[IC] Mystique- "A techno-magic world"-NMV

[MelonHead]

It was his second week on Mystique, the world of magic and technology, wasteland and sprawling metropolis with an interesting variety of flora. The Clockwork Man was quite at home in such a strange land, where technology and magic were pretty much one in the same. Though he could not say he was as of yet comfortable, it was a lot to acclimatise too, even when one happens to be a metal man sustained by magic. As if the very reality was a sharp sound the Clockwork Man, George Elmore, woke from his waking reverie. Just in time to avoid minor embarrassment, funnily enough, as he caught himself about to drop into a fifteen foot ditch. All around him was rubble, scrap metal, a massive city sized junk-yard. It was the perfect location for the poorer inhabitants of Mystique, lower classes of the Mystans, to live and prosper as best they could. They had a strange connection with technology, even the lowest could create machines far beyond what George himself used to be capable of. They had an inherent gift for Technomancy, a skill the Clockwork Man shared, and so it was that he found himself pursued by three young Mystans, and their robotic toys.

The smallest, and arguably the most talkative, saw him stop abruptly before the ditch. She giggled somewhat giddily and berated the automaton.

“You’re not very good at looking where you’re going are you metal man?” The young Mystan mocked him from somewhere behind, and he sighed inwardly. With what remained of his dignity, he kicked off from the ground, his dark metallic frame gliding through the air to land on the other side of the ditch. He straightened the Victorian jacket he wore and tilted his head in his form of a grin.

“Hey, no fair.” The girl shouted, while her two elder brothers just smiled and called their robotic aids to their side, using them to cross the ditch with little effort. The girl flew across far less gracefully, clutching hand-holds on a small but deceptively powerful old scout drone. When all the Mystans were safely on the other side George continued his quick, but slowed, stride towards the settlement in the scrap-plains far off into the distance. He noted with a cursory glance that the sun was soon to set, and the red moon of Mystique was rising on the far horizon. He quickened his pace ever so slightly.

“We don’t need no escort anyway metal man.” One of the older Mystans told him, though he was barely a teenager and the oldest of the group. George had found the three working on something which had caught his eye from the distance, but turned out to be little more than a seeing lens. The middle child had been trying to convince the others it was time to head home; he happened to agree with him and interjected to say so. The three had stared at him with something akin to fear, the memory hurt.

“I’m not an escort, I want to trade with your parents.” George explained, for the third time. It was a lie of course, and the children knew it. They were accustomed to automatons, machines with souls, but this was the first of his kind they had encountered. Their probing magic had irked him slightly, disrespectful technomancy, disgraceful. He had spat back at them with a sharp stinging blow which emanated from his Soul Crystal. They had apologized profusely of course, but just looking at him they somehow knew he wasn’t from their planet. He sympathised with them, he was a dangerous looking thing. Here he was though, escorting three children he had only just met, that instinct had never died in him even though near everything else had long since faded. He sighed inwardly and jumped on top of the discarded wing of an old jet.

From his vantage point, he saw the settlement in the distance, surrounded by corrugated walls and spotlights, it was a safe place, beckoning. He could also judge that it was a mere half an hour walk away at this pace, but with a feeling of what he guessed was dismay he noted the sun was already creeping below the horizon. Darkness was upon them, and like some cliché horror movie, that was when the monsters came out.

His first encounter with the Day Sleepers, or the Night Wakers, or the Broken Ones, they had many names, was three days into his excursion of Mystique. They were an odd assortment of machine, metal beast, magical automaton like himself, and other decrepit creatures. Their souls had been broken, or perhaps time had driven them mad. Regardless, they shut down during the day and recharged, and at night their only remaining function kicked in. They sought enemies, which was anything organic or hostile by his reckoning, and attempted to rip them apart. The settlers here had defences armed against them, but they were far from mobile, and so these children by his reckoning were in great danger. They should have been more careful, he thought sardonically, as he himself was unwilling to hide from the Broken Ones.

“Hurry up.” He called, and they hastened. Darkness fell around them.

[GreivousKhan]

Death Eaters

The normally bright red sky begin to take on a darker hue as the sun started to set on the horizon. The Class-D sun dipped behind a crest of mountains, creating a kind of twinkle effect, with two red spouts of light extended across the mountains ranged. As if the sun was covering it with wide arms. It was not quite night yet, but light was fast fading, even so, few would take much notice of the peculiar dark spec in the sky that was slowly growing in size and detail. It might have become visible to those on the ground with sharp eyes as it burst through the cloud cover of acidic mist that normally covered the world. Leaving behind a small round whole in the clouds above which already was fast closing. The spec above, now reveling itself to be a sort of craft was already descending with alarming speed but perfect control. As it neared the ground, it momentarily vanished behind a ring of debris that marked the beginnings of a massive grave yard of torn metals and broken pieces of various machines. The craft was sliver dark grey hue, and seemed perfectly smooth, shaped vaguely like a seed of a sort. It reflected no light from the slowly setting sun however, but like everything else around it, cast lengthening shadows. It hovered over a clearing of wreckage that was mostly free of scraps of metal. When it was only a couple feet off the ground, legs extended from beneath it, and softened the crafts landing. It sank partly into the broken earth but found purchase.

Impossibly, while there had been no indication of any lines or other hints of an opening. A part of its underbelly opened and a ramp extended down to the trash rich planet floor. Out of the alien craft came three figures garbed head to toe in what could only be described as battle armor. They varied in height, but the tallest among them was no greater then 6 feet. The were heavily armed, so it seemed, each carrying cross shaped weapons. But no ammo could be seen prepped on the end of the devices. Their crosses also seemed bent back, more like arrows then crosses, as if they were readied for a shot. They were all masked and hooded, concealing their faces from prying eyes. They moved with uncanny grace, producing no sound at all with practiced step, even though logic demanded their foot falls at least make a light 'thud' on the ramp seemingly made of metal. The fanned out and crouched at the bottom of the ramp, each raising his own crossbow and facing a different direction. The one in the middle, the tallest, possibly their leader. Raised a clutched fist into the air level with his head. Quickly but also just as silently moving, four more exited the craft down the ramp.

