Jax had his back against the conductor's door. The nurse—or the thing that looked like a nurse—was just inches from his face. Her breath didn't smell fresh; it smelled like wet earth and formaldehyde.
"Get back," Jax warned, his voice shaky. He raised a hand, weak sparks flickering between his fingers. "I swear, I will tase you. I don't care if you're a civilian."
The nurse didn't blink. She leaned in, her weight pressing down on him, pinning him against the steel door. The air inside the car thickened, becoming a heavy soup of spiritual pressure. Jax felt his heart rate drop, like his internal battery was draining. The cold seeped into his bones, grounding him.
"The line ends here," the nurse whispered.
Bzzzt.
Jax's earpiece crackled to life. It wasn't the panic of Sal, the driver. Instead, he heard a heavy, rhythmic thudding sound. It was industrial. It was precise.
"Mr. Miller," Silas Vane's voice came through the static. "You seem to have hit traffic."
"Silas!" Jax gasped, shoving the nurse back. It felt like pushing against a statue. "Your girlfriend broke the train! She's possessing the passengers! They're... anchoring us!"
"Yes. She is increasing the metaphysical mass of the payload," Silas replied calmly. "She is trying to stall the flow by introducing chaos. It is a crude tactic."
"Crude? It's working! I'm freezing to death down here! Do you have a plan, or are you just calling to collect my life insurance?"
"I told you, Mr. Miller. The Foundry has developed a new capacitor."
"Yeah, well, the train is dead! The power is out!"
"The electrical power is out," Silas corrected. "But we didn't drill into the cemetery for electricity."
The Foundry, The Control Room
Silas stood in front of a large bank of brass dials and glass tubes. In the center of the room sat the storage unit from the heist—a containment vessel humming with the raw, volatile Ley energy they had carved from beneath the crypts.
It wasn't blue like electricity. It swirled like angry magma in gold and violet.
"Inputting coordinates for the Red Line sub-station," Silas said to the empty room. He didn't have technicians here. He didn't trust them.
He extended his tungsten hand and grasped the primary release lever. The metal of his arm groaned as the heat from the container surged.
"Let's see how the Widow likes a change in frequency," Silas muttered.
He slammed the lever down.
The Subway Tunnel
The Third Rail didn't just turn on. It exploded.
A shockwave of golden light shot down the tunnel. It wasn't the clean snap of electricity. It was heat. It was alchemical fire.
The surge hit the stalled train.
Inside the car, the lights didn't just flick on—they exploded, shattering the glass covers. But the car didn't go dark. The air ignited with golden motes of energy.
The nurse screamed. It wasn't a human scream; it was a dual-tone shriek, the sound of a spirit being forcibly ejected from a host. The golden light washed over her, warm and violent. The shadows in her eyes vanished, replaced by the natural white of her sclera.
She collapsed instantly, unconscious but breathing.
All around the car, the passengers dropped like marionettes with cut strings. The heavy pressure of the grave lifted, replaced by the smell of ozone, hot copper, and adrenaline.
Jax gasped, dropping to his knees. The surge hit him, refilling his internal battery in an instant. It was overwhelming, like mainlining espresso mixed with jet fuel.
"Whoa," Jax breathed, his eyes glowing a brilliant gold instead of his usual blue.
The train groaned. The metal chassis creaked as the alchemical energy flowed through it. The wheels didn't just spin; they bit into the tracks with unnatural force.
"Hang on!" Jax yelled, though no one was awake to hear him.
The train lurched forward. It wasn't a slow increase in speed; it was a violent acceleration, going from 0 to 60 in two seconds. Jax was thrown against the back wall, pinned down by G-force.
"Silas!" Jax screamed into his radio. "What did you put in the juice?!"
"Vitality," Silas's voice came back, sounding pleased. "Necromancy relies on stillness. I introduced hyper-activity. The train is now running on pure life-force energy. I suggest you hang on. I cannot control the speed yet."
The train tore through the tunnel, shrieking like a banshee. They sped past the North/Clybourn platform so fast that waiting commuters saw only a blur of golden light and a gust of wind knocking over a trash can.
Jax laughed. He couldn't help it. The power was exhilarating. He crawled toward the front window, fighting against the G-force.
They were moving at 90 miles per hour and climbing. The tunnel walls blurred into a smear of grey.
"Okay," Jax grinned, feeling a buzz in his skin. "Round one to the Metal Man."
But as the train raced toward the Loop, Jax looked down at his hands. The golden energy was arcing off his skin, jumping to the metal seats. Where it touched the worn fabric, the upholstery hissed and changed. The grey wool turned into sleek, hardened leather. The plastic handrails transformed into polished brass.
The train wasn't just moving fast. It was evolving. Silas was transmuting the entire transit system in real-time.
Jax looked out the front window as the tunnel opened into the underground junction.
"Dispatch," Jax said, his voice shaking with a mix of fear and excitement. "Clear the tracks. Clear all of them. We're coming through, and I don't think we can stop."