24

Chapter Fifteen

"God, these people need to get a life."

"Jayce!" Caitlyn chided, overtly scandalized, but, as I sent her a dry look, the corners of her mouth still twitched upwards.

I gestured to the blackboards we'd started using for our lessons, colored chalk indicating the various interconnections of the families of the five Major Houses that ruled Piltover, which would've been fine if it wasn't a pseudo-incestuous mess, though with enough biodiversity to not actually have genetic issues, but then again magic covered many ills, however the issue wasn't that this court in the Great Game was tightly interwound.

That I could deal with.

No, it was the fact that they expected everyone to care about it as much as they did, and to give them deference 'due their station' while, of course, everyone pretended to be above their station whenever they thought they might get away with it and only by calling them out on it could you stop them from trying shit, though you couldn't do so directly or else feelings would get hurt, and they would take offense, while, of course, not giving a shit if they gave offense if they thought they were protected from retaliation, because, like these snake-pits always worked, if they just got others to agree that they were in the right, and you were in the wrong, you were, and they won.

Well, up to a point, as too great a play put everyone at risk, as then no one was sure if the viper would turn on them next, so it was a giant balancing act, but done on an invisible chessboard of blood, rumors, and lies, which you had to know about to play on and defend yourself from in the first place!

God, I thought I got away from this when I transferred into Class D, I couldn't help but think, but, then again, as bad as this was, it was nothing on Fey Politics.

"Half these people don't do anything, other than, seemingly, sit around in circles and tell each other how great they are because of something they had no control over," I pointed out, having underlined every name with no known profession, specialization, or otherwise profitable skillset in orange.

Which was just over a third of the board.

"Is it not good to have pride in one's heritage?" the Heiress questioned, a little challengingly, but also curious, as she knew I didn't say things without an explanation ready.

"Pride is a sin for a reason," I replied. "A little is fine, good even, but when done in excess, like gluttony, or lust," I stressed, grabbing the pink chalk and flipping it from hand to hand, having left a starburst with it next to every name I had a dossier on from Babette, "it, like any other spice in excess, ruins everything."

And a quarter of the names bore those stars, bearing a great deal of commonality with the underlined contingent.

"I still can't believe you have that information," the blue-haired woman sighed. "Or that Mother approves."

"She does?" I questioned, as, while my Patron was clearly aware of my Zaunite endeavors, we almost never talked about them.

Plausible deniability, and all that.

"Yes," Caitlyn agreed. "I told her about our trip, and… voiced some concerns about possible ramifications they might have upon you, and, while she agreed that we would not do such a thing, apparently we have… other resources, that I was not aware of."

I lifted my eyebrows, having thought so, but to come out and say it… but, then again, Caitlyn had been kept out of a lot of her family's dealings. Would've continued to be kept in the dark, originally, despite the fact that a Major House like the Kirammans did not function without a few in-house intel agents. But, while she'd continued to be rebellious, possibly never really forgiving her parents for turning Jayce out despite, honestly, how much sense it made for them to do so, as the man had gone on a seemingly unhinged rant about using the one thing that Piltover was supposed to not have, they were probably waiting for her to 'calm down' before letting her near the touchy stuff.

However, as she, instead of being heiress of a matrilineal noble line, chose to become a normal enforcer, or as normal as she was allowed to be, was it any wonder that her family's… extra-legal dealings just… didn't get mentioned? Even now, the young woman sighed, asking, "Did you know…"

"I'd suspected," I agreed easily, knowing that part of why Mrs. Kiramman had told her daughter was that she knew my honest response to such a thing would reinforce the normality of such a practice, her daughter having, more and more, stepped into the role of being the next 'Kiramman', managing business, looking over investments, and so on. Cait had done so to assist me, learning more to continue to have these lessons, as I'd torn through a great deal of her own education much faster than she'd expected, but I was also well aware that she'd only thought to do so in the first place because her mother had suggested, sometimes outright, sometimes so subtly that even I couldn't quite determine the push point, that she do so, only able to see the older woman's actions in the unified methodology that Caitlyn's actions had contained, though the young woman clearly couldn't tell that she was, lovingly and with care, being manipulated in such a way to help her grow into the kind of woman she'd need to be when she took her family's seat on the Council.

More and more I was reminded that while dilettante Nobles coasted by on generation wealth, true Nobility was a profession unto itself, and only those who overly romanticized such things thought it was all sunshine, roses, and vast quantities of pleasure-drugs.

"Even if it was only defensive, knowing who is generating dirt so that others could have it on them in the first place is very important intel to have," I continued, working my way through it, wondering what, exactly, Mrs. Kiramman had told her daughter. "Like, for instance, knowing that a fourth of the upper-nobility are fans of pillow-talk with people of questionable discretion, would mean that I wouldn't allow them to know something I don't mind getting out, or, perhaps, might tell them something I want to get out deniably, in a way that I can openly state I didn't order spread, as it wasn't my malfeasance that did so."

Turning to indicate the massive chart, spread out over three boards, one dedicated entirely to House Medarda, who bred like well-financed rabbits, once you started counting bastards, who you had to with them as that family often employed such unclaimed progeny, and then often fucked them, to the point that, well, they might actually need to worry about incest, I could see the sniper viewing the diagrams with new eyes. The bluenette snatched the pink chalk from my hands as she took several decisive steps forward, before, hesitantly, she started drawing, circling groups, drawing lines between them. Pausing, clearly debating something internally, she nodded and started adding a few more stars in the Kirraman sub-diagram, grabbing the purple stick and adding wavy lines between people, mostly Kirraman to Kirraman, but some extending outwards to those of other families who got stars of their own, pink triangles added to some more people, until, she stood back, and frowned.

"God, these people do need to get a life!" she declared, as the servant by the door, one of those who was trusted with House Kiramman secrets, tried not to laugh.

"Okay, walk me through this, because, I've got some guesses, but I'm not sure," I directed, looking them over. "I'm assuming the triangles are those you think also visit establishments, just not Babettes?"

The heiress shook her head, "No, those are the ones that cheat on their partners, or, at least, that's what the rumors say."

I stared at the charts, now roughly half-filled with pink markings.

"That's… a lot of people," I finally noted, with just a touch of disconcerted worry. Basic had covered the issue with similar-ish, cultures, where the outside traits seemed similar, but a lot of the base elements made for lives that were drastically different if you lived with them, or had them as Companions. On the top level, you had the entire Face vs. Honor culture issues, but, going deeper, they could be Myriad.

Especially when it came to things like infidelity.

Or, in other words, you wanted to go to Anime Japan, not Actual Japan.

And, unfortunately, Jayce had his head stuck so deeply down the Hextech Rabbit Hole since he was twelve, I couldn't rely on his experiences for understanding the greater cultural zeitgeist, so, was this… normal?

"It's disgraceful," Caitlyn stated with disgust, and I felt that part of myself that'd started to tense relax, as, ultimately, I didn't care about what was normal, I cared about what those around me believed, and the heiress had long since stopped putting up any kind of performance of virtue around me, nor did those who had her ear practice such things, and thus wouldn't attempt to get her to do them as well to normalize their sins. "I didn't want to believe it, to be honest, however, speaking with Ms. Babette, and Mother… do they really not have better things to do other than, than fool around, no matter who it hurts?"

