Inspector Groto, now newly-promoted, was having a bad day.

First of all, he had been promoted. And while in any other circumstance he would’ve been exuberant about the decision up top, Groto soon later found out It had been the private detective pair that had pushed his career forward. And the moment he found out, he knew – he knew – that the two had some ulterior motive.

Inspector meant that he was no longer the police chief of his hometown, but frequently got assigned to specific cases. But instead of a case, he found himself assigned to… them.

“Maybe pick up the speed a little?” Maxwell asked, not even glancing in the inspector’s direction, and was instead peering out the car’s window, letting the wind blow over his face and hair. “There’s no one else on this road after all.”

Groto gritted his teeth. Maxwell’s assistant, Ms. Ritter was sitting in the back, her arms crossed, and eyes closed. She had not spoken a word since getting into his car. “This is a rather dangerous road,” he pointed out. “There’d be a higher chance of an accident if I were to increase my speed. And” Groto added. “You still haven’t told me why we’re on this road.”

Maxwell was silent for a moment. “We’re trying to catch the train,” he answered finally.

“Then why didn’t we wait at the goddamn train station?”

Maxwell never answered and Groto, just to spite the two, started to slow down so that it felt more like a leisurely drive. A few minutes passed before, suddenly, Groto felt something soft and bouncy push up against his arm. He glanced down in surprise only to find Johanna Ritter hugging his arm and pushing her chest up against him. Her face was flushed like she was drunk, and she looked up at him with wide eyes.

Groto felt his face heat up. “Wh-What are you doing?” He managed to sneak a glance at Maxwell, but he was seemingly focused on the tracks they were driving past.

“It’s just…” Johanna shifted uncomfortably, pulling herself tighter against Groto’s body. “I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but I’d really like to get a room alone and to do that… I’d like it if you hurried up a little.” She smiled up at him. “For us, I mean.”

He gulped. “W-Well…” He coughed awkwardly. “I’m a little… past my prime if you don’t mind me saying. Not only that… I believe we’re in the middle of some job? Our focus should be-!”

“Inspector,” Maxwell said suddenly. “Keep your eyes on the road.”

Groto snapped his head back to the road, just in time to notice that there was a jeep left stranded in the middle of the road. He swerved to the left, narrowly missing it, before returning back to the middle of the road. Groto glanced back, the abandoned car quickly fading from his sight. “The hell was that?” he cried, before noticing that Johanna had returned to her seat and was giving him a curious look.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

“Er… Uh… Were you not just…?”

She narrowed her eyes and covered her chest with her arms. “What are you thinking about you old pervert?”

“N-No, I wasn’t-!”

Maxwell let out a loud laugh. “Promoted and already hook up with the first lady you see, huh?” He gave Groto a nudge with a wide grin. “I’ll take you to a nice place in the city over.”

“Gods you both are awful.” Johanna rolled her eyes. “I should complain to your superiors. Get both of you in trouble.”

“Sorry, they can’t do anything to me. Diplomatic immunity or something like that,” Maxwell said with a wave of his hand. “Though I think Inspector should be a little more worried.”

Groto recoiled. “N-No, please. I-I just got this job. I wasn’t thinking of anything bad. Honest!” He sighed. “Let’s just forget this conversation ever happened.”

“I’d forget faster if you sped up,” Johanna said pointedly.

“Of-Of course!” Groto slammed down on the pedal, his old car increasing marginally in speed, as they chased after the train.

Maxwell's brow furrowed when they passed by another abandoned jeep. He ran a hand through his hair in mild frustration. Let’s just hope those two haven’t found themselves in a spot of trouble…

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Both Zana and Maria whipped their heads back to the front of the train, as the explosion occurred. Sora found herself stumbling for a moment, startled by it. “What was that?” cried Zana, catching herself from falling over by grabbing a nearby seat.

“It was some sort of explosion!” Maria cried. “From the front!”

