Who Is She, Anyway?
Chapter Four: The Stingers' Tour
"Chimera, are you done with that backdrop yet?"
Mark poked his head around the stage door to see his young protegee
lounging
in a chair, idly sipping coffee. "Chimera! Aren't you taking any of
this
seriously?"
"Relax, worrywart, it's done." Chimera waved her hand dismissively at
the
stage. "All taken care of, so don't sweat it. Is Sakura here yet?"
"Yes, she just arrived here ten minutes ago." Mark nodded. "Honestly,
you
girls are going to be the death of me, I swear it. Between your
attitude and
Sakura's delayed transport you're turning my hair grey! Now, Eric and
the
Stingers will be here any moment for their pre-concert runthrough, so
everything
has to go according to plan. They also want to see the lighting, of
course...I've
sent Sakura off to look into that now, I only hope she has time to
program
in a sequence before they get here. This is important to them, because
they've
never done a live video in such a wholesale way before now, so we can't
let
a thing go wrong. They're a big name act, you know."
"Yeah, yeah." Chimera shrugged, reaching for her magazine. "Cool out,
will
ya? Everything went fine last night, no reason why it shouldn't today.
And
if these guys are such pros it should be a breeze."
"You are unbelievable." Mark shook his head in disbelief. "And
impossible, too. Good luck to whatever group hires you to do their
videos!"
"Mark, they'll need more than luck to get me." Chimera said
nonchalantly. "Video Montgomery and Anthony Julian had better watch
out, because I'm coming
through!"
"If you put as much effort into your concepts as you do into your
bravado and banter then you'd be there in a flash." Mark said dryly.
Chimera gestured towards the stage.
"Well, you tell me what you think is wrong with that?" she demanded.
"It's
perfect!"
"And as usual, you know it." Mark laughed. "All right. I'll go and see
if
the Stingers are here yet. You know, I hope they do like your
techniques, Chimera. This is the chance of a lifetime for you."
"I guess so." Chimera seemed unconcerned. "That Riot creep is an
egotistical jerk and Minx is a whiner. Rapture seems the only one of
the group worth my
time to talk to."
"I saw you girls chatting yesterday. I'm glad you hit it off." Mark
nodded.
"Just don't offend Riot or Minx, will you? A lot rides on this!"
"Yeah, I know, relax already. You're turnin' into a broken record."
Chimera
rolled her eyes. "Go see if they're here and chill. You're one major
bummer
when you're like this."
Outside the venue, the Stingers had indeed arrived. Minx stepped
gracefully out of the limousine, examining her pink painted nails for
chips as she did
so.
"This is such a bore." she observed. "Why do we have to come back here
again
so early? We do not perform till tonight, why must we practice now? We
know
our songs - we're not amateurs."
"Minx, not now." Riot chided her gently. "We're here to ensure
everything meets our approval for tonight's concert...we cannot allow
even the slightest imperfection, surely you know that by now.
Everything must go like clockwork."
"Well, I still think it is unnecessary." Minx was not to be moved on
the
subject, as she adjusted her wide brim black hat and tucked a stray
wisp
of long blond hair behind her ear. "We are the stars, we should not
need
to be running around after them. Is that twit of a girl going to be
here
again today?"
"Chimera? I believe so, yes." Riot nodded, a frown crossing his face.
Rapture
grinned.
"Oh, I hope so. I think I can have a bit of fun with her, liven up the
whole
experience." she remarked.
"So what is the plan this time, Rapture?" Minx looked interested.
"She's just a kid...she doesn't know any better in this business."
Rapture
winked. "I think we can lead her all over the place without her
realising
we're playing her for all it's worth."
"I think it would be most...entertaining." Riot nodded, still smarting
from
Chimera's delicate snub the day before. "Yes. Tell us what you mean to
do,
Rapture. You know that you can rely on our complete cooperation,
whatever
you decide."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"I don't think I've been to New York before, save for passin'
through it
on our way to some other place." Jetta glanced around her at the busy
city
streets, soaking in the life of the bustling metropolis. "What's the
plan
of action, Pizzazz? You know where they're playin'?"
