Counterfeits and monsters (A Hermitcraft fan fiction) DISCONTINUED

Ch 3

The evil identities gathered in the dead team's mansion within the season six world. A few had complained about choosing there. Vex - Cub's counterpart - just wanted to see Concorp. 

'Right. We are all gathered I assume. I don't have a precise number of us yet.' Glitch, Xisuma's evil identity, began. He looked around the half-empty space. Several chairs were empty. 

'There are 12 of us here. Who's missing?' Frostfall, Etho's counterpart, worked out. 

'Wither isn't here.' Inferno (Tango's doppelgänger) noticed instantly. 'But he did tell me he was going to cause a bit of chaos.' 

'Chaos?' Glitch sounded annoyed and intrigued. 

'Something to do with my 'true' identity's dungeon thing. And withers.' 

'I thought I said to stay hidden!' The words were snarled from the alternate admin's mouth. 'We would scheme here, slowly taking out the hermits, until we properly show ourselves. At least get their leader out the way first!' 

'He's... on his way back... apparently he was noticed...' 

'WITHER!' 

Impulse's counterpart appeared, looking slightly shocked. There was an actually wither next to him. 

'What did I say about staying low? Why did you go and get us noticed!?' Glitch was furious, evident by the fact he was glitching madly. 

'Sorry... I was just bored... and they looked like easy kills...'

'THEY DON'T HAVE PERMADEATH YET!' 

Wither slid into a seat next to Inferno, glancing at the psychically connected friend for a moment. Glitch continued the meeting.

'Our first step to conquering them.' He began. 'Is to get rid of Xisuma, and set their world on permadeath. I can do both, if I get some guards to protect me, and have a safe place to hide. Grim, you told me you knew somewhere?'

'My counterpart, Ren, is building a huge star wars base. And he'll be easy to kill when Permadeath is there.'

'Good. Who else will join me?'

'Can I?' Vex sounded mildly excited. 'And can I meet Cub at the same time and congratulate him on his financial dominance in Season 6?'

'NO!'

'I'll go too. Extra protection and to stop Vex running off.' Dödskalle (Iskall's evil identity) offered.

'Fine. But no one else. Is it night yet?'

'No.' Phantom, Bdubs's counterpart, instantly answered. 'But it is dusk. And can I start haunting Boo yet?' 

'Who's Boo?' Chameleon (Keralis) interrupted. 

'Bdubs.' Chameleon nodded, understanding. 

'Yes, you can. But keep it light. Just standard nightmares for now.' 

Phantom smiled evilly. Glitch stood up. 

'Vex, Grim, Död, let's go.' 

Ren slept peacefully, curled up like a dog. But he was rudely awoken halfway through. 

'Vex! be quiet! Unless you want to go back to the others!' It sounded like Xisuma, only colder and meaner. The South-African disregarded it as a prank, or civil item borrowing. 

'Sorry!' Another person, Vex, replied; strangely similar in voice to Cub. There was a Swedish-sounding sigh. 

'Vex! Quiet! You'll wake up Ren before Glitch has the chance to do anything!' Iskall, as well then. But why were they all here? And who was Glitch?

'Hello?' Ren asked, quivering. Silence. 

'You three go. I'll watch him.' The fourth person in the group greatly shocked Ren. It sounded like himself. He didn't dare do anything except hide. 

'Fine.' Again, the Xisuma-like voice. Ren carefully took a netherite sword from a chest. He would kill the guard, run and tell someone. Or if it was a prank, laugh about it with the pranksters. 

He emerged silently from the Tatooren starter base. The guard didn't see him, but Ren saw him and gasped silently. It wasn't just the voice that was the same... He was looking right into the face of Grimdog, his alter ego from Demise. The fake even wielded the same scythe. 

As the South African aimed to strike, the figure noticed and laughed. 

'Fancy seeing you here, Ren. Acting brave for once?' 

'G... Go away.' Ren stammered, pretending he was confident. Another laugh from the imposter. 

'I'll take you to the others. Maybe they've got permadeath on now.' 

Ren tried to run, but was grabbed before he could. The victim and the kidnapper glitched away, appearing in darkness. 

The south-African had been right about every person. Xisuma, Cub and Iskall were all there but... wrong. 

Like the hermit in the guise of Grimdog, Xisuma was back in the cracked visor and ragged suit of demise, only in colour. Cub was rocking the businessman-scientist-gone-psycho look. And Iskall had more scars and tears than Ren had even seen  him with before. Everything was off. And what had 'Grimdog' said about Permadeath?

'I caught this traitor trying to escape. Obviously, I stopped him.'

'Well done.' 'Xisuma' didn't sound pleased, more focused on something on a holographic screen. 

'What's going on?' Ren asked, petrified. 'Xisuma? Iskall? Cub?'

'He thinks you're their admin...' 'Cub' laughed. 'Glitch, he thinks you're Xisumavoid!' 

'I noticed.' 

'Please! This was a good trick, but you're actually scaring me now...' 

'He thinks this is a trick?! Oh, he's Omega stupid...' 'Iskall' cried, equally humored. 

'SILENCE! Now, I've got Permadeath on, but X is resisting me as much as he can.' 'Xisuma' - was it Glitch the others called them? - explained. 

'Can I kill him?' Grimdog sounded excited. Ren just trembled. 

'Yes. I needed a guinea pig.' 

With that, Ren did the exact thing a scared dog normally does. He bit Grimdog. The alter ego stepped  away, surprised at his bleeding hand. The others drew swords too, stepping forward. 

All hope of courage gone, Ren fled.