Volume 2, Issue 19

One April Morning at CIU, near the ruins of the I7 HQ...

It took Steven Chen several seconds to take in the enormity of what had just happened.  The I7 Headquarters had just been completely destroyed by what appeared to be an alien mothership.  

“Triumph...” Steven echoed the name of his teammate, the super speedster who’d been inside the HQ when it was destroyed.  Presumably, he was now dead.  An anger flashed through Chen’s eyes, and milliseconds later, his form was replaced by that of the hero Palisade.  

Activating a radio he’d built into the bio-suit, Chen called out to all listeners.  “Level 1 emergency to all I7 members!  The headquarters  has been destroyed by an alien force.  Triumph is dead.  Repeat, Triumph is DEAD.”

Palisade flew in toward Langley Hall, now partially overshadowed by the same ship that had just destroyed the headquarters.  Suddenly he had a horrible fear that the vessel was going to unload on the dorm as well.

Cazmonster was next to arrive; he flew out of a 7th floor window and landed on the sidewalk outside.  “Chen, what the hell?”

“That’s my line,” Chen joked, “what the hell” was a phrase he had so often repeated it was almost like his catch phrase.  “That thing just blew up our HQ, and Triumph was in there!”

Seconds later, a portal opened in front of the building, and The Adept, The Gray Robe, and The American Attitude stepped out.  The heroes gathered on the front steps of Langley to come up with a quick gameplan.

“Okay, Steel’s not going to be joining us.  Where’s Angela?” The Adept asked.

“She’s gone,” Palisade said; everyone was suddenly even more startled.  “Not like Triumph; she left with that vampire guy.  I think she’s one of them now.”

“So it’s just us 5,” The Adept concluded somberly.  “Against some sort of massive mothership.  Okay, we need to evacuate Langley.  They could fire that weapon again.”

“I don’t think that’s gonna happen,”  Cazmonster added.

“Why not?”

“Because, they’re deploying troops!”  Cazmonster pointed up as dozens of humanoid but alien forms began dropping from the vessel.  Each was wearing a suit frighteningly similar to Palisade’s.  

“Anything you want to tell us?” The Gray Robe asked sarcastically.  

“No idea who these guys are,” Steven answered.  “But if those suits are the same as mine, you all need to be very careful.

Suddenly, the air was filled with flying spikes.  Several bounced off Cazmonster as he jumped in front to cover the heroes.  Palisade picked one up and examined it.  “These are neurotoxin spikes.  If any one of these breaks your skin, you’re dead.”

“Time to move, I7,” The Adept shouted.  “Into Langley, now!”  

The group rushed inside the solid structure as dozens of alien biosuits reached the ground.  A massive noise thundered outside as the mothership moved away from Langley.  The American Attitude crashed to his knees, holding his hands against his ears against the decibels.  Tears streamed from his face, not only from the pain, but from the loss of one of his closest friends.  The Gray Robe ran over and helped him onto one of the lobby couches, while Palisade and Cazmonster pushed several granite benches against the doors.  

“That won’t stop them busting into the windows,” The Adept advised.  

“Best we can do, Rick!” Cazmonster shouted.  “Why don’t you start porting people down here.  We can defend the lobby a lot longer than the whole building!”

“Doesn’t look like I need to!” Rick shouted, pointing at the door leading off one end of the lobby.  Dozens of people came running out.  

Cazmonster, seeing the chaos, turned to face the crowd.  Turning on his loud speaker, he said “Stop!  Move calmly into the lounges in an orderly fashion!  If anyone gets trampled to death, I will personally take it out of your hide!”  Startled, the crowd slowed, and began moving more calmly but still quickly into the two large lounges that stood off of Langley’s lobby.

Meanwhile, the aliens had broken through the outer doors, and were trying to get past Palisade’s barricade.  Cazmonster returned to help shore up the defense, while The Adept began sending mystic blasts out of one of the small windows.  Fortunately for them, the aliens did not seem to have a strong defense against magic, and soon fell back to regroup.  

That’s when the Gray Robe went into action.  Concentrating as hard as she could, she caused several trees along the campus street to begin first swaying, then actively attacking the aliens.  Palisade fired several rounds at them as well. But as Palisade stood firing, his suit started to break up around him into little bits of light.  The light then flowed outward toward one of the aliens, who held a bio-device of some sort.

