Chapter 255: Earthbound

Seraph was in the communications room, staring at the screen long after Jonah’s face had disappeared from it.

Twenty-four hours. That’s what she’d promised him.

Twenty-four hours to pull off something that should take weeks of planning with ten times the resources they actually had.

“You look like you’re about to punch something.”

She didn’t turn around. Draven’s footsteps were unmistakable.

“I’m thinking,” she said.

“Dangerous habit.” He limped into the room and sat on a chair across from her. His leg was still wrapped from the Iso-Cube disaster. Three weeks ago, Doc Santos had said he would need months to recover.

Three weeks later, here he was.

“So,” Draven said. “We are robbing a train.”

“We are capturing a high-value target who happens to be on a train.” Seraph brought up the file she had been avoiding to look at.

“There’s a difference.”

“Is there?” Draven asked.

“One sounds more professional.” Seraph responded.

High Overseer Kaine stared out from the photograph like he was judging her through the screen. He was sterling’s right-hand man on Earth. The keeper of secrets. Including the one they desperately needed.

Biometric access codes to the Lunar Defense Grid.

Without those codes, Jonah’s fleet would be torn apart before they got within a hundred miles of the Nexus. With them? They had a chance at ending this whole nightmare.

“Tell me about the train,” Draven said.

Seraph brought up the schematics. The Silver Streak didn’t look like a normal transport. It looked like a weapon with wheels. It had thick metal armor, robot guns, and was built to be incredibly strong.

“Supersonic,” she said. “Travels at over seven hundred miles per hour. There are twelve cars. The main car is in the middle, and that’s where Kaine is. There are at least forty guards, maybe more. And the whole train is built to stop magic.”

Draven studied the display.

“When does it move?” he asked.

“Tomorrow. 1400 hours. The route takes it through the mountain pass.” She zoomed in on the terrain. “That’s our chance. For just Thirty-seconds, the train slows to three hundred miles per hour for the turn.”

“That’s still insanely fast.”

“Yeah. That’s the problem.”

They sat there, staring at an impossible mission, both knowing they were going to attempt it anyway.

Because what else was there? Giving up? Letting Sterling win? Watching Jonah and his fleet die trying to reach the Moon because they couldn’t deliver one man?

That was not an option.

“We need more people,” Draven said.

Seraph had been worried about this part. “I know.”

“How many can we pull?”

She had done the math already and gone through the roster in her head about fifty times. “Torres and Kira. Maybe six others who aren’t currently bleeding or dead.”

“That’s not enough.”

“I’m aware.” She closed the schematic and opened a different file. “That’s why we’re going to make a deal with the devil.”

Draven saw the name on the screen. His face went blank.

“No.”

“We don’t have a choice.” Seraph said.

“There’s always a choice.”

“Fine. The choice is between working with Rook or failing the mission.” Seraph stood up, grabbing her jacket. “Pick one.”

She didn’t wait for his answer. She just went straight for the door.

His chair made a scraping noise. She heard steps behind her. Of course he followed her. He always did.

The Undercroft at four in the morning was a strange thing. Half the city was asleep. The other half just pretended to be. People moved through dark with their heads down, avoiding eye contact.

Rook’s warehouse was located in the former industrial district.

Two guards stopped them at the entrance.

“We are here to see Rook,” Seraph said.

“He ain’t taking visitors.”

Draven took a step forward. He didn’t say anything. The temperature just seemed to drop about ten degrees.

The guard swallowed hard. “I’ll, uh. I’ll check.”

They got waved through.

Inside, the warehouse had stolen goods stacked in corners. Workbenches covered in weapons being modified. And sitting on a throne made from scrap metal was Rook himself.

“Captain Seraph.” even though they were only working together because they had to. “And the walking tank himself. What brings you to my humble establishment?”

“We need your help,” Seraph said.

“Everyone needs my help these days.” Rook leaned back, making his throne creak. “Question is, what’s it worth to you?”

