Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
"I'm terribly offended. The most futuristic island in the world, and they have horrible mocha. This is not the future I want to live in." I scrunched up my face as I stared at the offending drink in my hand. I heard snorts around me, which I ignored as I tossed the nearly full cup into the nearest trash can.
I reached into my sleeve, pulled out a chocolate bar from my shadow, and began eating it without hesitation. A small smile formed on my face. Now this was chocolate.
"You're weird," Jinx snorted next to me. I rolled my eyes.
"My love for chocolate is perfectly normal, thank you very much," I said mockingly. Ruby snorted loudly.
"You have three fiancées, one slave, two potential girlfriends, and a fake girlfriend, and yet, I'm sure chocolate is at the top of your priority list." Ruby mocked playfully. Jinx and Penny laughed at me.
"Jealousy doesn't suit you Ruby, but don't worry, my love for chocolate is purely platonic." I bumped my hip against Ruby's. Ruby smirked at me.
"Unless it's melted all over one of us?" Ruby asked provocatively, and I hummed softly as I thought about it.
"You have a good point. You're below chocolate in my love rankings." I gave in to Ruby. Ruby swaggered slightly, and I rolled my eyes as I laughed. "That's no victory." I snorted in amusement.
"If you're done flirting, here. Thanks for playing along," Jinx interrupted with a smile as she tossed me my Scroll. I caught it with my free hand.
"Ah! I thought you'd been sending pictures of us to Jinx! " Ruby said in surprise, I snorted.
"Do you think I'd do something like that?" I asked dryly.
"No hesitation," Ruby said immediately. I snorted in amusement.
"You're being so playful these days. Who are you and what did you do with Ruby?" I mocked her. Ruby stuck her tongue out at me.
"Zula's not here, so I'm channeling her. She told me to keep you on your toes." Ruby said, winking at me. I laughed lightly.
"I'm sure Zula will be very grateful." I rolled my eyes. "But let's change the subject before Jinx throws the first thing she finds at us." I scoffed as I looked at Jinx, who was snorting. "So, you mentioned you worked with Viktor and Jayce before? Did they hire you or something? " I asked curiously. Jinx snorted.
"No way," Jinx said mockingly. "My siblings and I tried to rob Golden Boy's house when I was little. We got caught. Luckily, Golden Boy and Cupcake, being who they are, took pity on us and we didn't get into any bigger trouble."
"I wanted to thank him, so I tried to sneak into his workshop, but Vik found me. He's a Zaunite like me, so he listened to me instead of throwing me at the guards. Things happened, and we started building things in his lab. After that, he told me to come by the lab when I was bored, that I was too smart to be a thief for the rest of my life."
"And so it began, I guess. I kept going to Golden Boy and Vik's lab, working with them, or rather, they took me on as a pupil, a pet, or something. They taught me a lot, and I was an assistant in everything except official roles."
"After that, my brothers got citizenship in Piltover with me, and I got a scholarship to the fancy academy in Piltover, but it was so boring I kept skipping it to play at the workshop. And here we are. I'd still be there if my idiot sister hadn't decided to ship me off to UA." Jinx snorted, looking away.
"Can she do that?" Ruby asked, confused. Jinx wrinkled her nose.
"Something like that? My family is from Zaun, and not long ago, there was practically no government, so there were no papers of any kind. There was nothing that said my guardian was my parents or anything like that. So when my sister married Cupcake, she somehow arranged for her to be named my guardian, even though there were better options."
"I guess the name Kiramman carried more weight than my mother's," Jinx muttered venomously. My eyes widened slightly. Mother? Felicia was alive?
"Mother? This is the first time I've heard you mention her." I said lightly. Jinx wrinkled her nose.
"Yes… Silvia, my mother. Well… I guess there's also Vandra, Vi's mother, and my brothers, but… we've grown apart over the years." Jinx said with a grimace. I froze slightly.
Silvia and Vandra?! Are they supposed to be Silco and Vander?! And they are the biological parents of Jinx and Vi, respectively!? Well, mothers here, and that was 10 times weirder! That would make them half-sisters, and they are also biological siblings, half-siblings in the case of Jinx, Mylo, and Claggor. That… was weird! I definitely had more questions for Jinx, but it wasn't something I could ask her directly!
"And your mother... couldn't do anything to counter your sister's guardianship?" I asked, confused. "You mentioned they got citizenship before your sister married Caitlyn. Something must have come up before then." I pointed out, and Jinx grimaced.
