A/N Alright guys, I am almost absolutely positive that there will be but one chapter after this, and I know I've said this often enough that literally none of you believe me, but this time it is probably true. Anyway, italics are Norwegian/Swedish.
Disclaimer: I don't own Metalocalypse.
The album spread like wild fire and the fans went more insane than they usually did. Reports on the news had hundreds of people committing suicide with only the words 'after that album there is nothing left to live for'. The whole world fell into chaos when every store sold out of the album, and Charles was forced to deal with report after report of pirating. While this would usually have the band rejoicing and thinking of what they could do to be ever more brutal, now it only had them sitting in the common room of the Dethsub and staring at each other, waiting for something, anything to tell them what they had to do now. The television behind them flashed with images of a mob of people burning a record store and a different mob attempting to dive down underwater to reach the Dethsub.
"This ams insanities," Skwisgaar mumbled suddenly, his fingers moving wildly up the neck of his guitar. Toki nodded from his place beside him, and Nathan groaned.
"I know, I fucking know. Shit, I fucked up didn't I? This can't be what we were supposed to do."
"No, Nathan, this is right. I've gotten reports of countries going to ah war because one or the other of them is holding copies of your album hostage. This is the Metalocalypse, an ah, an apocalypse brought on by the lack of metal. You've got them under your control now, it's just a matter of ah directing them to the right place," Charles said, having come down after completing his search for the Tribunal.
"What the fuck are you talking about Charlesh?" Murderface sighed, fingers twitching with the need of a knife.
"Right now the world has gone into chaos because of that album. You guys need to control that chaos and direct the people to do what we want: kill the Tribunal. I've set up a ah, press conference for you guys to attempt this, but you'll need to do it quickly. I have no idea whether or not there will be an attack," Charles explained, and the band nodded.
"When ams dis conference?" Toki asked, holding Skwisgaar's arm.
"We'll be leaving as soon as you guys get ready." The band stood and rushed to their rooms to change clothes and make sure they were at least presentable. When they returned, Charles nodded in approval. "Good. Now ah, let's do this." Murderface sighed. Was Charles ever going to get a good sign off? They all climbed into a minisub and surfaced for the first time in over a month.
When they arrived at the small port city where they would be having their press conference a huge mob of people immediately surrounded their stage, men and women alike pulling at their clothes and hands, desperate for a single touch from the men they now considered their gods. Even when Nathan tried to speak they wouldn't silence their screaming.
"EVERYBODY SHUT THE FUCK UP!" he roared, though not as loudly as he normally would thanks to the lingering damage to his throat. The crowd silenced. "Now uh... you guys want more copies of our album, right? Well we're trying to fucking record more, but we can't. Because people are trying to kill us. If you want more albums you need to uh... deal with that. Yeah. They're called the Tribunal. Their location should be uh... above our heads now. We all need to go there. And kill those motherfuckers," Nathan said. The crowd was running off almost immediately, and the whole band looked confused. "Are they going? Like, there?" Nathan asked, turning away from the microphone to look at his band. They all shrugged, and Charles got onstage.
"You don't ah have to worry about them going there, Nathan. The entire audience would've killed themselves if you told them to."
"That'sh fucking brutal. It'sh like we got our own shlaves or shomething," Murderface grinned, and Pickles nodded.
"Yeah, you think after this shit blows over we can get them to buy us some booze or somethin?"
"Ah no. No, you can't do that. No," Charles said, feeling like he was reprimanding a particularly naughty toddler. They pouted, and Charles sighed. "One. You ah, you can get one to do that. Now, we need to go. The remaining Revengencers and the Tribunal will be mobilizing now. And I ah, was trying to avoid telling you, but since he hasn't been found yet I feel you need to know: Magnus has escaped." The band couldn't even be happy that Charles had just allowed them to have a mindless slave who'd buy them booze out of their own pocket. Toki looked especially scared, and Skwisgaar made sure to keep their hands entwined. None of them spoke as Charles led them to the unmarked plane he'd had sent here to get them.
Charles sat tensely in the plane the entire way, hoping desperately that they wouldn't be shot out of the sky. The rest of the band picked up on this and stared straight ahead, knowing that they were flying into what would either be their death or their greatest success. Though none of them wanted to admit it they were grateful for the guns and ammo that was on each of their person. The plane landed.
"Alright guys. We're about a mile from the last known Tribunal headquarters. I ah, I don't know what we'll find in there, but I want you guys to stick together, no matter what. This may be the last time I see you guys, but I ah, I want you to know that I enjoyed all the years I've worked for you. I ah, I wouldn't take another band for anything," he said, smiling. The band smiled back at him.
"You guys wanna take one last drink for luck?" Pickles asked, holding up an unmarked bottle and taking a deep drink. When the others, even Charles, nodded he passed it around, and as a band they shared what remained of the bottle. A barely there buzz filling all of them, they exited the plane and walked the final mile to the Tribunal's headquarters, a nondescript military base, and found a battle already raging outside.
Their fans were attacking a large group of soldiers and Revengencers with wild abandon, some of them attempting to climb up and reach General Crozier, who sat high on a metal structure giving orders. The other Tribunal members fought on the ground, but many were easily overcome, and the ones that weren't looked more like they were attempting to run. Bodies already littered the ground, hundreds from both sides having lost their life, but more Dethklok fans flowed in constantly, and the other side was dwindling. Charles seemed happy for a second, but soon caught sight of an area where their side seemed to fall in greater numbers. A flash of metal had him rushing over, lingering with his band only long enough to tell them to go inside and hunt down Selatia. Feeling out of place and just a little nervous, the band linked their arms together and cut through the battle to the entrance of the building.
