Part 6: The (Relative) Calm Before the Storm.

As the sun set on Shining Time, Patch made his way to the mountain top, where Burnett was standing. The older man was busy messing around with some flowers, an odd, almost wistful expression on his face. As he turned, he noticed Patch on his own.

"Where's Lily?"

Patch looked scared. "I wish I knew."

Burnett's heart stopped for a moment, and he swayed, almost as if he was going to pass out completely. He struggled for a moment, then tried to pull himself coherently together. "What do you mean? You were with her, weren't you?"

"We got down to the station. She told me that she would be at the station once I had finished the errands. I believed her, so I headed off. I had the station in my line of sight the whole time, I swear to you. But I'm sorry, Mr Stone, I went back to get her and she...she wasn't there. No one could tell me anything because it was a slow work day and they hadn't been in much."

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no-

"Mr Stone?" He was about to cry. The boy...was about to cry. That shook Burnett out of his funk. Patch seemed scared. Was he scared...of him? No, this wasn't the boy's fault. What if Boomer...and that thought struck a chill in Burnett, the like of which has rarely been felt by anyone ever. The crossing...he had seen her there. And she had always looked so much like Tasha.

"Don't worry, Patch. We'll find her."

And off he walked, a grim purpose in mind for Boomer.

Patch hesitated for a moment, made sure that he couldn't be seen, and then cut off down the hill. He knew that Burnett couldn't take Boomer, just on sight alone. There was something not quite right about this, and he was determined to make sure that Mr Stone didn't get himself killed.

Bloody crazy old man.

...

"Well, well, well. Mr Hatt, in person. Oh, sorry, Sir Topham, of course, that's how the English like their people to be referred to, isn't it?"

"What do you want?"

"A good question. First of all, I have heard of your appetite, and your very, ah, specific tastes. So, fresh from Britain itself, I have laid out a buffet for you. The poor quality of the English food has one thing in common with the appalling way that you have been treated thus far."

"You see, Mr Boom-Boom, I'd be far more inclined to think you reasonable had your men just not shot one of my drivers." Hatt was still angry, but he had managed to keep calm for the most part. He hadn't known Alec personally, and truth be told for most of his life working with the railway he had been referred to as 'Him, Yes, That One, He Wot Done It' among the staff. But damn it, he was one of them!

Boomer shrugged. "Point taken. You can eat if you want, but I think we can skip the pleasantries, can't we? So, here's the deal. I want to know what the engines on your Island are planning."

"Haven't the faintest-"

"Oh, give me a break! You're their Controller!"

"And you think I have any actual power over them? It's, at best, a figurehead position!"

"I don't actually care, to be honest. You have experienced their weird and off the wall style of fighting before, and I want to know how to stop them. In return-"

"You'll what? Let me go? That won't do anything, you'll shoot me the second I get out of the house? My wife? If you think you're offering the two of us a chance out of here and leaving the others alone, you've got another think coming, matey!"

"Why-?"

"Am I so cynical? Again, it comes back to the fact that you just shot one of my drivers. Had your men waited a few minutes before punishing him, you would have had me at the very least thinking about your offer. But now? I don't trust you, anyone who does trust you is a fool, and I won't give you anything you want. Except a chat, of course. Because I am rather curious. You've been having me making phone calls an awful lot, haven't you?"

Boomer shrugged. He might as well go along with this. "Not my orders, I'm afraid. You see, this pain in the ass Director of mine wants me to try and create the sense that you're all fine. It's a remnant from the plans when you were all dead, of course."

"Of course." Hatt thought this was being said far too casually. "But here's the thing, I don't get why? The Fat Director? From what I know of him, he hates steam. Fine. This Gotch fellow-?"

"You heard that, then."

"Fanatic on the roads, always was. But you? You don't strike me as caring about steam or diesel or anything like that. You're not in this for money, or else you'd have gone after my safe and left it at that. Which means I'm either dealing with a megalomaniac, or there's some secret that you're hiding."

Boomer laughed harshly. "Oh, you do amuse me! Always did! A real figure of fun. "My Doctor has forbidden me to push!" and so on. It's cute, Fatty, and that might work on that little Island of yours. But here? Nah. No way. You don't even know who I am, do you? I am Peter Tiberius Lennox! I can trace my lineage back to the Founding Fathers!"

"Which one?"

"Jefferson."

"Figures, he put it around a lot. Not always with his wife, mind."

"Oh go ahead, make the bastard joke, everyone else does. But you know, it's funny. We've lost control of the world, Mr Hatt. All of it. We're fighting amongst ourselves, like cowards, and it'll only get worse from here on out, believe you me! We need someone strong and decisive to take control and...weed out all the problems of the world."

"...Pfft. Nice try."

"Did I have you convinced? I could have sworn I had you convinced! Ah well, clearly my acting skills need work. No. I just want the power because it's there. And because if I don't do it, someone else will. Might as well be on the winning team, right?"

"That's a lot of horse-"

"Careful, Fatty, don'y want you to lose that tongue of yours. Not what you've left so much on the table."

Hatt stood up. "Can you take me back to my cell please? I think we're done talking here."

"Well, you're sort of right. But you're not going back to your cell."

"No?"

"No. Because we're going to Shining Time. And I will not lie, that might be the place where you die."

...

Night fell, as it often did.

"I am brave, I am brave. Thomas says I'm brave, so I'm brave. Wait, that doesn't mean anything coming from him! Oh, come on Percy, be a big boy! Just imagine what'll happen once you get back, eh? Being all brave and boastful and getting to see that look get slapped off Gordon's smug unbrave face! ...God, it's hard being brave. How do they manage it?"

At last, Percy reached Kirk Ronan. And what he saw shook him. "Oh god in heaven, Splatter and Dodge! Right near the buffers! Oh, sod me and call me Sally, what do I do now?!"

