Chapter Text
Vi and Powder barrel straight towards Benzo’s, sparing not even a second to dawdle. As they approach the shop, a familiar face pops out from around the door and hobbles onto the cobblestoned storefront.
“Claggor?” Vi blinks in surprise. “What are you doing here?”
“Little Man wasn’t feeling too good so I dropped him off,” Claggor frowns as his equalled surprise dissipates.
He gives Powder and her a look-over before his shoulders tense in anticipation. “Vi - what’s going on?”
“It’s nothing,” Vi spits out instinctively. A bubbling weight pulls at her chest when she sees Claggor’s wounded look.
“Oh. Okay.” Claggor nods tersely.
Vi stares at her brother in all but blood, the truth scratching at her throat.
“I-”
“You-” Claggor halts before nodding at Vi, hope glimmering grey in his eyes, “Sorry. You wanted to say…?”
Vi glances at her red handwraps, remembering that there’s an uptown Promenade pharmacy that’s always missing a fresh pack whenever Claggor makes the rare trip up.
Violet would never let herself be so ungrateful.
“Sorry,” She sounds like a parrot, complete with an awkward squawk. “It's not nothing - it’s…way too complicated to explain right now. Well, not really but-” Vi backpedals hastily, “I turned myself in to the sheriff.”
“You-” Claggor turns to Powder, blinking, “…huh?”
Powder sighs, exasperated. Shrugging her shoulders exaggeratedly towards Vi.
“Yeah, I sent them this message tube-thing like…this morning? Last night? 2 AM or something - but Powder pointed out that it was a dumbass plan so we’re here now and we’re going to get them to look for one of Sevika’s guys instead,” Vi explains, rambling and adding on to clarify, “He’s the uhh…knife guy. Enforcers’ll be here in a couple of hours.”
“So you’re…going to convince the enforcers to just…not arrest you…?” Claggor trails off before looking to Powder for a shred of sanity.
The youngest of them nods and chirps, “Yuh-huh that’s pretty much it!”
Vi visibly sees Claggor losing brain cells by the second. Claggor blinks at her in disbelief.
Vi gives him a thumbs up.
“You know what? Sure-,” Claggor sighs, “What do you need me to do?”
Vi and Powder break into eerily matching grins.
Claggor visibly fights the urge to groan in mild despair.
It takes another couple of minutes or so to convince Vi to stay behind at Benzo’s while the other two went down to the docks. While not exactly kicking and screaming with resistance (and boy wouldn’t Jinx know that feeling), Vi’s left to sulk and brood by the counter.
“You’ve gotta be here to explain it if the Sheriff and Marcus come by!” Jinx nearly shrieks in exasperation as she stomps towards the door with Claggor in tow. “We’ve literally been through this like five times now.”
Vi grumbles something under her breath but she can’t really make out if it was an agreement, something inappropriately rude to say to your little sister or a secret third thing that would be revealed later on.
Whatever. Jinx had to tamper with the timeline right now.
“This guy we’re looking for. He’s the one that…” Claggor’s silence lasts a split second and a millennia, “...was blonde, right?”
Jinx feels her cheeks warm at Claggor’s polite sidestepping. “His name’s Deckard. Should be down by the docks right about now if we hurry.”
She doesn’t even know why she feels even slightly humiliated by the ongoing censorship of her gross show of violence. It wasn’t like Vi or Claggor meant ill by any of the euphemisms and off-point descriptions. If anything, they were probably trying not to stress her out over it.
It’s only a matter of time before they realise that the violence was her. Jinx was chaos, terror and the promise of death. Vi had probably already started to see it - the way she’s started to take Powder seriously. Just as her Vi did when she realised that Jinx was a calculating monster to be feared. To cage .
“Are you not going to ask me how I know all this stuff?”
Claggor doesn’t slow his pace but turns to give her a nonchalant shrug. Jinx can’t take her eyes off the goggles sitting on his forehead, fogged by body heat.
“Is there a reason I should be asking?”
“Well, I don’t exactly have the best track record for reliability. Or usefulness.”
Claggor offers a low hum, seemingly in agreement. Jinx huffs an empty laugh. “You know it. And yet you’re here, joining me on some wild goose chase. What if I’m wrong? What if we’ve just left Vi to eat shit and get shot by the enforcers? You could’ve come up with a better plan,” Jinx looks at her brother with a hopeful gaze.
“You always come through with a better plan, Clag. What if I’ve…jinxed it with this one?”
White noise slowly creeps from behind her ears growing with every heartbeat, threatening to submerge her into cotton-like nothingness.
Claggor snorts.
