(Marvel, DC, images, manhuas, and every anime that will be mentioned and used in this story are not mine. They all belong to their respective owners. The main character "Karito/Adriel Josue Valdez" and the story are mine)
Viktor looked at Adriel with concern again.
He probably thought Adriel was still upset over what Singed had said not long ago. Which was fair, honestly. Adriel had looked like he was about three seconds away from turning the old doctor into a stain on the garden floor.
But of course, neither Viktor nor Sky had noticed what had actually happened.
They had no way of knowing Anansi had been standing there a blink ago, casually freezing reality around them like the entire world was just some toy he could pause whenever he felt like it.
So Adriel didn't bother explaining.
There was no point.
He only looked away from Viktor and said, "I need to do something."
Then he left the enclosed garden before either Viktor or Sky could ask another question.
Adriel walked through the commune with his thoughts moving heavier than his feet. The paths were still peaceful. People still worked, smiled, carried supplies, tended gardens, and acted like the world outside this sanctuary wasn't waiting to crush them.
It almost pissed him off.
Not because they were doing anything wrong.
Because they didn't know.
They didn't know war was sitting near their doorstep. They didn't know Anansi had already appeared. They didn't know this entire place had just become the center of a future that was about to twist itself into something worse.
Adriel kept walking.
Eventually, his eyes caught Vi from a distance.
She was eating some strange fruit, standing near one of the outer paths with that usual guarded posture of hers. She looked like she was trying to act casual, but her attention had already locked onto something else.
Or someone else.
Singed.
The old doctor was leaving the commune.
Slowly. Calmly. Taking narrow turns through the cavern as if he knew exactly where he was going. And of course he did. Noxus had made a hidden outpost not far from the commune, tucked away inside the canyon to monitor Viktor's people.
Vi noticed him.
And, because Vi had the self-preservation instincts of someone who liked punching consequences in the mouth, she started following him.
Adriel sighed.
Of course.
Before she could pass through the gates, he called out.
"Hey. Vi."
She stopped but didn't turn around immediately.
Adriel walked closer, hands in his pockets. "Don't start wandering around like I can't see from a mile away what you're trying to do."
Vi clicked her tongue and glanced over her shoulder. "Don't bother me. I'm gonna lose him."
Then she resumed her little mission like he hadn't said anything.
Adriel followed.
Vi noticed almost instantly.
"I'm fine," she said. "I can do this by myself."
"I'm sure."
She shot him a look. "Then why are you following me?"
"Because you and Jinx have an annoying habit of walking directly into danger and acting surprised when danger bites back." Adriel shrugged. "I'm just here to keep the peace."
Vi stared at him.
The look on her face said are you serious? without needing a single word.
Adriel gave her a lazy little smile.
Vi rolled her eyes and kept moving. "Whatever. Just don't get in my way."
"No promises."
She made a sound of irritation but didn't tell him to leave again.
That counted as progress.
Probably.
The two of them followed Singed at a distance, slipping through narrow canyon paths and darker turns away from the commune's main glow. The walls tightened around them, rough stone and metal framing their route until the passage slowly expanded into a hidden clearing.
The Noxian encampment sat tucked inside it.
Small, but organized.
Too organized.
Soldiers moved with disciplined purpose. Supplies were stacked neatly. Weapons were kept within easy reach. No banners waving openly, no big dramatic display, nothing that would announce their presence from far away.
A hidden knife near the commune's throat.
Vi slowed.
Adriel did too.
Then he felt it.
A presence to their left.
Fast.
Someone slipped out from behind the stonework, moving like they had been waiting for the perfect angle. A rifle came up, aimed directly at Adriel's face.
Adriel didn't even blink.
He lifted one hand.
The weapon tore free from the attacker's grip and shot upward, stopping nearly ten feet in the air as if an invisible hand had snatched it away.
The assailant froze.
Adriel tilted his head slightly.
"Bad idea."
The attacker recovered quickly and lunged into hand-to-hand range.
That was an even worse idea.
Before she could land a strike, Adriel's eyes sharpened. His hacking ability slipped in with surgical precision, not tearing through the mind, not harming anything important—just finding the neural pathways responsible for movement below the waist.
Then he cut the connection.
The attacker's legs simply stopped working.
One second she was coming at him.
The next, her lower body gave out completely, and she hit the ground face-first with a hard grunt.
Vi stared.
Then stared harder.
"Did you just do what you did to Dad?"
Adriel looked at her from the corner of his eye while casually catching the rifle as it dropped from the air into his hand.
"Kind of."
Vi's brows rose.
Adriel turned the rifle over once, inspecting it. "I shut down the connection between her brain and the nerves responsible for moving her legs. Temporarily. She can't walk until I say so."
Vi looked down at the assailant, then back at him.
"That is stupidly helpful."
Adriel smirked. "Yeah."
Then he glanced down again.
"You should probably check on Caitlyn, though."
Vi's face shifted instantly.
"What?"
She looked more carefully at the person on the ground.
And there she was.
Caitlyn Kiramman.
On duty, fully armed, and currently unable to move her legs because she had made the unfortunate mistake of trying to jump Adriel.
Vi scoffed.
"Well," she muttered. "That explains the trigger-happy entrance."
Caitlyn, on the other hand, looked completely horrified.
Her eyes darted from Vi, to Adriel, then back to Vi again.
"What did he do to me?" Caitlyn demanded, voice tight with panic beneath the anger. "And who the hell is he?"
Vi scratched awkwardly at the side of her head.
"Oh, him?" she said, like this was somehow normal. "Yeah. Um. Remember when I told you I used to have a crush on someone who completely ruined my life and gave me a nice dose of PTSD for good measure?"
Caitlyn stared at her.
Vi gestured loosely toward Adriel.
"That's him."
Adriel said nothing.
Vi grimaced slightly. "I mean, I guess we've... mended things? Kind of? Still figuring that part out."
