Convalescence

By Eadon

Disclaimer: League characters and its world belong to Riot.

There was something different about this operation.

For one, Jayce was never asked to accompany Caitlyn on any of her police missions. Sure, there were times when she asked for his assistance in some investigations. But for those times all he did was analyze hextech.

Second, Jayce and Caitlyn were the only humans present. The rest of her "officers" were the Piltover Police Bots. Not that Jayce felt uncomfortable invading a massive, abandoned building that was half crumbled with just the Sheriff, himself, and a small detachment of bots. He just felt out of place. Where was Caitlyn's brute of a partner, Vi? She was always with Caitlyn for these types of missions.

There was also the fact that every time he asked why he was needed Caitlyn always brushed off his inquiries.

"Listen, Jayce, I just need you to trust me and back me up." Her eyes were hard. "Can you do that for me?"

Caught off guard, Jayce lifted both his hands to his chest level to symbolize he meant no harm. "Sure, Cait. But I'll hold you later to explain all of this."

Caitlyn's expression didn't change, but her shoulders lost a bit of their stiffness. She nodded to him once before returning her attention to one of the bots. She gave it instructions for itself and the other units to surround the building, but out of sight.

The bots wouldn't have difficulty hiding, Jayce thought. This night was especially dark, the natural moonlight was blocked from most of the high buildings, and most of the Star Rods in the area were long since destroyed and salvaged, which left them with very little light.

To see a small part of Piltover in ruins was foreign to Jayce. He lived in the center part of the city, the one place that the criminal Jinx hadn't touched. Not that the entire outer part of the city was in ruins, there were plenty of other sections of the city that were unscathed.

Anger flared into the famed Hero of Tomorrow. He vowed he would protect Piltover and its citizens. Now he understood why the statesmen were pushing him and the other hextech inventors so hard.

Caitlyn approached him, jarring the inventor from his thoughts. "I need you to stay in the front; I'll watch you from the back."

Jayce nodded. His face illuminated from the light of his weapon, the Mercury Hammer, activating to life. Caitlyn turned on a small flashlight that was clipped onto the front of her uniform.

As instructed, he led Caitlyn to the building. He wasn't told this would be a stealth operation, so he took the initiative to smash through the door with his weapon.

He anticipated an attack, but the entrance was void of any inhabitants. They pushed further into the building. It was a warehouse, but most of the large rooms were filled with debris. The rest of the building was the same as the entrance, empty.

Confused, Jayce turned to Caitlyn. She pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a silent curse.

For as long as Jayce knew Caitlyn, he's rarely ever seen her display any negative emotions. Sure there were times when he's seen her get upset, especially during the time they dated, but he's never heard her curse. But, considering the stress she's endured since Jinx's destruction, he was sympathetic to her picking up Vi's foul mouth.

"What's going on, Cait?" Jayce asked. He would power down his hammer, but he couldn't fight the nagging feeling there was something they missed. And he didn't want to be caught off guard without his weapon activated. Not that he really needed the hammer to be powered on, but depending on the situation he may need to change his weapon to its secondary form, the Mercury Cannon.

"I know she's here." Caitlyn muttered to herself. She turned her back to Jayce and retraced their steps.

Eyebrows furrowed, Jayce chased after the sheriff. "Who's she?"

The shorter brunette ignored him. She checked every room and hallway; her mind was solely focused on whatever it was she was searching for.

Jayce started when Caitlyn suddenly cried, "found it!"

"What is it?" Jayce glanced at what Caitlyn was looking at. He saw nothing but debris. Wait, no. It was easy to miss due to the crumbled concrete that decorated the floor. There were a set of stairs leading beneath them.

Jayce gently moved Caitlyn aside and descended the stairs first. The moment he reached the bottom a sudden gunshot erupted from his left.

The inventor was caught off guard and the bullet should have killed him, if it was aimed correctly. Thankfully, luck was on Jayce's side and the bullet went far right of his head. Before he had the chance to switch to his Mercury Cannon, another gunshot rang from behind him and his attacker fell.

Jayce didn't need to glance to Caitlyn; he knew the second gunshot was from her rifle. He carefully stepped closer to the still attacker. A small, bleeding circle sat in the middle of the man's forehead.

Perfect headshot, Jayce thought.

"Great shot." He grinned.

Caitlyn, however, displayed intense anger and cursed aloud. "Damnit! I didn't want to kill him."

Jayce lifted a thick eyebrow at her. Being left in the dark was starting to give him a headache.

