Chapter 11 ~ "Scarred spark"

Red Alert had slowly left the operating room, having spotted a bench and sat down tiredly. The medic rubbed his temple, noticing Scavenger walking up to him obviously waiting for an answer. Red Alert sighed, "He's stable..." he looked over the group of Yuusha, FuuRyu in particular had stepped up next to Scavenger, "He'll be able to go by tomorrow evening, he just needs some time to physically heal here..." He noted the relieved looks, however he had to added the important piece of info, "However..." he wiped off some mech fluid on his face, "Mentally healing might take some time... I saw some damage that meant he was probably sexually abused or even raped..."

Both the Gun Robot twins growled at that. GunDober's engine growled, and his brother's rotors made a nasty-sounding rumbling whir. VolFogg bared his dental plates in a snarl. Being a police car and having spent most of his time on Earth, he was more familiar than he'd like with such crimes.

FuuRyu started to break down when he heard what happened to his brother. He was enclosed in an embrace of his two older brothers HyoRyu and EnRyu. Mic jumped in and gave him a hug too. "Can… Can I sit with him?" FuuRyu asked as fat energon tears leaked down his pale cheeks.

Red Alert smiled sadly, "You can, just make sure to not disturb him. He needs his rest..." the medic stood up and opened the door, allowing FuuRyu inside. The green bot came upon his yellow twin upon a table, his lower regions covered over by a stasis board while tubes, wires, and such were connecting to every point of his body. A monitor was set up to count his spark-beat; his breathing was slow and steady.

There was a flicker of highly reflective silver, and then there was one robot where three had been standing. The purple and white mech was still shaking with anger, hands tightly fisted. His optics blazed over his facemask, and the rotors on his left arm were beginning to spin. Normally the ninja mechs were among the more levelheaded and even-tempered mechs, but even they could be pushed too far.

Scavenger had to rush over to the combined ninja bot, he growled, "There's no need for that! We have no idea who even did this to him yet so disconnect and get your ass in line!"

FuuRyu in the meantime was sitting by his injured brother, holding his limp hand and rubbing it softly. RaiRyu himself was completely out cold, laying practically exposed to the whole group save for the stasis board.

Big VolFogg didn't move. Crossing his arms over his chest, he glared at Scavenger. "We combined so I could stop the twins from going hunting. Would you rather have them going out and doing that before we have any more information?"

Scavenger gritted his teeth, biting onto his pipe roughly. He looked back at Prime who was still out of it and then back at the yellow twin; he watched as RaiRyu's body jolted and he screamed for a mere 3 or 4 seconds before slipping back into unconsciousness. FuuRyu stood up and leaned his forehead onto RaiRyu's, whispering comforting words and stroking his helm.

Scavenger sighed, "We never meant for this to happen..."

"We know," the ninja combiner replied softly. "But there are things that no one can plan for. Some things are universal, and evil people is one of them." His optics flashed. "Though there will be hell to pay when the person who did this to him is found."

Scavenger nodded and looked back at the green and yellow twin, it was going to be rough from here now on end. The next evening, RaiRyu was allowed to leave the clinic with Prime and FuuRyu supporting him on either side. They took the monorail back the docks, the yellow bot having leaned against his twin the whole way without even muttering a single word. Prime had quickly notice this, which meant that getting any answers out of him was not going to be easy.

The ninja team had yet to separate back into three mechs. Big VolFogg kept a cautious eye on the others and their surroundings. He had the distinct feeling that once they found RaiRyu's assailant, GekiRyuJin would be getting involved, and the results wouldn't be good. He was unaware he'd said that aloud until the Cybertronians turned to look at him.

Scavenger narrowed his optics, "What do you mean getting 'involved'?" he had asked before the monorail came to a stop and they filed out and onto the station. Meanwhile Prime was helping RaiRyu walk towards the docks with FuuRyu helping him on this other side. They had arrived at their ship's dock and headed inside, Prime leading the yellow bot to his quarters that he shared with his twin.

"GekiRyuJin is the combined form of FuuRyu and RaiRyu," Big VolFogg explained, looking at the old mech. "An angry, hurt RaiRyu and a furious FuuRyu... you do the math."

Scavenger winced, looking back a the yellow bot once they entered into the twin's quarters, "I don't think he'll even be able to combine with his twin for a while..." he watched as Prime was giving RaiRyu some of the medicated energon, "Actions such as rape can leave a lot of damage, I've seen even the most toughest and the most ego-centric mechs go down into a void of silence after an action such as that..."

"True." Big VolFogg watched FuuRyu and RaiRyu for a moment. "But even if they don't, the other two still can, and ChoRyuJin can deal out one hell of a beating even though he's a specialist in defense."

