Foreign Exchange

They say that the smallest of differences can make the most drastic of outcomes. Like right now, where if Steve could have kept himself from buying the extra large 7up drink instead of getting just a medium like he originally said he would, they could have started band practice already. But now, Shavodan and the others have to wait for him to get his ass out of the bathroom and back to the drumset.

"Jesus Christ on a pogo stick, how long does it take to piss?" Shavo heard Mike ask no one in particular from behind him. He had taken off his jacket earlier, leaving him in his gray t shirt and jeans.

"Apparently a long fuckin' time." Gregg answered the guitarist as Shavo continued to sit on the amp, looking out the sliding glass door in front of him with his back turned to the two string instrumentalists.

He could feel both of their stares burning a hole in the back of his head as he took another drag of his cigarette.

Letting out a breath of smoke, all remained quiet in their rehearsal area, which was just a empty carpeted room about 30" by 20", the only light coming in from the gray dusk sky reflecting off the snow outside the porch.

The three band members remained in awkward silence for about five seconds before they all heard the muffled sound of someone flushing a toilet, followed by a running faucet.

Not looking at the others, Shavo took one last hit of his cigarette and blew out the smoke as he crushed the bud into the ashtray and started to close the blinds on the sliding door while Gregg walked over and flicked on the light switch, bathing them all in a light green glow from the special light bulb they use to set the mood.

Just as Mike began to pluck his strings for the tenth time in the past five minutes to check and make sure his guitar was tuned properly, Steve walked in to complete the band's line up, his dreadlocks bouncing as he lightly bobbed his head along to some tune playing in his head.

"Get your dick caught in the toilet seat?" Gregg asked their drummer as he sat down on his stool. At first, the stoner looked around, as if the question had been aimed at anyone else, then realized he was being spoken to and chuckled absently as he shook his head.

"Nah man, just had a shit ton of 7up today." He laughed, Shavo clearing his throat as he stood up in front of the microphone and cracked his neck. "Stuff's good."

"I'd hope so, seeing as how that's the only thing I ever see you drink." Mike commented as he eyed Shavo one more time before addressing the band as a whole. "Alright, so enough dicking around. What song are we gonna play first?"

"How about Sway." Shavo answered the question in the form of a statement, moving from foot to foot as he just continued to stare at the wall ahead of him, building up his anger to pump himself up for the performance. Mike rolled his eyes, but got ready regardless, as did the rest of the band members. There was a few seconds of silence, the only sound being the four men's breathing and Shavo taking the mike of the stand and holding it close to his mouth.

And then it began.

"The roof. The roof, the roof is on fire, we don't need no water, let the mother fucker burn." Shavo breathed out the opening lines in a harsh whisper "Burn motherfucker, burn."

Behind him, Mike began picking strings, causing a haunting echo of guitar sounds to come drifting from the amp. Gregg began nodding his head to the rhythm as a grin came up on Shavo's face.

"The roof. The roof, the roof is on fire. We don't need no water, let the motherfucker burn. Burn motherfucker, BUUUUUUUUUURN!"

And like that, the room exploded in a torrent of heavy metal as Shavo began jumping around, having lost all control as he let the music guide his actions, bellowing out the lyrics as the rest of the band were put under the same spell, jumping and headbanging in their space to the music as Shavo kicked the mic stand to the other side of the room.

"Just a little, and nothing, now it's over." Shavo snarled into the mic as Gregg thrashed behind him. "Just a little, and nothing, now it starts."

And like that, all of the anger had been dissipated from the room. There was no longer any room for personal problems, no room for annoyance amongst bandmates. They had to clear space for the one thing that they all loved.

Now, there was only room for music.

Meanwhile, a cherry red hyundai with a taxi sign pulls up to a street corner twenty blocks away in the heart of the town and let's out it's passenger.

"Alright sir," The driver said as he looked over his shoulder to his customer. "That'll be thirty-five seventy."

With a chuckle, the passenger reached inside his suit's breast pocket and produced a bundle of twenty dollar bills before handing it to the man.

"Here you go." The passenger thanked his chauffeur with a nod as he undid his seatbelt and opened up the car door, a rush of snow and cold air rushing in. "And keep the change."

At first, the driver took the small bundle without a problem and began to count the amount he had just been handed as he opened his mouth to thank the nicely dressed man for his business. Right before he saw he was just handed at least four thousand dollars in excess.

The driver sat there, slack jawed at the amount of money he had just been handed before he collected his wits and turned to his customer.

"Mister, I can't take all of thi-" He said with a shaky voice as he looked to the backseat once more, only to see that it was empty and the car door was shut. Looking out the windows, his customer had already disappeared into the small crowd of people.

Looking to the small fortune he had just been given, the driver realized he had just been given two options.

One, he could park his car in an area known for having vehicles broken into, go outside in ten degree temperature and try hunting down a guy that, by the time he got the first two of those objectives done, would probably be long gone.

Or two, he could take the money he had just been given and use it to finally start up a college fund for his son like he's been wanting to for the past three years.

Needless to say, he was gone within ten seconds.

Watching from a nearby crowd of people, however, was the passenger, smiling to himself as he looked up into the rain.

"Such a beautiful day." He commented to himself as the rain droplets collected on his glasses. Looking back to the world around him, he let out a contented sigh as he took in the sights and chuckled.

"Well," The man sighed as he cracked his neck and began to walk. "Time to get this party started."

"One step forward, two steps BAAACK, Three steps forward!" Shavo bellowed out as knelt and held the microphone close to his snarling mouth as Mike screamed backing vocals behind him.

Looking up and into the lights, his face was basked in the heavy green glow and distorting his features into something monsterish. "One step forward, two steps back, Three steps for-WAAAAAAARD!"