"You guys ready for this?" Nathan asked, taking a deep breath and reaching out with his free arm to touch the door. When every band member nodded he released his breath and opened the door.
Inside the facility it silent except for the low, eerie hum of the central air conditioning. They walked slowly, attempting to be sneaky even though they knew Selatia already knew they were there. The dim lights of one hallway lit up, and the band shuddered as they walked down it. The large door at the end of the hall opened when they reached it, and they walked through it. On the other side they saw Selatia sitting high on a throne-like chair, a frightening smile on his face.
"You have come to kill me, Dethklok?" he asked, almost mocking, and with a roar Nathan pulled out his gun and fired five shots in quick succession. All hit their mark, but the wounds closed almost immediately after, leaving his suit stained with blood but the man still very much alive. He laughed, a hacking, dry sound. "You cannot kill me with bullets, Dethklok, no mortal can kill me. You would be better off joining me! Think of the chaos, the brutality, you could cause with me at your side! The masses, they are under your control!" Selatia hissed.
"NO! We uh... want to save the world, not destroy it!" Nathan yelled, and Pickles held his arm tighter. Selatia laughed again.
"You have too much hate in your hearts to save the world... I can see it. Angel of Death, step forward," he said, gesturing for Toki. Skwisgaar and Murderface, who each held one of his arms, gripped more tightly. He sighed, though he was obviously unsurprised. "Magnus, reveal yourself and have your love." From behind the throne the man ran, his eyes wild and his body heavily damaged by knife wounds and clubs. In Dethklok's shock he was able to ram into Toki and separate him from the others, who immediately tried to go to him. "Stop! I have given Magnus a gun, Dethklok, and he will kill your Death Angel and himself with only a word from me." Toki was crying and Magnus shushed him, rocking back and forth with madness filling his single working eye. Skwisgaar glared.
"What you wants?"
"What I have said: I want you to work with me to destroy the world. Those that are weak do not deserve life, but you all and I are strong." Skwisgaar looked ready to protest, to run as fast as he could and save Toki himself, but Nathan spoke.
"If we... do that, you won't hurt Toki, Abigail, or Charles, right? They'll all be okay?" he asked. Selatia nodded.
"I give my word."
"Fine. We'll do it." Even Toki stared at him with shock, wondering what had happened to the strong, stalwart frontman.
"Good..." the white haired man said, lifting his hand towards Magnus. The old guitarist was suddenly choking, releasing Toki to grab at his throat. In minutes he lay limply on the ground, his heart still. Toki scrambled back over to his band, staring desperately at Nathan, wanting him to take it back, to do anything but make them work with this evil man.
"What do you want us to do?" the man asked.
"All of you come forward," he gestured, and Nathan nodded, though he put his free arm behind his back. The group moved as one towards Selatia, seeming resigned to their fate, and Selatia continued to smile. "You will go outside and call off your dogs. Then you will command them to fight, all of them, until but one remains." Nathan nodded. "Then you will be stationed here, with me, and your manager and producer will be sent on with their lives. You will then send out the order for world wide war, and then we shall watch the carnage unfold..." Nathan sprang forward suddenly, having removed the knife from the sheath he'd hidden beneath his shirt, and sunk the blade deep into Selatia's heart. He gasped, too shocked to struggle, and that was when the other's sprang into action as well, Toki, Pickles, and Skwisgaar shooting wildly at his head while Murderface ran up and began to stab him as well, his favored knife digging deep into the man's eyes and face. All the while Nathan twisted his own knife in the man's heart, and eventually he fell still, his struggles ceasing. The hail of bullets stopped and Murderface stepped away, but Nathan stayed where he was, watching to make sure the wounds stayed open. They did, but to be safe he removed his knife and cut deeply into the white haired man's chest, removing the still, bloody organ. The rest of the band watched, looking a little sick but instinctively understanding the necessity of the action.
"I promised a long fucking time ago I'd kill anyone who fucked with my band..." Nathan grunted to the man's corpse, too quiet for the others to hear. He dropped the heart on the ground and stepped on it heavily, cringing as he heard an ugly squelch. Blood covered both Nathan and Murderface, and it spread to the others when they resumed their position of linked arms. They were all shaking, all tired, all relieved, because it was done. They'd killed Selatia, they'd saved the world, they'd saved each other. They were done. Once outside they found the ground littered with the dead, and Charles standing alone, his glasses broken and his suit bloodied. "We're done," came Nathan's voice, a noisy growl in the silence. Charles smiled, and suddenly they were all laughing, laughing through all the death, laughing through all that had happened, laughing because they were alive, they were immortal! Charles led them back to the plane, and, with an unusual surreality, they were flown back to Mordhaus where they cleaned up and sat together in the hot tub for a while, slipping easily back into their old ways, the ways from before the Metalocalypse. Charles called for the Dethsub to be brought up and all the people inside transferred back to Mordhaus, Abigail and Jean Pierre especially. For two weeks they relaxed and allowed the only excitement to be the random calls about small sects of Revengencers which Klokateers easily dispatched. Finally, when Abigail was finally released from the hospital wing, Toki and Skwisgaar decided to announce the vacation they'd been planning.
"We ams goings back to Scandinavia for a whiles. We ams wantings to be spendings de time togethers," Skwisgaar said with a lecherous grin, reaching down and grabbing Toki's butt. Toki shrieked, and Charles smirked.
"Ah, yes. I'll get that set up immediately, and you two may leave tomorrow. Oh and ah, Skwisgaar? Try to make sure Toki can still walk when you returned. I really don't ah, feel like explaining why Toki suddenly has a limp." Toki blushed.
"No promises Mr. Managers," Skwisgaar said, dragging away an indignant and yelling Toki.