Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a bad idea to start an experiment in the middle of a fight with your lab partner. Jayce Talis knew that. But here they were anyway. The idea was simple; the hextech gemstones' only downside was their lack of power compared to the far more volatile crystals. Viktor had suggested that the gem would be better suited to magnifying energy instead, and by using one to energize another, they could theoretically create a power source that could power larger devices without the risks of it detonating. 

“Viktor, if you would just listen to what I’m saying for once in your life you’d realize that none of what you’re insinuating is what I meant.” He pinched the bridge of his nose as he spoke.

“I was listening, and you made your position quite clear. Quite honestly, I’m not sure why you’re continuing to press this topic. Like I said before, if you feel you’d be more satisfied in a relationship with Counselor Medarda, I’m in no way stopping you. I’d just appreciate it if you’d say so outright, instead of stringing me along.”  Viktor’s tone was cold and even as he adjusted the glove component of the hexclaw.

“Clearly you’re not, because if you were, we wouldn’t be having this conversation in the first place!” Jayce took a deep breath before speaking again. “Look, we can have a conversation, like an actual one, later. Right now, can we just get this test over with? The Council insisted on meeting tonight, and I’d rather not show up in my lab clothes again.”

“Of course, who would I be to keep Piltover’s golden boy from his seat at the table?” As Viktor raised the hexclaw, preparing to use its light ray to energize the gemstone, Jayce knew he should say something. That they should talk now, the test didn’t matter, the meeting didn’t matter, what mattered was their relationship, first and foremost. He didn’t say anything though, and just watched as the gemstone began to glow. Almost immediately, he realized something was wrong. A strange humming noise filled the lab, and the gem’s light became painfully bright. 

Suddenly, it let out a bright blue flash that filled the entire room, and Jayce found himself ducking for cover behind a nearby workbench. The noise from the stone was so loud he thought his eardrums would rupture, but then, just as quickly as it had started, the noise stopped, replaced by the metallic sound of something hitting the floor. Then there was silence. No noise, no light.

“Viktor? You okay?” Jayce called out, but there was no response. He had probably just been knocked over from the blast the gemstone had produced, and was being too prideful to ask for help getting up. Still, he felt a twinge of nervousness run down his spine, and he stood up to check on his partner.

All that was left was Viktor’s cane, lying on the floor near where he had been standing just moments before. No ash, no residue, barely even proof that he was ever there to begin with. Nowhere in the room he could have gotten to in order to be clear of the blast. Jayce rushed over to the cane, picking it up and clutching it to his chest as if it was its owner.

“Viktor–” He choked out, “I’m sorry, I should have said something, I shouldn’t have had you start the experiment, I–” His sobs were interrupted by a low, mechanical groaning sound. Turning quickly to find its source, Jayce was shocked to see what appeared to be a fairly humanoid… thing made of metal picking itself up off the floor. Viktor. It had to be, Jayce reasoned to himself, even though it didn’t really make sense that what just happened would turn him into that, it made even less sense for the two to be entirely unrelated. He quickly began to help it up to a standing position.

“Viktor, is that you? Are you okay? It’s me, Jayce, can you hear me?” At that, the mechanical being turned its head to look at him, its glowing amber eyes seeming to pierce directly through his soul for a single moment.

And then it struck Jayce, sending him flying across the room.

Chapter Text

“I know you’re obsessed with me V, but come on! You can’t just regularly break into my lab to try and murder me, it’s just bad form.” As he spoke, Jayce of Clan Giopara swung his massive Mercury Hammer into the skull of the last of the robotic goons Viktor had brought, reducing it to scrap metal, before turning his attention to the Machine Herald himself.

“Your arrogance still astounds me, Defender of Tomorrow.” The scorn was evident even through his monotone mechanical voice. “My goals are far higher than petty violence. However, if you continue to get in my way, I will have no other choice.” With that, the third mechanical arm on his back rose up to face Jayce, the lens in its palm beginning to glow menacingly. Jayce knew what that meant, and dove across the floor as Viktor’s ‘death ray’ fired at him. 

Jayce dodged the blast cleanly.
The hextech crystal sitting on the desk behind him, however, was unable to. Before Jayce could realize what was happening, a painful humming and bright light filled his lab, nearly blinding him. When it cleared, he leapt to his feet, brandishing his hammer as he scanned the room, fully aware that Viktor could have used the distraction in order to gain a more advantageous position to strike from. However, upon a first pass of the lab, Viktor… just wasn’t there. It didn’t seem like he had left in the confusion either, as the lab door was still locked from the inside, and the only break in the window’s glass was from where Viktor and his minions had entered.

On a second pass of the room however, Jayce spotted it. Viktors robotic arm, seemingly torn from his body, the lens shattered. A few feet behind it was a man, struggling to get himself off the floor.

“Viktor?” His voice was soft, softer than he wanted it to come out. Viktor had been trying to kill him mere moments ago. This could just be another trap. But when the man on the floor looked up at him, that thought instantly died. His face. Jayce recognized it, though it had been years since he had seen it. It was Viktor, just like he remembered him, just a little more tired, a little paler, with slightly darker shadows around his eyes. He dropped his hammer in that moment, trying to rationalize what he was seeing. Viktor, whole, alive, human . Something he thought he’d never see again. 

After the gemstone had detonated, Viktor found himself thrown to the floor, his head throbbing. The first thing he did was switch the hexclaw’s controller into a locked position, since no matter what had just happened, the light ray accidentally firing off could not make it better. After a moment, he reached for his cane, only to find that it was gone. That, and the floor was… off. It was different, but not in a way he could quite put into words. He pondered this as he tried to stand himself up, before an almost familiar voice took up his attention

“Viktor?” It was Jayce, well, almost. He was slightly taller, his shoulders slightly broader, and his voice slightly deeper than he was used to. It was unsettling, to say the least. He must have really hit his head during the blast.

“Jayce?”

“Viktor! I can’t believe it, you were really in there the whole time! I thought you, like, turned yourself entirely into a robot, but you’re here! I’m sorry about getting you kicked out of the Academy, I didn’t think they’d actually do it–” Jayce knelt down in front of him, cupping Viktor’s face gently in one hand

“Jayce. What the hell are you talking about?” He looked Jayce in the eyes, trying to gauge if the other man had suffered a blow to the head as well.

 “You don’t remember? Maybe you really did mess with your brain, like everyone thought, and your robot memory chip came out with the rest of that whole exoskeleton thing. Where did all of that go anyways?” He glanced around while Viktor tried to figure out just what Jayce was saying. This all felt absurd. 

“Of course I don’t remember whatever nonsense you’re trying to convince me of. I’m clearly not a robot, and never have been. We were just testing the hextech gemstone when it sent out a shockwave, and now you’re trying to act like I’ve somehow lost a significant part of my memory.”

“I am not making this up! You’re impossible, really. Claiming that an entirely different sequence of events led up to that explosion is out there, even for you.” Jayce got up and turned around, picking up what appeared to be a robotic arm off the ground and gesturing with it as he continued, “Look, not even ten minutes ago, you were trying to laser me to death with this thing! Are you going to believe me when I show you actual, physical evidence that this happened, or do I need to get Cait to show you the actual fucking warrant for your arrest before you realize that this isn’t me trying to play you?” Jayce… didn’t seem to be lying, Viktor had to admit to himself. Not that there was any real logic to him trying to lie about something like this in the first place.

“Even if I am to believe your version of events is accurate to you, where does that get us? I am quite certain about my own memories, so there must be some logical explanation for our discrepancies.” 

“I mean, I think the logical one is that you’ve got a few screws loose, V. Metaphorical ones. Or maybe literal ones, I don’t actually know. Point is, you probably got some weird parallel set of memories from when the blast dematerialized your robot armor. Wait… parallel…” Jayce paused for a moment, biting his lip in thought.

“You can’t be saying… that’s absurd! There’s no proof of parallel realities even existing, much less that someone could travel between them! I suppose it would explain a few things though…” Like why Jayce looked the same, and yet so different.

“I mean, without any other real explanation, it’s the best idea we have to work with. You’re a Viktor from another reality, and because of the simultaneous explosions, you managed to get switched with my Viktor.”

“So presumably, ‘your’ Viktor is now in the reality I came from… and you said he was actively trying to kill you before the explosion…” A chill suddenly ran down Viktor’s spine as he realized the full implications of what had likely just happened. 

“Yeah… yikes. Sorry ‘bout that one.”

