|
      |
Evening has fallen across New York State- and the list of The Disappeared grows ever longer. The young and the old alike have disappeared- skin color, religion, gender- none of that seems to matter in this string of kidnappings. Never are ransoms requested- and the authorities are baffled, only putting out a picture of the card left at each scene. At each kidnapping. The Unlidded Eye. The dagger through where the pupil should be- staring at whomever holds it as if the symbol should mean something. No one seems to know, though, if it means anything at all.
Several people, on their own, have been able to follow the trail though- it leads to the dockyards. Then to the railcars- and finally to what is supposed to be an abandoned waystation just outside of New York city. Across the tracks, newer and still in use loading stations are watched and peopled- guards and workers both doing their work near what is supposed to be a mostly abandoned track.
However, lights flicker in the dark, dusty windows and a train sits half loaded in its loading dock- but no where do there seem to be workers or anyone to actually do the loading. No. Everything is quiet and calm as darkness lengthen the shadows of the supposedly abandoned waystation…
Maya has had to take the long way around, to get to the waystation, a friend there, an acquaintance there. Calling in a few favours, on the off chance that someone might be watching the direction in which she was traveling. She was not a woman given to being a bleeding heart, but she understood the power of holding the hope of seeing a loved one over the head of another person. And so, she was moving, having been dropped off a fair walking distance from the station, moving as much as she could on the outskirts of any visible light, close enough to use it to navigate, hopefully, not so close that it spotlighted her.
A pretty young woman in a navy blue swing dress has no business being involved with any of this disappeared business unless she secretly hides naval service behind a double row of buttons and an open umbrella. It's hot and humid in New York even by evening most times. Thunderstorms happen, but her umbrella shades her anyways. The steel ribbons leading out from the Big Apple make a decent place to follow. On foot, her progress is reasonably slow. Sadie twirls the umbrella over her shoulder, reviewing her surroundings periodically. If anyone looks too close, she's singing to herself at a volume barely audible, her lips moving and next to no sound coming out. Far from walking right into the station or anything of that matter, she behaves like any teenager or early twenty-something wandering along a path distracted by their own thoughts.
Arlo has followed the trail of the most recent kidnapping, because this latest one is personal. One of his friends on the street just turned up gone, with the Unlidded Eye left behind. He's dressed in jeans and a striped t-shirt, his hair a little on the shaggy side, and there's a slink in his gait that says 'streetwise.' Though he doesn't look around, his ears are taking in all the sounds in the area, filtering them, so that he's got an audible three-sixty awareness.
Spider-Man is on the job, and so people can't be kidnapped. Or at least, shouldn't be able to. Only they _are_ and that means he's _failing_. Annoyed with himself, Spidey swings through the city, following clues from place to place, jumping and leaping and swinging time and again. Soon enough he's on a nearby wall, peering down at the waystation, narrowing his eyes behind his mask, "Well _that's_ not creepy at all." He flings himself up and over, trying to land as quietly as he can— and he has pretty good acrobatics— on the roof of the waystation, to climb upside down a bit and peer in a window. Spy, Spider-Man, Spy.
It'd started out a routine-enough day for Forge and Dizzy, well, if scavenging scrapyards for aircraft parts is routine, really. The two have twigged to this situation rather late, having somewhere along the way encountered someone Dizzy apparently knew, looking for someone else Dizzy knew, and after some questions and insistences, Dizzy sent the kid to go get a 'Mr. Schwartzstein,' …presently a somewhat-laden six-wheeled military Power Wagon, presently disguised as a forestry vehicle in quaint, if terribly-square shades of shoeleather brown, is ambling up one of the access roads to said railyard. The diesel had been quieted a way back, but the truck comes on, the only sounds a 'Vrrrr' and the meshing of many gears. Diz kills the lights as well, as they approach a turn, and rolls along about as close as she dares before pulling the thing to the side. She sets the parking brake and reaches for a tool-bag. "This oughtta be the place," she says to her passenger. "Feel like taking a walk, maybe meet some new people?" she winks to Forge. Out come a pair of yellow machine-shop eyeshields and, well, a somewhat different toolbelt than she'd been wearing for scavenging. If not by terribly-much.