Caitlyn's eyes narrowed.
"Sure," she said slowly, stretching the word like she didn't believe a single piece of it.
She tried to stand.
Nothing happened.
Her legs remained useless beneath her.
Caitlyn's expression sharpened with frustration. "Could you remove whatever the hell you did to me?"
Adriel glanced at her.
"Oh. Sure." He pointed lazily. "Just don't go trigger-happy again, okay?"
Caitlyn's glare intensified.
Adriel released the hack.
Caitlyn's legs came back under her all at once. She pushed herself up quickly, dusted off her uniform with stiff, angry movements, and took her rifle back from Adriel's hand.
He let her.
Caitlyn checked the weapon, then looked between them.
"You shouldn't be here."
Adriel's mouth twitched.
Truth be told, he didn't like Caitlyn.
Not even a little.
She reminded him too much of an ex he had once dealt with, and that memory was anything but pleasant. The posture. The authority. The rich-girl confidence sharpened by guilt and pressure. The way she spoke like she was trying to keep control of a room that had already caught fire.
Yeah.
Not his favorite vibe.
So when he answered, the sarcasm slipped out easily.
"Wow. Thank you, officer. I'll make sure to write that down in my diary."
Vi glanced at him, confused by the sudden dislike in his tone.
Caitlyn caught it too.
Her eyes narrowed. "Do we know each other?"
"Nope."
"Then why are you speaking as if you know me?"
Adriel smiled without warmth. "Lucky guess."
Vi snorted.
Caitlyn looked at her.
Vi shrugged. "That's kind of his thing."
Caitlyn frowned. "What is?"
"Knowing things he shouldn't." Vi crossed her arms. "Don't ask me how. I've reached a point where I just don't."
Adriel was not in the mood to entertain the mystery around himself, so he went straight to the point.
"What's going on here?"
Caitlyn looked at him.
Adriel nodded toward the camp. "Noxus doesn't set up a hidden little base right beside the commune for nothing."
Caitlyn hesitated.
For a second, it looked like she wasn't going to answer.
Then she glanced toward the camp, jaw tightening. "We tracked a chem-weapon here. A violent one. Bloodthirsty. Murderous. It led us to this location."
Vi went still.
Adriel did not.
Caitlyn looked back at Vi. "Now it's my turn. What are you doing here?"
Adriel answered before Vi could.
"I'm tagging along," he said. "Keeping this loose cannon in check."
Vi smacked his shoulder.
Not hard enough to hurt him, obviously, but definitely hard enough to make a point.
"Shut the fuck up."
Adriel gave her a look. "See? Loose cannon."
Vi ignored him and turned back to Caitlyn.
"I'm here to save my dad."
Caitlyn's expression changed.
Confusion first.
Then something softer, more uncertain.
"Your father?" she asked carefully. "Vi... you told me he was dead."
Vi's mouth tightened.
"He was."
Caitlyn looked at her as if trying to understand whether Vi knew how that sounded.
Adriel did know.
Of course he did.
But he disliked Caitlyn enough that he did not feel like explaining it for her benefit.
So he simply raised one hand in a casual little wave and started walking toward the Noxian camp.
Caitlyn immediately panicked.
"Wait—what the hell do you think you're doing?"
Vi caught Caitlyn's arm before she could move after him.
"It's fine."
Caitlyn looked at her like she had lost her mind. "How is that fine?"
"Because he can handle himself."
"He's walking into a Noxian encampment."
"Yeah."
"Alone."
"Yeah."
Caitlyn stared at her.
Vi sighed. "Trust me, Cupcake. He's fine."
Caitlyn's face twitched at the nickname, but her concern did not go away.
Vi glanced toward Adriel's back.
If he wanted to, he could probably destroy every Noxian soldier here with a thought.
Which was not exactly comforting, but it did mean she didn't have to worry about him getting stabbed.
Adriel stopped a few steps ahead and tilted his head slightly.
"You two should make a plan fast," he said. "I'll know what it is later."
Caitlyn looked genuinely offended by the sentence.
"What does that even mean? How are we supposed to make a plan if you're not here to hear it?"
Vi rubbed her temples.
"Trust me," she said. "He'll somehow know."
Caitlyn stared after him, visibly confused and increasingly intrigued.
Every new sentence out of Vi's mouth only made Adriel sound stranger.
Powerful. Impossible. Familiar. Dangerous.
And important to Vi in a way Caitlyn did not know how to name.
Which was ironic, honestly.
Very ironic.
Adriel glanced back at them. "Vi, explain the situation quickly. I'm going ahead."
Vi's eyes narrowed slightly. "You going invisible and eavesdropping?"
Adriel gave a small nod. "Pretty much."
Vi did not look worried in the slightest.
"Alright," she said. "See you in a few minutes, I guess."
Adriel lifted two fingers in a lazy peace sign.
Then he disappeared.
Not faded.
Not stepped into shadow.
Just vanished.
Caitlyn stared at the empty space.
"Where the hell did he go?"
Vi looked completely unsurprised.
"One of many, many Adriel things."
Caitlyn slowly turned toward her.
Vi exhaled, already tired.
"Okay," she said. "I'll explain what I can. But we need to move fast."
Caitlyn still looked like she wanted to ask ten more questions.
She didn't.
Not yet.
Instead, the two of them moved into cover near the edge of the hidden encampment, forced into an uneasy partnership again while Adriel slipped ahead unseen.
Noxus had a plan for the commune.
And whatever it was, they needed to stop it before Viktor's sanctuary became a battlefield.
With that in mind, Adriel made his way across the hidden Noxian camp.
Invisible.
Silent.
Completely unnoticed.
Soldiers moved beneath him and around him, their armor catching faint light from the encampment's lamps. Supplies were stacked neatly against stone walls. Weapons rested within reach. Every movement had that disciplined Noxian rhythm to it—controlled, organized, prepared for violence at a moment's notice.
