Duke hadn't meant to go that far, Lady was probably hastening her advancements on her A.I. remote. He knew he went out of line, he knew he must have made her mad, her glares said it all.

Duke speed through the hallway and down to the garage where he knew lead to the less used entrance of the building. The Brave's garage must have been little more then able to fit Super Build Tiger and J-Decker while the two sat with a slight hunch hip to hip. But the back garage wouldn't fit Gunmax very well, it could fit Shadowmaru's wolf form just fine, because it was the humans storage for their cars and bikes. Humans storage, not ambulance bots escape route. And yet it was about to become so.

He would have stopped when orange came around the corner but he didn't. He just didn't. When Drillboy almost fell over he halted Duke as well thanks to Duke being taller, he grabbed at Duke's arms and the ambulance stopped his dash to stabilize the small mech.

Drillboy must have mistook him stopping as a sign he had helped him from falling because he smiled sadly at the Brit, "Thanks, Duke."

"Oh," Duke said and he frowned slightly as the orange mech didn't let his forearms go, "Your welcome, Drillboy. I apologise for running into you but I really must go."

Drillboy didn't let go even when Duke tugged lightly to not raise suspicion. Apparently him running in the halls after what had happened in the meeting room was a red flag. If he hadn't been running and had set a leisurely pace into the direction he wanted then maybe he would be scott free and transforming out of the back entrance by now. No suspicious looks from the little mech.

"Duke," Drillboy said lightly, "Don't take whatever Power Joe said to heart. It's just Power Joe's copping mechanism kicking in with Deckard gone."

Duke grunted but it was nothing toward the drill, just at himself for getting dragged down like this, "Trust me, I won't. Anything Power Joe "goes out the other ear" as they say. I appreciate your concern Drillboy but I really..."

Drillboy brought on a big sad look, nothing like his usual puppy dog optics but somehow this was worse, instead of simple giving in the puppy dog optics stings this... this brought unnecessary guilt to his A.I.. He had a bad feeling Drillboy was going to beg him to tell him what's wrong, or even worse, beg to walk him wherever he was in such a hurry to go. He couldn't see Drillboy walking with him casually to the back entrance and letting Duke creep out without asking why, and he didn't need the drill upset over him leaving.

"Please, Duke," Drillboy said softly, "Let me at least join you..."

Bloody hell!

"... Until I get where I need to be, we're only a few corners away! I want to walk with you just a little, be next to you in a way."

That actually didn't sound too bad. Drillboy had a room he had transformed into a soccer room. Ball polish, extra balls, air pumps, extra nets and beams for goals, paint for the field he practiced on. You name it and Drillboy had it. Futball maintenance was all the room was good for and it seemed the ball on Drillboy's chassis was pretty roughed up.

"Fine." Duke said with some interest, watching Drillboy perk up, "We'll walk you to your maintenance closet."

"Ah, ah!" Drillboy said letting the ambulance go, waving a finger, "The maintenance closet of soccer professionals, you mean!"

"Whatever floats your boat, Drillboy." Duke smiled and began walking with Drillboy right at his side.

The maintenance closet was in the same direction as the back entrance and that made Duke less upset about this walk. He had plenty to be upset about today to make this walk uncomfortable, like; fighting with whatever was left with this team, watching as crippled Shadowmaru tried some physical therapy and landing back on the berth with a heave, Lady showing him the machine that controlled his basic life, and being tailed by Gunmax for quite a while until he lost him. And that was only since the sun had gone down.

"So," Drillboy said with his arms behind his helm, "Where were you going in a hurry?"

Duke had no reason to stay silent with how bare the hall was, but had no reason to tell the truth, so he said calmly, "Fax room. Urgent notion has to be faxed and looked over with care about medical professional not getting paid their wages."

Drillboy must have accepted it because he hummed and seemed to move on with another question, expression blank, "Anything fancy happen lately? Anything you might be upset about?"

"Not that I should know of," Duke sighed, "Nothing urgent anyway. Maybe a few mothers having births in my cab as I saved them from buildings upsets me slightly but nothing else bad."

Drillboy cringed, "Aren't births messy?"

"Yes." Simple answer.

Drillboy looked at him in surprise, "Who helped you clean that out?!"

Duke hummed in thought, "Well, Lady and the generals were too busy so I think Seia and a military man cleaned and sterilized my cab."

"You think?!" Drillboy emphasized as they turned the first of two corners.

Duke nodded. He too was slightly upset he couldn't actually remember getting himself clean. The births hadn't been lovely, but not at all unpleasant. At least he wasn't the doctor who had to birth and control the process or the father who's hands bones popped and skin turned red as she screamed. He was glad he only had to drive her there and not help her inside...

"Well..." Drillboy said after shivering, "Are you sure nothing else bugs you? Nothing you want to tell me, or at least show me?"

"No," Duke said, "Not that I can think of."

"You sure, Duke?" Drillboy said as his tone interlaced two unknown emotions together.

