“This information does not leave this room,” Agent Ike said, pacing back and forth in front of the chalkboard.

“Okay?”

“The American government has essentially promised us that within thirty-six hours, we were going to have access to fighter jets and men on the ground as part of their aiding Carmsborough in dealing with Syndra. I’ve let them know what’s really happening here, and they’re more than willing to help if we can get to a suitable spot for it.”

“That’s not a whole lot of time.”

“Exactly. We have a lot of work that needs to get done before we can even think about going straight for Syndra. Not to mention, we don’t even hardly know where he is. This is where you come in for the plan. Unless you know more than us about this situation, the plan is to draw him and the general out, and once they are, to use the Clockwork and the American military to handle their troops, as well as secure the two of them.”

“Unfortunately, I think I might actually know more than the two of you in this situation. It’s going to be a lot less simple than that.”

“How so?”

“They’re working on another Clockwork and are likely close or almost done with it. They said it’s going to have insane abilities, and that they will be stronger than my Clockwork’s abilities, because of a certain stone they found. I confiscated the stone, but it’s still going to be a pretty evenly matched fight between the two sides.”

Agent Mike grabbed an eraser from the board and wiped off a big chunk of what had been written.

“And actually, that’s not even the most of it. I need to go back and get the Gearmaster and bring him here. He’s working on a chip that is going to allow the Clockwork to better protect everyone, not just me. And now that the cloudship shield I got is broken, there are absolutely no guarantees that he’ll be able to get it working for me, especially in time.”

“Where is the Gearmaster right now? Last I knew, he was still kidnapped.”

“No, I saved him. He’s at an abandoned mattress warehouse in the Industrial District. That’s where we were holding out for the time being.”

“That’s a three-hour journey one way,” Agent Mike said. “That shaves time off of what we need for our new plan.”

“What’s the new plan?”

“Once we have the Gearmaster, and maybe the Clockwork is updated with whatever technology you need, we do some guerilla attacks on Syndra bases. Get them riled up, and force Syndra out to get you. There are three targets we can go for.”

“As long as we have a way to minimize injury to civilians in the area.”

“I agree,” Agent Ike said. “And we will. For the most part, the bombs that we have ready for this particular task won’t extend past the outer walls of the targeted building. It’ll still be devastating, but you’ve gotta get it to the center of the location.”

“Okay, so how exactly do we go to fetch the Gearmaster? It’s going to be a little inconvenient to just walk over there at the moment, and I’m not sure how comfortable I’m going to be riding the Clockwork for an extended period of time.”

The agent smiled. “Oh, trust me, I have an idea.”

-◦=[ ]=◦-

“I’m not sure I like this idea,” Orion said, sitting in a wheelchair with a blanket covering his bottom half. Agent Ike, who was now in clothes that blended in, rather than a suit and tie, was pushing the wheelchair. A woman walked beside him, dressed about the same. As a group, they exited the subway and cautiously navigated through the city. They were currently somewhere in the Housing District, but like most of his adventure the past week, he didn’t recognize the area.

“Nonsense. It’ll work perfectly. Orion, meet my wife. She also came over for our trip to Carmsborough before it was so rudely interrupted. You may recognize her as the person who brought you food when you woke up, but you will also refer to her as ‘Mom’ for the duration of this extraction. Understand?”

“I guess I do. So you’re Dad, then?”

“Yes. And you’re our handsome son Neil, who has spinal surgery down in Biomed, and we have a lot of ground to cover today, Neil.”

“Are the two of you actual parents? I guess if you were, you probably wouldn’t have come to Carmsborough without your kids, huh?”

“Oh, no, we are,” his wife said. “The name is Kate, by the way. The kids are visiting family back in the states. This definitely wasn’t a mission we wanted them to be a part of.”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“And what sort of mission were you on before you came here?”

“Classified,” the agent said. “But I appreciate your enthusiasm. Now get into character. We won’t have long before we stumble across somebody.”

The three of them continued onward, cutting through the Commerce District a bit, but nowhere near the coastal side of it. The Clockwork had stayed back at the base to guard it, and some of the more technically savvy people there had promised to see what they could do regarding the damage he’d sustained.

He hoped there was something they could do. Or, at least, that the Gearmaster could do.

As their trip continued, they passed by a section of the Commerce District where a group of Syndra’s men were harassing some homeless people in an alley. A cold chill ran down his spine.

“Hey, what time is it?” he asked the two pushing him along.

“Around two, why?”

“Just wondering.”

At least the homeless girl he’d met, whose name escaped him at the moment, wasn’t there. She was at work at that scummy scrapyard with her cat.

Still, he wasn’t comfortable just leaving the scene without doing something. There were sounds of a struggle as they strolled away, and he didn’t like to think about what that meant.

