Chapter Two.

Commanding a Command Center.

"Oh fuckedy fuck fuck fuck!"

A plane making a deafening crash landing just a few streets over… people running manically in the streets, rioting and looting the nearest human being to them… and monsters. Inhuman, devilishly looking monsters, silently moving amongst the mass of hysterical people… they were all identical to the one who had attacked them earlier but these particular ones weren't attacking all…

Amongst this chaos however there was clearly no need to…

Sure enough these humans were sure to destroy themselves.

All it was going to take was time.

Erik shrieked the curse word once more into the air just as the surrounding horde of people and monsters alike began marching towards him with authority…

"FUCK!"

Erik's entire upper body shot upward instantly, his bewildered eyes scanning his surrounding for any hint to the destruction he had just witnessed.

There was not a lick of evidence to support his memories however. He was sitting upright in the old musty golden colored couch he had shoved into his garage much ago, and next to it, same as they always were was there band equipment. He did quickly notice that the bass drum to Casey's kit was indeed missing, but considered it little to be to suspicious about.

This was mainly due to the fact that he had just spotted his sister Reina sound asleep in the adjacent companion couch.

"What an insane dream," he laughs to himself, briskly rubbing his hands over his eyes with smile. He had remembered one of those white and black humanoid monsters stabbing his sister's leg and tossing him through the air so vividly. Clearly all they did was have band practice and took a random nap; the garage light had been on and the open door clearly showed the night sky.

"Okay, no more beauty sleep for me," he grins to himself.

"Yeah, I don't blame you dude. It's clearly not working."

"!"

Yellow. It's the first and only thought that drifts through his mind for what feels like eons as Erik gazed upon the yellow-being that stood calmly before him.

Armor. Yet skintight. It looked as though it were merely its skin, and yet at the same time gave off a very distinct vibe of sturdiness and strength to it. Its very presence reminded him briefly of the monsters in his dream, but his aura was a calm a soothing one compared to all of that noise the monsters seemed to emit.

It was leaning up against his father's tool bench, arms folded. It was impossible to tell what expression the being had on its face as it appeared to be wearing some sort of smooth metallic helmet, complete with a black opaque visor that completely disguised any features the creature had outside of this power suit. Yellow bolts of electricity seemed to be dancing around him, similar to the monsters but these were calm, controlled.

Almost as if they were alive.

And yet, still.

"Y-Yellow," Erik murmurs at the being with a pointed finger.

"Dude, get a grip," it chuckles. Something Erik also to notice was that whenever it spoke it sounded as though his voice were being filtered through some sound-mixer. "You look like you just saw what you look like when you try to sing!"

He doesn't hear any of this however as Erik springs to his feet, but this attempt is short lived as a shooting pain rises from the ball of his heel to his spine, his entire lower body aching with pain.

Almost as if he had just been tossed several feet in the air.

"W-What are you?" Erik gasps as looks up at the figure, huddled behind the couch on the floor.

"Dude, seriously, you're starting to freak me out. But considering what we went through I guess it's not that surprising eh? At least Reina's leg seems to be healing up?"

He remembered it so well, the monster stabbing his sister's leg.

And yet he still asks.

"What happened to my sister's leg?"

"Uh, duh? That thing totally wrecked it all up. Not the only thing it wrecked either," it mentioned toward Casey's drum set, "not that I'm comparing your sister's leg to my stuff but, I mean come on! I just finished paying this thing off, you know?"

"Wha… W-Wait-aminute…"

"Careful man, at this rate you'll be over gasped."

"Casey?!"

' "That's what they call me. When they're nice anyway."

"Dude! What the hell are you wearing?"

"…What?"

Carefully he looks down.

The bolts of lighting begin to dance erratically out of control.

Erik didn't need to see past the black visor to know the expression of confusion and terror imprinted on his drummer's face.

