Chapter 22: Chapter 21 5 Star Wanted Level

The Undercity was in turmoil, Enforcers flooded the streets and interrogated those they found suspicious which was everyone in the street, be it man, woman or child.

This was something that would never happen in Piltover, but down here, Enforcers could care less about the people's rights. They were rough and didn't hesitate to strike those who resisted with their metal batons, knowing there was no consequence if they were to do so.

Afraid of being discovered, Art avoided the enforcers on the way to Vander’s pub, The Last Drop, parkouring up in the buildings. He could have used [Telekinesis Magic] to fly, but the chances of someone spotting him were high and he didn't want to waste any mana, especially in the Undercity. 

Soon, he arrived and descended the alleyways near the Last Drop. He made his way to the pub and entered as he was able to immediately notice the tense atmosphere instantly.

It was obvious people were angered by what was happening outside. Enforcers were wreaking havoc everywhere and acting like these streets were theirs.

"We should hit them back," Sevika, the bronze-skinned woman Art saw at the tournament, slammed the table hard and glared at Vander with determination. "We've got the numbers to beat them."

"Yeahhh!" Someone agreed, riling up the crowd. "Let's teach them what it means to mess with us."

Meanwhile, this was happening, Art looked around the room and felt relieved as he spotted the gang standing by the basement door. He silently walked towards them and stood beside Ekko. "Yo Little Man, what's going on here?" he whispered. "Are they planning to go to war or something?"

"The people want to fight the enforcers, but Vander doesn't want to since he..." Ekko replied, but he covered his mouth upon realising something he shouldn't have said.

However, it was already too late to cover up his mistake.

"Since what?" Violet interrupted after overhearing Ekko. "He hasn't said anything about not fighting back."

As soon as Violet said this, Vander, who was listening to his people's complaints, spoke up. "You sure that's what you want?" he said to the crowd and the more he spoke, Violet realised Ekko was right and knew something they didn't.

Just like what Ekko had said, Vander did not want to fight and wanted to wait things out, much to everyone's disappointment.

Violet and the gang were obviously bewildered and angry with his decision. They had become orphans after their parents were killed by enforcers, they grew up in the streets being oppressed by enforcers, and it was only natural they wanted to fight.

On the other hand, Art was actually delighted by this as war would only lead to the deaths of too many people in the Undercity, especially against Enforcers who had the backing of the eight ruling clans. He knew for a fact that if the enforcers weren't enough, the eight clans had enough money to hire an army to crush the Undercity uprising.

"You know something, don't you?" Violet squinted her eyes. "Spill it, Ekko."

"Um..." Ekko hesitated, but under Violet's gaze, he caved in. "Oh, okay. Well, um, Vander's got a deal with the Enforcers."

"What deal?" Violet said in surprise.

"I don't think I can say it here. Someone might overhear," Ekko cautiously looked around the room. "Let's go down in the basement first."

Having said that, the gang walked down the stairs and entered the basement. Art, being the last one to enter the room, closed the door, sat on the stairs near the entrance and listened to what Ekko had to say along with the others. After all, he was part of the robbery, and he was partly responsible for causing this mess.

"So, what do you know?" Violet asked, sitting down on the only single-seater sofa in the room. 

"I, I saw him talking to an enforcer at Benzo's," replied Ekko. "Apparently, Vander has a deal to keep our people away from up top and the Enforcers stay out of his business."

"What! He's made a deal with him!" Mylo exclaimed. "You can't be serious, right?"

"I'm only telling you guys what I saw," Ekko replied.

"I'll talk to Vander later," Violet rubbed her temples. "Let's just stay here for now. The enforcers are still everywhere looking for us."

"If that’s the case, shouldn’t we go to the hideout?" Art asked. "Isn't it safer over there?"

"We can't," Powder replied while playing with her bombs in her bed. "We were there before, but those bastards managed to find where we were and ransacked the place. Thankfully they found nothing on us and let us go.“

“That’s good to hear,” Art breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Yeah, but, we shouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place,” Mylo glared at Powder. “If it weren’t for her, none of this would have...”

“Just drop it, Mylo. You've said enough,” Violet interrupted as Powder couldn’t be blamed entirely for this mess.

