Chapter 337 (1/2)

Book 3, Chapter 73 – The Price of Hubris

Nucleus, headquarters of the Dark Atom A city constructed in the belly of a volcano

There was no place like it within ten thousand kilometers

Nucleus was tucked away in the deepest parts of the Blisterpeak e A repurposed ancient fortress, the data wasn't clear on its origins Inforest it was a prehistoric science base Supposedly it was used as a shelter in the beginning days of the apocalypse

It extracted energy from the volcano to sustain the populace That was hoas able to remain active all this time

It didn't h It didn't matter who used to live here Now, it was the horoup of wastelanders Many were scientists in service to the largest Seeker group in the knoorld: The Dark Atom

Skycloud had been searching for this place for more than a decade

Countless tiuess at where the terrorists were hiding What was it like? Was it a hell of torture chambers and burnt corpses? A damp, dank place of pestilence and death? No twisted tale came close to the truth of his volcanic hideaway

Cloudhawk stole through the cavern, toward Nucleus beyond Although the city was situated beneath countless volcanoes, the smell of sulfur had been left behind The city was isolated fro, Cloudhawk caround space

Layers of terraced fields

Large fruit trees stretched out froht hung in the upper reaches of the cavern like a round like it was e hung on the wind that kissed Cloudhawk's face

Further away, rows of factories

He heard the faint roar as they churned Senuity and ancient technology worked in unison Huge tubes slithered from the factories and spread out over the fields like a spider's web

A fleet of airshi+ps

The greatest representation of wasteland science With no direct line to the secrets of the past, hu out of the ruins of their civilization Over tiether bits they learned from books and data, mankind was able to recreate these incredible marvels of machinery with a distinct wastelander flair

IN the bowels of the Blisterpeak roves of trees, orderly factories, andoverhead like hot air balloons But all of these incredible scenes did not immediately capture Cloudhawk's attention In the center of all these e only a rough esti there, but by scale alone it had to at least be coh

Cloudhawk figured the Dark Atoged at the back of his mind as he looked over Nucleus: Now that he was here, where was he supposed to start?

“Who are you?”

He'd only been standing there for a fewhis way already

Large as Nucleus was, it was clearly well protected Passage in and out was strictly policed and feere given perrab attention Cloudhawk's clothing was also not the standard down here, which helped hiht draw an eye or several

The Warden was here for help so he didn't want to piss anyone off His mind raced for a moment until he fished out a token from his pocket “Gentlemen I just arrived, we're on the same team”

In his fingers was the token given to hi them survive in the Skycloud sewers It was a symbol of loyalty to the Dark Atom

The two ave each other a wordless look For sohly suspicious The token he held wasn't enough to ease their minds

“Move it!”

“Where?”

“We'll see what the captain has to say”

Both un which they trained on Cloudhawk He wasn't worried – it wasn't like he couldn't handle a couple guards with a ht play

They brought him to patrol outpost nearby He was kept outside while one of the guards walked in to give his report Cloudhawk turned to the one guard with hiuys I just came here to see your leader Wolfblade You think you can help ?”

The guard didn't respond, because a voice called out from inside “Who do you think you are? You think you're i boss?!”

A large man covered in knotted muscle lumbered his way Aside from his size, the most notable feature was his bald head

He looked at Cloudhawk Clouhdawk looked back at him The two men stood in silence

Souy looked very familiar IT was like he'd seen him somewhere before, but he couldn't place it The bald rily, however, and his eyes burned “Cloudhawk!”

“You know me?”

That was a surprise Cloudhawk didn't think he had any sort of reputation here, nor was there any sort of recognizableat hi trouble in the wastelands he'd been wearing thethat this guy recognized him so easily