Clockwork Causes-Hey I updated again!

[Keldoth Wolfram Dekel]

A short story I came up with and I have been working on for the past few days. Here's the stuff I have done, probably about 1/5 of it or so.

For now, my other story is on break, I won't be updating it probably until this is done or I fancey writing it.

I'm going to try having a new bit of this once a week, but forced schedules tend to lead to me growing bored of whatever it is I'm reading, so look for it every so often.


The gears tumble and click in a great dance without known meaning or end. It is a room, though not what polite society may consider one. Rooms are supposed to have walls that can be seen from any given point in the room. This was far too large for that. Filling the room were gears, great, metal, clicking things in an interconnecting web stretched throughout, like one was within god’s grandfather clock. Some are massive, entire city blocks long. Others are less than a palm in diameter. Its purpose none know, it’s far too old for that, but the gears have always been.

One figure moves among them. Her form moves with them, follows their ebb and flow, her great ragged brown cloak, stretching to her knees, moves with her. Her black hair goes only to her shoulders, and it flows with her movement. Her hair frames a pale face and a pair of green eyes. Metal replaces the skin on her cheekbone. Her name is Ella. She is a Clockwork
She traverses gear to gear, swinging from line to line. She rides a gear as it turns, till she reaches where it meets another gear. She crouches and springs into the air, legs assisted by the gears built into them, body arching catlike. She clears a good 20 feet until she meets the face of a massive gear. She digs her metallic fingers in, claws as much as fingers, and slows the 50 foot drop down.
She lands on another gears shaft that leads to the wall. This one was still now, but no telling how it would be soon, in the constant sameness of the gears, there was constant change. The scurried along it on all fours, it was little wider than she was. Finally, she met the wall.

There was a ramp along the wall that lead to the top, built by her people to make movement easier here. She scurried up it, driving her claws in as she went. It was too steep to walk up, one had to climb. Finally, she reached the top, and looked at the indicators of area.
Without warning, a blade scythed out of the wall at stomach level from an opening. She saw this and threw herself back, flipping in the air, and lading 20 feet down the ramp. She drove her claws in, prompting a shower of sparks as she skidded to a halt. It was the way of the gear rooms. Not even those that lived and worked within them understood them. She crawled the way back up, her clawed black boots driving her the rest of the way up. She wore pants under the cloak, hard to see. Her shirt was a white button up dress shirt under the cloak along with a simple red vest.

She claws her way back up and once again checks the markings. Red Gamma Two. Perfect. A hallway broke off from the narrow ledge she stood on, and she ran down it. The walls around her were more gears, a clicking filled the air, but as she ran down, it progressively changed to pipes and gauges and valves. Steam filled the air. This was zone that was still untaken back from the Steam. Neither side had held it long enough for their engineers to remake it in either system. She came to a grating in the ground and looked down, to see men armed with rifles and dressed in furred coats and hats with hammer and sickle markings on them.
Alright, got to wait for the rest of the squad. They should be down on the other end of the hallway in 78 ticks, she could judge time by the ticks of her heart, The reports were true it seems, they’re moving in th- her thoughts were cut off as the grate she rested on, large as it was, broke in, bring her down with her.

“Shit” was her only word. She had fallen right into them. Before she even hit the ground, she had her chainblade in her hand, a sword with a spiked chain driven by gears as the blade. The men yelled out and started.
She brought her foot around from her crouch to the leg of the nearest, there were 5 in front of her in reach, and she heard his knee snap. He went down. She grabbed the next by the throat and tossed him into two others, bringing them down. Gripping her blade in two hands, nearly as tall as she, she brought it around in an arc that took out those three as well as the standard one.
This all went well and good, until the 20 others behind her brought their guns up and readied at her.

Crap.

Ella belted down the open walkway in the other direction, this one filled with pipes and valves. Shots rang out behind her, with the hiss of steam as the guns let off. Bullets whizzed by her head, leaving her alive by inches. She came to a bend and took it, only to find herself at a dead end.

She readied her sword. If this was going to be it for her, it was going to be it for a [censored] load of them.
She heard the clacks of their boots as they came towards her. Then one independent click as a small cylinder, no less that the size of her hand, rolled around the corner.
[censored]!
Out of a hole in the top, steam was spilling out with a hiss. It became so thick that she couldn’t see. She coughed on it, as the men’s footsteps slowed, their visors able to help them see. She was doomed.

