The cool morning air was still across the city, framing the apocalyptic scenery with a sort of unnatural calmness. The silence permeating the air was almost suffocating, not even the sounds of the local ‘wildlife’ could be heard. As far as the wasteland goes, it was likely one of the most peaceful mornings in its history. Then so very, very violent.

I loud bang echoed off the walls of the surrounding skyscrapers, followed by a loud clang as the bullet hit its mark. The Steel Ranger fell to the ground dead, a baseball sized hole in his head. The rest of the patrol scattered and sought cover from an enemy they never even saw. Bang another shot rang out, and another Steel Ranger breathed for the last time. The Steel Rangers panicked and ran the way they came, quickly disappearing behind the armored doors of a Stable Tec facility. Clearly they were not used to dealing with a sniper this lethal, but for Caitlyn it was just another day at work.

After waiting a few moments more for any signs of movement, she thought it best to reposition herself. After all it would be bad news if they found her hiding place. She quickly gathered up her few belongings and hastily descended the rusty ‘fire escape’ ladder of the Baltimare Royal Hotel. Once reaching the bottom she readied her trusty rifle and looked at the local Steel Ranger’s headquarters. Seeing they weren’t going to risk any more casualties with some kind of blind attack, she quickly crossed the street into a small alleyway.

She peered around the corner, and as expected the rangers were slowly making their way towards her hoping to get close enough for their E.F.S. to spot her. Tough luck, she thought as she loaded a special blue banded bullet into the rifle and aimed around the corner once more. The rifle let out its massive retort, and one of the rangers screamed as one of his legs was blown off!

“Shit! What kind of weapon is that?! Push up we gotta get close!” One of them yelled, his armor was darker than the others with green flames painted on his sides. Her target. The rangers ducked from cover to cover, approaching Caitlyn faster than she would have liked. Running back to the street, she could see another squad of rangers rushing down the street hoping to catch her off guard.

She jumped through a window (Why did they put a window looking into an alleyway?) and into what appeared to be a coffee shop, much of the furniture rotted and in disarray. She ducked behind the corner and waited, watching as the group on the street passed by… except for one.

“Hey, I got something on E.F.S. in that building!” The others quickly turned and each pointed their weapons through the door and windows of the front of the store. Eyeing a set of stairs next to the counter, she rushed to the bottom of the steps and aimed her net gun at the closest ranger. Before they could get a shot off she had already fired, nearly knocking him off his hooves with the huge net and promptly blowing her almost to the top of the first flight of stairs.

A smile creeped across her face as one of the rangers rushed up the stairs after her… and right into a Yordle trap. Sure the trap did little to their power armor, but it was still able to hold him still long enough for her to put a bullet through his eye. Running up three more flights of stairs she was able to gain some ground on her equine pursuers, and she took the time to search for a particular window. After searching through several small offices she found the one she wanted, and with the aid of her 80 caliber net gun she flew through the weakened glass and onto the neighboring building’s rooftop.

Finding some decent cover, she waited until a ranger walked in front of the window she came through and fired another shot through his head, downing him instantly. That left two more inside, as well as the four from the alleyway. The two inside quickly found windows of their own and starting covering the rooftop with automatic grenades and LMG rounds, ripping Caitlyn’s cover to pieces almost instantly. She had to relocate several times before she could get a shot off, and all she managed to do was hit the shoulder of grenade pony before she had to take cover again from the other one. At least he would be out of the fight for a while until his armor could repair itself and heal him.

She threw another Yordle trap out from behind her cover, and the Steel Ranger with the LMG shredded it his excessive firepower. It only distracted him for a second, but it more than enough time for Caitlyn to aim another shot and hit him straight in the forehead. The other ranger, she suspected, was still sitting next to his window while he recovered, so with a smile she loaded another special bullet into her rifle and fired directly at the wall. She was rewarded with part of the wall collapsing inward, and a lot more steel in the rubble than brick.

She had little time to enjoy her victory however, as the four rangers from earlier busted onto the roof. “Don’t move tribal scum! I’ll shred you into a chunky soup if you even look at me wrong, now drop your weapon!” After some consideration she had no choice but to do as they asked, they had her outnumbered, out positioned, and very outgunned. The closest ranger cautiously approached her and carelessly kicked her custom rifle away, much to her chagrin.

“Alright after killing so many of my brothers I’m going to kill you anyways, but depending on how you answer my next question I may decide to make it quick instead of letting you rot in a ditch being slowly eaten to death by radroaches.”

Caitlyn tapped a finger to her chin before shrugging. “They needed killin’ judge, what more can I say?” She could only imagine the expression the rangers wore inside their helmets as she grinned at them.

