[Fanfiction] Fracture - Chapter 9 (2)

PROLOGUE: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/fancreations/fZAXxjHA-fanfiction-fracture PREVIOUS CHAPTER: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/fancreations/9OfywUzq-fanfiction-fracture-chapter-8-1

Fanfiction.net link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10770866/1/Fracture

Genres: Suspense/Drama/Mystery/a lot of others Characters: Leona, Caitlyn, Nasus, Kassadin, too many to list

Summary: The machine that sustains the lethal matches of the League fails. Events spiral outwards. (Character death.)

Note: Thanks to word limitations I have to separate this chapter into two parts as well. Previous Part: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/fancreations/Wksy4MBf-fanfiction-fracture-chapter-9-1

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CONFRONTATION

Vi had never hated the sound of dial tone more in her life.

The Enforcer slammed the phone back into its holder, almost crushing it in the process. The office practically shook from the brute force.

"Look at me, I'm the sheriff," she mimed, accent particularly obnoxious, throwing up one pinky for good measure. "I never give up on a lead, even when it's just a hunch and there are crazy monsters out there that could eat me! Aren't I just the best?"

She growled, kicking one leg of a chair in frustration.

"...I'm guessing she didn't pick up then," remarked Jayce from the other side of the desk, vaguely amused.

"Ugh, it's been two days since she called!" she groaned, throwing up her hands. "She didn't even tell me where she was going."

"Relax, I'm sure she'll be all right. I mean, it's the sheriff we're talking about here. She can handle herself."

"Says you, Lantern-jaw," scoffed Vi, pointing a derisive finger at him. "You think Ezreal is tough."

"What does that mean?" asked the Defender of Tomorrow suspiciously, eyes narrowing. He crossed his arms. "Ezreal can hold his own - he got the crystal we were looking for, didn't we? Didn't even need my help."

The Enforcer smiled thinly. "I think your ego's showing, bud," she cooed, voice sickeningly saccharine. He rolled his eyes.

"Either way, Caitlyn can manage just fine," asserted Jayce, waving a hand. "You worry too much."

"I do not."

"Yeah you do," he insisted, kicking back in the chair. "Every time the sheriff goes solo for a little bit, you make a huge fuss about it like she's going to get killed right out the door."

"Well she's – squishy, you know?" He raised an eyebrow at her and Vi turned bright red, glaring. "Not that way! If they get up close and personal with her, Cupcake gets wrecked."

"But they won't, because she's smarter than that. She'll. Be. Fine." He swept his feet off the desk, straightening up. "Besides, we have to worry about Piltover, not the sheriff. If that maniac is still running amok when Malzahar's little friends come knocking, things'll get bad."

"You don't have to tell me that," she said indignantly, crossing her arms. "The entire reason I'm not with Cupcake right now is 'cuz you and I have to take care of it."

"So let's do that then. What're we going to do about Jinx?"

"What, are we not going to smash her face in?"

Jayce sighed, rolling his eyes again. "Have you not tried that a million times by now?"

"It has to work one of these days," she told him, cracking her knuckles.

"We kind of have to catch her first, which, judging by the state of the treasury last month, hasn't worked out too well for you guys," he remarked dryly, looking over his shoulder out the window. Piltover's many skyscrapers still had holes blown open where the Loose Cannon had left her message.

"Hey buddy, if you'd been around to help us out instead of tagging along with your boyfriend trying to find a fairytale, we coulda caught her right then and there," she snapped.

"Whoa, hold on now," said the Defender of Tomorrow, rising from his seat. "I don't care if you call Ezreal my boyfriend, but Icathia is not a fairytale. The pieces we brought back for the museum were more than conclusive."

"Nice to know you got your priorities straight," Vi noted snidely.

"You can't call it a fairytale after meeting both Malzahar and Kassadin, not even you can be that thick."

"Well what the hell is it supposed to do for us anyway? Huh, Mr. Scientific Progress?" she asked, jabbing a finger at him. "Great - some old magic shit and a fuckton of dust! Way to bring us into tomorrow!"

"Science and magic go together great," he protested. "And imagine being able to one-up Zaun on discovering a lost city!"

Neither of them had noticed their conversation straying wildly off topic – Vi's cutting retort was interrupted by the sudden rush of static that poured from the radio on her belt.

"Officer Vi, come in."

"That's me," she said, snatching it up. "What's up?"

"We have some civilians reporting a situation in the town square. Group of unlicensed summoners, it looks like."

"They dangerous?" she asked, going for the door.

"Unknown, but they seem to be trying some kind of mass summoning. Officers have been cautioned, citizens evacuated."

"I'm on my way." She looked over at Jayce, gesturing with a jerk of her head as she opened the door. "Never mind your dumb projects. Let's go."

He sighed, hefting up his Mercury Hammer from where it was propped in the corner. "Yeah. I gotcha."

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"Eight years ain't a big deal!"

"Maybe not to you – you never spent any time in the locker!"

"You came out just fine, didn't you?" yelled the Card Master, hitting the ground with a grunt as he rolled out of the way of another buckshot. "Forgive and forget, i'n't it?"

"Forgive my ass," he snorted, firing off another round. The slippery bastard was dodging every shot. "Why in tarnation don't you hold still, you damned rat? I like moving targets an' all, but why not make this quick?"

"Like I'm just going to let you kill me," he growled, flinging out razor-sharp cards with a flick of his wrist. Graves lunged to the side, narrowly avoiding one that would have cut his throat open. "I still got places to be, people to see."

