Marcus held the barrel of his tonoascia aimed at the opened doorway leading deeper into the depths of the Burrow.

  Arminius quickly threw himself away from the panel, taking cover near Marcus and Layne. The Myrmidon winced, braced, his body pressed firmly against the wall. His head turned away from the open door.

  But nothing happened.

  Layne nervously glanced at Arminius tucked away. But the mechanic kept his weapon trained and ready.

  With a loosening posture, realizing nothing had happened, Arminius pushed himself away from the wall. Then he leaned to peek into the open throughway. After a moment he let out a long breath. Layne passed a nervous glance to Marcus, who shrugged.

  The Myrmidon motioned with one finger against his lips and then beckoned while he passed through to the other side.

  Marcus and Layne followed, scurrying across to the doorway. After they crossed the threshold, the door sealed shut behind them with a hiss. Inside, the hallway was much less spacious. The lighting within was no longer the unnatural white light, but a dull crimson, lit from below. The lights embedded in the slopes that connected the concrete wall to smooth stone floor.

  "Tread carefully, don't make a sound." Arminius leaned to whisper in their ears.

  Despite his warning, the delicate clatter of his armor echoed throughout the hallway. The entrance turned sharply left and then became a long corridor. Halfway down the length was another intersection.

  As the three advanced, Marcus came to realize the clattering wasn't coming from the Myrmidon's armor. It was something else making that noise deeper within.

  With Arminius at the fore, he stopped at the corner of the intersection and placed his hand on the wall, careful not to expose himself in the intersection proper. He then beckoned Marcus, who was in the rear, to stand next to him and look around the corner.

  After inching up to Arminius, Marcus leaned around to see what the Myrmidon was motioning toward. At the far end of the thoroughfare was a waist-high machine with six legs, three on each side of its disk-like torso. It had two arms mounted forward and two barrels mounted on top of its body. The machine faced a closed door that was only a few paces away from it.

  The Myrmidon leaned in close to Marcus's ear. "We're taking the long way around that thing. Don't let it see you or it will tear us all to shreds." He whispered.

  Then Arminius motioned for him to cross the intersection.

  Marcus looked one more time and then rushed across, stepping with the tips of his toes as he dashed. His tongue was dry and the handle of his weapon grew slick with sweat.

  Then, Arminius motioned for Layne to follow Marcus.

  Layne dashed. Then the machine shuddered. The mechanic halted halfway across, frozen in place and holding his breath.

  Marcus beckoned. Arminius urged him forward.

  The machine began to pivot, turning to bear on the intersection.

  Arminius pointed at Layne. "Keep going, keep going, don't stop." He hushed out.

  The machine returned to looking at the door at the far end of the thoroughfare.

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  Finally, Layne took a deep breath and zipped over to Marcus, sliding around him and pressing his back against the wall, drenched in sweat.

  Arminius propped himself against the corner on his side of the intersection and leaned to glance at the metal horror. With a firm hand on his sword scabbard and a tight grip on his pistol, he dashed.

  Just as Arminius left cover, the far door slid open. Two men in black garb with blue tabards bearing a white bull insignia emerged.

  The man in the lead stopped and looked at the machine which stood about up to his waist. "Stupid worthless thing just stands around doing nothing." He looked at his companion and scoffed.

  The two stepped around the machine. Just as they started down the hallway, they looked up and squared off with Arminius, who was still crossing the intersection.

  "Halt!" The leader shouted, pointing and rushing to pull the musket strapped around his shoulder.

  The machine hopped and spun around in an instant. Its cylindrical armatures aligned with Arminius. It pivoted to keep them trained on the Myrmidon.

  Marcus reached out to grab for the Myrmidon.

  Like a furious thunderstorm suddenly erupting inside the room, the dim red hallway ignited in white light as the machine unloaded an unending, rapid volley of gunfire.

  Arminius dove, curling up.

  The first hit were the two soldiers standing directly in front of it. A wave of scalding-hot flesh bathed the far end of the hallway as the machine fired indiscriminately in Arminius's direction. Flecks of blood lined the walls.

  Marcus was bathed in rivulets of flesh and bone as he recoiled from the unworldly screeching coming from the barrels of the machine's weaponry. Before he completely retreated behind the wall, the two soldiers had been shredded into three pieces each from the overwhelming firepower produced by the mechanical horror.

  Arminius slid to a stop having reached the other side of the intersection.

  Layne rushed over to help him up. Marcus hesitated, still trying to comprehend what he'd just seen happen to the two men. Marcus's ears screamed from the immense noise produced by the machine's guns.

  "Did you get hit?" Layne shouted at Arminius, reaching down.

  Marcus finally snapped out of his shock and stepped in to help the Myrmidon get up.

  "I don't think so, but we got bigger problems, keep moving. Double time!" Arminius scrambled to his feet and burst into a sprint away from the intersection.

  Neither Marcus nor Layne wasted a moment and stuck close behind. As they ran, a terrible shriek filled the narrow corridors as the machine dragged its pointed legs along the floor, scrambling to keep up with the three.

  The group reached a bend in the hallway and rounded the corner. Just after, the dark thoroughfare ignited and a short burst of gunfire trailed them, slamming into the wall beside them. Sharp snaps let them know the bullets neared their mark.

  A quarter way down the new corridor, a doorway with a panel. The rest of the way was long, much too lengthy to hope to outrun the mechanical horror.

  The cry of metal on metal grew closer.

  Arminius let out an aggravated grunt and rushed over to the panel. With rapid, efficient prods, he opened the door. "In, in." He motioned for them to go through.

  The three ducked inside and just as Arminius entered, last, he swiped his palm down the length of the panel, and it let out a harsh buzz. The door slammed shut so fast it narrowly crushed him.

  They found themselves in a narrow supply closet with empty shelves.

  "Now what?" Marcus looked around.

  A harsh buzz from the panel blared outside.

  Arminius pointed to a wide grate near the ceiling. "Climb, now. I bought us some time, but that thing has the same codes I do and that door won't stay sealed forever."

  Marcus slung his tonoascia around his body, axe head up, and scaled the bare metal shelving. He yanked on the grating, but it wouldn't budge. "No good."

  "Cut it open." Arminius kept his pistol trained on the door.

  Another tone crackled from outside.

  Layne handed his weapon up to Marcus. Wedging the axe head between the lip of the grate and the wall, he elbowed the weapon handle, and it sheered the metal apart. Then he handed Layne his weapon back and pried the grating off the wall, tossing it aside. There was now a gap with enough room for them to crawl through, even Arminius in his armor.

  "Keep it moving." The Myrmidon looked over his shoulder.

  Layne slung his tonoascia around him just as Marcus did and scaled the shelving.

  Clear, chirpy tones rang out from the other side of the door. The machine was working its way inside.

  Marcus thrust himself into the narrow hole and started crawling through the elongated space. Layne soon followed on his heels.

  Arminius holstered the pistol on his belt and then scurried up the shelving to follow the two.

  The tones on the other side of the door ceased. Then it was quiet for a moment.

  The Myrmidon entered the vent just as the door slid open.

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