Chapter Text

“What the hell, Viktor? I was just trying to see if you were okay, you didn’t need to hit me like that!” Granted, Jayce was getting less and less sure that the robotic creature really was Viktor, but as far as he could tell, there wasn’t any actual harm in calling it that for now. 

“What are you playing at, Jayce?” The voice was cold and monotone, though Jayce could pick up Viktor’s thick accent through the synthesizer’s speech.

“I’m not– I get you’re mad at me, but I care about you! I really honestly thought you died for a second there, and now you’re like, a robot or something?”

At this, the thing that was presumably Viktor let out a sharp laugh. “Ah, so this is another one of your jokes. Though–” He paused for a moment, scanning the room. “This is not the lab we were in before the explosion.”

“This is the same lab we’ve worked in for years! I don’t get what’s going on, Viktor. It’s like you’re an entirely different…” Jayce trailed off, trying in his mind to weigh the odds of whether the individual he was talking to was really Viktor.

“...I am beginning to believe that could be an explanation, at least technically. Tell me, ‘Jayce’, have you ever explored the concept of parallel realities?” This sounded to Jayce an awful lot like a trick question, but the idea itself seemed to tie up the current situation into a rather neat bow.

“I mean, as a thought experiment, but what are the odds that the way to cross between realities is as simple as just… blasting one of these gemstones with energy? You’d think we would have figured something like that out by now.”

“Do you have a more accurate theory?”  He paused for a moment, but before Jayce could even begin to come up with a response, the Viktor-adjacent entity continued, “Of course you don’t.”

“Well…” Jayce ran through all the possibilities in his mind as he tried to formulate a next step. The robot that was maybe Viktor could be lying to him, that was a definite possibility, but even if it was, there wasn’t enough information to form a concrete plan without implicitly believing it. “I’m sure it would be too easy to just… fire up the hexclaw and send you back. I mean, my Viktor had the control glove for it on him, and it looks like it went with him. And I’m sure whatever we do has to happen on both sides for it to work again. I guess we work on rewiring it and hope they’re doing the same thing. I know Viktor will, and since that’s what I’m doing right now, I think the version of me over there would be doing the same.”

“The Jayce I know…” Robotic Viktor looked away for a moment, as if considering what to say next, ”I would give him fifty-fifty odds of getting over himself and actually attempting to reverse this.”

“And the other fifty percent?” 

“He doesn’t care to differentiate your version of Viktor from myself.” At that, Jayce couldn’t help but think of the vitriol in this Viktor’s response when he had run over to help, and realized that whatever fight had been happening between him and Viktor in this reality, it paled in comparison to whatever had happened between those two.

“...Let’s hope it’s the first option.”

Chapter Text

“Here’s the plan, since enforcers have to come when there’s been signs of a struggle, and the Viktor previously in this dimension makes it a weekly habit to break into my lab and mess things up; we’re clearly not going to tell them the truth, because that would make us look insane, and even if they believed me, I’m not sure ‘being from a different dimension’ will get you out of legal consequences for something your alternate self does.” The Jayce of Clan Giopara, as he had introduced himself,  paced as he spoke, while Viktor only halfway concentrated on what he was saying, the rest of his attention on the replacement cane this Jayce had given him. When he had asked why he had something like that in his lab, the man had simply stated, ‘Well, it used to be Viktor’s and even when I knew he wasn’t going to want it back, I couldn’t just throw it away,’ before abruptly turning around and changing the subject.

“Do you actually have a plan, or just reasons why we need a plan?”

“Don’t give me that, of course I have a plan! First off, I’m going to do all the talking. You can just sit where you’re sitting right now, and look pretty. If I need you to corroborate my story, just nod. As for what I’m going to be saying–” A sharp knock on the door interrupted his sentence,” You’ll just have to wait and see.” He pulled the door open, donning an air of excess confidence as he did so.

“Hello, officers, what seems to be–”

“Jayce.” The enforcer waiting for Jayce in the doorway was Caitlyn. This was definitely less than ideal, since she was one of the very few people who would actually call him out on his bullshit.

“Yeah? Something up, Cait?”

“Just tell me what happened this time. You’ve made this enough of a pattern that I was able to write most of the report up before you even filed an issue, but procedure dictates that I need to hear what you have to say regardless.” 

“What do you mean, pattern? I rarely have lab accidents, and when I do, they usually don’t take out a full window.”

“You have, however, reported at least seven separate break-ins as ‘lab accidents’, and the damage pattern is strikingly similar.” As she spoke, she walked into the lab, bending down to pick up a shard of glass before turning to face him. “Window broken from the outside, circular burn marks on the wall… you know covering for him doesn’t do any good, right?”

“I’m not covering for anyone! Look, if you don’t believe me, I had a lab assistant today. He’ll tell you that one of the things I was working on imploded out of nowhere, and that’s why the lab’s all messed up like this. Right?” He quickly glanced over at Viktor, who nodded quickly. Good. Caitlyn could doubt him all she wanted, but she couldn’t deny a second person’s account without proof. Instead, she paused for a moment, looking Viktor up and down, before fixing her gaze back on Jayce.

“... Lab assistant, huh?” As Jayce met her eyes, he suddenly realized how bad this could look to an outside observer. Everyone in Piltover had heard about the massive blow-up between him and Viktor that had led to his exile and transformation into the Machine Herald, and the rumors that had followed… well, not all of them were just rumors. Having someone in his lab who looked almost exactly like Viktor had would almost certainly make said rumors far, far worse. Luckily, Caitlyn probably wouldn’t tell anyone… except for her girlfriend, Vi. Who would probably tell her sister. And at that point, there was no telling who would hear it.

“What of it? You of all people should be happy I’m working with someone, after all you’ve said about me being ‘permanently isolated due to an expansive ego’. It should be a pleasant surprise that I’ve found someone willing to tolerate me for an extended period of time.” That wasn’t really a lie. For most people, half an hour was about the maximum amount of time they could spend around him before inevitably they gave up on reasonable conversation and simply resorted to yelling, throwing something at him, or leaving the area entirely. Sometimes all three. Usually all three.

“The timing seems suspect, to say the least. As well as directly contradicting your claim that you’d never get another lab assistant.”

“Just because I’m the smartest man in Piltover doesn’t mean I can see the future, Cait. I’m willing to admit– just this once– that my judgment on ‘having a lab assistant’ might have been a little hasty.”

“And now you’re admitting you miscalculated? Something is almost certainly afoot here, and as an enforcer, it’s my duty to uncover the truth.”

“Look, if I told you every single detail of what happened today in my lab, you still wouldn’t believe me. There’s always going to be some pieces that I can’t prove to you beyond a shadow of a doubt, and to be honest, I doubt you’re listening to me in good faith. You’ve already got a narrative set up for this case, and you don’t want to hear anything against it. Just think about it this way, what’s more likely; that I got a boytoy who looks like my ex-lab partner and convinced him to lie for me when my actual ex-lab partner broke in, or that I might just have told the truth the first time you asked?” At this, Caitlyn gave a heavy sigh, and scratched something down on her paper.
“Look, I’ll keep your statement as the official story. There’s nothing to contradict it, and if you won’t change your story, then it’s not worth trying to wear you down until something slips.” She paused for a moment, considering her words before continuing, “But if you need someone to talk to about this, not on the record… I’d be happy to listen, and maybe offer some advice if you were willing. I’m hardly a stranger to messy relationships, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, so I’ve got some perspective on this stuff.” 

Jayce gave her a smile, not one of his big, performative, ‘charm the investors’ ones, but instead something a little more genuine. “I’ll keep that in mind, Cait. Really.” He wasn’t going to tell her about this though. How would he even begin to explain it? How would she even begin to believe it? Maybe he could tell her about it once everything was settled, but he knew himself well enough to say he probably wouldn’t.

“Good. Now, I’ve got to get this paperwork finished down at the precinct.” She smiled as she turned to leave. “Hopefully next time we talk, it won’t be for work.”

“Hopefully. See you around, Cait.”

When Caitlyn finally left the lab, Jayce gave a heavy sigh of relief and turned to Viktor. “Well, that could have gone worse. Now the enforcers will be off our backs, and we can get to work.” When he met Viktor’s eyes though, there wasn’t the relief he had been feeling, but instead a skeptical hesitance. “What?”

