Title: Rhythm of the Storm
Author: ShadowDrake
Email: Shadowlander1@gmx.net
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters commonly associated with Jem and the Holograms; they belong to others and are used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Archive: You want it you got it - just let me know where it's going first.
Summary: There is more to Stormer then meets the eye, what secrets is she keeping and how will it affect those around her?
Note: This story is sort of a continuation of the episode 'The Bands Break Up' - one of my personal favourites in the series. I always wondered just what it meant for Kimber and Stormer to have an album go double platinum aside from making them a lot of money, as well as what effect it would have on their own respective bands. Also please note that I did play with the timeline a bit - moved things up a few years to bring it into the mainstream a bit more.
Dedication: I rarely dedicate stories to people - mainly my friends and fellow mischief-makers and usually as private jokes. In that tradition I dedicate this story to Nick the taunting rat-bastard of a writer, who not only writes the super-cool {if not weird at times} Misfit Series but is almost as demented as I am. Are you guys scared yet? :-D
RHYTHM OF THE STORM
Moon Rise Theatre, Los Angeles -
"WOW," Kimber Benton's voice cut through the silence of the old theatre as she stepped onto the stage her eyes darting around excitedly. "This is going to be 'so cool', " she went on nearly bouncing around with nervous energy.
Looking up from the grand piano she had been toying with, the blue-haired musician smiled at the newcomer's antics as the rival band slowly filed onto the stage. "Hey 'Hologeek'... keep it down some of us are trying to work here," she called out in a playfully gruff voice putting a scowl on her face for effect.
"Bite me Misfit... I thought you guys would be out in the parking lot stealing hubcaps," came an equally playful retort as the small hyper redhead turned her attention to the piano player.
"Nah ducks... we play to jack that Rockin' Roadster of yours later," a dark-haired woman, currently cleaning a gleaming black saxophone, replied with a wicked grin, "we just want to make sure we get all you losers at the same time." It had become almost tradition between the two bands, when they saw one another they just had to insult the other. While the words really held no animosity the tradition still held that when they met they had to fire at least one round of insults.
Chuckling softly as Jetta's, the sax player, words set off another round of insults from the slightly offended Holograms, Stormer continued playing a meaningless little tune on the piano, a soft smile on her lips as her friends tried to out do the other with insults. 'My friends,' she thought a smile tugging at her lips knowing without a doubt that both bands in question would deny anything but a hostile association with the other. There was a matter of pride and self-respect to take into account after all, both bands had too long of a history of not getting along. Besides it was fun and, oddly enough, therapeutic for both sides and best of all no one got hurt.
Tuning out the playful banter for the most part, Stormer continued playing not really focusing on any particular song. After a few moments she slowed her head jerking to the side subconsciously as a buzzing nose started to vibrate in her mind.
From the side of the stage the magician called Astral was watching the activity, or more importantly the piano player, a thoughtful frown in her eyes as she watched Stormer jerk slightly. For months now the blue-haired keyboardist of the Misfits had been of interest to her, something about the musician intrigued her. While she couldn't pinpoint it what was, the illusionist and paranormal investigator had taken to studying the other woman every chance she got. Hopefully something in her observations would help in identifying just what it was about Stormer Phillips that set off the magician's own sixth sense whenever the two were in the same room together.
KADADONAKA!!
Stormer slammed both hands down on the keyboard, her shoulders hunched, her face twisted in pain, as a low hiss of pain escaped her lips. Taking slow ragged breaths she tried to keep the pain under control, her stomach threatening to turn over, as she fought to stay conscious.
"Stormer?" a familiar voice said out of the buzzing and haze that was wrapping around her mind, all eyes turning toward the piano player in concern.
Looking up one hand going to her aching head, Stormer looked at the blurry disjointed figures that were closing in on her, "N...no stay back!" she groaned out trying to stand one hand balancing on the top of the grand piano as she tried to stand, the room seriously tilting on its axis as she stood very unsteadily.
Maeve Eldritch, also known as Astral, straightened from her lounging position her eyes widening in disbelief as she felt the pain and confusion Stormer was going through. 'Well I'll be damned,' she swore to herself already moving toward the distressed musician, 'Stormer is pathic.'
Holding her head in both hands Stormer tried to back away from the blurry figures heading reaching for her, some voice in the back of her mind screaming that she had to get away. Tripping over the piano bench just as Jetta reached her, Stormer was hit by what felt like a semi going about eighty.
Reaching out fast the Misfit's saxophonist was able to break her band mate's fall carefully lowering her to the ground as Stormer lost consciousness. "STORMER!" Kimber Benton nearly screamed dropping on the other side of the fallen Misfit one hand going to her friend's neck to check for a pulse. "I got a pulse... it's ragged though," she reported after a moment trying to remember everything she had learned in first aid class.
"Someone get an ambulance!" Jetta nearly growled trying to remain calm as well. 'I bloody well knew there was more ta her headaches then she was letting on,' she told herself forcefully, absently helping Kimber make the unconscious woman as comfortable as possible while they waited.
