NOVEL FROG Chapter 70: The Culprits
–You are a liar! Screw you, witch!– a man among the crowd yelled in rage, completely halting the mayhem for a brief moment, only for everyone to turn in his direction and see a rude gesture directed at Priscilla. She didn’t hear much, and just like the audience, she was stunned for a second, trying to make sense of the outcry. But just as the people went quiet, they began screaming in panic as soon as the group around the man started bombarding the float with projectiles, hitting mostly the decoration on the platform and the people around it.
Frost immediately jumped out of the hatch to rescue the princess, and just as he reached for her, she was inevitably struck on the chest and shoulder. Regardless of being hit, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her down to the ground, where they took cover from the fire while the swarm around them dispersed. The chaos of the scene increased as people cried and screeched when trying to escape. He turned her over as she became limp, and just when he noticed that her floral dress was stained with red, more projectiles rained down onto the platform, hitting him on the back as well.
He froze for a moment like Priscilla, staring into her frightened eyes as she started screaming, breaking down in tears as her dress lost its white purity around her torso, prompting Frost to apply pressure around the big red spots forming on her abdomens. He focused solely on covering her, completely ignoring the fact that he had been hit, as he seemingly didn’t feel it. But in his attempt to save her life, receiving yet another hit on his leg in the process, Frost removed his hand from her body after feeling a squishy material. He looked down at Priscilla’s belly anxiously, but instead of finding her guts spilling out, he was astonished to see it was only a tomato splattered on her dress.
–Give us back our city! The throne doesn’t belong to you!– the men kept shouting violently as they unloaded all their bags, throwing tomatoes at the float and guards nearby. With the crowd scattering frantically, they finally left enough room for security and the team to approach the float. The rookies immediately turned to the perpetrators while Crisis surrounded the float, though they were cautious as the attackers kept hurling tomatoes at the princess while shouting all sorts of insults.
Eventually, Zoey came back to her senses and jumped at the group of men from the low roof, with Ace, Chappy, and Shade coming to help right after. After spotting the men, Saint, Panda, and Nitro crossed the road to detain the attackers, with Cookie, Bones, and Groovy beating them as they charged into them, bringing them down with a synchronized tackle. In the end, they all piled up on the five men, who kept resisting and blabbering about the princess despite being beaten up by half the team.
Indie, Kiwy, and Candy quickly climbed the float to find Frost holding Priscilla in his arms. They froze for a second at the first glance of the disturbing sight, and while they soon realized she had only been hit with tomatoes, they still helped Frost as he looked genuinely lost. The princess had passed out from yelling so much, but instead of carrying her to safety, he grabbed one of the tomatoes and gave it a good look in his hand, staring at it in bemusement from all sides.
While Indie tried to draw Frost’s attention, Candy and Kiwy stayed behind to crack up, only approaching him to wipe some tomato remains off his back while he tried to focus. With the five perpetrators arrested, Groovy, Bones, Cookie, and Panda carried them away while the citizens began calming down. Once the commotion stopped, some gathered around the float once again to check up on their princess, but the guards cleared the area as Frost broke out of his state of confusion and carried Priscilla in his arms. But since the people continued worrying about the safety of the princess and refused to leave, Indie ordered the guards to create a ring around the float to keep them away while taking the platform for herself to speak.
–The princess is safe! There is no need to worry, please continue celebrating. This was just a small prank…– Indie assured firmly, being loud and clear but not drawing too much attention to raise more concern from the public. Fortunately, her brief announcement managed to ease most people’s worries, and as soon as they heard the news, they left to participate in other festival activities, but not without condemning the culprits behind this attack first.
The team was left a bit disoriented, so they had to pull the attackers to the side, hiding in the market while keeping people away. After waiting a while, the citizens headed to the commercial streets, allowing them to take the princess directly to her castle, leaving the float right in front of the fountain at the base as the peasants carrying it also disappeared. They walked back to the castle, with Frost in the center, Crisis surrounding them to conceal the princess, and EchoForce and all the guards staying right behind, forming a wide line that prevented anyone from getting up the main road.
As the sky darkened and everyone was resuming the festival in the streets below, the team escorted the princess through the upper-class district without coming across anyone, though they remained cautious and secured the entrance of the castle first, just in case. After entering the building, the guards assumed their positions outside, with a few leading only Crisis down to the dungeon below the princess’ office, where the attackers were thrown in the only cell available, which was big enough to hold five of them. As the squad kept a close eye on them, Frost gently set her down on a bench in front of the cells so she could lie down and rest, but it looked like she was already waking up.
