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Song Listened To :
Confident by Demi Lovato
*Chapter 142*
In a seething explosion of fury, Gunner popped into the sound booth with a fire in his eyes. Running on such little sleep, alongside feeling humiliated on stage, his burning eyes immediately caught with the glistening looks of terror from the few sound guys, in the booth. With a hovering second of gaining clarity, Gunner deepened his glower and now began to budge into the mildly claustrophobic booth like a heavy, seeping presence of death himself. The sound guys urgently gestured to their board and pleadingly peered to Gunner in a show of entire apology, as if falling into routine with Gunner's hidden, angry antics. Gunner grit his teeth and was only patient enough to allow one of the sound guys to urgently get words out of their nervous demeanors.
"Man, I have NO clue what happened, y-your mic slid to the off position, a-and then the slider WOULDN'T budge!" One of the main sound guys nervously begged, he gently slid the slider of Gunner's microphone volume, it easily glided along the motherboard of knobs and cranks, without a single hitch. He urgently peered back to Gunner, and then to his other two assistants, "B-By the time it had freed itself, B-Berri had finished the song-"
"What are you playing at, here?" Gunner growled in whole entire frustration, as if this was the last straw with his current crew, he bravely grappled the neck of his sound guy's collar, to which his other two assistants urgently began to coo notions of deep plea, to pray that a fight didn't explode out of this mishap.
"Nothing, what the hell is your problem!" The main sound guy choked, he narrowed his gaze and urgently wormed his shirt out of Gunner's grappling fist. Collar now wrinkled, all three men took a few steps away from Gunner and peered up to him in whole surprise, a new wash of detest and bewilderment, he rubbed his sternum firmly and glared Gunner down, "Man, you don't pay us enough for this bullshit."
"Then GET OUT!" Gunner bellowed as he firmly pointed back to the gaping door of the smaller sound studio, and with a firm shove, all three men wasted absolutely no time in escaping Gunner's presence. Although laced with fear, the last guy out firmly nudged Gunner's shoulder with his own, causing a disgruntled noise to emit from Gunner's exhausted, furious figure.
"What the hell is going on in here?" Berri demanded in a flurry of rising, frustrated surprise; she was quickly trailed by Theo and Throttle.
"Nothing, NOTHING," Gunner barked meanly, he shot his burning red gaze to Berri, Theo and Throttle and firmly shook his head as he pushed out of the sound studio, he gestured back to the booth and grit his teeth, "Our sound crew bailed, which is awesome. Cause now we're fucked."
"Gunner," Berri stated in entire, disappointed surprise as she flinched and peered to him in shock. She shook her head and gestured to the now empty, unmanned booth, "What the hell are you thinking? Did you tell them to leave? I'm sure this was all just an accident! And it's no issue, Gun, I recovered the song. The longer we stay off that stage, the louder press is going to be."
Although Gunner opened his mouth to reply in a whole amount of frazzled anger, all four beings immediately froze at the true, ringing sound that echoed out into the night and far beyond. The massive crowd, the arena filled to the brim and then some, confidently and loudly began to chant Berri's name with fervor. Berri raised her eyebrows in poised surprise and wasn't quite sure what emotion to allow to rise, amidst Gunner's frustration, though before she could allow a wide smile to sprawl her face, Gunner grit his teeth in whole frustration and quickly began to storm back to the area of the stage's side entrance. Berri bit her lip and shot Theo and Throttle a look of knowing surprise, they equally peered back to her, as if the band had immediately hit jackpot.
"GET someone in that sound booth, NOW," Gunner barked as he firmly pointed back to the empty sound booth, "I need to find Bedgy."
