Grain: New Machina; Second Great British Empire - Cloister of Science...

The doors were covered in gilt and stood tall and imposing in front of the women. The dark maple monstrosity in front of them made Amaretto shiver as she inspected them. Carvings of all kinds were displayed in the wood, most of them were strange symbols that Amaretto didn't understand. As she stared at the door she had a thought that seemed a little gruesome. She turned to her aunt.

“So what we are looking for is behind that door correct?”

Katherine turned from looking at the door to look at Johanna. Johanna made a mute nod. Katherine turned back to her god-daughter and shook her head in the affirmative as well. “That would seem to be the case.”

Amaretto frowned and then said, “What if there is a squad of goons on the other side of the door?”

Katherine raised an eyebrow. “A squad of goons?”

Amaretto nodded her head emphatically. “Yes, what if there was another set of those IronMen that we have been dealing with this whole time? What if they are waiting just inside the doors.”

Alice pointed her gun at the door. “You have your ring and I have my guns. I think we would be able to handle them.”

Amaretto shook her head. “No, that's not what I mean. What if there are more than what we can handle? What if we try to shoot our way in and there are just simply too many of them and they overwhelm us? What do we do then?”

Alice furrowed her eyebrows and then said, “Are you trying to think of a doomsday plan for all of us love? I mean, it sounds more like you are trying to prevent us from going thorough the door. If the Stone of Communication is on the other side of this door, we should be busting it down in order to make sure that we get what it is that we want.”

Amaretto shrugged. “I'm just saying, I don't really want to die at this moment in time.”

Alice was about to say something when Johanna placed a hand on her shoulder and said, “She is on strange soil, helping us do a strange deed, in strange times. It is no wonder that she would be concerned for herself and her aunt.”

Katherine smirked and started rooting around in her purse. “I might have something that will give us the upper hand, just let me...” She continued to root around her purse until finally she said, “I have it!” She looked at the others around her with a maniacal grin. “Just open the door and I will have at them. No need to worry, this is fool-proof.” Katherine still had her hand in her purse.

Amaretto pointed to the purse. “What are you hiding?”

“I'm not hiding anything,” her aunt said a little hurt. “I just think that the element of surprise will work better. This way, if they are truly watching us, which I doubt that they are, then I want what I have left to be a surprise.:

Amaretto rolled her eyes. “If that's what you think it is, then I won't stop you at all. Go ahead and just do it then.”

Katherine took a deep breath and then nodded her head. “All right then, open the doors.”

Alice took both of her pistols and aimed them at the door. Amaretto held up her ring just a little below her chest. Her breath was a little ragged from having to take out so many of the IronMen, but she was sure that her aunt would protect her. As if for a secondary precaution, she quickly thought in the back of her head, “Tempus!”

At first, it seemed as if he was reluctant with her and was not about to answer, but with some mental probing and poking, he eventually responded.

“What do you need then?” Tempus' voice was not cheery, but it was not overly welcome either.

“Are we going to survive this then?”

Tempus snorted. “What kind of question is that?”

Amaretto grumbled in the back of her head. “I need to know if I am going to survive this whole ordeal.”

Tempus paused for a minute before he answered. “I will say that there is no need to worry as you are not trying to kill yourself. As to how the natives shall react to you, you should be fine.”

“Did you just say that because I am no suicidal that...”

“Really, the IronMen are not all that bad, they just have no heart. If you find the Stone of Communication, then you have the first coordinate and we can move onto the next world.”

“So there is still stuff to do after all of this?”

“I told you that we need three,” began Tempus in a huff.

Amaretto cut him off. “I think Johanna is going to open the door, I will get back to you when I get the chance.” She nodded to Johanna who motioned Katherine into place, Katherine, with her hand still in her purse, moved forward to the door and then looked back at Alice. Alice once again positioned herself behind the door and then aimed her guns onto either side of Katherine.

With a mighty shove, Johanna swung the doors open and all four women charged into the room, Amaretto behind the other three with her hand extended so that she could use the ring if needed. Katherine charged into the room, letting a battle cry ululate through the room with a ferocity of an Amazon. She charged forwards into the face of a woman who was standing there with a look of surprise, and pulled her hand out from within the purse. Grasped firmly in her hands was a long silver chain, at the end of which a large medallion was hanging. It appeared to be made out of silver and when Amaretto got a better look at it, she thought it looked oddly like a seagull in the middle of a box.

Katherine shook the medallion at the strange woman and then screamed at the top of her lungs in her most ferocious and commanding voice that she could muster, “'Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, "O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness,will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.' Acts 13: 9-11.”

Amaretto was shocked. She had never heard anyone quote the bible before, but this was a little bit of a guilty pleasure for her as well. The woman who her aunt was standing in front of looked a little offended, as as she did nothing, Katherine shook the strange medallion again and began speaking at the top of her lungs again.

“I command you, unclean spirit, whoever you are, along with all your minions now attacking this servant, by the mysteries of the incarnation, passion, resurrection, and ascension, by the descent of the Holy Spirit, for judgment, that you tell me by some sign your name, and the day and hour of your departure. I command you, moreover, to obey me to the letter, I who am a minister despite my unworthiness; nor shall you be emboldened to harm in any way this creature or the bystanders, or any of their possessions!”

The woman gave Katherine a strange look and as she did so, Amaretto quickly looked around the room. There seemed to be a large poster bed across the room that was covered in gauze, and several sitting chairs, a small table and a large roaring fire. Other than that, there appeared to be nothing else in this room, which Amaretto thought looked more like a rather large bedroom with parlor than an evil torture chamber. She had almost wished for the evil villain's chamber for a minute there.

The woman looked like she was about to say something when Katherine shook her charm once more and said, “Silence Deamon!” The woman seemed taken aback and put a hand on her chest and Amaretto looked once again at the symbol that her aunt had in her hand. She squinted her eyes in thought for a moment and then it suddenly popped into her head.

“Wait a minute, that's,” Amaretto started when her Katherine cut her off with a large bellow.

