Chapter Text
1. Piltover vs. Science
The first time Viktor was kidnapped he didn't realize what was happening.
“You are to sit here and tell me the process of Hextech,” demanded the Piltovian clan leader with gears all around his collar, peering over his gemstone bedazzled glasses.
“Of course!” said Viktor, happy to tell someone about Hextech, and the latest discoveries he had come across. Unfortunately for the ambitious clan leader, Viktor had been fixated on a specific issue, and used this time to share his latest troubleshooting issues.
For three hours.
“—now that we have talked about the coagulation buildup of energy in the second rune tier, we can now talk about the third time tier,” said Viktor, chalk staccato-ing on the multiple chalkboards that were rolled out for his impromptu lecture.
“Please, make him stop, I have a headache,” said a thin man in a labcoat, furiously trying to write down notes but not being able to keep up.
The aristocratic man flared his nostrils. “We went through a lot to get him, you simply have to take his research and remake it.”
The clan’s head scientist sobbed, not being able to understand the intricate nature of the work. It was miles beyond anything he had ever worked on before! Cutting edge technology involving heretical magic!
“This man is the key to the future of Piltover, and I must have the key. So get me Hextech or I will send you straight to Stillwater!” threatened the clan leader.
Meanwhile, Viktor was still babbling on about the issue, ignoring the fact that the men who were in the room with him were actively talking about stealing his work.
“...and then if you look at this runic configuration here you can see that the tripled square of this radical makes it so that– Excuse me sirs, are you still listening?”
The clan leader looked expectantly at his scientist.
“Yes,” said the beleaguered man despondent, scribbling down more notes.
This is why I have to talk to Jayce about these things, thought Viktor. All these advisors appointed by the academy are simply not of any use!
There was a knock on the door.
“I wasn’t expecting any visitors,” said the snooty aristocrat. “Open the door, Smythe.”
The scientist walked quickly, glad to have any chance away from the non-stop headache monster that was Viktor. Sometimes it felt like the strange undercity man was trying to put his fingers on your brain at times with how much he foisted information upon people!
Opening the door just a crack, a large hand pushed it all the way open, sending the already exhausted researcher to the floor.
“Am I interrupting?” said Jayce grimly, who had come to save his partner from the clutches of greedy Piltovian elites.
“I say!” said the clan leader, “This is clearly a violation of the law! Leave my man alone!” As it was with the elites, the man spoke of hypocrisy with not even a twinge of guilt or remorse in his voice.
“And you,” said Jayce, coming through the doorway to get right in the face of the merchant head, “Should leave my partner alone.”
When Jayce found out his partner was missing, he was at first confused, then furious.
“Oh, hello Jayce,” said Viktor with a smile. “Are you here to pick me up?”
“Vik, are you okay?” said Jayce, emanating worry, eyes searching up and down his partner’s body, looking for damage. Phew, only the regular amount of damage, thought Jayce.
“Yes, well I could be better. I was telling these men about the coagulation buildup–”
“Oh in the second runic tier?” responded Jayce.
“Exactly!” exclaimed Viktor, happy to finally have someone with a working brain around him.
“I was thinking about that actually, see on my way here I was thinking about adding a domination rune somewhere… oh great, you drew out the tiers,” said Jayce, grabbing some extra chalk and circled five places on the board.
“Oh I see, the five most resonant ones in–”
“--the fourth frequency, yes! But I didn’t know which one would fit best, so I was hoping that maybe you had some ideas.”
“Hmm, I see. Very brilliant, Jayce. Exactly so!” Viktor flashed a wide smile at Jayce, who beamed back, basking in the praise. “Let me work out some of the triangulations on these areas…”
It took four more hours before Councilwoman Medarda came in, wondering where her two investments went. She had previously tipped off Jayce about Viktor’s disappearance, knowing that Jayce had enough clout now to get his way into a noble’s house. All in an effort to train another councilmember to back her up at meetings.
What she did not calculate was that her investments were, as some of the people of the undercity would say, giant nerds.
“Boys, please pack up the equations and go home.”
