#I think the mice signal that I am approaching my death

[david-watts]

oh and yes. there are mice about. hopefully not within the actual house but just under it and coming inside occasionally

[ca-8]

Sokka x (Y/n) Scenario (How You Meet: Part 1)

It was cold. No, it was freezing. (Y/n) wanted to cuddle up in a bisons' fur while watching the sunset. But first, she wanted to open her eyes to see where she was. She tried moving her eyelids, then her shoulders, and then the rest of her body; nonetheless, she remained as still as a statue.

Was she sleeping? She didn't remember collapsing on her bed and dreaming about the usual giant lemurs and bison the size of mice. The only thing that occurred to her was yelling at someone and falling into something deep, and the darkness took over from there.

Yelling at someone...pleading them to calm down and think...negotiating with them to at least let her go with them...

Aang!

All of a sudden, a bright light filled (Y/n)'s vision and her body fell from a great height, collided with something cold and hard, and then rolled onto the floor. She heard a high pitched yelp, and her head and back we're elevated by a pair of hands.

Muffled voices played in the back of her head as she tried to regain consciousness. It was when her best friend's voice called out, "(Y/n)!" that made her eyes snap open. Though, instead of seeing a young boy with large blue arrows on his bald head, a brown-skinned boy with suspicious blue eyes was staring down at her.

(Y/n) smiled weakly. "H-Hey, handsome..." she mumbled. The boy shrieked, she was suddenly out of his arms and dropped onto the hard icy floor. "Ow!" she yelled out, sitting up and rubbing her back. Her (e/c)-grey eyes glared at the boy, who was holding his staff in a defensive position.

"Sokka! You can't just drop someone like that!" a female voice scolded loudly. (Y/n) whirled her head to where the voice came from. Not too far from the boy was a girl with similar features as him. But, what (Y/n) immediately noticed was she was holding-

"Aang!" she yelled, scrambling to her feet. Aang was already wide awake and staring at her with a bewildered look. He got out of the other girl's arms and ran over to (Y/n), wrapping his arms tightly around her waist.

"Are you okay?" he asked when he pulled away.

"Thanks to you, I am," she said. Aang grinned.

"...Okay, this is nice and all, but WHO ARE YOU AND HOW DID YOU GET IN THAT ICEBERG?" the boy yelled, pointing his staff at the two of them.

They both whirled their heads toward him. "Um...I'm not sure," Aang replied, scratching his head. (Y/n) tried to recall what happened before the deep sleep, but she can only hear her voice and Aang's arguing.

All of a sudden, something softly growled behind them. (Y/n)'s heart leaped as she knew who it was.

"Appa!" Aang cheered.

The two kids laughed as they climbed the ice wall. Once they reached the top, a cute sleeping bison was in their view. Aang and (Y/n) floated down to him, landing on Appa's white fur.

"Wake up, buddy!" Aang said. (Y/n) softly pulled his fur, hoping it would cause some sort of reaction, while Aang lifted his eyelid, revealing a large brown pupil.

Aang jumped down to Appa's mouth and lifted his giant lips. Appa groaned and opened his eyes, then hoisted Aang up in the air with his tongue. (Y/n) floated down to the ground. "You're okay!" Aang laughed.

The other kids appeared around the corner of the ice wall. Their eyes widened, and the boy's mouth practically fell to the ground.

"What is that thing?" the boy asked, carefully walking towards them. (Y/n) put her hand on Appa, and he leaned against her touch, groaning affectionately.

"This is Appa, my flying bison," Aang answered.

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Right. And this is Katara, my flying sister," he said, motioning to the girl beside him.

Appa abruptly inhaled a large breath, and then another, and another before a large ball of snot flew out of his nose. It flew over and hit the boy perfectly, covering half of him in snot.

He panicked and frantically tried to wipe it off, bending down and rubbing himself in the snow. "Don't worry, it'll wash out," Aang said casually.

(Y/n) covered her mouth as she giggled, and the boy glared at her. "Hey, do you guys live around here?" she asked, walking up to Aang.

"Don't answer that," the boy said to his sister, pointing the staff at them. "Did you see that crazy bolt of light? They were probably trying to signal the Fire Navy!"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure they're spies for the Fire Navy," Katara said, shoving past him. "You can tell by those evil looks in their eyes."

