Kandase and Velvet laid prone on their bellies, the only sound filling the air at the moment being the gentle breeze and the birds chirping nearby. Kandase extended her open hand to Velvet, who looked over to fill her gaze with a small black earpiece that she produced from a grey backpack strapped to her back. "Here. Stuff it in... " Kandase raised her eyes to Velvet's ears, grunting. "Right. I'll be our ears in the long range department. How 'bout it?" She offered, awkwardly chuckle.
Velvet laughed and looked back down the railway from their perch as Kandase slipped the earpiece in her ear. Velvet, while Kandase tested the piece, studied how their line of sight on their target was to be blocked until it made a round on the far bend of the tracks. A considerable distance from them, their line of sight would allow Kandase and herself ample warning and time to put their assault in order. "Testing. 1,2,3. You there, Sourpuss? Hey, hey. You did say codenames. Now, there's no need for that sort of language. There's children present. OK, fine. Back to business." She looked over at Velvet, smiling at her own perceived cleverness. "We're keeping our eyes peeled. Not sure why, though. Even if we didn't have all the extra features of Fauna folk, it'd still be pretty damn hard to miss a train flying down the railway. Have a little faith, will you? We won't disappoint. Rabbit snare, out."
Velvet cocked her head, alternating her gaze from the railway to Kandase. "Rabbit Snare? What's that?"
A coy smile came to Kandase's lips as she met Velvet's eyes. "We needed a callsign. That was the first thing that came to mind when we were trying to come up with them. Not the best one, but we weren't exactly worried about names. You're just going to have to deal with it." She said with a snicker.
Kandase broke the gaze and continued eyeing the railway. She rapped her fingertips on the ground, obviously distressed by the long wait. Velvet remained silent, the anxiety building in her as a silent killer, as opposed to a more voiced one. She wanted to voice her concerns, but she feared of only heightening the apprehension within her partner. To prevent this, Velvet remained quiet.
She both eagerly awaited and dreaded the sound of the incoming train. Velvet felt the need to prove herself and protect Kandase, but she knew that involving herself in this may lead to an early demise as a combined result of her foolish desire to aid others as well as her primal need to do whatever was necessary to prolong her own existence. She saw no other way that presented itself to her other than to play along and do as they asked of her, with minimal dematerialization of her moral being.
She dug at the dirt underneath her, finding a red flower petal to press between her fingers. There was no other thing that she could do that could effectively take her mind off of the task at hand. She did not have long to avoid the task however. Far off, but within her earshot, a train horn cried out, shattering the peace of the forest of Forever Fall. Her ears flickered, and her eyes narrowed.
"Kandase... " She began.
"Don't worry. I heard it, too."
She pressed the earpiece into her ear, not taking her eyes off of the railroad. Velvet did the same, her heart beginning to race even more furious than before. "Hunter, this is Rabbit Snare. We have auditory confirmation on target. Hold for visual."
The next few seconds that passed were some of the most tense that Velvet had been through in recent history. She didn't let it project, but her body began to shiver for reasons unknown to her. Despite her attempts to hide her rising trepidation, Kandase reached over and tightly gripped Velvet's hand. "Velvet. I'm as scared as you are. I'll make you a promise, okay? I'll protect you as long as you protect me. As long as we're breathing and we're together, I think it's safe to say that I'm a little less afraid than usual. We'll make it through this... together. "
Kandase looked set to go on, but the appearance of the train rounding the track instantly silenced her voice. She gripped Velvet's hand even tighter for a few more seconds, then retracted as she rose into a crouching position. She moved away from the edge of the cliff, silently urging Velvet to do the same. She mimicked Kandase's actions, being sure to maintain their stealth and, consequentially, the element of their surprise. "Hunter, this is Rabbit Snare. We have visual. Proceeding to commence Operation." Kandase looked over to Velvet with her signature beaming smile. "Hey. We're both coming back from this. Got it? I'll kill you if you die on me, Velvet." She said with a lighthearted air.