Scavenger nodded towards the combined ninja bot and looked back at Prime and the twins; he was trying to get questions out of RaiRyu but the yellow bot wasn't responding at all. Sighing, the old mech pulled out a small vial out of his subspace; it was full of green liquid that glowed slightly. Scavenger pulled off the top and walked over to the yellow bot.

Prime had spotted him and frowned, "Scavenger... you know those are illegal on this planet..."

"Yes, all of us but Mic are combiners." Big VolFogg watched Scavenger with narrowed optics. "Is that what I think it is?"

Scavenger smirked, "Depends... what do you think it is exactly?" he looked back at the ninja bot, ignoring the glare that Prime was giving him.

"Something that will help you get the answers you seek from Rai." Big VolFogg moved closer, the parts of him that were the twins eager to hear what had happened.

"Bingo..." and with that, he pulled RaiRyu's chin up and parted his lips. He poured the green-glowing liquid down RaiRyu's throat and then allowed the yellow bot to sit back against the wall on his recharge berth. Scavenger looked at Prime, who was still glaring holes into his skull, "Go ahead..."

Prime narrowed his optics at the old mech and then leaned down to RaiRyu's level, "RaiRyu...?"

Big VolFogg eased closer, as silent combined as his three parts were separately. Not easy for a mech of his size, but it was an invaluable skill. He stood within easy hearing distance, listening intently.

"RaiRyu..." Prime called again, "Can you tell me who captured you?" his reply was a pain-filled groan.

RaiRyu's optics flickered and he was looking dully at Prime, "Dark...and black with a purple sign..."

Purple sign? Prime narrowed his optics, "That means it was a Decepticon..." he looked at the yellow bot carefully, "Did you catch his name RaiRyu?"

There was complete silence within Big VolFogg; normally there was a fair amount of communication between the three parts of his A.I. Now there was internal silence; all three were listening intently. They wanted to know the name.

RaiRyu's lips tremble, "He said his... name was..." his head was moving slowly up at Prime, "His name was... Darius..."

Scavenger blinked, optics suddenly wide, "Darius? As in the Darius Con bounty head we've been looking for?" RaiRyu looked up at Scavenger, unsure.

"Bounty..." Big VolFogg's eyes flashed again. "If this is the same mech, then you will not be alone in the hunt."

Scavenger looked back at the ninja bot, "Yeah, but the problem is that the bounty head has to be alive in order for us to collect the reward..."

Prime tapped his fingers, pulling up a tech-image on his mini holo-vid that was located on his forearm, "Is this him RaiRyu?"

RaiRyu was trembling, moving back on his berth when he saw the image, "Yes..." he was pushing himself against FuuRyu.

Prime didn't need any more answers and stood up, he sighed, "Damn, from what we know about this guy he's going to be moving constantly..."

"He can run, but he cannot hide." Pink-red optics burned with a steady glow. "Not when he has us on his trail as well... our original purpose was to gather intelligence, to track. That is why we are so stealthy, besides our being ninja."

Scavenger narrowed his optics, "Easy..." he smoked at his pipe, seeing Prime settle RaiRyu down for a well-deserved recharge, "If we're gonna catch this bounty head, we have to do this together..." FuuRyu sat next to his twin, slowly lulling him to sleep as Prime watched them, he too looked up at the ninja bot, "And he's not the only bounty head, for us to survive we're gonna need to catch more."

"We have nowhere else to go, and no other purpose," the combiner pointed out. "In our former dimension we were fighting a war against the alien Zonders; we were made to fight. All of us have skills that reflect that, though the dragons of fire and ice were built with defense and rescue in mind more than attack."

Scavenger smirked once they left the room with Prime and ninja bot, "Well things have changed... for ALL of you and you are ALL are free to choose what you want or don't want to do."

Prime nodded, "And tomorrow we might want to check out the market again to see if we can find Darius..." he looked over at Scavenger, "And collect the hefty prize..." he grinned.

If Big VolFogg had had a visible mouth, he would have been grinning fiercely. "That sounds like a plan... Tomorrow let the hunt begin." Finally separating back into three, the ninja team headed back to their rooms.

The night was expected to be a quick one, however the unfortunate screams of RaiRyu's voice made it very uneasy. He had a few nightmares during the evening, that left FuuRyu sleeping with him on one berth all night, even making Prime come in for a few visits.

Thank Primus the morning came, and the bots were sitting in the living room with their breakfast, Prime sat with a plan placed out on a holo-vid, going over the instructions with Scavenger, Megatron, and the ninja bots. For their safety, the rest of the Yuusha were stay on the ship with Sideswipe which left the blue bot a chance to teach the remaining Yuusha about some Cybertronian information.

VolFogg and his team were listening intently. They were absorbing every bit of information, making note of their own capabilities and how they worked with the plan. All three had readied themselves for the hunt, and to fight if necessary.