Chapter 1: Act I - Broken Journalist, useless Boxer
Chapter Text
It was another lonely night at Caitlyn’s apartment. Ever since she was in that damned relationship with Maddie, she just couldn’t go out anymore. No, she obsessively buried herself into work and too much wine. Her breakup with Maddie, all the abuse and pain wasn’t even a year ago and it still haunted Caitlyn. With her injuries at least healed and her damned ex in jail, knew she should feel better. Yet, Caitlyn didn’t. Between her office at the Piltover Tribune and home she only spent time writing reports about boring council hearings.
Her apartment had clearly seen better days and old police files and folders with old interviews were scattered all across the rooms. They were signs of the time she actually had fun with her job, investigating corrupt enforcers and exposing chem barons. Thanks to her great friends, she could at least function and Jayce managed to find her a therapist. So, weeks went by with lots of overwork, drinking and therapy. To finally break out of her destructive cycle, her therapist told her she should find a hobby to distract herself and gave her a flyer for some sports clubs.
Now, she sat at the living room table of her expensive apartment, sipping wine and skimming through this gold embroidered flyer, showing decadence of Piltover’s wealth. The only lights in her apartment came from a random TV show she turned on. A small sigh escaped her lips, since nothing caught her interest anymore. Disappointed with the Piltovan choices, she decided to message her good friend and Editor-in-Chief Mel.
„Hey, Mel do you have a minute? I checked the flyer my therapist gave me, the clubs all look like networking events. Maybe you could recommend me something? - Cait“
After pressing send, she put her smartphone into her lap and took another sip of wine. The moment she grabbed the almost empty bottle to fill up her glass again, her phone buzzed.
„Sure, here you go girl - Mel“
Caitlyn’s friend replied with a link to an ad riddled page with self defense and sports activities. In Zaun... God would her parents be worried about her if she chose something in Zaun. She shifted her legs comfortably to the side and tapped the link Mel sent her.The Zaunite events and activities looked nothing like Piltovers. Cheap ads for barely legal drone race events and a whole lot of clubs for street sports. Nestled between all those advertised activities, was a small ad for a boxing club.
„Angry? Want to punch something? Don‘t matter if you’re a first timer or think you’re strong, I‘ll teach ya to fight. Cheap fees, no creeps, first session is free. Only at the Hounds gym, The Last Drop! Vi.“
A snort escaped Caitlyn, pausing for a second to take another sip. „What a crude message,“ she chuckled. No Piltovan would ever go to a place where they couldn’t network. Hell‘s they wouldn’t even look at advertisements with such blunt words.
Oh, how her parents would hate it if she’d go there. The thought alone was almost amusing, imagining her fathers warnings about the dangers of Zaun. Or how her mother would scold her, the heiress of the famous Kirammans. Tears began to stain her cheeks. If she had listened to them back then she would never have trusted Maddie. But they weren’t here anymore and now she had to deal with everything on her own. Sure she had friends and great colleagues at her and Mel‘s law firm.
Yet, it was at least an interesting ad. A bit intoxicated from drinking too much wine she decided to just message the number on the ad. She began to type in, „Hello, I saw your ad and would be interested in trying out boxing. I‘m a complete beginner, so I hope that‘s okay. Would you be available for an appointment? Sincerely, C. Kiramman.“ She paused while writing and deleted the message multiple times. How could she, the usual so confident heiress of the Kiramman lineage suddenly get nervous? She tried swallowing down her nerves with more wine and managed to finally hit send. A few moments later she fell asleep on her couch, with her too slim and exhausted looking body slumping into the cushions of the expensive couch.
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Vi was lazily mopping the floor of the Last Drop, Vanders boxing studio. The gym had clearly seen better days, but she didn’t care. It was her adoptive fathers gym and the place she grew up in, ever since she and her sibling Jinx lost their parents. Back when Vander was an active boxer in Zauns biggest tournament, there was lots to do. But the longer back her adoptive fathers career was, the emptier the studio became.
Now they barely made ends meet and with her sibling studying at the prestigious Piltover Academy, they couldn’t even afford to repair the equipment. With what little she could spare after her last fight, she managed to pay for a small ad on one of Zaun’s community pages, but so far no one responded. As Vi finished mopping the front of the trainings area, she turned around and watched Vander. He was again training one of the local orphans in self defense. She couldn’t blame him, little Isha truly was adorable. Even Jinx calmed down from their usually whirlwind energy.
With a smile on her face, Vi stepped up next to Vander and said, „you know we could finally need some paying customers again. Right?“ „Don’t worry, Vi. If it gets tough I can get something to do again at Benzos.“ Vander replied with a calm tone, his fists showing Isha how to hit the punching bag. He was truly a stubborn man, but Vi couldn’t blame him. „You don’t have to, dad. I used some of my prize money from last fight to put up an ad.“
She gently pat Isha‘s head and pointed to another punching bag before she continued, „it’s not much, but maybe we can get some people in here. You know, for private boxing lessons?“ He let out a snort, „and who could afford private lessons in Zaun? Vi, we‘re not one of the big studios with specialists and experts.“
Vi tried to brighten the mood, „but you’re the Hound! Your fists were famous just a few years ago!“ The moment she finishes, she imitates his trademark power punch and Vander lets out a laugh.
