Ren sat in the gym with his sketchpad, doodling flame patterns. He felt more refreshed than he had in days and ideas flowed freely from his fingers. When Viktor arrived, he reluctantly put away his pad.
Viktor, for his part, was also feeling refreshed from his day uninterrupted work on other personal projects. Despite this, Ren could still sense that there was something off about the scientist that morning.
"N-12," Viktor said with the imperious tone he usually reserved for commanding the automatons, "explain what the meaning of this is."
From the folds of his coat, Viktor withdrew a piece of paper and displayed with stern posture.
Ren smiled.
"Oh," he said jovially, "you found her. It's Lady Science, what do you think?"
Lady Science, as depicted by Ren, was a shapely robot with a sleek finish. Her anatomy was similar to that a human with some aspects enhanced and exaggerated. Endowed mechanical breasts strained gently against the lab coat she was wearing, which, outside of a pair of glasses turned down on her nose, was the only thing she was wearing. She held a clipboard to her waist to protect her modesty while her other hand held a pen suggestively up to her lips. The lenses of her eyes were dilated just so that she could stare up with a sharp, seductive look at the viewer. A small bolt on her cheek, caringly placed by Ren, acted as a beauty mole.
Looking at his work again, Ren smiled with pride.
"What do you think? I wasn't sure how you felt about robots, well, robot women that is, so I tried to keep her design leaning towards human."
"You wish for my honest opinion?"
"I already assumed you'd always be honest and blunt with my anyways."
Viktor took in a breath before letting his opinion out in one long stream.
"Clothing would create unnecessary drag during movement. Unless they held vital operating equipment, the breasts like structures protrude too much. If vital equipment was being stored in them, it should be redistributed more evenly to promote balance and keep the design from becoming unnecessarily top heavy. Lastly, if this robot required an upgrade for visual hardware, it would more efficient to replace the lenses entirely rather than design glasses for it. Functionality over from, N-12."
Ren blinked. Dumbfounded, he sat with a blank expression before bursting into laughter.
"What is so amusing," Viktor demanded.
"You really don't get it, do you," Ren asked a he wiped a single tear from the corner of his eye, "the form is the functionality. To put it in mechanical terms, she can be a good releasing agent."
Now it was Viktor's turn to be silent and dumbfounded. When he recovered, he returned the illustration back to his coat and gave a quick order to speak no more of the subject.
"This will be the focus of today's training," Viktor announced as he placed a small box on the table.
Ren hopped to his feet and quickly went to open the box. Inside was a pair of vicious looking brass knuckles. It would have been more accurate though, to call them gear knuckles, since the protrusions on the weapons were made from mismatched gears. A quizzical look crossed Ren's face. The weapons seemed too brutish a creation for Viktor, but a look at the clean welding and precise that the gears were sharpened to left no doubt about whom their creator was.
"We are going to enhance your technique," Viktor stated.
"I appreciate it," Ren returned, "but I thought we were working on my leg, not my arms."
"I expect you to become a warrior. If you must defend yourself, you will be using both your hands and your leg."
Ren shrugged and slipped the weapons onto his hands. A small shiver ran down his spine, not from the chill of the metal, but from a wave a malice that rolled through him. He knew that these were designed to maim not defend, but he remained silent about this.
"The gears have been design so that with practice, they can be used to catch an opponent's weapon, similarly to the Noxian swordbreaker dagger," Viktor explained," they can also be used to sever key wires and tubes in an enemy's augmentation. Locate either the power supply or main exhaust and cripple the connection. On many inferior chem limbs a buildup without its controlled release will have devastating effects."
"Would my leg ever do that?"
"I said inferior, and my designs are not inferior. Your leg has fail safes to prevent catastrophic failure."
"Crystal, good to know."
"As you have already demonstrated," Viktor continued, "applying your thrusters at opportune moments allows you to add more force to your blows. Given proper application, you will also be able to use this to add more torque and power to your punches. Sweeping kicks with your shin should also be practiced."
"Question," Ren interrupted, "if I'm using my knee more, can I add those spikes I've been asking about?"
"No."
