The Stage of Order and the Show of Chaos (Finale)
The final chapter is here! Apologies for being a day late, college work was pretty tough yesterday.
A soft JhinXJinx pairing. (Jhix?)
#Chapters Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Finale
Vi heard the explosion before she saw the pillar of flame rise into the air. Fresh anger boiled in her blood; she knew that the cop cars she was following were now nothing more than heaps of twisted metal with even more twisted bodies inside. If there even bodies left after that. She quickened her pace, pumping her arms and willing her hextech armored body to move faster. Her boots slammed the concrete harder and harder as her adrenaline fueled body caused her to strike the ground harder and harder with every step.
She was going to make Jinx pay. For everything.
Ever since she joined Piltover's police force, she promised Caitlyn and herself that she would turn from a life of crime. But right now, tonight, she wanted to commit one more crime. Murder.
The thought made a part of her sick, how could she want to kill somebody? Honestly, the power of her hextech gauntlets coupled with her short temper made it a surprise to everybody that she never killed anybody, even by accident. She herself was surprised the worst she had done was knock a crook unconscious for a few days longer than she expected. It was surprising to everybody except Caitlyn.
"You're not criminal material." She had told her when she offered her the position in the police force. "If you were, with the raw power you had with those gauntlets, you would have left them and made yourself a very rich person through nearly unstoppable heists."
Those words sum it up pretty well. Vi thought. I became a criminal by necessity. For a while, it seemed like the "lessons" her old gang had taught her have washed off her during her time as part of Piltover's Finest. But right now a certain lesson kept pumping in her mind, to the rhythm of her beating heart.
There's only one way to keep somebody from crossing you a second time.
"Guess we're partners now? Officially?"
That voice caused that lesson to burn to the front of her mind even harder. Who would have known that annoying voice belonged to a psychopathic maniac who killed anybody in her way?
The smoldering wreckage met her eyes first, and one look at what remained caused her rage to boil over. She took one look at the lone vehicle parked nearby as if in audience, and saw her target.
Jhin heard the charging footsteps before he saw her coming. He sat up in the car and saw the pink-haired young woman charging at them with massive metal gauntlets and fire in her eyes. From her general attire, he gathered she was part of the police force. Her face...
He sat rigid, memories of a vision flashing before his eyes. I know you. He thought as the woman came closer. You're one of the masterpieces I have dreamed of.
He felt a rough grab and was yanked backwards as Jinx pulled him out of the car and away. "What are you doing?! Let's go!" Jinx shouted as Jhin snapped out of it and quickly regained his footing. The car exploded behind them as the pink-haired woman almost shattered the car completely with a single punch as it flew away from her and to the side. Jinx was running towards the streets, but Jhin quickly saw a better alternative. Grabbing her arm, he steered her towards a dilapidated building scheduled for a demolition. "This way!" He insisted. "Her gauntlets will make it difficult for her to get through the doorways and corridors!"
Jinx got the message and raced towards the building. Jhin slowed his step slightly so she could make it first, and was rewarded by nearly getting his face slammed into the door when Jinx ran through by shoving the door open. The door slammed against the adjacent wall and bounced back, but Jhin caught it with his hand instead of his face. Turning and slamming the door shut, he took the time to lock it. Perhaps she won't try to break it down. She is an officer of the law after all. He thought. He then turned and followed Jinx up to the second floor of the building, where they encountered long corridors of multiple doors. Jhin understood then that they had entered an old hotel.
Picking a door at random, spurred into action by the sound of a door exploding below, Jinx opened it and rushed in. Jhin followed and locked it behind them, bending over and panting from the exertion.
"Okay what's our plan?" Jinx asked excitedly, seemingly unfazed by that near capture. "How are we gonna make Fat-Hands sorry she messed with us?"
"Plan?" Jhin asked as he finished catching his breath. "Why don't we make sure we're safe first?"
