The Stage of Order and the Show of Chaos (Chapter 3)
Part 3 is here! A soft JhinXJinx pairing. (Jhix?)
#Chapters Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Finale
Jinx dragged Jhin with her to the glistening red vehicle, gaining entry with a few shots into the door locks. She dove in once the doors swung open, practically throwing the Virtuoso into the co-pilot's seat as she settled in. Jhin hardly had time to collect himself and fasten his seatbelt before Jinx thumbed the ignition and slammed the accelerator almost before the engine had a chance to start. "Hang on tight!" She shouted as the RCR-4000 thousand rocketed into the main streets.
Jhin gripped the sides of his seat hard enough to pop his knuckles as Jinx weaved in and out of traffic at speeds that made cars moving in their direction pass by in a very disconcerting blur. Why even make vehicles that can go this fast if there are no streets in Valoran that permit them?! Jhin thought as Jinx passed by another car far too close for comfort. "Jinx!" He shouted over the roar of the engine and Jinx's laughter. "Slow down you'll kill us both!" How on Valoran would they create a masterpiece together if they were killed by a wreck?
Jinx shot him a stern look but gave no answer.
"And put on your seat belt! At least if we get into a crash you could survive!" Jhin shouted, completely missing Jinx's warning to shut up. His mind was whirling, and he was visibly shaking. He treasured Chaos just as much as Order, he was sure of it. However right now he had no idea what he should do, and fear gripped him. He was thrown into a performance without a script or lines, and was expected to improv.
Jhin never was good at improv, and the stage fright was overwhelming.
"You really need to lighten up, Mom!" Jinx shouted over the engine as she turned back to the road. "This isn't even close to what I could be doing in this baby." She turned to Jhin with another one of her wicked grins. "In fact..." She hit a button on the car, and the entire roof folded into the back.
"Oh no..." Jhin breathed as the howling wind suddenly became another factor in the ride. He frantically checked his weapons to make sure they were strapped tightly; the last thing he wanted was his props suddenly getting blown away in the turbulence and lost forever. He looked back to Jinx to see her looking at something in the rear view mirror. He turned to see the colored sirens of cop cars. "So they've caught up to us." He muttered, the butterflies in his stomach being calmed somewhat now that there were antagonists in this performance. Things were falling in place to become a situation that he could comfortably prepare for and handle.
"Hmm. Looks like the coppers want to come spoil our fun!" Jinx shouted over the wind. "Don't worry I have a plan! Take off your seatbelt!"
"Are you insane?!" Jhin demanded, unaware of the irony. "I'm not doing that!"
Jinx shrugged. "Okay."
Jhin started to speak when his voice caught in his throat. His face turned as pale as his mask when Jinx nonchalantly let go of the wheel and hopped to the back seat with her minigun out. Jhin scrambled out of his seat belt and dove for the wheel and frantically turned it to keep them from shooting into the wrong side of the road.
"Knew you'd come around!" Jinx shouted happily as she started firing into the group of cop cars chasing them.
Jhin gripped the wheel and tried to swerve around traffic like Jinx did, and he was certain his survival instinct was the only thing giving him the proper reflexes at the moment. He wanted to slow down, but he was acutely aware that this was likely his last chance at an audition with the perfect partner. He flipped on the headlights because dusk was drawing near, then glanced into the rear view mirror to check Jinx's progress, and noticed that the police cars were clearly reinforced; Jinx's minigun shots did no more than slightly dent the metal. This of course did not discourage Jinx, and she didn't stop firing until she ran out of ammo.
Disappointed in her gun, Jinx tossed it to the seat beside her and pulled out her rocker launcher. "Let's see if your tin cans can take this!" She shouted as she started shooting rockets at them.
However a new sort of hextech weaponry whipped out of the roofs of the cop cars, and fired short laser bursts that caused the rockets to detonate early. Their accuracy was on point, and soon Jinx ran out of rockets as well.
Jhin was at his wit's end when a scrap of a plan formed in his mind. He mentally lunged at it, treasured it as a script. Albeit it was a short one, and riddled with fragments, but it would have to do. He swerved to the right to go down a less busy section of the city, however he turned too quickly and ended up on the sidewalk. He nearly ran into a blonde youth who had turned the corner. Jhin only had time to see the youth's widened eyes, wonder if he would make good improv art, and see a yellow flash before he hit empty air. He craned his neck back to see the youth reappear on the sidewalk, an indignant expression on the boy's face. Teleportation. Jhin thought dryly. Have the people of Piltover finally unlocked that secret?
He still heard the sirens as he swerved to the left, down another street. He turned to the right the first chance he got and repeated the process until he went right twice in a row, ducking behind an alley and cutting the power. He heard the sirens scream past their location, still following the pattern he had set.
He lept out of the car and scanned the surrounding area. The rest of the plan became taking form, and he had a perfect answer when Jinx leaped out of the car and demanded to know why he stopped. "Do you have any explosives on you?" He asked instead of answering the question.
Jinx dug in a pouch on her belt and pulled out little devices that looked like a mixture between a robot and a bear trap. "Yeah, I got these flame chompers. What's this about?"
Jhin smiled under his mask. "I am going to make up for my handshake. But I will need them."
