Scrapyard Angels Act 1 Chapter 15

For every technological achievement in history, there's at least a hundred failures behind it. Every tech had to go through several testing and prototyping before one could achieve some viable results. If I was to unlock the secret of my accidental discovery, I had to work tirelessly on it

Currently, I decided to test out just how much it could lift. Reproducing the results of my accidental discovery on a bigger piece of metal needed some trial and error but it seems the monopoles can only be made from iron and steel. Weird magical laws but hey, Magnets are made out of Iron and some other metals which I do not know.

Whump chittered happily, almost laughing as Mr Floofington stood in the center of our room. He was rather twitchy, fidgeting a lot while glancing over to Jinx

He stood on all fours while a harness with a crude metallic wing was attached to his back. There were exposed wires everywhere. There on the bottom of the pack was a long thin copper wire that will hopefully break if it shot up way too fast. He was also given a crude helmet for safety reasons. I had to give it to Jinx, she made it look decent compared tl my orignal sheet metal design experiment

"You can do it Mr Floofington! Believe in yourself" Yes Mr Floofington, believe in what Jinx is saying. Your baleful glare will only make this worse

"You really don't like him dont ya?" Vi asked as she looked amusedly over at our little experiments. I turned towards her before tilting my head

"Whatever made you say that? I like Mr Floofington" He's the perfect test subject after all. Turning back to my experiment, I rubbed my hands eagerly as I begin the experiments

"I mean, just look at your first experiment" She gestured at the sack of bricks and the crack at the roof.

"That was why we had to do test without live subjects"

"You almost had Whump strap to that" I gave Whump another Puffcap. I was running low on the stuff and might need to go harvest more of it down at the lower levels

"Well I made precautions this time and I'm regulating the amount of mana I pour into it"

"If you say so. Just don't come back to me when you get yourself electricuted or something"

"Aww you do care! Come here" I walked over her as she scrambled back as she waved her hands with threat of violence

"Don't you dare!"

"Less kissing, more experimenting!" Jinx shouted impatiently, looking eager to see her creation fly as well. She made the designs, I made the stuff. I ruffled her hair as I turn back to my stuff

"Test run on Monopole wings beginning in Three! Two! One!" With a pulse mana, Mr Floofington started to float. It began slowly as if an invisible hand pulled at the wing in Floofingtons back. The rat scrambled for

purfaches on the ground as he was lifted up in the air. He struggled mightily, chittering angrily and probably cursing me and my ancestors, until he could no longer hold on.

"He's flying! He's really flying!" Jinx shouted as she circled around Floofington who was on the verge of panicking.

"Well at least we know that my magnets could hold up Floofingtons weight" I held onto the line and carried Floofington around like the world's ugliest balloon. Everyone was happy but not Floofington.

"Now we should discuss the landing strategy"

"Landing Strategy?" With Jinx's question, Floofington went into full panic mode afterwards

I held back a smile as I stared at the growing fruit in front of me. It took several days but once the flowers fell off and the pods began growing, it was clear that almost the entire flowering batch was fertilized.

Standing beside me was Miss Carmen who inspected the plants in front me with barely concealed wonder.

Rows after rows of vanilla vines with tiny developing pods. It was one thing seeing it in pictures and another to see a whole garden of it up close.

I couldn't help but feel happy at how things was going but the decision still rest upon the Veraza's if they see me as a worthwhile investment

Schooling her features, she nodded as before gesturing me to follow her "Come on Mr Arc, there's someone who wants to meet you"

I swallowed nervously as I followed her closely. The Cutivair I worked one wasn't just one single cultivair but a collection of them. 6 cultivairs arranged in a hexagon with a central tower at the center. Mazes of corridors and tunnels spiral around the the various Cultivairs allowing for easy access to anywhere if you know where you were going

Now, we were walking up various flights of stairs and passing people I haven't even met before. Their judging stares made the walk rather uncomfortable. I resisted the urge to wipe at the the oil and grease in my shirt as it would jsut be useless

Finally after what seemed like a dozen stairs, we reached the top of the main tower. The windows by the side of the room showed the various domes of glass below. They looked like giant steel bird cages from up above.

"In here Mr Ark" Miss Carmen reminded me as she held the door to the only room atop the tower.

I walked towards the door as she opened it and entered inside. A dark, dimly lit exterior greeted me inside. The dark wooden furnishing adorning the walls was decorated with designs inspired from plants but mostly flowers. Books of various kinds lined the walls with titles that escaped me. Vases and stutrs from the various cities sat in displays for all to see. All of this was illuminated by the yellow light of Chemtech lamps lining the walls.

The display of wealths showed the disparity between the common Zaunite to the rich Barons. They own all the cards and we just had to play by their rules.

"Ahh the man of the hour, Mr Ark was it?" Replied a familiar voice. My eyes focused on the figure behind the massive mahogany table near the back of the room. Her short stature, the dark skin with barely any wrinkles and the fine silken white hair on top of her head made her an unmistakable figure to anyone that worked long enough in this part of the town.

"Madam Corazon! Good morning" I hastily gave a respectful bow to the Veraza matriarch.

