Here's another one-shot for you readers out there, sparse as you are. Forgive me if you feel it's not the best ever, I have changed my writing style since writing this one and the previous story but I couldn't bring myself to edit it. Also, just as a forewarning, I do play around with the year/time a bit as the song I used for inspiration was a remake of an older song but it was newer than the movie and I wanted to keep their ages the same. The song that was the inspiration for this is Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel/ Disturbed. I suggest you look up Paul Simon - The Sounds of Silence on Youtube. That is what's used later in the story.
But basically, this one-shot filled with Jackie's memories takes a little place about a day or two after Of Sickness and Visions. Hope you enjoy!
Also, I do not own the song or the movie of which this one-shot uses.
Sound Of Silence
Summary: Jack hears Summer listening to a song by the band Disturbed and remembers a time back with his old team.
When Jack walked into the training room this morning he was not expecting to hear a song so familiar yet completely new. He was also not expecting to walk right back out and hide out behind the secret electrical panel. But this is how it happened.
He walked into the training room at exactly 10:00 to see Summer at one table doing homework, Cindy coloring in another ridiculous pink costume, and Tucker eating his breakfast. Dylan wasn't going to be there for another hour at the request of the doctors. Curious as to what Summer was working on for homework, Jack had walked over to hear her humming quietly.
"-To the neon god they made. And the sign flashed out its warning- Huh?" Summer looked up, taking out her earphones. "Hey Captain. You need something?"
"No, just wondering what you were working on. Math?" Jask said, looking over her homework. The words she had sung were probing his memory but he wasn't sure of what.
"Oh, uh, yeah. AlgebraⅡ. I was just finishing up some makeup work." Summer answered nervously.
Jack blinked. He realized her nervousness was because his tone made it sound like he was unhappy. "I'm glad you're focusing back on your studies. I wasn't able to do that much here. That's why I got stuck working in a car shop."
Summer frowned. "Oh. Something is bugging you. Mind telling me?"
Jack's lips twitched. "Can't really tell you if I don't know what it is."
Summer nodded. She glanced at his face, eyes scanning him, before going back to her homework. She opened her Ipod and replayed the song she had been listening to. Jack caught the end of the title: Of Silence, Artist- Disturbed.
Jack's eyebrows scrunched together in frustration. Something about that song was poking at his mind.
"It's called Sound of Silence. It's by the band Disturbed." Summer commented, not looking up.
Jack nodded and went to go the front of the room when it hit him why it was bothering him.
Sound of Silence. The Sounds of Silence.
Was it the same song?
"Would you like to listen to it Jack?"
"Sure." Jack sat on the table next to hers as Summer took out her earphones and put the song on full volume.
So he listened. At first he couldn't understand the guy, he was so quiet and sort of mumbling. But as the song went on a faint memory of dancing, smiling, singing, and a fire played in the back of his mind. Before long Jack was sucked into a memory.
There were five of them, probably teens. All were laughing and having a good time. They sat in a circle around a small campfire in red suits. One kid, male, was singing in a ridiculous voice while another boy was playing a campfire song on the guitar.
"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves! Everybody's nerves, yes everybody's nerves. I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves. And this is how it goes…"
A younger boy pushed the one singing, though he had a smile on his face.
"Stop it Connor! You're a horrible singer!"
"Like you're any better Jackie."
"What did mom say about calling me Jackie!"
"Guys, yameru!" One of the other teens, a girl this time, stood up. "We had enough of your bickering on the way back."
"Give them a break Maria. They're brothers." The last teen, another girl, told her. She had her brown hair in a ponytail and her blue-green eyes sparkled in the firelight.
The previous girl, Maria, rolled her eyes. She had japanese facial features but had auburn hair that stopped right above her chest. "At least Ali can sing and play better than the two combined."
The guitar player grinned. "I have been teaching myself for years guys."
'Jackie' turned around, eyes bright with mischief. "Hey Alejandro… Can you teach me?"
Alejandro nodded. "Sure thing Jack."
The boy, Jack, grinned. "So can we start now?"
"No! We're supposed to be hiding from the Zenith Program." The brown haired girl said.
"Hmm… How about I play my favorite song? We probably have enough time for that before they find us. How's that Alice?" Alejandro suggested.
