More Human Than Human

"Talking"

'thoughts'

"Recordings, talking on the phone or singing"

"Speaking another language besides Japanese"

:Talking through the comm. links:

Rated T for language, slash 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. This chapter refers to the episode "My Fairy".

Shadowmaru got back to the precinct and immediately checked on the others; both to make sure Artemis came back safely and to see if anyone noticed her come back on her own.

Seeing the former and no evidence of the latter, the Ninja Detective hooked himself back up to his maintenance cradle with enough time to get just enough recharge that no one would know he was out all night unless they checked the security feeds.

He was going to settle for a quick "power nap" but the alarm went off and he pretended to wake up at the same time the others did. 'Oh well, another day with little to no recharge, like that hasn't happened before,'

Everyone fueled up quickly so they would have enough energy for whatever was ahead of them and the Decker Room. As they all sat went to their desks and Shadowmaru remembered. "By the way, Boss won't be in today and Deckard might be late,"

Everyone looked concerned and Dumpson asked. "Why, what happened?"

Shadowmaru got out a file of cases he was supposed to cover that day and looked it over while they waited for the Commissioner to get there and tell them what was going on as he explained. "Boss had appendicitis. I stopped by while I was out last night and Deckard looked about ready to break a window when Azuki said he needed an ambulance,"

This only calmed the others down minutely, now they knew the culprit had a name but they didn't know what it was or how serious it was, which Power Joe pointed out. "Appendicitis? What in the hell is that?"

"'Appendicitis' is when the appendix becomes inflamed and gathers bacteria. If left untreated, the appendix could burst and cause an infection in the abdominal cavity,"

They all looked up and saw Commissioner Saejima standing there and McCrane started to say "Commissioner, Boss won't be in today. He has…"

The Commissioner nodded. "I know, his sister called from the hospital and told me what was going on,"

Dumpson asked "How is something like that supposed to be treated?"

The Commissioner frowned. "The appendix must be surgically removed before it bursts or the resulting infection could prove… fatal," he perked up "Luckily, no one actually needs their appendix for anything,"

Everyone was a bit unsettled but Drill Boy was the one to voice it. "Poor Boss!"

McCrane pulled Drill Boy's arm-servos down from where he had thrown them in the air. "Calm down. He'll be fine as long as they remove the afflicted organ before it bursts and the infection spreads,"

McCrane hesitated and looked at Shadowmaru, who knew more than any of them about the situation. "They did get it out, didn't they?"

Shadowmaru shrugged. "Everything was going fine last I checked. I left once I was sure Deckard wasn't going to try to break into the hospital to check on the Boss,"

Commissioner Saejima cleared his throat. "Speaking of Deckard, we are going have to call him back. Yuuta probably won't be released until later today and we need everyone for this case so we can't afford to wait,"

"I'm on it," McCrane brought a digit to his comm. link and called Deckard.

:Deckard, return to the precinct. We have a situation.:

Deckard's voice sounded strained, like he didn't want to leave but also didn't want to shirk his job. :McCrane, what is going on?:

McCrane looked at the Commissioner in a "what should I tell him?" manner but the man just said "We have a lead on Dr. Madoh. Our sources tell us he might be using a warehouse outside of town to conduct more illegal experiments. Deckard will have to meet you all there,"

McCrane relayed the information to Deckard before ending the call and everyone left the Decker Room and ran out to the garage so they could drive out.

However, on the way out, Shadowmaru stumbled and fell to his knees.

Power Joe shook his fist at him after he almost tripped over him. "Hey, watch it!"

Dumpson tried to help the purple mech up, thinking he had just tripped, but saw that Shadowmaru was shaking violently as he tried to remain standing. "Are you alright?"

Shadowmaru leaned against the wall. "I'm fine, just a little low on energy,"

Power Joe scoffed as he walked past. "How can you be low on energy if we all just woke up?"

Shadowmaru laughed darkly. "Don't you need to recharge first in order to wake up?"

McCrane tilted his helm to the side. "Why haven't you recharged yet?"

