A room. Dimly lit, pulsing with a purple glow. Blood on the floor, on the rickety table, and all over Viktor's hands. He placed a silver scalpel on the table, right next to a hunk of bloody meat he had just removed from his chest cavity. It sat there, pulsing, just like the Hexcore, but the latter hovered just an inch or two above the wood.
Do you feel better? it whispered.
Viktor struggled to breathe. He reached for the Hexcore, to fill the hole. Why was it so far away? He walked his fingers across the bloody surface, reaching... but the Hexcore was further now. It had matched the beating of his disembodied heart, and pulled the blood away from it, away from the gaping hole in the man's chest... and it laughed, jiggling and glowing like a sadistic little child with a flashlight... he took his last, labored breath,
and he woke up.
Viktor panted, refilling his lungs with panicked breaths.
A dream, he realized, gripping and grabbing at the flesh on his chest. His heart was there, inside, and it was beating frantically. It made him feel human, which was a relief for the moment. He wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead and ran his fingers into his hair. A nightmare, he corrected in his mind.
A nightmare? The Hexcore whispered behind him.
He swung his head around to look at the thing, and bared his teeth at the sight of it. He thought once again of so many ways he could dispose of it in a matter of seconds, but it would do no good to think this way.
Your only chance, it whispered.
He scoffed. The metal rig on his leg whirred as he walked past. He grabbed a jacket from a hook and didn't hesitate to slam the door on the way out.
Everyone overlooked this place. It was a tiny apartment, barely even that. Viktor had come to this place many times as a child of the Undercity. He had never seen another person come through, and had almost convinced himself that the door was invisible to anyone but him, perhaps it could even be magic.
The word bounced off his skull. This was all magic's fault. He covered the purple of his arms with the jacket sleeves and found himself already at the elevator. How long had he been away from Piltover?
Long enough.
His poorly scribbled notes hung out of his pocket. He had made it a point to avoid the upper city for a while now, but unfortunately, the next step involved some materials he couldn't easily acquire.
More hex crystals. And the only place he was certain they were, was Jayce's office.
He flipped his hood up and popped his collar. Balloons and flyers roared overhead, all still brandishing Jayce's shining smile, and the words "Piltover's MAN OF PROGRESS!!" in letters too large to ignore. Viktor stopped in front of a poster, taking a moment to stare at his former partner. After all this time, he wondered, was he just a ghost to Jayce? Did Jayce believe he had succumbed to his disease?
Perhaps Viktor did succumb to his illness. He was hardly the man he was the last time he saw Jayce, and he hoped it still remained the last time he saw Jayce. If all went well in this plan of his, he would be in and out of Jayce's office before anyone realized what was missing.
It was the middle of the day, and the streets were bustling enough to keep Viktor covered while he slipped into the great stone council building. The hall was empty, and he closed the door quietly behind him. He walked with purpose, but not quickly. The smell of the carpet and the tile made him nostalgic; he ran his fingers in the grooves of the wall. When another person rounded the corner, he pulled his hood a bit, but they didn't bother him.
He continued down the hall and arrived at Jayce's door. Viktor had been here so many times, he was gifted a key so he would stop bothering Jayce to get things from inside. And for some reason, Jayce had conveniently forgotten to ask for it back. Not that Viktor gave him much chance before he disappeared. Jayce had also conveniently forgotten to change the locks, it seemed. He thought for a moment, perhaps Jayce had forgotten it on purpose? In hopes that he would return?
He shook the thought away and entered the office.
Nothing in the room had changed, it felt. Everything was the way he'd left it. Had Jayce even set foot in this room in the weeks and months that had passed? Was he too busy with the Council? Was the Council too busy parading Jayce around like a prized puppy, squeezing every bit of Hextech knowledge they could out of him?
Viktor huffed as he dug through papers on the counter. They all had Jayce's signature on them. Every single one. His mind trailed off. He skimmed some of the letters with his finger.
He felt heavy. Tears welled up in his eyes. Where was Jayce?
Jayce isn't here, he reminded himself. He blinked a couple times and turned to the cabinet in the corner, where he had no doubt the crystals would be. And he was right; he opened the doors and subsequently the little chest inside. There were 7 little blue spheres inside, and in a moment there would be only 5.
Viktor double checked that nothing was out of place inside, and closed the office door behind him. He locked it with his key. As he started down the hall, the hextech crystals jingled in his pocket. It made him anxious, but only for a moment.
He did it. He got what he came for, and he could continue his work without having to return to Piltover for...
He paused, noticing a shape in one of the half-opened doors. He shifted his eyes around and, seeing no one nearby, opened it the rest of the way. Sitting on the table inside, illuminated by the hall light, was the Hexclaw. One of his favorite creations of all time, and something he thought was lost to him. His eyes were wide as he ran a finger across the metal. It was dusty.
