Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss-- that was more or less my philosophy to explain away my murder. It wasn't at all how I planned for Piltover to learn about my greater empire that they would soon find themselves a part of, but being publicly assassinated did throw a wrench into some things. So, I was dealing with a work around of sorts.
The plan had been to use Piltover's growing desperation to greenlight increasingly more questionable practices in the name of survival with my ‘discoveries’ in robotics and bio-engineering. Some discoveries I, of course, would offload to others as to not draw too much attention to the number of breakthroughs I had. Especially when I was supposedly captive for a month.
But plans change. That's what I like about them.
“I do need to find who murdered me,” I mused to myself, gazing out the window as my motorized carriage brought me to the very same lab that I had supposedly been murdered in. My synth didn't have my powers -- a safety precaution to prevent my doubles from getting any rebellious ideas or delusions of self autonomy. But that had left the synth vulnerable. A vulnerability that I’d thought that the lab’s security would have taken care of, but evidently not.
There were a lot of things that needed doing in Piltover. A lot of loose ends that needed to be tied off for the next stage of my grand plan. My marriage with Caitlin and Cinder's punishment. Jinx and her issues with her sister needed mending. Rumi still slumbered away in a coma because I hadn't been able to withdraw the serum from her by the time that I left for Final Fantasy. Not to mention I needed to put my finishing touches on Maki and Nobara before returning them over to Asami.
A murder mystery was the very last thing that I needed at the moment, but I couldn't exactly ignore it on account that it was my murder.
Getting out of the vehicle, I took a familiar trip up the elevator as I ignored the wide eyed stares that I was getting along the way. Word of my resurrection was already spreading with a version of the truth making the rounds -- that I had been kidnapped by the assassin, who left a body double behind to convince everyone that they shouldn't look for me. Where I then escaped using my quick wits and Piltovan ingenuity.
The elevator doors opened, and I immediately found myself attacked by a sweeping bear hug. “You’re alive!” Jayce cried out with genuine joy, not setting me down as he swept into the main lab. “I don't believe it! I mean- I do, but-...! You're alive!” He repeated himself with a laugh, setting me down and patting me over, just to make sure that I was real. “Viktor! It's really him!”
“So I see,” Viktor remarked, seated heavily on a chair. He was hooked up to an IV and looked even thinner than he usually did, with sunken eyes and gaunt cheeks. Viktor had always been a scrawny guy, but now he was skeletal. Just pale skin draped over a set of bones. “At least, allegedly.”
That was the downside of going with the ‘it was an imposter!’ excuse. People tended to have doubts that you were who you said you were.
“Got a way for me to prove it?” I shot a grin at Viktor, one that he didn't return. However, in response, Viktor pushed forward a familiar folder. Taking it and thumbing through the pages, I saw that they were my ideas to turn him into a cyborg. They weren't bad. Not really. However, I had ten years worth of experience with machines of a much higher level than what Piltover or Fallout could offer. Not to mention the fact that I had devoured the knowledge and talent of quite a few more doctors over in Final Fantasy.
“Looks like my impersonator didn't find my newer designs,” I remarked, making Viktor tilt his head and I gestured for them to follow me into my personal lab. The lab that my synth had been murdered in.
A quick Room revealed… nothing. At least nothing of substance. I had hoped that I would find a bit more with my Room, maybe some residual magic that would explain how someone got into the extremely secure lab, but if someone did use magic to get in then any traces of it had faded. Everything else was as it was when I left it some ten years ago, for me at least. Minus all of the dried blood staining my desk, chair, and floor of course.
“Gross,” I summarized, stepping past the crime scene to grab the notebook that I had already Shambled into place. It had been ten years for me, but I was still very keyed into their personalities. Jayce was basically a golden retriever with more than one brain cell. Viktor was the more suspicious and would require some kind of proof that I wasn't the imposter.
“A lackluster reaction,” Viktor mused, watching me take off the leg of my desk to reveal the hidden compartment inside it.
“Wasn't like I actually died,” I pointed out. “I just spent a couple weeks in a hole with some idiot telling me that it was for my own good and how we should totally work together.” Tossing Jayce the notebook, he caught it and flipped it open so Viktor could see. Their reactions were instantaneous -- Jayce pushed the notebook back to look at it from afar while Viktor leaned in to inspect the pages full of designs.
Even with a quick glance, the truth was laid bare. “This… is a significant leap in robotics, Law. The range of motion, the joint work…”
It had taken a bit of work to blend together the advanced technology of Final Fantasy with Fallout's robustness and still be able to produce result with Piltover's established technology base. But I had plenty of time to play around with the project during my vacation. The results blew my first designs completely out of the water.
