Chapter Text
The mission was supposed to be straightforward; infiltrate the underworld of Zaun, locate the headquarters of the notorious crime boss known only as “Vi”, and retrieve any information that could serve to cripple her operations in the future.
For the recently promoted Captain Caitlyn Kiramman, it was a chance to prove she was worth the badges pinned to her uniform and not merely a suspect of nepotism. She didn't blame anyone for thinking so - no one else among the enforcers had a mother on Piltover’s council - but her career would mean nothing if her legacy was that of a spoiled child being handed whatever she wanted.
Caitlyn wanted this, and she would earn it with her hard work and leadership skills.
Only the mission hadn't been simple, and the only trait she had demonstrated was her astounding ability to walk right into a trap.
“Take it easy, hotshot,” the gang soldier listed as Sevika on their dossiers warns her, tapping the bladed end of her prosthetic against Caitlyn’s neck. “Don't want to make anyone here too twitchy, do we?”
From where she was kneeling in the center of the Last Drop’s main taproom, she has no choice but to concede. The other members of her squad were equally disarmed and held at weapon-point, trying to act tough but sneaking glances to their captain in an effort to assure themselves everything would be alright. And it would be, so long as they didn't make the wrong move.
At least Caitlyn hoped so. Because there hadn't been a plan for getting caught.
Everything had gone wrong during their attempt to sneak in through the vents. Enforcer intelligence named the bar as Vi’s base of operations, so it would be where they would stand the greatest chance of finding what they needed. But strolling in through the front door was a no-go, so Caitlyn decided to improvise.
And it had gone well up until the vents collapsed underneath them, depositing the entire squad into a locked room decorated with luminescent deranged smiles that she recognized instantly as the signature of Vi’s number two - Powder. The realization that they had been expected only lasted so long before the electrocuted floors light up and stun the enforcers into submission.
Caitlyn had tried to fight as much as she could, but there was a limit to human determination when compared to the limitations of their body. Ultimately she was helpless as Vi’s thugs took their weapons and dragged the helpless topsiders into the main room of the Last Drop.
Ironically, the very place they had been trying to reach.
“You really think we're all just stupid down here, don't you?”
The voice came not from a throne or some other elaborate display of power, but from behind the taproom’s bar. Caitlyn raises her head and watches a very muscular woman with messy pink hair mix a drink.
“Despite keeping Piltover on its toes and evading you guys for years, somehow your best plan is to sneak through the vents?”
Finishing the drink, she slides it across the bar towards Sevika. Using her free hand, she downs it in one gulp and grins. “Not bad, Boss.”
Boss. This was Vi, legendary crime lord of Zaun. The one who took over for Vander after smearing his killer to the floor.
“It is in your best interest to let us go,” Caitlyn tells her. “My commanders won't tolerate us coming under any harm.”
Vi bursts out laughing, and all her goons follow suit. “That so, Cupcake? Maybe they can come down and collect you guys themselves.”
They very well might, but between then and now there were a thousand different ways this situation could implode. Already Caitlyn could see that despite their bravado, the gangsters were indeed getting twitchy, and it wasn't going any better for her people. None had ever found themselves in a situation like this before; they might be the ones to act rashly first.
“Wait! None of this is necessary,” Caitlyn says. “We don't want things to escalate between Piltover and Zaun, do we?”
Sevika snorts and presses her blade closer to the Captain's skin. “Oh, that's rich coming from the band of assholes we caught sneaking in here.”
“And it was wrong of us! But I'm the one in charge of this operation,” Caitlyn tells them, making sure to look directly at their leader. “Let the rest of them go and just keep me. It's better for all of us!”
She can see her subordinates shaking their heads from the corners of her vision, but their captors quickly jam the barrels of their guns against their heads to stop it. They were good men and women, all of them, which was why Caitlyn felt responsible for making sure they left alive.
A good enforcer didn't leave their people behind. Above all, that's what she wanted to be remembered as.
Vi slides over the counter and lands in front of Caitlyn with a heavy thump. She crouches down, then takes hold of the other woman's chin. In defiance, Caitlyn doesn't pull away.
Up close, she can see that Vi was rather attractive, handsome even, while still maintaining the rough exterior she had become infamous for. It was an odd realization, and she tries not to blush at their proximity.
“What's so special about you, Cupcake?” Vi asks in a dismissive voice. “Why would a bunch of topside pencil-pushers care more about one idiot than five?”
Despite the protests of her squad, Caitlyn closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before saying “Because I'm a Kiramman. My mother is on the city council. And I'm more valuable than everyone in this room put together.”