She and everyone else nodded, going back to their seats. Jack sitting next Alice and Connor sitting next to him. Maria was sitting next to Alejandro. He began to pluck a few strings then began to sing.
"Hello darkness, my old friend…
I've come to talk with you again.
Because a vision softly
Creeping…
Left its seeds while I was sleeping.
And the vision…
That was planted in my brain…
Still remains….
Within the sound…
Of silence." Alejandro's voice silenced his teammates quiet chatterings so that all that was heard was the crackling of the fire. His played strings and chords like a professional and his voice fit the tune he was making. At the end of each line he seemed to either raise his voice and pitch or seemed to quiet down. And the next lines, the endings words began to be emphasized.
"In restless dream I walked alone.
Narrow streets of cobblestone.
'Neath the halo of a
Street lamp…
I turned my collar to the cold and damp…
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neo light!
That split the night…
And touched the sound…
Of silence…" Connor began making a beat by kicking a log in rhythm to Alejandro's playing. Alejandro grinned and continued.
"And in the naked light I saw…
Ten thousand people, maybe more…
People talking without speaking!
People hearing without listening!
People writing songs…
That voices never share!
And no one dared…
Disturb the sound!
Of silence…" Alice stood up. Alejandro began his next line before she could speak.
"'Fools!' said I, "You do not know. Silence like a cancer grows…"
Alice, sensing an upbeat in the next part, pulled Jack up and started dancing with him. Maria and Connor laughed at the ridiculous way they danced. Alejandro just continued his song.
"'Hear my words that I might teach you!
Take my arms that I might reach you!'
But my words…
Like silent raindrops fell!
And echoed…
In the wells…
Of silence…
And the people bowed and prayed.
To the neon god they made.
And the sign flashed its warning!
In the words that it was forming…
And the sign said:
'The words of the Prophets are written on the Subway walls…
And Tenement Halls…
And whispered…" The couple's dancing stop for a second as Alejandro's voice got serious and his playing ceased.
"In the sounds…
Of silence…" He strummed the last cord and looked at his teammates.
They began clapping ferociously. Alejandro laid his guitar against his log and bowed dramatically. The group laughed, including Alejandro, and they began debating what was better; Alejandro's version of the song or the original.
As the memory faded, Jack smiled forlornly. He had forgotten about that time.
"This song… It has a memory attached… Doesn't it?" Summer's voice shook Jack out of his mind.
"Yeah." Jack murmured. "I don't think training will begin for another hour or at least until Dylan gets here. Excuse me."
Summer watched him go. "Captain… Jack!"
He ignored her and walked past a few more people, pushing a few guards out of the way. Somewhere along the way he had grabbed a flashlight. Then he stopped in front of the electrical panel and opened it, climbing in and walking over to the place where his previous had written their names.
This is where Jack, also known as Zoom or Captain Zoom, found himself now. Sitting with the flashlight illuminating the names and his thoughts all over the place. A knock on the metal of the electrical panel startled him. Jack jumped up and turned around to see Connor. Connor had a sympathetic smile on his face.
"Hey there Jackie. Summer told me what happened."
Jack inhaled deeply. "Yeah." He said, exhaling.
"I'm going to guess that you're blaming yourself still?" Connor guessed.
"If only I had said no. If only I had accepted their help. If only-"
"You could go on all day, back to when we were first found out by the Zenith program. But what happened, happened. And I'm sorry for it. I'd always been unstable. I should've warned you and the team." Connor gave a half smile, "Heck, that night Ali was playing was a prime time to warn you all. But I didn't. And right now, I'm the reason you have been so depressed lately. So push through it. 'Cause somehow you did it for thirty years."
Jack sighed. "Yeah. Somehow."
Connor punched his younger(yet older-aged) brother in the arm. Silence surrounded the two until,
"You still have a team to train."
There you have it. I'm in the middle of writing another one-shot, but it's a bit of a jump into the future. But don't expect it to be up immediately because if you've read any of my other stories, you'd know I do not update regularly.
And if you want to know the names I made for Jack and Connor's original team, please review and I'd be happy to tell you or post a new chapter with their descriptions of what I think they were or used to be.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Don't forget to review!