CHAPTER TWELVE
Return of the Forever Train
November 9th, 2053
Macbeth Freight yard, Planet Macbeth
The Great Fox slowly descended into the smoky atmosphere of the mining planet of Macbeth. The team had been assigned to locate a Venomian freight train that was supposedly carrying a very large supply of nuclear weaponry to supply depot on the other side of the planet. The mission was to destroy the train, or at least stop it, before it could reach the depot. Anna's planetary scans had also revealed that there was a fuel bunker near the depot that could strike a heavy blow to the Venomians if it was destroyed as well.
"This ain't the first time we've been assigned to blow something up." Marcus said as the Landmaster he was in slowly lowered itself to the ground.
"When you think about it, we ARE some pretty good demolitions experts." Katt chuckled.
"How's everything going up there, gang? Any bogies in range?"
"No, not yet." Falco said.
The other four were flying overhead in their Arwings
"OK, that train shouldn't be too far ahead." Anna said. "Let's find it fast."
"Hey Falco. Weren't you and my dad assigned to this same mission a while back." Marcus asked.
"Yep. But how they rebuilt that monstrosity of a train, I'll never know." Falco replied. "It's no wonder they call it the 'Forever Train.'"
Marcus rolled his eyes.
"That's all we need." he said sarcastically.
Suddenly, a low, rumbling noise could be heard across the barren landscape. Marcus laid his foot down on the boost pedal and rocketed forward. 20 feet to his left was a railroad track. On the railroad was the caboose of a massive train that seemed to stretch on for miles.
"I've spotted the train!" Marcus called as he proceeded toward the train. "I'm commencing my attack run now!"
Marcus could hear the train driver muttering to himself on the comm in a heavy Texas accent.
"Here come the little hyenas now." he grumbled.
The train slowed down a little. The car directly next to the Landmaster was carrying a heavy load of boulders.
"Here you go!" the driver said as the bucket tipped over.
Marcus slammed his foot on the boost pedal and shot forward away from the falling rocks. The driver chuckled.
"You're not takin' me too seriously, are you, kid?"
Suddenly, lasers began coming down like rain.
"Enemy fighters have begun their attack run!" Katt shouted, barrel-rolling away from one of the enemy's trajectories.
"Take offensive action! Look alive, everybody!" Marcus ordered.
Marcus aimed the tank's cannon at the cars containing the carefully shot the links connecting them to the cars further up.
"Not bad, kid. Not bad at all." the driver chuckled.
"I'll show you not bad!" Marcus grumbled.
Marcus launched a smart bomb that just barely missed the train.
"Explosives, eh?" the driver said. "Well, two can play at that game!"
The car nearest to the Landmaster suddenly extended a long robotic arm that carefully aimed at and locked onto it.
"How 'bout this?" the driver said.
A grenade flew from the gun on the arm. Marcus barrel-rolled out of the way of the explosive, and after shaking the stars out of his eyes, he fired another smart bomb.
"Jeez, he's tougher than he looks!" Marcus growled under his breath.
The arm launched another grenade. This one was detonated in mid-air by one of Falco's lasers.
"Need some help down there?" he asked.
"I'd appreciate it, thanks." Marcus replied.
Falco swerved his ship down towards the gun car and fired a smart bomb into the gun's barrel. The arm collapsed, causing the train to slow down even more.
"Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!" Falco cheered.
The train driver growled.
"Damn! Detach the rear vehicle!"
The gun car's link fell apart, and the rain started to speed up again. Marcus was about to slam on the boost to chase after it, when more lasers rained down, blocking his line of sight.
"Just shoot 'em, Mark!" Anna said impatiently.
Marcus aimed the cannon toward the smoky sky and started blasting at the enemy units. One of his lasers managed to knock off the wings on one enemy, which started plummeting to the ground and landed dangerously close to the Landmaster.
"Hmm…pretty good chasers, aren't ya?" the driver muttered. "Step on the gas!"
With that, the train sped up. A mining facility was near the area that the two vehicles were fast approaching. When they passed between two massive buildings, a swarm of bogies flew at Marcus.
"Incoming!" Chase yelled.
