Work Text:
Viktor had that manic look in his eye once again as he ushered Jayce into the lab. He knew from experience that look never led to anything good. Last time the man was this excited about a project he came back the next week with his arm hacked off and replaced with experimental robotics. Sure it worked out fine but the man didn't know the word caution to save his life. He was an absolute bastard of a genius, not to mention one of the only people who could stand working with him, but self preservation was not amongst his skillset. Unfortunately he was the leading mind in robotics, second to Jayce himself. No one else could keep up when they got into a project, and that recklessness had advanced tool and powersuit tech a considerable amount. Still, he'd be happier if Viktor stopped doing so many unhinged side projects
"So what was it you wanted me to see?" Jayce asked, scratching at his stubble. He’d been busy with their latest prototype and hadn’t gotten around to shaving.
"This," Viktor grinned as he lifted the cloth off of a cage in the center of the lab and opened the door.
A small robot cobbled together with cheap looking scrap skittered out of the cage and looked around. It's movements were impressively fluid for an automaton. It reminded him of an odd fusion of a crab and spider, able to skitter in any direction but with claws to grasp objects with on the front.
"Huh." Jayce wiggled his finger in front of the robot. It paused before grasping at his finger curiously. Gently, not pinching like he expected. "Impressive strength control. You program this?"
"It is a unit built for finding and returning objects." Viktor pulled out a notepad and wrote some things down. "It also responds to vocal commands. R70, socket wrench."
The little robot jolted, nearly pinching Jayce's finger too hard before it turned to scan the room and skittered off. A moment later it appeared from the shadowed corners of the lab with a socket wrench grasped in its claspers.
"Test successful. Good job R70." Viktor took the wrench with his metal hand.
"Wow!" Jayce chuckled. This was much more tame than Viktor's usual projects so far. "How long have you been working on this? It must have taken years just to program its movements. Where is the computer hidden? In the carapace?"
That dangerous excited smile returned to Viktor's features. "Ah! That's the thing. I was improving my augmentation's processes when I struck a realization." He flexed his metal arm and wiggled his fingers. "I was able to get such mobility through wiring directly to my brain. The brain is the fastest computer in the world. What if I applied that to robotics?"
Jayce scratched the stubble on his cheek. "It's... hot wired to your brain?"
"No no no," Viktor scooped up the little robot and opened a panel where Jayce assumed its head was. Inside, a power source glowed red, seemingly emitting steam, and within the glow was- "By fusing the brain with the hardware and power source I have essentially made a living machine more efficient than any supercomputer."
Jayce went cold, jerking back from the horror encased in metal. The sudden movement startled something in the dark corners of the lab, chittering both animal and metal coming from the shadows. It was only then he realized the lab was covered in cages. Rat cages. The inhabitants fused and mangled with different arrangements of metal and wire. Exposed brain matter and metal sparking as the mutilated creatures squeaked and bumped into the sides of their cages.
"What the fuck, Viktor."
Viktor's smile dropped as he watched Jayce's reaction, closing the panel and setting the robot down. It skittered away to hide in its cage. "What? They're just lab rats. They contributed to a game changing breakthrough. The husks are easily mass produced, so it would be much cheaper than contemporary electronics."
Jayce ran a hand down his face, he was sweating. Fusing mind and metal, look he was an open guy, Viktor's prosthetics did indeed advance working prosthetic technology leaps and bounds. But this? "Viktor... you can't be serious. No. I'm stopping this project right now and you will dismantle all of these... things!"
Viktor scoffed, leaning against the table. "You were completely on board until you found out I used some rats to test my theories. That is your line? Some rats?"
Jayce slammed his fist down on the nearest desk, causing the robots and mutilated but still alive rats to start screeching in the most horrid noise he had ever heard. "THIS ISNT ABOUT THE RATS, VIKTOR."
"Could have fooled me." The other rolled his eyes.
"It's about where this... THING can go! I know you, Vik, I know you're already thinking about if the process will work with humans."
"I wasn't planning to ask you for human subjects!"
"But you WERE thinking about it, weren't you?"
"Of course I was! But it's not at that stage yet!"
"And it will NEVER BE." Jayce stomped up to Viktor, shoving him back against the tables and getting in the smaller man's space. "You’ve gone too far this time, it’s too dangerous. Clean this up, dispose of it, we are through."
Viktor's lips curled into a snarl. Jayce only could register a hiss from the man's mechanical arm before he was launched across the room, crashing into one of the piles of rat cages. The robots screamed, scrambling from their cages and attacking anything within their reach. They bit and cut into Jayce's flesh as he tried to shake them off.
"Turn them OFF!!"
As if by some miracle they stopped, scurrying en masse to Viktor's feet. Even the half-converted tried to crawl their way to him, unable yet to move their new limbs. He hadn't heard a command, was Viktor controlling them?
The punch seemed to have drained Viktor's arm as it let off steam, limp at his side. "Get out."
Jayce groaned as he pushed himself to his feet. He sure hoped that the metal Viktor used wasn't rusty, those metal teeth had cut up his arms badly. "What?"
If looks could kill Jayce would be dead in an instant. "Get out! I'm sick of you."
"Sick of ME? You're the one who keeps showing me these fucked up science experiments!"
"If you're so damn squeamish I'll just leave! You'll never have to look at them again!"
"FINE! Good luck getting funding out there!"
"Like we ever used that money on my projects ANYWAY!"
Jayce punched the wall before letting out a strained sigh. Glaring at Viktor, he stuck his finger in his face. "Dismantle all of this shit before you go or I'm smashing it myself."
Viktor looked like he was using up all his willpower not to bite Jayce's finger right off. "Fine."
And with that Jayce stormed out of Viktor's lab. He considered calling the enforcers, the bastard belonged in an asylum and he was sure he could scrounge up enough evidence past this fucked up experiment to prove it. Instead, he let the man leave.
He didn’t even notice until it was too late that he had taken all the paperwork with him.
It would become his biggest regret.