Clockwork Foundry Zone

How quaint. 
This high up, the air was cold, and wind blew past the black ring with such severity it was surprising it wasn't carried off with it or that it stayed airborne. The fact this was built around 150 years ago was... strange. So advanced.
From an outside view of the lab, it appeared to be very large, a wall of black making it comparable to a large hospital building in height, its outer wall curving outward - it was a giant torus, a large, black ring. A small platform extended out from the bottom quarter of the ring, where the pilot of the jet had finally found a place to land, close to a large gate.
As if fate itself was uncertain anyone had a way inside had the doors been closed, they were cracked open slightly, enough for the average person to easily squeeze inside. A faint, red light escaped every so often from this slit in the door, awaiting someone to go in and find out what it was.

The night sky was gorgeous this high up, as was the ocean below if you weren't afraid of heights.
The pilot looked down from the jet at the three interesting passengers who had taken on this job, "You all have your walkie-talkies right? Know that I myself am not authorized to help if you get into danger you can't handle, but I can call for some sort of help or provide resources if necessary." He spoke, worried about staying up here too long due to the cold. But it was his job, the client wouldn't put his life in danger given it meant these people probably couldn't leave to get his salvage, right? 

The wind roared, it's probably best they get inside...

One of the three people who had taken the job was a human, a new recruit into the guild as the role of hero. He was shivering a bit due to the cold, not being used to such conditions as he was used to the heat, he had his neon green scarf covering his mouth as every time he breaths smoke came out of either his nose or mouth. His brown eyes scanned the area around him as his black leather jacket sway with the flow of the cold wind as well both the scarf and his messy black hair. Pulling his right hand from his jacket pocket he left the left one in the other, holding the walkie-talkie. Closing his eyes a bit he focus on the cold air around him, taking the energy from it as his hand glowed as the same color as the scarf but softly. He can feel the energy body the wind entering in his body, energizing him, weird how this human could use powers without any technology, perhaps it's a story only he could tell when the time comes.

After he felt ready for what is about to come he looked towards the pilot and he gave them a nod of understanding. Showing his walkie-talkie quickly he stuffed it back into his pocket. "That I do, how about you two?" He speak calmly but a bit loud so they could hear him speak over the strong and cold winds. His gaze shifted from the other two guild member and onto the entrance itself. The feint red glow is weird, it felt so unnatural. Shivering more from the feeling as he felt goosepumps on his skins as well because of how cold it was. Maybe he should charge up some more energy and so he closed his eyes, imagining of a calm and green meadow as he let's out a cold breath, making cold smoke escape from his mouth again. 




As he energizes himself a bit more he could feel the weight of the sword of his on his left hip, made out of strong steel. Re-opening his eyes he moved further ahead a bit just to see the entrance a bit closer but not moving too far away from his team.

Gear hopped up, turning offthe music that had been playing over his audio. His face bore the usual grin and lighthearted playfulness as he jumped out the door to the jet, unfazed by the wind and bad weather.

"Internal Comm system," Gear said, tapping the side of his head, "I'll be able to stay in contact."

Gear looked around. His forest green body and yellow highlights contrasted with the dull and dreary atmosphere of the place. He couldn't find out much more on this Zone other than it was an abandoned lab or place of science apparently.

He quickly did a routine search of the outside to check for anything that may mean traps or other things but luckily it seemed safe to continue. He made his way back to the others, giving a thumbs up he was ready to go.

-No stranger to these kind of operations or tasks, the lone figure marked in green and charcoal colored armor along with his signature helmet with blue visor was almost too keen to enlist for this kind of job when it first came about. Venturing into the unknown, discovering hidden items, learning more, this was right up his alley.

Course for venturing into the unknown this armored figure surely came equipped as always, a blend mix of technology and military gear, most notably was his firearm, piece of gear he would never leave with out with no matter where he went, this piece of tech had saved his ass more times then any living being could do.