"Weeelllll," I argued, in a way that showed I didn't really believe the position I was putting forward, "when you've lived your life getting what you want, or at the very least having your base requirements and lower tier passing desires catered to, when you've never had to practice discipline, and when you and those you associate with all tell themselves that everyone is just as honorless as you are, why shouldn't you? After all, if everyone is just looking out for themselves, you'd have to be stupid not to do so yourself."

"But," she started to argue, then paused, and realized what I was doing. "But Nobility is supposed to hold ourselves above such things!"

Crossing my arms, I questioned, "You mean like the Medarda's aren't supposed to so openly attempt to weaponize the debt I owe them?"

With a roll of her eyes, Caitlyn dismissed, "Those are the Medardas. Of course they would do such a thing. But Kirammans are supposed to be better!"

I started to respond, then paused, as a realization struck me.

"Jayce?" the heiress questioned, as, I too, didn't hide much from her either, and so she was able to read my visage.

"I… I don't think I've actually met any Kirammans, other than you and your parents," I realized. "Huh."

I'd been so busy with, you know, inventing an entire branch of Magitek while rediscovering another, as well as training myself up to fighting fit, that, while I'd been getting politics lessons ostensibly from Caitlyn, though also sideways from her mother, all of the names on the boards in front of me were just… arbitrary floating data-points. I had a few sketched faces to go with names, but they were impressionistic things, done by Babette's people at my behest, only focusing on outstanding traits, and most of them I didn't even have that for.

I'd been viewing her family through the lens of their topmost level of sub-aristocracy, and using that to temper the intel I'd gotten from Babette, but… had I tempered it too far?

"I, I'm not sure how to go about this," I finally stated. "Perhaps, no, huh…" I trailed off as, while I had some ideas about possible romantic possibilities between myself and the girl beside me, would having me go to a familial function be too overt? In Canon, their relationship, what little of it we saw, was… odd, a bit like siblings, no, more like cousins, fond but distant. The lack of closeness there had left the young woman lonely, vulnerable, and open to latch onto Vi as someone who saw her for her, and not as 'The Next Kiramman.' Now, though, we never really flirted, but there were moments between us, especially when we were sparring, that had that spark to them.

I… I didn't know what to do here.

I just was too lacking in information.

However, as my gaze turned from the charts, and lingered on the young woman next to me, who was supposed to be my instructor in such things, even if nowadays it felt like we were working things together, not that I minded, I didn't need to be the one to do this.

"Cait," I started, the bluenette's attention very much on me, and expectant, but, then again, I wasn't trying to hide my emotions from her. "I think you should talk to your Mother about the possibility of me attending some sort of Society Function. God knows I've been invited to enough of them, but I could always beg off before. Perhaps it's time I don't. Or… not?" I questioned, as the heiress turned an incredulous look my way.

"I… you…" she tried to respond, "Jayce, that, that might not be the best idea."

"Because I'm too blunt?" I questioned.

"Because you're too blunt," she agreed instantly, though smirked slightly as she did so to show she didn't mind that part of me. "Nothing on Vi, that Druvask, but this could go wrong in so many different ways. And, and do you even know how to dance?"

Offering her a hand, the blue-haired girl hesitantly took it, as I pulled her into the standard tango position, the young woman having trained with me enough in spars to read my movements a little, as we took several steps, before, bringing my forward hand up while directing her with the one on her back, resting along her ribs, I urged her out into a spin, which, confused but smiling, she complied. After a moment to complete the move, I pulled her back, directing her with our clasped hand, and brought her in close before shifting into a dip, our joined hand pulled behind me almost in a rowing motion as I leaned forward to force her back off center while my free hand once more held her securely, her free hand having grabbed my jacket, my partner was going along with it, but, from our CQC training, we both knew that if I did drop her she'd shove off into a roll that'd get her back on her feet and ready to go in under a second and a half.

Smiling myself as I paused in that position, holding her up, my friend's trust in me such that she found this entire thing amusing, I informed her, "I know how to dance, but I'm not familiar with the Piltovan style."

"Well it certainly isn't this," she shot back, glancing down to take in my holds. "Shuriman?"

"Ixtalan, I believe, but there's crossover," I agreed, trying to guess at the 'X-but-not' nationality mapping of this world. "So, too much?"

Still held by me, Caitlyn, blushed slightly, and noted, "Well, I would be interested in learnin-"

"Ahem."

We both glanced over to our minder, the maid looking, not quite scandalized, but in a 'please don't do this around me' sort of way, and, so, rolling my eyes, I twisted around, picking up my dance partner, twirling her about, before gently placing her upright, and letting go, the heiress' hold on my own hand lingering for a moment.

Thankfully, for me, while Jayce didn't really know how to dance, it had been covered in Basic because before that point I had been, quite frankly, terrible at it.

Part of it had been self-confidence issues, but a larger part had been the same reason I still didn't quite get the entire nonverbal communication thing with people as well as I should, especially people I wasn't used to, as, being raised where people's verbal language said one thing, and their body language said something completely different, especially when you had to go with the former or else be punished, well, I'd learned to ignore the latter, something Jayce's hyperfocus on his dream had done very little to help me with.

And then there was the fact that, for some reason, basic martial arts seemed hard-coded into my reflexes, a gift from my original patrilineal line, so I was always worried I'd slip and accidentally hurt my partner, but when I learned from someone that could face-tank bazooka rounds, that wasn't really an issue, and had let me get over my damn self.

"So," I smirked at the blue-haired young woman, putting on a faux-pompous air, "even if Mrs. Kiramman agrees with your assessment that me attending any sort of function is… ill advised, I apparently need dance lessons. Would you, Ms. Kiramman, as my Piltovan Nobility Instructor, be averse to furnishing me with said instruction?"

Lifting her nose in the air, and with equally fake snootiness, she replied, "Well, Mr. Talis, I suppose I may be able find it within acceptable allowances to acquiesce to your appeal, but I do have one non-negotiable condition if I am to entertain your educational entreaty."

We both stared at each other, before bursting out into laughter. Smiling warmly at her, I reminded her, "You know you have but just to ask."

As she reddened, tried to say something, only for no words to come, I realized I may be pouring it on a little thick.

That said, I wasn't lying.

Because while she had just been someone I'd known from the show, and then from Jayce's memories, though he barely paid her much mind, I was pretty sure I'd gotten her measure the last few years, and, while naïve in some ways, and very much a believer in the systems that Piltover used, the young woman had the kind of honor and good heart that I truly respected.

Just like Vi did.

Though I was also sure that neither would appreciate the comparison.

Piper, meanwhile, was… different, and had that core of kindness, but the girl who specialized in tricks, traps, and totally unexpected approaches was not one for following systems, be they formal or informal, and while that wasn't bad, it did make her a wildcard, and one that was harder to predict than the other two.

However, I couldn't exactly begrudge her, because, with my own propensity for Out-Of-Context Bullshit, Out-Of-The-Box Thinking, and Out-Of-Place Perspective, we had that in common.

Watching Caitlyn, though, on her third attempt at answering, she recollected herself, lightly smacking me in the chest, and demanding, "Must you be like that?"

"I'm only being honest," I defended, in low, smiling tones that told her I knew exactly what she was referring to. "Besides, do you want me to stop?"

Poking me in the chest again, the Heiress stated, "You…. No. Fine, I'll teach you, but you must teach me that dance you showed me."

"Ahem."

"Somewhere that isn't here," the bluenette added.