Caitlyn sighed heavily and searched the dead man's pockets. "If we found anyone, I needed them alive. But instincts…"

"You saved my life though, so uh thanks for that."

The sheriff nodded as she continued to search. When she found nothing, she stood and cursed again. "If there were any others here, they would've come running the moment they heard the gunfire."

Jayce looked around. The basement looked like a makeshift mess hall. There were tables and chairs strewn about, and he could make out a kitchen further along the back. "What the hell is going on, Cait?"

She opened her mouth to explain, but they both froze when they heard something from the back, towards the kitchen. Jayce wasn't sure, but it almost sounded like it was a cough.

Caitlyn shot towards the noise faster than Jayce could lift his hammer.

"Cait, wait!" A bad feeling was beginning to settle into his gut, and he was afraid Caitlyn was going to charge right into a trap.

There was a closed door in the far corner of the kitchen, but it was locked. Caitlyn looked ready to kick it down, but Jayce offered his hammer again.

Once the door was smashed open, Jayce was ready this time. He had his cannon activated as he entered the room and checked his sides; he wasn't willing to risk his luck of getting shot again.

The room churned Jayce's stomach and sent chills down his back. The walls were brown and rusted, the floor tainted with dirt and what looked to be blood. Small tables littered the room; each one carried bloody sharp instruments from hooks to scalpels. One table even had a bloodied whip.

Then he saw her. Or rather, he saw her pink hair. It was the only thing in the room that wasn't brown or red.

A flash of blue passed before Jayce, it was Caitlyn rushing to her partner's side.

"Vi," Caitlyn exclaimed.

Her pink haired partner was tied to a chair, her head bowed down. It worried Jayce that she wasn't moving despite Caitlyn shaking her shoulder. It almost looked like she wasn't breathing. He almost wanted to look away when he noticed most of her clothing was tattered to the point that left her indecent.

He watched helplessly as Caitlyn pressed two fingers against her neck.

"She's alive." Caitlyn whispered, though more to herself.

Jayce realized he had been holding his breath. He let out a long exhale in relief before he busied himself with another search around the room while Caitlyn went to untying Vi. He didn't know what was going on, and frankly he was confused why he and Caitlyn did this rescue mission alone. Rescue missions of missing people were the jurisdiction of the Piltover Patrol.

He and Caitlyn were going to have a long talk once they got out of here and got Vi to a hospital. Judging by all the bloody instruments in the room, he shivered just thinking about what was done to the brash woman.

Vi's massive hextech gauntlets laid in the far corner, both were heavily damaged. He was about to pick them up when he heard Caitlyn call for him.

"I need your help."

The inventor frowned, but inspected the back of the chair that Vi was tied to. He winced when he saw that her hands were tied together with a wire. They most likely were used to deter her from struggling against the binds. But knowing Vi's stubbornness, the wire was cut deep into her flesh.

The wire was too strong and sharp. There was no sign of the ends to them either.

"I need something to cut the wire. Watch over the door in case that man had any friends."

It didn't take Jayce long to find wire cutters. He felt slightly better when he noticed they weren't stained with blood.

Slightly.

It worried him further that he still received no response from Vi as he unwrapped the wire from her wrists. That was until he had to give the wire a slight tug to pull it out of her flesh that Vi groaned which then escalated to a dry, painful sounding cough.

Lookout forgotten, Caitlyn was instantly at Vi's side. It hurt Jayce to see her looking so worried.

"I'll be on point, you carry her," Caitlyn said.

He nodded and gestured to her damaged gauntlets in the corner. It'd be difficult for Caitlyn to carry them and use her rifle. Still, she managed to carry them while Jayce carefully lifted Vi onto his back.

Vi was a lot lighter than he expected, but he wasn't complaining. It was that much easier for him to carry his hammer as well.

It would be incredibly cliché if a group of men awaited them at the top of the stairs, Jayce thought, but thankfully that never happened. The building was still empty as they quickly left it.

In the safety of the outdoors, Caitlyn called in for the police bots to return to their patrol routs.

That would be another of the many questions Jayce had in store for the sheriff, but for now he focused on getting her partner to their vehicle. Once he laid Vi in the back, he quickly draped his coat over her to give her some decency.

It was difficult to see what her injuries were due to the darkness, but what he did see flared anger within him. He and the pink haired enforcer weren't on the best of terms, quite the opposite actually, but not even she deserved this kind of treatment.

