Chapter Twenty Six: Fields of Fire

Aboard the train, now practically flying down the tracks, Ronin sat down in one of the cars where his team had gathered.

"I think we need to consider the possibility that the Bureau is...finished," He started with.

Silas looked at him, concerned, but the rest of the team seemed to be watching him intently, curious where he'd go.

He frowned a bit and said, "If I'm right and we ARE being hunted, I can't ask any of you to follow me into danger"

Trigger nodded and said, "At best, we're down to a fraction of our original numbers, we'd barely be able to get anything accomplished if we clung to the Bureau's ashes."

Ronin agreed and said, "That being said, once we get into the city, I plan to find a way to continue my research either way."

Silas grabbed his arm and said, "I'll be following you around I guess. I don't really have any other plans…"

 Sellius nodded in agreement and said, "I'm pretty sure that goes for the rest of us."

His team all nodded and Scalpel said, "You've kept us alive and moving forward even when things got tough. We can't abandon you just because the Bureau is dead."

Delta pulled out her laptop and said, "Personally, I'm curious to see where all of this leads...the other remnants of the Bureau are still out there...and who knows what they're going to do ."

 Ronin leaned back and said, "The plan among the Directors was to head into Neyk and establish ourselves there...but if we're being eradicated, that's the last thing we should do."

Silas looked out the window and said, "Before we do ANYTHING, we need to get established enough to DO research. It won't benefit us to be the best researchers in the city if we're all starving."

Ronin nodded and said, "Everyone, try and see if you can think of ways to make money that won't bring too much attention to us. I'll do the same."

 The team agreed and they began to leave for their rooms.

Charon was a MASSIVELY long train, extending farther than most people could see. Even full, the waiting room at the station couldn't hope to fill three full cars of the train, so Ronin and his team each had their own room, taking up half of one car.

Days passed and Ronin began to get the feeling that something was wrong. He knew the trip would take a while cross country travel at any speed would take time, but there were times he felt the train seemed to slow to a crawl, extending that time even longer.

He looked out the window and watched the fields fly by, towns and people tiny and insignificant from a distance, living their lives.

Truth be told, Charon itself had been the very last resort he'd decided on. He'd almost have been willing to walk, and if he hadn't been so hopelessly beaten by Daruik, he'd have had the team do that.

Daruik...he thought...Daruik had changed everything.

He'd considered himself a major threat, at the least, and knew he WAS...but Daruik...he'd stopped him like he were nothing, barely worthy of notice.

It had been luck, almost a miracle, that he were even still alive.

"How was he so strong?" he asked his window.

The window seemed to answer back, "He was impressive."

Shaking his head, he turned and saw Scalpel, now older looking, standing in his doorway.

 "I knocked, but you didn't answer, so I let myself in."

He waved her in and she sat beside him, saying, "You can't let yourself be bothered by how much Marcus showed you up. You'll get the bad guy next time."

Ronin chuckled at the idea of Scalpel considering anyone a bad guy and he said, "Did he really?"

She nodded and said, "It may have been some kind of emergency measure, but he still was able to force that guy to retreat."

Thinking back on it, he realized he really didn't know what Marcus was capable of.

The other Directors had regarded Marcus with respect, but within a group of people who primarily respected original research and advancement, Marcus alone seemed to focus entirely on someone else's research, all claimed by someone named Inmizaku, an odd name even among the Bureau.

He'd never really given it much thought, but he realized he'd only ever seen the name, never the person or even the research. Marcus guarded it heavily, with so many security protocols around it, he was positive that nobody could hack it, even if they tried for years.

Daruik and Marcus seemed to know each other very well.

"Do you think Marcus is still alive?" he asked quietly.

Scalpel said, "I've known Marcus since I joined...he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to die from something like that."

A small voice spoke from within Scalpel's jacket, "Marcus is a MONSTER. He'll outlive us all!"

 Scalpel rolled her eyes and said, "You're already dead kid."

A bright blue hologram appeared beside her and punched her arm, going through her without connecting.

Ronin looked at her, surprised and said, "I didn't know you had an A.I. like this."

 Scalpel laughed and said, "Little Terrance here isn't an A.I. You remember my research into resurrection, right?"

Ronin nodded and she said, "This is Terrance's soul. I managed to trap it within a bit of tech I had at the time. I was trying to create an artificial body and accidentally caught him as he died."

Terrance floated and said, "Nobody believes her though."

Ronin passed his hand through the boy and said, "I'm not sure why, but I do. He reminds me of something, though i couldn't put my finger on what exactly...like a memory from when I was a kid, blurry and almost visible, but just out of sight."

Scalpel nodded and began to speak, getting cut off by the sound of a massive explosion from further up the train.

Narrowing his eyes, Ronin motioned for her to wait a moment and immediately a bright red light began flashing on the train, filling the air with screaming emergency alerts.

"Please remain in your rooms. We are under attack. If someone enters your room and makes a demand of you, please comply. Your life is not worth your baggage."

