You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

[hungercity_hellhound]

Damien had been too busy working with Martyn to help keep Davy safe to keep track of the new bands that came on. Ziggy and Tom had been managing that, mostly Ziggy it seemed because Tom too was concerned about a band member with a stalker that had proven dangerous. Nevermind, the response they all expected from Sven when he found up. For better or worse, Sven had found up and the implosion had been handled by Martyn, was still being handled by Martyn the last he had heard anything. Damien thought it was better that way. He agreed with the Swede wanting to skin him. He couldn't say anything really himself. He had pulled a gun on someone in broad daylight for much less toward Zack.

The stage they saw put together was eerie but then, he knew this band was slated to potentially open for Svarte Ravner. The look made sense. Maybe it was another black metal band, or was it death metal? Folk metal? Rekker had tried to explain it all to him once and he got some of it but not clearly enough to make that call just from the stage décor. The other five Dogs working that night with him came up beside him and he started laying out security. One at the door, two at the stage, a rover, and he would take point with another at the back door. It was their usual at a small venue.

He wasn't surprised to see Svarte Ravner here either. It was a benefit to see an act that might be opening for you in the future. Trygg was there, and in Damien's mind, the sanest and best suited for his company. They had a lot in common in the way they thought about the world, the way they looked at it and Damien appreciated that.

“What's this band like?” Damien asked as he came up beside the bassist.

“I don't know too much. I know they have an elaborate stage set and play storytelling style. I'm interested to see what they have.” Trygg was interested in other people's presentations. He'd seen the bassist watching most of the other bands at one time or another.

Damien nodded. “This should be interesting.” He agreed. “What type of music?”

“I think Rekker said gothic, folk rock.” Trygg wasn't sure but they would all find out soon.

Damien nodded and sat at the bar with Trygg and the others. It had a nice vantage in this venue since the bar was a bit elevated above the floor in front of the stage. It wasn't long before the lights went down and the stage show was about to start. Damien loved the rhythmic start. Trygg whispering that it was one of the Danes back there on the drums. He could tell from the way it reminded him of a Norse warship rowing.

He was lost in the music for a moment until he looked over at his rover. The Dog was staring, white as a sheet and that was when the music came rushing back in. Then he heard it. This band was singing about the Ministry. Even Damien, with all his training, felt the panic surging up inside. This was supposed to be a safe timeline. Was the Ministry here? Surely, no one in this band was from their world. He watched his fellow Dog bolt as he got off the bar stool. They were all going to run and he couldn't blame them. He wanted to run too as he listened to the lyrics.

He was never going to get another Dog to step foot in the vacinity of this band. The whole crew that was here in this world was going to be loading up guns and bedding down somewhere, maybe the apartments. Some were pretty good friends with the other musicians. They were going to go on the defensive.

Damien bolted to the back and was looking for Tom. He saw the Brit and went right at him in the back hall. “Why the hell didn't you warn us?”

Tom's eyes went wide and confused. Damien repeated himself louder, getting angry. “You didn't tell us you were bringing Ministry bastards in on this tour. The Dogs are never going to work for you again!”

Tom shook himself out of the startle of Damien yelling about anything. “What?”

“The band...” Damien motioned wildly back toward the general direction of the stage. “... They're singing about the Ministry and killing people.” At least that was what he got out of the lyrics through his own hazy need to fight something.

Tom felt the reality crash down on him. He hadn't listened to Kuro's lyrics much and Ziggy had mentioned something about the music and the Dogs. “I didn't think music would...”

Damien cut the older man off. “Get the Dog at the back door. Tell them to leave.” He was already walking off. “I have to get the others before they shoot that ass on the stage.”

He had nothing nice to think about the singer, wasn't that who usually wrote all the lyrics? He went out to see things that looked like death and felt panic as much as he saw it in his companions. They were pinned down at the stage from the people around them. Damien used his height to get to them and get them out. They were just kids and they didn't know what to do. Maybe that was for the better that they didn't have the instincts honed in them to kill the Ministry.

Damien was marching his way back to have another go at Tom over this faux pas when he came face to face with the singer coming off the stage. The Dog froze in his tracks like he saw a monster. He saw the smile on the singer's face and he was saying something. Was he thanking the Dog? Damien couldn't focus between the panic of the Ministry being here, the anger that no one had given them enough warning, and having to deal with the pups out in the venue.

“Damien. GO!”

Damien looked up to see Tom shooing him away. He couldn't agree more but there felt like there was nowhere to escape. Tom gave him a push and he went this time, back out into the venue. He was shaking by the time he got back to the apartments. He couldn't stay still. He was pacing all over the place and barely acknowledging others. This was hell. This had to be hell. What if the Ministry had followed them here? Wasn't that something the Devil always worried about in the Nexus, God getting to somewhere else. What if the Ministry had?