The train lurched into motion with a metallic groan, startling Alexa from her conversation with the Conductor. She peered out the window, watching as the foggy Victorian station platform receded into the distance.

For a brief moment, Alexa spotted a tall man in a long coat standing at the edge of the station. Round glasses were leering straight at her from beneath a wide-brimmed hat.

“Osheeeeetttt,” Alexa ducked below the window.

“See something you didn’t like?” The Conductor asked.

“Yeah,” Alexa replied. “Agent Three… I thought that I got rid of him, but it seems like the bastard is back trying to erase me out of existence.”

“Three?” The Conductor’s voice became tinny. “You’ve got a genuine Number after you? Why?”

“Ehhh, I break a lot of things,” Alexa confessed. “Lots of people are after me.”

“He must smell the [Murderer] tag,” the Conductor sighed. “This is very bad.”

“Worse than the Bobbies?” Alexa asked.

“Much worse,” the Conductor replied. “Three deletes concepts from existence, he is a judge and executioner. He doesn't ask questions, he terminates."

Alexa shuddered slightly. She cautiously slowly emerged from under the table and looked at the window.

It looked like the train was now speeding through a surreal landscape - twisted spires of impossible geometry rose up on either side of the tracks, their surfaces shimmering with iridescent colors. Strange, gargantuan creatures flitted between the structures, their forms constantly shifting and morphing. Then it appeared as if the train had disconnected from some kind of planet, somehow sailing off into distant reaches of space.

Bewildering, glowing nebulae and ever-shifting, alien starscapes painted the interior of the cabin in a variety of impossible colors.

"What is all this?" Alexa asked, gesturing at the bizarre scenery of alien-looking space.

"The liminal spaces between realities," the Conductor replied. "Best not to look too closely or try to make sense of it. It can drive a linear mind mad.”

“Eh, I’m not that linear,” Alexa shrugged, refusing to look away from the window. “I can totally think of myself as a quadratic loop. Say, how long is this train ride anyway?”

“Time is... flexible here,” the gun said. “It could be minutes or millennia. Best to settle in.”

“Okay but are there snacks?” Alexa asked. “I’m kinda getting hungry over here.”

“I believe that there are snacks, yes,” the Conductor replied.

“Okay but how often does the snack-lady come around?” Alexa demanded. “I’ll dry out into a husk if I have to wait a millennium over here. Surely 'the time' correlates to something specific? Why would this be a train otherwise? Train implies… waiting, which maybe implies... meeting someone, mayhaps?”

“A good guess,” the Conductor replied. “You are waiting here to meet those that match your path.”

“Match my path… how?” Alexa asked.

Just then, there was a knock at the compartment door. Alexa tensed, her hand moving to grip the Conductor-gun.

The compartment door slid open, revealing a woman who appeared to be made entirely of shimmering silver stardust. Countless tiny pinpricks of light swirled within her form, giving the impression of a living galaxy. Behind her, she pulled along a boy who looked to be about Alexa's age.

The starry woman peered at Alexa with what seemed to be a thousand silver eyes, each one blinking and shifting as they examined her intently. Alexa felt a bit unnerved by the intense scrutiny.

"Uh, who are you?" Alexa asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

The woman's form rippled as she spoke, her voice sounding like chimes in a cosmic wind. "I am Sasha One Googolplex, an Academy Instructor applicant." She gestured to the boy behind her. "This is Charles."

Charles had a black and white shirt and black pants, striking blue eyes and messy black hair. He glanced around the compartment nervously, seeming unsure of what to make of the situation.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Hi," he mumbled, giving Alexa a small wave.

Alexa looked between the strange pair, her mind racing with curious and dangerous thoughts. An Academy Instructor?

“A pleasuuuuuuurrre to meetcha,” her mouth hammered out. “I’m Alexa Terror Nova, supervillain extraordinaire and a most dastardly murderer of transit terminals.”

Alexa tapped her tag proudly, gauging the reactions of the theoretical Instructor and potential fellow pupil.

“You’ve already managed to murder something of value to the System Wizards?” Sasha One asked, multitudes of star-like silver eyes twinkling. “Consider me… most impressed.”

A mouth with far too many teeth woven from silver stardust smiled at Alexa.

“I think I’m going to like you,” Alexa said to the cosmic woman. “What sort of a beastie are you, by the way, Mrs. Googolplex?”

“Just Miss,” the cosmic being replied. “I’m not married. I’m an {Astral Virus}, but don’t tell anyone that.”

