Chapter 13 / Part 1
This chapter is quite long so I had to split in in two parts. I just simply had no time for editing and i didn't want you to wait any longer. Part 2 is coming this weekend. Some NSFW artwork connected to the second part of this chapter is already published on my Patreon, so if you wanna have a peak at some extras follow the link at the end of this chapter and enjoy some bonus content.
The factory had become a lung that now had difficulty to breathe.
Sirens wailed through its metal corridors, their echoes colliding with the hiss of steam and the sharp crack of distant gunfire. Overhead lights flickered, bathing the machinery in sickly pulses of white and shadow. Conveyors lay abandoned mid-cycle, crates split open where they had been dropped in haste, their contents scattered like spilled organs across the floor.
Somewhere deeper inside, something detonated. The sound rolled through the structure like thunder trapped in iron ribs.
And in the middle of it all, the man who had ruled this place was no longer standing.
Solan crawled. His shoulder was bleeding heavily. Blood slipping down his arm and collecting between his fingers slick with grime as he scraped uselessly against the concrete dragging himself toward the door. His breath was coming in wet, panicked gasps. Behind him, the room rang with distant alarms and the echo of gunfire, every sound chasing him like a heartbeat about to give out. He dared a glance over the edge if a desk behind which he was hiding.
Bad idea.
High above, framed by darkness and falling dust, Caitlyn was already tracking him.
She adjusted her stance, rifle settling into her shoulder with lethal calm. One squeeze and it would be over.
Then, movement behind her. Blade flew in Jorin’s direction missing his ear by a fraction of a millimeter and got wedged deep into the wooden beam behind him. The attacker followed, charging into him from the side, knocking him hard into the railing. Metal rang out as they crashed together, grappling for control. Caitlyn swore under her breath, twisting on instinct.
The shot came a split second later. She pivoted, fired once.
The guard’s head snapped back, body collapsing bonelessly at Jorin’s feet before he even hit the ground.
"Thanks" he said breathless
"You're supposed to keep me safe, not the other way around" Cait chuckled assuming her position.
But the moment was gone.
By the time she turned back, Solan was already on his feet, staggering through the doorway and vanishing into the maze of the factory.
“Shit,” she hissed "I lost the shot" but there was no time to chase.
Below, everything had erupted.
Vi hit first. She came in like a battering ram, gauntlets roaring to life as she drove a punch straight through a guard’s chestplate, sending him flying into a stack of crates.
“Wasn’t Gearhand supposed to disable the fucking alarm?” She grunted rolling her shoulder
“Does anything ever go as planned?"
Sevika moved with her, seamless, her shimmer-powered arm whirring as she caught another attacker mid-swing and slammed him face-first into the floor hard enough to crack concrete.
Vi ducked as a blade flashed where her head had been, Sevika’s augmented arm snapping out to catch the attacker by the wrist. Vi followed instantly, uppercutting him with enough force to lift him clean off his feet.
Another guard rushed Sevika from behind.
Vi saw it, twisted mid-motion and shoulder-checked him, gauntlet flaring as she sent him skidding across the floor.
“Left!” Sevika barked.
Vi spun, blocking a shot with her forearm as Sevika charged forward, her metal fist glowing before she drove it into the guard’s ribs. Something snapped. He went down screaming.
They flowed around each other like they’d done this a hundred times. Vi broke lines head-on, drawing fire, shattering formations with raw force. Sevika followed in her wake, efficient and ruthless, where Vi created chaos, Sevika ended it. Shimmer pulsed through her augmented arm as it punched, grabbed, crushed. No wasted motion. No hesitation.
When Vi overextended, Sevika was already there, knocking a blade aside before it could bite.
When Sevika got boxed in, Vi tore a hole straight through, bodies scattering like debris.
A guard lunged low at Vi, she countered high, cracked his helmet, moved on. Another came in from the side.
“Your guard’s still sloppy,” Sevika barked over the noise, twisting a man’s arm until it snapped. “Too much power. Not enough patience.”
Vi barely had time to scowl. “Now’s not—”
Something different stepped into her space.
This one didn’t rush. He circled. Tall, built like a butcher, wielding a massive curved blade that hummed as it cut the air. His stance was grounded, practiced.
Vi charged anyway.
