Legion Of Rockstars

“You two really shouldn’t be nervous,” Brian told Matt and me as we rode the elevator back down into the main headquarters. I wasn’t sure where we were headed once we stepped off this elevator, but Pink stood towards the back of the elevator frowning at the open Manila folder in her hands as she read the mission detail. “It sounds like a difficult mission, but I know you two can handle it. You both ‘graduated’ at the top of your class. Just follow our lead and I’m sure you’ll do spectacularly.”

“Alright,” Pink announced as we stepped out of the elevator. Brian stopped us so we could listen to Pink tell us the finer details of the mission. “We will ride in a plane to the concert hall. Once we reach a certain checkpoint, we’ll parachute out of the plane and land on the roof of the concert hall. From there, we sneak into the venue through the vents on the roof. Once we infiltrate the venue, we make our way towards the stage—here’s a blueprint outlining which way we’ll go.” She handed a piece of paper to Brian, and he instantly began to study it, probably putting it to memory. “No doubt there will be Jonas henchman backstage, but we’ll just take them out as needed to get to the stage. We’ll crash the concert—the Hobo Brothers will run, most definitely, because they’re cowards to the bone—and Brian will hook his iPod up to the speakers. We’ll let the crowd listen to some good old rock music so they can recover—I think it’s five minutes of rock music for every minute of Hobo Bro music they listen to, for a full recovery.”

“So, off to the aircraft hangar?” I asked tentatively as Pink closed the Manila folder and looked like she was about to start walking again. Brian looked up from his paper, glancing between Pink and I.

“Yeah,” Pink answered, leading the way around the corner and towards an empty elevator. Brian looked back down at his paper, and I quickly grabbed his elbow and pulled him over to our side of the hallway before he could bump into an unsuspecting Patrick Stump talking to Pete Wentz. Brian barely glanced up as we walked into another elevator, really studying that paper.

“I’ll need that,” Pink said, snatching the paper out of Brian’s hand. He made a half-hearted grab for it as it slipped from his fingers, but then just stood with one of his hands resting on the rail going around the elevator. Moments later, the elevator doors slid open to reveal the humongous aircraft hangar built in the back of the mountain. Its big steel doors were closed now; when they were opened, they gave a spectacular view of the group of trees behind the mountain.

The four of us walked towards the plane waiting for us. It was a small plane, the kind you might see used for crop dusting or just recreational flying. The Legion owned big flashy fighter jets, too, but they were mainly used in emergencies. We’d toured them during the aircraft session of our training, when we learned about the planes and how to parachute correctly and such. We climbed up into the plane, and Brian shut the door after us, locking it shut and telling the pilot we were ready for take-off.

Everyone sat down in a seat, clipping themselves into a seatbelt. I sat drumming my fingertips on my thighs as the pilot turned the plane around in the hangar. The plane ambled towards the now-open hangar doors, picking up speed quickly. I braced myself for take off, and with a burst of raw power, the plane rocketed out of the hangar, ascending into the clouds.

Once the plane’s elevation leveled out, everyone unclipped their seatbelts and began to strap on parachutes and helmets. Our mission had begun.