"Alright, listen up." Vi tossed a small, folded map onto the table, the corners creased from repeated use.
Powder and Bael both leaned in, curiosity piqued.
"We've got a target today. We're not going after another shipment this time. No, this time, we're hitting a private workshop. There's a Piltover inventor who's been working on some new tech, and we're going to make sure he never sees any of it again," Vi explained, her eyes scanning the group as she spoke.
Bael felt the adrenaline start to rise, the thrill of the heist flooding his senses. "An inventor's workshop?" he repeated, his mind already racing through the logistics. "How high-security are we talking?"
"High enough that we'll need to move quick and quiet. The workshop's on the edge of Upper Zaun, near the smelting district. It's a two-story building."
Mylo grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Sounds like my kind of party."
Claggor looked thoughtful, rubbing his chin. "And how exactly do we get in?"
Vi nodded to Bael. "That's where you come in. You're going to help us bypass the locks and find the best way to escape."
Bael turned his attention back to the map, his fingers tracing the lines of the buildings marked in red. "Do we know if there are any guards inside?"
Vi shook her head. "Not a single guard."
Bael tilts his head, "Sounds like a ruined inventor to me."
Vi turned back to Bael. "Once you're inside, get us what we came for. Get in, get out. No messing around. You ready for that, Bael?"
Bael met her gaze, his heart thumping in his chest. "Ready as I'll ever be."
Vi gave him a sharp nod, looking around at the group. "Alright, let's gear up and get moving. We've got a job to do."
After some escalating and parkour, they finally managed to reach the inventor's workspace. Thanks to Bael's ingeniousity, they got in easily without anyone noticing, the place was a workshop with various artifacts around and blue prints.
Despite the sweat and the occasional slip, they all made it to the edge of the building, just above the inventor's workshop. From there, the place was a maze of pipes, electrical lines, and rusted walls. The building was low-profile, but the workshop itself seemed more secure than expected.
"There's a window on the second floor, right above the workshop entrance. It's unguarded." He pointed, keeping his voice low.
Powder's eyes sparkled with excitement. "I'm up first, then!" she whispered.
She scrambled ahead, her small frame nimble enough to scale the sides of the building, reaching the window with surprising agility.
The room was dimly lit, and the air smelled of metal and oil, the scent of innovation. Tables lined the walls, cluttered with various mechanical parts, half-built gadgets, and a number of blueprints pinned up with care.
"Alright, we're in," Bael whispered, examining their surroundings. "Now, let's make this quick."
He walked over to the nearest desk, carefully picking up one of the blueprints. His eyes scanned the detailed drawings, pieces of technology that could change the course of Zaun's future, if they ever got their hands on them. But for now, they were here for the vault.
Powder was already moving around, her fingers brushing over the cool metal surfaces of the various gadgets and devices. "This stuff is amazing!" she muttered under her breath, her excitement evident as she ran from one object to the next, her curiosity bubbling over.
"Focus, Powder," Vi said quietly, her eyes scanning the room. "We're here to get the good stuff, not play with toys."
"Mylo, Claggor, how's the outside looking?" Vi whispered into the silence.
"Clear so far," Mylo's voice came from the radio in her pocket. "But don't take too long."
In the main office, there was a desk stacked with more of the inventor's creations—tools, blueprints, and something that caught Bael's eye: crystalline objects that pulsed faintly with energy. It wasn't much bigger than his fist, but the sheer complexity of it spoke volumes.
"This is it," Bael whispered, gently lifting the crystal. "This is what we came for."
Vi appeared behind him, nodding. "Good work. Grab everything we need and let's get out of here."
But as Bael looked around, his mind racing with possibilities, he felt something stir. This wasn't just a simple job. Whatever this tech was, it was worth more than anything they'd stolen so far. And with it, they could change the game—if they didn't get caught first.
"We need to move," Vi urged, her tone sharp. "Now."
But then, the tension in the air thickened as the sound of heavy footsteps echoed from the hallway. The door—barely holding up under the weight of the building's old frame—shuddered with the rapid knocks
"Shit, they're back early!" Mylo hissed under his breath, eyes widening with panic.
Vi's gaze darted around the room. "We need to move, now," she muttered, pushing the others toward the back exit.
But after a thorough and explosionless chase, they managed to leave and reach the last alley before Zaun, and just as expected, they confronted by bandits who try to steal their loot.
The gang initiated an imminent fight, but Powder, being weak, kept just holding the bag containing the loot, causing her to attract the aggro of one of the bandits.
She flew away with the bag.
Powder's footsteps echoed in the narrow alley ahead, her breath ragged as she reached a dead end. She spun around, eyes wide with fear, her fingers tightening around the sack of stolen loot. The bandit was closing in.
Bael heard the distant echo of Powder's frantic steps. "POWDER!!" He shouts as he runs to her.