Later that evening the family sits together in their apartment above the studio. Vi and Vander finished up preparing vegan lasagna for Jinx, as they managed to get to the top of their class again. She sets down the lasagna on the table and yells towards Jinx‘s door, „Jinx, food‘s ready!“ It takes her sibling only a moment and their door bursts open and something stills sparks on their workbench before the door shuts behind them.
„Okay, so I told you how current hextech still relies at least on hex cells?“ Jinx almost jumped into the living room and skipped around Vi. „Well, professor Viktor thinks my thesis could be feasible!“ They continued to ramble on about how her thesis about the usage of the Hexgate‘s residual magic, to power a water purification system for Zaun, but Vi didn’t understand any of it.
Vi‘s phone buzzed and she noticed it was a response to her ad. With a smile, she replied her customer, „Sure thing, you can just drop by whenever you have time! - Vi“ It irritated her that someone would use such formal language as this C. Kiramman used, especially in Zaun, so it was a clear sign this person was from Piltover. She still hated those snobs and their brutal Enforcers with all her heart. Vi knew she could always just throw them out if the need arose. After the Lane riots a few years ago, they were forced to properly uncover all the misdeeds of Piltover’s enforcers and things got better, but Piltie was Piltie.
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Caitlyn’s head throbbed the next morning and with a small groan she sat up on her couch. Yawning she pulled her phone out between a few cushions, as it slipped between them last night and checked her mails. With her inner priority list already at work, she diligently read today’s assignments mail’s first. There wasn’t anything that needed her direct attendance at all, again.
Piltover’s council resolutions and full meetings were always mailed to every news outlet daily, as it was part of their newer transparency guidelines. Caitlyn began to reminisce about her fresh days as news reporter and how she found out about Marcus‘s brutality and how his enforcers were the reason for the riots more than a decade ago. Piltover’s elite was suddenly forced to intervene and gave Zaun full independence with promises to investigate their corrupt troops.
Now at the age of 26 and after Maddie, she only felt emptiness.
She decides to check the rest of her mails to distract herself from thinking about it and notices another mail that came in last night. Caitlyn quickly reads the mail from a person called Vi and her excellent memory springs into action despite headache.
She‘s surprised by the informality of this supposed boxing coach, but lets out a chuckle as she sees the mail address, Vi0lenceH0und. Caitlyn switches to her messenger app and texts Mel,
„Good morning Mel, I might’ve messaged a Zaunite boxing studio drunk last night.. - Cait“
Mel replies to her mail just a few seconds later,
„Morning to you too Sweets. So what did they say? - Mel“
Caitlyn finally gets off of the couch and replies Mel while walking into the kitchen. „That boxing coach wrote I could come in whenever I want. ß Cait“ Her morning routine functioned almost automatically. Her automated coffee maker made her the perfect cup as always and as she prepared a bit of soy milk for her coffee, Caitlyn’s phone flashed with a new reply.
„Then you should go now, before you chicken out again. :P - Mel“
Caitlyn’s eyes went wide with mock offense, not that anyone could see, and she finished preparing her coffee before answering,
„A Kiramman never chickens out! Fine, I‘ll finish my coffee and try it out. - Cait“
Caitlyn could actually think of better ways to spend the morning, than a drive to Zaun. But none of those alternatives were getting her out again.
With a heavy sigh Caitlyn finished up her morning routine of coffee, her anxiety medication and her estrogen. Thanks to the fitness studio in the building, her fitness bag was prepared already, but she decided to change at home. Cait put on a functional leggings, topped with a short skirt and a fitting white shirt. After putting on her normal shoes, Caitlyn slung her round and cherry red fitness bag around her shoulder and went down to her parked car.
Chapter Text
The drive to Zaun went by faster than Caitlyn anticipated, as she decided to take one of the tolled highways and after an hour or so of driving through Zaun’s overcrowded streets, she found a parking lot. Streets weren’t as littered as she imagined, but the everything around her was an amalgamation of neon lights, smog and about every humanoid race Runeterra had to offer. Zaun truly was a hodgepodge of cultures, clashing with the merciless greed of ‚legal‘ chem-barons. Of course they were the same old criminals, but with Zaun’s liberation they got pardoned by Piltover.
Caitlyn hurried along the sidewalk, ducking out of the way of small food stands, passersby’s and children pickpocketing unsuspecting Zaunites. As she continued on her way to the Gym, she checked her phone for directions and managed to find the Last Drop quickly.
The buildings walls were covered with old boxing posters and an old graffiti naming it the famous home of The Hound. The neon lights barely worked and were clearly repaired more often than they should have been. The gym from the ad was truly a sad sight, but she was intrigued by the faded graffiti.
With a heavy gulp, Caitlyn opened the Last Drops door with an empty reception. Further in she could hear grunting noises and a harsh masculine voice she couldn’t make out clearly. Caitlyn’s eyes fall onto the red headed woman the moment she lays eyes on her. A fiery read haired athlete is punching rhythmically into a sandbag. Every move of her body makes it glisten with a fine mist of sweat, small drops of the salty liquid pool and drop down an athletic and almost chiseled looking face.
Caitlyn can’t turn her gaze away from this muscular woman and how her body moved with such beauty. As she slowly walks to the boxer and her massive looking trainer, Caitlyn has to gulp the moment he notices her.
„Hey, Kiddo, is the requested personal training?“ A gruffy old mountain of muscles with a pipe in his mouth, asks the athletic red head with a strong tap on her shoulder and her punches come to a stop. The gorgeous woman turns around and in the middle of the gym stands a lost looking Caitlyn with stars for eyes.
