As you can probably tell, the stuff with the nineties is a lot harder to deal with than the eighties, given that this was the point where a lot of the plot started really moving. Hence I'm being a bit more coy with it than the last time, especially seeing as Zero took a big step forward in Season 5 and did more stuff there. Needless to say though, as the story goes on, I'll go into more detail regarding any events that may have happened there. Next time, we deal with stuff from the Magic Railroad, and the Malignance finally makes a move.
Oh, uh, the episode. Murdoch is okay? I guess? Hope you don't mind what I've done with the character, he just was quite boring to write without coming up with some other take on him.
AaronCottrell97: Eh, that's fair. One of the last proper chase scenes in the Classic Series!
Reality Rejection Service: What I had intended to get across with the general stuff that you've been seeing in the past chapter, and to a lesser extent this one, is that Zero is very much trying to balance out the two sides he's working with. The idea I came up with was that he's incompetent in certain respects, he's not a railway man first and foremost like the Director, he's a sailor and a crook. So even his attempts to help have been doomed to injure the engines. Secondly, as mentioned with the turntable stuff, he's trying his best to foil some of the plans that the Malevolence and the Other Railway came up with. He's just doing so in a cack handed way because he's a dick. The Malignance has power TO an extent, but at the same time, he's still trapped and can't do things the way he would like it to, honestly he'd get things done with no one getting hurt if he could. Hope that clears that up, at least.
Game-Watch: Not ALL of it, but certainly a fair deal. I didn't want to get rid of much of the comedy from that time.
MattPrice01: The full story of the Norrises will be told one day! A lot of stuff is getting explained by this story, hopefully I'm papering over the cracks in the story well enough for your liking!
JD145: Yeah, pretty much. Narrow Gauge stuff stops being competent after this season.
Radical Sandwiches: I have! They are very good, a lot of fun, feels like a really nice mix of original and old stuff, definitely something I watch whenever a new one comes up!
UGX7: A very apt comparison. Or, if you add time travel to it, Church from RvB.
Bronze Shield: Pretty much, yeah. :/
Hughie96: Ta mate! Yeah, the show isn't BAD (A bad episode of Classic Thomas is still miles more watchable than some other shows), at this point, but at the same time, you can clearly tell this is a transition season, and the two halves just sort of bump against each other and make things real awkward. Thing about the Malevolence is, and I may have mentioned this before, Season 8 and 9 is when we really start to explore just what the hell his deal is.
jsw: You'll just have to see.
CUE THE THEME
"Hurry up, I'm a busy engine!" chuffed Henry, who had somehow managed to travel back in time to Season 4 as he spoke.
With the most undignified slamming on of brakes, Thomas delivered the last of the vans for the Flying Kipper into Henry's train with no small amount of force. The green engine yelped and glared at the unapologetic tank engine.
As he started off, he wondered vaguely why it was that the Flying Kipper was so cursed. Had there not been enough fish for a local witch, angering her to the point of putting a dark and evil pox upon the train and all those who pulled it (I.E, him and ONLY him) forever?
If so, she had done her job well. Throughout the night, the Flying Kipper and it's hapless engine experienced, in this order:
-A freak snowstorm (Freak as in it wasn't even hinted at before, one moment it had been a clear night, the next it was throwing down large chunks of ice)
-A seagull getting sucked in by a stray gust of wind and landing in his fire, sending the green engine into a panic attack, which lead to-
-Henry accelerating rather more rapidly down Gordon's hill than he had intended, launching him off the rails, through several trees and then mercifully landing back on the rails with all vans following, which THEN lead to-
-A very harsh application of the brakes, resulting in every van splintering into pieces and the brakevan sailing through the air and into a nearby field.
-Goats had somehow managed to get into the vans while going through the wood and had eaten all the fish.
-A piano then dropped from the sky and sent Henry off to the land of Cussion, first name Con.
"DON'T EVEN START!" he screamed as he was pulled past the rest of the engines.
The result of which was that Henry was out for a few weeks, meaning that the floor had to be opened up for a new goods engine to take over the running of the main line for the time being.
