Inside a mysterious bunker, Opaline looked at the images Boomer had obtained. "Good work," she said. "I clearly should have sent you on all those missions instead of that worthless fool. Still, it'll all be worth it. I'll retake the throne, and in return anybody who stood against me will suffer."
Boomer glanced at the display. "I've never seen this before."
Opaline glanced at the display. "Ah, yes. Quite the story, isn't it. You see, this has been a long time in the making. Even as a young child I knew of my importance. As I saw the Germans bombing our cities into the ground I resolved to ensure that nobody would ever have to go through that again. And when I tasted the true power of the magic I knew I finally had the key to stopping wars from ever happening again, and returning my family to its rightful place in word history!"
She paused. "But then the Reverend and his band got in the way. Those crystals were hidden from me, and now they are in Falmouth. It's almost like Wilbert is mocking me from beyond the grave."
"So, what's the plan?" Boomer asked.
The screen changed to show something else. "This artefact is of vital importance to our operation, and it just so happens one of my agents has just located it in an abandoned military base in Northumberland. Obviously, it needs retrieving."
"I'll gather my team and set out for the base right away."
"No, Boomer," Opaline said. "This mission is too important to entrust to anybody else. I'm deploying in person."
"Very well," Boomer replied. "My loyalty is to you. What would you have me do?"
Opaline stepped towards the door. "Run security on the bunker and ensure nothing is out of order. There's a bonus for you in this if everything is especially in order."
The door closed and Boomer brushed his biker jacket down. "Well, this should be an easy night in," he said.
Opaline stepped towards the outer chamber. "Prepare my chopper for takeoff!"
Misty was sick. There was no denying this fact. She lay there, in her bed, looking utterly wiped out. "Just my luck to get a fever on the day the BBC are coming here," she said.
Lady Haven smiled gently at her. "You can't help being ill," she said gently. "What matters most is that you get your strength back. I'll be taking care of you the entire day."
"But what about your day job?" Misty asked.
"I've delegated the tasks to somebody else for the day. My immediate concern lies with my family."
"Your family?" Misty asked.
"The truth is that I regard you as one of our own," Lady Haven smiled. "Now then, you'd better rest. The more you exert yourself the longer it'll take you to get better."
Mist nodded, knowing she wasn't really able to protest.
In the town, the BBC had arrived with all of their equipment, and it was being unloaded into the town square. "What's all this for?" Izzy asked. "There's lots of boxes here!"
Sunny walked over. "BBC South West is producing a special program about the railway operations here. I don't mean to brag but we're pretty well known around these parts, and featuring the engines in moving pictures and books would really help get the word out about heritage rail!"
Izzy glanced over. "Why do we have to be moving pictures in books?" she asked.
"Two separate things, Izzy," Pipp said. "We've been busy ensuring the engines are all spic and span, and utterly spotless. Unfortunately Misty can't be with us as she's ill again, but Bellerophon's been parked out in the sun so people can see him."
"Why are there so many cameras?" Bellerophon called from below.
Just then, two figures walked over. "Greetings," said one of them. He was a man with orange skin and white hair, and was dressed in a sharp suit. "I am Skye Silver, I'm from the BBC. We'll be the ones interviewing and filming you today."
"And I'm Dazzle," said his colleague, a woman with pinkish skin and blonde hair. "We'll be the ones looking at your rail operations and cultural elements."
"Well," Zipp said, "what would you like first?"
Skye walked to the railing and pointed down. "We'd like the green and red engines to do some shunting for the cameras."
"Which red one?" asked Pipp. "There are two mostly red locos."
"The one that looks like a steam train," Dazzle said.
"Steam engine," Sunny corrected. "And he's actually a diesel."
"Him too."
Hitch glanced to Sunny. "I can't imagine all the ways this will go wrong."
"In the meantime, the B unit will film footage of the blue one on a passenger train leaving Falmouth."
Zipp nodded. "I'll get Charles fired up."
Down at the docks, the stock had been put into position. Rebecca shared Hitch's concerns about being used for this. "Don't the BBC know that using pacifics to shunt is like cracking walnuts with a sledgehammer?" she asked.
"I don't know," Hitch said. "But it's what the public want to see, apparently. You're painted green and yellow, which apparently looks good on TV."
"If you say so," Rebecca said, as she was positioned on one end of the yard.
Salty, however, was a bit more optimistic. "Some shuntin' will make the public very happy!" he said. "Perhaps I could even sing a shanty or two!"
Sunny looked at the contract sheet. "Apparently we can't use anything with copyrighted lyrics," she said. "The BBC has an impartiality clause after all."