She backed into the corner and waited the death that was coming.

Suddenly, she heard the fast click of running men, coming from the hallway, the sounds of metal hitting flesh, and screams.

What she couldn’t see was the member’s of the Hatter’s Company she was to rendezvous with coming down the hallway behind her as the men pursued her. Neither did the Steam riflemen. In their black cloaks and hats, ranging from top hats to bowlers to fedoras, they fell upon the unaware soldiers with quite blades in the steam. The riflemen had no clue.

Footsteps advanced on Ella, and she swung her blade out at whatever stood before her. It knocked against a blade, which pushed back, pushing the back edge of her sword into her chest and her into the wall. The smoke cleared, and in an unbuttoned suit, white shirt, and knee length trench, Hatter himself in his black fedora with a white stripe, simple blade in hand, only about three feet, even with the leather wrapped handle. He liked it better, felt it didn’t end the fun as quick.

She grinned to match his, even with the blood as his face. “Ya old [censored], don’t scare me like that.” She kicked him square in the stomach throwing him back to the wall.

He removed his hat that sat on top of his black hair that fell to his chin. He grinned even more. “Now now Ella, what am I always telling you? Don’t be so reckless! You must always wait for the unit!” his voice thick with sarcasm.

“That’s what I’m always telling you! The [censored] grating broke. Never once in my life has a grating broke. Shoddy Steam work, I’m guessing. I’m shocked their guns even work. Thanks for the save man,” I really had gotten lucky.

“Think nothing of it,” he said, strolling down the hallway. “The pleasure is all mine…. Well, actually I assume the pleasure of being saved was all yours, BUT the pleasure of stabbing Steam-punks in the throat was all mine.” He flicked his clawed right hand and droplets of blood flew off into the wall, running down to one of the 20 dead bodies around us. This one was not lucky enough to keep his eyes in the fray.

The Hatter was a born killer. He loved it, he killed to live and he lived to kill. This would have been an issue…. If he wasn’t in an army that said everyone that isn’t like us must die.

“Alright Hat, let’s get back to HQ.”

“One moment dear,” he removed a bird of steel and metal from his belt, rotated the wind up key on it’s back three times, rotated a gear twice, and removed the key. The bird came to life, and flew off back to HQ. It was set to return there and click out that the unit had been found. “Boys!” he said.

His men were playing with one remaining Steam soldier. They had cornered him, and now were tormenting him. They fained attacks, cut up his arms, and threw him about. With the Hatter’s cry, one drew a long knife out and slit his throat, leaving him there to die.

Hatter’s company was one of killers. Every murder and war criminal was sent in it, trained, purposed, until they were ready. It would have sickened her, if they weren’t directed to only kill those against them. It’s not like the Steam Soldiers were people. They bled and they cried, but they were not people.

They moved among the gears back to the base.


The HQ was a giant fortress, with great walls three times the size of a men, made entirely of stone and metal. It was one of the many forts of the Clockworks. It rode on a gear, remaining in the perfect center of the top through a series of tracks that drove it forward in perfect time with the gear. It’s building shot straight into the air, gleaming a white silver, with windows that looked out beyond into the tower below. It was as large as a town, a fortress filled to the brim with Clockworks and their weapons of war.

Ella and the Hatter entered and moved through corridors filled with moving soldiers, getting ready for whatever the next part of the war would go to. They entered a room where one table sat in the middle. It was the war planning room.

Askew on the table were documents and plans. This was the advent of months and months of planning. Something big was about to go down. That Ella knew.

The room was ringed by people of all rank. Privates to Generals, but most bore medals of service and duty. It was the best of the best of the Clockwork army, hell, more than the army.

The Clockwork force were broken up into a variety of forces and roles. There were no civilians, what you did in your free time was none of their business. You want to grow food, go ahead.

The most prominent is the army. They encompass the brute of the force. They are soldiers trained to fight in the wars against the Electrics and Steams. They also encompass the armored division of the forces, who use the walkers and mechs.

Then there are the Killers and the Movers. They move among the gears as Ella does. The Killers are assassins, taking down a target and getting out of there. They are skirmishers. The Movers are scouts, they gather information on targets, and are the fastest of them all.

Finally, the sparest of the Clockworks, the Techs. They are technicians and engineers. They build the weapons of war, convert men into the geared troops they are as adults, and convert the ground from the grasps of the Steam or Electric. Not much is known about them.