Which is where merchandising- I mean, our story, begins.
….
Goods were arriving night and day at the docks. They ranged from the understandable (Coal, equipment for mines) to the odd (An inflatable waterbed for the Hatts, T-Shirts with the words 'I Had My Business and My Livelihood Ruined By An Engine Crashing Through and All I Got Was This Shirt' written upon it) to the impractical (Whoever ordered a reverse snowplough and didn't expect the engines to get cut open by the pointy end was an idiot).
And sometimes, dealing with all that hard work makes the axles ache.
When they can be arsed to do hard work, which is about once every two to three months, on a blue moon, when the tides aren't about to crush the Island.
Thus, when the new engine arrived, people weren't expecting the Island to practically shake when he touched wheels down on the ground. But it did. He was long and had ten drive wheels, and had a face that looked like it had been in one or twenty fights.
"Ruddy hell, it says here you're supposed to be a different colour!" Sir Topham shrugged. "Ah well, at least you're in good spirits, eh?"
"I have seen some shit, sir."
"…Well, that's….that's very good. Er, everyone, this is Murdoch, everyone. I'd advise you to make him feel welcome, and also not to shoot any guns around him, he's apparently a bit of….he's….okay, I don't know the correct term for it, but he tends to go a little berserk if someone shoots at him. No one wants that, do they?"
Everyone looked at Murdoch. At his wheels. At his rather large buffers. Collectively, as a whole, they all shook their heads. Er…faces. Whatever they had.
"AHOY MURDOCH!" said Salty, who feared nothing.
"Welcome, Murrrrdoch!" said Harvey, who feared everything but mostly being a social outcast.
"You're the biggest engine I've ever seen!" cried Thomas, who feared not getting the last word.
"You're a chatty lot. Is it too late to go back to Broadmoor?" murmured Murdoch, and went off to start work on the freight.
"He's joking, right?" murmured Thomas to no one in particular.
"Do you want to find out?" hissed Toby. "He could literaelly eat you for breakfast!"
"Ha! Him?"
"Yes. Me." Said Murdoch, looming over the tank engine. Toby retreated quickly, and Thomas was left to very politely explain to Murdoch that he was referring to some other engine called Murdoch and that no, he wasn't interested in having his teeth moved to the back of his throat, ta for asking.
Then he was coupled up to a long line of trucks, and started off as easy as pie. He longed for some peace, quiet and maybe a nice drink of something strong.
He could get one of those things if he was lucky. And on that day, he was not, for the coaling plant had recently closed down their bar because of two certain Scottish twins. Not that this had stopped the twins from finding alcohol in the plant…somehow.
"OCH AYE! THE NOO!" slurred Douglas as he moved forward and smacked his head against a low hanging pipe. By the time he was finished, Murdoch felt much the same way and couldn't wait to go to the shed and sleep off his troubles.
Alternatively, if he figured out how not to get caught, to beat his troubles out of his system and into the face of some very punchable sod, of which there were many on the Island.
…..
"Arthur, why the hell do I have ta look at what is basically yer arse all night?"
"I can move if you want."
"Yeah, ye do that. Still, it's a damn sight nicer than that twit Thomas's."
"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH REALLY?!" Thomas's face was covered with large veins that popped up in rage at this statement, and he left before he could show Emily the true extent of his complicated feelings. Or, more likely, before Emily could beat the crap out of him and then give him a motherly lecture.
Murdoch arrived as the enraged tank engine left and slid into place alongside Captain Pugwash and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Three guesses who those two are. They were full of questions, and questions were not something that Murdoch enjoyed dealing with. Unless the question was "Would you like one lump or two?" in which chase it made for a really badass comeback when he started beating lumps out of them.
"What'scht the longechest train ye've ever pulled?" slurred Harvey. He had been drinking significantly, the legacy of Donald and Douglas was still strong on the Island.
"Have ye ever been to Marseilles, laddie?! I've got a lass there. A few lassies. Not as many as Polly though, eh, Polly?"
