Interlude 4: The Mentors

Miss Irine

Irine stretched as she finished the last of her work for today. The budget for the month was finished, things were scheduled and letters to the parents written in advance. The small pile of paper and stack of letters littering her heavy iron desk was illuminated by her trusty desk lamp, the only source of light in her cold dark office. Placing down her pen, she flexed the aching joints of her wrist as she sighed out in relief. A nice relaxing cup of tea should help keep her awake as there were still a lot of things to check.

She leaned back against her swivel chair, loving the soft padding and the comfortable armrest, as she turned to the table beside her. It was filled with trophies and nicknacks from various other places yet the one that always catches her eyes was the broken shell of an orb sitting just beside her teapot.

Making sure her tea was still warm, she poured herself a cup of the wonderful fragrant drink and added in a very generous helping of milk and honey. She breathed in the scent, letting it fill her lungs before taking a sip. With how sweet it was, it was better described as milk with tea rather than tea with milk but that’s how she liked things.

Her eyes wandered back to her table, seeing a letter from one of her favorite students. The image of the boy's distinct long locks of hair still filled her with amusement with how silky and shiny it was. It seemed that he was looking for more lessons concerning his magic. It was fun teaching someone so eager about it. The lack of fear and the sheer wonder in their eyes, though their damn consequence free attitude about magic should be fixed. There was no restraint there.

She felt a yawn bubble up from her chest, eyes feeling heavy. Glancing at the clock, she only noticed now that it was already getting quite late. It was difficult to tell what time it was in the undercity with the near eternal night shrouding Zaun.

The shadows of her office danced as the lights of her desk lamp flickered for a bit. She needed to get that one topped up lest she’ll be forced to use the lights from her office. The school’s budget was already strained enough, best not to waste more money lest she had to contact the main office. Speaking to the main office meant that she needed to speak to Her.

It was then she smelt an ever so familiar scent of fragrant smoke of a pipe spreading across her room. Speaking of the devil, here she comes. Turning back to her desk, she reached down and pulled on the lowermost cabinet to reveal an ornate mirror inside. Retrieving the object, she held it in front of her and looked back at her reflection.

Unlike the other more magical things in her office, the mirror lacked any hint of magic. Neither spark nor glow emanated from the object and not even a hint of mana could be discerned but that didn't stop her when she wanted a chat. Slowly, her reflection was obscured by a fog and nothing but the outline of her face could be seen as the fog rippled and swirled inside.

Before long, her benefactor finally arrived. Like curtains parting, the smoke revealed a familiar face within. Her infuriating, taunting smile greeted her as she looked into the mirror. “Irene! It’s been so long, how’s Zaun treating you my dear?”. Mistress Leblanc was still as flawless as of the day she left the academy. She was the envy of all the students of the Black Rose academy.

Irine was many things. To her students she’s the scary principle that all delinquents learned to fear while to her student’s parents, she was a hard working immigrant who strived to give their children a future. In truth, she was more than your average educator. While she was all of the above, she was also an agent of the Black Rose.

Being an educator was merely a role she became accustomed to. It was a useful facade, a relaxing one even for there was barely any mask to hide her true self. Maybe it was her true face, yet things could get blurry after growing up in the snake pit that was the Black Rose academy.

“It’s been only a week since I had my last report, mistress…” She replied exasperatedly but her mistress acted as if it's been ages since they last talked.

Mistress Leblanc chortled at her reply. “Oh don’t be like that dear, you know you can always call me Leblanc.”

“Of course mistress.” Seeing her mistress pout was always jarring despite how often she does it. It was always unnerving seeing her like this.

“Then again, you were always the responsible one. Being an educator does seem to suit you well...” She added as Irene felt her superiors eyes on her, judging her. The oppressive weight of her stare was soon lifted as her mistress then asked, “Well enough chit chat for now. What’s the current situation in Zuan and Piltover?”

“Zaun has been restless ever since the Vereza’s made a move against one of the young upstarts Barons. The uncovering of illegal void research only further justified their act.”

“Illegal void research you say? That is quite juicy gossip.” Irene’s brow twitched at that. She was intel gathering, they were not gossip mongering…

“The Piltovan’s, of course, are getting a bit nosy about it but they didn’t pry into things with how swiftly the incident was resolved. A void monster was unleashed in one of Zaun’s districts but it was swiftly taken care of.” Irene felt the ghost of a smile on her cheeks at who exactly killed the beast.

“Ohhh, is that a smile I see~? Come on, spill! You know who this hero is don’t you~?” Her mistressed asked as she leaned in closer.