Bad call.
He met her head-on, deflecting her first punch, the impact ringing through her gauntlet. She swung again, he ducked, pivoted, the blade flashing up in a brutal arc.
Vi barely got her arm up in time.
The massive blade he was wilding
screeched against hextech, sparks flying as it bit into the gauntlet’s plating. Metal warped. A warning crack ran along the edge.
“Shit...”
He pressed the advantage driving her back. Vi struggled, boots skidding, gauntlet straining as the blade chewed deeper, nearly ripping the armor clean off her forearm.
For the first time, she was losing ground.
The man raised the blade again but Sevika’s
augmented arm crashed into his side, folding him in half with a wet, final sound. Not wanting for him to remain his strength she grabbed his head and slammed it into the floor once. Then again. She didn’t stop until he was nothing but dead weight.
Sevika straightened, flexing her arm as shimmer faded. She glanced at Vi’s damaged gauntlet, then at Vi herself.
“Told you,” she said coolly. “Guard needs work.”
Vi yanked her arm free, sparks still popping from the cracked plating. She shot Sevika a glare sharp enough to cut steel.
“Funny,” Vi snapped, breath heavy, “I don’t remember asking my old almost-mentor-who-sold-out-my-family for tips.”
Sevika smirked faintly, already turning back toward the fight.
“Still alive, aren’t you?”
Vi flexed her gauntlet and and headed back into the fight.
Above them, Caitlyn became a ghost.
Shots rang out, sharp, surgical.
Guards dropped before they ever reached the ground fight. One fell mid-step, another crumpled behind cover, a third went down as he raised his weapon, surprise frozen on his face.
Shells hit the floor behind her in quiet, steady rhythm.
Jorin regained his footing, checking her back as she reloaded.
Nyx didn’t wait for an order.
The moment the path cracked open, her and Gearhand broke from cover and sprinted for the entrance, boots hammering against metal and concrete. A guard rounded the corner, Gearhand took him down in one brutal motion, a short strike to the throat followed by the weight of his body driving the man into the wall.
Two more rushed them.
Nyx’s breath caught, and then her tattoos ignited.
Light flared beneath her skin, sharp and electric. Her eyes burned bright as raw energy surged from her chest and down her arms. She thrust both hands forward.
The force slammed into the guards, lifting them clean off the ground. They didn’t even have time to scream before she yanked them together mid-air, their bodies colliding with a sickening crack before crashing to the floor in a heap. As she stepped over them she stopped for a moment bending down at something that caught her attention.
"We need to move" Gearhand prompted
"Look, " she told the blade out of the dead guards hand
"Noxians" Gearhand said
"Yeah, but that's not the regular army." She said
"We need to move" he grabbed her forearm lifting her off the floor
They ran. The corridors narrowed, twisted, pipes overhead, cables snaking underfoot, steam hissing from broken valves. Nyx took a turn too fast, heart pounding.
“Wrong way,” Gearhand snapped, grabbing her forearm and hauling her back. “This way.”
They burst through a final set of doors
and the factory floor opened beneath them.
Nyx skidded to a halt.
The space was enormous, cavernous, like the belly of some iron beast. Molten metal poured in glowing rivers, machines roaring and shrieking as they worked, heat pressing in from every direction. Catwalks crisscrossed high above, shadows moving along them like insects.
And then they saw the people.
Hundreds of workers were crammed behind massive metal fencing along the edge of the floor, thin, hollow-eyed, clothes hanging off them in tatters. Hands clawed at the bars. Some screamed for help. Others just stared, too exhausted to do anything else. The fence rattled as bodies pressed against it, a chorus of desperation echoing through the space.
“Holy shit…” Gearhand breathed.
The sound cut short. The floor shook. Heavy, mechanical footsteps thundered behind them, too fast, too close. Nyx turned just in time to see it. A mechanical sentry, larger than the ones they’d faced before, its metal limbs whirring, joints glowing faintly as it charged.
A massive metal arm snapped out and seized Gearhand mid-stride.
Nyx screamed his name as the machine flung him aside like he weighed nothing. His body slammed into the wall with a brutal crack before collapsing to the floor, unmoving.
Outside the metal transport screamed as it rolled to a stop in front of the main entrance.
Its doors blew open.
