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He woke up to the smell of copper.
With a heavy groan, Jayce opened his stinging eyes. He made a move to wipe at them, but was unpleasantly surprised to find that they were bound behind him. Everything was incredibly sore, one of his eyes half-shut like it was swollen.
And, for the cherry on this shit sundae, he was sat in the most uncomfortable chair in history.
Sweet Janna, first he gets thrown off the council and is set for exile. Now this.
"You consulted with the Zaunite regarding that corrupted device before his exile, correct?"
"I'm sure you can read. The blueprints are right there."
"Further, during his trial last year, you indicated that you told him to do whatever was necessary. How can we be sure that you can be trusted with this technology?"
"I made a few new concepts for the Hexcore since he left. That's it! Nothing more than the blueprints staring back at you. With all due respect, sirs and madams , there is potential here for something great!"
"Mr. Talis, with this information and the new updated reports on your reckless use of a hextech weapon of your own creation, you have given yourself but two options: suspension of your research or exile. We will vote in four days. You're under house arrest pending that decision."
The rawness of that interrogation, just two days ago, was fresh in his mind.
Wait.
Okay, he had to get his bearings. Jayce surveyed his surroundings with bleary eyes, blinking away fatigue. Memories returned to him quickly. He recalled sitting on the edge of his couch, becoming alarmed at the sudden cutting of a laser through his door, being seized by the shirt collar, and the sight of glowing yellow something right before everything went black.
His eyes panned the area as his vision recovered. It was a small workshop, half the size of the lab and cluttered with strewn papers, pieces of what appeared to be respiratory devices, a few scant prosthetics, and a couple automatons.
That's when he realized there was someone seated at the workbench in front of him, just feet away and facing away from him. A faded blue, hoodless cloak laid over their shoulders, what appeared to be a sort of metal mask looped around their forearm.
"I was expecting you to say something already," the person said.
Shit. That accent was a dead giveaway.
Well, so was the hair.
The man swiveled around in his seat, standing with very minimal effort. A black cane accented with dark blue was in his left hand's grasp.
"Just go on, Jayce. Continue the dream and let me go. Just… please don't use it for violence. That is my final request."
Jayce ran his hands through his inky disheveled locks, unable to look Viktor in the eyes. "I'm not holding this against you, V. I told you to do what was necessary. I'm probably always going to be at least a little pissed you used fucking Shimmer, but like Mel said back there: I'm not dying so who the hell am I to judge or get it? I'm--I'm gonna do what I can to get down there when things settle, council be damned."
"And what of Sky?" Viktor asked breathlessly, tears pricking at his eyes.
"Yeah, your negligence did nothing to help matters. I'm livid about it, to be honest." Jayce sighed. "But Sky made the choice to save you; you didn't make it for her."
Plus, Jayce himself killed a child. He didn't have much room to pass judgment, he figured.
Viktor held on his words for a few moments, leaning on his crutch a bit more. The pain in his features was palpable with his next words.
"If we ever cross paths again, I'll either be a corpse or too different for you to bear."
Jayce stared wide eyed at the man in front of him. It felt like he was there for hours, just taking in the shocking appearance in front of him.
In reality, it was only a few short moments of rapid examination of every detail Jayce could make out.
What was visible of his neck was obviously augmented, steel-like with the faint glow of hextech blue, some subtle plating evident. Jayce noted that when he was turned around earlier, the augmentation seemed to extend up to his cervical vertebrae. Jayce's gaze traveled, noting the hoodless cloak that bordered on tattered. It likely covered more of that encroaching metal transmutation that made Jayce want to reel back in dread.
His eyes observed the once purple-tainted hand. Jayce was shocked to find that it was now the same color as his partner's neck. More shocked to see it encapsulated more than just his hand now, at least to his forearm but that was obscured by fabric. It lacked the corruption the previous Hexcore wrought.
The Hexcore Jayce destroyed quickly once Viktor told him everything.
How the hell did he get it to change?
Viktor approached, now just feet away from where Jayce was bound. He narrowed his gaze at his old partner.
"As I suspected, too different to bear."
Jayce snapped to attention, briefly distracted by the small metallic echo in Viktor's voice. "Excuse me for taking a moment to process that you mutil--did this to yourself."
He narrowed his eyes again, a hint of a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Mutilated, eh?" He tugged the front of his cloak down and, to Jayce's un-surprise but still horror, revealed that the part of his chest that was visible was that same augmented blue-tinted steel hue.
