Luxurious Anarchy (Lux/Jinx)

Chapter 13: Ain't No Rest For The Wicked

It was in that moment, the four of them sitting at a table with enough munitions to take on any Enforcer precinct and easily win, which had been entirely handmade by Jinx in at most, two months, when a yordle with blonde-white fur came into the cafeteria, a snow-white poro panting as it trotted along with its master.

"Ekko my good lad," chirped Heimerdinger, head buried in the undercity's rag of a newspaper, "Apparently that horrific terrorist, Jinx, was recently spotted headed this way! I do hope you're being careful, she recently turned down our offer of amnesty, of all things."

There was a staggeringly awkward silence as Councilman Heimerdinger looked up from his newspaper at a very nervous-looking Ekko, a cheerful-looking Zeri, and worried-looking Lux, but mostly at a bloodthirsty-looking Jinx.

"Ah. I see the reports were not inaccurate," Heimerdinger said softly. Drawing himself up as best a three-foot-tall gentleman could, the yordle fixed Jinx with what could charitably be called a withering look. "Come to spread your anarchy to one of the last few bastions of civilization in the undercity?"

"Well, well, well, Ekko, you didn't mention you were on a first-name basis with a councilmember," sneered Jinx, though from what Ekko could tell, none of that animosity was directed his way. Giggling, she held up her hands, creating a picture frame between her thumbs and index fingers, "Well, maybe half of a councilmember. Someone wanna grab a booster seat for the fluffball? Oh, and another one for the yordle!"

Lux laid a hand on Jinx's shoulder, murmuring in an amused tone "I don't think you have any room to talk about height, babygirl."

Zeri and Ekko snickered as Jinx pouted, and Heimerdinger looked like he'd just been on the receiving end of one of Jinx's concussion grenades. The diminutive professor looked at Lux like he was really seeing her for the first time, and in a shaky voice said, "Lady Luxanna Crownguard, is that you? I'd heard you'd gone missing from Demacia, what in all the gods names are you doing here?"

Lux froze, her eyes flitting from Ekko to Zeri to Jinx, never once looking directly at the councilmember. The poro with him sniffed at her britches and made happy yips. Memories surfaced, of a state visit to Piltover a dozen years ago, and of petting a fluffy snowball of a poro while her parents talked to the council.

Lux looked at Jinx, her eyes tracing every contour of her face, doing everything to memorize her soulmate without looking her in the eye. Lux felt fear churning her stomach, a terror that bordered on despair. People were looking at her, really looking now, and she felt her breath hitching in her chest. She couldn't stay here, the Mageseekers would hear of this, know for sure that she was here, she'd be putting them all in danger, her precious heart too, there wasn't anywhere to hide, she had to-

Jinx stood up, her body all hard lines, radiating anger like steam coming off of an overclocked engine, and moved around Lux, toward Heimerdinger. The grenade launcher came out, and the yordle found himself staring down a barrel that would comfortably fit his arm.

"Apologize to Lux, now."

The words were not shouted, nor did Jinx say them with any particular heat. They were coldly, calmly stated, though anyone with even an ounce of emotional awareness could see that the Loose Cannon was a hair's breadth away from executing one of Piltover's founders.

Heimerdinger's pet poro yipped as ferociously as it could, and leapt to its master's defense, jaws clamping onto Jinx's calf, magenta blood staining white fur. The professor, forever analyzing the world around him, noted that the grenade launcher barrel didn't twitch at all, and the madwoman's face never changed, locked in an icy stare, as bleak and cold as an open grave in winter.

"I was telling my friend Ekko here about the safety features of these grenades. I told him that they're chemically stable, that the payload won't arm unless it travels fifteen meters."