Part 28 - Still Family

After Jinx basically destroyed Silcos office and left Silco unconscious, Caitlyn dropped down from the ceiling that she was watching from. "My lord.." Caitlyn mumbled to herself as she looked around the room and reconciled on everything that just took place. Though she smiled from more hope that Vi and the others are alive.

Afterwards, she watched her step, as she gathered the paper evidence that she saw on Silcos desk. She proceeded to glance down at the unconscious Silco, before taking photographic evidence.

Meanwhile, Silver and the others remained in the Firelights hideout. Mylo was making sure construction was going smoothly, Ekko was up in the tree fixating on the gemstone, Vi and Lucy were training, and Silver was still asleep.

"I never thought you'd want to learn to fight better." Vi said while standing to the side of Lucy with a smile, as Lucy shadow boxed.

"I don't. But I have to for the way the world is. And if I'm going to become an enforcer, I really have to know combat skills of some sort." Lucy explained in response as she continued shadow boxing. Vis smile suddenly dropped once she heard Lucy mention that she wanted to become an enforcer.

Her dropped smiling turned into a more shocked face as she continued watching Lucy. "So Caitlyn was telling the truth. You wanted to be an enforcer?" Once Vi asked Lucy those words, Lucys focus on her shadow boxing had dropped. She glanced towards Vi with her fist still out, and a guilty expression.

Lucy found it hard to keep eye contact with Vi. She proved that by looking towards the ground before focusing her full attention on the conversation between them. "Yeah, I do. I wanted to tell you sooner, I just didn't know how you'd react. With your parents and all." Lucy spoke to Vi in a soft manner, as Vi began looking conflicted.

"It was all of our parents. What the enforcers did was the catalyst to all of this, do you remember?" Vi asked, obviously growing more upset and confused.

"I do. That's why I want to become an enforcer. To lead their corrupted force into something better." Lucy responded back to Vi with desperation in her voice.

After that response from Lucy, a wave of silence washed over the two. With Vi seeming more like she's come to terms with it, and Lucy looking guilty.

Within the silence, Vi started thinking to herself, while looking away from Lucy. While Lucy watched. "I couldn't possibly understand how bad it feels to lose parents. Me and Jinx did but we were too young to even get to know them as people. That's why I'm happy that you were there." Lucy spoke to Vi, as she approached close to her at the end of her sentence.

Vi looked back up at Lucy, and got out of her thoughts from Lucys words. "You were kind of like my sister and mom. But regardless, not all enforcers are bad. Caitlyn is a prime example. She promised me that she wouldn't capture Jinx if I gave her some info. I think it's because she really wanted to help." Lucy said to Vi, who continued to stare at her.

After Lucys words, the silence between the two returned once again. Lucy started to look defeat, as she looked away from Vi. Slowly, smirk slowly started to appear on Vis face. "Don't start getting all marshmallow on me." Vi said with a smile as she approached Lucy and put a hand on her shoulder. Lucy looked at her surprised. "You better be the best fucking enforcer Piltover has seen." After Vis words, Lucys eyes lit up, and a smile quickly spread across her face.

"Now let's get back to it." Vi encouraged.

Silver has now woken up. He sat up on the bed, while putting his shirt and pants on, while also adjusting his eyes. After getting dressed, he walked out of the room. Quickly, he had to squint his eyes from how bright the Firelight hideout was.

Even so, it was much better than the forever darkness where he once lived. As he turned his head, he saw Lucy and Vi practicing with eachother. A genuine smile made its way to Silvers face as he witnessed the two practicing together.

After walking around, he noticed Mylo overseeing the construction next to the mural. With skeptical eyes, he looked towards Lucy and Vi, then looked back towards Mylo. Coming to a decision, he walked towards Mylo. "Aye Goodmorning." Silver greeted Mylo, who only acknowledged him with a glance over his shoulder.

Realizing that the positive approach wasn't going to work, Silver decided to be more real with Mylo. "Listen, you and me haven't always seen eye to eye, especially when it came to Powder-"

"Jinx" Mylo quickly interrupted Silver, before turning around to focus his attention on to Silver.

Silver nodded his head, though the tension between the two obviously grew. "Regardless, you and me want the same thing. We want all of this to stop. Between Silco and his shimmer production, and Jinx and her chaos. I think that's worth putting aside our differences, and working together." Silver spoke to Mylo, who just looked at him with annoyed eyes.

"That's where you're wrong Silver. I don't just want it to stop. I want Jinx dead. Same with Silco. And after what you did to Claggor, you're not too far off from them." Mylo said to Silver, as he approached him a bit closer. The obvious anger emitted from Mylos tone. "Vi can forgive you, and so can Ekko. But I can't."

Silver looked Mylo eye to eye, and face to face. "Trust me, you can't hate me more than I hate myself for that. That's why I closed myself off from the world. And even though our world is fucked up, that was a mistake too. Now I'm trying to make up for all the mistakes I've made." Silver responded back to Mylo with a desperate tone.

Mylo then shook his head in disappointment and almost disgust. "We're all trying to make up for our mistakes. One mistake I made was not getting rid of Jinx when I had the chance. So I'm going to make up for that. You must be with Vi, thinking that girl is just lost, huh? Well you're dead wrong. You nor anyone else will stop me when the time comes for me to kill Jinx." Mylo said to Silver in a severely angered and nearly saddened tone. Afterwards, he turned his back on Silver, and continued doing what he was doing before.

Silver watched Mylo with a face of unhappiness. "Alright.." Silver said softly, as he continued looking at Mylo from behind. "Just don't forget we're still family.." Silver left Mylo with those words, while Mylo rubbed his eyes and tried keeping his cool and calm expression.