“You really don’t give yourself enough credit,” Claggor comes to a full halt, gaze fixed on Jinx with full sincerity. “You always think you mess up because you try to be like us. But you’re not.”
“...Don't you want me to be? If we’re different then we’d…” Jinx bumps her fists together, “...we’d clash. Right? I’d just be some…curse haunting you guys.”
Claggor shakes his head, picking his pace back up towards the docks. Jinx hops behind her brother, heart racing ahead.
“You know, Powder, Vander used to tell us,” his eyes twinkle knowingly, “What makes you different makes you strong.”
Jinx feels her throat constrict at the familiar words.
“I can’t fight like Vi can. But Vi doesn’t really see the big picture as quick as I do. Mylo’s faster and sneakier than both of us. And you and Little Man are smarter than all of us combined. You’ll find your place, Powder,” Claggor smiles as they approach a faded red signboard, rusted iron hanging over their heads.
“You’re a jinx. So what? Sounds like a problem for Topside.”
Jinx blinks away the wetness in her eyes, letting the salty air sting at her skin as they walk further towards Silco’s warehouse by the coastside.
“You were always the best, Claggor.” She’d forgotten.
Jinx whispers, “Don’t tell Vi, though.”
They duck behind a pile of broken scraps as a shadow passes round the far corner ahead of them.
“You’re both my little sisters,” Claggor whispers back, “If you wanted the world then I’d find a way for you to have it.”
‘You’re a jinx,’ Jinx thought to herself.
It didn’t hurt as much to hear anymore.
“Sap.” Powder grins softly. Claggor rolls his eyes at her before following Jinx further into the warehouse.
They tip toe around the compound, eventually finding an eerie-looking growth forming a glowing purple trail along the ground. Claggor and Jinx follow the purple streaks, eventually reaching a metal door left slightly ajar.
Claggor and Jinx share a look before splitting up and searching for a better vantage point.
If Jinx’s wasn’t already slightly perturbed by the fact that they hadn’t come across a soul while traipsing around the warehouse compound, then the abandoned centre of the warehouse was the final thing that set the alarms off in her head.
Hadn’t Silco already had barrels of shimmer kept here? Wasn’t that what spread the explosion so large-
She turns to an alleyway, old pipes sticking out, half connected and rotting away like the rest of the building.
Like Vander’s limp body, bloodied and pulsing purple-
Jinx flinches and shuts her eyes, desperately chasing away the image from her mind’s eye and slowly backs away from the alley.
Jinx trips backwards, letting out a sharp yelp.
She’s grabbed by the collar of her shirt and lifted unceremoniously off the ground like a kitten bitten by its mother at its scruff.
“Now, what the hell are you doing here?”
Jinx feels her blood run cold.
‘You’re a problem-’
‘Brat!’
‘It’s your sister-’
‘Guess she replaced you.’
‘Take two and only two, dipshit!’
‘Stop that, now you’re fuckin’ bleeding-’
“You won’t even look at me!” Jinx shrieks.
“There’s nothing to see,” Sevika says tightly, “You’re a problem. Always have been. You’re not my problem anymore,”
“Well, maybe you should’ve thought about that when you taught me how to shoot a fuckin’ gun!”
“Silco’s gone, Jinx. He was the only thing we had in common and now he’s dead. We aren’t anything to each other. Never were, never will be,” Sevika attempts.
“Sev, please,” Jinx whines.
“Don’t kid yourself. You and I both know we only put up with each other because of your old man. He was my boss. You were his brat that I had to keep alive. That’s it. Don’t go imagining things now just because your family is dead. Have some self-respect.”
“You never gave a shit about me,”
Sevika huffs. “Nope. Wasn’t part of the job description.”
“You’ll be glad when I finally fuck off in D-minus-ten seconds ago. Ecstatic even,” Sevika says, never taking her eyes off Jinx, “and I’ll be over the goddamn moon.”
Jinx crashes into the ground, screaming.
“Fuck…why does Vander even let you out of the Drop when you’re…” Sevika sighs.
Jinx trembles despite a familiar bitterness creeping up towards her chest. “Why’d you throw me for?!” She all but shrieks at the imposing woman.
Sevika snorts, pulling out a pistol and tapping it against her thigh in warning.
“You talk like you’ve got business even being here, brat. Now, are you gonna tell me why you’re skulking around here and what you’re looking for or are you going to continue spazzing out and screaming bloody murder? Jeez, kid, I haven’t even got to the part where I start beating the shit out of you yet.”
Even looking at her is hard because she’s got the same snarl and mannerisms. She’s tapping her gun but the safety isn’t even lifted.