Adriel passed through all of it like a ghost.
No one turned their head.
No one heard his footsteps.
No one sensed the very annoyed Guardian walking straight through their little invasion setup.
Eventually, he moved past the main cluster of tents and reached the edge of a cliff-like path overlooking another narrow stretch of canyon.
That was where he spotted Jayce.
And wow.
The man looked like absolute shit.
Battle-scarred. Exhausted. Haunted in a way sleep would not fix. His face carried the kind of focus that came from someone who had seen something horrible and decided the only way to survive it was to turn himself into a mission.
Adriel remembered what happened to him.
Jayce had been sent into the future. A broken one. A place where he had been forced to survive inside a cave that had no real exit except climbing upward through hell. Days, maybe longer, of isolation, fear, confusion, and whatever nightmare waited for him at the end of that vision.
So yeah.
The Defender of Tomorrow had every right to be jumpy.
Unfortunately, Adriel was about to rock his entire world even harder.
Before Jayce could continue his lone march toward Viktor's commune, Adriel dropped his invisibility.
"Yo, Jayce!"
Jayce reacted instantly.
No hesitation.
No question.
He spun, hammer already swinging.
The massive weapon tore through the air toward Adriel's head with enough force to crush stone. Adriel lifted one hand, and the hammer stopped mid-swing.
Magnetism caught the metal and held it in place.
Jayce strained against it, eyes wide and furious, body locked in survival mode.
Adriel raised both hands.
"Okay, okay—relax. De-escalate. Friendly-ish."
Jayce's grip tightened. "Who are you?"
Adriel kept the hammer suspended between them, making very sure Jayce couldn't finish the swing.
"Jayce, listen to me. It's me. Spider-Man."
Jayce's expression did not soften.
If anything, he looked more confused.
Adriel grimaced. "I know. Bad opener. You've never seen me without the costume, and everyone assumed I was dead. Very long story. Extremely annoying lore dump. We do not have time for it."
Jayce stared at him like he was trying to decide whether this was a hallucination, a trick, or another trauma symptom.
"Spider-Man?" he repeated, voice rough.
"Yeah."
Jayce's eyes narrowed.
He barely remembered him.
Not clearly. Not fully.
He remembered a ruined apartment. A balcony. A boy in a spider suit who had appeared after chaos had already chewed through his life. He remembered that same hero becoming a legend not long after, supposedly dying after fighting those five impossible villains who turned Piltover and Zaun upside down.
Jayce respected Spider-Man.
Everyone did, in their own way.
But this man?
This stranger standing in front of him, claiming to be the dead hero?
It sounded insane.
Maybe he was lying.
Maybe he was another trick.
Maybe he was just some madman wearing a dead legend's name like a stolen coat.
Adriel saw every doubt crossing his face and immediately decided he hated this conversation.
"Look," he said, voice tightening. "I don't have time to explain the why, how, and what of me being alive. I just need you to not go trigger-happy when everything goes down inside Viktor's commune."
Jayce's face hardened at Viktor's name.
Adriel noticed.
Of course he did.
"I know what you're planning," Adriel said.
Jayce went still.
The air between them sharpened.
"How?" Jayce asked.
Adriel sighed. "Because I know things."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one you're getting right now."
Jayce tried to pull his hammer back.
Adriel held it effortlessly.
"Jayce," Adriel said, firmer now. "Think before you commit. That's all I'm asking."
Jayce glared at him. "You have no idea what I saw."
Adriel's eyes narrowed.
"I know enough."
Jayce's jaw clenched.
Adriel stepped closer, still holding the hammer in place with one raised hand.
"The future you saw was missing something," he said. "Me."
Jayce's expression flickered.
Adriel continued, choosing his words carefully. "There are beings that normal time and space don't account for. People like me don't fit into predictions cleanly. We don't belong inside the equation the way everyone else does."
Jayce looked at him like he had started speaking in riddles.
Which, fair.
Adriel hated that too.
"The point is," Adriel said, "the future you saw isn't guaranteed anymore. Not while I'm here."
Jayce breathed hard through his nose.
He looked like he wanted to argue. To demand proof. To ask what Adriel was, where he came from, why the hell any of this should matter when he had seen the end with his own eyes.
But Adriel cut him off before the questions could fully form.
"Just look," he said. "And don't shoot."
Jayce's eyes sharpened.
"You'll see a variable that wasn't in the future you saw."
For a second, neither of them moved.
Then Adriel released the hammer.
Jayce almost stumbled from the sudden return of its weight, but he steadied himself quickly, keeping the weapon ready.
Adriel stepped back.
"I'm going back to the camp," he said. "You keep walking. But keep what I said in mind."
Jayce stared at him.
"You expect me to trust you?"
Adriel's mouth twitched without humor.
"No. I expect you to hesitate."
That landed differently.
Jayce said nothing.
Adriel gave him one last look, then turned away. His body shimmered faintly before vanishing again, invisibility wrapping around him as he headed back toward the hidden Noxian base.
Jayce stood alone in the canyon path, hammer gripped tightly in both hands.
He had so many questions that the weight of them almost made his head hurt.
He still didn't believe this stranger was Spider-Man.
Not completely.
But the problem was, the real Spider-Man had always been cryptic as hell too. Too smart for his own good. Always speaking like he had already seen three steps ahead and was annoyed everyone else hadn't caught up yet.
This man had that same feeling.
That same impossible certainty.
And now Jayce was conflicted in a way he could not afford to be.
He still had a mission.
Viktor had to die.
That was what the future had shown him. That was what survival demanded. That was what the broken world had carved into his bones until it became the only truth he could hold onto.
And yet—
You'll see a variable that wasn't in the future you saw.
Adriel's words kept bothering him.
