by Han Yang
Langshire.
It would take a significant amount of time to travel to that den of sin, even with the speed of the Moonlit Goddess at our disposal. We needed to spend the journey planning for our arrival. Duke had followed the crude drawings I’d made in my diary to create something he liked to call a ‘soft fall device,’ so getting to the ground wouldn’t be too much of an issue.
It was what we did after landing that worried me.
A town like Langshire would have people to keep a close eye on their statistic sheet. Even if they missed our arrival, chances were that someone would catch on to the sudden influx of ‘visitors’. If that wasn’t enough to spook the new Tycoon, Charlie, then nothing would be.
So, we had to be quick and clean. Luckily, I already had a good amount of knowledge in regards to Langshire’s layout. As long as Charlie hadn’t made too many changes, which Duke confirmed was unlikely from his contacts, I knew exactly where to strike.
The Mistress’ manor…
Ginli’s old home.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have any direct contacts in Langshire. I had barely enough citizens to keep Norn afloat. The idea of pulling some aside to train as spies wasn’t possible.
Or it hadn’t been in the past. Since we had passed five hundred citizens, maybe it was time to look into other, more indirect, means of defense.
Even though there wasn’t much I could do, I still spent the remainder of the journey planning out our assault. Duke also taught me how to pilot the Moonlit Goddess, and after a few fumbles that almost sent us spiraling to our doom, I managed to master the controls enough to keep us in the air.
But I didn’t think I’d ever have the skill to pull off the tunnel exit from Norn as Duke had done. The mere thought of it sent cold shivers down my back.
Still, the time passed, and eventually we drew closer to our target. Langshire sat in the distance, mostly obscured by the clouds, though we did catch the occasional glimpse of its towering structures and the seedy slums below.
The blimp tower that the Mistress had been working to create had been turned into yet another den of depravity. Casinos and fun houses blared their lights into the sky, sending a siren call to anyone unfortunate enough to be caught up in their wicked embraces.
Still, the Mistress’ manor was in the same area as before. Even at full magnification, my augmented eye could barely make out the slightest details, but Duke confirmed that there were venturebot and human patrols around the entire thing.
A difficult place to assault… from the ground, at least.
“Are you sure about this?” I glanced at the large cube that Duke had dragged to the center of the cabin. “What if this lands right on that shit's head? Can’t ask any questions from a smear on the carpet?”
“Then take over Langshire, install yourself as the Tycoon.” Duke shrugged half-heartedly, as though the idea of annexing an entire city was neither here nor there for him. “But we’re aiming for the central pavilion, and this Charlie fellow doesn’t seem the kind of man to enjoy long walks in the garden. I can see a few venturebots in the area, no other movement.”
The idea of assassinating the Tycoon and installing myself in his place had crossed my mind, but the potential downsides of the plan outweigh the potential gains.
First, there was no way the populace would accept me as their leader. The city's ratings would plummet, and any one of the various factions would be frothing at the mouth for the chance to take ‘revenge’ for their concerned fellow citizens.
And even if I did manage it, then what?
I’d be alone in the middle of a hostile city. The Mistress had barely survived thanks to the sheer number of people working under her, either directly or indirectly.
I would have exactly no one.
No, it was best to leave Charlie in place. Also, if I did plan to take him down, I’d have to declare war on Langshire. Such a proclamation wouldn’t be able to remain a secret for long, especially to the Tycoon himself.
And, if he received advanced warning of our ‘visit’, the chances were high that he’d seclude himself away somewhere safe and secure.
“Ya know what, fine.” I threw my hands up in the air in mock frustration. “But if this goes wrong, I’ll tell Joanna it was all your idea.”
“I’ll be fine with taking credit at that point, Baron Lord.” Duke bowed gracefully.
He looked more and more like a robot butler with each passing day…
That’s if I ignored the enormous blunderbuss he held within his mighty palms.
“Are we ready!?” I yelled as I turned to the venturebot squad.
They had awoken not long after Langshire appeared on the horizon, and after a brief discussion, they had persuaded me they should be the first to drop. Each one was placed atop a large, padded cube, two feet by two, as they stood at the side of the cargo bay doors below us. Their arms were clamped onto the braces secured to the ceiling above as they waited for their chance to drop.
If I’d known most of the floor could swing apart at a moment's notice, maybe I wouldn’t have passed the journey with such relative ease.
Still, the time for such worries had long since passed.
It was time for action.
“Go!” I yelled as I slammed the button Duke had prepared.
Freezing air blasted into the cabin as half the floor split apart, revealing a carpet of grey, rolling clouds not too far beneath us.
It wasn’t the fall that worried me, though.
The huge cube in the middle of the floor vanished in a moment as it sped toward the target far below. It blew the clouds apart, revealing a glass domed conservatory.
Our target.
Duke tapped the console before him rhythmically, counting out the seconds since the cube began its descent. After five taps, he called out.
“Now!”
The venturebots, as one unit, released their grips on the handles. I watched as they followed the cubes fall without hesitation, breaking through the clouds, only to be lost from sight a moment later.
