The Good Life: Dashed Expectations (ch. 93)

“Guess who!?” Jinx exclaimed, dropping from the ceiling soundlessly and covering Law's eyes as he tinkered at his workstation. But with her hands on his face she could feel how Law didn't so much as twitch as his vision was robbed, telling her that he probably knew she was there the whole time. 

He couldn't see it, but she pouted behind his head. She had gone all out to make sure she got the drop on him this time -- she’d oiled the hinges, found every squeaky board, and wore her best stealth slippers. And she'd gotten zilch to show for it. Law had seen her coming somehow, just like always.. 

“Hm? Who could it be?” He was willing to play along, though. One day, she'd figure out how he always seemed to know when she arrived. The guy just never seemed caught off guard. Even when sorry bastards thought that they were screwing him over for some deal or design, he always had a little look in his eye, like he was laughing at them just before screwing those fat cats out of an extra cup of cream. 

Dropping all pretenses, she dropped her hands and hugged him from behind, draping her head onto his shoulder so she could see what he was working on. “Not gonna watch your baby's debut?” She asked, seeing an entirely new set of schematics on the drawing board. Looked like some kind of hefty armor. A power frame? 

“The Icarus? Nah, it's just something I whipped up to get the Council out of panic mode when they heard about the armies heading our way,” Law answered with a shrug, not minding her presence. 

The field armies. Even Silco was scared of them, even if he tried to hide it. He hated the Pilties, but not to the extent he'd be willing to open the backdoor of the city to Noxus. He’d ranted and raved about it on occasion -- trading one boot on Zaun's neck for another, oppressors and dictators and blah blah blah. As much as she loved the old man, Jinx couldn't deny his speeches tended to hammer the same points over and over again. 

“You don't sound too worried about ‘em?” Jinx asked, plucking the sketch pencil from his hands to begin making some quick adjustments to the armor. Law didn't stop her, letting her scribble over his notes. He was a weird one. In more ways than one. Every inventor, scientist, and visionary had some kinda… ego. Came with the territory -- when you were breaking new ground, you had to have the ego to claim that the world was wrong and you were right. There was pride in every invention, no matter how small, because of the labor that went into them and every success was a victory that proved your own brilliance. 

That ego was entirely lacking with Law. It made him really easy to work with, but undeniably strange. 

“Nah. Not when I have Ambessa and Darkwill both sliding letters under my door,” Law said, watching her redo the rotors and hydraulic pistons. “No matter what happens to the city I'll be fine, and I'll have the leverage to safeguard the parts that I want to keep.” 

“Ohhh… so, Ambessa and Darkwill are competing?” She asked, unsurprised by the attitude before she placed the pencil back into his hand. Without missing a beat, Law factored the new designs into his blueprint by grabbing a new sheet of paper. Anyone who grew up in Zaun knew how to stick with the side that buttered their bread. And things weren't looking so hot for Piltover or Zaun. 

“It's an angle that I'm working," Law answered with no hesitation. Like he saw no reason to hide information others would deem treasonous from her. It was a gesture of trust that warmed her heart and made her cling that much tighter to him, watching him work by bulking up the armor to account for the additional weight and stress tolerance. “Ambessa is a shark and there's blood in the water. This whole thing is a golden opportunity for her, and she doesn't have it in her to not try and take a bite. She has to if she wants the throne, and she’s nothing if not ambitious. I can work with ambition.” 

“That confident, huh?” She asked with a grin, watching the armor take shape on the graph paper. “You know… you could increase the weapons load out if the arms and legs were direct connections.” She pointed out, half serious and half curious what his reaction would be. The meaning was clear -- take off someone's arms and legs and install prosthetic ports so they could interface with the armor directly. Without factoring in tolerances of flesh and bone, the armor would be more… effective. 

In response, Law reached back a few drafts to reveal one for a similar type of armor -- titled ‘the War Casket’. There was no revulsion in his eyes, no doubts about her mental wellbeing that he tried to hide. Just simple acceptance of an idea that would horrify most. “I'm tabling it until the war starts. It'll be easier to convince the Council when people are already missing limbs than when we'd have to be the ones cutting them off.” 

