Sentinel and CajunBear strike again, Kudos Dudes :D
Chapter 25 Surfing with the Alien
By Joe Satriani
http://www (dot) youtube (dot) com/watch?v=VO8QsoNOV_k&feature=related
The main lab door was bigger than your standard bank vault door. It had to be to allow the passage of large pieces of equipment. It was balanced so well that even before he had started to put on muscle, Wade could easily move it unassisted. It had a electric motor to allow remote opening and closing and a set of hydraulics for use in case it was jammed from moving in either direction. Either to close it in a crisis or open it if it was stuck.
Like the rooms in the apartment upstairs were the personal areas of each resident, the lab/living quarters in the basement was his. If you wanted to enter one of the rooms upstairs, you knocked. If the main door was open, but the lab door was shut then anyone wanting to enter would knock. And since 'The Improvised Explosives Incident', nobody entered without knocking.
But when the main door was closed, the lab was more secure than your standard bank vault, so just knocking wasn't going to work. So Wade had installed a low powered wireless doorbell. He was in his lab when the main door chime sounded. That meant there was somebody outside the entrance to Wade's domain. He had been working on some delicate adjustment to the mini-Lambda Driver for BK1 and didn't need anyone barging in pounding on the lab door, so he had shut the main door itself.
He had developed the habit of checking the monitors to see who was outside. He saw a Japanese teenager about his age, Ayame Chidori. The sister of his Whispered teammate Kaname. He was looking at the screen, trying to figure out what she was doing there when the chime sounded again. He entered the code to open the door and left the lab.
When he got to the front of the lab the door was finishing the opening cycle and he saw her looking at the mechanism with amazement. She glanced at him, pointed to the door and said, "That's cool!"
Even a super genius couldn't resist showing off a bit. "That not that cool, watch this!" He flipped a switch inside the room to release the opening mechanism and stood behind the door. He motioned her out of the way and using one hand, he slowly pushed the door closed.
"WOW! How much does that thing weigh?"
"Oh, 'bout 15 tons. That's something like sixteen or seventeen full sized cars. So, what can I do for ya?"
"Well, everybody had classes today, so the only ones here were me and dad. Then I remembered you're down here. I was bored and I really didn't feel like doing anymore schoolwork! So I thought I'd come see if I could hang out with you for awhile."
Wade wasn't sure how to act or talk. This was the first girl his own age he had ever really associated with. "Uhhh, sure. I can let you come into the lab, but you can't touch anything unless you ask me first. I don't want the lab to blow up this week."
Ayame stared at him blankly for a second, waiting for the jokes punch line. Then is occurred to her he was serious. "Blow up?! As in explosion?!"
Wade had a huge grin "Yeah, couple a weeks ago, me and Sagara were working on some stuff when Kim barged in without knocking. The pressure differential cause a fulminate mercury switch to collapse setting off the improvised flash bangs we were working on. Loud noise, bright light, lot a smoke and knocked us both clean out. I got a picture of her with soot all over her face from the security cameras."
It was then she noticed what he was wearing. His modified Interceptor body armor. "You wear that all the time. I've seen Kaname's in her room; that thing weighs a ton!"
"Naa, it only weighs about 10 or 11 kilos, say 22 to 25 pounds. Wearing it makes for a great workout. Besides I have most of the things I use the most on it. That way I don't have to waste time carrying a toolbox back and forth to the garage or the lab."
She looked to his left and spotted the shoulder holster, "And that?"
"How much has Kaname told you?"
"Not a lot. She's been talking to Dad since we got here. I mean, yeah, we've talked about girl stuff, sister stuff, school stuff, things like that. But when I ask her why she has things like that vest or a gun she clams up."
Wade thought for a second and decided to go with the 'Public' reasons for Sagara and Kaname being here. "You see that door?"
"Yeah."
"That's for me. Did you see any of the videos from the Diablo's a year and a half ago? The ones with Kim and that white suit she was wearing?"
"That was so cool!"
"I invented that suit. There's a lot of people who might want to try and force me to build other stuff like that. Sagara and Kaname? They're here as my bodyguards." Wade pulled the Glock, ejected the magazine slipping it into a pouch, pulled the slide locking it to the rear and presented to her butt first. "And this is my last line of defense." As she gingerly took it he said, "It's heavy."
