Hey everyone,

Here's part three of the Ulduar arc. Have I mentioned before how much I love Nova and Anette?

Thank you to all who purchased and read my newest Amazon Kindle publication, Condemnation, book one of Lords of Periath, while it was free on promotion. I look forward to seeing what you think about it (wink wink). For those of you who missed the promotion Condemnation is up on Amazon for $2.99. dp/B00MGT74J8

Condemnation is the story of a realm in the New World that's known constant war with only infrequent periods of peace, and is at the end of one of those periods of peace with chaos looming on the horizon. Condemnation follows House Marbrand and others living through the chaos, and the impact their actions have on the realm and their own lives.

My first publication, Salzan, a standalone novel inspired by inner city gang war in a fantasy setting, is also up on Amazon for $2.99. dp/B00KGHKEIK

And finally my Young Adult novel Corsairs, book one of The Protectorate, is up on Amazon for $2.99. dp/B00M4U4SCK Corsairs is the story of Kale, an orphan who's lived a miserable life in an orphanage on the ground, until a Corsair from the nearby skyhold comes and offers him a chance to go up to the sky and join the crew of an airship. He accepts the offer just as hints of rebellion are sweeping the Protectorate, and quickly gets involved with things outside his understanding and control.

Thank you again to all who've read and supported my work, both on FanFiction and through my published novels. I hope you've enjoyed reading my stories as much as I've enjoyed writing them, and again if you did I hope you'll review and recommend them to anyone you think would be interested.

NT

Ulduar Part Three

Bronzebeard intercepted them just outside the doors leading into the facility. "Oy, what're ye doin'?" he demanded.

"Nothing!" Nova answered in his best "I'm guilty as sin" voice.

The dwarf glowered at him for a moment, then snorted. "Bah! I'll tell ye what ye should be doin'." He pointed a stubby finger at the doorway. "Titan's build their facilities for efficiency, not aesthetics, so they're not exactly mazes. But they are unimaginably huge. Uldaman was just a satellite facility and we're still explorin' its nooks and crannies ta this day, so imagine what this place is like . . ."

Nova waited politely as the dwarf trailed off. "So what was it we should be doing?" he finally asked.

Bronzebeard threw up his hands. "Explore the damned facility! We need ta find Yogg-Saron's prison before the Old God breaks free!"

Anette skipped up and tugged on his arm, like an insistent child with an important problem. "But Uncle Brann," she said helpfully. "You just said you're still exploring Uldaman. Yoggy could break free before we've even searched the antechambers."

"Did you just give the greatest force of evil on Azeroth a cutesy nickname?" Nova asked.

Bronzebeard suddenly roared and they both fell silent and turned to him, startled. "I don't have time fer this! If ye sneaky types can get into the facility an' do some good then do it, otherwise get out of my sight!"

"We can," Nova assured him. "We'll just find a data repository and find a map of the facility." He paused. "On that note, how do you feel about looting?"

Bronzebeard snorted. "I feel like the world's about ta end and I don't really give a damn if ye pick up some trinkets on the way ta stopping the threat! More importantly, would ye be able to use the titan systems if ye found 'em?"

"Sure. Earthen systems aren't much different from dwarf systems, and I know all about hacking into dwarvish security from a job I did in Blackrock Spire robbing the dark iron treasury."

Anette giggled. "Oh, you're using that tone. That means this story is going to be an entertaining fabrication from start to finish."

Bronzebeard threw up his hands again. "What do I care anyway? I'll send my friend Deepnotch with ye. He's a sneaky type so he won't get in yer way. An' I suppose the druid'll be going too?"

"If it's where I can do the most good," Anasar said helpfully from where he was lounging by the door, much like a cat. He was even eating some sort of sandwich made with little sardines. As Bronzebeard stalked away Nova gave the night elf a thoughtful look. He'd heard druids were completely obsessed with Sentinel strange, and night elf society in general wasn't much for switching teams. At least where the men were concerned; since the Sentinels spent thousands of years sitting around in trees with no men around they had to find some way to entertain themselves. Nova knew that firsthand, although the Sentinels he'd spied on had been less than amused when they literally caught him with his pants down.

Still, he wondered if Anasar would be up for it. With those bulky forearms he probably had a grip like a python.

The druid returned his uncomfortably long, borderline lascivious stare with aplomb. "Well even if the dwarf's leaving, I'm still interested in your story. Even if it is an entertaining fabrication from start to finish."

Nova gathered up his wounded dignity. "My recountings of events are completely truthful. If my dear Anette chooses to view them as lies and miss out on valuable life experience then that's her problem."

His young ward threw up her hands. "Every single tale involves you murdering the enemy leader in the middle of a his army surrounded by a squad of bodyguards and slipping away, then finding and deflowering one or more maidens."

"And there's some part of that you find difficult to believe?"

Anette jutted her hip out coquettishly and rested one fist on it while she glowered at him beneath an arched eyebrow. "Please don't tell me your tale of an evil dwarf bank heist set in a mountain infested with demon orcs, black dragons, and dark iron worshipers of Ragnaros the Firelord involves sex."

Nova hesitated, then shrugged. "I had to get the security layout and access codes from that technician somehow."

"You seduced a dwarf maiden?" she shouted incredulously. "I find that difficult to believe. You're not nearly hairy enough to interest them."

"I didn't say it was a maiden, did I?"

Anasar whistled softly, and Anette's eyes widened with horror. "You didn't! With a male?"

"You know I take it wherever I can get it. And I have to say those shortstacks pack some pretty hefty equipment." Nova winked to Anasar in hopes he'd get the hint, but the night elf never lost his slightly amused expression as he continued munching on his sandwich.

Anette's arched eyebrow raised a notch. "Are you saying you were on the receiving end?"