The perfection of this sweat soaked woman in front of her, how her biceps moved and her tendons just danced, this woman looked like a war goddess.
The red headed beauty lets out a snort, „looks like it. So it really was a Piltie.“
Caitlyn snaps out of her gaze with this sudden snort and asks with a very posh, but timid tone, „Are you Vi? I messaged you about personal training. My name is Caitlyn Kiramman,“ her voice comes to a halt for a moment and she looks insecure at these pair. Then she finishes with a gulp, as she notices muscle hunk’s gruff looking face, „this is the right place, yes? The Last Drop?“
At that the red head lets out a laugh, „don’t worry Cupcake, this old man only looks rough, he‘s got a heart of gold.“ Caitlyn’s eyes go wide at this audacious sounding woman. She almost can’t believe this woman already calling her stupid nicknames, „Pardon, me? Why are you calling me a cupcake?“
Vi can’t stop snorting and holding in her laugh at this posh accent, „you look like you belong into a bakery! Not a gym! Anyways,“ Vi calms her laughter, „this is Vander, he’s the trainer in this boxing studio. He‘s a true Zaun legend and even Pilties knew him back in the day.“
The disrespectful, but obscenely hot, woman explains to her and points at the hunk of a man. „Don’t be afraid of him, he might look like a meanie, but he’s very nice. I‘m Vi and don’t worry, he’ll take good care of you as coach since his retirement.“
Caitlyn could just blink at Vi‘s explanation, but gathered herself anyways, „it‘s a pleasure to meet you. I didn’t expect a place like this, in all honesty,“ she replied and took in the worn down equipment in with a swiveling gaze. The hunk‘s, Vanders, gruff voice resounded, „maybe worn, but we‘re an honest studio, with real training. Not that fancy bullshit workout.“
Vi, the not so hot anymore red head, chimes in, „with our training even a Cupcake like you can get strong! And first session‘s free! Please?“ Vi looked up at her with pleading puppy dog eyes. A sigh escaped Caitlyn’s lips, but something inside her asked, how bad could it be?
With another sigh Caitlyn puts her sports bag to the side and nods, „fine, but you won’t call me Cupcake anymore.“
„Then let’s go! We start of with jumping ropes!“ Vi fires off right away and throws a jumping rope at her she barely caught.
„C‘mon, not so lazy, let’s get into it, Cup-.. Caitlyn,“ Vi pushed even further and Caitlyn began flicking her wrists gently.
She felt a tiny bit silly jumping and flicking the bright looking rope. The next few minutes, she just mirrored the speed of Vi‘s rope jumping, not realizing how the other woman sped up even further, before coming to a stop again.
„Phew, next we‘re doing stretches,“ Vi continues on, but stops as her phone vibrates.
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Vi is annoyed, just as the flow of her training was so good, this walking cupcake had to interrupt her. Thankfully a message on her phone rescues her from training this Piltie.
As Vi checks the message it’s from Smeech, a gross little weasel of a man, but he paid good and gods could their studio need the money. Even if this cupcake girl decided to book them, she didn’t know how they’d pay rent soon.
„Got a fight for ya on Friday, but you gotta lose. I pay ya 800 dollars. - Smeech“
That weasel! Vi grinds her teeth, seething that she even thinks about taking the deal, but decides to accept it anyways.
„Fine, is the fight at your casino again? - Vi“
„Yes you dumbnut. 8 pm don’t be late. - Smeech“
A grumble escaped Vi. She hated it if she had to lose a fight, but without the offerings of bigger fights she couldn’t do anything.
She turned back to the Piltie and huffed, „good work! Next we do some jogging and stretches.“
Vi fell back into her usual trainings rhythm, only to realize after a few minutes that this woman kept up, even with her face getting puffy and red from exhaustion. She just continued to jog around the ring alongside her. Vi already was quicker on her feet than normal jogging and she didn’t even allow this raven haired woman a pause after the jumping ropes.
The cupcake panted, „can... can we please... huff... have a break?“ Vi slowly came to a stop next to her and despite her dislike for Piltover, she pat the woman on the back, „need something to drink? Take a moment to breathe then I‘ll show you shadow boxing and we try some foot work.“
Even at the risk of this Piltie not coming back, Vi would never go easy in training, but as this long legged woman sat down on a bench, she went and fetched her some water.
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Caitlyn’s whole body burns and she can feel her lungs whistling with each breath. Never would she have imagined a simple coaching be this hard already. Not only did she do at least 20 minutes of jumping ropes, no they ran for half a damn hour! As she sits there, on the bench, Vander comes up, „first trainings are always the hardest, don’t worry. You’re doin good.“
She could only show him a strained smile, „I thought she said we were jogging? That..“ Caitlyn pauses, „was certainly not what I would call jogging.“
„She only takes her job seriously,“ the hunk of a man huffs, „in Piltover‘s gyms the would be nicer, sure, but here you get trained properly.“
She thinks of the gym in her apartment building. It was always clean and the equipment was high-end, but she never saw any staff. „Maybe you’ve got a point,“ she laughs at him, „who‘s that on the graffiti outside, if I may ask?“
Vander rubs is neck with a laugh, „that was me. Back in my golden days I was called the Hound. Won the Runeterra Boxing Championship four times.“
Caitlyn’s eyes go wide at this, even she had heard of the RBC. Her father sometimes watched fights when she was still a little girl, so even Piltover’s elite knew about it. „You’re a former RBC champion?“
Out of the corner of her eye, Caitlyn notices Vi coming back with a blue and pink water bottle. „He‘s not just any former champ!“ Vi exclaimed as she reached the bench and held down the bottle for her to grab. „He‘s the former champ who won two times against Braum The Protector! He’s the only one who ever done that!“
Okay, with the bragging about her own trainer this athletic beauty looked adorable again. How her glistening lips moved and the cute little scar she had on her upper lip, she could gaze at this woman and not satiate. Caitlyn took a small sip of water and listened to Vi ramble on about Vanders best fights. She almost looked like a puppy the way her eyes gleamed and even if Caitlyn didn’t understand any of it, she just liked the glow on Vi‘s face.