Aang grinned while (Y/n) blinked innocently. "The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka. You guys are Aang and (Y/n), right?" Katara said.

"Mmh! Nice to meet you guys," (Y/n) said. Her eyes wandered around the area. The vast ocean sprinkled with icebergs gleamed exquisitely. "It's so beautiful here..."

Katara smiled. "We're near the Southern Water Tribe. Where are you guys from?" Sokka watched them carefully but stayed silent as if he wanted to know as well.

"We're from-...ah, ah, AH CHOO!" A huge gust of wind swirled around them as Aang shot himself up in the air. The three of them snapped their heads up to where he was. (Y/n) snickered as he slid across the ice wall and landed where he was before, whereas the water tribe siblings stared at him wide-eyed. "We're from the Southern Air Temple!" Aang finally said, wiping his nose.

"...You just sneezed and flew ten feet in the air," Sokka stated, pointing at the sky.

"Hm, I'd say it was higher than that," (Y/n) guessed. Quickly, Sokka turned his head to her. "Can you do that too?!" he asked loudly.

"Well, I'm not as good as Aang, but I had my fair share of air bending," (Y/n) answered, shrugging.

"Oh! You're airbenders!" Katara concluded, her blue eyes glimmering with excitement.

"Sure are!" Aang said.

"Giant light beams, flying bison, airbenders--I think I got midnight sun madness." Sokka started to walk to the edge of the ice. "I'm going home to where stuff makes sense."

He stopped suddenly, probably realizing that he can't swim in the freezing cold water. "Well, if you guys are stuck, we can give you a lift," Aang said, then jumped onto Appa's head.

"We'd love a ride. Thanks!" Katara replied. She and (Y/n) ran to the bison's side, and (Y/n) flew on top of his back. She held out a hand for Katara, to which she gladly took.

"Oh, no! I am not going on that fluffy snot monster!" her brother declared. Once she was on top, Katara glared down at him. "Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home? You know, before you freeze to death."

Sokka opened his mouth to say something, then gave up and approached Appa's side. (Y/n) bent down and held out a hand. He reached for it, then retracted his hand, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Come on, I don't bite," (Y/n) joked. Sokka sighed and grabbed her hand. She hauled him up to the main seat on the large saddle seat and sat behind the siblings once they got settled in.

"Okay, first-time flyers, hold on tight!" Aang announced. (Y/n) and Katara smiled widely with excitement. Sokka, on the other hand, had an irritable face with his arms crossed.

"Appa, yip yip!" Aang gently patted the bison's head with the reins. Appa groaned and growled, then lifted his round tail in the air. He walked to the edge of the ice and thrust himself high up into the air.

The cool air gently pushed against (Y/n)'s face, bringing a soft feeling of nostalgia in her chest. She unexpectedly missed the feeling, despite the fact that it was only yesterday that she was riding her own bison.

But the sentiment didn't last long. Instead of flying through the air like he usually does, Appa fell into the water and started to swim.

"Come on, Appa, yip yip!" Aang urged, and yet Appa refused.

"Wow, that was truly amazing," Sokka remarked in a flat tone.

"Aw, poor thing must be tired," (Y/n) pointed out, rubbing Appa's fur. "Do you guys have any apples in your home? Or maybe some hay?"

The water tribe boy scoffed. "Oh of course we have those things in the freezing south."

Katara glared at her brother. "Don't worry. After he gets some rest, he'll be soaring through the sky in no time," Aang said.

(Y/n) laid down on her stomach beside Sokka and glanced up at him. "You know, it's an amazing experience to ride such majestic animals. Maybe you and I can ride him together sometime?"

Sokka glimpsed down at her for a second, raising an eyebrow. "Pass."

She frowned. 'So cold. He must still think we're working for the Fire Nation,' (Y/n) thought. She looked down at the back of her hands where the blue arrows partnered with her (s/c) skin. 'But how could he? We're obviously airbenders. What do the airbenders have to do with them anyway?'

The night sky was filled with stars when (Y/n) and Aang sat on the empty side of the Air Temple. "Aang? What's wrong?" (Y/n) asked.

