"I'm here to talk to you about 'Joker'."
Hearing those words, Joseph was in a trance for a second before looking at his phone on the table. The song that had stopped in the middle was displayed on it.
Joker — A memory that was incomplete. A painful past that Joseph had never been able to forget.
"What about 'Joker'? I thought we were over it."
"We need it." Theodore insisted.
"It's incomplete, and it would be like that for eternity."
Joseph shook his head. If he could, he didn't want to talk about it, but it didn't look like Theodore was going to leave it be.
He had come here with determination.
"You are someone who could complete it. I don't know anyone else who could."
Theodore said. Joseph was the only composer he knew who could complete 'Joker'. No other modern-day composer would be able to do it other than him.
"Do you think I have never tried? I have. Many times but it never worked. It didn't match well. Something was always missing. It's not my song, and the one who could do it is already dead. Do you really need it for the movie?"
"We want to use it if we can. We feel like it would be the best possible farewell to Agnas."
Joseph sighed, hearing that, and looked up at Theodore.
"Have you talked to other composers? There's more than just me."
"I sent it to a lot of people. Some think it's cursed." Theodore shrugged, frowning. "Others tried their hands on it. But it didn't work out. The emotional range needed to do the song is not something easy to find. Moreover, you were the one to work the most with Agnas. If you can't do it, no one can."
Joseph closed his eyes upon hearing that. His memories took him to the days when he was still young.
The young musician Agnas — the true superstar that ruled an entire era. He had done so many songs with him, and his life was of legends. Something that most people could only dream of.
But there was just so much that was not revealed to the public.
In the end, Agnas overdosed while trying to complete a song called 'Joker'. A song that was never revealed to the public and something that was even considered a curse now due to it being involved with the death of Agnas.
"Grandpa, can you really not do it? You are the best composer I know of."
Cameron, who had been silent until now, asked. Joseph shook his head in rejection.
"No, I already said I can't. Some things are just better left incomplete in this world."
"Yeah, that's better, I guess." Theodore leaned against his seat. "The director wanted to use it in the movie, but I guess it would need to be removed now. By the way, Joseph, can you be there during the auditions? You know Agnas better than anyone else, and your character would be in the movie too, so it's better for us if you are more involved."
Joseph nodded with a smile.
For the record, he had helped out as a consultant for the script for years, as he genuinely wanted the world to see the real story of Agnas.
"Yeah, I will be there."
At that moment, Cameron suddenly opened his mouth.
"Mr. Price, can I audition for the role?"
"Which role?"
Theodore raised an eyebrow, and even Joseph looked at his grandson with a strange eye. He was never interested in acting before.
"For Agnas. I want to give it a shot."
***
"[Black Saints 2], you said? One entirely focused on Kai?" Wade asked. "How did you get a new project when you went to see how he was doing? Was that your plan all along?"
"No. Do you think of me as some sort of mastermind, with every small move of mine hinting towards a grand plan?"
"You do give that vibe. I won't be surprised if you are."
Sasha and Jody burst out in laughter at the exchange between Wade and Aiden. George just snickered while Lia and Tom focused on the food.
Aiden was currently in a restaurant, having lunch with his entire team. As he didn't have any schedule today, he came out to eat together with his team.
"Are you sure the sequel would be focused on Kai? [Black Saints] is Ray Hardy's biggest hit in the last three years. He won't like it if his character isn't featured a lot in the sequel."
Jody asked, and before Aiden could reply, Wade chipped in.
"I don't think Ray is the type to care about the box office. His character arc was completed too, and Kai was the most popular character. Aside from him, the movie was nothing new. I'm pretty sure Zavier would be cursed if he went for a sequel without Kai. A lot wanted him as the main face anyway."
Aiden took a bite from his burger and nodded.
"Yeah. Although the scripting would take time, so I don't know when it would go into pre-production, but going by what Zavier said, the project is definitely on."
"If we are lucky, it will roll around the end of the second half," Tom replied, already feeling excited about the movie. "A lot of my friends loved Kai."
"Going by the character's individual popularity, it would definitely be a big hit if the script is good enough."
Sasha replied. There was something in Kai that attracted common people to him and made them like him. Maybe it was because of his unpredictability, or it was because of something else, but it was undeniable that he was charismatic.
"There would be a wide gap if your next project is [Black Saints 2]. Almost a year. Are you going to do another movie till then?"
Wade asked, and Aiden thought for a bit before replying.
"Yeah, obviously."
"Then, go through the scripts in your home. You have not talked back to me about them."
"Well, I'm just busy in [Morpheus]. It's getting a lot of traction with each issue, so I'm trying to keep up with the expectations."
Keeping up with readers was a very hard thing, and Aiden kept feeling like people would be disappointed if he did something wrong. That was the challenge of a serialized series, and both he and Bruce knew it well.
Vikings publishing was already happy enough with a hit series, and they were letting Aiden do what he wanted.
It was certainly tiring, but he felt like his writing skills were improving.
"Take your time. We are going to go through Christmas first. Work would only begin after the new year."
Wade muttered, already feeling excited.
***
The year was finally ending, and the whole country was in a festive mood due to Christmas. Aiden had gotten used to snow after coming to America, and he had even started to enjoy it.
Like every year, he celebrated it with Uncle Sam and his family.
At the same time, Aiden couldn't help but feel like this year was truly something that had taught him a lot. It had not been as good as he had hoped.
Although his album was received really well, with songs reaching hundreds of millions of views, his acting career got its first flop.
Though, [Disconnected] did become a unique movie and was a hit on Zetflix.
[Sherlock of the Shadows] ensured that his acting career was gradually improving, and his filmography was becoming better and better with each project.
A role like that improved his acting credentials in the industry by a lot, and after reading the scripts he got, he noticed that a lot of the roles that he was asked to audition for were written very well, and they had a lot of personality.
It was a good change from the past, where he needed to reject a lot of projects just because the role had nothing in it. It was cardboard with no significance in the story.
Now, Aiden was treated as one of the young stars in the industry with a bright future.
His unique style was what made him stand out too.
Not like he had multiple talents, but he was also continuously doing well in them. Even writing, something that he wasn't much famous for, was working really well.
His first graphic novel had reached the top ten best sellers in December, in the middle of a lot of superhero comics.
But Aiden didn't feel satisfied with what he had achieved till now.
He wanted to stand far higher than where he was standing right now, and even though he knew that it would take time, he was a bit impatient.
It wasn't a quality that he often displayed.
Maybe, it had something to do with what Ava had told him. A chance to lead a whole original superhero universe. He didn't have any idea about what it would be, but it was a chance for him to stand at the top of the commercial zone in Hollywood.
Several actors had knocked down A list just by appearing in superhero flicks.
At the same time, Aiden needed to establish himself in movies that were more likely to work in film festivals. It might seem weird as Aiden's goal was to become the top actor in Hollywood — A superstar.
The star culture in Hollywood was dead, but even before, the true superstars would mostly star in commercial flicks that would get hundreds of millions at the box office.
But Aiden wanted to keep a mix of that.
He really wondered if he would be one step closer to his goal in this new year.
What type of projects would he do? And what type of fields would he get involved in? Will he write another book?
There were just so many things left.
...
