Gum sighed as she listened to Hideki Naganuma's "Let Mom Sleep". She was so bored. She just didn't feel like skating. She'd been so demotivated nowadays. Her tryst with lesbianism was short lived, only lasting a couple weeks. The whole thing left her feeling weirded out, even after it ended. She still felt uncomfortable around Mew.
It wasn't that she wasn't attracted to her; quite the converse actually, she really got her hot. She'd never realized how bisexual she was till she was with Mew. But though Mew turned her on, cared for her, understood her, treated her right, it just didn't feel the same as it did when she was with Fink. There was no love, Gum thought, though she wasn't sure what that even meant anymore. Relationships just looked so hopeless now, guy or girl. She'd lost all hope of success again, all the will to keep trying. If she couldn't make it work with Mew or Fink, it seemed like it could never work with anyone.
Mew and Cube made a much cuter couple anyway. They got together after Fink was through with Cube after 5 months. Gum nor anyone else knew the story of how they got together, but she guessed Mew must have tackled her in a similar manner. Gum hated to admit it, but the whole thing seemed to lend credence to Fink's thesis, "All women are inherently bi if you get them drunk enough". It seemed Mew and Cube was not a passing phase though. Apparently they were very happy together, not that Gum understood any of the English going between them.
Gum found herself missing her friend, now occupied, and more lonely now than ever. She'd been on again off again with Beat a few more times, but she'd only felt lonely and frustrated. More often she found herself single, and watching Fink a lot. She didn't know why, she missed him, but didn't want him back, seeing now how clearly messed up he was when it came to relationships. Nevertheless though, it just made her feel worse and she didn't feel comfortable actually interacting with him any more. She found herself just following him around a lot.
Fink didn't seem to care, he never seemed uncomfortable around her, though he didn't really interact with her either (Gum guessed that he must have known how it made her feel). He would talk to one of the others or occupy himself silently while Gum tagged along wordlessly behind him. Neither drew attention to it and no one else seemed to notice.
For Fink, it'd stayed life as usual. Gum hadn't really picked up on it since she couldn't understand anything he said, but Combo was very intelligent, and he and Fink had become good friends. Piranha had come and gone in 3 months (though she still hung out with the gang) and he was with a new girl now, though Gum couldn't remember her name. She was a Love Shocker, which meant they had to sneak around behind everyone's backs. He didn't try to hide it from Gum though, perhaps he didn't bother because he knew she wouldn't say anything out of reluctance to argue with him about it. They met during the middle of daytime, evening, and late night Jet Set Radio broadcasts, since they knew the others would be out during them.
Gum felt sick of this girl, she'd already been around longer than Piranha. She was very good looking, she had long green hair in a ponytail with a big pink bow, a very pretty face with big bright eyes and soft, supple lips. She had a gorgeous curved figure, a sexy thin waist, perfect rounded hips, perfect huge rack, perfect ass (Gum had run out of adjectives). She wore a pink tank top and pink 50's style poodle skirt torn off at the knees and slitted all the way up the sides, with a pink silk neckerchief, and bracelets all down her arms. She had a high, lilting, cute voice and seemed very young. Gum questioned if she was even 18 yet. Not that it mattered, she wouldn't be the first thing Fink did that wasn't legal, after all. She made Gum feel very uncomfortable about her own body, and since they always met in private, it seemed like all they ever did was fool around. That's what they were doing in the office right now, Gum felt sure.
She closed her eyes. She missed it. Fooling around. Sleeping and waking up next to him. Being loved and loving him. She didn't miss Fink maybe so much as she missed the love.
The office door opened suddenly, and Fink came out, putting one arm through his T-shirt and using the other to hold his unzipped pants up.
"Gum, what's going on?" he buttoned his fly and put his hat on.
"Huh? What?" Gum was dazed from being pulled out of her trance.
"The radio, turn up the radio," Fink instructed as he threw on his overshirt. His girlfriend was wandering out behind him, adjusting her top. Gum turned and switched the volume up. Professor K had lowered the volume on "Rock it On" to make some sort of announcement over it.
