Train

A whistle sounded in the distance, drawing steadily closer.

A-Train watched the approaching train and began talking about the ups and downs of his life.

"From Brooks District to Brooklyn District, my brother and I used to race along the tracks, chasing the wind and our future."

Ryan had no interest in any of that. All he cared about was Compound V.

Still, A-Train had said he would take Ryan to the place where he used to get Compound V.

For now, Ryan could put up with a few stories.

A-Train walked beside the rails, leaving footprints in the gravel.

"My brother expected too much of me. Times have changed. I'm not the kid who used to drag cars around to train his powers."

"You got some experience and learned to cheat, huh?"

"Quit going on about the drug."

"That's the one thing we shouldn't gloss over."

A-Train scoffed.

"My brother doesn't get it. Training mostly gives supes better control over their powers, not more power."

"What are you trying to say?"

"To put it bluntly, all the sweat in the world won't do as much as one dose of Compound V."

"You're still hung up on your Compound V."

"That's the one thing we can't gloss over."

Hearing his own words thrown back at him, Ryan fell silent and looked at A-Train.

Really, the man just wanted to take the easy way out.

As they talked, the train roared past. Its rush of air whipped their clothes.

Listening to it thunder by, Ryan remembered how people tended to fear massive machines like this.

Beside a subway, they imagined being trapped in the tunnel and crushed by a train.

Beside railroad tracks, they imagined what would happen if they were tied to the rails.

Beside a car, they worried about what shape their foot would take if a wheel rolled over it.

Ryan could imagine all that, but when he considered his own body, he found he could no longer feel afraid.

Even if a train hit him, he would not be the one getting hurt.

A-Train stood quietly beside Ryan as the train passed. As it swept by, he looked like a man desperate for a smoke.

He took several deep breaths.

"That noise and exhaust bring back the old days. I love it."

"Quit basking in it. We need to find Compound V."

Ryan's reminder pulled A-Train out of his memories. He watched the train recede.

"Once it gets farther ahead, we'll catch up."

"Why didn't we just get on?"

"Because the train's too slow."

With that, A-Train took a few steps forward and began to run. In moments, he had left the train behind.

Ryan followed, though he felt like neither running nor flying. He caught up with the train and leaped onto the engine.

He sat atop it as the train rolled on.

The train crossed wasteland and grassy fields. When it stopped at the terminal, Ryan jumped down from the engine.

A-Train stood nearby with his arms folded, having waited there for some time.

"Let's go."

He led Ryan into the terminal and through a winding route.

At last, they stopped outside a noodle shop.

A-Train pointed inside, indicating that it was not their destination, then led Ryan into the alley beside it.

Alleys always seemed to hide something shady. Ryan followed him in.

Discarded dragon fruit rinds and empty beer bottles littered the ground.

A young man leaned against a wall, smoking.

Without a word, Ryan followed A-Train farther into the alley.

Near its far end, A-Train led him into what looked like a basement.

The basement was small, lit by a hanging lamp enclosed in a shade.

Dust filled the air. Ryan guessed it might be a storeroom.

He looked toward the back and saw three men playing cards together.

Empty Test Tubes lay beside them, with traces of blue liquid inside.

A-Train made the introduction.

"This is a transfer point for Compound V."

After saying that, he brought Ryan over to the three card players.

He told them Ryan needed Compound V too.

Seeing that Ryan was a teenager, the men had been ready to fleece him, but A-Train said, "He's my friend."

That made them behave.

Ryan watched the farcical exchange without a ripple of emotion. He cared only about Compound V itself, and when he asked, he learned they had none in stock.

Just as A-Train had said, the drug would not arrive until tomorrow.

With nothing to get, Ryan had no desire to stay in a basement where even breathing felt uncomfortable. He and A-Train went back outside.

They returned to the filthy alley.

A-Train came out with him and invited him to eat noodles at the shop nearby.

The bread they had eaten earlier had hardly been enough for Ryan or for A-Train, who got so much exercise.

But Ryan shook his head and declined. He looked at the wall to one side.

His X-Ray Vision showed him what lay beyond it. As luck would have it,

Hughie had arrived too. He and Frenchie seemed keenly interested in the place.

They looked like they were investigating something. More importantly, they were heading toward the alley.

Curious about what they were up to, Ryan said goodbye to A-Train and waited where he was.

Soon, they arrived.

Hughie questioned passersby as he walked, studying his surroundings.

Then he spotted a noodle shop. Beside it stood A-Train, fresh out of the alley.

The sight of his enemy made Hughie's blood boil.

Seeing A-Train strolling freely down a sunlit street left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Fuming, Hughie ducked behind a parked car and cursed A-Train and everyone close to him.

After hiding there a while, Hughie felt safe enough to peek out.

A-Train was gone.

That was how supes were. Look away for a moment, and their extraordinary speed carried them off.

To ordinary people, they seemed to appear and disappear like ghosts.

Hughie waited a little longer before Frenchie hauled him out from behind the car.

"How long the hell were you planning to hide back there?"

"Forever, if I could."

