Derailed: Lifer’s True Identity

This story is based on the Reedsy.com prompt “Start your story with someone sitting on a crowded train and end it with them looking out over beautiful natural scenery.”

*****

Lifer sat on the crowded train, listening to the masses around him drone on and on about meaningless drivel. Normally he was completely obscured by a cloak, but thanks to Leftover’s associate CCC (Custom Character Creator), he had an hour long disguise as an attractive businesswoman. Once the train reached its destination, Lifer would use his powers and bring a random object to life. His soon to be loyal minion would make a scene and draw out heroes from Hugh’s network. The heroes would be distracted by his creation, giving him the opportunity to touch the helmets that armored them, bringing their own gear to life and turning it against them. He chuckled at Leftover’s plan, and thought about what he should bring to life to make this happen. As Lifer got lost in his thoughts, an obnoxious young man he was trying to ignore walked towards him.

“Hey gorgeous, got any plans when we get off the train?” The man asked. “Join me and I’ll show you a good time!”

“Not interested, thank you.” Lifer said, wishing that CCC hadn’t given him such a hot disguise.

“So you think you’re better than me?” The man shouted, raising his fist and shaking it in anger.

“Honestly, yes.” Lifer replied. He decided not to wait for the train’s destination to act, and he touched the pole the rude man was holding. The pole came to life and shook off the man.

“Don’t you know how to treat a lady?” The pole taunted the man, swinging himself and hitting the man in the chest. The man fell to the floor onto his knees.

“I’m.... sorry....” The man struggled to say, reeling from the pain of the pole’s attack.

The other passengers screamed and began pushing towards the train car ahead. The rude man crawled away slowly once the crowd had cleared their location. Lifer put his hands behind his head and smiled, ready to enjoy the peace and quiet until the heroes arrived.

*****

“He finally showed up, huh?”

“Yes brother.” Tam replied to Mirk. Their dark helmets provided full body armor, with gear at their disposal once they thought about summoning it. They stood on one of Hugh’s massive flying jets, which was being driven by their ally Janet.

“He’s been quiet since the mall incident, but now he has a train full of passengers in trouble.” Janet said. “This is our perfect chance to finally catch him, but do you guys have a plan for helping the people and stopping the train?”

“Definitely Janet.” Tam answered. “Mirk will hold off Lifer and his minions, and I will use my new invention to teleport the people back to the train station. I’ll have the conductor stop the train before I send him.”

“Sounds good brother, your creations will be helpful as always!” Mirk cheered.

“Once you stop the train, I will land the jet, armor up, and back you two up.” Janet said, smiling at the duo. “Hopefully we can get the job done ourselves, but if it comes down to it, Hugh has another team on the way if things get out of hand.”

“We’ll stop him this time.” Tam said confidently. “Lifer’s machinations end today.”

*****

Janet hovered the jet as close as she safely could to the moving train before Mirk and Tam jumped onto the train’s roof. The train was running in the middle of nowhere, which the heroes were grateful for should the situation get crazier. Mirk and Tam worked their way into the train, finding themselves in an empty car.

“The calm before the storm.” Tam mused as they worked their way into the next car. Tam’s words rung true, as the third car they visited had a living pole from the train glaring at them.

“So you’re the heroes the boss told me to watch for!” The pole said menacingly. “My name is Peter, and you’re going down!”

Mirk giggled, then turned to Tam.

“I’ll deal with Peter the Pole.” Mirk said, laughing again before composing himself. “Get the other passengers out of here!”

Tam nodded and ran forward. Peter swung his body at him, but Tam slid under Peter’s attack and escaped to the next car. Peter then faced Mirk with a glare.

“You think I’m a joke, huh? When you’re on the floor bleeding, we’ll see who’s laughing!”

Mirk kept his cool, and made a sword appear in his hand. He charged at Peter, ready to duel with the latest of Lifer’s strange creations.

*****

Tam had traveled through two more empty cars before finding one full of cowering people. His brother was usually the talker, but he had to handle reassurance duty this time.

“Don’t worry, I am here to save you all.” Tam said in a kind tone. He made a glove appear on his right hand. “If you touch this glove I created, you will be teleported back to the station you departed from. Once we secure this train, we will come back for you. Please line up for high fives!”

The passengers made a line on Tam’s right side, and Tam ran forward, high fiving each person as he passed. The passengers all vanished, successfully transported to safety.

“That went well.” Tam thought to himself, heading for the next car to repeat the process. “Hope Mirk is doing ok....”

*****

Mirk and Peter were locked in a standstill, with Mirk’s sword holding Peter back from striking him.

“Why aren’t you laughing anymore?” Peter mocked. “Is the silly talking train pole too much for you to handle?”

Mirk jumped back and stood in a battle pose with his sword.

“I’m not laughing anymore, because you have proven yourself to be a formidable foe. I apologize for not taking you seriously earlier. You are a far cry from the CD cases Lifer sent after us previously.”

“I appreciate the respect, but I still have to kill you.” Peter said, smiling. “But I acknowledge your skills as well. Let’s make this a grand duel!”

