Rheneas, Hanako, and Flora were doing some shunting in the yards nearby. There had been no word about any Lords running around the railway. Rain had come to Sodor at that time and, like any engine, Rheneas hated it. “You know,” he grunted to his crew, “when I was first built, I didn’t have a cab. I only got mine after Skarloey got his. I enjoyed not coming out for wet days.”
“I can’t say that I enjoy them,” grumbled Hanako as she shoveled some coal into Rheneas’ firebox.
“Why?” asked Flora. “Isn’t it nice to hear the rain falling?”
“Not when you’re in an engine’s cab with permanently open windows so the cold could get in.”
“Or when you’re the engine itself!” supplied Rheneas.
“I don’t know, I always enjoyed rainy weather,” sighed Flora happily. “It’s always nice to take a walk in the rain. Granted, I don’t go out in any extreme rain, but it’s nice to feel it fall on you. This, however, is the perfect kind of rain.”
“I beg to differ,” grunted Rheneas. “There’s no such thing as perfect rain.”
“Please yourself.” Flora’s attention was then caught by someone in the yard. “Hey, who’s that?” she asked.
“Who’s who?” asked Rheneas.
“Over by Siding 2.” Rheneas looked over to see a figure cloaked and wearing a full helmet that obscured their features.
“Excuse me!” he called. “I don’t recall seeing you among the staff! Who are you and what are you doing here?” The figure turned to him quickly, then ran off. “You’re getting reported still!” Rheneas called after it.
“Well, that was interesting,” remarked Flora. Hanako stayed unusually quiet. “…Hanako?”
“Mrs. Royana, are you all right?” asked Rheneas. Hanako then pulled out a communicator.
“All teammates, be advised! A villain from my world has been spotted at the shunting yards!”
“Hold on, what?!” asked Rheneas.
“Her name is Yamta Velonar,” explained Hanako to the railway’s staff, engines, and Andrews once the day was done. “She’s an assassin and saboteur who worked for the Realm Trinity Empire until her death.”
“Then she’s a ghost?” asked Rusty.
“Anything but,” replied Hanako, “she’s come back to life, thanks to Khan. We’re dealing with someone who’s out for revenge against anyone from the Realms.”
“And you think she’s the Lords’ boss?” asked Duncan.
“She’d have to be.”
“What next?” grunted Andrews. “Daleks?”
“Hopefully not,” shuddered Flora. “That’s the last thing this island needs.”
“…I was being sarcastic.”
“I wasn’t. We’ve fought Daleks before. Had the Doctor on our side.”
“No kidding?”
“She looks like Donna Noble now.”
“…Okay, we’re getting off topic here.” Andrews cleared his throat. “Everyone, thanks to Hanako, we have an id on who the commanding officer is. However, I doubt this…Yamta will be so eager to show her face around here, especially since there’s someone who knows her on this railway.”
“Did she even get a good look at you?” asked Sir Handel.
“I don’t know,” replied Hanako. “Frankly, I don’t care. She’s too dangerous to allow to run loose. Next time I see her, her legs WILL be broken!”
“…A little extreme,” muttered Flora.
“You don’t know the kind of cruelty she’s capable of.”
“You were seen?” Igura asked the figure as she took off her helmet to reveal a blond woman with a determined expression on her face.
“By Rheneas and his crew,” replied Yamta. “Arsha’s mother was among them and-” Igura then jabbed an electric rod into Yamta’s gut and shocked her for three seconds. Yamta then drew her knife and stabbed her starry arm, causing her to bleed. “…Just so we understand each other!” hissed Yamta. “I didn’t let Dr. Borg or Oyed punish me like that! What makes you think YOU have a chance?!”
“If you were mortal,” grunted Igura as she took the knife out of her arm and the wound healed, “you would have been executed for not taking your due punishment!”
“Due punishment?! This is excessive! Dr. Borg doesn’t go this far unless she has to!”
“I had to in that instance! I gave you an order and your childish incompetence-!” Yamta then punched Igura in the throat. Igura fell to the ground, coughing.
“Childish?! You think everyone under your command a child?! Team leaders aren’t gods! I briefly had godhood and I know what it’s like! Even gods don’t decide who lives and who dies!”
“Then the gods are fools! The decision IS the leader’s! The decision is MINE! It became mine when the Daleks gunned me down!”
“I heard about what the Daleks did during the Convergence.”
“And you judge me?!”
“Mightily.”
“…After I’ve properly disciplined you, I’ll show you all how to carry out a successful operation! When Dr. Borg sees the results, she’ll-!”
“She’ll be enraged at what you’ve done to one of her fellows!”
“SHE’D KNOW HOW TO WIN AT ANY COST! SHE’D KNOW TO KILL THOSE WHO WOULD TAKE FUTURES AWAY FROM HER!”
“What the Daleks did doesn’t justify-!”
“THEY STOLE MY FUTURE FROM ME!”
“And you’re stealing any chances of victory with your untempered wrath! It’s time to put a leash on it!” Yamta then teleported away.
“…Order me around, will you?!” snarled Igura.
Yamta reappeared back at the shunting yards during the night. She put her helmet back on and looked around. “Might as well take that off,” called Hanako’s voice. “I already told everyone what you looked like under that thing.” Yamta sighed and turned to face her, taking the helmet off again.
“Been a long time, Your Majesty.”
“These days, the proper way to address me is ‘My Lady’. My daughter’s the one you should call ‘Your Majesty’.”
“To be perfectly frank, I was hoping for Lardeth since he ran me through the heart!”
“Well, too bad. You have me. What are you doing here? These people have done nothing to incur your wrath.”
“They’re your friends, are they not? You Royanas place a lot of value in your friends.”
“You need to leave. Now!”
“Not until you know what real pain is! I’ve already had to deal with a spoiled brat for a team leader, I don’t need Royana preaching!”
“And yet, that ‘preaching’ has kept the Realms together ever since Arsha’s first ancestor took the Mid-realm throne. Besides, it’s been working so far, given that the Realms are still standing 15,000 years after your death.”
“…15,000 years? It’s been that long?”
“Yep.”
“…I see. So I’m nothing more than a monster to frighten the children of the winners into behaving.”
“Not yet. You’re still all too real. You and every single aspect of the Realm Trinity Empire. It’s gonna take at least 10 generations after our death before you become that.”
“Well, given that I stand here before you, I don’t think that’s gonna happen. I may not have the powers of the Divine Ones and Oyed, but I can still cause enough havoc to the Realms until they bow to me and my friends!”
“Not happening.”
“It WILL happen, one way or another. Now, I’d suggest you get back to choking on coal in that useless little box on wheels you call a Mechanica engine. He can’t even move himself without someone at his controls.” Yamta then vanished.
“…Call Rheneas useless, will you?” hissed Hanako.