Chapter 15

Burgloth

After getting their bombs from Tina and saying their goodbyes, they headed back to the Hunter's Moon and started researching into both the viability of the invisibility devices as well as the serial numbers of the bots that had attacked them.

They quickly found out that all of the bots had been built in the same factory and that it was located on a far-off planet called Burgloth, which Artemis knew a bit about from her hunting. It was an ice world that's description reminded Gaige of Xylourgos, which didn't help her state of mind in wanting to go there.

Still, they had no other leads, so they didn't have any other options other than sitting around and waiting, and since neither of them were the kind to do that, they set in the course.

On the way, they contacted A.I. ngel and checked in with her. It turned out that she had fixed the problem there and wished she could go with, but understood that she was in the opposite direction from them, but promised to help in any way she could.

Next Gaige checked in with her dad, not just to talk to him, but to make sure he was alright since Holloway wouldn't have any problem targeting civilians to get his revenge, but nothing had happened on Eden 5 since they'd been there, which took a great weight off of Gaige's heart.

They spent the rest of the trip trying to get ready for whatever they might encounter and, in the end, managed to fix one of the invisibility devices, though that led to another argument about who should carry it.

"It should be either you or Deathtrap." Artemis said "I'm good enough without it."

"No, you should get it, I mean, it was you who remembered it and besides, you're the one usually sticking your neck out to scout for us."

"And I'm used to being stealthily enough."

"But in a fight, you're the only one that has to stick themselves out into fire to shoot back."

"So does Deathtrap, so he should get it, besides, he could sweep in without enemies seeing him, or charge up his deathlaser without being seen and targeted."

"Maybe, but probably not, considering there's a distinct red glow, plus that might interfere with the invisibility system."

In the end it was Deathtrap that came up with a solution, since it was a transferable device, Artemis would carry it while scouting and she could hand it off to either him or Gaige as needed.

So, with that out of the way they made their way to the surface of the planet and found themselves in a small town coated in ice.

At first glance it didn't seem to be inhabited, but after a moment they could make out the faint lights coming from some of the windows.

"Hospitable." Gaige muttered, looking around. She could barely make out the doors through the icicles that hung from the low eves and trailed till they met the ground. After a moment, she realized she was mistaken, the eves weren't low, it was just that the snow had built up to the point that most of the houses were buried. "We just had to make it here in the middle of winter."

Artemis shrugged and looked at her compass, trying to orientate herself. She was bundled up in her new Orochi hide jacket and had a pair of goggles pulled over her eyes. A thick scarf was wrapped around her lower face and her hood was up. She'd also opted to wear a thicker, intact pair of jeans and had installed heating elements into all of their cybernetics.

"Could be worse." She said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, this is almost pleasant compared to Gralin."

"Jeez, how cold was that moon." Gaige muttered, hugging her jacket tighter. She'd opted to wear the coat that she'd got for her birthday over a heavy sweater, which she found a bit restrictive feeling. Truth was, it wasn't any colder here then it had been on Xylourgos. If anything, it was nicer here, but that may have had to do with the preparations she'd made, not to mention the heater in her arm.

"Come on, it's this way." Artemis said, leading them out of town.

"Why couldn't we just arrive closer? I mean, there has to be some kind of town or something nearer to the factory where the employees lived."

"Yeah, but we're not registered to its fast travel network, so this was the closest we could get. Plus, we don't want to announce our arrival to anyone still at the factory."

"Inconvenient is what it is."

Artemis wasn't going to argue that, not when she totally agreed, but bitching about it wasn't going to get them there any faster, so she tightened the straps on her pack and started walking. She wished there was some kind of transport she could rent to speed this up, but with everything closed for the season, she doubted that she could find anything.

"Any idea if we could get some kind of a transport?" She asked Gaige out of desperation.

"Not that I know of, I mean, Xylouros was at least this cold, but there were still bandits and stuff running around there. But here? It seems like everybody's hibernating."

"Oh well, worth a shot."

