Paranoia haunted the old factory like a phantom. After Ren had confessed to speaking with Jayce, they had attempted to continue on with their evening as they originally intended to, but neither of them could relax. So after dinner, both had retired to their own rooms for night of restless sleep. Then Viktor became secluded.
For three days, Viktor isolated himself in his personal workshop. He didn't even leave for food Instead, he sent the automatons down to collect it for him and bring it back. The unease that clung to the air and sudden solitude unnerved Ren. Viktor had forbid him from leaving the factory until whatever project he was working on was completed. But how long this would take, he didn't know.
This left Ren alone with nothing but his own guilty thoughts to keep himself company. He paced through the empty halls, unable to work out his anxious energy. Drawing also proved to be a fruitless effort, and no sketch was able to proceed past its first few lines. Any attempt at studying was quickly cut short. So nervous was Ren, that he jumped at any loud noise and would scramble up to a fighting stance whenever he saw something move in the corner of his eye. Always it was a false alarm, just his mind playing tricks on him.
On day three, Ren had decided that the only thing he could do to attempt to relieve his tension would be to try and punch it out of him, so he set out for the training room to work until he passed out from exhaustion. He slipped his gauntlets over his hands and strapped them into place. An empty oil drum, strung up by a length of chain, would serve as his punching bag. Ren took a swing at it. The loud echoing clang of metal on metal sounded through the training hall. Ren let out a long sigh. This hadn't relieved the tension he had hoped it would.
Ren switched on the gauntlets before continuing his training against the oil drum. Sparks danced across the metal with every strike. The hairs on Ren's arms stood on end. He tried to focus on that sensation. He tried to focus on anything. But his mind kept going back to when he spoke to Jayce days ago.
"I should have just left him alone," Ren thought to himself, "I shouldn't have gotten myself involved with him and Koloman's group. Ugh, but that's not right either. If I hadn't stepped in he probably would have thrashed those kids. Don't beat yourself up. You were just doing what you thought was right."
His strikes against the metal punching bag continued to fill the room; punch, jab, hook, uppercut, sidekick, cross jab, roundhouse. He hoped that the cacophony of clangs, sparks, and bursts from his augmentation would be enough to drown out his thoughts.
"You were just doing what you thought was right."
The thought that Viktor, the man who saved his life, could get hurt due to his carelessness, was sickening. If that were to happen, Ren doubted he would ever be able to forgive himself.
"You were just doing what you thought was right."
Jayce stared across the chasm at the supposedly abandoned factory on the other side. The flutter of adrenaline stirred in his stomach. He gripped the handle of the Mercury Hammer in an attempt to steady his nerves. This weapon had saved his life countless times before, and he trusted that it would do so again. But all the confidence in the world wouldn't be enough to dispel the dread that haunted his thoughts, but it was too late, his mind was made up. He knew what needed to be done.
Using the ramshackle bridge maintained by the locals, Jayce crossed the chasm. At the base of the lift on the other side, he paused. Using it was out of the question. It simply caused too much noise. That was an easy problem to solve; he could simply use the service ladder to climb up. But what awaited him at the top of the lift was the bigger problem. How would he enter the factory? As he began to climb, Jayce considered his options.
"The front door is out obviously," Jayce mused, "and I want to avoid coming in through the windows. His thugs had attacked me by coming in through the windows, so he may be expecting me to take a similar approach. Not going to happen. I'm smarter than that. If I want to give up all attempts at subtlety I could just break through a wall."
At the top of the ladder, Jayce peered over the edge of the ledge and studied the factory.
"Taking down a wall is too reckless. I have no idea which ones are load bearing and I don't want to bring the building down on my head or the heads of any of his victims, like that Renato kid. Damn it, the kid. He was suspicious of being followed when he went back to Viktor. Idiot, you told him your name. I wonder if he told Viktor? Let's hope that kid is as good with names as I am. But if he isn't, I could be walking right into a trap. For all I know, this whole building could be a bomb or be filled with more robot soldiers."
Jayce rested his forehead against the cool metal of the lift as he thought. He felt every rivet and weld of the Mercury Hammer as it waited in its holster against his back. He focused on the weight he felt on his shoulders.
"It doesn't matter if this building is a bomb, or has robots, or even nothing in it. I've got to do this. It has to be me. Viktor is my responsibility. Nobody else should have to get hurt because I didn't finish the job last time. This is dangerous. This is reckless. But this is the right thing to do."
He returned to studying the building to form his plan of attack when something on the cliff side had caught his attention. In places the rock was rust stained and puckered by small holes, a telltale sign that at one time, something had been attached to it. It was likely that there used to be another lift to help export zeppelin parts up to Piltover and that after the factory was closed, this lift was dismantled to prevent anyone from sneaking up and into the Piltovan warehouses above.
"If there was a lift," Jayce reasoned, "then there should be a back door that opened to it. That's your way in. Just need to sneak in, take care of this awful business, and go home. Stay alert, stay focused, and remember, this is the right thing to do."
Jayce pulled himself up and over the ledge before rushing to the shadows of the cliff side. From there, he snuck around the outskirts of the factory, barely being able to fit in the slim space between the building and the stone. His efforts were rewarded though as, at the base of the rust stains, the passage opened up to a loading dock with an old roll up door.
A quick inspection revealed that the door had been welded shut, but beyond that, the door appeared to not be maintained. A single swing of the Mercury Hammer would be all it would take to break through the barrier, but Jayce decided against it. The top corner of the door had begun to rust away, revealing the barrel that supported the rest of the door. If he could destroy that pole, then he could bring down the door without blasting open anything.
