Burning It Down, All the Way to Bat Country

Trinity’s POV
“So you wanna hang out tonight? I have nothing going on and I’m bored as hell.”
“I can’t tonight baby, I have a fight tonight.” Hm, that could be interesting…
“Can I come?” I could tell I had surprised him with my question, whenever he asked me if I wanted to go with him, I said no,
“You really wanna go? Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I just need to ask my dad, do you want me to go?”
“Of course baby, but I don’t know if you’ll be safe there, Trent won’t be there to look out for you.” I hadn’t thought about that…
“I could see if one of the guys would come, I know Brian used to fight underground.”
“Wow, seriously? When?”
“Oh it’s been years, it was before he met Lynnie I guess.”
“Alright, go ask and call me back.”
“Ok, bye babe.”
“Bye.” I slid my new phone shut and pocketed it. Yes, I said new phone, Blaze broke my iPhone in an unfortunate pool accident. I was walking around the house looking for my dad, and finally found him outside on his phone. He saw me and waved for me to sit down.

“Yeah, I’m listening. No, we’re not doing it… I’m not kidding Jason, it’s not going to happen… Because that’s the day of my daughter’s birthday thing… I don’t care, I already told them not to book us for anything… Well then tell them to re schedule it… Jason, NO… Ok, call me back, bye.” He hung up his phone and looked at for a second before calmly getting up and dropping it into the pool.
“Oops…” He said, smirking evilly at me.

“Daddy, I really hope that was your work cell and not your main one.” He looked panicked for a minute and started searching his pockets, smiling in relief when he found his iPhone.
“So what’s up baby girl?”
“I wanted to talk to you about maybe letting me…gotomitch’sfightwithhim…”
“Say that last part again; I must be going deaf, because you couldn’t have just asked me to let you to an underground fight.” I bit my lip and nodded, waiting for the explosion,
“No.” he stated very calmly.
“Why not?”
“Because none of us can go with you, and I don’t want you there. It’s dangerous Trinity, girls get raped at those things all the time. It’s not happened sweetheart, sorry.”
“Daddy, I am sixteen years old, I think I can handle it!” He looked thoughtful for a second before nodding at me.
“Alright, you think you can handle it, let’s see. BRIAN!”
“What’s up man?”

“Trinity thinks she should be able to go to Mitch’s fight with him, and she also thinks she can ‘handle it’.”
“Absolutely not. No well in hell.” Brian said firmly, and I just glared and crossed my arms.
“Well, I have a little test Brian. We’re going to see just how well she can handle it.”
“You’re not going to do what you did to Lynnie that one time, are you?”
“That’s exactly what I’m going to do.” He smirked and turned to me,
“Alright sweetie, we’re going to get the rest of the guys out here, and we’re going to see if you can fight your way out of a bad situation.” I nodded and started moving chairs out of the way as Brian went to go get the rest of the guys.

The girls came out with them too, and I saw Kat smirk, she knew about what Max had been teaching me in my training sessions. My dad was first, and I had no idea what he was doing until he picked me up from behind. I screamed and started thrashing around before my brain kicked in and I looped my leg around his knee, pulling forward to knock him down before slamming an elbow back into his gut, he grunted but held on, so I threw myself back, knocking him flat on his back and rolling out of his grip, raising my hands in victory. Jimmy and Brian came at me next, took me a little longer this time, but still managed to get away. Johnny was next, he really wasn’t that hard. Then there was Zacky, who simply grabbed me from behind and put an imaginary gun to my head.

“Go ahead doll, try to free yourself with a gun pressed to your temple. Seriously.” He said, and I just nodded I defeat, slumping into a chair when he released me. Dad picked me up and sat me in his lap, I smiled and snuggled closer,
“You see sweetheart? We know you can fight, that’s why we got you the lessons, but you can’t fight a gun to your head or a knife to your throat, and I will NEVER willingly put you in a position where that is a very real possibility. I know you wanted to go to this fight, and when we can all go with you, you can go, just not this one, ok?” I nodded and kissed his cheek before getting up so I could call Mitch.

“Hey baby, what did your dad say?”
“He said no cuz none of them can go with me.”
“Aw, that sucks. I gotta go baby, I’ll call you later ok?”
“Ok, bye babe.”
“Bye.” I hung up and flopped onto my bed, what to do now? I rolled off my bed and went over to my desk to turn on my laptop; once it was loaded my AIM pinged, signaling an incoming message.

It’sMISTEY!: hey chicky, I was gonna text you, but my mom took my phone away. You wanna go shopping today?

xbabyxshadowsx: I can’t today, I have to finish getting some stuff ready for the benefit.