"I-I got this, I got this," Throttle stated in full confidence as he pressed into the sound booth, and although he was certain Theo and Berri would potentially doubt his ability, here, he was shocked to glance over his shoulder and hear Berri and Theo ease him a few, apologetic notions of gratitude before vanishing. Throttle raised his eyebrows in poised surprise and now peered to the near hundreds of knobs and levers, all haphazardly displayed all over the sound board, though before he could allow terror to steer him away from this chore, he firmly shut the sound studio's door, took a seat at the main, empty chair, slopped on the pair of heavy-duty, provided headphones and glowered down the display before him, "Yeah, this is what I get, this is WHAT I GET for dicking around!"
Throttle heaved a shaky sigh and quickly got his bearings, and although all of this was entirely foreign to him, he eyed the lever dedicated for Gunner's mic and very quickly turned it all the way up, whilst muting the nearby microphones. Although his hands were shaking, he peered up to the monitor before him, which showed a proper display of the crew's glorious, beautiful stage, he finally sagged his face into his hands and heaved a trembling breath. Knowing he only had minutes to spare, he perked up, urgently dug into his pocket, for his phone, and called the one person he wondered would have a shred of information about the splays of chaotic knobs and blinking lights before him. With quick fingers, he dialed his younger brother's number and held his phone to his ear, his hand still a trembling mess.
"Tee, is everything okay?" Turbo answered the call, he blurt a shaky chuckle and, from the sounds of it, Turbo and Lash were well cued in to the chaos, their television could be heard rattling off now very rapidly covered press highlights, all assumptions and speculations loudly presented by journalists hovering nearby the concert's arena.
"Dude, the whole thing is my fault, it was entirely my fault, I'm such an IDIOT," Throttle hissed angrily, he scrunched his eyes tight and nudged his forehead with his fist.
"What are you saying?" Turbo blurt with an incredulous laugh, it was clear that Throttle wasn't on speaker with the way that Lash could be heard, in the background, asking Turbo just what Throttle was saying.
"Dude, I... I have to explain this fast, I don't have a lot of time," Throttle rushed, his now muted, terrified eyes glossed the vat of karma before him, the show was due to carrying on at any second, at his command, "Gunner just fired his sound crew and I'm at the helm."
"Why is that YOUR fault?" Turbo pressed, now in protective, brotherly irritation, "Why did Gunner put that on YOU? It's not your job, dude, get outta there!"
"I can't, I volunteered! AND, I CAUSED this!" Throttle bellowed in a spike of overflowing fear, excitement, adrenaline, anything and everything coursing through his blood stream at this second.
"HOW?" Turbo guffawed with a hard laugh of curious, smiling irritation.
"... Wren and I swapped codes, and for some weird, freaky reason, we both gained powers in the swap," Throttle rushed to explain, he grit his teeth in mild embarrassment and carried on, "W-We have telekinetic powers, I-I muted Gunner's mic from backstage, a two dozen foot gap."
"You... WHAT?" Turbo bellowed with a hard, excited, shocked laugh.
"I MUTED HIS MIC," Throttle bellowed in his own little sound proof bubble of a studio, he glowered down the screen before him and felt his pupils tighten at the sight of everyone gathering back on stage, the crowd went absolutely insane, "Shit, I gotta go, I-I... Turbo I don't know what the hell I'm doing, I don't know what the hell I'm doing!"
"Hey, hey, don't panic, leave me on the line," Turbo urgently pressed, he trailed an excited laugh and firmly pushed back into his living room to watch the show on his large screen; Lash could be heard urgently nagging Turbo for information on the side lines, "You don't want the dude to now have an aneurysm, just keep his mic ON from here on out... As much as I'd love you to do the opposite."
"I don't know what the hell I was thinking, dude, I just... User, I just..." Throttle grit his teeth and un-eared one side of his headphones, so he could keep talking to Turbo. He scrunched his phone between his shoulder and his jaw as his hands nervously got to work, "I just... I'd do anything for that girl, dude, she wants to sing so badly, I didn't even THINK about it jeopardizing the WHOLE show!"
"You're doing the Lord's work, Tee," Turbo muttered with a hard, boyish laugh, he eyed Lash and shook his head in bewildered delight.
