Chapter Text
Silco’s yell roused him from a fitful sleep, and while there was no window in his room, Viktor assumed that it must have only been a few hours. A heavy silence followed, with no sounds of movement from Silco or Singed.
Until he heard Silco break down into a coughing fit.
Viktor sat up, rubbing any remaining tiredness from his eyes. He was torn, should he leave Silco or go down the hall and check on him? The blanket fell around his waist, the cold air of the lab cutting through the loose shirt Viktor wore.
While it probably wouldn’t touch whatever plagued Silco mentally, Viktor felt the urge to at least offer another bottle of water. Especially in the aftermath of such a severe injury.
His leg ached when he put weight on it, and he took a few moments to adjust, the pain thankfully fading before pushing the metal door open. Singed must have hit the lights off earlier, forcing Viktor to feel along the wall in the dark.
Viktor knocked first before walking into Silco’s room, mentally cursing his pounding pulse. The unlatched door drifted open a little bit on impact, and he nudged it further open.
“Who’s there?” Silco’s voice was full of fear, and it tore at Viktor’s heart.
“Just me, I am sorry if I scared you.” Viktor switched the light on, the overhead flicking to life after a few beats.
Silco had kicked the blanket off of himself completely, and sat up in the sterile fluorescent lighting.
“Did I wake you?”
“Uh- yes. But please don’t feel bad.” Viktor shrugged, then stepped farther into the room to offer the water. “When I heard the coughing, I figured I’d bring this. Obviously it won’t fix anything but-”
“Thank you.” Silco looked up at him, taking the water. Viktor watched the man’s hands tremble slightly. He wanted to ask what the nightmare had been about, and if it had anything to do with the bruises that had only bloomed darker in color in the few hours Silco had been there.
“How does the eye feel?” Feeling ambitious, Viktor dipped into a crouch to retrieve Silco’s blanket. His success in the motion felt like a small win, despite the circumstances.
“Hurts.” Was all Silco said before opening the water and chugging it like he was dying of thirst. He pulled the blanket around him, setting the water bottle into his lap.
Viktor nodded, leaning on the doorway.
“If the doctor comes into possession of any painkillers, I will make sure you get some. I hope you are able to find some sleep tonight.” He meant it genuinely, tapping his fingers on the top of the cane.
“Thank you.” Silco’s free hand rubbed his throat when his voice broke slightly. The question of what happened to the man weighed heavily on Viktor’s tongue, until Silco’s good eye met his. It held a vulnerability that Viktor wasn’t used to seeing in people, having spent most of his recent life with Singed.
“May I ask…what happened?” Viktor mirrored Silco’s actions, in almost a trance. His fingertips were cold against his own throat for a few seconds before falling back to his cane.
“I don’t really remember.” Silco’s gaze fell, thin shoulders shrugging. Viktor thought again for a moment, then let his curiosity override any caution.
“What do you remember, before coming here?”
“Before being on that table, I remember water. Floating down, the taste of my own blood, feeling like knives were being dragged through my throat.” Silco shivered, then coughed, sending a pulse of regret into Viktor’s stomach.
“I’m sorry.” Was all he could think to respond with, the conversation falling into silence. He felt a little stupid, asking Silco to drag up any memories of the clearly traumatic event he’d just gone through in order to satisfy his own curiosity.
“Betrayal.” Silco was staring past him now, good eye narrowed with an anger Viktor knew was unique to residents of the Undercity. The grim determination to fight and survive, no matter the circumstances or cost. “I was betrayed, and left to die.”
Viktor didn’t know what to say to that other than to apologize again, and so held his tongue, until Silco sighed, setting the water bottle on the floor and rubbing his good eye.
“I didn’t mean to overwhelm you at all.”
“No, no I was the one who asked.” Viktor shook his head suddenly. “The doctor does not get a lot of visitors, under most circumstances, so I hope I wasn’t the one overwhelming you.”
“Not at all.” Silco shook his head slightly, then winced and put a hand to his bandaged eye.
“Ah- don’t poke it.” Viktor said without thinking, and Silco stopped. “We’ll check it tomorrow.”
Viktor took the silent nod Silco gave him as his sign to retreat for now.
“Goodnight then. I hope you’re able to sleep.”
“Goodnight, Viktor.” Hearing his name rasped through Silco’s throat made Viktor smile. Singed almost never called him by name.
~
Halfway through the following day, Viktor realized Silco hadn’t come out of his room yet. Singed followed him down the hall, standing over his shoulder as Viktor pushed Silco’s door open with the cane.
They found Silco passed out, sweat beading on his forehead, breathing shallow.
