"No one?" Jessie asked looking into Akita's wooden eyes.

"You have no idea who Lucas Reed is, or what he's capable of. Just be glad he's on your side." Akita said as he rubbed his neck.

Lucas chuckled and gave a thumbs up.

"It's dead. I can't feel its body's electric current anymore." Luca said as he leaned against a column next to him.

"He can do that?" Jessie asked stunned.

"What did I just tell you? Kids these days man." Akita said letting out an audible sigh.

Feeling his face get warm, Jessie turned away and looked at what was left of their adversary. The raging flames burned around the body, burning it black. It smelled horrible.

A sudden crash brought everyone back to reality as they watched the stage catch fire and fall to the ground.

"We need to leave!" Toby yelled pulling Akita up and towards the back room.

"This whole place is gonna go down with us in it if we don't get out now! Or worse the cops will come!" Toby screamed as he grabbed onto Jessie's shoulders. "I'm not going back to jail man!"

"Toby you've never been to jail." Lucas said as he limped towards them.

Jessie looked to see him battered and bruised. His brown hair matted to his forehead with sweat and each corner of his mouth was complimented with a small stream of blood.

"Are you really gonna argue with me after all this. You literally almost died." Toby said upset.

"Toby we all almost died, your no exception." Akita said hands on hips.

"Guys please don't embarrass me with such blasphemy in front of our guest. Your gonna ruin my image."

"Toby I think your great, can we please get out of here now." Jessie said exasperated.

A sudden creaking brought their attention to the column where Lucas rested and watched as it crumpled and burned. The whole roof shook letting a shower of dust and embers fall all around them.

"Let's get the fuck out of here." Lucas said as he put his arm around Toby's shoulder.

"What about the bar?!" Akita pleaded.

"What about all these people?" Jessie asked turning back to see nothing but flames. The smell worsened.

"Kid there's no one left. I can only feel our heartbeats." Lucas said solemnly.

Watching the flames Jessie saw nothing but raw heat engulf the bar. From the flames a large cloud of smoke came barreling towards him catching him square in the chest knocking the wind out of him. He fell to his knees and was overcome by grief. A steady stream of tears poured from his eyes as Toby helped him up.

"What the hell was that!" Tony asked stunned.

"We have no time let's go!" Akita yelled from the exit. Jessie wiped his eyes as he turned and followed the group out the door.

Rushing through the door and down the hallway, Lucas stopped short.

"Wait a second, I left something behind. Head outside without me I'll catch up." He nodded towards his band mates and headed into their dressing room.

"What could possibly be worth risking his life for in there." Jessie asked as he ran out the back door and into the rain.

"Beer?" Akita said shrugging his shoulders.

"His guitar maybe. Lucas isn't a very materialistic guy." Toby said as he shivered from the rain.

"Does he always do things like this?" Jessie brushing sweat away from his brow.

Akita took off his sweater and handed it to Toby before answering Jessie.

Jessie stared into the lifeless eyes of his mask and felt a chill down his spine.

"Lucas is grabbing his wives ring. Now stop asking questions and help me find a car." Akita said rolling up his sleeves and walking away.

Feeling a hot wave of embarrassment, Jessie watched as Akita stormed off.

"Do you really think I'm great?" Toby asked as he sniffled.

"I'm going to go help Akita." Jessie said as he shuffled away from Toby.

"Ok I'll wait here." Toby said waving happily.

"Dear diary, today I made a new friend." He said with a smirk.

——————

Jessie exited the alley to see Akita fidgeting with the door to a small four door sedan.

"Hey so Toby's a little strange isn't he?" Jessie asked as he approached the car.

"What?" Akita said stopping his attempt to enter the sedan.

"Well I mean he does a lot of weird things, I mean he seems like a cool guy I just didn't expect anyone to compare deadly gas to onions." Jessie said taking a small step back.

"Toby is a great guy and doesn't deserve to be ridiculed by some kid he just met." Akita said now facing Jessie.

"I didn't mean any offense, you've met my friends. I have no problem with strange. I'm strange. I was gonna say I really liked his style." Jessie said putting his hands up in defense.

Akita crossed his arms and sighed.

"I know Toby is weird, but I love his weirdness. I just don't like when people try and make him feel bad for it. I'm sorry for being rude." Akita said dropping his arms and going back to work on the car.

"I get that, I used to be bullied a lot when I was younger for being weird. You don't have to apologize." Jessie said with a smile.

He was treated with silence and stood quiet as he watched Akita fidget with the car door.

"Need help?" Jessie asked.

"Nope."

"Akita you couldn't have chosen a car with more style to it. I mean really, a beige sedan?" Toby said from behind Jessie causing him to jump.

Lucas laughed as he hung onto Toby's shoulders.

"There isn't any other cars here that can fit all of us here Toby. Besides there's nothing wrong with beige." Akita said as he struggled with the car door.

"Fuck this!" Akita said as he unhooked his scabbard from his belt and smashed in the car window. The alarm blared drowning out the sound of the rain.

