V.I.R.A.L

The karaoke bar Team Rhapsody had called home was closed to the public out of respect. Flowers were also scattered outside. It was common knowledge at this point the city's local karaoke bar was the streamers' favourite meetup spot. So much, in fact, the owners had given them their own exclusive room open to them whenever. This was going to be used perhaps one last time—Team Rhapsody's final meeting.

After meeting with fans Gale and Scarlett stepped into the main lobby, the empty feeling not going away any sooner. Each of them seeing the memories of they shared with Alton playing before their very eyes. "I knew this was going to be tough… But I didn't think it would hurt this much."

Scarlett patting Gale on the back. "We're in this together. One last time. Emil and Alice should be waiting for us."

"What about Zinnia?"

"I gave her a call as expected she didn't pick up. I sent a voice message in hopes maybe she'll listen."

Gale nodded, feeling guilty. "After this, we'll go and visit her. It's long overdue."

Scarlett opened the door to their private booth only for both streamers to look somewhat shocked, seeing Zinnia sitting alongside Emil and Alice. "Zinnia…"

"I got your message. Here I am."

Closing the door behind them, the room fell silent for a while as Scarlett broke the silence. "How. How have you been."

"Fine."

Advertisements

"That's good to hear… You weren't at Alton's funeral yesterday."

Zinnia sitting cross-legged on the sofa shook her head with a dry tone. "I had more important things to worry about."

"More important than saying goodbye to our best friend?!" Gale snapped.

"You can all say goodbye to Alton but I cannot. Not until he gets the justice he deserves. They are still out there, Villain's Wrath."

"This is what she's been going on about for a while now," Emil whispers.

"Listen, Zinnia…"

"No, you listen!" She snaps, standing up. "I watched him die. Right in front of me, and I can't get that out of my head. His cries for help, pleading to be saved is burned into my mind. I can't think straight without seeing that play out over and over. Alton was murdered, and V.I.R.A.L is just letting it slide by like it's no problem. They haven't been revoked or banned. Nothing! I can't let that happen."

"So, what are you going to do about that then? Take them down? Stream it to the world? Is that what Zinnia Trost is going to do? Because if Alton couldn't beat these guys neither can you."

"I'm going to kill them."

"That doesn't sound like you at all Zinnia," Alice exclaims. "You need help, we can help you. Let Team Rhapsody help you like they helped me."

Zinnia threw her phone to the ground in a fit of rage. "What I need is for those monsters who murdered my best friend to pay for what they did. Now that's what I assumed you called me here for. Together we can get Alton the justice he deserves."

"We're disbanding Team Rhapsody."

"What?"

Scarlett rubbed her face taking charge of the situation. "Zinnia. We aren't heroes. We're not superpowered soldiers we're just kids. Teenagers who streamed for fun, making the world a safer place was just a bonus. We all come back day after day to escape our problems and hang out. But now people are dying. And more will just continue to die if we run away seeking justice. This is just too dangerous now. We've been falling apart ever since Percy. This was just the final nail in the coffin. We all voted. Three of us voted to disband. I chose to stay. Whatever you pick doesn't matter. The choice has been made."

"You can't be serious. You're joking, right?! This is a joke. Gale? Emil? Alice? Why, after all, Alton did for you? For us."

"The Alice doesn't want this… But without Alton can we really call it Team Rhapsody. I don't want to bury any more friends over something as silly as streaming."

Gale slouched over covering his face. "Alton wouldn't want us hurting. He'd be the first one to disband the group if he knew we were endangered. This was inevitable. Team Rhapsody hasn't been the same for a while."

"As much as I hate to admit it. They're right Zinnia. It was fun while it lasted. Boy did we have some great moments? It's not all for nothing, think of the people we saved. The lives we changed, the friends we made along the way. Just because Team Rhapsody is over doesn't mean we can't keep meeting. We're all friends, after all."

"The best of friends," Emil stated.

"So that's it… No more Team Rhapsody… No more Ingrid…"

"Zinnia."

"You're all traitors. If it was any of you, Alton would be there to get the justice you deserve. Alton was a true hero who always cared for others. You're just cowards!"

The door to the booth swung open as everyone turned in complete shock as Destiny stood there, laughing snorting at the same time. "Alton, a true hero… Who, haha… Always cared for others? Stop it I'm dying, dying. Did you hear this shit, Marco?"

Marco smashed the wall down from behind them, cackling along. "What a joker this girl is. I already love the new crew."

"You fuckers! You're the ones who killed Alton!" Zinnia screeched charging at them only to be pinned to the ground crushed under the weight of gravity.