Sora and Gale were shaking. Even they could see the dangerous situation they were in, as Marrow’s gun was pointed right at him in this small, cramped space. “Th-They’re in trouble!” Sora managed to sputter out, just Jacob pulled Gale behind a seat for cover, just before a spray of bullets flew past the place where he once stood.

Zana glanced at her, a growing realization of horror appearing on her features. “They… Vikram.” She gritted her teeth. “We need to get back.” She stomped towards the door and reached for the handle.

Thunk!

The three of them looked up, at the sound of someone landing on the roof of the car above them. “Someone’s up there,” Maria said, her voice a little subdued.

Zana looked back at the handle and stared at it for a few moments, before clenching her fist and whirling around. She walked towards the car’s back door – the final car of the train where only a small railing and ladder were kept. “Whoever’s up there,” she announced. “We need to stop whoever’s up there.”

Sora blinked while Maria could only stare. “You’re joking,” she said flatly. “We need to get back to my brother. There’s no way goblins could’ve caused an explosion.”

“Exactly.” Zana nodded. “But despite this, the train has yet to slow down.”

Sora realized that she was right. The train was still speeding along, despite the explosion. She could even hear some cries of panic from the other passengers in front of them, but there wasn’t any sort of announcement from the conductor or Jacob. “What… what does that mean?”

“The conductor isn’t in control of the train anymore,” Maria answered. “Why, I couldn’t tell you.”

“Regardless we cannot let whoever’s up there, do whatever they’re planning,” Zana said confidently.

“Are you sure?” Sora asked nervously. Honestly, all they wanted to do was make it to the city to locate information on their identity. They had never intended on getting into a fight with… Adelphi?

Zana gave her a cocky grin. “Come on, we’re adventurers.” With that, she began to climb up the ladder.

Sora glanced at Maria. She gave her a shrug following after Zana and, after a bit of self-debate, Sora joined them above the train. Once she reached the top, she nearly slipped off, but luckily Maria was there to hold her steady. Maria held a finger to her lips and pointed in front of her was a woman with long black hair and dressed in a skintight suit was placing a large bundle atop the car.

Maria flexed her fingers, as they began to glow, clearly intending to commit to a sneak attack. However, the moment she was about the attack, Zana suddenly stepped forward and exclaimed, “What are you doing?”

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Maria nearly face-faulted but managed to catch her balance. She was about to chew Zana out but froze when the woman turned to face them. She seemed mildly surprised to find them up there. “You’re…” The woman raised an eyebrow. “Why the hell are you kids here?”

Zana recoiled. “You’re… one of those terrorists from Adelphi.” She racked her brain trying to match the face with the name on the wanted poster. “Catherine.”

Catherine looked unimpressed. “Uh… huh.” She folded her arms and squinted at them. “Are you supposed to be military? You don’t look it.”

“We’re adventurers,” said Zana proudly.

Still, Catherine didn’t look all that impressed. “Right… adventurers…” she said slowly. She appeared distracted, glancing behind her at the bundle she had just placed. Sora followed her line of sight with a wary look, as Marrow’s chain gun finally seemed to run out of bullets.

Jacob gave Gale a look. “Magic,” he said, his breath sparse.

Gale gave him a strange look. “Sorry?” he asked. They were still distracted by Catherine, who had just pulled out a small knife.

“You can use magic, right? Well… blow him up or something!” Jacob insisted.

Gale’s mouth opened and closed uselessly a few times before he finally found his voice. “Magic…” he repeated. He stared down at his tattooed arm. “I… I only know how to use wind magic…” he finished dumbly.

Jacob stared at him for a few moments, only to finally grit his teeth and shoot Vikram a glare. “I thought you said this guy was powerful.”

Vikram winced. “I said no such thing,” he denied.

“But- Dammit!”

A wide grin split Marrow’s face. “Having trouble, kids?” he asked mockingly, as his gatling gun whirred to a stop. “Want to give up-?!”