Forge has been working all day, but not particularly hard. Most of the day has been traveling from place to place. He reaches into the cooler he brought along, which isn't COLD anymore, but it's cooler than outside. Pulling out another coke, popping the bottle open. "Sure. You seemed to gather what was going on, I'll follow your lead on this." While she's apparently loading up for bear, he just gets out, sipping his bottle. Much more relaxed and casual than Julie is.
The waystation itself sits in what could only be called some kind of benign neglect- supposedly abandoned, there still is that train sitting half loaded in the dock. Odd. There doesn't seem to be any obvious security here- unlike the fenced in area just across the way.
Maya is able to easily keep to the lengthening shadows- and she's almost certain she sees some kind of flickering light inside the waystation- although the nature of the light is difficult to tell from a distance and through the dust-caked windows that are only barely allow light through at all.
Sadie's walk up the tracks undoubtedly brings her close by Forge and Dizzy- the access roads tend to run along the tracks themselves, after all.
Arlo's senses stretch out- undoubtedly hearing the others approach, if they're not trying to be particularly stealthy. The waystation itself is mostly quiet- the creaking of the frame in the wind, the sound of chains shivering in some phantom breeze. No sound one would not expect from such a place.
Actually peering in the window, Spider-Man gets a better idea of the insides of the waystation. Inside, he sees a number of candles placed on shipping containers. All over the place to try and spread as much light as possible. The reason why becomes more obvious, as the center of the area has been cleared and cleaned- a pair of men stand over what appears to be an operating table. Both are dressed in white surgical scrubs- but Spider-Man can't see what… or who… might be on that table.
Maya moves as quickly, as quietly as she can. She wearing only a soft, silky jumpsuit, well, two pieces to make one. No jacket, no jewelry, nothing that would make noise. At least, so far as she knows. She's even tried to wear shoes which minimize the squeek of soles, but it's really just hoping what she thinks works actually works, since she has zero chance of being able to fact-check her work. But regardless of that, she continues towards the station, and coming aorund from the side, attempts to get close enough to look in the window.
Sadie is no church mouse, hiding behind walls. She goes as she pleases, that black stretch of her umbrella giving her away as just another city girl going where wiser minds probably wouldn't. That fair skin of hers is white in this light, altogether too fair. Ever tried hiding when you're as bleached out as a sheet? Not easily done. Her go-go boots tread over the ground as she heads for the waystation and that train. The car coasting along awfully silent hurries her, too. No need to be seen by them any more than she already is.
The half-loaded train is her immediate go-to. Someone must be traveling up and down them, right? Unless some worker pops out, she shuts her umbrella and carefully picks her way up inside.
Julie smirks, and tosses Forge one of the flashlights from a little rack behind the seats of that vehicle she calls the 'Limbo Raider' for some reason. Actually it's got rather an excess of lights added on, almost, for some reason. She leaves a few switches just so, with a few toggle-clicks. This vehicle, Forge might have noticed, has been Dizzy-modded in some ways, notably including her odd way of putting transmission and differential temperature gauges in, of which this rig has many to so monitor. "Whatdya say we check out that train first?" she says, accent New York Italian and pointedly-blue-collar. "Kinda tired of yer general black-hats putting the bag on people, who knows why they're leaving freaking business cards." Well, perhaps that's why she's a bit keyed-up, but then again, the girl's usually in motion one way or another. When Sadie passes, well, she makes for the far-side of the train, all the better to sneak, one hopes.