“It was one of my students. You might remember him from my report several weeks ago.”

“Nooo, you’re not suggesting it's that boy are you? The one you mistook for a girl?”

“That would be him, mistress.” Irene replied with no small measure of pride.

“It’s such a shame that we moved far too late on that one. Still, the situation can be salvaged. From what you’ve sent last time, you’ve only taught him the basics. Make sure you teach him some of the Academy’s techniques but don’t go overboard with it.” She replied. It was times like this that Irene questioned why Leblanc wanted reports when she had this uncanny ability to know things before she even tells her.

“Yes mistress.” I was already going to teach the boy. This only made it more official.

“Hmm, you said he had sisters right dear?” Irene frowned a bit but she merely nodded as she couldn’t lie to her. She wanted to, but it was an exercise of futility. “Be sure to keep an eye on them. I have a feeling that we might have some use of them in the future. Maybe one of them is just as gifted as he is.”

With those words, the image on the mirror faded away leaving Irene alone once more. It was only then that she could finally breathe out a sigh of relief. Turning her attention to the boy's letter, she leaned back on her chair as she opened it and read it once more. “You sure do live in interesting times Mr. Ark.”

Vander

Vander stared back at the scarred reflection as sweat dribbled down his form. His hands clad in iron as he raised his guard high. Rapid jabs, hooks and crosses shot out to an imaginary enemy. He weaved against the imaginary claws of his opponent, almost feeling the razor sharp claws up against the old scars running from his shoulders and down his biceps with each punch.

He kept going, pushing himself until the ringing bells of the clock ran out. It was only after the timer rang did he finally eased up and let his hands down. The heavy weight of his gloves never get lighter, all he can do was keep himself in shape so he can raise them up when he needed too

“Milo, get some fresh towels will you?” He asked as he pulled a hand free from his glove and grabbed a bottle of water to drink.

“Can’t Claggor do it?” Milo asked as he went off to fetch some. Even facing away from the two and amidst the cacophony that was his gym and the bar connected to it, he could still hear the two bickering. Why it’s not that hard to imagine them already making faces at each other. They’ll grow out of it… eventually.

Vanders ears perked up as he heard the bell attached to the door rings. Turning to the door, he greeted the couple that entered his gym. There entered a blonde kid with wings? And a redheaded girl with tattoos of roses in her neck. What a curious pair he thought to himself.

“Welcome to the Till the Last Round gym, what can I do for you?” The momentary flinch by the two made Vander blink.

The momentary look of fear was all too hard to miss. They were looking at the terrible scars on his face and body but at his face. He snorted at that as he then asked them. “I guess you met my brother?”

“You can say that.” The redhead replied as she absent mindedly reached for her stomach. Vander nodded, as he gestured for them to follow him to the desk at the back of the gym. The two followed suit.

“Did you kick his teeth in when you last met him?” Vander asked jokingly as he placed down his heavy iron gloves on the old scratch up wooden desk before sitting down. He reached for his pipe as well as the forms for them to fill up for a proper membership. “Now where are those forms…” he muttered as he rummaged through the drawers.

“He’s... dead” The blonde replied as he and the girl sat down in front of him. That got Vander to pause for a bit just as he was about to grab the proper forms. He looked back at them, his eyes gazing at the two before he focused on the blonde one before he looked away. The hardness in eyes told him all he needed to know. Vander took in a deep breath as he leaned back on the chair and grabbed a match for his pipe instead.

Lighting his pipe, he took a light puff before letting it out. “It… was bound to happen. Don’t blame you on that one. He can be a right prick…” He sighed out as heavy weight seemed to set on his shoulder. His hands tracing at the scars in his forearm

The girl snorted at that as she said “You can say that. For someone related to him, you don’t sound that upset.” All Vander had to do was point at the scars running across his face, the ones that almost took out his eye. “Point.” she conceded.

There was silence between them for a while as Vander took his time to process it all in. The frown on his face soon gave way to a sad smile as he then asked. “Well, let bygones be bygones. I assume you two want a membership?”

“Well, it’s more my girlfriend here but I wouldn’t mind one as well.” The boy replied as he reached out for the redhead's hands.

‘Kids these days’ Vander resisted rolling his eyes at the too lovey dovey couple as he reached out for the forms and gave them. “Now, that’ll be a fee of…” he made his usual spiel about the price as well as the perks, “Membership would entail you access to the heated showers as well as a 10% discount on my other shop, the Till the Last Drop bar just beside here.”