Just then, a murder of crows were scattered to the winds by a loud blast from Dodge's horn. Percy stifled a shriek, and watched as Splatter giggled hysterically. He realized to his horror that Splatter was practicing several painful looking techniques on one of the background engines who never did anything. And there was more black smoke and blood than was ever needed by any reasonable engine.

"Howdy partner, coming through!"

Percy knew he was drunk now, because he could have sworn that that was a talking tumbleweed. Thank god that it was just a hallucination, right?

And then the door slammed.

"The hell was that?!" snapped Dodge, on edge already. A sheepish looking Captain Zero got out of the shack and climbed onboard Dodge's cab, having been in there to look for medical supplies for his wounds.

"So, are we supposed to go through them, or-?"

"We?!" Splatter laughed. "Not me! You can go through and die if you want, but-"

"ME?! I was talking about you, dimwit!"

"Dimwit?! Oh, don't push me, brother. Don't push me..."

"This is something that the boss should do for himself."

An owl hooted. Zero screamed loudly. Splatter and Dodge looked at each other, wondering how quickly they could kill the good Captain before he gave their position away...and how to still keep it fun.

They didn't notice that Percy had already headed back to warn Thomas.

...

Carlin strode back and forth grimly. "It was Hatt, all right." He said for the fifth time. "He was panicked, you could tell." He groaned. "Damn it, I'd hoped that Boomer had died. I owe him one, he knocked off a pal of mine-"

"Run through what he told you again?" Thomas asked.

Carlin obliged. The basics were that Hatt had been ordered to tell Carlin that the engines should surrender now, so that their deaths were quicker and much less...enjoyable for certain diesels. Everyone had an idea of whom that meant. He had also informed Carlin that Boomer himself didn't care what happened to the Conductors, he would leave them to Diesel 10 and/or Marklin, but he wanted Carlin personally.

Mr Conductor hadn't responded to anything, and appeared to have completely given up on life, the universe and everything. At the moment he sat by the fire, flicking through cards. He was doing his best to keep Lily cheerful. That was his excuse anyway. Personally she looked as though she'd rather go stare at paint dry for an hour than watch this. Carlin emphasized.

"Oh come on, you could try to be useful!"

"Why'd you punch me?"

"Oh, I need a f**king reason to punch someone?"

"Yeah, you kinda do actually, Carlin, that's how normal people work."

"Pfft, since when have I been f**King normal?" Thomas chuckled halfheartedly and conceded the point.

"So, um, it's currently night, Mr Conductor, and I promised my grandpa I would be back by sunset...soooo, how about a ride home? Maybe?"

Mr Conductor looked to Carlin. He shrugged. "Don't look at me, I've got enough gold dust for myself, and that's it. I spent all mine trying to catch up to Junior the Wonder Dog back there. I could send her back on her own, but that would be dangerous."

His cousin glared at him, before trying to think of something as he waxed poetically. "You know, Lily, maybe your grandfather knows where you are already, and can sense it!"

"Oh yes, your grandfather has ESP, apparently."

"He can!" Um...he'll probably think I'm lost. Or in another universe-"

"AMERICA IS NOT IN IT'S OWN UNIVERSE!" shouted Thomas. There was a pause as everyone looked at him oddly, while he calmed down. "Sorry, just...getting real sick of hearing that stuff."

"When have you heard it?"

"Since you got here? You think you're being quiet when you give those long and dramatic monologues about what you're doing every single time? You did about three of them in my cab when I met you alone!"

Carlin nodded. "He does do that. Back at the family reunions, we used to call him Bogart for the same reason. His mind cannot shut up, and that translates to his mouth-"

"I am TRYING to be supportive here! Much more than you are!"

"So, yeah, Lily, I think he can, because I get the feeling that he's been here before a long time ago. I saw a picture of him a while back, on here!"

"What is your grandpa's name, anyway, kid?"

"Burnett."

Carlin stared. "Burnett Stone. You are...Burnett Stone's grand-daughter...I feel old. Does anyone else feel really old? I've got to tell you some stories about him in a better time! God, I'd love to meet him. Actually, no I wouldn't, it would rub in how OLD I am! Because I am, you know. Old!"

"We get it Carlin, no need to go on about it."

"I wish he'd hurry up though." Mr Conductor rubbed his arms to warm himself up. "Haven't told Blabbermouth of Cynicy the Cynic over there, but soon you'll be as weak as I am!"

"Oh trust me, I will never be as weak as you are." Carlin paused. "Wow, even by my standards that was a horrible thing to say. Sorry."

"It's fine, I'm used to it."

"So, um, back on topic, Junior said something about a engine who used to travel on the railroad-"

"Railway." muttered Thomas, rebelliously.

"-And if we could find her, she could fix everything."

"I met her, too!" Carlin sighed. "Yeah, she vanished a whiles back."

"Never to be seen or heard from again."

"She was creepy, mind. Good, but creepy. Like she could snap at any minute."

"Well, I have got something to tell you, Mr C. I've heard train whistles, coming from the mountains."

"On Sodor, a island full of talking trains who have to make their way up the mountains? Never!" Thomas paused. "Oh...oh, you mean where you come from!? Sorry, that was...wow, I am in a salty mood right now, don't know why. Carlin must be rubbing off on me."

"Hey! ...Don't say that like it's a bad thing!" Carlin paused, and looked over to Mr C, who was busy staring off into the distance. "Er, you okay, knucklehead?"

"Mountain..."

"Yes, mountain. That is what we are sitting near." Carlin frowned. "How hard did I hit you?"

"THAT'S IT! That's the second part of the clue!"

"...I don't suppose it's any more helpful than the last part?"

"Stoke up the magic in the mountain, and the Lady will smile!"

Carlin patted Mr C on the back and headed over to join Thomas. "We're doomed." he said, simply.

