Caitlin hates the inaction inherent in being an enforcer. She hates the red tape, the way her every move feels sluggish and predictable and entirely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. The feelings are made all the worse by the way she watches Jayce, a man she’s know near her whole life, turn Piltover upside down with only his mind.
The whole thing leads to her hanging around Zaun perhaps a little too much.
Everytime she goes she tries to justify herself by saying it’s for work. Tells herself that she’s only hanging around the dodgiest areas she can find to make herself a better and more knowledgeable enforcer.
It’s at least partly true. She’s been beginning to put together a picture of the lanes, artwork drenched in greens and purples with the name Silco at its centre.
She uses that knowledge to bury the fact that she’s been going to Zaun just because at least when you have to spend every other moment looking over your shoulder you can’t be as utterly bored as Caitlin is in Piltover.
On one of her trips she finds a hideout. It seems abandoned but neon paint still makes the walls glow odd colours and there are still power lines connected to the place. She follows one of the cables and finds it disconnected from whatever machine it used to be used to run. Purely out of curiosity she picks up the cable and screws it back into the connector.
Targets painted the same neon as the designs on the walls spring to life and start moving around.
Oh.
Oh Caitlin likes this.
A smile playing at her lips, she vaults over the counter to take a stance a reasonable distance from the targets before cocking her gun. She readies herself, taking a breath before she begins.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Her every shot hits exactly where it’s meant to. Once she runs out of ammo Caitlin lets herself bask in the satisfaction for a moment and allows the smile to fully take hold of her face.
“Not bad. For a topsider I guess.”
Caitlin whips around, aiming her gun before processing the fact that it’s out of ammo. She adjusts her grip slightly so that even if she can’t shoot it she can still swing it into someone’s face with enough force to knock them out. From the shadows slides a girl. Younger than Caitlin, probably still a child. Blue hair in plaits that drag along the floor as she bends her head to look at Caitlin enquiringly.
“Thank you,” Caitlin says, her tone not hiding the fact that she doesn’t particularly want to be thanking this random girl who’s been spying on her.
The girl seems to catch it.
“You don’t sound very thankful” she huffs.
“I’m not.”
“Then why say it?”
“So you go away faster.”
The girl pauses. Looks at Caitlin a little like she thinks Caitlin is stupid and she bristles with irritation. “That didn’t work very well for you, did it?”
“I suppose not.” Caitlin manages through gritted teeth.
The girl jerks slightly, as if some revalation has just come to her. It makes her look at Caitlin with significantly more interest.
“You should try and shoot me.”
What the fuck?
“No one’s ever shot me before, and some people have tried really hard, but I bet that you could take a decent stab at it.”
“I-“, Caitlin is sure the confusion must be showing on her face but she’s too caught off guard to bother hiding it. “No?”
The girl looks like a kicked puppy. “Please?”
“No,” Caitlin repeats, more firmly.
“Darn, guess I’ll have to find some way to persuade you.”
As soon as the girl finishes speaking she disappears back into the shadows as quickly as she emerged.
Caitlin huffs. She isn’t looking forwards to being persuaded.