"Right then," Caitlyn clasped her hands behind her back and looked over the officers standing before her one last time. Her officers. She somehow managed to remember each of them by name and face, always did her best to ensure that everyone was able to get home safe to their family each day. In return, they trusted her with their lives and carried her orders out to the last letter. "Is everyone clear on what the plan is?"

"Yes ma'am," the alley that made for their makeshift meeting room echoed with the officers' replies. They had only managed to locate this particular band of crooks within the past few hours, and Caitlyn wanted the operation to be one decisive clean sweep. No loose ends. No crooks slipping through the cracks to threaten Piltover someday in the future. This particular group was suspected as being responsible for several bombings that had rocked the city of Piltover in recent months, it was easy to see why Caitlyn wanted things kept so tidy.

"Good. Move to your positions," Caitlyn gave the company a nod of dismissal and watched as they dispersed. The normal officers left in all due haste, and then there was the special case just standing there looking bored. Caitlyn gave a small sigh and slight roll of her eyes as she walked over to the woman.

Piltover's police department was extremely accepting in the way of diversity—as long as you did the job and did it well you could count on long term employment—but this woman was definitely one of the strangest to ever be taken into its ranks. Shocking pink hair cut short save for the bangs and a few braids trailing off the back, a large tattoo on the left cheek that read "VI", armor that looked like it was cobbled together from the odds and ends of a mechanic's workshop... Her body was lean with muscles like steel cords, conditioned from many years spent fighting on the move. However, the single most remarkable thing about this woman was the massive set of hextech gauntlets she wore. Each palm was larger than her own head, the fingers fully-functional and just itching to curl into a fist so she could deck someone with it. This was Vi, former criminal and the Piltover police force's newest recruit.

"Vi," the sound of Caitlyn's voice snapped Vi out of her boredom, and she focused her bright blue eyes on her new boss. "Do you understand what you need to do?"

"Yeah yeah," Vi's careless tone revealed what little respect she actually had for Caitlyn and what the Sheriff did. All Vi really cared about at the moment was trying out the new modifications she'd made to her gauntlets on the nearest criminal gang she could get her fists on; she would go into the hideout when she pleased, Caitlyn's plans be damned. "Wait for the signal and then go in, whatever you say Sheriff," in truth Vi had decided to go in as soon as Caitlyn had moved a sufficient distance away, preferably enroute to her sniping position in one of the surrounding buildings.

Caitlyn saved her grumbling over Vi's lack of respect for the time being and closed her eyes for a few moments. "Fine, good. Just do your best," she was so tired of Vi's attitude. Just plain tired, now that she thought of it. She couldn't remember the last time she felt so constantly worn out. Caitlyn turned her back to Vi and started toward the building that would provide her sniper's perch. To think she'd agreed to taking Vi as a "partner" to help reduce her workload, at this rate she'd be run into the ground within the month.

Vi watched Caitlyn as the Sheriff made her way to the designated building. She was good with a gun and all, really fond of making plans, but Vi just couldn't bring herself to take the woman seriously. Now that she thought about it, that was the same with most people. She didn't respect them and in turn they didn't respect her, it was just the way of the world for Vi, no point changing it.

Thirty seconds. One minute... That was enough time. Vi grinned; the crooks wouldn't know what hit them. She made her way to the hidden police line, sauntered right through it, broke into a run as those on the line called for her to stop.

The wall of the criminal gang's hideout rushed up to meet her, and Vi drew back one fist to knock a hole clean through it. One fist, that was all it took. Pure simplicity, artistically so, even. Flying debris from the blow knocked out one of the guards inside, and the other five raised their guns to fire as they shouted various threats or desperate orders. Vi was among them before they could fire. One, two punches to send a pair of them sailing out the hole she'd made in the wall, another two for the pair unlucky enough to have solid concrete behind them. That left just one.

Vi's head snapped around to where the last guard was as he half stood, half cowered in the hallway. The sight of a grown man in such a state was enough to get a laugh out of Vi as she advanced on him. Unlike his now-unconscious comrades, this guard had the good sense to know when he was outmatched and promptly turned to run. Running or fighting, didn't matter to Vi what the crooks did. It was funny when they thought they could escape, though.

"Hey buddy," the false friendliness was just as terrifying to hear as the constant jeering; it meant Vi was preparing to do something painful. Vi threw her right gauntlet forward, and a long tether with a weighted end shot out of a compartment in the gauntlet's palm to wrap itself around the man's waist. "We're not done 'til I've given you your lumps for the day," she jerked the tether, hauling the hapless guard back toward her as she sprang forward. The man had just enough time to cast a fearful glance over one shoulder before one of Vi's fists struck him in the lower back.