“What exactly… happened between you and this world’s Viktor?” Of course he would ask that. He probably could put together a vague picture of it from what he’d already heard, so it wasn’t as if Jayce could just… make up a new version of events that made him look better.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“I should think it does matter. If everyone in this world will perceive me in the context of my counterpart, it’s in my best interests to know what that context is.”

Jayce sighed. He never could say no to Viktor, not when they had been working together, and not now either.

 “It’s… complicated. You–” He caught himself quickly. This wasn’t the Viktor he remembered, even if his face was the same. This Viktor didn’t hate him, after all. “Viktor was my lab partner, and a colleague at the academy. We were the best of the best, and the stuff we made together was going to change the world. Until he came up with his ‘magnum opus’. He called it Glorious Evolution, but we both knew what it really was. It was the destruction of humanity, replacing people with unfeeling machines. I told the dean of the academy about it, thinking they would just confront him and stop him from testing it on people, but they expelled him. Kicked him out of Piltover too. It didn’t make him give up on the idea though. It just meant that when he started testing, it was with himself.” There was a lot to the story he had left out. How close he had been with Viktor before the split, how messy the fights had been afterwards. This Viktor was just as smart as the one he remembered, though. He’d be able to figure it out.

“I… see.” It was clear from his expression that he really didn’t. From what Jayce had been able to gather, this Viktor had a much better relationship with his Jayce, to the point where the conflict here would be unthinkable.

What was different that had stopped them from falling apart there? Had Viktor not come to the same ideas? Had Jayce managed to talk him out of them? Was it some imperceptible difference in their starting conditions that had made everything spiral out differently? Was there something he could have changed? No. It didn’t help anyone to immerse himself in what-ifs and hypotheticals. There was work to do here, trying to help Viktor get back to his own life. 

Though even as he gritted his teeth and began to analyze what he could of the incident, he conceded to himself that if they couldn’t find a solution, that wouldn’t be the worst thing either.

Chapter Text

Jayce and the strange, mechanical ‘Viktor’ worked in silence, both of them looking for any evidence the dimensional transfer would have left. Once they had that, they could reverse engineer the process, and safely replicate it. Every so often, he glanced over at his companion, who always seemed deep in silent thought. It wasn’t as if he could really tell though, with that metal mask preventing all the cues that could be in his expression. Eventually, he decided to break the quiet understanding the two had reached and address the steel-plated elephant in the room.

“Are you… entirely metal?” It was a reasonable question. There was no skin visible, just shiny metal plates, all bolted and screwed together in a somewhat patchwork fashion. 

“Few parts have yet to be replaced. So not entirely.” Jayce hadn’t really expected an answer.

“Did you do it to yourself?”

“Yes.”

Jayce hesitated, before he asked one last question. “…Why?”

The silence was almost painful as it began to stretch, and Jayce wondered if he would simply ignore the question, pretend he hadn’t heard it. 

“Weakness held me back. Through metal, I could transcend that.” The statement was so matter of fact, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Maybe to him it was. Viktor’s health had been deteriorating throughout the time Jayce had known him, though he had always brushed off his concerns, insisting their work was more important. This Viktor could have found a solution through his robotics. If he played his cards right, maybe Jayce could get a starting point for his partner and him to improve on. 

“I see.”

“Unlikely.”

“What?” Of all the responses Jayce could have expected, that was certainly not it.

“You may not be exactly the same as my Jayce, but you have enough similarities that I can guess.” Well, that was hardly fair. He didn’t even know this guy, and yet he was considered guilty by association with him.

“You’ve known me for what, an hour?”

“Two hours and seventeen minutes.”

“The specifics don’t really matter here. You think that less than a day’s worth of experience with me is enough to prove that I’m exactly the same as this other Jayce in another dimension? Well, I’m sorry that he was shitty, or not understanding, or whatever, but he is an entirely different person to me! I, for one, care about my lab partner, and if he decided to turn himself into a robot, I would trust his judgment on that!” The words came out a little harsher than Jayce had wanted, so he continued, “And for what it's worth, I trust whatever judgment you used when you made that decision yourself.” 

This seemed to shock the metal man into silence, though it was hard to tell what exactly he was feeling through the mask. Maybe he just didn’t have anything else to say. 

They both returned to their work, the silence now strained in a way it hadn’t been before Jayce had spoken, until Jayce noticed something strange about the hexclaw.

It was turned off. Not disconnected, not shut down from a circuit breaking or its power source being detached, but turned off. That wasn’t right.

“Hey, come get a look at this.” The metal Viktor moved faster and quieter than Jayce expected, and in an instant, he was there. “Somehow, the hexclaw got switched off.”

“With its controller leaving the dimension, did it somehow stay connected?”

“Only one way to find out.”

And with that, Jayce flipped the hexclaw on. Almost immediately, it began to twitch erratically, and the origin point for the laser began to glow. Before Jayce could duck out of its path, or even think to move though, it shut off again, clicking back to its resting state, Viktor’s metallic hand resting on the switch.

“It’s still connected! That means we can send a message over.”

“Or, it means that the machinery is scrambled because of what happened, and it only is capable of random movements.” Jayce had to admit the point there, but he wanted to believe that something could be communicated. Carefully, he used the hexclaw to spell out letters in Morse code.

.. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..- / ...- .. -.- - --- .-.

I love you Viktor.

Jayce sighed as he finished the last word. “Now all we can do is wait, and hope the message makes it.”

“That’s the message you chose to send? Not any important information?” There were traces of scorn in his monotone, metallic voice, but Jayce swore there was more to it than just that. It was possible he was just seeing things that weren’t there, however.

“Viktor and I were fighting when the swap happened. I want to let him know I’m not mad at him, and that I’m working on a way to bring him back. If you have a more efficient way to say all that, I’m willing to hear it.”

It seemed as if he was preparing to respondnd, but before he could, a knock on the lab’s door took both of their attentions.

“Busy! Give me a minute!” Jayce called out. Then quieter, “Shit.”

“What is it?”

“Mel, probably. There was a Council meeting I was supposed to attend today. With everything, it completely slipped my mind. I’ll talk to her, tell her there was a lab accident and that I can’t be there today.” The knocking was louder this time, more insistent. “Coming!”

“And what do you expect me to do? It’s not as if I can just impersonate this world’s Viktor.” He had a point there.

“Just… stand still out of the way. I’ll only open up the door a crack, and Mel doesn’t come in here often enough to notice you aren’t a new lab project.”

It would have been a good plan, but there was one problem in its execution. The door to the lab clicked, and then swung open, revealing Sky, their lab assistant, with her keys in the lock, and Mel right behind her. He watched as Mel’s eyes flick over to the mechanical Viktor, and then back to Jayce, who felt frozen to the spot.

“Oh, I would love to hear the story here.”

Well, it wasn’t as if he could lie his way out of this, so with a nervous swallow, Jayce began, “How much have you thought about parallel dimensions?”

Chapter Text

As Jayce explained the situation to the two women, Viktor stood by, silently observing.  He had heard of Councilor Medarda, of course; she had held her seat since before his expulsion from Piltover. He had never personally met her in his own universe though. There had been no trial or Council vote for his banishment, as it had strictly been an Academy affair. This version of Mel appeared to be far more connected to this world’s Jayce, and by extension, this world’s Viktor. There was a casualness with which she spoke to him that signaled she was used to being in control. Had she been his patron before he had become a councilor?

And that was another question Viktor had about this dimension; how and why exactly Jayce of all people was put on the Piltover Council. Sure, in at least some ways he had made it clear he was a different person, but none of those ways were ones that turned him into a good candidate for leadership. Piltover had always been run by fools though, so he supposed it made sense on at least one count.

They were getting bogged down by this bureaucracy. Jayce had long since stopped communicating anything of value to Councilor Medarda, and now they were just discussing what she could say to the Council in his stead. Wasting time that could be spent working on a way to get home. He turned to the lab assistant, who was gently inspecting the hexclaw.

“You shouldn’t touch that.” At his voice, she startled to attention, propping her glasses up on her face. 

“Oh, I’m sorry! I wanted to see if any of the machinery sustained damage. It doesn’t seem like it, but if anything internally was affected, the only way to check would be to take it apart completely.” She looked at him before quickly looking away again. “You’re… really Viktor? Just from a different universe? I know Jayce explained it, but it’s hard to believe. You really look nothing like him.” 

“I chose a very different path than the Viktor you know.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you.” Her smile was nervous, clearly trying to be friendly despite the circumstances.  “I’m Sky Young.”