“What do you want me to do?” Viktor had asked immediately, feeling Silco’s forehead to confirm a fever.
But Singed only shrugged, immediately turning away.
“His body is purging the last of the infection. It is up to him whether to survive or not.”
“I don’t think we should just leave him like this-” Viktor frowned.
“Do what you want. If the fever hasn’t broken within a day I’ll give him another dose. He should survive either way.” Singed walked away, waving his hand. “Come for now, I need a second set of hands.”
Singed set him on basic cleaning and organizing tasks, including preparing enclosures for more test subjects. In between, he had a few minutes to check on Silco. He’d explained it to Singed as “We already did so much to keep him alive, why stop now?”
“Don’t you want to see if the mutation works?” Viktor had asked after the third passive aggressive comment from Singed about taking time away from his other experiments.
The doctor hadn’t argued with that.
Every time Viktor had tried to touch the bandages over Silco’s left eye, the man would involuntarily jerk away, even mid fever. Viktor tried his best to be soothing, but there wasn’t much to do aside from making Silco as comfortable as possible.
When Singed had peeled them back, they’d been surprised to find less infection than they’d expecting, instead seeing purple, pulsing veins running through his temple and down his cheek.
Viktor grimaced, but Singed seemed intrigued. The eyelid was swollen shut with an angry red color surrounding it, and Viktor stepped out of the room when Singed had pulled out the scalpel.
The eye had been rebandaged, with the doctor dismissing Viktor for the rest of the night. Before retreating to his own room, Viktor reminded him they needed food, which Singed only acknowledged with a wave of his hand.
The next morning, Viktor woke to an empty lab, with instructions written on the table left for him by Singed. Working in the lab by himself was not unpleasant, Viktor found himself lost in thought, humming along to a song he’d grown up hearing street musicians play. Singed’s next experiments included several rounds of animal testing, which the doctor knew Viktor had no stomach for.
Viktor imagined trying to argue with the doctor that they’d already used the compound on a human, so why test it on more animals, but he was also not a biologist.
Hitting his hip on the edge of the table by accident reminded Viktor of his own personal project, which was crafting a more sturdy brace for his leg. Amidst a slew of cursing, he looked at the pile of scraps he’d been collecting for that purpose. He hadn’t been to the parts shop in almost a month, with Singed picking up the pace on developing his compound.
Still kind of pissed off at hitting the table, he shoved a bunch of loose stuff on it into a pile. Doing so uncovered a notebook Viktor recognized as the same one Singed took notes on the compound in.
Rio glowed above him, spilling pulsing pink light over Singed’s scribbled handwriting. Viktor flipped through the first few pages that detailed the extraction process. After that, the notes showed diagrams of the mutation on the cellular level. The mutation’s progress could only be described as aggressive, Viktor thought.
And the doctor had just injected it into a random man he’d found dying in the canal. Almost nothing the doctor did surprised Viktor at this point.
The most recent pages showed in depth plans for testing on rats, making him wince. He’d shut the notebook and had tucked it back under the vials, when a hand on his shoulder made him jump.
His can that had been tucked under his arm fell to the floor with a clatter, but all Viktor’s brain seemed to care about were the slender fingers digging into his shoulder joint. They retracted immediately as he turned around.
“Sorry for startling you.” Silco was behind him, on his feet for the first time in 48 hours.
Viktor wanted to apologize instead, tell Silco that the touch was startling, yes, but not unwelcome. But the words died in his throat, replaced by an awkward cough.
“You’re awake. How do you feel?” He managed after a couple seconds. Silco didn’t answer, knees dipping into a crouch to retrieve Viktor’s cane from the ground.
“I feel like shit.” Silco looked back up at him, leaning a hip against the table. He offered Viktor the cane, which Viktor took, keeping it in front of him. “But my eye doesn’t hurt as much anymore.”
“Feeling like shit is to be expected. If you sit, we can take a look at your eye.” Viktor hooked the bottom of the cane on a drawer handle, pulling open Singed’s stash of bandages and antiseptic.
Silco hopped up on the lab table. Viktor set the supplies down next to Silco’s leg, pushing Silco a little to the side for better lighting. When he leaned forward, Silco’s knee rested against his hip.
Viktor put his hand on the back of Silco’s head to hold him still. When his fingers slid through thin hair to rest on the man’s scalp, he hoped his touch wasn’t too cold. With his other hand, he pushed Silco’s hair away from the injury, only for it to fall past his ear again.
Viktor hesitated, until Silco’s own hand took over for him, holding his hair back so Viktor could peel off bandages. The first layer peeled off clean, but the layer underneath was soaked in purple and red.
