Chapter 1 - Anna

Life appears to have calmed down in Apollo Victoria after the events of our last epic. CB has been deported to Australia and is currently hauling brick trucks somewhere in the outback. Electra has restocked her drinks cabinet. And strawberry bootlaces are being shipped in from Bochum until the factory can be rebuilt (Pearl's firestarting attempts being enthusiastic, to say the least). But our tale this time does not concern strawberry bootlaces (I don't know what it does concern, but it doesn't do to be repetitive).

Pearl is currently in a good mood. Today the whole passenger division of Connex South Central is on strike, so consequently all the passenger cars have the day off and she has taken the opportunity to catch up on her sleep and paint her nails (though obviously not at the same time). But just as she is selecting just the right shade of pink nail varnish, she hears a crash outside her window. She looks out the window, and is alarmed at what she sees......

Chapter 2 - Kae

She sees Joule--dynamite car and flunkie to Electra lest you forget--attempting to rip the gutter off the side of Pearl's house with a crowbar. Chunks of aluminium siding and roof shingles clatter to the ground as this strangest little car carries out her struggling effort. Pearl blinks her eyes, gawks for a second, then opens the window. "Hey! You! Cut that out!"

Joule stops breaking things and regards Pearl. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was I disturbing you?"

"Dude! You're stealing my gutter!"

"Come again?"

Pearl sighs and leans against the window sill. "Joule, I don't know why you're doing it, but it appears you're attempting to remove the gutter from the side of my house. Call me paranoid but I just couldn't help but notice. But now that I have, would you please stop? You're scaring the neighbors."

Joule looks confused and disoriented, but that's pretty normal for her.

"I'm sorry, Pearl. I'd like to help you, but I have my orders." Joule goes back to work. Pearl shakes her head in vague amazement. "Why," she demands, "would Electra want you to steal my gutter?!"

"Oh, it's not for Electra. It's for Volta. She's building some new thingy and she needs spare parts."

"Ah. I see. New implement of destruction for the boss?"

"You ask a lot of questions," observes Joule, bludgeoning the gutter with the crowbar in an attempt to loosen it, "but frankly I don't know. Nobody ever tells me anything, I'm not that essential. I just run errands and feed the fish."

"I see. Is that my crowbar?"

"I was gonna give it back."

Just then, who should lumber by but Dustin Six Twenty-Five, Big Hopper extraordinaire. "Hello Pearl," he says, "Lovely day. Hello, Joule!"

"Hello, Dustin!" says Joule, still beating the gutter with the crowbar and making a lot of noise and a mess. Dustin regards her with interest. "Pardon my asking, but are you stealing Pearl's gutter?"

"She is!" insists Pearl.

"Oh!" says Dustin. "Well, you're doing a real good job, I must say. But you look tired. Can I help you with that?"

"OK," says Joule. Dustin rips the remainder of the gutter off the house. "There you go! May I carry it home for you?"

"Sure!" smiles Joule. They start to leave. Pearl stares with a twisted expression on her face.

"What the hell! That's my gutter!!"

"Oh! Pearl!" yells Dustin, looking over his shoulder. "I just remembered why I came over here in the first place. Rusty needs to see you right away. He says it's urgent, life or death!"

"What?!" cries Pearl. " Life or death?! Is he hurt?!"

"I don't know. All I know is that he needs you immediately."

Pearl leaps into action. "Rusty is in trouble! Let the world tremble before me, for I shall rescue him from his wretched peril even until all hope is gone! Pearl away!!" she jumps out the window and speeds off in the direction of Rusty's house, but not before calling back, "Hey! You simpletons owe me a gutter!!"

"Don't worry Pearl! Hey, Joule, after this do you want to go get a drink with me?"

"OK!"

Chapter 3 - Anna

Volta regards her newest creation with an evil sneer on her face. *At last*, thinks she, *I will get the credit I'm due. All the other components will look up to me, guys will throw themselves at my feet, and Electra might even be nice to me from time to time!* She puts down her spanner and gazes at the product of her morning's effort. There is a knock at the door.

"Hey sis, I brought you the stuff like you said. I'm going out." Joule pauses to check her hair in the mirror, then glances back. "Wow, that's even bigger than I thought it would be! What's it for?"

"You'll see," says Volta, who's feeling pretty damn' good about herself. "One day, the whole trainworld will see! Ahaha!"

Joule puts her head on one side critically. "You haven't really got that evil laugh right, have you? You want to do more like this - Mwahaha!"

Volta glares at her evilly. "I thought you said you were going out. And where's that stuff?"

"Right here."

Volta slams shut the door behind her little sister, and gets on with her work. Soon it would be finished!

Pearl soon arrives at Rusty's place. The door is wide open, so she runs inside. "Rusty! You okay? What's happened? Where are you?"

"In here!"

She follows the sound of his voice and finds him sitting on the sofa in the front room, looking devastated. All his limbs appear to be intact, however, so Pearl's worry level goes down a couple of notches, at least. "What's up?" she asks.

"I can't find him! He's gone!"

"Erm.....who?"

"My bear! I just left him in the other room for a little while.....sniff.....and then there was just this note....."

Pearl sits down beside him and gives him a hug. Then, she takes the note from his hand and reads it.

"Well, if that doesn't just take the biscuit,' says Pearl angrily. 'First she takes your bear, then she just now went and stole my gutter - what can Volta want with all this stuff?"

"Your gutter?"

"Yeah. But don't worry. We'll go straight there, right now, and get your bear back!"

Chapter 4 - Kae

"OK, boys, what've you brought me?"

Volta stands in her basement laboratory with Purse, Wrench and Krupp. The male cars begin to empty their pockets.

"I've got a guitar pick, three Pokemon cards, a jello mold and a glass eye," says Purse, placing the items on the table.

"I found a pile of discarded mail, a staple gun, a small piece of string and a stuffed moose head," says Wrench.

"And I've procured this old THUNDERCATS comic, this autographed picture of Adrian Hansel and a length of astroturf," says Krupp.

Volta frowns and folds her arms. "Is that all?"

"What do you mean, is that all?" demands Wrench. "We had to sneak into peoples' homes for this crap! And I'll bet we could have found any of it in Electra's garage!"

"That's immaterial!" cries Volta. "The stuff has to belong to the citizens of Apollo Victoria. The scheme won't work if it doesn't."

"Volta, I don't have much beef against you personally," mentions Purse, "But I couldn't give a flying rat about your little schemes. You never get away with them anyway."

"Gahh!!" yells Volta, flailing her arms. "Doubt all you want, unbeliever! This time it's gonna be different. THIS one's gonna elevate me to a higher plane! You think I'm gonna play second fiddle to Electra my entire life?!"

"I didn't know you could play fiddle," says Krupp.

"Shut up! You boys are gonna see some action when this baby goes down. Mark my words, THIS one's gonna change the world!!"

"She REALLY needs a boyfriend," mutters Purse.

"Well, not that this hasn't been a slice, " says Wrench, "But we're out of here. Us guys are going over to the Rockies' place to watch the Freightball game today."

"You three don't hang out with the Rockies!" says Volta.

"But they have a widesceen TV!" argues Krupp.

"So does Electra!"

"She's using it to play "Jellicle Combat 64" today."

"C'mon, guys," Wrench heads for the door, "We're just wasting time. Let's go."

"Fine!" Volta cries after them. "Thanks for your meager support! Could you at least steal their TV for me while you're there? I don't have anything from the Rockies yet."

"We'll see what we can do on the way out."

Meanwhile, Pearl and Rusty are on their way to Electra's place, in hopes of procuring Rusty's stolen teddy bear.

"But he's so cute and all alone!!..." wails Rusty.

"Don't worry, baby. We'll get him back and make it all better, I promise." Pearl sets her sights on the task at hand. "How dare those evils steal my Rusty's teddy?! They've really earned themselves a can o' whoop-ass this time!!"

At length, Pearl and Rusty notice more trains headed towards Electra's house. Among the steadily growing crowd are Dinah and Flattop. They look perturbed. "Hey, guys," says Pearl, "What's going on?"

"It's that dang-blasted Electra again!" cries Dinah. "She's sending her nogoodnicks after our personal possessions this time!"

"That a fact?" says Pearl

"Yeah!" says Dinah. "They up and took my favorite jello mold and my stuffed moose head!!"

"And they stole my small piece of string!!" wails Flattop.

"That's funny," states Pearl, "Because we recently had minions going through our stuff, too! Joule the dynamite car recently ran off with my gutter and Rusty's favorite teddy bear!"

"Haha! Rusty sleeps with a teddy bear!"

"Go to hell, Flattop!!"

"Now now, boys," says Pearl, "Be nice to each other. We're all the victims here. Now let's get down to Electra's and find out just what the holy heck is going on in this crazy plot!"

Chapter 5 - Anna

Electra is just finishing level 5 when she hears a loud knocking on her door. "Voll-tah! Get that!" she yells and carries on beating the hell out of various small pussy cats. The knocking continues.

"Volta! I said, get that! Or any of you lot!"

Still, the door is unanswered. Electra pauses her game and stomps down the stairs to the front door, in a foul mood. She flings open the door, and sees the crowd of trains outside. "This better be good, observation car," she says to Pearl (who is of course standing at the front of the crowd).

"We want to know why your minions have been nicking our stuff," Pearl says, using her most aggressive tone of voice. "And we won't take no for an answer!"

"Yeah!" says Rusty beside her, who has gone for mean rather than depressed for the minute.