“The power of Mazda compel thee!”

Amaretto felt like she wanted to smack herself in the forehead.

Grain: New Machina; Second Great British Empire - Cloister of Science...

I said that I was sorry about the last week and how I didn't seem to get anything done, so here is a small bit of what I wrote to make up for it:

The small group of women continued to run up the rest of the stairs, passing landing after landing that appeared to either go nowhere, or in some cases, contained a certain amount of certain death. The eighth landing had six IronMen waiting for them as they reached it. Johanna was the first to pull out her rapier and then slice through the first two of the IronMen that were there. From behind, Alice shot another IronMan as Amaretto quickly stumbled her way through the incantation once more to get rid of another one that was standing behind them as well.

Alice giggled as she pointed her gun at another IronMan and shot him. “This is ridiculous fun and I can't say that I am not enjoying it,” she remarked rather haphazardly.

Amaretto grunted as she moved past another dead IronMan on the floor. “I can say I've had more fun in a lot of places.” She then turned to her aunt and gave her a murderous glare. “I however don't recall anything about being killed being in the job description.”

Katherine made a mocking face and then said, “I could do with more whiskey at the moment, but you don't see me complaining about it.”

Amaretto was about to say something else when she heard Tempus shout in her head. “I think I have found it!” She was about to repeat it when she realized it was not the spell that she was looking for. She mentally chided herself and then replied to him.

“What are you talking about?”

Tempus' voice was giddy with excitement. “I've found the source of the coordinate. I think I found where the Stone of Communication is!”

Amaretto's eyes widened and she was about to respond when another IronMan clanked into view. She raised the ring at him and began her chant. By the time she was finished, she no longer felt guilty about doing it. Not that she had felt guilty in the first place, but she knew that somewhere, deep inside herself, there was something that abhorred the fact that these poor men had been transformed into metal abominations. She quickly skirted aside the IronMan she had just felled and quickly walked towards the next landing, following after everyone and Alice behind her.

“Where is it then?”

Tempus responded. “You have been blindly going up. On the next floor, the landing will lead off into a hallway. Take that hallway and follow it all the way to the end. I believe there you will find what it is that you are looking for.”

“So at the end of the ominous hallway? Isn't following Johanna enough?”

Amaretto heard Tempus almost frown in her head and then he said, “Why yes, I do think that it could be, but I am telling you right now that there is something else with that stone.”

Almost as if on cue, on the next landing, Johanna turned sharply to the right and into the long hallway that was there. There was a red carpet that was on the floor that was plush and as they walked on it, it retained their footprints. They continued down the hallway and as they did, Amaretto noticed that there were several paintings on the wall. The portraiture at first seemed rather needed. It was only after the first few portraits that Amaretto began to notice the differences. It wasn't that she thought of them as if they belonged in a fun house, they were just strange. Instead of the normal pictures of people sitting in chairs and standing next to bowls of fruit, the people stood in long and sumptuous gowns and amazing looking suits with cravats. The only change was the jewelry at first. From the necklaces to the earrings, to the rings on their fingers, there was a distinct difference in the shape and design of many of the pieces. Long sweeping styles that seemed to mimic art nouveau.

Long styles soon gave way to thinner and thinner people, until finally, Amaretto noticed that hey were not getting thinner, but they were in fact, replacing body parts with thin mechanical machines.

In fact, there was not much else to see but people with machine arms and legs and even in some cases, one woman had her throat replaced with a long thin metal casing. As Amaretto looked at all of the pictures, she began noticing that the names under the plates were all strange in the fact that all of them were doctors.

Amaretto was about to comment on it when another IronMan came around the corner in silence towards them. This one was a little different than the others that they had come across however. He was taller and a little bulkier in the shoulders. Instead of the traditional red cape that most of the other IronMen wore, he was dressed in a cape of deep velvet the color of a darkened sky. Amaretto looked at him with curiosity and as she did so Alice stepped forward.

“Don't worry. I have him.” She aimed her pistol and then fired directly into the center of the IronMan. As she did so the IronMan grunted and doubled over once struck. He staggered for a minute or two and then stood back up, clutching around the hole in his chest.

Amaretto looked a little shocked. “His heart didn't eject? Alice, his heart is still intact.”

Alice looked rather surprised herself as confusion swept across her face first and then soon was replaced with concern. “I shot him in the chest. I know I did, why didn't his heart eject like the others? He should be dead by now!”

“He's still walking towards us,” Amaretto said with an edge of panic in her voice. “He's not dying.”

Katherine spoke hurriedly at Amaretto, “Amaretto, use the damn ring!”

Amaretto jerked her hand up as she stumbled backwards over her own feet. “Voices of Ancients long ago past," Was all she could stutter when all of a sudden, the IronMan lurched forward at a sudden pace and threw himself at Amaretto and Alice. Both Amaretto and Alice shrieked. As the IronMan got closer, he reached out with his hands and sudden lines glistened from in-between his fingers as he reached out towards them. Amaretto looked at it and heard a sound much like fishing wire being tightened and she realized what was interlacing itself between the construct's hands.

Amaretto ducked to the side, not finishing her incantation as she ducked to the side. As she did, she bumped into Johanna who hit the ground with a groan. The IronMan jerked to the left and tried to grab hold of Alice. Alice shrieked in a manner most unbecoming of a woman and fired her pistols twice. Each shot went off the sides of the wall and the IronMan managed to dodge all of them. However, as She hit the wall on the fourth and final shot, a painting fell downwards and the IronMan lifted his hands upwards to protect himself. There was a loud sound like wires being pulled taught and then the painting fell between his hands. As it hit the wires between his fingers, the painting shredded into a thousand tiny little bits.

Alice gasped. Amaretto lifted her ring once more and began to try to chant, but Johanna was too quick for either of them and managed to use the rapier that she had been given to stab the IronMan repeatedly in the head. The strokes were sudden jabs, but she actually managed to get both of his eyes. The IronMan reached up to claw at his gauged out eyes and there was a sudden sound as the wires sliced directly into the automation's head. The IronMan fell to the floor and Johanna frowned at the body.