–Prissy? Are you okay?– Candy asked with a caring, soft voice as the princess regained consciousness. She was kneeling next to the bench to hold Priscilla’s head, but the first thing she did after waking up was stand up, look around the room, and then stare directly at Frost and the rest of the team as they all surrounded her.
–Did you get them?– Priscilla asked straightforwardly at Frost, who was seemingly zoned out for a second, staring at the attackers in their cell with a dubious look as they shriveled in fear. But after being asked the question, he turned to the princess and changed his attitude instantly.
–Yep, there they are, these so-called terrorists…– Frost replied with a self-assured grin, but his expression full of contempt turned to the attackers once again as he approached them. Priscilla smiled when she saw the ones responsible for ruining her dress sitting cowardly behind bars, which were the only ones protecting him from Frost and the rest of Crisis, but she didn’t waste time and took a step closer to see what they had to say for themselves.
–We aren’t terrorists…– one of the men replied nervously, trying to convince the whole group watching them but unable to look past Frost’s deadly stare. All five of them mostly looked at him since he was the closest, but also because his mere expression intimidated them into justifying all of their actions.
–No, man. We were just protesting…– another man added, frantically speaking directly at Frost after noticing he was in direct contact with his frightening gaze. Despite not saying a word, he was fixated on getting the truth out of them through pure intimidation, which only seemed to work momentarily as the five men became silent to be able to breathe. They were sweating profusely, looking at each other nervously in hopes of someone explaining further, but since no one dared to speak up anymore, Frost grew impatient and began firing questions.
–Really? So did you not try to take your princess’ life back there? Did you not cause harm to her?– Frost asked sarcastically, with a threatening, condescending tone that prompted the men to think well of their answer. But as most of them were confused by his accusations, four of them remained speechless, with the closest one to Frost being forced to respond for the group as all eyes were on him.
–We were just lashing out with tomatoes… W-we didn’t think it woul-...– the guy replied hesitantly, looking over at the princess with remorse for a brief moment before being cut off by Frost as he turned hostile.
–No?? You didn’t think it would hurt her? Yea, that’s funny, because something tells me there is something bigger going on here…– Frost retorted scornfully, pressuring the men as he got closer to the cell and laughed in a sarcastic but demented manner. The men laughed nervously in confusion, with the rest of the team sharing the sentiment as they watched from behind, remaining silent to not interrupt Frost now that he was getting frustrated with the lack of cooperation from the culprits.
–You are trying to destabilize the royal hierarchy, huh? Is that what you wanted to achieve? Scaring the princess into dropping the crown, allowing you anarchists to take over the throne, and providing all the stolen resources to the enemy? You really think that would work??– Frost asked hysterically, startling the men, as it almost sounded like he was talking to himself. But as it was clear he was becoming aggressive against them, they struggled to comprehend what he was trying to get out of them, so in response, they stammered in a panic to find an answer that could please Frost, although it appeared to be impossible given how convinced he was already.
–I don’t know what you are talking about… It was just a prank, it’s not lik-...– one of the men explained, with the other confirming his response with nervous nods. But this wasn’t enough to deny Frost’s theory; it only fueled his skepticism and anger the more they denied his accusations. He scoffed at them as soon as they disregarded his questions, but after turning back to look at his teammates, Frost saw that they were suspicious as well, so he proceeded to squeeze the culprits with a more direct approach.
–Yea, I bet they told you to say that. I know you all play a small role here, so tell me… Who is your boss? Who is this leader trying to take down the crown? I need names…– Frost urged impatiently, raising his voice with frustration, which brought some concern from his teammates. Panda and Candy tried to reach for his shoulder to calm him down, but they hesitated for a moment as the men immediately tried to respond.
–Leader??? We d-don’t have a lead-...– the same man replied in distress, seemingly the only one able to think straight anymore as the others were just as anxious and couldn’t even look Frost in the eye. But as much as the man tried to stay composed and be reasonable, Frost dismissed him as he rubbed his face and exhaled sharply, only to interrupt his response with a sinister laugh and reveal a wicked grin that could not be ignored.
–Don’t play with me. You better talk now before I cut your throat, so choose your words carefully… They might be your last– Frost threatened as he pulled out his razor blade and brushed it against one of the bars of the cell, his voice lowering into a grim whisper that made the guy closest to him become silent in terror upon seeing his demon-like expression with his furrowing brows.
