Hey there!
Here is Chapter 10!
Enjoy, you're brain is bound to click once again...
The Aftermath Show was buzzing in the background of a shabby hotel room in Canada. Papers were spread out everywhere, almost burying the man who was slumped in a small wooden chair. Weeks have passed since Duncan's disappearance, and Jackson was being tortured by his boss for letting him slip away ("Get that delinquent back by any means necessary or the lawsuit's coming out of your pay check!"). Ever since he had been searching for said delinquent with no such luck, until the TV blared in his ears with the words "Total Drama Fugitives."
Jackson bolted up from his chair, his full attention now on the television. He smiled as he saw Blaineley taking on his advice, knowing full well he wouldn't get credit. It seemed that Ezekiel has also gone AWOL, but he knew he hung onto the plane when he was thrown out; he saw him as he jumped out after Duncan.
Duncan's part of the segment came on, and Jackson watched it intently. He had had no luck in finding him for weeks, so he would listen to anything that was remotely related to the matter. He just hoped that the public weren't as terrible at delinquent spotting as he was. The first sighting was a Mohawk in a lake in England. Jackson disregarded this, as there wouldn't be much to work with should he peruse it.
The second sighting however, sparked Jackson's interest instantly. It was from Rome, Italy. A silhouette, which greatly resembled Duncan, was seen falling down a cliff, swearing with each collision. Geoff and Blaineley commented on this footage, Blaineley claiming that no one could fake "that level of profanity", and Jackson seemed to agree.
Since Duncan fell down a cliff, he would obviously need time to recover before he could travel again. That gave the intern valuable time to track him down.
With a glimmering speck of hope alight once more, Jackson grabbed his phone to book a flight to Rome. He imagined Chris' reaction when he would bring the delinquent back to the show by the choker, and he smiled when he visualised the pay rise he was bound to receive.
A few weeks have passed since Duncan had joined the Crim Club. He has been healing slowly, with numerous bruises and cuts to a large majority of his body. Maria claimed that he was lucky not to break any bones; Duncan called it a miracle.
Today, he was sitting on the couch with Cara and Hamish on opposite sides of him, sharing stories about how they came to the Crim Club.
"I robbed a bank with my brothers," started Hamish in his usual monotone," but it was for an operation for my dad's heart transplant. We almost got the cash too, but the youngest of us, James, he slipped and set off the alarm. Steve, my older brother, told me to run, so I did. I left everything behind. Got a plane out of England, and eventually found myself here. That was 3 years ago. I haven't heard from any of them since."
Chase and Jade were having an animated conversation in the opposite corner; Jade was jumping uncontrollably on the spot as her mouth moved with great speed.
"On my opinion, Margareta is the king of all pizza flavours! Wouldn't you agree?"
Chase was actually not contributing to the topic. He simply nodded and added an occasional "yeah," or "mmm" each time she paused. However he still looked extremely interested in what she was saying.
Jason and Maria were in the kitchen preparing their next meal (microwave pasta and cans of soft drink), while having an in depth conversation about their most recent green haired guest.
"Come on, Maria, you can't honestly think him and Courtney still have a chance!" Jason said while sticking 3 trays of pasta in the microwave at the same time.
"Of course they do!" she wailed passionately, flinching as she touched a hot pasta tray, "they are the cutest couple ever!" Maria finished, daring Jason to rebut her argument.
"Yeah, that was before she became and psycho raging control-aholic!" Jason replied firmly, stuffing 2 more pasta trays into the microwave, "Duncan's clearly moved on. Now he's into Gwen."
Maria was taken aback; in fact she looked slightly offended by this new piece of information. She pressed a hand to her heart and opened her mouth in shock. She looked quite melodramatic.
"Gwen is purely a friend, nothing more!" she said shrilly, slamming her fist into the kitchen for an extra effect.
"Well, why don't we ask the real deal? Hey Duncan! Get in here!" Jason poked his head out of the kitchen and yelled loudly.