The two looked at each other before nodding. “Heated showers?” The girl asked as the two started filling out the forms. The golden glint of a ring on her hand was not too hard to miss. He had to reiterate things. ‘Kids these days indeed.’

“That makes the membership worth it.” Vander smirked at that. Nobody could resist the heated showers. While he was waiting for them to finish things, his attention was called by Milo who finally got the towels he asked for earlier

“Umm, Vander… there’s an old lady asking for you. She has scary guards.” he said. Vander looked at the door behind the boy and found himself looking at an old familiar face.

“Excuse me for a second, an old friend of mine just visited. This shouldn’t take long.” Vander excuse himself as he wiped away the sweat from his brow. Exiting the gym and entering his bar, he was immediately greeted by the raucous atmosphere. Making his way past the new bartender he hired, Thieram, a good Zaunite lad if a bit skittish, who was busily making a drink for the old chem baroness, he greeted her as old friends do.

“Corina! Still as lovely as the day I left your district!” The woman smiled as her entourage stared at him for his gall.

“Vander, still as cheeky as ever I see.” Thieram poured her a drink as he sat down beside her. The elderly baroness then gestured for her entourage to go outside. One of them looked like she was about to protest but a stern look from the older woman had her remaining quiet as she and the rest of the guards went outside.

“That one needs more training.” Vander pointed out with a puff from his pipe.

“She’ll get used to it. She’s one of my newer enforcers.” Corina replied as she swirled her drink.

“You’re burning through them quite fast eh?”

“It’s not my fault they’re not made of sterner stuff. Lost her predecessor to that fight a few weeks ago.” She took a sip from the drink before nodding. “Not bad, here go get yourself something nice dear.” She took out a gold coin before tossing it over to Thieram. The boy was all too happy to accept the very generous tip as he pocketed it.

“Ahh yes. It caused quite the ruckus last time I heard about it. The lanes kept talking about it for almost a week. People do love a good story, especially of monsters and heroes. All I could hear was Owl this, lightning that.” Vander complained, throwing up his arms in exasperation.

“Saw two of your little flowers in my gym just now. Thought you only accepted girls but then again, that boy could pass off as one.” He joked, making her laugh out loud.

“Don’t let him hear that, he gets all pouty about it and no, he’s not one of my flowers and neither is the pink one. Far too crude that one is, but just the kind of crude that you could polish into a gem.” She replied with a chuckle before she looked back at him.

He grinned as he took a puff from his pipe. “I’ll see what I can do. It’s not every day you send a wayward charge to my gym.” His playful smile soon gave way to a more easy going and relaxed one as he leaned back.

“Chit chat aside, what brings you to the lanes. You know how people here like to remain neutral.” He replied as he gestured at some of the patrons who were scowling at her. Some looked away but others remained angry.

“The Barons are holding court about the recent incident. The lanes need a representative.” Corina downed the last bit of her drink before getting off her chair. As if on cue, her entourage came back.

“We’ll send someone there,” Vander replied with a shrug.

“We both know who’ll they send. They look up to you after all. After all, people do love the hero.”

Vander frowned as he looked away. “I was never the hero, just a poor bloke who had to do what he had to do.”

“I’m sorry for your loss by the way.” Corina snapped her fingers and her enforcer pulled out a box from her pack. She laid it down on the table. The arm length box laid there innocently, hiding a weapon he thought would never be parted from its owner. He took the heavy box, feeling the weight of it in his arms. With it in his hands, he stood up and the two parted ways.

Returning back to his gym, he was soon greeted by the sight of the pink one knocking a tooth out of Milo’s jaw in the ring. “You really need to stop flirting with every girl you see, Milo.” Clagor said with a grin on his face. “Who knows, they might be a boy!” He added with a laugh causing the blonde on the ring side to groan.

Vander sighed, rough indeed.

Viktor

As a Zaunite, Viktor learned from a young age that life is often full of disappointments. Things as they say can happen and not everything goes accordingly. One such instance of it was the letter in his hand. It was the last letter he received from his correspondence with a professor from above. They were promises of a post in the prestigious post in the University of Piltover, the home of progress itself, but they were merely promises.

It’d been months since they last wrote back. He wasn’t sure if they’ll ever write back at this point. Still, it was merely a setback. One must learn to push themselves back up after every fall and it’s not like he was out of options. Even if they called back, he wasn’t going to even bother. The papers of his students towered above him and they need grading after all.