Caitlyn took over the driver seat so Jayce wasted no more time in getting in the adjacent seat to her. He thought about asking what the Void was going on, but something told him his questions could wait. One glance at the sheriff's face brought a shiver down his back; he could feel the rage radiating from her.

"Where are we going," Jayce asked once he noticed they weren't heading to the nearest hospital. He expected her to ignore his question again, like she had all night, but she surprised him with an answer.

"Your place," she answered.

"What?!"

Caitlyn was rendered speechless again when another cough erupted from Vi. Her thin eyebrows furrowed and she accelerated the vehicle even faster.

It was official, Jayce decided then it was best to just ask questions later.

Once they arrived at his house, Jayce told Caitlyn to ring his doorbell while he grabbed Vi. His personal bot would let them in.

Due to the functioning Star Rods nearby, and the light from his house, Jayce noticed the blood stains on the seats after he lifted Vi. It unnerved him further when he felt the warm wetness from her back.

"Greetings, sheriff, what could I—"

Jayce looked up and caught Caitlyn hacking his personal bot.

"Cait, what in the Void are you doing to my bot?!"

"Questions later! Get Vi in here!"

The inventor growled under his breath, but obeyed. He took Vi to the nearest bedroom and was immediately pushed aside by his bot and then given a long list of supplies; towels, bandages, water, etc.

Confused by his bot's sudden medical know-how, Jayce just kept his mouth shut and fetched the supplies. Upon return to the room, his bot wasted no time in treating Vi's wounds.

He expected Caitlyn to help or watch, maybe even leave all together. Instead, she gestured for him to follow her out of the room and shut the door behind her.

"I guess now is the time to finally give you some answers," she sighed as she leaned against the door.

Jayce crossed his arms. "Yes, it would be great to know why we rescued your partner instead of the Piltover Patrol, why we bring Vi to my home instead of the hospital, and why you hacked my bot."

The anger that had pent up within the Hero of Tomorrow quickly evaporated when he saw how exhausted and terrified Caitlyn looked. His hard features softened and he softly tugged the woman to his kitchen for a warm drink.

He knew she was an avid tea drinker, but all he had was coffee. After a quick glance at the clock, he didn't think she'd mind said beverage.

While he prepared their drinks Caitlyn excused herself to his bathroom. It wasn't until she had returned and sported the warm mug in her hands before she finally spoke. Jayce pretended not to notice how red and puffy her eyes had become when she returned.

"Where do I begin?"

Jayce took a sip before answering; his mind was so overwhelmed with so many questions he didn't know what to ask first.

"Why did you ask for my help? Why not order the Patrol to search and rescue Vi?"

Caitlyn nodded, took a sip to wet her throat, and began. "I had no proof that Vi was missing. If she isn't reported missing, the Patrol can't look for her."

"How could you have no proof she was missing? If she doesn't report to work and doesn't answer your calls, that's grounds for missing, isn't it?"

Caitlyn winced. "I fired Vi before she went missing."

"You fired Vi?" Jayce nearly spat his drink.

Caitlyn glared at him for a moment. "It was an order from the statesmen."

Jayce whistled. "Did she destroy one of their homes or something?"

"Worse," Caitlyn paused to take another sip. "A statesman was injured. His home was broken into and being robbed. Vi showed up and a scuffle ensued. Needless to say, Vi caused more damage to the house than the criminal, and the statesman was injured."

She sighed, placed her mug down and rubbed her eyes. "That was the final straw. Considering all the damage Jinx has caused, the statesmen felt having a police officer that caused just as much damage as a criminal wasn't worth the trouble anymore. So I had a choice, I could either be demoted and Vi would be arrested for her past crimes, or I could fire her and I could keep my position."

"So her missing wasn't seen as suspicious, just a woman that avoided any communication after losing her job."

Caitlyn nodded. "Exactly."

Jayce refilled both their mugs. "How did you know she was kidnapped?"

"Part of our deal was that I not only had to fire Vi, but I also had to apprehend her gauntlets."

"I can't imagine she was too happy about that. She didn't punch you for taking them?"

Caitlyn glared at him again. "She gave them up without a struggle, thankfully. But a few days later I noticed they were missing from our evidence storage."

This story just keeps getting better and better, Jayce thought.

"It bothered me that her gauntlets were taken from under my nose. I knew it wasn't Vi, there would be no way for her to sneak in and get them without detection."

"You suspect someone in your force?"

Caitlyn nodded. "It was then that I tried contacting her, to no avail. When I went to her apartment there were no signs of a struggle. There was nothing that hinted she was kidnapped."

