Hours, hours, and hours of searching for… nothing. Dozens of tarnished factory floors scoured without a trace of the Solver’s villainy. The sun has long since hid away from sight. The moon, projecting a rare, red glow shines with solitary luminance on these abandoned grounds. The wind blows softly through damaged alleys, the grime and muck unmarred by the flow of air. Though the group feels they inspected, upturned, and marked off every pebble and loose rock, the clouds of dust endlessly blowing across their makeshift camp reminds them of the impossibility of such a thorough investigation.

Heimerdinger trots up to the group, shaking his head defeatedly. Another firelight stands on top of a crumbling wall, looking out and trying to find a part of the city they had yet to search. The towering Firelight, Scar, who Ekko brought for some assistance, leaps down the wall with a thud. He decides to offer a simple change in approach to the exhausted men, “Why not head to the warehouse?”

Viktor shrugs, the thought having crossed his mind numerous times, though scrapped due to one reason or another, “It is probably long gone by now,” he says curtly.

Heimerdinger puts a hand on his knee, joining in with some welcome optimism, “I see no reason why we shouldn’t at least try! It must’ve left some traceable evidence behind. It wasn’t particularly subtle…” Heimerdinger recalls the brutality of each strike and the severed head of the guard. He’s not eager to revisit those haunting sights, but he knows well that the whole of Piltover is at stake now.

Viktor holds his head, “I suppose we can try. I hoped to have made some progress by now, on the bright side if Jayce manages to stabilize Undercity relations, he may be able to—“

Boom!

Before the group can discuss further, the silence of the deserted district is shattered by an eruption of noise. A blast echoes through the empty streets, ringing their ears and quaking in their heads.

Viktor twists his head wildly, looking around every corner and roof to make sense of the origin of the explosion. To his horror, he witnesses a projectile launch from a blue cloud, shrouding the top of a nearby warehouse. The blue is familiar to the scientist, the shade and hue undeniably Hextech in origin.The projectile, flying through the air with unrivaled speed, shoots toward Piltover. The city of progress stands proud, oblivious to the missile careening through the sky.

Viktor feels a strange, excited pulse in his chest and transformed leg—a feeling he quickly squashes with disgust. The thing is going toward the Council.

Viktor stumbles to his feet and begins to run. Jayce is in there: a sitting duck. Heimerdinger follows, his small legs struggling to keep up with his rejuvenated pupil. He trips over himself, falling to the ground and biting the dust Viktor leaves behind. Brushing himself off swiftly, the Professor continues, rushing as fast as he can back to Piltover.

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Ekko and Scar, meanwhile, share a tacit agreement and mount their hoverboards, blasting toward the azure cloud. Their eyes lock onto the crumbled warehouse it was shot from, each seared brick reigniting memories that burned a hole in his heart still. Even through the destruction wrought upon it, he recognizes this building. Ekko tightens his grip, ready for who he thinks he’ll see.

Descending through the shattered glass, the two Firelights drop to the ruined floor. Their eyes take in the scorched barrels that once held gallons and gallons of shimmer, now empty. Out of place among the rubble and debris, the vestiges of a party hide in the dark. Gentle candlelight illuminates the chairs and plates, the ropes and gags, and the all too familiar graffitied firearms.

Ekko ignores it all, walking past without the slightest flinch or grimace. Neither the cracked goggles of Claggor nor the small, mocking doll of Mylo give him pause. Only the bullet-ridden corpse of Silco affects his dauntless stride; He begins to run.

“Jinx!” He yells, following the concrete and steel that ramps up to the blood-soaked moon. The missile still flies across the horizon, speeding gleefully to its decadent target in a haze of sapphire radiance.

The silhouette of his old friend stands dark against the red behind it. Ekko doesn’t even notice Caitlyn weeping, embraced by Vi, as he charges past. Though Scar, tailing behind his leader, pauses to assist the two.

Ekko prepares a deadly swing, his footsteps thumping up the ramp. He jumps high, launching himself further by kicking off a rusted railing. With a powerful twist, his pipe slams into her face.

…But she doesn’t move. Her face only jerks to the side at the force of the blow, purple blood trickling from her nose. Now close enough to clearly see her, Ekko frowns, a grim look in his eye.

Shimmered teardrops stream down her face, soaking her pallid cheeks with vibrant color. The same color reflects in her eyes but faded and washed out like a storm of emotions had swept all the light from her. The shimmer in her veins, the defeat in her eyes, the corpse of Silco… it all makes Ekko wonder aloud: “What happened to you?”

As he asks, the shards of dirty glass that cling onto the broken windows jingle like chimes in the wind. A thunderous, distant boom sounds out from across the river Pilt. Smoke rises immediately from the victim of her bomb, columns of gray clouds erupting as the walls fall like slates of ice from a melting glacier.

“What have you done…” He whispers, Caitlyn Kiramman’s anguished sobs drowning out his quiet words. Vi holds her by the arm, supporting the enforcer and guiding her to the entrance of the warehouse.

Scar walks up to Jinx and Ekko, his spear pointed to the girl’s throat. She doesn’t seem to even register the threat. Unblinking and otherwise motionless, she presses her finger tighter on the trigger of the weapon that fired the missile, fruitlessly willing it to fire a barrage to the entire city.

Ekko and Scar grab her, leading Jinx down to the table and restraining her with her own rope. The Firelight duo use their combined strength to pry the launcher from her iron grasp, her fingers cold and stiff like she had already died.

Vi looks at Jinx with an unreadable expression, her fists clenching and unclenching. She crosses her arms, nods to Ekko and Scar, and silently leads Caitlyn out, bringing the disheveled enforcer toward Piltover.

Ekko and Scar do the same, though with someone who would be much less willing if lucid. Jinx continues to be distant as they cover her eyes with scraps of cloth and fly away, bringing her on a hoverboard and escaping from the sanguine view of the crimson moon and into the fissures below.