Extra Chapter: Footprints in Fresh Snow

The roar of the rock music and diesel fumes filled the air as the convoy of trucks passed through the main thoroughfare of the little mountain town. American flags waved in the warm breeze as the trucks pushed into the main intersection of the town and stopped the sand encrusted brakes shrieking as the overweight vehicle came to a halt. The doors flew open and soldiers in full battle gear taking knees in a circle around the trucks and pointing guns in every direction as the last soldier out pulled a map from his cummerbund pouch and slammed it open on the hood of his still running truck.

“The hell are we?” the man asked rubbing his five o’clock shadow with a pensive look on his face his eyes flicked back to the GPS unit stuck to his arm. There was no signal, none of their devices had signal, even the personal devices some had mailed to them from home. It was all damn peculiar. There was no good reason and no real frame of reference all the mountains around here looked the same.

A man with Sergeant stripes approached from the man's left. “Lieutenant, we’ve only got a few miles left on the tanks and haven’t seen a single Daesh. We’ve been moving north west all day. Moving south east for the rest of the day might be the best decision.”

“Agreed.” The man addressed as lieutenant responded affirmatively. They’d been ordered to keep radio silence. So there was no way to call for help and the rumor was that the Daesh in the area had access to their radio protocols. A no win situation.

“Sir!” one of the kneeling men with guns called looking away from the town for only a moment. “The locals are clearing out..” He was of course pointing out that the locals were expecting some kind of fight. They hadn’t hardly batted an eye for the last few moments but now they were all clearing out like there was a 90% off sale at the local goat fuckers shop.

“Troubles incoming boys! Check your buddies and get ready for a fight!” The Sergeant called readying his own weapon shouldering it and flicking the safety off.

A young private first class checked himself and checked his partner everywhere that he couldn’t look. “You ready Baja!?”

“Fuck yeah man! Fuck yeah!” the soldier called Baja with a thick southern Californian accent and a republic of California patch on his uniform called back. “You ready America city’s favorite son!?”

“Hell yes!” The enthusiastic high school football star responded fondling his rifle, and nearly dropped it as incoming rounds passed overhead. One bounced off a rock a whistled as it ricocheted into the sky. Shouts of “Contact south!” , “Gun down!”, “Bound up!” and Reload!” filled the air. Baja and his partner opened fire turn8mg toward the south and gunning down a man shooting an AK style rifle from his hip!”

“If yer done sucking each other off move up!” The Sergeant called to the two men. “Wulf bound up to that wall!” the grizzled old combat vet yelled to Baja and his partner. It didn’t take them more than the moment it was called to start the maneuver to push up into the oncoming fire. Toward the stacked stone wall a short distance away.

Combat was loud and all the hours they had spent practicing maneuvers! Everything was going perfectly!

Perfectly that was until as Baja passed behind him on his push forward the man tripped and let out a cry of agony. Private first class Wulf turned his attention to his partner he almost didn’t recognize him with blood spattered over his body. It took only a moment for the panic to set in. And America City’s favorite son crawled through the dirt and gravel to his buddy Baja! Quickly checking him over and seeing that he’d taken a bullet to the armpit on his way up the round passing clean through his shoulder. There was blood.

Wulf pulled the chamois usually used to wipe sweat from his brow and stuffed it in the wound. As if trying to stop all the blood from leaking out. There was so much blood. What could he do? “Medic!” PFC called out. Looking around as he realized that nothing was perfect. People were dying! Friends he’d spent the last few months with. Men he would gladly lay down on a grenade for and here they were dropping like flies!  

“Medic!” Wulf called again with a desperate urgency. His eyes turned down to Baja he wasn’t awake. “Baja! Man wake up!” Wulf yelled panicked shaking his friend to wake up. There was so much blood, too much blood.

Blood, blood on his hands, blood on his face, blood everywhere. Blood enough to drown in.

Roy shot awake and sat up in a panic diving to the floor and almost hyperventilating . It took him a moment to realize it, where he was and when he was. Placing his hands on his clammy face he could feel the tears welling up in his eyes as he was brought back to that horrible place and realized though he’d left that dusty country behind it would never leave him. It was the same dream night after night, he’d talked with the doctors about it till his mouth was dry and his throat was sore, but it never helped.
Finally steadying his breathing and wiping his face Roy pushed himself to sit up from the floor. His eyes latched onto the glowing red letters of his alarm clock like every morning before it they read 4:57. He’d stopped setting his alarm clock, he’d not needed to anymore. His nightmare was a regular enough occurrence that an alarm going off just felt like insult to injury.

