FicWad

Chapter 4 - Confusion in the Ranks

Finally succumbing to hunger, I left the tent and made my way back to the bus. Gerard Mikey and Ray were sat around the table, looking at a magazine. Bob was on the couch, feet up, book in hand.

"Well at least someone can see where the innocent victims in all this." Mikey reasoned. I'd clearly come in mid conversation.

"Innocent? Apart from the shower, the cannon and all the rest." Bob mumbled, too engrossed in his scripts from Red Dwarf to fully participate in whatever topic they were on about this time.

"Hey, all's fair in love and war. We didn't start this. But we are sure as hell going to finish it!" Ray chimed in, slamming his fist emphatically on the table.

"Any taco's left?" I asked as I made my way to the kitchen (a mini fridge, kettle, microwave and cupboard, but it was better than nothing).

"Hey Syd. There's some tortillas, but Ray finished the last taco. Come look at this. It seems there's a small contingency of press on the tour." Gerard motioned to a guilty looking Ray.

I walked over to the table, eyes falling on the latest Rolling Stone. A large colour spread of tour photos and a small article adorned the pages. I began to read the title aloud.

"Get Fuct; Overcast Kids take on The Black Parade. I wonder which of the three wise monkeys thought of that gem?"

I scanned the pictures, shocked at how they had managed to take them without us knowing.

Patrick was hanging out the bus window waving his hat triumphantly in the air, Leo walking over to the shower block with her arms full of clothes and a face like thunder. MCR getting showered with pink, glittery confetti. Pete and Patrick hunched over with laughter as they watched from the sidelines like a pair of hyenas. Bob holding me back as I yelled at Leo, but my face was blurred out. Thank goodness for small graces. And finally Leo walking with Pete, his arm casually slung around her shoulders, victorious smirks on their faces.

Bastards. How dare they flaunt themselves so blatantly? Publicity whores. I bet they planned this. Looks like it back fired though as the article goes in our favour.

"Where's Frank?" I asked as I suddenly realised he wasn't on the bus, "He ditched me earlier."

I scanned the captions. I had to admit, they had good writers. Guess they got someone else to think of the title.

"Dunno, he read Rolling Stone then said he was going for a smoke. That was about ten minutes ago." Gerard replied with a shrug.

Grabbing the rest of the tortillas, I said my goodbyes, and made my way back to the tent.

As I entered the sweat box of a tent, I noticed Leo had left her laptop with all the lighting programs on. Interesting...Booting it up, I got straight in. What moron doesn't have a password on a shared computer?!

I maybe a sound engineer, but I made it my business to at least know a little about lighting and special effects. A bit of background knowledge goes a long way. This is going to be good.

I got out my cell, texting the guys.

Meet me by the decks on main stage b4 fob go out. Bring flashlights. Revenge is ours. Syd

X

A few hours and several coffees' later, I walked onto the FOB bus exhausted and yet wired from all the caffeine.

"S'up Leo?" Pete asked as I slumped down onto the sofa. He was sat hunched over a magazine; Andy sat beside him reading a comic.

"Not a lot." I replied as I stretched out and lent back against the sofa, closing my eyes as the air con wafted gently around me, "Stage's done, gates have opened so I have a blissful hour until the fun begins."

"Sweet." He replied before going back to his magazine.

I must have drifted off because a little while later I woke up to the sound of hushed voices whispering frantically. Cracking open one eye I watched as Pete and Andy continued to bicker about something from across the table.

"I didn't even know there was a reporter on tour." Pete said clearly annoyed.

A reporter? This didn't sound promising.

"I knew there was one around but she's only been given limited access; some of this article has bits in it that only us and MCR should know about."

Okay so now I'm worried. Tilting my head slightly I listened closer.

"What I don't get is how the pictures got in there." Pete said as he leaned over the table and examined something, a deep scowl marring his tanned features, "Some of them look pretty private."

"What do you expect man?" Andy asked shaking his head, "Those damn photographers get everywhere now."

Okay I've heard enough.

I got up from the sofa sharply making them both jump. Walking over to the table I grabbed whatever it was they had been looking at.

Rolling Stone. Okay.

"Leo! Give it back." Pete protested as he snatched at the magazine. Holding it out of his reach I flipped through it and gasped as I finally found the source of their discussion.

What the fuck? I got a sudden sinking feeling as familiar faces jumped out at me from the pages.

Words and brightly coloured pictures littered the page and I moved back to my previous seat to inspect the damage.

I didn't bother with the actual article itself. The headline said it all; "Get Fuct; Overcast Kids take on The Black Parade." I pretty much got the gist of the 2 page spread from that alone.

No, it was the pictures that bothered me more.

