2D awoke that morning to the smell of bacon. He tiredly glanced at his clock and saw that it was only nine thirty. He contemplated not getting up at all and instead trying to get more sleep. He only took a couple of pills last night but he still had some pretty disturbed dreams. And after the whole Paula incident yesterday, well, let's just say that they were even worse than usual. Just as his eyes began to shut once more it suddenly dawned on him that Russel was most likely the one behind breakfast and that the man had a rather large appetite. Deciding that sleeping in was not worth it if he wasn't going to get any food after, he forced himself to get out of bed and trudged into the kitchen for some much needed fuel and coffee.
Russel was just starting to cook some eggs when a very drowsy 2D wandered into the kitchen. "Mornin'," he said happily, briefly turning to give him a smile. "How you want your eggs?"
"Cooked," the bluenette yawned before plopping down in a chair and leaning all the way back, his eyes closing.
"I figured that, D. I meant-"
"Scrambled's fine." He was way too tired to care, really. He figured he'd take a short little nap while Russel finished his meal.
A plate suddenly clanked in front of him, startling him awake. "You alright, man? Never seen someone sleep in a chair like that before."
"Ugh..." 2D realized that he'd probably dislocated most of his vertebrae from the way he was leaning over in the chair. The back was too short to accommodate his height and, in addition to being bent almost entirely backwards, he'd slumped off to the side some in his sleep. It did not feel good once he sat up and his spine popped and cracked numerous times, causing Russel's face to curl up in disgust.
"That's a sound I'll never be able to un-hear," the keyboardist said while trying to keep his appetite.
"Sorry mate," the singer replied, picking up a piece of bacon. Speaking of horrendous sounds... "Where's Muds?" he asked, noticing that it was awfully quiet. Sure, it was still pretty early for the other man to be up but usually his snoring could be heard from outside.
"He must've gone out. I haven't seen him and your car's missing. Frankly, I'm surprised he was up so early. I woke up around nine and never saw a trace of him."
"I hope he's not out doing something stupid," 2D sighed, knowing full-well that if something got the drummer up that early then it was probably no good. The man refused to get up before noon for nearly everything. The building could be on fire and he still wouldn't give a damn.
"Maybe he just had an appointment or something." Russel was trying to be positive but he stopped once he realized how that sounded. Murdoc. Up early. Silently leaving. Possible appointment?
Both men shared worried looks over their breakfast. This probably wouldn't end well.
"So that's it, mate?" Murdoc asked, surprised.
"Yes. Now please. Take it or leave it." The man's voice audibly shook even over the phone's poor reception.
"Now hold on just a minute," he said, looking the place over. "That's awfully... cheap. Not that I'm complaining about it but-"
"It sounds like you're complaining! I'm being very generous here, Mr. Niccals." 'Mr. Niccals' narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Surely there was some sort of catch.
"I'd say you're being very funny about this. Are you trying to trick me?"
"Trick you?! Heavens no! Of course not! Why would I try to trick you?" He wasn't very good at hiding his emotions. The lie was very easy to detect. And Murdoc was the master of lies.
"Suppose I really did take this place off your hands. What if something happened?" Silence. Of course there was silence. "Listen here, buddy," he spat. "I don't know what's got your nuts in a twist, but so help me, if this is some sort of set up then your ass is gonna have something much more terrifying than an empty building."
"...That place isn't empty..." the man whispered. It was so quiet that he almost didn't hear it.
"What?" he asked, interested in what that meant.
"It's a terrible place. It's full of... evil things." Murdoc grinned from ear to ear. Full of evil things? Why didn't he say so sooner? "I'm sorry I tried to get you to buy it."
"No, no, no, don't be sorry. Why didn't you tell me that to begin with?"
"What?" The man sounded utterly shocked.
"Why didn't you tell me it was evil? Is it haunted? Cursed? Possessed? Please say it's one of those." Murdoc couldn't contain his excitement. This was his cup of tea after all.
"I-if I had to choose I'd say all three. Why are you-"
"All of them?! This place is perfect! I'll pay your price. You can meet me at the nearby restaurant by noon and we'll get everything together." Before the seller could get another word in he hung up, leaving the poor man confused, shocked, and disappointed that he didn't ask for a higher price. It also didn't give him the opportunity to say that he wouldn't even be in the town by noon.
"I'm obviously not available to take your call if you're hearing this, so you could try calling again some other time or, better yet, just fuck off." Murdoc's voice finished its mini-rant and was followed by an automated female one saying to leave a message after the tone.
"Heyyy, Muds," 2D drawled, exasperated. "For the, like, fifth time can you please call me back and tell me just what you're up to? It's been nearly five hours. Last time you were gone that long I had to hunt you down and then save you from being arrested." The bluenette hung up and sighed. He'd been trying all day to get ahold of Murdoc but to no avail.
