Her Gun to His Head || Jinx x Garou

He curled his fingers into a fist as his hand sprung free, carrying the movement through and shattering the fucker's helmet. He then slickly maneuvered himself out of the way of a thrust with the butt of another's weapon, stepping in closer and using the enforcer as a barrier between himself and a nearby shooter, cocking their rifle within earshot.

The one he'd just dodged took a hasty step backward in fright, to their own folly — it only gave Garou the space to kick them through the air and into their comrade.

'Can't believe I ever let 'em hit me last time…' he internally remarked.

His ears pricked up again, as something was sent careening his way. It was hard to tell which direction to dodge, with the checkpoint floodlight turned their way, so he trusted his hearing — he hopped into the air to his left, as one of their weird, throwable wire snags sailed past where his ankles had been.

Mid-air was hardly a position in which he fancied himself however, as another shot was fired his way. He twisted his torso around, narrowly avoiding the trajectory of the bullet, and cursing himself for not snatching the wire snag thing out of the air when he'd had the opportunity, to toss back at them.

He landed, buckling his knees in order to spring himself toward the bulk of their forces.

He bailed at the last moment, as a chorus of drawn back rifle hammers sounded, instead pouncing at an impudent idiot attempting to enter the fray with a riot shield and bludgeon to match.

The fucker charged at him with all their might, but Garou merely pulled them down to the ground with him, flipping them over and launching them against the wall with a subsequent extension of the legs.

He was left holding the shield as the other enforcers loosed their barrage of shots, but he didn't much care to find out whether the thing would be bullet-proof against those new magicky, blue pellets…

He made a dash for the nearby wall, pushing off with his feet to gain some height again, before whipping the shield through the air like a saucer, straight into the floodlight.

A shot flew past him from behind this time, as they were all bathed in darkness.

He knew it to be friendly without turning, as it hit an enforcer square in the shoulder, causing them to cry out.

He spotted the chick with the tattoos enter the brawl finally too, hopping in from behind them all and beginning to rain punches as they attempted to reload.

He sauntered over to the last one in line, who looked to abandon fumbling with their weapon in favor of fleeing. He swept their feet out from under them using his own, leaning down and ripping their mask from their face.

'Just some scared girl…' he observed.

"Ya's had enough yet, or what…?" he growled.

Her eyes widened slightly, as she struggled in his grip. "You're—" she stammered.

She seemed as though she recognized him from just his silhouette, in the darkness — maybe he'd managed to make some 'WANTED' poster somewhere after his previous exploits…

The tattooed chick marched over to them.

"Trigger-happy jackboots, not so fast on the trigger, huh?" she remarked snidely, standing over the girl. "If Topside thinks we're just gonna roll over and take it, you've all got another thing coming…"

The girl seemed to raise a defensive arm to her face preemptively. "Only so much that can be tolerated…" she murmured.

"The hell'd you just say to us—?" she demanded of the girl. "Say it again, or we'll shatter your pretty cheekbones."

"Wh—" the girl blubbered, "what do you mean—? You people kidnapped the Kirammans' daughter, murdered our sheriff… you stole several Hextech stones…"

Garou reacted slightly to the mention of the gemstones.

The chick scoffed, from beside him. "If you all just had to spend a day living down in the Fissures… having to breathe that air… living under the shadow of your pompous city… where we're all treated as less than you…"

The enforcer went to cover up her face again, as the chick's demeanor turned harsher.

Garou put an end to it, swiftly poking his knuckles through the girl's makeshift protection and into her forehead, knocking her out.

He released the girl onto the cold cement.

"…Is it true— what she said?" the chick asked. "Silco stole some kid, or something…?"

He glanced over briefly to see the burly dude peeling the riot shield from the shattered glass of the floodlight.

"Told ya— I ain't his soldier…" he responded. "What am I supposed to know 'bout it…?"

"Sure, fine…" She exhaled. "Listen— I was hoping you could help me, with finding my sister… I haven't got that many leads to follow up with."

He looked at her.

"Must've had somethin' in mind, if you brought us this way…?" he replied.

She sighed again.

"There's a way down, into the Fissures," she said. "There's sort of… well, there's one person I can think to ask…"

She turned to her friend as he joined them.

