Prologue
There it was again, that tense, dull pain in your heart and in your gut. The dull pain that told you that the sky was falling - that your world was falling apart before your very eyes.
How familiar.
This was the pain I felt when the old me, the old Amelia Watson died in the War.
In the Central Car of the Casino Train, another war was erupting. A war that escalated because of me. A war that Kiara and I failed to stop.
Bitter fighting filled the train car. Tables were flipped. Shots were fired. Bats and axes were swung. Kicks and punches were thrown. Bae, the only desperate voice of reason, could hardly be heard. Kronii and her detectives were thrust into the fray, sandwiched between the warring factions. Any hope for peace was thrown out the window - and Mumei Nanashi watched her handiwork with wicked glee.
At the heart of that mess, Gura and Calliope Mori squared off with reckless abandon.
Gura's dual pistols rang violently. Muzzle flashes illuminated her furious face and her snarling saw-like teeth. She screamed fiercely, but her anger masked the sorrow beneath her voice.
Calliope Mori danced around Gura's shots. Her face was a frigid mask of disdain and disappointment while she swung her katana through the air. Gura's short height let her duck beneath the swings and roll out of the way.
With every swing I saw and every gunshot I heard between them, the dull pain gripped my heart tighter.
I can't let it end.
Not like this.
Not when I still had one card left to play.
…
In the midst of the chaos, Ame picked herself up from the floor. As soon as Ame did, Mumei whacked her with a hammer.
"Stay down, detective." Mumei urged, "It'll be better if you watch the show from here."
Ame winced and groaned, but she still stubbornly got up from the floor. Mumei gripped her hammer tightly.
"Don't make me do this." Mumei warned, "Unless you're a masochist too."
Ame ignored the barb. She glanced at Kiara and wore a pained smile.
"Buy me some time, partner."
One look at Ame told Kiara everything she needed to know. The Phoenix nodded. Then, despite the injuries she already sustained, she sprung up from the floor and wrestled with Mumei.
"Go, senpai!" Kiara cried, recoiling from the pain.
"Thank you." Ame whispered.
Then, she sprinted into the battlefield towards Gawr Gura and Calliope Mori.
"Stop her!" Mumei shrieked at Bloop and Death-sensei.
The two Lieutenants stopped their pretend skirmish and chased after Ame through the warring crowd. Ame pushed herself through the pain, running on sheer willpower and primal instinct. The sounds of Gura's guns and her pained war cries were Ame's compass in the din.
Eventually, Ame slipped through the crowd towards Gura and Calli locked in their duel. Behind her, the two Lieutenants forced their way towards her.
No more half measures, Ame. Not anymore.
Spurred by her own words, Ame dashed towards the clashing Queenpins and put herself in between them and raised up her hands in surrender. Calli's katana stopped short of decapitating Ame. Gura, on the other hand, managed to stop herself from filling Ame's heart with lead.
"You have a deathwish, Pudding?" Calli asked, holding the edge of her sword to Ame's neck.
Gura, on the other hand, fell silent. Being face to face with Ame all of a sudden threw the tiny Queenpin into disarray.
Bloop and Death-sensei burst through the crowd, but neither of them could do a thing to Ame - not she was sandwiched in between the Queenpins themselves.
The war between the Shrimps and the Deadbeats onboard the Casino Train continued around them, but Gura's sight narrowed to just Detective Amelia Watson.
"You broke my heart." Gura spat bitterly. She pressed her guns into Ame's chest, "Tell me why I shouldn't break yours?"
Ame took a deep breath. Then she spoke.
"I was snooping around the baggage cars earlier, Gura." Ame admitted. Then, she shored up her resolve and declared, "I saw something that endangers everyone on this goddamn train - and the whole damn City!"
Both Gura and Calli fell silent, listening carefully to the detective trapped between them.
"I found large amounts of a Pekoland chemical substance stashed in there - already synthesized and weaponized." Ame spoke firmly, "It's something that chemical warfare folks from the Army call 'HALU'."
The name 'HALU' cut through the din of battle. The Shrimps and the Deadbeats disengaged and paused their fighting. Many of them were veterans of the War
"HALU." Calli repeated the name with shock, "That's the stuff the Pekolanders used in Sunfish Hill!" She brought her sword away from Ame's throat and shook her head, "HALU whipped up the boys and girls of my Company into a frenzy. Then the Pekolanders charged in with bayonets and…"
"She's lying, boss." Death-sensei tried to argue with Calli, "She's throwing words around, hoping that something's gonna stick!"