“The good feeling of ruining Sterling’s plans.”

He laughed. “Satisfaction doesn’t pay the bills, Captain. It doesn’t feed my people. It doesn’t buy the bullets that keep us alive.”

Draven’s hand moved to his sword.

The guards around the room got tensed. They raised their weapons up.

“Easy.” Rook raised a hand. “Let’s not do anything we will regret.”

“I won’t regret it,” Draven said quietly.

And that was the thing. He wouldn’t. Seraph had seen Draven face down worse odds and walk away. These kids with their stolen guns? They didn’t stand a chance.

Rook must have realized it too.

“Alright,” he said. “You have made your point. What do you need?”

“A distraction.” Seraph stepped forward, putting herself between Draven and the guards. “We are attacking a high-value target tomorrow. We need chaos. Something big enough to pull security away from where we will be working.”

“How big?”

“Building on fire big. Multiple explosions big. Make Sterling’s people think the whole Undercroft is rising up.”

Rook whistled. “That’s not a small ask.”

“Can you do it?”

He thought about it. She could see him calculating. Risk versus reward. Profit versus survival. All the angles a man like him always considered.

“Yeah,” he said finally. “I can do it. But this squares us. No more favors. No more ’help the resistance’ speeches. We are done after this.”

“Deal.”

They shook on it.

Outside, the sky was starting to lighten. Dawn coming whether they were ready for it or not.

“Do you think he will actually come through?” Draven asked.

“He’s scared of you. Fear is a better motivator than money.” Seraph started walking back toward the bunker. “Besides, he’s smart enough to know if we fail, Sterling comes down harder on everyone. Including him.”

“Good.”

They walked in silence for a while. The city waking up around them. People starting their day.

“Jonah’s counting on us,” Draven said quietly.

Seraph didn’t answer right away. She was thinking about that kid. That impossible, stubborn kid who had somehow become the hope of two worlds.

All because a bunch of adults couldn’t figure out how to stop one psychopath.

“We won’t let him down,” she said.

“You can’t promise that.”

“Watch me.”

Back at the bunker, Torres and Kira were waiting with their gear already packed, ready to go before they had even been briefed.

That was loyalty.

“We heard,” Torres said. ” The Train job. High-speed boarding. Extremely stupid.”

“That about covers it,” Seraph confirmed.

“We’re in.”

Just like that. No hesitation. No questions about odds or survival rates.

Kira cracked her knuckles. “When do we leave?”

“Eighteen hours. That gives us time to scout the route, position assets and pray to whatever gods are still listening.”

“What about extraction?” Torres asked.

“Nomad’s inbound. Jonah’s sending it once we have the package.” Seraph spread the maps across the table. “But first we have to actually get the package. Which means boarding a supersonic train, fighting through twelve cars of elite security, and capturing a high-value target without killing him. Because we need him alive.”

“So, a normal Tuesday,” Kira said.

“Pretty much.”

They spent the next hour going over the plan. Routes. Timing. Contingencies. All the little details that meant the difference between success and getting splattered across a mountainside.

Draven sat quietly through most of it, only speaking up to point out weaknesses or suggest modifications. His mind was sharp even if his body was still healing.

By the time they finished, the sun was fully up.

Seraph looked at her team. Torres and Kira, Draven and six others who had volunteered without being asked. That’s nine people total.

Nine people to stop a heavily armed train moving at supersonic speeds.

The odds were terrible.

But then again, when had that ever stopped them?

“Alright,” she said. “Get some rest. Check your gear. We move at noon.”

They dispersed. All except Draven.

“This is insane,” he said.

“Yep.”

“We are probably going to die.”

“Maybe.”

“Just wanted to make sure we agreed on that.”

Seraph looked at him. This man who had stood beside her through everything and who had broken the unbreakable and refused to stay broken himself.

“We are not dying tomorrow,” she said. “We are going to board that train, grab Kaine, and give Jonah the opening he needs to end this war.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

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