"Thanks for the cover, big guy…" she remarked.

"Seems like we should start doin' this for a living, or something," he smirked.

As they began to wander away, Garou glanced in the other direction, at the bridge…

He considered ditching their little party — he hardly needed 'em, after all…

"Just down here," the chick called to him.

He begrudgingly made up his mind.

'Maybe check on Blue, first… see she hasn't gone and gotten herself caught, or somethin'…'

~~~~~

~~~~~

~~~~~

She entered to discover a rowdy commotion taking place, inside of the The Last Drop — some kind of squabble between the usual bar-goers who served her father, and some less familiar faces…

'Less than human— this one…' Jinx thought in reaction to the Yordle Chem-Baron, blustering about his various causes for disgruntlement while his top-hat-donning henchmen held off those attempting to get at him.

'Gonna have more steel than fur soon, Smeech…'

The guy had clearly taken to the option of prosthetic replacement with an eager enthusiasm, possessing no remaining biological limbs — perhaps he'd loathed the feeling of standing shorter than everybody that wasn't a small child…

"Silco's had you's eating the crumbs out of his hand for so long that he's convinced you's all that you're his little, baby birds," he ranted. "And now you're so dependent on him that you won't even fly away when he gets half your territory blown up—! Do you's all even know why Topside've come marchin' in so sudden?"

A three-pronged blade emerged from his mechanical, metal arm, which he whipped through the air in an arc, deterring the front line of his attackers.

Jinx found Isha's hand, and pulled her a little closer.

"He ain't here to defend you now, is he?" Smeech went on. "I can do whatever I want to—"

In addressing the crowd, his eyes seemed to finally come upon the sight of her. His expression turned snide, as she became the new focus of his attention.

"Well, if it isn't Miss whim and fancy," he seethed, beginning to approach her. "Eyeball's little brat with a pistol — how nice of ya to join us! Where is the old man, huh? I'm sure everybody here'd love for you to tell us!"

She pulled Zapper on him without hesitating, still holding Isha to her side.

"Close your eyes for a second, I'll show ya…" she loudly retorted, with equal venom.

"Y'know, I'm sure it's that itchy trigger finger'a yours that ended us up in this mess to begin with!" he scoffed, drawing closer. "I'd bet if we just handed you over along with the Kiramman chick, that might even be enough to make 'em leave us alone!"

"Y'know he's getting your goons outta Stillwater too, right, dummy?" she retorted.

He feigned a puzzled expression.

"Interesting, considering all'a my men are right here, lady," he responded, "and also considering they all know that gettin' caught, means that they're out…"

He gave a knowing look to his henchmen, who all seemed to take the threat on the chin. They all seemed to be in league on the matter of the prosthetic limbs, too…

She'd noticed one of them flanking her, as Smeech talked.

"Kid—" she urged, out of the side of her mouth, "Head back to that street vendor, with the animal— I'll be out to see ya soon…"

She released Isha's hand, and gave her a gentle nudge in the direction of the door, but she didn't seem to be willing to leave Jinx's side.

She frustratingly turned to see the kid's eyes widen — it at least gave her the notion to dodge the incoming swipe by the goon flanking her. He wielded a misshapen saw cleaver — likely blunt as hell, but it still posed a threat.

This time she shoved Isha away with some force, as they both stumbled toward the ground avoiding another slash. Fishbones thudded to the floor beside her.

Jinx spun herself around and blasted at the dude's metal arm, for maximum effect. He went down spasming as the electrical current surged through his body.

The bar had erupted into a brawl in response, but Smeech seemed to deter his attackers with ease using the reach of his prothetic arms' spinning blades. It seemed clear that she was his target now however, as three more of his henchmen rushed her.

She hardly had time to clamber to her feet at all — she managed to fire off a shot with Zapper which luckily chained from her target over to the one beside him, but the third smashed the weapon from her hands with his bludgeon. She cried out as the impact tenderized her fingers.

She scrambled backward as he advanced on her, his mechanical limbs hissing and whirring as he wound up for another swing at her.

She hastily thrust her boot into the tail of Fishbones, which lay on the ground beside her, sending the hunk of metal skidding into his shins and dislodging his footing.

