"Click."
"Clack."
Firelight flickered in the dim corner of the casino. A tall man sat at a table, his gaunt face covered in tattooed patterns. Beneath the stripe-like ink, there was a mark near the corner of his eye—like a teardrop, or a hanging dagger.
Metal plating covered his entire jaw, turning it into an "iron chin." Right now, he stared gloomily at the lighter dancing in his hand. Behind him stood his most trusted subordinate.
"Silco called all the Chem-Barons together… but he's the only one who forgot to consider whether you might be—" The subordinate hesitated, then couldn't help blurting it out.
"Clack."
The lighter snapped shut, the flame vanishing. The man pressed a hand to his forehead. Half his hair hung long, giving him an aggressively punk look. He spoke calmly, "No. They know what I'm trying to do, but they won't sell me out. At the last meeting, they hated Silco just as much as I did—maybe more."
"Why the hell do we all work, help him build bigger and bigger deals, and we only get scraps leaking through his fingers?" Finn said in a low voice. "Because he's gone insane and wants to rebel? Damn it—he can't even keep his own people in line. Why does he think he's qualified to lead us against Piltover's topsiders?"
"Everyone's been unhappy with him for a long time. Zaun doesn't need him anymore."
"Click."
The flame returned. The lighter hopped in Finn's fingers like a little spirit as he toyed with it, his hands quick and practiced. He picked up a small kettle on the table and held the flame to its underside, warming it.
"Then could it be Sevika? Silco suddenly called a meeting, and the only person he deliberately shut out was you. He has to have found out something—"
"That's even less likely." Finn let out a cold laugh and shrugged. The yellow coat draped over his shoulders twitched twice as he said, "Sevika's dissatisfaction with Silco isn't any less than ours. Back then, she could break with Vander because of Vander's weakness and help pull him down… so now—"
"But she didn't agree," the subordinate couldn't help saying.
The last time, Finn had privately invited Sevika over, laid out what he wanted, and even lit her cigarette for her. But up to today, Sevika still hadn't given Finn a clear answer.
It made Finn's inner circle suspect she'd tattled to Silco.
Finn smiled at that. He set the kettle down, switched the lighter to his other hand, and kept spinning it as he spoke. "Sometimes, not answering is an answer."
"Silco… he's blocking too many people's money." Finn's eyes sharpened. "His era is over. That old bastard should've stepped down a long time ago. There are plenty of people with more ability, more vision, more ambition than him. Does he really think he's still the man he used to be? Ever since he started raising that blue-haired freak, he changed—turned soft, pathetic…"
His subordinate looked at Finn's confident, high-spirited expression, excitement spreading across his face.
Finn like this—radiant with certainty—made him imagine all the benefits and status he'd get once Finn took the seat.
Finn sneered, snapping the lighter shut hard. "A man like that—his time is al—"
"BOOM!"
A deafening blast erupted out of nowhere. Dust and chunks of stone shook loose from the wall. Interrupted mid-sentence, Finn felt his ears throb. He covered them on instinct—then, once he was a little clearer, he immediately snatched up the lighter from the table, rose, and strode quickly to the door.
He shoved the small door open, fury written all over his face.
"Who the hell dares to hit my place—cough, cough! Cough—!"
He couldn't finish the sentence. Finn suddenly doubled over, coughing violently. He covered his face, tears spilling out of his eyes as he looked out at his casino.
The power had been cut. The entire casino was drowned in darkness, with only a few oil lamps burning, casting weak pools of light. Blue and pink smoke swirled together, and somehow formed a huge, wicked smiling face. The casino's patrons scattered in a panic through the haze, and Finn's own men fell into chaos.
"Who… who is it—" Finn rasped through coughing. His lungs felt like they were being scorched. The irritant gas flooding his nose and mouth made his thoughts blur. He forced himself upright and stared ahead.
Shapes emerged from the shadows. Alongside one scream after another, Finn's men started dropping—knocked unconscious, limbs severed, hands and arms torn away.
He flicked the lighter open, trying to use its tiny flame to see what was happening.
A voice shouted out.
"Found him! The one the boss mentioned—he likes playing with a lighter!"
"Over here! The lighter guy is over here!"
"Boss—now!"
The flame wavered. Finn saw a group moving toward him. Under that grinning smoke-face, their bodies glimmered with faint light—strange symbols painted on them.
Petals. A monkey. A cat.
The bizarre blue-and-pink smoke, the glowing graffiti—Finn realized what it was in an instant.
His heart lurched. Finn hurled the lighter away, ducked his head, and bolted toward a corner.
This… this had to be Jinx's work!
In all of Zaun, only her weapons had a style like this!
Damn it!
Silco—he came for me?!