The reaction is immediate; the gangsters freeze as they process this information, and Sevika actually pulls her blade away as if suddenly afraid of breaking something expensive. “Oh shit.”
Vi raises her eyebrows, appraising her captive with a more calculated look. “Is that so?” She glances at the patch with the initials C.K. sewn onto Caitlyn's uniform. “Well damn, I didn't think a nepo-baby would actually put herself in danger.”
“I earned my commission, if you should know,” Caitlyn replies. She would not let them take both her successes and failures from her. “And this was my mission. So let the others go and keep me instead. It will be a sign of good faith and you will still have a hostage you can negotiate over.”
There's a tense few seconds as Vi thinks it over, but eventually the crime lord breaks out into a smile. “Looks like someone's more than just a pretty face.” She pats Caitlyn on the cheek, then stands up. “Go ahead and cut the others loose, then get them the hell out of my city.”
“Boss, you sure?” Sevika asks.
“Yeah. I can keep an eye on Cupcake here myself.”
The other enforcers are pulled to their feet, and Vi crosses the floor to address them directly. “Consider yourselves lucky, assholes. Go tell your shitty council that the only reason I didn't break your legs is because your leader has more balls than all of you put together.”
“Captain, we aren't leaving witho-”
“GO!” Vi screams at the top of her lungs, startling even Caitlyn. Her officers take one last look at her before scrambling out the bar. “Sev, make sure they get out of here in one piece.”
Pulling her blade away, Sevika nods. “Can I at least chase them up through the sewers?”
“Sure. Have fun.”
Caitlyn watches the saloon doors close behind Sevika and the rest of her gangsters, leaving just her and Vi together. If she was stupid, she might have tried rushing her. But right now Caitlyn was feeling more overwhelmed than anything, the adrenaline and gravity of the situation finally hitting her.
She was a hostage.
“Want a drink?”
“W-What?”
Leaning over the bar, Vi was busy pouring some colorful liquors together. “Getting your ass kicked must leave someone thirsty.” She spins the mixing spoon with a finger. “Wouldn't know it myself.”
With a groan, Caitlyn coaxes her stiff legs into standing up. “What's with the bartender get-up?”
“I'm not playing pretend,” Vi replies, pushing the glass over and making another for herself. “Give it a sip, I didn't make it too strong.”
She does, and to Caitlyn’s surprise, it was actually pretty good. “No way you're actually this place’s bartender.”
“Sure I am. Just like my old man was.”
“We would have known if Piltover’s most wanted criminal spent her days moonlighting as a fucking barkeep.”
Vi laughs, holding up a bottle. “Cupcake, the people down here know better than to sell out the girl who pours the drinks.”
“Stop calling me that,” Caitlyn demands. She crosses her arms over her chest, wincing slightly at the bruises. “My name is Caitlyn.”
“Your name doesn't mean shit here. I can call you whatever I want and it'll stick, cause that's what it means to be in charge.”
Without her rifle, she knew that her odds against Vi were horrifically bad. So Caitlyn decides playing along was all she could do for now. Her people were safe, and that was the most important thing. The Zaunites could do to her whatever they wanted, just like their leader.
“So why ‘Cupcake’?”
Once again, Vi gives her a disarming grin. “What, you think I'm just going to tell you? There's no fun in that.”
“Ugh, you are just infuriating!” Caitlyn responds, throwing her arms to the side.
As a rule, Piltover had adopted a policy of non-negotiation in the case of violence with Zaun since the deadly independence riots over a decade ago. There was no precedent for this.
As such, Caitlyn was a little worried about her fate going forward. Would they tie her to a statue in the center square and use her for target practice? Would she be stashed in some suffocating locker until it came time to pay her ransom?
No doubt Mother and Father were worried sick.
All these thoughts were running through Caitlyn's head when Vi pulls on a red jacket and tosses her a blue one.
“It's one of Powder's,” she explains. “Put it over your uniform so people don't think you're here to arrest someone.”
“People?”
Vi puts her hands in her pockets and shrugs. “Sure. Come on, let's go for a walk.”
—
This wasn't how Caitlyn ever expected to find herself in the fissures, and she suspects no one from Piltover had ever found themselves in the same circumstances.
There was a good reason for that, as she was starting to realize.
The city-state that called itself Zaun was in dire straits - far worse than she could have ever imagined. All the reports and artist renditions couldn't do justice to the sheer disparity on display in front of her, to which Caitlyn was realizing explained why her superiors never sent her on assignment here.
Dirty, dilapidated buildings on each side of the street; stagnant air that seemed to carry grime everywhere it touched; shot-out windows and broken lamp posts.
