Chapter Fifteen: Hot Pursuit Night changed slowly into day, and day into evening. The Reploids working the railroad depot east of Steel Alley were none the happier for it, as they’d have to stay at their jobs later tonight. Cartwright had made sure all of them knew to expect some Mavericks-friends of his, not the insane variety-who would quietly board the train while they kept the conductor busy with security papers they’d blame on the Red Climate. It was a simple plan, really, and it would be speedy enough. Then they could all go home and crash for the night, or more likely, hit the bar. The Mavericks were due to arrive at ten, when the working hours would be well over but when the majority of Steel Alley would still be out and about, socializing or getting drunk or both. No one would notice them that way. Though none of the depot workers knew or cared, Teytha’s team would be materializing in an area full of deserted warehouses roughly three miles away from the quarry. From there it would be mad dash to the station, a feat that would take most of them about fifteen minutes, since Reploids could reach high speeds regardless of their armor, though that heavy piece of clothing did indeed make some amount of difference. That meant, to maintain the 10:00 deadline, the Mavericks would probably teleport in at around 9:30, just to be safe. Blackstar 5041 itself would arrive at the station at anywhere between 9:45 to 10:00, depending on how well the train was operating on this particular day. It didn’t really matter who showed up first, the train or the Mavericks, since it was easy to hide the Mavericks if they got there first and even easier to just have them board the train if they got there after the train, when the conductor was in the depot office filling out security forms. At 9 o’clock, however, a most unexpected thing happened. It was something that had happened before, for sure, and the depot workers had a good snigger about it. One of Cartwright’s lackeys had gone outside to stretch his legs when he’d heard the roaring of a motorcycle. He’d immediately gone for his friends, fearing that the Hunters might be coming their way, but they all relaxed when they saw a frantic and rather annoyed Reploid sitting alone on the bike. He waved to them and pulled up next to the train tracks, and two of the depot workers came out to meet him. “Hey!” The Reploid turned off the motor and removed his biking helmet, revealing a head full of wild red hair. “Sorry to bug you guys at this hour, but I’m in a real spot!” “What’s up, man?” asked one of the workers, a Reploid wearing a torn black tee shirt over his rusted work armor, making him appear quite ridiculous. “Have you guys like, seen two Reps zoomin’ past here?” the biker asked, almost desperately. “One of ‘em was wearing biker leathers, like mine, see? The other was a chick, long blonde hair, green work armor, both of ‘em on a bike?” “Nope,” replied the same worker, “Whatcha lookin’ for?” “Shit, man,” the biker said with a sigh, shaking his head. “That guy, you give him a woman and he loses track of like, everything! He ran outta the bar with her, and you can imagine why they’d wanna be alone.” The other worker smiled, revealing many missing teeth that would have been easy to replace, if he had the cash. “This is one of them guys who’s lucky Reploids can’t bang, ain’t he?” The biker let out a loud bark of a laugh. “You said it, man! He were a human, he’d be up to his neck in child support…but anyway, I’m hunting his ass down, ‘cause he’s got most of my cash on him. I had him hold it while I handled a jackass who thought it was funny to spit in my drink,” he explained, shaking his head. “Who won that?” asked the worker in the tee shirt. It was great, hearing about bar fights. The biker grinned. “I ain’t got no black eyes, do I? Broke a chair over the bastard’s head. Nobody spits in my drink…anyway, we both kinda forgot about the money after a few drinks, and then he ran off with that chick, and I gotta get my cash back before he spends it on her!” He looked around frantically, as though he had just realized again what he was supposed to be doing. “So you ain’t seen nobody come past here on a bike?” “Just you, pal,” said Missing Teeth with a shrug. “Dammit!” The biker revved his engine up, spinning his bike towards the east, even further past the depot. “Someone back there pointed them in this direction, so if they ain’t been this way…” His eyes lit up. “I got it! I know where that horntoad’ll get to, I’ll be waiting for his ass…” He waved both apologetically and thankfully. “Sorry, folks! Thanks!” “Sure!” Tee Shirt yelled after the biker, and then proceeded to laugh his fool head off. Missing Teeth joined in, shaking his head. “What wuzzat?” asked a third worker, this one wearing a path over his left eye. “Poor bastard who’s hunting down his pal,” replied Missing Teeth with a chuckle. “Seems all his money’s in this guy’s pants, which is probably being felt by a blonde chick as we speak.” Eye Patch let out a laugh of his own and turned to follow his comrades into the depot office. It wasn’t a very