The BART train sat dead in the tunnel. No lights. No PA announcement. No panic—yet.

  Lenny’s pulse drummed in his throat as he moved through the stagnant darkness of the car. His body seemed to merge with the shadows, a predator slipping between the cracks of an oblivious world. His breath came harder now, the thick air of the train compartment pressing in on him, making every inhale feel like a battle. The silence around him was deafening, filled only by the quiet murmur of nervous passengers. Their anxiety was palpable, but they had no idea what was coming.

  He ducked into the conductor’s car and crouched low, quickly reaching for the Goliath suit in his purse. His fingers brushed over the familiar shape: hard pstic, thick, weighted with significance. The goggles slid over his face like it belonged there, like it was a part of him he hadn’t realized he was missing.

  Remmy, meanwhile, clung to the ceiling in the darkness, a silent specter. His sharp eyes scanned the surroundings, every sense attuned to the quiet tension in the air. He could hear them—six pairs of boots moving with military precision, clipped steps echoing through the car. There was no room for hesitation. No time for mistakes.

  Too much for a simple robbery, he thought. This is something else. Assassination.

  In the center car, a cluster of guards surrounded a suited man with graying temples and a toothy PR smile. Senator Harn Dax. He sat unnervingly calm, scrolling his tablet like none of this fazed him.

  That smug fuck. Arachnid thought. He bailed out the data leak guy who exposed a bunch of mutants

  Dax didn’t flinch. He never flinched. Not in the riots. Not during the hearings. He looked at despair the way most people looked at wine bels. It made him wonder why he was trying to stop this, then a small gasp snapped Arachnid out of his head. He turned to see a scared child with eyes shining the same way night vision cameras glow ever so slightly in the dark. The boy was staring at the doors. Arachnid remembered the life he wanted to build with Lenny. The future he wants to protect.

  He’ll pay. Just not with blood. Not yet. He needs to catch a case.

  Two men in bck body armor slipped silently between the cars, their movements precise. Their muffled steps, the quiet thud of their boots, barely disturbed the air. They were like ghosts. But Arachnid wasn’t afraid of ghosts.

  Arachnid dropped down behind them.

  His nding was unseen, unheard, like he wasn't there or maybe he’s been there the whole time.

  Arachnid’s knuckles, encased in hardened padding, cracked across the man’s skull, folding him like paper. No sound, just the thud of his body hitting the floor.

  The second man, faster, drew his weapon and fired. The bullet tore through Arachnid’s shoulder, searing pain blossoming across his body, but he didn’t flinch. He was already on the attacker, the pain nothing compared to the urgency. They crashed into the train wall, metal groaning under the impact. The force of the collision sent shockwaves through the confined space, the walls pressing in on him. Custrophobia, the tightness of the tunnel and the car, threatened to choke him. The impact sent a jolt through him, the confined space twisted his insides.The walls were too close. The ceiling too low. He could feel the air tightening, pushing in from all sides. But there was no time to let it take hold.

  Finish it. Fast.

  By the time the other passengers screamed, the fight was over. The second assaint y crumpled at his feet, unconscious and still. Arachnid stood over him, chest heaving, the tightness in his shoulder already beginning to pulse with a dull throb. He ignored it, knowing it would be fully healed and he’ll have a new scar by the time he and Lenny get to Antioch. He jumped back into hiding, crawling across the ceiling, avoiding fshlights and stray hands looking for something to hold. Arachnid exited the car and exhaled slowly, calming himself as his mind reset.

  ---

  In another car, Goliath crawled, upside down, watching a third attacker slip toward Dax’s other security detail with a knife. The man was fast. Efficient. But Goliath was faster.

  He dropped like a stone, his nding sounding like thunder. The impact sent a violent shockwave through the car, the train groaning under the weight of his arrival. Goliath’s cwed hand shot out, grabbing the assaint by the arm, his fingers digging deep into flesh with a sickening rip. The man’s scream was barely a whisper in the chaos, drowned out by the brutal sound of his body hitting the ground.

  A guard, slow to react, reached for his weapon. Goliath didn’t hesitate. In one smooth motion, he webbed the gun to the ceiling, trapping it in pce.

  “Sit down and shut up,” he growled, his voice low, guttural. It was an order, not a request.

  The guard’s mouth opened in protest, but Goliath webbed that too, silencing him completely.

  The violence, the power, it flooded through Lenny like a drug. He reveled in it—the heat of the rush, the rawness of the brutality. There was no fear, no hesitation. Just the certainty of his own strength. The mask didn’t just cover his face. It gave him permission.

  By the time the security had assessed the situation, all of the attackers were down.

  Goliath opened the sliding door between the cars, his breath deep and heavy. The sudden shift from violence to silence was jarring, the confined space of the train car almost oppressive. He froze as he nearly collided with Arachnid. Their eyes met, and for a moment, the air between them felt thick.

  Arachnid tilted his head.

  “Hey,” he said.

  “Come here often?” Goliath replied.

  A pause.

  A breath.

  Arachnid started to speak—but the words stuck. A tremor fluttered in his chest. Only Lenny ever did that to him. Made him forget how to be unshakable.

  Six months since they’d stood together like this, masks on, nothing between them but instinct and history.

  Maybe now. Maybe he could say it. Tell him that I know.

  But then, the doubt. Sharp. Sudden.

  What if he runs?He always runs. But would he run from me?

  A voice crackled over the intercom, ft and clinical.“Power restored. Please remain calm.”

  The spell broke.

  Goliath stepped back, eyes unreadable, then slipped through the BART doors with monstrous grace—gone before Remmy could breathe his name.

  Arachnid turned and fled the other way, movement taut, like his body might betray him if he slowed down. His mind was still back there, locked in Lenny’s gaze.

  Five minutes ter, Remmy was in a seat like nothing happened, hoodie back on, hiding the breaths he's taking to ease the anxiety.

  Lenny stumbled back into the car with his bag slung over his shoulder, rubbing his bruised shoulder.

  “You find the driver?” Remmy asked, his voice casual, but his eyes sharp.

  “Uh. Yeah. Yeah, they said it was just a blown circuit or something,” Lenny lied, and Remmy didn’t need to be a mind reader to know it was a half-truth.

  Remmy raised a brow, but said nothing. His eyes lingered on Lenny for just a beat longer than necessary.

  The silence between them was heavy as the train rumbled toward its destination. Neither of them spoke. Neither of them asked what had really happened.