Chapter 18 - Sell you out

Chester stands at the entrance for Glasgow's Youth Centre. He checks out the outside to see silhouettes of people moving round through the curtains. He wipes his lip one last time to clean up any leftover blood before he enters the Youth Centre. Approaching the front desk, Chester greets the elderly lady at the desk. "Excuse me, I'm a member of the Zeppeli Foundation" Chester displays the badge on his collar, the elderly lady leans over the counter and adjusts her glasses to see, "And I was wondering if you need any help today." The elderly lady sits down, "Oh, did they send you?" Chester shakes his head, "Nope. I saw this place on the map and thought I'd come. I used to be in a place like this, and know what it's like." "Oh right. Can I get a name please?" The kindly old lady starts typing on her computer, "Yes, my name is Chester B Park. My number is SU200376." She pulls up the file the Foundation has on him, save for the information about his private life, and Stand as she doesn't have clearance. "Looks like you're really part of the Foundation." She reaches into a draw in her desk, and pulls out a guest pass for him to wear around his neck. "We have some volunteers working already, just ask them if they need any assistance, luv." Chester follows the corridor out of the lobby, unaware of something stalking him outside.

[Opening - I predict a riot]

Chester walks into a lounge area. It doesn't look very busy. Sitting on a sofa with three boys with varying ages, was one of the volunteers. They wear a blank vest with a skull dressed as a unicorn on it; their hair styled into a mohawk. On the other side of the room was another volunteer giving one of the residents a haircut. Her hair was short, shaved at the sides with green highlights; she has a rocker look with two belts, skinny jeans and a crop with open hoodie. Chester approaches the sofa, his eyes widen, and he smiles. Not saying anything, he eavesdrops on their conversation. "I'm telling you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with liking a country. Sometimes it can be better than pop. Music needs meaning. Pop music is all the same." The volunteer appears to be leacuting those around him. "All pop music is about going to the club, getting with a lot of people, and then just puking up your guts." The boys around him break into laughter, most of it out of snark. "Oh yeah, you laugh, but you can't go wrong with a bit of James Taylor."

"Well it's good to hear you weren't just faking it to hook up with that American girl." Chester loudly commented, catching the volunteer off guard. They comedically turn to see Chester standing there. "Is this a bad time?" He says with a smile on his face. The volunteer grabs the sofa, and jumps over to Chester's side, and tackles him with a hug like a dog greeting their owner. "Chester!" They pat him on the back, too excited to control themselves. "James Lars. How've you been, you lunatic?" Chester hugs back, squeezing his friend tight. "Oh you know, teaching the new generation what real music is." He gestures to the boys, now listening to music on their phones. "I can see that." James grabs his hand, "Are you wearing nail varnish?" "Oh what? You upset I wear it better than you?" James payfully slaps Chester's face, almost like a tap. "Ah man, it's been too long, they're gonna flip." He turns to the hair stylist, "Oi, Dolly! Look who's here!"

The stylist has earphones on, so she doesn't hear them, just muffled sounds. After wiping the hair off the client's shoulders, she removes the cape from them so they can go on their way. She cleans up the hair from the floor, still listening to music. "DOLLY!" James is almost screaming. Dolly finally removes her ear phones and looks back with an irritated expression on her face, "What?!" Her face changes as she sees James standing with Chester. "No freaking way!" Putting down her tools, she rushes across the lounge and leaps onto Chester, hugging him. "What are you doing here?" She questions, holding onto him tight, forcing him to lean down so she can stand on the floor. "I was in the neighbourhood." He sounds out of breath as she squeezes too hard.

"How long has it been? 2-3 years?" She asks, finally letting go. "I'd say roughly that long. It's good to see you Dolly, you haven't changed a bit." She gives an over the top reaction, acting like she was offended, "I'm sorry, it's good to see me?" Chester gives a shrug, "Alright, it's great to see you. Yes, you too James." Chester says, looking at James in the corner of his eye. "That's better." She says, looking happier, "I love your hair. Bleached?" "Yeah, I bleached it last week, long before coming down here." Chester looks her up and down, "I love your hair too, it looks good short." She gets shy, "Oh you're just saying that. It looked better when it was long." "No, I'm serious. I remember you wanted to try it short, and it looks great." As she blushes, James finally steps in. "Sorry to interrupt the flirting, but there's someone else here you need to see." The third volunteer comes out of one of the rooms, and stands off from the other three. "You're damn well right about that." They are all taken back by the sudden voice, and turn to face it. Standing in a scarf and leather jacket, a large cross on their back, they join the trio. "It's been too long, Chester." They place their hand on his shoulder, "Fozzy. I don't believe it."