Getting ready for the day wasn’t an ordeal for Roy. A hot shower helped him shake off the long night and all that came with it. Combing his overly long hair something he kept from his rebellious phase after leaving the service though he lost the facial hair. For an Ex -soldier with a weight on his shoulders he cleaned up nicely. His work attire was a collared button up shirt of rotating pattern and design and solid color slacks and matching vest. All in all a sharp dresser, a nice watch, solid color tie and cufflinks would finish out the ensemble.

Roy leveraged his connections from in the service to land a job as a truck  stop manager. The pay was good the hours were regular and the work was almost stress free. When he got in he had a meeting with the night manager, then a meeting with the staff who were coming on shift. He would balance the books and work on any maintenance issues and get them either solved or scheduled to be solved. Paperwork was the next order of the hour and dealing with restless clientele. There were always those who were completely unsatisfied no matter if you have them the moon.

As Manager Roy’s afternoons were full of meets with the other business that occupied the truck stop and paid rent for the storefronts. Food, tourism, a small hotel for truckers, traveling necessities for those arriving in, leaving or just passing through America City.

The drive home for Roy was more exciting than anything, as manager he was always on call in case something catastrophic happened at the Truck Stop, that meant that his hours were only about as regular as he needed them to be. What made the drive home better was Roy's favorite Radio show, while it did have some DJ's taking about local America City events it was mostly commercial free music.

After work Roy didn't head straight home, neither did he head to the local bar or gym. He had other extracurricular activates that he enjoyed, and the studio he did them at wasn't too far from the truck stop where he worked. It was in America City's old industrial district Usually called United Manufacturing. The lots were abandoned and presented a perfect setting for his past time.

Roy Wulf mild mannered Truck stop manager was a minor Youtube Celebrity, he'd just passed 2 million subscribers. He'd done several prize give aways and content contests. One subscriber had gifted him and the crew some tickets, to the most recent concert to come to America City: DJ White Snow. Of course Roy wasn't one to pass up the opportunity. He'd received enough tickets and backstage passes for the whole crew to go. However he couldn't let this opportunity go to waste.
The whole crew was Roy Wulf, Acrobat-Daredevil Extraordinaire! Wilson Thomas camera man with two first names! Annette Bringer hostess of the channel Interdesign Outfits! provider of Roy's outfits for each shoot.  And Jacques La Voy Gentleman Sword Collector.

Wilson was always the first to arrive with his mobile Film developing lab RV. It also served as a convenient changing room. He would do all the work and test shoots, high speed and high resolution camera work. He did professional photography, Roy modeled well enough and the channel's popularity didn't hurt his sales either.

Annette was always next to arrive, she would do final checks on the outfit for Roy and lay it out in the RV's changing room. Her channel Interdesign Outfits had run a contest of what Roy would be wearing to the DJ White Snow concert. They'd picked a simple Black and White costume with White hair dye. Roy would be doing a video for his channel in the outfit as well before the concert. Which was tonight. Annette being the forward thinker that she was made a spare costume. Though all of her work was more than rugged enough for Roy's acrobatic and parkour high jinks.

Roy was next to arrive. He would go over the route of the stunt with Wilson, and talk with Annette with the final changes to the outfit she'd made. The woman was so talented that she no longer needed to measure him to sew something freehand in his size. He would run the stunt a few times in slow motion, while Wilson tweaked the lighting.

When Jaques arrived, usually the last to do so, he would present Roy with a piece from his personal collection. He had thousands of weapons mostly swords and almost all replicas. This piece was one custom made by the Stagmer brothers called "Dead Ice" It was an English Long sword with ice-blue fittings and white leather handle, finished in nickel and polished to an absolute shine.

The target, which Jaques also brought was a small ice sculpture of Disney's Snow White, and a few spares in case there was a problem with the shoot. When everything was ready Roy changed over, made sure he had all the mobility he needed for the stunt and then filming began.

"Welcome Back!" Roy threw out his arms to show off the outfit for a moment, "I'm Roy! And this is the House of Flying Swords!" Roy began walking swinging his arms in an exaggerated manner, as Wilson followed him slowly with the camera, making sure to keep a good shot with the rolling tripod. "And for today's shot we have a special theme!" He was obviously excited, a high energy personality. There would be a Cut and Roy would be standing beneath two steal I-beams in the obviously industrial compound nearly twenty feet in the air and separated by a nearly ten foot gap. Hanging between the gap was the Ice statuette. Thankfully Jaques would change it out between shots or it would melt. The statue was hung by a fishing line attached to an upheld hand with a little ice bird on it.
"All of our Facebook and Twitter followers are aware that the whole crew got a wonderful present from one of our wonderful followers!" Roy exclaimed in the next shot. Pointing up. "We got tickets for the White Snow Concert tonight! Maybe I'll see you there? So Annette over at Interdesign Outfits made me this wonderful costume!" He pointed down in front of him. "She has all the setup if you like it, right here." Wilson would put in the link on the video. Usually right where he was pointing.

