Giganto, the city surrounded by a wall of mountains was the perfect defense. So much so Rote had every other location bear a similar ring. On the outskirts, however, stood vast fields of blue wrapped in brown sands. The very path that the duo took now. The most efficient way of traveling cheap were the landlines, bullet trains that followed branching tracks to dozens of destinations like the buses of yesteryear. Right next to the door both sat. Dynamo was relaxed, however, Lena was far from it. "So what are you gonna do if they ask for ID?"
"Hmm?" Dynamo perked his head. It was routine for PD units to check all machines for their register before and after stopping; security was already tight in destinations such as these. Dynamo waved his hand, "If they check I'll just run off before they do," that boisterous laugh earned the glares of the surrounding passengers. Lena felt embarrassed at the looks.
"Idiot, most machines even from a century ago have better equipment than you-you don't even have wings," she scolded, "Stop joking like that!" her hand met his skull. The only one hurt was her fingers from the metal cranium. Few giggles were shared in the moment, nothing else to do than idly wait for the bullet train to stop at its destinations. The final stop; almost nobody visited the Destria ruins anymore. Tourists and the occasional scientist looked upon the area with awe, but today wasn't one of those days. Midday had turned into the orange afternoon with the train empty with all but two.
"Hmm...looks like I'm in the clear," Dynamo held his head around the corner. Through the glass door he saw the station at the Destria ruins; just a small stage so it didn't take away from the site's glory. A blank building with no PD guard at the entrance. With lacking visitors, they made it through saving much time. Right out the station door were stacked stones cleaving a path through the sand. The curved route directed to the giant in the distance. A few minutes of walking brought you closer to every detail of what could only be termed an ancient tomb. A gallant set of iron gates anchored in the side of a hill like a temple with its many columns of iron rusted and worn. The craters of explosions long detonated still embedded into the mound. Nature reclaimed the land with blankets of moss, but this view was incomparable to what was within. Before the giant doors was a seal set by Rote, a spiral with three partings that met in the middle. Before that was a cage of electricity supported by magnetism. Not only that, but the cage had a defender as well.
"Is that umm…" Lena gulped at the slab which stood over both of them. An FG line mech loomed. One from the Little Mound line, a titan almost as tall as the mechanical god with a sharp body covered in armor thicker than men. Fresh off the manufacturing line with a shine on the white hull and yellow, human eyes. Though the beast far exceeded eight tons in weight, it was quite mobile with the systems employed by Dragnok. Especially with the kinetic rifles mounted on all corners of its frame with a plasma weapon within both arms; the culmination of ten thousand drams for a single unit stood before them with eyes of steel pinning down strangers.
"Yep, an unreleased updated version not on the markets," Dynamo wiped his nose before throwing caution to the wind. He didn't falter with the giant gun aimed at him. He poked the end of the magnetic net, swinging his arm side to side through the barrier. "Hello? Hurry up please,"
"Wait what are you!?-" Lena stepped away from the soon decommissioned droid...the Mound only bowed. The twist of a crank behind him lowered both fields leaving Lena blinking. Dynamo kept strutting past the mech with no issue, right through the opening and to the seal. He knocked on it three times.
"Hey what are you waiting for?" his knocks persisted, "I told you I had access, right?" he itched his scalp, "I can't remember, my memory banks are a bit corrupted," Lena couldn't tell if it was a joke or not, the childish smile he always wore didn't bode confidence either. She sighed and traced the path he followed, yelping once the guard moved again. "He won't hurt you unless you break in or something, any reason other than that and he'll get rebooted."
He had no fear in gently kicking the giant, "Yeah, be calm when I'm standing in front of something that resembles the ruler of this counter. Right, let me just walk through his legs while you go off about all these friends you have," Lena narrated all of her actions while readying her crossbow. The gate system wasn't complicated to unlock at all, but locks were meant to keep out honest men. Rote's heat was the key, the very flame he awarded to those worthy of forming a contract with him. It wasn't an exclusive deal like many, but the flame was much weaker. Even so, three bolts from her bow were enough to set off the mechanisms. They craned and whirred in synchronization as the segmented body retreated within itself until all that was left was the Dyson family crest. The crest halved as the seal opened.
"Speaking of all these supposed friends, why didn't you get some other fire user to open the door for you? Oh so amazing machine with these great connections."
