by Katie Vack
"I didn't get most of that," Thief said, "but are you trying to tell us that if we can get someone onto the train to interfere with one of these batteries we can bring it down?"
"That would be the gist, yes."
"Then the main problem would be-"
"Getting someone onto something moving at that speed." Sora idly picked at her fingernails with a knife. "How the hell are we supposed to manage that? It's near enough impossible."
"Actually, in desperate circumstances my Sunrise can hit three hundred and fifty miles per hour."
Karolus glanced round at him as the room went utterly silent. "I'm sorry?"
"I can hit three fifty."
"You... I... how and why can and do you do that?"
"I can do it because she's one hell of a machine, and she's worth ten times more than her owner. I chose to take her to that level because fast is cool. Fast is good."
"But there's no point. You have, to the best of my knowledge, absolutely no abilities or implants to boost your reaction times. Riding at that speed would just be killing yourself."
"No risk, no reward. If these things were safe then they wouldn't be any fun, would they?"
"Have you ever hit that kind of suicidal speed?"
"No, because I've never had the chance. But I can do so, should I need to."
"Say I listen to that advice. Say we use that death trap to get to the train. We're still a hundred and fifty short. How would we manage it; and, at that speed, still get on board in one piece."
"Simple. We find something to use as a ramp, and then we jump it onto the train."
Karolus' head sank deeper and deeper into his hands. "You've got to be kidding me. Have you ever tried anything like that before?"
"Hell, no. That would be insane."
"But... "
"I never said I'd do it, just that it's possible."
"Then why bring it up?"
"Who knows? Probably because I felt like it."
The conversation died down to a stillness, nobody quite sure how exactly to solve the problem. Eventually, Karolus seemed to decide that as leader it was his role to continue the momentum.
"Well, since that isn't going to work-"
"It will work." Grayson smirked to himself. Perfect timing. Always, always the timing. He was too good at this. "If Thief won't do it, I will."
"Have you ever ridden a motorbike before?"
"I'm a fast learner."
"You won't do it. Something like that takes a lot longer than you have."
"You'd be surprised what I can do if I put my mind to it."
"You're assuming," Thief muttered, "that I'd let you take my most treasured possession out on a trip which will more than likely result in her destruction. Nobody rides Sunrise, nobody but me."
"You let me ride it on the day we met."
"No, I let you sit behind me while I rode her. That's a very different thing from what you're proposing."
"I thought she," Grayson puzzled over the personification of a lifeless object, "was built to withstand just about anything."
"My bike is bulletproof and explosive resistant. She can take just about anything that comes with normal use. I don't class falling out of the sky at five hundred miles an hour as normal use."
"Where's the harm? I thought you were 'Mr Risk Taker'. I thought that 'life without risk is no life at all'."
"If nothing else, you still have another hundred and fifty to cover, plus even a millimetre could be the difference at that kind of speed. If you dedicated your entire life to riding that bike, it would still take you a decade to reach that stage. The fastest learner in the universe, which you are not, couldn't do it in your time."
"I think I," Karolus said, "could be of use there. It's possible that I could surround it in a pocket of air to completely remove air resistance from the equation, and maybe even reverse the influence. I could also fix it to move in a straight line, and counteract the turbulence from the train."
"See," Grayson grinned, "he gets it. I don't quite know what that all means, but we could really do this. Karolus could protect your bike. I could ride it. We could get onto the train."
"No can do."
"What would you want in return?"
"Nothing. This isn't up for debate."
"Surely there must be something?"
"Grayson, Sunrise is as important to me as my own life. Don't push me on this. I'm sure there must be something you care about more than yourself. Would you hand it over to someone with the likelihood that it'll be destroyed?"
"But we've already proven that no harm will come to it. Karolus himself, the master of precision, has opted to make sure of it."
"Fine. But you still can't have her."
"What's the point in something mean that much to you if you'll never put it on the line? At this rate, Sunrise is going to spend her entire life trying not to die. Is that really a life? Never once have you pushed her to the extent of her capabilities, and yet here we have a chance not only to do that but to exceed them. Do you really think she'd want that?"
The mutant looked away, despondently. "No."
"Then what will it take?"
The other boy was silent for a long time before he finally gave voice to his mind. "I need a new guitar."
"I'll get you one."
"No, you won't. The kind of kit I'm after is a long way into the tens of thousands. Even if you had that kind of money lying around, it wouldn't be worth it, and besides you don't know what to look for. As I've said, Sunrise is mine and mine alone."
"I'll get you one."
