Chapter 5 - Atlas
Rrrrring. Rrrrring.
The phone rings as John puts the last dish away. He dries his hands and picks up his scroll but sees no incoming call.
Rrrrring. Rrrrring.
He pauses before opening a door and descends a set of stairs to the basement. He stands before a plain black wired phone, the kind most people stopped using half a century prior.
Rrrrring. Rrrrring.
He watches the phone ring for a few more seconds before picking up the receiver.
"Good evening Mr. Wick."
"Jacques," John nearly growls.
"Still angry are we? Understandable. I hear you took part in stopping the recent Dust thefts in Vale. You have my thanks for -"
"What do you want?"
A chuckle comes through the line. "Straight to the point, as always. I called because the theft at the Vale Docks needs to be answered for."
"Most of the White Fang who attempted to rob you are dead."
"And you have my thanks for that. But no, they are not the ones I am referring to."
"... Roman."
"Yes. Vale's own Gentleman Thief, Mr. Roman Torchwick. I do not care what happens to the Dust after it has been paid for and supplied, only that it arrives on time and is accounted for. However, the shipment at the Docks had yet to be delivered. I was still responsible for it. I was unable to fulfill my obligation. Such an insult requires a response."
"I don't work for people like you anymore."
"I know. You made that abundantly clear the last time we met. Did you really have to -"
John hangs up the phone. He starts walking up the stairs when the phone rings again. He pauses, knowing he was going to regret it, but goes back and answers.
"As I was saying, the insult by Roman Torchwick to the Schnee name and business must not go unchallenged."
"You know my answer."
"Which is why I won't insult you by attempting to procure your services for myself. But I have heard that you are in pursuit of the White Fang for Headmaster Ozpin, correct?"
"..."
"And seeing that Mr. Torchwick is in league with the White Fang, anything that inhibits one inhibits the other."
"Get to the point."
"Information has come my way that Roman Torchwick will attempt to steal some experimental weaponry from Atlas."
"Inform Ironwood."
"I already have. He assures me that procedures are in place to prevent such a theft."
"You don't believe it will be enough."
"No, I do not." The sound of a glass cup being set down comes through. "Through my own means, I was able to ascertain the quantity and quality of the protectors assigned and I found them to be, how shall I say, wanting. On all fronts. And if I can acquire these details, then so can a man like Torchwick."
"Why tell me?"
"You will not work for me Mr. Wick, for the history between us is not conducive to cooperation. However, if our goals happen to coincide, I am more than happy to provide information that brings both our interests to fruition."
"... ... When and where."
"Four days from now. The package will be transported via railway carriage from the capital city to a testing site deep in the countryside. It will first travel to a coastal town, where the transports will detach itself from the passenger cars and continue on its own separate way. Atlas will be using one of my railways, taking the usual place of the heavy machinery needed to mine Dust."
John remains silent.
"Surprised? The cost of doing business in Atlas I'm afraid. They ask, I can't say no. Not yet at least." John can hear the smirk. "So? Interested?"
"And the contract?"
"Ah. Of course, how foolish of me. Consider it canceled."
John hangs up the phone and makes his way upstairs. It doesn't ring again as he enters the kitchen once more.
The clack clack of nails on the floor heralds the arrival of a dark gray and white pit-bull. The dog's face opens into a smile as he approaches Wick, tail wagging.
"Hey boy," Wick says, crouching down to scratch the dog behind the ears. "I need to leave town for a few days." The dog whines in response. "I know. But it's important. Jaune should be by tomorrow to pick you up for his semester break. He'll take you to Ansel. You remember Jaune right?" The dog replies with a small 'ruff.' "Good boy. Take care of them for me while I'm gone, ok?" He licks Wick in the hand and face before turning around and going back into the hallway and headbutts his way into a bedroom.
John stands, picks up his scroll and places a call. "Hello Jaune. Am I calling too late?" He moves towards his bedroom, turning the handle to open the door and closes it behind him.
