Luxurious Anarchy (Lux/Jinx)

Chapter 25: Valkyrie

Smeech dragged one claw along the table, sending shivers down Margot's spine. The yordle snarled, "Sevika is late. She's got a lot to answer for too, backing out on the hunt for the Loose Cannon."

Margot swirled her cup of wine, frowning down into the light pink brew, "To be fair..."

Hazard, who had recently been the second in command to the late Finn, snarled, his augmented features glittering in the harsh chemtech lighting, "Don't even start with that old "barons don't swipe at barons" shit. Jinx isn't a baroness, she's a fucking walking disaster."

Renni and Choss nodded along with Hazard's words, and Margot raised her hands in surrender.

"Well fine then, so we, and by we I mean you lot, keep the bounty in place, fine, grand." Margot took a swig of her wine, the last of her private reserve, and tossed the cup behind her to be caught by one of her lackeys. "What do we do about the fact that no one is going to even bother making an attempt? Renata gave it a try, and if Jinx wasn't in a playful mood, she'd be missing a whole ass building."

Hazard glowered at her, and Smeech snarled, but Renni is the one who spoke up, "We'll simply have to raise the bounty. What was Sevika offering at the end, seven hundred?"

Choss nodded, mumbling, "Plus our three-fifty, so we'll need to offer a total of a thousand hexes for her head to bring the bounty back up."

Smeech growled, "Fine, there's five of us here, we can afford a couple hundred hexes to get the fucking trade lanes open again. I fucking know I'm losing more than that every fucking day Piltover has their briefs in a bunch."

Margot rapped her knuckles on the table, drawing the yordle's gaze, "Fine, dandy, great, let's all chip in and put out a big fat bounty. Second issue, who the fuck is hard enough to take Jinx down?"

Whatever awkward, ultimately unsatisfactory answer she would have gotten was never to arrive. With a thunderous crash that sent one of Renni's men sprawling on the ground, the walking disaster was upon them.

"Good fucking morning, glorious nation of Zaun!" Jinx shouted, a live grenade in either hand, "How we doin' today?"

Immediately, chemtech pistols leapt from concealed holsters, and black-market Enforcer rifles fell from shoulder slings into waiting hands. Fingers tensed on triggers, and Jinx's eyes twinkled with dark violet light at the number of gun barrels pointed her way.

"Stand down, stand the fuck down if you don't want to get turned into a fine mist," hissed Margot, and most, though not all, of the guns were lowered. None were returned to their holsters, however.

Jinx strolled into the room, her movements unhurried, her black and red jacket fastened tightly against the recirculated air of the chamber. "I'm sure you're all wondering where dear old Sevika is today. Or why granny Renata isn't here. And I-"

"Shouldn't be here either, how the fuck did you get in?" snarled Hazard, copper-colored augmentic fingers clutching his pistol tightly. The gun in his hand was gaudy to the extreme, more a display of wealth than a proper firearm, though Margot didn't doubt for an instant its ability to fire.

Jinx froze, her features twisted into a caricature of shock and dismay, "Oh jeez Replacement Finn, I didn't see ya there! Welcome to the big kids table, happy to have ya on board!"

"My name is Hazard, and there is no place for you here, Loose Cannon."

Knuckles tapped on the imported hardwood table, and several heads bobbed in agreement. Neon purple eyes flicked this way and that, and Jinx smiled all the wider.

"Oh...? You don't like how I earned my title of Chem-Baroness? Well, that's alright, can't say I like the system we've got in place either."

"What is this "we" shit you little lunatic?" snarled Smeech, his augmentic claws digging yet another set of furrows out of the table as his grip tightened. "I don't give a giant rat's ass if you did snuff Wrencher, you're not one of us!"