Not Another Kidnapping! (Invite Only)

Gwharr grunted dissaprovingly at the whole affair with this so-called "music" and whatnot. Back in his day, it had not been so strange and unusual! They did not even have proper musical instruments, only some sort of technological thingamajigger that looked like a rather strange club with strings attatched, for crying out loud! in the good old days all you needed was a hollow log and a pair of sticks along with someone to blow a horn and maybe someone to bellow really loudly if you felt all fancy about it. Then the shaman would hand out happy mushrooms that could make you dance all night if you were lucky. Unfortunately, these mushrooms had never really worked on Gwharr, but the cave-women of old was far less discriminating and far more open to copulation after a few of those mushrooms. That last part was one of the few things that remained the same between the music-performances of old and the ones they had today, although now-adays they didn't use mushrooms, but drank alcohol or similar things. The methods might be different but the results were the same.

This had not been the main reason he had signed up for the job, but it was the main reason he stayed at the job. After all, the music was confusing and scary to him, since he didn't understand it all, and the noises their musical instruments made caused him to question the sanity of the performers. Also, there was the free food. There was a huge snack-table provided for his and the other workers benefit, and it had grown even huger since he ended up in a fight over the last ham sammich with a roadie during the first concert in japan. Gwharr liked this, and decided it would be a good idea to remember that you could get more food by being belligerent and violent towards the roadies. Despite this incident he had somehow become something of a mascot for the crew, mostly because of his help with the rigging. He may not know what cable went where, but having an ape-man with enough strength to haul almost 500 tons over his head was quite usefull when setting up.

And that was what he did now, gorging himself on ham sandwiches whilst Tyunki was out on stage singing weirdness. He had never actually seen the show with his own eyes, since he had been expressly forbidden to walk out amongst the crowd since that "Incident" in Okinawa when four schoolgirls in too short skirts had wet themselves at the sight of him gorging on a stray dog. Nevertheless this arrangement suited him just fine, since he basically got paid money to sit around and eat ham sandwiches. If someone offered him a better deal, they would most assuredly be lying. The only bad part about the job was the uniform. He had to wear special, human-sized clothes. The pants where no problems, since his legs where not overly long compared to the average humans, and the thickness of them were solved by handing him pants made for extremely fat humans. He was exempt from wearing shoes, so that was a plus, but then there was the shirt. It did not fit. not at all. The sleeves of hte shirt had been shredded when he tried to push his arms through it, and it had burst open over his chest and shoulders, Thus the shirt said "SECl JRITY" rather than "Security" But as long as he didn ot move too much it stayed in one piece. Also, it didn't quite cover his belly, but that was a price well worth paying for unlimited ham sandwiches.

Darren couldn’t believe it, he had actually gotten tickets to go see a concert, and not only were the tickets FREE, he also got backstage passes to said concert, meaning that he would get free food. Free mother fudging food, he didn’t care who the concert was for, didn’t even remember where he got the tickets from or why but to him it didn’t matter at all. You know what did matter though, yea that’s right free food, baby! A big grin streaked across his face as he took the ticket out from his pocket and rubbed out the creases on his shirted, yes you heard right Darren Cross was wearing a shirt, before handing it to the ticket scanner guy and walking into the theater place thingy mabob.

Once he was inside he immediately made a bee line dash for the backstage area where he showed his pass and asked where the food was. Upon being told he happily sprinted on over to where the food resided, swim dodging past the big burly man in the skin tight clothes that obviously didn’t fit, and picked up a plate of ham sandwiches, nachos, pigs in a blankets, Doritos, and about three bottles of water. With all that completed he walked off eating his food and went to look for his seat, because the voice in the sky said the concert would begin soon. This was not something he wanted to miss of course! He was going to see his first concert, stuff his face, and then fall asleep on the nice comfortable looking couch he saw while in the food area!