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A container is unloaded in an Atlas port, one of hundreds, if not thousands, sent through on a daily basis. It is carefully loaded onto a cargo truck and moved to a discrete, bustling warehouse. Once the transport stops, the container is quickly opened to reveal Roman Torchwick and Neo, who jump out of the comfortably furnished smuggling container.
"Roman!" a man yells joyously, arms spread wide in greeting.
"Istkar!" Roman yells back, greeting the man with the same enthusiasm. They come together in a large hug.
They separate and Istkar turns his attention to the petite woman. "And the always lovely Neo." He bows at the waist as he takes one of her hands and kisses the back. Neo responds by planting a kiss on his cheek.
He laughs and turns back to Roman. "It's good to see you again, old friend."
"Good to see you to, Istkar. I'm sorry, but I don't have much time right now. Have the arrangements been made?"
"Of course, of course!" He puts an arm around Torchwick and leads him deeper into the warehouse. "The men you requested are on standby, as are the equipment. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy getting them on such short notice. You had to pay through the nose for them."
"Good thing I'm not footing the bill." They both laugh at the joke. "Tell me, are they good?"
"Not as good if you gave me more time, but they'll do the job." He produces a cigar and hands it over to Roman. "You're favorite brand, directly from Menagerie."
"You spoil me." He takes the snipped cigar and sniffs it. Putting it in his mouth, Istkar produces a match and lights it for him. Roman takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. "Oh, that's the good stuff."
"Nothing but the best for you my friend. The rest are waiting for you in the bullhead. And for the lovely Neo." He snaps his fingers and one of the workers brings over a small cooler. Istkar opens it and pulls out a large, multicolor milkshake. "Freshly made with the best milk, ice cream and fruit in Atlas."
Neo claps in delight and kisses Istkar on the other cheek, taking the milkshake and making a face of pure bliss at the taste.
Istkar laughs again as the three walk towards the destination. "You know, you never told me what all this is for."
"Sorry old friend, it's best you don't know."
"Ah, well. No matter." A man hurriedly approaches Istkar and whispers in his ear. Istkar stops in his tracks as he goes from smiling to somber.
Roman sees this. "What's wrong?"
He looks at Roman with a downcast expression. "John Wick just checked into the Atlas Continental."
Roman puffs on his cigar. "Oh."
Istkar puts an arm around Roman's shoulder, leading him to the transport Bullhead at the rear. "You have one day. Maybe two. Finish your business quickly. Your transport back has been deployed and is waiting for your rendezvous coordinates. Their channels are on the bullhead."
They reach the bottom of the bullhead ramp and Istkar embraces Roman tightly. "Good luck, and may the fates smile upon you," he whispers in the Thiefs ear. He lets go and hugs Neo just as tightly before separating and letting the two enter the bullhead.
"Roman," he calls out as two reach the top. "If he asks, I won't lie."
Roman nods. "I understand. And I won't hold it against you."
/|-|\
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The train holding the Paladins leaves the capital as scheduled. Most of the passengers aboard are unaware of the secret package. The train stops at a logging camp halfway to the coast, spending the night at the town to exchange passengers and supplies before continuing onwards just after dawn.
It reaches the coast, traveling elevated alongside a cliff as it proceeds to its final destination. This is the most dangerous part of the journey, as it is the furthest away from any Atlas military assistance.
Which is why Roman chose this section to pull his heist.
Four Bullheads and two specially modified airships approach from the sea. Signal jammers activate, stopping any wireless signals from being sent or received by the train. This gives them an extra twenty minutes while remote diagnostics are done to ensure this is a real outage instead of a temporary hiccup.
The Bullheads fly directly over the rear of the train, deploying a large number of masked, armed mercenaries, ready to take out any guards protecting the prototype Paladin.
After a few minutes, Roman gets the all clear and descends from his Bullhead alongside Neo. He enters the second to last train car, coming up to the foot of the large machine.