Every division ringed the room. Across from the door stood the three generals. They lead the entirety of the clockwork forces in Sector Alpha 2. There are forty sectors in all. They were more machine that men, the only flesh showing were their eyes. Their faces were masks of metal. They wore loose robes over their clicking bodies.

“Ah, Ella and the Hatter. You have arrived,” said one turning to us, “Take a seat and we’ll start the briefing.”

The plan was described and the members present broken up into groups of four, with only Ella, the Hatter, and one Tech.

(I know this is a total copout. I realize it. But I really don’t want to write that scene, I don’t know how I’m going to make it believable. For now you get a [censored] little summary, sorry folks, I really don’t know what I’m going to do with that part.)

Their mission was simple. Find the Old Ones. The ones that brought people into this realm, and brought them from mindless savages to a culture with the control of technology.

They were creatures of Clockwork. They taught man that art, every other is a perversion of their technology. All others must be destroyed for them. Now, they’d prove it to everyone else by finding the Old One’s, bringing them back, who shall spread their word again.

All previous attempts had failed to find them, now, teams of four were being sent in every direction to find them, no failure.

“So you’re a Techy?” said Ella to their new member. His chocolate brown hair came down to just below his eyes, cut short. Both cheekbones were metal. He wore a bandana around his neck and a deep blue suit jacket suit jacket over a white dress shirt.. He wore blue suit pants. He had bandoliers of parts and tools across his chest, and a large pack on his back.

“Erams, 5th Construction Company,” he said neutrally, his eye’s swiveling mechaniqually towards Ella and back as he spoke.

“Someone’s pissy eh? Oh usual Tech mentality,” said Hat, as he put his arm around Erams shoulder.

Erams looked uncomfortable.

“Hey Hat, any idea why the hell we ended up with three people instead of four?” Ella asked, a random thought having come to mind.

“We’re meeting up with Joshua, he’s on assignment in the Steam quarter on our rout.”

“Gears, Joshua’s a real guy? I thought he was just a myth. Like, the Joshua who took on half a battalion by himself and tore through three entire tanks on his own?” Ella asked, shocked. As a girl, she he had had a crush on him. Her mother had told her stories of him. It was going to be... interesting meeting him.

“Hehe, Joshua was never one for blades and what not, but yes, that’s the one,” the Hatter said with a laugh. “Hey Elly, we out of sight of command?” they had been moving through the walkways away from the center.

“We are,” with that, Hat slammed Erams into the wall of a walkway, held him up by one hand on the wall, drew his blade and held it to Erams throat, all in one smooth motion.

Eram’s eyes shifted out and he gasped for breath.

Hat’s constant smile grew into an ear to ear grin as he saw the terror on Eram’s face. “Listen to me kid, Elly and me don’t trust real easy, so let me make one thing clear. For being managing to be a pretentious [censored] all in one sentence, you get both browny points and a warning. Your going to need to start talking to us as equals if we’re going to work together. Elly and me, we’ve worked a long time, and you’re going to convince me not to throw you into the gears your going to have to prove useful real soon.”

Erams sputtered for a bit while Ella watched. It was a sort of hazy Hat did whenever someone new got introduced to the team that he didn’t now.

They kept on, and the kid walked around with a bit more care in his step. Techies were arrogant people. They thought their work was the one, and the only one, that mattered in this world. They had to learn if we were to work with him.


They were entering Steam territory now. You could feel the humidity in the air.

They crawled along a duck over a walkway in which Patrols moved through every few minutes. They moved as quietly as they could, crawling on hands and knees through the narrow square vent.

They went through a bend in the tunnel, right over a group of soldiers, they could even see them through a grating. This was a vent meant to move breathable air into these tunnels, a rarity in the Steam area, but they had made an attempt to because of the number of troops that move through hear, it was a risky plan but it was what they had.

One of Ella’s hands slipped as she moved forward and scrapped along the thin metal. The groups looked up at them.

Their voices could be heard as Erams, Ella, and Hat remained absolutely still, on Eram’s face a look of dread.

“Hear that?” the voice was distorted as it traveled through the gasmask worn by the soldier.

â€[censored]€™ tunnel rats. They get as big as dogs,” said one soldier relaxed.

“Didn’t sound like a tunnel rat to me,” there was the clack of a gun being readied. Hat tensed, ready to spring, sword silently being draw into his hand.

