4 Two-Tone Jack
by moissanitej@gmail.comThe Club
Please give me another simple one. I don’t care about his morals, whether he kills, I give a fuck all about any of that. Just be decent to me. “Special Delivery!” She yelled into the club, where she was supposed to report to Little Bob.
He seemed to like her entrance, he was laughing. He also was one of the few non animal morphic looking people. He looked just like a human, times likes a 100 on height and weight. “Well, hello there. You must be Jinx. Welcome.”
The place was half dead, half alive. There was someone on a stage singing, some people doing art, and some people making things in the corners.
“Just pick up something. Do a song after awhile, any language is fine. Uuuh? That’s about it,” he insisted. “Oh. I’m Two-Tone. Two-Tone Jack.”
Two-Tone Jack? “My person I’m here for is Little Bob?”
“Oh, that’s my official name on paper,” he chuckled. “I got a brother called Big Bob, and he’s a yordle. Yeah, our master had fun. I like Two-Tone Jack. It’s my creation.”
Master. This gigantic dude was owned. “You’re owned too, huh?”
“Most are,” he said. “Unless someone is a Baccai, that are probably owned. There’s levels around here. Anyhow, I grabbed your rental for entertainment. You seemed like you could grab attention in a spotlight. My job around here is to just get people to entertain. You can show off anything you make, uh, know that anything you make automatically belongs to the Baccai.” He groaned. “You can sing whatever you like. You can even draw or paint onstage if you want. Jokes used to be a thing. One person did. They aren’t here anymore.”
Ooh? “They got away.”
“They died of old age. Nobody gets away. Anyhow, your master will bring you to The Club we are in each day. This whole . . . thing, works by being in different spots. So one day you’ll be in Shurima, another Demacia, them seem to be the favorite spots. But like, it goes everywhere. Hey, we’ve even been to your Zaun before.”
What? “Really?”
“Yeah, really far down into some depths I don’t think anybody’s supposed to get into,” he said.
Jinx heard someone else singing. She didn’t know the language but it was definitely sad. Probably not a lot of happy songs going on.
“Spent enough time on her,” an annoying little wimp said from his shoulder. “Just let her move on, and let’s go. Let’s talk, let’s have fun, Two-Tone!”
That must be Pixie. Boat told her about her.
“Be nice, Pixie,” Two-Tone Jack told her. “She’s new. She’s human too, that’s pretty unique for here. She’s apparently null, can’t use magic.”
“Makes her useless, not helpful.” Pixie stared down at her. “Just an ordinary human.”
Jinx turned her head dangerously. “Love your wings. Be a shame if something clipped them.”
“Two-Tone!” Pixie yelled like she was hurt.
“Well, what do you expect? You are being mean to someone brand new.” He took Jinx’s side. “I need to get stuff served. That’s my job. Uh? Only thing to do is just be entertaining. The more entertaining, the more the master is pleased. This is where we eat and entertain the masters and owners, but we also have a lot of others here. So, just keep that in mind.”
“Got it, Two-Tone.” Jinx let him walk off while she spied on a buffet that made her fingers start to move back and forth all over. Ooooh.
She sat down to a table filled with metal sheets, gears, and a thousand other things that she could design guns and bombs with. As soon as she got rid of the threat of Meddler, this place was going down single handedly with her own inventions. But first, before starting that out on day one? She needed to get into Two-Tone Jack’s good graces.
At almost the end of the two hours, she saw Two-Tone starting to come in. Time to shine. She got up on the stage and sung one of her obsessed fan songs people had sung in the war. She moved, she danced, and she even added some confetti she managed to find in the art section on the other side. It impressed him so much, she headed to the invention table, grabbed her new weapon, and ran over toward him. “Hey! I want to talk to you!” She watched him lower his hand and she got on. “Dude, what are you exactly?” He brought her to his shoulder.
“I don’t know. Some kind of giant,” he said. “You wanted to talk about something?”
“Made something for you.” She brought out her giant cutters. “I call them Two-Cool-Tone Trimmers!” Pink and blue, from the art section. “Claw, please.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” He looked scared. “Cutting instead of just filing usually puts pressure on my claws.”