Sure Powder did cause the explosion, but that was one out of the thousands of factors and decisions leading up to their current situation. It wasn’t just Powder’s fault but everybody's. 

It was Violet's fault for taking them into a dangerous job without a proper plan, Mylo's fault for his constant verbal abuse causing Powder's self-esteem to go down, Claggor's fault for just being silent, Ekko's fault for his tip and Art's fault being distracted at the wrong moment.

People were just looking for someone to blame, especially Mylo who had the biggest mouth out of all of them and who didn’t know when to shut up.

“But…” Mylo protested. 

“Mylo!” Violet shouted, startling everyone. “Just don’t, please. I’ve already got enough in my mind.”

Silence descended after Violet’s outburst. The gang looked at each other for a moment and as if coming to understanding, everyone went about to do their own things.

Art got up from where he sat and went over to Powder and Ekko. He didn't want to disturb Violet who was thinking to herself, nor did he want to bother Mylo and Claggor who were relaxing.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" asked Art.

The two kids looked up. "Ekko's helping me with my bombs," Powder replied a little bit down. 

Seeing this, Art sat beside Powder and Ekko comforted her. "Don’t let whatever Mylo said get to you," he said. "He's just being a dick as usual."

"Thanks, Art," Powder smiled warmly.

"Now, how about I help you with these?" replied Art. "I know a thing or two about making bombs."

***

Marcus graduated at the top of his class at the Golden Way Academy and has always been overzealous in acting on his duties as an enforcer. He worked hard for years and was promoted to the position of captain in the Piltover Wardens due to his hard work.

He was even recognised by Sheriff Grayson, whom he considered a great leader and someone who should be respected, so much so that he's put her on a pedestal of appreciation and will now attempt to follow in her footsteps.

It was the same for Sheriff Grayson, she had high hopes for the kid as she was getting old and wanted to have a capable successor before she retires. However, like most of the enforcers in the Piltover Wardens, he looked down on the people of the undercity due to his prejudice against them.

And so when Marcus learned of the explosion that happened in the city, it was only natural for him to get a little bit worked up.

In his eyes this wasn't something to treat lightly, not only was it a robbery but it was also a terrorist attack that could have injured or killed people.

Marcus joined Sheriff Grayson in investigating, hoping to capture the ones responsible. The two enforcers went down to the undercity and met the leader of the undercity, Vander, the Hound of the Underground. He already knew of Grayson's deal with Vander; a deal to maintain the peace between their districts, but, he did not care about their deal and was simply there to get the job done.

Marcus tried to interrogate Vander, but Grayson stopped him and told him to go outside, disbelief evident on his face as she would rather side with a lowlife than her fellow officer.

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Still, he did what he was told as she was his superior and waited. But when she came out, she only shook her head before the two left the undercity with not a single clue to the fugitives, much to his disappointment.

As a result, the Council were disappointed and pressured the two enforcers to do whatever it took to find the fugitives.

Grayson, however, still wanted to do things peacefully, but Marcus was young and foolish. He could not wait and set off on his own to look for the fugitives. He ordered his men to be more aggressive with the resident of the undercity, yet, it was to no avail.

It was only when a pale and skinny middle-aged man invited him, that Marcus had a clue about the location of the fugitives.

In an old run-down pier building, Marcus walked through the big building and stepped on something that crunched under his feet. The purple veins that covered the floor made a disembodied scream, he followed the veins with his gaze which lead him to a door with more veins covering the wall and floor. 

At that moment, someone walked through the door and it happens to be Silco. He started walking to the Enforcer with his hands behind his back.

“First time I've been invited to the lanes. It better be worth my time." Marcus said with his mask on.

“Ah, you see, that's your weakness, Marcus,” Silco said walking to the Enforcer known as Marcus. "You carry your chin so high, you fail to see the opportunity below."

"Who are you?" Marcus asked, concerned.

"You're looking for five children. The ones running circles around Piltover's finest.” Silco said walking circles around Markus.

"What about it?" Markus asked.

"Don't look so concerned. I'm about to make your day." Silco said with a grin on his face...

*** 

A few hours later.

The moment Art learned how to read and write the languages of Runeterra, he began to read books about science, technology, engineering, history, and basically anything about this world in his free time.