*********************
Consciousness returned with the crashing reality of pain as if Raya Alonzo had used her head for a bass drum for the last two hours. Slowly opening her eyes, Stormer Phillips - keyboardist of the rock band the Misfits - found herself surrounded by several concerned faces staring down at her. "Stormer... don't try to move," one of the faces said, as she fought to place the person that was currently running a hand through her hair in a comforting gesture. "Just lie still until the ambulance arrives."
'Ambulance? Why do I need an ambulance?' she wondered finally recognizing the person speaking to her as a close friend. "I'm fine Kimber... just let me up... and tell me what happened." She tried to sound gruff but the words came out in a tired whisper.
"You experienced a 'mind-quake'," another voice said as a new face leaned into her direct line of vision, "you got hit by a very powerful telepathic backlash." The woman continued in a serious tone her eyes boring into the prone musician.
"Astral," Stormer breathed in a small voice, "oh fuck." She groaned realizing that her secret was finally out; they knew... they all knew her secret. 'Oh God... why now? I was just beginning to fit in.'
(Rest Stormer,) Astral's voice sounded in her mind as the magician brushed a lock of her hair aside a sympathetic smile shining in her eyes, (nothing is going to happen to you... you're safe now.)
"Jerrica... I have to speak to Jerrica," Stormer suddenly said her heart pounding in her eyes, there was no hiding now. They all knew... or will in a matter of time, it was kind of hard to hide things like mind-quakes and telepathic backlashes. Better come clean with everything first... let the chips fall where they may... and maybe move on, disappear, if they reacted negatively.
(Shhh, its okay,) Astral's voice sounded in her mind once again projecting calm and patience at the disoriented musician. "You can talk to Jerrica later," She said a loud after a moment for the benefit of the others surrounding them. The words seemed to relax Stormer as she let unconsciousness take her once more.
*********************
Two days later
Stormer's cabin in the California Mountains -
Jerrica Benton had arrived at the cabin in a remote valley of the Rockies several hours ago, agreeing to meet Stormer in private away from the others. While she still wasn't sure why the Misfit insisted on holding this meeting so far from LA and only with her, the owner of Starlight Music found herself agreeing to it and making the long drive to the cabin alone. Once inside the large well-made structure the blonde executive found herself sitting across from the blue-haired musician listening to a most remarkable story.
"Wait... wait," Jerrica Benton stopped Stormer from continuing her story with a wave of her hand, "you're telling me that you have been holding conversations with my deceased mother for the last three years?"
"Well not everyday... just when she had nothing better to do and thought it would be funny to pester me," Stormer replied with a smile enjoying how uncomfortable she was making the blonde. It was perverse kind of entertainment messing with the owner of Starlight Music and Jerrica was always fun to fluster the hell out of. "She hasn't spoken to me in months... not that I miss her or anything, but I can tell just where Kimber gets her more irritatingly 'happy' traits from... you must take after your father."
Arching a blonde eyebrow at the words, Jerrica chose to ignore them knowing how much pride had to be swallowed for Stormer to even be talking about her 'gift' in the first place. As a rule Stormer Phillips did not talk about herself much that in itself was something Jerrica could understand and identify with. Keeping secrets was something both women understood all to well, as was the pain of having to live a lie no matter how much it protected others, and she was learning that Stormer had a lot of secrets she didn't share with anyone. "But I still don't understand... how did you know? About me and Jem... and well everything."
Releasing a tired sigh, "You have to understand... I can't always control this 'talent' of mine," Stormer replied, putting a strange emphasis on the word like it left a bad taste in her mouth. "It has a nasty habit of turning itself off and on at the most inconvenient times... like when I'm trying to concentrate or even sleep." She continued getting up to pace the spacious living room of the remote cabin the two had chosen to have their long overdue conversation. "That's one of the reasons Astral has never been able to tag me before... my talent rarely remained consistent for any long periods of time. That and Synergy throws her off a bit too... she can tell there is something not quite right about Jem but can't place just what it is. I had the same problem until I figured out what was bugging me... it was the holograms, my mind 'knows' they are not real and should not be there.... But my eyes kept contradicting what my sixth sense was telling me."
"Seeing is believing," Jerrica commented with an absent nod.
"Yeah," Stormer nodded absently, "exactly... most people look at something and accept if for what it is... hell your entire career is based on that very assumption." She went on stopping in her restless pacing to turn back to her friend, the word not making her feel nearly as nauseous as she thought it would. Jerrica had always just been Kimber's 'older sister', someone she had to put up with and could annoy by sheer presence alone. In general Stormer had never been all that comfortable around Jerrica Benton especially when the blonde was using the Synergy matrix to create real-life holographic images around herself and others.
While she was going to come clean about knowing about Jem's true identity and just how long she had known the truth, there were certain things she was not going to tell. Like those real-life holograms of Synergy's could play terrible havoc with Stormer's sixth sense, actually making her physically ill on one occasion when her talent was acting particularly erratic. Granted it wasn't something Synergy actively did to her, aside from the usual 'this should not be here' feeling she normally got while looking at one of the generated state-of-the-art light images Stormer had never gotten ill around them before. But two days ago she did, collapsing on stage and in front of Astral no less, which opened up another can of worms when the illusionist was finally able to tag her as being a very sensitive psi.
