On The Empty Tracks Of Sodor (GOTP AU)

13. Outbursts

"It's only been maybe twenty-four hours... You think he's overdoing it?"

Graham sighed as Dani asked the question about his partner. The straight answer was yes, he did think that Boulder was overdoing it, trying to help everyone, but honestly, the man couldn't blame him. His family was suffering loss and stress from multiple fronts. As a rescue bot- and the only one not missing or incapacitated in some way- he must've felt like it was up to him to resolve some of those problems, all on his own.

"I wish I could help him..." He whispered, resting his head on the table. "...I wish I could do something more... No big emergencies and I'm still exhausted..."

"We all are, son..." Chief Burns patted Graham's back with a hand, and then looked up as the elevator hummed. When it opened, Boulder's holoform stepped out into the house. "Boulder... How're you feeling?"

Boulder plopped down on the couch, rubbing his face with his hands. "...Like I've bitten off more than I can chew."

"Well, as long as you recognize it." Priscilla murmured as she came down the stairs, "Any luck with our new friends?"

"Mosaics like us, but... Not from here. That's what I came up here about..."
Boulder pulled his hands down, staring up at the ceiling. "...I talked to Charisma a little bit ago... she told me that Chase and Cody... they're not here anymore."

"Like, not in this dimension?"

Boulder nodded. "Another anomaly took them."

Kade stood up from the table, "Who? Where? How do we get them back!?"

"I don't know, and neither does she! She's been so busy trying to find that out that she didn't even know about the Sodorians. But she said that if she can figure out where they came from, then she can figure out who put them here, so we can figure out who took Chase and Cody." He sighed, "But believe me, she's just as angry about it as we are."

"Did it take the virus too?"

Boulder shrugged, "Maybe, since we can't find evidence of it either."

Dani's brows furrowed, "Which might mean Chase and Cody are still in danger...!"

"But it sounds like at this point, it's mostly out of our hands..." Chief Burns murmured, "We can trust Chase to keep Cody safe, no matter where they are."

"And I trust Charisma to do everything in her power- which is a lot- to find them and get them home." Boulder added, sitting up from the couch. "We have to trust them both... as much as it hurts all of us to be so powerless...!"

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Being so small, it wasn't really hard for Thomas and Percy to slip underneath Blurr and Salvage's gaze.

"You sure we should be exploring down here without Boulder's permission?" Percy asked.

"He said to stay down here, but he didn't say it had to be in the front room the whole time." Thomas replied, "We won't touch anything, just look."

"Okay..."

Thomas smiled, Percy had always been more cautious than he was, but he knew there was bravery underneath. He'd seen it more than once, after all. They tiptoed into the hallway, looking at the several doors that they'd passed earlier in the morning on their way to the storage room. There were big buttons beside them, and as Thomas pressed one, the door slid open, revealing what they guessed was a bedroom. There was something like a bed in the center, and then crates of items rested against the walls.