Chapter Text
The lab was cold after having not been used in several months, the machinery having gone inert and all of the projects having been removed to storage. Even bundled up in a sweater, Viktor could still feel the chill trying to worm its way under his skin. Even that, however, wasn’t enough to quash the sparks of exhilaration Viktor felt being back in his element. He’d been making do with the tinkering that he’d been doing at The Last Drop, but nothing could ever compare to being here, in his element.
There was still work to be done before he actually got any work done however—all of the stored projects needed to be returned to their rightful places and inspected for damages, inventory needed to be taken, and the reports from the Hexgates had to be handed over. It was a small blessing that the lab had even been repaired from the damages caused by the explosion that had ruined it in the first place. Viktor was chomping at the bit, practically foaming at the mouth, to dive back into his research, but he knew that these were necessary steps.
At the very least, he had the best assistant at his side to ensure things went smoothly.
“No, that doesn’t go there,” Sky told the movers as they set down a large piece of machinery in a corner. “You need to move it over here.”
“Lady, this thing weighs a million pounds,” one of the workers complained. “What’s wrong with this spot?”
“It’s too close to the window, it’ll be in the sunlight,” Sky explained. At their annoyed looks she continued. “It’s a temperature sensitive piece of equipment, it’ll heat up and cool down as the sun lands on it. We’d have to recalibrate it every time we need to use it.”
“That sounds like a you problem, missy,” one of the workers said gruffly, clearly not putting much stock in Sky's annoyance.
Sky bristled, but just as Viktor prepared himself to step in, she took a step forward and got uncomfortably into the worker’s space. “Fine, but I’ll be sure to mention your refusal when the council complains that our worktime is significantly slower than it should be. I wonder if your company's contract will be renewed if they knew that the reason they keep losing money to delays is because you couldn't be bothered to do your job properly.”
The worker growled, but his furtive glance towards the door belied his priorities. With one last grumble, he turned back towards the machine and began directing his coworkers to move the heavy machinery to the place Sky had directed them to.
“It takes two seconds to recalibrate that machine,” Viktor said once the men were out of earshot. “You just need to turn the dial.”
“Yes but it’s annoying and you hate doing it,” Sky said. She smiled down at him in his chair. “It interrupts your workflow.”
Viktor smiled back at her. “Thank you,” he said. “I'm honestly not sure how I'm going to get everything up and running again in any sort of short order,” he said with a sign, looking around the mess that was his lab. “Especially without…”
The empty space where Jayce should have been clung to every shadow in the lab like tar, refusing to remain unacknowledged. The little sink in the corner where Jayce had so often freshened up before heading out into the public eye was now lacking his shaving kit and the scattered notes Jayce had pinned up. The chair that Jayce preferred had been kicked into a space that Jayce rarely ever used, letting Viktor take over that space. The couch, that damnable couch, was still in the exact same spot they'd left it, whoever it was cleaning out the lab clearly not thinking to bother with it.
A sharp kick in his belly reminded Viktor of the one space Jayce hadn't left empty, ironically enough.
Sky laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. “We'll manage,” she said, voice hardly above a whisper.
Viktor breathed deeply and laid his hand over hers. “It’s not as though we have much choice,” he said solemnly.
Sky squeezed his shoulder. When Viktor had sent her a message about reopening the lab and hiring her back on as an assistant, he hadn’t received a reply, she’d simply shown up and started working—after fawning over his belly for a while. It soothed a part of Viktor that he hadn’t ever realised had been raw, knowing that she was unequivocally in his corner no matter the circumstances. Again, Viktor had to quash down the guilt he felt for having cut so many people out of his life when he’d run away to Zaun. He’d always pictured himself as someone on the edges of society, outside and alone against the world, but more and more he was realizing that perhaps his perception of himself was at least partially misguided.
“Where’s this one supposed to go?” someone asked, bringing Viktor out of his musings. He was pushing a dolly with a large, familiar housing unit settled on top of it.
Viktor lost a moment staring at the box, knowing what was in it. “This way,” he said, moving his chair to guide the man towards the familiar section.
The man followed and parked the dolly, flipping the brake lever down before donning a set of thick leather gloves. Viktor thought he vaguely recognized the man—perhaps he was one of the workers from the Hexgates, and therefore knew his way around the dangerous materials that Hextech utilized. His suspicions were confirmed when the man went about with practised efficiency, flipping open the safety locks and carefully opening the housing unit. Cautiously, the worker grabbed a pair of tongs and began gently pulling the contents of the box out.
