By the time I was being winched down into the darkness of the rose scented carriage, the sun had rose just enough so it touched the vast hills with its very bottom tip. Like a pale-yellow plate on a silver sheet like you see in posh/old peoples houses. Why the hell did Scarlett have to go to bed at this time? But the dawn light didn't really matter all things considered because she had some really good curtains down there.

Sheira gave me the thumbs up from her corner as Shadow lowered me down, a black line of darkness looped around my chest rock climber style. He'd clearly done this before as he leaned back against the line, counterweighting my own and gently feeding more rope as I descended into this very hostile place (If the people didn't find me, the smell would knock me out cold). My feet bumped against the soft carpeted ground and I gave the line a light tug, to see Shadow nod and cover the open skylight with a veil of black.

I gingerly pulled the hand of glory from my pocket (a bit of mouldy flesh dropping off in the process) and held it out. The room was instantly flooded with an eerie white light that felt just a wee bit ghostly considering the fact that only I could see it. I scanned the room which was still a dusky pink colour in the low light for anything that could prove to be helpful. Her plush furniture still sat in the places that made it very difficult for me to move around soundlessly, diamonds still flickered out of the walls and most alarmingly her giant king sized did seem to be occupied as I crept forwards to examine the two figures.

Scarlett and Axel seemed to been having a good time as both were completely starkers and Axel was actually handcuffed to the bedpost. To each their own pal. I stepped away again and swept my gaze round the room. If I was hiding an ultra-powerful so-hot-it-will-melt-your-face-off stone of death, I thought to myself, where would I put it? I wandered over to the mantle piece which was dripping with ornate artefacts of gold and emerald but evidently she wasn't the type to keep things on proud display.

What about that table we'd seen earlier? That table did carry the contents to make the crown jewels jealous but after a meticulous rummage nothing turned up. The sheer volume of the pile of stolen valuables made me angry but for now I had a job to do that may very well result in returning these to their rightful owners. But where was it? Clearly she'd thought enough about this to hide it somewhere to make sure that no sticky-fingered little thief came in the night to whisk it away. Like me!

I took a step back and looked around the room and jumped for a moment at the sight of a stuffed eagle perched in the corner of the room. And when I say stuffed I don't mean cute and fluffy stuffed, I mean the thing was taxidermized, it had watched the curtain fall and had gone to join the choir invisible, it was an ex-eagle. I shuddered at her rather grim tastes in décor and went forward to examine the gilded dressing table that Sheira suspected had a hidden doorway behind it.

It was fairly ordinary looking, if you considered a rose quartz topped, gold framed dressing table with crystal movie star light bulbs to be normal. Well in this case it was. Perfumes in intricately glass cut bottles, piles of make-up you couldn't see anywhere else except on Keeping up with the Kardashians (Don't ask how I know that) and a small fortune of priceless jewelry that could have fed my entire tower block for a month spilled off the dresser like a sparkling waterfall. But if this was a door there had to be a key, right?

I examined the thing from top to bottom, well I started with the drag marks that were so obviously carved into the carpet from the bowed white legs of the vanity being pulled along the carpet, so Sheira was right and I wasn't simply down here on a red herring. To further confirm this, I found a note pinned to the mirror that said in Scarlett's neat swooping handwriting;

Get new carpet fitted

So, there was that.

But it still didn't help me unlock it. If I was in movie what would I do? Well it wouldn't be a perfume bottle or something on the actual table, it would be too easy to forget where you put the damn thing and accidently swinging open with the door would probably get tiring very quickly. Channelling my experience, I took a closer look at the frame, specifically the light bulbs which seemed to be the most obvious solution. I examined every detail with my best Sherlock Holmes eye and then bingo! One of them had small faint carvings in the base like it had been installed badly or it had been pushed. Glancing around the room to make sure no one was sneaking up behind me with a blunt object I pressed the light bulb down.

Click

A soft moan of gears rumbled through the wall and hey presto, the wall cracked open. I stopped it before it swung too wide and slipped inside the crack in the wall and then somehow seemed to stumble into Smaug's lair. The thing was bigger on the inside, let me get that out of the way first, about as large as a decent sized tennis court and every surface was covered with piles of gold rings, strings of pearls, rubies, emeralds, diamonds galore! They were all here, and all of them were stolen.

"Vulcan Star first, everyone else can wait," I said under my breath as I started weaving round the piles and no doubt confusing Shadow as to why his line was still going forwards.