The absence of tensile force signaled the tether to release, and the rope slid back into its hidden compartment as the man let out a strangled cry of pain and flew into the opposite wall. He slid down a few inches and pushed off, causing Vi to start forward in the hopes that he would be dumb enough to resist her. To Vi's disappointment, he did this only to stumble down the hall a few steps and collapse in a bruised heap with a whimpering groan.

"Tsch," Vi gave an arrogant toss of her head and started past the unconscious guard.

Above, in one of the adjacent buildings, Caitlyn's handheld radio crackled to life: "Sheriff! It's—" The rest of the correspondence dissolved into unintelligible static. Caitlyn smacked the radio against the palm of her upturned hand and raised it to the window in attempt to get better reception. Nothing worked, either someone was jamming their channels or Caitlyn's handheld was malfunctioning. Neither situation was good, and Caitlyn got to her feet as she flipped through the other radio channels. Even the backup channels weren't working.

Caitlyn dashed toward the stairs; she had to get down to the ground, it sounded like something was wrong from the almost-frantic tone of the officer who tried to contact her. She was so distracted trying to think of what could have gone wrong that she failed to notice the high-pitch ringing that echoed through the stairway. The sound intensified two floors down, and Caitlyn stopped to listen when she finally noticed it, trying to figure out what its cause could be. As she flipped through the mental list of things it might be, the sound suddenly ceased.

Silence swept in to take its place, broken only by Caitlyn's pounding heart. Realization leaped to the front of her mind, but it was already too late. The gasp of apprehension that escaped her lips was immediately lost in the roar of the explosion.

The fourth floor of every building that stood adjacent to the gang's hideout exploded simultaneously. Debris and dust showered the streets and alleys as every officer still outside dove for cover. Something flew out of the explosion, leading a trail of fine dust and smoke, and landed on the cobblestone street with a muffled thump. It was Caitlyn's purple top hat, the fabric tattered and burned, and the once-shining and polished scopes now reduced to bits of twisted metal tarnished by fire.

A large piece of concrete walling shaken loose in the explosion crushed the truck that Caitlyn had planned to smoke the gang out with. Its single massive tank contained sleeping gas that was meant to be pumped into the hideout's ventilation system, either incapacitating all inside or forcing them to flee where her officers could easily pick them up. Those manning the truck only just managed to scramble out of the way and avoid being crushed.

The keening screech and baritone groan of stressed metal could be heard amid the intense roar of the flames. The structural integrity of the damaged floors had been seriously compromised, and they would soon collapse down on themselves. All nearby officers rushed toward the building Caitlyn had been in when the explosions took place, hopeful that she survived the blast and willing to risk their own lives to find and save her.

Vi had been in the process of breaking down a reinforced door when the series of explosions rocked the hideout. She staggered slightly, then swung her fist and leveled the door in one shot. A shrill scream sounded from inside, and a small figure scampered to the farthest corner of the room.

"A kid?" Vi was surprised, to say the least. What was a kid doing in a place like this? A sudden chill ran down her spine as she looked around at the curiously short worktables and benches, strewn with high-quality materials and equipment used for bomb-making. She looked to the young girl of seven or eight years who sat curled in the corner, hands still dirtied from her work. The situation felt so familiar. Surely the girl didn't know what her stuff was being used for...

"Hey kid," Vi took a step forward, and the girl looked up. "You with them?" she jerked her thumb in the direction of the rest of the compound, where the sounds of gunfire could be heard echoing through the halls. Apparently Caitlyn's officers finally decided to move in.

"Y-yeah," the girl stared up at Vi with big brown eyes, following the woman's gauntlets with no small amount of fear.

"That's too bad, 'cause they're in for the asskicking of their lives," Vi said with a smirk and a careless shrug. "So, you wanna be with them, or with me?" she pointed one large metal thumb at herself.

"You," this time the girl didn't hesitate at all.

"Smart kid," Vi smirked and put her hands on her hips. "Anyway, I'm off to brutalize some terrorists, so you better get yer tiny butt in gear and leave while you still can. Later, squirt!" Vi turned, gave the girl a half-wave from over her shoulder and made her way out of the room and down the hall.

