V.I.R.A.L

Chapter 114: A Harmonic Comeback Part 2

Harmony sat outside the back of a pub staring down with her guitar resting on her knees. One of the strings had snapped, leaving a baron worn down instrument which was faded with her name engraved into the side. She let out a long sigh looking up at the sky feeling lost, another gig had gone horribly wrong, forcing her to cut it short. Her mind dwindled on what to do. Next, she had hoped by now her music career would have gone somewhere, but nonetheless, after almost a year of failed attempts, she was almost ready to give up. Clenching her guitar tightly, she angrily threw it across the path smashing it against the fence as she crouched up sobbing to herself. As she did droplets of rain began dribbling kicking Harmony down for the count. Soaking wet, she began sniffing wiping her nose as the rain above her suddenly stopped. She looked up, seeing a man holding an umbrella over keeping her dry. The man was a hulking giant with hands the size of her head. "You're the girl who performed in the bar, right?"

Harmony wiped her eyes nodding, not making eye contact. "Pretty bad, wasn't it?"

"I wouldn't go that far." A girl shrugs off, picking up her guitar, brushing it off tuning it up. She cut the broken string off, pulling out a spare repairing it on the spot. Playing multiple cords, she nodded to herself, handing it back. "You just needed a little harmony."

"What's your name."

"Harmony." She chuckled getting a couple of laughs alongside. "What a coincidence, right?"

"Not as much as us. You can call me Tempo and her Vivace."

Harmony found this slightly amusing herself but went back to her gloomy look holding the guitar. "I should give up, right?"

"The only person I see saying that is yourself," Vivace exclaimed smoking. "Don't beat yourself up about it."

The door to the bar swung open as another girl poked her head out, looking paranoid. "Guys, this is bad. We lost our main vocalist. He bailed on us the hell do we do?!"

Tempo glanced down at Harmony, giving a smirk. "No need to concern yourself over silly things Melody. The way I see it all things are meant to happen for a reason."

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Melody stared blankly at Tempo crossing her arms. "Well, your reason has left us without a vocalist. Last I check you don't have the greatest voice."

Tempo tapped his neck chuckling. "My voice is one of the angels thank you very much. But you need not worry about that for we already have a lead singer now."

"We do?" Melody questioned now even more confused.

"That we do. Harmony will sing for us."

Harmony's vision darted to Tempo, unsure of what to say. Vivace crouched down, putting out her smoke as she began thinking. "While I'm not against the idea she hasn't got a single clue about any of our songs nor am I sure if she can keep up with us."

"Nonsense, look at her, she has a fire in her eye she's the secret weapon we needed."

"Eh, I don't know."

Harmony stood up, gripping her guitar tightly. "I can do it. You won't have to worry about me."

Tempo turns to Melody holding both hands out, looking proud of himself. "See, not a problem."

"Well, she's got twenty-second to learn out song and perform like us, isn't this going to be fun?"

Harmony watched Melody with great detail as every movement and harmonic beat processed through making a perfect copy. Strapping her instrument around her, she nodded determined as ever. "I've got this!"

****

"You talk the talk little missy, but let's see if you can walk the walk."

Harmony gripped onto a small neckless as she whispered to herself before striking a pose readying for battle. "Tempo, Melody, Vivace. Please, lend me your strength!"

"This is a waste of my time; I'm just going to end it right here and be done with this little talent show." She hissed, ripping her hand forward, pulling Harmony forward. Toppled closer Harmony was stopped as her posture changed entirely being pulled along, she slammed down with a tremendous amount of power behind her out of nowhere. This threw off the Demon Mask so much she crashed to the floor unable to move. Harmony had once again distanced herself as she began hopping left and right; her whole persona changed once more. The hopping matched a melody which only increased with each beat before she zoomed around leaving serval after images of herself. Pulling herself up, she sent out a shockwave destroying each after shot leaving an empty battlefield. Spinning around, she gazed on Harmony who was lightly dancing to herself keeping to a beat. "Something is different about you… Why do I recognise these attacks?" Harmony jumped up before whizzing forward kicking down which the villain stopped dead in its track. "Oh yes, these were the same moves your pathetic friends tried using on me before they were defeated."

