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Caitlyn and Vi had not spent an easy two days in the Zaun.
While Vi moved through the Sump with the muscle memory of a predator returning to its hunting grounds, Caitlyn felt the crushing weight of the district's secrets. "Silco's influence is a chokehold," she muttered, adjusting her gear. "The people are too terrified to speak, and this 'Firelight' gang... they're ghosts. Even Silco's best hunters can't pin them down."
Still, her detective's intuition was firing on all cylinders. "The explosion at the Hexgate wasn't a pirate raid. It was a Shimmer shipment intercepted by the Firelights. A classic double-cross. But without a witness or a manifest, it's just my word against a mountain of rubble."
Vi leaned against a rusted pipe, watching the "Little Cupcake" struggle with the grime. She was secretly impressed, though she'd never admit it. Behind Caitlyn's back, Vi was running her own investigation. Every informant she squeezed gave her the same name: Jax. A man with a streetlamp who had snatched Powder from the jaws of the cannery explosion.
She wanted the Firelights now more than Caitlyn did—because if Jax was with them, Powder was too.
Their partnership was cut short the next morning by the rhythmic, metallic clatter of Enforcer boots. It was a sound Vi knew in her marrow. Without a word, she rolled into the shadows of a narrow alley, vanishing before the blue coats could round the corner.
Caitlyn saw Marcus leading the squad. She knew her time was up; her mother must have sent the cavalry the moment she realized Caitlyn hadn't returned. Over the last forty-eight hours, her bond with Vi had shifted from "prisoner and guard" to something approaching mutual respect. She had seen the raw, unyielding heart of the girl with the pink hair, and she knew she couldn't let Marcus drag Vi back to a cell for a forged pardon.
"Run," Caitlyn whispered toward the alley. "They're here for me. I'll stall them. Don't get caught."
Vi paused in the darkness, looking at the Enforcer. She saw the same stubborn flame in Caitlyn's eyes that she carried in her own. She gave a single, sharp nod and disappeared into the vents.
Marcus arrived, his face a mask of suppressed fury. "I told you to drop this, Caitlyn. Do you have any idea how much sleep your mother has lost?"
Marcus was less worried about her mother's sleep and more worried that Caitlyn's notebook contained the name "Silco." If the Council found out about his ties to the Zaun kingpin, he was finished. He took her arm, none too gently. "We're going home. Now."
Caitlyn looked back at the empty alley one last time. Go, Vi, she thought. Find the truth I'm not allowed to see.
The Council of Progress
While Vi hunted ghosts in the Sump and Caitlyn was confined to her estate, Chen and Powder were living in a different world entirely.
Safe within the golden walls of the Academy, the research team was a juggernaut. Chen provided the "blueprints" from a world of pure physics; Powder provided the raw, intuitive genius to make them real; and Heimerdinger provided the centuries of scientific expertise to refine them.
Groundbreaking inventions were being born every hour. But Heimerdinger knew that for this "Pure Technology" to survive, it needed political backing. It needed to eclipse Hextech.
The Professor called an emergency meeting of the Council. Chen and Powder stood in the shadows as the most powerful people in Piltover took their seats.
"Councillor Heimerdinger," began Mel Medarda, her golden ornaments catching the light. She was the primary patron of Jayce's Hextech, and she was already wary. "To what do we owe this urgent summons?"
Heimerdinger stood on his chair, his ears twitching with excitement. "Piltover is the City of Progress, but lately, we have forgotten that progress must be sustainable. Magic is an uncontrollable variable. I have seen the scars it leaves on history! We have embraced Hextech for its wealth, but we have ignored its danger."
Mel stood up immediately, her voice sharp. "Hextech built the Hexgates. It made us the trade capital of the world. You cannot stifle our evolution based on ancient fears, Councillor."
The other Councillors nodded in agreement, their pockets lined with the gold Hextech had provided. But Heimerdinger shook his head.
"I do not wish to stifle progress. I wish to perfect it. We now have a method that provides the power of Hextech without the volatility of magic. A revolution of pure science!"
The chamber went silent. Heimerdinger's scientific authority was absolute, even when his politics were unpopular. He gestured toward the corner.
"Allow me to introduce the man who saw the path I missed. Chen! Step forward and show them the future."
Chen kicked his hover-sword into gear, gliding smoothly into the center of the rotunda. He looked at the faces of the Council—the people who held the fate of two cities in their hands.
"Hello, Councillors," Chen said, his voice echoing with the confidence of a man who knew the "Meta" of history. "My name is Chen. And today, I'm here to tell you that the age of magic is over. Welcome to the Industrial Revolution."
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