Not too much time had passed when Darren arrived at his seat and sat down still eating his food of course, and he got to wondering just what band he came to see. Sure, it just happened to cross his mind now of all times, but it was a logical question for him to want to know. Munching down on a ham sandwich and looking up to the stage in front of him he smiled as the curtaians were pulled aside and revealed none other than his buddie Tyuki! Sure, his grin may have been big then but when he saw just who was actually on the stage he grinned even bigger, no wonder he had gotten back stage passes and front row seats. “Yea! WHOO HOO! GO TYUKI!” Darren Cross screamed out loud for her to hear him before the music started to play. Tonight just got a whole lot better and he was sure nothing could ruin this night...or make it better, except maybe a nap after a song or two and some more food of course. That would make the night perfect in his mind.

Attempting to traverse through the crowd gathered outside of the concert hall venue was proving to be difficult. Approaching the place from the wrong side led to him having to take awhile to get to his intended destination. There were more people here than what was expected. They were only just now being let in so this crowd would not be thinned out anytime soon. Bumping into one person after another made John Capore start to wonder why he had even come here. Free tickets and backstage passes of all things had made it difficult to say no to coming here. Such things were hard to come by and not quite the opportunity to pass up. Really the main reason he was here was because it was his friend Tyuki that was the one performing here tonight. That was actually the sole reason how he had even received the backstage passes. It was just kind of awkward since he had not heard even a single second of any of her music. John did not even know she had become a recording artist until he got the passes in the mail. That would be quite the story to tell her if such a conversation were to come up. Hopefully it would not. He had been in enough like that this past few days alone.

Finally making it through the surrounding crowds and to the backstage entrance door, John presented his pass to the guard at the door. The guard first made him show ID to make sure it was not stolen before opening the door and welcoming him to the concert. John proceeded through the doorway and searched the backstage area for something to do while back here. Tyuki was not back here and based on what he was hearing was preparing to go on stage in a bit. As for him, he just went over towards where all the food was located. Free meals were hard to pass up. As he was grabbing some snacks he looked around and saw a couple of people that he did in fact recognize. One was a large hairy man that he knew to be Gwharr, AKA Captain Caveman. He was off in the corner on the other side of the room just gorging on every morsel nearby. It was probably best that he be left alone to enjoy his large meal. Lest one might find themselves being apart of it.

The other person that he had recognized was the one whom he chose to follow out to the building's theater hall in order to take his seat in the front row. The audience was now packing into the place. The insides were now as crowded as the outside had just been. Luckily this time he did not need to walk through it all so he could get anywhere. The front row seats were the sole reason for this. Going through a crowd once was enough for him for one night. Though he would probably have to do so again when the concert was over. The show was already starting by the time he made it out there. John quickly rushed over to his seat and sat down in it.

Billy was at home in his room getting ready to go. He wore his favorite black shirt, it was small and fit well showing off the little muscle structure he had underneath. The shirt was as unique as Billy, black as night, epaulets on the shoulders, a zippered pocket behind the buttoned one on the left hand side, and of course the sleeves where rolled up to his elbows. With this he wore a charcoal grey undershirt, combat boots, and blue jeans. Finely he walked to the draw next to his bed and opened it, pulling the bottom out to reveal a stash of hold out bb pistols. He carried these when he wasn't on patrol so he always had a way of fighting if something ever happened. Like his father he was taught to hope for the best prepare for the worst. Billy also grabbed a button and a couple of extra mags. These where easily concealed in a holster in his boot. The mags and the bb' gun only had seven rounds, but he wasn't excepting trouble this night.

Nearly read to go Billy walked over to his door and walked down the stairs right as his father walked in the door. "What are you dressed up for tonight Son?" his father asked him.

"I have that concert tonight remember." Billy replied.

"Oh yea that's right" His father said as he began to unload his pockets. Finely with a jingle Billy's father pulled a set of keys out and handed them to him, "Take the car with you tonight. You already running late and I don't want you to take any chances on your bike."

Billy took the keys and grabbed his wallet from the draw his father was placing his own things into. "Sounds good to me."

"Also I took my gear bag out of the back and replaced it with quick gear bag for you. I don't except you will have any trouble out there, but who knows what you'll run into on your way in or out."

Billy walked over to the kitchen real quick and grabbed his ticket from the fridge door. "Well I'm caring a back up with a stun, freeze, and incendiary mag. One of each"

"Alright well your already late, get going. Have fun and forget about work. This is one of the few nights you take off, so unless its urgent don't worry about it."

