A few minutes later the first of the rush hour traffic arrived at one of the far platforms, the Mag-Lev slowly disgorged its contents. Hundreds of people now made there way through the station to various doors and elevators, some moved to other platforms to await a connecting Mag-Lev to continue their commute. A steady flow of arrivals soon had most of the platforms occupied and the station grew very crowded.

The swirling, chaotic mass of Meta citizens was exactly what Daniel was hoping for. "Now's our chance people." Daniel stood. "We will be harder to spot, but it will also be harder for us to see what's going on, stay alert. We don't look like commuters, so we are going to stick out and our appearance will likely cause some commotion, just keep moving. Our platform is 81A, it's almost dead center."

"Don't say 'dead'" Trey joked.

Daniel continued, "It's a trans-core Mag-Lev, it will take you out of here. Once we get you aboard, we'll create a diversion, then we'll board another Mag-Lev and lead the security forces away from you. You all follow?" Everyone signaled in the affirmative. "Okay, good. If we run into Core SecFor, do exactly what I say."

"Once we are out of here, where do we get off?" Miller asked.

"It would be best if you could make it to the Mag Exchange and transfer to a Trans-Continental Lev, but Core egress requires a permit so don't even bother trying to get on as a normal passenger. You might have to improvise, stowaway in cargo or something. I apologize, but I did not have time to put this all together. If you know any people who smuggle goods or people in and out of the Core, now would be the time to reach out to them."

"I might be able to help there." Trey said. "I know some guys, they move stuff in and out. They might be able to help, but they won't do it for free."

"That might be your best bet." Daniel continued. "Try to chose a safe destination, somewhere you can hide. They will definitely be able to track you while you are in Meta, so you need to get out fast. It's best I don't know where that might be. Let's move, I'll take Abi." Without another word Daniel scooped up Abi and exited into the sea of commuters.

Initially, things went better than Sean expected, considering their appearance, they made good progress without drawing too much attention to themselves. Perhaps after a long day at work, people just were too tired to notice, or just too apathetic to really give a damn. As far as he could tell, barely anyone gave them a second glance.

They made it all the way to the seventies platforms before their luck ran out. A MiST detail working transit security exited a Mag-Lev just as they were setting Abi down on a bench so they could all have a break and plan the last leg of their getaway. The timing could not have been worse.

For a moment, time seemed frozen, the security detail just stood there. It appeared they knew they were outmatched by Nine who stood statue-like as oblivious commuters pushed past. The detail seemed reluctant to make a move. The impasse broke as one went for his gun, as the other made a desperate attempt to call in backup. Nine however, was the faster of the three and sent two bullets into the chest of each opponent. The fight was on.

The eruption of gunfire spurred a stampede of commuters who ran in every direction, some diving for cover, others making desperate attempts to escape, bolting for the nearest exit. In seconds, Sean and the group were in a running gun fight as more security personnel poured into the station. The MiST forces fired with reckless abandon, scarcely bothering to identify clear targets, bystanders began taking casualties as the intensity of the fight ramped up.

"Just one row over and 100 meters back!" Daniel yelled over the din.

In the midst of the fighting Miller had manage to pick up a handgun from a fallen MiST agent and was now trading fire with the Core's forces as well. Trey was helping Sean hobble along and Daniel was carrying Abi while engaging the incoming soldiers with his free hand.

They continued down the platform, which was bordered now on both sides by large Trans-Core Mag-Levs, forming an ad hoc hallway while also blocking their view. Fifty meters from the end, a lumbering behemoth, the Guardian from the Cortex hallway, stepped into view from around the rear of a Lev. The entire group came to a halt, save Nine who instead sprinted at full tilt, closing the distance before the Guardian could raise the massive Gatsu.

Nine fired a burst from his SMG at point blank, emptying his magazine into the Guardian, to no effect. The armored Guardian weathered the assault almost dismissing the single attacker. Nine drew his shock baton and in a single fluid movement struck the Gatsu, fully discharging the baton, and deflecting the weapon. The electro-static discharge from the baton fried the targeting circuit and the jolt caused the weapon to discharge. The projectile sliced effortlessly through 3 Mag-Levs before plowing 5 meters into a concrete platform.

Nine circled his adversary, taking the Guardian's attention off the group, which were still subject to an increasing amount of fire from the Core Security Forces.

Daniel shepherded the group down the platform, they had to make it to the next row over. A MiST squad was now on the same row 200 meters to their rear, in addition to the dozens that had already taken up positions on upper levels of the Atrium overlooking the platforms.

They all heard it, the noise Trey had first identified was now plainly audible, even with the ongoing battle. "You can't tell me you don't here that." Trey yelled trying to be overheard about the noise of the firefight.

"Oh, I hear it," Sean yelled back, "and I don't like it."

With the Guardian still preoccupied by Nine, the group made it to the end of the seventies platform and stopped only briefly to exchange fire with their pursuers before mounting the bridge over to the eighties platform.

Miller turned back not wanting to abandon Nine. He watched as two of Meta's deadliest faced-off. The bastardized, biomechanical behemoth that was the Guardian, against the dextrous Paladin. Nine had to stay close enough to render the Gatsu useless, but yet remain out of reach. He circled and dodged buying time while the shock baton charged.

