Skarloey arrived before long, and the tunnel had been cleared enough that Duncan could be pulled out of the wreckage he'd left behind as a result of his rock-n'-rolling. Skarloey did not look pleased with Duncan and Duncan tried to avoid looking the old engine in the eye as he pulled him along. Duncan finally built up the courage to ask a question.

"Where are we going?"

There was silence for a while and Duncan worried he'd only angered Skarloey more than he already had. Then, there was a sigh, and Skarloey spoke.

"To the works to be mended. You'll speak with me later tonight."

Skarloey's voice was deeper and gruffer now than it had been that morning when he'd introduced himself and Duncan felt a sinking feeling in his boiler as he knew that Skarloey was more than cross with him for his tunnel incident. Now Duncan dreaded not only going to the works, but the discussion he'd have to have after he returned from the works that night. Duncan cringed and closed his eyes, wishing to be anywhere but here.

"Oh no…"

"What'd he do this time?"

The whispers echoed around the factory as Duncan puffed by slowly. His face was pale and his wheels shook as he approached the manager. The manager stood there in his enormous leather boots; his large sooty arms crossed angrily. Duncan felt himself beginning to tremble but tried to keep it hidden as he swallowed hard.

"Duncan," The manager snapped in a loud, harsh voice, causing Duncan to flinch. "Tell me-and everyone else here-what you did!"

The other engines looked on at Duncan sympathetically but said nothing, not wanting to be sitting up next to him themselves. Duncan swallowed again and forced himself to answer despite the horrible shakiness of his voice.

"I d-damaged some trucks…" Duncan mumbled in a meek voice.

"You RUINED some trucks!" The manager snapped in reply, making Duncan cower. "Their buffers are bent and now we'll have to fix them! Do you even realize how much that'll cost us to repair?" The Manager's tone was loud and shameful and he shot an accusing finger down at Duncan as he shouted. Duncan sucked in a breath and realized he hadn't been breathing.

"N-No, Sir, I don't, b-but it's probably a lot," Duncan squeaked, shrinking back as much as he could.

"It is a lot and now you've just forced us to pay it because you were being careless and ruined things like you always do and-LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M SPEAKING TO YOU, YEH WEE MANGLED FUD!" The manager roared and Duncan gave a startled whimper and looked up at once. He'd noticed Duncan averting his eyes to the floor and wasn't pleased about it. Duncan cursed himself, he knew better than to get the manager angrier than he already was. The manager was cursing Duncan under his breath as he turned to grab something. He picked up a chain and tossed it to another worker who caught it at once. Duncan felt the color drain from his face as he realized what that meant.

"Outside!" The manager bellowed, and Duncan skidded outside as fast as his wheels could carry him into the pouring rain. This would be bad enough as it was but this punishment was far from over as the worker with the chain came out and chained his wheels down to the rails. "Two days out there, Duncan! That'll teach you not to be careless with me trucks yeh wee bastard!" Duncan coughed as he unintentionally breathed in rainwater.
"I'll do better next time…I'll do better, I promise…" Duncan whimpered.

Duncan groaned a little wishing the memory would go away. Once a careless good-for-nothing, always a careless good-for-nothing, he supposed. His manager had been right after all, he'd always been right. Duncan did ruin everything he did, so why did he expect his first day on this railway to go any differently. Duncan gave a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, wishing this day had gone better. They'd reached the works by then and Skarloey dropped him off with one final look that said 'we will talk about this later' causing Duncan to dread that night even more, he'd really messed up this time, hadn't he?

Getting repairs at the Steamworks turned out to be about as miserable as Duncan had worried that they'd be. He didn't even know why he needed to get repairs in the first place, he could still function and do his job so why was he even here? The factory wouldn't have let him get fixed up over something as simple as dents and scratches, and even when they would repair him, it'd usually include an hour long scolding for letting himself break down or get damaged severely, but so far the workers hadn't said much to him and had mainly just chattered with one another. Duncan shook his head, what was wrong with this railway and why didn't they do things the way the factory had?

Duncan leaned back a bit as a workman came worryingly close to Duncan's smokebox and worryingly close to a scratch Duncan hadn't sustained from the tunnel collapse. Thankfully the workman seemed far more distracted with the dents and scratches in Duncan's boiler to worry about his smokebox. Duncan flinched back once more as a workman raised a wrench, certain that'd he'd hit him with it and shout about how stupid he had been and how he was going to cost him a fortune, but this didn't happen either. Duncan sat on the hoist, wondering why no one was shouting at him or hitting him with a wrench to punish him or anything like that, he'd been careless and cost them money, so he should be punished, shouldn't he?

Duncan hardly had time to ponder this before a workman ducked below him and tightened a bolt on Duncan's undercarriage and Duncan winced louder than he'd meant to. He'd never admit it himself, but he was actually rather sensitive, and having all these workman adjust bolts and tighten and loosen things was only making it worse.

