24 - WRATH


"Do you think I was too mean?" Edward fretted to Green Arrow as the two engines made their way back to the Brendam Sheds.

"You were defending yourself and telling Coppernob how you really felt, don't feel sorry or regretful for that," Arrow chided and Edward hummed in response.

"I suppose you have a point," he conceded but then looked regretful. "However I should have realised that 20 needed to be restored. Another engine should not suffer because I hold a grudge against someone."

"That might be true but it's okay to be selfish and kind to yourself sometimes, Edward," Arrow assured him and Edward paused, being silent for a moment.

He heard Green Arrow rolling on the tracks behind him and he said nothing for a long while, merely enjoying the V2's quiet presence.

"You have my utmost gratitude, Green Arrow," Edward suddenly expressed and he felt the green engine's confusion.

"What did I ever do to earn that?" Arrow asked puzzled. "I'm just a foolish engine who likes to gossip."

"You're very good at helping others deal with their issues or their problems," Edward praised and from behind him Arrow snorted.

"I just learnt how people thought and how they interacted and used that to get my way most of the time," Arrow revealed. "When the other engines talk ill of me and how I was, they are not lying. I was as manipulative as I was understanding."

"That may be true but you helped Tydfil last night, you've helped me," Edward reminded him. "You should not sell yourself short Arrow. You have a gift for helping people."

"Perhaps, but- EDWARD LOOK OUT!" Arrow suddenly bellowed and lurched forward, grabbing Edward's tender and stopping him before he rolled onto the mainline.

Edward yelped and was about to argue but he was suddenly blasted by a huge rush of air as 10 enormous driving wheels thundered against the rails, the huge visage of Evening Star missing Edward by mere feet.

The huge rush of air in her wake felt as if it was drawing him towards her, her power and speed unsettling Edward greatly. Had Arrow not been coupled to him and holding firm, Edward was convinced that he would have been dragged into Evening Star's wake and been turned into shrapnel by her enormous shape and deadly speed.

"Venus?!" Arrow cried out in shock as she barreled down the line. "What's going on?"

"They have Tydfil!" came her frenzied shriek of a reply.

"Did Evening Star just-"

"Oh no! I have to stop her before she does something stupid!" Green Arrow clamoured desperately.

"You can't just go after her, Sir Topham said-"

"You don't understand!" Arrow insisted. "Evening Star's going to turn whoever she's chasing down into scrap! I have to get to the Old Dryaw sheds before she does!"

Edward hesitated but he could feel Green Arrow growing anxious and starting to rock on his frames, agitated. He had the feeling that no matter what he did or said, the green engine would give chase to the 9F. Green Arrow was not one to be tied down to the same track. He'd find a way around it, no matter what.

"Be careful," Edward reluctantly encouraged. "I shall go to Tidmouth and let Sir Topham what's going on."

They had barely moved to travel on to the mainline when Green Arrow uncoupled himself from Edward and quickly sped off down the line and out of sight, leaving Edward to speed towards Tidmouth, a heavy feeling in his boiler.


"I found her!" Came the sing-song taunting voice of Clun Castle as she burst into the sheds at Harwick, drawing the ire of King Edward I who glared at her.

"Your attitude is most distasteful Mary," he scolded but his concerns were ignored as Clun Castle giggled maliciously to herself.

Tydfil just sat in front of her, her eyes wide, blank and staring, dissociating from the world. King Edward I noticed this and approached the young engine, his presence not even being recognised or acknowledged by the Saint class.

"Tydfil," King Edward I boomed but there was still no sign, no response from the young iron. The King Class frowned and glared at Clun Castle. "What did you do to her? Why is she unresponsive?"

"I did nothing!" Clun Castle screeched. "She's just a stupid little girl!"

King Edward I just frowned and gave the Castle Class a hard glare. Before he could chastise Clun Castle he was interrupted by someone clearing their throat and looked over at the space between berths to find Ms Parsons standing there an almost maniacal look upon her face.

Tydfil's blank gaze seemed to melt and she looked at Ms Parsons scared.