Vander smiled at them the whole time, albeit a little bit strained and reminds them, „weren‘t you supposed to be training?“
Chapter 3
Notes:
CN: mention of drugs, drug abuse
Chapter Text
The rest of the training went by quickly and at the end Caitlyn was a sweaty and exhausted mess. On her drive back to her apartment, she could bite her own butt. While she changed beforehand, she forgot to pack changing clothes and now she had to drive home soaked. At home she threw her gym back to the side and hurried to the showers first. It took everything bit of her strength to shower and change into fresh clothes. After this hard training every muscle in her body hurt.
Refreshed, but exhausted, she checked the time.
2:30pm.
She knew she had a few more until an assigned interview with Jayce. She could always just mail him her questions, but he was her long time friend, so she decided against it. With this, she checked the appointment at Jayce‘s office and prepared herself internally. After an hour of preparation and final checks of the interview questions, Caitlyn finished up. Before leaving she popped another pill, this time it were strong uppers, to counter her exhaustion, she took off.
Caitlyn arrived Jayce’s office in time and she got led into the big and tidy office as soon as she knocked. Jace immediately got up from behind his expensive desk and sauntered over to her with spread arms, „Caitlyn! I‘m so happy to see you,“ and hugged her tight.
They were always close, as Jayce had her mothers stipend and they quickly became friends, so she felt a bit guilty for rarely meeting up. „Jayce, sorry for not coming to your events,“ she apologized on the spot.
„Oh, don’t worry Cait. We know that the breakup was rough and you need time. I‘m just glad you came out to my interview and didn’t just mail me the questions,“ he smiled as he let go.
Caitlyn felt guilty immediately at his remark, as she really considered doing just that. She showed him a strained smile and replied, „I.. I’d never,“ and fake coughed at the lie jokingly. „Do we want to get right to the interview then, Jayce?“ She asked and pulled out her notebook from a bag and sat down in front of his desk.
„Sure, why not? You want to come over later? Viktor‘s making his famous Zaunite stew tonight,“ Jayce smiled brightly at her.
Long ago both of them believed they were like brothers, but she remembered how Viktor suddenly kissed Jayce on a New Year’s Eve and ever since they’ve been together. „Another time, okay? I’ve got a lot of assignments to finish and will work late, another time surely,“ she white lied to him and continued, „let’s get to the first question, Councilman Talis, since your husband invented hextech with you, we‘ve seen big leaps even in conventional technologies. Yet, it only seems like a prestige project. What are your plans on commercialization?“
Jayce answered was as straightforward as always, „well, we are currently working on improved efficiency of our hex cores, so it can be used in a broader field than before.“ Caitlyn notices how he seems to check notes himself before he continues, „and let’s not forget how our hextech transports are already making more income than old freighters.“
This interview almost felt like a marketing farce to Caitlyn, but she continued on, „I‘m glad you brought up hextech transportation, councillor Talis, last year we saw a rise in anomalies especially in poorer areas of Zaun. The council just agreed on new regulations about the amount of anomalies per square kilometer. Still, multiple areas surpassed that limit already, what are your plans to reduce arcane anomalies?“
Everyone knew that hextech had glaring issues with reliability and the glorious hextech transporters produced arcane anomalies that sometimes spat out people and already made several technicians disappear. Despite this, the council continued to push on and Caitlyn knew Jayce did his best to fix the issues together with his husband.
Until then it was Jayce‘s husband who went down into the depths of hextech machinery to take care of the worst anomalies himself. She knew Jayce and Viktor tried to stop the council from the massive usage of hextech, but greed won and Piltover‘s elite wanted a new prestigious way of transportation.
Jayce let out a sigh, both of them knew this question had to be asked, „in the regard of arcane pollution, as the council calls it, Professor Viktor has recently shown me a promising fresh paper on the usage of residue arcane energy. This shows Piltover has the greatest minds of the city working on it.“ Another sigh escapes his lips as he continues, „this now is off the records, the council still doesn’t seem to care as the hextech plant is on Zaun territory.“
Caitlyn shakes her head at this, „so the council still uses the same excuse of looser laws in Zaun?“ Jayce simply nods, yes, especially Hoskel and Bolbok are afraid of losing profits.“
The rest of the interview went by in a blur and as she managed to get back to her car, Caitlyn already was a bit clammy feeling. She hoped Jayce didn’t notice the side effects of her ‚little‘ problem.
