Nine-to-Five 022 (Patreon)

Career Opportunities VII

~~~

The door was frozen.

Moments ago, Amanda had been vacillating on whether she should try to force her way into the lounge car or not. Now, the decision seemed to have been taken out of her hands. A thick layer of ice had spread over the door, completely blocking the only way into the lounge car from this side of the train.

“That’s not good.”

“What happened?” Ms. Martel asked through the earpiece.

“The door’s frozen,” Amanda replied, putting her hand on the ice. It was cold enough that most people would have instantly pulled their hands back. Not her, though. “There’s a big sheet of ice all over it. It’s at least five inches thick.”

“What?”

It was the first time Amanda heard Ms. Martel sound surprised. Despite the situation, Amanda couldn’t help but reap some small amount of satisfaction out of it. A pity she couldn’t see Ms. Martels’ face.

“That should not have happened.”

The way Ms. Martel phrased that made Amanda frown. Still, she could understand why this was such an issue. Doors didn't suddenly freeze over. A phenomenon like this was utterly outside common norms.

In other words, it was the work of an Exceed.

It could be that a random passenger happened to be an Exceed. It might even be a hero who happened to be taking the train with them. Amanda could name at least one hero with ice-related powers off the top of her head. A hero being inside the train would be the best-case scenario. It meant the criminals were already getting their just deserts, and Amanda didn't need to lift a finger.

However, it could also be that one of the train robbers was an Exceed.

Amanda gulped. She didn't hear gunshots or any other signs of violence happening beyond the ice. That was technically a good thing, but it didn't rule out either theory.

How vexing.

Amanda didn't like being vexed.

"Return for now," Ms. Martel told her. "We will figure out what to do."

Amanda sighed and turned around.

And stopped.

Slowly, very slowly, her face formed a frown, her lips thinned, and her hands balled into tightly-clenched fists.

"No."

The single word left her lips with resolute conviction

"What?"

Never before had a question sounded so much like a demand. Amanda could almost hear the narrowing of Ms. Martels' eyes. The young girl bit her tongue to stop the reflexive apology that wanted to leave her lips. Only after the urge had died down did she reply.

"No," she repeated. "Look, you have been ordering me around since this whole thing began. Go there. Don't go there. We can't do this. You should do that. Well... I am tired of it! I'm the bulletproof one, remember? Well, I am going to do bulletproof things now!"

"Ms. Collins, I am warning yo-"

Amanda crushed the earpiece in her hand.

It felt damn satisfying for about fifteen seconds. Then the guilt and self-awareness hit. Ms. Martel was going to kill her for that! Worse, she was going to fire her! Why had she even done it?

A toad croaked beside her.

Oh, right.

That.

Not the Toad Exceed specifically. More like the general situation. There were Exceeds beyond this frozen door. There were also people who were having a really bad day, and there was Tim.

She was not going to abandon him.

How was she supposed to get in, though?

Amanda's frown deepened. She had felt all big and confident when talking to Ms. Martel through her earpiece, but the door was still frozen. Since she was apparently an Exceed now, she might be able to break through, but that would take time. It wouldn't be subtle either.

She looked to the side.

There was a window there, innocently minding its own business. An idea began to take shape, and though Amanda hated herself for it, she knew it was possible. Calculations she barely understood flashed across her brain, telling her she was 100% capable of doing this. It was maddening. It was insane. It was weird, and she wanted no part in it!

Amanda took a deep breath.

And broke the glass.

~~~

The train was freezing.

Tim had been wondering what he should do next when ice began spreading over the roof. Fearing he'd slip on it and fall, he'd gone back into the train by breaking another window.

It was freezing inside as well. The inside of the train was dyed in crystalline blue and white. Ice had spread all over the floor and climbed up the walls, groaning and creaking without end. One of those little creaks brought Tim's attention down. The ice was starting to climb up over his legs as well. With a panicked yelp, he shook his legs and broke free.

