Neutral Through Chaos

Chapter 16: A Helpful Hint

The sound of sizzling food and the putrid smell of assortments of strange meats was oddly homely. Condensation dripped off of the hanging carcasses and butcher's knives above us, slicing sounding as Jericho chopped up meat at his counter. All those years ago during my lunch break, I had frequented this place a lot with Vi and the others. The memories were bittersweet, a time when things weren't as glum. One member was here with me now though, but of course it would never be the same. It was incomplete.

I coughed suddenly. The miasma of the undercity was quite a shock to the system after inhaling the fresh Piltovian air for some time. I could feel the smog clogging my lungs, infesting them. Maybe this was why Viktor was sick, we had grown up constantly breathing the heavily polluted air of the docks after all, the ships leaving their trail of destruction.

Vi relished in her food beside me, eating her old usual of fish in a strange orangey substance. I had ordered the same, and was wolfing down my meal ravenously.

"Oh Jericho, have I missed these," Vi proclaimed, shaking a piece of her fish in her hands as she spoke.

"Same here," I agreed, continuing to eat it eagerly.

We were met with Jericho's mad laughter as he swung his green hand down to hack away at a fish. Caitlyn beside us looked quite disgusted, but I supposed that this wasn't exactly the establishment she would willingly eat at. My point was proven as Vi held out some of her fish to her, dripping with sauce.

"No thank you," Caitlyn stated, looking in repulse at it.

"You're missing out," Vi replied, pulling it away from her.

"Are we going to question him?" Caitlyn hissed.

I felt a smile creeping on my lips, Jericho wasn't necessarily the best person to go to for information. A cheap meal however; yes.

"About what? The meat?" Vi quizzed mockingly.

We all glanced up to see Jericho scratching his bottom, maybe his food was a bit questionable, but it tasted good nevertheless.

"Definitely not above board," she concluded.

"Silco. His connections? Isn't that why we're here?" Caitlyn muttered in irritation.

Technically, I was one of his connections. Of course they would have no knowledge of that though.

"We're here because I'm hungry. Do you know what prison food is like?" snapped Vi, "No, of course you don't."

"Hospital food too," I added, "Although I didn't stick around long enough to try it."

Caitlyn once again looked bewildered by us.

"Unbelievable. I didn't break you out of prison and you out of hospital to eat.. slop," she scoffed, turning around in frustration "I knew this was a terrible idea. Neither of you actually know anything, do you?"

"I know some things to be fair, but it's not exactly easy to find stuff out when you're trapped inside a cell on Vi's part," I pointed out, as Caitlyn began to lean on the table and furrowed her brows.

Vi seemed oblivious as she ignored the Piltovian's outburst, continuing to eat her food messily.

"Mm, better than I remember," Vi said to Jericho, who uttered gibberish in response and slammed down a napkin on the table.

Vi lifted the corner to reveal some sort of symbol, I didn't quite get the chance to inspect it fully. A confused Caitlyn did however, looking up at Vi for some form of answer only to receive none. The pink-haired girl turned to leave, Caitlyn and I following.