“And why is it any of your business what I’m looking for?” Jinx spits in defiance, just to be petty.
Sevika actually growls and it's almost animal-like.
“Do you mean to sound like a dog? Or do you just prefer looking and smelling like one?”
“This is restricted territory and you’re about ten meters away from getting a bullet through your head. So? Still gonna yap?”
Ten meters?
“Chill out, jeez. I’m looking for the old motherboards in the factory. Maybe even snag a few resistors if I’m lucky. You seen any?”
Sevika considers her for a moment before flicking at the gun lock.
Shit.
“Where is Vander, anyways? Shouldn’t you be with him instead of getting into trouble?”
“I don’t know,” Jinx narrows her eyes in suspicion. “You didn’t answer me anyways so why should I tell you?”
Sevika stares at her, gun tapping at her thigh.
“This place was cleared off a while back. There’s nothing valuable left here,” Sevika offers the information amicably. “Now scram . And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll go straight back to the Drop and stay there . Don’t let me catch you out in the Lanes tonight, you got it?”
“Crystal.”
“I said, now !” Sevika hisses as she fires a bullet into concrete above them, nestling itself snugly into its new place in the wall.
Jinx throws a nasty look at Sevika before scampering away to reconvene with Claggor.
She finds him already halfway towards where the shot went off, his eyes wild with terror.
“What was that?!” Claggor calls, falling into a sprint as Jinx beckons him to follow her out of the compound.
“Something’s gonna happen in the Lanes!” Jinx yells, breathing uneven from the exertion. “We need to get back to Benzo’s now! ”
This time, there is no idle conversation filling the silence as they speed back towards Benzo’s empty-handed. But it was no critical matter - they just needed to find a place to hide while Deckard’s shimmer-boost wore off.
There’s a handful of enforcers waiting by the door when they arrive and they’re quick to waste their time, standing in between Jinx and saving her family.
“The sher- Captain Marcus sent for me - just let me in!” Jinx throws off the hand of one enforcer that was trying to grip onto her shoulder.
“The captain already spoke to you at the bar. Get lost, kid.”
“And we have urgent follow-up information, asshole!” Jinx hisses at the enforcer.
Even with an iron helmet over his head, Jinx could feel the condescending sneer of the enforcer as he alternated looking between Jinx and Claggor.
“Fine. You can go. The other one stays here.” He declares, shoving Jinx roughly towards the shop’s door.
“That’s fine,” Claggor is quick to pacify the enforcers, nodding for Jinx to hurry into the shop. With a final glance at her brother, Jinx struts into Benzo’s shop.
Four pairs of eyes shoot towards her instantly.
“We need to go. Now .” She says in lieu of a greeting.
Benzo splutters in surprise as Vander regains his bearings. “Stay out of this, Powder. There’s nothing you can do to fix this now.”
A muffled shout bleeds through the wooden door of the storage room.
Marcus groans in frustration, “No, I’ve been trying to tell you- all of you,” he turns to the sheriff in emphasis, “that there’s someone else that’s pulling the strings here. A guy named-”
“We don’t have time for another investigation, Marcus. The council wants someone by tonight and our hands are tied until then.” The sheriff turns to give a solemn look to Vander who nods in understanding, “We’ll figure something out. But I have to make this arrest before the council tears through the Undercity and makes things worse .”
Vi starts banging on the storage door.
“His name’s Deckard and he’s bringing his gang here and they’re coming for Vander. We need to hide him.” Jinx interjects. Marcus looks half betrayed and half grateful at her contribution.
Benzo’s eyes narrow sternly, “Where’d you hear that? If it’s someone from the Lanes then-”
“His name is Silco.”
Vander and Benzo visibly pale at Marcus’ revelation.
The sheriff considers Marcus with a grave look. “And this Silco is…?”
“No,” Jinx cuts in before Marcus can answer her. “It’s definitely Deckard. Maybe Sevika too but-”
“Sevika’s never been a leader. She sniffs out and follows power - so if Sevika is acting out then that really means…” Vander and Benzo share a look.
If Marcus’ glare could burn, he’d have set Jinx alight.
“So that means that it's positively and irrefutably this Silco guy. Great. That’s settled. Now we’ve wasted too much time and we need to go now-”
An inhuman screech in the near distance seals their fate.
“What was that?” The sheriff says, her head snapping towards the door.
Vander throws Powder over his shoulder and rushes for the stairway leading to rooms upstairs. He kneels down to her and cups her cheek, his palm the size of her head. “Whatever you do, do not come out until it's safe. And for Janna’s sake, do not go after Silco,” Vander instructs firmly and all Powder can muster is a nod. “Stay with your sister.” Vander presses a rare kiss to her head before nudging her to go upstairs.
