It was pretty hard to top driving out of a freshly robbed 7-11 with the bag of money and mouth full of beef jerky. It made her man-insides writhe with happiness to know that he hadn't robbed the place. In all truth he hadn't. He'd just robbed the robbers who had tried to rob the place. And if they were dense enough to get robbed then by God they deserved it.

He tossed the empty beef jerky wrapper out the window. He was just that kind of bad*** man. Who was really a woman. Yeap. Impossible to top an escapade like that.

ManLori wove through traffic in her ridiculous mancar. Funny. This replica vehicle was an awful get away car since it was so recognizable. She would have to ditch it.

Ditch it and then her next step would be to take her hard-earned man-money and invest it... in strippers. Strippers were a pretty good man-investment. Though not a challenge. She needed to stop and think about what else she wanted to experience as a man before she blew her load... of dough. God, this was just too much fun.

Unfortunately someone decided it really was to much fun.

5,000 volts to the elbow was not the wisest choice the invisible hitchhiker could have made given that manLori was driving, but the irony wasn't lost on him as his arm jerked out of his control. Every muscle in his arm was tightening and twitching and tingling. He would have worried about it more if the convulsing of his muscles hadn't made him pull the steering wheel suddenly.

The obnoxious and recognizable vehicle careened through honking traffic, got clipped on the back right bumper, sent into a spin and then was T-boned before manLori had even registered that they'd been hit.

It was all happening so fast that only three things really registered to manLori. There was someone invisible on him, the car was still moving, and a constant regaling of Dixie ala car horn.

Man, she hated this car.

Today. Today.

Today. Today. Today today today... that single word reverberated throughout Tetsuya Shinbo's thick red skull as he rattled along on the city bus. Today, today... had not been pleasant. Not very much, no. Not at all. From the wake-up call with the red tail, to the conversation with Shawn from the other side of the fence, today had been a breeding pool for anxiety, and anxiety-contributing problems.

The man in the seat ahead of him ruffled Today's Paper, peering over at Shin discretely behind the thin gold frame of his glasses. The look in his surreptitious glance wasn't a happy one, today. Maybe yesterday, it had been more cheery? Maybe the day before that, he'd been in a marriage, but today, he'd walked in on his best friend and his wife playing 'Scrabble'. Not the board game, mind you, but the hasty act of searching for one's pants. Or, maybe they'd been playing 'Yahtzee'. But now, for whatever reason, this man looked mad.

Shin turned away from him, to glance out the window at a passing Semi Truck. His eyes focused on the severely-reddish-pink face of the driver A hint of recognition flared in Shin's mind... just as a police car smashed into the back of a pickup truck in front of them. The bus's brakes slammed to a halt. The semi clipped a door, and barreled on down the streets on its way.

Shin blinked. Today, today... He muttered the refrain, stepping past a cowering woman and her child. He glanced at them both as he slipped by. The child looked up at him with wonder, rather than fear. Shin offered a weak smile, then moved on. His ears got a faint 'bye bye' as the doors hissed open, and Shin stepped into the middle of suddenly-stock-still New York traffic.

Honking really was an awful sound, wasn't it? Shin glanced at a red sports car, and brushed past the Humvee embedded in its fender. He stymied the urge to skip a hand across the hood, and hop onto it, then slide across. It was something he'd always wanted to do, but never attempted.

Another thing far lower on his list of to-dos came next. A bullet whizzed by him. Two police gestured towards the big red man in the white tank top, and spoke into their walkie talkies. The next thing Shin knew, he was running. It seemed today wouldn't quit... Shin took a side path down a back alley, and ran up a fire escape. As his shoulders broke the line of rooftops, and he lurched out over the space between roof and roof, Shin idly wondered if they'd be able to follow him. Massive feet slammed down, leaving footprints in concrete as Shin landed on the next rooftop over. He hoped not. Because then, he mused to himself as he poised himself for the next flying leap. That would lead to more running.... and this big red body wasn't made for speed...

He caught the side of a fire escape on the drop. Metal groaned and bent as he hung there for a moment, then strong feet forced themselves into wall and Shin let go. Feet crushed concrete as he landed another perfect dismount off the parallel bars of life.

