"Oh my, hello!" The little engine Rex rolled up to the ballast chute to get a good look at the famous engine that was rolling slowly down the track at Arlesburgh West. "We don't often get a big engine like you up here!"
The Flying Scotsman looked over and saw the little engine and his pensive worried expression suddenly brighten at the sight of Rex.
"A miniature engine! Hello! It's been a while since I saw one of you!" He stopped as he noticed Bert and Mike on the tracks beside the ballast chute. "Or three of you, for that matter."
"You must be that Flying Scotsman fella people keep talking about!" Bert said and the Scotsman smiled at them kindly.
"That I am," he grinned with a wink. "And who might you three be?"
"I'm Rex, the blue one is Bert and the grumpy red one is Mike," Rex introduced himself and his friends.
Mike huffed annoyed but didn't say anything.
"A pleasure," the Flying Scotsman charmed. "What sweet charming engines you are. It's not often I get to meet a miniature engine, let alone 3."
"Most of the big tender engines don't even bother with us." Bert said.
"They always think we're not real engines," Mike snorted angrily.
"Or that we're magical," Bert cut in and Rex laughed.
"The only thing magical here is how Mike hasn't blown his boiler up from being grumpy all the time!" Rex teased and Bert laughed.
Mike pulled a face and ignored them. "It's not my fault irritating things keep happening to me."
"What's a famous engine like you doing around here anyway?" Bert asked.
"I'm waiting for a friend," the Flying Scotsman said. "She was taken to Arlesdale hospital. She's being discharged today and I wanted to pick her up personally."
"Oh I see!" Bert noticed the one first class carriage behind the Scotsman's tender. "I hope your friend is alright."
"Thank-you," the Flying Scotsman smiled at them. "I have a miniature engine friend on the mainland, I rarely see her though so it's nice to meet the three of you. You've brightened up my day."
The three miniature engines looked at each other and smiled. Big engines weren't usually so courteous to them.
"I'm glad that we've made your day better, Flying Scotsman. Best wishes to your friend from us!" Rex called as the large engine began to move off.
The Flying Scotsman blew his whistle and moved off slowly.
"What a nice engine!" Rex chimed.
"Who's a nice engine?" Duck asked as he rolled in. He looked ahead and saw the Flying Scotsman slowly departing. The famous engine was greeting Thomas who was passing by him on the other track. "Oh, him."
"I like having Flying Scotsman here, he's like a less grumpy Gordon," Thomas chuckled as he came to a stop under the Ballast chute and Duck frowned. "And he's nice to the little engines."
"I'd prefer if City of Truro here," Duck scoffed and Thomas sighed.
"That's a bit rude Duck, he's not exactly here by choice," Thomas pointed out.
Bert cut in. "And besides, we're getting nice and busy here, the Small Controller is extremely happy. The railway is making more money than it has in a long time."
Duck rolled his eyes and Thomas sighed knowing what was coming next.
Duck had done nothing but be passive aggressive about his displeasure at the Flying Scotsman's presence on the Island since his recovery.
It had made the railways a great deal busier as people came to see him and even more tourists flooded their little island. It had become a rail enthusiast's top destination and with that came a lot more activity.
Sir Topham Hatt was overjoyed but it did make managing the railway an increasingly harder job. There weren't enough engines to support the increase in trains and he was struggling to give the current engines working enough rest.
The Fat Controller wanted to buy new steam engines to deal with the increased workload but in this day and age that was almost impossible.
"Flying Scotsman and City of Truro are good friends, Duck," Thomas told Duck for the hundredth time. "I don't think Truro would like you constantly complaining and making fun of his friend."
"It's not just him, Gordon keeps being an obnoxious braggart and I've gotten no rest for the past few months while Flying Scotsman trundles around with his first class coach!" Duck complained. "He's not doing any work!"
"He's still not fit enough to pull heavy trains," Thomas reminded Duck. "He needs a rebuild to recover properly. Besides, the Fat Controller's borrowed an engine to help with the main line and he's looking to get more engines to help."
"That doesn't matter! I keep having to slow down because of his stupid absent minded fans who keep trespassing on the tracks!"
The little engines and Thomas glanced at each other knowing Duck was about to go on another rant. Mike simply huffed and went off to pull trucks, clearly annoyed. For once, Rex and Bert didn't blame him.
"You know maybe if you spoke to him he'd tell you stories about Truro," Thomas suggested. "I bet he's got loads, the two have known each other for a long time. Maybe you could even befriend him, he's a lovely engine Duck."
Duck simply snorted steam stubbornly. He went to move off but stopped when he saw that the Flying Scotsman hadn't left completely, he was at the water tower refilling his water on the siding ahead of him. He'd would've heard everything that Duck, Thomas and the little engines had just said.
Duck's face turned red and he slowly moved off adamantly avoiding the Flying Scotsman's gaze.
Thomas and the little engines exchanged nervous glances.
"Somehow I don't think they're gonna be friends after that," Bert commented and went on his way moving onto the turntable.
Thomas watched the Flying Scotsman move off without a word.
"Oh dear."
"I don't need anyone to help me with the express!" Gordon snapped angrily at Sir Topham. "I'm perfectly fine doing it myself!"
"Gordon, you know you can't pull the amount of carriages we need with the increase in visitors," the Fat Controller pointed out, crossing his arms and frowning at him. "You'd need to be as big as Big Boy and you most certainly are not."
Gordon didn't respond, only pulling a sour expression at the Fat Controller.
"Who's going to be joining us sir?" Henry asked, ignoring Gordon.
"An engine named Tangmere," he said and Emily suddenly piped up.
"Oh she's Tornado's friend!" She said excitedly. "Tornado told me stories about her when she was here! She's called Rebecca by her friends and she's bright yellow!"
