Chapter Text
The sound of the blast was loud and echoing, which made Viktor believe the explosion must have happened nearby. Jayce's immediate reaction after uncovering his ears was to go out the door to try to find the source, but Viktor stopped him, reminding him that they didn't know if there was fire or anything dangerous outside. The announcement came shortly after when a muffled voice urged them to evacuate the academy building through the speakers on the ceiling.
" Please remain calm; a small-sized explosion has taken place at the manufacturing facilities; there is a chance there might be potentially harmful compounds in the air, so please make sure to correctly place the gas masks provided at the beginning of the academic term, you may situate them under the emergency equipment cupboard near the main entrance of each laboratory room, we reiterate: please remain calm as you evacuate the premises. "
" Small explosion?" Jayce huffed as he retrieved the masks from the cupboard. Both of them did as they were told and calmly but energetically walked down the hallway to get to the main entrance of the building, where dozens had already congregated.
No one seemed to be affected by the recent developments except for Viktor; he even overheard a group of people excitedly chattering about possible places to have fun during their sudden evening off. Interruptions already annoyed him profoundly, but the importance of the breakthrough he recently had made this untimely interference ever more infuriating. He was leaning on a wall, impatiently tapping his cane against the concrete floor, when Jayce decided to investigate the matter, and the expression on his face when he came back was less than encouraging.
"So?"
"I don't think we'll be able to return to work, at least not today."
"What happened, though? What was the explosion about?"
"Uh…one of the quenching systems blew up; not sure I understood the reason why." Jayce hoped Viktor didn't catch on to the reason for his hesitation, but he did; it was a lost cause.
"Ha! I should've known it had to do with the chemistry department; it's almost like she is scheduled to create chaos at least once a month." Viktor started to raise his voice and gesture excessively.
"Come on, Vik, cut her some slack; they didn't expressly say she was directly responsible for any of this."
"When is it not her fault, though? It's almost like she lives to hinder my work!"
"Why are you so angry? Did you misplace your caliper again?" You said, appearing from behind Jayce with a playful pout only to annoy him more intentionally.
"If it isn't the source of all my problems," Viktor said, rolling his eyes.
"What did I do now?" You said, laughing ironically.
"I had an inkling that such a monumental mishandling could only be your fault." he hissed.
"you're wrong as usual, Sparkle."
"You designed those vents!" This accusation struck a nerve in you. And any mood for playful banter had been substituted by indignation.
"First of all, I'm a chemist, not an engineer, so if anything, it's a testament to my brilliance that those scrubbers have been working at all, and as a matter of fact, they would have continued working perfectly if it weren't for you ."
"What do we have to do with any of this?"
"The sizing of the quenching system I put in place was appropriate until the hextech team came to be, and you two decided to start pumping out microelectronics all the time, the amount of suppressing agent that has to be pumped through the system to accommodate for the things you have been manufacturing exacerbated the machine, of course it was gonna explode eventually!"
"Why didn't you adjust the sizing then?"
"Because it's not my job! I'm here to research organic materials, not design your machinery. I warned the council, and they didn't seem to care, so if you have a problem, take it up with them for not hiring the appropriate people for the job."
"How can you be so offhand about what happened? This could've been fatal had there been people in the facility."
"Oh, get off your high horse, Viktor, you're only mad because I'm involved, and you're being forced to interrupt your work. Don't pretend like you care."
"Of course I care. Do you think I'm a monster?"
"Of course not. You're definitely well known for being big on safety protocols." You said with a clear tone of sarcasm.
Viktor knew you were right and could not argue against that, but he wanted to retort. He wanted very badly to say anything at all. Unfortunately, you had already turned on your heels to walk away from them, leaving him with narrowed eyes and a deep frown.
"You kind of set yourself up for that one," Jayce said casually. He had been quietly witnessing you two fight as he usually did. Viktor gave him a furious glare as a response and walked back to his dormitories resentfully quiet.
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Murmurs could be heard coming from the entrance of the laboratory wing. There was a strong feeling of emptiness in your stomach as you approached, that you usually would have attributed to not having eaten anything that morning; however, this time, it was a clear fear of facing the consequences of the previous afternoon’s incident. It hadn’t been your fault; you were as angry as the next person, and for an institution with that many wealthy investors, the Academy had a silent policy of spending as little as possible on as few departments as they could. Everyone knew that with the unlooked-for creation of the Hextech team, the investments in all the other research departments had been drained to be allotted to the council’s golden duo; there had been multiple coffee machine conversations about it. Yet, you were anxious.
They wouldn’t blame you, would they? Viktor did, and if there’s something that son of a bitch was good at beyond tightening nuts and bolts was persuading a crowd. What prevented him from convincing all your colleagues that this whole debacle was your burden? All that muttering was probably him rallying up a crowd to lynch you.
You breathed in. When have you been afraid to face him before? This was unlike you.
I don’t owe anything to anyone. That idiot can badmouth my character as much as he likes, but he can’t argue with the facts.
You relaxed your shoulders and unclenched your jaw.
“Get a grip, damn it!” You said to yourself quietly as you put on a laid-back cast and opened the door to the main hall.
No heads were left unturned when you walked in. Some faces were neutral, some carried the type of warm smile of someone who would be happy to see you, there was that one guy from the poli-sci department who was a tad too smug about your entrance, some seemed worried, and one of them—the bane of your existence—looked at you with a pronounced frown, eyes narrowed, and mouth turned upside-down.
"What's everyone doing here? I thought I was late already. Did I miss a memo?" You said with a casual tone, a painfully obvious attempt at masking the existential crisis you were having just moments earlier.
"Labs are gonna be closed for a month; something about them needing to disinfect and ventilate potential harmful agents from the facilities."
Part of you was glad it had been your friend Moira who spoke up first, but on the other hand, you feared the silence before the storm, and you were soon proved to be justified in doing so.
"I hope you are happy."
"Why would I be?
"You just cost us a month’s worth of work." Viktor sneered through his teeth.
"I'm sure you can afford that. Differently from the rest of the research departments, you don't have the risk of losing your funding if you don't churn out constant developments, so I don't see why you are so upset."
"This isn't the first time you have gotten in the way of my work. You could say I've boiled over."
This is when people started to walk away. Your 'explosive' relationship with Viktor wasn't a novelty to anyone, and they knew better than to try to intervene. It had been more than a year at this point; you resented him for not admitting the preferential treatment they were given by the Academy, and he resented you for some… unfortunate accidents that had delayed his work before. You both knew you had some fault in each of those things, but stubbornness and pride had prevented you from admitting this to one another. To his dismay, Jayce had had to play mediator, the child of a divorce that never happened.
"Except this time, it wasn't my fault, but of course, you'd jump at any opportunity to blame me for something."
"Maybe if you were competent enough to complete the task you were given, it wouldn't have happened."
You were livid.
"I played engineer for a couple of weeks and designed a machine that worked without a hitch for 3 years. You are an engineer and can't get any of those little prototypes of yours to work. Remind me who's incompetent again?"
"Woah, okay, that's enough. Let's all go home and relax, okay?" Jayce said, already dragging Viktor from his cane arm and not allowing him to proffer any of the offenses he intended to.
How dare he say you were incompetent? You were head and shoulders above him in every possible category. Fine, perhaps he had an edge when it came to discipline. And organization. Maybe charisma, somehow everyone liked him. You understood why, he was handsome too, charming even…
Maybe if he— No. don’t even start.