September 1st, 2023
Specialist Derrick "Loki" Castellano
Derrick's Condo
Portland OR. USA
Derrick awoke this morning to multiple voices coming from downstairs. He looked at the clock to see that it was about noon.
"Oh bugger," he said as Captain Jack Sparrow and got out of bed. He didn't mean to do that. He had gone to bed after Tina had the previous night as he was busy designing a new version of his projector. He wanted to run it by Elena when he got back. So far, it eliminated the full armed glove look and it was just a regular glove with the pauldron turning into something more compact that he could wear under his vest. He walked out of his bedroom and proceeded to walk down the stairs still in a sleeveless shirt as well as his boxer shorts when he heard more than just Tina's voice coming from downstairs.
"Jesus, there he is," an outrageously unfunny person said. Derrick turned on his heel and went back upstairs to put on actual pants. He grabbed a pair of jeans as his phone buzzed. It was Tina.
"What are you doing?" her message said.
"Having to put on pants in my OWN DAMN HOUSE!" Derrick texted back. He proceeded to walk back downstairs and turn the corner to see that Meghan was here along with Lukas, Monika and Ela. Lukas gave him the "roast hand" and said
"There he is, with a snazzy new goatee." It was true. Derrick had decided to try something new and give himself just a chin goatee. When he walked out of the bathroom after styling his facial hair like that and walked by a working Tina, she had done a double take, and smiled warmly at him. Apparently, she liked it. Derrick smiled at everyone and gave them all hugs. Even Ela.
"Surprise little bro!" Meghan said as she released him. "How are you? Still doing alright? I heard you started seeing a therapist." Derrick nodded.
"Went last Saturday. Nice guy. Really helpful in getting me to be at peace with what happened by just talking about it. I haven't really had any violent flashbacks since. One or two bad dreams though," Derrick explained. He still hadn't forgotten that the person that really saved his life was the shorter of the female blondes sitting in his dining room.
"Been serenading Tina every so often too?" Monika asked. Derrick turned to Tina who was blushing. She must have told everyone about how he spent one morning playing guitar on his balcony.
"Yeah, I'm the one with the musical talent too. Meghan's got pipes too but I'm better and can play guitar or bass at the same time," Derrick said. Monika smiled at Meghan.
"Makes sense, you used to do musicals in high school," Meghan said, giving him a mischievous grin. Great. This was payback for the "I'm a Navy Seal!" thing.
"Excuse me, what?!" Tina exclaimed.
"He did WHAT?!" Monika said excitedly.
"Oh, DO tell!" Lukas insisted.
"I'm listening…" Ela said. Meghan folded her arms in victory while looking at Derrick. Derrick, who was scowling, admitted defeat.
"Yes, I used to do musicals back in high school. I was in the chorus for Evita freshman year, skipped sophomore year, was Fred Casely in Chicago junior year and was Herman in Sweet Charity senior year," Derrick explained. Everyone else was still staring at him with smiles on their faces, especially Meghan and Tina. Again, Derrick admitted defeat. There was no getting out of this one.
"Fine! I'll get the damn yearbook…" Derrick said and walked away to get his high school yearbook. He rummaged through his closet as he heard the others begin to laugh as Meghan told them about what he had to do during Evita. That one wasn't as fun if Derrick recalled correctly. Fred Casely was just a bit part and he had done stage tech for that show as well. His senior year performance was well received by his mother who often sang the solo song he performed whenever she was a bit tipsy. At least he was told by a lot of people that he was the only one that was on pitch the entire show. Derrick eventually found his high school yearbook and flipped to the drama club section. There he was in costume with 2 other senior girls next to him with a top hat and cane. He found his freshman yearbook too and grabbed that as well. He took a deep breath and walked over to everyone else and threw his open senior yearbook on the table.
"NO FUCKING WAY!" Tina shouted.
"LOOK AT THIS GUY!" Lukas exclaimed, pointing at the 18 year old Derrick.
"Out-fucking-standing" Ela said.
"Aww, look how handsome he was back then too!" Monika said.
"I can't believe I missed this one! Mom sings a song from it all the time," Meghan said after she was done laughing at him. Derrick leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed.
"Dunno what you're laughing at Skywalker, there were quite a lot of girls in the drama club too," Derrick said.