The young airbender was tracing his finger along the dirt ground with a gloomy face. "It's nothing," he replied.

"You sure?"

He glanced to the side. (Y/n) scooted closer to him until she was right by his side. "I don't want to force you to say anything, but I'm here if you want to talk about it."

The sound of crickets and distant screeches of Lemurs filled the air for a moment. "I'm the next Avatar," Aang finally said.

(Y/n) eyes fluttered open. She rose up in her sleeping bag and looked around. She was in some sort of tent with Aang still sleeping across the room, then remembered that they arrived at the Southern Water Tribe last night and offered them to rest here. It was cold, but bearable.

She yawned and rubbed her eyes. 'That dream...' Her eyes landed on Aang. 'He's really the Avatar?'

"Oh, you're awake."

(Y/n) turned her head to the entrance and saw Katara peaking in. She smiled. "The village is excited to meet you guys," she said, entering the tent.

"I guess not many airbenders travel to this place, huh?" (Y/n) said jokingly.

"Um, you could say that," Katara replied, fiddling with her thumbs. "So how did you guys get here anyway?"

(Y/n) hesitated for a second before saying, "All I remember was there being a storm, and we just ended up here."

The brunette furrowed her eyebrows, letting out a quiet "Oh..." while looking like she was in deep thought. She sat beside her, eyeing Aang. "So you guys are from the Southern Air Temple?"

"Mm-hm! Even though boys were only allowed to live there, I did too. That's how I met Aang."

Katara's eyes widened. "Really? Why were you able to live there?"

"My father hid me. I think it was because..." (Y/n) stopped. She couldn't remember anything else other than staying inside the house most of the time.

"Hey, if you don't want to talk about it, that's alright." Katara's hand inched over to (Y/n)'s. "I'm actually glad you guys came here."

"AH!"

The girls snapped their heads to Aang when he sprang up in his sleeping bag. "Aang? Are you okay?" (Y/n) asked.

He sat there for a moment, then replied, "I guess."

"I'll wait for you guys outside." Katara got up and exited the room. (Y/n) crawled over to Aang and put a hand on his bare shoulder.

"I remember what happened," he admitted. "I was flying Appa in a storm, and you were on his back, yelling something. I couldn't hear you. Then we landed into the ocean, and I made an iceberg around us." He looked at her, and she recognized guilt in his grey eyes. "I was trying to run away."

(Y/n) embraced him in a hug. "So you remember being the Avatar?" she asked, and felt him nod. "I know you have to face the Fire Lord someday, but I also know you should spend more time being a kid first."

They pulled apart and Aang held a tiny smile. "I hope I do. Come on, let's go meet the village."

After Aang put his clothes back on, he and (Y/n) got out of the tent after grabbing their airbending staffs. The first thing they saw was Katara and a large group of people. (Y/n) scanned the area and saw Sokka sitting beside the entrance, staring down at a boomerang. He glanced up at her, and she waved with a grin. He narrowed his blue eyes and instantly gave his attention back to the boomerang.

"Aang, (Y/n), this is the entire village. Entire village, meet Aang and (Y/n)," Katara introduced. The airbenders bowed as their greeting. The villagers had uneasy expressions; some even pulled the children towards them.

"Uh, why are they all looking at us like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?" Aang asked Katara.

"Well, no one has seen an airbender in one hundred years, much less two of them," an elderly woman from the crowd pointed out. "We all thought they were extinct until my granddaughter and grandson found you."

The airbenders sat there, stunned, and (Y/n) thought her heart had stopped.

"'Extinct'?" Aang echoed.

"Guys, this is my grandmother," Katara said.

"Call me Gran-Gran," the woman advised.

"What is this, a weapon? And why do you have it?" (Y/n) jumped slightly when Sokka suddenly appeared beside her. He grabbed the staff from her and observed it carefully. "You can't even stab anything with this!"

"It's not a weapon," (Y/n) explained, quickly drifting the staff back to her hand. "It's an instrument used for airbending." She pressed the button near the bottom, and the red fan popped out of the sides. Sokka jumped and shielded his face as if it was supposed to be an attack.

"Magic trick! Do it again!" a kid said enthusiastically.