"Likewise." Velvet said, trying to add in to the fun that served as an anesthetic to the pulses of stress and anxiety flowing through her.
Kandase broke her gaze, looking over to the train. They would be on top of their target in but mere seconds. The two lurched forward, leaning over the edge. "Kandase?" Velvet whispered.
"Yeah?" She briskly replied.
"Let's not hurt them anymore than we need to."
Kandase and Velvet stood, taking several steps back in unison to obtain a running start. They looked at each other once more. "You know my rule, Velvet. I'll treat them with the as much respect as they give me."
Velvet sighed, this not being the answer she wanted to hear, but the one she had expected. She nodded, Kandase doing likewise. They both looked forward, prepping themselves to run.
"1...2...3!" Kandase loudly whispered. At the end of the counting. They ran towards the edge of the cliff. At the very edge, Velvet dug the arches of her feet into the earth and leaped forward as hard as she could. She kept her eyes lowered as she came over the train. A small fear of missing her target and falling in some other undesirable place (be that over the train or, she thought with a mental shudder, under), but she quickly put those thoughts to the back of her mind.
As soon as she planted her feet on the rounded roof of the engine, she swiftly summoned a Hard-Light Copy of a Katana and slammed it into the metal in front of her. Once she was secure, she looked to see that Kandase had performed a similar action with one of her throwing knives.
The two locked eyes. Kandase nodded, and Velvet knew she need say no more. Her blade disappeared before her eyes, and she rolled off of the side of the train. She located the railing above the window to the engine, and grabbed on tightly. She positioned herself over the window when gunshots whizzed past her. Velvet released the grip on her left hand to avoid the bullets flying.
Velvet planted her feet on the engine wall, waiting for the right moment to strike. She held her position until, as she predicted, the gunman leaned outwards to ascertain Velvet's status. Velvet quickly slid across the railing and slammed her full body weight into the gunman's chest. She flew into the train, and rolled on the floor until she was on her knees.
She immediately was forced to bend backwards to avoid being beheaded by a second attacker. He was a greasy, balding man in striped blue overalls with a rusty machete in hand. His eyes were beady as they looked over Velvet. He looked her down as he raised his blade to bring it down her center.
Kandase rolled in through the window opposite Velvet as the engineer brought down his blade. Impulsively, Velvet slapped her hands against the flat edges, stopping it dead in its tracks. Velvet slid back and planted her feet once more in the gunman's portly abdomen, kicking him clear across the small space into the controls.
His back pushed the throttle forward, sending everyone flying to onto their backs. Velvet and Kandase quickly recovered. The gunman, a lanky man with silver hair, blindly fired at Velvet, not taking the time to aim. She slammed his wrist into a nearby bar, throwing her free hand into the bridge of his nose. As he gripped, Velvet slapped her hands over his ears as hard as she could. He crumpled to the floor, garnering the attention of the second occupant in the engine. The portly man raised his blade once more.
Kandase pulled his arm behind him and pushed down on the joint between his bicep and forearm. Although she didn't hear a snap, Velvet shuddered as she watched the engineer cry out and contort his face in pain. She turned when she heard her own opponent grunt as he tried rising to his feet.
Velvet backed away, hoping that he would stay down. Their eyes met, his full of rage. Rather than raise his gun, he turned his head towards the assorted switches and dials at the front of the engine. Among them was a radio in a charging port. Velvet looked as well, knowing fully well what she intended to do. He moved to grab it when, from seemingly out of nowhere, the other engineer slammed onto the dials, knocking the radio out of the port and onto the floor.
The other engineer dove for it, clutching it as he landed on his stomach. He slid towards Velvet's feet. "Hey. We need you. There's--" Velvet swiftly silenced him by attempting to kick the radio out of his hand. The engineer anticipated the move, moving the radio away from her line of attack. Because of this, Kandase's foot landed square over the engineer's nose.