"Yeah ok Bruce Wayne, like you dated other girls after I broke that one girl's nose," Meghan said. Lukas was flipping through the yearbook with Ela. Derrick smirked at her. He pulled out the freshman yearbook from behind his back. It was open to a page where a photo of a teenage Meghan on the school swim team was placed and lobbed the book to Monika. Monika caught it and stared at the photo for a second before she smiled at Meghan. Meghan turned red with embarrassment again.
"I didn't go to college as a virgin Megs. A lot of ladies like men who can sing and dance," Derrick said and jabbed his thumb at Tina. "That cast party afterwards was fuckin WILD. Now if you'll excuse me, I slept in rather late without meaning to and I require some food. Would anyone like a drink whilst they laugh at my younger days?"
Lukas joined Derrick in the kitchen as he made himself some brunch. Egg and bacon burritos.
"Do they know about your inclusion in Time Warp?" Lukas asked him in a low voice. Didn't matter, the women couldn't really hear them over the sound of bacon cooking. Derrick shook his head.
"Operation Surprise Megs Again and also Tina is still a covert op. Tina's got no clue," he said, flipping one of the slices of bacon. Lukas took a sip from the soda Derrick had given him.
"I sent Nate that video of you playing on your balcony. He wants you to do a small acoustic set. Like 4 or 5 songs," Lukas informed him. Of course Tina had sent that to everyone. She loved to brag. He didn't care though, whatever made Tina happy was alright with him.
"Right, I figured that's what his text the other day meant," Derrick said. "Didn't think Tina would catch me that fast." He had been practicing his guitar skills just in case. He was a bit nervous however. He'd only really played in front of like 10-20 people, not thousands. Time Warp had been really popular even on the West Coast too. According to Lukas and Nate, they were playing at the goddamn Edgefield too with a sold out show. 7000 people. Including all of the West Coast Rainbow Specialists. Plus Harry.
"What songs are you gonna play?" Lukas asked, taking the piece of bacon Derrick offered him.
"I was gonna do Sympathy again. I lied to Tina about knowing Black Balloon when she asked me once. I was gonna save that for something spicy and this sounds like the time to bring it out. I also might do something by Colin Hay and end with Home by Daughtry," Derrick said, beating his eggs with a fork and adding salt and pepper to them. Lukas nodded and looked toward the dining room again. He continued speaking in a low voice.
"The purpose of this visit was to tell you and Tina about me playing again. Monika might be doing that right now actually. We need to find a way to get you there before everyone else," Lukas said. Derrick had been thinking about this and had informed his new therapist about this plan to play with Time Warp. His therapist also agreed that it was a good idea and had already purchased a ticket for him and his wife as well.
"Idea, I say that I have an early appointment with my therapist that afternoon or something and that you're going to bring me so Tina can work," Derrick said, pouring the beaten eggs into the frying pan. Lukas nodded in agreement.
"As for practice, the first one is today at 1. I already told Tina you and I are doing a guy's day out today. We're going to do all the old favorites plus some new ones. Have you heard of Sabaton?" Lukas asked. Derrick pretended to be offended.
"Of course I have heard of Sabaton, my guy. Learned a lot of history from them too," Derrick said, taking his scrambled eggs and laying it across a tortilla with bacon.
"Fantastic, again, we'll go over the set list tonight. Relax man. They're going to like you. You're a lot less douchey than the other guy that we had to deal with. Half the time, he never even showed up. Jackie outright HATED him. The things she used to say about him...my goodness," Lukas said.
"Isn't he in prison for something like a big drug offense? I remember reading about it somewhere. Or did he just die?" Derrick asked, taking a bite of his lunch. Lukas nodded.
"Federal prison I think. Nate or Gavin answered a question someone asked with 'we no longer associate with him', or something like that. We have kept your inclusion on the DL because you know how smart my sister is. Everyone thinks I'm playing bass again with Gav on lead and Nate on rhythm," Lukas said. Derrick went to answer but Tina walked in the kitchen.
"Did he tell you?" she asked. Derrick played along.
"Tell me what? That I'm handsome? Cool Hand, I'm flattered but I'm taken," Derrick said. Lukas chuckled.
"No you clown, Lukas is going to play with his old band again," Meghan said, coming into the kitchen behind Tina. Thanks to Derrick's acting skills, he was able to pass it off as if he had just heard about it.
"Fucking WORD bud? When and where?! I assume we're going right?" Derrick said to Tina. She nodded.
"September 20th. Edgefield. 7pm," Lukas answered, also playing along.
"What were you two talking about?" Ela said, coming into the kitchen as well.