"Of course, this is for Nobility lessons. Things of a more physical nature should be done elsewhere," I agreed, glancing over to our minder, and looking her in the eye as I added, "Like the lessons in learning how to fight that Mrs. Kiramman is already aware of."

The older woman considered that, then nodded, and I turned back to my friend, and asked, "So, Cait, we have another hour before we have dinner. Do you want to store these boards and then you can start showing me the basics? Perhaps send someone for a phonograph?"

"I, yes, that would be lovely," she smiled, doing just that, and, soon enough, we were dancing once more.

​

Heimerdinger strolled along the dark halls of the Academy, taking in the atmosphere of Science that permeated the space, a small smile on his face, proud of what he'd helped build. A place of learning, of discovery, not the cloistered, limiting secrecy of Damacia's Guilds, not the brutish ersatz pragmatism of Noxus, not the hidebound traditionalism of Ionia, and certainly not the mad, sadistic, senseless experimentation of old Zaun, where safety was for other people and, rather than spend a few weeks understanding and hypothesizing, why not try a dozen different things, see who survived, and go from there?

While the current state of the Undercity was regrettable, compared to what they used to be?

It was a definite improvement!

And thus the Academy was made, a paragonic bastion of true Science, and not that twisted, corrupted form of it, as magic was to the corruption of the Void.

Though, to compare his institution to those power-crazed dangers to everything around them was quite the insult, so, perhaps, the Academy was not only on the path, but several steps beyond it?

Yes, that was better.

Everything the Arcane touched was corrupted by it, even those Mages Heimerdinger once called friend succumbing to the temptation of their powers, good intentions led astray, expediency eventually exceeding ethics, and then…

Then it was nothing but screaming, and mad cackling, and destruction, and twisted flesh, and…

For a moment, the Yordle was lost to memory, to visions of that time, where he had lost everything dear to him, his every attempt to fix things, to save those he cared for, turning to dust in his hands, and ash in his mouth, but, as he always did, he snapped himself out of it, as he had more times than he could count, and he could count quite high!

But, having seen that, having experienced what none here had, is what had led him to, rightfully, be quite wary of young Jayce's experiments! He was glad to have Councilor Bolbok's support, even if the man's backing came from cultural fear instead of true understanding, but, unfortunately, the rest of the Council, showing their inexperience, their naivete, and, most of all, how greed could overcome wisdom, had voted against him, and given the inventor the go-ahead to continue, not knowing that they were not just playing with fire, but poisonous explosives.

Truly, if Viktor, Heimerdinger's assistant, had not been there to keep a watch on young Mr. Talis, who knows what could have happened!? That detonation on the first day was clearly a precursor of more to come, but Viktor had successfully corralled the misguided youth, boasting the experience that only one who has learned from more learned elders can wield, and directed the Noble Scion's efforts into safer methods, implementing at least some form of proper testing, though, of course, Heimerdinger's assistant did have the same youthful exuberance that most Humans did, not even being half a century of age, which had led the Head of the Academy to correcting their methodology, something that it was obvious that Jayce chafed under, but he, thankfully, had the good sense to listen to advice when it was openly given, his earlier indiscretions clearly the result of a lack of proper oversight, which, Heimerdinger would admit, was on him.

And, with the benefit of hindsight, he had to admit the boy's theories on the nature of how Mages went mad did seem to hold some merit, akin to one investigating disease in a glass dish versus doing so by infecting oneself with them, and that, especially with how widespread their use was, given the enormous magical tower that now stuck out up above Heimerdinger's city, if there had been side effects to using it, they certainly should have seen such by now. Furthermore, if it were not a question of degree, but frequency, then the two young men, or their two even younger apprentices, should have manifested symptoms by this point, even with the Zaunites' greater resistance to such things, an inherited defense to that which had been inflicted upon them, persisting as they continued to live in and amongst that dreadful and abominable creation known as 'Chemfluid'.

Also, a point in their favor was how they treated their helpers, not using them as disposable test subjects, but as apprentices in truth, no doubt a move by Viktor, copying his own mentorship by Heimerdinger, and which, again, young Jayce had the good merit to follow suit with himself. Those two precocious youngsters were a delight, though the blue-haired girl, Piper, clearly had some sort of atavistic expression from her 'Magineer' ancestors, but, under Viktor's guidance, she was learning to act as a true Scientist should, much to the Yordle's pleasure.

But, back on topic, it appeared that young Jayce was onto something about the direct manipulation of magical energies by those not equipped to deal with them causing the spiritual cancer of The Arcane, that, eventually, manifested physically in the worst ways. The Yordle, of course, like the rest of his kind, could handle those energies, but that was because they were not mortal, not possessing the traits that allowed one to pass on, both blessing and curse, and one that Heimerdinger had learned to live with, so to speak, not that he had much of a choice. Because, while his flesh may be damaged, he was made of more than that, and, while unpleasant, he'd be back soon enough!

And Heimerdinger needed to be here, because, while the Noble boy had not meant to, thankfully sticking to his 'Hextech', properly and admirably professing his own weakness in the biological fields, there were others that, hearing his hypotheses, had wanted to test them.

Yet how did one test such things?

Not safely, that's how!

While they'd only had to expel two students, who'd gotten their hands on a Hexcrystal, somehow managed to grind it down without exploding it, mixed it into a solution, and were injecting it into increasingly complex lifeforms, as that kind of, kind of Magineering having no place in his Academy, there were dozens that had proposed less extreme, but still unacceptable, forms of experimentation.

Not that Heimerdinger used the proper term for such a behavior, having learned that lesson early on, as giving the signifier of that which he sought to remove instead invoked it, in a way, learning about the thing they were not supposed to do, all too often, leading the youngsters in the Academy to try it anyways because they believed they knew better than those with centuries more experience!

It was harder to explain why one should not do so when one could not give specific examples, but Heimerdinger was absolutely up to the task!

But most of the testing, or even observational proposals, involved dealing with Mages, and Heimerdinger was oh so glad that his early attempts to ban those entities from his city had born fruit, as it made denying such a request simplicity itself, while those that wished to travel beyond the Academy's walls to go study Mages 'in the wild', while they could not be truly stopped, were warned that they would receive no funds, and that any time spent on assignment would not be considered as 'on assignment', but as personal leave, and, thus, not count a wit towards seniority, tenure, or other Academy functions, which had stopped those suggestions colder than Freljordian winter!

Not that Heimerdinger had ever been to that foreign land, though he had seen through Jayce's attempts at obfuscation quite easily, as, yes, while some of them did have blue hair, it was an icy blue, not vibrantly so. However, the Yordle could understand the young man wanting to protect those he had taken in, even if doing so via deceit was not the Academy way, but there was a reason Viktor was there, and they were not truly students of the Academy. When young Piper wished to join Hemerdinger's institution in truth, she would need to come clean about her heritage, but when she eventually did she would be older, and better able to handle the pressure from others, just as young Viktor had.

Then there were those who'd sought to copy Jayce's work, demanding the notes that Mr. Talis and Viktor had filed away in the Academy's archives, and which Heimerdinger had restricted to the highest level. Looking over them, they had been… basic, to a suspicious degree, but, upon arranging a meeting with his old apprentice, Viktor had explained that, with the possibilities of Hextech, whose rules they were only beginning to understand, such as they were, committing more to record may lead to disturbances as those without the young man's caution, but with access to the archives, would be inclined to blindly reach beyond their grasp.