Viktor looked up at me with a searching gaze, no longer suspicious but I could see him reevaluating how smart he thought I was. Which was pretty smart given I had outright ‘created’ a few industries and revolutionary technologies. Now I had apparently made substantial leaps in another, completely leaving the gear work prosthetics behind.
However, I pretended to misunderstand the glance. Just to drive the point home. “It's not done, yet. The neural framework is a generation or three behind where it needs to be. But… well, you don't exactly look like you have the time for that, Vik.”
That earned a ghost of a smile from the sickly scientist, “I had my doubts that you were who you said you were, but… between this and that attitude… Welcome back to the land of the living, Law.” Viktor said, offering a tired but relieved smile.
After that, the interactions went smoother as we half talked about building Viktor a new body and half focused on solving my murder. The former discussion was far more productive because there just wasn't any evidence in the lab. As far as I could tell, someone either managed to bluff past the guards, slip into the lab, and get the drop on my synth, or they’d scaled the building and got the drop on him there. In either case, it was quite the feat because while my synths lacked a Room, they still had Haki. A pretty weak version of it given that synths were basically toasters with my memories, but it still should have been enough for him to at least scream before he died.
Which was why I assumed magic was used, but I didn't detect a trace of it. No lingering residue or an echo. So, either magic wasn’t used or someone was very good at cleaning up after themselves.
Either way, my synth was murdered by an A-tier assassin. Possibly even S-tier. I suppose I would have to wait and see since if they were the breed of assassin I thought I was dealing with, then there was no way that they were going to leave a job half finished.
So, after a long discussion with Jayce and Viktor about Viktor's new robo body that we were going to put him in, I went on the prowl. A retraction was going to go out publicly and pretty soon, but I wanted to be seen by the public. Let rumors and hearsay spread to see if I could tempt the assassin into making a move. Or just to check if the rumors were true.
And that brought me to my second destination of the evening -- a relatively modest apartment building in Piltover, not too far away from the clan estates. The Kiramman estate in particular. Heading inside and walking up to the top floor, I knocked at the door. Inside, I heard two distinct footsteps before the door opened.
Cinder looked pretty good for someone who had been more dead than alive the last time that I saw her. Aura seemed to have a natural regenerative effect that she had neglected to mention, because after three months her scarring had faded significantly. However, it couldn't do anything for her legs, arm, and eye that Starlight had burned away. They were replaced with the clockwork prosthetics that Piltover was known for.
Her hair was cut short because of her injuries, but I saw that she hid her scarred face with a large eyepatch that covered from her eyebrow to her cheekbone, which was further hidden beneath a lock of hair. Still, Cinder seemed… not quite happy. I'm not sure if she had it in her to actually be happy. However, there was an… eagerness that had been in her lone golden eye that immediately fled the moment that she saw me.
“How have you been, Cinder?” I asked, tossing on an easy smile as Cinder went ramrod straight, her guard climbing all the way up. After a second too long, she took a step back and made a gesture to welcome me inside. Entering the apartment, I gave it a quick once over. “Nice place. Things been going steady with Caitlyn?”
It was an upscale single bedroom apartment, but it was complete with a full kitchen and living room. It wasn't anything crazy, but at the moment, half of the city was a ruin so Caitlyn was treating her side piece right.
“Law,” Cinder found her voice a moment later. “Do you have need of me?” She asked with a certain frigidity in her voice. Not quite professional, but close.
Ah, she really did get attached, didn't she?
“We have more Compound V,” I told her as I fell onto her couch, and instantly her gaze sharpened. “I had to swing by home to snag some, but I found a few unexpected goodies while I was there. The important bit is that we can produce more Compound V. The good stuff.”
Cinder wavered by the door that she shut slowly to buy herself a moment to think. When she turned around, she wore the same practiced mask that she used to greet me with way back in the day, when she was an up and coming superhero while I hadn't even become Heartless yet. The fact that she wasn't wearing that mask in the first place told me she had started to settle in this apartment with Caitlyn. “That was a risk,” she noted as she took a seat across from me. “Shall we expect reprisals?”
We, huh? “I wouldn't rule out the possibility, but it seems like Asami abandoned the world, thinking that it was my home territory. Sabotaged all the industry and power grids that she got up and running to make sure we couldn't use any of it, then dipped with her people.” Cinder narrowed her eyes just a touch, her hands clasped in her lap, one made of bronze and the other flesh. “But I'm sure that she has some way to monitor the world. It's just a question of if she plans to do anything about my visit if she is aware of it.”
To Asami, my visit home would be an indication that we had an operational Dias and enough power to spare for a short jump. Provided the consequences of the trip didn't arrive to slap me in the face relatively soon, my guess is that she left the door open as a way to gauge what resources I had gained in a relatively short amount of time.