"Now for today's Sword!" Between the shot cuts Roy would be holding the sword that Jaques brought. "Matt Stagmer over at Man At Arms made this custom sword from my friend Jaques!" Roy held up the sword. "You can see the build for it if you click on the sword!"  There would be a close up as Roy held it out for the camera, a High definition panning should would run the length of the ornate weapon.

"Now without further ado... Let's see some flying swords!" Roy contested before the shot cut away. Both Annette and Jaques would standby in the background in case anything horrible happened, usually it didn't. One shot in particular Roy had broken forearm and needed a quick hospital trip.
The shot started with a long pan, Roy started behind a vertical beam, meaning he'd have to pass around it with the sword in hand before speeding up to make the jump over the gap and do the trick all at once.

Roy took off like a shot letting the sword flow out behind him as his white dyed lochs waved in the breeze as he took off, his hand reaching forward and grasping steadily as he swung around the vertical I beam in his path not losing any forward speed as he pushed himself for the last ten feet of I-beam. Roy's body tensed as his foot landed at the end and he pushed with both legs, his body went end over, in the air perfectly inverted as he was airborne with the statue, his twist in motion as the beautiful sword slashed through the ice figurine shattering it into a million little chunks of Ice as Roy finished his spin and flip all at once his landing facing his take-off point on the other I beam with a perfect 3-point landing his fingers holding the wonderful acrobat from falling forward off the steel I-beam the wonderful weapon tucked behind his back, his eyes coming up to lock onto a camera stationed to check his landing.

The Shot would finish with Roy forward flipping off the I-beam where he landed and flourish the weapon in his hands as he touched down and give a bow to the final camera.

Wilson would most likely edit all the shots in with DJ White Snow's latest hits or something perhaps more obscure by DJ White Snow that fit the stunt as performed. Jaques and Annette clapped for Roy the way they always did, Jaques couldn't get enough of it.

"Thanks again to Wilson, Annette, Jaques, Matt Stagmer and Whiteout0099 for those tickets!"  Roy gave his farewell with a giant wave and passed the sword back to Jaques to finish and clean.

"Got all the shots?" Roy asked as Wilson collected the cameras, Normally this would be when Roy changed back into his normal clothes, but now he had a show he was going to and he was going in character as Roy of the House of Flying Swords Channel.

"Damn strait! This is gonna be your best one yet! I'll get all of the compiling and editing done, go ahead I'll be along in a little bit, DJ White Snow's music was never really my thing. With how well you did here, I'd feel bad going to a concert and just leaving it. I need to edit it while all of this is still fresh in my mind."

The ride to the concert wasn't far, and Jaques drove. Roy distributed the backstage passes, though he'd heard some of her music on the Radio it wasn't anything that got Roy overly excited. Annette however was shaking in her booties from excitement.  The backstage passes were on White Snow signed Lanyards, obviously meant to be collectible.

They arrived early enough to meet the DJ backstage before the show. Roy flashed his pass to the bouncer who called over a roadie to show them back to the dressing rooms. Roy lead the way, chest out in full Hose of Flying Swords style. Though all in all he still looked like a bodyguard for the sharply dressed Jaqeus, a man who looked out of place at an event like this.

It would be fairly obvious which room belonged to the one and only DJ White Snow as only one room had music distinctly playing from within, though it wasn't actually her brand of music, but something she'd simply borrowed to play when on her own as she prepared. To listen only to the music of one's own creation would be extremely narcissistic, after all.

The knock to her door would instantly bring the music down low, though still audible and with no signs of halting anytime soon. The door opened and Snow poked her face out through the crack to find out what was going on. With that done, she took a step back to fully open the door and step out to meet her fans with backstage passes.

Wordlessly, she looked over each of them with a sharp, almost predatory gaze before finally allowing a large, cheery smile to crack her visage and she raised her hand for a wave to say hello. She was understandably short of words, but she'd gotten along well enough without them thus far!

And in an instant the song blended into something much more ...happy. What better way for a fan to feel welcome?!

The approach to the room was guarded, fairly heavily and Roy's eyes darted over the security scanning them up and down. He himself was being scanned up and down in return, it was a professional thing, that such a wordless macho-check-out was being done, though their eyes never met in the process. DJ White Snow had quite a bit of security, maybe her producer or manager or whoever did all her business was concerned, or just overly protective.

Either way the three were wanded down before the final escort to the door. And when it opened Annette almost lost her freaking mind turning into a blubbering idiot, having not even noticed the change in theme from something that sounded like Jefferson Airplane to something that sounded like a Saturday morning cartoon.

