Iron Wasteland

Chapter 15

Irons turned the knob, and was thankful to find it unlocked. By all appearances, no one should've been living here. Stepping inside confirmed it, revealing a small lobby area with tarps covering the walls and ceiling. Water trickled through where they overlapped, pooling slowly on the ground. Still, this wasn't the main tower area. Irons could see a few doorways from where he stood, and without many options he went through the one directly across the room from him.

As he stepped into the new area, a small stream of water fell onto him. He looked up, taking in the scaffolding lining the walls. Planks of wood criss-crossed overhead, and near the top was the beginnings of a new staircase. Several more temporary platforms had been built, connecting to doors along the walls. Several boxes and other items were also set on the platforms, making a clear path up difficult. Was this the only staircase to those other floors? Irons did a small bit of stretching, gearing up to climb. Before he did, he craned his neck to hear anything out of place. The only thing he heard was the sound of rain and occasional thunder.

He moved toward the scaffolding, and began to climb the metal pipes up towards the top. He had to swing about every now and then, shimmied along a thin railing, and at one point he had to do a leap of faith from one side of the room to the other. Tense, but not something Irons wasn't used to. He'd made worse climbing decisions. He reached the top part of the scaffolding, finding a trap door in the ceiling. Giving it a push, he was once again drenched with water as it flooded through the now open doorway. He lost his grip on the door, it slamming back down with a loud *thwack!*. Well, if there was someone here, they definitely knew he was coming. Irons opened it again, climbed up, set the trap door down slowly.

He was standing on a rough concrete floor, the working mechanism of the clock above him. A spiral staircase led to another trap door, most likely leading to the bell. Water dripped and trickled through several cracks in the glass, dripping down around him from the metal poles and gears. It was silent, save for the rain pattering on outside. Still no sign of the mystery figure. Slowly, the sheriff advanced toward the staircase, eying the corners of the room. The room was dark enough where someone could be hiding in the darkness of the machinery, waiting to strike. Irons took a deep breath, leveling himself. If he was going to be attacked, panicking beforehand wouldn't help. He climbed the stairs, and slowly pushed the trapdoor open.

He was suddenly face-to-face with a squarish head, a single mechanical eye staring into his. There was a long silence.

Irons slowly lowered the trapdoor, and quickly descended the staircase. Whoever that was opened it, and flung themselves down and over the railing. This put them directly in the path of Irons' escape, the man skidding and slipping on the floor. He rubbed the pain blooming from his arms as he sat up, watching as the figure raised to their full height, limbs creaking.

"......I'm impressed you made it up here." The person spoke, their cyclopic eye flickering into view. "I usually fly up here."

"F-fly?" Irons sputtered, slowly standing up and watching them carefully.

Instead of responding verbally, a pair of large, bat-like wings suddenly appeared from behind them, fluttering briefly in their silhouette. They re-folded themselves behind the figure, revealing the person now had their hands on their hips, a pose that seemed to scream just how unamused they were of the whole situation.

"Well...I happened to see you up on the tower, and since I was sure this place was abandoned, and there's currently an active thief in the area...you can see why I'd want to check it out. Mind if I make a light?"

"Do as you please." They said, waving a hand dismissively.

Irons did so, creating a bright flame in his hand. It hissed and sputtered as water fell on it, but stayed lit. Now with more light, he could more easily make out the figure. They were still a head taller than him while standing, and their body appeared to be made of plated metal. Some were still rusted from age, the person's fingertips especially so. The clothes they wore were well-kept, if a bit dull in coloration. They could blend in easily with the trees around the town, the color matched. Irons stored that bit of info away for later. Their head was indeed square-like, with a large screen displaying a blocky eye, and an oval wire mesh below it. Despite being only a single eye, the pupil(?) was shaped like a T, which seemed to indicate annoyance. It reminded him a lot of Providence's face. Ah, she was probably waiting for him right now, huh? She was gonna be mad. Irons couldn't blame her, but he did have an investigation to do.