Mirk and Peter resumed their fight, with Mirk’s sword clashing against Peter. Both were so focused that neither noticed that the train had stopped.

Five minutes passed with neither Mirk or Peter gaining an advantage. Both paused when they heard the door ahead open.

“Mirk, jump back!” Tam yelled.

Mirk did as his brother ordered. Tam threw a smoke grenade, and the smoke enveloped Peter. Once the smoke cleared, Peter was gone.

“He’s in the Reflection Dimension now, and it doesn’t seem like he is choosing to reform and return.” Tam said matter of factly. “Why didn’t you use your grenades? You could have saved yourself the struggle!”

“You gotta learn to have some fun sometimes brother!” Mirk laughed, making his sword disappear back into his helmet’s storage program. “I take it all the passengers are off the train?”

“Yes, the conductor and everyone else are safely back at the station this train departed from.” Tam reported. “I have not seen Lifer though. It appears we lost him again.”

“Excuse me, heroes?” A beautiful young woman said, approaching Mirk and Tam. She was dressed in a nice shirt and slacks. “I was hiding when that talking pole appeared, and I can’t find my coworkers I was traveling with. Can you tell me what’s going on?”

“Of course, they are safe, and we can get you to safety too.” Mirk said reassuringly.

“Thank you so much!” The woman said happily. Before Tam could explain his high five transporting technique, the woman rushed at the heroes and touched their helmets. The helmets flew off of Mirk and Tam’s heads, reverting them back into their civilian outfits. The helmets laughed at their former owners, then generated their own armored bodies.

“Looks like I have my own network now!” The woman jeered at Mirk and Tam. A black cloak then appeared, completely obscuring her body.

“Ah, it would seem that my disguise’s time limit has run out.” A dark, gravelly voice said. “No matter, everything is working out just fine.”

“Lifer!” Tam and Mirk shouted in unison.

“Indeed.” Lifer responded. “You defeated my CD case creations before, but otherwise I don’t think we’ve met. Not that it matters anyway. My new hero creations here will dispose of you now.”

“I don’t think so!” Tam yelled, making a bright gold helmet appear in his hand. He donned the helmet, generating emerald green armor on his body.

“Tam, where did you get that helmet?” Mirk asked in surprise. “I thought all of the helmets Hugh uses are black?”

“This is a little project I’ve been working on.” Tam responded. “I didn’t plan on using this helmet, but Lifer has forced my hand.”

“Does Hugh know you made this?” Mirk asked, slightly concerned.

“Does it really matter right now brother?” Tam answered, slightly annoyed. “If it wasn’t for this helmet, we would be in even more trouble!”

“I suppose you’re right.” Mirk conceded. “There’s nothing I can do in the moment without my gear.”

“Allow me to even the odds!” A familiar voice shouted. Janet ran towards Mirk and Tam, now fully armored as well. “So we have to fight our own tech, huh fellas?”

“Yes Janet.” Tam said calmly. “I’m glad you got here safely, but I will end this right now.”

A smoke grenade appeared in his hand, and Tam tossed it at the armored figures. One of the figures made a sword appear, and deflected the grenade at a window. The window shattered, and the grenade exploded a distance away from the train.

“Too bad Tam, looks like you’re going to have to actually fight!” Lifer mocked. “Destroy them, my warriors!”

“Yes sir!” The armored figures said in robotic voices. The figures charged at Tam and Janet, and the four began dueling with their swords.

“It would seem my work here is done.” Lifer said, turning to once again leave the scene. Before he could make his usual exit, he found opposition in front of him.

“Not this time Lifer!” Another armored associate of Hugh’s cried out, a young man known as Chris. Two armored shoes stood on either side of him.

“Fred and Shania?” Lifer asked in surprise, remembering the sneakers he had previously brought to life. The pair of footwear were Lifer’s very first living creations.

“Yes, you may have given us life, but you didn’t show us a proper way to live!” Shania said heatedly.

“Hugh took us in and has treated us kindly, we stand with him!” Fred added.

Fred and Shania lept at their maker. Fred kicked Lifer in the chest, followed by Shania kicking his head. The cloaked figure fell to the floor, knocked out cold.

“So the boss man is just a pushover, huh?” Chris said in surprise. “Who knew his minions would be stronger than him? Well, his powers make him too dangerous to be here, even if he has no fighting skills of his own. Off to the Reflection Dimension for you, Lifer!”

Chris made a laser gun appear in his hand, and he blasted Lifer. The cloaked figure vanished, ending any future schemes from the sinister giver of life. All that remained were the armored figures.

After a long battle of sword clashing, Janet was finally able to overwhelm her foe with a strike that knocked him back. Taking advantage of the brief pause in the fight, Janet leaped over the figure and quickly turned around, slicing the helmet in half. The armored figure vanished, transported to the Reflection Dimension.

Tam gained the upper hand on his opponent as well, knocking the sword out of his hand. Tam sliced the armored figure’s helmet, also sending him to the Reflection Dimension.

The threat now averted, the heroes found seats to sit in. Janet, Chris and Tam removed their helmets, returning to their casual clothes. Fred and Shania made their armor disappear, reverting to their normal appearance of living sneakers (as normal as that is, of course).