The Hexcore cast the entire room in blue light as it came into view, flashes of energy pulsing and arcing as it was moved. Viktor had to swallow down a mouthful of saliva at the sight, not sure if he was nauseous or excited by the sight of the device after all these months. Something in him churned and roiled, his instincts telling him to pull away, to shut the damnable thing back in its box and throw it into the sea. Still another part of him wanted to reach out, pull it towards him and cradle it under his ribcage, as close to his heart as he could possibly get it.
A sharp kick aimed at his kidney reminded that said space under his ribs was currently occupied. Another little somersault made Viktor realise that the churning in his gut was all too real, and his babies were now awake and more active than he’d ever felt them be. He grunted and put a hand over his stomach, trying to soothe them as best he could.
“What's gotten into you two?” he asked quietly. He glanced back at the Hexcore just as another foot landed against his rib, eyes narrowing at the glowing aperture and whirring runes. Interesting, he thought privately.
“Viktor?” Sky asked from over his shoulder. “You okay?”
Viktor ripped his eyes away from the core to offer Sky a smile. “Just dealing with some internal gymnastics,” he said, giving his round belly an affectionate pat. He received another little kick in answer.
Sky's face softened with a bright smile. “Can I—?” she started to ask, then flushed. “Only if you're okay with it, of course,” she said hurriedly. “I remember my cousin, when she was pregnant, she hated it when people would just touch her without permission. You totally can say no, I won't be mad.”
Viktor suppressed a chuckle. “It's fine,” he said, sitting back as far as his chair would allow. “Go ahead.”
Sky flushed a little deeper. Hesitating for a moment, she reached down and laid her hand on the swell of Viktor's belly. Her eyes widened as a tiny elbow pushed into her hand. “Wow, they're so strong already,” she said.
“I'm aware,” Viktor said with a grunt. “Something has them really excited all of a sudden.”
Sky giggled. “Maybe they really just want to help out in the lab,” she suggested.
Viktor couldn't stop a laugh from bubbling up. “They must take after their father,” he said fondly.
Sky’s smile grew affectionate and sad. “Of course,” she said quietly. Her hand rested against his belly for another moment before she straightened. “I should go keep yelling at the movers, make sure they’re doing their job properly.”
Viktor nodded and watched as she hustled off, beginning to bark orders at the movers once again, voice a whipcrack in the bustle. Viktor smiled and continued to rub his belly for a moment, trying in vain to calm his children. When they refused to be soothed, he resolved himself to an afternoon of bruised internal organs.
By the time the lab had started to come together into some semblance of order, Viktor was exhausted. He'd greatly overestimated his abilities to jump back into his work, and with the added strain of the babies refusing to settle, he was pretty drained. He'd have to reevaluate his plans for his work going forward.
“That's the last of it,” Sky said, placing a large box of odds and ends on the lab desk. “Now we just have to organize everything.”
“Tomorrow,” Viktor groaned, sitting back in his chair with one arm thrown over his eyes and the other wrapped around his belly, as though he could physically restrain his children from slamming their little fists and feet into his guts.
“That kind of inefficiency can't be tolerated,” a voice cut across the lab. Marcus stalked towards Viktor, spine ramrod straight and a stack of paperwork in hand. “The Hexgates need to be up and running as soon as possible.”
Viktor removed his arm from his face but didn't deign to sit up in his chair. “The gates will be fixed as soon as they can be,” he said. “It will take as long as it needs to.”
Marcus glared down at Viktor, moustache twitching as he suppressed a snarl. He held out the stack of paperwork. “The reports that you requested,” he said. “You'll need to sign for them, they're protected information.”
“Technically I own this information,” Viktor said, taking the stack of papers and tossing them onto his desk where he could get to them later. “Do you have a pen handy?”
Marcus’s grip on the pen he handed over was enough to make it creak. Viktor quickly put down his signature on the form Marcus handed over, barely acknowledging the enforcer. Before, when he’d been actively trying to ensconce himself in Piltover's society, he would have played the game a little better, been more polite, more helpful. Now, he no longer cared what anyone thought of him, least of all the enforcer sheriff who'd delivered him to the meeting that could have ruined his life.
That and he was also a little cranky from his innards being used as a punching bag all afternoon.
Marcus snatched back his pen and clipboard. “We'll be in touch,” he said, then turned on his heel and walked away at a clipped pace. Viktor watched him go for a moment, an uneasy feeling creeping up his spine. He shook it off and turned back to start getting into the paperwork.
