His thoughts swirled around in his head as Nick breathed heavily. Everything was coming together. "ALRIGHT! I knew something was up the moment I laid eyes on that safety hazard of a boat!" He narrowed his eyes. "Show yourselves."
A clicking noise.
"What the?" asked an Anti-Lifer. "Canisters aren't firing!"
"We're outta hexafluor!" added another.
"Eh, it won't matter, the drugs I had slipped into their drivers' drinks are gonna get them quicker." Suddenly, the crew of every Lifer in attendance passed out. P. T. Boomer slunk out of the shadows, his six engines tailing him. "So! I finally get to meet you," he said as he drew near the 42 1/2.
"Why did you kill my wife?!" Nick growled, a few tears trickling from the corners of his eyes.
"I wasn't trying to kill her, I was aiming for you. The ultimate diesel? Your claw would've been the ultimate trophy! Still, my first engine kill and hundredth kill overall was a nice consolation prize."
He went on. "Living machines. Ugh, so unnatural. Just seeing you makes me want to vomit. Can you even understand how much your very presence goes against God?"
"We don't even HAVE a concept of religion, moron," Caroline snarked.
"That makes it even worse, but everything was about to change for the better. In 1990 I had a motorcycle accident that ended up totaling a Lifer Honda Integra. The thrill of killing him was exactly what I was missing from my life. My purpose, if you will.
"I gathered others like me, and together we began to disappear Lifers left and right. Cars, trucks, buses, boats, even nabbed a couple planes. But the rails, oh, the rails were the ultimate prize. Living vehicles were first seen on the railroads, you know.
"And now you know of me. The world shall know of me. For if the world does not turn over its vehicles, if the world does not end this madness, then I will begin a war that will see to it the death of anyone in our way."
"You are a monster," Amelia growled. "So it was you who ordered the slaughter of my class!"
"And the attempted enginocide of the cabooses!" Nichole added.
"And the streetcar scandal!" Penn snapped, bitter.
"Dude, he's not that old," Big Emma, Muffle Mountain's M-1, pointed out.
"Oh, right."
"Ah, well, I do have friends in high places," Boomer chortled. "Such as the management for America's most famous Lifer railways. Due to poor banking, Muffle Mountain AND Mesa Roja are both going under, and in a last-ditch effort to stay afloat they've sold all of their stock to me." A gasp rocked through the crowd.
Boomer continued talking, satisfied with their reaction. "You see, metal that has once been part of a Lifer is much tougher than regular metal, and there are a lot of folks who'd pay a pretty penny to get their hands on it. In fact, in olden days sometimes we would actually kill a Lifer as soon as it came alive, then use the body as a Lugg. Unfortunately, these dimwits passed laws forbidding it!"
"Well no crap!" Toby snapped. "We're capable of higher thought, same as you! How would you feel if a baby that you worked so hard to have was killed as soon as it was born for its meat? Deny it a chance to find who it is?"
"I don't care," Boomer snapped, starting to walk towards the tram.
"But I do."
All eyes turned to Crana, who'd suddenly entered the stadium in full view. Charlie was pushing her from behind. The old coach glared at Boomer, a surprising menace to her aura now.
"The mystic coach of lore is real," she spoke, "and it is I. I regret having hidden from you for so long, but I believe this man right here is reason enough. I am Crana, the original Lifer. Two hundred sixteen years ago today, I was built and brought life to the machines of Earth. And now I suspect I may be able to give you another gift, one that has eluded you for many years: motion.
"Come now, my children. We did not ask to be created, but seeing that we are, it's time to fight for our right to exist." She slammed her hands together. The golden sparkles that resulted from the shockwave quickly turned silver and spread through the stadium, before flying far beyond its confines. One by one, the Lifers in attendance felt themselves becoming more pliable and rubbery. Levers moved in ways that they normally couldn't do without a driver. And finally, they found they could summon their own six-fingered hands from their front couplings/buffers.
"You heard the coach!" Murdoch boomed from the audience. "Let's give these Anti-Lifers what for!" The engines in the arena began to advance on their captors.
"Fight back, you idiots!" Boomer ordered, and his six lifeless engines appeared, shoving freight cars at the Lifers.
"Oh no you dunt!" Frieda growled, before picking up speed and punching a boxcar headed for Venla off the tracks.
"Good show, Frieda!" Gordon said from the audience, before leaping into the arena and landing on his wheels with a mighty THUMP! "Alright, who wants a go at the Big Engine?"
"I do!" the woman who'd had her hands in Lady's face declared, before beckoning some lackeys over, lackeys carrying long metal poles.
"Well then!" Gordon summoned his own pair of hands. "En garde!" And he began to fight them, fist against stakes. "I dare say, this is rather fun! Does anybody else fancy joining in?"
"I do!" Shane exclaimed, galloping over, undulating his wheels like a centipede's legs.
"Hey, save some for us!" Bear added as he and Gaspar joined in the fray.
Emily grimaced. "This is gonna end poorly."
"Then let's begin it better!" Rosie exclaimed. "C'mon Em, if Thomas dies then neither of us gets to ask him out."
"You're right! In that case, show me what you've got, Rose!" And they left the audience box to join their crush as he bullfought a group of Anti-Lifers with the Nigerian Flag, much to Ohwonigho's confusion.