He recognized the name. Sky Young worked in a Glasc laboratory, and had visited him on two separate occasions for augmentation. The first was after an accident had left her with two fingers on her dominant hand and chemical burns going up to her elbow. He had replaced her entire arm with an experimental new prosthetic meant to increase dexterity and range of motion over previous designs, which had already been leagues better than the biological default. It had worked spectacularly, and less than a year later, Sky had returned to get her undamaged arm replaced, as well as both of her eyes.

That was obviously not what had happened here. The differences in this world ran deep, and the reasons behind them were not immediately obvious.

“I see.”

Suddenly, Viktor found his train of thought cut off by the rising volume of the other conversation in the room.

“Mel, I can’t just leave the lab! Until I fix this, until Viktor’s back, I need to stay here.”

“From what you said, all you’re doing is waiting for a return signal. I’m sure Ms. Young and… the machine are more than capable of doing that for a few hours while you do your job.” 

“You don’t get it. I need to know he’s okay as soon as possible, and if I’m sitting in some worthless meeting while you all talk about trade and profits, I can’t do that!” Watching this Jayce argue was fascinating. He had so many of the mannerisms Viktor remembered from his world’s Jayce, all of his gestures and pacing, never able to stay still during a conversation. He had been on the other end of Jayce’s arguments countless times in the past, so the new angle was refreshing.

“Jayce, please.” The councilor’s voice was soft, and she placed her hand on Jayce’s shoulder. Viktor hated the way his face twisted in disgust at the action. This wasn’t his Jayce. Even if it was ‘his Jayce’, it wouldn’t be his problem. “I’ll see if I can postpone the council meeting for a day, but you have to remember that Piltover is in crisis. No matter what’s going on in our personal lives, the city needs us. It’s our duty as Council members to put them first.” It was a decent argument, but it far more soundly proved the point that Jayce shouldn’t have been on the Council to begin with. Science wasn’t just content to be left alone at the whims of human society, especially if it was science with any real value. Whoever had put Jayce on the Council was a fool to do so, and he was even more of a fool to accept it. 

“Thank you, Mel. I’m sure… I’m sure the situation will have improved at least a little by tomorrow.” Viktor was reasonably sure it wouldn’t, but he wasn’t going to say that out loud. It got the Council off their backs for a bit. With that extra time, he could have Jayce familiarize him with the extent of Hextech in this world, and from there, he could work on an improvement to get himself home, with or without Jayce’s assistance. It was clear that this reality’s grasp on their technology was far more primitive than his own from what he could glean of the hexclaw’s construction, but knowing what exactly he would have to work with was a necessity, especially as he’d be unable to cut and fabricate parts himself without his third arm.

“I can’t even imagine what this must be like for you. And for Viktor, of course. I’m sorry I can’t do more with the Council, but if there’s anything else I can do, please tell me.” Clearly, there was something she wanted out of this. Viktor didn’t know her angle yet, but it clearly wasn’t altruism.

“Maybe you could bring Heimerdinger in here? It’s a long shot, but if he’s seen something similar in the past, he might be able to help.”

“Absolutely not,” Viktor cut in, “If he is anything like the Heimerdinger from my reality, the only thing he will serve to do is slow work to a halt and stop progress on any return device in the name of ‘safety’.” From the way Jayce’s expression shifted in thought, it was clear that it was a correct assessment.

“I hate to say it, but he’s right. The professor has made you fight to get every discovery you’ve made with Hextech, and this is far beyond anything he’s sanctioned. At best, he’ll want delays, and at worst, he’ll try to call off the experiment altogether.”

Jayce sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, that’s… that’s probably the right call. We can ask him if we’re completely stuck, but it’ll be a last resort. We play this off as a lab accident, one that’s bad enough that I need to be here to deal with it. And hopefully we can figure this out ourselves.”

“We managed it once by accident, it’s an inevitability that we will do it again on purpose, given enough time.” It was a true enough statement, though privately Viktor wondered just how much time it would take to successfully reverse the process.

“Then I suppose I’ll leave you to it. Ms. Young?” Sky startled to attention, clearly not expecting the councilor to address her. “I’d like you to come with me. Heimerdinger will likely have more specific questions than I can answer, so your expertise will be useful.”

“Oh! Of course!” As Councilor Medarda left the room, Sky trailed after with quick steps to catch up, closing the door carefully behind her as she walked out.

“I’m glad they believed us,” Jayce said, after the two were long enough gone that they were definitely out of earshot. “It would have been so much harder to convince Mel to get the Council off my back if she thought I was losing it.”

“It would be hard to deny the evidence, even if the means are outside the realm of belief.”

“Yeah, you aren’t exactly… inconspicuous. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, in fact it turned out better for us that you are, so, you know. I think you look cool, for what it's worth.” 

Listening to Jayce fumble over his words, Viktor let out a quiet huff of amusement, one that would have been a laugh if he was still human. The sentiment was a nice one, even if he didn’t believe it actually reflected Jayce’s thoughts. “I see.”

There was a prolonged moment of silence, during which Viktor could feel Jayce’s gaze scanning him. What was he looking for? Some sign of the Viktor he knew beneath the surface? What did he see there? 

“…We should get back to work.” Jayce had apparently noticed that he was staring.

“Indeed.”

Chapter Text

They had come up with a relatively simple, if not exactly safe plan to get Viktor back to his home reality; repair the laser-equipped arm this universe’s Viktor had left behind, design a new control mechanism for it, and then hit the gemstone with another blast, hoping it would reverse the process. On paper, this was smooth and easy, in reality, it was anything but. The internal structure of the arm was a mixture of advanced Hextech, with several runes Viktor didn’t recognize, alongside more traditional chemtech channels and wires. All of which were completely nonfunctional since they had been torn away from their power sources.

“I’ll be honest,” Jayce started as he pressed on the robotic hand’s fingertips, watching how they bent against his touch. “I have no idea how Viktor got his modifications to work. Some of this is clearly based on work we did together, but a lot of it is completely new to me. Do you have any… I don’t know, insights from being him?” He laughed nervously, and it wasn’t quite clear if that last statement was a joke.

“Unfortunately not. Your Hextech appears to be leagues ahead of anything we’ve done in terms of sophistication. There’s a lot of runes here I don’t recognize.” He pointed at one such symbol, which had been repeated across a metal band holding several wires in place.

“Oh, that one is for amplification. I got it from combining the runes for acceleration and power and then tweaking the structure a bit. I assume you know what both of those are, they were some of the first I got working. He probably got it from stealing my blueprints. Putting it on the wires like that means it’s probably the main power source for the laser, unless the wires interact somehow with whatever’s in the chemical tubes, and that’s what he was using.” Jayce leaned over, his chest brushing against Viktor’s shoulder, his breath on Viktor’s ear as he ran a finger over the carved symbols.

The closeness was almost comforting in its familiarity. Viktor had spent hours in the lab with Jayce, working exactly like this. But this wasn’t his Jayce. He was a stranger, who just so happened to share Jayce’s name, face, and voice, give or take a few details. While that did nothing to remove the familiarity of sensation, it eliminated any comfort in it.

“Do you need to be that close?”

“Oh! Right.” Jayce took a step back and pulled his hand away. “I haven’t shared a lab with someone since– I haven’t shared a lab with someone in a long time. Not used to having to consider personal space in here.” He sighed.

“I just wasn’t expecting it. Warn me before you do anything like that again.”

“Yeah– of course. Were there any other runes you needed explained?”

“Not yet. Most of these are amplification, and several of the others can be at least partly gleaned from their shapes. The real issue is we don’t know what the chemicals were.” He ran a tool around the interior of the tube, but when he removed it, there was no residue. “There’s probably some sort of valve system that automatically drains the chemtech tubes when the arm is damaged.”

“So the only way to know now is to break into his lab and find the blueprints. Great.” Jayce pinched the bridge of his nose. Well, I guess we’ve got our plan for tomorrow.”

“And you know where his lab is? I had assumed from how you described your relationship that he wouldn’t let you anywhere near his research.”

“Sometimes, Viktor breaks in and takes things I actually need. I can't trust anyone else to handle it, which makes it my job to track him down there and take it back. So I’m pretty familiar with where he likes to work these days.”

“We could go now. The sooner we get those blueprints, the better, so why are we bothering to wait?”

Jayce frowned like the answer was obvious. “I don’t know what it’s like where you’re from, but in this reality, Zaun is a hellhole of monsters and maniacs, especially at night. Getting those blueprints could take us a while, and I don’t want you to be in any unnecessary danger if we end up staying too late. It’s better just to wait until morning so we have the whole day to sort through his junk.”

