Chapter Text
The city looked down on them. Considered them the lowest of the low.
It didn’t matter how talented they were, how smart they were, where they were born. None of it mattered. All people saw was the hair grease, the leather jackets. The holes and tears in their clothes, the fact their houses were in the rundown city of Zaun. They were looked down on and sneered at wherever they went, no matter what they were doing.
They were known as Greasers. Undercity trash.
“Shit! Come on! They’re gonna catch up!” A boy's voice called as footsteps thudded on the pavement.
Sixteen year old Ekko Tempak shot down an alleyway, narrowly avoiding crashing into a marble wall. The white dreads of his mohawk bobbed as he ran, constantly getting in his light brown eyes. He was 5’9 and already muscular for his age, with dark brown eyes and skin.
He was a stark contrast to his partner in crime, who was cackling loudly as she ran next to him, spray paint in hand.
Powder Anderson was an extremely pale, scrawny sixteen year old girl with vibrant blue hair and eyes, standing at 5’2. Her long braids flew out behind her as she kept pace with him, eyes alight with excitement.
“I think we took it too far this time!” Ekko shouted as they ran down the streets. “Those two are pissed!”
“Hell no we didn’t! Their cars were so boring, all plain colors. We just added some flair!” Powder called back.
Ekko groaned. “Your sister’s gonna kill me.” He jumped on top of a dumpster and began scaling a fire escape.
“Exactly why she’s not gonna find out.” Powder snapped as she jumped after him. “Is Jayce’s shitty group still after us?”
Ekko bit back a snarky response and looked down as he climbed the steps. Only one of the three people chasing after them had followed them into the alley.
He was a 6’0, a muscular man with dark brown hair and yellow-brown eyes. Jayce Talis. Normally cool and composed, his face was now darkened with uncharacteristic fury.
“You guys have some nerve spray painting my car like that,” he shouted up at them. “I mean, really. Just how immature and annoying can you Greasers get? Do you have any idea how much that will cost to fix?”
Ekko clamped a gloved hand over Powder’s mouth as she began to respond. He shook his head. Jayce had two people with him, they weren’t gonna win this fight.
Jayce looked up, squinting and Ekko held his breath. They were fairly high up on the stairs by now, and hopefully positioned in a way he couldn’t see them.
Jayce eventually turned and left the alley, cursing to himself as he jerked his varsity jacket back into place. “You’re not getting away with this shit.”
Ekko couldn’t help himself. “Fuck you, Amp!”
Jayce’s shoulders tensed but he didn’t turn around, shaking his head and disappearing around the corner. Ekko ignored Powder when she started squirming against his hand, waiting a few seconds before releasing her.
Powder grinned. “What a loser. He thinks we’re scared,” she said, not caring about the danger they narrowly avoided.
Ekko sighed. “I hate his guts. He’ll only fight if he’s outnumbering us and on his turf,” He straightened up and started climbing back down the stairs. “Come on. Let’s get outta here and back to our side before they come back.”
“Aw come on. Don’t you wanna rough ‘em up a bit?” Powder grabbed his arm as they jumped off the last steps together.
Ekko flushed. “No. There’s three of them. We won’t win that. They might come back with more.”
“Even if we use these?” Powder pulled her black leather jacket back to reveal several small smoke bombs strapped to it.
Ekko scowled and pulled her jacket closed, looking over his shoulder to make sure no one saw. “No! Now let’s go.” He ushered her along.
They were on the wrong side of town. Greasers controlled Zaun, the lower, poorer side of Piltover. Piltover was home to the prestigious Academy of Piltover, Ekko and Powder’s school. It housed everyone from ordinary humans to young gods and magical creatures.
The Academy allowed anyone of any age from any country or city to attend. It was free to attend as long as they had the talent and skills. Tuition included everything a student could possibly need.
Except housing.
The academy required all students to live in the city as long as they attended. They didn’t care where, as long as you were in Piltover…or Zaun.
There was a huge divide within the school, amusingly enough not between warring countries or religious differences. It was between the social classes. Piltover and Zaun had the harshest line between classes in all of Runeterra. In Zaun you could barely get a meal, in Piltover everyone could feast every day for years.
Ekko pulled the hood of his orange leather jacket over his head and shoved his hands in the pockets of his baggy khakis. Powder walked next to him, humming cheerfully and ignoring the glares and mutters of Piltover’s people.
Ekko relaxed once the ground began sloping down and the prestigious buildings became smaller and more rundown, going from neatly cut gray brick to haphazardly thrown brown gravel. They were almost back in Zaun.
“Hey! There they are!” A hand grabbed the back of Ekko’s jacket and he was suddenly yanked backwards. As he ripped himself free, he heard Powder yelling and whipped around to see Jayce lunging for her.
He froze as a blur of pink and red streaked toward Powder. Oh no.
Crack! Jayce’s head snapped back as a fist slammed into his nose. He immediately released Powder. Ekko ran over and grabbed her arm, tugging her back and checking her over.
He turned away and looked back at Jayce. Standing in front of him, arms up in a boxing stance, was Powder’s older sister, Vi Anderson.
She was only twenty years old and extremely toned from years of fighting and training. She stood at Ekko’s height of 5’9 and had wild pink hair that she kept half shaved and styled into a mullet. Her eyes were a cold lilac color and her skin was slightly more tan than her sister’s. Visually, they couldn’t be more different.
Vi glared at Jayce, her jaw set, stretching the scar on her lip.
“Get the fuck out of here, pretty boy. You touch my sister again and I’ll shatter your jaw.”
