Ravenshawke

Theo grimaced under his mask as he glanced up at the large stone building in front of him, tugging gently on its long black beak as though it would let in some of the stuffy afternoon air. If he would've realized just who the client that tracked him down that morning was, maybe he would've declined. But damn, the monetary offer had seemed too good to be true, and wasn't he right about it.

Now, he stood in front of the clockwork brothel hardly down the street from his own workshop, wishing he could've taken a carriage instead of walking. He inhaled and set his mask back in place, getting a whiff of the dried rose petals he kept stuffed in the beak before grabbing the cast iron knocker and letting it fall. He shuddered at the hunk of metal shaped much too like a human hand, wishing he would not have worn his better pair of gloves that day.

A rather unsavory man opened the door and gave Theo a once-over, deciding that this must have been the famously eclectic mechanic his boss had hired earlier that day. He held up a finger to Theo before walking back inside, returning with a limp girl in his arms. Before he knew it, the mechanic had a clockwork girl slung across his shoulder and was vowing to burn the clothes he had on the second he set foot in the workshop.

Felicity sighed as she carried the brown paper package down the street. She though back to the man she had just smuggled into the city. She had helped him because he seemed honest and because she loved to anything that would get on the military's nerves, but when the time came for him to pay her fee, he had come back with nothing, like most foreign inventors she had helped. Instead, he had given her the small package she now carried under her arm.

"If I continue to take jobs like this, I'll have less money than when I started," she said to herself as she shifted the package to the other arm. But part of her knew that she could never stop taking jobs like that. She hated the way that the military treated foreigners. In a way, they reminded her of herself. She shook her head before her thoughts could wander back to past events.

Felicity glanced around and was surprised. Without realizing it she had wandered into the nicer part of town. She looked around at the enormous mansions that surrounded her. Eager to get her mind off foreigners and the military, she let her mind wander to her childhood, when she had lived in a mansion just like these. Lost in thought, she was caught off guard as a man wearing a medical mask hurried around the cast-iron fence surrounding a clockwork brothel. The two collided and the package was knocked to the ground.

"Sorry," he mumbled as he hurried past, not stopping in his rush to get to wherever he was going. Felicity's temper flared as she stooped to pick up the package. She turned around to call out to the guy and then stopped in surprise. The man had the body of a girl slung over his shoulder. She quickly regained her senses before glancing at the clockwork brothel, making the connection. She shook her head and sighed again. She had wasted enough time here. She grabbed her headphones which where resting around her neck, put them on her ears, turned the dial until they picked up her favorite station, and continued her long trek back to the slums.

Theo only hurried faster down the street after colliding with a girl, immensely glad his mask hid his bright red face. At least he hadn't recognized her, or else he would've had to worry about being seen by friend with a mechanical whore over his shoulder. The sooner he got that monstrosity off of his arm, the better.

It wasn't long before he was back in front of his shop, much to his relief. He kicked the door open and backed inside, immediately ripping the mask off once the door was closed again. Theo was just hanging the facial covering on a wall hook when he heard a snort behind him. "Whatcha got there? I thought weren't into women."

Theo turned around and rolled his good eye at his brother, who was leaning against the banister leading upstairs. "You know precisely why I have a girl with me, and it's not because I wooed her with my charming personality and stunningly good looks." He pretended to flip hair over his shoulder as he made his way to the steps. "Now, do you want to help me crack open a clockwork girl or not, Jenka?"

Jenka shook his head with a grin and took the load off of his brother. "Of course I do. Although I am a bit curious over how you look more feminine than she does." Theo only responded with one finger in the air as he headed up the stairs to their work space. The sooner they finished with this job, the better.

Before long, Felicity reached the building she called home. On the outside, it looked like a small, run-down warehouse, but it was fairly spacious inside, as it housed Felicity's small cargo airship, Lady Luck. She climbed the stairs leading to her living quarters and entered through the door. As she shut it behind her she looked around. Sure enough, she was soon greeted by the scarred face of her favorite person in the world, Carina.

"Welcome home," said the small girl standing in front her. "What'cha bring me?"

Felicity laughed. Carina was the only person these days who could make her do so. "Why don't we find out?" said Felicity, setting the box on the table. Carina smiled excitedly and waited as Felicity tore off the brown paper and unwrapped the box.

Inside was a small tubular device about six inches long and an inch in diameter. It had three buttons on the side in different colors and a groove along the bottom that contained a single copper wire. The wire led from a power switch at one end to an odd translucent orb at the other. Etched into the side was the single word "vision." Felicity pressed the power button but nothing happened. She pressed the buttons along the side and still nothing happened.

She passed it to a disappointed Carina who examined it. "I think its broken," she said after a moment.

Wouldn't surprise me," replied Felicity. "I may have dropped it on the way home."

Carina eyed her balefully then sighed. She thought for a moment. "We should probably bring it to a mechanic to see if it can be be fixed," she concluded.

"What kind of mechanic would know how to deal with strange tech like this," asked Felicity skeptically.

Carina smiled mischievously. "I know just the place."

The brothers were just beginning to crack open the automaton when they heard the front door slam. Theo flinched and almost dropped the screwdriver in his hand, hoping the shaking wouldn't make the small chandelier in the foyer fall. Then came the footsteps pounding up the stairs that made Jenka turn pale, and the door to their workspace flew open.

A girl stood in the doorway with a furious look on her face, managing to look absolutely menacing despite her oh-so-tiny stature. She ripped off her leather gloves and tossed them to the floor, along with the goggles that had been pressed against her forehead. "Which one of you jackasses thought it would be funny to tear up the name of my last job? How am I supposed to shoot people if I don't know who I'm supposed to shoot?"

Jenka had his hands in the air as if in surrender. "I blame the cat. Ricardo chews up everything, you know that." As much as he loved his sister, and despite being a good foot taller than her, Genevieve scared the living daylights out of him when she was angry. Now, he just gestured to the corner where there sat the kitten, gnawing on one of the gloves Gen had dropped.

Her expression softened a bit as she scooped up the cat and the glove that now resembled Swiss cheese. "You're lucky you're cute," she said to the tiny grey ball of fluff. "And you two are lucky you're knee-deep in mechanical girl parts. I sincerely hope you're enjoying not having any real customers right now, by the way."

Theo just dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand. "They'll come around. They always do."