Clock Striking
Clock Striking
Rain falls heavily upon a floating island in the sky as the roar of industrial machinery fills the air. A zeppelin with an extensive exposed gear works approaches ominously, smoke belching forth constantly like a volcano about to erupt. Within the zeppelin a pale human male who is as much clockwork and steam machinery as he is flesh and blood looks over a stem punk monitor using his clawed machine limbs to throw levers and turn dials to get a better view.
"Where is he?" Doctor Clock asks of nobody in particular. "I'd reather not devastate my Pleasurable Isle in the Sky But I will to kill him."
"Visual scans indicate the island is deserted, master," a disembodied voice tells Doctor Clock. "Shall I have the ship cast detection spells?"
"Yes, start with Detect Magic and go from there," Doc Clock orders. "Exclude any magic that can attributed to me."
:"Multiple types of magic detected," the voice reports as dots appear on a map of the island.
"All over?" Doctor Clock says worriedly. "Not good, it means I may have to destroy everything. Prepare to dump every bomb we have available if necessary!"
On the docks of the floating island a tiger striped vixen is rubbing some wool on a crystal rod and charging it with electrical energy as overhead the Clockwork Stormcloud starts to loom. She wears a leather harness that both protects her and shows off her sexually best features. At her side is a harlequin rabbit female in a similar harness.
"You don't seriously think you're going to do much with a simple lightning lance spell do you?" Lorelei asks of Evelyn.
"Oh, hush, Lori," Eve growls, "I know what I'm doing. Have we heard from Brom or Fen?"
"Brom shot us a message a bit back," Lorelei reports, "He and the Captain are in a castle further into the island."
In a kind of lighthouse inside a castle a badger in workman's leathers, a wolverine female dressed similarly to the badger, a cheetah female in a leather vest and loincloth with leather hand and foot wraps and a black furred wolf with red tiger stripes in shark leather armor stand side by side as they watch the Clockwork Stormcloud approach. Around them are four towers, each one sporting a cannon enchanted to load itself at their master's command. Doctor Clock made them but now the badger Brom Blackstar commands them at the order of the wolf: Captain Fenryx Zavaj.
"Do you have the range?" Fenryx asks of Brom as he watches Doc Clock get closer.
"Aye, that I do," Brom states and then asks: "Your orders?"
"Take him down,," Fenryx growls.
"Gladly!" Brom concedes with a dark smirk.
All four cannons fire on Doctor Clock's zeppelin and get multiple hits as he prepares to drop his bombs. On board the airship Doc Clock is shocked that his own defenses are attacking him. When the bomb bay doors open: Evelyn strikes.
Lightning arcs from the vixen's fingers and strikes the bombs Doctor Clock's minions are preparing to drop on them. Explosions rock the interior of Doc Clock's gondola. The fireworks display causes Lorelei to give her mistress an incredulous look.
"It all depends on how your arc it and what you hit," Eve states smugly. "Have everyone get further in, Brom doesn't have control over the whole facility."
"Right, boss!" Lore says with a salute. "Looks like Doc Clock is fulfilling his contract on the Captain, huh?"
"Looks like it, Lore," Eve says. "Fen, be safe, please, Gorelock is probably still mad at us. I don't want to know what would happen if we had to use the star chamber now."
Back in the zeppelin:
"Damage report!" Doctor Clock screams. "I want to know just how bad she stung us!"
"She, master?" An orb inquires of its creator, "We were struck by strange lightning..."
"It was a spell, you twit!" Doc Clock yells. "Evelyn hit us with some electrical spell! Clever girl, Eve, but it won't save you."
"Uh, boss," an automaton with the general proportions of a small child reports a little hesitantly, "The bomb room is toast. Whatever she did; it was a doozy."
"Do we have any bombs left?" doctor Clock asks to which the assistant just shakes its head. "DAMMIT! Very well then, I'll just have to kill you by remote." He rolls out from his station to attach himself to a powered glider. "Time to fly."
