Powerhouse: Legend of the Archwave

Chapter 34 (Act IV) (TBOKSS): Archwave's Last Act

We last read Chapter 33, in which James Markovsky a.k.a. Powerhouse and his companion Isabela Acosta a.k.a. Archwave square off against Special Agent Warren Schaefer and at least six of his loyalists at the front half of the King Street Station train's fifth rail car while the Spraywatch gang—with Monarch McIntosh, Valentina Valdez, and Tyrone Hoover at the helm—focus on taking down the loyalists and saving the captive civilians at the rail car's back half. After four of the six Schaefer loyalists are taken out through likely non-lethal measures, Powerhouse ends up whiffing a rocket punch aimed at Schaefer.....but it subsequently enables the prosthetic-armed boy to pull one of the train's poles right off of its supports and chuck it at Schaefer, with the beam spinning like an erratic top the whole time. The beam collides with Schaefer and sends him flying through the fifth rail car's front doorway into the sixth car, which is devoid of civilians but filled to the brim with both idle suitcases and transport carts that hold even more. The moment Schaefer is thrown into the sixth rail car, his remaining two loyalists immediately break off from their respective fights to go check on him, at which point Powerhouse double-checks that Archwave is on his side before they both head in.

Archwave then takes out the last two loyalists by manually stabbing one of her arrows into the first one's foot; when the second takes notice and opens fire, Archwave quickly uses the first's body as a shield, which proves fatal for the latter. Then, she finishes off the second by chucking the first one's body onto the second one, non-lethally incapacitating and immobilizing them under the added weight.

At that point, the Spraywatch gang burst into the sixth rail car, having heard the scuffle from the fifth rail car. Valentina urges McIntosh to take the rest of the gang and get to safety—to make sure everyone is accounted for and to protect them from the potential consequences should the runaway train fail to be stopped. Despite initial resistance, McIntosh orders the gang to extract themselves from the train, though Tyrone insists on staying behind.....which he does after Valentina accepts. The chapter ended with Valentina and Tyrone bolting for the head of the train to stop it and return it to its destination, with Powerhouse and Archwave keeping Schaefer busy in the meantime.

This time, the rescue mission on the train comes to a head, and the team learns a painful and tragic lesson about how no good deed goes unpunished.....

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"Guys! Take care of Schaefer!" Valentina Valdez exclaimed to James Markovsky a.k.a. Powerhouse and Isabela Acosta a.k.a. Archwave as she and her best friend Tyrone Hoover made a break for the sixth car's front doorway to gain access to the front. "Tyrone and I will stop the train!"

"We got him! Now, go!" Powerhouse quickly said to Valentina, giving a very brief thumbs-up with his red- and silver-colored prosthetic arm. "Stop this wild ride now!"

Valentina and Tyrone pushed the door to the front car open, and Valentina began analyzing the situation while Tyrone closed the door behind them. The unconscious train driver was lying face down on the floor of the front car, and the last Schaefer loyalist was currently in the driver's seat, with his foot practically slamming the pedal to the floor as he cackled maniacally.

"Ugh....." Valentina groaned as she pulled a fire extinguisher from the left wall of the front car and slinked towards the last Schaefer loyalist.....who was entirely oblivious to her approach. "Just shut up already!"

She hit him squarely on the head at the exact moment she said the phrase "shut up", making him go unconscious and causing his now limp body to fall out of the driver's seat, enabling her to take his place.

"All right," Valentina stated as she plopped herself into the seat and cracked her knuckles while Tyrone established a defensive position behind her chair, with his paintball gun at the ready. "Let's stop this thing for good."