“Madam Medarda, I wasn't expecting you here,” Marcus said suddenly from somewhere near the door.
Viktor turned, expecting to see the familiar figure of Mel walking towards him. It wouldn’t be out of the question, her being one of the largest contributors to Hextech’s funding and a personal—acquaintance? Friend?—of Viktor’s. Instead, he was greeted by the sight of a towering woman dressed in red and black, scars decorating her face and exposed arms like trophies. Though she was entirely incongruent with the surroundings, she seemed to command the space anyway.
“I was curious,” the woman said, glancing around the lab quickly before her gaze landed on Viktor. She grinned. “I had to know what sort of mind was behind this Hextech that's become so important to Piltover.”
Viktor fought down a sudden urge to tuck tail and bolt. He was no stranger to facing down people who were larger, stronger, and scarier than him, but there was something about this woman that set his nerves on edge. It took him a moment to place her, but as she turned to start walking further into the lab, realised who she was—Ambessa Medarda, Mel's Noxian general mother. He'd only ever heard snagged bits and pieces about her from the eternally closed off Mel, but the familial resemblance was there once you got past all of the ways they were completely different.
He didn't know if her being Mel's mother made him more or less guarded.
Ambessa strolled through the lab in a wide arc, but it was obvious she was heading in his direction. She peered curiously at the various different experiments and pieces of equipment, a genuine interest on her face, though something else lingered there under the surface that Viktor couldn't place, but thought might be eagerness.
Eventually she stopped a few feet from Viktor, finally meeting his gaze. She smiled, white teeth gleaming in the dim light. “So, this is the man who managed to outfox my daughter in her own council chambers,” she said, looking him up and down. Her eyes lingered only momentarily on his belly. “I must say, I'm rather impressed.”
Viktor raised an eyebrow. “Are you?” he asked dryly, hoping his face gave nothing away.
“Of course,” Ambessa said, casually leaning a hip against the lab desk. “What my daughter lacks in ruthlessness, she makes up for in cleverness and political savvy. When I heard she'd been outmanoeuvred, I almost didn't believe it.”
Viktor couldn't handle being under her direct scrutiny. He turned and began organizing the papers he'd carelessly tossed earlier. “Councellor Medarda has never done anything she does not already wish to do. If I outmanoeuvred her, it was only because she allowed me to.”
“Indeed,” Ambessa conceded. She glanced around the lab again. “It's quite something, what you've built here. “
“Not alone,” Viktor said, mind turning as he tried to figure out what Ambessa was trying to angle for. He knew Mel well enough to have a guess at what she wanted when she came to bother them down in the lab, but this was a new player he didn't have the prior knowledge to predict her next steps.
“So I’ve been told,” Ambessa said. “Quite a tragedy, to lose such a brilliant inventor at the cusp of his career.”
Viktor clenched his fists, a paper file in his hands crumpling before he managed to assuage his temper. “Yes, it was,” he said. One of the babies kicked softly, as though they were trying to comfort him. He pulled his hand away and reached down to give the spot a gentle rub.
Ambessa was quiet for a moment, her eyes flicking down to his belly. She shifted her hip just slightly. “I'm not a woman prone to gossip,” she said, “but I would have to be deaf not to have heard the rumours about the fatherhood of your budding family. May I ask if there's any truth to them?”
Viktor looked up at her, unable to stop himself from raising an eyebrow in confusion. For her to ask for permission of any kind seemed distinctly out of place for a woman like her. What exactly was she playing at? “I'm not in the habit of giving rumours any credence, true or not.”
Ambessa seemed to realize he'd caught on to her misstep. “Of course, my apologies,” she said with a smile that narrowed her eyes. “I suppose I got carried away. A mother's weakness for all the children of the world, I suppose.”
Horseshit, Viktor thought, though perhaps there was an element there that had the whisper of an element of truth. He noticed Ambessa glance at his belly once again, her hand flexing ever so slightly on her muscled bicep. Viktor had been showing for many months now, and he was more than familiar with the signs she was trying to suppress.
“You want to feel, don’t you?” he asked, secretly delighting in having found her out. He imagined a woman like her didn’t often get found out.
Ambessa’s hand twitched ever so slightly, but she kept her composure. Viktor leaned back in his chair a little. “It’s alright, I understand. People are always curious—you get pretty good at recognizing the signs someone wants to feel but doesn’t want to ask.”
Surprisingly, Ambessa chuckled. “Ah yes, I do remember how it was. When I was with Kino, I could hardly keep the hands away. I remember once I was so fed up with it I broke someone's hand.”
