The Saviour / Caitlyn Kiramman

The first time Jayce met Aleksandra Margado, he wasn't particularly impressed.

Carlos had introduced her at a gathering of Piltover's elite inventors and scientists, one of those formal events Jayce could barely tolerate. The kind that required polite small talk, forced smiles, and a constant reminder to not alienate anyone too important. Aleksandra—this young, unassuming woman with round glasses that made her eyes seem too big and freckles scattered across her nose—didn't exactly fit in. She was dressed nicely, sure, but there was something about her that screamed outsider. Maybe it was the way she seemed just a little too comfortable or how her crooked smile tugged to one side like she was permanently amused by the world around her.

Carlos, however, seemed to think the world of her.

"Jayce, meet Aleksandra Margado," Carlos said, gesturing grandly as though presenting some kind of treasure. "She's brilliant. You two will get along famously."

Jayce smiled politely, already filing her under "rich sponsor's curious daughter" in his mind. "Aleksandra," he said, shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure's mine," Aleksandra replied, her voice smooth and warm, though her eyes held a flicker of mischief.

It wasn't until hours later, when Carlos dragged Aleksandra into Jayce's lab, that things truly began.

"Carlos, I don't need a babysitter," Jayce grumbled, pulling on a pair of gloves as he eyed the experiments he'd left unfinished earlier. "If anything, you should be helping me instead of bringing your friends into my workspace."

Y/N, leaning against one of the lab benches, raised an eyebrow. "Who says I'm here to babysit? Maybe I'm here to make sure you don't blow something up."

Jayce scoffed, glancing at her skeptically. "Right. Because the only thing Piltover's greatest minds were missing was... you."

Her crooked smile returned. "Piltover's greatest minds?" she echoed, her tone dripping with mockery. "Funny, I thought I'd walked into a storage closet by mistake."

Carlos burst out laughing as Jayce turned to glare at him. "I told you, she's brilliant," Carlos said between chuckles.

"Brilliantly annoying," Jayce muttered, turning his attention back to the chalkboard filled with equations he'd been working on earlier.

Y/N wandered closer, inspecting the board with a tilt of her head. Her round glasses slipped slightly down her nose, and she pushed them back up with her finger. "Huh," she murmured.

Jayce didn't look up. "What?"

"Nothing," Y/N replied, her voice tinged with amusement. "It's just... well, it's obvious, isn't it?"

That caught Jayce's attention. He straightened up, his arms crossing over his chest as he turned to face her. "What's obvious?"

She pointed at one section of the equation with a gloved hand. "Your mistake. Right here."

Jayce blinked, his pride bristling. "There's no mistake."

Aleksandra grinned. "If you say so." She grabbed a piece of chalk and, before Jayce could protest, began scribbling on the board. Numbers, symbols, and lines flowed effortlessly from her hand, each mark precise and deliberate.

Jayce watched, half-irritated and half-impressed. "You're assuming the flux stabilizer can handle that much pressure," he pointed out.

"I'm assuming you calibrated it properly," Y/N shot back without missing a beat. "If you didn't, then this whole thing is pointless, isn't it?"