Doctor Clock's flight does not go unnoticed as Fenryx takes aim with his rifle. Blowing his brains out would not do much good and Fenryx knows this as the targets the engine of the glider. After taking a few shots, Fenryx severely damages the arcane engine Doc Clock is using for the glider.
The prospect of crashing fills Doctor Clock with desperation that he will not reach his destination as he calls out for aid. Mechanical spiders spring to life and crawl to aid their master as best they can. Doc Clock detaches from his glider and enters a spider when he gets near enough and uses its legs to disappear underground.
Fenryx watches with dismay the flight of his enemy and decides to go after him. The ground starts to shake as Fenryx lands in one of the many tunnels crisscrossing the island. Doctor Clock makes it to his destination in record time as he hears Fenryx call out for him.
In a monitoring station of his own devising Doctor Clock activates remotes sensors throughout his facility. Under the streets of the floating city Fenryx is trying to get his bearings by way of his knowledge of the sewage systems and dungeons which he has garnered from escaping prisons that thought they could hold him. What the wolf finds is a maze of confusing tunnels dimly lit if there is any illumination at all but Fen's eyes work well even here due to training and something extra in his genetic make up thanks to the tinkering of Gorelock so many years ago.
A messenger orb bearing the likeness of the cruel elf wizard Gorelock appears before Doctor Clock in his monitoring chamber.
"You pet is making a mockery of my maze, Gorelock!" Doc Clock growls to the glowing image of the mage he detests.
"I was wondering how much trouble Fen was causing," Gorelock says as he chuckles with dark mirth. "You're still relying on mechanical minions aren't you?"
"You're the monstrosity maker of us," Doctor Clock growls. "Isn't there a beaker in need of you amorous administrations?"
"Droll, Clock, very droll," Gorelock says with a frown. "Are you in your control center on your precious floating island or your airship?
"The island proper, why?" Doc Clock demands to know.
"Excellent," Gorelock exclaims. "I'm sending you a little gift."
"What are you teleporting, freak?!" Doctor Clock demands to know as a teleportation circle forms in back of his position.
"Oh, nothing much," Gorelock says off handedly as fleshy beach balls with tentacles and eye stalks start bouncing out of the magical wormhole Gorelock generated. "Just a new per I created. I haven't properly named them yet. Right now I'm calling them Soul Retrievers."
"Cute," Doc Clock observes in a mocking tone, "I'll sweep them into the sewers with your other pet."
"Oh, please do," Gorelock says; his dark mirth unabated. "Who knows who they'll catch."
"Just for my edification," Doctor Clock asks," do your new pets retain souls within themselves or transfer them back to you somehow?"
"I'm still working on that too," Gorelock admits in a fashion that makes Doc Clock think that he's lying.
A dozen soul retrievers plop down into the sewers near Fenryx who quickly finds an alcove in which to sequester himself. The soul retrievers fan out in four teams as Fen watches. Fenryx is not especially interested in seeing what these things are capable of as her hears a trio of them getting close enough to sense him as he hears the grinding of gears and the scraping of metal on stone that indicates that one of Doctor Clock's sweeping machines is close at hand.
The blind mechanical worm that serves as a cleaner for the sewers gropes past his secluded position and slams into the soul retrievers. It eats them wholesale and makes industrial waste out of their remains. Fenryx smirks as he heads off in a different direction than the worm as he makes his way to the surface to get his bearings; climbing with his hook swords as an aid.
Doctor Clock loses sight of his prey for a few minutes as all this is going on and gets a tad concerned. Self-loading light ballistae on spider legs are scouring the city looking for pirates to shoot and kill. Fenryx is their chief target but Doc Clock is not opposed to use Fen's crew as target practice.
Fenryx has his own problems as those bouncing bastards of a monster Gorelock created aren't as dumb as they look. Three of them bounce their way up through the shaft after him. However Gorelock forgot that Captain Zavaj favors the hook swords and is a master of their use.