“Trust me, I know how to do it,” she encouraged him. “Come on. Give the new girl a chance?” Pixie called her out again, but he held up his pinkie finger. Seeing where she needed to cut, she laid them down, then shot up his head, toward the wall, and then kicked it at the right angle down.
Snip. “I have enough pressure I could cut off someone’s head with these.”
“Hey, that didn’t hurt.” He looked at his claw. “Oh, this’ll make it easier to serve the food. Thanks, Jinx!”
She just lied on him and kicked her feet up and down. “Thanks, nothing. Let’s get those overgrown nails taken care of.” It wouldn’t take long before she had him manipulated into her own wants. Until then? At least this place was a nice break too.
“Ready whenever you are!” Jinx announced proudly as she entered. “How many people do I have to kill?”
A great big giant in the middle just laughed. “Ah, the new blood.” He bent down to Jinx’s forehead. Little forehead to great big forehead.
“How ya doing, big guy? Just to let you know, I don’t do the digging graves afterwards.”
He just chuckled.
“Jinx.”
What? No way. Jinx looked beside him and- “Captain Teemo?” What the hell? “What are you doing here?”
“He’s my owner too.” Captain Teemo looked different though. Real different. Something must have happened to him. “My Bandle Scouts came like I said.”
Oh man, Jinx knew that look. Meddler caught them. “Damn.”
“So? You both are going to handle a challenge. If you die, you fail,” Meat Claws said. He showed off his definitely sharp claws. “Yordle meat first. Heh. I already paid the extra just in case you don’t make it. Which, let’s face it little guy.” He bent down to meet Captain Teemo forehead to forehead. “There’s no way you are making it out of here alive.”
Damn it! It’s not like he got a choice in freaking owners, but- “Damn it!”
“So, the challenge is simple,” Meat Claws told him as he came over with a small trunk. “These were your weapons lifted off of you. It’s going to be in the middle of the next room. You have one minute to get at it before you find yourself in a little challenge.”
“Why the hell did you take him?” Jinx called him out.
“Ooh? What’s wrong? You think you might cry for your little friend?” he teased her.
Jinx sneered at him. “You just signed up for my shitlist.”
Just a chuckle, like it was a joke. It was no joke. If he got Captain Teemo killed, she would find a way to end him.
Meat Claws picked up the little trunk again. “Anyhow, Meddler has too many yordles so he’s taking a few extra risks.” Meat Claws gestured to two other yordles. “Let’s start, Fluffykins.”
Jinx watched from the other room. She was still all locked up, she wouldn’t be free until it was her turn. Even if she could, that shimmer did nothing anymore. Was it the location, or was it just the magic nulling effect that wouldn’t let her even make her shimmer anymore?
Tristanna. Lu Lu. And now, this idiotic meathead thought he’d skewer Captain Teemo alive? Not a chance. Maybe if they just ganged up on him, all done up in his arm and leg cuffs. But for this? They screwed up twice. What they thought looked like being fair for a fight, was their downfall.
First of all? Underestimating him. He didn’t have to know his real backstory to know who and what he did. He knew it. He felt it. And he had it. So letting him out of his cuffs, they were already in trouble.
Second. They were really giving him a trunk of his things with a whole minute to enjoy it. Maybe it was a trick, but even so? He’d still get them all. But if they gave him his weapons? Oh. This Meat Claws would learn his name wasn’t Fluffykins or Teemo. It was Captain Teemo.
“And . . . run to your death!” Meat Claws laughed cheekily.
Jinx expected to see a bloodshow with her friend.
And she got that, just not the way she thought.
She glanced back at Meat Claws who was also surveying the damage. “Think he won?”
Jinx didn’t understand it, but it didn’t matter. He had about 30 seconds to get to the chest and then a force of twenty people with weapons descended on him. And?
Captain Teemo first disappeared, reappeared by the chest, moved like lightning and threw poison needles like shurikens into his enemies, as well as for a reason Jinx didn’t know?
