V.I.R.A.L

Percy, a petit skinny boy with golden blonde hair, ducked down under his bed packing his bag as fast as he could. Throwing in bottles of water, spare clothes. The small amount of money he had saved up from his smashed piggybank alongside his poorly made streamer drone, which he found broken in a back ally. He had managed to repair for the most part though it couldn't track crimes or be tracked itself. As he was ready to head out, he paused, hiding behind the bed as the door to his room opened. "Percy, you better be doing your homework." His mother snapped. She stopped seeing him sitting in his chair writing out maths equations. "Oh, good. Do you need anything, a drink perhaps?"

"No, mother I'm fine. Thank you, love you." He rambled out as she left. Percy poked his head over the bed as his copy soon faded into a small butterfly glittering over to him and resting in his hair. The little boy stood up, opening his window with one foot out before the door swung open again. He stopped seeing his mother glaring at him, causing him to curse under his breath. "I said I didn't want anything ma."

"You sneaking out again, young man?!" Said his mother with a deifying tone. "We've been through this; I forbid the idea of you becoming a streamer."

"But mum!"

"No, buts! Get your ass in now!"

Percy turned around, folding his arms sulking. "Why can't I? Everyone else in my school is becoming streamers. I heard this girl two years above me got to meet Vanguard yesterday and is streaming with him."

"Now!" Percy sighed, dragging his feet out of his room as his mother slammed the door behind him. A moment passed before Percy poked his head from under the bed. He gave a sly look climbing out the window closing it. "I'm going to that stream whether she likes it or not. I will be Vanguard's sidekick!"

****

"Stupid isn't it, the nerve he had to mock me in front of my whole class about how I was wrong to take down Pokiero only to offer us a team-up. That smug bastard is delusional! We'll show him, we'll reject that sad life goon and be the number one streamer!" Zinnia swore, throwing her arms around jumping up and down on the sofa.

Forced to pause the TV Alton cranked his head over to her wincing. "Do you have to be so loud? Jesus, I think the people next door can hear us."

"I don't care, I don't care, I don't care! I've never been so insulted. Taken advantage of. I want payback! I want to get back at him!"

"I don't see any problems here leader seems legit." Gale shrugged off, looking over the card. "Could be a good option to get our names out there. If Vanguard knows of us soon, many others will."

Gale throws Alton the card as he glosses over it, the menu was a simple bare one with just a number on it. It wasn't long enough to be a phone number. But the ten-digit code did match a joint stream code. "And he said the only thing he wanted was to meet me?"

"That's all he said."

"Does he know about my past streaming? Could he know about Unity and me? No, even if he was the number one streamer back then, he couldn't possibly know who I was…" Alton thought as he couldn't think straight at all. He crushed the last can throwing it into the bin turning off the karaoke. "I'm not too sure myself to be honest."

"Thank you!"

"You worried he's got something on you?" Gale questioned packing away his bag. "Should we be on the defensive?"

"What? No, it's just. With success stories for streamers, it never usually happens this quickly. It doesn't feel right."

"Well, we did make quite the scene. If you want my opinion, we should go for it. We might never get the chance again."

Alton glared at the card once more trying to make up his mind. As he did the card, lit up with a new set of numbers appearing above the join code. It was a timer going up. He pulled out his phone, checking the time. "Hey Gale, pull up Vanguard's profile see if he's streaming."

Gale pulled the account on the big screen seeing Vanguard had just started streaming. The title caught their eye. Just another stream might have some special guests later. "Isn't this clear enough?"

"Hmm, maybe Gale is right."

Zinnia jumped down having a staredown with Alton, he met with her as the two didn't budge until Zinnia was forced to blink. She turned around, annoyed. "I don't like it; I don't approve of it, and I'm not going to play nice."

"Stop being a baby. This is the quickest way of making it big."

"Fine! But I disapprove, that guy is a jerk."

"So how do we join?" Gale asks.

Alton grabs the streaming drone turning it around and opening the back. There was space for a ten-digit code, shrugging his shoulders he typed the ten-digit code on the card as the numbers faded away. The drone shot up and turned on as a second screen appeared on Vanguard's stream. The drone turned to show Alton on said screen. Vanguard began chuckling to himself as he spoke through the drone. "Aha, Rhapsody took you long enough, ready to join the party?"