"Your grandfather could help! But only if he believed that he could!"

"Lady?"

"It's the opposite of a gentle-AAAARGH!" Thomas growled at Lily, who had thrown a stick at him. "Bloody crazy Yank kids!"

...

As Edward arrived at the China Clay Pits, he couldn't help but feel a little disquieted by the silence that fell over the whole area. He didn't even really know why, it just felt wrong to not here the talking and chattering and bickering amongst the workmen.

"And me, of course, I'm not here either."

Edward ignored the product of his imagination as best he could.

"How are you going to tell the twins? Or will you not? I'm curious how you'll do this, mind. I've never been around for a proper death, well, I won't be now, ha! But I've never seen you give them the talk about death. Especially for someone they've worked with all these years."

"Ssssh."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Mavis, nothing." Edward sighed and pulled himself together. "Right then, let's see." He looked at Mavis thoughtfully. "I have a question, Mavis. Do you have any idea where Diesel 10 is at the moment?"

"At the moment? Well, given that he's not at the Smelters, I'd say it's most likely he's headed deeper into Vicarstown."

"Really, why there?"

"There's an old abandoned facility there, among other things, that was responsible for the creation of diesels back in the sixties and seventies. Or so the Fat Director used to say. That's most likely where he'd be resting up, preparing for the big fight."

"Right then." Edward sniffed. "Ah yes, the 'clay' is in fine fettle today!" He moved forward and looked to Bill and Ben. "All right then, lads. Now, while after this we are going to have a serious talk about it...I'm going to need you to set something on fire for me."

For the first time in ages, the twins were stunned into silence.

"What?!" Mavis shouted. "Are you shitting me?!"

"No, I'm deadly serious. God forgive me, we might have to get a little rough fighting these monsters. The Clay, when set on fire, can act as something that can disorient whoever inhales it!"

"Oh great, so our current plan to defeat the hordes of darkness is to get them all HIGH!?"

"Yes, that about sums it up. It is the Sudrian way!" Edward frowned in thought. "So, if we head on out to the...Dieselworks, was it? We can perhaps end this fight before it begins proper!"

"Edward, listen to me! Are you hearing yourself right now?"

"Yes, and I sound like I'm making a lot of sense, thank you!"

"LISTEN TO ME!" Mavis surprised even herself with the volume of her voice. Edward stopped dead in his tracks, and even the twins looked nervous. She swallowed, and in a normal tone of voice, continued. "What is this all about?"

Edward took a deep breath. "All right. ...All right. We can...I suppose I should..." He wet his lips as best as he could.

"Bill? Ben? There's something that you need to know..."

He told them. He managed to do so without using the word 'dead', which was good. BoCo was giving him a massive bit of side-eye throughout it, which was very, very awkward. Mavis made vaguely sympathetic noises, but she was firm.

"We're not going to the dieselworks. You want revenge? Fine, we'll leave the trucks in places where he can find them. But not this. You will die. If he took out those two secret agents, then, no offence, you will stand not a single chance."

Edward sighed. He had to admit that she was right.

But he was going to get him.

One way or another.

...

Stacy Jones was clearing up the desk. Schemer and Billy were arguing about whose fault it was that there were so many papers and candy wrappers scattered around the table (Hint, it wasn't Billy) and so did not notice what was going on outside before Stacy did.

"What in the world?!"

Boomer stormed in. "Ah, Miss Jones, Mr Twofeathers...and whatever the hell you are. Glad to see you're still here. Now, if you don't mind, I think I'll assume full control for the time being."

"On who's authority?" Billy snapped.

"My own, naturally."

"I see!" Stacy kept her normal air-hostess smile on her face all the time, even as she reached for the desk. "Well then..."

"If you are thinking of using some kind of panic button or other such claptrap, Miss Jones, I would highly advise against it if you wish to keep both of your hands and your head where they should be."

Stacy smiled, and swung the bat with such fury that for a moment, everyone present thought that she was going to take Boomer's block off completely. As it was, it might have done so, had not Boomer raised his hand up and caught it seconds before hitting him. "Oh, very clever, Miss Jones! Very clever indeed!" He squeezed down hard, and shattered it. "Unfortunately, I think it's time that I showed you just how powerful I am-"

"Pete!"

Boomer paused. "You know what? Hold that thought. Men, take these three into the office. Mr J.B King isn't in tonight, so it should be fine if we leave them in there for the time being. None of you lose sight, mind." He turned, and walked out to the platform.

Burnett and Pete looked at each other for a moment.

"You bastard."

"Oh shut up, Burnett, you bore me so much." Boomer grinned, somewhat wearily and began impersonating the man standing in front of me. "Look at me, I'm Burnett! Butter wouldn't melt in mouth, well gosh darn gee wilikers Tasha, I sure would like to stick my ding-dong-dang in your-"

"You know why I'm here. Where is she?"

"She? Oh, if you mean your girlfriend, she's in the office, under pain of death. Oooh, as a matter of fact, Marklin?"

"Ja?"

"I think we can handle one more death tonight before you head on over to the Island. Go ahead and kill Schemer for me. The one with the curl."

"Oh I was hoping I'd get to kill off that one!" Marklin vanished. Seconds later, the screams started.

Burnett winced and tried to drown out the sounds of Schemer's death. He had more important things to worry about, not to be so callous. "You know damn well who I mean! Where is Lily?"

"Lily? Lil-ee? Wait...oh, is that the girl who was with you the other day? Oh, that's her name! Funny how much she looks like Tasha, you know. Same eyes. Same hair...even got the same sort of attitude. She knows how to put up with your poor attitude."

"WHERE IS MY GRANDDAUGHTER!?"

"Oh, Burnett. Always so damn righteous. You know, if you had just kept your mouth shut, I'd have nothing to work on. But now? You've just told me that she's your grandkid. That right there? That gives me something that we call 'leverage'. Are you going to fight me? Is that the plan?"