Viktor had tried to share credit for such a decision with Jayce, but Heimerdinger wasn't born yesterday, and could see that it was clearly his influence on the young man that had lead both to that decision, and to Viktor's attempt to include his partner in the wisdom of such a decision, which, while admirable, was him being a bit misleading, but the Yordle could forgive his old apprentice, because it came from a good place. And, given that what information had been shared had been stolen less than a year later, it was a decision that bore the hallmarks of aged wisdom, and thus clearly originated from himself!

The perpetrators had been punished, harshly, denied access to their laboratory for six months and had their current projects put on a hold for another six months after that as they were forced to take remedial ethics classes, but they had since learned the errors of their ways, which was good, as the Academy was a place of learning after all!

However, even Heimerdinger found himself… curious, and so, from time to time, on these moonlit strolls, he paid a visit to Viktor and Jayce's lab to see just what it was they were working on, the Yordle able to piece together a great deal from what they left behind, but, as was obvious, they were still very much in the figuring out the basics stage, as a large amount of what was written there didn't make that much sense, knowing the basics as Heimerdinger did, and, if copied directly, would likely do very little, as the way the pair, or quartet, functioned meant just as much of their knowledge was kept in their own heads as it was on the blackboards they utilized!

Thankfully, popping in on them from time to time, to see their current works in progress, before they erased it and began anew, Heimerdinger could tell that they were focused on only a couple projects, along with the refinement of the 'Recycling Array', another hallmark of Viktor's understanding of nature and methodology that was neither Mage nor Magineer, learned at his mentor's small but impactful knee, and a solid step away from his Zaunite roots!

So the Dean of the Academy started to head down the hall to their lab, pausing as there was an odd… stillness to the air, though he dismissed it after a moment, as the use of magic from their workspace often played holy heck on the Yordle's more spiritual instincts, at one point even thinking he'd caught a hint of the Void, but, investigating further, there was not a touch of that foul corruption to be found! Normally, the RA did a good job of cycling out any magical taint in the air as it pushed then energy back into the Hexcrystals slotted into it, but when they took it off-line, usually after implementing new changes and not wanting to leave it running unattended, the buildup then had to dissipate naturally, slowly whisked away, pulled towards Zaun, the tides of Magic such that this place was ideal for Heimerdinger's vision of a Mage-free society.

Admittedly, he had at first thought of Damacia for such a thing, but that 'anti-magic' compound of theirs, Petricite, did not negate magic, it concentrated it, so while it was disabling to mages who made contact with it, pulling the energies out of their grasp in a way that made it impossible to cast, more of those unfortunate souls were born in that kingdom than likely any other, though, of course, doing such a study in fullness would not be possible due to a variety of factors.

But, no, while it might be physically prosperous, Piltover, and to a lesser degree Zaun, were magically deserts, as opposed to the actual desert of Shurima, which was almost overflowing with oases of the dangerous energies, and, while that did result in a slight bit of discomfort at first, being a Spiritual being himself, it was a feeling easily ignored with practice, and oh so worth it!

But, without Viktor's RA to diminish the ambient levels of Mana, the feeling was more than a little… disconcerting.

Regardless, it was something easily explainable by Science, and, thus, not something that Heimerdinger needed to worry about!

Though, approaching the door, the Yordle heard… voices?

Carefully moving forward, placing an ear to the metal, one of the speakers was definitely Mr. Talis, the young man's voice uniquely unmistakable, but the other was… odd, low and rumbly, guttural, as if the speaker were a giant, yet almost sounding ancient, but, truly, nothing in Piltover was older than he was! However, muffled as the words were, they were indistinct, indecipherable, but still sent an odd chill down the Dean's spine.

Maybe…. Maybe I should come back later, Heimerdinger thought, as Jayce did occasionally stay late, to mind some experiment or another, as did Viktor, both of them having smartly agreed to try nothing new without the other present, though, though the Yordle was curious, as… who was young Jayce talking to?

Hesitantly trying the door, it was locked, but, as the Head of the Academy, Heimerdinger had the keys to every door, and, silently, opened it, slipping inside, and looked within, and saw…

Death.

Because, standing impossibly tall upon a table, the workspace a perch for its massive talons, was The Etherfiend, the Death of Spirits, as surely as the Wolf and Lamb were for mortals, for while conventional injury only slowed beings such as he, to be Forgotten was their True Death.

"&It Appears…&"

"&We Have A Visitor.&"

"&Are You Perhaps…&"

"&Ready For Oblivion…&"

"&Young One?&"

​

The End of That Which Could Not Die rumbled, in perfect Yordle, its bulk taking up half the lab, as The Etherfiend stared directly at him with its glowing, purple, pitiless eyes.

"O-O-Oh Dear," Heimerdinger choked out, before, before it was all too much, and, falling backwards, the Dean lost consciousness, the last thing he heard was young Jayce's voice.

"Well… This is awkward."

Chapter Sixteen

I'd had to wrap up my conversation with one of the local Death Deities, a rather relaxed dude of the 'I Am Inevitable' type, ironically also purple but without his giant fucking ego, and who had 'sniffed me out', as, apparently, my Class D signifiers, grafted onto my soul as part of my employment with The Company, gave me a certain metaphysical scent, which, even with Trace Defense, if one got close enough, could be picked up.

That said, it was apparently very very faint, so only the other Death Deities of this place could notice, of which there were about a dozen, give or take, as new ones were born from the collective belief of the masses, until they were truly forgotten, at which point the Etherfiend would reap them, until, finally, at the end of all things, it would reap the Mask Mother, Primordial of Death, and then itself, and then?

Nothingness.

But, simultaneously, to those few who were also aligned in that direction, I smelled like a Spirit God of Death, yet, also, the Etherfiend could tell that I had no pre-destined end.

So he'd come to talk.

Thankfully I was more of an intriguing oddity to the big death-birb, rather than An Abomination That Should Not Be, which was the other way this could've gone.

"§We Shall Speak…§"

"§Again, Young One.§"

​

"§I look forward to it,§" I replied in Necril, language of the dead, and my visitor's native tongue. "§Also, please do so when I don't have other visitors, because…§" I waved toward the unconscious Yordle, slumped on my lab's floor.

"§Would You Like…§"

"§Me To Remove…§"

"§This Wayward Spirit…§"

"§For You? §"

​

That… actually merited some thought. Heimerdinger was absolutely a thorn in my side, but… but, from what I could tell, he truly meant well, and, in some ways even more importantly, believed in the primacy of honor.

It was a subtle thing, and one that, if you listened to people, they would absolutely lie about, in both directions, but, when push came to shove, the Dean of the Academy followed the rules, even when doing so was to his detriment.

It was something that even the other Councilors, even Mrs. Kiramman, could not do, and that…

That was worth something.

It had to be worth something.

Or else… what was the point?

"§Don't worry, I'll handle it. Your presence was unexpected, and one of the…§" My mouth quirked into a smug smile, "§the masks I wear would both give him cause to check in on me, and, simultaneously, make my keeping such august company… surprising, to say the least.§"

"§Then Until The Time…§"

"§Of Our Parting…§"

"§Has Reached Its End.§"

​

The Spirit God wished, and I nodded back, as, watching it spread its great wings, filling the chamber, it took off, and… twisted, flying in a direction neither up, nor down, but out, yet in a way distinct from that which my Hexgate used, and I felt my Soul Talent sit up and take notice, which held… certain possibilities, though it would certainly take many many more meetings before I could have a hope of doing… whatever it was I'd just seen.

