Heimerdinger was brilliant. Ekko knew it, but sometimes, someone goes and does something and it just had to be said again. First, he had half the Firelights go home, all the ones that seemed to want to take things rougher. He was sitting, waiting with Scar and the rest of them right above this little area between the prison and apparently another little building Jinx was in.
"You're sure about this?" Scar asked him again. "I can handle it. I handled things when I thought you were gone for good. I just want to make sure you are good with this?"
"Yeah." It had to be. "I don't want to have anything to do with the tree for six months. If people at the Firelights hear the rumors, then they hear the rumors. When this all works, it'll be worth it. Shimmer will be over, and everyone will be safe again. That's what matters, not my reputation."
"I know that people look at her like she's meat."
"You saw it before I did. The Professor knew before all of this even happened."
"So? Chem-baron?"
"For best chances of each side to join again, the world? It needs to make sense around them. Jinx was Silco's, she worked for him, and, as much as I hate to say it." And he did. "He was all she knew. Silco's dead. I can work with Powder easier, she already has a thought that fit all of this craziness into her head. I just have to agree with it, and be the Ekko that traveled there earlier."
"Alternate Universe. She really did jump to that."
"It was plausible, and possible to me. Came with the territory of being friends with me as a kid," he joked. "Right now that seems more likely than her just waking up so much older, Vi being an enforcer, and putting her in prison with none of her family there."
"You don't think Jinx would fall for anything else?"
"Silco. Was everything at this time," he said again. "I have to lay down rules for her to follow, and I have to follow them myself. Sevika is the only other person who really knew her at this time, the part of her that wasn't shooting to kill." He didn't have much choice.
Scar patted his back. "I'll take care of things. You have hard shoes to fill, but I did it once."
"You did great at it," Ekko complimented him. Scar often didn't talk too much except with close friends, but he did know how to lead. "While I was gone, you made some real bold decisions, and it ended up paying off."
"You mean with Sevika?"
"Yeah." That was bold. He started to work with her when she and Jinx had saved them from Stillwater. It still took Jinx's presence to bring them all in though to fight Viktor. "Even now, I'm not fond of working with Silco's old team."
"I don't think anyone can blame you," Scar said. "To get what you need, sometimes you have to be bold. So I should ask, what are those papers?"
Ekko knew what he was talking about. He'd looked at one briefly in front of Scar and tucked them away. "Heimerdinger wanted to go over more with me, she wasn't supposed to flip this fast. We were supposed to have more time, but because of that roulette thing, it screwed it up. He was supposed to paraphrase all of this."
"What is it?"
"Therapy papers. Just, a little. He gave me the last night she should remember. What he thought was important. I snuck a couple more while he wasn't looking too." Hey, if he had to look, might as well look. "She didn't aim right."
Scar just looked at him oddly. "Jinx has great aim."
"No." Ekko didn't even know how to explain it. He just pointed to the spot in a paper where she talked about her shooting stance. "She says that she stands wrong for a challenge, in one of these papers, but then she says this, dated much later." She chose the Mylo stance so she wouldn't hit Ekko. She'd shoot, she'd miss, and she'd pay for it. In fact, she said she always did her best to kill those around him, so it always looked like she wasn't showing any favoritism.
She couldn't kill him any better than he could kill her. Not until she got overwhelmed.
She was not good. Not with Vi. Not with him. Now with anything that day. She was even hurting herself ahead of that, saying what she did to her own leg, but first it said Powder, then it was crossed to Jinx, and then in the later papers she used 'I'.
Jinx did do work. Just from the few he stole, he could see so much different between the early drafts and later drafts. "She's seeing Shields."
"You want Jinx to see that woman Shields? Is that safe?"
"She takes risks. Once she's better, she needs to see her."
"Shields has a daughter though, Ekko," he reminded him.
"Yeah." It made things trickier. Shield took the risk to get near Jinx when she was unstable once. She never had any weapons though back then. It would have to be a condition, no weapons that killed.
Vi tried to help calm Powder down, but she wasn't getting anywhere with her words.
"You aren't my Vi, you aren't," Powder accused her. "You're an enforcer Vi, this is like some backwards evil universe. Ow. Don't!" she complained to the enforcers dragging her away. "Ekko!"
"Vi. She isn't going to calm down. Until she does, this is going to be painful," Caitlyn warned her. "I suggest you leave her alone for now. She is hysterical. Let her calm down."