Men poured out.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me!" Vi grunted
"He's got the whole army"
"Shit" Sevika huffed and reloaded her arm with more shimmer.
Solan’s people poured out moving fast, armed, organised. Special unit by the look of it. Boots hitting concrete in tight formation, weapons already coming up.
"What the fuck?" Jorin’s eyes widened.
From the tower, Caitlyn didn’t hesitate. She reloaded qnd started shooting.
A man dropped before his feet even cleared the ramp.
Another spun sideways, helmet snapping back, body folding hard against the transport’s hull.
Shells rang against the floor as she worked.
Cait adjusted and fired.
Jorin pulled a grenade, thumbed the pin, and lobbed it clean over the railing. It vanished into the dark and exploded on impact.
Bodies scattered. Shouts erupted. Smoke rolled outward.
But then the sound changed.
A deep, mechanical thrum cut through the chaos from the far end of the factory floor. Cait’s stomach dropped.
“Get down” Jorin shouted.
The first burst ripped through the watchtower.
Wood exploded around them, planks splintering as bullets chewed through the structure. Cait ducked hard, heart slamming as a round punched through the space where her head had been a second earlier.
Jorin threw himself flat, the floor shuddering beneath them as the railing disintegrated in a shower of sparks and debris.
The tower started to come apart.
Boards turned into a colander of fresh holes, metal supports screaming as rounds tore through them. Dust and wood filled the air, stinging eyes, choking lungs.
Cait pressed flat against the floor, rifle clutched tight, pulse roaring in her ears as another burst shredded the wall behind them.
The tower wouldn’t hold much longer.
And below them, the factory was becoming a warzone.
Vi skidded to a halt just short of the factory entrance.
The sound hit her first, the ugly, tearing roar of automatic fire ripping through the air above them. Her head snapped up.
Watchtower.
Her heart lurched.
“Cait...” The name tore out of her before she could stop it, fear flooding her face so fast it stole her breath.
She caught sight of the tower splintering, wood bursting apart under the barrage, smoke and debris pouring from it. For half a second, the world narrowed to a single, unbearable thought.
No.
Vi spun toward the source.
Roof. High. Exposed.
The shooter was braced behind the weapon, muzzle flashing, completely focused on tearing Caitlyn’s position apart.
Vi’s jaw set.
Her gauntlets powered up with a rising whine, blue light flaring as she broke into a sprint. Each step cracked the ground beneath her boots, then she launched.
The gauntlets detonated beneath her fists, propelling her straight up the side of the building in a blur of force and motion. She hit the roof hard.
The shooter swung the weapon toward her.
The gun screamed. Vi ripped a metal plate clean out of the rooftop with one hand and yanked it up just in time. Bullets slammed into it in rapid succession, sparks flying as dents bloomed across the surface. The impact rattled her arms, shell casings clattering wildly across the roof as the shooter kept firing.
Vi growled, bracing herself behind the makeshift shield, boots digging in.
With a roar, she hurled the plate. It crossed the space between them like a missile.
The metal slammed into the shooter’s stomach with crushing force, lifting him clean off his feet and slamming him backward into the rockwork behind the roof.
Nyx staggered backward, panic flaring as she reached for her power again, but her heel caught on a thick cable snaking across the ground. She went down hard, the air punched from her lungs as she hit the floor. Some sharp metal dug into her arm. She screamed in pain.
The sentry turned toward her.
It roared, metal grinding, pistons screaming and lunged.
Nyx raised her hands, terror freezing her for a split second but then the world exploded sideways.
A blur of pink and blue slammed into the machine, a hextech gauntlet crashing into its chassis with enough force to bend steel. The sentry staggered, screeching as it was knocked off course.
Vi landed between Nyx and the monster, shoulders squared, gauntlets humming with power. She didn’t stop, she tore through it's shell ripping out the tubes that fed the chemicals to it's core until it fell on the ground. She reached her arm out for Nyx.
"I'm fine...Gerhard" she pointed as staggered getting up.
Vi’s eyes flicked past the staggering sentry, past the chaos of the floor and landed on the crumpled body near the wall.
“No no no...Gerhard!”
She was moving before the name finished leaving her mouth crossing the distance in a blur, dropping hard to her knees beside him. Dust puffed up around them as she slid, gauntlets hissing as they powered down.