“No!” Chen shouted, but it was too late.  Within seconds, it was Steven Chen, college student, standing in the Langley lobby.  Palisade was gone, presumably for good.

“Crap!” Cazmonster said.  “Rick, we gotta get those people out of the lobby before those dudes get in here!  There’s no way four of us can fight those aliens off!”

“Way ahead of you! Barry, help me usher these people through my portals!”  The American Attitude stood up and gathered himself together, following The Adept into one of the lounges.  Steven Chen ran with them.    

“Syd, we need more!  Can you uproot some ground to throw at those things?” Cazmonster shouted.  

“I’m pushing myself as it is, but I’ll try!” Putting all of her concentration into it, her every muscle straining, Syd tugged at the earth deep under the streets outside.  If she could get to the natural rock, she could really do some damage.  Cazmonster strained against the doors as the aliens pressed against them.  As the doors buckled and Cazmonster was forced back, sidewalk began to buckle as well.

“I can’t get it!” Syd said.  Then, as the aliens came running in, her expression changed.  The crater of the hq!  The bare earth was exposed there, right across the street.  Massive blocks of earth now flew up as Syd redirected her efforts, landing on top of several of the aliens that were still outside.  They were soon pinned under tons of earth.

Cazmonster went to work on the spikey aliens that rushed into the lobby, fighting as he hadn’t fought in some time.  These were no zombied Milan Syndicate troops.  They were invading alien soldiers, armed with advanced bio-weapons.  He made no effort not to kill.  Using steel rods from the ruptured walls, Cazmonster speared several of them, breaking their necks to finish them as spikes bounced harmlessly off his solid hide.  

The Gray robe rushed into the other lounge and, smashing the windows out with a chunk of earth, began ushering people outside.  “Run!” she said to them as the hustled out.  

“Rick, this is Caz!” the werewolf shouted through his loud speakers.  “I can’t hold them!  You need to get as many people as possible out NOW!”  

In the lounge, The Adept had been moving people through his portal as quickly as possible, but there were still dozens more.  The Attitude nodded at him.  “I’ll go help Cazmonster buy you some time!”

“Barry, those spikes will kill you!” Steven shouted.  

“Then they will!  They took my best friend from me today.  They’re about to learn what the American Attitude is all about!”  He turned, and moved into the lobby.

Steven looked into the Adept’s eyes.  “Don’t let it be for nothing!”

The Adept looked away, and then spread his arms wide.  A mystical glow appear around him the Robes of Merlin.  Suddenly, the cloth of this world was ripped asunder, and the portal expanded to engulf the entire wall of both lounges.  Syd looked over at the now missing wall and ran through the open segment to join her friends.  A mere second after everyone from both lounges were out, the portal fell, and The Adept passed out.  

“That’s not good,” Syd said.  “I’m exhausted, your suit’s gone.  I think we’re done for.”

“Might as well go out fighting,” Steven said.  The two heroes went back to the lobby in time to see the American Attitude go flying through a concrete wall into a restroom.  Cazmonster was being held down by at least ten aliens.  Steven and Syd charged the aliens, and were immediately hit with several flying spikes.  That’s when Steven realized he’d misidentified the spikes.  They were a neuro-toxin, but it wasn’t a fatal one.  That last thought was on his mind as it slipped into darkness.  

Volume 2, Issue 18

Late April...

Palisade didn’t usually spend his early AM hours out on partrol.  As finals neared, Steven Chen should be studying late into the night, or in the chemistry lab finishing up an experiment.  But he just couldn’t get past the distraction: somewhere out here, his girlfriend Angela, superhero and vampire, was seducing people so she could lure them somewhere safe to drink their blood.  So far, no one had died, that he knew of anyway.  But that wasn’t the point.  She’d become more and more of a loose cannon since their battle with her mentor, Drahomir, known as “Dre”.  And it was getting worse.

Palisade felt he needed to talk to her, give her a chance to come back from whereever she was going, before he took this to the others.

A muffled conversation under the gazebo on CIU’s central Quad drew his attention.  Palisade landed silently behind a tree, but even so, he was almost detected.  Vampires weren’t as perceptive as The American Attitude, but their senses were sharper than most people’s.  

Palisade watched with anger burning in his heart as he saw Angela talking to the man in the gazebo.  He couldn’t quite see who it was, but he was definitely older.  A professor, maybe?  That was even worse.  If important people around campus started having a problem with her, it could cause a world of trouble for the team.  Palisade approached at a glide just a few feet off the ground, so he could not be heard; the camouflage of the biosuit made him difficult to see in the dark.  

