As the night passes along, GW-3N and her new friends chat along to each other and eventually the, now repaired, second yellow robot joins in. I mostly mill about around the factory with not much else to do. My attention is briefly caught by the delivery of the much needed alloys that were dropped off by an envoy from the flock.
Soon the sun rises into the sky and the three robots all get ready and are about to set off back to the tribe. Before they do, I decide that I might as well deliver those requested hornets over along with a courier moose. And so I order my hornets to escort the three on their way to their new positions in the tribe guard force.
After they all leave I begin to replenish my drone force that was lost during the battle over at the mining outpost by ordering up their replacements. These replacements included two new squads of hounds, five hornets, four scorpions, three new moles for more help in the mineshaft, and two more moose to help transport all of the ores that the moles will dig up. Over by the mining outpost I also ordered a few more woodpeckers to replace the few that got hot by the crabs. All of the new drones will replenish the forces at the mining outpost to being a total of thirteen hounds, thirteen hornets (three of which will be permanently deployed as garrison forces), five scorpions, five moles, soon to be fifteen woodpecker lancers, three fire beetles, and a handful of repair spiders.
With that all ticking away, I go back to floating around not doing much. I eventually hop over to my vessel in the mining outpost and begin to wander there and occasionally help out the spiders carrying a particularly large chunk of ores. Around half an hour of doing nothing later and one of the guard ants that were watching over the gates notifies me that the moose has returned with the supplies from the deal and a message.
Hopping back out of my vessel and over to the main base I find the moose in question who drops a tablet to the ground. Drifting over to get a better look, I see that the tablet read that there was a large pack of hounds that were taking residence in a nearby abandoned subway system. The pack of hounds have been attacking various tribesmen who were out scavenging near that area. Many of the scavengers requested something to be done about it but the chieftain and by extension the council denied any motions to send any tribe guardsmen citing the possibility of losing the guardsmen would not be worth it. And so the citizens of the Tower Tribe have now asked me and my drones to help. Underneath the wall of text was a small map showing the hound den due east of the Tower Tribe's tower.
I am tempted to rally up the factory guard and set off towards the hound pack inorder to help right away but the more sensible side of me prevailed. Quickly hopping back over to the mining outpost and calling over all the drones not dedicated to garrison duty, I slip back into my vessel and begin marching back over to the main base.
———
A few hours later and I'm back at the factory gates which are promptly opened. Inside the factory proper I called over all the newly produced drones which bolstered my force considerably. With my now fully filled out force I march right out of the gates and towards the hounds.
According to my scouts, who have already begun properly mapping out the path all the way to the hounds den, the trip should only take around twenty minutes. On the way there my drones automatically form up into their standard formation of hounds in the front, hornets and scorpions in the middle, and repair spiders and moose in the back line.
As me and my retinue approached the den I hear a scream and a few blocks of houses away I spot a group of four hounds sprinting across the street towards the left side. I pick up pace and order my hounds to break off and charge in which they follow immediately by bolting forward growling and snarling all the way. My hounds made it over to the bend far quicker than I did so I did not see the initial clash but I did hear the sounds of metal grinding against metal and the barking of my hounds.
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As I turn past the bend my eyes are greeted by my hounds not much worse for wear, at least compared to the feral hounds that were scattered across the ground. On my left hand side I see a shut door belonging to a squat gray building made of the same concrete that all the other buildings are made of. The door of said building was carrying a large collection of seemingly fresh scrape marks, which are likely from the now dead hounds.
"Hey, is anyone there?" I call out into the building, shushing my hounds out of the way in case the potential occupants are frightened by them.
"W-who's out there? Are the LASHs gone? Is it safe?" A decidingly frightened male voice croaks out from inside the building.
"Yes it is all clear. Hello, my name is James. Now are you injured? If you are would you please open the door so I may tend to your wounds." I replied with the most calm and soothing voice I could muster.
The person inside seemed to hesitate for a moment but then creaked open the door a smidge. I see the illuminating eye of a robot person peeking out of the door which was quickly scanning the street and more particularly the scattered remains of the feral hounds. After assessing that I was telling the truth the now revealed yellow robot pokes the rest of his head out of the door. "Alright, I don't see any more of them so I'll trust you for now. First no I'm not injured but more importantly how did you manage to take down that many LASHs?" The yellow robot asks with a quirked eyebrow.
"I took down those LASHs with a few drones of my own." I say as a few of my drones scuttle around the bend a good distance away from the two of us although this does not stop the robot to squeak in surprise and shoot back through the door and quickly shut it closed before eventually peaking back out.
Then a look of realization flushes onto the robot's face, "Ohh you're the dungeon person that everyone is talking about." This realization seems to calm the bot down a smidge but the poor guy does not seem to be willing to leave the safety of the building while my drones are present, at least not completely.
"Yep, that's me. Now do you need some escorts to get your way back home or are you alright on your own." I ask the still cowering scavenger robot.
"No, no. I'll be alright. Just please, keep your drones away from me." The robot replies back. I have my drones begin to back up and start moving towards the hound den without me.
I watch as the slightly more calm robot slips out of his hidey hole and scurries off towards the tower's general direction before running over to join back up with my drones. I make it back to my drones right about as they get into spotting distance of the subway entrance. From where my drones and I were standing I could spot a total of five hounds currently patrolling around the den.
I send in my hornets to initiate the engagement but as they approach one of the hounds notices the whirling of the hornets wings and quickly warns the other hounds who promptly rush inside the den. My hornets, realizing the situation for what it was, fired off their salvo and managed to hit two of the fleeing five but the remaining three managed to scurry down the stairs.
"Well there goes the element of surprise." I mutter to myself as I march forward with my hounds. As I approach the entrance of the hound den I hear a faint whine to my left. To my left was one of the two hounds that were impaled by my hornets but it seems that this one was only hit in the leg. One of my own hounds steps over to the downed hound and is about to give the finishing blow but I suddenly get an idea and tell the hound to stop.
The hound in question hesitates for a moment, clearly conflicted about leaving a hostile still alive, but backs down nevertheless. I call over a few spiders and then they do their duties as medics and begin to extract the spike and mend the gapping hole in the hounds leg. I decide to leave my hornets to defend the entrance and watch over the injured hound while I and the rest of my ground combat focused drones descend into the den.
The stairwell was rusted down and the walls seemed to be on the verge of crumbling to the ground. On the walls were faint images that have been washed away by the waves of time but I could still make out the faded form of symbols and their meanings have been lost from me. The lights above are dim and are flickering in a slow but constant pattern.
Stepping down from the last of the stairs I come face to face with a pair of double doors which appear to be a faintly green color. I steady my breath and prepare my drones for the inevitable battle which is soon to come beyond those doors.