They trudged out of town, feeling the cold wind's bite increase as they left the relative shelter of the town and started the long hike across the snowy plains to where the factory was. Gaige tried to keep in Artemis's shadow as much as possible, using her to try and block the wind, despite the size difference between them. She knew that Deathtrap was doing the same thing to her and that they'd switch out who was in the front to try and ease the strain.

The cold seemed to suck the desire to talk out of her and she felt the fatigue setting in as she continued to march her way across the plain. The sun was out, at least as much of it as could be seen through the solid gray mass swirling over them. To her surprise, the snow didn't seem all that deep at first, but she quickly realized that it was just frozen that solid and she was walking on a crust, which added another thought to her mind, what if she broke through? How deep was it? Would she drag Artemis with her, or would she be able to help get her out? What was down there?

She knew that Artemis knew a bit more about the planet, but now that she was there, she wished she'd shown more interest in it. Like, what had the other girl been planning to hunt here? And why hadn't she done so? Was it because she'd never gotten around to it? That it had been one of the places she'd wanted to go, but after what'd happened on Gralin, she'd decided against it, or had it been that she didn't think she could take down whatever creature had been here.

As she was lost in thought, the wind had picked up, throwing light bits of snow at her, making her glad that Artemis had insisted on her wearing the goggles and scarf. Still, bits were weaving their way through and stinging her face, so when she spotted what appeared to be a row of large icicles growing vertically out of the ground, she tapped Artemis on the shoulder and pointed.

Artemis glanced over to where she was pointing and shook her head and then to Gaige's surprise, started angling away from them.

"What're you doing?" Gaige shouted over the wind "We could at least use them as a break against the wind."

"No way. At least one of those things is likely one of the Crystal Strider's of Burgloth."

"The what now?"

"Crystal Strider's."

"What's that?"

"Uh, pray you don't find out. They were what I was thinking of hunting here, well one of the things anyway, but they hide among the ice spires and rise up if any prey gets too close, they're fast across this terrain and while not that tough to kill, in all truth, fighting one would not just waste ammo, but it might attract unwanted attention, and not just from other Striders."

"Oh, wait, what else were you gonna hunt here?"

"You wanna hear about this now?"

"Well, it'd take my mind off of this dreary schlep."

"Shlep?"

"Long boring hike."

"Ah, wasn't familiar with that one. But back to the creatures, if I told you, then all you'd be able to think about was them."

"And if you don't tell me, then I'll be able to think of nothing else either."

"True, but you don't have to worry, if the Crystal Strider's are here, then most things will be avoiding the area for now, at least until they migrate again. Besides, it's winter and most things are hibernating right now."

"Oh, that's a relief. Still, at least tell me about what else is in this area, especially anything that might not be hibernating or anything that we might stumble upon."

"Fine. Let's see, Barghasts might still be up and around. Think of them as the local version of the Xylourgos Wolven, similar in build, but a bit bigger and more aggressive. The main difference is that the Barghast can cloak themselves in shadows, their fur emits a secretion that absorbs light. Unfortunately, the light absorbing properties of the secretion only lasts a short time, so it can't be harvested, not to mention it's impossible to get out of the fur, making it gross to the touch, and kinda useless for its hide.

"Other than them, we might stumble into a Yeklei nest. They're kinda like, hmm, what can I compare them to that you'd know? I guess they're kinda like Bullymong, but with only two arms."

"Kinda like a Jabber?"

"Hmm, no, though I guess just a little bit, now that you mention it, they do look a bit similar, don't they? The Bullymong and the Jabber I mean, wonder if they're related? Anyway, not important, the Yeklei are more feral like a Bullymong then the social Jabber, though they're covered in thick fur and have large claws at the ends of their fingers. They also have a row of spines down their back and onto their short tail, but they should be hibernating now, so unless we stumble into a nest, we should be good.

"Let's see, other than that, we shouldn't have to deal with Velikor, they'll have burrowed deep and Harplings will be deep in their caves, so that should be it."