The scanned their surroundings with careful watchful eyes hidden behind their visors, as six more followed in their wake. The last figure descended the ramp like a shadow given shape. The leader of the group was now standing at the ramp's bottom, as if waiting. Clad in black like the rest, but tellingly thinner and less heavily armed or armored, the figure exited the ramp and stood before the tall specimen. A discerning eye would easily tell this one held a feminine figure unlike the others. Quick hand signs between the two followed, then the women nodded and moved to the edge of the ring the group had made. The ramp was pulled up into the craft, and moments latter, by some trick of light or another, it seemed to vanish as if it had never been there to begin with. The silent hunters then dispersed. They knew their objective.

Shenestra the Huntress knew her objective as well, and it would be decidedly less exciting then that of her comrades. Hidden behind the wreckage of some heavily armored vehicle, resembling a kind of tank without wheels. She watched the dark figures stalk their way across the broken land. Moving with careful yet purposeful steps, toward a settlement crowned atop a small incline. The hunters had a simple task in the name of their ancient order. One that would hopefully help starve off the inevitable exciton of their entire race. They had learned of Mystique some time ago in their ever continued march through the Multiverse. Once more they had learned of the being who lived here. Their skill and ability in Technomancy, rare masters of the art much like the Death Eaters themselves. Or at least masters they had once been, before the fall, before their knowledge had been lost forever. Now however, that would all change.

It was here they hoped to learn the arts from the Mystans had harbored on this world. Many raids were even now taking places on small enclaves around the planet. Their purpose for once, not to destroy but to capture alive as many of the planets inhabitants as they could. That was the responsibility at least, of her brethren, her's was to infiltrate the settlement before hand, and disarm or sabotage whatever defenses they possessed. It would a simple task, for even now darkness fell, that short twilight before the sun fully set. Making now the prefect time to strike, where the shadows were at their longest. That was the plan at least, Shenestra thought. What they had learned of this planet had also included sparse information of other strange horrors that stalked the night. So the inhabitants would be at their most wary, but they would be waiting for the strike of mechanical beast, not the silent steps of her kin. It wast he confusion soon to follow that they hoped to exploit.

She moved with ease over and often under debris scattered across the land. She dashed under a low hanging beam then, leaped over a turned over pillar. She already felt the oppressing aura that hung heavily in this place. Shenestra only smiled warily. Her Death Eater technology at least would not be hindered in this place, for it relied already on the principles of Mystan technology. Albeit, on a very different prospective of the art. As if summoned by her thought, the spirit within her Wrist Gauntlet rang a warning in her minds ear. She froze behind a turned over vehicle of a kind and waited. She switched her visor imaging to ENVG, and motion detection, to compensate for the lack of lighting. Though her own natural sight was able to pierce the darkness easily enough. Soon enough she, first heard, then saw what her ever alert slaved spirit had warned her of earlier.

The laughter of children could just be faintly heard, over the otherwise fairly quiet landscape. Something that would soon change no doubt. Clothed in shadows and peering through the a gaping hole in under side of the vehicle. Shenestra observed what looked to be three- no four humanoid figures, along with what looked to be three droids or pets. One of them was significantly larger than the other three who followed. Switching vision modes again, she discovered that her guess had been mostly right. The three of the four seemed to be children, hardly into their teens, the larger figure however did not seem to be a Mystan of any kind. In fact she was certain he was no sentient organic, as a quick configuration of her visors further acknowledged it as a sort of automaton. Of what make or design it was, no further information was forth coming. She was not surprised at the automatons presence here. After all considering the planet she was presently on they were likely a common sight.

The small group was of no importance to her or her mission, but they were heading toward the same settlement. The Skull-Visor revealed they were no more then 300 feet, or 91.44 meters away. It would prove a simple task to shadow this group to the settlement, They might even provide her with easy access. With a quickly tapped command on her wrist Gauntlet, Shenestra being suddenly seemed to have vanished from existence. As she was temporally placed in a pocket dimension. The world around her took on a pale greyish hue, and seemed to her like she was looking at it as if from behind a stained glass. Even if someone possessed some means of seeing thermal pattens or the like, they would find it irritably impossible to discover her presence until she revealed herself again. She could not remain this way for long however, so she wasted little time in following the iron man and his company...

[MelonHead]

Why am I here, protecting these children so different from my own species, the Clockwork Man asked of himself. The night had truly reached them now, him and his small group of merry children. However, when the Clockwork Man destroyed the first of the Broken Ones with his pistol, they were cowed into fearful silence.

They don’t even look like humans, really, he thought. That wasn’t completely true of course, the Mystans were humanoid in appearance, but they sported far larger eyes than humans and their hair grew either incredibly dark red or jet black. Save for that small difference, they were uncannily similar to humans, though they lacked the little finger and the fingers they did have were longer and more deft, and their necks were marked with coloured grooves ranging from pale green to dark blue, marking the age of the individual. Otherwise they were similar indeed, and all of them favoured fur lined clothing which wouldn’t have looked out of place in Scotland or England even.

Once again he was dragged from his deep thought by the sounds of metal on scrap, the Broken Ones were still all around him and he was a good ten minute walk from the camp. He needed to get closer, and then the Warding Machines the Mystans employed to deal with hostile technology like the Broken Ones would kick into action and do his job for him.

“Quickly.” He called, jumping onto a slightly elevated pile of scrap to survey the area. The Scrap Yard was like a maze, and difficult for the Mystan’s to traverse. Though the distance to the camp was relatively short now, it would still be hard going for the young ones, and all around them the Broken Ones lurked. Remnants of the Eternal Machine Wars, George was growing adept at picking out the most dangerous. Some even posed a significant threat to him, but he had been on the planet long enough to pick those out, armed as they were with Lazer technology they were difficult to sneak past, it was only his technomagic nudging them the right way which had spared him a dangerous confrontation.

The three children struggled on, as he fired two shots in quick succession emptying his gun into a leaping scout bot. Strangely, it resembled a wolf, though half its head was sheared away and the other half was blown to pieces by his rounds. His free left hand crept into his satchel to seize more Elmorium covered bullets, and load them deftly into the Clockwork Pistol, as he leapt off the pile of scrap and re-joined the group, leading them on at a brisk jog. Suddenly, as if crashing into a brick wall, he was brought to a stop.

A familiar buzzing worked through his Soul Crystal, and he realised that they had made it into the protective shield of the Camp. The Warding Shield struck against any foreign technology, with a combination of technological interference and powerful Technomancy. Luckily, the Clockwork Man had become friends with a few of the Mystans since his arrival, and they had taught him the trick of protecting oneself from the effects. It was still difficult, even for a powerful Technomancer such as himself, but with one last effort he was returned to full strength, and walked through the most debilitating part of the shield. The group followed him, and he led them on, sparing one last glance behind him at the wolves at the door, so to speak. They could come no further, though this did not stop them running the length of the shield in irritation. He turned away, leading the small group up and towards the large metal gates of the camp. They opened before him, and he and the Mystans hurried inside.

