Domitia's tactical assessment of the current situation wasn't good.

Two shells and supporting guns weren't nothing to sneer at, and while she figured she could take them, she was far more concerned about getting clipped and compromising her suit. She'd take getting a lung full of void over this chemical soup she found herself in. This would explain why the corpo cops were all using ion weapons of some kind, just to ensure that if they hit a suit, it would become compromised.

"Lopez! Get your ass down here!" Alta calls out, aiming his pistol at Domitia; she aims back with her Ion Lance.

"Might wanna point that somewhere else," Domitia says as she tightens her fist, her ion lance charging in response, "Someone might get hurt."

"Yeah? I get you got your fancy armor and your fancy gun, but I got--" Alta points up at the hovering ship with his flashy maul, "--A drop-ship and two shells. Think I got ya outgunned."

"Might be true, but you really think you'll walk away from this?" Dell asks, peaking over Domitia's shoulder, "Cause I'll be honest, even if your fancy drop ship kills us, we're definitely taking you down with us."

There is a crackling as the station's old intercom boots up. "Alta. Can you hear me? 'Course you can."

"Son of a bitch," Alta cruses, motioning to the two cops behind him, "Go on, get, he's in the switching station!"

Two officers start trudging along, only for Domitia to step in their way. They raise their guns, and she does as well. The corpo cops back up a bit as they line up against Domitia, their ion repeaters charging as they do so. They begin to say something, maybe a warning, but Lopez's amplified voice rings out first.

"Listen! You fucks won't do anything, so I'm doing it for you!" Lopez's voice is laden with static and raspy over the intercom, but the bitterness is all there, "So I'm going to give y'all a choice, leave. Now! If you do, you'll get to live. If not, I'm killing you all."

"Arrogant asshole." Alta says, tapping the side of his helmet, the amplifier on it screeching as it activates, "Okay, if you can hear me, Lopez, or any of his hangers-on, you got ten seconds to drop whatever you're doing and surrender! Believe it or not, I don't wanna fucking kill any of you, too much paperwork!"

Domitia scans the field; four security officers and two—Wait. Four. Domitia counts again, making sure to include the ones she's blocking, but she counts again, and two are just... Gone. When she thinks of it, what they looked like, what they were armed with, and where they were positioned are fuzzy to her. Then she notices that strange sensation of space being replaced, fuzzy outlines of humanoids creeping towards her.

Revenant.

The word rises from some deep part of her psyche, her Legacy screaming that she must act. That feeling amplifies as she turns around, her maul already in hand, making contact with something beside Aiden. The thing is torn into reality, as the kinetic maul explodes with energy. A mess of gore splatters the young worker as whatever she hits flings into the air. Still, before Domitia can really get a look, it twists out of reality once more.

She turns around to face the cops, only for no one to be there. Domitia can place where Alta had been due to the ornate maul, which now rests on the ground, with the tinge of something acidic burning on the handle. One of the shells is tilted forward, the cockpit smoldering. At the same time, another lays backward, something holding the pilot up, but it feels impossible to gaze upon it. Domitia fires anyway, the lance striking something fleshy as more gore erupts, and the pilot's body falls, a slurry of biomatter pooling out around it. Domitia turns back to Aiden, who is flat on his ass, his visor up; Domitia can see his eyes are wide, and his skin is somehow even paler.

"You hurt?" Domitia asks.

"Hurt? Uh, I don't--"

"Then you're not hurt, kid," Dell cuts Aiden off. "Fuck just happened... Weren't there cops here?"

"Everyone get on the fucking train, now, and keep eyes on each other at all fucking times." Lopez's voice rings out.

"Am I going nuts?" Dell thinks aloud.

"No... Not yet, anyway." Domitia grabs Aiden and pulls him to his feet, "Keep on your feet."

"Right, right..." Aiden pats his side, "What... What is this?"

"Ichor, artificial blood." Domitia coldly assesses.

"How did it get on me?"

"Something tried to take you," The bellator answers, keeping her head on a swivel, "Dell, you stay glued onto me; don't fucking leave my sight."

"Don't have to tell me twice."

The crew gets back onboard the train, each clinging onto the other, hoping that would keep them safe from whatever took the cops. As Domitia looks out the airlock leading into the train, she can see Engine Six-Six rev up and fly down its own tracks. As soon as they get aboard, the train roars to life and leaves the station. Only the sound of the engine and the hum of the rails fill the car as each of its passengers inside does a silent head count, trying to figure out if anyone is missing. By Domitia's count, no one should be missing.