"MRAWK! PIECES OF EIGHT! PIECES OF EIGHT! WANNA CRACKER!"
"'Ave ye ever crashed?!"
"Depends on whether you mean myself, or other pe-Wait, stop, stop, STOP. Please. Lads. Let me put this in as POLITE as terms as I can. I want to actually get to sleep tonight and the worst thing of it all is that I have to share a shed with such shitty chatterboxes like yourself, so please, let me just sod off to the land of nod when I'm here!"
"No need to be rude!"
"Strewth, just being friendly, matey!"
"And your accent just changed! It was a pirate's a moment ago, now it sounds vaguely Australian in nature!"
"Ayeeeee mon, whatchoo talking about?" said Salty, he of the shifting accents.
Murdoch harrumphed, and gave up.
…..
The next morning, after leaving before Salty and Harvey could passively aggressively try and force him to talk, Murdoch collected another long train of trucks from the dock and started off towards wherever it was he was supposed to drop them off at. As he passed through Ballahoo Tunnel, he reflected on how great it was to be completely on his own.
Aside from his driver and fireman, of course, but they were basically just ragdolls in fancy uniforms at this point.
"Oh I think I was there a while back! Hmm…yeah, looks like the renovations I did are still holding up!" He said as he passed by the ruins of an old castle. Fond memories all around.
And then there was trouble. The bubble burst as the driver applied the brakes at the sight of sheep on the line.
"Oh goodie!" said Murdoch. "Lunch!" He was just about to bite the nearest one's head off when his fireman rapped him on the boiler.
"No! Bad Murdoch! This is why we got sent here! You can't just eat sheep while they are still alive! It's inhumane!"
"Good thing I'm not human then!" said Murdoch, who was rather hungry after having to listen to Salty and Harvey all night.
"The sheep escaped from that field!" said the driver. He was fitting in with Sodor already, having made the first step of saying the most obvious things on the planet rather easily. "Through that broken fence!"
So pleased was he that he was now two for two in the obvious statement department, he dopily got out and attempted to grab the sheep. Where I won't say. The sheep were very distressed, though, and proceeded to maul him. This lead the fireman to get out and assist him. They chased them this way, and then that way. They tried everything….but life is too short for us to waste time on me recounting how shitty their efforts were, and besides, who the hell actually cares anyway?
Eventually, the two men realized that scaring the sheep wasn't working, and that they were probably going to die from all the diseases that they had accumulated.
"I'll go and phone for help!" said the driver. For the sheep or for himself, only he knew that. He staggered off, trying to ignore the large lumps on his head and the sense that he was leaving something important behind.
As the sheep gnawed on the driver's left leg, Murdoch was left to beg them, futilely, to bugger off. It didn't help that he was fairly sure that one of the sheep was just Michael Angelis going "Mehhhhhhhh" in order to blend in. The sheep were spoiling his peace and quiet.
…..
As he enjoyed afternoon tea, the Fat Controller was fairly certain that things would go well.
Then the phone rang.
"SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP?!" he bellowed in such a tone that indicated that he had never heard of the word before. "Oh you're shitting me! This is…okay, okay, right, I getcha. I'll send Toby to deal with it with the farmer, now please, SOD OFF!" Hatt slammed the phone down and passed out onto a large pile of sticky buns. Ah well, he thought as he began to sink into the cream, at least if I drown I'll go out as I've always wanted.
The sheep were getting rowdy now. Some of them had even started mating. It was not a pleasant sight, certainly not for Murdoch. "I'd rather be back with those two chatterboxes…who were they? Hook and Smee? Oh, hang on, here comes a shed!"
"Oh, funny, a square joke, how original, you want help or not?" snapped Toby.
"Toby! We're certainly glad to see you!"
"….I haven't introduced myself to you yet." Toby said, eyes narrowing. Murdoch stammered and tried to think of a way out of things. Luckily, the sheep went for Toby's chin, and so everyone moved on.