Viktor found himself focused on what was probably the least relevant detail for his current situation. “You called it Zaun. Does that mean it’s independent here?”

“Not quite. Unless you count the fact that too many enforcers are too scared to go down there and ‘enforce’ anything.” Jayce laughed dryly. “You– Viktor always called it Zaun though. I guess it rubbed off on me.”

Before Viktor could respond, he was distracted by a soft click that seemed to come from the hexclaw’s control glove. As he lifted his hand to examine it, the glove began to hum, and the gemstone embedded in it began to glow. Somehow it had been activated, despite the fact that the only other way to turn on the hexclaw was a dimension away. If it was still connected, then it was trying to fire, which was less than ideal with no way to know how it was aiming. Just as quickly though, it clicked again, turning off.

“What was that?”

“The hexclaw, I suppose it’s similar to a prototype of the arm we were just examining. It’s controlled by this glove, but it appeared to turn on without any input from me. This could mean it’s still connected, despite being in my original timeline.”

“If they can still affect each other, do you think it could be used to communicate?”

As if in response to Jayce’s question, the glove clicked to life again. This time however, it shut off almost instantaneously, and then turned on again, spelling out letters in Morse code. Viktor held his breath as the message was slowly spelled out.

I love you Viktor.

When it was over, he clutched the glove to his chest, like it was a lifeline. It was a lifeline, in a manner of speaking. It was the only connection he had to his own world. To Jayce. His Jayce, at least.

“Wow,” The Jayce in this world spoke up, his eyes widening slightly. “I guess Viktor didn’t immediately kill your ‘me’, huh?” It was phrased like it was meant to be a joke, but his tone felt far more serious, and almost melancholy. If he didn’t want to say what he really thought though, that wasn’t Viktor’s problem to poke at.

Instead, he sent a return message, touching the switch delicately, as if one wrong move could break the connection.

.. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..- / - --- —

I love you too.

When there was no immediate response, he began to worry. What if he had somehow broken the connection? What if it was only one-way? What if it had been just some fluke of the machine, or random noise that only looked like a message?

Jayce seemed to notice his growing anxiety and spoke up. “There might be a delay between when a message leaves one dimension and arrives in another. If we set a timer, then we’ll know exactly how long it takes a message to get there and back.” Viktor nodded, clicking the glove’s power on and off again to send an additional message as Jayce fished a small stopwatch out from the desk.

.-. . ... .--. --- -. -.. / .- ... .- .--. 

 - . ... - .. -. --. / ..-. --- .-. / -.. . .-.. .- -.--

Respond ASAP 

Testing for delay.

“There we go!” Jayce pressed a button on the stopwatch to start it, before setting it down on top of the desk. “Now it’s just a matter of time before he responds and we’ll have our answer.” 

“Right.” Viktor wanted to believe that was true, that it really was that easy, but that message had somehow shaken him. It was like a dam had been broken, and the raw terror of the situation was finally washing over him. There might be no way to get home. He might be stuck in this world forever, separated from everything he’d ever known. Never seeing his Jayce, his lab, any of it ever again. How would he even live here, in a world marked by someone almost like him? Would he be an assistant in this lab for the rest of his life? Would he follow in his other self’s footsteps?

“You doing okay Viktor?” Jayce’s voice called him back to reality, to the present moment.

Viktor nodded, but this time when Jayce set a gentle hand on his shoulder, he leaned into the touch, letting it be a comfort. He knew it wasn’t fair to either of them, especially not to this Jayce, who had clearly missed his Viktor for a long time and had no idea how to deal with it. He was taking advantage of that misplaced affection.

It wasn’t right.

It wasn’t as if he had anything else here.

Chapter Text

Viktor was asleep at the workbench, his body slumped across its surface next to the notes they had been going through. To pass the time before that first response had come back, he had taken it upon himself to show Viktor all the improvements he’d made to Hextech. It was exciting, getting to share his discoveries, not with a shareholder who could only understand his work through abstractions like ‘investments’ and ‘profit’, but with a collaborator. Someone who got it. 

During those first hours, Jayce learned a few things himself. 

Firstly, that runes in Viktor’s timeline had to be a lot more precise. When he drew the symbols, they were far neater than some Jayce had carved into actual working projects, and he seemed shocked by that. If that was the case, it explained why their timeline had fallen so far behind.

Secondly, Viktor seemed to understand Hextech on an almost instinctual level. It shouldn’t have been any sort of revelation, he knew Viktor was a genius, but it was still refreshing to be able to describe half an idea and know that he had already pieced the whole together.

And finally, the Jayce in the other world was a much better person than Jayce Giopara. This was the one that stuck with him, latched onto his mind, mainly because Viktor didn’t even have to say anything for him to figure it out. It was obvious from the way Viktor worried over the control glove, how he kept leaning into Jayce a moment at a time, looking for comfort from him, before he inevitably caught himself and pulled away again. Viktor wanted his Jayce, his partner. He was just a conveniently-shaped simulacrum of that.

And in a way, Jayce was fine with it. He wanted Viktor to like him, to be comfortable enough to touch him, and every time he did, it was like a jolt of electricity across his skin. Inevitably, though, he would move away, and the sensation was replaced by a wave of guilt. He was taking advantage of the fact that Viktor missed someone who looked just like him. Someone who hadn’t systematically ruined each and every part of their relationship. A better Jayce.

The feeling was reinforced tenfold when the response came, after two hours exactly on the stopwatch. 

Message received.

I miss you.

It was simple and to the point, but the emotion behind it was obvious. Just as obvious was the relief Viktor felt at hearing it. Jayce saw the tension fall from his body as he composed his response.

Two hours complete turnaround time, so one hour delay each way.

I miss you too. Working on a way back.

After that, they went back to work, though Viktor didn’t lean on him again for the rest of the night. It was probably better that way. Easier.

That was the new rhythm. Look through runes for the two hours until the next message came. Then they would see what the better Jayce had to say, and Viktor would respond. It was almost simple. What the two said contained some information, some communication of what exactly their plans were and how they were going to fix things, but far more than that it was reassurances. That they loved each other, that they would see each other again, that they would fix things. 

It was at this point that Jayce considered, but quickly dismissed, sending a message to his Viktor. It was a ridiculous idea. 

What would he say? That he missed Viktor? 

That wasn’t even true. He often went weeks or months without seeing or hearing from the Machine Herald. It should be more of a relief than anything, knowing he was trapped in another dimension, unable to break into his lab when he least expected it.

That he loved Viktor? The only response he would get would be mockery. Besides, it had been a long time since ‘love’ accurately expressed his feelings. Back when Viktor had been human, maybe.

That he was glad Viktor didn’t kill the other world’s Jayce? That would just be giving him ideas.

No, Jayce knew the best option was to say nothing at all. If Viktor wanted to talk to him, he could initiate that conversation himself. Even if he knew he never would, and the better Jayce and the human Viktor would be the only two using the Hexclaw to communicate.

After hours of this, Jayce realized how late it had gotten, and left the lab to get him and Viktor something to eat. Neither of them had eaten at all since the incident that had brought Viktor here, and while Jayce had gone longer in the past, this Viktor seemed more fragile. He was probably hungry, even if he didn’t think to say anything about it.

When Jayce came back with the food, however, he was greeted by what he saw now; Viktor asleep at the desk, a sight he used to be accustomed to. Viktor would forget to take breaks to eat or sleep, right up until his body ‘failed him’ and he would slip into unconsciousness. When he woke up, he’d complain about new aches in his joints, frustrated at himself. So during that time they had shared a lab, Jayce had taken it upon himself to find a solution.

He gently placed a hand on Viktor’s shoulder, rubbing it slightly to see if he would rouse. When he didn’t, Jayce carefully lifted him up, making sure to support his legs. He was surprised by just how light Viktor was. His Viktor had been much more solid, even before the metal.

The lab had a single bed, with a small table next to it. Once there had been two, but Jayce had decided long ago that it served no purpose and had thrown it away in what could charitably be described as a reasonable bout of anger after an attempt on his life. He set Viktor down on the bed, slipping him under the blankets, before going back to the desk to grab his cane. He propped it against the table next to the bed, so Viktor could reach it when he woke up. Then he took Viktor’s hand that had the control for the hexclaw on it, undoing each of the straps one by one, before sliding it off and setting it on the table. He ran his finger across the imprint the glove had left on the skin, and once he made certain Viktor hadn’t been woken up by being moved, he pressed his lips softly to the back of his hand, on the perfectly circular indent the Hextech gemstone had made.