Not knowing about firearms she started to slip her finger into the trigger well. She started when he said, "Keep your finger away from the trigger." Wade watched her as she looked at the blocky shape and something occurred to him, "You've never had firearms safety training have you?"
"In New York? No!"
He waved his fingers to take it back "Here." when she returned it, he released the slide, slapped the magazine home and replaced it into the holster. "Where's your Dad?"
"In one of the offices upstairs."
"Hold on a second." he moved to one of the intercoms he had installed throughout the building and chose the button for the living room "Mr. Chidori? It's Wade Load." a moment later he called again "Mr. Chidori, it's an intercom system, just push the button that says 'Wade' to talk."
"Young man, this is very convenient. What can I do for you?"
"Sir, could you come down to the armory, please?"
"Alright, on the way." A few minutes later he came down the stairs to see Wade and his confused youngest daughter. He found it a little unsettling to see a thirteen year old boy wearing body armor and carrying a gun. But after what Kaname had told him and what he had seen the last few days, he could deny neither the young genius' reasons nor his ability. This boy might have been a reclusive hermit six months ago, but his performance in the Sims yesterday proved he was also becoming a Warrior.
"Alright Mr. Load, what can I do for you?"
"Sir, bear with me a moment. One of the reasons people think I'm a genius is I sometimes see connections no one else does. I know basically everything Kaname has told you. The reasons she's here. Why she's armed. Everything. Matter of fact I know more than just the things she's told you. You don't have our clearances."
When Wade paused, Shunya prompted him "Go on."
"Sir, Sagara said something shortly after he got here that makes a lot of sense. 'Just because you have a skill, doesn't mean you have to use it.' We've all been receiving training in things I hope I never have to use. And I don't mean just firearms training."
"First Aid and CPR training come to mind. I hope I never have to give a heart attack victim CPR, because that means someone's having a heart attack. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Yes, I think I do. Your point?"
So when Wade repeated, "Just because you have a skill doesn't mean you have to use it, but if you need it….." As he trailed off, Wade glanced from him to Ayame, then to the firing line and armory door. It was a glance that Shunya didn't miss and he quickly made the connection this young Warrior/genius was trying to get him to see. Shunya had made the connection on his own that because of his oldest daughter's situation he could be in danger as well, and Ayame by association. He caught what the teen was trying to say without saying it in front of Ayame. The two of them should learn basic self defense at least.
"Very well, as soon as Kaname returns I will…"
Wade interrupted him with, "Sir, with all due respect, they're pretty busy. I can get ya started. No time like the present."
Shunya wasn't to sure about that, after all, Wade was just thirteen. But he had some training from years ago and thought he could spot any glaring mistakes Wade might make. "Alright, young man, what would you suggest?"
"Follow me." Wade led them to a room that Ayame hadn't seen yet. The inside of the armory.
Stacked in racks along the walls were weapons of every sort. M-4 carbines, shotguns, FN-2000's, racks of differing types of pistols. Boxes were stacked in the back with ammunition and grenades. There was a set of assault weapons that had magazines loaded nearby and ready for instant deployment.
The only thing Ayame could say was "Whoa!"
Wade looked at Shunya's hands for a moment and selected a Glock .40 which he set on the table in the middle of the room. "Ayame, I asked you earlier if you had firearms safety training. You wanna learn?"
Her eyes grew and her jaw dropped. She looked at her father who sighed and nodded. He didn't like it, but Wade had made a very good point. It was better to know and never need it, then need it and have no clue.
"Sure!"
Her exuberance reminded Wade of something. Himself when Sagara started training him. So Wade decided to do the same thing Sagara did to get his attention. He selected a Browning .380 BDA similar to Kaname's for her. He grabbed a few magazines for each and loaded everything into a bag and escorted them out of the armory, then locked it.
He excused himself for a second and went to his lab. He printed out a picture and went to the firing line. He taped the picture to one of the man-shaped targets and sent it downrange. It was a picture of Ayame taken from one of the security cameras.