They reached a dead end. Powder had no way out of this. The bandit was closing in on her. Bael, who stood behind the bandit, didn't know what to do.
"Kill him."
"Wh–What...?" Bael mutters, as he thinks of a way to save Powder.
"Kill the motherfucker. End him."
"B–But Powder will hate m–..." Bael responds, suddenly interrupted.
"Kill him. Be her hero."
Bael's body twitched at the word hero. With his entire organism moving without his consent, driven by the sinister pull of the voice in his mind, he grabbed a nearby plank of wood and, with a ferocious swing, slammed it into the bandit's leg. The man screamed, dropping to the ground with a sickening thud, his leg twisted at an unnatural angle.
"RAAAAAH!! MY LEG!!!! MY FUCKING LEG!!!!" The bandit shouts while holding his leg.
Powder gasped, wide-eyed, but Bael didn't have time to process her reaction.
Powder's voice, shaky and filled with terror, broke through Bael's clouded mind. "Bael... w-what did you do?"
"Finish him."
And it didn't stop there. Bael quickly grabbed one of the blueprints crystals in his pocket then jumped on the bandit's chest, breaking one of his rib bones which paralyzed him in pain.
"Kill him. Kill. Kill."
Bael then, sees the bandit's crying face for a last time, before forcefully feeding him the blue crystal. Powder gasps in horror, then, the bandit's screams turn to barks as his lungs melted. His eyes poured blud and his skin darkened as the crystal inside him absorbed all his vital essence.
As Bael stood there, trying to steady his breath, something even more horrifying happened. The bandit's body began to twitch again, and with a sickening, wet sound, his stomach split open. A violent pulse of blue light burst from the wound, the crystal-still glowing faintly-forced its way out of his body, leaving a gory mess in its wake.
Bael stumbled back, his stomach churning, his thoughts struggling to catch up with the scene unfolding before him.
"Thank you, Bael... you saved me..." she whispered through her sobs, her voice raw with emotion.
Bael stood frozen, his own heart beating erratically, his mind still reeling from what he had just done. The shock of the bandit's gruesome death was still fresh in his mind, the voice still lingering in the back of his thoughts, but here, in this moment, Powder was holding him.
She was thanking him.
He hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to say. What was there to say? He wasn't the hero. He had killed that man -hadn't he? No, it was self defense.
Yes, it was...
Nighttime, the fighting was over, Bael and Powder returned. "Where's the loot?!" Mylo shouts, earning a deadly star from Vi. But surprisingly, Powder threw the backpack at him, still intact with the entire collection.
"HOLY FUCK!" Mylo shouts seeing all the goodies they managed to rob.
Back at the Last Drop, the group was awaiting a scolding from Vander, which happened like everyone anticipated, but the loot was very worth it. That collect would sell for an amazing price and fuel their stomachs and pockets for a long time to come.
Bael was going to leave to his place when suddenly Powder caught his shirt.
Turning around, he saw Powder, her small hand gripping the fabric of his shirt with surprising strength. Her wide, pleading eyes were focused on him, and there was something in her gaze that made him stop in his tracks.
"Bael," Powder said softly, her voice shaky, as if she was unsure how to phrase the words she wanted to say. "You're… you're leaving already?"
Bael blinked, taken aback. He hadn't expected her to stop him. "Yeah, Powder, I… I've gotta get some rest." He tried to sound nonchalant, but something about her expression made his heart ache. "You're fine here, right? You don't need me to stay?"
She looked at him, and there was a vulnerability in her eyes, something she didn't show often—especially not in front of Vi or the others. Her voice dropped, almost a whisper. "It's just… you always leave so fast. After everything… I thought maybe, for once, you'd stay."
Bael felt a tightness in his chest at her words. He hadn't realized how much his absences affected her, how much she might've been clinging to those fleeting moments of connection. He'd always been a bit of an outsider—someone who spent more time tinkering away at things, lost in his work, than dealing with feelings and people. But now, standing in front of Powder, feeling her hand still clinging to his shirt, he realized just how much she depended on him.
"I'm not going anywhere," Bael said quietly, his tone softer than usual. "I'm just tired. But I'll be around, I promise. You can always find me."
Powder's eyes softened, and for a moment, she just stared at him, as if trying to make sure he meant it. Then, after what felt like an eternity, she finally nodded, her hand loosening from his shirt but lingering there for a second longer. "Okay… just don't disappear, alright?"
Bael gave her a small, reassuring smile. "I won't."
He stood up, giving her one last look before turning toward the door. But as he reached for the handle, he heard her voice again, softer this time, almost to herself.
"Thanks, Bael... for everything."
Bael's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't say anything. He just nodded, the words getting caught in his throat as he stepped out into the night, knowing that for all the chaos and confusion of the day, he had someone waiting for him to come back.