Shadowmaru pushed away from the wall and forced himself to walk forward. "Unlike the rest of you, I didn't recharge on the plane and while you guys were here snoozing away, I was out investigating a case and then went to Boss' house and helped out there. I got back about ten minutes before the alarms went off,"

McCrane, being the unofficial second in command of the Brave Police, took charge of the situation. "Shadowmaru, you are in no condition to accompany us on this mission. Stay here and recharge. If we have not completed the mission by the time your energy is at an acceptable level you may join us,"

Shadowmaru was about to protest but found he literally didn't have the energy to argue and let Dumpson help him over to his maintenance cradle so he could hook himself up to it before powering down for recharge as the others left.

Sometime later, Shadowmaru woke up to see Artemis examining him while the new mech—who he assumed was Goliath from what Artemis told him earlier—stood off to the side with his arm-servos crossed, looking like a bouncer guarding a building.

Artemis saw he was awake and immediately asked "Are you alright?"

Shadowmaru ran a quick self-diagnostic and nodded. "Yeah, just got low on energy. They made me stay behind to catch up on recharge so I wouldn't slow them down,"

Artemis' ear finials drooped. "I'm sorry, if I hadn't been so slow in helping Yuuta you could have come back here sooner and got the rest you needed,"

Shadowmaru gave her a reassuring smile. "You helped save our boss; you have nothing to apologize for,"

Artemis gave him a "nice try" smile before waving the other mech forward. "Oh, since you guys haven't actually met yet. Goliath, this is Shadowmaru, the only sentient being on this side of the planet that knows about us. Shadowmaru, this is my brother Goliath,"

Goliath gave him a half smile. "Nice to meet you… If you rat us out they will need a magnifying glass to find what's left of you,"

The two mechs sized each other up until Artemis got between them. "Alright, alright, how about we let the poor ninja-bot rest before he shuts down from lack of energy?"

She looked at Shadowmaru after addressing Goliath. "Your reserves are at ten percent and dropping. Recharge, doctor's orders,"

"Yes ma'am,"

The American Braves got back into their maintenance cradles and the three bots powered down for the night.

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Meanwhile

Gunmax sat parked at the edge of the highway in his designated "speed trap" spot for the evening.

The Highway Patrol was still giving him shifts on top of what he did with the Brave Police and tonight he had a night shift, but he didn't mind; this little stretch of highway was the Motorcycle Detective's territory and Gunmax was its apex predator.

Gunmax maneuvered Gun Bike's handle bars to work the front tire back and forth across the pavement, almost twitching with anticipation. 'Come on out, little crooks. Ol' Gunmax wants to play,'

The sounds of a familiar sounding engine and sirens caught his attention and Gunmax looked around to see Deckard's vehicle form speeding down the highway. 'What is he doing out here?'

Out of habit and just for the hell of it, Gunmax scanned Deckard to see how fast he was going. 'Like that squeaky-clean rulebook-jockey would ever speed.'

After double checking his readings, Gunmax saw that Deckard was in fact well above the speed limit. 'Ah, Patoka, you really know how to make a mech's night,'

Gunmax turned on his own sirens and throttled after his team mate as he drove by and shouted. "HEY, PATOKA! WHERE YOU OFF TO IN SUCH A HURRY?"

Deckard answered back. "Investigating reports on illegal activity at the edge of town,"

Gunmax pulled up beside him so Deckard could see him smirk. "Cool, can I come with?"

Deckard whooped his sirens at him and a car in front of him that seemed to have forgotten that sirens mean get out of the way of the vehicle in possession of said sirens. "I thought you were working with the Highway Patrol tonight?"

Gunmax grinned and Deckard absently wondered if bugs got in his denta when he did that. "They said if the Brave Police had a case in our neck of the woods I had the option of helping if needed. You brought this shit through my turf, baby, I'm coming with,"

Deckard sighed; he knew there was no getting rid of the mech now. "Fine, come on,"

Gunmax whooped and did a wheelie on Gun Bike before following Deckard to the warehouse they had been told to investigate.

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When Deckard and Gunmax arrived at the scene they found that they had gotten there a few moments ahead of the Build Team… and the warehouse they were supposed to investigate was on fire.