"Why would you pay that much for something like this? I know you don't have that kind of money lying around."
"Whoever said anything about paying? I said I'd get you one, not that I'd buy it for you. Acquiring items is one of my specialties."
"Stop," Karolus broke in, "enough of that. I can't have anyone on my team getting involved in that kind of thing."
The two boys simply ignored him. "What do you say, mutant? I get you your guitar, and you let me borrow your bike."
"Fine. If that's how you want it then yes, I'll let you borrow her. But on my conditions. You come with me, for eight hours every day this week, so that I can train you. The first two days you do nothing but sit on it while I ride. If, by the end of the week, I decide that you're capable of pulling this off, only then will I give my consent. After that, if you put even a single scratch on her then I'm taking your head. Understood?"
"Perfectly."
"Good. Then it's a deal."
"No," Karolus rose to his feet, "it isn't. I can't have you boys preying on the innocent public for your own greed. I will not allow it."
"Don't call me boy." The pair replied as one entity, before Thief went on.
"It's survival of the fittest, the very first thing we learned growing up. If you don't have the strength to protect what you own, then you don't deserve to own it."
"That might work where you come from, but things don't work like that here. This is a civilised place, and these are decent, hard-working people."
The mutant's eyes narrowed. "Be careful what you say, angel. What exactly are you implying?"
Karolus backpedalled, realising the mistake he had made. "Nothing. Simply that what was acceptable on your Other Earth is not acceptable here on Luminacht."
"That's not true," Grayson stated, "I've been doing it all my life."
"Yes, and up until now I was willing to overlook that. But now I'm putting my foot down- you will not steal a single thing whilst you are under my command, or I will have you out. Am I understood?"
Grayson decided not to point out that Karolus, just like the boss, didn't have the power to evict him. "Well..." Timing was everything.
"Am I understood?"
"Yeah, but..."
The aetherial ground his words through grated teeth. "Am I understood?"
Grayson left the perfect pause before replying, contorting his face into just the right combination of discomfo
rt and disappointment. "Fine. I'll figure something out that doesn't involve stealing." He glanced across to Thief, trying to communicate with his eyes and hoping that the other boy understood. He should do. That couldn't have fooled anyone but people like Karolus and Seth, who seemed to instinctively assume the best in people. Optimists of a kind. "Is it okay if I get you something else?"
"I-" something clicked within the mutant's mind, "yeah, I guess. We can discuss it later."
"Great." Grayson turned back towards Karolus. "Are you happy now?"
The aetherial regarded him for a few seconds, before nodding. "It's acceptable. But don't bring this matter up again."
"Sure. So, can we get back on track with this?"
"Very well. In that case, we're assuming that we've got you onto the train. What then?"
"We will need," Crayton said, "something to disrupt the circuit without destroying it entirely. We need to figure out what kind of tool we could use for that."
"Simple," said the doctor, "it's standing right in front of you."
"I am sorry?"
"You wanted a tool; something that could disrupt the circuit. In essence, the easiest way to do that would be to siphon off a portion of the current. If that is all you need, why not use the half-blood?"
"What," Grayson spluttered, "me? Why would you want me to do that?"
"Didn't you absorb the electrical energy from the vanis' suit when you fought him last week?"
"Well, I guess so. But won't there be an insane amount of electricity in something like a train?"
"Probably. You would, of course, need your powers magnifying in order to withstand such power. At your current level you'd probably have your heart stopped."
"Great. Isn't that encouraging?"
"I could help you to gain that power. At the end of the day you're an anomaly, and we have no idea just how strong you could become. But your caster powers, they're like a muscle- if you don't use them then they won't grow, but through practice they could become far greater than you could ever dream."
"And," Karolus asked, "You really think that you could get him to withstand that kind of energy?"
"Lumin and casters can withstand energy that would kill a normal being. Being a half-blood, his powers have the capacity to become exponentially higher. Besides, he'd only need to siphon the electricity for a split second."
"Then I say we do it. We've got our plan."
"Hang on a minute," Grayson objected, "you're assuming that I'm willing to go along with this. Why can't we just use some kind of tool?"
"It would take too long to set up," Crayton stated, "that and the fact that this is an incredibly precise operation in which a single mistake could prove fatal. We need something with the ability to register circumstantial unpredictabilities and accommodate for them. You appear to be our best bet."
"And this training of yours," Grayson turned back to the doctor, "it would make me stronger?"
"Yes. You might even hit the second stage in a few months."
"Then okay, I'll do it."