"Ow! That's as tight as it'll go!" He whined. "Watch what yeh're doin'!"

The workman Duncan was whining to gave a slight sigh, "Duncan are you going to whine and complain every time we do something to you? We're only trying to help."

"I don't like bein' touched," Duncan hissed. "And helpin' my arse." He growled under his breath, angry at the workman for touching him without his permission and looking at his scratches when they were none of their business.

"Well I'm sorry about that, but we're going to have to touch you in order to help you get fixed up."

"I don't need any help!" Duncan spat. "I don't need you lot tryin' teh repair me, so why am I even here?"

"Duncan you had a tunnel collapse on you! What do you mean you don't need repairs?"

"So what? It's just dents and scratches! It's silly! I can still run and I can still pull coaches and cars so why fix me when there's nothin' teh be fixed?"

"Well contrary to what you think, Duncan, Mr. Percival likes dented and scratched engines to be fixed rather than looking like they've just been dragged through gravel." The workman said as he turned to get back to work. Duncan scowled and stuck his tongue out when no one was looking.

Duncan continued to complain for the rest of his repair and after a final safety check, he was cleared to leave.

Duncan returned to the sheds with a scowl on his face and dread in his boiler. He'd already not liked talking to the other engines just to introduce himself, but being told off by them on his first day was a brand-new hell he had to suffer through. The other engines looked very displeased. Some refused to even look Duncan in the eye and the others sent him disapproving glares. Duncan tried to ignore them as he creeped into a shed. After a heavy sigh Skarloey was the first to break the uncomfortable silence.

"I think you know that no one here is happy with your behavior today." Skarloey said. "What you did was reckless, irresponsible, and unkind and we don't stand for that kind of behavior here on this railway."

"I know." Duncan mumbled, barely audible. He wasn't looking at Skarloey as he said it though. Duncan was beginning to think of how terribly unfair this whole situation was.

"Leaving your driver behind was outright dangerous and incredibly hurtful to Dane. For you to just ditch your driver and rush off is rude and unacceptable."

Duncan grew frustrated, and spoke without thinking, "But I don't need a driver!"

"Don't be preposterous, it's dangerous to go without one and Dane is a very kind man who you should have had no quarrels with."
Duncan glowered, "Unlike you lot, I'm not dependent on drivers to order me around and tell me what to do! I've been ordered around plenty and I don't need even more people doing it. I can drive on my own so there's no point in me having a driver."

"We're not dependent!" Rheneas cried. "It's not safe to go off without a driver, who'll call for help if you derail and no one's around to help you? You're lucky Dane caught up with you once you hit the tunnel or who knows how long you would've been there!" Duncan glared back at him. Duncan opened his mouth to argue more but Skarloey jutted in before he got the chance.

"And worse off than leaving your driver behind, you brought one of our tunnels crashing down, lord knows how you managed that."

"The tunnel wasn't my fault!" Duncan snapped back at once. "Maybe you shouldn't build your tunnels so short that when some engine who isn't a short little saddle tank goes through it doesn't come crashing in on itself!" Duncan said, despite the fact that Rheneas was also not a saddle tank engine.

"Don't be disrespectful!" Skarloey shot right back. "You brought a tunnel crashing down! You do not get to shift the blame onto us!"

"I didn't do ANYTHING! Your tunnel came crashing in when I went through it, I didn't do anything to make it crash in!"

"Liar!" Sir Handel piped up from the other end of the shed. "You were rocking and rolling and swaying along the line! As if someone had removed the bolts from your undercarriage and loosened all your springs! Me and Rheneas saw you doing it! We went after you, too!"

"We did," Rheneas added, albeit hesitantly. "You were swaying along and bouncing up and down. That's probably how you knocked the tunnel down in the first place. Tunnels don't come down when an engine just passes through them."

"Yea!" Sir Handel said. "You brought it down because you were rocking along thinking you were hot shit. It's a tunnel, not a dance floor, you fucking dolt!"

Duncan's face grew red and he clenched his teeth. "That's not why I was rocking!" He growled back. "Don't call me a dolt, you little Welsh prick!"

"Enough!" Skarloey snapped. "Both of you!"

Duncan and Sir Handel glared at one another and then scowled at Skarloey, but didn't say anything else.

"Sir Handel you stay out of this," Skarloey said. The blue engine obliged but still sent Duncan a nasty look. "Listen here, Duncan. I don't know or frankly care what you were doing that brought that tunnel in, but I know it was recklessness. I don't know how things went on your old railway, but here on this railway, you follow our rules, do as your told, and don't argue."

Duncan glared up at him but managed to hold his tongue.

