Jason held onto Pucks arm despite now being on solid ground. He felt like passing out as he ran a hand through his hair to smooth it down though he was shaking.

"Leanansidhe said the gremlins congregate in places that have a lot of technology. It makes sense Virus would come here, too."

"I know this place," Ash said suddenly. He was gazing at the plant with a small frown on his face. "I remember Virus talking about it when I...when I was with her."The frown grew deeper, and a shadow crept over his face. He shook it off. "Theres supposed to be a trod to the Iron Kingdom inside."

Jason 100% didn't want to be anywhere near the iron kingdom again,even close to a trod to it again,but it didn't matter what he wanted or didn't want. "Darn it." He muttered.

Puck nudged Jason's arm and pointed. "Look at that."

He pointed to a sign at the front of the building, one of those big marble slabs with giant glowing words carved into it. "SciCorp Enterprises," it read

"Coincidence?" Puck waggled his eyebrows. "I think not."

Jason laughed a bit at Puck,smiling a bit again. He felt thankful that Puck could lift him up so simply. Yellow fluttered a bit into his scales and calmed the white and sick green gently like butterflies on roses.

"This way," Grimalkin said, trotting along the edge of the parking lot. To their right, cars zoomed past thenlm on the street. Grimalkin led them around the factory, skirting the edges of the sidewalk, to a drainage ditch that separated one lot from the other. At the bottom of the ditch, oily black water pooled from a massive storm drain, trickling through the weeds and grass. Bottles and cans littered the ground, glinting in the moonlight, but there was no sign of Ironhorse.

"I left him right here," Grimalkin said. Looking around briefly, he leaped to a dry rock and began shaking his paws, one by one. "We appear to be too late. It seems our impatient friend has already gone inside."

Jason facepalmed. "Ironhorse." He grumbled,looking around a bit himself. "Maybe he took...a break?"

A deep snort cut through the air before I could panic. "HOW FOOLISH DO YOU THINK I AM?" Ironhorse rumbled, bending low to clear the rim of the pipe. He was in his more human form, as there was no way he could have fit his real body inside. "THERE WAS A PATROL COMING, AND I WAS FORCED TO HIDE. I DO NOT BREAK THE PROMISES I GIVE." He glared at Grimalkin, but the cat only yawned and started washing his tail.

Ash stiffened, and his hand went casually to his sword hilt. Barring his brief stint with Virus, the last Ash had seen of Ironhorse, he was dragging them to Machina in chains. Of course, Ironhorse was wearing a different form now, but you had only to look closely to see the huge, black iron monster that lurked beneath the surface.

"He's on our side in this." Jason said,seeing the "casual" motion Ash made. "Glad to see your alright." He said,addressing Ironhorse.

Ironhorse nodded at Jason. "THE GREMLINS WILL NOT BOTHER US. THEY ARE SIMPLE CREATURES. THEY LIVE FOR CHAOS AND DESTRUCTION, BUT THEY ARE COWARDLY AND WILL NOT ATTACK A POWERFUL OPPONENT."

"Im afraid I have to disagree," Ash said, a dangerous edge to his voice now. "You yourself lead an army of gremlins in Machinas realm, or have you forgotten? They dont attack powerful opponents? I seem to recall a wave of them trying to tear me apart in the mines."