Ekko addressed his original Firelights. His originals had gotten hit hard over the years, but there were still a decent amount. He told them about his plan, and about how no one else at the tree should really know about the plan. If they did then . . . they could think what they want to think. Spelling it out would make things riskier for everyone.
"Marlene?" He went toward her. The first one changed by Jinx who didn't die. "I never said thank you. If you didn't come and expose your secret, we never would have know about the vaccine. And. I? I know you've probably felt like a guinea pig with me," he told her. "I still really need your help, but, if you don't want to? I won't force you, and I won't force you out of the tree."
"No," Marlene insisted. "I'll help. But? Thanks, Ekko."
He nodded. "Chem-barons start coming to the Last Drop tomorrow night. I want all of you there. Grab your weapons too." He'd have his clockhand. There's no way he wasn't strapping up with that and his Z Drive. "Once we get a good look at who the biggest people are, I'm gonna assign you guys some spots. I trust you the most. You came here, with me, and we grew this place. We grew this community, and we did our best to stop shimmer."
He heard a couple of cheers.
"But? The world changed, and people changed. We went from fighting Jinx, to watching Jinx . . ." He didn't. It would have been amazing to see it. "She busted out everyone from Stillwater. Everyone. She released the grey up top and gave the Pilties a taste of their own poison. She helped turn things around in the war."
Yep, some were definitely fans of her there. Others, not so much. But, no one seemed too on the offensive.
"Even though we all know what she is, remember who she is," Ekko said to them. "A human, that deserves respect. A human, that physically chose to make herself split apart, just so we could have that vaccine. Nobody forget that when you talk to her. When you see her. When you hear her. This vaccine isn't just in Jinx. She worked hard, to bring it here. That being said? She's going to have a guard. Sevika."
"So Sevika and Jinx are coming?" One of them asked.
"Yeah. I'm going to try and keep the kid self here, and maybe the part that did all of this for us, if I can." If Powder-Jinx got any bit of time. "I'm going to try to keep the Jinx that worked with Silco out of here, and down around the lanes and fissures. There are no guarantees though, so just be more careful if you see her. Anyone have a problem with that?"
Three hands shot up so fast.
"Look, I get we needed to work with everyone in the war. We had to all set our differences aside to battle freaking Viktor," one of the those people said. "But."
"She killed us," another one said. "She killed more than one, Ekko! A limited time truce is one thing, this is too big to ask of us."
"She broke everyone out of Stillwater!"
"She shot at us with a hugeass gun!"
"I was in Stillwater, I saw her, and I'd still be there without her!"
"She blew up my cousin!"
"She blew up Piltover with the gray, and it was amazing! She became an icon!"
"Fuck your icon!"
"Fuck you, I was at her rally!"
"Then you deserved Stillwater!"
Damn it. He knew this would happen. Even with the ones he trusted the most, this still wouldn't be easy. "You don't have to be friends with her. No one's saying that you have to go say hi to her."
"I want to say hi."
"I want to say bye."
Yeah. Even though his OG's were more trusting? It was the Firelights that came after Silco was killed, the huge majority, that weren't as affected negatively. "That being said, if you work with a chem-baron, you are going to see the Jinx that worked for Silco."
"How could you really be at her rally? You were there, you saw what she did!"
"It was her job, and she lost it, but she changed and she gave the fissure folk a new chance."
"People were even making murals of her."
"While Topside was ready to make her memorial."
"I bet Topside would pay a pretty penny for her back. After we get the vaccine, we could sell her to Topside. She had a gigantic bounty, I bet they even pinned all those Jinxer activities on her."
"Hey man, fuck you!"
Ekko bared his teeth. "Knock it off! If you don't want to be involved, then you don't have to be. If you want to be, then you can. Either way, whether you are saying yes or no, Sevika will beat your ass if you mess with Jinx, on my order!"
He pointed to four of them. "You, you, you and you are not involved." He was making mental notes of everyone's faces, to figure out where to put each one. Nothing gave away things better then how someone took news. "You, you, and you were Jinxers. You can run with the chem-barons with me, if you feel good about it?" They each nodded.
He looked toward Marlene. "Do you want to be working with chem-barons?" She nodded.
He looked at the rest. They seemed indifferent. "I don't know how many I'll need. Just, raise your hand if your willing to deal with the Jinx that ran with Silco if you have to." About a third of them held up their hands. "How many are fine with Powder?" More than half raised their hand. Okay. He took note of those members. If he had an emergency with Powder, they would be there.
"Fine." He had their feelings. He could see. Some could forgive, some couldn't, and some were fine for the vaccine.
That was justified. Jinx did sooo much. Most wouldn't have it in their hearts to just turn around. Especially when she killed people they knew. Their family. Their friends. For him, it took seeing her in an entire alternate universe, to see himself.
But, even in this group she hurt so much? She had supporters, including Scar. Stillwater. The gray. The war. Her presence. Some of them . . . felt her. Like he did. She went from crazy maniac blowing stuff up to . . . still causing chaos, but good chaos. No, chaotic good. His mind went back to her on the hoverboard.
///"I am never going to get the Jinx out of you."
"Why would you ever want to?"
"Just be careful." He watched her move closer toward him.
