S1:Ep3 - A Tale of Darling-Do

[Mattie Rooney]

Location: Train

Mattie stood next to Barnaby, her arms hanging limp by her sides, her lips pressed into a displeased line. What could she even do in this situation? Give him a pat on the shoulder, maybe? She didn't want to do that. It felt weird. He was still supposed to be her captain, even if he was in no shape to be captaining at the moment.

And then, with a hiss and a flash, the train car was filling up with smoke and purplebellies, and agonizing over her lacking bedside manner became the last thing on Mattie's mind. She begrudgingly put her hands up, trying in vain to fight off the coughing fit and the tears that were welling up in her eyes. So this was it, then. All things considered, she'd had a good run; six years of roaming the 'Verse free as a bird, no damns given. And it wasn't like getting caught was the end of the world or anything. Begby had been detained more than once in his lifetime, hadn't he? Though never for anything as serious as breaking into a federal prison train, at least not that she could recall. It was hard to think when her head was still swimming from the combined onslaught of the smoke and flash grenade.

As her vision slowly returned, she saw Barnaby get up -- with an admirable amount of resolve for a man choking on smoke while having a panic attack -- and continue the verbal assault she'd started on Abernathy. This really wasn't the right time for that, but she couldn't help but mentally cheer him on. If this was her last experience as a free woman, it could've been worse.

[Rian Carpenter]

As Rian zipped down to the train he spotted two Feds at the hatch Mattie had popped open. There was a faint billowing of smoke behind them too. It looks like the feds had them all in a neat little trap and the temporary XO's rescue plan was already shot to hell.

In another life his next move would have been to run or go through them. But Carpenter couldn't help but smirk slightly. If Barnie had played this right, they may finally be free and clear of this crazy job. Maybe even get Mona back? For now Rian would play nice with the cops. He released his rifle from his hands and let it hand freely from his shoulder strap, then put up his hands in surrender.

Dropping to his knees the feds grabbed him and pulled him inside the train, disarming him and his pulling his ident-card from his back pocket before he could.

"Would you guys believe this was all about little beagle alarm clocks?"

The feds were slapping cuffs and they dropped the Darling's security officer next to Abernathy as the feds took control of the scene. He turned to their former captor and addressed the man who in another time would have been his peer.

"Abe... no matter how this works out... remember you're the one who got yourself in this situation. You delude yourself or any of your colleagues with notions of vengeance...You know who I am."

He stared down the career criminal and was confident in his little promise to him. Rian didn't expect Abe to stay in jail too long, and if he was as legit as he presented himself to be, he'd have figured out who Carpenter was really Jimmy Russo's AWOL son and former top enforcer. Cut from the same cloth, they were both now in a familiar position to men of their ilk, shackled and on their knees before the long arm of the law.

"Anybody call top bunk at the clink yet?."

Rian looked around casually, all to comfortable with the situation.

[Tabitha Haemish]

Location: Inside The Darling

As Rian disappeared from the ship's hatch and slid down the line, Tabitha reached out to set her hand on Arlo's upper arm as they both ended up peering out at the train rushing along below them. Her lips parted and breath caught in her throat as the Feds along the roof moved to meet the security chef as he descended onto the top of the train. She could see them assisting him off the line and getting him into the train, where he disappeared from view as they all moved into the popped hatch like a swarm of ants returning to their hill.

"Oh," the doctor murmured, looking first up at Arlo and then at Viktor, brows raised as though they might have had answers to the questions in her gaze. "You don't suppose this is a bad thing, do you? Surely the Federal Agents will see that our crew are the good guys...right?" she asked timidly.

[Lomari]

Ship Time: 1608
Location: Turbo Train Coordinates.

Outside The Darling

Abe and his goons were cuffed and set in a neat and orderly line. Mattie's hands were secured behind her back, although she wasn't moved much past that. Rian was pulled in through the popped hatch and placed alongside the others, just in case. Barnaby was, curiously, left unbothered, although the guns remained half-raised just in case. The smoke began to clear from the room, wafting out through the hole in the train's side and dissipating as the locomotive hurried onward.

"He's the one giving the orders. This was all his idea."

"Damn right I did, you sonofabitch."

"Abe... no matter how this works out... remember you're the one who got yourself in this situation. You delude yourself or any of your colleagues with notions of vengeance...You know who I am."

Abernathy watched Rian spit his venom and barely veiled threats with some measure of calm amusement. His eyes turned to stare slowly around the room, taking in his own situation, eyeing the Captain, and then settling his attention once more upon the 'chef's' features. "I'll be sure to tell Jimmy hello, for you," he told the younger man, both a promise of his impending freedom and of a retaliation he wasn't afraid to carry out. Clearly, Abe was less than threatened by the boy's menace.

"That went about as smoothly as it could have," came the voice from the other section of the train, its owner making their way through the residual fog into their car. Geraldine Price emerged from the haze; her own gun held at the ready although she seemed pretty relaxed given the situation. It might've been cockiness, to the untrained observer, but to those that knew better, it was a sheer confidence in the fact that she could put down everyone in this train without breaking a sweat and sleep well that night to boot.

"Was surprised to get your call, Barna-baby," she told him, a smirk pulling at one corner of her lips as she cocked her hip to the side and looked down at those handcuffed with an amused grin and quirk of a brow. "But I gotta admit, I don't hate what I'm seein' here," the woman continued, nodding her chin toward her men and watching them tug Rian away from Abe and Co to set him on his feet beside Barn and Mattie, who they also pulled to her feet, although the Feds left all but Barnaby still cuffed. Just in case.