//------------------------------//
// The Border: The Experiment Part Two 
// Story: Loyalty in Brass: The First Encounter 
// by Mr BHunt 
//------------------------------//

A Brass Knight stood outside a room, bars ran across the door. The knight let out a slight sigh as it turned on it's heel and marched in front of the door, suddenly it heard a groan from within. The knight froze, it looked at the door. Then it slowly walked to it, it hesitantly leans on the door to listen for any more sounds.

"Boo"

Suddenly the door exploded outwards and the Brass Knight slumped against the wall, it slowly shook it's head and looked up.

"No no no, back awa-" It started but the prisoner picked up the knight's fallen axe and quickly slammed it into the forehead of the knight, oil squirted up from the deep wound as the flapping of wings faded into the distance. Another knight walked around the opposite corner and stared at the carnage, it slowly raised a hand and rested it's head on it.

"No doubt I'm going to have to clean this hallway." The Brass Knight stated, then it snapped it's attention up and it rushed to the open doorway. "Damnit, P-02 has escaped... P-02 HAS ESCAPED!" The knight yelled as the situation sunk in, it turned around and was about to run to warn the rest of the crew, but a large pipe smashed into it's chest and it was sent stumbling into the room. The knight looked up just as a large hunk of door rushed towards it's face, it managed to mumble out.

"Ah shi-" BANG!





G-01 awoke with a yell, the Brass Knight stomps into the room.

"What is it, G-01?" The knight asked, the griffin just waved it away.

G-01 looked at his talons then at the knight, a question forming. But before he could ask, the Brass Knight put a hand up and looked around. The Brass Knight looked G-01 in the eyes, staying silent as it stared.

"Somethi-" The knight suddenly groans and falls to it's knees, then a large pipe appears over it's shoulders and smashes into it's head. The Brass Knight falls forward and a strange coin rolls towards G-01. He looks up to see a red feather floating down to the metal floor, he grabs the coin and walks around the knight. G-01 looks out into the hallway, nothing there.

"What's going on..?" He mumbled to himself as he walked into the hallway, suddenly more alert. After a minute he hears faint footsteps, heavy footsteps. Then a pair of voices accompanied the thudding of heavy feet.

"P-02 wasn't in her room, find and secure G-01, check if he's still in his room." A voice of a knight said as G-01 looked around frantically, he noticed a panel in the floor that looked crooked.

"P-02 wasn't worth the trouble, she didn't adapt to the changes like G-01." A garbled voice said as G-02 tugged at the panel, the footsteps grew louder. "K-1754 should of grabbed another pest, one that would exept the changes."

"G-01 has definitely excepted the changes, did a number on K-1753. Heard that K-1754 lost it, started to attack the other units. Had to put them down, if only all of us could be perfect." The knight's voice said, G-01 tugged at the panel again as the floor shook slightly.

"Well after being mass produced, you must expect faulty units."

"Even so, I've only seen reports of a dozen or so faulty units, must be rare."

"At least it's only a few, who knows what will happen if a legion is Corrupted." The garbled voice said, it's owner's footsteps deafening as they passed over G-01. He let out a shallow breath, then one of the pairs of footsteps stopped.

"Something's up, I'm not picking up K-0799's signature." The Brass Knight said as G-01's heart bet faster. "Raise the alarm, we need to- " A loud smack made G-01 jump, then a loud thud rattled the panel above him.

"Code Red! Code Red! Back up reque- " The garbled voice started but then another two thuds filled G-01's ears, he listened then pushed the panel out and popped his head out of the little hole. A knight was leaning against the hallway wall, hunched over with a large dent in it's helmet. The other soldier was different, had tubes running from it's checks, but it too had dents and was slumped on the floor. He saw another feather float towards the direction that the two soldiers came, he climbed up and started down the hall when the strange coin started to glow.

The entire ship shuddered and G-01 stumbled into a wall, he pulled himself up just as another knight marched into view. It spotted him and pulled out it's sword, then it charged the griffin.

"You've made enough trouble. GET BACK TO YOUR CELL!" It roared as it swung down at G-01, he threw himself behind the Brass Knight. It spun around and thrusted it's sword at the griffin, but then the ship shook and the knight stumbled. Suddenly G-01's vision grew a faint gold tint, the knight locked eyes with the griffin as it regained balance. "The implants should have stopped you, what have you done to them?!" The soldier yelled as a part of the wall suddenly exploded, G-01 pushed the knight out of the hole and watched as it faded towards the ground. Another explosion filled the griffin's ears as he turned around, a tint in his eyes gone.

Suddenly a soldier with hoses running from it's cheeks fell into the hallway, it pushed itself up and stared at G-01.

"You're G-01! Get back to your cell!" The Cleaner shouted as it clambered towards G-01, suddenly a large hunk of the roof fell onto the Cleaner, a pipe then started to spray steam at the soldier. The griffin took his chance and flew out of the hole and into the clear sky. What he saw shocked him.