There are screams outside and a couple of gunshot fired.
When he blinks, the tinted windows are splattered with blood.
Grayson’s subordinate - ‘ Marcus ’ his mind supplies - is frozen in what is most probably fear. He can’t blame the man nor can he find it within himself to sneer at him for all his previous arrogance and false bravado.
Vander steps towards the door, something deep within him trembling with conflicting emotions. What has Silco done now?
But by Janna did he miss his brother.
Benzo sends a nod Vander’s way, his hand on the door handle. Grayson readies her gun and follows close, Vander in tow.
In one moment, Benzo is pushing the door open. In the next, the door is ripped off is hinge and his closest friend screams. Even then, his scream lasts a mere couple of seconds before he is silenced.
Grayson and Vander don’t even make it five seconds out of the door before the thing comes for them too.
White static fills his vision as searing pain overwhelms his body. A gunshot goes off somewhere but Vander can’t make sense of where anything is, the only thing his mind aware of being the burning numbness of his legs.
As his vision clears, he finds himself face to face with Benzo. Reaching out, Vander grabs at the air searching for his friend’s shoulder or chest or anything .
Vander’s palm slides off Benzo’s neck and hits the wet cobblestone of the pavement, hand slick with red.
The world rapidly fades to black.
Jinx comes running into the room just as Little Man stirs awake.
“Powder?” Little Man rises from his bed cot. “What’s up? Why’s everyone shouting downstairs?”
Jinx stumbles to his surveillance pipes. “You got eyes on the storefront?” Jinx searches the surveillance system with frantic eyes.
“Yeah, of course,” Little Man is quick to pull himself off the cot at her flusteredness, shifting levers and gears that drop a couple of pipes down from the ceiling after a handful of seconds. He brings his eyes to the viewing tube and-
“Holy shit,” Little Man gasps, “oh my god-“
Little Man freezes.
“Little Man? C’mon tell me, what’s happening? Is it safe? Can I go down now?”
When Little Man doesn’t respond Jinx pushes him aside to look through the scope herself.
Her heart stutters to a stop.
Dead enforcers. And dead Benzo. Oh.
Where was-? “How do I-?” Jinx yanks at the metal. The stupid scope wouldn’t budge, wouldn’t show her if Vander and Claggor were okay-
Fuck it she’s going down there.
Ekko grabs her bicep shakily.
“Jay,” he says, eyes confused and desperate and pained-
Jinx yanks her arm off from Ekko’s grip, not meeting his eyes once.
“Fuck off,” Jinx pounces for the window exit.
“No- Jay, Jinx-“
Marcus steps out into the carnage to a familiar sight.
He knows how this goes. This was the stuff of his nightmares - every other night for years on end - but he rushes to Grayson anyways, going to search for a pulse.
He feels numb as his knees come crashing to the ground, hunching over the sheriff’s limp body. He rips his gloves off, tossing them into the general direction of away and his hand hovers over her neck-
He knows how this goes.
Marcus crumples into himself with a silent sob. Was this always how it was going to go? Had he been played from the very beginning? Silco was here - with or without Marcus leaking Vander’s location to Silco - and Grayson would be dead. With or without Marcus’ stupidity and greed.
The slow click of heels against the stone streets overwhelms Marcus. He feels frozen in an ice block.
“Marcus,” Silco greets, his pleasant tone corrupted by a sinister gaze. “Wonderful day we’re having, no?”
“I didn’t - I didn’t…?” Marcus’ breath shudders. “How?” He wheezes out, digging his fingernails into his palm. The pain does little to sober him from his state but he’s left slightly more grounded with the soothing sting.
He dares to bring his eyes to meet the monster’s.
“I never told you where Vander would be,” Marcus says, “You tricked me.”
Silco’s lips stretch into an unsettling grin. “Oh Sheriff, you forget yourself.”
Marcus felt his heart come to a full stop.
Seeing his look of recognition, Silco’s grin settled into a crueler sneer. Silco never smiled like that. Only Jinx did - and only when she wanted someone to hurt . Perhaps it was learned.
“You and I both know this was always going to be the deal.”
Marcus shakes his head frantically, “It wasn't supposed to turn out like this. I can’t-”
“How’s little Ren doing?” It was as though Silco was describing the god-damned weather and not hinting towards the most devastating reveal of Marcus’ second life.
Marcus trembles in fear, anger, devastation, regret - self-hatred. It wasn’t fair. That was a different life. It wasn’t fair that he had to atone for a sin he’d never committed this time round.