Wade shucked his Glock 10 MM, pulled the slide and fired at the target. Two center mass, one to the head, just like he had trained. He locked the slide to the rear, ejected the mag and set the weapon on the shelf, muzzle downrange and turned to face the pair behind him.
Ayame was horrified, but Shunya had to admire the way the boy had gotten his flighty daughter's attention. He didn't think he had ever gotten it so easily.
Wade was very serious when he said, "These things are no joke and they're not toys. When I showed you my pistol before, the first thing you did was put your finger on the trigger. NEVER, put your finger on the trigger unless you're going to pull it. NEVER point a gun at anybody unless you're going to shoot them. When you're on the firing line ALWAYS keep the muzzle downrange."
Wade reached into the bag and pulled out the BDA, "Now, this is the same kind of handgun Kaname uses. It's a Browning .380. The rounds are big enough to have a decent stopping power, but they're small enough to let the grip fit your hand comfortably." He locked the slide back and handed it to her butt first. "Remember, don't touch the trigger. Lay your forefinger alongside the trigger well." When she had a grip, Wade pulled the Glock .40 and repeated the procedure with Shunya. "This is a Glock .40 caliber, Sir. Slightly bigger than a 9 mil."
At every turn he carefully explained things. He concentrated on Ayame as Shunya watched. He showed her where the safety was, how to load and chamber the weapon, how to safely de-cock it and most importantly how to lock and clear it.
So far Shunya was impressed. The young man was quite serious about the subject. He wasn't trying to glamorize it to impress either him or his daughter. Nor did he try to downplay the danger of what it was he was teaching them. When Shunya asked him, "Young man, how long have you been handling firearms?", the answer was surprising.
"Sagara started training me shortly after he got here a couple of months ago, Sir."
The fact that the Sergeant his daughter was gaga over had given this boy such a serious demeanor on the firing line was startling. Wade turned his attention back to Ayame and proceeded to show her how to stand, how to grip the weapon, sight the weapon and squeeze the trigger.
"Squeeze the trigger, don't pull it. When it fires, it fires; it should almost be a surprise." Wade had her dry-fire the weapon a few times and set the weapon on the shelf, then turned his attention to Shunya. He went through the same procedures with the man as he did with his daughter, changing nothing except for the differences in the handgun itself.
Shunya Chidori still wasn't quite sure about the Sergeant his daughter had set her cap for, but other than a few instances of chaos Kaname had mentioned from back in Sengawa, Sousuke Sagara was beginning to impress him despite his initial misgivings.
**********
When the buzzer to the groundside doors sounded, Wade, to Ayame's disappointment and Shunya's raised eyebrow at said disappointment, called a halt to the impromptu class. He secured the two handguns in a strongbox in the foyer of the firing line that was there for just that purpose. He led the other two upstairs, checking the security cameras on his Kimmunicator. It was the truck that was supposed to collect Ron's Galaxie and transport it to the paint shop.
Ron had spent the last few days finishing up everything he could before the car was to be sent off. Ron thought that it would only be a few days work after the paint shop and upholstery shop finished with the car before he could have it on the road. Problem was, as far as Ron knew the painters wouldn't be finished for weeks. Grinning, Wade knew better. Ron's birthday was the middle of next week and Roger had been a busy beaver for the last few days.
Once the car was loaded, Shunya offered to help Wade police up the brass and clean the firing line, but the teen turned him down. So he excused himself after thanking Wade for the lessons. Before he left, he did order Ayame to help.
Shunya's visit to his daughter might have been a bit of a vacation, but he still had things that required his attention back in New York. Luckily, the computer station in the upstairs offices had more than enough resources to handle the task. While he was online, he placed an information request to U.N. Security about self-defense classes and carry permits. Wade's point about the possible danger to both him and Ayame had landed in fertile ground.
Wade, with Ayame in tow, went back to the firing line to clean up. As he locked the pistols in the armory, he had her sweep up the brass casings and drop them into a barrel in the armory to be sent out for recycling and reloading. As they went about the cleaning duties, they talked.