"You can't keep this behavior going. I know the first day, especially on a new railway in a new country is hard, but you have to do as you are asked without objection or arguing. After all, what would this railway be if no one did as they were told?" Skarloey had asked the question rhetorically but Duncan snapped out an answer anyways.

"Closed. Like this one should be."

Skarloey was aghast and Rheneas looked horrified.

"Duncan!" Skarloey cried. Duncan didn't even allow him to begin telling him off again.

"You think I actually give a shit about this railway? Because I don't." Duncan spat. "This railway could close tomorrow and I'd say good riddance because I don't care!"

Duncan had never really had the opportunity to speak his mind fully back at the factory and it felt so satisfying to do so now. Even as he watched horror and anger seep into the other engine's faces, he knew he should stop but didn't want to. If he wanted to be plain-speaking, who was going to stop him?

"That's not very kind! You—" Rheneas didn't get much further than Duncan had let Skarloey get.

"I don't care about any of you lot either!" His glare set on Rusty like crosshairs on an unsuspecting animal. "Especially not dirty diesels like you," He hissed, words aflame with repressed bitterness and anger.

"Duncan!"

He couldn't tell who had cried his name that time. Rusty looked crushed and his eyes teared up a little. Duncan felt some regret towards saying it but didn't apologize or show any remorse he did feel.

Sir Handel, having seen the tears welling in Rusty's eyes, could take Duncan's attitude no longer, and stopped holding his tongue.
"Fine then!" Sir Handel snapped. "If you hate this railway so fucking much, why don't you go crying and whining all the way back to precious little Scotland, your cab empty as you rock n' roll back crying that our railway is the worst? After all, we could never live up to your old railway, could we? I'm sure it was just so much better!"

Duncan felt his face grow hot and a pressure immedietly spike in his boiler. Before he even realized fully what he was saying, he was screaming back.

"I FUCKING HATE SCOTLAND!" Everyone jumped in surprise at the volume of Duncan's outburst. "I'll never go back there as long as I'm still alive! You could drag me through hell before you could DRAG ME BACK TO MY OLD RAILWAY!"

Peter Sam was quivering in his shed while simultaneously quickly mumbling something to Rusty, Skarloey and Rheneas said nothing, but watched in surprise. Sir Handel wasn't willing to budge yet though, and shouted back just as loud.

"THEN WHY DO YOU WHINE AND MOPE AND SCOWL ABOUT OUR FUCKING RAILWAY? HOW WE'RE JUST SO MISERABLE AND AWFUL!"

"YOU KEEP YOUR DISGUSTING LITTLE MOUTH FUCKING SHUT AND DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT SHIT YOU COULDN'T EVEN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Duncan screamed right back. Duncan was trembling with rage, feeling his piston rods quake as he attempted to somewhat conceal his heavy yet rapid breathing. His voice hurt from how loud he'd been shouting, but he could barely feel it over the heat in his face and the pressure growing tighter and more painful as he got more frustrated. Suddenly, a sharp blast came from his cab and Duncan gave a stifled yelp as pain flashed through him.

"God damn it!" Duncan cursed. "Go to hell and die there! All of you!" Duncan snapped without thinking at all, and he took off in a violent burst of speed and a cloud of steam.

Sir Handel was still glaring daggers at Duncan as he left.

"Fucking psychopath," Sir Handel hissed. "Fucking Psychopath!"

Rusty was fighting off tears, still incredibly hurt by what Duncan had said. Meanwhile Peter Sam was mumbling kind words to him, and trying his best to soothe Rusty and make him feel better.

"I fucking told you!" Sir Handel cried to Rheneas. "I told you he was due for the nut-house and I was right! He's insane! Did you hear him screaming!?"

Rheneas himself wasn't actually paying much attention to the blue engine's rant and was looking down at the ground.

"That went…terribly." He mumbled to no one in particular.

"No kidding." Skarloey said. "I thought we'd just have a stern talk and the issue would be settled but I think things got worse off than they were before."

Rheneas, not knowing what else to say, attempted to divert the topic. "Was that his safety valve blowing off at the end there?"

"I don't know…" Skarloey mumbled, sounding tired enough for one day. "Probably."

"You sound tired," Rheneas comforted his brother, "You should get some rest. You've done enough for one day. It's my turn tomorrow."

Rheneas turned to the other engines in the sheds.

"We should all get some rest."

The other engines mumbled out half-hearted agreements, and pulled back into their sheds once more. Rheneas had more plans than just bedtime though. Despite how horrendously Duncan had behaved, Rheneas knew that the young engine couldn't get far with a burst safety valve and would need assistance getting to the works for repairs. Rheneas hadn't forgiven Duncan for his outburst or actions, but he didn't think the little engine deserved to be stranded alone in the cold all night either. He waited until the others' steam had died down and they'd dozed off quietly before setting off into the night.