Chapter Text
In hindsight, antagonizing the Enforcers may not have been the wisest decision Viktor had ever made—considering his lack of sleep and distinct crippled status—but hey, people do dumb things when running off of pure caffeine and dreams.
It had been a cold night, a hint of winter whistling on every breeze. Most cobbled store-fronts were closed, leaving an eerie feel to the Undercity as Viktor walked, his cane clacking a merry tune against stone ground.
"Hey, you! Get over here!" It took a moment for Viktor to realize he was being addressed. Although a lapse in his cognitive skills, he still registered three things in succession thereafter. One, these strangers demanding Viktor's attention were clearly Topsiders. No one in their right mind antagonized Viktor that brazenly, especially in plain sight. Two, the blade Viktor left dangling on the left side of his hip as a foreboding warning currently laid absent on his person. Apparently, Viktor couldn't even make the minute journey to the scrapyard to collect odd pieces of discarded garbage for his latest batch of experiments without getting jumped. And three, there were multiple footsteps echoing behind him, a clear indication of multiple threats. Rats.
Pasting on his best innocent expression, Viktor turned around with an over-exaggerated hobble, leaning deeper into his cane. "Yes?"
There were three Enforcers, each geared up for a fight. The tallest one stepped forward, posture rigid and tight. "...What are you doing out here?"
"I could ask you the same thing." The man's shiny metal goggles shifted, indicating a scrunched brow. Viktor's blasé response had apparently irked the Enforcer, who could've predicted that?
Another heavily armed Enforcer stepped forward, this one female. "Looking for a man. Goes by... Silco? Know anything?"
Know anything was a severe understatement.
Viktor had been nine when his mother died to an Enforcer's cruel and skewed sense of justice. He had been present at the scene of the crime, forced to watch as his mother's body was beaten and abused even after her death, all while cowering like a scared little child between two heaping piles of trash. To be quite frank, Viktor would've died in that mountain of garbage if Silco hadn't appeared mere hours later, just as his mother's blood was beginning to dry. The man had saved Viktor, offering him inconceivable luxuries he could only dream of prior, financing all of his pet projects, giving him a warehouse to tinker in, and even buying him an expensive, hand-crafted cane once his condition began declining. Although Viktor would always miss his mother like an aching wound, Silco was undeniably the closest thing he had to a parental figure, which was concerning in its own right.
Of course, Viktor wasn't about to spew his sob story to a prickly Enforcer in an ill-fitting Halloween costume. Instead, he tilted his head. "Everyone down here knows who Silco is. You're asking the wrong type of questions."
The final lackey stepped forward, planting his hands on his hips and speaking in the most cocksure tone Viktor had ever heard. "And what type of questions are the right ones, buddy?"
"I can't say," Viktor shrugged. "Sometimes, the only way to find the right key, is trying all of the locked doors." Perhaps these uneducated fools would believe all Zaunites spoke in confusing limericks and rhymes. Viktor had attempted to twist the odd drawl of his voice into something lofty and mysterious before, spewing out the fattest, most complex words he could possibly conceive in a desperate attempt to fade into obscurity, and it was honestly fifty-fifty whether or not the Enforcers called bullshit or nodded their heads like puppy-dogs before departing on some aimless quest Viktor had pulled out of his ass.
Viktor's guardian angel must've been in a good mood, for the trio hastily nodded, like any of the bullshit Viktor was spouting made sense. "Right. Could you at least point us in the right direction Mr..."
"Chomper," Viktor responded as primely and seriously as he could. "Mr. Fitzgerald Chomper."
"...Ah."
"A very common name down here in the slums, I can assure you. You see, my mother married my father, who had a profound love for his last name, which prompted my mother to take it on as well, dictating me another slave to the Chomper lineage. As for my first, my mother was a fan of-"
"Thank you for your time, Mr... Chomper." Easy as pie. Pull out the dictionary and start complicating the process of last names and brains start to spin. Viktor didn't even need to explain his mother's inherent classy need to feel respected, hence the pretentious forename.
"Of course, it was a pleasure."