The central rooms were just ten feet away now. Vi would get to deliver her special brand of justice to the men who'd orchestrated the bombings, and now all that stood between her and these soon-to-be punching bags was one heavily reinforced door. She knocked on the door with one knuckle, more to listen to the metal's resonance than request permission to enter. The tone sounded solid, and Vi smiled; all the more fun to smash it. The smile widened as she drew back both fists.

Inside, the men who were standing directly behind the door drew their guns as they prepared for Caitlyn's officers to enter. The door exploded inward as if propelled by a rocket, trailing hinges and twisted pieces of its frame as it bowled the two unlucky men over and pinned them beneath its considerable weight. It took a few moments for the rest of them to get over their initial shock, and they answered with a salvo of rifle fire into the gaping hole that once held the door.

"Oh no, bullets," Vi's sarcastic mocking could be heard even over the sound of the gunfire. "I've never seen those before!" She appeared in the dust of the pulverized concrete like a tsunami come to sweep them away, the single glove she held up to shield herself glowing yellow as it deflected the incoming bullets.

The gunmen continued firing, but ultimately it was futile; the kinetic distortion field projected around Vi's gauntlet simply deflected everything. Stray bullets flew everywhere, some burying themselves in the walls while others ricochet and struck a few of the gunmen. Once close enough, Vi knocked out each man with a single swing of her free fist. It was almost pathetic how weak they were once she got in close, though the fact didn't stop her from enjoying the experience immensely. Soon the only person left standing in the room was Vi herself, and she casually made her way to the office of the gang's leader. She felt invincible, totally alive and still raring to go.

"Knock knock," Vi quipped as she leveled the door with a single punch, same as all the rest. She entered to find the leader hiding behind his desk, revolver in hand.

The man stood and took aim, but Vi was much faster. She accelerated her gauntlets and let their huge momentum carry her fist into the man's face. His nose broke with a loud crack as he was flung backward into a bookshelf. Vi landed on his desktop with a grin and a hearty chuckle, pleased with how smoothly she'd carried out the maneuver. Now to drag the man's sorry ass back to the officers waiting outside.

Vi was just leaving the inner rooms when she spotted someone standing in the hall; the girl she'd met earlier in the workshop, her gaze fixed on Vi as she clutched a large journal to her chest. "Hey kid," Vi tromped over, the limp body of the crime boss held in one gauntlet and dragged carelessly behind her. "I told you to get outta here."

"My name is Holly," the girl gave Vi a small glare and clutched the journal more tightly, unwilling to say what her body language so clearly stated. She was afraid to leave everything she'd known and go alone into the hands of complete strangers.

"Fine," Vi sighed, annoyed but at the same time relieved the girl hadn't followed her into the inner rooms. "We'll go together back the way I came in," she nodded down the hallway with her head and started off. Holly trailed a foot behind Vi and did her best to keep up with the woman's longer legs.

The sounds of gunfire that had echoed through the compound since Vi broke into the workshop grew louder as she and her little party neared the entrance, and they arrived to find a group of Caitlyn's officers engaged in a brutal shootout with the remaining criminals. Several officers lay sprawled on the stone floor, violet uniforms stained wet black from their own blood. Vi took an angry breath and lifted the crime boss's unconscious body; she might not respect them, but these officers were Vi's people too, and nobody hurt her people while she was around to do something about it.

"Stay here," Vi turned to look Holly in the eye, and the girl nodded and huddled in the hallway. It was time to get to work.

Vi activated the kinetic disruptor on one of her gauntlets and picked out her first targets. The criminals had made barricades for themselves with tables and other furniture, and though they were mostly protected from the attacking officers, this left them wide open for Vi. She swung, and hurled the body of the crime boss into a group of the gunmen. The man made a surprisingly good projectile, as he bowled all three of the men over with one shot.

This sudden attack from behind drew the attention of the gunmen away from Caitlyn's officers as they addressed the new threat. Even with one hand occupied Vi swept through them like a metal-fisted hurricane, and any who escaped her gauntlets did so only to be picked off by one of Caitlyn's officers. Vi thought it was some great teamwork. She knocked them down or scared them out and the officers took care of the rest. Just like that, the stalemate was over in under a minute, and Vi hadn't suffered so much as a scratch through it all.

"Hah, piece 'a cake," Vi grinned as she deactivated the disruptors and looked up at the officers who were even now making their way into the hall.

The faces of the approaching officers were grim as they took the weapons from the unconscious criminals or carried their fallen comrades away. They all seemed to be avoiding Vi's gaze, and some even looked... Angry.

Vi rolled her eyes. Everyone was such a stickler for the tiniest little detail. Hadn't she cleaned everything up just fine? She dusted a bit of grit off her shoulder and returned to the hallway where Holly was supposed to be.