“I really feel that we should not be here,” Amaretto said as she turned to her aunt. “No where did you tell me that this could happen. I've almost died several times now!”

Katherine frowned and said, “The gift that is yours comes with a responsibility Amaretto. You can't just get rid of it because you want to.”

“Then why did you give it to me?”

“Would you believe that I didn't realize what I was giving you?” Katherine shrugged her shoulders.

Amaretto grimaced and then said, “Actually, yes. I can totally believe that.”

Katherine growled something under her breath and said nothing afterward. Johanna pointed down the hallway. “I can feel it. The Stone is over there.”

Amaretto looked at where Johanna was pointing and all but crowed. “There's a door! I can finally get this over with!”

Katherine hissed at Amaretto. “That's not nice!”

Amaretto shrugged off her aunt's words and began running towards the door. AS she did so, she could only think of how fast this whole ordeal could be over. She Almost tripped over the hem of her dress and continued on. It was almost too much excitement and she almost didn't hear Alice when she yelled out. Amaretto spun her head around to look at Alice quizzically. As she did, she saw Alice waving her hand hurriedly, a rather concerned look on her face. Alice was frantically waving at her and pointing behind her. Amaretto turned at what could have been the last possible moment.

An IronMan loomed before her and his hands were out in front of him, the strange thread running through his hands and a grimace on his face. Amaretto blanched and thought suddenly hos she hadn't heard him at all. His steam and geared parts were not making any noise. Amaretto ducked down and tumbled along the ground and threw her hand up. She yelled the incantation that Tempus had given her to trigger the ring and the IronMan jerked backwards. Alice Jerked her pistols and shot the IronMan twice in the chest. Johanna threw a battle cry and threw her Rapier like a javelin. The sword jerked across the space between them like a flimsy javelin and struck the inside of the IronMan.

Amaretto heard a creaking sound and then heard the sound of gears grinding together and a gear shot out of the automation's chest. It was then followed by another one and another one until finally, it seemed as though the automation stopped moving and was mere inches from Amaretto's face. Amaretto breathed in a sigh of relief and tried not to be frightened anymore. It wasn't working. The fear that she thought she had been holding at bay was getting ready to burst through her chest. The way her heart thudded, she thought she was going to hyperventilate. Her aunt came up behind her and gently helped Amaretto scoot away and then stand up from the IronMan that stood before her.

"That was a little too close," said Katherine with a murmur. "If you want to play hero Amaretto be prepared to be killed. If you want to live to see your home again, let other people be the hero."

Amaretto scowled at her aunt; it was the only way to prevent herself from shrieking and breaking down at that moment. Amaretto took a deep breath and then said, "Well, I'm no hero, but I refuse to be a martyr as well." Her aunt pursed her lips and said nothing in response.

Alice rushed over in a swirl of petticoats and there was a deep frown on her face. "Are you all right then? The monster didn't hurt you, did it?"

Johanna didn't say anything in response. She merely looked up and away from Amaretto and then turned to the IronMan. Leveraging one foot on the fallen lump of metal in a most unladylike fashion, she yanked back on the ward, only to find the inside of it stuck. Closer inspection revealed that the inside of the IronMan's cogs had wrapped themselves around it and now were unable to move because of the impediment to their furious motion. Amaretto smiled if only for a moment before she realized that there was nothing she could do about it. Johanna yanked at the sword once more, and still nothing happened.

Katherine tsked out loud. "Ahh well. Might as well leave it there. It can't cause too much damage. I'm sure it will find a way back to my purse somehow. "

Johanna looked a little sad at that remark, but there was nothing to be done.

"I'm sorry for the destruction of your sword," Johanna said.

"It saved a life," Katherine said with a shrug.

Amaretto rolled her eyes and pointed down the hallway. "The door is what I think we should be focused on."

Grain: New Machina; Second Great British Empire - Cloister of Science...

Amaretto looked at the stairwell with trepidation. She wasn't sure that she actually wanted to walk up the stairwell. She looked to her aunt, who seemed to be shifting things around in her purse. “You wouldn't by any chance have anything in there that could fly us up this flight of stairs would you?”

Katherine looked up from what she was doing and then said, “Don't be ridiculous,” then in a lower tone, “Gravity is far too much of a problem in this dimension.”

Amaretto rolled her eyes and then looked at the ring on her finger. It still shined, but the pearl that was at the center of the ring seemed a little more dull than it once had been. She looked at it and rubbed at the stone in the center. Her aunt took it as a nervous sign and shook her head.

“No use in doing that. I suggest that you walk behind Johanna and I, but you stay in front of Alice. It would be safer for you that way.”

She simply nodded and then said, “That sounds good.”

Johanna started up the steps of one of the helices and began to vanish from sight. In her hand was the large weapon that Katherine had given her and Alice tapped her foot on the ground. “If you don't know what you are going to do, then do nothing, cause if you don't go after her, we will lose her.”

Amaretto sighed and then hurried after Johanna with her aunt. Katherine had stopped rummaging in her purse, and Amaretto could swear she had taken nothing out. Katherine however had a huge grin on her face.

The first flight of stairs they saw no one. The gentle hum of generators could be heard throughout the stairwell. The stairs themselves were open to the outside, so they could see the inside of the large tower chamber that they were in. As they wound their way up, the whole room seemed to spin around them. At the first landing, they began up the second set of stairs and Amaretto noticed that the walls of the inside pillar of the stairs that they were winding around had a set of interconnected gears were adorning the pillar. When she paused for a moment to gaze at the strange gear motif, she gasped. Barely noticeable to the naked eye, the gears were all turning. She immediately pointed it out to her aunt.

Katherine shrugged and then said, “The Cloister runs on it's own power, the gears are what are powering the generators that are downstairs along with eh steam engines that power the rest of it. The gas lighting is new however, I'm sure that the chandeliers are all gas powered as well. Though they may look like candles, those are all fueled by natural gas.”