Though the effect was not lost on Roy, who bowed courteously displaying a glowing smile, he wasn't just Roy Wulf, he was Roy host of House of Flying Swords. Though he was a celebrity, she had about half a billion more fans than he had, and wouldn't be surprised if she didn't know who he was. "Hello." Roy greeted warmly, happy to be welcomed by the Melodious Mixer.

Jaques was the coolest of cucumbers. Giving a little nod at the welcome and looking around. This might not have been his cup of tea. He did however look like he was enjoying himself.

"Oh my god!" Annette exclaimed more excited than kid in a candy shop with a credit card. "Those clothes are so cute! Did you make them yourself!?" Of course clothing was Annette's life, Annette made her own clothing, though most of it was modest and homely, she sometimes had flair for the ostentatious.

Snow answered Annette's question with a quick shake of her head and an amused smile. The fans that nearly peed themselves upon seeing her up close and personal always made her the happiest just because they were the most interesting. They were also the easiest to speak to since they did all the talking themselves.

She pretended to measure her arm with a tape measure, then pretended to wrap the tape measure around her neck and choke herself with it. Though she couldn't speak, Snow had also never learned to use sign language so having a conversation with her was usually a game of charades unless her message was simple or there was paper handy.

"Oh that's too bad." Annette responded, it was hard to tell if she was happy or sad, but the odd fact was that she was easily able to pick up on what White Snow was trying to communicate. "Everything you wear is always super cute! Are they all custom? I don't recognize any of the labels..." That would be when Annette gasped in sudden worry! "Oh my god! Where are my manners!" She scolded herself quickly. "My name is Annette Harvey! I'm a professional Seamstress and designer!" She bowed going about introducing everyone taking over the groups mouth piece, "To my right is Jaques Durand, he's a sweetheart! Though you can't tell his heart's pounding he's always talking about how much he enjoys your music."

The mention made Jaques turn his head a little in embarrassment and look away from the DJ his little secret having been given away, by someone that knew him very well, perhaps even better than himself.

"And the man with the styling threads is none other than Roy Wulf! Model and Acrobat. He's got a pretty popular Youtube channel! Maybe you've heard of it? He does acrobatic stunts and swings swords it's really awesome you should check it out if you haven't! It's called House of Flying Swords!"

"It's a Pleasure to meet you. I'm a fan of your music. I've even bought licensing to some of your earlier tracks to be used in some of my videos. Great music." Roy had let Annette do all of the bragging for him. It wasn't every day that you met someone that more than a billion people had listened to on a daily basis. And she couldn't even speak.

"One of Roy's followers sent us the tickets and backstage passes! Apparently she'd won one of the give aways we'd held and wanted to give back to the Channel." Annette explained the circumstances of their being here.

Annette was so brimming with questions she couldn't help herself but ask questions with detailed answers, like "What made you want to get into Music?" and who were your inspirations, and though she asked she really didn't expect a well thought out or even written response. But that was fandom, simply receiving an artists work and not expecting much else, but feeling blessed if they gave you anything else.

Snow was quick to give an affirmative nod to Annette's next question. Her clothes were indeed custom made for her shows.

With introductions being passed around, Snow tapped her chest quickly with the fingers of her right hand before giving a small curtsy and holding the aforementioned hand out for shakes all around now that everyone knew everyone else.

As Roy spoke his bit, Snow gave a pleased smile and reached out to tussle his hair. If he tried to keep her out of it she'd likely just catch him off guard and do it anyway. Such was the way of things with her.

When Annette began to fire off questions that simple charades couldn't ever hope to answer, Snow was quick to raise her hands to the air and clap three times. This appeared to be an understood sign from her staff and within a minute or two the young DJ was busily typing out answers on a tablet that she would then show to Annette and the rest of the group if they so desired. Her answers were concise as typing took awhile and writing long answers left a lot of dead time where people were just standing about waiting for her to answer. Totally uncool, but Annette had sort of forced her hand if she didn't want to stand around like a dope trying to figure out how to answer such complex questions without spoken or written speech.

Roy would tense for a moment as she reached for him, but relaxed as he realized where he was and what he was doing even lowering his head to encourage the DJ to play with his hair, he wasn't going to scoff at a chance to be fondled by a super celebrity, in fact it was even a little endearing of her. DJ White Snow was quickly becoming his favorite musician.

Annette was suddenly taken aback like she'd insulted White Snow in some way. She'd let her excitement get the better of her very quickly and was quick to read the answers out loud, both for herself and for Roy and Jaques.

"So..." Annette stepped forward and leaned in. "Is there a Mister White Snow? Or a prospect?" She asked in a coy low tone as if the boys weren't right next to her. Annette herself was 18 and single, she really had no time to date because of her fascination with all things fabric oriented, though if she'd managed to put herself out there she was attractive enough to net a hunky boyfriend easily.

