Chapter Four: Take Over
"I want all the staff members to remain in the engine room until further notice." Master Mummy commanded. "Ribbon Girl, I want you to go retrieve your glove case too."
"Wait wait wait, have someone go with her." Ninjara glared.
"Alright, Spring Man, accompany her. Min Min, go gather whatever files the staff have been holding. We need whatever we can get our hands on."
Min Min headed off for the files, as Ribbon Girl (followed closely by Spring Man) left for her glove case.
The remaining fighters began to group the tables together, equipping their masks for ARMS assistance in doing so.
Ribbon Girl and Spring Man were the first to return, and Ribbon Girl was surprised to see everyone already in masks. "... I thought we were all supposed to keep our masks in our cases."
"Oh please." Twintelle smirked. "You actually listened to that?"
She sighed. "Am I the only one who plays by the rules here?" She dropped her busted case on the table in front of Mechanica.
"Think it's possible the lock was busted… After it had been picked? " Kid Cobra posed, squinting at Twintelle from the corner of his eyes.
"And why would they do that if they were gonna break the lock anyway, snake boy?" Twintelle replied, rolling her eyes.
"Um… I-I'm pretty sure the lock was broken with a kind of… Um…. Snipping tool." Mechanica mumbled nervously.
"Like bolt cutters or somethin'?" Master Mummy questioned.
Mechanica nodded quietly.
"... Did you bring bolt cutters with you, kid?" Twintelle poked, raising an eyebrow.
Mechanica reluctantly nodded.
Ninjara sighed. "Okay, Mummy, go take a look in her room and bring back any tools she has. Take Spring Man with you." The two nodded and began to head out toward the sleeper carts. "Twintelle, see if you can get anything out of Helix. Maybe he saw or heard something."
"You know he doesn't exactly speak , right?"
"Yeah but it's still worth a shot, just see if he's any help."
She sighed and headed over to Helix's table, just as Min Min entered holding a big stack of files. She dumped them all over the desk and glanced over at Ninjara, who went to go look at them.
Ribbon Girl approached Mechanica, who was still sat by the glove case looking shaken. "Hey Mechy, don't worry, we'll get all of this sorted. Yeah?"
Min Min joined them. "What's the news…?"
"Mechy's pretty sure the lock was broken by some bolt cutters… She took some with her, so people are kinda pointing the blame her way again."
"Th-They're just an ordinary part of my tool kit!" She insisted.
"Bolt cutters, eh?" Lola smirked, heading over and leaning herself on a chair. Min Min visibly winced. "I think I saw somethin' like that around… Well, here, I think." She looked to her shoulder, where a small blue ribbon was jutting out of her shirt. She began to pull at it, revealing it was tied to another ribbon - this one yellow - right after it. She continued to pull, revealing an unending sequence of colourful ribbons. "Boy, this could sure take a while!" She joked as she continued to pull.
Mechanica smiled, though Min Min was grinding her teeth together. "It's not funnyyyyy." She sighed.
"I think it's funny!" Mechanica smiled at Min Min.
"Ah!" Lola removed the last of the ribbon and found it tied to a flower at the end. "Hm, well, how'd this get here?" She handed it to Mechanica, who looked right toward it as a sudden spout of water shot out from the stamen.
She flinched from the spray, before giggling and wiping her face dry. "You got me good there!"
"Just be glad it wasn't a pie." She winked, grinning. She caught Min Min in the corner of her eye and turned to her. Min Min had a most unimpressed look on her face. "Somethin' wrong, Gumdrop? You're lookin' much more sour than sweet today."
Min Min continued to stare, as if she was trying to look past the clown act and see the real Lola below. "... Did you do this?"
Lola Pop's smile didn't fade. "D'y'think I did?"
"I dunno." She stared. "Maybe I'm just missing the joke."
Lola didn't fail for a moment to meet Min Min's eyes right back. " I am the joke, Min Min." Her smile stood proud on her face, not wavering in the slightest. "Ha... Ha... Ha."
Min Min shivered, turning away quickly. "Just… Cut it out with the gags while we're investigating, 'kay?" Ribbon Girl quietly removed the 'kick me' post-it note that had somehow silently wound up on Min Min's back.
Master Mummy and Spring Man returned to the room, lugging along with them a large toolkit. "It's sealed." Master Mummy informed. "Doesn't look like it's been tampered with either." He thunked it down on the desk with the files.
"Okay, kid, how's this thing open?" Ninjara glared.
"I-I-I use my key…" Mechanica stumbled, retrieving the key from around her neck. She unlocked the case and opened it, revealing every one of her tools firmly in place where they were meant to be.
"That settles it then." Ninjara shrugged. "Glove case opened with bolt cutters, bolt cutters found neatly where they ought to be - no signs of tampering."