"My minions?" says Electra. "I haven't seen any of them since Joule brought me my breakfast this morning! Anything they do in their free time is nothing to do with me, so push off, you lot." She tries to shut the door but finds Pearl's foot is blocking it.

"All right then," says Pearl, "we want to talk to Volta. Is she there?"

"Volta? No, she isn't. Sod off." Electra kicks Pearl's foot out of the way and slams the door.

"Well, someone got out of bed the wrong side this morning," says Dinah.

"Does this mean I won't get my bear back?" says Rusty, tearfully. Pearl sighs and pats him on the head. "Of course we will. We just need to talk to Volta. I'm sure she has a perfectly unreasonable excuse for all this, and once we find out what it is, we can steal all our stuff back again."

Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Dinah sees Wrench, Krupp and Purse sneaking out of Electra's back door. She silently points them out to the others and whispers, "I'm sure it was one of them who took my moose head. Perhaps they know what's going on."

Pearl has serious doubts as to whether any of them ever know what's going on, but she still shouts out, "Hey! You components, over there! What game are you playing?"

Chapter 6 - Kae

"Mwahh!" cries Purse. "It's an angry mob!!"

"Let's get out of here!" yells Krupp.

"They're running!" exclaims Dinah. Pearl points after the three components. "Don't let them get away! They're the key to getting our stuff back! After them!!"

A small tidal wave of trains surges in the direction of the fleeing cars, who run like crazy. "They're onto us!" roars Krupp. "Blasted freezer, she's gonna get us all killed!!"

"Shut up and motor!" orders Wrench, picking up the pace.

Suddenly, Purse trips over a curb and crashes to the pavement. His cohorts, who'd been running a bit faster, don't notice his loss and keep going. Purse tries to cry out for help, but before he can open his mouth Flattop has grabbed him and thrown him over his shoulder. "I caught one!! I caught one!!" Flattop cries jubilantly, frolicking around as his captive objects in vain. The other trains gather round and assess the catch.

"Good job, Flattop," nods Pearl. She grabs Purse by the chin and smiles at him. "Looks like the spiders've caught themselves a fly!"

"Why'd you take our stuff, money-boy?!" demands Rusty. Purse, who tends to go whiny as soon as you separate him from the group, whimpers "I don't know! It wasn't my idea, really! I was just following orders!!"

"Think he's lying?" asks Flattop. "Maybe we should grill him a while, see if we can loosen his tongue."

"Cool!" says Dinah. "I'll go get a hot poker!"

"That won't be necessary," says Pearl. "He's just a lackey, and as we all know, lackeys are dumb. He doesn't know anything."

"Hey!!" cries Purse. "Dyeh--I mean, you got it! Dumb lackey getting dumber, right here! Totally useless to you--"

"Oh, don't think you're off the hook yet, kiddo," smiles Pearl. "We still have a use for you. Ladies and gentlemen," she addresses the crowd, "This obsequious little fellow is now officially the town hostage! His master will not see him again until she returns all of the stuff her minions stole from us!"

Purse whines loudly. "But Electra doesn't even KNOW about the things Volta had us take! She doesn't even know I'm gone!! This isn't fair!!"

"Oh, she'll know," frowns Pearl. "And if she knows what's good for her she'll get her butt in gear and return what's rightfully ours! Volta or otherwise! Now, c'mon, citizens. We have to stash this piece of loot for safekeeping!"

"You'll all regret this!" wails Purse from Flattop's shoulders. "Electra will make every one of you pay dearly for this insult! Nobody steals a money car and gets away with it!!"

Meanwhile, far across town, Krupp and Wrench have just burst headlong into the Rocky residence. The Rockies turn from the TV screen and watch the two cars as they collapse on the floor, gasping for breath. Wrench looks around wearily. "Purse," he gasps, "We...lost...Purse!"

"Oh well..." replies Krupp, "I never...liked him...anyway."

"Dude!" says the Rocky with the remote control, "Where are the chips?"

"Guhhh?..." Wrench wheezes.

"You guys were supposed to bring the munchies!" says a second Rocky. "Forgot the damn chips, didn't you?"

"What a couple of slackers!" observes the third Rocky with a laugh.

Krupp and Wrench blink dumbly for a moment, then pass out on the floor.

Chapter 7 - Anna

Soon the mob of trains had taken Purse back to Pearl's (gutterless) house. He was tied firmly to a chair in her front room.

"We need a ransom note," says Pearl. "Does anyone have a newspaper? To cut letters out of?"

"Well, this is your house," says Dinah. Rusty meanwhile is rummaging through Pearl's magazine rack.

"We have some back issues of Cosmopolitan, this month's Zest, and hidden at the back, an old copy of Playcoach." He turns it the right way up and looks at the cover. "Special Steam Edition."

Pearl hastily snatches the magazine away from him. "We'll use the Zest," suggests she.

And it was here they ran into difficulty. A group of trains thought 'People's Reclamation Association of Trains', until it was pointed out that this abbreviates to 'PRAT'. Some others thought that they should use a made-up name, but this was vetoed because they could only think of 'Starlight Express' and no one wanted to tell Rusty (already in a fragile emotional state) that the Starlight Express wasn't real. And Pearl hadn't reckoned on having so many people over and had run out of cups.

Eventually though they managed to agree on letting Pearl sign it, since it was her house and Electra would probably guess that she was involved anyway. This did make all that cutting out of letters rather pointless, but they all agreed that the note looked pretty cool.

The note was taken and pushed through Electra's letter box. And the trains settled down to wait.

Chapter 8 - Kae

The trains have reconvened at Pearl's house, where they've all settled down to wait. They wait, and they wait.

They wait and they wait and they wait.

At length the clock strikes two a.m. Pearl has long since run out of wine coolers and pizza rolls. Rusty is sprawled on the couch, sleeping fitfully. Everyone else seems to be getting tired and cranky. Flattop crushes his last soda can against his head and pipes up, "Can I go home now?"

"No!" barks Pearl. "We have to wait here until Electra gets our message. She could try to contact us at any minute and if she does, we have to be ready."

Dinah sighs and discards Pearl's single issue of PLAYCOACH. "She's probably not going to call us tonight, Pearl. We left the message in her mailbox."

"So?" challenges Pearl.

"Well, who do you know who checks their mailbox at night?"

"Yeah!" cries Purse, still tied to his chair. "I told you you should have sent the message via email! If you had, Electra would have been onto you and I'd've been home by now!"

"Quiet, you!" says Pearl. "Case in point is, you're all staying over here tonight, because I don't want to be alone with this freak in my house." Dinah and Flattop ad-lib whiny objections. Purse rocks back and forth and shouts, "Don't worry, kids, it'll be fun! We can chat all night long about how Electra's going to use your butts for target practice."

"I thought I told you to shut your cake-hole, Wrench!"

"I'm not Wrench, I'm Purse! Remember that name, soon you'll be regretting you ever met me! Stealing a money car is a federal offence. And if you think Electra is bad, wait'll you meet her lawyers!!--"

"Anyway," says Pearl to her compatriots, "We can use this time we have together to try and figure out what exactly that freezer needs with all our personal belongings. This is more than a random isolated incident. Volta's up to something, and my guess is it's gonna be big trouble for Apollo Victoria at large."

"Yeah, but who can tell?" says Dinah. "She could be cooking up just about anything. She's weird like that."

"I'll say." says Purse. "Volta's got issues."

"My guess," suggests Pearl, "Is that she's baiting us. She could be doing anything, yes, but what she really wants is our attention."

"Yeah, she doesn't get out much," says Purse. "She's got some frustrations, y'know, a few relevant psychological inhibitions..."

"This could all just be an elaborate hoax to draw away our attention, to buy time for the rest of the team to pull something really horrible while we were looking the other way--"

"What she REALLY needs is to get laid, that's my opinion..."

"And by the time we've looked up from our own personal dilemmas we could be in more trouble than we would ever have foreseen--"

"There's a good reason they call her the freezer car, if you know what I mean..."

"Dinah, hand me my duct tape."

"Sorry. I'll be good."

"Too late. This night's gonna be long enough without your visual suggestions. Better yet, has anyone got a tennis ball?"

"Dyeh--oh-no! Electra!!"

Soon enough, morning has dawned on Apollo Victoria. Joule is sitting in Electra's garden, looking depressed. At length, Dustin comes along and sits next to her.

"Hello Joule!"

"Hello, Dustin."

"Joule? You look sad today. Is anything wrong?"

"Not really," she sighs. "I mean, I don't want to get you down or anything..."

Dustin suddenly looks hurt. "It isn't me, is it?"

"Oh, no! Certainly not. It's sort of a family issue."

"Oh! Well, you can talk to me about it if you like," he suggests.

She leans her head in her hands. "It's my sister. I'm starting to worry about her. She hasn't come out of the basement in over a week."

"Oh my! Is she sick?"

"No, bent on world domination."

"Ah. I...see. Heh. You've got a lot of that going on in your house, haven't you?"

Joule is a bit peeved by this. "Well it's not my fault! She's the one with the power issues. I'd always suggested that she try to use her abilities for good, but no. It's always conquer this and be dark lord of that...I mean, between her and the boss it's like a regular apocalypse around here!"

"Whew. That's rough," says Dustin, putting his hand on hers. "I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. Is there anything I can do?"

Joule rests her head on his shoulder. "Do you have a lighter?"

"Why? Need a smoke?"

"No, I just like lighters."

"Oh. Uh...no."

"Bummer."