[User: Chester B. Park Stand: Hybrid Theory Stats: Destructive Power C, Speed B, Range C, Persistence C, Precision B, Development Potential A]

…..

[4 years ago]

Chester, formerly known as Micheal Mathews, sits quietly in the corner of a youth centre in Manchester. As he stares into space, a shadow gets cast over him. He looks up to see a young Reece Fozzy standing over him. "You alright?" He asks, staring at him like he was an abused puppy. Micheal looks down at the carpet floor, "I don't know how to answer that." Fozzy keeps staring at him, as his friends watch on from the sofa; one is a girl with long brown hair, the other a guy with a shaved head. A female member of staff approaches Micheal with a towel, "Here you go, you need to dry yourself." She hands Micheal the towel, "Thank you." He uses it to dry his face at first before standing up, "I'm sorry, I think I soaked the chair." "No no deary, it's fine, don't you worry." Fozzy keeps his eyes on Micheal as he grabs his sweater and lifts it over his torso, showing his pale, slim figure, as well as his bandaged up shoulder. The young Dolly sees the bandage, and holds her hand over her mouth. "That's not right." James says under his breath. "Please, come with me to your room." The woman turns to Fozzy, "Oh, Fozzy. You'll be sharing a room with this boy for the time being, I hope you don't mind."

Fozzy says nothing as the woman leads Micheal to the room, a male staff member has placed some clean clothes on a freshly made bed. "I didn't know your size, so I hope medium is okay." He says before the two members leave the room, "Once you're dressed, come find us so we can put you into the system hun." The woman requests in her sweet tone. Finally alone, Micheal pulls his phone and charger from his trouser pockets, and places them on the bed. Stripping down to nothing, he grabs the towel and dries himself, unaware of Fozzy standing by the door, but doesn't peer inside. Micheal puts on the clean clothes; they're different to what he usually wears. He now has a pair of black jeans, with a tight white t-shirt, and a denim black shirt with a ripped style to them. "Suits you." Micheal looks up towards the door to see Fozzy leaning on the frame, "The clothes. Maybe it was because they were wet, but those actually suit you more than what you came here in."

Micheal looks down to the floor again, before looking back up, colour has returned to his face as he starts warming up. "I was never really able to pick my own clothes before, so I never knew what suits me." Fozzy raises an eyebrow, "Let me guess, mommy's boy was thrown out by daddy?" Micheal takes in a deep breath before answering, "My mother is dead. She has been since I was 5. And it was my step mother that threw me out for attacking my half brother." "Why did you do that?" He asks; without using his words, Micheal just pulls on the shirt he's wearing to show the bandages, "You can guess." The two go quiet, Micheal looks down at his feet. He starts scratching at his head, his long, untamed hair irritates him. "You know, if you act nicely, my friend Dolly could trim that for you." Micheal tries to stop himself, "I don't know, I don't want to be a bother." "You won't be, she'll love to do it. Besides, you're a free man now. Time to say 'sod it', and try new things." Micheal grows a genuine smile on his face. "Right. Well, I think I have other things I need to do first with the staff." Fozzy nods, "No doubt. What did you say your name was?" "It's Micheal." Fozzy shakes his head, "You're lying." "Why do you say that?" Micheal questions. "You don't look like a Micheal is all." Micheal stands up, appearing to be an inch shorter than Fozzy. "What would you 'guess' my name was?" Fozzy just shrugs, "I don't know, Kyle, Scott, Chester maybe..." Despite it being a joke, that name ignited something within Micheal.

[Chester B. Park formerly known as Michael Mathews]

…..