"This doesn't prove anything." Min Min humpfed.
"Doesn't it? I mean, are we meant to believe the culprit snuck into her room too, stole her key from around her neck while she slept, and when all was said and done went to put everything neatly back where it was? Including the key back around her neck? Well why didn't they take Ribs' key too? Why bust that lock at all if this key was so easy to get?"
" Enough, Ninjara." Min Min insisted, getting agitated.
"I don't think it is enough, actually!" He grumped back. " Plus she's the only one with a credible motive we've covered already."
"It's. Not. Her." She grunted through her teeth.
"I suppose, if it wasn't the kid…" Twintelle chimed in, returning from a fruitless 'conversation' with Helix. "It'd have to have Ribbon Girl. It's awfully convenient her case was broken, hiding the fact she brought the exact two ARMS needed."
"W-Well you also brought the two ARMS needed!" Ribbon Girl glared back at Twintelle.
"Then why would I break your case?"
"Look, everyone," Spring Man urged, trying to retain the peace. "If it wasn't Mechanica then we need to figure out motives for who else it could have been, right?" He carefully stood himself between Min Min and Ninjara, helping to separate the two, who were still staring daggers at one another.
"Cryochamber." Master Mummy blurted out from the nearby, file-ridden table. Everyone turned to look over at him, and slowly made their way over. "There's something in the cargo cart referred to as a… 'Cryochamber'."
Min Min squinted. "That must have been that thing I saw in there... Is that why it was so cold? I mean it was the dead of night but it was freezing in there."
Master Mummy shrugged. "I dunno, there's not much info on it here, but you'd typically expect something 'cryo' to be cold."
"We should take a closer look." Ninjara recommended, his arms folded commandingly.
The fighters headed to the back of the train where the cargo cart was situated. The sun had already set by now as they continued their journey over the ocean, but upon opening the door to the cargo cart Master Mummy actually took some time to look for a light switch - something Min Min wished she had done with hindsight back when she was following BARQ the night before.
With the carriage illuminated by the long white bulbs overhead, the team entered and gathered around in the space before the cryochamber. The entire cart was just as cold as it had been the night before, but thankfully everyone was dressed much more warmly than Min Min had been at the time.
"You weren't kidding about the cold, Min Min." Master Mummy said, clutching his shoulders as his breath appeared in quickly fading clouds. "This looks to be the cryochamber, though. Anyone have any idea what it is?"
Min Min bent down and put her hand against the chamber's glass. It was still just as frosted over as it had been when she had found BTYE's headless body leaning against it.
Spring Man gripped the door of the chamber and tried to lift it, struggling even with his ARMS outstretched. The door didn't budge and inch.
"There's a keypad…" Kid Cobra pointed out, directing attention to a small 12-button grid on the left hand side of the chamber's door. A small display beside it showed a string of four hyphens, which lit into asterixis one by one as he pressed the squishy, frosted keys. 'INCORRECT PIN' the display replied after accepting the four random digits he entered.
"I take it the ARMS lab whitecoats are the only ones to know the code?" Twintelle sighed, rubbing her bare shoulders for warmth. "I don't think we're getting that thing open."
"... Hm." Ninjara squinted as he looked over the keypad. "I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that the correct keycode could be obtained through some… Hacking ." He turned to face Mechanica. "I doubt that would have been hard for you ."
Her lip began to quiver again. "N-N-No! I wouldn't even know where to begin with that, a-a-and even if I did I would never-"
"Well you're not just a mechanic, are you?" He glared down. "You had to program that ARMS mech. You must have plenty of experience with coding." Nearby, Min Min clenched her teeth hard. " You are the only one with a motive. You are the only one who knows BYTE's hardware. Your bolt cutters were used to break Ribbon Girl's case. You -"
Min Min suddenly swooped in between the petrified Mechanica and Ninjara, who had been steadily approaching her. "I am sick of you blaming her." She said, getting right up in his face, clearing seething with rage. "You want to talk suspects? Alright. You , Ninjara, are a ninja in training. Ninjas are known for stealth . You could have easily snuck your way into any room on this train. And ninjas are also known for sleight of hand . That's how you could have swiped Mechanica's key, and Ribbon Girl's glove case."
"I-"
Min Min cut him off again before he could even get a word out. "And you wanna talk motive? You sure?" She glared unblinkingly at him, her teeth chattering very slightly, not from the cold but from the immense anger coursing through her at that moment. "If you wanna talk motive then maybe it's worth remembering that BYTE wiped the floor with you in your last match. He damn near PERFECT'd you. You really think it's 'out of the realm of possibility' that your fragile little ego couldn't have handled-"
Ninjara pushed Min Min back hard against the wall behind her, his face scrunched up in rage. He swung his extended ARM back behind him with his hand balled into a fist - no glove equipped.