After saying goodbye to the children, and accepting the slightly worried thanks of the parents, he decided to pay a visit to the elder of the camp. Inside the gates the Mystan scrap settlement was as much a maze, but of homes and abandoned merchant stalls. The hour was late, and most had retired to their homes, which resembled strangely high-tech shanties. In the middle, smoke billowed from a larger almost tepee esque building. He headed towards it, and with a brief word to the two guards outside, armed with lazer carbines that could blow a hole through an elephant, not that they had any, he was admitted inside.

[GreivousKhan]

As the landscape darkened to near pitch black, Shenestra continued along at a steady pace. Not far behind the small group of Mystans and their artificial construct guardian, she stalked them until they reached the outer perimeter of the settlement. Observing as the yet unidentified automaton dispatched any wild construct that came to near. Suddenly he stopped in a curious fashion, yet after a moment it proceeded along with it's charges and their droids, and more curiously the hostile constructs did not give chase. In fact they seemed to wonder back and forth as if pacing before some unseen barrier. Shenestra quickly realized that this was likely the work of a ward many of the larger outer Mystans settlements of used for their own protection. Designed to keep out anything hostile, which often comprised of the constructs that wondered the waste.

Wasting little time Shenestra circled around to a larger stand of broken rubble populated by metal skeletal remains of countless machines. While in the wraith realm, Shenestra could not affect the physical world, just as it could do her no real harm. The barrier however would need dealing with in the material realm if she was to pass through it without alerting the Mystans within. The cloak dissolved around her with a thought, bringing back color and proper sound to the world around her once more. She could now feel the cool night wind blowing from the south, and discerned that with the acid clouds above, few stars could be seen, and the red moon of the planet was waxing crescent in its lunar phase. Making for a particularly dark night, save for the few lights left on in the small settlement ahead. Working quickly she activated her wrist gauntlet, scanning the unseen barrier ahead. He visors gave it a see-through kind of lighting effect, almost like glass or ice. Moments later, hacking into the barrier with the essence of the gauntlets trapped spirit, Shenestra found a series of codes that translated to the correct frequency in which to bypass the barrier without alerting a soul.

In moments Shenestra was through, none too late as a particularly large construct happened upon her hiding place while hunting in the dark. It halted at the edge of the barrier near the spot she had passed through. Leaving her to mildly wonder how they could still see in the dead of night. While her wraith gate charged for the present time, Shenestra easily passed through the shadows of many broken fragments of Mystan technology still littering the edges of the camp. Ever careful of any alarms or other forms of security, she reached the walls unmolested. The encampment was circled by a wall standing some 18 feet high. Mystan guards armed with 'wands' wondered the walls walkway which was conjoined with varies watch towers. The wands they possessed were a mix of technology and magic, in common Technomancer fashion. What they could and would fire was anyone's guess. Such was the deadliness of such weapons in they could surprise one foe with brilliant jets of freezing ice, or subtle but powerful missiles of magical force.

Shenestra was in no mood to discover what each guard could unless if given half a mind to do so, and waited until a gap appeared in their patrols. Counting off the seconds in her head, she raised her gauntlet of her left arm and a kind of whip sprung forth. The single claw like hook at the end pierced the surface of the wall just under its top edge. With all the dexterity of a spider, Shenestra ambled her way up as silent as the wind. Then wait for an oblivious guard to walk by her while she waited just below. Then sprung over the edge of the wall, rolled to the other end, and glided over the rail. Just a few feet behind the Mystan, who himself had not heard a thing.

From then on the hard part had ended, but now was the most critical and difficult segment of her objective. Orbital surveillance beforehand of the camp had revealed a major buildup of energy, arcane in nature, being centered in the western edge of the settlement. An overlay map appeared as a part of her HUD within her visor, using her current position on the south end of the small township. She made her way through back alleys and avenue narrow walkthroughs. Training coupled with years of experience allowed her to remain hidden from watchful eyes. In minutes she had reached a rather large building compared to the many others she had come across thus far. He map revealed it too be the source of the power spike. Thus leaving little doubt it was the source of the settlements shields. Once they were shut down, there would be little standing between the settlement and the hordes of blood thirsty constructs outside. In the confusion soon to follow, is where her comrades were to abduct key Mystans. Skilled masters of Technomagic.

The building was well guarded, of course it would be, but those standing guard were fairly lax, unsurprising. None had dreamed of an outsider sneaking herein to sabotage the settlements primary source of power and protection. Still there were many, and it took time and patience to bypass the security measures. Shenestra reached the inner chambers of the building, gaining access from abandoned underground passages, likely linking to old long forgotten bunkers. Passing through the halls she continued to dodge patrols with increasing difficulty. After all she had no wish to dispatch any and possibly give away her presence too early. She lacked her primary cloaking device, but still possessed her optical camouflage. In time she acquired access to a vent that led her to the inner chambers, looking through steel grates. Shenestra discovered the room was full of all kinds of overly large cables, wires, pipes, or pillars containing or wrapped in all three. Silently as possible Shenestra opened the grate, leaving it hanging open by one screw. She fell to the floor landing in a crouch. In the middle of the room were three small crystals levitating, or perhaps suspended in a field between two larger pillars. One connected to the ceiling the other the floor.

Two burly Mystans stood sentinel, one one each side of the crystals and their pedestal. Each armed with a wand, up close they looked lie nothing more than mere pistols. Though of very queer make, for their design was almost absurd. Still she did not doubt their deadliness. Hiding behind a pillar, she observed that they both had their backs to the crystals, watching their end of the room. She stooped low a hand on the pillar as she closed her eyes, focusing her mind. Suddenly she sprang into action. She came from the east end of the room, thus approaching from their sides. There were two entrances in the room, and each were looking at their respective entry points. By the time they noticed her coming from another location entirely it was too late.

A bolt of nether struck the one on her right in the back of the neck; he gave an odd sigh then collapsed to his feet. The other one whirled around with admirable speed, leveling his pistol wand, his larger than normal eyes widening even further with surprise. She never give him time to pull the trigger and release whatever spell was stored inside. In a blur of motion, blood splashed from a now open ugly wound around his throat, he fell back clutching at his neck in a vain attempt to stop his life blood from pouring forth. Shenestra retracted her whip back into her gauntlet. Then raised her right arm, the wrist crossbow there still steaming nether from recently firing, and aimed it at the crystals.

