49. Kings and Liars under Ocean Tombs
Soft were the droplets from the high ceiling. Each patter signaled another drop's fall in tandem to synchronicity. Every footstep forward meant another drop slipping into the depths beneath. Lena could hardly look at the abyss underneath their feet; caged by only by thin tracks running along the ground. As expected, she was second in formation. Her breath was cold though her suit was humid. Too stuffy, even Tome was aggravated.
"Hmph, didn't expect them to send me on babysitter duty," the dragon grumbled. Tome's strides were larger than the other machines shaking the floor with each rumble; after he stepped the machines followed with gentle steps. Though the agent grumbled, his eyes were keen on his environment. His wings at full spread touched the ends of the walls. If he leaped the rock ceiling would meet remnants of vestigial horns upon his head. Stepping upon the rails themselves provided more support than the floor; they didn't shiver under his steps. "So why are you here again?"
Animosity behind slit eyes was focused on the one who cowered behind. But Lena held no resentment. The reason she was even here was due to him, "I've heard from a little birdie that rogue unit hired you to show you around town? I doubt you know this stretch of Mandaly," Tome prodded at the flame, "Or do you just want a firefight like Lucki so eloquently guessed," Lena's senses heightened. Her head rose to see Tome focused on the path ahead.
"Hmm? What's with that cold persona of yours?" Lena's eyes were lazy with the widest grin across her face, "Why are you trying to pretend to be some big tough guy?" her breathing stabilized with the swing of both hands. The fire inside continued to bloom. Seeds of destruction paved the route before her and her heart wanted to see them blossom. Now wasn't the time. They needed to fade, remain under chains.
"I- what?" Tome stopped in confusion causing the others to bump into him. He looked over his shoulder a bit dazed, "Where did that come from…?"
"Well for one, I still remember the night where you 'chewed out' me and Dynamo for being in the ruins near Giganto pretending to be a stranger," Lena recounted with a finger on her glass helmet, "Just for you to spin around and come whenever he needs you- like in the entertainment district," she reminded with no hesitation, "Now you're here because he called and needed some extra hands." her faint laughs were detected by the police units. The AI among them turned heads to glare at each other recording every instance of this conversation. The dragon lifted his left hand.
"Hmm," his eyes noticed their behavior. His fingers trailed across his neck and their actions ceased; he exhaled, "Fine. We know each other. So what?" The irritated Time trudged forward with a tantrum, "Oh what else did you find out? That I was born in Durigon? That the Dragnoks and Dysons have close ties and work relations as well with the Fu-Jinns?" he ranted on with sanctity knowing nobody else would hear his words. "Next you'll tell me that I don't like the Steelsworne."
Lena followed closely behind the beast more than before. Rhythm picked up and the droids followed. Questions raced to her mind over the silence awkwardness brought by the two of them. The Fu-jinns of Seigens was quite a talking point of newer days. And the legacy of the Steelsworne was quite a tragedy to witness, yet Tome's clan rejoiced where they failed. One question ruled over the rest however once she thought back to Lucki. Yes, she must have sent this dragon to her for a reason.
Lena took a deep breath and mustered the courage to quiz the dragon, "Okay I get it, pretty obvious stuff…." she responded to his last statements. A bubble formed in her throat just thinking of that man; that damned rogue unit with the dumbest of smiles. Such a stupid persona he wore, but Dysons wouldn't associate with any random idiot. "So, you're close with the Dysons, right?"
"I just said that, yes," Tome repeated himself in an angered tone, "I'm still pretty young for my age- well old in comparison to your guys' lives," the dragon went on a tangent, "Still hard to think you guys only live two hundred plus years- that's like a quarter of my dad and he says it was even shorter back then….anyways where was I going with this?"
"Oh right, I practically grew up next to Alexander and the Dysons," Tome continued to flaunt.
Though Tome moved on, Lena interrogated, "So in that case….tell me about Dynamo," her eyes narrowed, "He worked under them for a decade, right? As a servant?" the narrow walls carried words across their entire length; it wasn't as large as Tome made it out to be. He didn't stop once in his tracks, however. Rather his fingers which poked through his hydrosuit stroked and left scratches along his chin.
"Hmm, Dynamo huh?" the beast thought carefully of his words. The further he walked the clashes under his feet got louder in correspondence to the rain from the roof's stalactites. Of course, he remembered the night that unit appeared. Engines hummed with blood. Brought to his knees was Alexander Dyson upon his sacred name whispered; a name erased by the ages. Vulcan's last connection, that's what he called himself now."I know much about him, but not everything."