Jinx chuckled at that, her gaze flickering over the design in search of places in need of improvement. A stereo here, a slot machine there… “I wonder how much you could cut away from someone to make more room?” 

“Ideally, it'd be a brain in the jar,” Law answered, making Jinx blink. Then she snorted at the mental image. 

“Could you manage that?” She asked with a giggle, pictured a brain swimming around in brain juice while piloting a giant mech. However, she got the impression that it might be less of a mental image in a few months based on the cheeky grin that Law shot her way. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” Law confirmed with a nod. “I’m keeping that up my sleeve for a while, though. Gotta ease the Council into that one.” That was one way to put it, she supposed. And she was admittedly kinda curious why exactly Law was drafting up plans to put brains in jars and those jars into robots, but she decided that she’d leave that as a surprise for another day. “What brings you by, anyway?”

Just going to move the conversation on, huh? Well, if he wanted to keep secrets… 

“Nuthin’,” she admitted easily. “Just wanted to swing by before I picked up Silco from the meeting. He’s gotten real jumpy since the Noxians came knockin’.” In Zaun he was sitting pretty comfy, but now that he was in the public eye Uptop, during such a ‘politically tense’ time? He was worried about someone bumping him off before his time. 

For that matter, so was Jinx. Silco was the type who made enemies rather than friends, and a lot of people weren't happy with Zaun getting a seat at the big table. 

“Hm. Well, if you head there now, you'll probably get to see the Icarus in action,” Law pointed out, and she could admit that was tempting. She always wanted to ride in one of those airships, and what better airship than one with an arsenal big enough to slaughter an army? 

“... You sure you don't want to see the show?” She asked, a pleading note in her voice. Law chuckled and reached to pat her head, and she didn't hide the shiver that raced down her spine at the touch. Even if it meant she knew his answer. 

“No can do, this time. I need to finalize these designs, and I've been specifically ordered to stay away. From Professor Heimerdinger himself. They really don't want me and Ambessa in the same room.” 

A sigh escaped her, “Then, maybe next time, you could try lying a little when they confront you about jumping ship?” 

“No promises,” Law replied with the tone of someone who knew his worth. Who knew that the Council was going to keep crawling on their hands and knees to him again and again. She pouted, but nodded all the same as she extracted herself from Law with the greatest reluctance. He didn't even turn around to watch her leave, simply offering a wave goodbye over his shoulder as she left his lab. 

Leaving Law's presence had an almost tangible effect, Jinx noted. Her thoughts felt heavier, the kernel of joy in her chest felt dimmer… and Mylo and Claggor lurked in the corner of her eye. Part of her just wanted to run back to Law’s lab and curl up in his lap. The thought got a grin out of her as she skipped along towards the Council building -- a real over-the-top swanky place. And one of the first that got rebuilt after the disaster. Maybe next time, she'd just drop into his lap. That'd get a reaction out of him. 

A giggle escaped her as she hurried along, seeing the Icarus flying overhead towards the Council building. Picking up the pace, she rushed towards the building, but paused as she arrived when she saw that something had the Enforcers in a real tizzy. Pursing her lips, she continued along, watching a bunch of them cram themselves into an elevator before heading up. Something was clearly wrong, but that didn't necessarily make it a problem. Noxus could have done something, or the Council was getting all puffy with a show of force.

She stopped in front of an elevator that was already coming down and waited for the elevator doors to part so she could head up and see what all the fuss was about- 

Every thought came to a screeching halt when the doors opened, revealing… revealing… 

“...Vi?” She heaved, looking at the sight before her, and… she could understand the individual pieces. There was Vi, her d̴e̸a̴d̴ sister. The same bubblegum pink hair. The same face that she remembered, just older. The same furious snarl a̴s̶ ̴t̴h̶a̸t̴ ̷n̸i̶g̶h̸t̷ that she always wore in the middle of a fight, with blood splattered across her face. Her arms were covered by some kind of gauntlets, from her fingers to her shoulder, with a familiar hum that carried a familiar tune I̶ ̸c̸a̶n̴ ̴h̸e̷l̴p̶ ̷t̶h̸e̷m̴. Blue sparks made her blood freeze in her veins, memories flickering behind her eyelids of the explosion that changed h̵e̸r̷ everything. 