Knowledge was power and he thought so as well, but this was not the reason why he began reading.

The reason was simple; even with training with magic and martial arts, and spending time with his parents and Ezreal, there had been too much time in his hands without the internet.

As such, whenever he had the time, Art would read to pass the time. It was either that or be forced to play with the toys his parents bought for him. He could do nothing about this, after all, he was in another world. He was able to get accustomed to reading and sometimes would have fun doing so.

Because of this, Art aced every test in school and was treated as a super genius since he was a baby, especially when he learned to read and write at an early age.

Zalie and Lilah were proud of him and loved to brag to their friends about their genius son, talking non-stop about his achievements.

Art could understand where they were coming from. It was shocking for a 9-year-old child learning university knowledge level, however, he knew better than himself that he was no genius.

In terms of talent, Powder and Ekko's talent compared to him was quite high. He was only knowledgeable after reading so many books and older in mental age. It was people like Powder and Ekko who could build bombs or vehicles out of scraps without any prior education were the ones that deserve to be called genius.

Art was further reminded of this when he was dismantling Powder's bomb. The fact she could create such an elaborate yet crude design at a young age with no education was a testament to her overwhelming talent.

"If only she were born in Piltover," sighed Art. 

He found it unfortunate that those idiots on the topside, the Council, were treating the people of the Undercity like trash. It was even more clear now that he saw such treatment in person.

"What's wrong?" asked Powder, watching Art tinkering with her bomb in his hands.

"Nothing, I was just thinking to myself," Art smiled while patting her head before handing her the bomb, the two accidentally touching hands. "Anywhere, here, this was the only one I managed to fix since the fuse was the only problem. As for the others, we'll need other parts."

Powder's face turned red after receiving the bombs. "H-How about we go and buy them together?"

"Sur--"

Clang! Clang! Clang! 

Art was interrupted by the cymbal monkey on the shelf. It started to move on its own. Its beady eyes glowed red as it started to walk towards the edge of the shelf and its hand carrying cymbals started to clap repeatedly, making a metal clanking noise. 

"Quick, hide!" Violet shouted in a whisper while the cymbal monkey fell to the floor. "Enforcers are coming."

The gang quickly scattered and went to hide in their respective spots, followed by Violet who turned off the lights to the room and climbed the pipes in the ceiling to hide.

A few seconds later, the door opened with a bang and three Enforcers entered the room.

Hiding in the ceiling pipes with Powder, Art's heart began to beat rapidly. He looked at the Enforcers down below scouring the room with flashlights, surprised at how incompetent these guys were doing their jobs.

It looked like they weren't even trying at all. 

This was a good thing, but for some reason, Art felt a little disappointed. Have these guys never played hide and seek before? At least try looking up, he shook his head, seeing the Enforcers were about to leave. 

"Mmmm..." 

It was at that moment, that Art and the rest of the gang noticed Powder holding onto a pipe for her dear life, slowly losing her grip and was about to fall. He sighed and got ready to use his magic to save the silly girl from getting caught. It was either that or risk everyone getting caught.

Thankfully, Powder was able to hold on a little while longer, just enough for the Enforcers to leave the room and shut the door behind them. "Ahhh," she lost her grip on the pipe and fell onto the floor, face first.

Seeing this, Art jumped down from the big pipe he was sitting on, offering his hand to help Powder to stand on her feet. "You okay?" 

She grabbed Art’s hand and pulled herself up. "Yeah, thanks."

“That must’ve hurt,” Art replied while turning on the lights. 

With the room lit up, the rest of the gang got out of their hiding spot, and it wasn’t long before Vander entered the room with a worried expression on his face. "Are you all okay?" he asked, his gaze scanning the gang.

"No, we're not okay," Violet replied bluntly. "They almost saw Powder. What if they took her?"

"No one is taking any of you. Never let that happen," Vander reassured.

"It's already happening. You heard him, they won't stop. We need to fight back," Violet raised her voice, smashing her fist against the wall, scaring the gang a little. "And if you won't. I will." 

Vander sighed. "I've heard this kind of talk before," he said solemnly. “Vi we need to talk.”

He then turned to Art and Ekko. "You two head home early,” he said. “Stay low for a while and wait for all of this to settle down."