"Probably about their guy's day out. That'll be good for him. He needs to hang with someone other than me. You know what to do if he has a flashback or panic attack right Luke?" Tina asked. Lukas nodded.
"Tell him to breathe slowly and remind him that what he's seeing isn't real and have him describe to me what he sees," Lukas said. Tina nodded.
"I'll be with these ladies all afternoon as well. I need a break from the constant Power Rangers references," she joked.
"It's not even that good of a show," Meghan said.
"Take that back," Derrick said menacingly and pointed at Meghan.
"Right now," Lukas added in the same tone of voice.
"Face it Teen, we are in love with dorks," Ela said to Tina. Derrick and Lukas, as if on cue and in sync with each other, looked at their respective girlfriends with puppy dog eyes as if saying "why you gotta be so MEAN?!" Meghan and Monika both smiled and rolled their eyes.
"He's yours for a few hours Luke," Tina said. Lukas held out his arms and Derrick jumped into them after he finished his lunch.
"You better take me some place nice," Derrick said and leaned against his buddy's chest.
"As you wish Zoolander," Lukas responded. Meghan's eyes lit up in excitement. Oh good. Derrick now had another new nickname.
"I'm changing his name in my phone RIGHT NOW!" Meghan said and pulled out her phone to do so. Lukas carried Derek to one of the Jeeps parked outside his house as the women continued to laugh.
"You still got my bass right?" Derrick asked as Lukas put him on the ground. Lukas nodded and pointed to the back seat.
"Was a little tricky hiding it from Ela but I don't think she saw it, ready to jam?" Lukas asked, climbing into the driver's seat. Derrick got into the passenger seat and nodded.
"Operation Surprise Megs Again and also Tina Plus the Rest of Our Team is a go!"
September 20th, 2023
Specialist Derrick "Loki" Castellano
Edgefield
Portland OR. USA
The Operation went smoothly over the next 19 days. The only hitch was the small argument he had with Tina about spending more time with Luke than with her.
"Hey, come on. I had all that time with you beforehand. I'll make it up to you, I promise," Derrick had told her. She still pouted.
"You better," she said but allowed him to kiss her cheek. As for practice, he and Lukas had been practicing with everyone else every few days or so. The plan was to open with Lonestar's version of "Walking in Memphis" with all the members walking on stage when their respective parts were played.
"Really? A country song?" Derrick asked Nate. Nate was just about as tall as Lukas and had long brown hair tied into a ponytail. He also wore glasses.
"I know, we played it as a joke once, but it KILLED," Nate said as he played the intro to the song one night during practice. Gavin was a little shorter and had facial hair in the Van Dyke style.
"The other guy used to make us learn Pink Floyd stuff. Like the real obscure shit no one liked," Gavin said as he tuned his guitar. Jackie was your stereotypical 90s punk rocker but a bit toned town. She just wore ripped jeans, a backwards baseball hat, a tank top with some rock band on it and a pair of glasses.
"From what I saw from that video Weiss texted us, you're not a bad singer too Derrick. Idea, you, me and Luke do some Blink-182 songs!" she said to Nate. Nate nodded.
"I like it! I assume you know some right Derrick?" Nate asked. Derrick gave Nate a "dude, really" face and began playing "Man Overboard." The others smiled at him.
"I call dibs on the Mark songs," Derrick said to Lukas. Lukas nodded.
"Fair, I can still hear Tom's voice inside my yead anyway" he said as everyone laughed. On the day of the concert, Derrick had informed Tina that he was going to see his therapist that afternoon and would meet everyone at the concert. He said Lukas was going to give him a lift and then he'd meet them at Edgefield. He had felt well enough to start leaving the house on his own now but not well enough to return to work quite yet. His therapist had also agreed on this plus it hadn't quite been 2 months yet. Harry will be present this evening to see how Derrick was doing so far but he didn't think that he'd be going back to work next week. After what happened last time, the both of them wanted to be 100% sure he was ready. He was currently backstage with everyone else going over the setlist one final time. Derrick was currently wearing jeans, a Justice League t-shirt and the jacket Tina had given him for his birthday. It was a nice evening weatherwise but it still was a bit chilly. Derrick could hear the sounds of the arriving crowd from where he stood and he felt himself feeling the same nerves he had felt back before the Tournament of Champions. He wasn't sure how Meghan or Tina would react because he had been blatantly lying to them all day. Currently, both of them were wondering where he was.
"I'm gettin' a corndog yo. Line is long. Where are you guys?" he texted both of them as Nate walked up to him.