The first soul retriever is shredded almost effortlessly by Fenryx as it bounces out of the shaft. The second slams into Fenryx as it comes out followed closely by the third. The force of the attack trips Fen up in the gore of his victim while the tentacles of the remaining pair wrap around his legs and arms.
A game of tug of war ensues as the soul retrievers try to rip Fen asunder between them Captain Zavaj links his hook swords together and swings them as best he can. It's an act of desperation for the wolf but he has little choice.
He manages to sever a limb and free one of his hands as the limb was previously holding his forearm snaps like a rubber band. As the one soul retriever recoils a bit Fen sever the other tentacle as he braces himself to slam into the other. The sudden snap back gives Fen's boot strike enough momentum to stun the soul retriever enough for Fenryx to dig the hooks of his bales deep enough to rip it to shreds.
The remains of the soul retriever becomes a set of shackles on Fen's feet as the other comes bounding at him snarling with fury. It ends up hurtling itself at the half moon blades over the Captain's hands and whimpers as if expecting sympathy from its prey which it is not getting as Fenryx shreds it too. Evelyn finds him son after this.
"FEN!" Eve screams as she runs into his arms and kisses him, "You're still alive!"
"For now, Eve," Fen growls as he looks around for more of Gorelock's pets. "It looks as though Gorelock and Doc Clock are working together again even if neither of them want too."
"Why do I get the sneaking suspicion we have something to do with that?" Eve asks facetiously. "Doctor Clock is trying to kill us with his clockwork monsters...what are these things anyway? Looks like Gorelock is playing around in his labs again. It's a wonder none of his creations hasn't tried to kill him yet."
"Well," Captain Zavaj says with a smirk, "We've rebelled and I'm about ready to kill him."
"Yes, but for that we'll have to sneak back to Jawbone Isle," Eve cautions. "He was paranoid before this..."
"Good point," Fenryx says in agreement as they continue to meander the sewers after the Captain gets an idea of where he is before returning and Evelyn following of her own accord to meander the sewers; then he puts away his hook swords in favor of his musket with a heavy sigh, "I hate to admit it but this may be more useful than my preferred weapons. I think Brom made some improvements to it to boot."
"Well then," Eve says with a smirk, "Time to hunt then."
The water level steadily rises the deeper the pair go but the number of sensors monitoring their progress exponentially increases. Movement in the water alerts both of them that they are not alone as Fen affixes a bayonet to his rifle. Both canines strain their ears and not the mechanical whining of a clockwork creature on the move.
A shadow under the water betrays the presence of the creature before a human sized centipede erupts from the stream with buzz saw mandibles. Fenryx hires his musket at the head of the thing that pings of its armor. It lunges at Fen specifically but the wolf is able to get out of the way and stabs at it with his bayonet and gets a spray of oil for his efforts.
Buzzing sounds comes from the other end of the thin as both living creatures begin to feel a mild electric shock where their bodies come in contact with the water. Whip like tendrils lash at them that crackles with electric power. Fen and Eve jump out of the channel to avoid the shocks caused by lightning whip tail of the clockwork centipede.
Evelyn points a wand at the creature and yells a command word as bullets of pure energy issue forth from its tip to slam into the creature as Fenryx reloads his musket with a special bullet and powder that Brom made for him. Captain Zavaj aims his gun when he finishes reloading at the main body of the thin and squeezes the trigger to let the bullet fly. It hits a join and explodes; blowing off one of the legs of the thing.
Fenryx grabs a cylinder from his possession and throws it at the mechanical centipede's head in such a way it buzz saw mandibles are guaranteed to destroy it. When the cylinder is destroyed it sprays acid into the inner gears specifically made to eat metal. It screams a metallic cry of pain as it lashes wildly with electrically infused whip tail.
The buzz saws stop rotating and the lights in the eyes of thing fades as crackling of the whip tail ceases and a ticking sound becomes plain to hear. Even and Fen look at each other with alarm and without a word of communication they run deeper into the complex as the ticking gets faster and as they get half a mile down the tunnel the centipede explodes and collapses the tunnel in on itself.