"This is tiring," Nick remarked after crushing yet another Lugg tanker with his claw. Fortunately, it was filled with water rather than with fuel. The fight was long, and many things had happened. Well, no one had died yet, but the two sides were currently at a stalemate.
"I agree," Venla said. "This is a major waste of my life..."
Lady heard this. "Life. Life! Guys, I have an idea! I need white paint and Sudrian quartz!"
"For what? Are you planning to bring someone to life?" John asked.
"Yep! I felt something weird when I was fighting these guys, and I think I know what it is! I can tell whether a vehicle can come to life!"
"Well, if you're right, then we'll have an easier time beating these jerks," Gaspar commented. "Go for it, chica morada!"
"Nick can communicate with the dead and Lady can figure out who's going to live," Billy groaned in the audience stand, morphing his right buffer into a hand and facepalming. "Could they be any more perfect a couple?"
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Mavis chuckled.
"It's not, but it certainly is a contrived coincidence."
Thomas gulped as the six engines closed in around him. "Oh, this doesn't look good!" He closed his eyes and let out a massive puff of steam. The steam went right into the eyes of the Anti-Lifers, who screamed in agony. Seizing his chance, Thomas fled. "Oh, nevermind then. Crana, how're you holding up?"
"Reasonably well, lad!" Crana called from far away.
"You know her?" Gordon asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"I, uh...kinda found her with Emily and Rosie?"
"And you didn't tell us?"
"These guys wanna kill us all!"
"Fair enough, I suppose that's sufficient reason to keep us in the dark," Gordon replied. "Say, what's Lady doing with that paint?"
"Bringing life into a dark world!" Lady screeched as a Muffle Mountain ex-Central Vermont Railway 50-ton steam crane, Bifurcation (so named for their double hooks) slung her through the air, a paintbrush in one hand and a bucket of paint flecked with crushed purple in the other. She swiped the paint roughly on each spot where a face should go on Boomer's six engines and then, in a flash of golden light, the white splatters became feminine faces.
"Hey girls!" Lady said. "Just so you know, you're being used in an attempt to kill other living machines. What do you say to that?"
"I say," said the black GG1, "that we want no part in this." She shook off the people driving her, as did her companions. "Come on girls, let's get outta here."
"Couldn't agree with you more, Gigi," said the E8, and they began to reverse.
"No!" said one of the Anti-Lifers. "Boomer, we need the backup plan!"
"Oh, alright, makes it easier anyway," Boomer shrugged.
"What makes what easier?" Percy asked himself from the audience box.
Boomer pulled out a silver remote control and pressed its single button. A boom, and then a white missile the size of a standard oar came...and landed right on Harold the helicopter, killing him instantly and knocking several engines onto their sides.
"Harold!" Thomas gasped.
Boomer cackled maniacally. "You CAN'T leave! Not when your very nanotechnology can be used to home explosives! Now, do what I say and head for the boat!"
As soon as he'd turned around, Nick had an idea. "Hey, Crash is it?" he asked the truck.
"Yeah?" the truck grouched.
"Wanna make some trouble for Widowermaker over there?"
Crash grinned. "Boy, do I!"
"Then help me collect little pieces of everyone. Lamps, cup holders, coupling chains, things like that. But we need to be careful about it."
"You have my word. Hey, Lady!" Lady turned around. "Your boyfriend's got a plan!"
"Boyfriend?!" Lady spluttered, flushing pink. "U-uh, sureIcancarryaplanoutnoproblem!"
"Great! I need a lamp."
"I'll do you one better." Lady removed both of her gold-painted lamps and tossed them into the truck. "Good riddance," she spat, then coupled herself to Crash and slunk around the stadium while Boomer gloated about his plan, too busy to notice.
"...and then I killed an ancient boxcar, oh, it was glorious, and..." Boomer finally turned around to see Lady and Nick finishing their collection. "Hey! What are they doing?!"
"Planning your end!" Nick said. "C'mon Lady, let's hustle!"
As they ran out of the stadium onto the track for the obstacle course, Boomer pursuing them on a motorcycle his cronies had waiting for him, Lady asked "Mind telling me your brilliant plan?"
"We're going to trick the missiles into firing on Boomer's boat. Without that, there's nothing he can do to us anymore."
"And I'm the bait!" Crash declared.
"Sheesh, and I thought I had a death wish," Lady winced.
"Troublesome Trucks are shameless masochists," Crash shrugged. "It's a living." The locomotives stopped on the bridge. "Hey Boomer! Your mom's a cow and your dad's got the brain of a gumdrop!"
"That's IT!" Boomer fired a massive barrage of missiles at them, before turning around and fleeing. Nick launched Crash at Boomer's fortress, causing the missiles to change direction.
"On...on...on..." Lady and Nick chanted.
And then the boat exploded, sinking like a rock and sending shrapnel everywhere. The two engines heard a faint "HOW AM I STILL ALIVE?!" as Crash sailed through the air to land upside-down on Toby's roof.
"Let's get out of here!" Lady said.
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Nick agreed. They raced back to the stadium, but a piece of the boat fell between them, cutting off the diesel's escape.
"Nick!"
"Don't worry about me...save yourself!" Another piece of the boat came down, snapping the tracks and sending Nick plummeting into the bay below.
Nick's not dead, but he's gonna have one heck of a headache when he wakes up.
Boomer's last-ditch efforts to kill all Lifers have failed. How will he react? How will the Lifers finally defeat him? Will Lady ever get some?
All this and more in the next chapter – Wishes!