Duncan turned his head from his conversation with Cara, who was discussing her drug addiction and recovery. Both Hamish and Cara stood with him, and walked towards the kitchen. Even Jade stopped pacing on the spot and followed everyone else, with Chase hot on her heels.
Jason stood with his hand on his hips, grinning greedily at Duncan.
"Ok. So Maria here," he said, gesturing towards Maria with an exaggerated bow, "is under the impression that you and Courtney will patch things up, (Duncan snorted, much to Maria's shock) and live happily ever after with lots of delinquent –lawyer babies." Duncan's uni brow curved in confusion. Everyone was hanging onto Duncan's words.
"Wow, Maria. Really?" Duncan said, not trying to hide how ridiculous he thought she was being. "Courtney is driving me crazy," Maria's face lit up "and not in that romantic way she did last season," Duncan added quickly. Maria slumped.
"Jason's right. I like Gwen now." Duncan said, as Jason grinned into Maria's face, gloating without any words. Cara lowered her gaze to her feet, her lips pursing. Maria sighed in defeat. Everyone was so focused on Duncan, that no one saw Maria slip a 20 dollar note firmly into Jason's hand.
"Ok. Fine, you win. So what do you like about Gwen?" she asked, as if she hadn't been a strong believer in his relationship with a CIT just moments ago. Duncan sighed dreamily.
"We've got so much in common, and she's just like me. And if there's one thing I love, it's me. We can talk for hours on end without getting bored, and have you seen her taste in movies? I would be glad to let her buy me a new movie collection. Oh and- hey is that a Gibson Les Paul Guitar?" Duncan suddenly took a spontaneous turn in his conversation, when a guitar standing behind the couch caught his eye.
"Yeah. It's mine," said Cara, walking over to it and pick it up. "Are you into guitars?" she asked, screwing up her face as if trying to remember when Duncan had ever mentioning playing the guitar.
Duncan chuckled. He walked over and sat next to Cara, who now cradled her guitar comfortably in her lap.
"No. As if I have the time. It's just, Gwen's brother has one." By now the whole group had migrated towards the living room. Hamish, Jade and Maria sat next to each other on the coffee table, and Chase and Jason stood at either sides of the couch. Jade raised an eyebrow sceptically at Duncan's comment.
"She told me last season." He added at Jade's confusion. Duncan redirected his eyes to Cara, who was now strumming a melody softly. Her fingers moved so fluently as though it was a second nature. He stared at Cara in admiration. Cara grinned, the slightest tinge of crimson rising to her cheeks.
"You know, I can play the drums. We've been thinking of starting a band." Hamish said at Duncan's awe. Duncan looked up and smiled.
"Yeah, you should! You sound awesome." Duncan encouraged. Jason chuckled, and Jade shifted in her seat. He felt they were hiding something from him.
"What?" he said, feeling increasingly paranoid at their strange behaviour: Cara's grin just started growing, Maria was smiling as well. Hamish had drumsticks in his hands, tapping the table absentmindedly. Jade continued to move in her spot, and Jason looked like he had seen something slightly amusing.
"We need a vocalist." Hamish said finally, and Duncan fell into confusion. What did that have to do with him?
"And?" Duncan asked, his brows furrowing.
Hamish grinned and raised his eyebrows. Duncan's eyes widened in realisation; was he implying:
"Me? Vocalist?" Duncan sputtered, now questioning Hamish's sanity.
"Yeah. We saw you on Total Drama. That one note you sang, actually sounded decent." Jason grunted in amusement. Duncan just sat still, flabbergasted.
"Well, of course we need to hear more of your voice, you know to determine your range and stuff but-"
"In your dreams. I don't sing." Duncan shot back, trying every reserve of negotiation he had in him to wriggle himself out.
"Come on, Duncan." Cara said, her voice sounding unusually loud and demanding. She was still strumming her guitar lightly, and she begged not only with her words, but with her eyes.
"Just one song," Hamish bargained, "all we ask is for you to sing one whole song. If you are absolutely terrible, we will never speak of it again. If not, can you reconsider?" Duncan screwed up his face. One song. That's not too much. He also had the strangest feeling that if he refused, this wouldn't be the last of it either.
