Vida looked wide-eyed as Hendrix was dragged around the corner that led to the compound.
"Did that really just happen?" She asked.
Amora caught Vida's jealousy flicker.
"He'll be back in five minutes," Vida muttered, convincing herself more than anyone.
"He better. I need a chance with her, man." Taro got up from his knees.
A few moments of silence passed as the kids realized they didn't know what to do.
"I think we all know what rooms we're picking. Sooooo, what do we do now?" Akilah asked.
"Was she supposed to be our guide?" Vida asked the group. They all realized they were now left to their own devices.
"Let's go look around on our own then." Kai began to speedwalk down the hall, excited to wander aimlessly.
The rest of the group looked at each, making sure no one had any better ideas, before following Kai.
In the cafeteria, Molly had dragged Hendrix to an empty table.
They sat across from each other like a romantic date, with a carton of chocolate milk that Molly had grabbed in the middle of them.
"So, how old are you? What do you like? You ever had a girlfriend?" Molly bombarded the boy with questions, some more personal than others.
Hendrix stayed silent, waiting for her to choose a question for him to answer.
"So? How old are you?" Molly settled on that question.
"16," Hendrix spoke with his usual tone, reserved and awkward.
"What do you like?"
"Music,"
"You ever had a girlfriend?"
"Nope,"
"What?! No way someone this handsome hasn't had a girl!" Molly laughed, leaning in to sip her chocolate milk. Hendrix looked down at the table, cheeks burning.
Behind Hendrix, his friends walked into the cafeteria on their aimless journey, immediately catching sight of him and Molly.
"There you are!" Vida exclaimed. Her and Amora speed-walked over, Vida grabbing Hendrix's collar like a mom ready to scold her child.
Hendrix stumbled on to his feet as he tried to keep Vida from pulling his shirt off in the room full of compound residents. They walked back to the group at the edge of the cafeteria.
"Wait! Ugh!" Molly let out a groan, sipping her chocolate milk in defeat.
Taro quickly took Hendrix's seat, putting his hands together on the table like a model.
"Hey there, pretty woman." Taro smirked.
"Ew!" Molly got up and walked away, leaving her chocolate milk on the table.
When Kai had caught up to his brother, it looked like the soul inside him had died twice already.
"C'mon man." Kai dragged the now motionless Taro by the shoulders.
In the makeshift graveyard, Bloom and Alex stared at Manny's headstone in silence, holding each other to keep from collapsing onto the flowing grass.
Jason opened the glass door that led to the graveyard, careful so as to not interrupt the somber moment.
"Hi, sorry. Just wanted to check in on you guys." Jason scratched the back of his bright red head of hair nervously.
"Oh, we're fine." Alex nodded.
"I don't understand. Why would you go out on 'missions'? I can't believe he put his life on the line so casually." Bloom shook her head.
"That's who Milo was, Bloom." Alex tried to remind Bloom.
"She's right. Manny was the type of person to risk it all for a stranger. I loved those missions with Manny. We would always break into jails to save people convicted of 'heresy' or fight off deputies trying to break up a protest. It was our way of keeping the attention on the rebels, saying 'we aren't just sitting by'." Jason looked down at Manny's headstone.
"That's why we do them, even after Manny's gone. It gets the younger residents more practice and keeps the Correctional Forces from getting too comfortable. But more importantly, it keeps Manny's dream alive." Jason nodded towards the headstone.
"I can see why he left you in charge." Alex smiled at Jason, who smiled back.
"Alright, c'mon. Get situated for a bit, because I'm taking you two out on the town tonight. I heard you and the pink-haired kid like hardcore music, Alex. So what'd ya say?" Jason shrugged.
Alex chuckled, "I'm sure Hendrix would love that."
A few hours passed and the sun was beginning to set on the Japanese skyline.
After the group had walked aimlessly around the compound for an hour, they had all settled in Chase's room to watch a random thriller the kids found in one of the shelves lining the walls.
Halfway into the movie, the group heard a knock on their door.
"Password!" Chase exclaimed.
"Just open the door!" Alex's voice came from the other side.
Chase stumbled over his feet to get to the door, opening it quickly.
"Hendrix, get your shoes on, we're leaving." Alex said bluntly.