"Seeing as it's funded by the people that's sensible really," Salty said. "Now who put these paint pots here?"
Boomer looked in the numerous lockers along one of the pathways. "This must be the easiest job in the world," he said, as he opened one. "I mean, why do we need all these uniforms?"
"Perhaps Opaline is stocking up for when she's Queen?" one of his fellows suggested.
"Possible," Boomer admitted. "I still think this space could be better used storing weapons." He closed the locker again and opened another one- only for huge amounts of sand to flow out of it and send him flying. "Why do we need this much sand?"
Opaline's chopper touched down at an abandoned army base in the middle of nowhere. As the blades stopped turning, she and her guards hopped out and walked towards an informant standing there. "Report!" she said.
"We've found the artefact, my lady," he said, indicating to nearby buildings. "It's in the underground tunnels. We're still excavating the tunnels, but the MoD filled it with large amounts of rubbish which is needing a lot of pulling power to clear."
"Did you use Frankie?" Opaline asked.
"Yes, ma'am. She's currently at work in the tunnels."
"Tell her to prepare for my arrival," Opaline said, and strode forward, her guards following her. "Of course, somebody will need to clean this mess up- but that's hardly my problem."
"You fools!" Boomer shouted, as he ran around the base. "Why on Earth did you let a drone in here?"
He raced about after it, as it haphazardly flew around the rooms. "I'm getting far too old for this!"
The drone was knocking things off the walls and off the tops of shelves. It seemed as though nothing would stop it- until Boomer took out a pistol and shot it out of the sky.
He turned to the others. "You five! Help me clean this up!"
"And action!" called the unit director.
Sky Silver smiled at the camera. "Good evening. I am currently on location in Falmouth, Cornwall, where a very remarkable piece of history is being recreated every day."
Dazzle took up the story. "Most think of steam trains as something that only run on old railways or are sometimes found on railtours. But here, in Falmouth, they are still in use on everyday jobs!"
Salty rolled his eyes. "That woman still thinks I'm a steam engine."
"And there are diesel trains as well!" Skye added, indicating to Rebecca.
"I'm a steam engine!" the spam can protested. "I know I have a boxy shape, but I run on coal and water!"
"And now, these two engines will be used to showcase a daily piece of life on the dockside- shunting," Dazzle finished. She indicated to both drivers.
Sunny, with expert skill, moved the diesel shunter into the sidings, buffering up neatly to the trucks before hopping out to couple them up. Moments later, she was back in the cab, and moved them backwards onto the main to be attached to some other stock.
Rebecca, on the other hand, lumbered forward awkwardly. "I'm not sure this is a good idea!"
Then there was trouble. Rebecca's wheels suddenly began to spin rapidly.
"Wheelslip!" Hitch shouted, and slammed the brakes on. Unfortunately, the skidding wheels reduced the grip, and Rebecca slammed into a waiting flatbed covered in paint tins.
The tins were hurled high into the air and fell all over Salty. There was green paint, red paint, and yellow paint. Salty looked very silly.
"Sorry!" Rebecca called.
Salty coughed, and spat some paint out. "Some of that paint went in my air intakes!"
"Not to mention all over the cab windows!" Sunny added. "I can't see where I'm going!"
Hitch leaned out of the cab. "And now we shall be demonstrating the correct procedure for cleaning a locomotive!"
Opaline made her way deeper into the facility. "Why are all the lights turned off?" she demanded.
"Ma'am, the lights were disconnected by the army a long time ago," a scientist explained. "We were unable to reconnect them all."
"Then switch on the ones that are. I can barely see as it is."
The familiar sound of a diesel engine rumbled out of the gloom, and Opaline soon saw them. "Ah, Frankie. Good to see at least one engine loyal to the cause."
"I am ready for your orders," Frankie replied. "May your glorious reign come soon."
Opaline hopped onto the footplate and took the controls. "Let's go and clean this mess up."
Back in Falmouth, most of the paint had been cleaned off Salty, but he still wasn't happy. "That was a disaster!" he said. "They can't broadcast that! They'll think we Cornish are all buffoons!"
"Perhaps we should try the shunting demonstration again but with Salty on his own?" Hitch suggested.
"OK then," said the unit director. "And we are live in three, two, one!"
"No!" Sunny said, and got out of Salty's cab. "We can't do that."
"Do what?" the unit lead asked.
"What will the world think if we just clown around and film things going wrong?" Sunny asked. "We're hard working people, not the butt of national jokes. If we can show the world just how great we can be, surely that counts for something. So instead of just chasing silliness and trying to be Top Gear with trains, how about we showcase just how marvellous working and living here can be?"