Nova arched his own eyebrow in amusement at her tone. "Of course. If I was interested in pitching I'd find a female. If I'm going to be with a male why not enjoy what they can offer that the fairer sex can't?"

Her nose wrinkled. "I'm not sure I'll feel the same about rimming you, now."

Anasar made a strangled noise, and they looked over to find him choking on a sardine. "Don't mind her, she's got a severe potty mouth. I don't know where she gets it from."

"I must apologize for my confusion," the night elf said when he could talk again. "I'd been led to believe you were her guardian, not her lover."

Nova sighed. "She says stuff like that to tease me, but we're not lovers."

Anette's stubby pointed ears perked and nearly quivered. "Did I hear an unspoken "yet" at the end of that?"

He sighed again. "Anette, you're you and I'm me. All other questions of ethics and practicality aside, you riding my pole at some point or other was a foregone conclusion."

The tiny half-elf's hip slowly straightened and her arm dropped to hang loose. Her jaw was also hanging loose, making an astonished expression that somehow accomplished the impossible feat of making her look even younger than usual. "So after all my hints and outright offers, just out of the blue you finally say yes?"

For once Nova wasn't interested in a conversation being public. He pulled his ward aside. As soon as they stopped her legs clamped together and started to rub against each other in a decidedly unladylike fashion, and her eyes were dancing with excitement and sudden hope. Along with other, more sensual things that looked incongruous on such a deceptively childlike face. "I've been waiting for you to ask me, not your Persona," Nova told her quietly. He paused just long enough. "And I'm still waiting."

Her eyes became gigantic, and her legs froze as an expression of utter shock spread over her face. "My . . . Persona?"

He allowed himself a slight widening of his smile. "You didn't realize you used it on me, did you? It's how I know what you really want. What you need. It's how I can say no to you when it really matters."

Her shock turned to confusion. "I've never once heard you say no to me!"

"You've never heard me say the word," he clarified pointedly.

Her tiny face scrunched for a moment, then cleared as realization dawned. "You've been using your Persona on me, too!"

Nova chuckled, somewhat sadly, and brushed her cheek with his thumb. "Maiden sweet, my dear Anette. You use your Persona on me to get what you want. I use my Persona on you so you get what you need."

She slapped his hand away, dark eyes blazing. Literally. Huh, she didn't usually use fire; she almost looked like her mother there. "And if I told you right now, no deception, that I was ready for you to be my first?"

Nova let his smile drop for a rare moment. "Tell me you're ready."

Anette opened her mouth angrily, then paused. "I'm ready," she said, looking away.

Well that was a good sign. Anette's Persona always met your gaze, no matter how outrageous she was being. "Then we'll finish this talk once we're done here."

"No, we won't," she snapped. "We're going to be too busy being naughty to talk."

They made their way back to Anasar, who was polite enough to pretend they hadn't just talked about her deflowering in front of him. "So you seduced a, ah, dwarven gentleman to get the technical plans for the vault," the night elf said. "And what about the dwarven constructs that guard the trove 24/7?"

Hiezal shifted guiltily. "I distracted them."

"How?"

"It may have, ah, involved fellow conspirators who were not fully apprised of their role in the venture."

Anette's eyes widened. "Hiezal, no!"

"Hey it's not like that!" Hiezal protested. "Their death benefits were incredibly generous. Those goblins were thanking and cursing me at the same time!"

Anasar looked between them, his amused expression not faltering. "So what I'm to take away from your story is that you have the requisite technical competence for this job."

"Yep. I even have an earthen user ID from my stint in Uldaman. With any luck it'll work here too."

"And here comes Deepnotch with some real dwarvish technical expertise in case you fail," Anette said, waving at the black-haired dwarf all in leathers who was slipping their way. The dwarf waved back, none of his movements disturbing the various pouches tied tightly to keep them from shifting or making noise.

Nova gave her a wounded look. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"I said in case," she said, rolling her eyes. "Don't be such a prima donna just because you have competition now." She danced forward to introduce the party to the newcomer.

"All righ'," Deepnotch said after listening to her introductions and awkwardly disentangling himself from her inappropriate embrace. "Apart from the girl here we might survive. Or at least I will to tell them where to find your bodies."

"You seem awfully confident," Nova said lightly. "I like that, as long as it's well founded."

The dwarf glowered at him. "It's well founded."

"Then what's your story?"

"What's your story, Mr. Nosy?"

Nova smiled uneasily. "I'd rather not say."

Deepnotch nodded with satisfaction. "Right. Just so we're on the same page,wood elf."

Nova drew himself up in affront. "I beg your pardon? Do you even know the difference between a wood elf and a high elf?"

The dwarf hesitated. "I, uh . . . blood lines I guess?"

"No." He abruptly grinned. "About three mana crystals."

Dead silence met his words. Nova turned a hurt look towards Anette. "What, nothing? I was hoping at least you'd enjoy that."

The tiny half-elf had her head cocked to the side. "Oh I did, Hiezal. I was just waiting to see if there'd be a rimshot, because that was the most awful joke I've ever heard."

"But I nailed it for the situation, right?"

Anette sniffed. "With jokes like those that's all you'll be nailing." She turned and started for the entrance.

Nova trailed after her, scratching an ear in confusion. "I thought you couldn't wait to get in my pants."

"I was talking about Anasar!" she shouted over her shoulder. The night elf made another strangled noise, and the dwarf went red beneath his beard.

Nova shot an apologetic look Anasar's way as they followed his ward into the black tunnel. "Should I be uncomfortable about working with you?" the night elf said lightly.

"Of course not. I have no intention of nailing you. Remember what I just said?" Anasar gave him a quizzical look. "When it comes to male lovers I like catching, not pitching. Enjoying what they've got that the fairer sex doesn't and all that?"