"You ready? Be yourself man," Nate said. The other 3 nodded at him. Nate checked his watch as Derrick's phone buzzed again.
"We're on the left if you're looking at the stage. Kind of near the middle." Tina's message read. Of COURSE they were going to be directly in front of him…AGAIN! He felt himself begin to have a panic attack. He could hear the Butcher softly telling him that he was a failure again but he combated this with what his therapist had told him.
"Don't be ashamed of what happened, embrace what happened. Learn to live without fear of it." Within moments, the Butcher's laughter disappeared and he could hear the crowd begin to chant the band's name.
"Show time!" Nate said and walked out on stage to tremulous applause. He began playing the opening to Walking in Memphis and the crowd cheered again. Jackie walked out shortly after followed by Gavin. Derrick began to play his part off stage as Lukas walked on and pretended to be the one playing the bass as a bait and switch maneuver. The crowd cheered loudly when Lukas walked on stage. Derrick played along until the bridge started and Lukas and Gavin began looking at each other wondering where the bass was coming from as they both had guitars.
"And Reverend Green, will be glad to see you," Nate sang as Derrick took one last deep breath and walked onstage with his hand held as if he was instructing Nate to hold the note. Immediately, he heard someone scream "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" and turned forward to see his coworkers gawking at him before Nate began singing the next part of the song. He counted down 4 measures of Nate's singing with his fingers held up for everyone to see before he pointed at his bass and did a little bass slide before playing his part again. In the crowd, he could see Tina, Sébastian and Mina exchanging looks of utter surprise, Meghan (who had been the one who shouted) was calling him variations of "son of a bitch" again, Monika was smiling in Lukas's direction (as were Ela and Zofia), Elena was giving him a rather seductive look for some reason, Craig and Jordan had each given Derrick a 2 fingered salute and Eliza was speaking to a grinning Harry. Harry held up his hands in surrender before Eliza looked back at Derrick. She was smiling as well. Cheers followed the song's conclusion.
"GOOD EVENING PORTLAND! Remember us?" Nate shouted into the microphone. Derrick took the opportunity to shrug at everyone from Rainbow HQ.
"Now I know what you're all thinking, who's this handsome guy with the Nordic jacket on right?" Nate said, pointing at Derrick. Derrick waved.
"HE'S A LIAR BUT HE'S MINE! I LOVE YOU DERRICK!" Tina's voice shouted over everyone else who just cheered for Derrick. Bad move Tina, Derrick thought to himself as he walked up to the mic in front of him.
"I TOLD YOU TO WAIT IN THE TRUCK!" he shouted in her general direction. The crowd laughed. So did Nate, Gavin, Jackie and Lukas.
"Anyway, this is Derrick. He's replacing Weiss-enheimer on bass so he can shred instead. Derrick happens to be Weiss's best friend. He's stationed at the Army base nearby with him, correct? Who did you just yell at?" Nate asked. Derrick nodded.
"The person that I just shouted at was my girlfriend. Sorry single ladies in the crowd. She and my other coworkers are also present, including Skywalker's sister. She's right there next to the outrageously unfunny blonde one who happens to be my sister," Derrick said pointing her out. Monika was next to Meghan with Ela and Zofia on her other side. Tina was on Meghan's other side and she was staring at Derrick with hungry eyes. Oh was he going to get it later, he was sure of it.
"Hey Mon!" Nate said and waved in her direction. Monika waved back. "I assume the woman on your sister's other side is that girlfriend you told me about Weiss?" Some of the ladies (and men) in the crowd groaned in disappointment. They had been basically floored when they saw Weiss-enheimer now had quite a bit of muscle. Lukas nodded.
"Really? You settled down did you? I still remember that time you essentially courted all those sorority girls one night back in the day," Jackie said to Lukas. Derrick turned to Lukas with a "fucking WHAT" type of an expression on his face. Derrick then gave Lukas the biggest "roast hand" of his entire life (he put his bass on the stand, walked off stage, gave a running start, jumped, did a windmill motion with his arm and landed right in front of Lukas) and yelled "BOI!" at the top of his lungs. Lukas turned red while the crowd laughed at Derrick's shenanigans.
"Danke Jackie...really. None of them knew about that," Lukas said. Derrick could tell that he was trying to avoid looking at Monika and Ela. Derrick saw that both of them were beyond shocked at learning this. Derrick pointed to Ela, who had gone back to her green hair look. Perfect.
