Tales of Runeterra: Running the Routes

 Tales of Runeterra

Chapter 18:

Running the Routes

                I couldn’t tell you how many times we ran this gauntlet. Our leather boots thudded against rusty, rotting tiles as we skirted across the rooftops of Zuan. We ran it one-by-one, there was barely enough room to go more than that, and Ekko would rather we not leave anything to chance. There was more to life than death, he said, and we couldn’t risk even a single one. We had lost enough lives, he had said. Not another was to be lost on his watch.

                A lot of Firelight leaders said that. It was a handy little phrase to keep us motivated whenever we had to run a job against a chem-baron or something. Most of them didn’t mean it, though. We were basically sumprats—just with a little more ambition to us—so we were expendable. Well, not expendable, but no one really batted an eye if someone lost their lives down here in the Lanes, you feel? But not Ekko. Ekko wouldn’t let any of us lose our lives for nothing. Anyone could tell that with how often he visited the mural. This meant that we played things fast, but a little slower than most. We kept quiet, we made plans upon plans and we ran routes before we started the mission.

                We ran in single file on narrow roof pathways that could probably take two of us. It was just Ekko’s style.

                “Boss,” Chimi called. She was a tiny one, and someone that the other Firelights usually left behind. Ekko took one look at her and said she was perfect. “We ran this line a million times already. I think we’re ready.”

                Ekko heard her. I know he did. The boy could hear someone pissing in an alley from five blocks down. He grunted, but kept running, and we spent the rest of the route in silence. Finally, near the chem-baron’s estate, we dropped from the rooftops, then huddled in an alley that was maybe one or two buildings away from our hit. We could only see the roof of the estate from where we were standing as it towered over all the buildings around it. Which was perfect for us, really, because that meant that all the guards couldn’t see us either.

                Ekko looked at his stopwatch. It was an old thing, from the time that Zaun and Piltover were still one. The gears inside of it were particular and kept breaking on him. He kept talking about how it was a useless piece of junk, but he also refused to get rid of it. Never told any of us why.

                “Five minutes and twenty-one seconds,” he all but whispered. He had his back to the alley wall as he talked to us, leaning against it and effectively blocking any way in or out of the narrow space. “We need to be faster. Alotrius’s goons will catch us if we’re only this fast.”

                Nevermind how he knew how fast the chem-baron Alotrius’s goons were, he seemed adamant that our fastest time yet was not enough. Finally fed up with it, I muscled my way around Chimi and Groose—who was a big fella, let me tell you—and stepped up to our leader.

                “Hey, listen, man, I understand you like to be prepared…” Ekko’s eyes turned to me. He was a boy, a child, as was the rest of us, but something about these firelight missions… It brought out something in him that wasn’t quite boy-like. He was usually playful and mischievous, but whenever we were on a mission… I don’t know. It was like he was something else. Something more. Ekko but with a coat over him that made him something different. “…but there’s no way we can go any faster than this. The route is too dangerous and long, mate. And it’s so damn complicated.”

                I walked up again, stilling my nerves against his unimpressed glare. I wouldn’t dare snatch the map from him—despite being a runt he certainly didn’t fight like one—but I held my hand out requesting it. He rolled his eyes but pulled it from his jacket pocket. It was an old, yellowed piece of parchment, but it was an accurate enough map anyway. I unrolled it, then held it against the alley wall where all of us could see it.

                “Look here,” I said. I traced my finger along a dotted line that ran from our entry and escape point, around the cardinal district where they kept contraband, all the way to Alotrius’s estate on the edge of the city. “Why are we taking a route all the way around the Cardinal District? It isn’t as if we would be any slower for it. I ran a route through here with the other Firelights just the other week.” I ran my finger in a line from the entry point to the estate. “It’s a straight shot and simple. No muss and no fuss.”

                “Going straight there might as well be leading them to our base,” he said. “A longer route will ensure that we lose their tracks.”

