Lace-on-Steel marched alone up Web Peak. after the reprieve of hiking along Onyx River on the exposed rocky floor of Wrought Valley, struggling through glaciers again was an annoyance.
it had been three days since the Bloom encampment had wound up the springs of her and Copper-in-Leaves, three days of trudging almost entirely through snow, arcane mechanisms ticking away inside them.
Copper-in-Leaves, seemingly bored with the journey, attempted a few times to give her a rehearsed lecture on the significance of increasing lichen populations on the southern continent. she was sure that all this was very important- otherwise Azalia would not have sent this little science doll along with her to the Marrow Dry Valleys- but each time, she hushed him, told him not to waste his spring on conversation.
he, of all units, knew that she was making a flimsy excuse to avoid chatting, that speaking took negligible amounts of energy from the high-capacity field springs they'd been kitted out with. but he took the hint each time, for a few hours at least.
Copper-in-Leaves had split off this afternoon in Wrought Valley to take his position in the Labyrinth, where he had been assigned on some kind of specimen collection mission. some irritating instinct spinning deep in Lace-on-Steel's cams made her worry about leaving the little thing behind all by himself, as she continued through Wrought Valley. at merely 1.7m tall and with only basic combat training, any encounter with an operative of the Court could prove a real risk for a science unit like him.
but no operatives were there now, and the Holy Court had no reason to enter the Labyrinth- it was ritually irrelevant to them, and there was no intel to indicate they had caught on to the existence of this mission.
Lace-on-Steel finally crested Web Peak. she tried not to be much of the "feelings" type, but even she couldn't help but stop her trek for a moment to take in the otherworldly sight in front of her, obscured though it may be in the faint and frozen summer night.
down in Talon Valley, the snow and glaciers gave way to exposed rock on the valley floor, which had not seen rain or snow in 2 million years. unlike most "lakes" on the southern continent, which hid from view under meters of snow, the snowless, rocky shores of Lake Bone made the frozen lake surface perfectly observable.
on the west end, Talon Glacier fed into Lake Bone by means of the utterly bizarre Blood Falls- a frozen plume of crimson ice hemorrhaging out onto the lake, staining its surface red. Copper-in-Leaves had explained to her that the ice was full of iron oxide, that unique species of bacteria, found nowhere else on the planet, lived in it and metabolized the rust.
and it was here, on the shore of Lake Bone, near Blood Falls, that the Court had set up their encampment. the lights from it sparkled against the frozen surface of the lake, and some sort of ritual emblem to the Crucified God had been constructed. Lace-on-Steel's white-painted chassis and her snow-camo combat uniform hopefully kept her from being too exposed as she climbed down Talon Valley's north wall, towards the encampment.
she was about 300 meters away when the first bullet ricocheted uselessly off of her shoulder, and instincts took over- she pulled her rifle off her back, ducked behind a rock, and took a look through the scope. the guards for the Court's expedition stood outside the encampment- clearly inebriated. easy prey. she could feel calculations cranking away inside her, which made hitting the guards' guns, breaking them into pieces, an almost effortless affair.
the panicked guards ran drunkenly back into the tent shouting, and she began sprinting towards the encampment. a small crowd of Senators evacuated the tent seconds later, running over the surface of Lake Bone, knowing not to try and fight an Azalia unit.
Lace-on-Steel got to the monument to the Crucified God, by the entrance to the tent, where the Judge was kneeling, still muttering a prayer. idiot Court, she thought. their love of martyrdom, their commitment to piety at the expense of tactical ground, was proving to be their downfall.
she drew her sword and rested its point on the judge's back. "get up" she said.
not even looking back at her, he responded "God does not look kindly on those who impede His work. Not that you would understand, doll. God could never love a blasphemous machine like you."
here we go again she thought. at least with her size and strength, the Judge's uncooperative nature would not be a problem. at 2.5m, she towered over the Judge, could pick him up easily. he began moaning prayers and scriptures, putting on a show for his Crucified God, and the Senators and guards looking on at a distance from the surface of the lake.
she hauled him past the monument, towards Blood Falls itself. as he prayed for a miracle from his God, storm clouds gathered overhead. for the first time in 2 million years, it rained in the Marrow Dry Valleys. the Senators on the lake seemed to be crying in response to this scene.
Copper-in-Leaves was going to be either very excited or very distraught about this cheap little trick on the part of the Court's god. who knows what kind of an effect rain would have on the strange, tiny ecosystem living here.
theology was not Lace-on-Steel's strong suit, but she knew that weather magic was often the fallback tactic of a frail deity- convincing weather spirits to act on one's behalf didn't take much actual energy on the part of the god. this rain was a pathetic show from a desperate demiurge on the losing side of a war.
she laid the sobbing Judge at the base of the plume of the falls. the rainwater melting the surface of the ice plume gave it the appearance of truly bleeding now. the salty, rusty water running down the falls stained the robes of the Judge.
acting on orders from the Department of Theologic Research of Project Azalia, Lace-on-Steel recited a sacrificial prayer to an old god which Bloom had been courting to their coalition for years now.
Lace-on-Steel drove her sword through his soiled robes.
Lace-on-Steel killed her second Judge.