Criminal

((Yeah no I watched the sub several times; I can't write these characters with their English names. I'm a weeb, sue me. Also the previous chapter uses She and He for the cupid, so for at least this thread, I'm gonna make the monster a female. There's actually a line of Cupid monsters anyway, could be fun.))

Jamal Hawkins was in a rut. The thirty - two year old hadn't had a lot of success in life; as a man, an employee, or a duelist. Currently he was living in shelters or crashed on a friends house or garage, usually only for the night before Sector Security sniffed him out. Oh right that was ONE of a handful things he was actually somewhat good at. Crime.

He'd been sent to Satellite, the old run down abandoned district of Neo Domino City, for burglary along with **** as a kid. Of course he'd gotten the Criminal mark to be tracked, and the guy he'd beat up apparently had some pull. What better way to remind a man he was nothing more than an animal than to brand him as one. So he pulled a few strings to get a certain pattern assigned.

The golden mark were crescents, leading from the inner corner of the eye in a downward manner, and from the outer corner of the eye, going upward this time. Along with three small jagged marks on his checks. The whole look make it seem like he was some wounded tiger that had finally been put in his place. Marked now, he got tossed to the dump with the rest of the dregs.

Growing up alone, he had a choice like most in Satellite; find a way to live or slowly rot. He picked the first one but damn if the second option wasn't always in the back of his head. Rage against the man that threw him in here kept him going though. If there was one thing he wanted to do, it was slam his fist into the guy's face one time before ****.

Still, one doesn't survive Satellite without piking up a few tricks. Learning how to break and enter to find food and parts for one along with lying, intimidation, **** and underhandedness. Each person could only trust those around them so much after all. His built body was formed from several years of rough and tumble fighting, running and even working. Yes for as much as he was a criminal, he DID have a bit of a trade skill.

He had a pretty good head for D-wheels as it turned out, and could cobble together something in a span of a few days if he could get the parts for it. It wasn't good, it wasn't safe, and it couldn't duel most the time; but it could get you to where you wanted to go. And Fast. Given the fact it couldn't duel, Sector Security couldn't **** you into a card game to pull you over. Instead their program just try to overwrite controls and kill the engine.

So you had to be stupid fast to get away from Secruity before your ride was a block of metal. And Jamal could make some of the fastest wheels in satellite. Between his suped up machine and his crime skills, Jamal lived what life he could as basically a modern day bandit. Holding up people or smashing up places to get some cash or supplies then just booking it before the cops came. He only broke his deck out when absolutely cornered because he just didn't have a good head for the level of power the game had these days.

It wasn't an easy life nor a good one, but it was better than rotting in the gutter.

Till one Yusei guy ended up freeing the district. Everything was hunky do'ry now right?

No.

Oh so Satellite wasn't a dump anymore. Way better apartments, better food and care, and there was way less smog. It was just the friction between Satellite and Domino citizens didn't vanish overnight. He didn't blame Yusei for it; bad blood doesn't disappear like that. But between his... still somewhat active criminal record, few people wanted to hire him. And D-Wheel mechanics was a bit of a flooded market at the time, so why take a chance at him. More so when he was skilled at working with bikes that couldn't duel in the first place.

So it was just a cycle of being jobless, doing crime to get by, and then remaining jobless cause of what he was doing.

He ran a hand through his crew cut brown hair as he pitched a cig before getting one out of his leather jacket. His 'friend' was running late. He'd gotten a deal to move a package of some kind as that was an 'easier' job to do, transporting some illegal goods, but the guy was a no show and Jamal was on edge. Was this a prank or maybe set up? The two of them didn't have beef but..., turning someone in to get some pull from Security wasn't unheard of. He turned the key on his D-Wheel to turn it on and ideal it. If he didn't hear something in like ten minutes, he'd bail.

Maybe he'd go back and work on that project of his for a few hours befor....

"OW! Damnit!"

Maybe he'd leave sooner, the bugs were starting to get to him as he felt something bite his chest. But when he checked under the grey shirt, there wasn't any sign of a bug. Or even a bite mark. Guess it had already flown away.

The Twisted Cupid snickered as she floated high in the sky. Being a duel spirit had it's advantages; no one in the park could see the fact the man below her had a large twisted spike like drill covered in chains embedded in his chest. Not even the man himself as he scratched the spot. After all this was her power..., well no it wasn't. Her 'sisters' had similar abilities but never thought to see what they could REALLY do with it, but she had. Rather than doing something silly about levels, or ranks, or links or WHATEVER; she could target two humans and connect them together. And the longer they were together, the more that drill would bore into them.