Jayce looked toward the direction of Viktor's commune.
His grip tightened around the hammer.
He continued walking.
But this time, he carried one more thing with him.
Doubt.
The moves had been made.
Every chess piece was where Adriel needed it to be.
Vi and Caitlyn had their part. Their plan was simple enough: knock out Ambessa, interrupt the Noxian army's chain of command, and buy the commune enough time to avoid becoming a slaughterhouse.
Jinx, Isha, and Vander were on the other side of the board, caught in the same flow of events Adriel already knew should happen.
And Jayce…
Jayce was the risky piece.
Adriel had already planted the seed of doubt inside him. That was all he could do without dragging the man by the collar and forcing him to believe. Now, he needed to wait and hope Jayce didn't let fear make the choice for him.
So Adriel waited.
High above the cavern, floating silently in the open space above Viktor's commune, he watched everything unfold beneath him like a distant, all-seeing eye.
The commune moved below in fragile peace.
People walked through the pale streets, unaware of just how close everything was to breaking. Some carried baskets. Some tended stalls. Some helped the sick. Children ran past glowing structures with the kind of careless energy that made Adriel's chest tighten.
They had no idea.
None of them did.
Adriel's eyes tracked Jayce the moment he entered the commune.
The man looked terrible.
Not just tired. Not just wounded.
Broken in a way that still knew how to walk.
Jayce moved through the streets with his hammer in hand, shoulders tense, eyes darting toward every person who passed too close. He looked like he was seeing two worlds at once—the one in front of him and the ruined future still burned behind his eyes.
Every face became a threat.
Every gentle movement became a possible attack.
Every shimmer of Viktor's influence across the commune became another reminder of the nightmare he had survived.
Adriel watched Jayce nearly raise his hammer toward a small boy in the street.
His finger stopped tapping against his thigh.
For one sharp second, Adriel prepared to move.
Jayce's grip tightened.
The boy stood there, innocent and confused, reaching one hand toward him.
Jayce saw something else.
Machines.
Those sentient, faceless things from the future. The ones that had attacked him. The ones that had turned whatever hope remained in him into survival instinct and violence.
But then the boy's eyes met his.
Not empty.
Not mechanical.
Alive.
A child.
Just a child.
Jayce froze.
His hammer lowered by a fraction.
Adriel exhaled through his nose.
Good.
That was good.
On the other side of the commune, things were also moving. Caitlyn had already knocked out Singed. Jinx had intervened when Ambessa's right-hand man appeared, the massive Noxian soldier pushing forward with every intention of continuing their plan for Warwick.
But Vander had stopped him.
Not fully human. Not fully beast.
Something in between.
Enough of himself remained to protect Jinx, Caitlyn, and Isha.
So far, everything was still working.
The pieces were still moving.
The path was still holding.
Jayce would reach Viktor's abode soon. He would hesitate. He had to hesitate. Sky's presence would force him to think. Her existence alone was the variable he hadn't seen in that broken future.
So why couldn't Adriel calm down?
His finger started tapping against his thigh again.
Once.
Twice.
Then faster.
Faster.
And faster.
His jaw tightened.
He could feel it building under his ribs. That ugly, familiar pressure. The kind that made his thoughts race so quickly they stopped feeling like thoughts and started feeling like alarms.
Anansi was going to do something.
He had to.
Adriel had changed too much. Sky was alive. Viktor's path had shifted. Jayce had been warned. Vander had more of himself than he should have at this point. Vi and Jinx were closer than before. Caitlyn was already being pulled away from the exact road she had once taken.
Too many deviations.
Too many repaired cracks.
Anansi knew that.
And Anansi would not let it slide.
Adriel bit his lip hard enough to hurt.
His mind dragged him backward before he could stop it.
Infinity War.
Astral Regulator Thanos.
His first real failure.
The memory hit like a blade under the ribs.
That moment where everything had gone wrong. Where no amount of power, knowledge, desperation, or cleverness had been enough. Where the pieces hadn't just fallen apart—they had been torn from the board entirely.
A part of his soul still lived in that failure.
Still broke every time he remembered it.
What if it happened again?
What if he failed here too?
Anansi's power was real. Adriel had felt it. He had looked at it and understood, with a sickening clarity, that this was not an enemy he could casually overpower with confidence and a smirk.
And yet, he had taken this on himself.
Again.
He had shouldered everything, again.
Maybe that was noble.
Maybe it was stupid.
At this point, Adriel didn't know the difference anymore.
He only knew he was going to do it.
He was going to make this work. He was going to keep everything according to plan, or at least close enough that he could stop whatever Anansi tried to ruin.
But if something happened…
His thoughts darkened.
If something happened and he could not prevent it, then he would have to choose.
There were characters who were supposed to die in this episode.
People marked by the original flow of events.
If Anansi forced his hand, Adriel might have to sacrifice pieces he wanted to save.
The thought made his stomach twist with anger.
He hated thinking that way.
He hated that after everything, after all his talk about doing better and treating people like people, some part of his mind still knew how to turn lives into chess pieces when the board got dangerous enough.
He hated it.
But he couldn't ignore it either.
Not if ignoring it meant everyone died.
His finger kept tapping against his thigh.
I can't fail.
Tap.
I can't fail.
Tap.
I can't fail.
Tap.
I can't fucking fail.
He would not live through another Infinity War.
He couldn't.
Not again.
Adriel forced himself to inhale.
Slow.
Deep.
Then he exhaled.
His eyes opened, sharper now, and locked onto Viktor's abode.
Jayce had entered.
Adriel sensed the charge gathering in the hammer.
The attack.
The one meant to kill Viktor.
For a fraction of a second, the whole commune seemed to balance on the edge of that single decision.
Then Adriel saw it.
Sky ran inside.
Alive.
Real.
No longer a ghost behind Viktor's shoulder.
Her voice tore through the air.