"Not magic, airbending," Aang clarified, doing the same to his staff. "It lets us control the air currents around our gliders and fly."

"You know, last time I checked, humans can't fly!" Sokka argued.

(Y/n) smirked. "Really?"

"Yeah, so how can you possibly-" (Y/n) and Aang held onto the handles of their gliders, and they soared up into the sky just as if they had wings on their backs.

They swirled around the village with its people gazing up at them in awe. The winds gently pushed against (Y/n)'s face, and she felt she was back home.

"Hey Aang!" she called to her friend. "Remember this?"

Once Aang's eyes were on her, she let one hand go off one of the handles. She swung back and forth, and she flipped over on top of the glider, using the winds to boost her up. With the air mostly helping, she was perfectly balanced on the thin back of the glider.

"Oh yeah!" he said, then proceeded to do the same.

(Y/n) glanced down at the ground and saw that she was almost over Sokka. He, as the rest of the village, was bewildered. An idea popped in her mind, and dove off the glider and plummeted towards him.

"AH!" Sokka shouted, raising his arms to shield his face. The very last second before (Y/n) could touch him, her glider swooped down below her, and she dashed right past his head.

"Hey! You almost hit me!" Sokka called, and his little sister only laughed.

"But I didn't, did I?" (Y/n) called back. She couldn't hear him, but she knew he was growling through his visibly clenched teeth.

Aang cracked up, but his joy didn't last long when he plowed into a tall snow tower. (Y/n) snickered and watched as he tried to get his head out of the side. When he succeeded, he tumbled down to the ground with a pile of snow following him, covering him once he landed.

"My watchtower!" Sokka said. He ran towards his precious snow building while Katara went to Aang.

"That was amazing!" she said, helping him up.

(Y/n) landed beside them and saw Sokka get dumped with another pile of snow while trying to observe the damage. She ran up to him and held out a hand for him to grab. He stared at it for a moment before frowning and getting up on his own.

"Great. You two are airbenders, Katara's a waterbender. Together, you can waste time all day long," he said.

The airbender perked up. "You're a waterbender?" she and Aang asked at the same time.

"Well, sort of. Not yet," Katara answered.

"All right. No more playing. Come on, Katara, you have chores," Gran-Gran said, approaching them. They walked off, leaving Aang and (Y/n) on their own. She looked over her shoulder and saw Sokka in the distance.

"Hey, I'm gonna go catch up with Sokka," she said.

"Alright," Aang replied, and the two departed.

"Hey! Wait up!" (Y/n) called, jogging up to the Water Tribe boy.

Sokka turned around with narrowed eyes. "Um, hi?" he said.

"Did you need help rebuilding your..." She trailed off, forgetting about what Aang had accidentally destroyed.

"Watchtower," Sokka finished, continuing to walk to the tower. "And no, I can do it on my own, thank you."

"Are you sure? It looks pretty high up."

"I can handle it."

(Y/n)'s smile faltered. "Oh, okay. Hey, how did you make that anyway? It looks really cool!"

Sokka whirled around. "Why are you acting so nice? Are you trying to get information out of me? Because it won't work!"

(Y/n) flinched. "'Get information'? You don't mean for the Fire Nation, do you? Last time I checked, Fire Nation soldiers don't have these." She held up her hands to show him her blue arrows.

He furrowed his eyebrows again. "That could be paint!"

"Alright, try to take them off." (Y/n) held out her hands.

Sokka's eyes widened, and he stood there for a moment before putting on a stern expression. "Fine!"

He marched up to her and grabbed her hand with his cold, snowflake-covered glove. First, he tried furiously rubbing the arrow off, which left a red mark on her skin. When that obviously didn't work, he raised an eyebrow and spat on her hand. (Y/n)'s face crinkled with disgust but held her ground. He rubbed her hand harder than before, but it refused to come off.

Sokka growled, and she sneered. "You're just lucky it's strong paint!" he yelled, then stomped off.

"Right. Also, if we're working for the Fire Nation, how do you explain our airbending? Or Appa?" she questioned, following him.