The night elf answered by contorting down onto all fours, leaves swirling around him as he shifted into a midnight black nightsaber and padded ahead with more haste than was absolutely necessary.

"I'm open to trying it in cat form too!" he called after the disappearing figure.

. . . . .

"I'm booored," Anette whined in his ear. But she wasn't an idiot, so the words didn't carry past that.

Nova shot her an amused look. "We're crawling through the ventilation system of a titan facility, using every trick and skill available to us to avoid detection by iron dwarves, iron vrykul, and worse."

"I know. And we're too good at it. Nothing exciting has happened in over an hour!"

"You just exhausted your reserves carving a path through the guardians to get here. How much more excitement do you want?"

At about that time Deepnotch slapped Anette upside the head and Nova upside the shoulder, reminding them to shut the hell up with typical dwarvish diplomacy. They went in silence for a while, cutting through branching ducts, sliding down shafts, and occasionally huddling against the fierce hot wind that blew past. And all the while they dodged the earthen and mechagnomes patrolling the shafts, as well as a few titan constructs.

During one break while the furnace wind howled past Anette pressed her lips to his ear. "I've got a fish sandwich if you're hungry."

So his ward had begged food off the druid. Nova thought of the sardines he'd seen Anasar eating and made a face. He wasn't that hungry, yet. Besides, he had a long summer sausage in his pack he'd, ah, liberated from the Alliance stores back in Icecrown. "We'll eat later. You can share your sandwich, and I'll give you half a foot of sausage."

She shot him a surprised look, but seemed oddly happy as they continued on.

After a half hour more of making their way deeper and deeper into the bowels of Ulduar, they reached twin shafts that descended in a steep slope down into the earth, with no apparent difference aside from the wall that separated the two.

Here they stopped, listening for noises, testing the air, and discussing the routes quietly.

"I think we should go right," Anasar whispered. "There is an evil feel emanating from that direction, similar to one I have felt before. Within the Emerald Dream there is a Nightmare, influenced by the Old God N'zoth. This is of the same sort."

"We're not here ta hunt the Old God ourselves," Deepnotch argued. "We're just looking fer the maps ta Ulduar."

"We're looking for the maps so we can find Yogg-Saron's prison," Anasar shot back. "Why waste time doing the secondary objective when we can fulfill the primary one?"

"Because fer all we know that shaft could take us ta a dead end, near where we need ta go but as good as a thousand miles away fer all the good it does us!"

"Why would a ventilation shaft lead to a dead end? And who's to say the shaft on the right doesn't also lead to an archives where we can get our map? Since we don't know where we're going yet one way is as good as another, and a way that might lead us to our goal far better than any other."

The dwarf threw up his hands and turned a questioning look Nova's way. "I have no opinion," he said, stepping back. "If it has to come to a vote I'd prefer if you two would at least try to reach an agreement first." Taking Anette's hand, he led her back the way they'd came a discreet distance, although still within earshot.

"Why did you duck out of that?" Anette whispered. "We clearly need to go right."

"Dwarves, gnomes, humans, and others that suffered the Curse of Flesh are sensitive to Old God influences. Deepnotch is arguing against going that way out of fear, not reason. I'd like to see if reason can overcome that fear before we try to force him."

Anette took his hand and kissed his fingers. "Why Hiezal, that's surprisingly considerate of you."

They fell silent and waited. And waited, as Deepnotch's arguments continued unabated and Anasar's temper grew more and more frayed.

Nova tapped his foot impatiently, glaring at the night elf huddled almost double who was failing to direct the dwarf to the right course in spite of having reason on his side. "You know," he told Anette in a low voice. "I think I'm ready for that fish sandwich now."

"Goody!" Anette said, loud enough that their companions looked her way sharply. With an impish grin his ward flicked the ties to her pants loose and dropped them around her knees. Deepnotch whirled away with a mortified sound, although Nova noticed Anasar got a good eyeful before politely turning away as well.

Nova got an eyeful as well, although he did it around a facepalm. "I thought you were talking about actual food you'd begged off Anasar."

She giggled. "Anasar doesn't have a fish sandwich." At his flat look she gave an innocent shrug, making the wide collar of her shirt slip over her shoulder and down her arm to expose a nipple in what in this case probably wasn't an accident. When that didn't generate a response she gave an exasperated sigh. "I mean he already ate it." At his even flatter look she glared. "Hey, you're the one who changed innuendo to an actual discussion about food."

"Could you two keep it down?" Anasar hissed. Nova noticed him sneaking not-so-subtle peeks at Anette over his shoulder, the horny hibernating bastard.

"Pull your pants up," Nova said. "What have I told you about exposing yourself in public?"

"Only do it if you can get away with it?" she answered innocently. "Although this place is as close to not being public as possible." But she pulled her pants up and nimbly tied the ties. "So when you offered me your sausage earlier . . ."

"Actual food." Nova sighed. "Believe me, I'm looking forward to having intimate carnal knowledge of you just as much as you are. I just don't want to do it with a disapproving dwarf and a randy druid looking on."

"Come on, Hiezal, I know you. Of course you do."

"Not for our first time!"

Deepnotch and Anasar abruptly nodded to each other and both pointed to the right shaft. "We go that way," they said in unison.

As they continued on Deepnotch dropped back to glare at them. "Lemme guess. Ye planned that embarrassing display just so I'd agree ta go the tall purple bastard's way, didn't ye?"

In answer Anette slipped between them and took both their hands. "I should've realized you were talking about real food with your sausage. You're more than six inches."

Nova watched Deepnotch yank his hand free and stalk forward, nearly quivering with outrage. "Of course, dear heart," he said, leaning down to kiss the top of her raven-haired head. "I wouldn't have the reputation I have otherwise."

