-1It was something like a hundred degrees when Murdoc stepped out the Winnie and onto the pavement. As if his Cuban heels made the noise a crack of thunder crashed through the atmosphere. The sky ripped open with rain and began pelting Murdoc ruthlessly. He stuck his lizard tongue out to catch a few drops lazily as a fork of lightening lit up the overcast sky. It seemed as though the Heavenly Father was outraged with him for not changing his ways and returning to this sin hole of a building. Murdoc chuckled, a simper sitting on his face in sick and sadistic pleasure. You can' change me mate, he replied in his thoughts to the storm that was setting in. The storm's response was another menacing clap of thunder.
Murdoc shook his head like a wet dog as he opened the glittering pink door to the strip club. It smelled like latex and dirty feet but he quickly acclimated to it. "Can I 'elp ya suga'?" drawled a voice that sounded like honey drizzled over hot cakes.
"I think so love." Murdoc batted his eyes as the girl approached him, hooking a long and fragile arm around his neck. She did so with ease in those twelve inch heels she was tottering about in. He examined her in the curtain of long blonde hair she had and saw probably one of the most revolting faces ever. Her eyes were like a bloodhound's, droopy and bloodshot with pockets framing them on both sides. Her eyeliner looked like it was done by a gypsy with nubs for hands and she had on some perfume that smelled sickingly like funnel cake. Murdoc tried to suppress a gag as she turned to smile a yellow toothed grin at him.
"On second thought, I might wanna go smoke a fag and grab a drink, yeah?" he breathed, turning to face the bar and get out of the tentacles of this she-beast. The creature looked taken aback, blinking her eyes and twitching her lip. Which honestly made her look worse. She proceeded to stalk away angrily and clutch to some fat sweaty bloke on the other side of the establishment.
He sauntered to the bar, a little disappointed at his first encounter with a stripper. She had to be ugly, of course. Murdoc saw it as some type of sign that karma was telling him to get the hell out of there and change himself. That is, until he saw the voluptuous bar tender with the corset on. When she offered him a drink Murdoc the horn dog he was, could only manage an eager nod and a moistening of his lips with his tongue.
The alcoholic dumped it back effortlessly, shivering in delight as the warmth and bitter shock of the drink stormed down his throat and sent a hot sensation radiating throughout his chest. He sighed in delight and rested his elbow on the bar with his head in his hand. The bartender handed him another drink without his even asking. She winked and whispered just a few decibels above the music, "It's on me."
He threw this one down in a second as well before turning his attention to the stage. He could feel the drum beat pulsing through the floor and his eyes widened in shock and recognition. He knew this song…no…wait…he WROTE this damn song. "Tha fuck?" he said out loud, causing people to turn and look at him cross-eyed. Murdoc didn't notice, he was captivated by the train wreck on stage killing his song.
The band was composed of a singer who had on a backwards baseball cap and some baggy jersey for an American sports team, the bassist was some bloke with hair down to his ass, the guitarist was a bored looking brunette girl, and the drummer was way too short and shrimpy to be seen over his instrument. Murdoc was ashamed that these mendicants actually knew his song and were putting shame to it by attempting to recreate it. Between the mangled chords and horrible squeaky singing Murdoc realized that they were playing some fucked up rendition of "Re-Hash". This was just absolutely sad, there were tears coming to his eyes just watching it. It was like a train wreck; horrible and gut wrenching but just so horrible you couldn't pull your head away to shield your somewhat virgin eyes. Well Murdoc's eyes weren't close to virgin but he still needed to stop the madness.
Before he realized what he was doing he'd stood up on his bar stool and started waving his hands around. "Alrigh' tha's quite enough. Shuddap and listen 'ere! You lot are 'orrible! It's my song so lemme show ya how to play it righ', yeah?" he hopped off of his chair and stalked across the floor to the stage. Everyone in the vicinity watched him with open mouths and horrified expressions as he stomped onto the stage and snatched the microphone out of the singer's hand. He looked like he was going to say something to Murdoc because his mouth was open but he shut it with one look at his demonic reddish eye.
"My apologies to anyone who 'ad to 'ear that shit." he drawled, earning a few chuckles from the audience and a few glares from the band members. Murdoc winked at a few of the pretty strippers in the crowd who started screaming and squealing immediately. It felt good to be at home on the stage for once. He felt that when Russel and Noodle had left him that he would never be here and able to experience this feeling again. He counted his blessings and laid a hand on his chest as 2D's heart chugged inside him with excitement. 'Ere's to you Dullard.
Murdoc decided he better just fix the band and work with what he's got than try to do a one man show. He had no vocal talent at all and this little skinny guy with the…erm…queer sense of style had some type of vocal talent. Murdoc wrenched off his hat in an attempt to make him look slightly less gay. His eyes slid over each member of the band but he decided that they would have to do. However, he strode up to the bassist and plucked the instrument out of his confused grasp.
"Tha fuck do you think you're doin?" he barked in a quick Irish brogue. Murdoc rolled his eyes. Didn't this asshole know who he was?
