New York Zero

By: Aubrie1234

"Mm, another 5 minutes..." Frank mumbled, pulling more into the bed and covers. There had been knocking at the door to his and Ray's room, but there was no way he was leaving the warm, warm bed at this time of day. He probably wouldn't leave at all if Ray didn't get him out.

"I'll get it." The afro man rolled his eyes at Frank as he stood up and went to the door. Ray had been up for a while now, but he didn't know who could be knocking. Not unless it was one of the other guys, who might have wanted someone to come with them down to breakfast. He was right, as he found Gerard on the other side of the door. Just as the singer opened his mouth, Ray raised a hand for silence.

"I know what you're going to say, and I only have one comment: Your obsession with coffe is seriously unhealthy." Gerard snorted.

"Says 'Princess Frofro.'" he did the quotation marks with his fingers, "Now, do you wanna come down and get something to eat?"

"One time, it was one time!" Ray sighed, "And unless you plan to get Frank out of bed, no thanks."

"I'll get him out, don't worry." Gerard walked past him into the room, a light in his eyes that Ray knew well and to stay the hell away from. Gerard always got a certain look in his eyes when he had an idea, and about half the time, Ray found that they weren't always good ones. He watched as the MCR frontman cracked his knuckles, flexed his fingers, and pounced onto Frank, tickling him mercilessly. Instantly the shorter man was laughing and trying to push Gerard away.

"I'm up, I'm UP!" he gasped between bouts of laughter. Gerard was relentless, however, and didn't let up. Ray snickered at their antics until he suddenly got a text. He continued to watch just long enough to see Frank finally push Gerard onto the floor before checking. It was from Dallon in the group chat they had set up to encompass all four bands, and though it was only a message, the touring member didn't sound happy.

'Brendon won't leave the bed. Can't pull him out. Suggestions?' Already responses were pouring in while Gerard dragged Frank off the bed with him, causing the short guitarist to squwak in surprise. The tickle war almost resumed until Ray got an idea.

"Hey, guys! Why don't you go tickle Brendon?" Gerard and Frank looked up from the other side of the bed, where they couldn't be seen, and both began smiling evilly.

"Me first!" Frank was up in seconds and out the door with Gerard on his heels. Ray sent a text to warn Dallon.

'Frnk & Gee heading ur way.'

'Thanks.' The afro man then tucked his phone away and headed downstairs, hearing the screams of Brendon down the hall.

"Let me guess: Tickle War 100?" Mikey asked as Ray turned the bend. The other Way brother had been waiting on an elevator and had heard his bandmate come down the hall.

"Gerard started it and Dallon said Brendon wouldn't get out of bed, so..." Ray just shrugged, a smile on his face.

"You might be a ray of sunshine most of the time, Toro, but you're evil the other part of that time." Mikey quipped as an elevator finally became available.

"Just how I like it. Anyone else gone down yet?"

"Just Pete and Patrick, I think. Pete's like another Gerard with how he likes coffee, but also another Frank with how he's got all that energy." Mikey sighed, "I'm glad I don't have to live with him." Ray rolled his eyes again.

"We know, not the first time you've complained." the afro man spoke. The doors then dinged and they found themselves on the first floor. Soon enough they had walked into the lobby to see Patrick and Pete. The two were sitting in chairs, Pete looking very run-down though it was just the morning.

"Hey!" Mikey waved as he and Ray joined them.

"Hey." Patrick waved back, "And don't mind Pete, he's always like this before he gets his coffee."

"Mmph." groaned the other FOB member, too tired for words.

"Maybe when Gerard gets down here, he'll go get him some coffee." Ray suggested.

"More like he'll drink it all before he gets back." Mikey added, "My brother loves coffee more than pretty much anything."

"Maybe we can convince him to share." Patrick said.

"Good luck." was Mikey's response as he and Ray took seats on a couch opposite of the two. It was not long after that that Brendon, Dallon, Gerard, and Frank came down, the latter two grinning while Brendon looked like a bedraggled cat after it got caught in a storm, except he wasn't wet. Dallon seemed to be indifferent as the four went to join their friends.

"Why the hell did you let them into my room?!" Brendon was saying to the only other member of P!AtD, "You could have just let me sleep!"

"I needed to get you up somehow." Dallon spoke, "Letting them tickle you awake was the best way to do it." Brendon growled in response.

"So," Gerard glanced around, "where's the coffee?"

"The hotel doesn't have any. You want to head out and get some?" Frank yawned and joined his bandmates on the couch, flopping on top of their laps. Mikey and Ray were not amused, so they pushed Frank off and onto the ground.

"Of course!" The mention of the coffee run already had the older man's eyes alight.

"I'll come with you." Patrick got up, "Just to make sure you don't drink it all before anyone else gets a chance."

"Suit yourself." Gerard shrugged, "Anyone else want to join us?" When the others shook their heads, he grabbed Patrick's hand and began running off.

"H-hey, slow down!"

"No way, motherfucker! I want to get my coffee as soon as possible, so keep up!" And then they were gone.

Alex liked the taste of coffee, even though he didn't need it. It wasn't something that the virus needed to survive (usually it rejected anything it didn't need), but Alex continued to drink it, if just for the taste. And as it was, he wasn't about to go into a coffee shop without disguising himself. It was like suicide if he did, with all the news stations that were always playing in those places. So, he decided to test out his imagination and became Party Poison, though no one seemed to notice, even with his tight clothes and bright red hair. Now, all he needed to do was just keep the illusion up until he had left the place and was very far away. But because he had never consumed Party Poison, it was going to be a challenge.

