Chapter Text
Caitlyn grunted, back hitting the stone walls as she fell to the ground in a heap. “Fucking hell” she spat, glaring at the enforcers. Caitlyn had half the mind to jump up and bash his head against the metal bars of the cell, but she didn’t, she just stared, years of resentment against the Noxian enforcers burning behind her eyes. She was going to get out of this hellhole, of course she was! She’s Caitlyn Kir- … Never mind that.
She flicked her hair off of her shoulder, eyeing the built man in the corner of the room. “Hi?” Caitlyn said delicately, the man looked like he was made of pillows if she were being honest- like a gigantic teddy bear. He was dressed in normal clothes, and not a prison uniform, in a similar fashion to herself. The man waved a large hand at her, a tender smile pressing his features. “Hey, kid, my name’s Loris.” She blinked at the kind man- ‘Loris’ as he proclaimed, truthfully the puzzled look was because Caitlyn had never been called ‘kid’ before, let alone be shown a modicum of kindness.
“Caitlyn.”
He smiled, in that dad sort of way, it made Caitlyn feel a tad less down in the dumps- but DANG IT!! She has to focus here! You’re on a time limit girl! She couldn't see the sun, so she had to guess how long it had been, that's great! So fun…! Caitlyn surged from her seat against the wall, silently cursing herself for having moved. She got to her feet, walking over to see if there were guards nearby, and taking that time to assess the area. She had studied plenty of blueprints of Stillwater, but that was a long time ago- would her knowledge stand the test of time? Had the Noxians changed this? Whatifitallgoeswrongandtheykillherandshecantgetbackto- okay, calm down. Panicking helps no one.
After seeing the guards were… slacking, for a lack of better words, she put her plan into motion. Caitlyn tugged on her hair tie, which offered much resistance before she succumbed to unravel the damn thing manually. Shaking her blue hair out and letting a small bag fall to the floor. She huffed, this would be difficult, Noxians were ruthless killers and weren't afraid to use brute force, she had nobody on her side here. “What are you up to?” Loris asked, Caitlyn sat down, “It’s none of your concern, sir.” She sighed, tying her hair up again as she shuffled so she faced the wall, sorting the bits and bobs she had stored for safekeeping. She could feel Loris’ steady gaze on her back, but she ignored him, trying to piece together the tiny artillery of weapons she had packed, along with a small vial of concentrated shimmer she had snagged from one of Babette's guests awhile back.
Once Caitlyn deemed she was ‘ready,’ stuffing her pockets with stones and the small explosives she had stored, she decided to actually look around. If not to make an escape route, then to observe the stories from past prisoners.
Calloused fingers run along the stone, lines were carved in it, deep grooves in the form of tally marks. “Someone was here for a long time” she muttered, she saw Loris nod from the corner of her eye. “Yep, apparently the last kid here was a druggie, always whispering about Powder and having bouts of insanity. That's just what I've heard, though. Poor girl, according to some of the older residents she was quite young when she got moved to the lower ranks, ‘bout 17.” Loris hummed, although this information had no use to her, Caitlyn found it interesting. Why would someone send someone who's at least 17 to Stillwater of all places? No matter, she had bigger things to attend to.
Her first thing on the agenda had been taken care of, she was armed, as much as one could be after having all your weapons confiscated, and was going through her memories as she traced the marks left behind, blood stains, etches in the stone. A perfect preservation of the haunting past that was encased in these walls.
If she were in charge, these cells wouldn’t be in use.
Caitlyn sighed and pulled the vial of shimmer from her pocket. Second thing; Drink the shimmer and let it marinate in her bloodstream for a few minutes. If she was correct, the shimmer would allow her to have heightened abilities and senses, hopefully it worked, she hadn’t tried shimmer before, it could be too bad, right? She brushed the thoughts away and unscrewed the lid before any doubts could slip into her mind.
She breathed in and out slowly, readying herself for the pain as she down the glowing violet liquid. Caitlyn looked down at her hands, the veins in her ivory skin pulsing with a sickly purple before fading out, leaving a burning sensation in its wake. The feeling drenched her body, a misty haze flooding her senses as she watched the vial drop out of her hands, hearing Loris’ panic. When the drug hit her head her eyes flashed purple, in a second she was on the ground, keeled over and trying to keep her breathing intact. A strong hand was on her back, gently patting as he coaxed her through the agony. Caitlyn looked over, breath evening out. “Thanks.”
Caitlyn found out some more about Loris, his wife and kids had passed, and he had been taken to prison after being mistaken for someone else. He was a kind man, he didn’t deserve.. This. Caitlyn got to her feet, this endeavour wasn’t about who should or should not be in here, it was about getting herself out.
She stepped to the jail cell door, digging in her pocket when she saw that the guards were occupied with their dreams. And that they’d hopefully stay that way for the time being. Caitlyn knelt, placing a small bomb at the cell door, clicking the button and running back. Loris looked as though he was about to say something, but was cut off by a bright light and a plume of smoke, as well as Caitlyn’s hurried footsteps to get out.