Viktor couldn't help but snort. “It would be nice to be able to do that to the more pushy person,” he said. “Alas I'm more likely to break my own hand trying.”
Ambessa barked a laugh. “Strength is only part of the equation," she said, standing up to her full height, a wicked grin spreading across her face. “I can show you, if you like.”
Viktor stared at her for a protracted moment. He had the distinct feeling that he was about to dip his feet into a pit of murky water, knowing there were sharp-toothed creatures swimming in it. On the other hand, they were in the lab, Sky nearby busying herself with inventory and one or two workers still shuffling around, helping unpack some delicate instruments. If Ambessa wanted to hurt him, she most certainly could, but it would be a stupid place to do it.
“Alright,” Viktor said cautiously, keeping his eyes trained on the towering woman in front of him.
Ambessa's grin turned slightly wolfish as she approached, coming to his side and bending slightly to be at his level in the chair. “Strength is good, it puts power behind your strikes,” she explained. She held out her hand and—after a moment's hesitation—Viktor put his wrist in her calloused grip. “But knowing where to apply the strike is even more important.”
“Certainly you could simply bash as hard as you can and break your target, but it's terribly inefficient.” She manipulated his hand in hers, fingertips brushing along his boney wrist and knuckles, gentle as a lover's touch. “When applied at the right fulcrum, even the lightest touch can destroy even the greatest of opponents.” She smiled down at him, eyes glinting. “To watch an enemy crumble with nothing but efficient leverage behind the blow? It's truly a beautiful sight.”
All of a sudden, Viktor's arm jerked, the familiar pull of the mysterious force that was keeping him from harm yanking his hand out of Ambessa's grip before Viktor could even register the threat. In one smooth movement, Viktor had Ambessa's hand twisted around, trapped in a tight grip that Viktor knew could dislocate her wrist if he pressed just so. In the span of less than a second, he'd gone from being trapped in the warlord's grip to having her in a counter attack that he didn't even know he knew how to do.
Ambessa remained frozen where she was, a look of startled surprise on her face, while Viktor scrambled to come up with a plausible explanation. Slowly, Ambessa pulled her hand back—Viktor let her go, not taking his eyes off hers. He couldn't tell if he was nauseous in the usual way he was after the mysterious force yanked him around like a ragdoll or if he was just going to sick up from the stress of it all.
A hissing sound from the corner of the lab bench broke through the tension. The hexcore was spinning and sparking in its containment area. It spat once, the energy arcing off of it like a solar flare, before it seemed to calm down. In his belly, one of the babies rolled over at the same time.
“Well, it seems you know more than you think you do,” Ambessa said, rubbing her wrist absently. “That was a perfectly executed counter, well done.”
Viktor stared at the hexcore for a moment longer before he turned back to Ambessa. “Yes, well, when you grow up in the streets of Zaun, you tend to develop good survival instincts,” he said. It wasn't a lie, but he wasn't about to tell her of all people the truth.
“Of course,” Ambessa said absently, her gaze boring into his. Or rather, into him, like she was trying to peel back his skin with her eyes alone, to see what was ticking away under the chassis of his ribcage. Viktor felt like a rabbit caught in a snare, immobilized and vulnerable, staring up at a wolf that was deciding what to do with him.
“Mother? What are you doing here?”
Viktor jolted so hard his chair creaked. The familiar high-heeled steps echoing off the metal floor announced Mel, walking at a quickstep towards them. She kept her eyes trained on her mother, her face twisted into an expression of annoyance, though there was a shred of concern pulling at the corners of her eyes.
“Mel!” Ambessa greeted cheerfully, throwing her arms out as though expecting a hug. “I was just speaking with Viktor here.”
Mel glanced at Viktor for a half second, brows furrowing. “What are you doing here?” she asked again, sounding more exasperated.
Ambessa threw one massive tree-trunk arm around her daughter's shoulders, squeezing her smaller frame to her side. “I wanted to see what it was that you've been investing in for all these years. It's quite impressive! I can see why it's captivated you so much.”
“Hextech is at the bleeding edge of technological advancement in Piltover,” Mel said. “It would be foolish not to see that.”
“And you're no fool,” Ambessa said affectionately, giving her daughter another squeeze.
It was only Viktor's familiarity with Mel that allowed him to notice her soften, though it was only a fraction, and only for a moment before she steeled herself once more. “I'm afraid your curiosity will have to go unsatisfied mother, Hextech is proprietary technology. We can't let unapproved outsiders wander in unannounced,” she said.