Jinx waited until the Enforcers were nothing more than smudges in the grayed distance before bursting out in her signature hyena cackles, swinging merrily on a flickering lamp post. "Fitzgerald Chomper?!"
"In my defense, I was under pressure," Viktor knew the fond smile splitting his face was unbecoming, but he could hardly bring himself to care. "And your particular name brand is most certainly memorable."
"'Ello Pilties, its'a me, 'ya boy, Fitzgerald Chomper." Jinx snorted, tumbling off of the post and landing on her hands. She gracelessly flipped herself upright, sitting criss-cross on the ground. "You'd think with all that money, Piltover could afford to buy Enforcers more brain cells."
Viktor responded with a chuckle. "I'm certain they believe they don't need better brains."
"And therein lies the issue," Jinx put on her pompous accent once more. "Us Topside citizens are far too intelligent and capable to ever bow to the very suggestion that we are imperfect, because that would be, ludicrous, audacious, and... er...
"Stupendously idiotic?"
"Atta boy!" Jinx grinned, jumping up and grabbing Viktor's hand. "C'mon, Silco's waiting for us. Something about a screw up in our latest Shimmer shipment? I think? I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention..."
"Jinx." Viktor reprimanded softly. He allowed the younger girl to drag him towards a seemingly abandoned alleyway.
"Yeah, yeah, everything Silco says is important, blah, blah, blah. It doesn't matter, because I miss you and I want a hug." Jinx rapidly spun around, slamming into Viktor's stomach and wrapping her small hands around his waist. If Viktor hadn't adapted to Jinx's habit of barreling head first in her affections, he would've certainly toppled over. "Now hug me back, you lunatic scientist."
"I was gone for five minutes." Viktor chuckled, but acquiesced nonetheless. Ever since the infamous explosion five years prior, Jinx dealt with major separation anxiety. Whether it be from watching her siblings and father die, or being abandoned by her sister Vi, it didn't matter. All Viktor knew is his younger sister had attempted to get over her perceived weakness, and was met by resistance in the form of the Scribbles, cartoony hallucinations of Jinx's past 'victims', coming back to haunt her for her apparent crimes against them.
"Five minutes, five days, it's the same thing." Jinx bounded away, blue braids a fiery trail in the increasing dark. "Now c'mon, Silco will have both of our asses if we're late."
"Ah yes. I see. Then we must depart at once," Viktor cast a critical eye at the bar before him. "I fear we won't make the two minute journey to the Last Drop before sunrise. You must go on without me, Jinx."
"Smartass!" Jinx yelped, leaping atop a fire escape and scrabbling into the Last Drop through a higher level, like the extra little energetic monkey she was. Viktor chuckled. Jinx could be brash bordering on annoyingly stubborn at times, and then incredibly endearing the next. It was an odd sort of tango she and Viktor danced, and he wouldn't have it any other way.
The bar was filled with Silco's subordinates, the faint sound of twinkling music rattling from the old jukebox in the corner. However, the more humane sounds of clinking glasses and raucous laughter halted the instant Viktor stepped foot on the bar's threshold. Eyes shifted cautiously to appraise his mood, people moving immediately to clear a path for his hobbling form. Although Viktor did not relish in the attention, he knew it was a necessary thing. It had taken a while to earn the respect of the people, a plight he had begged for Silco's help in, and was denied every time. In retrospect, Viktor did appreciate Silco's lack of support. It had been a lesson he needed to be taught. You can't command out of affiliation. In order for people to listen, you needed to prove yourself capable.
In the end, it had taken a handful of messy encounters, and four undisclosed meetings before the people got the message.
"V! V! Catch me if you can, V!" Viktor was dragged from his stupor by his sister's cackling laughter. Whereas Viktor fought for approval, Jinx relished in the disgust and terror people had for her. Every insult was music to Jinx's ears, every assault more reason for her to fire back tenfold. Although Viktor didn't necessarily understand Jinx's wonderfully complex brain, he found he could respect her reasoning. Painting yourself for the people was never an easy road to travel.
Jinx was bouncing around the rafters above, gleefully pouncing on each fragile support. If Viktor didn't know intimately well all of the struggles the old building had gone through, he would be fearing the stability of the roof. "This hardly seems fair, all of your limbs work perfectly well."
