Lian's Peculiar Adventure: Starlight Paladins
Chapter 3
Murders on the Orient Express
Lian, Lex, and Sarah walked into their first-class train car thanks to the Enforcer's official perks. The three looked around and saw that this car was very luxurious with its padded seating and its dining tables.
"Wow, I've never seen anything like this." Sarah said with awe as she felt the fabric on the seats before taking a rest on them.
"Neither have I." Lex sat on the opposite seat in front of her.
"Eh… I've seen better." Lian shrugged her shoulders and took her ease next to Lex, "Though how come you haven't already seen this, Lex, since you do have access to it already." She asked.
"I've always preferred carriages." Lex answered as he leaned on the table, "You're more in control in those situations if you have criminal scum under your watch."
Lian nodded and rested her head back, then clapped her hands.
"Oh waiter!" she called out, noting the delicious lobster that was set on the table nearby.
No response.
"Waiter!" she called out again.
Nothing.
"Waiter! I demand you come attend me!" Lian repeated sternly.
Not a single soul.
"You damn manservants better have a good reason to not attend to royalty!" Lian stood up with a scowl on her face and walked to the railroad car in front of theirs. She raised her hand and banged on the door.
"I demand someone see me!"
Sarah sighed.
Lex lowered his head as if trying to distance himself from the situation.
"Get out here right now!" Lian knocked, "I'll show you…" she growled and brought out Power Khan.
Sarah saw this and stood up.
"Lian, please!" she said, catching her attention, "What do you want to eat?"
Lian looked at her.
"Well I suppose." She shrugged her shoulders and walked towards her seat, then took her ease and rested her head on her hands. "Can you serve me some lobster with noodles and a side of filet mignon, beef bourguignon, coq au vin, and a small clafoutis. To drink can you also pour me a side of chardonnay white wine?"
Sarah looked at her rather confused.
"I… uh… don't know what you just said…" she looked at the platter on her hand and then looked at the food on the table.
Lian sighed and shuffled her tiara side to side, "What a pain…"
Lex grunted and plowed through Lian to get out, getting an angry glare from the woman when he did.
"Here, allow me." He walked up to Sarah and grabbed the platter from her hand. He then visited each and every morsel of food and scooped up the appropriate amounts and walked towards Lian and the table once he was done. The enforcer returned to the buffet area and served some wine in two glasses and returned to stay.
"My." Lian slid across the table with her platter to allow Lex to sit on the outside, "You know your delicacies. I thought officers like you only ate hardtacks and water."
"When you're an officer of my high caliber, some important people tend to invite you to their celebrations." Lex said and handed her her wine, "Never cared much for those festivities, but I was job-bound to go."
Lex handed the other glass of wine to Sarah.
"Was that not for you?" Sarah asked him.
"I do not consume alcohol." Lex responded, "It clouds my judgement, something unbecoming of a hand of justice."
Lian rolled her eyes, "Here, have some of this." She put some beef on her fork and put it near Lex's proximity.
"Thank you." Lex nodded and grabbed the fork, then ate the beef bourguignon.
Lian retrieved her fork and set it down, then went for the lobster.
"Hmmmm." She thought and brought out Power Khan.
Power Khan grabbed hold of the lobster and expertly removed all facets of flesh from the shell and even the legs.
"Wow… How precise!" Sarah observed the events, "Your stand surprises me every time you use it."
"Me as well." Lian said, "Well, it is the stand of royalty, so only the finest would be present."
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The train chugged along quietly during the night, allowing our three Paladins to sleep soundly in their luxury bunks.
Sarah slept normally, body on its side and arms by her face in a praying position. She breathed in softly and sometimes lightly shuffled her leg around a bit to fit under her blanket.
Lian was all over the place. Her blanket was only covering part of her body and her right arm and leg were completely off the bed. She was snoring loudly and sometimes even snorted as she moved her head around on a pillow that was barely clinging on to the bed.
Lex was asleep like a mummy in a sarcophagus. His hands were over his chest and he made no noise or movement during rest. He didn't even move his head, he was just laying there silent and still. His sheets and blanket were so flat over his body, they appeared recently ironed.
However, it was Lian who woke up, feeling cold and uncomfortable in her current position.
"I… I need a glass of water." She mumbled and sat up from her bed. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, then put on her boots and walked to her chamber doors.
