The next time that Daniella headed back to the scrapyard, Dennis went along with her. The two had grown rather attached to one another, and enjoyed one another's company. The two were chatting idly about little things as they approached the familiar gates, but fell silent when they noticed something sitting just outside. Dennis, who was following behind Daniella asked, "What is it, Daniella?"
"There's another engine," Daniella said, not knowing what to make of this.
"Well, that's um…unusual," said Dennis.
As they drew closer, Daniella could see the other more clearly. A common class 08; she could tell by the shape and size. Yet, it was in utterly horrible condition. Having been partially dismantled, hood long since removed, the shunter's engine block and other mechanical parts were fully exposed, severely damaged, and badly corroded. Judging by the amount of rust, one could tell that this engine had been left out in the elements for quite some time.
"Oh my gosh," Dennis said quietly.
Daniella went to push the shunter past the gates, doing her best to assure it that she would do it no harm. However, the class 08 was so terrified that it visibly trembled, despite being partially dismantled. Yet, the more that Daniella tried to calm it down and soothe it, the more frightened it became.
"Who left ya here? You obviously couldn't have got here by yourself," Daniella said, only to have the class 08 look at her with what had to be the most terrified expression she had ever seen, and Daniella had seen a lot of frightened engines in her time.
"Can you talk lil one?" Daniella asked only to get a soft, pained sounding whimper in response. Looking concerned, she said, "Are you in pain? Please talk to me, I promise I won't do ya no harm,"
The class 08 let out another whimper and flinched, closing its eyes tightly and trembling.
Realizing this was going nowhere, Daniella moved the little shunter into the sheds.
"Um, Daniella, that's not where you normally put—" Dennis started.
"I know, but look at him. He's got his insides all exposed. Besides, something's just not right with this," said Daniella.
"What do you mean by that?" said Dennis.
"I've never had an engine dropped off for me before, and if I was supposed to be expecting that, Lorelei would've let me know. I also never had one this scared before. Usually, they calm down at least a little when I talk to em," said Daniella.
For the rest of the day, Daniella continued to keep a close eye on the broken shunter, but it seemed the more she tried to calm it down, the more terrified it became. No matter what she did, she had no luck in getting it to talk to her. Finally, she decided to leave it alone, realizing her presence was causing it distress. Having decided the poor thing had been through enough, she slept out in the yard that night, not wanting to move it again.
The next day, Paxton came to visit. Ever since he had been repaired, Paxton would travel to the Other Railway as much as he was allowed to, since he liked to spend time with Paul. At first, he would sneak off to visit, thinking that he wouldn't be allowed to. When he was caught doing that, he had fully expected to be scolded and punished, possibly even not allowed to see Paul anymore. However, Lorelei didn't punish him, or ban him from the scrapyard. She, unlike many railway controllers, would take what the engines had to say into consideration.
Though Paxton had been told not to sneak off anymore, especially when he had a job to do, he was now allowed to visit his brother more often, so long as he asked first, and it didn't interfere with his work.
As Daniella watched Paxton chatting animatedly with Paul, she had an idea. "Hey, you," she called out to him, "I gotta favor to ask."
"Um…OK…what is it?" Paxton said rather awkwardly.
"Come to the sheds," said Daniella.
Paxton did as he was told, and as he approached, he saw Daniella pointing to something. Looking at what Daniella was pointing her claw at, Paxton let out a gasp. He still couldn't get used to seeing his own kind in such horrible condition, and this one was in particularly bad shape.
"That was sitting in front of the gates last night. He's terrified of me and I can't get him to tell me what happened. Hell, I can't get him to speak at all!" said Daniella.
"What do you want me to do, Dani?" said Paxton.
"Could ya try talkin' to him? Please?" said Daniella.
"Alright," said Paxton. Daniella backed off as he approached the broken shunter. Seeing the other engine's face quite clearly now, he let out a horrified gasp, "Denny! Wh-What happened to you?!" he exclaimed.