---

All around the settlement power died, as light winked out entirely from every home or house. The watch towers went dead, as their spotlights become lifeless, from beyond the walls on the outskirts of the encampment, the unnatural howl of construct beast could be heard. As they hungrily swarmed toward the walls and the settlement within.....

[MelonHead]

The Mystan elder was a tall man, with long greying hair, dressed in furs decorated with copper rings. He sat on a fine wooden chair as he addressed the Clockwork Man who stood some distance in front of him, listening intently. Even though he was permitted due to his relatively friendly status with the people, the guards in the room still trained their weapons in the automaton’s direction; he was not insulted by their caution.

“The problem is with the project, we don’t understand exactly what we’re dealing with. This settlement is tiny, our prosperous brothers and sisters in the cities… they have forgotten the old ways and become dependent, it is sad that such happened, but it is the way of the Old Machine.”

“It is true that adopting the city dwellers methods would make your lives considerably easier though, no?” The Clockwork Man asked curiously, though his dry voice did little to convey his enthusiasm for knowledge. If truth be told, the Clockwork Man had yet to learn anything of the city save for what he had picked up from other scrap Mystans, having spent all his time thus-far on the planet in the great Scrap Plains.

“Of course, but the principle, I coul-“ the Elder halted mid-speech, as a sound like breaking earth invaded the building, followed by the high-pressure bolts from plasma rifles. “Blast.” The Mystan leader cursed, standing up immediately and drawing his hands high. From either side of him sleeping sentinels awoke, fast flying and deadly spectre drones from the most recent machine war. They sped off immediately, heading towards the Reactor building.

“This is not the first time our generators have failed, the Broken Ones pose no realistic threat when they charge our walls, but it is an irritating waste of energy and recourses to deal with them… that’s why the Warding Machine is so useful, solar powered like it is.” The Elder seemed relatively unperturbed by the situation at least in terms of the Broken Ones which were now reaching the walls and being systematically destroyed. Thankfully, the larger and more powerful Machines were also intelligent enough not to waste themselves against equally powerful foes. “However, the cause for the generator failing once again is worrying, last time it was simple Mystan error, but we fixed that particular bug…”

“Could it be sabotage?” The Clockwork Man enquired. He worried for the children he had saved, but realised almost every member of the camp were competent Technomages. Every household contained a defence bot which was more than capable of dealing with the average Broken One.

“Unlikely, but we’ll know for sure when my Spectres survey the reactor room. They’re entering now.” The Elder stared into the distance as if far away, looking through the ‘eyes’ of his machines.

“Damn. The Guards are dead.” He swore at length in Mystan, which the Clockwork Man was only just getting the hang of. Most of the time they spoke English… now he considered that it was strange, but worth thinking about later.

“Sabotage then, I’ll go look, it won’t help me any if someone destroys the camp before the project is completed.” The Clockwork Man turned on his heel, looking particularly out of place in Victorian attire as he strode into the relative darkness. Out there, it was useful to have gigantic lenses for eyes, because there was no telling what he could run into, and being able to see in near complete darkness was a major advantage.

He reached the reactor room after a few moments, and really wished he had the ability to use Mystan technology. It was irritating being surrounded by such powerful weapons, and not having the genetic code to fire the bloody things. Still, he had his pistol, and being made of Elmorium was also a fair advantage. Feeling confident, he walked purposely into the building and made his way towards the main reactor room, where the crystals which powered the Warding Shield could be found.

[GreivousKhan]

As the power of the crystals diminished then exploded outward with a spectacular array of light. The Death Cultist had already taken cover behind the hexagonal shaped rooms two great half circle reactors positioned at the base of the large platform centered in the middle of the room. The lights dimmed then went dead, a few spots of red light gleamed down from the roof casting eerie red light. Most of the room was rather pitch-black; however, this was no hindrance to Shenestra, who even without her Skull-Visor would have been little hindered by the dark. Already the sound of activity outside was increasing as the Mystans soon realized that the shield ward was gone, and something was quite wrong indeed. Shenestra for her part ignored the sounds outside the building and focused on any hint of running footsteps coming toward the reactors direction. Meanwhile she remained crouched and hidden where she was. The muscles of her leg and arms tensed and ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. No doubt the Mystans would seek to repair ward at some point, Shenestra knew he objective now was to simply stall until the signal came for their departure.

Shenestra decided quickly enough the best location to observe the north and south entry points for any new comer. It seemed most were occupied with the defenses, for none we forthcoming at the moment. Suddenly the distinct yet faint sound of something heavy moving down a corridor could be heard. Quieting the beat of her heart, a task made easy thanks to her intensive training and implants, she picked up the sound of a kind of mechanical whine. She soon deduced that the Mystans had employed one of their drones to investigate and repair the reactor. Still she had not expected to see the same automaton she had encountered outside the settlements borders. Now that she was closer, she could see he sported a strange alien style of dress, complete with jacket, shirt and trousers. Something that quickly pointed out that this was no mere machine. If the manner in which he had acted earlier was any hint, the cloths were a sure give away that it possessed some intellect beyond a mere drone or machine.

The large lens fitted into it's head cast a slight gleam from the weak red glow of the emergency lights above. It moved with purpose, not in the least bit sluggish, nor clumsy despite the bulkiness of it's frame. At it's waist Shenestra spotted a satchel of some kind, its contents yet unclear, on the opposite side it sported a pistol that was certainly not of Mystan make. Further quick inspection, using the zoom and Infrared imaging technology, revealed that the satchel contained four grenade shaped objects. There seemed to even be some kind of almost spider shaped device or tool hidden under the folds of it's cloak on it's back. While it was difficult to estimate the strength of it's so far visible armaments, it seemed readily well armed indeed. To say nothing of the over thickness of it's plates. Shenestra machine spirit did however detect several weak spots located primarily around the constructs joints and head.

Yet, even with IR, she could locate no primary location in which it's power source was located. She could only assume it was either in the head or chest compartment, perhaps even a backup set of optical sights on the chest should the head be lost. Such designs were not uncommon on battle drones and their like. She quickly switched through her other forms of visions allowed to her by the skull-visors, wishing to glean as much information from the construct before deciding a course of action. In all it's manner hinted further at the automatons alienness to this world, but there were some similarities between it and Mystan technology. Still she was off put in she could not yet discern what manner of metal covered it's form, nor it's overall strength and reliance. She could only be sure it was not iron.

