It’s been such a short time, but already the Undercity has already–once again–changed drastically from what he knows. Such a short time ago he saw the effects of Silco: the shimmer deals, petty crimes replaced with organized ones. With the kingpin having disappeared after the attack—the consensus being that he died somehow—there was a struggle for power, a hanging question: Who would be next?

  Unfortunately for those ambitious chembarons, Piltover decided to answer that question for them. With enforcers patrolling around every corner in groups of three or more, Viktor couldn’t see even an ember of crime that wouldn’t be stomped out immediately by the police force. It’s understandable: with their masks, they’re quite terrifying. It’s easy to forget there’s a person under there, many thinking about wanting to go home, see their families, or just sleep.

  He’s trying to remind himself that they’re all people–including him–in these streets. That is, with one notable exception. Notwithstanding, Viktor can’t help but feel as out of place down here as he does in Piltover. The budding thirst for blood like a wilting flower, the covering up of his mangled, enhanced parts, and carrying the Hexclaw on his back like contraband: all of it makes him feel less than them. Less than an enforcer, less than a gang member… but he’s not. He needs to remember that. Even if his whole body were transmogrified into rotting flesh and rusted steel, so long as his mind remained Viktor, he’d be good.

  Though, in present concerns, the Hexclaw is more than just a weight on his back: it’s a target. A relatively large, blue, glowing device strapped to a cloaked figure wandering the dark streets, ignored by enforcers? Anyone with any experience in the Lanes would find such an opportunity ripe for picking.

  Most of all, he dreads that if such a thing occurs, he’d be forced to use the device. Simply put, it would be very bad for the thief. The Hexclaw lacks any amount of non-lethal force, so it will have to be his final resort in any confrontation. Except, of course, when facing his main objective.

  Call it a stroke of luck, or perhaps attribute it to the enforcers, but Viktor arrived at the meeting spot without any problems. Envious and loathful looks were the worst of what he got on his way. He’s glad for both himself and the potential muggers that nothing came of their temptations. If he’d had to do something drastic so early in his expedition… his will to move forward with this may have suffered.

  On a bench, overlooking a massive, foreboading cliff, is a small, cloaked figure. Wisps of orange fur peek out from the oversized hood, barely moving in the stagnant air around him. Viktor can’t help but smile, approaching his mentor once again. The chasm ahead is empty and dark, a vicious laceration in the earth that cuts deeper than his eyes can see. The walls of the cave stretch up high into a clear pocket, one flooded with trapped smog and dust like a pond of poison on the ceiling of the rocks.

  “Horrid, isn’t it?” Heimerdinger spoke up softly, Viktor’s smile fading into a solemn expression, “Young Ekko said this cave used to teem with life, likened it to his own home. With Hextech, production ramped up, so the smog finally reached this far out from the main city…”

  Looking closer at the dark splotches on the rocks, he can make out detritus and biomass, black and wilted from the toxic air, “Now imagine breathing it,” Viktor lets out with a deep, robust breath. The feeling of his lungs failing is something he can’t–won’t–ever forget, lest he become detached from his first home, however flawed it may be. There are still people that breathe this smog every day; There are people that still need his help.

  Viktor sits down next to Heimerdinger, the Hexclaw backpack drawing his mentor’s attention. The Hextech scientist speaks up first, however, “When does Ekko get here?” Viktor’s eyes dance across the silhouettes in the walls, remnants of abandoned pipes and ventilation that no doubt stretch for miles into the underground. He knows, somehow, somewhere, in the labyrinthine network, the Firelights’ home lies. It tests the imagination to wonder how it has remained undetected all these years.

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  “Any second now, my boy. Ekko is a busy young man, I wouldn’t fault him even if he were ten minutes late!” Heimerdinger chuckles, though frowns with some worry.

  That concern turns out to be unfounded, as not much later, the firelight leader—masked—flies out with an entourage of two others, all accompanied by the lime glow of their hoverboards.

  As the gang flies closer, Viktor doesn’t recognize one of them. Ekko, obviously, along with Scar, he recalls, even without their faces visible. However, one firelight rides behind Ekko, unmasked, holding onto his shoulders uncomfortably. He can’t really be sure she is a firelight. She’s dressed like a typical Undercity citizen, but not really like a firelight. There are no tools, masks, or anything on the pink-haired girl. Though, she looks even more toned than Jayce; She could probably knock him out with one combo.