“That’s it, shoot her till there’s nothing left.” The rangers around him prepared to oblige, but a deep rumbling in the building gave them pause. The whole roof started to shake violently and Caitlyn had to crouch down to steady herself. “What the hell is that?”

A knowing smile grew on Caitlyn’s face. “You wanna see a hat trick?”

His answer came in the form of a giant pair of fists breaking through the roof and grabbing one of his rangers. “GET DUNKED!” Vi shouted as she (picked up!) the ranger and slammed him through the roof back to the floor below, breaking his neck instantly.

The roof erupted into chaos quickly, and before the rangers could aim their guns Vi was already pummeling another one into the roof, ensuring even his power armor couldn’t save him. Caitlyn rolled and grabbed her rifle, shooting the other ranger in the head and dropping him before he could shoot at Vi. The last ranger with the painted armor backed away and brought up his dual miniguns, laughing and lighting up the world around Caitlyn and Vi as they tried to hide behind a small concrete wall.

Vi grinned and “lightly” punched Caitlyn in the shoulder. “Taking cover while someone shoots at us with over the top firepower, why does this seem familiar?”

“Shut up, and what took you so long? You were supposed to be right behind me!” One of these days her “partner’s” antics were going to get both of them killed. She loaded another special bullet into her rifle, this one having a red ring around the casing.

“Got sidetracked by a horde of hungry zombies, my bad…” Vi rolled her eyes before attempting to sneak a peek around the corner. She was rewarded with a face full of dust as she barely managed to pull her head back before the ranger blew the corner into oblivion with his ridiculous firepower. “So… any plans?”

“That asshole can only shoot for so long, we’ll just wait it out until he has to reload or something.” Caitlyn repositioned herself to spring into action the second he ran out of bullets, but Vi sat down and made herself comfortable while they waited. And waited… still waiting… minutes passed by and still he continued his suppressive fire.

“Doesn’t that thing ever run out of ammo?! Alright new plan, you jump out on that side, and while he’s shooting you I’ll blow his head off.”

“How about we put that plan to a vote. I vote no.” Vi stood up and stretched anyways. They couldn’t afford to wait all day until reinforcements arrived.

“Well according to Piltover’s laws my position of sheriff means I have three votes in all internal matters, so I still outvote you.” Caitlyn said as she stuck her tongue out.

“Whatever. How about instead I send this wall flying at him and we use that as a distraction to rush him?” Vi flexed her muscles as she nodded at their cover.

Caitlyn only shrugged as a response, before looking at the cloud cover above. “Wait what’s that?” In the distance a small light could be seen breaking through the clouds. Then another, two more… dozens of them arching through the air at high speed. “What are those…?”

“No, nononono! Not her, anything but her!” Vi looked around frantically for anywhere they could run to, anywhere that wasn’t on the roof.

“Wait you don’t mean… No! God please no!” Caitlyn raised her rifle to look into the sky, the roar of minigun fire completely forgotten. Sure enough the lights were all rockets flying through the sky, and on top of the biggest one rode a familiar criminal with an all too eager grin. As if sensing she was being watched, she blew a kiss directly at Caitlyn before strapping some aviator goggles on. The rockets were increasing in speed and heading right at her!

“This is bad, this is really bad! We gotta go now that bitch is crazy!” Vi looked everywhere she could, but there wasn’t anywhere they could go without being shredded by the oblivious ranger. Finally her gaze settled downwards, and she glanced at Caitlyn with an earnest frown. “Hey Caitlyn? Sorry ‘bout this…” She drew back her arm as her power fist charged, and with a massive boom! She punched a large hole in the roof that both of them fell through.

She didn’t stop, she kept sending them down floor after floor until they hit the basement. Even then she punched a small crater into the ground and covered them with a metal table to be safe. This was Jinx after all, you never knew what to expect from her.

They waited several long minutes only hearing a few dull thuds and no bang behind them. It didn’t take long for Vi to throw the table off impatiently, and she screamed in frustration when she looked around the room. ‘Jinx waz here’ had been painted on a far wall, another read ‘Bad cop, worse cop’. Even on the table they used as shelter, ‘Gotcha!’

“That’s it! Where is she?” Vi yelled as she ascended the many flights of stairs to the roof again. The Steel Ranger was crushed under the largest rocket, and the other smaller ones were all scattered around the damaged building and surrounding area. However there was not, as she had hoped, any sign of the criminal known as Jinx anywhere. There was merely a final set of words painted on the side of the largest rocket, one final taunt to send Vi over the edge. ‘Catch me if you can!’

Author's Note

Positive/negative feedback? Have requests on who to do next, and maybe what they should do? Or maybe you just want someone to talk to? Feel free to comment below and let me know!