Opening the fire box of his office’s heater, he tossed in the letter and watched it slowly burn to naught but dust and ash. Fitting with how his hopes turned to ashes in his mouth. Still, it was a reminder to him that not all promises would remain true.

“Skye, is there anything else on my schedule today?” He called out to his secretary/close confidant. She was the one that kept his schedule running perfectly while he devoted his time to tinkering and improving the various experimental designs he had on the lab.

“You have a meeting with your new apprenta and Viktor, please don’t scare them off this time.” Viktor rolled his eyes at the reminder.

“It’s not my fault they couldn’t handle a little blood.” He replied a bit weakly. It wasn’t that much blood in Viktors opinion

“Viktor, it was one of your experimental eyes. You were cutting a man’s head open while the man was still awake.”

“John was perfectly ok about it. He was even telling jokes to the class while we operated on him.” Viktor chuckled at the memory, remembering the jokes the factory worker told. “But I’ll make sure to handle them a bit more carefully this time . The Fredersen and the Vereza’s recommended the boy after all.” He added with a bit of distaste.

When his sponsor and a friend of theirs were pulling the strings, he couldn’t say no. He was treading on thin ice all of the sudden which was making him leery about this potential Apprenta. Zaun’s academy wasn’t so isolated from politics as they claim to be.

Now, it’s merely a matter of knowing what this apprenta would be like. “Do you think this Apprenta would be a pampered brat?” Viktor asked as he looked at the barebones files he had of the boy. He started reading it once more.

Ark of Clan Vereza, one of the Flower Baroness’s wards. No records of formal schooling yet scored a decent score in the entrance exams. Viktor frowned at that. Something wasn’t adding up. Was this boy homeschooled? He had asked around and he couldn’t find any rumors of bribery. It honestly rankled him. It was like one of those problems that one just couldn’t solve

Before his thoughts wandered off too far, he was soon notified that the source of his headache this morning finally came. “Viktor, he’s here.” Skye's voice called out as he heard the door close behind someone.

Placing the letter down, he sat up and went to greet this boy. What he found honestly made him all the more confused. The image of a pampered brat was torn down by a kid that looked more at home in the sumps than anywhere else. He also briefly questioned if the gender written on the boys files was wrong and what he got was in fact a girl.

The boy… wore ill-fitting clothes held together to his body by belts and buckles. His shirt and skirt? Were laundered and iron but there were still obvious signs of oil stains along with various signs of repairs. His boots were also a bit too big, probably something you can buy off a bargain bin. Then there were the boy’s wings. He knew Zuanite fashion could be wild but wings?

Viktor’s eyes were soon drawn on the boy's cheap prosthesis. They were barely functional ones though the lower part of his legs were of a weird design. They were not pillar like but curved. It was like he took a piece of metal and fashioned it in the shape of a bow and used it as a leg instead. It looked counter intuitive but there was a method to this madness as the prosthesis flexed and stretched as he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“You can run with those, can’t you?” Viktor said as he gestured at the boy’s foot.

The boy blinked as he replied, “Most people often asked me about my wings but yes Professor.” He then proceeded to demonstrate the freedom of mobility he had with it. Sure the thighs were a bit stiff considering his prosthesis was for his entire left leg but it was far superior than the plodding and heavy footed stomps of most prosthesis. Skye clapped at the display and soon enough, Viktor finds himself clapping as well.

“I must say that is quite ingenious.” Viktor said, appreciating the work on the device.

“It’s not really anything special. Just simple biomimicry, that’s all.” The boy said with a shrug.

Viktor had to admit, maybe he was wrong about the boy. Maybe there was potential in this one. “Ark, was it? Would you like it if I built you a replacement arm?” he asked. The boy's legs seemed to have gotten much of the boy's attention. It would be a shame if he had to be slowed down but something as simple as shoddily built arms.

“Yes but can I have one request for it, Professor?” The boy asked.

“I don’t see why not?” Viktor cautioned. Customization wouldn’t be a problem and might even better serve the user.

“Can you attach a retractable knife to it Professor?” As he asked that question, Viktor couldn’t help but laugh. It was honestly refreshing hearing such a childish request. People here forget that a child's mind can be quite a potent force.

“Yes Mr. Ark, we’ll give you a retractable blade. Before that, however, let me introduce myself.” Viktor said before extending his left hand. “My name is Viktor, Head of the Robotics division of the College. You can call me by my name inside my office but you must call me Sir or Professor outside.”

“Yes Si-Viktor.” He replied as he shook Viktors hand with a firm shake.