Jinx paused her manic dash to toss Viktor an incredulous glare. "We live in the Undercity, V, nothing's fair."
Well. Fine, touché.
"What a macabre thing to say." Viktor sniffed, making his way towards the back of the bar and ascending the revealed stairs in short bursts.
"If you're gonna call me emo, do it to my face, coward."
Viktor snorted, pausing only for a minute to catch his breath before reaching the precipice of the staircase. Jinx was giggling saccharine sweet at the top, her head bopping back and forth. Viktor gave a little smile at his sister's antics before solemnly placing a hand on her tattooed shoulder. "Got you."
Unfortunately for Viktor, it only took Jinx seconds to parse the false sense of security she had been lured into. Screeching with unparalleled indignant rage, Jinx leapt for Viktor's shoulders, causing him to yelp and painfully hip-check the railing beside him. "You manipulating, cunning, son of a gun!"
"That's m-me." Viktor grunted. Although Jinx did not weigh a considerable amount, she was still an entire person balancing on his shoulders, which were unfortunately lacking in bulging muscles.
"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you—"
"Were you not begging me for a hug a minute ago?"
"I actually actively despise you, with genuine passion and hatred—"
"...May I ask what's going on here?"
They both froze, Jinx with her arms looped tight around Viktor's neck in a desperate attempt to strangle him, and Viktor pawing halfheartedly at Jinx's thrashing body, fully leaning on the railing for balance. "...No."
Silco—head of the entire Shimmer operation, famed Undercity kingpin, and the Eye of Zaun himself—pinched his brow and sighed like a struggling, single mother. "Jinx, please stop strangling your brother. Viktor, please stop allowing yourself to be strangled by your sister."
"He is not letting himself be strangled!" Jinx pouted, proceeding to not remove her person from Viktor's buckling shoulders. "Tell him, V!"
The 'V' in question rolled his eyes sarcastically. "I am not letting myself be strangled."
"See! V loooooooooooooves me—"
"Now that's just factually incorrect. How could I love such a mean, cruel, heartless sister like yourself?
"Oh I'll show you heartless, V, right when I shove it so far up your ass—"
"Enough." Silco groaned, fingers twitching in annoyance. He never did build up his tolerance for petty squabbles, despite virtually adopting two teenagers. "You are needed."
Viktor raised a curious brow as Silco proceeded to ignore him, staring perfectly impassive at Jinx's increasingly sheepish expression. "I know."
The odd stare-off continued for another moment before Silco grimaced and caved—as per usual—smoothly turning around and beckoning with his fingers. "I suppose Viktor can come as well, since you already wrangled him from god knows where."
Huh. Well that entire conversation was suspicious and did not add up with Jinx's initial claim. When Viktor attempted to catch his sister's eye, she simply turned away with a shake of her blue hair, only adding to the mystery.
...Huh.
If Viktor wasn't already skeptical, the atmosphere within Silco's office would've tipped the coin. You could've called it a hunch, or the hungry glare ruminating in Sevika's eyes. Either one was technically correct.
Silco slumped back in his plush chair, running ragged fingers through his hair before planting both of his elbows on his desk and pointing. "So. What happened."
"Huh?" Viktor questioned, thrown for a loop. "I mean, I was stopped by a couple of Pilties, but that has nothing to do with Shimmer—"
"So, umm... I may have fibbed..." Jinx finally admitted, kicking the ground aimlessly and surreptitiously avoiding eye contact.
"...really."
"So maybe Silco didn't necessaaaaarily tell me about a Shimmer disruption..." Jinx twirled her braids in silent agitation. "Because it maaaaaaaay have been partially my fault—"
"Partially?" Sevika slammed her hands on her thighs, finally entering the conversation. "That brat single handedly brought our operation to attention, fired on our people, and wasted gallons of Shimmer! That shipment alone would've made us—"
"Sevika," Silco silenced his second in command with a word. "I expect more than hapless excuses. It was your job to make sure the transaction went smoothly, and it was you who ultimately failed."