Jayce glowered at her. The two looked at each other for several seconds, neither backing down. “Keep your family off our side, grease rat,” he snarled, before turning around and stomping off.
Vi didn’t relax until he disappeared over the hill. She turned around to face Ekko and Powder. Ekko kept his arm around Powder as she looked at the floor, not meeting VI’s gaze.
Vi stalked past them. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before he comes back with more Amps.”
“We have friends too.” Powder mumbled as they followed her.
“Kai’Sa had to meet Viktor at the hospital and hasn’t left since, and Akali’s got shit to do with her uncle.” Vi replied, pausing.
“So!? We could’ve handled him!” Powder snapped.
Vi clenched her fists. “Let’s just go, I have enough shit to worry about with Viktor. Tell me what happened with Jayce.”
Ekko told the story as they walked deep into the city, to the house he shared with Vi and Powder. It was small, only two bedrooms and one floor. The front door was barely hanging on by its hinges.
Vi nearly ripped said door off its hinges when he finished the story. “Are you trying to get us killed? Why the fuck would you do that?”
“He left his stupid shitty car near some alley! Why the hell would we pass that up?” Powder shot back.
Ekko let out a long sigh as they started arguing. They shouldn’t have gone and vandalized Jayce’s car, but…it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Any excuse to hurt those bastards.
Cold, unfeeling of anything except anger and occasional joy when they hurt other people, reckless and untouchable. That’s how everyone would describe Amps. The elite of the upper city, the Academy’s pride.
Named because of their ample lifestyle, Amps were seen as the cold, rich, and unfeeling counterpart to the Greasers.
The only thing they had in common was they all attended the Academy.
Jayce shoved his hands in the pockets of his blue and light tan varsity jacket as he made his way back to Piltover. He kept his head held high under the jeers and jabs of Greasers as they recognized him.
“Did you find th-Jayce are you alright? Who did that to you?” A hand on his shoulder made him turn.
He came face to face with a tanned woman two inches taller than him. She was built like a brick wall and had long red hair and eyes as orange as the setting sun. Her jacket was an exact copy of his. Leona Ilios.
She looked concerned, brow furrowed. Jayce suddenly felt liquid drip off his chin and realized his nose was still bleeding.
“Ah, sorry.” Jayce stepped back and held his nose, suddenly aware of how nasally his voice sounded. “I grabbed Powder and Vi found me and broke my nose.”
Leona shook her head, hissing out air through her teeth. “You should not have grabbed her but…she shouldn’t be on our side vandalizing our property.”
“I know.” Jayce sighed. “I just didn’t think, I was so mad. Getting that paint off my car is gonna be a huge pain in the ass…”
“We’ll help you with it…whenever we find out where Garen got off to.” Leona glanced around.
“Right.” He looked around. Losing Garen was hard, considering how massive he was. He was 6’5 and wider than the average refrigerator.
Jayce settled for calling for him like a child. “Garen! Where are you?” he shouted, ignoring Leona’s glare.
“Jayce. You’re gonna disturb people. We’re not children. You know the rules.” She walked next to him, looking around the streets.
“What do you wanna do? We’re supposed to meet the others for a movie in…” He squinted at the clock tower, the heart of Piltover. “Twenty minutes.”
“I don’t know. He can’t have gotten far, he was right-“
“There you guys are.” A deep voice made them both stop and turn around. Garen Crownguard walked up behind them.
In addition to his daunting size and stature, he had dark blue eyes and short brown hair. He had a scar on his lip from a Greaser’s bike chain during a fight. Like Leona and Jayce, he worse the same varsity jacket.
Jayce couldn’t help but zero in on his scar whenever he saw it. It was a frequent reminder of the violence that constantly broke out between the two groups.
“I couldn’t catch them. Those Greasers can slip through cracks like snakes.” He grumbled. “I assume they got away, judging from your nose, Jayce?”
“Yeah. I was alone and Vi showed up to save the two of them.” Jayce pulled his hand away, hoping the bleeding stopped.
Garen nodded and glanced around before standing at his side and jerking his head at Leona. She hurriedly got on Jayce’s other side.
“Let’s get out of here before people ask questions.” Garen straightened his shoulders and tugged his collar higher.
The three began making their way through Piltover. “Did anyone see your nose?” Garen asked.
Leona spoke for Jayce. “No. There’s not a lot of our people out and about near Zaun. Some of their people may have seen, but…none of ours.”
Garen nodded, glancing around. “Good. I’ll take you to my place, Jayce. Lux can patch you up.” He shook his head as Jayce went to protest. “Rumors will fly if anyone sees you wandering around with a broken nose. We can’t have that.”
“Yeah. You’re right…can you go check on my car then? I’m sure Lux will let me and Leona in. Those assholes might come back.” Jayce asked him.
Garen hesitated. “Alright. Only after we get to my door though.”
They walked in silence to the Crownguard’s mansion. The building stood tall on a lush green lawn. Deep blue and white, the colors of the family’s home country, Demacia. Garen patted Jayce on the shoulder, nodding to Leona as he walked off.
“They’re getting bolder.” Leona murmured as she raised a hand to knock on the door. “The tension is going to explode eventually.”
Jayce turned and looked at the distant town of Zaun, its lights glowing a sickly green against the darkening sky. It was a stark contrast to Piltover’s warm yellow lights.
“We’ll just have to start striking back then.“ Jayce said grimly.
Leona set her mouth in a firm line. “You’re right.”
The door swung open, and the two quickly disappeared inside, leaving nothing but drops of blood on the pristine marble steps.