Metal Thunder (Karl Heisenberg - Resident Evil)

Chapter 8 - Working With Soldats

The sound of a rolling carriage followed by the clanging alarm and sliding doors to the factory's garage entrance woke Emily Tempest immediately. She wasn't sure what time it was, but seeing the faint sunrise from the window of the bedroom told her it was still early in the morning. Who could that be at this hour? Without thinking, she pulled on her tank top, pants, and boots, and went down the stairs to investigate, having miraculously memorized the route from her room, back to the factory's entrance.

When she opened the door to the garage, the two double barn doors stood open and a great carriage sat just outside beside the old tank. A single horse grazed nearby at the bits of grass between the patches of snow. Filled to the brim with trinkets and other findings Emily remembered it from yesterday and there sat a familiar face as she approached.

"Miss Tempest! A very good morning to you!" the Duke greeted her gleefully, sitting at the edge of the wagon and sorting through a pouch. The coins jingled inside like bells.

Emily couldn't help but be pleased to see him, it eased her from the difficulty ahead of her on this day, "Duke? What are you doing here?" she asked curiously,

"Ah don't you remember? I have something to drop off for Lord Heisenberg, I trust you were able to inform him?"

Emily was paralyzed and suddenly remembered feeling tense again, "Damn it! I forgot to tell him," she had become so caught up in the amount of information on Heisenberg and his proposal that a simple request like this had gone unnoticed.

"Not to worry my dear. Surely getting settled was your priority," the Duke reassured her, "has Lord Heisenberg been treating you well?"

Emily rubbed the nape of her neck pondering for an answer. Yes, he's very accommodating, no he's crazy, crap... the Duke is just a merchant it's not like he is tied to Miranda or anything!

"He's uh... great!" she lied cheerfully, she was still hesitant to trust the Duke enough to tell the truth. Heisenberg wasn't making her sleep in a dungeon or anything but some things could have been better, she then thought of the awfully cold shower from last night.

"Wonderful! Now then, the crate is at the back of my carriage, feel free to get it down from there. It has his house's sigil,"

Emily took a deep breath, even if Heisenberg gets mad, at least she could make up for it in some way. She walked around the Duke's wagon on the dry grass and opened the doors to find more of the merchant's wares: there were beads, chalices, crowns, bottles of wine that must be worth a fortune, boxes full of crafting supplies and fishing. If the Duke does business with all the lords, they must have hobbies and buy supplies for whatever it is they like to do from him, Emily thought and then she spotted a steel gray crate sitting on the right side next to some dangling chimes. It looked extremely out of place among a set of wooden goats and in black was branded with Heisenberg's horse sigil.

"Did you find the crate with the iron steed?" the Duke beckoned from the other side,

"Yeah, I've got it,"

Emily picked up the crate and felt a shocking sensation emit from her hands like the electrical discharge inside her was reacting to the touch of metal, but what bothered her the most was how heavy it was. Emily tried to pull it off of the wagon and barely lifted it in the process, forcing her to pull it towards her, dragging it across the wagon's floor. As soon as she got it free, it began to weigh her down and she fought the urge to drop it. She grunted persistently, walking back towards the carriage anterior while struggling until suddenly, the box was released from her hands by an unseen force, floating towards the factory's entrance, and she gasped. It was Heisenberg, approaching the doorway, he raised his arms forward as the box hovered towards him like a magnet and he caught it effortlessly as if it were light as a feather.