[matronoftheblackrose]

C sees C

Zayne clicked his tongue as he checked his watch. The waning rays of the sun and the dimming of Piltover coincided with every second ticking closer to 6:00 PM. Corina asked all of her employees to work two hours longer this day, and the Piltover Enforcers needed to be given their signal. Zayne looked left, then right as he walked outside of the blooming factory. Past the greenery and the foliage, he took a step outside where a rat scurried across his boot. If he was as soft as a Piltvan then maybe he would have jumped in shock but nah, Zayne was used to far worse conditions than a greenhouse and mice.

Zayne rolled his left sleeve back, exposing his metallic cybernetic limb. He had to blink and squint from the sudden ray that reflected into his eyes, and in that moment, he swore something darted past him. Zayne looked behind him to find- nothing there. Other than the artificial lights of the greenhouse humming with energy and the vats of fertilizer being pumped throughout the complex. With a shake of his head, Zayne refocused on his tasks at hand.

With a twitch of his thumb, Zayne’s hextech crystal clicked to life in his ear.

“Rat to Dog? The big C remains. Mice scurrying to alternate corners in 10.”

A harsh buzz was followed by, “Roger. Begin in 10.”

Zayne clicked his thumb again, let out a sigh of relief, and looked all about to make sure no one was around. He could swear there was something just, in the corner of his eye, but no matter what, no matter how he looked, Zayne saw nothing. Even when his goggles locked on, zoomed in and identified the spewed remains of a liquid in a nearby alleyway to most likely be vomit.

With another sigh of relief, Zayne clicked his thumb again. “Sheriff? 10 until the War Storm. Do as you will.”

A smooth, soft click was followed by, “Thank you. In and out in-”

A hand came over Zayne’s mouth. Something pressed into the base of Zayne’s spine, and another hand picked the earpiece out, and in Zayne’s voice, the presence said, “Sorry, you need to wait 5. Guard schedule changed. I’ll tell the En’s storm to hold for another 10, else you’ll lose your chance.”

Zayne wanted to react in some way, but he felt his body go utterly limp- whatever martial arts this was, Zayne could not lift a limb. He also knew that the hand wrapped around his mouth certainly looked human, but was anything but. The way the fingers bent were not like a human’s, to be able to wrap so perfectly around his face to mute him completely and allow Zayne to breathe only through his nose.

A pause. “Are you sure?” the headpiece asked.

“Yes, Sheriff. Positive.”

Another pause. “We can’t miss this chance to lose C. Are. You. Sure.”

In that instant, Zayne knew that this person was toying with him. The hand flexed ever so slightly, straining Zayne’s jaw. He could feel his bones bend, and if the hand bothered to clench, Zayne knew it could crush his entire skull with pathetic ease.

“Ten thousand percent, and three quarters, Sheriff. Trust me, Sheriff.”

Zayne’s eyes went wide. How the hell did this ‘guy’ know Zayne’s dumb joke?

“Alright. 10 it is” The comm line went dead.

The presence asked, in Zayne’s voice, “May you please call your Wardens? I wish to ask them to arrive in another 10.”

Zayne’s mind raced, but his thoughts turned to pain as the hand on his jaw squeezed again.

“I honestly would love playing with you a little more, seeing how you are actually aiding my Sheriff, but I have business to attend to and we’re in a rush. I do not like violence, but today is a very personal day for me and I simply cannot be late,” the presence continued. “Do as I say, and no one gets so much as scratched. I promise you."

The hand released Zayne’s mouth, giving him the chance to spit back, “And how can I trust you?”

The presence turned Zayne around, and as Zayne’s turned paler than death, under the dimming rays of Piltover’s sun, the presence simply asked, “Do you have a choice?

---

Corina caressed the petals of her wolf’s bane flower that was exposed to an open window and to the sun, fully knowing that so very soon, the Enforcers will be arriving and her master plan could be enacted. It took some time, oh yes, but a single stroke would remove those pesky officers with ease, and then she could bring forth into Piltover-

“Miss Corina? Ma’am? May I have a word with you?” Zayne asked.

Corina turned around, her metallic nails clicking. The hum of electrical lights above flickered, Zayne with his hands in his pockets, standing between two rows of planted Noxian oleander. Corina smiled at him and beckoned him to her.

“Yes, Zayne. You may approach,” Corina cooed. “What is it you wish to discuss?”

