The Train Station wasn't quite the majestic, comforting sight that Arthur had been hoping for.

From his fragmented memories of the place, the Train Station had once been a rather enchanting structure. Grand glass windows had easily lit up the checkered tile floors and smooth wooden arches, making it seem more like a church or a castle than a place of transit. Back before the occupation, countless people had made their way to and from the Station every day, heading to work on the other islands or simply leaving town for whatever reason.

He wasn't naïve enough to think that it would remain completely like that, of course. Twenty years of abandonment and neglect would have left their mark on the Train Station in the same ways as the rest of the buildings in the Garden District. As such, the partially collapsed roof, structurally unsound scaffolding, and massive piles of rubble present around the building did not surprise him.

However, he hadn't expected that a large group of Headboys would have gathered around outside of the Train Station. He hadn't expected some mad old wastrel to have made his home inside, taunting the gang members and chucking empty bottles from the roof.

And he certainly hadn't expected the Headboys to retaliate by using entire barrels of explosives against the building.

'Where did they even get all those explosives from?! Didn't we use up all the Dust years ago?!' Arthur thought wildly, staring at the freshly made hole in the Train Station's side. Mere moments ago, three Headboys had been furiously dragging an explosive barrel to the spot. Now there was nothing left of them but smoke and crumbling masonry. Considering the sheer size of the bomb they had used, it was a miracle the explosion hadn't taken out the entire building.

Not like that had fazed the other Headboys much. About ten of them had already rushed their way through the gap, with another intimidatingly large group milling about outside. It was an unusual show of force, especially for a situation like this. Even if that wastrel had some food stored inside, surely it wasn't enough to warrant this kind of a reaction?

'…How did the Headboys even get over here? Wasn't the bridge shut down before? Or…oh, Gods, are they already set up in the rest of the District?'

A passing Headboy brought Arthur out of his thoughts, walking just in front of the bushes he was cowering within. All Arthur could make out was a mumbled 'delicious V-Meat' before the wastrel moved along, heading towards a hole in the nearby fence. Glancing back at the building, Arthur noticed that the other Headboys were all looking away from the Station, out towards the surrounding buildings and trees.

It was the best opportunity he'd get to head inside, as terrifying a thought as that was. It wasn't like he could escape with them watching the exits, at any rate.

Nervously swallowing, Arthur slowly shuffled himself forwards. Doing his best to keep from making noise, he gradually made his way across the overgrown grass and strewn debris towards the impromptu entrance.

On the plus side, the lack of light was working out in his favor. The headlamps the Headboys were using, seemingly part of the repurposed Bobby helmets each of them was sporting, were all directed away from the building, leaving the yard incredibly dim. If any passing gang member had thought to look about the entrance, he'd hopefully be able to escape notice in the shadows.

Soon enough, he had managed to slip inside the building, quickly ducking behind a damaged wooden bench. Peeking out from behind his newfound cover, Arthur looked around the room, searching for where the rest of the Headboys had wandered off to.

They turned out to be much closer than he had hoped. Three of them were clustered together in the center of the main hall, pointing their lights around the building and arguing amongst themselves about something or other. Another two were wandering about the old ticket booths near the original entrance, knocking over cash registers and old stacks of paper as they searched for supplies. Another one was clawing at an old wooden supply crate, pulling against the wooden planks animatedly with a jimmy bar.

'Which means there's about four of them to go. They must have wandered off further inside.' Arthur thought, ducking back behind the bench. 'But that still leaves me with these ones here. How am I supposed to get past them?'

Arthur wracked his mind, desperately trying to come up with a solution that wouldn't leave him a bloodied, bruised mess on the floor. With how many of them there were and how exhausted he was, fighting them would only be a painful means of suicide. Trying to sprint for the rail tunnels would have the same result, besides the fact that he'd be even more tired when he inevitably died.

