Leon was sitting in the operations room, as usual, eyes glued to the computer screen in front of him. Actually, four computer screens were in front of him. The others couldn't believe how much time that guy sat there staring at the computer, day in day out. He was like a robot. Kerry and Lawson both agreed that one day, he would marry a computer.
Stella was trying to pull Leon out of his chair with little success, "Come on, we're all going!"Going? Going where?" Leon said, looking lost. Stella frowned. Leon had the memory of a goldfish! "Out for a drink! Or three! Remember! Lawson told you about it this morning." "I think I would remember if he told me that Stella" Leon replied, a touch of arrogance flowing through his voice. "Fine. Well are you coming or not?" "Nah." Stella walked away from him feeling slightly grumpy. She was looking forward to having a good time out with everyone. "Sad sack you are," she said under her breath.
Leon sat at his desk, mulling over the prospect of seeing what would happen if Kerry and Lawson got drunk together. He figured that the rest of the Ops group could cover for him; it wasn't like he was a one-man band! He retrieved the mini video recorder he kept hidden under his desk for such occasions, grabbed his jacket and headed out the door.
He spotted Stella and Michael only a few steps ahead of him and caught up to them, quickly explaining his idea. They both smirked and agreed to be in on it. Leon grinned to himself. This was going to be good! Who knows? Anything he captures could end up on Australia's Funniest Home Videos. Kerry and Lawson would be delighted by that. Not. It was the trendy new karaoke bar they had all decided to go to in the heart of the Melbourne CBD. Stella, Michael and Leon were the first to arrive and found a table big enough to seat eight, nestled in the corner of the room, where it was noticeably quieter.
Leon got the small camcorder out and placed it on the table. "Don't ya think they're gonna notice you recording them?" Michael asked, "And what if they don't get drunk?"Stella said. "They'll get drunk, believe me!"Leon replied smugly, "And they won't notice me recording because they'll be wasted!"Leon did not realize just how right he was going to be! In the next five minutes, the others turned up. All were having trouble seeing and hearing with everything that was going on around them. Leon saw Josh and Shannon first and frantically waved both arms in the air to get their attention. As soon as he saw Kerry, Lawson and Dom, he took the camcorder off the table and placed it on his lap, out of view, but frantically waved both arms in the air to get their attention. All were having trouble seeing and hearing with everything that was going on around them. Stella shook his head at him discreetly. He wouldn't have a job this time next week!
Josh, Zara and Shannon arrived next, Josh and Zara acting totally loved up (they had been dating for some time now and there were rumours of an engagement going around) and Shannon chatting happily away to Zara about the latest 'hot guy' she had seen. They all sat down and Leon explained the plan. They all smirked and waited for Kerry and Lawson to arrive. As soon as he saw Kerry, Lawson and Dom, he took the camcorder off the table and placed it on his lap, out of view, then frantically waved both arms in the air to get their attention. All were having trouble seeing and hearing with everything that was going on around them.
Once everyone had their drinks and were settled, Stella jumped up, grabbed Zara while yelling "Karaoke time!"Josh at first was sceptical, given the fact that his girlfriend never sang at all when he was anywhere in hearing range and he had never heard her sing but from all accounts she was quite good. Stella chose a Veronicas song called Revolution to which Zara's horrified face sent Josh and Michael into fits of laughter. The song started with Stella and Zara having worked out who was singing which part and the whole song was quite good. Zara's solo in the middle had everyone spellbound and Stella had a great voice as well. They finished to a storm of applause from the audience who requested a second song. The girls refused politely and stepped down to allow another person to get up and sing. Once they had rejoined their group, Michael and Josh congratulated their girlfriends, Michael with a big show of affection (to which everyone else made gagging noises) and Josh by simply kissing Zara on the cheek.
Everyone had had a turn 2 hours and many drinks later except for Kerry and Lawson. Leon, having taped everything thus far and used up 3 tapes, slipped another into his mini camcorder and pressed record. This was the moment. Kerry and Lawson, who had started off the night drinking barely anything, were now the drunkest people out of the group, Zara, Josh, Dom and Leon being the soberest, Zara didn't drink, Leon was too caught up with his filming to scull anything but water and Josh and Dom had had only 1 beer. Stella, Shannon and Michael were plastered. They were trying to get Zara to drink but she refused.