“Yeah? Don’t matter. No one would come into this [censored] territory. It’s the biggest troop highway in the sector. They may be dirty heathens, but their not that dumb. Come on.” The patrol moved on not noticing them.

“Damnit, be louder about this won’t ya?” whispered hat, grin more dangerous than usual. “Come on, this isn’t going to work. It took us as far as it’s going to take us, we need to find another way around.”

They continued on forward until they found a branching path on the tunnel that took them away. The air around them grew cooler, until it ended in a grate. Beyond they could see a hallway barely six feet wide. A single soldier, dressed in uniform but looking rather tussled, sat smoking against the wall. Two more, holding rifles loosely, walked into view towards him.

“Frank, resting on patrol again?” said one of soldiers, whose grin could be heard if not seen because of the gas mask.

The smoking man, Frank, apparently, looked at him and said “Comrade, if the Commander didn’t want me dicking about, he’d place me on something out than corridor duty, eh?”

“Ha!” the soldier laughed. “Frank, if I was any other sergeant, I’d shoot you dead right here.”

“If you were any other sergeant, I’d be more subtitle about it. Your just whiney because I stole your preferred ‘sitting on your ass’ spot,” he offered him a smoke.

It was about here that Hat got bored. He drew his short sword, pulled one fit up, and kicked the grating out. He dove through the opening, flipped, landed on his feet, and cut the two standing soldiers down before they could even blink. He turned to the sitting man, picked him up with one hand and slit his throat.

Ella jumped through, and Erams pulled himself behind her. â€[censored], you could have wait- no I’m being silly aren’t I?” said Ella, hesitant about the killings.

Hat turned back, tussled her hair, and giggled, “Why yes of course.”

Eram’s, solemnly whispered to Ella, “He’s an insane.”

“Yes. He wouldn’t be where he is in the military if was sane.”

“Cut the pillow talk ladies” said Hat, his smile getting more subtle, “We are stuck with a wall, and a way backwards.”

Eram held up a hand, stopping Hat. He walked to the wall, put one ear to it, listened, removed three silver objects from his back pack, and set them down. They unfolded into sleek spider-like clockwork creatures. They clicked quizitantly. He clicked his neck a few times, and they scurried off to the wall.

They climbed up the wall, digging in with their sharp pointed legs, and drove blades into the steel, one moving up one side, another perpendicular to it, and one on the top moving left to right. It took a matter of minutes for them to have cut a hole in the wall, which Eram’s pushed in, reveling a drop away into darkness below crisscrossed by pipes and vents.

“Hey, that’s a neat trick there. I guess I don’t have to kill you and lie to my superiors about the Steam’s doing it,” Hat said, patting Eram’s on the back.

They continued forward.

[ButterBall]

Agreed. The biggest issues I see are misspellings and accidental omissions of words.

[[Yokel]]

But that's just a given with writing. Keep it up!

[Keldoth Wolfram Dekel]

Chapter 2:

Ella stood atop a ledge, jutting out from a hill of metal and wires. She looked down below her at a vast landscape of coppery ground, miles long. This was unclaimed country, no side held it for long enough to change anything. Sitting a mile down was a group of shacks and and buildings, sheltered by a huge overhang, casting shadows all around. It was built in the corner, out of the way of prying eyes. She blinked once, something clicked, and her eyes zoomed to adjust for distance. People sat around them, dressed in rags, especially wolf motifs, with weapons and tech from every force.

"What the hell are they?" came Erams voice from behind her, confused.

"Refugees. They're the ones that get away from the sides. Got to live somewhere now don't they?" Hat said with a laugh.

"What!? But Ella said they're clockworks down there. Clockwork prisoners don't get out. Ever," Erams obviously was convinced. This is what the army sold them day in and day out, Ella recalled. The army has no faults. None.

"HA! He's adorable. Of course they get it. If we were as perfect as they claimed we we would have won the war, now wouldn't we? But the issue remains, they're there and we need to get by them to meet up with Joshua. Ella, you see any way around? Killing a couple hundred people would be fun but they seem to have guns, which would be a problem."

Ella scanned around more, eyes clicking to various zooms. She saw a hill all the way down the cliff in front of her, just in front. One side rose up while the other cut down sharply. At the sharp side sat tunnels leading in to the ground. "Yeah... think I see tunnels underneath. Can't honestly tell you they won't be down there as well, but it's worth a shot."