"Jayce!"
And in that exact moment—
The plot broke.
✦ ✦ ✦
The moment Jayce heard that familiar voice, the charge in his hammer died.
Not completely.
The energy still hummed inside the weapon, unstable and dangerous, but his body locked in place as if something had seized every muscle at once.
That voice.
He knew that voice.
For one brief, impossible second, memories flashed through him like a film dragged too fast across his mind.
Viktor hunched over blueprints with tired eyes and stubborn hope.
Sky standing nearby with notes tucked against her chest, always listening, always watching, always there.
Late nights in the lab.
Arguments over equations.
Breakthroughs that felt like the world opening beneath their hands.
A future they had once believed they could build together.
Then Jayce turned.
And saw her.
Sky stood near the entrance, breathing hard, eyes wide and wet with tears.
Alive.
Whole.
Real.
Jayce's mind refused to accept it.
No.
No, that was impossible.
She had died.
He knew she had died.
The Arcane had taken her. Hextech had consumed her. There had been nothing left to save. No body. No breath. No heartbeat. No second chance.
And yet there she was.
Standing in front of him.
Looking at him like she had been waiting for this exact moment.
Jayce's fingers tightened around the hammer.
"How?" he breathed.
Sky took a small step forward.
Jayce flinched.
"How are you alive?" His voice broke around the question, confusion tearing through him faster than anger could cover it. "You were dead. I know you were dead."
Sky swallowed hard.
She had known this was coming.
Adriel had warned them.
Not everything. Not the full picture. Never the full picture. But enough. Enough to tell them Jayce would come. Enough to tell them that Viktor had to stay still, that Sky had to be the one to speak, that Jayce needed to see something his future had not shown him.
A variable.
That was what Adriel had called her.
But knowing it would happen did not make standing in front of Jayce's charged hammer any easier.
"Jayce," she said, voice trembling. "Please. It's me."
Jayce shook his head once, small and sharp, like he could reject reality by denying it fast enough.
"No."
"It's really me."
"No." His eyes flicked over her face, searching for the flaw, the lie, the illusion. "This isn't real."
Sky's tears spilled freely now.
"Please," she said. "Just think about what you're doing. Please stop."
Behind her, Viktor remained connected to the machinery, his body held in place by tubes and glowing lines of Arcane light. His heart pounded so hard he could hear it in his own ears.
Adriel had told him to stay still.
Let Sky speak.
Do not move unless it becomes necessary.
But watching Sky stand there, nearly breaking herself apart trying to calm Jayce down, made stillness feel impossible.
Jayce looked between them, his breathing uneven.
His eyes were wild.
Not with hatred.
With terror.
"You were dead," he repeated, weaker this time. "You… you were dead. What is this? What's going on?"
Sky lifted both hands slowly, palms open.
"Put the hammer down," she begged. "Please. Just listen to me."
Jayce did not lower it.
Sky's voice cracked. "He talked to you, didn't he? That man. Adriel. Spider-Man. Whatever name you know him by. He told you something, right?"
Jayce's expression shifted.
For a second, the stranger's warning returned to him.
Just look. And don't shoot.
You'll see a variable that wasn't in the future you saw.
Jayce's grip trembled.
Was this what he had meant?
Was Sky the variable?
Or was this another manipulation? Another trick. Another vision. Another cruel thing the Arcane was using to make him hesitate.
His skull throbbed.
The future he had seen still clawed behind his eyes. Broken skies. Dead cities. Empty faces. Viktor's dream turned into something cold and endless. Machines where people should have been.
He had carried that nightmare alone for too long.
And now Sky was standing in front of him, alive, telling him to stop.
Jayce swallowed hard.
"Please tell me you're not just in my head," he whispered.
Sky's face crumpled.
Then she did the only thing she could think to do.
She stepped closer.
Jayce's entire body tensed.
His hammer lifted a fraction, instinct sharpening before thought could stop it.
Sky saw it.
She kept walking anyway.
"Jayce," Viktor warned softly, fear slipping into his voice.
Sky did not stop.
Every step she took seemed to drag another memory out of Jayce.
Sky laughing quietly at something Viktor said.
Sky correcting a note Jayce had overlooked.
Sky bringing them both back to the point when ambition had carried them too far into the night.
Sky alive before everything had gone wrong.
She reached him.
Slowly, carefully, she took his hand.
Jayce sucked in a breath.
Her fingers were warm.
Real.
Sky guided his hand to her cheek.
The warmth of her skin met his palm.
Jayce froze.
"I'm alive," she whispered. "I'm here."
His face twisted.
"No," he breathed, but there was no strength behind it anymore.
"Yes." Her hand covered his, keeping it against her cheek. "Adriel brought me back. Spider-Man brought me back. I don't know how to explain it in a way that makes sense, but he did. He knows more than we can understand."
Her voice broke completely.
"So please, Jayce. Please don't kill Viktor."
Jayce stared at her, his eyes glassy.
"Please listen to him," Sky begged. "Listen to Adriel. Listen to Spider-Man. Just don't do this."
Jayce looked destroyed.
"I'm not dreaming?" he asked.
Sky shook her head.
"These visions…" Jayce's voice shook. "They're like a constant migraine. Like something is drilling through my skull every second. I see it when I close my eyes. I see it when I open them."
His breath hitched.
"The future I saw is making me go insane. And now I'm supposed to believe this? That you're alive? That you're the variable he was talking about?"
Sky had no answer that could make it simple.
There was no simple answer.
Viktor could not take it anymore.
The tubes along his back disconnected with a soft hiss.
Sky turned sharply. "Viktor—"
But he was already lowering himself toward the floor, the Arcane glow around him dimming as his feet touched the ground.
Jayce stiffened at the movement.
Viktor raised his hands slowly.
"Jayce," he said, voice gentle, "I know this is difficult to understand."
Jayce's eyes snapped to him.