She put a finger to her lips.

“Can do,” Alexa nodded and then she hiccuped.

The memory of the answer of the cosmic instructor was dissolving from her head. Alexa tried to cling to it, but found herself unable to hold on to the words of the... what was she again? Uhhhh? Where'd my short term memory go?

“Did you just… erase your answer?” She demanded of the silver, many-eyed woman.

“I did,” the woman replied. “It’s a secret, after all.”

“So… I’m not going to remember it, that’s what you’re saying? What are you, some kind of an anti-meme?”

“I’m a {very dangerous virus}, heading to the City of System Wizards to {devour it whole},” the woman said.

Again, Alexa found herself unable to hold onto most of the reply. It words inexplicably swam away from her head, turned into an incomprehensible mist.

“Talking to you is going to be a pain,” she grunted.

“Life isn’t fair,” Miss Googolplex replied.

Charles looked up at the woman with a nervous look.

“Are you a human boy or some kind of a mind-erasing abomination too?” Alexa demanded of the boy.

“Urhm,” the boy swallowed. “I… I actually have no idea who I am or what I’m doing here.”

“Did you ask the mind-erasing entity too many pertinent questions?” Alexa waved a hand at Sasha.

“I don’t know,” Charles sighed. “Maybe?”

Alexa tapped her chin with her concept-obliterating raygun.

“You smell like someone I know,” she said finally.

“Who?” Charles asked.

“My first minion Martin,” Alexa replied. “Guess you’ll have to do as a minion in the absence of Martin.”

The blue-eyed boy squinted at her.

“Sooooo, did you guys come into the train together or….?” Alexa looked at Sasha and Charles.

“We came in together,” Sasha nodded. “I found poor, adorable Charles wandering aimlessly on one of the corpse worlds so I’m bringing him to Manchester.”

“What, like a pet?” Alexa asked.

“No,” Sasha shook her head. “As my {misfortunate carrier. I’m a very dangerous virus who seeks to infect all wizardkind and to devour all intelligent life across the omniverse}.”

“As your-what-now?” Alexa blinked, as Sasha’s reply vanished from her memory before she could even process it.

“As my… pupil,” Sasha said, her smile unnervingly wide. “I’ll be teaching him things at the Academy.”

“What kind of things?” Alexa asked.

“Oh I don’t know yet,” Sasha said. “I have no idea what curriculum there will be or whether the Academy will even survive me.”

“You guys have tickets?” Alexa asked, squinting at her new companions.

“We don’t,” Sasha shook her head.

Alexa's eyes narrowed suspiciously at Sasha and Charles. “If you don't have tickets, how did you get on this train? And why are you in my compartment?"

Sasha's starry form rippled slightly, smile widening even further than humanly possible. "We breached into the station from the corpse world we inhabited thanks to a hole in reality that some foolish wizard made. And we got on this train because the local authority figures became momentarily distracted by someone. Right, Charles?”

Charles nodded in agreement, looking quite harmless and overwhelmed.

“Ah. More consequences,” the Conductor-gun murmured.

“Shush you,” Alexa chided her gun with a hiss.

“How lovely,” She smiled back at the mind-erasing entity, mentally ready for an attack. “Wish I had a friendly instructor with me, but alas I am sadly forsaken by the idiots who invited/forced me to come to the city of System Wizards to get educated or whatever.”

The compartment door slid open once again, revealing a being wrapped in a long black and blue-tinted coat. Black, leather boots were visible from beneath the coat. Black, leather gloves pulled the door open wide, revealing a neck wrapped in what looked like black pants turned into a ragged scarf. A black, somewhat corroded plastic mask stared at Alexa with beady violet lenses from beneath a wide-rimmed officer’s cap that had a red stripe on it. The cap, mask and the goggles were covered in black duct tape that barely held them together. The mask appeared to bend the light in such a face that it featured a fake smile.

“Zere you are, young lady!” The gas-mask wearing individual declared. “Took me a while to find you, but I’m here to put you on the path to righteousne…”

The lenses of the mask struck Charles and Sasha and the German-French accented voice fell silent.

“Who are you?” Alexa demanded of the overdressed newcomer.

“Me? I am Zee Captain!” the gas mask turned back to the supervillain girl, the voice booming loudly enough to make the window frames rattle. “Anointed sovereign, emissary of humanity, prescient governor and lady of all things in Captania, the great and powerful System Wizard!"