                “But I thought that’s what the escape point was for,” Groose chimed in. I looked at him and smiled. He was a big’un, and his deep voice cut through any arguments we would have back at base. I doubted he was big enough to deter Ekko but having him on my side was beneficial. “We drop down the hatch we prepared, kick on the suits, and wade through the sewers. We aren’t expecting them to know what we’re up to, so they shouldn’t have suits of their own to follow us with. Once we make it there, they won’t be able to follow us. We just have to make it there.” He stalked over to me and traced his finger across the parchment in a straight line, much like I had. “I agree with the twerp, Ekko. The fastest route would be the best one here.”

                Chimi didn’t have anything to say, but she typically didn’t. She was a quiet little mouse at the best of times, which made her perfect for her role. It also meant a lot when she finally decided to speak up.

                Ekko stared at Groose, another argument on the tip of his tongue, but a look from the bigger boy shut that down. The two had a history it seemed.

                “We’d be putting innocents in danger.”

                “Bullshit.” Groose turned from the map, now fully facing our leader. He was so big that his arms touched both sides of the alley, but he didn’t seem to mind. “The people in that district are about as innocent as the chem-baron in that estate. I’ve been running gigs with you forever, Ekko, and every time we’re in this part of the city you avoid the cardinal district. Now, you’re going to tell me why, or I’m not running this with you tomorrow.”

                Ekko, to his credit, didn’t seem the kind to back down. The boy stared up at Groose, will and defiance showing on his face as prominently as his white mohawk did in crowds. His fingers twitched, and I could imagine him reaching up to wrap around the hex-club he kept strapped to his back, alongside the weird canister that he always carried around with him for some reason. Things got tense, real quick, and I inched Chimi further into the alley.

                Under normal circumstances, such a fight wouldn’t be close. No matter how scrappy Ekko was, Groose was easily twice his weight and a head taller. In such a closed space, there should be no way that Ekko could win. And yet, Groose was still standing still, not choosing to push the issue any more than was necessary. He was challenging Ekko’s plan, but not Ekko’s place in our leadership. We all knew why, too.

                For some reason, Ekko’s plans always seemed to just work out. Whether it was in a fight, or in a heist, or even in day-to-day activities, everything that Ekko planned for usually went as he predicted it.

                In the end, my concerns were useless. Ekko closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he considered his words. “I don’t want to go through there. Isn’t that enough?”

                “Usually, yes. But we’re not doing a raid on a bunch of no-names or Pilties. We’re robbing a chem-baron, and they’re going to know the Lanes, they’re not going to get lost in the alleys, and they’re going to shoot to kill. I understand that you’re not comfortable, but that changes when lives are at stake. Now, spill.”

                For a second, Ekko looked like he wanted to fight again. I could recognize the scowl that took over his face, turning up his lip and making him look positively dangerous. His fingers twitched again, but this time it looked as if he was going to reach for the weird canister on his back rather than the weapon. Eventually he relented, however, before taking another deep sigh.

                “There is… someone… in the cardinal district. They aren’t there all the time, but when they are it isn’t exactly safe to be there. I’d… rather avoid them, if possible.”

                I looked to Chimi, and I immediately regretted the decision. The girl looked like a fish—with her wide-open eyes and gaping mouth. It was as funny as it was adorable, and I really shouldn’t be laughing during such an intense situation.

                But, I mean, come on. Our fearless leader Ekko was choosing to run a life-threatening route because he didn’t want to see…what? His ex or something? That was hilarious!

                “So… what is this?” Groose asked, obviously confused. “This some kind of lover’s spat? You broke up with some dame and now you’re too afraid to see her?”

                Ekko, for his part, looked disgusted. “What? No. That’s not what’s happening at all. I would never date that psychopath.”

                “Then what’s going on?” I asked, finally reinserting myself into the conversation. As fun as it was to allow the two big shots to have their conversation, I didn’t like to be ignored. “She some kind of stalker? Ekko got a little crazy with the hots for him?”

                The boy spared me one look before rolling his eyes so heavily that they could have fallen out of his head. He didn’t bother giving me an answer, turning before to Groose as if I weren’t here.