"See, I'm not worried about them anymore." Gaige said, shooting her a smile that was hidden behind her scarf. "Now I only wonder how much further it is?"

"Now who's being a kid?" Artemis muttered, taking the lead back.

A Number of Hours Later

They'd trudged through most of the scant daylight hours, but just as the light started failing their goal came into sight. It took another two hours for them to get close enough to actually scope the place out, so after they took a break to get something to eat and take in a mug of coffee, Artemis broke off and went scouting.

Gaige had insisted that she take the invisibility device, but she'd pointed out that in the snow, her footprints would give her away, so she'd convinced Deathtrap to hold onto it while she went out.

It didn't take long for her to find a small rise to observe the factory and the surrounding town. From her vantage point she could make out a number of things, which after as thorough a check as she could do from a distance, she headed back to report.

"Well, the place certainly seems abandoned."

"But..."

"But, what?"

"Well, when someone starts with it certainly seems abandoned' there's usually a but something."

"Not in this case. In this case, unless there's some other way of moving around town, no one's lived there in a while, at least since winter started."

"Couldn't they just be staying inside?"

"What would be the point? If they aren't going to work, why stay here?"

"That's a good point. Maybe they don't have anywhere else to go."

"Could be, but then why not go back to the other town, I mean, this place doesn't seem to have any of the necessities to live here."

"Hmm, that would be a problem. Maybe inside the houses?"

"Maybe. Doubtful, but maybe, but if not, then that leads us to another problem."

"What's that?"

"If there's nobody here, then would the bots really have been worked on here?"

"Hmm, maybe. I mean, they could've been worked on here right after Holloway faked his death and then got sent somewhere else, along with the workers."

"I guess."

She didn't sound very convinced so Gaige tried to move along "So what else was there?"

"Well, it's just that if they really did shut down and everybody leave, then why's the factory still intact, I mean, wouldn't whoever bought it have started it back up, or if it wasn't purchased, then shouldn't the stuff inside at least have been auctioned off or something."

"Possibly, why, what'd it look like?"

"Like they just shut the doors for the day and walked away. I mean there were still cargo containers sitting out and at least one truck that looked partially loaded."

"Creepy."

"Very."

"So, I guess we have no other option but to go down there and see if it's a trap."

"Guess so." Artemis reluctantly agreed.

"Now what's wrong?" Asked an extremely exasperated Gaige.

"Nothing, not really, it's just that, well, I've got a bad f"

"Nope, we're going." Gaige said, cutting her off quickly and hopping up. Artemis looked at her for a second and then sighed and followed after.

They made their way around the perimeter of the town, keeping an eye out for anything, from people to bots to beasts, but nothing moved. Gaige was tempted to try a few houses, just to see what had been left, since that'd tell her how fast everyone had fled, but the sense of wrongness that had settled over the town made her think twice about it.

The buildings ended a ways away from where the factory itself stood in a large squarish set of buildings. Short stacks rose over the tallest points and the cold, solid grey building as it squatted, windowless and grim, reminding Gaige of some evil lair or laboratory from one of the movies she used to watch with her father.

She tugged on her coat, feeling reassured by it, as if some part of her dad was there with her, watching over her and started forward, only to be stopped by a hard hand clamping onto her arm.

"Ow, what's the big idea?" She complained, turning to Artemis, only to lose steam once she saw her face. "What's up?"

"Watch out, the ground around here's a bit fragile."

Gaige looked around, but didn't see anything. "Why would you say that?"

"Cause it is. I mean, look at it, the colors and stuff."

Gaige looked around, but didn't see anything odd about the area, with a shrug she turned back to see the exasperation on Artemis's face.

"Look" She said with a sigh "Just trust me about this."

"It's not that I doubt you, but if you know so much about ice and all, then how'd you fall through it before? You know, back on Gralin?"

"I didn't know this back then, it's just, um, after, the, you know, when I..."

"You researched it afterwards so that it would never happen again, right?"

