Sticking to deep shadows and slinking through back alley ways, Ravage led the squad of numbered Automata and the shop bots through the upper residential area that housed the Knight Watch barracks and to the south. Once they reached the wall, they followed its edge until they reached the manufacturing district. Several times, Ravage would stop and appear to sniff the air or listen for something that none of the others could hear before abruptly changing directions.
Somehow the group always managed to stay away from any Watch patrols or avoid any sort of contact at all. When they reached the carriage maker building adjacent to the Haz Brothers’ shop, Ravage had them stop and wait.
From around the corner, they could see a light getting closer and a rhythmic tapping sound. The numbers began to get antsy and
Previous Chapter
Related Chapters
Automata Prime 2.11: If I had a hammer
The rain came down in sheets, pelting Jada. She tried to cover her head with her shawl but it was no use. The group had made it back to the southern wall of the city and were following along it till they reached the Southern Gate.“Where’s the other one?” she asked Alfred, “the one in the dress.”“Rom is repairing the lock to the coach place, she’ll catch up when she’s done. She has Number 17 with her, so she should be fine.”Jada stopped walking and looked up at the darkness above her. “I think I’ve had enough adventure. I’m cold. I’m tired. I’m drenched to the bone, and I’m old.” She turned on her heel and started walking back the
Automata Prime 2.12: Uh, about that...
“Why? Why would she do that?” Number 17 asked, looking at Ram’s charred and smoking remains.“I’m sorry,” Alfred sighed, “It was the only thing I could think of at the time to quickly get our hammer friend free.”“You thought of?” Number 19 accused, “you ordered her to go kill herself like that?”“Not quite,” Rom spoke up, “There’s no sense hiding it from you guys, I suppose. You see, we’re not normal Automata.”Alfred sighed i
Automata Prime 2.13: Flight tests
No sooner had Shiro completed his transformation, and roared, then I heard a high pitched —if modulated— squeal.“Big metal kitty!” Beju shrieked as she ran over to Shiro, completely leaving her brother to fumble while carrying the barrel by himself. To his credit, after a bit of a stumble, he managed to adjust his grip and walked the rest of the way on his own, setting the barrel down next to me.Beju had her arms around Shiro’s neck and was rubbing her face against his lion face. “Oh he’s such a good kitty! Yes he is! Prime, I love him! I want to keep him forever!”“Um.. Beju.. That’s Shiro,” I said, crossing my arms and covering where my mouth would have been.&nb
Automata Prime 2.14: Fever dream?
I don’t remember opening my eyes, or rebooting, or anything, I was simply sitting in a chair at a dining room table. The dining room reminded me of a large open kitchen like you see on shows that take place out in the country somewhere.I was the only one in the room and I was apparently in the middle of breakfast. On the table before me, sat a bowl of some sort of cereal. At least, I thought it was cereal until some of it started swimming around.Crap, did I die again? I looked down at my hands. They were black. Jet black, armor covered, and claw tipped. I was wearing a denim work shirt with the sleeves rolled up and heavy duty overalls. A second set of arms was holding the bowl and chasing the things inside with a spoon. I realized that as I was looking at my hands, I coul
Automata Prime 2.15: Recovery Build
With the help of Shrapnel I managed to get my limbs reconnected much faster than my natural repair systems would have handled it. I didn’t have much time but whatever it was that Elita was up to I now had a ton of new materials and even some processed materials to work with. I still hadn’t seen her since she went out to go kill something but all the evidence of her work kept showing up in my [Inventory].I even found some Automata parts showing up. I really hoped that she wasn’t out murdering people to get me parts. I appreciated the thought, but... No, I was sure that she just happened to find them somewhere. Don’t ask qu
Automata Prime 2.16: A bit of recon
When Carnivac arrived back at AutomaTown, he handed Ram’s body over to Ratchet, who got straight to work on replacing the damaged arms as well as all of the fried internal components. I didn’t have any fire based crystals on hand so restoring her forge abilities would have to wait but hopefully I’d be able to get her back online. I put Rom to work with the CloudBurst repair job while I worked to get the LandMine armor built. I only had a couple of hours until dawn and no idea where the Royal kill squad was actually at.The only proxy I had with flight abilities was Shrapnel and he didn’t have near the range to scout out their location. Shiro had extended gliding abilities but I wouldn’t send him on such a mission. That left Elita, but I had no idea where she was or how to find her. Okay Carnivac, old buddy, looks like it’
Automata Prime 2.17: Welcome home
My plasma tests went well, if you don’t count igniting The Range on fire. After the flare-up, I pulled IronHide out of storage to dig a trench between The Range and the treeline of the forest. I figured it wouldn’t hurt. Remember, only you can prevent forest fires. I said that to Elita but she gave me a confused, what-are-you-on-about, look for my troubles.Once I got the containment field working properly, I was able to hold a mass of superheated plasma at the blunt end of my second hammer. The first one was sacrificed in learning that I needed to use the containment field to protect the hammer itself from the heat of the plasma. The mass was intentionally quite thin, only a few millimeters thick, but it was more than enough to cause some pretty serious damage to whatever came in contact with it.
Automata Prime 2:18: Hammer time
With the [HammerTime] keyword command, the hammer parts disappeared from my legs, going back into [Inventory] and then reappearing in their proper configuration on the staff. The overall weight of the hammer was a bit more than I was expecting in practice and I nearly toppled over as I swung it around. I caught Elita stifling a giggle and gave her a wink... which with a single working eye was completely lost on her.“Alrighty then, let’s establish a baseline...” Once I found the proper rhythm for swinging the weapon around, it was just a matter of building up the momentum and then letting it cr
Latest Chapter
- Automata Prime 3.9: Infiltration
- Automata Prime 3.8: Upgrades all around
- Automata Prime 3.7: A check-in with royalty
- Automata Prime 3.6: Camping overnight
- Automata Prime 3.5: Meeting the parents
- Automata Prime 3.4: The Factory
- Automata Prime 3.3: Welcome to Trone
- Automata Prime 3.2: I should do some shopping
- Automata Prime 3.1: Slowing down?