Midnight Rail

by daOtterGuy

Onboarding Passengers VIII

“...And then Wilde stabs it right in the head with both of her swords!” Shelley said. She titters lightly. “It was very dashing.”

“Well, I can’t help being so perfect.” Wilde tossed her hair at the compliment.

“You can, however, hold your ego in check,” Shelley shot back.

“Never,” Wilde whispered.

They both laughed.

“That sounds amazing!” Bradbury exclaimed. “Way better than how our mission went!”

“I suppose you all did satisfactory jobs,” Salinger muttered as he sulked in the corner.

“Nah, they did a bang up job… for a bunch of knobs.” London grinned.

“That’s Ms. Knobs to you, London,” Shelley said.

The group laughed at the poor joke. Soarin was gathered with the rest of the passengers in the front train car awaiting the eleventh passenger and last one to board. Leap had announced that they would be picking up Poe, then immediately heading off for the first big mission. The twelfth passenger, Verhoeven, would meet them there.

With everyone gathered together to be ready to go right away, the group had started to share stories between them (with notable exceptions Andersen and Perault, who both sat quietly in different corners of the car) and things had gotten rowdy.

It was loud, but Soarin hadn't felt so relaxed in a long time. Though he didn’t get along with all the passengers, there was something inherently nice about being surrounded by comrades in arms and celebrating a series of victories. He hadn’t been privy to this kind of success since his days in the Wonderbolts and… it was one of the only times in recent memory that he could remember not feeling so alone.

“So, when is this new passenger supposed to board?” Grahame asked.

“Based on our estimate, the passenger will be boarding—” the train whistle shrieked, interrupting Leap “—Well, now, it seems.”

Soarin stood up and approached the door as it slid open, granting access to the new passenger.

A pegasus man with massive black wings, charcoal black skin, a silver mohawk, and yellow eyes. He had a thick build and leaned forward like an animal, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. His eyes had narrow pupils and he breathed raggedly, surveying the train car like a cornered animal would in a room of its natural predators. He was dressed in a banded suit that, at some point, had bound his wings and arms, but now hung uselessly off his body. He had an iron pipe in one hand that dragged across the floor as he twisted to and fro to keep everyone within his sights.

Not put off by Poe’s strange appearance due to his prior experiences with the other passengers, Soarin held out a hand in greeting.

“Welcome aboard the Rail, my name is—”

Poe tackled Soarin to the ground. He started to scream as he wailed into Soarin’s face, fists flying back. Blood flew as Soarin desperately tried to protect his face from the barrage of punches.

Two passengers grabbed Poe from behind and pulled him off. Soarin backed away quickly. He saw Bradbury and Andersen struggle to hold Poe in their grasp as he flailed and screamed obscenities at them.

“Simmer down there, new friend!” Bradbury said.

“I don’t think that’s gonna work,” Andersen said.

“We need to—” Soarin started.

“Release him,” Leap commanded.

The room skewed for a moment, like when they had ordered Perault. Bradbury and Andersen dropped him. Leap grabbed Poe by the throat and lifted him off the ground. A burst of navy blue magic coursed through his body.

Black fluid began to bubble from his mouth and nostrils, causing him to choke. Leap released him.

He dropped to the ground and began to hack globs of black sludge onto the ground. It hissed and sputtered as a mildew-like smell mixed with sulfur began to permeate the air. After a few moments, Poe’s hacking subsided and he gasped for breath.

Leap snapped their fingers once, and the sludge dissipated into nothing. Poe stared up at Leap with wide eyes, his body shaking.

“...Your room is down the corridor behind us and marked by the image of a brain,” Leap said. “Take a moment to gather yourself, then meet us back in the front.”

Poe nodded, then dragged himself back onto his feet. He walked past the group on shaky legs, breathing heavily from the exertion. Once gone, Leap directed their attention to Soarin. They brought out several bandages and a tube of green gel seemingly from nowhere.

“Please use these to address your wounds,” they said.

Soarin got to his feet, took the offered medical supplies and began to apply them to his damaged face. It stung.

“I thought you didn’t interfere with the passengers?” Soarin asked.

“In this case, it is a state due to an incident prior to boarding, and thus falls to us to handle,” Leap explained. “We apologize for not fixing it immediately.”

“How can we be certain that he won’t attack Golding or someone else again?” Hinton demanded.

“...There are no guarantees, however, the root cause has been removed.” They stared at the spot the sludge had been before. “You won’t need to deal with that again for a long time.”

“...I’ll let it go, then,” Soarin said. “No point holding a grudge over something he couldn’t help.”

“We thank you and, on that note… it is time for the first mission,” Leap said.

A murmur of equal parts excitement and nervousness rippled through the assembled passengers.

“Where are we heading?” Shelley asked. “Somewhere glamorous? Oh! Please tell me we’re going to Las Pegasus. I’ve always wanted to visit.”

Wilde flinched.

“No, we will be going somewhere different. There isn’t necessarily an exact order to the Traumas, but we will be dealing with the most manageable one first,” Leap said. “The Dodge Junction Burn Out.”

“D-Dodge Junction?” London laughed nervously. “Why are we goin’ to a place like that?”

“Well, you would be most knowledgeable, as you are from there.” Leap directed their attention to London. “I would prepare thyself the most, as the first Trauma we will be tackling is in fact yours, London.

“We hope, for your sake, that you will reach a satisfactory conclusion to your arduous past.”

Comments

[The Sleepless Beholder]

Trauma time! And we got the first widely successful mission. Golding is getting a better grip of his emotions and he's found more agreeable comrades for missions. Of course, Poe had to balance things out. Can't wait to see what was that.

Just one more passenger to reveal, very exciting to see where this group goes.