Chapter 23 – Murder on the Mountain Glenn Express
Volume 1 Short - Some tickets only go one way.
The handcuffs clicked into place. Roman Torchwick was unconscious and completely neutralized, whereas his unknown accomplice was still struggling. She'd been quite the tough munchkin in close quarters combat, but a sustained stream of fire burning through her umbrella had been too much of a handicap for her to keep fighting.
The empty passenger train car in which they'd fought was utterly ruined, but with Beacon footing the bill, it wasn't a cause for concern. Especially when two of the most dangerous criminals known to man were now in custody. With Torchwick and Pint Size off the street, this new empire of Dust thieves would come crumbling down. And without even breaking a sweat! All in all, a job well done – as was to be expected of a professional huntsman like Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck.
Bart had been hunting the devious duo for weeks, tracing them all the way to Mountain Glenn. After two days of watching them sit in the safehouse they'd hidden away in, he'd concluded that this elusive Boss of theirs wasn't going to be making an appearance and decided to make his move. When the two took a late night passenger train from Mountain Glenn to Vale along the Primary Pass, he'd bought a ticket and followed them on. Even outnumbered and against such superior opponents, Bart knew he'd been right to trust his old friend, the element of surprise.
CHHSSSHH!
The front door to the carriage slid open.
Bart dove underneath a seat, desperately catching his hat before it tumbled off and alerted whoever had just joined him of his presence. After a moment of silence, he peeked out. No one was there but his two prisoners. Pint Size was angrily glaring at him as she wriggled around in her restraints, but without her hands or a voice, she couldn't expose Bart's location to their unknown intruder.
The lights went out, and Bart pulled back to his hiding spot with the agility of someone half his age. The train was in a tunnel from Mountain Glenn to Vale, and without the artificial lights, both of them were blind as bats. However, he had a flamethrower, and this newcomer most likely did not. Bart lit his weapon's starter fuse and scanned the floor of the train car from where he lay using the light. Still nobody. He quickly extinguished the flame to avoid detection. They had probably seen a brief flash of light, but they lacked enough time to get a good look at where in the car it had come from.
A faint creaking noise could be heard, but Bart wasn't able to pinpoint exactly from where it originated. On his elbows and knees, he quietly crawled to the back of the car and listened again.
Another faint creak, this time from a different spot. Closer.
Bart took off his reading glasses and flung them to the other side of the room. The lenses rang when they hit, and the intermittent creaks stopped. Bart waited ten seconds, and then the creaks resumed, this time heading in the direction of the glasses.
Muffled but still audible, he heard something.
Thud.
Bart lit his flamethrower once more and saw a pair of feet in black high heels walking away from him. The feet stopped, but Bart rolled out into the aisle and leapt to his feet extended his thermos/weapon. The adversary's head was still turned away from him, but he could see a fire light up in front of them, outlining their long raven-black hair and bare shoulders. Or, in this case, her hair and shoulders. The curves of his enemy's figure suggested it was a woman.
Bart had no time for chivalry, not when his life was on the line. His telescoped thermos swung directly adversary's body. A direct hit!
Or not. What should have been a finisher had instead been nothing at all. His weapon passed through them entirely.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught something glowing. When he looked to his right, he saw the very same adversary crouching behind one of the train car's passenger chairs. Their eyes met, and time stood still as he froze in shock.
Impossible!
Pint Size was said to have the ability to craft illusions, but she had been bound and shouldn't have been able to do so without making physical contact. Perhaps this new adversary had a similar semblance, one involving hallucinations? Though he could have sworn he'd made contact with at least something solid when he attacked…
Flames poured out of the enemy's piercing golden eyes, forming a glowing mask around them – or at least the one, for the other was covered by a mop of her black hair. The look on the woman's face was…
…hungry. That was the only word that could accurately describe it and, for those who couldn't see it, that was the only word they would need to understand just how this woman outwardly appeared.
The fire she'd wielded before exploded outwards to envelop her body, and a ball of incandescent energy shot forth from her outstretched hands. He was flung away by the force of the blast and just managed to see the young woman smile in victory before she, his two captives, and the train car disappeared into a jumble of darkness.
After a moment of disorientation, Bart picked himself up and assessed his surroundings. He'd been ejected out the train's window with such momentum that'd he'd passed straight over the several rows of parallel tracks and slammed into the craggy wall of the subterranean tunnel. The train he'd been on was long gone, as was his adversary and the two criminals he'd apprehended. Shit!
Bart's head was screeching as he wandered forward dizzily. His aura had protected him from the death being thrown out of a moving train should have brought, but damn if it hadn't hurt like an Ursa Major's bite. The worst part was the ringing in his ears from his aching head.
Oh, wait. That ringing wasn't from a headache. It was the rumbling of the train tracks that he'd stumbled onto. Probably caused by the oncoming train.
Next Chapter: Best Day Ever – In which a casual fight to the death breaks out over lunch.
Author's Notes - Worry not; we shall understand exactly what is going on in regards to Mountain Glenn and its 'passenger train' situation. Later...