                “Listen, the girl that hangs in the Cardinal district is… rough. You don’t want anything to do with her. It’s going to be easier for all of us if we just steer clear and run the route I set. I already ran it by the boys back at base and they agreed that this is the best route, okay?” He shook his head, pushing past Groose somehow and snatching the map from me. He rolled it up once more and shoved it back inside his jacket. “Now, gear up. We’re going to do one more run going back before packing our supplies. Let’s go.”

                The others groaned, and I did too, but I knew that we were going to do as he said. With a grunt we followed him as he used a pipe to get back on the roof, and once again our nightly jaunts continued. We made it back to the base in record time and, for the first time since we took this gig, I saw Ekko smile.

XxX

                The raid on the chem-baron’s estate was expected to go poorly. We were four kids against what amounted to an entire compound full of at least marginally trained adults, all either augmented with Chemtech or fully powered with Chemtech armor, weapons, or drugs. The odds of us actually making it through the night were so slim that I wouldn’t have been surprised if we were all captured and killed on the spot.

                But, as usual with Ekko’s gigs, things went surprisingly according to plan.

                Of course, some things went wrong. Chimi forgot which way she was supposed to go, and Ekko had to pull out the blueprints we had taken of the place in order to guide her to the right room. After she got inside and unlocked one of the unused doors, Groose coughed, and caught the attention of some of the guards. Ekko had to usher us all in, all the while distracting them with a pebble that he had picked up from… somewhere. We got what we came for without too much trouble, but we were ambushed while we were running down one of the hallways. We were all caught flat-footed, but before we had reached the intersection Ekko pushed to the front of our group and took them out as if he knew they were going to be there. From there we tore our way out of there, avoiding most of the teams sent to capture us, and reached the exit.

                “Crap,” Ekko cursed. His slate eyes were scanning the rooftops, looking at something that none of the rest of us could see. “We can’t use the route.”

                The rest of us looked at him surprised, including Chimi, who was holding the bag with our treasure. She wasn’t the type to show emotion at all—even during our completely botched mission she managed to keep her face impassive.

                Groose was the first to react. “And how do you know that?”

                As usual, Ekko wasn’t quick to answer. He grit his teeth, hovering his fingers over the canister he had strapped to his back. After a few seconds he shook his head, then turned to another way.

                “Hey, Blaise,” he called. I turned to him. “Do you remember that direct route you were talking about before?”

                Why was he… did he want to take my route? What changed his mind? I could see that he wasn’t enjoying the decision, but that was beside the point. There were chem-baron goons right behind us and we didn’t have time to waste. “Yes,” I said, and Ekko nodded.

                “Take point. We’re going to follow you through the cardinal district.” He made this pained face, as if the words were physically hurting him. “Please, try to go as fast as you can. I want to spend as little time as   possible there.”

                His voice was grave, more serious than I’d ever heard him before. I nodded, unable to do anything else, and continued toward the cardinal district. We scaled the wall surrounding the compound, using a series of ropes that we left there behind some bushes as part of the set up. We were over the wall in record time, adrenaline fueling our bodies and sending us well over the top of the stone barrier that was almost as tall as a building. We hopped from it to the roof, and instinct from weeks of running the same route almost sent me on the long path we had planned. It was only Ekko’s hand on my shoulder than guided us away.

                “No, this way. Towards the cardinal district.”

                I don’t think about the hiccup. I just grunted, then ran the route. Years of living in Zaun allowed me to memorize the streets, and it wasn’t long before I was guiding us along the routes to a different part of the city. The sounds of chem-rifles firing echoed in my ears, but I didn’t dare to look behind me. It wasn’t beyond the scope of the goons to chase us to the rooftops, albeit slower than we were. That was the only advantage we had over them, after all. They were stronger, sturdier, and better equipped than we were, but they couldn’t be as fast as we were.

                And we were going to use that to our advantage.

