Take My Breath Away

A week later, Caitlyn’s confession was still dinging about in Vi’s brain.

It followed her through all her aerial exercises.

All her PT sessions.

All her chow hall visits.

All her mission briefs, where she couldn’t help but stare at her captain the entire time, jaw on the floor.

Even on her and Ekko’s current assignment as they roared through the air, the wind whipping at the metal hull of their Apache.

She’d paid attention enough in the brief to understand what was being asked of them. It was a simple scouting mission, one they’d done together hundreds of times before. Heimerdinger had picked up on a facility Noxus was using to create and test its weapons, and Vi and Ekko were to analyse the defences it had, reporting back before they would have to face any enemy resistance.

“Your head’s in the clouds, man,” Ekko chirped casually from his position in the front seat. Once again, his pocket watch swung backwards and forwards, hung up from the divider between him and his wingman.

“I know,” Vi replied defeatedly. “I’ll be alright. Let’s just get this over with, we’ll talk later.”

“If you say so.” Ekko began flicking casually at his control panel, checking their fuel levels and weaponry.

“I didn’t thank you properly,” Vi continued, “for the other day. You were right.”

“I always am,” he replied cheerfully. “You’re welcome, Vi.”

“You know, I’d say you’re like a brother to me, but you’re dating my sister so that would make it a bit weird.”

That gave her wingman a hearty chuckle, and Vi saw him shaking his head in front of her. She grinned along with him.

The Noxian compound wasn’t too far away now, their target growing closer with each second the chopper ripped through the air. Ekko performed his last weapons checks over and over again, making sure the bird would be prepared for any resistance they may come up against. The Noxians didn’t take too kindly to people poking around in their backyard, the pair had come to learn.

Vi made a safe assumption that the place would be hunkered down under strict lock and key, and that getting anywhere close would be a nightmare. The pair were flying at the lowest altitude to be considered safe, which was close to the ground enough to avoid any RADAR machinery picking them up, but any eagle-eyed guards would spot them a mile off.

They’d need to be in and out fast. Scan the perimeter, make a note of their firepower, and clear out as soon as possible.

Just another day in the office.

Two clicks out from their destination, Ekko took a glance down at his control panel. He took a shuddered gulp which Vi heard over her headset. “Uh, Vi, heads up, the RADAR’s picking up something comin’ in hot,” he said, an edge of anxiousness tinging his voice – something Vi very rarely heard.

“How big?” Vi responded, trying to keep her voice cool to ease Ekko’s nerves.

“Not big enough to be another bird. But it’s approaching fast.” He exhaled heavily.

Vi swallowed dryly. “Okay. Prepare to deploy flares.”

“Flares ready.” Ekko’s hands shook as his finger hovered over the trigger.

Seconds later, a small, cylindrical object came into their ironsight, growing larger and larger as each precious moment passed. An angry orange flame tailed it as it roared through the sky.

“Flares, flares, flares!” Ekko shouted, pulling his trigger. There was a loud hissing sound as red flashes of light expelled from either wing of the chopper, sizzling into the air.

Vi awaited the soft fwomp of the missile impacting the flares. The slight shockwave of the blast rippling through their cabin. The familiar wave of heat to hit her left face as the projectile went up in flames.

Instead, the red sparks dissipated into the air without being touched once. And the object continued to hurl towards them.

“What the fuck?” Ekko barked down the microphone perched against his lips.

Vi opened her mouth to agree, but her eyes quickly widened in shock as the projectile came into view.

“Brace, brace, brace!” the pilot managed to scream before the missile ripped viciously into the helicopter’s metal hull.

***

Every memory after that was a stolen, fragmented snippet.

An incessant ringing in their ears, then silence.

The angry beeping of the missile alert system.

The gutsy, weightless feeling as the Apache began nosediving towards the earth in freefall.

Thick grey smoke billowing violently into their cabin, filling and choking their lungs, clouding their vision.

A powerful jolt as the chopper finally collided with the ground, losing its battle with gravity, chunks of debris and dirt spraying into the air around them.

The steady blades of the chopper slowing down then halting altogether.

Rough hands manhandling them out of their seats and shoving them into the cold dirt.

Angry voices barking orders.

Vi’s eyes shifted open weakly just in time to see a tall bronze lady looming over her. Through the mist, she noticed a sadistic smile plastered across her lips, before her eyes rolled back and she lost consciousness.

***

A steady humming noise gradually brought Vi back to life.

Her eyelids fluttered open, and she winced at a piercing light perched over her, desperately trying to gather her senses as she scanned her surroundings.