Arlo slowly cases the area, matching up the sounds of footsteps to a visual on the people making them. Okay, so he must not be the only one trying to get to the bottom of this. He approaches the half-loaded train, trailing behind Sadie. He focuses his hearing on the train car she's heading up into. Yeah, he's enough of a chump to let a dame go first in case something jumps out. He hasn't survived this long on his own by being a knight in shining armor. When he catches up to the train car, he squints as he looks inside.
Forge has a free hand. He shifts the coke to the flesh hand, so the metal one can hold the flashlight tossed to him by Julie. He hefts it, sizing it up, flicking it on and off with his thumb with the ease he took that coke bottle cap off. "Alright," is all he says to Julie's energetic explanation. He moves reasonably quietly, having had to learn how to do that in Korea, at least. His shoes aren't ideal for this, but this isn't war either, as far as he knows.
Well, that's not good at all. Spider-Man considers what to do for a long moment: to be subtle or to not be subtle, that is the question. Considering people are disappearing and that looks like a creepy science experiment, he goes for the not subtle. Rising up on his knees, he throws himself throug the window with a flip and a twist to land with grace and stare at the folks in the medical suits, "Hey guys, what's up? Anything I need to know about what's going on?"
Maya's approach is successful- no one seems to have seen her in approaching the building. Just as she peers through the window there's a *CRASH* as the Spectacular Spider-Man makes his entrance, sending a shower of glass into the waystation.
Spider-Man lands without incident- the pair of people in surgical gear covering their 'patient' someone who lays on the table, unaware of the world around them. Once they are sure their operating table has not been covered in glass they both straighten, and turn to look towards Spider-Man.
"We are working." Says the one of the left- a man, by the looks of his build. He is bundled, though, in surgical gear. Mask and dark glasses making it difficult to see his face. In fact, all Spider-Man can tell is that he does, in fact, have a face. The slightly shorter individual is dressed identically- but is likely a woman, based on her build. "It is important work." she says, before the man chimes in. "You should join…" he begins, before the woman continues, "Us in this important work."
Both man and woman turn, then back towards their table and lean over to finish what they were doing. The woman holds a tray as the man carefully lifts the eyes out of someone's face and places the eyes on the tray. "You don't need to give up much…." the woman begins, before the man continues, "Nothing, in fact, only vanity."
The crash of glass is loud enough that everyone near by can hear it- there is no doubt that *something* is going on inside that warehouse now.
Sadie, and then Arlo, both enter into the train through an open side door- inside they see pods, approximately six feet in length. They're loaded in like cargo- end to end, stacked on top of one another. For the most part, the pods seem to be made of metal and rubber- sealed- with a fogged glass window on the top. Condensation clinging to the surface of the pods.
The far side of the train- where the engine sits- seems to have some small reading light inside the cabin. Someone shambles about in the engineer's cabin, mumbling softly to themselves in a rhythmic, almost chanting manner. It is difficult for Forge and Julie to make out, exactly, what is being said.%r
Well, that makes things that much easier. Now that she doesn't have to try to finagle a window open. Instead, Maya simply slips a wooden baton from it's place strapped to her thigh and uses it to break out the glass in one of the windows closer to her level. What with the chatty cathy distracting the two people at the table, surely they won't notice her climb up and in through a lower window. Since she wasn't that far from the masked and suited man, well, she'll just head for the two people currently working on whatever hapless soul is actually on the table.
Putting aside her umbrella for the moment, Sadie needs both hands for a proper lift up. She doesn't flinch at a distant crash or the spreading twinkle of glass raining down. More important matters wait at hand that violating buildings and raising the price of property insurance on derelict public buildings or private utilities. Arlo could easily jump her, if he feels comfortable bothering the pale artist with the straight black hair. She hums to herself, spreading her hands along the pods to see if they are plugged in or powered some way by electricity. If not, the natural response is climbing all the way up to the top. "They're alive," she tells the man following her. "Not likely to leap out and wave when the lid comes off. At least I do not think so. I might open one to say hello." Her cheerful narrative has a sunny edge, her accent pitch perfect to his own. She speaks quietly. "It would be rude not to make sure they are comfortable. At least this one. All the way down at the bottom is another matter altogether. How do you figure they got in here, dollies?"