"Yeah. Some club called the Sentinel. It's a big deal joint in the
centre
of town." Pizzazz nodded her head. "I'm in the mood to crash the place,
if
we can find it okay...guess we grab a taxi and see what we can see."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Jetta nodded her head. Roxy frowned.
"We just gonna barge in there?" she demanded. "What if Riot's there?
Girl,
you think we're lettin' you make eye contact with that creep?"
"Shut your face. It's all under control, so cool out." Pizzazz snapped.
"And
I don't care if Riot's there...we're here to make trouble, and don't
you
forget it! I didn't mean we were gonna simply crash it and let everyone
see
us...we're gonna be more sneaky than that. They got a big concert
tonight, if my source is right...If we're sneaky we can mess it up big
style."
"I'll go with that." Jetta grinned. "Doin' it on the sly works for me."
"How we gonna do it, though?" Roxy asked. Pizzazz shrugged.
"We'll think of somethin'." she returned. "Never heard of improvising,
Roxy?"
"It's too long a word for 'er to manage." Jetta snorted. Roxy pulled a
face
at her foe, but by that time Pizzazz had managed to hail a taxi, so
there
was no time to pursue the quarrel.
"How far do you reckon it is to this place?" Jetta turned her attention
away
from her rival, glancing out of the window of the yellow taxi as they
zoomed
through the central streets of the city. Pizzazz shrugged again.
"Don't ask me, I don't know everything!" she retorted. "We'll get there
when
we get there, so quit fussing. It's starting to be like travelling with
two
elementary school kids, travelling with you two!"
"Well, takes one to know one." Jetta snapped back. Pizzazz glowered.
"Watch your mouth." she warned, and it was clear she was still smarting
from
Stormer's calm refusal to take any part in the trip.
"If Jetta just shut her mouth we'd all be a lot better off."
Roxy
put in from her corner. Then, "Hang on a minute, I jus' saw a billboard
with
Riot's ugly mug sprawled across it! Guess we can't be far off."
"How far to go?" Pizzazz leant forward to ask the driver, who smiled.
"Not far...just round the next corner." He told her, and with a
flirtatious smile Pizzazz thanked him.
"Hear that, girls?" she said. "The fun is about to start!"
The Sentinel, they soon found, was indeed a big deal, for it was a huge
building
that stood out for miles among the surrounding blocks of businesses.
Jetta
let out a low whistle as the three Misfits made their entrance.
"It's blinkin 'uge!" she exclaimed. "Why doesn't Eric ever get us gigs
like
this any more! The Stingers are nobodys!"
"Well, they sure will be when we're done with them." Pizzazz responded.
"Where
do you s'pose Riot and his loser musicians are, huh? Last thing we
wanna
do is be spotted and blow our chance of having any fun. We don't want
Eric
onto us this early."
"Who cares about Eric?" Roxy put in. "Like we ever do as he tells us."
"Roxy's right, for once." Jetta nodded. "Like he could stop us."
"I don't want him hassling us." Pizzazz snapped back. "Or any of them,
for
that matter."
"Meanin' you don't want loverboy distractin' you from the task at
'and." Jetta
put in shrewdly. Pizzazz grabbed her by the wrist, glaring at her.
"You make one more comment about Riot and you'll wake up in intensive
care."
she hissed. "I mean it, drop it, will ya? There is nothing I would like
to
see more than Riot and his floozies sinking down the chart quicker than
the
Titanic, so get that into your head!"
"Can't we just put her in intensive care anyway?" Roxy looked hopeful.
Pizzazz
shot her a withering look, releasing her grasp on the saxophonist's
wrist.
"Enough! This ain't getting us nowhere." she said shortly. "We need to
find
the main stage an' see what's going down, see what we can tamper with.
You
reckon anyone's actually here?"
"I can hear voices." Jetta observed.
"Yeah, the ones in your head." Roxy snapped at her. Jetta narrowed her
eyes.
"Cut it out, creep." she retorted. "Or it might be you on
intensive care an' the bandages would clash 'orribly with your stupid
hair!"