Ambessa's arm fell from Mel's shoulder, lingering just slightly. “Of course, I understand,” she said, still all smiles in front of her daughter. “Perhaps we can discuss getting a proper tour over dinner tonight?”
Mel sighed. “So long as we do away with the local cuisine, I'll see what I can do,” she said. “For the moment, I need to speak with our head scientist. Privately.”
“Of course, of course,” Ambessa said, finally backing off. “I'll see you for dinner Mel. Don't be late,” she said in a light, almost teasing tone, before turning and striding out of the lab, head held high and booted feet echoing on the metal floor.
“Local cuisine?” Viktor asked once Ambessa was out of earshot.
“Do not ask,” Mel grumbled, rubbing her temple. She looked down at Viktor, brows furrowing. “Are you alright? She can be… intense.”
Viktor flexed his hand. “I'm fine,” he lied.
“What did she want?” Mel pressed. “She’s always playing a game of some kind. Did she mention anything?”
“She seemed interested in me, more than anything,” Viktor said. “She was curious about hextech for certain, but it almost seemed like she was more trying to get an impression of me.”
Mel hummed, bringing a knuckle to her chin in thought—Viktor could practically hear the golden gears of her politically-minded brain spinning. “Concerning,” she said eventually, the word most certainly muttered to herself.
A tiny foot pressed against his belly from the inside. “We also talked about… motherhood I guess,” he said, placing his hand over where the foot was.
Mel’s eyes snapped up, first to his face, then to his belly. She pressed her mouth into a thin line and looked away again. “I see,” she said.
An awkward silence fell over them and Viktor cursed himself internally. He wasn't oblivious, he’d known about Jayce and Mel, he'd seen the glances exchanged, the lingering touches, the charged conversations. Jayce and Mel had been dancing around each other for a while, slowly drawing closer and closer. Mel suggesting Jayce for a councillor's position had been the final setup before the strike.
Viktor hadn't even been able to muster up the gall to be jealous, despite his feelings. It had only made sense then, that the two of them should be drawn together, twin suns combining their beauty to dazzle all in their wake. Viktor hadn't minded the shadows, it was where he did his best work.
And now Jayce was gone, and Viktor was the one pregnant with his children, standing in front of the woman Jayce probably would have married.
As Viktor contemplated simply throwing himself out of the lab window to escape the awkward silce that permeated the room, Mel took a deep breath and drew herself up. “I'm not going to insult you by dancing around the subject,” she said. “You and Jayce… I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised.”
“That would make one of us,” Viktor answered earnestly. “He cared deeply about you.”
Mel's face cracked into a broken smile. “He cared about both of us,” she said, her body finally relaxing. She perched her hip against the lab table. “I suppose I was in denial about just how deeply his feelings for you ran.”
Viktor sighed. “I suppose I was too, in the end,” he said. “I never expected…” he trailed a hand over his round belly. “There's a lot of things I suppose I'll never know now.”
Mel's eyes fell. “I suppose so,” she said.
Silence returned, a heavy cloak of melancholy instead of a gnawing awkwardness. Eventually Mel sighed and offered Viktor another smile. “How have you been? Truly I mean?”
“Big,” Viktor answered. “I’ve got a little less than four months left and it already feels like there's no room left.”
Mel laughed. “I must say, you are quite round,” she said. “But otherwise?”
“Fine,” Viktor said. “They're both growing normally, just large and active.” He cradled his belly with both hands, lifting it ever so slightly off of his lap. “I dread thinking of what I'm going to look like by the time they're ready to come out.”
“Both,” Mel repeated. “Twins, that's quite the stroke of luck.”
“Is it?” Viktor asked.
“In Noxus it is,” she explained. “If there's one thing Noxus prizes more than military valour, it’s family. To have twins, especially as a first pregnancy, is considered to be a sign of good fortune.” She gave a wry smile. “And a fertile womb and all that, but it's mostly about having two people bound by a bond deeper than blood. It's said that even a mother cannot come between twins.”
Viktor hummed—perhaps this explained in part Ambessa's fascination, though it felt incomplete. “I don't know how fortunate I feel,” he admitted. “Considering the… situation I find myself caught in.”
Mel gave no answer to that, the silence as tense as a crouching predatory cat, ready to strike given a moment of opportunity. Eventually she shifted her weight, shoulders tensing and eyes dropping to the floor in contrition. “I'm afraid I must apologize to you, Viktor.”
