The Shark's Train Ride

Cetus watched the stopped train in Oshibana from atop the train station. This was the train. Cetus had been observing the train station for half a day waiting for it to come in. The train was transporting precious gems into the capital. His superiors thought it would make a perfect way to enact a terrorist attack. The assassin had taken the job. They didn't care how he got on board but they wanted the gems dumped, replaced by explosives and all witnesses killed. Seeing the train now, Cetus was a little irritated. They'd forgotten to mention it was a privately owned train. The gold trim upon the side, the fancy design of the cars spoke of wealth. Someone that probably had enough wealth to hire guards, if not mages. That made Cetus' job much harder.

The shark man twirled a knife he'd taken off a gang banger before setting up a watch for the train. The haul he'd gotten from the gang members in this city was rather disappointing. More so now that he was going up against trained guards for sure. He'd plan for mages as well to cover all his bases. It'd be nice to have more than three knives two magic handguns and a pack full of duel flame lacrima explosives. Not that Cetus could use the explosives in his attack.

A long whistle pierced the steady noise of Oshibana. Cetus raised an eyebrow. That had been a quick stop. Too quick almost. Had they merely been loading people or fuel? No matter. He'd have to improvise as things went along. The train was pulling out of the station and would pull under him in less than a minute. That was his only window to board the train unless he wanted to chase the thing down. Cetus prepared for the jump as the train slowly chugged toward him. For later reference, the shark began to count the cars on the train. Five passenger cars, a dining car,  three barrack cars, one coal car, and tenish freight cars. 'ish' because he had to jump before he had fully counted the cars.

Cetus hit the top of the rail car with a solid thump. Anyone in that car would have definitely heard that. The wind began picking up as the train picked up speed. Cetus hooked the dentils on his feet into the top of the train. What a sight he must have been. A man clad all in black with a heavy pack, missing the shoes as well as the sleeves of his shirt, surfing at top a train. His mask might be a good thing to remember too. Cetus rubbed his fingers over it. He wore the mask so often, the shark man couldn't remember what his face looked like.

"Hey, you!" A guard was poking his head over the lip of the rail car. "Get down from there! This isn't a thrill ride!" Cetus raised an eyebrow behind his mask. These guards were rather relaxed. Or they had a jail car they were going to take him too. The shark man made his way over to the guard. The man was rather large. He puffed as he aimed a magic rifle at Cetus. "No funny business now." A slow grin formed across Cetus' face. This might be a relatively easy job.

He leaned in close, letting the rifle press against his chest. His mask nearly touched the man's nose. "You shouldn't have let me get so close then." The assassin grabbed the rifle and planted his foot in the man's face. Just for an added touch, he had his dentils cut into soft flesh. As the man fell away from the train screaming, half of his face was torn off. Cetus slipped into the train quickly. A screaming man falling from the train usually brought attention. The assassin wanted to be in position if any additional guards came running.

The inside of the car was packed with boxes. Some of them were probably the precious gem cargo but Cetus doubted all of them were. Regardless, he didn't have time to check. The shark man slipped between a row of boxes and slipped a knife out. The pounding of feet announced the arrival of at least two guards. Cetus waited patiently as they checked the car. One of them stopped in front of Cetus' hiding spot.

"All clear." The man said into an iLac. Those were the last words he ever spoke. Cetus plunged his knife into the guard's spine. The body dropped to the floor heavily. There was something strange about these guards. Dismissing the thought, Cetus cleared the rest of the car. Apparently the second guard had already left. Cetus knelt down to retrieve his knife. Sticky red viscous fluid stuck to the knife as he withdrew it. Not blood. No wonder he hadn't even felt the slightest touch of his blood lust. These things were made by magic.

The rest of the guards had to know about him by now. Two of these clones had been killed. Unless they were controlled by a single entity, their drivers had probably raised the alarm. Cetus slipped the pack off his back and placed it between the boxes. He needed as little encumbering him on the rest of this mission as possible. Cetus had decided to do away with sneaking about to plant his explosives. Plan A was no longer going to work.

Frisking the guard clone was the next step. It only carried a single handgun. Cetus strapped it under his arm with a frown. When did guards start going about lightly armed? Especially when they were guarding precious cargo for a wealthy client? Maybe it had something to do with the strange clones. There weren't enough weapons for a full frontal assault. Cetus had strict instructions not to destroy the train as well which didn't favor a frontal assault.

After brief deliberation, the shark man headed toward the back of the train. He needed to clear every car before coming back for the explosives. Then there would be explosives set in every rail car and every carton of precious gems. Cetus would hit the capital with a massive attack no one would see coming.