“Please set the Moonlit Goddess down in a suitable spot, Baron Lord.” Duke pushed himself up and turned to me. “Now please take the -”
His words cut off as he saw me step toward the opening. I gave him an apologetic smile as I took another step…
Out onto the clouds.
I wanted to yell an apology up to him, but the wind forced the words back into my throat. The slow-fall cube pulled me down feet first, but I still wobbled and swung about as the currents of air forced me back and forth.
The clouds turned and my vision grew for a moment, but once they passed, I received a view I might have thought of as glorious in any other circumstance.
The forests spread out for as far as I could see, mountains rearing their heads to pierce the sky. The further I fell, the less I could see, but the rapidly approaching city below my feet pulled my attention back from the beautiful scenery.
The stained glass covering for the manor gardens had been decimated. I could see several figures below as they staked out the area, waiting for the final member of their party to arrive.
They hadn’t expected me, but it would have to do.
The slow-fall cube beneath my feet shuddered as it sensed the rapidly approaching ground beneath us. I felt a clunk as the sides blasted off, allowing a large, sail-like contraption to unfurl.
And that alone slowed my descent considerably.
I had imagined the ‘catcher’ would be above the user, according to the odd diagram I’d scribbled out, but Duke had been adamant about switching it all around. I tensed myself up as I prepared for the second stage.
BOOM!
The explosion rattled my bones as my whole body jerked upward.
BOOM!
And again…
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Overly dramatic, but the sound would terrify those below. Duke hadn’t budged when I asked for a quieter version, and at the time I hadn’t even considered I would have to us
e one of his eccentric devices.
BOOM! BOOM!
…
BANG!
One last impact knocked me from my feet as the bottom of the slow-fall cube slammed to the floor. Each use of the device burned through several cubes of Hydrox, but according to Duke, it was well worth the expense.
Then again, the bruise on my forehead begged to differ.
“Baron Lord?” One of the venturebots stepped forward to help me to my feet. Though its voice didn’t have the same level of variance as Duke’s, I could still feel the confusion from its tone. “Why are you here?”
“Later.” I shook myself off and pulled Darcy Jr. from my back. Only once I’d checked over my faithful blunderbuss and found it undamaged did the shuddering of my heart calm down a tad. “First, we have a Tycoon to visit. Bring me to Charlie, I want to ask him a few… questions.”
Chapter 6
The few venturebots that had been set to guard the conservatory area had been decommissioned. I had expected my own bots to treat them with some respect, but instead they had brutally ripped out the processing units of their fellow robots without hesitation.
Quick, precise, and efficient, just like a machine taking out the trash.
Still, the area was clear of threats, so we could move onto the second stage of my plan. The Tycoon’s office would be in the most central point of the manor, or at least it had been, and I doubted Charlie was one to go against tradition.
“Follow me.” I shouldered my blunderbuss and strode off toward the distant gate that led into the manor proper. “Keep your heads on a swivel -”
Various squeaks and screeching echoes caught my attention back to the venturebots behind me. The heads of each and every bot had begun rotating on my orders as they, quite literally, did their best to follow my command.
“Alright, that’s enough.” I sighed and shook my head as I fought off the urge to laugh out loud despite our situation. “Just keep your eyes out… no, I mean, warn me if you spot anything. And remember, no killing.”
A chorus of nods and affirmatives filled the air as I swung back to the gateway once more. Once we’d crossed the threshold, I had no idea what we’d face -
BOOM!
The wrought iron gates erupted as a lumbering monstrosity barged its way into the conservatory. As the dust settled, I finally caught sight of the beast who had appeared to greet us.
Easily twice as tall as me, and then some, the metallic behemoth looked more like a flesh-beast than a machine. It reminded me of the gorilla which had almost ended my life after the blimp crash in the wilds. It wasn’t a good comparison, given how close I’d come to dying from that fateful encounter.
Steam blasted from several vents along its spine as it raised a huge steam cleaver above its head -
“Dodge!” I yelled out the command as leaped aside with all the strength I could muster. My augmented leg provided most of the force, easily propelling me into the bushes as the thing’s shimmering weapon slammed down.
A wave of concentrated power cleaved forward, easily crushing the stone walkway I stood on moments ago. Most of my venturebots managed to avoid the attack, but one of the slower models took a direct hit to the chest
The power of the strike was enough to cleave its body in two
“Shit!” I leveled Darcy Jr. toward the behemoth’s grinning metallic visage, steadied myself as best I could, and pumped the trigger for all its worth.
Several bluish balls of condensed Hydrox shot through the air, followed a moment later by a simultaneous barrage from the surviving venturebots behind me.
My shot landed true, splashing against the massive machine's head. It rocked back from the blow, stumbling as the power of my blunderbuss strike -
But then it caught itself and lifted its cleaver in front of its body.
The rest of our combined assault slammed into the weapons huge blade. The oversized sword blocked the majority of the shots before it shattered, allowing the last few bullets through.
But that relatively meager rain was way too weak to cause any major damage to our opponent.
“Spread out!” I dashed back onto the damage path as I called out the command to my venturebot squad. “Surround it, sustained fire!”