"The fuck happened out there," Sisco finally voices everyone's concern, "What took them?"

"You saw it," Klyde states, pointing at the bellator, "I saw you hit something that was going after Aiden."

Domitia thinks for a moment, "I didn't see it per se; I saw that something should've been there but wasn't."

"Hmm. Comforting."

"How did... How did we not die?" Clara finally asks.

"We were seeing one another... Right?" Aiden guesses, "I mean, it's just a guess, but all the cops were looking at the bellator, and when she turned away, they all vanished."

"Interesting theory," Klyde says, "Good practice to stick together anyway."

"Fuck that, whatever took them made them fucking vanish," Sisco does his best to snap his fingers, "Gone. Just fucking gone!"

"Stow it; we can speculate later," Lopez begins, coming back from the engine room, piece of paper in hand. "Sound off, Clara,"

"Aye."

Lopez nicks the paper with a pen, "Sisco,"

"Yeah, here in this shit."

"Keep the gripes to yourself, Klyde,"

"Present."

"Aiden."

"Here, boss."

"Thomas,"

"Yeah..."

"Domitia."

"Aye."

"Dell,"

"Still kicking."

"Ike."

There is silence. Domitia looks around the car, and that sickening feeling returns as she realizes the konii is gone. As she gazes around the car, she can see horror grip the rest of the crew as one of their own is now just gone. Vanished without even a fight or evidence of their passing. Domitia looks over to Aiden; the boy is speechless, his eyes fixed upon the game of chess that they'll never finish.

"Maybe he's... Maybe's in the engine with Marsia." Aiden finally speaks up, still in denial.

"Was just in there," Lopez says, "Marsia says he went out to ensure we're--"

A loud, metallic thud is heard outside, causing the train to rock slightly. Domitia pinpoints it to the rear car; she can also hear the rev of something spinning up. She dives down to the ground, tucking Dell to her breast, just as Lopez screams.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Down!"

High-caliber rounds pound through the car, ripping up the interior and sucking the clean air out. Workmen snap helmets back on and seek cover as something bashes the door in. Stomping into the cabin comes a corpo shell, the light of the drop ship pouring into the holes and windows of the cabin.

"You will comply!" A mechanical voice bellows out.

Domitia bolts to action, leaving Dell to rush for cover, blasting the shell with her ion lance. The mech stumbles back onto the rear car, its shield raised, allowing the bellator a chance to close in. She bashes against the raised shield with her maul, the explosion of stored kinetic energy causing it to stumble further from the cabin, deciding that she needs to keep it as far from the workers as possible.

"Keep it occupied," Lopez calls over the com, his voice cold as ice, "Sisco! The package! Bust it open!"

Domitia squares up against the shell, its pilot laying down more fire, causing her to dart from the entrance, forcing its gun to follow her and not fire into the car. Using her ion boosters, leaps from one of the toolboxes, leaving a deep dent in the metal as she launches herself into the shell, shoulder first. Her full armored weight slams against the shell, causing it to skid into the other toolboxes and steel wire boxes. It tries to bash Domitia off with its towering shield, but she's already moving.

The pilot shows his mettle, however, and instead of being caught wide open, he brazenly unloads his Gatling cannon, blasting the remaining toolboxes off the rear car and forcing Domitia to the rear of the car. The shell then raises its shield and marches forward, continuing the suppressive fire. Domitia knows the game - force her into a corner, remove her ability to maneuver. Clever, but also means he can't move either.

She skips a grenade off the platform, bouncing underneath the shield and exploding. The shell falls back, and Domitia goes in for the kill, maul crackling with energy, but the pilot does not relent. He brings his shield around, slamming it into the bellator, who is sent skidding across the platform. She catches herself just in time to avoid being sent flying off the train. The shell stumbles after, the Gatling cannon spinning up. While hanging off the edge of the train, she finds the angle she's been looking for.

She can see the pilot, blood pouring from his blue environment suit, part of his face visible, blistering in the openly hostile environment, spite in his eyes. Domitia's lance focuses on that gaze and fires. The lance bolt evaporates the man's head, and the shell falls to a knee, supported by the shield. Domitia pulls herself up, salutes the slain, and kicks the shell over, tumbling and falling off the train, crashing into the void dark regolith.