Before long, the farmer had shoved the sheep back into the field, and the dog was dealing with matters fine enough. Murdoch hurried on his way, deciding that this episode was already getting to the point of madness, and he wanted no further part in it.
…..
And that night, as he returned to the sheds, he watched as Arthur and Emily reclined in a far more mutually respectful position, and as Salty and Harvey both braced themselves for an onslaught. But he spoke first. "I'm sorry I was so rude, I guess, I am honoured to share a shed with you, sure we'll go with that."
"And we're pleased to have your company!" said Harvey.
"Arrr, we are!" said Salty. "Now that reminds me of a story-"
Neither engine noticed the massive as all hell cuecards that his fireman and driver were holding up. Murdoch sighed. At the very least, Salty's story would send him to sleep post-haste.
Such a heartwarming story. So it's almost not worth mentioning that, as the others went to sleep, Murdoch and Arthur locked eyes with each other.
Murdoch mouthed a few words to Arthur.
"I've seen him."
Arthur looked to the sleeping Emily, then mouthed back. "I have too."
"When do you want to get the others?"
"….Not now. Soon, though."
"…Does he know?"
"No. Let's keep it that way."
And as for what THAT means, well that, once again, is another story.
….
THE PAST.
"Wakey wakey, mate!"
Drampf groaned and lifted himself up. The various porn stars he had draped himself with had long since left, taking the cash and most of his usable pants with them. He blinked blearily, his badly tanned skin making him look like a dried out tangerine. "What? …You!"
"Me." Zero said, cheerfully as he could. He had had a long….long chat with the Malignance and the Clown (Well, the latter had done nothing but grin, but still) and was thus looking to burn off some excess tension.
What was the talk about? Oh please, you've got to let us spare some twists for the next three seasons!
Drampf stared at Zero, then reached out his tiny piggy hands to grab hold of a pair of glasses. "What do you want?"
"Simple, Drampf. Unless ye want me to tell everyone about yer little cowardice back in the war, yer going to do what I say."
"….Jeez, fine! What?"
"I want ye…to run for mayor when the time comes." Zero smiled cheerfully, and tried to restrain a snicker at the sight of Drampf's slack-jawed amazement. "Hang on, that's not all I'm looking at."
…..
"So...why Drampf?"
"Oh, it seems odd at the time, I know. But Captain Zero wanted someone in the Mayor's office who could feasibly report back to him. Start making some changes. Perhaps accelerate the production of more diesels, or make it so that every steam engine on the Island could disappear for a bit. I most certainly DID not want that, or rather, the Malignance didn't. Hence why I chose him. The worst possible candidate. ...How was I supposed to know that everyone on that Island is a racist bigot in sheep's clothing!? It's like the Producers, I wanted everything to go wrong, but instead, everything went RIGHT!"
Captain Zero paused for breath. He looked at his son, who looked back at him in a strange mixture of confusion and interest.
"And then what happened?"
Zero paused, and then rubbed his head. "The next few years are a blur. I'll try my best, but a lot of the details…they start to fall apart here." He sighed. "It was around that point that I started getting aware of these things called time portals. Use them, or be in the same area as one, for too long and your head starts to ache a lot."
…..
1989.
"What is it-" asked Zero one day, to the Malignance "-that stops us from killing yon steam engines completely?"
"…It is, perhaps, a bit of a foolish idea. Yet here is the truth, Zero. Neither of us wants the Malevolence to take control, correct? Now, the fact of the matter is that this lost engine is no longer on the Island. And your attempts to find her have dragged up nothing, nor will the rest of the Other Railway. Because what they're focused on is the idea of wiping it all out."
"Ohhhhhkay, that doesn't answer me question, but-"
"So to find the lost engine, we must have a different perspective. One who is a little bit simpler than you or I. And these engines, so complex in many ways, are simple in brain at least. Thus far they have stumbled across umpteen buried civilizations, several lost towns and have discovered so many secrets of this once great Island that it is honestly not shocking any more that they have no idea how much of a big deal it is. If anyone can find her, and thus stop the Malevolence, it's them."