“We got more than just the secret formula. We got the guy who helped make it in the first place, and we've gotten pretty good at targeting genetic markers. So, with a dose, you'll be good as new.” I continued, tapping a finger on the armrest, watching Cinder's reaction carefully.
There was a sharp spike of desire that she kept off her face. Seemed like she wanted to be a whole girl again.
“And what must I do to receive such a gift?” Cinder asked directly, making me tilt my head ever so slightly. That was an interesting reaction.
“Nothing,” I replied with a little smile that made Cinder narrow her eyes a touch. “Regardless of your mistakes, you were still one of mine, Cinder. I take care of my own. So, patching you up was never in question… but I suppose it is a question of if you will still be one of mine going forward. You've changed.”
Cinder, as I knew her, was defined by her lust for power. How she craved and was willing to do anything to gain it. I had been pretty hands off with her in the aftermath of her injury, partly because I was content to let her punishment take shape with Caitlyn. That had been about three months ago, and ten years for me.
“I've reevaluated a few things in my life,” Cinder admitted in a tone that guarded her thoughts. “Among them, our… relationship.”
“Oh?” I smiled, tilting my head at that. “I thought you would be chomping at the bit to get vengeance on Starlight.”
There was that spark of fury, “I will have it.” She hissed through a clenched jaw before she collected herself. “I have debts that need to be settled. With her, but also you. I understand that I failed in properly breaking Starlight, and as a result, you nearly died and what you built was almost destroyed.”
“But,” I prompted her and she inclined her head to me.
“But,” she agreed, “I have no intention of resuming our sexual relationship as my ambitions have… narrowed.” Damn. She really had changed. “They do not extend beyond this city. They do not extend beyond Caitlyn.”
I suppose that's what unconditional love did to someone. There was a pregnant pause between us, and Cinder held my gaze without flinching. Her guard was all the way up, ready to challenge me or to submit, whatever she thought would work. Given what she knew of my powers, I had to assume she planned submission.
“Caitlyn. My bride to be,” I remarked lightly.
“A bride that you don't need,” Cinder pointed out and rightly so. “Caitlyn offers you nothing but power and influence that we both know that you don't need. She does not deserve to be the victim of one of your games.”
A point that I didn't disagree with, but… “The world has never cared about what anyone deserves, and neither do I.” That earned me a pained look, because Cinder knew as well as I did that I wasn't wrong. “But… perhaps you are right. My ambitions were a bit limited for this world and I've had plenty of time for some reflection…”
The marriage with Caitlyn only went forward because of the bet with Asami that she called off when she tried to kill me, and then again when I decided to punish Cinder by cucking her. To me, Caitlyn was a total non entity. I’d had about one whole conversation with her, and that left me with the feeling that she was terribly vanilla. And while vanilla was a classic flavor for a reason, my own tastes leaned to more… spicy flavors. Caitlyn was just a nice girl from a nice family.
However, I hadn't expected the degree of influence Caitlyn would have on Cinder in such a short amount of time. From the sounds of it, Cinder was getting seduced to the side of Good and Boring.
Which, admittedly, did make Caitlyn a bit more interesting, but there were others that would better serve my ambitions for Runeterra. Like Mel, for example.
“What do you want?” I echoed her earlier question, and I could see Cinder looking for a trap. There wasn't one.
It was a long few seconds before she decided on an answer, “Choices.”
“...Ha,” I sighed a laugh, something she didn't know what to make of. That wasn't any good. That sucked up all the fun I would get from her punishment. I really hadn't expected her to get this attached to Caitlyn. I'd expected it to a degree, sure, but Cinder was and always would be an ice cold bitch. She was the same woman who kidnapped Caitlyn in the first place to lure her into catching feelings for her. The same woman who lied, cheated, humiliated, and trampled her way up to the top of the food chain… only now she’d suddenly decided she had enough?
“Didn't expect that,” I admitted to her. There was more to say, but someone was approaching the building in an obvious disguise, and it wasn't my assassin. Unless my assassin was an overly nervous Caitlyn, of course. “I like it. You've become interesting again, Cinder.”
Cinder had absolutely no idea what to make of that final remark, exactly as I intended. But, before she could get a question in edgewise, I snapped my fingers and Shambled myself out of the building. I genuinely had no idea what she planned for herself and Caitlyn -- a quiet life? Taking over the city? I’d be perfectly happy to see either happen.
Because it seemed that Cinder had learned her lesson. Even if it wasn’t the one I had planned on teaching.
I was in a good mood as I set off for my next meeting. One that was going to have long-reaching implications for my plans for Runeterra. And while I personally loved it when a plan went off the rails, this was one that I needed to make happen. So, I hummed a tune as I walked towards an estate not too far from the little pleasure palace that Cinder resided in.