"I could've handled those brats Silco—"
"Jinx," Silco cut Sevika off, contemplating only for a moment before repeating, "what happened."
"I—" Jinx swallowed, tossing a glance at Viktor, who shrugged. Although he was very fond of his sister, Silco was incredibly scary when he was angry. Besides, the old fart had a soft spot for his 'perfect daughter'. Anyone with even a fragment of intellect knew it was a dangerous day for the Undercity whenever Silco was truly mad at Jinx. "Well... you see... there was this girl.... and she- she had pink hair, and for a second, I- I saw my sister, okay?
Oh.
"...I expect better than this."
"You're letting her off?" Sevika snarled, brandishing her Shimmer enhanced metal arm. "Just like that?"
"Sevika." Silco turned around. "You are dismissed."
The criminal mastermind and his lesser locked eyes in a heated, wordless battle for what felt like days, but in reality was simple seconds. Sevika inevitably crumbled, kicking a metal chair in her aggravation with a screamed, "fuck!"
Silence followed Sevika's abrupt departure.
"She mad." Jinx whispered eventually.
"Mad, mad." Viktor agreed solemnly.
"Enough. From both of you," Silco leaned back, reaching a hand into his desk drawers to fish out his odd, golden machine. "Jinx, your sister is gone."
"I know. I know! She's gone, long gone, gone, gone, gone! No coming back from the pearly gates, if ya know what I mean, hahahahaha—"
"Jinx," Viktor felt like an uncomfortable voyeur, as Silco loosened his grip on the device. Jinx reached out crassly, plucking it from Silco's fingertips and settling on the chair's garish armrests. After brief deliberation, Viktor followed, splaying atop Silco's orderly desk while offering out his hand, to which Jinx grabbed immediately. "Your 'mistake' is going to cost us weeks."
"Silco, she knows—"
"Viktor, stay out of this." Silco didn't bother to turn, simply settling against the lavish fabric of his chair and watching as Jinx fiddled with his injector.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" Jinx burst out, poking at Viktor's forehead. He winced, which prompted the blue-haired girl to do it once more.
Silco caught Jinx's wrist mid-air and held it. "...I'm doing this for all of us. You know that, Jinx. Zaun deserves more than Topside's leftovers. We deserve more than tantalizing glimpses of fresh air and freedom."
"I know. I know," Jinx repeated. "It won't happen again."
"Good." Silco finally released Jinx, the girl shaking out her wrist with an overdramatic whine.
"Sheesh, man." Jinx pivoted, lining up the instrument still clutched in her hands to Silco's orange eye. Viktor couldn't help but flinch and jerk away once Silco's knees began convulsing and low groans filled the room. Viktor wouldn't define himself as anything close to squeamish, but he drew the line at needles and sightseeing organs. Viktor was lenient in many things, but most certainly steadfast against Jinx's taunts. No one in their right mind would call Viktor the weird one for being mildly grossed out after witnessing an injection of pure Shimmer into his kinda-maybe-but-not-really father figure's iris.
"...V, are you hiding?"
"Shut up."
"Little baby Viktor can't handle his popping peepers—"
"You. Are. Stabbing. Him. In. The. Eye. I am not crazy!"
"Of course you're not. Only one of us is called a loose canon, and it isn't the reclusive vampire who lives off of slop and toils the days away in his grotto— sorry, laboratory."
"Oi respect your elders!"
"Hardy hardy har—"
"—Sevika will clean up the mess." Silco's somber, yet slightly shaky voice ruined the mood.
"What?!" Although Viktor did not share the same passionate hatred for Silco's number two as his sister, Jinx was not entirely at fault for her impromptu outburst. "Sevika? The same Sevika who can't clean dust without a blowtorch? That Sevika?"
"She'll suffice."
"Ugh!" Jinx slammed her head on Viktor's lap, jostling his bad leg. He cringed instinctively, and Jinx offered up one of her ratty braids as consolation.
"Why don't you two take some time off. Focus on tinkering."
"I don't need time—"
"Take it regardless."
Jinx glowered angrily, boots kicking a jagged tempo against solid oak. Viktor tilted his gaze to Silco, offering up the silent question, what are you going to do?
