A couple days after the twin class 01 diesels had been dumped at the scrapyard, Paxton came to visit his brothers. He was accompanied by Diesel 10, who had been assigned to keep an eye on the scrapyard for a short while. Paxton was utterly horrified that three of his brothers were now rusting away in the scrapyard. Even worse was the fact that two of them had been cruelly tortured.

"Dani," Diesel 10 said as his sister headed for the gates, "Where exactly are you going?"

"Me an' Lorelei are gonna do some investigating. We know who's responsible for dumping four lil shunters here an' we're gonna try to find out why the bastard did that," Daniella replied.

"Be careful Dani," said Diesel 10.

"Don't worry about me. I can hold my own if it comes down to it," said Daniella. At that, she left. She and Lorelei were determined to get to the bottom of this. While it was entirely possible that Sir Topham Hatt's relative was simply trying to get revenge on them, Lorelei suspected something more sinister.

As Daniella was headed for the other scrapyard that Mark and Melvin had told her about, she had to stop at a signal. On the tracks adjacent to her was a class 08 in red livery, which looked at her and smiled. Daniella was caught off guard, for she was used to practically everyone being completely terrified of her.

"Hi there," the class 08 said.

"You're not scared of me?" Daniella said, bewildered.

"Of course not! I heard about that incident on Sodor, how you risked your life to save another from being scrapped. You're a hero! Oh, I'm Stan, by the way," the class 08 said.

Daniella smiled warmly at him. Then, the signal changed. "Well, gotta go. Bye, Reaper!" Stan said as he took off. Soon, Daniella was once again on her way. Despite all that had happened recently, she was feeling very happy. Finally, her reputation was improving. The fact that not everyone who didn't know her personally thought of her as a vicious, evil monster made her almost ecstatic. Unfortunately, her good mood didn't last long, for a passing Deltic scowled at her, and spit at her. "Disgraceful engine!" the Deltic sneered, "You don't know your place in the world! They should have scrapped you instead of wasting time and money restoring you! Hideous, deformed warship!"

"Motherfucker!" Daniella exclaimed, but the Deltic was already out of sight. "Oooh, what an asshole!" she growled. Despite her mood being soured, she continued on her way. As she approached the scrapyard, she saw the same Deltic resting in a siding within the scrapyard, conversing with a man in a suit. The man wore a monocle, and somewhat resembled Sir Topham Hatt, only not nearly as fat, and he had facial hair.

Daniella crept into the yards, idling quietly as she was hidden from view behind a line of old boxcars. She and Lorelei knew right away the man must be Tiberius Hatt.

"Sir," the Deltic said coolly, "I don't think we've gotten the message through to that rogue warship,"

"Whatever do you mean, Jarred?" Tiberius asked him, "Surely having those four shunters who sympathized with her dangerous ideas dropped off at her scrapyard should have gotten the point across,"

"It should have, but that disgrace of an engine still carries on doing whatever she pleases," Jarred replied.

Tiberius scowled. "In that case, I may have to take more drastic measures. We can't have engines demanding rights, and if the Reaper's keeper is allowed to run the railway she's taken over, it could destroy everything people have worked so hard for!"

"I'm well aware of that, sir. Engines should know their place. The way that warship behaves is completely abnormal, and it seems she and her owner are spreading that abnormality like a disease," said Jarred.

Tiberius paced back and forth for a moment. "Yes," he said, "At least you know your place and behave like a proper engine. Back in the old days, if an engine got out of line too much that wasn't tolerated. Good way to get scrapped. Engines making demands?! Preposterous! They're machines, mere tools. Yes, you serve your purpose, but that is all!"

"And our purpose is to work, sir. If you're not useful anymore then you have served your purpose and have no place on these railways anymore. Why can't certain engines just accept that? It's the way of the world," said Jarred.

"It doesn't matter why some can't accept that, namely that Reaper. What matters is getting the message across to her and anyone who sympathizes with her that this type of insubordination is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated in any way, shape, or form. A couple of railway controllers have had no other choice but to send engines here because of their acceptance of that rogue's philosophy. Once an engine starts believing that they're entitled to anything other than their job, it's only a matter of time before they start refusing work and becoming useless. Better to nip it in the bud once it starts thinking like that, so it doesn't spread that dangerous thinking to anyone else," said Tiberius.

"Sir, if I may ask what do you plan on doing about this problem?" said Jarred.

"We continue to scrap anyone who dares side with the Reaper. I've already contacted railway controllers all across the land and warned them of this issue. I encouraged them to send disobedient engines here for punishment and to dispose of them. However, if this problem continues to grow, I may have to resort to more drastic measures, as I've said," said Tiberius.

"What kind of drastic measures?" Jarred asked.

"That is for me to know. Now, back to work, Jarred," said Tiberius.

"Yes sir," Jarred said, and trundled off.

Once Jarred and Tiberius were gone, Daniella left that scrapyard and headed back home. She was fuming! Lorelei noticed this, as her engine was cussing up quite a storm as she went down the line.

"Daniella," Lorelei said, "Calm down girl,"

"Calm down?! That piece of shit wants to torture engines just for thinkin' for themselves!" Daniella hissed.

"I know, Daniella, I heard the entire conversation," said Lorelei.

"What are we gonna do?! I wanna squish that motherfucker like a dirty little cockroach!" said Daniella.

Lorelei snorted. "I'd prefer to neuter him with a cutting torch, but let's not get ourselves in legal trouble. Look, the best thing to do is to get as many people and engines as possible on our side. There's strength in numbers, and if enough of us speak out, they can't shut us all up, and something will have to change," she said.

"I'd rather just kill that shithead!" said Daniella.

"Only as a last resort, Daniella. What we're gonna do now is spread the word. Warn everyone we can about Tiberius and what he's doing, and get as many on our side as possible," said Lorelei.

"We're not even demanding any rights!" Daniella said with a snort, "For fucks sakes, is thinking that we deserve to be treated fairly cuz we're alive that goddamn dangerous?! Askin' to not be treated like worthless trash once we're useless ain't stopping NO ONE from doing their damn job!"

Lorelei rolled her eyes. "I'm well aware of that. Tiberius is wrong on so many levels. Giving the engines a little more say in their lives and treating broken ones kindly isn't going to mean the end of the damn railways," she said, shaking her head.

When Daniella finally returned, she told Diesel 10 everything that she had found out, while Lorelei got on the phone and told Mr. Conductor, and instructed him to spread the word.

Diesel 10 was both alarmed and upset by this news. Thankfully, no one else had been dumped at the scrapyard, but with what his sister had told him, there could easily be more victims. Unfortunately, Paxton had also overheard everything, and he was terrified. Noticing his distress, Diesel 10 said, "Relax, Paxton. I'll protect you, and so will Dani."

Paxton looked at them uncertainly. After all, three of his brothers were in the scrapyard, and two of them had been viciously attacked and broken.

Finally, Daniella returned to her shed. Glancing over at the twins, she closed her eye and tried to calm herself. Oh yes, she was angry, and so was Lorelei. Right now, she could only hope that no more engines would be given the same treatment as the four that had been left at the gates.

Author's note: Credit where credit is due! The OCs that aren't mine are as follows: Tiberius Hatt belongs to tonygestaple. The Thin Git belongs to SiF. Jarred, Dennis, and Dexter belong to mazu8901.