Sighing, running a hand through my hair, which had been steadily lengthening, I considered what to do.

God, what was it that one chick in Basic kept saying?

Right.

"Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss!" I declared with a laugh, feeling a little bad for what I was about to do, but, well, compared to the alternatives, this was probably for the best.

Kneeling down next to the Yordle, I gently shook him awake, putting on my most concerned voice as I asked, "Heimerdinger? Dean Heimerdinger, are you alright?"

The small figure came to with a start, gasping, "I, what, where, Jayce!?"

"Yes," I agreed, calling upon some of my less than pleasant Seminars. "Are you alright? You walked in and passed out! Have you been getting enough sleep? Been exposed to an odd experiment? Eaten something odd? Feeling under the weather? Can Yordles even get sick?" I mused aloud, sounding truly curious, throwing out as many excuses and distractions as I could to distract, along with an academic inquiry that he could answer, instead of 'Holy Shit Was That The Etherfiend!?!' which he couldn't, at least with what he 'knew' to be true.

Blinking rapidly, the fuzzy man sat up, looking around, absently answering, "We can, though often not the way that Humans like you do, young man. Why, I once had a case of Spatteratosis that almost turned me into a newt! I got better, though. I, what were you doing here, Jayce?"

Helping the Yordle to his feet, I moved over to the blackboard I was working on when The Etherfiend arrived. "I was crunching the numbers and trying to make a kind of… Hextech cushion. Essentially taking the zero-g effect of the Hexgate, what we're calling HexSpace, but while there is a bit of bleeding off of momentum when one enters its boundaries, I was looking for something a bit more… aggressive."

"Aggressive?" the Dean echoed, hyper-focusing on my use of a 'no-no word'.

"Yes, I want to see if I can dial up the slowing effect," I agreed without seeming to notice the landmine I'd 'accidentally' stepped on, and now needed to disarm. "We've done tests, and exposure to the standard zero-g field isn't harmful, beyond the possibility of some nausea from suddenly lacking gravity, but anyone, or anything, that enters the field with enough velocity will pass through it with only, once a certain threshold is reached, a roughly twenty-percent decrease in speed. If we could dial that up to, say, ninety percent, then even someone falling at terminal velocity wouldn't, upon hitting the ground, find it, well, terminal."

"But, Jayce, how can you be sure that such an effect won't stop other things, as well?" the patronizing bit of floof demanded. "Like, like the blood in one's veins?"

Because that's not how magic works, dumbass, I thought, the question one that even Viktor, the most safety-minded of our team, wouldn't ask, as the Zero-G Hexgate field treated discrete objects as discrete objects, and did not create a penetrating, permeating effect. It was why, if you fucked up and got pulled into the Hexgate while tied to a table, it brought the table with you, because it couldn't really get the fact that you and the furniture were separate objects.

Trying to do something larger, as we'd experimented with, if one hit the limit of the power-source's capabilities, it just didn't work, and you got an almost offended zap of Hex-energy for your troubles.

"Well, that's what testing is apparently for," I stated, a little flippantly, which got a scowl, before Heimerdinger saw my smirk, and realized I was teasing him, rolling his eyes.

"Testing is important, young man!" the patrician pedantic popinjay chided.

"Yes, which is why we do it," I reminded him. "But I have to first figure out how to do it before we test if it's safe. Ultimately-" I paused, checking, "wait, you've heard about our HexLift project, right?"

Seriously, I was putting, like, negative amount of effort into my naming of our projects, but Piltovans ate up that 'pragmatic yet adorable' shit, showing some German influences, at least before that entire 'World Wars' thing fucked that culture six ways from Sunday.

Nodding, the nosy nuisance of course had been snooping, though, to be fair, Viktor might've just told him. "Of course! Oh, then this is…"

"A safety device," I smiled. Well, that and the first step in making a bullet-proof force-field, of the 'Matrix Neo says Stop' methodology instead of the more standard 'Constrained Energy says Go Fuck Your Projectiles' way of going about things, but he didn't need to know that. "We lay one of these bad boys in the bottom of the HexLift's shaft, and maybe in a ring around the outside, but above the preliminary working space, and that way if someone accidentally drops things, because people will accidentally drop things, and that's already an issue with the Hexgates, then no one gets beaned by falling, like, rutabagas, or something."

"A safety device…" Heimerdinger repeated, like it was something special.

I paused, confused. "… Yes? We use them all the time. Hell, I made the harnesses we use to test Zero-G uses, though getting Piper to use them is a constant struggle," I quipped, as she'd do it if I asked, but only that day, and, with our physical training, she wasn't wrong when she pointed out that she could catch herself if she accidentally left the field and fell, now that we'd figured out a cage for the Zero-Gate, so she didn't accidentally get sucked into it.

Again.

The girl had a very finely-tuned danger-sense, but that very thing meant she tended to suffer minor, harmless mishaps on the regular, though she was getting better about being more careful and precise, for certain degrees of both of those things.

Peering at the diagrams, the Yordle questioned, "Could you use it to stop something completely?"

"It's meant to stop something completely, dropping them below the escape threshold, fast, so it's undamaged and can be retrieved as needed," I pointed out.

"Could it be used to hold a… person?" the Dean questioned, in what was absolutely a leading tone.

But the answer was easy, and, yes, I could see the way the Dean was thinking, still having his suspicions about me, though he had, at least, backed the fuck off a great deal in the intervening time.

"Catch, yes, hold, no," I responded, without missing a beat. "The Personal Impetus effect, that lets one 'swim' through zero-g, would mean that while their maximum velocity would be capped, they could always leave it at the speed of a slow walk, so using it as any kind of imprisonment device is right out, not that I'd want to make something that does so in the first place."

At least without a way to escape it, because the 'Caught in your own Creation' irony would be like catnip for malignant egotists everywhere.

"And how close are you to testing?" Heimerdinger questioned.

"Oh, I could probably do it now, or at least enough to test some theories," I offered.

That perked up the Dean, who, rubbing his tiny hands together in anticipation, ordered, "Well then, let's see!"

I, meanwhile, just stared at him. "What? No!"

Looking like I'd just told my puppy that we weren't having walksies, with a disappointed, mildly affronted energy, the Yordle asked, "But, why?"

"Because I promised Victor that I'd only run these kinds of experiments when he was also present?" I questioned, wondering if my lab-partner hadn't passed that bit on to his old mentor. "Because, given you were so tired and/or under the weather you passed out, so I'd be doing this effectively alone? Because I'm tired too, and kind of lost track of time, so I need to go home and get some rest too? And, hell, because I don't have a standard test-subject array set up, from sticks, to water balloons, to fruit, to lab-mice, so even if I got a field up, I couldn't do proper testing?"

My incensed offense absolutely rained on Heimerdinger's parade, but, as he listened to what I was saying, he puffed himself up, announcing, "Ah, yes, of course! I was merely testing you, and, and you passed! With flying colors! I am a teacher, after all, and it's never too late to make sure that the proper lessons are learned! And…" he trailed off. "Yes, I think we're both tired, and it is likely time for both of us to get a good night's rest! After all, while inspiration may seem to strike in the wee hours of the morn, it is only in the light of day that we can look over them and see what was truly inspirational, and what are the half-remembered dreams of hopeful fantasy!"

