Good day, ladies and gentlemen let me introduce a side companion to my main story "Not Like You". This one entitled "Pitch Black: Blood Lines, telling of James very early days on the L&YRailway, and his very rough crew of siblings. They say time heals all wounds, but does it really? Learn why James is how he is, fighting for survival is one thing, fighting your family and yourself is another thing entirely.
"I think you've outdone yourself , but a 2-6-0 class 27?" a voice sounded, "Well he is experimental of course, he hasn't awakened yet I take it?" another voice answered, one the newly built engine recognized but couldn't place.
"I think I'll call him James," The first voice said again, "James... is that me?" he wondered cracking his eyes open to world for the first time.
"Oh look, he's awake, welcome to the world!" The first voice called to him. Blurred vision slowly clearing he looked down in the direction of the voice.
"Say hello to your new owner, Mr.H. " the other man looked up at him expectantly. Observing them for a moment then opening his own mouth he found that he couldn't quite make the sounds that the two creatures in front of him were.
"Looks like you've made a late bloomer." Mr Porter mused as he went to look over the rest of his new fleet engine. Mr. Porter presided over the very southern most portion of the newly formed L&YRailroad at Ashton. Known for its very rugged and cut throat tactics toward competing freight compaines.
"Well he will grow up quickly with your boys, an odd bunch I must say." Hughes muttered as Mr. Porter finished his examination, climbing up into his cab.
James felt the man's weight as he shifted through his cab, opening his fire door and closing it with a clank.
"Ow!" James spit out involuntarily. "SO he does speak eh? Do you know what your name is engine?" Hughes proded. Thinking about the way the mans mouth moved and the sound he slowly sounded "Jah-ames...James?"
"At a boy, you have a world ahead of you, now you get to meet your brothers." as both men now climbed into his cab. "B...Brothers?" He sounded, starting to get the hang of the speech patterns.
"When do you suppose he will stop with the stuttering? None of the others had trouble speaking when they were newly built." Mr. Porter questioned as they lit his fire for the first time.
The sensation, soft warmth, engulfed his boiler, feeling an unfamilier but comforting pressure build up as steam begain to form for the first time.
"Alright boy, lets get your tanks filled and you out on the job, after all an engine is only needed if it is useful." Mr. Porter slowly started him out of the shed.
Upon entering the daylight, James eyes took a moment to adjust and then look around. Just outside the shed he saw what he guessed was another engine, it looked like him so that must be it.
"James, this is Eagle, your twin older brother." Mr. Porter announced as he rolled along side. "Good day to ya little guy." the black engine poked fun at the newly built engine.
"I'm not little, we are the same size," James huffed to the shocked expression of the two men. "Lighting the fire must have done the trick." Hughes said patting the side of James cab. "heh, you'll fit in fine here kid." Eagle grinned at his little brother.
"Glad you think so Eagle, i've assigned James with you so he can learn his duties on this part of the railway." explained to a less than enthusiastic Engine.
"but...but Sir!" he spluttered. "No Buts! His new fireman and driver should be here soon and then you two will be off. Ah here they come now!"
Two men came in James direction, One stocky build with Sandy blond hair and a scruffy build around his early 20s, and the other leaner man with dark shaggy hair.
"James, these are your new crew, William or Will" gesturing to the leaner man, "and Angus" gesturing to the heavier man.
"Hello," James said cheerfully to the men. Will, rolling his eyes and climbing up into his cab. "Never mind him lad, he's always been a bit of an arsehole, glad to meet you." Angus said with a cheeky grin.
Ok so fireman friendly, driver not so much, James thought as he set off beside Eagle to the engine shed.
Mr. Hughes watched him go in silence. "Good luck my son." He whispered before turning back to his works.
James took everything in wide eyed as they rolled through the yards to a small shed in the back, inside sat three other engines.
"Well boy's here he is, my new little brother James." Eagle announced as the others started to look him over.
The first to speak was a large 4-6-4 dreadnaught Tank engine, he was painted jet black with blood red stripes covered in a thick layer of dirt and soot. "Well aint he just pretty" he spoke in a deep gravelly voice. "Names' Declan but most just call me Decker. Don't worry about that, your paint wont be shiny for much longer!" he laughed as the others moved to size him up.