"But you're different... you can see through the holograms," Jerrica said making sure she was understanding properly. Stormer had always been her sister's friend, a friendship that still seemed to surprise a lot of people. After a tired sigh, "I am not confirming or denying anything... you did ask me here. But if you knew who Jem was all these years... why didn't you come forward earlier?"
Dropping into the chair across from the blonde, "Like I told you... it wasn't my secret to tell... besides it would only bring up more questions. Questions I didn't want to answer."
"But you're ready to answer those questions now?"
"Its not like a I have much of a choice... Astral knows about me now." Stormer replied with a humourless laugh. "Since I was little my talent has always succeeded in alienating just about everyone I knew... except for my closest relatives. But then again being strange IS the norm for them," she explained fixing her gaze just over Jerrica's left shoulder. "I really didn't know who Jem was until the night of the reception... after the festival both of our bands played in a few years back. I remember that the Misfits were playing at the reception... I had gotten one of my headaches. I barely made it through the set the pain was so bad... afterwards I went out onto the balcony hoping the fresh air would help."
"I remember... you nearly went over the side of the railing."
Nodding absently her mind recalling the incident almost as if it happened just moments ago, "my head was really pounding... my talent had kicked into overdrive. I had begun to pick up stray thoughts... nothing solid just hundreds of meaningless whispers all trying to talk over one another in my head. That's why I was out on the balcony I was trying to block everything out... I can do that sometimes find one thing to concentrate on and everything is shoved aside. I do that a lot on stage - I let the music take over and just follow the flow of the songs. When you and Rio were walking by the strain was getting to me... I just wanted the whispering to stop." Stormer said her voice taking on a haunted tone, before she refocused her eyes on Jerrica's. "When Jem grabbed me and pulled me away from the railing something happened. My mind found something to focus on... you. Before I realised what was happening you were in my head... overwhelming me... it felt like you were choking the life out of me.... I guess that is when I passed out. I... didn't... SEE... all that much honest."
Jerrica Benton set back in shock trying to take in what had just been said, her own mind recalling that night. The blue-haired Misfits had literally collapsed into her arms after emitting a scream that still haunted her dreams. "Exactly how much did you see?" she finally found her voice, the rational side of her mind telling her to hear the other woman out completely, Stormer had kept silent for the past three years.
"Not as much as you fear... it all happened to fast. Mainly I picked up a lot of your surface thoughts... you had been thinking about Rio and telling him something important." Stormer replied her brows furrowing in thought, "you were also concerned about your sister and my influence on her." She added with a slight smirk, "in truth I didn't really start putting it together until I saw Jacqui at the mansion. At first I thought she was one of your employees I always saw her around one of the brats... I mean girls. Didn't think much about it until Kimber showed me that old family photo... then she started talking to me." She went on her tongue slipping out of her mouth to wet her dry lips, "she seemed pretty surprised that I could see and hear her. I usually don't go around seeing and talking to the dead... so it was a first for both of us. She wasn't used to talking to the living either."
"Stormer!" Jerrica called gently yet forcibly, "you're babbling." A smile tugging at the corner of her mouth despite the circumstances, it was always interesting watching the blue-haired musician lower her guard and let her true self peek through.
"Oh... sorry," Stormer replied with a nervous smile, "Jacqui is the one that led me to Synergy... she felt I needed to know everything. She seemed determined to have me join the Holograms for some odd reason." She added ruefully, "and she was not pleased when I went back to the Misfits... she followed me and made a pest of herself for the longest time, even after I promised not to tell. You're mother... can be very 'determined'... even for a ghost... she thinks of me as one of her 'girls'. Which was really unnerving Jerrica... I haven't been mothered like that in ages. I'd ask you to talk to her... but I don't think she'll listen to you." Stopping suddenly the musician shook her head to clear it of the rather bizarre thought, of course where the Benton family was concerned Stormer had begun to suspect that 'bizarreness' was very much the norm. 'God... if I didn't know better I'd swear that the Bentons and Phillips were related.'
Chuckling softly to herself, Jerrica tried to smile reassuringly remembering her mother's determination it could be very intimidating if you weren't expecting it. "You said she followed you... what did she say and do?" She asked curious wanting to know everything her beloved mother had to say. It had been years since she stood beside her mother's casket watching it be lowered into the ground, but the pain and loss never seemed to go away. Sometimes she envied her sister, Kimber's memories weren't as clear of their mother, the younger Benton didn't know just how much their mother loved them and life.
"Well... it all started in November," she began her eyes taking on a far away look as begun her new story...
A little over three years prior:
0245 in the morning -
Stormer Phillips set back in the plush chair in the sound booth at Stinger Sound one hand rubbing her temples while she suppressed a tired yawn. It had taken the better part of the night but she had finally corrected the faulty track of the Misfit's latest single without having her band mates come in and redo half of the song. Although it still puzzled her how two minutes of static got onto the tape in the first place. Almost unconsciously her mind returned to a different recording session of another album she worked on earlier that year, a session that was a sheer nightmare to make. Of course the problems that plagued that recording session had a lot to do with trying to take over a rival company and little to do with the album itself.
'What am I thinking?' she chastised herself after a moment pushing aside the thought that just maybe the mysterious static on this recording was linked to the problems on the Kimber and Stormer album. 'That was business... nothing more,' she forcibly told herself shifting in her chair a bit.