"Now, now. We come in peace." She giggled kneeling to Zinnia's level, squeezing her cheeks. "Feisty one we have here. She's acting like we killed her friend… Oh, wait!"

Marco fell onto the sofa spreading his legs out getting comfortable. "Team Rhapsody. Zinnia Trost, Gale Lampard, Emil Montague, Scarlett Syndicate and Alice Hawthorne. Former members include Percy Misharp and Alton Brantley. I'm so glad to meet his other friends."

Gale clenched his fist, staring Marco down. "You have a lot of nerve showing your face here. I'll show you what you're messing with!"

Gale swung his fist as Marco only to be stopped by a barrier. Letting out a playful smile, Marco stepped into the cube holding his baseball bat towards Gale. Pulling it back, he smirked yelling out. "Batter up!" Marco smashed Gale's face serval times as blood splattered all over the cube. Everyone else watched in horror as Marco was hopping around like he needed to use the bathroom. "Come on, activate it. Activate it, show me your power."

Gale clawed at the floor gasping for air gurgling under the blood. "Deadman's Requiem."

Marco stared on in glee as nothing happened, making Gale stare on in disbelief. "Ahh, what's wrong, Galey? You all out of energy? What a shame… I should have told you my barriers negate your powers. I'm sorry. Here let me put you out of your misery."

"No! Stop, please stop. We give up. Don't hurt him." Scarlett begs.

Marco stares down at a bloody Gale dropping the barrier. "Fair enough, you have already gone through a lot. Does that seem fair to you, Destiny?"

"Sounds fair to me. I'm glad we can all come to an understanding. Come! Let us sit and celebrate the life and death of our ally in arms Avalanche. Better known as Alton Brantley."

"Wait… The Alice knows you… Impossible, your Destiny Lee and Marco Hill of Hero's Might. You both died during the fall of Sunset Peak."

"A fan. Wow, how impressive and here I thought no one would know who we are. An honour young Hawthorne. That's correct. We are the Ex of Alton's wacky streaming journey. We too considered him friends being in a group together until he killed all of our family and froze our city to the ground." Destiny said in a childish tone.

"No, that's not true. It was his father who did such acts." Emil argued.

"Is that what he told you? How funny. That boy sure loves lying, doesn't he?" Marco tutted, shaking his head. "Hey, Destiny! The karaoke machine is working. Can I play a round? Please, please, please!"

"Does anyone else have a problem with that?" She questioned looking at the obedient streamers. "The stage is yours, Marco sweetheart."

Marco jumped for joy going through the songs picking serval songs of his choice each by Harmony and her band. Destiny flopped to the ground sitting next to Zinnia clapping her hands to the rhythm as Marco began singing like a crazed animal. He was utterly out of sync being off-key and screaming each word like a lunatic hopping around the room. Jumping for the sky, he screamed, swinging his arms around. "Let's get to the top!"

Destiny kept bobbing her head left and right clapping her hands. She turned to Zinnia, who was staring at her with pure hatred. "Ah come on, try and enjoy yourself we're celebrating here. We used to be friends with Alton ourselves. It Marco, Sam, Alton and myself. We wanted to take the streaming world by storm. It was Sam's idea to start the group banding us together. She wanted to save people just like you. We were going to be different from the norm, people were going to look up to us as heroes. And for nearly two years it was like that. We didn't gain much traction, but we did what we loved."

Destiny began cheering Marco on as he moved onto the second song. "Who's there for you when our world is doomed, when you're alone and bored in your room. When the world doesn't do any good when you've had enough, there's a diamond in the rough. Oh!"

"If what you said is true, why would you do it? He was your friend, and you killed him!"

Advertisements

Destiny sighed patting Zinnia on the head. "So naïve little one. Tell me for the year you've known Alton what do you truly know about him? How many secrets did he keep from you? How can you call someone your friend when he was going to stab you in the back at any moment?"

"Not Alton. He would never do that!"

Destiny giggled standing up, pushing Zinnia over with her foot. "I give up. You're delusional and have fallen for Alton's lies like we once did." Zinnia began floating in the air before gravity smashed her into the wall breaking through it and landing in the car park. "Enough fun Marco. Let's do what we really come here for."

Scarlett shot up exploding the area this was met by the two being protected by a barrier. The rest of Team Rhapsody, all apart from a beaten Gale, stood to their threats. Marco clapped his hands together mockingly. "Man, this is going to be so much fun."

Destiny tilted her head to the side with a maniac look. "Let's wake these delusional puppets from their dreams and show them just who they've been following this whole time!"