Her Gun to His Head || Jinx x Garou

"—out, you'll hit his head…"

"—can take another bump…"

Their voices were a haze around him.

"—what Singed'll do with an unconscious subject…"

"—to make sure he doesn't mess him up, then…!"

He could feel them, still — small shards of steel lodged in his flesh. Magic lookin' bullet must've exploded in his shoulder. Strange type of pain…

"—know if you can hear me… needa check on the kid, I'm hoping you put her somewhere safe…"

He had at least done that — kid would've fallen off the damn edge if he'd left it to roam around on its own…

"—took a shot, looks to be Hextech…"

"—on his hand, also… he deflected it…?"

He needed to get off of this wacko's operating table — he'd be fine, just needed to move…

Wake up, damn it…

His body was probably just recovering, spending all the energy his brain would be using. Maybe this was a part of gettin' stronger…

"—cutting into him for…?!"

"—ability to regenerate cell structures unlike anything I've seen in a…"

"—not keeping him…!"

"—as you wish, child…"

Seemed like she was lookin' out for him at least…

…

…

….

….

…..

…..

Garou's eyes twitched open, his muscles regaining their strength with a jolt.

His body felt as though it had just been laying in a fire or something…

He slowly sat himself up, with a wince.

'Mad lookin' geezer…' he observed of the figure cleaning some strange residue from his hands on the far side of the dingy lair he found himself in.

The man must've heard him wake.

"I had expected you to pull through…" the man opened, half-pleasantly.

Garou grimaced, checking over his wound. Dark scar tissue, but it seemed to have healed over, at least.

"I'd considered giving you something to speed along the process," the man continued. "However, I was surprised to find your body didn't seem to require it…"

The man moved toward him, eyeing the affected shoulder.

"I removed the foreign material from the flesh… you produce new tissue quite rapidly, no signs of hypergranulation… impeccable…" he mused.

Garou grunted, shuffling himself off of the bench, out of the man's reach.

"Told 'em I'd be fine…" he grumbled. "Where's the way outta here…?"

The door creaked open loudly behind him.

It was her — long blue braids swayin' about.

"Hey… you woke up," she said, sounding relieved.

"Ain't dyin' that easy…" he remarked.

She smiled a little.

"Wait— where's Sevika?! She was supposed to—" she began.

"He's unharmed, child…" the old dude chimed in from behind him.

She looked him over, as though verifying it was true.

"Looked pretty messed up before, you know… wow…" she commented on his healed wound. She reached out as though to touch it, but pulled back after a moment.

"Oh— um, I found where you put Isha, by the way, so," she said, quickly changing the subject, "I, uh, y'know, I'm sure she appreciates it…"

He checked that the old dude wasn't creepily listening in on them or anything before he responded.

Her gave her a look. "Isha…?" he wondered, slipping his shirt back on.

She looked a little embarrassed, or something. "Yeah, I— y'know, I wanted some kinda placeholder until she tells us her actual name," she responded. "Or, maybe she never does— in which case, Isha…!"

He merely raised an eyebrow at her.

Seemed like it wasn't the reaction she was hoping for.

"Jeez, you can ask me why I chose it later, then…" she huffed.

She turned to leave, so he gingerly followed her out.

The old dude didn't try to farewell them or anything.

His vision still had to adjust a little, as they stepped outside onto the street.

The air was cold.

"Hey, um," she suddenly said, slowing to a stop, "I think he wants to talk with you, by the way…"

"Eh…?" he replied.

"You know… he wants to talk…" she restated.

"Oh…" he said. "What, am I at his beck and call now, or somethin'?"

She rolled her eyes. "I— whatever, you don't have to… he just told me to tell you…"

"Yeah, sounds like to give me some kind of recruitment speech…" he grunted.

She met his eyes. "Wh— I don't get it then, why do you keep helping us…?"

You're gettin' pushy, Blue…

"I don—" He had to think for a moment. He didn't really want to make her mad again…

"Didn't feel like findin' you dead, next time I came 'round, aight…?" he replied.

She continued to pierce him with her stare.

Not many people could do that to him…

Her eyes finally softened.

"…Um, well, you wanna just, come back with me, then…?" she asked quietly.

He flexed his wrist, absent-mindedly.

"…Got a spot for me to sleep, or somethin'?" he responded.

She looked almost as though she were about to laugh.

"I'll figure something out," she said. "C'mon…"

She waited, seemingly for him to walk ahead of her.