But worse than that was the depression she saw on the faces of those they passed. Citizens in Piltover had opportunity in whatever way they wanted, while the people here couldn't even see ahead of them towards tomorrow. No one would give them anything beyond what they took for themselves. And even that wouldn't be enough.
The only positive aspect Caitlyn could notice was a lack of drug influence - no dealing on corners, no addicts stumbling around with glazed over eyes, no children joining chem-barons to make enough to eat.
Everyone on the street has something for Vi; a compliment, encouragement, some problem to be solved or one they solved for her. It was clear from her responses that she wasn't as comfortable with this part of her life compared to leading her foot soldiers.
“You don't have to say it,” Vi mutters under her breath. “I know this place looks like shit compared to your topside utopia.”
“I wasn't going to say anything,” Caitlyn retorts, though she feels guilty for still thinking it.
Vi sighs. “Would you believe me if I told you this place used to be worse?”
“I would, actually.”
For some reason that causes Vi to smirk as she pushes open the door to a shop. “Yeah? Good to hear.”
Inside was a pawn shop of sorts, though full of objects and gadgets Caitlyn couldn't even imagine their purpose. The heavyset man behind the counter roars with laughter when he sees Vi, throwing his arms wide for a hug, which she happily indulges. “Vi, you little shit! Here I thought you were too important for the likes of me.”
“Come on Benzo, it hasn't been that long,” she replies a little sheepishly. “Managing the territory keeps me busy, that's all.”
“Not too busy to get yourself a lady friend,” Benzo says with a wink. “Are you not going to introduce me, Vi?”
“Right, this is Cu-”
“Caitlyn,” she interrupts, holding out her hand for Benzo to shake. “Vi's being kind enough to show me around Zaun.”
Benzo’s eyes flash to her uniform, and she tries to shake Powder's jacket over her captain’s patch. “We don't get a lot of enforcers here on unofficial business.”
“I wanted to see what things were like for myself,” Caitlyn lies. “Not just what they tell us during training.”
“That so? Good on you kid. Could use more of that attitude topside.”
Vi coughs before her hostage could say something that created any tension. “Anyone been giving you a hard time lately? Any skulls I need to crack?”
“Please, you already beat the piss out of anyone stupid enough to try,” Benzo says, laughing. “People respect you as much as your enemies fear you, Violet. Just like they did with Vander.”
A sad look crossed Vi’s face, and she rubs the back of her neck as if ashamed. “Let's not…”
“Consider the matter dropped,” Benzo responds. He reaches under the counter and pulls out a set of components Caitlyn couldn't make heads or tails of. “Say, I got Powder those parts she was asking for. Mind taking them over to her for me?”
Vi nods and slips the pieces into her jacket. “Thanks. I promise I'll check in more.”
“Sure thing. And Caitlyn, it's been a pleasure. Tell your friends they'd be just as welcome if they came without their guns too.”
“I…”
But Vi just puts a hand on the other woman's shoulder and maneuvers her out of the shop. Back out in the smoggy air, Caitlyn tries to pull herself away but Vi keeps a tight grip on her.
“Oh no, we ain't done yet.”
Caitlyn finds herself dragged to several other establishments, all staffed with individuals on a first name basis with their resident crime boss. She was expecting to see shakedowns of some kind, but all Vi really did was listen to problems and offer to help solve them.
“So when are you going to show me some of your smuggling operations?” Caitlyn asks. “Your bootlegging operations? What about running the black market?”
“Damn, you guys that desperate to catch a break?”
“I know what you're trying to do,” she hisses.
“That so, Cupcake? What exactly am I doing?”
“You want me to see the good parts you've cherry-picked,” Caitlyn says. “Will I get to see you split some skulls next?”
Vi turns so she was fully facing her, expression angry. “Good parts? All that's down here are the scraps you people let us have, mixed in with what we can scrounge up for ourselves.”
She grips the back of Caitlyn's head and pulls her close so they were looking directly at each other.
“I'm not a criminal because I want to be, I'm one because it's the only fucking choice left.”
“...You might as well just lock me up,” Caitlyn says bitterly. “I refuse to stroke your ego.”
“Is that what you want?” Vi asks in a mocking tone. “I've got some rope for the surface princess, if you're feeling kinky.”
“W-What is wrong with you?!” Caitlyn exclaims. In spite of her best efforts, she can't hide her blush.
“Heh, I think you like it. Probably aren't used to people being straight with you instead of sucking you off because of who your mommy is.”
Infuriated, Caitlyn pushes Vi backwards. “You keep my mother out of this.”
