Chapter Text
Vi hated the smell of blood.
The sight of blood? Fine. The fights she got into when she was younger made her no stranger to that, but the sharp, pungent smell that infiltrated her nostrils whenever she came close to it was…unpleasant. She knew that being a detective made this even harder, but life’s not fair, right?
So as she was at her desk sipping her coffee mindlessly, humming to herself and sorting through paperwork, she wasn’t the happiest to hear that she was needed at a murder scene. At 7:30 AM on a goddamn Monday.
Vi rose out of her seat, slamming down her coffee cup with more force than necessary. “Hey Ekko, I’m heading out now! Don’t miss me too much, little man.” She called out to him, her buddy ever since she entered the police force. Ekko had been the one to teach her the ins and outs of how the department worked. He barely spared a glance at her and made sure to flip her off. Vi couldn’t help suppressing a grin and she knew that Ekko hated being called “little man”.
Vi pulled her door open and glanced at the location that Vander had sent her and keyed it into her GPS, buckling her seatbelt. She noted that the scene was at the lower side of Zaun. With a halting screech, she pulls up to a dilapidated looking brick building with literal vines looping all over the railings on the balconies. It looked like something out of The Last Of Us. She sighed to herself as she rested her hands on the steering wheel, steeling herself for the long day ahead.
The smell of blood hits Vi as soon as she steps into the apartment. It was a pretty small one, and it was how you would expect an average apartment to look like. Morning light filtered through the windows and the golden rays danced across the dusty floorboards. She sneezed into her elbow. Damn this place was dusty.
Vi navigates her way through the few people milling around the scene. “Has the victim been identified?” She directs the question to Vander, who was already on-site and standing over the body. He nodded at it. “The crime scene technicians are working on that right now. The victim appears to have two stab wounds in the lower abdomen area and a slash on his left arm. I think he’s been deceased for a while already, so there’s no chance the perpetrator is anywhere close.”
Vander was the chief of the Zaun police force, and also her adoptive father. He had taken her in when she and her sister, Powder, were the most vulnerable and Vi was eternally grateful to him for that. The man was a hulking figure, towering over most people and was typically seen as big and burly, but to her, he was the kindest man she’d ever met.
Vi nodded in acknowledgement, peering at the uncanny way the body was sprawled out on the floor, as well as the fact that he was stripped down to only his boxers. The victim seemed to be well off, wearing a Rolex watch on his wrist that had to cost a fortune. Definitely a Piltie. His eyes were still glassy, staring out into space. Vi almost felt sorry for him if not for how obnoxious most rich Pilties were. This guy was wearing designer underwear . Who even wore designer underwear? She scoffed to herself before pulling on some rubber gloves she had stowed away in her jacket pocket and squatted down, poking a single finger on the victim’s arm.
“I think you’re supposed to leave that to the forensic experts.” A voice called from behind her…and it sounded…fancy? If someone’s voice could even be described as rich, this one definitely was. This girl was basically spitting money bills out of her mouth with the way her voice sounded.
Excuse me? Vi turned around and she suddenly felt like someone had just knocked the air out of her lungs. Apparently she’d said that out loud on accident, because the most gorgeous woman she’s ever laid her eyes on spoke again. “Do I need to repeat myself?”
Vi couldn’t believe the audacity of this woman. Even if she was annoyingly beautiful with her long, luscious blue hair.
“And you are..?” Vi bit out, clearly not pleased with…whoever this is who was trying to tell her how to do her job.
“Detective Kiramman, Piltover Police Department.” She said curtly. Of course it was a Piltie. Did Pilties always sound like they had a stick up their ass?
Vi grunted in acknowledgement before whipping her head around to face Vander again, beckoning him to go into the nearest corner. She made sure she was out of earshot before hissing, “What is a Piltie doing here?”
“I think the Piltover police department might also be working on this case, since it seems like a high profile one.” Vander replied, much calmer than Vi felt. She glanced back again and to her horror, the Kiramman girl was talking to yet another fancy looking person who seemed to have appeared out of thin air. How many of them were there anyway? Wasn’t the lower east side supposed to be Zaun’s responsibility?
“You didn’t know they were going to be here?” Vi asked, pulling on her gloves uncomfortably. Vander knew how she felt around people from Piltover. Screw that, the whole of Zaun had a terrible impression of Piltover. Even Vander, even though he never showed it. He shook his head. “I’ll go talk to them, see what’s going on.” Vi watched as Vander headed towards the blue haired girl and the older woman she was talking to, and waited as he seemed to get their attention. She inched closer to try to eavesdrop on their conversation, and out of nowhere, Vander started guffawing. Vi could hear little snippets of their conversation as she moved closer.
“...long time no see…”
“Oh! Kiramman!”
“Grayson…”
“Nice to see you too, Vander.”
Vander knew these Pilties? How? Vi hadn’t known her adoptive father to be friendly with those types of people. She tried to meet his eyes, but he was too absorbed in the conversation to notice her. Finally, he turned around and spotted her. “Ah! Vi, come here, I need to introduce you to some people.”