His head buckled back, the force of the attack rolling him onto his back where he lay unconcious. "Kandase. He called for help."
Kandase swore under her breath. She briskly looked out the closest window of the engine to see an adjacent pond ,hefting her heavy adversary over the edge and out the window, ending with a splash.
"Get ready, Velvet. It's about to get loud in here." A loud thump at the door at the rear of the engine attracted both of their attention. The door appeared to be locked from the inside, as evidenced from the frantic rattling of the door.
"Jin? Arat? Open up, guys." A young female voice pleaded from the other side. Kandase and Velvet looked at each other as the pleads went on from the other side. When they ceased, Velvet recognized the distinct sound of a weapon being loaded from the other side of the door.
"Kandase, down!" The two Dove to the floor as far away from the door as possible without letting themselves off of the train. A gunshot rang out as the door handle was obliterated by a single shotgun blast. Kandase and Velvet quickly rose to their feet to meet three more crew members. The first to enter possessed a shotgun in hand, intently checking her corners and laying her sights on Velvet. The two behind her carried large black batons, forming a V as a whole.
One of the baton-wielders advanced towards Kandase while the other stayed to support his heavily armed partner.
Oblivious to this, the woman did not hesitate to pull the trigger upon spotting Velvet. Velvet slapped the barrel of the gun away from her with an open palm, sending the blast into the panel in front of the engine. Several red lights began flashing around the room. Momentarily disoriented, the woman raised her rifle to fire once more. Velvet used her opposite hand to deflect the shot, sending the next barrage of pellets into the wall mere inches from her shoulder.
Velvet tightly gripped the barrel of the shotgun, thrusting it towards herself then tilting it so she could slam it into her attacker's chest. She coughed as she was knocked off-balance. Her comrade who had not occupied himself with attempted to cut Velvet with his baton by striking her knees. She easily dodged, then slammed him onto the floor with a restrained strike of the butt of the shotgun.
When he attempted to rise once more, Velvet hit him in the head with the shotgun. He was knocked unconscious, and she turned to Kandase, seeing almost instantly that she had swiftly dealt with her opponent.
He laid unconscious on the floor. "It took you long enough." She joked. "Let's see where we can drop these lovely souls off of-- Velvet, watch it!"
Velvet impulsively ducked just in time to avoid the shotgun-toting railwoman who had since pulled a knife and charged.
Velvet, while resting on her knees, swung the shotgun and clubbed the railwoman in the knees. Her stringy blonde covered her pained expression as she fell to the floor. "Where are we getting rid of them?" Velvet inquired.
"Maybe we'll come across another pond... or... " She trailed as she looked at their surroundings. Finally, she pointed towards an incoming mass of shrubbery. "There."
They made short work of putting Kandase's plan into action. Two at a time, they threw the semi-unconcious crew into the long shrubbery growing adjacent to the track. After catching their breath, Velvet watched as Kandase clapped her hands together. "Now, to find where they have the switch to the other car's power source." Kandase ran her finger along the labels, whispering "Bingo." when she found the desired switch, only to become confused when it wasn't simply a switch. Kandase read the label for clarification. "What? 'Insert key for emergency power shut-off'? What the hell is this?" Frantically, Kandase enlisted Velvet in her efforts to search the engine for the desired key. After several minutes of fruitless searching, Kandase backed away from the panel, putting her face in her hands.
"Kandase? What's wrong?"
"One of the Engineers must have had the key to do it. We can't do jack without that key. There's no way to shut off the power to the rear cars." Kandase attempted to raise Adam on the earpiece,but to no avail. "Why are you going dark, Adam? What's going on?" She then turned to Velvet. "Adam's going to put the contingency plan in action. He's likely assuming we're dead, so he's going to put it into play."
"What's the Contingency plan?"
Kandase remained silent for a brief moment, looking out at the nature that passed by in a blur. "Once he and Blake have the materials they need, they're going to blow up the train, with or without us on it."