long time afterwards when twelve streaks of light descended from the sky, unnoticed by everyone except the birds, and transformed into the figures of Maverick soldiers. They were in the center of a circle of abandoned warehouses, remnants of the old Steel Alley, long since abandoned by its benefactors. Decay was prominent on all the structures, and rust covered whatever the overgrown vines didn’t hide. The Maverick soldiers, who were all equipped with their individual weapons of choice, were all on a testosterone high. It had been a long time since they had been able to leave Seraph Castle, and they were all itching for the action for which they had been trained to handle. For now, though, while they were alone in a world ruled by Hunters, they tended to huddle close to their leader. For her part, Teytha didn’t waste any time getting moving. She darted swiftly away from the rest of the crowd, slinking around the corners of the abandoned buildings like a cat to make sure no cleverly placed Hunter spy was watching, and rejoined the rest of the group, who seemed thankful to have her back with them. The other commander obviously had yet to earn their trust. Standing taller than all of them was the menace known as Blast Hornet. Most of his body was blue in color, though rings of black lined the “abdomen” from which his thin legs emerged. The stinger at its end was as sharp and deadly as always, and the four sets of wings on the hornet’s back were all intact and ready to carry his weight as high as he needed to go. The Maverick’s head tilted town and his eyes met Teytha’s, one of the few people he recognized anymore. The frightening sight of a Reploid started moving past his commander, and Teytha motioned with a jolt of her head that the others should follow. She integrated herself in the middle of the hoard, and when she was confident that no one was indeed in the area, she started sprinting. The other Mavericks followed. The run had begun. They moved faster than any human party could hope to keep up with, though Teytha still had to force herself to run slower than she could, or else she’d leave the others in the dust. The small amount of armor she wore gave her an extreme advantage in agility against anyone else she might encounter, even if it did make her more vulnerable than them all. She didn’t rightly care, though, as most attacks had a hard time hitting her. Blast Hornet didn’t run, but rather he hovered, his wings keeping his feet high enough above the ground that he could zoom along with them, as he could never keep up with the rest of them were he running. The wings did make an obvious buzzing sound as they worked, something that made everyone nervous, but no one was in the mood to complain to the bee. The three miles to Cartwright’s depot seemed to be the longest three miles in the world, even though they covered it in little more than fifteen minutes. When it came in sight, Teytha slowed her gait considerably; scanning the horizon rapidly and making sure both of her lightsabers were ready to be used. If the Hunters were waiting for them, this was their only chance to turn back. Blast Hornet seemed to be thinking the same thing. The reconstruction of his mind had, thankfully, done little to hinder his strategic mentality. He touched down on the ground to silence the humming of his wings, and stalked quietly up towards Teytha, while doing his own scan of the area. He met her eyes and nodded once; he thought things were just fine here. She nodded back and inhaled deeply, finally paying attention to the most important detail of the scene: Blackstar 5041 was not in the station. A quick check of her internal clock told her it was 9:50; the train wouldn’t be long in coming. She broke into a full sprint towards the station, and the ten soldiers followed her as best they could, with Blast Hornet bringing up the rear. Cartwright’s lackeys met them at the door to the office. Teytha heard some of the soldiers panting behind her; it had been a long run. For her, however, it had been almost routine, and even if she’d had the ability to break a sweat, she wouldn’t have. She looked at the man standing closest to them, a Reploid with a patch over one eye, and spoke the password Cartwright had arranged. “Redwall.” “Yeah, she said Redwall,” Eye Patch said to his comrades. “Kinda stupid, the password thing… ‘cept at least we know you all ain’t a troupe of Hunters.” Teytha nodded impatiently, glancing down the train tracks in the direction they had come from. “Where are we to wait for the train?” “I’ll show you to it, miss,” said another worker, this one wearing a black tee shirt. “There’s a place behind the unused train cars back there where the conductor won’t see any of you at any time. We did all kinds of checks to make sure.” Wordlessly, the Maverick squad followed Tee Shirt down through the maze of broken and decrepit cars, until finally they were all concealed, if not a little spread out. Teytha let out a breath of relief and leaned against the wreck that concealed her. This had been the part she was most worried about…if someone had seen a