Scrap Metal Philosophy 21 (Patreon)

Scrap Metal Philosophy

Chapter 21

-VB-

Oni Lee

“Oni.”

“Hai.”

He stood at attention at the call of his master and waited for his orders.

“You know of the bug hero.”

“I do.”

“Good. I want her disciplined.”

“... Permanently?”

“If it is necessary, yes. If she submits and leaves, then I don’t see why I have to permanently discipline her; she obviously knows better than to push. No, if it comes down to such a situation, then just leave a reminder for her to remember why a dragon’s nest should not be touched.”

“Hai.”

With that, he teleported out of the room using a small slit dug into the wall and into the armory. With precision and accuracy of a lifelong habit, he reached out and grabbed the tools of war necessary to - as Lung said - discipline a new hero who did not understand the hierarchy and rules of the bay.

Rule one of the Docks: do not awaken the dragon.

Rule two of the Docks: do not irritate the demon.

Rule three of the Docks: leave before you find yourself fighting either of them.

He latched the grenades to their places, slid blades into their sheathes, magazines into their pockets, confetti bombs, and guns to their places.

Normally, he would not prepare so much, opting to only take his blades and grenades, but he also knew that the bug heroine was not a simple foe like most brutes and strikers. Careful analysis of her actions and power showed that she had not only control, which everyone saw, but the senses of all of the creatures she controlled. If he were to fight her, then she might create dense blankets of creatures, which would limit his sight and thus his normal technique of teleporting to his enemies’ backs.

Such prodigious talent necessitated guns for this hit.

With his equipment all gathered, he left the armory without teleporting. He walked down the hallway, which did not exist on the blueprint of the building, and into a room with only narrow slits that showed the outside world using a series of mirrors. Instead of teleporting out immediately, he sat down on the only furniture in the room, an armchair, and waited.

After five minutes that he always took because that’s what he did because that’s what he was because because be be be be b b b-.

He pulled out his phone when he was back from blacking out and called Intel 7.

“{Boss?}”

“I need the location of the bug hero.”

“{She’s not out today.}”

“Will she be out today?”

Intel 7 was responsible for keeping their eyes on the bug hero.

“{She should in an hour.}”

“Very well. Contact me when you spot her.”

“{Hai.}”

He ended the call and sat sat sat sat sat -.

He was blacking out more frequently. Sitting still helped just as combat did.

Oni Lee… whatever he used to be … knew that he must have some neurological disorder. Why else would he be having these blackouts? Only adrenaline or relaxation reliably kept him stable long enough to have a memory of the times between blackouts.

So he yawned, having relaxed in this private sanctuary of his, and waited for the intel needed to carry out Lung’s order.

Oni Lee didn’t remember why he followed Lung. There was a … deal? He was beaten? He wasn’t sure. Not anymore. He knew that he remembered it a year ago, if only vaguely then, and had written it down somewhere, but both the location of the information as well as the details of his working relationship eluded him.

Lung was honorable, though. This he knew well. Whatever the deal was, his boss would carry it out.

TRRRIINNNGGGG.

Obnoxious.

Had it been that long already?

He picked up the phone and answered the call.

“Yes?”

“{The bug girl, boss. She showed up.}”

“I will be there.”

Hanging up the call, he stood up and looked at the mirror that would land him on a rooftop a block away from Lung’s main base of operation.

He teleporte-.

-d. He looked around. Yes, teleport was a success despite occurring after at least two consecutive blackouts. He looked around, found his direction, and moved again.

He telepo-.

-rted. He was right where he wanted to be.

And ag-.

-ain.

An-.

-d aga-.

-in. And a-.

-gai-.

-n. A-.

-nd ag-.

-ain.

He finally allowed himself to stop and looked over the ledge.

There.

He saw the bug hero, flaunting her power and disrespecting Lung’s authority in the Docks.

And he saw a bug in front of him.

Already, his window of opportunity was counting down. A quick strike, though, should do it.

He te-.

-leported behind her and -.

He grunted when he felt a kick to his stomach, and quickly teleporte-.

-d away. What was that?

He looked and saw her turning to look at exactly where he was on the ledge of the same building he teleported from initially.

Dangerous.

Very dangerous.

Quick to react, wide network of detection, and with enough strength to leave him gasping for air from a single hit.

She deserved his respect.

He quickly reached into one of his pockets and pulled out the confetti bombs. He pulled the pins and tossed them across the street, not down toward it, and watched them explode into thousand-plus colorful shredded papers.

Papers that he could teleport to.

He pulled the pins on a grenade and te-.

-leported. He dropped the grena-.

-de and teleported and dropped the gr-.

-enade and tel-

-eported and dro-

-pped the grenade and then telepo-

-rted back to the building.

He put the pin back into the grenade he held while the grenades he dropped as clones, all three of them, flew down.

Just before the clones turned to dust, the grenades exploded into a fiery white explosion that quickly became red and then black with smoke in the blink of an eye.

For a second, he couldn’t see the damage, which was not good for a visual teleporter like himself.

But when the bugs swarmed him, he knew that he didn’t succeed.

Worse, the bug swarm became so thick that he couldn’t teleport near her.

Remembering where he had been, he threw more grenades at her, these were real, and then ran to the other side of the building.

Only to be greeted by a Napoleonic soldier waiting for him.

“Naughty boy~!”

He felt multiple stings on his skin and everything quickly became a blur. He pulled at his knife, only to find it stuck… because the same soldier, a woman, the other hero that supposedly patrolled with the bug hero, had stopped him. When had she moved so close to him…?

“Nighty nighty.”

And then snap.

He felt himself collapse bonelessly. The darkness took over seconds after.

He failed.

-VB-

Taylor

OH MY GOD OH MY GOD ONI LEE JUST TRIED TO KILL ME WHAT THE FUCK AHHHHHHH!!!!!!