"Love ya dad." Billy said smiling, and walked out the front door past his father.

"Love ya too kid." his father said as Billy closed and locked the door.

Billy walked to the SUV and hit the trunk button and looked in the bag his father had left him. A full kit including vest helmet and mask and not one but two primary's an MP5 BB gun, and the Paintball rifle he had been favoring of late. it looked like a total of five mags each had been placed in the bag and one side arm, a berretta M9 style BB gun was left in the bag as well. It utilized high capacity quick reload clips that held a hundred rounds a piece. Billy zipped it back up and then closed he door, jumping into the drivers side door and headed off to the concert.

The traffic was stop and go as he approached the concert hall. When he was finely parked the concert was in full swing, practically everyone was already in. Billy quickly got out grabbed his ticket from his pocket and headed to the gate.

Over all the music, no one could see a man in a grey suit slip a security guard about 50 bucks to let him inside. "Thanks dude, really big fan" he'd tell the guard, who would shoot a look of disbelief at this stranger. The grey suited man appeared to be in his 20's with short dreadlocked hair, black glasses, an ever-present smile and constantly moved his fingers. "For real man, I got the greatest hits album and everything, trust me" he'd tell the guard, who's facial expression remained unchanged.

"Yeah well good day to you too buddy" he'd mutter under his breath before walking in. He thought it'd be a bit more believable, but he was glad that wasn't the FOCUS of his plan today. He was going to enact a kidnapping, wreck some shit, and get his name out there. The young man known as Assault, while dangerous, wasn't exactly the type to be able to blow up a building without help. He'd planned to bluff his way through this situation by saying there were several bombs around the concert, and if they didn't give in to his demands, then the Tyuki Gold concert would turn into a Grateful Dead concert. He snickered at his joke, then hit a button on his wrist to talk to his new 'partner', Thistle. He'd met the superhuman environmentalist after tracking down her location, and proposed his deal to her. Naturally, seeing as Assault was a flesh and blood type of person, she wasn't initially inclined to deal with him, until he got to the heart of the matter and suggested (not told, cause you don't tell superpowerful genocidal women suff if you're not prepared for physical rebuttals) that she should be more sly in the future and be welcome to a team up with the first relatively competent person she comes across, namely himself. Thankfully, she accepted his offer and that made this all the more easy for Assault.

The plan was that he'd come in, look for the cameras and mess up most of them (leave one for him to get his name out in the open) while causing a distraction, and then she could make a dramatic entrance and tie up any of the more problematic super types that might be lurking. He took his spot in the back row with a small group, two boys, two girls.

"You guys here on a date?" Assault would ask them, to which they all nodded. "Normally I'd say it's a good choice to go to a concert, lots of music, can cover up ANY other type of noises but, I don't think that'll be happening today"

"What makes you say that?" One of the boys would ask, to which Assault would reply "watch" and in a flash, his left hand shot up and something flew out of it towards the top of the stage that held up the curtains. The weapon would bounce back towards him, sailing over his head and into his right hand.

"Who the hell are you? the group would ask Assault, to which he'd reply "You're gonna find out kids, keep watching"

“Why aren’t you at the concert?” Feeling the warmth of the overused cell phone against her cheek, Ashley finally got an answer from Bliss.

“At the concert?” Miles away in her own seclusion, Bliss twisted kicked her sweatpants clad legs into the deep cushion of the couch.

“Yes!” In a few minutes the lines would go live, and with mere minutes left, Ashley paced around backstage in a pair of ankle high boots, trying to get some direction from the person in charge of managing of this whole thing.

“I hate that music.” Bliss did. “I'm pretty sure things will work themselves out.”

“Everything is getting hectic.” The pitch of Ashley’s voice bounced in energy spikes as she took account of everything around her. “The band can barely handle Tyuki and I’m not sure your security detail is the best of choice.”

Bliss took exception to the faltering of the security. “Why? Is he not wearing his hat?” Her voiced rose in anger. “The hat sells the authority!”