Gerhard coughed, a rough, wet sound, then blinked. His eyes found her face, unfocused but there.
“Still… still here,” he muttered, trying and failing to push himself up.
“Hey big guy,” she said, voice tight as she caught his shoulder. “Don’t do this to me.”
Vi helped him sit, hands careful now.
He hissed as he shifted. “Arm’s… fucked. Think it’s broken.”
Sevika skidded to a stop beside them, breath ragged. “Are you okay?”
Nyx stood next to her. Blood poured down her arm.
Vi tried getting him up but Gerhard waved her off weakly. “Go. Get her brother.” He shoved at Vi’s arm with what little strength he had. “I’ll be fine.”
“I’m not leaving you,” she said flatly.
“Vi,” he snapped, sharper now despite the pain and grabbed the collar of her jacket “Go. Before we all get killed.”
She met his eyes. Then she looked at Nyx.
"I'll get him out" Sevika said already helping him off the floor "Go, get the boy and let's get the fuck out."
"We need to get up there" Vi pointed towards the gallery above the factory floor. But then her eyes landed on people. She looked at Nyx.Something passed between them, wordless,
instant, reckless.
Vi snorted once. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
Nyx wiped sweat and grime from her brow, jaw setting hard. “Fuck it.”
They turned together toward the fence.
Vi planted her feet and grabbed the bars with both gauntlets. The metal screamed as she pulled, hextech flaring bright blue. Bolts popped. Steel bent. With a roar, she tore the bars apart, ripping a wide gap straight through the fencing.
At the same time, Nyx threw her hands forward.
Energy lashed out from her tattoos, brilliant and violent, wrenching the remaining bars clean out of their hinges. Metal flew, clanging uselessly against the floor.
The fence fell open.
For a heartbeat, the workers just stared.
Then the dam broke. They surged forward, running, stumbling. Hundreds of bodies pouring through the gap, desperation turning into motion. Some didn’t look back. Some screamed thanks. Some just ran.
Vi grabbed one of the bigger men by the shoulder as he passed. “Hey!” She pointed back at Gerhard and Sevika “Get my friend out.”
The man nodded instantly, tapping another beside him.
.....
Back at the watchtower, chaos was finally breaking in their favor.
Caitlyn fired with calm precision, clearing a path as people poured out of the factory, coughing and panicked. Jorin stood close as he kept anyone from getting near her, until one guard slipped through, carving a brutal slash across Jorin’s arm.
He staggered back, nearly toppling over the railing.
Then came the buzz.
A rising, electric hum that cut straight through the noise.
Everyone froze.
Lights streaked in from above.
Firelights.
They swept into the factory like a storm hoverboards carving through the air, grenades arcing down and detonating in bursts of smoke and light. Guards went down before they even knew what hit them.
A shadow vaulted higher than the rest.
Ekko.
He flipped midair, landing behind Jorin’s attacker, and swung. The bat connected with a crack so loud it echoed through the tower. The man went limp instantly, tumbling over the edge and disappearing into the depths below.
Cait lowered her rifle just enough to smile. “Just in time.”
Jorin, bleeding and breathless, threw his good arm up and yelled, pure joy breaking through the pain. “YES!”
—
Inside the factory, the air was thick with heat and noise, machinery screaming, chains rattling, steam hissing from ruptured pipes.
Vi skidded to Nyx’s side, pointing sharply upward. “Your brother’s there, see that bridge? Above the line.”
Nyx followed her finger, eyes wide, then nodded hard. “Got it.”
At the far end of the factory, Solan, bleeding, limping collapsed against the wall. He dragged himself to the control panel, hands slick with blood, and yanked the lever down with a snarl.
The whole building answered.
As Vi and Nyx sprinted onto the metal bridge, something shifted beneath them. The bridge shuddered violently, bolts screaming as the structure rocked. They both staggered, grabbing the railing just in time.
“What the hell...” Nyx started.
Behind them, something massive hauled itself up.
It wasn’t Hextech, too crude. Not shimmer either, not entirely. Plates of steel and chem-reinforced muscle fused together, pistons hissing where joints should be. Its head was a cage of lenses and vents, glowing faintly, its movements jerky but terrifyingly strong. A mechanical beast neither Nyx ir Vi have ever seen. Each step dented the bridge, metal groaning under its weight.