Beside the woman was a short girl who was right around Vi's age. She looked like Mrs Corazon's mini me but way younger and with curly black hair. The look of disinterest on her eyes was more apparent as she looked around in boredom with eyes passing over me as I sneaked a glance

"Enough groveling. You and I both know that it's nothing more than useless pleasantry" I straightened myself up and gave a nod to the woman

The smile on her face didn't make me feel any more comfortable around her considering who she was. "So, you're the little girl that's causing all this fuss, hmm?"

I bit back a retort as I just nodded along.

"I'm going to be honest with you girl, what you did down there might just be revolutionary so why, why only show us this method. You could made a bidding war over this but you chose us"

Why? "I took a leap of faith Madam. Out of all the choices, you had the best track record. Even factory workers wear your sigil" The Veraza's took care of their workers. As much as they also control their territory with violence, at least they hold a carrot on the other hand

There was silence between us as the inhabitants of the room stared at me. Sweat started dripping down my brow as her eyes bore into me. Even the mysterious girl besides her focused on me

The corners of Madam Corazons eyes crinkled as she started chuckling, her laughter echoing in the room until it was a full blown laughter.

"I couldn't believe that Singed was right about someone. He's not really a peoples person you see" She laughed, wiping away a tear from the corner of her eyes

"You might just be either the most daring or foolish person I have ever had the chance of meeting and we both know which one of you are Mr. Ark" I was the biggest fool of them all but I also like to think I'm a risk taker. A foolish risk takerx what a horrible combination

"You choose well Mr. Ark. You have Moxie kid and I like that. Lets see if you're actually worth the time" Madam Corazon reached for something beneath her table before pulling out several items; a letters, an envelope and a small poach.

I could hear the clinking of coins from within the poach as she pushed the three items towards me.

"Written within this letter is my personal recommendation to the College as well as the proof of the Veraza's backing.

Congratulations Mr Ark, you just earned your chance to be a researcher for the Veraza family"

I could scarcely believe it. Walking closer to the table just to be sure. The letter there ok the table had the seal of the Veraza boldly stamped on the smooth surface of the vellum. It was all I needed to see to know that I had official backing from one of the powerful families of Zaun.

She gestured for the girl beside her to fold the the document and insert it inside the envelope

I watched numbly as the girl poured red sealing wax over the seal before stamping it with the Veraza rose. There was a breif glow beforr something malicious wrapped around the envelope

"Just your standard curse. Prevents talentless clerks from tossing away letters of recommendation. We experienced those enough times to make these specifically. You should have seen them dance" The dark toothy grin in her face made me shiver in fright

"I won't let you down, I promise" I already wasted enough chances on one life. I won't let it happen on this one

She gave me a snort of amusement before waving me off "Carmen dear, take him back down to the workers lounge"

I was given the letter and the poach before being guided back down. Just before I got out, I caught a brief instance of conversation between Madam Corazon and the mystery girl. "Now this is why we treat our workers fairly Corina"

Corina's POV

"Now this is why we treat our workers fairly, Corina" Said my great-grandmother. I knew well enough that you can get more out of a horse with a carrot than a stick but a sponsorship?

"Grandmother, do you think it's a bit too hasty giving this boy such a thing? Also, do you think it's a bit too… juvenile for you to joke about his gender?"

"What? It's not my fault he's making it too easy and you'll understand why I act like this when you get to my age" I shivered at the thought of growing so old and wrinkly

I just nodded along before asking once more. "We could have saved money if we just killed him off. We already hd the family intelligencer just waiting for your signal"

The sight of the end of gun just barely sticking out of a painting still made me shiver at times

"We could, after all it's not exactly uncommon for one hit wonders to come from even the most unexpected of places"

"But you didn't"

"No I did not"

"But why? The records showed he had no educational background, nothing."

"Corina, consider this. A boy who barely worked in the garden for several months managed to not only figure out something, which took as more than a year to steal, just from various circumstantial evidence but also give his own novel solution to one of our problems all the while having shown no tangible evidence that he worked for another garden or was the assistant of a Horticulturist"

I had to give the boy credit where its due. "So he's merely has a green thumb"

"And there's his clothing dear"

"His clothing?" I tilted my head in confusion. "It was oil stained and had grease marks all over it. Probably from his own hands thanks to the size of his fingers"

"Exactly. Plants might not be his only interest. If Singed was right and my own gauge is true then we might just found ourselves a very interesting researcher"

I was quick to apologize for my oversight "I'm sorry grandmother, I didn't mean to be so quick on my judgement"

"That's why I brought you here dear. You need experience and one of our relatives might just help you in that. The rare plants of Runeterra could only extend my life so much" The reminder of her mortality dampened my mood a bit

"Of course grandmother. I assume that I'll be here as well to watch over your latest investment?"

Grandmother gave a nod. I prenned at her silent compliment only to be flustered by her thanks to a comment

"Who knows Corina, maybe he'll be your relative if he proves to be extraordinary. He could very well be your husband!"

"Grandmother!" Why must I have such a teasing grandmother? Well, it's not like the boys ugly or anything. He looks rather cute in the girlish way

"Enough teasing for now then and let's get back to business." I nodded as I straighten my posture and standing in attention

"Some whippersnapper's getting a bit uppity around my territory. I may be old but I'm not blind to a challenge. Young Marvin might have fallen for this mystery baron's tricks but not me!"

"What are we going to do about it grandmother?"

"War dear, we will have war." It seems that my stay here in the Entresol wouldnt that boring after all. With a cute boy to look at and a warnon the horizon, my days will be rather interesting.