Clockwork Immortal

by Sam Ryan

  “Then we don’t have a moment to spare,” Sophia grinned, leaning forward and placing her hands next to Madilyn’s head. “Not like we are going to have a chance to do this once we’re crammed aboard a dinky little airship.”

  “Fair point,” Madilyn said, her words nearly cut off as Sophia’s lips pressed once more into hers.

  CHAPTER 17

  New Dentin. Seeing it again made Sophia feel like the city had a new atmosphere about it. Something about the city seemed darker and more ominous than before. Strange since beside the lack of a moon it was a beautiful night. The sky was clear and there was almost no breeze, which was turning colder now that fall was upon them.

  Yet Sophia could not help but have reservations about the city as an anxious prickling sensation grew in her chest. While she had tried to sound reassuring to Madilyn, Sophia shared her doubts and fears about this all being a trap. They were going in practically blind and were banking everything on the hope that they were catching Stella off guard. Something that very rarely happened. Ever.

  “You look nervous,” Madilyn said, moving up beside where Sophia was standing on the deck of their newly acquired airship. Her shoulder and elbow lightly brushing against Sophia’s.

  “I am,” Sophia said, turning her head to look at the woman. She was dressed in the officers uniform of Lear once more, only now she also wore armor on her shoulders and down her arm. “Finally get to wear it huh?” Sophia smiled.

  “I’ve been lugging it around long enough.” Madilyn shook her head. “Figured now was as good of a time as any. Even if I won’t actually be needing it.” She pursed her lips together, still seemingly bitter about being left behind while the others went off to save the day.

  Sophia reached out and grabbed Madilyn around the waist, pulling her in close. Madilyn’s armor clanked as she leaned into her. The metal pressed uncomfortably into Sophia but she ignored the it, leaning her head against Madilyn’s.

  “If I am being honest,” Sophia said in a soft voice. “I think you have the hardest job of all of us.”

  “Don’t I know it.” Madilyn sighed, wrapping an arm behind Sophia and holding her tight. The two stood there silently, looking at the city lights below them.

  “You two finished?” Tara asked, moving across the small deck towards them. “We should be going.”

  “What’s with the hood?” Sophia asked, looking at the black hood and cloak that Tara had draped over her outfit.

  “It makes me harder to see.” Tara popped the hood up, shrouding her face in shadow. “It’s an essential for any sneaking operation.”

  Sophia could only smile as she rolled her eyes. She let go of Madilyn, taking a step back. The two exchanged one final look of goodbye before Sophia turned and walked back with Tara to where Allora and Elena waited.

  “Are we ready?” Allora asked as Sophia approached. She had changed out of her more elegant and cumbersome blue and silver dress into a less elegant, less cumbersome, blue and silver dress.

  Elena on the other hand was wearing what she had always worn, a simple black and grey outfit, hidden under a thick black duster. Her shoulder length hair tied up so it would stay in place in a fight.

  “I’m ready.” Sophia nodded, tossing her cane into the air and catching it, flashing them a toothy smile.

  “Ready,” Tara said in a dark voice, pulling her hood farther forward so it covered more of her face.

  Allora rolled her eyes, ignoring Tara’s less than serious behavior. “Alright, we do this just like we planned. We split up into two teams and enter the power facility from both sides. Sophia, you are with me. Elena you are with Tara.”

  “Joy,” Tara said flatly, looking over at Elena. “Can I request that I go with Sophia?” she asked, raising her hand.

  “No,” Allora said, instantly shooting her down. She then looked over at Clementine who was standing behind the wheel of the airship. “Take us in, Commander Clementine.”

  “You got it,” Clementine said, spinning the wheel. The ship began to turn and with a few pulls of some rope, they began their descent toward the city.

  Getting close to the flattened rooftop of one of the taller buildings, Allora and Sophia grabbed hold of one of the balloon’s support ropes as they ready themselves to leap off the side. The wind generated from their movement blowing in their faces.