Vi heard her sister shouting more as someone drew her blood. They wanted to check things right away, before she even made it to prison, but for some reason, they wanted to do it again. They had to detour to a whole other building. "It's okay, Powder." Her voice wasn't reaching her though, she was fully convinced that somehow she flipped to another universe. Yeah, she was definitely Powder. Using Ekko's own fantasy stories and ideas from their childhood to explain the reality around her. Once you calm down a little, I can explain things, Powder. "How many times is she going to get her blood drawn?"
"Sorry," the doctor explained. "We see some interesting . . . nevermind, this is the last draw."
"Good." But right now, she was safe. There was no way her little sister Powder could have even thrown a punch on someone, let alone take her and a bunch of enforcers by fists or feet. She was as perfectly safe as her little Powder. She wouldn't mess this up again.
It was strange though. She knew her sister played with Ekko a lot. They were great friends. But, she never really called for him before when they did meet each other again. Why would she, they were complete enemies, so just childhood. That's all there had been for them. Her little Powder would know him as just a goofy, skinny kid too. Why was she doing that so much? Yes, he was her friend but . . . not once did they talk about Ekko after she got out of prison. That should be the sign she was on the right track. Not that they weren't great friends, they were really good friends. They played all the time together, but that was just that. Play. They were childhood friends. Grown up, they weren't as close.
Okay, a little, she did go see him first. No, she didn't, that was a mission. Powder needed to help save the Firelights. Am I feeling jealous? No, no way. It's. Just weird. This is confusing.
She kept walking with everyone, ignoring her cries. Not once did she cry for her anymore, it was all just Ekko's name. Look, okay, fine, if it was some silly other universe thing come true, then if I was bad, then Ekko would obviously be bad too, so what the hell? Why was she still calling for him? "Huh?" Someone was trying to speak to her.
"The doctor wants to run tests on her daily," Cait said to her. "Her blood is strange and they want to test it more before anything else is allowed."
Of course her blood was strange, she had mage power moving through it. "She isn't using her blood, she's using her touch, and not this version. The dangerous Jinx version," she reminded her.
"Nevertheless, it's best to check how safe she is," Cait told her. "Once you sign some papers to agree, we can continue to the prison."
This was ridiculous. "No." She pulled Powder outside, the prison wasn't far. Getting her safely somewhere she couldn't run away and become Jinx was much more important than any of this.
"Violet," Caitlyn called to her.
"What's up, Cupcake?" she said off the cuff as she moved her sister outside. The people with the meds and magic and the doctor were still following too. There would be a split in the path where they would take everything else. "Should we keep her doctor with her at first?"
"Violet. They want to be cautious. Piltover does not deal in magic anymore. Mel Medarda hasn't been here, or allowed here, since the war," she reminded her, giving her the papers again.
"I'm not signing anything to give people direct access to my sister so much," Vi insisted. "Come on, Powder, we're nearly there."
"Nearly where?" Powder asked. Her voice was older, but she definitely heard that unsure shakiness only her little self had. Just another reminder that everything would be okay this time. She was prepared this time. They wouldn't go through senseless battles of fighting this time before they could connect.
Then.
Vi looked up and saw a Firelight above her. What? How did they even know where they would be taking Powder first? This was just a little opening between the prison's doctor building and the prison. It had to be the funny little man that knew, no one else would know procedures, or this little opening area to the sky! "No, Ekko, don't make this choice!"
They dropped something, and when it busted, everything filled with bubbles! There were too many to see what was going on. No, Ekko, Damn it, Ekko! She reached out toward where Powder would be, hearing fighting going on.
"Powder!"
She saw him, right there with his Firelights. Ekko! She tried to get to Powder first, but her sister getting loose . . .
Powder ran to Ekko's voice? She was really choosing a sweet, neighborhood friend from childhood over trusting her. "I know it's enforcers and scary, but I am your sister, Powder! Your sister! I was with you every single day of your damn life until that day! That day I told you to stay home alone! Powder!" There was no way, she tried to grab Powder, but other Firelights had grabbed her. She didn't want to hurt them, but she was losing her sister too! She fought them off enough to get back to her stumbling sister.