He did know the way back to her hideout — guess she was testin' him…

She seemed to get a kick out of it, at least…

~~~~~

~~~~~

~~~~~

"—Just say that it looks pretty, would ya…?" she whispered.

She'd spent the last few hours crudely nailing together and painting a little wooden child's bed, which Isha had seemingly fallen asleep upon while Jinx had been gone.

'She's all tuckered out…' she thought, worried that she'd started getting the warm and fuzzies about this kid already…

In hindsight, she recognized some of the paint strokes to have been made with a stressful hand, Garou being temporarily half-dead in Singed's surgery and all, but she didn't exactly feel like pointing that out to him…

"High sidings were a good idea," he commented. "Won't fall out to its death…"

"Ahh she'll be fine," she whispered back, amused. "She's made it this far in life."

She could tell without even looking that he was shooting her his perplexed look.

"And… y'know, same with you, I guess," she continued, turning to him. "So, that's nice…"

"Don't need you to go worryin' 'bout me…" he replied, shying away from her a little.

"Well, whatever," she whispered, "you're the one that keeps tryin'ta get himself killed—"

"I ain't gettin' killed, I told ya…" he cut in. "Besides, I was savin' you, remember…?"

"Yeah… uh, thanks for that," she replied.

"Don't needa thank me—"

"—You sound like a broken record, you know that?" she interjected with a grin.

He gave her a funny look again.

"Well, anyway…" she whispered, "let's not wake her…"

She motioned to Mylo's loveseat.

Garou eventually got the hint, and followed her over.

The place was dim — she'd only left the purple fluorescents on from when she'd put Isha down to sleep.

She dropped herself onto her mattress, laying in front of the couch and looking at him in amusement while he figured out what to do with Mylo.

"You keepin' this thing for uh, anythin' in particular…?" he asked awkwardly.

She looked at the thing, part of her feeling proud, as though she'd somehow bested it.

"Just toss it, if ya want," she told him. "Y'know, so you can lay your head."

"Ah," he said, dropping the doll behind the loveseat, out of sight.

'That's right, Mylo, the grown-ups are talking…'

Garou gave her another strange look, as he found himself a comfortable position.

"This kinda reminds me of when I was little, y'know," she said, lost in thought. "All sleeping in the same room and all…"

"Mm," he responded, "yeah, it was sort've like that at…"

She sat up, suddenly, not about to let him get away with it again.

"At…?" she prodded. "You gotta tell me sometime, y'know, or we'll run outta stuff to talk about…"

He side-eyed her. "Just, where I did my training, aight…?"

She continued to look at him, expectantly.

He huffed quietly. "…I guess you'd call it a temple — there was a master, or sometimes a few masters, and we were all disciples… we were made to do all of the upkeep an' everythin', y'know, yard work, scrubbin' tile, all of that type of crap…"

"Jeez… were you, like, raised there?" she wondered.

"Was there for the last ten years or somethin'," he answered, "but no, was brought up by my mom…"

"Oh…" she replied. "Is she…?"

He gruffly shook his head.

She pursed her lips, looking away for a moment.

"Y'know, Silco isn't actually, like, my dad dad, by the way," she said, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "I lost mine a long time ago… don't remember it all so much…"

She saw him shift himself to stare up at the cavern above.

"Well," he said, "ain't anybody keepin' count of these things, anyway…"

She supposed he was right…

She noticed he had his arm dangling down off the edge of the seat, with his hand partially resting on her bed. It wasn't so far away from where hers was, really…

She wondered…

Silco would occasionally hold her by the hand whenever she was feeling particularly distressed, but… she imagined it might feel different, having her hand held by…

He turned his head suddenly, as though he could hear inside of her brain, or something.

"Y'know… I grew out of wallowin' 'bout this type of stuff a while ago," he said quietly, looking at her hand as well. "But… I guess sometimes it can creep back up on ya…"

She thought for a moment.

"…Are you actually gonna, like, stick around, do you think?" she whispered. "Like, I don't know, with everything going on…"

He chuckled quietly.

"Sure, Blue," he said. "I'll stick around…"

She closed her eyes, and felt her fingers interlock with his. He didn't pull away…

She hoped they'd fall asleep like this…

~~~~~

~~~~~

~~~~~

There was a remarkable quiet out in the fog, in the darkness beyond the harbor, where the sea floor began to drop away from reach, away from fathoming.

It left one imagining that the world might let them go at any moment, stranding them over the abyss, and leaving them to oblivion…

It would perhaps be a peaceful submission, under some conceivable circumstance, Silco thought.

He sat in the stillness, while water gently lapped against the sides of their boat as Sevika rowed them out.