Another half an hour passed, and they were still in the Commerce District, but nearing the area where that scrapyard was. He’d considered taking a nap while the agent was pushing him along, but felt that would be a little silly. After all, he didn’t need to be in that wheelchair. Although it sure beat walking with his leg like this. It was still throbbing a bit, but most of the pain had subsided after another round of pain medication.

At last, at four, they had arrived near where his hideout had been. As soon as they turned to get onto the street, he felt antsy, having sat around for three hours, and realizing there was still another three for the walk back.

They started down the street, but a Syndra guard appeared out of an alley. “Hold it right there, you three.”

Orion did his best to hide the look of fear on his face, but the agent played it more than cool. “Is there something wrong, sir?”

“What are the three of you doing here? This entire block of the Industrial District is rundown and abandoned.”

“We’re just passing through. My wife and I are taking our son to his appointment.”

“What kind of appointment?”

“A check-in for an x-ray of his back. You see, he’s currently paralyzed from the waist down, and we’ve been trying to get in for almost two weeks to see the doctor to make sure we can get him some sort of surgery and maybe help him out some.”

The guard looked down at Orion, who did his best to seem like he was in significant pain. It didn’t take a whole lot of acting.

“Where is the office?”

“In the Biomed District.”

“And when do they close?”

“Six, and we were scheduled for five. We should get there right about on time.”

“Alright. Just be careful on the way back, you three. There is a curfew in place, after all.”

“Of course, sir. We don’t live too far from here. We shouldn’t have too much of a problem getting back home on time.”

The agent tipped his hat at the guard and continued pushing Orion down the street until the guard had disappeared out of the sunlight and back into the alley.

“Alright, it’s this one here,” Orion said, pointing to the mattress warehouse.

The agent pulled out a pistol and readied himself just outside the door before kicking it in. Kate pushed Orion in through the door with an eye roll. The Gearmaster was in the back office when he heard the noise.

“It’s about time you’re back, Orion,” he said, not looking yet. “I heard the news on the radio that you took out an airship, and I hope you were able to get one of those cloudship shield generator discs.”

“Not quite,” Orion said. Agent Ike lowered his weapon as the Gearmaster stepped into view. “Sir, meet Agent Ike, and his wife, Kate. They’re apparently heading up the resistance in the Housing District.”

“I knew there had to be a resistance front somewhere. I just knew it.” The old man walked up to the agent and shook his hand. “So, you didn’t get a disc, then?”

“I had, but it was destroyed in the mess of the airship battle. I’m so sorry. I don’t think I’ll be able to get another.”

“Well then, don’t I have incredible news for you, Orion?”

“You were able to make the chip without it?”

“There is no chip. There never was a chip.”

“What?”

The Gearmaster took a seat on the cleaner of the two mattresses that were still in the building. “I designed the Clockwork perfectly, Orion. He already does exactly what you’ve been begging for me to make him do. You just hadn’t recognized that yet.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Think about it. When you came to rescue me, what happened? Rather than only defending you, he defended me as well.”

“Yeah, but that was because you literally created him.”

“Okay, so then what about that airship battle? Why did the Clockwork smash in those turrets and deflect that missile from hitting the city? Why would he have tried to let the large debris land safely, rather than smash into those buildings?”

“Because… because I wanted him to.”

“We’re getting somewhere.”

“But that doesn’t make sense. I wanted him to help Rami, too. And Max. But he didn’t help in either of those cases.”

“That could amount to anything, I’m afraid. It could be it didn’t know how to help, or that when it made its calculations, your safety or life wasn’t guaranteed, and so it couldn’t trade that life for yours, or something to that effect. But mostly, it’s because you weren’t ready yet. You hadn’t realized exactly what you needed the Clockwork for, and you hadn’t given it the respect it needed.”

Orion put his head in his hand.

Finally, it was all making sense. “So you had me do all of that for nothing? Break my leg for nothing?”

“Sorry to hear you broke your leg, but it wasn’t for naught. That was all for training. For getting accustomed to the Clockwork, and figuring out exactly how the two of you work together. Which is apparently well, I might add. At this point, he should now be a part of you. An extension of you, almost. Anything it can help you with that you want it to help with, it should do.”

Agent Ike looked at his watch. “Wow, usually I’m the one with the long mentor-mentee talks. We have to get going. If there are any other questions or comments between the two of you, they’re going to have to wait until we get back to base. The clock is ticking, and I’d rather not be out and about when curfew hits.”

“Let me pack up some tools real quick, and I’ll be good to go,” the Gearmaster said, before disappearing back into the office.

“Seems like a splendid fellow,” Agent Ike said.

“Very upsetting.”

“That’s an understatement.”