“What the fuck is that?” Nyx gasped.
Vi just stared for a second. Then she clenched her fists.
“Go,” she said.
Nyx blinked. “You can't take that on? Don't be stupid.”
Vi didn’t look back. “Go...We don’t have time to debate.
Nyx hesitated
"Go!" Vi yelled and Nyx finally ran.
Vi turned, rolling her shoulders as the beast roared, a grinding mechanical howl that rattled her teeth. “Alright,” she muttered. “Let’s dance.”
....
Nyx burst through what used to be the doorway, twisted metal, shattered bolts, the frame torn open like a wound.
The chair was the first thing she saw.
Her brother was slumped forward, wrists bound tight, head hanging unnaturally low. Blood streaked from his nose, crusted dark at his ears, dripping onto the floor beneath him.
For a split second, her brain refused to understand it.
Then it hit her all at once.
“No...no, no, no,” she choked, already running. Her boots barely touched the ground as she crossed the room. “Please. Please no.”
She dropped to her knees in front of him, hands shaking so badly she could barely lift his face. His skin was cold. His eyes were half-lidded, unfocused. Blood smeared across her palm as she cupped his cheek.
Her face crumpled, pure horror, panic clawing up her throat, grief crashing down so hard it stole her breath. “Caleb, Caleb look at me,” she begged, voice breaking. “Please. Don’t do this to me.” she grabbed his shoulders shaking him "LOOK AT ME!!"
A sob tore out of her.
Then...He moved.
Just barely. A shallow breath. A twitch of his fingers.
Nyx gasped, smile and tears bursting out of her at once. “Oh gods...I'm here,” she cried, frantic now, hands flying to the restraints. “Hold on, okay? Just...just hold on please.”
She tore at the bindings, skin scraping raw as she pulled them loose one by one. “I’ve got you. We'regoing home,” she repeated, like saying it enough times could make it true.
The last tie snapped free.
Then suddenly her body jerked violently.
A sharp crack echoed through the room.
Nyx stiffened.
Pain exploded across her back, hot, devastating, stealing the air from her lungs. She stumbled forward, collapsing against the chair, breath coming out in a broken gasp.
Behind her, boots scraped against the floor.
Solan stood in the doorway, pale, bleeding, gun still raised.
.....
The bridge groaned beneath Vi’s boots.
She rolled her shoulders, cracked her neck, raised her gauntlets, sparks flickering along damaged plating. The mechanical beast loomed closer, metal claws biting into the bridge with each step, pistons hissing, gears screaming.
Then...The explosion. The entire factory shuddered. The green smoke filled the air.
The bridge lurched violently, throwing Vi off balance for half a second. Her heart slammed into her ribs.
And yhen she froze. The world blurred.
Another bridge. Another night.
Blue light flared in her vision, too bright, too wrong. Sparks rained down like fireflies. She smelled smoke. She heard screaming.
Claggor falling.
Mylo’s shout cut off mid-word.
Vander reaching for her, then gone.
The sound of the blast rang in her ears, echoing endlessly, folding over itself until she couldn’t tell past from present. The metal beneath her feet wasn’t steel anymore it was stone and blood.
“Vi!” the voice called from the distance
Her hands trembled inside the gauntlets.
She saw the bodies on the ground, the blue glow fading, the weight of it crushing her chest until she couldn’t breathe.
The monster roared, its sound dragging her back toward now, but her feet wouldn’t move.
For one terrible heartbeat, she was sixteen again.
Alone.
And everything she loved was dying all over again.
A shot cracked through the air. It hit the beast square in the chest, sparks flew, metal dented, but it barely even flinched. Cait reloaded again and again.
“Vi!” The voice cut through her like a blade.
She blinked, hard and the past shattered.
The bridge snapped back into focus. Heat. Smoke. The scream of machinery. And below, Caitlyn.
She stood amid the chaos, rifle braced, firing shot after a shot. Each rang sharp and desperate, shells raining onto the floor as she tracked the monster with grim focus.
“Vi, move!”
The beast reacted.
With a metallic shriek, it launched itself forward, too fast, too heavy. Vi barely had time to lift her gauntlet before the thing caught it.