In his command center Doctor Clock and Gorelock watch Evelyn and Fenryx destroy Doc clock's guardian as Gorleock chides the cyborg for his reliance on machines.
"That was one of you better creations wasn't it?" Goelock asks mockingly. "Should've fared better against the hybrids I created using Moreau's formula shouldn't it?
"Fenryx used technology to destroy my creation, Gorelock," Doctor Clock growls vehemently. "Science defeated science, not magic."
"You keep telling yourself that," Gorelock says with a smirk, "if it make you feel better."
In a large holographic projection between them Evelyn and Fenryx find a door in a dead end leading to an animatronics horror ride.
"Ah, they found my 'Tours of Terror' ride," Doc Clock states triumphantly, "This should be fun to watch."
Mechanical skeletons bow to Eve and Fen as they emerge from a short tunnel as a coffin boat floats into view for them to ride. The pair sit on a bench and watch as the boat travels in a channel through a tunnel as clockwork grim reapers randomly pop out and take swipes at them. Captain Zavaj uses his rifle to block the blades arching towards them and if Brom had made it with lesser materials the scythes would have destroyed it but instead the automaton blade breaks instead, much to Doctor Clock's dismay.
Once past the tunnels the lovers are "treated" to visions of Hell and other paces of eternal torment that are acted out by lifelike automatons; the scenes of which are medieval versions of modern slasher films in their hey day. Voices that seem so real that Fen is ready to leap out of the boat to help if Eve doesn't convince him that they are sophisticated illusions. Some of the mechanical demons try to capture them; their attempts are so stiff they are easily avoided.
Neither of them are impaired when Even and Fen exit the ride and climb a spiral stair to another boat ride structured as a mine that tunneled too deeply. Horrors sprung the fevered mind of Lovecraft prey on miners and attempt to do the same to the fox and the wolf but fail just as the demons failed in the dungeon ride earlier. But Fenryx is more inclined to shoot up the automatons here as the horrors touch a raw nerve.
Doctor Clock notes how much more incensed the abominations of the mine ride disturb Captain Zavaj than the others as the ride turns into an open area and stops. This is a flume fide where Doc Clock has a few traps set up as the animatronics here simulate more horrors but this time the theme is that a logging camp is invaded by terrors from outer space. Fake trees that are actually the spawn of ancient evil provoke Fen's fury like few other things he has seen so far as he screams oaths to the powers of nature as he dismantles the machines vehemently.
Gorelock notes his righteous rage with great trepidation as a lot of his knowledge and formulae come from them study of forbidden tomes and astral form interviews with some of the very entities Fenryx is apparently opposed to. The insane wizard-alchemist finds the wolf's behavior and his oaths enlightening into what steps he might need to take to get rid of him permanently. It also explains why he has had so easy a time in taking out a lot of his creations as Gorelock on Jawbone Isle opens another viewing portal to portions of a lab on one of the many smaller islands know as the Broken Teeth region where he resides, where some of his alchemical minions are born in factory conditions.
Horrors distilled from the deepest darkest corners of the realms of nightmares and madness bob up and down in glass tubes that reach from floor to ceiling in a ten foot square room. Man sized masses of flesh with eye stalks and tentacles bounce up and down the aisles checking on their fellow abominations before using a tentacle to slash at a human male or female of random type suspended between the tubes; drawing blood to use as ink to mark on the checklists posted on each tube. Any excess blood is absorbed by the attending aberration before it pushes a tentacle up the anus to siphon feces for its dinner which it washes down with the urine of the same victim as he or she is kept fed by a nutrient soul of some kind the tubes of which is kept affixed to their mouths.
The flume rides ends with a trip to a saw mill where industrial nightmares await them with buzz saws practically flying at random intervals. A titanic circular saw bisects the log boat they were riding as they jump to either side of the platform. Captain Zavaj draws his hook swords while Evelyn grips a spear tightly to defend herself.