"Please let me go," she begged. "I'll do whatever you want, I won't act out anymore, I'm sorry for being such a nuisance!"

"Enough," Ms Parson snapped at her.

Even though he couldn't see it, he knew she held the golden whistle on her person, a small delicate thing yet King Edward I and the other engines could feel the power emanating from it.

"Such a waste for that silly Gresley girl to have held such a powerful artefact and not use it to her advantage," the old woman groaned but she was met with an indignant huff in response. One that came from Tydfil, but did not sound like her.

Ms Parsons frowned as she saw the face of Tydfil's engine flicker and shimmer, her facial features morphing into that of a different facial structure, of that of a different engine.

"Who are-" King Edward I watched with a horrified look upon his face but his eyes widened when he realised who it was. "Maindy Hall…"

The face of Maindy Hall simply glanced at him then gave a sneer of disgust.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll release Tydfil at once," Maindy Hall demanded angrily. "I've been watching you for years abuse this poor engine, manipulate her, try to force her into something she is not and I will not have Tydfil, someone who I consider my daughter be treated with such disrespect!"

King Edward I wavered, the expression on his face was one of fear while Clun Castle looked completely terrified, her wheels audibly shaking from the appearance of this ghost. Ms Parson had no such qualms however and stepped towards the engine that was once Maindy Hall, once Lady of Legend, once an object of controversy for the Great Western.

"I'm so glad you're here dear," Ms Parson cooed in a quiet voice, her voice laced with venom. "After all, a gold and silver soul is just what I needed."

King Edward seemed to snap out of his fear and glanced back at Ms Parsons.

"Are you sure this will work?"

"Of course, how do you think Flying Scotsman was finally able to gain control over his Golden Soul?" Ms Parsons muttered with a roll of her eyes. "The memory soul of Alan Pegler activated to rescue him from the mines. And now, well now, look who has arrived to rescue her so-called daughter from us and activate her own!"

Ms Parsons gestured towards Maindy Hall's face and the once furious and defying expression changed to panic once she realised her mistake.

"Oh."


All at once, Tornado suddenly lost power and all of her weight suddenly pressed down against Grey. Grey's driver, Roe, immediately felt the sudden shift and threw Grey into reverse before easing her brakes on so that she held Tornado's weight and didn't move an inch.

"Tornado?" Grey called to the engine desperately. "Tornado are you alright? Come one, small storm, you're scarin' me!"

Still, there was no answer from Tornado, however, they could hear her crew in somewhat of a crisis, yelling and calling to their engine.

"What's going on?" Grey demanded. "Tornado!"

"There's steam leaking into her firebox! Came the frenzied reply of Matthias through the radio. i"Her fire has been smothered! We can't get her to respond! It think she passed out when her steam began to choke her flame."

"The poor girl!" Grey exclaimed, distressed.

The way Tornado had cried out, how the strokes of her engine had become a desperate slow wheeze. It terrified her.

"Sean and the guard are going to go out and lay detonators along the tracks," Matthias continued, his voice interlaced with fear. "Then we can get over this incline and home free from here on out "

Incline?

It was then that Grey became very acutely aware of the fact that the track was steeply sloping upwards underneath her wheels.

A creeping fear began to creep into her frames and travel up her boiler as she slowly came to the realisation of that fact. Her pupils shrunk and she felt her vision blur, the sounds around her began to muffle and the world began to sway. Anxiety filled her boiler like a corrosive liquid. It pulled at her, made her squirm and her frames tremble.

Where was Gold? She needed Gold. Where were they?!

She jolted back to reality as she slipped back, her pressure unknowingly decreasing as her mind begun to panic.

"Don't slip out on us now old girl," she heard Roe call to her. "Tornado needs you."

Something clicked in her mind. The great fog that had descended over her mind in that painstaking moment lifted as her attention lasered in on the stricken engine in front of her, Tornado's entire weight bearing down on Grey, the entire train behind them pulling them back into what felt like a void of nothingness.