"So how did you manage to find out where she was?"

"I called in a favor with Heimerdinger. He wasn't able to do anything about the Patrol, regulations are regulations. But he was able to sneak in Vi's description with the Patrol Rescue Bot."

"And it found a positive match on her?"

The woman nodded while she sipped from her mug. "I still don't know which one of my own officers is behind this. When the Patrol Bot found her, I didn't want to risk her being moved before my rescue. And it could have complicated things if this person knew to avoid the Patrol Bot."

"So you called me."

"Yes."

"Okay, so then why in the Void did you bring her to my home? She'd be in better hands at the hospital."

She bit her lower lip. "I honestly wasn't expecting Vi to be…in this condition. At most I assumed she'd be roughed up, nothing a medical bot couldn't fix."

"Still, why not take her to the hospital?"

Caitlyn rubbed her eyes again. "I'd rather she stay with someone I trust. At a hospital…there are too many things that can happen without anyone noticing anything."

Jayce frowned. "I understand you don't trust leaving an officer to guard her room, but you could still assign a bot to guard her."

The sheriff shook her head. "Vi's kidnapper is an officer. He or she can easily approach Vi's room without the bot being suspicious of anything. I won't risk that."

"Speaking of bots, how were you able to hack mine?"

"Like I said, I wasn't expecting her to be hurt too bad. And I don't know anyone with medical training that I trust to look after her if she was injured. So Heimerdinger gave me a medical upgrade for any bot when we discussed my plan.

"Do you have any suspects yet?"

Caitlyn shook her head again. "All of my officers have clean records and come from good backgrounds."

"Do you think one of them was just bribed for Vi's gauntlets?"

"That's a possibility. I was hoping I'd find out more when we rescued Vi. That man I killed didn't look familiar."

Despite working on his third cup of coffee, exhaustion hit Jayce now that his confusion settled.

"I would have explained everything to you beforehand, but I was worried if I took too much time then I'd be too late." Caitlyn fought the wetness that formed in the corners of her eyes. "I still don't know if I am too late."

Jayce placed a hand on her shoulder. He was relieved she didn't immediately brush his hand off, nor did she stiffen at his touch.

"She's tough, she'll be fine."

"I don't even understand why they'd torture her."

"Do you think Jinx is behind this," Jayce asked.

The sheriff shook her head. "Jinx relishes in chaos and destruction. Everything is just a game to her. She enjoys taunting us in the fact that we can't catch her. She wouldn't kidnap and torture Vi. It's someone else."

"And they might be one of your own officers," sighed Jayce.

Caitlyn stood abruptly; she too looked ready to pass out from exhaustion.

"You can stay here for the night; I have plenty of spare bedrooms." He expected Caitlyn to decline, but she surprised him again when she nodded.

Before they both retired, Jayce stepped out to fetch his and Caitlyn's weapons from her vehicle. He took another look at the backseat and shuddered when he saw the blood stains. He thought about cleaning them, they'd be really difficult to clean out the longer they stayed. But both physical and mental exhaustion convinced him to forego the thought. He'd just get his bot to do it.

With Caitlyn staying the night, it was only right he offer her some clothes to sleep in. He grabbed a pair of his own sleeping clothes, a mere top and shorts, before heading to the room Vi occupied.

The shorter brunette looked like she was struggling to stay awake as she watched the bot work on her partner.

"How is she?"

Caitlyn started when she felt Jayce touch her elbow, this time she pulled away from his touch. "She has a fever; no doubt her wounds are infected."

"Then it's a good thing bots don't need to sleep." He offered her the change of clothes. "You should get some rest."

She accepted the clothes with a nod of thanks. "I'll get the room across the hall." She turned to the bot and said, "notify me immediately should she awaken."

"Yes, ma'am," the bot replied.

"Good night, Jayce. And…thanks for helping."

Jayce smiled and nodded. "Anything for you."

It was a tired, half smile that Caitlyn offered him. But a smile from her always spurred butterflies to develop in his gut. Then she entered her claimed room and shut the door silently behind her, leaving Jayce alone in the hall with his thoughts.

The Hero of Tomorrow squashed the urge to knock on her door, hug her, and offer whatever comfort she'd accept from him. Now wasn't the time.

In a way, he regretted aiding Caitlyn. He hadn't thought about her in a long time, he had been so busy lately with his work. Now, spending time with her, Void she saved his life, he found himself aching for the sheriff of Piltover once again.

Damn it, he thought.