"Excellent," Karolus smiled, a rather remarkable sight in itself, "we know how we're going to get onto the train, and how we're going to bring it down. I'll fly alongside the boy, to regulate his driving and keep us out of the wind, but to do that for multiple people and with such precision is no mean feat. I won't be able to fight- hells, it'll be all I can do to get away afterwards. And Grayson probably won't be in a great state either, considering what he has to do, so we'll need someone to protect him."
"I'll go," Sora responded immediately, "we're partners anyway, and I'll make sure he doesn't screw this one up."
Grayson groaned inwardly. "Does it have to be you?"
"Thief won't ride, and Seth and Crayton-"
"Zacki-"
"Couldn't fit on the bike. So yes, it has to be me. Is there a problem with that?"
"No," he gave in, "I guess not. I'll manage."
"Good. Then we have our three hijackers. What else?"
"Getting off the train," Karolus said, "stopping it in time, and then getting the explosives down and keeping it covered. Getting off I can manage, but it will be difficult. I can lower the two of you, plus the bike, to the ground, but after that I won't be any help. As I said, this is enough of a strain on my abilities already.
"Stopping it in time is another issue. We can't guarantee that it will stop in time, especially considering how close cut this thing is. We'll need something a little more."
"I can rig up a net," Crayton suggested. "It will not stop it, not even close, but it will slow it down a little."
Karolus didn't ask any of the others for suggestions. Crayton was the only one with the power to stop it, and that was the best he could do without ripping it into pieces. Any of the others trying to help out would be ants fighting a lion.
"Am I to take it, then, that we're just going to rely on those two," the aetherial pointed at Grayson and Sora, "to get this done in as little time as possible?" Crayton nodded. "Then you two had better not screw this up. Our primary objective is to recover this train, not destroy it completely, and gods know what it will do if we drop it down a canyon."
Grayson grinned in anticipation. "I can't wait. I'll do my best."
"Don't do your best. Do better. Because if you don't manage this, we're all done."
The gravity of the situation finally began to sink in. "Understood."
"Good. Then I don't think there's anything left to discuss here. I need a little time to think, so you two," he pointed to Grayson and Stein, "stay. The rest of you are free to go."
The majority of the group got up and left, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Sora seemed relieved to be free of the confinement, Thief tried comically hard to catch Grayson's eye, Seth seemed cheerful as usual, but Crayton was practically dragging his shoulders across the floor. It would seem that there was at least one individual not pleased with the arrangements, and yet he had never voiced any concerns. Interesting.
Karolus walked over to the doctor and Grayson followed his example. "You are absolutely certain," the aetherial asked, "that you can get him up to standard in a week?"
"Naturally. I am a mad scientist, after all."
"Good. Because I'm not in the habit of losing my subordinates, and I have no intention of starting now."
Grayson glanced round, half-surprised. "So you do care."
"Care about what?"
"Me."
The angel scowled. "Like hell. I've had a perfect record up until now, and I won't allow a cocky little kid like you to break it."
"Of course. And it's not like you stationed Sora outside last night to watch out for me, or anything."
"I didn't."
Grayson stopped. "What?"
"I never told her to wait for you. If she did that, then it was of her own accord."
That was interesting. Maybe he had misjudged her. Maybe she'd been that desperate to stab him that she'd waited all those hours for him to return. It was scary, really- every time he started to get comfortable around her, she'd go and do something to remind him just what kind of person she was. Grayson began to wonder about the true intentions of her joining him for the hijacking. For all he knew, she intended to kill him off under circumstances in which nobody could question his death.
"So," Frankenstein asked, "are we ready to get started?"
"Yeah," Grayson said, "let's go."
The doctor turned around, walking away as Karolus left the two to their own devices, and Grayson began to follow until struck by a thought. "I've got one question, though."
"And what might that be?"
"Five hundred miles an hour. How fast is that?"
Preparations
"So," Frankenstein ordered him, "stand there just like that and don't move a muscle."
"Like this?"
"Exactly." The man began to dash around within his little control box, a blur of frenetic activity. Evidently the opportunity to play around with an anomaly had, for some bizarre reason,
excited him to no end. Grayson, locked inside some kind of ominous looking cage that had sealed his powers away out of reach, could not say the same for himself.
The room was practically unlit, the two overhead lights broken long ago and never replaced. Grayson had found himself ushered in here, and into a man-sized metal cage. It had evidently been built just large enough to fit beings far bigger than him, like hellions and aetherials, so he had just enough room to lie down if he were to half-curl himself. It felt awfully similar to being imprisoned.