"Piltover doesn't care that much about the people of Zaun, at least not at the time, so when we got citizenship, most of the paperwork was pretty simple. Didn't care whether we had a guardian or not, or anything else. Besides, VI, I was still a minor at the time, so I was listed as having no guardian."
"On the other hand, Mother never got citizenship in Piltover, nor does she want it. So Vi has the only claim that Piltover cares about when she married Cupcake. To say it was a disaster when Vi announced it would be an understatement. I was planning on running away and returning to Zaun when she announced my supposed enrollment for the UA entrance exam."
"I was already of age, so she couldn't force me to do anything. But Mom convinced me to give it a chance. Still… things are tense with Vi," Jinx said with a grimace.
"That sounds like crap." I said, Jinx grimaced.
"It is what it is." Jinx tried to look nonchalant, but it was apparent it still bothered her.
"Now… what was the reason why she decided to send you to UA?" I asked curiously. Jinx snorted and looked away.
"Nothing major... some graffiti on important buildings... unauthorized paint spraying... and an arson attack that they couldn't pin on me because I had an excellent alibi," Jinx said lightly. We all stared at her in disbelief.
"Yeah, I guess that would do it." I snorted amusedly. Jinx rolled her eyes.
"It's excessive. Yes, I was arrested about 5, 6... 14 times, but what are 14 times?! What's the point of having a sister in the police force if I can't use it to my advantage?! " Jinx asked incredulously. I burst out laughing.
"Now I want to hear about that," I said playfully. Jinx's eyes glittered slightly.
"Well, there was that time I snuck into the zoo, and there was a cute, tightly locked rhinoceros, so for the love of animals, it was my role to free the poor creature. And if I were riding on top of that rhino when that whole mess happened, it's just a coincidence," Jinx said playfully.
" Aawww, I want to ride a rhino." Ruby complained.
"When you're in Piltover," Jinx promised with a wide grin. I shook my head in amusement. I looked at Penny, who looked confused. We continued walking until Jinx's scroll started beeping. "Speak of the devil." Jinx snorted as she pulled out her scroll and looked at her phone. "Of course it would be Vi," Jinx growled as she began to read the message. Jinx growled loudly. "Damn you, Hatlady."
"What happened?" I asked playfully.
" Hatlady went on a gossip spree and told Vi that I now have a boyfriend, a very real boyfriend that I don't actually have." Jinx growled as she began aggressively responding to her sister's messages.
"Always play along. It's not like they can find out the truth while your in Japan." I laughed lightly. Jinx growled angrily.
"You don't know my sister. She gets distraught if I don't give her 'real' proof that I'm in a relationship," Jinx retorted.
"You dug your grave," I said playfully.
"Don't remind me," Jinx growled. "I just wanted to get rid of that stupid Ekko and Caitlyn. But it would obviously backfire on me… like always," Jinx muttered aggressively.
"Why don't you keep pretending?" Ruby asked, confused. Jinx looked at her in disbelief.
"You want me to keep fake dating your fiancé?" Jinx asked incredulously. Ruby shrugged.
"It's not like I can stop Izumi from doing anything he wants to do, and I'm sure he'd just go along with it because he likes to tease or make fun of people." Ruby said lightly.
" Aaww, you know me so well." I cooed in Ruby's direction with a loving smile. Ruby smiled widely at that.
"A lover of chaos, I respect that. You'll make an excellent fake boyfriend." Jinx said as she placed her hand on her heart and fainted. I laughed lightly. Jinx snorted amusedly as she saved her scroll.
"I guess so. We'll have to work out the details later. But for now, do you know everything Jayce and Viktor are working on? Is there anything more interesting than what you brought? " I asked curiously. Jinx hummed.
"They're working on large-scale giant transporters," Jinx said honestly.
"That... that's not classified?" Penny asked uncertainly. Jinx snorted.
"In theory, yes, but I know them well enough to know that none of them would actually talk about it. Besides, it's not like I'm telling anyone how they're trying to achieve it," Jinx said easily.
"They let you participate in that project?! You're part of the design!?" That would essentially alter the entire global economy! " Ruby said excitedly. Jinx blushed slightly and looked away.
"Not really, I'm… I helped a little, but most of it is Golden Boy and Vikvik's work." Jinx said as she cleared her throat.
"Is there any clue you can give us? I doubt I would understand, but I'm really interested in how something capable of teleporting matter could be created," I said honestly. Jinx hummed as if considering.
"They're using some of Professor Haywire's calculations." Jinx said honestly, my eyes widening slightly.
"Haywire?!" I practically shrieked. Jinx looked at me and seemed impressed.