“Ooh, touched a nerve there?” Vi has a smirk that only angered her hostage more. “Maybe I should make her come down here and collect you. Or ask her to take your place; is she as good-looking?”
Caitlyn gives Vi another shove right into the wall behind her; she grabs at the lapel of the enforcer’s uniform to steady herself and pulls Caitlyn along with her. The two women crash into each other, their lips practically brushing from the impact.
Grimacing, Caitlyn catches a glint in Vi’s eyes at the same time her mouth opens slightly. Despite everything, all she can think about is how easy it would be to lean forward and press her own lips against that of this impossibly frustrating person.
Perhaps Vi was having the same idea, and her eyelids start to flutter as she presses forward…
… Just as a door next to them opens and a younger girl with blue hair pokes her head out.
“Hey, sis,” she says to Vi. Her attention fixes to Caitlyn, and she raises an eyebrow. “I’m not interrupting something, am I?”
Vi pushes Caitlyn out the way as quickly as she had closed the distance. “Nah. I was heading your way.”
“Cool. Who's this?”
“Prisoner.”
Powder's eyes light up. “Neat, I've always wanted one of those.”
“I am not some piece of property!” Caitlyn complains. Once again, Vi hits her with a grin.
“Right now, you kinda are. Now get your ass inside my little sister's evil lab.”
—
Of all the Fissure’s lieutenants and underbosses, none were more feared by Piltover than Powder. She wasn't known for being strong, or menacing, or even particularly deadly. No, what they were scared of was her raw creativity and intellect.
An underworlder with brawn was a problem bullets could solve.
One with brains could destroy the entire order that existed between the two states.
Fortunately for the council, Powder mostly seemed content to support her sister. Aside from helping to keep the place running, she was infamous for her gadgets and traps. If you were lucky, they would be a painful nuisance designed to keep away pesky outsiders.
Those who were unlucky…well, they usually didn't come back in one piece.
A little awkwardly, Caitlyn sits between piles of components and half-finished weapons that Powder was in the midst of painting. She was trying to just grin and bear it, but that was proving difficult, especially when Powder pulls out her own captured rifle and starts tinkering with it.
“Hey, that's mine!”
“Damn, it's crazy what you topsiders can make when materials aren't an issue,” Powder says, ignoring her protest completely. “Bet I can upgrade this to punch twice as hard.”
Vi chuckles, patting her sister on the head. “Please don't make it easier for the enforcers to kill us. Oh, and I stopped by Benzo’s.” She fishes out the parts and places them on the crowded workbench.
“Whoa, nice! Now I can finish those water filters I had to put on the backburner.”
Once again, Caitlyn is left with the impression this is all an improvised act for her benefit. Could it be? Otherwise what was the point of all this but to be an extraordinary waste of time, when simply locking her up would have served better.
“I need to go take care of something real quick. Can you keep an eye on Cupcake here for me?” Vi asks her sister.
Powder blinks, but still nods. “Uh, sure.” Her fingers curl around the rifle. “Consider her ass glued to that chair.”
The moment Vi disappears out the door, Caitlyn starts to formulate an escape plan, calculating the distance and speed she would need to disarm Powder before she could get a shot off. The odds of a little grease monkey like her actually being capable of using it could only be next to zero.
For now, she would bide her time until the opportune moment.
“Cupcake, huh?” Powder asks.
“Do you understand what she means by that?”
“Oh, sure. You don't?”
“Of course not!”
For some reason, Powder's face turns red. “Come on, I saw the two of you together. Was it really not running through your brain too?”
“We weren't doing anything!” Caitlyn insists a little more definitely than she would have liked. “In case you have somehow forgotten, I'm not here of my own free will.”
Raising a screwdriver, Powder points to the badges on the enforcer's uniform. “No shit, I can see what you're wearing under my jacket. Which one was it, the vents or the skylight?”
“...The vents,” Caitlyn admits in a whisper.
“I hope the electric shock taught you a lesson about staying out of other people's shit.”
“That's rich coming from a bunch of thieves.”
Rather than just grow angry, Powder holds up a painted grenade and matches the smile she'd drawn on it. “Takes one to know one. Ask your mom how the family earned its wealth, the answer might surprise you.”
“I'm not going to let you goad me,” Caitlyn says.
Powder laughs, then twists the grenade so the smile turns into a frown. “Might want to teach your buddies that. They're way too eager to walk into my traps.”
Slamming her fist on the table, Caitlyn almost bites her earlier statement right then and there. “You little…”
With a purposefully exaggerated gesture, Powder pushes the rifle closer. “Try it. I dare you.”
