More Human Than Human

"Talking"

'thoughts'

"Recordings, talking on the phone or singing"

"Speaking another language besides Japanese"

:Talking through the comm.s:

Rated T for language, suggestive material and anything else I might have missed.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my O.C.s, Starts after the events in "The Masked Brave, Dumpson" and goes from there with a few twists.

Shadowmaru kept the blue ambulance in sight, but made sure to stay out of her sight, until she pulled over to talk to a small family walking along on the side walk. Well, not all of them were walking; there was a young boy in a wheelchair among them.

'Hmm, it's not like a non-sentient transforming robot would stop and ask for directions,'

He saw one of the humans nod and, to his surprise, a woman with brunette hair pulled back in a ponytail wearing a blue E.M.T. uniform climbed out of the ambulance and helped push the boy's wheelchair up a hill.

'What the… where did she come from?'

While Shadowmaru thought over how he could have missed the femme picking up a human without him noticing while he was tracking her, the woman made it to the top of the hill and started talking to the family.

Curious, he extended his scanner's range to listen in on their conversation.

"Thank you very much, miss…" a woman, presumably the mother of the family, said.

"Artemis, I'm Artemis. So, where you folks headed? If you don't mind my asking," the woman from the ambulance spoke broken Japanese, leading Shadowmaru to believe she was a foreigner.

The man in the group, most likely the father of the family, told her they were heading to a church nearby and Shadowmaru saw the woman smile.

"Really? Me too… say, since we're going to same way, need a lift?" the woman pointed at the ambulance she had just climbed out of.

The family was leery of riding with a stranger and the mother asked if they would get in trouble for riding in an ambulance outside of an emergency but the woman reassured them. "Don't worry, unless I get a call there's no reason why I can't drive my own vehicle and, like I said, as long as we're going the same way I don't see why not?"

After some convincing, the family agreed and the boy in the wheelchair was loaded into the back of the ambulance and his little sister climbed in with him while their parents decided which of them would sit up front with the driver.

Shadowmaru didn't get a chance to see much after that as they left as soon as the mother got in the back with her children and the man got in the front passenger seat to ride with the driver.

Curious, he followed them wondering to himself. 'Who is that woman? And why is the new femme bot driving around town giving random people rides?'

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After driving around for fifteen minutes, Shadowmaru saw the blue ambulance pull up to a church and parked on the other side of the street as everyone piled out.

Now that he had a closer vantage point, Shadowmaru observed the family and saw that the mother was heavily pregnant, her husband walked with a limp and used a cane for support and their little girl was about half Yuuta's age.

'Hmm, she probably saw them struggling to push the boy's wheelchair uphill and stopped to help,' he focused on his original prey. 'Are you going to leave once everyone is inside or will you wait?'

Shadowmaru waited until the doors were closed after everyone was inside the church and slowly pulled away from the curb and into a parking spot next to the blue-and-tan ambulance.

After waiting a moment longer to make sure she wouldn't bolt, Shadowmaru spoke up. "So how long have you been sentient? And yes, I know you can hear me so you can drop the act,"

The optical sensors in the ambulance's headlights turned towards him and spoke in a voice that was exactly like that of the woman that "drove" her. "How long have you known and did anyone follow you here?"

Shadowmaru transformed and sat on the curb at the parking spot he was in. "I figured as much when you snuck out when no one else was about, and no, I wasn't followed when I was following you. So, are you going to answer my question?"

The femme sighed and said. "About two months. Although you can't see it, my holoform is kneeling to pray inside so, technically speaking, I am literally begging on my knees when I say 'please, please don't tell anyone'!"

Shadowmaru was surprised by this. 'TWO MONTHS? How have they been keeping it a secret for so long?'

