Scrapyard Angels Act 1 Chapter 11

The first thing I ever made with our new found Hextech crystal was a belt of all things. It was probably the most Zaunite thing I ever made but it was tiring having to touch the crystal constantly so I had it physically strapped to me. The length of the belt could be swapped out so I can use it to hold up any piece of clothing

Belts are extremely useful. Why, I wear no less than seven at a time. I had two belts on my waist and 2 belts on each leg to hold up my knee length socks and boots in place and one belt around my wrist. Those who don't know how useful belts are clearly haven't experienced having to strap things together or having something to hold objects on. It wasn't merely a fashion statement but a lifestyle

"You have way too many belts" Vi, the heretic, shouted as she lounged on the chair. Whump sat on her lap, sleeping peacefully

"Belts are kinda cool though" said Jinx on the other hand as she played with the tools we were slowly amassing. The twisted metal having been forced back to shape with liberal use of electricity and bashing them against the wall. They will never be precise but who needs precision anyways?

"This is the reason why Jinx is my favorite sister. Let me give you a hug!" Vi rolled her eyes while Jinx whined at my hug. She was just so precious

"Yeah yeah, at least Jinx knows who's her favorite sibling is right?" Jinx looked away after I pulled out a bun from my belt poach and handed it to her.

Vi clutched her eyes in mock pain as she looked at Jinx. "Jinx!"

"Wha?" Replied Jinx as she had quickly stuffed her mouth full of bread.

"As you said, Jinx knows exactly who's her favorite sibling" my grin was all for her to see

Vi apparently took that as a challenge. "Hey Jinx, is Ark your favorite sister?"

"Yup! He's the bestest! He even helps me braid my hair, play tea time with me, play with my do-!" I placed my hand in Jinx's mouth to keep her from saying too much but it was too late

Vi was laughing her ass off. She was bent over, wheezing while Jinx merely smiled. Whump was jolted awake by the guffaw and went off to lay down beside Jinx.

"Your such a girl Ark'' Vi wiped away a tear from her cheeks

"At least I don't eat like a pig"

"At least I don't use up almost all the water in the morning!

"Why don't we just collect more water anyways?" Asked Jinx

"Because the rats would start heading for our place" Vi and I replied. Leaving a lot of water around was just an open invitation for rats to come and find water to drink and those rats. I still shudder in revulsion at the thought of meeting them again

"Ok then" Jinx replied as she went back to tinkering. I tousled Jinx's hair. Her long locks flowing down her back as she tried to emulate how I kept my hair nice and long. Getting water for both basic bathing and drinking was a bit hard when you have a limited amount of bottle to keep the water nice and sealed

Pulling away, I went back to working on my belt. Just a few more things before it was ready

"I really need the belts though. You never know when you need them. Plus! I don't have to hold my crystal in place!" I lifted the large bulky belt up. It was made of alot of scrap metal but it helped connect me to the hex crystal that seemed to be attuned to me.

The belt had some primitive looking "sockets" which is just basically a place for me to jam copper wire to connect to the devices we've repaired. It was naked but magic didn't have the shocking properties of electricity even as it got conducted along the length of metal to what device we managed to salvage

"I don't know, seems kinda unnecessary? Then again, you did say that that crystal seems to work with you" Vi leaned forward and inspected the little device. She does have an eye for engineering and she helped me shape the metal.

"Think we can add a spool to help keep the wires neat?" I asked as I mentally pictured how the metal spool could help keep all the wires nicely packed in my belt.

While we tinkered with the simple device, the lights then started to dim noticeably. The lamp we had been using finally ran out of juice inside its simple chemical battery

"The light's going out! Do we have extra candles?" Jinx asked as she got up and started searching. She had been playing with some of the scraps, making a shark head from a broken plague rat trap when the lights gave out

"Umm, we don't have any here? Hey Ark, weren't you supposed to buy wicks?"

"No, it was you"

"Well we don't have any"

We all collectively groaned at the prospect of such a dark night. The lamp we bought back then was nice but it had only so much time left till it's spent.

Grabbing the offending thing, I tossed it in the pile of scraps. We really need a better source of light. It'll be a long time before I ever come close to making a light bulb

"Hey Vi, can you remind me that I have no work tomorrow?" I asked as the room slowly plunged to darkness. Magic was amazing when it comes to plants. The thing we used to make them bloom fasterz it seems kinda expensive though considering the guards they had posted while we applied them

"Eh sure" Vi replied as she slipped into our bed with Jinx in tow. I soon joined them and that night was another crystal filled dream

The night had been dark and quiet thanks to the lack of light. Sleep had come easy but the dreams came back again. It wasn't disturbing my sleep but there were just a lot of hex crystals in my dreams. There was also that familiar voice… an angry voice that was reaching out to me from the south?

I tucked in my sisters as I got ready for the day. A certain something just stays there behind the back of my head. I try to not dwell on it too much as I hitched a ride to work

I felt like I needed to remember something, something important. Was it something that happened in my dream or...