It was cold, foking cold, evidence of it was the heat vapor escaping from the front of his helmets vent piece and vanishing into the night sky, there were two others being sent in with him, one was another human which he was surprised to be in conjunction with another, here he thought he might be the only one.

The other figure was familiar but couldn't quite seem to place a name to him, a robot bearing similarities to others. Tho despite all this he remained quite.

This facility on the other hand was nothing like any thing else he had investigated, for one the damn thing was floating in the sky, even after all these years it was still there, trying to wrap his head around it gave him a little headache, this was certainly a place to top all others across his exploration. 

A call check was issued by the pilot to make sure communications were solid and strong, Shrike gave a simple note to clear that his coms were just fine.

He was quick to exit the vehicle and began to move out straight away, he knew staying out the in open is a no go, first objective was to get inside and do that as quickly as possible, he moved ahead of the others approaching the doors spying the red light coming from with in, weapon armed and ready he was ready to get things under way.-

Everyone was about ready.
The pilot nodded, before sitting back in the jet as the cockpit closed over top of them.

Shrike was first to the entrance, Zeek and Gear following after to stay close together as they got ready to peak inside.
Looking inside, it was clear the red lights were just that - red tinted lights, appearing to be a series of light bulbs in red tinted glass, maybe a predecessor to those lights you'd find in some stores? Or maybe it was the same thing... It didn't matter. At least the red light was solved.
What they saw was a hallway, perpendicular to where they faced from the door. It appeared that a long hallway, or maybe a series of hallways, ran around the outside of the lab.
If someone were to slide in, they'd notice that it would seem to all be in top condition despite its age.
The dark colored walls softly reflected the red lighting.
Would it be left or right from here...?

Zeek was staying in the back, his eyes wondering all around him as he hasn't seen anything like this before in his life, everything seems like an enigma to him in a way. He was both confused and fascinated in a way to see such thing sill standing, he wonders why and how this place, floating in the sky, is still active and haven't fall down into the earth below. He takes a glance at his comrades and study them a bit, it was exciting to see a fellow human withing the same team as him, and he haven't met a sentient robot before so that is something else to be excited about, though he is on a mission so he must calmed down. Letting out a soft humn as he thinks a bit he looked towards the other two members.

"So...what do you guys think of this place so far? Pretty strange that it is floating huh?" He asked them in a low voice, not wanting to make too much sound as he thinks it could somehow triggered an alarm or something. As of right now he has his right hand gripped around the hilt of his blade, ready to be drawn out as soon he has to fight.

Gear had a hard time trying to figure out how this thing was still flying. Was it anti-gravity generators? Turbines? Whatever it was it somehow had enough energy to maintain its flight and not be seen.

"Interesting to say the least," Gear answered, "considering how old this thing is, the people behind it must have been scientific geniuses and technicians..."

Honestly Gear wouldn't mind trying to find out how this thing ticked. Maybe he could learn from this and get these plans to Darren and get a base made for Gear and his resistance team to help fight Razor. Either way currently they had a mission and he'd have to handle that stuff later.

"I'll take Right hallway, anyone can come with but we'll cover more ground if we split up. What do you guys think?"

-Shrike had never seen any thing like this either, he was no stranger to the odd and bizarre but something like this was a sure cut above the rest, tho he knew all to well that with any kind of lost base, facility or in this case a factory.

 Hazards could still be around and the ever present of the unknown. A simple motto Shrike followed that saw him through a bit, "Hope for the best...plan for the worst."

poised for choice huh, left or right, despite it being as old as it was described the interior showed no signs of wear or tear, in fact the damn thing look like it was made yesterday, how the hell did it remain in this condition for that period of time.

This didn't sit well with Shrike, a old facility simply doesn't stay like this for no reason, then again Shrike was always paranoid about stuff like this, rightfully so given his passed experience. 

The masked figure scanned the hall ways only getting limited data feed back in his helmet, two ways and only two ways. That is when Gear noted he wanted to venture off right, and any one wanting to follow would be more then welcome.

