“Karfice! Are you alright!?” Kiva shouted over the rush of wind. In the bird's other claw was clutched Karfice still holding Leo, their bodies compacted solidly together.

“Fine! Both of us!” Karfice shouted back.

“We have to reroute it! Can’t let it get to that tower!” Kiva said, nodding towards the tower as her efforts to escape redoubled.

“Too dangerous! If it drops us there’s no guarantee I could catch all three of us!”

“Then wait until we’re close! We can drop into the side of the tower!”

“Just as risky, and that’s assuming I could even get us out of this thing!”

Kiva craned her neck upwards to get a better look at the metallic construct in all its glory. It certainly was something to behold, easily soaring higher than any other bird in the sky, its astounding size a miraculous feat of dwarven engineering. Its cold dead eyes, black pits from which no light can escape, were especially terrifying. At least for biological creatures you had the luxury of telling what it was looking at. Suddenly, the tail of the bird dipped slightly, but Kiva didn’t have the mobility to turn around and see what it was, probably some sort of wind resistance or something.

The bird let loose a screech, a mechanical cry akin to gears grinding together, and ahead of them, the tower wall opened outwards, granting them a landing pad on the very top floor, the executive suite. As it neared the new opening, it slowed, wings beating heavily against the air, allowing it to hover just over the empty platform, which was quickly lined with dwarven personal guards holding those strange cannons she’d seen when they first entered the city. It seemed to be a local standard. The bird dropped them into the center of the platform, hovering in the sky over them, its massive head locked onto their position. It looked like they weren't going anywhere without a fight.

Kiva steadied herself, eyeing the several dozen guards glowing with arcane might, each one presumably formally trained. It wouldn’t be impossible to run, but it would be difficult, unbelievably so. It wasn’t like jumping off the tower was an option, unless they wanted to spiral to their death onto the paved streets hundreds of feet below, which meant going through the tower, also not an option.

“Any ideas?” Kiva muttered to Karfice, who was inspecting Leo to make sure he was alright.

“Unless you want to try your luck running, no,” Karfice said, doing his best to hold his arm up in the air while still supporting Leo’s body.

“Good choice,” a particularly gruesome dwarven man said, stepping forward.

His thick muscles were wrapped top to bottom with deep battle scars, unnatural gouges in the skin which never quite healed properly. He hefted a large battleaxe the size of his body over his shoulder, stopping in front of them, his overwhelming presence intimidating despite his small stature. Even without formal presence training, Kiva could feel the impossible boiling heat invading the air around them, the pressure crushing them from every side. Fighting was not a good idea, of that much she was now absolutely certain. Kiva tentatively raised her arms in the air as the dwarves circled in around them.

“C’mon, let’s make this quick. I’d already be sleeping if it wasn’t for you lot,” the scared dwarf grumbled, grabbing Kiva’s shoulder and pulling her out from under the now dormant bird and into the tower's top room.

Just as Kiva had guessed, the spire’s peak looked to be a businessman’s wet dream, a plush, decorated office suite stuffed with fancy looking rugs, couches, bookshelves, chandeliers, and so on. It was extravagant, sure, and they hadn’t really gotten to see much of Evai’s tower, but there was a clear disparity in profit usage between the two companies, a first impression that left a bitter taste in her mouth. At the far end of the room, under a massive skylight, was a large curved desk, a dazzling human boy of maybe 14 or so sitting behind it with his head in his hands. He had a perfect complexion, smooth, practically shining skin with not a single blemish. He looked almost…perfect, like a doll brought to life. But what was even more surprising than the odd looking boy, was Garrote standing in front of the desk bound in runic chains. They seemed to be discussing something in hushed whispers, but as soon as they entered, the boy behind the desk turned to them, a brilliant smile lighting up his face.

“Wonderful! Just wonderful! Sit friends, and let us chat,” the boy said, motioning to some spare chairs in front of his desk. Kiva didn’t really want to sit, but the dozens of strange weapons pointed their way certainly had a way of convincing her. Kiva and Karfice sat next to the still standing Garrote, his now visible face betraying the boiling wrath burning within him.

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“No wonder you don’t have any friends. Hold them all at gunpoint, do you?” Garrote chided, staring daggers into the young boy.

“Not a word from you, brother. We can continue our chat another time,” the boy said, looking over at the new arrivals. His brow furrowed and and his lips pursed, clearly upset with something. He looked over their shoulders at the war torn dwarf standing a little ways behind him. “Where’s the other one? The brown haired kid.”

