Furious winds whipped about the clothes of the two men as the hero watched the Herald stand upon the edge of the tower. "What are you doing?!" he called out to him, the dense yellow fog of Zaun brushing between the two figures." You're going to throw away a life's worth of work, and for what?!" his voice struggling to carry through the fierce winds. "This isn't the Machine Herald that struck me down so many years ago! WHERE IS HE?!" the hero stretching his arm out as if to grab at the other man.
"Dead. As I will be." Viktor turned around, his cape whipping about his calves, and reached behind his head, prying off his iconic mask before tossing it to the Hero. "A memento.
"Thank you, Jayce, and farewell."
The Zaunite felt the winds whirling around them atop the tower's edge. Viktor took this moment to breathe in the place he had lived and suffered in. He looked around one last time seeing the primordial muck that is his world and all he would ever know. And slowly, his dark, moribund eyes rose to meet the Defender's. Viktor stared into the only pure blue to be seen in Zaun, and he shook his head.
Energy suddenly ignited the air and a laser cut across the Defender's feet, as Viktor leaned backwards arms wide open, embracing freedom.
Hairs stood on end as the Defender pushed himself forward, throwing the Half-caste's steel visage aside. "NOT TODAY, VIKTOR." his voice bellowed out into the winds. Diving into the coarse metal underneath him, his hand grasping the tail end of the Herald's coat. Jetting the defender to slide forward. His other hand vigorously grasping at a side pipe to gain stability. Jayce's teeth ground into each other as he attempted to heave the herald upwards. "You're not going to die today, half-caste." the hero roared. "You hear me? You want to be remembered as a failure?! As the man that died a monster?" Jayce's words cutting into the other like a knife. "You're not allowed to die. Not today." a hoarse groan came out of the man as his arm strained under the weight of the herald. Finally pulling the man up far enough to grab the third appendage that hung off of the half-caste.
"YOU. ARE. NOT. ALLOWED. TO. DIE." Jayce screamed at the other. His eyes fixated on the only point of contact between the two. Scrapes from the dive caused the defender to bleed from his face and hands. Another struggled growl came out of the hero as he strained to pull the man up.
"You fool!" Viktor clenched his teeth, feeling the back of his legs clash sharply against the edge of the structure. He grunted as the blunt force shook him, and his eyes widened, staring up into the blue. "Let go!" he cried, desperation seeping into his voice. "I've lost everything! Viktor has long been dead! Just… LET GO!" The man screamed, begging now, "Please, Jayce, no more… Please."
He hung there by his cloak, his metal noose, watching Jayce trying in vain to pull him back in to the hellish world he wanted to escape. He watched the Hero grit his teeth, straining. He watched as the man's shoulders tore themselves apart. Yet Viktor knew, the fall was inevitable. No mere man, no matter how heroic, could lift a quarter ton of metal with just one arm.
But then a thought occurred to him, the Zaunite knew he would rob Valoran of its brighter tomorrow if he struggled or simply hung still, both of them would plummet. There was no fail in his calculation. The outcome had a one hundred percent probability. He ground his teeth, mirroring Jayce, this man who had antagonized his every move, this man who he had nothing but hurt and ruin. Even here, when he had given up everything, this hero was still here trying to pull him back to existence.
Viktor looked at Jayce and saw that same determination he had witnessed since that first day. He let out a defeated sigh. He knew what he must do. The mechanical arm sprung to life and shot forth, burying its four digits into the tower's face. And he pulled. Viktor reached up, willing flesh and steel to life, and he pulled.
"Jayce…"