Marnin slid the large metal door shut and locked it tightly behind him, before turning to regard the warehouse. It smelled like mold, half the windows were broken, and the rafters were threatening to fall on him, but he didn't mind. This was his temporary haven.
His heartrate was beginning to return to normal, and his shoulder wound had begun to bleed more, but it hadn't hit anything too important. It was still likely best to bandage it though.
He walked over to a small desk, where a collection of beakers, sieves, and tubes were set up. This was his laboratory. Taking out the syringe, he held it before his eyes to inspect the few drops he had managed to extract. Clear. He took the needle off of the syringe and placed into a tube on one end of the set-up, and the drops of Praetorius' blood dripped down into the bottom of a flask, which rested on top of a ritualistic circular design carved into the table.
He stared at the flask for some time as he pulled a few bandages out of a cabinet next to the desk. It would take some work, but he knew he could extract a wealth of information just from these few drops. He could see just how Essum's former vessel operated before and after the being was removed from his chest. When he had tried to knee Praetorius in the solar plexus, he had felt that the hole was still there.
There were many questions that needed answering about the vessel before his quest could continue. The vessel's body was carefully designed to house Essum's spirit, and Marnin aimed to know every last detail of that design.
He picked the flask up and moved it to a small steel safe under the desk, locking it inside tightly. The four-inch thick steel walls could protect the flask from even a blast of dynamite. Then, he turned to regard the several random objects littered about the abandoned warehouse.
Pallets, cable, glass, steel rods, assorted tools and construction items, scraps.
He carefully selected four long steel rods from the wall and laid them down on the floor, in an axial pattern. He took a length of aircraft cable and laid it in a circle around the cables. He collected hinges and metal scraps, and with only a few hours work, fashioned them into steel orbs, which opened into two hemispheres by a small hinge. He nodded in satisfaction and added small locks to each one, as well as a small lengths of cable connected to the hinges. After that was done, he collected some aluminum cans around the shop and powdered them with a grinder. Then, reaching under his desk, he pulled out a small cup of rust that he had set out to dry after collecting it from steel wool he had set in a jar of bleach, vinegar, and water. He mixed the two powdered metals together into a small glass jar, and stuck a strip of magnesium into the tip.
Several hours had passed. Eventually, Muramasa would come. How soon, he did not know, but when he did, he would be ready. He sat cross-legged near the four steel rods, laid the Cane across his lap, and waited.