"Oh my, look at her. She's positively green with envy," Derrick said as multiple people laughed (Zofia especially) while Ela gave him a "I will dunk your head in the bug juice" look. Even Lukas chuckled.
"I like this guy, Weiss tells me he pranks his coworkers all the time," Gavin said.
"LIKE TODAY!" Elena shouted from the crowd.
"In my defense, I did say I would meet them here. Just didn't say when or how. LOOPHOLE!" Derrick said.
"Let's get into another good one, this one makes a little sense as Weiss and Derrick are essentially law enforcement. Hang on, Derrick needs a nickname doesn't he?" Nate said.
"I got one!" Lukas said and immediately began to play "Misirlou" by Dick Dale, an essential surf rock song. Derrick threw up the shaka sign as the Rainbow crew doubled over with laughter.
"Real funny there Rammstein, real funny. I prefer Zoolander though. Makes more sense as that surfer guy one is more of an inside joke with the crew. Just play the damn riff will ya?" Derrick said in the surfer dude voice. Lukas chuckled before he began playing the opening riff to the "Authority Song." Derrick and the others played a variety of songs for the next few minutes riffing with each other in between each one of them. The others told old stories from their college days and Derrick did the same. He, Lukas and Jackie did their short Blink-182 set after a few metal songs. It began with Nate and Gavin walking off stage to go "check the lighting" and Derrick, Lukas and Jackie began to riff.
"I still don't know how no one thought to call me Rammstein," Lukas said.
"Well, there's your early Christmas present. You're still a bastard for bringing up my surfing phase though," Derrick responded. He, Lukas and Jackie exchanged glances before the 3 of them began playing "Happy Holidays, You Bastard", a short Blink-182 song containing rather NAUGHTY lyrics. Derrick sang the first part and Lukas sang the raunchy lyrics before they switched roles for the remainder of the song.
"Oh MAN, you can always tell the Blink fans from the non Blink fans when you play their joke songs," Derrick said following the applause and laughter. Craig, Jordan, Sébastian, Harry and Tina had known the song. Everyone else from Rainbow did not but they still had laughed.
"Should we do the other one?" Lukas asked. Jackie grinned at him.
"You think your sister can handle that one?" she asked.
"FUCK IT!" Lukas said and began playing a small little ditty and sang about...fornicating with a canine. The male Rainbow ops were beside themselves with laughter along with much of the crowd.
"I can't believe we just did that. Let's get to some actual Blink songs now," Derrick said and played the opening chord of "Josie" and the rest joined in. Derrick changed some of the lyrics to be about Tina i.e. "Yeah my girlfriend, likes Neil Peart and Geddy Lee" instead of U.L. and DHC and "She's still up eating Tim Hortons" instead of "She's still up watching Vacation." They followed that up with "First Date", "Online Songs", "Don't Leave Me", "What's My Age Again,", "Rock Show", "Aliens Exist", "Give Me One Good Reason", "Always" and "All the Small Things."
At one point the band said that it was time for a short little intermission and they all went offstage and gave the crowd the opportunity to hit the restrooms and stretch. Derrick's phone had basically exploded in messages;
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince - "There's the Derrick I remember. That 'Battle Rages On' riff was spectacular. Also, during the Blink-182 set, I haven't heard Eliza laugh that hard like ever."
E - "Jesus FUCK, you kept this quiet from Tina AND Meghan?"
Air Jordan - "BOY! KILLING those Maiden riffs man!"
Edward Teach - "MY MAN! Peace Sells was fucking clean!"
Boss Lady - "Now I know why you were practicing that one morning :) "
Blonde Princess Leia - " :DDD "
Cinder-Ela - "WAS THIS LUKE'S IDEA?! Also, did you know about his escapades in college?! Cause I'll kill both of you if you did and didn't tell me!"
Zo - "Nice goatee Derrick. You look far happier now. Jana says hi by the way"
Loonie - "What the fuck man?! Did you just kill that Freewill bass line with no mistakes?!"
Tin-Tin Kyrano - "You have no idea how happy Tina is right now :)"
Lois Lane - "CLARK JOSEPH KENT, you are in SO much trouble for lying to me about this AND for telling me to wait in the truck! When we get home later...you're going to get it! ;) :* "
Megs - "YOU ARE A FUCKING JERK ZOOLANDER!"
Derrick smiled at the messages but didn't respond to them, afterall it was time for his solo set.