If I was Scarlett I probably would have thought that my hidden door had deterred all prospective thieves from nicking anything, so she wouldn't be hiding it. Nah, she'd have it sat pride of place on a bloody marble pedestal so she could remind herself how important she was. I know people like that, I'm related to some of them, I know how they think. So, I kept weaving knowing that it was either dead centre or at the back, and it turns out I was correct with the former.

Slap bang in the middle of the towering mounds of precious stones sat a long marble alter, a purple silk cloth draped over the top. The thing wouldn't have looked out of place in a church or an evil megalomaniacs store cupboard. Upon the table sat three objects. A single fancy leather glove, clearly protective but designed for those who wanted to be fashionable, the strange bracer thingy and set between the two, hovering on a platinum pedestal was the deep amber coloured orb that was the Vulcan Star.

I got to work quickly. I set the hand of glory down on the table, the room suddenly plunging into complete darkness and pulled the glove onto my left and with a bit of difficulty pulled the massive bracer onto my right arm. The thing was heavy and ever so slightly cumbersome, and in hindsight I probably should have put the glove on second, but eventually I managed it resembling some sort of killer cyborg.

I peered down at the Vulcan Star and then at the bracer. There seemed to be a total of six slots for holding something, stones maybe? It seemed to me that the Vulcan Star was actually part of a set and considering the fact that none of us knew what just one of these things could do, the idea of multiples was just downright terrifying. I gingerly picked up the Vulcan Star in my gloved hand and oh so carefully placed it into the slot on the back of the bracer. No sooner than it had locked into the metal I staggered backwards gasping in a combination of what I believe was shock, fear and a dash of amazement.

I'd never felt anything like this before. It felt like my body was humming, my blood pulsing with power, like I'd unlocked something that I really wasn't supposed to have. What the hell is this thing?! Well whatever it was I don't think an elemental was meant to have their hands on it. Ever.

I tried to shake away the feeling of dread as I picked up the hand of glory again and crept out of the vault, choosing to leave the heavy (And no doubt incredibly loud) door wide open as I slowly advanced into the rose scented chamber. All the time I was scanning my surroundings anxiously, watching for anything that was out of place. Furniture, check. Scarlett in the bed, check. Axel still handcuffed to the headboard, check. No one had woken up and I was in the clear.

A rustle of feathers from the darkness crushed my hopes like a grape under a French farmers foot. Just like in a horror movie I turned, the little light the hand of glory gave just reaching the corner to reveal the fact that the eagle wasn't there. I know, shocking. And the fact that it was alive led to one massive realisation. Who had we heard earlier but hadn't seen leaving the room?

I whipped round just in time to counter the wind blast with a fireball. Oh, did I say fireball? I meant small sun. My little projectiles are usually no bigger than a tennis ball, a football if I'm really pushing it, so I certainly wasn't expecting the Fiat 500 sized blazing inferno that shot out of my hand like a bullet. Well to be fair Miles wasn't expecting it either, so he just barely managed to dodge it as it rocketed through the wall and down the length of the train, leaving a trail of cinders and destruction behind it.

I looked down at the Vulcan Star with thoughts of fear and awe zipping around my head. What the hell was this thing? To the surprise of no one the sound of an overpowered fireball screaming through her bedroom was more than enough to wake Scarlett up. She sat bolt upright, completely starkers I might add, and locked eyes with me for a few moments. That clear surprise of what is this guy doing in my bedroom? turned into oi, you shouldn't have that!

"Get him!" she shrieked.

Both Miles and Axel leapt to their feet and rushed at me. Well Miles did, Axel made it about two feet before his arm was practically wrenched out of its socket due to the fact that he was still handcuffed to the bed. It was like something out of a sketch and I would be sure to tell the others all about it when I didn't have three homicidal maniacs trying to kill me. Again.

Luckily for me Axels predicament distracted Miles enough for me to punch him in the head and then frantically tug on the black rope yelling, "Pull me up, pull me up, pull me up!" the entire time. Shadow must have been waiting because I was yanked skywards and through the window, nearly taking my head off in the process.

"What the hell!" he yelled as soon as I was back on the roof. "Do you not understand the word quiet!"

"You miscounted!" I roared back with such a ferocity he actually took a step backwards. "Miles was in there the whole time! He was in his Beast form! Did it slip your mind that we can do that?!"

"Nick what the hell was that?" Sheira ran forwards. "Was that you?" She pointed towards the wrecked compartments that were still smouldering away happily.