"I was the same when Adriel came into our lives again," Viktor continued. "There are things about him I still cannot explain. Things my mind wants to reject because they do not fit any law I know."
He took a careful step forward.
"But if you cannot trust me because of what you saw, then trust him."
Jayce's jaw clenched.
Viktor's voice softened.
"He is trying to prevent the future you fear."
Jayce shook his head. "You don't know what I saw."
"No," Viktor admitted. "I do not."
That honesty made Jayce pause.
"But I know you," Viktor said. "Or at least, I want to believe I still do."
Jayce's expression cracked.
Viktor's eyes shone with emotion.
"Please, my friend. Do not forget what we used to be."
The room went painfully quiet.
Sky still held Jayce's hand against her cheek. Viktor stood before him, fragile and changed, but not the monster Jayce had expected to find.
Not yet.
Maybe not ever, if this path changed.
"If Adriel is right," Viktor said, "then the future you saw does not have to happen. We can make another one. A better one. Maybe not perfect. Maybe not easy."
He swallowed.
"But different."
Jayce looked between them.
Sky.
Alive.
Viktor.
Changed, but still reaching for him.
The hammer in his hand suddenly felt too heavy.
His mouth opened, but no words came out.
Everything he had carried—the fear, the mission, the cave, the future, the loneliness, the certainty that killing Viktor was the only way to save the world—collapsed inside him all at once.
Jayce dropped to his knees.
The hammer hit the floor beside him with a heavy thud.
Sky gasped.
Viktor froze.
Jayce covered his face with one shaking hand, and the first sob tore out of him like something had finally broken free.
"I don't know what to do," he choked.
Sky was the first to move.
She dropped beside him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
Viktor followed a second later, kneeling with difficulty before reaching for both of them.
Jayce clung to them like a drowning man.
For the first time since he had returned from that ruined future, he was not alone with it.
The three of them stayed there on the floor, broken and trembling, but together.
Three scientists who had once dreamed of a better future for Piltover.
Three people who had lost each other to ambition, death, fear, and time.
And somehow, against every law Jayce thought he understood, they had been given one more chance.
Sky held Jayce tighter and silently thanked Adriel.
Viktor did the same.
Because as shaky as this reunion was, as close as it had come to ending in blood, it existed because of him.
Sky was alive because of him.
Jayce had hesitated because of him.
And Viktor still had a chance to reach a future that did not end in ruin.
Not the one Jayce saw.
Not the one fate had demanded.
A different one.
A fragile one.
But for the first time in a long time, it was real.
✦ ✦ ✦
To say Adriel's heart almost burst out of his chest would have been an understatement.
For a second there, he was pretty sure he had never clenched his ass so hard in his entire life.
But now?
Now he could breathe again.
Barely.
Jayce had stopped.
Sky had made it in time.
Viktor was still alive.
The plot had not just bent. It had cracked open in front of him, and for once, that crack had not immediately turned into a bloodbath.
Adriel hovered high above the commune, his body suspended in the open air near the roof of the cavern, eyes moving frantically across every corner below. He scanned the streets, the structures, the people, the shadows between the pale buildings.
Anything out of place.
Anything wrong.
Anything that looked like Anansi had already made his next move.
So far, nothing.
Which honestly made him more nervous.
Adriel stayed where he was and kept watching.
From above, he saw Caitlyn, Vi, Jinx, Isha, and Vander leave the enclosed garden. Vander moved with more awareness now. Still massive. Still dangerous. Still caught between man and beast. But there was more of him present. More control in the way he walked. More recognition in the way he stayed close to the girls instead of lunging at every sound.
That was good.
That was very good.
The group ran toward Viktor's location.
Adriel had told them what to do if everything went according to plan.
If they did not hear the explosion from Viktor's house, they were to move immediately. No celebrating. No standing around. No waiting for fate to remember it was supposed to be cruel.
Run to Viktor.
Tell him the commune had to evacuate.
Tell him to get everyone out before Noxus came knocking at their door with steel, blood, and Ambessa's idea of diplomacy.
Adriel watched it unfold from above like a movie he had already seen too many times, except now the actors were starting to ignore the script.
Vi's group reached Viktor's abode.
Inside, the voices rose quickly.
Vi was animated. Jinx was louder. Caitlyn was trying to explain something without sounding like she had just been part of an almost-disaster. Jayce's voice cut in once, still rough, still shaken. Sky spoke too, calmer now, but not fully recovered from what had just happened.
And Viktor listened.
Then he acted.
His presence spread through the commune in a single silent wave.
Not a shout.
Not a bell.
Not a panic.
A message.
Clear and direct, carried through that strange connection he had with the people here.
They needed to leave.
Now.
The commune reacted almost instantly.
People stopped what they were doing. Workers dropped tools. Healers helped the sick stand. Families gathered children. Baskets were abandoned. Stalls were left behind. The little paradise Viktor had built shifted from peace into movement in a matter of seconds.
No one questioned him.
That was the thing.
They trusted Viktor completely.
If he told them to leave their homes, they left. If he told them danger was coming, they believed him. If he said this place was no longer safe, then that was all they needed to hear.
Adriel didn't know whether to admire that trust or be deeply unsettled by it.
Maybe both.
Within minutes, the entire commune was ready to move.
People gathered in front of Viktor's house, confused, frightened, but obedient. Some looked back at the pale structures they had built, the gardens they had tended, the little pieces of peace they had managed to carve out of Zaun's darkness.
Leaving hurt.
Adriel could see it.
This place had not just been shelter to them.
It had been proof that life could be softer.
And now Noxus was taking even that.
Once Adriel made sure everyone had gathered, he teleported down.
He appeared directly in front of the crowd.
Several people gasped.
A few stumbled back.
Someone actually yelped.
Adriel ignored it.
He had more important things to worry about than scaring people by appearing out of freaking nowhere.
