#this isn't even a drabble it's so poorly executed that it's fanfiction

[citywatcher]

The cashier at the bakery extends a blueberry muffin for four of Valerie’s bronze hexes and flashes her a smile that would’ve been cute if the mouth wearing it wasn’t missing a front tooth and the eyes glued onto her didn’t have the texture of dried raisins in the sun.

“Uh… thanks! Looks sweet,” she says in an effort to turn the conversation, snatching it from his hand and backing away from the counter.

“Made ‘em myself,” he tells her. “My hands are good with sweet things.” There’s a wink from one of those raisin eyes, and Valerie notes that he mustn’t have combed his straw-colored hair in days.

Her tongue is ready to bring an end to the conversation when she hears someone calling her name down the street. Valerie turns, thankful for the respite from the conversation, and sees Tanya rushing up the cobblestones. A few tube runners, standing out from their crowd with their khaki shorts and tubes of oxygen strapped along their shoulders, are unfortunate enough to get close to her. They barely avoid toppling over, head-over-heels, as she passes by, barreling through the crowd.

“Tanya!” Valerie waves, heading down the steps. She holds the tip of her skirts in one hand and the muffin in the other, performing a mock curtsy as her friend arrives. “Here, I picked this out for-”

“No time for that,” Tanya cuts her off, slowing to a walk - but her wide steps mean that Valerie has to almost jog to keep up with her. “I’m heading to the precinct. Flats are back at it again.”

Valerie’s miffed that Tanya has completely ignored her offering, but she pulls her cap down and walks alongside her friend. “Ooh, where?”

“Down on the Entresol,” Tanya answers, cutting a right on the street corner to duck into an alley. It’s a shortcut they’ve taken many times to get to the department office. Not many people think of going through the tailor’s shop to avoid the promenade traffic that piles up during this hour. “Told Joakim, there’s a lot more mags ‘round the square today. Said I bet that the Flats are planning something. Usually it’s just Roland and his goons hoping to shove some of the clubbers around.” They pass through aisles of clothes and fabric, taking a flight of stairs to the second story. After that, they’ll end up on a rooftop on the level just below the department.

Valerie hadn’t visited the lower districts until a couple of years ago, when she met Tanya. She’d always taken the thoroughfares, until her friend had told her that any Piltie worth her weight in gears can climb a scaffolding to get up a story.

“Let me guess, then: the Sharps took a stand?”

Tanya offers a hand as they make it to the level of the precinct. “Yep. Dunno how it started, but there were fists flying and silver drawn. Something’s not right. Mara’s usually got a good leash on her boys.”

Valerie nods. “Surprised you aren’t down there, knocking some sense into them.”

There’s a thin streak of blood on Tanya’s bare shoulder as she turns. Valerie’s eyes widen, but Tanya just grins. “Course I didn’t leave without clouting a few of those louts. But I saw the mobs. People flooding in faster than the Sun Gates at noon. Had to back out of there and run up here. Though I’m sure,” she adds with a scowl, “that Silversnipes has already heard about it.”

Valeris reaches for an iron bar of the scaffolding separating the building they’re standing on from the higher level of Central Avenue. “So why’re you up here if you think Officer Farleigh’s already on the case?”

“Because she thinks it’s just some street scuffle,” Tanya answers, climbing up behind her. It’s an easy route for the two now, having climbed through dozens of times, and Valerie offers Tanya a hand when they reach the top, arriving on one of the street corners. “She’ll just send out a couple of her officers and think the gleam of some shiny badges will stop everyone from slicing each other up. We need Caitlyn herself.”

They waste no time heading up to the sidewalk. Valerie can see the glass half-dome, made up of hexagonal tiles that shine in the sun like a kaleidoscope, that marks the headquarters of law enforcement in this precinct. “You’re planning on just strolling in there and demanding to see Caitlyn?”

“It’s worked before, hasn’t it?” Tanya asks.

Valerie raises her eyebrows. “You were pounding on the doors so hard that you almost got arrested!”

Her friend just shrugs in response. They approach the front doors, the sunlight illuminating the stone in front of them like a carpet. Constructed apart from the crowded lines of apartments and stores that populated the area, the station had originally been an armory, when Piltover was still one of the independent cities of the Cape. Caitlyn had moved the new headquarters of the precinct from a rundown office building three blocks away when she was appointed sheriff of this area. It was a tough project to pitch to City Hall, but Caitlyn had never lacked for persuasion.

“Don’t care for the pomp and ceremony the baysiders are so hung up on,” Tanya says. “File this, petition here.” She rolls her eyes. “Especially the floozy at the front desk whose face looks like a half-baked pretzel. Next time she tells me ‘sign here’ I’ll take that pen of hers and shove it up-”

“Ah, Miss Knaveci,” a voice cuts in. Valerie whirls around - she knows that voice, an Eagles’ Bay accent as crisp as a morning over the blue wharf waters.