Suddenly, Angela turned, and Steven recognized her guest.  Backing off reflexively, Palisade looked into a face he’d not seen in some time: the face of Drahomir the vampire.  Before he could act, Dre had leapt through the air and slashed across Palisade’s face with razor-sharp claws.  The biosuit screamed as dark icor seeped forth.  

Palisade gave as good as he got, puncturing Dre’s side with a massive bio-spike, but the vampire, though obviously injured by the attack, seemed unphased.  “She’s mine now, mortal!  Join my, my dear!” he called out to Angela.

Hesitantly, Angela stood, and went over to where the two were wrestling on the ground.  

“Angela, what the hell!  Get this guy off me!” Palisade cried out.  But still she hesitated.  

“I...I’m sorry Steven,” she said, and he could have sworn he saw a single tear form, though Steven knew that was impossible.  Vampires don’t cry.  

Now facing being set upon by two vampires, one of whom he was in love with, Palisade broke free and flew up out of easy reach.  

“Come on!  Snap out of it!” he shouted, pounding the two of them with a volley of light spikes; they wouldn’t hurt Angela or Dre, but they might just give her something to help her mind break from his control.  Instead, Angela just took Dre’s hand.  An instant later, a moonbeam broke onto them from the clouds above, and they were gone.  

Just like that, Angela was out of his life.  Steven had no clue if he’d ever see her again.  

The next morning, Triumph arrived at the Infinite Seven HQ via the rear entrance, only to find Steven Chen asleep at the workbench.  In front of him was a chemistry text, open to the final pages.  

Steel shook Steven awake gently.  “Hey, buddy,” he said.  “Rough night?”

“Steven’s eyes were blood red as they met Steel’s.  “She’s gone, Steel.  Gone off with that vampire bastard!”

“Who’s gone?”

Steven just looked at him and waited from Steel to figure it out.  “Angela?  Gone with Dre?  No way!  She hated that guy for what he did to her.”

“Things change, Steel.  They were together last night.  She’s been out drinking human blood.  Innocent blood.  She’s turned,” Steven said hopelessly.  

“Even if that’s true, we can find her.  We can get her back,” Steel said supportively.  

No hope entered Steven’s eye, but the slightest shadow of a purpose was under his sunken, tired lids.  He stood and picked up his books.  “I have no idea where they’ve gone.  They just turned into moonbeams and disappeared.  Since when can she do that?”

“I said we’ll find her, Steven.  Look, let’s head over to the computer and get started, right now.  The others will join later.”

Steven hesitated.  “I can’t.  I’ve got a test,” he said, holding up his book.  

“Fine.  You go.  I’ll get started down here.  Come back after your test and I’ll try to have something.  I’ll get Cazmonster down her to help,” Steel said enthusiastically.  

Steven went to the rear exit and carefully opened the door, checking the cameras first to make sure it was safe.  

“Okay.  I’ll be back in two hours.”  With that, Steven walked outside.  

The sky was dark, portending a storm.  Perfect, Steven thought.  Just how I feel.  He had walked a block when he decided to head back.  He could still pull a “B” out of this class even after failing this test.  He needed to go with his heart, and find Angela.  

Suddenly, a bright burst of greenish light flew down from the sky.  Steven thought at first it was some weird lightning, but it was way too massive.  And then he saw it; a large, alien looking object, the size of a battleship, hovered over the headquarters.  Or at least, over where the headquarters used to be.  There was now a 30’ deep crater.  The headquarters was gone.  Triumph was dead!

Volume 2, Issue 17

Aaron Majesky sat bolt upright when his alarm went off.  Looking out the window, he could see the sun already rising above the north side skyline.  It was getting on toward 10 am, and he had sandwiches to make!

Aaron slipped into a polo and some khakis and ran down the stairs.  Heroes Deli, his uncle’s store, was just a few blocks away on Clark Street.  Aaron was in a pretty good mood, despite having a 12 hour shift at his uncle’s deli.  He had recently reconciled (somewhat) with his former girlfriend Emily, and had just helped his friends, the Infinite Seven, defeat some villains who, from Aaron’s point of view, barely deserved the title.  Now, he was ready to be a normal joe for a few days.  Work all day, relax at night.  Maybe patrol the city as Dragonfly.