She slipped her arm through his and leaned against his elbow. "I said more, Hiezal. I didn't say way more."

. . . . .

It turned out Deepnotch was a little right in his arguments. After about ten minutes of descending the shaft they were in dead-ended in a vent in the ceiling of a huge cavern, green and vibrant with life. The air rising up past them was moist and filled with the rich scents of wet earth and growing things.

Unfortunately many of those growing things were mobile plants with a decidedly unfriendly look, lashers and pollen belchers and treants and ancients. In the midsts of the vast garden a single giantess strode, what little of her slate gray skin could be seen beneath her simple woven dress looking smooth and, Nova had to admit, highly erotic in spite of her daunting size.

"Hey!" Anette hissed. "That's Freya! We saw her in Sholazar Basin, didn't we?"

"We saw her avatar," Nova corrected.

Anette smirked. "Didn't you try to seduce her?"

"Why am I not surprised?" Anasar muttered.

Anette danced on the lip of the vent. "Let's go down there! I bet we can get her help like we did in Sholazar."

The night elf caught her arm, eyes intent on the giantess. "I don't think that's a good idea," he said quietly. "This Freya is not her avatar. We would be wise to avoid her."

Nova scratched his ear. "That might be hard considering the only way to go from here is rappelling down in plain view of that entire cavern." He paused and clapped Deepnotch on the shoulder. "Assuming our good dwarf here thought ahead and brought rope."

Deepnotch glared. "I did. Ye can be glad one of us did."

"Which still leaves the problem of drawing the ire of every single enemy below the moment we pop into view," Anasar pointed out.

Anette stepped forward with a smile, stretching her neck and popping her knuckles. "I've got this."

Nova grinned. "Do you? You've always been lazy in your arcane pursuits."

She turned a glare his way. "Invisibility is my specialty, Hiezal."

"I wish inaudibility was," Deepnotch muttered. Anasar snickered.

Anette graced them both with a level look, then closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. "Get the rope ready, I'll need to do it too."

A few minutes later the invisible rope snaked down. They had no way of knowing whether it reached the ground besides Deepnotch's word. "Has anyone considered how difficult it's going to be to climb down an invisible rope?" Nova whispered.

Anasar glanced at him. "Not difficult? You're going to be in constant contact with it."

"Says the one who's going to fly down as an invisible stormcrow to guard our landing," Nova shot back. Anasar was already in the midst of shifting, and once he'd finished morphing into a handsome monstrous blackbird he opened his beak wide and graced Nova with a rude, if somewhat quiet, shriek. A moment later the bird winked out of view, and he heard two soft wingbeats and then a very slight rustling sound as Anasar glided down.

A tired-looking Anette tugged on his hand. "I've got your back," she said.

"Good to hear it."

"No I mean you're going to give me a back ride as we descend. This is going to be hard enough as it is."

Nova obligingly shifted his pack around and helped her get up. She didn't weigh enough to be a burden, although he'd probably feel different halfway down a descent of hundreds of feet. Deepnotch grasped what Nova hoped was the invisible rope and nodded at them, and a moment later winked out of sight. He heard a soft cursing and a bit of rustling and then silence. Then it was his turn to find the rope. He'd only gone invisible once before, last time with Saire, and it was just as disconcerting this time to watch himself vanish from view.

After a bit of scrabbling with hands he couldn't see for a rope he couldn't see he caught hold of it, and with a soft warning to Anette swung down and out into open air, dangling hundreds of feet up. Sincerely hoping Deepnotch wasn't taking his sweet time, Nova looped the rope around his right glove for a brake, grasped it between his feet and in his left hand, and began to slide down.

Unlike being invisible, rappelling down a rope was something he'd done enough to excel at, and conscious of an invisibility spell that couldn't last more than a minute he dropped at a quick pace, only slowing down when he was afraid he might lose control. It seemed like Deepnotch was not slouch either, because he never slammed into the dwarf's head feet-first as they slid down.

About fifty feet from the ground he saw a bird flickering into view below, and at thirty feet saw Deepnotch already on the ground coming into view. Nova dropped quickly the rest of the way and touched down just as he, his ward, and the rope started to flicker.

With a nod to the others he bolted for the nearest cover, still carrying Anette, as he heard a cry of alarm from somewhere on the other side of the cavern. "I thought you could do the rope for longer," he hissed.

"I did too," she hissed back, dropping to the ground. Without waiting to see how the others did Nova guided her into the foliage of some sort of palm-ish bushes and began focusing on moving unseen and unheard towards the nearest doorway they'd seen. He had no way of knowing whether that way led farther down or back the way they came, but at the moment that wasn't his primary concern.

Somewhere in the distance he heard a ululating cry, like a beautiful thirty foot tall bull. A moment later he heard a screech and saw the vent up above warping and the rope it was tied to taut and jerking back and forth violently. Then the rope snapped and fell out of sight.

Given the nature of their pursuers, Nova thought it was probably a good idea to drop several noxious, unpleasant powders on their tracks to throw off the noses or other senses of any pursuers. Operating under the same idea, he saw Deepnotch fit a round ball to a sling and whip it high into the air. He covered Anette's eyes and squeezed his own shut just before blinding white overwhelmed the green light around them, and he heard several snarls.

"Excellent idea," he snapped as the dwarf caught up. "You going to blind a bunch of plants with life sense?"

"And stinging their nonexistent noses is any better?"

Doing their best to sprint and stay hidden both, they broke cover near the tunnel and leapt inside it. He heard an arcane reverberation and saw Anette appear twenty yards ahead, completing a blink spell, and even as she glanced back she broke into a full sprint and shimmered back into invisibility.

All right, then. She'd be their scout.