Amaretto was impressed by this. “How do you know all of this? Have you been here before?”

Katherine didn't say anything at first and then said, “I have been here to New Machina once before. Though during that time, Mother Chime had not yet shown up. The Queen had just ascended to the throne. It was a very nice place, though I can say I had not yet heard of Johanna and Alice yet.”

“So you have traveled though other worlds before.”

“Nothing like this, but sometimes, my charges have been on a different plane of existence. Though I never had to travel that much.”

“Tempus eluded to that much,” Amaretto responded.

Katherine cocked an eyebrow. “You and Tempus getting along then I see?”

“Not like you think,” Amaretto responded.

Katherine shrugged her shoulders slightly and then continued up the stairs after Johanna. Alice walked up behind Amaretto and smiled at her.

“Thank you for doing this. You didn't have to, but as it goes, it is very brave of you. You really didn't have to do this.”

Amaretto bit her tongue and prevented herself from agreeing with Alice. “Didn't the watchmaker vouch for us?”

Alice smiled. “He did, but even still, we were supposed to help you, not the other way around.”

Amaretto mumbled under her breath, “Oh you're helping us, you just don't know it.” She paused on the step that she was on and was about to say something when she heard something. “Did you hear that?”

Alice looked at her a little perplexed. “Hear what?”

Amaretto waved her hands at Alice signaling her to be quiet and then strained her ears. It was faint, but she heard it. She quickly looked out the side of the stairwell and saw what it was that she heard. IronMen were coming across the inside of the Cloister and heading towards the stairs. She pointed them out to Alice.

Alice cursed under her breath and Amaretto caught the last bit of it and was surprised at the bit she heard. “Alice, that was foul!”

Alice grumbled and aimed one of her guns and shot out of the side window of the stairs. There was a metalllic hum and then a buzzing noise as the gun fired. There was the familiar screeching of metal and then a bang as an IronMan fell to the floor. Alice looked smug and Amaretto was surprised.

“That had to be at least a hundred feet!”

Alice smiled smugly. “One hundred and forty-five.”

They heard Katherine call down the stairs, “What was that?”

Amaretto yelled back up the stairs. “IronMen! Coming fast on our tail and towards the stairs!”

Katherine's voice floated down a little agitated. “Then hurry it up and move your arses up here!”

Alice giggled and Amaretto giggled with her. They both began to rush their way up the stairs. As they did, they took note that there were indeed quite a few IronMen rushing the strange staircase. They caught up with Katherine and Johanna rather quickly and Amaretto tugged at Katherine's sleeve. “Will they be able to catch up with us?

Katherine shook her head. “As long as we keep moving, there should be no way, but we have to keep moving. We've only gone up one flight of stairs.”

As if to enumerate her point, they reached the second landing of the stairs.

Amaretto muttered under her breath, “I hate these stairs.”

They continued up the strange staircase, pausing every now and then to allow Alice to get a shot in and fry one of the IronMen. By the time they reached the fifth landing, Amarettto was so sick of her surroundings that she complained about it right there.

“Just be happy that there was no IronMen on the stairs,” Katherine said. Almost as if on cue, there was a hiss of steam and a clanking in front of them. Katherine shook her head. “Me and my mouth.”

An IronMan turned the corner on the stairs and then raised it's arm up to point splayed fingers at them. Large knives switch-bladed out of his fingers and he then took a leap forwards at Johanna. Alice fired her gun and the IronMan fell to the ground and hit the stairs at a funny angle. He jerked down the stairs, leaving a large gouge on the step just before Amaretto. Amaretto looked to her aunt and Katherine looked back at her with an equally surprised look. There were large clanking sounds as it fell and then the familiar hiss was heard as it ejected the heart that was within its chest.

Amaretto frowned. “Why on earth does it do that?”

Katherine looked confused. “Does what do what?”

“Why do the IronMen eject their heart like that?”

Alice spoke up at that moment. “Johanna and I have been thinking about that from reports that we have heard in the past. We aren't sure, but we think that when they took the old guard and were replacing them with the new IronMen, we think that they were the same people that used to be inhabited the guard. We think that they went through something that replaced their original hearts with the new iron ones.”

Amaretto made a face. “That's gross. It sounds like a really bad Egyptian ceremony.”

Katherine nodded her head. “You have to remember that during this time, they were really into artifacts of other cultures. Egypt was one of their favorites. Britain even went so far as to make Egypt a protectorate because of the Suez Canal. Although the country was never formally annexed, the British remained in occupation until 1922 and maintained a substantial military presence until 1954.”

Amaretto thought for a moment and then said, “I thought that the Empire fell in 1783?”

Katherine smirked. “You actually remembered your history classes?”

“We're currently studying it right now.”

Katherine smiled as she continued to follow Johanna up the stairs. “There is that, however, there is also the fact that the time line says that Britain’s second empire lasted till 1850 before it moved into the Imperial Century which lasted until 1914.”

“So then, if this is the Second great British Empire, does that mean that we are still in the same time line?”

Katherine shook her head. “No. The time line may be similar, but that does not mean that time runs the same. That means that even though you may seem similar things, the exact time is not going to be similar.”

AS soon as Katherine said that though, another hiss could be heard and Johanna suddenly took her sword and slashed forwards. In front of here, there was a gurgle and a crunching of what sounded like gears. An IronMan plummeted past the small group and they continued up the stairs. Passing by the sixth landing, they continued up the stairs. Alice turned around and then shot down the stairwell in several spots.

The stairs rumbled and then cracked and then fell into the spaces below. There was a scream and a shattering sound and a crunching noise as several IronMen were destroyed in the resultant rubble.

Katherine gasped. “That was a priceless piece of architectural history! How could you destroy it like that!”

Alice shrugged. “It stopped them from coming up the stairs right?”

Grain... New Machina, Second Great British Empire...