"That's right people, if you're in Benten right now, you better get your umbrellas cause a shit storm is coming your way. 'Seems the Noise Tanks hacked their files. They trashed the Tank's crib, and now they're tearing apart the town looking for the boys themselves. If I were a Tank, I'd find the nearest bus out of town! That weird gang's brought all their guns to bear, and I hear there's some strange brothers out there who are seriously tough hombres. The fires are spreading, so I'm gonna have to jet myself, but I'll leave the CD changers programmed to play you some hard-core music and I'll broadcast their radio frequency too. This ain't none of my business, but I gotta stick up for our audience, don't I?"
"Claudi!" Fink gasped. He quickly started to get his stuff together.
"Claudi? Who's Claudi Nova?" his girlfriend blinked.
"Sorry HB, I gotta go make sure a friend is safe," Fink opened his pack and examined his guns, making certain the clips were loaded and ready. He turned and put his arms around the girl. "You go home Heartbreaker, stay inside." He turned to leave.
"Fink!" Gum cried after him. "You know it's the Rhinos, it's too dangerous!"
He turned to face her, putting the pistols in his belt and tearing off his backpack strap to strap the M5K to his back, "I've got to go. Innocent people are in danger, and so is Claudi. Plus the Tanks were my friends once. Besides, the Rhinos are up to no good. Whatever Goji is scheming with the record must correspond to the renovations made on the Rokokku building. They've done too much, I've got to stop them." With no further discussion, Fink turned and left.
Gum tried to burn his image into her mind as he left, since this would most assuredly be the last time she saw him in one piece.
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A huge man in a karate gi and taping roared as he single handedly grabbed a bus by the front end and picked it up, throwing it into a building. A weasley man strapped with explosives jumped up and down and laughed with glee as a chain of explosions ripped through the street and toppled buildings. Similarly adorned robots with bucket-like heads standing behind him jumped up and down waving their arms to mimic him. A man in a jetpack flew by, level with the second story windows, firing his machine gun into them as he passed. #5 stood still on a building and watched the carnage.
"Come out, come out wherever you are..." 5 sang under his breath. "What hole are you rats hiding in?" Two suits with SMGs patrolled a skybridge, looking in second floor windows on either side of the street. Out of one of the buildings behind them, a skater leapt out a window and did a flying kite 180 into the suits, knocking them over. The rudie decked out in night vision goggles and a partial gas mask leapt up onto the rail and ground down along the stairs, strafing fire from the M5K in his hand across the backs of a group of Rhinos.
"There's one of them!" Another suit cried, pointing.
"It's him!" 5 recognized, watching from the rooftop. "No you fools!" he called down to the Rhinos, but they didn't hear him. He growled and jumped down.
The skater dashed across the street, Rhinos closing in on all sides. He leapt onto the railing to grind back up the skybridge, firing an expertly aimed burst of fire at each Rhino, switching targets in less than a seventh of a second. The man in the jetpack flew by firing. The skater hopped off the rail and down to the street to grind the curb. The man in the karate gi did a roundhouse and the skater ducked as the blow went over him and took out a chunk of the building behind him. The rudie did a switch to grind backwards, unloading the rest of his clip on full auto. He was surprised to only hear metallic twangs as the bullets struck the martial artist. He turned to see the man now in front of him. He jumped and turned a 360 into a flying kick The kick struck the solar plexus, but it felt like hitting a wall, the skater came to a dead stop and fell to the ground. He looked up and saw why. The large man in the gi's head was dome-like with alien features.
"A robot!" he realized aloud. The automaton picked him up and threw him hard. The skater grabbed a lamppost in midair and swung around it to land on his feet.