"Oh shut it will you Decker, nobody wants to hear your trap!" cursed another, engine an 0-6-0 L&YR Class 28 rolled out in defence of the young engine. Like Decker he was black with the same blood red stripes, in fact James noticed all of the engines were this way, complete with dirt and soot layer. The only other thing James noticed is that he himself did not have red stripes.
"My names Wolf, nickname for Eustice." He said his real name in disgust. "Now Eustice let the engine defend himself, otherwise he will not make it here." Said a darker silky smooth voice from the far corner of the shed. This engine was the same as Wolf but older. "How many times do I have to tell you don't call me that!" Wolf spat.
"Ah Daemon I wondered when you speak up to our brother." Eagle purred to the older engine. "I don't want to hear from you Eagle, I want to hear from James, I want to see that he will be a valuable edition to our fleet." Daemon eyed James expectantly.
Looking around to the others and then to Eagle who had his eyebrow raised in waiting.
"So, you said we were all brothers, I see that we are similar but if I am your brother then where are my stripes?" He asked, not sure what else to say.
"Well atleast he gets straight to the point." mused Wolf. "Ah I do admit that, my introduction was a bit rude, you see, yourself, Eagle, Wolf and I come from the same plans albeit yours were a bit modified." explained Daemon.
"Except Decker, he is more of the estranged cousin we don't talk about." Wolf chirped. "Why you cheeky little bastard, I'll!" "As for your stripes." Daemon cut off what was sure to be long string of curses from the tank engine.
"They are earned through hard work, loyalty, and obedience, yeah, yeah we know the drill." Eagle finished in a mocking tone.
"You would do well to learn your place, we should have never given you your stripes!" Daemon snapped. "Just because you are leader doesn't mean you are better than everyone else!" Eagle snapped back. The two quipped back and forth, James meanwhile rolled over to Wolf, who was rolling his eyes at the exchange.
"Do they always do this?" he questioned. "Yep, it's a bit like watching an old married couple. It's par for the course for what normally goes on here. The turf or should I say rail wars around here get pretty fierce." Wolf countered, a dark expression on the young engines eyes.
"Rail wars?" James asked quizically. "Yeah see we are the outermost post for the new L&YR and as such we are always competing for contracts, jobs, even routes with neighboring outfits. We have even had sabotage done to our trains."
"So I take it that is why everyone is banged up and dirty?" "Yep, repairs and water for washing take up excess cash that we can't afford right now sadly. We get washed once a week, twice if lucky."
James looked over as the two engines finished their quarrel, a young man was running toward them waiving a paper.
"The have done it again, they have bloody done it again!" he yelled as he came. "Done what Nicholas?" Daemon proded. "Stolen another one of our contracts, the branch out of Oldham has gotten the rights for the goods train to Stockport."
"Thats the third one this week!" Wolf cried as the others the others looked on in shock and anger.
"That was supposed to be a closed door, hush hush, deal. How'd they know about it?" Eagle questioned. "They said that they offered a better deal and that we were unreliable"
Nicholas countered.
"Unreliable eh? Well we will see about that." muttered Decker. "Indeed we shall, say Eagle nows your chance to show young James here how we deal with others." Daemon purred. "Right come along James we have work to do." James followed his older brother out of the yard.
"You don't talk much do you?" Eagle questioned as they headed down a side route. "Not much to speak about so far, say Eagle, the way Daemon said the word 'work' sounds a bit odd, what was that about?"
"Alright here is the low down and dirty, Oldham is another small hub for the L&YR, technically we are supposed to be buddy buddy now that we have unionized but old rivalries die hard. They steal from us and in turn we from them. There are many times we have went without proper coal and water because of them stealing out of our bottom line. Tonight we even the score for that contract."
"But Eagle, couldn't this be handled by talking it out?" James asked innocently. Sighing, "Once I thought the same as you, then one day I accompanied Daemon and another engine named Angel to a meeting at their yards. Daemon and i went off to help shunt when we heard screaming, two of their men had hijacked Angel. We raced after her but they had her wide open, she rounded the corner two quickly and derailed, she never recovered. I can still hear the screaming." Eagle went silent for a moment then spoke again. "Angel was Daemon's mate, he hasn't been the same since so I would advise not to bring her up."
James just nodded as the story sank in, he had never met the engine in question but he felt anger welling up inside at the very thought. Seeing his younger brothers expression he grinned.
"You feel it don't you? That means you are a true brother, when we get back there are still a few others that you haven't met, what better way to do it then striking back for the old Ashton branch?" he said with a proud smirk.
