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Chapter 8

The research lab looked more like a war zone than a place of scientific study. The machinery was completely destroyed, papers were scattered all over, fires were burning in various places, and the bodies of the scientists, human and Autobot a like, were all over the floor.

Scourge surveyed the scene with a critical eye. Another useless attack. He hadn't found the boy or any information about where Prime had taken him. As a precaution he was having his men look over the bodies to make sure the boy wasn't among them. He doubted he'd be that lucky. Onishi's brat had more lives than Prime had "peace and love" speeches.

"Sir, there's no sign of the boy," Armorhide said. He and Rollbar were the only survivors, other than Scourge, of Omega Prime's rampage four years earlier.

"Figures. Him dying in one of these attacks would be too easy," Rollbar spoke up.

"Any casualties on our side?" Scourge asked. New Deceptacons were hard to come by since they were mostly Predicon deserters.

"No. These Autobots were scientists, not warriors."

"Good. Any survivors we could question?" Scourge asked, hoping this mission hadn't been a complete waste of time.

"No-" Rollbar was cut off by a strange beeping. It took them a minute to realize it came from Scourge's communicator, the one that was linked to the one he'd given Hao Saka.

Optimus was staring, as he had been for the last five minutes, at the list of Koji's teachers. He was still trying to connect what he was seeing with reality. He saw the name but didn't believe it. They couldn't have been so stupid as to send Koji to the same school his abuser now taught at, could they?

But it made sense. Koji had skipped fifth period twice now and that was the class Saka taught according to the schedule. Koji may blow off a lot of things off but school wasn't one of them.

Optimus looked down at T-Ai who was still looking a little sheepish. "You're banned from using your physical form for a week." She didn't argue even though there was something she needed to tell Koji that she'd wanted to tell him in human form. It would have to wait.

"Koji, Optimus wants to see both of us now," Ultra Magnus said. Koji had been reading the book his English teacher had assigned, looked up.

"What about?"

"T-Ai hinted that it has something to do with you skipping school and me aiding and abetting."

Koji sighed. This would be far from pleasant. Hopefully Optimus wouldn't accidentally blow something up again. That problem had gotten really bad on Cybertron. Now they were placing bets on what would blow next, Koji's money was on the plaque Magnus had given Optimus for his birthday that said 'I Have Crossed Over to the Dark-side, Don't Worry I brought a Flashlight'.

BOOM

"Hey I gave you that!" Ultra Magnus could be heard yelling from Optimus' office.

Koji looked back at Sideburn. "You owe me fifty bucks". Sideburn just glared back at him.

In the Office of Doom…

"Do you two know why I asked you to come see me?" Optimus asked.

"Umm… because I skipped school?" Koji asked.

"It has something to do with that," Optimus said.

"Because I helped him?" Ultra Magnus questioned.

"Close but still not it"

"Then what?"

"It has something to do with why Koji skipped school."

They both froze. He knew. He knew about Saka. He knew they'd purposely hadn't told him. He was most defiantly pissed.

"Uhh… we can explain," Koji said.

"Yes by all means explain why you didn't tell WHY, WHEN YOU FOUND OUT THAT SAKA WAS TEACHING CHILDREN, YOU FAILED TO FIND IT NECESSARY TO TELL ME ABOUT IT!" Optimus finished at a yell.

"Because we knew you'd freak," Ultra Magnus said sarcastically. Optimus' glare silenced any more remarks from his brother. Then he focused on Koji.

"Saka should not be working with children, not with his track record," Optimus said. "He could do the same thing to those kids as he did to you."

Koji shook his head. "He won't."

"How can you be sure?"

"Standard abuser mindset. Only abuse someone you can control. He hurts one of those kids and they go home and tell their parents he loses everything. I was his stepson, who was I going to tell? Dad? He was too caught up in grieving Mom to notice" Koji said.

"And if he goes after you again?"

"Yeah and piss off several three-ton plus robots? He may be nuts but he isn't stupid," Koji said.

"Still you should have told me," Optimus said.

"You feel guilty if I get a paper cut. Why would I tell you this when you'd just sit around and feel guilty for days after you solved the problem that wasn't even your fault to begin with?"

"Koji you are my responsibility-"

"You felt guilty about what Saka did to me even though the majority of it, the worst of it, happened before you even came to earth."

"We saw what happened that day-"

"Optimus that was nothing compared to some of the things that Saka did!"

"Koji-"

"I'm serious! Did I tell you about the time he made me put my hands on a hot griddle and keep them there for five minute! Or the he came after me with a lead pipe? That little beating was just the beginning of what he probably had planned," Koji stopped to catch his breath. Ultra Magnus took advantage of the pause to step in.

"Let's finish this later." Optimus nodded. Koji's outbursts were rare and he only had them when under a lot of stress. It was usually best to leave him alone when he was like this so he could calm down. The last time he'd had an outburst they'd had to sedate him to keep him calm. Hopefully he'd calm himself this time.

"We'll talk more tomorrow," Optimus said.

AN:Review please