Shrike knew full well splitting up in a facility totally alien and unknown to them would be a bad idea.-

"Splitting up would be a bad idea, we have no idea what this place is exactly or what is still in it, if something should attack or in another form, being isolated is a sure way to either get wounded or yourself killed


...Let's take right and keep your eyes open....remember we are in uncharted territory...expect any thing."

-Shrike said pulling the bolt back on his rifle to chamber a round, following quickly behind Gear heading down right into the facility. Tho despite all his paranoid nature Shrike was looking forward to maybe salvaging some tech, provided it was stuff no one else needed that is.-

There was no telling what kept the station flying high above the water, though the constant buzzing sound coming from behind a northern wall adjacent to both left and right doors and the constant low ticking each could have something to do with it.
Gear headed to the right door, with Shrike and presumably Zeek following behind as to not split the group(remember one of the most important rules: never split the party, good on you Shrike!), and as it slowly opened it revealed...
Tables. Long, metallic tables like a prison cafeteria.

Presumably this was an eating hall, which was only made more notably from the strangely... disgusting smell.
They probably would have brought a lot of non-perishables, but... that's the thing, nothing lasts forever, and with maybe a few opened containers of supposedly non-perishable food it probably did go bad.
But it was liveable.
No, the disgusting smell seemed like something else was rotten. No one sat at these tables, and the dim lighting revealed very little.
From nearby, the heavy noises of machinery grew louder, as well as an... interesting clicking noise coming from another direction. Both noises are forward, past the door to the left being the only other exit out of the cafeteria other than the door they just entered.
Three options from here... To back into the entrance room and try the other door, explore this room, or go to the left door and press forward.

Zeek covered his mouth and nose due to the smell that's is present in this cafeteria. His eyes looked around as he kept behind the human soldier. He stayed with him to not split up as he agreed on what he told Gear about how it would be wrong to split up. Sniffing the air more he sniffs out the smell of the rotten and just hums a bit. Ideas started to formed in his mind on what could this smell be, it could be any sort of spoiled food or some sort of meat, but as he thinks more he started to think a bit darker on what this could be. Looking down at his left wrist he pulled up the sleeve to see a slick black metal like bracelet with a yellow button and a green one. He gave a nod to himself as if he is happy to not had left it behind. Pulling the sleeve back down he looked towards the soldier for as he is going to speak once more.

"I think the smell is a rotten body...should we investigate more of this place? Our mission is to retrieve anything of  value as wall to take any notes" He said as he started to look at the tables and chairs, he sniffs more to try and locate the smell as he wonder where it is. Raising his hand a small gust a wind formed around it as he takes in the sickening smell once more, not faze with the smell of rotting he pointed towards where the smell was coming from. "...There is the smell, best we can hope it was a scientist and hopefully we can retrieve something from the corpse...if not then we can move on"

Gears face scrunched up at y he d mell as well. And he really didn't wanna try to confirm if it was a corpse, but if it was maybe it did have something on it.

This place was giving Gear some creeps. A forgotten complex high in the air with little to no info about it... this had all kinds of red flags. Gear really didn't want to think about what happened to cause this place to become what it was.

"I'll check it out, give me a second..."

Shutting off his nose so he couldn't smell the horrible oder he approach the source in order to find out what it was, his eye light flicking on brighter to illuminate his path in the dim light.

-Thankfully Shrike didn't need to worry about the smell given his helmet, he began to eye the room, seemed like a Cafeteria of some kinda, but still couldn't be a 100% sure at this point. While this was still unknown territory Shrike figured as much to begin a search of the area, tho no to stray to far from one another.-

"If there is something here we should investigate it, proceed onward, Spread out, cover this area but remain in visual range, no wondering off into the next area, Gear continue tracking that smell and let us know if its getting closer.


Zeek take right side of the room sweep it and see if there is any thing you can find useful I'll take left side and do the same, remember...stay in visual range."