"Yellow? Pah! Such an undignified colour for an engine!" Gordon grumbled and Emily frowned.
"Now, now Gordon," Edward tutted at him. "Molly is yellow too and she's a wonderful engine. Same with Murdoch."
"A yellow express engine?!" Gordon spluttered in shock, ignoring Edward. "Really, whatever next?"
"Now Gordon I expect you to be civil and nice to her," Sir Topham said sternly to Gordon who only pouted at him. "She's privately owned and her owner is doing us a great favour by lending us her services."
Gordon was about to complain but he saw the look on the Fat Controller's face and relented.
"Yes sir," he said.
"That being said we still do need another engine to assist on the mainline," the Fat Controller said. "But Steam Engines are hard to come by these days."
"What about Tornado?" Emily asked hopefully.
"She's taken up Flying Scotsman's duties on the mainland," Sir Topham explained. "And the museum does not have any engines spare as they're having to call in favours from Pendennis Castle and the like to keep running. I may have to resort to a diesel but I will have to ask Olivia when she returns to work."
"Is Ms Olivia okay?" Edward asked with deep concern. "Flying Scotsman was quite upset the last time I saw him, he must be worried about her."
Thomas looked away from the older engine. He hadn't told anyone about what had happened with Duck.
"She's been discharged from hospital and is up at Ulfstead Castle recovering," Sir Topham said. "I don't know what happened but I can ask Sir Robert."
"But she's been discharged, so that's good right?" Percy said hopefully and Sir Topham smiled at him.
"I guess it does," he said, kindly agreeing with Percy's logic.
As the Fat Controller left in his car the engines excitedly started asking Emily about Tangmere.
Except for Gordon, who simply reversed back into his berth and sat grumbling to himself like a petulant child.
"I know that you're recovering Ms Olivia but Mr Stainer has journeyed from the mainland to see you," one of her assistants interrupted as she sat up in bed.
Olivia looked at Oscar who was sitting on her bedside.
"Can't it wait? She just got released from hospital." He asked but Olivia gestured dismissively at him.
"It's alright," she smiled. "Mr Stainer is a good friend and you can't keep me all to yourself Oscar, as much as I know you want to."
Oscar gave her an annoyed look but relented giving her a kind smile.
"I know Liv," he said softly before kissing her lightly on the cheek.
Henry Stainer was a big broad shouldered man, built like a muscular powerhouse but with a kind and gentle personality. Much like the big green engine on Sodor.
He was the very opposite of Olivia, who was a smaller thin lady but stern and unforgiving, a fierce woman who oozed authority.
It was one of the reasons she was chosen over Stainer, the engines and other railway controllers wouldn't dare to try and trick or push her around while Stainer was more forgiving and open allowing them to tread over him.
Considering how Cain had muscled his will over the other railways during his time as director they figured that they'd try to retaliate.
And they had… until they realised Olivia wouldn't take anything from them and withheld all the museum engines from those who wouldn't play nice and quickly backed off.
Stainer gave Olivia a kind and sympathetic smile as he saw her.
"Hello Ms Olivia, we've been missing you on the mainland," he greeted her as he handed her a bouquet of get well flowers. "Tornado's been especially grumpy."
"Oh she'll get over it," Olivia dismissed with a wave of her hand and Stainer laughed. "She's a big girl now."
"That she is," he said.
He had a concerned look on his face. Olivia frowned.
"You wouldn't have come all this way just to give me some flowers," she said and Stainer sighed.
"Perceptive as always, Ms Spence," he said defeated.
"Well then, what happened?"
"It's about Green Arrow," Stainer said hesitantly.
Olivia's face grew dark and sullen. She had no patience for that lying and deceitful engine.
"What about him? He was locked in storage, there should be no problems," she said coldly.
"Richard Dover found him and tried to steal him," Stainer answered and Olivia looked absolutely furious. "He was arrested and charged for the theft."
"And did he not realise how stupid that was? Especially after what happened with his son Cain?"
"Perhaps but, the bizarre thing is, he argued that Cain's people are trying to get Green Arrow scrapped," Stainer revealed, shocking Olivia and Oscar. "As revenge for their failed hit against Flying Scotsman. Green Arrow isn't as valuable as Scotsman, but his parts would still earn Cain's group a small fortune from souvenir hunters. He's a good steam engine Olivia and he's the last of his class. If we lose him then we lose a part of history."
Olivia looked suitably disturbed as did Oscar.
"Where is Green Arrow now?"
"He's being held at Crewe Works under tight security," Stainer said. "But they can't hold him forever, they need the space for engines under restoration. They'll hold him until the end of April but we need to work out what to do with him. We have under two weeks to deal with Arrow or he's going to be under threat."
"And you can't store him in the museum's sheds?"
"The other engines have made it clear that they will not tolerate him and will probably let Cain scrap him," Stainer said with a heavy sigh. "Tornado of all engines has been particularly nasty in that regard."
"I see." Olivia frowned. Tornado had a personal history with Green Arrow and so putting the two near each other was most probably not going to end well. Especially when Tornado had expressed a desire to get the engine scrapped which had shocked her.
She'd scolded Tornado but she knew that Tornado still held a great resentment towards the V2.
Olivia paused and looked thoughtful for a long moment. She glanced at Oscar before looking back up at Stainer.
"I think you should ask the Flying Scotsman what he thinks," she suggested and Stainer looked confused but otherwise nodded. "He was willing to give Green Arrow a chance and might have an idea on how to deal with him."
"You make a good point," Stainer said after a long pause. "By the way, if it's not too personal to ask, may I know what happened to you these past few weeks? Will you be alright to work?"
Olivia gave him a coy smile and glanced at Oscar.
"Well, about that."