Paladins were never taught how to kill or disable a Guardian, where a Guardian applied the same simple strategy against every adversary. Target and fire. Nine feigned a step to the left, the Guardian took the bait. Miller watched as Nine out maneuvered the Guardian, jumped up on his back and drove the baton into the base of it's skull in hopes the ESD would render the thing inert.

While the ploy did untold damage to the Guardian systems, it was by no means disabled and it caught Nine by the right leg and ripped him free and immediately smashed him into the back of the parked Mag-Lev. Nine hung dazed and upside down as the Guardian brought the Gatsu up to his chest, a targeting system would not be required to make this shot.

Miller ran to Nine's aid, firing wildly as he went. A couple rounds managed to make contact with the Guardian, and it turned to assess the threat. Miller's actions bought Nine enough time to regain his wits and he pulled a small explosive charge from the pack before hurling the pack at Miller.

"Run!!" He screamed as he grabbed the Gatsu and affixed the charge to it. He then clung to the weapon with all his might. Seeing what Nine had done, Miller snagged Nine's pack and dove off the platform, landing near the Lev tracks. The charge detonated with a loud crack killing Nine instantly and sending the Guardian in one direction and pieces of the Gatsu flying in all others. Miller clamored back up onto the platform and ran for the bridge.

On platform eighty-one, the group gathered, taking cover near a large support pillar. Miller came running up panting.

"Nine's gone!" he exclaimed.

"We know." Sean said, motioning to Daniel who had his fists pressed to his temples. "Mag is late." Peering down the tracks, Sean could make out a set of three headlights, the Lev seemed to be approaching a bit fast. "Won't be long now though."

"Hey, that noise is gone." Trey reported. A second later all the lighting seemed to dim and the ground beneath their feet shuddered, like the very Earth had a chill run up it's spine. The next moment came the pulse as Wagner released all the reactor energy into the power grid at once just before the reactors went super-critical and detonated. The pulse destroyed any electronic or electric systems that were not buffered against such a load.

Lighting exploded, electrical systems burned out and the whole Centreon rocked. Innumberable systems were instantly fried by the over-voltage. It only took a millisecond to do the damage, and in that millisecond Wagner fought his last battle with Niles, stealing from him the great knowledge of the Second Age. Then it was over and Wagner was gone.

The Mag-Levs, no longer held up by the strong magnetic fields came down hard on the tracks, almost in unison, with an enormous ground shaking thud. The inbound train, suffering already from guidance issues due to Nic's computer worm was also coming in far too fast. As it lost power it slammed down hard and slid toward the platform, plowing a path of destruction as it went.

"MOVE!" Sean yelled as the cars began to jack-knife. Without thinking he jumped down next to the settled Mag-Lev along the seventies platform, he felt a crack and his ankle gave immediately as a spasm of pain shot through him. He tumbled to the ground as the others dove for cover around him.

The loss of lighting made it significantly darker and the underground explosion had temporarily taken the attention off them, the gunfire had ceased.

"Now what?" Miller yelled bordering on hysteria. "That was our Lev!"

Daniel was taking stock, Nine was gone, the Mag-Lev destroyed, they would soon be all but pinned down by the SecFor units and then he noticed Sean. Dammit, he thought. He had to get Abi to safety.

"Trey, get Abi. Miller, help me with Sean!" He ordered, getting his thoughts organized. He and Miller heaved Sean up to his feet, even the slight pressure on his foot made Sean feel nauseous. On the count of three they lifted Sean onto the platform before jumping up themselves. Trey already had Abi up.

"This is what we're going to do." Daniel began, making eye contact with each one in the group, his even tone and calm demeanor assuaging their anxiety a bit. "On the other side of the nineties platform is the service tracks, an old rail system that parallels much of the Mag-Lev circuit. It's used for maintenance, but it's not like the Mag-Levs, the railrunners travel under their own power - if there is one over there and we can get you aboard, you can still get out of here."

"Let's do it." Sean agreed gritting his teeth, his pain evident in his voice.

They picked their way carefully through the wreckage, passengers began to stir within the Mag-Lev cars, some managed to open emergency exits and the injured and shocked slowly emerged from the upset cars stumbling about dazed and disoriented.

As they climbed over one car, they were spotted again by the Core agents and the gunfire began again in earnest. It was nearly impossible to pick up the pace with Trey carrying Abi and Sean being all but carried by the other two. The poor lighting and distance was the only reasonable explanation why none of them had been hit.

They slipped down off platform 94, which at the time was empty, and they saw the rails Daniel mentioned. On the rails not 50 meters away sat a derelict railrunner. To Sean, it had more of the appearance of a train from the last century than something that would be in use today. It lacked the sleek lines of the Mag-Levs and ran atop two sets of four large steel wheels at the front and back. There was a small cherry-picker apparatus on top and a large sliding door on the side.

Daniel slid the door aside revealing a small compartment made smaller by the amount of junk it housed. There was no telling how long it had sat there, but it looked like it was only used for storage.