"Pretty sure lover boy and Blue are done, after this," Throttle muttered in whole irritation as his eyes glanced back and forth between the chaos of knobs, as well as the display of the stage before him, "Don't thank me later. This isn't my proudest moment."
As the show went on, and everything bumpily got back on track, Throttle did his absolute best to practically fly blind. Although he had managed for the first ten proceeding minutes of the show, he was thrilled that Bedgy, and a few other crew members, came into the sound studio to urgently help out, and without another mishap, the show came to a final end. With a round of applause from the whole crew, a massive show of gratitude towards Throttle, he nearly sunk inside of himself and was well aware the universe would likely hand him his ass at a later point in time. In the overwhelming sea of Archived Chaos's fans urgently doing everything they could to get Berri's attention for autographs and the like, the crew was quickly whisked away, onto their tour bus, so to avoid press and paparazzi. Although Berri was well aware it was solid to avoid such things, for now, she almost glowered down the back of Gunner's head as they got situated on the bus and were prepared for take off. She knew full well that she had struck a nerve, with her initial save, and any ounce of higher praise that she received, over Gunner, was something he absolutely detested. His skin nearly boiled, and everyone could sense it.
"Dude, what a show," Theo mumbled with a long, hard sigh. He shook his head and flashed his lovely, hopeful, emerald green eyes in Berri's direction, "Good save, Bear... You killed it, and you really helped us recover."
"Yeah, man," Wren agreed, "I keep forgetting how wonderful your singing voice is."
"We don't hear enough of it," Bedgy chimed as gently as she could, though everyone flinched the second Gunner urgently stood and began to press closer to the driver's area of the massive, luxurious tour bus.
"Step on it," Gunner snapped tiredly, he glowered out the main windshield of the bus and let his eyes scan the freeway's large, green street signs, "I'm sure we'll be followed to our next destination, but the faster we go, the better. I don't care what you have to do to make that possible. Just do it."
"Hey, show-stopper," Berri finally felt brave, she furrowed her eyebrows and felt her blood rush in a hot wave of liquid fire, she finally got to her feet slowly and was thrilled to see Gunner nervously soften the second Berri's dominance suddenly glossed the place, "Why don't you tell us what has got you so incredibly bothered? Why you feel the need to be rude to our awesome crew?"
"We don't want to get pulled over," Bedgy tenderly warned as she sunk into her own grey feathers, though Gunner inhaled a raspy breath and finally peered his intimidating gaze into Berri's.
"... Can Berri and I please have a moment?" Gunner firmly pressed, and although he desperately tried to soften his gaze to Theo's, Wren's, Throttle's and Bedgy's nervous disposition, they all nervously got to their feet and very hesitantly left Berri and Gunner to their privacy. As they escaped to other quarters of their amazing tour bus, Gunner heaved a shaky breath and finally peered into Berri's eyes, blue orbs that were as cold as ice, "Babe, I'm... I'm really sorry for being such a jerk, just... Please understand. I was absolutely humiliated on stage."
"Gun, you humiliated yourself," Berri firmly stated, she shook her head and crossed her arms, "It was an honest mistake, and instead of taking it in stride and feeling grateful that someone was there to pick up the slack, you blew up and fired hard working, innocent individuals."
"You don't know what I went through, just then," Gunner growled as he firmly pointed down and to his side, "To hear them chanting YOUR name? As if I'm just chopped liver all of the sudden?"
"What's wrong with me having a little slice of the center stage, Gun? Is it REALLY that hard for you to share? You have it ALL the time," Berri argued in whole, stern irritation, to which Gunner softened his voice and aggressively took a gentle step in a hovering, ghostly aura, budged deep into Berri's personal bubble.
"If you think you can win over the crowd and boot me out of this band, you have another thing coming," Gunner huffed darkly, he furrowed his brow and gave Berri a mean look of whole defense, a thorny show of Gunner very simply defending himself, though Berri largely furrowed her eyebrows and gave him a bewildered look of mild disgust in his attitude.