Jayce would be more surprised if Viktor's entire torso wasn't now all that same composition.
"Holy shit, V," he whispered, eyes still dull from a grief he couldn't currently explain or place.
Viktor readjusted his cloak, stone faced. "My entire respiratory system," he began, a sad fondness seeping into his words despite himself. "It took nearly four months to augment the whole thing."
Jayce took a moment to gather his thoughts, deciding to change the topic because this was both too fucking painful for him to handle right now and he had way more pressing matters to worry about.
"Why the hell am I here?"
Viktor fixed his eyes with his own again, shifting a little bit more on his new cane.
"Do you still believe in our dream?"
Jayce looked at him in shock, taken aback by the question. "Really? You're asking this now?!"
"Yes or no?" Viktor asked firmly.
"Yes!" Jayce answered without hesitation. "It's gonna be hard as hell trying to fucking continue with you holing me up here and me almost certainly being doomed to exile. What do you want, anyway? Are you going to cut off my arm and replace it with metal? Or do you just want the shit you stole? Did you break into the lab, too ?"
Jayce indicated the Mercury Hammer and a neat stack of notebooks and blueprints that belonged to him on the workbench, a bag of hex crystals laid on top of the papers. He noticed it all while Viktor was getting passionate about his stupid respiratory system.
Okay that was mean. It did save his life.
Viktor shot him a nasty glare. "Yes, I retrieved them from the lab, the only casualty being a glass vial. And no, I don't perform unnecessary augmentations. Your arm works fine. It's disgusting of you to even insinuate that."
'BREAKING: A NEW HERALD OF DARK TECHNOLOGY? ZAUNITE PARIAH CALLS FOR REVOLUTION AND THE RELINQUISHING OF FLESH.'
'FALL INTO MADNESS: A CAUTIONARY TALE ON THE DANGERS OF ZAUN AND ITS PEOPLE.'
'CHILD RECALLS HIS ENCOUNTER WITH 8FT TALL CYBORG.'
'REPORT: DISGRACED ZAUNITE CYBORG CALLS FOR EMOTION SUPPRESSION.'
"That's not the word on the street," retorted Jayce. "I'd never imagine in my wildest dreams that you had it in you, but who knows how much the Hexcore fucked your brain up, with Shimmer being inv--"
"You know it's gone, Jayce! You're the one who destroyed it. I'm shocked you haven't even noticed Mk. 2 yet." Viktor gestured wildly at the glowing device behind him. Jayce couldn't help but gawk at it. And what the hell; Viktor was kind of blocking his view of that portion of the table to begin with. No need for him to get snippy.
Jayce continued to look at the marvel of technology. No longer was it the horrific spider web of purple, but a cool hex crystal blue. No longer did it look like an eldritch entity, but rather a true extension of Hextech. What it should have been in the first place. "How did you crack the code?"
Immediately, like whiplash, Viktor's stoic expression fell for a moment. He regarded his metal hand, the grief in his eyes palpable. "Sky figured it out. Her notes completed the puzzle. Transmutation without needless sacrifice."
Luckily, Viktor changed the topic.
By the time you got around to destroying the first Hexcore, the corruption had already begun. I wouldn't even need most of my arm to be steel if I wasn't forced to cut it off once it began extending to my shoulder, well after Mk. 1 was gone. It nearly took my mind, before that is, but destroying it did successfully sever that connection. I suppose, eh, I do have you to thank for that."
Despite himself and his anger at the situation, Jayce immediately felt a horrible sense of regret and anguish for Viktor. He had no idea how bad it truly was.
And Viktor was exiled not long after the council attack, once his augmentations were discovered. Once he broke down in tears, after the first discovery was made, and admitted that Sky was dead because of him.
Jayce remembered, with a pang in his chest, that Viktor begged him to destroy it before the council meeting.
Viktor was set to be thrown in Stillwater, but by Janna's grace he was given a permanent ban for entry into Piltover. The only things he parted with were a few scant possessions, his notebooks, and a couple blueprints. The council determined he was no danger without Hextech. He was a dead man walking, after all. And he didn't have the benefit of expendable money like Jayce did, at least not anymore.
"Where the hell do they think I got those crystals from in the first place?"
"Viktor," Jayce began, "why am I really here?" His voice was firm, as even and serious as it had ever been. "You obviously aren't trying to kill me."
The man in question locked eyes with him, expression unreadable. "I have a proposition."
"Well, shoot. I have no choice but to hear you out." Jayce indicated his restraints.