There was no way he would leave without this, he realized. He couldn't. It was his creation.
But how would he sneak this all the way back to his workshop?
A shadow approached in the hall. Viktor ducked into a shady part of the room and waited for them to pass. He could see a raggedy tablecloth across the room, and snuck over to it when the coast was clear. He held the cloth up and measured it with his eyes.
He moved over to the hexclaw and blew off some of the dust. He hiked the machine onto his back; even with the adjustments he had already made to his body, he was surprised at how light the claw felt. With a familiar click of a few buttons, the claw folded into a neat little bundle between his shoulders. He flipped the tablecloth over it and tied the front, so it looked like a crude but believable cape.
Viktor was already out the front doors of the Council Hall. No one had given him any strange looks on the way out, despite the ugly purple tablecloth draped over his back. Apparently it wasn't concerning enough, and if so, no one stopped him. He tightened his hands on the knot of the cape as he walked.
As he turned a corner, he heard some commotion. People were yelling behind him; he couldn't make out the words. He was startled when the alarm sounded. Footsteps and Enforcers were all around, and Viktor walked a little faster. Perhaps he shouldn't have, he thought, and he was spotted. He started to run.
The machinery in his legs whirred with his running. He could see the elevator, but of course he couldn't go that way. It would take several seconds he didn't have for it to even begin to descend to where he needed to go. He made the decision to try and get across the bridge, to his favorite place. He could lay low there, if he could manage to make it. He looked over his shoulder at his pursuers, who were still a length away. He could manage this if he was smart about it.
He used his momentum to swing around a corner. He had practiced for a bit, and his artificial legs worked perfectly. He was barely even tired, and running fast enough to throw the Enforcers for a loop. He paused at the bridge, and saw an opportunity. Looking back again, he untied the cloth on his shoulders and tossed it on a rung of the bridge. To the unintelligent eye, the cloth made it seem like whoever they were chasing had jumped off, probably to his death.
But Viktor was prepared as he jumped. Anyone else probably would've died, but he had science.
As he fell, his coat flapped. He twisted his fingers, and the crystal in his glove glowed brightly. The Hexclaw responded, and grabbed the metal strut hanging from the bridge, allowing its user to slide safely down to his destination.
Viktor slid under the bridge and into the mud, listening to the Enforcers squabble overhead. They'd lost him, they said. Did he jump? they screamed. But one voice boomed above them, a voice of authority. A voice of a man who had just been robbed.
"Do a search across the bridge," Jayce bellowed. "Don't let anyone across for the night. I want men searching down below, I want him found."
Viktor covered his mouth with his hand. He was crying again. His other hand clutched at his chest, and the Hexclaw whirred, trying to understand what this hand movement was. He gritted his teeth and swore under his breath. He had to move, they were coming. And he was so close to Jayce. The mud fell off his boots as he lifted himself up and out of his hiding spot.
The wind howled through the concrete tower. The last time he was here, Jayce had showed up. He still never told Jayce about Sky and the accident, and he was flustered thinking about it again. Down below him, somewhere, Sky's ashes were mixed in with the dirt and the stream. He might have been too, if Jayce hadn't showed up.
He wiped his face. The sun was going down. It seemed like it had been enough time, so Viktor collected his coat and the Hexclaw. He swung both onto his back and turned to leave, but he froze when he saw Jayce standing in the doorway.
Viktor expected Jayce to ask if he was interrupting. It was what he said the last time. And what Viktor said the first time. But Jayce Talis was silent. He held his Mercury Hammer in both hands with the hammer-piece resting on the concrete floor. It hummed quietly.
"How did you-" Viktor stuttered. Jayce dropped his shoulders, and the hammer revved with a yellow glow.
"I knew if it was you, you'd be here," Jayce replied. He seemed to notice Viktor's enhancements at that moment, and he recoiled a bit. "What the hell happened to you, Vik?" He asked. Was there concern in his voice?
Viktor stepped back a bit. He found himself embarrassed, somehow. His posture was stiff and he was at a loss for words. He looked at each of Jayce's eyes in the twilight, looking for some sort of forgiveness. He only saw the yellow glow of the Hammer light.
"Answer me," Jayce barked, revving the machine again. Viktor looked over the man's shoulders and realized he had come alone. The thought almost calmed Viktor down; perhaps he could convince Jayce of anything but the truth?
"Jayce, I-" And he was cut off again.
"You didn't say ANYTHING to me! You just took off?" He waved out his hand. "You let me think you were dead? You let me MOURN you?" He returned his hand to the hammer trigger. "And you stole from me."
"I stole from you," Viktor repeated quietly. His hands turned to fists. The Hexclaw whirred again with the movement. "Jayce, I didn't want you to see me like this. I thought you would understand."
"We can't make progress if it's only me. What do you think has been happening this whole time?" He stepped forward and pointed towards the city. "All they do is take. All they do is demand. Do you have any idea how hard I've been working, trying to make up for the work we started and didn't finish?"