The final layer revealed Singed had cut off part of the eyelid and the eyeball underneath had turned black. The iris that flicked up to meet Viktor’s concerned gaze was an eerie orange, almost glowing. The skin around the eye was deeply scarred, but looked mostly knitted back together. The purple veins Viktor had observed prior had faded, likely as the mutation’s immediate effects had subsided.
“My god.” Viktor breathed, moving his head to check the eyeball from multiple angles. The entire eyeball did indeed seem to be all black.
“What’s wrong?” Silco frowned, touching his cheek.
“Can you…see out of your left eye?” Viktor let go of holding Silco’s head and stepped back, putting a hand on his chin. The bright orange ring followed his every movement.
“Yes?” Silco seemed confused, then winced as his face pulled at muscles that hadn’t fully healed yet.
“Hold on.” Viktor held up a hand, searching around for something to use as a mirror. “Uh, go check in the reflection of that tank.” He gestured, Silco following instructions.
“Holy shit.” He heard the other man say after a few seconds.
Internally, Viktor braced for Silco to be upset, watching the man’s posture for any sign of outburst.
“It’s probably not what you expected, to be honest I don’t know what the doctor was thinking-”
“No.” Silco’s voice was low. “Do not be sorry. Don’t you see? I’ve been reborn.”
Viktor frowned deeper in confusion, even as Silco turned to face him. The contrast of one blue and one orange made for a striking, not entirely repulsive look. But the level of intensity held in Silco’s gaze was intimidating to Viktor.
“You’ve given me a second chance.”
Viktor’s hand felt behind him for the cane, his hand closing around it and pulling the stool out from underneath the lab table. The past few days had been primarily pain free, but the tight feeling in his leg that usually announced the onset of pain had started.
Silco looked back into the reflection of the tank, tracing around his eye again. Even from a distance, Viktor could see Silco’s face morphing through a range of emotions.
After a few minutes, Singed’s return was heralded by the loud slam of heavy metal warehouse doors, immediately grabbing the attention of both men.
“My god.” The doctor had said, as soon as he’d walked into the lab and seen Silco.
~
The following week made Viktor feel like he was some level of third wheeling, as Silco had immediately offered Singed the opportunity to develop the mutation into a marketable substance. Singed had promised to refine the mutation further, in between listening to Silco throw grand ideas and plans around.
Rio’s tank hung above them, in Viktor’s mind as a grim reminder of the sacrifices that made things like the mutation possible.
It also meant Silco had started overseeing the animal testing phase they started, in between disappearing from the lab entirely for periods at a time.
Starting on rats, they had perfected the routine of Viktor holding the animal down, while Singed injected the compound, only for the rat to end up splattering a mess of red and purple all over Viktor’s hands and shirt.
Viktor’s patience was at its limit by the fifth rat, and the fourth time trying to scrub blood out of the lab coat Singed had given him after the first time.
Silco stood over the splattered mess in the tank, deep in thought. He was not a scientist, and thankfully remained quiet while Singed and Viktor debated over notes and diagrams strewn across the lab table.
The doctor needed ideas. Viktor didn’t really have any. Singed needed absolute control over the mechanisms targeted by the mutation. Viktor stood in front of the microscope, leaning heavily on the table while Singed paced behind him.
“I need to see it under the microscope.” Singed stopped finally. “The slides I prepared should be ready, they’re by the sink.”
“Of course.”
Viktor had suggested that Singed adjust the compound to target the nervous system, so their approach had been tailored accordingly.
Of course Singed had left the slides across the room, and while Viktor hadn’t had an issue walking to get them, as soon as they were in hand, he unconsciously reached for the cane as his leg started complaining bitterly about the weight on it.
But his hand fell through empty air, and he quickly had to pivot to gripping the tabletop to steady himself.
“Need this?” After a few seconds, the cane was pushed into his hand.
“How long have you been watching me?” He leaned on the cane gratefully, meeting Silco’s eyes. Viktor didn’t jump anymore when Silco randomly appeared behind him.
“Long enough to see you leave the cane across the room.”
“Ah.” Viktor gestured with his other hand that still held the slides. “Sometimes I get too absorbed in the work. Especially recently.”
“I’ve noticed.” Silco seemed amused, a small smile playing on his face. It was the first time Viktor had seen him smile. “Here, I can take those for you.”
“I have two hands.” Viktor snatched the slides away, his tone a little sharper than he meant it to be, but Silco backed off without argument. “Sorry.” Viktor added quietly, as Silco followed him to the microscope.
Of course Singed had left the room after asking Viktor to do something for him, leaving just him and Silco among scattered equipment.