"Yeah, not that I've been back to an ice world since. Not that I'm afraid of them or anything, it's just that I haven't had any cause to, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it. But why would they build a factory on thin ice?"

"I don't think they did, it's probably that the factory melted the ground. They probably built the thing on metal posts driven deep into the ground, but the heat from the factory melted the ice around it."

"Ah, that makes sense. Wouldn't be surprised if they also ran some of the heat from the plant under the floors to warm them up, which would've contributed to the melt. So how do we get over to it?"

"There's a path, I mean, once it started melting, they must've installed a road for the trucks and stuff, right, so we just need to follow it."

"Oh, right. Duh. How is it you know so much about this stuff? The buildings and all that, I mean."

"I researched ice planets, remember?"

"Right, lead on."

She followed Artemis across as she led them off a little ways and across a frozen bridge. As soon as they were on the road, Gaige could tell the difference. There was something about the way the ice lay on it, the way she could almost see through to the road that made her feel more secure, but only in her footing. The thought that she only had one path to get over to the factory made her uneasy, like she was walking into a trap or some beast's den and she didn't know the way out.

Usually she didn't care, she could just power through, fight her way out. She was confident in her ability, despite the number of recent setbacks and evidence against that, she still felt that she could take on almost anything, especially with these two with her, but this time she felt off, like there was something that she couldn't put her finger on that was bothering her.

It wasn't that she didn't want to drag them into her problems, they already had been, so it was a bit late for that. No, this was something else, something that she didn't want to think about too hard, like she was afraid of what she'd find. But even beyond that, she didn't like the fact that she felt like she was being led into something, that this was all a trap and that she didn't have any choice but to spring it.

She looked up at the building looming in front of her and wondered what she'd find within, would there even be anything there? If so, would it just lead them to another trap and if they managed to get out of that one, to another?

Lost in thought she followed the other two until they were hunkered down behind the truck, observing the silent building.

"So, how we wanna play this?" Artemis whispered, as if she might wake something up if she was too loud.

"I was hoping you had a plan."

"My plan was to get here and that's about it."

"Shoot. We're definitely gonna have to work on your whole planning past getting to the place thing, but for now, well, I guess we need to think about this for a moment." Gaige said, leaning back so that she could get a better look at the door. "Well, I guess since we don't know what it looks like in there, we should proceed with caution."

"Really? So, no kicking down the door and going in guns blazing?"

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you either, you know?"

"Yeah, well, sometimes you don't have a choice, do you?"

"Guess not. Anyway, like I was saying, we don't know what's in there or what kind of trap's waiting for us. With that said, I'd guess there aren't a lot of people in there, if any, so we should figure on mostly bots."

"Makes sense."

"So, we should at least have caustic weapons at hand. Other than that, electric, in case of shielding and be ready for those EMP things. Other than that, who knows."

"Sounds about right."

"You got anything else to add?"

"Yeah, you missed one possibility."

"Oh, what's that?"

"That they left the trap out here."

"What, like to spring it as we leave?"

"That or something else."

"So, what're you suggesting? That we leave someone out here?"

"Just laying out all options and such. And besides, they don't need to be out here, they could follow us inside for a little ways and keep an eye out the door."

"Don't you mean sensor, cause let's be honest, you're talkin about leaving Deathtrap, aren't you?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"First off, why him?"

"Well, he's the most versatile one of us. I mean, if it comes to that, he's got the most options when it comes to detecting his opponents, he can fly around the building to scout and if we wind up in trouble, he's the fastest one out of us, so he could catch up easiest."

"All that makes sense. Too much sense actually, damn it. What do you have to say babe?"

"Urruru"

"Yeah, I hate it when she makes sense too. Plus, you do still have the invisibility, so you can hide. Alright, you win. I don't like it, but you win." Gaige grumbled.

"Hey, I don't like it either, but it's the best option out of the bad ones we have."

"Those are always the worst."

Artemis merely nodded, knowing that saying anything else would be futile. Giving the death machine a pat on the shoulder, she slunk out, picking her way to the door as carefully as she could.