"Yeah, yeah, I know Cait, but it's my dad and-"
He couldn't see, his optic augments must have malfunctioned, or short circuited, or-
"Fine. I'm sorry, there you got an apology out of me, you better savor it. Now can you please talk to the Summoners?"
The shock. It must have been finely tuned technomurgy to have disabled his systems without severe brain trauma. How long-
"Just a week to make sure everything's alright, that's all I need."
That didn't matter, he had to get away. He saw what that man did to his acolytes at Zaun, all to get revenge on Viktor. He should have known this would have happened.
"Cait, you are a life saver. Wha- fine, Thank you Caitlyn. That's the only time you'll ever hear me say that."
Quick diagnostics revealed only that his external augments were offline. Without his auxiliary modifications, his limbs were useless.
"Good luck Cait, don't piss Malcolm off again, yeah, yeah, see you."
His ocular enhancements were offline as well, but his natural eardrum was still intact. That was something at least. There was a gentle clunk followed by heavy yet nonchalant footsteps.
"Good morning princess!" exclaimed Jayce, excited like a young child. Viktor couldn't reply, his false vocal cords giving no response.
"Oh right, you can't do anything. I made this real badass device just for you, just so we could talk like this. Isn't that nice of me?"
Jayce replied to himself in a bad imitation of Viktor's accent, "Oh thank you Jayce! You're the hero! So handsome and strong! You're smarter than me!"
"Aww, shucks Vik!" The inventor cleared his throat, before talking again, "Lemme guess, you want me to turn your freaky shit back on. I'll get to that in a sec, be patient."
Jayce walked away. Viktor heard metal against wood, more footsteps, and other muffled noises he couldn't identify.
"I will admit, I am dumbfounded as to how you got those implants on, however, " the sound of an electric current, a machine whirring to life, "I know exactly how to remove them!"
Impossible. This simply wasn't possible. He knew Jayce was dangerous, brilliance mixed with immaturity and blatant disregard for others. But the degree of sociopathy required to happily mutilate another with a saw was-
The spinning blade made its first contact against the metal on his shoulder, for a moment there was just friction and pressure, then pain. Incomprehensible pain, the feeling of hypersensitive flesh being shredded. Over the sound of the saw, there was the sickeningly organic noise of the destruction of meat.
It stopped after what felt like hours, but logically, Viktor knew it was only a few seconds. The weight of his third arm and steel shoulder plates vanished with the brunt of the pain and noise of the saw.
"You dick! You got blood all over my shirt, what the fuck is wrong with you?" He suddenly broke into low chuckles, "I'm kidding. You are a dick though."
The machine started up again. Even though Viktor knew what to expect, it did nothing to dull the overwhelming pain. It seemed to last longer this time although that may have been due to the aching burn that remained in his other shoulder.
His other shoulder felt lighter after Jayce finished. Both shoulders still felt as if they'd been mauled by impossibly hot steel. Which was, for the most part, an accurate statement.
"I like it better when you're not talking pretentious bullshit," remarked Jayce casually before he started the saw up again and began carving out the augments on Viktor's legs. The legs hurt more than the arms, he could feel it as the blade cut through each wire, each nerve, everything. He began to feel light headed from the pain and blood loss, a sensation that only blurred where the overwhelming sensations began and ended.
Finally, Jayce put down the saw. "That wasn't so bad. It's too bad it didn't last longer, but I'm a man of my word, so..."
There were a few electronic beeps and something detached itself from the back of Viktor's neck. His remaining systems returned online and the scene surrounding clicked into view.
It was the room he only got a passing glance of from the doorway. It was oddly incredibly casual, plants, light green mats, doorways that led to probably a kitchen and bedroom.
The floor was made of a light wood, probably birch or something similar. The object he was rested upon was likely to be an ordinary table, its dimensions didn't conform to the standard operating table. The material he was on was, according to his sensors, a mixture of silicon and metal. Presumably to keep the area clean, of course Jayce would take something like that in mind.
Then the pain hit, renewed and doubled with his augments' signals. Jayce was talking again, but none of of it was retained. He couldn't disable the signals, there were too many errors and cut circuitry and-
Jayce grabbed something from a side table, a bottle of clear liquid. Something to sterilize the gaping wounds.
