Chapter 14. When August Fenwick opened his eyes, he wondered for a moment if he had,

or if the strange vision before him was not just some sort of nightmare. He was restrained by the

hands and suspended about a foot above the floor by the long arms of two silver robots,

possibly the same two who had ripped him from the safety of his club, who knows how long before.

They stood within a vast chamber surrounded on every side by scaffolds, each of which connected

to a different tunnel leading away from the chamber. Across every platform striding purposefully

like an army of ants were hundreds of mechanical men. Many were the unfinished-looking raw metal of Fenwick's captors.

Some wore the colorful tin soldier paint of Captain Clockwork's first generation of monsters,

and still more appeared in every way to be human, apart from the cold, almost unseeing

manner in which they moved as part of this monstrous swarm.

Clearly this chamber was the nexus of this fiendish hive, but where was the villain at the heart of it all?

Ah, Mr. Fenwick, a harsh metallic voice rang out as if on cue.

Thank you so much for joining us.

The Red Panda was unaccustomed to playing the role of his

weakling alter ego in moments of danger, but for the moment he feigned fright at the entrance of a man

in long crimson robes with a hood over his face. The voice gave the illusion that he was

himself a machine, but the Red Panda recognized the swagger within his host's

walk as being a product of human arrogance. His captor had taken no chances on being recognized.

He must be wearing some sort of device that altered his voice.

"'Who are you?' Fenwick said, struggling weakly with the tendrils that bound his arms.

"'What do you want with me?'

"'Who am I? The electronic

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