Viktor's response was instantaneous. Ren huffed but said no more. He had hoped that the 7th time asking would have been the charm.
Sensing that Ren was going to remain quiet, Viktor presented him with a new form a training dummy. It looked like a tree trunk made of metal and stripped down to a few leafless branches. This trunk was divided into three sections that could each move independently of each other, so the branches would rotate around if they were hit. The end of each branch was also fitted with a socket so that Viktor could attach different forms of weaponry, such as a fist, a blade, or a hammer. Ren gave the device a cautionary tap. One of the branches rotated backwards, while another on the same tier came forwards.
"Attack and defend," he mused, "well this is certainly more interesting than beating up unmoving punching bags."
"You will be expected to strike at certain tiers a set amount of times without being struck yourself each exercise," Viktor instructed.
"I've got it," Ren boasted, "I've beaten things way more intimidating than this. This'll be easy."
Ren tucked his arm in closely for a fighting stance. Light on his feet, he began to strike at the dummy. Quick punches and jabs were followed by the clank of Ren blocking the incoming branch with his knuckles. Lower strikes were answered by a quick step backwards to avoid the incoming attack. The whole ordeal seemed almost too easy for Ren. Almost.
When Viktor was sure that Ren had entered a comfortable pattern and had begun to tune the world out, he reached into his pocket and pushed a button on a remote. The whirl of machinery filled the air. Ren's eyes darted around the room looking for the source, but he scarcely had more than a moment to look. The noise was coming from the dummy as the branches on the middle section spun around of their own accord. Without warning, Ren was struck in the side. He staggered back for a moment, gripping at his ribs a coughing painfully.
"What was that? I didn't even hit there," he stammered.
"Correct, you didn't," Viktor answered, "but real combat will not be as easy to predict as this training device is, so I modified it to better reflect that. I have control over it and can command it to attack even when such movement has not been triggered by your stimuli. Remain focused this time."
Ren righted himself and approached the contraption again. He was more alert now, looking for signs of movement, both from the dummy and from Viktor. His ears were also listening for the same whirl of machinery that occurred last time. Despites his efforts, he would still find himself struck several more times before the day was over.
By noontime, Ren's arms were bruised and sore. Relief had filled his body when Viktor called an end to the morning's exercises so that they may break for lunch. Viktor hailed Ren over to a table in the corner of the room, upon which a tall smoothie waited. Much to Ren's surprise, an apple cut with surgical precision rested on a plate next to it.
"Did you forget to put it in the blender?" Ren asked with an amused huff.
"I would not forget to include nutrients in your diet," Viktor responded, "I intended for them to be that way."
A puzzled look crossed Ren's face.
"You mean to tell me you didn't act efficiently on purpose? Who are you and what did you do with Viktor," Ren ribbed.
"You will be sitting for the remainder of today's lesson," Viktor continued without acknowledging Ren's jests, "so you will have the luxury of being able to eat at a leisurely pace as you study these."
Viktor unrolled one of the dozens of pieces of paper he had set on the table. It was a blueprint for a simple prosthetic arm. In the corner, the insignia of a prestigious university in Piltover was emblazoned next to the name if the schematic "Clockwork Limb: Base." Ren leaned over to get a better look at the clearly marked diagram.
"All of these documents are blueprints of common augmentations and prosthetics of Zaun and Piltover. You will study them, understand how they are assembled, and know where their weaknesses are. If you fight, these are what you will likely be facing."
Ren nodded in understanding.
"I get it," he said, "if I can take out their limb, I have already won."
"You will gain an advantage, but it will not guarantee victory. It will be through both knowledge and your skill at arms that victory will be achieved."
"Crystal."
"Furthermore," Viktor continued, "you will study these for another reason. Although I believe that your abilities are being squandered on frivolities, it would be inaccurate for me state that you possess no talent for illustration. If you were to apply yourself, you would be able to learn how to draw blueprints with my instruction."
Ren's ruddy cheeks seemed to glow with pride at the thought that Viktor though he possessed artistic talent. He said no more, but turned to blueprints and began to study them.
Below his mask, the faintest twitch of a smirk flickered across Viktor's face.
