27. Twilight of Silver-wrapped Doom

Night after night, day after day. Everything changed but nothing mattered anyway. Ports grew corroded with the crowds thinning by the hour, half took residence in the Elias foundation now with a priest over their shoulders uttering prayers to the lonesome. Assistance from Himmelboren came, medical staff who were experts in their field. Round the hour were their shifts that held no end in sight; truly a thankless sacrifice.

Another afternoon came again where children ran and paraded sounds of joy. Mothers called their curfews bringing their adventures to an end with the safety of home. For children, rest came, but to adults, this was just the start. Wilson sat near the dinner table slurping iced oysters out of there shell, squirts of lemon, and a bit of red sauce was just the kick they needed. Opposite to him was his niece, too busy researching with their neuragear to consistently eat. A caretaker always knew the face of worry when they saw it, "Say, that friend of yours stopped by earlier," Wilson tried his best-hushed tone. He stammered and caused oddities in volume, but the sentiment was there. "Never seen a machine shuck so many oysters- then again I've never seen a robot eat anyways."

"Said something about a second engine, didn't understand what he was blabbering about," he spoke without realizing his words went on inattentive ears, "Maybe robots back in the day needed a backup…." gradually Wilson's words were zoned out as she focused on the research Dynamo asked of her. Locating all of the entrances to the Destria ruins closest to the Mandaly ports. Very few pieces were ever written on the matter, history didn't document it well either. Either they clashed stating some were hoaxes or stated that many feigned ignorance by calling them fabrications.

"Ugh, come on," before heating to an unbearable point she swallowed a dozen of the shellfish down before gasping for breath. Out of twenty pieces, only three entrances were correlated with each other out of dozen speculated locations. A known one on the coral beach, another supposedly hundreds of meters below, build along sea cliffs with a third closer to the north than anything. Rubbing her temples and focusing on the central plate eyes fell on her uncle's look of concern. "Hmm, is something wrong?"

"No it's nothing," a pained smile stretched across his face, "Just make sure you're okay," he pointed an oyster shell at her causing juices to fly over, "Oops," lemon stained her top.

"Don't worry about it," she had more to change into, but later. With the compilation made she stepped out to make a call, "Be right back," Lena signed to her uncle before exiting to the backyard. The grass grew too long again with dust accumulated. Her finger rested on her head as she dialed her partner's id. It pinged. "Hey, it's me, how're things on your end?"

"Nothing suspicious on my end yet," Dynamo responded quick, "Carnel ran through these Himmel doctors and they're in the clear, she's surveying the outside and I'm keeping the interior right now. Did you find anything?"

Lena scratched her head. Hours amounted to a few pages, "Not much yet, I'll continue digging for now, but there are some things of note," she made laps, cautious to not step in her traps. Lucki's message came to fruition. If she's right, they needed to be extremely cautious.

"I hired Strider and Tome to bring some gear over, if I'm right they'll be here at midnight for the most part," he informed of their extra support before hanging up. Oh boy, if that Dyson was correct, they'd need much more backup. Mandalay was in disarray, Zenith poked fangs bringing mayhem with a single solider. To weaken the district any more than it meant currently doom for all inhabitants. And a single location would topple the stack of cards.

Carnel sat on the foundation's roof. Spear in hand with a small army of swarm knights that followed her platoon. Each held gaping mouths of jagged teeth and spiny features; a prototype batched based on schematics she drew up. Just looking at them made Carnel sick as it reminded her of the inspiration. Miniature versions of her but with that man's imprint on them. She remained vigilant guarding every side, her processor computed multiple processes at once. The one which she focused on was reliving her storage banks of that night a few weeks ago. Under the secret tunnel where Dynamo spoke the truth.

He guarded the interior, along in the closed sector with new robots from Himmelboren doing their tests in hope of a breakthrough. Capacity was met their limits causing other Giganto grown medics off the job; few continued to operate such as Patrick who shuffled through victims by the minute. If a reporter got their hands on this they'd definitely freak out half of the population. Dynamo felt queazy looking at one, let alone all. His back pressed against the wall in the furthest chamber.

Himmelboren doctors continued leaving and coming from the room behind him, seeing he held permission a change in view suited the situation. Within the walls was an emergency laboratory set up on the spot with tools brought. Contraptions of white to match the sterile environment devoid of much in every size; a unit operated each. They paid no heed to the rogue unit with folded arms. Boredom brought the unit to play through days gone by, a time where Carnel lived beside him in those laboratories...oh how foolish was he not to see the big picture upon the eve of creation.

"You," a finger's snap drew him out. Dynamo faced the doctors before him, "You're a combat shell are you not?" their monotone voices were pitched oddly. Patrick bolted through the same in their puffy suit gasping for breath.

"Where-is it!?" he was in disbelief. That table where all gathered had a unique microscope. Three lenses larger and three optics focused on a petri dish of silver, "Hey….Dynamo," Patrick's voice quivered at his turn on the scope. Gently he zoomed in past what their equipment could manage. Secrets written in a realm beyond nanoscopic became victims to his mortal gaze. "Do you have a magnet?"

"Huh?" Dynamo dug into his chest compartment for the spare; his battery was kept in place by a magnetic field. With the desired tool slid across the table their guts dropped.

"No…." Patrick backed away from the scope, "This can't be...there's no way they're too small…" the fool almost toppled with the rest of units. Whispers of sending word to their maiden came alive. Murmurs of this would ruin the country and set the world ablaze on the sparks of war. "Ah...no no no…"

"You," Dynamo was the first to pick Patrick up to his feet, "What's with you lot? The virus mutated again or something?" each shook their heads with adamance. Something far worse reared their heads.