The workday was hard, sure enough.  The place wasn’t that busy, but the lunch hour was nuts, and cleaning up afterwards was even worse.  Aaron counted over 200 customers between 12 and 1.  After than, he just had to prepare for Celeste, the closing manager.  The young latino woman was a couple years younger than him, but had lived in the city all her life, and had been working for his uncle quite a bit longer than he had.  Aaron had tried to ask her out once, and had been shot down cold.  

Aaron was just finishing his restocking when Celeste walked in.  “Hey, Aaron!  How was the afternoon?”

“Busy!  I just now finished restocking.  The bread guy from Welmont’s called and said he’d be late; we got about 20 white loafs left.”

“Should do for dinner; it slows down a lot,” she said, walking past Aaron behind the counter.  

“And Aaron, Ai! If you go down Clark toward the city be careful, there’s some sort of lunatic out there in front of that Irish pub, blasting some fire at people as they go by.  Cops have the street shut down; I had to talk.”

Aaron’s ears perked up.  “Trouble?”

“Si,” she said, putting on an apron and preparing for the evening rush.

Aaron grabbed his “bag” from behind the counter and sprinted out the door.

“Hey, you forgot to count the drawer down!” Celeste called after him.  

“I trust you, it’s good.  Gotta catch the 22 to the gym!”  While the fact that Aaron Majesky was Dragonfly was generally well known in Stevenson, he’d kept it a secret since moving to Chicago.  He intended to keep it that way as long as possible.

Meanwhile, back in Stevenson Illinois...

Steven Chen knocked on Angela’s door for the fifth time that afternoon.  Looking at his watch, Steven noted it was after 6 PM, well after “daybreak” in vampire time.

Finally, the young woman answered the door.  Her cheeks were blush, and she was still wearing the skimpy but long t-shirt she wore for bed.

“Hey, Steven,” she said in her normal lyrical voice.  But on her teeth, Steven could see fresh blood remaining.  

“Hello.  Were you coming to Michaelangelo’s for pizza?  That RA McCreedy is buying.”

“I...I think I’d better not.  I’m not feeling well,” Angela replied, looking away.  As she did, Steven glanced over her shoulder and saw another form laying in Angela’s bed, immobile.

“Ah ha.  I see.  Okay, See you,”  Steven said, abruptly turning.  Angela realized he’d probably seen her visitor.  

“Wait, Steven!” she said, running into the hall in her shorts and t-shirt.  “It’s not like you think!”

“It’s not?” he asks, obviously hurt, but with putting on a very effective mask of nonchalance.  

“I...I don’t know how to say this.  He’s DINNER, Steven,” she whispered.  Taking him by the hand, Angela led Steven back to her room.

“I, um, I thought you didn’t drink from people, except, you know, villains and stuff,” Steven said haltingly as Angela caressed his hand in her room, near the unconscious body of her victim.

“Well, I’ve grown a little since I made that rule,” Angela said, whispering in his ear.  

“I have to go,” Steven said, but moved in to kiss Angela.  As he did so, he felt his sense of control slipping away.  Anyone else might have let the moment pass and enjoyed the sensation, but Steven pulled away.  He was too concerned about being in control to let slip an obvious misuse of other-worldly powers.  

“I have to go, Angela.  See you later.”  With that, Steven slipped away.  

Clark Street, Chicago

Slipping under the El tracks a block away, Aaron switched into his costume and tucked the bag and his street clothes under some old junk for safe keeping.  Then he took to the air.  

The man in the street wore a green leather duster over street clothes, and sported hair like U2’s Bono.

“Get a load of this guy,” Dragonfly thought as he swooped in from above.  The police had barricaded Clark in both directions south of Addison, and traffic was backing up.  Dragonfly decided to test the villain with a humming bomb.  Swooping in low over his head, he dropped a bomb set on medium yield right in front of the Irish avenger.

Before the decide could activate, the man dived for cover behind a car and incinerated the humming bomb with a fire blast that came directly from the man’s hands.  

“Hey!” Dragonfly shouted.  “That was a two hundred dollar gadget!”

“Eh!  Hello, there, little bug!” the man called out.  “How about a little bug zapper!” With that, he fired a line of fire so wide Dragonfly could not entirely dodge it.  Dragonfly wasn’t prepared for that level of power.  The left leg of his costume caught fire, and he quickly dropped to the roof of a nearby building to pat out the flame.  

