Orion and the Clockwork (The Carmsborough Vigilantes #2)

Chapter 20

"This information does not leave this room," Agent Ike said, pacing back and forth in front of the chalkboard.

"Okay?"

"The American government has essentially promised us that within thirty-six hours, we were going to have access to fighter jets and men on the ground as part of their aiding Carmsborough in dealing with Syndra. I've let them know what's really happening here, and they're more than willing to help if we can get to a suitable spot for it."

"That's not a whole lot of time."

"Exactly. We have a lot of work that needs to get done before we can even think about going straight for Syndra. Not to mention, we don't even hardly know where he is. This is where you come in for the plan. Unless you know more than us about this situation, the plan is to draw him and the general out, and once they are, to use the Clockwork and the American military to handle their troops, as well as secure the two of them."

"Unfortunately, I think I might actually know more than the two of you in this situation. It's going to be a lot less simple than that."

"How so?"

"They're working on another Clockwork and are likely close or almost done with it. They said it's going to have insane abilities, and that they will be stronger than my Clockwork's abilities, because of a certain stone they found. I confiscated the stone, but it's still going to be a pretty evenly matched fight between the two sides."

Agent Mike grabbed an eraser from the board and wiped off a big chunk of what had been written.

"And actually, that's not even the most of it. I need to go back and get the Gearmaster and bring him here. He's working on a chip that is going to allow the Clockwork to better protect everyone, not just me. And now that the cloudship shield I got is broken, there are absolutely no guarantees that he'll be able to get it working for me, especially in time."

"Where is the Gearmaster right now? Last I knew, he was still kidnapped."

"No, I saved him. He's at an abandoned mattress warehouse in the Industrial District. That's where we were holding out for the time being."

"That's a three-hour journey one way," Agent Mike said. "That shaves time off of what we need for our new plan."

"What's the new plan?"

"Once we have the Gearmaster, and maybe the Clockwork is updated with whatever technology you need, we do some guerilla attacks on Syndra bases. Get them riled up, and force Syndra out to get you. There are three targets we can go for."

"As long as we have a way to minimize injury to civilians in the area."

"I agree," Agent Ike said. "And we will. For the most part, the bombs that we have ready for this particular task won't extend past the outer walls of the targeted building. It'll still be devastating, but you've gotta get it to the center of the location."

"Okay, so how exactly do we go to fetch the Gearmaster? It's going to be a little inconvenient to just walk over there at the moment, and I'm not sure how comfortable I'm going to be riding the Clockwork for an extended period of time."

The agent smiled. "Oh, trust me, I have an idea."

-◦=[ ]=◦-

"I'm not sure I like this idea," Orion said, sitting in a wheelchair with a blanket covering his bottom half. Agent Ike, who was now in clothes that blended in, rather than a suit and tie, was pushing the wheelchair. A woman walked beside him, dressed about the same. As a group, they exited the subway and cautiously navigated through the city. They were currently somewhere in the Housing District, but like most of his adventure the past week, he didn't recognize the area.