Part 24 - What We Stand For

Within the Topside, Caitlyn sat inside of her room. She stood in front of a board that had events from everything she witnessed within the Undercity. She stared at it, as if she was trying to piece together a puzzle that doesn't even have all the pieces. "Knock knock." Jayce said from her door, with a polite knock on her room door.

Caitlyn broke away her focus due to the sudden knock by Jayce. Afterwards, she walked to the front door in a tired manner, as she brushed her messy hair backwards.

Once she opened the door, Jayce looked at her with obvious surprise and concern on his face. Though Caitlyn opened the door just enough for him to see her face. "Are you gonna let me in?" Jayce questioned, while peaking into Caitlyns room just a bit.

After asked that question, Caitlyn looked towards the board that portrayed events from the Undercity. "Don't tell anyone.." Caitlyn demanded, before opening the door wider for Jayce to come inside. Jayce then walked inside, with his eyes immediately making its way to the board that Caitlyn had been focusing on.

"Woah..Caitlyn-" Jayce acknowledged, as he sat up against her desk. "What is all this?" He questioned while staring ahead at it. Caitlyn immediately closed the door behind him, before walking towards it.

"Marcus has been meeting up with this Silco person. Now Silco is responsible for Shimmer production in the Undercity. From what I've been told, it's extremely addictive and rots the users brain slowly. So why would Marcus and Silco discuss things without anyone knowing?" While Caitlyn explained and questioned some events that happened in the Undercity, Jayce slowly approached the board with wide eyes, and a bit of focus that began increasing.

"Wait..you know Jinx?" Jayce pointed out, while looking towards a specific area on the board. Caitlyn then looked towards that area of the board, with some concern on her face. "Maybe that's your ticket to becoming an enforcer again..Jinx. This girl Vi. Short for Violet right? A prisoner at Still Water? Maybe if you capture them both, Marcus will allow you back as an enforcer." Jayce explained with a smile directed towards Caitlyn.

After Jayces proposal, Caitlyn immediately shook her head in rejection. With how quick Caitlyn rejected Jayce's proposal, he looked at her a bit confused. "Vi is a good person. Throwing her in prison won't solve anything long term." Caitlyn argued.

"So what should we do?" Jayce questioned.

"You should get me over the bridge and back into The Undercity." Caitlyn proposed, and the moment she did, Jayce sighed in slight annoyance. Quickly, Caitlyn became desperate. "Listen, I'm this close to getting proof of Silcos corrupted empire. Now that you're a council member, you can grant me that permission right?" Caitlyn went on, while Jayce began walking around the room in deep thought.

"How about this.." Jayce turned to face Caitlyn. "If I get you there. You and Violet just retrieve the gemstone. Since Violent isn't responsible for stealing it, her being the one to bring it back to us will more than likely keep her free. However, I can't promise the same for this Jinx. Considering they killed over ten enforcers, and stole the gemstone, I don't think there's much I can do to help her." Jayce proposed while walking towards the door. While Caitlyn looked down towards the floor in profound thoughts.

"Deal?" Jayce questioned. After a few seconds, Caitlyn looked towards Jayce, with a nod of the head. "And so you won't tell me exactly who this Jinx person is?" Jayce questioned.

Caitlyn looked away from Jayce for a split second, before she looked back towards him with slight guilt in her eyes. "I'm sorry, I can't." Caitlyn responded, in an attempt to keep her promise with Lucy.

Jayce nodded his head with a smile. "I get it. You're lucky I'm the council member you're talking with. Anyways, I'll let the enforcers guarding the bridge to let you pass." Jayce informed Caitlyn, before walking out of her room, and leaving the area. He hadn't realized, but there was another council members listening in on the conversation between the two.

Not too long after Jayce entered the council meeting room. Once he walked in, all of the council turned their heads to look in his direction, while he walked towards his chair. "Sorry I'm late. I was discussing something very important." Jayce informed the other council, before taking a seat.

"Marcus just informed us that there's a man in the Undercity who wants to discuss something with us. His name is Silco, and he's basically the unofficial mayor of the Undercity." Mel informed to the rest of the council.

"What does he want?" Salo asked. "Maybe it has to do with the recent violent acts." Bolbok considered. "Or perhaps it's about the gemstone. How he will use it to push some war if we don't do as he says." Heimerdinger proposed.

"Not everything has to do with magic, don't you realize that Sir?" Jayce questioned Heimerdinger who still seemed skeptical. "Our trade, the hexgates, etc. so many effective inventions that are powered by hectech." Jayce argued.

"And now this. Now criminals stealing it to possibly perpetuate more violence." Heimerdinger argued, as Jayce rolled his eyes in slight annoyance. Even though he's trying to stay as polite as possible.

"I know this isn't the current topic, however I do believe Sir Heimerdinger will only slow down the progression of Piltover. In and out of these meetings, Viktor and I have been working or more ways to improve hextech, along with the gemstone that will be released into the general public very soon. However with Heimerdinger having such a big voice,  I do believe it will hault progression." Jayce said to the rest of the council members, while Mel looked at him with frowned eyebrows.

"What're you saying?" Mel questioned, with all eyes on Jayce. Jayce turned to look at Heimerdinger for a split second, who watched him with eyes of confusion. He then stood up, while looking at the other council members. "I think we should remove Sir Heimerdinger from the council." Jayce proposed to the rest of the council, making them all relatively shocked.