“Sleep well, V.” Jayce spoke quietly, his voice barely above a whisper before he walked away.

He would be sleeping on the lab bench tonight.

Chapter Text

It had gotten late, almost without Jayce noticing it. Hours of messages back and forth with Viktor (when he had received the first one, he’d nearly passed out from relief), interspersing work on a second version of the hexclaw, one that didn’t have its control device stranded with his partner in some other world. The mechanical Viktor had even made some improvements to the new prototype’s control scheme, allowing for even greater precision.

At some point though, his attention had shifted to Viktor’s latest personal project. The Hexcore. He had laughed when Jayce had told him the name, a heavy robotic sound.
“That’s what he named it? Fascinating.”
“What’s so weird about the name? I mean sure, it doesn’t look like much of a core to anything now, but it’s meant to learn on its own and develop, and then it’ll be at the center of something. The core.” Jayce neglected to mention that he’d been given this very explanation of why it was named ‘the Hexcore’ when he’d asked Viktor, just as confused as to what the name meant.
“It’s simply that I developed a device that I, too, named the Hexcore.” Viktor pressed with two fingers against one of the metal plates that made up his chest. It clicked open, revealing a glowing, spherical device where his heart probably should have been, humming softly. “The name appears to be the primary similarity between the two. This,” he said, gesturing to the mechanism, “is responsible for overriding my remaining autonomic functions and handling them more efficiently, alongside managing power to my non-biological systems.”

Remaining autonomic functions. That was a little bit of a scary thought, the implication that Viktor had simply… done away with most of the inherent functions of his body. He no longer blinked, at least as far as Jayce could tell, the light emanating from the eyeholes of his mask fully obscuring what Viktor’s eyes actually looked like. Did he still breathe? Did blood still pump through his veins? Frightening as it was, the concept was intriguing. A machine was far less fallible than flesh, according to Viktor. And when it did fail, it was probably a lot simpler to find and fix the problem.
“Woah. How does it work?” Jayce leaned in to get a closer look at the mechanism, and as he did, he noticed the light from Viktor’s eyes flicker slightly. So he could blink, or at least approximate the motion in order to emote. It was an expression of surprise, at least as far as Jayce could tell.
“It sends small targeted electrical pulses at regular intervals, which activate nerves or other augmentations. Relatively simple in practice, but its interactions with my other systems allows for more complex results. If you were interested, I could show you more of its functionality.” He seemed excited about this, more emotion cracking through his robotic monotone than Jayce had heard before. He realized that if his relationship with that world’s Jayce really had degraded as far as he’d implied, this Viktor probably didn’t have anyone who he could share his work with, at least not as a partner. It was a sad thought, that he had done all this work on himself alone, with no one to show it off to who really got it. Viktor deserved a chance to share his work.
Jayce nodded, “Absolutely. If you’re willing to, of course.”

So they spent the night with Viktor’s metal chest hinged open, laying bare the extent to which he had changed himself. It was shockingly intimate, these mechanisms that had likely never been touched by human skin, clicking and whirring and humming with artificial life, now exposed. The other shock was how, despite the distortion in this Viktor’s voice, he sounded so similar to when his partner got excited about an idea, and was explaining it to Jayce. He was happy to elaborate on every aspect of his work, writing down details of runes and chemical compositions and wiring when Jayce had mentioned that his Viktor might find the information useful. He had been watching Viktor’s condition worsen rapidly during the past few weeks, and while he had always brushed off Jayce’s concern when he tried to help, something like this– a real solution, might be appreciated. Mechanical lungs were far less prone to coughing up blood.

Of course, the design wasn’t all perfect. There were pieces that were obviously works in progress, sloppy wiring that seemed the result of Viktor being forced to work fast before the organs he was augmenting shut down. There were easy fixes that could be made with a second pair of hands, and he seemed cognizant of that fact. When Jayce offered to help him, he was silent for a long minute, and he was worried he might have offended Viktor.
But the silence eventually broke. “Your assistance would be appreciated.”

It was exciting– real hands-on work, it felt like they were doing something, and not just waiting for something to happen. Fixing something, even if it wouldn’t solve the larger problem.
Jayce liked being able to fix things.

When the hexclaw clicked with a new message, everything stopped. Jayce was lucky they had been moving between wires at that moment, because he dropped everything, an action that would have certainly caused serious damage if he was handling a delicate component. His attention was fixed on the message though. He had to know if Viktor was okay.

.. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..- / - --- —
I love you too.

Jayce sighed in relief, and almost immediately reached for the power switch of the hexclaw, but before he could, it started moving again.

.-. . ... .--. --- -. -.. / .- ... .- .--.
- . ... - .. -. --. / ..-. --- .-. / -.. . .-.. .- -.--
Respond ASAP
Testing for delay.

Of course it would make sense that there was some sort of delay in the machine. After all, it had been hours since the first message was sent, and cross-dimensional communication hardly seemed like something that would be easy.

-- . ... ... .- --. . / .-. . -.-. .. . ...- . -..
Message received

That would give Viktor the data he needed, so Jayce paused for a moment, thinking about what he actually wanted to say. There was so much, but putting it into words, into signals in this machine, seemed impossible.

.-- .... . -. / -.-- --- ..- / --. . - / - .... . / - .. -- . / -.. . .-.. .- -.-- --..-- / ... . -. -.. / .. - / --- ...- . .-. .-.-.- / .-- . .----. .-. . / .-- --- .-. -.- .. -. --. / --- -. / .- / .-- .- -.-- / -... .- -.-. -.- --..-- / -... ..- - / .. - .----. ... / .--. .-. --- -... .- -... .-.. -.-- / --. --- .. -. --. / - --- / - .- -.- . / .- / .-- .... .. .-.. . --..-- / . ... .--. . -.-. .. .- .-.. .-.. -.-- / .-- .. - .... / - .... . / -.-. --- ..- -. -.-. .. .-.. / --- -. / -- -.-- / -... .- -.-. -.- --..-- / ... --- / -.-- --- ..- .----. .-.. .-.. / .... .- ...- . / - --- / .... .- -. --. / .. -. / - .... . .-. . .-.-.- / .. .----. -- / ... --- .-. .-. -.-- .-.-.-
When you get the time delay, send it over. We're working on a way back, but it's probably going to take a while, especially with the Council on my back, so you'll have to hang in there. I'm sorry.

.. / -- .. ... ... / -.-- --- ..-
I miss you.

The message felt long, and maybe a little rambling, in the context of each individual letter being sent, but any shorter and he couldn’t have got the point across. It would be so much easier if Viktor was just here, where Jayce could talk to him normally, though he supposed that defeated the purpose of needing to talk about this. When it was done, he sighed heavily, like a massive weight had been removed from him.

And it had. He knew for certain now that Viktor was alive, trying to find a way back. They could do this, they could figure something out.
They always did.

As the day passed into night, Jayce finished the work he’d been doing on Viktor’s wires, and they began construction on a separate hexclaw. Every two hours, the original would buzz to life, and new words would be exchanged. Nothing groundbreaking, and it seemed like there were delays on that side too, but there was hope.

Occasionally, he would catch Viktor staring a moment too long at the hexclaw’s controls. He was clearly not the impenetrable mask of metal he pretended to be, and Jayce almost spoke up, to encourage him to send a message of his own. He ended up saying nothing, worried that it would disrupt their already tenuous trust. Viktor knew how it worked, and if he wanted to, Jayce would gladly let him take control of it and talk to his own Jayce. He wouldn’t push the issue though.
As the night dragged on, Jayce felt more and more of the exhaustion from stress and work pile up. As he fought back another yawn (an increasingly futile task), he had to admit they should probably stop working for the night, before either of them got tired to the point of making stupid mistakes.

“Hey, I’m thinking about calling it for the night, you can keep going for a bit if you want, but there’s a bed in the other room, and you should feel free to use it.” Jayce stood up, stretching his arms behind his head.
“I no longer require sleep to survive.” Viktor paused before continuing, “Your concern is appreciated though.”
“Even if you don’t need it to stay alive, isn’t it still helpful? I could stay up for days on nothing but coffee and adrenaline if I wanted, but my ideas won’t be nearly as good if I do.”
“There has rarely been an opportunity to test that hypothesis. Far too much work to be done.”
“Well, the offer’s still open. You’ll have plenty more time to work tomorrow.”

