At long last, I have written another chapter! -cheers- My goal is to finish this fanfiction this summer. Please be patient with me until then. I'll try to post a new chapter as soon as possible, though. Thank you to the guest who got me out of my slump by reminding me to "UPDATE. UPDATE. UPDATE." I dedicate this chapter to you. :p

"God's wounds." Alek irritably muttered as yet another one of the pesky mosquitoes bit him.

He'd been trekking through the tangled jungle all day, trying to find where Deryn had gone. He had walked along every inch of the edge of the clearing, but it was like she had vanished into thin air. He couldn't even find any more of her tracks; it wasn't like he was an expert tracker, or anything, but it was still quite upsetting. His extensive training back at the palace had included many things such as languages and Walker operation, but never tracking. Knowing her, she had probably already infiltrated the base. Alek sighed, hoping she was okay as he tore the sleeve of his suit off of a prickly branch. A piece was left behind in the thorns; it quickly changed colors, blending in with the brown bark. Alek paused.

"Of course! I almost forgot about this!" He exclaimed, reaching back to pull the control box from his belt, "It would have been useful if we'd switched this thing on before we got caught on the Serbian ship." He thought grumpily. Of course, they'd been too busy fighting to even remember. Quickly checking the device to make sure it was working properly, Alek placed his hand on a leaf after flipping the power switch on. It worked perfectly. His gloved hand slowly changed from a dark, neutral gray to the luscious, dark green of the jungle leaf. The outline of his hand was still slightly visible, but from afar, people wouldn't be able to see anything. Alek grinned, flexing his nearly invisible hand. Getting across the clearing would be a piece of cake now. He'd just have to wait till the dark of night.

Frogs croaking, crickets chirping, and other miscellaneous animal sounds blared through the early night air. Alek groaned. It was like being in the Leviathan's gut and rookery combined 24/7. What he wouldn't give for a little peace and quiet...and Deryn's sweet Scottish lilt. He quickly shook his head to clear the romantic thoughts that swam through it. He needed to focus.

Alek stood behind a tall palm tree that poked out a little bit farther into the clearing than the other trees. He looked silently at the looming watchtowers and the guards on top with huge spotlights. Since early this afternoon, he's been watching their movements, shifts, and rhythms. His mind had been molded from an early age to come up with this kind of strategic play. He knew exactly what he was going to do; the only problem was executing it and hoping no extra surprises would ruin it. In just a few minutes, Alek knew the guards would change, and the spotlight would be still for a few seconds. It was right then, that he would have to take action. He exhaled nervously, wringing his gloved hands. Could he really do this?

"Oh come on, you daft bum-rag!" Alek could almost hear Deryn scoffing at him, "You've piloted one of those clumsy walking machines so sneaky-like that you got all the way to Switzerland without those clart-covered Germans ever catchin' you. This should be as easy as taking the lady boffin's beastie for a walk."

Alek smiled. If he didn't have any confidence, he'd surely get caught. He switched on his chameleon suit with renewed vigor. Almost time to go.

One minute passed.

Two minutes passed.

Guards change.

Go.

Alek leaped out from behind the tree and ran as fast as he possibly could. His heart racing and his legs pumping; Alek counted down in his head.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

He dropped to the ground and remained absolutely still as the spotlight came sweeping over him. No sound of alarm went off; his chameleon suit had worked. The spotlight moved on, and Alek was soon back in the safety of darkness. He had approximately 6 seconds to run to the closest walker in the assembly line before the spotlight came back. He didn't want to take the chance of getting caught in the light again; the more times he was in it, the more chances he would have of his outline being seen. He jumped up and ran again, leaping between the legs of a two-legged walker right as the spotlight swept over the area where he had just been a half a second before.

Breathing heavily, Alek propped himself up into a sitting position on one of walker's metal legs. He took a moment to recollect his thoughts and his nerves. For a second there, he had almost doubted he would make it. He inhaled and exhaled deeply one last time, then turned his thoughts toward the next steps he would have to take to find Deryn. First things, first, he needed to get inside one of the factories. From various blueprints he'd seen of Clanker bases in his studies, he was almost entirely sure that all of the factories and buildings would be connected by underground passages. If he could get inside one, it would be easier to move into the rest of them; though, there would still, of course, be many people inside. His chameleon suit wouldn't fool anyone in such close proximity. So, the question was: How was he going to move freely within the factories? He glanced at the opposite direction from where he had come, and smiled.

"Ah, providence." He sighed with delight as exactly what he needed came out the huge, open garage doors of the closest factory: uniforms. Good, old mechanik uniforms were being carried out on an awkward, squat-legged walker. The uniforms swung back and forth on metal clothes pins welded into a metal bar that was then attached to the front and back of the small four-legged walker with a single man piloting in front. Alek almost laughed at the sight. They seemed to have created a walker just for the sole purpose of drying and transporting uniforms. It was ridiculous that an obviously secret and important Clanker base would have a special walker for such a menial task.

Alek watched as the clothes line walker slowly crawled across the ground, not so different from the way an alligator moved. The pilot took it to the end of the assembly line of the newly-made walkers and parked it. And as the divines would have it, it was only three walkers away from Alek. When the pilot grumpily walked back towards the factory, Alek took action. Suit still activated, he ran across the dark ground. The assembly line was just out of the reach of the spotlight, so he didn't have to worry about getting caught in its effulgence. He just ran straight for the uniforms, sure that his suit would hide him from the prying eyes that might lay inside the factory.

In just a few short bounds, he reached the rack of uniforms and scrambled up the side of the alligator-like walker. The metal was slick, and he almost fell off a couple of times, but he managed to find purchase on one of the stubby legs. With all 5'8" of his height, he reached out for the closest uniform, just barely grabbing the edge of one of the pant legs. He had underestimated the height of the rack. Not able to hold onto the pant leg and keep his balance, Alek quickly released it and grabbed hold of one of the side poles that anchored the metal clothes line to the iron walker's body to keep himself from falling.

"Blisters!" He muttered one of Deryn's favorite curses as his hands almost slipped of the pole. Regaining his composure, he placed his rough-soled chameleon boot on the side pole he was attached to, and pulled himself up with his arms, while he placed his other foot on it. He could feel himself slipping on the smooth metal, but he forced himself to pull up harder and keep scrambling with his feet, desperately trying to gain some ground-or in this case-pole. With an immense amount of effort, his arms shaking from the exertion, Alek grabbed the uniform and jumped down. His momentum jerked the uniform straight from its clips. He rolled as he hit the ground with a jarring thud, clutching the just-now-realized sopping wet uniform. Alek moaned, standing up from the ground and dusting himself off. Now, he would have to wait till it was dry to enter the factory. Dragging his disappointing prize with him, he retreated back to the walker to restlessly wait for the water to evaporate from the old, frayed cloth. All he could think about was how much time he was wasting.

"You better be safe, Dummkopf." He whispered, resting his head back against the hard metal of the walker.