  With one foot propped up on the side of the vessel and the other hand gripping the rope above her, Sophia looked over her shoulder back at Madilyn. “See you later,” Sophia said with a nod.

  “Promise?” Madilyn asked.

  “Cross my heart,” Sophia said, taking her finger and drawing an X over her heart. “If I lie then I hope I die.”

  Madilyn quirked a smile and seeing that smile was enough to fill Sophia with determination. Sophia gave Madilyn one final salute with her cane, then used the rope to pull herself up over the edge and leapt off the side. Allora jumping off a half second after.

  Both of them landed on the roof of the building with a thud. The force of their landing causing the roof to crack slightly.

  “You know, landing like this is terrible on the knees,” Allora stated brushing the dust off her dress.

  “Like that is really a worry for us,” Sophia said, straightening herself up and cracking her back. She looked up and saw their airship lifting up and heading off to the other side of the city where they would drop off Elena and Tara.

  “Let’s get going,” Allora beckoned, darting across the roof and leaping into the air landing on the adjacent rooftop before darting off once more.

  Sophia kept pace close behind her. Even in the dark of the night, she could see the looming smokestack of the power plant ahead of them, billowing black smoke into the night sky. It was hard for Sophia not to feel anxious as they drew closer and closer to the factory.

  It had all come down to this. After tonight it would finally be over. Though what exactly would be over was still a mystery. Even as they rushed off to stop Stella, they still had no clue what she was trying to accomplish.

  Allora came to a stop at the edge of one of the roofs, balancing herself on the slanted surface as she looked down at the factory below her.

  “See something?” Sophia asked, stopping next to her and perching on the top point of the roof.

  Allora did not say anything. She only stood there, her eyes darting side to side, like she was speed reading.

  “I count six guards inside,” Allora said, blinking her eyes and giving her head a slight shake. “Plus a dozen or so factory workers.”

  “Any sign of Stella? Or her lab?” Sophia asked.

  “No.” Allora shook her head. “But according to Representative Blake, the lab will be located below ground.”

  “Well,” Sophia said, stretching her back. “Six guards shouldn’t be much of a challenge to slip by or incapacitate. You want to wait for Tara and Elena to make their move, or do you just want to go in now?”

  “I say we go in,” Allora stated, clenching her fist in determination. “If this is some sort of trap than let us be the ones to spring it. That way we give Tara and Elena ample warning.”

  “And allow them to come to our rescue,” Sophia said.

  “That is the hope anyway,” Allora said, not sounding too convincing.

  “The real reason you sent Elena with Tara.” Sophia nodded. “You know Elena would force her to help, should things go sideways.”

  “I won’t say that wasn’t a reason,” Allora said. “Come on.” Taking a step forward, she jumped off the roof of the building and landed on the street below.

  Sophia was right behind her, stepping off the edge and landing on the ground next to her. Allora moved to the side of the door, flattening her back against the wall as Sophia reached out, testing the handle. Seeing that it was unlocked, Sophia swung open the door and darted inside, keeping herself low to the ground as she moved.

  The factory was stifling hot, with no airflow to help break the stuffiness. Simply stepping inside made Sophia
break out into a sweat. The air so thick with coal dust it made breathing rather unpleasant.

  Crouching low to the ground, they weaved their way through the factory. Sophia tucked her cane under her arm as she led the way, hugging tight to the wall. She came to a halt, hearing the bored sound of people talking around the corner. From what she was able to make out, they sounded like a factory worker and a couple of guards shooting the breeze.

  Sophia looked back at Allora and signaled what she had heard to her. Then she signaled that she was going to go incapacitate them. Allora gave a single nod of her approval. Sophia moved around the corner, using her surroundings as cover as she moved into the room. She moved as close to the three men as she felt she could without being spotted, then began focusing her magic into the crystal head of her cane.