"Knock 'em dead Zoolander. Your girlfriend's eyes are like glued to you. When you and Weiss were playing those Megadeth and Maiden riffs...man you should have seen the look she was giving you," Nate said and patted him on the shoulder. Derrick's acoustic was just off stage but he didn't grab it quite yet. He walked out on stage and pretended to look around for anyone else.
"I feel like John Travolta in Pulp Fiction" he said before he imitated the scene he was talking about.
"Wonder where they are...Luke must be trying to find out who was in sorority when they were in college. Welp, it's a good thing I came prepared! It's been about 15 minutes, don't wanna keep y'all waiting any longer," he said and grabbed his electric acoustic and plugged it in.
"Time to relive some of my college days, let's see, what did I leave this in?" He said and strummed the strings.
"Oooh! Open D...but that sounds like it's a half step down. So open C sharp. Perfect. That sounds nice doesn't it?" Derrick said as he slowly strummed the open strings in a pattern. He saw a lot of people in the crowd nod, including the West Coast Rainbow crew. Every single one of them (including Zofia) was smiling at him too.
"What if I did this?" Derrick said and pressed his finger on the top string of the 5th fret and continued to strum the guitar softly.
"Hmm, needs a bit more spice. Let's try switching between them," He said and did so every few seconds.
"Now let's try adding some more speed!" Derrick said and began to strum faster. He turned to Tina as he played.
"Lying about being here isn't the only thing I lied to you about Miss Lane," he said before he started singing. "Baby's black balloon makes her fly, I almost fell into that hole in your life…" Derrick sang the entirety of the song while keeping his eyes on Tina. Once she had recognized the song, she had immediately buried her face in Meghan's shoulder while Mina rubbed her back for comfort. He added his own personality into the song by holding his hand up after he played the solo part and gave a goofy grin before singing the ending pre-chorus of "And there's no time left for losing, when you stand they fall YEAH!" He let the final chord ring out and began to retune his guitar to half step down tuning as the crowd applauded. Tina had pointed at him and then to herself and he saw her mouth form the word "Mine." His band mates were off to the side and they too were clapping. He no longer felt nervous. He no longer heard the Butcher laughing at him and calling him weak. He was playing music for a crowd of people with his buddy. Derrick strummed the open chords to check to see if he was in the correct tuning before he clamped his capo on the 3rd fret.
"Anyway, here's Wonderwall," he said and started to play the intro to the song before he stopped.
"I'm just kidding," he said and went to move his capo down one fret. The crowd however was shouting at him to play it anyway. Derrick gave them a confused look.
"Oh come on! That's like a joke song now according to the kids right? You really want me to play it"
"YES!" he heard the audience shout at him.
"Alright, here's the deal. My future boss is in the audience, lemme ask her. Hey Elena, should I play this joke song for everyone?" he said and looked in Elena's direction.
"DO IT!" she shouted back at him.
"Welp, gotta do what the boss lady said," he said and began playing Wonderwall in earnest. He bobbed his head and body along to the beat as he played and sang the lyrics on pitch, just like his mom always said he was. Before he got to the famous part of the song he said
"Here we go y'all….BECAUSE MAYBEEEEEEEE," he looked directly at his sister as he sang the next part "You're gonna be the one that saves meeeeeee!" Meghan flashed him a heart shape with her hands and fingers while smiling at him. She got what he was saying. She too hadn't forgotten that she saved her brother's life. When Derrick got to the final reprise of the chorus he said
"Come on, sing! I'll back you up!" The crowd obliged and Derrick sang back up on the final chorus and then sang along with the crowd. Again the crowd cheered for him as the song ended and he went into the next song he planned on playing.
"I heard my girlfriend shared that I played this to all her little friends but here we go anyway! This one's called Sympathy," Derrick said and began to sing Sympathy again. After he finished that one he had decided to play "Beautiful World" by Colin Hay followed by "Your Body is a Wonderland" by John Mayer (Tina clutched her chest when he imitated John Mayer's voice) and concluded with "Home" by Daughtry. Before he began playing that he addressed the crowd,
"Right before I play my final one I want to address something. Some of you might know who I am if you are from Southern California. Back in April, I was called to assist in that horrible terrorist attack at Northwestern University in Washington. My chopper was shot down and I was captured by the White Masks. Many believed I was dead including my friends and family and my obituary was printed. I survived, obviously, but I was subjected to regular beatings and manipulation tactics for about 3 months until Luke and his sister found me." Derrick began strumming between a G chord (in half step down tuning) as well as a Cadd9 chord as he spoke. He saw Meghan gasp. She knew this song. He played it all the time when he was at home with his parents.