"Wanna bet?" Roxy raised her fists warningly and Pizzazz rolled her
eyes.
She put up her hands.
"Okay. Fine. That's it. I've had it with this fighting!"
she
exclaimed. "Either you stop yellin' at each other or you go back to the
hotel
and I'll do this on my own, but you're givin' me a headache and you're
gonna
give us away!"
Jetta and Roxy exchanged sulky looks, but Pizzazz's tone meant
business, so
they dropped their argument, turning their attention to the matter in
hand.
As they progressed down one of the side corridors the singer suddenly
froze,
putting her fingers to her lips.
"I can hear something now." she murmured. "You guys?"
"I told you. Voices." Jetta shrugged. "Sounds like Eric an' Riot an'
some
girl to me."
"Roxy?"
"What Jetta said." Roxy nodded. "So they are here. Bummer! We can't
trash
their show if they're up on the stage! Guess we came here for nothing""
"Not necessarily." Pizzazz shook her head. "I just got me an idea.
Listen.
We can't go onstage, because we'll be seen. But if they're all in the
main
auditorium, we can slip backstage and meddle a bit with the fuses. No
lights,
no show. Brilliant or what?"
"I gotta 'and it to ya, it might just work." Jetta grinned. "An' even
if
it don't, it'll cause 'em no end of hassle tryin' to figure out what's
goin'
on."
Roxy crept up to the auditorium door, peering through the crack.
"They're messin' with lights and stuff at the moment." she reported.
"Eric
an' Riot are on the stage with Minx and Rapture...I can't see Rapture!"
She
paused. "No, wait, I see her. She's down the front of the hall with
some
girl I don't know and an old guy about Eric's age. That's all."
"Think they know we're here?" Pizzazz asked. Roxy shook her head.
"They're all too wound up in what they're doin'." she replied. "They
just
turned the main lights off, Pizzazz, they're swirlin' about stage
lights...if
we're quick we could turn out the lights on this show here an' now!"
"Sounds like a plan to me." Pizzazz grinned. "C'mon, let's see if we
can
get backstage!"
"I reckon that way." Jetta pointed to a door marked 'Private, Personnel
Only'.
"If you ask me the word Private is always a free invite into whatever
place
'appens to be behind the door."
"My thoughts exactly." Pizzazz agreed. "Let's do it!"
Oblivious to the fact that they had intruders on the premises, Chimera
was
revelling in showing off her work to the Stingers, pride in her blue
eyes
as she eagerly discussed the layout of the set with Rapture. She knew
she
was a natural where design and creativity was concerned, and that she
was
capable of conceptual artwork that noone else could come near. It
wasn't that
she was conceited, but she knew she had a talent and she had never been
afraid
to use it.
Across the auditorium, in a little room to one side of the stage Sakura
was
testing each of her lighting circuits individually, taking her usual
painstaking
and thorough care of each one to ensure that, when she set the whole
sequence
in motion, nothing would go wrong. She knew how important this was for
Chimera,
and Chimera was practically a sister to her these days.
Sakura had always idolised Chimera, more than was perhaps good for her
to
do. She had been pulled into more schemes and plans to get top
positions than
she cared to count or remember, and the fast pace of life was not
something
she had ever gotten used to, but she knew that she and Chimera were a
team
and worked well together. It was this security that kept her going,
even
when things seemed beyond her. Sometimes, though, she wished she had
her
friend's tenacity.
She was extremely shy of the enterprising Stingers and had been only
too
glad to pull away to the secluded world of her gadgetry, where it was
safe.
They seemed so very important - how Chimera could act so naturally
around
them, she didn't know. Something in her heart told her that they were
not
nice people...there was a definite something she did not like about
them,
but she knew that they had the power to make or break both her and
Chimera's
careers, and, she supposed, that was what was important in the end. You
didn't
have to like someone to work with them, after all.
Or so Chimera often told her.
Sakura herself wasn't sure. She knew that she'd never work as well with
anyone
as she did with Chimera because there was noone else she trusted in so
implicitly.