That question actually got the faintest of blushes from the celebrity, shying away with a sheepish smile as she waved her hand before her dismissively. That was a fairly obvious no.

Not one to take the full brunt of such a serious question without repercussions, Snow passed the question back to all three of them with her hands, looking from one to the other while she recovered from her embarrassment with an entertained smirk. Why was she asking the boys? Why the hell not?!

Annette giggled with White Snow's reaction with her own glowing smile before her question was turned back around on her... and the boys. "Oh no, Miss White Snow, I'm not in a relationship with anyone, my work is everything to me." Annette was blunt with just a little blush, she'd never really given herself the down time to think about a serious relationship.

Roy was stunned for a moment at the sudden shift of topics from DJ White Snow to their lives, with Annette answering bluntly as a cudgel. "No I'm still looking..."

"But Roy's Single!" Annette interrupted, causing both Jaques and Roy to jump a little wondering if she was just happy to fill in for Roy or continue her last statement. "Hey Roy you should ask Miss White Snow out!" Annette grinned slyly, and nudged Roy with her elbow, there were obvious wheels turning in her head.

Everyone would be shocked for a moment, of course. Roy seemingly most of all, definately dazed and confused, with a look of 'what the hell woman!?' on his face as his eyes were stuck moving back and forth between Annette and their DJ host.

"Oh mademoiselle," Jaques cut through the awkward silence, "My beloved is all of my heart, we share a soul, but alas, our families are so far apart that it feels as the world is between us. She lives in her villa in the Scottish highlands, surrounded by family and work, though we meet and share the weight on our hearts and know we will grow old together we find ourselves constantly separated by our passions and families." His words were poetry in the nearly broken English as his eyes watered a little. Both Annette and Roy knew the man was married and separated from his wife but neither had really asked him about the circumstances.

Roy with his head firmly back on his shoulders cleared his throat. "So are you working on a new album?" He was ready to change the subject as quickly as possible to get off the last line of conversation.

Snow nodded along with their responses till Annette suddenly burst in with a suggestion that she and Roy start a relationship, as if something could happen right on the spot. She simply couldn't help herself, bursting into a silent laugh as she held her stomach. Not wanting to seem as though she was just insulting the poor guy, she followed it up with a sly wink and patted him on the shoulder in reassurance.

Her background music shifted once again as Jacques began to speak. Unfortunately her tunes tended to shift even without her outwardly thinking about it depending on her own inner monologue and what she was actually thinking of at the time.

She was happy to have the attentions shifted from matters of love to things that she was much more capable of not speaking about at length. At the mention of a new album, Snow was quick to nod in the affirmative with a widely pleased grin and a sharp thumbs up.

Jaques was awed at the DJ's choice of mood music but simply smiled at her realizing that perhaps it was just whim. He wouldn't comment on it, but it would seem that she got the point of what he was trying to do, and played along.

Annette was of course all giggles with the entire spectacle that she'd initiated, it seemed that her little joke was taken a little too seriously. Though she had been a little hopeful for Roy, but it was unsurprising in its outcome. Roy of course was quick to change the subject as quickly as possible once Jaques kept the conversation rolling.

"Maybe we could get a little preview of that?" Roy asked, more like pleaded. If she was the show(wo)man that Roy had pegged her for she'd love to show off a little teaser of her upcoming album. It was fairly easy for a showman to peg another, they may have even been cut from the same cloth.

The music went silent as Roy requested that perhaps his little group could get a preview of something from her upcoming album. Snow paused to gently scratch under her chin in faux thought before smiling and putting her finger up as if she'd come to a final conclusion.

It would be at that point that a fart would make its presence known from just behind poor Annette's bottom. Obviously having already known this was coming since she caused it, Snow was quick to follow up with a dramatic sound effect as she slapped her hands to her cheeks with a shocked expression like she was trying out for a much different version of Home Alone.

Annette squeaked at the abrupt sound apparently issuing from her backside covering her mouth to stop herself from squealing in surprise with the sound effect. The poor woman blushed knowing she'd been had by the miraculous DJ. "Oh my!" The strawberry blonde exclaimed playfully faking a panic.

On the other hand Roy and Jaques both let out hearty laughs, men were after all more receptive to toilet humor, and White Snow was obviously a master of said humor. It would seem that the DJ was out to embarrass Annette for that comment earlier, it was the perfect revenge. Jaques couldn't muster any words through his laughing fit.

"So is that going to be Track One?" Roy vivaciously queried with a mischievous smirk on his face.

Snow's grin was ear to ear as she enjoyed the little scene she'd caused, even getting a bit of a silent chuckle from Roy's comment in kind. She responded with a casual shrug and an expression that said something akin to 'Hey, you never know!'

