Chapter Text
‘A big score’. That’s what Ekko told us. Didn’t tell us how he knew about this place, but with how excited he was, we believed him. Us Fissure Folk all look out for each other, and he knows that any loot we make out with will eventually find its way down to Benzo’s, which would earn him some coin as well. Plus this way, we could try and help out Vander some.
*Chink*.
I pant and groan as I scale the sides of the Piltie buildings, one foot slipping off a metal rail. Ritzy bastards use this shit to decorate their houses while we’re scrambling in the dark, scraping through the dirt. I jump and grab a railing above, and look down at the others.
“We’re almost there.”
They’re all a ways below. Powder, my sister, is closest up, and directly below me. Vander took us in after our parents were killed. She’s not the best in a fight, but she’s smart. Probably the smartest of us. Below her and to the left is Mylo. Skinny kid with some crazy spiked hair, and good with a lockpick. Just wish he wasn’t such a whiny bitch all the time.
“Aw man.”
Like right now. At the bottom, between him and Powder is Claggor. Big guy – even bigger than me, and that’s sayin’ something – and pretty strong, too. He’s our carrier, and in a pinch he’s always found us a way out. Senses of a mouse or something, I swear! Vander brought ‘em home one by one over the course of a couple weeks. Said they were in the same boat as us and needed a place to stay, so I gained a couple of brothers.
I scramble to the top and hop the final rail, landing on the rooftop. I hunch forward, hands on slightly-bent knees, and catch my breath. Air’s a lot cleaner up here, that’s for sure. I stand up straight and see birds flying through the sky. They always look so free, makes me kinda jealous.
“Hey, Powder.”
I call back to my sister below and walk toward the other side. I hear her grunt as she reaches the top behind me.
“Come take a look.”
She walks up and stops beside me.
“Whoa.”
“It’s nice gettin’ above it all, huh?”
We stand and stare out over Piltover while we wait for Mylo and Claggor to catch up. Back home in the Undercity, everything’s dark and dingy – just varying shades of blacks and brown, with neon lights that’re usually green or purple. Up here, though? Colours everywhere you look. The buildings are all built of white or beige stone, but the rooftops are blue, red, green, and purple, with gold trim. Fancy mechanisms stick up from some, flags from others, and there’s airships flying through a sky so blue it seems impossible. Everything is lit up by the sun, not electricity.
*Vrr-whut-whut-whut*.
Claggor and Mylo reach us as an airship flies directly over our heads. We all look back at it, then follow it with our eyes as it flies forward.
“One day, I’m gonna ride in one of those things.”
I look down and grin at Powder. If any of us have a chance of making it outta the Undercity and living up here, it’d definitely be her.
“And one day…”
I look at Mylo as he steps in front of me.
“I’m gonna shoot one of ‘em down.”
He makes a finger gun, points it at the airship, and mocks shooting at it. I glare at him and knock his arm down as I walk past. Why does he have to be such an asshole all the time? Does he think big-noting himself makes him cool?
“Vi, a-are you sure about this?”
Claggor speaks up behind me as I make my way to the edge and look down to the adjoining rooftop.
“Look, if we get caught, we’re--”
*Thump*
I interrupt him as I jump down and continue on.
“We’re not gonna get caught.”
*Thump*. *Thump*. *Thump*.
The others land behind me.
“We’ll be in and out before anyone notices.”
We make our way halfway along the roofline, then turn to the side. There’s another roof across the way, just gonna have to make a jump to get there.
“Alright everybody, follow me. Just…don’t look down.”
I lower myself forward, run one step, slide down the angled roofline and catch the metal plate at the bend before the roof angle shifts further down, and leap to a roof ledge over a balcony, catching it by my elbows. I swing my dangling feet to the railing underneath, step around to the front, then drop and catch the railing with my hands…why’s there a plate of cupcakes out here? Rich people are weird. Back home, if you left food out? It’d be stolen within 5 minutes. I swing myself around, grabbing the railing with both hands from behind and placing my feet on the stone ledge that sticks out underneath it, swing one arm forward and push off, leaping to the roof across the road.
*Thump*.
I land on all fours and get pulled back slightly by the weight of the back on my back. I don’t fall though, so I look back to the others. Mylo locks his fingers and pushes his arms forward to crack his knuckles with a smug look on his face, and pushes in front of Claggor who looked like he was about to go next. I stand up and step back to give ‘em space. He copies the same moves I used to get over here.