She asked him about the simulation she saw yesterday. "When you were in that machine yesterday, weren't you scared?" For some reason Wade was starting to fascinate her. Here was someone her age that did things she had only seen in the movies. He was still a little chubby, but carrying around 20 plus pounds of body armor all day and the physical training he was doing everyday was changing that. Fast.
He shrugged, "Not really. Unlike Kim and Ron, I knew it was a Sim. If it had been real I probably would have."
"She did freak yesterday, didn't she?"
"She's not normally that bad. But she and Ron have only patched things up a few weeks ago. If I'd seen any of them really hurt or killed for real, I think I'd freak too."
"You've gotten pretty tight with sis, haven't you?"
If Wade would have been a lighter color then the mocha he was, Ayame would have seen the slight blush. He was able to cover the rest of the nervousness her question raised by motioning her out of the armory. Walking out he answered her question with, "I've been tight with Kim and Ron for years. Sagara and Kaname? They're gettin' there, fast!" He grinned, "Part of it's the training they've been torturing me with. Another part….." he trailed off as he considered how to say what it was he wanted.
"Another part?"
He led her to the lab as he continued talking, "I don't know if I know how to explain this, but you see, outside of Kim and Ron, Sagara and Kaname are the first people besides my parents who treat me like 'Wade'. Not like Doctor Load or like some kinda brainiac weirdo. Just me! I finished my first Doctorate…" He saw her confused look. ", that's like the sixth year of college, when I was eleven."
"No way?!"
"Yeah. But I was finishing classes and the other students were like 26, 27 years old. Kim and Ron knew me either through a computer screen or one of these." He held up the Kimmunicator. "They knew I was different, but they didn't treat me that way. Especially Ron! To them I was just Wade. I was their super genius/tech guru, but I was always Wade first. They were the first real friends I've had."
"There for a while, I thought I was gonna lose my mind. Kim and Ron couldn't help, they didn't know and couldn't understand. But Kaname does. We have to work pretty closely while she's teaching me some things. And what she's been showing me has kept me from going bananas."
"And Sagara! Ya know, to him, it doesn't matter that I'm like ten times smarter than he is, he doesn't care. He treats me the same as he does everybody else." Wade considered this as he started putting stuff away in the lab. "Unless they're bad guys that is. That's one guy I would NOT want mad at me. Ron either. If those two ever got torqued at the same person.." he gave a short whistle. "Between the two of them, they could level this building."
"I'll tell you something else about Sagara, there's not a doubt in my mind he'd jump in front of a bullet for me! For any of us! He'd do anything to protect us. Your sister, me, Kim, Ron," he looked her in the eye, "You and your dad, too. If half the stuff I've heard about him true, half the stuff Kaname's told me, he wouldn't hesitate."
Wade looked very serious now, "And when you spend time around somebody that would do that for you, after a while, you start to feel the same way about them. Anybody that hurts them, they're gonna answer to ME!"
**********
Shunya silently backed away from the door, turned and quietly walked back to the main door. He hadn't meant to eavesdrop on the conversation between his daughter and the boy. He had come down to offer to take them to Lunch and caught the boy talking about the people he lived with.
The part of the conversation that interested him was the part about his eldest daughter and, most importantly, Sagara. Shunya could tell the young man, had in a few short months, fostered a fierce devotion in the teen genius that seemed to border on a slight bit of hero worship. If Wade's tone was anything to go by, Shunya believed the boy was deadly serious in his declaration about making someone pay for hurting any of his Teammates.
The NCO had given a boy barely in his teens an appreciation of the deadly nature of firearms that he hadn't seen since his days as a Soldier in the JSDF. Even some of the instructors weren't as serious as the boy that had given him a refresher course.
Sagara, polished by Miss Possible, had also given his daughter the skills to lay out her own Father on the Dojo floor. And in less then three months taught four people, one of them a child and the others barely adults, to take on some of the most capable Combat Soldiers in the world head-to-head and win.
Admittedly Sagara's team had the superior equipment, but he had listened in on both sides of the conflict and right up until the end, Sagara and to a lesser extent Kaname, were considered to be the main threat by the OpFor. Possible and Stoppable were considered to be minor threats and the boy hardly entered in to the thoughts of any of the trainer team.