"'Ey Rodge, let 'im 'ave it. It's the bloke from Gorillaz." the singer said pointedly, sending a commanding and imperative stare in his band mate's direction. Murdoc, with satisfaction, heard the singer's voice quaver and realized that he was in fact very afraid of Murdoc.
Rodger backed away from the Satanist and handed him the bright yellow flying V bass. He proceeded to storm off stage with his arms crossed angrily over his chest. With that tosser of a bassist gone Murdoc could take his rightful place and feel at home again.
He curled his fingers around the top string of the bass and gave it one pluck for good measure. He proceeded to address the other band members with a sweeping glance and cleared his throat for dramatic effect as he started picking and pulling the beginning riffs to "Double Bass". The band quickly picked up on their parts, being slightly more intelligent than they looked.
The audience was captivated and amazed by this show of talent that Murdoc had lulled over the once horrible and lame band. He bobbed his head to the beat and a smirk fought its way to his lips. 2D's heart twittered in his chest, as if it was happy to hear something familiar and meaningful to it. Murdoc spaced out, his mind skipping to one of the Gorillaz first concerts at the Camden Brownhouse.
The crowd was much more lively then, making so much roaring and whooping that Murdoc could barely hear himself think. At first, he had been kind of nervous when he'd climbed onstage into the blinding stage lights and into every mind's eye in the place. It reminded him all too much of his father shunting him onstage to be a little wooden boy named Pinocchio. He had shuddered at the idea and finally composed himself as the excitement set in. He realized that all these people had been screaming for him. Girls would get wet when someone said his name and every bass player in the world would want to mimic his sexy riffs. He had been shaken back to earth when 2D had begun the show abruptly. Murdoc settled into the performance well, enjoying himself so much he thought his mind and heart were going to explode from pulsing so fast. The music had surged through everyone that night, little Noodle with her radio helmet on and even Russel who had been quite belligerent to Murdoc and threatened to leave upon his arrival. However, he most remembered that satisfied smile that sat on 2D's lips as he enchanted everyone at the Brownhouse with his clear and ringing voice. A magic had fallen over the world when 2D was singing, something that Murdoc could never explain or recreate any longer. Audio recordings could only go so far and could never carry that ecstasy that even Murdoc found hard to suppress when he heard the azure headed gangly bloke bellowing out words. Words that held no meaning on paper, but far more when they passed from 2D's mouth.
He brought himself back to Earth with the cheering and whooping of everyone at the strip club. Murdoc reminded himself with a mutter that he wasn't at the Brownhouse with the Gorillaz and that he was at The Gentleman's Club with some idiots who called themselves God Save the Queen. It kind of saddened him to be shaken from his wonderful memory but he pulled himself together before anyone could notice the distant and complacent look that had collected on his face like debris in a windstorm.
Murdoc missed 2D. It had finally hit him like a ton of bricks. He knew that he was never coming back and that he would be gone for forever. The only thing he had left of him was his heart, which was now sustaining Murdoc. He bit his lip and fought back emotion as he glided offstage. The bassist managed to get through the crowd unseen and out into the downpour. It was strange how the weather had a knack for reflecting one's inner emotions. Murdoc withdrew a pack of fags from within his pocket and leaned on the wall underneath the awning to be sheltered from the rain. He struck his match to the flint on the matchbox and watched absentmindedly as rain pitter pattered to the ground.
His feelings of missing 2D's had subsided some once he stopped hearing that music that brought them back in such strong force. He took in a deep drag on his cigarette before blowing the smoke out of his nose like a dragon; patiently lounging about on its horde of misery as life passed it by like a kaleidoscope carousel. Murdoc could care less if life passed him by now. Without money and fame he pretty much was just a lonely man with slightly green skin who was quite the bass player. He stomped out his butt and threw himself into the pouring rain, squaring his shoulders against the hot precipitation as it splattered through his mop top and down his back. The air was much less humid and breathable now that all of the moisture it had once been saturated with was raining ruthlessly from the heavens. Murdoc swung himself into the driver's seat of the Winnebago. He swung the huge RV out of its parking spot with a quick flick of the wheel. He slammed into a few cars and toppled them over but he didn't notice. Murdoc just knew that all he wanted to do was escape his old habits and find something much more mindless and occupying to do.
As if in answer his stomach roared with hunger. It whimpered and gurgled and begged Murdoc for sustenance. He groaned and put his hand overtop of it in an attempt to quiet it down. Where to go? Of course the UK was becoming more American these days; any country was. There were eating establishments set up within metres of each other, sometimes interfering in their competitors land plots. He meandered into Prezzo at the thought of some fettuccini alfredo and a warm place to sit and lay his head down. Thundered ripped through the sky as the door to the Italian restaurant swished shut behind Murdoc.
-Chapter Three Fin-
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who reviews! I love you guys! I'm also loving summer already so that's why I'm updating so frequently. I do believe I'm going on vacation in two weeks so that may complicate things. I will be gaining some inspiration there though, so no worries. I'll be introducing an OC next chapter so if anyone thinks she's Mary Sue I want to know so that I can edit her. I did go through and made sure I gave her some key character flaws. And no, she doesn't end up with Murdoc in the end…if it helps. Anyway review please!