Her legs nearly gave out when she looked down to see the source of the blood, a scream crawling up her throat that couldn’t escape. D̷͍͐a̷̻͔͆͐d̵̮̅́͝Silco lay on the ground, his back propped up on the wall with a fist-shaped hole in his chest. Blood stained his clothing, pooling underneath him, while his good eye was glazed over, staring at the ground. D̴̲͠ͅe̸̿̿ͅa̷̩̒d̴̨͖̑. D̷e̷a̶d̷.

Dead. 

Silco was… dead.

Jinx only realized she was swaying when she stumbled a step back, and as she caught herself, that seemed to shock her… her sister out of her own shock. 

“P-Powder?” Vi whispered, her voice…. Tender. Soft. Almost afraid, like she…  

Her feelings bubbled up in a volatile concoction, all jumbled up to the point she couldn’t even tell what she felt, only that it hurt and she couldn’t breathe. Vi’s expression twisted with concern, an expression that was so familiar to her -- an expression that dominated her childhood, that appeared with every busted lip, every scraped knee, and every tear shed. It was her. Her sister. Any thought of doubt that she could have clung to was vanquished from her head in an instant. 

“I’ve-I, look-” Vi started, her words coming out every bit as jumbled as Jinx felt. She took a step forward, and Jinx took a step back, and the pain that flickered across Vi’s face felt like a cruel joke. 

It was then that the picture clicked into place. “You… you killed him,” Jinx heaved, her heart pounding at her ribs. Silco was dead. Vi killed him. It felt like a punch to the gut, knocking whatever breath had been in her lungs. Her skin crawled with pins and needles, the urge to do something- anything, but she couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't even blink. 

“Powder, I had to- for Vander! He took you-!” Vi started, only to cut herself off. 

Pure panic flooded Jinx when she saw a brilliant blue hue erupt from the armor that enveloped them both. The walls felt like they were closing in, the shadows grasping to pull her into their depths as she saw it. Gemstones embedded in the pouldrons of the armor that hummed the same tune as the crystals that… Jinx was barely aware of the sounds of gunfire that pinged off the shield. She only came to when she felt an arm wrap around her waist and pull her close. 

“Hold on, Powder!” Vi commanded, and Jinx was struck by how familiar the sensation was as she was effortlessly picked up and dragged alongside her sister. The Enforcers that barked out orders or fired upon them fell on deaf ears as she looked back, her gaze affixed upon Silco. He laid limp in the elevator, a pool of his own blood, his face slack and his eyes unseeing. 

Distantly, she heard something inside of her crack when the Enforcers blocked her view, going to check on him as if he could be anything other than dead. 

She didn't resist Vi's grasp, simply going limp as her vision swarmed and she realized she couldn't breathe. When she tried it came in ragged gasps and bursts, her vision blurting with tears. Vi… Vi clung to her as she jumped onto a hoverboard, flying over the buildings before plunging straight down into the fissures to lose their pursuit. 

Jinx wasn't any closer to believing what just happened when Vi came to a stop, lowering her to the ground. Her legs gave out from underneath her and Vi crouched down with her, her expression stricken with panic. “Breathe, Powder- you have to breathe!” She said, giving her a small shake. 

“How… how are you here? Are… you're… real, right?” Jinx whispered, leaning back from Vi. 

“I’m here, Pow-Pow. I'm here. I… I'm so sorry,” Vi answered, her own voice growing thick with emotion. “I'm so sorry. I tried to come back but Silco- he put me in prison. I've been in Stillwater for years,” Vi said and Jinx found herself coming undone in a way that was hard to describe. She felt like a frayed sweater and with every word, Vi was unraveling her by plucking at the loose strings. “I thought you were… I thought you were dead. The last time I saw you… Silco was leaning over you with a knife and some bastard grabbed me from behind and I woke up in a cell and-” 

Vi was rambling and she knew it. She cut herself off and pressed her forehead against hers. Jinx. Not Powder. 

Jinx didn't know what to say. How to react. What to do. 

