It was a week later before the mainland was in sight, and 2-D was miserable as ever. Upon discovering him talking to the Android, Murdoc had promptly thrown him out of the room and forbidden him to speak to her. For a couple of days, 2-D had managed to sneak down to see her where she would be smiling and waiting for him to begin talking again. On the second day, however, Murdoc discovered them again.
"Fookin Dullard!" 2-D's head popped up at the sound of Murdoc's growl. He was seated on the floor next to the Android, talking about Noodle when Murdoc burst in the room. "I thought I tol' you to never talk to that," he snarled, pointing at her.
"I'm sowwy, Muds," 2-D pled easing himself slightly between Murdoc and the Android, "but I got bored, and we wos talkin'."
Murdoc's lips pulled back in a sneer, "We?" he chuckled, "We can't talk, idgit, only you can, and you can barely even do that."
2-D lowered his head, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see the Android coolly observing the scene before her. He was wondering what could possibly be processing in that artificial brain of hers when Murdoc's shout sliced through his thoughts.
"GET THE FOOK OUT BEFORE I FOOKIN CUT YER NUTS OFF!" 2-D immediately jumped and ran from the room, slamming the door behind him.
However, he did not immediately move from outside the door. He listened as Murdoc called the Android anything but a girl, and ordered her to get into bed. He escaped to his room then, but, even with a pillow over his ears, he could not drown out the sounds of Murdoc's groans and the images of her lying and waiting for it all to be over.
From that night on, 2-D was allowed below decks only to sleep. Murdoc even made him shit and piss over the railing of the boat. He hadn't showered in three days and was beginning to think he was suffering from heat stroke as Murdoc refused allow him under the awning that covered the wheel house. Then one day, almost four days after the Android incident, 2-D caught sight of the large landmass that was England in the distance. He instantly felt his mood lift at the thought of standing on dry land and finally finding out what Murdoc had done to the poor Android.
He was practically bouncing on his feet when they arrived at the dock. He jumped off immediately and danced on the wooden planks until Murdoc shouted at him to "git his fookin shit packed." A groan escaped his mouth, and he reluctantly re-boarded the ship.
"I see three years haven't changed a thing." 2-D turned and smiled to see Russel leaning against their Geep, waiting for them.
"Yes!" Murdoc shouted and ran past 2-D with his arms spread wide. If it had been anyone except Murdoc, 2-D would have thought that the older man was running to hug Russel, but at least he knew better than to believe that .
As he thought, Murdoc roughly pushed past Russel to plant a big kiss on his long lost Geep. "Finally, " he moaned against the vehicle's paint, "if ya were a woman, I would fook ya 'til neither of us coul' move."
Russel looked across the dock to 2-D and rolled his eyes. 2-D stifled a small chuckle, nodded at Russel, and turned to retrieve his belongings below deck.
"Firs' things firs', though," he thought to himself as he quietly walked down the short corridor to Murdoc's room. After peering in the door, he was relieved to see that Murdoc had not dismantled the Android, he had simply powered her down. Smiling to himself, he went to his room to retrieve his things.
The trip to Kong Studio had been a terrifying one as Murdoc had insisted on driving, and apparently the adage about riding bikes did not apply to driving cars. On several occasions, Murdoc would cackle evilly as he crossed into the oncoming lanes of traffic just to watch the terrified faces of opposing motorists as they frantically veered to avoid the massive Geep. Russel reminded him several times that the Geep had an open top, and they would be unlikely to survive a rollover: Murdoc ignored this. When they finally came to a screeching halt in front of the studio, 2-D jumped quickly out of the vehicle and kissed the zombie-infested ground.
It took another couple of hours for the men to get them selves relatively comfortable, especially 2-D as he had half a week's worth of grime covering his body. When he finally emerged from his old room and rode the elevator to the kitchen of the studio, Russel already had a more than meager meal of baked chicken, beef and mincemeat pies, mashed potatoes, steamed corn, glazed carrots, apple, cherry, and chocolate pies lain out on the rather large dining table. Murdoc sat at the table gnawing hungrily on a chicken leg.
2-D immediately grabbed a plate and began piling food onto it, not caring what was mixing together. Before he could sit, he shoveled great heaps of food in his mouth, relishing in food that was not the army rations and rancid morsels that Murdoc had stuffed Plastic Beach with.
"Hungry?" Russel asked with an amused and satisfied grin on his face as he watched the rather thin singer engorge himself on his food.
"Yef, Mmm hamfent eafen wife dish in yearh," 2-D managed to choke out past the food.
Russel didn't try to understand what 2-D had said, he just grabbed a plate and piled it high with food. They ate in silence awhile (more than once, Russel had to slap 2-D on the back after he began to choke on the massive amounts of food he was trying to eat) and all three men pushed back from the table each near their own food-induced comas.
It was Russel who finally broke the silence, "So," he said, turning his head to the green-skinned man sitting across from him, "who is this Dielens you tol' me about?"
2-D was always amazed at how quickly Russel could slice immediately to the heart of any situation. Bullshit was not one of his talents. Even when he was trying to woo a woman into bed, he was more likely to ask her if she wanted to get a room and fuck than to make small talk and flirt. Now was not the time to marvel at Russel's interpersonal skills, however. While Murdoc would avoid 2-D's questioning, he knew that Murdoc was more than a little afraid of the formerly possessed drummer.
"Awww, Lards," he whined, "I jes got finished eatin'. Can' this wait?" At a pointed glare from the man, Murdoc gave in.
