A spray of bullets slam into the small, armored helicopter causing it to shudder. Thankfully, the thick steel refuses to be pierced. My three companions can barely stay seated from the shaking. Owl sits to my left, while Jackal and Fox are on my right. I alone am standing unbothered in my mechanized armor. The metal suit around me feels like an extension of my own skin. On the few days of the year I am not wearing it, the dangers of the outside world seem like a pack of beasts closing in on a helpless infant.

  Owl shakes his head and calls to Jackal, “We need to shut off those drones! Get to it!”. He opts to yell instead of using the earpiece communication devices we all possess.

  Jackal remains on her tablet not yet fazed by the old man's yelling or the advanced drones that surround us. “What do you think I’m doing?” Her tablet screen turns neon red and the drones surrounding our aircraft fall to the ground.

  “Good job, sis. I think we’ll deserve a bigger cut after this.” Fox says clapping. Even with his mask on I can tell he’s grinning madly.

  Dove, our pilot, flies the helicopter next to the back of the high-speed train. It snakes around the snowy mountain and we follow like a hungry bird of prey. No backing out now. The three of them are wearing uniform black operative suits. Other than the masks, there was no telling the rest of the crew apart. Jackal starts strapping a hover pad to each person’s foot. When she gets to me I stop her.

  “Make sure you do at least two on each leg, one won’t be enough.”

  She laughs brightly, “Whatever you say, Bigman.”

  My left eye twitches but I don’t correct her. What’s the point in us having code names if this amateur isn’t even going to use them. Bigman doesn’t give away my identity but she’s too comfortable with me already.

  “His code name is Bear.” Owl’s voice is firm.

  “Whatever.” she replies curtly and finishes strapping on the last hover pad.

  Owl slides the door open letting in gusts of wind and ice. He gestures towards the snow covered back railing of the train. “Fox, you’re up.”

  Fox salutes Owl and hops out of the helicopter. His landing is graceful, and with no hesitation he starts placing explosive putty on the four corners of the door. As a breacher, he was used to being the first one in.

  “Clear!” His voice booms out my earpiece. The small explosions blow straight holes through the door. He goes into the bowels of the train submachine gun raised.

  I hop onto the back railing, my heavy mech suit dents the floor even with the four hoverpads softening the landing. The train car flinches at my arrival.

  “Jesus Christ!” You about took the whole thing off track!” Fox hollers from up ahead. He patiently waits ahead, arms crossed. Two bodies of guardsmen lay dead at his feet.

  Sliding around me and into the room, Jackal comes next. “Shut up crybaby. Still haven’t stopped being whiny. When are you going to learn to trust my tech? I took care of the security drones on the outside easily. You think my pads are going to fail?” She taps my arm with the butt of her gun. “And this bad boy here is gonna take out more guards than the rest of us combined.” Jackal’s voice is sweet enough that if I didn’t personally know her line of work, I’d think she was innocent.

  Fox glances at her his expression hidden and grumbles under his breath.

  “No love between siblings I see.” My own voice is distorted in the suit, I sound robotic and threatening.

  “Okay, Bear from here on out you take point, Dove has already flown off and we need to act fast before the rangers get called in.” Owl is the original mastermind of the mission. His insider knowledge is the only reason any of us got this opportunity at all.

  “Affirmative.” I open the door and walk into the first passenger car. The safety on my rifle is turned off.

  “Nobody move! Anyone who resists, talk out of turn, or fucking breates dies!” The passengers tremble in their seats. Only the upper echelon of society can afford the trains, and their vibrantly colored clothes give them away as rich. Mothers and fathers caress their children’s heads, lovers hold each other tightly, and the fearless sit scared shitless as I march. To them I am an iron clad grim reaper, immortal and uncaring. Not a single soul dares move out of turn.

  I walk slowly, giving the three operators behind me time to search each passenger. Valuables are bagged up and credit cards are run through skimmers. Each skimmer spends the entire card’s balance on cryptocurrency which is in turn spent immediately at multiple shell companies and ghost firms. A passenger hesitates to give Owl his wallet, and is quickly beaten bloody by the butt of a gun.

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  When I reach the door to the next compartment I standby waiting for my next orders.

  At my back Owl speaks quietly, “At the front of the train, kill the other two.”

  I jerk my head at him in response. I need an explanation before I start earning a reputation as a backstabber.

  He speaks over the comms, “The next cart is where we will meet heavy resistance. At this point in time the guard captain has already been alerted that his train has been breached. He’s going to have a suit of armor similar to yours but more lightweight and not nearly as resilient. At least two more guards will be with him. Bear will take point supported by Jackal, while me in fox will stay in the back offering suppressive fire. There will be innocent casualties.”

  I nod and change the bullet type on my rifle from unarmored to mechanized. It clicks as it shuffles magazine types. Once it's done, I kick the door open, my steel boot knocking it off the hinges.