-Shrike began to inspect the left side of the Cafeteria like room, searching for any thing of at least some use, this was suppose to be a quick sweep, staying with in visual distance to ensure no one wonders off on their own accord, every thing had to be checked and searched, this was after all a retrieval operation.

The cold air, the lack of seemingly any life, the elevation, most conditions would keep a body this high up from further damage. What Gear saw once they'd step closer to the body proved something was wrong...

Gear's light brightened the room just enoug enough for it to be noticeable in other parts - scratches along the walls, on the left side if the room there wasn't much there, just cold, old opened cans of pork and beans. The labels had an old feel to them that only made them seem cheaper. On the other side of the room, some of the metal of the wall was peeled up, revealing a stash of odd, simple mechanisms made of wood and metal, and a box of tools. Hm... This could work.

What Gear discovered about the body...
It's right arm was merely a bloody stump, dried up over the years, large slashes and gashes all along its body, the feet oddly enough having been stolen, ripped off from the ankles.
There were bullet holes, but it could be inferred that the shooting happened sometime before the slashes - something capable of shooting people wouldn't just... shoot a corpse. But a monster capable and willing to tear into a body, that was a whole different story...
Despite the marks and damage, the body was... well kept, barely decomposed - even the scratches seemed new, damage undisturbed by time so far. The clothes had been ripped and torn, but there were holes from the clothes themselves rotting...

The ticking stopped for a moment.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
And the ticking starts up again...
The clanging dissipated just as quickly as it had come, like footsteps.

Zeek listen to what his fellow kine had told him, it makes perfect sense for him so he didn't have any problem with it. Giving a nod he started going to the right part of the room so he could get to work with what he had to do by sweeping the right side. If there was any dust he would blow it away while not wasting much energy. Staying within visual sight with the rest of the teammates he kept looking as best he could, he did't have night vision but he was trained in the past to operate in dark areas. Seeing a slightly peeled up wall he started searching behind it, finding some stuff in it and so he took them all out and placed it on one of the tables.

"Hm...I wonder what is making that noise..." He said as he slowly get back to scavenging but this time with only one hand as he has his right one around the hilt of his long-sword. He is on guard and was ready for some sort of ambush, a bit paranoid some would say but better be paranoid then not having your head cut off.

Gear felt sick as he looked at the rotting body. A part of him compared it to his last visit to the MechaMetal graveyard, this would've made him throw up if he could. After searching the body he did not the odd attack markings and other stuff on it.

That's when he heard it. The ticking. As he listened it soon stopped, only to start up and disappear again.

"Guys... there may be something still active in here. I heard something like someone or something walking around..."

Gears eyes flicked back to normal and took on a red hue as he tried to pinpoint the location the sound had originated from. His sensors and senses on high alert as he looked around. There was a low hum as his engine sprung to standby mode, the plasma emitter readying to fire if need be.

"Who's taking point?"

-Shrike was sifting through any and all things, not really much here, just canned food, probably old supplies left here, he hoped to find more but it was just pointless, he even thought of taking a few of these with him, probably save some cash then having to go buy more food later on. 

Suddenly Gear spoke, he felt like some one else was here, not the first time Shrike sensed this way before hand, he gave up searching the left area and proceeded ahead to where the body was located.

Upon inspection there were slashes across it and, bullet holes quite a few it seemed, what ever killed this being was multi range which was bad, it had firepower and close range, and if it indeed was still inside the facility they were going to need to find it. 

Then came several clangs came about, putting Shrike on full alert with weapon armed and aimed, moments after the clangs went off, it sounded like it faded once more but a strange ticking continued to echo. 

"Team regroup on me, Gear left side Zeek right side...I'm taking point, weapons ready...we going in further."

-Shrike takes point and slowly and with tactical steps moves in, heading in the direction of where the clangs came from, switching his helmet over to thermal imaging to spot any strange heat sources possibly lurking ahead, at this point it was confirmed something hostile was inside or at the very least had been inside here, Shrike was not taking any risks.-

"If we come into contact with a hostile...engage on sight...no heroics we still don't know what exactly killed that being." 