"Hey! Anyone here!" Tim yelled, putting his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice. "Anyone at all? We need to get out of here!"

The ice wasn't just spreading over the floor and walls. It was spreading over anything inside the train. That meant the passengers as well. With any luck, they had all fled the moment the freezing began. If not, he needed to get them out fast!

Tim went from door to door, looking for anyone left behind. It was a good thing he had already covered up by taking off his shirt and tying it around the lower half of his face. It left his upper body exposed, but the cold didn't bother him. Yet another thing to add to his list of Neat Exceed side-effects.

"Don't bother."

The door to the wagon burst open. The ice that had been blocking the way was suddenly not there anymore, allowing a man to walk in unimpeded. He wore a ski mask, jeans, and a simple, black jacket.

"If they haven't run away already, they're done for," the man said. "Them's the breaks. Wrong place, wrong time. It happens to everyone."

The man slammed his fist against the wall. Ice sealed up the entrance once more, leaving Tim trapped with him.

"It's what's happening to you," the man said. "Really, all you had to do was nothing. What exactly was so hard to understand about that? The other passengers are all doing it. But no! Just had to be annoying. Look at you, covering your face like you're some hero. Is that what you think you are?"

Tim didn't answer. His brain was stuck on the phrase the man just said.

Wrong place, wrong time.

Was that what it all boiled down to for this guy? The passengers here could have been frozen by him just now, but he didn’t seem to care. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Like his mom had been.

"What? No answer? You trying to be the strong, silent type or something?"

Tim punched him in the face.

He dashed over the ice without fear and slugged the man across the jaw. The masked man went flying back and crashed into the ice. Multiple cracks spread across the frozen walls and ceiling. Shards of ice fell on them like snow. Ever since Tim discovered he had powers, this was the first time he put his all into hitting anything.

"Fuck!"

The man stood up. He had to steady himself on the wall to do it, but that was still way more than ordinary people would have been capable of. A normal person, well, Tim was pretty sure he'd have broken their jaw at the very least.

This was an Exceed, alright.

"You little shit!" he said, rubbing his jaw. Tim's punch had torn the lower half of his mask, exposing the pale skin beneath it. "Fuck! You really are one, aren't you? Of all the fucking trains! Which one are you? One of these little Yonders?"

Tim blinked.

Wait. This man thought he was a hero? Like, an official Hero? With merch and all?

That was kind of flattering, really.

Still, this wasn't the sort of situation where he could speak up to clear up the misunderstanding. Better to just stay quiet and kick ass.

Tim dashed in once again.

A wall of ice blocked his way this time. Tim punched hard to break through it, but it still slowed him down enough for the Exceed to move out of the way.

"I ain't getting caught like that again!" The Exceed shouted. He stomped his feet, and ice began crawling up to Tim's legs. Tim quickly backed away, breaking the ice as he did so. "See, I got out only because I needed to let off some steam and thought you were a punk that needed to be taught a lesson. Now, I know this was a two-for-one deal all along!"

Two-for-one?

Wait! There was another Exceed in the train?

Tim had little time to think of that as a wave of ice came rushing at him.

~~~

Calculating…

Calculating…

Calculating...

Amanda put a hand over her face, as if covering it would stop the words that flashed across her eyes. Every little thing she saw was a new piece of information added, another variable to take into account.

This wasn't normal.

Was this her power? If so, why was it showing up now? It wasn't this way when that thief tried to take Sophie’s purse. Why was there such a big difference between now and then? Was the heightened stress the only variable affecting her? No, that didn't sound right.

Nothing about this felt right!

A growl left Amanda's mouth. She was on top of the train. To be more precise, she was on top of the lounge car. It wasn't frozen, but the same could not be said for the train cars further back. Two of them were covered in a thick sheet of ice.

It was definitely the work of an Exceed.

It also-probably-maybe meant the Exceed wasn't in the lounge car. That made this a prime opportunity to go in. Amanda would have already done so if her brain could just keep quiet for a second!

Amanda took a deep breath. She could do this. She knew she could.

So she did.