Caitlyn's eyes drift down, and she lunges for her gun with cruel intention. Her fingers curl around the handle just as another barrel gets stuck right in her face, Powder laughing from behind it. She can see that the rudimentary pistol was self-made and held together with wishes, but at this range even if it blew up in the wielder's face it might still kill them both.
But she wouldn't lose, not again, and Caitlyn knocks the pistol away with one hand as she pulls up her rifle with the other. The muzzle goes right up to Powder's forehead, and she follows it with her eyes.
“Drop the blunderbuss,” Caitlyn growls to her.
Powder complies, and it hits the floor with a thud.
“I want to shoot you so fucking bad,” Caitlyn says, her trigger finger shivering against the small pieces of metal that would seal the younger girl's fate. “Do you have any idea how many of my friends came home in pieces because of you? How many of those were in a fucking body bag?!”
“Then what are you waiting for?” Slowly, Powder reaches over and slips her finger alongside Caitlyn's. “Let me help you out.”
Then she pushes down, and despite her threat just now, Caitlyn nearly screams as she tries to jerk the barrel away before the trigger fully depresses.
Only there was a soft click and nothing else.
“Whoops, I just remembered that I took all the ammo out earlier,” Powder says. She takes the rifle and puts it back on the table. “The pistol wasn't loaded either, by the way. We don't make it a habit to kill the defenseless here in the Lanes.”
Caitlyn sinks deeper into her chair, sweat coating her skin and adrenaline fueling her blood. She puts both hands to her face and just tries to get her breathing under control. “I…I wasn't…”
“I know,” Powder replies. “You seem like the goody-two-shoes kind of cop.”
The other door opens and Vi walks back in. She takes one look at Caitlyn, her sister, then the two guns and sighs. “Powder, were you messing with our hostage?”
“Hey, she started it!”
Vi picks up the rifle and slings it over her shoulder, then puts a hand on Caitlyn's shoulder. It was almost comforting. “Come on, Cupcake. Let's get you settled in.”
Feeling numb, Caitlyn lets herself be led out the room without any protest. Powder whispers something into Vi’s ear, then skitters away back into her workshop.
“You aimed a gun at my sister?”
So had she, but Caitlyn just nods. “Yes.”
“That was stupid of you.”
Vi pushes her into another room somewhere else in this compound-of-sorts, which seemed more like an actual living space instead of a place to work and assemble. Powder's designs covered almost every free space, but instead of the usual smiling imagery it was flowers and vines twisting their way around the room's decor. Vi deposits the rifle in a corner, out of sight.
“I'm not a killer,” Caitlyn insists.
“I never said you were.” Vi steps closer, her expression oddly pensive. “What did Powder do? I want to hear your side.”
Caitlyn explains, but she doesn't try to blame Powder; she had fallen for the bait, and she had been the one to make a move for the rifle. Framing it otherwise would just be dishonest.
“That's fucked up,” Vi says when she finishes.
“...I threatened to shoot her.”
“Still, that wasn't okay of her.” Vi runs a hand through her hair and sighs. “Look, Powder has issues that I'm trying to help her with. But that doesn't excuse her for scaring you like that.”
“Why do you even care? I'm your hostage. An enforcer. Your enemy.” She didn't mean to sound bitter, but Caitlyn was increasingly coming to realize that the world down here was more shaded in grey than black and white.
So much of what she had been told, even by her own mother, were complicated half-truths.
“Maybe,” Vi admits. “But after what you did for your squad… I at least respect the hell out of you.”
Caitlyn feels shocked. “Really?”
“Don't sound so surprised!” Vi pushes Caitlyn onto a couch, then drops down next to her - close. “Seriously, it takes guts to negotiate with a sword to your throat, especially when it's Sevika on the other end.”
Not of her own free will, Caitlyn feels her cheeks heat up. “I was more scared of you.”
Playfully, Vi punches her in the shoulder. “You're going to make me blush, asshole.”
“Serves you right, criminal,” Caitlyn retorts.
Vi chuckles at the pejorative. Then suddenly she moves closer, their knees accidentally bumping together. “You may be on the other side, but that doesn't mean I want to hurt you if we can avoid it. I've got big plans for the Lanes, and right now you're the key to negotiating with topside.”
“What kind of plans?” Caitlyn asks.
“I’d like for us not to have to steal or smuggle just to survive. As a start.”
“Opportunity.”
“Yeah, that.”
Caitlyn looks down at her hands and clenches them into fists. In only a few short hours, she understood. “And you think using me as a bargaining chip will be enough?”
For the first time, Vi loses her confidence as her expression shifts to one of uncertainty. “I… I don't know. But I owe it to my people to try.”