The princess made her way through the dimly lit halls until she reached the dining area. She walked over to the serving table and grabbed a glass, then walked over to the water pitcher. She picked it up, but before serving herself shook it around.
It was empty.
"Huh…." Lian groaned and set down her articles, then shifted her tiara side to side, "What a pain…" she murmured and saw that the waiters car had their lights on.
"I'll see if they'll actually help me this time." She grumbled and walked to the door, then opened it to reveal the door to the railroad car that held the waiters.
Tap tap was the noise of her knuckles hitting the wood.
Tap tap.
Tap tap.
Lian sighed and reached for the lever to open it.
It opened.
"Good." She sighed in relief and opened the door, but right when she did a foul stench overcame her. "What?!" she grimaced and shook her head, then walked inside. "What in the gods is that awful smell?" she covered her mouth and walked past the toiletry and towel cabinets.
"This is-" she paused and gasped and the sight before her.
All the waiters had their throats gashed, not one was left alive.
"What the hell!?" Lian yelled and stepped back, "I-I-I AH!" she screamed and ran out of the car. She made her way to the sleeping quarters in the luxury car and knocked on the first door she saw.
"Open! Open!"
The door opened.
"What are- Lian?!" Lex shook his head as he saw the Princess standing in front of him. Even though he had just woken up, he was wide awake and alert.
"What's wrong?" he saw the look on her face.
"Look!" Lian pointed to the open waiters car up ahead, "They're- They're…" she stammered, "Just look!"
Lex took no extra time and ran to the car, then saw the same sight.
"What is this!?" he asked himself and ran back to find Lian waking up Sarah, "Someone has struck down all the waiters." He informed.
Sarah shook her head, "What?"
"Someone killed all the waiters, that's why I didn't get any service back then!" Lian informed her, "Who could have done it!? We were up here the whole time!"
Sarah walked towards the waiters car but stopped at the door, since she already knew the smell that was hitting her was that of death.
"Oh no!" she cried out and ran back.
Lex looked around for clues.
"Should we check if everyone else is ok?!" Sarah asked the Enforcer as he prowled around.
"That would be a good idea." Lex stopped his actions and met up with the two, "Let us go and see if no one else has been murdered."
The three stepped out of the luxury railroad car and into the other luxury car.
"It looks clear- AH!" Lian yelped and flinched.
It was the same sight, but this time it was two elegant women and three men on the ground with blood around them and open necks.
"We have to find the perpetrator of this heinous crime." Lex growled and continued onward, kicking down the door to the next luxury car.
"Damn it!" he yelled when he saw 7 more casualties inside.
"This just keeps getting worse and worse!" Sarah murmured as she tried to avoid stepping on any blood.
Lex opened the door to exit the car but refrained from kicking the subsequent door to the next since he noticed it was a commoner's car and he did not want to cause a panic.
The man reached for the door and opened it quietly, expecting the worse.
However, in this car there were few people and many empty seats.
But half the people in here were killed in much the same way as the others.
"Hmmmm…" Lex murmured to himself as he tried to avoid waking up the other passengers yet investigate the bodies.
Lian walked up next to him and saw something written on the ground with blood.
"What's this?" she asked and strained to see it.
Power Khan appeared and read it for her.
YOU CAN'T SEE ME, BUT I CAN SEE YOU read the message.
Lian looked around and saw another message written on the roof of the car.
I HAVE EYES EVERYWHERE.
BLINK AND YOU'LL MISS ME.
Lian heard a soft hum in the air and turned around.
"What are you looking at?" Lex asked as he placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Ha!" Sarah gasped, causing the two to turn.
"What is it?" Lian asked her.
"I think I saw something." The woman responded, "Just for a second I thought I saw something move."
"Hmmm…." Lex mumbled and looked around.
"There!" Lian pointed to the corner of the car, but by the time the other two turned, whatever it was was gone.
"Huh?" Lex felt something fly past the top of his head.
"Aaahhhh…." Sarah stammered, causing the two to turn.
"What?" Lian gasped when she saw the sight.
"What is that?" Lex's eyes scrutinized the object.
