The sound of the train's metal body shaking could be heard everywhere, it was somehow both distracting and natural.
As the four of them walked deeper and deeper into the train they began to notice Fanus children who had brands burned into their shoulders.
The brands themselves weren't anything they hadn't seen before rather it was the freedom the children seemed to enjoy inside the train.
There was even a point where one of the children a boy that had the ears of a dog, ran into Jaune and nearly made him fall, which caught both Rens and Whitley's attention.
The boy quickly turned and apologies, but it was nothing more than a brief moment rather than a proper apology, a filthy fanus would have given a superior Human
"hey!" Whitley called to the boy
"Don't" Mark stopped Whitley before waving the fanus boy off.
The boy noticed the hand gesture and accepted it.
"Those brands mean that they belong to someone important in the train," Mark said to Whitley, before turning and leading their group deeper into the train.
"This is going to be a dumb question, but have any of you ever ridden inside an armored train?" Mark asked the team, he stopped walking when he didn't hear an answer and was only met with naive stares.
"Your kidding, I mean I know Jaune hasn't, but"
"Sorry I only traveled with Airship- ships that go on the ocean or cars," Whitley said to Mark
"I only ever been on busses- I've ridden horses and airships a couple of times" Ren answered Mark
Mark let out a breath and looked at the ticket in his hand, as long as one of them had their ticket then they had a way of proving that they were allowed to be on the train and wouldn't be kicked out.
That just meant making sure the kids with him learned the rules of the train.
"Alright, well looks like we don't have any choice in all of this, so let's start from the beginning," Mark said to the team
"I'm Mark" he introduced himself, before slightly moving the lower part of his mouth to the right and leaning his head to the left signaling to Jaune that he should continue the introductions, even though Jaune already knew Mark and Ren
'I'm Jaune" Jaune introduced himself and Mark had to admit his he was glad that Jaune didn't try to give his family name
"My name is Ren" Ren continued the introductions and finally they all turned to look at the newest member of their group
"I'm Whitley S"
"Let me stop you there kid when you're on the train never give your family name"
"Names are important, but if you have a family name that just makes you a target, besides your family name either doesn't mean anything in the train or the last wall"
"Or it tells people that you might have people that will pay to see you dead, or worse" he explained Whitley
"Okay, look I'll be honest with all of you, right now and as long as we are on the train we are in constant danger, and no I'm not exaggerating, Jaune wheres your ticket," Mark asked Jaune, sho began to search his pockets only to realize he didn't have it on him, he had everything else except his ticket
"Those kids stole it from you, the one that bumped into you was the distraction, so the others could get away" Mark explained to Jaune.
"We can still catch them," Ren said but Mark just shook his head
"Trust me when I say this, those kids can get into places we can't fit in and even if we catch them, we'll have to deal with their owners" Mark answered Ren
"Keep your tickets safe, as long as one of us has his, then we are all safe"
"The deeper we go into the train, the worse the danger is going to become," Mark said to everyone
It was a good thing none of them would be going any deeper, they would be getting off at the next stop, that was the reason why they hadn't bothered paying for a private room.
As long as the train didn't decide that it wanted to go past the last wall, then it didn't matter that Jaune had his ticket stolen.
The lights on the train began to turn red and everyone that didn't live on the train began to panic.
"No," Mark said as he drew his gun
"What's going on?" Jaune asked Mark
"We're going past the Last Wall, I don't know where the train will take up but Vale is behind us now" Mark answered Jaune, as the windows of the train began to be covered in armor and the sounds of cannon fire mixed with the growing and howling sounds of attacking Grimm.
"Whitley, do you have any experience making deals with rich people?" Mark asked Whitley, despite being the youngest of the group and weakest of them all he was the only one that looked like if he belonged in high society despite wearing his gray.
"No, but I've accompanied my father when he negotiated or talked to important people" Whitley answered Mark
"It will have to do, your our negotiator, for when we have to deal with those kinds of people, just stay calm we're always right behind you," he said to Whitley before turning his attention to the other two
Time was running out and soon the hunters would leave their dens.
