"Hey Daedalus, I have an answer for you." Jace spoke through his external speaker. "This is a Dullahan from ancient Earth lore. They are creatures that are depicted as only appearing when a creature is about to die. Similar to the more popular Grim Reaper. Meaning the path this Dullahan would take would be death and duty."
There was a moment of silence before they could hear clapping coming from the speaker. "I am truly surprised. Master did say they would send someone intelligent after him. But I thought he was just pulling my chain. I figured you would all be a bunch of muscle headed idiots because you were part of the military." There was more of that clicking and grinding noise as he spoke. "First you killed some of my Hellhounds, now you are successfully solving a puzzle about an ancient folklore creature. Did you know that there is a planet in the Montez Kingdom that still believes in Dullahans? They have a whole tradition where they put up wards to keep the personification of death away."
Jace narrowed his eyes under his helmet as he made sure he would have to look up both the planet and tradition later. Just to see if they could find a connection or lead to Hoodwink. Because that was not some fact that someone would just know off the top of their head. There was even a good chance that this Daedalus was related in some way to the Montez Kingdom.
"But now that you have solved this puzzle room I also need to know a bit more about you. Just like the last room where I needed you to respond to me. I need you to provide me with your names this time." Daedalus told them.
Jace tapped his gloved finger against the Spitfire he was holding. He looked at the other two who were looking at him. Waiting for an answer. "If you want something from us, we need something from you. Tell me how your 'master' found you."
There were a few minutes of silence as it seemed Daedalus was contemplating this demand. "Very well. But you will start." Daedalus answered with a sigh after some clear and genuine deliberation. He probably determined it would not be detrimental to his master to reveal that information.
Jace pointed a thumb at himself, "Jace." Then he pointed a finger at Charlie, "Freya." Then he pointed at Ulin, "Astella." There were a few moments of silence before he could feel something shudder and he could see the schematic in his mind change as a hallway was placed behind the 'death and duty' door on the left.
"I suppose I did say names and not full names. But that will be sufficient for my purposes. I should also be more careful with my words. But I do wish to praise your ingenuity Jace. I am sure my Master will take a particular interest in you." Daedalus chuckled as he spoke. But it was concerning that he had ended up making himself a target of Daedalus and likely his master's interest.
The death and duty door opened up. Jace and the others shared a look before walking through it. Jace switched his external speaker off as they walked into the hall.
"Sorry, we got distracted and started arguing." Charlie apologized.
"It is alright. This Daedalus and likely Lord Hoodwink are masters of manipulation. They will say certain words to try and manipulate your behavior that is beneficial to their experiment or their use. Take his words with a grain of salt." Jace told them as he kept looking and finding the cameras along the hallway.
"My Master found me in an underground dungeon. I had originally been an artist and was arrested for making art that put doubt on our leader's words. So I was imprisoned by the tyrant and thrown in a prison deep underground. Then a civil war occurred and the tyrant was overthrown. But myself and several other prisoners were forgotten and never freed. Instead we had to kill and eat each other in order to live. One day my Master came. He found the survivors of these unholy trials were interesting specimens and took us in." Daedalus began his tale as they walked.
"From then on, I swore to do whatever my savior asked. So I undertook the most dangerous projects and trials that turned me into what I am now while most of the others ended up dead or as soulless machines. The few that survived were loyal servants of our mighty Master. Now many years later our numbers have grown while he has saved more people." Daedalus' voice was full of enthusiasm.
But the way his story unfolded told Jace something about Hoodwink. Either he was very good at playing the long game or he had been incredibly lucky in finding people that needed genuine help when they slipped through the cracks in society. No matter which one it was Jace felt a shiver up his spine at the thoughts that were coming through his head. As well as the fact that Hoodwink had been roaming the galaxy for years and had never popped up on the Vexical Empire's radar before.
Daedalus stopped speaking, a clear indicator that his story had ended while Jace and his team arrived at the next door. "Were you able to reach out to Team Two?" Jace asked as the door in front of them started to open.
"Yes I was." Ulin answered. "It seems they are not jamming communications inside of the facility. Just any transmissions going out of the facility. I have also got confirmation from Taylor that video and audio that we are recording are making it back to the Anvil. I have no idea how she determined that but she is positive it is." Ulin told them with an exasperated sigh. Taylor probably tried to explain it but it went over her head.
"Did you get any information about what they went through? Or did Taylor just start talking your ear off?" Jace asked as he walked into the room accessing the brightly lit large room before them. Just like the first room there was a black space that he could not sense on the schematic but knew was there.
Ulin nodded her head. "They fought a giant bio-mechanical serpent. It seems that it was more biological than mechanical so Taylor was not able to immediately dismantle it. It attacked them in the hangar after it had decompressed. Apparently it came out of a hole that appeared in one of the walls. Now they are in a puzzle room."
The room they were in had a high ceiling and was three times as long as the first room they had entered. There were scrape marks on the walls where the roof had lifted up. On the ground there were stone walls and boulders which had been clearly lifted out of the ground.
"What is their puzzle room?" Jace asked as he climbed on top of a boulder to get a better look around the room.
"It is some type of picture puzzle that they have to use to complete a narrated story. They are still trying to figure out what the lore covers." Ulin answered with a shrug. "I am sure they will figure something out."
"I hope so." Jace told her as he saw the black space slide open. "Because it seems we have our own issue to deal with now." Out of the space riding on another clockwork creature was a knight made of metal. It looked similar to the Metal Scarecrows but was far more bulky and had clear limbs instead of interchangeable components in place of their limbs. But there was a particular detail that Jace almost found amusing. It was headless.
"Oh joy, now we get to fight a Dullahan." Charlie signed over their communication channel.
"Yeah well-" Jace was interrupted in the most unexpected way.
He flew off the boulder he had climbed on top of. The impact was more jolting than it was painful as he quickly flew through the air. For a moment he saw a shimmer of yellow as the impact occurred. He landed on his back and saw the yellow shimmer disappear a moment later. His armor's built in shields had been triggered and overcharged.
Ulin and Charlie both ducked behind a boulder and stone wall respectively. While Jace picked himself up and moved behind the boulder he had just gotten shot off of. His armor was not damaged except for some minor scrapes that are more aesthetic than anything else. But his armor's personal shield was showing as deactivated for a moment as it cooled off.
"Ow." Jace spoke over the channel before peaking out from behind the boulder. The Dullahan Knight riding a clockwork biomechanical horse was not the only thing that was coming out of the wall. "Well this might end up being a bit more difficult than those Clockwork Hellhounds."