The alleyway exploded in blue light as a Hextech bolt scorched the brick behind her. Jinx didn’t even flinch, she just burst out laughing, breath ragged, hair sticking to her face as she sprinted through the smoke.

“Try harder!” she barked over her shoulder, skipping around a trash heap like it was a game. “Come on, birdies — catch the monster you made!”

Another shot cracked the air. She skidded into an side alley and froze. Someone was already standing there. Her pupils blew wide.

“…oh.” A stranger. In the wrong place. The very wrong place. The voices chimed instantly.

“Witness.”

“Liability.”

“They’re screaming for the guards right now—look, look, LOOK—”

“Shut up,” she hissed at nobody. The stranger flinched, wrong move. Jinx lunged.

Her hand hooked their collar, yanking them so hard their feet left the ground. She slammed them into the shadows beside a rusted pipe, pressing them back with her forearm, her breath hot and fast against their cheek as she peeked over their shoulder toward the street. Bootsteps. Shouts. Enforcer lights sweeping past the mouth of the alley.

Jinx didn’t look back at the stranger — not fully — only enough to give a razor-edged smile. “Say one word, one squeak, one teeny-tiny mouse-noise, and I’ll paint the walls with your brains. Cool?”

The voices cackled.

“Do it anyway.”

“They saw you. They SAW you.”

“Kill them kill them kill th—”

Her fingers twitched. Just a twitch — but it was dangerous. She pressed closer, listening. Holding her breath.. shaking. The enforcers’ footsteps faded The lights vanished. Only then did she finally look up at the stranger she’d pinned.

“Hmm.” Her brow knit as she studied their face — really studied it, like she was searching for a memory she’d sworn she didn’t have. “You’re not screaming.”

A beat.

“You should be screaming.” Her grin twisted, breaking into something brittle and sharp. “Lucky for you, I’m in a great mood. Almost killed a council. Almost got killed myself. Almost killed y—”

She stopped mid-sentence, head jerking sideways. Someone whispered in her ear. No one was there. Jinx’s smile dropped into a twitch.

“…Shut up. I know what I’m doing.”

She blinked back at the stranger, eyes glassy but electric.

“Congratulations. You didn’t rat me out. You get to keep your… everything.” Finally, she let go of their collar. But she didn’t back up. Didn’t relax. Didn’t blink. She just tilted her head like a feral cat trying to decide whether the thing in front of her was prey, threat, or possible entertainment.

“…So,” she murmured, tapping her temple with a trembling finger, “who’re you supposed to be?” And beneath the words, the voices hissed:

“Don’t trust them.”

“They’ll leave you.”

“Just like she did.”