The salty tang of the sea air found his nose — it felt as familiar as a childhood memory.

He helped himself to a lungful of it. There was still something he found soothing about it, after all this time…

Their prisoner began to groan awake.

It looked to be a far from pleasant regaining of consciousness. He leant over, sputtering, his injuries immediately taking their toll. Silco observed the sheer exhaustion on his face as he came to terms with his predicament.

There was a part of him that still felt pity for the boy…

"I find it regrettable that our paths had to diverge here, Marcus…" he began. He spoke frankly, as though to an old friend.

"I'm sure there would have been far more we could have accomplished together," he continued. "I pity that you'll never be able to see it, the fruits of our years of cooperation…"

Marcus took a moment to regain himself.

"I… I had to…" he said between labored breaths. "I was… made assurances…"

"You mean to tell me that this was all worth it, somehow…?" Silco calmly replied.

"They told me…" Marcus coughed, "that… that my daughter would be protected…"

"I see," said Silco. "I must say, that's quite the level of credibility to assign to those who'd gladly send you to your death…"

"You don't understand…" Marcus continued, "The Noxian… she wants this war… the same one you seek… she wants weaponized Hextech… her daughter… sits on the council… they know you've built a weapon with the gemstone… or, at least she's convinced them that you have… and now… with the Kiramman girl taken…"

He trailed off, his voice straining in pain.

Silco slowly uncapped his flask of water. He leant over and raised it to the boy's mouth, watching him eagerly accept it.

"I'd like to know," he said as Marcus finished drinking, "who it was you spoke to from our side…"

"It wasn't me…" Marcus sighed, "the Noxians… they sought them out… I don't know who it was…"

"Really expect us to believe that?" Sevika chimed in, while sharpening a blade which protruded from her newly repaired arm.

"I could… only hazard a guess… seeing as how he… personally… deals to Piltovans…" Marcus groaned.

"Finn…" Sevika concluded to Silco.

It had been his suspicion also…

Silco took some time to sit in thought.

'The Noxians… it must change the equation…' he kept thinking to himself. 'Are we really being baited… led to an inevitable demise…?'

He'd begun to feel it creeping up on him, these past few days, this hesitation, this fear… a fear that he worried might cause him to lose his nerve.

It reminded him of those lessons he'd once learned as a young man, of the follies of seeking power without the will to grasp it… but it also brought to mind some more recent ones. It made him think of Jinx…

She was the key to all of it — he believed it with every breadth of his being. But…

He hesitated to imagine a world in which Zaun might exist without her in it. He admitted that it pained him, knowing that she'd be at risk, that harm could well come to her, as much as he'd try to prevent it…

He mustn't let it stop him, he resolved.

It was all a gamble now…

Sevika had stopped rowing — they were as far out as they needed to be.

"There is something in being able to go peacefully, you know," he spoke to Marcus. "Not all of us will be afforded such a courtesy, when our time comes…"

He saw the boy's eyes widen for only a moment, before settling in to resignation. He wasn't a fool — he knew why he'd been brought out here…

Silco watched him begin to breathe more steadfastly, shutting his eyes while Sevika slowly shuffled toward his side of the boat.

Marcus gave a final, curt nod, while Sevika wrapped her arms around his neck in a choke hold.

He drifted into unconsciousness as peacefully as Silco had promised, before Sevika tipped him backward into the water, the plates chained to his ankles sending him down into the depths.

The two of them sat silently for a while, accompanied only by the sounds of the sea.

"…Are we really still doing this, boss?" Sevika finally said.

He looked at her.

"There's no turning back now..." he replied, tepidly. "I still maintain that we have the numbers…"

"Yeah… I mean, not like more could ever hurt," she said. "Maybe the Kiramman can trade for some of our guys from Stillwater…"

"Perhaps…" he considered.

"You think the kid'll join us…?" Sevika asked.

Silco pondered for a moment, gazing out at the sea.

"…If he does, it certainly won't be out of some allegiance to our cause…" he answered.

"Well— allegiance to her, then…?" she surmised.

"Mm…" he hummed.

He still couldn't ignore his aversion to it. Though, he could hardly imagine who he'd be to deny her the chance at some type of friendship… and with one her own age at that…

Perhaps the boy would remain loyal to her…

He gave Sevika a look to let her know it was time to begin heading back.

The beam from Stillwater Hold's lighthouse faintly lit up the fog around them, as it strobed in their direction.

There was no denying the boy's strength as an asset to them, were he to follow them into war.

He ought to speak with the both of them…