“What? Oh Councilwoman Medarda, when did you get here?” said Viktor scribbling in a notebook, completely ignoring how she had come into the room with enforcers who were handcuffing the rich aristocrat and his scientific crony.
“Oh, right!” said Jayce, who was inscribing runes on a large metal shell.
“Viktor, you were kidnapped by these guys. I came to uh,” Jayce looked at the mess around him. The two had kept going with science and the greedy merchant had just kept giving them supplies, hoping that they would make Hextech of some sort for him. Both of them got in the zone, as it was simply another lab, and they really were on a roll.
“To rescue you,” said Jayce lamely, putting down his soldering tool.
“Oh, I see,” said Viktor, blinking. “Thank you, Jayce.”
“No problem, Viktor.”
They stared at each other in complete understanding.
Mel looked at them both and closed her eyes.
“Elora,” she called out, and her ever present assistant stepped forward bowing her head.
“Yes, Mel?”
“I need an aspirin.”
“Yes, Mel.”
2. Caitlyn vs Gauntlets
The second time Viktor was kidnapped, it was for a good reason, and this was something Caitlyn insisted over and over again when the story was brought up.
“It wasn’t a kidnapping!” said Caitlyn. “Merely a misunderstanding!”
“Right,” said Vi, as she wrapped her hands in bandages. “So why does it sound like you were keeping him in a room and not letting him out, despite him wanting to leave?”
Caitlyn sighed as she started to wrap her legs in white bandages, leaning down on the bench.
“It was because he wanted to give a speech.”
“Oh? I’ve never heard Viktor give a speech. He’s a rather shy guy, isn’t he?” asked Vi, while she used her teeth to really pull and tighten on the bandage, before ripping it off the roll.
Caitlyn shuddered. “No, you don’t understand.”
Vi found herself being turned around with Caitlyn’s hands on her shoulders, the blue eyes revealing the dark horror within.
“And that is what I call a “Viktor-E” for science!” said Viktor, practicing his speech for the Inventor’s Biennial ‘Flash of Brilliance’ awards. “The ‘E’, of course, is for the electricity used to power your inventions.”
Caitlyn looked in horror through the gap in her bedroom at the man practicing in her mirror. Jayce had come by to talk to her parents before the big show, but wanted to have some tea first with Caitlyn.
Of course, Jayce was there with his partner. It was not Caitlyn’s first time meeting the man, since he was Jayce’s best friend. The man seemed a bit reserved, but intelligent, and could hold a conversation. Not exactly Caitlyn’s cup of tea, but she had socialized with worse.
Things went smoothly even when Jayce went off to talk to her parents, and Caitlyn had a pleasant conversation about the preparation for the speech.
“How lovely that you’re getting a chance to say something to all those young aspiring inventors,” said Caitlyn, as she sipped her tea.
“Yes, I am quite excited to get to do this with Jayce,” said Viktor. “Public speaking is not my strong suit, but I think if I said a few words to go along with Jayce’s, that should suffice.”
“My mother has always said that being able to carry your words across is one of the most important things to do in this city.”
“Your mother seems very wise,” said Viktor.
“She is,” replied Caitlyn, smiling at the man. Viktor seemed nice enough, she thought. The speech he makes will go fine, as long as he keeps this pleasant attitude about him, people won’t mind.
Speeches, as her mother said, were about the image you display, not necessarily the words you say.
“Oh, it seems like we’ve run out of sugar. Please enjoy the cookies and treats, I will be back soon with more,” said Caitlyn, politely excusing herself, taking the sugar bowl with her.
“Of course, Miss Kiramman. Do take your time,” said Viktor, sipping at his tea flavoured sugar water.
Then, when Caitlyn came back with a fresh sugar bowl, she was faced with this horrible, horrible display of absolute mockery of the Valorian language coming out of Jayce’s partner.
“Sometimes you go to the polluted rivers of the undercity to get an answer, but all it does… is ‘wave’!” said Viktor, before laughing, using his hand to proudly smack at his written speech.
Polluted rivers? That’s so dark and inappropriate for an official speech in Piltover, thought Caitlyn. It must be because he’s from the undercity…
Then she grimaced. Also, rivers don’t have waves, that’s the ocean! The joke doesn’t make sense!
