The Train Back To The Old Life

   TW: Contains some transphobia and violence.

Jonah James looked out the window of his private box on the Lemeny Night Roller. This was a train the society often used to transport their assets across the country while also making profit and financially supporting them and their endeavors in secret. The rolling of the hills reminded Jonah of the slopes back home, and it reminded him of how nervous he was. This was his first time out in the field in years after all, even though the business attire he wore was not what he had expected to wear on his first mission. Jonah didn’t know where the train was going or what his mission was. He didn’t even know if his powers still worked after all these years. All he knew was that, according to his watch, it was time to go to the dining car. 

    Jonah sat down at his table as the car began to shake. The only other people in the car were the bartender, the waiters, and a man who was asleep in one of the booths. This made Jonah even more nervous, because there were people he didn’t know, and the waiter was late. When he finally came to the table, the waiter asked Jonah what he wanted. 

“A Whiskey with honey.” He said. 

“I’m sorry sir,” the young man said, “we don’t have either of those things.”

“Yes you do.” 

    With a nod, the young waiter went back behind the counter, poured out the whiskey, and returned with a shot glass and bottle in hand. 

“Sorry, sir” the waiter said, “we do not have any honey after all.” 

    He put the bottle and glass down on the table. 

“For your inconvenience, we would like to offer you this,” Said the waiter. As he said this, he took a small envelope from his apron pocket and placed it on the table. “I suggest you open it in your box, sir.” 

    With a nod, Jonah took the shot, tipped the waiter, picked up the envelope, and began the walk back to the passenger car. As he walked through the various cars of the train, he slipped the envelope into his jacket pocket and kept walking. When he finally made it to the right car, the door to his pox was open. Cautiously, Jonah moved his left hand to his holster, gripping one of his twin 22’s as he opened the door wider with his right. He pulled the left gun out and cocked it as soon as he saw the no good redneck sitting in his box. 

“Well well well,” said the man with the brim of his cowboy hat pulled down to his nose, “if it isn’t the Black Yeti come back from the dead.” 

    It had been many years since Jonah had last seen this man, and they had both grown so much, but there was a dead giveaway as to who he was because this disgusting excuse of a man had no middle fingers, and only one real eye. 

“Aren’t you gonna give your old pal Jacob a hug?”

    Jonah closed the door and sat down across from the man, with his eyes and his gun still locked on Jacob Wembly. Like I said, Jacob had grown a lot, but he still dressed like it was the Wild West. 

“What do you want Wembly?” Jonah asked. 

“Is that anyway to treat an old friend?”

“What part of our past encounters makes you believe we’re friends?”

“I saved your life.”

“Once, after trying to kill me for money more times than I can count.”

“Wrong, the first time was for money.”

“And all the others?”

“You know why. But I’ve decided to let bygones be bygones. Besides, after you went missing from the face of the earth, the bounty on your head has been removed. But I’m not a bounty hunter anymore. I’m a deputized government lawman now. I can’t tell you who I work for, but what I can tell you is that I’m here for information.” 

“Information on what?”

“Your boss.” 

A look of fear, shock, and surprise appeared on Jonah’s face. 

“How did you…”

“How did I know you’re not working alone? It’s quite simple really. I’ve had tabs on you for years. I know about your residency in Colorado. I also know that you do not have the funds or the ability to send your disabled son to a prestigious school. I also know that that duffle bag on the floor has a brand new suit stuffed in it.”

Jonah looked down and noticed that his duffle bag was now on the floor. At this moment, Jacob grabbed Jonah’s gun, removed it from his hand, and pointed it back at Jonah. Jonah stared down the barrel of his own gun. 

“Here’s what’s gonna happen,” Jacob said, “You’re going to tell me the name of who you work for, and then I’m gonna give this back to you.”

Jonah didn’t even flinch. 

“Nothing? Really? Come on Jonah,” Jacob said, “I know who you’re working for, I just need confirmation. And I thought you were smarter than this. You’re working for a delusional teenage boy who ran away from home and thinks he’s a girl.”

Now this made Jonah extremely angry. That’s when the air began to chill. 

“Don’t talk about her like that,” Jonah said as the box got colder and colder and Jacob began to shiver, “she may be young, but she is one of the greatest minds I have ever met. And as a matter of fact, yes, she was born a man, but she is a girl and a beautiful and amazing one at that. Even still, she’s ten times the man you’ll ever be.”