"Yeah, that's EXACTLY what I'm trying to do, Gun, you CRACKED the code," Berri now loudly argued; she was thrilled this softened Gunner in a pleading sort of way, as if to now beg Berri to keep this conversation on the down low, though with such a show of vulnerability, Berri felt ten feet tall, "User-forbid I want to, I don't know... Work WITH you to make this band as great as it possibly can. I can sing. I KNOW I can sing. If you just let me in, we could book DOZENS more shows! Why is it so hard for you to realize and understand that you have band mates that are equally as talented as you?"
"I-I never said-"
"Are you insecure? Inferior? Do you have a POWER complex? Some strange fantasy of control you so desperately want played out?" Berri pressed louder, to which Gunner winced and delicately began to shush her in coos of tenderness he finally began to deploy, little flits of romance he urgently began to sprinkle into the conversation. As he warmly reached for her hand, so to calm her down, she swiftly yanked her hand out of his gravity and began to storm towards her larger travel backpack. Although their conversation was previously private, Throttle, Wren, Theo and Bedgy urgently scrambled back to the main living area to hopefully diffuse the commotion. Berri began to firmly and aggressively rummage through her bag as she called out over her shoulder, to the driver, "Take the next exit and let me off!"
"WHAT?" Everyone suddenly pressed in a spike of terror, they all urgently began to crowd Berri in terror, though the second she stood and glowered everyone down with a Queenly death stare of seriousness, everyone froze in unadulterated terror.
"Y-You can't just get off here, wh-where will you go? How... How will you get anywhere?" Wren now urgently began to beg quietly as Berri firmly pressed closer to the exit of the tour bus, and although the massive vehicle hadn't come to a stop yet, it was on its way to exiting the freeway and slowing down.
"I'm self sufficient, I have my phone, don't worry about me," Berri muttered in entire irritation, and as everyone quickly trailed her to the exit of the bus, she burst out the door the second the air brakes let out a loud hiss of pressure.
"Babe, come on, w-we can just TALK about this," Gunner urged in a spike of desperation as his boots scuffed against the gravel on the side of the off ramp, from the freeway. Berri whirled around and glowered at him as he rushed to continue, "Baby, it's just a misunderstanding... I-I feel as if I was targeted, I was humiliated!"
"And that gives you the right to nearly sabotage our show by getting rid of our ENTIRE sound crew?" Berri shouted loudly, Throttle and Theo quickly stepped outside as well, they all hovered a dozen feet from Berri's distanced disposition, "Poor Throttle had to pick up the pieces! EVERYONE rallied together to make it through, I saved that one song by simply jumping in. I wasn't there to steal your job or anything!"
"D-Don't... 'Poor Throttle' me," Throttle warily and quietly mumbled in a reserved show of guilt, something Wren eagerly cued to in the form of a firmly furrowed brow and a hard, suspicious side-eye.
"I panicked, okay? You can't just get off this bus, Berri, y-you'll get hurt, it's not safe... You don't know your way around Dig Dug, you'll be eaten alive!" Gunner urgently rushed, to which Berri shot him a dirty look of girly cheekiness.
"Bet," Berri huffed before, all at once, she pulled apart a sleek, black baton she had been holding fast to.
Before her materialized a gorgeous single-manned bike, very similar to the style of one of Tron's light cycles. In swiftness, she mounted the bike, revved the powerful growl of the engine and firmly peered back to the stunned group before her.
"BABE!" Gunner growled in a plea of a loud yell, over the bike's rumbling power.
"I don't want that title, any longer," Berri dared, and as she eased on the gas a little, she shot Gunner a deathly look of mild delight; with a choke of her gorgeous bike, all clad in a beautiful show of golden light, she was off like a rocket from a launch pad, dust spewed and all, off into the void of traffic beyond en route to User knows just where.