*Thump*.
He lands, then gets surprised when a second later…
*Thump*.
Claggor lands beside him, one of the cupcakes shoved in his mouth. He pushes the last of it back and swallows.
“Couldn’t we have at least just walked there?”
He looks up at me as he asks. Fair question, given how elaborate the route we’re taking is. But from the info Ekko gave us, this job’s got a fair amount of risk attached, and the Little Man’s usually got a gut feeling for these things.
“Gotta stay outta sight for this one.”
I look back up and see Powder still standing on the opposite rooftop. She’s looks scared, and is looking down at the road below. Mylo sees her and calls out loud enough for her to hear.
“Called it.”
Again with his oh-so-useful commentary. Way to support the team, idiot. He turns back and looks to me, speaking with a quieter voice than before.
“This’s on you, Vi.”
*Sigh*.
“I’ll get her.”
Claggor volunteers to go back, but I know she can do this, and she needs to trust herself.
“No.”
I wave my hand at Claggor to stop him, before I turn back and look at my sister.
“Powder, look at me. What’d I tell you?”
“That…I’m ready.”
“That’s right! So?”
She closes her eyes and takes a breath, then reopens them and steps forward. She lets out a small scream and a grunt as she follows the same path we took, and lands safely on the balcony railing.
“Phew!”
She drops down, grabs the railing from behind like we did, and pushes off in a jump, and lands on the roof on her feet. She topples as she loses her balance.
“Wh-whoaa!”
Just as she’s about to fall backward, I step forward and grab her hand.
“Thanks.”
I smile as she looks up at me – I knew she could do it! – and pull her up. We turn and make our way up the slope of the roof, Mylo rolling his eyes and scoffing as we pass. Half-tempted to push him off the edge, but I’m not that mean. We continue running and jumping across the rooftops of Pilotover, heading to our destination.
“What if Vander finds out we’re all the way up here?”
We’re sidestepping along a ledge and hugging the near-straight-up-and-down rooftop that belongs to the building of the place we’re heading to when Claggor speaks up.
“You think anyone Topside’s going hungry?”
Guess he’s getting cold feet. Vander’s pretty scary when he gets mad, so I get where he’s coming from. But I’m not turning back. Rich get richer while the poor pickpocket. That’s the way of the world.
“Besides, this is exactly the sort of job Vander would’ve pulled when he was our age.”
I reach the end of the ledge, look over, then look back to Claggor.
“I’m going. Are you with me or not?”
He looks back at Mylo, who just shrugs with raised eyebrows.
“Vander’s gonna kill us.”
“Yeah, only if we screw up.”
I can already hear his voice in my head, as if we already had. ‘What the hell were you thinking, Vi? You put all their lives in danger, and for what?’ Yeah, don’t wanna face that situation.
“So don’t screw up.”
I bend down, grab the ledge, then swing down and land on the railing below. This is the place Ekko told us about. I slip down the railing to the balcony and look around with narrowed eyes, slink to the door and look inside, then to the window, before heading back to where I landed.
“All clear.”
Mylo swings down behind me, steps over the railing and up to the door.
*Clunk*.
He tries the handle but it doesn’t budge.
“Ugh, who locks their balcony?”
He pulls out his lockpicking key and gets to work as Claggor swings Powder down to me before he swings down himself.
“Phew. There’s tons of enforcers down there.”
High-stakes place surrounded by enforcers? I’m officially on edge.
“Means we’re in the right place.”
I look back to Mylo, who still hasn’t finished.
“You gonna get that door open any time soon?”
“Working on it!”
He grunts in frustration as he pulls the lockpick back out after messing up.
“Seeing as I’m the only one who knows how to pick locks, I suggest--"
Fuck it, we don’t have time for this.
“Ugh!”
*Bang*.
I kick the door in, and Mylo’s hands snap back to his chest as he drops his pick, eyes wide. Me, Claggor, and Powder file in while he’s still kneeling on the ground.
“Animals.”
Guess my touch isn’t ‘refined’ enough for him. He gets up and follows us inside as we all look around while standing still. This place is filled with expensive-looking shit! I slowly make my way in and dump the bag on the floor. There’s ticking clocks and mechanical junk everywhere and a folding chalkboard covered in drawings and writing. I make my way over to some shelves lined with books and look at the covers, then pick one up and flip it open.
