Drip-drip-drip.
Orion's arm hung limply at his side as green energy pulsed over the wound. The bullet that struck him slid out with a metallic k as it hit the fllistening with blood.
'Fuck, how did they climb ten floors that fast?!' Orion hissed in pain, his body weighed down from exhaustion after the brutal fight.
The custodian's office, which he had luckily located, was cluttered with books and piles of part. In his fatigued state, the chaotic mess seemed overwhelming. His gaze swept across the stacks of dots, frustration mounting.
Breathing slowly, he tried to steady himself and focus, shoving aside any papers that didn't seem remotely reted to Syntixi.
Ventition systems, distribution pns, logistics…
Fuck, where is it? Orion cursed inwardly, panic starting to bubble up as precious seds ticked by. His eyes darted toward the custodian's window, but all he saw was a sheer drop with no ledge rip to save him into the smog below.
Wzzzzt
Two sharp, twin impacts struck the window frame, followed by high-pitched whistling like a zipliting through the air. Orion's head snapped up just in time to see faint, glowing blue eyes emerge from the fog and whip toward him with terrifying speed.
He had only a split sed to duck as the gss shattered, and sharp bdes sliced through the air above him.
Gray hair, blue eyes that shifted shades with every blink, prosthetic legs equipped with bdes, and sharp, angur facial features.
'The Grey Lady...?! Wait—Camille?!'
Panic surged through him as he twisted his body. Camille pivoted on one foot, her arg upward and leaving a shimmering trail of are power in its wake.
'Shit, she's usiech,' Orion thought in arm, bewildered as he sehe are energy flowing through her movements—and her heart. 'She's augmented herself with Hexte some- '
The ziplitached ts snapped violently with a sharp hiss. Ag on instinct, Orion rolled again just as the grappling hooks whipped bato the room, violently tearing a k off the custodian's desk.
Reag for the desk, Orion els a burst of are energy and hurls it across the room toward Camille. It sms into her, but a shimmering shield fres to life and shatters the desk into pieces.
ZZZZT!
Her grappling hooks loudly embed themselves into the ceiling, and with a swift, scissor-like motion, her legs slice downward toward him. His eyes widen as the ining attack leaves him no room to dodge. Desperately, he unleashes an are orb ialiation.
Camille's legs slice the orb in half, but the resulting bst sends her flying backward into the ceiling. He hears the air driven from her lungs as she coughs violently. Without wasting a sed, Orion's eyes dart toward the window.
'Fuck it!' His heart pounds as the thundering sound of approag boots reaches his ears. He dives headfirst toward the window, using his are energy to propel himself further into the open air.
A rush of burning wind engulfs him as he soars through the fog. Tilting his head mid-fall, he keeps an eye on the window. Camille leaps after him, her grappling hooks hissing as they shoot from her hips. Her sharp, predatory eyes loto him, but the tension on her line pulls her away, yanking her into the distance.
Orion turns his focus back to the rapidly approag ground. He ches his eyes shut, eling fortifying magic just before impact.
His body crashes into a snted rooftop and bounces like a rubber ball. Blood sprays from his mouth with each impact, the final bounce shattering his fortification and driving the air from his lungs.
The back of his jacket is scorched, his tunic stained with blood, and his cracked mask drips crimson onto his chest.
Rasping for air, Orion lifts his head. No sign of life?
He turns, looking up at the Syntixi factory looming above the buildiruck. The roof beh him bears two massive dents from his fall, but he doesn't have the strength to ihem.
"Ugh," he groans, rolling onto his back. His breaths e in heavy gasps, the only sound being the steady drip of blood from his mask to his shirt. "That was... a failure," he grimaces, exhaling i.
---------------
//Caitlyn's PoV//
Caitlyn burst into the custodian's office with Greyson and a team of enforcers following close behind. Their bodies tensed with arm before rexing as they surveyed the room. Caitlyn's eyes widened, sing the destru before her.
Evidence of the fight was clear—burning part littered the floor, massive dents marred the walls, shattered furniture y scattered, and deep gouges ial walls made it look like someone had sliced them open like dough.
Her gaze fell on the shattered window, blood pooling and streaking across the floor beh it. Frowning, Caitlyn approached it cautiously.
"Where are they?" Caitlyn asked, her voice ced with fusion. "Did... they jump?"
Greyson nodded, her sharp eyes resting on the blood slowly dripping down the jagged gss. "That's my only guess. We heard more fighting, but the room was empty by the time we arrived. This is all that's left."
One of the enforcers leaned out the window, sing the area below. "Did they jump to their deaths in hopes of escape?"
Greyson shook her head, waving them toward the exit. "Search the streets. After what we saw, we 't assume they're dead until we have firmation."
"Yes, ma'am," the enforcers replied, rushing out of the room.
Only Greyson and Caitlyn remained. Greyson sighed, her eyes roaming over the scattered, scorched dots and crumpled papers. "Something big was happening here, but most of the evidence is either damaged or destroyed."
She leaned ot of her on, shaking her head. "I don't even know what we're dealing with anymore. None of this is natural."
Caitlyn's eyes flickered with uainty before determination took hold. Her expression hardened, and she decred in a resolute tone, "Leave this to me. I have a knack for this kind of stuff! I'll figure out what was going on here."
Greyson's gaze slowly shifted to Caitlyn, her expression unreadable as she studied her silently. After a moment's pause, Greyson nodded, hefting her on and heading toward the exit.
"See what you find, then," Greyson said softly, pg a reassuring hand on Caitlyn's shoulder. "I'll have someone guard the room while you work. Take your time."
---------------
//Orion PoV - Destroyed Warehouse//
Rain pattered against the as Orion sat on the ground, leaning against the wall. The old Shimmer warehouse, the one he had emerged from several days ago, loomed before him in ruins.
The shattered window where Powder had thrown her Hextech Crystal bombs remaihe charred and rotten wood still littering the street a year ter.
It didn't matter now. The silence here eaceful, calming. Breathing out slowly, he kept his gaze fixed on the ruiructure as his thoughts wandered—revisiti events and memories of his peaceful days in Ionia.
'Nothing should happen to Kieran,' he told himself. 'Zarkon is dead, so there shouldn't be a direct link from him to me or Kieran. Still... I have nothing to show again.'
That thought g to him, and waves of defeat crashed over him once more.
"Damn it," Orion muttered angrily, weakly smming his fist into the ground. "Why the fuck was Camille there?"
The sileurned, lingering as he fumed in frustration. But suddenly, a sharp, stabbiion—like a kwisting inside him—redirected his focus back toward the factory.
Groaning, he rose to his feet and stumbled toward it.
Ihe factlowed with pulsing waves of white and blue light rippling outward, like droplets hitting the surface of a still pond. Intense are energy radiated from a solid orb at the ter, tendrils of purple swirling and coiling i, dist the air around it where Orion had vanished and re-emerged.
Standing in the doorway and sensing the ominous energy it radiated, Orion's expression twisted with unease.
"Oh, hell no..."