Fenryx uses his hook swords to climb the rafters to have a better look around as Evelyn is nervously glancing around. At the apex of the mill Fen finds a power line from the mill to a power plant near by and a large waterfall powering them both. Eve climbs up on a line that Fen drops and together they slide for the plant.
Turbines spin and create electricity for the rest of the island and it includes a map on the premises that shows other power plants and their locations. Fenryx goes over in his head the logistics of hitting these plants and consults with both Evelyn and Brom as to the likelihood that this island is kept aloft by the plants. Evelyn casts a few spells and determines that this is a naturally floating island and that the plants fuel Doctor Clock's machines only.
Upon learning that the island floats independently of the power plants output the decision of whether to destroy the plants or not gets much easier. Eve and Fen ste charges from their enchanted satchels that will destroy the plant and orders the other pants destroyed as well to starve Doctor Clock of power. The pair drops down a ladder to a factory of sorts manufacturing spare parts for all the automatons in general as well as cogs and gears for the maintenance of Doc Clock's own mechanical body parts.
Evelyn and Fenryx look at each other and smirk as the charges blow above them. The factory is unaffected by the destruction of the plant above but it is discovered that they only destroyed the top most turbines with more power generators running below their position at the top of the factory. But there is one effect in that the lights go out and emergency red lights turn on.
Captain Zavaj uses his hook swords to first climb and then swing through the scaffolding over a gap through which molds and buckets of molten metal below are at work producing materials as Fen activates a bridge for Evelyn to join him on the other side. As Eve starts to make her way across the gulf buzz saw pendulums sweep the area at key junctures that she is able to time and avoid getting sliced in two from them fairly easily. She gets half way across when five oversized circular saws are dropped both in front and in back of her that she can't avoid as Doctor Clack laughs at them through the public address system.
Doctor Clock failed to factor in Fenryx ins this plan who uses his hook swords to maneuver quickly to Evelyn's aid. Fen swings up and grabs Eve before going over the side and swings back to the other side with the vixen clinging on the to the wolf for dear life, although she does feel a bulge in his pants that prompts her to do a little game of hide the sausage which she lets out of his trousers and into her box and has some fun as she is carried to safety which also strains his concentration. In his control room, Doc Clock is screaming at his screen as he feels cheated by Fen's rescue of Evelyn.
"He's too good with those hook swords," Doctor Clock fumes.
"Agreed," Gorelock concedes over their connection. "I have to check the file we have on him but he definitely needs to be taken down a peg or more." Then his eyes go wide. "I have an idea. Flood that level if can, I'll send in a special pet of mine."
Evelyn and Fenryx watch as the flood gates are opened and torrents of water from eh falls and rives comes rushing in to the bottom of the factory. The water level quickly rises as two portals: one much larger than the other opens up with the smaller of the two opening right about them and the second opening deep under water which has now half filled the chamber. Xyrveyzah literally falls into Fen's arms as Evelyn crosses her arms over her chest, glaring at the cheetah and tapping her foot.
Xyrveyzah wags her tail and kisses Fenryx passionately as he just withstands Eve's withering glare until he sees a huge and dreadfully familiar shadow shape in the waves below. Evelyn sees Fenryx's alarmed expression and raises and eye ridge in inquiry. Captain Zavaj motions with his one hook sword to the shape and dark recognition flashes on Eve's face as she realizes just how much the stakes have just been raise as Xera just lays in Fen's arms with a puzzled expression on her face.
"Fen; Eve; what's wrong?" Xyrveyzah asks.
"Gorelock sent Cracker," Fenryx grumbles as he puts his hook swords away into his satchel only to draw a pair of Megalodon shark tooth basilards as Eve looks at him in alarm.
"Are you fucking crazy!?!" Evelyn yells fearfully.
"Brom, come in!" Fen yells at a small crystal ball.
"I'm here, Captain!" Brom's image in the balls says. "What's up?"
"Doc Clock flooded the factory and Gorelock sent his pet helmeted hullcrusher," Fenryx reports. "Is the vault secure?"
