Marvel: Playing Iron Man, Falling In and Out of Love with Jinx

The next morning, even before the sunlight kissed the earth and the sun had barely peeked above the horizon…

Inside the brightly lit workshop, the space was a maze of cables and conduits. Two towering rune pedestals, each as tall as a person, stood at opposite ends of the lab. Duke's coat hung from the blackboard, while he himself had rolled up his sleeves to the elbow and was adjusting one of the rune platforms with a wrench in hand.

"I think this rune's position still needs a bit of tweaking."

Straightening up, Duke addressed Jayce and Viktor at the far end of the lab, who were handling the other pedestal. "A specific combination of runes can yield drastically different effects. Based on my calculations, this arrangement gives us the optimal result."

"But I still think it needs a slight adjustment."

"If you move one side, you have to match it on the other!" Duke reminded.

Jayce wiped the sweat from his brow and straightened his back. After working nonstop for an entire day and night, his body was close to its limit.

Ever since Duke proposed his theory the morning before, they hadn't taken a break. They had rushed to build the rune pedestals in the shortest time possible. It had taken hours just to assemble them.

Viktor and Jayce handled one unit, while Duke built the other entirely on his own.

Viktor was trembling from exhaustion, clearly at his breaking point.

And yet, Duke remained fresh as ever, sharp-eyed and brimming with energy.

Was this the difference a mage's talent made?

Jayce could only cry envious tears inside, but outwardly, he kept it together as he walked over to inspect Duke's rune array.

"You're right," Duke said, gesturing to the rotatable rune components. "If we change one side, the other must be mirrored."

"But we have to aim for a first-try success. We can't afford to waste time running repeated tests."

"But you know as well as I do how rare that is. The average success rate for students at the academy is barely three percent!"

"That's because they're not me," Duke replied casually, slipping the wrench back into his belt. He looked up at the towering rune pedestal before him. "I always hit success within three attempts, usually on the first."

"Alright. I'll handle the adjustments. You two should get some rest."

Duke insisted they rest. After all, they were still human. He wasn't, not entirely. Ever since receiving the Super Soldier Serum, Duke could go three days and nights without food, water, or sleep and remain perfectly functional.

But the others couldn't. Jayce might barely survive such a grind, but Viktor? Duke would probably have to prepare a eulogy.

"Rest?" Viktor, with dark circles under his eyes, leaned on his cane just to stay upright. "We're not done yet. How can I rest now?"

"You need to rest, Viktor. You're not well to begin with."

Duke effortlessly picked Viktor up with one hand and set him gently into a nearby chair. Jayce stared at Duke's arm, then at his own, and fell deep into thought.

…Maybe it's time I started working out.

"Fine…"

Watching Duke take his place at the workstation, Viktor resigned himself to the chair. He had meant to sit quietly and observe Duke's progress, but the moment he made contact with the seat, exhaustion hit him like a tidal wave.

Within moments, his head began to droop, and then he was out.

Duke shot a glance at the sleeping Viktor, then beckoned Jayce over.

Once Jayce approached, Duke spoke in a low voice. "When you get the chance, take Viktor in for a full medical checkup."

"You know what he's like. You can't talk him out of anything," Jayce said, smiling bitterly.

Duke's hand froze mid-adjustment. He looked Jayce dead in the eye, serious as he'd ever been.

"Viktor and I both come from Zaun. We know better than anyone what it's like down there. The toxic smog in the air, the filthy underground sewers… His health has always been fragile. And now he's working himself to death."

"One day, he might just collapse for good. When that happens, will you be able to bear the pain of losing a friend?"

"I…"

Jayce opened his mouth, but no words came. His mind drifted back to their early days, the two of them talking in the ruins they'd once called a lab.

"The brighter someone shines, the more quickly they burn out."

"Fighting for your ideals isn't wrong. But giving up your life for them? That's just foolish."

Duke made the final adjustments to the rune configurations, ensuring perfect synchronization between both pedestals.

"There. That should do it."

Jayce couldn't hold back anymore. "What about you, then?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're more gifted than either of us. You've built marvels that all of Piltover is raving about. You even scoffed at divine destiny and went on to create life from metal and magic!"

"Me?"

Duke clapped a hand on Jayce's shoulder and chuckled. "Some people are simply born different, Jayce."