Further shots rang out from the bushes as the stomps and hisses of my bots indicated they were following my order. The boss level bot before me couldn’t deflect every shot, but it still managed to protect its most important areas as it swung to face the easy target which had just presented itself.
Me.
I hurriedly thrust a Hydrox container against Darcy Jr.’s input as the steam-bot before me raised its fist high above its shoulder. Its limb vibrated as a cloud of steam vented from the ports along its length.
There was no way I’d be stupid enough to take such a strike.
“Fuck that!”
With Darcy Jr. fully charged, I clamped the trigger down and lifted it to face the oncoming fist. Energy coiled within the weapon as it drew more and more power from the Hydrox boiling within its container.
One shot. One chance.
The metal behemoth trembled as it gave up all forms of defense. Clearly, it had flagged me as the priority target, and it had decided to take me out before the venturebots finally wore down its defenses.
Its armor groaned and pinged as various holes were blasted through into its vulnerable innards.
But still, it didn’t give up.
“Shit-”
It lifted its fist and thrust forward.
I clenched my teeth, said a final prayer, and released the trigger.
The force of Darcy Jr.’s final shot lifted me from my feet as the condensed Hydrox blew the choke clean off. My gun ripped itself clear from my grasp as I tumbled through the air-
But the lumbering guard bot didn’t get off easily, either.
The fist swung out in my direction, but part way it met the ball of pure Hydrox mid-air…
BaBOOOOOOOM!
The explosion was so fierce that it actually caught me before I could slam down into the stone bench behind me. A wave of condensed air easily lifted me up once more as I rolled back into the bushes then, after several tumbles, a shallow, ornamental pond.
Pain.
Water filled my lungs for a moment as panic overwhelmed me, but it only took a second for me to find my footing as I raised my head above the water. The skin on the right side of my face burned, likely caused by the backdraft of Darcy Jr.’s explosive finale, but I couldn’t worry about that overly much.
A quick check showed that my fears were on point. My augmented hand hadn’t survived the near suicidal exchange, though at the very least I hadn’t lost the whole arm. Every finger had been ripped clean from their sockets, while the palm looked like it had been chewed and spat out by a wurmbear several times in a row.
But my sacrifice had been worth it.
The huge guardian steam-bot remained locked in place in the distance. Its entire arm, along with a huge portion of the chest area, had been blown to pieces. Judging by the hole in the wall behind its now immobile corpse, I had to guess that my shot had sent a good portion of its body out of the conservatory into the manor proper.
“If they didn’t know we were here before, they do now.” I mumbled as I pulled myself out of the pond. The venturebot squad prepared by Duke strode out of the hiding spots to assist me before one cautiously handed me a spare steam pistol from its belt.
Good thing too. My own weapons were soaked. Sure, I could try to use them, but there was always the chance they might jam mid-way through firing.
And, with how my luck seemed to be going, that was exactly what would happen.
“We need to find the Tycoon before -”
“Is that you, Baron Lord Bradley?” A voice I recognized called out from the destroyed gateway into the manor proper. It took a split second for me to realize who was speaking, but when I did, all I could feel was an icy, rage-filled chill in my stomach.
“Who else?”
I lifted the steam pistol I’d been provided and leveled it at the entrance. “Why don’t you come here? I received your message, and I have a few points we need to discuss.”
“Indeed. I can see that.”
Several awkward seconds passed as the venturebot squad spread out. Several remained in a line before me, clearly planning to use their bodies as a defensive shield should Charlie decide to launch an assault of his own.
Fortunately, from what happened next, that was clearly unnecessary.
A long stick poked out through the bars of the crumpled gate. I watched on, confused and amused in equal parts, as a large, white flag unfurled itself from the tip-
And then began swinging back and forth.
“Is that- I mean, is he- Surrendering?” I turned to the nearest venturebot, which responded with a creaky shrug of its shoulders. I shook myself off and turned my gaze back toward the bopping flag before me. “Are you giving up or something?”
“Of course. I wish to discuss terms,” the so-called Tycoon of Langshire called out before he added with a chuckle. “Without being shot full of holes, preferably.”
“I- Fine.” I grumbled and shook my head. “You lot, lower your weapons, but be ready to fight back if needed.”
The venturebots instantly allowed their steam rifles and blunderbusses to lower slightly, just enough so they weren’t ‘technically’ pointing at the gate. After a moment, a head poked out into the open as the one I’d come to visit gave the area a quick once over.
Charlie’s gaze paused for a moment on the steaming pile of scrap that had once been his prized possession. I saw a twitch in the man’s face as he saw what had become of the steam-bot. He held in any words about the loss as he slowly left the relative safety for the manor and moved into the wrecked conservatory.
“You could have sent a message, you know?”
The irritation in his tone made sense, but I could also sense some confusion.
Clearly he didn’t know why I had come to his city… or he was an excellent actor.
“I came to thank you for the kind contribution.” I pushed my way past the defensive line of venturebots so I could fully see the scene before me. “Ginli will be so happy that you returned the things stolen from her.”