Crisis was almost as terrified as the men in the cell, with Saint sharing their horror and freezing in fear of what Frost could do, although Nitro, Tricky, Kiwy, and even Priscilla found the whole ordeal amusing. Frost continued grinding his blade on the bars without breaking eye contact with the men, disturbing their minds with the screechy sound of his action and matching the tone of his voice. To scare them even further, he began clenching his blade erratically in anger, with his face twitching as if he was about to lose control of himself. His blade inched closer to the men, prompting them to back away despite having no space. But just when they thought they were safe, Frost started opening the cell, and that’s when he finally forced them to crack and confess.
–STEVE! It was Steve!! He orchestrated it!!– one of the men at the back blurted out in panic, pointing at his leader at the center of the cell, the one that was closest to Frost. The others began crying with him, but as Frost’s focus was immediately drawn to Steve, the latter didn’t know how to react after being outed.
–What?? Hey, I didn’t do that, it wa-...!– Steve exclaimed in disbelief, standing up and trying to jump at the other man behind him.
–You said we should prank her! You said we would get away with it!– the man argued, screaming for help as the other men tried to get Steve off him. But while the confrontation occurred, Crisis watched in shock, with even Frost being dazed for a moment. He followed Steve with an emotionless stare while the others began murmuring about the reveal. But as his detached expression showed either a lack of thought or an overwhelming amount of doubt flooding his brain, Frost was completely disassociated from his surroundings for a long second until Steve and the other culprits stopped fighting.
–This is your boss? Are you serious?– Frost asked in disbelief, still processing but already holding extreme resentment, which all disappeared when Steve shook his head negatively despite the others nodding.
–No, sir… Kill him, not us. We just wanted some attention…– Steve responded desperately, pointing back at the man who accused him before growing somber as he looked past Frost, begging the rest of the team and the princess for mercy with his teary eyes. But while his reaction received mixed feelings from the group, Steve was dismissed by Frost as he turned to Priscilla as well. In a way, he mimicked Steve’s stare, except his expression was much bleaker as he gave the princess a good look for a few seconds, trying to shake off his denial before he could form a thought again.
–Is it true? Have you seen these guys before?– Frost asked in a disappointed manner, losing his once enraged, violent, loud voice as his intensity and hatred decreased to the point it became a faint string of words that showed a disconnection from his mind. He was absent-minded while staring at the princess, ignoring everyone else as he struggled to believe anything. But as Priscilla noticed the way he was looking at her, she became a bit nervous, and with some hesitation, she tried to respond in a way that wouldn’t trigger him.
–I think I have… They are probably some fans that I rejected, or maybe I talked badly of them at a party, and now they got mad…– Priscilla replied insecurely, turning to the rest of the team with a slightly embarrassed frown. But surprisingly, while Crisis seemed to be understanding and was more concerned by Frost, he didn’t question the princess much, instead, he began looking down as he reflected out loud.
–Oh… I see, so this was just a prank…– Frost muttered under his breath, his expression showing a full display of his conflicting emotions. While his tone was low-spirited, he let out a chuckle and briefly smiled in the same crazed manner as before, except without much hostility towards the men, only confusion and bitterness towards himself. The team gathered around him, but as they only stayed quiet to let him think, prompting the detained men to do the same out of concern, Candy stepped closer to comfort him.
–Frost, I think you should breathe and calm down. I know this probabl-...– Candy suggested with a soothing, thoughtful tone as she reached for Frost with open arms. She tried to draw his attention to her kindhearted smile, but before she could give him a hug, he looked back up and directed his shameful gaze at Indie, who seemed to share a similar sentiment. They looked at each other for a second, with the latter expressing more guilt than the men in the cell. But as they seemed to speak all they needed to with a simple glare, his cold stare drifted away without saying anything to turn around and begin breathing as Candy advised him to.
–Yea, I’m going to take a walk…– Frost replied elusively, starting to walk again after a dismissive glance at Candy. No one said anything; they just let him leave slowly, with Candy tearing up as she watched. She was able to contain her emotions and distracted herself from her worries by looking at his teammates, though they all looked equally defeated.
–So you are saying these guys were just losers trying to get revenge?– Panda asked skeptically to an unsettled Priscilla, who tensed up after seeing Frost leave in such a dejected manner. But as Panda tried to return to the topic with some lightheartedness, she quickly regained her usual carefree attitude.
–Yes, I told you some people disliked me. It has happened before, but nothing this severe…– Priscilla replied casually, but she couldn’t hide her embarrassment when admitting the truth. However, she was probably the least affected by the situation, as everyone else appeared greatly discouraged, with some still in disbelief. And with the perpetrators having nothing else to say, they just watched in silence as the squad tried to recollect their thoughts, but it was clear to them that Crisis wasn’t pleased at all by the outcome of their mission.