Anasar bolted past in cat form not long afterwards, his pelt mottled brown and green like an odd tiger, and with a sharp snap sound Deepnotch zipped ahead on rocket boots. Which left Nova in the rear with nothing but good old-fashioned sprinting until his lungs burst.

Just before he rounded the bend he felt the ground vibrating and turned to see an ancient halted at the tunnel's entrance, too big to fit inside and blocking it off with its vast bulk. Hopefully the stupid thing would defy the legendary wisdom of its kind and stay there to foul the path of pursuers.

He didn't have time to more than think that thought before the ancient was ripped away and Freya filled the entryway, so large that she had to duck slightly to fit in the tunnel.

Shit. Nova turned and went flat out as fast as his legs could carry him.

From up ahead he heard metallic roars and bellows, and rounded a corner to see a dozen iron dwarves and two iron vrykul approaching around two hundred yards away down the long, long corridor. Only fifty feet away Anette had stopped by a grate, only twice as tall as she was, and was frantically running hands limbed with frost around its edges.

Nova turned to see Freya bent almost double and taking long, thundering steps after him. "Hurry it up, dear heart!" he shouted as he pelted for them.

Anette grimaced his way and shoved her palm flat against the grate, sending a wave of fire out. It shattered in front of her, flying away, and she ducked inside with Deepnotch and Anasar right behind. Nova threw himself in behind them, dancing around the bundled sticks of dynamite the dwarf dropped at his feet.

He glanced at the fuse, cursed, and darted down the dark shaft after his companions.

This shaft was different than the ventilation ducts they'd been going through before. Smaller, for one thing, and kept chilly. Rather than for air flow, this space looked as if it was meant to house a bundle of fat cables stretching over their heads. In the desperation of outpacing the dynamite blast he didn't have much time for contemplation, but after the ground rocked beneath their feet and dust fountained up the shaft behind them he dropped to the ground and stared up at the cables blankly.

Anette sprawled down atop him, head resting on his chest. "Well that sucked," she said.

"It's probably not time to talk about it in the past tense quite yet," Anasar warned as he shapeshifted back to night elf form and leaned against a wall panting. "We don't know whether-"

His words ended in a grunt as a balled up shape like a dead metal spider slammed into his back and knocked him sprawling. Nova lurched to his feet, shoving Anette aside to draw his weapons, and saw Deepnotch drawing a pair of handaxes on the other side of the shaft. Atop a prone Anasar the metal spider-like shape uncoiled into something with two arms and two legs and a small round head, like a ludicrous stick figure of gleaming silvery metal. As Nova watched the fingers of the figure's rudimentary hands came together to create pyramidal wedges with sharp tips. Eerily silent aside from a soft click of metal on metal, the construct charged.

Nova whipped his sword at the closest leg as it passed, only to have his weapon knocked from his grip. Their attacker barely stumbled as it continued forward, swinging its pointed wedge-hands at Deepnotch's chest. Whatever it was made of, the alloy was dense and heavy.

To his credit the dwarf managed to evade the first blows, landing a few hits with his axes that didn't even dent the metal. Then a sideswipe sent him sprawling, cursing up a blue streak as the construct turned to Anette.

A ball of ice the size of Nova's fist hit it square in its round head, shattering and spreading the frost down those frozen limbs. He turned to see his maiden sweet's eyes glowing red as flame engulfed her fingers, and felt a surge of hope at seeing her using the same strategy that had shattered the other constructs they'd faced.

That hope was dashed as the stick figure's slowed movements abruptly sped up, its silvery metal abruptly glowing a deep red. Nova could feel the heat waves rippling off it. It raised one smoking wedge to crush Anette flat, and seeing it the tiny half-elf yelped, turned to face down the shaft, and vanished in a blink, reappearing in a stumble twenty yards away.

Leaving Nova to face the construct alone. He grinned at the smooth metal sphere that made up its head. "All right."

The left wedge came for his head even as the construct contorted oddly and sent the right wedge sweeping for his knees. Nova ducked the blow to his head and leaped up and to the side, pulling his legs up over the second blow. As he flew he slammed his dagger against the spherical head, but the blow glanced away uselessly.

Nova landed in a roll and came up in time to duck another blow, then throw himself into a backwards roll as the construct abruptly flung itself at his chest, curling into a ball in midair. As soon as he hit the ground he redirected his roll to the side and his balled enemy hit the ground farther on and started to roll away. It uncurled just long enough to crouch on all fours and spring at him again, curling into a ball for its flight, and Nova got ready to dodge yet again.

Before he could a monstrous shape lumbered past him, catching the ball with a grunt against its chest and enfolding it in two enormous paws. The construct started to uncurl again, and the massive bear flung it to the ground, closed his jaws around the stick-like legs, and did his best to pin the two wedge-hands with his own massive paws.

Leaving the head exposed.

Deepnotch staggered to his feet, looking equal parts unsteady and furious, and bolted forward to begin slamming his axes against the dense sphere. Nova joined him with his own sword, aiming his hits at the juncture of sphere and stick-spine in an attempt to lop the head off. He heard a grunt as the construct kicked one leg free and began lashing at the bear's head, but Anasar stubbornly held on. One of the arms slipped free of the druid's big paws next, but Nova caught it on the edge of his sword, holding the weapon at the hilt and the tip, and using all his strength shoved the arm back long enough for Anasar to pin it again.

With a sharp snap Deepnotch went flying backwards, the axehead flying off his left handaxe, but the construct's sphere now sported a deep dent in it, with a shallow scratch down the middle. The construct abruptly curled into a ball again, not even Anasar's best efforts preventing the motion. The druid picked up the ball in his paws and lifted to stand on his hind legs, and this time as the construct uncurled its head popped out right into the bear's waiting mouth. Clutching the construct's body with his paws and the head in his jaws, Anasar snarled and jerked wildly, using all his massive strength to try to rip the sphere off. Nova heard a few metallic pops and pings, then a sudden metallic screech as the head came free, spitting sparks from a few wires dangling where it had connected to the body.

