Part 3:

Jayce worked for years on those magic crystals for years. They store unfathomable amount of energy, enough to cause an explosion strong enough to blow buildings. But recently he stabilized the crystals into gems, way easier to handle and extract energy. They can power vehicles, and tools but also bombs and weapons.

Jinx did not know that. She infiltrated Jayce’s lab to grab his researches, crystals, and humiliate Piltover during its holiday. But she did find a gem neatly exposed on a pedestal. So she snatched it. “This looks very important for their presentation. It’s a shame I won’t be able to see their face when they come back.” as she grabbed the gem, she noticed the energy moving inside it. Memories of the crystal and the explosions resurfaced with a twisted smile. “Interesting. Very interesting.” Jinx was insanely flexible and sneaky, kind of like a cat. She also loved to destroy things, and mark her territory. So she covered the room in pink and blue paints as she wrote “Jinx was here” on every walls.

Mare meters away, Caitlyn couldn’t do anything. “Dammit! Fucking door!”Jinx had locked the doors of the building from the inside and blocked the windows. Caitlyn needed to be quick, but if she, an enforcer, rushed through the main entrance the crowd would panic to an uncontrollable degree. So she had to maintain her composure but still hurry to warn the enforcers inside the hall. “There’s an intruder! Jayce’s lab has no guards!” she yelled low.

They all moved to cover the exits. Unfortunately, Jinx left ages before they reached the lab.

The whole day had been a disaster. The naive Jayce stood in his now-wrecked laboratory, as the seven members of Piltover’s council tried to come up with a solution. “What do we do now!?” Asked Cassandra, council member, Jayce’s sponsor and Caitlyn’s mother.

Jayce racked his brain. “I never thought of using this magic, the Hex-tech, as a weapon. So I never made protections capable of stopping something like that. But believe me, any weapon made with this gem could kill thousands, probably more. And that’s not the worst issue.” Mel Medarda, head of the council, Piltover’s most important woman, and Jayce’s most loyal support got surprised at his words. “What could be worse than that?” she asked “They took my notes, which means they can thinker with every Hex-tech item in the city. We need to stop at least the public transports and large merchant ships. One wrong move and everyone inside could be turned into soup.”

The merchants among the counselors raised their voices, but Mel saw here an opportunity to increase her power. “Please calm down. It seems that the issue is that the transports are now at risk. Then if we grant Jayce the autority of a council member, he’ll be able to increase the security with new ressources. Isn’t that right?” She turned to Jayce who had trouble understanding everything that happened. “Hum, yes I could do that.” and Mel turned back to the council member. “I know this would be a first for a man to become a counselor, but you already know that Jayce is not one to get drunk in power. And he already helped plenty with the grow of our city. I think it’s more than a reasonable suggestion.” to which the rest of the counselors happily agreed if it meant keeping their trade routes open.

Jayce, now a new council member, added something. “There is some good news. Hex-tech is by now mean an easy science. I have no doubt that a skilled engeneer will be able to understand it with the gems and my notes, but it will still take them quite a few days. We have enough time to try and catch the culprit before they come up with a weapon.” After that Mel continued. “This would mean investigation plus recovery operation. I will pass word to Sheriff Marcus, he will work on that.”

Caitlyn, who heard the whole conversation stepped up. But got quickly stopped. “No rookies, and you even less.” scolded Cassandra. “You’ll stay out of this operation.” Caitlyn knew her mother would overprotect her, but it still annoyed her. The day came to an end, Caitlyn and Cassandra walked back home, ate their dinner mainly composed of Caitlyn’s dead teammates, and each entered to their room. As usual, Caitlyn stripped naked and laid down the map to which she added a new pin. Even if her mother stopped her, she would find a way to get to the bottom of this. No matter how.