Jacob cried out in pain as his hand started to freeze, causing him to drop the gun. Jacob ran out of there and the air returned to its earlier temperature. Jonah laughed heartily. “Lord, I missed this.” he said as he opened the duffle bag. And put on the new suit. 

“Hello, Black Yeti.”

Jonah was startled at the voice that seemed to be coming from inside his head as soon as he put on the suit. 

“There is no need to be afraid. You can call me narrator. I am your suit’s A.I. I am here to assist you in the field.”

“Why are you called Narrator?” Jonah asked the disembodied voice.

“Because I am all knowing and omnipresent. For example, because of your suits new sensors and readings, I can tell you that the hostile known as Jacob Wembly did not come alone.” 

In the lens of the goggles, Jonah could now see heat signatures of armed men entering the car and heading in his direction. This put a smile on Jonah’s masked face. He had missed this so much. With an Icy blast, Black Yeti blew the compartment door off its hinges and ran into the hall where he was greeted by three mercenaries. And those three mercenaries were then greeted by his twin 22’s. Don’t worry, they’re not dead, they just won’t be able to walk for a while. 

“Black Yeti, we have a problem.”

“What is it?”

“Wembly has taken control of the train.”

“Then let’s go get him.”

“We can’t.” 

“And why not?”

“Because we have more important matters to attend to. We’re nearing the drop point and the train’s not stopping.”

“But Wembly is a criminal and he’s after Mary.”

“And we will deal with that on a later date. But until then, the commander can take care of herself, and we need to complete the mission.” 

“Fine. But how do we get off the train if it isn’t going to stop?”

“You snowboard, yes?”

“Yeah.”

“This will be very similar.” 

Under Narrator’s instruction, Jonah went back into the box and opened the window. The train was currently on a bridge over a deep canyon. Jonah began to sweat as Narrator said

“Jump.”

Jumping from a train above a canyon isn’t the scariest thing Jonah’s ever done. He reminded himself of this as he flew through the open window like a bullet. However, this did not stop himself from screaming, and peeing himself a little. 

“Activating hoverboard.”

Suddenly, a snowboard looking device extended and attached itself from and to the boots that Black Yeti wore. As soon as he saw this, Jonah knew what to do. He kicked his feet up and began to snowboard on the air! He could practically hear Wembly shouting southern curse words from the train. 

“Now, do you still have the envelope?”

“No. I left it in the car.” 

“Very well, I will brief you on the way.” 

Jonah hoverboarded all the way to the city and this took him till past dark. According to Narrator, the city of Clock-Finger’s vigilante known as Shatter had disappeared and now the gang known as the Time Crunch Gang was running rampant in the streets, but when Jonah got there, he saw it was so much worse than he thought. 

There was a wall made of rusty metal that kept anyone from getting in or out and it had steampunk guards at every entrance. Jonah was able to sneak in barely through a convoy of machine parts being delivered into the city. Inside the wall, it was like a steam powered prison. From a tall building near the heart of the town, Jonah could see it all. 

“There’s a commotion happening two blocks from here.” 

“Then let’s go check it out.” 

The Yeti jumped from rooftop to rooftop, the winds chilling as he went. However, when he saw what was happening, even he froze. A group of Time Crunchers were in combat with the dreaded House Of The Unknown. But what was truly frightening was that, fighting for the HOU, were three remotely controlled attomitons. These three machines were powerful, very much so. The one that led the charge looked awfully familiar. Then, when the machines utilized their powers, that’s when it hit Jonah like lightning. 

“Narrator, alert the others. Tell them the Clock-Finger situation is worse than we thought. The time crunchers have completely taken over the city, and they have their hand at the people’s throat. But what’s more terrible is this. The asset has been captured. I repeat, our true leader has been captured and tormented and experimented on and is being used by the House Of The Unknown. We cannot stand for this. We cannot let this happen. We need everyone. We need to gather us all. The Shattered Men must rise. We must go to war.” 

(A word from Cooper:

Dear readers,

in this story I included a picture of a drawing of mine for the Black Yeti’s suit. I am not the best artist. However, if y’all have ideas on what my characters look like or if you have drawings of them or artwork or whatnot, I would absolutely love to see it and maybe share it on here.

Hope you enjoyed the story, can’t wait to hear your critiques.

Love,

J. Cooper Armstrong.