Orion's saddened gaze wanders the corpse-shrouded field. He briefly glances at Silco, who is staring at him with a determined look despite his battered appearance.
'I'm your last hope, huh,' Orion thought. 'Do you think I'll run forward to save you or something?'
A sharp, metallic ring draws his attention upward. Rictus, Ambessa's closest, slams his glaive's hilt onto the pavement.
"Warchief Ambessa has asked you a question!" Rictus shouts. Orion's gaze wanders over the runes, hanging on a thread wrapped around his weapon.
'He's only a problem if I let him be. Otherwise, he's just another normal human.'
Orion's gaze moves again to meet Caitlyn's. Despite her hardened appearance, he can see her eyes shaking with emotion as she looks at him.
She even has words of her own. "Please, don't do this. Let's talk this out!"
"Orion," Sevika whispers urgently. "What are we going to do?"
His head turns, and shadowy figures of Enforcers and Noxians are recapturing the ones they've freed. Their brief celebration had turned into despair, knowing they would be transported back, or worse.
"I think," Orion says slowly, hand rising to Janna's trinket with an unpleasant frown, "you should go back near the tram and wait. Wait for the moment to escape, if possible."
'If there is one thing I do before I die, it will be to kill her,' Orion thinks, his cold gaze focused on Greyson. She flinches and looks away with guilt. And Orion's gaze returns to Ambessa.
"I've seen that look too often," Ambessa says, and upon saying it, the soldiers around her ready themselves. "That is the look of a man prepared to die."
Rictus's grip tightens on his weapon. "The criminal attempts an honorable death. But it won't receive one here."
"Is it worth it, young one?" Ambessa asks, extending a negotiating hand. "Your skills could land you a well-established position in my forces. Very few can break through well-guarded fortifications like these completely undetected."
"Don't listen to her!" Silco shouts vehemently. "They are outsiders seeking weapons! Fight for Zaun! Fight for our future-"
A sharp strike from Rictus's pommel knocks Silco unconscious. His body crumples with a splat onto the wet pavement.
"Brave. But I will wait no longer! Join my forces, here and now, or face the wrath of Piltover and Noxus combined!" Ambessa shouts.
Silence falls, and Orion's body begins to glow with his Arcane blue shimmer.
"Magic," Rictus warns, raising his weapon and stepping in front of Ambessa.
"Surprising! A mage in the magicless city," Ambessa says mockingly, before her arms wave forward, followed by the shouts of charging soldiers. "And a shame."
Orion exhales, channeling offensive magic mostly into his legs as Sevika retreats toward the tram. The ones charging are Noxian, which means he doesn't have to worry about bullets.
'Skill is a factor right now, but how to get past the guns...'
With a shimmer of blue light, he darts forward into their charging lines. Two are sent flying as he kicks them away, grabbing their spears with each hand.
Adjusting his grip, he launches one like a javelin, infused with mana, straight through their lines at Greyson. It looks like it will hit its mark, but Rictus somehow anticipates it and slams the incoming projectile into the ground. The runes tied to his weapon glow as the arcane energy is sucked out.
He smirks. "Impressive," before standing tall again.
"He seems to hold a vendetta toward you, Sheriff," Ambessa comments. "What did you do?"
As she asks this, dismembered heads and sprays of blood begin to erupt from the Noxian forces. Screams of pain, shouts of courage, and battlelust are silenced one at a time.
A regular soldier could not hold their own against enhanced strength or near-blinding speed. But Orion was already beginning to slow down. Fatigue wears on him after the previous fight.
Several more heads go flying, and a corpse with half of its body torn open with a single strike slides across the pavement before halting at Rictus's feet.
"He is slowing," Rictus observes, raising his spear again. "Allow me the honor of finishing him, Ambessa."
She nods, and Rictus begins to step forward when sharp noises shift their attention abruptly. Metal clanging across the pavement.
Dozens of little objects ping and bounce across the surface through the Enforcer lines. They stare at them, confused.
Bright, colorful faces and animals drawn with crayons. Painted monkeys, shaking orbs with mocking noises.
"Get back!" Ambessa shouts.
Bright flashes and dozens of deafening noises explode. Everyone stumbles around as puffs of colored chalk burst into the air. There were only two or three actual explosives that killed Enforcers, but nowhere close to their leadership. Everyone is, however, disoriented.
Fresh, angry shouts erupt as new Undercity residents charge forward. Some fly in and deliver deadly blows with pipes on hoverboards before a fresh round of Hexflash grenades are thrown as the distance is closed.
Within seconds, with more Hexflash explosions following, the new forces collide with the Enforcer backline. Screams and shouts, gunshots and blood sprays.
"Fall back! The retreat is still clear! Retreat to the bridge!" Greyson shouts and Ambessa and Rictus begin shouting their own retreat.
As they begin to retreat, Rictus grabs Silco under his arm in the process of fleeing when he finds himself sent flying several meters next to Ambessa.
Silco's body drops like a rock, and a giant man with iron gauntlets smirks at them. "Sorry, but this sack of shit is ours," he says with a deep gravelly voice.
Rictus snarls at him, prepared to fight as he grips his weapon in both hands.
"No!" Ambessa shouts, halting him. "We must retreat, for now. Our forces need to regroup!"
Rictus and Vander glare at each other with hostility before Rictus turns, following his Warchief's command.
The tension doesn't fade, even as the fighting does. Vander exhales, closing his eyes before looking down at Silco with bittersweet emotion.
His gaze then shifts to Orion, panting heavily on one knee as he supports himself with a Noxian spear. A field of corpses surrounds him, even creating a small mound at his feet. And a tired, battle-weary gaze that alternates between Vander and Silco.
Behind Orion, Sevika approaches and helps him rise to his feet, using her as extra support.
"Are you injured?" she asked.
"No, just exhausted."
"Good. We need to get out-"
"No, we don't. Look around."
Sevika swallowed hard and she did. She didn't want to. The stench of death was palpable, but she understood what he was trying to show her. The people she had once fought beside. The ones she'd turned against. They were here now, glaring at her.
Even Ekko, Claggor, Mylo, Vi, and Powder. Panting, tired, and shaken. Especially Mylo and Claggor, who looked at the corpses surrounding Orion with visible horror.
"There is much that needs to be discussed," Vander growled, Silco's unconscious body slung over his broad shoulder like a sack.
"And a lot of explaining to do."