Gadget sat on the roof of the <13 Club Headquarters and stared out across the town. The sense of collective relief was palpable. The grinding hum and clatter of normal life in the city had returned, along with the echoes of revellers enjoying the festive cheer.
With Moriarty imprisoned within Unit #8 downstairs, Gadget knew he had settled one dept to the town that he had felt ever since the Beest had escaped from his trap last year. But in his troubled mind he played over something unfinished, that he was responsible for, and for which the rest of the town seemed blissfully unaware of their extreme danger.
“We haven’t even brought the new Clanks here! We’re vulnerable!” Hopkins had screamed in the last moments before the warehouse came crashing down. Those words cut through Gadget like a razor, their significance heavy in his heart. So he HAD betrayed everyone whilst he was in enemy hands and handed them the a most lethal weapon. Gadget had to assume he had given them designs for cold, powerful, relentlessly efficient killing machines that would not eat, rest or tire. In his reckless, misplaced confidence he had kept the true devastating potential of his Clank designs secret, even from his closest friends and now that knowledge tormented him like a merciless deamon. In their hour of victory the town could be laid waste by his creations. No matter what the cost, Gadget knew he had to put right his betrayal.
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And so Unit #33 was born. A Counter-Clank Clank. To succeed it had to be better than all his work before. More powerful, more agile, more lethal in every way. And it was.
Unit #6 helped Gadget into his armour and Gadget smiled at the hulking machine. “They think they ‘ave got firepower! I think it’s time we gatecrashed the Van Creed Christmas party Babbage style!”
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Bookworm stood staring out of the open door as Gadget disappeared down the street. She’d been looking forward to a quiet Sunday morning spent recovering from the events of Friday–and the late-night ball last night. But then had come the knock at the door, and Gadget standing on the door step, in his strange attire. He told her that he was worried about what the Van Creed man Hopkins had said about their new Clanks.
“You think they might use them against us?” Bookworm had asked.
Gadget had nodded, and told her he had developed the new armor he was wearing, and the new weapon he was holding, specifically to be useful if that happened. And then he casually told her that he was also building a new Clank, one designed to fight those of the Van Creed. Before Bookworm could entirely recover her wits from that revelation, he had cheerfully taken his leave.
The cold air pouring through the open door finally roused her, and she closed it, almost slamming it. She turned around and leaned back against it, and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
‘He could at least have waited until the weekend was over before giving me a new headache,’ she thought impatiently.
The clockwork unicorn pondered the situation… “Although I am certain that young master Gadget’s new clockwork will provide a good deterrent to the Van Creed, I feel it would be best to make some upgrades of my own…”.
Turning to Unit #6 she noded, “Yes… I think it is time to dust off those plans for the aether cannon…”.
Unit #6 rumbled, “Indeed… and… hopefully… this… time… you… will… not… explode…”.