Chapter Text
Jayce needed to find Viktor.
His partner hadn’t been seen since he’d slipped away from their makeshift workspace hours before. Jayce understood why Viktor had left – he’d noticed Viktor’s skittish behaviors as the room had filled with excited councilors and scientists. After five minutes of watching the man shuffle his feet, rub his neck, and white-knuckle his cane, Jayce wasn’t surprised when the he'd excused himself and limped out the door. But Jayce had been concerned when Viktor hadn’t returned by the time they were summoned to speak in the councilors’ chamber.
Councilors aside, there were things Jayce hadn’t had time to ask before – where they went from here, what uses they’d put Hextech to, if Viktor still wanted to be his partner and whether or not they’d need a bigger lab – Jayce’s head was spinning at the possibilities the future held for them! Surely, Viktor felt the same way after their accomplishment that night!
Jayce had to ask around to find out where Viktor’s quarters were. He was alarmed to hear that Viktor lived in one of the small, cramped dorms near the student side of the academy district.
Was an assistant’s salary so small that he couldn’t afford a real apartment?
Eventually, Jayce reached the row of narrow doorways a drowsy student pointed him toward, spotting room 61. His ears caught a muffled voice – Viktor must be here! – and he knocked. “Viktor, it’s Jayce! Can we talk?”
The voice went silent. Frowning, Jayce leaned toward the door. He thought he heard a soft whisper before Viktor called in a louder voice, “Come in, Jayce. But… Close the door behind you, please.”
The caution in Viktor’s words made Jayce’s skin prickle. Something felt wrong here.
With wary steps, Jayce entered, glancing around for a clue to what made Viktor sound so apprehensive, but saw nothing except a small, cluttered room. Jayce pressed the door shut. “You sound nervous, Viktor. Is something –”
Then he caught site of the small hand clutching the side of Viktor’s vest.
Jayce’s words stuck in his throat as a face peeped out from behind the scientist, a young girl with startlingly blue hair watching him with fear.
“Um – who’s this?”
Earlier…
Weightless.
He remembered hovering amidst the ethereal blue light, all the aches in his body having momentarily disappeared. He recalled Jayce’s radiant grin, his own wonder reflected in the other man as their eyes traced the path of a coin passing through the strange device they had created. It was beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful science Viktor had ever witnessed.
Then there’d been the onlookers, flocking to the scene like moths to a cerulean flame.
Viktor had never liked crowds. He was embarrassed to admit that it had only taken a few minutes for him to become desperate for space. He hoped Jayce would understand; he was more capable than Viktor amongst the councilors. Jayce would be fine.
Taking to the streets, Viktor found himself wandering south, past the bridge.
The chilly night breeze was soothing against his heated skin, sweaty from the long trek. Letting his cane drop against a bench’s rusted railing, Viktor fell to a seat, burrowed his hands into his pockets, and tilted his head back to gaze at the cloudy night sky over the waterside.
Now what?
What would he and Jayce do with this new technology? Would Jayce be willing to let it be used not just in Piltover, but in the Undercity, Viktor’s old home? Would it help pave these streets, raise these buildings, create a better world for the people here?
He hoped so. He hoped so more than anything.
Viktor’s hands curled into fists as he grinned softly at the sky. This world was about to change in a big, big way.
BOOM!
A familiar shade of blue lit the sky.
Viktor seized the bench as it rattled, bracing himself against the wave of sound that had the whole street vibrating. In the distance, an explosion roared, throwing light and smoke into the dark sky.
Viktor gaped at the sight. What just happened?
Staggering to his feet, he hobbled as quickly as he could toward the end of the block. Viktor stumbled many times, hardly aware of the cracks and bumps in the road as his head angled skyward, watching a plume of smoke grow over the warehouses a block away.
Was anyone hurt? Is there anything I can do?
His progress was frustratingly slow. By the time he turned into the alleyway that led to the imperiled warehouse, all traces of that magical blue light were gone. Flames devoured the bones of the building, creeping hungrily around heaps of rubble. With every step he took, Viktor felt the air grow hotter, waves of heat radiating from the wreckage like a furnace.
Lightning flashed across the sky.
Viktor flinched as a freezing raindrop struck his cheek, followed by a barrage more. The rain hissed against the burning rubble, but the fire refused to die.