"Safe?" Jinx laughed. "What are you, new at this? She's not going to stop until she loses us or gets sent home crying. I haven't actually gotten her to cry home yet, but with your help I'm sure we can do it!"
"There are too many rooms here, she'll have to go back for backup." Jhin said, thinking quickly, "Once she leaves, we--"
He was interrupted by a loud female voice screaming from downstairs. "I'll find you if I have to tear this building apart brick by brick!" Followed by the sound of things getting smashed beyond recognition.
Jhin gulped. "Alright, scratch that plan. Jinx, do you have any ammo left?"
Jinx shook her head dejectedly. "Pow-Pow and Fishbones are all empty; I sent all the bullets into those stupid armored cars." She brightened as she patted the smaller gun on her belt. "I still have Zap though. It's not gonna do much though. I usually hit Vi with it to make her mad. She's already mad now, so this won't help."
Vi. Jhin repeated in his mind, filing it away. So you are the name of one of my masterpieces."How do you usually get away?"
Jinx shrugged. "Running usually works. I mean, I was gonna take one of my special escape routes that are pretty much guaranteed ways to give her the slip. But you said that this was a better idea, so I thought, 'why not?'"
Jhin nearly slapped his forehead with his hand. "Wonderful. We're trapped in here with a rampaging police officer with giant metal hands to punch us senseless with."
"Yup. So how are you gonna get us out of this, partner?"
Jhin thought. "I know that this building is scheduled for demolition. Piltover is efficient enough to have explosives shipped in about a day or so before demolition to save time. I once stationed in a scheduled building; I know where they keep them. We can lure her to one of them and set them off."
"Great! You be the bait!" Jinx said, getting up and pushing Jhin to the door.
"Wait!" Jhin exclaimed as he put his hands on the door frame in resistance. "She knows you and will chase you much more reliably than she would me."
"But I'm out of bullets!" Jinx protested. "She only chases me when I shoot stuff."
"But she's already angry, remember?"
Jinx's face brightened. "Oh yeah. How much time do ya need?" She asked.
Jhin looked around. "We're on the second floor. The closest one is on the third floor. So give me three--no four--minutes."
She gave him a thumbs up. "You got it partner!" She turned to head out the door when Jhin stopped her. "Wait. Take this." He reached in his cloak and pulled out Whisper. It weighed a million pounds when the rational part of his mind realized what he was going to do. "I doubt my final bullet will pierce her armor, but I would rather you get her attention with noise than getting close enough for her to hear you." His heart was heavy with longing, and he hadn't even parted with it yet. The weapon had never left his side ever since he had lovingly crafted it with his two hands. But he felt he could part with it, if only to give aid to his partner in art.
Jinx's eyes widened, realizing the value of the precious tool. "Wow, really? You're sure? Isn't this like your Fishbones?"
Jhin smiled humorlessly. "Yes, this is like my Fishbones. But I am willing to give the paintbrush to a fellow artist." The rest of his words fell off into silence as Jinx snatched it from him.
"Woah! This is cool!" She said as she fumbled with the unique grip of the weapon. "Hey, is this the---"
BANG
Jhin and Jinx stared at the fresh hole in the floor. Jinx smiled sheepishly and handed Whisper back. "Whoops."
Jhin's eye twitched slightly. "It's..." He wanted to say It's fine, but they both knew it wasn't. "Just yell loudly."
"Gotcha!" She said as she bolted to the crashing sounds. "I'll hide and pop out when it's time! It's like three minutes right?"
"Four!" He called after her. He went and headed to the upper staircase, leaving a trail of lotus traps so Jinx knew the general direction to go. He remembered faintly that he forgot to tell her to follow the lotus traps, but he felt he didn't need to.
He counted 2 minutes when he got to the third floor and found the first explosive device already fastened to one of the exposed steel girders. He had just sighed in satisfaction when he heard:
"HEY FAT-HANDS I'M OVER HERE!!!"