Julie seems to have had checking out the engine first in mind. Go figure. But even an idling locomotive means one doesn't have to trouble much about stealth when it comes to alighting on the steps: she's got one of the loops of weighted cable from her belt cocked over her shoulder as she does so. She feels around for any lock on the cabin with her other extended hand, and just shoots that open. Ducks in pretty quickly, and waves to the engineer, "Hey, buddy, Where ya bound?" Maybe he'll get an answer out, really, cause for now, she's inclined to bonk with those bolas rather hastily.
Arlo's attention whips toward the warehouse at the breaking of glass, but then he hefts himself up into the train car. First things first. "Hey," he says to Sadie in a low tone. "I'm Arlo. Not gonna hurt you. I'm just looking for answers." Then he inspects the pods, eyes widened. This is so far beyond anything he's gotten himself into before. "Yeah, maybe," he says absently. "Maybe a forklift? I dunno." He peers into one of the foggy face-level panels, trying to discern the features of whoever's inside. "You wanna open one?" Then he presses his ear to the pod, listening for a heartbeat and, more importantly, breathing.
"Aw, man, you dudes didn't really just do that. That is SO gross!" Spidey sounds pained, lifts a hand and twists his wrist and sends webbing out to try to snag the bigger of the pair, then *yank* backwards to attempt to get him down on the ground. If that ends up working, some more webbing on top to stick him to the ground will be attempted.
Forge takes a position behind Julie. He watches her, and her surroundings, making sure nobody's going to get a jump on her. Theflashlight is flicked on now, as he's just making sure he's aware of his and her surroundings. Remaining outside, flashlight aiming in her general direction. When she speaks, from outside he'll give a quick salute to the engineer as she speaks, whether she attacks him or not.
"It is only the removal of vani…" The man begins before Spider-man easily over-powers him and has him sealed to the floor. The woman turns to stare at the events, before lifting her surgical glasses. Eyeless, she gazes at Spider-Man and then to her companion on the ground. "It is time to go." she says simply, as she approaches the webbed-up-weirdo on the ground. She kneels next to him, removes her surgical glove, and then his- flesh to flesh contact and the two seem to crumple down into a heap of bodies.
The two exhale simultaneously- their breath glowing like candle-fire- the candles all burning higher before snuffing out simultaniously- leaving Spider-Man and the approaching Maya in darkness.
The Engineer looks up and over towards Julie as she arrives. He has no eyes- just gaping, empty holes where eyes should be. "It is time to go." he announces- in time with the woman inside the waystation. Even without action from the engineer the train begins to lurch forward, the diesel engine leaping to life as the train awakens and comes to life, buttons pressing as candle-lights inside the conductor's cabin shoot to life, suddenly aflame without any spark to feed them.
"You must go." The Engineer says to both Julie and Forge- "It is not your time. You are not ready. You were not invited."
Arlo can hear the beating heart of the person inside that pod- it is a small heart-beat. That of a child, perhaps. It beats slowly, as if in a deep sleep…. and then the train begins to move- lurching forward and sending at least a few of the pods tumbling. They weren't all steady in their place, yet- the packing not complete- Sadie and Arlo are directly in the path of one rolling, heavy pod!
There are a lot of worst case scenarios that could crop up at a time like this. Random acts of violence, explosions, that body randomly rising off of the table. But for Maya, the sudden snuffing out of most of the light in the room comes pretty close. Still, she's had to work with less, and she at least knows where she was heading, which is towards the body thats still on the slab. Which also puts her in line to head in the direction of the web-slinger. She breaks her momentum only for a moment, as she adjusts to the vibrations on the floor, a result of the engine lumbering to life, but she's quick enough to adapt and pick up momentum, "Check the table!"