But then Sakura was shy and retiring, and Chimera the one who knew the
way
of the world. Sakura usually bowed herself to her friend's judgement.
"Well, are you all ready to show Riot and the others the sequence you
have
mapped out in full?" Mark poked his head around the door and Sakura
glanced
up, nodding eagerly.
"Yes! Just one more to reconnect, so that everything works as it
should, and
there. Now I am ready when you tell me." she agreed.
"In your own time. They're ready when you are. Riot says he's most
interested
to see what all of these lights are going to be like in sequence, since
they're
all going to be picked up on camera, so he's looking for real quality
colours
and I told him that you'd have them for him, so give it all you got,
okay?"
"I have done my best." Sakura flipped a couple of switches, paused, and
then
flipped another. "There. Now they will shine in their correct sequence
together."
She stood.
"I would like to come too and see how they look from off the stage."
she
said shyly. "I want to know that the effects are good enough, so I know
to
make any corrections if I need them."
"Come on, then." Mark grinned at her, leading the way back into the
main
auditorium, which for a brief moment had been dark but which now had
begun
to swirl and sparkle with the complex sequence of lights and colours
Sakura
had carefully programmed in on Chimera's instructions. Chimera took
care
of the colour, Sakura the technology and the combination of both
talents was
breathtaking to watch. Even Riot was impressed.
"I must say, you are every bit the professional that Mark claimed you
were,
Sakura." he said in his smooth, relaxed voice. "You have understood, I
see,
how important it is for everything in the Stingers' performances to be
perfect...this
will suit us adequately well."
Sakura blushed at the praise, too shy and tongue-tied to respond with
any
coherance.
Chimera came up behind her friend, putting a congratulatory hand on the
other
girl's arm, and sending her a conspiratorial grin.
"Good job." she murmured. "We'll show them that we're no amateurs!"
In the bowels of the nightclub, the Misfits had found their way down
to
the main fusebox, and, with alarming ease, Roxy had prised open the
cover,
till the wires that were controlling the power in the building were
exposed.
Now the girls paused, eying their prize as they debated between them
what
course of action to take, and which wires needed to be cut.
"I say we cut them all." Roxy said finally. "Can't go wrong there."
"And if we electricute ourselves in the process, that won't 'elp our
next tour or our next album." Jetta retorted. "We only wanna mess with
the ones that control the lights. I wish it weren't so dark in 'ere,
then we could see better what each wire was for!"
"Outta my way, let me see that." Pizzazz pushed Jetta aside, squinting
at
the panel above the wires. "Okay, I think I got it. I need something
sharp."
"Here." Roxy produced a penknife, and Pizzazz took it, pausing for a
moment,
then deftly slicing the relevant wires, being careful not to put
herself
at risk of electricution. After her years in the Misfits, sabotage came
naturally,
and she knew only too well which wires were safe to cut and which were
not.
There was an immediate sound of commotion from upstairs, and the singer
smirked.
"That oughta fix them for a while." she remarked. "If they can find
their
way out in the dark, which I doubt, then they'll have a job fixing
these
wires up before tonight. I sliced 'em good and proper."
"How're we gonna get out?" Roxy asked.
"Simple." Pizzazz indicated the door. "There's a window down that
corridor, we'll just go out that way. No problem, no fuss, and nothing
but chaos behind
us."
"Cool." Jetta grinned. "Riot'll be 'oppin' mad when he finds out what's
'appened!"
Roxy laughed.
"I wish I coulda seen the look on his face." she remarked. Pizzazz
laughed.
"Noone could." she reminded her companion. "Not after we turned out the
lights
on their little show!"
"'E must be pretty steamed." Jetta agreed.
"Not half as steamed as I am."
A fresh voice cut through the conversation, making them all jump. "Who
the
heck are you guys, and what exactly do you think you're doing?"
(The Misfits and Holograms and other animated Jem characters are copyrighted to Hasbro Inc. All characters who do not appear in Jem episodes are my own creation. This story is copyrighted to E.A Woolley (2001)