Silver then made his way over to Vi and Lucy with a smile. "You know you can't fight Lucy." Silver said in a teasing way, though Lucy harshly ignored him, causing him to chuckle. He then looked towards Vi. "Vi, I need to talk to you." Silver expressed to Vi, before the two made their way to a more private area. Not even 20 feet away from Lucy.

Afterwards, Silver explained to Vi the harsh effects of shimmer. Specifically, the shortening of your life span. Even so, Vi didn't seem to fazed by the sudden news. "You're not bothered?" Silver asked in a shocked and confused way, as Vi watched Lucy train from afar.

"Is it on and off?" Vi questioned.

"I think if you have it activated for 30 seconds, then turn it off, the next time you use it for 30 seconds, that'll count as a minute. Or maybe 10 seconds once, then 50 seconds later on. I assume it adds up that way." Silver speculated, while Vi listened to the explanation.

"Welp." Vi chuckled and shrugged it off, before squatting down. Silver watched her, and his previous confusion quickly came back. "That's all the more reason why I need to bring Powder back. After what happened on that cliff, I feel like you and me are the only ones who still want to convince her." Vi said, when the main thing Silver thought about, was how many years did Vi shorten her life by.

"Even Lucy calls her Jinx which honestly surprised me." Vi said with a chuckle, before Silver intensely interrupted her with a question of his own. "How many years do you think you loss?" Silver asked with a frown and intense stare.

Vi sighed and let out a deep exhale, as she nonchalantly stretched from standing back on her feet. "I'm not sure. I'm counting about around thirty." Vi confessed. Once she did, Silver frowned even more with a overwhelmed expression plastered across his face. "When I first made it to Still Well, I hated what I did to Powder..so for a month or two, I thought it would be best if I stayed. I hoped that you three would take care of eachother while I was away. But eventually I got desperate and I tried to break myself free. I realized anger was what activated it, so I used that. Unfortunately that didn't help me at all. The bars were too thick and tough. So after about ten minutes I gave up." Vi explained, while Silver listened closely. After Vi explained, Silver started spacing out a bit in thought.

Once Vi picked up on Silver spacing out, she elbowed him to get his attention. "Don't worry. I got a lot of life left in me." Vi reassured with a genuine smile, and calm expression. Afterwards, she held out her fist for Silver. Regardless of the doubt still lingering inside of Silvers head, he fist bumped Vi in return.

Not long after, Ekko walked out of the treehouse, and approached Silver and the others who all stood together. "I'm positive this came from Topside. We should give it back before they send enforcers to search the Undercity from head to toe." Ekko suggested, as the group stood around in a circle.

"Or something worst like beat innocent people." Vi suggested.

"Or we could use it to make a weapon..Send Silco and Jinx a message." Mylo suggested, as Vi shook her head in response. "They'll think we stole it. They might arrest us." Vi suggested. Both Lucy and Silver stared at the gemstone with intense focus, as the shine from the blue crystal lit up their eyes.

"It reminds me of-" Lucy said. "The crystal that Powder stole six years ago." Silver added, making the rest of the group come to such a realization.

"The hextech gemstone." Vi said, leaving both Mylo and Ekko confused.

"How did you know the name?" Ekko asked.

"Earlier I managed to listen to a conversation between Silco and a enforcer. When I met up with Lucy and Vi, I told them about it. It's hextech, something that Powder stole." Silver acknowledged and confessed to the others as Ekko and Mylo watched him.

After answering, everyone averted their attention back to the gemstone. With the group brainstorming in silence, someone stepped forward. "I'll do it. I'll bring it back to Topside." Without hesitation, Lucy took initiative, causing the others to look her way. Ekko who looked very worried argued against it. "Are you sure?" Ekko asked.

"Yeah, maybe we can wait." Vi suggested. "Sky, she's an assistant of someone in the Topside. When she gets back, we could give it to her and she could give it back to them." Ekko recommended.

Lucy shook her head in disagreement. "We don't know when that's gonna be. And since the enforcers took Caitlyn, maybe she could tell them that I got her to safety. And that none of us took the gemstone." Lucy explained to the others while they all seemed a bit hesitant.

"You're putting your trust in a enforcer?" Mylo asked with a raised eyebrow. "This enforcer is different." Vi responded in defense of Caitlyn.

"It's too risky." Ekko rejected Lucys offer, making Lucy a bit upset.

Quickly noticing this, Silver looked in Ekkos direction. "It's all risky. Keeping the gemstone or giving it back. There's never been something in the world we live in that hasn't involved risk. That's why we grew up and adapted the way that we did. But I trust Lucys plan, and I trust Caitlyns honesty. And we can't put people in the Undercity at risk, just because we're scared to take a risk." Silver spoke to Ekko, while the others watched and listened to him. Vi started to smirk a little, while Mylo looked elsewhere. Ekko seemed skeptical, but the more Silver talked, the more convinced he became.

Afterwards, Silver and Ekko looked at eachother. Eventually, Ekko nodded his head. He then held the gemstone out for Lucy to hold onto. "But we're going to be your backup. If Jinx stole this, then that means Silco wants it. And if Silco wants it, it's possible he has his goons searching for it. Silver and Vi will move ahead in front of us. If they see anything suspicious, they'll alert Mylo, me and Lucy who aren't too far behind. That way, we'll know if Silcos people are ahead and they can't ambush us." Ekko said to the others, and they each agreed to the idea.

Afterwards, the group looked at eachother. "So that's that?" Mylo asked. "Seems like it." Vi responded. "It'll be fine. The bridge isn't too far from here." Ekko admitted.

"Well y'all be safe then." Silver told Ekko and Lucy with a bit of a smile. Ekko nodded his head in response, while Lucy held on tightly to the gemstone.

Afterwards, the group began making their way out of the hideout with a clear goal, and determination to back it up.