"Yeah." Bloop chimed in, "How do you even know that stuff is HALU?"
Gura and Calli turned to their Lieutenants and growled.
"Shut it, you two!"
Neither Death-sensei nor Bloop could say another word. Gura, meanwhile, kept her pistols poking Ame's chest.
"Bloop does have a point, Amelon. How do you know that it's HALU?" Gura demanded, "How do you know it's synthe-something'ed?"
"I dabbled in medicine at the Police Academy, Gura. A good friend of mine graduated top of our class and she knows her way around chemicals. I learned from her by osmosis." Ame revealed. She looked straight into Gura's eyes and insisted, "I know enough to put two and two together. The stuff in the baggage cars were highly refined, powdered up and weaponized. Anyone who gets a whiff of it will go batshit."
"Just like the Owl Pals on board this train!" Bae intervened, appearing once again in the conference hall.
The rat-girl, with help from her Rat Pack staff, paraded the beaten Owl Pals from the locomotive cab into the conference hall. Their loopy eyes and wild, incoherent utterances about tickets and hammers and funds brought back wartime memories for the veterans in the room.
"These boys are tripping on HALU." Bae determined, "If there really is a lot of that stuff on board, then somebody's trying to get the Shrimps and the Deadbeats to fight. Someone who drugs her own gang." She pointed to the owl-girl wrestling with Kiara, "Someone like Mumei Nanashi."
"RED TICKET! RED TICKET!" One of the Owl Pals screamed, trying to bite Bae's tail, "HUNDRED DOLLAR TICKET!"
Bae promptly kicked the Owl Pal in the chest and knocked him out.
"It's not only that." Bae added. She turned to the Lieutenants and made her accusation, "Bloop and Death-sensei are in on the jig too. They're the ones who really want this war to happen!" Her blue eyes sharpened, "They've tried to have me killed many times to shut me up. Now, they're trying to sabotage this peace conference too!"
…
Confused whispers popped up throughout the conference hall. Shrimps and Deadbeats alike watched their Lieutenants with suspicion. Calli sheathed her katana. Gura returned her pistols to her holsters.
"What do you have to say for yourself, Mooms?" Calli asked angrily. Her voice echoed throughout the conference hall.
Mumei let go of Kiara and clenched her fists.
"I'm doing this because Kronii and Chief Enma have to suffer." Mumei growled angrily, "If making the Shrimps and the Deadbeats fight a new war here in the City is the way to do it, then I'll do it! We're gonna turn this City over and make them all pay for their crimes!" She glanced at the two Lieutenants and asked, "Isn't that right, Bloop? Death-sensei?"
Bloop and Death-sensei didn't answer. Their silence made Mumei shudder.
"Oy." Mumei jabbed, but she still didn't get an answer.
The two Lieutenants stole glances of the scene outside the train through the windows. They saw the distant flashes of police lights along the train tracks and smirked.
"Whatsoever are you talking about, Miss Nanashi?" Bloop snickered meanly, "I don't remember promising you a goddamn thing."
"Chief Enma really is planning a rubout on this train." Death-sensei added, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Bloop, "The thing is, she didn't make a deal with any of the gangs."
"Only us, personally." Bloop finished his sentence, "We just wanted to have all of the troublemakers of this city in the same place. On the same train." He cracked his knuckles and scoffed, "That way, we'll get rid of you all in one go!"
Calli and Gura were shocked. The two of them wanted to berate the Lieutenants, but Bloop and Death-sensei ran towards the windows with their weapons in tow. They crashed through the windows and threw themselves out of the moving train.
Police sirens blared through the smashed windows and the flashing red lights filled the conference room.
Then, without warning, a storm of bullets ripped through the room.
…
The rattle of Tommy Guns and automatic weapons echoed from outside. Police cruisers drove along the road parallel to the train tracks and fired at it from the windows in a massive drive-by. Relentless shots whizzed through the windows and through the walls of the Casino Train. Shrimps and Deadbeats took hits left and right.
"Everyone get down!" Ame shouted.
The Queenpins, the gangsters and the detectives alike followed Ame and ducked for safety. Mumei, however, stood there frozen in shock.