"Sadie. I'm sure you won't do any harm." The blithe smile brightens up a notch. That's saying something for a young woman climbing atop a pod. She wipes her sleeve over the front. "Someone is absolutely in here. You hold on. If we get moving —"
Things go pear-shaped. She clicks her mouth shut. The black curlicue under her eye tightens and then, whoa Nelly, the train moves. Her steed, a brave climbed pod, moves. Swing-dress or no swing-dress, she leaps. That fabulous navy coat and a blur of white boots track her movement as she drops down mostly of her own accord. Her foot needs purchase somewhere, another pod or the floor. Cheerleaders tend to rouse the crowd with that kind of inverted Y position. Both hands thrust up to dispute the pod crashing on them. "No crushing the friendly fellow!"
Julie nods, to the Engineer, "Yeah, it's just just there's kind of a hitch, here. Hold this, willya?" She actually just lobs the bolas toward Mr. Engineer, like he was meant to catch them, only they speed up just enough to pin an upper arm or two to his sides. Eyes dart at the controls, she yanks the speed control all the way around left and says, eyeing the very powerful spinning machinery behind with all her special senses. "Ay, Forge! May not be faster than a speeding bullet, but here goes nothing!" Well, let's see about grabbing that output shaft by the commutator, then, Diz thinks, and sees what she can do to, well, delay a locomotive's departure.
Forge sees that Julie is, well, getting violent, and he'll back the play. Coming up to the machine, she climbs up behind her, and he gives her light. Properly. Holding the light so she can see. Something anyone who works on machines knows is something that NEVER happens.
"Shit," is Arlo's erudite response to things going pear-shaped. He watches things unfold rather quickly, with those keen senses telling him several things at once. Such as Sadie being fully capable of taking care of herself in the finest cheerleader style, and the pod coming close to slamming into him. He sidesteps, then lunges at it, trying to keep it from careening out of the train car. "There's a kid in there," he says. "This is so messed up."
Julie seems to be holding both arms out toward somewhere in the locomotive's guts, doing something invisible that appears to be quite taxing, though there is an all-fired great VRRRRRRRRRR sound that emanates almost subliminally, and a glance at her eyes shows flashes of light circling brightly like highlights on ball bearings in a race.
Spider-Man stares for a long moment as the eyeless doctors…goes to pieces. "Ewwww." BUt there's nothing else in here, so he flips back and heads for the window he jumped through, because… there's nothing to do with that. Climbing out he looks around to see if anything else suspicious can be found.
The Train, despite Dizzy's best application of power, continues to crawl forward. Something- or maybe someone- is pushing against her. The train continues to crawl forward, the candles in the engine compartment glowing more fierce- even as the engineer is tangled up. "We must go. You must go." His voice is layered with other voices. Unseen forces untangle him and he stands, almost as if he were a marionette on strings- strange and unnatural movements. "Please go, or we will be forced to eject you. You are not invited. None of you are invited."
CAndles along the train's top begin to glow and spark, coming to life without any fire near them. Flickering and enhancing the strength of wahtever it is that pushes against Julie and allows the train's engine to continue spinning, faster and faster… Julie can slow this train down, but she's not likely to be able to stop it's forward momentum.
SAdie is able to keep the pods from crashing down and crushing the two of them- but these things have an unusual weight to them, despite their size- and there are a lot that she's holding back right now- but it isn't beyond her abilities. The train continues to speed up…
On the table, in the Warehouse, Maya would find a young woman- perhaps just out of high-school- with her eyes removed. All that remains are the vestiges that one might expect in biological anatomy. Her eyes, brilliant blue things, sit on a tray just next to her. Whatever power has her passed out on the table, it certainly isn't chemical- there aren't any drugs to be found near by… she's starting to whisper, though. "Follow the Emerald Star. Follow the Emerald Star… it only costs your vanity…"
Maya manages little more than to actually gape at the web-slinger as he literally just leaves the victim on the table, now that the doctors have self-decomposed. Maya, though, quickens her pace to the table, to check the girl's pulse, and yes, she's still alive. And small enough, light enough, that as she begins to whisper, Maya can slip her arms around her to try to pull her from the table and try to carry her from the waystation. Hopefully, she doesn't put up too much of a fight. As for her eyes? Well, Maya only has two hands, and they're both occupied with trying to help the girl get out of the abattoir.
