Victor Morgendorffer (Pt. 12)

After a harrowing trip in the Tank, Victor found himself thanking the gods that he was still alive and in one piece.

"Though how the bands equipment has lasted this long is a damn good question." He thought while lugging an amp out of the back of the van.

Which coincidentally had served as a handy backrest when he had been wedged in between the amp and the drum kit.

He glanced at his friends and smirked.

Danny was helping Link lug another amp that had clearly seen better days, and more duct tape than could be considered healthy. While Damien was having to play peacemaker between the drummer Max, and the bass guitar player Nick, since they were having an argument over who ate the last of the Doritos the week before.

"Don't worry about them." Jesse explained from behind him, "They are always like this before a show."

"And after." He added with a shudder.

Victor turned and saw Jesse sitting on the sidewalk in front of the Zon, restringing two guitars.

Victor began to ask why he was doing this outside but stopped as soon as he opened his mouth.

With a shrug he turned back around and walked into the grungy red brick building.

The first thing that Victor picked up on was the smell, the Zon stunk of booze, pot, vomit, assorted other drugs, more vomit, and a certain perfume that came from never having been properly scrubbed since opening day.

Victor was reminded of the biker bars that he and Ricky frequented with Todd back in Highland and smiled at the fond memories of being a 'Little brother' in the eyes of guys who had done things.

It was only now turning dark, so the bar only had a couple early drinkers present, so Victor found it easy to navigate to the stage and set the amp down after climbing up the rickety side stairs.

Danny and Link were already there with a manual in front of them as they fiddled with wires that were held together with electrical tape and faith.

"...the blue wire goes here..." Danny muttered to Link.

"Are we sure that these things won't start a fire?" Victor asked to get their attention.

Link shrugged without missing a beat, "No and if they don't then the Laws of Physics no longer apply."

Victor had a feeling that this was going to be a long night.

Especially when Trent came in a few minutes later and promptly passed out on the floor.

"Why so glum?" Jane asked as she and Daria played the role of resident wallflowers at the popular kid's party in a tacky mansion in the Crewe Neck.

Her friend shrugged while putting away more money into her billfold, "Stuff at home."

Jane raised an eyebrow and asked, "Care to elaborate?"

Daria looked around, making sure that Quinn wasn't in hearing distance before explaining, "Victor bailed for the night and only bothered to leave a note. Again."

"He didn't even talk to you?" Jane asked in surprise.

Daria nodded, "Normally he does, and that's what's freaking me out."

Jane shrugged, "Well I know where he is."

"What?!"

"Trent recruited him and his friends to work as roadies at their performance tonight. So don't worry about it. He'll be fine."

"God, I hope so." Daria muttered even as she saw another generic blond popular girl approaching them, cash in hand, and eagerness gleaming in her eyes.

Daria and Jane both exchanged smirks, so far Daria had made over fifty bucks and the night was still young.

"I wonder if Quinn will hyperventilate or bribe Daria to stop talking." Jane mused to herself as the girl asked Daria if she was that girl with the scoop on Quinn.

Daria nodded and took the offered cash and began to tell her the corker about Quinn liking to poop in the front yard when she was five.

When the girl pulled out a pad and a pen, Jane was able to remember her name.

"Poor, poor Quinn," Jane thought with dark amusement, "With Tori Jericho on the case, you are so screwed."

"This counts as music?" Link asked with a tilt of his head as he and his buddies sat at their corner table and listened to Mystik Spiral's performance of the first song on their set list.

Mr. Normal.

"Well it has a beat." Danny offered in half-hearted defense of his brother and his friends.

"So does my heart," Damien snarked with a beer bottle in hand, "That doesn't make me a musician."

Victor smirked before taking another drag of his cigar, he normally didn't smoke tobacco but something about bars and booze just made it feel right.

The Zon was quickly filling up with the dregs of local society, and the alternative and unpopular kids that wanted to have a good time without judgments.

Victor suspected that he and his friends were the youngest people there, but Damien pointed out several high school kids and the complete lack of carding, so no one really bothered them on that score.

He then caught sight of a heavy-set girl with dark hair and Goth attire and amended that, but her gaze was focused on Damien and she was clearly torn between annoyance and worry.

"Don't worry about your little bro." Victor thought while checking Andrea out, "He's with me, it'll be alright."

Victor then said he was going to get another beer and asked if they wanted refills.

"Yes."

"Duh!"

"The only way I could listen to this garbage is with booze." Link added dryly.

"Gotcha." Victor said with click of his tongue before making a beeline for the bar, and the twenty something bartender didn't bat an eyelash at the order of four Budweiser's from a thirteen year old.

With cigar firmly clamped in his mouth, Victor managed to carry the four glass bottles back without dropping them, his buddies cheered his return with bounty and took the offering with good grace.

"Here's to having a good time." Danny said while offering a toast with his fresh brew.

The others clanked their glasses together with his joyfully.

Link took a gulp and barely suppressed the wince at the taste of cheap American beer and thought, "If it wasn't for these guy's I'd never do this. But I'll just have the one and be done, otherwise I'd probably turn into my father."

That grim thought was quickly washed away with another sip.

Link didn't want to feel like crap, he wanted to feel good, and the warm feeling was starting to kick in.

Danny and Damien were laughing over the sight of two bikers wannabes fighting over a chick covered in pockmarks.

Victor was putting out the butt of his cigar while drinking his beer when he noticed that Burnout was approaching their table.

"Yo, Jen!" Victor said in greeting.

Burnout nodded as the others turned to look, the only other one she knew was Danny Moreno.

"I didn't think I'd see you here Victor." Jennifer Burns drawled. Victor looked into her eyes and saw that they were clear.

So he shrugged, "I'm on break from my temp gig."

"Gig?"

Victor pointed at the band, "We're roadies tonight."

"Cool," Jennifer replied with a very slight grin, "So are you interested in music or just doing a favor?"

Victor began to say they were doing a favor, but Damien cut him off with a question, "Well of course music is cool, but you have a suggestion about learning to play or something?"

Jennifer shrugged, "Maybe."

Damien breathed, "Cool!"

Danny and Victor both began to wonder how they had wound up on this train of thought.

Jennifer laughed, "Well roadies traditionally are roadies because they want to become musicians themselves, so they work for bands so they can learn 'on the job' so to speak."

"Thanks for the music history lesson," Link teased, slurring his words a bit, "But what does this have to do with us?"

Jennifer Burns shrugged, "Nothing, everything, or it could just be how the four of you kind of reminded me of a band." Then after a beat she added, "Or it could be all those dead brain cells of mine acting up from beyond the grave."

That had the guys laughing on their barstools.

Jennifer simply smiled and walked away without so much as a goodbye.

"Wow," Link slurred after finishing his beer, "She's weird..."

"Weird is good." Damien said absently while nursing on his own beer.

As Mystik Spiral began to play 'Icebox Woman' Victor found that he couldn't agree more.

He then looked at Link and found himself thinking that he had had enough booze for one night.

"The kid's gonna have to work on his alcohol tolerance." Danny whispered to him with a sly grin and a nod towards Link, who was finding it difficult to stay on his barstool.

"I think we can help him with that." Victor said back with a grin of his own.

None of them noticed that Andrea had positioned herself nearby a little while ago and was keeping an eye on them and an eye on potential threats. She wasn't about to let her little brother get beaten up or taken advantage of if she could prevent it.

"But I am so going to rip him a new asshole in the morning." She thought with a snarl, and unknowingly scared the crap out of two muscular thugs, one of whom had tribal tattooing on one side of his face.