“Don’t get me wrong, Marcus, you’re an awfully useful pawn,” Silco drawls as he saunters towards Marcus’ crumpled form, “-but you’re not exactly indispensable either.”
Silco drops a familiar bag of coins onto the cobbled street beneath him. It lands by Marcus’ knee.
“You’d do best to remember the script, Marcus.”
Marcus stares as Silco begins to stride off in a slow march, just as he did a lifetime ago.
He’d lived through hell and now that he was dead, his punishment was doing it all over again.
He fucking hated it when Jinx turned out to be right.
On his left, Jinx emerges from the storecorner. Silco stops in his tracks and abruptly turns to face his former ward in disbelief.
Jinx turns the corner, taking in the death before her.
Benzo, dead. Random enforcer 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6- did they deserve it? Marcus and Grayson. Marcus is staring at something but Jinx doesn’t give a shit because across from Grayson is Vander -
Jinx didn’t want to look.
She tears her eyes away and lands on a familiar set of shattered goggles.
Fuck. This was not happening again.
“No-” Jinx feels an invisible rope tighten around her throat as she rushes forward, nearly tripping over the makeshift stairway. There’s so much blood. “Nononono- NO!”
“Claggor?” Her voice drops into a nonsensical whisper as she hovers over his blood splattered face, listening for any sort of breath or pulse. He wasn’t supposed to be here, he was never meant to be-
“CLAGGOR?” She yells when he doesn't respond. Maybe he just couldn't hear her. He was always so far away. Mylo kept closer to her but Claggor was always so close yet so distant. She pulls her brother closer to her, tearing his head further off his neck in the process.
Jinx screams.
At some point her vision goes white and all she can hear is her heart thumping wildly between her ears.
Then - familiar hands. That gentleness that cups at her jawline and pulls her in to listen to his steady heartbeat.
When her vision clears, she is struck with sudden lucidness. She grips onto his vest - whether to pull herself up or to drag him down, it didn’t matter. Not anymore.
“Why?”
Silco remains silent.
“Why did you do this? Why, why, why ? WHY!” She grows into her hysteria, thrashing in his arms and pushing him away from her.
Silco flinches in confusion.
“I thought you would have been glad to be rid of your demons?”
Jinx screeches.
She lunges towards her father, scratches at him and makes futile assaults against his person before finally shoving him with all her might.
“Go away!” She yells as Silco stares at her with a rare desperation to his eyes.
He holds his hands up placatingly, “I need you to understand that everything I do and have done is all for-”
“GO AWAY! Go away, go away, go
away!
You ruined
everything!”
Jinx screams her lungs out for what feels like hours before she drops to the cobbled ground, letting the jagged edges of stone cut into her skin.
Heeled boots scamper away from the scene, fading with her every shudder and tear.
Ekko buries his head into his palms and shakes. Tears came easy to his young body but somehow his decade old habit of suppressing his emotions managed to quell the worst of his outburst.
Ekko was shaking uncontrollably.
This was what was meant to happen, he supposes. Why now? Why of all times, would the universe mock him with awareness, with his future memories at this very moment when it was just too late to stop the greatest tragedy of his life?
Why mock him now? Cursing him to watch the man who was the closest to a father he’d ever had die a gruesome death a second time over. Cursing him to be in the same room with the one person that gave him a sense of comfort and normality for a split second before ripping her away from him as his world collapses all over again.
How was he even here? The last thing he remembers is…is…
Ekko draws a blank in his memory. What did it matter anyways? Benzo was dead . Is dead. Was? It's only been a few minutes, maybe there’s a chance! Where was his z-drive when he needed it most? Just ten minutes, that’s all he needed-
Ekko doesn't even get the chance to dodge when she fires the hex-weapon at the z-drive point blank while he goes for her head with his staff. Ekko’s heart stops. A shot from this up close would hit the-!
The z-drive explodes, triggering an aggressive shockwave that causes the water around the bridge to rampage and the stone and metal to creak and crumble. Jinx and Ekko are at the epicenter of it all, the last thing he feels is her nails digging into his collarbone.
“Fuckin’ design flaw,” Ekko chuckles wetly to himself, lips quivering. “...should’ve made a failsafe,” he whispers as he buries his face deeper into his palms.
It wouldn’t have made a difference. He was too late. He was always too late.
Maybe that's why the universe keeps cursing him to chase moments in the past, shattering time itself to the point where it’s reset itself like this - and even then, he’s still destined to always be too late, always running out of time, always in the wrong place and the wrong time.
Too late to save Benzo. Too late to save Powder. Too late to save Claggor, Vi-
Vi was downstairs.
Ekko claws at his shins and wills his body to break into a sprint.