Silco… She had loved Silco like… Vander, but different. He was there for her when everyone left her -- when Vi had abandoned her, when she’d killed the others with the crystals... But she had never forgotten who he was, or what role he’d played in their deaths. Vander's death. It was just that… that role was so small in comparison to her own. 

She killed Vander. 

She killed Mylo.

She killed Claggor. 

She had found their bodies buried in the rubble of the destruction that she caused -- Claggor had gone quickly, not even enough time to realize that he was dying let alone that he had been killed by… her. Mylo went slower, a pipe through the chest. He died slow enough to realize that he was dying. Slow enough that he could feel the fear and the pain and for his expression to twist with horror. 

Blaming Silco seemed so pointless when she was so deserving of it. So, she got over it. Loved him like a father because she had no one else. Because she had been betrayed like he had been betrayed. And now all of that turned out to be… a lie? He took Vi from her, casting her away into Stillwater to… what? 

Anger burned in her chest alongside grief and sorrow. She didn't even know what she should be feeling. Grief that he died? Anger that he had lied to her? 

“I shouldn't have left you alone, Powder. I was… I was hurt. I was scared. I didn't know what to do and I lashed out. You… you were just trying to help.” Vi continued, and there had been a point that Jinx used to dream about hearing those words. She used to cry herself to sleep imagining Vi saying those exact words. 

But now that she heard them, they churned in her like poison. 

“I'm not Powder,” Jinx confessed, and it felt damning to admit. “I'm… sorry, Vi, but I'm not Powder.” There was a flicker of confusion in Vi's eyes that only grew when the armor grew heavier as Jinx removed the gems from the pauldrons. Vi's arms fell to her sides, pinned there by the sudden weight, and Jinx stood up. “I wish I could be… but I'm not.” 

She needed to get away. She needed to run. She needed… 

She needed Law. 

“Powder! Powder! Don't leave!” Vi begged in her wake as Jinx turned to leave. Her head felt like a mess, like she was drunk, and she nearly stayed upon hearing the naked need in Vi's voice. 

But all the same, she threw herself off the building and vanished from sight. 

…

“Sorry, Silco,” I muttered, pouring one out for him before I took a sip of my coffee. “But you would have done the same to me,” I said, leaning back into my chair. I had watched the entire thing transpire from my lab through my Room. Nudging Jinx to head that way had been a lucky stroke on my part -- I figured that she'd have to learn about the assassination from the grapevine, then go on a vengeance-fueled quest to find Silco's killer. Only to then discover that it was her big sister and childhood friend in a twist worthy of a soap opera. But this… this worked just as well. If not better. 

Jinx had gotten a double whammy, and I could sense her coming straight for me. Her emotions were a jumbled mess, worse than her episode after finding Singed's pet project by an order of magnitude. I didn't need to amplify anything as she made her way back to my lab.

Meanwhile, I kept an eye on the fallout. The Council was understandably freaking out. Ambessa saw opportunity and was trying to thread the needle to exploit the new cracks in their foundation. News hadn't trickled down to Zaun just yet, but it would rather shortly with all of my pieces already in play to step into the void Silco would be leaving behind. The next few weeks would really show some serious ramifications for the rather brazen murder of a member of the Council, whether he was from the Undercity or not. 

I already knew what some of the plays would be -- largely because I was initiating them, or had read the scripts of the other players within the city. Taking the initiative would give me the advantage I needed and with a touch here, and a nudge there… My lips twitched into a smile as I remotely deposited a letter in Ambessa’s quarters, as if it had just been slipped under the door. It grew a fraction more when I placed another on top of Mel’s desk. Then that grin became a full blown smile when I placed a third letter on Heimerdinger’s. 

“Stan was onto something,” I muttered to myself, savoring the feeling of victory. I couldn’t give half a shit about something like money or stock prices, but this? This subtle game of moving pieces along the board to get the result that I wanted? I couldn’t deny, it had a lot of appeal. It was a game that I wouldn’t mind playing on occasion -- not always of course, he very much enjoyed just cutting loose as well after all, but it was uniquely rewarding to have a plan go off without a hitch. 

And, as if to prove it, a minute later, Jinx literally fell into my lap. 