He kicked a trash can, and shot past a homeless man on his path into the alley. The red head turned left, then right. A siren wailed from his left. He chose to run 'right'. It was a good choice, he decided, all things considered.

Past a group of juvenile delinquents, Shin ran (shouting "Stay in school, kiddos. That's an order.") with his most ferocious face, then down another alley way, and up another fire escape. He landed on the next rooftop over, feeling slightly content with himself. If they'd taken his advice to heart, he may have just changed the lives of several individuals...

Almost as much as he changed the life of one rooftop birdkeeper, Shin realized, as his shoulder bumped a series of cages.

Feathered fiends took to the air, and became the bane of New York's gargoyles and Central Park.

Shin hopped over two more rooftops, down a fire escape, and ran three nondescript blocks, until he felt confident no police were chasing him. His running slowed to a huffing crawl (or rather, a chest-heaving stagger). Shin wasn't sure where he was anymore. His hands brushed against cheap brick, and his eyes rose to take in his surroundings. Three more steps, and he was in-position...

for the gut-busting arrival of The General Lee.

Wham. Bam. Thank you, ma'am.

Things registered one at a time and in no particular order. The car had stopped moving. Not a gradual stop. A gut-wrenching, velocity-defying dead halt. Somewhere along the way the invisible hitchhiker had become a lot more visible. Also somewhere along the way she'd ended up in Lori's man-lap, the pilfered money in her lap.

Distantly manLori registered the death throws of the Dixie horn. At least, she man-hoped it would stop soon. It had degraded from a crisp honking tune to dilapidated moose sounds.

Was that a bra tangled in his hair?

A quick bat at the polka dotted A-cup sent it out of his eyes. ManLori tried for the door. It took him a long moment to remember why it wouldn't open.

There were still honks from outside. And water. Wait? Were they inside?

ManLori shifted the girl in his lap so that he could see out the window. The sprinklers were on and the General was parked amdist a plethora of adult toys and garments. He wiped a diluted mixture of blood from his eyes.

He had parked in the middle of a Zone De Erotica.

No not parked. But the effect was the same.

First thing first. ManLori nabbed the brown bag that held the gas station's grab in it. He stuffed it in the back of his man jeans. The next step would be to shove the stirring girl through the window so that he could get outta Dodge.

Crish, crash. No thank you, Sir.

Was that ceiling above him, or concrete floor? Shin had been lucky Abyss was big and red. If he'd been small and scaly, he wouldn't have survived the brutal tumbling brought on him by the General Lee.

Though, then again, if he'd been smaller, he'd have made less of a target, and big red things usually attracted attention, whereas if he'd been a bouncy little lizard boy, he'd have been able to cling to a wall and dodge-- and speaking of walls, hello there.

Walls are good at making sandwiches of trianglemancing shard masters. They're quite bad, thankfully, at smooshing big red giants. Broken glass, though?

"Owwww...."

A big red hand shoved a scantily-clad mannequin up off his chest, and shifted the broken brick and glass. Dented bumper. Dented man-chest. Was that his crimson, or Abyss's blood-red skin? Shin staggered to his feet, pressing his hand on the vehicle that had hit him. He stared weakly through the front window at the driver behind the wheel.

... correction, drivers. There were two... and one was far younger. The hell was going on?

"Hey, man... hey man..." Shin muttered weakly. His voice came out ragged and deep. Head, foggy. Body, sturdy. That was all he knew. And where were they? In his running he'd lost track. Eyes, they shifted... up over the flag on the hood of the car, over to... "Panties." Shin nearly choked on his tongue.

THEY WERE CRASHED IN A FANCIFUL EROTICA STORE!??!!??!

The hell was teh PG-13 rating, here?

He was glad for seatbelt and not so glad for seatbelt. It cut a line of ouch right across his heaving chest and kept him from going out the windshield. Except now it was keeping him from wriggling out of the window. Also his head was leaking. That polka dotted bra made as good a blood blotter as any.

