"Morning—mm. Scoot over a bit, I need to brush my teeth too."
"Mm-ya!"
One big and one small, two sleepy women appeared in front of Logan. He was brushing his teeth, watching as Jinx showed up with squinted eyes.
Her beautiful blue hair spilled messily down her back. A few unruly strands hung over her brows as she tipped her chin up, yawning lazily at Logan—one hand rubbing her eye, the other slipping into her pajama top to reveal a pale, soft belly while she scratched it absently.
Beside her was Isha, making a little "mm-ya" sound to announce she was here too.
Little Isha's hair was a total mess, like a giant bird's nest. Even though she washed and shampooed properly every day, one night of sleep always turned it into this. Staring at Logan with that nest on her head, she held a tiny cup in one hand and a toothbrush in the other.
Logan shifted aside. Jinx immediately squeezed in, stood next to him, grabbed his cup, took a mouthful of water and gargled noisily—then started brushing in front of the mirror.
Isha stood outside the bathroom area, clearly not happy about it. So she wriggled her way in, wedging herself between Logan and Jinx. Hugging Logan's leg, she rose up on tiptoe and poked her little head over the sink, watching herself in the mirror and copying Jinx as she brushed.
"We moving today?" Jinx asked, toothbrush in her mouth, words coming out muffled.
"Yeah. We agreed on four this afternoon. I already had Vi get everyone ready. Marsen also took a crew over yesterday," Logan answered.
"Logan… will any of our people get hurt because of this?" Jinx suddenly asked, her big eyes fixed on Logan's reflection in the mirror. "And—are you really not going yourself?"
Logan was so surprised he turned his head and stared at her.
What was going on?
Jinx actually cared about other people now?
No—if this were the old Jinx, she would never have asked something like that. She didn't care about "other people." Outside of Vi, Isha, and Logan, there wasn't anyone in the Spirit Blossom Gang she truly cared about.
Not even Marsen or Manzu—partners she'd grown up with and known since they were kids.
But now… she was different. She'd started to learn how to worry about people.
"Don't worry," Logan said with a smile. "I already told Silco I don't want to see any casualties on our side."
He thought for a moment, then added, "Besides, with the weapons and armor you made—and with Silco backing us up—if Vi and the others are careful, nothing will happen."
There was one more thing Logan didn't say: Zeri was in that group.
If Zeri weren't there, Logan might have gone along just to keep an eye on things and make sure no one on their side got hurt. But with Zeri involved, he really didn't need to show up in person.
Because in a way, Zeri's speed was the fastest in Zaun.
Faster than Logan's, even.
Of course, if you turned it into some kind of ranked stat sheet, Zeri would be something like—Defense 1, Speed 5, Damage 2.
As for Logan… 5/4/5.
Zeri couldn't compare to him on total stats at all.
And the reason Logan didn't bring her up was obvious: he was afraid Jinx would get jealous.
Jinx got jealous so easily—and lately she'd picked up some new tricks from who-knows-where. Now when she got jealous, she didn't sink into that dark, low-pressure mood anymore. Instead, she'd smile sweetly at Logan—polite, warm, and absolutely loaded.
That smile was even scarier than her gloomy moods.
A kind of unwell, gorgeous madness—soft-spoken sarcasm, sweet-and-sour menace. Who knew what terrifying ideas were spinning around in her head when she smiled like that?
Anyway—getting Finn knocked off his seat, with Silco agreeing and willing to join in, meant everything was lined up perfectly. Timing, terrain, people—no surprises.
So Logan had no intention of stepping onto the stage himself. If he did show up, then unless something truly unexpected happened, he could wipe out a Chem-Baron's whole operation on his own and win without breaking a sweat.
But like he'd told Silco—he needed to train his people.
If Logan wanted to change Zaun, his own strength might be enough.
But if he wanted Zaun itself to become strong, then having only Logan wasn't enough.
That was why Vi, Marsen, Manzu—and even Ekko and Zeri—needed to grow.
Logan picked up the cup Jinx had just used, took a mouthful of water, rinsed, then bent over the sink and spit out the foam-mixed water.
"Tonight, we'll have our answer."
He lifted a hand and wiped the water from the corner of his mouth.
——————
"Boss, we're not even going to hide ourselves?" Zeri asked excitedly, following behind Vi along Zaun's grimy wastewater street. The clothes she wore were painted with the Spirit Blossom Gang's emblem—blue-and-pink shattered petals that actually looked pretty.
Vi walked in front with a blade of dry grass between her teeth, knuckle-dusters on her hands. Hearing Zeri, she spoke without slowing down. "No need. Marsen's people are already planted inside. We hit them from the inside and out—catch them flat-footed. Those bastards are finished!"
"I… I mean, are we going for the kill?" Zeri looked up at Vi's back and asked hesitantly.
"What else would we do?" Vi stopped and turned around, giving Zeri a look and rolling her eyes. "This is a slaughter, Zeri. I don't know why Logan insisted you come with me, but if you're not ready to kill people yet, you can leave right now. Don't worry—I won't tell Logan."
Zeri swallowed hard, shrinking her neck like a frightened little bird, and nodded at Vi.
She really wasn't ready to kill.
Before this, Zeri had dealt with Chem-Barons in her own way, but it was always just teaching them a lesson—or causing a little damage. Smashing equipment in their factories, cutting their power lines, wrecking their electricity with her own abilities…
Killing? Zeri hadn't done that. She'd never even seriously considered it.
But Vi looked at Zeri—saw her ducking her head—and something in her expression softened. Her voice turned gentler as she said, "Of course… if we can avoid it, we don't want to kill anyone."
"But Zeri, this time is different. We're fighting Chem-Barons. Their men aren't some desperate street punks who joined a gang for food or money—they're killers with blood on their hands. Before, we were just skirmishing. Once the other side gave in, it ended."
"But they're not like that."
"Between us and them, someone has to leave the stage—disappear from Zaun."
Vi reached out and patted Zeri on the shoulder.
Zeri nodded… and then she saw Vi's face harden again, that brutal edge returning like a switch had been flipped.
Vi muttered under her breath, "For Vander… they're going to pay what they owe."
When Vander was alive, those rats didn't dare crawl out.
After Vander died, the rats carved up his territory and made everything he'd built in Zaun vanish without a trace.
Vi took a deep breath, then looked toward Manzu.
"You take ten people and go in from the west. Zeri and I will take the front."
Manzu held a short gun, nodded, and though he looked tense at first, he steadied himself quickly. He picked ten people and led them off.
Vi tugged down her hood—pink, with jagged edges like teeth, like the gaping mouth of a pink shark.
When she dipped her head, the pink hair spilling out beneath it looked like the shark's tongue.
She slid a hand to her waist, took out a white mask, and fitted it over her face. There were strange openings on both sides of the mask.
Zeri did the same, pulling on her own mask.
At the signal to move, Vi charged out first.
The rest of them surged after her at a run, their target locked on a single place—
A casino.