(A/N: I was appalled at the lack of Blues Brothers stories here and decided the only thing to do would be to write my own, despite my lack of ideas or writing talent. This is set about a year after the first movie, while they're still in jail. I don't own the Blues Brothers or their band, obviously. Rated for language and fight scenes. If you only like high quality literature then please don't read this.)

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"Well I feel so good, everything is sellin' high
You'd better take it ease cause the place is on fire
It's been a hard day and I don't know what to do
We made it baby and it happened to you"

Elwood's shaded eyes scanned the crowd of dancing men, all dressed identically in the pale blue prison uniform that he himself was wearing under his jacket and tie. Even with the tables removed, the prisoners still filled up most of the mess hall. It wasn't a proper concert, but it was the closest substitute he was going to get for quite some time. Still, it felt good to have Jake by his side as they went into the chorus…

"So glad we made it
So glad we made it
You gotta

Gimme some lovin' (Gimme some lovin')
Gimme some lovin' (Gimme some lovin')
Gimme some lovin'
Everyday"

Matt, Steve and Donald joined in on the repeats for the backing.

'Once' thought Jake sullenly 'we had female back-up singers.' Truth was, he was fed up with doing concert after concert, singing to the same people again and again at the insistence of the owners. It was, in their opinion, good for the morale of the men and for keeping up spirits. This wasn't, in Jake's opinion, fitting for a prison.

These guys had, after all, been put away to learn a lesson. Then again, the amount of fights and injuries were fewer during the nights they were performing. Perhaps it was just to give the guys something to do other than hurt each other.

His singing bit was over for a minute or two and he was too tired to keep dancing, so he went and sat down on one of the amps and lit up a cigarette. Once again, he scanned the crowd, searching for one particular face among all the familiar ones.

Tommy, the new kid.

He was the one that was going to give the signal. Jake had no idea how he was going to spot him in amongst the masses, but he knew it was essential to the whole plan that he did. He also knew that he would be in serious trouble if he didn't. Behind the shades, his small, dark eyes examined every sweaty face.

Jake's job was pretty basic. Cause enough of a commotion to get the guards at the gate to turn around for thirty seconds. If he could get them distracted, the Escape Committee (EC) had some sort of escape plan that gave them a straight route out, and a car waiting outside. He supposed they were just going to get in and put as much distance between them and Joliet as they could. That's what he would do if he got out somehow.

They'd been planning this for months. All they needed was a car with a full tank of gas and they'd simply pile in and drive away. They wanted out, like him, like Elwood, like all the rest of the men in Joliet. He had only had a few days outside after the last time he was in the joint and it had reminded him of how good it was. He wanted out. He wanted out bad.

And if he pulled this off right, they might involve him and Elwood in the next one. And he actually would get out. Every time he thought of how long his sentence was, it made his brain hurt. He couldn't wait that long to get out of this shithole. Whatever it took, he'd make the Escape Committee notice him.

His stream of thought was interrupted by a sharp kick in the shin.

"Ow…what the…" he looked up.

It was Lou Marini, still going full blast on his sax, but at the same time jerking his head at the unruly mass in front of him that was the inmates of Joliet. Jake looked. Towards the back, in amongst the huge, muscular convicts one face stood out, the freckles and pinched cheeks of young Tommy. He was signaling much more frantically than was necessary, jumping up and down and waving his arms. 'Stupid new kid,' Jake thought. 'Guards are bound to notice him.' He tipped his hat to show he'd got the message before the boy did himself an injury, then got off the amp and made his way to the controls of the set of speakers.

Morgan, a member of the EC, had been an electrician of some sort before turning to crime, and had somehow hooked the speakers up to the loudspeaker system that was set up all over the jail. He'd given Jake the job of switching it on. Unfortunately, Jake had never been good with electronics. He had always used to show up purposefully late for a gig so the guys had it all set up before he arrived. He'd been told he should flick a large red switch to complete the connection, but only now did he realize that the entire board was covered in large red switches.

"Shit" he muttered to no one in particular, then picked the largest, reddest switch and flicked that.

The loudspeakers crackled into life.

Matt's guitar solo blared out even louder across the hall.

Perfect.

"All right, boys, we're on," he bellowed to the rest of the hall.

What the armed guards dotted around the hall thought when the band suddenly stopped performing, the dancing mob went silent and they all pulled out earplugs from their pockets and shoved them into their ears was never known, but they soon found out.

Jake, smiling smugly, turned up the volume.

A horrible electric screech filled the air, the kind that is both totally unexpected and incredibly loud. Everyone in the hall yelled and covered their ears.

Jake rammed his earplugs in deeper and reached for the volume control again.

The loudspeakers were usually used when there was a breakout, to warn all the people in the nearby towns that there were dangerous prisoners running rampage. It could, therefore, be heard for miles around when the volume was turned up.

