THE DOCTOR
The old bandages were discarded away in the runout tray, to be disposed later, as his skin was taking his time to adapt the new ones he wrapped.
It'd take long for those wounds to heal. Perhaps too long...
But for Singed, it was to be expected. His work always did come with some... unexpected hazards of sorts. It's what kept him, rather than what was happening on the outside. Indeed he heard most of the news. Of how Piltover was caught in a large explosion. Of how his former... employer, so to say, was now no more. Probably the one he saved did that... Some could only take so much pain and trauma, even with such a formula like the Shimmer to help deal with the... transitions. It was strange that the body could almost handle it, but the mind, on the other hand...
Singed simply shrugged at the thought. Nothing mattered at the moment. Just him, the quietness of the lab he just put back together now, and the next experiment. No politics, or enforcers, or Chem-Thugs, or even this upcoming war.
No one for him to answer to. No limitations. No problems.
Singed took a brief glance into one of his test tanks, where most of his experimentations lied. Especially the longest of his experimentations, the Waverider Rio, the one whose mutation truly helped with most advances on his research. Especially the latest. He then walked to the table to prepare it for the next work.
Suddenly, a subtle noise was heard, which caught Singed's ears since it disturbed the peace of his laboratory. He turned around to realize he wasn't alone, but in the presence of someone he definitely didn't know, and somehow had the knowledge and access to his lab.
The someone appeared human, mostly, given he was mostly wearing a mask, had a messy hair around it and some sort of mechanical arm on his right shoulder. He wore a long coat and was carrying some sort of chest with him.
"Pardon me.", he said, in a calm, almost creepily collected manner as he looked across the table for something he could use. All there was was a bottle. "But I'm not usually one of a receptioning kind...", his left hand then moved to grab it.
As Singed said that, the stranger took his right hand and then removed his mask.
And then Singed saw the strange face was not strange at all.
Of course, strange as in totally unfamiliar with the person, because in the normal human being sense, it totally said otherwise. For this human face, all familiar to Singed since he met him when he was a crippled boy, was now one almost all of metal, yet a flexible one, with some radiant energy running below it. An energy that spread even to this one's eyes, almost covering his once amber ones, now totally devoid of pupils and almost as if fading away. And were now staring at Singed with an expression of perhaps sadness, or anger. Or bitterness. Perhaps a stoic, distant one, he always tried to make that one to make himself look smarter...
Singed let go of the bottle. "Clearly you were successful.", he glanced at Viktor.
Viktor's eyes darted aside for a moment. "More like an accident...", he said, walking forward.
"The most open-minded would disagree with your assessment.", Singed replied.
"Let's put it briefly, you know why I'd return here.", Viktor said, heading to the table and resting the chest at it. "I still remember the agreement."
Viktor then opened the chest, the bright azure purple glow spewing from within. Singed took a closer look at the object within the chest, floating, glowing and vivid, attempting to maintain it's geometric nature, and yet far more organic, beating almost like a heart. It was indeed, even for Singed, something that just couldn't be described.
"This was purely mechanical, before?", Singed asked, with an impressed tone, almost impressed, attempting to approach as close as he cloud, gazing at the object almost like a child before a toy he didn't ever see.
"I wouldn't touch it if I were you, Singed.", Viktor said.
Singed glanced back at Viktor. "Of course not.", he said. "I always did learn to poke it with a stick, a long one, first and foremost. That's why I'm still alive. Nevertheless, still impressive, truly outwordly. To think Shimmer and Hextech combined did this...", he then took a good look at Viktor, whose eyes remained fixed on him. "You've quite struck something new, it'll only need slightly further improvement. This and your-"
"I'm not seeking improvement, Singed.", Viktor interrupted, eyes dealocked at the scarred doctor. "Shimmer is, as you once said, a means to change. And change is like a road. Hence, a way forward. And a way back."
Singed glanced at Viktor. "You look for... regression?", he asked, awed, but Viktor simply kept his stare. "Weren't you, but days ago, practically begging me for help?"
"I was, and I did take your help.", Viktor nodded, eyes darting aside for a while. "It did help, but the...", he closed his eyes, as if he were ashamed. "The price was..."
"I *did* warn you, Viktor.", Singed replied, noticing Viktor's downed look. "Love and legacy are-"
"-the sacrifices we make for progress.", Viktor followed and cut him, nodding as if he were annoyed, but Singed could tell it was something else. Viktor's tone suggested it clearly.
"Did she have a name? Or was it a he?", Singed asked, after a while, as Viktor glanced back at him. "I spent most of my time in the lab, Viktor, not all of it. There is a difference."
"She.", Vitkor answered, after a while, but struggling to try and explain to Singed, whom just remained there, patiently. "She was... When I... She had...", he shook his head, trying to formulate an explanation, but couldn't. "I-I thought I was ready. When the first results came, I was excited. Alive, for once! I knew I had to keep going, but then...", he was lost at words, by then.
"I see.", Singed nodded. "We all think we're ready, but we aren't. And when we believe we aren't ready yet, it's when we turn out to be the most capable. Quite the private joke out of nature, truly."
"It's not like you'd understand...", Viktor eyes kept away from Singed's.
"Indeed, I don't.", Singed said, non-chalantly. "Matters of the heart are something I did lose touch with a long time ago. Chemicals and mutations, on the other hand? And on that knowledge, I can tell you with confidence: this plan of yours will be your worst, yet."
Viktor stared then at Singed, with his hollow amber eyes. "Will it, now?", he asked.
"Change is costly, Viktor.", Singed answered. "But returning to how it was is much more costly, and does much more damage than merely moving on ahead. Would you really wish to return to your previous ailing state, only it'd be worse than when you started off? And there would none to aid you through, this time..."
