V.I.R.A.L - Chapter 254

It had been serval months since Sae and Diego had joined forces in the hopes of finding their father. With each passing day, he is nothing but a ticking timebomb just waiting to go off. Diego was still unsure what he was meant to do or the situation behind all of this, but seeing it was for a good cause, or so he believed he was okay with it. Sitting on a wall playing yet again on his phone, he was startled as Sae jumped down out of nowhere, sitting next to him. “Heads up.”

Almost falling off the wall, Diego gave Sae a judgemental look catching a soda. “You scared the living shit out of me…”

“Really? I’m surprised, you know, with the whole future sight thing you’ve got going on, I didn’t think you could be scared.”

“It’s not on all the time, you know… I have to focus on others to allow it to come forth. Also, I can’t use it on myself.”

Sae cracked her soda open, nodding. “Damn, that sucks. Ironic, he could save others from public humiliation but not himself.”

“Not funny… So? Any leads.”

Sae gave a smug laugh patting Diego on the back. “You fucking bet. All our hard work has paid off. I have an address.”

“For real?! You know where the old man is?”

“I’ll do you one better. I’ve even got an appointment with him.”

“You what?”

“Turns out the old man works for the loan sharks now.” Sae scoffed, flicking through photos. “They must have caught up to him and forced him to work under them. He’s lucky most would have killed him.”

“He’s not that lucky. We’re doing that job now.”

Sae ruffed up Diego’s hair crushing her can. “Don’t overthink about it. I’m not expecting you to do anything. Just keep an eye on me with that perfect dark ability of yours, and we’re golden.”

“Perfect Dark?”

“Oh yeah, do you like it? Came up with the name myself? Did you have something else in mind?”

Diego jumped off the wall leaning back, shaking his head. “I don’t mind. Perfect Dark is a cool name, but what has it got to do with my power?”

“Well, your future sight is a perfect way of leaving your enemy in the dark, always one step ahead of them.”

“The more you keep reminding me, the more future sight sounds better.”

“Shut it, twerp! We’re meant to be meeting the geezer at his office in an hour, so we better hustle. Once this is done, we can finally put all of this behind us.”

“And you return to the CEOs, a job well done, yeah?”

“Oh, what’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re going to miss me, Diego?”

Diego flinched, crossing his arms looking away. “Why would I do that for? We aren’t even family, remember.”

Bending over, Sae tapped his cheek, chuckling. “I’m just teasing you, Diego. I’m going to miss you too.”

****

The two stood outside their dad’s office waiting. Sae kept an eye on her watch almost at the time of the meeting. “It’s best if you stay outside for this. I doubt the old man recognises me anymore. The only reason I got this meeting is that I’m a CEO. Before we continue, walk me through what happens.”

“You’re going to talk to him, but make sure you keep him away from his desk. There is a gun hidden away, which he will use to kill you. Avoid telling him anything about you because that will make him snap. And the last thing, block off the window he will try to escape through it once he learns of your intention.”

“Wow, you really saw all possible futures. Anything else? What about his ability?”

“Unfortunately, I can’t see much further than that. Going further gives me a bad headache, and everything is blurry. I ran through ten different scenarios of how this meeting goes, and he doesn’t unleash his ability once.”

Sae gave it a little thought over adding to her theory. “It’s as I expected; he can’t use his power willingly. There must be some kind of trigger. Alright, Diego, thanks. I’ll keep all of that in mind. Keep him away from his desk, don’t provoke him over our past and block off the window. If he goes for the door, you’re going to have to stop him.”

“I can’t really do much…”

“Of course, you can; remember those moves I taught you?”

“You mean the ones in that video game brawler…”

“It doesn’t matter where they are from. Okay, I’m going in.” Sae informed, knocking on the door stepping inside. The small office was to what Diego described. The man they were looking for sat at his desk; the pictures matched the man. Dark hair matching coloured eyes to Diego and a crusty beard. He glanced up from his desk as Sae bowed faintly. “Mister Jolts, you were expecting me. Is something wrong?”

He shook his head. “No, no. It’s just, aren’t you a little young to be a CEO?”

“I get that a lot, actually. I can show you my ID?”

“No, no. There is no need. Please call me Simon, my boss called he mentioned something about finding a wanted criminal.”

Still, at his desk, Sae pointed to the window. “Would you mind if I opened the window? It’s rather stuffy in here?”

“Please be my guest. Would you like some tea?”

“Yes, please. I don’t mean to take up much of your time, Mr Jolts; we just want some information on a wanted criminal. We believe he was trapped in a current set of loans by your boss’ company. It would mean a lot to V.I.R.A.L if you could cooperate with us.”

“Always happy to help. But I’m not sure what I can do for you, young lady. I’ve only been working here for a little under a year.” Simon admitted handing him her tea. “I didn’t catch your name.”

“It’s Jessica.”