"You cocky little-" There was a flash, and Burnett held in his hand a single fireball. He concentrated hard, and it grew bigger, and bigger, until it was the size of a football. He rushed forward, dodging the first blast of lightning thrown by Boomer before hurtling it forward like a shot putt.

Boomer smirked, and stretched out his hand. Instantly, a coil of lightning seemed to be materialize out of nowhere. He gripped it and sent it lashing out like a whip. Fire clashed with lightning for a second, Burnett's eyes widened and he dodged back as the fire raced back towards him. But that put him right in the path of Boomer's whip, and with a roar, the biker flung his hand forward.

The pain when the lightning made contact was excruiating. Burnett screamed aloud. He couldn't help it. With his guard down, Boomer advanced, throwing punch after punch after punch, all magically enhanced. The first almost cracked a rib, the second made a sickening crunching noise when it hit Stone's knee, and the third knocked the hapless fighter off of the platform and onto the rails.

"Look at you. You used to be something, man. I knew I made the right choice. I think I'll leave you here for now, Mr Stone. I don't want your soul contaminating my own supply of magic, do I?" And with that, Boomer walked away.

Which was a mistake. As soon as he went inside, Patch walked out, helped Burnett to his feet and helped him limp on back to Muffle Mountain.

Burnett reached for his phone. As he waited, he smiled in delight at the sight of Shining Time Station, now under his control. "Sir? We're ready if you want to come over to watch the fireworks."

"Certainly. I just want to make one last little address to the engines. I want them to know how badly they have failed." The Fat Director was clearly smiling as he said this.

Boomer grinned, and conjured up an image of the Island of Sodor as it was now.

It wasn't often you got front row seats to the destruction of an entire Island. He wasn't going to waste this opportunity.

...

"Why?! All right? Mr Stone, with the greatest of respect, you're an idiot."

"You've mentioned it several times now, Patch, I think it's sunk in."

"Like your ribs?!" Patch groaned as he leaned over to throw up in the bucket once again. "Hhhhurgh. Oh, I am not good with blood, you're lucky I know how to make a tourniquet or else we'd be screwed!"

"Language."

"Mr Stone, that was stupid of you! You're old! ...Sorry, didn't mean it like that. But seriously, I don't care if you can throw fireballs like no one's business, Mr Boomer is dangerous!" Patch sighed, and looked at the train. "It's about her, isn't it? Why you fell out."

"That and...a lot more."

"I've heard her whistle sometimes. I always assume it's you having a bit of a mental breakdown, which I might not be far off, actually." Patch wiped his brow, and then furiously rewiped it when he realized he was now covered with Burnett's blood.

"So have I, Patch. So have I. And I'll thank you to note that I am not, in fact, having a mental breakdown! ...No, Lady's whistling is entirely of her own making. When I said that she was magic, I wasn't lying."

"I've seen a lot of weird stuff over the past few days, I'm pretty sure that I've accepted it all now- Say, is that a map of the Magic Railroad that's on my map! But...I rode across the same area. It's fading away."

Burnett tapped his hand against the side of the table. "Patch, those railtracks you see in that wheatfield, they aren't...part of the Magic Railroad." He winced and tried not to scream at the sudden pain in his side. "We were on the run when we managed to escape the...creature, I told you about. One of the problems was that because Lady was so badly injured, we couldn't find anywhere safe to land down. So we crashed. We were dropped in the middle of the air into the field. My wife was still unconscious at the time, so she didn't know anything. I managed to get her up into the forest before I stopped, then Tasha and me took her up into the mountains, once piece at a time." He groaned. "But you are right. The railroad does need Lady. Now, more than ever, really. I don't know the secret to it, she never told me that particular fact."

"Because of Lily?"

"No, because of Mr Magoo! Yeah, because of Lily.." He rubbed his hand through his hair. "You're right though. I am far too old for this. If you could take a look outside, I'd appreciate that."

"Of course. Try not to go on a temper tantrum again!"

"Oh...hush!"

...

The trucks turned and hissed as Douglas drew nearer to the yard. Douglas was in pain, his buffers were hurting like hell and only the mild sedative that the Works Diesel had cooked up under pressure was stopping him from doing a James and giving up.

"Who is it?" came the creaking voice of the Spiteful Brakevan.

"It is Douglas." growled . "Sir, I am not sure-"

"Allow him through, all of you. If there is a problem, then you can easily outnumber him." As the trucks parted like the Red Sea, Douglas inhaled sharply. It seemed silly, but he had never quite had the pleasure of meeting the supposed successor of that brakevan who had, so long ago, nearly ruined his chances of living on the Island of Sodor.

The brakevan shuddered, letting out a slight hiss of pain. Clearly the attack on the yard had managed to injure the so called leader of the trucks. Douglas almost commented about the Brakevan's face, but he stopped. It looked exactly as it did when he had last seen it. There was a large impact mark in the left cheek, one eye was almost permanently shut and the entire thing looked as though it had been stitched back together by a drunk surgeon. It was truly horrible to look at.

"So...here ye are. Before we start...what are ye, exactly?"

"A brakevan."

Ask a stupid question...

"All right then, smartarse. Who are ye? The Spiteful Brakevan who was a real pain in the backside for me and Donal? Or some arse who just wanted to look big among the trucks!"

Rickety almost lunged forward at this, but the Brakevan hushed him. "A fair question. And the truth is, I do not know. I recall waking up one day, and being rebuilt...but aside from that..." The Brakevan seemed to shrug.

Douglas was about to move on, when a thought struck him. "Are ye sure ye weren't built on yon Other Railway?" In the silence that followed, he caught the hint of a smirk beneath the mask, and pressed on. "See, my friend Toby had a friend too, who was rebuilt there in some horrible and confusing way. Funny thing is, he was returned to you Island around about the same time as ye exited from the shadows."