squad of Mavericks running in the open like that, everything would have been ruined. They waited for about ten minutes, which seemed excruciatingly long to all of them except Blast Hornet, who just stood quietly and stared blankly at the ground, seemingly oblivious to everything. Then, finally, the rumble of a train became audible. Minutes later the loud horn split the quiet night, and they all heard the train groan as it halted at the depot station. Blackstar 5041 had arrived. The train’s conductor put up a hell of a bitching session before he finally agreed to go fill out the forms Cartwright’s people presented him with. Once he was safely inside the depot office, Missing Teeth walked outside, supposedly for a smoke, and sought out the Mavericks. He flashed them an “all go” sign from afar, and then lit up his cigarette and leaned against the side of the building. The Mavericks nervously began moving towards the train, but they moved quickly at Teytha’s urging. She made sure that Blast Hornet was surrounded on all sides be other soldiers, so he’d be slightly less noticeable, and just as five of the troops snuck aboard the easy to open cargo cars, Teytha stopped dead in her tracks. As Blast Hornet stooped and entered a car awkwardly, a motorcycle came from the east. The rider didn’t stop at the depot, and didn’t seem to notice Teytha and the others standing by the train. He did notice Missing Teeth, however, and hoisted up what appeared to be a money sack of some sort. There was a huge grin on his face. Missing Teeth just pumped his fist in some kind of victory sign, and the biker rode off. In the office, Eye Patch gave the now severely irritated conductor another form to fill out, and, muttering apologies, went out to the porch, where Tee Shirt was standing, staring fixatedly at the non-moving form of Teytha. “Whatchoo lookin’ at now, boy?” Eye Patch said as he closed the door behind him. “Don’t even think about it; she might eviscerate you or somethin’.” “Hey,” Tee Shirt said with a large grin, “I can’t help it if she’s hot. You gonna argue with that, huh?” Eye Patch laughed and stared briefly in the Maverick’s direction before looking back to Tee Shirt. “No arguments from me. But she’d still probably eviscerate ya.” “Heh heh…can’t kill me for lookin’, can she?” Eye Patch laughed louder. “Ah…she probably could, if she had the time.” Tee Shirt seemed to go a little quiet at this, and then he looked up at Eye Patch finally and, in a considerably smaller voice, asked: “What does ‘eviscerate’ mean?” Eye Patch didn’t get to reply, which was probably a good thing, because at that moment Teytha, who had been staring uncertainly at something in the distance, spun on her heel and started moving towards them. She glanced up at the office and jerked her head slightly. Eye Patch took the hint and was about to go in to keep an eye on the conductor, but Tee Shirt, who had suddenly come to the realization that he could quite possibly be killed for looking, volunteered quite kindly to do it for him. Eye Patch let out another one of his hoarse cackles and met Teytha a few feet ahead. “That biker who just drove by,” she began without fanfare, “who was he?” “A biker drove by?” Eye Patch frowned. “I didn’t hear.” “He did,” Teytha said, gesturing towards Missing Teeth, who looked up in confusion. “Hey, come here, D-“ Eye Patch stopped short of saying Missing Teeth’s real name. They obviously didn’t want any of their names being thrown around, since this way it would be harder to implicate any of them if the Mavericks were caught. “Err, just come here!” Missing Teeth hustled over, smoke pouring out of his mouth and nose. Teytha asked him the same thing she’d asked Eye Patch, and he crushed out his cigarette and shrugged. “Guy came by earlier, ‘bout a few hours ago. He’s just a poor dumbass who lost his money in the bar, and he was trackin’ down the guy who had it.” He grinned. “Looks like he got it, too.” Teytha looked back to Eye Patch, who seemed to understand her concern. “Wasn’t a Hunter that I know of,” Eye Patch said simply. “An’ even if he was, you all were pretty much on the train already, and we hadn’t said anything to him earlier.” He shrugged in finality. Teytha offered a half nod as thanks as she turned and walked slowly back towards the train. Chances were the biker was what they’d said he’d been: a dumbass who was going after his money. But there was also the chance that he was a spy, and that he’d seen Teytha or one of the others. The train more or less blocked the view of anything behind it, but the engine was stopped at the depot office, and once the biker passed that all he’d have had to do was glance behind him for a clear view of whoever was behind the train. Even worse, the biker had come from the east, which was the same direction the Mavericks had come from. If he’d seen them walking towards the station, they’d have Hunters crawling all over Steel Alley in no time. She knew it was paranoid thinking, but things had gone too well so far. It was time for something to go wrong, she reasoned, so she assumed the worst. Quickening her