"This one has always been one of my favorites, but it has new meaning to me now. Because no matter how bad shit can get, you can always count on going home to seek peace and shelter from everything that happens to you," he said before he closed his eyes and began singing "I'm staring out into the night, Trying to hide the pain. I'm going to the place where love…. And feeling good don't ever cost a thing," He opened his eyes to see that Tina was crying against Mina's shoulder but still looking at him. Monika was holding Meghan close and he even saw Eliza holding Jordan's hand. Harry was still grinning at him and nodding. He sang the chorus with all his heart reminding himself how happy he was to see Meghan and Tina again alongside his parents and Josie and his teammates.
"But these places and these faces are getting old...so Luke brought me home." He saw Lukas bow his head and clutch his chest when he sang that changed lyric. "Yeah, Mon brought me home," he saw Monika cover her mouth with her hand and close her eyes. She too must have been honored to bring him back to everyone as much as Lukas was. He continued singing the song normally until he got to the final 2 lines
"So they brought me home….Yeah, they brought me home," Derrick strummed the final chord and held his arms open toward Lukas and motioned for him to give him a hug as the crowd cheered thunderously for him. This did it for Derrick as he hugged his buddy on stage. After being beaten, tortured, manipulated, lied to and on the verge of killing himself, he finally felt that he was home.
September 20th, 2023
Specialist Lukas "Amp" Weiss
Edgeland Parking Lot
Portland OR. USA
Lukas stood in the parking lot of Edgeland about 45 minutes later. They had played a few more songs after Derrick's solo set before calling it a night.
"YOU WANT HIM IN THE BAND RIGHT?" Nate had asked the crowd and pointed at Derrick who waved. The crowd had given a thunderous round of applause and many cheers. Lukas felt that Derrick was one of them now.
"That was true right Weiss? What Derrick said?" Jackie asked him in the parking lot. Lukas nodded.
"I found him in a cell along with my sister. Brought him back to base. He's actually on some leave due to PTSD and trauma. That guy that captured him found him at the base and triggered some violent memories in him. Derrick killed that maniac but he still needed more help. He's got another month left before he can come back," Lukas explained, being as vague as he could. Derrick was in the restroom. After a few minutes he joined Lukas and the others.
"There he is! Consider yourself one of us man. That shit SLAPPED! We'll talk later about future stuff, gotta get home to the wife myself," Nate said, shaking Derrick's hand. Gavin and Jackie followed suit. Lukas and Derrick stood there watching various fans leave. A few of them waved in their direction. Derrick had his back to the venue and Lukas could see the West Coast Rainbow crew in the distance. Monika spotted Lukas, pointed him out and began to make their way towards them. Tina was staring at the back of Derrick's head hungrily. Lukas could see Ela doing the same to him. He didn't tell Derrick they were coming though. Time to give him a taste of his own medicine.
"Nice job dude," Lukas said, keeping his eye on the Rainbow crew. Derrick nodded.
"Thanks for letting me play with you guys. I really needed that. Didn't feel angry or hear him laughing once the entire time. I'm still gonna do what Harry says and see my therapist though. I'm going tomorrow at 3," Derrick said. Lukas had registered Tina's silent order of "push him at me" and nodded as they came closer. When they were basically right behind Derrick, Lukas grinned at him.
"What's with the face? It is happy but at the same time disturbing," he said in the surfer dude voice. Derrick seemed to register the breathing coming from behind him and gulped.
"They are all right behind me aren't they?" he asked.
"Surf's up Zoolander," Meghan said. Derrick attempted to run away but Lukas pushed him right into Tina who grabbed him at once.
"Oh boy, about wha- MMPH!" was all Derrick managed to say before Tina kissed him fiercely and said "you LIAR" and "MINE!" continuously. Eventually, she let Meghan hug her brother. Ela walked over to Lukas and immediately hugged him while saying a lot of naughty things in Polish that Lukas could understand. He was in trouble tonight.
"About those sorority girls Mr. Weiss, you have got some explaining to do later," she said afterwards in English but still kissed him.
"Oh do I now?" he told her. Harry walked over to him.
"I figured this was going to be a good idea. I saw how happy he was," Harry told him. "I still don't want him back at the base yet. Better safe than sorry right?" Lukas nodded as he watched Derrick get passed around to everyone for hugs or claps on the back. Tina held onto his arm after everyone had had their turn and Harry addressed Derrick.