Grey focused her eyes on the lamp on the back of Tornado's tender. Tornado had agreed to this, she had wanted to help her.

And so it was Grey's duty to help the distress engine in response, Grey frowned to herself, repeating a mantra in her mind.

Help Tornado, help Tornado, help Tornado, help Tornado, help Tornado…

A new feeling surged through her boiler, the anxiety that once gripped her like a vice cracked and shattered, her steam pressure rising, her determination, her courage swelling and growing.

"The Stationmaster says the Flying Scotsman has arrived at the Bluebell," she heard her fireman, Mary, call to them. "He'll be able to take over and bank the train if need be."

"No," Grey suddenly declared, her crew turning to her surprised.

"Grey?" Roe asked confused. He never heard Grey sound so determined, so… brave before.

"I'll get us over this hill," she declared even louder, her frames shaking, not from fear or anxiety but from anticipation and courage. "I'll get myself, Tornado and this entire fucking train over this bloody hill!"

There was a brief moment of tense silence as her crew stared at each other in surprise.

"Alright," Roe tentative started. "I'll let Tornado's crew and the station know and we'll get this show on the rails, can you wait until we make sure there are no crews on the tracks?"

Grey's expression steeled and her resolve grew even stronger.

"I don't know if you can hear me Tornado, but your girl Grey's got you, not gonna let you down chook," Grey reassured the young engine.

There was no response but it did not deter 3801. If anything, it made her courage swell and expand her boiler.

She could do this.

She didn't need Gold.

She could tackle this insignificant incline.

She didn't need help anymore.

She would prove to the world why she was Australia's best express engine once more.


Evening Star happened upon Arlesdale in her rush, forced to go slow as the temporary speed limits took her frenzied chase of Tydfil down a notch.

She grumbled but her crew, with a lot of persuasion and begging had managed to get her to obey the rules lest she kill someone or crash into an engine.

Still she fretted and hissed at any person or engine who dared look at her.

She was on a mission and she would not be stopped.

"Yes hello there?" A voice suddenly called to her and Evening Star looked around confused before she spotted a tiny boat on… rails?

"What do you want?!" She snapped at him and the rail boat shrunk away from her.

"I- I- justed wanted to inform you that the Little Western has been shut down and if you had goods for that line then you have to go down to-"

"I'm looking for a couple of Great Western engines!" Evening Star snapped at the rail boat and Merrick frowned at her.

"Evening Star!" Merrick scolded her. "That's enough! I know that you're stressed but there is no call for you to be rude to someone just trying to help!"

Evening Star said nothing, she just grumbled and rocked her cab in displeasure to which the rail boat gave a nervous and awkward chuckle.

"A couple of Great Western engines passed by some time ago, they were headed North towards Harwick Branchline," the little Rail boat told her, fear in his eyes. "Please, please don't smash me to bits Ms Engine, I just wanted to help."

So, Blue Peter had been telling the truth to her it seemed. The Clun Castle had taken Tydfil to Harwick, to this Parsons woman, whoever she was. Evening Star smiled to herself, her attention drawn to the line North and her determination appearing over her face.

Evening Star lurched forward to go but Merrick stopped her, sticking her in reverse. Evening Star wheeshed angrily in response.

"Release my gears at once!" She snarled but Merrick remained firm.

"Apologise for scaring the railboat first," Merrick ordered and Evening Star gave a snarl that made the railboat wince and quake in fear even more. "Venus!"

"I'm sorry," Evening Star reluctantly apologised but Merrick shook his head.

"Like you mean it," he insisted sending Evening Star's pressure through the roof.

"I'm sorry for scaring you," Evening Star apologised through gritted teeth. It didn't sound at all like she meant it but Merrick had a feeling that it was the best he was going to get from her. He gave a deep and heavy sigh with an apologetic nod to the railboat operator.

"That's the best we're gonna get I'm afraid," he muttered apologetically to the man who simply shrugged in response.

Merrick changed Evening Star's gear and with a fierce and almost unnatural acceleration, the 9F tore down the rails on her mission leaving the still-quaking railboat and his driver staring after her mystified and worried.