"Catch!" a weasley voice called. The skater's eyes widened to see a Molotov cocktail flying toward him. To close to shoot or dodge, the skater quick gave his M5K a light underhand toss. The gun hit the bottle without breaking it, and the two bounced off each other to fall to the ground while the rudie jumped back out of the way before it exploded. The skater had done a huge backflip, landing crouched and sliding backward from the bomb's reach. As he did, a flash swept in front of him as 5 flicked the whip to lick right in front of the skater's face, slapping the goggles up and breaking the mask in two, the accessories falling off.
"Think losing the hat and adding some tech would fool me boy?" 5 asked.
"I was sorta hoping..." Fink suggested, backrolling softly over the hood of a car as it tried to ram him, instead smashing into the nearby karate bot. Fink turned and skated back to avoid 5's lightning whip.
"Attention all operatives, I am sending assassin number 3 as reinforcements. Equip fire-resistant suits if you approach," Fink heard broadcasted over "Sweet Soul Brother". Up ahead, a lamppost was bent across the street by... karate bot? Bullets bounded around Fink from SMGs. Fink jumped and did a forward flip, pulling out his pistols. He fired behind his path upside down to shoot his attackers. Fink landed hard on his back, then rolled out of the way as he looked up to see karate bot. The punch meant to crush him struck asphalt, smashing a crater. Fink rolled to his feet and jumped to the side as #2 flew overhead shooting down at him. 2 did a U-turn and stopped to hover facing Fink like a harrier. Fink dived under an abandoned truck and rolled to the other side, putting him in the middle of a group of Rhinos. Fink spun himself with his legs like a breakdancer in a capoera move, shooting Rhinos as he spun to his feet. Standing, he saw karate bot by the lamppost plodding slowly towards him. From the heap of wreckage, the karate bot hit by the car emerged barely scathed.
"Two of them!" Fink cried. He jumped to the side as a stick of dynamite landed next to him and blew up the truck, knocking Fink to the ground. #4 cursed and took out another as his robots ran toward the rudie. Fink waited as one approached, the rest stopping, spread around them, waiting to attack in turn. As the robot dove to tackle Fink, he stepped casually to the side. But as it hit the ground, the robot exploded violently, sending Fink flying.
"Kamikazes!" he coughed, getting up. He turned to skate away, one leaping to grab his leg as he did. Fink knocked it off by jumping up to grind a rail just before it blew, sending him flying again. Fink got back up and jumped back onto the embunkment to grind it around the corner onto the next street. Many of the buildings were in flames, and a gang of suits with metal backpacks down the street in a V. The one in lead seemed to sense Fink behind him, turning and blowing a searing jet of flame his way. Fink backslid and retreated around the corner to escape them man in the full gas mask and his flame-thrower brigade.
As he turned the corner, #2 flew into him unexpectedly. The two grappled for a fraction of a second as each pushed the other's gun to the side with one hand and misfired with the other. Fink fell onto his back and the man in the jetpack blew by. As he fell, he aimed his gun, looking straight up while horizontal. The gun blared as he emptied the clip of its last rounds, one bullet striking the assassin's jetpack, making a tiny hole. High-pressure gas erupted from the hole, sending 2 spiraling out of control and through a brick wall, an explosion coming from within the building moments later.
"#2 is down! Assassin #2 is down!" a panicked Rhino broadcasted.
"Ar-Are you sure?" the dispatcher questioned in disbelief.
"A positive on that," Fink recognized #5's voice.
"...Assassin #6 is on his way. Don't get caught up in any circuits," the dispatcher responded after a long pause.
Fink noted red dots dancing around him.
"Too slow!" he declared, whirling and shooting the rooftop riflemen with a pistol before they could draw a bead. Fink spun, then slid to the side and behind a parked car as HMG fire scattered around him. Fink kept his back to the car, reloading quickly as the Humvee's mounted gun tore apart the limousine. He rolled back over the hood of the car, aiming above him again as he nailed the gunner and the three Rhinos using the vehicle for cover in their barely exposed heads. He rolled back to his feet and slid backwards away from the car as #3 bathed it in napalm. He felt like he was hit by a bus as a karate bot roundhouse kicked him, sending him flying through a glass store window. He emerged, brushing bits of glass off of him.
