* * *

The structure itself encompassed only a fraction of the level it was built on, making it much smaller than most Gremlin compounds or facilities we had become familiar with. The windowless walls stretched a couple stories up, their dark metallic paneling standing out against the fake orange sky. Of course, it was orange because it was evening, but not due to the rays of the far, out-of-reach sun; every stratum in the Clockworks merely mimicked what it was like to live on the surface. Each stratum, on top of containing several levels to traverse and explore, beheld their own massive metal canvas in place of a sky, as well as an incomprehensibly large light bulb attached to an arching arm that moved as the day wore on. This ‘sun,’ along with numerous smaller supporting lights, radiated an orange glow over the mini ‘world’ we found ourselves in. Soon, the supporting lights would shut off and the bulb would change to a translucent, light blue, mimicking Cradle’s moon.

“This might be tougher than we expected,” Lance mumbled to my right. We were lying prone on a hill that put us just about level with the roof of the facility a couple miles away. We’d decided to start scoping out the facility from the south before moving clockwise, to determine our best course of action. Lance had brought two pairs of binoculars, but since Balldrick had taken the second pair, Lance was the one currently keeping an eye out. So far, he’d reported only a couple of Gremlins that had come and gone out of the facility, and a couple gun puppy turrets were stationed around the wide gated doors facing our direction. 

“See anything that might be related to Project R?” Zimthose asked from my left. Since we couldn’t see on our own anything specific from this distance, he was rolled onto his back, gazing off in the sky. Lance waited a moment before replying.

“I mean, the few Gremlins I’ve seen all carried their usual Thwack hammers, but Gremlins use those for basically everything. So no, nothing in particular. The guards on the roof of the building are all armed the same too, with hammers. But they’ve also got four artillery pieces fixed in place there, pointing in all directions.” He let out a sigh, passing the binoculars to me. “Here’s hoping Balldrick has more luck up close. What do you think, Squad Lead?”

“Pft, you’re actually calling him ‘Squad Lead’?” Zimthose scoffed. “If he knew how to act like it instead of just the same old Blast, maybe I’d understand, but seriously?”

“Didn’t ask, Zim,” Lance said.

“Not even Balldrick would call him that! And he’s the one who knows how to show respect the most.” There was no reply to that.

After finding our hill to spy from, Balldrick went out to conduct a patrol of the forested area between us and the facility. When he confirmed it was clear, he decided to move in to determine a path for us to get closer to the structure if need be, and to see if he might glean any other information along the way. 

But that had been nearly thirty minutes ago. It hadn’t been too long, but given Rhendon’s warning, I was definitely more on edge than usual.

“Fine, what do you think then? I asked, passing the binoculars to Zimthose.

“Hmm, let’s see…” he mumbled, rolling upright and drumming his fingers across the binoculars as he pressed them against his face. “Yeah, mhm, right, right…”

“...Do you have any idea what you’re looking at? Or for?” I asked.

“Not really, no,” he said, shaking his head and passing the binoculars back to me. “I mean, I see what Lance was talking about at least. But we’re sneaking in, not going in the front doors or taking the whole place down, as fun as that might be.”

“I can’t say that those are the front doors, but I get what you mean,” Lance said, nodding. “So again, what do you think, Blast?”

I looked through the binoculars, the hazy structure in the distance magnifying into focus. Just as Lance had mentioned, I saw the gun puppies, the Gremlins on the roof, and, most alarmingly, the artillery. They looked to be massive mortar cannons, and going off the size of the patrolling Gremlins next to them, they seemed about four meters in barrel length and a meter wide at the muzzle. Large and unusual, sure, but nothing too unique. What else is there? There’s gotta be something special about this place…

Then I saw something. Movement from below. The gun puppies had disappeared, retracted into the ground and hiding as if they’d never been there in the first place. The gated doors had dropped behind them, and a small horde of creatures began spilling out. Not Gremlins, but beasts: a half dozen chromalisks, several wolvers, and a large pack of dust bunnies. They were all being chased out of the structure by some scuttle bots, the Gremlin’s solution to guard dogs. Their short four legs weren’t able to keep up with the beasts, and they weren’t quite tanky enough to withstand much more than a few typical bites or swipe of the claws that the animals could muster. Yet they all ran for the trees. 