He had to get the taser girl out first if he ever hoped to get out of the belt. ManLori worked his hands underneath the girl. It didn't matter that her taser fell out of her hand. She was damn lucky to not have gone out the windshield herself. Except now he was sort of wishing she had. How the heck was he supposed to get her out of the window? Even with her manmuscles dead lifting limp and noodly weight was a no go.

ManLori put his hand up to his polka dotty bandage. She had to get out before the cops showed.

"Hey, man... hey man... Panties."

The bra slid down his face again as he gaped. Salvation! Mars? No. Even hit upside the head with a frying pan he was more eloquent than that. Best to default to the main red man.

"Abyss, get this door off of here. I'm stuck and this girl's got me pinned." It didn't exactly occur to her that Abyss wouldn't recognize her manself (if it was even Abyss). It only mattered that he had the ability to open the car door despite the fact that it was welded shut.

>>"Abyss, get this door off of here. I'm stuck and this girl's got me pinned."

Abyss, yeah... Because he was Abyss here, wasn't he? If the cops asked, he was a red giant in a fanciful erotica store. Fanciful erotica store. There was that mental repeat, wasn't it? Hosanna on high, what a lovely phrase to turn. He was here. And he was him. And... ergh.

Bleeding.

Now, shifting uncomfortably through an array of frilly lingerie and friendly battery-operated appliances to tear off a door. Still bleeding, mind you. His mind wasn't working hard enough yet to process anything beyond 'oh, that's kinda risque' and 'dearie me, that must hurt...' Metal groaned as Shinbyss tore the driver-side door free. He took a staggered step to the right, to make room for the driver (who'd rammed him), and coughed.

Now was the time for coughing, and mental inventories, wasn't it? And looking heroic as he helped the drunk driver free from his car. He... was... drunk, wasn't he?

"Are you sober?" Shin squinted through the dust at the man behind the wheel. He didn't know him. The face was unfamiliar. The girl in his lap, he'd never seen in his life. If he'd known her power was invisibility, the jolly red once-upon-a-trianglemancer would have laughed. Right now, laughter like that would of cracked a rib. Or so Shin thought.

Actually, now that the mental inventory was in... he felt pretty damned good. The body was tough. But then again, he'd known that leaping across buildings. No broken bones, it seemed... winded... mind hazy... the car had blindsided him through broken glass (or now-broken glass. Either way). Just 'ow, flesh wounds'. That was the term. What about the driver?

"Second question, are you hurt? Forget the first one. Probably not relevant. Here, let me take that little girl off your hands." Shin reached a big red fist into the driver's seat, and did. He set the girl gently down on the floor.

"Are you sober?" [/i]

"Sober enough to know that dressing as a Sailor Scout was a bad idea."

"Second question, are you hurt? Forget the first one. Probably not relevant. Here, let me take that little girl off your hands."

Abyss took her more gently than ManLori wanted to see her handled. He fiddled with the seatbelt for a moment before remembering there was a knife in his pants pocket. He sawed through the strap and swung his legs out of the door hole. Glorious door hole.

"Dirty hooker nearly zapped my arm off. It's her damn fault." The sound of sirens made ManLori jump. Jump hard enough to bump his head on the car hood, not hard but enough to remind him that his head was already throbbing. Something akin to grarwgarshr came out of his mouth and he got out of the car for good.

He kicked it once for good measure. Whatever he kicked started up the dilapidated Dixie horn again. This day had gone sour fast.

"Leave the brat." He took a step toward the register --while they were there, they might as well!-- but his legs were sort of wobbly. A hand went to his chest. He might not be getting that lap dance now. But you could still go swimming with cracked ribs, right? Right?

Why hadn't this clone turned out to be Mars? Damn him. She didn't manneed him. She didn't manneed anyone.

A stubborn growl and ManLori was back toward the register. A button push and the drawer dinged and slid open. He grabbed and grabbed until he heard the sound of a gun being cocked. Totally unnecessary these days with those automatics, but the effect was dramatic. ManLori froze with her manhands in the cookie jar and a bra still swathed on her bleeding manhead.

"I don't know who you are, buck-o, but you are not robbing me. You best go stand by your red monkey until the authorities show."

>>"Sober enough to know that dressing as a Sailor Scout was a bad idea."