Viktor sighed with a hint of a smile, leaning a little on his cane. His expression quickly morphed into an almost melancholy one. "I may have a way to spare you from exile."
Jayce's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"
The man pulled up the stool that was set at his workbench behind him, sitting on it gracefully. "The stories of me performing unspeakable horrors down here have really begun to take off with the general public up top." His voice was deadpan. "I can assure you they are not true; talk to any of my actual clients. But, after hearing about your situation through the grapevine I started to consider a few things."
"Like…?"
Viktor gave him that intense gaze again, the one he made when plagued by an idea that would not escape his mind.
"What if we could make that concept actually exist?"
Jayce cocked a confused eyebrow. "I'm listening."
"Let me explain. After the Machine Herald was exiled, he became bitter and withdrawn. Warped by isolation, he replaces most of his body with metal and begins his quest on a sort of righteous--no--glorious evolution to turn everyone into fully augmented beings. To begin his path, he needs to rob his friend-turned-enemy and take all of the hex crystals, research, and inventions he left behind.
"But Jayce is quick to follow him to his lair. After a violent and bloody battle, he returns with the stolen resources, victorious. He is lauded as a hero and reinstated to his research position for his noble efforts."
Jayce gawked, the idea his former partner just laid out throwing him through a loop. "That is incredibly, incredibly risky."
"You know as well as I do that the only one on your side on council is Miss Medarda. There were already whispers of you being next before I left. Because, well, you were connected to me."
Jayce briefly thought of Mel, about how just five months ago she regarded him with a heavy sadness. How she told him that she had never loved someone as much as she loved him. How he had changed her outlook on the future of Piltover and beyond.
How that love was impacting her career. How Jayce's isolation tendencies were getting worse and making things impossible. How Jayce, regrettably, snapped for the last time and she ended things diplomatically, amicably. " No hard feelings. It was truly wonderful while it lasted."
Jayce couldn't be, didn't want to be honest with her. Tell her the truth and admit that he had only ever truly connected meaningfully and long term with one person, and that person was not her.
He knew how smart she was.
He knew she already knew.
"You know she called for you to be exiled rather than put in Stillwater? She convinced them."
Viktor looked down a bit, gaze softening ever so slightly. "Yes, and I am forever thankful for that."
To break the sense of uncomfortable quiet, Jayce went back on topic.
"I might, actually, see your point," Jayce admitted. "My options are exile or expulsion from continuing Hextech research. Plenty of burgeoning geniuses would happily be there to take over. They think I'm too tainted. My image is in the gutter. Especially after everything that happened with the council."
Viktor nodded. "The cold war that began the moment that missile hit the glass didn't offer you any favors."
"Definitely not." Jayce shifted his gaze to Viktor's augmented neck. "Did you do that with the new Hexcore?"
"I would prefer to stay on topic," Viktor said resolutely. "We can discuss my artistry later."
Jayce rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. Like I said, I see your point. But there are so many risks--" Viktor shot him an incredulous look, "--yeah, I know! That's nothing new for us. But what if the Enforcers decide to hunt you down?"
"I can defend myself," Viktor snapped back. "I prefer not to resort to violence, but I will defend myself if necessary. Even then, it is not likely. Piltover no longer governs Zaun and it's very unlikely they would bring Enforcers down here. It could kick off the looming war."
"So you're just fine with playing into that hatred?!" Jayce shouted. "Why are you going to such lengths to help me? What the hell do you get in return? He'll, if we are really on decent terms--I can tell you I have made peace with anything I may have held against you--why don't I just stay down here? Just like it used to be. I'm not desirable to them anymore."
Viktor breathed in slowly, evenly, then out. Unburdened breaths, clear if not slightly metallic. Hearing him breathe so easy, so deeply, would make Jayce shed bittersweet tears after this was all over. For now, his face remained stoic.
"I don't think you truly understand, Jayce," Viktor began. "This is the only choice we have. I need to be the villain in their narrative. You are no good down here."
"V, I--"
"I don't care what they think of me. I never belonged there. Always regarded with disdain or indifference." Viktor paused, shutting his eyes for a moment before pinching the bridge of his nose with his metal fingers. "But you have the opportunity to dodge exile for a second time. You can work on Hextech further, up there. We can work together in the shadows while still keeping your image spotless."
"So what?!" Jayce snapped, eyes blazing as he struggled against his restraints. "I'm just gonna go up there with the research and hextech equipment you "stole" so I'm seen as some sort of hero?? I don't want to be on the council; look where it got us! And why stage this huge kidnapping, beating and tying me up without, oh I don't know, talking to me about it?"