"Agreed," I nodded sagely, closing up shop, while Heimerdinger 'supervised', pausing as I noticed a giant fucking purple feather, and, asking the Yordle to turn around the blackboard so the newest, untested design would be 'safe from prying eyes', like his, that shifted the floof-ball's attention long enough for me to grab the offending mystical leaving, stuff it in a bin, and mark it with the tab that said 'Toxic, no one but Jayce should open'.

With that taken care of, we finished cleaning up, and I went to fucking bed, my mission complete, and the Dean completely side-tracked.

​

It was a couple weeks later when the trouble started.

Heimerdinger hadn't said a word about the encounter, and, the following day, I managed to sneak The Etherfiend's feather into my bag, not really sure what to do with it, or even if the Spirit God had meant to leave it behind, but, for now, I'd assume it was incidental, and figure out what to do with it later.

We'd tested out the 'HexCatcher', and, while it did work, it was a massive power hog, because it not only stopped large items, it also would stop the wind, draining the attached hexcrystal very quickly, and, until we got a way to dial in the lower-end of what it affected, which might not actually be possible, it meant that, except for short bursts, was a no-go.

Also, for similar reasons, when caught in the field one could not breathe.

Because while you could direct yourself about, and the air in your lungs was fine, exhaling was like doing so into a wall, and inhaling was similarly ineffective, though moving forward with your mouth open, you could kind of 'scoop up' air, as it entered the boundary of what was 'you' and got freed up.

It was interesting, but also currently useless, and unless one trained with it, like Piper… volunteered herself for, once the biological tests came back clean for the 'catching' process inciting damage all on its own, unless it got added to all the staff's training, they'd likely do some damage to themselves in their panic, especially as it was rather distressing and… just not worth the hassle.

Though both Ekko and Piper had some interesting ideas on reversing the effects, both with attempting to make it accelerate whatever was within, and also attempting to repulse it.

Both experimental sets… hadn't gotten very far, though the second had yielded some interesting results, but I had the feeling it was because we were using the wrong Runes, or at least the wrong combo, as narrowing in on the multifaceted aspects of each bit of distilled Arcane Symbology was, at our current skill level, more art than science.

Lyrical Nanoha we were not.

…Yet.

Okay, we were centuries away from that, at the earliest, but it was a good eventual goal.

Running a test of the, as of yet, unnamed accelerator… HexShooter? HexSlider? Regardless, testing it, the field formed, which, itself, was progress, as we hadn't accidentally put in contrary rune-formations that cancelled each other out, when-

Boom!

A wave of Mana rippled outwards, causing our experiment to fluctuate a little, Ekko, watching carefully, immediately shut down our current experiment, as the Recharge Array flared, the edges shining actinic blue, functioning as a whirlpool that drained away some of the mystical blast.

Rushing to the window, I looked out and saw the Hexgate Tower had part of the side blown out, as, watching, giant blue sparks started to waft from the ruined masonry, arcs of Mana-Lightning playing across the torn metal, small loops, but they were visibly growing and, staring with confused horror, another part exploded, sending a second wave of Mana flowing outwards.

"What? But, the safeties!" Viktor questioned, shocked, as we'd built it to be compartmentalized, so that wouldn't fucking happen.

Assuming, of course, people followed procedures.

Enemy action? I thought, but, no, assuming they knew what they were doing, they would've gone for the much more vulnerable Rotational Core, not the Mana-Amplifier, an interior shaft that ran for a couple hundred feet down the center directly under the topmost array, which, yes, what was cooking off.

Crunching numbers, knowing the more destructive uses of Hexcrystals… along with the low THRUM that started to emanate from the structure, as the highly charged releases started to resonate with the structure as a whole, this was… Very Bad.

"Piper! Shortcut!" I ordered, turning away, dashing over to grab my Emergency Pack, containing rune-carving tools, a collection of small metal pre-carved plates with adhesive backing, another dozen blanks, a Hex Crystal in a cushioned case, and more, the girl already powering up the minor Hexgate, pulling it from a hidden container, slapping it down on the spot in the floor we'd calibrated it for.

"Vhat are you doing?" my lab partner questioned, as I slipped on a pair of tight-fitting work-gloves with metal mesh inside, thin enough to still give tactile feedback, the smaller array spinning into life, rattling in its cage, as the focal-point formed in the air, invisible, except when another Wave of Mana blew through the space, momentarily highlighting the bit of pseudo-folded space.

"Stopping a Disaster," I told him, throwing on a pair of goggles, like my Justice gear sans green LEDs. "Keep everything here stable," I commanded, the man, looking lost, nodding after a moment, mouth closing from it's shocked-agape status, as he now had a task. "Ekko, Piper, Assist him."

The boy nodded, the girl already rushing to a drawer, as, with a running jump, I Entered the Hexgate.

And was momentarily OUTSIDE.

Spoiler: The Jump

But I'd grown used to it, and was prepared when, unlike Jayce's memory of the event, there was no vision of Runeterra from beyond, as there was no need for a Mage to choose where we'd end up, adding his own flavor to the working, and it ended in an instant, as I continued my leap, landing on the smooth stone floor of my Hexgate office, the air thick with Mana, but not at dangerous levels here, yet, but it was intensifying.

"Okay," I told myself, taking a moment to review a mental map of the place, modeling it in 3D with the benefit of Jayce' added intelligence, super-imposing what I saw of the damaged sections, which meant I need to-

Spoiler: Music

Warp

"Wait for me!"

I turned, reflexive catching the small form that teleported into the room, a rucksack thrown across her back, and a wide grin on her face.

"Piper!? What are you doing! I told you to stay behind!" I demanded, trying to recalculate plans, as, with another Wave of Mana, the feeling enough to actually prod my Defenses a little, the portal destabilized, collapsing into itself.

And, suddenly, the tiny tinkerer didn't seem so confident.

"I, I thought I could help?" she offered. "You said to help, but-"

"I meant Viktor!" I told her, heart racing, now for a different reason. "Jeezus Christ, Piper! If you'd been a second too slow, and the gate destabilized, who knows where you could've ended up? And not just on Runeterra, you could've ended up in the fucking VOID!"

She blinked, staring, tears starting to well up, "I, but I, I wanted to help!"

"Your help isn't worth LOSING you over!" I shouted, knowing we didn't have time for this, but my enhanced intelligence was now going over, in detail, how I could've just lost her. "Fuck, we've TALKED about this, Piper! View, Plan, Act!"

"I, but, but you went through," the small girl argued tremulously, deeply hurt by this, and, FUCK, she was having Vi flashbacks, wasn't she?

Dropping to one knee, I pulled her in for a hug, and whispered, forcefully, "I have Defenses that you don't. It'd be just like swimming in the bay. And I could retreat Home. You have Neither. I was risking myself, yes, but it was a Considered Risk. Okay?"

Spoiler: Music

I gave myself five seconds before I had to fucking go, but thankfully she only needed two, hugging me, and, while her voice was full of emotion, her, "O…Okay," was intelligible.

Letting her go, and standing up, I told her, "Good. Now, I'm going into the Mana-Toxic bullshit, like the Flowspace. You get the fuck out of here, don't take the lift."

"What? I, No!" the blue-haired girl yelped, quickly continuing before I could tell her to fucking do it, "I'm gonna make a Reclamation Array! And, and draw it off!"

"There's too much energy here for that, Piper," I disagreed, starting to head for the door. "We have close to a hundred Hex Crystals cooking off. You can't contain that in one! You need to leave!"

"No! Wait! What if, if, if I set up the structure to charge!" she tried instead, following after.

