Luxurious Anarchy (Lux/Jinx)

Chapter 12: Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time

And, of course, let him slip backwards through time, keeping only the memory of future events. Experimentation was still ongoing, like exactly how far back he could go, if he could rewind the same few seconds multiple times, or what else he could do with it. Apparently, the fact he was playing with a fundamental element of life as he understood it and the caution such tinkering should entail took a backseat when he was drunk with a hot girl in his bed.

Zeri looked between the device and Ekko, her eyes glittering with excitement and curiosity, "Wanna test your guess?" she purred.

It was at that moment, as Ekko struggled against his rising D-Drive to calculate whether his dehydrated self could stand to lose any more fluids, the door to his room boomed open, smashing into the wall with enough force to crack the wood. Silhouetted by what was at least a late morning sun, framed by two ankle-length braids, and carrying her minigun, stood Jinx.

Ekko revved the Z-Drive as he heard the minigun spinning up, and for the third time in about as many minutes, slipped backwards through the timeline.

"-theory into practice?"

No longer quite as distracted by Zeri's provocative suggestion, Ekko could hear the stomp of combat boots on the wooden walkway up to his room. Sliding across the bed, Ekko bumped Zeri onto the floor, quickly following her down with Z-Drive in hand. Holding up one hand, Ekko shh'd Zeri, and hoped he wouldn't have to zip back through time yet again just to avoid getting shocked with one point two one gigavolts straight to his little man.

A second later, and his bedroom door boomed open, and he heard Jinx spinning up Pow-Pow.

"Rise and shine lovebirds," cackled Jinx, before ripping off a headache shattering three second burst of sustained gunfire into the air, aiming outside rather than shredding his ceiling in a startling display of care for collateral damage. Ekko couldn't stop himself from groaning though, as the sound reverberated through the room and threatened to make his head explode.

Poking his head over the lip of the bed, Ekko squinted at the mad gunner, "Jinx you fucker, what are you doing here?"

The wanted terrorist gave Ekko a concerned look, "Giving you a wake-up call, durr. Dude, how much did you drink? Or are you into that electro-sex stuff and your girl hit you with a little bit too much juice?"

"Jinx!" squealed Zeri, and Ekko simultaneously felt a sharp pain as the high-pitched disbelief in her voice was like an icepick to the temples, and a nostalgic joy listening to Jinx's teasing tones. Before either woman felt driven to homicide though Ekko help up both his hands, "I was actually asking why the fuck you're at my sanctuary, with your weapons and no signs of resistance I might add."

Jinx whistled, and Ekko belatedly noticed the smeared neon teal lipstick all over Jinx's lips and chin. "Huh, you really did a number on him, Sparky."

"It was whatever swill you and that blonde brought, I didn't do anything!"

"Uh-huh, whatever you say, Sparky. Just remember, less than ten milliamps, less than ten volts, and with a pulse rate as high as you can manage. If you ask why I know this, I WILL lie."

As the air near Zeri began to crackle with static electricity, Ekko snapped his fingers a few times, "Jinx, focus. Sanctuary, you, here, why?"

Jinx shouldered Pow-Pow and shrugged, "Well, I needed a place to crash since I knew some sort of Enforcer raid was gonna come after I told them to stuff their amnesty deal, and you're the closest thing I've got to an ally right now. Don't worry, Sunshine and I should be outta your hair in like, a week, tops. Plus, we did bring the booze and some toys to pay rent with."

Ekko and Zeri shared a confused look, the green-haired electromancer going so far as to mouth the word 'sunshine?' while Ekko's eyes slowly bugged out in horror. Turning around to look at the wanted woman, Ekko hissed, "Wait, Jinx, that beam of light, three days ago, was that-"