The evening was quiet. Ren had spent most of the day sleeping. It had been a week since Blitzcrank had carried the boy home from their first outing into Zaun. Despite the beating had had taken, Ren had refused to rest and recover for more than a day. He had insisted that his work had only begun and his eagerness to pursue his goal was so great that Viktor knew the only way to keep from going out again would have been to physically tie him down. And so Viktor let him go, so long as Blitzcrank went with him.
After several days of returning bruised and filthy, Ren had declared his mission accomplished and that was ready to finally rest. For this, Viktor was grateful. Ren was recovering and promised to write a detailed report on how his creations performed in combat. Furthermore, with the boy asleep, Viktor had been able to spend the entire day working without interruption.
It had been an incredibly productive day. And now with his work finally completed, Viktor sat down at his desk to open the package that had been left for him at the factory's door. A small item was wrapped in newspaper and twine. Tucked into the twine was an envelope with Viktor's name written in a neat script. Recognizing the hand, Viktor opened the bundle and read the letter.
Viktor,
I know you don't get the paper way out where you are but I thought you would enjoy reading this. You must be so proud of the boy. Good luck with him.
-M
Viktor looked down at the present Moyna had left him. It was a newspaper article, carefully clipped out with the accompanying photo preserved in a small picture frame. In the image was Blitzcrank with Ren sitting triumphantly on his shoulder. The boy had a ridiculous smile on his face, despite also clearly having a black eye. In his raised hand, he held a torn banner of a whump smoking a cigar.
Although not the front page story, that honor had been reserved to announce the marriage of two Piltover nobles, the article the photo was taken from was given half a page to tell its story. The headline read:
A Good Whumping:
Young Man and Golem Topple Plump Whump Gang, Credit Estranged Scientist for Victory
Viktor gave a dry chuckle at the word "estranged," before briefly skimming the story. Most of it was a dramatic retelling of Ren and Blitzcrank's exploits over the past few days. It told that how, after the brawl by the bridge and the arrest of the Plump Whumps's boss, the two of them scoured the district looking for the gang's base and how, after locating it, they routed the remaining gang members from their hold. Ultimately, this had led to the arrests of nearly a dozen other gang members and the total dismantling of their organization.
Most importantly, the article quoted Ren singing the praises of Viktor and how his inventions saved his life and empowered him to help others. There they were. The promised positive image Ren had guaranteed he would promote. Beyond that though, the article's tone to Viktor quickly changed. It portrayed him as an ominous figure as it summarized his reputation in Zaun, his work, his education, and several unfavorable rumors about him. The silver lining though came in the form of the article's final line.
"But who can say what his motives are but him? All we do know is that the people here can sleep more soundly thanks to this mysterious Project N."
Viktor read and reread the final line of the article. He didn't care what the people thought of him, so why did these words stir something inside him? I didn't take much pondering to come to the answer. It was pride, not just in his work, but in the recognition of his work. It was a dangerous feeling. Viktor knew this and knew that this rising feeling would need to be suppressed, but as he looked at the photo of Ren and Blitzcrank, he conceded to allow himself to indulge in the emotion for just the evening.
Tomorrow though, it would be back to business as usual. He would not let this pride allow him to become complacent in his quest for betterment. With the information Ren provided about his brawls, Viktor had many ideas on how to improve on the design of both the augmentation and other gadgets he had given the boy. Beyond that, Ren had also consented to other potential augmentations. Even if they were all restricted to be subdermal, Viktor was eager to begin devising designs to improve his subject. Bones, muscles, tendons, all could be improved upon. Lastly, and least in his opinion, he had promised to aid Ren in personalizing the augmentation with decorative flames. It was a completely frivolous plan, but considering how beneficial Ren had been for his research, he could at least humor him as a "thank you."
Viktor pulled out the file he had for Project N and added the newspaper article to it. He looked through the file and gathered all the old blueprints for the limb and spread them out before himself. Although he didn't plan on beginning the upgrades tonight, he wanted everything set up and ready for tomorrow morning. He grabbed a fresh piece of blueprint paper, but paused before titling it. The design should be labeled "N-13," but referring to Ren as N-13 seemed off to him. Viktor sighed. His attempts to not grow attached to his patient were not as successful as he hoped, but he had also not anticipated Ren ever growing attached to him in return. After a brief pause, Viktor wrote at the top of the page, "N-12 V.2"
Deciding that there was little else that could be accomplished in a meaningful way that night, Viktor decided sleep would be the most efficient use of his time. He removed his mask and gave it its evening cleaning before seeing to his own personal grooming. The last thing he did before retiring to bed was take the photo and place it on the shelf next to the only other one he owned, his younger self with Blitzcrank. It only made sense that his two greatest sources of pride be side by side.
