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Umbri hobbled after the others, using the cargo to pull herself forward (her crutches had spun somewhere over the horizon during take-off) while Stake covered her retreat. Shivs had climbed onto Shank’s shoulders under the hole entrance, her fingers grasping the edge and ready to pull herself up. Umbri stopped dead, her stomach sinking.

[color=#A4303F][b]“Wait, don’t!”[/b][/color] She yelped. Shivs looked down at the woman desperately trying to save her, and saw a crippled bimbo with no way to escape with the thieves onto the train roof scared to be served up as rat food.

[b]“Sorry Sugar,”[/b] she dismissed and hauled herself up. [color=#A4303F][b]“NO!”[/b][/color] Umbri shouted after her. There was a roar as the rush of air took Shivs. They barely heard her shriek as the train left her body, twisting and flailing on its way back to earth, far behind.

Stake tossed a sideways glance towards the hole. [color=CD09DC][b]"...She wasn't carrying any product, was she?"[/b][/color] He asked. Shanks lifted the safe. [color=#A4303F][b]“Jesus Christ,”[/b][/color] Umbri uttered in disgust at the both of them and clutched her stomach. 

Stake dashed ahead, his coat a maroon flag flapping behind him. He glided to a stop at the door and swivelled towards its adjacent control panel. [color=CD09DC][b]"Shanks, cover us,"[/b][/color] Stake commanded. He holstered his pistols and drew a contraption that was halfway between a taser and a personal device - a slicer. 

Stake's bulging eyes narrowed to concentrate. Sparks crackled from the slicer's fangs as he dragged it down the panel, his free palm cranking a dial clockwise, counterclockwise, then further, further. 

A click, a hiss, and the train's door bellowed with a metallic rumble, the gates grinding against the metal floor as they parted. To reveal another metal door on a carriage, about a death-defying jump or tightrope walk away, with the ground hurtling past in the sky and the sky plates below them.

[color=DC091C][b]"I hear the wind!"[/b][/color] Temujin exclaimed, amidst the smash and pop of Shanks's blows. [color=DC091C][b]"Can you jump it?"[/b][/color]

Stake placed a hand on Umbri's shoulder as he slid himself ahead of her. [color=CD09DC][b]"You will."[/b][/color] He stepped out of the gates… and the wind blew downwards, dragging his clothes towards gravity. Stake ran ahead, unencumbered, across the coupling, and thrust his slicer into the next control panel. The gates flung open. He whipped towards the previous car and beckoned. [color=CD09DC][b]"Shanks!"[/b][/color]

Shanks ditched the Rat he was hauling by the tail into three oncoming enemies and jerked his head towards Stake’s call, picking the safe up. Umbri’s knees were wobbling at the edge of the carriage when the boulder of the man came sprinting at her, knocking her onto his shoulder in the process. Her vision was filled with Rats, hissing and reforming and clambering over one another to reach them - and past the wave, sticking out from under the feasting pile, she saw Stabby’s hand. Ridden with teeth marks, twitching… their nails elongating.

She didn’t have the time to process what she saw before Shanks jumped. The moment his feet left the carriage, everything flipped. Umbri’s sense of gravity lifted and took her stomach on a ride. They were drawn down, headfirst. Then they passed into the other carriage. Down was up again. His boots slammed down on the floor and Umbri was thrown down with the safe. It toppled, bursting open, and Umbri’s double vision settled onto two shimmering vials that rolled free within arms reach. 

Shanks turned to the doors, glaring the scrambling Rat horde down as he grabbed either side of the metal doors and slammed them together on taloned fingers. They spasmed like a dying spider, a cacophony of shrieks coming from the other side of the door like they all felt Rat’s pain. Shanks punched the door’s control panel, his fist smashing right through. With an explosion of sparks and a crunch, the doors fully shut and the fingers dropped and rolled over the ground. The shrieks were instantly muffled.

They stayed there catching their breaths for a moment. Umbri’s still-beating heart was heavy and felt unearned. All the horrible death was still flashing in her eyes like light spots. She thought she could hear scratching on the ceiling. Eventually, when the screeching had completely silenced, Shanks picked up the safe and held a hand out to assist Umbri. The two of them turned to join Stake and met with about thirty sets of eyes.

They watched the blood covered party pass through the passenger carriage with various expressions of uncertainty, shock and horror. Shanks ignored them. Umbri tried to follow suit, but accidentally made eye contact with the mother of a toddler on an Ipad and snapped her eyes to the ground, sweating. Stake tilted his head to one side and winked at an indignant woman in a suit. [color=CD09DC][b]"How you doing?"[/b][/color] Up ahead and standing in their way was a ridiculous slab of an unamused man whose muscles were bursting from his station uniform.

[b]“Tickets, please.”[/b]