"I know my limits, Ekko. Promise." She just smirked. "Chaotic good tends to be my favorite playground."///
"I know it's hard for some of you. I know her actions hurt us the most. But. We all have to try and get along. The Powder side of her, literally doesn't even get to remember the heist. She is clueless, just playing around like a kid."
"Sounds like Jinx."
Watch that member more carefully too. "Powder will be here, and the version of her that knows the war and after. It's a fact. It's got to be this way, or I can't stay. Also, I can't guarantee the base's safety, if I'm not at least here part time. We've got nothing but our weapons, and our front of being the boss of the new shimmer. Silco's presence scared the crap out of the chem-baron smeech. If the others are the same, then this being home base is good."
They seemed to understand that. "That being said, I don't want anyone messing around with her head. Don't say much to her, you might tell her something she doesn't know. Saying that, it might be good to get some clothes for the Powder version of her. I don't think she'll feel comfortable in what Jinx wears."
"I'm a similar size," one of her supporters said.
Okay. "Does everyone understand that they shouldn't touch the little girl? Her name is Cake."
"She freaks," one of them agreed. "She freaks real bad, I haven't seen anyone freak that bad. What happened to her?"
"Back then, I don't know," Ekko said, "but I'm guessing a mage tried to kill her. Today, she witnessed her mom die, then not die but be sick, and she witnessed her friend that was just her age die. Lastly, the two people who can touch her were taken away. Dr. Swords and Jinx. So, under no circumstances does anyone touch her."
They all agreed with that. "Okay. I'm going to address the whole village at large next, but I'm letting you know first. This is how it's gonna go. So, if being near Jinx as a kid is just too much? Then you need to walk off because this plan isn't changing."
"Can't her sister just watch her? I mean, isn't Vi much better for her? They can get the vaccine with her locked up."
"Her mind will be lost though," Ekko said. "We get the vaccine, but we lose her mind."
"She lost her mind years ago, it's never coming back."
Another member to strike off of helping further with her. "I saw Jinx before she split. I knew Jinx in the war. Her mind is okay, and even if it wasn't? It's a different thing entirely to leave her stuck in her own moments of time."
"Then get what we need and we can mercy kill her."
"Shut up."
"You shut up."
"We aren't making her suffer just to get it!" Damn. "Jinx. Is. My friend," he told them. "I'm not going to hurt her for this."
"Crazy."
"He's not crazy. She is."
"She has been getting help, and I'm not letting it all just go to waste!" Ekko yelled. "If I can help it, I'm going to help her and Zaun. Now, this is the only way I know how to. It's also the only way to protect the village now."
"Friend," somebody muttered. "We could have just gotten the vaccine and let things go. You're going this far out of the way, for a friend? A friend who killed other friends? The Ekko, before the war, before he disappeared, he never would have said that! The stance was 'Powder is dead, there's only Jinx.' We lived on that principle and now? We're supposed to be cool with all this? She killed my cousin, Ekko!"
"Yeah. Yeah, you have to be cool with it enough not to talk to her, or bug her. For you, it'd be best not to even see her," he said. "Just, stay away."
"This is my home, Ekko, why do I have to be good to someone who killed my family?!"
"I didn't say you had to be, you don't have to interact with her. You don't have to do anything. That's just the point. Don't do anything."
"What I want to do is grab her freakishly long braids, make a noose with them and end her right now! Take her ass to the prison, get the reward money, and just hope we get a vaccine! That's the nicest I'm gonna be!"
"I'll end you if you end her!"
Two of his people started to fight.
"Don't fight, we don't fight in our village!" He called them out.
"Doing this is going to cause a lot of unrest," another member warned him. "There's no way to tell how many are going to condone her presence versus how many are saying they will, Ekko. I mean? She is worth a lot of money. Even if people don't hate her, they could still go after that bounty."
"Arrraugh!" He knew it would be this way. Sevika's willingness to watch her really came in handy. "I know that people are going to want to carve her up, but Sevika is also guarding her. She isn't going to go for the reward. She isn't going to let anyone that she doesn't trust near her. Now, I got a good idea who is and isn't for this, so let's move on to one more thing. I hate to say it? I'm going to need testers. I'll test on other stuff, but I need genuine human testers too. This formula has to be just right. It has to be a slow working vaccine, mixed with shimmer that works."
"Anyone involved is going to get addicted to shimmer."
"Only for so long, the vaccine will eventually work."
"Not for the first testers."
"Shimmer is so addictive, Ekko, that's a terrible idea. You should be giving it out as it is to the Firelights first. Go find some junkies for the testing."
"I need reliable people that I can depend on for testing."
"I will, for a chunk of the money," one of them agreed that didn't seem for or against it. "If we are making shimmer, we aren't giving it out for free."
"Yes, we are. When I get it figured out, we are," he insisted.
"The chembarons won't go for that for long," he said. "You can't shove anything into someone's arm without payment. They'll let you get away with a bit, but they won't forever."
"Fine." Fair was fair, it was asking for a lot. "Not until we start reaching that point."
Now he was getting volunteers. Three. That wasn't too bad for the OG group. "Okay. Now, I have to go address everyone else."
Then, he had to get her in there. Fast. Simple. Straight to his room with Sevika because the Last Drop was gassed. Once it was safe, he could leave the Jinx that followed Silco at the Last Drop.