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The problem with bodies was that they were heavy. This one, particularly so. And Jayce Talis hadn't even had the good sense to land on a flat bit of ground, so that dragging him across it would be, at least, a straightforward endeavor. Though upon further consideration, Viktor supposed that leaping off of ledges wasn't typically a symptom of good sense.
In a move completely uncharacteristic for Viktor, he gave silent thanks that Piltover tended to be quiet in the dead of night, especially in the Academy district. A product of affluence, perhaps. Regardless, he was not overly concerned that he would be spotted dragging a very large, very heavy body across the penthouse rubble. He was only concerned that someone would find said body before he had a chance to preserve it and the beautiful brain inside. And that just wouldn't do.
And so into a hidden alleyway the body went. It should be safe there, so long as he retrieved it before the morning.
Jayce woke up with a jolt of adrenaline, his body surging with terror. Detecting everything around him as a threat, he attacked the nearest body, pinning it to the wall by its throat.
"What did you do to me?" he growled, and he noted that his lungs felt different, sounded different.
The figure under his hands struggled weakly and made a gurgling noise. Jayce let go, his rage rushing out of him as he adjusted to his surroundings, and the man slumped to the floor, gripping his throat and coughing.
"I saved your life," the man croaked out. "You don't seem happy about this development."
Jayce felt like his skin was crawling, every part of him felt wrong, wrong, wrong. He rolled his neck, trying to discharge some of the discomfort, but to no avail.
"Maybe I wanted to be dead." Jayce looked down at the man on the floor with narrowed eyes. "What do you think gives you the right to decide otherwise?"
The man looked up, then, sharp, amber eyes meeting him without fear.
"Wait..." Jayce said. "You're the dean's assistant."
The dean's assistant nodded. "And a fan, for what it's worth."
A fan? What the hell was that supposed to mean?
"What?" Jayce said, the rest of the sentence lost in his confusion.
The other man got to his feet, pushing himself up with what Jayce just noticed was a cane. A whisper of guilt rose up in him, underneath the adrenaline and the sick roiling wrongness that permeated his flesh.
"After you're done wondering who I am and what I did," the man said irritably, "the natural next step is to wonder why. So let us skip to that part, yes?"
Jayce silently tracked him with his eyes. The man took that as an invitation.
"I'd like to talk about your research."
Jayce blinked at him. "What?"
"Hm. It seems that your brief stint as a dead man has damaged your brain. In hindsight, I should have accounted for this possibility--"
"My brain works fine," Jayce spat. But, given that he had just pinned a man to the wall who had just saved his life and actually couldn't, reasonably, fight back... Jayce bit back an apology and barrelled through. "What the hell do you want with my research?"
The man looked bashful now, his attention carefully affixed to the floor. "I heard what you said at your trial, and I was... intrigued. After that, I went through every one of your notes." He looked up at Jayce, something curious, testing the waters. "Jayce Talis, I think you're onto something."
"Bullshit." The word came out of Jayce's mouth before he could stop it. Was he dead? Dying? And all of this was just a cruel hallucination? A strange hell or purgatory, for daring to work against the Ethos? Suddenly a headache split through his skull, and he clutched his head and groaned.
He heard the tap, tap, tap approaching, two Academy-issue leather soles and the metal clank of a cane. He felt the gentle press of a hand on his shoulder, and the headache instantly subsided.
"I went through an awful lot of trouble to preserve your life, Mr. Talis," came the man's soft voice. "The least you could do is believe me."
Jayce peeked up at him, finding those golden irises staring back at him again. "I don't even know your name."
The man smiled softly. "It's Viktor."