That's all it took. Ella was a scout, built to gather intelligence and get out, they went by what she saw.

There stood an elevator not far from them to take them down, built by whatever built this place in the first place. It hummed down as they stood in silence. It was framed by steel, so they were neither able to see out nor were others capable of seeing in. This proved to be a problem.

Moments later they found themselves staring down about 30 barrels from heavily entrenched men and women. Also they were under a net. And being menaced by trained wolves.

With one hand rubbing his chin thoughtfully "Bother."


They were chained, and pulled through the camp. It was not, as they had thought a town of refugees. It was a town of raiders, folks who preyed on the farms of refugees and the forces alike. They took everything they needed, with no regard for tech usage or anything. Often they pulled things like this, they would catch forces from armies and return them back to their homes, for a price. Or to the enemy. Whoever bid higher. It was certainly not a good place for them.

The people were dressed in animal skins and cloth, specifically cougar and wolf. It seemed as though there was 2 sections of the camp, where these people divided. They looked barbaric, in compare. All wore weapons, even the women. Axes were common, as well as other blades. Magnetic rifles, Steam sub machine guns, shotguns, guns of all kind were worn. It was not a town with police, it was a town were the people kept each other safe. It would be hard to get out of.

They were tossed into a room of iron walls about 15 by 15 feet, stripped of their weapons, and chained to a wall. Eram's things were taken. There were clockworks working here, they knew how to deal with a tech. There were mounts on the wall for chains, which they were strung to. They were left there, not a word spoken yet to any of them.

Hours went by in silence, the chains were strong, and none of them could even hope to tear them off.

Then the door creaked open. In stepped a young girl, teenager at most, perhaps 16. She had brown hair with bangs cut short, while the rest fell most of the way down her hair. She had dark blue eyes on a pale face. On her head was a brown baseball cap with 2 cat ears sewn on, pointing up almost as if listening. She wore a rough brown shirt with a leather jacket. She black pants with a tail sewn on to the back of it.

What drew ones eyes more was perhaps the figure wrapped in a giant black cloak with only one pale bone mask sitting on front.

Or would have drawn eyes more. But the girl had food, and none of them had eaten for awhile.

"Look," she said in a voice heavy with a steam accent, "Your going to be here for awhile. Might as well get used to it. Names Neko, you can go ahead and tell me yours but your military types, so you won't. All defiance and bravado," she put the food in front of us "Now eat."

We did, and it was warm and of slightly higher quality than an MRE.

"Now don't fight with us and this can all be as pleasant as this. I'm not a fighter, I just want to get along and not have to have someone beat you into line," she said with a grin as she started to leave.

"Your a nice girl," spoke Hat with a smile. "I'm going to enjoy listening to you scream."

"Don't mistake me for defenseless," she grinned.
The figure pulled an arm back and punched into the wall, not through, but in the door frame. It crashed out of the clock and drove for feet into the metal of the door. The arm was huge, too thick and too long, nearly all clockwork workings. It then gripped the wall metal and bent it back into place.

That gave even Hat pause.


A day went by, Neko returning at times to feed them. At least they got three meals a day.

A scuffle happened outside, and through the door they saw it. Figures in wolf skins and gray against people in cougar skins and brown.

"... Dantal couldn't hope to lead us! It took him three weeks to return from getting lost in the forest, how could he hope lead us if he can't lead himself!?" spoke one of the men in gray, a huge fur coat on his back, his hair had been colored gray. He spoke with a soft growl in his tone.

"I will not be lead by a bloody wolf! Fenrir couldn't take any one of us, he's weak" said another man from the brown side, dressed in a cloak with hair like a mane.

"Weakness? He's not a daft fool, and I didn't know that made him weak! Your leader would lead us straight into the [censored] clockwork's base unarmed just to prove how strong he was! He'll lead us to our graves!" the wolf man spoke again.

"At least he doesn't hide in the shadows. "Bide his time"!? [censored]! He's a COWARD."

That was the last word spoken. The man speaking for the wolves threw a punch right into the cougar's face. Apparently he had a mean right hook, because he went down. After that an all out brawl began, until they finally were wrestled apart, and all went home bloodied.

"This is an interesting development," spoke Hat musically. He for one, was amused.



---------
Yes it was Neko from the forum ( _ _); Part of a deal.