(Was it?) A voice whispered in the back of her mind, reminding the young woman she wasn't quite that alone in the studio.
'Of course it was,' Stormer replied mentally grinding her teeth at the soft husky voice of her otherworldly 'visitor' that had been following her around since she decided not to stay with the Holograms. 'Eric was just doing what he thought was best is all.'
(Mary you don't believe that anymore then you do there are little green men on Mars,) the voice corrected her softly, (if it means getting Starlight Music he would sacrifice you in a heart beat.)
Looking over to the ghostly figure standing beside the soundboard, 'what do you want me to do about it Jacqui... Synergy... whatever your name is... I work for the man.' She mentally growled at the wraith wondering just who she had pissed off to get the ghost of her best friend's mother following her around giving her advice. 'Best friend... is Kimber my best friend?' she thought her mind shifting gears in mid-thought, 'isn't my best friend one of the Misfits? Why am I assigning that little holotwerp to that position?' her mind questioned. "Oh go haunt a bell tower or something," she hissed lowly at the spectre sensing the ghost's amusement.
(You could be working for Jerrica at this moment,) Jacqui's smug voice reminded her softly once again enjoying the opportunity to be able to communicate with someone on the mortal plane. It had been near maddening over the years watching her 'girls' grow up without her and not being able to hold them when they laughed or cried as they journeyed to womanhood. But that was the price she was paying to be able to spend a little time with each of them, she could only watch. Then came Stormer, the wild young keyboardist and composer from a rival band, a woman her youngest daughter had formed an unlikely friendship with. Out of all the people to come into contact with her girls - not just Jerrica and Kimber (her biological children) but the daughters of her heart (Shana and Aja) - it was Stormer who seemed to be aware of her presence. It was the shy young misfit, even in her own band, that knew she was still watching over her children.
'And have to put up with you AND your computerized twin all the time?' Stormer mentally sneered with a shake of her shoulder length blue hair, 'and we won't go into those little monsters that Jerrica insists on keeping around.' She continued as she began to power down the soundboard more then ready to call it a night. 'Can't she keep them on a leash or something? They're always underfoot and getting in the way.'
(You like the Starlight Girls and you know it,) Jacqui's laughing voice sounded in her head truly amused at Stormer's continuing insistence on acting the bad-ass, tough as nails rocker she so desperately wanted to be.
'Right... and I also like getting my teeth drilled,' Stormer thought sarcastically continuing her power down while trying to ignore her self-appointed conscious. 'Can't you go pick on someone else? Its not like I'm going to tell anyone Jerrica's dirty little secret'
(But you keep that secret... why?) Jacqui persisted still not quite understanding how the young woman's mind worked, Stormer was an enigma to her. Everything about Mary 'Stormer' Phillips seemed to contradict itself. From being a member of a 'street-wise-hard-hitting' rock band that made its mission in life to give Starlight Music as many headaches as humanly possible to the young woman's kind gentle nature that always shined through the so-called 'Misfit indifference to the world'. Then where was being able to see and hear Jacqui... that took some getting used to, while the ghost did like having someone to talk to it was still weird to be able to talk to the living once again.
'It's not mine to tell,' Stormer said after a moment a nerve in her jaw twitching absently as her eyes bore into the top of the soundboard, 'besides... I know why she's doing it... the sacrifice she is making.'
(Yes you do... don't you?) The ghost thought a bit sadly, it still amazed her at how much Stormer was like her eldest child, the two willing to live a lie just to protect those around them. Although Jerrica would never know just how far her supposed enemy would go to protect even her.
'Let it rest Jacqui,' Stormer thought hitting the final switch to power down the soundboard and reaching for the leather jacket hung over the back of a chair. Hitting the light switch on the way out the musician nodded to the security guard in passing, smirking faintly to herself as she watched her ghostly companion walking beside her the entire time. 'God... I need a vacation,' she thought rubbing the back of her neck as she stepped into the elevator. Here she was holding long, and sometimes meaningful, conversations with a ghost who seemed determined to make her one of the "holotwerps". And the kicker was the whole thing really didn't bother her as much as she thought it would. She was pretty sure she should have been, at least concerned, that a ghost had taken such a liking to her.
'And to think I thought Astral was going to be the one giving me grief about what I could do,' she thought ruefully remembering the illusionist and paranormal investigator she had recently met. Stormer had been positive that her own secret had been discovered and yet the magician had shown no indication that she had sensed anything out of the ordinary. Which was odd considering how the musician's 'gift' had been acting up the night the two had been formally introduced to one another.
(But she did sense something... you forget I was there too,) her companion reminded her with a soft chuckle, (Astral just couldn't place what it she was picking up.)
'Oh and that is suppose to make me feel better... HOW?' Stormer questioned with a shake of her head as the elevator doors opened and she stepped out into the underground car lot. Getting into her red Porsche Stormer started the engine; 'buckle up,' she thought automatically before her mind had a chance to play catch up. Eyes widening as her words sank in the musician banged her head against the steering wheel in disbelief, 'I hope you're happy Jacqui.... I'm finally cracking up.' Could her life get anymore screwed up?