"You and Viktor compared to others. Me compared to you two."

"As for what drives me?"

Duke turned toward the doorway, where Arrogance was quietly waiting. His gaze softened.

"This world is so vast, I want to see it all."

"I want to visit the Immortal Bastion of Noxus. Walk through Demacia's anti-magic stone forests. Feel the eternal frost of the Freljord, witness the elemental spirits of Ionia's First Lands, scale the peak of Targon, commune with the Aspect's power. Cross the burning sands of Shurima in search of long-buried secrets."

"That's my dream. I want to explore everything this world has to offer."

Duke sat down on the worktable and opened his arms. "Spending your entire life cooped up in one place... feels too stifling."

Noticing Jayce's thoughtful expression, Duke shifted the topic. "Alright, enough of that. Go grab some food. After we eat and rest, we'll begin the first trial run."

"Got it, I'm on it."

Jayce left to prepare a meal. Duke looked at the rune pedestals, then at the sleeping Viktor, and made the most of the quiet to grab a bit of rest himself.

Hours passed.

After waking Viktor, the three of them ate together, then began preparations for the experiment.

"Begin powering up!"

Duke donned his signature Edith-brand sunglasses and took position by the lab entrance to observe and record the process. Jayce and Viktor, wearing standard protective goggles, exchanged glances at Duke's shades but said nothing.

They figured the sunglasses wouldn't block the glare, but Duke insisted they were better than any lab goggles.

Ridiculous.

Jayce flipped the switch and slowly turned the dial. The Hextech crystal floated above the pedestal, spinning faster and faster as it discharged energy. The rune arrays began to rotate, powered by the emitted force.

Moments later, both rune pedestals flared to life, beams of blinding blue light shooting outward. Duke, through his enchanted sunglasses, tracked the flow of energy in real time.

"The resonance threshold hasn't been reached yet, crank it up!" he shouted.

Jayce didn't hesitate. He increased the power, and the radiant beams from each pedestal extended outward, creeping toward one another.

And when they finally touched,

An explosion of blinding light erupted into the sky, blasting through the workshop ceiling and piercing the clouds.

"Cut the power! Shut it down, now!"

Viktor didn't hesitate. He slammed the emergency shutoff. Instantly, the Hextech crystals dropped back onto their mounts. The excess energy crackled through the air in arcs of lightning, sending papers fluttering all across the second floor.

The first test, a failure.

"They resonated, yes. But the outcome wasn't what we wanted," Viktor said, removing his goggles. Jayce frowned deeply. Duke adjusted his sunglasses with a glint of determination.

"I know what went wrong. Bring me two crystals of equal size."

"What are you planning?"

"You'll see. Just go get them."

"Alright…"

Once Jayce and Viktor returned with the crystals, Duke activated a projection mode on his Edith shades. The footage of the experiment appeared on the wall, replaying the moment when the two beams collided.

"We got the crystals to resonate. That much worked. But the approach was wrong, we need the resonance paths to miss each other slightly. That's how you open a conduit!"

Jayce and Viktor stared at the live footage playing from Duke's sunglasses, then looked at their own goggles, and silently pocketed them.

How many crazy gadgets does this guy even have?!

Without another word, Duke began shaping the crystals, cutting them into identical geometric forms.

"Now, I'm going to try something new. By crafting symmetrical crystals, we can fine-tune the Hextech resonance frequency."

He mounted the crystals onto the pedestals and initiated the second experiment.

This time, the energy refracted through the cut crystals. The beams curved and slid past one another, and connected.

At that very moment, each crystal began to display a clear image of the opposite side.

"Wait, did it just... work?"

Viktor stared in awe. In front of him, the crystal reflected not only himself but the wall behind him, and that entire scene was mirrored on the other side.

Duke's eyes lit up as memories of the original host's research returned to him. He rushed to the other side to check.

And sure enough, Viktor's image appeared inside his crystal.

"What the hell?"

"The outer crystals of the Hextech pedestal are now reflecting you two... in real time!" Jayce exclaimed.

Duke smacked his lips and sighed. "Well… I've got one good news and one bad. Which do you want first?"

"Bad news."

"We failed, again."

"And the good?"

"We accidentally invented a Hextech video communicator, real-time transmission of sound and image!"

End of chapter...

To be continued...

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