“And with all the explosions happening in the labs, you can say that business is… ‘booming’! Oh Viktor,” the man said to his reflection. “You’re going to give the best speech ever.”
This was going to be the worst speech ever, thought Caitlyn. Why would he mention the explosions in the labs? Doesn’t he know that’s the greatest point of contention in the council right now with the cost of repairs increasing tuition at the academy?
She had to stop this. Caitlyn quickly stepped inside before anybody else had to hear this, and locked the door behind her.
Viktor jumped when the door clicked, and turned around. “Oh Miss Kiramman! Back so soon? I was just practicing my speech. If you have some time now perhaps you can give me some feedback?”
He straightened up, and cleared his throat. “The dictionary defines the word ‘invention’ as–”
“You have to stop!” interrupted Caitlyn, shocked at her own voice. She didn’t think she would have to raise her voice.
She took a deep breath, and put down the sugar bowl on the table. “You have to listen to me, Viktor.”
“Yes?” said the clueless man, head tilted to the side.
She could do this. She was a Kiramman. She could break the heart of her friend’s partner, for the sake of the greater good. “Your speech… needs help.”
“Oh, I know,” bemoaned Viktor.
Caitlyn sighed in relief. Thank goodness he knew it wasn’t good!
“It needs more jokes!” The man sat down and started scribbling down things in the margins of his speech. “If I said that my partner was the ‘J-ace’ up our sleeves, do you think it would pair well with a joke about being an ace in the hole– the hole of ignorance that we all must climb out of?”
Caitlyn’s jaw dropped. She couldn't have the man talking about her friend and… holes! Her family would be the laughingstock of the city for backing these two men! She couldn’t let this man out of her room. Not until the event was over.
There was a knock at the door, and behind it the muffled voice of Jayce came through. “Hey, are you two ready?”
“The door’s stuck!” lied Caitlyn. “It simply won’t open at all! I can probably get it open after the award ceremony is over though! You’ll have to give the speech by yourself!”
Caitlyn wasn’t great at lying. She was brought up to be truthful and forthright and perfect.
“Is the door broken, Miss Kiramman? Perhaps if I took a look–” started Viktor, always willing to help make people’s lives easier.
“No! No, please just sit down there as we simply wait for the door to be fixed by…” Caitlyn scrambled for an answer. “By nobody.”
“Nobody?” said Viktor, confused.
“Yes! Nobody! See, this is a very, very old and sentimental door passed down the generations in the Kiramman family. So we can’t fix it. We need to get a special artisan, and that’ll take hours. His name is Mr. Nobody.” Caitlyn was surprised at how good she was at lying.
From outside there was the sound of a sharper rap on the door. Caitlyn’s mother’s voice cut through clearly, even through the thick wood. “Young miss, you will open this door immediately! Viktor and Jayce must attend the award ceremony and they cannot be late.”
“I am so sorry mother!” said Caitlyn desperately. “Viktor is sick and–and he’s in the bathroom!” Caitlyn ran over to Viktor and pulled on his wrist, dragging the man with her.
“I mean, I do have a chronic illness, but I do not need to use the bathroom. Caitlyn, please let me go!”
“You just seem so ill!” said Caitlyn before pushing the protesting man inside.
“And oh no the door is locked! From being broken!” said Caitlyn as she turned the bathroom key to keep Viktor in.
Perfect.
Caitlyn dodged Vi’s punch, but couldn’t avoid the follow-up.
“Oof,” came out Caitlyn’s breath, as she fell to her knees. “Nice one, Vi.”
Her partner gave her a hand up and they leaned by the ropes of the ring. “Thanks, Cupcake.”
They both rested, catching their breath.
“So you trapped Viktor in your bathroom, huh? A real bonafide kidnapper, and back when you were still a kid! So a kid kidnapper.” Vi gave out a bark of laughter.
Oh no, thought Caitlyn. I really shouldn’t think prejudiced thoughts for the people who grew up in the undercity… but do they all have this sense of humour?
“It wasn’t a kidnapping! I wasn’t asking for a ransom, I was just… detaining him. For the greater good!”
“You could have just let him make the speech, not a big deal,” shrugged Vi.