"If I'd have to say, when I visited the Dyson estate to check in on Alexander's kids I always saw him hanging around- before his decade of servitude actually. It was around the time Amelia was expecting Daedra and Grant," He slung his mouth up, shutting it in disgust once a droplet entered his mouth. Tome spat and stomped shaking the cavern. The PD braced against the walls with others climbing on the backs of others to form posts holding up the cave in their agent's rampage. They hoped fire and bile wouldn't bellow this time, especially for Lena who continually shifted behind Tome. Every step spared her from droplets of acid.
"Woah….lookout there…" she joked.
"Hmm, sorry about that," Tome gasped. His body needed the support of the wall to even stand. There was something in that droplet that left a metallic aftertaste, "Someone, take a sample," he snapped his fingers. With haste, vials were pulled from the legs of specialized droids collecting droplets from the ceiling. With their vials half-filled of a murky substance, they melted the tops with aid from their flares and twisted them shut. "What I was saying before...hmm"
"Well simply put it, he took the title of a servant after Lucki was born and became her handler giving him more privilege cause of his duties I guess. Living in their main home, being in their private chambers and on family outings- He was there when other's couldn't follow," Tome sprinkled deceit between his truths. His eyes and hands were too preoccupied leading the way forward. Searching the indentations in the wall and leaving his own trail as well. They were walking for maybe ten minutes by this point.
"But why did he leave then?" Lena hammered more questions. Her eyes locked where she walked and on Tome's tail swaying side to side. She wanted to step on the blunt end. The dragon couldn't care less what one did, he continued spearheading their movement.
"Hmm?" before an answer left his lips a scent hit his nose. It was an electrical signal, something was moving paired with the stench of war; oil, gunpowder's acrid scent, and lead soured the tongue, "Halt," his hand stretched behind. It was coming from the path in front. His ears were the first to pick up the screeches as well moving in a rhythmic beat. It was close. "Shit...all of you get to security-" by the time he pieced it together the locomotive came into sight.
Tracks. Railings. A ceiling and walls big enough for him to move freely in? This was a courier tunnel and the mobile slave came into sight signaled by a striking yellow beam. A black train rolled ever closer to them. Stocky in design with uncountable carts trailing behind of the same ebony coating. Puffs of smoke painted the roof from its exhaust as it came closer. Its wheels comparable to centipedes in amount all rolling in tandem with the next at an unstoppable paste. Tome reached out to stop the beast, but a second thought halted his bravery. The train's body was coated in something his scales couldn't handle.
A silver coating of fine needles with electricity bouncing through it; one prick and he'd be as good as dead. Tome bit his lip. He turned his back to the caboose, "Be quiet and make yourself small!" Lucki's main directive rocked his mind and words as he demanded of Lena. Before she knew it he scooped her up like a child, bouncing on his heels. He hopped using the ends of his toes to reach higher. His entire body braced tightly against the ceiling with his claws holding him in place and wings covered both him and the one on his chest.
Pain reflected in the dragon's eyes as the train's roof was painted in blood and scales. Down to the bone struts and sinew were stripped away….yet he got it easy. What overshadowed his pain were all of the police units. The tunnel was just wide enough for this train to move leaving very little in terms of an escape.
A fate which most met were the wheels of the train. To the sides they were pushed where tens of tons of force pummeled their frames as each cart moved onwards; each left the soldiers battered and bruised. To the autonomous, they held nothing to fear knowing they'd simply be replaced so jammed their bodies in an attempt to halt its movement. AI held no fear since it was inhibited; they grasped the walls and braced the carts as much as they could before shutting down. Of the few dozen police droids, not one survived. Oil painted the black train.
Yet the train did not cease, nor could it. A train such as this ran on perpetual motion and coal; technology only employed by Igniain. No matter the mess made by the scrap and oil now littered before it, the engine struggled onwards. It cracked and ground the bodies under and above, hitting the ceiling sending a shockwave forward before crashing back on the track forward. From his angle, Tome saw all it had to offer. Each cart held a glass roof revealing the contents. Weapons as his nose predicted. Bombs and guns, Rifles and robotic spare parts; gunpowder galore. It took five minutes for the train to even part.