                Bullets pinged off the metal roof, shrapnel from the shattered bullets digging into my boots and my thankfully heavy pants. The edge of another roof approached, and I picked up speed. Coming as close to the edge as I could, I pushed off with my right foot.

                Weightlessness overcame me, and for a second I imagined myself flying. Flying high above the Gray that loomed below us, and the chem-baron goons that were firing at us from far behind. Above the Entresol just above us, and even the glittering, glass houses that the Piltovans lived in. I imagined myself among the clouds, breathing clean air and caring not for what was going on down in the real world.

                Of course, it wasn’t meant to last. Gravity overcame me and I came crashing down once more. A jolt was sent up my spine as my feet hit the metal of a different rooftop, but I didn’t have the time to roll and absorb the momentum. We were still being chased, and there were three other people behind me that needed me to move. My feet were moving almost the second I landed, and behind me I heard three more bodies hit the roof.

                “Thanks, Ekko,” I heard Chimi squeak. Ekko didn’t respond, but I could hear three sets of footsteps behind me, so I could only assume everything was fine.

                Eventually the sounds of gunshots petered away, and so did the bullets that were just barely missing us. The goons couldn’t follow us along the rooftops very well, so their only remaining option was to follow us from the ground. We lost quite a few of them because they couldn’t fly over walls like we could, but that didn’t stop all of them.

                No, what stopped all of them was the absolute crushing amount of people that were in the cardinal district. No one could remember why we started calling it as such, but most of the contraband that leaked into Zaun came from there. It wasn’t a big secret, either, and yet it wasn’t being shut down. Everyone knew that more than a few chem-barons had a vested interest in the place, and as such there was no one stupid enough to try to step in. A lot of people flocked here to get things that were usually sold topside for cheaper, even if that meant that the quality was a little worse. There were even more people that flocked here in an effort to get their hands on things that weren’t sold anywhere else. Such people were usually dangerous, and not too keen on being pushed around.

                “Move it!” I heard one of the goons shout.

                “Oi!” Another person responded. “Make me, you damn street rat!”

                There would be a brawl down there, I was sure. Not so good for the nameless goons, excellent for us. Screams erupted from the streets, and brand new kinds of firearms joined the mix. I almost turned to watch them go, but a glare from Ekko had me turning back to the front.

                It was as if the damned boy knew everything that was going to happen before it did. His eyes kept swiveling to and fro, looking for something. As usual, I couldn’t tell for the life of me what he was that was, or what had him so spooked. The goons that were following us were several blocks away from us by now, and there was no way they could climb to the roof and catch us now—

                I couldn’t even finish the thought before karma decided to prove me wrong. The whirring of chem-powered machinery filled the air as not one, but two, people jumped to the roofs. They didn’t land close to use, they were several roofs away, actually, but they were big enough for us to see regardless. Their bodies, naked save for the leather pants that stretched dangerously against their legs, glowed almost eerily in the waning sun of the evening. Bright green veins crisscrossed arms and chests that were practically bursting with muscles, all of which was likely augmented even more by the giant green tubes that stuck out of both of their backs.

                “Crap. Chem-junkies.”

                It was Groose that said that—under his breath as if doing such an action would prevent them from seeing us. We were the only kids on the roof, and it wasn’t as if our Firelight masks were hard to recognize. The goons turned to us almost immediately after landing. One pointed a giant, meaty finger our way, before charging at us like a bull.

                All of us, Chimi included, cursed before turning once more. We started running as fast as our lungs could bear us, skipping over the gaps between the roofs and knocking over everything in our way. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough, and I could hear the thunderous stomping of the goons as they got closer.

                “Keep running!” Ekko screamed, and suddenly one of the pair of footsteps following me fell away. All three of us turned in surprise to see our leader charging towards the two dangerous beasts that could likely snap him in two without breaking stride. Chimi cried out, likely to get his attention and drag him back, but Groose was having none of that. He grabbed the girl by the waist—an easy task with him being so big and her being so short—and hauled her over his shoulder. He kept behind me, not losing a step.