"Well Neo, this is what we came for." He looks around the carriage. Though it looks like a normal cargo container from the outside, it is heavily reinforced with armor plating on the inside to protect it from attacks.
Roman turns to one of the mercenaries. "Begin the procedure." The mercenary nods and starts shouting orders to the others.
Roman then turns to face the other figure present, one with blood dripping off his blades. "John should be here soon."
"Hee hee heee," the figure cackles with psychotic glee, "can't wait to see you again John. It's been too long."
Roman shudders as the figure moves to another car. He's not sure where Cinder found this psycho, but he wishes she had sent someone else.
/|-|\
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A few minutes earlier
John Wick sits in a First Class Cabin near the front of the Train, having boarded at the Capital.
He is looking at his scroll, watching a video to help remind him of why he is doing this.
The scroll shows a woman with blond hair at the beach, the wind blowing and a smile on her face.
"What are you doing John?" the woman asks.
"Looking at you." John's voice answers through the video.
"Come here." She smiles and approaches the camera before looking at something behind it. Her smile gets bigger and -
The video pauses as a notification appears on the scroll, stating that all signal has been lost. This far away from the CCT, a scroll signal would normally be impossible, but signal repeaters built into the elevated track provide enough service to make a phone call or send a distress signal.
John puts away his scroll and picks up his suitcase, opening a secret compartment and taking his weapons. He then exits his suite, making his way towards the rear as several passengers are haranguing a flustered steward about the loss of signal and what it means.
John ignores all of them and keeps walking past the dining car, a sleeping car, and several more passenger cars. He finally reaches the door separating the people from the baggage and swiftly enters.
The first car is devoid of people, bags stacked along both sides and leaving an aisle down the center that he traverses. The second car is the same, along with the third. The fourth car is where things start to differ.
Wooden Crates are stacked. Along the walls, in the aisle, in clumps that turn the train car into a maze. Cargo netting holds some of the heavier items in place.
John walks through and into the next car, where he runs into a masked guard wearing a bullet proof vest and wielding a shotgun.
Wick draws and shoots the guard in the head before he can react. The gunshot notifies the other mercenaries of his intrusion. John pushes forward and opens fire, taking down two more men and forcing the others into cover.
As the mercenaries open fire, John works his way through the train car, popping up where he is least expected and taking down two to three men at a time. He gets to the door and reloads, plunging in headfirst and using his suit to absorb any shots.
The new car is laid out similarly and he rushes a masked man, shooting in his vest and finishing him off with a combat knife. John keeps the knife out and ready, firing one handed though his aim is still on point. He clears the car and enters the next one, finding the interior to be armored with a sealed partition wall halfway down the car.
He approaches slowly, but no one comes out to fight. He inspects the wall and finds it to be heavily reinforced. Looking to the sides, he locates several bodies in military uniforms, including what looks to be two huntsmen. He searches their bodies but they have been stripped of any weapons or ID that could open the door.
John goes back into the previous train car and finds a box labeled 'High Explosives.' He looks inside and a plan immediately forms.
/|-|\
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On the other side of the sealed wall, the Mercenaries are making a stand. Over a dozen are hiding behind metal shields, put in place by Atlas to fight off any intruders.
They hear a gunshot and impact. The partition starts heating up, from a single point in the center of the door. Several more gunshots are heard, with more heat sources appearing along the wall. The temperature of the steel rises to an alarming level, enough to make the metal warp but not melt.
The temperature stops rising as even more gunshots ring out. Instead of more heat, the metal starts to cool quickly. It took less than 20 seconds for the temperature to plummet to the point that condensation forms and turns into ice crystals. Nothing more happens in the next few minutes, leading to confusion.
They are still confused as multiple bundles of high explosive mining charges are set off simultaneously, shattering the weakened metal and turning the steel into high velocity shrapnel. If the shrapnel doesn't kill the mercenaries, the overpressure from the detonation does.