Jhin cringed. Why did I bother giving my partner a constraint of order knowing she wouldn't have followed it? He thought as he worked furiously to set up his trap.
Vi zoomed up the stairs and tore into the second floor, growling in irritation when she realized she was in a hotel.
"I'm over here!" She heard Jinx call from one of the rooms on the right side. Completely ignoring the door, she turned and punched right through the wall, stepping through the hole into an old bathroom. She punched her way out of the bathroom and immediately saw her quarry.
Jinx was sitting cross-legged on the bed, and was smiling that obnoxious smile at her. "Hey! You're just in time for the slumber party!"
"Yeah, and I'm the sandman. Time for you to go to sleep." Vi snarled as she let loose a ferocious fist towards Jinx's smug face.
Jumping faster than Vi expected, Jinx leaped onto her feet and then planted her hand on Vi's fist, using it as a platform to flip over Vi and onto the floor behind her. With a laugh she took off running. "Gotta be faster than that Fat-Hands!" She taunted as she ran out the door.
She skidded into the hallway and noticed Jhin's traps. "Sweet, we're playing hopscotch with blades." Jinx said with dark relish as she hopped over all of the deadly flowers, making her way to the next staircase without incident. She looked back to see Vi running towards her without care, tripping nearly all of them. Jinx frowned in disappointment and shot up the stairs when Vi reached the stairs and escaped the deadly explosions.
She ran up the stairs at a brisk pace, and reached the third floor quickly. Running through the door she saw Jhin sticking something inside a hole in the wall just by the entrance. "Hey I hope you're ready cuz Vi's coming!" She yelled as she ran past him.
Jhin narrowed his eyes in irritation at being rushed, but Jinx didn't see him. He finished it and stepped back in admiration. Unfortunately his appreciation was cut short by the doors ahead being shattered to pieces. Jhin jumped back as Vi stepped through the empty doorway, cracking her knuckles with a grim expression on her face. "Looks like I'm going to have to dumpster two criminals today." She said in a low voice as she approached.
Jhin bowed theatrically, "You're just in time for the performance." He whispered.
Vi paused, a puzzled expression on her face, right where he wanted. Perfect. He thought, I just need to--
His thoughts were interrupted by Jinx making a rude noise behind them. What she did exactly was lost to Jhin, but it made Vi explode. She rushed at Jinx, shoving Jhin to one side hard enough to send him towards a wall. Jhin heard rather than felt something crack, and he felt the wind was knocked out of him. He attempted to move his arm and pain shot up his arm and nearly made him scream. Only strict self control kept him silent.
He looked up to see Jinx running around the dining hall as Vi destroyed it. He gathered his strength, counting on Jinx going back to the entrance to escape. Sure enough, after looping around the dining hall at least three times Jinx ran back to the entrance, past Jhin's trap. As Vi followed Jhin took a deep breath. He clutched his cane, ignoring the pain. He was going to create art today. A masterpiece. So what if there was pain involved for the artist as well. "Art is worth the pain." He whispered as he lifted his cane and fired with perfect precision.
The shot tore between the joints in Vi's leg armor, and Vi screamed in pain as she fell to the ground, right next to the explosives. Jhin could see the night sky through a large window on the outside wall, also near the entrance. The idea behind the design was to invite visitors to the dining hall by first closing them in a short corridor by the inner wall and the window, obstructing their view of most of the hall and forcing them to notice the wonderful view of the outside world. Jhin couldn't remember the name of the Piltoveran artisan who came up with the idea, but he thanked him silently, from one artist to another.
From Jhin's vantage point he could see both the wall with the explosives inside it and the window, and he knew where to shoot next. Ignoring the pain once again, he fired at the explosives he hid in the wall.
Vi only had time to widen her eyes in shock and raise her hands in a futile gesture of protection before her world ended in a burst of fire.
