Marvel: Playing Iron Man, Falling In and Out of Love with Jinx

"Waaah!!"

Neeko's heartbroken wails echoed in Duke's ears. He tilted his head slightly, as if his usually sharp mind had just short-circuited.

Neeko... got dumped?

She got dumped?

She got dumped!!!

Did someone actually snatch the cabbage I've been growing in my private garden?

Duke instinctively reached for his twin pistols, the Ebony and Ivory, his hand trembling slightly as he drew them. With a deep breath, he forced a smile, but his eyes were cold.

This can't be forgiven.

I'm going to drown that bastard in the sea and feed him to the fishes!

And I don't mean the kind the Octonauts can rescue in time!

"What happened, what's going on?"

Hearing the noise from the kitchen, Sarah barged in, fully suited in her fitted battle armor, scanning the room quickly.

"Sarah-jie, Neeko's heartbroken!"

"Huh?!"

"I'm gonna find that jerk and sink him to the bottom of the ocean!"

Duke's grip on his gun trembled violently, veins popping across the back of his hand. He looked absolutely furious.

"Calm down, calm down! You don't even know who it is! Who exactly do you plan on tossing into the ocean?"

Duke took a deep breath. His frozen brain finally started booting back up, quickly rewinding through the past two days to analyze everyone Neeko had interacted with.

...Then it hit him.

Oh. Right.

Neeko's actually a yuri girl.

That's canon. Even Riot's designers said she's the first confirmed lesbian champion. All of Duke's anger vanished in an instant.

If he hadn't picked her up at the docks, in the normal timeline, Neeko would have boarded a ship to Ixtal, where she'd eventually meet Nidalee and share a beautiful life together.

It's only after receiving a dream visitation from her late tribal elder that Neeko would resume her journey, hoping to rebuild a new Oovi-Kat tribe, a community where Vastaya, Yordles, humans, and all beings with kindred spirits could dream together as one family.

Having thought this through, Duke wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Turns out no one had plucked his precious cabbage after all.

But if that's the case, then what had caused this breakdown?

Holstering his guns, Duke knelt down and gently patted Neeko's head. "Neeko, can you tell me exactly what happened? Start from the beginning."

"Neeko's favorite cheesecake got eaten... Neeko lost the thing she loved most... Neeko's heartbroken!"

...

Duke's mouth twitched.

Maybe when they get back to Piltover, he should send this kid to school.

Forget the lisp, just the way she strings sentences together is going to cause international incidents one day.

"I seriously thought something big happened... it's just that? We can always bake another one!" Sarah chuckled, shaking her head. It had been so long since she'd seen a girl this pure and adorable.

"Someone ate the cake?" Duke looked at the empty mixing bowl. It was supposed to contain Neeko's freshly baked cheesecake.

Now, only a thin layer of crumbs clung to the bottom.

But that wasn't all, on the table were two soggy strands of seaweed and a fish, belly up, eyes rolled back.

Now that's interesting.

A theory started forming in Duke's mind.

He immediately activated EDITH, his AI assistant, to scan the scene for evidence.

With EDITH's help, the faintest traces invisible to the naked eye came into focus.

The floor was covered with water droplets, yet they weren't random, more like webbed footprints, the kind frogs might leave behind.

The trail started from a water jar in the corner and led directly to the table.

Duke opened the jar and peered into the now-cloudy water, eyes narrowing thoughtfully.

"I think I know who the culprit is."

"You know?!" asked Sarah, still cradling Neeko in her arms.

Duke gave a mysterious grin. "Ever heard of Bilgewater's Four Terrifying Legends?"

"You mean...?"

Sarah's face went pale. Her lips began to tremble.

For anyone born and raised in Bilgewater, those four names were nightmares made real.

"No need to look that scared," Duke muttered.

"But those are horror stories!" Sarah argued. "Every tale ends in tragedy. No true Bilgewater native ever wants to meet any of them!"

"What are you guys talking about?" Neeko asked, still lying on Sarah's soft chest. Her scent was comforting enough to distract her from the trauma of a missing cake.

"Wanna hear a spooky story?" Duke asked with a grin.

"Neeko wants to hear! Neeko loves stories!"

"Alright then, gather around."

Duke wiped the table dry and gestured for Sarah and Neeko to sit closer.

"There are four terrifying legends in Bilgewater:

Nautilus, the Titan of the Depths;

Pyke, the Bloodharbor Ripper;

Tahm Kench, the River King;

and today's uninvited guest, Fizz, the Tidal Trickster!"

"You mean the one who stole Neeko's cake was that mischievous little fish guy?!" Sarah's jaw dropped in disbelief.

Fizz was a trickster and a menace. Even among the four legends, no one in Bilgewater dared mess with him.

What made him truly dangerous wasn't just his pranks, it was the chaos they caused.

Give your tribute to Nautilus one moment, and Fizz might fish it back out and throw it at your feet the next, causing Nautilus to come after you for betrayal.

Throw it in, and he'll toss it out.

Throw it in again, and he'll toss it right back.

An infinite loop of sea-born disaster.

And because Fizz had been out of touch with the modern world for so long, his language was completely foreign. Not even modern Yordles could understand him.

Add his mischievous nature, and it was no surprise that he became one of Bilgewater's most feared legends.

"He's targeting our ship?" Sarah's voice trembled.

To her, this wasn't a joke.

Being followed by Fizz meant you couldn't pay the tithe, which meant you couldn't sail.

If you tried anyway, Nautilus would show up and smash your ship to pieces.

That's why Sarah looked so grim.

"Relax, no need to freak out," Duke said calmly. "Fizz just wants to play. As long as you don't show fear, and avoid setting sail for a bit, he'll lose interest and leave."

"But he's still one of the terror legends!"

Duke rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but would you rather have Pyke tailing you instead?"

Fizz might be a headache, but Pyke? That's a death sentence.

"So what's the plan? We can't just sit around forever. If we can't pay the tithe, we can't sail. And without sailing, your whole transformation plan for Bilgewater falls apart!"

Sarah had been considering Duke's mercenary-city transformation plan, if Hexgate expansion succeeded, Bilgewater would either thrive or collapse. This moment was critical.

"I'll come up with something."

Duke pulled out a sub-drone from his Hive Drone system. Equipped with cloaking and hover capabilities, it was ideal for stealth missions.

"That weird gadget you used to ambush Gangplank... you think it can drive Fizz away?"

"Drive him away? Who said that?"

Duke smirked. "Why not talk to him instead?"

"Talk?! The guy mumbles weird stuff and cackles like a maniac! Who could even understand him?!"

Duke didn't respond directly.

Instead, he turned to look at Neeko.

Neeko could absorb the essence, or "code", of any living being and understand them.

In theory, that meant she could communicate with anyone, no matter how alien their language.

"You mean... Neeko could do it?"

"She's a natural. She can shapeshift into anyone, and communicate on a spiritual level."

"Neeko," Duke said gently, "show Sarah what you can do."

"Okay!" Neeko chirped.

She leaned in, hugged Sarah, and took a light breath, then shimmered and shifted into a perfect copy of her.

Sarah blinked at the doppelgänger in disbelief. She examined the clone carefully.

Not even a flaw.

"You're saying..."

"If Neeko can absorb Fizz's code, she might be able to talk to him. Maybe even make friends."

After all, Fizz had once slumbered in grief after losing his civilization. He only recently awakened.

That grief made his mind hard to reach, and his speech completely detached from modern understanding.

But Duke had Neeko, his secret translator, his bridge to the unknown.

End of chapter...

To be continued...

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