stride, she arrived at an open car and held it open enough for her to climb in, and let the door clang shut. It was very dark, she realized. Normally the darkness was her ally, but being plunged unexpectedly into it never helped anyone, and it just briefly added to her anxiety. Someone else in the car seemed to know how she felt. She jumped slightly as a low monotone emanated from behind her. “Do not worry, miss.” She turned slowly, and when her optics adjusted to night vision she saw the outline of Blast Hornet, standing quite still against the wall of the car. “None of our enemies will pass Cartwright’s station.” Teytha smiled nervously, wondering how the bee was able to pinpoint her specific emotions. Wasn’t he supposed to be incapable of comprehending them? If he could identify them, could he feel them, too? She didn’t know the specific parts of the Reploid CPU that dictated their behavioral tendencies, so she couldn’t answer the questions for herself. “And how do you know that?” she asked him softly, wondering if there was a bit of the plan she was forgetting. The hymenopteran gave what passed as a shrug. “Maverick defenses are too good. It is a fact that the enemy will not anticipate the snipers on the tracks.” Since the only things running through Blast Hornet’s head were tactics and strategies, the fact that he thought the sniper tactic was foolproof was very reassuring. “Maybe,” she said, just as softly, “just maybe, we’ll get lucky for once. Imagine how quickly Hunter morale would fall if Zero was shot off a moving train.” For those residents of Steel Alley who had work at earlier hours of the day, going to bed any time after 9 was unheard of. So, for those such folks in the Grimshaw Apartment building, near the outskirts of the district, it was quite irritating when that annoying Mr. Kenton of Apartment C came roaring up the street on his motorcycle, parked it clumsily and loudly, and sprinted up the stairs to his dwellings without so much as a glance at the irate old landlord. The redheaded Reploid entered his room and went straight for the phone while producing a large, flat, complicated looking object from the pocket of his leather jacket. He attached it firmly to the back of the phone and checked to make sure it was working-sure enough, there was a low whining squeak instead of a dial tone. The scrambler was set. “Mr. Kenton” dialed a very long number that only a few people knew about, and before long a bored voice sounded from the other end. “You’re on tape.” “Mavericks sighted at Point 45,” Kenton said in a very low voice. “High number, ten to fifteen, all armed.” The voice at the other end was silent for a minute. “Positive ID?” “ID on one Blast Hornet,” Kenton went on. “Polaris 232502.” He couldn’t see it, but he knew that the voice on the other end had just recoiled. “Polaris” was a term used by the Invisible Men that basically meant “this is serious, no shitting around”. The code number, 232502, was one that Caligula issued regularly depending on different situations, and this particular one meant that whoever was taking Kenton’s call was to get word to Caligula instantly, and if Caligula was not available he was to find the highest ranking intelligence official he could, which would be Kevin Seitz. It was roughly five minutes before someone answered Kenton again, and it was the boss man. Apparently he’d been waiting for this call for some time. “8080 Sickle.” “1020 Reaper,” Kenton replied quickly, completing the final code. There was no question as to his identity now; Caligula would trust whatever he was told next. “Mavericks sighted in Steel Alley outskirts.” “Shit,” Caligula breathed, “go on.” “I passed by the depot while in character. I continued riding east for a very long way to check the old factories, and when I turned back an enemy squadron had turned up. I observed them, and I’ve got a positive ID on Blast Hornet.” He was talking very quickly; time was of the essence. That train would be moving soon if it wasn’t already. “Squad numbers 12 including Blast Hornet and a woman they seem to be taking orders from. All seem to know what they’re doing. Last contact was made ten minutes ago when they were boarding the train; send your assets directly to Cartwright’s station, over.” “Understood. Do not leave your post.” Communications broke there and Kenton disconnected the scrambler. He removed his coat and got comfortable; it would be a long night. Signas knew it was going to happen, because when something bad has a potential for happening, it has a horrible tendency to happen. Caligula had informed him much earlier of the potential complication at Cartwright’s station, and so when the chief spook asked for an extremely urgent meeting, and requested that Commanders X, Zero, Zegmann, and Archer be present, Signas knew fairly well what to expect. None of those who soon filled Signas’s office seemed happy to be awake, but Caligula was bustling about at a speed that suggested exactly how little he cared, handing out crudely assembled briefing papers. One by one the commanders read their briefs and their eyes lit up in