There was something loud ringing through the air – the cawing of crows, was it? He had no idea, he was too focused on what was happening before him. The Outlaw cursed underneath his breath, trying to sidestep another set of wildcards as one sliced his cheek. Why was it getting darker?

"Graves!"

That voice wasn't Fate's.

He whirled around, eyes snapping to where Miss Fortune stood by Karma and Nocturne. She pointed to the skies. He and Fate looked up at the same time.

Crows. A huge storm of crows filled the sky, blocking the daylight.

"He's here," hissed his former partner, hand flying to his hat as if to brace himself.

"Fortune! You take Miss Karma and skedaddle outta here!" he barked. "This is gonna get ugly."

"You can't expect me to just leave you two stupid men!" she screamed back, voice barely carrying over the cacophony of cawing. He thought he heard the bang of her blunderbusses, and two birds dropped like bricks.

"You need to look after Miss Karma! Make sure the monster don't get loose!" he yelled at her, waving with one arm. "Go!"

The Bounty Hunter shook her head, taking one step forward. "You need my help! He'll kill you both!"

The crows were beginning to descend, and he held his shotgun at ready. Dammit, why wasn't she leaving?

"I said go!"

"No!"

"Sarah!" he roared, firing into the thick storm.

"You'd better survive you fool!" she hollered, and just barely he could make out her form as she grabbed Karma by the wrist and took off running. The bang of her blunderbusses sounded just barely over the storm.

The birds were vicious little varmints.

He sucked in a sharp breath, trying to get off as many rounds as he could. It was like death by a million paper cuts – their damned beaks and claws were sharp as all hell, he felt like his skin was getting shredded to ribbons.

"Didn't know you got yourself a sweetheart!" yelled Fate, over the noise. "Awful cute there, Malcolm."

If he hadn't seen that the Card Master was getting torn up as well, he might've considered putting a bullet in his skull right then and there.

There was a sound like laughing now – harsh and croaky like their voice was getting stuffed up a bag of hay. Somehow, his heart dropped to his stomach. A feeling of cold dread washed over him, and he swallowed hard so as not to throw up.

There was a figure standing in the middle of the road. The storm was clearing, but whether that was because they had murdered so many of those damned birds or because they were getting called off, he had no idea. Graves stumbled forward a bit, fighting off the wave of nausea flooding him. The corpses of crows crunched under foot.

"Found you," came the inhuman whisper.

"If it ain't the scarecrow," coughed Twisted Fate, struggling to remain on his feet as well. "Long time no see."

"This is what you were in a hurry about?" asked the Outlaw, trying to hold his gun steady. Damn, there was a lot of blood. Had he been cut up that badly...?

"Heh. He was damn persistent, chasing me out from the middle of nowhere," huffed the Card Master, hunched over. From the corner of his eye, Graves could see his hand behind his back, shuffling through cards rapidly.

"Are you afraid?" said the Harbinger of Doom, crooked smile stretched wide. "Don't worry, I won't bite. I can't."

He laughed loudly, and suddenly the Outlaw felt as if his heart had frozen over. There was the strangest feeling of abject terror. He wanted to run away.

"Eyes up, Malcolm," muttered his former partner, drawing a card. "Thorned rose."

It sunk itself into the scarecrow, splitting open his seams with a loud tear. The fear faded somehow – he had control again, and immediately Graves raised his gun, squeezing off a buckshot. The bullets punched through burlap and straw like nothing, but Fiddlesticks seemed hardly fazed.

Of course. It was that damned effect Fiddlesticks had, he should've known. It felt like every inch of his skin was aflame - must've been the cuts - and he gritted his teeth, continually firing at the Harbinger of Doom. He just took it like it was nothing. Sack and straw didn't bleed.

And then Fate was on the ground, scrambling backwards like he'd seen the devil.

"The hell're you doing?" he yelled, dashing towards him. It wasn't that bull terror again, was it? The Card Master opened his mouth as if to say something, but no words came out. "What in the - !"

A crow flitted past, nipping him at the neck and damn near slicing his throat open. Graves lunged, snatching it out of the air and throwing it to the ground, but the blood was already trickling down his neck and no matter how much he wanted to yell at Twisted Fate to move, somehow he couldn't force the sound out.

A bright, ethereal leash appeared between Fiddlesticks and the Card Master, and struggling towards the Harbinger of Doom, Graves could see the holes he'd punched in him rapidly sealing.

"Keep trying," mocked the scarecrow, taking every shot with a grin.

The Outlaw mouthed a curse under his breath, falling to his knees.

Damn, there was a lot of blood on the ground. Was that all his? Graves blinked, trying to clear away the fuzziness in his vision. There was a roaring in his ears, and he thought, maybe, it was just the blood rushing through. But then he heard that awful sound again: the cawing of crows.

"He can't... have it back.. already...?" he groaned, voice returning to him. The scarecrow stood taut, arms outstretched. Goddammit, he was going to finish them off with one crowstorm.

"Malcolm," gasped Fate, propping himself up on his elbows.

The sky became dark again. The light was fading, and he wasn't sure if it was because of the damned birds, or blood loss. The Outlaw turned, trembling, to look at his former partner. Twisted Fate held a card in the air, the sunlight glinting gold off of it.

The crows descended.

It was like another whirlwind of razor beaks and claws, and he struggled against it to get to his feet. There was a bright flash – he watched as Fiddlesticks flinched, stopping in place. Beyond the surge of birds, it was a perfect shot.

Graves loaded the slug, cocked his shotgun, and fired.

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Next Chapter: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/fancreations/GoVBrfPK-fanfiction-fracture-chapter-10-1