"….But all of them?"
"All of them. I have forseen it."
"Sure. Right. Whatever." Zero stood up, stretched himself out and yawned. "Right, well, I'm going to head off now and do…things."
"If you are attempting to kill that Captain Starr fellow again, I would strongly urge against it."
"Is that an order, sir?"
"No. A suggestion."
"Right. Well I'm just going to go and ignore that suggestion, then!"
Zero returned five hours later, bleeding significantly from his right leg, dripping wet and very, very angry. He didn't tell anyone or anything what happened when he found Starr, not even to John himself.
The one thing he did tell people, though, when he was sufficiently drunk enough, was that the last he ever saw of the man formerly in charge of the Star Tugs before his death in 2005 was a mocking, amused grin on an old man's face, happy and content.
Zero pitied him, he truly did.
Yes. That was what he felt.
Right?
…
1991.
"We have an issue, sir."
The Fat Director looked to Zero. "We have plenty of issues, Zero. What we don't have are solutions. And what particular issue are we having today?"
"….The escape last night."
"Ah yes. ..How many did we lose?"
"Most of them have been taken to the Iron Circle's headquarters. Some were killed as they were leaving. We havenae been able to getour assets. And that's before all that junk about you conversion process gets revealed. We….may have to consider shutting that down, or at the very least, start considering mass-clone production."
The Fat Director closed his eyes. "But?"
"But it…somehow gets worse than that." Zero made sure he was close to the door. He was aware that saying anything bad now would result in him, at best, getting knocked out. He at least wanted to be close to the outside before he got knocked out. "We have six engines unaccounted for. …Six, and one brakevan. Not on the Other Railway. Not in the Iron Circle's custody. Not dead."
Zero wasn't sure what happened next. And he couldn't ask the Fat Director, right? He was lying somewhere, kept alive by machine solely so that he did not reassert control over his company.
So he just moved ahead with the story. Who cared about a few plot holes?
In retrospect, thinking about them a lot more might have told him something about what was happening.
…..
The Stepney situation was on the mind of Zero throughout most of the year, and the one following that. There were a few schemes he managed to avert, through accidents more than anything. By now, it was becoming clear that the Other Railway was no longer playing around, and that a full scale invasion was on the horizon, at some point.
So while he was able to handle a few things (Such as 'accidentally' removing six bomb filled tenders and replacing them with six boiler sludge filled ones, and also at some point just 'happening' to walk by with a chain when Toby was hanging for dear life off a bridge), he mostly kept to himself.
And also occasionally screwed things up for the Island even more, such as causing a mining disaster when what he had assumed was a Other Railway spy entered the quarry, only for it to be just a really, really ugly man. Or that brief moment where he ended up dropping a bee hive to the ground and causing mass hysteria.
To be fair, though, it was very funny at the time.
"We've hit a crisis point." He informed the Malignance. "I cannae keep coming up with yon crappy excuses for my behaviour. Tis time ye either put up or shut up."
The Malignance considered this for a moment. "Would it be…helpful, if I perhaps established a way for you to continue staying on the Island, while at the same time assisting your boss and company?"
"…It would. How, though?"
"I have been gaining information from your quarters while you have been off galivanting around doing an, admittedly, fairly decent job of stopping the eradication of the world. There is information regarding the existence of an old narrow gauge engine that you have, kept in your Other Railway as a prisoner/bargaining chip."
"Aye. Ivo Hugh." Zero frowned. "Wait, so-?"
"When this….television crew arrives back, they will no doubt need a guide of sorts. You will be in a good position not only to keep an eye on their movements, but the movements of the rest of the Island."
"That…is true. But the Thin Controller is apparently a real arse, he'll recognize that Ivo Hugh's a wee bit conspicuous."
"That-" said the Malignance with a level of careful confidence "-will not be a problem. You told me that this man…Gotch, was it, has been using some sort of magic to kill off certain people, like the vicar. It would not, perhaps, be entirely unlikely that you could persuade him to remove the…rather badly named Thin Controller from the picture. Maybe just shove him onto the tracks when a passing diesel comes his way. From what little I have gathered from the reports you tell me, the man in charge of the main railway will have to take control of the Narrow Gauge railway too."