understanding, and they looked to Signas for orders. The general just shrugged and motioned to Caligula, who spoke hastily. “Yeah, yeah, large Maverick contingent spotted at Steel Alley, eleven soldiers plus Blast Hornet. They’ve boarded a train and are expected to stop at the Steel Alley station. You guys are to stop them from getting whatever cargo they’re trying to get from that station. Don’t take lots of soldiers, since this’ll more than likely come town to a train battle. You’ve got exactly ten minutes to get your troops and enter Steel Alley, and then approximately ten more minutes before the Mavericks leave that station with their cargo. Have fun! Remember, by the time you mobilize, the Mavericks will have reached that station. Ten minutes is just a guess; it may take them more or less time than that. And that’s the whole of it, so get going!” And go they did. The entire briefing didn’t take more than a minute, but they’d wasted precious time in calling the commanders together. Archer politely conceded that this kind of special operation was best left to X and Zero, and Zegmann agreed, though he offered to send three of his better troops with the party. X planned on taking four members of his unit, and Zero figured to bring Delates and five others who specialized in instant operations. All together, X and Zero included, this made for fifteen soldiers, which might be too much for a battle atop moving train cars, but the number would be more than enough to storm Cartwright’s station. However, Zero wasn’t quite satisfied. Acting on an impulse, he had a private word with Archer, who agreed with Zero’s idea and gave him permission to use one of his soldiers, making the total sixteen. Sixteen soldiers meant sixteen people to find throughout the base. Archer and Zegmann helped X and Zero go hunting, and when X passed by Mason in the halls they had a brief talk and Mason went to the communications center of the HQ, paging the required Hunters and ordering them to report to the Transport Chamber. Vulcan never heard any of the announcements and, like most Hunters, he never even knew that something was amiss. He’d decided that he’d seen enough of the day, and retired to his quarters. Now that the unit was training again, Vulcan and Rykov were both training vigorously, and Hawkins had returned from the infirmary to continue his friendly rivalry with Rykov. Krysta had finally gotten leave of the infirmary, and she’d come around to watch them, noting that she’d be battle ready again in a week. They did encounter Nightchaser at one point, in the canteen, but ironically enough Alec of the air force showed up at the same time, and Nightchaser stalked off with little more than a sneer in their direction. Alec and Rykov had gotten along quite well, both of them being more than a little rambunctious, and they’d spent quite a while swapping stories of experience. After Vulcan, Rykov, and Krysta had recanted the quarry battle for Alec, who was interested in knowing everything there was to know about any battle, the pilot had rewarded them with stories of his training and the deadly missions he was on, including a particularly humorous one involving a defective ejection seat on April the First… Exactly how much of Alec’s storytelling was true, they didn’t know, but they couldn’t care less, since he’d proven to be quite the storyteller, if you didn’t mind the way he interjected a curse in between every few words. But they did have training to do in the morning, so Vulcan figured it was better to get the shut-eye he felt himself suddenly craving. He switched off the lights and stretched out on the strangely comfortable bed, allowing a state of relaxation to close over him. Reploids didn’t necessarily need to sleep any more than they needed to eat, but again, it allowed “down time” for Vulcan’s systems to recharge, and that was better than sitting in one of the overgrown batteries that were the recharging bays. Just as he got comfortable, as is always the case in such situations, the door to his room opened without fanfare. Annoyed, the Hunter rose from his mattress to get a look at the jackass who deemed himself above knocking, but quickly checked himself when he found himself looking at none other than Commander Zero. Though there was a static expression on his face, an amused smile flickered in the crimson Hunter’s eyes as Vulcan snapped out of the bed, nearly getting tangled in his sheet, and stood awkwardly at attention. “Settle down,” he said from the doorway. “Get your weapons and suit up. You leave in exactly thirty seconds.” Vulcan blinked and stood idle for all of about half a second before he took action. He had no idea why Zero, perhaps the Hunter most revered by his underlings, was standing in his room and telling him to get ready for battle, but he did know it was a bad idea to keep his superior waiting. He hastily opened his dresser drawer and retrieved the laser pistol the Hunters had issued him as a side arm, which was currently the only personal weapon they’d given him, and he also grabbed his lightsaber. Setting them on top of the