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It was no secret that many of Jayce's decisions boiled down to "it sounded like a good idea at the time." He was impulsive and while he was smart, forward-thinking wasn't exactly his forte. It was a little less well known (though he was a little less well known than Jacye on the whole), that Viktor's decision making was often the same thing.
Associating himself with Singed sounded like a good idea at the time... but... well...
Needless to say he hadn't intended to be tied down in a reclining chair, head strapped firmly to the chair, with a blinding light above him and a bone saw pressed to his skull. There was still time to escape, if he could just convinced Singed he was making a bad choice.
"Doctor," he said. "Why are you doing this?"
"You're a clever boy," replied Singed. "A scientist, pride of Zaun in Piltover. Surely you can work it out?"
"Humour me."
Singed paused, but down what he was holding, sat down on the chair. "You've agreed to be my assistant, but there are still things you can't assist me with. You're dying anyway, there's more important things than your life."
Viktor winced, but... hadn't he been telling himself the same thing? Experimenting with the Hexcore and his own fragile body, too aware of his time running out. Signed was just the first to say it out loud, the first of those he was close with to speak of his... condition with anything but pity.
"You're too far gone, but your condition is worth studying. And your mind is a hindrance. I can cure you - your body. I can help people, isn't that what you love to say you're doing up there?" Singed was behind him now, and there was a metallic clinking. "But we can't have that pesky mind of yours getting in the way."
Viktor tensed when he felt the scalpel on his skin. He was used to pain, of course, but there was a difference between the pain of his lifelong condition and this.
"Wait!" he said. "Don't I deserve to know what's going to happen to me? One last favour."
"There is a quantity of Shimmer," Singed explained, retracting the scalpel for a moment. "That overloads the brain without shutting it down completely. You would still function, but with limited motor, perception, and communication abilities."
"And you're going to, what, inject me with this?"
"No. I'm going to pour it directly into your skull. I felt it would be more effective that way."
"Wouldn't that... kill me?" Viktor asked. "Lobotomies have a long history in Piltover, and that kind of thing never worked." Being the aide of Heimerdinger and knowing more about the atrocities his city committed than the Yordle himself was a time of Viktor's life he never wanted to go back to. But it left him with invaluable knowledge.
"Certain chemicals have, but I don't believe Shimmer will."
Viktor's eyes darted up to Rio, comatose in her tube. Didn't he come seeking Singed's aid, viewing himself as that same mutation? Wasn't this a natural continuation of what he was doing?
He didn't want to die yet, but... he'd given up on the Hexcore. It was going to happen and going to happen soon.
He nodded.
Back in Piltover, Jayce glared at the Hexcore.
The stupid thing couldn't sustain life, couldn't grow, couldn't save his friend. He pressed his face into his hands to keep from punching something and looked at the clock on the wall. It was late. Usually Viktor worked even longer hours than he did, but apparently he'd gone to meet a contact of his. In the Undercity.
Jayce rubbed his temples and let out a sigh. If Viktor wasn't even there, working alongside him, why waste his time staring at a Hexcore that wouldn't react?
He grabbed his coat and stormed out of the lab as dramatically as he could. It was slightly wasted on the chorus of 3am fireflies and night birds that sang haunting (if annoying) melodies outside the university.
He hadn't intended to walk to the bridge to the Undercity, he really hadn't, but... Viktor had been gone a while. And the Undercity was dangerous, even to a man who knew them well.
He sat on the bridge for what felt like an hour before arguing to be let past the barricade. It was stupid and it would look terrible for him, politically, but there was a nervous feeling in his chest. Something, somewhere, wasn't right with Viktor. And Jayce would never forgive himself if he just let it happen.
Where had Viktor said he was going? Doctor... Stinged? Syringe- no, that was too on the nose. Singed?
Jayce walked through the barricade he'd erected, telling the enforcers he had a supplier of metals in the Undercity that he wanted to talk with. It was easy to get through the barricade if one at nothing to hide.
Singed (?), he remembered Viktor telling him, was a doctor. One of the only medical professionals available at accessible prices to Zaunites. But he pushed that out of his mind. If Viktor was in any danger, if he found any illegal goings-on, he wouldn't hesitate to shut Singed down.
"Hello," he kneeled down in front of a child who was begging on the street. "Do you know where I could find Dr. Singed?"
The child looked up at him with big round eyes in a sunken, hollow face. "That's 4 gold for the information."
Jayce pursed his lips and fished the money from his pocket. The kid surely needed it more than he did, but it didn't feel great to pay a child for information.
"Walk straight until you pass Monty's- uh, a fish shop - then turn right. Should find it. Big old building, looks abandoned."
"Thanks."
"Yeah." The kid ducked his head and tucked the coins away in various places on his person. "And hey, Piltie?"
"Yes?"
"Take off the gold or you'll be killed down there."