“Candid as ever, I see,” Caitlyn observes. Instead of the uniform she wears on duty, Caitlyn’s dressed in an ascot cap and a red coat, but Valerie’s learned not to take much stock in correlating the sheriff’s clothes with her work. As far as Valerie was concerned, Caitlyn always had her eyes on Piltover.

“Officer Farleigh!” Valerie exclaims, but Tanya steps forward, her arms crossed. Her face is twisted in a severe frown that Valerie’s seen before. If Caitlyn wasn’t a warden then Tanya would have looked to throw down right there and then - in fact, Valerie feels that a part of her is still considering it. And Caitlyn’s returning the favor with that smirk of hers. That doesn’t look good.

“Huge mob by the Entresol, Snipes,” Tanya begins. “Are you going down there or what?”

“Oh, really?” Caitlyn asks in mock surprise. “A splendid time to go for a walk.” 

Tanya’s mouth twitches, but Caitlyn pulls back her coat to reveal her signature rifle. She unfastens the strap attached to the inside of the coat pocket and takes it in her hands.

“Heard all about it, actually. But I’m not about to send the boys down there unprepared.”

Tanya blinks, her head tilting forward. “What do you mean?”

Caitlyn turns to Tanya. “Tell me, Miss Knaveci, which road did you take up here? Whitecliff’s the busiest street this time of day, so that’s no good.”

“Right,” Tanya’s mouth curves as she thinks. “Knew the Flats would be watching the main street corners, so I had to get out through the side. I crossed Wesker, and then ran up Taranto…”

“Which means that three of the main avenues heading into the Entresol are no good,” Caitlyn realizes. “But where did the mobs file in from? The east or the west?”

“The… west,” Tanya answers. “Huh. But that’s odd. Roland never takes the long way around. He always comes ‘round from Delphino.”

“So the east is no good. And by the route you took to get here, I can tell that the entrance from the north, at Oxford, and Whitecliff, at the south, are being watched as well.” Caitlyn hums, tapping the hextech radio on her belt before nodding.

“My team will approach from the west, then, too. Down Kingston.” Caitlyn’s about to head out, but then she realizes she still has to account for the two.

“I ain’t standing on the sidelines for this,” Tanya tells her.

“I never expected you would,” Caitlyn says. “But this is more than I’ve bargained for.” She looks at the two of them for a few seconds, and then her jaw squares up and her eyes flash a determined blue. “Still, it’s better that you work with me here. Go through the way you came, and get as many people as you know out.”

“Huh?” Valerie asks. “What’s going on?”

“Explosives in the market square,” Caitlyn says. “And along at least three avenues heading down there. They’re looking to flush someone out. It’s why they’re herding the people along, with the mobs on guard near the biggest avenues.”

“They’re going to blow up the whole Entresol?” Tanya’s already begun running down there, but Caitlyn doesn’t stop her. Valerie wants to follow, but she still feels the sheriff’s gaze on her, and the spotlight paralyzes her. She turns towards Caitlyn.

“No, no, that can’t be right? You’ve gotta explain this, Officer!”

“Non-combustible explosives, I’m guessing,” Caitlyn says in a lower voice. “Not meant to result in a lot of casualties, but a large crowd’s panic can easily make it worse.” She cradles the rifle, pressing another button on the hextech radio. “Team one. Move in.”

“I’ve not got much time to explain, Val, but you might as well know as much as I can afford to linger,” Caitlyn says. “I received the reports twenty minutes ago. Movements like this aren’t done with much warning before the damage is done. But because I knew something had to be up, I couldn’t just send the force down there. That would be tantamount to suicide.”

Valerie nods.

“But I’m sure Miss Knaveci is always up-to-date with the day-to-day behavior of those around  the Entresol. The streets down there are a real labyrinth, confusing to navigate. It wouldn’t do for me or one of my lieutenants to go down there and scope the area. It’d waste too much time.”

“So instead of bringing yourself down there,” Valerie realizes, “you waited for the news to reach you!”

Caitlyn nods. “I was expecting Tanya to arrive here. She’s a smart girl - she knows which routes to take. Between her story and the way the city is laid out, I could finally fit the pieces of the puzzle together. And it’s a lot more thorough than I expected.”

Valerie’s eyes widen. “Is that bad?”

Caitlyn moves her lips as if to answer, but then she snaps them shut. “It’s complicated. But we’re left with this: Kingston’s the only road that’s safe to travel down, if you want to reach the Entresol from here. Everything else will succumb to chaos. You best be careful out there, Valerie.” Caitlyn lifts her rifle up and heads down the street.

“Hey - wait, Caitlyn! You can’t just leave me up here! I’m going down there, too. Somebody’s got to watch Tanya’s back,” Valerie insists, running in front of Caitlyn.

The sheriff considers for a moment, before nodding. “Your parents are going to have a fit if anything happens to you when you’re with me.”

“I know what I’m getting into,” Valerie assures her.

“You don’t,” Caitlyn retorts, and her gaze lingers on her, “but circumstances doesn’t allow us to pick and choose. Stay close to me. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.”