The further it got along the more they'd desire one another..., though she never really got to see what happened if it finished. Some goody goody Spirit or person would come along and help break it. Usually it'd only get to maybe a third of the way done? Less?

Whatever. Point was she loved seeing all the panic and misunderstanding that came when messing with people's 'OH SO Pure' hearts. Humans were really stupid that way.

That's why she was taking aim at the woman on the other side of the park; Aki Izayoi. She'd sensed something about the woman that attracted her. Maybe it was her dark scars and trama, maybe it was her powers? Maybe it was just she was the most stacked and caked up woman in the park, squeezed into a tight red racing suit. She couldn't know the first two and well the last one was a good enough reason for her.

The lithe figure blew some of her pink and red hair out of the way and took aim.

Aki Izayoi stretched out on the bench she sat at while she watched people go by before taking time to drink some of her bottle. She'd been riding all day and worked up a bit of a sweet. But it had been refreshing to get out on the road with her D-Wheel to clear her head. After all she had a lot of studying to do coming up at university. This was just the sort of break she needed.

All the other signers had left for own paths. Yusei was working both as a duelist and research, the twins were in school themselves, while Crow and Jack had left the city to continue their dueling careers. Her own path had left her little time in trying to catch up with them, as medical school was a bit rough. But it was something she could do to help protect smiles of others.

The poor lass was mid thought when a sharp pain impacted her chest. A mix of a groan and moan slowly came from her lips as she flushed and checked herself. Nothing was there, not even a bug or anything. Strange.

Twisted Cupid snickered as the phantom spike settled into the rather large bosom of the female duelist. Set up now, she put her bow away and cracked her fingers together. All she had to do was apply her power now.

"Three." she counted to herself, holding up three digits on a hand and closing one with each number, "Two. One..., Zero."

A crack of energy echoed in the park, though only those attuned to the Duel Spirit world could hear it. Large lengths of chains erupted from the spikes each target had, moving like mad snakes or wildly flailing tentacles. Anyone in the way of those chains would find, if they could see, that they phased through anyone they struck. Rather, the chains reached for each other, wrapping and merging together.

With a loud 'CLANG' the chains pulled taut, connecting Aki and Jamal together. Followed by a short series of lesser clanks and clangs as the chains slowly started to pull at each other.

Sweat started to pool in her suit as her face became more flushed. Why was she feeling so... aroused? What sort of 'bug' had bit her just now? She took a long drink from her bottle hoping that would cool her off but it didn't. If anything it left her mouth oddly drier. She needed... something else. She looked around, her eyes tracing over a few of the guys in the area but nothing seemed to catch her eye.

That's when her eyes locked onto some guy leaning on his bike in an alley. She absent mindedly licked lips as she took in his muscles even from this far away. Wait was she considering....

With a grin she didn't know she had, Aki got on her bike and started to move.

Jamal for his part clenched his chest again. Felt like something had shot him or a heart attack started or... something. Just for a moment though. That was weird, along with the fact his groin was starting to tighten. Was there some kinda rumor about getting a boner on **** or something?

"Fuck this, I gotta go home." he grumbled as he got his stuff together, "Just gonna go sleep this off..."

"I have a better idea." came a voice behind him.

He snapped his head to look down the alleyway. A D-Wheeler had rolled up on him without him hearing it, probably due to being distracted by the weird feeling in his chest. A woman sat on the bike who took off the helmet she wore. Her red hair went down to her neck and was wrapped up with some sort of weird hair band and her light brown eyes looked at him with a glint in there.

"I'm... not sure why but I'm.... awfully revved up right now...., so when I see a big strong man with a killer bike..., why not take a chance?" She breathed out, her words husky as she unzipped her body suit.

Damn how'd she fit all that in there. Well not wearing a bra for one it seemed.

"That bed you were going to sleep in...., room for two?"

Artist is Redjet00, who's over on pixiv; https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/18610683 and OG is here https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/96933444

He had to blink a couple times as he processed this. A strange babe had propositioned him. Something he wasn't new to but this wasn't the kinda place to pick up a streetwalker. This seemed like one hell of a honey trap..., and yet seeing her figure fighting to stay in that suit was making his lower head flare up in size.