“You don’t understand, Vi,” said Caitlyn, eyes drifting out of focus. “It was terrible.”
Caitlyn did not realize that staying in the room with the man would mean having to listen to the man.
“Well, since the door is locked, perhaps you could keep me company? I know I don't have the speech on me but I do know what I was going to say. I was thinking of this opening…” the man in the bathroom cleared his voice while Caitlyn braced herself mentally.
“Hi everybody, or should I say… ‘Hi-merdinger’ everybody…”
Caitlyn shuddered as the speech went on.
“...and then when we look at coagulation of rune systems, there are 5 coefficients to consider…”
Oh no. Super complicated math?! It wasn't a lecture, it was an awards speech! It was supposed to be inspiring!
“... And it seems like there are Kiram-many reasons to thank our patrons—”
“Please stop!” said Caitlyn frantically.
“Caitlyn, is everything alright?” came the worried tones of her attentive father. “We're going to get you out.”
“I'm alright father!” shouted Caitlyn.
“Jayce is going to get you out! So stay away from the door.”
“What?!” said Caitlyn, before a giant blast destroyed her bedroom door into splinters, wood flying everywhere.
Caitlyn coughed and looked up at the dust and saw Jayce with two heavy metal gauntlets in his hand, way too heavy for a regular person to hold up, but perhaps it had to do with the blue light shimmering inside, powering up to defy gravity.
“Am I interrupting?” said Jayce, as her parents stood behind him, frozen in shock.
“Jayce!” Cassandra exclaimed. “This is not what I meant when I said you could use your invention to open the door!”
“Is he in there?” said Jayce, ignoring everyone, coming up to Caitlyn with his terrifying gauntlets.
Caitlyn scrambled up. “Oh, look at that, I found the key!”
She was not going to lose her bathroom door, no thank you.
Viktor came out of the bathroom and saw Jayce standing in front of him, inside a destroyed bedroom filled with door rubble.
“Jayce,” Viktor said softly.
“Viktor!” cried out Jayce, letting the gloves deactivate and drop to the ground, going to his partner to hug him. “You’re alright!”
“He was just trapped in the bathroom! There wasn’t anything going on!”
“Trapped?” said Tobias Kiramman, stepping delicately over the splintered wood. “Didn’t you say that Viktor was sick?”
“Yes, father, he was sick, and then the door locked all by itself, and he was trapped inside.”
Caitlyn’s mother though, had gone further into her room and picked up a piece of paper off the floor, her eyes widening in horror.
She looked at her daughter.
Caitlyn looked back.
Through the mother-daughter bond of the Kiramman family, it was clear to them both. Caitlyn was certainly in the right to stop Viktor from making his speech.
“My dear inventors! Seems like there was quite a bit of trouble today. Seems like you both must be rattled. How’s this then, let’s all go to the event together and I’ll make the speech for you two,” said Councilwoman Kiramman with a picture perfect smile.
“Oh, no need Mrs. Kiramman!” said Viktor, wanting to assure the woman that there was no issue. “Explosions happen all the time! Just part of the process. Don’t worry, I’m sure Jayce and I will still be fine.”
Jayce smiled down at his partner, his arm wrapped across thin shoulders.
“Oh, wonderful,” said Mrs. Kiramman brittly.
“So Viktor did the speech then?” said Vi as they walked out of the training centre, their bags hanging casually behind her shoulder.
“Yes,” said Caitlyn glumly. She hated to lose, and she didn’t get a single round in during their practice.
“I guess it wasn’t that bad then!”
Caitlyn gave a rueful smile. “Well, the contingent from the undercity liked it. It actually was a success because it brought both of the sides together. People actually said that it was a major turn for the creation of Zaun as an independent city-state from Piltover, to see Viktor up on stage.”
“Wow,” said Vi, whistling. “And you almost stopped that, huh?”
“How was I supposed to know?”
“I guess you really wanted to make sure no scuttle rats like me got into the enforcer academy to beat you up then,” said Vi grinning.
“I’m going to get you next time,” said Caitlyn, huffing.
“Sure you will, Cupcake,” laughed Vi.