"You're wastin' your time," Russel said as he passed the frustrated young man. "Now I don't blame you for being worried, but it's obviously pointless to try and call him. He made it pretty clear he wasn't gonna call you back about three hours ago." 2D sighed again.
"You're not helping," he said as he got up off the couch and began to pace in front of it.
"Look, man. The way I see it, ya got two options: go out and look for him or stop thinkin' about it. Now what's it gonna be?"
"Alright. Let's go. He's probably passed out on the street somewhere anyways, the dumbass." Russel followed a grumbling 2D out the front door and both men went their separate ways on their Murdoc hunt.
Russel strode down the streets looking for any clues as to where the drummer could've been, all the while trying not to bring too much attention to himself. Passer-by looked at him with frightened eyes and immediately stepped aside thinking he was some sort of monster or supernatural hitman. It pained the keyboardist to see such terrified reactions. He was scaring them without even meaning to and it hurt as much as if his own mother looked at him like that. Well, actually...
Russel shook his head and refocused his thoughts on finding the lunatic drummer he was somewhat forced to work with. He could take his pent up anger out on him once he caught him.
2D, the everlasting optimist, was beginning to lose hope. He'd asked every restaurant, every store, and every person he'd come across if they'd seen Murdoc and all had given him the hope-crushing answer of NO. He'd even gone so far as to ask what he was pretty sure were drug dealers (because with Murdoc it was very possible and very likely) but they'd denied it too before asking if he wanted to buy some 'groceries.' He was almost at his wits' end now. Normally, it wasn't this difficult to find the man. He was beginning to wonder if he'd gotten tired of the whole band thing and decided to skip town on them, without so much as leaving a note. It wasn't entirely far-fetched.
Russel groaned for the umpteenth time that day. His search was yielding nothing but one massive headache. Deciding to call it quits, he pulled out his phone and called 2D.
"Find him?" the younger man asked, still holding onto his last thread of optimism.
"Nope. Sorry, man, but I'm done. I've tried everywhere I could think of that I was brave enough to go and no one's seen him. There's nothing on the news about him gettin' arrested so we're just gonna have to assume that he doesn't want us to find him." For a few moments there was nothing but silence, causing Russel to check to see if he'd gotten disconnected. Finally, there was a sigh.
"You don't think he's left us, do you?" There was no hiding the dejection in his voice. The thought was just too disastrous for him. They were already having a hard enough time getting a bassist; finding a new drummer would be even more impossible. Murdoc, for all his shit, was a damn good drummer and there was no one 2D could think of who would even have the potential to be as good as him. And despite all the trouble he'd caused he was invaluable, not just for his musical prowess but for his sharp wit as well. In his rare sober state of mind the man was easily the most intelligent person 2D knew. Sure, his form of brainpower usually came in the form of a conniving manipulative bastard, but still. Smarts were smarts, and there was no denying just how well thought out Murdoc could be when he wanted. Although he seemed to enjoy spending most of his time acting like a drunken dumbass, or half-acting, at least.
"Yo, D. You hear me?"
"Sorry, what?" The singer snapped out of his daze.
"I said I don't think so. Why would he?"
"Why not?" he snorted. "He's made it pretty obvious he doesn't really care about us. The only one he's worried about is himself."
"Don't be like that. I know Muds is a bit of a prick sometimes... Ok, so all the time, but that doesn't change the fact that deep down inside-somewhere-he really does consider us friends."
"Uh-huh."
"The other thing is that this is Muds. You know how he loves his attention. The promise of the fame that comes with being in a band... There's nothing on this Earth that could make him turn that down."
"Except maybe not getting it soon enough," 2D muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. You can just head home, Russ. I'm gonna stay out for a bit longer."
"Alright. Good luck. And cheer up, man. All this negativity is bad for your skin." With that, Russel hung up leaving 2D to furrow his brow at just what in the world that meant. Deciding to just ignore it, he continued looking.
An hour later saw 2D trudging up the steps to the front door, looking more depressed than ever and with no Murdoc in sight. Russel, panicked, came stomping up to him before he reached the last step.
"No luck?" he asked, already knowing. 2D didn't grace him with an answer. Instead, he made to move past him only for the large man to put his arms out as a barricade.
"What're you doin'?" he asked, bewildered. The worried look on Russel's face was both suspicious and frightening.
"Um... Don't you wanna sit outside and enjoy the fresh air for a bit?" he tried, already knowing that the singer wouldn't buy it.
"Russel..." 2D trailed off dangerously. "What's going on? Why won't you let me inside?" The keyboardist gulped at the younger man's tone. It wasn't like him to sound so menacing. "You can either answer, mate, or you can move aside and let me see for myself." All traces of darkness were gone from his voice but his eyes still held a glimmer of aggravation in their black depths.