Before his ARM could coil back toward Min Min, he himself was suddenly pushed from his right. He thumped down to the cold metal floor and looked back up to where he'd been pushed, only to find Ribbon Girl standing there with her own ARMS extended.
Ninjara clenched his fist again and prepared to lunge forward at her, but was suddenly stopped by two hands gripping him just below the shoulders. "Calm down!" Spring Man pleaded, restraining him tightly.
Likewise, Master Mummy had put himself between Ninjara and Ribbon Girl, and was keeping Ribbon Girl at bay. "No. Fighting." He commanded, swifting his eyes across each fighter in the room. Kid Cobra, in an effort to seem helpful, lazily extended an arm in front of Min Min, blocking her from getting up and fighting back on the off chance she chose to do so, despite the fact she was staying firmly on the floor where she had fallen to anyway.
"Ugh." Twintelle scoffed, crossing her arms as she rolled her eyes. "Seriously? You're all such children. If you're going to fly off the handle like that at the slightest provocation you shouldn't have the ARMS ability at all."
Helix blobbed sadly at what he was seeing.
"Alright, look." Master Mummy puffed, equally disappointed at a fight had broken out. "I've had enough of this. This investigation is officially over . We'll let the police and ARMS lab look into this once we arrive at our destination."
"The whole point of doing this ourselves was to find the culprit before they had a chance to escape!" Ninjara groaned back.
"We know the culprit must have the ARMS ability, which narrows it down to one of us ten. If one of us makes a run for it once we're back on land, we know they're guilty." He slowly lowered his guard from around Ribbon Girl, who had calmed down a good deal. "For now, all of us should stay to ourselves. Got it? Everyone in their rooms. We'll have two staff members in each carriage too, to ensure no one tries to go elsewhere."
Ribbon Girl helped Min Min up, who was rubbing her back where she'd fallen against the wall.
"Alright, but…" Kid Cobra slivered a little nervously, not wanting to stoke the fires that had fueled the fight before. "I'm not saying Mechanica is the culprit, but maybe she shouldn't be left alone with her mech. Y'know… Just in case?"
"I'm with snake boy on that one." Twintelle shrugged. "But then I suppose the fair thing would be to pool our masks together too, so no one can use their ARMS for the remained of the trip."
"Then everyone will be… 'ARM-less." Lola chimed, to which everyone else ignored.
"Alright, that sounds agreeable." Master Mummy nodded. "In the interest of being fair, we'll have our masks stay with the train driver. We'll give them our glove cases too, while we're at it. Everyone on board with that?"
Some generally unenthusiastic approvals followed from the group.
"What do we do about squishy?" Kid Cobra asked has he motioned toward Helix. "He can't take his mask off, right?"
"Can you keep an eye on him, Twintelle?" Master Mummy requested.
She didn't look all too pleased, but agreed anyway. "I suppose I can manage that. But I'll be charging the ARMS lab if he gets goo over my clothes."
The fighters slowly left the freezing cargo cart in an orderly fashion, all worn out from the mess of a situation that had just unfolded. Each made for their own rooms, except Helix who followed Twintelle to her's, and Master Mummy, who made his way to the front of the train to update the staff on things and hand them their masks and gloves, as well as Mechanica's mech which he stopped for along the way.
The night continued on and dinner was delivered to each room individually. Ribbon Girl and Min Min, who were once again trying to ignore the events of their journey, ate quietly together at the desk they had been playing cards at before. It was actually rather romantic for the two of them, alone together having dinner on luxury train at night.
After returning their finished plates to one of the staff members situated outside their accommodation, the two sat down on the bed, sighing with exhaustion. The train was just entering the frozen tundra now, leaving behind the expansive ocean it had spent so much time travelling above. They had had plenty of time to calm down about the events that unfolded earlier, so when the topic arose they chose not to shy away from it.
"How's your back…?" Ribbon Girl asked, concerned.
"It's fine, don't worry." Min Min reassured. "It was just a bit of a thump, it wasn't that bad."
"Well I still wanna see." She pouted back.
Reluctantly, Min Min turned away and lifted her shirt up. There were small red patches where she had collided with the wall, but it didn't look like it was anything serious. The bruises would probably fade over the next two days or so.
"Someone should tell him how stupid his swim goggles look." Ribbon Girl muttered about the chains on Ninjara's mask as she glared at the marks on Min Min's back he had given her.
Min Min snorted. "You are still so pissed."
"He pushed you!" She retorted loudly, her mouth ajar, in disbelief. "I mean I knew he had an ego but god , what a child."
Min Min laughed more. "When we got back here you were all like 'how DARE he!'" She giggled. "You couldn't sit still for a second."
"He is definitely off the Christmas card list."