"I sure do hope Sir Topham knows what he's doing!" the Railboat squeaked but his driver just chuckled.

"I have every faith in the man Skiff."


"Stop crying, you stupid girl!" Clun Castle snapped at Tydfil who had reverted back to herself, Maindy Hall having disappeared deep into her engine without so much as another word, leaving the poor girl to face King Edward and his cohorts.

"Clun Castle enough," King Edward I snapped at the Castle Class before turning his attention to Tydfil who was sitting there, miserable and petrified, tears running down her face. "Fear not young Tydfil, this is always what you were meant to be, a tool to build something so much greater than yourself. To be part of something bigger, to beholden to a noble cause."

"I don't want to die!" The young engine shouted at him. "I am a good engine! I can be a good engine! I'll do anything you say! Just please don't take my soul! Don't use Maindy's soul either! We're innocent! This is horrible! You're going to kill us! What will the other Hall's-"

"That is enough girl!" Ms Parsons barked at her but Tydfil refused to do so.

"You're a horrible witch!" Tydfil shrieked at her. "Going around killing innocent engines!"

"I said, enough!" Ms Parsons snapped and she thrust a vial of black smoke towards the girl, laying it on her buffer beam as a threat.

Tydfil immediately began to whimper and her frames began to tremble, a look of complete dread upon her face.

"Get it off! Get- get it off of me!" Tydfil shrieked hysterically as King Edward I stared at the vial alarmed. Tydfil began shaking herself desperately in an attempt to remove the vial from her buffer all the while shrieking and howling, doing anything to get the cursed vial away from her.

"Ms Parsons while I understand taking Tydfil and Maindy's souls is a necessary evil, I do not condone the use of such an abhorrent substance!" The King Class thundered angrily. "Remove the Black Smoke from Tydfil this instant or I refuse my consent to be paired with you!"

Ms Parsons turned her gaze towards the engine and a vile glare was directed at him in response. She plucked the vial of black smoke from Tydfil and motioned towards him with it.

The King Class recoiled violently, pure fear in his eyes as Ms Parsons advanced towards him slightly.

"Would you rather I use it on you to gain your consent?" She threatened and King Edward I glared at her, knowing that he held no retort to her threat.

It didn't make sense. What little Black Smoke remained had been sealed away in some vault somewhere. And any human whom had dared to get close to Mallard while he had been afflicted ended up sick, corrupted or they had more disturbingly turned into one of his puppets.

Even King Edward I knew that there was no chance that the old lady had the strength or will to take on Mallard while he had been under the influence of the dreaded spirits that took the form of Black Smoke.

"Where did you even get that accursed substance?" The King Class hissed angrily. "Not even Golden Wardens have access to the deepest parts of the Vaults and you are not a-"

"Lets just say a benefactor provided the resources," was all Ms Parsons explained as she turned her attention back to the quivering young Tydfil.

"Benefactor?" The King Class muttered under his breath, confused, he had been working with Ms Parsons for a long time and he not once had heard mention of this, 'benefactor' before. He could not dwell on such things however as his attention was drawn back to Ms Parsons and Tydfil.

"Please, I haven't done anything wrong," Tydfil begged Ms Parsons. "I don't want to die, I don't want whatever that was near me again, I don't want Maindy's memory to die either!"

"You're just an engine girl, you can be replaced," Ms Parson snapped and Tydfil burst into tears as King Edward I frowned behind Parsons.

"I have friends!" Tydfil began to shout angrily, desperate for any sliver of hope or mercy. "My- my friends are 9Fs! They'll come and find you and smash you! They turn you into scrap!"

"Unlikely," Ms Parsons scolded the girl, completely unmoved by her pleas. From within her pockets, she withdrew a small golden, or what was once golden object that looked like the smaller version of a steam whistle. "Olivia never did use this to its full potential. The stupid girl descended from one of the most prolific engineers and given the power that her small mind could never comprehend."