Questions started immediately.
"What do we do now?"
"Where are we going?"
"Is the Herald coming with us?"
"What about the commune?"
"Are they attacking?"
Adriel looked past the crowd and found Viktor.
"You remember what to do, right?"
Viktor met his gaze.
For a moment, there was something heavy between them.
The knowledge that this was not just a retreat.
It was a choice.
Then Viktor nodded.
"Yes."
His voice carried outward, steady despite the urgency. "Everyone, move. Stay together. Help those who cannot walk on their own. We leave now."
The crowd obeyed.
Slowly at first, then faster, the people of the commune began to move away from the place they had called paradise.
Some cried quietly.
Some looked angry.
Some looked numb.
Adriel couldn't blame them.
They had been given peace, and now they were being forced to abandon it because Noxus couldn't keep its hands to itself.
Because Ambessa wanted a weapon.
Because Singed wanted a miracle for his daughter.
Because everyone with power always seemed to find a way to make their desperation everyone else's problem.
The commune emptied in a long, anxious river of people.
Viktor, Sky, Jayce, Caitlyn, Vander, Isha, Vi, and Jinx stayed near the rear for a moment, making sure the others moved first.
Then Jinx noticed something.
Adriel hadn't moved.
He stood where he had appeared, facing the entrance of the commune.
Still.
Too still.
Jinx frowned. "Adriel?"
He didn't answer.
Vi turned too. "Hey."
Adriel's eyes remained fixed ahead.
Jinx stepped closer, confusion crossing her face. "What are you doing? We're leaving."
Adriel said nothing.
"That was the whole plan, right?" Jinx continued, trying to make her voice lighter even as unease crept in. "Everyone leaves. We don't get stabbed by Noxus. Big success. Gold star. Annoying heroic speech later."
Still nothing.
Then she saw his hands.
They were shaking.
Not much.
But enough.
His fingers trembled at his sides before he forced them into fists. His jaw tightened hard enough that the muscles jumped.
Jinx's expression shifted.
"Adriel?"
His voice came low.
"Go."
The word landed wrong.
Too sharp.
Too scared.
Jinx blinked. "What?"
Adriel swallowed.
"Just go."
Vi stepped closer now, her body already tensing.
"What do you mean, just go?"
Adriel finally glanced back at them.
For one second, the fear in his eyes was obvious.
Not hidden behind sarcasm.
Not buried under confidence.
Just there.
Raw.
"Get the fuck out of here," he said, voice shaking with restrained urgency. "Before it's too late."
The group went silent.
Jinx looked like she didn't understand.
Isha clutched at her clothes.
Vander rumbled low in his throat, sensing the shift even if he did not fully understand the words.
Vi's face hardened. "Adriel. What's happening?"
Adriel turned his gaze back toward the entrance.
And there he was.
Anansi.
Standing beside Ambessa like he had always belonged there.
He was not hiding.
He was not sneaking.
He was simply there.
Casual.
Natural.
Inserted into the scene so perfectly that none of the Noxian soldiers reacted to him. No one questioned his presence. No one looked confused. Not even Ambessa, whose eyes remained locked on the retreating commune as if the green-suited figure beside her was just another part of her command.
Adriel's stomach dropped.
Of course.
Anansi had changed the settings.
Character perception. Plot placement. Narrative belonging.
Whatever he had done, it made him fit.
To everyone else, he was not an intruder.
He was supposed to be there.
Adriel could feel the edit sitting wrong against reality, like a line of code forced into a script that had never been meant to hold it.
Anansi's neon-green edges glowed faintly in the distance.
Even from here, Adriel could feel him watching.
Waiting.
Enjoying this.
Ambessa saw the commune evacuating far beyond the entrance.
Her expression sharpened.
Then she raised her sword.
The blade caught the cavern light.
Her voice tore across the distance in a command that needed no translation.
The Noxian army moved.
Steel rang.
Boots thundered.
Lines broke into motion as soldiers surged forward, flooding toward Viktor's commune like a tide of armor and war.
Adriel's fists clenched.
Behind him, the people of the commune were still trying to escape.
Ahead of him, Noxus invaded.
And beside Ambessa, Anansi stood like a glitch wearing a smile.
Jinx ran to Adriel's side before anyone else could react.
She grabbed his arm and shook him hard.
"Adriel," she snapped. "Hey. Hey! We need to leave."
He didn't move.
His eyes stayed locked on the entrance of the commune, on the army pouring in, on the single green figure standing calmly beside Ambessa like he belonged there.
Jinx shook him again, more violently this time.
"Adriel!"
Still nothing.
Not really.
He was hearing her. He knew he was. But his focus was stretched too thin, split between the people behind him, the soldiers ahead of him, and Anansi standing there with that casual, unbearable confidence.
Adriel looked back.
Jinx.
Vi.
Isha.
Vander.
Caitlyn.
Jayce.
Viktor.
Sky.
The people of the commune.
All of them were still too close.
Too exposed.
Too fragile.
The decision formed instantly.
There was no time to argue.
Adriel snapped his fingers.
Reality bent.
In one sharp pulse, the people of the commune vanished.
So did Jayce.
Sky.
Viktor.
Vander.
Caitlyn.
All of them were ripped out of the scene and sent somewhere far away. Somewhere within Piltover or Zaun. Somewhere safe. Adriel didn't care exactly where as long as it was away from Anansi and away from Noxus.
But before the teleport could reach Vi, Jinx, and Isha—
Reality stuttered.
Not resisted.
Stuttered.
Like the command hit a corrupted wall of code and failed to execute.
Adriel's eyes widened.
The teleport shattered around the three of them, leaving Vi, Jinx, and Isha exactly where they stood.
His stomach dropped.
No.
No, no, no.
He looked toward Anansi.