What had once been a particularly large attached storage room had been converted by Jayce and Viktor into a makeshift living space, with a bed big enough for two people, a closet that stored their spare clothes in case what they were wearing got burned, punctured, or simply worn for too many days in a row, and even a shower repurposed from a chemical wash station. It was more of a home for either of them than their actual house, especially with how much time they had both spent here, when they were unable or unwilling to leave the lab for days at a time.
It was a comforting space for him.

Quickly, Jayce changed out of his work clothes and into a loose shirt and pants that he kept there for sleeping. Then, he got into the bed, facing away from both the door, and Viktor’s usual space beside him, and closed his eyes.

After a few minutes, he assumed that his robotic labmate would simply disregard his offer, and continue working through the night. So, when the bed bounced from the sudden addition of weight, Jayce was surprised into near-complete wakefulness. He really wasn’t expecting someone composed of that much metal to be able to move that quietly. He was also surprisingly human. His body radiated a soft warmth, less than a normal person, but more than the cold metal Jayce had expected, and while he didn’t breath, the soft whirring of his internal mechanisms was almost like snoring.
They were back to back, and while they weren’t touching, the bed was still a tight enough fit that Jayce was keenly aware of their proximity. He and Viktor used to have two beds in this space, but years ago they had decided they didn’t need it, and replaced them with a single bed that was the perfect size for both of them. Now though, it was just barely big enough to hold its occupants without forcing them into contact.

Jayce risked a quick twist of his head to see what Viktor was doing, though when he did, he realized he had no way of actually telling if the man was asleep. The lights in his eyes were off, which could indicate that he was sleeping, but he could have just as easily shut them off as a courtesy. The same could be said of his lack of reaction to Jayce’s movement. Maybe he really just did need to sleep.

Jayce thought about what he’d said earlier, that Viktor didn’t sleep at all, seemingly hadn’t even bothered to since his transformation. It made at least some sense, he supposed. His Viktor would get engrossed in projects for hours at a time, Jayce dragging him to bed being the only thing to stop him from working until he collapsed, and this Viktor lacked both the biological hard stop as well as any softer encouragement to sleep. It was a sad thought, knowing that in that other universe, he and Viktor had fallen apart so thoroughly that they had tried to kill each other, and weren’t even on speaking terms in their current predicament, as unprecedented as it was. Maybe that other Jayce was fine with it, and he was just projecting. Still, when Jayce imagined it happening here, and his relationship with Viktor fracturing to that extent, he felt a pit open up in his stomach, like he was falling into some awful void. Being alone in their lab, in their bed, every part of his life with a massive gaping hole where Viktor should be but wasn’t.

He closed his eyes again, trying his best to stop his spiraling train of thought. The sooner they figured this out and Viktor was back, the sooner he could put these scenarios out of his mind entirely.

Chapter Text

When Viktor woke up, his first thought, naïve as it might be, was that it may all have been some sort of bad dream. As consciousness set in, however, the details began to add up, reminding him that the place he was in had very little in common with home.

First, and perhaps most jarringly, when he was still mostly asleep, he reached out for Jayce, only to be met with empty space. This, on its own, was not all that unusual. Jayce often had to wake up earlier than either of them would like, to deal with the Council, or with investors who wanted to meet and discuss profits. Piltover society tended to start its days egregiously early, and despite his years of living in the upper city, Viktor had never quite acclimated to it.

No, what jarred him fully awake was when he reached out again, and instead of being met with more empty bed, his hand bumped against the handle of his cane. He blinked his eyes open, trying to assess his surroundings. The bed was smaller than he remembered, and the room was far messier. Right. In this universe, only Jayce used this lab. There was no need for the attached room to have a bed for two, or for it to be kept presentable. He slowly sat himself up before picking up the hexclaw’s control glove, silently relieved that it had been left next to the bed. Viktor considered it for a moment, then carefully twisted a message into it.

.. .----. .-.. .-.. / -... . / --- ..- - / --- ..-. / - .... . / .-.. .- -... / -- --- ... - / --- ..-. / - --- -.. .- -.-- --..-- / .-.. . .- ...- .. -. --. / - .... . / -.-. --- -. - .-. --- .-.. / --. .-.. --- ...- . / -... . .... .. -. -.. / -... . -.-. .- ..- ... . / .-- . / -.. --- -. .----. - / -.- -. --- .-- / .. ..-. / .. - / -.-. .- -. / -.. .. ... -.-. --- -. -. . -.-. - .-.-.- / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / -- . ... ... .- --. . / .-- .... . -. / .-- . .----. .-. . / -... .- -.-. -.- .-.-.- / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..- / .- -. -.. / -- .. ... ... / -.-- --- ..- .-.-.-

I'll be out of the lab most of today, leaving the control glove behind because we don't know if it can disconnect. Will message when we're back. Love you and miss you.

Then he set the glove back on the table, and pushed himself out of the bed.

This world’s Jayce was in the lab already, with a steaming pot of coffee and two mugs on the desk. He handed one to Viktor, with a bit of an apologetic grimace.

“It’s not in exactly the best shape, I hadn’t been expecting guests.” Indeed, there was a dark stain rimming the cup, indicative of a lack of attention when cleaning it. “That’s the better mug though, trust me.”

Viktor nodded as he took a drink, not exactly ecstatic to see what the ‘worse condition’ mug looked like. Nor did he want to hear this Jayce fumble through his reasoning for moving him during the night. He was appreciative of the act, but knew bringing the subject up would be unhelpful. “I assume Zaun is rather different in this world, so do you have a plan for our excursion?”

“Well, I happen to know where Viktor’s main lab currently is, so we’ll head down there, I’ll break down the door, and then we can find the blueprints for how he made that laser arm. Should be easy. And if it’s not, I’m sure we can figure something else out.”

“Right,” Viktor sighed. It was about as good of a plan as they were going to get, even if it wasn’t great. He set his mug down on the table after taking a final sip of his coffee, the cup now more than half empty.

“You should take this too.” Jayce handed him what appeared to be an enforcer’s mask, though the characteristic navy blue had apparently been painted over at some point, only peeking through from beneath a crimson top coat in small chips and scratches. “Cait gave me two of these a few years ago when I was working with a bad batch of synthetic hexcrystals that off-gassed like shit whenever I tried to do anything with them. They still should work just as well for fissure gasses though.”

“I hardly think that’s necessary, I–”

“Yeah, I know, you lived down there, you’re more acclimated to it. But reexposure could aggravate your lungs’ condition, right? I remember the doctors saying something like that. Anyway, just wear it, that’s one less thing to worry about when we’re down there.” Jayce put his own on, the straps sliding cleanly behind his ears. When he spoke again, his voice was muffled slightly, distorted by the mask’s filters. “I don’t exactly want to send you home with thirty new holes in your lungs. Your Jayce would kill me.” He laughed a little, like it was supposed to be a joke, but it was clear he didn’t find it particularly funny either.

He did have at least a bit of a point mixed in there though. Viktor didn’t know how bad the air was down in this alternate version of Zaun, and it wasn’t worth causing new health problems for… what? Petty stubbornness? He pulled the mask over his face, surprised at how snugly it fit even before adjustments. Jayce had clearly never worn this one, or if he had, he had adjusted it to a much smaller size before he handed it over. It hissed softly as the filters within began whirring to life. 

The journey down into Zaun was far different than Viktor was used to. Instead of the massive bridge over the River Pilt marking the border between the cities, it was a sheer ravine, towers of Zaunite architecture barely breaching the surface. The steel box they descended in was equipped with a single window, the thick glass warped and scratched to the point he couldn’t see out of it. Jayce assured him it was safer that way, that the less people who saw them on their way down the better. Still, when the machine clanked to a stop on the Entresol level, Viktor was wishing he had been able to get a lay of the land.

As it was, he stepped out into a street of cliff edges and scaffolds typical of the Zaun he remembered, but on an almost unfathomable scale. From the length of their journey, they should have been near the bottom reaches, where the city dissolved into massive factories and mineshafts, but when he looked through the gaps in the wooden planks and sheet metal that made up the ground, he could see an almost dizzying amount of Zaun continuing on beneath. He took a breath, quietly grateful for the mask, as the air around him swirled with an unidentifiable dark smog.

“This is the layer. He does a lot of his work on the lower levels, in abandoned factories, but his personal lab is up here. That’s where we’ll get what we need.”

“And if we don’t?”

