The white hallway was a bright white when the lights were on but not all of them were on. As soon as they walked a certain distance another light turned on while the ones behind them turned off. Which meant they were motion sensitive. S~ea??h the ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    That could also mean the alarms could be motion sensitive and they could have already set them off. There was a good chance that whatever occupants were here were aware of their presence.

    The first room they arrived at had a clear blindspot when he was looking at the hologram so he would know what that spot was now. But as they entered the pitch black room the door slammed behind them. The lights did not turn on which kept them in the dark.

    "Switching on nightvision." Jace told the others and the room lit up in a dark green hue which allowed him to make out the room. He could see on the far wall across from him where the blindspot was located. It was an indentation in the wall that covered the lower part. It was staticky like the night vision could not see past it. After a few moments he saw something quickly run out from the static.

    He stepped forward and quickly kicked the fast moving object to the side.

    CRUNCH!

    Jace felt a sickening crushing of bones under his foot as the object sped to one of the walls and slammed into it. Leaving behind a liquid substance as it fell to the ground. "Contact." Jace told the others before he looked back at the grainy section of the room.

    They raised their weapons as Jace slowly side stepped to the creature he killed with a kick while pointing his weapon at the grainy section he was seeing of the room.

    Once he was by the creature he crouched down and took a closer look at it. It was a four-legged creature. Appeared to be a canine at some point in its life. But most of its body had been replaced with metallic parts while its organic body had begun the process of decaying. "These are hybrid organic-clockwork creatures. This is definitely Hoodwink''s work. Stay on edge there might be more of them." Jace told them.

    Then as he stood up there were flashes of movement as more came running out. He could see the others began firing their weapons. As six shadows dashed towards them. Jace quickly adjusted his aim and fired at the five shadows that were coming straight at him.

    One of them rolled and fell over itself as liquid plattered on the ground when his bullets removed its head from existence. Its lifeless body fell to the ground. Jace turned to fire at the next one but it was already on him.

    It bit into his left arm with no success but before Jace could kill it with his Spitfire it was pulled from his right hand when something grabbed it, probably with its teeth. He could tell because he could make out the grinding noise as it tried to break it with its teeth. But it was having no success because the materials of the gun were not so easily damaged.

    Jace stopped focusing on it as he had three other shadows that were more focused on him. He could make out the red electronic eyes of the one on his arm. He pulled his knife out of its sheath and stabbed at its head.

    PING!

    His knife bounced off its reinforced skull for a moment and Jace blinked in surprise but switched the angle going in from between where its jaw would meet the skull. It slid in perfectly and the light left the creature''s eyes. Its grip on his arm loosened and it fell to the ground.

    Jace then turned his attention to the other two who were circling him. While the last one was trying its best to bite into his gun to destroy it or even cause damage. Which was an usual way for them to act if they were originally canines.

    One of the two circling canines jumped at him. Jace dodged to the side and grabbed it by the tail as it passed him by. While he grunted in surprise as the other one hit him in the back causing him to lose his grip on the other one''s tail.

    They went back to circling Jace while Jace took a moment to glance at his companions who were almost done with the last two of their six foes. The clockwork canines tried it again and Jace grabbed the first one by the tail again before he threw his knife at the canine that was biting his gun. It slid in and caused the creature to slide a few feet away from his Spitfire. Then he spun around and caught the last one by the head as it tried to headbutt him again.

    Jace threw the one he was holding by the tail across the room into one of the ones that was jumping towards Ulin''s blindspot. They collided midair and flew farther across the room.

    Then he turned his attention to the clockwork canine he was holding by the head it was scrapping its sharp clawed feet against his armor. But Jace ignored it as he grabbed its body and then used his hold on its snout to twist its neck.

    CRACK!

    There was a snapping noise and a strain of metal as he twisted its head killing it. He tossed the creature to the side when he saw its one red eye lose its light.

    He then walked over to Spitfire and picked it up. Then he stepped a few steps farther and pulled his knife out of the clockwork canine that was swiping at the ground with its legs. He had disabled it but not killed it. The knife had stuck it to the ground so the moment the knife was out it jumped up and staggered away.

    But before it could far away Jace grabbed it by the tail and dragged it back before standing up and slamming his armored boot on its head causing the ground and his boot to get covered in a liquid substance.

    He sheathed his knife and turned his attention to the last three which were racing around Ulin and Charlie dodging their shots or the shots were bouncing off a metal shell. He raised his Spitfire and fired one burst which ripped through a soft spot of the clockwork canine he had thrown over.

    Its sudden disappearance threw the other two off their pattern and they were quickly shot and killed by Ulin and Charlie a moment later. All of the clockwork canines that had appeared had been killed. So Jace began cautiously walking over to the other two with his attention on the area they came out of when the light suddenly turned on.

    It blinded him for a moment before he turned off the nightvision on his helmet. He blinked the spots out of his eyes and looked around the room. The area these canines were coming out of was a kennel area that was made out of some type of metal with electricity running along it.

    The liquid that was covering the wall and around all of the dead clockwork canines was not blood. It was some type of dark blue liquid. Jace crouched down to get a closer look at one of these canines now that he had some light.

    "Are you two alright?" Jace asked, glancing at his teammates while he studied these creatures made of gears, metal plates, various dogs, and wires.

    "Yes-"

    Charlie was interrupted by the sound of clapping hands over a some type of speaker system that they were picking up through their external sound system. "Bravo! Bravo! Well done! My master spoke praises of the Vexical Military and you did not disappoint in the slightest bit. Unfortunately you will have to speak up for you will not continue without my consent." There were several noises at the two doors as something mechanical moved around.

    Jace frowned and tried to contact their transport ships, "AV Eight are you there?" There was no response so Jace turned on his external audio transmitter. "Who are you?"

    "Ah, a response! Splendid!" The man''s voice was strangely accompanied by a strange metal on metal sound that Jace could not quite pinpoint. "My name is Daedalus and welcome to my Labyrinth. That is not of course my real name but the one I took on after much consideration. For you see I was put in charge of all of my masters'' failed products, he was not cruel enough to just abandon them so I take care of and maintain them."

    "And your master is…" Jace asked as they started to move together making quiet gestures to each other to communicate.

    "Lord Hoodwink of course. He so graciously rescued me from death. Then through his hands I was reborn and now I serve as his keeper of forgotten things."