"Well, isn't this adorable," observes Wrench, suddenly there. "Oh! Hi, Wrench," Joule greets him. As usual, Wrench shows little amusement. "Electra sent you out here 45 minutes ago to get the mail, and she's become impatient. Hmph. I might've known you'd be here, succumbed to that attention deficit disorder of yours..."

"ADD's OK by me!" sez Joule.

"Cute," drones Wrench. Then he notices Dustin. "And what are you supposed to be?"

"This is Dustin, the aggregate hopper. He's the guy who took me out last night."

"Hello!" says Dustin.

Wrench makes a conscious effort to sneer. "Well isn't that just the cat's meow. Clear off, riff-raff, Electra doesn't like cars parking in her lawn. Come, Joule."

"See you later, Dustin!"

"OK, Joule. Are we still on for tonight?"

"You bet!"

"Alright! See you then!"

Wrench leads Joule back into the house. He shakes his head at her. "My my, what would your poor evil sister think? Fraternizing with aggregate hoppers."

"We didn't fraternize!" objects Joule. "We just fooled around a bit!"

"D'oh," says Wrench.

Soon, they come to Electra's chamber, where the boss is reading the Times. "Hey there, Wrench. There's a good crossword in one of these sections. Do it for me, would you?"

"At your command, Electra. By the way, here's today's mail." He hands it off.

"Hm. Electric bill, electric bill, electric bill--hello, what's this?" Electra examines that funny letter with the cut-out text. Curious, she opens it and begins to read. Her disposition quickly begins to skyrocket downhill, finally crashing to a miserable pulp as Electra crushes the letter in her hand.

"Wrench...start diggin' some coach-holes."

Chapter 9 - Anna

It is morning. At Pearl's place, quite a lot of people are asleep on the floor. They are awakened rather rudely by a loud banging on the door. Flat-top looks out the window to see who is at the door, then tries to hide under the coffee table. "Minions!" he cries as Pearl gets up from the sofa (Rusty, being a gentleman, let her sleep on the sofa, and slept on the floor. Everyone seemed to entirely forget that Pearl had a perfectly good bedroom a few metres away).

Pearl draws a few rapid conclusions concerning what time of day people are most likely to check their post, whose signature was on the note, and other related things, and considers trying to hide behind the sofa. This would not, however, work very well, being as how there were quite a lot of trains hiding behind the sofa anyway.

"I'd - I'd better answer the door, then," says she.

"Yup," says Flat-top, his voice slightly distorted from travelling through the glass top of the table.

Pearl glances about, to try and find some big, strong train to protect her. Not seeing any (all behind the sofa), she grabs Rusty's arm and drags him along behind her to the door. Then, she takes a deep breath and opens it.

Wrench, Krupp and Joule are all standing there, looking mean. Several trains try to hide in Pearl's broom cupboard. Rusty folds his arms and tries to look mean as well. He is not very successful.

"We've come for Purse," says Wrench. "And we're not leaving without him."

"You'd better get used to that doorstep, then," says Pearl as brightly as she can manage. "You might be there a while. I believe I stated all our demands quite clearly."

"We are not at liberty to return any of the possessions of the inhabitants of Apollo Victoria," says Krupp.

"Idiot!" whispers Wrench. "We weren't supposed to admit we had them, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," says Krupp quickly. "We know not of this 'stuff' of which you speak. We haven't got anything that belongs to you, so give us back what's ours, or else you'll get yours."

"Yeah," says Joule, who's feeling a little left out.

"You *will* return our belongings," says Pearl. "Hey, guys, back me up here."

"It was only an old jelly mould, anyway," calls Dinah. "I didn't hardly ever use it any more."

"Who cares about string?" says Flat-top. "Or a gutter, as long as the weather holds? And it's about time Rusty lost that stupid bear, anyway -"

"It was my BEAR!" Rusty, who has had a pretty sleepless night anyway (what with no bear, and hitting his head on the coffee table every time he turned over), bursts into tears. Pearl starts to get *really* cross.

"I want to talk to Volta," says she firmly. "It's clear I'm not getting anywhere talking to you lot. Just let me talk to her, I'm sure we can sort something out." She turns round and sees Espresso in the act of climbing out of the back window. Ashley and Turnov are already running away along the alley behind the house. "Cowards!" she yells. Then, she slams the door in a defiant manner and leads the sobbing Rusty back into the living room. There is more banging at the door.

"Give us Purse!"

"No! Not without our stuff, or without seeing Volta!" There is a swift discussion on Pearl's doorstep. "Pearl, come with us," Krupp calls out. "And leave the bloody steam train here."

Pearl waits for Rusty to say, "No! You can't go on your own! It's much too dangerous!". When he doesn't (but just sniffs a bit and looks pathetic), she sighs, gets her handbag, and leaves with the three components.

Chapter 10 - Kae

When we next meet our heroine, she is arriving on the doorstep of Electra's place. Krupp removes the blindfold from her eyes and bids her enter.

"I don't know what the blindfold was for," says Pearl. "I already knew where Electra's house was, jeez."

"Shhhh! Keep it down! D'you want Electra to know you're here?"

"Why?" asks Pearl. "Will she be mad?"

"The understatement of the century," mutters Wrench. "We weren't supposed to bring you here. We weren't even supposed to come HOME without Purse. If Electra finds out about this she's gonna have kittens."

"Right, let's get this over with!" fidgets Krupp. "We'll just drop off this car at Volta's secret laboratory in the crawlspace--"

"Basement," says Joule.

"Whatever--and then we'll get lost. I don't know about you, but I don't want this one on my permanent record."

"Amen to that." agrees Wrench.

"I don't hear anyone about," whispers Joule, checking the layout. "C'mon, let's go." The components lead Pearl down a long opening hall and into a storage room. On one wall of this dark, abandoned cove is a grey door. Wrench gestures at it. "There," he says, "Is an entrance to the basement. That's where Volta hangs out. You will have your discussion, and then you will leave. Oh, and it's cold down there. Hope you brought a sweater."

"Are there spiders?"

"Oh yeah. Spiders, and weird science."

"Damn," says Pearl. "Oh well, I'm doing this for Apollo Victoria. Let me at it--" She reaches for the doorknob, but Joule stops her. "Uh, I just thought of something--"

"That's new," Wrench and Krupp state in unison.

"Uh...huh. Volta hasn't had any visitors in a while. Maybe I should go down there first and tell her what's about to happen."

"Fine," snaps Krupp. "Just get a move on! This is all starting to freak me out!"

"Be right back," Joule disappears into the doorway. She descends a very long stair-ramp, all the while noticing the sound of voices getting nearer. It doesn't take her long to identify them.

"Enough of your eggheaded nonsense!" shouts Electra. "Will this piece of junk get Purse back?!"

"Not directly, master. I told you, it's not a transport device. It's a mentality-transfer beam. It functions on the theory that when you attain--"

"I can't understand a word you're saying! I want Purse and I want him now!! Nobody steals from me!! If your crackbrained schemes can't cater to the tasks at hand, what good are they?!"

"Master, if you'll just listen to me--"

"Listening to you gives me migraines. Why on earth do I put up with you? Why, I've got half a mind to have you remodelled into an icemaker--WHAT, Joule?!"

Joule, who has been tapping Electra on the shoulder for the last minute or so, shrinks back in fear. "I, uh, uh, hi boss!"

"What do you want?! Can't you see I'm busy crushing your sister's self esteem?!"

"I...dyuh, I,uh--have news about Purse!"

"You do?! Is he back?"

"Uh, no. But the guys--the guys can tell you all about it. They're right upstairs. Will you go to them? Right now?"

"Grrr..." says Electra, who is not in the midst of one of her better days. She abandons her current tantrum and rockets up the stair-ramp...

"Oh! Wait a second!!" hollers Joule. Before the engine reaches the door at the top of the ramp, Joule is there, squeezing past Electra and nearly knocking her down the stairs. Joule pokes her head through the door and, as a warning, mouths the boss's name to Wrench and Krupp. Instantly panicked, the two minions grab Pearl and hide her behind their backs. A millisecond later, Electra is in the store-room, and Joule is hurtling headlong down the stair-ramp.

"Well?!" snarls Electra. "What's so important that it couldn't wait for me to finish browbeating the freezer?!"

"Eh--important, master?" Krupp suffers. Electra frowns at her servants' peculiar behavior, and tries to circle them. They follow her movements as not to reveal Pearl, still obstructed by their bodies.

"The idiot dynamite car said you boys had information about Purse! Well? Out with it!"

"Oh! Information--about Purse!" falters Wrench. "Ah, well...sure, we've got plenty of that! Tell her, Krupp!"

"Oh--yes! Purse! Well...we...dyeh, that is--we think we might know where he is!"

Electra glows with suppressed rage. "I already KNOW where he IS. I sent you morons to go GET him. Now, do you HAVE him or not?"

"Do we HAVE him? Oh, well--of course we have him!"

"Do you?"

"Uh...maybe?"

"DO YOU?"

"Um...no. Not as such."

"I KNEW IT!!" Electra grabs both minions by the throat and hurls them against the wall in one fell movement. "I've had it with your tomfoolery!! I'll go to that damnedable coach's house and bring back Purse MYSELF!!"

With a flash of sparks, Electra is out of the room and through the front door. Wrench and Krupp pick themselves up off the ground. Wrench's eyes dart around with a relapse of horror. "Pearl!?--Krupp! Where's Pearl?!"

"Who?"

"The coach! She was here a minute ago, and now she's gone! Gone!!"

"Oh well," mutters Krupp. "I never liked her anyway."

