Dusk Chapter 3; Clean Up

Queen Archdeath, who had finally finished her family duties within the privacy of her home, would be out of the Factory outside of the Central City going for a stroll about the Scrap Yard, looking for some spare parts for her Mechanica Unit.

"Hmmm," she pondered, her silky spider web fan up to her face to hide her mouth and accentuate her eyes, "I suppose I should tell Father that I've successfully completed my Mission..." Queen Archdeath had completely captured the First Moon and the Planet that was attached, and so she was free to move about the Dusk to her leisure now. She batted her lashes thoroughly. "Ah~. How I can't wait to get back to my personal business in the Dusk~!" Her mind was already calculating all sorts of wonderful things she was going to do with the land, starting with her most favorite.

"Cleaning Up~!" she squealed, twirling around giddily and being lifted into the air by a brisk wind. Her black dragon wings upon her back outstretched at the edges to give her dress an extra parachute effect as she floated upward, something like an umbrella being blown away in a controlled spiraling fashion. "Franquere~?" she cooed lovingly, taking off into the sky suddenly.

"Yes, Miss Shini..." a monotonous robotic voice spoke from the darkness of her shadow on the ground as she lifted into the air. Piercing red eyes were the first light that could be seen in the abysmal blackness, before a shiny metallic jack o' lantern would rise from the depths and draw forth a body forged of pitch darkness from the neck down.


This machine of the darkness, Franquere, who ruled over the machines, would sound a silent signal that would only be received by the Mechanica Unit that served under him. From there, each of the Mechanica that would gather would be given further instruction.

After being issued their commands, the pile of scrap that was nearby would be scoured for spare parts on behalf of Queen Archdeath, and whatever could be assembled from them would be done so that there could be Mechanica within the Industrial District that were readily patrolling the area that weren't as refined as the ones that were necessary for patrolling the city. Franquere, who was the 'Junk Lord' of the 'Junkyard,' as this place was known, would stand completely still as the commands were issues, remaining unblinking and unmoving until all of his commands were fulfilled, as if waiting patiently for his servants.

The Mechanica went to work.

Once 'Master Control' was fully operational and online, all of the Mechanica that had gone to work cleaning the Dusk, beginning with the Industrial District, would become unified in one operating system through Master Control, the same as linking a 'Collective Conscious' throughout a mass of organic flesh. Each of them would adhere to and move with Master Control by Master Control's orders.

Those Mechanica that were issued to be released from the Manufactory, which was the Dusk Branch of 'Mechanica's Factorial City' would be the 'Experimental' Mechanica that still needed to be tested in a safe and controlled environment. They would be isolated to the Scrap Yard, where the true testing of their variable mechanics and working out of their flaws could ensue. Beyond them, the Biomechanica, which were those that were going to be released to the Dusk's Wilderness and Outskirts would be tested in an environment closer to the borders of the actual Factorial City, which was more like the Dusk Wilderness because it was so close to the Dusk's Wilderness, itself. The 'Biomechanica' and the 'Experimental' Mechanica would be isolated to two separate parts of the Industrial District and would be tested separately without ever getting involved with each other or mixing their environments, to keep the sanctity of their default settings in order. They needed to be tested without any outside influence except their controlled environments.

The Mechanica that were made for La Crysta, the Central City of the Dusk, itself, were already shipped out first and were upholding the city. These were the Standard and Specialized issued 'Servicemen.' The rest of the Mechanica that were to be released to the Central City had not been tested or manufactured yet, and would be in production last after the Mechanica of the Wilderness were released into the wilderlands of the Dusk, and the Experimental Mechanica were worked out of all their defects.

Thus, the Dusk Branch of 'Mechanica's Factorium,' the 'Manufactory,' was completely up and running, with a 'Master Control' unit facilitating and keeping everything in Prime Order.

Eventually Queen Archdeath appeared again from overhead, fluttering down on her neatly kept dragon bat wings wrapped around her waist and parachuting her down before Franquere, the Metal Pumpkinhead. "Have you finished cleaning up the Dusk, Franquere~?" Whilst he was still adorned with the Metal Pumpkinhead, he was supposed to be fully taking control of and syncing up everything in the Dusk through Master Control. "It should be fully operational now, so it's time to return the Metal Pumpkinhead before it possesses you." Queen Archdeath knew of the stipulations of the Metal Pumpkinhead that was given to her by her great uncle grandfather, and one of them was that it, as its own sentient existence separate and independent of her Royal Servant, Franquere, if she didn't relinquish to two of them, her Royal Servant would be destroyed or stripped from her, of whom she did not desire to part with.

"The Pumpkinhead is already here to take it back." She shuddered with fear, actually, rather terrified of Pumpkinhead, himself, because of his murderous wrath that he was known for. Queen Archdeath rather preferred the Metal Pumpkinhead to the real one, even if she was aware of what his sentience truly was. She touched down finally from aflutter and stood before him awaiting his full dialogue before the Metal Pumpkinhead was finished unscrambling itself and all the data that was within the Dusk. "We have a deadline." She tapped her foot impatiently.

Before she knew it, that 'Deadline' was already before her, and 'Queen Archdeath's time to sow and grow her seeds had come to an end. Pumpkinhead, the Presence she spake of, was coming back for all of his pieces that were in different parts of the Veritas in order to return all 'Life' back to and through 'the Veritas.' A faint, exasperated sigh garbled with the faint sound of burning paper and an even fainter sound of a screeching train wheel and engine coming to a halt sifted an infernal image before the Metal Pumpkinhead, eternally bound to gazing into its eyes.


"Hungry Hand..." a curdled voice grumbled as a thick chunk of air compressed into an enormous bulging forearm with great, sharp claws stretching out over the fullness of the 'Metal Pumpkinhead' and feeding from all of its energy, simultaneously draining it completely and deactivating it once it was resolved as an anomaly. With it back in his possession, Pumpkinhead was given a physical form directly in the Dusk with all of his energy back into a single source and not split into two. He perused the area with only his eyes, which burnt like a hot furnace, as if something would be slaughtered.

With only the actual 'Head' of 'Pumpkinhead' manifested along with a single tree trunk arm grasping the Metal Pumpkinhead back in his rightful possession, the rest of his form was still as incorporeal and ambiguous as he pleased, yet emanating a scorching intensity that made the area swelter like a Boiler Room. His eyes narrowed and the Pumpkinhead turned away from Queen Archdeath with the sound of a rusty train engine screeching along with an even fainter sound of chains rattling and screaming before the 'Presence' of 'Pumpkinhead' disappeared with all its 'Harvest.'