“The other one’s awake,” a gravelly voice said behind her.

“Good.” This was from a higher-pitched, feminine voice, and the pilot heard a shuffle of movement around her.

A few moments later, she eventually made some recollection of where they were. The only words Vi could find to describe it was a dungeon. Creaking metal chains hung lowly from the ceiling, where a single bright LED strip light ran across the length. They were surrounded by four stained grey walls. Goosebumps ran up and down her skin as the piercing cold rapped against her flesh.

Vi’s weak muscles made an attempt to move her arms, but she couldn’t. She was tied up against a creaking metal chair, bound behind her. She rolled her head pathetically to the side.

Ekko was chained up next to her. There was an aggressive red welt just above his right eye, sealing it shut. His swollen lips were cut and bruised. A small trail of saliva and blood ran down his chin.

“Fancy meeting you here,” the female voice said again. “The infamous Violet Vanderson; always barking up the wrong tree.”

Vi turned her attention to the woman standing in front of her. It took her a few seconds to realise who it was. She felt her stomach drop harder than it had when their Apache went down.

Ambessa Medarda stood tall and proud in front of them, looking down at the two pilots with a violent glare. She wore the traditional Noxian army uniform, the sleeves of her shirt rippled to reveal thick glistening muscles running up her arms. Her jaw twitched violently.

A second figure strolled into vision. It was Deckard. His eyes were ablaze with a purple flame, lips curling back into a snarl, magenta tendrils running through his veins and up his neck.

“I’m not too sure of this one’s name,” Ambessa continued, striding over to Ekko. She raised a hand and gripped his face, squeezing his cheeks. Vi’s wingman flinched at the contact. “But I must say, I’m disappointed in you, Vanderson. Your family name carries quite the legacy.”

Vi retched and spat a fat glob towards Ambessa’s feet. “Keep my name out your fuckin’ mouth,” she snarled lowly.

The warlord ignored her outburst. “Is your father proud of what his daughter has become? Fighting for the sworn enemy of Zaun? Or does traitor blood now run deep in his veins, too?” Her lips formed a thin line. “I hear he was a mighty fine general back in his day.”

“Yeah, right before Piltover put his brain through a fucking blender,” Deckard growled with a smirk.

Ambessa barked a laugh before settling her glare on Vi again. “You ran last time we met, Vanderson,” she drawled, walking over to a table pushed against the left wall. Vi’s eyes followed her and watched as she picked up a metallic object, its blade glinting in the penetrating light. “It’s a great shame; I was rather looking forward to fighting you.”

In a fluid motion, Ambessa whipped around to behind Vi, and roughly cut through the rope binding her hands together. Vi flexed her fingers and tried to get the blood pumping and the feeling back to her fingertips. Before she could move, however, the chair she was sitting on was kicked from underneath her and she was launched onto the floor.

The warlord cut Ekko loose next, also botting him into the ground. She leant over him, grabbed his forehead and tilted it back to expose his neck. “Now,” she said lowly, placing the knife blade against his jugular, “you’re going to fight me properly, or I’ll bleed this one like a pig and make you watch.”

Vi’s eyes darted between Ambessa and Ekko. Her wingman’s eyes were blown wide, his whole body shaking, beads of sweat rolling furiously down his temples. She watched a lump go down his throat as he swallowed nervously.

Shaking violently, ignoring the screams of protest from her knackered muscles, Vi got to her feet and raised her fists into a guard. She set one foot in front of her and another behind, getting into a fighting stance, staring steadily at Ambessa over her knuckles.

“Bring it on, fucker,” she spat, keeping her voice as steady as possible, swallowing her fear.

Vi knew she had zero chance of winning against Ambessa in her current state. Her braincells felt foggy, her muscles burned with exhaustion, and all she wanted to do was crawl into a hole and hide.

But she had to fight for them. For Ekko. She owed him that much, for everything he’d done for her their whole lives.

She had people back home to fight for. Vi had her back home to fight for.

I love you.

With her captain’s mantra echoing through her skull, Vi raised her rear leg and aimed a round kick at Ambessa’s left abdomen.

The warlord was quick to react, raising her left knee and dropping her left wrist to block the strike. With her right hand, she flicked the knife blade around and struck at Vi.

The pilot dodged the attack, raising her guard again and landing a fist into Ambessa’s left cheek. The bone connected and Ambessa’s head snapped to the side, but she regained herself quickly, raising a knee and connecting her foot into Vi’s sternum in a powerful front kick.