“Y’know, Claggor, for once you’re right. We are definitely not supposed to be here.”
Even the usual edge has dropped from Mylo’s voice. Still trying to act like a big shot, but even he’s blown away by all this. We get to work grabbing anything we can that looks valuable and filling the bag. Holding one of the mechanical…thingies…I step back to the chalkboard and take a closer look.
“Must be an inventor.”
“Huh.”
A small squeak from Powder as she’s looking around. She does a double-take and steps back in front of something.
“Whoa. I think this is a real Valdiani!”
I hear a ‘click’, followed by some light music playing from the thing she’s picked up. I guess a ‘Valdiani’ is some sort of music box?
“Oh yeah? What about this?”
*Click-click-click*.
Mylo whips around with an outstretched arm and holds out a cylinder with a pair of clamp-looking things on the end that click together when he taps a button on it.
“That’s a nose hair trimmer.”
Powder lets Mylo know just how much of an idiot he is with her tone as I walk up behind her.
“Keep an eye out for anything that looks valuable, Powder. Before Mylo fills the bag with junk.”
I look at him out the corner of my eye before turning back to search some more.
*Clunk*.
Mylo tosses the nose-hair trimmer to the floor.
“Uh…guys?”
We look back over to him as Mylo calls out to us. He bends over the table to look at something, Claggor looking over his shoulder. I make my way over too, and see a weird stand with a glowing blue orb thingy on top in front of them.
“Wait, Vi, how the hell did we find this place?”
Claggor asks as Mylo touches the blue orb before quickly pulling his finger as it zaps him.
“It was a tip from Little Man.”
Mylo turns to look at me after hearing the uncertainty in my voice.
“Little Man?”
“Just leave it. Come on.”
I shake my head and go back to looking for more loot.
“How can anyone have so much stuff?”
Claggor seems about as confused and annoyed as I am at how much the owner of this place has compared to us.
“Simple, just get born lucky.”
Mylo, too. He posts up in a chair behind the big desk with the glowing thing on it and puts his feet on up. I kneel in front of the loot bag to check what we’ve got so far. Claggor kicks a book as he walks past me, and I look over to Mylo to see if he’s found anything else. He sees me, and tosses over a weird bronze orb. I catch it with my left hand when…
*Clang*.
A noise makes me turn my head back, my ear straining to hear where the noise came from. I look back toward the door and can hear some chatter coming from the hallway, and then footsteps approaching the door, before a shadow covers the glass panel in it.
*Click*.
My eyes go wide as a key slides into the lock. Fuck, the owners are back! I stand and whip around, pointing at Mylo, and whisper a shout at him.
“Mylo!”
He leaps out of the chair, grabs it, runs to the door, and jams it under the handle. I run past him around the hallway corner, skidding to a stop, still whisper-shouting.
“Powder, we gotta go!”
“Hello? Is someone in there?”
A muffled male voice comes from the other side of the door as he bangs on it, trying to open it. Powder comes out of the room at the end of the hall. I grab her arm and pull her while running.
“Come on!”
Standing at the balcony door, Mylo urges us over and with Claggor next to him. I stop and tie up the bag of loot. Powder waits next to me.
“We’ll be fine, just get back on the roof!”
*BAM*.
The banging on the for gets louder. I stand up and swing the bag over my shoulder. We start to run, but Powder trips over something on the floor. I turn to help her up and see a weird blue glow.
“Shit!”
I pull Powder to her feet, face her toward the balcony, and shield her with my body.
*BOOM*.
A searing pain hits my back as an explosion goes off, throwing me across the room, spinning in the air as I go, and slamming into the balcony railing. My eyes fall slightly open and see Powder kneeling over me.
“Vi? Vi! Get up, Vi! Please, you have to get up! You have to be okay!”
Tears and snot are pouring out her face, but I’m glad she’s safe. My head turns and I see the boots of two people – the owners, I guess – walk up to us...ah, fuck. No way of getting outta this now.
"P...Powder..."
I reach for her, and weakly call out to her, before my eyes fall shut again. I feel the back of my hand hit the floor as I pass out, Powder’s cries echoing in my ears.