"Secure enough," Brom states. "Put a teleport token on the corpse and we'll pick it up when we're done here."
"What are you planning?" Eve demands to know.
"What or who is Cracker?" Xyra asks.
"Ask Brom," Fen orders before diving into the water.
"Brom, what do your have up your smock?" Evelyn demands to know.
"Something we discovered in a trade show in Freakport recently," Brom admits. "If Fen doesn't get himself killed I';; turn Cracker in a new set of armor for him."
"He's risking his neck so you can have the raw materials to make him a new toy?" Eve asks incredulously in a low growl. "Then again if he comes out of this alive and you do make him that suit of armor it will be a devastating slap in the face to Gorelock."
Brom and Evelyn chuckle as one at the statement Eve made as Xyrveyzah looks over the rail nervously as if she can see Captain Zavaj's battle with Cracker that way. Fenryx is grimly determined to kill Cracker especially when he sees what Gorleock has done to the prehistoric fish. Cracker is different from others of his kind as he sports a visor of compound eyes from one side of the its head to the other but leaving the crushing jaws of predatory prehistoric fish but with four dorsal fins and tentacles so that it is hardly recognizable save for his armored head.
Cracker knifes through the water as easily as any shark half its size which is something considering the beast is forty feet long and its powerful jaws can reduce a tall ship to splinters in a few hours. But as large as it is Cracker can't see everywhere even with its compound eye visor. The flooded factory floor actually provides Fen with a myriad of hiding places to wait and stalks his oversized prey.
One thing neither Captain Zavaj nor Doctor Clock are aware of is that Gorelock can see through Cracker's eyes and directs its movements telepathically. Gorelock directs his creature to ram the supports for the platform on which Evelyn and Xyrveyzah are currently standing. This tactic actually traps the monster fish momentarily which provides Fen an opportunity to butcher it.
Fenryx executes a flurry of stabs with his basilards as Cracker thrashes its way to freedom. Once out from the twisted wreckage Cracker tries to eat its way to Fenryx when he somehow manages to howl at Cracker in a kind of magic attack. For the first time in its life Cracker feels fear which feeds back to Gorelock and paralyzes him as Zavaj swims in for the kill.
Black blood flows freely from the monster fish as Fenryx punctures a critical artery that feeds its brain. Fen then destroys its gills with critical strikes which starts to suffocate it as it can no longer breath. The last thing Gorelock sees is Captain Zavaj destroying Cracker's eyes which blinds it as it dies.
Gorelock howls in sorrow for the loss of his beloved pet and vows a world of pain and suffering on Fenryx when he gets his mystical talons on the wolf. Fenryx puts a teleportation token on Cracker's corpse and activates it before swimming triumphantly to the surface to find Xyrveyzah and Evelyn watching for his return. Xyra is bent over provocatively as Fen feels impish.
Neither femme is aware that Fen is behind them until Xyra feels the Captain's prick penetrate her folds. Xyrveyzah gets over the shock of being taken from behind very quickly as Fenryx's hands massage her rack. Evelyn is annoyed and amused at the scene as she balances her jealousy for Xyra in her current predicament with the fact that Doctor Clock is still alive and bent on killing them all, or just Fen which she is very much opposed to having happen.
Doctor Clock's torso splashes down from a tube below as Fenryx becomes knotted in Xyrveyzah's pussy, much to her delight. Fen glowers at the water as he releases in Xyra's womb with his seed before he pulls out another of Brom's inventions: a repeating crossbow specially treated to used underwater. The girls both look askance of him.
"I know well enough not to use conventional weapons on Doc Clock," Fenryx explains his choice of weaponry. "The good doctor seems to be vulnerable only to technically sophisticated armaments. A simple punch blade won't cut it with him."
"Wait a minute," Evelyn says as she looks over the crossbow with its drum magazine and phasing bowstring and realizes just what it is, "Oh, no! You're not serious!?!"
"Yes, I am," Fen growls. "This is a perfect venue to test it."