"If you don't mind my asking, why the secrecy Miss…"

The femme hesitated but answered. "Artemis, my name is Artemis. My brother, Goliath, and I were originally in a team of three but our younger brother, Loki, woke up while the engineers were working on him about a month ago," She saddened as she said this. "They thought he was malfunctioning and shut him down to see what happened,"

Her voice broke when she added. "In the end they decided it would be more cost efficient to strip him down for spare parts for the remaining two robots they had rather than starting over with him,"

Shadowmaru's heart went out to the femme; the loss of his own brother, Kagerou, was still fresh in his mind so he could empathize with her. "I'm sorry,"

Artemis rocked on her axels. "Don't be, you didn't know nor were you the one that did it. As to why we still keep up the act there isn't a doubt in my mind they would do the same to us if they ever found out we evolved on our own,"

Shadowmaru was perplexed by this. "Why would they terminate you for becoming sentient if that's what they sent you with us for?"

Artemis huffed. "Because the monsters that built us are control freaks and are only 'ok' with it now is because they decided they wanted it after seeing what your team can do with Super A.I."

After a moment she added "… and that red truck guy was right when he said they don't know diddily-squid about A.I. let alone Super A.I. so they want you guys to take care of that and you can bet your Super A.I. Unit that they will take the credit for everything once they get us back,"

Shadowmaru saw how that made sense but one thing didn't add up; if the American Braves already had the sentience of Super A.I. when they found them and the scientists who built them had nothing to do with it… "If you don't mind my asking, how did you become sentient?"

Artemis sighed and said. "We've been in that military base you found us at pretty much our whole lives. Originally they were going to assign us human 'handlers' to control us but one of them, Private Joey Baker, often stopped by for visits even during after-hours,"

Shadowmaru could hear the smile in her voice as she talked about the Private.

"Everyone thought he was crazy, talking to us like we could understand him. Imagine his surprise when we eventually could understand him and started repeating what he said until we were actually able to talk back. After that he visited us frequently and whenever we were alone he would teach us about human things until we became… well, people,"

Shadowmaru noticed something familiar about her story. "Like Little Boss did with Deckard,"

"I'm not sure what exactly 'Little Boss' did with Deckard so I can't say for certain but pretty much," Artemis backed away slightly, like she was getting ready to run. "Anyways, now you're the only one besides us that knows our secret. What are you going to do?"

Shadowmaru considered for a moment. 'I should tell the others… shouldn't I?' the Ninja Detective sighed. "I'm not going to lie to my teammates if they ask, but…" he quickly added when Artemis seemed like she was about to get upset.

"Unless they do ask or I absolutely have to tell them for some reason…" Shadowmaru smirked. "They don't need to know, do they?"

Artemis let out a relieved sigh. "Thank you,"

They were quiet for a moment before Shadowmaru spoke again. "By the way, that 'woman' that drove you here…"

"My holoform?"

Shadowmaru was baffled by the unfamiliar word but at least it confirmed his suspicion that the driver wasn't real. "Yeah, that. What is it and where did you get it?"

Artemis chuckled. "Wow, you ask a lot of questions. I thought ninjas were supposed to be quiet,"

Shadowmaru stretched out to playfully poke her front bumper with his toe. "I'm a Ninja Detective, my job is to gather information,"

"Oh, I see," Artemis backed away so his ped fell to the ground. "A holoform is a solid light hologram, the projector unit is remotely linked to an A.I. unit and can be used to project images that look and feel real because a thin adaptable force field under the surface of the hologram makes it feel real. I've been using mine to project a driver so no one sees an ambulance driving itself and freaks out,"

Shadowmaru smiled as he righted himself on the curb. "Really? I could use one of those,"

Artemis shyly rolled back into her original spot. "You know, I still have Loki's holoform unit with me. They off'ed him before I could finish it but if you want it you can have it when it's done,"

Shadowmaru stared at her. "'Finish it'? You mean you made that?"

The ambulance rocked on her suspension in the equivalent of a nod. "Yep, they didn't want all the special technicians running around on the battle field so, in addition to downloading 'medical training' into my data banks, they also gave me engineering skills so I could 'play doctor' to my fellow machines as well as my human comrades if anyone got hurt in a fight,"

Shadowmaru thought of all of the times he and the others were damaged in battle and would have been saved a lot of trouble if a mechanic had been closer to, if not at, the scene. "Have I mentioned how glad I am you're on our team?"