dresser he ripped his silver armor out of the small closet and tried to put it on just as hastily, looking incredibly awkward. “I wasn’t serious about the thirty second thing,” Zero said with a wry smile. “Hurry, but don’t twist your legs off in the process. You’re no good that way.” Vulcan felt his face burn, even though he didn’t detect anything particularly condescending in Zero’s words. He finished donning his armor and whisked up his two weapons, following Zero out of the door to his room and closing it behind him. Zero moved with great haste down a path of halls that Vulcan eventually realized led to the Transport Chamber, which contained a healthy supply of both transport vehicles and teleportation chambers. Vulcan itched to ask Zero why he was being summoned, and what the mission was, but he held his tongue. Thankfully, Zero didn’t make him wait as long as Archer had in the quarry mission, and began talking after a minute or two of walking. “There’s a Maverick squad at a station in Steel Alley, a cluster of industry some miles north of here. We’ve put together a small platoon of our best fighters to go counter them and secure the station. Sorry about the late notice, but we only just learned about it ten minutes ago.” Zero glanced at the armaments Vulcan carried on his person and frowned briefly. “Mason will have some weapons available at the chamber. You’ll want to take an assault rifle of some sort; we’ll be fighting from afar. We plan to be at the Steel Alley station managed by a guy called Cartwright in fifteen to twenty minutes maximum. We’ll take the station and if the Mavericks start off on the train we’ll board it and fight them off. Any questions?” “No, sir…” Vulcan, however, couldn’t stop a hint of doubt from creeping into his response. “Don’t lie, Vulcan. Only I’m allowed to do that.” Vulcan winced slightly and voiced his concern. “Well, you said that you were rounding up the best of the Hunters to go after these guys…and this job definitely sounds like you’d need the best you got…” “And the problem…?” “I don’t see how I figure in.” Zero sighed slightly. Apparently he knew this was coming, but had hoped to avoid it. They were coming upon the Transport Center, so he spoke very rapidly. “You did kill Sigma.” “No, I didn’t. I took a shot at Bit and missed.” “No, Vulcan, you killed Sigma.” Zero stared hard at him. “That’s all the people in there know or care about. You think anyone feels happy about responding to a large, highly trained Maverick threat with ten minutes of briefing? It’s quite a morale boost to have the man who killed Sigma among them.” Vulcan paled. “I’ve only been on one mission, sir. I won’t be a good morale booster if I’m flattened by a train.” Zero laughed as they passed through the doors to their destination. “Sucks, doesn’t it? I know it might not seem fair, but I find it hard to believe you can’t handle it.” He motioned to Commander Mason, who was issuing out assault rifles quite frantically. Hunters stepped onto teleporting panels and were sent to the area right in front of Steel Alley. Vulcan accepted the weapon and walked without thinking towards the panel. He stepped on with more than a little resignation. At least in the quarry mission, he’d known well enough what he was supposed to do and he’d been surrounded by comrades he knew could back him up if he needed it. Now he was going to be used as a morale booster? It made him feel a bit useless. As he stepped onto the platform, a blue glow surrounded him. He felt his stomach jump briefly and his vision blurred together. For a brief second he felt as though he were on a very fast roller coaster, and his insides were being pressed backwards by the kinetic force. Then, just as suddenly, his body was jerked back into place and instead of the confines of the Transport Center, he was out in the open, outside the massive cluster of grunge and industry that was Steel Alley. Vulcan had never seen this place before, but the cluster of Hunters racing on foot ahead of him made it clear where he should go. Even before he started, however, a cluster of energies touched down behind him and formed into Zero. His saber was not drawn, but he broke into a run immediately, and Vulcan followed, matching his stride well. The Hunters soon merged into a cluster as they bolted down the series of roads to Cartwright’s station. Those who were wandering the streets wisely ducked out of the way, albeit not without colorful language, and Vulcan was able to better identify who he was working with. He knew most of the people in Unit 0 and Unit 17, because most everyone did. Therefore it was easy to identify Mega Man X and four of his soldiers: Jasper, Scylla, Shadin, and Lariat. Zero charged ahead with Delates, Feldspar, Tyclammel, and three others with whom Vulcan was actually not familiar with, surprisingly. The three others must be from Commander Zegmann’s unit, and Vulcan had no idea who any of them were. As they dashed around a corner and started on the road to the station, Zero fell back slightly and got in stride with Vulcan. “Of course,” Zero said as he exhaled, using