"Just watch out," Eve growls, "I don't want to contemplate what Gorelock will do to you at this point if Doc Clock does manage to kill you."
"What am I not getting here?" Xyra asks as Fen dives back into the water.
"That crossbow is Brom's most complex creation to date," Evelyn explains as she idly fondles the kitty's bosom, "I know four of the spells in that weapon and any one of them could go wrong at a critical juncture." Xyrveyzah makes a face and fondles Eve roughly. "The more spells you put in the more unstable the weapon can be. The bolts become self propelled when fired and each one has an explosive tip. "
"I think Doc Clock is in for a bit of a surprise," Xyra states.
"I just wonder what he's got down there to fight with," Eve speculates.
Doctor Clock's legless torso drops like a stone to the bottom of the flooded factory as a drive chain pulls out a clockwork octopus body into which Doc Clock slots into easily. Metal arms flex in the murky depths as Doctor Clock searches for his opponent. Captain Zavaj is making a direct course for him; his experimental crossbow at the ready.
<You really don't know when you're outclassed do you?> Doctor Clock mockingly asks telepathically as Captain Zavaj shoots a bolt at him. <And just what do you expect that little toy will accomplish?> The Doc Clock is knocked back by the explosion. <THAT HURT!! HOW DARE YOU!?! I'm going to destroy you for that, boy!> A metal arm catches Fenryx and tosses him into some machinery. <You had a good run, pup, but your story ends here!> Fenryx repositions himself in the midst of a mass of gears that keeps the factory running. <Running will not save you.> Fen then throws a lever that sends a geyser of lava in Doc Clock. <Arrgh! Clever dog! You intend to use my own factory against me do you? It won't work, I am Master here!> Then some machinery fails to respond to his mental command. <Somebody has usurped my control!?! Inconceivable! I built this place on a naturally occurring sky island!> Fenryx next throws another lever that sends a hook to swing after Doctor Clock that he barely manages to dodge. <Nice try...> But opens up a furnace. <YOU FOOL! That will kill us both! The water won't quench that fire!!> A bolt lodges in his abdomen and explodes. <Back to this? You're going to send me to Hell ahead of you? So be it!>
Fenryx can't answer Doctor Clock because of his attire is set up but even if he had the crown he had in the Sunken City he wouldn't answer the cyborg so as not to tip his hand and as a further annoyance to his adversary. Brom has a few things under his control as Doc Clock summons a pair of clockwork sharks to aid him. The automatons obey their master implicitly as they chase Fenryx up and down the floor.
Doctor Clock is only dimly aware of the fact that while Fenryx prefers melee his accuracy isn't too shabby as his able to do major damage to the structural integrity of the doctor's creations with well placed shots. Eventually Fen has toe change magazines but the weapon he is using works like a charm. The factory is actually still active and on Doc Clock's command, as well as Brom's it makes mines that flit about like lethal iron jellyfish.
The flooded floor of the factory becomes a forest of mines which turns into a deadly game of hide and go seek as both combatants seek to use the explosives to their advantage. Unfortunately for Doctor Clock he is less practiced in the arts of stealth and skullduggery than Captain Zavaj and it cost the clockwork alchemist his life. Doc Clock is already weakened and groggy from the fact that the water is now unbearably hot, conditions that Fenryx is not feeling thanks to his faith in the power and majesty of nature, so Fen catches him by surprise and shoves him into one of the mines; setting up a chain reaction that spells his doom.
Defeated and dying Doctor Clock has one final trick up his proverbial sleeve. He built upon this sky island as his personal pleasure palace but he also foresaw a day when something like what just happened could happen and prepared a final vengeance for his killers. The tone he takes on is almost gloating as he announces that the entire island is rigged to blow in just one hour and the countdown has already begun.
55 minutes and counting...
Fenryx Evelyn and Xyrveyzah contact Brom and has him broadcast to the rest of the crew to get their tails back to the Dark Shark as soon as possible. The wolf, cheetah and vixen climb out of the factory as quickly as they can. The smoke from a myriad of fires rise ominously around them as the thunder of explosions is almost deafening.