Why?!
If he comes for me, isn't he afraid the other Chem-Barons will feel the chill and turn on him even harder?!
Didn't he get enough out of the last meeting?!
Finn panicked in an instant.
Completely forgetting how, just moments ago in that back room, he'd looked down on Silco and mocked him behind his back.
"B-boss!" His subordinate also rushed out, ending up right where Finn had been standing.
Finn reflexively looked back—only to hear a bang. His subordinate's body jolted, then collapsed to the floor.
That only hardened Finn's will to run.
In the darkness, using the chaos of fleeing gamblers as cover, Finn found his chance and scrambled toward a certain spot.
Inside this casino, there was a private passage only he knew about.
At the wall corner, Finn slammed a hidden button. With a clack, the floor split open, revealing a passage. Finn hurriedly dove inside.
Then, following the narrow route, he quickly slipped out of the casino.
His coughing wouldn't stop, but he escaped.
Staring back at the pitch-black casino, hatred twisted across his face.
Silco.
He ground his teeth. He was going to seek refuge with the other Chem-Barons—and tell them Silco had made a move on him.
The Chem-Barons had to unite!
But after only a few stumbling steps, Finn heard a voice ahead of him.
"Heh. Just like Silco figured—someone like you would definitely prepare an escape route for yourself."
Finn jerked his head up in terror. In the shadowed mouth of the alley ahead, a tall figure stepped out.
Closer. Closer.
Then Finn saw her face clearly.
"Sevika… y-you sold me out?" Finn's face went ashen.
Sevika shook her head. "I never agreed to work with you. How could it be betrayal?"
"Oh, right." Sevika spoke again, seemingly out of nowhere. "Finn—where's your lighter?"
Finn froze, not understanding what she meant.
"Lost it?" Sevika frowned slightly. "That's a shame. I actually liked that lighter."
"You know," she continued, voice quiet, "last time, when you were playing with it right in front of my face… I genuinely wanted to tear your head off. But I couldn't. Because Silco didn't plan to move against you people. He chose to keep you around—give you one more chance."
She let out a breath that sounded like a scoff. "Blame Jinx. She made him soft. He actually believed you'd change. Heh."
"But this time is different." Sevika's eyes were flat. "He made up his mind. He's going to change things."
"No—no, you can't kill me!" Finn stumbled backward, hands raised, shouting. "Sevika—please! Silco is finished! That's right—Jinx! How much stupid, disgusting mess has he made because of Jinx? You know better than any of us, don't you? He's always making you clean up after that little brat! You're the second-in-command of Zaun—listen, I'll get the Barons to support you! I'll help you become the one in charge!"
Finn kept retreating, waving his hands. "Don't you want to be the one running Zaun? I don't want the spot anymore—it's yours! You have the ability! Silco's people respect you! You should be their boss, shouldn't you?!"
"Business, territory, everything—you're the one doing it! Every order of his, you're the one carrying it out! That guy just opens and closes his mouth and barks commands—other than that, he can't do anything! We don't need to answer to him!"
Sevika advanced slowly, her expression calm. "Finn… when you were in front of me last time, you didn't look like this."
"Right now," she said, watching him, "you look like a dying dog."
"You tell me," Sevika murmured, almost as if talking to herself. "Why do people change so much when they're facing death?"
For a moment, her gaze went distant.
She suddenly remembered that night, years ago.
Vander pulling on a gauntlet. Standing before a monster. Facing death without flinching.
In that instant, Sevika felt a flicker of regret.
Maybe Vander really had been something.
At least… he wouldn't have turned into what Finn looked like now, when death was right in front of him.
"Listen to me, Sevika, listen—"
Sevika shook her head, clearing the stray thoughts away. Then she stepped forward faster, closing the distance. She lifted her left arm.
A chem-enhanced limb slid out from beneath her cloak. Under the night sky, she raised it high.
"No—don't!"
"Don't come closer!" Finn screamed.
"Finn," Sevika said coldly, "Silco asked me to bring you a message."
"Do you know why you have your current position? Why you were able to crawl out of those lightless mines?"
"It wasn't because you had strength. It wasn't because you had brains."
"He never expected you to be useful to him. There was only one thing he needed you to do."
"And you couldn't even do that."
"You really disappointed him, Finn."
"You forgot who gave you your status."
"You forgot who gave you your wealth."
"You forgot why Zaun was able to develop into what it is today under Piltover's oppression."
"You forgot… loyalty."
Sevika's face was indifferent, her left arm still raised.
"He said—don't rush ahead. Wait for him in hell."
"He'll be there for your revenge."
Her arm came down.
Purple light flared—blood spraying up into the air, and across Sevika's emotionless face.
"Traitor."