Viktor raised an eyebrow at her, waiting patiently. She sighed and continued. “When I voted for your removal from Hextech, I told myself I was being objective. That I was doing what was best for Piltover, for Jayce’s legacy,” she said. “I told myself these things because the truth of the matter made me the kind of person I've always despised—lashing out in hurt because it made me feel better to take it out on someone else.”
If Viktor didn't know any better, he'd say there was wetness gathering at the corner of Mel's eyes. “You didn't deserve my vindictiveness Viktor, I should have protected you from the rest of the council,” she said. Mel’s eyes finally lifted to meet his directly. “I am sorry, Viktor.”
If this was a performance, it was a damn convincing one. Mel was a carefully constructed pillar, impenetrable and without flaw, and here she was, exposing her vulnerability to Viktor of all people. Despite his natural instinct to distrust, pull back and away, he couldn't help but feel she was being genuine. Perhaps it was the hormones, but damn it all if he wasn't in a bit of a forgiving mood.
Jayce had loved her, Viktor reminded himself. Sure, Jayce could be overly trusting, but he’d had decent instincts, and they rarely steered him wrong. If Jayce had cared for her, then maybe Viktor could let himself accept her contrition as genuine.
“Complete trust will take some time to build again,” Viktor told her, “but thank you, I appreciate it.”
Mel blinked, perhaps surprised not to be told to fuck off, but she smiled after a moment. “Of course, I understand,” she said. “I want you to know that, from here on out, I'm behind you completely.”
The corner of Viktor's mouth quirked up. “You might have to get in line,” he said, glancing back to where Sky was definitely not listening in on their conversation, breaking down some cardboard boxes so they could be taken away in the morning. “I've been gathering quite a, ehh, fanclub? As of late.”
“So I've gathered,” Mel said. “Your entourage made quite the impression in the council room. Not only Councillor Kirammen’s daughter, but the right hand of the most notorious undercity leader, as well as his daughter. You've ruffled some feathers.”
Viktor raised an eyebrow at Mel. “If I was a paranoid man, that would sound like a warning.”
Mel met his gaze. “You could stand to be somewhat paranoid,” she said, lowering her voice slightly, as though she was trying not to be heard. “I've been gleaning whispers here and there of some worrying sentiments brewing in the shadows. There are some who are very unhappy about your return to Piltover.”
Viktor sucked in a breath, one hand sliding over his belly as though to shield it. “Am I in danger?” he asked, voice low enough that Mel could only barely hear him. “Are my children in danger?”
Mel pressed her mouth into a thin line. “I don't know,” she admitted, the words pulling like stubborn teeth from her mouth. “As of now, I don't have anything concrete, only the hints of whispers.”
Viktor took several deep, steadying breaths. This was exactly what he hadn't wanted, for his children to get caught in the crossfire of the ridiculous politics Piltover and Zaun always found themselves embroiled in. In trying to protect himself, he'd put a target on his back, and now his precious children might pay the price.
“Viktor?” Mel called, one hand reaching out as though to touch his shoulder, but stopping just short. “Are you alright?”
“What can I do?” Viktor asked, the words directed out into the aether rather than at her. “How can I keep them safe?”
Mel said nothing for a moment, her hand still caught in the air. After a prolonged pause, she unfroze herself and placed her hand on his shoulder, fingers gently digging into the flesh and bone, steady, grounding. “I promise Viktor, I'll do everything in my power to make sure you and your children are safe. You have my word as a Medarda.”
Viktor looked up at her, somewhat stunned. Mel made no secret of her heritage of course, but she rarely made a show of it either. For her to invoke it now in his defense… he wasn't sure what exactly the nuances were, but clearly it meant a lot to her, and he couldn't help but feel honoured by that. He reached up and covered her hand with his.
“Thank you Mel,” he said.
Mel smiled and gave him a nod. She straightened and seemed to gather herself. “I did actually come here to speak about Hextech with you,” she admitted, smiling. “The council would like an estimate on how long it will take for the Hexgates to be fixed.”
Viktor snorted. “I won't know until I get a look at these numbers,” he said, gesturing to the thick stack of papers he'd been brought. “That's not counting how many hours it will take to get the lab back up and running in proper order.”
Mel glanced around at the semi-organized state of chaos that the lab was in. “If there's anything I can do…” she said, though it was clear she was at a loss on how to help.
Viktor sighed. “If I could be in two places at once, that would be best,” he said. Or rather, he could have his partner back, he thought bitterly. There was no use dwelling on that right now.