The Behemoth was trailing smoke and fire from further near it's stern, a few Brass Knights were scattered on the top deck as a group of Cleaners rushed towards the stern. But the ship suddenly leaned towards the ground, causing a pair of Cleaners to trip and slide towards the bow. One fell into the open grate into the hold while the other fell from the tilted bow, it's garbled screams barely making their way into G-01's ears. He recoiled as saw another explosion tear through the deck, but then that was drowned out as he locked onto something, something big and brass.

The Brass Centurion watched the griffin as he hovered nearby, then he turned and placed a hand on a nearby knight. Then he pointed at G-01, the archer spun around in surprise.

"Project Transference has failed, wipe that pest out of the sky!" The centurion roared and the knight almost immediately relayed the message, soon three knights were manning one of the large ballista and a group of archers were lining up shots. 

The griffin barely had time to swoop to the left as a massive bolt tore through the air near him, then a hail of smaller arrows filled the air. He fell closer to the airship, dodging arrows and the huge bolts. His vision slowly filled with a golden tint as he flew directly at one of the archers, he threw his talons forward and grabbed the Brass Knight, then threw it behind him as he landed. The archers all morphed their bows into swords and axes, G-01 just smirked as a duo of knights charged at him.

G-01 dashed forward and smashed the two Brass Knight's together, their helmets dented from the force. They stumbled back and fell backwards as another knight took their place, it roared and leapt at the griffin with it's axe held high. G-01 spun around and pulled a sword from one of the fallen knights and clashed it against the axe, then he flicked the sword and the axe flew into the air. The Brass Knight stepped back as G-01 flew into the air and grabbed the axe in his other talon, then he spun around and threw the axe with frightening speed at the knight. It let out a drawn out groan as it fell back, it's own axe imbedded in it's faceplate. The last two knights looked at each other then at G-01, one charged him as the other aimed it's bow at the griffin. But it's the archer only saw it's friend being thrown at it, the two knights toppled over and landed in a pile.

Two of the Cleaners noticed G-01 advancing and spun around, they both pulled large kukri from behind their backs and waited for G-01. Unfortunately the griffin didn't expect a large clanking sound, he turned around to find himself looking directly down the barrel of the ballista. Suddenly a large bolt was launched at high speed at him, G-01 just moved to the side and grabbed the bolt. The crew of three on the ballista seemed to hesitate to fire another shot, but they didn't as they threw themselves off the large weapon as the first bolt slammed into the ballista. The large weapon lurched upwards, then it's limbs snapped and flew forward. One of the knights stood up just as a limb slammed into it's back, the heavy string wrapped around it's head and pulled tight.

G-01 turned just as a Cleaner slashed at the griffin, it left a small cut on G-01's cheek. The griffin flew back and kicked the knife from the soldier's grasp, then he caught it. The other Cleaner ran to the trapped knight and began to cut the string, but another explosion from beneath the ballista sent the Cleaner over the side of the Behemoth. The weaponless Cleaner tore it's gaze from the explosion back to G-01, but it only saw a blur of feathers as it was sent sprawling to the deck. G-01 turned around and spotted the Brass Centurion, he stepped towards it.

"End of the line, filth" A voice said as a Brass Knight slammed into the deck, just in front of the griffin. It stood up and swung it's glaive to it's side, then it's free hand sparked a few times. G-01 threw himself to the side as a spear of lightning tore through the space was just standing, the knight pulled back it's outstretched arm and thrusted it's large glaive at G-01. But the griffin didn't move, it pierced through his chest and blood dripped from the wound. The Brass Knight chuckled darkly as he placed a boot on the griffin's face and pushed him off it's glaive, it turned around and marched towards the Centurion. Then it heard a thud and a slight weight on it's back, the knight slowly reached towards the Brass Centurion as it fell to it's knees. G-01 spun over the knight's head, tearing it clean off the body. He looked at the helmet and thrusted it at the Centurion, then he crushed it and tossed it to the side.

"You changed me, I'm no longer an experiment. I'm not your slave." He said as he approached, a number of Brass Knights charged him but the griffin just pointed at them with a talon and they dissolved into ash. "I'm not your slave." He repeated as another Cleaner leapt at him, he repeated the action and the soldier crumbled. "I have no strings to hold me down, for I am no puppet." G-01 said as the Centurion pulled a large hammer from it's back, it stood in a stance as G-01 approached.

"I am free."

Then a soft chuckling caught both the Centurion and G-01's attention, slowly a red pegasus walked from the blaze that had spread from the stern of the Behemoth. He had a metal plate over his right eye and black blood covered his hooves, his right eye was ablaze with yellow while his left was purple.

"You aren't free, not yet..." He said as a strange darkness filled G-01's vision, he frantically looked around as his vision faded. Soon he saw nothing, but he heard the pegasus approach. "Imagine yourself... in a frozen forest." Then his legs crumbled from beneath him.