“It seems we are,” Havoc agrees, looking up at the building.
“Pity,” Svetlana grumbles near my ear. “He was so close to giving in.”
I chuckle, but don’t respond to her as we all walk inside the warehouse as a group. Stevie dances around in the air behind us, forever our lantern sentinel it seems. Locke comes to stand beside me and threads his fingers with mine as if to reassure himself I’m real. Havoc takes up my other side, but he doesn’t reach out to touch me. He doesn’t reach for his weapon either. Apparently, he really plans to sit this one out.
“He is right,” Cipher pops in. “He does not need the XP. You do. He should not fight this battle for you.”
“Just because he’s right doesn’t mean I have to like it,” I reply while looking around the grimy warehouse.
When we first walk in, I realize the building is multi-story, and the entrance we just came through puts us on one of the middle levels. We’re immediately on a metal catwalk when we walk inside, the grating beneath our feet sturdy but noisy enough to give me pause. In Dross, you never walk across catwalks, even if they look whole. I’ve seen them collapse under the weight of a single person. But here, the metal isn’t degrading, so it should be fine. Still, I take small hesitant steps as we move deeper inside, my boots making soft noises against the metal. I don’t trust it and my heartrate kicks in my throat.
Everywhere we look, there are copper pipes running along the walls, the catwalks, the ceiling, until we’re surrounded by them, until we can’t even see the other catwalks running through the warehouse. Some of the pipes let off steam at various intervals, trailing up, billowing in large clouds. The white steam rises, giving the entire warehouse an eerie look as we move along the pathways.
“Stay close,” Havoc orders. “This isn’t the place to wander off.”
“You say that about everything,” I point out.
“And it’s true every time,” he fires back. “Don’t go off on any half-cocked missions. This isn’t Lady Liberty. The Minor Boss isn’t the only threat here.”
As if his words reveal them, movement drags my eyes to the ceiling. My brows furrow as I look closer at what looks like metal pipes, but then . . . they shift, and I realize it’s not just pipes at all.
It’s a creature.
The first one I see is small and spider-like, trailing along the pipes with ease.
The second one is human-sized and shaped. Still, it moves along the pipes with the same jerky motions of the metal spider. I stare at them in horror for a few seconds before Havoc grabs my chin and forces it down.
“Don’t look at them,” he hisses. “Looking at them invites investigation.”
I jerk my eyes away from the creatures and become aware of just how many of them are around us. I can hear the clinking of their metal legs against the copper pipes as they follow along after us. They don’t make any other noises. No words. No calls to each other. But the sound of clinking metal and hissing steam is enough to set my nerves on fire.
“Oh, fuck,” Locke says, his shoulders tense beside me as he tries not to look up. “Are these things the Minor Boss?”
“No,” Havoc says. “Keep moving.”
We do as he says, our boots clacking against the metal grating beneath our feet. Stevie doesn’t say much, but every now and then he makes a noise of disgust when the pipes let out another burst of steam. Again, I wonder why he bothers staying with us. He could be free, but he remains with us despite his new freedom. I’ll have to ask him when we’re back at a safehouse.
We’re all tense as we move deeper inside the maze of metal pipes, searching for the Minor Boss. The skittering metal creatures are in the hundreds now as they follow along behind us. Their metallic movements make a symphony fitting of the setting, only broken up by the hiss of steam and the sound of our boots. By the time we’re deep inside the warehouse, my heart is beating in the same rhythm, thump-thump-thumping inside my chest as if it too has joined the choir. My nerves are so on edge, I find myself drawing my Bloodsense Fang and dragging my hyena mask down over my face in preparation for whatever this Minor Boss may be. My area of perception widens, and I expect it to light up with all the creatures around us.
I feel nothing. No life forces. No warmth. Nothing.
What the fuck are these things?
Suddenly, I wonder what Havoc considers easy, because I’m starting to doubt this Minor Boss will be easy at all.
I should have asked.
He wouldn’t have told me.
What if the metal creatures attack while we’re facing the Minor Boss? What if they all launch themselves toward me and I can’t even sense them?
What if we’re forced to fight off a swarm of them?
“A little further,” Havoc says, directing us forward. “He waits on a large open platform for us just?—”
BOSS BATTLE INITIATED: BOIL, BOIL, TOIL, AND TROUBLE
ARE YOU READDDDDDDY TO RUMBLEEEEEE? Because the Boiler King always is. Shut off his power to defeat the King, but be careful. That steam is hot, hot, hot!