"I never said anything about you returning to the council!" Viktor fumed. "This is simply the only chance that will allow you the opportunity to continue our research. You possess the resources I don't, the power to truly make things better on a larger scale! The Machine Herald will inevitably "steal" those ideas, some of those resources."
"You didn't answer my question."
Viktor drew his hand back, almost as if recoiling in pain. He sighed again, the slight echo in his augmented respiratory system a bit more noticeable.
"It needed to look convincing. It wasn't exactly possible to consult you about this plan. I'm exiled myself, after all." Viktor worked his jaw back and forth tensely, flesh hand ghosting his augmented neck. "It doesn't matter the good work I've done down here. I will never look good on paper. I will never be accepted back."
Jayce's expression shifted, the empty, hopeless feeling in the pit of his stomach festering. He really looked at Viktor now. True, his own ingrained prejudices made him want to hate what he'd become. Wanted to detest and scream over the lengths he had to go to to give himself a better quality of life.
But then, he remembered, it's still Viktor. Still Viktor, with golden eyes that had not lost their warmth, now no longer burdened with heavy, dark circles. Still Viktor, with those dark moles that decorated his sharp, angular face. Still Viktor, with that charming little bend in his large nose. Still Viktor, with his tousled wavy brown hair, cowlicks splaying every which way.
Still Viktor, augmented and different but still unapologetically himself. Still the most treasured person in his life.
Still human.
Finally, Jayce answered. He blinked back tears, bittersweet tears that threatened to spill over if he didn't stay focused on the matter at hand.
"But I would look good on paper. I do look good on paper."
Viktor gives him a small, affirmative nod. "So many still adore you up there, and I'm certain you will win them all back. If you come back, beat up after triumphantly stopping the nefarious Machine Herald from using your research for evil deeds, I feel that will be enough to get you back in favor and prove you have no affiliation with me."
A small, bitter chuckle escaped Jayce's throat.
"V?"
The man in question set him with a soft stare, quizzical. "Yes?"
"I… I really don't wanna lose you again. Especially since the whole rumor in the Times tabloid section about making yourself emotionless turned out to be completely false." Jayce pursed his lips, the ghost of a laugh threatening to come tumbling out.
Viktor shook his head, sighing. "To be fair, it is a consideration."
Jayce felt his heart drop. "Are you serious? Why?!"
Suddenly, Viktor made his way over to his workbench again and took something off the tabletop. Jayce looked on, tension seeping into his bones. A small chip appeared, inscribed with tiny runes and glowing Hextech blue around the lines. Viktor held it in his palm, looking at it with an almost reverence.
"It was something I discussed with a client that has Undercity Shock, worse than mine--she gets lost in her mind; that's likely how it spread around. I'm not a neuroscientist, but I consulted a few sources and was able to complete this just two months ago. All I would have to do is run a few things through the Hexcore, place it at the base of my brain stem, and I would be free of the burden of emotion. It's not a perfect science and may have side effects, but without fear weighing me down, I could get to work on correcting them."
Jayce sputtered, fighting for words. "V, you can't! Why would you--?"
Viktor pursed his lips, averting Jayce's gaze. "I've been through a lot in life, Jayce. More than I may ever be comfortable discussing, not even with you. And you know almost everything. The pain from all those awful experiences, the general melancholy of my childhood, the existential dread of my lungs slowly shutting down, the grief of all my losses--"
"Viktor--"
"--My mother, my father, Sky, the stillborn sister I never got to meet, the countless classmates that needlessly perished around me. It's a great burden to bear, emotions. And now, having been exiled and losing the most genuine thread of connection I have ever experienced outside of my parents… I'm surprised I haven't done it already."
"Can I say--"
"BUT," Viktor cut in, "it makes me think further. The satisfaction of rebuilding a broken flying moth trinket when I was eight. Laying on Rio while I read my favorite book series, whisked away to a different land, a kinder land. My mother building me my first cane when it became clear I needed it. My father scavenging any piece of literature on machinery he could get his hands on, because he saw how much I enjoyed creating things."
Viktor stopped for a moment, composing himself. Jayce waited, too stunned to silence over the soliloquy of the man in front of him to try to interject again.
"Then, I thought more. If I were to take away my emotions, theoretically I would not feel the intense melancholies ingrained in me from those years of pain. I would not be haunted by Sky's screams, work interrupted from the flashbacks to that terrible night.