~~~

Exceeds were physically superior to humans by default, and not just by a small margin. An Exceed was immune to most common firearms and could easily overpower the strongest of men. That was something that had been repeatedly explained and demonstrated to Kevin King ever since he made it rain toads over the city.

Unfortunately, all that enhanced physically meant little when the gun wasn't aimed at him.

When the police had warned him of a possible kidnapping attempt on his person, Kevin had been worried. When they had asked for his cooperation, he'd been shocked… and a little intrigued. If he said no, they would have sent him to the Disk, where CHEM would have likely moved him to a safe house. That would have been the safe option. There was no need for him to volunteer himself for this.

He'd done it anyway.

Was it because he wanted to live out some childish fantasy of being a hero? Perhaps. Yes, perhaps there was a part of him that wanted that. He'd been a kid once. He'd tied a blanket around his neck and pretended it was a cape. He'd had fantasies of beating all the bad guys while rock music played in the background. Everyone had.

However, he was an adult now. The police had repeatedly told him there should be no need for him to do anything other than get on the train and do as he was told. In fact, they explicitly ordered him he shouldn't try doing anything else. Kevin was not going to ignore advice from the experts.

Even if it was clear something had gone wrong.

The kidnapping wasn't supposed to be this overt. There weren't supposed to be four armed men holding them hostage. There weren't supposed to be families huddling together in fear. There sure as hell wasn't supposed to be another Exceed in the train.

Someone had to do something.

Kevin King was an Exceed. According to many scientists, that made him the next stage in human evolution.

Kevin King was also a regular guy who barely knew how to make a fist.

He could start swinging wildly at the nearest criminal, and he'd take him out. That'd leave three hostile and armed men, well, two because one of them had given him the passcode. Kevin had also seen him try to be the voice of reason, calming down the others when it looked like they were about to get violent with the passengers. Still, Kevin wasn't sure if he could live with himself if someone ended up shot because he tried to do something.

A toad croaked as it popped into existence.

The windows broke.

Kevin watched, stunned, as a masked figure, a female he would later realize, crashed through the windows feet first. She sailed through the air and performed a flawless somersault to land on her feet.

There was a second of frozen shock as everyone turned to look at the intruder.

Then she was moving.

One criminal went flying against the window. Another was slammed against the ground so hard Kevin could feel it in his teeth. One tried raising his gun, but it was snatched from his grip with absurd ease, like an adult taking a toy from a child. She was a whirlwind of violence, a provider of fresh blood and cracked bones.

Three seconds.

That was how long it took for the woman to take down the four armed men. As soon as those three seconds were over, she was dashing away towards the frozen areas of the train, breaking the ice in the process.