"Do you know Professor Haywire? Not many do," Jinx said simply.
"And as one of those people… who is he?" Ruby asked awkwardly.
" Professor Haywire is a her, and she was one of the most prominent people in the study of Gates. She believed that portals were linked to alternate worlds. Her research focused on trying to replicate the gates in order to create portals to those alternate worlds," Penny said with a frown.
"That-?! That's true!?" Ruby asked in surprise. Jinx wrinkled her nose.
"Nobody knows. Haywire was never able to really prove it. She died before completing her research. Most of her research is public, because well, it's thanks to her that we have so much information about the gates, really." Jinx said with a grimace.
"Oh… it's a shame I couldn't create doors to other dimensions." Ruby said with a pout. Jinx snorted.
"Actually, it's said she pulled it off," Penny interrupted. Ruby's eyes widened slightly. "Nothing about the accident is public, but there are rumors that she pulled it off. And then... she died. No one really knows what happened, but there are a lot of people who truly believe she managed to open a portal and either died with whatever was inside... or she was murdered on this side so she wouldn't continue her research," Penny said solemnly.
"Yeah, that's not sinister at all," I said tersely. I could hear Ruby gulp audibly.
"And like I was saying, most of the Haywire research is public, so it's a real need to understand the gates. GB and Vik are using that research as a foundation," Jinx said simply with a shrug.
"That's amazing, I hope they succeed." Penny said seriously. Jinx snorted.
"Don't worry, those two are really stubborn and smart; they have a better chance of making it than not, honestly." Jinx said with a small smile. "Now, changing the subject. You!" Jinx suddenly pointed at me.
"Me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in her direction in confusion.
"You have shadow portals! Or whatever you did!" Jinx accused me. Penny's eyes glittered slightly.
"That's what I wanted to ask! I thought your quirk was Food Enrichment; you've even used it several times in front of us, but you seem to have a second quirk." Penny said as she stared at me. I laughed lightly.
"And I do, I call it ten Shadows. I can do several things with my shadow, but one of them is using it as a sort of inventory or storage. I can put anything in there." I said honestly.
"That- that's unfair!" Jinx growled loudly. "Do you know how much ammo, explosives, and weapons I could have carried with a Quirk like that?!" Jinx said exasperatedly.
"What's the limit?" Penny asked curiously.
"There's no size limit, but there is a weight limit. Whatever I put in there, I have to support its weight." I replied. Jinx looked at me emotionlessly.
"Bastard. I saw you bench pressing 10-ton weights," Jinx said dryly. I laughed lightly.
"There's a reason I worked hard to improve my strength as well as my sword technique." I said, winking at her. Ruby laughed lightly at my lie. Jinx snorted.
"I see you can also save living beings," Penny said, looking at my shadow. "Can you use it to move around or something?"
"A little bit, Ruby told you I have DTD, if I get lost in the UA dorm, I really don't want to find out what happens if I get lost in my own shadow." I said dryly.
"Wait, was that DTD thing true? That exists? I thought they said that to mess with Ekko." Jinx said in surprise.
"It exists. I was diagnosed with it as a child. So no, it's not a joke," I said playfully. "Also, what do you think the wrist strap is for?" I asked dryly, raising my hand.
"Foreplay?" Jinx mocked. I rolled my eyes as I smiled slightly.
"Hey! I'm not Darkness." Ruby complained with a pout. Jinx snorted.
"I don't see what the problem is. I saw the images, it seems like she was past her prime. I don't see why you wouldn't want to be in her place," Jinx said mockingly.
"Aaww, do you want to change your classification from fake girlfriend to pet or slave? I have room for a second one." I purred in her direction. Jinx snorted.
"You couldn't control me even if you tried," Jinx said mockingly. I smiled widely.
"That sounds like a challenge," I said hoarsely. "Remember, 10-ton bench press. I could roll you into a pretzel and you wouldn't be able to resist." I winked at her. Jinx flinched slightly, biting her lip. I was about to speak again, but Ruby punched me in the arm.
"No, bad Izumi! You can't get another girlfriend so quickly. Don't seduce your fake girlfriend." Ruby scolded me; she had an angry look, although her expression was shaking as if she wanted to laugh.
"Hey, I don't look for them; the bitches line up for me," I said arrogantly. Jinx burst out laughing.
"Well played." Jinx said amusedly. I shook my head before looking at Penny.
" So, it's lunchtime, Penny. Do you want to guide us to the dining room or a restaurant? " I asked in Penny's direction.
"I'll take care of it, friend Miyamura! Follow me! " Penny chirped as she began to walk happily.