                “Leave him!” the boy snarled. “He knows what he’s doing. Keep us on path. He’ll need to use us to guide him towards the exit point.”

                I was still apprehensive, but there was nothing I could do. No matter how much I worried for our leader, I had no other choice but to trust in his ability to make everything work out. I continued running, leading the other two over rooftops and ignoring the confused screams of the populace below. My lungs started to burn, as did my legs, but there was no stopping now.

                I heard Ekko scream, his voice crying out through the din, but I couldn’t stop. I wouldn’t. We still had places to be.

                It wasn’t until we were almost through the cardinal district that Ekko caught up with us. I wasn’t expecting him to catch up at all, so to see him arrive, not from behind us, but from the side was terrifying. The looks on everyone’s faces relaxed as he joined us in our run. His face was flushed, and his breathing was heavy. His clothing was tattered and he looked as if he ran with a slight limp.

                He wasn’t dead, though, and that’s what mattered.

                “Ekko!” Groose grunted. Chimi flailed from her place on his shoulder, but he wasn’t stopping his stride to let her down. “How did you… no. I’m happy to see that you’re okay. We’re almost out of here, right, Blaise?”

                We were. I could see Tempucket’s shoddy old store up ahead. He made it there in the hopes that the revenue from the cardinal district would creep into his store if he was close enough. He wasn’t actually brave or strong enough to protect it from the kinds of people that he was looking to mooch off, however, so he made it on the outskirts. Once we passed there, we would be home free.

                “Yes!” I shouted back. Another roof was coming up, and I was preparing myself for the weightlessness once more. The same thoughts as usual started to float through my head, and that, combined with the giddiness of a mission almost completed, allowed my thoughts to roam. “That’s what you were so afraid of, Ekko? Two chem-junkies? I mean, I know they’re scary, but you handled them no pr—”

                My words cut off as, just as my feet were leaving the ground, a hand snatched me from the air. I went flying back, all thoughts of weightlessness torn from my body as I was sent crashing into the roof I had just jumped from. I looked up, a snarl on my face, to see Ekko standing near the edge. I had some nasty words on the tip of my tongue for him, but no sooner than I was to say them, did a spray of bullets fly through the alley, right where I would have been had Ekko allowed me to finish my jump.

                “I’m not afraid of no damn chem-junkies,” Ekko said, his voice a whisper against the roar of the repeater gun. The shooter was below us, not aiming at anything in particular, and just letting bullets fly into the air. “It’s her.”

                I was about to ask who he was talking about, but the maniacal laughter that echoed throughout the entire cardinal district answered that question for me. There was only one person in all of Zuan that not only owned a repeater but laughed like a deranged and dying seal.

                “Oh! Oh!” Jinx cried. Her voice sent dangerous shivers down my spine. “Look who it is!”

                From the way that Ekko snarled at her, there was no doubt as to who she was talking about. His face had twisted into something ugly as he moved to the edge of the building closest to her voice. He moved the club from his back and held it out beside him.

                “Chimi, Groose, Blaise,” he said. His voice was even. Too even. The man sounded both determined and resigned. “I want you to continue to the exit point. Take the treasure back to Leo and then stay out of sight for a while.”

                Groose, of course, didn’t question it. He bent his knees, and I knew he was only a signal away from continuing the jaunt over the rooftops to our destination. Chimi wanted to say something, I had a feeling she always did, but she was too shy or too overwhelmed to most of the time, so she stayed quiet. I wasn’t like them, though. I wasn’t too obedient or too timid to offer my thoughts, even if no one else was asking.

                “Boss,” I whispered. I could hear the whirring of Jinx’s minigun below us. The girl would fire at the sky given the option, so I was confused as to why she wasn’t doing so now. One look at Ekko, however, answered that particular question. I had never seen him snarl so hard, enough that I could see almost every one of his teeth. His grip on his hex-club became so tight that I could hear the bounded leather stretch against it. “You… her… do you two know—”

                “Blaise,” he said. And there was that blasted evenness from before. He sounded like—like a man who knew he was marching to the gallows or something. “Go with Groose. Your team needs you to guide them. I can trust you to guide them, right?”

