estirose

Shinnosuke dodged another of Chase's shots, hoping that the Roidmude would give up, except he wouldn't. Chase rarely did. "I can't be a Roidmude who forgot what I was!" he called. "Do you think I would be vulnerable to that neurotoxin if I wasn't human?"

Chase said nothing, which was so typical of him that Shinnousuke didn't even blink. While at least it was a change of pace to have Chase try to capture him instead of try to kill him, Shinnosuke didn't plan to find out if it was true or not. At least Chase wasn't trying to hurt him too much, but Shinnosuke didn't intend to be knocked out or anything else Chase had planned.

Ducking another shot, Shinnosuke took off. If he got to safety, he and Mr. Belt could figure out what to do to convince the Roidmude Executives that he wasn't their missing number. The first time it had happened, Heart and Brain had shown up to try to convince him to turn himself in, but now it looked like it was up to Chase. And he had no intention of giving up to him, either.

* * *

It had started just a week before. It was, not too oddly, an encounter with a Roidmude that had turned into an encounter with Chase. And Brain. Gou hadn't been there for the fight, which meant that Shinnosuke would have been fighting both at once had Brain actually participated in the fight. The Roidmude had gotten away, but it really hadn't mattered. Shinnosuke and Gou had gotten him later.

Shortly after that, as Shinnosuke had been enjoying a day off, Brain and Heart had come. Heart had been smiling, Brain had been frowning, and Shinnosuke had prepared to transform.

That was, until Heart raised his hand. It made Shinnosuke freeze, not quite sure how to deal with what seemed to be sudden friendliness on Heart's part. "Come with us, friend."

"I don't think so," Shinnosuke said. There had been something chilling about Heart's smile, something that made him want to back away.

"Ah, but we can fix you," Heart said cheerfully, and Shinnosuke realized at that moment that Heart and Brain somehow thought he was one of their own. Which made no sense, since he was human and fully so to the best of his knowledge. Brain was advancing on him, as if planning to do something to him. "Number 065."

"I don't need fixing," Shinnosuke said. 065, eh? He'd have to keep an eye out for that one. It was probably around where he'd been fighting his last Roidmude, which had caused Heart and Brain to mistake him for that one.

In any case, he knew better than to take on two Executive Roidmudes, especially since all he had to do to get them off his trail was to find this 065 and take care of it.

"You've lost your memory," Heart said calmly. He was starting to advance on Shinnosuke now. "And the humans have taken advantage of that. But you can be repaired."

"Or reset," Brain said from almost behind Shinnosuke.

"Oh, we can use what he knows," Heart told Brain. "No need to reset him. Medic can fix him like she did Chase."

Shinnosuke took that moment to get out of there. If he was going to find 065, he had to get started, and soon.