The Adventures of Kid Combat 3: Jones Strikes Back by Christopher Helwink

Chapter One:
    Trapped
     
     
    It was the 8:14AM train from Elmcrest. The
passenger based train carried commuters from the neighboring towns
surrounding Elmcrest to the downtown station – where adults would
get off the train and head to work. There were several trains
throughout the day, averaging twenty minutes between runs.
    This train had eight silver train cars that
had a blue stripe down the middle of them. The engine, which was
all blue, showed signs of some age, but pushed the cars along the
tracks with ease. Each of the passenger cars showed the same
age.
    It was your typical morning commuting crowd.
Grown ups, of all ages, waited on the platform for the train to
arrive. They sipped their coffees, read their papers, and listened
to their MP3 players. They stood shoulder to shoulder, three deep,
waiting for the train to come.
    It arrived about three minutes late today.
The waiting passengers knew the train approached as the bell hung
behind them on the wall started to chime and a red light started to
flash. Then, the gates on the street corner came down.
    As the train passed by them and gradually
came to a stop, a breeze was made by the train cars as they passed
by the people. Papers rustled in the wind, faces crinkled, and
women grabbed their hair in protection of their fashionable
does.
    After the train came to a final stop, the
doors flung open and the mad dash to find a seat was on. Women
rushed, men rushed, everyone rushed to find a seat to nestle in for
the quick thirty minute commute to the city.
    This train, in particular, was an express
train and did not make any other stops after Elmcrest. It was a
straight shot to the city and the quickest of the morning – hence
the big crowd.
    As the passengers found their seats and
started up their morning routines, the conductor came around to
collect the daily fares. Most people had weekly or monthly passes,
but the occasional click could be heard by the conductor’s ticket
taker as it punched holes through one way tickets.
    As the conductor made the rounds on his third
assigned car, he found it slightly odd to find two small children.
He approximated their ages to be around ten or eleven. To the
conductor it seemed odd that they would be riding the train alone,
without any adult companionship. Seeing two children riding alone
wasn’t something that never happened. There was the occasional time
that you would see one or two children riding on the train –
usually meeting up with their parents or some guardian at the next
stop. But, the conductor found it odd that two cars in a row, he
found two children riding alone together. The last car was two boys
that looked very much alike. This time, he found a boy and a
girl.
    As the conductor took Kid Combat’s one way
ticket from him, he looked at him very puzzled. He punched a hole
in Kid’s ticket and returned it to him. He than grabbed Samantha’s
ticket, gave her the same look, and returned her ticket as well.
Without a word, the conductor moved on to the next row of
seats.
    “Geez, what’s his deal?” Samantha asked Kid
Combat, under her breath.
    “Dunno. Prolly isn’t used to kids on the
train. Whatever, he’s not important to us,” Kid said back. “Let’s
wait a few minutes now, though, just in case.”
    “Good idea. I’ll tell the boys,” Samantha
returned.
    “No need,” a voice over her earpiece said –
it was Wedge. “Did you forget? I can hear every word you crazy kids
say,” Wedge said one car back on the train, sitting with his
brother, Rocket. Each member of the SOCKs organization was
outfitted with an earpiece and had a communications link on their
shirt collar.
    “No I didn’t forget,” Samantha said back
softly. “I just wasn’t to sure you were paying attention!”
    “Squabble time is over with boys and girls,”
Kid Combat rang in. “It’s been a long week, time to get this over
with…”
    “Right KC,” Rocket said sitting right next to
his brother. “We’re heading for