A thought suddenly occurred to him and he perked up. “Actually, I might have a solution,” he said.
“Oh?” Mel prompted, raising an eyebrow.
“I know some promising inventors,” he said, excitement growing with each word. “Their help would greatly speed up the process.”
“You want to bring in outside assistance?” Mel asked, incredulous. “What have you done with the notoriously ‘difficult to work with’ Viktor, who had to be threatened into hiring a lab assistant?”
Viktor waved a hand. “I've become soft in my hormonal overtures,” he said. “Besides, I have already worked with these individuals, and they are intelligent enough not to make a mess of things.”
“High praise coming from you,” Mel said, a subtle smile teasing at the corner of her lips. “The council might need some convincing to sign off on this, especially if these ‘inventors’ come from where I think they do.”
“If it helps, Heimerdinger has already met them,” Viktor said. “He was quite impressed.”
True to his word, Heimerdinger had delivered the papers for Viktor to sign himself, trekking through Zaun for what was probably the first time in several centuries. He'd arrived at the Last Drop quiet and contemplative, but quickly bounced back into cheerfulness after being introduced to Ekko and Powder, eager to learn about Zaunite invention. He'd left that day with a spark in his eyes that even Viktor had never seen before.
It had also helped that Heimerdinger had met Silco of all people, and that had been quite the spectacle.
Mel gave a contemplative hum. “I'll speak to him, in that case,” she said, before her face went serious. “This won't make you more liked by those that already have reason to dislike you. You must be careful.”
Viktor sucked in a breath, suddenly filled with anxiety. He pushed through it. “I do not need to be liked, I only need to be warned ahead of time,” he said, keeping Mel's gaze with his own. “Can I count on you?”
Mel stared into his eyes, clearly searching for something. She smiled, knowing and fox-like. “You can count on me, Viktor.”
“Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?” Sky asked hours later, when they were finally shutting up for the day.
“I'm sure Sky,” Viktor said, flashing her a tired smile. “Vi has been waiting for me downstairs, she'll be taking me home.”
Sky's eyebrows rose. “How long has she been waiting?”
Viktor shrugged. “Probably since this afternoon,” he said. He flashed a mischievous grin. “Enough time to have a lengthy conversation with Cait, who is also probably ‘waiting’ for me.”
Sky's cheeks flushed pink and she giggled. “Oh, you're devious,” she said.
“I don't know what you're talking about, Ms. Young,” Viktor said, though he was failing to hide his own grin. “Really, I'll be fine. You go ahead.”
“You sure? I don't mind locking up,” Sky said.
“I'm certain,” Viktor promised. He glanced back into the darkness of the lab. “Besides, there's… something I'd like to do in privacy.”
Sky tilted her head curiously, her pouf of hair bouncing with the movement. Her eye's filling with concern. “Something?” she inquired.
Viktor closed his eyes and pressed his lips together. “I have… some of Jayce's things,” he said, forcing his voice steady. “I want to put them in their proper place.”
Sky's eyes filled with sympathy—Viktor had to turn away. “Okay,” she said softly. “I understand. I'll see you in the morning?”
Viktor nodded. “I promise I'll come down in a few minutes,” he said, trying to assuage her anxiety. “I just need… I just need to do this.”
Sky nodded, wetness gathering at the corners of her eyes. “Of course,” she choked out, clearly holding back sobs. “I'll… I'll leave you to it.”
With that, Sky turned and trotted off, shoulders shaking with barely contained sobs. Viktor's stomach felt tight, like it might twist itself into a knot. She'd been putting on a brave face since they'd reunited, but clearly Jayce's absence had deeply affected her as well. There was a noticeable absence in the lab, even in its current state of disarray. Viktor doubted that any amount of trinkets would truly fill the void left by the man that had once occupied the space—Jayce was practically a force of nature in himself. Loud and sometimes disruptive and undeniably present, Jayce's absence was a stain on the face of reality.
It was something that Viktor was determined to correct.
He felt bad for lying to Sky, though he comforted himself by reasoning that it at least was partially true, gingerly placing Jayce's favourite coffee mug near the place he'd usually forgotten it and left it to go cold. It was one of those Man of Progress mugs, but a prototype, the image on the ceramic surface looking inexplicably goggle-eyed. The sight of it had sent them both into fits of laughter. Viktor had made it worse by drawing a magnificent handlebar mustache on it in permanent marker. Jayce had followed up by adding coke-bottle glasses, and things had devolved from there. Viktor would sometimes catch Jayce looking at the mug and giggling to himself, seemingly lost in the memory of that day.