Viktor could only hope that the warehouse had been empty before the explosion.
Just then, shadows rippled around the far corner of the rubble. Startled, Viktor slipped into a gap between two crumbling brick walls barely wider than his chest. He watched as a small silhouette took shape, a person. They were running, getting closer –
Catching his breath, Viktor backed further into the shadows just as the figure dove into his hideout.
She was a child. The girl trembled as her back hit the rough brick wall, clothes wrinkling as she slid to the ground. Her whole chest convulsed around a series of sharp gasps. Viktor caught sight of tear tracks and a developing bruise before she buried her face in her knees. Her remarkably blue hair was drenched with rain.
At her howl of grief, Viktor’s chest clenched.
Bewildered, he couldn’t bring himself to move at first. The kid looked distraught, like her world was burning down around her – considering the circumstances, it seemed fitting.
As his fingers tightened around his cane, Viktor started to berate himself. He’d come here so he could help, hadn’t he? Yet here he was, hiding in the shadows from a wailing child.
Hesitantly, he stepped toward her. “Hey –”
The kid startled, wide blue eyes flashing toward him. Viktor winced at the fear on her face.
Clack, clack, clack –
In unison, they both turned to the alleyway, listening to the footsteps. The kid whimpered.
The next thing Viktor knew, he’d been knocked clean off his feet. He gasped, grunting as his back collided with the asphalt. The kid weighed him to the ground like a stone – she had ensnared him around his waist, head buried in his vest, hands trembling.
“P-please… Don’t let them find me! They’ll be m-mad! They’ll be mad at what I did!”
“Ah –” Viktor stammered. “Hey… hey, what happened? Are those people looking for you?”
She just burrowed tighter into his vest. “They’ll be mad,” She whispered. “But I… I didn’t mean to k-kill anyone, I swear! I just wanted to help… I just wanted to help…”
His eyes traced the burning rubble beyond their sheltered nook.
Did she – ?
The footsteps had nearly reached them.
Viktor gripped the girl, trying to hold her still. “It’s okay, it’s okay… Now hush, we don’t want them to hear you.”
Her whimpers cut short as she held her breath, fists tightening into his clothes. Viktor barely dared to breathe as a thin, scar-faced man stepped into view. Framed in firelight, a damaged, orange eye gleamed dangerously, but thankfully didn’t turn their way. As he stepped out of view, a half dozen burly figures trailed behind him, all glaring fiercely ahead.
Viktor doubted they’d be kind to whoever they sought.
Once the last figure lumbered out of view, Viktor’s grip on the girl remained firm. He listened carefully, closing his eyes as the footsteps grew softer, softer, softer… until they disappeared altogether.
Viktor let out a breath. “They’re gone now. You’re safe. It’s okay; you can breathe. It’s okay.”
Ever so slightly, the girl’s grip loosened. Viktor began to follow suite, but no sooner had he raised his arms from her back than her grip redoubled, hands shaking even more violently than before. “Don’t go!” Her fraught voice was muffled against his coat. “Please don’t leave me. Please. I need… Please…Please…”
“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay…” Viktor felt like a broken record, but the girl didn’t seem to mind, her murmurs dropping off as he embraced her once more. Viktor stared down at the shock of blue hair, mind spinning as he tried to figure out how to proceed.
Come on Viktor, you’re a scientist! If you can stabilize the arcane, you can help a little girl feel safe!
He cleared his throat awkwardly. “I won’t leave you until you’re safe, okay?” The girl didn’t respond, but relaxed in his grip. Taking that as a good sign, Viktor continued, “Can you tell me where you’re supposed to be right now?” He bowed his head closer to her. “Is your family nearby? Your friends?”
The girl cringed. To Viktor’s dismay, she shook her head. “Gone,” she whispered. “They’re gone… And she left me…” Viktor was shocked by the venom in the child’s voice when she repeated, “she left me.”
This whole time, she hadn’t stopped shaking. The girl seemed so overwhelmed by her emotions; it was heartbreaking to witness.
No child should have to feel this way, Viktor thought with pity. She shouldn’t be alone.
“What am I going to do, Jayce?”
Viktor’s eyes were weary. It had taken him some time to calm the girl down after Jayce’s entrance; she was understandably wary of strangers.