They walked for a bit in friendly silence as the sunset glowed over the city.
“So,” said Vi casually. “Do you think you’re down for another kidnapping?”
“What do you mean, Vi?” said Caitlyn, annoyed.
“Well I’m thinking maybe you didn’t get what you wanted because you didn’t have enough practice locking undercity folk in your bedroom. Think you wanna try again?”
Caitlyn turned around, ready to fight. “Try again? Do you think I’m going to just pick up some random person from Zaun and just throw them into my bedroo–” She stopped, finally getting it.
“Shut up Vi,” said Caitlyn, blushing and speeding up her walk.
“Maybe you should gag me when you kidnap me tonight,” said Vi with a devious grin, catching up to Caitlyn and grabbing her hand.
“Shut up!” said Caitlyn, speeding up again, but making sure that her hand never let her partner go.
3. Zaun vs Hammer
The third time Viktor was kidnapped, it was a lot more obvious.
While walking outside, making a visit to his uncle in the undercity, a bunch of thugs popped out of the shadows and hoisted him up and ran away.
“You will put me down!”
“We can’t, we’re kidnapping you!” said the red mohawked ruffian with too many piercings to count, and chemtech tubes coming out of his head.
“Yeah, the boss said so!” said the large bald man who was holding their package on their shoulders.
“This is very inconvenient,” said the package. “Could you at least hold my crutch then since I’m up here?”
“Sure,” said the shorter of the pair, reaching for the crutch.
Viktor swung it to knock the man’s head, right on the chemtech.
“Ouch! Hey! I was trying to help!”
“That’s on you,” said the larger henchman, before giving a rough laugh that filled the alleyway.
Viktor sat in the damp cell and frowned. How was he supposed to get out of this one?
After his first kidnapping, Mel had sat him and Jayce down and made Elora give a ‘What Happens When You Get Kidnapped 101’ lecture.
Step number one was to be compliant and not be aggressive to the kidnappers. Viktor thought he had been quite pleasant with them, so that was good.
Step two was to activate the tracking locator that Viktor was to carry at all times. The invention was called a “Life-Alerter”, since it alerted people where lifeforms were– if they were kidnapped. Viktor sighed and pressed the button on the necklace. There.
Step three, and this was something that Mel had pressed quite a lot of emphasis on: Do not discuss hextech with the kidnappers.
So there Viktor was. Sitting. Bored. His kidnappers were very aggressive, but he stayed passive. Calm. Emotionless.
“You will tell us the secrets of Hextech, you scrawny little underdweller!” said the leader of the crew, grabbing Viktor from his chair.
“Get him, boss!” said the red-haired one, whooping, the liquid in his chemtech swishing.
The bigger one was taking a nap in the corner, snoring soundly, drool coming out of the corner of his mouth.
Viktor looked past the sneering man grabbing him, past the greasy hair and bad teeth, the dirty suit and the ugly tophat to try to emulate rich topsiders, and took a second look at the punk who had taken him to this dank building in a very seedy part of town. Something was so familiar…
“Slavomír?!” exclaimed Viktor.
“What?” said the man, startled, his piercings jangling on his face.
“What?” said the boss, confused.
“You’re Slavomír! The boy down the road who lived on my street! You came to my house for Snowdown!”
“Wait… Viktor?” said Slavomír, jaw dropping open.
“I didn’t recognize you with all your augments. How’s your mother?”
“She’s good! Wow, Viktor! You’re looking good!” said Slavomír, smiling as he saw his childhood neighbour for the first time in years. “I can’t believe I kidnapped you!”
Viktor and his old neighbour laughed at this. Life was crazy sometimes, especially for people living in the undercity.
“So then, I guess you can let me go now?” said Viktor, laughing.
“Oh, come on boss, you gotta let my ol’ pal Viktor outta here,” said the red haired punk, putting his arm over the man with the twitching eye.
The boss knocked over both of them, sending both of them to the floor. “What are you talking about? We need to get this man to make us Hextech! Hex! Tech!”
The bigger man woke up with all the commotion. “Say boss, why do we even need Hextech?”
The greasy man spun around. “You idiot! It's so we can get weapons! Weapons to take over this whole city!”
