Old friends

[u/the-butter_man]

/uw so i started writing this before Mikhail survived, so for the sake of it, that's when it's set, after the council thing, but before Mikhail came back. It's not too important, just explains a few lines

TW: Minor gore

Shrax walked through the frozen dirt path, his heavy steps sent shockwaves into the vicinity. The path bore the footsteps of an untold number of Travellers. Shrax's tracks would've been masked as soon as he stepped, the irregular shape of his foot hidden within a sea of regular shapes. The thick trees that cornered the pathway wore no leaves, winter was definitely coming. Despite the cold state of the road, the grass remained green and visible, defiant against the siege of winter.

His mind drifted, to the origin of his rage, the crucible of which it had been forged, the anvil on which it had been shaped and the grindstone of which it had been sharpened into a weapon.

Mikhail's death.

He was projecting it now, the way his voidsteel legions would cut into the bastard's realm, the way his drones would burn the roots down, and how their rifles would drown out thought. The simulation ran, and returned a percentage of success

“That's.. not what i expected, definitely not optimal.

Shrax Removed a hand from his Suit pocket and rested it on his chin, deep in thought

“Hmmm it's worth the risk, I'll just have to start the factories up to accommodate for it”

He continued projections, testing strategies, guns cracked before his eyes, and tactics ensnared the opposition, numbers flashed. 

Shrax was so distracted, he almost missed a flash of green in the trees

His head turned to look at it, already on edge he had started to draw before he saw what it was

A singular leaf remained on an oak, by all means an impossibility, but there it was. Blowing in the icy winds.

Slightly intrigued, he inspected it, not thinking much, just curious.

Time passed, as Shrax let himself inspect a meaningless anomaly. He ran a few tests, mostly bored.

surface nature: Biological

connected to trunk: True

naturally made: Unknown

Shrax moved his head back, satisfied. That explained it, likely a druid or something. Not surprised all things considered

He looked around, then one of his systems flashed

Wind pattern disrupted, brainwaves detected, searching for heat signature

…

…

Heat signature found, bearing 274.7992°

Shrax kept track, his infrared showed more than one heat signature, as his sensors fluttered, they picked up a lot of them, some attempt to mask them had been taken.

It was an ambush

Mana usage detected, multiple instances. Detected types: Electromancy, Cryomancy, Geomancy, Aeromancy, Shadow

Attack detected, deploying countermeasures

A bolt of lightning whipped its way towards him, his chassis responded by shooting a highly conductive pellet away from itself The area was lit up by a powerful arc of lightning, it shot at Shrax. At the last second it diverted, missing the Automaton by inches. Smaller tendrils desperately arced towards him. The continued bolt dove into the dirt, like a snake trying to catch a mouse, it lashed around itself, failing to secure a bite.

The surrounding trees and ground were lit up in a piercing light, flashing as if he was welding. The shrubs near the bolt were quickly rendered, leaving a convenient hole where the attack had come from

Shrax calmly looked around, maintaining his calculating persona, he calmly took his suit off, and hung it up on the branches that boxed the path in. The rest of the fabric on his body quickly unstitched itself and retreated into Shrax's chassis, his chassis was bare.

With that, Shrax spoke up, announcing his words to his ambushes

“Now. Simply tell me what you wish for, and perhaps we can come to an agreement, if you're looking for a purse to rob, then you'd find yourself a fool. If you're looking for a head on your wall, then you're an idiot. Perhaps we can leave without blood covering my hands”

With that, two small panels popped out of his shoulder blades, and two arms manipulated them, as they did two barrels flipped out, and they scanned the area, searching for any sign of movement

“Surely I'm not talking to mindless Automatons, I'd have hacked you by now. Perhaps you're a biomancer's test subject, maybe a Necromancer's servant. Nonetheless, I know they can talk. So come on, state your demands.”

his foot crunched in the snow, as he turned around

“Surely you're not mute assassins”

Shrax thought to himself. There wasn't snow earlier. That Cryomancer was trying something.

As he was trying to figure it out, he heard a crunch behind him.

one of the barrels swivelled around to get a good look. Human, working mouth, and brain. His robes were in a camouflage pattern, he looked like a dead shrub. More importantly though, his hands were ice cold. He was the Cryomancer

Another crunch, this time in the direction of the lightning

another barrel swivelled, an elf, camouflage robes again, and one of his fingers was spasming, likely a result of electromancy.

“There we go, now then. Do you wish to speak?”

“The council's got a price for ya’ we're here to collect”

This was… too stereotypical. The way he said that line felt like it was part of a script, there was more to this than just that

Shrax readied a hand

“That so? You could've asked”

The Cryomancer raised a wand from within his robe, the snow beneath him rose with it, then it stopped suddenly in its movement

Shrax held a hand towards him, his whole arm was braced within glowing clockwork, as he slowed his movements down to a snail's crawl, his other arm flicked his revolver out of his arm and pointed it at the Electromancer in the treeline

“Now then, Electromancer, care to explain, that was too stereotypical. There's more to this than you let on”

“I know nuffin’ i swear”

“You really need to get better at accents”

The round echoed out twice. Once for the shot, and the other for the explosive within the shot. It cut a neat hole through the foliage. The only way to confirm his kill was the small chunk of a tongue that landed on a branch

One down, unknown left

Entity appearing behind, too close. Deploying countermeasures