End part one.
Author: ShadowDrake
Email: Shadowlander1@gmx.net
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters commonly associated with Jem and the Holograms; they belong to others and are used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended.
Archive: You want it you got it - just let me know where it's going first.
Summary: There is more to Stormer then meets the eye, what secrets is she keeping and how will it affect those around her?
Note: This story is sort of a continuation of the episode 'The Bands Break Up' - one of my personal favourites in the series. I always wondered just what it meant for Kimber and Stormer to have an album go double platinum aside from making them a lot of money, as well as what effect it would have on their own respective bands. Also please note that I did play with the timeline a bit - moved things up a few years to bring it into the mainstream a bit more.
Dedication: I rarely dedicate stories to people - mainly my friends and fellow mischief-makers and usually as private jokes. In that tradition I dedicate this story to Nick the taunting rat-bastard of a writer, who not only writes the super-cool {if not weird at times} Misfit Series but is almost as demented as I am. Are you guys scared yet? :-D
RHYTHM OF THE STORM
Moon Rise Theatre, Los Angeles -
"WOW," Kimber Benton's voice cut through the silence of the old theatre as she stepped onto the stage her eyes darting around excitedly. "This is going to be 'so cool', " she went on nearly bouncing around with nervous energy.
Looking up from the grand piano she had been toying with, the blue-haired musician smiled at the newcomer's antics as the rival band slowly filed onto the stage. "Hey 'Hologeek'... keep it down some of us are trying to work here," she called out in a playfully gruff voice putting a scowl on her face for effect.
"Bite me Misfit... I thought you guys would be out in the parking lot stealing hubcaps," came an equally playful retort as the small hyper redhead turned her attention to the piano player.
"Nah ducks... we play to jack that Rockin' Roadster of yours later," a dark-haired woman, currently cleaning a gleaming black saxophone, replied with a wicked grin, "we just want to make sure we get all you losers at the same time." It had become almost tradition between the two bands, when they saw one another they just had to insult the other. While the words really held no animosity the tradition still held that when they met they had to fire at least one round of insults.
Chuckling softly as Jetta's, the sax player, words set off another round of insults from the slightly offended Holograms, Stormer continued playing a meaningless little tune on the piano, a soft smile on her lips as her friends tried to out do the other with insults. 'My friends,' she thought a smile tugging at her lips knowing without a doubt that both bands in question would deny anything but a hostile association with the other. There was a matter of pride and self-respect to take into account after all, both bands had too long of a history of not getting along. Besides it was fun and, oddly enough, therapeutic for both sides and best of all no one got hurt.
Tuning out the playful banter for the most part, Stormer continued playing not really focusing on any particular song. After a few moments she slowed her head jerking to the side subconsciously as a buzzing nose started to vibrate in her mind.
From the side of the stage the magician called Astral was watching the activity, or more importantly the piano player, a thoughtful frown in her eyes as she watched Stormer jerk slightly. For months now the blue-haired keyboardist of the Misfits had been of interest to her, something about the musician intrigued her. While she couldn't pinpoint it what was, the illusionist and paranormal investigator had taken to studying the other woman every chance she got. Hopefully something in her observations would help in identifying just what it was about Stormer Phillips that set off the magician's own sixth sense whenever the two were in the same room together.
KADADONAKA!!
Stormer slammed both hands down on the keyboard, her shoulders hunched, her face twisted in pain, as a low hiss of pain escaped her lips. Taking slow ragged breaths she tried to keep the pain under control, her stomach threatening to turn over, as she fought to stay conscious.
"Stormer?" a familiar voice said out of the buzzing and haze that was wrapping around her mind, all eyes turning toward the piano player in concern.
Looking up one hand going to her aching head, Stormer looked at the blurry disjointed figures that were closing in on her, "N...no stay back!" she groaned out trying to stand one hand balancing on the top of the grand piano as she tried to stand, the room seriously tilting on its axis as she stood very unsteadily.
Maeve Eldritch, also known as Astral, straightened from her lounging position her eyes widening in disbelief as she felt the pain and confusion Stormer was going through. 'Well I'll be damned,' she swore to herself already moving toward the distressed musician, 'Stormer is pathic.'
Holding her head in both hands Stormer tried to back away from the blurry figures heading reaching for her, some voice in the back of her mind screaming that she had to get away. Tripping over the piano bench just as Jetta reached her, Stormer was hit by what felt like a semi going about eighty.
Reaching out fast the Misfit's saxophonist was able to break her band mate's fall carefully lowering her to the ground as Stormer lost consciousness. "STORMER!" Kimber Benton nearly screamed dropping on the other side of the fallen Misfit one hand going to her friend's neck to check for a pulse. "I got a pulse... it's ragged though," she reported after a moment trying to remember everything she had learned in first aid class.
"Someone get an ambulance!" Jetta nearly growled trying to remain calm as well. 'I bloody well knew there was more ta her headaches then she was letting on,' she told herself forcefully, absently helping Kimber make the unconscious woman as comfortable as possible while they waited.