"You've tainted it with black smoke!" King Edward I scolded as he stared at the whistle. "That and you have taken it so far away from its source. This will not do! All this work for nothing!"

Ms Parsons turned to King Edward I with a deepening frown, her face displaying her true exasperation. She glared at the King Class, fed up with his interruptions and his constant criticisms.

"I have had enough of your constant interruptions and your insubordination!" She yelled at him. "You will keep your mouth shut or I will drain your soul instead and choose Clun Castle to receive the Golden Soul, not you!"

King Edward I shut his mouth immediately, but he watched the tainted Golden Whistle with a suspicious and unnerved expression. While the Golden Whistle was to be used to transfer Tydfil's gold dust to himself and strength the bond between Ms Parsons and himself, he was incredibly unsure what would happen with Black Smoke was to be thrown in to the mixture.

Was it worth it?

Then again, he had been waiting for years to steal the power of a Golden Soul, to become the Great Western's Gold Warden.

He couldn't pass up this chance now.

Still, to be infected with black smoke. To turn into another Mallard, processed by Black Smoke and having his soul devoured slowly and painfully from the inside until there was little more than an angry, hateful wraith broiling inside his engine…

King Edward I gave a soft snort and pushed the ridiculous thought from his mind. It was nothing but a minor complication. After all, the Golden Whistle belonged to Flying Scotsman, one of the few engines capable of nullifying and destroying the dreaded substance.

The King Class focused his attention on the crying and frantic Tydfil, ignoring the tarnished whistle that seemed to be slowly losing its shine, slivers of black smoke dancing around it ominously.


To say the trip to the old Dryaw sheds where Ms Parsons was supposedly keeping her engines was awkward and tense would be an understatement. The only levity was Mallard's large raven happily warbling to himself in the car as they drove, tapping his beak against the window whenever they would pass something the bird deemed, 'interesting'.

Mallard avoided any and all eye contact with Oscar as the man's constant scowl told him that he despised this current arrangement. To be fair, Mallard wasn't exactly happy with it either.

Oscar's car was old and it made sounds that didn't exactly sound safe and occasionally Mallard looked around at the interior concerned. It was supposed to be an off-track car from the looks of things but Mallard doubted that this car could handle the smallest pothole.

"Olivia says I need a new car," Oscar grumbled as they neared their destination, obviously noticing Mallard's concern. "I love my car, I ain't trading it in for nothing."

"Olivia is correct," Mallard hesitantly returned the conversation. "She probably fears that you won't come back to her in one piece."

Oscar gave a scoff in return, dismissing Mallard's observation.

"There's nothing wrong with my car!" He complained as a very loud and concerning 'thunk' came from the engine well. "Just because my wife restores cars and thinks she knows all about them-"

"If she restores cars that probably means that she does, doesn't it?" Mallard pointed out and Oscar shot him a venomous glare.

"I didn't ask for your opinion, Mallard," he sneered and Mallard just rolled his eyes in response. "Besides, what would you know about cars? You're a steam engine!"

"Sir Gresley was friends with Ettore Bugatti, I learnt a lot from him and the cars he would bring to meet Sir Gresley," Mallard proclaimed with a smug grin and Oscar was silent for a few seconds. "They liked to exchange ideas and learn from one another."

"Wait really? The guy who founded Bugatti the car company?"

Mallard nodded. "The very same, he is part of the reason we A4s got our streamlined shape. The reason we are the fastest steam engines in the world."

"You're not the fastest trains in the world, the Maglev currently is," Oscar scoffed mishearing him.

"I said Steam Engines you half-wit- ouch!" Mallard snapped and was promptly bitten by Herbet who gave a displeased growl. Mallard humphed and turned his attention to the road before them. "I wonder why someone as sharp as Olivia settled for you." He muttered and was nipped again by the disgruntled Raven.

Oscar just shook his head as he brought the car to a stop next to what appeared to be the Old Dryaw yards, the foreman's house.

"I wonder that myself," Oscar muttered to himself earning a quizzical glance from Mallard. Before Mallard could comment, he'd stepped out of the car, prompting Mallard to follow suit.