"But there is a high chance that I would lose my creativity, my passion. And that's why I did this, because of my drive to make things better. That feeling of accomplishment in making new discoveries or getting prototypes past the testing stage. That, and I never want anyone to suffer as I did. I never want to see a dozen dead 3-year-olds in a puddle of chemicals ever again. If I forget how that felt, how horrible it was to witness, what's the point?"
Inhale. Exhale.
"If I lose that drive, am I even myself anymore? Can I call myself human? How could my goals even remain the same if they came from such a deeply personal, emotional place to begin with?
"It would release a burden," Viktor whispered, still holding the chip in his palm gently. "It would be what Piltover would expect. I was told right before I left for Zaun again, that because I started down the path I did, there was only one outcome. It would only get darker as I went."
Jayce's throat clamped, no words able to form as a sense of awful, terrible dread creeped into every corner of his body.
Was this goodbye, then?
"Maybe, just maybe, they're right. Maybe this is the only way forward, efficiency over heart. No more hurt, just the pursuit of my goals. No pain, no sadness. Perhaps this is my destiny, to become a monster of their creation."
Viktor gave the chip a gentle caress with his augmented thumb.
Then, abruptly, he closed his fist.
Crunch.
Jayce gasped as a jolt of Hex lightning coursed up Viktor's wrist. The latter brought it to his chest with a pained grunt. His augmented hand sprung open in response to the energy whizzing around the metal fingers.
The shattered pieces of the implant clattered to the floor, the last vestiges of magical energy fizzling out.
"Fuck that," Viktor gasped in an uncharacteristic curse as he fell to his knees, cane clattering next to him.
"I'm writing my own story."
[...]
"This is what you'll tell them," Viktor said, pressing a wrapped piece of parchment to Jayce's broad chest. The latter took the rolled paper, fingers brushing against Viktor's augmented hand as he did so. It wasn't nearly as cold as Jayce thought it would be, the smooth steel-like texture tickling his fingertips.
"I look roughed up enough?" Jayce asked, clearing his throat.
Viktor seemed to think about it.
Then, he switched his cane to his other hand and punched Jayce's squared jaw with his human fist.
Jayce exclaimed, recoiling in caged fury. It took everything in him not to punch back. Part of him knew it was necessary. Part of the process. Totally wasn't partially due to his ex(?)-partner's repressed anger over him accidentally killing a kid from the Undercity.
"You do now."
The larger man grimaced, rubbing his jaw gingerly. "I guess my only other concern is, um, how are you gonna get clients with your image the way it is, especially after all this?"
"Zaun does not see me as Piltover does, at least not most of them." Viktor gave a small shrug. "It also benefits me that I have contracts with a few factories and an… organization."
Jayce decided to not press the matter. Instead, he eyed the hammer and equipment he was going to "rescue" from the Machine Herald.
"Listen V, I don't care what you do but I'm going to fucking hug you and you're not getting out of it," Jayce said grimly.
Viktor had no chance to respond before he was pulled in tight, like he was being constricted by a large snake. Without hesitation, he reciprocated, arms wrapping around Jayce's defined upper back.
Jayce sighed in a way that could only be interpreted as longingly, nose against Viktor's human shoulder. The seamless blend of magic and technology now augmented his entire back and vertebral column. What was once fear and grief over the changes was morphing into acceptance and anger. He no longer cared what Viktor looked like, as long as at his core, he was still the man that saved his life all those years ago. The man saving his life right now. That led to his anger, the rage of knowing Viktor would never be accepted by topside. That his place was down here. That the only way for them to see each other was through secret bi-monthly meetings they would hash out at a later date.
They separated and Viktor nudged him.
"Yeah, I guess it's a good a time as any," Jayce said softly.
They said their goodbyes, set up a day and time to reconvene, and Jayce grabbed the reclaimed technology he rightfully won back from the Machine Herald.
Piltover's new Defender began his trek home.
"Jayce?"
Despite the weight in his arms, Jayce turned around impossibly fast. "Yeah?"
Viktor considered his words for a moment. There was so much he wanted to say, so much that would be left unsaid, at least for now.
So instead,
"We're paving the way to something better. Trust me."
Jayce felt a rush of something. Hope? The concept that they might make it out of this and build a better future for generations to come?
The concept that someday, maybe, he can be by Viktor's side permanently. As it should be. As it should have been.
He laughed, flashing a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"When have I ever not trusted you?"