The three looked at each other confused before turning back to the drone. "What party?"

****

Vanguard effortless threw a car into a tree as the vehicle exploded. Thugs began running as the Rhapsody gang showed up looking confused. Their drone swirling around, keeping everyone in action. Vanguard turned to them with a sly smirk. "I see you managed to convince skippy here to join in on the fun."

Alton looked around at the mess slightly confused. "What did you bring us out here for?"

He sighed, throwing another crook into a water fountain. "Try and act a little livelier won't you, you're on the air." Vanguard spun around pinning someone to the ground before throwing him dozens of feet in the air.

"I wasn't going to accept the invitation." Alton pointed out arms folded; his line of sight turned as another crook was rushing Vanguard with a knife. Flicking his finger forward the water from the fountain blasted him to the floor. "You never usually have joint-streams with low-level streamers like ourselves. You only do that with the big league what's the deal."

Vanguard smirked pulling a tree from the ground and slamming it down on a truck stopping the escaped convicts from escaping. "You've done your research. Vanguard_Connor35 30-month subscription. Keep it, cool kid. Look I don't see what you're all uptight about. Was Zinnia saying fibs about me?"

"It's not that."

"Hang on, got to go through my donations. Might take a while, Creamymight thank you for the $15 donation, MaxieMan444 thank you for the $50 donation. We've got a huge $500 donation from Nightfallnation thanks a lot, another $15 donation from Creamymight. Yes, I've got your first donation and no, I do not do chargebacks."

Zinnia groaned looking tired. "Are we some joke to this guy? He doesn't care about us at all." A small crowd began showing up cheering Vanguard on. "We should just go home."

Alton ducked, as another escaped inmate was thrown his way. He shook his head in disapproval. "We joined his stream no point backing out now, it would make us seem pathetic."

"That and we just gained 30 followers since we started joint-streaming," Gale added watching his phone. "31, 33, 40."

"I still don't like this."

Vanguard stopped ending the fight with at least 50 inmates. He turned back around, lighting up another smoke. "You guys can stick around and keep streaming with me if you like, but I need to have a quick word with your leader first. Privately." He turned to his drone with a dull look. "I'll be taking a two-minute break to have a chat with V.I.R.A.L's newest sensation. See you all soon."

The drone was put into sleep mode as Alton sighed nodding. "Fine, I'll play along, stay here guys keep the new followers entertained."

"What? Oh crap, we have over 300 viewers. Gale what do we do?!"

"I don't know! I'm not a very good streamer."

Vanguard walked around the corner, leaning against a tree as Alton stood by scratching the back of his leg. "Zinnia said you wanted to talk to me… I can't quite work out why."

Vanguard pulled out a set offering one to Alton. "Don't smoke?"

"Can't afford to."

"I can't quite work you out, to be paired with those losers. I mean I'm all aware of who your friend is. The stream sniper. He has skill but no clue how to be a streamer. The girl is well in better terms a paperweight holding you down. You would be so much better without them."

"I know what you mean. I feel like I'm more babysitting little kids then actually being a streamer. They bicker and fight over how to stream and Zinnia is practically a hazard in battle. But they've grown on me."

Vanguard burnt out his smoke on the wall as he gave a longwinded sigh. "I'm going to cut to the chase here, I want you to quit team Rhapsody and join me."

Alton flinched almost falling over just by the words said. He couldn't comprehend what was just said. Out of all of the terms and scenarios he pictured out in his head, this was no one of them. "Did I just hear you, right?"

"No jokes, no strings attached. You can ditch those clowns and be a part of my stream. You can keep that cute name of yours and all. You would be doing real work making real money."

"I don't quite believe this. This is the last thing I expected. Why?"

"Truth be told I'm always looking for powerful streamers to work with. You might remember a few of them—total Crysis. Professor-Dude, and a few years ago, I joined forces with DawnBreakers. They were all upcoming streamers who I worked with. I saw how you handled yourself with Pokiero, all of your team fell apart as you took her down by yourself without even raising a finger. You could be the next big thing." He nudged. Alton looked away feeling off about the whole thing. "Tell me, Alton, why did you become a streamer?"

