Chaos in the City of Progress 1/3
“Well, I was in Zaun, get it? And then this guy came up to me doing so many compliments to me and Fishbones. And he too could hear his voice. And he said he would give me so many other speaking weapons if I had done something for him…”
«Let me go!»
The long electric blue braids of a young girl trembled as crazy as she shook her head left and right, surging wildly in a vain attempt to break free. She slammed her feet on the ground, angrily, but her temperament was not weakening the strong grip of the mechanical gloves around her shoulders, nor loosened the handcuffs tight to her wrists.
«Stop messing around! It's only your fault if you are in this bad situation now.»
«At least my hands are not oily like yours» said the girl, arrogantly.
Vi raised an eyebrow. Patience had never been one of her virtues, unlike irascibility, which prevented her to endure the teasing.
«It's better for you if you stop, cutie» she said, gritting her teeth.
«I'm cute! I'm cute!» crooned Jinx. Her leather boots were beating rhythmically on the street, moving pieces of asphalt and concrete, incinerated by the recent explosions she had caused.
«You heard, Fishbones?» the question was directed to the rocket launcher with which she had devastated a small district in Piltover. The weapon was left on the ground after she had been captured, but Jinx had the illusion of having its attention when she saw that the gun was directed toward her.
«Fathands said I'm pretty. Instead, she is ugly and her pink hair are disgusting» continued the girl, laughing hysterically.
«Stupid! Idiot! Moron! Let me go!» she shouted after a sudden change of mood.
Tired of the provocations, Vi loosened her grip and raised a hand to hit her captive.
«Stop, now!» commanded the authoritative voice of the town sheriff. She had just arrived after ensuring the capture of that reckless hoodlum, disarming Jinx with one shot of her sniper rifle.
«Are you listening or not, Cupcake? She doesn’t stop provoking me. I can’t stand it anymore!»
Caitlyn sighed, resigned to see that Vi was similar to Jinx from many respects. She was short-tempered, always ready for action and a bit childish. Luckily, she wasn't equally crazy.
«Get her in the cell and you won't need to listen to her anymore» ordered the sheriff of Piltover: «But first let me ask her a question».
Everybody had already left that place. Most citizens had run away after the first explosions and people trapped in half-destroyed buildings had been rescued by a fleet of drones. Thin columns of black smoke danced sinuously while silently ascended to the sky.
Caitlyn's gaze moved over the rubble of the white marble fountain, which until a few minutes before was merrily spurting in the middle of the small square, now deserted. The wooden benches were incinerated and almost all the surrounding buildings bore scars: smiles awkwardly painted with spray paint, writings as “Jinx was here!” or “Cops suck!” created by several bullets fired at the walls, huge holes caused by the explosions of missiles and grenades.
Only one building had not been damaged. It was a small red brick building, with a wooden door black painted. There were no glasses in the windows, but strong steel bars prevented the entrance to anything larger than a stray cat.
«Why didn't you shoot here?» Caitlyn asked, with inquisitive tone.
Jinx understood that the question was directed at her, but she said nothing. She lowered her head and began to giggle softly. Vi dragged her by force next to her companion, ordering to respond. Nothing to do: the girl was too stubborn. If she knew anything she wouldn’t easily revealed it.
«Vi, why don’t you break into pieces that rocket launcher? Jinx won't need it in jail.»
Hearing those words, Jinx looked up quickly. Her wide eyes seemed to shout: “You would not really do that ?!” but the ice look of the sheriff contained an adamant and determined “Yes”.
«Hey! Hey! Wait a minute!» said Jinx, even before Vi had a chance to get close to her precious weapon: «I can tell you something, but don’t hurt Fishbones» implored.
Pleased that her threat had had the desired effect, Caitlyn approached the handcuffed girl. She noticed that her red eyes glowed with burning frenzy as she told why she returned to bring chaos in Piltover.
«Well, I was in Zaun, get it? And then this guy came up to me doing so many compliments to me and Fishbones. And he too could hear his voice. And he said he would give me so many other speaking weapons if I had done something for him…»
Jinx told everything in one breath, quickly and without pauses. Her speech was very hard to follow, moreover it could have easily been a series of whoppers chained hastily. But why the red brick building had not even a scratch?
«Well, now that you have been taken, you won't have speaking weapons anyway» pointed out Vi, highlighting that Jinx’s vandalism had been reckless and senseless.