“Sh*t!” Dragonfly cried out.  “That was amateur!”  Skipping down several buildings in a low fly to avoid being seen, Dragonfly popped his head out and looked at the villain.  Every time the cops tried to make a move or advance, he blew something up.  Clark was already lined with the wreckage of a dozen cars, including two cop cars.

Looping back up the alley behind the buildings, Dragonfly came back from the north once again.  This time, however, he contacted CPD by radio to let them know he was coming.  As he swooped down Clark Street, the police opened fire on the cars near the unknown villain as a distraction.  When he turned his attention on the police, Dragonfly swooped in and pierced his shoulder with his sword.  The flame-throwing Irishman screamed out in pain, and Dragonfly finished him with a circle kick that subdued the man into unconsciousness.  

As the police closed in, a few of who congratulated Dragonfly while others scoffed, the crowd began to applaud.  Dragonfly shook hands with a couple of the officers and introduced himself by his hero name.  Then, he flew off into the sky to the sounds of appreciation for the citizens.

Volume 2, Issue 16

CIU Student Center, Evening, Start of Spring Semester

The Infinite Seven: Super-powered defenders of Stevenson Illinois and CIU.  The Adept, aka Rick Pennington - master of mystical movement;  Cazmonster, aka Caz Greenbaum, super-strong cyber-werewolf; Palisade, aka Steven Chen - Biosuit powered defender; Angela, aka Angela Hughes - vampire hero; The Gray Robe, aka Sydney Koenig - Druidic mistress of the Earth; The American Attitude, aka Barry Stills - Hyper-sensory, skateboarding streetfighter; and Triumph, aka Stan “Steel” York - Super-speedster.

Plus, special guests: Dragonfly, aka Aaron Majesky - Founding member, martial arts wiz with wings and mad gadgets; White Diamond, aka Emily Fine - Founding member, controler of light; and Wrecker, aka Tim O’Malley - Founding member, telepath who uses a titanium sphere to devastating effect

At the door of the banquet room, four villains stood looking in on the Infinite Seven, taken off guard during their own welcome party.  As the villains stream in, the youngest member, a boy with a jet pack, wielding some type of plasma cannot, called out to the leader, a young blond woman dressed in a white leotard.

“Um, Ronnie, I thought you said there were seven of them.  I count TEN!”  The boy arched his beam toward Cazmonster, who stood resolute, felt the flesh and fur heating seering against the heated plasma, and growled loudly.  

“Not sure Felix!  They call themselves the Infinite Seven!  I thought the other ones all left town!”

Ronnie, aka Deathrobat, flipped down the stairs and ended with a two foot kick to The American Attitude’s face, sending the smart-mouthed soldier flying.  

The larger, barbarian themed villain bounded into the room, smashing the biggest target he could see, Cazmonster.  This knocked the cyborg werewolf free from Felix’s plasma attack.  As Cazmonster and the powerfully built giant of a man wrestled in the ballroom floor, Felix yelled “Beewolf!  That was MY target!”

The woman dressed in the green costume found White Diamond faster on the draw than herself.  A white-bright energy beam knocked the menace back into the lobby area.  She struggled to her feet after the powerful assault.  “You’re gonna regret that, pretty!” she mumbled under her breath, launching herself back into the fray.  

Meanwhile, a second bullet flew into the room, this one barely missing Dragonfly’s head as he struggled to make sense of the chaos.  

Running over to the pink and orange clad speedster, he said “Um, what was your name?  Triumph?  Can you find that guy who’s shooting in here and put a stop to it?  

“Done, Dragonfly!” and with a flash, Triumph had left the building.  

The team of heroes had been caught off guard, but Felix had been correct to be concerned about their greater than expected numbers.  Cazmonster and the barbarian known as Lond were almost exactly matched, and Triumph had left to find the sniper, but that left eight more heroes to battle three supervillains.  

Dragonfly and White Diamond took the onslaught to the acid-slinging L1kw1d8te (pronounced Liquidate); The acid splashes sizzled against Diamond’s heat shield, and splatters of the streams he dodged burned Dragonfly’s fucsia costume and skin, but in the end, the martial hero was standing right in front of the green-garbed villain.  He punched her square in the nose, breaking it in at least two places and sending her back several feet into a weak interior wall.  He flew through it, and within seconds held his sword to her neck.  L1kw1d8te held up her hand in surrender.  Dragonfly bound her hands and ankles with zip ties.  “One down!”  he grinned to Emily, his former girlfriend and current...well, whatever they were, it was close.