Not too long after Jayce's proposal, the firelight members finally picked up Silver and Lucy. The two rode with the firelight members through the sky, as they made their way to an unrecognizable place. One that they didn't even believe was in the Undercity.

Now that Ekko and Mylo are inside of the room that Vi is chained up inside of, they watched eachother with focused eyes. "I..I thought you were dead." Vi acknowledged with shock, while she looked towards Mylo. She then turned her head to look towards Ekko. "And you.." She added.

"Are you on Silvers side, or Jinxs?" Ekko asked while frowning slightly. Vi frowned with confusion from that question. "It's Powder. And I thought we were all on the same side until you came out swinging!" Vi yelled out.

"I wonder who taught us that." Ekko mentioned as he rolled his eyes in a slightly annoyed tone. "Regardless, Silver asked us to trust him. So we will try trust you too. Even though you were giving some Topsider the grand tour of the Lanes." Ekko said in a sarcastic tone, as Vi chuckled in in a wholesome way.

Vi dropped the chains that she was chained up by, before she embraced Ekko in a hug. Ekkos eyes lit up, and his tough exterior quickly softened once he felt Vi hug him. "I missed you little man." Vi said with her eyes closed, before quickly yanking Mylo into the hug as well.

"How did you get those chains off?" Ekko questioned softly. "That's a secret." Vi responded with a chuckle.

Soon after, Silver and Lucy arrived to the Firelights hideout. Outside was a big tree, guarded by a giant wooden dome with a lot of wooden small houses around it. Once Silver and Lucy were invited inside, they noticed there were a bunch of people on the hover board gadgets and kids running around playing. Everything was so bright and filled with life. "Wait here.." The firelight said to Silver and Lucy, before hovering away on the hoverboard.

Quickly after being told to wait, Silver and Lucy began wandering off while looking at the scenery all around them. While walking, they eventually made their way to a mural, with the faces of all the people they loved. Young Powder, Benzo, Vander, everyone.

"Just like Silver. Not being able to wait when told." Ekko blurted out from behind Silver and Lucy. The two quickly turned to look at him, who had a smirk on his face. Along with Vi and Mylo who stood beside him.

"Oh my goodness." Lucy said, as she went in and hugged Vi with a smile. While they hugged, Ekko couldn't help but smile in Lucys direction. "Silver told me you were alright but goodness.." Lucy acknowledged, as she broke the hug with Vi, and looked towards Ekko and Mylo.

"It's great to see you okay." Vi said, before her wide eyes made its way to Silver. She immediately rushed in to hug Silver with disbelief in her eyes. "How? I thought you died." Vi said while they hugged eachother, before Vi quickly remembered the figure in black that she saw standing in front of Jinx. "Wait, you were there. Did you see Cup-Caitlyn?" Vi questioned as she broke the hug from Silver.

Silver shook her head, letting Vi know that Caitlyn is gone. The news obviously upset Vi a little. "I'll tell you a bit later how I survived." Silver informed. The happiness on his face seemed to have dropped when he mentioned it.

Lucy proceeded to hug the other two, which quickly gained smiles on their faces. "It's good to see you." Silver said to Ekko, as he hugged him as well. The others proceeded to look at Silver and Ekko hug, before they shook hands right after with a mutual smile.

"Yeah..After the explosion six years ago, Silco pushed his shimmer production. It messed up a lot of people. This place focuses on rehabilitating the people who were effected by it. Giving them some type of peace. We take in as many people as we can, but unfortunately there isn't infinite room." Ekko explained to Silver, Vi, and Lucy, while they continued looking around the new environment they're now apart of.

"Thought you died.." Silver said to Ekko with a relieved smile. "I'm happy though. Now that I'm not tied up, I can actually show that better." Silver said with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah..I was about to get interrogated by enforcers on the topside. But they ended up freaking out when they heard no news from Grayson. They left me there alone to look for her and I luckily brought something with me to break myself out of the handcuffs and escape..." Ekko explained while Silver had a smile on his face.

"I ended up finding Mylo and helping him even though the streets were flooded with Enforcers.  He was so close to death honestly. It was very scary and unfortunately Claggor...Claggor died." Ekko said in a tough way, he didn't seem to let it get to him.

Silver looked down slightly before he focused his attention back to the mural. "It's A shame that everyone there is dead right?" Mylo, out of nowhere said from behind, along with Vi who's directly next to him. From the sudden words, Silver and Lucy turned around to look his way.

"Now that you're here, I want to ask you something. Did you take Jinx down like you said you would?" Mylo approached Silver with that question, and interrupted his time of looking at the mural infront of him.

The others looked in Silvers direction after the question. "It's Powder." Vi corrected once again. Silver slowly turned around to look at Mylo, with the intention of giving him an answer.

But, down in a darker, more foggy part of the Undercity, Jinx wondered around while blabbing to herself. While she wandered, someone suddenly appeared from the fog before her. Someone who wore a similar mask to the person she killed before. A smiling mask.

Jinx immediately stopped blabbing to herself, as she stared at the masked man who ever so slightly revealed himself in the fog. "Awww, are you mad about your buddy? Well you should know he had it coming..Just like you do-" Jinx taunted with a head tilt, smirk, and gun pointed at the masked person. That action is quickly stopped, once more masked people appear from the fog. All circling around her with the similar mask.

One by one masked people emerge from the fog. The each them had bells around their necks, and wrist. The more people that emerge, the more confused and focused Jinx became. She frowned once about a dozen of the masked people came out from the fog. With her surrounded, she reached for her gun, as that frown slowly left her face. And took the form of a smile instead.