  The passengers in the cabin look back with scared and confused faces. No guards are in sight. I creep forward on full alert waiting for an ambush.

  “Seems like Owl overestimated the guards work ethic and skill.” Fox comments. Jackal snickers.

  Owl tenses up at the unexpected easiness and says “Okay, let's search this car and get ready for a fight in the next one. Fox, you watch our backs and make sure none of the previous passengers play hero.”

  The four of us start hustling. There is an unspoken tension between all of us like static electricity waiting to be released. Even the siblings started to seem nervous. Anything unexpected on a job like this could mean all of our deaths. I’m halfway down when I hear a commotion from behind. A man with a black unkempt beard and a red top hat is arguing with Jackal.

  “You can’t have it. I don’t care who you are, this means more to me than anything else in the world. Take my money, take my life even but you can’t take this. It’s been in my family for generations.” He is holding onto a silver necklace for dear life while Jackal grunt, trying to rip it off his neck. I aim my gun at the man’s head.

  Before I can fire, Fox comes up and smashes his gun repeatedly into the man’s face. His nose is broken and blood pours out. Jackal rips the necklace off and shoves it into her bag.

  “No, you don’t understand, I- I-”, the man starts coughing on his own blood before collapsing.

  The door at the front of the car slams open and the guard captain emerges in a fully decked out B-37 mech suit, the exact same model as mine. He unleashes hellfire from his gun. Bullets ricochet off of my chest piece hitting civilians. People scream and cower as I retaliate. We stand at an impasse for several seconds as our stream of bullets impact each other mid air. Smashed bullets start to pile up on the ground between us.

  Jackal tosses an EMP grenade over my head. It arcs over towards the captain before detonating. Electrical shockwaves ripple through the captain’s suit. He convulses and his aim skewers to the left of me. My bullets penetrate the thin slit under his chin, decapitating him.

  “Good job, big boy.” Jackal says tapping my back. I turn back and am immediately hit with a painful shock that reverberates across my entire body. My suit’s system shuts down and I am rendered completely immobile. Owl lays dead on the ground, Fox already holding his bag and skimmer.

  A bloody man, now without hat, claws and the ground. He screams and raves as foam falls from his mouth. His eyes roll back into the back of his head and he curls into a fetal position.

  “Shit, I never should have trusted you two.” My voice echoes in my suit. The thing that protected me most of my life was now a metal coffin.

  “Well for your information this is just a betrayal of opportunity. Owl got hit by stray bullets from the late captain. Sorry, not sorry.” She sticks the barrel of her gun to the vulnerable spot under my armpit.

  The man curled in a ball shivering on the ground begins to shed his skin. Long black fingernails easily tear through his own skin as he starts to grow. His spin stretches, pops, and deforms. Under the thin veil of remaining tattered skin is long dark fur. Teeth sharpen and his face elongates. Jackal and Fox stare at him stunned.

  My arm moves in slow motion as the EMP wears off, and I try to raise my gun. The beast completes its transformation. The werewolf stands between eight and nine feet tall towering over the humans around. Lean stringy muscles bulge across its body. Hungry eyes feast on Fox, daring him to move. He raises his gun but is far too slow. In an instant too fast to follow, the beast slices the gun in half and has its jaw wrapped around Fox’s throat. He hits and kicks to no avail. The corpse falls to the floor throatless.

  “NOOO!” Jackal shrieks. It cuts her in two with a single wipe of its claws. Her broken body hits the ground.

  My gun clicks as I change magazine type from mechanized to silver. I have full control of my limbs again. Even at full strength though, I don’t know if I can overpower this creature. We make eye contact, two predators in a box full of harmless sheep.

  I fire my rifle. In the slightest inclination of the delay between me pulling the trigger and the gun going off the werewolf crouches and then pounces. Fangs meet the front half of my gun. The rifle stops firing.

  With my left hand I grab the wolf’s throat as I drop the remaining half of my gun. It grabs my wrist and twists. The joints in my armor creak as screws and pieces fall loose. I scream. Not out of terror. Not out of pain. I scream the scream of someone determined to survive.

  My feet pivot and I grab the top of the beast's head with my right hand. Using all my strength and the remaining juice in the hover pads I jump and simultaneously throw the creature to my left. It slams into the wall of the train, bursting outside. Arctic winds fly through the hole, deafening the cabin. I wait for it to crawl back in. Snowflakes drift in the still air. They melt on the floor slowly forming a slurry of water, dirt, and blood.

  The wolf hasn’t made another appearance so I start to gather the skimmers and bags. Passengers start to sneak to other cabins, but I don’t bother stopping them. It's time to call Dove for an emergency evac.

  My skin itches and crawls. The sensation turns into a burning pain unlike any other. I scratch my wrist relentlessly trying to relieve the pain. Blood pours down my hand. My body grows and the armor breaks apart from the internal pressure. I shed my skin, as I turn for the first time.