Sadie has things mostly in hand. Key word here, hand. She stands on the balls of her feet and the wide stance helps her address the momentum of the train cars. No such thing as a perfectly smooth ride any more than there are perfectly smooth landscapes, Nullarbor Plain notwithstanding. Her smile is bright. She looks over her shoulder, straining to keep the whole kit and kaboodle from falling down. "You're absolutely right. It is messed up." Her head is shaken, dark hair shining like liquid nightfall. Old shadows burn in those very, very dark eyes. "Duck!"
That warning comes with good reason. Arlo hopefully gets out of the way. When he does, she hurls the pod out through the back of the unloaded train. The next one threatening to collapse on them goes out the same way. Two free folks with any luck. "Get out if you can. Can you? I'll give you a ride."
Julie strains against invisible forces, she's cursing and possibly reciting folk-charms against various evil in rapid-fire Italian, "Ay, Forge, grab this guy, get yourselves off, I think I'm up against more than General Electric here. And stay down a minute, this could…" She keeps fighting the locomotive+occult forces, at least long enough to buy Forge some time to do that, or whatever else he chooses to do. She eyes a handhold, and at what may seem a good opportunity, grabs for it as she suddenly-releases her hold on the motor, grabbing during the lurch and then *adding* to all the other motion. It might well grenade the train's transaxle. At least, steel train wheels can't do much without traction, and hopefully will spin and spark ineffectually for some time while she, and people she doesn't know about get off said train.
Forge hears the instruction from Julie, and grunts. "Alright." The coke bottle regrettably must be tossed away, so he can shift theflashlight to the flesh hand. Then the metal one is free to reach past Julie, grab the man's arm, and yank at him. "Off we go," he rumbles, trying to give himself, and the engineer, some torque to roll as they land.
Arlo leaps out of the way, letting the pod he's trying to stop go. It slides out the back of the train. Hopefully a third free person. "I think I can make it," Arlo says. Gotta look tough in front of the dames, even though he's poignantly aware, with those heightened senses, of just how much of a squishy meat sack he is compared to the pods, gravity, and the ground. Still, it's not that far to jump. He jumps, tucks, and rolls, tumbling along the ground to a stop. Then he sits up, disheveled, and heads for the pod with the kid in it to make sure it's not damaged.
Bounding over the warehouse, Spider-Man catches sight of the train with… candles? Bad guy spotted! He leaps off, sets his feet when he lands and flings his hand out, to try to get the webbing onto the back of the train and use his heels to help slow things down. Why? Because Spidey is helpful, that's why. Of course, he might miss and go tumbling head over heels.
The Train's wheels spin wildly for a moment, granting Spider-Man a moment to really pull at that final car. When the wheels catch again, the resulting JERK causes the connection between that car and the fully loaded car in front of it snap under the pressure- causing that final car to roll back towards Spider-Man, along with it's partial load of human beings in pods.
The pod tossed from the car in front of that which Spider-Man has stopped rolls as it hits the ground- tumbling and coming to a stop at the side of the tracks. The child inside appears to be in the same condition- those pods are made of some pretty strong stuff. Gun-metal gray- with hints of purples in the metal when the light hits it.
Forge manhandles the engineer- who's tumbled to the ground with the man when he's pulled out of the train's cab. Even as he falls, he exhales- glowing mist for hsi breath swirling in the air before it fills the cabin of the train and the candles glow all the brighter as the train careens off into the night, whistle howling before it quickly outpaces and disappears into evening. Anyone who has not already left the train is bodily ejected by an unseen force, and tossed unceremoniously onto the side of the tracks.