"Oh you are clever. As clever as I remember. Yes, they took me back to the Other Railway. It was hard, you see, because we brakevans are made of wood, and wood is far easier to replicate than metal. But they managed it, eventually, and I agreed to return here to spy on them."

"And then?"

"I broke free. I killed those who tried to keep me in line. You and I have differences, Caledonian, but we both want the same thing. Safety. When I died the first time, the trucks had lost the leaders of the families, the end of a era. I thought I could bring that back, and give us some kind of future. And yet no matter how hard I have worked over the last five years to reverse or change the rapid decline that we have undergone from demons to minor annoyance in the side of the engines, I have failed."

He coughed and banged the buffers. "But you. Why do you come?"

"Because there is a great threat to the Island. And all of us, steam, diesel, truck and coach, are going to have to work together to take down this bastard. I've already heard tell of the old trucks-"

"Led by that S.C. Ruffey." The Brakevan growled. "And why should we help you?"

"Because here's the thing, ye silly old sod. Ye want to give the trucks a future? Fine. I don't care if yer entire purpose in existing is a bloody contradiction! Do what ye will. But if ye do not help us against these forces of darkness, there shall be nothing for ye. Nothing. And when no one remembers the Troublesome Trucks? That'll be on ye head too."

There was silence for a moment. Then the brakevan sighed.

"What do you suggest we do?"

...

The main engines gathered at the Grotto besides Thomas. Percy was the last to arrive bar Edward. He very quickly stammered through an explanation of what was going on. "I think we've got it! The buffers, the way to find this lost engine of ours!"

"Brilliant!"

"Always knew we could count on you!"

"Shut up, Gordon, you never said that!"

"So, Thomas." Percy looked Thomas in the eye. "I think it's probable that we get Lily back to her grandfather sooner rather than later. If Diesel 10 finds out that we know where it is, we're going to be even deeper in it than we are now."

"Which would be great and all." grunted Edward, as he arrived. "Save for one problem."

"Yeah. How can she get back there without gold-dust?!" Thomas rolled his eyes. "I mean, I understand that we're following the bullshit rules of some weird Lilliputian society, but still."

"If only the lost engine was here."

"Well he's not, mate." Carlin walked over and sat on Percy's buffer beam. "Hello old chum. It's been a bloody while, hasn't it?" Percy grinned widely, perhaps not the best thing to do in such a situation, but still.

Mr Conductor suddenly sat upright. "Unless..."

"Unless?" Thomas had a really bad feeling about this.

"Thomas, would you take Lily?"

There was silence for a bit.

"So to clarify, you've just said that only the lost engine can go along this Magic Railway-"

"Railroad-"

"I KNOW WHAT I SAID! Only this 'Lady' can go along the magical macguffin tracks to wherever it is that Lily needs to go, and then turn around and say "Oooh! Thomas! Let's send you on there! Just for funsies!". Am I right? Because if you're asking me, it sounds like a shit plan."

"Edward, come on!" Gordon said, beginning to sound a little on edge. "What other choice do we have? Besides, you went on there twice, and you look-"

"Like hell? Because trust me, I feel it! And besides, since I went through the first time, I've been seeing things!" Edward pointedly ignored BoCo giving him a rather quizzical stare. "And you want to risk Thomas's life!"

"Oh come on, the little puffball can handle it!"

"Can he?!" Edward looked angry, incredibly so. "You seem awfully confident about that, but you haven't volunteered, have you?!"

"God, what is with you since you got back?! You've been acting like someone's died!" Gordon was so angry that he didn't notice how Edward stiffened somewhat. Duck did, and he gulped. "God, if BoCo was here-"

"BOCO'S DEAD!"

You could cut the silent atmosphere with a knife. Edward swallowed several times and took deep, huge breathes, before returning to look at the others. "BoCo...is dead." It seemed so...final when he said it. He looked over to the other siding, but the other BoCo was gone. "...So you'll forgive me if I don't want to see someone else I care about die tonight, all right?"

"Do I get a say in this?!" Thomas's snappy retort caused both blue engines to become quieter. "Cause I'd actually like to decide what happens next, because I'll be the one actually doing it!" He looked over to Mr Conductor. "Go through the buffers? What if I can't use my wheels?"

"What if you can?"

"Not helpful, you fat f**k." muttered Carlin.

"What if it's dark?"

"It will be, I think, for a while."

"And cold?"

"Probably."

"And how the hell do I get back?"

"You'll find a way. Because you're a really useful engine."

Thomas looked at Edward. For a moment he was silent. "What do you think I should do?"

Edward grappled for a moment with feelings, dark feelings. On the one hand, he knew that if Thomas went through the buffers, there was a chance that perhaps he might...not come back. But on the other hand...He steeled himself. "What I think and want don't matter. This isn't an order, Thomas. Sir Topham Hatt isn't going to tell you to do this. Gordon's not ordering you. Hell, I'm not even going to order it. This is all your choice now, Thomas. Whatever decision you make, I'll help as best I can."

Thomas went quiet. And then.

"I'll do it. I'll try."

Edward exhaled as Lily smiled wearily. "All right then." He looked thoughtful. "It's best that we take the long way around, I think, Thomas. Over the watermill and through Old Bailey's station. But we'll need someone to distract Splatter and Dodge-"

"Leave that to us!" Percy said, with determination.

"Why us?!" wailed James.

"Why not?!"

Edward nodded. "That's fair." He looked around at the assembled engines. "Apologies for...that. I've not been feeling my best recently, and...well, it all just sort of came out."

Duck coughed. "Loo, it's all been a rough day, how about we-"

Suddenly, something appeared above the sky. Amongst the screams and gasps, Duck tilted his head somewhat. "Is that a time portal?"