Viktor smiled down at the mug, tracing his fingers over the chip in the rim where it had suffered a fall to the floor. He ran his other hand over the curve of his belly, determination settling in the bottom of his stomach. He knew his time was limited, but he'd be damned if he was going to leave his children orphans.
Leaving the mug where it was, Viktor crossed the lab to where the Hexcore pulsed softly in its space. As he drew near, the fluttering kicks inside his belly intensified to a nearly painful degree, but Viktor pushed through it. As he stopped in front of it, he felt the urge to smash the damn thing war with the urge to plunge both hands inside of it.
Viktor shook himself out of it and stared down at the device, banishing all base desires and trying to focus. He thought back to that day, the last moments he'd seen Jayce before the man had disappeared. There had been an explosion of course, but Viktor was certain that he'd seen Jayce vanish before the explosion, his outline in the bright flash of light condensing into a fine point before disappearing altogether. If the explosion had killed Jayce, Viktor wasn't convinced.
“An explosion that size wouldn't have vaporized him,” Viktor said aloud, rubbing his belly. “To leave no traces of a body, not even carbonized particulates… an explosion of that magnitude would have leveled the city block. An implosion would have at least swallowed the building.”
A series of kicks banged against his kidney. Viktor grunted and shifted his weight on his crutch. “Whichever one of you is doing that, it's very unhelpful,” he commented. He stared down at the Hexcore, that strange feeling tickling the back of his mind again.
Another kick smacked against something internal, and the Hexcore twitched. Viktor raised an eyebrow, curious. The Hexcore had been reacting strangely all day, and his children had also been much more active than usual since it had been brought in. Correlation or causation? Viktor timed the kicks in his head, taking into account where they happened and how strong, all while watching the Hexcore for any sign of activity.
It took several minutes of trial and error and false starts, but eventually Viktor was absolutely certain—the Hexcore was reacting to his children. The sudden memory of the accident flooded back to him. He'd been entranced by the Hexcore then too, his body moving without his permission, unable to tear his hand away, even with Jayce's strength pulling with him. And that arc of energy—it had struck him right in the belly, just below his belly button.
Right where his children now wriggled and squirmed inside of him.
The Hexcore popped with energy and Viktor jolted back so hard his crutch scraped against the floor. “Absurd, it's absurd,” he muttered to himself.
And yet it explained so much—the mysterious force that seemed to be protecting him, his strangely robust health since conceiving, how he'd even managed to conceive in the first place. What else could it be? Viktor was a scientist, he had no choice but to accept the evidence that was staring him right in the face.
His children and the Hexcore were connected.
And potentially, his children were connected to the arcane itself.
The moment the idea occurred to Viktor, a sense of rightness followed. Of course his children were connected to the arcane, it made perfect sense, for all it made no sense at all. He'd been working with the arcane for years, he knew how it behaved, or how it could behave. Certainly Hextech could pull a series of reactions from it, sequence them and produce the desired result, but Viktor wasn't naive enough to think he truly understood magic. Even the greatest mages in history never claimed such a feat. To say that the idea that his children couldn't be mages was an exercise in denial of the highest degree.
Taking a deep breath, Viktor steadied himself. This was a concerning development, but nothing he hadn't already suspected, if he was being honest with himself. Mysterious forces keeping him from harm could only be explained by so much, after all. Now he had confirmation.
And a conduit, he thought, staring down at the Hexcore. It was clearly the epicenter of everything that had happened so far. He needed to resume his studies of the device, albeit with a new focus. It would be hard to explain away to Sky, and even more difficult if he did eventually bring in Ekko and Powder, but he couldn't let this slip away from him. Whatever connection there was between the Hexcore and his children, he was almost certain it was only connected with them, and he was simply the vessel. Nothing more than an incubator that had to be maintained until its purpose was fulfilled.
The thought of that turned Viktor's stomach. He'd fought for so long to be recognized—as an inventor, as a person, as a man, and now it was all being undone. Was he really ready to simply give up and let his body be used in such a way? Was this all he was meant to be after all?
Viktor shook the thought away. He'd been living on borrowed time since his birth, his twisted leg marking his life for disaster no matter what he did. There was no point in getting fussy about it all now, not when he could leave something of himself behind in the world. He pressed his hands tightly to his belly. No, he wasn't giving up, he wasn't an incubator, he was a father, and he would do whatever it took for his children to grow up safely.
Even if he had to die doing it.