"Alright, alright," Murdoc stood and walked across the room to stare out over the black zombie land that stretched beneath Kong. 2-D and Russel could both tell that he was gathering his thoughts. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he cleared his throat, "Dielens...is a demon."
At this rather shocking news, both 2-D and Russel jumped from the table, "What?" they shouted in unison.
"What the fuck do you mean that Dielens is a demon?"
"Jes what I said, Lards," Murdoc was incredulous that such a statement would draw disbelief from the other men, "Dielens is a demon."
2-D spoke, "Then how'd he get...?"
"Ya wanna let me tell my story, or d'ya wanna go ta bed, Dullard?" Murdoc snapped and cursed under his breath.
Defeated, 2-D sat back down and watched Murdoc.
He turned and stared back out the window. "Ya know how the Gorillaz got so famous, righ'?" he asked this question without looking at the pair behind him. "Well, contrary to popular belief, I din't make a 'deal with the Devil' per se, y'know wha' I mean? It was a demon—Dielens—who gave me the ability to raise a band like tha'. Among the many benefits of making a deal with said devil—the being a sex god an all, there came many drawbacks, ya know? Suffice it to say that one of my deadlines is fast coming up..."
"Wait, wait, man," said the large black man now leaning against the wall that separated the kitchen from the dining area, "what does this have to do with Noodle-girl?"
"I'm getting' to that if you two gits would just shut the fook up for five minutes," he said, throwing a silencing glare at 2-D who had opened his mouth to mention that it had, in fact, been five minutes.
"Now where was I?" he feigned thought. "Oh yea, I guess I should start with that damn El Maňana, then." At this, he took a deep breath, "All that I told the media about what happened with that fookin island? It was true. Well, mos' of it was anyways. The island crashing was a setup to catch tha' Little Jimmy bastard, an' Noodle did parachute off it in time to escape, but...," at this, he ran his fingers through his black hair, "I never seen anythin' like it. The ground opened up, an' these hands just reached up and grabbed her. Snatched her down, screaming her bloody head off. An the hole...it wasn' a hole. It looked more like..."
"A mouth?" 2-D finished, staring down at his hands which were resting on his lap.
Murdoc was too stunned to react in his usual way. He nodded his head, "Yea, Dullard. How'd you know?"
2-D didn't respond, but in his head, he was rapidly repeating, "'Hitwosjus'adream, hitwosjus'adream."
"Well, you two know the next part, right? Jus' like I told the press, I went to find her," Murdoc continued when it became evident that the other man was not talking, "but I lied when I said I couldn find her," he flicked his eyes toward Russel and licked his lips. "She wos there and alive, but when I tried to take her back, she refused to leave. She tol' me that she had overheard Dielens' talkin' 'bout how my time was almos' up...I asked her ta stay—Now, now, lemme finish, Lards," he said, moving around the to the other side of the table as Russel lurched forward, fists balled and obviously ready to go after him.
"You got one minute, ya dig?" Russel growled.
Murdoc quickly moved on, "I did ask her to stay to see if she could find some sort of loophole to get me outta the contract, and she agreed. She said hell wasn' that bad for someone who was alive, and it seemed that no one knew she was alive anyways. I got her a disguise so Dielens wouldn' recognize her and left."
"YOU LEFT HER IN HELL FOR THREE YEARS!" Russel roared, "What the fuck were you thinking, man? Your minute is up," he lunged at Murdoc, but, being much smaller than the overweight drummer, he easily kept the table in between them. 2-D found himself jostled violently as the two men rounded the table.
"Afta a few months, I tol' her to come back, but she wouldn'," Murdoc pled, "I did, Russ. She said she needed to fin' a way ta get me out, bless her."
Russel and 2-D both snorted at the idea of the Satanist blessing anyone.
"So 'ow did tha' man get ahol' o' Noodle-girl? I fought she wos in disguise." 2-D questioned.
Murdoc threw his hands up, "Well, obviously, Faceache, he discovered her."
2-D finally stood and clapped his hands together, "So we go an' get 'er, don' we?"
"Haven' ya been listenin to a fookin word I've said?" Murdoc shouted. "Dielens is a fookin demon. There ain't no way we can take him on. Not if we wanna live."
"Said I'd go to 'ell to fin' 'er," 2-D shrugged, "and I guess I will alone if you two won' come."
"Was the...mouth at the crash site?" asked Russel. Murdoc nodded. "Well dat settles it, then, we just go get her ass back! Been missin' my Noodle-girl anyway!"
After the three men stayed up for most of the night planning their journey back to the wasteland where the windmill had crashed, they separated to get some much-needed rest. 2-D, however, found that he was much too wound up to sleep and decided to tire himself out by wandering the halls, reacquainting himself to the place he had called home for so many years.
After exploring the building for what seemed like hours, 2-D found himself back at the first floor corridor where Russel's and Noodle's rooms were located, standing outside of her room. He had saved this area of the studio for last, knowing that he wanted to see her room, even if she wasn't there; but, now that he was staring at her door, he began to second guess himself. Maybe he didn't really want to go in there. Would the memories he had shared with her be too much for him? Could he take it? He stood in indecision for several minutes before sighing and turning to leave. Suddenly, he heard a noise issuing from the other side of the door. Someone, or something was in there. He was afraid at first. Since Noodle had disappeared, a large crack had formed in her wall, exposing her room to the elements...and the zombies that lurked outside the studio. He slowly moved forward and placed his ear against the door, listening. Another shuffle from the inside of the room, and suddenly, the door swung open. Noodle was standing before him, smiling brightly.