Reconnaissance Renaissance

The two mad geniuses spent the next hour or so examining the gun using Viktor's lab equipment - scanning it for radio waves and particle emissions, x-raying it to get an idea of its interior, and testing its beam against various non-organic targets. Unfortunately, their tests yielded very few usable results - while the device undoubtedly had some sort of magical power source, it didn't appear to be Hextech, nor did it seem to interact with anything other than living things. Briefly, Jinx considered zapping Viktor with it, to see if his "glorious evolution" would make a difference, but as soon as he noticed her staring he shot that idea down.

One thing they did not do, however, was dare to take it apart - at least, not until they were sure they'd be able to put it back together. "Right now, this thing is our best advantage against whoever's after it," Jinx had said. "And until we know we can reproduce it, I ain't about to lose that advantage." However, with their tests limited to the observative type, the unlikely duo found themselves stumped as to how to proceed.

"I could just go and zap Jayce, get his mind to tell us how it works?" Jinx suggested, sprawled out on a dusty old couch that Viktor had forgotten he had.

"Unwise," Viktor replied, using his third arm to spin himself idly on a rotating stool. "He'll be under careful observation by our foes, especially now that your tracking chip has been deactivated."

"Hrmm..." Jinx groaned, twirling the gun in her hand. "Well I kinda wanna zap someone - can't explain it, but I'm starting to feel... naked spending this long as myself, and ol' big hat is... what's the word? Compromised?" Suddenly, her head shot up. "Wait, shit! Someone's probably gonna notice by now that the freaking sheriff is missing!" Jumping from the couch, Jinx ran over to the old duffel bag, where Caitlyn's skin was still messily stuffed inside along with her clothes. "I gotta get her back topside before Vi tears the city apart - be back later, Vik!"

Viktor could only watch as she rushed out the door, before taking a deep breath with his mechanical lungs and shaking his head. "Ugh... youth."

Jinx darted across the rooftops, grateful that the setting sun was giving her the cover of darkness, while also panicking that the setting sun meant that it wouldn't be long before Vi got concerned about Caitlyn's whereabouts. Finally, she was able to make it back to the Enforcer HQ unnoticed, and took a brief moment to catch her breath on the roof before climbing down to Caitlyn's office window, which she had luckily remembered to leave unlatched. Peering inside, she breathed out a sigh of relief that no one had broken down the door, and quickly slipped inside before anyone saw The Loose Cannon hanging on outside the Enforcer HQ.

Once inside, Jinx quickly took Caitlyn's skin out of the bag, and turned it around to stuff her own head inside. She felt the now-familiar sensation of bones cracking and reforming to match the sheriff's facial structure, before opening her new sharp blue eyes. "Alright..." she murmured, her voice a strange blend of Caitlyn's and her own. "Let's give you some memories..." Jinx closed her eyes and concentrated, visualizing Caitlyn's mind as a ball of clay, ready to be reshaped. Carefully, she started to form new memories in the sheriff's mind - covering up the blank spots where she had been left deflated, smoothing over the rough edges where Jinx had broken character a bit, and copying over some inconspicuous past memories of working late to come up with a story for why she had spent so long at work. "Sorry, Vi," Jinx could picture Caitlyn saying in a few hours. "I suppose I got caught up in paperwork and ended up dozing off at my desk for a bit... Perhaps you're right, maybe I should take a short vacation."

Opening her eyes, Jinx curled Caitlyn's lips into one final smile before inhaling... and pulling the other woman's face from her own, exhaling out back through her own mouth. "Thanks for the ride, big hat. I'd never say this to your face, but... I don't hate how happy you make Vi." Laying her deflated skin out on the chair, Jinx bent down to start pulling her crumpled clothes out of the bag, before grumbling, "Just wish you didn't have to make my life so annoying while ya did it..."

A few minutes later, Jinx had managed to get Caitlyn dressed... or at least, her clothes were hanging loosely off of her hollow flesh. "And now..." Jinx muttered, raising the costume gun - and firing, watching the beam strike Caitlyn and immediately start to inflate her once more. As she took form, Jinx reached around to adjust a few parts of her outfit, not wanting anything to be too suspicious when she woke up, until finally Sheriff Caitlyn Kiramman sat asleep in her desk chair, looking not at all like she had just been carried around in a duffel bag all night.