Viktor wasn't certain if survival or just dying now was better.
Burning pain, impossible heat and stinging, like acid had been poured into the open wound on his left leg. There was a moment of thankfulness for his speech augments, they only vocalized conscious thoughts. If not for that single detail, he would have shredded his cords, screamed till nothing but blood came out.
Jayce poured the liquid into his other wounds a smug grin on his face.
"I'm glad we have this opportunity to talk," he said, casual like they were old friends.
"Jayce, If- He was cut off by static. It took all of Viktor's focus, but he managed to get his vocal augments to cooperate for a little longer. "kill me already."
The inventor laughed, like he had just told the punchline to the greatest joke ever. "You really think that's what I want?"
More roaring laughter.
"Oh, Viktor, I thought you were half as smart as me! You fucking retard, I'm not going to kill you..."
Jayce dropped the bottle on the table, not bothering to close it, and grabbed something else.
"I'm going to fix you."
In his hand was a needle, surgical thread already looped through it. He punctured the remaining skin of Viktor's right shoulder and began to sew the gaping cut closed.
"You see, I've given you so many chances to redeem yourself. But you don't! You just keep doing your freaky little shit and mutilating more and more people," Jayce continued as he worked, "so I've decided to help you out. Give you a little push into doing the right thing."
He knotted and cut the thread with a small scissor , then began work on Viktor's leg.
"You're lucky you know? If I weren't such a nice guy, I would've killed you."
The blood loss was definitely making itself known. Warning signals were crying out in his brain, he would be unconscious, if not dead, soon. Jayce seemed to take no notice and continued talking nonsense, but Viktor knew he was certainly aware. He was just ignoring it.
"Jayce," he cut the Piltoverian off in the middle of a sentence. The Zaunite wasn't going to give up yet, he wouldn't let the bastard scientist get away with this. Even if that meant playing the role Jayce created for him.
The younger paused for a moment, weighing whether to respond or…
He suddenly grabbed the pair of shears and jammed it deep into Viktor's abdomen. The lower layers of skin were mostly intact from the augment removal and the blades cut through as if they were thin leaves of paper. It only added to the incomprehensible agony of having his artificial limbs sawed off.
"Viktor, Viktor, Viktor..." tutted Jayce, "Don't interrupt me."
He pressed down on the shears and began to twist them, "Say sorry."
"I-" the unfinished words burst into static as Jayce spread the scissors open. He chuckled darkly at Viktor's reaction.
"Were you going to say something?"
"S-" more static, but he finally managed a small, "sorry."
Jayce pulled out the blades and continued stitching. He was smiling calmly, the same one that had settled Viktor's nerves earlier. Now it made him feel deeply nauseous, a sensation he hadn't had in years.
After some time, the exact amount eluding his severely damaged sensors and blood deprived body, Jayce had finished haphazardly closing the gaping wounds. Viktor was still in more pain than he'd ever been before, but the constant lightheaded fog seemed to slightly dull it.
Jayce was doing something out of Viktor's line of vision, but he stepped back in, a blood bag and IV in hand.
"Did you know that Vladimir can tell someone's blood type just by being around them?" The inventor was prepping the IV as he talked, "Even your blood is a pain in the ass. O- blood is so fucking hard to find."
He continued as he poured the clear liquid on the remains of Viktor's arm. "Being as awesomely charming as me does have its benefits though. No one even questioned why I needed so many packs delivered. Dumbasses."
He finally inserted the catheter. Viktor barely felt the prick in comparison to everything else, but was instantly relieved. Jayce hadn't been lying, he wouldn't let Viktor die.
"Now it gets boring," he sighed, "Singed said it'd take a few hours for the potion to completely mend the wounds."
"Singed?" Asked Viktor, voice still glitchy. He knew the chemist disliked him, but to the point of doing this?
"He didn't even wonder why I commissioned it from him. Guess I'm just that smooth."
If further torture hadn't been a very likely threat, he would have called Jayce out on his arrogant bullshit. But he had to make it through, had to survive. When he got the chance, he promised himself he'd make Jayce pay.
He wouldn't give up.
Not yet.
Not ever.