It’sMISTEY!: cool cool, what do you have left to do?

xbabyxshadowsx: I need to confirm a few bands, print some more flyers, and I still have one band time slot to fill. I was going to ask Metallica to play for an hour, but they can’t. My choices are Shinedown or Saving Abel, what do you think?

It’sMISTEY!: Shinedown, totally. Saving Abel sucks. Do you need help with anything?

xbabyxshadowsx: Naw, I’m gonna make my dad help me haha. I gotta go chick, I’ll see you tomorrow to go shopping right?

It’sMISTEY!: you know it, meet you at the food court at 1?

xbabyxshadowsx: forsure, ttyl

It’sMISTEY!:byeeeeee

I smiled and shut off my computer, grabbing the binder that had all the party details in it and ran downstairs,
“DADDY!”
“Living room!” I skipped into aforementioned room and promptly went over to dad, plopping down on his lap.
“Ok daddeh, I need you to sign here and here, initial here, sign here again, and initial here. And I need you to call Shinedown’s people; I’d like them to be the last band.” I handed him the papers and a pen, grinning impishly as he shook his head,
“What exactly am I signing here?”
“It’s just the booking contract for the venue. I have to fax it over to them before five or we’ll lose the reservation.” He smiled and signed the papers, handing them to me so I could put them back in my notebook.

“Ok, so I changed up the invite process a little bit. Instead of just showing up and having a gift, I put an e mail address on the flyers and everything; so far I have 450 RSVP’s. I’m going to cut it off at 800 for the general public, and have free admission for servicemen with ID; we put that on the flyers as well. I called Julie at OHF again; she’s going to be sending a truck to pick up the donations. I have the bands, you guys, the girls, my friends, and Mitch on the VIP list, is there anyone else that needs to be on it?”
“No, I think you’ve pretty much covered it. Wait, did you put Kenna on the list? Brian talked to her like you asked and she said she wanted to come.”
“Ok, I’ll make sure she’s gets put on. I think I’m going to make like, backstage passes for the VIP’s.”
“Good idea sweetheart, anything else?”
“Nope, I think that’s it. Thanks daddy!” I kissed his cheek and jumped to my feet, heading towards his office so I could fax off the contract. This was gonna be so much fun!

Mistey’s POV
“Blaike, I’m telling you, you can’t miss this.”
“Mist, I already told you, my mom said I couldn’t go. I guess my great aunt Chelsea is coming into town.”
“Fuck your great aunt, it’s our best friend’s birthday party!”
“Ok, I’ll try to ask her again, but I’m not making any promises.”
“Ok, I gotta go, Matt is yelling about something. Bye.”
“Later.” I slid my phone closed and tossed it on my bed, running out of my room to go find my errant twin brother. I finally found him in the backyard talking to Mitch over the fence,
“What do you want Matt?”
“So you know how we’ve been trying to score a gig?”
“Yeah, what’s your point?”

“Mitch managed to get us a gig, DO NOT FREAK OUT! The gig is at his fight next week.”
“What the hell? Mitch, none of our parents are gonna go for that.”
“I think they will, what if we got Trinity’s dad and uncles to be there, plus my friends will be extra security.”
“Oh.my.god. That is an AMAZING idea, I gotta go call Trin, thanks Mitch!” I yelled over my shoulder as I ran back into the house to grab my phone, quickly dialing Trin’s number.
“Hey chick, what’s crackin?”
“Can I come over, I really need to talk to you and your family. Matt and Mitch are coming too.”
“Sure, see ya in a bit.”
“K, bye.” I slid my phone closed and grabbed my bag, running downstairs.
“Mitch, me and Matt need a ride to Trinity’s house.”
“Alright, meet me out front; I just have to grab my keys.” I grabbed Matt and we walked through the house and across the yard, waiting by Mitch’s car. Jesus I hope this works out.

Trinity’s POV
Ten minutes after I had hung up with Mistey, she walked through the door with Mitch and Blaze in tow.
“Ok, what’s going on?”
“So, Mitch managed to get the band a gig, DO NOT FREAK OUT! The gig is at his fight next week. We figured that if your dad and uncles could go with us, we should be ok, plus Mitch has friends that would be extra security. We called all the parents on the way over here, and if your dad and his band are down, then we can go. The others should be here…” the door opened to reveal Evan, Blaike, and Sarah.
“Now,” Mistey finished with a grin.
“Ok, break this down for me Mitch.”
“The club where I’m fighting one of the safer rings in the city, they have metal detectors and security. The show is about forty five minutes, and then my fight will happen. Including set up and tear down, you guys would be there about two hours.” We all looked at each, silently weighing the pros and cons. We nodded and each other and grinned,
“Well, what are we waiting for?” I went to the intercom on the wall and pressed the button.
“FAMILY MEETING IN THE LIVING ROOM!”