Holly lay face-down on the cold stone floor, arms pinned awkwardly beneath her body and still wrapped around her precious journal. A growing pool of blood spread from beneath her small head and stained her pale blonde locks dark red. Vi choked on her own breath and coughed as all color drained from her face, unable to believe what she saw. She rushed to the girl, hoping against hope that she was still alive.

The cherished journal fell from Holly's limp arms and landed in the pool of blood with a loud spat as Vi took her in her hands. "Holly, Holly!" Vi shook her, as if the girl had merely fallen asleep or passed out from fright. But Holly was gone. Struck by a stray bullet during the battle, perhaps even by one that Vi had deflected herself. This little girl who had been caught in the same situation Vi had experienced as a child was gone, just like that.

A commotion erupted behind Vi as she knelt there with Holly's body in her arms, struggling to breathe and still unable to fully comprehend what had taken place. A deep and horrible pain shuddered through her throat, choked her and made her jaw ache, but the tears did not come. She just couldn't believe—

The loud report of gunfire sounded behind her, and a sudden intense pain blossomed in her abdomen. Fresh blood stained Holly's dirtied overalls and shirt. Vi's blood. She turned to find that the crime boss had regained consciousness and used her temporary distraction to his advantage.

Before he could fire again, before the few remaining officers could move to restrain the man, Vi was on her feet and thundering toward him. With Holly still held in one hand, she used the other to crush the man's fingers against the handle of his revolver. He screamed in agony as the bones of his fingers and hand broke under the immense pressure and desperately tried to pull away from Vi's unyielding grip. She released his hand, flung the gun against a distant wall, and took his head in her gauntlet instead.

Now she was angry. Angry at the criminals for taking in Holly and dirtying her gift with their own wretched deeds, angry at herself for being so reckless and allowing Holly to die, all for nothing. This man who took the lives of others so lightly, killed others for his personal gain, she wanted to crush his miserable face into mush just for existing. Her fingers tightened with excruciating slowness as the man screamed and clawed at her gauntlet with his good hand, she wanted him to feel every second of his pathetic skull being crushed into oblivion.

"Vi stop it!" one of the officers moved forward and tried to pry Vi's gauntlet off the crime boss's face. "We need him for questioning! They were hired by someone else to do the bombings, Piltover won't be safe until we know!"

Vi gave him a rough kick that knocked him back a few feet. "The job isn't done 'til this bastard's dead! There's plenty of goons for questioning in here, take your pick!" She could feel everything now. Holly's dead weight in her left hand, the slow and rhythmic throb of her wound as it spilled warm blood down her legs, the horrible wracking pain in her neck and face at the intense grief that somehow refused to come... And the feel of the man's skull in her grip, the sound of his pathetic weeping. She wanted nothing more than to see him die slowly and painfully for what he'd done.

"Dammit Vi stand down!" other officers rushed in, too many to shake off at once. But even their combined strength could not budge Vi's vice-like grip. "Haven't you done enough?"

"Done enough?" Vi's voice broke, sounding much more shrill than she meant it to. "I practically did the whole damn job!"

"Idiot! The Sheriff could be dead because you rushed in!" the officer at her elbow sounded distraught, almost close to tears, even. "Why couldn't you listen to her just this once?"

"The hell are you talking about?" Vi kicked the man in the shin for using such a low tactic to get her to let go. "She's up in her perch, just like she's supposed to be!" She was still furious, but her fingers had ceased to tighten and only held the crime boss now. Please don't let it be true...

"Every damn building surrounding this place exploded a minute after you went in," another officer took the man's place, her own voice hoarse and low with anger. "We can't even get to the floors above the ones that were blasted out. They didn't know when we'd come and you told them we were here when you barged in!"

Slowly, Vi's gauntlet loosened its grip until its fingers were wide enough for the man to slide down to the floor with a relieved sob. The gauntlet shook for a moment, then dropped limply to Vi's side. Even the hand that held Holly slackened a bit. All feeling, save for pain, dropped from beneath her. It couldn't be real. This wasn't how it was supposed to work, everyone was supposed to get out okay in the end. It was all a nightmare.

For the first time in her life, Vi could do nothing, say nothing, and stood frozen on the spot as the officers moved around her to take the crime boss away. Some looked close to tears, others like they wanted to punch Vi themselves for her foolishness, all of them thoroughly miserable for the fact that their beloved Sheriff might be dead.

How could this happen?

END OF PART 1