Patrick hanging out the bus window brightly waving his hat in the air, me walking over to the shower block with my arms full of clothes. The members of MCR staring up in horror as they were showered with pink, glittery confetti, Pete and Patrick hunched over with laughter as they watched from the sidelines. Me walking with Pete, his arm casually slung around my shoulders, victorious smirks on our faces.

Jeez does my hair always look like that? Looks like I've been dragged through several hedges...no wonder I get so many funny looks first thing in the morning. Okay off topic slightly, back to the problem in hand.

I flipped the page and felt myself tense up, though I couldn't for the life of me tell you why.

Frank sat just off stage smoking a cigarette, a contented look on his face. I focussed on the picture for a lot longer than I should have, recalling his oddly kind actions earlier before shaking myself out of my daze and examining the other photo's.

Gerard and Ray walking back to their bus carrying something that looked suspiciously like a toolbox. Bob with a grimace on his face as he held back a blurred figure that looked abit like Syd. Frank with a wide grin, his arms wrapped tightly around Syd's small frame...

Snapping the magazine shut I refused to look at anymore and stubbornly refused to acknowledge the sudden jealousy I now felt at seeing the last photo.

Pete and Andy were looking at me anxiously from the table and I chucked the magazine back at them with a growl.

"How the hell did this happen?" I asked as I got up and shuffled in beside Andy.

"No idea." Pete said distractedly as he flipped to the article and began to read, "But I'd sure as hell like to know how this reporter knew about the shower incident in Texas; we didn't tell anyone and most of the other buses had left well before it happened."

"Well it's fairly fucking obvious then isn't it?" I snarled as I slammed my hand down on the table, "My Chem told the reporter everything so that she could spin the article in their favour. I mean just look at it, it doesn't exactly do us any favours does it?"

Those complete wankers. No wonder Frank was being so bloody nice; he knew that the article would be out today. I'm such an idiot; I should have known he'd have an ulterior motive. And here was me thinking...well I don't even know what I was thinking but I'm sure as hell not thinking about it now.

"Don't worry about it Leo," Andy said with conviction, misinterpreting my silent anger at myself for anger at the article, "We'll make sure they pay for this."

I think it was the first time I had heard Andy get involved in the feud. Don't get me wrong, he'd taken part in the pranks but I'd never heard him sound so threatening before. And I liked it. Those bastards aren't going to know what's hit them.

A couple of hours later I was once more at the main stage, hidden away behind the effects deck waiting for William Becket to finish poncing around on stage so that I could reset the cannons for FOB who were up next.

I couldn't keep the smug grin off my face, everyone that passed me either shied away from my maniacal smile or looked at me like I was a freak for being so happy whilst surrounded by such chaos.

The reason for my sudden attitude change? Revenge. It really is the best medicine.

I had promised myself as I first got dragged in to this whole war that I would never compromise my job or anyone else's in our petty quest for victory. But that was then and this is now and I'll be damned if I'm going to let Frank...err I mean MCR get away with humiliating me and my friends.

Earlier, due to some heavy flirting I had put Andy's plan into action. Seriously, Techs are so easy to manipulate, all I had to do was pout and show abit of cleavage and the guy was putty in my hands. Pete of course thought this was hilarious but what the hell; it got the job done didn't it? It was also a satisfying ego boost; perhaps I should corrupt innocent teenagers more often.

Okay I'm sounding slightly pervy now. I'm pretty sure that I'm never going to use the words 'teenagers' and 'corrupt' in the same sentence ever again.

"All set?" A voice whispered in my ear making me jump.

All of the guys were stood behind me, instruments in hand. Expectant looks on their faces.

"Yeah," I replied, my grin returning, "As soon as MCR step on stage he's gunna pull the plug."

O yes, we rock.

They all nodded and hastily darted away as Matt walked past, eying us suspiciously.

I kept my head down and fiddled with some buttons but stopped as soon as he'd gone. Leaning on the deck I waited patiently as The Academy Is, finished their set to rapturous applause.

William's skinny form walked past me and I quickly ran on stage as the heavy black curtains closed and set about resetting the cannons.

Ten minutes later I was back behind the decks and making last minute checks before FOB went on. Head down I worked quickly and so didn't notice Syd until her Black Van's came to a stop by the side of me.

"Making last minute checks?" She asked pleasantly.

I stood up and glared at her. She was stood watching me with a look of mock sincerity, one hand on her hip, the other randomly carrying a torch.

"What the fuck does it look like?" I retorted. Was she retarded or something? I mean I suspected as much but now this confirmed it. Any idiot could see that I was prepping for the next performance, "Bugger off Syd."

"Alright alright," She said shrugging her shoulders, "I was only checking, sometimes things can just...slip past your notice..."

And with that she walked off back to whatever rock she'd crawled out under, leaving me wondering what the fucking point of her question had been and whether or not I should be concerned.

Whatever. I'd worry about it after FOB's set.