By the time it vanished all that remained was despair. Parts big and small scattered throughout where they once stood whole; the oil and bones of inorganic beings littered the tunnel. Tome was cautious when his claws were unlatched. Immediately the bottom of both feet was dressed black, "Ah, now that one stings," being this deep in the ocean meant the air was rich in salt...not the best treatment for his wounds. "Watch your step."
Even in pain, he guided Lena off his body and right in the middle of it all. She didn't quake or falter in a field of organs, "That…..what the hell was that," Lena shivered. Death came from nowhere. Yellow beams made a path to tell. "Where did it come from? Where is it going?"
"To the front of the track….." Tome tucked his wings inwards, but that amount of blood couldn't remain hidden for long. "Just keep with the current expedition…we can't catch up nor am I willing to see who's on board," it was easy to deduce the cargo. What Tome studied was his safety over duty. Going back to that train now would only ensure him a battle, whereas carrying forward had slightly lower odds. "Don't look down, just continue forward."
He pushed Lena forward averting her from his own damage, "Hey, what about your own wounds?" she questioned. Of course, her eyes were on the train as well and the trail of red. Even as he walked along now in silence, one cannot hide the trail Tome left. Along the black road where drops continued to patter from the high ceiling.
Each drop was different than the next, all three tunnels experienced this the same. The one to the right of Lena and Tome, where Dynamo and the rest made headway of the same distance. This tunnel was similar to the neighboring ones, besides the claustrophobic nighmare it was. Wide enough for one person to struggle through; let alone the dozen police droids that followed after the three. Carnel lead the charge with Lucki in tow. Protecting Lucki from behind was Dynamo admiring the high ceiling and how often the stalactites dripped, "Hard to imagine we're a few hundred feet under the sea, huh?" he broke the silence. "Reminds me of the tunnels Ciel wanted to run under the sea and connect to Seigen!"
His boisterous laugh echoed throughout the confined space irradiating the halls with artificial joy sparking ire. His stomps were light on gentle terrain with fingers running against the walls, "Say that reminds me, did that big red lug respond yet?" his mannish tone didn't change as he reached over Lucki to poke.
Carnel was deep in concentration. Her eyes recorded every inch of the base they traversed. Down to cracks and possible secrets; anything to give this location a plausible explanation, "Cut that out," she pinched Dynamo's finger rattling her ear, "It was seen....no response given," the knight huffed.
"Huh? What he's too busy for the little guy now?" Dynamo spoke with sarcasm laced in his tone, "Some great guy he turned out to be,"
"Oh?" Lucki chipped up. Her hands removed Dynamo's forearm from her shoulder, "And you're any better than him?" she joked the same. A glimmer reflected off the ends of her fingers; fishhooks. Their tones held to haste nor caution.
"No, but-" before Dynamo's tangents could reach their peak Carnel's sharp gaze behind caught his tongue. A grunt left her throat. But it was a matter of steps until their silence was killed once again. Wires stretched from the left to the right under the floor grids; like hairs that blended in with the faintest glimmer prodding into the wall's base. When one's fingers passed upon the surface friction pulled back on certain aspects of the stone wall, "Camouflage?" Dynamo threw out suggestions. Once his head tilted left he found Carnel and Lucki's fingers already grazing the oddity. It traced all the way up and to the sides leaving a faint outline in black.
"Hidden door?" Carnel commented. Her fingers exerted force yet the object refused to budge. She clapped her hands and the PD hustled to her demands with a point, "Use a stunlock and pulse it, now," she snapped with each word. Carnel's hands perverse their way into the backs of the civil droids to find their compartments and retrieve the item herself. A simple contraption truly. In layman's terms, a collection of photons rapidly accelerating in a confined location until they break free in the desired direction. In this instance, the wall fell victim to a flurry from said light particles.
A white hum flowed through hidden features and detailed intricacies in the wall forming the door's face. The stunlock hit the ground with a thundering thud. Only a dark ring remained, "They took countermeasures it seems," Lucki was sarcastic to pointing out the obvious, "Oh to think they'd let their base be left open like the door we broke through, woe is me," with a twirl and elbow pressed against her forehead. Lucki jumped with the elongated beep. The walls of the door turned white.
Upon its side appeared a pad awaited a code. Nine keys were placed on the pad with cryptic symbols carved upon them; runes of a dead language. Each etch was rough and jagged, but the letters were legible enough, "Durigon script?" Carnel questioned the usage of a dead language, "What can you make of this?" her spear prodded the ridges of said panel to no avail. Another beep followed.
