Project Echo Bunker (The Train)
June 17, 2001
2:45 AM
Thud.
The heavy iron door of the train shuddered.
Thud.
Outside, the Detective was hitting the door. Not with his fists, but with something heavy—probably a rail tie or a shadow-construct hammer.
"He's going to get in," Marco said, pacing the narrow lab space. He was holding a rusted wrench he had found on a workbench. "This door is thick, but that guy is walking magic."
"I need time," Aris said. He was under the main console, stripping wires with his teeth. "This system is ancient. It runs on DOS. I have to bridge the Compass to the main generator manually."
Kenji stood in front of the glass cylinder. The black suit suspended inside seemed to stare back at him.
The sticky note: FOR SUBJECT ONE.
"Kenji, put it on," Sarah said. She was sitting on one of the bunk beds, elevating her leg. "If that thing comes through the door, you're the only one fast enough to stop him. But not if you pass out after one warp."
Kenji nodded. He reached for the latch on the glass cylinder.
Hiss.
The glass door slid open. The smell of ozone drifted out.
Kenji took the suit off the rack. It felt strange—lightweight, like neoprene, but cool to the touch. The material seemed to shift slightly under his fingers, like liquid fabric.
He stripped off his dirty hoodie and jeans, leaving on his boxers and undershirt, and stepped into the suit.
It was a struggle at first, like putting on a wetsuit, but once he got his arms in, the suit reacted.
Zip.
It tightened automatically, molding to his body perfectly. It wasn't uncomfortable; it felt like a second skin. The blue lines running down the arms and legs flickered to life, glowing with a soft, steady pulse.
Kenji put the helmet on. It was a sleek, full-face motorcycle-style helmet with a black visor.
Click.
A Heads-Up Display (HUD) booted up in his vision. Green text scrolled rapidly across the visor.
SYSTEM: ONLINE.
BIO-SIGNATURE: MATCHED. SUBJECT ONE.
STABILIZERS: ENGAGED.
Suddenly, the headache Kenji had been nursing for two days vanished. The constant, low-level buzzing in his ears—the Static—stopped.
He felt... quiet. Focused.
"Whoa," Kenji whispered. His voice sounded filtered and cool through the helmet's speaker.
"How do you feel?" Maya asked, standing up from the floor.
"I feel... grounded," Kenji said. He looked at his hands. The blue lines on the gloves were humming. "The suit. It's absorbing the excess energy. It's stopping the recoil."
Thud. CRUNCH.
The iron door behind them buckled inward. A small dent appeared in the center.
"He's denting it!" Marco yelled. "Aris!"
"Done!" Aris shouted.
He jammed the brass Compass device into a modified slot on the console. The blue crystal in the center of the Compass spun up to a whine.
Power surged through the train. The flickering overhead lights turned steady and bright. The computer fans roared to life.
And outside, the sound of heavy machinery moving echoed in the tunnel.
"Defense Grid Online," a robotic female voice announced over the train's intercom.
Aris scrambled into the pilot's chair. "I have control! External cameras are up!"
He pointed to the main monitor.
The grainy black-and-white camera feed showed the tunnel outside. The Detective was standing in front of the door, his shadow-whip formed into a massive battering ram.
But the camera also showed something else.
From the roof of the armored train, two twin-barreled chain guns had unfolded. They swiveled, locking onto the figure in the trench coat.
"Eat lead," Aris grinned. He pressed a red button on the keyboard.
BRRRRRRRRRT!
The sound was deafening, even inside the insulated bunker. The heavy machine guns unleashed a hail of bullets into the tunnel.
On the screen, the Detective vanished in a cloud of dust and sparks. The bullets chewed up the gravel, the rails, and the walls of the tunnel.
Aris let go of the button. "Did I get him?"
The dust settled.
The Detective wasn't there.
"He warped!" Kenji said. "Check the rear cameras!"
Aris switched views. Nothing.
"Roof camera!" Marco yelled.