 Ronin rolled his eyes as the alert began to play again, repeating itself word for word.

Scalpel pulled a small knife from her pockets and said, "Bandits?"

 Ronin shrugged and said, "Who knows. Let's deal with them so we can get on our way."

Leaving the hall, he found that Trigger and Sellius were already waiting by his door. 

"I told everyone else to just wait for us to handle it. Nobody else is really suited for this kind of thing, unless we want the train to be destroyed completely," Trigger said, a look of annoyance on his face.

Pulling out a shotgun, Trigger said, "I'll get to the top of the train and deal with anyone who may be following alongside us.

Sellius pulled his sword out, glimmering ominously in the red light, and Ronin said, "Sellius, Scalpel...looks like we're on cleanup duty."

They both nodded and they all moved toward the front of the train as Trigger climbed up a nearby ladder to the top of the train.

Several minutes passed and Ronin got a message from Trigger, "You'd better get up here...looks like the party is up top."

Reaching for a ladder, Ronin climbed up, only to find himself behind a dozen men all firing toward Trigger, who was hiding behind a barrier he'd set up.

Moving silently to the two closest to him, he grabbed their heads and slammed them together, and they slumped down without effort.

Throwing their bodies off the train, he began to move toward the next person when he felt something massive wrap itself around his waist.

Looking down, he saw that it was a hand and immediately felt himself being lifted up.

Turning his head, he saw a giant of a man holding him, so big he wondered how the train was moving with him on it. Easily twelve feet tall, the man waved Ronin around and started to throw him from the train. As his hand opened, Ronin, his arms free, grabbed at the train and managed to hang on to the edge, just barely.

Pullingl himself up, he saw that the rest of the gunners had stopped firing and the giant was making his way toward Trigger, who was firing rapidly directly into his chest.

Frowning, the giant seemed more annoyed by Trigger's gunfire, and Ronin leapt for him, punching down at his hand, forcing it into the train, denting the surface.

Forcing himself along the giant's arm, he got a good look at the man's face and his V.U.I. identified him as Burning Blood.

Smiling, all of his teeth black, Burning Blood lifted his free hand so fast that Ronin barely had a chance to react, smacking him to the side again.

The air knocked out of him, Ronin was barely able to grab the side of the train again, but this time, he said, "Activate: Strength."

 Once again, the Aether in his body reallocated, increasing his strength incredibly, and he simply pulled himself back onto the train.

Walking up to the giant, he punched, knocking Burning Blood all the way to the next car.

Roaring in rage, Burning Blood yelled, "NOBODY TOUCHES ME!"

Putting his hands on each of his wrists, Burning Blood used his nails to tear them open, and Ronin's eyes widened in shock as liquid magma poured out instead of blood.

Dripping from his wrists, the magma blood formed into whips, and he began swinging them toward Ronin, cutting through the gunners with every swing.

As the whip hit them, they burst into flame, their bodies cut into pieces, and he began walking toward Ronin.

Realizing he hadn't seen what happened to Trigger, he saw the hatch was open and assumed that Trigger had dropped down at some point.

Hoping that was the case, Ronin spoke again, "Activate: Speed"

The whips rapidly became a blur of glowing orange, but Ronin trusted his speed to overcome it.

He stepped forward and disappeared, moving rapidly toward the side of the train car, and running along the side until he was behind Burning Blood.

Punching the massive man in the back, he knocked him forward again and stopped as the pain staggered him, using two augments from the Aether was much more trying than he'd expected, he'd have to end it fast.

Moving again, faster this time, he raced toward where Burning Blood would land, only to find that he wasn't there.

Looking up, he saw that Burning Blood had shot a blast of his magma blood downward, sending him flying up into the air, forcing Ronin to dodge the magma.

Rolling to his side, Ronin tapped into his V.U.I. and pulled out a rifle, aiming it as fast as he could at Burning Blood's head, only to watch him disappear and reappear right in front of him, about to strike.

Jumping out of the way, Ronin watched punch a hole clear through the top of the train and cringed at the thought of getting hit by that.

Landing and lining up another shot, Ronin pulled the trigger only to watch Burning Blood catch the bullet and smile evilly as it melted into his hand. He flicked his wrist at Ronin and the bullet, now molten and thin, shot out at him almost faster than he could dodge.

The effort of using his Aether energy finally caught up to Ronin, and he dropped to his knees, barely able to move.

The world grew dim around him as he sat, watching Burning Blood stand menacingly over him.

He felt the cold hands of unconsciousness begin to eat at him, his skin slowly turning blue as the temperature dropped.

Burning Blood seemed to be noticing the cold as well, but before he could move, a long katana blade of ice pierced his chest, coming dangerously close to Ronin's face.

As Burning Blood fell over, his eyes glazing blank, a woman stood behind him, slowly revealed by his falling body.

Unsure of this new attacker, Ronin passed out, accepting his death at the hands of this markedly stronger warrior.