A/N: Originally wrote upon The PaperPusher's Board, within the topic: "Bits & Pieces that just BEG to be made into Daria fanfic" Felt it needed a bit more exposure overall, so I'm posting it elsewhere. Naturally, I own neither setting. Daria belongs to MTV, Viacom, and it's various owners, while The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai and it's sequel, Vampire Smile belongs to James Silva of SKA Studios. I do this out of love, guys.
The Dishwasher: Mystik Spiral
Trent let out a heavy grunt as he set down the amplifier backstage, the rest of the Spiral still working on unloading the Tank. Jane leaving for college meant that the older man had little to keep him around Lawndale save for the occasional gig at the Zon, and the group had been expanding their touring to other parts of the state, anywhere that would pay them in more than just food, booze, or gas money. This place was out of the way, but the pay was too good to turn down, even if Trent had his suspicions about whomever this C.A.M. place was that was paying for the show. Bringing the amps out onto the stage, Trent finally noticed the warmup act.
A single man stood upon the stage, a somewhat tattered set of pants that he swore could have come straight out of one of those foreign films Janey and Daria once went to, something about Seven something, he couldn't remember, as his vision was distracted due to the fact that the man was pale on a level that Trent never thought someone could be outside of a black and white film. Black hair covered the man's eyes, as he continued to play what seemed to be an impossibly long solo, raising the guitar over his head as he stood upon a set of speakers, Trent's eyes drawn to the man's bare chest, more importantly to the massive scar crossing his ribs, an "X" over where his heart would be.
The solo continued, shifting between melancholic and low, to fast paced and frantic, full of energy, the man's position changing with every minute, from atop the speakers, to simply beside them, to raising the guitar over his head, to hunching over it as if to protect it from the crowd. Eventually though, the song finally ended, and with a mighty scream, the man brought the guitar down over the speaker with a savage blow, causing the guitar to shatter, and the speaker to erupt, wiring and plastic flying everywhere.
A few people cheered, some screamed, but, to Trent's horror, most just stood, standing there, staring forward with hollow eyes, as the loudspeaker of the club clicked on, an almost bored voice echoing forth. "Very impressive, but you've no chance of escaping this time. You may have taken out the Core, and the Engineer, but you won't escape this time, Dishwasher!"
The crowd rose, those that weren't backing away in fear, as eyes glowed. Hook shaped blades were drawn, military grade machine guns were removed from hiding spots, and stun batons were set to 'lethal'. Before Trent could even open his mouth, the man identified as The Dishwasher had vaulted backwards, his hands darting out to grab a sunbleached shade hat, one of those hats that Trent last saw on a late night rerun of the Kung Fu channel with Monique. His other hand seemed to reach into nothingness itself, darting though a curtain, before pulling out a samurai sword, sharper than anything Trent had used save a chainsaw.
Replacing his hat, The Dishwasher turned to the slightly shocked human behind him, chuckling. "You're gong to want to get your band out of here. If I can't hold them off, the C.A.M. are going to cyberize everyone here, and believe me, it's not like the films." Turning away from Trent, the man seemed to actually vanish, a black streak of something darting towards the stage controls, planning on closing off the view for Trent, as he finally managed to speak. "Wait, who are you?"
The shadow reformed, a brief glint reflecting off of the man's blade as he turned, "I'm The Dishwasher, I inspire fear among the fearless. You?"
"I'm Trent Lane, part of Mystik Spiral. We're thinking of changing the name though. We all get out of this, you should hook up with us, play a gig?"
"Tempting, but I need to keep following the C.A.M., they have my stepsister somewhere. I'll keep that in mind though Trent, good luck..."
With that, the man pushed down the button to drop the shutters, finally locking Trent away from the main stage. As he ran back to the Tank, he could only think about what Janey would say, him having met the legendary Dead Samurai