Gum locked up and spasmed, then went limp. She hummed with satisfaction.
Fink lifted his head up from her lap and licked his lips, "Mmm... Minty-cool flavor." Though exhausted, Gum couldn't help but laugh. A knock came from the door. Fink sighed. "Whaaaat!"
"We're rollin lovebirds. Let's go," Garam's muffled voice responded from the other side of the door. Gum sighed. She got up and started adjusting her clothes. Fink was already putting his headphones. He tossed Gum her helmet as he adjusted his hat how he liked it, slipping a stick of Wrigley's spearmint into his mouth. Garam and Yoyo awaited the couple as they exited the office.
"Bout time," Yoyo complained.
Fink chewed loudly on the gum, "Where are Tab, Beat, and Mew?"
"Took off when they saw your door was locked, told us to wait for you guys," Garam responded.
"Coulda waited till we were done..." Fink scowled.
"Hey, they just said to wait for you, they didn't specify for how long," Yoyo quipped.
"God only knows how long it would've taken for you two to crawl outta there by yourselves," Garam put his hands behind his head. "You're cutting in on our time. Where's your gang mentality?"
Fink and Gum kissed deeply as they pulled their gloves on. They pulled away and filled their backpacks with paint, Gum chewing on the new piece of gum she came away with.
"Honey, you know I chew wintergreen," Gum whined.
"We're out," Fink slung his backpack on. "Remind me to boost you some later." Everyone looked at each other. They were all ready.
"Ok. Let's go."
The others turned as the second group rolled up, "No Noise Tanks yet?" Tab asked them as they approached. Fink shook his head. "Hmm... how strange. Wonder what's keeping them from coming out. Well, the plan was that we draw them out and keep them busy while you guys paint, but I guess we just all paint till they show." The first group went back to painting while the new arrivals found some canvasses of their own. Gum finished her first tag, painting it right under one of Fink's quickies. She skated over to start a new one, next to Mew.
"So how're things with you and Fink?" Mew asked. The girls were always close friends and confidants, but they normally never talked about Fink. Gum could tell it hurt Mew more than a little to see/think of them together, although she was still friendly with him.
Gum blushed, "We're totally happy together," she admitted. "I really love him."
"So I noticed," Mew mused, simply.
Gum frowned, "Yeah, you're not the only one." Gum looked to Beat, who was casting an annoyed glance at the couple's graffiti together. "I can't stand the way he leers at us..."
"Yeah, well, you have to expect that from an ex," Mew pointed out.
"I don't see why, he's the one who broke up with me," Gum muttered. "He's such a jerk. I wish I'd never gotten involved with him."
"Well, you can't just undo old mistakes like that," Mew sighed. "Especially not big ones."
"He has no right to be jealous. I wish he'd just disappear," Gum griped.
"Well, he's gonna be so long as things are the way they are. He's a founder along with you and Tab, it's not like you can kick him out of the gang. 'Sides, we've never voted anyone off the island, it's not the GG way," Mew cited. "It would go against our policy of no policy to kick someone out now, especially over personal squabbling." Fink waved and the girls turned. He had drawn a large heart around him and Gum's marks, with a little heart in-between the two. Gum laughed and smiled at him. He skated off to paint elsewhere.
"I love him so much..." Gum whispered dreamily. "He makes me so happy. I've never been this happy my whole life. For the first time I feel content, fulfilled and beyond." She turned to Mew, "You shoulda been there. It was so sweet what he did for me the other day... I'd told him before how one of few things I regret about dropping out of high school was that I never got to go to my prom. He took me out to the high school, and we climbed up onto the roof. They were having a dance, and we could hear the music from outside. He had set up a table with a couple of plates of food he stole from a French restaurant. He had me change into a fancy dress and he changed into a tux. He had a corsage and everything for me and we danced together all night evening." As Gum talked, Mew's eyes got wider and wider, a look of pain and anxiety slowly intensifying. A look of fear washed over Gum's face as she noticed the state Mew had degraded to. "What?" she laughed nervously. "What is it?"
