[Winter - Moonton]

Dust was kicked, when it cleared Jennings sat atop a paused Poni. The horn of the train melted into a loud bark as it ripped through the wind to their location.

“Let’s gain some speed or you’ll never make a jump J.J.”

Jennings nodded and slapped down the reigns launching Poni into top pace. Alongside the tracks heading south their stride revealed experience. The outlaw whips back his long brown coat, now standing.

“Here it comes!”

Jennings removed one hand from the reins.

“Get as close as possible, trust me Poni!”

He removed his other grip. A balancing-act on display, he fixed his sights on any potential handles that remained within reach. He’d engulf his hands in a thin sheet of Ice-Agi, as he knew the landing would burn a layer of steam to soften his landing through slight extinguishment. Hopefully enough protection to find breathing room.

Leading the train, the cabin containing the crew and engine was destroyed and passed the pair on horseback. As the following couple carts began to pass in succession, Poni tightened their posture and gained back some distance.

The doors to the first passenger rail car swung back-and-forth before the balanced J.J., slamming a metal slide in place, then jolting back open to expose its fire within. Jennings excluded it as an option. The second cart lacked flames, but contained combat. Swinging limbs exchanged blows as train security guards fought to the death with Lou’s soldiers. One guard found himself grabbed from behind, held in a choke-hold. The mysterious forearms clenched to tighten their grip as the guard struggled. J.J. prepared for his jumps, ready to intervene.

Jennings looked forward, a turn approached. Uneven terrain had suddenly risen into view, he had to warn-

The embankment had caught them.

Poni attempted a last-second hop atop the level of dirt, to no avail. Jennings, lept from his partner’s crash and extended both palms to latch onto a rail. Within dilated seconds, J.J. pulled his frame toward a metallic railing.

His horse pal wasn’t as fortunate, crashing, falling behind Jennings’ view and worrying the outlaw. Jennings struggled through his calamitous surroundings, having been launched through the air in the direction of the locomotive. Once again, Poni had come through in the clutch- J.J. would have to trust that he’d protect himself until they reunited. J.J. fought for a moment to hesitate.

He felt a radiant heat, but not pain yet. He was able to breathe for now, he began to raise his head slowly from a prone position as smoke plumed in gray, shadowed fog from inside the closest exposed cart. It was a passenger cart that had debris whisked about by the passing wind like insects near a dewey lake. His movements ungraceful, he’d spun himself onto his ass after wiping dirty sweat across his relieved expression. As his hands went back to form a stance, an unknown leg emerged from obscurity and propelled by water at Jennings.

Jennings’ reflexes had shielded his jaw with a layer of shadow-Agi, warping a majority of the force elsewhere, yet still connecting upon his face, casting him face-face across the deck of the uncontrolled train. A trail of blood preceded the dazzled outlaw who took action slower than sought. His bodily fluids dripped from his pummeled face to the metal flooring below.

“I see how you’re still living.”

Walking through the heat with a constant stream of water emitted, falling from his shoulders, Lou continued to bark at the grounded Jennings.

“Get up…

You weren’t supposed to be here yet. Get up.”

Jennings, wounded, spit a mixture of blood and ice. The bile shattered across the deck.

"Yeah, guess you get what you want."

J.J.'s eyes hinted of hatred, defiance, and the presence of growing Agi. A thick white of brilliance outlined his emanating Agi. It clouded around the grounded outlaw, as his stance renewed, fragments of his ice littered into an aura. Scar-glowing, Jennings rose to his feet.

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The railcar shakes with a mighty thrust, both men lose their footing. Shaken, both men probed with their vision, attempting to find their next attack, stuck in a staring-match before an explosion rings from within the nearest cart.

The smog from the flame reached its peak, swelling in volume. J.J. and Lou are thrown about and shuffled into a wrestling match, tangled with strength. J.J. had his arms pinned by his side, while Lou attempted to drag Jennings’ bigger mass to the splintered floor, yet the outlaw didn’t give much ground. J.J. stretches his fingers, testing the distance his resistance could muster toward his closest holster.

Tightening his grip, Lou released. Jennings dropped for a brief instance as the weight of the tinier man created space between them with a few jagged backward hops, disappearing into the smog while Jennings fired two shots before curbing his trigger. He wouldn’t shoot blindly without first identifying Anette’s location.