Maya's got the young woman who's eyes sit on a tray- her body small and easy to carry. She seems cool to the touch, cooler than one might expect- but not ice cold. Whatever the pair in surgeons clothes were doing to her, it clearly wasn't complete.
Julie is presently lurching around the engineer's cabin under various competing forces and trying to make good on her gyroscopic sense of balance. Fetches up close to a clip-board by the way out… Eyes light up, as it'll be maintenance or itinerary records, or something. Says, "Hrm, givea me you," and then, reaching out, instead has to backpedal forward, fetching up against the back of the driver's seat. Gets a mischevious look, pulls on the cord to toot the train's horn. Cause who hasn't always wanted to do that? Four long blasts for a danger signal, well, at least in boating, and back toward the exit she goes, snatching up that clipboard along the way, and eyes the ground as she tumbles out, in a splay of gravel and a 'Geronim——Ow.!"
Thankfully, Maya and the girl in her arms are nowhere near that train. Well, that's not true, but they have a building between them and it, so even if that car does fly back towards the web slinger, well, let's just say that Maya is doing her very best to try to get the girl to as safe a place as she can. Now might be a good time to thank the stars she can't actually hear the commotion, or, like Lot's wife, she might have been tempted to look back and embrace the horror. Instead, she keeps her head down, and her eyes focused on the girl in her arms, marking every word she utters, committing it to memory.
The train moves slow enough for Sadie to make her departure thereafter Arlo does. Just one problem: a friendly neighbourhood superhero drags his heels into the ground, making a better set of brakes than others would. She ceases trying to hurl pods out the back like a pizza cook removes his favourites from the oven. Rather she dashes for the edge as close as she can get, her gaze wide and bright in the darkness. "You are seriously awesome. Look at what you can do!" she chimes, trying to squeeze around the webbing. Mostly. Is it rude to use it as a handhold, rather than the rusty, old metal bars at the back of the car? Well, she has to grip hard to set down and ruin those very nice go-go boots by hauling on the car too to stop it from running them both over. Everyone enjoys not being flattened. They really should. Being a pinwheeling pancake looks pretty much awful as a future role in life.
Forge looks to see that the man he manhandled is not seriously injured. But briefly. His focus is on Julie, so he jogs up to catch up with the train, and gets his light back on her, to make sure she's alright.
Arlo gets to his feet. Okay, the kid in the pod is okay, or as okay as a kid in a pod is bound to be. He bounds over to Sadie, his steps slowing as he sees Spidey. "Holy crap," he says, and there's recognition in his tone. He's heard of this guy! He beats dirt off his jeans with his hands, then asks Sadie, "You okay?" He smiles crookedly, about as smooth as someone tossed around and strung out. "That was cool, what you did back there."
"Whoops!" Spidey broke the train, and the train comes rolling back towards him, he pads up to where Sadie and Arlo are and reaches out to try and grab-stabalize the car, "Sorry I broke the train!" to Sadie at her compliment, "Ummm anyone know what's going on? I admit I don't know what's going on, and although that's not exactly an unfamiliar state with me, this is a little weirder then usual."
Julie is presently lying almost spread-eagled between the tracks, except one arm still cradles a slightly- mashed clipboard to her chest. "I'll have three beers, steak and eggs, and a hot bath, in some order or other. Mamma-mia, the things I do." She rolls to get to her feet, rather tiredly, as the engine rolls away, and disconnected carriages start to roll back. She asks Forge, "You got our boy back there? I dunno if he knew what he was doing but…" It's about then she notices the rest of the train has begun rolling back… Takes a heavy breath, reaches out, and….applies brakes after her own particular idiom.