It was a small flat disk as thick as a book and as big as a dinner plate hovering by the roof of the car. It had small orange lights flickering on its side that were rather dim and one large one in the top center that was slightly brighter. The disk also had three small block-like shapes sticking out of it and floated without making a sound.
"I don't know what that is…" Lian murmured, "But the aura I get off it… it feels like a stand."
"I feel it too." Sarah told her as she neared Lex for safety.
The disk hovered above them and stopped.
"My my…" a high pitch voice sounded from the disk, startling the three, "They say two heads are better than one, yet three can't even find out a single thing about this whole conundrum. Perhaps I should give you a clue as to what I am. Hahahahaha." The disk hovered down and floated in front of one of the sleeping passengers, then in one quick dash slit her throat before quickly bee lining to the passengers behind her.
"Ah…." Sarah gasped and pulled Lian back.
"Have your brains started working, or do you need another refresher?" the disk taunted as it spun around to clear all the blood from itself.
"We need to get everyone out of here!" Lex growled as he kept a close eye on the disk.
"But why, don't you love the plot that's unfolding?" the disk chuckled, then saw Lian make a dash for it.
"Oh! How impatient!" it laughed.
"I'll get through with you." Lian grunted, "Power Khan." She called out her stand, who shouted and glared at the disk.
"Oh! You have one too!" the disk tauntingly said, "But will it compare to my Stand CUNNING CUTTER?"
"Lian, we don't know what that can fully do." Sarah told her, "We need to step back find its owner."
Lian ignored her and set her sights on the disk.
Power Khan focused and pulled back its fist, then unleashed a flurry of punches to hit it.
Cunning Cutter, however, dodged all of the punches expertly and came out unscathed.
"What?!" Lian could not bother to blurt out loudly, causing the nearby passengers to shuffle in their seats.
"Keep quiet." Lex growled, "We do not want to cause a panic." He spoke behind his teeth.
"My Stand could catch a bullet, how can it be too slow to hit this glorified discus?" Lian responded and looked back at the disk.
"I won't miss this time…" she growled.
Power Khan grunted and put all its speed into one chop that was so fast that Lex and Sarah barely saw it.
"Too slow."
Those words sent a chill down Lian's Spine.
Cunning Cutter floated there with no damage to it whatsoever.
"Perhaps its time to meet my friend." The voice of the disk spoke.
Sarah gasped as the disk prepared to attack, then the three saw it seemingly vanish from the air.
"Over here…." Cunning Cutter swooped past Sarah's head and aimed straight towards Lian.
"Ha!" Lian gasped, and at the last minute Power Khan managed to tip the disk away.
"You finally touched it." Sarah grinned, "You managed to catch up-" she was interrupted when Lex raised his hand.
"It's not what you think." The enforcer spoke as he heard Lian pant heavily, then saw what caused such a troubling face to appear on the princess's face.
She had a small cut across the side of her neck that was leaking a bit of blood.
Sarah's eyes widened when she saw that sight and gained goosebumps all over her skin.
"Well, I may have slightly missed my target." Cunning Cutter's voice spoke, "But it's all part of the plot. Let's see how this all can thicken." It giggled and swooped down to strike three more passengers across their necks.
"I can't let you keep getting away with this!" Sarah yelled and called out her Furious Flame, "You can't dodge this fire that's coming your wa-"
"Cease!" Lex pulled her back.
"You pull that off in this wooden car and on this train powered by crystals and it will be a disaster for not only us, but everyone on the other cars on this train!"
"Shhh!" Lian told them, but then saw one of the passengers stand up and rub her eyes.
It was a middle-aged light-skinned woman with hair that only reached to the base of her head. She was of shapely build with a red coat and brown pants. It was hard to see in the dark, but she also had a red strand of hair on her head on the left side of her face.
"What's going on here?" she asked and rubbed her eyes, "What's this?" she looked at her neighboring passenger and gasped in horror when she saw what became of her.
"AHHH-" she was hit on the back of the head by Lian and knocked silent.
"We can't have her scaring the other passengers." Lian said, then turned her focus back to the disk.
"Can't think of a plan?" Cunning Cutter's voice giggled, "I already have hatched 40 ways to kill you three, and I only need one. Once I'm through with you, Seris will pay me handsomely with magic knowledge beyond our capabiltiies."
Sarah's ears perked up.
"Seris sent you to do this?!" she snarled.