Matt’s POV
“FAMILY MEETING IN THE LIVING ROOM!” came blaring through the house’s intercom system, something we had just installed. I groaned and rolled out of bed, pulling on some pants and a t shirt. I met the guys in the hall; they all looked as confused as I was,
“Anyone have any idea why Trin decided to call a meeting?” Brian asked, looking at us,
“No idea, last I checked she was in her room on her computer. I guess we should go see what the little psycho wants.” I said and grinned, walking downstairs with the guys. We sat with the girls who were already in the room, and saw Trin and her band, plus Evan and Mitch. I saw Trin take a deep breath, and opened her mouth to speak,

“We have a proposition for the guys, we asked the girls to be here to provide some common sense.” I was really not liking the sound of this. I looked at the guys, who all had the same expressions, we were all worried.
“Alright, we’re listening.”
“Mitch managed to get us a gig, and we would really like the opportunity to play. However, this gig is at an event that most of you will be uncomfortable with.” She paused and looked at the other members before continuing,

“The gig is at Mitchell’s fight next Saturday. Please don’t flip out, this is where you guys come in. We’ve already talked to the other parents about this, and we’ve discussed amongst ourselves. We would like for you guys to go with us, and Mitch has a few friends that would be willing to provide a little more security. The stage would have a security barrier, and we would play the show, watch Mitch, and leave. All in all, we think that we’d be at the ring for about two hours. This is one of the safer fight rings; they have metal detectors and security of their own.”

“Who are these friends of yours Mitch?” Brian asked,
“Trent, Jake, and Alex.”
“Are they fighters?” Johnny chimed in,
“Some of the best I’ve ever seen.”
“How old are they?” Jimmy piped up,
“Seventeen, nineteen, and twenty four.”
“Can we meet them?” I asked,
“Shouldn’t be a problem.” We were done with the questions, and Trin knew it,
“Alright, we’ve given you all the information we have; so we’re going to my room so you guys can discuss things.” They nodded and left the room.

“I think you should let them go.” We all turned to Lynnie in shock, and saw the other girls nodding their heads.
“Think about guys, they had the intelligence to come and ask, and they know that there’s a possibility that we would say no. They had the respect to give you the information they had, and they came up with a plan that seems perfectly reasonable. They aren’t asking to go by themselves, they asked you all to go with them, and Mitch even lined up more protection because he knows just how important Trinity is to us, and to him.” Jasey said, and the girls nodded in agreement.

“Guys, we should let them go. I don’t like where it is, but Jasey is right. They’re young; they might not get another show for a while. We know how hard they’ve been working at this. And we’ll all be there.” Johnny spoke up, and we looked at each other before nodding. I got up and walked over to the intercom, paging Trin’s room. Five seconds later and they were all clomping down the stairs into the living room.
“You guys had better kill this damn show, because I’m going to be having a damn panic attack for the whole thing,” I said, and Trinity just looked at me closely,
“Are you serious, we can go?” We nodded, and they started shrieking and hugging, with the exception of Blaze and Mitch, they just stood there with shit eating grins. I was broken out of my daze when Trinity practically tackled me into a hug,
“Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” She squealed, and I laughed and wrapped my arms around her, seeing her to me. I couldn’t keep the smile off my own face, they were going to fucking destroy this show.

Trinity’s POV
I let go of my dad and was immediately swept into a hug by my band.
“OH MY GOD! WE HAVE A GIG!” Sarah screamed, and we all started screaming in excitement again.
“Holy fuck, we have to go shopping!” Mistey shrieked, and we all stopped jumping to turn to my dad, looking at him with the most pathetically hopeful faces we could muster. He just groaned and grabbed his keys and wallet off the coffee table.
“Alright guys, everyone is going, and we’re all buying this baby band new outfits for the show. I get Trinity, pick a kid guys.”
“I’ll take Blaze.” Brian said.
“I’ve got Sarah.” Jimmy.
“I’ll take Mistey.” Johnny
“So Blaike is with me.” Zacky.
“Evan can stay here with us and we’ll design new merch.” Corra said, and Evan sighed in relief.
“Thank you so much, I hate shopping.” Mitch laughed at him, clapping him on the back,
“Good man. Well I have to go guys; we have people coming home later. Mist, your mom said to call her when you need to picked up.”
“Alright, thanks Mitch!” We all tackled him into a hug, and I gave him a soft kiss. I was pulled off of him and set on my feet, and I whirled around to glare at my dad, who just smiled innocently. I shook my head and clapped,
“Alright, LET’S DO THIS!”