"I'd say you triggered a timer," Dynamo slipped under her spear to inspect. An unknown code consisting of symbols, letters, and numbers scattered in a random array. The beeps continued in sluggish pace, hastening ever so often while inspecting for any port to access. Anything they could use to break through was concealed on the other end of the wall, "Getting too many wrong combinations could set off a silent alarm, I'm assuming…" Dynamo theorized with his foot tapping the door. Time's stream ran oddly so deep. One couldn't hear his own thoughts over silence. "Well if they're gonna find us anyways!"
Dynamo pulled back his body. Weight bared on a singular leg transferred to another in a winding motion. A kick directly on the door shook the wall. The end of his heel slid through the wall like his blades would giving the foothold for his body to spin into resting position. Dynamo stood on the wall vertically and stomped cracking the surface. His third turned those hairlines into blowout fractures. Like an explosion in the side of a ship, the wall resembled a blown hull holding together by the seams of pointed, uneven ends. "Ah…..shit."
Water splashed on their first step in. Up to their waists with a chill, why would seawater be confined in a chamber like this? Light remained abstinent yet one could hear the whirs of fans and bubbles emerging from the floor. Very few features were noticed with what dim glows were present. And those light sources, oh were they interesting. Animosity behind eyes. The weak and the strong. Yellow and gold of predators meant to pierce the deep seas and their prey born to be kept concealed now hidden by night. Teeth and fins sharper than razors bounced and stretched craving the light. Gears freshly greased whirred with a power surge. Carnel's foot and spear overlapped Lucki's steps as the spearhead of the expedition.
Tensions were thin. Robotic soldiers geared to the teeth and daimon bearing theirs both waiting for the other to take the first strike behind every feint. Seconds were timeless with adrenaline's flow, "….has, anyone noticed anything strange?" Lucki whispered. Her feet swished the water sending ripples around the room and their forced entrance. The hole went under the water by a fair margin, yet the water remained in stasis.
"Umm Carnel? I think my sensors are busted…." Dynamo couldn't see anything within the room beyond what light showed. No heat sources. His tools revealed naught, nor did it plot shapes in the dark. He did not see, but he heard. They all heard. Laps in the water. Ripples from all around the rattling of chains and steels. All silenced with a clap.
"No, it's not," someone spoke, "Lights!" a snap rippled and the voice command registered springing lights into the chamber. The bulb right above Lucki's head activated first. Another clap and another bulb; an audience's worth of applause stretched the entire room over fifty meters across and half as wide. Though some rather lights remained off, mainly the inhabitants. Meat meshed behind metal reaching for what they wanted most. "I got word that someone broke in. I believed our security would've been faster- that and I didn't think you'd invade my privacy out of everything."
In the tunnel filled halfway with water had over a hundred cages awaited them. Many were on their sides completely submerged while others were stacked on them holding bipedal daimon. Aquariums were fused to the ceiling holding fish and eels irritated by proximity to the bulbs and the presence of daimons reaching for them. Repeated in incessant layers this scenario played out in the same room like a copy of itself played beside the original with another coat of paint. And there its director sat at the end of all the madness, his tone amplified by the confines. Shayu laid submerged to the nose. Fins rose from the pools. The PD rose their hands.
"I don't recommend that," Shayu's thumb pressed against the back wall; glass which separated their base from nature's soggy wrath, "It's thinner than you think," despite ironsights remained on him, trigger fingers were not. The only one whose finger rose was the contractor, "You. Here," Dynamo became his target.
The rogue unit snorted, "Aww, just say you like me already," Dynamo tiptoed closer. His act made every attempt to look at the room and not the director, "Would you believe that we're the housewarming committee?" he mused, "But I don't think we brought enough snacks for your pets, how many do you have here? Two? Three hundred?" rough numbers continued scaling with the sheer amount of exotic creatures. Sharks with limbs, eels like stone, fish the consistency of seaweed, and even plants who mimicked predators who could be called Draglion's doppelgangers. "Quite the pretty penny you paid."
Shayu's faceplate remained inanimate from the schpeal served, "If you resold one of these I'd say you could make....twenty million drams on a lowball," Dynamo was halfway across the room when the contractor's second hand rose.
"That's far enough," Shayu warned. Between Shayu's digits lied a remote, "Anyone moving an inch and everything in this room dies."