Duncan sighed in defeat, lowering his gaze to the floor.
"Fine." He said through gritted teeth. Everyone grinned satisfactorily, "only one song, that's it." Duncan added, as if he was negotiating an extremely important contract.
"No more," Hamish confirmed "If you're bad," he added under his breath. Hamish straightened himself up and Cara leant over her guitar.
"Ok. Do you know I'm Broken?" Cara asked, the quiet timbre of her voice now returning.
"By Seether?" Duncan replied. Cara nodded.
"And that chick from Evanescence," Hamish added, which earned him a furtive look from Cara.
"Her name is Amy Lee" She said irritably, Duncan had a feeling this was a regular argument.
"Yeah I know it." Duncan said, "So I'm gonna sing that?"
"Uh huh." Hamish said, grinning. "Ready when you are, Cara" He added. Cara smiled.
"What right now?" Duncan asked, alarmed. Cara ignored his protests and lowered her gaze to her guitar. Duncan sighed.
Cara held her guitar closely, and started strumming the intro. Duncan took a deep breath. He could feel everyone's eyes drilling into him. He was actually going to sing. Cara nodded towards Duncan and he opened his mouth unsurely.
"I wanted you to know
I love the way you laugh"
Duncan was surprised by how well he was going. His lips moved with the music, and judging by the overjoyed looks of everyone around him, he was pretty good. He smiled, and realised the lyrics reminded him of Gwen.
"I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away"
He remembered the look upon Gwen's face when they met in the cargo hold. "What do you want me to say, Duncan?"
"I keep your photograph
And I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain."
Cara opened her mouth, and joined in with Duncan for the chorus. The voice that came out was breathtaking.
"Cause I'm broken
When I'm lonesome
And I don't feel right
When you're gone away"
Duncan was awestruck by Cara, and was now enthusiastic when his solo came. Hamish was now drumming the table with great speed, and was grinning at the calibre of Duncan's voice.
"You've gone away
You don't feel me here anymore"
Duncan assumed that Cara was singing Amy Lee's part, so he watched her sing the second verse. Once again, she sounded amazing.
"The worst is over now
And we can breathe again
I wanna hold you high and you steal my pain away
There's so much left to learn
and no one left to fight
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain"
Duncan listened to Cara's singing, throwing harmonies when he deemed necessary. He had never realised just how much he enjoyed singing.
They both chimed in together for the second chorus.
"Cause I'm broken
When I'm open
and I don't feel like I am strong enough
Cause I'm broken
when I'm lonesome
and I don't feel right when you're gone away"
Duncan enjoyed every second, and he was amazed at how accurate this music has expressed what he felt inside. The song came to a close with a final guitar solo from Cara.
Duncan was grinning ear to ear, Cara was smiling the largest he had seen her do so. Everyone erupted into applause, and satisfaction swelled inside Duncan that he was afraid he would explode.
Hamish placed a hand on his shoulder and grinned.
"Welcome aboard."
His hand was trembling from nerves as he stood in the alley. People bustled around him, completely ignoring him and getting on with their hectic days. The cloth was soft on his calloused hands, and the chloroform sunk through, giving it a cool soothing feel across his palm.
With his weapon ready and a street full of targets, his eyes locked onto his victim and stepped into the sun, poised to strike.
Hmmm... I wonder... wait no I don't wonder cause I know what happens! It's you that should be doing the wondering... hopefully.
And now we know where Der Schnitzel Kickers was born. I made Duncan the vocalist because he hasn't said anything about playing an instrument, and it would take much more than I actually have to make him learn to play one.
I also didn't break any of his bones for the same reason...
Ok, I don't own Seether, I'm Broken or Evanescence.
It was actually fate that got that song in here.
I was having a little dilemma as to which song to do, and at that exact time, I'm Broken came up and I was like "Oh My Gosh! It fits!" yeah it's on old song, but I love it :)
Review and keep an eye for the next chapter... in which the plot will thicken... hopefully.