Chapter 37: Altons Resolve Part 1 (1/2)

Vanguard had remained almost silent through the journey back to the studio. He hoped Alton wouldn't pick up on the matter. Because of Rodger, his whole plan and existence were put into Jeopardy. Alton had matched this choosing to keep the game of silence going. This would only end once the two arrived at the studio. Switching the lights on Alton looked around, finding the place empty with no one about.

”Where's everyone gone?”

”Oh, I sent them all home early. There's nothing else to do today…”

”Alright, I left my jacket outback you mind if I grab it?”

”Sure, go ahead.” He said as Alton went into the back room. ”Say, kid, how's the apartment treating you? You like it?”

”It's a little big for my liking actually…” Alton yelled from the back room. He came back in with two bottles of water, shaking his head, looking embarrassed. ”Sorry Vanguard sir, I meant to say it's great. You've done more than I ever expected. But might I ask why? Why are you doing so much for me?”

”I make sure my fellow streamers get the best opportunities they can get. The way you lived in that rundown apartment working two jobs to make ends meet is no way someone of your talent should live.” Vanguard insisted, taking the bottle of water. As he began to unscrew the lid, Alton smirked catching him off guard. ”Did I say something funny?”

”Oh, no. I was just wondering if you said that to the other streamers you manipulated and disposed of beforehand?”

Vanguard flinched trying to keep his cool. ”I have no idea what you're talking about.”

”Drop the act Marcus, I know it's you. The mental overload cases. The amount of high profiled streamers going MIA, it's you. It always has been.”

”Might I say, I am impressed. I find that rather annoying to tell you the truth. Just when I thought I figured you out Alton you come and throw a spanner into the works. How did you know?”

”It was rather obvious.” Alton shrugged off, taking a sip of water. ”I mean every mental overload case apart from the one we accidentally walked in on was taken down by you, can't help but bring in suspicions.”

”That's you're evidence? The fact I'm a good streamer?”

”Oh, don't be silly. Of course not. The mental overload cases bothered me quite a lot. It was only when Iris brought up her theory was when things got interesting. She thought it was high ranked streamers were the targets. It made sense. Many of the cases were of high viewership streamers. That was until I was hit. You targeted me, right? Not Iris. And that's when it hit me we had been looking at it all wrong. It wasn't popular streamers. It was the most powerful ones; it was just a coincidence that many of the top streamers were also the most powerful. Take it your accomplice didn't expect me to survive the attack, yeah?”

”I must admit we were taken back when you overcame the mental overload. Set our plan back quite a bit. Might I ask, how did you survive?”