For the first time since he had arrived at the scrapyard, Denny spoke. Still trembling in fear, his voice sounded quiet, fearful, and broken. "Paxton?! G-Get out of here while you still can! She-she'll kill you!"
"You mean the Reaper? She wouldn't do that. She's really nice," said Paxton.
"That's not good if she's being nice!" Denny said in a hushed voice, "Don't you know—the Reaper acts especially kind to those she plans on—on scrapping!"
"That's not true at all," said Paxton.
"Y-yes it is! Run for your life a-and don't come back! It's too late for me, go!" Denny said urgently.
"No, Denny, I don't know what you heard about her, but the Reaper is one of the kindest engines I know. She's my friend," said Paxton.
"She's only pretending to be your friend! Y-You can't trust her! She'll kill you!" Denny said, becoming increasingly anxious.
"Nonsense, Denny! If she was gonna scrap me she wouldn't have risked her life to save me," Paxton said, and Denny stared at him, taken aback. "Her name's Daniella, she's really nice…well, most of the time anyway,"
Daniella once again came into view. "Who told ya I go around killing everyone I'm nice to? I know there's a ton of rumors about me, but that's a new one," she said.
Denny looked at her and gulped.
"Please tell us what happened to you. Dani only wants to help," said Paxton.
After a few moments of fearfully staring at Daniella, Denny finally said, "Okay…the railway I used to work on had no use for me anymore…so they sold me…a very bad man took me…did horrible things…c-cut me up. Didn't finish the job…left me outside like this to rust…"
"That's horrible!" Paxton exclaimed.
"Who did this to you?!" Daniella said, and Denny flinched at her raised voice. She had not intended to sound harsh or demanding, but the kind of mistreatment Denny had described angered her.
"I can't tell you! If he finds out you didn't finish what he started on me…didn't scrap me…he'll come back! He'll make me wish I'd been scrapped!" Denny said fearfully.
Daniella's eye widened. Oh, she was all too familiar with how cruel people could be when it came to scrapping engines, but this was worse than anything she had seen. "How'd you get here? Ya couldn't have got here on your own," she said.
"I was bad…I didn't shut up…the bad man told me if I didn't stop crying he—he'd leave me f-for the Reaper—for you—" Denny shut his eyes, trying his best to stop from crying. Both Paxton and Daniella stared at him in shock.
"Look, whatever that nasty excuse for a human told you about me is probably a bunch of complete and utter bullshit. I won't do ya no harm, I promise you that," said Daniella.
"R-Really?" Denny choked out.
"Yes! And if I find the fucker who did this to ya, I'll personally teach him a lesson he won't forget…if he survives it," Daniella said, muttering the last bit.
"Daniella, he might be happier if you maybe put him where Paul is," said Paxton.
"No not him! Not him too!" Denny exclaimed.
Daniella didn't know what to say. It had become apparent that the three were brothers. She pitied Paxton, as she knew that eventually he would lose both Paul and Denny. Though perhaps Paxton was right that Denny might do better if he was near his brother, she didn't want to leave him outside, not with the condition he was in. Then, she had an idea.
As Paxton continued to talk to his brother, Daniella went to get a plastic tarp. With the help of her driver, she carefully secured it onto Denny so that his damaged inner workings were no longer exposed. Then, she moved him once again, shunting him into the spot where Alan used to sit, right beside Paul.
"There ya go lil one, sorry I can't do much more for ya," Daniella said, smiling slightly.
"Th-Thanks Reaper—I mean—Daniella," Denny said nervously. Though he was still scared, at the very least he had calmed down enough to speak to her. Daniella hoped that he would eventually let her know who the "bad man" was though. Judging by the looks of things, Denny had likely been tortured, and Daniella wanted to find out who was responsible. She would definitely tell Lorelei during her next visit to Sodor. The thought that someone would torture a little shunter and then have him dumped right outside of the scrapyard disturbed her greatly.