"Drillboy." Duke snapped lightly and looked at the mech, "I'm fine, everything is fine, nothing is wrong and I'm sorry I have no "juicy gossip" as you call it." He looked at what was left of the hallway until Drillboy's stop and back to Drillboy, "Why are you so persistent?"

Drillboy sighed lightly and he looked at the ceiling, servos still interlocked behind his neck, "Because something is bothering me and I'm upset about it..."

Duke couldn't just let Drillboy leave off there. Duke might be the expendable part of the team, not really part of the team if you think about it, but he couldn't leave the little bot like that. Drillboy had that thing about him where you couldn't ignore him, and it had nothing to do with how the mech was orange and white with a big mouth and volume. Just, that was his presence.

"What is it, Drillboy?" Duke asked softly to his walking companion.

Drillboy stopped walking and he lowered his arms, making Duke stop in his tracks in confusion for a second. Drillboy scared realization into the ambulance with his blank look alone.

"A certain friend of mine has been lying to me since we started talking. Sound familiar?"

Duke almost choked with that. Drillboy continued with a light but ridged tone of voice, "He lied about fax reports, he lied about being fine, he lied about not letting a certain brother of mine's words get to him, and I think the only truth I've got out of him tonight it the fact his cab has a 50 percent chance of having pregnant lady fluids in it."

Duke mental reeled and did a double take, so Drillboy was more observant then people gave him credit for. He had noticed Duke was walking in the opposite direction of the fax machine, the fact he was hesitant to walk with him after what transpired in the meeting room, and even that the only thing that was true came out of his vocalizer easier then the lies did.

"Kudos, Drillboy." Duke whispered back to him.

Drillboy smiled and then went back to a frown to keep him composure to make sure Duke didn't pull him into a subject changer, "Thank you. Now, will I get a correct answer? Please, Duke..."

"I won't tell you the whole truth..." Duke said as he stepped in front of the soccer mech, "Maybe some of it though. You found your way around my steady lying."

"Some?!" Drillboy choked, "But I want to help you...!"

"And you will. Just not now..." Duke said and got closer to the mech and whispered to the startled and confused mech, "But your not the one who's going to save me from myself..."

Drillboy looked up in pure concern and confusion as Duke retreated and turned to take a few steps before he heard a beep. It was a comm link. It was too far and muffled to be his own so he watched as Duke stopped and cursed lightly. Someone must have...

"Looks like I have to take the children home, everyone is unsuitable to roam the streets with children inside them. Like an ambulance is any better..." Duke mumbled out loud and turned to Drillboy, "Sorry, you have to walk the rest yourself, I have a duty to fulfill."

Duke had disappeared for all Drillboy saw, the Little mech frozen after that. He hadn't heard it until Duke was gone but he heard hurried steps from where they- Duke- had stood a few seconds ago. He knew who it was before his teammate perimeter alert warned him who it was.

"Gunmax! Gunmax!" He ran back the way he came.

Duke sighed as Yuuta was carried into his driver seat unconscious, sure his sister's were awake but the others boss was who he saw everyday along with them and his sister's weren't exactly often quests to the police station. He speed out the back entrance when they were all buckled up and started a steady and relieving pace to the humans home.

The night would have been silent had it not been for Yuuta's snoring and the two girls whispering in his passenger seats about bloody knows what. He had no interest on listening in after the baby incident and he gladly just drove straight and...

"Duke," Azuki said softly, "We want to apologize for what happened today. It was so ugly..."

"Yeah!" Kurumi said louder but Not loud enough to stir the sleeping tone, "Your not the one who toke Deckard from us, your also not the one who put yourself in charge! That was all Regina-!"

"Please!" Duke said and cut off the middle female, "You'll awaken Yuuta."

"But-!" Kurumi was silent when Azuki shushed the dark hairs sister.

"Duke," Azuki looked at his dashboard with a loving and calming look, making him feel something in his A.I. that was strangely uncomfortable, "I understand what your going through..."

"Azuki..." He whispered gently as he and Kurumi listened to the oldest sister of the Tomonaga group.

"I understand because I've done this about three times." She said softly with that same bloody caring expression, "Shadowmaru and Kagero, I think his name was, were fighting with me caught in the middle. Kagero and Shadowmaru were practically brothers when Kagero went rogue and started attacking talking machines, which is how I got where I was..."

Duke listened intently, quiet but still paying attention, while Kurumi searched the seat.

"They had a falling out. Shadowmaru had a certain point of view that Kagero didn't have. Kagero was to be wiped of his memories, given new orders, and shipped off somewhere else. To Shadowmaru, that was an okay idea, he didn't need Kagero being his "shadow" anymore and this was a chance at a possibly new and better life for Kagero. Kagero didn't agree. While Shadowmaru monologue'd how much memories were data, Kagero stated his memories were more then data. Everything built from there. Kagero didn't want to forget everything he knew, didn't want to forget Shadowmaru like he was nothing...