"You're that scared of A-Train?"

"I'm going to kill him."

"Your voice is shaking."

Hughie had noticed that too.

He touched his chest, puzzled. Lately, he had been investigating supes constantly.

The more he learned, the more he saw them as people with immense power who treated other people's lives like a game.

Whenever he thought about investigating them, Hughie felt like someone who could not swim rowing farther and farther from shore.

At this rate, he thought, he might well die at a supe's hands.

Frenchie did not see what was going through Hughie's head. He just thought the frail-looking man was dragging his feet.

But there was not much he could do. As Frenchie spent more time with Hughie, he had gradually learned about his past.

The man accompanying him on dangerous jobs was just an ordinary Video Store clerk.

Ignoring Hughie's suggestion to "watch a little longer," Frenchie headed into the alley beside the noodle shop alone.

Seeing that, Hughie gritted his teeth and followed.

As they entered the alley, Hughie pinched his nose.

"It smells like a dead rat."

"Enough. Keep acting precious and I'll feed you to the mealworms."

"What?"

Hughie stared at him like a bewildered child. Frenchie kindly explained.

"Put anything in a glass tank full of mealworms, and it'll be gone by the next day. Guess where it goes."

Hughie shook his head hard at the strange question. He did not know the answer, and he did not want to.

But Frenchie went on.

"Of course they eat it. Mealworms eat creatures with weak defenses and delicate skin. How tough do you think human skin is?"

"P-pretty tough?"

"True. Skin is a natural barrier that protects us from most harm. But stick a finger into a writhing mass of yellow mealworms, and in three seconds, you'll see blood."

"..."

"Leave it in longer, and you'll find mealworms clinging to your skin and gnawing away. You could even dig worms out of the flesh as they burrow deeper."

Hughie did not want to hear another word. He covered his ears and hurried deeper into the alley.

Behind him, Frenchie spread his hands.

Mealworms were only insects. They looked disgusting, but without the mental hang-up, they were just plump little packets of protein.

Hughie was not thinking about that as he hurried through the alley. Before long, he came upon someone standing by the path, playing with his phone.

The man put his phone away when he saw Hughie.

"I've been waiting ages. Were you planning to spend your whole life behind that car?"

"Well, someone dragged me out, didn't they, Ryan?"

Hughie's face plainly asked, What are you doing here?

Ryan voiced the same question first.

"What are you doing here?"

Still wondering that himself, Hughie answered first.

"We got some information out of The Female."

"She actually answered your questions?"

"We found something to use against her."

At that, Ryan grew furious. He was a die-hard believer in true love.

Hughie had found leverage over A-Train's girlfriend? The implications were too ugly to ignore.

And with Hughie's girlfriend dead because of A-Train, it was hard not to imagine something happening.

Ryan pressed him at once.

"What did you do to her?"

"She told me there were leads on Compound V here."

"I see."

Hearing it was not what he had imagined, Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. He had almost torn Hughie apart.

Still, if Hughie was looking for Compound V, he was probably heading for the storeroom Ryan had just visited.

The three card players in there were not easy to deal with. As Ryan recalled them, someone greeted him.

It was Frenchie, arriving behind Hughie.

Frenchie said hello and asked what Ryan was doing there.

Ryan gave him a perfunctory answer.

"I like hanging out in shady alleys."

Clearly, Ryan had no intention of giving him the real reason. Seeing he would get nothing more, Frenchie invited Ryan to come deeper into the alley with them.

There were leads on Compound V inside. Ryan had worked with them before.

They could share whatever information they found with him, though Frenchie made one thing clear.

This was dangerous. He had no idea what lay at the end of the alley besides clues about Compound V.

To keep the two of them out of danger, Ryan went with them back into the basement.

The lighting was still dim. Ryan watched Hughie and Frenchie walk ahead of him.

These two could help him uncover more of Vought International's secrets. He knew some of what happened in the original story,

but Ryan still did not know how events would actually unfold.

The three moved carefully, keeping their footsteps quiet.

Soon, Hughie noticed the three men playing cards at the back of the storeroom.

He felt as though he were sneaking through a place where discovery meant death.

But his two companions did not seem to feel the same way.

Ryan used his X-Ray Vision to study the players' hands, working out who would win and who would lose.

A room beside the storeroom caught Frenchie's attention.

Iron bars sealed it shut. Through the gaps, he could see its sparse furnishings.

An old television, a moldy bed, a filthy floor—and a girl curled up like a caged animal, hugging her knees beneath a table.

The table was large, but the girl's hiding place would never have concealed her.

If they were playing hide-and-seek, she would have been found in seconds.

Yet Frenchie could not look away. He knew he had smoked weed and drunk too much. He was a complete wreck.

He had never been one to feel sorry for others, but now he found himself lingering over that girl.

She was petite in a way that set her apart from the European and American women he knew. Frenchie did not believe in love at first sight.

He knew he was attracted to her.

Almost against his will, he reached out and pushed open the barred door.

The girl beneath the table raised her head, but her gaze passed straight through Frenchie and settled on the distracted Ryan.