“Trenton?” the dwarf lazily answered, yawning.

“Yes, Trenton. Where the hell is he? I told you to get all of them. And for that matter, I don’t see the spirit either.”

The dwarf shrugged, “These were all I could get. That was supposed to be Trenton’s room, but I guess he must’ve been out. If we’d waited any longer Evai’s defenses would have kicked back in, shot MB out of the sky,” the dwarf nodded over his shoulder to the bird still sitting on the flight deck. “Not much else we really could’ve done, or can do.”

The kid sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb, “That’s…fine. That’s fine. We can improvise. You,” he pointed at Kiva, “where’s Trenton?”

Kiva opened her mouth, pausing to think. She didn’t know where he was, that was the truth, but that didn’t make for a very convincing story. He wouldn’t rightly take her at her word. Kiva glanced over at Karfice, trying to signal him for help, but he was long gone, head tossed all the way back, his breaths soft. Great, what help he was. The pause was getting suspicious now, she had to say something, anything. But as she started to talk, formulate whatever thoughts she had on hand, a voice from behind them called out, a voice which filled the room with its hearty depth.

“That’s a great question! Where is Trenton?”

Slowly walking in from the back of the room, Trenton was tossing a large metal sphere into the air, his body covered in blood and oil. Behind him, the bird which had been standing tall and proud a moment prior, now laid on the ground, broken. Trenton was heavily injured, jagged wounds all across his body, his left eye swollen shut, his left arm completely gone. But despite all that, he didn’t look bothered in the slightest, a focused look on his face.

The guards turned towards him, weapons raised to fire, but Trenton was much quicker. He palmed the large sphere as it came down, sending the speeding projectile through the heads of several of the dwarven guards and towards the little boy at the desk. But just as the orb was about to collide with his head, the scarred dwarf stepped in, leaping up on the big desk and knocking aside the metal core with relative ease.

Kiva rolled out of her chair to the side, diving over a couch to take cover from whatever strange weapons the guards were holding as they began to fire. Bright flashes of light flared from the muzzles of the strange weapons, smoke and strange little projectiles coating the floor. Yet, the worst part had to be the sound, hundreds of explosions bouncing off of every wall, her head pounding with the explosions echoing out all around her. Kiva scrambled desperately around on all fours to avoid the spray now piercing through the couch she had been hiding behind. A couple dwarves had even leapt over her makeshift barricade, throwing her to the side with gravity magic and shooting several holes through her side with water. Kiva staggered to her feet, once again trying to avoid the unknowable firepower, pressing her hand to her side and closing the wounds to keep herself moving. She was out in the open, a sitting duck. She needed more cover. She needed-

“Focus!” Garrote shouted, still chained, jumping on top of a guard's back who had leapt at Kiva and slamming him into the ground with gravity, the crushing force splattering him like a bug. He was right, she had to pay more attention to her surroundings.

At this point, most of the guards were dead, Garrote’s rage only making his slaughter more efficient, the dwarves like animals fit to burst. Off near the flight deck, Trenton and the scarred dwarf were locked in close combat, their heavy weapons clashing against each other with remarkable force. Even with just one arm, Trenton’s strength was astonishing, managing to hold his own while Kiva and Garrote finished off the last of the stray guards running around the room. But that didn’t mean they were done. The other guards would be here soon if they couldn’t-

From two thick oak sets of double doors on the right and left sides of the rooms, dozens more guards spilled in, each one as heavily armed as the last. They held their weapons high, poised to fire, Garrote and Kiva standing back to back in a last ditch effort to fight back.

“STOP! ALL OF YOU! I’LL KILL HIM! I SWEAR TO GOD I’LL KILL HIM!”

Still sitting near the now flipped over executive desk was Karfice, a simple blade pressed into his throat. Somehow, in all the chaos, Karfice had just dozed on, not bothering to move himself even an inch, which meant that he was very available to be used as a hostage for the very frazzled young boy now standing in the midst of his office torn asunder. Instantly, everyone froze, Trenton stopping the arc of his swing at its peak, his eyes locked on Karfice and Leo. Slowly, he lowered his weapon, raising his hand into the air, Kiva and Garrote following suit. Well, not so much Garrote. He was still chained, but the intention was there. They were not in any position to argue, no matter how much they wanted to fight back. Both Karfice and Leo were under direct pressure. If they were going to do something, it’d have to be quick and clever, not that they had any of that left in them.

“Good, now if you’ll all just come here and listen, I can tell you what I want to say, and we can all get along with our days,” the boy said, his eyes wild.