Five minutes later I gave the guys one last whispered 'Good Luck' and watched as they walked on stage. The crowds went wild and fangirly chants immediately reached my ears.

The first beats of 'Arms Race' began.

And then it all went wrong.

It was about 10pm at this point and so pretty damn dark. Which meant that when the large and extremely bright lights suddenly cut out, everyone was blinded by the unexpected darkness.

"What the fuck!" I yelped as I flailed around in my panic to get back to my decks. All around me was a buzz of cursing and startled voices as everyone backstage began to scatter in an attempt to rectify the problem.

Avoiding several collisions I finally made it to the controls and struggled to locate the right buttons for the lights. After a few seconds frantic routing around I stopped and tried to calm down.

I had no idea what was going on and I had no light to fix whatever had happened. Plus though I hated to admit it, my childhood fears of being eaten my monsters in the dark had never really left me and so I stood shakily behind my decks, feeling vulnerable and confused.

A beam of light hit me suddenly in the face and I cringed as once more I was blinded and spots ran through my vision.

"Need a light?"

An intense rage spread through me as the beam of light moved to settle on the last face I wanted to see in the midst of such confusion.

Syd.

I was so angry I couldn't even form words.

"You..." I spat out in-between strangled gasps, my fury so complete that I had to force myself to stand still and resist the urge to walk over and rip her apart with my bare hands.

"Did something slip past your notice Leo?" She enquired politely, her shoulders shaking as she held back her laughter.

The torch shook in the hands of whoever was holding it and moved from Syd's face to Gerard's and then Franks. Frank's laugher stopped as our eyes met and his smile faded. It didn't mean anything though; he was as bad of the rest...infact no. He was worse than the others because at least they were honest, they didn't use false niceties to make the pranks cut deeper.

"You bastard." I finally said my voice a furious whisper.

I had to leave, I couldn't stand here anymore, I couldn't watch as they rejoiced in their victory. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. She'd gone into my sanctuary; she'd cruelly destroyed my work, all my sequences gone in one quick and thoughtless pull of the plug. All the frustration I felt, all the suppressed anger came out in the worst way possible.

My eyes started to well up and I turned quickly and ran off stage, grabbing a helpless tech and yelling through my tears for him to 'sort out the fucking problem before I sacked his sorry arse'.

It didn't occur to me until I got to the bus and the safety of my bunk that I had said 'you bastard', that my insult had been aimed at Frank alone and not Syd or the others.

I really am screwed aren't I?

X

"Oh shit." I trailed off in horror.

Leo ran off in tears, screaming at some Tech to sort it all out. I had gone too far. I made this personal. God I'm such a retard.

Gerard and Frank stood beside me dumfounded.

"You two go get ready for your set. I'll go fix this." I said as I dashed off to find the laptop.

Pete was doing his charismatic front man act, calming the crowds and carrying on regardless. I darted around back stage, frantic to fix the mess I caused. I'd put Leo's job at risk. How could I be so stupid? As soon as this is over I'm going to go find her.

I spotted some guy with the laptop, scratching his stubbly chin with clearly no clue of what to do. I marched over, shoving him out of the way. He was about to protest, but shut his mouth when he saw who it was who'd shoved him. Guess I really do have a reputation that precedes me.

I had enough sense to create a backup file. Thank God. After waiting for the cue to Thnks fr th Mmrs, I reset the lights to the correct point. Un-phased by the return of lighting, fob's show went ahead without a flaw. I hate to admit it, but their performance was one of their best. No thanks to me and my big ideas.

Half way through the mcr set I was about to tweak the feedback for the next song when I spotted a Tech near all the power outlets. Poor guy couldn't have been out of high school more than a week, and he had no idea about what was about to happen. I stormed across, knocking the hat of his head with my good hand. He fell back onto his ass from where he was balanced on the balls of his feet, eyes like a deer caught in the headlights.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You're supposed to be on the unsigned stage!" I snapped as he looked guiltily at the power cables.

"I. I was... I have to go." He scrambled to his feet, making a bee line for the stage exit.

As the Tech scampered off, I spotted Matt glaring threateningly at me from across stage. His face set in stone, eyes narrowed in fury. Guess he heard about our little prank. Oh, I'm so going to get fired for this.

As soon as mcr finished of the night with a raucous rendition of 'I'm Not Okay', Frank slung his guitar at Matt, his right hand guitar man, and bolted off to the wings. I left the rest of the crew to pack up; I had to find Leo and try to sort things out.

After accosting several crew and stoned 'artists' I was told to check the canon tent. Of course! Why didn't I think of that? The canons were Leo's kids. I was nervous, still not knowing quite what I was going to say. I can't believe I'm scared of her.

As I peered into the tent, I wasn't prepared for what I saw. And to think I was going to apologise?! I swear I'm going to kick Frank so hard in the nuts that his kids (if he can still have them) will be born with vans imprinted on their heads.