Gunmax pointed. "That it?"

Deckard nodded. "Looks that way,"

The Build Team arrived and once everyone transformed Power Joe whistled. "How are we supposed to find anything in there?"

"Like this!" Dumpson ran up to the building and kicked down the door, running inside.

"Dumpson!" McCrane called after his brother but he was already inside.

Deckard jogged up to the building and looked over his shoulder. "Come on, we'd better make this quick before the building collapses,"

"Roger!" they all ran inside and split up to search the building.

The flames didn't bother the mechs but after a few minutes of finding only beakers and other equipment that had been left behind, the Braves had to stop and dodge burning debris as the rafters and walls started to crumble.

Just as everyone else reported in that they found nothing, which furthered their assumption that the place was abandoned, Dumpson knelt down to check under a work bench and saw something taped to the wall with a flashing light on it.

"What's this?" he looked closer and saw it was a demolition charge and the flashing light was a digital timer counting down.

Dumpson stood up and waved the others towards the exit. "Everyone out, NOW!"

Everyone started to leave but paused to ask why. Dumpson shouted "IT'S A TIME BOMB!"

They all resumed running but more of the ceiling came down between them and the door so Deckard motioned for everyone to get down. "TAKE COVER!"

Everyone dove for the ground and covered their helms just as everything became a whirlwind of fire, debris and concussive sound.

When everything cleared, Deckard found himself pinned under a pile of debris with someone underneath him. He tried to push the debris off of him but he ended up falling down on top of the mech underneath him.

'How did I end up on top of Gunmax?' Imitating a human cough, the Police Detective cleared the dust out of his intakes and called out to the others. "Report, is everyone alright?"

"No need to shout, baby, I'm right here,"

Deckard looked down and saw Gunmax waking up and looking at him. "Gunmax, are you injured?"

The Motorcycle Detective rolled his shoulders and tried to sit up but found the tiny space he and Deckard were in wouldn't allow that. "I think so…" the mech smirked. "Although I got quite a few boo-boos though, boo. Kiss it better?"

Deckard was confused at first but his optics widened as Gunmax kissed him on the lip components. "Gunmax, what did I say about that?" Unbeknownst to the others, Deckard and Gunmax had been pursuing a relationship for some time.

Gunmax snorted and had he been human Deckard was sure he would be rolling his eyes behind his visor. "'Not in front of the Boss because it's unprofessional and the kid's still young enough to believe in 'cooties', there's no one else is here but me and you,"

Deckard shifted the light in his optics to mimic an eye roll. "I said 'Not while we're on duty',"

Gunmax pretended to pout. "I'm always on duty, either with you guys or the Patrol. The only time I'm not working is when they finally let me recharge,"

After making sure there was in fact no one to see, Deckard playfully nipped one of Gunmax's neck cables. "And if you don't learn how to behave when you're on duty I'll stop sneaking out for our little visits when you aren't,"

Gunmax gasped "Hey, no fair, I barely get any of this as it is," he somehow managed to slip his servos in the tiny gap between the rubble and Deckard to give his aft a quick squeeze.

Deckard squeaked and tried to turn around to see what had happened before looking down at Gunmax. "Did you just grope me?"

Gunmax pulled his servos back and held them up. "Cop didn't see it, I didn't do it,"

"…'Max, we're both cops,"

Gunmax's smirk faded "Oh…" he faltered for a better comeback and smirked devilishly. "Pictures or it didn't happen,"

Deckard let out an exasperated sigh. "You're hopeless,"

Gunmax smirked "You love me anyway,"

The patrol car smiled. "Yeah," the two were about to steal a quick kiss before trying to dig themselves out when the rubble that was pinning them down was suddenly pulled away.

"Well, what do we have here?"

Deckard blushed at the sound of Power Joe's voice and peeked over his shoulder.

The Build team had already dug themselves out and now they were looking down at him and Gunmax after having dug them out too.