Shadowmaru realized how late it was and stood up, dusting himself off. "Speaking of which, I had better get back before someone notices I'm gone,"

Artemis hummed in acknowledgment "And I'd better go back to paying attention to the mass, everyone is wondering why my holoform is just sitting there while everyone else is standing for a hymn,"

Shadowmaru chuckled as he transformed back into vehicle mode. "Wouldn't want that, would we? I'll see you back at the station, Artemis,"

"See you later, Shadowmaru,"

Shadowmaru pulled away from the church and drove through the streets like a shark in the ocean; fast and dangerous, but virtually unseen until he wanted to make himself known.

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The Decker Room

The Build Team were the only ones in the Decker Room when Shadowmaru got back to the Decker Room; meaning Gunmax was… wherever he went when he wasn't there—they still haven't even found where the Motorcycle Detective recharged since he didn't in the maintenance bay with the rest of them, let alone where he went when he wasn't on shift with them aside from the freeway where he patrols—and Deckard was probably still looking for him.

McCrane looked up when the Ninja Detective came into the Decker Room and sat at his desk. "Shadowmaru, where were you just now?"

Shadowmaru grabbed a file from his desk and started looking through it. "Doing ninja stuff,"

Before he could really read anything, however, Chief Toudou came in and looked around. "Say, guys, you wouldn't happen to have the femme in here somewhere, would you?"

McCrane shook his helm. "No, wasn't she in the Maintenance bay?"

Chief Toudou raked his finger through his hair. "Not anymore,"

Drill Boy looked worried about their new teammate. "Where could she be?"

"How long has she been gone?" Shadowmaru knew how long Artemis had been gone; he just wanted to know how long anyone else knew.

Chief Toudou shrugged. "We went to check on her after we finished with the mech and found her gone. We already searched the building, she's not here. Any of you guys see anything suspicious?"

Everyone shook their helms and looked at each other for an answer but no one else had one, except…

Shadowmaru put his file away and transformed into wolf mode as he went to the special entrance they had put in so he could come and go as he pleased in this form—quaintly nicknamed the "doggy door" by the others—and said "I'll go look for her. She couldn't have gone far,"

As soon as Shadowmaru was outside, he loped down the street, contacting Artemis as he ran. :Artemis, are you still at the church?:

After a moment he got a response. :Yes, but mass will be over soon. Why?:

Shadowmaru ran faster. :Everyone else has noticed you're gone. Don't go back to base until I find you, I told everyone I would go out and look for you so no one else would.:

:Oh, thank you. I was going to take the Toudous home before heading back but did you want to meet somewhere instead?:

Shadowmaru slowed to a jog. :Take them home first and meet me at the intersection two blocks from the precinct, we can go from there.:

He came to a dead stop and had to go over what the femme just said. :Did you just say 'Toudous'?:

Artemis hesitated before answering. :Yes, Ryuu and Rosa Toudou and their kids, Tor and Meg… why? Do you know them?:

Shadowmaru hummed to himself and wondered out loud. "I wonder if they are related to Chief Toudou," then he spoke into the comm. link. :The name sounds familiar, I'll see you at the rendezvous.:

:Alright, see you.:

Shadowmaru looked around, wondering if he should go right there or wander around himself for a while.

Then he saw Power Joe driving past him, heading in the direction of the middle school.

'Hmm, probably visiting the children. Better make sure he stays out of trouble,' he trotted after the power shovel.

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Meanwhile, at the school

Yuuta sat with his friends during lunch hour, telling them what little he could about the mission in Domingo Republic and finally asking what he had happened while he was away.