"Akita come on, that's someone's car. Now we gotta pay to fix it." Toby said annoyed.

"I'm not paying for shit." Akita said as he unlocked the car door.

A sudden explosion sent the group flying into the car as the bar burned a brilliant shade of red against the black sky. Jessie felt his back pop as he slammed into the car door denting it badly.

Groaning Jessie opened his eyes and stared into the darkness of the night his vision blurred.The cars alarm rand weakly as Jessie grabbed the back of his head and looked at his fingers.

They were a brilliant shade of crimson.

Just great. What else could go wrong tonight.

"Is everyone okay?" Luca said rubbing his head tentatively.

A collection of grunts was heard as Jessie stared at the ruins of the bar. The entire building was engulfed in flames, burning away the darkness that surrounded it.

"I think I dislocated my shoulder." Akita said quietly. Lucas poked him causing him to yelp in pain.

"Yeah looks like it." Lucas said as he sat up rubbing his head.

A sudden crash on the top of the car sent a shower of broken glass all around their heads. The cars alarm slowly died out and was replaced with the sound of quiet breathing and the drops of rain.

"What the fuck was that!" Toby screamed suddenly jumping to his feet. A small stream of blood from his temple.

Something fell onto Jessie's lap and rolled onto the curb. Jessie's stomach dropped as he saw the Red Cross on it.

"Oh god..." Jessie whispered as he slowly looked up, eyes trained on the helmet in front of him.

"Please tell me that isn't what I think it is." Toby said as he helped Akita to his feet.

"I think it might be best if we find a new mode of transportation." Akita said as rubbed his shoulder. It was slumped and lower than his other arm.

"This one has a woman on the roof."

Holy shit. Holy shit. She died, they all died!

Jessie looked up and his eyes met the burnt corpse of a soldier. The smell was overwhelming and Jessie heaved, he put his hand to his mouth and crawled away from the smoldering body as fast as he could.

I think I'm gonna be sick.

"Hey you ok there kid? You look a little green there." Lucas asked as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Jessie vomited on the street, his chest heaving as he panicked.

"Hey watch where your blowing chunks man, these shoes were expensive." Akita said taking a step back.

Jessie looked up and felt his chest tighten. "How can you be so nonchalant about all of this?! How can you joke about this woman losing her life." Jessie cried out standing up to face Akita's wooden face.

"Joke? You think I'm joking? Kid I'm just stating the facts here, they were expensive plus we can't use this car anymore. The fact that she's dead holds no weight on me." Akita said as he winced holding his arm. "You need to stop getting attached to everyone. This lady was trying to kill us ten minutes ago and now your upset she's gone?"

"Akita, come on he's just a kid. You don't have to be so cold."  Lucas said.

"No, he's being ridiculous, calling me out for not caring about whether this random person lives or dies. The sooner he realizes that others won't be as kind to him the better."

Jessie turned away from Akita's cold eyes and stared at the floor. He could feel anger well up inside himself and stared at the ground watching as the blood started to mix with rain.

"I don't act this way hoping that someone will treat me the same. I do it because I know what its like to feel like no one cares about you, and even if we are on opposite sides I'll still treat them like a person no matter how cold they are." Jessie said tightening his fist.

"If you've got a problem with that then you can go screw yourself."

Akita stared at him and Jessie felt a chill down his spine, he couldn't tell if it was from the cold rain or from how he felt when being looked down upon by Akita. He didn't know which one he preferred.

"Your gonna get yourself killed thinking like that, but I commend you for sticking to your guns. Now that doesn't mean I respect you though, after all your still just a kid." Akita said with a sigh.

"Guys!" Toby yelled pulling everyone's attention. "I get we're all really fucked up right now but is this really the best thing to be doing right now. Lest face the facts, we were all just in a bar just full of dead people, not to mention it just fucking exploded drawing everyone in the neighborhoods attention which mean cops are bound to be on their way here. Now I'm not gonna get arrested so you guys decide what the hell your gonna do because I'm getting the fuck out of here." Toby said as he turned to face Akita.

"You coming?" Toby asked raising his eyebrow.

Without hesitation Akita moved to Toby's side and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"He's right. We should get moving before the law arrives, I don't want another warrant."

Another warrant? Is he serious? Did we ask for help from criminals?

"Are we gonna go on foot or are we stealing another car?" Lucas asked as he moved towards them.

"Obviously we are, but this time I'm choosing. Akita has no style." Toby said as the walked down towards the end of the road.

"I have great style Toby, I just chose what was convenient for us." Akita said as he followed him still holding his shoulder.

"You said there was nothing wrong with beige."

"He's kind of got you there Akita." Lucas said with a chuckle.

How are they so calm? After everything that just happened any sane person would be freaking out.

"Wait!" Jessie cried out.

The others turned to face him as if expecting his question.

"Just who are you guys? How can you be so nonchalant after everything that just happened, you just lost your bar and you act like its just another Tuesday night." Jessie said pointing at Lucas begging for an answer.

Lucas stared at him confused. "We're Overdrive. Minus the drummer."