After looking around and collecting stuff, Shrike notably finding food for later and Gear finding a dead body, they regrouped as they headed in the direction of the sound - the door, moving further into the floating factory...
Shrike would notice from the thermal imaging that whatever was making the sound wasn't giving off much if any heat - it wasn't living. Or at least, not living by the normal standards of such a term...

Heading through the door, nothing was there, though there were more scratches along the walls.
It was similar to the first hallway, though shorter and thinner, and with an extra door leading forward, as well as one to the left of the party that would notably be locked for some reason, and one to the right where the loud whirring noise was...
Forward was the ticking.
It's best to be careful opening this door, who knows what's behind it.

Go forward, inspect the left door(which I will repeat, is locked), or go right?

Zeek looked through the stuff he had placed on the table and would pack some of the stuff he had found that seem in good condition. Making some mental notes he listen to what his allies had said and so he puts on his simple black backpack, it didn't have any design just it is meant for carrying objects from the place. He made sure that he wouldn't put anything heavy as that would just weight him down. Hearing what Shrike had just said he draws out his long-sword and let the flat past of the blade rest against his right shoulder, supporting it with his right hand by the pommel. 

Now staying close to his group he stayed on the right said as he was told, he is gonna follow Shrike orders since he is a soldier with years of experience most likely when it comes to squad management. Zeek himself has years of sword as well hand-to-hand combat, he does have his wind ability so he could support his team mates although he isn't much sure on what Gear could do since robots have different programming but he guess he must be great at combat and with computers as well analyzing. Thinking a bit he isn't much sure on what kind of role he should play.

"So...what should our role in combat be?" He asked in a low voice as he looked at the markings while walking down the hallway until he saw two doors. Maybe some talk on quick strategy would be great but maybe it i a bit late for it? He asked either way as it wouldn't hurt to try.

(Skipping due to insufficient stuff to RP respond about. But so it's not confusing Gear does follow suit... and that's about it.)

-He kept a slow steady pace, his guard up and on alert, not trusting any turn, any corridor or any thing it seemed, he kept the ground in fairly tight formation, more powerful together, strength in numbers. 

They would continue a little further, Shrike scanning left to right allowing his helmet to sweep the full area to see what was ahead and then something picked up on the thermal imaging. It was not a signature to be found in a living being, to small but what ever it was, was with out a doubt something active and moving.

Shrike raised his fist as he stopped moving, a military hand sign to hold current position.- 

"Thermal reading..straight ahead, weapons ready and gut check time...we going in" 

-Shrike darted off first leading the way charging towards the thermal source that he had just recently picked up, Shrike went in and zipped the corner with his rifle raised only to find....nothing, not a god damn thing was there. He tracked it, he saw it move..but..it just vanished...-

"What...the hell...it's...gone I swear it went down here!"

-Shrike looked to his left, more scratches, just like before, they might be getting close...really close. He stopped to assess the situation at hand, Shrike inspects the left door, he tries several attempts to breach it and open it, no go thing was locked shut. 

Turning back to the right door he could hear  strange sound coming from the other side, while the ticking was coming straight down the middle, one way or the other...hmmm he thought for several moments and decided he was going right.- 

"Alright left side is a no go locked tight, we going right for now! All of you hug the wall, Gear behind me, cover my six, Zeek take the opposite side...on my go....3....2....1 now."

-Shrike, rifle in one hand and the other hand on the door opened it moving in quickly scanning the area, dropping to one knee, keeping his rifle up and aimed.- 

"Go go go !" 

Shrike had officially taken the lead of the group due to his experience and being quickest to act, but clearly he wasn't holding it together well.
There was nothing there that would give off a heat signature. It was so cold and everything in there was metallic. Dead bodies don't hold signatures... Maybe he mistook one of his teammates for a threat?