  “What’s that?” someone asked, seeing the sudden light begin to illuminate from where Sophia was hiding.

  The two guards shot up to their feet, instantly alert, but it was already too late. Sophia stood up and slammed her cane on the ground, releasing the built up magic. The men’s eyes rolled into the back of their heads as they collapsed to the ground unconscious.

  Sophia blinked a few times as she grew slightly lightheaded. Wanting to make sure she did not under do it, she had used a little more magic than intended and was now paying the price.

  Allora moved into the room and without a word, and began dragging the unconscious people out of the way so they would not be easily noticed. She signaled to Sophia that she thought there was an entrance to a lower area not far from them. Sophia gave her a thumbs up and followed her to where Allora thought the entrance might be. Along the way they easily dispatched a few more workers who they came across and moved them out of sight like the others before moving on.

  There was no secret entrance like the kind Jezebel had set up below her tavern in Boulder. This was simply a door that was tightly locked and on the other side was a set of stairs that ended in another tightly locked door. Using their magic, the two of them were able to easily bypass the doors.

  Walking through the second door, they were met by a sight nothing like the dirty hot factory they had just come from. The walls were made out of polished stone that was clean, almost to the point of shining. The floor was carpeted and everything was so well lit there was nary a shadow to be seen.

  “Guess we found it,” Sophia said gawking at the contrast of it all.

  The hallway was lined with doors, most of them made of thick iron and locked tight. The only designation each room had was numbers on them with the occasional word like lab or recreation stamped on the front. Allora and Sophia walked passed all of them knowing that their target would be much deeper in the facility.

  There was a loud clank from behind them in the direction they had come from. Both of them spun around, ready to fight when they saw two women walking through the door that they had just come through. Sophia let out a breath, raising her hand in greeting to Elena and Tara. Tara’s face still obscured by the silly black hood that she was wearing.

  “You two made good time,” Allora said, dropping her guard.

  “Tara tried to make it into a race,” Elena said, crossing the hallway towards them.

  “Guess you lost,” Sophia said, smiling at Tara.

  Tara did not look amused. She scrunched her face together and stuck out her tongue. Impressed by the gesture Sophia gave her a thumbs up of approval.

  “You have any troubles getting here?” Allora asked.

  “Nothing worth mentioning,” Elena stated. “Assuming the unconscious people we discovered were your handy work that is.”

  “That was us.” Sophia nodded, puffing out her chest with a slight semblance of pride.

  “Let’s not tarry,” Allora said, already turning and continuing down the hallway.

  “Any idea where we are headed?” Tara asked, trotting along behind the rest of them. She was the only one who bothered to keep her voice down.

  “My guess is somewhere near the center of the facility,” Allora said, sliding open a metal door and peeking inside. Not seeing any sign of a threat, she went on in, the rest following close behind.

  “Am I the only one noticing how vacant this place is?” Sophia whispered cautiously as they made their way down another hallway.

  “It’s possible not many are here at night,” Allora offered.

  “Yeah, but I haven’t seen anyone since we got down here,” Sophia pointed out. “This feels a lot like we are walking into-”

  “A trap?” a voice called out.

  The very walls around them faded away as the magic from the illusion dispersed as if it had dissolved into the very air. They now found themselves standing in a large room surrounded by soldiers on the balcony above them. Every single soldier was in full armor and gasmasks. The rifles they were holding were not standard rifles but instead had the strange metal coils around the barrel of the zapper guns that shot out electricity.

  At the center of the soldiers was Stella, standing in the same red military uniform she had been wearing aboard the Iron Rose. She had her hands clasped behind her back and her smile was a triumphant one.

  “Sorry,” Stella smiled. “The timing was just too good. I couldn’t let it slip by.”

  “I feel as though we fell for this a little too easily,” Sophia said, turning to face the rest behind them.

  “We give up,” Tara said, shooting her hands into the air.

  The rest turned and looked at her with disdain and surprise as she surrendered so easily.