"Let's do this." He said with determination. "Haha that a boy, you see down in the yard?" Glancing down was a small yard, with 4 lines, coaling depot and water station. On the far right was a small tank engine, next track over was the first run of the contract that had been stolen.
"What I need you to do is sneak down there and have your drivers do a little work over on old Dean the tank engine while I hide the trucks. They won't be on time and late is unreliable, think twice about rewarding that contract to them." Eagle explained.
"Ready?" Will called from his cab, Angus wearing a large grin of his own. "I take it you've done this before?" he questioned nervously. "Of course, an eye for an eye eh?"
"So you say." before he could say anything else he and Eagle descended into the yards, James first, staying near the tree lines. Once close enough Will scrambled off with a toolbox and climbed into the tank engines cab.
James looked about nervously as he waited to give Eagle the signal to take the trucks. Will was busy loosening bolts and everything else he could get his hands on, once satisfied with his handywork he scrambled down back to James and gave a thumbs up. Eagle then rolled as silently as possible behind the trucks, coupled up and rolled out running tender first. Joining james on the hill they were coupled tender to tender increasing speed the farther they got from the yard.
"Nice work kid, now where to stash these..." "What about that old track we passed on the way down, that way it would look more like they are misplaced then stolen?" James proposed. "Good thinking, I see you inherited the brains from my side." Eagle said proudly while James jut rolled his eyes.
Back on the line into town Eagle called to him, "Hey, let's have some fun, now you can see why they called me Eagle!" and he took off at charge. Not wanted to be out done James chased after him. The wind and the trees rushed by, James felt a new sensation one he had never felt before.
The wind rushing down his boiler, fire roaring, wheels pounding, he felt alive! He and Eagle matched each other until they were just outside of their yard enterance. Eagle being the more experienced one applied his breaks like normal, James however slammed his and went sliding into the middle of the yard infront of the other engines.
"Haha nice enterance James!" Wolf barked with laughter. However Daemon wasn't as thrilled. "Running at that speed wastes coal as well as water and!" Eagle was about to come to his defense when. "Oh piss off you old tea pot! James spat at the older engine. Daemon sat shell shocked as the others burst out with laughter.
"Well he and Eagle certainly came from the same mold." Came a voice from the far left, one that was not there the first time. Out puffed a 2-4-2 class 5 tank engine. "Names Leo, short for Leonidas, pleased to meet you."
Another tank engine of the same build puffed out. "Looks like you had a good first run eh? Perhaps they should have named you Eagle instead, the screeching you made on the rails sure sounded like one." The others laughed while James sat red faced with a goofy smile. "Names Xerxes but everyone calls me X. Think of us like cousins."
"Leonidas and Xerxes hmm? Somehow James just seems bland now." James muttered to Wolf. "Ah those two are names after ancient warriors, and believe me they deserve it." Wolf explained. Making a mental note to ask Eagle about them later he settled in to an empty berth next to Eagle and Wolf.
Eagle filled them in on the raid to a chorus of cheers and boos for the other railway. "Little guy here was great! I am indeed proud he came from my plans!" James face went red as the other chuckled. "As I told you before I'm not little!"
"He's got fire, I'll give him that" Leo laughed. Soon their fires were out and they sat around sharing the news of the day. LIstening to the stories just made James more excited, meanwhile Daemon watched him with a curious fascination from the corner.
Suddenly X called out "Hey Daemon, what do you think of your new little brother?" after a few seconds of silence he answered. "He did well for his first trial run, for now though I believe he should get some rest, tomorrow the real work begins." with that he closed his eyes and went to sleep.
"Stick up his tender..." Decker muttered as they all started to drift off. James himself was still trying to figure out his new family. Daemon the oldest brother, Eagle the next oldest, Wolf, and then himself. Then there were Decker, Leonidas, and Xerxes, looking around to them he felt a sense of belonging, however that would not last long as some of James other traits start to emerge.
This will be a three part filler series for James and an introduction to Daemon in my other story "Not Like You." A few things inspired it, one i had a thought proposed to me through a message about NLY. In that story James is afraid of what others think and do and covers it up with anger and rage, now I am here to tell why by showing what made him that way. Also you notice a not so deep connection to his first set of crew members as he does with Jim and Burl, there is a reason for that, but it will have to wait. Hope you enjoyed this first look at James Bloodlines!