The moment Marrow stopped firing; Jacob stood up from his hiding spot and fired his gun. The bullet flew through the air directly towards Marrow’s chest. Marrow raised his gun in front of him as if to block the bullet. However, Jacob pointed his index finger at the man, the tip of which began to glow slightly. “Control!” he ordered, as the bullet turned left at a sharp angle, now flying towards a window. However, as Gale watched, the bullet, under the control of Jacob, began to circle Marrow.

Marrow looked surprised, following the bullet with his eyes until…

Jacob’s eyes narrowed. The bullet turned sharply again, this time shooting straight towards Marrow’s head, faster than it was going before. Reacting quickly, Marrow brought his arm up to block the shot from killing him. There was a loud squelch of flesh being ruptured and specks of blood flying away from the wound, but when Marrow lowered his arm, Gale realized that Marrow had managed to catch the bullet in his hand.

Marrow gave the two of them a sinister grin and he gazed down at the crumpled bullet in his bloody hand. “A mana manipulator…” he mused. “Didn’t think there’d be one out here in the boonies…”

In the middle of Marrow’s musing, Vikram jumped forward and, in a quick motion, brought his claymore down upon Marrow. However, in a quick motion, Marrow blocked his strike by raising his gatling gun above himself. Vikram’s eyes widened for a moment, as Marrow grabbed him by the collar and threw him away from him with surprising force.

“Vikram!” Gale cried, jumping into the aisle and raising his arm. “Wind!” A gust of wind burst out of Gale’s fingertips, slowing Vikram down significantly. Thanks to that, Vikram managed to slam his weapon into the floor, grinding himself to halt and falling to his feet.

He flashed Gale a smile. “Thanks,” he said to which Gale nodded.

Gale gazed back at Marrow, only to notice that the two other passengers with them had disappeared. The door to the other cars was open behind Marrow. Gale eyed both Vikram and Jacob. Had they…?

“Sora! Look out!” Maria shouted. Sora snapped to attention, realizing that they had devoted to much of their focus to Gale that they had forgotten that she was in an equally dangerous position. Catherine was running towards her with a large knife in her left hand.

Sora drew her own weapon and quickly parried Catherine’s strike but found herself being pushed back by Catherine’s strength. “Ah.” The woman blinked, understanding dawning on her face. “You’re an amateur.”

Before Sora could respond, Catherine spun and kicked Sora’s legs out from under her. Sora fell onto her side, hitting her head against the metal of the train card with a loud thud.

“Sora!” She could hear Maria cry, but Sora already felt herself slipping off the side of the car, barely managing to keep conscious. Her head pounded and they couldn’t help but wonder how she was still conscious. Did it have something to do with Gale still being fine?

“Sora, my hand!” Zana’s voice brought Sora back to reality, as she reached her arm out to grab Zana’s just before she could fall off the speeding train.

Zana breathed a sigh of relief, as she pulled Sora to safety, though there was a small mix of surprise within her expression. “I didn’t think you’d hear me,” she admitted. “That was a rather bad fall.”

Sora merely nodded, gingerly reaching to touch the side of her head expecting to feel the blood, but instead, there was nothing. She was unhurt only rattled.

Still, Zana looked worried for her. “Stay back, Sora,” she ordered, pulling out her crook. Sora half-expected her to wave it around to cast some sort of spell, but instead, Zana reached into the space between the two prongs, grabbing something invisible and muttering something under her breath. Sora could only catch a few scant words. “Fire…. Envelop… palm…fly…”

Zana pulled her arm back as a small ball of flame materialized between her fingertips and a string of light connected the two ends of her staff.

Oh, they realized. It wasn’t a staff. It was a slingshot.

Maria had been distracting Catherine, her fists enveloped with a pale-yellow light. She would use her fists to block and parry Catherine’s own strikes with extreme skill. It made them wonder why Jacob had ever been worried about her sister.

Zana narrowed her eyes, aiming her shot carefully. Finally, a moment after Catherine took a wrong step and stumbled back away from Maria, Zana let go. The small fireball flew through the air, speeding towards Catherine. Catherine only noticed it through the edge of her vision.

