Blair hadn’t taken the train in a while. She had a sweet motorbike for a reason after all, but today she wore her leather riding gear without a bike to ride on, as she was waiting at one of the main train stations that would offer services to Neonight North Reactor. There was only one line that went that direction at that time of night, seeing as he was most likely working the night shift again. There was the high possibility that he wasn’t working today, however, or that he had been moved to a different shift. But the longer Blair waited to make her move, the greater risk there’d be that Robert would tell people about who Thomas really is. So, she waited outside of the train platform, watching for anybody who looked like Engels. Soon, the metallic train station grew dark as the purple lights dimmed, and she saw a man with short red hair and a dad-bod step into one of the small empty cars. Blair started towards the same car but stopped when she saw someone else step into the car with him. A young woman about Blair’s height with turquoise hair that fell down to her shoulders. She was wearing a dark raincoat that hid some of her pale skin.

Blair got into the car right behind them, deciding she didn’t want to make any sudden movements against Robert if somebody else was in the car. But another thought occupied her mind: she had never seen somebody get into a car with another person in it if any others were empty. And all of the others were empty at the moment. It wasn’t a popular time to ride the train. Were they related? Husband and wife maybe? They were walking way too far apart, though, Blair thought. Could she want the same thing from Engels that I want? Does Thomas have allies? And did she see me get into the car behind her? Blair wasn’t sure. Suddenly, she heard the sound of gagging coming from the train car in front of her. Then a splatter of blood. Blair leaned her ear against the wall of her train car. She heard a cracking sound. An expression of shock and horror came over her face as she heard a few more pained groans, accompanied by bloody squelching, and then silence as something fell to the floor of the car with a thud. Holy shit. Thomas was sent to kill Engels and didn’t, but it looks like this bitch just finished the job.

She heard the woman speak from the other car. “It’s done. Engels is dead. He dropped like a stone.” Her voice was calm and even as she spoke. She had heard of killers seeming bored when they talked about their murders, but this woman didn’t even have that. She was like a robot. “He’s at Neonight Central Prison, right? Yup, I’m heading over there right now. Hold on, I think somebody’s in the car behind me. I’ll deal with her first, then that failure, Thomas.”

* * *

“All my boss said was ‘I’ll handle it,’ which might mean she’s going to break us out,” Thomas whispered. Piotr had knocked out the nearby guards and let Thomas out quietly with his Civ. “I wouldn’t count on it though.”

“Breaking out will be a challenge, Thomas. I couldn’t have done it alone, but there’s a possibility that with the two of us, we can make it happen. Do you want to try it now? Everybody’s asleep.”

The two were talking in Piotr’s solitary cell with the door shut. It made it so that people probably wouldn’t hear them, but they needed to sneak through the cafeteria to get there.

“I don’t know, Piotr. They have my legal name. They could come after me. I think we’d be better off waiting for whatever Helena, my boss, has planned.” Suddenly, the two of them turned their heads towards the door and ducked down. They heard the guards talking as a handful of them walked past their certainly-not-solitary-or-confined-cell. “Do you think they’re going to say something relevant to our objective or no? Because right now, it sounds like they’re just talking about bagels,” Thomas whispered.

“Maybe follow them.”

Thomas sent a phantom ear out of the cell to trail closely behind the guards. His brow furrowed as he listened in on their conversation. “Piotr, do they tell you the names of new maximum security prisoners that arrive here?”

“No. Why?”

Thomas held up a hand as he continued to listen, and then his once squinted eyes widened in shock. “Holy fuck.” He turned to Piotr. “He’s here.”

* * *

Blair stepped out of her train car as she arrived at the next stop, walking as fast as she could away from the train. But she didn’t get far until she bumped into the green-haired woman, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

“Oh my goodness. Are you all right?” the woman said in a happy, falsetto tone. She sounded extremely apologetic as she stood up, lifting up Blair by the arm with her. Blair would have probably believed it if she hadn’t heard her in the train car in front of her violently murdering a father of two. “Are you all right? I hope I didn’t hit you too hard. That was totally my fault.”

Blair was almost too shocked to respond. She was almost definitely a Civ user, and seemingly a powerful one at that with an ability Blair didn’t know or comprehend.

“Oh, yeah. I’m sorry. I was just listening to music,” she said, making some hand gestures as though she was pausing something on the screen of her Unit. “I always listen to music when I ride the train. It makes it impossible to hear anything. That’s probably why I bumped into you. Sorry about that.” The train had pulled away, and the platform was now empty. It was uncomfortably dark with only the dim purple lights overhanging the ceiling. Blair debated making a move.

“What music were you listening to?” the woman asked. Her tone had gone from “falsetto” to just false. Her face didn’t move as much either.

“Oh, I just have a playlist on here. Random stuff, you know?” That wasn’t a good answer. She was trying to catch Blair in a lie, and effectively saying she didn’t know what music she was listening to four seconds ago wasn’t convincing. She could feel her heart beating faster and faster. Something told her this woman felt it too.

“Any specifics? I’m always looking for new recommendations.” The woman knew Blair had heard her kill Engels. She was just looking for real proof that would justify killing her. Either that would come from catching her in a lie or making her break down. Which meant she cranked up the ice in her tone. No emotion.

“I was just listening to a song called “Spin, Spin, Spin!” by the band Sex in Stone. They’re pretty good. A lot of rock music from them . . . if you get the pun!” Blair laughed nervously at the end. She was doing fine until then. “Sorry, I’d love to stay and chat, but I need to get going,” Blair said, turning away as fast as she could and starting up the stairs to the rest of Neonight.

“Robert Engels.” the woman shouted. Blair turned around, a shocked expression on her face, while the woman remained as cool and composed as ever. She turned to meet Blair’s gaze with a blank expression on her face. “I fucking knew it.”

“SUPERHOT!” Blair shouted, refusing to be a sitting duck. She leapt through the air on jets of steam, ten feet above that murderer, preparing to slam down on her and melt her into a puddle with her Civ. But she wasn’t moving away.

“Breaking Point.”

Blair felt a dozen holes tear through her body as she fell through the air, blood flying out of her body as her joints were ripped to shreds and she fell limp onto the floor of the platform.