(ON HOLD)Behind Closed Doors | Hermitcraft

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❝ Tʜᴇ ᴄᴏɴsᴛᴀɴᴛ ᴏᴠᴇʀᴡʜᴇʟᴍɪɴɢ ᴄʀᴜsʜɪɴɢ ғᴇᴀʀ ᴛʜᴀᴛ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛᴇʀʀɪʙʟᴇ ɪs ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴛᴏ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴ. ❞

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As the vigilante had fun teasing Mumbo, something.. shattered. A beaker of glass that broke on the wooden floor. The glass shards spread about everything, and a green liquid inside sizzled as it hit the floor. Making contact with the air, a chemical reaction sparked, a green gas slowly began ooze around through the room.

Multiple more beakers were broken, as Grian tried to pinpoint where it had been coming from, but it seemed almost impossible. To those that were caught off guard and inhaled the gas, they coughed and stumbled before falling over.

Grian held his breath, and since the doors appeared locked, he went over to the window. Using his elbow to smash it open as he jumped out, rolling as he impacted the ground. Inside, Doc covered his nose and made sure his mouth was closed as he followed the vigilante in his footsteps, having also jumped out of the poisoned room through a window. Zedaph had told Impulse not to breathe anything in before the two rammed a side door and exited the building. Xisuma, with the aid of False, rushed anyone they could out. Although, False collapsed into unconsciousness soon after due to the air.

Multiple hermits were passed out, and others had ran off, leaving the scene in fear. Damn, of course the killer got away. The vigilante was about to leave the scene as well, but Mumbo had caught up to him. "Oh, you gonna try and arrest me right after that?" He said with sass lacing his voice, his green eyes looking back to the spoon's soft blue ones.

"Just- Wait for a moment-" He looked back the masked man, taking a moment to catch his breath. Looking into those eyes as deep as the sea always reminded Grian of his father, and he could never shake it off. He didn't want to talk, why... Why was it so easy to talk with friends as Grian but lacked confidence. Yet, as The Cavalier, he had an overwhelming confidence behind the mask and yet it was so hard to talk to those he knew- Funny thinking about it, isn't it?

"Sorry Detective, but I'll have to pass! Been a long day for both of us, but maybe we can talk some other time when you and she-cop aren't pointing guns at my face." He let out a soft laugh, before waving bye. Before Mumbo had a chance to react, the vigilante took a running start, as they jumped up on the side of one of the victorian style homes, climbing up it. Going onto the rooftops, the masked man disappeared into the night.

"Damn..." Mumbo let out a sigh, before returning inside the building. The gases had dissipated by now, leaving unconscious hermits and a silent ballroom. The detective glanced to all of the shattered glass, and recalled the potions came from above. So, naturally the detective went upstairs for further inspection. At first, the floor seemed clean.

At least, until Mumbo had found a venetian mask sitting there by the railing. The mustached man slowly picked it up, grabbing it. It had a plague doctor theme to it with black coloring and dark green outline. Wait a minute.... Didn't Doc wear this same mask? Or at least something similar to it. The murderer always wore a plague doctor mask as well, but it had different colorations and style to it. Mumbo inspected it one more time, finding a tag. It showed that the mask a Concorp product. Meaning someone bought it from one of their shops.... Maybe he could ask Scar or Cub for a customer catalog later on. See if they had record of anyone purchasing this mask. They might not have kept record, but it was worth a shot.

Although, didn't Doc have experience in alchemy? Whoever the suspect was, they had sort some sort of substance that reacted with the air and made the knockout gas or whatever it was. He hated to be suspecting people he knew for murder, but at the moment, Doc was the prime suspect.

Wait, but wasn't downstairs when the potions were thrown? In fact, everyone was downstairs. There hadn't seemed to be any dispensers or machine trickery hidden in the building, so.... did that mean- No, that meant....

Someone was aiding the murderer.

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Somewhere distant, they took off their plague doctor themed mask, placing it down on the nearby table side. The man heaved out a sigh, running a hand through his messy hair. He took off his black trench coat which was stained in the blood of his prostitute victims. Underneath his coat, he had simple clothing as he set the black clothing aside.

He pulled out his rusted shears that had also been covered in blood from the unfortunate souls to cross him, as the killer glanced back to a board of sorts.

He had several black and white photos of many varying strangers, most of them having red x's on their faces. There were a few red strings here and there, but in the middle was a peculiar photo. It was a blurred photo of the vigilante, the best picture someone had taken of him. There were several strings that connected his picture to photos of other people. The murderer glared at the scene for a moment, before there was a soft knocking on the doorway.

"You know you're never gonna figure out his identity unless you pull his mask off or The Cavalier reveals it himself..... He's evaded everyone for this long, so I imagine he's quite the crafty person to be able to slip out of so many things." The man standing in the doorway had multiple scars that littered his body. Soft red eyes the pierced through the darkness, and horns and a bit of little devil's tail that people would always stare at him like some sort of monster for.

"I know....." He looked down at the floor for a moment before pulling his head up and looking back to the man. "Don't you miss everyone? You've been absent for so long." His gaze drifted to the many scars that littered the demon themed man's body.

"I have to go back there- Or they'll hurt me even worse- I've gotten used to it by now." He crossed his arms, letting out a soft sigh. He didn't want this to turn into an awkward silence, so he quickly changed the subject. "You know I saved your ass there from being exposed at the little masquerade, and I still haven't gotten a thanks!" He chuckled softly.

"Yeah, although I was the one that came up with that escape distraction. Though, it was your idea setting up the mushrooms, so I'll give you thanks for saving my hide and being able to see Iskall and Ren get high off those shrooms." He laughed.

"Alright, well I'll see ya around. Bye." They waved goodbye to each, as the man in the doorway shut the door behind him. The murderer glanced back to his little board, before tilting his head. "Hmmm...."

He stared at a photo of Grian, grabbing a red string and connecting it to the photo of The Cavalier, "Come to think of it, he was the one hosting the ball and had been absent when the vigilante came in... I think I'll have to ask him some things..." He smiled a bit, before picking up his shears and slamming it into the photo of the vigilante.

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:D

So that was fun- plot is beginning to stir, I originally didn't want the helper to be revealed until the vigilante was close to figuring out murderer dude's identity, but here we are.

Anyway, still got an suspicions on the murderer? Sure, now he has a helper that I think I made pretty obvious as to who it was hopefully when describing him, but the murderer is still the same. I do not take back any statements I have said before, so.... any guesses :)?

Also, I'm trying to work on some other stories too. Right now, I'm working on this minecraft story revolving around an oc yeah but the oc's are just fillers for roles I suppose. It's not for any fandom, it is it's own thing. So yeah, updates may be way slower, sorry :(

With that being said, stay safe and have a good day! <3