This made a degree of sense. Zero nodded, and kept that in mind until he told the Fat Director his idea. In a rare, but still rather scary move, he was complimented on this diea by the stout gentleman. And so it came to pass.
He took some of his own liberties too, contacting the replacement for the vicar and his friend in the bobble-hat and bringing attention to the fate of the Mid-Sodor Railway and Duke in particular. Likewise, he quickly snuck Ivo Hugh onto the railway and had the Malignance pull the same trick he had on Nigel to make him appear the same as an engine recently removed from active service due to being as flat as a pancake in the personality department.
And then there was the election. There were several parties that were to be entered into the political race, but he wasn't concerned.
…..
DECEMBER, 1993.
With a weary sigh, the Captain, P.T Boomer and Marklin made their way through the large labyrinth of tunnels underneath Sodor. There were some that lead to the quarries, to the docks, to the countryside, but the one they were following lead to a smaller cave.
There, they saw the electrical engine.
"No! NO NO NO! BACK OFF!" Davidson hissed, his bufferbeam and the rest of him crackling with a blue light. Zero raised his hands, but before he could start, Marklin raced forward and glared at him.
"He is pathetic!" he spat. "You would use him?"
"The thing with the Island-" Boomer growled to no one in particular "-is that there is no one who pays attention to the runts of the litter!" Davidson hissed at this, but Boomer paid no heed. "He's a good choice."
"Thanks for the thrilling endorsement." Zero walked forward and scowled. "All right, Davidson? Ye've not turned into a lassie since I saw ye last?"
"You…You left me to die!" Davidson shrieked, blue sparks flying off. "You cut me loose, and you lied to me!"
"I did. But ye were with the government. Do ye expect me to apologize?"
"I should kill you all where you stand!"
"And miss out on a perfect chance to get revenge on this Island? On the Ministry for making ye look a fool!" Zero bent down. "And besides which, ye owe me for hiding those bodies, remember?"
Davidson hesitated for a moment.
It was his biggest, and most fatal, of mistakes.
…..
It was a while later, when the announcements were first being made, that he met Drampf's son. Jasper was sitting rather far aware from his father, giving a look that could best be described as 'this is really happening, dear god', that Zero could at the very least understand.
"Ye dad's got quite the fanbase."
"You mean he has gits supporting his every word."
"Tomayto, tomahto, I guess."
The two of them watched as Drampf made his overly long speech that critiqued everything and anything that didn't fit the white middle class stereotype. Jasper, by contrast, seemed reticent, which was intriguing. Zero had known plenty of politician's children before, and yet this one was remarkably different.
"What do ye do for a living?" he asked, casually.
"Nothing much. I was thinking of working alongside my dad, maybe try and limit things, but-"
"Listen, I've got a wee idea. I work with ye Dad, informally. Ye get anything that could…ye know, scupper us, ye send it to me."
"And why should I trust you?"
Zero was about to respond, when a certain blue tank engine burst onto the stage. His mouth dropped and he joined the rest of the crowd in screaming out a massive "WHAT?!"
…..
The next few months were busy with the travelling back and forth along the Narrow Gauge railway, and occasionally taking the 'Stunt Double' to get news and bring it back to either one of his benefactors.
So it was quite a surprise when Jasper Drampf arrived, a few days after rumours that Edward the Blue Engine had suffered a complete meltdown over the campaign of Thomas, to the paddleboat with a tape.
"This-" he said with little preamble "-is going to be airing on every channel. On a loop for one hour, if they can. They've got a few pirates on there."
"Oh I know a great deal about pirates. Give it here."
Zero watched the tape.
And then rewound it.
And then watched it again.
"Well?"
"Jasper-" said Zero, in a slow, deliberate kind of way "-get rid of it. Now."