As he did, a visible surge of energy pulsed through the telephone wires above him and blew off the contacts to swing towards him. Fink dodged the deadly live wire falling toward him and looked for the source. Down the street, a man in a strange suit with tuning-fork-like devices hooked up to a backpack in his hands standing by a guywire. The man flexed back his spine and arms, prongs roaring with a visible giant spark of electricity. He plunged the prongs into the ground and electricity surged through an underground wire, tearing up pavement as it came at Fink, who barely dodged.
#4 down the road held a lit stick of dynamite in his hand, waiting for the right moment to throw it. His eyes widened as the rudie skated right towards him. He held the dynamite up, trying to think of how to keep the skater back. Fink rolled right up to him and grabbed his arm, then proceeded to prod, push, and pad the man in precise locations with his other hand. Fink casually took a Molotov cocktail from the man's belt and nodded.
"Thanks!" he smiled, then skated away. #4 was frozen. He couldn't move. The speedy technique was a critical nerve block. Face, even, still stuck in place, he ordered his body, any part of it, to move as he listened to the fuse hiss as it shrank. His muscles gave no response, refusing to comply. The temporary paralysis had completely disabled him. The fuse burned down to the core and there was a huge explosion as the living bomb went off.
Fink skated then braked gradually toward #3, tossing the cocktail at him, "Catch!" he instructed. The flames hit the bottle and it burst, covering then man in flames, causing him to flail wildly. "Stop drop and roll!" Fink suggested. Seconds later, the flames made their way to the gas in the fuel tank, blowing the man to smithereens. "Too late," Fink shrugged.
He ducked as a lamppost went over his head and crashed into the building next to him, the karate bot swinging the 20 foot pole like it was light as a feather. From the other direction, #6 was running up behind him. Fink skated in front of the karate bot, who swung the telephone pole downward, smashing it into the ground. Fink ground up the pole toward the robot as #6 fired a surge of electricity after him. The electricity struck the pole as Fink jumped off it and over karate bot, surging up the lamppost and into the robot, which shuddered, then fell apart in a heap. Fink turned his side and shot back at #6, hitting a nearby fire hydrant. Water sprayed out and hit #6. As it hit the prongs, a strong current went through the water, frying everything it touched, namely #6.
Fink began to skate backwards as the kamikaze bots approached. He waited for them to jump, then dove and slid under them, the explosion sending Fink tumbling and taking out the flame-thrower flunkies behind him. Fink started to get up, then flopped back down and rolled over as the remaining karate bot flipped a car over to land where he'd just been. Fink got up and did an aerial as #5 slashed at his legs with his whip.
"Who are you?" 5 demanded. Fink leaned back as a sideswipe decapitated the karate bot next to him. "Answer me!" Fink slipped to the side as a downward strike missed him. The end of the metal whip barely touching the forming lake behind Fink sent an electric current up it and into #5, who convulsed, before falling to the ground. Fink skated over, honestly curious about how bad 5 had gotten it. 5 was shaking as smoke lofted up from him. He looked up at Fink through bleary eyes. "Who... who are you?" he breathed. It was then that his eyes fell upon Fink's left shoulder, exposed, his shirtsleeve ripped off in the fight. It bore an old tattoo, 'WEPON 0038'. "Haha... hahahahaha!" #5 started to laugh. "The missing WEPON... the last survivor of the super-soldier bio-engineering program..." he choked out, practically in hysterics.
"Shh..." Fink put a finger to his lips to demand silence. "I am what I appear to be," he whispered. "I needn't be anything more."
"Fink!" Claudia called, peering up from the manhole leading to the sewer she'd been hiding in.
"Claudi!" Fink lost all interest in #5 and skated off toward the girl.
"But you're..." 5 moaned. He stretched out his arm vainly, still on his back, to reach for Fink. "Wait... come back..." he muttered. His arm flopped limply to the ground. Fink paid him no attention.