She shrugged noncommittally and pulled out two more before tossing them on the ground. "Okay there, now make up for being a wuss."
"All in due time." He said, before reaching under his cloak and pulling out one of his signature lotus traps. He placed the delicate device next to the three flame chompers on the ground, making the set up perfect.
The stage was set, he simply needed the rest of the actors to show up.
"Jinx, get in the car." Jhin said in his theatrical whisper. "The stage is set."
"Yeah okay, but I'm driving. No offense but you drive like a grandma."
"That was before. Now I have a script to go by. I will not disappoint."
Jinx still looked skeptical, but she relented.
He shot back onto the road, causing as much havoc as possible with his driving to alert the authorities to their presence. Right on cue, the police showed up once again, and proceeded to pick up the chase.
He drove like a maniac, diving in and out of traffic and through populated areas so skillfully that Jinx was impressed. "Atta boy, Mask Dude!" She whooped in glee.
Though all was chaos on the outside, inside of the Virtuoso, everything was as calm as ice. This was the kind of chaos he lived for, scripted from start to finish. It was a crude mockery of chaos for sure, but this was how he could keep up with Chaos' avatar herself. It was a sacrifice for art. Hopefully one she would understand.
One...
He counted the streets he passed before he and his actors arrived to the stage, a complex pattern of his journey that he had memorized and successfully backtracked. As he did, he watched the pursuing cars carefully, noting that despite their weighty armor they managed to match his sharp turns rather well.
Two...
He turned into the alleyway, knowing that he caused enough havoc to make sure the cops didn't give up the chase. He concluded that the cars must have given up defenses elsewhere to lighten the load as much as possible. He knew his plan would work.
Three...
They rolled over the traps he set. setting off their delay timers.
Four...
The traps sprang. As he turned the car around and stopped it dead in its tracks to watch the show. Jhin's lotus trap activated first, unfolding and exploding a beautiful bloom of blade shrapnel all around it. The blades tore through the tires of the first car pursuing, puncturing them immediately and causing an uncontrollable spin. The cars behind scarcely had time to stop themselves before slamming into the lead car.
Their armor held fast, but the underside wasn't as protected, as he had guessed. He heard the screaming of metal as his bladed trap tore through what undercarriages they could, but whether they did or didn't was a non factor.
No, the real stars of the show were the oblong structures on either side of the car pile, the main features of the alley. The blade trap has done its work. He could see the fluid leaking from where stray blades had punctured the metal, and fuel leaked onto the side. Jinx's fire chompers would trigger a second later, and the cataclysmic art needed only one more ingredient.
He pulled out Whisper, which was loaded with his third bullet. A glob of silver paint the color of snow, Winter was ready. He fired his paint into the fuel, and the fire chompers triggered a split second later, and what happened next could only be described as an explosion unlike any Jinx had ever seen.
The fireball expanded outwards as it shot up into the sky, creating a fiery pillar of plume and smoke. The roar of the explosion was music to Jinx's ears, and she watched with delight. Jhin looked on his partner fondly as she was mesmerized by the inferno, not missing a second because he watched the art unfold through Jinx's violet eyes. "Are you impressed now?" Jhin asked proudly, as the explosion continued to reach for the darkening skies.
Jinx tore her vision away from the spectacle and offered him a small smile that was made of warmth instead of malice. "Yeah, you did good. Jhin."
Jhin's heart soared with pride and accomplishment. She had accepted. Chaos and Order will perform together. And she hasn't even seen the best part yet. He reached out and tenderly turned Jinx's head back to the show, saying, "Do not look away yet; the show is just beginning. Now you will see the world like I do."
Jinx looked back to the explosion and her jaw dropped in awe. The explosion had changed. It slowly morphed from a simple pillar of fire to a radiant spiral mass of silvery flame.
The flame slowly clumped up and changed into a uniform cloud that started to sparkle tiny silvery stars that sparkled as they descended. The cloud turned from a dark black to a metallic gray, catching the moonlight that had just started to peek over the horizon.
As the cloud continued turning into an Ionian Lotus, edges defined and sharpened by silvery dust, the sparkling stars fell among the duet of chaos and order.
Jinx reached out in wonder and touched one of the sparkles. The sparkle disintegrated immediately upon her touch, but spewed sparkles in all directions.
She was speechless. Jhin watched as she had nothing to say for once. She didn't even get excited by the massive explosion. She simply got out of the car and put her arms out, eyes closed, letting as many sparkles fall on her as possible, basking in and admiring the art Jhin had created. A part of Jhin warmed seeing another appreciate his art the way she did. He had no idea he desired a fan until now. Jhin felt complete for the first time in a very long time.
However the lotus in the sky ended all too soon, and Jinx sighed in satisfaction. "That was a good handshake." She said matter-of-factly as she returned to the car.
"Yes." Jhin said as he laid back in the car and relaxed. "Yes it was."
Jinx looked like she wanted to say more, but she seemed to change her mind quickly. She leaned back in her seat and said, "You did good, Jhin. I'm impressed. Guess we're partners now? Officially?"
Jhin looked to the silvery moon on the horizon that broke through what remained of the cloud. "Yes. Yes we are."
Thanks for reading! This one was a pretty long one so I cut it short here. But rest assured I'll tie up the rest of it in part four! Stay tuned!
