Minx

"Just a taste?" Vi asked, one eyebrow raised, looking expectantly at the teenager before her.

The crew was almost to the Lanes, only a couple of miles away, when they got stopped by a group of boys looking for a taste of their treasure.

There were five boys in total. All around the same age except for one smaller one who looked around two years younger, about thirteen.

Vi swung the bag off her shoulder before carrying the momentum forward and swinging the bag straight into the boy's face knocking him backward.

The four other boys jumped into action, the younger one opting for Ebony.

He came straight for her, eyebrows furrowed, a deep-set frown on his face. Ebony opened up to him waving a hand towards him, inviting him into a fight.

He swung a clumsy right hook, she dodged down going between his legs to go behind him and kick him in the head.

Landing on the floor with a grunt he grumbled when she got on his chest and cracked his nose with her elbow. With eyes filled with rage, the boy quickly took an opening and got on top of her instead.

"Wow, not even gonna take me out fir-" He threw a punch to her left cheekbone then another to her lip causing her to groan in pain. The kid sure packed a punch.

Ebony realized that she was losing. Reaching her one free hand into her pocket she pulled out a pink rubber balloon and squeezed so hard her hands began to shake.

Shutting her eyes right before the explosion of smoke she grabbed the boy's hair blindly before pounding his skull into the dusty ground.

Smirking to herself Ebony emerged from the smoke to see three vertical figures. Vi gave her a proud smile and a thumbs up which Ebony quickly returned.

"Where's Powder?" she asked innocently.

-

"It doesn't matter, the stuffs gone!" Vi grimaced at Mylo who was upset at Powder for losing their stolen goods.

Both Ebony and Vi approached Powder with open arms allowing the girl to wrap herself around the two. "It's alright, Powder, at least you're alright." She said solemnly looking down at her younger sister.

"You did good, okay?" Ebony reassured, patting Powder on the shoulder before joining the others in the elevator.  It was rickety and old, but the best strategy for getting to the lanes from the outskirts of Piltover.

Powder and Ebony leaned side-by-side against the moving elevator. "Every time... every time she comes something goes wrong! She jinxes every job!" Mylo exclaimed, his stare pointed directly at Powder.

"Oh be quiet Mylo, you couldn't even get the door open." Ebony crossed her arms over her chest before rolling her eyes.

Mylo raised himself from the wall, "Oh, you wanna talk, you're worse. Look at you! You're a little fucking minx!"

This time Claggor was the one who spoke up, bringing himself between the two. "Cut it out Mylo, she didn't do anything." He defended her.

All Ebony did was stick her tongue out at Mylo scrunching her nose in the process.

-

"What were you thinking?" Vander said seriously to Vi. The kids had made it to the Last Drop, their home, at the perfect time, right when Vander was free.

"That we can handle a real job!" Vi explained, her hands exaggerating out in front of her, "We got a tip, planned a route, no one even saw!"

"You blew up a building!"

Sighing at their arcument Ebony layed her head on Powder's shoulder. The girl recipricated the gesture by setting her own head atop the Ebony's dormant head.

Slowely but surely Ebony could feel her green eyes begin to blink slower exahstion of the day's events creeping up on her. Then she was out like a light.

When Ebony awoke she was alone tucked into one of Vi's scratchy blankets. Yawning and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes she spotted a messily drawn note on the coffee table that still happened to have bright pink stains on it.

Pow + V at secret spot

Meet us once u wake up

The secret spot, huh? Ebony thought, note in hand. She sighed before crumpling the note and starting off on her journey to their secret spot.

Only Vi and Ebony, well- now Powder- knew about their secret spot. When Ebony was first put into Vander's care she would have a really hard time falling asleep at night, and so Vi would take her there and tell her funny sories until Ebony eventually would fall asleep, and every time, without fail, Ebony would wake back up on her recliner in the Last Drop.

She took the shortcut which involves a lot of jumping and swinging from unstable pipe to unstable pipe.

Finally making it to the top she spotted both Vi and Powder sitting along the ledge gazing at the Lanes below them, sometimes being up here could feel like you're on top of the world.

"Oh, Ebs, good, I was just telling Pow about Mylo's ass splotch." Violet laughed heartily her head tipped back pointing towards the sign with a large middle finger painted slopily on top.

Powder laughed again at Vi's retelling of the story causing Ebony to pop a small smile at her. Patting the side beside her Powder scooted a couple inches closer to Vi to make room for Ebony.

Knowing full-well what Vi was doing to chear Powder up Ebony decided to tell an embarrasing story of her own. "About five months after I had started living with you guys I snuck out one night to look for my parents and I got lost-" She lifted Powder's broken pipe to her eye again and directed it towards the west side of the lanes.

"-Anyway, I ended up getting chased by some goons and they strung me up by my shoelaces." Ebony laughed, "Eventually I ended up getting my shoe off but it took us two weeks to get my shoe back."

Powder giggled and scooted just a tad bit closer to Ebony. Vi noticed this, looking at the two with a proud grin on her face. "My turn." She said.

Taking the pipe out of Powder's hand she pointed straight ahead of them, "When I was a kid a boy took my favorite toy and threw it up there-" She chuckled sadly, "-I used come out at night and just stare at it hoping the wind or a bird might knock it down... We've all had bad days."

She leaned across Powder and Ebony putting her arm around the two, "But we learn, and we stick together."

Enthusiastically Powder reached into her side pouch and pulled out two small glowing crystal balls. "Oh! I almost forgot. These were in my pocket. They're from the apartment."

Ebony opened her palm and Powder obliged by handing her one of the crystals. "What are they?"

"No idea, should we show Vander?" She asked excitedly.

"No!" Vi and Ebony synphonied. Powder's face instantly morphed into one of surprise and hurt.

"I mean we should keep this our little secret." Vi assured her grasping one of her hands before letting go. "Mylo's wrong, you two, you're both stronger than you think."

She stared determined out into the foggy weather standing to her feet. "And one day this City's gonna respect us."