Carlin looked intently. "No. No, I think this is more...a viewing screen. They're showing us what the hell is going on at the Other Railway. I imagine it's on every television set there is at the moment!"

...

"Good evening residents of the Island of Sodor. This is the Fat Director speaking to you live.

I believe it is time that we got real with each other. After all, for the last fourteen or fifteen years, I have been sending sleeper agents, expert manipulators, tools, warriors and all sorts onto your Island in an attempt to destroy it. Well, congratulations! You have fought off all of my best efforts to quietly take you down without the outside world noticing! Bravo!

But now the time for subtle has stopped. The time for endless questions about my plans and why I am doing this for has stopped. The time for you to keep on existing has stopped. And news flash, the time for the steam engine as a whole stopped long, LONG ago!

That is what I cannot stand about you Sudrians. Everywhere else gave up. With the exception of a few misguided dreamers with wild hopes and the refusal to embrace the new future created by people of vision, the entire world looked at the steam engine and said it was time to change! It was the same with the horse and carriage, but you'll never hear anyone lament that those days are gone! But no. No, no, no, the Sudrians had to be stubborn and not only keep the steam engines in working order, but they celebrated them! Celebrated them in all their glorious uselessness! Really useful!? You make me laugh, if the Island had really wanted to be useful, you'd be gone now. Permanently. To make way for a better and brighter tomorrow.

I make this promise in deadly seriousness. If we meet again, it will only be so that I can execute, on live teleision, the final pathetic members of that idiotic group known simply as the Fat Controller's Engines. To give you an idea, I give you Ivo Hugh. A background engine, whom no one here has gotten to know. But though he is a stranger to you, what I am about to show will give you all a very good idea of what fate awaits you."

The Fat Director gestured, and with great gusto, the Fakes moved in to surround the hapless engine. What happened next, no one knows...and no one wants to know. It was bloody, that was all you need to know.

"Be seeing you. Very soon."

And the sky returned to it's normal state. And all the television screens returned to black.

But if the Fat Director had stayed just a moment longer before departing to Shining Time, he would have seen Ivo Hugh, still twitching, begin to slowly crawl across the floor.

...

Some of the engines gasped. Some screamed. And some just stared up in horror, Duck amongst them. Edward looked around, his features settling into a grim expression. "So be it. Right then!"

"Edward, now what?"

"Now what?"

"Thomas may have been put in temporary charge by Sir Topham Hatt, but still. He's going to be gone for a bit, which leaves you, as the number two, in charge!" Gordon interrupted Mr Conductor before he had even said anything. "And no, you don't count!"

"Awwww."

Edward looked around at the gathered engines. They all looked terrified and such, but all of them looked to him now. "Do you all trust me to lead you to the best of my abilities?" There was no hesitation, not even from James or Henry. They all nodded briefly. "All right then."

He let out a long sigh.

"Right. Donald, how's Douglas doing?"

"Got word before I came here! The wee son of a gun has managed to convince yon trucks to work with us in any such battle that happens! Do ye want me to go meet with him or something?"

"That would be helpful. After that, I am ordering you and Mavis to head down to the docks. We need to get anyone who is incapable of fighting or who does not wish to onto the Fulton Ferry to begin evacuations. Cranky can help you, I think. Now, James, Percy, I'm going to need you to try and draw Splodge into the center of the Island, towards the China Clay Pits, we've got a surprise there, haven't we, Mave?" Mavis nodded, with grim glee. "Okay, now then. Gordon, Henry, you're our heavy hitters. I'm going to need you to hit hard and hit fast. But on no circumstances, do you attack Diesel 10. I've thought it through, and that's pretty much throwing your life away. Is there any chance we can get the Skarloey engines prepared?"

"Crovan's Gate might be useful as a base of actions, considering it's one of the few areas with both types of engines." Henry suggested. Edward nodded, seeing the sense in that.

"I'll get to Trevor, see if he can rustle up support amongst the non-rail vehicles, with the Horrid Lorries and George on the loose, we'll have to get all the help we can get! Duck, are you able to fight?"

"I suppose-"

"Good. And Oliver?"

"Yon Works Diesel thinks he might be able to, but it's still a bit up in the air. Ollie is willing to try though, nae wanting to back down from a challenge!" Donald sounded very impressed. Edward was too, but didn't show it.

"How do you reckon that they're going to get through, though?" Mr Conductor asked. "Because if they don't have control of the Magic Railroad just yet, the only they'll get in is if they have ships or they use the Vicarstown Bridge. But that'll take ages for all of them to get across."

"First of all, railway! And secondly, I may have the answer to that. Before he died-" Toby remarked "-Bertram told me something of a machine that could assist with the invasion somehow. He didn't specify what, because I don't think he knew and also he had the very good excuse of being dead, but perhaps it has something to do with that?"

"Wait, wait, I've got it!" Carlin sprang up, looking alert. "Now, I've repeated the story time and time again, but before I went back in time, I visited two places. One was an old shop to get some of my duds back and to give me a chance to catch a breath before they sent me off on a magical mystery tour. And the second place, which they said was merely to show me how far they were willing to go, was Castle Duckula in Transylvania."

"I still can't believe that all this happened."

"Oh, believe good sir! Believe! But while we were there, I noticed that someone had stolen the clock that the castle used to teleport from place to place. Now, according to the men in charge, this was because the clock itself could allow the user to send objects to a completely different space in time. You could go from Transylvania to Pennsylvania in an instant! Now, assuming that it can go that far, it doesn't take a genius to work out that they might be using it to send their army all over the Island. The clock is a teleporter from Star Trek, essentially!"

"Oh shit, why did it get so complicated!?" Percy wailed.

"All right then. We'll deal with that when we see them. Now, here's what I think we should do. We get the injured off first, barring those who have been patched up already. Now, if we make Crovan's Gate our main base of operations, that should give us a good spot to fight from."