Viktor frowned up at him from the dirty floor. “Jayce and I did not make Hextech to make weapons. That isn't its purpose.”
Just then, a blast of blue energy burst into the room, the door splintering apart. Somehow Viktor had a deep sense of deja vu.
A foot came in to kick out the remaining splinters and the silhouette of a giant hammer wielding hero filled the frame.
“Am I interrupting?” said Jayce grinning, tossing his hair out of his face as the dust settled.
Viktor rolled his eyes. “Took you long enough, Jayce.”
Viktor clambered up, picking his crutch off the table. “Is that a weapon, Jayce?”
“Er,” said Jayce, sweating lightly. “No? It's a hammer… to knock down doors. It's for uh, firefighters.”
Viktor blinked. Then, “Brilliant, Jayce!” Viktor went over to his partner, crutch clicking merrily across the floor.
Enforcers flooded the room through the door, arresting the kidnappers, but Viktor stopped one of them as he came up to his old neighbor.
“Oh hey, Viktor. No hard feelings?” said the undercity thug with a grin.
“If you're out in time for Snowdown then please stop by,” said Viktor warmly.
Later as Viktor and Jayce walked home, talking about the use of the hammer Jayce made— for peaceful life saving purposes only— Jayce finally made a comment on the kidnappers.
“So, did you know him?” asked Jayce mildly.
“Hmm? Who?” said Viktor still thinking about how to add more thrust to the hammer so that one could possibly use it to lift themselves to the top of burning buildings, in order to save those trapped in the upper levels
“The man you were talking to, the one who got arrested.”
“Oh? That was my old neighbour, Slavomír.”
“Alright, sounds great,” said Jayce curtly.
They walked silently for a while.
“Jayce, what’s wrong?” asked Viktor, not understanding why his partner was in a mood. “Are you… angry I got kidnapped?”
“What? No!” said Jayce, astonished. “I’m just… I just overheard you telling him you would invite him for Snowdown.”
Viktor waited for more. “And?”
Jayce stopped and held Viktor by his shoulders. “Why not me!”
They stood like that for a moment, Jayce breathing heavily. Viktor put a hand on Jayce’s arm and tugged it down. Viktor’s slender fingers slotted between Jayce’s, and their hands were held lightly.
“You can come too,” said Viktor softly. “If you wish.”
“You never invited me before,” said Jayce, looking down at their interlaced hands.
“Well, I always thought… my home would be quite shabby. It’s not like the large Snowdown party the Kirammans throw that we go to. Or even to your lovely home with Ximena.”
“I’d never think your home was shabby, Viktor.”
“I know,” said Viktor with a rueful grin, lifting Jayce’s hand to turn it over with the other, looking at Jayce’s palm. A slender finger traced some of the lines on Jayce’s hand. “It’s just that my home is from the undercity, Jayce. The people there are different. You saw. People from the uppercity may not understand why I would forgive my kidnapper, but we are from the same street, and that means a lot down there. There are things you’d never do up here.”
“Like talk about how ‘Pilt-over the top the councilmembers are with their statues’?”, said Jayce with a laugh, referencing Viktor’s ‘Flash of Brilliance’ speech.
“Yes, we do love to make jokes,” said Viktor, letting go of Jayce’s hand, and starting to walk off again, his crutch tapping slowly.
Jayce came up and held Viktor’s hand again. “I still remember you trying to make me laugh, back in the apartment.”
“Oh? Which time?”
“When you said that I was an egotistical wannabe who signed his notebook pages.”
“I did not say you were a wannabe.”
“Oh, so you do remember?”
“I remember everything about you,” said Viktor, eyes straight ahead to the street home.
Jayce turned to Viktor and swallowed. “Thanks Vik. For being there. I don’t think I’ve ever said it before, but you saved me.”
They walked for a bit, letting those words settle.
“Thank you, Jayce,” said Viktor finally, and if his voice seemed a little rough, neither of them commented on it. “You also saved me too. A few times now, I believe. So maybe we can call it even?”
“I’ll always come save you, V,” said Jayce, seriously.
“Promise?” said Viktor, his accent somehow thicker with emotion.
“Promise.”