The squad had barely gotten a chance to rest.
They were gathered in one of the middle carts, catching their breath while the train thundered across the frozen wasteland. Outside, the storm had calmed just enough for the windows to show streaks of white terrain flashing by.
Blue Blaze leaned back with his staff across his lap. "You know, for an escort mission, this has been terrible."
Ice King had his eyes closed, arms folded. "That's because you expected peace. Rookie mistake."
"I expected not to get attacked every ten minutes."
Shadow, standing near the door, suddenly lifted his head.
A noise echoed from several carts down.
Shouting.
Metal clashing.
Then gunfire.
Nightcoil was already on his feet. "That doesn't sound like workers."
Shadow drew his weapon. "Because it isn't."
They moved.
The squad rushed through the train, pushing past startled civilians and wounded soldiers as more shouting broke out ahead. By the time they reached the next section, raiders had already boarded in the confusion, white armor and covered faces blending with the snow flashing outside the windows.
Shadow and Nightcoil hit first.
Shadow moved like smoke, slipping through the narrow aisle and dropping raiders before they could turn their weapons on the passengers. Nightcoil used his chain in tight, controlled swings, wrapping weapons, yanking raiders off balance, and slamming them into the floor without tearing up the train around them.
Farther back, Ice King and Blue Blaze cut through another group trying to push toward the cargo section. They had to fight carefully—no wild blasts, no big attacks, no damaging the train.
Blue Blaze ducked under a swing and jabbed his staff into a raider's chest, sending a controlled Kia pulse through the armor.
"Trying not to wreck the train is making this way harder."
Ice King froze a raider's boots to the floor and knocked him out with the end of his staff. "Welcome to precision work."
They fought their way cart by cart until they reached the research equipment room.
The door was already open.
Inside, Varrik Frostbane stood with several raiders, a power core locked inside a transport case. His white armor gleamed under the emergency lights, skulls rattling against his belt as he turned toward them.
Ice King lunged forward.
Too late.
Varrik and his raiders vanished out the rear access hatch, dropping onto waiting snowskimmers.
Ice King reached the door just as they disappeared into the storm.
He stared after them.
"…Dang it."
Blue Blaze came up beside him. "They took the core?"
Ice King's face twisted slightly. "They took a power core. Those are expensive."
Blue Blaze blinked. "That's what you're worried about?"
"I'm worried about all of it," Ice King said. "But especially the expensive part."
Blue Blaze leaned against the doorframe. "Well, we'll probably see them again. We can just steal it back."
Ice King looked at him for a second, then nodded. "Yeah. I like your thinking."
The train kept moving.
But the raid wasn't over.
Ahead, the tracks led onto a massive bridge stretching over a giant chasm. Darkness dropped beneath it like the world had split open, and the train rolled toward it with no way around.
Shadow stepped onto the roof and looked across the bridge.
His voice went cold over comms.
"Everyone get ready. This is where they hit us."
He was right.
The attack came from everywhere.
Raiders stormed the front. More hit the rear. Snowskimmers raced alongside the bridge rails, firing upward. Others climbed from underneath with hooks and magnetic claws, trying to breach the bottom of the train.
The whole bridge became a battlefield.
Shadow stayed on the roof, firing with deadly precision as raiders climbed up from the sides. Every shot mattered. Every miss could hit the bridge, the train, or someone inside.
Blue Blaze stood near the side of the train, blasting apart siege equipment as raiders tried to roll heavy launchers into position along the bridge supports.
"Who brings siege weapons to a train robbery?" he shouted.
Ice King answered through gritted teeth while raising an ice wall to block a rocket. "People who really want the train."
Nightcoil stayed inside, moving cart to cart, making sure no raiders slipped through to the civilians or wounded soldiers. Every time a hatch opened, he was there. Every time something moved in the shadows, his chain snapped out first.
At the front, Ice King slammed his staff down and spread ice along the rails, stabilizing the train as explosions shook the bridge. When rockets streaked in, he raised barriers. When the wheels slipped, he froze the track just enough to hold it.
Then Shadow saw it.
Halfway across the bridge, beneath one of the main support towers, Varrik's men were setting up the stolen power core.
Wires.
A trigger unit.
A detonation team.
Shadow's eyes narrowed.
"Ice King," he said over comms. "They rigged the power core to blow the bridge."
The entire squad went quiet for one second.
Then Ice King's voice came back, sharp and serious.
"Stop that detonator."
Shadow dropped to one knee on the roof, bracing his rifle against the freezing metal.
He found the first raider.
Fired.
The man dropped before he could connect the final wire.
Another raider grabbed the detonator.
Shadow fired again.
The shot hit clean.
Nightcoil's voice came through comms as he fought off another boarding team.
"Wow, Shadow. You can fight and snipe? What can't you do?"
Shadow chambered another round. "Relax."
A third raider ducked behind cover, reaching for the backup trigger.
Shadow adjusted his angle, waited half a breath, and fired through a gap in the bridge railing.
The raider fell.
Shadow stayed focused, scanning for the next threat.
"They're still trying to arm it."
Blue Blaze launched a precise Kia beam, destroying one of the siege platforms near the support beams.
Ice King pushed more ice along the train's path, keeping it stable as the whole bridge shook under the attack.
Nightcoil cleared another cart and looked toward the windows, watching raiders crawl along the outside like insects.
The train was halfway across.
The bridge was still standing.
But Varrik wasn't done.
From the far end of the bridge, the warlord stepped into view, giant axe in hand, standing beside the stolen power core like he had been waiting for them to notice.
Through the snow and smoke, his voice carried across the bridge.
"Let us see what breaks first," Varrik called.
His axe lowered toward the core.
"The bridge… or your heroes."
Ice King stepped onto the roof of the train, frost gathering around his staff.
Blue Blaze tightened his grip.
Shadow adjusted his scope.
Nightcoil spun his chain once, eyes locked forward.
The train roared across the chasm.
And the real fight began.