My train of thought was derailed as an explosion rocked the carriage I was riding on. The passenger screamed as the building beside us exploded into a fiery ball of green alchemic fire. Badly dressed and laughing hooligans came streaming out of the building, mildly singed yet looking fine despite the burns and soot covering some of them

Whoever they were, they were dead men as the Vereza men were going to respond to the insult. Nobody messes with a chem barons territory unless they have someone backing them or clearly insane and they might just be insane as they reached for their packs and huffed something from a canister

I wasn't able to see more as the carriage sped away, the driver clearly eager to get out of harm's way.

That was one way to start a morning. That was quickly left behind as I dropped off my stop and gave a mocking salute to the driver as I headed to the Cultivair.

Things have been a little charged lately. The way people traveled in groups, huddling together with some preferring to be in sight of the Vereza thugs and Vigilnauts.

"At least they aren't mugging us like those sump humpers. Ruining the day of us Entresol lads" whispered a group of factory workers as they passed by them. The symbol of the Vereza proudly displayed on their jackets and coats.

I couldn't help but agree. It was annoying how one can't feel safe walking in the alleys with these upstarts moving about.

Getting to the entrance of the Cultivair, I was greeted by a pair of Vigilnauts standing guard at the entrance. They were a new addition to the building. Tall, menacing with glass helmets filled with performance enhancing chems. Their faces was covered by this thick green fog inside their helmet making it hard to identify them at times

"Morning Tweedledee, Tweedlledum!" I greeted them as I hurriedly passed by them. I didn't like Vigilnauts a lot. Absentmindedly rubbing my side, I stepped inside to be greeted by screaming and buzzing.

I felt like I should have stayed home today as my boss rushed out of one of the doors leading to the door. There was a look of confusion before recognition washed over her face.

"Miss Carmen?" I asked as I peered behind her. Did I forget something?

"Why are you here? Didn't I tell you all that todays a rather busy day?" The woman replied as she tried to make herself a bit more presentable

"I might have forgotten?" I replied with a wry smile. Going to work had become ingrained into my body and the fact that they fed us and allowed me to bathe at times made the routine stick fast.

Looking at the door behind her, I asked "So did the bee's for the Vanilla plant get loose?"

It might have not been the brightest idea as her eyes narrowed at my words. Was it not common knowledge here? It was hard to pin the technological level of Runeterra as it seemed to be so advanced in some areas while lagging in others.

"How did you know about that?" She asked with a dangerous tone in her voice.

I swallowed thickly seeing how I landed myself in thin ice. "The Vanilla flowers are turning to pods this past month?" I wasn't all too confident with my answer but I can't stop bullshitting now.

"The Vanilla vine started making pods a few days after you told us not to come to the Cultivair and there's bees behind you so…"

The woman seemed to relax after that and sighed. "We weren't that secretive were we then?"

"Not exactly?"

"Have anyone told you you can be quite frank with your answer?"

"A few?"

She sighed as she waved me off " Well no matter. You were always the smart one among your peers as dumb as they are…"

I didn't know if I should feel praised or insulted but let her go on. You don't interrupt your boss after all

"As you can see, we're in a bit of a situation here". She gestured towards the metal behind her with the loud awful buzzing that could be heard even through the thick iron doors

"Those sound like a lot of bees."

"You have no idea" She reached for her forearm where a nasty welt was slowly rising. The dark stinger embedded in her chocolate colored skin was barely visible with how thin it was. She pinched on it and pulled out a big stinger whose length was similar to that of a rose thorn and dripping with a fluorescent blue venom.

"Do you need medical attention?" Venom shouldn't be even visible let alone glow blue.

"Oh no, nothing to worry about. Just a small sting, that's all." She waved off my concern as if she wasn't in pain. She was sweating a bit and a bit pale but nothing too serious I think?

"If you say so"

"Such a loss!" She shouted as she threw her arms in frustration. "I was going to add you to my list of personal assistants so you might as well know what happened. I also need someone to rant on because…" she screamed in frustration

"Hear those bees behind us? They're supposed to pollinate those vanilla flowers. We had to dose them with some chems to make them docile enough to have them do their work without the risk of them hurting us but somehow one of my assistants forgot to use it before they released them and so we're here" She ranted as I stood there

"Can't you smoke them out?"

"They're not normal bees"

"Forgot I asked then ma'am"

"They're highly territorial and aggressive and it's going to take some time for them to calm down enough that we can send someone in'' I nodded. Those stingers looked like they could punch through a lot of things

"But by then we'll have lost an entire batch of Vanilla! This was the last day to have them pollinated but damn my incompetent assisstants"

I hummed in agreement. That was pretty bad but… maybe I can take advantage of this situation. The lessons on the vanilla plant were a bit brief, the memories of the edible garden a bit fuzzy but I remembered how these plants were polinated. On one hand, you have bees. On the other hand, you have a toothpick

"Well… I've been keeping this for a while but I think I have a way to solve your problem ma'am"