Shin had missed that. It was probably for the best. The Ranger's body would likely not have looked good in a short skirt and a bow. Not to say Lori couldn't have exercised her greatest care in the shaving of legs, and made it look good. Just... no. A concussion wasn't enough to let Shin's mind go there. It was too busy straying left, and right, and every which way post 'dirty hooker' comment.

Was that young woman really a prostitute? That reflected poorly on the man in front of Shin, if she was. Not that the man was gaining any points for ramming into the big red giant. No, that certainly wasn't a category in which points could be won.

"Urgh... chonies?" The invisible girl shifted. Her eyes had fluttered open, right into the upskirt view of a mannequin. Sirens wailed in the background. Shin stared down at the girl.

"You okay?" He asked.

A Dixie horn crooned on her right.

>>"Leave the brat."

"Rat bastard." Such language coming from a young lady. Invisible girl rubbed her head.

"Those sirens probably meant an ambulance is on its way," Shin murmured. The young girl's eyes widened.

"Aww, hell no." She got to her feet, and scampered towards the wreck. Where was it? The money? Her eyes shifted over towards the register. Shin's eyes followed.

It must've been the sound of the gun cocking that drew both pairs of eyes. It couldn't have been the register ding. Shin's ears would've masked that with the ringing. He'd miss the ringing when it was gone, but for the time being, all that mattered was the man with the gun... and the fact Shin really didn't want to get arrested today. He needed to get back to Kasumi, needed to protect her.

Hell to the no. His upstanding moral priorities changed. The big red giant stomped past the car, towards the counter, and put a generous hand on the gun-owner's shoulder. He shook his head, 'no', and gave a light squeeze. The man let out a hiss of pain. The gun clattered to the floor.

"Not today," Shin muttered. He'd had quite enough of being shot at today.

"Rat bastard." Had Lori been a woman, she would have gotten worse. Guaranteed. Being a man had its perks. Abyss was being the gentle giant he was and making sure the lil chickadee was alright. And that was fine by ManLori even if it was a complete waste of time in her manopinion. Invisigirl was lucky that manLori had grabbed onto her in the tailspin. Who said she wasn't a caring man?

The man behind her manself cleared his throat nervously as the shadow of the big red guy engulfed the two of them. Abyss. What a pal. As long as the man didn't shoot his gun accidentally out of fear, it looked like she'd get out of this.

Did that really matter, though? She was a man now, but would she be a man tomorrow? Or forever? Actually, it did matter. She didn't want to get shot, man or woman body. After all, people who were recently shot couldn't go swimming. And if she didn't steal this money, she couldn't fill that pool with money.

"Not today." The gun clattered to the ground. ManLori went back to humming and collecting green. There wasn't a whole lot in there. And they didn't have time to hit any kind of safe. Man. This was living. Sloppy robbing. It was nice to get back to her roots.

"You're a sweety." ManLori simpered in an entirely not-man-way to Abyss before flat out slugging the man who had previously held the gun. And while he was reeling she stuffed the dough in her pants pockets and grabbed the gun. It worked best when they weren't expecting it, really.

ManLori turned and... saw stars. Invisible girl had a fist of her own.

The polkadot bra slid down across his face as he reeled. And... there were hands in his pants. A few bills and. ManLori grabbed and caught the cold metal between her hands. "No." He would let her have the cash, but he would not let her have the gun. She had a history of using weapons on him.

>>"You're a sweety."

Shin... wasn't used to being hit on by men for being the dashing hero of the scene... this was the man hitting on him, right? Not since Juka Miami's fabulousity had Shin seen this kind of friendliness from the same sex. Though, perhaps Abyss was gay? Perhaps, that's how he knew the strange man gathering up green. The one who'd ran into him. Who was sober enough not to be wearing a sailor fuku. Who had... punched the man he'd just disarmed, and was so friendly to him, yet had ran into him, and was now robbing the fanciful erotica store.

Who was?

Him.

It all came crashing down on Shin's mind. The severity of the situation. This was armed robbery. The arm of choice had been his own big red one. The primary weapon of the man had been a big car. The man had crashed into an Adult Store with aim to steal, and Shin had helped him.