The old foreman's residence was run down, but it wasn't too bad, it was still habitable if an unpleasant place to live in. Beside the residence, a couple engine sheds stood, where Thomas, Percy and Toby most probably had once slept occasionally, whenever they needed to work in this particular yard.

"It's not too bad, the railway tracks are still somewhat shiny," Oscar commented as he approached the house. "They must still use the yard for storing rolling stock from the looks of things. No cars but fresh tracks, I think everyone all up and left here."

Mallard said nothing, there was an uneasy and strange feeling he was getting from the house. A horrible and unpleasant feeling that for some reason was disturbingly familiar.

Too familiar.

"Are you coming or not?" Mallard turned to look at Oscar who was staring at him from the line side.

Every instinct in Mallard's body was telling him to flee, to run, to get the hell away from this place. That whatever awaited him inside the house would mean certain doom.

However, Mallard was no coward and he certainly wasn't going to show his discomfort to this human. He grit his teeth and pushed the feeling that made his insides want to tie themselves in knots and approaches Oscar. He could also see that Herbert had stopped singing to himself and was strangely silent. The bird knew something was up as he often did.

"I don't see why, there's no one here," Mallard muttered and Oscar frowned.

"We should at least double-check," Oscar insisted much to Mallard's chagrin.

"Fine-" Mallard reluctantly started to say but they were interrupted by the sound of an engine approaching in the distance at high speed.

"Quick! Hide! It could be Ms Parsons!" Oscar pressed as the both of them quickly ran to the far side of the building, Herbert squawking and fleeing into a nearby tree in a cloud of feathers.

Mallard and Oscar watched the tracks as they could hear the engine in the distance calling to someone or something.

"Evening Star! Evening Star!" The voice called and Oscar recognised it immediately, as did Mallard. They glanced at each other as a familiar green engine pulled into the front of the old foreman's house. Oscar quickly ran out to greet them before they could leave, Mallard staying hidden.

People had said that he had stolen this particular engine's voicebox. If Green Arrow recognised him, he couldn't imagine that it would turn out particularly well for him.

"Green Arrow?"

Said engine jumped slightly, startled as it heard its name called.

"Don't startle me like that!" Arrow complained, flustered and annoyed.

"Oscar? What are you doing here?" Green Arrow's driver called from Arrow's cab.

"Looking for something that Ms Parsons stole from Olivia," Oscar growled and Gabriel hummed in response.

"Well, we're looking for Ms Parsons and her band of assholes ourselves," Green Arrow explained. "Apparently they kidnapped that young engine, Tydfil, for something. Evening Star went after them and you know how Evening Star is."

They had kidnapped Tydfil and stolen Olivia's whistle? Oscar's face paled. "Flying Scotsman mentioned that he sensed the Golden Whistle that Parsons stole had been tainted with Black Smoke."

"He said what now?!" Gabriel looked completely alarmed. "If Ms Parsons has black smoke then-"

"Evening Star's putting herself in even more danger by going after Tydfil!" Green Arrow shrieked. "Where could they be? We have to stop her!"

"I'll call Sir Topham Hatt, see what's going on," Gabriel murmured as he disappeared inside Arrow's cab, leaving Oscar and Arrow to awkwardly stare at each other.

"..."

"So uh, how are you enjoying Sodor?" Oscar awkwardly tried to start a conversation with Arrow who was rocking on his frames impatiently.

"It's better than the mainland, that's for sure," Arrow bluntly retorted, clearly not interested in making small talk.

Oscar just smiled uncomfortably.

"Uh, made any friends here, despite, uh, you know-"

"Trying to kill Flying Scotsman? Oh yeah, loads actually. You still the fireman for that over-hyped piece of garbage?" Green Arrow snapped back clearly annoyed.

"That overhyped piece of garbage tried to help you Arrow," Oscar frowned. "He put a good word in for you so you wouldn't be turned into an exhibit."