He never did learn why Jasper hadn't. Or why he had handed the tape back over his father, who had played it on national TV. The death of several of Edward's friends at the hands of Nazis was the most potent Pro-Thomas piece of media that could have been constructed outside of Drampf maybe using the United Kingdom flag to wipe his own arse.
...
He tried to cut his losses the next day. It didn't work.
"I'll tell everyone!"
Zero paused, and looked at Drampf in confusion. "What?"
"I'll tell them about all the things that you've done! All the deplorables I've pissed off will have a whole new target for their hatred! The Other Railway and it's mess will have to deal with all sorts of problems. My pal Russia. CHina-" And now that's not a misprint, he said it like that "-Hell, MI6 will be very interested in what's going on."
"...What do you want from me?"
"Money. Enough to get me off this Island. Something's going to happen. Something big."
"...Sure."
He had no intention of letting him go, of course. But he had to think things through.
…..
The Malignance winced in agony. "Something…is amiss." He croaked. Zero glanced outside, and watched as Gordon thundered along the track, looking like the Chinese New Year had thrown up over him.
"It's just the queen. Ye not bothered about the vibrations?"
"Something…else….a time portal is opening…but it's too soon." The Malignance's hissed out in sudden shock. "No…no, not too soon! …It's starting! My escape is at hand! Just…need a bit more time."
"…Ye think we should escalate plans?"
"I think that it would be a good idea to start cutting some of those loose ends you appear to have. And then I'd suggest you consider taking up office on your Other Railway. Because I don't want your Director doing such a lacklustre job on my behalf as he is on the Malevolence's."
"…Ye make an excellent point."
….
And so he did. Firstly, he made sure that Hargreaves, by now having risen to the ranks of a group unofficially known mockingly as U.Z.Z (Initials supposedly meaning the Aztec words Umbo Zim Zam, whatever that meant) was supplied with a small amount of information that incriminated someone no one would miss. Someone like Gotch, for instance. Someone who they could flip could the time come. Alternatively, someone could go and kill him, wiping out the only agency willing to go to war with the Other Railway should the time call for it.
Then he made his way over to the shunting yard, donning for the last time, or so he hoped, the uniform of a workman.
"Hey Edward! Yon tender's being used for a prank! It'll be real messy, the real one's back over there!"
Edward rolled his eyes. "Oh, of course. Thanks mate, appreciate it!"
"No prob." Zero grinned.
Drampf had officially become a source of embarrassment for Zero. It was time to get rid of him, for once and for all. So he found a nearby shunter, and checking his list once more, chose an old barge that he imagined Drampf would be taking as soon as he attempted his 'escape'.
...
The fact that, on the whole, the Drampf experiment had been a failure was of no consequence to Zero. As he watched the barge drift outwards, and then watched with joy as the bomb that the idiotic man had put in the tender exploded, taking what could have been Sodor's next Mayor with it, he vaguely thought about how distracted the Fat Director was going to be.
Then the rest of the Island blew up, which was, to put it mildly, a big surprise. It also removed two pieces from the board. Davidson, of course, spoke for himself. The faulty and downright malfunctioning steam engines turned diesels were mostly killed in the blasts that rocked the Other Railway. That HAD been expected. He had, after all, sent Davidson there to be fixed up good and proper, and he had expected that a small cache of munitions had been kept around even after the stuff with the MoD had fizzled out.
That, then, was what the naval tramper Krakatoa had been like, going up.
It was pretty.
There were things to be dealt with, of course. He quickly took charge of a group that reconstructed an old generator into a steam engine again (Having lost Ivo Hugh, they needed some way of keeping a Narrow Gauge engine on the Island to spy for them), and then made sure that the Iron Circle member closest to spilling something was dealt with by the Juggernaut.
Drampf was right in one respect, though.
Something big WAS coming.
…..
The Captain then talked a great deal about his involvement in events around about the year 1998, and his trip back in time. But we have already mentioned these events previously, so we shall skip ahead, as he did eventually.
To that one fateful night, the night the Malevolence fell…and the Malignance began to rise.