After things had calmed down once again, however, she was quick to wave her finger with a shake of her head, signalling that new, never before heard, material was off limits even if they were special enough to be in possession of backstage passes. After she figured they got the picture, however, she pointed up on stage. She already planned to mix in some music for this concert, the first in her current tour, that had never been heard before. They'd just have to wait and be patient to hear it with everyone else!

Roy understood Snow's shrug, or at least got the gist of it. He seemed significantly impressed by Snow's improvisation skills.

"Awe." Annette pipped up obviously saddened that her punishment really gave them no reward. "That's too bad."

That was when a man in sunglasses and a suit approached the group obviously a tour manager of some kind. "Miss White Snow. Your showtime is fast approaching. We should show your guests to their place in the audience."

Snow perked up as she was called to, looking back to clue in on what the man was speaking to her about. Once all was understood, she looked back to her small audience and gave them a confident thumbs up with a sideways grin. It was time to get her show on. She motioned to a couple of the security around the place, expecting them to be able to find suitable places for the three fans, before taking off at a jog, turning back a few seconds in to wave happily and continue on and to the stage.

Roy, Annette and Jaques bade their farewells and waved jubilantly as they parted from the mysterious DJ wishing her luck, the most animated of those was obviously Annette.

The Stage manager, waved along all of the back stage pass participants. Taking note of the three of them and starting on the short journey inside the secured line at the front of the stage and moving down to front and just off center, perhaps the best seats in the house. Thankfully the mosh-pit was further back behind the front-rowers, though it was still pretty much only standing room right in front of the stage.

The crowd was already alive, and ready for a show bordering on rowdy. There were all manner of people, Europeans and Asians, far travelers come to see this music live in performance by a DJ with a miraculous way to play.

Roy bathed in the energy, but his eyes were quick to dart around and scan the area, a training scar that carried over to the rest of his life at large. Maybe it'd keep him alive one day. Maybe it'd...

The acrobat stopped in his thoughts as his eyes locked onto an audience member. There was something vaguely off about the young woman. She seemed, upset maybe? But not in the 'My date stood me up' upset, but something a little deeper, sort of disturbed.

"Damn!" A young couple approached, cutting Roy's synopsis of the young woman, "You're ROY! From House of Flying Swords!" The couple said almost in unison pulling a massive Sharpie out and holding it out to Roy. Their intentions were obvious, their once white shirts were covered in famous signatures, some Roy recognized right off the bat others were far more obscure. His would be added to the obscure of course.

A quick signature later and Roy's eyes darted around the audience trying to find the young woman again, but to no avail. It was at this juncture that the lights went low, and the crowd, whose noise was at a low rumble slowly hushed, waiting in almost reverent silence as the Saint of this Church to music was to make her first appearance.

The lights remained low for about a minute before the first sounds of a beat rang out, though the woman of the hour had yet to show herself. With no speakers on stage or in the crowd it felt as though the music was coming from everywhere at once. The sound, not necessary to be at a near defeaning volume to reach the back of the crowd, was at a rather pleasing volume of not too loud and not too quiet. It was, to say the least, the perfect quality of sound.

As the drop began to build a dark figure could be seen walking on stage to some cheers from the crowd till it reached its apex and all the stage lights came on at once to reveal that it had indeed been Snow walking out on stage. Instantly the stage was alight with spotlights and LEDs flashing and strobing in time to the music, a few large television screens set up along the upper portion of the stage to show close-ups of the unusual musical star as she danced to her own constructed beat.

In one hand she held a microphone, though the end of the cord that would normally lead to a sound system of some sort terminated after only about a foot, the end frayed and worn as if it had simply been ripped from its source. It was one of her mainstays, something she used in every show as nothing but a prop. The woman bounced, flipped and danced from one end of the stage to the other with seemingly boundless amounts of energy, waving her arms about from time to time as she mouthed words that were most definitely not her own to psych up the crowd further and further. This wasn't a good show unless everyone was hyped!

Roy found himself swept away by the music losing himself in the energy of the crowd, his focus shifting from eyeing possible threats till he arrived on what he was originally here for. To have a good time. The Acrobat-performer closed his eyes and dove into the good vibrations washing over his body taking him to a wonderful place.

He'd lost sight of Annette and Jaques, they had wondered off into the standing crowd in front of the stage, while Roy had sat back in the front row.

It was within the Cerebral feeling of the music. Feeling connected with everyone, Roy's attention or consciousness was dragged away from himself to a young woman's voice. Words he'd pulled out from under body shaking music and from over the din of the crowd's cheering and merry wails.

"Fucking Freak Bitch! I fucking hate you! You should die." The feminine voice cursed with words so laced with venom that Roy couldn't help but start to slip from his near catatonic state, but something pulled, not at his eyes or ears, but at his nose. A petroleum product, like oil or gasoline, that acrid smell. Something so out of place it was the last straw for the man.