And this is part one, I'm going to take a break and come back to this in an hour or so.

[[Yokel]]

Interesting inclusion with these tribal-like renegades. Although I'm having a hard time taking the cogged and geared landscape from the first part in my minds eye and turning it into these unclaimed wastes. Also, Neko. Hehe...
Keep on with it, I want to see where these different tribal groups are going with this...

EDIT: Also, you do yourself a disservice comparing this in any way to VG Cats. To hell with Ransom-whatever.

[Neko-Maya]

Also, Neko. Hehe...

whats with the "hehe" O_o??

[Keldoth Wolfram Dekel]

A day or so went by, and they continued to be fed. Time was hard to keep track of when the dim of the lights during the night is blocked out by the lights of a camp such as this.

Shots could be heard from somewhere in the camp, echoing into the prison that kept Ella. War was breaking out.

The shots got louder, and closer. Cries for help and shouts of pain could be heard over the din, as well as the soft thump of bodies falling to the ground. A battle was going on outside, whatever had been happening in the town had come to fruition today, and all out war had broken out.

"Come to think of it wasn't this building just about at the center of the town slightly into the wolf side?" said Ella, worry in her voice, and observant as ever.

"Oh.. oh my," Eram's choked out. This would be a place they would want, and one they were in.

"This should be fun," smiled Hat. Ella sometimes wondered if a gun shoved in his face would faze hat. She soon learned that it would not.

The gun fire soon died down to the occasional bark in the calm. And once again was the cougar motif on the armed men and women entering the room. The look in their eyes was feral. They were dressed in brown furs and enough cat related acutrama to make it clear where they stood on the battle from several miles away.

After they cleared the two story buildings and Ella, Hat, and Erams had several obligatory guns rammed in their face, one last figure entered the room. He was dressed in a massive cloak of fur, thick, brown, and streaked with white. From his left shoulder to his hip was a sash of leather sparkling with emblems and medals. They were old clockwork awards, not his own, as the names did not match. So this was where patrols were disappearing to in this area. His arms sparkled with the physical alterations of the clockwork. His blue eyes gleamed almost with some inner light, drawing eyes away from his silvery hair falling down to his shoulders.

"Why the hell are there prisoners still in my new command center?" he said with a low growl. His voice was brash, boisterous. One that thought itself powerful. And one who had experience proving it.

"New command center? Why here?" spoke Ella.

"Heavy walls, bared doors and windows. Same things good for keeping people in can be used to keep others out, especially if they were leading into the other guys land," spoke Eram, little clicks could practically be heard going on with his thoughts, "In fact they're likely to use this to spread out to the other areas around her, as it was on the corner of a crossroads. They could pretty much move how they wish and stop movement in the same way, because of the limited side streets."

"Holy [censored]," said Hat, eyes wide, leaning forward to stare past Ella at Erams.

Erams replied in confusion "What?"

"You earned your rank!" replied Hat. Erams half glared at him, to which Hat winked.

"WOULD YOU STOP HAVING A CONVERSATION ON THE FLOOR OF MY NEW COMMAND POST!" roared the man, obviously the leader of the pack. "One of you deal with them so we won't later." One of the men aimed there gun at Erams first.

"Oooo is kitty scared to play? Going to kill a chained man, boy, and woman eh?" taunted Hat, "I bet he's scared."

The man's voice grew cold. He had his back turned to the three of them, none of them could see his face. "What was that?"

"Kitty, kitty, we're not five feet away. You heard me." The man turned around, picked Hat off the ground by his shirt and slammed him into a wall. Hat kept grinning. "So big... so tough.. want to really play kitty? Take the chains off and we'll really play. Can't even take little old me, how do you hope to lead a pack of younger, stronger members eh?" Hat opened his mouth in a full grin, baring his teeth.

The man glared, dropped him, and walked to the table and tore the keys off. He walked over to Hat and unlocked his chains one by one. Hat stood up, cracked his neck from side to side.

"I'll fight an unarmed man as the same. And call me Dantal pup," the man spoke with disdain, dropping his cloak and reveling well toned muscles. He was built like a tank. "This is in between me and him, no one else interferes.

The man dropped into a fighting guard. Hat took no such precaution.

The first punch took Dantal in side of the head. He was expecting some degree of formality. Hat saves formality for fancy dinners, he was a killer not a boxer.