I held up the bracer, "let's just say this is definitely going to work, now come on we don't have much time."

"That you don't."

We all turned sparks, snow and shadows leaping angrily from our fingertips. Scarlett, Miles and Axel stood there seething in front of us, one singed and bruised from having a fireball thrown at his head, one in just his trousers and massaging his wrist and the other tying her see-through robe together and glaring with a murderous intent in her eyes.

"You dare, after all I've done for you, you dare to steal from me!" she shrieked.

That little comment snapped something inside me. "All you've done! All you've done is send us up into a mountain to steal something and then seal us away in an elemental proof box and then lie to us, oh don't forget that charming little detail!"

"I gave you food," she snarled. "I gave you transport. You're supposed to be grateful!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, let us all bow and grovel at the feet at the woman who has signed the death certificate of three hundred people!"

She paled, turning a sickly shade of green. "What?"

"We heard your little conversation with Molly," said Sheira. "How do you sleep at night?"

She smiled sweetly, "on silk sheets, rolling naked in diamonds."

So close to a reference, yet so far.

"Well it doesn't matter, we found the stone originally so under the laws of the land its ours, we are the original owners and you're not taking it back," the darkness flared around Shadow's fingers. He was really preparing to fight wasn't he? Usually I wouldn't be objecting to showing these backstabbing little bastards a thing or two but when we were literally on their home turf, or above it at least, let's just say if I was a betting man I wouldn't like our odds.

Miles and Axel shifted impatiently. I knew that Miles was an Air or something like that, but I didn't have the foggiest idea what Axel was, and that was actually quite worrying. Scarlett stepped forwards, her robe billowing around her like Marilyn Munroe's but her expression was certainly not as sweet as the Hollywood darling's. "Look, I'm going to give you one last chance to give that stone back to me, if you do, I will let you leave."

"Just us?" I asked.

Scarlett's perfectly plucked brows sank a little lower in anger. She was clearly not about to give up her precious cargo and we weren't leaving without them. So, it was a stalemate, we knew what was going to happen next, we were just waiting for who was going to make the first move.

"Seems like you lot like to do things the hard way," Miles wheezed.

"Nah," I said, "we just like to choose option B."

"Then so be it," she snarled and with that they lunged.

A tornado of wind coalesced around Miles' feet soaring him forwards towards Sheira while Miles lumbered towards Shadow, a pair of giant cannonball tipped flails spinning around him like a sadistic windmill. Scarlett stood behind her two attack dogs, smiling. We retreated carefully.

"Anyone have a plan?" I asked keeping a close eye on the two highly dangerous individuals in front of us, especially the one with the weapons the size of my head.

"You get to the engine, we'll hold them off. And Nick," he said. "Shoot to kill."

The idea felt like a clamp over my stomach, but I nodded grimly and prepared to run.

"Now," that unsettling grin was back on his face, "let's dance."

The two jets of darkness that fired from his palms seemed like they tore the air in front of them apart. Miles leapt sideways right into the path of Sheira's ice blast, his tornado turning into a snowstorm. A chunk of the train's roof peeled upwards like a cobra, seemingly controlled by Axel, and snapped at Shadow, missing his torso by inches as more slices of steel reared upwards and lunged at him.

I turned and ran for it, the diamonds crunching below my feet as a soft silky laugh appeared from my left. The jewels formed a bridge under Scarlett's feet, a road of emerald green, sapphire blue and ruby red.

"You think you can get away from me that easily?"

"That's the plan."

She chuckled. "oh, you're so naïve."

She was annoying me, so I threw a fireball at her. Watching her eyes widen in shock as the supernova careered towards her was quite a sight to see. She leapt out of the way, her gown getting singed in the process. Ashes and smoke gently curling off her, she stood staring in horror at me. That horror then turned to fury as she lifted her hand and a jet of diamonds fired towards me. I countered with my own fireball, the ensuing explosion forcing the two of us back several feet.

Several feet for me just happened to be off the side of the roof. I frantically clung to the guard rail, a loud crash from below me signifying that I'd kicked a window out (Sorry about that). I tried to haul myself up but then the roof started to move. Right in front of my eyes the metal strips of the carriage were pulling apart and whipping up and down like one of those horrifically dangerous wave machines. Okay the main effect was intended for Shadow who was effortlessly leaping from one fragment to another firing bolts of solid blackness at Axel's head, but I was clinging on for dear life and Sheira seemed to have dropped down into the main room if the beams of ice were any indication.