Reluctantly, Vi trodded towards Vander and the two women. She tensed as the grey haired woman took a step towards her. Vander spoke, “Vi, this is Sheriff Grayson, head of Piltover Police Department, and my old friend.” Vi took the hand outstretched to her, and shook it firmly. She had to be mature after all. He turned to the other woman. “And this is Detective Kiramman, and she’ll be working on this case with you.” Vi would have spat out her coffee if she was drinking any. Working on this case? With her? A Piltie and a Zaunite? That was means for a disaster to happen.
The Kiramman girl must have seen the shock on her expression, and raised a single eyebrow at Vi, but didn’t betray any emotion on her face. She extended an arm to Vi, looking at her expectantly. Vi quickly composed herself before gripping her hand tightly in a handshake. She was surprised to feel calluses that could only be there from years of hard work. Huh.
“Uh…I’m Vi. And I’m from the Zaun police force, if you didn’t know already.” Vi managed to say. She was surprised at the pure control she had to not puke up her breakfast right on the girl’s fancy uniform. “Nice to meet you, Vi. Looking forward to working with you.” Kiramman said while maintaining eye contact with her. Vi almost scoffed with the last sentence this woman uttered. Looking forward my ass.
Vander nodded, seemingly pleased with this interaction. Grayson was stoic, but she had a twinkle in her eye that Vi couldn’t put a finger on. Before Vi could consult Vander, they had turned their backs and started chatting with each other. Fuck this.
Vi felt an uncomfortable prickling heat on her neck. How the fuck do people talk to Pilties? She wasn’t used to working on cases with many others, and obviously not Pilties. And Vi very much would prefer to minimise interactions with them. She had a distaste for them that ran deep in every Zaunite’s blood. Everyone there knew about the bridge incident, so many years ago. Even the kids on the streets whispered about it like it was a forbidden subject, and it was. Vi’s birth parents had been killed gruesomely on that very bridge by Piltie enforcers. Vi couldn’t simply just…let all her prejudices go. Fucking Piltie didn’t deserve any of her decency.
“So what do we know about the case so far?” Vi asked, trying her best not to let any of her annoyance seep into her tone.
Kiramman stepped towards the body. “It seems to be a crime of passion, given the fact that the slashes are done carelessly, not deliberately. I don’t think the killer is experienced in, you know, carrying out homicides, but they seem to be good at cleaning up their mess. There isn’t much evidence to go on so far.”
Vi nodded, observing the body again. “I don’t think this was a robbery…this guy’s Rolex is still on his wrist. So we are probably looking for some rich Piltie.” She snorted at the last part.
Out of the corner of her eye, Vi thought she saw Kiramman halt for a split second, but decided it was her mind playing tricks on her. A Piltie wouldn’t care what some sumprat thought of her.
Vi spoke again. “I think he died about 3 to 4 days ago. His stab wounds obviously aren’t fresh, and the stab wounds on his abdomen are dried and leathery.” Vi used her still gloved hands to pick up a tiny flake of the once crimson, now black dried blood on the floor. She squeezes it, feeling it crumble between her fingers. “Yeah, the floor has definitely seen better days.”
Kiramman made eye contact with Vi, and Vi instantly noticed the colour of her eyes. Vi had been avoiding eye contact before, but damn, Kiramman had nice eyes. A bright shade of blue. Her face was so disgustingly perfect she almost seemed ethereal. High cheekbones, and not to mention her perfect figure. Vi shook her head. She needed to stop her bullshit. This Kiramman girl was definitely spoiled bratty, and maybe even bought her way into such a high rank in their police force. Vi scoffed.
“Good observation, Detective…?” Kiramman paused, and Vi remembered that she hadn’t told her her last name yet. “Lane. It’s Lane.” Vi supplied. “Detective Lane.” Kiramman finished.
Vi was caught a little off guard with that compliment. If it even was a compliment. “Thanks?” Vi wasn’t sure how to react, but sure. She could accept it. Kiramman made no other indications of how she was feeling. How was this girl so stoic? Vi wore her emotions on her sleeves, so she wasn’t used to seeing people so guarded. Maybe Pilties were just like that.
Kiramman stepped towards Vi. “Since we’re assigned to this case together, we should have a meeting location to discuss the specifics of it. Do I go to your department or you go to mine?”
Vi contemplated this for a moment. She didn’t want to travel all the way to the upper side just to see a stupid Piltie. “Come to the Zaun one. I don’t think it’ll take long for you to come.” Kiramman nodded. “Since the forensics team still needs time to process the evidence, we can start on it tomorrow. 7AM?” she asked. Vi frowned. That was early as hell. But whatever it takes to solve a case, right?
“Okay.” Vi said.
Kiramman hummed in approval and turned back without a second glance, closing the door behind her with a soft click. What was with Pilties and how fast they appeared and disappeared? Vi scoffed to herself. She had to head back to the precinct to finish her paperwork, but at least she didn’t have to deal with pretentious British accents anymore.