Before he could even recover, Hat pulled his arm back clipping his elbow into his eye. The man threw a hook at Hat's face, but he moved into his swing out and took the force out of the blow.

Hat swung his arm into a punch at his head. He palm struck Dantal's forehead, then brought his clawed fingers down in a vicious line about his face, tearing his eyes up.

The fight was over, though Dantal lived. Hat spun behind him, grabbing one arm around his head, jerking it up exposing his throat, and brought his claws to his throat.

"Unlock them... or he dies." he said, cold for once.

Dantal whimpered in pain at his bleeding face, and gasped out, “Do it!”. A girl dressed in a tiny skirt carrying a giant axe complied. She walked over to the chains, unslung her axe, and merely brought it down in a single slice on each chain. Most people would doubt that this would be possibly able to cut chains from a 5’2’’ teenager. Hat supposed that was how she had gotten this far in the business.

Ella and Erams run through the door behind Hat as the cougars began to circle, weapons being drawn. Hat smiled. He took the hand off Dantal’s head and onto his belt, where one grenade set.

It looked like a pocket watch simply because that is what it was. It’s gears work under a incredible amount of force and when the pin is pilled, something catches. Tension builds until, kaboom. It was standard issue amongst patrols.

Hat pulled the pin, brought his claw across Dantal’s throat and pushed the dieng man into the room. He took off at a dead sprint away from the building, and as he, Ella, and Eram’s ran through the town’s streets, an explosion was heard behind them. They would not be chased.
---------------


I'm no where near happy with it, but update.

[[Yokel]]

An exploding pocketwatch. Man, those olde Englishe types are badass.
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......... HE HAZ ZE BRIEFCASE!

elton_john.jpg

[Keldoth Wolfram Dekel]

They ran in the opposite way they came, through the territory of the late Dantal. Fighting could be heard down streets, and they could see battles raging all around them as they ran past, largely ignored. Occasionally bullets buzzed by their heads but the shooters would soon become preoccupied by the other men actually trying to kill them. The buildings were all of the same build, scraps thrown together as a place to hide from the Sun Lamps that burned bright overhead.

They neared the edge of the town when Hat spotted something that caught his eye. Huddled in the corner of a building were woman and children dressed in the browns of Dantal’s army, away from the danger of the combat. Some cried, others cowered, others stood with weapons armed, but these were not fighters. The part that interested Hat was one that stood among them. That same girl from before, Neko.

He turned to run into the building, removed his hat, reached in and withdrew a scale shaped disk of razor sharp metal from his hat. One of his back up knives. It was small, about the size of a palm, but deadly sharp. The girl spotted him as he neared the door, fear in her eyes.

He walked slowly into the room. She stood frozen in fear. He grabbed her by the arm and threw her out into the light, hitting the hard steel ground with a cry of pain. “I told you I’d enjoy listening to you scream,” he said, smile as much in his voice as on his face. She looked up at him, eyes wide with utter terror… and then her face broke into a grin.

“Hmm… that’s not right…” though Hat for about a split second before he felt what could only be described as a truck hitting him. The ground flew out from under him, dull copper flying by for a good thirty feet before he was able to get himself turned around. He dug all four clawed appendages into the ground and slit to a sparky stop. Hat’s eyes darted up to scan the building. Neko had gotten off the ground, scraped but moving, and was running back into the building, just as Nao emerged behind her. It’s cape hissed around her feet, one massive steel arm reveled. It was all gears and hydraulics, powerful enough to crush buildings. The mask of bone was painted in a twisted black smile that gleamed in the light.

Hat lunged across the ground towards Nao and went at a dead sprint. This time he saw the fist being pulled back, and rolled to the side as the fist flashed through the air impossibly fast, burying itself in the ground a foot or two down into solid metal. It took Nao a half second to recover and in that time Hat brought his knife up between Nao’s ribs, where it’s heart would be. He only heard the hiss of metal on metal as sparks came from that space and his small blade bit into solid steel.

He threw himself back off his front foot, throwing himself up and back, legs towards Nao. Her other fist drove at him, which he took on his feet, his legs bent and slowed the blow, then he pressed off, launching himself onto the roof of the building behind him. He did a full flip in the air then landed on the rusted iron. He drew out two more of the scales from his hat and threw all three down at Nao, who brought an arm up to defend it’s mask. The bit into her arm, though not far. Blood began to seep. Though hat was not in much better shape. His head was in a fog and his body was bruised and cracked.