“Well, a coupla things,” Zayne admitted as he walked forward. His right hand came up and caressed the poisonous petals of the flowers. “First and foremost, guess you know what I’m doing here, huh?”

Corina’s fingers clicked. She could feel the toxins from her suit’s canisters course through the tubes and fill the chamber of her fingertips. “No, do tell, what are you doing here?”

Zayne smirked and waved Corina off. “Playing coy? Come now.” His voice changed almost entirely- now slightly higher pitched but far more relaxed, with just a slight Demacian accent as he twirled and skipped underneath the flickering lights. “I know you’re pretending to be ‘C’, Corina. No reason to play games with me.”

Corina blinked, unsure of what just happened. “Pardon?”

“I said there’s no reason to play games with me. If this were a game and I were playing chess or some other alternate ‘intelligent’ game, you’d be playing connect four and failing to count to three,” Zayne continued with a chuckle. He threw his right hand out and batted one of the more annoying oleanders out of his way.

Corina realized just then that not only were Zayne’s mannerisms off, but the fact that he was touching Noxian oleander that she genetically bred herself, and did not react with violent itching or wheezing, or collapsing to the ground in paralyzed agony, was slightly off. “You’re not Zayne, are you?”

“And you have managed to count to two! Your intellect shocks me!” Zayne laughed. 

Corina collected herself, furrowed her brow and pointed a finger at Zayne. “Do watch your tongue, cur. You may have caught me off guard at first, but please, do you know who you are talking to?”

Zayne snorted and raised his right hand up in mock apology. “You are correct. Please forgive me, Corina Veraza the Chembaron- my deeper apologies, I mean Corina, the Mastermind of Chembarons and Zaunites.”

“Thank you. Now, what do you want?”

“Back to 1, huh? You ask questions but not the right questions.” The light flickered, Zayne’s goggles reflecting the light every little which way in the dimming room. “Let me answer your question with a question: What do you think I am here for?”

“If you were Zayne, then to raid my cultivair with Piltover’s Wardens and that daft Caitlyn. But you are not, so- honestly, you can be here to make a deal with me or to kill me. The former being far more plausible than the latter.”

Zayne clenched his jaw, took in a deep breath, and responded, “I’m sorry to say but the former is far less likely than the latter at this rate. And the latter I would daresay, is not something ‘up’ in my priority list. No, I’m here to take back what is mine, and to take something so very dear of yours.”

Corina raised an eyebrow. “Oh yes, you are here to take my magnum opus? Please, as though I would let you. I have investors that are interested in it, and if you wanted it so badly, we could have negotiated a price at a better time than this. Is that all?”

“Your magnum opus? Which one?” Zayne pointed behind him just as the electricity shut off for nearly a full two seconds. When it flicked back on, Zayne’s smile was just an inch too wide- a few teeth too many. “Your ‘magnum opus’ in your office? A glorified weed according to your own documents that would cause severe bodily waste leakage if consumed, a so very crude joke for a crude mind. No, no no. I am here to take back my reputation, and to take Meiraxa.”

Corina’s body went cold. Her actual magnum opus, the one that could in fact eliminate the Zaun Grey, named after her sister, a fact no one alive should know. Corina brought her hands up and was about to unleash her full fury when she took a moment, thought, and smiled. “Since you know so much about me, may I ask who I am speaking to the corpse that will be fed to my children?”

Zayne snapped his fingers, brought out his left, very human arm, and clapped at Corina. “Excellent! You counted back to two! Bravo!”

Corina’s rage cracked her stoic mask, but she said nothing.

Zayne continued to speak, this time in Corina’s exact voice, “You finally did your best to recognize an ant’s existence! Have you finally noticed how damn quiet it is in here? Your guards went home. Have you been too distracted to see the time? I changed it when you weren’t looking so you wouldn’t be ‘panicked’ about being time efficient. Who am I?”

Zayne pointed at himself, bowed, and said in Zayne’s voice, Corina’s voice, that Demacian voice, and a multitude of other voices in horrifying unison, “I am C. The C. You took what is mine, and so I will take that back and more.”

Corina paled.