Powder always stumbled, she wouldn't make it far. No one could outrun her back then, and she certainly didn't have any chance now. This was just a waste of their time if they really thought she could outrun her for even two seconds-
Ekko ran in front of her, blocking her way with Scar. Scar actually had the gall to hold her back, while Ekko moved toward Powder. That was not gonna work! She heard Powder start to stumble ahead. Scar knew what he was up against, and he got a punch for his efforts.
Ekko glared at her not far away, but far enough that she knew she was screwed.
How in the world? The chances Ekko would have been at that exact spot?
Powder had stumbled, obviously over that long hair. She would have stumbled backwards and that would have been it, and she would have grabbed her and ended all of this.
But Ekko had somehow got his board right there, stopped, and caught her before she even stumbled!
It was a lucky damn miracle. Ekko just caught her falling backwards like he was ready for it, and brought her closer to straighten their backs on his board.
Why was this hurting so much? Why was this so much worse than before? Ekko even saved her life, why was she so . . . jealous?
He made his board longer, propped his head up at her sharply with a decent 'fuck you' look, but she got it.
Like it or not. Ekko made the decision. Fine then. This isn't over. She watched him take off, while some others had come for the magic containers and meds. However, she didn't let them take all of them! If she did, it was like giving up on Powder. She needed that to survive when she brought her back, and she would bring her back.
She also wasn't letting another person go, that doctor was hers.
She made sure they kept about half. Whether Ekko or she had her, Powder would stay protected. Gaw-damn it, Ekko! It's not like I would keep her in there forever, just until everything was safe. It was safer this way, Piltover can move much faster.
"Vi! Vi!" Caitlyn called to her. "Are you okay? What was that little charlatan trick the Firelights just pulled?"
"It wasn't Jinx, it was Powder. Powder before everything," Vi said to her. Innocent Powder. Her sweet sister that she took to the roof and discussed her favorite rabbit plushie with. "She was the one who followed, who always looked up to me. I didn't think there would be a problem." Hell, Ekko looked up to her too. Everyone looked up to her. Trust your sister. It'll be okay. The same words I always gave. The same intonation. And that version of her little sister. "She picked her 'oh nobody sees us, let's go jump on the bed friend' over me?"
"Hm?"
"Her sparring partner she played with?! Over me?"
"Vi, it's okay. We'll find her again."
"She looked at me like I was some seriously wicked witch, no matter what I said to her. Like I was the monster that I always chased away for her!" She growled. "And she chose scrawny, short, hyperactive, always in the way fucking Ekko?!"
"He's not short or scrawny, Vi."
"Not this Ekko, but that Ekko, and she's . . ." That look. "That Powder, who would see that Ekko. She should have trusted me no matter what. Even walking with enforcers, I didn't even have my uniform on!" She would trust her over anything. Over anyone. And she picked?
"Little Man!" Powder was trying to deal with the strangeness of what happened. "You are going to have to add jumping on the bed somewhere in your other universe predictions, us jumping as high as we could was a bad idea."
He just laughed at her.
Grr. "It's true, no lie. I'm definitely not supposed to be here." One minute, they were both just jumping on the bed, seeing who would get higher. "What is this crazy place? How are we flying on a board?"
"You are moving around too much, calm down," he told her. "You're safe. Relax. We'll talk when we hit the ground."
This was so crazy. This world was really crazy. "Are you my Ekko that got trapped here too?" This wasn't another evil Ekko or something was it?
"Yes, I am," he said. "Just, relax, okay? Like I said, we will land and get it figured out."
"I need to get home soon. We are supposed to start a big heist tomorrow." It was her chance to show she was ready to run with Vi and everyone.
"You can forget about that, you are stuck here for a little while, Jinx."
Huh? "What did you just say to me?" Oof. "Mylo always calls me a jinx."
"Sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean it in a bad way."
Huh? Was there a good way to take it? "Why is my hair so incredibly long?"
"You can ask questions when we land," he said. "Soon."
It was crazy long, no one could move well with it. "It's weird, like a big curtain blowing around us. This is probably messing up the board more than me moving around."
"Yeah, you aren't very aerodynamic, but just stay still," he insisted.
She yelled as he started to head downward. She clung to him tightly, turning around and holding onto his waist.
"Okay, not a time for flipping around, easy, Jinx! Powder!"
"You were the one who started doing flips and stuff!"
"We are just going down, easy."
"This is crazy. How much earlier did you arrive than me?"
"Questions later, your hair is getting in the way."
"Gravity isn't helping diagonally."
