Dixon stretched his legs and popped his lower back. He was ready to be off the plane. After landing in Germany, they found a connecting flight to London. The plane landed on its own as much as it took off. They soul jumped their way past customs, and into the heart of London.

"They have subways here." Dixon said. "We should ride around until we get a good look at where Brooke is." [Brooke sets an obvious trap. They chase some legion leaguers down into the sub ways.]

"Great idea." Clarity said. "And there will be a lot of people down there to keep practicing Scott."

Scott nodded and they headed for the London Underground. It was crowded and noisy. Scott bumped a few people to get a general layout of the labyrinth they were descending into.

A few more soul jumps convinced a generous woman to pay for their admittance to the train station. Once they were there, they got on the first train.

"We're pretty far down, do you think you'll be able to see any of the soul jumper ghosts up there?" Scott sat down and pointed at the ceiling.

Dixon looked up and squinted his eyes. He couldn't see any ghost above them. "It's too thick."

"Well, we should go then." Scott said. "Take a tour bus or something."

"That would be better." Dixon agreed.

But the train started to move.

"Next stop then." Clarity sat down and stared at the other passengers. There were only seven others in this car. Most of them were listening to music or reading a book.

The walls outside rushed by in a blur, not providing any detail. Occasionally a service door would appear, or some other different marker.

At the next stop, Clarity got up and they made to leave the train. But outside was a wave of cops, and they issued an order for everyone to remain inside the train.

Dixon counted twenty officers, though none of them entered their particular car. He didn't get a good look at them, couldn't see who well armed they were, but they had grey ghosts. None of them were soul jumpers or scribes.

With the police, about fifty new passengers boarded. Again, none of them to their car. The hairs on the back of Dixon's neck stood up.

"We should leave." Dixon said.

"And risk becoming fugitives?" Scott asked. The doors shut and the train started moving. "Let's just wait it out. Sneak off at the next station."

Clarity sat back down. "I don't think this is a routine operation here."

Dixon made his way to the front of the car, to have a better look. There was a door with a glass window on top, allowing him to peer into the car ahead of them.

There were three police officers there. All of them were talking with various passengers, and otherwise looking busy. All of them were armed to the teeth. Two handguns, an assault rifle, and tactical concussion grenade each. And that's just what was carried openly.

"They're looking for somebody dangerous." Dixon turned around and looked at the car behind them. Again three officers, and many weapons.

"We're almost to the next stop." Scott pointed to the sign indicating the train's travel path.

Just as he spoke those words, the train zipped past the next platform. Dixon could see the confused faces of the waiting crowd as the train didn't even acknowledge their presence.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The train passed another stop. And then another. After the fourth pass, Dixon walked back over to the front door of the car. He put his hand on the handle, and readied to move. "I'll be back. Just going to the driver to see why this thing is still moving."

The nearest police officer watched Dixon, hand on a gun, and shook his head when he was ready to open the door.

A faint sound of static cracked through the air. A woman coughed and a loudspeaker was turned on.

"Well well." A woman's voice. Faintly familiar, but he couldn't place who it was.

"Brooke." Scott said.

"The phantom queen." Clarity agreed.

"You take forever showing up, but boy did you arrive with a bang." The phantom queen crooned over the loudspeaker. "Just about messed up the whole operation. But that's the story of your life, isn't it Scott?"

"We have to get out of here." Scott whispered.

"And go where?" Dixon pointed at the blurry wall and the armed men surrounding the car. "Also, you don't have to whisper. Pretty sure she can't hear you."

"I'll hand it to you for being on the right track, literally," Brooke continued. "But it was a mistake coming in here unarmed."

Glass broke on the back door of the car, and Clarity fell down with a yelp. Dixon dived down to get a look. Her shoulder was bleeding. The other passengers looked up from their books and phones with wide eyes.

"And revealing her secrets to my boys in China. Honestly, Alaska was such a clean job. Nevada too. Did Miranda do those? She always seemed more inconspicuous than you two."

"That's rich coming from her." Scott snorted.

"Is anybody here a doctor?"

The room stayed quiet.

"Keep the blood loss minimal," Scott said. "I'll do what I can to take out the police in the surrounding cars.”

Dixon ripped out a small chunk of his shirt and applied pressure to the wound, careful not to press the bullet further in.

Scott sent out several ghosts, and took control of passengers in the other cars. It was obvious he wouldn't take control of the officers while Brooke had them in a soul jump. The next best option was to fight with bystanders.

Scott yelled in pain and at once, all of his ghosts rushed back into him. He fell to the ground and began convulsing.

"You'll see that I've picked up a few more tricks." Brooke said. "Undetectable soul poisoning. If your soul jump comes into contact with someone I've poisoned, this is what happens."

"Let me." Clarity wheezed. "I can help him."

Dixon picked her up as gently as he could, and tried to drag her over to Scott. Police officers let out more shots, glass and seat fabric were flying everywhere. Dixon dropped her and pushed her in-between two seat stalls. He then took cover as best he could.

"Two neutralized, one to go." Brooke said. "Let's finish this quickly."

Two cans of tear gas rolled into the room and hissed menacingly. At that moment, the lights went out, leaving Dixon and his injured friends in a smoke filled darkness. Both doors from the other cars opened and red beams of gun laser sights scanned the room.