All the planning and Battlefield communications revolved around avoiding Sagara and Kaname and taking out the lesser experienced Team Possible. It was a startling testament of how serious the Veterans considered the young man's skills.
Belfangan, Mao and Weber had correctly predicted Sagara's planning with the exception of the directions Sagara and Possible had gone. And Shunya had heard the shock and surprise in the voices of both Mao and Weber at the effectiveness of the return fire and movements of the pair they were engaged with, while Belfangan had almost completely dismissed Wade to his 'Death'
It was a sobering performance by the Team in general and Sagara's training in particular.
Shunya had also seen the way the young man looked at his daughter when he thought no one was looking at him. It was the same look Shunya himself wore in his own wedding photos while looking at his new bride.
And much to Shunya's discomfort, Kaname looked at Sagara the same way his wife, until the day of her death, looked at him.
**********
Kaname knew something was up. Her sister wouldn't shut up about the genius that lived in the basement. Ayame kept pestering her for details about the boy. At Shunya's insistence they were speaking Japanese. Shunya wanted Ayame to practice for when they returned to Japan next year.
When Ayame said, "Ya know, I think he has a crush on you!" her accent was terrible, but her tone was slightly mad and disappointed.
"Sis, Load-san a nice kid, but he's thirteen. And he's not Sousuke-kun!"
"You really like him don't you, Nee-chan?" (Nee-chan: nay-chan, Big Sister.)
Kaname looked at her sister with a smirk and her answer shocked the younger girl. "No I don't!"
"Whaaaat?" Ayame reflexively switched to English.
Kaname was still smirking and stayed in Japanese. "I don't like him, I love him."
"Oh, you…." Ayame launched one of the throw pillows from the bed at her chortling older sister.
Kaname started getting an evil gleam in her eyes, "You know, imouto-chan, since you're not spoken for, maybe we can have Otou-san set up an Omiai with Load-sans parents." (imouto-chan: e-mo-oo-tho-chan, Little sister. Otou-san: oh-toe-san, Father, Omiai: oh-me-eye, a formal meeting between parents and their marriageable children for the purposes of an arranged wedding. And yes, this still happens in Japan.)
"Whaaaat?" Another pillow was launched followed by a third. "Don't you dare!"
They talked for a while longer, but as amusing as it was to tease Ayame about Wade, she had too much homework to finish to deal with the hyperactive teenage girl. Kaname eventually told her sister that KIM had known Wade for years.
As Ayame scampered away to find the red-headed girl, Kaname turned back to her History homework shaking her head at the new crush of her sister. She had felt a little weird that Wade had taken her sister and father onto the firing line, but she had worked with him enough to know that Wade knew what he was doing.
**********
Kim and Ron were sparring in the Dojo. It was only supposed to be a light contact session, but to Kim's frustration, she was landing waaaay too many hits.
"Grrrr, Ron, why is it that when we fight, I can kick your biscuit?" Crescent kick, backfist, snap kick, hammer fist.
"Because you're better then me, why do ya think!" Duck, dodge, twirl, block,
Side kick, back roundhouse, "OK, but when you and Sagara go at it, you can take him about half the time."
"So, we're not as good as you!" Block, duck.
As they fought across the Dojo, her frustration grew until finally, "Damn it, Ron! Then why is it I have to work my butt off to get a win from him! You keep holding back! STOP IT! Fight me!"
"But I'm doing my best, KP!"
"Like Hell!" She started launching a veritable blizzard of strikes. High, Low, Crescent Kicks, Hammer Fists, Front Snap Kicks. Through it all Ron blocked and dodged, trying to land a hit through the furious offense Kim was putting up when suddenly he landed a hard roundhouse kick to the side of her head throwing her to his left.
She rolled with the hit into her landing and came up to a knee breathing hard. She wiped at her now busted lip with the back of her hand and looked down to see blood there. Ron was first horrified, then confused as Kim smiled and said, "That's better!"
"KP, are you Ok?" he started to approach her and she launched him in a hip throw that knocked the wind out of him when he landed. 'OOFFFFF!" It was only his reflexes that rolled him to the side has her fist came in for the middle of his chest.