Dripping with sweat, Shavo started to dip before he fell onto his back, gasping for breath as Gregg slapped out the last of the bassline with a snarl before the song finally came to an end, the rest of the band following their singer's example as they too began to collapse.

"Holy shit, that was a good one." Mike admitted as he ran a arm over his forehead and stood up, shakily, before he shambled over and stuck an arm out to Shavo.

Opening his eyes and looking up, Shavo looked at the tattooed hand of his friend, then to Mike's tired face, thinking about how pissed off they were at each other earlier.

Then he accepted it, standing up and bringing his friend up for a man hug as all was forgiven.

"We cool?" Shavo questioned as he pat his friend on the back.

"Yeah man, we're cool." Mike nodded as he wandered over to the twelve pack of Coors light and brought bottles for the whole group. "That was a sick performance, everyone. We did good today."

"Glad to see you ladies've worked everything out." Steve laughed as he took off the cap to his beer, dodging a flying shoe from Gregg.

"Ey, you're the one with the longest hair here, asshat!" The Bassist laughed as he set down said instrument and took a swig of his beer as he rolled up the sleeves on his red shirt, not wanting to get beer on it or his black pants.

"Okay guys, before we all get shitfaced, got a important question to ask all of ya'll." Shavo grabbed the band's attention as he dragged up a stool and jumped atop it.

Clearing his throat, Shavo stuck out his arms in a 'what?' pose as he slowly scanned all of their faces with a blank stare, the room silent as they all waited for the oh-so-important question.

That was when he grinned and screamed "WHO THE FUCK WANTS CHINESE!?"

The other three males let out feral yells of agreement as they all began to move, either putting away their beers in the fridge for later or grabbing their jackets to brace against the cold air, jumping around in anticipation for good, cheap food.

"Alright Shavo, you're car?" Mike asked as he threw on his parka while Steve opened the door for them all.

"Eh, might as well." The singer shrugged as he pulled out a pack of Marlboro Blacks and lit up a cigarette, Gregg jumping past him with a shit eating grin as he ran across the porch and down the steps to the snow covered grass, happy to see it was finally warm enough outside to rain.

"I call shotgun!" He yelled as he ran towards the gray 1998 Chevy Impala. Shavo chuckled at him, thinking of how pissed Steve was gonna be that he didn't get front seat this time.

At least, he did until Steve did a front flip over his railing while simultaneously drop kicking Gregg into the snow. Shavo and Mike stopped and stared wide eyed at the drummer as he rose up and got in Gregg's face.

"Nice try, Punto!" He laughed as the other two musicians burst into laughter behind him.

Gregg wasn't sure wether to be pissed from having just getting drop kicked, or be marveled at the fact that Steve just leapt over the railing and fucking drop-kicked him, all in one smooth motion.

Steve, the guy who just chilled out on his couch once while some random cat came running through his living room, on fire and screaming.

Mike came and helped the dumbstruck bass player up, still laughing as they made their way over to the car, with Shavo starting up the engine and Steve chilling in the front seat, tapping out a furious drum beat on the dash board.

"Alright, let's get this gravy train a rollin'!" Mike shouted as he closed his door behind him.

"Keep rollin, rollin, rollin!" Shavo sang as he put the car into reverse and pulled out of the driveway, rolling down the windows and cranking up the stereo to blare out Cigaro by System of a Down. As the furious guitar riff ripped through the cold air, Shavo shifted back into drive as the rest of the band started jamming to the song while he began to make their way to the chinese store.

As they drove down the street screaming "MY COCK IS MUCH BIGGER THAN YOURS", all four of the musicians were to entranced in the song to notice the man in the black suit with aviators walking right down the street.

Coming to a stop, he stared ahead for a few seconds in silence before chuckling to himself as he looked over his shoulder with a smile.

"Charming." He commented to himself as he shook his head and turned back to the house. "Well, looks as though I've got a bit of time before they come back."

With that, the man pulled out a phone from his pocket and dialed in a number. He walked up to the porch of the house, a small two story one with faded white paint that's seen better days. The man eyed it as the phone rang once, then twice, before someone picked up.

"How goes finding our recruit?" A female voice questioned on the other end.

"Him and his buddies just stepped out for a bite." He answered as he held out his hand for the rain to run down it. "So I'm just going to wait until they get back."

"You need to quit wasting time, Knk'ahayr." The voice chided him as he held his hand palm up and made the water stop mid-air. "You've already spent more than enough time on that planet."

"Well, which situation seems like the better approach here: following him and his friends when the only thing that's gonna be on their minds is food, or waiting until they come back to round the corner again and talk to them after they've had their fill?" the now identified Knk'ahayr questioned as he expanded the water from levitating from around his hand to a pillar reaching up into the sky.

There was silence on the other end of the line now, the aviatored man grinning to himself, envisioning the woman's face of annoyance at his point.

"Very well." The eventual reply came after a moment of silence. "But don't procrastinate much longer. We still have an agenda to uphold."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Knk'ahayr chuckled as he fist pumped with his free hand. However, he forgot about the water he had been playing with, and sent it flying into a nearby car.

And flying right through its windshield, causing the man to cringe.

"What was that noise?" The voice questioned him.

"Uhhhh, nothing!" He lied as he ran up and inspected the damage, most of the glass having had shattered and imploded. "Hey, listen, there's this sweet restaurant they have called Taco Bell coming up I've been wanting to try, can't enjoy burritos while making outer-dimensional calls! See ya!"

Closing the phone, he quickly put it back into his breast pocket and took a step back from the vehicle, looking from side to side as he did so.

"Shit, did anyone see that?" He whispered to himself as he looked for any change around him.

He then decided to take the 'fuck this' approach and quickly ran off while looking over his shoulder.

Songs For This Chapter (In Order)

Sway by Coal Chamber

One Step by Coal Chamber