Hendrix, through his confusion, nodded. He got up and slipped on his black boots.
"What?! I wanna go!" Kai whined.
"It's not really your guys' style. We'll all go out on the town tomorrow." Alex held a pinky up to signify a promise as the rest of the kids groaned.
Hendrix followed Alex out of the room, down the stairs, and out to the front of the compound, where a black van waited. It was surprisingly in better shape than Alex's van back in D.C.
The driver's window rolled down to reveal Jason behind the wheel.
"C'mon kid. I wanna show ya something." Jason spoke as he pointed to the backseat.
Alex and Hendrix hopped into the van, which promptly sped off into the heart of Tokyo.
A ten minute drive felt like it went by in seconds, Hendrix glared out the window at the sights flashing through the glass.
The van pulled into a small restaurant that read 'Underground' in broken neon lights.
"This is the place?" Alex asked Jason.
"Yeah, they host 'em every weekend." Jason opened the door to the diner to be flashed by a wall of sound.
Hendrix stood in awe at the sight that met his eyes.
A group of four stood on a tiny stage that was only elevated enough to see half of their bodies over the swarming crowd.
The sound of feedback rang through the small room.
A bar sat quietly outside of the crowd of maybe fifty people, give or take.
"What is this?" Hendrix asked.
"I heard you like that hardcore shit, well this is as punk as it gets." Jason exclaimed over the combined feedback of the vocalists mic, the guitar, and the bass.
"Are you motherfuckers ready?!" The vocalist screamed into the microphone.
The crowd answered his question with roars and cheers.
"We are 'Decapitated Politicians', Fuck you!" The vocalist's insult triggered the band into action.
The drummer hit a blast beat at a speed Hendrix didn't even know was humanly possible.
The guitarist and bassist thrashed through the frets at what might seem random to the untrained ear.
The crowd went nuts, pushing each other around like rag dolls. Hendrix saw fists fly with no target while the vocalist raised the mic to his mouth.
The vocalist roared like an animal, making sounds thought only possible by an apex predator.
Hendrix's grin grew as he took in the sounds.
The bass made his heart rattle just as fast as the drummer was hitting his kick. The guitar riffs made Hendrix wanna bang his head just as hard as the band members were. And the vocalist's animalistic roars gave Hendrix a sense of confidence he had never felt before.
The music made him want to stand up. That's the only way Hendrix could put it.
"Let's kick ass!" Jason pushed Hendrix into the mosh pit.
Alex burst into laughter.
"You see? This is what you can do when you keep those Officers in their place!" Jason yelled over the music.
Alex watched him and smiled. Maybe these missions weren't such a bad idea after all.
Hendrix was now in the midst of the chaos, adding to it to Alex's surprise. The quiet kid was throwing limbs at random like he was born for this environment.
The music went on for about another thirty minutes. It was just as energetic the whole way through, never letting up on the pure rage felt through every instrument.
"Fuck the Forces, and if you don't like that, fuck you too!" The vocalist screamed before throwing the mic into the crowd. The band walked off the stage as the crowd dispersed.
Alex and Jason walked against the crowd, trying to find Hendrix.
"Woah!" Alex got a look at Hendrix, who seemed to have been struck good on the side of his face.
Alex and Jason both started to laugh, with Hendrix joining in shortly after.
The ride home was just as short, with Hendrix replaying his favorite musical moments in his head through the whole ten minutes.
The three of them opened the doors to the compound, where Molly was looking over some of the papers on the pinboard with her headphones covering her ears.
She looked to the door just in time to see the three of them come in.
"Holy shit! Brother what did you do to him?" Molly rushed over to Hendrix, examining the gash on his cheek.
"I took him to The Underground. He loved it, Molly. You should go with him next time." Jason chuckled as he went to the cafeteria to get water for the group.
"Geez, Hendrix. I didn't know you liked THAT kind of music!" Molly grabbed Hendrix's face, turning it as she examined the cut.
Hendrix chuckled.
Vida watched from the top of the stairs before turning back around.
The group was about to go downstairs to greet Hendrix and Alex, but stopped to see why Vida had turned around.
"Are they alright?" Akilah asked her.
"Yeah." Vida answered plainly, opening the door to her room.