It had been a few days since Dexter's arrival at the scrapyard. Lorelei had since returned to Sodor, and she was sitting at her office at Knapford. Diesel 10 was shunting the express coaches into place, and Gordon was still very cross about that one day that he and Diesel 10 had to switch jobs. "You better not be rough with my coaches, you great, smelly menace!" he said.
Before Diesel 10 could retort, grumbling was heard from the passengers:
"Aww…I thought that diesel was going to be pulling our train," one boy grumbled.
"Yes, I liked that warship better," a woman was heard saying.
"HE gave us a much smoother ride," an older gentleman said.
"Yes, did a much better job if I do say so myself," another man added.
Gordon was fuming as he backed onto his train. It was bad enough having a diesel take his place for a day, and even worse having his own passengers loudly stating that they preferred being pulled by said diesel. However, the fact that it was none other than Diesel 10 who had stolen his thunder infuriated him.
"Well Gordon, looks like your passengers enjoyed the upgrade to more modern traction, even if it was only temporary," Diesel 10 said with a smirk.
"Oh, be quiet!" Gordon said as he angrily wheeshed steam at him.
"Take that!" Diesel 10 said as he flung ballast in Gordon's face with his claw.
Neither of them had noticed that Lorelei had stepped outside onto the platform to see what all the commotion was, that is, until she spoke up. "Diesel 10! You do not throw things at other engines! That is completely unacceptable!"
"Yes, ma'am…" Diesel 10 said, looking away.
Lorelei turned to the passengers. "As much as you all seemed to enjoy having Diesel 10 pull the express, this IS Gordon's job. I could arrange for them to share, if Diesel 10 behaves," she said, aiming the last bit rather pointedly at the warship.
"I'll behave, ma'am, besides, we all know you're making this railway a better place for us diesels. These clapped out old tin kettles have had a good run, don't you say?" Diesel 10 said with a confident smirk.
Lorelei, however, was not amused. Folding her arms, she said, "I'm working on making this railway a better place for everyone. Not just the diesels!"
Diesel 10 scowled and looked away, disappointed.
"I understand you have some serious issues, Diesel 10, but I'm not gonna tolerate you being nasty to the steam engines for no reason. I don't accept that crap from them towards diesels, and the same thing applies to you! Also, keep your claws to yourself. I really shouldn't have to tell you that. How old are you? Old enough to know better," said Lorelei.
Gordon, along with most of his passengers, laughed. Diesel 10 fumed as his face turned beet red. Never before had he been so humiliated! He clanked his claw crossly.
"Now, I'll let you pull passengers again if you behave, and do teach 'Pinchy' not to bite!" said Lorelei.
At that, Diesel 10 stormed off, blowing exhaust in Gordon's face.
"How rude!" Gordon exclaimed.
Meanwhile at the Dieselworks, Dennis was resting in one of the sheds when he spotted Paxton heading for the main shed while pulling Arry behind him. "Hello Paxton, Hello Arry, what happened?" Dennis called out.
"Oh, hi Dennis. Arry's not feeling well," Paxton replied.
"What's wrong with him, mate?" Dennis asked, concerned.
"To be honest, I dunno," Paxton said, and pulled Arry into the main shed. As the workmen looked him over, Diesel 10 came storming in, nearly running over one of the mechanics.
"Hey, watch it!" the man shouted.
"Get off the tracks, you nimrod!" Diesel 10 snapped.
The workmen gave Diesel 10 a dirty look, and then went back to looking Arry over. As Diesel 10 used the turntable, he spotted Arry, who was looking rather pale, and hadn't said a word. His eyes were downcast, and he looked absolutely miserable.
"What's wrong with him?" Diesel 10 asked.
"Well, um, you see…" Den trailed off.
Diesel 10 rolled his eyes.
"What he means to say is, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him, I don't know why he's been breaking down lately," said Dart.
"Arry, what's the matter? You can talk to me you know," said Paxton.
Arry didn't say anything. He gave Paxton a dirty look, and then once again looked down.
"Cheer up, Arry. You'll be good as new in no time. Oh, I know what will cheer you up—" Paxton started.
"No!" Arry snapped, "I don't need your silly little jokes! Nothing will cheer me up, nothing! Go away," he hissed.
"Gee, I was just trying to be nice…" Paxton muttered.
"Well go be nice somewhere else! And the next time you go visit your brother in the scrapyard, take me with you and leave me there!" Arry said bitterly.
"Um, sure, but I don't know why you'd want to stay in that scrapyard," said Paxton.
"Of course you wouldn't," Arry said dejectedly.