"But what with!?" Gordon sounded worried. "I'm all for battering and biffing, but that's not going to cut it against magic."

"Which is where dear Montague's unusual features come into play?"

"What?"

"I'm not saying we have time to fully upgrade ourselves, with all the off road capabilities or some such. But what I am suggesting is that Mr Conductor and Carlin assist the Works Diesel in bolting down whatever weapons we can find onto our buffers. If we can gain control of them, that might give us an advantage." Edward turned to Thomas. "And not to put any pressure on you, but the rest really is up to you, Thomas!"

"No pressure at all!" Thomas squeaked.

...

"I saw him! I saw him, Dodge!" Splatter laughed hysterically as they rushed after Percy and a wailing James. Dodge rolled his eyes, but still followed. They might as well have some fun with this.

They failed to notice as Thomas passed through, nervously chuffing his way along the line. "Ohhhhhhhkay, don't panic, don't panic at all, just keep moving just keep moving, I'll get you home safely, Lily!"

"Thomas?"

"Yeah, Edward?"

"...Good luck."

"Thank you." And off he went, quickly, to avoid getting sucked into staying behind. As he travelled along the line, he and Lily stayed silent for a bit. And then-

"WATCH OUT THIS WAY PARTNER!"

"Oh god, why is there a tumbleweed talking to me? No, clearly I'm just so scared that I'm hallucinating that there's an American tumbleweed here that has decided to make contact with me!"

"All the weird stuff, Thomas, and that's what gives you cause for concern!?"

"You'd be surprised what the average day on this Island is like!"

"Right this way to bufferville! It's a walk in the park! You're on your own from here on out little buckaroo!"

"Here we go Lily!" He raced on, shut his eyes and heard Lily take a deep breath. "LittleenginescandobigthingsOHHHHHHSHITWHATAMIDOING-?!"

And...they were through!

...

"Well...that is that." Edward said, grimly. Already the atmosphere had changed, everyone seemed to realize that this was the chance to truly be really useful, for once. He looked around at the assembled engines. "Right. Now, we have to make sure that Thomas and Lily get enough time to find a way out of the mess we're in. If we can win the day, that's great, but at all costs we need to hold the line while they're gone. Understood?"

A chorus of whistles, horns and cheers greeted this. Once they had quietened down, Edward continued. "Right then. So let me lay down a couple of things right here and now. If you see someone from the Other Railway approaching you, be it steam, diesel, non-rail or truck, we're going to have to assume that they want us dead or captured. So, likewise, give them hell. Carlin and the Works Diesel will begin bolting down as many weapons as you can find. Got it? Right. Now, the main base of operations will be at Crovan's Gate. Once that falls, any engine who can should make their way over Vicarstown Bridge and try to get out of here. We'll be focusing our energies on defending the outer rim of the Island. The Little Western, Vicarstown, Crovan's Gate, and any and all harbors. Chances are that they will break through our defenses, though, so you'll be scattered to every station and shed that we can think of."

Everyone watched as Edward transformed into a tight thinking military leader. It was inspiring, if not a bit unnerving.

"On no account do any of you approach Diesel 10 on your own, or try and go head to head with him. You use your long range weapons if you have to, otherwise you only attack when there are two of you. And that goes especially for you, Gordon! One last thing. No matter what we've done to each other, no matter what the past or the future holds, on this day, we are one. We're going to show them what being REALLY BLOODY USEFUL MEANS!"

The cheer that arose would have deafened anyone else around there.

...

One by one, engines, trucks and vehicles of all shapes and sizes lined up for the Works Diesel to help fit them with weapons. Most gained guns from the large stockpile that Duck had found near Davidson's old hideout, guns of varying sizes and quality. Some were old and used muskets, others were more modern and used hard and cold bullets.

The Skarloey engines looked at each other sadly. Peter Sam kept looking back at Duke, who seemed lost in his own world after what had happened to Bertram, or Smudger, or whoever it was.

"Boyos!" Skarloey shouted, and Edward headed on over. "The Gunpowder wagons! We can use them, worst comes to worst!"

"This is why you're in charge, Skar!" Edward said, admiringly. "Stay safe, all of you, okay? Just...fight only if you have to. Don't go out of your way to cause trouble." Here he glared at Duncan and Sir Handel, who tried to look as though they had no idea what they were talking about and failed drastically.

Edward moved on over to Trevor, and without a word, started talking. "Trev, if I had arms, I would hug you. I really want to hug someone right now."

"Edward, they told me about BoCo. I'm so sorry." Trevor looked sad. "And about the Vicar. That was a cruel trick they pulled."

"Yes, but we will avenge them when the time is right, don't you worry. But there is one last thing I must ask of you. Try to stay alive, all right? Just...a selfish request, I know, but I don't want to lose another one of my best friends."

"No worries. I have Bertie and Mr Cheshire Cat to keep me company!"

"We won't let harm come to him." said Terrance, his smile seeming a bit more genuine this time.

"Thank you."

...

"Soon, Marklin?"

"Soon, Ten...what's wrong with Dodge?"

Diesel 10 looked over to Dodge, who appeared to be laughing hysterically at something on the ceiling. A large truck full of china clay was right by him, currently burning up. "Oh. Um...you know what, I'll get back to you on that one!"

"I'm so glad we can't get high...well, most of the time I am. That American accent really robs you of the intimidation factor."

"I have noticed. I can't wait until all of this...ALL of this, is over."

"Let it begin!"

"No, Marklin. LET it END!"

And they laughed and laughed and laughed.

...

The last moments of quiet eked away.

If one was looking from a bird eye's view, they would have seen a huge seething swarm of black moving across the Island, as the trucks marched out on their grim errand. The lighthouse was shut down temporarily to make sure that all ships coming in were blinded or hampered somewhat. The anti-aircraft guns were started up, preparing for any aerial attack that there was. The Fulton Ferry was prepped, ready to evacuate any who could not fight as best they could.