“You took my moniker because you thought it’d be easy to lead Caitlyn here into a trap, kill all of the wardens in a single stroke, and have more freedom to pursue your stupid, selfish desires in Piltover like the so very good ecologist you are,” C continued. He laughed and wagged a finger at Corina, speaking in his Demacian voice again, “Which, I could appreciate! Imitation is the purest form of flattery-”

Corina clicked a button on her palm, and the bed of oleanders nearest to C exploded, sending wood splinters and plant matter everywhere. The detonation was small and controlled, but it was more than enough to utterly annihilate a human at point blank range. The lights flickered, the smoke parted, and Corina stumbled backwards, eyes wide with fear and disgust.

Flesh slurped, skin ripped, bones creaked and cracked, and Zayne reformed in front of Corina under the strobing light of failing electricity above. He cracked his head to realign it, which made each vertebrae of his spine crack one after the other like a macabre xylophone.

“C the Mastermind, your genius plan is to blow up people. I truly envy the stupid, you have such easy expectations to meet for yourself,” C muttered, rolling his eyes. “As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, imitation is the purest form of flattery, but you tried to take my credit, for my acts. Imitation is one thing, plagiarizing is an outright insult.”

“How are you alive?”

“By continued breathing, I thought they taught you that in school. No matter,” C waved Corina off. “So, before you get any more bright ideas, please do not try to kill me again, and do listen to me. When the Wardens come, I want you to give them a note, and to tell them you are not the real C, absolving you of my crimes.”

Before Corina’s fingers could twitch, Zayne’s arm lashed out, splitting apart at the seams with sickening, wet slurps, and with serrated fangs, wrapped around Corina’s hand. Corina felt no pain, but saw the severed pipe that fed the toxic ammunition into her weapon flop about on the ground.

“Please pay attention, you have only 2 minutes and twenty seven seconds left before your bombs go off.”

“I haven’t se-” Corina started, then felt one of her fingers break and something slip into her palm as the rest of her fingers were forced to wrap themselves around it. Corina bit her lip to stifle the pain as best as she could. Years of scarring from science experiments gave her an excellent tolerance of pain.

“I apologize for the brutishness but you just do not shut up. I programmed your bombs to go off on a timer rather than by your kill switch. I had to give you the one bomb to see if you were truly stupid enough to try and kill me,” C crowed. He reached into his chest, pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen from his literal ribcage that parted and gave him access to his empty body cavity, and placed it on the ground in front of him. “On your knees, write down your apology and to absolve yourself of the title of C, and we’re done here. The longer you take, the more likely this won’t end well for you.”

“On my knees? Like some common whore? Do you think-?”

“A common whore has more sense than you, a common idiot,” C shot back. “In one day I have undone your idiotic master plan and taken even your Merixia under your nose. The only contest here that is left is the contest of patience, and I am admittedly close to losing that one.”

Corina had enough. She had enough toxin in her fingers, and she knew that he could not break all of them in time to stop her from enacting another one of her kill switches. Corina pressed a button that would cause a canister on her suit to fire forward and cover C with a flesh eating toxin, only to have it shot mid-flight and shattered before it could cause anyone any harm.

Both C and Corina looked up overhead at a window, and there was Sheriff Caitlyn, looking down her sights, aiming her rifle at both of them.

C blinked. Utterly distracted by this, Corina ripped her arm free and ran away from him as Caitlyn called out.

“C and Corina, surrender yourselves and you will not be harmed,” Caitlyn called out. “You have one chance- surrender peacefully!”

Corina stumbled away, gasping and wheezing, her arm shuddering.

C looked up, smiling and laughing. “She came. She actually came. Do you see this, Corina? Caitlyn recognized me. I thought she had gotten rusty. I am glad I did not have to escalate, but how did she figure it out? Ah, wait, Zayne never says positive. It’s Zaunite slang he uses, or a two syllable word for his small mind. Nor does he ask to trust him like that. It’s trust me, followed by some animal metaphor, like a whump on a shroom hunt. It slipped my mind. I can’t believe it, without her, it slipped-”

The bombs went off. Ripping through the factory, Caitlyn caught sight of C laughing as he slipped into the fiery green hell while Corina ran the other direction. Caitlyn had to slide down from the window to avoid the explosion of glass shards, cursing under her breath. So close to get two birds with one stone. She knew that Corina posing as C would get him to surface, his ego could not take imposters. Though Caitlyn may not have caught C, the wealth of information gathered from this one event alone was almost worth the loss. And while C will resurface, Corina would not if she got away now. So close to her target, but Caitlyn took a moment to look down the alleyway to make sure the knocked out Zayne was peacefully sleeping, and saw the lights of the Wardens’ vehicles speeding on their way.

