Chapter 38:Mano A Mano...

The explosion rocked the train, but Tucker's nine tails unfurled and formed a protective barrier, shielding everyone from the blast. As the dust settled, Tucker retracted his tails and asked, "Everyone okay?"

"I feel dead, why did even come to this shity feild trip." Oliver muttered, coughing from the debris. He chuckled weakly but then his eyes widened as he noticed the big hole in the side of the train and the door.

Sneak and his imps, along with the loan sharks, walked through the gaping hole. Sneak looked around, a corny grin spreading across his face. "Well, ain't this a sight for sore eyes?"

Tucker stood up, his boken by his side, and exchanged a few words with Sneak. "You know, for someone who talks big, you sure have a lot of people doing your dirty work."

Sneak's grin faltered. "Shut up, Fox! You won't be so smug when I fill you with holy lead."

Tucker smirked. "Sure, if you can actually hit me. By the way, your fly's open."

Sneak glanced down instinctively, and his men burst into laughter. Furious, Sneak whipped around and shot the closest imp in the face, silencing the laughter immediately. He glared at the others. "Anyone else got jokes?"

Tucker looked over at Oliver and asked in a lowered tone, "How long till the drop-off?"

Oliver glanced at a holographic display on his wrist. "Twelve minutes."

Tucker nodded. "Think you can handle the grunts while I take care of Sneak personally?"

Oliver pulled out a sleek black and gold advanced Winchester from his hat. "There won't be a single one standing by the time I'm done."

[Pic]

Tucker nodded, just in time to deflect another bullet Sneak shot at him. Sneak sneered. "Ignoring me again, Fox?"

Tucker grinned. "You're right. How about we take this outside? Just you and me."

Sneak's eyes lit up with a sinister glee. "That's the best fucking thing I've heard all day."

The two of them glared at each other before Tucker vanished and reappeared in front of Sneak, grabbing him by the face and teleporting them to the roof of the train.

He threw Sneak across the roof, and Sneak tumbled before stabbing a knife into the roof to stop his fall.

Sneak wiped the blood from his busted lip and smirked. "I can't wait to bring your corpse to Mr. Hammerstein once I've filled you with lead."

Hearing this, Tucker growled, realizing Hammerstein was still alive. "You don't know when to quit, do you?"

Sneak shrugged. "That's the thing about cockroaches. We always come back."

Tucker's thoughts were interrupted by another gunshot, which he quickly dodged. He focused on Sneak, knowing he needed to keep him occupied. Eleven minutes remained.

The two engaged in a brutal fight, trading blows and gunshots. Tucker deflected Sneak's angelic bullets, knowing they were one of the few things that could kill him permanently. As they fought, Tucker couldn't help but notice Sneak had improved since their last encounter.

"Not bad," Tucker taunted. "You've been practising."

Sneak snarled. "Shut up, Fox! I'm going to rip you apart!"

Sneak lunged at Tucker with a blade, which Tucker easily sidestepped. Sneak followed up with a series of rapid stabs, each one aimed with deadly accuracy. Tucker parried and deflected, his movements fluid and effortless. He could see the frustration building in Sneak's eyes.

"You call this a knife fight? I've seen kittens with sharper claws," Tucker jeered.

Sneak growled, switching tactics. He pulled out a pair of angelic revolvers, firing off shots in rapid succession. Tucker's tails moved almost independently, each one deflecting a bullet with pinpoint accuracy. Sparks flew as angelic metal clashed with demonic energy.

Tucker closed the distance between them, landing a powerful kick to Sneak's midsection that sent him skidding across the roof. Sneak spat blood, a wild grin spreading across his face. "Is that all you got furball?"

"Not even close," Tucker replied, his voice calm.

Sneak charged again, but this time Tucker met him head-on. They grappled, rolling across the roof of the speeding train. Sneak managed to pin Tucker momentarily, pressing the barrel of his revolver against Tucker's head. "Game over, Fox."

Tucker smirked. "You forgot one thing."

"And what's that?" Sneak hissed.

"I'm not alone." Tucker's tails wrapped around Sneak, yanking him off balance. Tucker twisted, flipping Sneak over his shoulder and slamming him into the roof. Sneak's gun went off, the bullet whizzing past Tucker's ear.

"You're making this too easy," Tucker said, standing over Sneak.

Sneak struggled to his feet, one eye swollen shut. "You think you're so clever, don't you? Hammerstein' gonna love tearing you apart."

Tucker's eyes flashed with anger. "Tell Hammerstein he can try." He delivered a crushing blow to Sneak's jaw, sending him sprawling.

...

Meanwhile, below, Oliver was behind a makeshift barricade as the other passengers ran to the higher compartments.

He was getting shot at but managed to take down a few demons. He looked at his holographic watch, which showed over twenty-two enemies.

He pressed a button on his gun, and it lit up blue. A path appeared in his vision, showing where the bullet would ricochet. He aimed at a glass mirror and fired.

The bullet bounced off, hitting an unsuspecting loan shark in the chest, who then tripped over some debris and fell out of the train.

Oliver smirked. "That's seven."

'Mark seven Aka Goldey is doing decently on his test run, the recoil could do with fine-tuning and the Victo Path is slightly off with its trajectory, but these are things that can be easily fixed, overall a good improvement from Mark six.

While Oliver was marvelling at his creation, he was unaware of the danger that spacing out had put him in.

Suddenly, a small imp managed to get close to the barricade. Oliver cursed, not having enough time to react.

Just as the imp was about to strike, a brick flew past Oliver and hit the imp square in the face, breaking his nose. Oliver quickly shot the imp dead and looked around for his saviour.

"..."

To his surprise, it was the last person he ever expected to help him.

.

.

[Time till the drop off: 7 minutes]