An unwitting, nondescript feline guard was his hammer’s first victim The guard's attention was on another member of Tivon's team - a fatal mistake. The guard realized his fate a second before that maul fell upon him, crushing him with a sickening crunch and torching what remained.

A few bullets flew through the air but were poorly aimed. Marcellus turned to face up the platform and saw Ava flitting around like a ghost as the guards she engaged tried to get a handle on where she actually was. They did not get many rounds off before they were silently dispatched with quick stabs from her knives. Tivon was already far ahead, waving the other members of their team forward.

Marcellus ran forward to catch up with them as they all turned the corner before two guards waylaid the path between him and the group. Tivon gave him a look, which he returned with a dismissive “go-on” expression. Tivon left without a second glance.

Maul readied in hand, he did not slow his run. The guards he face raised their weapons up at him to which he instinctually dodged to the side as they open fired. Power-sliding forward he charged his maul with heat and swept both guards from their feet. The impact of the mass of metal let loose a cacophony of resounding crunches as the bones in their legs were utterly shattered and the metal of the armor was rent asunder. They were left completely incapacitated on the ground, unconscious or in the process of descending into it.

Looking around he saw no other guards. This should have been a good thing but something was off about it. Their entrance was not nearly as stealthy as they would have liked, yet no alarms were being sounded.

Strange, he thought to himself.

He hefted his maul back into his sling and ran after the group. He left the platform and the sounds of the magi-tech locomotive’s humming and the steam that was blowing off from pipes from the great machine’s engines and platform alike. He made his way down the path the others took.

The corridor he ran down was a mess of pipes, tubes, and wires. The heat that came off from them was sweltering. Marcellus had half a mind to cast cooling magic just to balance it out but refrained himself as doing so would cost more energy than he was willing to expend, especially for comfort.

His clients were not far. Ava was kneeling down next to the form of a young, wiry feline with orange fur whose only accent was a white dipped tail and a shock of white hair on his head that looked oddly familiar. Tivon stood guard with a large badger brandishing a chain gun who was shorter than the panther but twice as brawny.

The wiry looking youth was working on the door. Some sort of hand mounted computer was linked to the door with wires. It ran a decryption program that seemed to function with only a few guiding inputs from its user. He glanced up from his work to look at the gray wolf. “So, I heard you used to be a Templar. How’d you end up working a job with us?”

“Focus on the job, Declan.” Tivon said bitingly.

“Aren’t Templar’s the bad guys?” The badger said gruffly, eyeing Marcellus with a synthetic eye that whirred as it focused on the wolf. It was clear he did not trust the newcomer.

Marcellus gripped his hammer which caused the badger the tense up. “If I was a Templar do you think I would be here?” He turned away, not expecting an answer, and stood watch as the kid worked.

“How much longer?” the badger asked impatiently.

“All… most…” A few high pitched beeps of confirmation and the doors sliding open signaled success. “Got it!” Declan turned up to them with a wide grin, hair in his face, smudged googles askew on his head.