Scrap Metal Philosophy 13 (Patreon)

Scrap Metal Philosophy

Chapter 13

-VB-

If losing wasn’t enough, then Colin got lambasted for losing in such a public manner. Director Piggot was more than understanding; she saw what kind of damage Techscav had done and told him that “we’ll all do better next time.” It wasn’t his fault that he wasn’t a parahuman cape on par with Techscav.

That thought hurt.

No, the ones who attacked him for his failures were not the director or even the national branch of the PRT but the media and trolls. They riled up the people about how he was incompetent. They made baseless claims about his long service with the PRT and a lack of improvement. Some went so far as to suggest that he was “too old” to be a frontline hero.

He tried to ignore them, and Dragon helped by lending her aid in improving his gear and fixing some with remote tools, but the criticism did not stop, especially because of who was killed.

Director Piggot still went on raging rants followed by smug condescendence whenever Thomas Calvert was mentioned, and Colin felt the same way.

Not only did that man ruin the wider PRT’s reputation, there was now a sense of unease and disconnect between the PRT and the Protectorate.

‘What other PRT agent is a villain in hiding?’

‘What other PRT consultant works for villain and already sold the layout of the branch office?’

‘Who else is involved?’

‘Moles are here, yeah, everyone knows that, but it’s a little bit different when a villain comes to the PRT for their 9 to 5 job.’

On and on and on.

Thomas Calvert had unraveled a decade of trust built between the non-cape and cape members of the government, and some heroes were even suggesting that members of both state legislation and national congress had to be in on it - whatever it was - because more than a few moles had previously been identified as having received their job based on who they were connected to.

Colin … personally didn’t care. He had no time to care.

Even so, the debacle had hurt him, and he was not going to be handling Techscav with his previous kiddie gloves the next time he meets the Tinker.

That said, he had a problem right now to deal with.

The Empire was on the move. For a very long time, they had tried to get their hands on what little portions of Downtown the Protectorate and PRT could not always patrol, which was the area Coil had run with his Enforcers.

Now that area was devoid of parahuman presence, they were trying to muscle in.

Tried.

See, that area was also where Glory Girl frequented very often, so when they tried to move in despite knowing that, they obviously ran into her.

The problem.

Glory Girl was living up to her PHO nickname and rendered most of the Empire Eighty-Eight’s goons unconscious, bleeding on the ground, and with more than a few broken bones per individual.

Why?

Because one of them didn’t recognize Panacea in her civilian outfit and touched her.

The solution?

Stop her from actually killing any of the gangsters.

“Glory Girl.”

The blonde heroine paused and turned around. “What, Armsmaster?” she hissed.

Off to the side, Colin noticed that Panacea had a quickly darkening bruise on her left cheek and sat on the curb with someone holding her, probably her classmate or friend. From the look of the bruise and the scoff marks on her hands and her clothes, someone had slapped her hard enough to send her to the ground.

“If you kill them, then I will have to arrest you,” he replied. “Just let them go so I can make my arrests.”

Glory Girl gritted her teeth. Her fists, currently held around one particularly unlucky minion’s shirt, shook with anger.

“These fuckers,” she hissed as she turned back to look at the weeping minion who regretted his life choices. “Think that just because one of their own had some success against the heroes, they can suddenly act out however they like!”

Her yell silenced the packed street as her words struck true in many watchers.

Colin looked around and noted how many people looked nervous. Unsure. Anxious.

‘Ah,’ he thought. ‘It’s not just the trust between PRT and the Protectorate but between us and the public.’

This wasn’t something a few months of cooperation and anti-corruption scans could solve. This was a broken trust. It would not mend for years if not a decade. It wasn’t even Techscav’s rampage but the PRT’s corruption coming to light in an inflated manner.

Techscav had done more to damage the PRT than any single villain has done since the organization’s founding.

And Colin was reminded once again that he let it happen under his watch. He was the leader of the Protectorate ENE. He should have been on the look out for infiltrators. He should have been more vigilant.

With a sigh, he reached out and placed a hand on Glory Girl’s shoulder.

“Let him go. Both of his arms are already broken.”

With a shudder, she did as he asked and flew over to her sister to fuss over her.

Colin gestured over to the PRT agents on scene, and they quickly arrested the Empire gangsters.

This did not blow over like he had thought it might, but the gang war would come sooner or later, and he would be ready for it.