Back in the banquet room, Palisade, Wrecker, and The Adept were making quick work of the kid, Felix.  Palisade’s spikes kept the kid’s plasma cannon focused on defense long enough that Wrecker was able to bring his titanium sphere around the other side and smash it into the kid’s jetpack, grounding him.  The Adept then opened a portal in the floor, and one in the ceiling right above it.  

“How long are you going to let him accelerate?” Wrecker asked.  

“Meh,” The Adept shrugged.  “Now’s good.”  

With a smack, the kid hit the floor, lifted his head for a second, and then passed out.  

The American Attitude was flighting blow for blow with the acrobatic leader, but it appeared he wasn’t making headway.  She moved back to avoid one of his assaults, and drew a large caliber handgun from her belt.  A wicked grin crossed her face as she aimed for The Attitude’s skull.  Then she had to wonder why he was grinning back at her.  Slowly she turned to look behind her, but it was too late.  Angela’s vampiric fangs were already drawing blood from Deathrobat, the villain caught in the trance of the vampiric feeding.  

Meanwhile, The Gray Robe was using potted plants in the banquet hall to try to waylay Lond, but they were having little effect.  She was considering shattering the glass panels to call on the trees outside for help, but Cazmonster began repeatedly slamming his fist into the giant’s face.  The monsterously large human turned, as if to stagger away and get some distance from Cazmonster, who was also beaten to a bloody pulp, but he turned instead to find The Adept aiming his hand and him.

With a blast of mystical power, The Adept incapacitated the weak and weak minded barbarian.  Cazmonster used a steel pipe to restrain him for later.  

After the battle was obviously over, and all the villains captured, the heroes began checking on the civilians and tending to each other’s wounds.  It was then that The American Attitude asked “Hey, where’s Steel?”  Dragonfly looked at him like an alien for a second before remembering that Steel was the nickname of Triumph’s alter-ego, Stan.  

“I sent him out to find the sniper.  He never came back!”  In seconds, the entire team had left the building.  After a short search, they found no sign of the villain, but they did find Triumph, lying on the ground bleeding.

“Crud,” the Attitude said, looking at the wounds.  “He’s been shot four times.  He’s lost too much blood!”

The Gray Robe drifted down to the speedster from out of the sky.  “I call upon the powers of the earth!”  She drew the green life energy from around her and funneled some of it into Triumph, who coughed and sputtered a little.

“Maybe a little more of a boost,” Angela said.  Dripping her blood into his mouth, the hero’s eyes popped open, and he regained consciousness.  

“Hey, guys!” Steel said weakly.  “Sorry, he got away.”

“Not for long,” The Attitude said.  “Not for long.”

“Barry, I’ve got a portal open to the hospital.  We’ve got to go, now,” Rick Pennington said, putting his hand on The Attitude’s shoulder.

It was touch and go for several hours, but in the end, the doctors were able to remove all four bullets.  They were really odd bullets, the chief surgeon had said.  No way of knowing exactly what they’d been intended to do, or if they accomplished their goal.  Palisade took the projectiles for examination back in the I7 lab.  

The heroes said their goodbyes to Steel and trickled out, one at a time.  The cheerful gathering of friends ruined, the heroes broke up into groups of two or three, or went home alone.  Rick and Caz saw Tim, Emily, and Aaron to the train station; the last train to Chicago would give the heroes a chance for some much needed rest and get them out of the terribly cold January chill.  

“Hey, you realize it’s us?  The original five?” Dragonfly said as he heard the train approaching.  

Rick nodded somberly.  

“Those were good times,” Caz said, thinking back to when five innocent young heroes had first formed a group to fight against a strange impending mystical threat.  It had only been a year and a half since then, but they’d been through so much together, it seemed like much longer.  

Each nodded in turn as the train pulled up.  Then, Emily, Aaron and Tim said their goodbyes to Rick and Caz, and boarded the passenger train to Chicago.  Tim would catch a suburban connection and head to the west, while Aaron and Emily would go to his studio on the north side.  She planned on staying with Aaron tonight, and catching a plane back to Princeton tomorrow afternoon.  

The train pulled off silently into the snowy wind, and Rick and Caz walked back to Langley alone.