"Platform 13 for the 16:30 Gatwick Express service from Brighton. This train terminates here."
The young Bengali man adjusted his glasses and looked back for his friends who were following him. Known as Otto by them, he looked nonchalantly at his gate to Central London from the dreary grey abyss filled with hordes of rowdy schoolchildren known as South London. He at least was grateful that he could live in Kensington for some time while he planned on taking down Darius.
Descending the escalators and striding briskly onto the platforms of the District and Circle lines, the cacophony of trains accelerating and stopping around them, Otto turned to his friends. "Shayan, Junaid, Afham, do you have anything new about Darius's attacks?"
"Otto, you'd think maybe, one, this isn't the best time for discussing matters of national security in a crowded public place, and two, our phones haven't so much as beeped let alone received calls about Darius." Junaid replied, slightly annoyed.
The train finally arrived, packed with people, with barely any seats available. The train began to accelerate with a jolt as people hung on to the grab poles. Soon, the train returned to the blackness of the tunnels, dotted with quickly passing bands of light. Finally, the train's Tannoy finally said those lines as the train halted.
"This is: South Kensington. Change for the Piccadilly Line. Exit for Museums and the Royal Albert Hall."
Squeezing past the other passengers and apologising, Otto and his group finally made it to the ticket hall. The poorly lit, ventilated horribly, ticket hall. Ugh. Just eurgh.
Quickly scanning through the ticket barriers, they entered the tunnel walkway, stretching from the ticket hall to the Science Museum, lined with ads.
A band played music somewhere further off, but Otto and his team weren't sticking around for long. Just as soon as they found the entrance to their own place. Just as they were about to continue, a voice made them freeze.
"Where are you going? Walking into the wall?" The…dolphin? On a scooter? Really? Well, the dolphin laughed. "Or are you hiding something?"
"Wait. Hang on. One sec. Don't move. Stop. No. Wait." Otto murmured.
"What are you doing?" Junaid asked.
"What does it look like I'm doing? STALLING!" Otto whispered.
The dolphin pressed a button on his scooter, as the deep voice bellowed out from the speaker. "Mind Ja-"
"Nope." Shayan said as he threw a knife.
"Mate! That was our only knife!"
It seemed that the shadows came to life as it turned to a teeming mass of lobsters.
"Was the shutki*a type of dried fermented fish I ate too old?" Otto asked, bracing for an attack.
The lobsters attacked… and were blown to pieces as flashes of bluish white light appeared. Doctor Blowhole looked around in shock and sped off on his scooter as quickly as he possibly could. When the dust cleared, Otto was amazed to see a wolf, a bear, a seal and an owl, shooting at the lobsters.
"What is this, Penguins of Madagascar?" Shayan said.
"Yes. No further questions, I think Agent Classifed," Otto whispered, gesturing towards the wolf politely, "has something to say."
"Remain calm. You are now under the protection of the North Wind. Come with us."