Shrike seemed ready to just finish the job and get out, so ignoring the noise behind the middle door and Zeek's question, he led the team to the right door...
Another hallway.
Like all the hallways have been, it had a slight curve. It's like it was built in a giant ring!
From their current position, the team looks down a hallway. The door at the end locked as would be noted if anyone checked. 4 doors on the left side, 1 door on the center of the wall to the right.
The whirring grew even louder, coming from behind the right side door, accompanied with heavy slamming of machinery, like pistons perhaps?
More irregular slamming noises came from the third do it down the hallway to the left, and sounds like people speaking were coming from behind the far end door...
There were people here...?

Move on forward our heroes, make your next decision now.

Zeek would has stayed silent, guess his question was ignore by his teammates. Shaking his head slightly he followed behind and followed Shrike order by going on the opposite side only to find nothing through  the door just another hallway. He wonders if Shrike miscalculated the heat signature or something to be ready to attack whatever there was going to be but of course it was the said hallway. Still holding onto his sword he looked around in the hallway and how it was slightly curved. Examining the new hallway a bit he could hear the noises and see the doors on both the left side and the right side. He remember what Shrike did bi raising his fist up and so he does the same to tell his group to stop for a moment.

"Guys...do you hear that? Sounds like people are talking...although it could be either a recording or trap...We already saw a dead body and the spoiled food...I am leaning towards it's a trap...I suggest caution and there is that noise again"  He said in a low whisper towards his fellow teammates, he acknowledges that this type of communication will be helpful as it is better to organized everything rather then walking into the unknown without thinking and with a very basic plan. He understand that his teammates might be on the edge right now but it is better to think logically now and make some short theory of the situation so none would die.

Gear knew the consequences of not thinking through his actions. Something he would forever regret really... but he didn't have time to travel back to those memories.

Slowly following suit he nodded in response to the others, his eyes remaining fixed forwards looking for anything that was off or strange. He kept at the ready to defend the others with his energy barrier as well.

"I say we found out who else is here. Trap or no we'll face it eventually, better now than avoid it when it could be something important."

-Perhaps the paranoid feeling was now making Shrike see things that were not there to begin with, he himself was not sure but was convinced he did see something, even if it was faint. 

The new area was yet again another corridor with a bunch of doors, some times he felt like if they were going in circles some how, either that or this foundry had some really strange geometry.

Against more doors presented them self, 4 on the left and 1 on the right, tho the sounds were gaining volume, including new sounds originating from the right side. Sounded like typical industrial heavy machinery operating. 

But now there were sounds coming in from the left side, these seem to peak Shrikes interest more simply because it sounded like talking, and talking was well what other then it could be, beings or at least something capable of speech. Every one heard it including the other two along with him. If these were indeed figures this would be a huge step in figuring out what could of happened.

"Yea, I hear it as well, I suggest we press on check this out, but like you said could be a trap so have weapons ready, we gonna move in slow up to the door. Gear do you have any kind of enhance hearing system that could make better sense of what is being said ? If so do it"

-Shrike now hugged the left side of the wall and slowly edged his way down the corridor trying to make as least sound as possible until coming up to the door where the voices were coming from halting right there, rather then storm in he held there hoping to hear more and a bit clearer the voices on the other side.- 

"Alright, lets hold here...try and figure out what they are saying before going commando style in." 

They head to the door at the end of the hallway after planning out their actions, Gear and Shrike both agreeing that approaching the source of threat would be the best course of action. 
For all of Shrike's wants, this door too was locked so they'd need a key, but the voice was a bit more clear behind the door now. Whether or not Gear could hear anything better, at the very least one man with a rather thick cockney accent could be heard, rambling in self-pity as if he's had years of alone time to think about "Sliam", "family", "Mary", "Jane", "Ciel", and on and on, the few words most easily distinguishable from the inside room.
Whether Gear had a method of hearing it better or not, most likely no one could get through the door.

The key has to be around here somewhere...!

There's still the door with the loud whirring and factorial noises, and one if the doors close by with the irregular clanging and clashing...