Mew started to tear up, she grimaced. She suddenly lurched forward and grabbed Gum by the shoulders.
"Gum he's going to break up with you!" Mew cried.
"...What?" Gum became flushed.
"The prom thing, he did that with me, he does that with every girl! And then without fail, he splits up with them some time in the next couple weeks! It's the last big sweet romantic gesture he makes before he dumps you..." Mew became subdued, depressed. "How long have you two been together?"
"Since mid last August..." Gum recalled.
"That's just over four and a half months. Gum, he's never made it to five," Mew professed.
"He hasn't?" Gum squeaked.
"No," Mew shook her head. "Me and him only lasted three and a half."
Gum was frozen. It took awhile before she could react. She swallowed hard.
"...It's not gonna happen," she shook her head. She tried to look confident, but her shaken expression belied her true feelings. "He loves me... I'm not just another one of those girls..." she insisted.
"Gum..." Mew stared sadly into her eyes. "I'm sorry... This may even be longest he ever stayed with a single girl... but it's over. That dance is always the last."
"No..." Gum continued to shake her head. "Those other times were mistakes... he didn't understand how he really felt... This time is different..."
"He tells all of us that!" Mew shouted.
"No! You're wrong!" Gum shouted back, clenching her eyes shut. "He loves me! We're in love! Just because he didn't love you doesn't mean it won't work out for us!" Gum skated away hurriedly, catching everyone's attention. Gum skated till she could stand it no more. Facing the end of an alley, she started to sob and choke. It couldn't be true... she'd watched for it. She couldn't, she wouldn't, be used again. He wasn't, this wasn't, like the others. She fell to her knees. Could it really be true? Could she really be that stupid?
"Gum?" she heard Fink call behind her. She turned as he rolled to a stop. He must have followed her. He looked worried. Gum tried not to cry, but her throat seized up, she couldn't talk. Her eyes were welling with tears.
"Fink, I-" she choked, when they suddenly heard the police scanner over The Reps' 'Bout this City'.
"All officers to Benten Circle. Fence them in on all sides. Repeat, anonymous call reports unruly adolescents in..." the scanner continued.
"So that's why the Noise Tanks haven't shown up, they called the cops on us instead! That's just playing dirty..." Fink gritted his teeth. "Wait, where are we!" Fink looked around frantically. "Shit! We're right by the 17th precinct! They'll all go right by us!" In the distance, wailing sirens could be heard approaching.
"Well, we're fairly obscured," Gum wiped the tears from her eyes. "There's a good chance no on will notice us." A squad car passed by the alley. There was a loud screeching of tires as it slammed on the brakes.
"Damn, so much for that..." Fink grabbed Gum's arm and took off back out of the dead end. They peeled around the corner and away from the car, which had pulled a savage U-ey.
"Hold it right there!" the megaphone blared as they skated into a thin alley across the street.
"Where are you going? Shibuya-cho is south of here!" Gum yelled.
"I know, so we're going East. They'll be expecting us to go back to Shibuya," Fink replied.
"But you know Benten and I know Shibuya," Gum cried. "We're right on the border of Kogane-cho, neither of us know Kogane that well, we'll-"
"We'll still know it better than the Keisatsu, let's go!" Fink closed the issue. Out of the alley they jumped up on a railing that turned and led down stairs away from the buildings back onto the next street. They skated down the street and the reached a T-intersection as they neared the river side. As they rounded the bend, a squad car sped by, obviously on it's way to meet the others. It spun out to pursue the new targets, but the back wheels spun to far and crashed into the sheet metal fence separating the street from the river bank, one wheel suspended in air as the car rocked temperamentally. Fink let go of Gum's hand and did a tight circle to turn around, he built up speed, then put his foot on the bumper and pushed as he neared the car, transferring his momentum into it. The car inched backwards, then began to gradually tip, then accelerated to tilt at an alarming pace before tilting and falling 20 feet down into the water.