If C had not changed the time for the Wardens’ arrival, this evening would have been absolutely catastrophic. The death toll would have been in the dozens for their officers, both good and bad. Caitlyn had wanted to capture Corina before the Wardens arrived, but it seemed that C had alternate plans in mind. The only reason she was delayed was because Zayne had to be found first, taken care of and supervised. Thankfully, backup for Caitlyn had arrived in time as well.

In fact, about backup, as Caitlyn circled around to the back of Corina’s factory, she soon heard an all too familiar voice yell, “Boom! In the face!” followed by a a shriek of surprise and a loud thud.

Caitlyn came across Vi hoisting of Corina onto her shoulder, Corina who was handcuffed and limp.

“Vi, you did not strike her, did you?” Caitlyn asked.

“Nah. I was going to but she just fell forward and passed out at my awesome sight.” Vi gave Corina’s shoulder a little pat as she continued, “Who knew this wallflower back at hq was C, huh?”

“That would be because she’s not C,” Caitlyn answered. “C was in the factory.”

“Wait- really?” Vi looked back at the now violently on fire, emitting smoke clouds of a variety of chemicals, factory. “Well shit. Guess he’s dead.”

“I highly doubt it. C has escaped worse. But now to find his next target-”

Caitlyn stopped herself. She bent down in front of Corina, looked down at the criminal’s hand curled into a fist, saw the purple and white pollen that stained Corina’s skin, and Caitlyn’s eyes dilated.

“Vi, drop her right now.”

Vi did not question Caitlyn, but she did not drop Corina.

“Vi?”

“Uh...Caitlyn...” Vi’s voice lowered, she whimpered, “I- I can’t- move.”

“Noxian oleander poisoning. Who knows what Corina did to it to make it work this fast. Damn it.” Caitlyn had to take a gamble.

As Caitlyn put on a pair of surgical gloves from her satchel her mind raced. This was an interaction between C and Corina. Corina was destructive, C was not for the most part, despite the contorted expression of absolute fear that remained on Corina’s face.

Caitlyn did not know the full extent of that meeting, but knew the pair exchanged some combat, or at least an explosion, but she needed to trust her read of C’s psychology. Caitlyn reached over to unfurl Corina’s fist by trying to pull free a finger. Caitlyn’s hand brushed against Corina’s thumb and immediately noticed the digit was tightened into an iron grip. However, Corina’s fore finger was broken and loose. This meant that though it hurt Corina, Caitlyn could pull the finger free from the stiffening grip and reveal a single vial stuffed in Corina’s palm.

As Caitlyn pulled the vial free, a note wrapped around the glass fluttered to the ground. Her eyes scanned it quickly, the message was short, but the weight of its words struck her like a ton of lead. Caitlyn uncorked the vial, gave it a quick sniff before she took out a spray cap from her satchel, jury-rigged it to fit on the vial with some tape, and sprayed Vi’s arm down.

Vi’s arm slowly, and with great effort, lowered.

“A solution of 90% rubbing alcohol, with a bit of soap and water, to at least remove the pollen and the urushiol oils of the oleander. We’ll have to have the doctor look you over, but this should help for now,“ Caitlyn explained.

Vi actually laughed and gave Caitlyn’s shoulder a soft, knuckled tap with her good arm. “Crap, Cait, you really have a gadget for everything, huh? Thanks.”

Caitlyn smiled, but did not answer.

That note on the floor, that read, “The only time I will give instead of take, a gift from one old friend to another. Hope to see you soon. -C” was a promise Caitlyn knew C would keep. Yet, Caitlyn could not help but notice that C’s methods were escalating. There were no casualties this time, but would there be next time? Even an accidental one? How did C know that Corina would escape the factory if she was doused with a potent enough oleander that it caused nearly instant paralysis in Vi?

The game was afoot once more, and more dangerous than ever.