Having gleaned enough, Shenestra decided against any direct confrontation, planning to wait to see what it would do first. It would seem likely it would attempt to repair the damage to the reactor which meant ascending the short stairs there and approaching the pedestal with its now three dead crystals, leaving it’s back to her. If so Shenestra could use the opportunity to strike while it was preoccupied. Shenestra knew for her part she was well concealed, not only by the dark, but also her optical-camouflage had already copied the background around her perfectly. Not to mention the dormant engine she sheltered behind. Shenestra could only guess that it possessed some means of seeing in the dark, the obvious conclusion to draw from it's lack of light source in which to see with, such as a torch or flashlight. Even so Shenestra had already all but silenced her own heartbeat and breathing, entering a minor state of Reverie, while her camouflage matched both the heat and appearance of the background around her as she remained unmoving with death-like stillness. Her body still tense and ready to spring at a moment’s notice all the same.

The recent death of the guards also gave Shenestra a distinct advantage along with the element of surprise. She did not draw on it yet, even though the automaton would most likely be blind to sense such manipulation. Shenestra decided to air on the side of caution, waiting for the most opportune moment to move.

[MelonHead]

The Clockwork Man looked unperturbed, if he even had capacity for such emotion, as he wandered into the reactor room. Though he didn’t look particular active in his search, his lens eyes could see everything in the dimly lit interior, and he pushed outwards with his magic to analyse any Technology in close proximity. Hence, when the intruding glance of his foe’s scanning technology washed over him, he stopped it short with a realistic looking energy signature, without making it in anyway obvious he was aware of their presence. He followed this up with a very careful and cautious reply, learning the very basics to avoid any potential Technomancy detection his foe had access to, as unlikely as it was. It was difficult to pinpoint an exact position, but he placed them in the general vicinity of the Hexagonal reactors, which was why as he walked into the room he put her on the opposite side of the crystals by skirting around, in a mock display of basic surveillance. His Technomancy revealed optical camouflage of some form, as well as some magically-enhanced weaponry and some form of detection tech. Pretty much what he expected from a saboteur, but also the tools of a spy… or assassin. He continued to walk towards the Crystal, lifting his left hand to draw the fragments of what remained of the old crystal together, while his right remained relaxed at his side. It would be a lengthy process, because he was far from knowledgeable of the Mystan’s warding shield, but that wasn’t a massive issue. His progress had to be checked by his foe, and he was ready, once slain or ousted the Mystans would just come down and replace the crystals. Time was on his side.

[GreivousKhan]

Shenestra waited as she watched the progress of the automaton, as it moved around to the west side of the crystal pedestal. Shenestra could only guess it was seeking out the infiltrator responsible for the power outage and the death of the two guards. However, why it did not search the room in a complete patrol pattern Shenestra could not guess. Once it reached the other side, it seemed to have extended a limb to the platform.

"Energy fluctuation detected zero point 11:00 degrees due north-west."

Beeped the Akarid spirit slaved too her wrist Gauntlet. Speaking directly into her mind from the link they shared. It seemed the construct was either preparing something or recharging the crystals. Shenestra had not guessed it could do so from a distance without ascending the platform. That meant she would have to readjust her planned approach slightly. Nothing that should pose a problem in her mind.

The sound of explosions could just be faintly heard from outside, he keen ears picking up the distinct sound of autocannon fire. The second phase of the plan she guessed had been completed she could only assume. Things were about to get allot more difficult for the defenders above. Hopefully it would not endanger the entire settlement, as that would complicate the mission unnecessarily. All Shenestra had to do now was stall for time. Which meant dispatching this newcomer or forestalling the crystals repairs. Suddenly with a thought Shenestra then vanished as she entered the wraith realm, the world suddenly became shadows of pale grey and dark black shadowy ink.

The change always sent a slight chill through her body, but she quickly dismissed the momentary discomfort. Now within the wraith realm she could more easily approach her target despite the direction he now faced. Even if he had possessed thermal imaging or used some magical means of detection. They would be equally useless in detecting a being in a small pocket dimension. She moved then, circling around to the north entryway then passed it as she angled herself to the constructs left side. Always keeping a pillar or two and 15 feet between her and the metal man. If she reached his 6 O'clock unmolested, and if the clockworkman continued his repairs. She would then circle towards his back, two rods already in each hand, but yet not activated.

She moved with skilled silent steps, moving slowly and precisely, over (sometimes under) wires or cables, as she approached. If by the time she reached within striking range with no outward response from the construct she would take a combat stance just 8 feet behind him. Her feet set wide apart, bent slightly at the knees, her right arm posed across her chest, the rod at an angle pointing slightly toward the ground with her left arm hung across her lower stomach, ready to shoot up for an attack or block. She could not harm it while within the wraith realm, but she could ready herself to attack when she disengaged her cloak. She managed to take note of the fact from this point that he was using his left arm, no doubt leaving his right open to draw the pistol at his side. Shenestra planned on making sure he never got the chance.

She dismissed her cloaking-field, and the world suddenly jumped back to life, a slight feeling of vertigo followed as it always did. She lost precocious seconds recovering, but in the blink of an eye she moved then. Shooting forward raising from her slight crouch as she swung her right arm around, aiming for the constructs neck. The thinner joints there would prove easier to slice through then most of the rest of him. And indeed a dark violet light shaped like a scythe like blade sprung from the rod then, making it a kama like bladed weapon in the span of a second. Reflexes honed from decades of training and boosted by her suits enchantments allowed her to cover the 8 feet in just a second. Which might leave just under three seconds for the construct to respond before her, hopefully, surprise attack landed.

If of course he had stopped his repairs of the crystals, and taken some other action. Shenestra would have simply stopped her slow advance and taken cover behind a pillar ready to respond to any change in tactic.

[MelonHead]

The presence… I can no longer feel it. The Clockwork Man thought quizzically. Considering the nature of his opponent, he expected some further form of camouflage which even he was not able to detect. That meant they were making their move, most likely to strike at him, he hoped they took the bait.