“Great job everyone!” Janet said in a tired, yet upbeat tone. “Thanks to all of our hard work, Lifer is defeated!”

“I didn’t get to do a lot, but all of you were amazing!” Mirk said proudly.

“Yeah, I have to give Shania and Fred the credit for taking down Lifer.” Chris added. “Who knew that the first lives Lifer made would be his undoing?”

The team continued to praise each other and engaged in friendly small talk, when a party approached them.

A short boy that was around 12 years old stood before the resting crew. The armored figures that had generated from Mirk and Tam’s former helmets also stood beside the boy.

“My name is Landon, and I was the one acting as Lifer.” The boy said in an apologetic tone.

“You were Lifer?” Mirk asked, shocked that the threat they had been facing had been a child all along.

“Yes.” Landon replied. “My parents chose a life of crime over me, and they lost their parental rights. I spent most of my childhood in an orphanage, watching all of the other children get adopted. One day a doctor visited me at the orphanage, and he gave me the power to bring non-living things to life.”

“Doctor?” Tam asked. “Could he be the same enemy that The Pirate, Rick and Cerissa are currently dealing with?”

“The doctor gave me a cloak that hid my identity, gave me a different voice, and made me appear bigger than I actually am.” Landon continued. “I created evil living things out of anger for my own life not being appreciated. After spending time in the Reflection Dimension, I realized that there are caring people that would show me kindness. I should have turned to you from the beginning, and for all the trouble I caused, I am so sorry.”

“Apology accepted Landon.” Janet said kindly, the remaining heroes also smiling. “You were able to leave the Reflection Dimension, which shows that your motives are now pure.”

“Our old helmets have apparently chosen to live righteous lives as well.” Tam added. “So what will you all do now?”

“I had my life giving powers removed in the Reflection Dimension, so you don’t have to worry about that anymore.” Landon said. “I am going to live a quiet life with these guys. I have decided to name them Mirk and Tam, after the heroes that originally took them to battle before I brought them to life. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all, it is an honor!” Mirk said happily. Tam smiled and nodded in approval to Landon.

“We will join you as well.” Fred said kindly to Landon.

“We will continue to work for Hugh, and the payment we receive can support us all.” Shania added. “We will be your family Landon.”

Happy tears filled Landon’s eyes as he embraced Fred, Shania, Mirk and Tam (the helmet versions).

“Thank you so much!” Landon cried. “I promise to be good to you all! Before we go though, there is something I need to warn you heroes of Hugh about.”

“What would that be?” Chris asked.

“There is a man whose body is a dark silhouette. He calls himself Leftover, and he blames your network for being stuck in that form. He wants to destroy Hugh, and all of you too!”

“Silhouette?” Mirk asked. “I know that King Lenny Overature of Prosperity had been turned into a silhouette, and I had sent the villain that did that to him to the Reflection Dimension. But he had been cured! I even met with him personally and confirmed it!”

“He has an associate named CCC that can temporarily change appearances.” Landon offered. “CCC created the businesswoman disguise for me earlier. He could have done something similar for Leftover.”

“The ability to change appearances, interesting.” Chris said thoughtfully. “Leftover could be using this talent to make himself look normal, or even have someone else pose as the king. Regardless, we should probably pay the king a visit soon and confirm this.”

“Right.” Mirk said somberly. “The creation of Leftover is partly my responsibility, so I will investigate Prosperity as soon as I can.”

*****

Deep below the royal castle in Prosperity, Leftover stood with his associates. Hypnorc, Doctor Sic, and Willy all looked at their boss, awaiting the reason for their meetup.

“CCC should be back at any moment now to report if Lifer has destroyed any of Hugh’s people.” Leftover said excitedly in his sinister, yet noble tone. “If all went according to plan, we will have a new recruit on our side!”

“CCC has all the fun!” Hypnorc complained. “When will I get some time in the field?”

“Your place is here for now Hypnorc, but I will send you when an opportunity arises.” Leftover answered calmly.

“When will I get to turn some heroes into worms?” Willy asked impatiently. “The bard that stopped by recently was fun, but I need a bigger fix than that!”

“All in due time Willy.” Leftover answered. “Ah, our company has arrived!”

An eccentric man with a mohawk, purple eyes behind party glasses, mismatched clothes, and a toothy smile strode in. CCC had arrived to the meeting.

“Sadly, Lifer was defeated and is now a good guy.” CCC lamented, still smiling all the same. “I do bring other bad news as well. Lifer spilled the beans about you boss. The heroes now know a silhouette named Leftover is hunting them. They will be investigating Prosperity soon.”

“Bad news? Ha, this is just fine!” Leftover laughed. “Willy, you will be getting your wish after all!”

“Finally!” Willy exclaimed. “CCC, you are my new best friend!”

*****

Landon, Mirk, Tam, Shania and Fred stood outside their new house and looked over the vast land they had purchased. A forest was in the distance, and a beautiful lake also glistened under the sun.

“Welcome home my family.” Landon said happily. “Here’s to a great new life in this beautiful place!”