Eyes snapping to the oddity worth investigating, his focus found itself on the young woman, from before dressed in black, standing at the threshold of the stage holding a bottle like a coke bottle. With a rag sticking out of it.

OH FUCK that was a Molotov!

Roy rushed forward, pushing aside the many concert goers as he could as the girl pulled a lighter and struggled with it staying low and hunched over to keep from drawing suspicion. She'd not noticed that she'd alerted Roy. The ex-solider took the advantage, and tried to roll with it the best he could, pushing his way up through the crowd as much as possible.

The smell of fire suddenly hit Roy's senses. The fuse was lit. The Girl pulling back to throw, shouting as loud as she could. "DIE FREAK BITCH!"

"Move!" Roy called, but his insistence wasn't headed, and the crowd panicked practically pushing him off his feet, the girl had problems too one of the crowd grabbed her arm. Annette had grabbed her arm but was promptly shaken off.

This gave Roy an opening, pushing for the stage, His hand reaching out and grasping for the edge feet kicking off as he heard the woman's roar of effort throwing the flaming bottle of caustic liquid in the air.

There was no time, Roy was in the air chasing the bottle, but it was too far ahead, he couldn't reach it to stop the bottle.

There was no choice, at a live concert, with nearly five thousand in attendance, and on a show broadcast to a million more, Roy would have to let out his little secret. A secret that he'd kept from everyone.

A flash of Silver and the bottle was broken, splashing flames all around as the caustic liquid caught into a fireball and fell to the stage harmlessly at DJ White Snow's feet.

Amidst the flames crouched down, his landing having flashed out the fire around him knuckles in a three point landing sword held out to his right with extended arm with an ornate silvery weapon in his hand. There was no way that Roy smuggled the weapon in it'd just formed in his hand, and he'd used it to swat the bottle out of the air with an overhand strike throwing the resultant fireball down and away from it's target.

Standing up Roy spun on his toes leveling the silver sword at the would be assailant, locking his fierce gaze with hers, stunning the woman with the sheer killer intent that he laid upon her soul with simple eye contact.

That was all it took for Security to tackle her from the stage.

Though she was in the middle of entertaining her crowd, Snow appeared to have more than enough awareness about her to notice the flaming bottle hurtling at her. She danced back and raised a hand defensively as the bottle neared only to have Roy arrive in a flash to shatter the bottle and extinguish the flames in a single fluid motion. Well that was convenient!

Once the violent woman's security escort was out of the crowd they'd be approached by a mysterious woman in a trench coat from seemingly out of nowhere, her long, blue hair drifting behind her in the brisk night time breeze. The flash of a badge and a few words later and the woman's escort would be changed, her hands cuffed behind her roughly before she was practically dragged off. Strangely enough, it appeared that they were going backstage rather than to any cars. It gave the security guards pause, but the woman was of a much higher authority than them and they weren't paid enough to go asking such complicated questions.

On stage, Snow's head tilted curiously at the sight of Roy's newly acquired weapon, obviously curious as to how it had appeared in an instant when security was so tight around this place. Speaking of security, yet more guards had come up on stage and were now eyeing Roy rather warily. He appeared to be the unexpected hero of this story, but he was also carrying a dangerous weapon and was less than a foot or two away from their charge. The second he made a threatening motion in Snow's direction they were ready to pummel the ever loving shit out of him.

Snow, however, was completely unphased by this new development as a new tune flowed over the crowd.

"Now you're playing with power!" the mute girl mouthed to the song, raising Roy's hand up with the created sword victoriously to a roar from the crowd. It was a good way to calm them down to an extent and bring down the air of panic that had permeated the area. However, after such an event there would be a brief hiatus at least as security ushered the both of them offstage once Roy was deemed safe... or at least safe enough.

They'd likely have visitors as they moved, namely Annette and Jacques, as Snow made a beeline for her dressing room with Roy's hand still in her own.

Roy stood there for a second in a daze, his eyes moving up to the crowd as he realized his secret was out. There was no-way someone would mistake him, the way he dressed and moved down to his personal brand of showman ship.

It took Snow's grabbing his hand to snap Roy back to reality, his inner showman took over, slapping his chest when she raised his sword into the air, as if showing off as though it were part of the act. It was all improvisation. As they made it off stage Roy released his grip on the sword which seemed to melt right back into his skin. Disappearing as though it'd never existed in the first place.

Jacques and Annette both followed the security, watching the hand-off as the woman with blue hair escorted the would be assassin back stage. The would flash their backstage passes at Snow's security trying to get back to the dressing rooms and where held up there by a large man with a black shirt that said SECURITY on it.