Deckard belatedly noticed the way he and Gunmax were positioned and just how suggestive said position must have looked to their team mates. "N-nothing, nothing at all,"

He tried to get up but Gunmax pulled him back down and put him in a head lock. "Quick, put that back before he gets away! I'm not done with him yet!"

Deckard struggled against the green-and-white mech's grip. "Gunmax, let go or else,"

Gunmax smirked and called his bluff. "Or else what?"

"Or else…" Deckard twisted around to whisper something in Gunmax's audio. "…you won't be getting any for a year!"

None of the Build Team heard what he said but it made Gunmax gasp before helping Deckard up and dusting the mech off. "Sorry, Patoka. We cool?"

Deckard looked at Gunmax's raised fist and remembered what that phrase meant—one doesn't spend a lot of time with the Motorcycle Detective without picking up some of his Engrish phrases—and mimicked the phrase while he bumped his fist against Gunmax's. "Yeah, we cool,"

Deckard then looked around. "Is everyone alright?"

McCrane stepped up, having already took stock on his sub-team's injuries, and reported. "A few dents and scrapes. It could have been much worse,"

Deckard rubbed his helm and looked around. "Anyone see any sign of where the suspect might have gone?"

Dumpson grumbled. "When were we supposed to look for that? We got here and searched the warehouse to see if anyone was still inside and then had to dig ourselves out when the damn place came down on our helms,"

Power Joe kicked at a large chunk of roof "Well, unless we find something in this mess that we can use to pin whatever theydid on them the only thing we've got on them is arson,"

Gunmax clicked his glossa in irritation and went to where he had parked Gun Bike but stopped when he spotted something on the ground; tire tracks and since they were too small to be Gun Bike's they probably belonged to one of the others or a human car.

"Hey, those tracksbelong to one of you guys?"

Everyone looked to see what Gunmax was talking about and McCrane went to examine the tire tracks. "Tire tracks?"

Power Joe held up his servos. "Not mine. I have treads, not tires,"

"Me too!" Drill Boy piped up.

McCrane knelt down to get a closer look at the tracks. "They're too narrow to be mine or Dumpson's. Deckard?"

Deckard came to stand next to where McCrane was crouching. "Not mine either. Gunmax and I came from the other way,"

McCrane frowned and ran a digit through the dirt to see how fresh the tracks were. They weren't even a few hours old and leading away from the warehouse. "So they drove,"

Deckard nodded. "At least we have that to go on,"

Power Joe scoffed. "How is that something to go on?"

McCrane wiped the dirt off his servos as he stood up. "We find the vehicle, we find whoever was driving it and bring them in for questioning,"

Drill Boy tilted his helm to the side. "So, now what? Do we follow the tire tracks?"

Gunmax looked around. "Where did the ninja bot get to? This stuff is supposed to be his thing," he whistled and patted his leg like he was calling a dog. "Here, Shadowmaru, here boy,"

Deckard looked around, realizing the Ninja Detective actually was missing rather than fading into the background like his title suggested. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him since he left the hospital,"

Gunmax looked at Deckard. "What was Kujo doing in the hospital?"

Power Joe took a swing at the mech but missed when he ducked. "Not him, Boss is in the hospital. Deckard followed the ambulance and Shadowmaru followed Deckard to make sure he wouldn't go crazy like he did when…"

While Power Joe explained the Gawan incident to Gunmax, Dumpson shook his helm and told Deckard. "We made Shadowmaru stay behind, his power levels were so low he could barely walk let alone actually do anything if he ever did get out here,"

Deckard hummed to himself. "Hmm, he seemed fine before,"

Drill Boy nodded "Yeah, we thought so too… but then when we were on our way out 'WHAM!'…" he swung his servo downward like he was throwing something at the ground. "…down he went,"

Deckard looked at the orange mech for a moment before sighing and walking away. "Let's just see where the tracks lead, at the very least we might be able to figure out the general direction they were heading,"

And so they followed the trail, everyone else followed the tire tracks while Drill Boy did an aerial sweep to see if he could see any vehicles leaving the immediate area.

They continued following the tracks until the trail ended on a paved road. Dumpson pointed to where the dirt from the tires got transferred onto the pavement. "Trail ends here, looks like they turned that way,"

Drill Boy landed next to the others. "Didn't see anything, now what?"