Leon sat and quietly filmed them all inconspicuously. Suddenly, Stella realized that Kerry and Lawson hadn't sung! She jumped up, grabbed their hands, dragged them onstage, handed them microphones and told them to pick a song. Kerry and Lawson pored over the song book then randomly picked a song. When the announcer told the audience the song, cheers went up, the loudest from the TR team! The music started and Kerry and Lawson looked at each other. They started to sing, getting more and more into the song by the second which at one point, had the TR team screaming with laughter.
When the song was close to finishing, Lawson surprised everyone including Kerry, by grabbing her, pulling her in so close their noses were touching, sang the last few words and kissed her senseless.
Leon sat at the table, grinning to himself. He did not register the fact that Zara had crept up behind him with a fork in her hand, grinning slyly at Josh and Dom the entire time. She bent down and whispered "Revenge is best served cold and I think a cold shower is in order for you!" in his ear, to which Leon jumped about 3 meters in the air and gave a yelp which would have done a dog proud. Josh, Dom and Zara collapsed into laughter and Stella, Michael and Shannon stopped watching Lawson and Kerry's make out session on the stage long enough to see Leon's horrified face and the three laughing. "Wass so funny?" Stella slurred drunkenly, causing Josh and Dom to nearly hurt themselves laughing. Shannon started to giggle madly which to Zara, meant an anxiety attack and she quickly leant over the table and slapped Shannon across the face, hard.
Shannon shrieked and grabbed her face, swearing at Zara the entire time. "What the hell?"Shannon said, holding her face. Zara looked shocked. "I'm sorry, I thought you were having a panic attack! she said quickly. Shannon just looked at her as if she was mad. Josh stood up, sensing this was going to end badly. By this time, Leon had stopped taping Lawson and Kerry and had caught the slap and the beginning of a catfight between Shannon who was a former AFP officer and Zara who was a trained assassin.
Everyone knew that Zara was formidable at the best of times but a scared Zara meant a dangerous Zara. Shannon was also a force to be reckoned with, but not even she dared take on Zara until tonight. Zara, sensing a fight, backed off instantly, shocking Josh and Dom quickly. Shannon however, was now over the shock of being slapped without reason and was mad as a tiger. She launched a full on attack at Zara who had no time to even blink before Shannon landed the first punch. Zara reeled back from the impact, crashing into a table and smashing the glasses onto the floor. She landed heavily on top of the broken glass and she could smell blood, but before she could even register the pain, Shannon was once again beating the crap out of her. By this time, Josh and Dom had gotten up and were trying to haul Shannon off Zara, but that only served to have her grab Josh's shirt and pull him towards her where she kissed him passionately and Josh did not seem to mind, in fact he kissed her back with equal passion. Dom stood there in shock.
At the same time, Zara had hauled herself off the floor and seen Shannon kiss Josh. Stella and Michael had sobered up instantly when they saw Shannon go for Zara and quickly jumped up and moved to where Zara was standing, her eyes glittering dangerously. Stella laid a hand on Zara's shoulder and felt the unbridled rage boiling underneath her hand. She signalled to Michael to cuff one of Zara's arms to his and she did the same. Right before Zara, poised to rip Shannon's face off could even think, Stella and Michael ran forwards, yanking Zara off her feet so she had to run to keep up. The three ran out of the club unnoticed by anyone inside, but startled patrons waiting outside as they rushed past and into the alley next door. Michael and Stella quickly undid their cuffs and fully cuffed Zara so she had no way of hitting either of them. Stella spoke quietly. "Look Zara, Shannon was only trying to get you to hit her so she could have another go at you. You need to see a doctor urgently, you are bleeding quite heavily." Zara calmed down and winced as the pain hit her suddenly. She nodded and the three quickly headed to Stella's car and off to the hospital. Inside the club, it had become mayhem.
Josh was running around going mad with worry because after he had pushed Shannon away from him and told her to back off, he noticed that Zara was missing. In that instant, Josh grabbed Shannon and threatened to kill her if she didn't go and find Zara this instant. Shannon started crying and Dom comforted her. Leon was still filming everything. Kerry and Lawson had stopped their make out session and had hurried over to break up Josh and Shannon. Lawson signalled for everyone to follow him outside where they could all talk rationally. They headed into the alley next door and it was Dom who spotted the blood on the wall first.