She immediately twisted her head to the sound of Isha's whimper behind her — another of Smeech's men had circled around to make a grab at her.

Jinx thwarted her instinct to simply pelt a Chomper grenade at his face.

She instead swung herself and planted the tip of her boot into the back of his knee, making a lunge for Zapper, laying nearby, as she did it.

The air suddenly left her lungs, as she took a kick in the ribs just before she was able to retrieve her pistol. She didn't give up, batting the thing toward herself and preparing to take aim, hoping that Isha had the wherewithal to separate herself so as not to get shocked…

She spun to find the man grunting in intense pain, keeling over and reaching for his groin, while Isha stood with her fist clenched, wearing a furious expression.

'Guess he ain't all-the-way prosthetic…' Jinx grimaced, reaching out and tugging Isha away so that she could fry the goon.

She managed to stumble to her feet, but she knew that they weren't out of danger.

"Leaving so soon, Jinx?!" Smeech taunted, from close behind her…

She felt a sharp, burning pain along her back, causing her to shudder. She gave Isha a further shove toward the door, turning toward her attacker and receiving another slice in the forearm, as she tried to shield herself.

'Crap…' she thought as she backed into a wall.

The Yordle was a monstrous, spinning maelstrom of blades, spindly and terrifying at the close range he stood from her.

She had no opportunity to extend her arm without it being bisected, so she shot the floor beneath them while flinching from his slashes. They both ate an equal jolt of the electricity which arced from the nails in the floorboards.

It caused her knees to buckle.

"Run—!" she screamed at Isha, with the little control she had over her mouth. "Get hel—"

Somebody wrenched her backward by the hair, tossing her to the floor once more. Her mind was still hazy, but clearing…

He hadn't the good sense to disarm her, for which she rewarded him by firing a charge through his eye. She heard it pop…

She painfully craned her head to the relieving sight of an empty doorway, Isha finally having left as she'd instructed.

Smeech made a groan, from beside her. She saw him twist open a purple vial, which made a pop and began to emit Shimmer, in mist-form.

She attempted to subtly make a reach for her own supply, in the needle she'd kept in the pouch she had on her…

A metal fist collided with her face, sending her into haziness once again — perhaps the one goon she'd forgotten to kill…

She lacked the strength to prevent her pistol from being snatched from her, or her arms from being restrained.

Her blood was all over her…

It looked like a few of Silco's men who remained in the bar hobbled over to help…

It also looked like they were swiftly impaled, a maimed, by a newly energized Smeech, pumping with a burst of Shimmer-induced adrenaline…

She desperately stretched her fingers toward her belt, toward the Chomper which still dangled from it…

"…want her tied up… already reachin' for her damn… last ditch to blow us all up…" Smeech's sneering voice rang sparsely through her ears.

She had no strength left…

"…gotta go… done here…"

Another hit to the head…

It was all turning dark…

…

She was being dragged…

…

Somewhere…

…

….

…..

….

…

She kicked her feet as she walked, disturbing the gravel and sending it all about the place. She liked the way it looked when things bounced and scattered — it just felt satisfying, in a way she couldn't necessarily put her finger on.

The man escorting her didn't seem to mind, either. He hadn't ever really told her off for anything, actually, save for when she strayed too far from his sight a couple of times.

'This place isn't so scary in daylight, at least…' she thought, as the man swung open the gate for her.

This particular junkyard was always a treasure trove, as long as one knew where to look — the types of things people from Topside simply threw out to end up down here boggled her mind, at times.

Old nails were what she was after in this occasion, but she imagined she'd find plenty of spent bullet casings, from which she could scrape the residue of any uncombusted gunpowder that remained within them.

The only reason she could remember for why she'd only been able to go junkyard diving exclusively at night was for fear of being caught by the property owner — presumably the dude had some notion of being able to fetch high prices for the stuff that ended up here.

Well, that was what she'd told her, anyway.

Whenever she travelled around with Silco's men, though, the city seemed to open up for her, as though she were untouchable. It really felt like he ran the place, no matter where he took her, or wherever she wanted to go…

It was nice, she supposed...