                He tried to sound inspirational or whatever, but all I could hear was pleading. Ekko was many things, but a liar he was not. As a Firelight leader he meant everything he said, and he did his best to follow through on every promise he made. He told us that he would get us home and, more than any other person I’ve followed, I believed him. Thus far, he hadn’t steered us wrong. Got in a couple close scrapes, but he never steered us wrong. No, Ekko was many things, but he wasn’t a liar.

                It was why I trusted him even when he made us run stupid, tedious routes. It was why I trusted him when he made dangerous hits. And it was why I trusted him when he offered me a hand so many years ago and invited me to the Firelights with a smile so wide that you almost couldn’t see the trails of blood that was running from his forehead from when he got hit by a rock in a gang fight I was in.

                As I asked my next question, however, I knew that I couldn’t trust his answer.

                “You’ll come back to us, right? You’ll meet up with us later?”

                Ekko’s didn’t turn to answer me. His eyes were focused on Jinx, I was sure, as she no doubt stood with her oversized minigun, ready to reduce entire buildings to holes. His snarl faded, just slightly, and I could see the hesitation on his face.

                “Yeah,” he said. “I’ll be there soon. Now go.”

                Liar.

                Unfortunately that was enough for Groose. He carried a now weeping Chimi over to the edge of the roof, ignoring her flailing as he prepared to jump. I don’t know how he was certain that the mental case below us wouldn’t shoot this time, but he was poised to go. Again, Ekko didn’t turn his attention away from the ground, but his snarl finally cracked and an uneasy smile sat there instead.

                “You’re the leader for now, Groose. Do me pr—”

                “Shut the hell up,” the bigger boy said. “I’ll be waiting at the exit point for ya. I don’t care how long it takes. So you get there or we’ll suffocate in the fumes. You hear?”

                Groose stared at him, his eyes carrying an intensity that I was sure Ekko could feel even through the back of his head. Seriously, it was as if his stare was keeping Jinx from firing.

                It wasn’t until later that I realized that it was.

                “Yeah,” Ekko said after a beat. “Go.”

                Not needing to be told a third time, Groose reached out and grabbed my shoulder. He pulled me, all be shoving me off the edge, and I needed to pick up momentum in order to get across safely. As I flew across the gap, I felt none of the amazing weightlessness I had felt before, instead only feeling this heavy, stone-like thing in my gut. I turned my head, taking a quick glace at the street below me, only to see something out of a nightmare.

                It was only for a second, but I could see her. She stood there in the middle of the street, broken road and mortar surrounding her. Fire from the shops she exploded in the mayhem of our run illuminated her, making her flicker with the flames and casting a terrifying shadow on her face. She looked a demon, and the smile that went from one of her ears to the next only accentuated that. Her minigun was turning slowly, but I knew that with just a slightly harder push she would be mowing down both people and buildings.

                That was what Ekko was telling us to run from: a mass murderer with more kills under her belt than I had birthdays. She had her gun trained on him, and didn’t blink an eye as Groose and I crossed the gap that she was previously intent on shooting us out of. No, she kept her eyes on Ekko, and it was with a start that I realized that her eyes were just as glued to him as his was to hers.

                They had a history. She was the one that Ekko didn’t want us to meet.

                The roof of the next building tore me from my thoughts, returning both gravity and my senses. Instinct had my feet moving, and I could hear the large, heavy steps of Groose as he followed me straight towards the exit point.

                “Don’t look back,” he grunted. I could still hear Chimi sobbing from his shoulders. “It’ll make it harder to run.”

                Of course, being the rebel that I was, I couldn’t obey that order. I turned, just in time to see Ekko pull a line on that weird canister on his back. He’d been doing that all night and I could never tell why. He yelled, the sound akin to that of a Frejlordian warrior rushing to battle, before jumping from the roof. I turned back to where I was running, ignoring the tear that trailed from my eye and down my face.

                I heard gunshots.