"You don't understand…..I didn't understand," Patrick continued to chew his words, "It never evolved or changed in the first place- we only believed that….but that wasn't it…"

"That's not a virus, Dynamo…those things are…."

Despair had crept silently into the country again. Not a soul realized the calamity those bodies truly brought, not even Dynamo thought they were so far gone. Strings were being pulled that they couldn't even hope to imagine from lands that the sun didn't touch. Thousands of devils waited in the shadow of every corner. Every eye lurked on the neck of Gottenfall's ruler, the man who renamed the country. But were they focused on his head?

Answers encrypted in deceit meant nothing. Dynamo panicked with words reaching his ear attempting to recall Lena. He was already halfway across the city. He expelled gas from every corner of every limb, bouncing on the sides of towers and roofs on the path home. Glass cracked under the pressure, and bits crumbled like the weight on his shoulders. A fire in his eyes hoping not to see this place turn into that one. Atomized death that ate the land and boiled the sea. The very thought of the former port city made his hatred for dwarves burn ever brighter."Fischgrab."

"Hey? What's up?" Lena responded in haste. "I found-"

"The entrances, where are they!?" he demanded from the top of his lungs. His stride continued with a vengeance.

"The Destria entrances? Where are you," Lena could tell something was up.

"Middle of Mandaly, where's the closest to me?" She ran through her footnotes once more, there were two near him.

"There's supposed to be a sunken one under the depths," she spoke quick, hastening her materials for another firefight, "Another one is the one on the shores, that should be closer if you're headed to the coral beach."

"Alright...so my shortcut is correct," no elaboration as he hung up. Swinging over the peaks and thrusting over the heights. Homework was done on the underground schematics of this city. The roads followed the ruin paths mostly and making a scene in public would be a death sentence for sure. Many buildings sat on the network as well, the closest one in front of his eyes. The commission of trades building. But a few hundred feet away, he ceased his flow to cool his internals. Gas oozed from his every inch by just standing, "Hoping that bastard brings my uranium soon," another step forward. Red flashed. He leapt forward.

Wings whirred with the being that appeared along wisps of clouds. A starman glowed within the red cloud blooming from their back, "I'm on the mark aren't I," Dynamo's reserves were half depleted from his flight. Bulging eyes and ivory teeth were the only things the starman saw blasting around him. He was still faster. A kick predicted from behind, it flew far up. Dynamo fell on the tower's roof below. Not a far drop but sizeable from the opponent. Red hot rays rained down. Both predicted their foe. Dynamo tried his hardest but these things wouldn't allow him in their proximity. Another factor was those rays he needed to dark between. "For god's sake- here then!"

Wrists aimed at the heavens after his next fall. Pressure built in his palms for a radioactive storm. But he didn't fire the weapon. Seconds before there was a flash behind the starman that went unnoticed. A claw from the dragons. One swipe blinded the starman, forcing it into confusing and turning to meet the attacker, "This thing running you for your money? Christ, dementia is getting to you then," joked the savior Tome. The unit spat more of those rays to meet one of a dragon's best traits. Adaptability. A minor drone such as this couldn't hope to muster as much force as Zion did long prior. No skin off their teeth. Before Tome could prod at the helpless gnat its head swung to the side.

Its shoulders broke from a bullet. Through their shoulder and their skull the same, forcing the being to descend and almost crash into Dynamo, "Phew, thought you were gonna ramble forever!," Dynamo faced the roof nearest to their right. Veles smoked with Strider gripping the camouflage switch, "So those are the starmen I heard so much of."

He walked upon the air, "Don't seem too tough if you know where to aim," Strider wiped the end of his weapon in monologue. A faint glimmer faced as Dynamo kicked the glowing body in the air, "These are the things that gave you issue the other night?"

"Man, you're past your prime," Tome smirked. He swung with the might of mountains at the closing carcass. One last uppercut sealed the body to the skies. To the passerbys, they witnessed a firework followed by a dragon's flame to the dead.

"Shut it with that already," Dynamo returned to face his goal, hand on his head attempting another call. It pinged immediately, "Hey, are you in right now? I have a request…." he asked of the local Dyson.

...

"Umm…...so let me get this straight…" Lucki. held her head, recently awoken from slumber with a barrage of notes from her knight. The four stood on the basement floor of the tower, "You want to access the Destria lines under here by digging through here?" Foundational damage aside, the depths were perhaps fifty meters deep laid in stone. "I sense many flaws in this plan…but go ahead."

"Umm...I'll send a cheque from the forge to cover the damages," Tome scratched his head, though Lucki would rather have it come from Dynamo's pockets. While both discussed payment in the corner of the small room, Strider placed his palm on the middle.

"Okay, your time to shine," a deep breath released all restraints. Hungry bugs left his palms and tunneled through the path below. Millions of mouths that ate mountains bare nibbled on the granulates of rock leaving only a giant hole. Tiny chirps made a cacophony in the echo chamber of vermin never to be full. Eating to fuel their next bite and burning energy every step, that was the cost of perpetual destruction. Silver filings wavered around leaving metal stains; the only sign those things were even here. "You sure they're down there?"

Dynamo nodded, accuracy behind his eyes the entire time, "If they're not. Then search the town, secure the perimeter." no shred of doubt remained. The bugs consumed quicker. Soon they reached ten meters. Twenty and thirty followed in the coming minutes.

After ten minutes there was a crack. Light streamed from the well. Caution was secondary, Tome flapped down, followed by the Ballistic unit and the sniper. Hungry bugs flew to their master with blinding white enveloping the trio. Heroic as their deed may have been in the eyes of all who viewed inwards….their timing was the worst.

Inches off the ground Zenith surrounded them.