Jhin watched as his canvas flew through the window with a loud shatter, and lifted Whisper to finish his masterpiece in the air. His weapon clicked with an empty clip, and frustration and agony riled in his mind. He had forgotten Jinx had fired his last shot already. He was going to lament his first masterpiece being ruined, until he noticed something about Vi as her limp body flew out the window. Her face. He thought furiously. It's too young! Not at all like my vision! She's a few years shy of being ready!
Breathing gratefulness at his good fortune, he thanked Chaos itself for being mindful of the readiness of his canvas even when the Virtuoso himself didn't notice. It had influenced Jinx to fire the shot early, therefore preventing him from creating his art prematurely.
She would live. He knew this despite the sound of her landing on a car on the street below. He knew her armor would protect her from death at least. Even if she is paralyzed completely by this. He thought as he struggled to his feet. She will be ready to be my art in a few years.
Jinx came back into the room and looked out the shattered window. Whistling, she said "Well that's quite a drop." She went over to Jhin and helped him up. "Nice one partner, did you finish her off?"
"No." Jhin said as he clutched his broken right arm with his left. "She will live."
"Aww." Jinx whined. "Too bad we're both out of bullets."
Jhin followed her out of the building, nodding his agreement but leaping with joy in his heart for another chance to craft his masterpiece.
Jhin and Jinx stood in a dark street on the opposite and relatively calmer side of Piltover. Just a few blocks away Jhin heard the sounds of the train that would take him back to Ionia, or at least most of the way. Jinx had her arms crossed with a smile on her face, seemingly unfazed by the cool winds whipping her hair around. "Well that was a fun day partner." She said, emphasizing the word with a thump to his back.
"Yes, it was. You are quite the artist." Jhin said appreciatively.
"And you're the right kind of crazy." Jinx said playfully. "You sure you have to go?"
"Unfortunately my work demands it." Jhin answered. "My employers need me back in Ionia to make art out of a few of their enemies."
Jinx wrinkled her nose at the word Employers. "Eww, you have to follow rules?"
"At times. Mostly they just give me something to do and don't care how I do it, so long as nobody can find out they did it." He motioned to a dumpster. "Over there is my travel bag. I keep my suit and weapons there when I'm traveling."
"You mean you don't travel wearing that mask?" Jinx asked in amazement. "Why do you wear it anyway, you have bad acne?"
Jhin chuckled. "No, in fact I look quite unremarkable without it. It is part of my act. Just like your weapons."
Jinx nodded in understanding. "I still have some stuff I want to do here, but I'll head over to Ionia to help you teach those meditating tea lovers how to have fun." She added with a wink. "Where do you want to meet?"
Jhin handed her a slip of paper. "I will be here on the fourth of next month. We can meet then and then become fully fledged artisans of chaos and order."
"I'm looking forward to exactly half of that." Jinx said with a laugh. "I may see your boring face without that mask yet." She gave him a quick peck on the lips of his mask. "Thanks for the fun." She added before disappearing into the next alley.
Jhin stood there a moment in silence before moving to slip out of his costume and into street clothing. Jinx is so more than an agent of chaos. He thought as he took off his mask. "She's a work of art all on her own." He finished silently.
Khada Jhin slipped out of the alleyway and merged silently into the crowd, never seen for the artist that he was.
Thank you all for sticking with me through this fanfic! I want you guys to know your views mean so much to me and encourage me to write more of these!
That's the end of this fic, but it doesn't have to be the last one I write. In fact I decided to let you guys decide which fanfic I should write next!
-
A adventure/comedy fic featuring Ezreal and Lux.
-
A series of comedic one shots featuring our favorite mustachioed support, Braum in the Freljord helping everybody he sees, whether friend or foe!
-
Screw those other options! Make a Jhix sequel series!
-
Other. Write your own suggestion below. If I like it and can come up with a good fic for it, then I'll let you know and put it in the list.
Just so you guys know, just because the one you voted for may not be first, don't worry! I'll eventually write all of them. This just helps me decide the order in which to write them!
Thank you all and see you next time!