His plan succeeded in part, when he became immediately aware of the technology he was growing familiar with a very short distance behind him. He span quickly round to his right, his feet sliding as he turned 180, to face the oncoming threat, but he had misjudged at what speed his opponent could move. Luckily for him, his reflexes and perception were way beyond an ordinary human, because death would have been likely if that were the case. As his opponent struck at his neck from a crouch, they had a significant distance to cover to reach him, providing his low hand the opportunity to bat away the foe who he had quickly judged was likely a woman. His palm should swat away her own hand from underneath, and provided she did not attempt some kind of twisting motion in mid-air, which seemed unlikely, her blade would only slash up and past the Clockwork Man’s face, cutting a significant groove across his right ‘cheek’. Assuming this were the case, her momentum would likely cause her to overextend just enough that as he turned fully, his left hand could swing round and give her a powerful shove underneath her right arm, hopefully knocking her back or at least unbalancing her to give the Clockwork Man time to manoeuvre.

[GreivousKhan]

The constructs reaction time was faster then Shenestra would have expected. Somehow he had become aware of her appearance, turning about to face her. Her eyes genetically improved saccade was quite sensitive to the slightest bit of motion, and caught the act as it began to unfold. Seeming to somehow slide it's feet to spin around, to turn about just as Shenestra entered comfortable striking range. His right hand then moved to intercept her own right arm. However he had not noticed her other arm was already posed to strike from under her other arm, ready too react almost exactly to such a maneuver. As he palm shoved her right arm of course, her other arm shot up in a blur of motion, its own blade crackling to life as it aimed for the outstretched hands wrist. It was unlikely he would be able to draw it back in time before the blade hit, severing the hand at least. It left her open to his shove from his other arm, Shenestra had no choice but to fall back from the force of the blow, which sent a sharp pain up her arm. Only the discipline granted to her from years of training allowed her to ignore the pain, though the mere shove might have dislocated her shoulder. The whine of turbines were suddenly heard just as Shenestra fell onto her back.

However the moment before she fall on her rump, a jet of flame burst forth to bath the clockwork mans feet in hot air from her sprint-pack, causing her to fly backward across the ground. She swung her feet up, adjusting the direction of jets expulsion and over into a tight spin landing on her feet in a combat stance 12 feet away as she slid to a halt. He right arm hanging low as she grimaced from the pain of her shoulder.

'Jet turbines activated.'

'Thanks for the warning,' she responded sarcastically.

[MelonHead]

The Clockwork Man’s defence worked as he expected, though his opponent’s reaction was both unexpected, and to his mind irrational. What had to be remembered was that the Clockwork Man was surprisingly strong, despite his relatively slight frame, so the force of his strike was decisively powerful and quick. His right hand wasn’t just floating around for a blade to go through it, but had been thrown wide and was already dropping down to draw his pistol by the time his foe had activated her blade and tried to strike. It probably didn’t help her that she had the palm strike to contend with. However, even as he made contact, catching her arm with the palm strike and dislocating her shoulder, her blade scored another groove into his arm, missing the wrist but still causing him some alarm, if struck in the right place he could be in considerable trouble. The pistol flew out of its holster and the Clockwork Man set his weight onto his right foot forward for a better firing stance. Unexpectedly, fire burst from her back as she fell and set his boots and lower trousers alight.

“Why is it always fire?” He murmured quietly to himself as he simultaneously fired his pistol three times, the first shot too low as he calculated her momentum correctly. The second and third flew true, one likely to hit her mid-flight, though it would only hit the far right of her left leg, just as she adjusted her stance, and the final shot aimed at her chest when she stopped. He cynically expected her to somehow see the pistol drawn and fired, despite the messiness of her dodge, and somehow avoid the pillars all around her in another spectacular escape.

His clothes continued to burn as he drew three more rounds from his bag with his left hand and deftly reloaded his pistol, all the while keeping a close eye on his opponent and judging her situation. With a flick of his thumb he set the Clockwork Pistol into its wind-up format, it whirred as it began to build up significant energy. The bottoms of his trouser legs had burned away by then, and his boots were in tatters, but the Elmorium beneath was in perfect condition, and the fire smouldered and went out.

[GreivousKhan]

The scythe blade connected from the opposite angle but scored indecisive damage. As Shenestra flew backward from the force of her sprint pack, she registered the distinct sound of a weapon being fired, and something metallic striking the floor just ahead of her as she retreated. Proving her suspicions that he would turn too his pistol the moment he was given a chance. There was no time to bring her blades to bear, with her right arm as it was it would do little good. Thinking quick on her feet (despite not being on them presently) her left arm shot up and fired off her omni-whip. It struck and embedded itself in the rooms many techno pillar like structures.

The new anchor allowed her to radically change the course of her flight into a wide round turn to her left, adding to her momentum by she tucking in her legs and body. Her hyper senses allowed her to see the oncoming rounds as if they moved with shallow slothfulness, belying their killing potential, just as the second round shoot toward her. She had only shifted enough however to turn the possibly fatal wound into a close cut. It ripped through a portion of her armor there, slicing through the skin-suit to leave a bloody gash.

Thankfully the shots seemed far enough apart from each to allow her to pass around the pillar before the third came barreling toward her. Her omni-whip had already disengaged, and using her sprint-pack, adjusted her self into a spin that aligned her feet with another pillar she was already on a path toward. She kicked off of it and rolled, left shoulder first, into a crouch behind another such support beam. North east of the clockwork mans current position. He leg still stung from the close shave, but already the wound had closed over as the bleeding stopped. She began to assess the situation. With her arm as it was, she knew she would need to avoid close conflict until her mind settled fully into Reverie. Which would take some time still.

An idea then came to her, and she began then to gather the nether energy from around the room. This would be highly risky, but it might prove useful in ending this conflict quickly.

[MelonHead]

His opponent did an admirable job of avoiding his attack, the Clockwork Man had to admit. He had not expected her to use such similar equipment to himself, for he would have used his own grappling hook attached to his left wrist in the same situation. However, he only spared her a glance to see where she ended up, somewhat forward and to the right of him behind a pillar. With his pistol reloaded, he was ready to flush her out.

He strafed leftward and forward, and with his free left hand he picked two of his explosives from the satchel.

I have to end this quickly. He thought to himself, she isn’t communicating, the Mystans will suffer if I don’t deal with her.

With a deft throw, he launched one of his bombs towards her position, aiming to get it behind her cover forcing her out and towards him, where he had his pistol trained. He kept the second explosive in his left hand, and awaited the results expectantly. Within a few moments, the grenade would burst with 4000 degrees plasma fire in a roughly ten foot radius. If she didn’t move, she was in serious trouble, and to add to her woes his pistol had already alerted him to the fact that it had charged to its first stage, tripling the lethality of his first shot.