The Engineer, unlike the two well hidden 'surgeons', doesn't fall to pieces after his 'breath' has left him. Rather, he just sits and stares up at the sky. "Follow the Emerald Star. Follow the Emerald Star." he mumbles to himself as he just sits and rocks in place, eyeless gaze staring upward. "All it costs is your vanity."
The same words are whispered by the girl in Maya's arms- like a mantra, barely spoken. Lips only brushing the words out after a moment. She's weak from having her eyes removed.
The train car rolls to a stop- the candles on the top still lit for a moment before they start to flicker and go out one by one. Soon, all that is left is oily smoke rising towards the starless, overcast sky.
In the car that spidey captured in his web there are perhaps a dozen of those pods- each with a person in it. Each with their eyes removed. Each alive and well, apart from missing their eyes. More of those pod are scattered by the rail-road tracks, each with a person in it. The pods have done much to protect them, despite the damages done to each pod. The people inside are wholly and perfectly intact.
In the distance the train's whistle blows again before there is a bright flash of green light- and the train seems to disappear.
Maya has strength enough for a short distance, of course, but it's not a short distance to the city, to a hospital, to anywhere that can help the girl in her arms. And the phone is right out. It'll have to be the spider man. Or, as she finally turned around, seeing some of the fallout now that she's far enough from the waystation, possibly one of the people she can see in and around that collection of pods she's never seen before.
Sadie sticks out. The pods lying on the ground need tending to, of course, and she loses some of the candor of her smile. "You stopped the train, I think that counts as pretty impressive." Her fingers run through her hair, striaghtening the bone-neat locks. Transferring her attention from Spider-Man to Arlo, she grins. "I'm all right. Are you? I'm more concerned about the people trapped inside the boxes. They must be stable for transportation but we need to get them out. Could be affected by drugs or medicine or something else." Her job will be to collect a few of them, and Maya should have zero trouble spotting her intentions doing that. See, not at all scary, just a nice young lady.
"That was a bit unfortunate. I hoped for a conversation." The death mark burns on her skin, right under her eye in a black curl. It's plain enough to see, no special juju needed. Ankhs swing from her earlobes. "I'm going to have that chat." See that smile come back slowly.
Arlo rubs the back of his neck and says, "Yeah, I'm good," he says. Then, to Spidey, he says, "I know you, man. I mean, I heard all the stuff. You're really cool." He'd chat more, but he falls into step to help Sadie with the pods. For an average guy, he's no weakling, but compared to people who can stop trains, he's rather pathetically human. A human who can discern a conversation from a few football fields away, but still just a guy. "They're heartbeats are slow," he tells Sadie, "so I think they might be in some kinda stasis. Dunno what'll happen if we open them up."
Julie cusses under her breath as the locomotive disappears in a weird flash of light. is just coming back toward where she sees… Well, funny coffin-looking things. seeming to be catching her breath in some way as she comes along, rolling the contents of the clipboard up to tuck the paper inside her jacket and discarding the rigid part. But it's in time to hear what Sadie says. "Transportation, we got. Where to, though?" She looks back the way she came, and whistles loudly between two fingers, and a quaintly-shoe-brown-two-tone military ton-and-a-half Power Wagon comes to life and rolls toward them with some 'vrrr' sounds. It's hard to tell who, if anyone, is driving the thing.
Considering that she hadn't gotten very far to begin with, it doesn't take Maya terribly long to make her way towards the young woman (Sadie) who seemed to be doing what she could to help the other victims out of the…what were those things? They looked like more mechanical versions of the pods from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Her eyes are quick, her attention mobile, as she approached the fallout, trying to make sure she doesn't miss anything important. "If you're helping, I could use it!" That, once she'd close enough to have to only mildly shout to be heard.
Forge shakes his head. "Where to? Well, who told you to come here?" is his simple suggestion.
With the victims gathered, and placed in the remaining train car the rescuers go their own ways- taking the traincar with them back towards the city…