John opens the door to the train car and enters, stepping over the remains of the partition wall and past the dead bodies. He pulls out his gun and knife, getting into a combat stance and rushing out through the door to the next car, where he is met with silence. No gunshots, no yelling, no movement.
Carefully he makes his way through what looks to be the living quarters for the original train guards with nothing to impede him. He carefully proceeds down the hallway, waiting for an ambush that never happens and reaches the other end.
Now even more alert, he enters the next train car. This is armored as well on the inside, meant to hold extra munitions and other supplies for their final destination. There are a few boxes stacked along the side but it is mostly empty, most of the lighting having been removed/broken during the initial assault, except for one at the far end. Standing beneath the light is
Roman.
"Hello John."
"Hello Roman." John slowly approaches, keeping his gun trained on the thief. "Neo around?"
"You know her, can't really control what that little hellion does." Roman is calm, in a relaxed stance and unprepared for a fight. The Assassin gets closer to the Thief.
"Roman."
"John."
A soft pat and shifting of air is the only warning as John ducks and rolls backwards, dodging the ambush. He brings up the knife just in time to parry a stinger and John immediately fires on the crouched figure, which dodges erratically in the dim light.
The scorpion faunus lunges with his bladed wrists, taking two shots to the chest but powers through to pin John to the wall. One weapon pierces the wall as it is parried using the gun, getting pinned next to John's head, while the other is held back from his kidney using the knife. The scorpion tail comes up and tries to pierce John's forehead. He moves his head to the side, barely dodging and the crazed faunus presses his face right next to the assassin, cheek to cheek, as they look each other in the eye.
"HI JOHN!"
"Tyrian." John growls back.
Tyrian cackles as he pulls back his Tail, John tilts the gun and fires at the insane man's forehead, but Tyrian dodges backwards and disengages, flitting back into the crates as John readies his gun.
"Hee hee hee," laughs the Faunus, the sound echoing through the train car, "what's wrong John? Not happy to see little old Tyrian?"
"Not particularly," John replies, eyes and ears open, on alert for the slightest hint of movement. The dim lighting with the sounds of the moving train hinders his efforts. "Why are you here? You disappeared after killing most of your Family."
"I did, hee hee. When I killed for them I was lost. I moved and acted like a puppet, believing in their falsehoods. So I cut my strings and found a new purpose. No more unworthy masters. No more dishonorable killing. No more lies. I am Under the Table no more. I have opened my eyes, John. I found a master who truly deserves to rule this broken world. And all shall bow or die!"
Tyrian lets out the last exclamation as he jumps and fires his wrist guns. John dodges sideways and returns fire, the two killers exchange gunfire in the cramped train carriage as they get closer to one another, taking hits on Aura and the armored clothing both wear.
They clashed, gun on gun and blade on blade. Tyrian struck hard, fast and unpredictably, using all five of his limbs as weapons, uncaring as he took hits.
John is more methodical, keeping both weapons close, dodging and blocking, only attacking to put himself at an advantage or to deal damage.
John body checks Tyrian into the wall as his handgun goes dry. He drops the gun and throws a punch at the faunus, missing and instead denting the reinforced wall outwards. Tyrian counterattacks, pushing John back to the other wall. The wrist blades pierce the armored walls, the slashes leaving thin lines allowing outside light to enter the dark space.
The two bodies move away from the wall and Tyrian jumps back into the darkness.
"Hee hee," the laugh floats out, "oh John, what happened to you? You got so slow. Is your age finally getting to you? Maybe it was your retirement. I should be dead by now."
"I don't enjoy killing those with mental illness."
"Oh, you wound me. Let me return the favor!"
He dashes between the boxes towards John before jumping upwards and crawling along the ceiling for a short distance, attacking from above.
John counterattacks and flips Tyrian to the floor, then rolls backwards to avoid the bullets fired at him. Coming to a crouch, John picks up his gun and slides behind one of the lashed down crates, reloading before popping up and returning fire.