Marcus turned on the Multi-Lock and easily blasted down the enemy units.
"Watch out!" Falco hollered.
Several boulders came rolling at Marcus at high speed. Marcus pressed down both pedals and pulled up on the steering control. The Landmaster rose up a few feet, enough to hover over the boulders. Suddenly, another gun car further up on the train fired at a wall. More boulders fell from the wall and blocked the Landmaster's path.
"OK, not a problem." Marcus said calmly.
He launched a smart bomb, blowing all the rocks to pieces. Marcus laid his foot on the boost pedal, when suddenly his stomach lurched as the Landmaster fell into a thirty-foot deep trench. Up above, the train moved along a bridge constructed of concrete and titanium.
"Heh heh!" the driver laughed. "You kids ain't in Kansas anymore!"
"Kansas? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Marcus said.
"That's not a terribly good comparison, is it?" asked Anna.
Putting the driver's poor comparison aside, Marcus looked for a way out of the trench. Almost fifty feet away, he spotted a slope that led up to a tunnel connected to the bridge. He stepped on the gas and shot forward underneath the bridge when Falco swooped down with about three bogies on his tail.
"Man, am I gettin' slow?" Falco grumbled.
Marcus locked on to Falco's pursuers and let fly with multiple charged shots, sending them catapulting into a wall.
"I guess I should be thankful…" Falco muttered.
More boulders feel from the wall. The Landmaster easily shot ahead and avoided blocked by them. Finally, the tank charged up the slope and was now rolling on the railroad, the train just a mere twenty feet ahead.
"Ha! Thought you could hide from me, eh?" Marcus shouted triumphantly.
The driver chuckled again, just as the rear car entered the tunnel.
"What's wrong? Come a little closer!"
"Don't try my patience, bub!" Marcus shot back.
"Be careful!" Anna warned. "It might be a trap!"
Marcus paid no attention. The tunnel was the only way through, so he stepped on the boost and shot forward. Just as the rear car passed a hole in the wall, two steel bars started crisscrossing across the tracks.
"Oh, for the love of Pete!" Marcus shouted.
He floored the boost pedal and shot between the bars just before they closed. As the train went through the tunnel's exit, more bars blocked the path instantly.
"Try hovering!" Anna called.
Sure enough, the Landmaster was able to hover right over the bars. Up ahead, a switcher kept the track going on a straight path. But as soon as the train went off that particular area, the switch flipped and a massive, translucent force field appeared in front of the Landmaster and blocked its path.
"See ya along down the road…or maybe not!" the driver laughed.
"Son of a bitch! That jackass was planning ahead!" Falco growled.
"And now he's gettin' away! Grrr!" Marcus said angrily.
"Calm down!" Anna said. "There's another track that connects to where the train is heading. It's just off to your right."
Thankfully, she was right. Another set of tracks was twenty feet away from where the Landmaster was.
"Okay. I'm headed that way now." Marcus said, turning the vehicle in that direction.
The Landmaster continued to rumble along the rough surface of the planet, following track after track as it went. A few minutes later, Marcus could see a few fifty-foot tall smokestacks ahead of him. He looked at the top of one of them for a quick second. Paying no attention, he turned his head, but turned it back when he thought he saw something moving one top of one.
The sight he saw nearly made his heart stop. A figure was standing on top of the smokestack, glaring down at him.
A figure with blood-red demonic eyes, blue and white fur, and long, dark violet hair.
Marcus shook his head and looked again. There was nothing there.
"Mark, what's wrong?" Chase asked.
Marcus' thoughts plummeted back to the ground with a thud.
"I…I thought I saw something…"
In one of the most random times imaginable, Marcus had caught a split second glance of Kursed. He was wide awake this time, so either he was just seeing things or Kursed was stalking him. But that was impossible. She wasn't real anymore…was she?
"We better hurry up." Falco started. "It's only a matter of time before that train gets to the…JEEZ LAWEEZ, WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"
Marcus looked forward and nearly soiled his pants. A gigantic crevice stood in front of him, the tracks arching down inside with various curves, back turns and loop-de-loops. It was like the whole railroad had turned into a psychopath's idea of a roller coaster!
