Scrap Metal Philosophy 8 (Patreon)

Scrap Metal Philosophy

Chapter 8

-VB-

What did it take to be a hero?

Taylor thought about that because she saw two sides of the same event. Techscav Rampage, as it was being called on PHO, became a hotly debated topic that her dad’s generation said “harkened back to the Parahuman Golden Age.”

Techscav’s role in rooting out corruption within the government made many people extremely satisfied because, as they put it, the rise of PRT and the Protectorate made digging into government affairs harder, and thus the government had become less transparent over time.

On the other hand, there were people who absolutely condemned his actions, stating that they, the country, possessed a rule of law and a code of ethics that were the foundation. To ignore that to carry out a brand of justice not that of the just law was just vigilantism.

Both of these arguments were ones people had tossed back and forth since before parahumans came about, and Techscav had rekindled it by causing the greatest scandal seen in a decade.

PRT was supposed to be the guardian. They may fail at times. They may stumble at times. However, they got back up. They got better. They dished out more.

… Except it wasn’t. A villain had been part of the PRT right up to his death, and the wealth he accumulated using his PRT connection had been partially responsible for his position as the CEO of Fortress construction, which was basically also illegal as well!

A PRT advisor working as CEO of a company directly related to parahuman activity? It was a clear conflict of interest!

Taylor thought so, too, but she didn’t quite understand what that meant until she heard in the news that this allowance of conflict of interest to remain showed PRT’s corruption. That someone high up had been paid off, because Thomas Calvert, now known as Coil, was not just a regular PRT advisor and consultant but a white-listed one. It made him a trusted individual… except he hadn’t been.

He set off a contingency bomb in his death throes that leveled a high rise, killed dozens, and caused a battle between Techscav and the PRT ENE.

A lot of if’s were thrown about. If Coil hadn’t been part of the PRT. If he had been forced to choose one of two roles. If he didn’t have access to the connections and wealth he did. If. If. If. If.

She also realized very quickly that people forgot to ask a different question.

What they should do about Techscav.

Techscav had made his opinion clear by bombing and killing Coil, who had detonated his own bombs. A Tinker of his level operating freely who will choose violence at the drop of a hat was dangerous. Everyone agreed that he was dangerous.

But Taylor knew better. Techscav went out of his way to protect her. He blocked that bullet that would have killed her. He had known about the sniper but had not acted out because he enjoyed his near-anonymity. He broke that near-anonymity to end the threat to her.

It’s been a month and she hasn’t even said thank you, mostly because she couldn’t find him. She also didn’t want her identity to be leaked as well, so her search was slow. He never returned to the junkyard. He never visited her. He just … disappeared.

She still looked for him. Something in her said she should.

If only to say thank you for the lengths he’s gone.

… She hadn’t even done a tenth of the work she was putting in for Techscav as she did with her dad. Why was that?

She was asking herself a lot of questions lately, and the gentle thrumming of her heart every time she thought about Techscav didn’t make it any easier for her.

-VB-

She finally found him as April began, and she was half-tempted to call the world out on April Fools.

But no, he was there.

She slowly approached him, making sure she was doing so where he could see her. She didn’t want him to react negatively. Considering what he did with his tinkertech, she didn’t want to accidentally be on the other end of them.

He sat in front of a gray van and looked to be fixing it up … all the way out in the north of the city, past the Trainyards, and a bit of distance into the woods.

It was perfect for a Tinker like him. No one would look here to find a Tinker.

“Tech.”

He paused and looked up from where he had sat down to fiddle with a car part. He wasn’t wearing any mask. Was it to blend in? “... Taylor? What are you doing here?” he asked her as if his maskless state wasn’t even something he worried about. She read a lot about how parahumans did their stuff and masks were a big deal. The fact that he wasn’t saying anything harsh…

She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly.

“Looking for you. Also, mask?”

“... You control bugs. Can’t they track smell or something? Makes masks kind of redundant.”

She blinked. She did notice that some of the bugs were better at tracking than others…

“Nothing specific, I think?”

He snorted. “Why look for me?” he asked as he went back to fixing.

“To say thank you.”

He paused again before looking up. “For what?”

“You hunted down a villain who tried to kill me.”

He looked at her and then scoffed.

“He shot in our general direction,” he replied.

She hesitated a bit before walking over and sitting down next to him.

“So what are you doing?” she asked.

He grunted once before he began explaining. She sat next to him and just enjoyed the moment like she rarely did these days.