*********************
Consciousness returned with the crashing reality of pain as if Raya Alonzo had used her head for a bass drum for the last two hours. Slowly opening her eyes, Stormer Phillips - keyboardist of the rock band the Misfits - found herself surrounded by several concerned faces staring down at her. "Stormer... don't try to move," one of the faces said, as she fought to place the person that was currently running a hand through her hair in a comforting gesture. "Just lie still until the ambulance arrives."
'Ambulance? Why do I need an ambulance?' she wondered finally recognizing the person speaking to her as a close friend. "I'm fine Kimber... just let me up... and tell me what happened." She tried to sound gruff but the words came out in a tired whisper.
"You experienced a 'mind-quake'," another voice said as a new face leaned into her direct line of vision, "you got hit by a very powerful telepathic backlash." The woman continued in a serious tone her eyes boring into the prone musician.
"Astral," Stormer breathed in a small voice, "oh fuck." She groaned realizing that her secret was finally out; they knew... they all knew her secret. 'Oh God... why now? I was just beginning to fit in.'
(Rest Stormer,) Astral's voice sounded in her mind as the magician brushed a lock of her hair aside a sympathetic smile shining in her eyes, (nothing is going to happen to you... you're safe now.)
"Jerrica... I have to speak to Jerrica," Stormer suddenly said her heart pounding in her eyes, there was no hiding now. They all knew... or will in a matter of time, it was kind of hard to hide things like mind-quakes and telepathic backlashes. Better come clean with everything first... let the chips fall where they may... and maybe move on, disappear, if they reacted negatively.
(Shhh, its okay,) Astral's voice sounded in her mind once again projecting calm and patience at the disoriented musician. "You can talk to Jerrica later," She said a loud after a moment for the benefit of the others surrounding them. The words seemed to relax Stormer as she let unconsciousness take her once more.
*********************
Two days later
Stormer's cabin in the California Mountains -
Jerrica Benton had arrived at the cabin in a remote valley of the Rockies several hours ago, agreeing to meet Stormer in private away from the others. While she still wasn't sure why the Misfit insisted on holding this meeting so far from LA and only with her, the owner of Starlight Music found herself agreeing to it and making the long drive to the cabin alone. Once inside the large well-made structure the blonde executive found herself sitting across from the blue-haired musician listening to a most remarkable story.
"Wait... wait," Jerrica Benton stopped Stormer from continuing her story with a wave of her hand, "you're telling me that you have been holding conversations with my deceased mother for the last three years?"
"Well not everyday... just when she had nothing better to do and thought it would be funny to pester me," Stormer replied with a smile enjoying how uncomfortable she was making the blonde. It was perverse kind of entertainment messing with the owner of Starlight Music and Jerrica was always fun to fluster the hell out of. "She hasn't spoken to me in months... not that I miss her or anything, but I can tell just where Kimber gets her more irritatingly 'happy' traits from... you must take after your father."
Arching a blonde eyebrow at the words, Jerrica chose to ignore them knowing how much pride had to be swallowed for Stormer to even be talking about her 'gift' in the first place. As a rule Stormer Phillips did not talk about herself much that in itself was something Jerrica could understand and identify with. Keeping secrets was something both women understood all to well, as was the pain of having to live a lie no matter how much it protected others, and she was learning that Stormer had a lot of secrets she didn't share with anyone. "But I still don't understand... how did you know? About me and Jem... and well everything."
Releasing a tired sigh, "You have to understand... I can't always control this 'talent' of mine," Stormer replied, putting a strange emphasis on the word like it left a bad taste in her mouth. "It has a nasty habit of turning itself off and on at the most inconvenient times... like when I'm trying to concentrate or even sleep." She continued getting up to pace the spacious living room of the remote cabin the two had chosen to have their long overdue conversation. "That's one of the reasons Astral has never been able to tag me before... my talent rarely remained consistent for any long periods of time. That and Synergy throws her off a bit too... she can tell there is something not quite right about Jem but can't place just what it is. I had the same problem until I figured out what was bugging me... it was the holograms, my mind 'knows' they are not real and should not be there.... But my eyes kept contradicting what my sixth sense was telling me."
"Seeing is believing," Jerrica commented with an absent nod.
"Yeah," Stormer nodded absently, "exactly... most people look at something and accept if for what it is... hell your entire career is based on that very assumption." She went on stopping in her restless pacing to turn back to her friend, the word not making her feel nearly as nauseous as she thought it would. Jerrica had always just been Kimber's 'older sister', someone she had to put up with and could annoy by sheer presence alone. In general Stormer had never been all that comfortable around Jerrica Benton especially when the blonde was using the Synergy matrix to create real-life holographic images around herself and others.
While she was going to come clean about knowing about Jem's true identity and just how long she had known the truth, there were certain things she was not going to tell. Like those real-life holograms of Synergy's could play terrible havoc with Stormer's sixth sense, actually making her physically ill on one occasion when her talent was acting particularly erratic. Granted it wasn't something Synergy actively did to her, aside from the usual 'this should not be here' feeling she normally got while looking at one of the generated state-of-the-art light images Stormer had never gotten ill around them before. But two days ago she did, collapsing on stage and in front of Astral no less, which opened up another can of worms when the illusionist was finally able to tag her as being a very sensitive psi.