"What kind of idiot could possibly have been stupid enough to make THAT?" Katt exclaimed.
"Guess I'm in for one helluva ride, huh?" Marcus said.
"Are you nuts? That's suicide!" Chase said.
"Does it look like we have another choice?"
Chase shut his mouth. Marcus smirked.
"I thought so." he said smugly.
"Mark, before you do anything stupid, get on the tracks and turn on the Magnetic Treads!" Anna said.
The Landmaster rolled onto the titanium tracks. Marcus hit a silver button next to the bomb button, and the Landmaster's treads became magnetically charged.
"But remember! Just because the treads are charged doesn't mean you won't fall off if you're not careful!" Chase warned.
"Relax, man." Marcus said. "I've got this…I hope."
The Landmaster approached the edge of the cliff and slowly tilted downward, shooting down the tracks at a speed it couldn't accumulate by itself. All of Marcus' fur stood on end as the tank rumbled and shook. The Landmaster reached the bottom of the 90 degree angle and flew forward down a straight path. As it made a turn, the left side slowly began tilting toward the pit.
"No you don't!" Marcus growled, grabbing the steering control and jamming it to the right.
The Landmaster leveled out and kept on rolling Over and over, it made sharp turns, and over and over, Marcus had to jam the steering console in the opposite direction to keep from falling to an early (but under no circumstances well-deserved) grave.
Suddenly, the track began to tilt up.
"Oh, no! Not a loop!" Marcus panicked.
The Landmaster shot up along the loop, hung upside-down on the track for a split second, and finally shot back down the track, up one final slope and out of the crevice.
"Phew! You made it!" Falco sighed.
"Urgh…more or less…"Marcus groaned, covering his mouth. "…oh, dear Lord."
Marcus opened the hatch, stuck his head out the door and lost his lunch. After the unbelievable nauseous feeling had passed, Marcus closed the hatch.
"Hating this!" he shouted. "Regretting being the leader here!"
Suddenly, Marcus' ears pricked up when he heard the train rumbling along. He looked to his left and sure enough, there it was.
"Gotcha now!" he triumphantly shouted, laying his foot on the boost pedal.
"Grrr! You runts are harder to get rid of than cockroaches!" the driver shouted.
"I see the fuel bunker!" Katt shouted. "Right side, thirty clicks north!"
"Change the switch ahead!" Anna shouted.
Marcus looked up. An odd-looking beacon was ten feet ahead of him.
"Shoot it, Mark!" Anna said.
He did. The light on the beacon changed from red to green.
"Shoot the other nine switches to open the lock!"
Barrel-rolling to the left (and nearly throwing up again), Marcus avoided a grenade from another gun car. Falco swooped down and blasted the gun's fuel tank, causing the whole car to explode.
"I guess it's your turn to be thankful." Falco cockily said.
Another switch was positioned up on a wall. Marcus locked onto it and hit it with a charged shot.
More boulders rolled out of a bucket and into Marcus' path.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Marcus grumbled.
Katt and Anna swooped down and blaster the rocks out of Marcus' path.
"There you go!" Katt said.
Marcus laid his foot on the boost pedal and shot the third switch, which was just off to the right.
"Pretty randomly placed, aren't they?" he thought.
The fourth and fifth switches were directly next to each other, on a radio tower extending about thirty feet high. They were taken care of easily by Chase and Falco.
Suddenly, a loud hissing noise came from the front. Marcus growled. Why did it have to be now when all that was left of the train was the front, the coal car, and the car holding the nuclear weaponry
"Now what?"
A gigantic droid with a scoop-like tail and metal plate wings rose out of the car. It was connected to the car by a long cable.
"I didn't expect to have to use THIS!" the driver said, a tone of triumph in his voice. "You're very lucky."
"How does having to face a giant droid make us lucky? Is it full of cash or something? In that case, let me in on some action!" Chase mocked.
Marcus looked to his left on the other side of the train and spotted the sixth switch. He shot it.
"Time to lure these guys to the front." the driver muttered to himself.
A few loud beeps came from Chase's analyzer.