"Why make a huge noise when some controlled destruction will do the trick?"
From his pocket, Jayce produced another of the many tools he had created. This one appeared as a wrench, but if desired, it could be transformed into a crowbar. At this moment, that was the form that was desired. Jayce switched on the Mercury Hammer. A wave of warmth spread through his body as the energy of the hexcrystal flowed through the tool and into him. He pushed against the crowbar with all his might, now enhanced from the hammer, and the metal began to groan. Then, with a crack, the metal gave way and the door fell open. Jayce tried to catch the door and ease it to the floor. Even with his best efforts, the sound of the metal hitting the floor echoed through the building.
"Dammit."
Jayce held his breath. From within the factory, he could hear other banging sounds.
"Maybe he didn't hear that over the other noise? But just in case he did, I should be prepared."
He pulled the Mercury Hammer off his back and gripped the mighty weapon firmly in his hands. The energy of the hammer caused pins and needles in the tips of his fingers even through his thick gloves. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves as a fresh wave of adrenaline surged through his body. He closed his eyes, forcing himself to once more remember what he had seen the last time he had entered one of Viktor's labs; the innocent dead, carved open and transformed into golems.
"You're not going to let that happen again. Nobody deserves that fate. Focus, Jayce. You are the Defender of Tomorrow, act like it dammit! Stop the mad scientist, save the people, and don't hesitate this time. Remember, this is the right thing to do."
It had been three days since Ren had told him that he had spoken to Jayce. Viktor was not mad. He had assured the boy that he was not mad at him, but neither "frustrated", nor "disappointed", nor "exasperated" were the correct word to describe how he was feeling either. But what did it matter? Viktor couldn't afford to let any emotion interfere with what he had to do now. There was no guarantee that Jayce would attack the factory, but fate favored the well prepared, and so Viktor prepared himself to defend himself and his apprentice.
"It will not happen again," Viktor resolved, "civilian causalities are an unacceptable outcome. Jayce is a risk to the people of Zaun. I will not underestimate him this time. The factory is acceptable collateral, if the threat is eliminated."
To achieve this outcome, Viktor had consumed himself with his work. His favorite devices, his siphon, magnetic trap, laser, and hex-storm drone, were all brought before his workbench to be upgraded. He had been prototyping upgrades for these devices for a while, and though he still wished to iterate further on them, the potential for an attack at any moment called for a shift in procedure. These upgrades were deemed safe enough for a limited field deployment and would provide Viktor with the advantage he would need in combat.
As he finished rewiring his staff, Viktor found himself gazing into the light of the hexcrystal atop it. He placed the tip of one of his mechanical fingers on it. Immediately, energy shot up his arm. Viktor felt it race through his augmented limbs. The nerves where machine met man tingled at the sensation.
"Such a small fragment," Viktor lamented, "and still so much power. I could have saved them, improved them. Now they are dead. Do not dwell on them longer. Focus on the future. There is still one you can improve."
Viktor went to his bookshelf. Hidden among the books was a small safe that he had designed to only open at the touch of his staff's crystal. He placed the crystal against the safe and, as the device opened, its light shone brighter. Inside was another piece of the original crystal that Jayce had shattered. Viktor brought it back to his workbench and retrieved the file for the N-12 augmentation. Then, he began to study his designs.
"Renatus. Without augmentation, he would have perished. But now he will carry more power than most in Piltover could conceive. And through his efforts, I shall continue to improve others. With each augmentation, I shall advance lives of those in Zaun. No longer will Piltover interfere with our progress. We shall evolve beyond them. This is what is right."
He was prepared to summon his apprentice to him, but an alarm in his room blared. The factory had been infiltrated. In one immediate motion, he pocketed the crystal shard, grabbed his staff, and, with his third arm, silenced the alarm. With all his weapons turned on, Viktor burst from his workshop. He had run out of time and had to find Ren.
Viktor followed the sounds of Ren's punches and rushed to the training room. He threw open the doors with more force than he had intended, causing Ren to jump back and, in alarm, snap into a fighting stance.
"Oh, Doc," Ren sighed, "it's just you. How are you doing? I haven't seen you in –"
"There is no time for discussion," Viktor cut off, "the security alarm has been triggered."
"What?" a look of panic rushed over his apprentice as the realization struck him, "does that mean we're under attack?"
Before Viktor could answer, the air began to hum with energy. Both turned their attentions to the doorway on the far side of the room. Brilliant light shone from behind it. Viktor knew the source. It was the crackling of energy that surrounded the weapon that had destroyed the crystal.
"Listen to me," Viktor began.
The door was kicked open. There, standing across from them, was the Piltie Ren had spoken to. There was Jayce. Ren took a nervous step back before assuming a fighting stance. Viktor stepped between them.
"Listen to me, apprentice," his voice was steady, "go and ensure that Project N is taken to safety."
Viktor's laser began to glow, primed and ready for use. The staff shone with power and his hand hovered by the other devices strapped to his belt.
"Odd," Viktor thought, "I used to envision Project: N being deployed against Jayce with approval. Now, it is an outcome to be avoided. Unexpected. But this feeling is right. Jayce is my responsibility. I alone will confront him. I will prevent him from harming another Zaunite. I will not allow Renatus's blood on his hands. This is what is right."
Buckle up, Summoners, August is going to be a wild month. Return every Sunday until this climax is seen through.
-Gwoo