The blue haired girl became thoughtful, then she laughed at that: «But it was funny!» she said.
Caitlyin was thinking in silence, watching the closed door and the barred windows. Inside it was dark and no sound came from the building. It was not too late when the sheriff saw an orange glow in the dark forcefully make his way out, and she heard a roaring low rumble under her feet.
«Get down!» she shouted.
The wooden door was unhinged by a powerful explosion. Tongues of fire, red and hot, fluttered in the wind while ashes and debris were scattered all around. The building looked like a demon, who was regurgitating huge amounts of flaming black smoke and hot dust.
Vi got up quickly. She noticed that Jinx was still lying on the ground, upset after the
huge explosion, and thought that there wasn’t the risk that she run away. She moved to
her companion and helped her up.
«What the hell happened?» asked.
The sheriff of Piltover shook her head. Did not know.
«I'm fine, Vi. Calm down» she said, firmly clutching her rifle in the hands. Vi nodded. Valked towards the entrance of the small smoking building and looked inside: fire, smoke and dust. She saw nothing else. Lifted up one of her great hands to protect the eyes from the heat, then she turned.
«It must have been a bomb placed there by that madwoman» she said, nodding at Jinx: «That's why she didn’t shot here. It was a trap! Luckily there was no one inside».
Finished the sentence, Vi felt a sharp pain in her left side. She looked down: a small spike was stuck up to the kidney. The wound began to bleed, but she instinctively turned around to see who had hit her. With the mechanical gloves raised she blocked the huge bullet directed towards her, but the explosion still jolted her many meters back. She impacted violently to the ground with her back and gasped, trying to catch her breath.
After a few seconds, the attention of Caitlyn, Jinx and Vi was captured by the sound of heavy footsteps coming from the building on fire. All the three looked toward the entrance, where until a few minutes before it was the black door, quietly tightened. A huge figure emerged from the smoke. Its iron shoulders were too broad to pass from that small opening, so the lintel and the door frame were brutally demolished.
A simple look was not enough to describe that monstrosity. It seemed a common exoskeleton, with automated parts that completely covered the back and the limbs of a human. But the bald, middle-aged man, dressed in a white coat full of rips and burns, was unconscious. His body was wrapped in a tangle of wires travelled by electric shocks. On its back one could have seen two things: a bulky cylindrical container and a mechanical tentacle, a kind of grotesque, long artificial neck. At its end, an expressionless robotic face was watching the scene with detached interest.
Caitlyn stood up, braced her rifle and fired. She had no time to think if it was the man to control the robot’s actions, she only knew that it was a threat to Piltover which must be stopped.
That human-made freak reacted, instantly raising its right arm. From the long barrel mounted on the forearm was fired another bullet, that intercepted the one shot by the sheriff. Its ability to react and its accuracy left Caitlyn speechless.
Surprisingly, the creature didn't attack. His attention was focused elsewhere. The automated head was looking towards Jinx and Vi, one still handcuffed and another wounded, both laid on the ground.
«Humans. Are. Food» declared a rough metallic voice.
The robot was advancing toward them, heedless of the shots that Caitlyn kept firing at him, all easily intercepted. When he was close enough, he held out his left hand to Jinx’s neck.
He withdrew it, and immediately jumped back as just felt the globe of electricity that had been hurled at it.
The bald man's body was still inert, although his flesh was torn apart from electric shocks becoming more frequent, but the mechanical head angrily looked at the two people who had just made their appearance.
To protect Jinx rose up a black boy, both sides of the head were shaven, leaving a strip of noticeably longer hair in the center. In the hand, he clutched a clock hand that he had stolen from a clock tower in Piltover.
In front of Vi was silhouetted a more robust man, with short, neat beard and a square jaw, clenched in anger. His hammer was ready to talk for him.
On the surface, the two were one the opposite of the other. Yet, without knowing it, they had something in common. Both turned to the girl they were there to help, and both showed off a warm, reassuring smile.
«Have no fear» they said: «For I have come».
...to be continued
*** If you don't have confidence with the game League of Legends, click on the above image to discover how the characters look. ***
Hi this is the Rene, posting this so you know I read it :)
ReplyDeleteHey :) It's soraka that you played with earlier. Nice story, even though you're not finished! :)
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