“I just wanted to say, boss, that I got your little joke,” the donut guard said, as they escorted Orion and the Gearmaster to a different location inside of the shop. “Glad I could help get Orion caught for you. Maybe I could have a quote for when my next review comes around?”

“Stop talking and I’ll consider it,” General William McIntosh said, heading up the party.

After climbing the slope back to the surface, they were placed in a windowless room somewhere near the kitchen. The men took ropes and tied the two of them to chairs, almost opting for tape around the mouth, but being told otherwise by the general. Then they saluted and left.

“Out of all the harebrained ideas I’ve seen someone try to execute,“ the general started, “this one certainly takes the cake. You’re certainly not a strategist, kid.”

“Maybe this was my plan all along,” Orion said. “To get in a room alone with you, so I could easily take you out.”

“Yeah, I doubt it. I think your plan was more along the lines of sneaking in, blending in with my men, and then eventually finding your way around to me, hoping to taking me out. But I don’t clock you as the type of person willing to do that sort of thing. Which begs the second biggest question in this whole charade: what exactly were you planning to do once you reached me?”

“That was a problem for later me to figure out once I got there.”

“That’s precious. Oh, and speaking of, where is your precious little Clockwork? Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, trying to use that to get to me?”

Orion knew that was exactly what the man wanted—access to the Clockwork.

“Yeah, well, you don’t want that thing, anyway. The machine is defective. It doesn’t work.”

“Oh, just because it didn’t save your little friend from getting hurt, the whole thing is defective? That’s an incredibly biased outlook on the whole situation, don’t you think?”

Orion didn’t immediately react to his taunts. Instead, he looked over at the Gearmaster, whose eyes had been closed the entire time.

When he had nothing to say, the general continued. “I’ll have you know, Orion, that your friend is alive and relatively well. He was lifted off to a hospital to treat his wound, a gunshot to the leg, but should make a full recovery. What they do with him after, however, is completely out of my hands. But I guess those are the punishments for getting involved in this whole thing. And you, kid, are a glutton for punishment.”

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The general revealed his own pistol and aimed it at Orion’s forehead. Then, he taunted him with the safety, clicking it back and forth between on and off.

“You won’t get away with this,” Orion said, gritting his teeth. “I’ll make sure of it. Your little takeover is finished.”

“What takeover? There’s no takeover here. In fact, the rest of the world sees it as a great thing. Imagine this scenario, if you will: the president of Carmsborough, the man in charge of an underdeveloped European country, has tried to take full control of the government and this nation. Only he didn’t make it all the way. A heroic military man by the name of Syndra prevented it, and was duly elected by all of its citizens. A wonderful story, don’t you think?”

“Nobody would ever believe it.”

“They already are. As we speak, Syndra is on his way to a conference in France, where he will talk about all of this in great detail. For those still protesting throughout Carmsborough, we have more… enthusiastic means of persuading them the truth.”

“Every time in history there has been someone like you,” the Gearmaster started, finally breaking his silence, “they have never been on the winning side.”

“There is no one in history like us. Not a single country has been willing to do what it takes to protect our world. The only thing standing between us and a secure future is that missing Clockwork technology.”

“And what does a secure future look like to you?” Orion asked. “Because I’m starting to think your definition includes and excludes a significant number of people.”

“A secure future for everyone, Orion. One without war, one without hunger, one without upheaval. And it all starts with Europe.”

“It always starts with Europe,” the Gearmaster said. “Let me guess, you take over all of Europe, and, then somehow vaguely the rest of the world, and then it magically becomes a utopia for all involved?”

“We are going to rid the world of external evils,” the general said, leaving it at that.

“What does that mean?” Orion asked.

“I’m tiring of your questions. I’m not playing this game anymore. The world needs Syndra, and the world needs secured.”

“And how does the Syndra Stone fit into all of this?” The Gearmaster asked.

For a moment, the general looked confused. Not because he didn’t know what he was talking about, but more about how he came upon that information.

“That’s how we’re going to supercharge the Clockwork,” he said. “That stone contains an immense power that we have only scratched the surface on. With that in our arsenal, we would be unstoppable.”

“This is literal insanity,” Orion said. “You really think you’re on the right side of history?”

“Fortunately for the both of us, you don’t have to stick around to see if that’s the case.” He raised the pistol back to Orion’s head. “So long, kid.”

At that very moment, the Clockwork smashed through the wall, which toppled over on their assailant. A thick cloud of debris filled the room as they both stared at the metallic behemoth. In response, all it did was whir.