Metal screamed.
The pressure was unreal. Plates buckled. Hextech fractured with a violent crack.
“Aaaaarhhhh!” Vi screamed
The gauntlet collapsed in on itself, crushed like tin. Pain detonated up Vi’s arm, white-hot and blinding. She tore herself free just as the beast swung and hit her.
She was airborne before she could even register it and slammed into the bridge, skidding across steel, breath tearing out of her lungs as she landed hard. The impact rattled her bones. The world tilted.
The monster straightened.
Glass vials mounted along its back flared to life, bright, silver-white light pulsing through them like liquid moonlight. The hum that followed was wrong, high and vibrating, drilling straight into Vi’s skull.
Her other gauntlet flickered.
Then died.
The glow vanished. The weight went dead on her arm bolting her to the floor "Fuck"
Below, Caitlyn pulled the trigger again. Nothing.
Her eyes widened. “What, no...come on!”
She jerked the bolt, slammed it forward, and tried again.
Nothing.
“NO” Panic bled into her voice.
Vi groaned and rolled onto her side as the beast turned toward her again, metal feet biting into the bridge.
She kept moving, rolling, ducking, sliding across hot steel as the beast plowed after her, relentless, every blow heavy enough to kill. Metal claws raked sparks from the bridge as they missed her by a hair.
Caitlyn looked around wildly, lungs burning as another metallic удар shook the bridge. Her eyes snagged on the thick power cables bolted into the wall, industrial lines,
An idea struck.
She ran.
Her boots pounded up the metal stairs, each step ringing through the factory.
Vi barely rolled out of the way as the beast slammed an arm down, denting the bridge where her head had been moments before.
“Cait...!” Vi shouted.
Cait didn’t stop.
She reached the wall and grabbed the cables with both hands. The insulation burned her palms as she tore them free. Bolts ripped loose with a screech of metal. Sparks exploded across the wall, lighting her face in sharp blue-white flashes.
The bridge shuddered again.
Vi scrambled on hands and knees grabbing a broken par of the railing and jamming it between the hydolic components of it's limbs. It's arm squeaked.
Cait ran straight at it. "MOVE AWAY!" she yelled
Vi let go of the metal rod
The beast turned, sensors flaring.
But Cait slammed the exposed cables against its back.
Electricity surged. Vi covered her head with her arms ducking down as spars flew in every direction.
A violent arc leapt from wire to steel. The machine convulsed as the current ripped through it, frying circuits, blowing panels apart in showers of sparks. Its limbs spasmed, metal shrieking as systems overloaded.
The silver light flickered.
Then died.
With a broken, grinding roar, the creature toppled backward over the railing and plunged into the depths of the factory straight into the molten iron below.
But it took the bridge with it.
Metal screamed as supports tore loose. The platform collapsed beneath Cait’s feet.
“Cait!”
Vi ran.
She dove forward just as Cait was thrown from the breaking bridge, her body pitching into open air. She caught her wrist skidding to her knees as the rest of the platform tore away beneath them. Holding herself with one hand by the metal bar and Cait with another, Vi screamed in pain.
Cait dangled over the molten-lit abyss, boots kicking uselessly.
Vi’s arm screamed in protest. Her fingers burned. Her muscles shook.
Vi gasped, teeth clenched. “Don’t let go.”
Cait looked down into the molten hel underneath her. Her grip slipped, bit by bit.
Her fingers slid against Vi’s, slick with sweat and blood.
“Vi..!”
Vi sobbed. “I won’t...!”
Her hand gave out.
Cait fell.
Vi screamed.
But before the sound finished tearing from her throat, a shadow streaked past her vision.
Ekko’s hoverboard cut through the air.
He caught Cait mid-fall carrying them both in a wild arc beneath the shattered bridge before stabilizing.
Vi staggered forward, heart in her throat.
She saw Cait clinging to Ekko’s shoulder, alive.
Breathing.
But the bridge was giving away. Cables snapped one by one.
Ekko didn’t slow.
He swooped low and dropped Cait onto solid ground, boots skidding as she stumbled but stayed upright. She barely had time to gasp before he was already banking hard, board screaming as he turned back toward the bridge.
“Vi!” he shouted.