"Well, I'd better be going. Bye," Paxton said as he left.
Diesel 10 stared at Arry incredulously. "You're not saying you want to be scrapped, are you?!" he said.
"That's exactly what I'm saying!" Arry snapped.
Diesel 10 was taken aback. "Arry, I know you must miss your twin terribly. I…I know what you're going through," he said softly.
"NO YOU DON'T!" Arry shouted.
"Yes, I do!" Diesel 10 snapped back, "I had a twin that died in front of me!"
Arry glared at him. "Oh yeah? How come you never told anyone this before?" he said.
"Because—it's rather painful to talk about," Diesel 10 said honestly, looking away.
"I don't care. I've made up my mind," Arry said, looking down.
"What do you mean by that?" Diesel 10 asked.
Arry, however, didn't answer him, nor did he speak at all for the rest of the day.
That night, as Daniella was sleeping, two engines were dropped off outside the gates. A pair of class 01 diesels, a set of twins. Both were absolutely terrified, and while neither was in good shape, one was much worse off than the other.
"Melvin…they're gone now," the more badly damaged one said to the other, who was crying his eyes out.
"But—but this is—this is that scrapyard! The Grim Reaper of the Other Railway lives here!" Melvin said through his tears.
"Maybe…maybe she won't be that bad—" his twin began, but suddenly began coughing something frightful.
"Mark!" Melvin exclaimed. To his horror, his twin was leaking something out of the corner of his mouth, and out of what remained of his nose, as the tip of it had been cut off.
"You've gotta be kidding me! It's coming from outside?!" Came a voice from inside the scrapyard.
Melvin let out a gasp. "Mark, sssshhh! I hear her!" he said in a hushed voice, but his ailing twin couldn't control his terrible illness. Seeing her approach, Melvin shut his eyes tightly.
As Daniella reached the gates, and saw the two small shunters outside, she froze in her tracks. The one whose eyes were closed and who was shaking fearfully was the type of thing she had gotten used to seeing over the years. The other one, however, was a different story. Never in all her years working the scrapyard had she seen an engine that leaked in such a manner. Even worse, this particular shunter seemed utterly miserable. One look at its face told her that the poor thing was suffering immensely.
"Oh good God. Aurora…call Lorelei…have her bring Dennis," Daniella said to her substitute driver, still staring in shock at the two shunters. As the woman stepped down from her cab, Daniella looked at Mark, who had now opened his tear-filled eyes and was staring back at her. The look on his face reminded her of a puppy that had been kicked, and she felt her own eye tearing up. Daniella was most definitely used to seeing very sick engines, but this one had to be the single worst thing she had seen in her entire life.
"What happened to you?" Daniella said softly.
"S—Sabotaged," Mark choked out, coughing slightly, "Someone…went inside me—and broke things…so I'd die like this,"
"That's awful! Who did this to ya?" Daniella asked him.
"T…" Mark began, but was interrupted by yet another coughing fit.
"His name's Tiberius Hatt, M—Miss Reaper," Melvin said nervously.
Daniella's eye widened. She had heard Lorelei mention another scrapyard owned by the Hatt family before, and she was all too aware of what Topham had tried to do to the diesels on Sodor. "My owner is on the way here," Daniella said, doing her best to maintain her composure. Now she knew the name of the person who had now dumped four engines at her gate, four engines that had been cruelly tortured in the most horrible ways possible.
Noticing that Melvin was shaking again, Daniella said, "It's OK, my owner is real nice. She's gonna try to help ya guys…" she trailed off as she once again shifted her gaze to Mark. "We'll find a way to make it better, little one. You don't deserve to suffer like this," she said softly.
Both Melvin and Mark looked up at her hopefully. Melvin smiled slightly, perhaps Mark was right; the Reaper didn't seem so bad. Soon, Aurora came back, and Daniella was able to move the two shunters into the scrapyard. Unfortunately for Daniella, the scrapyard was becoming very full. Not wanting to traumatize any of the others by having them see the condition Mark was in, she moved the twins into the sheds where she slept. Also, she figured that she'd better keep a close eye on these two, considering that one of them was terribly ill.
Now, Daniella would have to wait for Lorelei to come back. She only hoped that at the very least, something could be done to make Mark's quality of life even a little better. If that wasn't possible, she feared she may have to do the unthinkable, and scrap him. As much as she absolutely hated to think about that, Daniella knew she may have no other choice. Letting him suffer terribly was not an option. No, Mark had faced enough cruelty, and had suffered more than enough. Either way, Daniella would leave that decision to him.