As Amaretto rushed after her aunt who had run into the Cloister, she felt a sudden shiver as she crossed the threshold. It wasn't coldness, but Darkness that she felt, and it made her skin crawl. The inside had been doe in a Jacobean style Victorian period slump with a large aerie feel to the vaulted ceilings in the area. From the ceilings hung large chandeliers made of metal and gears that ticked and spun and whirled and clicked. Amaretto was more than sure that these gears were machine parts, but to what machine she was not sure as the gas lighting that came from the chandeliers was so low, she could barely see in front of her.

As Amaretto paused to adjust to the new lighting in the area, she heard her aunt hiss something in the darkness. She turned to see her aunt making a gesture with her hand, motioning her over to hide behind one of the pillars. Amaretto picked up her skirts, just enough so her jeans would not be showing, but to make sure that they would not get in the way, and hurried over to where her aunt was hiding.

Her aunt made a worried face. "It seems that we were expected," Katherine began. "However, not to worry. We still have Johanna to follow and Alice is more than ready with her pistol. The only real problem is avoiding guards. We can either go in guns blazing, or sneak our way through. I prefer sneaking, and Alice prefers to blaze though. Either way, we have to make our way up to the second floor of the Cloister to make it to the back stairs where Mother Chime supposedly has her suites."

Alice bustled over from behind the pillar she was hiding behind and then smiled at Amaretto, both of her pistols in her hands. "Mother Chime however also has the queen with her. So we have to be careful that we don't fall afoul of scientists of palace guards."

Amaretto looked a little lost. "Scientists? What would be the problem with scientists?" Amaretto pictured a short man in a white lab coat with thinning hair and really beady eyes.

Alice snorted and then said, "For argument's sake, let us say that the scientists are more modified than the regular palace guards."

"That would make no sense," Amaretto said furrowing her brow.

"Alice smiled rather wickedly and then said, "The last scientist I saw had modified his hand to apply a saw in place there. It was a little creepy."

Amaretto tried to smile back, but found herself a little horrified.

Katherine patted her god-daughter on the shoulder and then spoke in a low tone. "Are you ready Amaretto. I'm going to need you on the front line, think you can do it?"

Amaretto shook her head and then looked at her aunt. Her heart was pounding a million miles a moment and there seemed to be no stopping the dread that she felt encroaching on her.

Katherine smiled and then said, "do it and when we get back, I'll buy you a pair of Seven Jeans."

Amaretto's eyes widened. "Are you trying to bribe me with the most expensive jeans in the world?"

"You and I both know there is a reason they call them '7 for all Mankind' jeans," her aunt smiled.

Amaretto pulled herself up from the slump that she had begun and looked around. She stepped boldly towards the other side of the room and made sure that her shoes slammed against the marble floors. She wanted to make as much noise as possible. As she did so, she heard the familiar clanking of metal against the marble floors. She began muttering the incantation even before she saw them. As the IronMen came around the corner, she shrieked the last line of the incantation aloud, "Iron of Man you now shall erase!"

There was a shriek and a sudden haze of smoke as the IronMen twisted where they were standing and then violently shuddered before turning their gazes towards the skies before they spewed black smog from their mouths. Boiling steam jerked from their chests as the iron hearts in their chests burst violently onto the floors. The automation stood there with the smoke pouring from their mouths and Amaretto took another step forward. From behind them, she saw another set of the IronMen and jerked her hand forwards and began the incantation once more.

"Voices of Ancients long ago past," she began.

The first of the IronMen raised his hands and his fingers seemed to bend at an impossible angle at the knuckles. They bulged and then fell downwards in a short burst.

"Spirits of Earth and reminiscent grace..."

The second IronMan turned his left arm up at the elbow and pulled back at the cloth holding his elbow in place. There was a large hole there and a large set of tubing ran up his arm with what appeared to be boiling green liquid.

"Spark of Energy here now recast," Amaretto continued.

The first IronMan jerked his hands and there was a pneumatic hiss and Amaretto could see small black projectiles heading straight for her. The second Iron man seemed to turn a large spigot on his arm and a spray of what looked to be Green acid spewed forth from the hole in his elbow.

Amaretto screamed the last line as fast as she could, "Iron of Man you now shall erase!"

At the same time Katherine threw her hand forwards and screamed out, "Escudo de anciáns, Wall Redonda!"

A shimmering force exerted itself into a shield of multicolored hues in front of Amaretto. As the last line of teh spell was said, the first IronMan jerked and the strange black objects went flying around. Amaretto covered her face out of reactionary force and heard several sounds of marble being cracked into with resounding force. Amaretto had little idea left that the black balls were actually old fashioned bullets. As for the second IronMan, he jerked and the green acid fell all around him and also onto the first IronMen, as the black smoke roiled forth from their chests, Amaretto watched in horrid fascination as they melted slowly and the struts that were in the back of their feet began to collapse.

The first Iron Man suddenly ejected the iron heart from his chest and as soon as it hit the ground with a thud into the acid, there was a shrieking hiss as it began to disintegrate into nothing. The second IronMan twitched and collapsed backwards as the struts in his legs gave out, tearing into the cloth that covered his legs. As the pants were ripped, Amaretto saw that the man's legs had been replaced with a crude valve system and hydraulics that were made from what might have been bright and shiny new cogs and springs, if not for the massive amount of black oil that greased it all up.

Amaretto almost gagged and then shrieked as the IronMan's heart rocketed out of his chest into the air and slammed back down into the green acid as well. It hissed with the same shrieking sound and Amaretto felt like it sounded like two cars scraping together against a cement wall. As she clutched at her ears she heart something that sounded like a strange sound.

WHUMPT!

Amaretto turned around and saw an IronMan reaching for her. She didn't scream however, as the IronMan was twitching and then fell forwards. From behind the IronMan, Alice stood with one of her pistols, aimed right where the automaton’s heart should have been. Alice smiled grimly and then picked up her skirts as she walked forwards. "Gotta make sure you don't die then, don't we?"