On her way home, she would simply grab something Ionian to eat and call it a day. No, she would still have to make a clean version of the interview with Jayce, only afterwards she could finally sleep. With her plans set, she drove off to a nice Ionian restaurant and with her take out menu, a tasty Ionian shrimp ceviche with mango in it. At home she set down her notebook on the kitchen table, together with a bottle of wine, and ate while working.
Hello Piltovans, today we have an interview with councilor and hextech inventor Jayce Talis. Tribune: Councilor Talis, since your husband invented hextech with you, we‘ve seen big leaps even in conventional technologies. Yet, it only seems like a prestige project. What are your plans on commercialization?
Councilor Talis: Well, we are currently working on improved efficiency of our hex cores, so it can be used in a broader field than before and let’s not forget how our hextech transports are already making more income than old freighters.
Tribune: We are glad you brought up hextech transportation, councilor Talis, last year we saw a rise in anomalies especially in poorer areas of Zaun. The council just agreed on new regulations about the amount of anomalies per square kilometer. Still, multiple areas surpassed that limit already, what are your plans to reduce arcane anomalies?
Councilor Talis: In the regard of arcane pollution, as the council calls it, Professor Viktor has recently shown me a promising fresh paper on the usage of residue arcane energy. This shows Piltover has the greatest minds of the city working on it.
Tribune: Can you explain further, councilor Talis? I think our readers wish to know more about this.
Councilor Talis: In the council we take great care to always be open about new technologies, especially since our great Piltover is filled with so much tradition. I promise we will show new and improved methods soon.
Tribune: We heard rumors your laboratory recently stipended a few bright Zaunites? Our readers would like to know if this is just another careless expense towards our sister city.
Councilor Talis: Yes, we now have two bright young minds from Zaun at our hextech laboratory and both show a promising future. That’s all there is to it.
[The interview continues and is adorned by a photo of councilor Jayce Talis sitting at his desk with bright looking eyes.]
This evening, Vi had a gig as bouncer at Babette‘s club.
After training that Piltie gal earlier, she was happy to be in her element again. She had helped Babette as a bouncer even before she went to Stillwater for something she didn’t even do. It was the classical girl meets the wrong girl and Vi still hated she had fallen for that damn girl.
Her ex was an exchange student in Piltover, Gwen and came from a pretty wealthy family. It was by pure boredom of that damn girl that she wandered right into Vi‘s arms and it was Vi‘s own fault to get entangled in Gwen’s stealing habit. It all ended with Gwen having the best lawyers Piltover had and Vi getting thrown into Stillwater for petty theft.
Stillwater at the age of 15, not that she ever wanted to accomplish something.
Well, her sibling managed to get their shit together, so there was that at least. „Damn Pilties,“ escaped her lips as she made her way to the club.
She hadn’t thought about Gwen in years and ever since every hook up was certainly on the girlier side. Yet, she would never admit that she had a type of girl she liked at all, but this cupcake girl, Caitlyn or what she called herself, somehow struck a nerve.
Vi stuck her calloused hands into her jacket pockets and turned towards Babette‘s club. Maybe she should step up her training if a Piltie could keep up with her Zaun steeled body. As she reached the already crowded entry, she saw that Claggor had shift tonight too and she simply nodded at him.
„Yo, Vi can you take over soon? Hope you’re not here privately now,“ Claggor called out to her, continuing to check guests.
„Yeah, sure,“ she winks at him and walks up to the bar inside the club.
Tonight it seemed that Babette wasn’t sitting at the bar, so she only told the bartender, „I‘m checkin in for tonight. Claggor‘s goin on break.“
The bartender simply nodded in response and Vi went back to the entrance to switch up with Claggor. Babettes Club, even if one of the oldest in Zaun, was the most famous one and could easily stand up to the big clubs Silco managed, one of Zaun’s most dubious chem barons and real estate mogul.
Vi gazed around the people standing in line and signaled to a group of women, dressed in some rave fashion, „show me your ID‘s gals,“ she put on a charismatic smile and after being sure the girls were 18, she let them in. „Have a fun night girls.“
At least Vi didn’t have to think about stuff she didn’t want to when working as bouncer. Like thinking about a certain girl dressed like a cupcake. Or how her blueish black hair smelled like lavender and vanilla.
A rude looking dude stepped up to her, „bitches tight tonight?“
Fuck it was one of those guys, Vi replied with sharpness, „piss off, you’re not gettin in,“ and pushed him aside.
„You got a problem, bitch?!“ He immediately raged, but Vi‘s honed reflexes were faster. With one simple grapple she spun him around, only to shove him aside and hissed, „if you wanna get a new jaw, just say it! Now fuck off!“
Almost all in the waiting line burst out laughing and hollering. Someone snickered, „that‘s Vi for you! What a dumbass.“
Within just seconds, the raging guy left like a dog with his tail between his legs. He must‘ve been a tourist or new to Zaun, because everyone here knew to respect the bouncers.
If any law enforcement took place in Zaun, it came from the bouncers beating the shit out of you if you hassled everyone else and his leaving form looked like he understood that truth now.
The rest of the night went by without further issues and on her way home, it was now past 4 am, she felt drained by the shift. Vi was good at being a bouncer, but she’d rather spend her time in a ring, fighting, breathing and living.
If she just had the chance for a proper fight, without any weasels butting in, she could see herself actually fighting in the RBC. As Vi walked up the stairs to the shared apartment, nowadays it was mostly her and her old man, because Jinx only slept here a few times a week. They were either at their boyfriends place or sleeping at the academy, she saw that her old man was awake.