He rolled away, opening the distance and back to his feet as he tried to get he breath back. She was already standing, breathing hard, but ready to go at it again when she asked, "Where are we, Ron?"
He wheezed out, "The Dojo."
Panting, "And what are we doing here?"
Wheeze, "Training."
"That's right. And neither of us is going to get better if you don't try, really try, to kick my butt. I can't train with Shego anymore, least not until the baby's born. Unless you go all out without going Mystical Monkey, you won't get any better and I could lose to someone because you didn't go all out against me."
That thought started to freak Ron out. 'I don't really want to hurt her, but someone else could because I didn't try, but if I try she might get hurt, but if I don't….." Kim could see the doubts and worries bouncing around in his eyes.
"RON!" she got his attention again and said, "When we come in here, I'm not KP. I'm your opponent and trainer. Inside those doors, I have to kick your butt without killing you; I expect you to try and do the same."
"Sagara doesn't need what I can teach. He's a really good workout, I can't amp down with him because all he knows is Combat. Kaname and Wade don't have the skills we do. But you, you're close, but you have to get past this over protectiveness. And as good as Sagara is, I think you could be better. I can't get better unless I have somebody I can really fight and neither will you."
She smiled at her confused boyfriend and said, "Now come on, let's hit the showers. Afterwards, you can help me fix this split lip I have. I need a dose of Ronshine to make it better!"
**********
The next evening found a sizable Possible/Stoppable crowd in the club waiting for Sagara and Ron to give their hopefully winning performance.
There was this Japanese girl, a few years older than the Team, with a pageboy hairdo working the crowd, while her pigtailed paramour looked on in amusement. It was through her efforts that the word had been spread far and wide throughout the campus of the coming "Battle of the Bands".
She was taking bets as to who the winner of tonight's contest would be. She had several classes of bets going. For either Ron, Sagara or both, to win and lose. She was completely impartial. Because of their exposure, Mankey's crew were the odds-on favorites at five to one for each Mankey and his lead guitarist to win and ten to one for both.
Seeing the betting, Kaname placed two twenties and ten in front of the girl on both Ron and Sousuke to win. The girl looked at her and said, "A Fifty dollar bet at 10 to one odds, you stand to make five hundred bucks. What do you know that I don't?"
"Only that I've heard both sides here," She pointed to Josh onstage working his set, "and those guys are gonna lose!"
The girl just quirked an eyebrow at her and said, "I see! Well, good luck on your bet."
Kaname just grinned and answered, "I don't need luck! I've got Sousuke!" She headed back to the table where the rest of the party was waiting during a break in the band's set. Josh had done several cover songs trying to pump up the crowd so much that any performance Ron and Sagara gave would fall flat.
There was a bit of a disagreement about the use of Wade's help because, number one, he wasn't there. He and Ayame had stayed behind and Wade was going to help virtually. Second was the problem of using pre-recorded backup for Ron and Sagara's set.
The bassist solved the problem by saying, "Hey, me and him," he pointed a thumb at the drummer, "don't care one way or the other! We'll back ya up." For Josh, this would be a coup because neither Ron nor Sagara had practiced with the other musicians. He just knew his date was guaranteed now.
Sousuke thought about it for a second and agreed. Josh and the other player moved off to the side of the stage where several girls of the Mankey squad were waiting.
Surfing with the Alien
By Joe Satriani
http://www (dot) youtube (dot) com/watch?v=VO8QsoNOV_k&feature=related
Sousuke looked at the other two musicians, turned his attention to the bassist and said, "The song doesn't require a bass, can you play rhythm?"
"Yea."
Very well, I will show you the rhythm, I need you to pick up and copy it." As the bassist changed to a six string rhythm guitar, Sousuke looked back and forth between them and said, "Gentleman, this is a speed rhythm and a hard rock beat. Try and keep up." Both of them looked at Sousuke with a 'Say what?' expression.
When the other guitarist was ready, Sousuke started hammering out a hard driving repeating riff and the other guitarist followed along as the drummer picked up on the beat Sousuke was laying down. After a couple of refrains the player had it and Sousuke launched into an insane sounding lead.