Daniel immediately began pulling items out and tossing them on the ground until he had cleared some room. "This will have to do, get inside."

"Traveling in style are we?" Trey quipped. A second later he was knocked forward as a bullet ripped through his shoulder, he fell to the ground in a heap atop Abi.

"Shit!" Miller blurted spinning to see a team of men dropping down to the tracks from the platform not too far from where they did. They were dressed similarly to Daniel, except each sported a white beret.

"Kill team." Daniel shouted before firing a burst from his SMG forcing the attackers to dive for cover. "Everyone, in the runner now!"

Sean clamored up himself, adrenaline dulling the pain that shot up from his ankle. Daniel practically threw Trey in then helped Miller with Abi, before jumping in himself.

"Listen up, Miller you need to get this thing rolling - NOW. Sean, you have to dress Trey's wound. There should be some trauma supplies in Nine's pack. Once this thing is moving, don't stop, run this thing as far as you can and then disappear into the Interim, don't come back here. Ever." He leaned out the door and exchanged fire with the kill team. Bullet's ricocheted noisily off the metal shell of the runner. "If you can get word to that guy Nic, tell him he needs to disappear too."

Miller scanned all the controls, the machine was archaic by his standards, by any standard, it had to be 50 years old, but in moments he had the fuel cell powering up and the basic systems coming online. He disabled all the exterior lights and engaged the traction motors, the runner slowly began to edge forward.

He breathed a sign of relief, when he saw the thing initially he was nearly certain it was parked because it was non-functional. Despite it's appearance, it still ran, the next thing on Miller's mind was just how far could this thing go? For all he knew, it might not even make it out of the Centreon.

Despite his doubts, the runner creaked and groaned and slowly gained momentum. Bullets continued to bounce off it's metal hide, the Paladin kill team was on the move and still gaining on the runner. Daniel was making them pay for their persistence, having killed one. But they were covered in body armor and even if Daniel's aim was true, the desired result was lacking.

"Miller, I need that pistol," Daniel said. "I'm out." He slung the SMG as Miller handed over his weapon. "Take care." He turned to Sean, "Remember what I told you, keep moving, keep them safe and get far away." He pulled something from his pack and then dropped the pack on the floor of the runner. He bent down and kissed Abi on the forehead, "Love you little sis," and jumped from the runner as they passed the railrunner fuel depot, which consisted of a large tank with a large blue "H2" emblazoned on it. "Max it out Miller!" He yelled after the train before he pelted toward the tank.

"What the hell is he doing?!" Miller decried. "We need him!"

Sean looked back at Miller, "He said he could not leave any witnesses to our escape. He's doing what he believes he has to do."

Miller looked back at Daniel crouched behind the tank, he could also see the white berets spreading out to flank him. Daniel was fiddling with something, it looked like he was placing something on the tank.

"Oh no! No No No... shit!" Miller exclaimed running for the runner controls and opening the throttle up all the way. "He's gonna blow the tank!"

"Close the door!" Sean yelled back. Miller hit the button and the door slid shut and locked tight, save the lights on the dashboard, the interior went dark. They could feel the runner picking up speed, the rhythmic rocking giving way to a rapid click-clunk. The had no way to judge where they were, the runner had external sensors and monitors inside that allowed you to view outside, but they were not working.

They did not need to see when the tank detonated though, the concussion wave hit the runner with a hard thump followed by the calamitous sound. Sean couldn't even imagine what it looked like. He looked at Abi and felt a great pang of loss for her, for them all. Holding back tears he placed Daniel's pack behind her head and kissed her hand. "You're safe now." He whispered.

Miller sat on the floor near the runner dashboard, hugging his legs and staring at his feet. He wondered if they had truly escaped, had all the sacrifices been worth it, or would the runner suddenly slow to a stop, deactivated by some Meta engineer back in the Centreon, and become their trap. What about the Guardian's high on their towers, one shot and the runner would be destroyed, the occupants dead and Dr. Niles Galvin's problems neatly resolved.

Sean grabbed Nine's pack and found trauma dressings which contained synthetic coagulants and antiseptics, he bound Trey's wounds as best he could in the limited light. He spotted a canvas tarp among the other junk still left in the runner's cabin.

"Miller, can you bring that tarp over, I think it's going to get cold in here."

Miller got up and helped, then he checked the dashboard and turned on the radiant heater which barely worked, but was better than nothing.

"Any idea how far this thing will go?" Sean asked.

Miller looked over all the gauges, dials and readouts, "I really couldn't tell you. Let's just hope it's far away from here. I think I'll cut the speed a bit, likely have longer range at part throttle. Might draw less attention too."

"Good idea." Sean said "When you're done, come get under the tarp, we gotta keep these other two warm."

The diminutive runner rolled on, unnoticed and unhindered, due in equal parts to Wagner's explosion and Nic's destructive worm. They rolled out of the Core proper, through the Old Cities and beyond the walls and into the inky blackness of the night. Quietly, secretly it carried the group out of danger and into the unknown. The hum of the motors and the rocking of it's chassis lulled the free but imperiled survivors to sleep.

And they slept.

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