  As the trio starts to land, Viktor and Heimerdinger remove their hoods, causing a reciprocal removal of Ekko and Scar’s masks during their descent. Before introductions could even begin being made toward the newcomer, she leaps a few feet off the hoverboard and holds her gut with massive, very familiar gauntlets, slouching over as if about to puke. Taking a deep breath, she corrects her posture and straightens her jacket, fake coughing in the process.

  The four men stare for a moment, but then, Ekko, realizing she wasn’t about to do it herself, begins introductions.

  “This—“ he gestures casually, a tiny bit of exasperation leaking into his tone, “—is Vi. She’s a good friend, you can trust her,” Ekko then holds his hand out, gesturing in the same way toward the unhooded Heimerdinger and Viktor, who are attempting to shake Vi’s hand,” This is Viktor, and this is Heimerdinger.”

  Vi hesitates, then looks down, two Hextech gauntlets around her hands, which she uses to shrug dramatically. Both scientists put their hands away, though Viktor is fully aware she knows how to—and could easily—remove the gauntlets should she have wished.

  “You were with Jayce at the refinery?” Viktor asks, more as a statement than a question, but Vi nods.

  “Yeah, saw that thing do it’s weird magic all over the room. Since I have some experience against it, I thought I could help,” She proudly holds up the Atlas Gauntlets, steam shooting out of their sides with a furious hiss. She mutters, barely perceptibly, “Nothing better to do anyway…”

  Vi moves to Ekko’s side, nudging him and using her head to gesture toward the path. Ekko nods back, leading the group of five down the road where Viktor and Heimerdinger came from.

  The Firelight leader starts to speak, explaining the plan while the group walks, “That thing is either really lucky, or much smarter than I first thought,” Ekko begins rifling through one of his belt pouches, “You saw the streets on the way here, right? The enforcers seem to be doing a number on the chembarons,” Ekko pulls something out, an object as white as ivory that glistens unnaturally in the darkness. It has a wide base that tapers into a curved point. A tooth–a big one–about the length from the tip of his finger to his wrist. Tendrils of half-rotten flesh wriggle like bloody worms where the gums would’ve been, “We found this in a cave, practically lined with Smeech’s dead henchmen. He went missing not long ago, guess the rest of his gang decided to look for him. Don’t know if enforcers or the Solver took out Smeech, but I definitely know what left this behind.”

  Ekko tosses the tooth to Viktor, who catches it in a panic, nearly dropping the almost living fang.

  Vi snorts, “You sure that can’t bite him?”

  A hint of a grin crosses the firelight leader’s face. He watches Viktor turn the wiggling object over in his hand studiously, examining it like a doctor would an undiagnosed patient. The scientist’s eyes gloss over, a possessive curiosity inhabiting his mind. Viktor can almost feel his palm twice over, a phantom sensation emerging from the gums of the tooth.

  At some point, his vision starts to shift. He no longer sees himself turning the tooth over, but rather, the tooth examining him.

  “…”

  “-ey?”

  “HEY!”

  Vi yells into his ears, Ekko gripping the tooth, which is now upright, perched like a monstrous canary in his hand. The fleshy tendrils cease their writhing, wrapping around his finger like a squid. The end of the tooth aims toward him, its sharp point threatening to gouge his eyes from their tired sockets.

  The tooth… is threatening him.

  From Viktor’s back, something emerges. It unfurls like an elongated neck, rising from behind in a shroud of darkness. Three steel prongs frame the central ‘eye’ of the device, which itself glows with an azure radiance. The source—a small sphere—is clearly visible in its center. When Viktor raises his other hand to point at the tooth, the Hexclaw unleashes a beam of searing, concentrated energy that screeches through the air. The oxygen around them feels like it ignites from the heat and proximity of the laser. Viktor’s movements are languid—almost robotic—including a final pinch of his thumb and pointer. Viktor jerks his free hand to the side, and the Hexclaw follows, slashing with pure energy and severing the tooth. Only the bottom tendrils, melting into goop with a sizzle, are left on his palm.

  The ivory fang drops onto the path below, but no flang or thud sounds out. Only a small whoosh, as it turns to a chalky dust and disperses across the ground.