“He’s a hundred feet tall and weighs a million pounds.” Ashley pleaded her case. “Oh, and…”

Knowing none of these concerns concerned her, Bliss motioned her hand as though Ashley could see. “If you’re having problems, just go find the girl I put in charge of running the show.”

Hoping something fell between the management cracks, Ashley shifted her eyes from the stage to the crowd and breathed heavily. “You put me in charge.”

“Oh.” Not taking her fingers off the remote control, Bliss waited for the conversation to end.

“Yeah.” The shrill crying of a rock star rang through the phone connecting Ashley and Bliss.

“Well that’s problematic.” Bliss thought out the situation. “I’m wearing sweats.” She was. “Kind of past the point of no return on this one.”

Only 700 people, Ashley thought to herself. You can do this. “I’m pretty sure this will go…”

“Well there you go; you’ve got this whole thing under control.” Bliss moved the phone from her face to find the end call button. “I leave everything entirely up to you—except the money, bring that to me.”

As Ashley turned to the stage, she took one deep breath, resting her hands along the edges of the beige skirt just above her knees. "Okay, everything is going to be fine. Just fine."

The half-a-ton heavy Greedy, Gravy-Grubbing Gargantuan Giant Grunted Grouchily as some small, seemingly ordinary-looking fellow burst through and started to chow down on food all at random. He did not approve of this. The food was his, and also, there were not supposed to be people running around here except for those especially provided clearance by either Tyuki or The tiny, nosy girl Bliss had left to take care of her end of the whole concert-buisness, since it seemed that Bliss really did not want to do it herself. Gwharr could sympathize with this. He was aware that Bliss could not be placated with food as easily as he himself, and that Tyukis noise grated more on her nerves than they did at his.
He stopped his eating, swallowed his food and turned to the newcommer, who was currently picking tasty morsesls from the table. He was just about to approach him and give him the bums rush when he noticed the VIP-badge and thus turned back to his eating. This man had obviously been approved by the powers that be. Although, they had obviously not bothered to consult him about this decision. He

That was when his current main antagonist, The Tiny, Nosy Girl arrived. There had been dislike at first sight between the twoof them, and they got along mostly for Blisses sake, since she had expressly told them too, but despite Blissies best efforts there was very little affection to lose between them and the relationship was frostier than the north pole. If not for Bliss the tiny, nosy girl would have kicked him out as soon as she could, and If not for Bliss, Gwharr would have pummeled and devoured the tiny and nosy girl already.

She glared up at the massive behemoth, not even bothering to hid her displeasure at his presence here, and Gwharr glowered back, giving her a slight snarl of discontent as he did. Both of them where convinced that they where the one that should be in charge here, Ashley thought so because of her position as manager, and Gwharr because of his freakish man-strength and his fancy beard. In truth, neither of them wanted to be here, and both of them were currently dreaming of a place in the sun far, far away from the music.

"Put on the hat. We talked about this." She said loudly, whilst angrily pointing at the security-hat lying on the floor next to the table. Gwharr snorted angrily, muttering as he picked up the hat, not even needing to bend over due to his freakishly long arms, and with some more angry grunts and mutterings he placed it onto his hairy head. Ashley then proceeded to turn around and walk off, muttering to herself. Even though they did not know it both of them thought the same thought just then, and that was

"On the bright side, when this is over I'll never need to see you again."

Darren was enjoying himself at the concert and having more fun than he had in a long time; well fun that didn’t involve chasing after super villains of course. He had as much food as he could possibly handle, his best buddy was standing next to him, not as enthused of course, when was John ever truly enthused and upbeat about anything? Finally, he got to listen to Tyuki and hear her play during an actual concert. Sure, most of the songs she had played were not something he had ever heard before, and she was singing some of them in Japanese which he definitely could not understand but it all sounded pretty swell. That is of course until he ran out of food, he only noticed this when he went to take a bite out of his nachos and bit his finger instead of a chip, this prompted him to look down and realize there was nothing there!

The only solution to this catastrophe of course was to jump up into the air and sprint off as fast as he could back to the backstage area where the food resided! Once there he slowed down and maneuvered his way over to the food table once more where he started to pick up the food he wanted, placing them once more upon his plate. Distracted as he was he still did not notice his Idol, Gwharr or Captain Caveman standing not too far away; perhaps it was the hat that hid his true identity? Darren would never know and perhaps never get the chance to meet the ‘man’ again anyway. Taking the food and swaying his head to the music he yawned noticing he was tired, which then of course he noticed the comfortable looking couch again.