Sighing, Russel complied. "You ain't gonna like it," he warned as the bluenette strode past. 2D blew him off and reached for the doorknob. "I'm serious man," Russel tried again. The singer once again ignored him and opened the door...
...to a very clean entryway. "What the...?" he muttered, before his eyes moved to look at the rest of the space he could see. Gasping in shock, he darted into the flat and searched every room in frantic desperation before coming back to the blank-faced Russel now standing in the living room. "Have we been robbed?!" 2D shrieked, on the verge of hysteria.
"I told you you wasn't gonna like it," was all Russel offered.
"What happened?! We weren't really gone that long, were we?!" The keyboardist merely shrugged.
"I'm sorry, man," he sincerely said.
"Sorry doesn't fix this! We're screwed now! Ugh... All our stuff... All my stuff..." He fell back into the wall and slowly sank to the floor, hands covering his face in the vain hope that they'd stop the tears. "Now what..." he muttered. "I'll never be able to replace everything that was here."
"I'll help you, man. It won't be much, but it's somethin'. 'Sides, you can't work full-time with all the community service you have left." Russel sat beside him and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
"Thanks, Russ. You're a real good guy, y'know that?" 2D's eyes suddenly widened and he stood up, as if he just remembered something crucial. "Russ..." he trailed, the tone of his voice leading up to monumental anger.
"Yeah?" He braced himself for what was to come.
"You don't think... Murdoc did this, do you?"
It took a few moments for the words to process in Russel's mind. Sure, Murdoc could be quite a few things but a backstabbing thief? There was just no way he'd turn on them like this. Leave maybe, but not steal everything and the kitchen sink from 2D's apartment on the way out. No. There had to be another explanation.
"It makes sense," 2D spat bitterly when Russel didn't offer a response fast enough. "I mean, he's still pissed about the car accident. Why wouldn't he want to get me back for it?"
"Hold on. Car accident?" Russel couldn't have been anymore confused.
"This is obviously some revenge scheme he cooked up just to get payback. I bet he's already selling everything I own on some shady website or something."
"I don't know, D, that sounds-"
"And then he'll probably come back in here with a real smug look on his face and say, 'Hey! I just wanted to tell you that I made a fortune sellin' your shit and that I quit your silly, nonexistent band. So fuck you, you wanker.'"
"Calm down, man-" At that exact moment, 2D's phone rang. Pulling it out, the singer saw it was none other than the cause of all their problems for the day.
"Well, look who finally decided to return my calls," he spat. "And just where have you been?"
"Doing business. Now-"
"Thanks to you going missing me and Russ had to go look for you cuz we was worried, and now you call me back after we've just been robbed?!" There was no holding back his rage.
"Robbed? Actually, faceache-"
"NO! I've had it with you trying to bullshit your way out of everything! Get your ass back here so you can help clean up your mess!" There was no response. "Hello!"
"Are you done yet?" Murdoc replied casually. 2D was too astonished at his calmness to yell anymore. "Good. Now as I was saying-or trying to-you weren't robbed. I took all your stuff."
"What? Why?"
"Because I'm tired of living in a damn tuna can, that's why! I bought us a nice little studio/residence a decent ways from your place. Now why don't you head out here and see for yourself before you start bombarding me with questions."
"Wait! Is that why you were missing all this time?"
"Of course. What, did you think I decided to skip town on you losers? Did you believe I stole everything and left you behind saying, 'You pathetic bunch of morons!' Please. Have a little more faith in me, eh?" With that he hung up and within a few moments he sent 2D the directions to their new place.
"See? I told you it wasn't like him." Russel was relieved to find that 2D's accusations were false. Though he still felt bad because he too was beginning to think that Muds had done them wrong.
"Please. Don't rub it in." 2D held his palm over his face to try and stop his headache. Knowing Murdoc he likely took all of his painkillers as well, meaning that they'd have to come to him anyway. "Let's just go find him. This place is called Kong Studios; hopefully it's something good."
"Hey, can't be any worse than this, right?" Russel's attempt at brightening the mood was crushed once they realized they'd need to take the bus because Murdoc still had 2D's car.
"Russ."
"Yeah?"
"You were wrong. You were dead wrong. It's so much worse..." The bluenette buried his face in his hands at the sight before him while his companion just looked on with slight concern. A massive creepy-looking building surrounded by dead trees and crows was not his ideal living space.
"WELCOME!" There was Murdoc, at the end of the walkway leading to the door, with his arms spread wide and looking far happier than either had ever seen him. "This is Kong Studios!"
"Well... At least he's happy."
"Shut up, Russ."
A/N: It's been way too long since I've updated this. Sorry about that. With everything going on right now I'm not sure how quickly my updates will come but I figured that a new chap for this fic should be finished first just because of the new album. Hope you enjoyed it. Up next will be the trio's adjustment to living in Kong and their ongoing search for a bassist, among other things.