"To be honest, I need money. I got into a fight with the Montagues, and now I owe them a fuck ton of money or I'm done for."

Vanguard snarled, shaking his head. "Always hated those creeps. The number of requests and money they throw at me to do a joint-stream is exhausting. I already hate this job as much as I do, but if you're good at something, why do it for free? I can always visit them and make them see things straight."

"Oh, no, I couldn't have."

"It's fine. They are only up the road. I could bash a few heads in and make them drop it."

"No, seriously I want to do this on my terms," Alton said, trying to dig himself out of a sticky situation.

"Alright, if you say so. So, what do you say about the deal? You work with me under the Vanguard name. You'll, of course, get paid. You'll get 35% of the cut I make per month."

"I don't know."

"Alton, don't be an idiot. I've made over 3K just in these last few minutes from donations. I make a killing from paid promotions, sponsors and that doesn't even include the half a mil I make a month just off subscribers. You'd be shooting yourself in the foot. We can get you started by next week. Those debts will vanish, and you can get out of that cramped apartment."

"This is all… what how do you know about where I live?"

"I've done my research. I'm well aware of why you worked two part-time jobs. I know what you're hiding. Don't worry, I won't tell your so-called friends."

"So, you got some blackmail on me?"

"Please, I have better things to do then blackmail you kid. I'm not a very patient person, so I'm going to need an answer."

"No."

"No?"

"I'm not looking for an echo." Alton snapped. "I said no. I appreciate the offer, but I can't do that to my friends. We're in this together till the end."

Vanguard took a swig of his canteen wiping his mouth. "Charming. You know Alton, you're throwing away a life of fame. You are this close. Arms reach to being the number one streamer."

"I don't care about that."

"You could have people screaming your name. Recognised in the streets."

"I don't care about that."

"Girls lined up to meet you. A legacy."

"I don't care about that."

Vanguard shook his head, clicking his tongue gulping the last of his booze. "Whatever then, you wasted this. You'll regret it. All people who tell me no do."

"I have yet to see that."

"It's you! It's you!" A voice screamed out.

Vanguard turned around see Percy climbing a wall to get to them. He choked on his drink, turning away. "Oh, shit."

"Mister Vanguard! It's me, Percy, you know Vanguardian."

Vanguard sighed, turning around. "Look, Benny."

"It's Percy."

"Percy, I don't know how many times I've told you this, I don't want to know because I don't care. Fuck off."

"But Vanguard sir, I'm like your biggest fan! I've watched all your streams saved up all my pocket-money to subscribe to you for three months. I have all your merch the lot! I want you to take me as your sidekick! Please, please!"

"We've been over this kid, you're too young and annoying!"

Percy shook his head-tripping on the crappy cape he made. "I've turned thirteen, so I'm old enough to be a streamer. And don't worry I can copy you to an absolute T, I can even stay quiet and be a silent takedown knight of the night sort of thing. Please."

Alton gave the kid a look of disgust and pity. To him, it was almost sad how much this guy was trying. He didn't know how Vanguard was able to hold back the urge to punch him in the face. Vanguard turned to Alton as he gave a sly look. The drone came back on as he turned to clap. "It's official my fellow followers. The leader of team Rhapsody has done God's work. The kind-hearted leader of the mishap band of merry followers has agreed to take on my biggest fan! Please everyone shows this graceful man our love and gratitude for helping another keen hero become the streamer they always wanted to."

Alton gasped falling for Vanguard's trap. He looked down at his phone, getting followers and followers and even a few subscribers after springing the trap. He gripped his phone tightly as Percy looked on in shock. "Mister Vanguard are you serious?!"

"You have to prove your worth first Benjamin before you can join me. Team Rhapsody shall spark you into a streamer worthy of being my sidekick."

Percy rushed over to Alton shaking his hand. "Thank you, mister Dauntless sir, for accepting me, I'll be sure to pull my weight don't you worry!"

Alton stared blankly as Vanguard walked off, cutting the joint-stream off. He threw his phone to the floor, feeling betrayed and stupid for falling for Vanguard's tricks. All he could do was curse to the sky as he was forced to accept the biggest fanboy ever. "Damn it all!"