Chapter 15: Fan Meltdown (1/2)
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?”