The Island itself seemed to take one last huge breath, before it was to be thrust into the most chaotic, confusing and disorderly events that it had ever faced before. And that was saying a lot.

The Fat Director sat back and watched. "This should be fun."

"Hell yeah" Boomer agreed.

The battle was about to commence.

REVIEW TIME.

MattPrice01: The three Conductors are a ton of fun to write. I hope you enjoy the interactions in this chapter as well! The genderbent universe, along with several others, are ones that I might explore at a later date, so I'm glad everyone liked them.

Game-Watch: Yep. Pretty much.

Kamen Rider Necrom: Yeah, and there's more I haven't gone into yet!

Bronze Shield: I will be doing things with both characters! Especially with the big battles coming up, I want to involve even the minor characters during that sort of thing.

trestonfortson2016: Fingers crossed it will be! Yeah, Carlin helps make the story advance a lot better, hence my focus on him in the previous series.

Reality Rejection Service: You're right. Essentially my idea for Edward is that out of all the engines (Bar one who I'll keep a surprise for now) if he ever snapped, he'd be shocking capable at being evil. And yeah, the sass is great, if only because a lot of Thomas's scenes between Lily's arrival and the trip through the railroad are just him saying random things that don't add much to the story. So, might as well embrace the madness! And Carlin is just acting out my fantasies at the moment, considering that most of the stupid stuff comes from the Conductors.

Radical sandwiches: Smacking Junior around has turned out to be more fun than I could have imagined.

TrainManiac: Everything is picking up on the craziness side of things! Yeah, Butch's characteristic is being a bit of a ham, felt as though it would make up for not having any real substantial role until Season 15, and even then...Thanks for reminding me of his relationship, I had completely forgot I had put that in there! Oh, silly me. I'm curious to see what you think about the tumbleweed.

Reid007: Thanks! That was something I wanted to go for. Carlin's return was something I felt was very nice, and I enjoyed writing his interactions with Edward too.

AaronCottrell97: That just about sums up last chapter in a few words! Carlin being back on Sodor is great, gives me a chance to get really sarcastic.

UGX7: That is possible, the button does do that sometimes. Will edit as soon as I can! Gordon is being egotistical primarily because it's a stressful situation and he's trying to deal with it in his own way. Edward's sort of hallucinating BoCo being there as a coping mechanism at the moment, that's all. Yeah, that was kind of what I was going for with Lily and Patch! And it'll tie in later.

-Let's start off with the tumbleweed. Which is without doubt the weirdest thing in this movie, and that says a lot. See, other parts i can chalk up to Shining Time's looseness when it comes to magic and reality and such forth. So if it was in the Shining Time portions, I'd understand. But no. It's in the Thomas sections. It gets no explanation. While I have jokingly claimed it to be a hallucination on the parts of the engines, I have come up with a quick idea for it that maybe I'll get into more.

-Douglas and the Spiteful Brakevan confronting each other was something I have always wanted to do since I decided to bring the SB back into the story. So for the record, this SB is the original one, he just got reconstructed like Smudger. The reason that he wasn't sent back immediately after his destruction in Season 2 was because of his nature as being made of wood, compared to the metal of most engines.

-Speaking of which, my reference to the end of an age with regards to the trucks? That is just something that I personally feel happened after Season 5 or so, really. Don't get me wrong, the trucks are still troublesome in later seasons, it's fine. But it's just that a lot of the menace of the earlier seasons was drained away round about that time, it was rarer for them to go completely out of control and wreck stuff. Season 1 gave them that intimidating look, Season 2 had A Close Shave to show the real danger, Seasons 3 and 4 had them at their malicious best...even Season 5 had some nasty stuff where it showed how far they were willing to off themselves just to spite the engines. Afterwards, mind? They just seem like playground bullies. So yeah, that's what the Brakevan is going on about.

-Yes, I told you I wasn't just including a clock for random! Some of you will recall that right before setting off on his journey, Carlin visited Emily's (Bagpuss) shop and Castle Duckula. While the first served a purpose (Giving him back several of his Mr Conductor related items), Duckula's castle was never really brought up again. Until now, that is. The clock in that show was able to transport the castle to any point on the planet that the user wished it to, hence it's inclusion as part of the machine used to teleport the Other Railway people to the Island. That's one Chekhov's Gun fired!

-And speaking of guns, you'll recall subtle hints dropped throughout the series of Hatt purchasing things like anti-aircraft guns and preventive measures in case of the Cold War and Communism and all that junk? All of that was to set up the fact that the Island is ready in case of an attack, hence the references here to how Edward is planning on defending the Island.

-For the record, Ivo Hugh is not yet dead. While he won't be playing a major part in the story any time soon, I can confirm that I do have something planned for him. I might as well reveal that he was originally slated to die in the Battle of Sodor that was coming up, but I felt that with the lack of character work I'd done on him, it wasn't as emotionally effective.

-Originally, it was planned for the kids from the original Shining Time show to be taken hostage, but I decided to cut them as they really didn't add anything to the story. I also had Schemer killed off...not because of any malicious reason or anything, I just figured that I wanted to have Marklin do something.

-Stacy Jones's moment of awesome with the baseball bat? I'm really happy I gave her said moment, Didi Cohn is the best part of the Shining Time scenes that was transferred from the TV show. I also used to have a teeny-tiny crush on her.

-Thomas making the choice for himself is something that I had been wanting to show more. I feel as though this was where the movie missed a trick. Thomas isn't doing this because he's been ordered to by anyone, he's doing this because he wants to help Lily out. That was really something I felt could have made for an awesome scene in the movie. And you'll be seeing more of what happened with Thomas and Lily next time, where you'll also get a quick sneak peak of several other universes that I have planned!

-On that note, next time...WE GO DARKER.