Unfortunately for Ananze, he was huge. Or at least, much longer than the Clockwork Man. Trees serve excellently in obscuring humans and humanoids as they stand on two feet, keeping their profile thin, while their height is irrelevant in comparison to the height of the tree. Ananze on the other hand kept low to the ground but did so at the sacrifice of becoming far longer. The grass was not tall enough to conceal him, in fact, due to the all-encompassing nature of the canopy he had relied upon earlier there was basically no plant life on the ground due to the lack of sunlight. In other words, despite his efforts, he was shit out of luck below the canopy. Eventually the Clockwork Man’s telescopic eye would track his movement, spotting his unusual form amongst the trees he flittered between. And spot him he did, in the end.

However, the Clockwork Man’s own gambit required him to hide his discovery of the creature and feign disinterest in its presence. That same gambit nearly cost him, as he turned a corner, his left hand slapping into a nearby tree as he sped past it with the sound of splitting wood. Not a moment later acid was spewed from behind him, the caustic concoction slamming into the back of his jacket and sizzling there. He fell forward, and simultaneously an explosion rang out through the forest, throwing him further forward onto the ground where he caught himself with two hands, his metallic face rubbing into the dirt. Wood shot out in deadly splinters around him as the tree he had just passed, coincidently (or perhaps not) the tree Ananze found himself next to upon launching his acidic projectile, ruptured from the force of an explosion. Fire and force followed that blast, and Ananze would find himself caught within it. 

The Clockwork Man’s jacket had melted away, or seemingly been cut, and beneath it the Clockwork Spider came to life. Its metallic shell had been eaten away by the caustic substance on top, but it seemed otherwise undamaged as its cogs and gears continued to wind, allowing it to leap up off the automaton’s back as he rose and into a nearby tree. The Clockwork Man, for his part, gathered himself, drawing his pistol as it clanked a second warning. He was donned in just his shirt now, revealing the satchel at his side and more of his unnaturally lithe figure, and he had learned something of the creature which pursued him. Next he would find out how it withstood explosives close to its location, and after that, he would learn how it experienced other [i]painful[/i] things.