"Ahhhhhhgrhhhh!" Casey began screaming in horror at his transformed self, bolt of lighting thrashing around their band space. Lighting threatened to lick Erik's body as he scooted back and away till his back hit the opposing wall, praying against hope he wouldn't get electrocuted. "What the hell is this, what is this?!"

"Dude you got to calm down!" Erik shouted over the crackling of electricity that hung in the air.

"I c-can't, what is this!"

"You asshole, you're going to get us killed if you don't calm the hell down!"

"W-Whaaat?"

"Calm down! It wasn't going crazy until you started freaking out! Think of something, I don't know, calming!"

"Uhh, uhm," he paced around the length of the garage, pausing only for a second to glance at Reina who, quite remarkably, remained sound asleep through the commotion he was generating.

And just when Erik began to wonder just what it would be like to be electrocuted to death, his idea achieved the desire effect.

"That was awesome."

Erik had been looking through narrow eyes at his panicked companion but opened them fully to these words. Not only had the lighting ceased going haywire, but Casey looked completely normal, freed from his other-worldly form.

"Dude…" Erik said shaken, slowly but surely getting back onto his feet. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know man, it must've happened when that monster attacked us and time, like, stopped and everything," he replied absentmindedly. "I charged that thing with my drum, then there was this yellow light and I could feel this power."

"So that part did happen," Erik breathed. "What about the plane crashing and the people rioting, and all the other monsters that started appearing?"

"What are you talking about? There was only one of those things. You and Reina were tossed around pretty hard."

Erik couldn't suppress a sarcastic grin. So only those parts sounded ludicrous, but the whole time 'stopping' and being attacked by a monster was perfectly in the realm of reality.

"We were going to die, man," Casey continues, "I didn't know what I was thinking but I… I just grabbed my drum, charged at the thing and next thing I know it happened.

"I could feel this beat coming from inside me. Almost like I was hearing my own heart. I just thought that's what happens when you're near death, but it felt warm. And strong. Very… strong, like a steady, unbreakable strength, it felt like I was being guided. Like I had this drive and I kinda knew what to do with it.

"I beat the shit out of it."

Maybe it was the sudden realization of the strength of their friendship, maybe it was because just how fantastical this all sounded despite the concrete truth. Or perhaps Erik was just more of an asshole than he initially believed, but he replied, "Oh yeah, I'm sure you did after it started beating the shit out of you."

"I'll admit, it did get some pretty good shots in," he conceded but instantly pressed on, "but, Erik, I had the feeling, I just knew that suddenly out of nowhere I was on even ground with it. That I could beat that Noise."

"Noise?" Erik questioned. "That's what that freak of nature was called?"

"Well that's what I call it. When I finally beat it, it started melting, like it was oozing up into the air," he shrugged, "you ooze, you loose, I guess. When it started doing that it started twisting and bending, shrieking so loud before it finally popped like a balloon. Then time stopped, well, stopping.

"I brought you guys in here hoping you would wake up, and here's the weird part man,"

"Right, because everything up to this point has been relatively sane."

"Just listen for a minute smartass!" Never before had Erik heard Casey talk as seriously as he had now. "You and Reina. RAY. NA. She started glowing, like this aura around her. And you had this field around you too."

Erik glanced back at his still asleep sister.

"I think it was healing you guys. I think you woke up first because you weren't as bad she was, but look at her leg now. It isn't nearly as bad as it was a couple hours ago."

Erik released a sigh of relief. "That's… good," he swallowed.

"Yeah, but dude, I didn't even know I was like that until you woke up and started freaking out," he smiled broadly, "I looked like a freaking superhero! And dude! That must mean you and Reina could have transformed like me too! It must have to do with you guys glowing! Aw man, why did I have to be yellow? I mean, I pull it off, but still. Because, dude, I don't know if you remember but I remember you glowing red. Reina was already passed out and you weren't long after her, but you were definitely glowing red before I saw all this yellow and you passed out too. So if I'm yellow I wonder what that makes Reina, probably pink. Why do you get the only boy color? That's not fair. Maybe I can change it by thinking blue thoughts or something? Maybe I just got to think sad thoughts. Oh man that's going to be a bummer. Oh cool, I guess I'm doing that right now huh," he rambled.