"Good! Take everyone else off too while you're at it. You have got to stop doing Christmas cards, Ribs. You aren't an old lady."
Ribbon Girl rolled her eyes. She gently pressed her hand to Min Min's back, rubbing at it slowly. "Lie down. I'll give you a massage~"
"Oooh? Didn't realize my birthday had come around early~" Min Min complied, laying herself face-down on the bed.
"You're hurt! It's my duty as your girlfriend to un-hurt you." She pressed both her hands flat onto Min Min's back now.
"Un-hurt? Well, better a masseuse than an English teacher I suppose." She closed her eyes and relaxed. "Still… This whole business with BYTE and that cryochamber thing… I just can't get it out of my mind. It had to be an ARMS user, so that leaves it to one of us ten…"
"Well." Ribbon Girl shrugged as she began rubbing Min Min's back. "One of the other eight, if we excuse us two."
Min Min pouted against the pillow. "Ninjara's definitely a suspicious asshole who's super quick to pin the blame on Mechy. Plus that whole losing-to-BTYE thing would be enough of a motive, I mean you saw how fragile his ego is." She sighed deeply. "But then again, there are still seven other fighters who it could have been. Twintelle is an actress so who knows if her reaction to all this has been genuine. Lola still gives me the creeps. And I guess Cobra could sneak around unnoticed without his skater gear on, so there's that too."
"I don't feel like there's a lot of evidence on Mummy, but he is a smart guy. I dunno. Could have orchestrated this whole thing." She dug her palms into Min Min's sides as she pushed. "My dad always said not to trust the smart ones."
"Mm. Then there's Spring Man, who could just be working with Ninjara. And Helix, who's probably not clued up enough to have planned all this, but could probably have slipped under the door frames."
"Could be Brass. Maybe he snuck on the train somehow and has been hiding out of sight." Min Min snorted in response. "Yeah… Maybe not." Ribbon Girl smiled to the back of Min Min's head. "But I guess that does leave… Mechanica."
Min Min didn't respond for a moment. "... And what do you think about that?"
She thought for a second. "I seriously doubt she'd ever do anything like this. Like… Really doubt it." She bit her lip. "... But I suppose of anyone she does have the most evidence pointing toward her. I mean, with the bolt cutters and the whole hardware knowledge and stuff…"
"Yeah. I'd be lying if I said that hadn't crossed my mind too." She sighed. "But as far as that lot are considered, I'm certain she's innocent. I just know they'd go on a witch hunt if I told them I had doubts."
"Mm."
"Higher."
"Hm? Oh, right!" Ribbon Girl slid her arms higher up on Min Min's back.
"Mmmmmm, that's it. Just there."
Ribbon Girl smiled as she upped the pressure a bit. "You should get thrown around more often if you like it so much."
"I get thrown around for a living, Ribs!" Min Min reminded her.
"Oh yeah? Didn't realize that's how it was in the ramen business."
"You are so snarky." She laughed back.
"Well I know you like a rude girl~"
"Oh I do~" Min Min replied and she flipped herself over in place, so she was facing belly up. "It's pretty hot."
Ribbon Girl leant herself over Min Min more, until they were at each other's eye level. "Hot?~"
"Mmmhmm~" She moaned, biting her lip.
Ribbon Girl grinned, before leaning in and pressing her lips against Min Min's. The two kissed slowly as they lay against each other, illuminated by the moonlight seeping from the open windows, and the soft orange glow of a small bedside lamp turned to the wall.
Min Min moved her hand slowly to hold the back of Ribbon Girl's head, holding her into the kiss. Ribbon Girl, in turn, moved her hand to-
There was a shriek from the back of the train. The two stopped their kiss suddenly and froze in place, eyes locked in the direction of the shriek. They hopped up to their feet again, with Min Min lowering her shirt, and quietly made it over to the cabin door.
After a moment of caution Min Min opened the door ajar and peered her head out. She looked at first to door at the back, leading to the cargo cart, and then in the opposite direction, where she saw Spring Man and Ninjara similarly looking out of their rooms. From the door at the back of the cart on that end came Master Mummy, who headed in after hearing the shriek.
The five of them - Ribbon Girl, Min Min, Spring Man, Ninjara, and Master Mummy - all made their way to the cargo cart without a word, abandoning their agreement to stay situated in their rooms temporarily while they checked out the source of the shriek.
The space between the carts was, as always, blaringly cold in the night air. Even more so now that the train had passed into the arctic. But what was about to follow in the cargo cart was, as they had previously experienced, about to be colder. The five of them braced for the cold and opened the door to the last carriage.
In here stood a staff member pressing herself against the wall, terrified beyond belief at what she was seeing ahead of her. A strange and bulky figure was emerging from the cryochamber, which was now open.
The carriage was icy cold. But suddenly, out of nowhere, it became immensely colder.