"Eve, where is the Dark Shark in relation to us?" Fen asks as he surveys the landscape.
"Just beyond the horizon line," Eve says snarkily as she points in the general direction of their vehicle and gets whapped upside the head from the Captain. "I'm only half joking. We may need to fly to get there in time."
"The canyon will get us close," Fen says s he looks over at a nearby map.
"Hey!" Xyra calls. "I found some gliders!"
"Eve," Fenryx prompts.
"I'm on it!" Evelyn says as she examines the gliders. "They're clean, Fen, and probably our best bet."
"Alrighty then," Fen says as the strap themselves in. "Let's fly!"
The three take off as one and fly through the canyon almost like birds much to their collective delight. The white water below them churns violently as a set of eyes comes to the surface. Something launches beach ball sized eyeballs in their general direction in the general manner of stones fired from a slingshot.
As disturbing as this even is, the eyeballs do nothing more than glare at them; it's the thing that launched them which starts to rise that is the real threat. Roughly humanoid in its general shape and form like when Halloween comes around and somebody does the ultra cheap costume and cuts eye holes in a white sheet and pretends to be a ghost, with chitinous armor plates like those on a crustacean covering its entire body. Disembodied crab claws, each one as big as the heroes, orbit the thing like twin satellites as it turns a huge compound eye in their direction.
None of the three turn around to fight the thing but angle their gliders to go even faster as it slowly approaches. Captain Zavaj takes a pot shot at the thing with his crossbow that blows out the central compound eye while the girls glare at him. The thing roars and launches both of its claws blindly but its efforts fall far short of them.
45 minutes and counting...
A web of razor wire cuts the gliders to ribbons and forces the trio onto a bridge made of non-sticky webbing as the spider that wove it comes out to menace the adventurers. Fenryx is deeply annoyed as draws his hook swords and attacks with Eve back him up with her spear and Xyra taking out twin pistols and begins firing. It dodges the bullets but Fen's assault brings it low with the fury of his blade skill.
The body of the spider becomes a raft for the three of them to finish their journey. Near the main gat the river goes into a waterfall that drops off the island entirely. Fenryx's hook swords allow him and Evelyn to avoid going over and plunging to their doom as Xyrveyzah clings to the rocks for her dear life and as with their aids and skill in rock climbing they scale the stone walls to reach a service tunnel for the canyon and the river that flows through it.
25 minutes and counting...
The service tunnel features deposits that simulate stalactites and stalagmites like in a real cave system. As they approach the grated gate leading to the docks, the Dark Shark clearly visible on the other side with its crew hurrying about, a few of the rock formations come alive and attack! Fenryx grumbles but they run away, making a fighting retreat as they do so as they escape the service tunnel.
15 minutes and counting...
Brom is making some patch repairs as the three arrive and he waives them through ah his work is nearly done. The sky island shakes violently as they managed to board safely. Inside the crew is frantically getting the ship reads to launch.
10 minutes and counting...
Brom is back inside and the ship starts to move. He gets to work right away making sure the ship itself doesn't blow up s the make their escape. All around them the sounds of explosions belled into one another as desperation sets in.
5 minutes and counting...
Debris falls like rain as the sky island starts to fall apart, buffeting the ship and while it sounds like the steel skin of the ship could breach at any minute it holds as they make their way towards the water. Unfortunately the balloon supporting the submarine turned zeppelin is far less sturdy as its gondola and breaches easily. The Dark Shark makes a crash dive as the sky island explodes in an amazing fireworks display and while everyone inside is severely bruised by experience of the impact, the ship is just fine.
The Dark Shark cruises into the region of Freakport beneath the waves and well under Gorelock's nose as they surface in a natural grotto and sub pen in East Bone Island. Meanwhile over on West Bone Island the ghost of a rat necromancer pirate stirs in the fortress in which he died. Captain Scurvy smirks to himself as the time for his revenge has come at last...