Chapter 229

“Motokoooo!” I was nearly attacked from behind as Hiromi charged up to the bar and against me.

 

“Hey Hiromi.”

“Are you ready? Are you feeling sick? I brought a towel I could go wet down and-”

“I’m fine!” I laughed at her mother henning, as I looked around her and waved at Ichi who had followed her in.

“Motoko. How goes?”

“I’m fine!” I responded huffing a bit, he was looking worried for me too!

“Okay so Rebecca said she’s coming, and Malcolm is outside of course.”

“His car again?”

“Yes.” Hiromi said, rolling her eyes. “He’s going to get his car klepped.”

“Hopefully not. Chasing down car thieves is a lot of work.”

“Profitable!” Hiromi argued, poking me, looking pleased.

 

“That too.”

“And, there is Jared.” Klein called out and I looked up to see the Bass player walk up. Jared, like Klein, had a very Rockerboy inspired outfit. Where Klein went for lighted clothing, Jared showed off his body. No shirt, open jacket, Plastic abs, and chrome glowing up and down his chest.

“So do you turn the lights off most of the time?” I couldn’t help but ask, as I remember he had glowed in our last gig too, but I didn’t see it otherwise.

“Sup Motoko. Yeah the lights get annoying trying to chill out. I look down and end up half blinding myself. Need to get anti-Dazzle on my optics. But I just turn them off when I’m not on stage.”

I just nodded, but couldn’t help but notice his muscles he showed off were all fake, and he wasn’t the buff guy that his clothes showed when he wasn’t dressed up for it.

 

Might need to start exercising my Rockerboys too at this rate.

 

Why was everyone so lazy in Night City?

 

Oh right, exercise sucked.

 

Yeah fair.

 

We all settled in, the other band was still on stage, and playing as loud as they could, but, the audience was mostly just drinking rather than listening.

 

Sorry guys.

 

Finally Alice came in, carrying her gear and joined us nodding at Jared and Klein, giving me an up and down, and then looking at Hiromi. “Everything good?” She asked Hiromi a moment later.

 

“Everything good.” Hiromi confirmed with a shark-like smile.

 

“Great. We need to go all out tonight then.” She said, looking over the rest of us.

 

“Why what’s up?” Jared asked, looking away from the bartender as he turned back to the group.

 

“There’s a producer here. We go just before the band he’s looking into. If we do well we can steal the hype, and interest.” Alice offered smiling evilly, Hiromi’s own smile matching.

 

“Wait… Did you plan this?”

“Of course! I was looking into things, and got a bit of a tip off that this producer was looking into a band. So I checked on when they would next play, and set up our set before them.” Hiromi said her head practically tilted back as she spoke as her ego grew larger and larger.

 

I felt like if I poked her head, she’d pop with how inflated she was.

 

Oh well. Hiromi was cute when her little plots worked out.

“We’ll play the best we can and see what happens. No stress.” I decided to say looking at everyone. But the others were definitely looking stressed, but not in a bad way. Jared’s face shifted into a serious look, and Klein, who had already known about the producer from Dino, nodded with his buddy.

Well I guess I was outvoted.

 

“Well if Faint doesn’t catch their attention. I don’t know what will.” I offered and Alice smirked evilly.

“Exactly.”

 

“We got this. Hell yeah.” Jared whispered, pumping himself up.

 

I just wanted to sigh, but it’s okay. Hopefully everyone just had some fun.

I shook off my thoughts and focused as the other band finally seemed to be wrapping up.

 

A few minutes later they headed off stage taking off their equipment, and Dino pointed at us, while the music of a radio kicked on to cover the wait.

 

We all got to work, taking stuff up to the stage, then heading outside to grab drum sets, and other equipment. Ichi and Malcolm helped out. Malcolm pulling himself away from a much older woman who’d been a little too interested in him, but we got everything set up and we were ready to get started.

 

We all did a check, making sure everything was good, and a nod at Dino was all we needed to get the music to stop.

 

Then… I realized I needed to talk. My throat clenched, but I opened my mouth anyway.

 

“Hello! We’re Stand Alone Complex, and we’re going to start with Smells like Teen Spirit!” I instantly started the power chords to the start of the song. Letting my hands soar over the strings as the song began, and brought the others into my momentum.

 

“Load up on guns, bring your friends.” I sang, my voice husky, crooning into the mic, but I needed more than that.

 

This was important to the band.