Despite everything she had been through; the failed mission, the humiliation as a captive, even the momentary terror of Powder's stunt, Caitlyn feels the strength of Vi’s convictions. And deep inside her heart, she can't deny how similar it makes them seem.
“I'm starting to respect you too,” Caitlyn admits.
Vi grins. “That must have hurt to say, Cupcake.”
“Seriously, why do you keep calling me that?”
“Ah, don't worry about it,” Vi responds, oddly shy about it now. But Caitlyn wasn't planning on giving up.
“Tell me, or I will suddenly become a much more difficult hostage for you to manage,” she half-threatens.
Vi throws her head back and groans. “You are killing me…fine!” Her face was bright red, like her jacket. “I think you're incredibly hot, and I wanted to get in your pants.”
Well, that certainly explained Powder's reaction. “You were flirting with me? So why Cupcake?”
“Because I wanted to peel your bottom layer off like you do with a cupcake,” Vi answers, voice a mixture of confidence and embarrassment.
Caitlyn blinks, unable to give a vocal response. There was a thrumming sensation in her chest; all this was exciting in a way she wasn't used to. Her life until now had been one of expectations; she would go to a good school, have a good career, be a good girl as expected of a Kiramman heir. Joining the enforcers had been her first major act of rebellion.
This would be her second.
“Look, I shouldn't have done that,” Vi continues as she rubs the back of her neck. “You're my hostage, and I-”
Caitlyn shuts her up with a kiss.
Ever one to roll with the punches, Vi surges forward and slips her arms around Caitlyn's body. She pulls the other woman onto her lap, which is happily obliged.
“Damn Cupcake, if I’d known you wanted me so bad I would have tried this earlier,” Vi teases as they pull apart.
“You are infuriating,” Caitlyn responds. Still, she scoots closer on the crime lord’s lap until they were nearly pressed against each other. “But so attractive I can't keep myself away from you.”
Vi raises an eyebrow. “Does that mean I'm getting more?”
“On two conditions; first, I want an apology from Powder.”
“She owes you that anyway.” Vi’s hands roam across Caitlyn's back, eager. “Second?”
“You call me by my name.”
Vi smiles without any sardonic traces. “Cait,” she says. It sounds glorious coming from her.
“Fuck it, close enough.” Caitlyn cups Vi’s face and pulls her in for another kiss.
—
During the course of their intimacy, Caitlyn and Vi switch places and positions on the couch multiple times, simultaneously fighting for control and figuring out their rhythm together. Caitlyn wasn't a complete maiden by this age, but she'd never had a partner quite as aggressive as the one whom she was with now.
Eventually she gives in and concedes to Vi, who grins hazily as she mounts her now very-willing hostage.
They work through the rest together, Vi taking off her shirt at one point so Caitlyn could admire her muscles and tattoos, while the enforcer unbuckles her trousers so she could shimmy out of them. Between kisses and explorative touching, both grow bolder and bolder, Caitlyn navigating further up while Vi travels further down.
Before the whole affair reaches its climax, Caitlyn learns several things about herself. Firstly, that she is far more sensitive around her neck than previously thought, secondly, that she does enjoy giving up control in these circumstances, and lastly, that it only takes several fingers and a tongue to reduce her to a quivering mess.
Afterwards, Vi pulls a blanket over themselves so they can continue to enjoy the closeness of each other's bodies on the couch. Laying in those in muscular arms, Caitlyn listens to the beating of Vi’s heart with each rise and fall of her chest. For the first time since her mission failed, she genuinely feels safe - no matter Vi’s history or her crimes.
“I swear, I'm not normally this type of girl,” Caitlyn insists at one point.
“And what kind of girl is that?”
“You know…” She closes her eyes and blushes. “I don't make it a habit of sleeping with the other side.”
“I'm glad you did,” Vi responds. “I was wrong about you, Cait.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah,” she says without elaboration. “I wish it didn't have to be this way…between topsiders and underworlders I mean.”
“Me too,” Caitlyn says, meaning it.
Vi strokes the back of her hair, electing a purr of contentment from her partner in reaction. “I've been to Piltover. There's plenty to go around. We wouldn't have to steal if there was a chance for my people to earn.”
“I know.” Sometimes Caitlyn thinks the reason she became an enforcer was to escape the disgusting nature of her mother's brand of politics. Inequality between the two nations was astronomical, and carefully constructed to be so.
Yet in the end, she only served as a boot in the faces of the poor and oppressed. Caitlyn was proud of her work when she had reason to be, but after today, that would be even more difficult going forward.
“One day, I'm going to stop you,” she whispers.
“Arrest me, you mean?”