Pearl, meanwhile, is creeping ever so carefully down the stair-ramp into Volta's domain, loath to surprise and anger any cars or spiders who might dwell within. At length the echoes of Joule and Volta's voices become intelligible...

"That awful, incorrigible woman!! She can't treat me like this! I'm a freakin' GENIUS, dammit!!--"

"Quit feeling sorry for yourself! Now, listen. There's a coach here to see you, and she's all about recovering the stuff you had us steal from the locals. So pull yourself together and take care of this already."

"Why did I have to grow up to be a lackey?! I should have been an emergency mechanic, just like mom always wanted!!"

"Dude, if you get all worked up you're gonna melt again, and I don't wanna be around for that crap. So why don't you just put on a brave face and talk to the car so she'll go aw--"

"Hello Volta," says Pearl. Volta looks up, and extols a strange reaction. She turns to her sister and says to her, very coolly, "It's PEARL. Joule, do allow me to talk to her alone."

"Whatever you say, sis," Joule exits the room and goes back upstairs. Volta folds her arms and nods. "Well well well. If it isn't the little car who spoiled my last brilliant escapade. If it isn't the Sherlock Holmes to my Professor Moriarty. If it isn't the Batman to my Joker. If it isn't the Super Mario to my King Koopa."

"Cut the crap, Volta!" demands Pearl. "You know why I'm here."

"I can take a guess," offers Volta. "You intend to liberate all this loot and return it to the little darlings of Apollo Victoria. Is that it?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice," says Pearl. "I'd also kind of like to know what the heck you've been up to in here as well."

"That's classified information, pinky."

"OK, let me rephrase that." Pearl strikes a heavily backlit comicbook gesture-pose. "What have you done with my gutter, you fiend?!"

"Now, that's more like it!" grins Volta. "Come on, Wonder Woman. I'll show you what we've got." Volta leads Pearl further on into the basement. Soon they've reached an elaborate fusebox. Volta hits a switch, and a room-sized, teleporter-like device infuses with energy. Pearl stares.

"Well, whatcha think? Impressive, ain't it?" Pearl nods, strangely surprised. "It's amazing! Did you build this thing all by yourself in a week?"

Volta beams as best as a freezer car can. "Yep! It's all me. Wanna know what it does?"

"OK," says Pearl. Volta goes into her spiel. "There's an old archaic theory that, when you possess an object close to the heart of another person, you can use that item to take possession of the owner's soul. This is,of course, superstition, but I had a feeling that this kind of physio-magical science could somehow be transferred into the form of a machine. And this device, which as we discussed I fashioned myself, is powered by the psychic energy still alive in objects stolen from the people who love them. With it, a train can enter the body of another and take complete control of their being--physically, mentally and spiritually. It is the last and final word in mind control technology as we know it."

"That's funny," says Pearl, "Cuz you've really been batting zero with mind-control lately. You ought to go with something a little easier. Did you ever consider getting an ant farm?"

"Laugh all you want, observer! With this device I will indeed regain my title as goddess of the trainworld! Then, let all who ride the rails bow to the mighty name of Volta!!"

"Are you always this antisocial? Cuz Purse says it's on account of you're sexually repressed."

"DOES he."

"Yup!"

"Grrr," says Volta. She grabs a small piece of paper from her drafting table. It reads thus:

Volta scrawls Purse's name at the bottom of this list, then turns to Pearl. "You know, observer...I think you could be a big help to me."

"Whoa, no," says Pearl, "I'm only here for the stuff. Your issues are yours alone, and I don't want any part--"

"You're not listening to me!" yells Volta. "Now, the way I see it, you've made yourself a few enemies here about town. One of these being me. And boy, could I use a crash dummy for my new machine..."

"Wha--you're not suggesting I test-drive that thing?!"

"I'm not suggesting," sneers Volta. "You don't have much of a choice. Now let's see...how would my despised enemy look forever trapped in the body of..oh, I don't know, say...a diesel?"

"Dear sweet lord, no!!"

Volta throws her head back and revels in her evil. "MWA-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

Chapter 11 - Anna

"You mean you let her go over there on her own?!" says Dinah, flabbergasted. "You stupid - steam train! I thought she was supposed to be your girlfriend! You're supposed to *like* her, at least! Not send her off to get horribly murdered!"

"I wasn't thinking!" wails Rusty. "Now something dreadful's going to happen to her and it's all my fault!"

Dinah takes stock of the situation. The only people left at Pearl's are herself, Rusty, Flat-top, Buffy, and a few nameless chorus trains. Everyone else has run away, or suddenly discovered much more pressing things to do this morning. "Right," she says. "We can't let Pearl be killed painfully and probably very creatively! We have to do something!"

"Right!" says Rusty. "Who's with us? We have to storm Electra's place and bring her back!" The trains with a greater sense of self-preservation start to edge towards the window.

Dinah goes into the kitchen, and unearths a pretty lethal looking carving knife. She slips it into her belt, and calls out, "What would frighten a freezer truck?"

"I thought we were after Electra," says Rusty.

"Pearl wanted to see Volta," Dinah says. "She must have a part in this. I don't know what, but I think she's the one we need to speak to. D'y'know where Pearl keeps her hairdryer? That'd scare me, if I was a freezer truck."

"We'd better hurry," says Rusty. "She left almost twenty minutes ago - Electra's house is only a mile away." He starts to look all upset (ah, bless). "Anything could have happened to her by now!"

Buffy comes into the kitchen, waving a pair of battery powered curling tongs. "These any good?" says she. "I always carry a set around, y'never know when they might come in handy."

"Cool," says Dinah. "Let's go!"

Chapter 12 - Kae

And soon enough, Pearl's impromptu band of rescuers are fast on the road to Electra's place. Armed to the teeth with haircare equipment, toasting appliances and butane lighters, Rusty, Dinah, Buffy and Flattop show every intention of using all their resources to liberate Pearl from Volta's assumed clutches. In fact, everyone seems to be particularly hopped up on heroic adrenaline in this scenario. It's a miracle they don't set each other on fire.

Suddenly, the dauntless quartet find themselves screeching to a halt as Electra cascades toward them. The scorned engine takes one look at them and bellows her loudest.

"You sons of bitches stole my Purse!! I am taking him back RIGHT NOW!! Does anyone have a problem with that?!!"

"Not a one," says Dinah, as she and her compatriots cross Electra's path and continue on their way. Electra watches them go, momentarily befuddled. Then she yells after them, "Uh, good! Yeah, you guys BETTER run! Looks like I showed you..." She then assumes her original destination.

It doesn't take long for Electra to arrive at Pearl's abandoned, gutterless abode. She kicks in the door (steel-toed skates; you know I love 'em) and begins to call for Purse, smashing this and that as she goes. "Purse? Are you here? Speak up!"

When he doesn't answer, she goes to the closet (for this is always the first place badguys look). And sure enough there's the money car, trussed up like a turkey with several layers of duct tape over his mouth. He looks up pitifully at Electra, who expresses relief. "Ah! There you are! My own money truck! Thank goodness you're safe! My insurance people were starting to go into cardiac arrest!" With that, she begins to untie him.

Meanwhile, in Volta's underground lair, the freezer car and our heroine are engrossed in something of a violent fracas. Volta is very intent on forcing Pearl into the beam of the mentality transfer device, and Pearl will have none of it. Oddly, the battle doesn't seem to be going anywhere fast. The two characters are so evenly matched that very little progress is being made; one car throws a punch and the other blocks it; one administers a choke-hold and the other reverses it--and neither of these stubborn creatures seems to be getting the upper hand.

"Come on! You're only making this harder on yourself!"

"I ain't gettin' in no space transmodulator!"

"Philistine! Have you no respect for the scientific community?!"

"Uh-uh!!"

At length, Joule comes downstairs. She notices Volta trying to hit Pearl with the gutter and says, "Hey! I heard crashing. Are you girls having a violent fracas down here?"

Volta holds tightly to one end of the gutter as Pearl tries to wrestle it away from her. "I told you not to bother me, Joule! I'm busy!"

"Sorry," says Joule, "I won't do anything to disturb you. But my ADD's kicking in again, and, uh...can I play with some of your science stuff? I'm bored."

Volta is distracted long enough to take an elbow to the chin. "Ow!! Dammit, Joule, do anything you want. Just keep it quiet! I'm TRYING to have an epic battle with my sworn enemy over here, if that's OK with you!"

"Sure, that's cool. Say, do you guys want anything while I'm up? A beer or something?"

Pearl blocks a kick from Volta with Dinah's moosehead. "None for me, thanks. Not while I'm battling."

"OK, just thought I'd ask." Joule starts to rummage through the stolen loot on Volta's drafting table. She picks up the glass eye and starts to play hacky-sack with it. Of course, it breaks. Volta takes a second away from trying to chop Pearl with a t-square and yells in Joule's direction. "Hey! You'd better not be breaking stuff over there!"

"I didn't do nothin'," insists Joule, kicking the shattered remains under the table. Just then, she notices among the assortment a very nice snow-globe with a tiny light-up Christmas tree inside. She picks it up and shakes it, delighted by the miniature flurry created within. She giggles and calls to Volta, "I like this snow-globe! Whose is it?"

Volta is trying to get Pearl into a suplex. "It's Electra's. I needed it for a still-life. She doesn't know it's down here, so be careful with it!"

"It's so pretty!" Joule cradles the shiny object with awe-filled reverence. Suddenly, she becomes aware of the haunting, multitextured glow emanating from the beam of the mentality-transfer device. As she stares into the light, something snaps in Joule's brain (if not very securely). She goes to the machine and places the snow-globe in the path of the beam. It casts the room in a brilliant, iridescent light. Joule is mesmerized.