Kikumaro put his elbows on the table top and rested his head in one hand and pushed his glasses further up his nose with the other. "You didn't miss much, they had us learn a new gymnastics move in gym class and there was a pop quiz in math and nothing interesting happened outside of school either,"

Masaki folded his hands behind his head. "Yeah, it was bor-ring!"

Emily nodded and held her chin in her hands as she stared off into space, daydreaming. "Yeah, it must be nice to be able to solve crimes and travel the world like you do, Yuuta,"

Yuuta coughed on the milk he had been drinking when she said that and said "Yeah but it's not always all it's cracked up to be,"

Masaki shrugged. "Ah, don't be such a baby, Yuuta. It can't be that bad,"

The kids finished eating and went outside to hang out until the bell rang. Emily suddenly perked up and looked hopeful. "So, did you bring something back?"

Kikumaro looked at Yuuta. "Yeah, like a wrestler mask?"

Yuuta smiled nervously. "I'd give you one of the ones the guys wore but Dumpson threw his away the first chance he got and everyone else's costumes got all messed up,"

The other three kids looked disappointed. "Bummer,"

Yuuta considered telling them about the American Braves to cheer them up but he wasn't sure if he was supposed to or not. 'Well, no one said I COULDN'T tell anyone about them…' "But we did bring back…"

Suddenly, Masaki pointed to the front gate in front of the school. "Hey, look, it's Power Joe,"

The other three looked up and saw Power Joe pull up in front of the school and transform.

Yuuta frowned; after all the trouble they had gotten in last time, he had asked Power Joe to not come to the school during school hours unless it was an emergency and judging by how at ease the Kung Fu Detective looked there was no emergency.

Yuuta grumbled "I told him he can't just pop in during school like this,"

Emily just waved for the others to follow her as she went over to the gates. "Come on, let's go say 'hello',"

Power Joe saw his friends heading his way as he made his way to the gates but was stopped when Shadowmaru suddenly pulled up and transformed to grab him by the scruff bar.

"Hey, what gives, mutt?"

Shadowmaru dragged him away from the gait and pointed to a spot further down the fence line saying "Over here, over here," in a hushed yell to the children so they would stay on the other side of the fence.

They kids were confused but complied and went to where the fence was between them and the Brave police mechs.

When Power Joe was released he turned to glare at the Ninja Detective who just grinned smugly and said. "We can't get in trouble for being on school grounds if we're not actually on school grounds. Stay on this side of the fence and you should be fine,"

Power Joe looked at the fence and then back at Shadowmaru, seeing how that made sense. "Oh, good call,"

He smiled down at the kids crowding against the chain link fence and crouched down to their level. "Hey kids, how's it going? Staying out of trouble?"

Emily looked away with a huff. "What do you mean? I always stay out of trouble,"

Kikumaro looked at her with exasperation. "Oh, yeah right,"

Masaki gave Power Joe a mock glare "Are you staying out of trouble?"

Power Joe smiled "Always,"

Shadowmaru scoffed and crossed his arm-servos. "Keh, you are trouble,"

Yuuta looked up at them. "So, what brings you guys here?"

Power Joe pretended to be offended and asked innocently. "Why Boss, can't a guy visit his friends after not seeing them for a few days?"

Shadowmaru thwacked him on the helm and deadpanned. "Power Joe is here hiding from Chief Toudou since McCrane told him you wanted him to give Power Joe a check-up when we got back and I saw him heading to the school and wanted to make sure he didn't get in trouble… again,"

Power Joe looked at the purple mech. "I told you guys, I don't need a damn check-up! I'm fine!"

"Power Joe…" the mech looked at Yuuta and saw he was looking at him with his eyes narrowed and his arms crossed. "Do I need to make you stay home when everyone is else on a case?"

Power Joe was taken aback but didn't have time to respond because Shadowmaru pinched his helm fin, making him yelp.

"If I had time to drag him back to the precinct by the audios like Dumpson did earlier I would…" he let Power Joe go and looked at him uncaringly as the mech rubbed the fin. "Sadly, I don't. I've already got a job to do so you'll just have to… what was the phrase you used before? 'Man up and get it over with'?"