It was a much larger pleasure palace. One located right near the sea made of white marble and highlighted with bronze -- the personal villa of Mel Medarda. It was high-value real estate even before most of Piltover became a ruin. The sea wasn’t tainted by the chemical runoff, giving it a crisp blue hue. The estate itself was half hidden behind massive walls that were in turn guarded by slightly smaller walls in the form of Noxus soldiers lined up outside of them. They mean mugged anyone who came near…
And no one was coming near. Except for me.
My arrival was unscheduled but not unnoticed, as by the time I arrived at the front gate, a massive slab of muscle stood before me with a spear in hand. I snapped my fingers at him, my memory refreshed for the meeting, “Rictus, right?”
I was going to take the noncommittal grunt as a confirmation, the seven and a half foot tall man searched my face for a moment before he jerked his head in a gesture to follow. Falling in step, we entered the villa and I saw that it was completely manned by noxus warriors. It would seem that they were taking my assassination quite seriously because they had maximized their security.
The mother and daughter that I hoped to see were on a lounge balcony that overlooked the sea. Mel looked as she ever did, if a bit more exhausted. She sat in a chair, poised with dignity with a calm expression on her face even as her gaze drank in every detail of my appearance to gauge me for motive and how to best exploit me.
Ambessa stood in harsh contrast to her daughter, and seeing them together in the same room just drove home how different they were. Mel wasn’t a short or frail woman by any means, but she almost seemed so compared to her mother’s height and how she was built like a brickshit house. Thick and powerful arms that were covered in scars, and graying hair were the only hints of her age.
Yet, that wasn’t to say that they were devoid of similarities. Both of them had that same calculating glint in their eyes, watching me enter the room without a hint of care that I was surrounded.
It was Ambessa who spoke first, raising a goblet of wine in my direction, “To your liberation.” She toasted, throwing on a sharp smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
“To your freedom,” Mel echoed politely. “And to this… Heartless for your rescue.”
I could see it in their eyes that once the story was starting to settle, the questions were cropping up. Questions and doubts. But that suited me just fine. “Thank you. It seems like things have been quite… eventful while I was away. It felt like I should touch base, so to speak.”
“And you came here first?” Mel remarked lightly, “Cassandra will be quite jealous.”
“Maybe,” I admitted. Especially now that I was scrapping the plans to marry her daughter. “But it seemed like we had more… pressing matters to discuss.” Mel tilted her head like she wasn’t sure what I was talking about, and as I opened my mouth to bluff, Ambessa cut me off.
“The Black Rose,” she uttered the name with disdain. Something personal. Looking to her, she finished her goblet of wine like she needed to if she was going to speak about them. “They were the ones that took you, did they not?”
… Huh.
“That’s quite a name to pull out of a hat,” I replied like I in any way knew what she was talking about. I had been about to bluff about some secret magic society inside of Piltover, but it sounded like she had an actual conspiracy to pin the blame on. “What makes you say so?”
“They are quite good at making people disappear. They’re even better at borrowing their faces and using their names to suit their agendas,” Ambessa voiced, a hard tone in her voice, while Mel seemed caught entirely flat footed. You’d never guess it based on her expression, but I could sense it with my Room. “Someone like you… They would be very interested in. As they would Hextech. That interest is half of the reason I came to Piltover in the first place -- I knew the Black Rose would have their agents here sniffing about.”
Mel glanced between us, “And who exactly are the Black Rose?”
I made the gesture for Ambessa to explain, so she could for both of us, because I had absolutely no idea. She inclined her head to me, buying the act that I had heard the name before.
“I don’t know much about them,” Ambessa admitted softly. “Only that they are an old power. One that specializes in magic. They have considerable influence inside of Noxus, but I don’t know the extent. Yet it feels as if they are behind every petty warlord and upstart within the empire. That is all that I know… that, and they have made an enemy of me.”
Mel drew into herself ever so slightly, telling me that there was a story there. I, however, was delighted. A genuine secret society of mages pulling the strings of a foreign empire? That was so much better than what I came up with. Even the name was better. I-
I saw myself die. My Observation Haki had been honed to a frankly ridiculous degree compared to just days ago, and it showed by delivering me a startlingly clear future where I was decapitated.
I didn’t sense anything amiss in my Room. I didn’t sense anything with my Haki.
Yet when I pivoted sharply on a heel, I turned just in time to catch a blade falling from above that meant to take my life by the wrist that wielded it before my hand wrapped around her throat, holding her in the air. Her blood red hair was tied up in a tight braid while her dark green eyes were wide with shock, her other hand going to mine that was wrapped around her throat.
“Well, hello there,” I greeted her with a smile, ignoring how the room stirred with shock. “And who might you be?”