Zaun was choking. Not metaphorically—actually choking. Chem-smog rolled thick through the fissures of the Undercity, turning neon into a sickly halo and setting every breath on fire. Sirens wailed somewhere far above, muffled by metal and misery. The Lanes were war tonight. Vi hit the ground hard enough to rattle her teeth. The impact cracked concrete and sent a shock through her gauntlets, hextech cores sputtering in protest as one arm flickered out with a dying whine. Her vision swam—just for a second. Too long. “Vi—!” Ekko’s voice cut through the chaos, sharp with panic. A blur of motion and he was already moving, only to be slammed sideways by a chem-augmented brute. He skidded across rusted plating, board clattering out of reach. Jinx laughed somewhere in the smoke. Not her usual manic cackle—this one was strained, high, too sharp at the edges. She fired blindly into the haze, minigun spinning wild arcs of tracer fire that lit the battlefield in stuttering bursts. “Okay! Okay! This is— this is getting less fun now!” Caitlyn staggered behind a half-melted barricade, rifle cracked, shoulder slick with blood. She tried to reload with shaking hands. “We’re surrounded. Vi… we are surrounded.” Another blast rocked the corridor. Metal screamed. Lights died. A Firelight went down nearby, dragged into shadow by hands that weren’t entirely human anymore. Shimmer-glazed eyes glowed like dying stars. Vi forced herself upright with a grunt, ribs protesting, lungs burning. Her gauntlet sparked again—dead weight. For the first time since she’d clawed her way out of Stillwater… She felt it. That creeping, suffocating math. Too many enemies. Too little time. Too many people she couldn’t lose. Boots scraped behind her. Jinx’s gun clicked empty. Ekko pushed himself up on trembling arms, blood streaking down his jaw. “V… we can’t keep this up.” The enforcers’ floodlights overhead flickered once. Twice. Then shattered. Glass rained down in glittering arcs as the Lanes were swallowed in sudden, suffocating darkness. Even the chem-lamps sputtered out, plunging the fight into shadow and smoke. Something moved through it. Fast. Not Firelight-fast. Not enforcer-fast. Faster. A figure dropped from above, landing between Vi and the advancing shimmer-horde with the kind of impact that made the ground shudder.