Sneaking by was probably the best choice, but there weren't many options to do so. The largest group of Headboys had positioned themselves in such a way that they had an excellent view of most of the room. There was still some cover to hide behind, mostly in the form of scattered crates and tables, but it was much more spaced out than outside.

Maybe there was some way to distract them? After all, there were plenty of scattered bricks and pieces of wood tossed about the place. If he tossed one of them through one of the windows nearby, that'd be sure to create plenty of noise. With the Headboys distracted, he'd be able to slink right behind them and down to the main platform…

But then the Headboys would also be more alert, thinking that some unscrupulous person could be lurking around them at any moment. If he wasn't careful, trying to distract them might only make them even more observant of their surroundings instead.

Taking a deep breath, Arthur tried to calm himself down. It wouldn't do to panic in a situation like this. The Headboys hadn't found him yet, with them all busy searching for that other poor sod, and there wasn't a ticking clock hanging over his head. He had time to think through his options.

"Oi, lads! Get back out here! There's something big headed this way!"

A sudden shout from outside caught Arthur's attention. Taking a quick peek around the bench, he noticed that the other Headboys had heard it as well. The band of hooligans pulled out their weapons, mostly a mixed and motley collection of scavenged tools, and hurriedly made their way outside.

Soon enough, Arthur found himself completely alone inside the building.

'That was surprisingly convenient. Maybe some other poor sods had the same idea as me?' Arthur wondered, staring at the Station's impromptu entrance in confusion and relief.

Either way, it wouldn't do for him to stick around and find out. The Headboys would come back as soon as they finished dealing with whatever was going on outside, and he intended to be long gone before that happened.

For now, all he needed was to find the way down to the platform.

"Attention, teams! We're approaching the target area now! Make sure you're ready to jump!"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Pilot, sir!" Ruby shouted enthusiastically, jumping out of her seat. Hefting Crescent Rose in her arms, she quickly made her way over towards one of the side hatches of the aircraft.

She knew that she probably shouldn't be this excited to get out of the Bullhead, but she couldn't help it! They were finally about to start their first mission together!

Well, unless you counted the class trip to Forever Falls. Or fighting the White Fang by the docks.

But those totally didn't count, so it was fine!

Besides, with team JNPR along for the ride with them, it would be even better! Pyrrha was already leaning by the aircraft hatch with her weapons in hand, Nora was dragging Ren along towards the exit with her, and Jaune looked about as excited to get on the ground as she felt!

That might have just been because of the whole airsickness thing, but still!

Looking out the nearest window, Ruby watched as the train station slowly grew larger and larger. As they got closer, she started to make out more details of the area nearby. Several clearly abandoned houses surrounded the station, edging up against what appeared to be a chain link fence. The only sources of light she could make out were a few scattered flashlights, with nearly all of them pointing towards their Bullhead.

'I guess they've noticed us. Well, hopefully there aren't that many of them!' Ruby thought, thinking back to their previous encounters with criminal organizations. Seriously, how did people like Torchwick even afford that many goons anyways? Crime couldn't pay that much, could it?

…could it?

"So, guys? Any thoughts about how to do this?" Blake asked, inadvertently breaking Ruby's thoughts from the financial viability of criminality.

"I think we should probably land outside the fence. We don't know what's going on at the station, or if they have more bombs with them." Jaune said, carefully making his way towards them. "And considering how run-down the buildings around here look, landing on the roof doesn't really seem like a great option. We can touch down near some of those old houses, head up to these people on foot, and see what's going on."

Nora grinned, pulling open the hatch. "Sounds good to me! Let's get going!"

"W-wait, we don't have to jump right..." Jaune paused, watching as Nora took the initiative to leap out of the Bullhead.

"Well, you heard the lady. Time to bail!" Yang cheered, leaping out next.

"Wait for me!" Ruby cheered, following after her. Throwing herself out of the aircraft, Ruby smiled wildly as she began to plummet towards the ground. The rush of air from free-falling always felt so exciting!