With a last heave the druid spat the head into a waiting paw and flung it down the shaft. Then he dropped the body and collapsed atop it with a groan.

In the tense silence that followed Nova listened, both for the sounds of iron dwarves pouring into the shaft through whatever wreckage Deepnotch's dynamite had caused, and for any sound of the construct continuing to function. But he heard nothing.

With a groan he dropped down to rest his back against the bear. He could feel Anasar's chest rising and falling like a bellows beneath him, which was a relief. "Will you be my best friend?" he asked. The only response was an agonized cough from the druid that shook his entire massive body.

A movement down the shaft turned his head, and he saw Anette approaching with her arms full of . . . nothing. Except it wasn't nothing, since as she moved he saw slight ripples along whatever it was she carried. "Guys, I think I know how that asshole snuck up on us," she said solemnly.

Deepnotch slumped down against Anasar on the other side. "I don't really care how, lassie."

"You will when you see it." Anette shook the thing she held out like a sheet, and the air in front of her rippled in a rough rectangle for a moment. Then she twirled the object with a flourish like she was putting a cloak around her shoulders and stood perfectly still. A moment later she vanished.

Nova cursed, springing to his feet. "An invisibility cloak?" To say those were worth their weight in gold was like saying King Varian was a pretty important fellow. He only knew of the existence of a handful, and they worked on activation for minutes tops with days of cooldown required between uses.

His ward's head reappeared, shaking. "Not quite. I'm not detecting any arcane residue from it. I think it uses projection technology."

"Projection?" Nova demanded. "How the hell would that work?"

"If it has a bunch of recording devices to record whatever's on the opposite side of the cloak, and projection devices to project that image, then it would look like there's nothing in between. You can do the same thing with mirrors if you get the angles right."

"This is a damn sight more complicated than mirrors," Nova protested.

"Well duh. It was made by titans, wasn't it?" She danced sideways, staring down at herself as she rippled. "It looks like there's a delay between recording and projection, so you'd either have to move slowly or deal with a rippling effect."

"That's all well an' good," Deepnotch said. Nova thought he was going to bitch about getting on with their mission or something, and was pleasantly surprised. "The real question is, who gets ta keep it?"

They fell silent. An invisibility cloak. Or titan projection or whatever, was the holy grail of rogue equipment. Nova wasn't saying he'd kill to get his hands on something like this, but he'd definitely lie, cheat, steal, and mortally wound.

Deepnotch cleared his throat. "I think I could get the most use out o' it. An' it would probably fit me best."

Nova snorted in disbelief. "Fit you best? You're a short, wide dwarf, it was a stick figure of moderate height. If anyone it would fit Anette best."

"She don't need something ta make her invisible, she's a damned mage!" Deepnotch protested.

"Fair point. In which case I would probably get the most use out of it and it would fit me best," Nova said.

With a growl that morphed into a scream Anasar shifted into a huddled shape on the ground, his rib cage looking squashed out of shape beneath his thick slabs of muscles. For a while he lay there, panting in controlled agony, before he whispered. "I hate to interject selfishness into this discussion of looting protocol, but seeing as how the person who actually killed the monster has no hope of survival save a lengthy rejuvenation process, which will surely not be complete before our pursuers manage to clear the debris and give chase, I believe in fact I have the most need of it."

Nova shared looks with Anette and Deepnotch. It was clear none of them wanted to admit to that logic. "False gods damnit," Nova muttered. He snatched the cloak from Anette's shoulders and tossed it over the prone druid. "Since we're talking about doing the right thing I suppose we'll have to come back for you after the mission's finished, too."

"I would certainly appreciate it," Anasar gasped through a sudden spasm of pain. "On that note, how exactly are we supposed to accomplish our mission? We've alerted the nearby guardians to our presence and we still have no idea where we're going."

"I wouldn't say that," Nova said. "Think about it. We just fought a fairly high level construct, the kind you might see placed to protect something important. And those cables running overhead look like they're carrying power, and possibly transmitting data. Just the sort of thing you'd see leading to . . ."

Anette clapped her hands. "An archives! Just where we need to go!"

Nova kissed his fingers and pressed them to the cables overhead. "Luck. The only god I believe in."

. . . . .

When they left Anasar there was still no hint of pursuit clearing away the damage Deepnotch's dynamite had done, but they still moved as quickly as possible through the shaft, following it for what seemed ages. At times they passed branching corridors and intersections, but since the cables only went one way they followed them. Finally the way forward ended at a grate similar to the one Anette had blasted through, the cables disappearing into the wall, and Nova peered through.

"Yep, it's some sort of archive. Hurry and open it up?"

His ward shot him a dirty look. "You're the lockpicking expert, but of course you use the person who has to spend a hefty chunk of her reserves every time as your key."

Nova gestured broadly. "I don't see any lock." That earned him a dirty look, and for a moment he was afraid the cold bluish-white clouding her vision and the frost dancing around her fingertips was for him. Anette wasn't her mother, however, and soon the grate shattered out into the room in a thousand pieces.

As they entered the archive Nova had an eerie sense of deja vu. There was almost no similarity between Naaru and titan construction or technology aside from the projections both used, and yet he could almost see the draenei technicians working frantically before he arrived to cut them down. The projection banks here were either blank or showed random scenes from Ulduar in a repeating pattern, but he could imagine them showing Lokiv's nether drakes swarming, the satellites breaking away, the draenei mages on the Exodar desperately loosing spells and having spells loosed at them in turn.

