* * *

The elevator ride was just as smooth as usual. Which was to say, it wasn’t. We were descending at several kilometers an hour, and being open-air rather than enclosed meant dealing with the occasional roar of the winds as we went.

We passed by several floors in silence. A couple were forest-themed, where beasts of all kinds probably called home, and the rest varying types of classic Clockwork Passageways: massive planes of metal with winding hallways and no clear direction of which way was out. With the way the Clockworks functioned, these had probably only just been explored in the past few days, despite being so close to the surface and the extended period of time the residents of Haven have spent exploring the world. All because they had not existed prior to a week ago.

“I’ll never get over how weird this place is,” Lance said, gazing off into the distance. A mass of floors pressed up against each other could be seen in the direction he was looking, with a hemisphere of blue metal rotating about it and an arm holding an artificial sun illuminating the small ‘world’. It was several dozens of kilometers away, so it would probably rotate into position for the Arcade to access it in the next few days. “Small worlds being created and destroyed over the course of a month, elevator rails between them granting passage to travel deeper or farther away, the indescribable energy in the air, the way it all functions with no input from anyone whatsoever… it always boggles my mind.”

“Then don’t think about it,” my brother said, walking over to him. “Whether or not you think about the Clockworks won’t change the fact that it does what it does.”

“Wow, is that philosophy? Coming from Zimthose, of all people?” I asked, genuinely shocked. “Guys, I think this might be the end for us.”

“Hey, you say that like I never say anything smart!” Zimthose replied, lightly smacking me with the back of his hand. I smacked him lightly back.

“Yeah… about that…” Lance started to say something, but Zimthose smacked him as well. “Not you! I meant what Blast said.”

“You thinking about what Vise told you?” Balldrick asked. Lance nodded and sank down to the floor. 

“This ‘Project R’ we need to stop… he told me about its origins.”

“Oh, he knows about it? Why are we even doing this then? Let’s get that old Gremlin to help us!” Zimthose shouted, kicking the elevator. “Damnit, is he laughing as we just waste time with this?”

“No, Zim.” Lance was stern as he shook his head. “Vise told me its origin, not what the project is now. He even told me about how he managed to sabotage it originally, so what we’re going into could be completely different from what he was familiar with.”

“How long ago was he involved?” I asked. Vise was notoriously experienced, and Gremlins didn’t die of old age. That didn’t mean their age never showed, but Vise wore a mask so it was hard to gauge how old he was.

“Half a century. It was the very reason he went into exile, apparently.”

“And he really told you this? You’re sure of the intel?” Balldrick asked. He wasn’t asking out of distrust for Lance; we all knew Lance wouldn’t tell falsehoods to any degree, so this was more about the validity of what he was told.

“Yes. He’d gone so far as to bring me to his and Punch’s real workspace under their bazaar workshop, and offered me some stew for lunch. He was extremely sincere about everything, and his explanation was thorough. I have no doubts about his story.”

“Real workshop? What the heck, that’s the first I’ve heard anything about that!” Zimthose said. “And they gave you a homemade meal? What the heck!”

“Well a certain someone left me on my own, and since I appreciate that kind of stuff more, I’m sure that’s why he had less reservations about showing me their true workspace. It was impressive, I tell you. All the machinery they had, the materials they were using… it’s no wonder they’ve been able to invent the things they have!”

“Alright, sure, but save that for another time,” I said. “Sorry Lance, but we don’t have much longer until we reach Moorcroft. Can you get to the point? And that means you shut up until the end, Zim.” My brother just shrugged. Lance nodded, and began his tale.

“Right. Again, this was fifty years ago, give or take. Vise was renowned as a genius adviser to the Gremlin’s Ironclaw Clan, and was responsible for a lot of innovations. The Thwack hammers Gremlins always seem to have? Vise designed those so they’d have both a hammer and wrench built into one massive tool, instead of two. The constructs we see wandering around the Clockworks aimlessly? He designed their perpetual-motor cores, which is why Gremlin machines seem to never run out of power. They have a ninety-five percent energy retention rate. If a Gremlin can name it, there’s a high chance Vise had something to do with making it.”