"Then it would explode," I told her. "Last chance, then go!"

She paused, opened her mouth bit her lip, closed her eyes, concentrated, before they flew open, seeming to shine, as she declared, "The HexCannon!" Seeing that I had no idea where she was going with this, she quickly explained, "We have too much Mana? Just fire it off! Long as we don't hit anything, we're golden!"

That…. actually might work, but, "If we prepared, yeah, but how are we going to-"

"The Recharge Array!" the Magitek Savant quickly explained. "It's a focal point, but the core's actually in the basement! If I go down there, I can rework it, and reverse it, so instead of pulling it down, it goes straight up! It won't have the rotational stabilization, but-

"But we don't need it to minimize energy loss, if anything, we want to maximize it! That's brilliant!" I grinned.

So did she, before wincing, "Wait, no, the array can only take so much! It won't be enough to-

"No, I've got that. I'll set up a harmonization at the source," I argued. "Containing the energy would cause the tower to explode, but channeling it will just need some minor repairs. Probably. Okay, we have a plan, and," I unholstered my pistol as I reached the door, and handed it to her, "Tell them I sent you, and shoot anyone that physically tries to stop you."

"I will!" the blue-haired girl nodded, hesitating as she passed by me, "And, Jayce?"

"Yes?"

She darted back my way, hugging me again, and, as the hum around us intensified, whispered, "Thanks."

And then she was gone heading downstairs at speed that would normally be unsafe, but, fuck it, everything here was unsafe.

Hell, I was halfway tempted to bust out my hoverboard if going straight up wasn't the one thing it sucked at, and I needed to go. Another Wave of Mana rolled over me, as I hit a main walkway, and my employees rushed by, some screaming, but some, seeing me, stopped, and looked my way.

Spoiler: Music

"KEEP GOING! I'LL HANDLE IT!" I ordered, and that got them moving once more, until I hit the Spiral Staircase that led up where I was, packed with people, and… fuck.

Popping open my bag, I sorted through my pre-carved runes, and, with a grimace, slapped together the array that Ekko had figured out, but, until we could stabilize the crystals themselves, it would be near suicidal to use.

By anyone other than me.

Lift-Increase-Sky and Diminish-Earth-Spread Runes went on the back of my hands, a Float-Stabilize-Temperance on my chest, legs getting paired Force-Blast-Direction-Impetus done in the way that hadn't blasted the bottom half off the test dummy when we'd tried it out last week, and, finally, on my stomach, a Bind-Merge-Whole on my stomach, which… hopefully would unite the set, and not try and do something very nasty.

Aware that those streaming around me were staring, I waited for another Wave to pass, this one stronger, and felt my center of gravity wobble enough to tell me this should work, before, looking over my shoulder, I told them, "I said go. I've got this."

And then I jumped up on the railing, fishing out the Hexcrystal, stepped into the open space of the shaft…

And Clapped.

The Crystal instantly activated in my hands, as I fell only a few feet before the stabilization bit on my chest did its job, sparking in a way that set off my Defenses and would likely burn anyone else that tried it, but, focusing, tensing my right hand, I dropped a few feet, my left, I rose.

Good.

And so I Yanked, and, in an instant, was shot upwards, flying up the central space stairway wound around, but, yes, I was drifting, so, remembering my Power Armor Training in Basic, I directed my legs into the proper directions, visualized the effect and pushed-

Instantly bouncing off the god-damned side of the staircase, I slammed a shoulder into the stone hard enough that, had I not trained, I would've broken it, because fuck that was too hard!

Spinning, the stabilization rune did its job I slowed, and tried again, but less so, realizing that the thrust didn't just give me horizontal thrust, it gave it to me in the direction I pointed the leg, Iron-Man style, and, Floating as I was, I only needed a little bit, so that helped, and I started to get back on track-

Only for another Wave to short circuit the system built on hopes, proximity, and visualization, causing me to drop, until I Clapped again, restoring it, wasting no time as I rocketed upwards, past my thankfully increasingly sparser employees, as my Defenses started kicking in, the air toxic, and starting to glow blue, which itself was causing problems with the Array, as I felt it fight me.

Because, while I would never admit it to Heimerdinger, what I was doing was absolutely fucking Magery. It was just with an artificial pathway instead of internalizing the fucking thing, but it was so close that all of my 'So You Want To Be A Wizard' Seminars were kicking in, showing me how to shape the Mana 'I' was channeling.

And that's why I could feel the Runes starting to deepen, and grow, in a way that was very very BAD, but, rising another three hundred feet in seconds instead of minutes, it was worth it, until I punched into the glowing cloud of blue Mist that now shrouded the top of the stairwell, thankfully remembering what this place looked like normally, so I slowed, directing myself onto the stairs proper, as the array sparked, and started to go weird.

My right hand started to turn brown, Defenses going hard, as I ripped off the glove the Rune had merged with, and tossed it away, as a small boulder formed around it, before inverting on itself and disappearing into nothingness. My left hand's plate-welded glove flew up, hit the ceiling, and exploded in a burst of ozone, the one on my chest forcing me to dig now bare fingers under it and step away as it was getting harder to move, letting me weather the blast of 'Sky' from my glove that I'd just been hit by, but it was starting to stabilize too much, and, now that it was removed, just hung in the air, the leg ones, seemingly fine, when thrown kept going until they punched through the wall, and I lost track of them, and the one on my stomach was…

Well, it was perfectly fine, actually, which was honestly the weirdest part, but I still tore it off and tossed it away, where it hit a railing and just kind of stuck to it.

Either way, incredibly stupid, possibly transformational, but my Defenses said Fuck Off, so I was fine, as I dashed forward, down the hall I needed, and through doors that, I noted, should not all be open at the same time, especially in an emergency like this one.

It was in the fucking orientation packet!

Regardless, I tore through the space, thankfully not seeing any bodies, though I wasn't sure if they'd be corpses, or worse, at this point, getting to one of the main storage bays, which, yes, had the door left open, and…

Skidding to a stop, I looked around in horror, because almost a full quarter of the individually packed cells were unseated. They were hexagonally shaped, each holding three hexcrystals, a formation that, yes, was partially for the pun, but also because it was a good, structurally sound shape, and couldn't be opened easily so as to prevent any kind of accident, but, no, that's exactly what these morons had done!

And, watching tiny arcs of Mana-Lightning playing over all of them, working in and out of the insulated cells, which didn't insulate shit if they were open, I was firm in my belief that, no, this wasn't Enemy Action.

It was something far more prevalent.

Arrogant Stupidity.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to close them all up, which would actually solve the fucking problem here, and instead reached into my bag-o'-tricks, throwing down the three Rune combination of Charge-Begin-Open, Pull-Drain-Gravity, and lastly one we'd discovered down in Flowspace, going over my phone's recording, the Imbue-Infuse-Feed-Fuel Rune forming a triangle with the others, though not a regular one, and, with everything as fucking packed with Mana as it was, I could see it start to swirl together, from one Rune, to the second, to the third, into the wall, and, as another Wave hit, I could see how three Hexcrystals seemed to POP and intensify the effect, which splashed against the array.

Holding my breath, yes, the Array held, intensifying it so much it partially physicalized into mist that was sucked inside, a few droplets hitting my face and tingling oddly, but, Defenses whirring, I had to believe I was fiiiiine.

Dashing out the door, I almost tripped on the lip of the entrance, because- was that a fucking doorstop!?