Jake turned the volume up to full.

The first metallic squeal was answered by another much, much louder one that reverberated inside everyone's brains and strained every nearby eardrum to almost bursting point, the loudest thing any of them had ever heard.

Elwood immediately realized that at such close range the earplugs didn't block out as much noise as he'd hoped. In fact, very little. "Oh, fuck" he quietly muttered to himself. At least it was supposed to be a quiet mutter. Unfortunately he was still standing close to the microphone. It picked up a voice, amplified it several million times and people for miles around stopped in the street to hear Elwood's distant obscenity boom out from far, far away.

In the hall, it was pure bedlam. All the prisoners had been told was that they'd be a noise. There was, in fact, more noise than they'd ever heard in their whole lives. Jake, doing his duty well, had grabbed the mike and was yelling everything that came into his head, which included a long stream of swear words, lyrics to blues songs and what he would like to do to various members of staff at the prison if he ever got the chance. This was amplified into a deafening roar that made the words unintelligible, which was probably fortunate for Jake. The sound was overwhelming. Every guard in the place had dropped to his knees and put his hands over his head, meaning there was no control at all. Most of the inmates had run out of the hall, only to find it made no difference, as there were loudspeakers set up in every room.

Jake's could no longer hear the noise he was making, having gone completely deaf; temporarily, he hoped. The madness went on. All they needed was thirty seconds.

Elwood couldn't take this any more. When that second squeal had come he'd sworn loudly and thrown himself flat on the floor, covering his head with his hands, the best protection he could think of. He was still laid out flat and his brain was throbbing worse than it ever had before, worse than anything bought on by drink. Thirty seconds. That was all they'd asked for. That must have gone. They must have escaped. Jake was still yelling into the mike. 'Man, he's desperate to get out' Elwood thought. 'That must be why he's doing it. He wouldn't do that just as a favour for someone else.

I've had enough.'

Without bothering to get up, he crawled across the floor towards the control board and started hitting switches at random; knowing one of them must shut the thing up. If they'd been anything large and heavy near him he'd probably have just started smashing the board up, but there wasn't. He just whacked every switch and button in turn.

The speakers shut down.

The horrible noise stopped. Elwood flopped to the ground. His ears pounded and his brain felt like it had been liquidized. Jake was still yelling into the mike but he could no longer hear him. He struggled to his feet, wondered if he'd gone deaf, and whacked himself in the ear as if trying to empty water from his head. One of the earplugs fell out. Fat lot of good they'd been.

He looked around the hall. Practically everyone had rushed out in an attempt to find silence, leaving just the band, a few guards crouched in the corner and a lot of mess. 'Now that's a diversion' Elwood thought.

Matt, Bones and Murph had thrown themselves to the ground and were still sprawled out. Mr. Fabulous and Blue Lou had run out with the rest. Duck and Steve hadn't opened their eyes and didn't seem to realize it was over. Jake hadn't stopped with the yelling. Elwood breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. Then he glanced around. Where was Willie?

Willie stood up from behind his drum kit. He looked beyond angry; livid, as if he would like to strangle the first person he reached with his bare hands. If looks could kill this one could have been used to great effect by the army. Elwood shrugged. "Weren't my idea," he muttered apologetically. He didn't think he could be heard. He then remembered a conversation some time back, something about him having sensitive ears…Willie started to advance on him slowly, looking like something from a horror movie. Elwood backed off and knocked into Jake, still at the mike. He tugged on his brother's arm.

Jake turned and saw Willie advancing on him with a look that stated clearly: 'When I reach you I'm going to tear your head off and make you eat it.' The two brothers kept backing off, until they reached the edge of the stage and could go no further. Willie stopped about a foot in front of them, looking more threatening than anything they'd been confronted by, and let out a stream of words that made them both glad they couldn't hear a thing.

He was going completely berserk. Willie would take any opportunity to get mad and deafening him was a good enough reason for anyone. They both closed their eyes behind the shades, terrified of their own drummer. He was getting more and more furious by the second. Suddenly, without warning, he raised his fist and punched Elwood square in the face, sending him toppling backwards off the stage, which luckily wasn't very high.

WHAM!

"OW!"

"FUCK!"

He lifted his fist again, this time glaring at Jake.

"SHIT!"

Jake took a step back, which was a dumb thing to do. He tumbled backwards and landed on Elwood, winding them both.

Out of sheer worry that Willie was going to jump down on them as well, Elwood struggled to get up but was completely trapped under his brother, who was way too heavy too lift off. Jake just sat there groaning, making no attempt to get up. Elwood slapped him round the head, knocking his hat askew and bringing him round. Jake dragged himself up and they both fled through the door, Willie in hot pursuit.

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Well, should I continue or would that just bore you all and waste your precious time?