#wutm

It was nearing Midnight. The railway station was almost quiet, save for one train, still at one of the platforms. A three car, stainless steel electric set, making up the last train of the night. Most of the trains that ran to this station were electric. Diesels were considered banned unless either in an emergency or by special agreements for one-off occasions.

A set of footsteps would almost silently grace the platform, an individual walking alongside the train, along the whole length of the train. Blonde hair, blue eyes, grey uniform with tie. A whistle around his neck and a pair of flags in his arms, green and red. It was Bowen Chuuno.. and he was about to dispatch the last train for the night.

In recent times he had been getting accustomed to his new posting, here in Intelligence. For a brief period too, he was taking extra work with the STA, not in terms of his usual railcar driving, but on station duties, mostly in the evenings, after his work with the Ministry had finished. Most of the time of course he would go and spend as much time with Ann as possible, but when she was busy, he would end up here, working for a little bit more money.

Once he reached the end of the train, he turned around, facing the front, facing the driver. Standing on the platform with his eyes on the nearest clock. His hand would pop the whistle in his mouth, observing as the time ticked closer to departure.

When the time reached 30 seconds to departure, he would blow his whistle, loud and long, the standard departure sound for trains that weren’t of express priority, like the Super Express. This was just a normal train, the last one for the night, most likely running all stations to Lobarr in Authrum.

Then, when the time would tick to departure, he would blow the whistle again one last time, before preparing the flags in his hands, dropping the green one down to signal right away to the driver. With a wave, the driver would close the doors.. and the train would be on it’s way. The blonde would wave to the driver as the train passed him, observing it as it left the platform.. on it’s way. With that, the last train had gone.. and therefore the station would be closed for the night.

The blonde would make his way back to the station concourse, to put the flags away and his whistle back in his bag. There was still a bit to do.. paperwork, cleaning, just a few small things, while also locking doors and the like, before heading home.

One can lose track of time when performing such duties. It had been a good 15-20 minutes since then and he was at it with a broom, sweeping the concourse. Everybody else had gone home, entrusting him to lock up. There weren’t even any security guards on duty. Security cameras tended to take care of that job at this time, as did the motion sensors.

Suddenly, a sound filled his ears, the sound of movement.. like there was someone else here apart from him. That wasn’t a good sign... he was supposed to be the only person left.

More sounds of movement.. followed by... blips.. buzzings? Computer like sounds? He had heard those sounds before.... many.. many times before...With wary eyes, did he make his movements slow, but not obvious, sweeping to one of the stations walls.. slowly putting the broom to one side... and reaching for his IDND.

And he reached for it just in time...

For in that moment, out of seemingly everywhere, a dozen, maybe two dozen black-suited figures, with machine-like hands and faces, descended upon him.. all with guns, all of them firing upon him... just as he leaped out of the way, rolling to a hiding place while taking a few pot shots at some of them, all at their main weaknesses, their heads. Each successful shot to the head was met with an explosion, along with that particular individual dropping to the floor, like it had been killed.

Luckily, the place he had hid to had another hallway, a way around. He wasn’t going to leave with all those assailants still in there, no, he had to take them all out. He went right around, first at speed, but when he made it around, now behind them all, he had to be slower, sneakier, to ensure they could not hear them. They were machines, but when it came to sensing people, they were as dumb as doorknobs.

Five shots, quick succession, before another barrel roll and firing more, more heads exploding, one by one, while the others turned to start firing. Again he would be back on his knees, but this time at inhuman speed up the walls and cieling, the trail of bullets trying to catch up to him. At such speed, he fired more shots, more beings exploding into pieces. The intense, quick firefight would continue, but Bowen would not receive a single wound. He was too quick for them, he was always too quick for them. He had been dealing with them too many times already to outrun their bullets.

It came to the point where there was only four left. It almost seemed like his work was done... when out of nowhere... a grenade stopped him in his tracks. It didn’t come from any of the assailants in front of him... and it forced him to go into a different direction, to jump hard, out of the way.. and into a ticket office, just as it blew up, the resulting explosion sending smoke and debris everywhere.

When the smoke had cleared, the blonde kept himself against a wall, turning on occasion to see where the assailants were, but then another voice would fill the area... one he would also recognise.

“Give yourself up, Chuuno! You’re surrounded!”

...Bazuko..... The intelligent android that was stolen from the Ministry and converted for uses of crime by the X, a terrorist organisation bent on taking down the United Government. That would also explain the robotic assailants, for they all tend to be associated with them.

“I wouldn’t say I’m surrounded, the four is all you have left!”

“Four may be enough to ring you in, just come quietly and don’t make this harder than it already is.”

To which a swift response was met.. by him shooting another one of the assailants down.. in the same fashion... now there were three.. not including the supposed individual leading today’s suicide group. The immediate retaliation was somewhat seemingly endless gunfire, bullets flying everywhere, an immense amount of holes exposing the office. The blonde would move quickly, to strategic areas, to pick off the remaining assailants, one by one, bit by bit, little by little, whenever he had such an opportunity... until there was one left... Bazuko.

In anger, Bazuko picked up and threw another grenade, right into the office, exposing the blonde as he jumped out, another barrel roll of firing as the office exploded. This time he wasn’t aiming for Bazuko’s head, he was aiming for his hands, shoulders and legs. Such shots were again in quick succession, rendering his body parts useless pretty quickly.

Bowen waited for a few seconds, as if observing the now motionless humanoid, before rushing over to kneel beside it.

“Bazuko.. listen to me. This isn’t what you’re supposed to do. You belong with the Ministry of Science. You were created for good purposes, not some toy to be used for the proceeds of crime!”

But the humanoid wouldn’t listen.

“Your real name is Zingwell! What, don’t you remember your true purpose? Did they wipe you of your previous memories completely?”

But the humanoid would instead grin, before the blonde would sigh and place his IDND to the humanoid’s head.

“...Guess I’ll just have to take you back and have them reprogram you from scratch...”

But that got a laugh out of the humanoid, who’s eyes would open to look at the blonde.

“You don’t get it....” It sneered.

To which Bowen’s eyes would widen a bit... “What?”

The humanoid laughed again, starting right at Bowen.

“Your stupid compassion for robots makes for a good exploit.”

“.....Wh-”

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

There were no more words, for he was caught up in the explosion at point blank range, sent flying across the station, hitting the floor hard. The blonde was naive to think that Bazuko would not have been planted with a self-destruct mechanism and extra explosives to lull the male’s tendency to help others.

It took him a little bit of time, but he was able to get up.. slowly, but surely... to reach for another office and sound the alarm. A duress signal, that would bring help along the way eventually.

All he could do now is sit by the wall, with his cuts, bruises, burns and other injuries.. hoping that attention would come sooner.. rather than later.