  “What?” Tara shrugged. “I really don’t want to get zapped by those things again. That is like a whole new kind of pain right there.”

  “She’s right.” Allora sighed in defeat. She turned and glared up at Stella on the floor above them. “You win Stella.” Allora raised her hands up next to her face.

  Stella narrowed her eyes, not quite ready to believe their capitulation. She stuck out a hand and gestured with her fingers at the floor in front of them. Taking the cue, Sophia tossed her cane down in front of her. Tara drew her knives from behind her and tossed them over as well. Then reached inside her coat and pulled out a set of smaller throwing knives and tossed them on the growing pile of weapons.

  Elena seemed to hesitate, gripping her sword at her waist.

  “It’s alright,” Allora assured, giving her a nod.

  Reluctantly, Elena drew her sword and tossed it down with a clang.

  Allora raised her hands, rotating her wrist to show that she was not holding anything.

  “Very good,” Stella said. She turned and nodded to some of her men.

  They all raised their weapons and aimed them at the group.

  “No wait!” Tara called out.

  Sophia was already on the move. She tackled Tara out of the way so they missed the brunt of the blast. But even still they were hit by the lightning bolts, their bodies convulsing as it arced through them.

  There was another wave of lightning as the soldiers fired again. Still holding onto Tara, Sophia took the brunt of the shocks but with their bodies touching, the lightning traveled through her body and into Tara’s.

  They both cried out in pain as they spasmed on the ground.

  Darkness overtook Sophia then as her eyes rolled back into her head. She tried her best to stay conscious but the pain was simply too intense and her mind could not take it.

  ***

  It was hard for Sophia to describe the sensation she felt when she finally came too. It was as if every muscle in her body had solidified. Everything hurt and was simultaneously numb. It was certainly an experience she did not want to repeat any time soon.

  Sophia could not help but be impressed, even if things had gone sideways in record time. The trap had been a simple one. Sophia had thought Stella would try to throw something a bit more complex at them. Stella was after all very powerful and had hundreds of well-trained soldiers at her disposal. Instead, she had gone for the simplest of traps, using her illusion magic to funn
el them into a room and incapacitate them. But the only way for it to have worked was for her to have known that they were coming as well as when exactly they would enter the room.

  As Sophia came fully to consciousness, she let out a few deep chested coughs as her lungs started working once again. Her head felt like a hot air balloon, expanding and trying to lift up. Her eyes felt like they were about to bulge out of their sockets. Sophia flexed her fingers, trying to work feeling back into them as she looked down at herself. She was still dressed so she counted that as a plus.

  “You alright?” Allora asked, her voice muffled for some reason. Her voice was lacking the stiffness that Sophia felt. How long had she been conscious?

  “I’ve been better.” Sophia coughed, swallowing down what she assumed was blood.

  Blinking her head somewhat clear, she looked around at her surroundings. As the grog began to lift, she first noticed that she could not move. Her body was being held in place by what looked like some kind of glass tube that she was squeezed inside. It eerily reminded her of how it felt to be in a coffin.

  Glancing to her left and right, she saw that all of them were locked inside similar tubes that were pushed back against a far wall in the standing position.

  “Tara and Elena are still out,” Allora said. She was in the tube to the left of Sophia and looking over she saw that Tara was in the tube on the right.

  It was hard to see inside the tube past Tara, but Sophia felt it safe in assuming that it held Elena. Tara looked out cold, her head slumped forward resting against the glass. Her silly hood still covering her face.

  It seemed to Sophia that they had been haphazardly tossed inside the tubes and sealed, no one bothering to search them or properly restrain them. Sophia could even feel the knife on the inside of her thigh. Not that she had any mobility at the moment to be able to reach it.

  “Elena took the brunt of it for all of us,” Allora explained.

  Sophia’s numb body and chattering teeth begged to differ. It made her wonder what it would have felt like if she actually had taken those lightning zaps fully.