After the tale he’d just been told, Jayce was amazed that Viktor had won the girl’s trust so quickly. She’d latched onto Viktor like a tick until he’d had managed to distract her with a contraption he’d had lying on his desk. Fortunately, the girl now seemed wholly invested in methodically dismantling the device – a toy boat, it appeared – and Jayce finally had the chance to speak with Viktor.
“Shouldn’t we take her to the enforcers?” Jayce suggested. “They might be able to track down a relative, or find someone who knows her –”
Viktor ran a hand through his hair. “No. She said she had no one, and there’s a chance those people she was running from might try to claim her. And…” Viktor winced. “I think she had something to do with the explosion.” Jayce’s eyes widened, and Viktor waved his hands. “Not on purpose! She said something about an accident. I didn’t push her to say more; she already seemed so overwhelmed.”
“But even if it was an accident, isn’t that all the more reason to get the enforcers involved?” Jayce insisted.
Viktor’s eyes hardened. “And then what?” He gestured toward the young girl. “What do you think would become of her?” Viktor struck his cane against the floor. “Stillwater is no place for a child.”
Shock lanced through Jayce’s chest. “Surely, they wouldn’t send her there –”
“I’m from the Undercity, Jayce. I know how little enforcers think of people from there. They won’t care that she’s a child, or that it was an accident.” Jayce wanted to argue otherwise, but Viktor interrupted him. “I heard that the thieves who caused that explosion at your apartment were intended for Stillwater. Weren’t they children too?”
“That’s different!” Jayce shouted. “They intentionally stole dangerous materials!”
Viktor hesitated, seemed to consider whether or not to say what was on his mind. “The explosion in the undercity… It was blue. The same blue as Hextech.”
The facts clicked in Jayce’s head. His glance flickered back toward the girl. “The enforcers said that one of the suspects had blue hair.”
Silence hung heavily between them, broken only by the metallic clicks of the girl deconstructing the toy boat. A barrage of emotions passed across Viktor’s face in a second: frustration, pity, weariness. “Please, Jayce. She’s just a child. No one has to know what she’s done.”
At Viktor’s plea, something in Jayce broke. He sighed. “What will you do with her, then?”
Viktor’s shoulder’s caved as if the weight of the world was falling upon them. “I’m not sure. I don’t have connections… Do you know any families that might take in a child from the Undercity?”
Jayce thought of Caitlyn’s stern parents, how they turned their nose up at anything that had to do with the Undercity. “No. I’m afraid not.”
Viktor bit his lip. His golden eyes drifted to the girl. “She was so scared of being alone. She wouldn’t let go of me until we got here.” He frowned. “I know what it’s like to be a lonely child. I can’t just throw her back into the streets.”
Jayce looked back at the child, then let his gaze roam around Viktor’s dorm. It was a messy, cramped space. The twin-sized bed covered in old clothes was just three meters away from his kitchen counter, littered with pieces of gadgets and dishes alike. “You know,” Jayce mused. “The council likes Hextech. They’re going to be sponsoring it.”
Viktor fixed him with a dreary stare.
“So,” Jayce added, “I’m sure we’ll be able to afford some better quarters for you. Maybe quarters with room for an apprentice?”
Viktor gaped. “An apprentice?” The man nervously flexed his fingers around the head of his cane. “I… I’ve never been good with kids.”
Jayce watched the girl’s precise movements as she reconstructed the pieces of the boat she’d removed, her face a mask of focus as she deftly slid the gears into place. It was remarkably similar to the hyper-focused expression Viktor had worn as they’d fought to bring Hextech to life.
Jayce smiled softly. “I don’t think you’ll have much trouble connecting with this one.”
Powder flung the toy boat across the dark room.
Instead of hitting the specter she’d seen standing there, the boat struck the wall with a loud CRACK before falling in pieces to the floor.
Powder covered her ears, scooting across the small bed until her back hit the wall. The Mylo-shaped shadow had vanished, but she could still hear it hissing at her. She wanted it to stop.
“I always said you were a Jinx. Now look what you’ve done. Look what you did to us.”
At the edge of her vision, another specter flashed to life. It vanished just as she turned to face it, but Powder could’ve sworn it had Claggor’s build.
“Vi told you to stay behind. Should’ve known you’d mess things up anyway.”
“You know Vi hates you now, don’t you?”