"Welp! So long, toots!" Jinx said, clapping her hands together before picking up the gun and now-empty bag and making for the window. As she made her way back up to the roof, she kept a silent countdown in her head, and a smirk broke out on her face once she heard a familiar voice let out a sleepy groan below her. "About a minute to wake up... good thing to note." Clambering up onto the roof, Jinx turned around and peered back over the edge, seeing a gloved hand reach out to shut the window she had just vacated. She chuckled, before striding over to the front of the building and leaning against a nearby pillar. A short time later, she watched from above as Caitlyn walked out the front door, her rifle slung over her back and a hand rubbing the side of her head. "Say hey to Vi for me, 'Cupcake'!"

Before she could leave, however, something caught Jinx's attention. As Caitlyn started walking down the street towards her and Vi's apartment, someone wearing a hood who had been leaning against the side of the building started walking quickly towards her. Instead of drawing any weapons, though, the figure simply brushed up against her, and Jinx felt a shiver run down her spine as Caitlyn stopped walking and shuddered briefly. "No way..." she thought, and her fears were confirmed when Caitlyn turned to look around... and Jinx could see even from her high vantage point that her eyes were glowing purple.

Jinx quickly crouched down to hide behind the pillar, and pulled a small set of binoculars from her belt. Zooming in on Caitlyn, she watched as the sheriff's eyes darted around, before a very un-Caitlyn grin spread across her face. "Clever girl..." she said (and Jinx was once again grateful she'd learned to read lips), before the not-Caitlyn shut her eyes and another shudder overtook her. When her eyes opened again, they were once again back to Caitlyn's blue, and she briefly furrowed her brow in confusion, before turning to continue walking down the street.

"Well... shit."

Viktor let out a sigh as he finally finished cleaning up his lab. "Tonight was supposed to be a quiet night... a nice drink, catch up on my stories, maybe a new augment or two... but no, that ball of mayhem just had to come barging in..." he groaned as he collapsed into a chair, already feeling his batteries - both biological and lithium-ion - getting low. "I must admit, though, this new toy of her is interesting... I wonder if she might let me borrow it for some further research at some point. As long as it's not tonig-"

"Vik!" the door slammed open, a gust of wind sending various blueprints flying onto the floor once more as Jinx strode back in, and Viktor felt his headache immediately return. "Sorry I'm late, had a couple things to take care of."

"...No, please. Come in. I've been waiting ever so patiently for your return." Viktor said, mustering as much sarcasm as he could into his metallic voice.

"Glad to hear it!" Jinx replied with a grin - either missing his tone entirely, or just not caring - and hoisted the same old duffel bag onto a table. "So listen, I gotta go take care of something else, and might not be back for a bit-"

"Oh no. What a shame."

"- buuuuuuuuuut I didn't want to leave you with nothing, so I grabbed a couple people off the street for you to play with!" That got Viktor's attention, as he finally sat up to look into the bag. Indeed, though the Sheriff's skin was no longer in there, Viktor could see in its place a couple of other skins stuffed together. "Grabbed a factory worker, some drunk guy, and I'm pretty sure this guy's a shimmer addict - thought you might want some variety." Jinx continued, pointing to each skin in turn.

"Hmm... yes, I suppose I could do some tests on them to look for signs of magic." Viktor said, the sarcasm finally gone from his voice. "Though are you sure you will not leave me with the device itself?"

"Sorry, tinhead!" Jinx smirked, twirling the gun around her fingers. "I'm gonna be needing it for now - might not be able to get inside Golden Boy's head, but I did have a couple of ideas about other people who might know a thing or two about Noxian benefactors... gonna see what I can learn from them."

Viktor sighed, but couldn't deny she had a point. Though he would like to study the device itself, learning more about its origins could be just as beneficial. "...Very well. I... wish you luck."

"Aw, thanks buddy!" Jinx smiled, before turning and skipping back out of Viktor's lab, leaving him once again alone with his thoughts, a mess of papers, and now... a bag full of skins.

"Well then... let us begin."

Jinx chuckled to herself as she jumped across the rooftops of Zaun, for the first time all day confident that she might actually be able to pull this off. She'd successfully given this mind-controlling mage the slip, convinced Mr. Glorious Evolution to help her out, and soon enough, she hoped to have a lead or two as to who exactly was pulling the strings behind the 'Man of Tomorrow'.

"And here... we... are," she muttered, coming to a stop outside of one of the only buildings in Zaun with actual security. She scanned up and down the building, looking for potential entry points, until the sound of a door caught her attention, and she looked down to see some random security guard stepping out into a side alley and lighting up a smoke. "Well... don't mind if I do!" she grinned, and before she jumped down took one last glance up at the neon sign on the side of the building - Glasc Industries.