Becoming

Age Of Innocence

Just before the doors opened for the signing session, Bruce called his ex-wife to confirm that she'd be dropping off the kids for the show and would pick them up again after the end of the meet'n'greet. Ade smiled as he closed his phone again. "Emppu met your kids last night, right? How'd they get along?" he asked.

"Well, I think," Bruce told him. "I mean, sure, there was some awkwardness, but nothing too terrible. Griffin made a point of talking about guitars with Emppu, which certainly helped him relax a little, and Kia seemed to like him as well. Austin was a little more neutral, but not disapproving or anything."

"That's good," Ade said, then squared his shoulders and took a deep breath, smiling as the doors opened and a crowd of fans streamed inside, pushing and shoving their way into the roped-off switchback queue leading to the autograph table.

The rest of the afternoon and evening passed uneventfully enough, with Emppu once more joining them onstage for The Trooper. When the "kiss" chant started up at the end of the song, Dave answered the laughing crowd with the opening riff of Love Gun. As happened at the previous show, the audience changed up the chant to "kiss your bloke" at which point Bruce kissed Emppu and then the little guitarist grabbed the mic to say a thank you before heading back offstage. A couple of songs later, Bruce led the audience in singing the birthday song to Dave, making a point of announcing that the guitarist was now officially over the hill at the age of fifty. Dave cheerfully flipped Bruce a two-finger salute in response to that announcement, to laughter from the audience.

The first inkling any of them got that anything might be wrong happened during the last couple of songs before the encore. Emppu had put his guitar away and returned to his usual spot in the wings to watch the rest of the show, but when Dave looked over, he'd disappeared from sight. Unfortunately, Bruce noticed as well.

"What could have happened?" Bruce fretted to Dave whilst Ade soloed.

"Maybe whatever biscuits you had with your kids last night didn't completely agree with him, and he needed the toilet?" Dave suggested.

"Yeah... maybe," Bruce agreed. But he kept glancing over to where Emppu usually waited all through the final song.

Dave saw that a crew member had moved into Emppu's usual position and got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He moved over to Ade and said, "Follow Bruce off, instead of going out our usual side. Something's wrong."

Ade took one look over and nodded. "Yeah."

By this time, the whole band realised that something had happened, so they all filed off to the same side, both curious and ready to offer whatever support they could. Bruce paled slightly as the crew member approached him.

"Sir, there's been an incident, and Emppu is busy with security. I was asked to let you know that he's shook up, but not hurt, and for you to please finish the show before looking for him," the crew member said.

"He is all right, though?" Bruce asked anxiously.

"Near as I could tell, yeah," the crew member said. "Dunno what happened exactly, but I guess he laid out someone who tried to assault him or something."

"Had to be Jones," Ade muttered to Dave.

"Yeah," Dave agreed. "Especially after the row over soundcheck. Knew the man was a cunt but didn't think he'd go that far."

Ade put a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "Your lad's gonna be fine," he said quietly. "He's the one who sent the message, yeah? Let's finish the show up whilst he's giving his statement to security and all, and he'll find you before the meet'n'greet, I'm sure."