Thread: Empire - City of Lost Cause (Black_Out and meomeo)

Attention passengers. We will arrive at Empire Central shortly. Please remember to bring all your belongings as you alight. Thank you for traveling with The pleasant automated female voice barely rose above the din ringing in Vallies ear. White hot, splitting pain tore through her midsection. Son of a bitch that fucking hurts!! That scarf thing had knocked the blonde onto her back. She painfully clutched her ailing tummy, failing to stop groans and whimpers escaping her lips. And she has lost her grip on the hammer. My hammer! Panic seized Vallie. She searched every direction frantically and there it is! A few rows back under a seat laid the ancient weapon lifelessly. A symbiotic relationship bound hammer and wielder - each powerless without the other. Doubled over - pretty much crawling on palms and knees - Vallie clambered over and with the greatest relief wrapped her fingers around the worn leathery hilt. At once, the hammer crackled and burst to life menacingly. At the same instant Vallie felt a surge from deep within which began to blot out and smother the pain. Sighing from the respite, Vallie tottered to her feet and turned to face Vagabond. Only there was no one to face. She found his inert body crumpled at the far side of the train car, a whiff not unlike burnt cooking drifted to her. Meanwhile, the searing pain in her midriff a moment before was reduced to nothing but a numb soreness. She gingerly touched her stomach and found her ribs in all their rightful places. Seems she has emerged from her first super villain fight victorious, and in one piece. So far. Vallie knew better than to let her guard down. She had no idea the shape Vagabond was in, or whether he would get back up. From one of the windows she spotted a couple of station security or policemen rushing over to their car, no doubt boarding the train once it comes to a complete stop. Vallie muttered a curse under her breath. She has no intention of tangling with the Vagabond further, much less the authorities who would demand a full report and get the press involved. Now that would be a real headache. Holding the hammer seemed to grant Vallie added decisiveness. It was an exhilarating feeling she seemed to know exactly what to do before thoughts cross her mind. The blonde strode down the aisle, hair whipping behind her like a galloping horses mane, past the awe-struck Mark, lifted her suitcase it now weighed like nothing - which she nonchalantly slung over her shoulder, and continued down the car. Shame about Mark and his room at the Royal Riviera it was fun and might have amounted to something if not for the Vagabond's untimely intervention. Vallie reached the mess of watches, phones, and wallets scattered about and swiftly bent down to scoop up her own. No one stood in her way and she is by the door in no time. It hissed open. Time to make myself scarce, she thought, I hope I havent forgotten how to fly, its been a while. The hammer, however, did not give Vallie omnipotence. In her haste, she neither noticed the man in a snapback baseball cap recording the proceedings from his phone nor that file from Garrison, which had slid out of her purse in the chaos and laid discarded among the other valuables on the floor...