While he was waiting in line after ordering, Alex heard the door's bell ring and looked up. He nearly lost his concentration as he saw Gerard and Patrick come in. Oh, he was in heaven now! Or, at least, as close as a murdering virus could get to heaven. He tried to act casual, though, and watched them closely. He wasn't able to watch long, though, as the two humans quickly spotted him. Patrick just raised an eyebrow, as if he was wonder who the hell Alex was, while Gerard had gone pale, paler than he had been even with makeup, grabbed Patrick's hand, and bolted back out of the shop. Alex saddened and gave a disappointed sigh. Well, he had tried, hadn't he? Now he needed to find another way to make friends with them.

"Fuckfuckfuck!" Gerard's speech seemed to consist of only that word as he dragged Patrick away from the shop as fast as he could. It was like he was running away from his greatest fear, but how could a red-haired man in a blue jacket and tight pants scare the shit out of Gerard Way? It made no sense to Patrick, so he tried to get his fellow frontman to slow down.

"Hey, HEY!" Partick dug his heels into the sidewalk, managing to stop Gerard's wild run of fear, "Excuse my grammar, but what the hell happened back there?"

"Alex happened!"

"We didn't even-"

"I saw him, damnit! He was me in there!"

"You?" Patrick was now more confused, "Look, just calm down and tell me how you saw yourself in there." Gerard's ragged breathing quickly slowed through forceful breathing exercises and soon he seemed ready to talk again.

"The red-haired man, it was me, once upon a damn time." Gerard ran a hand through his long black hair, "I'd dyed my hair that fucking color for our Danger Days album. But the thing was, that guy looked just like Party Poison, the character I created for myself, damn clothing and all." Patrick then understood.

"So, if I understand correctly, Alex must have somehow changed himself to look like you did when you were playing Party Poison for the album, right?" Gerard nodded.

"Yeah, that's fucking right."

"Then shouldn't you take it as a compliment?"

"Hell no!" The MCR singer shook his head, "If he can become me without needing to eat me, I don't think that's a fucking good thing! And if you say we should go back to take a look, then fuck you! Coffee or not, I'm not going back there!"

"Wasn't even thinking of it." Patrick tried to calm Gerard down again, "Let's go to a different place to get some coffee. Cool with you?"

"Yeah, I'm cool with it..." The two frontmen then began making their way to a different coffee shop, though Gerard still seemed spooked about the encounter.

"...and that's it." Patrick finished recounting the event to the other bands after they had returned to the hotel. They had also moved into Bob's room (he was the only one out of all of them who hadn't needed to share a room) to speak of it.

"Damn virus..." Gerard was drinking his coffee in the comfort of his band sitting around him, especially his brother and Frank on both sides of him.

"Speaking of Alex, I almost met him again yesterday." Pete spoke up, not looking too well, "It was just after I got off the train in Penn Station, which was a pretty stupid move, I know. I saw him and I managed to lose him as I walked out, but then this pretty girl came up to me and showed me the sights. And now that I think about it, that girl could have been Alex again."

"Both times, he had a chance to kill you. Both times he didn't." Dallon spoke, "I think that proves that Alex is more of a neutral here, maybe even a good guy."

"No way! No fucking way!" Brendon shook his head, "I refuse to see him as anything better than a bad guy!"

"Maybe if you got to meet him you would change your mind." Joe said.

"No."

"Well, we've got at least another day before the first concert starts." Andy said, "I say we check out the Internet about Alex and make a list of what we know. It'll show us what we know, at least, given that we don't know much about him."

"Alright." Bob nodded and went over to a desk, where he took out a pad of paper and a pencil. They then began speaking of what they knew concerning Alex and soon they had this list:

Human-shaped virus
Caused a breakout of said virus
Can shapeshift
Can create weapons
Biggest threat in the universe
Scary and sneaky as hell
Blackwatch tried to nuke NYC because of him

"Wow. We really don't know much about him, do we?" Pete mused after reading the list.

"That's my point. So, get out your phones and start searching for what you can about Alex that we don't already know." Andy said, "I'd like to know just who he really is before we start a concert with him around. I don't want anyone to be in danger, especially our fans."

"Point taken." Frank said as the majority of them brought out their phones. Time to get a bit more informal on the Monster of Manhattan.

There really wasn't a point now to go in the hotel and see them as himself or Party Poison, but since they didn't know he knew where they were, he still had a little time. Alex knew this as he relaxed in the coffee shop, people still ignoring his crazy looks. And to make friends, maybe he just had to meet with one of them in private and reveal himself. But who could he talk to? Brendon? Pete? Gerard? Frank? Well, two of them he had freaked out and the other two hadn't come out of the hotel, so he would have to lure one away. Alex knew just which one to lure away, too, though he didn't like the prospect of it. But before he could try and enact his plan, the news flashed a headline of some Infected in Central Park, apparently trying to infect the giant venue. Rolling his eyes, Alex got up and left the shop with coffee in hand, sipping it through Party's lips.

Briefly, he wondered why he liked coffee. Perhaps because so many people he had consumed liked it? Or maybe because some of his favorite people (Pete and Gerard) like it? He didn't know and didn't care to know, though. He had a job to do and he couldn't waste time thinking about why he liked coffee in the first place.

Here's the third chapter! If there are any mistakes, tell me and I'll fix them. As it is, I think this story can be considered a bit of a co-authored project between me and a friend who knows much more about the bandmembers themselves than I do. I kind of get the feeling Gerard and Frank would totally have tickle wars with each other sometimes, and I put in the 'Princess Frofro' remark! Speaking of that, I also have a few questions for that. One, why is the fandom obsessed with Mikey loving unicorns and calling Ray 'Princess Frofro?' I'm honestly curious about that and I haven't seen it anywhere (I'm also too lazy to look).

Also, please read & review!

EDIT: Fixed a few mistakes, no new updates. Sorry.