Sadly, the drop only lasted a few seconds. Readying her Aura, Ruby quickly repositioned herself, ducking into a roll as she struck the ground. Straightening up, she watched as the rest of her teammates landed with varying degrees of flair and enthusiasm.

"Over here! They jumped down 'round here!" A rough, angry voice called out from nearby.

Ruby turned around at the shout, taking her first look at the suspected bombers. She had expected to see some bandits or White Fang members to charge at them if the situation was hostile. If it was under control, then she expected there to be civilians, police officers, or militia members nearby.

A crowd of scruffy, dirty, stereotypical old-school bikers rushing to meet them was definitely not on the list of people she was expecting to encounter.

They all looked like they were part of a biker gang, at least. The studded leather jackets, old leather boots, dented metal helmets, and ripped blue jeans that they were all wearing definitely gave off that kind of impression. Unfortunately for them, they all seemed like they were a little too skinny to actually make it intimidating.

And then there were the 'weapons' they had.

They were, to put it bluntly, some of the least-impressive weapons that Ruby had ever seen, ranging from rusty shovels and wooden bats to a rock taped to a stick. The rock wasn't even well-secured! That duct tape was clearly coming loose!

The mere sight of a weapon that poorly made was giving her the urge to go over to that goon and give him an actual gun, just so she wouldn't have to look at that shameful creation anymore.

'…Wait a second, they don't even have any guns! Is this seriously all they've got?!' Ruby wondered, torn between feeling glad that the inevitable fight would be easy and sad that these poor bikers were so limited in firepower.

Surprisingly, however, the bikers didn't immediately attack them. Instead, they were just staring at the two teams of Huntsmen-in-training, seemingly at a loss for words.

"…Who the fuck are you lot supposed to be?" One of them finally asked, gesturing at the two teams.

"They…they look like Wellies, don't they?" Another biker asked. "More meat on them, fancy get-ups…"

"But…they're young. Too young." A third muttered out, looking directly at Ruby. "The red one there looks like she would've been sent on the train…"

"Wait, what?" Ruby asked, feeling increasingly concerned at their odd behavior. Wellies were probably the people living in Wellington Wells, but what did them having 'more meat' mean? And why were they talking about trains?

"Enough, you muppets!" One of the bikers shouted out, storming to the front of their group. "You all saw that airship! That means that they're not just tourists! They're from out of town! It's the Blanks all over again!"

The other bikers all appeared to snap out of their confusion with that statement. Shaking their makeshift weapons, the group of furious goons began to advance on the two teams, growling random phrases at them as they walked forwards.

"Not again, you dogs!"

"Murderers, the lot of you!"

"You're not taking the V-Meat! It's ours!"

Glancing around, Ruby saw that her teammates were quick to react, readying their weapons and pointing them back at the bikers.

"We don't want your things! We just want you to stop planting explosives and answer some questions!" Weiss called out, scowling as she readied Myrtenaster.

"Come on, guys! Can't we just calm down and talk things out?" Jaune asked, putting Crocea Mors into its shield mode.

Snarling, the biker at the front of their group pulled out a lead pipe from his jacket, pointing it at Jaune. "Enough of your lies! We're not going to let you bastards back into the Garden! Pound 'em!"

With that final rallying cry, the dozen or so bikers began sprinting forwards in a single leather-clad wave towards the two teams, swinging their weapons wildly as they charged.

All Ruby could do was sigh in exasperation, quickly switching Crescent Rose into its scythe form. It would have been nice if they could talk their way out of a fight for once, but…well, it wasn't like any of them had expected this to go differently.

On the plus side, the biker with the rocky stick was the closest one to her. At least some good would come out of this beatdown, even if it just meant destroying that 'weapon'.

'Come on, come on, come on! Where the hell are the stairs down to the tracks?!'

It had only been a few moments since the horrible, terrifying, and very loud noises outside had started, and Arthur was already panicking.