"But you're different... you can see through the holograms," Jerrica said making sure she was understanding properly. Stormer had always been her sister's friend, a friendship that still seemed to surprise a lot of people. After a tired sigh, "I am not confirming or denying anything... you did ask me here. But if you knew who Jem was all these years... why didn't you come forward earlier?"
Dropping into the chair across from the blonde, "Like I told you... it wasn't my secret to tell... besides it would only bring up more questions. Questions I didn't want to answer."
"But you're ready to answer those questions now?"
"Its not like a I have much of a choice... Astral knows about me now." Stormer replied with a humourless laugh. "Since I was little my talent has always succeeded in alienating just about everyone I knew... except for my closest relatives. But then again being strange IS the norm for them," she explained fixing her gaze just over Jerrica's left shoulder. "I really didn't know who Jem was until the night of the reception... after the festival both of our bands played in a few years back. I remember that the Misfits were playing at the reception... I had gotten one of my headaches. I barely made it through the set the pain was so bad... afterwards I went out onto the balcony hoping the fresh air would help."
"I remember... you nearly went over the side of the railing."
Nodding absently her mind recalling the incident almost as if it happened just moments ago, "my head was really pounding... my talent had kicked into overdrive. I had begun to pick up stray thoughts... nothing solid just hundreds of meaningless whispers all trying to talk over one another in my head. That's why I was out on the balcony I was trying to block everything out... I can do that sometimes find one thing to concentrate on and everything is shoved aside. I do that a lot on stage - I let the music take over and just follow the flow of the songs. When you and Rio were walking by the strain was getting to me... I just wanted the whispering to stop." Stormer said her voice taking on a haunted tone, before she refocused her eyes on Jerrica's. "When Jem grabbed me and pulled me away from the railing something happened. My mind found something to focus on... you. Before I realised what was happening you were in my head... overwhelming me... it felt like you were choking the life out of me.... I guess that is when I passed out. I... didn't... SEE... all that much honest."
Jerrica Benton set back in shock trying to take in what had just been said, her own mind recalling that night. The blue-haired Misfits had literally collapsed into her arms after emitting a scream that still haunted her dreams. "Exactly how much did you see?" she finally found her voice, the rational side of her mind telling her to hear the other woman out completely, Stormer had kept silent for the past three years.
"Not as much as you fear... it all happened to fast. Mainly I picked up a lot of your surface thoughts... you had been thinking about Rio and telling him something important." Stormer replied her brows furrowing in thought, "you were also concerned about your sister and my influence on her." She added with a slight smirk, "in truth I didn't really start putting it together until I saw Jacqui at the mansion. At first I thought she was one of your employees I always saw her around one of the brats... I mean girls. Didn't think much about it until Kimber showed me that old family photo... then she started talking to me." She went on her tongue slipping out of her mouth to wet her dry lips, "she seemed pretty surprised that I could see and hear her. I usually don't go around seeing and talking to the dead... so it was a first for both of us. She wasn't used to talking to the living either."
"Stormer!" Jerrica called gently yet forcibly, "you're babbling." A smile tugging at the corner of her mouth despite the circumstances, it was always interesting watching the blue-haired musician lower her guard and let her true self peek through.
"Oh... sorry," Stormer replied with a nervous smile, "Jacqui is the one that led me to Synergy... she felt I needed to know everything. She seemed determined to have me join the Holograms for some odd reason." She added ruefully, "and she was not pleased when I went back to the Misfits... she followed me and made a pest of herself for the longest time, even after I promised not to tell. You're mother... can be very 'determined'... even for a ghost... she thinks of me as one of her 'girls'. Which was really unnerving Jerrica... I haven't been mothered like that in ages. I'd ask you to talk to her... but I don't think she'll listen to you." Stopping suddenly the musician shook her head to clear it of the rather bizarre thought, of course where the Benton family was concerned Stormer had begun to suspect that 'bizarreness' was very much the norm. 'God... if I didn't know better I'd swear that the Bentons and Phillips were related.'
Chuckling softly to herself, Jerrica tried to smile reassuringly remembering her mother's determination it could be very intimidating if you weren't expecting it. "You said she followed you... what did she say and do?" She asked curious wanting to know everything her beloved mother had to say. It had been years since she stood beside her mother's casket watching it be lowered into the ground, but the pain and loss never seemed to go away. Sometimes she envied her sister, Kimber's memories weren't as clear of their mother, the younger Benton didn't know just how much their mother loved them and life.
"Well... it all started in November," she began her eyes taking on a far away look as begun her new story...
A little over three years prior:
0245 in the morning -
Stormer Phillips set back in the plush chair in the sound booth at Stinger Sound one hand rubbing her temples while she suppressed a tired yawn. It had taken the better part of the night but she had finally corrected the faulty track of the Misfit's latest single without having her band mates come in and redo half of the song. Although it still puzzled her how two minutes of static got onto the tape in the first place. Almost unconsciously her mind returned to a different recording session of another album she worked on earlier that year, a session that was a sheer nightmare to make. Of course the problems that plagued that recording session had a lot to do with trying to take over a rival company and little to do with the album itself.
'What am I thinking?' she chastised herself after a moment pushing aside the thought that just maybe the mysterious static on this recording was linked to the problems on the Kimber and Stormer album. 'That was business... nothing more,' she forcibly told herself shifting in her chair a bit.