“Freeze!”

A cold mist enveloped Catherine’s body, hiding her from view. The fireball dissipated upon contact with the mist, leaving little impact.

Zana gaped. “You’re joking…”

The mist disappeared, leaving Catherine standing there, a wide grin upon her face. She ripped off one of her sleeves, revealing runes tattooed along her right wrist. Not as many runes as Gale had, but still, they had never seen another Rune Mage.

Both Marrow and Catherine took a deep breath, suddenly looking a little more serious. “This has gone long enough,” Catherine said. Sora’s glanced at Catherine’s feet to the bomb still there ticking away. Throughout the fight, Catherine hadn’t let them even get close to it.

Ice began to form around Catherine’s right wrist climbing up her hand and to her weapon to lengthen its blade. She took a deep breath. “One last chance,” she said. “Thank Adelphi I’m giving you one. Leave me to my business.”

Sora’s grip around her katana tightened and, from the corner of her eye, she could see Zana remaining defiant. Maria too didn’t seem inclined to leave.

Marrow rummaged around in his ear with his pinky, drawing some wax out and wiping it on his shirt. “The car behind me, huh?”

Jacob and Vikram froze.

“This has been fun,” Marrow admitted. “But I’ve got a job to do. So…” In the time between, he had tossed his weapon out of the train. “Just fall over, will you?” He raised his fists and, as muscles began to glow a tinge of red and seemed to double in size.

Catherine raised her sword, the ice increasing the blade’s length so that it was three times its original length. Sora flinched, as they realized that Catherine didn’t even have to move to attack them. The realization came a little too late, however, as Catherine swung her sword, its blade slicing through the air towards Sora. At the same time, Marrow let out a roar and charged the trio below.

Both Sora and Gale tensed, but at that moment two things happened simultaneously.

As Sora raised her katana in a vain attempt to block Catherine’s attack, someone from below jumped into the air and swung a large broadsword, shattering the ice before it could hit her. At the same time, someone jumped through the hole that Marrow had created before and, in a quick motion, threw out two knives that struck Marrow’s back. The glow that encompassed Marrow’s arms immediately faded away, as the hulking man tripped over himself and fell face-first onto the ground.

Jacob stared. “Who-?”

“Dammit…” Marrow groaned, pulling himself up from the ground, as the knives fell to the ground. He turned his back on Jacob, Vikram, and Gale, to glare at the newcomer. “Who the hell’re you?”

Catherine watched as the ice she had created fell to pieces. She scowled. “Another one?” she grumbled. “I thought he said this was going to be easy…”

As Sora and Gale eyed the two newcomers, a smile stretched across each of their faces. For a second, it struck them as strange. It was hard for them to not look at the two and see them mirrored over one another. They weren’t alike at all, but the way that they held themselves and their matching expressions reminded them… well it reminded them of themselves. However, the resemblance existed for but a second before it was gone.

Maxwell placed a hand atop his head, pulling his fedora over his eyes, the thin smile he was wearing made him all the more shifty. Meanwhile, Johanna's grin turned feral, her eyes lighting up with sadistic excitement.

“Us?” The two said in perfect unison. “We’re nobody. Just a simple detective and their assistant.”

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Groto couldn’t help but stare at the backseat of his car. It was destroyed, practically caved in by the stunt that Maxwell and Johanna pulled to even get up on the train. The only thing that was keeping his car going was the fact that the engines and wheels were at least intact.

With a sigh, he grabbed the car’s radio and began to speak into it. They were close enough to the capital to reach the police station there. “Hello?” he said, after waiting for a second. “This is Inspector Groto. I need blockade and evacuation at the eastern train station. And…” He hesitated for a moment, sparing another glance at his mutilated car. “What’s our insurance on vehicle destruction…? for inspectors?” he hastily added.

A quick answer. He swallowed. “Great. That’s just… great.” He let out a sigh, letting his head fall onto the wheel of the car. “Damned bureaucrats…”