"Casey, when she wakes up and if she's completely healed, we can't tell her."

"What?" he said thoroughly dejected. "You for real man? Why? This is pretty serious stuff isn't it?"

"We don't know what this 'stuff' is," he reasoned, "and it's clear that you don't either. Hell, you didn't even know you were looking all weird until I noticed it! You almost electrocuted me dude!"

"Yeah but I did save us! I was the hero!"

"Thanks for that," he said as sincerely as he could, "but that doesn't change the fact that we don't know for sure what the hell is going on."

"This is a bad idea, we need to talk about what happened, all three of us need-"

"We need to keep Reina safe!"

"What if they pop up again and attack her?" Casey reasoned, very nearly at the edge of shouting. "Just like they did today and she's scared as hell again!"

"Or what if they don't? Or what if all it does is just makes her so damn paranoid of being attacked like that again?"

Casey shook his head in disbelief. "She's going to remember what happened."

"Chances are she's going to think it was just a dream just like I did!

"This isn't a good idea Red."

"Red? Don't call me that. Yellow."

"Yeah, I'm yellow and also a superhero now! I just saved you and your sister's asses!"

"Okay mister superhero! If you are one then start acting like one! I'm trying to protect my sister here just like you did! Now stop acting stupid!"

"I'm not acting stupid Red!"

"I told you not to call me Red, SpongeBob!"

"Oh yeah, and what you gonna do about it Kool-Aid man?"

"…Guys?"

Their eyes instantly shot over to Reina, finally awake and stirring within the couch gradually trying to sit herself upright. "What's going on?"

"Hey there," Erik rushed over to her, tossing aside the argument without a second thought. "You alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine, chill out," she yawned, noting the odd concern in her brother's voice, "did I just pass out or something?"

"More like something…" Casey mumbled under his breath. Erik quickly elbowed him in the ribs before continuing on.

"Yeah, we had band practice, then you sat down here to take a load off then next thing we knew you were passed out asleep," Erik summarized.

"Weird," she said beginning to stretch, "I had this weird dream, well, more like a nightmare."

"You don't say."

"Yeah, I'm actually kinda glad you two woke me up. What were you two yelling about anyway, sounded like you were arguing?"

"Who would win in a fight, SpongeBob or the Kool-Aid man," Erik smiled.

Casey folded his arms and said through gritted teeth, "My money's on the man from Bikini bottom."

"Boys," she sighed, getting up off the couch and heading into the house, "I'm going to grab some food I am so starving, but if I had to pick a side I'm with Casey on this one."

He pumped his fist into the air before Erik's elbow found its way to rib again.

"Casey I'll be seeing you tomorrow, we have to practice each day if we're going to perform live at Holly's Haven in a couple of weeks!"

"You know it!" he shouted back at Reina as she closed the door behind her. "We're going to bring the Noise alright…"

"Dude…"

"I know, I know," Casey sighed, "I get what you were saying. Kind of. But look, if it happens again we have to ell her alright?"

"Deal," Erik nodded. "Just life as usual till we sort this all out. And no telling anyone else either! Not that they would believe us anyway, but still."

"Of course!" Casey smiled, his old jovial self returning. He waved a finger, "A superhero never reveals his secret identity anyway."

Erik's voice turned serious again for a brief moment. "If it does happen again, do you think you can become like that again? You know, uh, morph into what you were?"

"I don't know," he said somberly, "but I'm going to have to. Otherwise… well. You remember."

Erik sighed a heavy sigh before making his way into the house, quietly resolving to not let his sister out of his sight for the rest of the night. "Don't remind me man."