„Heard you got a fight this Friday?“ Vander didn’t even greet her as she came in. She was in for a treat already, as this meant he was in a bad mood.
„It’s a fight at Smeech‘s casino, yeah,“ Vi replies to him in a small voice. She knows exactly what Vander thinks about doing fights for that weasel.
„I told you again and again that we‘ll get you your chance! With this,“ Vander slams his fist onto the table and a loud bang resounds in the small living room he sat in.
Even as an adult woman, Vi just shrunk back to being small. She almost flinches as he continues on, „with this kind of bullshit, the RBC won’t want you! You‘re on a winning streak, Vi! Don’t screw this up!“
Vi‘s reaction was defensive, „this isn’t about me wanting to be champion! I just don’t want to lose this place!“ Tears welt up in her eyes. „It‘s the only place we have as a family!“
Using his strong arms to push himself up from the creaking chair Vander sat on, he walks over to her and hugs her tight, „We always have a place as long as you, Jinx and I are alive. This is just a rundown gym, don’t let it take away your future.“
It were moments like these, when Vi really felt the bond to her adoptive dad and after stifling her tears, she pulled away from his embrace, „but I don’t know what to do without it.“
Vander smiled down at her and rubbed her read with his bear like hand, „we‘ll find a place, but for now I need to go to work.“ He took his keys and in his way out Vi told him, „don’t let Benzo work you to the ground.“
Being left alone in the small apartment, Vi went to bed.
Chapter 4
Notes:
CN: substance abuse, domestic abuse
If I’m missing tags, please feel free to comment, okay? 😊
Chapter Text
It took Caitlyn a full two days to recover after her first training at the Last Drop. It was Friday and she didn’t know what to do with herself. Even without using any more medication than necessary, she felt restless and sick in her apartment. But she couldn’t just call Mel or Jayce and his husband, as they went on a weekend trip together.
They actually asked her weeks in advance, but at that point she refused, like she always did since her breakup. Caitlyn just didn’t want to be the third wheel, or in their case the fourth one.
As she sat up from the couch, she slept there again, she first noticed the time. It was already past noon, but today she had no appointments anyways.
Since Caitlyn’s friends didn’t have time this weekend, she began thinking about alternatives. A random event in Piltover wouldn’t be something she wanted now, so that idea went out the window. It was then Caitlyn began to think about a certain fiery red head from Zaun.
Sure, she was rude and behaved like a street urchin, but those muscles were simply delicious. Her flowing and athletic movements still lingered on Caitlyn’s mind and she decided to call the gym up to train.
The phone rang for a minute, but then a gruff and masculine voice answered, „Hello, Last Drop, Vander speaking. You calling to train, or do you need a boxing manager?“
Caitlyn sighed internally, it wasn’t Vi on the phone. She asked, „Hey Vander, Caitlyn Kiramman speaking. Can I come over for a training with Vi?“
There was a pause on the phone, then Vander told her, „oh hello Ms Kiramman. Sorry, Vi isn‘t available for training today. if you wanna greet her, she has a fight at the Scrap Hackers casino tonight.“
Suddenly Caitlyn thought back to her first meet with Vi, how this woman was training in that moment and how her glistening skin was flushed from throwing punches. She bit her lip for a second, „Oh okay, thanks Vander, have a great night.“
It was only after that she wondered why Vi‘s adoptive father and trainer was at the gym if Vi had a fight tonight, but maybe he‘d join his daughter later.
___________
The seats were packed tonight around all the fighting rings in Smeech‘s casino, the Scrap Hackers and Vi stood around waiting for her fight.
She knew Vander wouldn’t come to her fight after last night. He hated that she made this deal and to lose on purpose, of course he wouldn’t watch.
Smeech told her earlier this was just a fill up space of his regular open fight nights. Already bored by the weak fighters, she waited for hers to start. Yet, Vi couldn’t shake this weird feeling that something was off, if this was a regular open night, then why would she have a 6 round fight as the only one?
It made no real sense to her, but there was nothing much she could do about it. She wouldn’t back off a fight, even a rigged one.
Before she could get to one of the the staff, her name got called out over speakers, „Aaaaand the next fight on our main square tonight will be between Vi, Vicious Hound, Warwick and Malcom, The Outlaw, Graves! Be ready to watch this spectacular bout, right here at theeeee Scrap Hackers Casinooooo!“
Vi didn’t notice until now that her fight was already up, as this stupid casino didn’t even have any clocks around and she was wearing her shorts and sports bra, so her phone wasn’t on her either. With a heavy steps, Vi strode up to the ring, around her were cheering tourists and casino guests as she made her entrance.
To them, this clearly was something like a dumb festival, and it made her fume. They wouldn’t cheer for her if they fucking knew the truth about this fight.
Next to the ring was staff waiting for her and while fixing her boxing gloves, one of the staff members leaned over,“don’t forget, you go down in round 4! We paid you handsomely.“
She could only snort in response, handsomely payment, what a damn joke it was, but she needed the money. She couldn’t let Vander work himself into dust and rent was always late, so with a sigh she reminded herself again. Listen to this asshole. Don’t win this, even if you want to.
On the other side her opponent came in. He looked slightly older and was a bit taller than Vi. He wore a blackened acid green shorts and seemed to be built very lean. Vi shuddered at the amount of dark chest hair that grew on the guy. Worst of all, he wore a smug face and was clearly in on Smeech‘s rigged fight.