Dynamo took in a deep breath. Coolant escaped the tips of the hooves, "Because it would be hindering if one of the units under the Swarm's payroll told Rote-Gigante of my actions," he walked headfirst into the ancient tomb. Aged by time, the Destria's handiwork was yet to succumb to rust. A slant lead downwards through the stone into a curved path etched in bullets with blots of grey that stood out.
"You're afraid that he'd decommission you?" Lena was puzzled, "Can't those bigshots in the PD protect you? There's little you can do against an order from the Dysons anyways-Hey!" Lena was too absorbed by the long-lost tragedy to see Dynamo stop in front of her. Her shoulder chipped his with eyes locked on the real lab entrance...well what remained. A pair of doors with a hole melted through it; above where everyone could see was the Destria creed. A wild red D wrapped within a badger, however, if it wasn't for history records Lena wouldn't be able to tell. It was desecrated with slashes decorating the outcropping. "That creed and the Dyson creed is similar…"
"Of course it would be, they're branching families," the monotonous voice from Dynamo was scarier than anything, " Aren't you a university graduate? Or has the world forgotten the branching families completely now?" He need not look back as he slid through the gaps.
"That's not what I was going on about smartass," she struggled to do the same, "It reminded me of the sigil when we-" a finger rested on her lip. Before another outburst, she took in the scene. Oh, how tragic was the once grand laboratory. Skeletons now fossils fused into the stone that fell from above. The melted remains of robots from Dynamo's time, never to be active again. This entire quadrant of the laboratory was one open area with dead led lights and decaying wool. Rubble and debris littered the path that he refused to walk down. Dynamo's eyes were sealed. "Hey...you okay?"
"The sigil hosted on the side of my crate? The one from last week?" for once, Dynamo showed his nature. When he spun to face her both eyes lacked any colors; she could see his circuitry through them like her external ones, "That was the crest of the allegiance that gave birth to my body," with the offerings of the damned gone he walked on with the anger in his tone. "Dig all you want. I guarantee that the Astarama Kosmik wiped the history crest off the earth, Vulcan's crest"
Vulcan...did something happen between the two? It was hard to tell, but this place was something to him, "During the dragonfall war I was constructed in Doubhain, but I was conceptualized in this very laboratory years prior by that man- in a sense, you can call this location my birthplace...these are where my friends now sleep," his voice gentler by the step. All to a singular body under a mound of stone. The fossilized remains were undisturbed by anything else. Oh how long he wished to greet the hand that met his under the sun, the hands that spent every day with him in that laboratory...but he couldn't. "It was during the collapse I was sent to the field, right out that main entrance…"
While they walked down the other hall, Lena remained uneasy from the heaps of bodies needing to be stepped around. Humans and robots weren't the only ones who called the laboratory their final resting place, but the invaders did as well. The ones who looked like humans on the outside, but held a third eye, muscles that weighed as much as a regular man, ears like knives with bones of gold. Dwarves. Those were the ones Dynamo had no issue crushing under his heel. In fact, he went out of his way to do just that. Lena wasn't too shocked seeing his age, he was created in a time where the dwarves were the most dominant power- even though they still existed and long paid their debts many still felt how he did, yet neither held cause. "So how were the dwarves back then, Mr. Living history?"
Dynamo scratched his chin for a moment before releasing a shrug. Hundreds of bones slept in the hall hugging mechanical men. Tight was the path without despair, "Just like how they are now I'm assuming, wanting the world and willing to sacrifice anyone but themselves, ready to kill their fathers and mothers if it meant something better for them, plotting a regime against Scutum Palladium in Brecknock possibly," his smile grew the more he slandered. Dwarves were a race destined to stay in the history books, "I pray Dwargon doesn't have any blood in this age, they'd sell out their own people for a single dram," it was clear that the unit tried to retain control. His tone becoming upbeat once more with eyes on the second door with the segmented seal. "Speaking of dwarves, I wonder how much coin a need to sell me out to the old red giant."
She thought for a moment with her brow risen, "Hmm…" she processed, "Everything and everyone has a price," she joked. Three arrows banged against the seal, "Keep me in your mind when you have a solid job and we're golden," her laugh hidden by the creak of metal. Something stunned her. All the steam. Once a fraction of the doors creaked open atomic steam jetted inside, the source at the head. More bolts appeared in her bow all aimed ahead. "What is it?"
She turned to her left to see nobody. Looking forward she saw another open chamber similar to one before. A mild pool sat on the ground with algae running wild on rust. Two people stood next to each other, one in shock. Fear and confusion locked with a few thousand pounds of force being applied to their skull by a rogue unit who wanted blood.