Chapter Text
Everything was on fire again, and Nathan was looking at Charles.
This was the third time on this tour that a concert had ended in everything going on fire. While that wasn’t unusual, it was annoying. It was also concerning, as it wasn’t the band’s fault. Normally, everything going up in smoke, or exploding or collapsing, was because of the band. But not this tour. On this tour, something was up. Something deliberate and planned was going down.
Charles nodded at Nathan and turned, walking backstage into the flames. Nathan snarled and went to follow, only to have a ‘fan’ stumble across the stage in front of him. The guy was in grey army fatigues, his face covered by a balaclava. The man turned and
Nathan punched him out.
“No one ruins my concerts but me and maybe Toki.”
“What about me?” Murderface slurred.
“What are you doing?” Pickles shouted over the din. “We gotta go.” Klokateers were swarming around them, trying to usher the band to safety.
“You guys go.” Nathan pushed his way through the klokateers to reach backstage.
“Where’s Nathan going?” He heard Toki wail as he turned into the space behind the stage.
“Going to get Charles,” he yelled back, unsure if the band could hear him over the roar of the flames, but not caring. “Fucking asshole, you’re not leaving us again.”
The fire was worse behind the stage. Had it started back here? Fires never started backstage; it was always the band’s fault. This felt wrong, this felt deliberate. Nathan’s suspicion was confirmed when he punched out another guy in army fatigues. This was organised.
“Fuck.”
The last time someone organised had hit them, Charles had died, well, kind of died. Nathan felt his stomach roll. The beer and burritos he’d had before going on stage threatened to make an unplanned curtain call. He swallowed hard; his mouth was dry. The air was burning hot, the inside of his nose burned with it, his throat too. This place was fucked. What was Charles doing coming back here?
Another guy in the same getup was ahead. Nathan grabbed him and lifted him by his shitty coat.
“What the hell is going on?” he yelled. The guy said nothing. Nathan shook him. Still nothing. So, Nathan threw him. Fuck it, he could figure it out later. Charles probably already knew what was going on. “Offdensen?” he yelled. Nothing but the roar of flames and the snaps and clatters of backstage junk breaking under the heat.
Nathan kept going.
“Offdensen?” he yelled again, coughing hard this time. The air burned like bleach, something Nathan was uncomfortably familiar with. His eyes burned and streamed tears. He kicked in the door to a room. Nothing but fire and burning gear. Another door. More fire, more junk. Another door, more fire and computers. No Ofdensen.
The sudden sound of a body hitting the floor and a cut off grunt had Nathan looking up. There were guys up there. Nathan charged forward. Scrambling over debris and burning the crap out of his hands, Nathan got closer. His boots were sticking to the floor.
There were three guys ahead of him, all in that grey army bullshit. One of them flew back, hitting a wall and sliding down. Nathan glimpsed Charles. Another grey douchebag went down, this one kicked back into the flames. The last one fell when Nathan reached him and hit hard from behind.
“Nathan! What are you doing here?”
“Getting you.” Nathan coughed, reaching out to grab Charles but his jacket lapel. “You’re not fucking leaving again.” A flash of Charles’ face, bruised, bloody and lifeless, had Nathan pulling hard on the man’s coat.
“I wasn’t leaving.” Charles pulled away. Nathan did not let go. “I was getting-” Charles didn’t finish as something somewhere close exploded and black smoke filled the hallway. “We have to leave now!” Charles yelled, his voice firm and commanding. The two of them staggered forward through the blackness.
“Why’s it so dark?” Nathan snapped, covering his burning eyes for a moment. “How can it be so dark with this much fire? I can’t fucking see.”
“Smoke. Come on, we need to get out of it.” Nathan felt a firm grip on his t-shirt sleeve and a tug. He followed the pull, putting a hand on Charles’ shoulder. Charles abruptly stopped; Nathan walked into his back, nearly making them both fall. Something big and loud fell from the ceiling, crashing through the floor.
“Why the hell did you come back here? This is so stupid!” Nathan yelled.
“It’s my job.” Charles pulled Nathan around the debris.
“Fuck your fucking job.” Nathan pushed Charles forward.
“Don’t swear.” Nathan heard Charles mutter, and an unexpected bubble of hysteria burst out of him. He giggled wildly while the world around him burned and broke apart and Charles dragged him onward.
They stopped at a door and Charles pushed it; it didn’t budge. He kicked it again, no budge. Nathan shoved him aside and threw all his weight against it. It budged, but not enough for them to get out.
“What the fuck!” Nathan yelled.
“Its warped,” Charles yelled back. “Together.” Nathan nodded and together they kicked and hammered at the door as it inched slowly open.
As soon as the opening was wide enough, Nathan grabbed Charles and shoved him through. Charles reached back and grabbed Nathan’s arm and pulled him out.
The air felt like ice after the blistering heat inside. Nathan stumbled forward and tripped over Charles, who had already gone to his knees.
They were out.
Out of the smoke, Nathan stopped coughing long enough to glare at Charles, his eyes streaming and bloodshot.
“You are the dumbest robot ever. You’d have died if I hadn’t come in.”
“Nonsense.” Charles looked like shit. His face was red and blistered, his hands were bleeding.
“You’d never have gotten that door open by yourself.” Nathan’s throat felt raw. He spat blood and black onto the grass. He clenched a fist, wanting to punch Charles, who had almost fucking died, again! “Why the hell did you go back?” Charles looked at him for a long moment. Nathan could hear people yelling. Looking behind Charles, he could see people running towards them. Absently, he hoped it wasn’t more of those army assholes. Every inch of his skin felt raw. He staggered to his feet, stumbling in front of Charles, but and instantly fell to his knees again. A hand on his shoulder made him look down.
“It’s ok, they’re ours.” Charles reached into his pocket and pulled out a USB drive. “This is why I went back.”
“Computers?” Nathan’s vision blurred. He blinked rapidly to clear it, but it didn’t work.
“Footage from the security cameras.” Charles sounded like shit, but under the beat-up burnt tone, there was smugness.
“You got em on camera?” Nathan smiled, black creeping in at the edges of his vision now.
“Now I can hunt them,” Charles said as Nathan passed out.