(Was it?) A voice whispered in the back of her mind, reminding the young woman she wasn't quite that alone in the studio.
'Of course it was,' Stormer replied mentally grinding her teeth at the soft husky voice of her otherworldly 'visitor' that had been following her around since she decided not to stay with the Holograms. 'Eric was just doing what he thought was best is all.'
(Mary you don't believe that anymore then you do there are little green men on Mars,) the voice corrected her softly, (if it means getting Starlight Music he would sacrifice you in a heart beat.)
Looking over to the ghostly figure standing beside the soundboard, 'what do you want me to do about it Jacqui... Synergy... whatever your name is... I work for the man.' She mentally growled at the wraith wondering just who she had pissed off to get the ghost of her best friend's mother following her around giving her advice. 'Best friend... is Kimber my best friend?' she thought her mind shifting gears in mid-thought, 'isn't my best friend one of the Misfits? Why am I assigning that little holotwerp to that position?' her mind questioned. "Oh go haunt a bell tower or something," she hissed lowly at the spectre sensing the ghost's amusement.
(You could be working for Jerrica at this moment,) Jacqui's smug voice reminded her softly once again enjoying the opportunity to be able to communicate with someone on the mortal plane. It had been near maddening over the years watching her 'girls' grow up without her and not being able to hold them when they laughed or cried as they journeyed to womanhood. But that was the price she was paying to be able to spend a little time with each of them, she could only watch. Then came Stormer, the wild young keyboardist and composer from a rival band, a woman her youngest daughter had formed an unlikely friendship with. Out of all the people to come into contact with her girls - not just Jerrica and Kimber (her biological children) but the daughters of her heart (Shana and Aja) - it was Stormer who seemed to be aware of her presence. It was the shy young misfit, even in her own band, that knew she was still watching over her children.
'And have to put up with you AND your computerized twin all the time?' Stormer mentally sneered with a shake of her shoulder length blue hair, 'and we won't go into those little monsters that Jerrica insists on keeping around.' She continued as she began to power down the soundboard more then ready to call it a night. 'Can't she keep them on a leash or something? They're always underfoot and getting in the way.'
(You like the Starlight Girls and you know it,) Jacqui's laughing voice sounded in her head truly amused at Stormer's continuing insistence on acting the bad-ass, tough as nails rocker she so desperately wanted to be.
'Right... and I also like getting my teeth drilled,' Stormer thought sarcastically continuing her power down while trying to ignore her self-appointed conscious. 'Can't you go pick on someone else? Its not like I'm going to tell anyone Jerrica's dirty little secret'
(But you keep that secret... why?) Jacqui persisted still not quite understanding how the young woman's mind worked, Stormer was an enigma to her. Everything about Mary 'Stormer' Phillips seemed to contradict itself. From being a member of a 'street-wise-hard-hitting' rock band that made its mission in life to give Starlight Music as many headaches as humanly possible to the young woman's kind gentle nature that always shined through the so-called 'Misfit indifference to the world'. Then where was being able to see and hear Jacqui... that took some getting used to, while the ghost did like having someone to talk to it was still weird to be able to talk to the living once again.
'It's not mine to tell,' Stormer said after a moment a nerve in her jaw twitching absently as her eyes bore into the top of the soundboard, 'besides... I know why she's doing it... the sacrifice she is making.'
(Yes you do... don't you?) The ghost thought a bit sadly, it still amazed her at how much Stormer was like her eldest child, the two willing to live a lie just to protect those around them. Although Jerrica would never know just how far her supposed enemy would go to protect even her.
'Let it rest Jacqui,' Stormer thought hitting the final switch to power down the soundboard and reaching for the leather jacket hung over the back of a chair. Hitting the light switch on the way out the musician nodded to the security guard in passing, smirking faintly to herself as she watched her ghostly companion walking beside her the entire time. 'God... I need a vacation,' she thought rubbing the back of her neck as she stepped into the elevator. Here she was holding long, and sometimes meaningful, conversations with a ghost who seemed determined to make her one of the "holotwerps". And the kicker was the whole thing really didn't bother her as much as she thought it would. She was pretty sure she should have been, at least concerned, that a ghost had taken such a liking to her.
'And to think I thought Astral was going to be the one giving me grief about what I could do,' she thought ruefully remembering the illusionist and paranormal investigator she had recently met. Stormer had been positive that her own secret had been discovered and yet the magician had shown no indication that she had sensed anything out of the ordinary. Which was odd considering how the musician's 'gift' had been acting up the night the two had been formally introduced to one another.
(But she did sense something... you forget I was there too,) her companion reminded her with a soft chuckle, (Astral just couldn't place what it she was picking up.)
'Oh and that is suppose to make me feel better... HOW?' Stormer questioned with a shake of her head as the elevator doors opened and she stepped out into the underground car lot. Getting into her red Porsche Stormer started the engine; 'buckle up,' she thought automatically before her mind had a chance to play catch up. Eyes widening as her words sank in the musician banged her head against the steering wheel in disbelief, 'I hope you're happy Jacqui.... I'm finally cracking up.' Could her life get anymore screwed up?
End part one.