Emily frowned and shook her finger at Power Joe. "Yeah, Power Joe; go get your check-up so you don't get sick,"

Shadowmaru straightened up "Speaking of which, I had better get back on task,"

Yuuta looked up at him. "What are you up to anyway? I don't remember you having any cases around here today"

Shadowmaru shook his helm. "I'm not on a case, Little Boss," he looked around to see if anyone was listening and knelt down to whisper so only their little group could hear. "Deckard taught the femme to walk when Chief got her up and running and Drill Boy showed her around. Now she's wandered off so I'm out looking for her,"

Yuuta slumped "Ah, I missed her first steps?" then his eyes widened. "Wait, she's missing?"

Kikumaro looked up at the Ninja detective. "What's a femme?"

Power Joe quickly explained. "Mechs are boy robots, Femmes are girl robots,"

Emily squealed excitedly. "There's a girl robot now? I want to see!"

Yuuta looked at her. "That's what Kirumi said,"

Kikumaro looked at him at pointed at himself and the other two. "Well, maybe we want to see them too,"

Masaki frowned "Yeah, why didn't you tell us there was a new Brave police?"

Yuuta huffed "There's two, actually. I was just about to tell you about them when Power Joe showed up,"

"Oh,"

Power Joe stood up "I'll help you look,"

"No!" Shadowmaru said a little too quickly so he added. "I can track better alone, you'll only slow me down. Besides, you have a prior appointment, remember?"

Power Joe huffed. "That can wait,"

Shadowmaru crossed his arm-servos. "Don't make me call your brothers,"

Yuuta looked up at the Ninja Detective. "I'll help,"

Masaki clenched his fist. "Us too!"

"Yeah!" Emily and Kikumaro cheered in agreement.

Shadowmaru was touched by their eagerness to help but he smiled as he waggled his digit and clicked his glossa at them. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, you four need to get back to class before you get in trouble,"

"But the bell hasn't rung yet," just as Masaki said that, the warning bell rang to let the students know that lunch hour was over.

Shadowmaru looked down at the four children who turned to look at the school. "You were saying?"

Yuuta looked up at Shadowmaru "But if this is Brave Police business I can get a tardy slip from the office and…"

Shadowmaru reached over the fence to turn Yuuta around and nudge him in the direction of the school, despite the boy's protests. "If we need you there we'll call the school and they'll let you out of class so we can come get you. If not then get yourself to class, Little Boss, or I'll tell Deckard you're skipping school,"

Yuuta gasped and turned to look up at the ninja. "You wouldn't,"

"Try me,"

Yuuta slumped in defeat and trudged after the other students filing back into the school. "Come on guys,"

Masaki, Kikumaro and Emily looked up at Power Joe, trying to get him to side with them but he smiled and said. "Go to class, I'll bring you guys to the precinct to meet the new bots after school,"

"Cool!"

"You'd better!"

"See you later!"

Kikumaro, Masaki and Emily waved as they and Yuuta jogged back to the school.

Power Joe looked at Shadowmaru. "So, where do we start?"

Shadowmaru face palmed and pointed in the general direction of the precinct. "I'm going to start searching the neighborhoods surrounding the precinct to see if I can get the femme's trail and go from there. You are going back to the precinct before Toudou reports you missing and the Board of Directors declares you rogue as a result,"

Power Joe shifted the light in his optics to mimic an eye roll, a habit he picked up from the human children, and waved him off. "They wouldn't do that,"

Shadowmaru nodded "They didn't hesitate to condemn Gunmax after someone dropped off those pictures that supposedly showed him wreaking havoc with a local gang,"

He walked away and Power Joe followed him. "That was different, those pictures were convincing,"

Shadowmaru turned so he was walking backwards to look at Power Joe as they walked. "Not quite, I got another look at the pictures after Gunmax took off with Deckard that day. THE BIKES WEREN'T EVEN THE SAME! Everyone was just so focused on the image of Gunmax they didn't even notice,"

He turned and started walking forward again. Power Joe hesitated; he hadn't known about the bike being different, he—like the others—had given Gunmax the benefit of the doubt and tried to buy him some time for him to prove himself.