“Uhhh…okay? I’m not sure what they’re doing, but some beasts just–” I began, but I stopped as soon as an alarm reached us. It was coming from the structure, and had probably started as soon as the beasts were let loose, taking a moment to reach us. I looked back to the roof and saw Gremlins running around, grabbing levers and cranking gears with large wrenches.

“Blast, what’s going on? Zimthose asked, shaking my shoulder. “You’re the eyes, man. Tell us!” 

“Was it Balldrick?” Lance asked, getting up on his knees, as if just a couple feet up might help him see better. “Did he get caught already?”

“No, it’s not us. Or Balldrick. At least, I don’t think?” I replied, shrugging my brother off. There’s no way they’ve spotted us. Nothing should have given them the impression we were here. And none of these actions indicate that either, so why…?

As I kept watching, a hatch in the roof opened and a bone white, metal box was raised up. The sides of the box were slightly angled towards each other, and as it moved towards the edge of the roof, two blue lights showed from the top corners on its sides. The front side facing us was featureless, except for the jagged teeth marks running along the bottom of it. After a moment, the lights quickly turned off and back on, as if blinking.

What the heck…

Then, the mortars all began rotating at once. Except, all Gremlins had left the rooftop. Not a soul was left to man the guns, and yet they were still aiming. And they were aiming in our direction. 

“Guys, get down. Now.” I ordered, loud enough to be heard over the alarm that was still blaring. 

“Getting down!” my brother said, running down the hillside opposite the mortars. I grabbed Lance’s arm and pulled him to his feet, and we started after my brother. A moment later, a series of shots echoed over the hill, kthunkkthunkkthunkkthunk, followed by a rumbling and series of three explosions somewhere in the distance. One more sounded, much closer, and we could feel the tremors from our boots to our helmets. We stood in wait at the base of the hill, but no more mortars rained down towards us. Still, we waited.

“You think Balldrick got hit by any of those?” Lance asked. He looked back and forth between me and Zimthose, clearly anxious.

“Don’t bet on it.”

A voice called out from our right; Balldrick was walking back, seemingly calm as ever.

“Glad to see you’re alright,” I called out, before noticing the brown hairball he was carrying under his arm. “Um… you gonna tell us what you got there?”

“This little guy?” He brought it around to face us. It was a Dust Bunny, just like one of the critters that had been let loose from the facility a moment ago. “I came across it watching the facility. Didn’t even notice me as I walked up, so I joined it until that alarm started blaring. Picked him up and ran without turning back. You see what happened?”

“They got a glance at the facility,” I said, “but I’m the one who saw some beasts get chased out when the alarm sounded. Chromalisks, Wolvers, and a bunch of Dust Bunnies.”

“Huh… think he was looking for his friends?” Lance asked.

“There’s… a chance, I suppose?”

“Oh please, ‘chance’ my ass! Of course he was looking for his pack!” Zimthose said. “He was probably the only one to not get captured by those sick Gremlins.”

We all looked at the little critter. Dust bunnies were notorious for being feisty and living in massive packs of a few dozen at the least. Their eyes were usually hidden from view, and they had rows of sharp teeth that they seemed to always want to sink into something. The one in front of us, however, had been by itself when Balldrick found it, and right now it was trembling.

Zimthose walked over and took the critter, stroking its head, careful not to brush against its ears.

“He’s… I think Bigsby is terrified, but...not from us.”

“No!" Lance said, pointing back and forth between the dust bunny and the knight. "Absolutely not! You're not giving that thing a name! It's not a pet!"

“He, good sir. And so what? You gonna tell this cute ball of fur ‘no’?”

“Yes. It’s a wild animal, Zim, you don’t know what it’s gonna do!”

“Yeah? Well I do know that I’m not leaving him behind to get caught by some Gremlins!”

“Oh for the love of–”

I gestured for Balldrick to follow me back up the hill, away from the bickering.