The bridge gave a final, tortured groan.
Vi looked down just as the metal beneath her boots split apart. The section she stood on peeled away, falling into the glowing depths below.
“Shit!”
She ran. Boots pounding as she pushed off, hurling herself forward just as the bridge collapsed behind her in a cascade of steel and sparks.
Ekko shot upward.
Vi hit the board hard, arms locking around him as the wind tore past them. The board dipped under the sudden weight, then steadied as Ekko compensated, engines flaring.
“You good?” he yelled over the roar.
“Ask me later!” Vi barked back, clinging on as they shot away from the falling wreckage.
Behind them, the last of the bridge vanished into the factory’s depths, the monster’s ruined body disappearing with it in a shower of fire and light.
For a split second, everything went quiet.
Then the factory alarms wailed again, and Ekko angled them toward the exit, where smoke, fire, and fleeing workers were already pouring into the night.
.....
Nyx hit the floor hard.
Solan barely spared her a glance at first, just the dull thud of a body collapsing once it had served its purpose. He straightened slowly, breath ragged, blood running freely down his arm, and nudged her aside with his boot like she weighed nothing.
Her body rolled, limp. Lifeless.
He clicked his tongue, almost disappointed.
“Shame,” he muttered. “I liked you.”
He turned to Caleb, wincing as he hauled him up by the collar, ignoring the way his own arm screamed in protest. “Come on, boy. On your feet.”
Caleb groaned, barely conscious, his weight sagging against Solan. As his head lolled to the side, his eyes landed on the floor...on his sister’s lifeless body.
His breath hitched. A broken sound tore from his throat.
“No…”
He tried to reach for her, but his arms wouldn’t respond. His body was empty, drained, beaten, hollow. He hung there, half-dead, held upright only by Solan’s grip.
Solan turned toward the door.
He never made it.
Something hit him, harder than anything had before.
The air blasted from his lungs as he was yanked clean off his feet and slammed into the opposite wall. Tiles shattered behind his back, cracks spiderwebbing outward as his body was pinned there, suspended by an invisible force. His feet dangled uselessly above the floor.
Nyx stood.
Her tattoos burned like fire beneath her skin, light searing through every line and symbol. Her eyes glowed, wild, furious, alive. Rage poured off her in waves so thick it seemed to warp the air.
“Never,” she said coldly, voice trembling with power, “underestimate Piltover’s gear.”
Solan clawed weakly at the force crushing him, bones audibly cracking as pressure tightened. His eyes bulged, a strangled sound escaping his throat.
The door burst open.
“Nyx!”
Caitlyn skidded to a stop, stunned by the sight in front of her. Solan pinned to the wall like a broken doll, Nyx radiating fury. Then she saw Caleb.
“Caleb!” She rushed forward, catching him as his knees gave out, hauling his arm over her shoulder. “Hey, hey, stay with me.”
She looked back at Nyx, urgency sharp in her voice. “We have to go. Now.”
Nyx didn’t hear her.
The pressure increased. Solan’s body bowed unnaturally, the wall groaning under the strain.
Cait tightened her grip on Caleb and reached out, grabbing Nyx’s arm.
“Not today,” she said firmly.
Nyx flinched.
She looked down at Cait’s hand. Then at Caleb, barely conscious, bleeding, alive.
Something broke through the rage.
With a shuddering breath, Nyx released her grip.
Solan dropped.
His body hit the floor with a sickening crack, motionless.
Silence rushed in.
Then outside, the whine of hover engines.
"NYX...LET’S GO" Caitlyn urged
They staggered for the door together, Caleb’s weight dragging them down with every step.
Nyx was numb, moving on instinct alone, one arm locked around her brother’s waist, the other braced against the wall as they stumbled into the corridor. Cait kept him upright on the other side, teeth clenched, boots slipping on oil and blood.
Cold air hit them as they stepped outside.
Snow was falling through the broken roof.
Soft. Silent. Utterly wrong against the chaos pouring out of the factory doors.
Then the sky above them buzzed.
Nyx looked up.
Firelights.
They came in fast and low, boards cutting through the snow like blades through silk.
......
Snow fell over Piltover and Zaun alike, soft and steady, as if the city itself had decided to forget what had happened beneath its skin.