"No…" Mumei's eyes went unfocused, "They used me…" She shuddered and lowered her head, "Chief Enma got me again - just like she did back then!"
Mumei looked out the shattered window and the pockmarked conference room walls and caught a glimpse of Chief Enma herself with a Tommy Gun. Enma's glasses shimmered devilishly and she pointed her gun at Mumei.
"Mumei, look out!" Kronii suddenly cried.
The star detective sprung up from where she knelt and tackled Mumei down to the ground. Kronii's back, however, shielded Mumei from the shower of shots.
Mumei fell on her back and Kronii fell over her. However, the warm sensation of blood reached Mumei's cheek.
"Kronii!" Mumei panicked, "Why did you…!?"
Kronii rolled off Mumei, showing the owl-girl the fresh wounds on the back of her shoulders. The wounded detective winced and pained tears formed at the sides of her eyes, but she still forced herself to smile for Mumei.
"I didn't want to leave you Mumei…" Kronii croaked. She reached for Mumei's face and revealed, "Everything I've done… I did it to protect you. You still… want to go on that road trip, right?"
"Stop talking!" Mumei wailed, weeping into Kronii's hands, "Just stop talking, Kronii!"
Her trembling hands and horrified expression was a great departure from her sinister, maniacal air just moments ago. A different kind of desperation took root in her heart.
"I need help, please!" Mumei cried out, but her voice was shrouded by the seemingly endless barrage of police gunfire, "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
"Hold on!" Ame answered the owl-girl's call, "And someone get a first aid kit!"
Ame rushed over to Mumei and Kronii like an Army medic on Sunfish Hill. She kept her head low the whole time. Kiara, meanwhile, got a first aid kit from the Rat Pack staff and joined Ame by Mumei's and Kronii's side.
Mumei was taken aback by the sight of Ame and Kiara.
"Don't mind us." Kiara spoke with a straight face, "We're on the same boat right now - or rather, the same train."
"I'm not exactly a doctor." Ame added, "But Kiara and I are the best you're gonna get." Her blue eyes turned towards Mumei's and she asked, "Can you find it in you to trust us?"
All of the anger and disdain that Mumei felt towards them started to evaporate. Before long, Mumei lowered her head and begged her former foes.
"Please. Save her."
Ame and Kiara nodded. Mumei nodded back.
…
The owl-girl watched Ame and Kiara treat Kronii's wounds under the threat of constant gunfire. The two detectives were an organized team and worked with professional swiftness. In a short span of time, and with what little supplies they had on hand, they were able to patch Kronii up just enough to stabilize her.
Mumei heaved a sigh of relief. She threw herself and hugged Kronii.
"O-ow, hey… not too tight." Kronii winced.
Mumei didn't care. She kept hugging Kronii until she surrendered.
"Don't do that again!" Mumei buried her face in Kronii's chest.
"I won't…" Kronii promised, hugging back with what little strength she had left.
Ame and Kiara watched the two, admiring their handiwork this time around. They let Mumei and Kronii have their moment, deciding to deal with the owl-girl later.
…
Not long after, the gunshots from the marauding police cruisers also came to a halt.
"Did they finally give up?" Ame asked, glancing out the window.
"The parallel road by the tracks should have ended." Gura chimed in, looking out the windows, "We're in the North District right now." She sniffed the air, "Very near the ocean too."
"North District? Near the ocean?" Bae marched towards Gura with grave concern painted on her face, "Our itinerary was supposed to take us to Central District - then down-state to Winningson! How the hell did we get so far off course!?"
While Bae was fretting, they heard a loud, grinding noise coming from outside the train. The train track switches were activating ahead of them.
"City PD commandeered the track signals. They probably screwed us over when we were distracted." Calli deduced, "But where are they planning to take us?"
The rattle of the train tracks changed timbre.
"Hold on a sec… are we on a rail bridge right now?" Gura asked.
Calli closed her eyes and listened to the train, "Sounds like it."
Gura's face went pale.
"The rail bridge up here's out of commission!" Gura cried.
"Out of commission!?" Bae gasped.
Before Gura could say anything else, the ever-present rumble of the train disappeared. Ominous silence filled the conference room. The salty smell of the sea intensified. Then, everyone in the room felt gravity leaving their feet.
Then, the Casino Train jumped off the decommissioned railed bridge and into the North District Sea, taking all of its frightened passengers along with it.
…
Queenpins
Off The Rails
…
To Be Continued