Arrow snorted and looked away from Oscar who was now glaring at him.

"Doesn't mean I can't see through his fake charm and pretend affability-" Arrow began but thankfully his driver interrupted before he could finish.

"Sir Topham says he moved them to Harwick and everything is under control," Gabriel explained before looking to Oscar, "Do you need a lift?"

"I'm not-" Arrow began but he was quickly shushed by his driver.

"This is bigger than your grudge on Flying Scotsman, Arrow," he scolded the engine. "Evening Star could be in serious trouble right now!"

This seemed to wake Arrow up and he shook his frames.

"Are you coming or not because I'm not waiting," Arrow told Oscar bluntly as the man glanced over to where Mallard was still hidden in the shadows. "Who are you looking -"

Green Arrow's safety valve suddenly released, shooting steam high into the air as his crew shrieked in response, trying to calm the engine's pressure which had gone from modrate to extreme within seconds.

"Arrow what-"

"YOU! IT'S YOU!" Green Arrow bellowed as he hissed and spat steam from every valve, every fissure, glaring murderous daggers at Mallard hidden in the shadows. "I've bested you and I'll do it again Mallard!"

"Get out of here! GO!" Oscar shouted at Mallard as Arrow's crew wrestled with the engine to try and calm him. He waved to Arrow's crew to try and get the engine away from the old Dryaw sheds, Arrow himself putting up a furious fight like an antagonised bull.

"I'll kill you!" Arrow raged at the fleeing visage of Mallard. "I'll crush you beneath my wheels if I ever lay my eyes on you! I'll destroy you for what you did to me, you monster!"

Oscar stared at Arrow terrified. He had never seen an engine go this ballistic although, considering the Mallard had been the one to disable Arrow by stealing his voice box leaving him helpless for almost a year, he really couldn't blame the engine.

With great difficulty, Gabriel managed to throw Arrow into reverse which sent him shooting back down the line and away from the old house as a panicked Oscar lost track of them, hearing the door of the house slam, Mallard having gone instead to shelter from the wrath of his cousin.

Oscar made a note to never ever bring or even mention Mallard around Green Arrow for fear of the V2 absolutely losing his mind.

As the sounds of Arrow's furious shouts and shrieks faded in the distance, the adrenaline in his body slowly began to ease, Oscar turned shakily towards the door of the old house and tried to open it. It wasn't locked, the door having deadbolted itself from the inside.

"Mallard? He's gone, er, for now," Oscar called to the man dressed in blue. "We should head to Harwick and uh, avoid Arrow as much as possible."

There was no answer from the man and Oscar frowned.

"Mallard?"

There was no answer again.

He was about to call again when a wave of absolute dread and despair washed over Oscar, making him flinch and stumble away from the door in complete horror, the impulse to throw up heavy in his gut.

He knew that feeling, he'd only felt it when he'd been in close proximity to-

"Let me out!" Mallard suddenly howled, banging and pounding on the door. Although Oscar had no love for the A4 turned human, he could hear the sheer terror and fear in his voice and it made Oscar horrified, "Let me out of here! It's here! The Black Smoke is here! There's someone in here with an infected soul!"

"Mallard?" Oscar croaked out frightened. It was the only thing he could say, other words weren't forming in his head, his brain was too muddled from the sheer dread of what was happening inside that accursed house.

"Get away! Get away from me!I would rather face Arrow than this- this THING!" Mallard roared but then there was a pause as he suddenly stopped pounding on the door.

For what felt like an eternity to Oscar, there was silence. And then Mallard exclaimed in shock:

"Great Northern?!"


It always annoyed me how 'blowing a safety valve' was considered an 'issue' in the TV series especially the CGI series where they kinda used it as a scapegoat for a problem Gordon had. It's not necessarily a bad thing (although it can be) and it could have been used for a lot more dramatic effect. I doubt the writers ever cared to look into it that deeply however.

So Green Arrow blowing his safety valve isn't serious, it just means his boiler pressure has gone right up because he saw a nasty little A4 that he's ready to flatten into a paste.