V.I.R.A.L

Chapter 187: Dark Truths

Blossom turned, facing behind giving a concerned look. "Something feels wrong. I feel a great force of power rising."

"Huh?" Goro questioned stepping outside the shop paying for the weekly food shop. "What do you mean?"

A snowdrop fell onto Blossom's hand, making her feel paranoid. "This power, it reminds me of Alton."

"Alton? That's impossible." He argued swiping through his phone. "You're tired a good night sleep should fix that." Blossom ignored the words from Goro as she walked past standing in the middle of the road. Cars began blaring their horns at her as Goro ran over. "Come on, Blossom. Come on… Gemini let's go home."

Blossom held her head stepping back, looking stressed. "I sense a horrid presence. One of great fear and pity."

"Gemini? What's going on?"

Blossom's eyes widened as a blizzard bombarded the streets around them, throwing cars in the air crashing into building exploding. Snow began piling up as a strong blast of hail piled on breaking windows. Goro grunted covering Blossom as he pulled her up. "We need to get out of here now!"

"What about everyone else?!"

Goro watched people falling in the snow stoned to death by the hail gritting his teeth. "Worry about yourself first. Get to safety." Blossom helping serval people to their feet ran back inside the supermarket. Goro soon followed, staring at the apocalyptic blizzard. "I thought Alton was dead… How is this happening?"

Blossom held her bloody arm, shaking her head. "This isn't Alton. This is something else…"

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The TVs went static before a voice echoed announcing the cause of the situation. "People of Rhinefield. It has been brought to my attention you see the world very differently than I do. You worship monsters as if they are you, saviour. You allow these monsters to run amuck and do as they please. These monsters might be seen as heroes, and you wouldn't be wrong to believe so. But I am here to tell you all. You're wrong. My name is Ragnar Brantley, most of you would better know me as Crypto of Villain's Wrath, I stand before all of you today with a warning. A warning you will do well to listen to. The hero you consider my son Alton Brantley to be is a lie. He is a dangerous monster whose selfish endeavours will kill us all. It was because of him Sunset Peak drowned in a never-ending winter. The walls you built to save yourself was because of him. And now you've let him into your homes let him save lives without a single thought of who he is or where he came from. I'll tell you today it was my fault for bringing this monster into the world. I stole him from the Garden without knowing the full consequences. But I will make up for my misdeeds. Alton Brantley is still alive that I know until he is delivered to me this city will perish. Come Team Rhapsody stop me if you dare. I'll be waiting at the edge of the wall where it all began."

****

To say the CEOs were in a state of panic would be putting it lightly. The Headquarters were ablaze as the remnants of Team Rhapsody arrived. Kurt turned, biting his lip. "Good you've arrived took you long enough though!"

Scarlett noticed her father among the group throwing her off entirely. "What are you doing here, father?!"

"A joint partnership we entered during the Garden scare a few weeks back. Lucky the fuckers did keep us around. Shit doesn't look good."

Kurt pushed Jack aside nodding to the other CEO. "Rhapsody. I'd like you to meet the head of the V.I.R.A.L committee. Vitae Mons."

Vitae, a woman wearing a strict beige coloured business suit with leather gloves and the same dead eyes Kurt shared. She had long brown hair tied at the end together down to her knees. She gave one look at Team Rhapsody tutting. "So, you're the crime-fighting crew I've heard so much about. As Kurt has already stated, I'm the head of V.I.R.A.L and up until this point didn't seem it necessary to make myself known. But circumstances have changed, and it appears my board of CEOs have let everything swing out of control. The city is fading away, and we will soon be met by the same force that Sunset Peak fell too. I've moved the key investors to the Underground, but the people aren't going to be so safe. So, I'm only going to ask this once. Where is Alton Brantley?"

"Are you for real? Unless you've been living under a rock for the past week, Alton is dead."

"Well, clearly something isn't right if his own father is holding us hostage for his life. Enough games! Where is your leader?!"

Zinnia scrunched her hands together trembling. "He's dead. I saw it with my own eyes, that vile man killed him in cold blood right before my very eyes. I held him in my arms, mourned for him. We buried him. Alton Brantley is dead!"

Vitae placed her glasses on turning away taking a call. "Talk to me. Yes, I see. Where? Understood. Stay low and out of sight." Turning back, she rips the glasses off, tapping her chin. "Regardless of the matter, this lunatic won't stop at anything to kill his son again. Alton Brantley was your leader; therefore, I'm putting the blame on you all. Your mission is to meet this Ragnar Brantley head-on. Stop this ice age and kill him. That is all."

"You want us killing him now?" Gale questioned. "That isn't a very V.I.R.A.L thing to do."

"The simplest way of stopping the storm is to kill him." She concludes. "If that is everything gets to it."

"Wait just a moment." Zinnia snaps. "Before we do your dirty work again, I want to know something. We all saw the clip. The stream where Alton died. It was thrown all around the internet with no one taking it down. We had to be the ones throwing copyright strikes to get most taken down ourselves. Alton Brantley was murdered by a streaming group you approved of yet you did nothing. No ban, no investigation. If we didn't arrest Ragnar, he would still be free. Only now when the situation actually affects you do you now send us to kill him. If you had just done your job and put this man away, none of this would have happened! If you knew who he was, Alton might not have died!"

Kurt stared at Zinnia smirking. "Careful missy no need for such fiery words. You sound just like your mother. Perhaps we should shut you up as well."

Vitae raised her hand, staring blankly at Zinnia. "That's quite alright, Kurt. She wants to know the truth? We'll tell her the truth. The reason we didn't put those streamers away was that they did us a massive favour. Truth be told we've been looking to end Alton's life as well for quite a while. Ever since he was revealed to be a Child of the Garden V.I.R.A.L has been working around the clock to find a way of taking him out."

"What?!" Emil snapped.

"We tried every under the radar stunt. Hired Eyes over Reality to do the deed, but he failed us. We leaked his details online in hopes the Syndicate family would finish him. But time after time, that thing just refused to give up. His father finally gave us the breathing room we needed."

Zinnia's heart dropped as she stared at Vitae hurt. "All this time, we fought for this idea. Took down corrupt streamers because we believed it was the right thing to do. V.I.R.A.L was the good guys, we trusted you. Alton trusted you, and this is how you treat us."

"Believe me Zinnia, Alton was far from trusting us. In fact, I'm pretty sure he was well onto our plans almost from the beginning." Kurt exclaimed boldly.

"What you need to understand Zinnia is what we do is for the people. For the safety of Rhinefield and to make sure it has a future. After what happened with Sunset Peak, we were backed into a corner. We are the last stand of Victoria, and unless we stay vigilant and strong, we will be crushed under the boot of the next big threat. For all, we know we are the last semblance of humanity. The world fell to the Garden 400 years ago, and we will not let that happen again. Alton Brantley is a natural enemy of humanity and should be executed without remorse."

"Alton isn't like that. He isn't allied with the Garden proven by the fact he has foiled their plans time and time again. He's your best bet to defeat them if they ever arrive again!"

Vitae remained silent, shrugging her shoulders. "I understand your frustration, and although we too had started to warm up to the idea of using Alton to fight for us, it is far too late for that. Now if you've had quite enough fulfilling arguments for today leave."

Everyone stepped outside, feeling slightly uneasy. "I knew V.I.R.A.L wasn't the most trustworthy group, to begin with, to think they'd be plotting to kill Alton right under our noses," Alice whispered.

"It's not surprising like Kurt said Alton was probably onto them."

"Why didn't he say anything then? If he knew why didn't he tell us? We would have been there to make a stand." Zinnia exclaimed furiously.