"Yeah! Let that be a lesson to you, bitch!" Fink called down. The pair jumped as the sound of gunfire filled the air. They searched frantically for either the source or cover. Fink pointed above them as he skated toward Gum. Three men were firing Sten Mk 2s at them from a nearby roof. A passing car caught bullets, tearing holes in the hood and windshield and popping a wheel. It spun out to a stop and the driver fell out, frantically scrambling in his rush to run away. The rudies rolled over the hood and ducked behind their new shield.
"Martial Law has now been declared..." Gum heard over the radio.
"I don't think those are rubber bullets..." Fink winced. "Where did those guys come from? How did they get up there?" The couple heard an indistinct repetitive noise coming from somewhere.
"They got further license of force for the Urban Renewal project with the Rokokku group's backing. I'm always telling you that you have to watch the damn news!" Gum scolded. The gunfire was endless, the marksmen just reloaded when they ran out of bullets. "How much ammo could those guys have?"
"Damn Rokokku group controls this city! The whole Urban Renewal program is just an excuse to squelch individualism and self expression!" Fink shook a fist at no one in particular. "We can't stay here..." Fink searched frantically for an escape route. "If they hit the gas tank, we're-" Fink suddenly stopped, turning an ear outward.
"What?" Gum tugged on him. Fink put a finger up to silence her as he concentrated. "Oh no you didn't..." Fink muttered to a non-present subject. The repetitive sound grew louder. "Oh I know you didn't..." The sound intensified as the source raised up into view from behind some buildings. "I know you didn't send a helicopter after us!" he cried as the helicopter started to circle them, drawing a bead. "GO!" Fink pushed Gum forward as the minigun opened fire. The bullets tore up pavement and rattled against the car till the gas tank took a fatal hit and the car burst into flames, blowing a few feet into the air from the explosion.
The shockwave knocked the rudies forward as they hit the deck. Gum cried out. Fink scrambled up and tried to pull Gum away with him, but he stumbled. Gum had gotten to her feet, then cried out and fell back down again. Fink turned and saw why. A large shard of aluminum from the car had struck her as it exploded. The burning hot piece of jagged metal had buried itself deep into her flesh in her left uppermost butt/thigh region. Fink stopped and tried to help her up slow, but a bullet from the firing squad struck the same leg in the front, looking deep and central. Gum fell again and Fink discarded his idea and instead grabbed her and dragged her, feet draping on the ground, toward the nearby alley. As they absconded, a bullet struck the toe of his right skate, shattering the hard plastic up to the buckle. In the alley, Fink laid Gum out to examine the wound.
"Oh God Fink! It hurts! It burns!" Gum screamed, thrashing in agony. Fink grimaced. The explosion had showered them both with flak, imbedding little metal pieces all over their backsides. He could feel a particularly painful burning in his right shoulder and left side where shards about a third of the size of the one in Gum's leg had hit him. He noticed a piece about two thirds the size of the leg wound had buried itself in her helmet, and may have easily been fatal if not for the head gear. Fink tore off his headphones, knowing he had to work fast. Snapping the cord off, he used it to tie off the wound.
"Can you move?" he looked to her. His trick wouldn't do much good, it'd stop the bleeding a little, but the leg was a big area and it needed a lot of blood. Gum tried to stand, but the leg would barely respond, offering no support at all. The wounds were too deep and critical. Though the flak had somewhat cauterized the wound, Fink wondered what sort of ligaments and nerves might be severed. The bullet was lodged deep inside her, and may have struck bone. Fink feared that if she lived, there might be permanent damage or she might even lose the leg if he didn't get her to a hospital quick. Fink slung and arm under the back of her knees and one under her back, picking her up. He skated off as the helicopter floated around to aim into the alley. He heard a missile unlatch and the hiss of the engine behind him.