Volta notices the validity of the impending situation too late. "Joule! Get away from there!!"

"So...pretty..."

At that moment, Electra and Purse are dashing down the road in the direction of Electra's place (more specifically, Electra is dashing. Purse, who's still recovering from a traumatic experience, is just barely hanging onto Electra). "You just wait, Purse," chirps Electra, in a considerably better mood, "The miscreants who stole you from me will pay so dearly! Nobody duct-tapes MY most expensive car and lives to sing about it!"

"You're so good to me," whines Purse.

And then, very suddenly, Electra trips and crashes to the pavement. Purse is thrown into someone's lawn. Not particularly hurt, he crawls out of the grass and back to Electra, who is in something of a fetal position on the ground.

"Master? What happened? That wasn't like you at all! Are you OK?"

Electra starts to right herself. "I...I think so...where am I? Purse? What are you doing here?"

Purse is struck by the noticeable change in Electra's voice and mannerism, and backs off a bit. "Electra? What is this? Y-you're weirdin' me out big here..."

"'Electra'?!" cries the engine. "What're you--" She begins to examine her hands, as if she'd never noticed them before. She tries to stand up, but loses her balance and falls backwards. "What the hell is this?! I'm--I'm different!! This isn't right! Oh no! Oh god!!--"

Purse, who's never claimed to have much backbone, has begun to panic. "Uh, yes...y'know what, boss? Maybe I should go on ahead and let everyone know you're on your way! OK? See you later--" With that he careens off in a random direction. "Purse!!" cries the creature who looks like Electra, "Wait! Don't leave me!!" She extends her hand in his direction and unintentionally throws a bolt of white heat. It misses Purse and strikes a hedge, instantly igniting it. Purse shrieks and disappears down the road.

But the engine has lost all interest in the money car. She stares at the hedge, amazed at the result of her mere gesture. On a whim, she points at a nearby trashcan. Electric energy immediately flies from her extended hand to the receptacle. Paper and garbage explode into flame.

The engine giggles and makes another attempt to stand up. She points at a tree and watches it burst into a cloud of fire. She points at somebody's fence grins at the same result. Suddenly any and all fear has been replaced by mischievous bliss.

"I've died and gone to pyro heaven."

Meanwhile, back in the lab, Volta and Pearl are looking down at Joule's comatose form. Pearl prods Joule a bit with her skate. "Wakey wakey, little sicko," she says to no response.

"I can't believe it," mourns Volta from her perch on the drafting table. "I've sacrificed my baby sister to a fate worse than death."

"What'd you do to her?"

"When she transcended the beam with a possession of Electra's, her mind was transferred into Electra's body. Joule is now ELECTRA. What a way to go!"

Pearl looks down at the dynamite car's uninhabited body. "Freaky," she states. "But shouldn't Electra's mind have gone into Joule's cranium, or whatnot?"

Volta sneers. "It doesn't work that way, you pink ditz. This isn't a damn comic book."

"Fine. Then where's Electra's mind?"

"Oh, I dunno. Null-space, probably."

"Wow!" exclaims Pearl. "Boy oh boy, is Electra gonna be mad when she finds out you banished her disembodied spirit to null-space!..."

"Shut up!" wails Volta. "I've got enough to deal with right now, I don't need your play-by-play."

Suddenly there is a loud crashing upstairs. Pearl stops kicking Joule's lifeless body long enough to offer her attention to the unseen ruckus. "Wonder what's going on up there?"

Chapter 13 - Anna

Dinah, Rusty, Buffy and Flat-top have of course come across Krupp and Wrench outside Electra's. While Flat-top and the girls try to fight them off, Rusty sneaks down the stairs and into Volta's lab in the basement.

"Don't worry, Pearl!" he cries. "I've come to save you!"

"Oh, great," says Volta. "Heroic steam trains. Just what I need right now."

"Rusty!" cries Pearl. "I don't need saving just this minute, but it was sweet of you, anyway."

"Everyone else is upstairs," says Rusty. "Well, Dinah n'Buffy n'Flat-top, anyway." There is a loud crash from above. "That would be them."

"Think we ought to give them a hand? Who are they fighting?"

"We kinda ran into Krupp and Wrench. But it's two against three."

"Yeah," says Volta. "Your sweet little friends are gonna get *pasted*."

"Shut it, Volta, we're trying to have a conversation here. What do you think we should do?"

"We could maybe give them a hand."

"Okay!"

Rusty quickly grabs his bear from the bench, then he and Pearl run up the stairs. Pearl opens the door at the top very carefully, given the volume of the sounds from behind it, and then they slip through and into the fray.

Suddenly, Purse comes running through the door, shouting. The fighters pause for a minute to see what's up. "Electra!" cries Purse. "She's gone mad! Or something! She just fell over then she started acting all weird....."

Pearl grins. "Volta!" she calls. "I think you better come up here."

Chapter 14 - Kae

Volta scrambles into the room, considerably irate. "What? What do I need to see? Besides your obnoxious cohorts getting the crap kicked out of them--aah!!"

Still incensed with the heat of battle, Buffy jumps on Volta and starts trying to beat her about the head with a curling iron. "Kidnap OUR Pearl, will you? Steal OUR useless junk, will you?! Taste hot FURY, freezer bitch!!--"

"Buffy!" shouts Pearl. "Cut that out! I'm trying to hear the TV!"

"Oh. Sorry." Buffy relinquishes her attack on Volta and diverts her gaze to the hall viewscreen, which someone had conveniently left on. The screen is currently transmitting a local newscast, live from downtown Apollo Victoria. As scenes of hellish infernos flash across the screen, a news-van shouts critically into her microphone...

"Apollo Victoria is under attack today, as a crazed firestarter rampages our city. Over 40 buildings, 200 acres of greenery and 15 small dogs have already fallen victim to this pyromaniac at large. The suspect is believed to be none other than Electra Seven-Fourteen, the wealthy and eccentric local millionairess who must have finally gone crackers. Police cars have encouraged all Apollo Victorians to remain in their homes, unless, of course, their homes are flammable."

"Oh my god!!" shouts Krupp. "What slander! Electra would never do anything that blatant! It'd ruin her villainous career!"

"Exactly," frowns Volta. "That's not Electra setting those fires, it's Joule."

"That's ludicrous," argues Krupp, "Who could mistake Joule for Electra?"

"Everybody, when Joule's mind is running around in Electra's body..."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second, hold up," orders Wrench. "Now, is this as much to say that, via some pseudo-scientific monstrosity you built downstairs in that meat-locker of yours, you somehow shifted Joule's persona into Electra? And now Joule's going on a mindless tirade for which the world is going to blame the boss?!"

"On the nose!" cries Volta. "Wow. At least SOMEBODY'S been paying attention..."

"Damn it, Volta," shouts Wrench, "Why can't you just collect stamps or something like everybody else?!"

"People," says Pearl, "Listen up. We HAVE to get out there and bring back Electra or Joule or whoever she is before it's too late!"

"WHY." drone Dinah, Rusty, Flattop and Buffy in unison.

"Because if we don't, she'll burn down the entire city! Won't she, Volta?"

"Yes," nods Volta. "She's found something really interesting to do and she won't stop until the novelty runs out...or until she's torched everything in sight. She can't help herself, she has to be stopped."

"So, let these creeps go after her, Pearl!" insists Flattop. "Why should WE risk our lives? This isn't our problem. Let's grab our stuff and leave the freak to the freaks!"

"No," says Pearl. "We're all involved now. If we all work together we can save this town, as well as Joule and Electra. If you think about it, those two are innocent victims this time around! We can't just stand by and let them destroy themselves!"

"Pearl's right!" shouts Rusty. He goes up to her and puts his arm around her waist. "We're all in the same fix here, so we're all going to stand together, whether we want to or not. Now, everybody shake hands! We're calling a truce!"

Vaguely surprised at this completely unexpected show of hutzpah on Rusty's part, the other trains relent and, begrudgingly, shake hands. Volta nurses a few minor bruises on her face before condescending to shake hands with Buffy. "Next time turn the curling iron ON, jackass. You'll make a more lasting impression."

"Don't gimme your attitude, girly. We're all friends now, and bygones are bygones. So suck it up!"

"Grrrr..." snarls Volta, taking her list out of her belt. "What's your name again?..."

"Alright, everybody, pay attention," says Rusty. "From here on in, everybody listens to Pearl. She's the train with the plans. Aren't you, Pearl?"

"Wha--? Oh, uh, plans. Sure..."

"Super," says Rusty. "OK, people, let's move out--"

Purse happens by, carrying a portable phone. "Yeah, I want a medium thick crust with extra cogs, bolts, and wiring, and NO rubber washers. Last time I ordered from you bums there were washers all over the pie. If I see washers this time I promise you I will come over there and slap you all until--"

"Hey, Purse!" says Krupp. "Saddle up, kid, we're going to save the boss from Joule, or vice versa."

Purse covers the receiver. "Screw that noise!" he argues. "I just spent the whole night tied to a chair in somebody's closet. My already-frail nerves are completely shot, and I'm staying right here! I'm going to take a hot bath, eat my pizza and listen to YANNI, and you can all jump up my fuel tank if you don't like it!"

"Fine, fine," says Krupp. "Do what you want, we're out of here." He joins the group as they head for the door. "Man, that dude gets out of everything."

"One of the advantages of being a wuss," says Wrench.