The Faunus laughs with glee, coming directly at John and destroying the crate, forcing John to move. It was then Tyrian's turn to body check the other man. He activates his semblance but John knows not to get touched and shoots Tyrian in the face, forcing him to disengage and retreat back into the shadows.
John crouches to get ready and moves to get back into the fight.
/|-|\
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The moment Tyrian ambushed Wick, Roman turned around and left the train car, locking the steel door behind him. He wanted to be as far away from the two killers as possible.
A masked mercenary stands at the entrance to the next car. "Sir," he says, "we're ready to go."
Roman nods and makes his way inside before climbing a ladder to the roof. Once there, he looks around and sees mercenaries at the four corners for this car and the car behind it, crouched and holding steel cables. He nods once more as a bullhead comes alongside the train car, the side open as Neo motions for him to jump on, which he does.
The Bullhead moves away from the train as one of two specially modified cargo airships move over the train car. The mercenaries hook the cables onto the first airship before climbing a rope ladder into the vehicle.
The airship rises until the cables go taught, straining and creaking. A series of explosions on the base of the train car go off, breaking the locks connecting the train car to the platform. The airship rises away from the speeding train, its cargo securely attached beneath it.
The second airship approaches and the process repeats for the second container.
Roman observes the operation and nods in satisfaction at its success. After the second airship clears, he turns his attention to the box that he had locked John and Tyrian in. A series of slashes and dents had appeared on the side he was facing, no doubt similar damage being done to the other side. The carriage is too thick and the wind is too strong for any sounds to reach Roman, but flashes of flight coming through the holes tell Roman the two are still fighting.
Roman turns away and approaches the cockpit. "Pilot, we're good to go." The pilot looks towards Roman and nods, contacting the other ships and repeating the orders. Roman feels a tug on his coat jacket, turning around and seeing Neo pointing out the side.
He moves to the side opening again and looks out, seeing what she is pointing at.
The back of the carriage Tyrian and John were locked in had started denting severely, the door bulging out. A heartbeat of silence and then the door breaks open and flies off into the distance as a body tumbles out and across the now empty train carriage platform.
A badly injured Tyrian slowly pushes himself up from his downed position, letting out a choking, blood filled laugh. "Eh-heh, heh heh-coughcough heh. C'mon John, that all you got?" He stumbles into a shaky standing position, his left arm up and ready while his right arm hangs by his side. He looks at it and shakes his shoulder, but the arm refuses to obey. He looks behind and only half of his tail will come up, the last half hanging limply.
Tyrian shakes his head in annoyance, moving forward on wobbly legs. "Come on. I'm still alive. You can do better than this!" He finally starts sprinting as John walks through the broken doorway with a shallow cut on his cheek, one on his neck, and other minor nicks on his suit.
The Faunus reaches the Assassin and John hits Tyrian with a left hook, sending the crazed faunus over the side of the carriage, the cliff, and into the ocean. Wick huffs in annoyance and looks around the now open platform.
He tilts his head and locks eyes with Roman, who gives John a salute as the Bullhead doors close. The Bullheads and airships move away in formation towards the sea, leaving Atlas behind.
John eyes the retreating vehicles but knows he failed this time. He turns around and walks back to his seat.
/|-|\
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AN: That's chapter 5. I was thinking of putting in an extra section at the end where Cinder, Watts, and Hazel meet with Salem before Tyrian barges in severely injured, but couldn't really figure out a way to shoehorn it in without it being awkward. So I just removed it.
Tyrian is still alive, not killing him off yet.
Last update is 10/1/2017. Amazing what can change in 5 years. Jobs. Housing. Pandemic. The 4th movie. I just didn't have motivation to write, until some podcasts I listened to spoke about how difficult the writing process is, and the only way to work through it is to just write anything: bad, good, whatever, just get words down on paper and then fix what doesn't work later. It was comforting to know that even creative types have the same troubles.
I'll need to watch Volume 2 again before I get ideas on where this goes next, but before that I want to update my other story.
Until next time.