“Would you like to see?”
Silco nodded, letting Viktor prepare the slides and microscope in comfortable silence. After making the final adjustments, he pointed to the knobs on the side.
“Move around with those, don’t touch anything else.”
He stepped back to let Silco look, the man’s good eye squinting into the lens. To Viktor’s surprise, the man had made no attempt to hide the mutated eye. Singed had pointedly stated he wasn’t a cosmetic surgeon, to which Silco had said he didn’t care. Late into the first night after the bandages came off, Silco had asked Viktor’s help in cutting his hair short, mostly on the sides of his head. The now cropped hair made Silco look sharper, and a little older if Viktor was being honest.
“So what am I looking at?”
“Would you like me to explain? I’m no biologist but I can give you an overview.”
“Please do.” Silco said. So Viktor explained exactly what was on each slide, and how it related to their work, while Silco nodded along in interest. Viktor eventually had to sit down mid explanation, causing concern to flash across the other man’s face for a moment.
“It is normal, I promise.” Viktor assured.
“Out of the way.” Singed’s voice sounded from across the room as he carried some unidentifiable objects. “Why don’t you take a break?”
“That is our cue to leave.” Viktor stood, nudging Silco to follow him. “I was going to cook dinner if you’d like to join me.”
“Do you want help?”
“I’m asking if you’d like to eat. I’m not the world’s greatest cook, but trust me when I say you don’t want to touch anything the doctor makes.”
“I believe it.” Silco followed him down a couple hallways. The small kitchen down here was kept intact only through Viktor’s determination to keep traces of Singed’s experiments out of it. Silco slid into one of the two chairs opposite to the stove and counter, as Viktor pulled out several ingredients and dropped them with a thud onto the steel counter.
Before anything else, he rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. The pan from last time he cooked had been left clean on top of the stove, which he lit and turned back to the counter.
“Ah, good. I remembered to thaw it.” Next Viktor unwrapped the package in front of him, shiny scales catching the washed out fluorescent light above them.
“Fish?” Silco asked from behind him as he laid the fish on a cutting board, pulling a chef’s knife from a drawer next to him.
“We do live in the ocean.” Viktor gestured with the point of the knife to the porthole window at the top of the far wall. Before prepping the fish, Viktor set his cane against the counter. The pain wasn’t enough to distract him yet, and he could lean on his good leg for now. A good sign.
After he’d sliced the scales off the fish, using the tip of the knife to pull out as many bones as possible, he realized Silco was standing over his shoulder, watching intently. Knowing Silco was just a passive observer, Viktor didn’t find the proximity overbearing.
The fish was flipped and seasoned on both sides before being laid in the now hot pan with some oil. The spices and oil combined into a thin sauce, to which Viktor added some water and other sauces, before covering the pan with a lid and turning to the vegetables. They were just mushrooms and some root vegetables, since Singed was not very inspired when it came to procuring any groceries.
Viktor wiped his hands clean in between preparing the fish and preparing the vegetables, dicing them and tucking them in and around the fish.
A lid was placed on the pan, and Viktor glanced at Silco, who had moved to examining the small glass jars of spices.
“Do you like cooking?” Silco set one of the jars down.
“I-” Viktor hesitated. “I guess both yes and no. As I said before, I am no chef. But I do not mind expending the effort when I have the ability to.”
Silco nodded, his gaze seeming to take Viktor in. Viktor’s good leg was beginning to complain about holding his entire weight so he took the cane again, settling down onto it.
“Do you know how to cook?” Viktor asked, half as a joke.
“No.” Silco shook his head. “Never needed to really.”
“Perhaps next time you can assist me. Especially if the doctor ever brings back potatoes. I hate peeling them.”
Silco was looking at him with an indescribable emotion, making Viktor turn back to the pan and lift the lid to avoid staring back. The scent of the cooking fish and sauce filled the tiny kitchen.
Viktor pushed the contents around the pan with a spatula, the sizzling noises the only sound in the room. Once he was satisfied with how cooked the fish and vegetables were, the stove was turned off and the fish sliced up right in the pan. With the spatula he directed Silco to grab two plates from another cupboard, and silverware from a drawer.
He grabbed the cane to lean on again while splitting the contents of the pan in between the two plates.
“Thank you.” Silco hummed in appreciation, trading Viktor one of the plates for a fork. They sat at the small table, the edges of the plates clinking together. Silco seemed to notice his leg was a bit close to Viktor’s leg brace, and moved it back a bit.
“You’re welcome.” Viktor looked at his own plate before taking a few bites. The fish had come out a bit spicy, but the oil from the fish had made the sauce thick and rich. Rice would have made the dish better, but grains were hard to come by down here.
