Chapter 2: We Will Rock You

Venom took advantage of Sol's being distracted by Queen's lyrics to dash forward in a quick, elegant movement while twirling his cue and sinisterly announcing the name of his attack: "Double Head Morbid!" Although Sol blocked the strike thanks to his quick reflexes, the rod smacked painfully against his arms, nearly burning the skin off from the speed at which the weapon twirled. Meanwhile, Zato observed the fight from afar thanks to none other than Eddie, who seemed to have come out of nowhere to appear once again upon Zato's shoulder. He recited the events to his master as he saw them, beginning with the attack that Venom had just comitted.

"Hahaha, he just gave Sol head!" Eddie cackled.
"E-Eddie?"
"Hi Zato."
"I told you to stay back at the house!" Zato snapped, ignoring the fight just as Sol grabbed Venom by the collar and promptly bashed his forehead into his face, the words "Rock You" from the headband coming off in a distorted design imprinted upon Venom's visage
"Your house is fine," continued Eddie, tapping Zato between the eyes with a black tallon, "and besides, remember our little pact? ...Oh look, Sol just gave Venom head!" he added as Venom dropped to the floor after the attack knocked him unconscious. Zato gasped and dashed over to Venom, who lay on his back with a dazed expression, drool hanging from the corner of his mouth.
"You want some too, punk?" Sol asked menacingly, looking down at Zato.
"Wh- NO!" Zato growled as though offended, "You could have killed him just now!"
"Uh... yeah?"
"We're in a damn COFFEE SHOP!"
But Sol ignored him and began mouthing "We will rock you" as the music blasted through the speakers.
"I'm out of here." Zato muttered as he lifted Venom's body.
"Hey, you can't go before I'm finished with you!" Sol growled, reaching back for his blade.

Zato stood there facing him for a second while Axl made a motion to take another gulp of smouldering coffee. Zato then nodded to Eddie, who instantly took the form of an enormous clawed hand and grabbed said coffee from said Englishman, throwing the liquid onto Fredrick in a wave of dark, burning, caffinated goodness. In understandable response, Sol gasped and wimpered quietly as the searing coffee dripped down his chest and legs, staining his lovely, multi-belted pants. He looked at Zato, and then at Axl, who had just recived an empty coffee cup from Eddie. The blond shadow master casually turned and kicked aside some stray pool balls as he exited the shop, leaving Sol and Axl to work out any unsolved problems by themselves.

When Venom regained his senses, he had difficulty remembering exactly what had just happened. He knew it had to do with Sol, and he knew that it had to do with getting hurt badly, as his skull ached and his tailbone felt like it had shattered after coming into contact with something hard. And, for one reason or another, a song by Queen was stuck in his head. He found himself on Zato's bed, but with its owner nowhere in sight. Venom sat up and looked around for a moment as he rubbed his bruised neck with a hand, surprised to find that his gloves (as well as 90 percent of the rest of his clothing) had been removed while he had been unconscious. This only led to further confusion and speculation. As he thought about a few possibilities, his eye twitched and his stomach became uneasy. Just then, Zato silently slipped into the room via puddle of shadows. Venom sighed with relief, sure that this man would be able to explain the situation to him.

