Evil Empire

"Coming to kill her?" Adagio stared at Vinyl, eyes wide, looking more perplexed than ever. "But why? And...Flash Sentry? Who is that, anyways?"

Trixie chuckled, awkwardly shuffling her feet. Of course, now she tried to look anywhere but Adagio. "Well, we do have kind of a history...or so I've been told. Truth is, I was kinda...intoxicated that day, and don't exactly remember."

"Ugh," Adagio responded with a frown. "Yeah, that's probably one of those really nasty cases. Pretty much the worst, you might say."

"Oh, oh, like that one, time, when you and King Richard..."

"Not the time, Sonata!"

"Awww, but it's such a sweet story," the cyan girl chirped.

Sonata looked like she wanted to add something, but was abruptly cut short. In the wake of her next would-be sentence, a certain blue-haired figure entered the stage.

Flash was dressed in a skin-tight, yellow motorbike suit (a little too tight for some people's tastes). His left hand was holding a helmet in an equal shade, while a Katana sword rested in his right. Overall, his face completed the ensemble pretty neatly. He looked extremely pissed, in a way.

"There you are," he said, narrowing his eyes. "Now, stand still, Lulamoon, and it'll all be over quickly."

"Uh, h-hey, now..." Trixie nervously stuttered. "That was all in good fun, now, wasn't it? Wouldn't wanna bring in my army of...uh...ninja turtles to threaten you...someone could get hurt..."

"I'm afraid I'm way too one-dimensional and repetitive to answer that," Flash said, answering Trixie's request, ironically. "Now, stand still, Lulamoon, and it'll all be over quickly."

As Trixie cautiously took a few steps back, he raised his saber up in the air...

...only to collapse onto the floor a second later.

Everyone's eyes widened once again, as they stared onto the motionless body. In the end, it was Vinyl, who spoke up, vocalizing what they all thought: "What the hell was that?"

"One hell of spoiling the climax, to say the least," Trixie returned with a shrug. "Or a particularly lousy Deus ex Machina...or all of the above, I don't know."

The DJ's question would soon become answered, as a somewhat familiar figure stepped onstage behind her. Vinyl recognized the woman immediately: It was that bearded, slobby dressed version of Trixie. Her hands carried the same old milk package, among a silenced .22 handgun. Clearly now, the two Trixies could hardly be the same. The other one was still standing right by their side.

"Sorry for the delay," the (presumable) woman told them, taking another sip off her spoiled milk. "Dope came in a lil' late this morning, had to rearrange my schedule first. Anyway, what's up, hon?" she asked, turning to Trixie, who looked like she was about to explode in anger, right now.

"Something wrong?" Sonata asked in a squeaking voice. Of all the people on stage, Vinyl would have least expected these words from her. Trixie, on the other hand, hardly even reacted to her. The blue-skinned girl kept staring at the alternate version of herself, too busy taking a deep breath to let her sudden range flow freely.

"MO-OM!" she shouted. "Why do you always have to do that? God, you're so embarrassing!"

Hiding her face behind both palms, she stormed off. Left behind, dazed and confused, Vinyl used the dramatic pause to take another look at her booklet. There was something she couldn't help wondering about...

"Uh, excuse me, miss?" she spoke up, after skimming through a few lines. "According to the transcript...well...I don't think you were supposed to even do that to him." To clarify her point, Vinyl motioned towards Flash, or whatever was left of him. Bearded Trixie's brow furrowed.

"You sure about that, man? Just a second," she replied, putting down her milk. From the depths of her morning gown, she produced a small leaflet of her own, labeled Evil Empire - Transcript (GrimDark Version).

"Nope," she told Vinyl, after skipping to the last portion. "Says I was bound to screw him up. Also says you oughta have died from Ebola last week...now, that's somethin' not quite right here."

While the two of them still tried figuring out, where the mistake had been made, Sonata took another booklet out of her skirt pocked. Evil Empire - Transcript (18+ Version), it read. Her face went pale, as she read through the first few pages. "Oh - oh my," she stuttered, covering her mouth with one hand.

After Vinyl and Adagio remained in an awkward silence for another moment or so, the latter turned towards her fellow siren, grabbing her by the arm. Upon a questioning look from Sonata, she shook her head, eyes closed, and motioned towards the stage's opposite end. In unison, both of them walked off in silence.

Vinyl looked around. Unfortunately, that last exit left her alone with Trixie's miraculous - if somewhat repelling - lifesaver.

"You happen to know where in town they'd sell a decent rug?" Bearded Trixie asked after another minute or so, trying to break the silence. "Y'know, I could use one, right now. It would really tie the stage together."

Half an hour later, Vinyl was the only one to remain on an utterly deserted stage, looking down on an equally emptied out stadium. The sole person she spotted after a minute of searching was the guy with the weird musical tastes from earlier. Everyone else had gone home in their every frustration. Though not looking at Vinyl directly, he has his eyes fixed on the stage, waiting for something to happen.

"Can I help you?" she finally asked, after about another thirty minutes of silence, or so.

"Depends," he shouted back at her. "Is there gonna be an encore with any Metallica?"

In a moment's notice, Vinyl took a look around, searching for guitars...or drums, for that matter. There were none.

"I don't have any instruments," she replied, once again stating the obvious. Her spectator frowned.

"Dammit...is there at least some kind of setlist or artist's autograph I can have?"

Vinyl again looked around, scanning the stage, but found none. Most likely, all available set papers had been left with the stage technicians. Or maybe Flash had dropped onto one, but she honestly didn't feel like checking there.

"Can't do...sorry."

Head hung low, he turned around, preparing to leave. Only a few minutes later the power went out, draining the entire stadium in pitch black darkness. Vinyl would have checked the time, but her phone's display had shattered during the Dazzlings' mismatched vocal attempt. From her own judgment however, she figured it had to be far past midnight.

Vinyl stayed for at least another hour or so, standing on a dark, empty stage, looking out towards a completely abandoned scenery. It felt like an eternity, and yet nobody else came by or went past. Trixie never returned, and neither did any of their former antagonists. CHS's disc jockey remained by herself.

A mixture of anger and confusion rose up inside the abandoned teenager, as her eyes fell onto the small, white booklet placed to her feet. Evil Empire - Transcript (GrimDark version), it read. More than anything, she felt cheated on. Hadn't all this been supposed to be a comedy act?

Somehow, the world didn't seem to make sense anymore. She could hardly explain that logic to herself. Then again, maybe she simply lacked the correct perspective. Which didn't improve her situation at all. Or was she also lacking the perspective to see that improvement?

Vinyl's right hand shot upwards, reaching for her shades. She took them off, thoughtfully turning them in her hands for a few seconds. Looking up to the sky afterwards, she sighed. Had she been the one wrong all the time? And if so, what had the question been? Had there even been one?

After another moment or so, she took a deep breath. Stepping back once, her grip on the pair of shades tightened. Breathing back out, Vinyl took a wide swing with her arm, tossing her purple glasses into the audience ranks. A distant, shattering sound told her they had arrived at their righteous place.

And then, without further hesitation, she turned around, and walked away. There was nothing left to do for her in this town, anyway.

Taking her first steps back to the parking lot, and - hopefully - into a better time and life, Vinyl still felt uncertain about a lot of things. Only one she was sure about. Wherever this path would lead, which nobody could say just yet, she was certain about just one of her destination's aspects.

She would - ultimately - be going home.

Or maybe she wouldn't, and simply didn't care anymore.