech energy is flowing not just through her but almost like with her.” Jayce didn’t pick up the same energy that was coming from Viktor, this was different from the hexcore. Whatever they did with the gemstones might have insulated them from the hexcore influence. “As one.” Amazing!
Again, in the blink of an eye, Jinx was in front of Jayce, Isha in her arms. “Do you know what’s going on with her?”
“I… Maybe?” Jayce couldn’t figure out much by just looking at Isha but they could take an educated guess. “I’ve never seen something quite like this but it’s possible the gemstones triggered a reaction with the gun mechanism and fused their energies. No weapon small enough to be used by a child would be able to handle 3 gemstones without a major overload. And since she’s alive, something must have happened.” Jayce coughed again, phasing along each time.
Jinx’s eyes flashed pink. “Any idiot could tell something happened. Is this the kinda genius you have up there?”
“Don’t speak like that to hi-” Caitlyn was interrupted by Jayce.
“She’s right. I’ll be able to take a better look once we’re out of here.” Jayce’s voice shifted as if there were someone else speaking at the same time. “I have a sonic screwdriver in my office, it should give us a more precise diagnosis.” It changed again, still echoing somehow. “We could use the test chamber at my place.”
Caitlyn was getting progressively more worried with her friend, something was very wrong.
“Can’t you see? We don’t have time to get to the upper city. Even if we did, they would never get in! And I’m not leaving her with you.” This time anger wasn’t able to mask the worry in her voice.
“No, not there. I meant Ekko’s tree.”
The group avoided crowded areas while moving through the undercity, after all the chaos it was better to keep it to themselves. The last thing they needed was for someone to follow them.
The walk was silent except for Jayce’s occasional cough. They made it in good time despite Jayce slowing them down.
Jinx’s arms were getting numb from the continuous shock, the shimmer in her veins was doing double duty, keeping her going despite everything. The green sparks around Isha’s body subsided with the connection with Jinx’s skin. Anything for Isha.
Jayce was tired but their job was not over yet. The tree had never been more welcoming than at that moment but they didn’t have time to appreciate it, they had a job to do and there was no other choice except to keep themselves stable and the child alive. Enough people died already, we need to save at least one.
Maybe this one will give us a clue as to what’s happening to the hexcore.
Why would it?! She was not connected to the hexcore.
She somehow survived a violent burst of energy up close when that’s not supposed to happen. Any information we get could potentially help her. And us.
Let’s focus on saving the child first and finding a use for any new information later.
Jayce gathered themselves, sharing his mind with Ekko and Heimerdinger was proving too much at times, too easy to get lost in them. Jayce, with Caitlyn’s help, disappeared inside the lab while Vi and Jinx waited outside with Isha. Jinx couldn’t feel her arms anymore but it wouldn’t be much longer now. Isha sacrificed herself to save her, Jinx was not going to lose another one.
Without everyone else around them, Vi felt a little braver. “You did good. She’s going to be alright.”
Jinx was also less guarded alone with Isha and Vi. “How do you know?”
“Because we’re together.” Vi held Jinx’s hand through the pain she knew was coming. “We’re going to find Vander, we’re all going to be together again.”
Jinx looked at Vi but before she could say anything, Caitlyn called for them to get inside. As Jinx walked in carrying Isha, Vi walked by her side.
The moment Isha was placed on the table Jayce started working. First, they used the sonic screwdriver to analyze her body, trying to figure out what was going on. The results showed the green sparks were electricity from the gun that had been fused with Isha, most likely using the gemstones as catalysts when she pulled the trigger as they had previously guessed. The sparks were protecting her from any threats from the outside but at the same time keeping them from being able to treat her.
Jayce couldn’t figure out why she was still out, the only thing wrong they found was some internal bleeding. Jayce could help her with all the supplies they had at their disposal but they were worth nothing if they couldn’t get through the green arcs.
“Why aren’t you doing anything?! Help her!” Jinx was desperate, Jayce had to stop wasting precious time.
“I can’t! I can’t reach her through the electricity. She’s bleeding internally, it’s nothing complicated but we need to stop it before it’s…” Jayce tried everything he could think to treat her but the electricity didn’t let the sonic waves get to her.
“Give it to me, I’ll do it myself!” Jinx took the device from Jayce’s hand but she didn’t know how it worked, pressing random buttons wasn't doing anything. Green arcs intensified close to the screwdriver, almost as a barrier against its effect.