“Thoughts?” Viktor turned to Silco, only to see the other man’s mouth completely full of food. The sight brought a small smile to Viktor’s face, and Silco frowned at him, finishing the bite.
“I don’t think I could get any better from street food.”
“I will take that as a compliment. Though I do wish we could have rice with this.” Viktor poked at the last few bites on his plate.
Silco watched him, then nodded slowly, dragging his own fork through the sauce left over on the plate.
“We deserve better than whatever we can scrape off the ocean floor.” He stood suddenly, though his voice was quiet. “Piltover’s throwing away god knows how much food tonight and we can’t even fucking buy rice.”
Viktor winced as Silco’s plate and fork hit the sink with a loud clatter.
“In our defense, Singed might not care enough to buy rice. I don’t think grocery lists are usually a priority for him.” Viktor shrugged, then noticed Silco’s entire body was tense, knuckles white on the counter. It was the same anger as before, when Silco had woken him up in the middle of the night.
Viktor studied his own plate for a moment, then spoke again, matching Silco’s tone and volume.
“I like to imagine that one day the Undercity will be out from under Piltover’s heel. That one day we’ll be treated with respect.”
He watched Silco’s fist loosen, starting to tap fingers on the countertop.
“Yeah. One day.” The other man repeated, voice rasping a little.
“If you are finished, I will clean up.” He changed the subject, dropping his own fork loudly onto the plate. Silco nodded in wordless acknowledgement, but left as soon as Viktor stood to start cleaning. Viktor cursed himself for the little bubble of sadness in his chest at Silco’s departure, distracting himself with rinsing the plates clean.
When Viktor walked into the lab 10 minutes later, the only light he could see was from the flame burners below bubbling purple test tubes. The entire setup cast an eerie purple glow over the entire lab, including Silco standing, arms crossed, in front of them. Craning his neck to the back of the room, he saw a second lamp on, illuminating Singed hunched over his desk.
“Come look at this.” Singed waved him over, and Viktor was immersed back into the doctor’s notes and musings about the substance that he’d started referring to as Shimmer. He moved back and forth throughout the lab on Singed’s whim, keenly aware of Silco’s gaze tracking him from across the room.
After a while his vision started to blur, and he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“You’re dismissed for the night.” Singed’s tone was unusually kind, though Viktor figured he should give the doctor more credit sometimes. Singed was cold, but never needlessly cruel to him. He expected Viktor to be responsible for his own limits, but without judgement.
“Bright and early tomorrow.” Singed’s wry tone was the closest the man ever got to humor as he gestured Viktor to the door.
But he was stopped in the hallway outside the lab by another voice.
“Wait.” Silco had to clear his throat, but Viktor stopped walking. “I want to apologize.”
When he turned, Silco was leaning against the wall, his injured eye turned away from Viktor. Viktor leaned forward on the cane expectantly, not trusting his tone to come out right if he spoke.
“You’re not who I’m angry at.”
“Then who is? The person you’re angry at I mean.”
Viktor watched Silco’s face twist into a scowl, arms crossed over his chest.
“Have you ever heard of Vander?”
Viktor made a half committal gesture.
“Heard the name, never met him.”
“He and I were…very close.” Silco trailed off. “Until I realized we had differing philosophies. His response to those differences was to try and kill me.” He’d reached for his throat again, and Viktor couldn’t tell if it had been on purpose or not.
“So he did that to you?”
“He could snap either of us in half with almost no effort.” Silco sounded almost envious. “The raw strength- but his heart is weak. He decided to be a coward and give up the fight after we lost a few that were close to us.”
“The fight against Piltover?” Viktor raised an eyebrow.
“I thought we had a shared dream, but he doesn’t understand the bigger picture. He can’t move on from losses.” Silco went on. “I didn’t want us to be enemies but he gave me no choice.”
“You’ll have to forgive me, I know I’m from the Undercity but I’ve been…here. For the past year or so. So I’m not familiar with any politics.”
Silco shook his head.
“It’s a shame to see you caged up here. I can see you’re brilliant. Singed gave me a tour of the lab and half of the equipment was obviously either made or altered by you.”
Viktor flushed at the unexpected compliment, looking away down the hall at the repeated overhead lights, converging around the door at the far end.
“Ah, well, thank you. I do my best.” He tapped the cane on the ground once, the sound echoing.
When he looked back up, Silco had stepped towards him.
“Goodnight, Viktor.” He could feel a hand close around his arm for the briefest of moments in a way that could be taken as affectionate, before he was left staring at Silco’s back as the other man walked away.