He disappeared out of the area, moved behind them and poisoned two yordles, killing them too, and for extra pizzazz?
Someone who came to check up on things, went sailing out of the area as they stepped on some kind of grenade.
“If I didn’t pass, Meat Claws,” Captain Teemo called him out. “Then I won’t tell you where the other mushrooms are that I planted around here.”
Yep. Silco definitely would have employed him the little maniac.
“You killed your own kind?” Meat Claws had to ask. “Why would you kill your comrades?”
It wasn’t a surprise Captain Teemo didn’t answer him.
“You pass,” Meat Claws decided. “Until or if someone blows up from a mushroom.”
Captain Teemo disappeared and then moved swifly. When he stopped, he looked the same. A bunch of mushrooms were on the floor next to him, but most likely, he still had a bomb or two on him.
And because of that fact, the day was called off early as Captain Teemo had to deal with a magical counsel to make sure he had nothing on him.
When they were back at Freljord, and back to their cages, they were redecorated with blankets and pillows. Guess Meddler wanted to signal they were ‘home’ now.
Captain Teemo was pretty quiet the rest of the day.
Delulu didn’t know what happened yet or she would probably be freaking out.
Jinx didn’t know either what made Captain Teemo do that, but she wasn’t someone who judged nothing. He probably had reasons. When she murdered, she usually had reasons too. And if she didn’t, it’s because they were dirty enforcers who, at the time, she thought deserved to die anyway.
Now, with Vi as an enforcer? Like. She? Yeah, she would still do the same thing. She had reflected on that today too. What enemy meant and still meant. She thought being made to satisfy everyone’s desires without complaint would make her feel like some weak zombie.
Instead, she found Powder more, and she was getting time to reflect. In moments that she just didn’t want to be herself, she found she was becoming more of herself.
Eventually, Captain Teemo turned toward Jinx. “When a yordle’s body dies, their spirit moves back to Bandle City. Eventually, the yordles I killed today will get physical bodies back.”
“Lies!”
Jinx looked toward Delulu who now was calling it out.
“If that was true, what about this yordle’s parents?” Delulu pointed out his hypocrisy. “What about my own parents, huh? What about the others that died around here that I used to see, and they still never came back, huh?!”
And Captain Teemo? Laid it all out.
“We have been tracking you and the rest of the Spirits of Frejlord for them. All of your family came back to Bandle City, and they have had bodies for some time. They aren’t here because this is imprisonment and they want to be free, but they’ve been turning to the Bandle Scouts to track you down for years. Even before I met Jinx, I was trying to find the path to you.”
Delulu refused to give him. “Lies. You were just angry and lashed out at everyone.”
“No, I was very deliberate, I didn’t want them to suffer anymore than they had to for the hit, and if you were near me out there, I would have killed you to. You would have gone straight to Bandle City.”
“Lies!” Delulu continued. “You have no proof. Give me some proof.”
“Okay. Your family never wanted anything but to escape this treacherous place. Your name, Delulu, is your proof. Your mom’s name was Analulu. Your grandma was Dewlulu,” Captain Teemo pointed out. “The yordle I killed today was your six times removed great Aunt Lu Lu.”
Now, Delulu didn’t know how to react. She moved the yordle baby nearer to her as she walked around in her cage.
It was great seeing Meddler trying to make her feel better afterward, knowing the results coming.
It was ten times as great when his neck started to burn before Madame Jeb even knocked on the door.
What wasn’t great? Captain Teemo. He did it for their freedom. He even had total freedom today, and still came back. There was still a baby yordle to pay the price. And it was hard enough to Delulu to take care of it for Meddler, but Madame Bej insisted he used it for her to get practice.
And that really pissed off Captain Teemo too. He was on a real bender today, and couldn’t help himself as he yelled out that yordles never had children so young at all. They only had babies out of love, and usually not many because they were basically eternal. Instinct to reproduce wasn’t thickly within them.
Even though Delulu was 26, she apparently should have either died at least twice, or reached 400 years before even thinking about it.
“If it’s the last thing I do, I am going to get you out of here, through a front door, or the back door,” he insisted.