Power Joe trotted to catch up since Shadowmaru was somehow able to keep ahead of him even when walking backwards. "How could you tell the bikes were different?"

Shadowmaru didn't even bother looking back this time. "The one in the picture was gray with red strobe lights on the sides with Highway Patrol decals, but the real Gun Bike is white with orange strobe lights on the sides and Highway Patrol decals that have the Brave Police emblem in the center,"

Power Joe scratched his helm "Huh, must have missed that," He ran into Shadowaru when the mech stopped suddenly.

"What are you doing?"

Power Joe looked at him. "Huh?"

Shadowmaru pointed over his shoulder. "The precinct is that way, why are you going this way?"

Power Joe huffed. "Maybe I want to help you, ever think of that?"

This time it was Shadowmaru's turn to huff. "I don't need help,"

Power Joe clenched his fists. "And I don't need a check-up,"

Shadowmaru looked around to locate any nearby traffic cameras. "Yes you do, whereas I can hack into nearby security systems and use the traffic cameras to locate her,"

"Or do the dog nose thing you did in the Hourglass and sniff her out,"

Shadomaru spun around to glare at the mech; he was getting really sick of the dog puns that mostly came from Power Joe. "Alright, smart aleck, I'll make you a deal. If you can keep up you can come with, but if you fall behind or lose track of me, even for a moment, you will go back. Deal?"

Power Joe looked skeptical. "How do I know you won't just use your jet mode to ditch me in the air?"

"I won't. So, deal?" Shadowmaru smiled as he held out his servo for Power Joe to shake and wasn't surprised when the other mech smiled and took it.

"You're on,"

Shadowmaru had to hold back his snickers; Power Joe had obviously forgotten that even in his wolf mode he was faster than the power shovel and if he used his patrol car mode…

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Fifteen minutes later

Power Joe drove at full speed down an abandoned back road. "Where did that little bastard go now?"

Meanwhile, Shadowmaru perched on the edge of a nearby roof top trying not to laugh out loud. 'Oh, times like this I wish we were able to eat popcorn,'

After a few minutes of watching the Kung Fu Detective scramble about on a wild goose chase, Shadowmaru called the Decker Room on his comm. link.

:Brave Police Headquarters, McCrane speaking.:

Shadowmaru followed Power Joe's movements with his optics. :McCrane, it's Shadowmaru. I think one of you might want to come and get Power Joe, he's been circling the same building for the past ten minutes.:

:Odd, why would he do that?:

:He found out the femme was missing and wanted to help look for her instead of going back to the Chief for his check-up.: Shadowmaru snickered: I told him if he could keep up with me he could help me look but if I managed to lose him he had to go back.:

There was a moment of silence before. :You lost him, didn't you?:

Shadowmaru looked down and saw Power Joe circle around the block and check a different street for any sign of the ninja detective. :And now he's driving around to make it look like he knows where he's going,"

He could hear McCrane sigh. :Alright, we'll be right there. Speaking of the femme, any sign of her?:

Shadowmaru reached up to touch his head band and hacked the traffic camera system to check on the intersection where he had agreed to meet Artemis and found she was driving down the street to it. :I think I just saw her but I'm going to go for a closer look to make sure. See ya, McCrane.:

He cut off the transmission and rolled away from the edge of the roof to run to the other side of the building and jump off.

After freefalling for a few feet, Shadowmaru landed on the roof of a lower building to slow some of his momentum and back flipped off of it to slow his fall even further and land in a crouch on the street below.

Once on the ground, he transformed and drove away from the area, hoping he could get to Artemis before someone else did or all the secrecy would have been for nothing.

Quick shout out to the people that reviewed and/or added; Calimvir,