With a snort he stared down at her and bellowed, „Hound? You’re more like a filthy little puppy!“
Vi sneered, „whatever gramps. I‘ll cave your jaw in, you‘ll see! And gosh dude, you really should shave.“
Of course this was part of the whole show, she knew and at least the watching casino guests were cheering loudly, but this guys attitude rubbed her the wrong way. Vi turned towards the ring and it riled Graves up even more, „fucking bitch! You go down, fuck if Smeech wants a longer fight, I’ll punch you to pieces!“
Vi‘s motivation for this rigged fight shrank by the second and she wished she could make him eat his words. On her ring side was only the rudimentary staff and medical team. It was her own fault, she knew, but damn she wished Vander was here to see this amateur for himself.
Round one started off with a few light jabs between Vi and Graves. Vi was quick and light on her fight as she almost danced around Graves, but she played it easy for now. A southpaw cross came at her and she blocked Graves sloppy move with ease. As she lowers her guard for a counter, Graves decided to throw a rear hook at her.
Almost automatically Vi used her shoulders, rolling her left side into the way of his hook as a block. Together with a brutal straight punch right to his jaw. Graves paid her back with a blow to her right kidney. She paid him back on the spot with another one of her combinations.
Moving into closer range to him, Vi threw a lead uppercut at his visage. Spittle flew as it hit and before his angry face could contort even further, Vi gave him a rear hook and pivoted out.
Graves staggered back a little and she noticed the cut on his cheek. To Vi it was as if he finally realized she was a real threat, as he caught himself.
Round one finished with a clear victory for Vi, but as long as she went down later, it wouldn’t be an issue to her. She was only glad Smeech reassured her this was an exhibition fight and wouldn’t hurt her professional career, even if Vander saw it differently.
___________
The sun bled into Caitlyn’s apartment, showering it in oppressive orange hues. Maddie’s color. She couldn’t take it, wouldn’t take it. Especially with her restlessness, the setting sun felt even more suffocating. As if trying to distract herself, she began cleaning her apartment for the first time in a while.
Her work littered too many spaces in her apartment together with empty pill boxes and ‚cheap‘ Piltover red. Caitlyn bit her lip, the disgrace rising like bile. She was a damn Kiramman, she should know better. It always resounded in her head. Caitlyn’s hands began to shake with her thoughts spiraling out of control.
A Kiramman must function, she just had to! Her mother always told her to be strong, to endure and to fight back the Kiramman way. Caitlyn dug her nails deep into her arms, almost puncturing the skin. Caitlyn’s body began to heave as everything came down crashing on her.
After she threw up into the kitchen sink and taking her anxiety medication again, the shaking finally stopped. She even managed to clean up the sink, before sitting down on her couch again with pulled up legs.
Suddenly Caitlyn remembered her call with Vander earlier and how Vi would have a fight tonight. Deciding it wouldn’t do her any good to stay at home and feel like the trash she got rid off earlier. She didn’t count going to the Last Drop, even if she left her apartment to train there once so far.
Caitlyn burrowed her face between her hands as she thought of this woman. How her muscles coiled, her broad trained back and the glow of salty mist when she showed her how to shadow box.
„Shit,“ escaped Caitlyn’s lips and she pulled out her phone. Her inbox wasn’t showing any new mails, but there it was, this silly name Vi used for replying her mail, Vi0lenceH0und.
Even if this woman was rude, she had something Caitlyn wanted to see more of. She felt drawn in to this red heads bright grey eyes. She wanted to see her fight, needed to see it and with a few quick swipes on her phone the tickets for the fight were bought.
After using the Scrap Hackers valet parking, she made her way into the Zaunite Casino.
The place was packed with almost endless rows of people playing slot machines and barely clothed Staff delivered drinks and snacks to guests. The floors were polished and sparkled under chemical lights.
She shuddered as she saw how revealing those outfits were, the female presenting staff was showing deep cleavages and skirts which barely hid their behinds. But even only having the tiniest amount of cloth on them, their outfits gleamed and glittered in the casino’s lights in an attempt to coax more cash out of guests.
It was a different sight from Piltover’s ball rooms and gala‘s. This place was packed with people, smoke lingered in the air and a cacophony of slot machine jingles almost overwhelmed her on the spot.
This was intense, even with her medication taken. It was too loud, too much and it dawned on her finally. This wasn’t her best idea.
Caitlyn tore her gaze off this amalgamation of impressions, smells, as the air reeked like a forsaken ashtray and a stroboscopic lights coming from endless rows of gambling machines. The faster she found the place where Vi fought, the casino’s site called it Grand Arena, the better.
Snaking her way through masses of drunk and some drugged guests and more than one very deep décolleté shoved into her face, Caitlyn found the entrance to the Grand Arena this casino offered.
Even outside the arena, Caitlyn could already hear the howling and screaming masses watching the ongoing fight. She knew she was too late to greet Vi before her fight, and maybe get a peek at her gorgeously almost sculpted figure.
„Your ticket please, Ma‘am,“ an old Yordle asked her as she reached the entrance and Caitlyn almost pulled out her phone, as events in Piltover all used digital tickets nowadays.