Aris switched to the roof cam.
There he was. The Detective was clinging to the top of the train, right next to the turret. His hand was glowing with gray energy. He slashed at the gun barrel, slicing the heavy steel like it was cheese.
The camera went static.
"He just took out Turret One!" Aris panicked. "He's on the roof! He's going to cut through the ceiling!"
Kenji looked at the ceiling hatch—a small maintenance exit right above the lab.
"Open the hatch," Kenji said.
"What?" Sarah looked at him like he was insane. "Are you crazy? Keep him out!"
"He's going to destroy the defenses if we don't stop him," Kenji said. The HUD in his helmet was highlighting the hatch with a green arrow. Trajectory Calculated. "I have the suit now. I can fight him."
"Kenji..." Maya started.
"Open it, Aris," Kenji commanded. His voice was steady. The suit wasn't just stabilizing his power; it was stabilizing his fear.
Aris typed the command.
Hiss-Clank.
The round hatch in the ceiling popped open, revealing the dark tunnel ceiling above.
Kenji crouched. He didn't need to run. He just looked at the opening.
Warp.
No nausea. No pain. Just instant movement.
Kenji appeared on the roof of the train.
The wind from the tunnel ventilation hit him. The Detective was ten feet away, ripping the wires out of the second turret.
The Detective stopped. He turned slowly to face Kenji. His glowing blue eyes widened slightly when he saw the suit.
"The Interface," the Detective said, his voice glitching over the roar of the tunnel fans. "I haven't seen that model since... the accident."
"Get off my train," Kenji said.
He raised his hand. The suit's gauntlet hummed. He didn't just fire a blast; he felt the suit gathering the energy, compressing it, refining it.
The Detective laughed. "You think a costume makes you a soldier, boy?"
The Detective lashed out with his shadow whip.
Kenji didn't dodge.
Warp.
Kenji blinked forward, appearing inside the arc of the whip.
BAM.
Kenji punched the Detective in the chest.
This wasn't a clumsy haymaker. The suit released a focused kinetic charge at the moment of impact.
Blue energy rippled through the Detective's trench coat. The force was immense. It lifted the gray man off his feet and launched him backward.
The Detective flew off the roof of the train, slamming into the stone wall of the tunnel. He slid down to the tracks, landing in a heap.
Kenji stood on the roof, blue electricity arching off his shoulders. He felt... powerful.
"Aris!" Kenji spoke into his helmet comms. "Turret Two! Is it working?"
"It's damaged but functional!" Aris's voice crackled in his ear.
"Target the tracks," Kenji ordered. "Drive him back."
The remaining turret swivelled, aiming down at the Detective, who was struggling to stand up.
BRRRRRRRT!
Bullets strafed the ground just inches from the Detective's feet. He danced back, his shadow form flickering.
The Detective looked up at Kenji. He tipped where his hat used to be.
"Round one to you, Key," the Detective shouted over the gunfire. "But the Signal is growing. Enjoy your victory. The Void is hungry."
With a swirl of black smoke, the Detective stepped backward into a shadow on the wall and vanished.
Kenji waited. His HUD scanned the tunnel.
TARGET LOST. AREA CLEAR.
Kenji let out a long breath. He dropped back down through the open hatch, landing in the lab with a heavy metallic thud.
Marco ran over. "Did you get him?"
"I chased him off," Kenji said, pulling his helmet off. His hair was sweaty, and he was grinning. "Guys... this suit is awesome."
Sarah let out a laugh of relief. "We survived."
"We did more than survive," Aris said, spinning his chair around. "We have a base. We have power. We have the Black Box."
He pointed to the screen.
"And I just cracked the encryption on the computer."
The screen was filled with files. Maps. Blueprints.
And a folder labeled: SEASON 2 PREPARATIONS.
"Season 2?" Marco asked. "What does that mean?"
"I don't know," Kenji said, looking at the ominous file name. "But I think our summer vacation just got canceled."