“I’m gonna fall asleep at this rate. Skip,” Zimthose said, pretending to click the button on a remote pointed towards Lance. I smacked his hand down and gestured to Lance to continue.

“Sorry. Long story short, he made a lot of stuff, but he was never alone. There were always other Gremlins helping him with each project, but when he was done with one he would move on to the next project and next partner. Except, one Gremlin didn’t leave him alone. They insisted they needed Vise’s help to shore up the Gremlin’s capabilities in defending the Clockworks, to make sure that no harm would come to what they had protected for so long. He pestered Vise with schemes for enough years until he finally came up with a project more ambitious than anything Vise had worked on before: Project R. Together, they began planning out how they would bring this machine to life, Vise focusing on the operating functions and the other oversaw the weaponization of it. However, that Gremlin, Seerus, had lied about his goals. He didn’t want to protect the Clockworks. He wanted to conquer it.”

“Woah,” Zimthose muttered. “Are you… Seerus right now?”

“Zim!” I barked. Like a damn child, I swear!

“Very Seerus, actually,” Lance replied with a brief smile. “Someone found out. That someone told Vise, and Vise wanted out of the project. In turn, Seerus attempted to kill the snitch and enslave Vise, forcing him to keep working. And Seerus would have gotten away with it, if Vise hadn’t been the one to design the high-tech prisons that all Gremlins used. After he broke out, he stole all the projects and schematics he could from Seerus. Whatever he couldn’t take, Vise blew up with prejudice. And that included the original machine for Project R. Something he’d spent nearly a year dedicating his life to creating.”

Lance paused to take a sip from his canteen. Zimthose raised his hand, and I nodded for him to go ahead.

“So, it took Vise a year to make this thing? And fifty years for this other guy to make it himself?”

“Not quite. Vise and the Gremlin who’d warned him went into exile, hoping to escape Seerus for good. Vise abstained from making anything for a while so his inventions wouldn’t be used for… nefarious purposes. But it took a while for them to find somewhere to hide. During that time, and a while after, Seerus tried hunting them down. Literally to the ends of the world, by the sounds of it. All Vise could manage was to stay a few steps ahead, because Seerus had gathered enough power that there was no way to fight back. Vise figured that ‘Project R’ was on the backburner for a couple decades to make room for smaller breakthroughs, and some Gremlin inventors ended up being forced into recreating Project R from scratch several years ago.”

“And that brings us to today,” Balldrick said, scratching his neck.

“Did he at least tell you what Project R was?” I asked. While it added context to our mission, none of what Lance had said would be of actual use to taking down the weapon.

“That’s just it,” Lance said, shaking his head. “He said it was a gun puppy, just much larger and with much heavier fire power.”

“A gun puppy? How the hell is a gun puppy supposed to be a threat to Haven? Not to mention conquer the Clockworks?” Zimthose scoffed at the idea. “I don’t care how big its gun might get. Unless they built it on the surface, it would never be able to cause any real damage.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Lance shrugged. “Even Vise wasn’t sure about that part. But again, this was half a century ago. Who knows what crazy ideas Seerus managed to come up with in that time?”

“And what about him? This Gremlin named Seerus?” Balldrick asked. “If he was that dangerous then, I imagine he’s only gotten worse. He was probably hoping to stay hidden until this weapon was finished and let loose upon Haven before showing himself. But after we stole those schematics during our heist, there’s a good chance he’ll be on high alert.”

“That’s true,” I said with a nod. “Assuming he’s still the head of this Gremlin operation, he’d be our number one target. He sounds tyrannical enough that if we got rid of him, the Ironclaw Clan might just back off entirely.” Balldrick and Zimthose nodded along, but I noticed Lance stayed quiet as he stood back up. “I take it Vise had some choice words about Seerus too, Lance?”

The Technician Knight took a deep breath.

“Seerus is one of The Nine. Vise said if we come across Seerus and he hasn’t noticed us, to leave immediately if we want any chance of making it back alive. If we find ourselves face to face with him…” Lance’s gaze dropped. “We’d best have said our goodbyes before leaving.”