It took Kevin ten full seconds to remember one of the men the woman had just taken down with such brutality was an undercover officer.

~~~

Tim was not having a good time.

The Exceed could make ice. That was cool. Literally and figuratively. He didn't throw ice beams or anything like that. Instead, the ice spread outward from him or from whatever he was touching. He couldn't make it appear randomly. It needed to go from point A to point B before reaching C.

That was good because Tim would already be a popsicle otherwise.

Tim knew that if he could get his hands on this guy, he'd kick his ass. His brain was telling him that was the truth, and his brain was making an awful lot of sense.

However, getting close enough to do that was proving next to impossible.

Tim growled as his legs were encased in ice once more. The narrowness of the train made it hard to dodge. Tim's legs had been repeatedly frozen over for the past few minutes. While it hadn’t really hurt him, it had completely ruined his pants. The real problem was that it always made him slow enough for the Exceed to continuously stay out of his reach. The time he spent breaking free of the ice was time in which the Exceed could back away, create more ice walls, or...

"You little shit!"

Or insult him. Yeah, he did that too.

"Don't you know who you're dealing with!" The Exceed shouted as he slugged Tim across the face, reminding him that all Exceeds had some measure of super strength.

"I am Jack Frost!" The Exceed yelled as he threw another punch. It left Tim's head ringing. "I'm a fucking legend!"

It was a cool name, but Tim was pretty sure this guy wasn't a legend. Otherwise, Tim would have recognized him already. Unfortunately, Tim had no opening to say that as the hits kept coming and the ice kept spreading.

"Get away from him!!!"

The voice was Amanda's. Tim recognized it instantly.

He still had a hard time connecting it to the black-clothed projectile that slammed into Jack Frost's side.

"Another one?!" Jack yelled incredulously as he pushed Amanda away with a wall of ice. One of Amanda's hits actually cracked it, making Tim's eyebrows go all the way up to his hairline. "How many of you are there in this damn train!?"

"None of your business," Amanda said, standing protectively in front of Tim with her fists raised. In a lower voice, she asked, "You okay?"

Aw, she cared. That was sweet.

"Peachy," Tim replied while breaking himself free. "He makes ice. It's annoying." He thought about it for a moment and added, "I want to beat him up."

"You think I'm going to let you make a plan!" Jack Frost shouted as he sent a wave of ice at them. It was narrow and awfully sharp. Tim was reminded of a battering ram.

He stepped in front of Amanda and readied himself. If he punched it hard enough, he just might break it in time.

"I'm going to throw you now."

"Eh?"

Tim didn't get a chance to say anything else as Amanda picked him up, one hand on his ruined pants and the other on his neck, and threw him at the Exceed. Whatever surprise Tim was feeling was nothing compared to the one prominently displayed on the Exceed's face. The man barely had time to duck his head.

In doing so, he allowed Tim to land right behind him.

It wasn't a graceful landing. Not at all. Tim awkwardly twisted his body while in the air to land with his feet on the ground, and the pose he ended up in looked like it came out of some modern art painting.

Tim still got up and punched the Exceed in the head.

Jack Frost gasped and staggered back, somehow managing to retain enough of his senses to raise a wall of ice between himself and Tim while backing away with short, jerky steps.

And completely missed Amanda coming behind him.

A punch struck his back and slammed him against his own ice. Jack stomped his feet to push himself out of Amanda's way by generating ice under his body.

This time it was Tim who got him.

Blood went flying from his mouth, staining the ice beneath them. It was only the first of many wounds the two would make. Whenever Jack tried to stop one from getting close, the other would come at him from the other side. The two teens didn't let up, raining brutal blows upon the Exceed. Each second that passed tilted the balance further in their favor.

Then Jack did something neither Tim and Amanda were expecting.

He threw himself out the window.

Not caring that the train hadn't slowed down in the slightest, the Exceed created a wave of ice to push himself through the window, shattering the glass in the process.

For a moment, there was silence as Tim and Amanda stared at the broken window.

Tim snapped his fingers.

“Now, I remember! Jack Frost! He teamed with Behemoth that one time! It made the news! ...kind of sucks he got away, though. Wasn't expecting that." Tim clicked his tongue. "I thought I could catch a bad guy before the police got here and-Hey, what are you doing?"

"We're getting out of here!" Amanda told him, taking hold of his arm and pulling him along. "The Exceed is gone. The other criminals are down for the count."

"Oh, you fought them too? Nice!"

"Doesn't matter. We're taking these masks off and making ourselves look presentable before the next stop," Amanda told him. "You don't get to argue with me on this! You have no idea how much trouble we'll be in if the police find us like this!"

"Okay…" Tim said. He looked down. "I'm going to need some pants, though."

~~~

AN: Take a drink every time a window breaks this chapter. 

Unless you are not of legal drinking age. In which case, don't. Let it never be said we don't give out PSAs. 

Also, as some people guessed last chapter, Amanda is going to have questions.