Orion and the Clockwork (The Carmsborough Vigilantes #2)

Chapter 16

Before the Gearmaster could utter another word, Orion was out of the warehouse and soaring through the air on the back of the Clockwork. This was the first time since his first flight with the machine that he could see a significant amount of the ground below him, and although he would have been eager to go sightseeing, there were more pressing matters at hand.

It took about two hours to make it around the Golem Mountains and to the upper half of the Housing District. Along the way, a stray cloudship made note of them, but otherwise had no chance to enact anything, as they were gone too fast. Still, Syndra's men were likely to be on high alert when they arrived.

He couldn't really tell where his actual apartment was from this high in the air, but before he could voice anything out loud, the Clockwork began its descent, dropping them in completely unfamiliar territory.

Territory that was, at that moment, being turned over by a squad of goons evicting large swaths of people from their apartment building. The Clockwork charged up on the unsuspecting men, and before they had any time to react meaningfully, they were tumbling across the ground. Orion stepped down off of the Clockwork and approached the crowd.

"People of Carmsborough," he said, his voice shaking a little. He had to be the hero. He had to be the one who sought this through. That's what everyone thought. That's what everyone told him. "I'm not going to let Syndra bully us any longer."

There were some positive murmurs that traveled through the crowd. It was enough to motivate him to continue. "He seeks to disrupt us and displace us. He wants to have complete control over us all. Not only that, but he's lying to the rest of the world about it, and seeks a hostile advance against all of Europe. Can you guess who he's going to use as his army?"

The positive murmurs were turning sour. "We need to fight back against these men. We need to fight back against Syndra. We won't let him take our homes from us. Our lives from us."

A few hollers filled the crowd, and some people went over to the goons, who were slowly trying to get up, and wrenched their weapons away. Orion didn't stay long enough to find out what was going to happen to them, because he had a very specific group he had to intervene with.

It took three more groups and three more calls to action, believing in his statement and himself just a little more each time, before the Clockwork finally brought him to an area he recognized. In fact, they ran down a block and zipped past the diner where Orion had gone the morning of the coup.

He was in an uncharacteristically good mood. Maybe it was the repeated successes of the morning. Maybe it was the jog they were on. Or maybe it was the fact that as they stomped by another group of soldiers, rather than stopping to take care of them, the Clockwork simply stuck an arm out and mowed them all over. Whatever it was, he felt alive. Powerful. Confident.

And then he saw it. A blockade was being formed around his apartment building. Large numbers of men were waiting for their arrival, and all the people that had been inside were being forced out. He couldn't tell where his sister and dad were in the crowd, if they were even out of the building yet, but he knew that the careless running around was over.

This was twenty armed men surrounding almost a hundred people. He doubted if the Clockwork could handle this in a way to keep both him and the civilians safe. What was the play?

The Clockwork continued his pace, adding to the urgency that was building in Orion's mind, until they were about fifteen meters out. He came to a stop nearly three meters from their fortifications.

Orion briefly peeked his head over the machine's shoulder. He could see one of the men shaking.

"All of you who work for Syndra, I have a deal for you. You leave the Housing District and never come back, or the Clockwork pounds you to dust against the cobblestone."