"Must be."

Chapter 15 - Anna

So, Pearl is all set to be our heroine once more, at the head of the mob of trains as they leave Electra's place. Unfortunately, she has only the barest of ideas about how to get Electra back (or how to get Joule back, depending on how you look at things). Whilst the others are talking, she sidles over to Volta.

"So," she says. "This mind transfer thingy. Does it work backwards?"

"I don't know," says Volta. "It could do, I guess, but I was kinda going to use it as a one-way trip, y'know? Anyway, I thought you had a plan."

"I do, I do, I was just wondering what we were going to do once we caught Electra."

"She's going to *kill* me," says Volta morosely. "I'm gonna be fried in little pieces all over the town. That's if we get her back. If we don't, we're all probably going to get fried. From the way I look at it, I'm better off leaving her as she is. At least Joule is, occasionally, vaguely, nice to me."

"That's what I thought," says Pearl, who hasn't been thinking any such thing but has just had an idea. "When we find Joule, you go up to her first. She won't torch you. Well, probably not, anyway. Then, you just have to persuade her to come back with us."

"That's a stupid plan," says Wrench, who has been eavesdropping. "If she's enjoying herself so much then she won't just simply come back with us. I'd rather be Electra than Joule any day." He pauses. "I'd rather be anybody than Joule."

"So what do you think we should do, repair truck?" says Pearl. "Just go in there and grab her? Do you think that's going to work?"

Before an argument can start, they realise they have reached an area where Joule was recently, going by the general lack of anything that hasn't been burnt black. Up ahead they hear a cry of "Whoopee!" as a tree goes up in flames.

"That's her," Volta whispers.

Chapter 16 - Kae

"So then, everyone's a coward and it's up to me to save the free world again, is it? Well, let's have at it!" Pearl salutes her friends and goes dashing off in Joule's direction. "Aaah!! Pearl!" cries Rusty, and rushes after her. Everyone else watches them go. "Hm," observes Wrench. "Bungee jumping without a bungee. Dangerous."

"Oh well," says Krupp, "I didn't--"

"--Like them anyway. We know, we know."

Pearl and Rusty sprint until they are within yelling distance of the Joule-Electra mutation. "You do not have to do this, Electra," shouts Pearl, "Nine million trains do not have to die!!"

"Guh?" questions Joule, looking up from her work.

"Uh, forget it," says Pearl. "Listen up, Joule. I know it's you in there. You know you can't get away with this, you don't have the right to use Electra's powers for evil."

"Yeah," says Rusty, "Uh, wait. What ELSE could they be used for?"

"Don't vex me, Rusty," replies Pearl. "Now, look. We all know that you're not the real Electra. In fact, you shouldn't WANT to be Electra. You're Joule the dynamite car, and you should be proud of that identity."

"Oh, I am!" shrugs Joule.

"You are?"

"Sure! I don't have any problem being me. I rather like me."

"Then why are you running around in Electra's body?"

"Beats me. But it's fun! Wanna see me burn something?"

"No."

"Too late!" Joule gestures towards a nearby building, and it incinerates. Screaming trains pour from its every orifice. Joule giggles mindlessly.

"This isn't going to be easy!" Pearl confides in Rusty. "This chick's got the common sense of frozen waffles. We have to talk tough to her, it's all she'll understand!"

"You got it!" replies Rusty, who then turns to Joule. "OK, you ugly piece of flaming crap! You're coming with us!!"

Joule snaps to attention and glares.

"Oh dear," says Pearl.

"Yeah, that's right, I'm talkin' to you!" cries Rusty, waving his fists as Joule's expression grows gradually less playful. "Who ever told you you were a pyro? You make me sick! Why, you disgrace Electra's evil facade with your half-assed pre-school antics! Honestly, what kind of paltry track-side slut prances around in somebody else's body just so they can set brushfires?! What kind of loser hustles somebody else's super powers?! Tell me that?!--"

"First you tell me," snarls Joule, "Where you'd like them to scatter your ashes?!"

"Oh, a tough one, huh? Don't make me laugh!"

"Rusty..."

"I bet you couldn't fry a chicken if it was surgically attached to your arm!"

"Rusty..."

"Ha! Some threat to society THIS moron is! You suck and your mother sucked before you!!"

"RUSTY!"

"What?"

"You went too far."

"I did?"

"Oh yeah."

Joule seethes and creates a current of white heat that crackles between her open hands. She approaches Rusty and Pearl with increasing ire.

"I didn't think I went overboard--"

"Well, you did."

"Sorry. Are you angry?"

"We'll discuss it later."

"Fine. What should we do for now?"

"I'd probably suggest we RUN!!"

Chapter 17 - Anna

Pearl and Rusty run as fast as they can away from Joule. The others watch them dash past. "Joule!" cries Volta. Joule, distracted, pauses and sees them all standing there.

"What did you do that for?" says Wrench in a low voice. "I was looking forward to seeing them fried."

"Me, too," murmurs Volta. "I'm too nice, that's my trouble."

"What're you lot doing here?" says Joule angrily. "Do you want me to stop burning things, too? Well, I'm enjoying myself! As soon as I get that bloody steam train, I'm coming back for you guys!" So saying, she continues after Rusty and Pearl.

"Where are we going?" says Rusty, quarter of a mile down the road. "We should go to Electra's," says Pearl. "I think Joule has a great enough sense of self-preservation not to burn down Electra's place."

"You think?" says Rusty. "She's going to burn us, wherever we are."

"I know, I know...... do you have any good ideas?"

"Well, you didn't like the last one. But no, I don't."

"Damn."

By now they have reached Electra's. Luckily, the trains had left the front door open in their haste to apprehend Joule. They rush inside and shut the door behind them.

"We better be quiet," says Pearl. "Purse must be around here somewhere, and I don't think he's going to be in a good mood with me."

"Why not?"

"I was the one with the duct tape, remember?"

"I remember."

They sneak across Electra's hall. "Hey," says Pearl, "That's the way into Volta's laboratory over there. Perhaps, if we lure Joule down there, we could get her to go into the beam again, with something of hers. Then, her mind might go back into her body."

"What about Electra's mind? Where's that? And how do we get it back?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, shall we? Quick, she'll be here soon!" So saying, Pearl heads for Volta's lab. Rusty follows her, glancing back at the front door.

Chapter 18 - Kae

The next thing our heroes see is Electra's steel-toed skate kicking in the front door!

"Hey!" yells Rusty. "That was Electra's door! She's gonna be mad!"

"Uh-oh," says Joule, standing amongst the splinters that were once the oak door. "Hang on, maybe I can fix it--"

"Run!!" orders Rusty, and he and Pearl vault into the basement and slam the grey door behind them. Fleeing down the stair-ramp, Pearl cries "That's not going to hold her, Rusty! She's way too strong!"

"I know!" he replies. "Just keep moving! We're safest as long as we're down here."

"How do you figure?!"

"You little bastards are scrap metal!!" shouts Joule. She launches down the stair-ramp and, still not completely attuned to her new physical proportions, falls and somersaults most of the way. She picks herself up off the basement floor and, growling, brandishes a piece of the oak door. She swings it at her adversaries, inadvertently striking an arrangement of flasks and beakers. Glass shatters and shards fly everywhere.

"Are you crazy?!" exclaims Rusty. "You can't just break up Volta's crawlspace laboratory like you own the place! Were you born in a freightyard?!"

"Oops, sorry. I'll clean it up--GRRR!!" She swings the chunk of door at Rusty again. He avoids a bludgeoning by leaping behind the drafting table. Joule pounds the table repeatedly, even as Rusty escapes the situation and goes creeping back to Pearl.

"She's not very smart," observes Rusty, "But she's got us for strength. Even if she won't use her electricity in here, she'll smash us soon on default. What'll we do?"

"We need to lure her into that beam!" announces Pearl, "And she needs to be accompanied by something to which she's emotionally attached!"

"OK. How 'bout her lifeless former body?"

"That'll work. Help me lift it!"

By now it's dawned on Joule that Rusty is not within the pile of debris on which she's been beating. She spins around, looking for her victims, and notices them relocating her original body. "Hey!" she shouts. "Where d'you think you're going with that? That's mine!!"

"Exactly!" cries Pearl, as she and Rusty carry what used to be Joule over to Volta's machine.

"Oh no, I see where this is going!" snarls Joule. "If you think I'm getting back in there already, you can just forget it!"

"You're not Electra, Joule! The world isn't ready for your current mutation!"

"She's right. Now quit stalling and reincarnate!"

"No!!" roars Joule, stamping her foot and causing the lights to flicker. "Nobody tells me what to do! Except maybe Electra, and you're not her! In fact, the only one around here who IS her is ME! And I'll say who reincarbonates as who and who doesn't and whatnot!!"

"Now, Joule, just calm down. Let's talk rationally about this--"

Joule causes the lights to flash again, this time with force. "There will be no more talking!! I'm going to nix you and that bloody steam train once and for all--" she begins to charge up, her form surging with anger and electric energy--"If I have to burn down the whole trainworld to do it!!"

"That won't be necessary, Joule," announces Volta at the sidelines. Joule is temporarily distracted into relaxation. "Oh. Hi, sis, I didn't hear you come in."

"Of course you didn't. And what, may I ask, have you done to my drafting table? Not to mention Electra's oak door..."

"I, uh, didn't do it. It was Pearl. Dyeh--I mean--WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT TO!!" Joule pounds her fist against a bookshelf and totals it. "Do you got some kinda problem with that, LITTLE sister?"