Caitlyn trails the other woman's neckline with her lips, marking it in a series of soft kisses. “I didn't say that.”
—
The following morning, Caitlyn wakes to the gentle shifting of her body from where she still rested in Vi's arms.
“Morning, Cupcake.”
She didn't even remember falling asleep. “Good morning.” The events of last night come back to her, and while she feels vaguely bashful, Caitlyn also experiences a burst of pride for having managed to bed the boss of Zaun.
“Not that I dislike your company, but…” Vi carefully maneuvers Caitlyn off herself so she could slip away from the couch and onto her feet. “Gotta get ready, you know?”
“Hmmm,” Caitlyn hums as she watches Vi pull her shirt back on. It was almost sad to see most of her muscles disappear beneath the fabric.
“Your pants are somewhere around here,” Vi says as she gestures. “Uh…there's a bathroom to the left if you want to freshen up. And to the right is the kitchen. Meet you there?”
Caitlyn pushes herself upright, stifling a yawn. “For?”
“Breakfast, silly. Did you think I was going to let you starve?”
“I wasn't quite sure what you would do with me,” Caitlyn responds.
“Behave yourself and you'll be treated like the princess you are,” Vi says with a grin.
Biting her tongue at the notion that she was in any way royalty simply for being born into one of the noble houses, Caitlyn watches Vi take off in the direction of the kitchen. She waits a second before dragging herself off the couch, scooping up her trousers, and then heading to the bathroom.
After finally concluding she was freshened up as she could be without a proper bath, Caitlyn heads to the kitchen as well. Her eyes glance over to where the rifle rested against the wall - a trap? Without ammo the thing was useless, and taking it back would only signal to Vi that she couldn't be trusted in an empty room.
So as much as she didn't like to, Caitlyn leaves the weapon behind and follows the smell of something cooking.
The kitchen was small, packed on all sides by a stove, sink, counter, and dining table.
Vi was busy pouring new batter onto a skillet, and she gestures to the table where Powder was already sitting. “Good timing, I just set out some pancakes. Help yourself.”
Feeling a little awkward, Caitlyn sits across from Powder and takes a plate. The younger sister glares at her while she forks a few of the fresh pancakes over.
“So, we're sharing meals with our hostage now?”
“Yeah, we are,” Vi responds a little sternly. “Cause we aren't savages.”
“They throw us in jail up there! Not treat them to pancakes.”
Vi grunts but doesn't turn away from the stove. “We're better than them.”
“Fuck being better, I want to tie her to a chair and see the fear in her eyes when I-”
A loud noise crashes through the room as Vi slams her first down on the counter. “Powder, enough! What is wrong with you?!”
Tears swimming in the girl's eyes, Powder throws her chair back as she stands up. “How can you forget what they did to Mom and Dad?!”
“I haven't,” Vi replies in a softer voice. “But Vander was our dad too, remember? What was he always trying to teach us?”
Powder wipes at her face, and the anger noticeably dissipates from her posture. “He…he said violence was never the first answer.”
“Yeah.” Vi leaves the stove and walks over to give her sister a hug. “When I don't know what to do, I ask myself what Vander would have done. And he wouldn't want us hurting Cait.”
After a second, Powder nods. “Okay. I'm sorry, sis.”
“It's alright. But I think you already owe her an apology.”
Pulling away, Powder glances over at Caitlyn. “I'm sorry for being an ass to you. If Vi says you're okay, then I believe her.”
With that, she runs out the kitchen and in the direction of her workroom.
Caitlyn catches Vi’s eye before she could look elsewhere in embarrassment from her unexpected moment of vulnerability. “Your sister…”
“She's been through a lot of shit,” Vi says. “The man who killed our adoptive father took her in for nearly a year…rescuing her is kinda how I ended up with this job.”
“...your birth parents were killed by enforcers?” Caitlyn asks in a small voice.
“Yeah.”
“Fuck.” Caitlyn's head hurt just from thinking about it.
Vi finishes with the now slightly-burnt pancakes and brings them over to the table. She chooses to sit down next to Caitlyn instead of across from her. “Honestly, I had a pretty big chip on my shoulder about it too.”
“You let the rest of my squad go,” Caitlyn says. “And you haven't hurt me.”
“I had to grow up pretty quick after Vander died. Going after his killer made me realize the Lanes aren't blameless either. That's why I want us to be better than you topsiders.”
Caitlyn sighs. “I don't think it's that simple.”
“You're telling me. Hopefully Powder understands that one day too.”
Silence falls over the two of them, and both women awkwardly look anywhere but at each other until Vi coughs to break the tension.
“Let's eat, before this gets all cold.”