Before anyone could say anything, Gunmax grabbed the mouth piece from a CV radio on GunBike and spoke into it. "Breaker, breaker… Hey Karin, you on your route right now?"

Deckard looked at Gunmax, a little jealous of the way the other mech was talking to this strange person. "Who's Karin?"

Gunmax covered the mouthpiece. "Officer Karin is the Patrolman that had this route tonight,"

As he said this, a man's voice came over the radio. "That you, Gunmax?"

Deckard immediately felt foolish but hid it from the others. "Oh, ok,"

Gunmax wasn't fooled and teased him over a private comm. : Jealous, Patoka?:

He spoke over the radio again. "Who else would it be? Anyway, you see any suspicious vehicles within the last hour? Got a runner last seen heading your way from the east,"

No response at first before Officer Karin said "Not that I recall. Got a description of the vehicle?"

Gunmax frowned "Negative, suspect torched a warehouse after planting a time bomb for anyone that came to scope it out and hightailed it out of here,"

"Hmm, not much to go on. Any chance it passed any traffic camera's?"

Gunmax growled. "Even if it did I don't think it would help,"

"Right… sorry man, not much I can do for ya,"

Gunmax huffed and said a gruff "Thanks anyway," before slamming the radio mouthpiece back down on the hook. "Well, so much for that idea,"

Power Joe leered at the Motorcycle Detective. "I thought the Highway Patrol knows everything that's going on on the highways even with their eyes closed,"

Gunmax glared at the yellow mech. "What, you think they would have a fucking banner that says 'We burned down a warehouse and then blew it up'?"

"GUNMAX!"

Gunmax jumped at the sound of an angry voice shouting at him through the police radio on GunBike's console. "Oh shit!" he grabbed the mouth piece and said "Yes Captain?"

The new voice, presumably the captain of the Highway Patrol, said in a bemused tone. "Instead of asking your fellow Patrolmen what they're seeing on their routes, how about you get your brass ass back to your own?!"

Gunmax bit his lip component and then looked at Deckard and smiled as he said "Sorry sir, I was pursuing a speeder that came through my route…"

Deckard grabbed the mouthpiece away and spoke into it. "Sir, this is Deckard of the Brave Police, we were investigating a case nearby and asked Gunmax for assistance since he knows the area better,"

The Highway Patrol Captain simply asked "Do you absolutely need him right now?"

Deckard hesitated and the man on the other end of the line said "I'll take that as a 'no',"

He raised his voice and said "Gunmax, I know you can hear me, get back to your station. If that motorcycle gang is having street races in your sector while your back is turned again I'm going to reassign you!"

Gunmax roughly took the mouth piece back and said "Yeah, yeah, be right there," he turned off the radio and hung mouth piece back on its hook. "Well, crap," he mounted GunBike and started the engine.

McCrane looked at the Motorcycle Detective. "What did he mean by 'reassign' you? I thought you were with us now?"

Gunmax laughed harshly. "Nope, I'm still doing shifts with the Patrol," he looked over his shoulder at the others "Where do you guys think I go when I'm not with you, 'Starbucks'?"

He kicked off and drove away, tires spitting gravel everywhere as he peeled off the dirt road and sped down the highway.

The others gave him a passing glance before walking away, Power Joe asked "How come no one told us he was still doing Patrol work on the side?"

Deckard was the only one that watched Gunmax go until Gunbike's tail lights were no longer visible. "Because he didn't think it was any of our business and everyone else that knew thought either he told us or it was so obvious that he didn't need to,"

He turned on his heel and walked back the way they had come. "This trail is a dead end, let's check the crime scene again before we go,"

They all went back to what was left of the smoldering warehouse and sifted through the debris, only to find nothing but burnt wreckage so they left to report what little findings they had—or lack thereof—to the Commissioner before they all returned to their maintenance cradles.

Well, all except Deckard who went back to the hospital to wait for Yuuta.

A.N.: comments, questions and suggestions are welcome. Any flames will be dealt with accordingly.