The guards were already on there way. One of the guards in the car Cetus entered was a clone. When Cetus put a bolt between his eyes, the guard's head exploded in a white clay-like substance. The other guard was dressed in armor and wielding a sword. Cetus squeezed off a couple of shots as that guard looked at his partner. The rifle barely dented the metal. Magical armor then. The guard smiled grimly. Magic gathered around his hand as he summoned a knife. The knife had a black blade with a purple liquid dripping off the end. Poison most likely. Cetus didn't what that knife touching his skin.

The guard approached carefully. Cetus grimaced behind his mask. This one was actually trained. It was just his luck to run into the one trained guard in the first rail car he checked. The blue head dropped the rifle to pull out a knife. "Let's dance" Cetus taunted. The guard smiled slowly. His sword twisted, whipping toward Cetus like a snake. So that was the game. Force him to dodge right into a strike from the knife. Instead Cetus stepped into the strike, turning his body to make sure it avoided anything vital. The guard had enough time to look shocked. Then Cetus jammed his knife into the man's eye. For good measure, when the poison dagger was dropped, Cetus jammed the black blade into the guard's other eye. The body hit the floor twitching.

Before Cetus could frisk the armored guard, the armor and weapons vanished. All that was left was Cetus' knife. Cetus grit his teeth. "Stupid requip safety mechanism." He grabbed his knife and rifle before heading on to the next rail car. The car was suspiciously empty. Not just empty of guards. That would have been fine. There wasn't a scrap of cargo in the car whatsoever. Cetus hovered at the doorway. He didn't like it. An empty rail car, several incompetent guards despite a fairly skilled mage and no alarm. It didn't match up. It was a pity he'd been ordered not to destroy the train. There would be nothing better than tossing an explosive into this car and detaching it from the train. Let whatever it was be blown to hell.

The shark man took one last look at the strange rail car before heading back through the one he'd already cleared. He was going to clear every car now. Nothing would be left living on the train once he was done. Better safe then sorry. Though that did mean he needed to hurry. The train had a while til the capital but clearing the whole thing might take a fair amount of time. Cetus gripped his rifle. Go time.

The door to the next rail car crumpled under Cetus' boot. He didn't pause, gunning down every person he laid eyes on. The shark took a shot to the shoulder but that was the only damage sustained. Cetus cautiously stepped into the rail car. Making sure to clear it quickly, Cetus used the shirt and belt of one of his victims to bind his wound. Better to not do that again. His blood lust was rising. Losing control of himself so close to the beginning would be disastrous. Not to mention taking too many wounds before reaching the mage wouldn't help him either. Cetus debated using the power of the White Court. He preferred using his skills over magic. However this was a big job with a time limit. The Court's power might allow him to complete the mission with ample time to clear the blast radius.

In the end, Cetus decided to wait. Using up his magical power wouldn't be any better than using an improper approach. Not to mention some of his magical abilities would damage the train and cause him to fail the mission. That wasn't acceptable in the slightest. Cetus bound his shoulder in preparation of assaulting the next car. Taking more hits wouldn't help him complete the mission either. So many obstacles to success but he would succeed.

Cetus set the rifle aside and pulled out a handgun knife set. These would serve him better in close combat. The shark man took a breath. Go time. Rather than going through the door, Cetus climbed out onto the roof. They expected him to move one car at a time. If he started from the front and worked his way back, things should be easier. Cetus sprinted across the cars, glad that he wasn't wearing shoes. Not only did the dentils on his feet keep him from falling off, the lack of shoes meant he made less noise as he ran.

The first barracks car sat just behind the coal car. Excellent. He could take out the soldiers while they were unprepared. There were five of them when he dropped in through the emergency exit. They were playing some card game. A distraction he wouldn't have fallen to. It wouldn't be a difficult fight. Cetus shot the furthest one first. That one had the best chance of reaching his weapon. A quick step and he was dragging his bare skin across the throats of the closest two. His dentils dug out long furrows. Their blood sprayed across the table in a beautiful display. The last two were reaching for weapons. Cetus merely needed to stab one and double tap the second. Less then thirty seconds and all five were dead. The only downside was the noise he'd made.

Cetus cleaned off the knife and loaded himself down with a few weapons. There were a few passengers and his instructions were specific: No witnesses. Better to take them out without prejudice. The shark man moved into the first passenger car, twin automatic magic rifles in his hands. A few people screamed as they caught sight of him. "Good Evening, ladies and gentleman! Actually it'd be good morning wouldn't it?" Cetus cackled, drawing upon his recollection of Jester and Baird to make it convincing. The muffling of the laughter do to his mask might have helped a little bit. He didn't know. "Please, all of you step into the aisle and no one will get hurt!" The shark man waited for them to move. He didn't want to waste ammo. When a few didn't move, Cetus shot one of them. The thumping of the body made a few people scream but they all moved into the aisle. "I lied" Cetus said without inflection as he pulled the triggers. The passengers toppled quickly, cut down without a chance to escape. Cetus repeated the process with varying success.