“Then we head back topside, and figure it out ourselves. And maybe pick up some of the stuff Viktor stole from my lab last time he was there.” That hardly felt like a vote of confidence from the man who’d come up with the plan to begin with. 

Still, he followed Jayce through the almost-familiar streets and alleyways, until they were face to face with what looked to be an abandoned building. Windows boarded up, graffiti on the walls depicting some sort of three-armed humanoid monster. This world’s Viktor, he supposed.

“This is it?” He asked, eyeing the building suspiciously.

“People are less likely to break in if they think the place is already picked clean, I suppose.” Jayce shrugged, and nonchalantly approached the entrance. He turned the knob, as if expecting the door to be unlocked and waiting for him, before giving a disgruntled sigh when it wasn’t. “Guess I have to do this the hard way, as per usual, huh?”

The ‘hard way’ was, according to Jayce’s actions at least, slamming his shoulder against the door, causing it to shake and creak. It took a second blow, this one with a running start, to force it open.

This, unfortunately, carried the side effect that Jayce’s momentum kept going past the door frame, into the building itself. What followed was an awful clang, and when Viktor stepped inside to investigate, he saw what exactly had made that noise. A massive, rounded, automaton that gazed at him with bright, Hextech-blue eyes.

Chapter Text

“...Hey, Blitz.” Jayce took a step back from the golem. Of course they would be here. Viktor had been missing for nearly a full day, and Viktor was possessive enough of Blitzcrank that they were likely the first to notice his absence. 

He didn’t have anything against Viktor’s creation, but right now, they were one more obstacle that Jayce really didn’t want to deal with.

“What are you doing here…” Blitzcrank made a soft whirring noise as they searched their internal database for Jayce’s name. “...Jayce and…” More whirring. “...Unknown Human?” Jayce turned his head slightly to see that Viktor had followed him in.

“We’re here to help. Viktor’s missing, right? We need some of his blueprints to help get him back.” Jayce decided it was probably better to avoid mentioning both that he was in part responsible for Viktor’s absence, and that the person with him technically was Viktor. Sure, he could tell Blitzcrank all that, but despite their imposing size, their mental capacity was much more akin to that of a child’s. Almost certainly insufficient to understand the concept of parallel worlds.

“The last place anyone saw him headed was your lab.” Despite the halting monotone of their voice, the accusation was obvious. And Jayce couldn’t really blame them for that.

He sighed. “That’s sort of why I’m bothering to do anything to help. If people are going around thinking I killed him, that’s going to be a nightmare for my reputation.”

Blitzcrank made another buzzing noise as they took a moment to think. “That is not true in Piltover.” They were seeing through Jayce’s lies quicker than he would have liked. Of course Viktor would upgrade their brain just before Jayce was going to need to trick them. Even by coincidence, Viktor would never pass up a chance to screw Jayce over.

“I think what he means to say is he feels partly responsible, and is trying to make things right.” He was grateful for Viktor’s interjection, even if he didn’t want to admit what could be perceived as either vulnerability or guilt.

“...Yeah. What he said.”

This caused Blitzcrank to tip their head for a moment, clearly unsure if they should believe a complete stranger over Jayce. Then they stepped to the side, letting Jayce and Viktor proceed. “I will be keeping both eyes on you.”

Jayce grabbed Viktor’s free hand before walking further into the building. He knew the place was probably riddled with active traps in its owner’s absence, and wanted to keep Viktor close by in case anything was wrong. As he stepped past Blitzcrank, he nodded at the large automaton. “We’ll figure this out, and before you know it, Viktor will be back. Trust me.” He wasn’t really sure why he was taking the time to reassure the robot. 

The easiest answer was that the more Blitzcrank trusted him, the more leeway he’d get to poke through all of Viktor’s things. A slightly nicer answer was that Jayce knew they were sensitive, despite literally being made of metal and Hextech, and he didn’t want them to worry as much as they would otherwise. The real answer probably fell somewhere between the two. Blitzcrank may have been naive, with a bit bigger of a heart than those around them probably deserved, but Jayce really couldn’t fault them for that.

Guiltily, Jayce remembered when Viktor had first told him about Blitzcrank. How excited he’d sounded, how full of hope he was that this , an automaton unlike any other before it, was going to change the world for the better. At the time, he’d thought it was silly. It had seemed ridiculous that one golem, no matter how advanced, would be what revolutionized society. He’d laughed, and told Viktor that he was clearly still hallucinating from all the chemical fumes he’d inhaled while working on the cleanup.

Now though, it seemed like Blitzcrank’s personality was the only remnant of their creator’s prior naive optimism. It had been cut out of Viktor, like the rest of his ‘inefficient’ muscles and organs. And unlike the rest of his self-mutilation, Jayce knew he wasn’t blameless in that instance.

He shook his head vigorously, trying to clear his thoughts. Now was hardly the time to stay trapped in his past regrets. He had a job to do.

He let go of Viktor’s hand once they were both inside the main workroom. The space was filled with boxes of loose parts, scrap, and tools, and filing containers labeled with the different parts of the human body. That was what they were looking for.

“What was that?” Viktor looked back towards the door for a moment.

“What, Blitzcrank?” Jayce shrugged. He hadn’t realized that Viktor wouldn’t recognize Blitzcrank, either in name or design, but it made sense. The Hextech in Viktor’s world had lagged far behind here, so a creation on Blitzcrank’s level being made, even if his higher functions were a happy coincidence, was probably still a long way out. “They were originally built to deal with chemical spills in Zaun, but they ended up with a mind of their own. A pretty friendly mind though, and a helpful person.”

“A machine capable of learning and thinking on its own like that is… incredible.” Viktor’s voice was soft, tinged with a hint of almost reverence to the machine. Jayce knew he should probably cut some of that off at the bud. He didn’t want to be indirectly responsible for a second Viktor going off the deep end about the possibilities of robotics.

Instead what he said was, “In this timeline, you built them, Viktor. I thought you’d recognize the name or idea from your world.” He laughed self-consciously at the end of that statement before pivoting. “Either way, we need to find those death ray blueprints. Do you think they’re in with the other arm designs, or would they go with however they’re connected to his back?”

Viktor paused in thought, and before he could respond, Jayce just pulled both of the filing containers out, setting them on the workbench. They were heavy, likely stuffed full with papers, but he was surprised just how little dust was on either of them. Most of the blueprints from his projects were stuck in Piltover patent archives and in classified records by the people who owned the rights to his work, most of it never seeing the light of day. Viktor actually did things with his designs, and kept good care of where they were stored. 

He also, unfortunately, put combination locks on each and every one of them. Jayce groaned as he examined one of them. Too solid to be brute forced open by hand, too small to use the Mercury Hammer to destroy. Maybe they could bring the files back up to Piltover, where Jayce had the more precise tools required to crack the locks without putting any of the contents at risk. But if they guessed wrong on where the blueprint they needed was actually stored, then that would be a whole day wasted, and it would require another dangerous trip down to the undercity, one that they really didn’t have the time for. As he tried to weigh the options in his mind, he was distracted by a soft click. 

The sound of a lock sliding open.

He turned to Viktor, who was already sliding the combination lock off of one of the boxes, a question of ‘How?’ on his lips.

Before he could ask though, Viktor already had the answer. “I put in the same code some of the cabinets in my lab use. I assume this means you share a birthday with my own timeline’s Jayce.”

That second statement caused Jayce to pause, his thoughts immediately spiraling. It had to be a coincidence, right? That whatever number Viktor had picked for his locks just happened to be the same as some alternate Jayce’s birthday? It was exactly the type of stupid sentimentality that Viktor claimed he had left behind.

But as he slowly slid the numbers into place for the month and date of his own birthday, the lock did click open. Dumbfounded, he looked at it for a few moments, trying to rationalize why exactly it had worked. It had to have been done out of spite, or without thinking about it. It didn’t make sense any other way.

Well, if the intent was to be some subtle jab at him, it had definitely worked. Jayce tried to clear his head, skimming through the papers to find something, anything of value, but he couldn’t quite tear his mind away from the question of why. There just wasn’t any reasoning that made sense. Even his best theory, that it was some twisted power play on Viktor’s end, had weird holes in it. Why would Viktor expect him to break in and open these locks? He wouldn’t. He was far too protective of his work to let Jayce have access to it, to the point where Jayce was sure he’d burn the blueprints if that was the only way to keep them out of his hands. So that was out of the question. 

What else could it be?