"You've gotta be shitting me!" Fink yelled, speeding up. The alley had a sharp turn in it, and the missile slammed into the wall as Fink went around it, exploding before he could turn the second corner. A speeding wave of smoke flooded the area. They exited the alley coughing. Fink took Gum far over to the side and set her down. He speed-skated across the street and ground up a wire and onto the telephone line, just as the helicopter cleared the two-story. Fink leapt up and grabbed onto one of the helicopter runners, his enemy oblivious to his presence. He hefted himself up, then edged to the front of the runner. The helicopter found Gum and turned toward her. The minigun leveled at her as Fink put his foot on it, pushing it to the side. The frustrated pilot tugged on the control stick as it made ugly grinding noises as its only defiant response. He looked up, shocked to see Fink wrapped around the windshield. Balancing on the minigun and holding on with one hand, Fink covered the glass as quickly and thoroughly as he could. He jumped off and fell as he hit the ground, but was otherwise unharmed. He picked himself up from the pile and skated over to Gum and went to pick her up. As he did, the wall behind them violently exploded. They looked down the street to see a tank rolling towards them, crushing parked and abandoned cars as it caterpillared menacingly along. "Aw come on! That's just not fair!" Fink complained. "It's time to GO, yo." Fink went to pick Gum up once more.
"Fink, you really do love me, don't you?" Gum asked weakly.
Fink froze in a dead stop staring at her, "Gum... I can't believe you'd ask me that." The helicopter fired blindly at them, a bullet winging Fink's arm. He continued, seemingly unaware. "Of course I love you. You're my everything. You always will be."
"So you won't leave me, right?" she whimpered.
"I'm never going to leave you," he insisted. A tank shell exploded nearby, sending chunks of cement flying, one striking Fink in the head violently. He picked up his displaced hat and put it back on, unflinching, ignoring the blood pouring from the wound. "I'd sooner die than ever leave you," he uttered.
Gum smiled, "I'm glad." She suddenly became nervous. "But I'd rather not have you prove that right now..." she motioned toward the deadly impending tank.
"Oh. Right. Doom. Gotcha," Fink snapped back to the situation. He turned and helped Gum climb onto his back. The helicopter tried to land, not realizing it had drifted over the river. The pilot jumped out just before it sank. A tank shell had a near miss, going by right next to Fink's head, threatening to take it off as it passed by. Gum straddled her legs around Fink's waist as he grabbed the underside of her knees while she wrapped her arms around her neck.
"Hold on..." Fink cautioned. He took off across the wooden bridge leading to the slummy part of Kogane-cho. He winced and closed his eyes as he plowed into a screen door and ripped it off its hinges. The surprised family shrieked as the rudies rolled through their dining room/kitchenette, knocking their table over as they went. "Best hit the deck!" Fink suggested to the civilians as they sped through. He braced once more as he slammed into the rice-paper and paneling wall and burst through it. In the adjoining house a shocked topless changing teenage girl watched as the skaters came through her bedroom wall. "Better get down honey. Ooo, nice rack." Fink squatted and ducked down as the tank lined up with the doorway, archway, hole, and other doorway, and fired another shell. Soaring above Gum's head, it went through the doorway and blew open the outer wall, Fink skating through. Fink looked down both ends of the street and noticed an open manhole surrounded by construction barriers.
"Perfect!" Fink declared, taking off toward it. He dropped Gum down into the hole, then followed. They slid down a long pipe leading to a big open area with a long fall into the deep sewer water below. Both surfaced, spitting and gagging. "So am I brilliant or what?" Fink beamed.
"I hate you so much right now."
"Bitch, bitch, bitch." They both laughed, then lightly gave each other a closed mouthed kiss. "Come on," Fink motioned his head. "Let's get to a hospital. God only knows how infectious this shit is."
Back topside, the tank rolled to a stop on the wooden bridge. The top popped open and Onishima stuck his head out and looked around.
"Damn!" he pounded his fist. There was a loud cracking as the bridge spontaneously gave out and dumped Onishima and the tank into the river.