One thing turned to the next and he was lying down on the couch, picking at his food and listening to Tyuki sing her Japanese music. The next song he would have recognized and probably would have sung along with her had by the time ‘Call Me Maybe’ had started he had already dozed off into sleep. One hand was down reaching for the food the other was underneath his head using it as a pillow and his legs stretched out the full length of the couch. This was the most comfortable bed he had slept in, in a while and he certainly wasn’t going to give that up. Not until he had gotten a good night’s rest, Tyuki would understand he hoped. He had listened to most of her concert, at least he figured he had listened to most of it. He was just soon to miss the most important part…

John sat in the front row of the stadium just in front of the stage. He was actually enjoying the show a bit despite being rather tired, and not a fan of the actual music being played. Still, it was a fun atmosphere that he currently sat in. A delightfully weird in a cutesy way show that made the crowd simply enjoy it for whatever reason. It may have been partially due to the fact that a lot of people in the audience seemed to have no idea what was actually being sang. John only understood bits and pieces of it. Sure he knew some Nihongo, but it didn't help that the songs were fast paced making it so he could not even hear every word that was sang.

"Hey." he tried calling over towards Darren at one point. Unfortunately he was unable to be heard. The music was just so loud from where they were located. His words fell short of their goal. Still, it was no big deal. He could probably catch up with him after the concert was over. That was assuming of course that the dude did not run off like crazy. That tendency did exist within him. John had seen it himself.

One song after another was played in a language that he could barely even understand by this band whose very name he could not even remember. As a break was reached in the performance the crowd gave a quick round of applause. John joined in on this as the embarrassment of not even knowing what was going on got to him. "What is? Oh, where's that ticket? Where did I put it?" he mumbled to himself as he quickly searched through his pockets. While he was searching he missed a few things without even realizing it. He did not miss everything though.As he was looking down he heard a noise from above him. A swooshing sound that pierced the air. He did not think anything of it though. Not at first. Instead he pulled out the ticket to look at it really quickly. As he read it he noticed something out of the upper corners of his view. The curtains had fallen and two of the band members had been temporarily trapped beneath them. Though they quickly got out and continued the show the audience was a little freaked out. The atmosphere had toned down really fast.

There were whispers among the crowd about something having flown overhead. The general fun atmosphere had dissipated for some. John felt the need to sneeze and put his arm over his nose as he did so. He shook his head a bit as he felt like he was soon going to have a headache. Way to ruin a fun night. He rubbed his head a bit and took a deep breath. It made things feel a bit better. He would not be focusing on it at least. Maybe. Depends on how something was making him feel. That curtain falling thing had him curious. It was one of the things that he had on his mind. He went back to watching the performance on stage. The lead singer was a friend of his after all. He should be cheering for her if anything.

Billy, slammed the door of his fathers call, grabbing his cell from his pocket and hit the number for his father. The phone rang three times as Billy started the long walk to the doors. "Hello," his father said.

"Hey, just wanted to let you know I had made it hear, traffic was stop and go from the exit."

"Alright son be safe I'll see ya when you get home. Text me when you leave."

"Will do dad, love ya."

"Love ya too," and with those final words the father and son hung up their phones not aware of the events about to transpire.

Billy then ran through his contacts looking for his friends numbers. The first that came up was Chris. Hitting his cellphone number on his contact card he raised the phone to his ear and waiting for him to pick up. "Hey where are you your late." The man asked Billy.

"Shut up, I know, I just pulled up walking to the doors now. Where are you?" Billy asked his best friend.
Chris was already in the theatre in seats which had a perfect view over the whole stage and the pit.

"Already inside with James and Courtney. Hurry up before you....... Wow!" Chris said as he watched something flash by and the curtain come crashing down his eyes followed the object back to a mans hand but he couldn't tell what it was or who the person was.

"Wow what?" Billy asked, "What happened, What's going on?"