Just then, the light of the drop ship focuses on Domitia; she is already moving for cover as its weapons begin to charge. Before it gets the chance to fire, a great cyan beam erupts from behind her. The drop ship explodes into flame as it dips and then vanishes from view, an explosion signaling its death. Domitia turns, seeing Sisco with a disposable ion beamer, the kind given to infantrymen in the Corps who need to take down a mech or something bigger. One shot, one stable charge, but in most cases, that's all you need.

Lopez looks past Sisco at Domitia, "You good."

"Suit's not compromised," The bellator answers, cringing a bit at the pain she feels along her side and shoulder, "Did take a hit, though."

"Expected." Lopez says, "No turning back now."

"We lose anyone?" Domitia asks as she steps onboard the ruins of the middle car.

"No, somehow, but we got a problem," Sisco answers.

Dell emerges from the engine room, "Engine took a hit, looks bad."

"Looks bad?" Marsia pokes her head out, "Train bought the fucking farm, boss."

"Can we fix it?"

"Can we--" Marsia's helmet shakes so violently that Domitia thought it would come off, "With respect, Lopez, it's fubar! The only reason we're going anywhere is the cause of momentum; the moment we stop, we're not gonna be able to get any speed!"

"Well you're gonna have to unfubar then." Lopez orders sternly. "We got one ride out of here, and that's this train."

"Boss, we'll need time for that shit, and that's something we don't have." Marsia points to the now destroyed roof, "Ain't gonna protect us from shit now--"

Her words vanish as the train dips once again, the sky above replaced by the roof of a cave. Bright yellow lights illuminate the tunnel. No fauna lines the walls, and the dip down seems to go on for far longer than anyone expects.

"This... Is new." Clara says as she watches the lights go by.

"Get back to the controls and ease this beast to a halt when you can." Lopez orders, "Everyone else, stick together and don't lose sight of one another."

The train levels out and continues on its path for some time. With a basic understanding of how fast mag-rails can go, they've gone a good twenty kilometers through this tunnel. It's about then that Domitia remembers something about the planet.

"Isn't the core unstable?" Domitia asks Lopez.

"Not in an earthquake way." Lopez starts, "From what I can understand, and I'm only a grunt, vents in the crust are what produces the chemical slurry which is the atmosphere. All the energy travels through there. This means it's not heating the mantle, meaning it's not moving the plates. So, no earthquakes. At least, that's from what I can understand."

"We're not scientists, not why we're here." Klyde chimes in.

The noise from the tracks changes from a hum and into a squeaking as the emergency breaks hit. The train then rolls to a halt, coming to a well-lit, untouched platform. In contrast to the rusting switching station, the platform they arrive at is built out of pristine white stone. There are no signs of it being carved, laid, or poured; it is more like it was molded by the hands of Ifrit itself. The bellator scans the area, finding no signs of life. Several other tracks lead up to the empty platform. The walkways beside each platform, in pristine, untouched paint, lead down deeper into the facility, a well-lit entrance toward the back wall. There is only one other engine in the station, the rusting and decaying Engine Six-Six. Slowly, the crew comes out from the ruins of their train and onto the platform. Klyde brazenly removes his helmet, takes a deep breath, and exhales.

"Air's clean." He wastes no time pulling smoke from a protected pouch and lighting up, "We must be deep in the planet."

"That or some sort of shielding is keeping the toxins out." Lopez comments, "Marsia, Aiden, check the train, see if we can take it over our own."

"Oh, already on that, boss! Come on, skinny, shake a leg!" Marsia punches Aiden in the shoulder, nearly knocking him off his feet, but he stumbles after her soon enough.

"Well..." Clara speaks up, "Guess we're... Somewhere."

"Better than on the surface." Dell adds, "Although I don't suspect this is the transformer."

"No... It's a cargo bay." Lopez concludes, removing his own helm and clipping it to his belt. "Knew this was going to be some corpo shit, didn't expect this."

"What were you expecting, exactly?" Dell inquires.

"At least a surface maintenance facility," The veterans gaze turns to Thomas, who looks just as perplexed as everyone else. "Did you even check to see if there where other ways into the facility?"

"Uh," Thomas gulps, "Well, we kind of had a drop-ship overhead, didn't have the time to think things through."