The streets were quiet. No sirens. No shouting. Just the faint hiss of flakes melting against the glass of streetlamps. Light pooled in pale circles along the road, turning the world into something gentle an illusion of peace laid over blood and smoke.
Inside the room, the air was warm and still.
A single lamp glowed on the side table beside the bed, its light low and amber, painting soft shadows across the walls. Tubes ran from Caleb’s arm to an IV bag that dripped clear fluid into his veins, each drop a quiet promise that he was still here.
He lay pale against the sheets, bruises dark along his jaw and neck, dried blood at the edge of his ear. His chest rose and fell shallowly, but it rose.
That was enough.
Tobias folded his stethoscope and rested a hand on Nyx’s shoulder.
“He just needs rest,” he said gently. “His body’s been through a lot. But he’s stable.”
Nyx nodded without looking at him, eyes locked on her brother’s face as if afraid he might disappear if she blinked.
Tobias gave her shoulder a light squeeze and left the room, the door closing with a soft click behind him.
Silence settled again.
Nyx crawled carefully onto the bed beside Caleb, moving as though he might shatter if she wasn’t careful enough. She lay on her side facing him, close enough to feel the faint warmth of his skin.
Her knuckles brushed his bruised cheek.
A breath hitched in her throat.
She took his hand, fingers trembling as she lifted it to her lips and kissed his bruised knuckles, once… twice… then tucked his hand beneath her neck, holding it there like an anchor.
Her eyes closed.
“I love you,” she whispered into the quiet room.
For the first time in months, the knot in her chest loosened. The fear that had lived beneath every breath, every step, every thought… finally eased.
Sleep came for her gently, like something she had been waiting for without knowing how.
And as the snow fell quietly outside, Nyx slept, truly slept for the first time in months
.....
In the other room, the world felt far away.
Vi and Caitlyn lay tangled beneath the covers, the small bedside lamp casting a warm, amber glow across the walls. Outside, snow whispered against the windows, soft and steady, but inside everything was still.
Their legs were knotted together, Cait’s back tucked into Vi’s chest, Vi’s arm wrapped loosely around her waist. It was the kind of closeness that didn’t need words.
But Vi was quiet. Too quiet.
Her fingers traced slow, absent lines along Caitlyn’s tummy, feather-light, like she was afraid of pressing too hard and breaking something.
Cait noticed.
She always did.
She shifted just enough to look back at her, searching Vi’s face in the dim light. “Hey,” she murmured. “You vanished on me.”
Vi huffed a weak breath. “Did not.”
“You did,” Cait said gently. “You’re doing that thing where you’re here… but not really.”
Vi’s jaw tightened. Her hand stilled for a second, then resumed its soft tracing. “Just… thinking.”
Cait turned fully in her arms, carefully, so they were face to face. She slid her hand up Vi’s cheek, thumb brushing under her eye. “About the bridge?”
Vi swallowed. “About all of it.”
For a moment, neither spoke. The quiet wasn’t empty, it was heavy, full of things they didn’t want to name.
“I thought I lost you,” Cait said softly. "I thought that thing is going to tare you apart right in front me."
Vi’s breath hitched before she could stop it. She pulled Cait closer, burying her face into her hair. “Yeah. Same.”
"You saw them didn’t you?...When you froze." Cait pressed her forehead to Vi’s, her voice a gentle murmur. “You don’t have to carry it alone, you know."
Vi gave a faint, crooked smile. “Kinda built that way.”
“I know,” Cait replied. “That’s what worries me." She pressed a gentle kiss to the tip of her nose
Vi’s arm tightened around her, protective and needy all at once. “You scared me today. That's all.”
Cait smiled a little sadly. “You scared me too. I think I crushed Ekko’s toe when I landed.”
They shared a quiet, breathless laugh, more exhale than sound.
Cait settled back against Vi’s chest, and Vi rested her chin on top of her head, eyes finally closing. Her hand resumed its gentle path along Cait’s arm, slower now, calmer.
"We got him back." Vi whispered
"We have...And everyone else is safe."she said snuggling deeper into her embrace.
The adrenaline had burned out. The danger had passed.
What was left was the aftershock, and the warmth of another body proving they were still here.
Outside, snow kept falling.
Inside, Vi held on and let herself be held back.
.....
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