Duke huffed out a deep sigh for what felt like the hundredth time in just a few minutes. Domino's passenger seat was cramped as hell… Beside him, Jenny was stoic and quiet, watching the house through a pair of binoculars.

"You're going to deflate if you keep doing that." Jenny informed him, without looking away from the house.

Everything looked quiet in there, but looks could certainly be deceiving. They had been watching it for almost three hours and so far no one had so much as moved. According to Domino there were two people, a woman and a man inside and the pair had been just milling around the house for most of the night.

"I know, I know. Sorry. Not that, you and Domino aren't great company… I'm just… Accustomed to Beast, I guess." Duke mused, causing Jenny to look over at him and nod.

"I get that. I don't know what I would do if Domino were in that position. I would be worried sick." She offered softly.

"Aww, thank you sweetie." Domino nearly purred, causing Duke to give a smile.

"I just… Can't help but wonder what's happening to him. Are they treating him alright? Is he scared?"

"Oh, come on, it's Beast." Jenny pointed out. "He's not afraid of anything.

"That's not true." Domino put in, catching the attention of both Jenny and Duke.

"What do you mean?" Duke asked, his attention focused on Domino for the moment.

"I just mean that he's been scared plenty of times. Remember that time you were hijacked? He had nightmares for a long time, every time he shut down to recharge that you were all buried under there. Our CPUs can go for a long time when we are in low power mode. He had nightmares about being buried down there and watching you run out of air… And watching you decay… And it made him ask a lot of questions about our mortality." Domino offered softly.

Jenny gave a blink at that, for a moment, neither her nor Duke saying anything.

"I didn't even know you could have nightmares…" Jenny muttered after a time.

"That… That scared him?" Duke then echoed, sitting back in his seat as he gave out a soft sigh. "I snapped at him so many times through that… I thought he was too full of himself."

"He gets that way when he's nervous about something." Domino explained. "Just like Dante gets that way when he's worried about one of us. I know he's not officially our leader or anything but he looks out for us. He brings it to Kyle's attention, whenever any of us have a problem. He's really worried about Beast."

Duke shook his head slowly, a deep sigh given out. "I need to apologize to him."

"You'll get that chance when he's back home. For now, we need to focus. I think someone's coming" Jenny reported, a nod given towards the house.

A car had pulled up along with a UPS truck. A strange time of the night for the mail to be running. Even stranger was the fact that several armed guards stepped out of the truck.

"That's a lot of guns for some appliances and car parts…" Duke muttered, causing Jenny to give a nod.

"And none of them are cute." Domino complained, earning a flat look from Duke.

"I wonder what they're really doing…" Jenny muttered, narrowing her eyes a bit as she tried to see through the darkness. There was movement happening down there.

"Jenny! They're unloading." Domino abruptly threw in, her monitor lighting up as she zoomed in on what was going on. Both Jenny and Duke stared at the monitor as the ramp was lowered, eyes abruptly going wide.

"Is that…" Duke started out and Jenny nodded.

"Military grade drones and guidance systems. Call in Kyle. We've got um."

xXx

Beast gave another jerk, the truck feeling as if he were coming online, out of tar. This time though, the surroundings were familiar. He was home! He was on Skyone!

He glanced around, for a moment confused as to how the hell he had gotten there. Was it all just some weird… Dream? He was repaired…

So was it some weird dream brought on by the trauma of what happened? It could be…

"Alright, I've got her shut down but just in case lets get her strapped in."

That was Trek's voice. Beast refocused across the garage and took note of what was happening. Dante and Domino were strapped in tight to their parking spots. Frankly, they both looked as if they needed a damn safe word…

Both of them had been shut down, and neither one of them could move if they wanted to.

"Dante's strapped in too…" One of the techs responded, and for a moment Beast struggled to remember who it was. Denis… But that wasn't right. Denis wasn't in the garage anymore. Was he?

He had given them a virus. Oh God, no…

He wasn't in control of himself again. He felt anger bubbling up and he had no idea where it was coming from. It played off of real fears, surging through his CPU and tearing down mental walls. Trek had gone back up to the communication room to meet with the others. He was supposed to connect to the computer and join into the discussion. He was the only large vehicle left.

Kat and Plato sat parked, not that far away from him.

He didn't want to listen to them though. He would make some comment, Duke would snap back that he wasn't listening to a car… Didn't the man know that irritated him? How it irritated him when Duke called him It? How that hurt?

No one ever jumped to his defense either. He had to defend himself. Always. It was him against the world.

Beast struggled to break free of those thoughts. They weren't true. Kyle wanted him to bond with Duke. He pressed them for it, frequently. The thoughts still threatened to drown him though. He was supposed to be in that meeting. He couldn't let them see him like this though. They would strap him down too.

He had to get out. He had to get out now!

He backed up and moved from his parking spot.

"Beast, what are you doing?" Kat asked, sounding concerned.

"As if you could give a hairy, rat's ass." Beast heard himself snap back. He could almost feel the hurt that came off of her. Why had he said that? Kat was usually nice to him…

He backed up and abruptly rammed forward, charging the ramp door of the garage. His entire body shook with the bang, but the door didn't give out. Yet…

Techs scrambled and he could hear them talking. He could hear them trying to calm him down. But it wasn't happening.

"Beast! What are you doing?" Duke's voice rang on and somehow that just caused the anger to bubble up even more.

"I'm getting' out of here!" Beast snarled. It was like watching a horror movie. He could hear himself talking. He could see the fear it caused in Duke. But he couldn't stop himself.

"Come on Beast! We can talk about this!" Duke tried but Beast was having none of it.

"Hell no we can't! You hate me! You all hate me! I'm gettin' the hell out of here!"

He charged forward to hit the ramp again, but Trek stepped out in the path, holding up his hands. "Hold on Beast! You're never gonna get it that way. You've got to move back! You need some more room."

He was right… He did need more room. It only showed to prove in his half crazed mind, that they really did hate him. They wanted him to leave.

He slowly began to back up as Trek moved with him, waving him back. "There ya go, come on." Trek encouraged, as Beast backed up further and further into the garage. "I guess it's true what they say. Trucks are stupid."

Beast tried to shove down the hurt that remark brought on. He remembered this. This had happened before. Something was coming. Something painful. "No!" The truck snarled, just as Kyle jumped onto his roof. He surged forward and hit the brakes hard, sending the man flying. Landing right in his path.

Again, the freeing sensation of a barrier breaking surged to the surface and he felt he had a choice. It was a false one though. Because the choice was made for him as if someone were directing his life. He surged forward instead of holding back.

He was aware of someone yelling. Terror was in the garage like a heavy blanket. Again there was that crunch… He hated it…

He liked Kyle! Kyle had always treated him well. He gave the truck extra pats on the hood when he saw that the truck needed them. He talked to Beast when Duke wouldn't. He told Duke that he needed to bond with his truck.

The last thing he ever wanted… Was to feel the man break under his tires. To feel the rush of satisfaction that this thing that was crawling through him told him he felt.

"Oh God… Beast, what did you do?" Again it was Duke's voice. He reached over and abruptly shut off the lights of the garage, pitching them all into darkness. For a moment, Beast could see nothing. He could still feel the warmth of Kyle's blood on his tires. The man's broken body was still under him. Then it was gone and all he could see was the wild trace of a gold scanner and the steady blinking light on a dash, forever staring at his dead driver.

This time, Beast's scream echoed through the vault. That sound ripped from him like a savage creature. All the pain and anger bubbling over into it.

He was right where he belonged. He screamed until static replaced it. Until no sound came from him anymore.

Only the silence of one gold scanner and one blinking light…