Nova tore his mind from such thoughts with a shudder. That had been a long time ago, and all the culprits of that tragedy were dead. Some by his own hand. Better to focus on the present.

His eyes fell on Anette, her midnight hair bobbing as she darted forward to examine the nearest console. And the future, whatever it held.

Among the few working projections he saw an image of the outer courtyard. Either it wasn't current or Bronzebeard had already got everyone inside, because all he saw were iron dwarves and iron vrykul roaming. You had to look close to see the bodies littering the ground, and the absence of the dome above. Current, then.

"Please enter access code."

Anette squeaked and jumped backward, staring at the projection as it came to life and displayed a three-dimensional titan's head staring at her. "Um, Hiezal?"

"Don't worry," he said calmly. "Failure to provide proper login will only result in the activation of automated defenses."

"Hiezal?" she said, even more uneasy.

Nova laughed and faced the titan head. "Login Overseer Togglesprocket, access C4S2AT23B412."

There was a sound like a mechanized bull being castrated. "Access denied. Two more attempts before automated defenses activate."

"Hiezal?" Anette said, almost frantically.

Nova slapped his forehead. "Oh, sorry. Login Overseer Togglesprocket, access C4S2AT23C412."

There was an almost angelic gong. "Welcome, Overseer Togglesprocket. I trust you had a pleasant journey from the Uldaman remote facility."

"Delightful." Nova leaned against the doorway, crossing his arms in satisfaction.

His companions stared at him. "How the hell did you get that?" Anette demanded.

"Stole it. Obviously."

"Where?" Deepnotch said, spluttering slightly. "How?"

Nova ignored him and turned back to the display. "Interface. I need a map of Ulduar, please."

There was a slight pause. "Please provide necessary data and interface parameters."

The hell? "Um, a complete map, please."

There was a much longer pause. "Understood. Utilizing all projection units to complete request."

Immediately every single projection in the room came to life with almost blinding intensity. Some showed floor to ceiling lines of text in some alien, probably titan, script scrolling faster than the eye could read, some showed endless expanses of tiny blueprints with carefully detailed legends and more script crammed into every free space. Nova walked to the closest projection that showed blueprints and touched one of the tiny squares, only to have it expand to fill the entire projection, still crammed full of text. From what he could see of its shape it was a tiny utility closet of some kind.

"Um, that might be too complete," Anette said, staring around with wide eyes.

Nova ignored her too. "Interface. I need a portable map unit to guide me through the facility."

The projection directly in front of him shimmered to display a simple, easy to interpret three-dimensional map, showing his location as a green dot with a green line cutting through various rooms and corridors to the location. "The closest mapping units can be found in visitor room C in the genetic sequencing wing. If you cannot remember the route a guidance aid on the ceiling can be activated to lead-"

"We can find it," Anette said hastily, turning for the door. "Let's go, Hiezal."

"I'll catch up in a minute," Nova said, waving them on. "I want to shut this down so pursuit has a harder time following us." Anette gave him a suspicious look, but she knew from experience that he was stalling for an opportunity to loot or do something else devious, so she led Deepnotch out the door in the direction the map indicated.

Rather than order the required wipe Nova leaned forward over the console, feeling a bit like the naughty schoolboy he'd been a lifetime ago, peeking through a hole cut in the wall of the girl's showers. "Computer. Project human."

The holographic display shimmered, but nothing happened. "Error," the impassive voice responded, somehow managing to sound reproachful. "Invalid command. Term "human" unknown."

Nova swore, rubbing his chin for a moment, then brightened. "Computer, project construct archetype 4."

The display shimmered and a massive, metallic creature with a beard and blue runes tracing its form appeared at its center, towering over Nova. Life sized. "Construct designation "iron vrykul" displayed."

"Now we're cooking with hot oil," Nova said, rubbing his hands together. "Extrapolate curse of flesh."

The display shimmered again and the metallic sheen faded, the figure acquiring skin distorted by bulging muscles and thick, bristly hair. It was clothed in crudely cured furs.

Now to see if these databanks were remotely up to date. "Extrapolate primary divergent adaptation."

The display shrunk down until the figure was roughly the same height as Nova, bearing a human's usual coarse, heavy features. More delicate than a vrykul's naturally, but still brutish compared to an elf. It still bore fur clothing.

Excellent. "Extrapolate gender female." The display shrunk slightly and shimmered, hair lengthening and features becoming more delicate. The furs hugged curves in the desired places. Nova grinned. "Extrapolate unclothed."

The clothing vanished, and Nova began circling the display, eying it appreciatively. "Hey baby," he said. "They call me Nova, because my explosion shatters your world. How about you and me-"

"What the hell are you doing, Hiezal?"

Nova jumped. "Terminate display!" he yelped. Then he turned sheepishly towards the door. "Nothing," he told Anette in his most innocent tone.

She pouted at him. False gods, he should've never let her catch on to how her adorableness melted him like butter! "We're just about to finally hook up like I've been waiting years for! What does that computerized bimbo have that I don't?"

"Boobs and bush," he replied promptly. Her expression darkened dangerously and Nova threw up his hands. "Hey, not saying I'm into that! I just like to explore, that's all."

His lover sniffed. "Extrapolate something else you won't be into anytime soon," she said, turning away. That was a hollow threat if ever he'd heard one. "Come on, Deepnotch is waiting."

Nova waited until she was gone then turned back to the computer, pitching his voice to a whisper. "Computer, confirm existence of portable projection units."

"Confirmed."

"Show nearest repository."

Like before the display shimmered to a three-dimensional map, showing his location as a green dot with a green line cutting through various rooms and corridors to the location. Nova quickly memorized the route. "Confirm portable projection units can perform last requested sequence of extrapolations."