"No, I can't say that I do," shrugs Volta. "I'm just thinking that perhaps it's time to put this silly game away. It's getting old."

"Maybe from your side," grins Joule, "But from where I'm standing the party has just begun!"

"Not," says Volta. "All the power you're experiencing you're borrowing from me. It was my machine that made you what you are. Why, without my knowhow you're nothing."

"Hm, perhaps you're right!" says Joule, still grinning. "Technically it WAS you who gave me my powers. But you went and gave them all to me instead of yourself, go figure that. Heh! Maybe I should take over the world! You can be my minion, if you want!"

Volta doesn't like this one bit, and finally loses her cool. "What?! Absolutely not! I'm not here to speculate with you, Joule, I'm here to make this situation right! Now stop this silly misadventure right now! It's infantile and childish!!"

"Then spank me and call me 'baby'!"

"Shut up!! You are NOT taking over the world! I am taking over the world!!"

"Ha!! You are not!"

"I am too!!"

"Are NOT!!"

"AM TOO!"

"ARE NOT!!"

"DORK!!"

"SHUT UP!!"

"MAKE ME!!--"

Suddenly, a heavy object strikes Joule in the back of the head. It immediately knocks her cold and she collapses to the ground, her fall somewhat broken by Volta. Flattop enters the scene and retrieves his brick. "Blimey! I thought they'd never stop! Yak-yak-yak!..."

"Dammit, brick truck!" cries Volta, pinned to the floor by the dead weight of Joule's second unconscious body of the day, "I didn't want you to kill her!!"

"She ain't dead," argues Flattop. "If she was dead the rigor mortis would have squeezed your guts out by now!"

"I hate you."

"Hey!!" shouts Pearl, waving her arms to regain the audience's general attention. "What the heck is going on here?!"

"I just saved the day by varnishing the villain!" swaggers Flattop.

"That's 'vanquishing', you knob!" yells Volta. "And you didn't save anything, you just hurled a rock like any lower organism will. Now get over here and help me up before I lose oilflow to my legs!!"

"She's so cute when she's angry," patronizes Flattop. Volta snarls.

"Uh...good job, everybody," mediates Rusty. "Looks like Joule's no longer a threat. Now go get her, Flattop, and bring her over to the beam so we can do the mindswitch."

"Go get who, Electra?! But she's a bloody mastodon! Why do I have to carry her?!"

"Cuz you're the one who knocked her out, meat!" shouts Pearl. "Now make yourself useful! Times 'a wastin'!"

"Feh!" mutters Flattop. "Lousy heroic pecking order...they wouldn't talk to me like that if I ruled the world!..."

"NOW, Flattop!"

"Alright, alright, keep your skates on, I'm on it!"

Chapter 19 - Anna

Flat-top grabs Electra's ankles and drags her slowly across the floor, hoping that someone will help him if he looks pathetic enough. No one does. Eventually, he manages to position her body next to Joule's on Volta's machine.

"Now," says Pearl. "We just need to work the device." Volta sighs and heads over to it. "I hope Joule didn't break it," she says. She fiddles with the buttons. Then she kicks it and fiddles some more. Then, she checks that the plug is in the wall, and slams her fist into the side of the machine.

"Is something wrong?" says Pearl. Volta kicks the machine again. "Oh, no, nothing's wrong, observer," she says. "The entire power supply is shot, but nothing's wrong." She sighs. "Joule must have blown something."

"The lights are still on," says Rusty, standing up and tapping one of the bulbs. The lightbulb pops and goes out. Out of sympathy, all the other bulbs go out too and the basement is plunged into darkness. "Bugger," he says. The room is now pitch black.

"How many steam trains does it take to change a lightbulb?" murmurs Wrench.

"Where's the fusebox?" says Rusty.

"Rusty?" says Pearl. "You're over there?"

"Yes, over by the stairs. Why?"

There is the sound of someone being slapped firmly round the face. "And keep your hands to yourself!"

"The fusebox," says Volta, "Is right over in the corner furthest from the door. I'd suggest that Pearl and her new friend try and find it." She pushes past Rusty and goes up the stairs, opening the door and letting in a little light.

Pearl slaps Flat-top round the head again. Wrench heads for the fusebox. "All the fuses have blown," he says. "How're you going to get that thing working again?"

Chapter 20 - Kae

Pearl, Rusty, Volta, Wrench, Krupp, Flattop, Dinah and Buffy are lingering in an all but pitch dark cove, wondering what to do next about the current dilemma.

"If Electra were here," states Krupp, "She could transfer enough electric energy through her body to get this whole place moving again."

"Only, she's not here," says Buffy.

"She's in null-space!" Pearl announces brightly.

"Indeed," mutters Volta, "And if we expect to get her back any time soon, we have to find an alternate source of power for the mentality transfer device."

"Well," questions Rusty, "Besides electricity, what could power this sort of thing? Is there another way?"

"There's ALWAYS another way," says Volta gravely, "But the alternative is not always the safest route. Why, only the bravest trains would dare try to power a machine with--" she retreats. "No, I can't suggest it."

"Hit me!" says Rusty.

"Well, alright," says Volta. She whips out her pen-light and casts its glow on her face, achieving the horror-stories-around-the-campfire effect. "Far, far away, hidden in the darkest depths of Hell's Canyons, there exists an unearthly source of cosmic power known as the DelRubio crystals. Meteoric in their properties, legend tells that the crystals fell to earth over a million years ago, carving the Canyon with the very strength of their light. Since then, no train has ever dared to traverse that uninhabited region, where life itself would fail to survive."

The other trains stand there in the dark and gawk at her.

"Trainkind has for centuries longed to plumb the depths of this formidable power source," continues Volta, "But rumor has it that the crystals' untamable strength can cause deaths so excruciating that the imagination gorges at the thought of chrome bubbling and oozing off a still-breathing frame, if the victim hasn't succumbed to insanity as much to miss the carnage that even know ravages his or her own body..."

"Gulp," says Pearl.

"Now, were there a few trains, a small handful of trains, trains so bold and pure of heart that they were willing to brave the highly horrific possibilities of violent demise over a pile of hyperpowered space rocks--TWO trains, maybe--"

She shoots a glance at Rusty and Pearl, who jump, "Perhaps there could be a tiny, glimmering bauble of hope for us all. But oh, the journey would not be easy or fun or nice! Oh no. Heavens no. The Canyons are not easily accessible, not for worlds...first, our heroes would have to cross the twisted waters of Insanity River, manning their bamboo raft with only the deftest skill as they cheat death upon the Mangling Rapids. Surviving that, they would then enter the Forest of Illusions, where crazed, train-eating fauna tracked them at every turn and the ghosts of haggard victims plagued their days and ravaged their nights. And if they just so happened to get out of THERE with their wheels in tact, we would then see them drag their weary, pain-wracked bodies up the 10-mile 90-degree angle that is Dead Train's Peak, searching for Monoloco, the ancient cycloptic monster who rules over the wild worlds. For it is only he who can direct our stalwart travelers in the way of the great treasure that they seek. If, of course, he doesn't decide to smash them like tin monkeys with his mighty club of diamondeite!!"

"Gyuhh!" says Rusty.

"Then," rasps Volta, "Should these most blessed of creatures live through THAT little slice of Satan, they'll begin the deep descent into Hell's Canyon, the pit of despair where no train dares set wheel! Oh, how they'll suffer as the howling winds all but crush them against the rocky mountainside, as falling boulders threaten to smash them to rubble, as the whirling fjords promise to drag them screaming to their miserable forgotten graves!! And yet, our heroes press on--until at last they cast their blurry, oilshot eyes upon the fruit of their venture--the shining, otherworldly beauty that is the DelRubio crystals!! And yet, will they finally be permitted to rejoice in their triumph over the reaper? Or will the inexplicable power of the crystals take control of their unguarded minds and bodies, wreaking unspeakable torture over the entire earthly being of each of these most noble trains?! Will they ever see their friends again?! Or will they die, die, DIE in more horrible ways than I have verbs and adjectives?! Will they hold out?! Will they survive?! Will the WORLD survive?! Only one way to find out!!!"

The pen light goes off. There is a very empty silence in which everyone stares wide-eyed at Volta.

Rusty eventually raises his hand in a timid fashion. "Uh...I have a question..."

"Hit me," says Volta.

"Is there..maybe...uh...another way?"

Volta is annoyed. "Another what?!"

"Another way. That--y'know--doesn't involve quite so much nasty death."

"'Doesn't involve nasty death'?! What do you take me for, your slave?! God! What a bunch of freakin' ingrates..."

"Well, don't be upset. I'd just like to see if you have maybe--uh--an ALTERNATE alternate."

"Oh, I'll just bet you WOULD like to see that! And maybe after that I can cook you a nice dinner and bring you a cold beer! Bloody hell! Do I have to do everything around here?!" She kneels on the floor and, clicking the pen-light back on, begins to scrawl some diagrams on a large piece of newsprint. The others watch her as she draws and grumbles angry things under her breath. An uncomfortable stillness presides.

"I caught Geodude yesterday," mentions Buffy. "And I evolved Jigglypuff into Wigglytuff!"

"Now is not the time, Buffy." says Dinah.

"What are you drawing, Volta?" asks Pearl.

"A new plan, with less death!" barks Volta. "Seems I have to arrange something that won't scare your boyfriend quite so much. Where's Wrench?"

"Lurking over here," he replies.

"Front and center, toolman," says Volta. "We have to build this very fast, right now." Wrench peers at the very rough sketches by the light of the pen. "What the hell is it supposed to be?"