She returned to her escort, dragging a full satchel behind her.

The man nodded, and they began their way back to The Last Drop.

Even on the streets, things seemed a little different than they once did — people just had this strange look of wanting in their eyes, and they liked to brandish all of the new things they'd seemed to have acquired recently, be it clothing, jewelry, tattoos…

Some of the tattoos she'd spotted did look kinda cool though, she thought — especially the colorful ones…

She altered her path to avoid walking through a cloud of purple smoke somebody had carelessly blown her way.

'Yeah, there's that, too…' she thought, of the new party drug which had seemed to have taken The Lanes by storm.

Shimmer, she'd heard them call it…

People looked kinda scary, when they were on it… in their eyes…

Her escort opened the door to the bar for her, waiting for her to enter.

She took a breath, and headed inside. She preferred to keep to herself, usually — she still didn't really know anybody that frequented the place, yet. Besides, they were all a fair amount older than her.

Until a few months ago, she supposed she would have been heading downstairs with her haul, but her sleeping quarters now lay above the bar, on the second floor.

She bundled her satchel into her arms and ascended the staircase.

She quietened her footsteps as she went to pass the door to Silco's office, wondering whether he might have been alone.

Hearing nothing, she slowly twisted the handle to peer inside.

He stood leant against his desk, facing the window, his cigar in hand. There didn't seem to be anybody else accompanying him…

She failed to sneak inside without him hearing her.

He turned and looked at her curiously.

"Oh— you're back," he said pleasantly, while she stood awkwardly holding the heavy satchel of junk.

He began to approach her. "What's in there?" he wondered, offering her the nearby couch so that she could place it all down.

She did so, and wiped her hands off on her clothing.

"Just some stuff," she replied. "Krester took me to the junkyard."

She opened up the satchel when he seemed to display an interest in its contents.

"Check it out— it's a tube lamp," she said, proudly displaying her find to him. "I wanna see if I can suck the mercury-vapor out of it, so I can make some other colors."

"Hm," he replied interestedly, sifting through some of the pile with his fingers. "I'd be interested to see the result— oh, you've quite the collection of old bullet casings, I see…"

"Yeah," she responded casually, "I needed some gunpowder for Mouser 2.0…"

He looked at her, holding one of them and seeming puzzled.

"These are spent casings, though…?" he commented.

"Yeah," she remarked, "you'd be surprised — there's usually still some usable stuff caked inside, in the crevices."

He seemed to pause for a moment.

"I can supply you with gunpowder, you know…" he said eventually.

She glanced at him.

"Oh— I just, I don't know, this is how I've always done it… but… okay…"

He continued to look at her.

"…You shouldn't feel reluctant to ask me for things like this," he replied. "I don't ever want you to feel that you need to scrounge for anything, while you're under my care."

"Oh… okay…" she responded — she wasn't sure exactly what to say.

"I am appreciative of your talents, you know," he added, with a small smile. "You seem to have more brains at ten, than half of those who work for me…"

She meekly returned a grin. His compliments did make her feel happy… they made her feel worth something…

"I'll let you take these to your room," he then said, helping her wrap it all back up. "And then, I wish for you to make a list — everything you think you may need, for your gadgetry, I shall do my best to acquire it for you, okay?"

She thought about it for a moment, before giggling a little and giving him a nod.

"Well— I'll make it realistic, at least…" she grinned.

He gave a quiet chuckle, before looking on in thought.

"I was wondering, by the way…" he began, "whether you'd come to any decision yet, on… what you'd like to be called…?"

She dropped her eyes.

"Uh…" she murmured. "No, not yet…"

He slowly gave a nod.

"It's okay," he replied gently. "Take your time…"

She picked the thing up and scampered from the room, so that he wouldn't see the tears that had begun to form in the corners of her eyes.

It was the same reason she muffled her sobs with her pillow, at night — she just didn't want him to see her like this, not ever…

She didn't want him to know how weak, and how much of a screw-up she really was…

Powder…

She reached her bedroom down the hall, and got to working immediately, to take her mind off her thoughts…

You're a jinx…

She gritted her teeth.

Maybe…

She didn't feel like one around him though…