Smoke And Mirrors

The Machine Herald

"Replay the highlight again Raynolds, and zoom in"

Officer Raynolds rushed to obey his supervisor's order and did as he was asked to. It was probably the fifth time he had replayed the same video, but little he could do but obey. The Sherrif of Piltover leaned over his shoulder, looking at the screen with furrowed brows as the video played in front of them again.

"There. Stop" she suddenly commanded, almost catching him off guard. He pressed a button on the keyboard and the recording froze. He then zoomed towards the figure that was apparently the Defender of Tomorrow moments before he transformed.

"Is he... Holding his phone?" Officer Vi asked behind him, sounding completely surprised.

"It seems so..." Caitlyn said sceptically beside him "Continue please"

Another button and the recording continued playing. Jayce was indeed talking on his phone, but moments afterwards it dropped off his grip and he knelt down. The three officers watched in utter horror the man's skin turning a greyish-greenish tint and several spikes emerging out. He let out an outraged scream, just like the one Vi remembered hearing, and the hostages around him started running in panic. Jayce smashed his hexetech hammer on the ground, knocking several off their feet and then launched himself at them.

"Yikes" Vi grumbled "That's not what I expected to see"

"Interesting" Caitlyn commented, though Vi could tell by her tone that this was far than just interesting. It was terrifying "It seems like a phone call was what triggered this chaos"

"What sort of disease does that?" she wondered out loud.

"None we known of. Though, I doubt if this is a disease in the first place. It's something artificial"

"So, you mean like... Someone drugged him?" Vi inquiried

"Definitely" Caitlyn nodded "I can't think another possible scenario"

"But why on Earth would they want Jayce out of the game? He's a hero, everyone loves him" Vi wondered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"That's exactly the point Vi. He's a hero, and heroes usually acquire foes"
Caitlyn explained.

Vi eyed her carefully. Behind this simple statement so many things were implied, yet she failed to understand what Caitlyn meant with it. She had always been like this, never saying things outright, preferring to leave clues to her communicator and leave them buffled, trying to find out themselves.

"Thank you officer Raynolds" Caitlyn continued, thanking the man "You may excuse me and officer Vi, there are places we need to be"

Vi raised a questioning brow at her boss, but when she opened her mouth to ask what was going on, the brunette gave her a stern look and motioned her to follow outside. Vi didn't dare to question her authority and followed her outside the presentation room, more buffled than ever.

The next moment, she found herself in a police car, with Caitlyn driving towards an unknown destination. The enforcer had tried to get a word out of the sherrif's mouth, but the brunette insisted on remaining silent.

"Can you at least tell me where the fuck are we going?" Vi pouted "I hate it when you do that"

"You'll find out soon" was Caitlyn's first words after a long time.

The sherrif drove them on a more abandoned district of Piltover, near the boundaries between the City of Progress and its agelong competitor, Zaun. That region was less advanced than the core of the city, was less clean and more stray animals wondered around. Even the local people seemed a little bit different, not that there were many that walked around the streets. The few they met though didn't seem too happy about their presence there.