Roy would let Snow's security pat and wand him till they were blue in the face. They wouldn't find a damn thing on him. Then as opposed to being ejected from the concert for bringing in a concealed weapon Roy would be dragged almost forcefully back to the DJ's dressing room.

His secret was out and now he wasn't exactly sure what White Snow wanted from him dragging him back to her room the way she did. "I'm Sorry?" Roy started to apologize for ruining DJ Snow's show. "I uhh..." But he really didn't know exactly what he was apologizing for. Maybe for keeping his own power hidden, but how to you really bring up something like that in normal conversation when your friends like Jacques and Annette didn't even know.

Snow didn't pay Roy's apology any mind, making her way straight to her dressing room, opening the door and dragging him inside just as she'd been doing the entire time. She was quick to slam the door behind her and turn about to reveal Astral sitting at Snow's makeup table along with the woman who had just attacked Snow on stage seated in a side chair. Rather than her previously psychotic personality, she now greeted the two newcomers to the room with a cheerful smile and wave.

"Hiya! Nice of you to join us!" she chirped musically in her cheerfully perky voice. "Resounding success, right?!" To which Snow was quick to flash a hardy thumbs up in agreement and start up a much more cheerful song from her normal fare. From there she lead Roy to a chair and attempted to force him into it. Assuming he was willing to take the seat, she'd pull up a chair beside him. If not... well, she wasn't going to let him leave just yet.

Roy would come quietly and sit down when he was urged by White Snow. He was obviously unsettled by the sight of the young woman whose projectile he'd intercepted. But sat anyways with little resistance, but being sure to keep his eyes on both of the new women in the room.

It would also seem that Miss Snow also knew both of these women and had talked it out before. More than that they even seemed friendly.

The more Roy thought about it, the more he felt like a sucker.

"Go ahead and explain it for me, top to bottom." He could have made some blind accusations, but there was something deep down that made Roy wait until all the information was out before he would open his mouth and make a fool out of himself. The truth was that they'd taken advantage of his split second decision, but he really couldn't make out the ends of their plan, mostly the Why and the What Now.

Roy kept his gaze on the woman in black, she commanded the most attention, her bearing Military in it's discipline, even relaxed here. She was obviously an officer or leader of some kind.

"You're a smart kid. You've already figured out some of it," Astral responded to his desire for an explanation as she leaned forward in the chair, the seat giving a subtle creak at the shift in her weight. "This was a not so subtle ploy to see if there was anyone in the area with special talents that they didn't feel like sharing with the world and the will to use them if the need arose. The plan worked perfectly when you decided to leap in and be heroic.

Had there not been anyone in the crowd worthy of showing themselves, our esteemed DJ here would find shattering and extinguishing a small bit of napalm quite easy. As it stands now, however, you've just become a shining beacon for those who are different from standard humanity. Everyone can be a hero no matter what they can do. We've also shamed those who denounce our kind by showing them as being capable of such baseless assaults as throwing dangerous chemicals about during a simple concert. You've just won a great victory today," she finished with a wide, almost predatory grin.

"Now, as to the reason why we've summoned you here to speak with us... This event also serves as a recruitment drive, of sorts... We want you to join us in defending this country and her people from all manner of dangers. There is... something... coming. Something dark and dangerous. We need all the assistance we can gather to fight the oncoming tide of those who would do harm to our kind. Are you willing to stand and fight with us? If you need time to think on the matter I'm willing to give you as much as you need."

And with that, the blue-haired woman leaned back again and steepled her fingers while she waited for his answer in return.

Roy waited patiently for the explanation that was as much her telling him what he’d figured out as new information. This was far too big to be some prank. That and muss blue hair seemed to be on the level, and if Snow and her faux attacker were both involved then there was no two ways about it.

“I took an oath once to defend this country and her people from its enemies foreign and domestic. That oath is for all peoples, not just normal or powered ones.” Roy stated the reasons for his actions, it was an oath he took very seriously. An oath that several men he called brothers died upholding. He would give no less effort. But before he threw his lot in with these people he needed to be sure of who they were. “Who do you report to? You’re too well connected to be independent, Too ahead of the curve to be regular military, too forth coming to be a spook. I would guess that this is a politicians or high ranking General’s pet project.”

“You really don’t even know who I am and yet you’re inviting me to be part of your secret club and its secret mission to help powered people. And defend them from some ominous threat.” The lead in was long but the real question was about to be dropped. “If you’re who I think you are, then you have a right to know where I come from before asking me to come along on your crusade.”

Roy was of course referring to the events of Karaboget village, and the end of the 5th Ranger battalion’s Alpha Company. Maybe she’d know the scars of a man who drove to a town with forty friends and came back the only survivor. Maybe she would simply think his combat experience made him more valuable. Either way she had to know that he came with baggage.