Marsia returns with Aiden in tow, "Six-Six is beaten to hell, but it runs better than our own."

"We'll have to wait for the storm to clear before we go anywhere on that thing." Lopez looks down the hall towards the entrance, "Let's get moving. Better concealment in there."

The crew and bounty hunters begin the walk there; the eerie emptiness of the cargo bay is amplified by the echoes of their footfalls. Domitia stays in the rear, watching for anyone or anything, or more accurately, a lack of anyone or anything. The door to the facility opens automatically, and the interior is dark, save for the flashing of a yellow light marking the exit above them. Lopez takes point while the other workers stick close by, and Domitia and Dell enter right after.

Domitia guesses that this is a reception area - a counter dominates one side, terminals lining the top of it, and above the counter is a great logo of the tree with a serpent wrapped around it. One doorway has been broken open, glass glinting off the ground, the frame bent violently. The other, which has the label 'Visitor's Lounge,' remains closed, a barricade of furniture and boxes preventing view of the inside.

"Welcome to Lazarus Biotechnical Facility Sapphire," A soft voice drones over the inter com, "If you're a guest, please wait in the Visitor's Lounge. If you are one of our team members, please, report to decontamination room One-B."

"Lazarus?" Aiden asks. "Never heard of these guys..."

"Terraformers right?" Clara asks.

"Among other things," Klyde answers.

Lopez motions at the counter lined with terminals, "Thomas, see they got power and if you can slice in."

"Got it, got it," Thomas quickly hops over the counter and taps the keyboard of one of the terminals, the screen lighting up Thomas' face with a warm yellow glow, "Didn't even log out... Easy money..."

The net-head inserts his deck into the terminal, the screen flickers away, Domitia denoting his eyes start to glow a deep purple, darting from side to side. After a moment he blinks and pulls his cord back into his deck, shaking his head a bit.

"All good?" Clara asks.

"Yeah, not a lot of access..." Thomas taps his wrist mount, pulling up a screen, "Managed to scrape some schematics of the place, oughta help us navigate. Place is big, way bigger than we thought."

"Place still has power, which likely means they're drawing from the grid. Good chance there's a transformer or bank we could hit." Lopez theorizes.

"Can't be serious, boss," Clara speaks up, "This is way too big for us."

"Not a soul in here," Lopez replies, "Save for, perhaps, whatever the hell was on the platform with us."

"Another reason we shouldn't venture too far into this place." Sisco adds, "Look, I know it's your op, but this is getting dicey."

"We don't have time to hem and haw; we got to do or die." Lopez says angrily, "Besides, storms are going to cut across us, and I have no confidence in Six-Six getting us home with it a-blowin'."

"So what?" Dell speaks up, "We commit some sabotage and just hope no security counter measures kill us?"

"You're already in the shit with us, merc," Lopez says, "Unless you don't want that other half of the payout."

"Dom," Dell taps his partner on the helmet, "A word."

Domitia and Dell take a couple of steps away, with Dell replacing his helmet and switching to a private comm channel.

"Look, this shit. This shit stinks." Dell bitterly says, he points back to the platform, "I say we take cover on that train, wait for the storm to clear, and leave."

"You know how to drive a train?" Domitia asks flatly.

"I can figure it out; we have time, after all." Dell replies, "This guy's clearly nuts, fuck were we thinking taking the money."

"We're desperate," Domitia answers simply.

Dell is quiet for a moment before sighing, "Fuck, you're right. My vote is we stay out of trouble."

"And mine is we gotta help."

Dell cranes his neck up at Domitia, and while his face is hidden underneath a visor, Domitia can feel the confusion upon it, "Fuck, you mean? We're in enough shit right now. We shouldn't be here."

"You're right, but Lazarus hasn't cleaned up its mess. You and I both saw what happened on that platform. Whatever it is, it's killing people. We got a chance to help, do real good. And make some money."

Dell turns around, hands smacking against his visor as he sinks to a knee, groaning, "Damn it. Why couldn't you have been one of the more bloodthirsty, no-good bellators?"

"They all died, the ones with any sense lived."

Dell looks back at Domitia, "'With any sense?' Dom, you want to put on gloves and swing at one of the biggest corps! That doesn't make any fucking sense!"

"And you're down here with me... Seems like you're a few cards short of deck yourself."

"You're not wrong."