But what was the purpose of the little girl roaming free with her hand down the man's pants in the shop?

Wait. What? Shin shook his head, and stopped his distant ceiling stare to blink at the lolicon wrestling match.

"Wrestling with a little girl in an Adult Store..." He shook his head. Who the hell thought of crap like this? He'd missed the part where the little girl punched the man, of course. Though he hadn't missed the

>>"No."

Obviously, this looked bad. At least the man seemed not too into the wrestling. A red hand closed down gently as an angel around the little girl's shoulder. Shinbyss shifted her a step back, and shook his head.

"Don't. You're 1000 years too early." Not that that made sense. They said it all the time in anime, though. Right!? So, it had to be cool saying it here...

What. The girl turned to kick Shin in the shins.

"The hell are you doing, damn hulk!?" She spat at him.

Shin shook his head and sighed.

I don't even know...

The gun was going to go off. Call it women's intuition, but she was going to get shot as a man. And she was gong to die as a man. And the hell if she was going to let her have that gun!

The red hand of justice closed around the girl's shoulder and most of her back. Lori knew the feeling well. It was enough to stop your heart for a moment as you realized that if it were another person using that strength, they might just accidentally crush you. Good thing it was the all experienced Abyss.

He only pushed her back a step and shook his head no. And.. spouted some slightly lyrical nonsense. Whatever. ManLori had the gun again. It went back into his pants. ManLori was quite tempted to lay out the girl like she'd hit the man, but... well, she just couldn't bring herself to be predictable.

ManLori snorted at the kid as she kicked Abyss in the shins.

"I'd love to have this rumble, little lady, but the po-leece are on their way. Thanks for tasing me while I was driving. That was real smart of you and uh I'mma let you finish here, but me and Abyss here have a date with destiny an' that destiny don't involve jail. Feel free to hang around and take the fall, though." She tipped her polka dot bra like a cowboy hat and tugged at Abyss' arm. Tugged him toward the battered car-hole.

Of course the tugging would do no good without the giant's compliance. "You always were too soft on the girls." Magically ManLori's Texas accent was gone. If Abyss'd just hit invisigirl like he should have, she wouldn't wake up until next week. End of problem. But ManLori knew he was a softy for the mutant girls.

Too much from ManLori and Abyss might just take the poor little invisigirl's side. And that was wrong. Lori always had red muscle at her back. That was just the way things were done. Fate deemed it so. Why else would there be a non-Mars here to help her?

His arm, it was tugged. Po-leece were mentioned. Polka dotted bras were worn as hats. Yes, today. Today today today. It would be so easy to stop an erotica store robbery today. Just one small hand gesture, and the man would stop. But he was in a different body today, today. It was a chance at trying out a whole new form of life, risk-free. More importantly, if they had the money to run a fanciful erotica store such as this... well, they'd have the pleasure of losing cash on it on a day such as today.

Shin was not a savior in the dark here. He was too far in the shadows to shine a light.

They had his non-face on candid camera. He'd been shot at. He'd been hit by a moving vehicle.

His interest was piqued on today, of all days.

>>"You always were too soft on the girls."

Why he was 'too soft on the girls', who he was, and what the relationship between brassiere-hat and him outside of blood on the bumper was, Shin felt he should learn. He moved with the tug of the arm, donning the charismatic grin he felt would usually roll with such a face. Today, he was learning. He'd follow the 'rat bastard' to his hole. The first step was leaving the shop. He complied with ManLori's part of this step.

Wouldn't want to get put in jail.

"So, tell me what you've been up to today, Mr...?" Sentence, ended by a question mark. Answer both questions, or answer one. He was fishing with dynamite here. Had to play the part. If the car-driver knew him, and he knew the car driver, it'd be a sentence ended in Mr. If the car driver was something more unfamiliar, and they were two accomplices passing in the night?

Well, then.

Shin was so slick.

Out of the rabbit hole and he didn't even take anything to remember the store by. Time was of the essence here so... left or right? Left. Left was right and right was wrong. Because there were people getting out of their flashing light hatted cars on the right hand side.

"Run." And they did. Amazingly this manbody could just about keep pace with the giant. That or he was going easy on him.