Harmony was spun around violently, crashing to the ground coughing. The Demon Mask gloated only to find music notes hovering around her. Holding her hand out, she touched the note only to feel her whole body shake rapidly with a sharp pain tingling through. This made her fall to her knees, gasping for air. "That was a little gift from Vivace, you never got the chance to see it first hand when you murdered her in cold blood."

Laughing to herself, the Syndicate member shook her head, taking one long breath. "So that's your personal ability. Being able to copy the ability of your friends? It might throw off a common thug but need I remind you just who you're dealing with!" The music notes began swarming the Demon Mask as she closed her eyes getting into a formed posture. Playing fire with fire, she began dodging and weaving through each attack with perfect points dancing through like a ballerina on stage. Harmony watched in genuine shock, seeing such an ideal dance taking form. At this point, the Demon Mask was doing all of this as a mere tease, another way to rub in her superiority as she loved showing just how much more powerful, she was compared to others. Breaking out of the trap, the Demon Mask curled over from a backwards cartwheel moving her finger down crushing Harmony to the floor. Moving over on her pointers she bowed exploding the area around her. "I must admit I haven't got to dance like that for a while. It was rather refreshing… Hmm? What?! I… I can't move?!"

From the smoke stood Harmony on her last leg mimicking the Demon Mask perfectly both in complete harmony. "Sorry, to burst your bubble but I'm going to steal your show now darling."

"Impossible… You don't copy powers! You copy the person's rhythm until you have a perfect Harmony!"

Harmony wiped her bloody face pointing at herself smugly. "Damn right! By myself, I'm useless. I can't fight nor be the idol the world sees me as but I learned a valuable lesson long ago. You don't have to do everything alone, having friends, people you can relate to, lean your worries on is something we all need. I'm making my harmonic comeback and taking you down for good getting closure for everyone's lives you've ruined!" The Demon Mask was flung around like a ragdoll her own powers being used against her. Smashed against walls and the floor she was trapped contained to a single posture unable to move an inch. Harmony spun around serval times before slamming her hand down, which caused the villain to be crushed against the floor, unable to move. Harmony began limping over severely damaged as she stared down her foe with hate building up. "Those lovable idiots, they saved me. Saved me from me they showed me who I could be not who I was. Tempo, Vivace and Melody. I loved them all, and I doomed them all to this fate. All because of you. I think I deserve to know why. To know who's behind the mask!" Harmony stood over her, gripping her hand tightly before ripping the mask off. The demon Oni mask in her hand she dropped it stepping back in shock. "Impossible. It can't be."

Touching her face, the Demon Mask tutted. "Oh, dear. It appears you've seen too much. The cat is out of the bag." Without any effort, she floated up going entirely against the force which held her down. "It seems to play around isn't an option anymore. You've seen who I really am, I have no choice but to dispose of you once and for all."

Harmony tried reacting only to lose all feeling in her body. It completely shut down as she collapsed. The ground began to shake rapidly as it crumbled away moving towards the Demon Mask. She held her hand up as the ground built together creating a giant bolder of earth and power. She stared down at Harmony the red glow glinting brightly as her playful look of toying and authority was now met with a look of determination and might. All Harmony could do was stare on watching her death unfold. Her lips were trembling as all light from the sun was entirely blocked out. "Why?" She coughed up. "Why are you doing this, they trust you! You're betraying them every day! Why are you even doing this?!"

"Why? Isn't that simple? I am going to kill V.I.R.A.L. Every streamer who crosses their path, every sympathiser of their twisted corrupted cause. I know what they are, and they are our undoing. I will rip their influence over Victoria away and kill each CEO. I will make sure the age of streamers dies by my hand. This is my purpose. What I was born to do. No one will stop me, not you, not the CEOs. Not even Alton Brantley and his dysfunctional allies either."