Paxton never liked being out at night, especially when it was foggy. It was so spooky to him, and he was always afraid that he would run into ghosts. However, he had to be out that night. An accident had happened on the narrow gauge line, and he had to take Fred to the Dieselworks.

Paxton knew the accident that Fred was involved in was a rather bad one, but he hadn't been told just how bad. At the moment, he simply wanted to get this done and over with. Though he didn't want to admit it, Paxton was nervous. Arry and Bert had teased him earlier, telling him that something may jump out from the darkness and attack him at night. Though he kept telling himself that the Ironworks twins were just messing with him, he couldn't help but jump at every noise he heard.

His driver did his best to keep Paxton calm, assuring him that what he was hearing was only benign things such as owls and the wind. However, what he heard next, Paxton was sure was no owl. An eerie, two-tone horn echoed in the distance, its pitch shifting slowly from high to low in an ominous crescendo.

"Wh—what was that?!" Paxton said as she shivered in fright.

"Probably just the wind," his driver said with a sigh. Sure, Paxton was an excellent engine to work with, but he did get rather easily spooked. Then, the same horn sounded again, closer this time. The mournful wail echoed across the landscape. Before Paxton or his driver could say anything else, a gleaming black engine with a shock of red shot past them, speaking one word in a raspy, slightly slurred voice: "Move!"

"That was not the wind!" Paxton said shakily, as he reluctantly continued to make his way towards the narrow gauge line. When he arrived, he saw the same engine, though he couldn't see its face. It was a shiny black warship, and he could now see that the shock of red was in fact a rather detailed design of flames painted on the engine's sides. The warship had a claw, though it was nothing like Diesel 10's. As a matter of fact, it was a lot more intimidating, for it was the same type of claw that was used for scrapping.

Paxton watched in horror as the strange engine lifted a severely mangled Fred with the menacing attachment. Fred was so small compared to the warship; he was easily lifted. Poor Fred was sobbing uncontrollably, scared out of his wits and most likely in terrible pain. However, the black warship seemed to be taking care not to damage him further as she set him down on a flatbed.

Still, Paxton was frightened by this newcomer. He tried to reverse quickly before he could be seen, but didn't notice that the points hadn't been set for him to leave. Paxton tipped onto his side with a loud thud, which caught the warship's attention. "Oh no!" he said, screwing his eyes shut as the warship reversed. He was terrified. He didn't know if this engine was going to harm him, and he didn't want to find out!

Then, the warship spoke: "Are you alright?" its voice was harsh and raspy, but Paxton could hear genuine concern. Hesitantly, he opened his eyes. When he saw the engine's face, he let out a gasp. "You're the—the—the—the—" he stammered.

The warship snickered a little. "Grim Reaper, yeah, yeah, I know. By the way, my actual name's Daniella," she said.

Paxton calmed down some, he had heard stories about this engine, but now that she was talking to him, she didn't seem like such a bad engine. Still, he didn't know if he could trust her. "I'm Paxton," she said with a gulp, "Um…please don't hurt me,"

Daniella extended her claw, gripping the ladder on his side. Noticing him flinch, she said, "I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm getting you back on the rails,"

With a mighty tug, Daniella pulled Paxton off of his side, and set him back on the rails. She was surprisingly gentle; Paxton was amazed at how careful she was not to hurt him.

Once Paxton was back on his wheels, Daniella coupled to the flatbed that Fred was on; the tiny Hunslet diesel was still sobbing miserably.

"Um, excuse me," Paxton said hesitantly, "Where are you taking him?"

"To the scrapyard," Daniella replied, and Fred began to wail in despair. "Manager here said that he can't be repaired,"

"Oh…oh no," Paxton said, looking down. While he didn't know Fred very well, he hated to see anything bad happen to anyone. Then, Daniella reached her claw out in front of her, and gently wiped the tears from the tiny engine's face. "Don't cry lil one," she said softly, "I don't hurt broken engines."

Fred looked up at her; Daniella was huge compared to him! She could easily crush him like an old can with that claw of hers, but here she was, drying his tears.

Paxton gulped again. He was still nervous, but the scary-looking warship hadn't been aggressive in the slightest to either him or Fred. "What do you do with…broken engines?" he said hesitantly.

"I look after 'em til they die," Daniella responded bluntly. At that, she began to pull away. "Don't worry kiddo, this lil one is in good hands," she said, leaving a stunned Paxton behind.

After a few minutes of letting what had just happened sink in, Paxton made his way back to the Dieselworks. He wasn't sure if he should tell anyone, as he doubted that anyone would believe him. After all, that particular engine he had just spoken to had quite a nasty reputation, and he didn't want his friends thinking that he was making things up or imagining things.

Several minutes after Paxton had returned to his shed, he heard a bang from outside. Looking to see what the noise was, he saw that Dante had accidentally bashed his face into one of the shed doors. One of the workmen who were outside began shouting angrily at him.

"You great big stupid idiot! Look what you've done! That door is going to have to be replaced now, all because your stupid self bashed your idiotic face into it!" the man shouted.

Dante flinched, reversing ever so slightly.

"How the hell did you not see that door there?!" the workman shouted.

"I…" Dante said hesitantly.

"Spit it out!" the workman snapped.

"I was looking at the moon," Dante said shamefully.

"You were looking at the moon?!" the workman shouted, becoming red in the face, "What do you think you're a werewolf?! That is the dumbest excuse I've ever heard out of anyone! How stupid are you?!"

"I…I sorry…" Dante whimpered, blinking back tears.

"You're gonna cry now?! Jesus Christ, why the hell did the Fat Controller buy a defective engine?! A defective, retarded engine at that!" the workman shouted as he spun on his heel and stormed off. Once he was gone, Paxton spoke, seeing that Dante was still doing his best not to cry.

"That wasn't very nice of him; he shouldn't have treated you like that. Everyone has accidents…are you alright?" said Paxton.

"I is OK," Dante murmured as he reversed and switched onto another track so that he could go into a different shed. As he did so, Paxton couldn't help but notice a bit of fluid seeping from the corner of his mouth.

"Um, Dante…maybe you should get looked over," said Paxton.

Dante, however, didn't respond to him as he went into the shed that was furthest from him. Paxton hoped that he was alright, but thought that he may need some space, as he was clearly upset, and decided to leave him be for now. As he drifted off to sleep, he thought to himself that he would tell the mechanics in the morning about what he saw, and try to keep a close eye on the bigger diesel.