"Don't ask empty questions!" bitches Volta. "Will you help me build it?"

"I guess."

"Super. Now the rest of you...do you all have your skate keys?"

"Sure, I think," says Pearl.

"Never leave home without it," agrees Flattop, taking his keyring out of his belt. The other trains in the room produce their keys as well. "What do you want with these?" inquires Dinah.

"Tighten your wheels," orders the freezer.

"How tight?"

"REALLY tight! Tight as they'll go!" cries Volta. "Wrench, you come with me."

"Guh," observes Wrench.

About an hour later, we are faced with a particularly odd scene. Rusty, Pearl, Buffy, Dinah, Flattop and Krupp are all running in attempted unison on what appears to be some kind of huge treadmill. The crudely constructed thing is messily wired to the machine that procures the still-slumbering Electra and Joule. Volta tools around with the power gauging as Wrench tends to the remainder of the construction.

"I think it's gonna hold," says Wrench. "It could've used more wood-glue instead of Elmer's maybe, but it's good enough for government."

"Sweet," says Volta. "Hey, observer! Whatcha think, kid? Pretty spiffy for an impromptu design, no?"

"This...sucks!" gasps Pearl, trying to keep the pace of the group run. "I concur with the pink chick!" snaps Flattop. "This is just goofy. If I wanted to feel goofy I'd be at Dustin's, helping him name his sea monkeys!"

"Save your breath, people!" shouts Volta. "Now, pick up the pace! We'll almost fully charged now!"

"Did you ever imagine you'd be spending a Saturday this way, Pearl?"

"No, Dinah. Gaw. Just when you thought things couldn't get any sillier in your life, you get holed up in a dark basement running a hamster wheel for a refrigerator."

"Ain't that how it always is? Life's a bitch."

"You said it, girl!"

Chapter 21 - Anna

Eventually the wheel is fully charged and the trains collapse, panting. Volta turns on the machine, and the room is filled with the ghostly light of its beam.

"Now," she says. "Let's have a try at this." The beam becomes all shiny and swirly with pretty colours, demonstrating fully where the budget went for this particular episode. Finally it fades. When the trains' night visions come back, they see that nothing in particular has changed.

"Did it work?" says Dinah.

"Sure it did," say Volta. "I made it, didn't I? They're both still unconscious, though."

"Ah well," says Pearl. "Now we've done that, we'll be off now. I bet Electra made a mess of my place when she went to get Purse, so I better go tidy up. See you around, Volta."

"Yeah," says Rusty. "I've got my bear......d'you want your gutter, Pearl?"

"Sure, if you're carrying it." So Rusty shoulders Pearl's gutter and they head for the stairs, hand in hand.

"Hey! This isn't over!" calls Volta. "Electra's gonna be mad when she wakes up!"

"You think that's our problem?" says Dinah, also heading for the stairs with her stuff. "We helped you get Joule back. We ran on your stupid hamster wheel. She's your boss, you deal with it. 'Bye!"

Soon Krupp, Wrench and Volta are left standing in the dark basement. There is a groan from the heap on the machine.....

Chapter 22 - Kae

"This isn't over, observer!" shouts Volta, waving her fists at a car who is no longer there in the room. "I don't care if you DID come in handy in the end! You've already sealed your fate! You are my arch-nemesis and nothing can ever remedy that! When I rule the trainworld you will taste my venomous wrath! D'you hear me?! I vow to destroy you utterly, Pearl Ten-Twelve the Observation Car!!--"

Suddenly Volta is hit with a small blast of lightning and is thrown off her feet. Electra perches on the machine, looking around aimlessly.

"Mommy?..."

"Master!" cries Krupp, rushing over to Electra. "Is that you? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I saw a lawn flamingo once. It wasn't real, though..."

"Electra?"

"Oh, the colors...the many fruit-a-licious flavors...they're always after me Lucky Charms!...

"Electra!" yells Krupp, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her soundly. "Snap out of it!" Electra responds by slapping him hard across the face. He releases her immediately as she snarls, "Don't ever touch me, you lackey bastard! I should rip out your arms and cram them up your nose! Cripes, what a freak."

"Electra!" exclaims Krupp. "You're well! Where have you been?"

"What do you mean, 'Where have I been'?! I've been unconscious, you stupid car! If anyone is asking questions it ought to be me! What the hell hit me?"

"You mean, you don't remember?" says Wrench.

"No. What should I remember?"

Volta is in a fetal position on the ground. "Guhh...heat...shock...melting...pain...guhhh!!" Wrench goes over to Volta and picks her up in his arms. "Oh, quit whining. You're not melting. Suck it up." He turns to Electra and says, "What should you remember? Why, you should remember how this fine, intelligent creature saved your life!"

"Saved my what?!" cries Electra.

"Saved her WHAT?!" cries Volta.

"Yep, that's right," says Wrench. "Something went horribly awry while you were bringing Purse back to us. You were--uh--hit by a truck carrying imported spring water from Canada."

"Water?!" yelps Electra, her hydrophobia creeping up on her. "That's right," adds Wrench. "Clear, sparkling Canadian spring water. It was NOT a pretty sight. You short-circuited everywhere. The ambulances couldn't touch you for fear of electrocution. Purse got scared and ran away."

"I'll buy that," says Electra.

"Well anyway," continues Wrench, "Us goons were able to get you to safety. Turns out Volta here was able to rig up an ingenious energy neutralization device."

"Oh?" says Electra. "Is that what this is?"

"Uh-huh," says Wrench. "While you were short-circuiting we hooked you up to it and transferred the uncontrollable energy out of your system. It shot all the lights, but it worked, evidently."

"I see," nods Electra. "So, this thing neutralized my negative energy. Interesting--" She suddenly notices Joule, who is still leaning on her somewhat. The dynamite car begins to regain bits of consciousness..."But officer, it's not even my house!..."

"Gahh!" yells Electra. "What's THAT doing here?!" She pushes Joule onto the floor.

"Oh." says Wrench. "Uh, well...while we were away for a minute Joule was supposed to watch the machine to, um, make sure you didn't wake up disoriented and zap anyone. Judging by what you did to Volta, Joule must've fallen asleep at her post. Bad Joule. Stupid Joule."

"Whuh?" says Joule from the floor.

"So," concludes Electra, "The moral of this story is that not only did Volta not do anything treacherous today, she actually did something right?"

"The very same. It's because of this car that you're still with us. If I were you I'd be proud to have her along."

"Wow," breathes Electra, "That's incredible. If I had a conscience I bet this would be KILLING me. Huh. Oh well! Krupp, order me some pizza!"

"Yes, master. Do you want washers on that?"

"You bet!" Exit Electra and Krupp.

Volta watches them leave from Wrench's arms. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Save me." She stares at him.

"Oh, that. Because. You're one of those characters who screw up so consistently in every episode that if something doesn't happen to redeem you to the people you've wronged, you'd most surely be destroyed. You're mean and petty and obnoxious. But you've also got spirit, and that's rare for a tertiary character. I couldn't just stand by and watch Electra give you the ass-kicking you so rightly deserve. Not when I myself am such a primarily visual character at best. People like you and I have to watch out for each other now and again."

Volta looks up at him, doey-eyed. "Then, you're not upset about all the stupid stuff I've done today?"

"Of course not. Your boneheaded antics are what make you interesting. You're the sort of stage-dresser character who might eventually claw your way upward and actually become important to the audience. You might even keep someone's attention one day! I just hope you'll remember me when you really DO take over the world."

Volta curls up close to him and chokes on a sob. "That's so wonderful. That's the most beautiful thing anyone's ever said to me!"

"Uh-huh." Wrench suddenly releases her and she falls to the ground. She gawks with surprise as he steps over her and heads towards the stair-ramp. "Just don't think I'm going to pull your butt out of the fire every episode! You do some pretty dumb stuff, and if Electra ever found out I was covering for you she'd roast me like a metal pig." He then exits as quietly as ever, as Volta stares from a pile on the floor.

Volta blinks and tries to collect her addled thoughts. "I'm...not sure what that was all about..."

"I think he likes you!" chirps Joule, fully recovered from her ordeal. "Either that or he hates you. Say, what's a metal pig?"

Chapter 23 - Anna

Pearl pushes open her door with her toe. A few splinters fall onto the floor. She steps inside, puts Rusty's bear on the table, and looks around.

"Pearl, where do you want this?" calls Rusty from outside.

"Just lean it against the wall, sweetheart," she calls back. There is a banging noise from outside, then Rusty comes in.

"Whew," he says, looking around. "Electra did this?" Pearl kneels down and investigates the closet where Purse had been stashed. What's left of it, at least. "She must have done. Hell, this is going to take *days* to tidy up."

"Still," says Rusty. "No reason why it has to be done tonight."

Pearl stands up and grins. "I'll find the chess board."

They hear a knocking at what remains of the door. It is Dinah. "Hey, Pearl! Some complete bastard's burnt down my house. Can I sleep on your floor tonight?"

Pearl rolls her eyes. "Sure, Dinah. I'll look out a sleeping bag or summat. Seriously burnt down?"

"Uh huh. Lucky my moose head was at Volta's, really. It's an antique!"

So once again Apollo Victoria is at peace. Apart from those bits that have been burnt down, or blown up. But things like that seem to be pretty normal round here, so nobody minds much, other than the fact that insurance premiums are usually pretty high. But for how long will the city be quiet? Not long, I fancy, for a city of trains is a city where strange things can happen......