Jinx wasn’t feeling much of her arms still but she knew what she had to do. Without looking at Jayce, Jinx asks him, “If I find a way to remove the electricity, can you do it?”
“That’s the idea but I’m not sure how we can safely do it.” Jayce had a few ideas but they didn’t know if they had everything they needed. They had been away for too long to know if everything was the way they left.
Jinx handed Jayce the sonic screwdriver and said, “Do it.” then touched Isha’s arms with both hands, and her body once again started absorbing the energy. It was just as painful as the first time, her hands twitched involuntarily.
Vi’s instincts urged her to help but she didn't know exactly how, she was only good at punching things and getting hit in the face.
Jayce tried to get to the bleeding but he still couldn’t quite reach it. “There is too much energy shielding her body.”
This I can do. “How about now?” Vi held Isha’s torso, the moment she made contact the pain shot through her but she didn’t move, she just looked at Jinx and nodded.
Jayce tried once again, this time there was enough interference the sonic waves were able to reach the location of the bleeding. It took them 15 minutes to fix Isha with Caitlyn’s help keeping them steady through a couple phasings. Unfortunately, Jayce still didn’t know why Isha was knocked out.
At that point, there was nothing they could immediately do so it was time to take care of their problem. There was no useful information to us. There’s still time, we just need to stabilize ourselves well enough. “I stopped the bleeding, she’s alright. Don’t touch her while she rests if you want to use your hand again.
“Vi, let me patch you up.” Jayce used some bandages he had prepared, it took him a few minutes to get it done. “Now, if you excuse me I need to take care of a few things.”
Caitlyn helped Jayce walk to the side room, something was off with him and she couldn’t leave her friend after how much help he needed while he was treating Isha.
“How long will she be out?” Knowing Isha was alright wasn’t enough, Jinx would only be able to calm down again once she was awake.
Jayce couldn’t tell anyone about their condition but if they wanted to get as much time as possible they would have to use Caitlyn’s help. “I don’t know,” Jayce answered before locking themselves, and Caitlyn, into the side lab space.
Jinx and Vi stayed in the room. Vi held Jinx’s hand hoping it would be enough of a substitute for now. With nothing to do but wait.
An hour had passed before Jayce and Caitlyn left the lab, he looked better, and didn't need Caitlyn’s, nor his hammer’s, help to move around anymore. Caitlyn wasn’t convinced by his explanations but she was exhausted, her plan to reach the upper city as soon as possible long forgotten. She just hoped Ambessa hadn’t done too much damage while she was helping Jayce pull himself together.
Caitlyn wanted to avoid getting too close to Jinx, everything was still too raw, but it didn't look like Vi wanted to move so she didn't have another choice. She got next to Vi and whispered. “I need to go back and explain all the mess we made. I know you need to stay, we can talk later.”
Vi just nodded, she knew they still had a lot to talk about but she wished they could skip all that and be right again.
And just like that Caitlyn walked out. Jayce left to attend to his business and once again it was just Isha, Jinx, and Vi.
A few more hours passed, Jayce brought them some food but Jinx didn't want to eat anything until Isha woke up. It took Vi a few more hours to accept she needed a break. She sat on a chair on the other side of the room, falling asleep a few seconds after she settled down.
Jinx was still holding strong next to Isha. She had long ago stopped believing things could work out for her but Isha never stopped believing in her. Never stopped bugging her to fight for them. Champion of the people. Only the memory of everything Isha did for her was holding Jinx together. And maybe Vi and her promise to have their family together again.
Jinx heard a groan, it took her a couple of seconds to realize who had made the noise. Isha shot up, eyes wild looking around, searching, until they finally focused on Jinx. She jumped to her, holding Jinx as hard as she could. Through the pain, Jinx held Isha, alive and well. “I’m fine. You made sure of it.”
After a few more seconds they reluctantly let go. “Never do that again.”
Isha tilted her head, making a confused expression.
“Don’t give me that, I know you know what I'm talking about.” Jinx couldn’t help but smile, this time she did one thing right. She saved someone.
Isha shrugged, arms up.
“Yeah, yeah. Your tricks don’t work with me.”
Isha raised her eyebrow, seeing right through Jinx.
“I love you, don’t leave me again.”
Isha just raised an eyebrow and grinned.