The Iron Jackals’ territory began three districts north of the market.
I knew we had arrived when the noises from the road suddenly hushed.
Aetheria was never silent, but the usual bustle of merchants and buyers was replaced by the sound of armed men, shuttered shops, and black flags with the image of a mechanical jackal.
Vexa walked ahead of us as if it was just another evening stroll.
I looked at the great metal gate in front of us.
Then I looked at Vexa.
"You’re sure this is the place?"
She nodded.
"Positive."
"Where’s the engine?"
"Inside."
"Any guards?"
"Thirty to forty, maybe."
"And your brilliant plan?"
She smiled.
"Walk in."
I stared at her.
"That’s your plan?"
"Do you have a better one?"
"Actually, yes."
"Not walk in."
Nyx chuckled to herself.
Cyra covered her mouth.
Vexa looked insulted.
"You people have no sense of style."
The gate opened before we could discuss her ’style.’
Two men stood at the ready.
Both wore black coats reinforced with mechanical plates and large rifles slung across their chests.
One of them looked Vexa up and down.
"You’re late."
Vexa smiled.
"Traffic."
The guard frowned.
"There hasn’t been traffic in this district for three hours."
"Exactly."
I nearly laughed.
Nyx elbowed me in the side.
"Not funny."
We followed Vexa into the compound.
The Iron Jackals’ base was massive.
It resembled an old factory converted into a fortress, with great smokestacks rising from the roof and pipes running up and down the walls.
It was all mechanical, from the machines that hissed steam from vents in the floor to the great gears turning behind large reinforced windows.
It all looked magnificent, the more we walked.
Aetheria was beautiful in its own way, but it had a certain charm that was difficult to find elsewhere.
The wealthy districts had their own brand of elegance, and the poor had their own resilience, but the Iron Jackals had something different. Something more.
"Stop sightseeing," Nyx muttered.
"I’m trying to take it all in."
"You’ll be taking it all in from inside a coffin if you keep it up."
"Fair."
Vexa stopped walking and gestured to a large metal door at the end of the room.
"This is the workshop."
She opened the door and led us inside.
The workshop was enormous, with engines taking up most of the space.
Weapons adorned the walls, and mechanical limbs littered the floor.
Stacks of Aether crystals stood in one corner, and in the center of the room stood the engine we had come for.
The Stormrunner Engine.
It was massive, with a series of pipes running up either side and connecting to the ceiling.
Great gears turned at the center of the engine, and the Aether core pulsed with a red light.
The System appeared.
[Stormrunner Engine detected.]
[Condition: 31%.]
[Potential Output: 164%.]
[Upgrade Energy Required: 20.]
I blinked at the last line.
"Twenty?"
Vexa looked at me.
"What?"
"Nothing."
I sighed.
The Stormrunner Engine was perfect, but we didn’t have any Upgrade Energy.
That meant we would have to get some before we could upgrade it.
Unfortunately, twenty points seemed like a lot to earn.
Nyx walked up to the engine.
"Can we move it?"
Vexa shook her head.
"Not without shutting down the factory."
Cyra looked at the pipes running along the ceiling.
"What powers this place?"
"Aether furnace beneath the building."
"Then we shut it down."
Vexa raised an eyebrow.
"You know how?"
Cyra smiled.
"I can feel the flow."
I stared at her.
She placed her hand against one of the pipes.
Blue light crackled from her fingertips, illuminating the room.
"The furnace is beneath us."
Nyx looked at me.
"Can she do that?"
"I don’t know."
Cyra closed her eyes.
A second later, several of the lights in the workshop dimmed.
The machines whirred and clicked, and then fell silent.
One by one, the great engines in the room turned off until the entire workshop was silent.
Vexa looked stunned.
"What did you do?"
"Temporary Aether suppression."
She opened her eyes.
"You have about three minutes before the emergency system activates."
I looked at the engine.
"Then we have three minutes."
Vexa went to work, cutting the pipes that ran along the walls.
Nyx walked up to the nearest console.
"What do I do?"
"Pull those three levers."
Nyx did as she was told.
Metal locks fell away from the Stormrunner Engine as it creaked and groaned.
I grabbed one side of the engine.
"It’s heavy."
Vexa laughed.
"It’s an airship engine."
"Thank you for clarifying."
Cyra helped me push.
The three of us worked together, and after a moment, the Stormrunner Engine began to move. It only traveled a few centimeters before the lights in the workshop suddenly turned red.
An alarm began to blare.
Vexa stopped.
"That’s not good."
"How bad is it?"
"Very bad."
The doors to the workshop slammed shut and locked.
Then, a voice echoed through the building.
"Someone has entered the Jackals’ den."
Vexa sighed.
"I knew this was too easy."
A great door at the far end of the room opened, and a man stepped inside.
He was huge, his body encased in black mechanical armor that covered him from head to toe.
A metal jaw took the place of the lower half of his face, and his right arm was entirely mechanical, ending in a series of sharpened claws.
The man looked at the Stormrunner Engine and then at Vexa.
"You."
Vexa smiled nervously.
"Hello, Brakk."
Brakk’s mechanical eye glowed red.
"You stole my ship."
"I borrowed it."
"You crashed it."
"Minor damage."
"You removed the engine."
"That part wasn’t intentional."
Brakk turned his gaze to us.
"Who are they?"
Vexa gestured to me.
"Friends."
Brakk looked us up and down.
I waved.
"Hi."
He raised his mechanical fist.
"Kill them."
Thirty men poured into the workshop.
I pulled out my Aether Revolver, and Nyx raised her weapon.
Cyra’s hands glowed blue, and Vexa picked up a wrench.
I looked at the three women beside me.
"We’re surrounded."
Nyx smiled.
"Then let’s break out."
The first Jackal charged, but I shot him in the chest, and he flew back.
[Hostile defeated.]
[Upgrade Energy acquired: +1.]
I looked at the number.
One point.
I needed twenty.
I looked around the room.
Thirty enemies.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
"Riven!" Nyx shouted.
One of the Jackals brought a metal axe down across my shoulders, but I ducked.
Nyx’s Crimson Arm smashed into the attacker’s chest, sending him flying into a machine.
Cyra raised her hands, and Aether energy exploded across the floor, knocking several enemies back.
Vexa laughed.
"Now this is a party!"
I smiled. The System flashed again.
[Combat conditions favorable.]
[Potential energy acquisition: High.]
I gripped the Aether Revolver in my hand.
Twenty energy.
One engine.
One airship.
And four people who somehow always seemed to find trouble.
I looked at my companions.
"Let’s get that engine."