[GreivousKhan]

Shenestra remained crouched behind the pillar as the clockwork man began moving. Her skull-visors allowed her to keep track of his movements even while behind cover. Taking what time she could, she took hold of her right arm, then with gnashed teeth roughly pulled her shoulder back into place with a snap. Her formidable mental discipline found in Reverie allowed her to fight off the pain. Suddenly her wrist gauntlet beeped a warning. "Unidentified object detected."

The construct had fished out one of the round sphere like objects from his satchel and had already begun throwing it. It sailed through the air in her direction, her wrist gauntlet already calculating its trajectory the time it would take to cover the distance. Reacting without hesitation Shenestra snapped her left arm up and behind her and fired off her omni-whip once more. It impaled a segment of pipe; she then pulled just as the whip retracted. It tore the pipe free and using her control over the tendril, whipped it around her cover on an intercept course with the sphere thrown at her. The moment her move was complete she was up and in a dash moving to her right, even as she smashed both ends of her pair of rods together where they systematically connected.

Just as she sprung from behind cover, the pipe sailing end over end would connect with the grenade, catching the device in one end causing it to bounce about within it. Its course would bring it back the way it came but wide to the right hand side of the clockman, unless of course it simply exploded from the contact just nine feet out from the construct. Giving the construct the choice of firing on her now while she broke cover, or focusing on his explosive device. In either case her turbines were flaring for a quick change in direction, as her gauntlet continued to take in nether from the dead guards. Her course would take her in a roundabout direction to the constructs left. Keeping just outside of 20 feet from him.

[MelonHead]

He wasn’t entirely sure on the physics of the situation, but somehow the pipe had caught his explosive in mid-air, some remarkably quick thinking from his opponent, all things considered. Using her technology to avoid his attacks had its downside however, as she would soon learn, as he had learned roughly how she detected and avoided his attack. This time, when the real attack came, she would have a much harder time.

Almost negligently, he raised his hand and detonated the grenade inside the pipe, long before it reached him. Due to the speed with which he himself had reacted, he also caught sight of his opponent darting rightward towards him and his left hand side. He turned to keep track of her, ensuring she remained directly in front as he decided on his next move. The pistol was still whirring away in his right hand, trained on her movements between pillars and other technological obstructions. However, the real threat remained in his left hand, now only holding the one explosive he was more than happy to show her their real potential. With a twitch, the grenade popped open along the middle, to reveal a circular blade ringing its outside. He watched her passage across the room, and judged her but twenty feet away from him, easily reached. With a more powerful and straighter throw than before, he launched his grenade like a discus directly at the spot she would be in no more than a second later. However, this time he had effected the grenade, making its trajectory far more difficult for her technology to detect using his Technomancy. When she relied on her other senses on their own, she was in for an unhealthy surprise, as he could manipulate the grenade’s trajectory in mid-air using his magic, ensuring it exploded within a few feet of her, unless she had something more powerful to protect herself with.

Meanwhile, the clock struck two, as his pistol reached its second level of charging after a full ten seconds had elapsed. He watched intently, keenly aware that time was ticking away for the Mystan’s above. They could not survive against the swarms of Broken One’s forever, and more importantly, this foe may not be alone.

[GreivousKhan]

Already on the move Shenestra heard the explosion from the grenades detonation, which created a blinding light. She continued to run full speed but the construct did not fire on her as she had expected. Instead seeming to train on her movements. Suddenly his grenade popped open changing in shape to that of a circular blade. Shenestra already didn't like the look of it, the construct in turn wasted little time in throw the device. Having reached the angle she needed on his once far left Shenestra responded with her own volley as she spun on her heels turning in his direction ending in a slight crouch. She swept her left gauntlet over her wrist-crossbow, arming it with the gathered nether thus far. Her auto-sensors and artificially boosted marksmanship allowing her to near instantly lock onto her target. The crossbow accelerated the stored nether into a bolt of pure crackling violet energy which now hurtled toward the construct.

The bolt was aligned with the strange grenades course, if it did not weave around the bolt of energy, the chaotic force of nether would reduce the device to dust and ash as the molecules broke down, unless it was avoided entirely. In either cause it would be hurtling toward the construct. The moment the bolt fired Shenestra activated her sprint-pack which turbines had been whining this entire time, launching herself north-eastward instantly. However the moment she passed behind a pillar, she would seem to competently vanish once more. Activating with a simple thought her wraith gate an instant after changing direction with another burst from her sprint-pack while out of sight.

Such a maneuver was aimed solely at catching the construct off guard, thus allowing Shenestra to reposition herself in a more favorable condition. Having already seen the destruction from the first grenade she had a far better idea on the safe distance of the weapon making sure to keep well out of way from its kill-zone. Should the bolt hit the construct, the force was easily enough to melt away metal to ash, as well as knocking him off his feet with the force of a heavy artillery shell.

[MelonHead]

Trying for two birds with one stone? Well, that was foolish. The Clockwork Man thought, as he judged his opponent’s target even before she fired the nether bolt. Far off to his left, barely even likely to hit him, as a result of trying to hit the grenade he had thrown with his left hand towards her at the same time. With lightning reflexes, he pivoted on his right foot, bringing the left of his body away from the bolts trajectory with relative ease, while simultaneously he yanked the grenade low with Technomagic, allowing it to skirt underneath her attack. The bolt of nether energy sheared straight through the pillar it hit, and dissipated against the far wall.

Noting she was about to move, he decided to sacrifice maximum damage on his explosive for a quicker explosion, detonating the grenade six feet from her, helped along by the fact that she decided to speed towards the explosion with her sprint-pack. He judged the pillar she was –trying- to reach was at least thirteen feet from her, so she had no chance to reach its safety. The small metallic object erupted with plasma fire that could consume flesh instantaneously, and melt through most metals. Its full effects had been contained in the pipe before, which had taken the force of the explosion and suffocated the plasma. This time, all 4000 degrees of the terrible substance was launched all around, melting through the ground and pillars, and sure to end his foe’s life unless she had something other than technology and cheap tricks to save herself.

Fortunately for the Clockwork Man, he was just out of range of his own attack, and his pistol had just struck three, it was at maximum power, almost time to strike.