"So, tell me what you've been up to today, Mr...?"[/color] Yeah. He was definitely going easy on him if he could eek out a sentence. ManLori puffed and huffed and decided talking would have to wait until his head wasn't trying to throb off of his shoulders.

An obnoxious "HEY WAIT GUYS!" was met with echoing shouts of "On the ground!" Invisigirl. Poor schmuck. ManLori grabbed the brown paper package that was trying to wiggle down the back of his pants. So what if a few bills were flying out of his pockets along the way? It really wasn't about the money. It was about the stealing... and the money. It was hard to say no to money that they were practically throwing at you.

A piece of brick shattered near ManLori's ear. Must run faster.

And somehow he did.

By the time that the sirens and shouts were weak and distant, ManLori was really huffing and puffing.

"That's a" huff "good question" puff.

ManLori straightened and tossed the stupid garment off of his head. If he bled to death he would do it like a proper man. No more bandage bras and... oh woozy. ManLori took an abrupt lean against a coffee shop window. "I think today I could be a Stuart or ... maybe a Frank." If he kept talking it made his slow sliding to the ground a nonchalant thing, right? "I'm uh really feeling the traditional names today, you know?"

>>"That's a" He really seemed out of shape, didn't he? "good question" What with the huff puff?

Shinbyss wasn't huffing. It must've been all the exercise he did in his old body working its karma on the next. Or maybe it was just that this one could lift motorcycles, and, he suspected, far heavier things. It was clumsy, and a bit lumbering, but at least it was in shape.

He glanced over his shoulder as the 'huffpuff brassiere-head pedo,no,notpedo,drunkdriver?' caught himself. Shin had never known evading policemen could be this easy. It wasn't something he'd try again, yet... the utter simplicity. Maybe the rumors from the Thunder Dome were all true? Policemen in New York were all jokes? Perish the thought.

No, seriously. Crush it with a spoon. He didn't want to live in fear that the police were helpless balls of goo.

The man that had rammed him tossed off the piece of underwear, finally dismissing polka dotted d cups from his head.

>>"I think today I could be a Stuart or ... maybe a Frank." He slid slid slid not-so-nonchalantly to the ground. "I'm uh really feeling the traditional names today, you know?"

"So, I take it this isn't your usual face..." Shin boomed back at him. Manly voice. Very manly. It seemed all that roleplaying practice had paid off. "I know you, but... I don't know you. Please explain." Serious eyes narrowed seriously. Shin ruined it, resting hands on hips.

"So, I take it this isn't your usual face... I know you, but... I don't know you. Please explain."[/color]

Why wouldn't this be his normal face? Was he not a ruggedly handsome manLori? He didn't laugh at the sailor scout thing at all. Wasn't that his favorite mistake of hers? Wasn't that was Mars had said? If he put his mind to it he should have known who she was. She'd given him enough hints here and there. Or at least she thought she had.

It wasn't fun to say - hey I'm Lori, it was WAY more fun to string him along with enough hints to tickle his brain. Lori's manlips were feeling sort of numb. Sitting certainly robed him of his power, but it was a good sit. Good concrete. Not a bit of vomit nearby that she could mansmell.

"You have been acting weird since your sister..." He shrugged and started pulling bills out of his pockets. Abyss didn't like to think of Syn as dead so he wasn't going to say it. "We go way back. I'm more close friends with your brothers, but I thought we were pals... sort of. Anyway, I'm glad that POC car didn't dent you." And the thought of the door, gone, made him smile. He lined the bills up and pulled the brown package from his pants adding the erotic money to the gas money. It was all green and it all spent the same.

All was well... except... didn't he have a gun tucked into his waistband? He pulled his pants this way and that. He'd used his hand to keep the money from falling. He hadn't spared a thought for the hunk of metal. It must have fallen through... or out... or something. Stupid manpants. They were much looser than she was used to.

"You know where a swimming pool is? I would love to get in a few laps." Actually with as many years as she'd been electric, she wasn't sure she could even swim straight anymore.

A siren sounded suddenly and closer than manLori had been expecting. What? They'd come after them by car? Piece of crap! She didn't remember them being this persistent when she was a woman.