Forget a bomb, what kind of madman still had bullets after all these years? The fucking Home Guard didn't even have bullets these days, and they were the ones holding on to all the old militia gear! And there was no way the Headboys, of all people, were wielding actual, functional, loaded firearms!

Of course, there was also the very, very concerning possibility that whoever was shooting outside hadn't simply been saving up their supplies of munitions just for today. If that was the case, then getting outside of Wellington Wells just became much more urgent.

'Oh, please don't tell me that the Numbs came back! Why would they decide to visit now?!'

Sadly, the task of leaving was proving to be more difficult than he had anticipated, given the fact that he couldn't even remember where the entrance to the platform was.

It hadn't helped that whoever had taken residence inside the Station had decided to set up boxes and furniture and barricades practically everywhere. Piles of crates and sandbags were tossed all over the place, making the few paths Arthur could remember completely impassible. Even the floors weren't spared from this change, with some sections being covered in piles of wooden boards or pieces of debris.

The fact that the incredibly violent noises from outside had already started to die down only heightened his anxiety. No matter who won the fight outside, it would almost certainly end poorly for him when they eventually decided to come inside.

Looking around wildly, Arthur tried to remember something, anything about the building's layout that might be useful. Sadly, the only memories that came to mind were of what had happened on the platform on That Day, and not of what had happened in the rest of the building.

"The tunnels can't be that much further, can they?" Arthur murmured, wandering further into the station. "Surely there's a stairwell, or a maintenance hatch, or something!"

"Hello? Is someone in there?" A new voice called out from somewhere behind him. Unsurprisingly, the voice didn't seem like it was from a Headboy. It was softer, and lighter, like…

'Like they're too young to be from Wellington Wells. Am…am I going crazy?'

The possibility was uncomfortably high, considering the usual effects of going off one's Joy and the horrible things he'd witnessed thus far.

"Please, don't be afraid!" The strange voice continued, getting closer. "We're here to help!"

'And end up like those Headboys you ran into? I'd rather live, thank you very much.' Arthur thought, continuing to look for the stairs. They had to be somewhere nearby! It wasn't like they could have been filled up that easily…

…Except for the fact that this building was over half a century old, was left without maintenance for two decades, and just had a massive bomb go off right against the side of it. Sure, the aboveground portions of the building may have held up after the blast, but that didn't mean that the underground sections would be as fortunate.

"Oh, Gods, the stairs have collapsed, haven't they?" Arthur muttered, rubbing his forehead.

"Did someone say something?"

'Shit, I said that out loud!'

Looking behind him, Arthur was horrified to see two figures walk out into the center of the station. They were looking around, presumably searching for him, and…

And…

They were strange in just about every way he could think of.

They were too young, for starters. Hell, they were practically teenagers! There was no sign of wrinkles, or scars, or other typical accoutrements of age that most Wellies carried. They even looked like they had been properly fed!

The armor and weapons they were walking around with were also fairly intimidating. The Headboys had been bad enough with their Bobby helmets and leather jackets, but these people had fucking plate armor! And shields! And an actual spear!

It was practically the opposite of the muted, drab uniforms and plain weapons that the Nulls had used, but it was still terrifying in its own way. It was…new! Unknown!

And now both of them were looking directly at him. If the way they were readying their weapons was any indication, he needed to act fast.

"Uh, h-hello there! L-lovely day for it!" Arthur stuttered, walking backwards across some scattered boards. He needed to find a way out somewhere, anywhere, away from-

crrrreeeeeeak

Pausing at the strange sound, Arthur looked down. He noticed that the boards seemed rather old here, and full of small cracks…

…and they were bending quite a bit more than he'd expect for a flat floor…

'…oh, shit.'

With that final thought, the floor collapsed, sending Arthur screaming into the darkness.

Big thanks to Maldevinine for beta-ing this chapter!