Jayce frowned, turning away from the child. He wasn't sure if the little boy had been serious or if it was more of a threat, but he felt distinctly uneasy as he progressed down the winding, sloping path.
Viktor stared up at the flickering light. How Signed could even see in this gloom, he didn't know.
"Your money is coming in useful," Signed remarked. Viktor looked over at him, filling up a syringe. "I do most of my procedures without anesthetic. It's too expensive for Zaunites. Half the time you can't even get any down here."
"You don't have to use it on me," Viktor replied. His mouth felt... not his own. Heavy. "I'll be gone soon. Use it on people you can save."
Signed shrugged and set the syringe down.
"If you're sure," he said.
Viktor was. He really, really shouldn't have been.
The kid wasn't threatening him, Jayce soon found out, and now he was quite a few clothes poorer. After the... disastrous events of his and Vi's raid, he was a lot more passive when wondering around the Undercity than he might otherwise have been.
So, shivering a little, Jayce turned past the fish merchant the boy had told him of. Further down the street, almost lost in the gloom, was a large building that looked like it had been hollowed out by a fire of some sort. He would've assumed it was completely abandoned, were it not for the faint flickering light that could be seen through the window. Stepping around a few people huddled up against the walls of old houses or in doorways, Jayce made his way to the door of the building Viktor was probably in. Hopefully in.
The door opened on its own when he pushed it which couldn't possibly be safe for Dr. Singed. Surely a lock on the door was first priority in a place like this. Jayce shut it behind him silently as possible. The place made his skin crawl, and he felt he ought to be silent so as not to draw attention.
Jayce followed the light through a few halls until he found himself in front of a room. It was mostly empty save for a large chair and a flickering light, and, of course, Viktor.
He was slumped in the chair, blood trickling down his face from two points on his skull, and his half-lidded eyes were shot with glowing purple.
"Viktor!" Jayce exclaimed, rushing to his side. "What happened to you?"
Viktor blinked languidly, angling his face slightly towards Jayce. There were tear tracks on his cheeks. Jayce kneeled down in front of him, cupping Viktor's face in his hands. "Talk to me!"
His head fell to the side, only supported by Jayce's hands. He let go, suddenly, causing Viktor's head to fall more, unsupported.
"Who did this?" he whisper-yelled, even though he already knew. Out of a room further back, a man emerged. He was bald and skinny, and looked distinctly sick - something you wouldn't want in any doctor.
Jayce rose to his feet. He didn't have his hammer, but he could throw a decent punch at this freak for what he did to Viktor.
"What did you do to him?" Jayce growled.
"Nothing he didn't agree to," Singed answered.
"He wouldn't agree to this."
Singed reached over and Jayce tensed. He stilled.
"Take it yourself then."
Hesitant to leave Viktor, Jayce walked over to the table, hoping to see anything that would acquit Viktor of this. He wouldn't do this. He wouldn't do this to Jayce, for one thing. He wouldn't do this to himself. Right?
There, in handwriting Jayce had memorised during their time together, was a fully signed consent form.
"He didn't..." Jayce stuttered. "He must not have known..."
"Your friend was only getting weaker," Singed said. "He came to me for help with his condition, but he's well past curing. The best thing he can do now is help cure others."
"Help cure..." Jayce looked back at Viktor, limp as a rag doll. "How?"
"If I can cure his body, I could replicate it for anyone who needs it. How many children like him are down in the Lanes, sick to death and slowly dying? You know him, he'd love to help them."
"No," Jayce said. "No, this isn't right. That's not him anymore!"
"Maybe not." Singed shrugged. "What do you care?"
Punching an old man didn't feel *great*, but the sound he made as he fell back was immensely gratifying.
Jayce wasted no time untying Viktor and taking him into his arms. He was horrifically pliant, boneless and weak, but he smiled a little up at Jayce when he picked him up. Jayce chose to take this as a good sign. He hardly felt the distance between Singed's and the bridge, despite carrying Viktor the whole way. There was nothing that could have gotten in his way in that moment, not muggers nor enforcers.
He carried Viktor back to the lab and set him down gently on the table, because he didn't know what to do, and couldn't afford to panic, so he just had to keep moving so he wouldn't lose it and-
Jayce took a deep breath and called Professor Heimerdinger. It would be alright. He'd cure Viktor, he'd get him back. The consent form didn't matter, not when the decision he'd made was clearly under duress.
Jayce sat heavily in front of Viktor, who'd fallen asleep at some point. He wiped the blood from his forehead with a cloth they usually used on the blackboard, which he carelessly discarded near the Hexcore.
"I'll save you," Jayce whispered, pressing Viktor's hand to his lips. "I swear, I'll bring you back."
He pulled his friend's limp body into his arms and the dam finally broke. He was sobbing against Viktor's unresponsive form, eyes shut tight. He didn't notice the Hexcore reach out to the towel and zap away Viktor's blood. He didn't notice Viktor twitch, either.