Grabbing the offending clamp that'd keep the submarine-grade aperture from closing, and letting it slam shut behind me, I could hear it click, so at least it fucking worked!

How did I miss this? I wondered, but…. But I knew how.

Because there was no way for me to sneak inside, given how high-profile I was, except for my Emergency Shortcut, which, other than calibrating, I'd never used, so the slackers had time to clean up, as they knew I'd be on site.

Heads Were Going To Roll Over This.

But that was tomorrow Jayce's problem, today's Jayce needed to not get blown up in a mana-cascade that'd make Piper's oopsie look like a fucking firecracker, as I ran down hallways, the doors 'thankfully' already open and not stopping me, getting to the next storage chamber, which, yep, had a good number pre-opened, when you were supposed to do that one at a fucking time and with the fucking doors closed in case something had gone wrong inside the cell…

Another Array went up, then a third, a fourth, the latest just starting to pull it in when the next Wave hit, and it was stronger, but… a little wobbly?

Though whether that was because of me, or because of Piper I didn't know.

Actually, adding the taps… fuck, it was me, and if this were inactive it wouldn't be a problem, but the Hexgate was fucking dry-firing, and I was fucking with the metaphysical powder.

Dashing for the center chamber, running numbers, counting the blown-out sections, oh, look, these fucking doors were open too!!!

Well, not all of them, but enough that I didn't need to break stride, making a mental note to do something nice for Vi for making me do all that fucking running, as the Mana-filled air was doing fucking something to me, but I didn't have time to figure out what, cutting across the chamber, about an eighth of the firing-chambers burnt out, some part of me estimating repair times, as I dashed into another storage chamber, because you didn't put the volatile substance reserves all in the same fucking room, which, with all the fucking doors open this metaphysically Counted As!

Muscles straining, the air itself seeming to thicken, the academic part of me noted that, unlike down in the Flowspace, under similar conditions, where Mana gathered in flowing rainbow shimmers that caused everything to glow the colors it would be normally, here everything was turning blue, as thicker and thicker bolts of Mana-Lightning arced all over the space, Wild Defense occasionally giving me loud, but very emphatic arbitrary seeming directions, taking a step left here, pause for a moment there, jump at least yay high over here, and, likely because of that, while some of those inch-thick tongue of concentrated Mana came within a few inches of me, none actually made contact.

Regardless, I got the other half of the reserves done, actually needing to open a couple chambers up to get the array placement right, these having all their cells properly secured, heading back to the main chamber, where something was forming, like a fractal storm-cloud, Mana-Lightning flashing in kaleidoscopic patterns away/into/sideways/blue-shifting from it, the last one turning a color that was hard to describe, and I stared up into it, with only a single thought.

What.

The.

Fuck?

Regardless, I slapped down the last of my blanks on the floor, arranging them, taking my inscriber out and turning my back on the formation, really fucking hoping it wasn't sentient, as I carved a larger drain array, with a location-stability-space-center in the middle, and a connected pair of entwine-flow-friend and subordinate-tribute-child-satellite Runes reaching in the direction of each, to turn it into one big array, and-

DANGER!

I'd just finished the last one when a feeling of existential dread suffused me, and I threw myself forward, turning mid-roll to see what had-

CRACK-BOOM-ROAR

The multidimensional storm-cloud struck, bolts lashing out at the completed array in branching patterns that wavered, simultaneously present-and-absent, not in single lines but in branching trees of energy that folded in on themselves, the floor itself glowing in shimmering, flickering, growing tendrils of power that PULSED, for a moment seeming like a giant heartbeat, and I realized that I hadn't coordinated a time with Piper and if she didn't get this handled in the next thirty-seconds I was standing in a Magi-Nuke.

Already the floor under the array was starting to give way, the energy so great it started to sublimate in pockets, though the panels that made up the array hung in the air, cemented conceptually, which, while cool, wasn't worth sticking around for.

With one last look into the Hex-Storm, it was shrinking, but slowly, and, likely, had been the source of the pulses, or maybe formed by it instead? A chicken and egg question, except one was a bomb, and the other was, arguably, worse.

Spoiler: Music

Regardless, it was time to leave, and I fucking booked it, darting through, yep, more open fucking doors, managing to make my way to the balcony along the outside of the structure, but that wasn't far enough, so, without hesitation, I jumped up onto the railing and leapt.

The thirty feet drop would've been something I would've balked at before, company training, or no, but working with Vi, and with the extreme, tangible gains that training in a Mana-rich environment got me, I didn't hesitate, as, trailing misty-blue streamers of energy, I hit the skydock below, rolling forward and springing to my feet, continuing to count down in my head as I put space between myself and the core, along the metal and stone artificial outcropping.

These structures were used for departing ships, where they would have their cargo inspected, both to properly calibrate the amount of Hexcrystals energy needed, and to charge the proper toll. We might have exaggerated what would happen if we were off a little bit, but it got ships to give us accurate accountings, as we didn't give a shit what you were taking out of the city, except for, like, slaves or something, as that was a problem for wherever you were going.

Regardless, feeling my thoughts going fast, even for me, every indrawn breath invigorating in a way that was a bit worrying, I made it to the end of the skydock, phone in hand, ready to, if need be, jump and call my hoverboard, optics be damned, because while I wanted to trust Piper…

I still remembered Jinx.

Mentally counting down, I grit my teeth, worrying, whispering, "Come on, Piper, You've GOT this!"

But the Hum was getting worse, and, alongside the inner walls of the Hexgate, I could see the charge growing, reaching out bright-blue tendrils through the rock, like Arcane Kudzu, as everything started to shake, and-

WWWHHHAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!​

Far above me, the Recharging Array flared into being, but, instead of a flat circle, it now had petals, which unfolded outwards, reaching up into the sky, so fast its blossom covered a good third of Piltover, glowing a bright blue that rivaled the sun.

But that wasn't all it did.

Spoiler: Music

No, a moment later, I staggered, as the Mana surged upwards, and I felt myself rising with it, striking out with my free hand towards the nearby rail to hold myself steady, feet leaving the platform, as the glow nearby was pulled out, seemingly against its will, going from growth to surge as it flowed out the top, in an even brighter light, staining the city the color of Hextech, as from the end of each 'petal' the collected energy flowed, more and more, until, in a single moment of indescribable POWER, the array FIRED, straight up, a Tsunami of Mana that reached up, at first, before it lost cohesion, and spread out, reaching out, beyond the clouds, which were blasted away by its mere presence, until, like an azure Yggdrasil, the Mana hung above us.

And, for a moment, I could swear I saw its branches twitch.

But then it lost cohesion, and dissolved, into merely a large conglomeration of energy, that, slowly, shifted from mirroring the World Tree that, as far as I was aware, this world did not have, to merely a very worrying looking glowing cloud, but that, too, faded, until day once more reasserted itself, and the Mana lost cohesion entirely.

Letting out a long sigh of relief, as my feet hit the ground once more, glowing gas trailing out of my mouth as I did so, I dismissed my phone, making a mental note to see if we had any Mages born in Piltover in about nine months, and ran glowing fingers through, I was sure, equally glowing hair, figuring out my steps, which started with getting the fuck out of here, and making sure no one else went up here until it was safe, and making sure I'd 'cooled off' enough before I saw Piper, so she didn't hug me while I was still toxic.

And then?

And then I was going to find out Who Fucked Up.

And then I was going to mete out Justice.