She landed heavily, clutching at me as she buried her face into my chest, shaking like a leaf. For a moment, neither of us said anything -- her presence now was in harsh contrast to the playful flirtatious vibe that she had departed with all of fifteen minutes ago. Wordlessly, I embraced her and tempered her maelstrom of emotions -- the raw grief, the black anger, the fear and uncertainty and insecurity. All of them were tempered and evened out while I stoked the flames of her sense of comfort. Not too much, otherwise she'd probably realize it wasn't natural, but enough to take the bite out of her feelings. 

It took a few minutes before Jinx found the will to speak, and in those minutes I watched events in the city unfold exactly how I expected. The Council was panicking, Ambessa was making moves to take advantage and inflame the tensions between Piltover and Zaun, while the Firelights were retreating to their home base. I could sense Vi's emotional turmoil as well as I could feel Jinx's -- the crippling doubt, the depression, the uncertinity… 

“Silco is dead,” Jinx whispered into my chest. “Vi killed him. She… said that… Silco put her in jail. Kept her there to… isolate me.” 

I could understand how Vi made that mistake. Sheriff Marcus was on Silco's payroll, but Silco himself seemed to be under the impression that Vi was dead. But Vi wouldn't know that. She just knew she had been grabbed and woke up in a cell, left to rot and be forgotten. 

“... I see. What did you say?” I asked, as if it hadn't carried the conversation to my ears. 

“Nothing,” Jinx confessed. “Vi thinks I'm still Powder. She thinks that I'm the same little girl she left behind.” There was a yearning in her voice. A desperate wish that she could be, but at the same time she knew deep in her gut that she couldn't. Powder was dead and gone, and now there was Jinx -- a crime lord's adopted daughter, a merciless murderer, and a ruthless inventor who didn't care who got caught in the blast radius of her inventions. 

“Did you explain yourself at all?” I asked her, making Jinx curl into me tighter. 

“... No,” she admitted. 

“That's no good,” I said, pulling back and pinching Jinx's chin. Her blue eyes were bloodshot and she refused to meet my gaze. “Communication is important, Jinx. I know you're going to have some… mixed feelings about the reunion. And I'm sorry for your loss -- believe me, I am. Whatever he did, I know you loved Silco and he's… gone now. Vi… it sounds like she thought she was saving you, but she didn't bother to learn anything about the situation before diving head first into it.” 

I had no real plans for Vi beyond using her as a lever to bring Jinx firmly onto my side of things, but there was an opportunity here that I would be remiss not to take advantage of. I could be the one that brought the sisters back together again, just not in the way either of them would have ever imagined. I just needed to make sure that the road of reconciliation had a few bumps and potholes along the way. 

“She left me,” Jinx muttered. Logic had a loose grip on her at the best of times, and right now it had lost it entirely. “Silco left me,” she continued, her voice thick with emotion. “Everyone… leaves me…” 

“Vi came back,” I pointed out, making her still. “She did it in the worst possible way, but she still came back.” 

Jinx chewed on her bottom lip before she snorted, “That's Vi.” From what I saw of her, yeah. There was a reason why I’d barely needed to wind her up. I just needed to present the opportunity -- replacing the ship staff with synths, dropping a trail of breadcrumbs leading to the Icarus and the light show… Vi hadn't just taken the bait, but swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. 

“And I'm not going anywhere, Jinx,” I continued, and that made her gaze lift up to meet mine. “I won't go anywhere you can't follow.” 

I could visibly see the effect the words had on her, a rippling of emotion crossing her face as she held my gaze for a moment longer. Then she dove forward, grabbing fists full of my shirt and vest as she pressed her lips to mine in a searing kiss. 

It was clumsy and entirely too forceful, but I kissed her back just as fiercely. Jubilation and glee filled Jinx, chasing away the shadows of her grief and sorrow while a spark of pleasure raced down her spine. My hands went to her hips, and she ground them against my lap, not seeking pleasure so much as she was seeking intimacy. Something to fill the void that had once more been ripped open inside of her. 