"Enemy shield gauge coming up…NOW!"
A meter appeared in Marcus' monitor.
"Don't worry about the droid!" Anna shouted. "Focus on getting the rest of those switches, and you'll take it down in one shot!"
The droid rose ten feet higher and threw down wooden spears that were as thick as pine trees.
"…you were saying?" Marcus said.
A smart bomb took enough of the spears for Marcus to get past. The seventh switch was just ahead, but the droid threw down more spears and blocked the eighth one. Marcus shot Switch 7, and luckily...
"I'm here to rescue you!" Falco cheered as he swooped down and blasted Switch 8.
"Yeesh, what is he all of a sudden, my freakin' bodyguard?" Marcus thought.
Suddenly, the droid scooped up the Landmaster. It slowly began to crush the tank in its tail. Marcus barrel-rolled a few times and got free. As the tank fell, he spotted the ninth switch up on a tower and shot it. The Landmaster hit the ground with a crash, but it kept on rolling. Marcus spotted the tenth switch next to what looked like a circuit breaker. He boosted toward, when the droid began hurling small bombs at him.
"Y'know what? Screw this! Mr. Nice Guy's officially retired!" Marcus hollered.
Marcus locked onto the tail and blasted a smart bomb at it. The tail instantly fell to pieces, and Marcus shot Switch 10.
"OK, now shoot the switcher!" Anna shouted.
The circuit break opened and a lever appeared. Marcus shot the lever and it lowered.
"Good goin', Mark!" Anna cheered.
The tracks ahead of the train shifted to another railroad that ran straight to the fuel bunker, and now the train was headed for it at high speed!
"NO!" the driver shouted. "Hit the brakes!"
The front wheels stopped and immediately began screeching and throwing sparks up. But no matter how hard he tried, the driver couldn't stop the train as it sped towards the bunker.
Marcus stopped the Landmaster, making sure he was well out of range of what was about to happen.
"I can't stop it!" the driver screamed.
The train's remaining three cars flew into a large opening and made an earth shaking crash. For a second, all was quiet, then suddenly…
KA-BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The entire bunker exploded into billions of pieces and cracked the ground in a heavy earthquake.
"YEAH! BURN, BABY, BURN!" Marcus cheered.
"I'm sure we hurt 'em this time!" Falco shouted.
"I can see the looks on their stupid faces." Anna laughed.
"Now it's our turn to kick some ass!" Chase hollered.
"Heh. Those bastards don't stand a chance." Katt smirked.
Marcus smirked as all his teammates cheered, but suddenly his body grew cold and numb. His teammates' voices grew faint, and all else was drowned out by a cold, sinister voice in his head.
"Marcus, you can't hide from me forever. Inside of you, there lies something that I've been drawn to since the day you were born."
Marcus started breathing heavily. First he had seen Kursed and now she was talking to him from inside his head! What was next?
"Give into the darkness. Submit to it, and let yourself drown in it." she whispered.
Marcus winced and his tail fidgeted. That voice made him want to close his eyes and never open them ever again.
"Come back to me…and become a part of me." Kursed said.
Marcus shook his head.
"No! Leave me alone!" he shouted.
Falco heard Marcus screaming at himself.
"Mark, what's wrong?" he asked.
Marcus suddenly, pulled himself together. The cold, numb feeling was gone. He could hear the team's voices again.
"…nothing….I'm…I'm alright." he stammered.
"Let's get outta here and report back to Peppy." Katt said.
9:30 p.m.
Marcus sat on his bed, thinking hard about what he had heard back on Macbeth. It had scared the living daylights out of him, and now he didn't want to go to sleep, fearing that he'd have another nightmare about Kursed. Even then he knew she wasn't real…at least, that's what he thought.
What had she meant when she said "Become a part of me."? That was the thing that scared Marcus the most about what she had said. But the scariest thing was her origin.
