S1E12: Even the best-laid plans…
Lucia crept toward the depot, making sure to stay out of the explorer's line of sight. Pressing her back against the depot, she glanced around the corner. She didn't like what she saw. Roughly eight explorers were guarding a train with four others supervising labourers who were loading steel boxes onto a boxcar. All along the train, there was a similar scene. From the boxcars to hoppers, labourers were loading things onto the train, while explorers or SS men watched them.
"Well shit. This is will be more difficult than I thought." Lucia thought before a piercing whistle split the air.
A freight train came tearing through the railyard at top speed. Lucia took this opportunity to run toward the railyard. As she ran, Lucia glanced to her right to see how much of the train had yet to pass through the yard. What she saw made her run faster. There wasn't much more time Lucia had to get to the first set of tracks. Just as the end of the freight train roared past, Lucia flung herself to the ground behind the gravel the train tracks were placed on.
Peeking over the rails, Lucia could see the labourers going back to their job of loading the train. Lucia noted that there seemed to be less activity toward the end of the train, and that when a car was finished being loaded, the labourers moved toward the front of the train. Armed with this knowledge, Lucia began to crawl toward the end of the train. Keeping her left side off the ground to prevent the wound from reopening, Lucia moved toward the end of the train. Occasionally stealing glances at the train to check how much time she had, Lucia kept going. She had almost reached the end when she heard a train whistle shriek.
At first, Lucia assumed that another train was coming, so she moved further from the rails. However, looking at the train she intended to stop while it was moving, she received a wake-up call.
"Oh no. Not now."
The train began to move. No longer caring about being spotted, Lucia booked it across the yard. Just as Lucia reached the train and began to run parallel to it, the train picked up speed. Throwing herself at the ladder on one of the hoppers, Lucia's hand caught one of the rungs. Pulling herself onto the car, Lucia found a small compartment that she crawled into, and not a moment too soon. Just as Lucia turned to look out the entrance, she caught a glimpse of an explorer scanning the train. However, the siren did not spot her, and Lucia let out a sigh of relief. Now, Lucia could put her plan into motion.
"Hello Purifier. I did not expect it would take you this long to arrive. I am disappointed in you."
"Ahhhhhh, come on Alphy, lighten up. All this interrogation business has got you all riled up. Go take some time for yourself and enjoy this world we control. Go visit the Alps, the Black forest, or take a day killing some of these humans to relax. Who knows, might do you some good." Purifier chirped at Observer Alpha, tapping her finger against her cheek.
"I don't have time to listen to your psychotic rambling Purifier. However, now that you mention it, I believe I will take a break from interrogating this battlecruiser. From now on, I give you full reign to interrogate the battlecruiser however you want." Observer Alpha told Purifier, turning to leave the room.
"Goody! Things have been soooooo dull in the Northern Parliament since I finished with them. I should have taken longer to subdue them. Would have made the fun last longer." Purifier said with delight, clapping her hands. "I can't wait!"
"Then get to it Purifier. I have a few bothersome insects to swat, and a Dutch girl to toy with. Farewell for now, Purifier."
As Observer Alpha left the room, Purifier left through the opposing doorway. Alpha told her to start interrogating the battlecruiser as soon as possible, so that is where she would go. Coming to the cell that held the Iron Blood battlecruiser, Purifier took a moment to pause. How would she introduce herself to this kansen? Oh well, it didn't matter. This battlecruiser would remember her name quick enough. Opening the door, Purifier strode in, a manic smile on her face already.
"Well hello there Ms Lutzow, my name's Purifier. I can tell we are going to be best friends at the end of this. Now, lets play a little game I call: How much pain can you take before you break?"
"Not my brightest idea, I'm saying that now." Lucia said to herself as she crawled along the top of a boxcar.
Turning her face away from the wind, Lucia crawled further toward the front of the train. As she reached the forward edge of the train car, Lucia noticed a slight problem coming up.
"Oh boy. That's a tunnel."
Lucia scrambled to climb down the ladder on the railcar before the tunnel made it too unsafe. Just as the train entered the tunnel, Lucia stepped onto the small catwalk on the edge of the boxcar. Not daring to let go, Lucia clung to the ladder, hoping this was a short tunnel. This was making her lose time already, and she did not need to lose any more. Luckily, the tunnel was a short one, and Lucia could see light in the not-so-far distance. As the daylight grew stronger, Lucia put her plan into motion. She knew these train couplings like the back of her hand. This would be no problem.
Grabbing a steel rod the workers sometimes used to pry stuck couplings lose, Lucia jebbed the rod at the couplings. At first, nothing happens, but after a few more jabs, Lucia could begin to see a gap in the couplings. Shoving the rod into the gap, Lucia pulled down hard on the rod. Just as she had thought, the old couplers broke away from each other. However, Lucia couldn't have predicted how violently the freed cars would react.
The cars jolted forward, nearly sending Lucia into the space between the two train cars. The impact from the collision rocked the cars, and Lucia could see the wheels sliding on the rails.
"This is where I bail. Such a long siren train." Lucia thought as she jumped off the train and onto a small ridge next to the train.
It was a good thing she jumped at that moment because as soon as Lucia turned back around to gaze at her handiwork, the train hit a corner. The disconnected rail cars slammed into the cars ahead of them, and their momentum caused the train to jump the tracks, and into another train headed in the opposite direction.
Lucia couldn't stay and watch the rest of the show. The explosions would attract too much siren attention, and that was no good for her at all. Turning away from the trainwreck behind her, Lucia resumed her trek south, headed for Gibraltar.
Author's note: Sorry for taking forever to get this episode out, everyone. I didn't have that much motivation to write this week. Pair that with writer's block, and you get a very uneventful writing week. Fortunately for y'all, the creativity bug hit me at 23:30 PST on the 22nd, and I was able to get this chapter written. Hopefully, next week will be better. The next chapter will mostly be siren based, so if that isn't your brand of whiskey, feel free to skip it.