“Jessica.” He muttered, walking away, opening a set of draws throwing down paperwork. “All of our client’s names are listed here. But we both know you already found who you’re looking for, don’t you, Sae?” Sae flinched, reaching for her pocket only to find Simon holding the ID card. “You seriously thought I wouldn’t recognise my own daughter. Who do you take me for? Well, you weren’t lying. You seriously work for the high ups. I don’t know if I should be proud or frustrated. They set you up to this, didn’t they?”

“We just want the people of Victoria to be safe.”

“Don’t we all?” Simon scoffed, throwing her back her pass. “You came for me, I assume… I cannot help but find this all so frustrating, but if a CEO is on my doorstep, I don’t have much choice.”

Diego sat behind the door, listening. Now some time had gone by, and this scenario was different. He began to look further into the future only to stop in horror. Leaving himself no choice, he kicked the door down, yelling. “Sae, don’t drink that!”

Sae dropped the cup smashing it all over the floor. Simon stared on, pissed off. “Who the fuck are you?! Wait a minute—blonde hair green eyes like me. You must be the other bastard child of mine! V.I.R.A.L is sick. I’ll say that digging up my past to find me.”

“I’m sorry, Sae, I had no choice.”

“Tell me, kid, how did you figure out I poisoned Sae’s drink? There was no possible way you could know hiding back there.”

Sae didn’t let Diego answer holding her hand out. “That doesn’t matter. Not only did you try and resist my arrest warrant, but you also tried to murder a CEO. That is punishable by death Mr Jolts!” Simon clutched his fist feeling ganged upon. Turning his head to the window, he tried running for it, only for a large shadow to ripple through the room, blocking his exit. Sae stared on, waiting as Simon ran back for his desk; she took measurements for one of her shadows to push the table away towards her. “Sorry, Dad, but we’ve already taken into consideration any means of escape.”

Simon began grinding his teeth, falling to his knees, surrendering. “Damn it… You win, kids… How’re your mothers?”

“You don’t get to ask how she is.” Sae snapped, picking him up, dragging himself outside. “Come on, Diego.”

“Aren’t we killing him?” He whispered back.

“Not here. Back at HQ, we don’t want his powers activating during the aftermath.” Sae admitted plugging in her earpiece. “V.I.R.A.L this is Sae; the target is apprehended requesting an immediate pickup. You did good, Diego; I couldn’t have done that without you.”

“You overestimate me.”

“You’ll make a great streamer Diego. You just don’t know it yet. Get your butt moving, Dad; we can have plenty of time to catch up on when we arrive at your new home.”

“Stop it… Don’t take me outside! The sun!”

Diego turned back around, finding the office void of any lights. Even the open window was against a wall letting in little to no light. The room was still stuffy, yet he never opened the window once. Diego was left confused as he turned around, watching them walk down the stairs. Taking another look into the future, Diego collapsed to his knees, seeing nothing. Then it all hit him at once. Running ahead, he began screaming. “Don’t let him into the sun!”

But it was too late. The two were already outside. Sae turned to Diego, confused only to realise too late. Simon fell to his knees, gagging at the mouth as the foam began pouring out. Rolling around on the floor, his body began to burn as the sun was on him longer, which soon expanded. Diego stood at the doorway, staring in horror as the timebomb was at its final climax. Trying to aid Sae, she held her hand out, stopping him. “Get back!”

“It’s too late, Sae!” Sae looked around at the people watching. She gritted her teeth, pushing Diego back, blocking him off as a giant set of shadows consumed the area eating up both Sae and Simon. Diego fell back, staring on at horror screaming. “Sae! No!”

The ground shook as he fell back again, seeing the future go dark. The shadow faded as Simon was gone, no trace of him apart from a slight red mist. Sae lay back in the road lifeless. Running over, Sae looked up, coughing. “You alright, Diego?”

“I’m fine, fine. Why the hell did you do that?! Why?!”

Sae stared up at the sky, coughing as she smiled, the dead look in her eyes fading. “I served my purpose… I’m free.”

Dying on the spot Diego stared on in horror as everything fell silent. She sacrificed herself to save Diego. Soon enough, the V.I.R.A.L backup arrived as Kurt stepped out, looking on at Sae. He smiled faintly, kneeling down, taking a small bud from her chest. “You served your purpose; thank you, Sae, your death will not go quietly.”

“What do you mean?! She served her purpose!”

Kurt turned to Diego, adjusting his tie. “You must be the Diego boy I’ve heard about. Sae mentioned your ability. How most lucky of you, a shame it couldn’t save her. No matter. Worry not the details, child. You are rewarded for your brave moral actions.”

Diego stared on, confused, checking his phone finding serval of his videos going viral. His followers were jumping up into the ranks as he was left dazed. “What the hell.”

“We’ll be watching your career very closely, Diego Jolts, or should I call you Crimson Dawn?”

Diego whispered, staring at Sae as she was taken away in a body bag. “What did you take from her?”

Kurt turned back around, holding the small bud smirking. “The flower of potential. You don’t know it yet, Diego, but your sister has helped up save the future.”

“The future… No one can predict that.”