While the hesitation caused Jennings to inhale into deep coughs, twin-water streams at high velocity escaped from within the cart, firing at him. They trailed J.J., only clipping his heel as he leaped from the engulfed cart onto the next behind.

“Coward!”

Jennings found cover between rows of red seating and rubble, hunched under a table. Lou proceeded to berate.

“This!? Fine.”

Full-sprint, Lou ran forward before he leapt from the flaming cart, landing safely, closing on J.J. Water leaked from his miniature, athletic frame, yet his balance hardly swayed. The ride continued its treacherous trend, bumpier by the statement.

“If you’re going to hide, then I’ll have to flush you out!”

Jennings still couldn’t find a need to respond, instead venturing to predict. The door to the entrance of the cabin flies open from a well-placed kick. Four men dressed in black vests, armed, aim at Lou amid the speeding vibrations.

“Shoot em’!”

J.J. barely covers his ears as the blasts ring in succession, he notices the floor beginning to flood. The unidentified men paid no mind to the obviously hidden Jennings yet, instead firing an onslaught of bullets against a prepared Lou.

Lou had shielded himself behind a dense layer of water entombing the doorway and freezing the bullets in motion mere inches away from his face. His hands before him, pressing the aquatic-Agi blockage into creation in excess, flooding the cart slowly.

The long-haired escapee continued producing torrents of water within the passenger cart as the train shook once more, staggering a few of the standing occupants.

“He’s flooding us out.”

The backdoor of which the armed group initially entered had swung open with the latest tremor. With a gargled yelp, two of the men are swept out and eaten by the train's wheels. A red mist passed.

The remaining men took cover, still. Jennings created a small ice-Agi dam to block his own cubicle from flooding. The frenzied men refused to relinquish control of the room.

“We’re the Department of Misconduct, trust me boy, you don’t wanna sling us down.”

“It’d just be trouble!” another added, from behind his captain.

Whispers could be heard among the D.o.M. By now, the water in the cart had peaked near hip-level before beginning to rescind from J.J.’s estimation. Jennings’ lackluster cover was beginning to garner attention. Squirming in place, he took notice of the D.o.M.’s shifting attention. One of the officers pointed a finger in his direction, for a brief period of time J.J. was so immersed in the conflict, he’d forgotten he was the most wanted criminal.

As the look of recognition baked across the face of the troubled, uniformed men, Lou shouted and increased the reductive water pressure, creating a suction effect.

“Come here! I’ll show you my appreciation.”

Mistakenly, they hesitated and gave Lou an opportunity to display his speed. At the next tremble of the train from its course, Lou lunged. A trail of liquid followed his advanced steps. He vacuumed the torrent, swaying the flooded car and its occupants toward his Agi-swarmed fist.

A vicious crack was heard as Lou's balled force connected with the first officer. They succumbed to the water, dropping below the current- acting as a further fodder to propel the aggressive Agist.

Jennings sought an escape, he was about to be cornered in his hiding, knowing how disadvantages that'd become. Lou streaks by in continuation.

The anxiety within the cart increased to a lull, a standstill, breathing was short-winded from all parties. The mixture of fear and the rescinded tide culminated to Lou standing over the washed D.o.M. agents as they searched for their weapons fruitlessly amidst the gushing water. Peering up, the men gave in to their fate as Lou revealed a previously obscured blade.

"Forgive us."

In a hectic spasm of death, Lou careened the blade into the jugular of the individual before him, leaping to the remaining two behind, a left-right slash, brimmed by the glistening of his hydro-antics whipped blood in every direction.

The fallen enemies stagger slowly, being swept out of the cart and aside the train to their demise.

Lacking movement, absorbing the moment, Lou shivered. His swift actions only contrasted by his lethargic presence, almost disassociated.

Jennings stood, shrouded by a cloud of intense ice-Agi crystals..

"Lou, we need to talk.”

The most wanted criminal jumped upward, dripping sweat, he froze the water emptying around Lou’s feet, encasing them as anchored limbs. The wind continued to pelt them both. Jennings stepped toward the sullen man.