Viktor's grip tightened. His face hardened.
"All I did," Jayce continued. "was to try to continue our legacy. And all the work I completed was in your name. Every speech I gave, I mentioned you, and how proud you would've been to see it. Did you see it, Viktor?" He said the name with disdain.
"Jayce, I haven't been into the city in several weeks," His voice pleaded. "I knew you couldn't..." Viktor gritted his teeth and looked at the floor.
"Couldn't what, Viktor? What was the one thing I couldn't do?"
"You couldn't do what was necessary," Viktor replied, surprisingly calm. He looked into Jayce's eyes and felt the tears welling up again. He realized Jayce had never seen him cry, and it made him self conscious. He wiped them away before they came.
Jayce looked at Viktor's legs again, and the machinery glowing under his pants. Then he looked at his arms, and the machinery attached there, and his torso, too. The larger man's face relaxed, and became sympathetic.
"What did you do?" He asked.
The question made Viktor angry.
"I asked you to destroy the Hexcore," he said. "I'm not... sick anymore."
Jayce's expression changed. He looked relieved, then confused, then concerned. He asked again, "what did you do?"
"I can't come back to the city," Viktor replied. "I have work to do, Jayce. Please understand."
"Work? Viktor, look what you did to yourself, you look..." he trailed off. Viktor only waited a moment for Jayce to complete his thought.
"I look like I don't have to struggle to walk, or breathe, or live, Jayce," he removed the Hexclaw strap from his shoulder, along with the coat sleeve. It revealed his enhanced arm. Jayce gasped quietly. "I don't have to worry about dying anymore. I can HAVE a legacy. I can do good for the world, and the people that need it, and I'm starting with Zaun."
Jayce's brow furrowed again. He watched as Viktor stared at his own arm, the purple glow reflecting in his eyes.
"How much is still you?" Jayce asked. His voice broke a little.
"How much..? It... it's all me, Jayce, I don't understand the question." Viktor stuttered again. He blinked a little and put his arm back into his coat.
"It looks like that Hexcore poisoned you."
"It didn't poison me," Viktor snapped. "It saved my life. It's the only hope I had."
"I see why you wanted me to destroy it. It really got to you, didn't it?" Jayce asked. He returned his hands to the hammer again and stood up straight.
"I would've died," Viktor hissed. The Hexclaw rose above his head and spun slowly, almost like it was focusing on Jayce. "If I stayed and tried to find a different solution, I would've died."
Jayce noticed the Hexclaw and pumped some power into his Hammer.
"I can't let you take the crystals. Or the Hexclaw," he threatened.
Viktor scoffed, and let a tear finally roll down his cheek.
"Is that truly all you have to say about any of this?" He stepped forward until he was only a step in front of the other man.
"The Council wouldn't allow-" Jayce started.
"Pff. The Council," Viktor turned away again. He paced the small space for a moment and turned back. "The goodness of Piltover and progress, is that how it is?"
"That's how it's always been." Jayce said this so matter of factly that it made Viktor furious.
"Hextech was supposed to help the world, Jayce. Not just Piltover," Some spit came out of his mouth. "It was supposed to be OUR creation. OUR Hextech dream, don't you remember that?"
"Look what you did with it, Viktor!" Jayce yelled, pushing back on Viktor's shoulder. With the space between them, Jayce filled the gap with steam from the Hammer.
Jayce had never shoved Viktor before. The hand was always so gentle when Jayce touched his shoulder before. He sobbed once and put a hand on his head. The world around him was suddenly loud, and he could feel the Shimmer slithering around in his brain. He muttered something under his breath.
"What?" Jayce asked.
"I loved you," Viktor growled, a little louder now. He couldn't believe he said it. "I loved you and I loved what we created. And it was all drowned out by the glory of Piltover politics." He spat a little again, and his eyes were dark.
"You..? Vik, I-"
Jayce's words were cut off as a beam of energy ripped into his jacket and through his shoulder. He dropped the Hammer on the ground and fell to the ground beside it. He didn't even make a noise.
Viktor gasped lightly as he realized what he'd just done. He had the urge to rush to Jayce's aid, to drop down next to him and staunch the bleeding. But he stood there. Looking over his former partner's bleeding body.
Love and legacy, a voice echoed in his head, are the sacrifices we make for progress.
He stepped over Jayce and back into the street.
When he arrived at his workshop, he collapsed at his desk. He sobbed and screamed and slammed his fists down on the table. Papers flew around and the Hexclaw on his back screeched, having no idea how to react to what the man was doing.
Do you feel better? a thousand voices whispered. Viktor turned his head to the Hexcore. It beat like a heart. He stared at it for a moment and watched the symbols and the energy inside flow like water. No, like blood.
He gritted his teeth and picked up the scalpel.