He leapt off the edge of the building towards the black cloaked figure twenty feet below. She swung for him yet again, but he knew it was coming. He twisted in air, and as he fell be brought his leg down in hammer kick onto the blade alright struck into her arm. It bit deeper, down to the dull handle into her arm. Nao remained silent but twisted back in pain. Hat landed on his hands, and sprang back to standing five feet back.

Nao was now bleeding more heavily from her arm. Enraged, she charged ahead and launches a fist square at Hat’s chest. Hat dodges, but is still off balance. His arm is caught and he is blown back another five feet.


He finds himself on the floor, barely conscious. He tries to stand. Left arm does not respond. He looks over to find it crushed by the blow, unresponsive. He is in a daze, and all he sure of after the landing was that there was some reason to run. He climbs to his feet and sets off at a dead sprint out of town, Nao following for a short time before she is simply out run.

Ella and Eram’s were sitting on a wall over looking the chamber, built between the plain they were in and another section off to the side. He begins to climb the cliff. His strength fails half way up and he falls as he slips out of consciousness.


Ella dragged him back on to the top. She could see the battle still raging below. That was unimportant now, Hat’s injuries were serious.

“Damn it.. damn it.. said. If I had my tools I could help him, they took them back in the camp,” said Erams. He may not like Hat, but he was needed for the mission to succeed. Neither he nor Ella were built for heavy combat as Hat was.

“There’s a cache three clicks south of here. We’re going there. Now,” Ella said with certainty. “He’s not dying if I have anything to do with it.”

“Your not suggesting leaving him here are you?”

Ella turned to him with a quizzical expression. “Erams, he’s a combat model. He’s built out of the lightest metal available, he’s 80 pounds. Tops.”

“Oh…. right.”

They set off along the wall to the cache. They ran as fast as they could. Ella’s enhancements allowed her to carry Hat on her back with. They neared the wall and took a the right into the next room, keeping their run going. The next room was small and narrow, thirty feet across at most and a hundred up at least. The entire room was filled with pistons and valves and pipes. It was a channel for Steam power. They began the climb up.

At the bottom were a set of pistons leading up. Ella paused Erams for a moment, then grabbed his arm and threw him onto the piston as it came to a halt and leapt after him, one arm clinging to the unconscious Hat on her back. It drove them up and stopped in arms reach of a pipe three feet to the side. Ella stepped on to and crouched, one hand holding on to Hat as he would no longer hang on her back. Erams did the same perhaps more wobbly.

“What the hell was that!?” he said afraid.

Ella looked at him, “Hey do I tell you how to do all that techy stuff do I? Have I given you advice lately on how to cut through solid metal walls?”

“No.”

“Then don’t tell me how to climb up some pipes,” she said with finality.

“I would appear to be hanging some 40 feet up,” muttered Hat’s voice from bellow.

“That’s about the long and short of it, yes,” Ella told him, care in her voice.

“Ah, I’m going to go ahead and slip back into unconsciousness now.”

She jumped onto a larger pipe above them. It was large enough to sit on with ease. She lied Hat down and turned to help Eram’s up on to the pipe. They were nearly halfway up by then. There was a pipe next to them that lead straight up. Hoisting Hat on her back, she and Eram’s began the climb up it, pipe crushing under their grip. They reached the top and they could see the entrance over the gap.

“…. I don’t think I can jump that,” said Erams at the top of the pipe.

“Fine,” said Ella. He reached up grabbed his leg, kicked off the wall and jumped, tossing him half the ways up. He landed up the platform with a thud and a grunt, as she landed on the edge and began sliding. She dug in her claws and snarled her way up the solid metal until she could hoist herself and Hat onto the platform. “We’re here.”
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Hehe yeah I loved the watches.

[ButterBall]

It's, uh, coming? Yeah, coming. Now please get that gun out of my face. What do you mean "No?" Fine!

The girl spotted him as he neared the door, fear in her eyes.

He walked slowly into the room. She stood frozen in fear.

Kind of repetitive.

(Fight between Nao and Hat)

I got confused by the pronouns. To me you seemed to be calling Nao "she" and "it." And there was tense change at the end of the fight and a tiny bit afterwards.

Plenty of little mistakes I think a thorough revision would fix, too.

There! Better? Yes? Good. Now let me get back to my work. Sorry? Why are you sor- *gunshot*