Johanna had turned to Katherine who was already moving forwards. "How did you do it?" Johanna's voice was deadpan.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Katherine replied with an almost exact duplicate of Johanna's voice. Katherine moved forwards with amazing speed and began to make her way down the long hallway.

Amaretto's initial idea seemed to be a success. Make as much noise as possible and the IronMen who were in the vicinity would come to investigate. From there it was as simple as having Amaretto speak the incantation of her ring that Tempus taught her, or Alice shooting them with the Mongooses that Katherine had given her. From each side of the Gothic rendered hallway, IronMen came to investigate and soon were dispatched with remarkable ease. However, the hallway soon gave out into an open courtyard from the center and there, something that was more Neo-Renaissance was seen.

Katherine gasped. Amaretto looked a little confused as she stared at the staircase in front of her. "What is it aunt Katherine?"

"It is a rather ornate copy of the Grand Staircase at Château de Chambord. It is said that the spectacular double-helix open staircase is the centerpiece of the château. The two helices ascend three floors without ever meeting but the outside has been redone and it looks like rather than the original two stairwells have been multiplied by two for four of them, and that is most certainly more than three floors that it ascends."

Amaretto looked stunned. “I have a feeling that Mother Chime is up there.”

Katherine smiled. I think you're right. Standing here won't get us closer to the stone though.” Katherine turned to look at Johanna. “Do you feel the tug of the stone?”

Johanna closed her eyes and then pointed up the stairs.

Alice smiled as Katherine turned to her and shrugged. “Just our luck eh?”

Amaretto groaned.

Grain... New Machina - Second Great British Empire

Johanna looked nonplussed. "We just have to find Mother Chime. We still have no idea where she is located in there."

Amaretto rolled her eyebrows and then began to push her way towards the still standing forms of the IronMen so that she could inspect them. She walked right up to them and then said, "They look like British Foot guards."

Alice smiled smugly and then said, "Those are the royal foot guards."

Katherine raised an eyebrow and said, “Where are the tall bearskin hats?”

Amaretto looked at her aunt with a critical eye. “I don't think that is what we should be worrying about.” Amaretto turned back to Alice and then said, "Aren't they supposed to be human?"

Alice shrugged her shoulders and then began to inspect the mongoose pistols that she had. Johanna walked past all of them and looked up the hill towards the Cloister of Science. "We have to get in their now. I can feel it. I can feel the stone in the Cloister. I need to get in there now." Johanna's voice, which was usually without emotion had a tenseness to it that Amaretto could hear.

She walked over to the older woman and then said, "We will get it back for you. Don't worry. It will be alright."

Johanna simply nodded her head and then turned to her aunt. "So what is the next part of the plan?"

Katherine looked at Amaretto and then just smiled. "I believe it was to find Mother Chime. She's the one who has the Stone of Communication, she's the one that has the first coordinate and then we can move on."

"First we need to find where she is in the cloister." Alice was still playing with her new pistols.

Amaretto frowned and then said, "Well, that's completely helpful. Where the hell is she then?"

Katherine looked at Johanna. "I think we have our own homing device built into the woman who was originally affiliated to the stone." Katherine smiled and looked at Johanna. "Can you truly feel the stone Johanna?"

Johanna closed her eyes and then started walking towards the Cloister. Katherine grabbed onto Amaretto's arm and began to drag her along as she walked behind Johanna. Alice quickly fell into step with them as Johanna walked along the cobbled walk towards the Cloister's main doors. The three women followed Johanna and as they reached the front doors, more of the IronMen showed up.

"Johanna! Look out!" Amaretto cried out, but even then, it was almost instantaneous that Johanna suddenly had her rapier out and was slashing down though the first IronMan in front of her. There was a screech of metal and a hiss of steam. There was also an unearthly shriek along with the IronMan's death. Johanna's second slash into the next IronMan was blocked however. The IronMan caught the slash down from the rapier in his hands. There was a sudden bang and a strange whizzing sound. At that moment, the IronMan staggered backwards and felt for his chest. Where he felt was a large hole and there was another small metal clanging on the ground as his heart fell and hit the ground.

Alice nodded her head in happiness. “These are the greatest pistols ever. I must say, how did you get a hold of these?”

Katherine simply patted her purse and then said, “I am not without my own little surprises.”

Alice snorted and then nodded her head. “Surprises, that's meant for bawdy women and strange men who have nothing better to do than haunt them in the dark of night.”

Katherine smiled and then in a slightly snarky tone said, “That is true, but I am not a bawdy woman or a strange man who hunts women in the night to eviscerate him.”

Amaretto tilted her head and then said, “Are you referring to Jack the Ripper? He's here too? I thought that the difference was obvious?”

Katherine shook her head. “No, even though there are differences in how the dimensions are, the time lines can be very similar. 'The Whitechapel Murderer ' is still around.”

Amaretto shuddered. “That's a little creepy.”

Katherine smiled and pointed to Johanna. “Let's keep going. We don't necessarily have time for all of this.”

Amaretto giggled. “What is this, a bad television show?”

Katherine smacked her charge playfully and then shook her head.

Johanna had already closed her eyes and then began to move into the Cloister. Katherine pulled her own parasol forward and then smiled. “We need to keep moving.”

Amaretto nodded and then looked at the ring on her finger. “I just wish I had a better weapon than this simple ring.”

Alice patted Amaretto on the shoulder. “It's alright. I will be sure to shoot anything that comes towards you.”

Amaretto looked at the IronMan with the hole in his chest. “Well, I suppose that it is nice that you know how to use that.”

Alice smirked. “I suppose that it is.”

Johanna walked into the Cloister at that moment, leaving all the others behind. Katherine whooped and picked up the edges of her dress and stepped lightly over the body of one of the IronMen. “Wait Johanna! Wait for us!”

Grain...

