I see the girl Sprocket, and Poe Allen. I aim my pistol and fire.

POe flies back, stunned.

"Sprocket, come with me." I say as I slip into an ally, and throw a small flying robot into the air. "Elliot has gone mad." 

~Senator Faye

I slip away as soon as the council is adjourned. My orders are clear. Not that I have any doubts. Sprocket was only a teen with a bit of talent. Enough to make her big-headed it seems.                  Night is falling as I stand in the cool shade of a deserted alley. Satisfied there is no one around, I lift an aether-speaker to my mouth.   "Manning, pick me up immediately" I say in a hushed tone, still alert for eavesdroppers. "I have an urgent assignment to fill out" 

Sorry, that's all I could do for now. 

I run after the girl and grab her shoulder. "Wait," I say. "You shouldn't be doing this. They want me dead." As I said it, the words hit me with finality. I was back to being the outlaw again, back to running from the government. At least I had some back up this time.

That was the thing. When I had made the army, I had told the king that he had second in command control. The thing he didn't know was that I could turn it off, so that the only person controling the army was me. Just in case of situations like this.

I turn to the girl. "We need to get to Mazies. Now."

BIG HEAD!!!!!!!!!!??????!?!?!? What is wrong with you people???!!!? I have talents you know!!!!

Oh, this is good. She thinks I don't know about her controll. If only she knew the perfect weapins against Automatons: scions.

I walk up to Octavia, who is hovering above me.

"Master, Sprocket is all but dead. The spy is following her." I say. 

I walk into the city, making sure that my weapons are concealed. 

Get in, kill Sprocket, get out.

The war is making everyone shaky, and for the first time in my life, I am scared. No one is sane anymore.  

The boy has caught me slightly off guard, but I regain my gaze. 

"I'm sorry?" I ask. "I'm here to seek refuge. Why would I want to kill, what was it, Sprocket?" 

He nods and looks at me unconvincingly. "Well, I'll take you to the council for ones that aren't from here. Are you looking to become a permenent resident?"

"No," I reply. "I'm just going to stay here until I can get in touch with a friend."

"Right," he says. "Well, you'll still have to come with me."

I'm about to object when I realize that this is a test. He's seeing how I'll react. If I try to avoid him and the "council," that he's talking about, then I'll seem suspicious. But if I just play along....

"Okay," I reply. "That's fine."

He nods and walks off, motioning for me to follow him.

We walk along, and I look around at the city. It has random gears and clockwork placed within the walls of building and streets. Strange, but cool. I notice out of the corner of my eye an officer following me. I slowly glance over to my other side, and another officer trails along. I look at the boy, and his hand slightly rests on a weapon. He didn't trust me after all. 

I blink. Of course. That would be the perfect plan. Distract me with thoughts of power. Then kill me off. I sigh. "I don'the know what to do. They are sending Olympia, who is one of the best assasins. They will unleash scions onto my whole army and destroy all of my automatons." I laugh. "It seems like they are going though and awful lot of trouble just to see a 15 year old girl dead."

I turn to Angelena. What now? 

(Ah I want to help but don't know what to do!)

I sneaked up the ladder to the rafters after I exited the council meeting. Trillian greeted me and I told her what had happened in a whisper. Her expression grew into one of fury and we quietly slid down the ladder and scurried out into the streets of SailHaven. 

"Sprocket." I whisper. "Someone's following us." 

Angela looks around the street. I glance just in time to see two girls duck into an alley.

Sorry it's short. I'm really busy... 

We silently escort the girl down the street. I see her head slightly glance to my side. She then slowly moves her head to the other side, looking slightly at Milo. The girl then looks straight ahead at Poe Allen. He is ready. I press a button on my radio calling for more back-up. This is going to get rough.