[GreivousKhan]

As expected and hoped for, the construct avoided her bolt, which sailed past him toward the half circle reactor cell which had been her true target. It melted through the half circle structure, sending explosive burst of energy out and was growing now unstable. Meanwhile the constructs thrown weapon now consumed the cultists full attention, as it exploded outward in a blinding flash of flesh consuming light. There was no time to avoid the area of effect or increase her speed with a burst from her sprint-pack. The thought speed programing of her slaved machine sprite however likely saved her hide. Just as the plasma burst reached her, Shenestra world was suddenly cast in the all to familiar grey and black shadowy realm of the wraith realm. As if someone had thrown a switch, the terrible heat of the explosion was replaced instead by a chill of the shadow plane.

Shenestra might have been shielded from the weapons heat, but the raw kinetic force was not dampened at all, and unlike most forms of matter, heat, or radiation, was still able to translate into the none-physical realm. Hence the force still sent the death cultist flying backward across half the length of the room before striking a pillar hard enough to fracture her skull and knock the air out of her chest. White spots danced across her vision as he sense went swimming in confusion for a moment. Even with her pain dulled by Reverie state, she was still shaken from the impact.

Shenestra senses were still dulled from the explosion ears still ringing from the blow as she tried to puzzle where she was now position wise to the construct. At that moment she did not see him, but her thermal scopes and pheremonic scans placed him somewhere over 30 feet north west of her current position. She noted she did not feel the normal vertigo or ill effects she did normally after entering the wraith realm, and decided it was due to the pain of the explosion and recent injuries. She was also dimly aware of the sound of sparks and rumbling coming from the reactor she had struck earlier. The construct had not thought to what she might have actually been aiming at, which was what she had hoped for. Her plan seemed to have worked then, which was all that mattered in the end. Which was well and good, as she doubted she could continue this for much longer.

She struggled to her feet while noting with satisfaction that the reactor was still spewing sparks and giving a steadily growing whine. Even so she needed to move quickly, least he continue throwing grenades in the very room he sought to repair. A beep sounded within her ear and she sighed. It seemed this little game would be coming to and end, which suited Shenestra fine, she had finished what she had come here for. Ducking through the pillars she made her way to the north exit, it's door still open from when the construct had entered earlier. She grimaced as she went, noting that her side had suffered enough damage to hint at a broken rib or two.

With anything short of another series of explosions, Shenestra would duck out of the room while still cloaked inside the wraith realm. Leaving the construct to repair the damaged circuity and crystals along with it, an even more time consuming process thanks to the damage to one of the reactors. Not that it mattered much now, the Death Cultist had what they had come for.

[MelonHead]

With his opponent turning tail and fleeing, an easy target for the guards above, the Clockwork Man holstered his pistol after deactivating the charging system and carried out a speedy damage assessment.

“Damn.” He cursed, turning to look at the damaged reactor behind him. That, and the crystal itself, meant that he had a difficult job ahead of him. He raised one hand to each of the damaged mechanisms, seeking his spirit into them to see what could be repaired quickly and easily. The damage to the reactor had to be contained first, lest the entire building be destroyed, so he shut down some of the reactors essential systems and rewired the others, effectively shutting down the damaged region. It was working at barely half capacity, but it would be enough for now.

With his full concentration on the crystal, it came together quickly, in a matter of five minutes at most the entire complex was re-lit and up and running, to a point. The dispersion shield around the Mystan settlement reactivated, driving any remaining Broken Ones from the area or shutting them down outright. It hardly reached half the diameter it had before, but until some experts could repair the reactor that was all the Clockwork Man could manage. His hands slumped to his side in mock exertion, and he looked down at the ground for a long while.

“I hope they don’t charge me for the damage.” He said aloud to himself, before walking up towards the sounds of excitement and confusion. Half-hoping to find the foe he had battled with beneath the settlement, but knowing in his heart it was unlikely, he stepped out into the street.

“Metal-man!” A small, girlish voice grabbed his attention almost immediately. In the streets, there was debris and rubble, with one half of a broken one being lifted off an injured Mystan. The settlement had fared well, better than he dared hope, though the casualties were still higher than acceptable.

“What is it?” He asked the Mystan girl, who of course he had been escorting earlier.

“Elder is missing, all the big people are saying it! They took him! Ghost people took him to the skies!”

“What! Slow down child, explain what happened.”

It took the rest of the night to clear the situation with the Clockwork Man and repair the settlement to some resemblance of its former self. The night had left many dead, and a few missing, the chief among them the Elder of the village. A powerful Technomancer, and a man instrumental in the Clockwork Man’s plans, George was angrier than he had ever been. He sat across from a shard of glass, painstakingly repairing the damage to his body while also working on the mechanical spider and adding the finishing touches to a new grenade. He had work to do.

[GreivousKhan]

The sound of fighting and shouting mixed with screams were rampant as Shenestra moved with a shadows grace to the walls. Still residing within her pocket dimension; a hyperspace between now and then, the Mystan’s were blissfully ignorant of her existence. She recognized that most of the defenders had assembled on the west side. The explosion from earlier the work of demolitions tasked in creating a hole in the wall while the assault team entered at a different point. By now they had no doubt succeeded in their task, otherwise Shenestra would have heard otherwise. Rescaling the walls and exiting the town proper was uneventful, as most of the violent constructs had gathered at the bottle neck. Reverie allowed her to push past her injures until she reached the Nemesis drop ship. Once she reached the site, she was slightly surprised that she had arrived first.

She had not long to wait for the rest however. Soon several armored and armed figures reappeared seemingly from nowhere gathering at the bash of drop-ship's ramp. The unit leader stopping before Shenestra as the others quickly entered the ship. A smaller and limp figure with a bang drawn over his head between two cultists.

"I trust you met no complication?" She voiced with a dreary tone.

"None." Came the simple reply. He tilted his head. "And you?"

"Nothing I could not handle."

Then turning and ascending the ramp without further elaboration. Once the last of them had vanished within the Nemesis, the dark fey leader turned back observing his immediate surroundings. "If you say so." He muttered to no one in particular, before following his fellows. With their prize now in toe, Rarenrar Tlabbar had reason to feel somewhat elated. The first step in a long journey to end a tyranny of an empire and save their kind and countless others had only just begun.

The ship rose steadily into the air with a dull thrumming hum that sent scraps of metal and debris flying. Finally it rose higher and faster before shooting skyward into the midnight mantle above.