The Cloister of Science loomed up in Amaretto's vision as they walked stately towards the large iron wrought gates that demanded attention from anyone who came near. The gates were not just simple gates however, instead of the traditional iron bars there were small cariatides that formed the spaces where the bars should be. The cariatids were fashioned to look like tall men and women with bunson burners and beakers in their hands. However, on either side of the gate there were two more larger statues carved from white marble with just that. A woman in a flowing Greek robe held in her hands the implements of science, a ruler, a beaker, and a large plumed helm. In the other figure, a male, he held a large wand that was reminiscent of the medical profession and also held a winged cap in his hands. It didn't take long for Amaretto to notice the small wings jutting out from the statue's ankles as well.

"They are the statues of Athena and Hermes, the gods of Science," said Katherine noticing Amaretto's gaze. Amaretto nodded her head in understanding. There was not much more time to think however as two men in bright red crimson stepped forward. Unlike the other ones that she had seen on the streets of London, these two men were not at first look, IronMen. They had oily smiles, and dark cropped black hair, and the piping that had been used to make them was much thinner than the clunking beast that Amaretto had seen in the city proper out side of the Watch shop.

Also, from the back of their heels, the tall black boots were emitting a small thin stream of steam. The IronMan on the left looked at Amaretto for a moment and then turned to Katherine and then looked to their two companions. "What can we do for you today ladies?"

The voice was only slightly mechanical and sounded more like it was being produced from a speaker in the back of the man's throat. Amaretto watched the mans lips and if she hadn't looked very carefully, it would have even looked like the IronMan had actually spoke. Instead, as she watched the contraption's lips, she noticed that the lips only made the largest sounds, and so it looked a little like bad dubbing on a foreign film.

Alice smiled brightly at the IronMan and said, "We are here to tour the Cloister of course."

The other IronMan abruptly shook his head and said, "I am sorry ladies, but access is denied. The cloister is not currently open to the public at this time."

Alice made a face of disappointment. "Bloody hell, and here I was hoping to see the Cloister of Science, maybe even get a peak at Grandmother Chime."

The first guard shook his head and said, "Language most distressing to hear from a lady. Grandmother Chime is not seeing anyone at this moment as she is administering herself to the queen's presence."

Alice huffed and spun on her heel and in the process, turned her back to the facing guards. She quickly mouthed something to Amaretto and at first, Amaretto wasn't sure what to make of it. Then she realized that Alice was telling her to use the ring, so she reached back in her mind and sought out Tempus. He was there in an instant and spoke calmly and reassuringly to Amaretto.

"Don't worry, all you need to do is repeat after me."

"Everything will be okay?" Amaretto questioned.

"As long as you repeat after me, here goes. Put your hand out at the guards and say the following..."

Amaretto put her hand with the strange pearl ring on it out in front of her and then said:

"Voices of Ancients long ago past,
Spirits of Earth and reminiscent grace,
Spark of Energy here now recast,
Iron of Man you now shall erase!"

There was a slight rumble and the ring on Amaretto's finger turned a dark shade of purple. The IronMen looked at Amaretto with curious eyes until they suddenly spasmed where they were standing and jerked forward in an effort to capture Amaretto. They may have been automatons, but they were still able to think partially for themselves, and had linked their now new found moment of not being able to work any longer with Amaretto's new found spell casting ability. The IronMen spasmed again and then a blast of electric fire seemed to take hold of them and they jerked backwards, their mouths hung open and their heads tilted skywards. It seemed at first as if they were screaming, but Amaretto soon saw it for steam rushing out of their mouths as such a rapid pace that they were not sure what was going to happen next. From their chest cavities, there was an explosion and boiling steam rushed down their chests as small metal objects were forcefully ejected from their hearts.

The molten hearts fell to the ground and the IronMen just stood in place, the metal pokes in their feet forcing them to continue to stand upright. Alice whistled.

"That was bloody brilliant. I love it. Now we just have to find Mother Chime."

Grain...

Rising up in the distance, Amaretto saw what her Aunt had been talking about. Tall Gothic steeples rose form a church like front. The main building was ingenuity itself, turned upon itself like a large octagonal house with five floors. On each side, there were long hallways with flying buttresses elegantly winging the hallways off of the ground as the halls were suspended in mid air and leading to towers on either side of the cathedral like building. The towers spun each other and seemed to have spokes that branched off into smaller towers that were gathered haphazardly to the small clusters on both sides.

The towers raised brightly into the sky and along with them, smoke clouded the sky in dense clouds. Amaretto stared in wonder at the towers as they raised into the sky, piercing the smoke, only to be enveloped again. The entirety of the Cloister of Science was a grand architectural design of metal and stone and haphazard angles and architecture, and somewhere, Amaretto marveled at the fact that this world, which was so different than her own, was so elegant and yet so wild in something as simplistic as styling a building.

The carriage began to pull up towards the main gate when Alice rapped against the top hatch and said, "No, we want to be taken somewhere to the side. We aren't going to go through the gate." The carriage driver, still under the intensity of the glamor spell that Katherine had cast on him, obliged and the carriage took a rather sharp turn to the left. As it did, Amaretto thought that she saw the parliament house. A second look out the window and back the direction they were coming from confirmed what she thought she had seen. It was Big Ben.

The tall clock tower seemed even more imposing in the Edwardian England period. It's large top had a second terminus point that seemed taller than Amaretto had remembered in pictures, but out of the large vents of the top of the clock, bilious fog and acrid black smoke poured from it, alighting into the sky with a dull charcoal feeling. Amaretto almost giggled when she realized that no matter what the world, London was going to more than likely be cloudy and more than likely full of rain. Just underneath the face, a set of large round gears, four to be exact, were protruding from the sides of the clock and slowly spinning with such exactness, Amaretto was sure that they were helping in keeping the time. Down the sides of the clock, large pipes seemed to be carrying steam to allow for the clock to continue to work. The steam seemed to hiss through the large tubes that made up the clock. Amaretto stared in wonder and marvel at the large tower and then noticed, halfway up the clock, a large glass enclosure within the middle of the clock. There, spinning rather lazily in the center was a large blue crystal attached to a large silver chain.

the stone swung in a large circular pattern like a dowsing pendulum, rather than in the back and forth motion of a clock. Amaretto stared at it for a moment more and then turned to ask about it. Surprisingly, Johanna answered her question.