Vi stumbled back at the impact. The wind was knocked from her chest and she wheezed heavily, chest shaking, pulling herself back into a defensive stance as she readied for another attack.

Raising her fists, Vi launched another punch at the warlord, but it came too slow. Ambessa grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward into her. A sickening wet crunching sound rang through the room.

For a moment, the pilot thought Ambessa had landed a body punch against her, a dull pain slowly seeping through her abdomen. She glanced up into the warlord’s eyes before looking down at her stomach.

A blade handle stuck out from beneath her clothes. Vi’s eyes widened in horror as blood began pooling at the blade, a burning stinging sensation emanating from the wound.

Ambessa pulled the knife out with a moist schlurp. The pilot’s hands scrabbled desperately to put pressure on her stomach as she collapsed to her knees again, the colour draining from her face, head feeling light and fuzzy as more hot crimson began leaking steadily between her fingers.

“You have fire in you, child,” Ambessa said lowly, circling round to stand behind Ekko. “But not enough.”

Hands emerged from behind Vi and held down her shoulders in a vice-like grip. In the next moment, the warlord leant down to her leg and pulled a pistol out of her thigh holster. She raised the barrel level with Ekko’s back.

A piercing ringing noise filled the room and time seemed to slow and turn to jelly around them. The tangy scent of gunpowder quickly met Vi’s nostrils, so strong the taste tingled on the tip of her tongue, as she watched smoke tendrils trickle out of the barrel of the gun Ambessa held in her hand.

Ekko’s body was projected onto the floor and he landed in front of himself with a wet thump. Blood oozed into a dark, oil slick-like pool around him. His eyes and mouth gaped open.

“Ekko?” was all Vi managed to come out with. Her voice had shrunk into a whisper.

Ambessa stepped over Ekko’s body and leant down to grab Vi’s face by the jaw. She put her mouth next to her ear, and said in a monotone voice, “You both have yourselves to blame for this. Make sure Heimerdinger knows that.”

Ambessa snapped her wrist down to force the girl to look at her best friend’s still, lifeless corpse.

“Ekko, get up.” Desperation ebbed from Vi’s words. “Talk to me. Ekko, please, wake up.” Tears began to stream down her face and her chest shook heavily as she sobbed loudly.

Ekko Lanes’s eyes, once full of passion for his work, full of love for his best friend, full of hope and optimism for the future of his beloved country, stared blankly.

“It’s a shame, I’m sure he would’ve been a great asset to our cause,” Ambessa said, and waved her hand dismissively. Deckard grabbed Ekko’s body by his ankles and dragged it away behind them, leaving behind a trail of metallic-smelling red liquid which stained the floor.

Gloved hands still held Vi down, however they did little to control her outburst at the sight of her friend leaving for the last time. White-hot arcs of raw rage zipped across every muscle of her body, pure lightning and adrenaline causing her to thrash and scream and shout angrily and desperately. Every cell tensed as she fought back against the iron grip holding her down.

“I’ll fucking kill you, Ambessa!” Drops of saliva and blood from her broken nose catapulted across the room to where Ambessa was now standing. “I’ll kill you with my bare fucking hands, motherfucker!” Her shoulders thrashed backwards and forwards like a fish out of water.

“Shut her up,” Ambessa snapped in an order. A guard cracked his gun butt into Vi’s temple and she buckled over before slowly passing out.

***

The cold gritty dirt shifted around Vi as she desperately tried to get to her feet, entering her eyes and mouth and making them sting. She had no idea how long it had taken the Army of Piltover forces to finally track her down and she saw black boots blundering towards her through her blurred vision. Everything seemed to sludge together and trundle on slowly: her vision, the time, the surrounding sounds.

Ambessa had taken the courtesy of returning the girl’s transponder to her, and all Vi could do was pray that her co-ordinates on her GPS were picked up when she pressed the SOS button. She had a vague recollection of how she got there - a dark hood had been shoved over her head as she was chucked into the back of one of Ambessa’s men’s all-terrain vehicles, and the same hands which held her down had thrown her out roughly in a clearing Vi did not recognise.

Dark gloved hands were now picking her up and shifting her onto a stretcher. Their voices were distant, their faces distorted, their touch feeling numb on Vi’s skin.

“Vi? Violet, where’s Ekko?” someone above her asked. It was Caitlyn; Vi recognised the voice in an instant. She attempted to ask the question calmly, but failed to hide the desperation in her tone.

Vi could take no more. Her eyes rolled deep into the back of her head, and she lost consciousness.