all the air he could get to power his working limbs, “a morale booster isn’t just supposed to stand around.” “I figured that, sir!” “Good!” Zero nodded towards the shadowy station that was still far yet in the horizon. “You kicked a lot of ass in that Weapons Match, Vulcan. You may not have killed Sigma, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be able to.” He started forward again, and Vulcan didn’t waste breath trying to catch up to his superior. So, Zero thought he was worth his salt…that if anything was a reassuring thought. Cartwright inhaled deeply and once more poured all his might into hefting a gigantic crate on his shoulders. Supporting the box on the other end was the creepy hornet Maverick, who grunted and groaned under the box’s weight but otherwise voiced no complaint. They moved forward slowly, maneuvering the box out of the storage room, at which point another of the Mavericks appeared and got under the center of the immense crate, making it slightly easier to bear. It seemed like forever until they got out of the station. Immediately, several other Mavericks rushed up to help bear the weight. Apparently they were in quite a hurry, and when they finally got the crate safely loaded in one of the train cars, Cartwright turned and headed back for more. This was not turning out to be a fun night. The station manager was stopped before reentering his station by the Maverick commander, who briefly took him aside from the others. “Did Greenback go over what you should do if you’re discovered?” Cartwright shook his head slowly. “No, can’t say that he did, miss. I figured to just play dumb. Not much they can do without evidence, and I don’t believe for a minute my boys at the depot would squeal on me.” “Neither do I,” Teytha agreed, staring off into the east down the long, long road leading back to Steel Alley’s main square. “However, if the Hunters somehow spot us here with you now, how would you explain that?” Cartwright blinked, and a pale look flashed briefly across his face. “You think that could happen…?” “Oh, it could happen.” She let out a long breath, staring further down the road. “I don’t see them or anything, but if they do come, what would you say?” “I’d say…well, I…I don’t rightly know, miss. I’d figure something out, though.” He grinned. “I always have.” “Right…I’m sure.” She reverted her gaze back to him, and presented him with the simplest solution of all, a solution he had not imagined to hear her suggest. “If it happens, just tell them the Mavericks captured your station.” Cartwright reeled slightly. “Begging your pardon…?” “Sure,” Teytha said with a shrug. “There’s no problem ratting us out when we already have our goods. Just say that we held your station hostage, and even if the Hunters don’t buy that, Steel Alley’s Engineer Corps will rally behind you. You know that. The Hunters won’t have any choice but to let you off.” Cartwright chewed his lip for a moment before nodding agreement. “I guess that works, don’t it? But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” He glanced back to the door of his station. “The conductor’s probably antsy with all the paperwork. Want me to bring him out?” She nodded. “We’ve got everything, I think.” The Mavericks were all clustered near train cars, lifting the remaining crates into the storage areas. None of them knew what was inside, and that was all the better. Teytha followed Cartwright to the station entrance and when the station’s manager went to send someone in for the conductor, the Maverick looked over the train once more. The cargo was loaded. Now all they had to do was start the damn train and they were off. It was about time for her to get on board. A voice from behind her stopped her cold. “Danger approaches.” Teytha spun around to behold Blast Hornet, looking off to the east as she had done several times already. “The Hunters are coming. We must leave, now.” She drew a sharp breath and though she knew she should spring to action immediately, she was compelled to glance in the direction Blast Hornet was looking to confirm the information for herself. Indeed, she could make out the outlines of many soldiers rushing towards them, though they were still far down the road. “Cartwright!” The manager spun to face her, a puzzled expression on his face. “Forget the conductor! We’re gone! Remember what we talked about!” She didn’t wait to see if he’d heard, and bolted towards the engine car. The ground behind her exploded into dust as projectiles slammed into it, and the Mavericks erupted into startled chatter and soon enough they were firing their own weapons in the direction of the approaching Hunters. Teytha leapt into the open cabin and activated what she knew to be the starting controls for the train. It gave a loud whoosh and started moving immediately, although it was a very slow movement. It would take a long time before the train could move at full speed, and they didn’t have that time. The Maverick cursed loudly and slammed her fist against the hard metal wall. The battle she’d been hoping with all her might to avoid was about to take place.