It was a void that I was eager to fill, with her tongue invading my mouth, kissing me with desperate need. My cock hardened, and I found that one of the downsides of super strength was that it was impossible to hide an erection. Jinx quickly took notice as it practically began lifting her up from my lap, but if she noticed the strangeness of that then she paid it no mind in favor of reaching down to my pants to free my cock. 

She mewled in approval as it sprung out, her hands gliding over my length with a gentle touch. My own hands were hardly idle, going to the seam of her pants and effortlessly tearing the fabric, exposing her bare pussy that was weeping arousal. Jinx was driven by instinct -- instinct to fill a need rather than any desire for pleasure when she impaled herself upon my cock, engulfing me down to the hilt. 

She underestimated the length and the girth as she threw her head back with a groan. I had already been on the bigger side before, but with the serum enhancement I was pretty firmly in the porn star category in terms of cock size. Yet, despite the cock being entirely too much for her to handle, she shook her hips desperately as she clung to me.

It wasn’t about pleasure, I saw, meeting her thrusts with small ones of my own, filling my lab with the sour scent of sex and her soft moans. She just wanted to feel close to someone. She wanted someone to cling to now that she had once more become untethered.

There would be a time to drag this out -- to show her the heights of ecstasy and make her cum her brains out until it was leaking out of her ears. But, that would be lost on her at this moment. Right now every movement was emotionally charged, clawing desperately for something to banish away the darkness of her thoughts. Fulfilling an emotional need rather than a physical one. There would be time for that another time, but for now -- I needed to give her that connection that she was grasping for. 

“You're mine, Jinx,” I told her, breaking the kiss and she clenched down on my cock like a vice. Her breathing hitched and desperation shone in her eyes as she continued to slam her hips down with all the strength that she could muster. “Every inch of you,” I continued, a hand going up to rip off her top to cup her small breasts, feeling a hardened nipple managing my palm while the other went to her ass. “In heart, mind, body and soul -- you are mine.” 

I shifted my weight, picking her up and setting her onto the desk, staining my designs with her fluids before I began to thrust into her. Jinx cried out, her head going back while I pounded away at her -- I wasn't gentle, despite her being a virgin. That's not what she wanted or needed. She needed to hear me say it. She needed me to show her with action, carving it into her flesh that I wanted her. Reaching up with the hand that had been on her breast, it made its way to her throat and gave it a small squeeze. 

Jinx wrapped her legs around my waist, grasping at my hand with hers and trying to get me to squeeze tighter. “I'm an evil bastard, Jinx. I'm as greedy and as selfish as they come. More than you can even imagine,” I continued, pounding at her hard enough to shake the tools, files, and pencils off the shelves. Her gaze was affixed on me, and there wasn't an ounce of surprise in her eyes that were full of emotion. “So, when I say you're mine… you're mine forever. This planet will be reduced to dust and blow away before I ever let you leave my side. There is no force in this universe, or any other, that can separate us. There is no god that I won't kill that you can pray to leave to, even if you ever want to. You. Are. Mine.” 

I drove the message into her with every thrust and her eyes rolled into the back of her head as pleasure coursed through her, a pleasure that I intensified several times over. Her answer spilled from her lips in a desperate plea, outright begging for it to be true. “I'm yours! I'm yours, I'm yoursI'myoursI’myoursI’myours!” 

I could have dragged it out longer, but I let her tip over the edge of her orgasm while I slammed my own home with a final thrust. Jinx gasped with shock as my cum battered down the doors of her womb, her legs straightening out even as her toes curled and her body trembled. I intensified the orgasm, knowing the effect that it would have on her. She already clung to me because I gave her stability, but now that she’d found the highest peaks of pleasure with my touch? 

Even if she did wisen up and figure out that I was nothing but bad news, she wouldn't have the will to stay away. 

Jinx rode out her orgasm, clinging to me as her pussy was filled to the brim and then some several times over. Cum flowed over the edge of my desk, pooling on the floor between her legs. She trembled for several moments more, not so much because of the orgasms she was overwhelmed with emotion.  

“I'm yours,” Jinx whispered into my chest. “Forever.” 

I smiled, resting my chin on top of her head and relished in the satisfaction of another ally gained. 

“Yes, you are.”