The wind rustled behind me which was then followed by a piercing sensation and unending agony. It was the bloody eagle, the real one, not Miles in disguise, and it was out for blood. It screeched right next to my ear and dug its talons deeper into my shoulder while its master laughed from the safety of his tornado. Now here's the question, what do you do when you're being attacked by an eagle? Do you run for your life? Do you curl up into a ball and wait for it to go away? Well I punched it in the face which seemed to do the trick. It fell back with a dazed cark and then to rub further salt into the wound was frozen solid into a giant eagle flavoured ice lolly out of nowhere.

I yelled a thanks to Sheira and hauled myself up onto the now unmoving ground as Shadow and Axel had now resorted to trading straight up blows, their separate abilities of shadow and steel flared off their fists to add a little bit more oomph to their haymakers or uppercuts or whatever (I don't watch boxing). Scarlett was standing there like a statue, elegant and hard and cold as marble, smiling as she threw rubies the size of footballs in my general direction. Each priceless projectile whizzed past my head or torso, one catching me on the leg dropping me temporarily to my knees, as I made a beeline for the engine.

A diamond wall shot up in front of me like I was playing an RPG, which I admittedly slammed into at full force, but I didn't get pinned by Scarlett who was trying to get me in a choke hold. I think I flipped her onto her back, though she could have just fallen over, as another blast of ice sailed through the sky with Miles attached to it and froze solid to the wall. Scarlett shrieked in horror, stupidly pulled down the wall to free her...what was their relationship actually? Boyfriend? Bodyguard? Kristen Wig and John Hamm in Bridesmaids? (Look it up, I'm not saying that word). Well whatever they were her stupidity gave me the chance to whack her over the head with my backpack and start running towards the engine at full pelt.

Well, start to run and then fall flat of my face from the train suddenly shunting together like a concertina. I nearly fell of the goddamn roof again and probably left a bruise that was really going to hurt like bloody murder in about an hours' time. I looked up groggily. Scarlett and Miles had fallen into a soggy heap due to the fact that the latter was still melting, Sheira was on her ass completely baffled to the whole situation and Shadow was– OH GOD!

From a distance it almost looked like Axel and Shadow were locked in some weird embrace, nothing harmful, but up close? Up close Axel's feet weren't touching the ground, his body was trembling, and something was pouring out of his mouth that could have something to do with the fact that two long blades, shimmering with a soul draining aura of death, were pointing out of Axel's shoulders. He slowly drew them out, the sound of scraping and tearing flesh was all I could hear, leaving Axel standing there, his white T-shirt now soaked with his own blood. Two pierced lungs, I thought, maybe his heart as well. I watched as his eyes glazed over, his body stopped shaking and this horrible death rattle escaped his broken lungs as Axel's legs gave way and he tumbled from the roof into the icy sea below.

For a few seconds I thought the whistle was blowing, a long, piercing wail echoing through the night. Then I realised that there was no metallic edge to it, only the horrified scream of Scarlett, her blue eyes wide and her mouth opened into a pink hole of unrelenting noise. The black blades receded into Shadow's hands but other than slight exhaustion he showed no emotion, no fear, no horror, luckily nothing like joy or satisfaction (I would have been running for the hills if that was the case), just a strange calm that could only have been achieved in someone that had killed before and was used to it.

"You...you." Scarlett's body was trembling in rage, the cloud of jewels round her feet was now twisting into a tornado. "YOU MURDERER!"

But of course, she lunged for me instead. I jumped back only just avoiding the fist sized ruby that sailed over my head and then was promptly knocked to the ground by a vicious diamond clad right hook. I hit the deck, twisted like a cat onto my back and forced a foot into Scarlett's gut as the other two rushed to my aid. She stumbled, literally spitting with rage, and rushed forwards again and brought both of her fists down to hammer my face in. Fire punch activate! The jewels exploded against the sheer heat of my right hand, supercharged by the Vulcan Star, throwing her backwards.

More worrying I thought I heard something crack in the effort but now, of course, Miles had to go sticking his too long nose in our business. The eagle came first swooping down at Sheira, inch long talons bared at the woman who had turned him? I think it was a him, into an ice cube. I heard Sheira curse, and then with a flash of brilliant white light Ice appeared in all her snow leopard-y glory. I will put money on the fact that I thought I heard the bird say 'Oh Shit' as he was promptly garrotted.

Miles lunged at me, still flying so he was in perfect positioning to be lassoed and swung off the roof by Shadow who was now providing aerial support by keeping Miles at bay by cracking whip after whip towards his head. Which just left me and Sheira to deal with the lost Kardashian.