"Ren Jaune the two of you cover our rear and keep an eye out for anyone or anything dangerous, and for the love of anything sacred don't be a hero"
"I don't care if you see a woman being raped- killed or if those things are happening at the same time, worry about your team instead"
"You'll understand when you see it" Mark warned his teammates and silently wished they would forgive him ceaselessly getting them into this mess.
"No!" the voice of a woman screaming reached their ears and they all turned towards the direction the sound came from
"Get to the walls now!" Mark ordered the team and they all stood aside as a man wearing a bright blue suit walked past several passengers.
The man happily kicked a woman out of the way and aimed his gun at a man that wouldn't move when he was about to reach him
He stopped walking when he noticed that the team was already standing next to the wall letting him pass
"I see people that have manners," he said a she looked at the team
'Look you four are the first to show me the respect I deserve, so just show me your ticket and I'll be on my way" he said to the team and his eyes quickly fell upon Jaune
"Where your ticket boy, don't tell me you got on the train without a ticket"
"I wouldn't want to throw you out"
"The ticket is right here, I vouch for all four of us," Mark said to the man and the man quickly turned and looked at the ticket Mark showed him
Mark immediately made a gesture and the man handed him a pen.
"I work on the last wall of vale an unlicensed hunter, this is mark," he said to the man who took out a notebook and found the same symbol mark had drawn.
"It checks out," the man said before drawing the symbol on the hands of Jaune- Ren, and Whitley, he didn't bother drawing the symbol on Mark because Mark had drawn it on himself.
The team watched as the man asked for the passenger's tickets and lifted the shirts of both fanus and humans only to find the brands that marked them as residents of the train.
Mark let out a breath of relief when the man was finally out of sight, he turned to look at the team and saw how shaken they were, the hunter had a powerful presence.
If Mark had to compare being near the man he would say it was something similar to being near a lion that was in a cage, and that cage door was completely opened.
"That was a ticket man but his real job is to hunt other people and yes he would have thrown us out of the train," he said to the team
"Let's find the cart that has a restaurant or a bar in it," Mark said to them and they begin to go deeper into the train
They walk past men- women and children that were shaken by their encounter with the ticket man \hunter, pst the various private rooms where people could be heard talking to one another.
Then Mark stopped walking, they had managed to catch up to the man and he was still checking the passenger's tickets.
"Please, someone stole my ticket," an old man said to the hunter, who placed a finger on his chin.
"I see, you know what I'm feeling generous, everyone here has been willing to listen"
"So, I'll be nice"
'You can spend the rest of the trip on the final car, I won't kick you out, but no one will keep you safe either" the hunter said to the man before slamming his hand on the walls of the train.
The man screamed as he began to sink into the wall.
"Don't" Mark said to Jaune who wanted to help the man
"They're monsters, but they don't lie, on the train, your word is worth more than gold, that man is on the last car. He's still alive" Mark said to Jaune and they watched as the hunter walked out of sight once again.
They continued to walk as they listened to the rumbling sounds of the train's metal body shaking, from time to time they nearly fell when the train ran over something or the rails were broken.
The sounds of screaming could be heard in the distance as well as the sound of gunshots.
They soon noticed that there was blood smeared on the ground, it was almost as if someone had tried to escape, or was dragged away so no one would see the body.
They finally reached the dar and Mark let out a breath when he saw a familiar face working as the bartender.
"Give me the usual" Mark said to the bartender who raised an eyebrow, before turning to look at the team
"They're with me," Mark said to the bartender who immediately nodded
He went under the counter and took out four guns and handed them to each member of the team.
The guns could hold a single bullet and they were meant to be lost so the bartender didn't expect to get them back.
"I'll inform the people in Vale about your purchase," the bartender said to Mark before giving him and the team four free glasses of water, this caught Mark's attention because any resource on the train was valuable, so it wasn't given away for free.
"Well don't you have something to ask me?" the bartender said to them and they all looked at each other before realizing they had forgotten to ask.
'Excuse me sir, but have you seen a Red Bull, or have you heard of it?" Jaune asked the bartender who instantly said no