“With your logic,” Delulu hissed at him. “I-I should be breaking this baby’s neck.”
“No, that’s a bad idea,” Captain Teemo warned her. “That’s another reason a yordle doesn’t mess around with children, they are a huge responsibility, and you are not ready for them.”
“I am doing fine over here,” Delulu insisted.
“That baby hasn’t really formed likes or dislikes much yet. It hasn’t really made any friends. It depends on others for it’s every need. It has no real sense of self yet. If it dies as a baby, then it’s spirit doesn’t have much to latch onto when it goes to Bandle City. It’s spiritual side is basically starting from scratch, but that trauma of losing and starting just after being born not too long ago? It creates sicker yordles. They grow up, a little different. Not that it’s always a bad thing, but many times? It is what creates different yordles that are more negative.”
“Don’t need death to feel that around here,” Delulu told him.
“Yep, and that too. This is not the environment for it either, but at least it’s feeling some kind of love while it’s alive. Some kind of compassion. That’s still not going to save it. And definitely, threatening it with anything I have to do . . .” He shook his head hard. “My name is Captain Teemo, and there’s no way a baby yordle is going to go evil under my watch.”
That night, Jinx let the yordles discuss and talk about their roots. The roots of evil. Their lovely city. About family lines.
While she just kind of . . . thought about a two month vacation. Enough time to see them. To say she wasn’t dead.
Just a message. A simple message. She wasn’t dead.
Would they ever get that message?
Powder touched the sides of her cage. Fenric iron made no difference to her.
“Jinx? You okay?” Captain Teemo asked delicately. “I don’t exactly know-“
“You don’t want to know,” she interrupted him as she laid down at the bottom of the cage. “Call me Powder, at night. I can’t carry Jinx all the time.”
“I understand, Powder.” Captain Teemo tried to reach his hand out, but he got sparked by the fenric iron.
“Before you move,” Delulu said. “Before and after, grab on. When you are transported, things get funky, and you can touch it. You’ll be able to hold onto it until you let go of it.”
Well, it didn’t bother Powder. And? She reached over to take Captain Teemo’s hand. “A couple were good. That’s it.” Yeah. Base station. She rubbed her head against the bars, trying to dry her tears while she reached for the fuzzy yordle. “Nice and soft.” Her crying only increased though until she let go and just held the bars, sinking back to the ground.
Powder curled back up, the horrors she saw that day as Jinx, finally processing through. I want out. I don’t care if it’s my little sister Vi rescuing me. If it’s Ekko. I don’t care who it is, Sevika could pull up and start unloading and I would back her up so fast. She tried to wipe her face. She hadn’t dealt with this much since she first left with Silco. First started learning her new role to play.
She didn’t say another word that night. She didn’t eat supper. She just existed, wished she didn’t, but then knew she was letting others down.
She had to survive, to build something new.
Powder just relaxed. Allowed herself to feel. To cry. To empathize. To mourn. And to sleep.
Knowing she’d go through it all again each day until she figured a way out.
Powder’s dream . . .
Soup. Firelight hideout. Ekko got weird. When he stopped her from killing herself, it was empathy. This was off the rails. He just took care of her without a word. Until . . .
“You can’t. You don’t. You go too far, you can’t . . . keep her dead. I know she’s living in you. I know Powder is in you, Jinx. And, this.” He gestured to her. “This is what happens when you stop being her. You can’t be this death defying nightmare that threatens all the time for Silco. I mean, used to be.” Floundering his words.
She remembered that Ekko. The dorkier Ekko he hid away himself.
“I know your better than this, and I’ve got to . . .” He closed his eyes. “Is any of this making sense?”
Making sense. Yeah. Silco wanted her to kill off Powder. Just be Jinx. Just be perfect. Then, she killed her off. Tried to. Become someone nameless. But, she wasn’t someone nameless. And before Silco convinced her to kill off Powder for good, she had kept that stretch between them. In the beginning, there was more Powder than Jinx. Eventually, Jinx overcame Powder. But? To survive, she needed balance.