She grit her teeth. A switch flipped at the specter’s words, causing some mechanism within her quickly-beating heart to convert all her cold-blooded fear into anger.
How dare they talk about her!
“GET OUT!” Screaming, Powder grabbed the nearest object – a pillow – and threw it to where she’d last glimpsed the Claggor-specter. “I don’t want you here! I don’t want ANY of you here! Not even HER!” The shadows were moving. She seized whatever she could grab – clothes, gadgets, pillows – and hurled them manically, targeting the thickest patches of shadow and the flickers of wrathful faces, but none of her projectiles caught their targets. Tears burning in her eyes, Powder howled, “LEAVE ME ALONE!”
A lamp switched on.
The specters were gone. All that was left was her and the man, the one who’d brought her here, who had just risen from his pile of blankets on the floor with one trembling arm slung around a crutch. Eyes wide, he scanned the corners of the room, searching for something. “Hello? Who’s there?” He turned to her frantically. “Did someone break into the room? What did you see?”
Powder’s gaze swept over the empty walls. Where were they? She’d seen them, they were everywhere just a moment ago!
But they were… They were dead. They couldn’t be here. They couldn’t be.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Powder wrapped her arms around her legs, digging her nails into the fabric of her pants.
What's happening to me?
“Hey! Hey, don’t cry. There’s no one else here. No one’s come to hurt you, I promise.”
Don’t cry? She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t –
A hankerchief pressed against her face. It was soaked in seconds.
Oh. She was crying.
Weak…
“Was it a nightmare?”
She cracked an eye open. The bed creaked as the man settled on the edge of the mattress, rubbing the back of his neck. “Um – do you want to talk about it?”
The specters flashed vividly in her memory, hissing, leering. She shook her head furiously, willing the thoughts away.
“Oh. Okay.” The man leaned back on his palms, fingers twitching. Was he nervous? “That’s fine.”
Powder let her head tip forward until it hit her knees. She didn’t know why the man hadn’t tossed her out yet. Even her sister didn’t want her around anymore. Even Vi thought she was a –
“You haven’t told me your name yet.” The man ran a hand through his hair. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve told you mine. It’s Viktor.” She met his curious gaze. “Do you think you could tell me yours?”
She hesitated. Her name…
She wanted to leave it behind. Leave it behind like they’d left her behind. Maybe then they wouldn’t be able to haunt her anymore. Maybe they wouldn’t even know who she was.
Or, at least, she could show them that their worst insults couldn’t hurt her.
“Jinx,” she whispered. “I’m Jinx.”
“Jinx,” the man echoed softly. “It’s nice to meet you, Jinx. You know…” His eyes wandered towards the far side of the room, where a ruined pile of parts and gears littered the floor. “It looks like my boat’s crashed,” he said. Powder – Jinx, I’m Jinx! – winced. “I’ll have to fix it tomorrow. Would you like to help?”
He wanted her help? Jinx scanned the man’s face carefully, but he didn’t look like he was about to start laughing and tell her this was a joke. Slowly, she nodded.
The man smiled. “Do you like fixing things?”
Jinx shrugged.
Viktor chuckled. “Do you remember the man who was in here earlier? His name is Jayce. He and I are going to be working on some new inventions very soon. You could help me with those too, if you like.”
Jinx remembered the man. He’d been bigger, more threatening than Viktor. But he hadn’t said anything mean to her.
Best not to give him the chance.
Jinx shook her head.
“Oh.” Viktor stared at the ceiling. “That’s alright. But can I ask why?”
She frowned. “Nothing I make works.”
Viktor hummed. “You know, most of the things I make don’t work either,” he confessed. “That’s why scientists make so many prototypes – nothing ever seems to work on the first go.” A small smile crept across his face. “Jayce’s new invention wasn’t working earlier. If I hadn’t helped him, all his work would’ve been destroyed. Sometimes, all you need is a little help – a new perspective – to create something amazing.”
Jinx felt frustrated. She could picture how Mylo, Claggor and Vi would scoff at her for needing a Piltie’s help. “Don’t need your help,” She muttered.
Viktor shot her a perplexed look. “I’m asking for your help; not the other way around.”
Oh. Well, that was completely different. A Piltie begging her for help?
This might just work out.
The next chapter will time-skip to where Episode 4 begins, on Progress Day.