"Well… that's one hell of a mess."
The bad feeling in Van's chest only grew stronger, but he still followed the Enforcers to the scene of the explosion.
The blast had happened in a fairly central part of Piltover. One look at the street and the surrounding buildings made it obvious this was a wealthy district of some kind.
And judging by the parts still left standing around the ruined section, the building itself must have been worth a fortune.
Of course, half of it had now been reduced to rubble. By topside standards, it was a disaster.
But Van had seen mine collapses before. To him, this was nothing special.
What really caught his attention was the strange sight inside one of the destroyed rooms.
Pale blue motes floated through the air, like ghost-lights drifting in the fissures of Zaun, scattered and shimmering like something out of a dream.
They hovered within a certain area, then slowly spread outward. But once they drifted too far, they faded, shrank, and vanished into nothing.
More importantly, when Van looked around, he realized no one else seemed to notice them at all.
"What's that supposed to mean? Am I the only one who can see this? Or are people in Piltover just used to it?"
Unable to make sense of it, Van glanced around until he spotted two Enforcers talking nearby, then quietly moved closer.
"This is bad… That building belongs to the Kiramman family."
"Kiramman?! That councillor?"
"Who else?"
A councillor? What was that supposed to be, some kind of big-shot official in topside?
Van arched a brow. He had no idea what a councillor actually was, but judging by the way those Enforcers were acting… this was serious.
Something like blowing up a chem-baron's home in Zaun, maybe.
"Those Undercity brats really have some nerve."
Brats?!
Van's expression changed on the spot.
"You're telling me all this was done by a bunch of kids?"
"You think I'm making it up? I got here early. I saw them myself. One redhead, one blue-haired kid, one fat one, one skinny one. Four little brats in total… Small as they were, they could run like hell."
The Enforcer speaking patted his bulging belly and laughed.
"Good thing I'm out of shape. No way I was catching them anyway. Would've been a pain in the ass otherwise… Hm?"
The Enforcer suddenly frowned and looked behind him.
"Huh? Weird. Was somebody standing here just now?"
"Eh? Didn't notice. Probably not."
...
...
Not long after that, the four kids made it safely back to the Lanes and, under Vander's death stare, shuffled into the basement of the Last Drop with their heads lowered in guilt.
"Haaah…"
Mylo flopped onto the couch and sprawled there like his soul had already left his body.
"Well, that went great. We caused a disaster, lost all the loot, and got nothing out of it. I still don't get why we had to bring Powder. She always ruins everything."
At Mylo's accusation, Powder lowered her head guiltily and curled up in the corner of the bed.
"I didn't mean to… I'm small, and he was just too tall…"
"Then you could've at least taken a couple of punches for show! Instead, you dumped all our stuff straight into the river?"
"Mylo!"
Vi, who would never sit back and let anyone keep picking on her sister, cut him off sharply.
"Powder's still little. Stop being so hard on her. She's my responsibility."
"Still little? Then maybe we should wait until she grows up before dragging her along!"
Intimidated by Vi, Mylo could only mutter under his breath.
"My new clothes got filthy for nothing, and we still came back empty-handed…"
"When are you going to stop whining for once? Why can't you be more like Claggor? You think you were that useful?"
Claggor was in a bad mood too, but he had always been quiet. Since they got back, he had just sat there without saying a word.
At that, Mylo finally shut up.
"Still… that smoke bomb you threw was pretty good. We might not have gotten away otherwise."
Realizing she might have gone a little too far, Vi tried to soften it by tossing Mylo a bit of credit instead.
Instead, she only left him staring blankly.
"Smoke bomb? What smoke bomb?"
"Huh?"
Everyone turned to look at Claggor, only to find him looking just as confused.
"I threw it."
The cold voice came from the doorway.
The basement door swung open, and Van stepped in, his face hard as ice.
The moment they saw his expression, Mylo no longer dared lounge around like he owned the place and quietly fixed his posture. Even Claggor instinctively shrank back a little.
Vi met Van's gaze at first, but under the growing chill in his eyes, even she ended up looking away.
"Well done. Really."
Van pointed at Claggor, then Mylo, then Vi in turn.
"One, two, three… Three first-rate idiots packed into one tiny room. So tell me, which genius came up with this idea?"
Claggor and Mylo went completely silent, too cowed to say a word. Vi, though visibly uneasy under Van's stare, still took responsibility as their leader.
"It was me… But everything was going fine at first…"
"Fine? You blew half a building apart! Then played chase with the Enforcers in the middle of the street! Is there anyone left in Piltover who doesn't know Vander's kids did this?"
"Haa… We just wanted to prove ourselves."
"You?" Van stepped in front of Vi and looked down at her. "Who's 'we'?"
"It was you who couldn't let it go, and you dragged the rest of them into this with you. What exactly did you prove this time, besides how reckless and stupid you can be?"
"I…"
Vi pressed her lips together and lowered her head again, fingers twisting through her red hair.
Then, as if she suddenly remembered something, she pulled an item from her clothes and held it out to him.
"Here. Stop being mad at me."
"This is…"
Resting quietly in her open palm was an exquisite pendant carved in the shape of a bluebird.
"I found it while we were in there, so I grabbed it. I remember you saying the bluebird is Janna's symbol… The rest of the haul got dumped into the river. This is the only thing I kept on me the whole time."
"..."
Van took the pendant from her hand. Seeing her face turned away like that, he found himself at a loss for words.
"Don't think this buys you off. It's stolen."
"Heh. If you don't like it, just throw it away."
"..."
"Ahem."
Just as Van was struggling to figure out what to say, a soft cough broke the silence.
Everyone turned. Vander was standing in the doorway, and no one knew how long he had been there.
He tapped the doorframe and said, "The rest of you, out. Vi stays."
The other three immediately got moving, but Van hesitated for a moment before slipping the bluebird pendant into his pocket and heading for the door as well.
"Oh, and Van. Wait outside. I'm taking you with me in a bit."
[End of chapter]