"The curtain just fell, Two of Tyuki's band mates are covered by it." His voice gave a hint of questioning.

"It sounds like you don't think it was an accident." Billy asked.

"No it wasn't, and I don't think it was planned either." Chris told him.

Chris's nickname was Murphy, because he went to a hospital ER once a year for something, and right now he had a feeling he was about to make his trip for the year. Chris and Billy shared a lot of traits, and had Chris been a meta he would be a hero himself. Billy had considered on more then one occasion to bring him into his operation, but he knew his white knight complex would get him into trouble, and Billy wasn't one to risk his friends lives.

"What do you mean?" Billy asked.

Assault slowly strolled toward the stage, making it looked like he was moving casually towards the front row, as if to talk to someone. As he walked, he tapped his cufflink and heard Thistle ask him "what is it?" and sighed a bit, then replied. "Hello to you too I'm just calling to tell you that things should be ready for your big entrance, if you know what I mean. Two minutes from now will be time for you to appear" and she would know that he meant that it was time for her to act, as he had gotten to the front row and hopped up on the stage. How he found himself allied with her was pretty simple: he needed somoe SERIOUS backup to pull this off, and after seeing her debut, Assault knew she'd be the right woman for the job. Getting her to agree was a bit hard, as she was quite assuredly not a fan of the human race. He'd made sure to finish his butterfinger and throw it in a trash can hours before meeting her. He had to persuade Thistle by playing to her ego. He had a specific set of skills that SHE could get use out of, and she could help him with hers. It was a tenuous working relationship but it was all he needed. It had gotten him this far, and that's all he wanted.

Thinking about this as he rose up onstage, Assault cupped a blade in his left hand as he tapped a cufflink, holding it away from the view of the audience or the band, then looked at the camera before facing the band. "Hello! Really nice setup you got here, you're all great musicians but it's time to kill the noise. Tyuki Gold, my name is Assault, and I'm here to kidnap you. Now, we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way, the choice is yours" He'd tell her, extending his right hand. Now, he did not expect the easy way to be the one she chose, and wondered where security was. The hard way was what he had prepared for, and with Thistle causing a distraction/general mayhem and disarray, Assault felt like he was prepared. It should only take 120 minutes for her to make a decision

"What does that mean?"

Ashley turned from the stage with a sudden gusto. "A guy with a blade just came onto stage to..."

Biting her frustration over the phone, Bliss pulled her hand up to nervously bat the back of her head. "This stupid show is getting way over budget; how much is this costing me?"

Keeping a nervous eye on the stage, while not wanting to keep out of the limelight, Ashley tried to explain the situation as best she could to her friend. "I'm figuring with refunds and..."

"Hold on..." Clarity came to Bliss as the dollar signs like binary turned to the real message. "...Someone is actually trying to attack Tyuki on stage?"

Furrowing her brow with the snark of her words lent some emphasis to the context. "I said that the first time."

"Not well enough." Bliss relegated accountability. "First of all, no one gets a refund. Got it? Second, tell people this is not another kidnapping and is just part of the show. Third, make sure no one leaves."

Confusion sat in the distance between the cell phones. "Why am I keeping people inside?"

"If people think someone is attacking, then there is a lawsuit. If they think it is a part of the show, then Tyuki is on the cover of Rolling Stone. Got it?" An explanation sailed through the air, grounded in business.

"What should I do after all the 'important' things are done." Ashley didn't know who she was air quoting for, but the inflection remained.

"Good attitude." Getting up from the couch, Bliss made her way to her makeshift equipment room. "Find Gwharr, back up Gwharr, don't break anything. I'll be there in a few."

"Okay?" Spoken all the absence of certainty she could muster.

"And done." Pressing a finger to the dial pad, Bliss ended the conversation and began to undertake the process of getting into her battle suit without a care in the world.

"How do I get this done?" Any hesitation would lead to complications. And any complications would lead to death. And of course Bliss would have to pay lawyer fees for that. "Gwharr!" Ashley called out for the gargantuan goliath. "I have to be a superhero for a minute!" She hoped her previous altercation warmed her up-- and hoped Gwharr put his hat on. "Can you help me?"