The Dark stood far away beside Ambessa, shoulders shaking with silent laughter. He lifted one hand and wagged his finger side to side.
Nuh-uh.
Adriel's fists clenched so hard his palms nearly split.
Of course.
Of fucking course.
Anansi had blocked them.
Not everyone.
Just them.
The three people guaranteed to make this worse for Adriel if they were in danger.
His jaw tightened.
Fine.
If he couldn't teleport them out, then he would lock them in.
With another motion, Adriel raised walls around Vi, Jinx, and Isha. The ground split upward, folding into thick barriers of compressed stone and metal. The walls formed a protective box around them, high and solid, sealing them away from the battlefield.
Jinx's eyes went wide.
Vi's expression hardened instantly.
They knew this.
They remembered this.
He had pulled the same shit back in the caves when they were looking for Vander.
And none of them liked where this was going.
"Adriel!" Vi shouted.
Jinx slammed her hands against the wall. "No. No, no, no, don't you dare do this again!"
Isha pressed close behind Jinx, eyes wide with fear.
Adriel didn't turn around.
"Stay inside," he said.
"Let us out!" Vi barked.
"Not happening."
"Adriel!"
He closed his eyes for one second, forcing himself to breathe.
Then he looked back just enough for them to see his face.
"Don't worry," he said. "This time, I'm not nerfed."
That did not comfort them.
At all.
"I have my full power," Adriel continued. "But him being here complicates everything. So I need you three protected."
Jinx's voice cracked with anger. "We can help!"
"No," Adriel said.
The word landed like a door slamming shut.
Jinx froze.
Adriel's expression softened for a fraction of a second.
"I'll be right back."
Then he walked away.
Vi and Jinx screamed after him.
They cursed. Begged. Demanded he come back. Demanded he stop treating them like helpless children. Demanded he let them do something.
Adriel kept walking.
Ahead of him, the Noxian army surged into the commune.
Boots thundered against the ground. Armor clattered. Soldiers shouted orders and battle cries, their voices building into one brutal wave of sound. They came with the determination Noxus always carried, that hungry certainty that anything in front of them could be conquered if they threw enough steel and blood at it.
Adriel walked toward them alone.
One man.
Hands at his sides.
Eyes tired.
Almost bored.
Not because he underestimated them.
Because this routine was old.
Armies. Soldiers. Monsters. Gods. Men and women charging at him because they thought numbers meant something.
Ambessa led the march, sword raised, face carved with command and violence.
"Capture him!" she shouted.
Adriel almost laughed.
Capture him.
Cute.
The front line closed in.
Spears lowered.
Blades lifted.
Rifles angled.
Adriel raised one hand.
A single casual wave.
His hacking ability and magnetism activated at the same time.
The result was instant.
Every piece of metal across the Noxian formation obeyed him.
Armor plates. Knee guards. greaves. buckles. bindings. weapon fittings. Anything metal near the lower half of their bodies shifted violently inward, compressing with impossible precision.
The army fell.
Not in waves.
All at once.
A brutal chorus of breaking legs tore through the commune.
Soldiers screamed as their own armor crushed them from the waist down. Femurs snapped. Knees buckled. Ankles folded under pressure they were never built to survive. The entire front of the Noxian force collapsed into the dirt, weapons clattering uselessly around them.
One second, they were an invading army.
The next, they were bodies on the ground, howling in pain.
Adriel waved his hand again.
Silence dropped over them.
Every single soldier passed out.
No screaming.
No struggling.
Just unconscious bodies scattered across the commune's entrance.
They would sleep for twelve hours.
And they would not be walking after that.
Ambessa collapsed right in front of him, her sword slipping from her hand as sleep took her too.
Adriel stepped over the blade and looked toward Anansi.
The Dark whistled from the far entrance.
Then he clapped.
Slowly.
Mockingly.
Adriel's expression did not change.
With another wave of his hand, every unconscious Noxian soldier vanished.
Ambessa vanished with them.
He sent them far away.
Back home.
Straight to Noxus.
Not going to lie, that was going to be one insane UPS package.
But jokes aside, the battlefield was suddenly empty.
No army.
No Ambessa.
No soldiers.
Only Adriel and Anansi staring at each other across the commune.
For a few seconds, there was complete silence.
Behind the walls, Vi, Jinx, and Isha could barely process what they had just seen.
They had always known Adriel was powerful.
Of course they had.
They had seen enough impossible things from him to understand he was not normal. Not even close.
But this?
This was different.
He had erased an army's momentum with one hand.
Not fought it.
Not struggled against it.
Not outmaneuvered it.
He had simply decided the army was done.
And it was.
That truth settled into their bones in a way none of them could ignore.
Adriel wasn't just strong.
He was terrifying.
A fairy tale wearing a man's face.
A god who kept insisting he wasn't one.
Jinx swallowed hard.
Vi said nothing.
Isha clutched Jinx's clothes tighter.
Out in the open, Adriel inhaled.
Slow.
Controlled.
Then he exhaled.
Across from him, Anansi did the same.
The air between them changed.
For one second, they stood a thousand meters apart.
Then they moved.
There was no buildup.
No warning.
No dramatic charge across the battlefield.
One instant, Adriel stood near the fallen path where the army had been.
The next, he appeared in the middle of the commune.
Anansi appeared with him.
Both of them threw right hooks at the exact same time.
No defense.
No hesitation.
Just pure force.
Their fists crashed into each other's faces.
The impact detonated.
A shockwave exploded outward, ripping through the commune with enough force to shatter windows, bend metal, and send loose debris spinning through the air. The ground cracked beneath their feet. The walls around Vi, Jinx, and Isha trembled from the pressure.
Adriel's face snapped sideways.
Anansi's did too.
For one frozen instant, both of them stood there with their fists buried into each other's jaws, bodies twisted from the force of the blow.
Then the air screamed around them.
The fight had finally begun.
To Be Continued...