He walked back to the center of the stage as Ron had advised him to do. Fingers were flying almost faster then the eye could follow. It was loud and pulse pounding, driving the unstunned members of the audience into a head banging frenzy. It was like nothing they had ever heard before. Of course they hadn't, the song was over twenty years old and because it didn't have lyrics, it was never a mainstream hit.
As for the stunned members of the crowd, Josh, his partner and their groupies, stunned didn't cover it. The only time any of them heard a guitarist play like that, they had hair to the middle of their backs and most likely did more then a few drugs. The idea of the quiet, somber, short haired, stern faced guy slamming out what they were hearing was unbelievable.
About thirty seconds into the song, James Possible's head popped up like a meerkat's and he hollered, "I know that song!" Anne was grinning like a fool as she started bouncing her head in time with the music. James looked at his wife and started banging in time with her. Even the Stoppable's were grinning and nodding in time with the beat.
Kim and Kaname hadn't heard because the music was almost deafening. She laid her hand on her bouncing father's shoulder and yelled, "What?!"
"I know this song!"
Kim's jaw dropped as she asked, "You're kidding?!"
"NO! It's Surfing with the Alien, by Joe Satriani!"
After a few moments Kim was able to pick up her jaw and hollered at her head banging father, "Where've you heard this?!"
James never stopped banging, "In college, I'd listen to this kind of stuff to stay awake during labs! You mom too! We went one of Satriani's concerts in our Junior year." He pointed to the stage where Sousuke just kept hammering it out. "The boy's doing pretty good, he ain't missing a lick!"
Kim turned back to her friend to see her wearing a huge grin. "I told that Jerk Sousuke was better!"
Sousuke wasn't wasting any thought or energy on theatrics like bouncing around and playing to the audience. He let the guitar do all of his talking. And it was doing exactly that. He just bobbed his head a bit in time with the music. Sometimes he would grimace a bit when he hit a faster piece, but for the most part he only wore an expression of concentration.
Kim looked back at her parents to see her mother's hair flying as she took in something she hadn't heard in years. Her father was right there with her, heads bouncing in time with one another. They had been transported back twenty years by a man young enough to be their son.
Suddenly, she saw them as they were in the old pictures that used to line the walls of the hallways and her father's office/den or in the old albums in her mother's keepsake chest. All of it lost when the Lowardian Walker landed on their home. Kim saw a young couple just out of college, with their lives and future ahead. A time when she wasn't even a gleam in their eyes. Somehow her teammate of just a few months had given something back to her parents they had thought they lost. She owed her Japanese teammate big time.
Kaname never lost her smile as she looked at her father who was looking at her boyfriend with an expression that was both confused and contemplative. He had seen the Fender sitting in the apartment. His daughter told him that Sagara played and he assumed that he was one of those people that played only fairly and irregularly. This was nothing like he expected. In the last few days, the young man had surprised him more than once. It was something he was going to have to work on.
Between the heat of a packed-full-of-dancing-college-aged-bodies-house, the lights and the effort he was putting into the music, Sousuke was starting to sweat. When he hit a pause in the lead section, he used his sleeve to wipe his brow and dove back into it again. In his mind, this was another 'Rescue Kaname' mission. The only difference this time is his weapons weren't Glocks and stun grenades, Arm Slaves and fighting skills.
His weapon was the Fender he was playing. And there was no way in any Hells he was going to let her down. He had let her down once. Just before the Hong Kong mission. Never again! So he pounded out a song he had gotten from his former Urzu teammate, Kurz Weber. If he was victorious, he owed the man again
On stage even the other two players were being dragged into the music. The drummer had started getting more and more into it. They had realized his comment of "Try and keep up!" was not a joke. He had meant exactly that. From the time he had stated showing the rhythm section, Sagara had set a fast and furious pace, forcing the other two to play catch up. But once they had it, they never dropped behind.
As the song wound down the crowd was screaming and hollering for more. The guy that played rhythm for Sousuke walked over to Josh and his other band member and quietly said, "Dudes, I hate to say it, but if that other guy can sing as good as he plays," he tossed a thumb to indicate Sagara, "we're going try to hire them and fire you two!"
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