"Of course! She can't have anyone messing with her plans, even her own sister." The disc said, "That being said, perhaps it is best to get rid of you first!"
"I'll stop you right there, criminal scum." Lex stood between the disc and Sarah, "You may be fast, but no matter how fast you can move, no matter how far you can go, no one escapes The Law." He brought out his stand and made four copies of it.
"Try dodging that." Lian said curtly as the four stands surrounded the disk.
"You have nowhere to go." Lex told the disc, "Surrender now or face immediate repercussion."
Cunning Cutter only giggled.
"You can face me with the grand cannons of Fort Makara all pointed at me, none of them will hit me!" it taunted.
"Hmph. A theory that should have been tested first." Lex grunted, "5 Enforcer Police Shootout." He said and all 5 of his stands started firing at the disk.
Cunning Cutter bobbed and weaved through all the ethereal bullets coming towards it.
"You cannot hit me! I am the pinnacle of science! It is worthless to even try to unravel my plans!" it taunted.
Lex stopped his stands from shooting again.
"Hmmmm…." He grumbled, "Shootout!" he yelled and had the fire once again.
"You can't hit me!" the disk continued jeering at him, "You couldn't hit the broadside of a city's walls with this aim."
Lex stopped again.
"Now it's my turn!" Cunning Cutter swooped down a took out three of the copies of his stand in quick succession, stunning Lex for a moment.
"Next time it will be three other targets… The last two of your stand and YOU." It cackled.
"SHOOTOUT." Lex commanded, and The Law fired upon the disk another time.
"It is all in vain." Cunning Cutter laughed when Lex stopped firing, "Now you will die-"
"The Law retrieves those running away from it." Lex said, and suddenly the bullet holes on the ceiling of the railcar shot out beams of blue light that returned back to the barrels of the guns of the two The Law stands. These beams pierced right through Cunning Cutter and made the voice out of it gasp in pain.
"WHAT?!" Cunning Cutter yelled as it couldn't move through the beams that pierced it.
Lex recalled The Law copy, making all the beams focus on the barrel of one Stand.
"It is wise not to let the enemies of The Law understand its powers, but since you will not live to even see the bars of a cell, I can let you know. Anything my bullets hit can be traced back to the barrel of The Law, making it sort of a harpoon to reel back criminal scum like you."
The Law made the beams retract, leaving Cunning Cutter floating mere inches from the barrel of its gun.
"For massacring more that 10 innocent men and women, your punishment is nothing less than Death." Lex told the disk, then made The Law blast a beam of pure energy through it.
"AUGHHHHHHH!" Cunning Cutter screamed.
"AHHHHHH!" the woman Lex knocked out screamed as a hole appeared in her sternum.
"What?" Lian and Sarah saw the woman writhe in pain.
"She was the stand user?!" Sarah gasped, "You! How do you know my sister!?" she ran to her.
"Haaa…. Ha…" the woman panted, "To think…. I…. Vivian…. Would have all my plans scuttled…. By a bunch of backwater…. Ruffians…. How?!" she yelled.
"How did you know my sister?!" Sarah continued asking.
"Heh…. Your sister already know about your plan, stupid girl…" Vivian answered, "And I'm only telling you this because… you all will die once the sun starts to rise…." She smirked and spat out some blood.
"What do you mean by that?" Lian snarled.
"I did more than… kill the butlers…" Vivian responded, "Even though I never thought I would fail…. One always needs an ultimate contingency… Ha… Ha…." Her breathing became more and more labored, "In the end, you were all just rungs on a ladder… waiting to be…. Stepped…. On…. Augh…" she gave out one last groan and died.
"I can't believe my sister knew about my plan…" Sarah clenched her fist.
"She must have deduced it." Lian told her, "Perhaps you running away instead of joining her may have given her that suspicion. Suspicion enough to spy on you."
"And send assassins." Lex muttered as he looked at Vivian's body, "But she threatened a calamity that will take all our lives. We must discover it before the dayspring." He pointed out the window.
The night sky was slowly lighting up as the morning came.
"She said she killed more than the butlers." Lian pondered, "Who else works on the train?"
"The Engineers!" Sarah exclaimed.
The three looked at each other and ran back to where they came from.
"This train crosses across underdeveloped tracks." Sarah informed, "If it does not make the right turns, it could end up crashing into something!"
