Ticking Time Bomb

Episode 9

A/N: So, season 2 of Arcane came before I finished this. I wrote this last chapter over a year ago and I never finished the last scene because despite Sentry literally being my character, I have no clue how he is to react to Jinx's actions because literally WHAT do you mean I actually have to portray complex feeling and relationships when I create them?!

I woke up to Ekko shaking me. "Hey, Sentry, I can't drag you any longer. Get up!" I groan and push myself up, his hand held out to me.
I take it.

Neither of us speak as we stumble along, him leaning against me for support. I can feel dried blood along the side of my face.

Once we get to the harbor, he tosses the jacked up hoverboard to the ground, sliding down against a wall. I grab under his arms, lifting him enough to pull him into a corner out of sight. I then plop down next to him, beginning to unwrap my bandages that cover my arms. "Start talking" I order the boy. "Huh?" "I said start talking. Fore' I beat you for what happened. I'm sure ya saw what I did to the guy who cut her leg open." I see his arms tense out of the corner of my eye and he looks away. "You caved his skull in" he says with his eyes tight closed and a grimace. "You're the one who splattered Kash's brains?" I shrug, tearing off the last of the bandages on my left arm.

"I said distract me, not remind me of my other failures." He seems like he wants to argue but sighs, nodding. I unwrap my right arm weakly. "Fine, let me think" his eyes give me a once over but linger on my right arm. "How did you get that?" He gestures to my burn scars. I fully pull off the wraps. "Explosion" I tell him, scooting closer and roughly pulling his injured leg onto my lap. "When I lost my foot." I smack his hand away when he tries to pull his leg back defensively. I lift it with one hand and use the other to begin wrapping his leg. "when ? Where?"

"I was six years old. My mother had left me outside all day, had some guy comin' over, I guess. Stop moving" "Sorry." I pull the bandage tight, earning a hiss from the white-haired male. "Anyways, the Enforcers were still real bad back then, before and during the war that is." I feel his curious eyes drilling into the side of my head. I loop the bandage around another time and tie it.

"There was a riot planned that day. Happened while I was at the market. I was running from a scrap trader after I stole his bread." I pause, stopping my motion of rolling up the second bandage.

"The Enforcers had bombed the market square in retaliation."

I look to the younger male and tuck the extra bandage in his pocket. "Not much but it'll do" I add. His eyes are wide, and his lips are parted slightly. I stand up and brush off the dirt. I look away from him and close my eyes.

"Silco found me that night. Brought me to a friend of Vandor, asked what he could do. It was infected and the Undercity didn't have medicine of course. They chopped it off and I got a prosthetic the next year." I look back at him. He had closed his mouth and stared at my feet, processing the words I just told him. I lean back against the wall, crossing my leg over the other to rest my aching foot.

"Benzo ever tell you about the scars on his back?" His head shoots up at the mention of his father figure. "What? I- I mean he told me it was an explosion." Realization spreads across his face. "He was there too?" I chuckle. "Feeding the rioters, letting them pawn old scraps for some bread." He frowns and looks up at me with a face that reminds me oh so much of his little worried face from back then. "He was chasing you?" I let out what sounds like a mix between a scoff and a laugh. "You could say that."

We sit in silence for a while, as the seagulls fight and swarm for food. I hear small steps, and I back into the other corner. The steps pause, then get closer. I see a small, hooded creature pick up the flashing hoverboard. "Oh, ingenious." he gasps, holding it up. "Though, these blades seem improperly pitched." I scoff, I don't know much about that kind of thing, but I know that Ekko would never get it wrong.