"Last requested sequence of extrapolations is well within portable projection unit parameters."

"Can it extrapolate mating?"

"Affirmative."

Nova grinned and hurried out of the room, pausing at the doorway. "I'll be seeing you soon, baby," he said to the empty display. Glancing in the direction Anette and Deepnotch had taken, he went for the nearest source of cover in the direction he was going to escape unfriendly eyes, which in this case also included his maiden sweet.

There were those who might've questioned his sanity, or at least his priorities, going for such a trivial thing while surrounded by enemies, and leaving his beloved ward in potential danger to do so. But was it really such a trivial thing? Where else on Azeroth was he going to find three-dimensional realtime representations of attractive creatures making the beast with two backs? Outside of illicit spying or costly shows, of course.

No, the personal show he was about to score would make him the envy of all his peers. He could extrapolate blonds, brunettes, redheads, high elves, night elves, trolls, dwarves, gnomes, tauren, humans, vrykul, maybe even titans. Anything the system had data on.

The empty corridors of the Titan facility whispered the sounds of enemies in other hallways, so quiet was it that even those slight scuffles and muted whispers seemed loud. It would be no surprise if the iron dwarves and vrykul and mechagnomes and other constructs could find them from entirely other areas, when the slighest patter of feet would alert them in this sepuchral silence. But Nova's own movements betrayed not a single whisper of sound to alert an enemy to his presence, and to their credit neither did Anette's or even Deepnotch's.

However, the closer he got to the area he was searching for, the more he became of noises not produced by the expected sources. Muttered curses, thumps, clearly enunciated commands. All muted by a closed door up ahead and to the right that Nova was becoming more and more certain led to the area he needed to be.

He slipped up to it, entered a command on the panel for the door to open a crack, and the automated system quickly responded.

Within the room was another Titan system, similar to the one Nova had just left but with smaller terminals and much, much larger projection screens. Some sort of data processing center? At the nearest terminal a figure in heavy, dark saronite plate armor leaned forward, glaring at a smaller projection. Ash-white hair escaped the heavy horned helm to form a waterfall down the figure's back nearly to the waist, starkly displayed on the black velvet cloak he wore. One ear nearly as pale as the figure's hair stretched up long and slender on his left side, and as the knight turned his head slightly the other was revealed, stubby and human.

A half-elf, and one with an odd genetic mixture to produce one ear of either side of his heritage. Unfortunately Nova recognized the features the human ear was attached to all too well, even though they hadn't been so pale when last he saw them.

The pale of undeath, and by the markings on his armor a member of the Knights of the Ebon Blade.

The half-elf slammed a saronite-plated fist down at the terminal, but in an impressive display of control managed to stop himself just before striking the sensitive equipment. "Void's empty clutch!" he snarled. "How can you not know the location? You're a construct of the Pantheon. Your masters travel the Great Dark Beyond. They go everywhere and know everything. Their champion even battled the Nathrezim in the time before time, and doubtless you've encountered them since. How can you not know?"

A female voice responded, sounding particularly patient. "Error. Requested information not found in databanks. User clarifications insufficient to refine query."

The death knight whirled away, and Nova froze against the door as he began pacing. "Curse these advanced systems! I don't have the proficiency to use them properly even if I did know they had what I needed!" He tore his blade free and slammed it into the ground, leaning over it. Dark runes were edged from tip to hilt, gleaming dully with a dark red light. "The knowledge to create a world at my fingertips, and the first time in my life I've felt a fool!"

Nova edged away and entered the command for the door to close again, leaning against it. It certainly wasn't unmanly to admit his legs felt a little weak, given the enemy on the other side of those few feet of steel and polished stone.

Gods damn, of all the people to encounter in here. He must have come with the neutral factions, and had the same idea as them about sneaking in and doing his own snooping. It was damn lucky they hadn't encountered him up on the courtyard during the battle to get into the facility.

So what was he supposed to do now? Did he flee while the opportunity presented itself, or try to sneak up on the undead creature and open his throat? He'd fought beside the Ebon Blade on numerous occasions and called many of them friends, at least as much as an unliving monstrosity could be called a friend. But for this particular one, well, a knife was in the offing.

What the hells was that little shit, or more fairly now quite large and imposing shit, doing here? How did he even get in?

The death knight's voice drifted through the door. "Gods damnit, all I want is to find him! Find where Nex-thanarak is so I can kill him!"

Ah, that's what he was doing here. Why was Nova not surprised?

"Attempting to process query as presented."

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Error, command not recog-"

The patient computer voice was interrupted by an inarticulate bellow of rage and frustration. The door abruptly hissed open behind Nova, and before he could leap away a force like a vise of infinitely cold steel clamped around his throat and yanked him backwards. He scrabbled his feet against the stone floor as he went, cursing the failure of his armor's latent wards against cold and shadow. His struggles were to no avail: within moments his arms were gripped by saronite gauntleted fingers, cold even in this warm place, and he was slowly turned.

The half-elf was slightly taller than him, marking his human heritage perhaps, and broader and more muscled. In his eyes rage burned like a frozen fire. "It seems we're ever doomed to meet where I least expect it, Nova," the death knight hissed. "Didn't you figure out last time that you couldn't sneak up on me? I can hear your heartbeat from a mile away, feel the heat of the very blood in your veins."

Nova shrugged his shoulders awkwardly in that viselike grip. "Hey, no one ever accused me of being intelligent. Although to be fair I wasn't trying to kill you this time." He tried his most winning smile. "Hey, we're even on the same side!"

Ilinar Montfere, exile, traitor, death knight, and currently a respected and influential member of the Knights of the Ebon Blade, slowly released him with one hand and reached back to retrieve his runeblade embedded in the floor.