It's halfway through the admittedly delicious pancakes that Sevika enters the room, takes one look at the scene of domesticity in front of her, then bursts out laughing.
“You didn't even wait a single night?”
Caitlyn takes another bite to distract herself from how red her face was, while Vi joins her underboss in laughter.
“Any word, Sev?”
She hums in acknowledgement. “The sheriff is coming down for talks.”
This causes Caitlyn to perk up in attention. Grayson herself was making the trek to the Lanes? Either she was genuinely fearful for her life, or her mother had lit a fire under the department's collective rear.
Vi smiles like a predator seconds away from catching their prey. “You're causing a stir, Cait.”
“What happened to ‘Cupcake’?” Sevika asks, eyebrow raised.
“Oh, I still use that one. Isn't that right, Cupcake?”
Mouth full of pancake, Caitlyn just raises her middle finger in response. The other two women roar with laughter.
—
It was decided that Benzo’s shop would be the meeting point, based on some precedent Caitlyn didn't quite understand. Supposedly the man had enough in the way of discretion to give them their privacy, which the Last Drop couldn't afford in the same way.
Caitlyn sits on a tall stool in front of the counter, absentmindedly playing with her hands. Her stomach was a pit of anxiety; she finds herself unable to stop playing the events of the last twenty-four hours over in her head.
Capture, the tour, sex, breakfast, and now possible negotiations for her release.
She raises her head as Vi approaches, swinging metal loops from her fingers. It takes a second to recognize them as her own handcuffs, confiscated during their failed raid.
“Vi?”
“I'm sorry, Cait,” she tells her. “But Sev made a good point about how we present ourselves. I need the sheriff to see me as in control.”
Caitlyn blinks. She didn't feel that was something worth apologizing over. “I’m just stung by the cosmic irony, that's all.”
“Heh, that's what I like about you.”
Holding out her hands, Caitlyn allows Vi to slip the cuffs over each wrist and lock them in place. Not too tight, not too loose.
“You alright?”
“I'm more worried about you,” Caitlyn responds. “Do you even know what to ask for?”
“I'll be fine, Cupcake. Grayson is toothless, and my demands aren't unreasonable.”
Unfortunately, Caitlyn suspects that any demands at all would be considered unreasonable by the council. Even simply agreeing to the use of “Zaun” as a name had taken months of political discourse.
“It's very likely they won't agree to anything. Not at first.”
Vi smiles and places a possessive hand on the top of Caitlyn's head, like she was claiming her. “Then I guess I'll just keep you.”
Caitlyn shivers, though from what emotion she isn't fully sure. “Don’t be absurd, I'm not your pet.”
“That's not how I remember last night,” Vi teases.
“You are an evil woman,” Caitlyn hisses in return.
“Sticks and stones, Cupcake, sticks and stones.” Still, Vi moves her hand down to rest on the side of her hostage’s face. “You know, I think you're wrong about not being a killer. I can tell you'd do whatever it takes to protect the things you care about.”
“And you?”
“Yeah, I guess so. Whatever it takes.”
Caitlyn rises to her feet and presses herself as close to Vi as she could. “The value of a hostage is only in the threat that you will actually harm or kill them. Would you?”
“Come on Cait, don't ask me that shit.”
“Answer the question, Vi,” she demands.
After a few very long seconds, Vi puts a hand against the back of Caitlyn's neck and holds her tightly. “Alright. Yes, I could. Happy?”
“I am, actually.” Caitlyn says. “I'd hate for this all to have meant nothing in the end.”
Vi blinks. “You're kind of fucked up.”
“And you're dangerous; I need to match you somehow,” Caitlyn responds.
“I'm sure you're a crack shot. I'd love to see it someday.”
Caitlyn twists her cuffed hands around Vi’s. “Be careful what you wish for.”
“That goes two ways, Cupcake.” Still Vi seems more amused than threatened. “You know, you're definitely the best enemy I've ever had.”
“Is that because of the sex, or…?”
“It helps.” Leaning in, Vi traces the outline of Caitlyn's lips with her own. “But having you to myself like this? That's the real prize.”
Whatever Caitlyn could say wouldn't mean as much as the kiss she gives to Vi. The warmth itself was plenty.
A knock on the store’s window interrupts them; Sevika’s signal that Sheriff Grayson was almost here.
“Ready?” Caitlyn asks of her captor.
“I’m more curious if topside is ready for what I have planned,” Vi replies. For all the playfulness in her voice, the ambition couldn't be mistaken.
“I guess we're about to find out.”
Just before the door opens, Vi gives Caitlyn's hand a squeeze, and she returns the gesture.