"And how do you know this?" Lian asked as she stopped to let Lex kick down the door that led from the waiters car to the main engine.
"I traveled all across the land in search for stand users, remember?" Sarah responded, "You think I didn't use a couple of trains during that time?"
Lian shrugged her shoulders.
"Clear!" Lex burst through the door and met with the steel door of the main engine.
"Locked… and I don't think I have the strength to knock this one down."
"Allow me." Lian stepped in front of him, "Power Khan!" she said and brought out her stand.
Power Khan shouted and reached for the steel door, then punched straight through it, grabbed it, and ripped it off.
"RA!" it yelled and threw it to the side, where it tumbled down a hill.
"Our suspicions were correct." Lex stepped in and saw the three engineers on the ground with their throats sliced.
"And look up ahead." Lian pointed out the window where a large unfinished bridge lay over a river.
"And its too late to switch lanes!" Sarah pointed when she saw the intersection a kilometer behind them.
"And the brake has been destroyed." Lex growled when he held the stick, which was cut in two.
Lian sighed deeply and shifted her tiara side to side, "What a pain…"
"We need to save the passengers!" Lex said and ran outside of the engine.
"And how are we going to do that?" asked Lian, who followed closely behind.
"Follow me!" Lex told the two and they ran through the cars until stopping at the one where they faced against Vivian and her Cunning Cutter.
Lex opened the door to the other car and saw that the people in side were still sleeping. From there he stepped back out and got on the stairs that led to the top and saw that there were four more cars to go.
He then climbed back down and looked at Lian.
"I need you to break us free!" he pointed at the metal junction under them.
Lian nodded and brought out Power Khan.
"Tell me when!"
"When you two hop over here!" Lex yelled, noting that they were still on the car attached to the engine.
"Oh." The two women said and went to Lex's side.
"Now!" Lex ordered.
"Power Khan!" Lian yelled, and Power Khan appeared and punched the junction, freeing them from the engine leading to certain doom.
Sarah saw the sun peeking through the horizon, then looked ahead to the bridge.
"It's not enough! We're still going too fast!" she warned.
Lian and Lex looked at each other as to what to do next.
"Leave this to me!" Sarah spoke up, "Furious Flame!" she said, and her Angelic Stand sprung out and flew over the railroad car.
"Burn the wheels!" she said.
Furious Flame flew around and to the wheels, then blasted them with fire, causing them to melt slightly and deform.
"Other side!" Sarah said.
The stand did the same but to the other side, and the friction the deformed wheels were having with the rails was enough to mimic the effects of a braking system.
Surely enough, they were starting to slow down.
But was it enough?
The cars connected to the engine in front of them were about to plummet off.
"We need something more to save these people!" Lex yelled.
Sarah brought out Furious Flame again and blasted the tracks themselves in order to deform them and add more friction.
"Is it enough!?" Lian said as the engine and cars ahead of them tumbled down the bridge with them not far behind.
"We're slowing down!" Sarah said as she felt the train get considerably slower.
"Hold on!" Lex grabbed the two women and held them tight.
Everythign about the train started to screech and spark and tremble as it neared the edge of the bridge. The workers on the other side were yelling and waving their arms to stop.
And stop it did, right on the edge.
"Ha…. Haa….. ha…." Lian panted as she felt the train stop moving.
"Phew…" Sarah sighed and wiped her brow.
"That was close." Lex commented.
Suddenly, the door opened, hitting Sarah and Lian hard enough to push them forward
"What's going on!?" some civilians popped out, "Oh my!"
"LIAN! SARAH!" Lex called out The Law and aimed his bullets at them, hitting both of them.
"Retrieve!" he said, and The Law's bullets came back to the barrel and formed a beam that caught the two women.
"HRPH!" Lex groaned as he tried to lift the weight, "HELP ME!" he yelled at the civilains, who grabbed him, but too late, his boot had slip and he was dragged off.
"AHHHH!" the three screamed as they fell towards the river.
"THE LAW!" Lex aimed his stand and fired at the cliff face, "Retrieve" he said and made a rope like material, "HA!" he grabbed Lian and Sarah as his stand held him by the waist and they swung down the cliff.
However, the river crashed upwards and swooped them up, sending them downstream…