She paused, alarm bells were already ringing. Guards were stepping to their feet, scrambling to see what had caused the noise. All she had to pull was one lever and the entire prison would be open, it was all she had to do. Caitlyn’s mind raced at a million miles per hour, as soon as she heard the hurried clang of boots against stone, she yanked the lever down, darting away to the only elevator and slamming her fist on level 20.
Yells of triumph echoed through the halls as the guards were outnumbered. Such a design flaw! Why would they put the lever controlling all the cells in the middle floor? Because nobody would guess it?... Maybe. Caitlyn had a breather as the elevator ascended, level 20 was where they kept the weapons, if she was fast enough- the shimmer helped in that regard -she could grab her guns and get out. Escape using her sheer force of will. Nobody could stop her from getting home, not now, not ever, and she wouldn’t be so reckless again.
The doors cracked open, in and out, that’s all, a guard charged at the elevator, before Caitlyn even knew it she had darted away from him, the other guards must’ve gone down to the cells to ease the riots. Caitlyn grabbed a chair and threw it in his direction. Running to the weapons room.
She sifted through the horribly designed room, quickly collecting her weapons and putting them in their rightful place. Caitlyn stepped back into the elevator, hitting ground level.
Almost there.
Almost out, quicker than she had gotten in.
To her surprise, there was nobody there. Simply nothing. Although Caitlyn could hear the strangled cries of Noxians, Topsiders and Zaunites alike. Danger threatened to climb the stairs, but she had time. Caitlyn had the time to find the lifeboats, kick a few onto the shore and ready herself for the journey ahead, her drug induced state caused her to be a bit faster than intended, but she could feel the exhaustion and pain creeping in.
Caitlyn threw her body into the boat, the force of it sending her shooting into the water, the ocean splashed back, dousing her dark hair in its brine. She pulled herself up, locking the oars into the rings to hold them up. People began to pour from the prison, bloody and battered. It made her feel a tad guilty, although they were okay and getting out, the dead bodies in the basement would always be there, she could mourn when she reached Zaun…
For now.
Her arms were burning, the shimmer had worn off about two hours ago and she could see the sun cracking through the sky. The soft light of Zaun was barely visible in the distance, she craved for rest, but her mind wouldn’t let her body rest.
When she had finally gotten to the Undercity, she found herself resting her back on a grimy stone wall, Caitlyn had half the mind to let the exhaustion take her. Her muscles ached with effort.
“Watch it!” she heard a yelp and a stumble as the person yelled. Caitlyn’s eyes flickered up to see a muscular woman above her. A thick coat was draped on her back in a feeble attempt to cover her prison uniform. “The hell?” Caitlyn hissed, squinting up at her. She had long pink hair and angry powder blue eyes, a small VI on her cheek.
Caitlyn knew that name.
If she was correct this was Vi, Jinx’s sister who had supposedly died 8 years ago. She stared at her, bright blue eyes fixing on her. Caitlyn’s hand shot out to grab Vi’s wrist, pulling herself up.
“You.”
She brought herself face to face, or as face to face she could be due to Vi’s height… or lack thereof. Vi’s eyes widened and she immediately yanked her wrist back, winding up to punch her. Caitlyn stumbled back to dodge. Gods, this was a bad idea, wasn’t it? Her vision began to blur. Flashes of fists ripped through her vision as she stumbled away, the pink-haired girl protested that they knew each other, and well- Vi didn't know her, but she knew her plenty. Caitlyn continued to grab at her, eventually gripping the uniform the woman had on and tugging her to the ground as she collapsed. She could see Vi struggling out of her grip, and looking oddly concerned for a Zaunite who had spent 8 years presumably in prison. Caitlyn didn’t remember what happened before she blacked out, memories flashing in her mind of a rainy day, her shattered leg in a splint and her waiting under a feeble shelter for the water to stop pouring down. The day where she was accompanied by someone, a girl, a friend.
Enemies.
They were such a weird concept to Caitlyn at first, her young, innocent mind didn’t understand why people would detest one another so vehemently. She only learned the premise when she sat, curled up in ragged, old clothes next to a small girl, who was crying her eyes out. The two were soaked to the bone, thin limbs picking up dirt.
Caitlyn only understood the term ‘hatred’ when she had the little girl with blue eyes in her lap, when she found herself crying with her. When she realised she had begun despising this pink haired girl, who was now dead- and about her age from the sounds of it. The concept of hating one who was taken by death itself sounded silly. Yet she did anyways, she hated her with every fiber of her being. Caitlyn cradled the small girl in her arms for what felt like hours.
She didn’t see the girl for days, but the hatred remained. Sparkling in her like a small flame.
And now that she had stared the infamous Violet in the face?
She found the hatred had burned into a forest fire.