 

My fingers danced, my voice boomed over the crowd, and more and more of them were looking up. Their eyes caught mine, and when they did, I dragged them into my rhythm too.

Playing, singing. Those were only a part of what being a Rockerboy meant.

 

I flashed, smiles, winked, moved around, and let the energy of the song flow from not just the music but my performance.

 

“Ooh well, whatever, nevermind.” I crooned, rolling my eyes visibly, letting that teenage angst flow through me. And the crowd was liking it.

 

I played around when Jared flubbed a chord, making it seem normal. I altered the rhythm when Alice needed, or as Klein got into his drum solo,

 

I didn’t just repeat a song verbatim. I played the song along with a band.

 

And at the end, I shifted to Alice, and she figured out what I wanted, and we both dueted the last loong line. “A Deniiiiial!”

 

Her voice would have ruined it solo, but the electronic quality of her singing voice worked with me dueting against it.

 

I stepped back as the song ended, and Alice was absolutely thrilled. I could see the way her eyes lit up as the crowd reacted, plenty of stomping feet, and whistles and shouts.

 

“Oh you liked that? We’ll I think you lot will like this one even more. Come with me and RISE!” I turned and the sound played out, as the electronic part of the song went over, and everyone took their positions.

 

We played through RISE, and as expected, the song was well liked, the crowd was getting into it, I could see people scanning me, wanting to find out who it was, but that was fine.

 

Hiromi was actively walking through the crowd passing out shards of some sort.

I didn’t want to know. So I wasn’t going to ask.

But I needed to be more than just someone playing a song. This was a gig, a stage show. I roared as I roamed the stage, I got the crowd sticking their fist up when I yelled Rise, the crowd roaring along with me as they fell under the spell of a good song.

 

And then it was time for something new.

 

As Rise ended I checked on the band and they were definitely into it.

 

Jared was playing up the crowd, his Bass guitar’s strumming drawing the eye of some of the women in the crowd. Klein though was already sweating, but in a good way. He was absolutely in the groove.

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Good.

I nodded to Alice and she nodded back. Time for the big reveal.

“Stand Alone Complex is showing off something new this time! I’d like everyone to enjoy, because I know you’re all just, Heathens!” I shouted out, and then the stage went silent for a moment. I was smiling because I wasn’t playing an instrument this time. My guitar was on a stand, and instead a guitar case was next to my feet.

 

“All my friends are Heathens, take it slow.” I crooned, capturing the audience as the music came out. Whether because no one had heard this before, or because people liked it, they listened as the melody started, the quiet lyrics, the faint sound of something wrong slowly getting louder.

 

And while I sang I moved along the stage, I kneeled down, sang to the small dance floor in front of the stage getting them in close, letting them think everything was normal.

 

Then it was time.

 

“But after all I’ve saaaaid!” And I kicked out, Mic slipped back into the stand, just as the case popped open, and yes I may have practiced this a few times while we tested things for this song.

 

My Carnage, the Shotgun flipped up and into my arms.

 

“Please don’t forget!” I cocked the Carnage, the grinding metal ran right through the mic, and everyone flinched, the people rocking out the chillers, the producer at the bar, even Dino who had been head bobbing to the song flinched.

 

The rest of the band took over. Alice’s voice was perfect to sing the heavily electronic bits, I reached out for the flying shotgun shell, grabbed it and in one movement underhanded it right towards one of the people closest to the stage.

 

The guy reacted snagging it out of the air and then looked down at the very life shotgun shell he now held.

 

“Watch it!” The distorted voice of Jared echoed out as I cocked the Carnage again. The second shell flew out and I threw it again. Again it was caught, and the crowd was reacting. This section of the song was the fastest, the hardest pace, everything had been brought up to this point, and the appearance of a shotgun, cocking over the room had only added to the theater of it all.

 

I went back to the mic as the section ended and waved behind me with the shotgun in one hand.

 

“All my friends are Heathens, take it slooow.”

 

Klein got his moment a few lyrics later, slamming the drums as the song picked back up again. Alice singing into the mic, her electronic throat working perfectly for this section, while I hyped the crowd,

 

“WATCH IT!” Jared roared, and I once again cocked the shotgun, another shell racing across the crowd as hands were rising up for it now. Cries were heard.

 

Then again, I was playing it up. The crowd was loving it. Rebecca I noticed was cackling like a maniac from the bar, her legs waving in the air.

 

Rebecca’s leg thing was so funny, but I didn’t have time to process it.