"How's it going Derrick? Tina tells me you've been seeing a therapist now," Harry said. Derrick nodded.
"He's actually right over there if you wanted to speak with him. Told him you might want to. I said you were my boss," Derrick said and gave a nod to a man standing a few meters to the left of the group with another woman. Harry smiled and walked over to Derrick's therapist and began speaking with him.
"What's he been saying?" Meghan asked Derrick. Derrick shrugged.
"I don't know, I don't listen to NERDS!" he said.
"This coming from the man in the Justice League shirt," Lukas said. Tina giggled as she clutched her boyfriend's arm tighter. Ela did the same with Lukas's.
"HEY! Don't you bad mouth them! But to actually answer that, he says I've been making great progress in accepting what happened instead of running from it. I decided to speak about it on stage and it helped immensely. I'm going tomorrow actually plus I still have about a month left before Elena and I start blowing shit up all the time," Derrick said to Meghan. Elena proceeded to give Derrick another hug. Lukas noticed that Eliza was holding Jordan's hand and Derrick did too.
"Oh this is a great day," Derrick said in a Scottish accent for some reason. Jordan grinned at him.
"What does he do most days?" Eliza asked Tina quickly.
"He watches TV, movies, or plays video games. Yard and housework when needed. He still works out every morning. He's also helped me a few times while I was working. He was the one that fixed our math that one day Elena. Remember when we couldn't figure out how those calculations got all screwed up? Derrick figured that out before he left to take a walk," Tina said. Elena smiled.
"He plays Batman games doesn't he?" Meghan asked, giving Derrick a knowing smile.
"Hey! Gotham City isn't going to save itself Meghan!" Derrick said to his sister. Lukas smiled. His buddy was back to his old self for the most part. He had started to see it when he and Derrick practiced with everyone else throughout the month of September but a few times he had to help Derrick recover from a panic attack.
"I think my favorite is when I tell him that I have to go to the store or something and he looks at me like a lost puppy before I say that I'll be back," Tina said looking up into Derrick's face which was now red. Everyone else grinned at him.
"He used to do that when he was a kid whenever our mom left the house too," Meghan said.
"DUDE! UNCOOL!" Derrick shouted at her. Meghan folded her arms as Tina kissed his cheek.
"Momma's boy," she said. Derrick copied her gesture.
"I didn't see her making cookies for you! I win Megzy. Point for the Funny Man," Derrick said as Meghan pouted. Apparently she didn't like that nickname. Monika giggled at Meghan's expression. Lukas had noticed that she and Monika had been hanging out a lot more as well, like more so than before they found Derrick. He wasn't exactly sure if they were official yet but he had walked in on them holding hands and watching a movie or TV together. Plus Monika had kissed her when they brought Derrick back to base. That was fine with Lukas. As long as Monika was happy, he was.
"There's a freebie for you Gellar, she hates when people call her that. Note the frowny face that she's currently giving me that clearly says she wants to punch me in the face but I know she won't cause she loves me," Derrick explained.
"You're lucky I do, you freaking clown…" Meghan said, giving her brother a smile.
"I know you do Megs," Derrick said and returned the smile. Lukas figured he was telling her once again without words that she had saved his life. Meghan hugged him once more. Lukas turned to Ela who still looked mad at him about the sorority girls thing.
"Look, it was over 10 years ago at this point. I was a stupid college kid at the time," Lukas explained but Ela still glared at him.
"Come on, you know I love you," he said. Ela smiled and pecked his cheek.
"There it is," she said and continued to hold onto his arm. Harry rejoined the group later and began speaking with Derrick. Monika walked over to Lukas, probably to berate him about the sorority girls thing too but instead she too gave him a hug.
"That was your idea wasn't it? Having Derrick join you guys?" she asked. Lukas nodded.
"Thought it would help with the memories, ran it by Harry before asking Derrick," Lukas told her.
"Oh, that explains why he wasn't surprised when Derrick walked onstage," Monika said.
"That's twice Derrick and I got you and Meghan Mon," he said ruffling her hair.
"I still owe Elias some kind of smack for lying to me about Greece," she said but looked towards Derrick again.
"He seems much happier now," Ela said, following her gaze.
"Must be him finally realizing that he's home," Lukas said.
"And we brought him home," Monika said. Lukas nodded. He had a feeling that his buddy was going to be just fine in the long run.
"Mission" Report:
Derrick and Lukas surprised everyone once again by having Derrick join Time Warp onstage during the reunion concert. Derrick still plans to take the following month off.