"The pendulum in the clock was made by a Mister Henry Willinsworth. Mister Willinsworth was a fantastic seismologist who studied the earth and determined how to keep a large clock tower running indefinitely using pendulum technology that spun in time with the earth. Thus it keeps the clock ticking ever in motion not necessarily with time, but with the earth's own clock system. It has yet to be incorrect."

Amaretto nodded her head in wonderment and then looked back at what everyone in this reality called "Ol' Henry. The clock left her with awe and she turned back to look at Johanna to ask another question when the carriage came to a full stop. Katherine quickly smoothed her skirts out and grabbed at a parasol that Amaretto had not noticed before. Within moments, the carriage door had opened and the carriage driver opened the door to let the women out. Helping them all down, except for Alice, who thought of herself as too independent at that moment, they all were soon out of the carriage and the driver was sitting back in his spot once more.

"Alice turned to Amaretto and then smiled. "So how does this ring work and where do we need to be?"

Amaretto took a longing glance towards Ol' Henry and then steeled her resolve. She quickly spoke in her mind. "Tempus? How does the ring work?"

Rather quickly Tempus responded to her question by answering, "All you have to do is repeat after me when we are close enough. In order to effect all of the IronMen, we have to be at least near the source that is powering them."

Amaretto snorted in her head. "That's the stone, and we can't get near it yet..."

"However, what you can do is invoke the ring several times on a smaller scale so as to disrupt smaller amounts of the IronMen. You simply have to be within fifteen feet of one is all though."

Amaretto blanched and then looked at Alice before she spoke aloud. "I will need to be either within direct line of sight with the object that is controlling all of the Iron Men, or, at least fifteen feet from one to disrupt them in such a manner as to allow us to get past."

Alice nodded her head and then smiled. "I will have no problem with getting that available to you."

Johanna however seemed to have a different idea. In her toneless voice she said, "Have you taken a good look at the gate Alice? It is wrought iron and barbed in many places. Even if it is open, there will still be quite a few guards."

Alice smiled and looked at Johanna. "Seriously Johanna, there is no need to worry. Remember, I have a full range of emotions even if you do not, and I can make any man's heart, weather it be flesh or iron, boil with desire."

Katherine made a rude sound in the back of her throat. Amaretto covered her mouth to suppress a gag or a giggle, she wasn't sure what. Amaretto was even sure that she could hear Tempus gagging in the back of her mind. Alice looked rather pleased with herself. Johanna simply stared black in blank fashion. Even if she had wanted to make a witty remark, she wouldn't have been able to due to her contract with the spirits.

Katherine cleared her throat and then smiled alarmingly wide at everyone and said, "Even though my niece does have the ring, we are still going to have to protect her. I suppose that everyone has weapons of some sort?"

Alice looked at Katherine rather blankly and then looked at Johanna. "Weapons?"

Katherine continued to smile and then said, "Don't worry, I have some right here." She then proceeded to reach into her rather large purse and rummage around for a moment before she came back up in her hands with a set of small pistols that Amaretto at first thought were Derringers.

Alice looked at the pistols in wonder and raised a single hand almost timidly when she said, "Are those Mongoose models?"

She reached a hand out and paused to look at Katherine who simply nodded her head. Alice took one in a gloved hand and stared at the small gun in awe. Amaretto tried to get a better look at the gun and noticed that instead of having a barrel, it had a strange set of coils that wrapped around. Instead of a chamber for bullets, it seemed to bulge in the back, and have a small pressure gauge there as well as what appeared to be a spark striker. The middle of the gun that three small copper tubes that seemed to go from the end chamber of the gun to the center and then the front of the gun where the coils were was something that protruded forth like a small rod.

Amaretto looked at it dubiously. "What is it?"

Alice pointed it directly at her and then said, "Winston Mongoose, 1892 model circa 1907. It uses Aether Oscillation to produce a sonic wave up to twenty yards. It can obliterate small parts of the anatomy in less time than it takes to pour a cup of tea."

Amaretto shook her hands in front of her with wide eyes. "Please point that thing somewhere else!"

Alice's smile turned into a grin as she dropped Amaretto from the sight of the ray gun and then turned to Katherine who seemed to have another one just for her. Alice took both and giggled like a school girl. Amaretto looked at her aunt who seemed to shrug. "the Poppins purse strikes again," she muttered under her breath as Katherine rummaged around in her purse again.

This time, she pulled forth a rather large and long rapier. the hilt was done in fine ivory filigree, with an elegant ring that seemed to be made out of auburn leaves coming down from the crosspiece. the pommel of the blade itself was a rather largely pounded out piece of metal which had scroll work all along the sides. The blade itself was also something to behold, with the scroll work on the pommel continuing onto the forte part of the blade. the scroll work continued on up into the debole as well and it seemed as if someone had etched fire into the very sides of the blade.

Alice raised a single eyebrow and stared. "You had that hidden in your purse?"

Katherine smiled and then looked at Alice with a smug smile. "Some of us are just more magical than others."

Amaretto bit her lip as Katherine passed the sword to Johanna. "I trust you had some practice fencing?"

Johanna tested the blade in her hands and then gave a few vicious thrusts with no expression and then said, "I was the fencing team champion of my school for three straight years."

"Then I trust you know how to use it," Katherine remarked.

Johanna nodded her head.

Amaretto rolled her eyes. "I'm telling you now," she began, "No remarks on sugar or spoons, or it's back into the sidewalk with you..." At this Katherine laughed and Amaretto smiled a little. The tension of the moment had slipped away just a little bit. Alice looked on rather confused while Johanna simply just looked on.

Amaretto watched again as her aunt pulled out her parasol and then pulled forcefully on the runner only to have a sharp blade pop out of the ferrule at the top. She then twisted the runner one more time and small blades popped out of the ends as well. Katherine nodded darkly to the Cloister.

"Let's get started shall we?"