Viktor closed his eyes in shame. "You said I had the look of a doomed man.", he said. "Maybe it would've just been better to have accepted it. She would've still..."
"It insults those we lost when we treat ourselves carelessly.", Singed replied, a couple of seconds later. "And when we look only at what we lost, instead of what we've gained as well. Believe yourself a monstrosity all you wish, Viktor, but I have seen and made monsters, and this, this is anything but.", he gestured at Viktor. "I myself can't even call this a mutation, it's more than that, it's... evolution. A glorious one, pardon my arrogance."
Viktor's eyes hadn't returned to Singed yet. "You won't give me the Shimmer, will you?", he asked, a couple of seconds later.
"I never said I wouldn't.", Singed said, producing a couple of vials, filled with the sickly-bright purple chemical, and rested them on the table. "All I'm asking you is to... put some thought on it."
The doctor then slowly turned towards a specific corner of the room. "I'll be getting some materials.", he then said, walking away, leaving Viktor with the open chest by the table and the Shimmer vials, which he kept looking at both for some time. Only there was no temptation at that point, but rather... a resistance to it.
Viktor let out a sigh in frustration by then. "I know you want to say it...", he whispered.
I don't know what to say. But still, for someone as creepy as him, he's... sort of heartwarming.
"It's like that at first, construct...", Viktor replied, coldly, glancing at the large tank with the Waverider.
He's got quite the point, though. Would you really want to return as you were? Or do you want to move on, instead, and try and make something out of it? There's still the kid, back in the orphanage...
"Thank you for reminding me...", Viktor said in sarcasm, recalling last night's incident, and then raising his own made-up prosthetic arm from the hospital material. 'I should give this one to him, after I get the better one...', he thought.
Why not make the better one yourself, too, and give it to him? Install it on him?
"Install it?", Viktor asked, baffled by the suggestion, his eyes returning to the core. "I'm a scientist, not a doctor!"
And isn't a doctor a scientist on biology? Well, certainly the hag whom nearly killed you and the Firelight didn't get those sword legs from a doctor, either.
"Camille is an intelligencer.", Viktor defended himself. "Just a fashioned word for an assassin. Besides, she long had contacts of her own to have her prosthetics done."
So why only she had that, and no one else?
"Her House is a rich one.", Viktor answered. "It can't be any more obvious."
But why only she had that, and no one else?
Viktor tried thinking of an answer, but was unable to. At least one that could be rational.
You know, I always wondered why, for a place called 'City of Progress', not everyone was having a chance at it, only a few. You know where we came from, and there's a word for that there, anddefinitely not Progress. Privilege.
Viktor remained quiet for a while, until he did recall one thing. "There were some people in Zaun with augmentations, too, it's not like it's exclusive to tops-", he argued.
Most likely those are with the Chem-Barons. Whom else would have that? And why no one else has?
Viktor's eyes closed in frustration. He didn't like when the Core would interrupt him. That and try and constantly sway him around like that, as if it were challenging him.
And yet, the thought kept indeed gnawing at his mind.
Don't you see? This might be the calling you always waited for, Viktor. You always wanted to help people, you hoped to do it with Hextech, before it became just another toy for the Houses. This can be a start.
Viktor's eyes darted aside from the Core for a while, thinking on it. It's not like he had much options, either way, to not mention this could be a way for him to earn some living, as long as he could lay low. "Still, it'd take quite a time...", he said. "To properly learn it, that is..."
This Singed can help you for a bit. As can I.
Viktor glanced at the core, a stoic expression.
You're not much in the way of assistants now, Viktor. And everyone's gotta do their part. But for that, there's a bridge to be mended first.
Viktor's eyebrows subtly rose up at the insolence, the nerve of the construct. To think that thing, which had caused more trouble in mere days than him and Jayce in over a decade, was to be the one to assist him. Just like she did. And to demand apologies of a sort...!
It's either that, or good luck trying to do it on your own.
Viktor looked away for a moment, closing his eyes. He knew this was something he had to muster up enough to go ahead. "How?", he asked.
Start by calling me. By who I am.
Viktor's eyes slowly darted back to the core. "Hello, construct.", he deadpanned.
I said call me by *who* I am.
Viktor looked away, his breath audible.
I can wait, Viktor. And I will.
He, grinding his teeth, could not just believe the situation he was just caught into. He definitely could and should just toss that... thing off the river and move back to Piltover and be arrested. But then, as he recalled the night at the hospital, distance wasn't like a problem for this one, and perhaps would just call out his name on and on, tethering him to the brink of insanity.
He couldn't just believe the next words he'd say, almost as if they were tantamount to heresy. Given what happened all these days, it definitely looked like it.
"Hello...", Viktor said, looking away, almost choking. "Hello, Sky.", his heart raced and he was breathing heavily.
...it's a start. It's been a while, Viktor. Good to see that you at least got... something.
Viktor's eyes closed again. "The price was still too high...", he said, feeling himself hollow.
I'd pay it again, given the choice. Just so you know.
Viktor then heard subtle steps echoing closer. He knew Singed was returning with a box full of materials, no doubt more for his experiments.
The doctor looked at Viktor and then at the vials, left just as he let them at the table. "You did put a thought on it.", he contemplated.
Viktor stared back at the vials, then at Singed. "Maybe I just need more time to think it through...", he said, walking forward. "There's something else I wanted to ask you, though."
Singed shrugged as Viktor's right hand raised his coat's left sleeve, exposing the makeshift prosthetic.
"I might have something, for an old friend, if you'll just wait a while.", the doctor said.