As he approached the last passenger car, the shark man discarded his rifles. They were out of power and Cetus hadn't grabbed any replacement lacrima. Not that it mattered. This was the car most likely to have other guards in it. Then he'd have to hit the remaining barrack cars quickly. Cetus checked his watch. He was making good time if he could clear the next three cars quickly enough. Twin pistols were unholstered as he made the door. Grabbing shoes might have been a good idea. the shark swam beneath his skin, awakened by the massive pools of blood. Cetus was barely keeping it in check. If he took an injury or lingered to long in one of these cars, the blood rage would take him. It was time to use some magic.

Cetus let the power of the White Tiger Prince to wash over him. He'd go full force from the start. Hopefully the mage on board would be in one of the next three cars. Fur dappled across his body. His ears became pointed and moved toward the top of his head. His eyes turned an icy blue, irises and whites all. His pupils became slits. Cetus' jaw shifted to accommodate his new fangs and his knees snapped backwards. He shook off the tingles of the transformation. His mask was now in the way. Pulling it off, Cetus hooked the mask into his belt.

The shark tiger humanoid shouldered his way into the next passenger car. Before anyone could react to his presence, Cetus roared. Blue magical energy reverberated across the entirety of the inside of the car. Most of the occupants dropped immediately, struck dead by the magical power of the White Prince. Those left standing were paralyzed. Cetus took his time walking through the car. When he passed anyone still standing, his pistols barked. The assassin made sure to put one between the eyes. He wanted to be sure they weren't getting back up.

Three guards burst into the car before Cetus was finished. Irritation flickered through the assassin. This would've been a neat job if they hadn't burst in. The pistols left his grasp. No need for them at the moment. Cetus' body blurred briefly. He closed the distance between himself and the guards in an instant. His jaws slammed into the neck of the center most guard while his claws slashed open the other two. The assassin took the pistol from his struggling victim. If he couldn't do it the way he wanted, he'd make it quick. Cetus turned and put a bullet in anyone still standing. The guard in his jaws slackened, filling the shark man's mouth with viscous liquid. Clones then. No wonder they'd jumped in without hesitation. Courage was an illusion told to the weak. Cetus spit, spinning to face the door. Time to find that thrice damned mage.

The barracks car held four guards. Cetus cut them all down with a sweep of his claws. Magic shimmered in the air before all of them. Then massive cuts appeared on their chests. They crumpled to the floor without a fight. The assassin shot each in the head as he passed. Just to be sure. The second barracks car was what he was looking for. Seven guards stood around a mage who sat within a magic circle. None of the guards were aware by the looks of it and the mage was facing the door. The mage was clad in a large blue robe, the hood of the robe thrown over his or her head. Cetus let a rare smile cross his lips. This would be an easy kill or a hard challenge. He'd enjoy it either way.

"It took you long enough to get here, thief. You didn't come the way I expected but I knew you'd come." The mage spoke. A definitively feminine voice. Not that it would keep Cetus from killing her. "Congratulations on getting this far but you go no further. The master wills that we deliver his gems." Cetus laughed then. It was a cold emotionless sound. She had no idea what had happened in the passenger cars or she didn't care about any of those people. Amusing in either case for the assassin. Six forms began to waver into existence in  between the circle and Cetus. One of the guards came awake. He groggily went for his weapon.

The assassin was a little disappointed. This would be an easy kill. Cetus drew upon the White Prince's power. A blue tiger wavered into existence around him. Then the assassin teleported. He appeared in front of the female mage. She had but a moment to look up at Cetus with scared eyes. The light bounced off his claws before they cleaved the mage in half. His pistol came up to finish off the waking guard. Unfortunately, it looked like he'd have to finish off the other six as well. The magic hadn't tied the mage's life to those she cloned. Cetus used the rest of the pistol's lacrima charge killing the remaining guards. A pity it had been so easy.

The rest of the train was empty other than puddles of white semisolid liquid. Cetus supposed that the mage had been the majority of the defenses of the train. Why she hadn't been better guarded was a giant question for the shark man. He retrieved the explosives. Now to find the crates with the precious gems. Switching the gems for the explosives was the easy part. Then Cetus made sure to seed the rest of the train with explosives as well. Whether the explosives all went off at once when the train reached the station or if they went off at separate times, Cetus left up to chance. There would be an explosive surprise either way.

Cetus made his exit off the train with the precious gems he'd been sent to retrieve. All in all it hadn't been a bad mission. He might not have done exactly what his employer wanted but he'd completed the essence of it. The shark man cleaned the blood off his face before fitting his mask back. The grinning shark looked back briefly at the rapidly disappearing train. There would be one pissed off business man in an hour or so. Perhaps Cetus could offer his services. It'd be easy to pin the blame for this on someone else. The shark man set off toward HQ whistling merrily.

WC: 3,218