This is a Xana-centric oneshot, for the Deus Ex challenge on XL.
Honestly, he hadn't been looking for it.
He was, in fact, looking for information about Della Robbia, hoping to find a weakness. And then he saw it. A little line of text on his school record.
Founder and guitar player of Pop Rock Progessives.
Intrigued, he searched the name on the web. A list of links popped up. He selected one of them at random.
A YouTube page loaded. The video took a few seconds to buffer, then started.
The setting was a stage. Xana recognised it as the stage at Kadic. Two electric guitars, a drum kit and a microphone were lying on the floor. Then a face popped up, instantly identified as Della Robbia.
"Hey, YouTubers," he said. "This is the Pop Rock Progressives here, covering Paramore's demo song, Hello Hello. Hope you like it."
The view cut to another view of the stage. This time Della Robbia was holding an electric guitar. He was not alone – Stern was holding another guitar, Ishiyama was holding the microphone, and Poilakoff was sitting at the drums. Della Robbia and Stern began playing, and Ishiyama started singing a second later.
"Hello, hello, is anyone home? Hello, hello, just pick up the phone..."
Poilakoff joined in, and the guitar music suddenly became a lot louder. It sounded nice, thought Xana. Not tuneful as he thought of it, but far from disgusting.
"I opened up my life to you... I told you everything I knew..."
Oh, a song about having a broken heart. Humans were so poetic. But somehow, it didn't seem soppy.
"You listened so closely, too... You listened so close when love was just a way out..."
He almost laughed. Trust humans to mutilate grammar just to make something sound nice.
"But you're going deaf now... Yeah, you've turned your head around..."
He stopped trying to analyse it. It sounded… good.
"Hello, hello, is anyone home? Hello, hello, just pick up the phone! You'll be sorry to hear I'm doing fine now, sorry to hear you're without me now!"
If he had a foot, he'd be tapping it.
"You blew up the world I built for us; destroyed our secret universe…"
Ooh, they were dragging physics into this. So not just a nice tune.
"Threw out the trust I put in you; making me feel like I'd been used…"
He could guess the tune now, and hummed along with the next line.
"And now I'm reminded that I was just blinded…"
The song's signature stop-start, the music starting up again slightly louder than before.
"Hello, hello, is anyone home? Hello, hello, just pick up the phone! You'll be sorry to hear: I'm doing fine now, sorry to hear: you're without me now!"
He bookmarked the page, then refocused on the song. Now Della Robbia and Stern were singing quietly along with Ishiyama's louder song.
"I'm doing fine, you'll be alright, maybe you'll think of me tonight…"
He thought of the dratted kids every night. But at least now he'd remember this song.
"You're doing fine, I'll be alright, just give me time…"
The stop, the start. He would have sung along, but he had to settle for opening a Word document and typing the lyrics.
"Hello, hello, is anyone home? Hello, hello, just pick up the phone! I don't want to hear you're doing fine now, don't wanna hear you're without me now!"
The song died down, with a final quiet line: "You're without me now…"
So, thought Xana. Maybe rock music wasn't so bad after all.