"Oh, you're awake, Venom," Zato said as his body materialized into the familiar human shape, "How are you feeling?"
"I'm pretty sore right now actually..."
"Well it did just happen a few hours ago," Zato said with a nod.
"Um... what went on in there, exactly?"
Zato was silent for a moment as he gathered his thoughts and prepared them into descriptive, poetic sentences.
"After blocking your attack, Sol appeared to take advantage of your position to take hold of you and bang into you quite violently. Then you passed out of consciousness. As Eddie put it, 'he totally rocked you hard.'"
Venom sat there, his mouth agape in horror as he took in the words. Zato then began to mumble to himself, not seeming to realize his friend's shock.
"You were badly bruised on your backside, but I suppose that's to be expected. You did hit it pretty hard," Zato went on in retrospect of how Venom fell onto the floor.
"N... Nani?!" Venom finally exclaimed in Japanese after remaining in a state of silent emotional disturbance.
"Don't worry Venom, I taught him a lesson. Well, since I was holding you I just had Eddie grab Axl's hot co--"
"Oh god!" Venom wailed, almost in tears.
Zato was about to question Venom's understanding of the situation, but suddenly a sinister chuckle broke the air, and a dark, familiar voice was overheard on the other side of the room. However, it was not quite as intimidating as either of the young men remembered. In fact, it sounded rather... drunk.
"Oh man... oh man... Scream that again, but a little louder, a little longer, and say 'Testie' when you do it."
Turning their heads, Venom and Zato faced the pallid figure of Testament, who was supporting himself weakly against his scythe. His long, jet black skirt lay open against his leg, the fabric spreading lazily in no attempt to cover the matching underwear he wore beneath. Even Zato in all his blindness couldn't help but notice it.
"When... when did you get here?" Venom asked.
"Damn it, Testament, get out of my house!" Zato growled.
Testament chuckled again, his distorted voice mumbling incoherent things, and Zato caught the sweet scent of something alcoholic. In reaction, he gasped and lept forward.
"You've been drinking my wine!" he hissed into Testament's face.
"Just a lil' bit..."
Zato snarled, his teeth bared like a wild dog. Mumbling over his shoulder at Eddie, he said, "If you stayed at the house like I told you to, this wouldn't have happened."
Eddie shrugged, and Zato's attention returned to Testament. "What the hell do you want?"
Testament hiccupped, his usually pallid face glowing rose-pink. When he spoke, his voice was nearly inaudible.
"I want you, Zatoichi..." he wispered seductively, taking Zato's hand in both of his.
Offended by this gesture, Venom's navy-blue eyes slanted.
"You leave him alone, Testament!" the assassin cried, jumping out of the bed and rolling a polished cue ball into his palm from out of nowhere.

Testament barely had enough time to direct his half-shut, ruby eyes towards Venom before the white sphere struck between them. With a yelp, he released Zato's hand and covered the fresh, indigo bruise on his face with his thin hand. Mumbling swears, he stumbled past where Zato stood and staggered to Venom with his semitransparent, blood-scythe raised. Of course, thanks to his drunkeness, the weapon made him feel top-heavy, and he easily tripped forward over his own skirt. Venom managed to catch him, but then realized who he was holding and let the limp body slump to the floor, unconscious. He looked up at Zato through his platinum-white hair and was surprised to see him with a frown.

"Is... something the matter, Zato?"
"Hell yes" Zato said with a mealancholy tone, "My wine isn't that alcoholic. He must have imbibed more than half of it. It was some good quality, too.."
Venom smiled compassionately, but found it somewhat amusing that Zato should be hurt by something like that.
"Anyway, what are we going to do about our white Gear here?" Venom asked, gesturing to the zombie-like mass on the floor.
Zato bit his lip, facing Venom.
"I kind of want to kill him, unless you had any other ideas."
Venom stared down at Testament's elegant, ebony hair that fell over his shoulders like spilt ink. He didn't particularly like the Gear either, but he seemed much more harmless and less intimidating on the floor. Plus, Venom disliked the shedding of blood (ironically enough for an assassin).
"I think we should... um... keep him here. Just until he's sober. Then we can question him and maybe get some compensation for the stolen drinks." He tried to say it with the least affectionate words he could think of, but it still came out as a request for sympathy. To his surprise, Zato was not displeased with it. In fact, a smile appeared on the blind man's lips, and Venom couldn't restrain himself from returning the expression. Suddenly though, a thought came to Venom's mind and his beam faded.
"Wait... doesn't Testament have a--" His question was answered in mid-sentence as a red-eyed raven flew into the bedroom window with a loud "thunk!" He blinked twice, but dared not look in the direction of the sound. Instead, he ignored it and acted as though he had not even begun to ask anything.
"I'll get the chains." Zato mumbled, also sharing Venom's blank expression.
"Righto then." Venom replied, gathering up Testament's cold, surprisingly light body.