Hiding her slight embarrassment at her blunder, she coughed only to tell this well dressed old Yordle, „I bought my ticket online on the name Matilda.“
As if she’d use her real name at such an establishment, she of course bought the cards under a fake name. The old Yordle only smiled at her, „ah of course, one ticket, was it?“
He pulls out an expensive looking arena pass. To Caitlyn it felt heavy and of particular high quality, almost as if it was made in Piltover. The pass was embossed with almost holographic looking letters, RBC - Runeterra Boxing Championship, on the upper half and Zaun Qualifiers below in acid green lettering.
As the heavy oak looking doors opened, the Yordle must have pressed a button as they opened automatically, she was blown away. There was only one fight going on in the center of the avenue, with the other rings getting cleaned.
The center stage had a fight going on between Vi and an old looking and his upper body was mantled with thick black hair. His complexion was exhausted and his cheek swollen and bloody with an agile and tiptoeing fiery beauty almost dancing around him.
It was captivating. Not only was Vi‘s whole body glowing under the bright lights, no she was utterly dominating everything around her. Every swing of her gloved fists looked entrancing, hypnotizing and Caitlyn’s mouth went dry.
Chapter 5
Notes:
I‘m sorry it took, so long and the next chapter will take long too. The story is not abandoned, but I currently struggle with writing.
Chapter Text
Caitlyn didn’t even make it to her seating during this round, she was to entranced just looking at Vi fighting. She gazed down at her, her light steps hiding her exhaustion, her boxing gloves glistening under the bright ringside lighting.
Another hard punch from Vi‘s right fist let’s her opponent stagger backwards and Caitlyn‘s mouth opens in amazement, her eyes almost sparkling how this woman fought for herself.
A loud gong tore Caitlyn out of her almost hypnotized staring. The round was over and she could see her face finally, as Vi turned towards her corner. Caitlyn realized this was the best moment to get as quick as she could to her seat.
Her seat was right at the ring, Caitlyn noticed and as she took seat, she could see Vi‘s back in all of its glory. Now she wore a black sports bra and Caitlyn had to bite her lip, seeing not only the full glory of Vi‘s muscular back, but even a full back tattoo. To her eyes the ink drew patterns of old mechanical parts on this stunning back. It was intricate, but every line just screamed Zaun.
In her eyes, Vi seemed a lot less bruised than her battered looking opponent. From her seat, a lot closer to the ring, she finally saw the cuts and swells on his fuming face. He wore a scowl as someone began to press something above his eye.
An announcers voice resounded, „what an outstanding third round! Our contestants aren’t holding back anything and have you all seen Vi‘s uppercut against Graves?! Let‘s look at the shall we?!“
Above the ring began the replay on massive ceiling mounted screens and Caitlyn was in awe. Vi was throwing a feint at Graves. He fell for it and as he blocked, Vi‘s fist already drove deep into his chin. Spit and blood flew with the impact and Graves almost flew backwards as he hit the ring’s canvas.
She almost jumped out of her seat to cheer.
„Are you ready for round four?!“ The announcers riled the viewers up further. Vi and her opponent both finished up their short break and the referee opened the round.
Vi seemed to be on the defense as the round began, Caitlyn thought, as Grave‘s heavy punches were blocked or avoided by her. Sure, she moved in again jabbing him, but to Caitlyn it felt like Vi held back. Why was Vi not pushing him?
Caitlyn‘s nails dug into her purse with nervousness as Vi finally decided to move in, but it wasn’t Graves who went down.
A scream tore right out of her, „Get up, Vi!“
___________
This deal with fucking Smeech was total dogshit, Vi fumed on the inside. How should she let this guy win? He already hung in the ropes at the end of round three and now he didn’t look better.
Not that Graves was something to look at in her eyes. Sure, Vander was on the hairier side, but at least he groomed himself, she shuddered behind her blocking fists.
Another roll of her upper body, back into blocking and Graves sneered even more at her, „is blocking all you can do, puppy?“
„At least I don’t go to retirement home after this,“ Vi sneered at him with a jab of her own, moving in closer for a combo.
Her gloved fist shot up, right to Graves chin again with another truly devastating blow, but comes short as Vi suddenly feels the impact of his attack right below her belt.
Vi staggers back, terrible pain exploding, almost searing as her muscles spasm from his punch. Nausea hits her like a freight train and before she even has a chance to get her guard up again, another blow follows.
Graves fist flew up in an uppercut, but wasn’t aimed at her chin, instead he used his elbow to smash right into her jaw.
It was a brutal foul and Vi felt her body swaying and went down.
The referee was beside her and began counting, „one!“
Fuck his foul and this match. Vi didn’t want to get up anymore, „two!“
„Get up, Vi!“
Was that? No it couldn’t be. Vi could almost hear the Cupcake screaming at her. A posh sounding woman like Cupcake would never come this deep into Zaun, right? But what if she was?
Vi forced her hurting body up a bit, her gloves pushing against the canvas, „three!“
___________
Caitlyn jumped out of her seat, her heart pumping faster and faster. She screams towards the the ring, „come on Vi! You can do it! Please...“
She couldn’t understand why Vi went down. When they were training she looked so fierce and unbreakable.
A moment later the referee shook his hands, ending the fight, „ it’s over! The winner is Graves!“
Jemsiebabe on Chapter 2 Sat 12 Jul 2025 01:29PM UTC
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MissLynnAlice on Chapter 2 Sat 12 Jul 2025 04:45PM UTC
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