Silco offered up an equally as silent response. What I must.
Sighing, Viktor gently deposited Jinx on the ground. "C'mon. Let's elevate Mr. Fitzgerald's namesake."
"...Whatever." Jinx shouldered past Viktor not particularly gently, leaping for the banister and disappearing within the murky gloom below. Viktor tossed a condescending roll of his eyes in Silco's general direction, massaging his leg roughly before starting out of the room, determined to cheer up his sister.
"Wait."
Viktor paused. "Yes?"
"...It's getting worse."
"...Yes."
Silco exhaled softly, wiping any remnants of Shimmer from his wrinkled face. "Can you define worse?"
Viktor inclined his head, leaning on the door frame. "It doesn't hurt that bad, just... a steady ache in my calf. It's not as bad as before, it's... manageable."
"Shall we—"
"No." Viktor snapped instantly. "I'm fine."
"...Viktor."
"I'm done here, Silco."
"...Make sure your sister is okay."
Viktor pushed through the door, resisting the urge to rip out his hair and kick the nearest living person to the moon. Damn Silco and his holier than thou bullshit.
Traversing back down the stairs wasn't what Viktor would define as a difficult endeavor, but he wasn't exactly appreciating the pain spearing his leg every step he limped down.
It took only moments for Viktor to exit the Last Drop and enter Jinx's odd lair. The metal beneath Viktor's feet was scrawled with splashes of multicolored paint, knick-knacks and trophy's scattered across every surface, some painful reminders, other triumphant victories. However, despite the expansive space, Jinx herself was nowhere to be seen.
Viktor managed to make it to Jinx's rolling chair before slumping over, running a hand through his wild brown hair before tilting his head and resting his neck on the back of the ratty old chair.
"...I'm sorry." The soft swoosh of rustling fabric echoed softly, as Jinx landed beside him.
"Why?" Viktor didn't bother opening his eyes. "You have nothing to apologize for."
"I didn't- I didn't mean to lie, it's just," her voice cracked dangerously, her arm thumping heavily against the ground. "I'm... I... V, I swear I didn't screw up on purpose, it was a mistake—"
"I don't think you intentionally sabotaged the shipment," Viktor held out his hand, lips upturning when he felt the coarseness of his sister's hair resting heavily against his extremities. "I think, a long time ago, you went through an emotionally taxing, extremely traumatizing event, and in your desperate time of need, were denied by the person you loved most. I think it's only fair to be scared when facing someone you thought you left behind years ago in the past. I think—"
"But it wasn't her!" Jinx's voice was shrill and raw. Something shifted heavily within Viktor's heart, and he gently smoothed his hands through Jinx's braids to assure his unyielding organ's restless beating. "It was some stupid Firelight with stupid pink hair, and I was stupid for freezing up!"
"Maybe so." Viktor finally glanced over, watching as Jinx's blue eyes lifted to meet his own. "...Can I tell you a story?"
When Jinx hesitatingly nodded, Viktor continued. "A long time ago, I lost someone very dear to me. My mother. At the time, it hadn't hurt like all the books said. I distinctly recall feeling... well, feeling nothing at all. However, three days after Silco had saved me, I broke down into tears, and simply couldn't stop. Not because someone mentioned her, or even attempted to talk to me about it. No, I blubbered and sniveled for weeks straight because Silco had retrieved her body, and brought me the necklace she always wore. I used to wear that thing every day, tethered to my grief through some stupid, cheap metal chain. But it was around the time when you appeared that I realized I can't let the past control my future. If I had spent the rest of my life in mourning, what kind of life would that be?"
Jinx's eyes glimmered.
"I'm not telling you to, 'get over it'," Viktor carefully slipped off of the chair, kneeling next to Jinx's prone form. "But are you really going to let echoes of what once was, ruin what could be?"
His sister's stony facade cracked, a slight snicker twisting her lips, until she was cackling in full blown laughter, rolling around on the floor as tears of laughter streaked her rosy cheeks. "W-When did you get so wise, V?"
"Eh, in my ancient age. Now c'mon," Viktor held out his hand, watching as his sister scrambled. "Let's blow some shit up."