[Present day]

Fozzy approaches Chester; he greets him with a hand on his shoulder. "It's been a while, hey Chester?" Chester places his hand on Fozzy's arm, "Yes it has." The pair embrace for a hug, patting each other on the back. After breaking it up, Fozzy grabs Chester's collar, and examines the badge, "You work for the Foundation? Like, not just as a volunteer?" "Yeah, I do field work with them. It's hard to explain what kind of work I do." Fozzy nods, asknowlading that he's listening, "Does it have something to do with that cut on your lip?" Chester remembers it, "Oh, kind of. I had a disagreement with a friend." Fozzy steps away from Chester, Dolly gets close with him; he wraps his arm around her, "Doesn't sound like a good friend to punch his mates." "Like I said, complicated." Chester sees how they stand together, and smiles, "Hopefully, this right here isn't." Dolly laughs, "Yeah, we've been dating for going on 2 years now." James pats Chester on the back, "No need to be jealous Chesty." Chester shrugs it off, "My work has me too busy for relationships. Besides, we've got other important matters to deal with." Chester turns, and points towards the small group of children entering the centre. "I think you'll be needed here."

The children are residents at the centre; Chester helps the three of them with tending to their needs while also catching up with his friends at a time. He's helping Fozzy in one of the residential rooms. "So what kind of work do you do with the Foundation if you're not doing this?" Fozzy asks, tidying a bed up. "I travel mostly. Doing grunt work, making a living out of it, y'know?" Fozzy nods, "Yeah, I know." Chester changes the topic. "So when did you finally ask Dolly out? Because when I started living with the Foundation, you two weren't together." Fozzy walks over to the bed Chester is working on, and pulls on the sheet, "I asked her to a concert she liked. She didn't realise it was a date until she realised James wasn't with us." "Yeah, that sounds about right."

Fozzy and Chester carry a wash basket each out of the room when James approaches them, "Hey, my ears were burning, were you talking about me?" Chester laughs, "Nah mate. We were just..." Before anyone could react, Chester gets cut off by James getting his hand cut off. James screams in pain as he looks at the stump in his arm, "Ahh! What happened to my hand!" His hand doesn't seem to be on the floor. Fozzy and Chester stare on as he steps back. Dolly and the kids look up to see blood spraying from James. As all eyes are on him, they all see James's chest explode as he dies where he stood, but only Chester can see the arm piercing his chest. Everyone is screaming and crying out of fear. The arm is pulled back, and James falls to the ground. Standing over him, is his killer. It was humanoid, with a patchwork scheme of gold and silver with a cross burnt into its chest, and razor like claws for fingers; it was the spitting image of the sketch that Chester has been obsessed with. In its beast-like teeth, it holds James's Severed hand. Dropping it to the floor, it leaps into the ceiling, and hides behind the panels.

Chester drops the basket, and kneels beside James's body as Dolly checks on him. He puts his hand on her shoulder. "Dolly, I need you to listen to me. Take James, and the children out of here." "What are you..." "Do it!" Chester's tone is strict but it doesn't come from a place of anger. Chester gets up and appeals to Fozzy. "Mate, you need to get out of here too. You're not safe." Fozzy stands there looking confused, as the stand reappears from the ceiling, and charges at Fozzy. "It's coming back, move!" Chester pushes his friend down, avoiding the stand's claws. It misses Chester just barely, but scratches his shoulder, drawing blood. He looks back to see it moving towards Dolly. "Dolly!" She looks at him, but doesn't see the stand. However, the stand stops moving and turns around to face Chester.

"It didn't go after here?" Chester thinks to himself, "Yet, it killed James, and was going for Fozzy and me. Is she, no that's stupid." Fozzy sits up, "Chester! What the hell is going on?!" He yells angrily. "I'm sorry mate, but it's hard to explain what's happening to someone like you. No offence." The stand charges at Chester, leaping at him like a wild cat. He times it perfectly, defending himself with Hybrid Theory. Crossing its arms, it grapples with the stand, grabbing it by the next while it bites into Hybrid Theory's arm. Chester can feel the teeth marks on his arm. Chester watches as Dolly takes the rest of the children out of the building. "Fozzy! I need you to get out of here, it's not safe. I can't lose you and James on the same day." Fozzy starts to get himself back up, "Are you kidding? I can't leave you here now, you're my friend, and I'll always have your back." As Fozzy approaches behind him, he pulls out a small switchblade, and moves closer for the kill.

To be continued.

[User: ? Stand: ? Stats: Destructive Power C, Speed A, Range C, Persistence C, Precision B, Development Potential D]

[Ending - London Calling]