"Hear hear!" said one of the trucks.
"And I think I need to pay tribute to a friend who cannot be here today. Her name is Misty, and although she's currently ill she's a vital member of our community. Without her, the entire dockyard would function less efficiently- and our lives would be duller for it. So please, I ask all of you to wish her a speedy recovery."
There was a moment of silence. "That was one powerful speech."
Rebecca looked over. "So, how about we show the people of Britain just how great at our jobs we can be?"
Little did Sunny realise, but Misty had watched the broadcast from her bed. "Thanks, Sunny," she said quietly. "Thanks for standing up for me. Without you guys I'd never have gotten my second chance."
Suddenly, she heard a crash from nearby, and glanced over. Dust was rising from the air. "What was that?"
Frankie was soon put to work moving the trucks and junk out of the way. "Move, you silly things!" she ordered.
"We don't have propulsion of our own!" the trucks replied. "We're unpowered!"
Opaline was similarly annoyed. "Why does every single object I need have to be dumped at the ends of corridors and sidings with stuff in the way?" she snapped. "Here's an idea, MoD! Put things where they can easily be found!"
Misty knew what had happened almost immediately. "There's been a landslide!" she said. "Somebody needs to warn them!"
She moved her covers off her and dragged herself to her feet. With an almost seemingly superhuman effort, she staggered over to the window, and grabbed a red cloak on the way. With as much strength as she could muster she held the red object out of the window.
Down below, Rebecca saw the red object. "Stop!" she shouted. "There's trouble at the house!"
Hitch slammed the brakes on as hard as he could. He turned to the camera crew. "Sometimes we have to make stops inbetween stations for safety reasons. This is one such case." He secured Rebecca's controls and went into the house.
Hitch walked up the stairs and followed the path to Misty's bedroom. He'd been here a few times, and knew the route. He knocked on the door. "Misty? Is everything OK?"
Lady Haven then appeared. "Is something the matter?"
"There was a red object hanging out of the window. I assumed there was some sort of trouble."
Lady Haven opened the door and gasped. "Misty!"
Hitch entered seconds later and ran over to Misty, who had fallen on the floor. He helped roll her over. "Misty, are you OK?"
Misty smiled weakly at him. "Silly of me to faint," she replied. "I see you got the warning?"
"What are you doing out of bed?" Lady Haven asked.
"There was a landslip, and I wanted to warn Rebecca," Misty explained.
Hitch stood up and looked out of the window. "Good grief! She's right!"
Opaline had dug out the final truck, and sitting there was the artefact- a small, asymetrical stone. She walked forward and picked it up, popping it in a bag for safe keeping. "We have what we came for. Move Frankie to the next site and then dynamite the tunnels. We can't have anybody knowing what was down here, can we?"
Back in the train, the film crews were wondering what was going on. "What happened?" asked Dazzle.
Skye looked out of the cab of Rebecca. "There's been a landslide! Get the camera crews and hurry!"
One group went into the house, and the other went to the landslide. Lady Haven was not pleased at the intrusion. "Do you mind?" she said. "This is my house you've barged into!"
"The Duchess of Dorset lives in Cornwall?" asked a BBC engineer. "This is confusing."
"Rather like the Duke of Edinburgh doesn't live in Edinburgh," Lady Haven replied. "Now what do you want?"
"We'd like to thank whomever prevented the nasty accident," Dazzle said.
Misty raised her hand. "I only did what I had to," she replied.
"And in doing so prevented confusion and delay," Dazzle replied. "On behalf of us all, I say thank you."
And the BBC crew began to sing.
"For she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good fellow!
For she's a jolly good fellow, and so say all of us!
"And so say all of us! And so say all of us!
For she's a jolly good fellow, for she's a jolly good fellow!
For she's a jolly good fellow, and so say all of us!"
"I thought there was something about not denying," said one crew member.
Back in Falmouth, Sunny was just wrapping up a cooking demonstration, showcasing the correct method to make a cornish pasty. "And that is why you crimp on the side instead of on the top, as otherwise the contents spill out and make a mess of the table."
The cameraman nodded. "And cut!"
Sunny relaxed. "Hopefully that makes up for the chaos of this morning!"
Luckily for Boomer, he and his associates had succeeded in cleaning up the mess from earlier when Opaline returned. "I trust your mission went well?" Boomer asked.
"The artefact was succesfully retrieved," Opaline replied. "Project Sentinel is one step closer to completion. And all we need is to execute Phase Bravo. And for that... I am going to need to set a trap. With but a few rolls of the dice I shall be the most powerful woman in the world!"