"Because to Kagero, Shadowmaru was his Everything..." Azuki finished, tears fresh in her big brown eyes as she continued, "Shadowmaru let Kagero go and Kagero returned me. I was so tired I fell unconscious... when I awake, I got information that scared me to death..." She choked, "Kagero had been captured and tampered with... Shadowmaru had to kill him..."

Duke watched as she rubbed her eyes and smiled at him again with such love and misery he was sure it was burning his chassis...

"I had to comfort Shadowmaru when he showed up in our backyard with low fuel. He had tried to starve himself to death, would you believe it?" Azuki's voice was softer now, he couldn't understand how but it was, "But when I told him the real Kagero was cheering him on somewhere, when Deckerd showed up to retrieve a mission, he fueled all the way back up. Ready to fight..."

Duke heard Kurumi gasp softly as Azuki finished off tortuous last words...

"For him."

"OH NO!" Kurumi cried, surprisingly not stirring the boy to her left. She was looking around frantically as if Azuki's story wasn't heart touching. Either that or this item she was looking for was important.

"Ms. Tomonaga, what are you looking for?" Duke asked as he stopped at their house.

"We have to go back!" She said to Duke's dashboard before patting her dress down again, "We left our pagers for the team back on Yuuta's desk, we also left some forms we need for Yuuta's next year on the force!"

Duke made a calming noise, "Don't worry, I have no reason to rush this trip. I can drive us back and Azuki can go retrieve said items from Yuuta's desk. Okay?"

Kurumi calmed down, "Yes, thank you. I apologize for yelling so loudly..."

"No need." Duke's tone sounded of a smile while his vehicle form could not.

They set themselves back into motion as they drove down the street so Duke could get to the intersection and make a U-turn. On the way to the intersection, they stopped at a red light leading to a four-way. South (they way they came) and north were neighborhoods and houses of the city, west was small markets and local service providing places, east lead into the highways of downtown Japan. Duke Sat at that red light before making a soft noise to gain the attention of the two young adult females.

"Yes Duke?" Kurumi asked.

"What do you need?" Azuki asked alongside her younger sister.

"Azuki..." Duke said softly, timidly, "Why did you tell me such a story? About Shadowmaru and... Kagero, yes?"

She nodded and hummed, "Well, you remind me of Kagero, excluding the kidnapping and physical dispute with some one else, you are having personality problems. Or in present terms, getting along and fitting in trouble. I feel with a little niceness, maybe..."

Duke saw the green light and turned onto the intersection, the blacktop cold and sleek with fresh friction under his rolling tires. He speed down the fast lane and made way for the station.

"Just maybe... you would open up to us helping you. Maybe even to the team -?"

"OH MY GOD! DUKE, SWERVE!" Kurumi screamed and awakened her brother next to her, she tried to grab his wheel but he had full control.

Before he could ask why she had screamed once again, a large mass landed and broke the blacktop it crashed onto. A dozen cars on both sides swerved and panicked, crashing into each other, but Duke had no such luxury. He hit whatever it was in what appeared to be its leg and he tried to stop the humans from having whiplash.

Whatever it was put its foot on his roof and pressed down, making Duke's alt mode creak with strain and he grunted as the family inside him got scared. He opened his doors and ushered them out of his alt mode and they complied with his demands. The girls crawled out his right door and Yuuta out his left door. Without his door as another reason his wasn't flattened open and out of the way of protecting him, his body gave way to vents and to his cracking roof.

Suddenly, the foot lifted off of him and he didn't take the opportunity to just sit there. The tried to transform as fast as he could with such damage only to catch glimpse of the things door coming down to kick him in the face with full force.

He flew before he skid on the pavement, taking blacktop with him. He flew over a five car intersection blockage car pile on and hit two cars with their humans still inside. He laid there limp as the man and woman in each car screamed in terror as the massive force loomed over him. The being just stood over him, blocking a good chunk of the stars and blending with the empty black midnight abyss he stared at some nights. The forms optics glistened as they traced his incompetent frame...

J-Decker. The form was J-Decker, the big body couldn't hide those familiar features he recognized the last time they fought. The chassis. The base color clear even in the shadows. The optics burned the same even if they were under the control of an alien force. Said alien force clinging to J-Decker's body.

He quickly pulled out his pistol and cocked the revolver to make sure his ammunition was full before he shot up at his doom. Oil ran down his mouth and from the crack on his forehead, his right optic getting covered in black oil. He spit out said oil and quickly aimed up at J-Decker as the beast raised its same foot above him.

It was going to stomp him. Like some fly it was just seat out of the air but hadn't killed...

He pulled the trigger four times before that large leg came down at him with full force. All the while he heard the distant sound of a motorcycle revving its engine at full throttle and a human female screaming.

"DUKE! DUKE!"

Sadly, in his A.I. he knew that was the third time tonight a girl had yelled at him.

Sadly, it was the third different female who yelled at him...

Azuki had never sound so heart retchingly horrified.