Arcane: I have Plasmids F*** YEAAAAAAH!!!

The courtyard reeked of mud, metal, and blood. Eleanor stood alone in the center, visor glowing red, gauntlets dripping. The stillness around her was almost worse than the violence that had preceded it.

Jinx's eyes narrowed. Her pistol spun once in her hand before snapping into aim.

"Huh. Guess today's my lucky day. Big tin can left behind just for me."

Sevika stepped forward, prosthetic arm whirring, blade sliding out with a metallic rasp.

"Careful. Look around. This one isn't a pushover."

Eleanor didn't answer. She only tilted her head, vents hissing softly inside the helmet.

The standoff broke in a flash.

Sevika charged first, piston-driven strength behind her swing. Eleanor caught the blow clean, gauntlet locking against steel with a shriek of grinding metal. Sparks sprayed, lighting their clash for an instant.

Jinx fired into the gap. Bullets sparked harmlessly across Eleanor's armor. The Big Sister didn't flinch.

"Yeah, okay," Jinx muttered, teeth grinding. "That's new."

With a brutal twist, Eleanor redirected Sevika's weight and slammed her face-first into the mud. The ground shuddered beneath the impact.

Jinx was already moving, scrambling up onto a pile of scrap. She rained bullets down in quick, frustrated bursts.

"C'mon, tin can! Stay still for ONE SECOND!"

Eleanor swatted aside a shot with her gauntlet as if it were a fly. Her visor's glow deepened.

Sevika roared, tearing herself out of the mud and swinging again. Each blow came heavy enough to break stone. Eleanor blocked them all, sparks spraying with every strike.

Finally, Eleanor leaned close, visor inches from Sevika's face, and spoke a single word through her filtered voice:

"…Weak."

Then she hurled Sevika across the yard like discarded scrap.

Jinx blinked, frustration bubbling over. "Oh, perfect. Just perfect."

Eleanor's helmet tilted toward her, silent and steady.

"Oh, I get it now," Jinx snapped down at her. "You're one of those strong, scary silent types. 'Oooh look at me, I'm mysterious.' Hate to break it to you, Cunt, but I've killed scarier things in my sleep!"

Her pistol roared again. Round after round sparked against Eleanor's armor, until one shot slid into a seam and bit shallow into the plating.

Eleanor staggered half a step. The visor flared brighter.

Jinx froze, then her manic grin returned.

"Ha! Gotcha! Didn't like that, huh?"

For the first time, Eleanor stopped. Not to block. Not to strike back. Just to look at Jinx.

Then she raised a gauntlet.

The air rippled.

Jinx's smirk faltered. "Uh… wait. What are you—?"

Behind her, the towering statue of Lukas groaned. Bolts rattled, plates screamed, the whole monument tearing itself free from its foundation as though dragged up by an unseen hand.

Jinx turned, eyes wide. "Mommy, I Don't want to be here anymore..."

The statue lurched forward. Eleanor flicked her wrist. The entire thing hurtled toward Jinx.

Jinx dove, rolling through the dirt as the statue slammed down with a quake. Shards of twisted steel exploded outward, raining down like shrapnel.

She scrambled up, chest heaving, staring at the mangled wreck.

The statue. His statue.

Her grin died. Something inside her snapped.

"THAT WAS MINE, YOU BITCH!"

She unleashed Pow-Pow, fire screaming from the barrels.

Eleanor advanced through the storm of bullets, visor glowing hotter, silence more suffocating than any insult.

Sevika leapt back into the fray, her prosthetic whirring as she slammed into Eleanor. The two locked again, steel shrieking against steel.

"The fuck are you made of?!" Sevika snarled.

Eleanor squeezed down on the prosthetic. Metal cracked. Dents buckled in Sevika's arm before Eleanor flung her aside once more.

Jinx seized the moment, unleashing another barrage. One lucky shot cut deeper into the armor. Eleanor staggered, only for her visor to flare red like a furnace.

"Oh-ho, you don't like that, huh?!" Jinx shouted, voice splitting between triumph and madness. "Guess what—there's plenty more where that came from!"

But under her manic glee, unease gnawed. That ripple in the air. That unnatural force. She'd felt it before. Long ago.

Eleanor tilted her head, staring.

And then Sevika's voice cut across the chaos.

"JINX! Enough!"

The name hit Eleanor like a hammer. Her head snapped toward the girl. Jinx.

She remembered Lukas and Ekko's conversation—the sister They had lost.

Powder.

If he saw her hurt this girl… it would tear him apart.

Eleanor froze, gauntlet half-raised.

Sevika saw her chance. She ripped a canister from her belt, yanked the pin, and threw it down.

Smoke swallowed the courtyard.

Through the haze, Eleanor's sensors tracked shadows—Sevika dragging Jinx, the girl kicking and firing blindly.

"Let go! I'MMA KILL HER!" Jinx shrieked.

"Shut the fuck up and MOVE!" Sevika growled, hauling her away.

Eleanor stood still in the smoke, visor glowing red through the haze, silent as a tomb.

She let them go.

---

Inside, beneath the factory.

The stairwell wound down into the guts of Fontaine Futuristics. The air grew hotter, stale.

Lukas descended, boots echoing on the steps, until he reached the chamber.

The Vita-Chamber.

Its glass coffin glowed faintly, condensation streaking its surface. Machinery hummed weakly, sparks crawling across damaged coils.

And inside—

Vander.

Encased in Big Daddy armor, massive frame hooked to tubes pumping fluids through his veins. His wounds were gone, breath steady—but the corruption lingered.

Not dead. Not whole.

Lukas pressed his palm to the glass.

"…I'm back, Vander."

The chamber hissed. Fog swirled. Vander's gauntlet twitched against the glass.

A low, guttural rumble shook through the chamber. like someone clawing back from the abyss.