"Can you cover me?" I yelled to her as I made a flamethrower that would have made a Hollywood pyrotechnician proud. Another small cracking sound.

She gritted her teeth against the heat. "You got it," and just like that an ice wall appeared. "Move it!"

By now I've learned to do what she says. I sprinted towards the coal tank, twenty feet, fifteen, ten– oh for gods sake. Being yanked anywhere by the neck wasn't fun but when the rope is made out of sharpened fragments of gemstone it just added that smidge more pain to make it into a mediaeval torture device. I gasped for breath as Scarlett threw me to the cold iron roof, one hand tightening the line round my neck, the other having a blast off with Sheira, diamonds versus pure ice. I looped my hands round the rope and poured heat into it, the entire time that cracking noise softly sounding close to my head. Where the hell was it coming from!

The rope promptly detonated, shards flying everywhere, several going into my own skin which I can assure you wasn't pleasant. Sheira received a few light cuts and bruises but Scarlett resembled a disco ball. An angry, weapon wielding, out for blood disco ball. As Miles sailed screaming over our heads onto the engine itself and Shadow dashed forwards, darkness pouring from his fingers, intent on finishing the job he'd started, Scarlett seemed to lose it completely.

With an inhuman, banshee-like scream the remainder of the cloud of jewels around her feet exploded outwards in a wave of sparkling stones and pain. Shadow and Sheira leapt back to avoid it, but I dove forwards, pushed myself up to my feet and aimed another fire punch at Scarlett. She blocked it expertly and the next thing you know we were exchanging blows like we were in the Olympics. She snarled viciously and aimed a kick to my knee but as she was still barefooted she didn't get the purchase she needed giving me the opportunity to get her into a stranglehold. She gasped for breath and somehow elbowed me in the face, the metallic taste of copper bursting onto my tongue, in her desperate attempt to get away.

My body's natural reaction to getting punched in the face was to drop whatever had punched me in the face so I released her while cradling my cheek while it hurt like bloody murder. She no longer resembled the quietly sophisticated (If a little snobby) woman I had met yesterday. Instead she looked deranged, animalistic, and positively covered in glittering gemstones that finished off her festival gone wrong look. Blood was dripping down her face from a red halo and she was breathing heavily from exhaustion. In the distance I heard the sound of cracking whips and the steadily increasing clicks of the train against the tracks.

"Why..." It was taking her a few seconds to gather her breath. "Why couldn't you just stay out of the way?"

All I could think of were all those people, huddled together waiting to be dragged off to the slaughter if we failed. I shrugged. "That's just what I do."

She gritted her teeth, a black gap showing where her incisor should be. "You should know better."

I'd been waiting for her attack, but I wasn't expecting the hardened blades around her hands. Think the energy sword from Halo and you know what I'm on about. My first thought was to grab Incaendium but that was proving to be a lot more difficult than it looked mainly due to the fact that Scarlett was being completely vicious, and I needed at least four feet of space in order to draw the thing. So, this is what Incaendium meant by keep at least two feet between you and your opponent. I tried to clear some space for myself, but Scarlett just kept bearing down on me relentlessly, each swing either barely missing me or carving a gouge into my flesh. I was beginning to get dizzy from the blood loss, but the adrenaline kept the pain down. For now, anyway.

I was forced to my knees as I heard someone yell my name and I saw Scarlett swing back for what was probably going to end up being the killing blow. With something that I can only describe as instinct, I raised my arms above my head and waited. However, instead of losing my arm the bracer carrying the Vulcan Star exploded on impact. Well at least I found out what that cracking noise was as I was catapulted backwards, the force of the heat probably leaving a few marks, straight into Shadow and Sheira who managed to catch me before I fell off the roof.

The following happened in what felt like slow motion. After using my friends as a crash mat, I looked up to see the bright orange orb, no longer contained my its restrictive casing, soaring high into the sky soon to fall probably off the cliff. I heard Scarlett shriek and dash forwards to try and save it and for some unknown reason I launched forwards to grab it as well. It could have been a photo finish as we raced to get to it first. I watched with joy as the orb tumbled downwards, into my outstretched palm which was just grazing Scarlett's. Then, with a rather sickening feeling, I realised something rather horrifying. The jewel was going to fall into my right hand, my bare, un-gloved hand. There was no time to pull away as the burning hot rock touched my skin.

"Uh oh."

Then I blew up.