"Right, let's dip further."
She yelled again. "Ekko-o-o-o-!" The sound reverberated through the route he was taking, making an actual echo.
He dared to laugh at her. "That's my name said correctly."
Her hair wasn't in the way anymore, but it was way scarier. "This is definitely one of your inventions, isn't it, show off?"
"Yep. Can you at least not buckle my arms down in your hug? I'll navigate easier in a second."
Yeah in a second because they were literally freefalling again. "It's not hugging, it's hanging on for my life, I think I'm gonna get sick soon!"
"A few seconds longer."
They evened back out.
"Why does your hair look weird?" she asked him.
"Look who's talking."
"Huh? I like weird things, Buster."
"Oh. Right, I forgot."
"Is Benzo not cutting it anymore?" Maybe Benzo was evil there too. She screamed as Ekko definitely lost control, he did some weird maneuver before they were flying straight again. "Don't scare me, Little Man."
"Sorry! Sorry. No. Benzo isn't taking care of my hair or me. He's gone here, in this universe," he told her.
Oh. "Does he not exist in this universe?"
"Not anymore." Oh, his eyes were really glassy. He was so sad.
"I'm sorry." Change of subject. "Are we going to see Vander?"
He paused. "I'm sorry, but no. He's gone too. So is Mylo and Claggor."
"So they existed, but now they don't." That hurt worse. "No one exists of my family but Vi, and she turned enforcer." She rested her chin against him as they slowed down. "I don't like this universe, I want to go home."
"I've said that thousands of times myself," he admitted, "but this is home now."
No way. Somehow, they would find their way home. Ekko was super smart, he didn't give himself enough credit for how smart he had been. They'd figure it out. For now though, it looked like they were stuck. "At least we got each other right now."
"Yeah. At least we got each other."
Ooh. The Last Drop looked different but at least it was still there. She expected him to land them, but she wasn't prepared for Ekko to just hop off and hold her by the door. She screamed again.
He just smirked at her. "You are fine, Powder. Calm down, okay?" He put her back down. "There you go."
"Weird." She looked at him. "I'm not used to you being a big man, Little Man. Maybe we should change your nickname to Big Man?"
He gave her a funny look when she said that. "Big Man?"
"Yeah." She touched his triceps. "You've got more muscle than everyone but Vi and Vander!" He probably liked that, he always wanted to be strong just like them. "I bet you could take on just about anyone now."
He didn't look happy though, he just looked weirdly at her, like that was a strange thing for her to say. He unlocked the door.
She went in. It looked new, strange. She looked at what she was wearing too. She'd been wearing that weird thing ever since the evil version of Vi went and started to take her to prison. Finally though, she could get at that one part that was bugging her. She bent over and started ripping the end of the dress with lace. Lace was pretty, it would fetch something, but Ekko moved her back up.
"Don't bend over like that," he said.
"Why?"
"Just, don't bend over in a dress like that," he said. "You don't have a kid's body anymore, Powder. If you want to rip that off, bring it to you instead."
"Whoah." Did he really say that? "I've worn a dress or two in my day, Big Man. A lady never lifts her skirt up because people will see all her goods. My Vi would kick my butt if I did that." So she bent back over to rip off that annoying lace, but he just grabbed her and brought her back up again. Didn't she already explain this?
He took a deep breath. "Pow-Pow? You are right, you shouldn't lift your skirt, but you're front has changed too. You can't just be bending over in a dress like that."
She looked downward. "Right, I have boobs." She yanked at her straps. "One of these are broken in the back, it's going to fall off soon, and that's gonna be even bigger trouble, Big Man. I need clothes. It's pretty but it's a trainwreck. Like a Piltie went out for an evening stroll and got hurt real bad." She didn't know why it was like that when she didn't have a single scratch on her. "Do you have any clothes this body fits since I'm a woman now? I will need woman clothes. I'm not a girl size anymore."
Such strange looks from him. "Um. Yeah. A friend is bringing something for you. Hopefully it fits."
"Hello, Miss Powder."
Powder saw a cute little person with lots of fur. He was interesting. "Hello. Who are you?"
"My name is Heimerdinger," he greeted her. "You must have many questions about your current circumstances."
"I do, yeah, lots," she told him. She looked back at Ekko. "For real, jumping on the bed can't do this, what happened? What are we doing here? Which version of us was playing with technology and sucked us over?"