Marcus picked up a picture next to his bed. It was a family photo that had been taken when he was three years old. In it, he, Fox and Krystal all sat on the couch, smiling and hugging each other. He stared at his mother's soul-piercing blue eyes. Her very gaze seemed to comfort him…as though she'd come out of it, reach out and hug him. But still, he found it hard to believe that a creature as gentle as Krystal was once a monster as ferocious as Kursed. Not only hard to believe, but frightening as well. Then Marcus looked at his father. Fox was the bravest man Marcus knew, and he knew that Fox would give anything to protect his family and friends. In fact, it seemed like the only fear that he had was losing someone close to him, because the pain would too unbearable to think about.
Suddenly, Marcus' door opened. Turning his head, he saw Fox standing in the doorway.
"Oh…hey, Dad." Marcus said.
He noticed that Fox had a glass of water in his hand.
"You looked a little parched so I brought you something to drink." Fox said as he came into the room
"Thanks."
Fox handed Marcus the glass, who promptly chugged it down and wiped his mouth while still keeping the distressed look on his face.
"Is something bothering you, sport?" Fox asked. "You didn't seem very talkative at dinner."
Marcus sighed.
"You must have dumped her pretty hard." he said.
"Huh?"
"Well…you know."
Fox laughed.
"Oh, that. Let's just say your mother's what you'd call 'sensitive'"
"Yeah…and her alter-ego is out to get me…"
"Eh?"
"Kursed. She spoke to me telepathically. She said…"
Fox cut him off.
"Sport, calm down. Kursed doesn't exist." he said.
"But…I heard her…AND saw her!"
"I think the fumes down there must have gotten to you."
"I think he's telling the truth." a voice said from the door.
It was Krystal.
"Fox, remember when I came home and you saw me cutting my hair and washing out the dye in it?" she asked.
"Yeah…then there was this weird rushing sound." Fox replied. "Why?"
"I know I should have told you this before, but that was an exorcism ritual that was practiced on my home planet. If you make yourself look more like you than the being inside you, and then recite a certain incantation, you become yourself again. When I did that, I separated Kursed from my body."
"Then does that mean…Kursed is a whole other person now? She has her own body?" Marcus asked.
"I'm afraid so. Now, what EXACTLY did she say to you?" Krystal asked.
"She said 'Come back to me and become a part of me.' Thing is I don't know what the devil she's talking about!"
Krystal thought over what Marcus had said and came up with a possible answer. She didn't like it.
"I don't mean to scare you…but when she said that, she literally means she wants you to become a part of her. In other words, she wants to absorb your soul."
Marcus began to panic.
"You mean...spiritually speaking…eat me, don't you?"
Krystal scratched the back of her head.
"Err…yes."
Marcus got a nauseous feeling on the pit of his stomach.
"I think I'm gonna throw up." he said, sweat breaking out on his head.
"Hey, don't let that bother you, Marcus." Fox said. (If Krystal believed Marcus, then Fox had to, as well) "She won't be able to touch as long as we're around. We won't let her come anywhere near you."
"We'll make sure that we're here to keep you safe. That's our job as your parents." Krystal said, touching Marcus' face.
Marcus looked up at Krystal.
"Wait…I get it now. She got me in that nightmare and on Macbeth…because you weren't there. She can't touch me if you're near me!" he said to her.
"She fears me because she was once a part of me, so she knows I can destroy her." Krystal said.
"But I'm barely ever near you nowadays!"
"Marcus, it's okay." Krystal said, smiling at him. "You're a big boy. You can fight for yourself."
Marcus grimaced.
"Great! I made myself sound like a freakin' baby again!"
The three McClouds all laughed. With that laugh, Marcus knew he would have the protection of his loving mother and father with him wherever he went. Fox and Krystal hugged their son, then stood up to leave.
"Sweet dreams, Marcus." Krystal said, smiling in a cute sort of way.
"See you in the morning, sport." Fox said, giving Marcus a thumbs-up.
Marcus grinned.
"Good night."
His door closed. He lay down on his bed, smiled and closed his eyes. He didn't care if Kursed was after him anymore. He knew his parents would always be there for him.
Little did he know that Kursed was closer than he realized. She gazed through the window at Marcus, who was now fast asleep. She grunted.
"Sweet dreams, indeed." she whispered. "They'll be the last ones you have in a long time, tattletale."