Demise (Old Edit)

Foolish Move

Word count: 1000

Scar shot up off the floor gasping. His heart pounded loudly, as if trying to remind himself that he was still alive. Twisting his body, Scar reached for some water. He stopped right before he reached it. Mummering in amazement, Scar dashed to the table.

"I'm free!" Scar did a little bit of a happy dance before he realized that he had to tell the others. What if I played spy? Scar tapped his fingers, realizing they had color. If he was going to play spy, he would need to figure out how to change his skin back to the grey color.

One thing at a time. Scar's mind flew to a thousand different ways he could solve the many problems. It was like a bird taking flight again after it had been caged for many years.

Alright, Scar laughed to himself and instantly got to work. It was time they started fighting back.

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Flicking the lever, Cub sighed. He peeked at the redstone behind it. What had gone wrong? There was a monostable circuit there and a repeater going into a locked hopper. Scratching his bald head, Cub gave up. Breaks were needed from time to time.

So Cub emerged out into the brightly lit day. "I've spent too much time underground," Cub muttered to himself. Well, time to get some excitement back into his life. Once he pulled out his hermitphone, he almost didn't have to do what he originally planned. Displayed on the screen was a whole host of texts in the group chat.

Iskall> "Grian why did you throw a potato in Sahara?"

Grian> "Who says it was me?"

Iskall> "It has your name written on its item number."

Grian> "Ummmm....."

Iskall> "So why did you throw it in?"

Grian> "Because Mumbo wasn't in the meeting! I thought it would do him good to find it."

Mumbo> "I was too! I just was a tad bit late. I was getting observers for Sahara."

Iskall> "Grian I don't care if Mumbo was in the meeting or not. Do you know how long it took me to find that thing?"

Grian> "Umm well..."

Keralis> "Iskall you might find a trident in there as well."

Iskall> "Oh for goodness sake. Is everyone trying to break Sahara?"

Mumbo> "I didn't...."

Iskall> "Yes you did Mumbo, you blew a hole in the roof, which you still haven't fixed."

Cub chuckled as he put his message in. He wondered how many people would actually see it. They probably had muted it because of the bickering architects.

Cub> "I'm doing stunts next to HermitVille. Join me if you want to."

Xisuma> "With the whole losing the color from your skin and disappearing for a while ordeal, I'm surprised you want to do anything."

Scar> "Who knows? Maybe it's for personal enjoyment. It's not like we have much to lose by dying."

Xisuma> "Yeah, still working on the code for the skin change. It's certainly mind boggling."

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Scar had tried to sound nonchalant in his text. He could only assume that he sounded normal. Since the virus had known all of his memories, he just had to act like himself. Despite this, Scar still felt extremely nervous sending that message.

Ding! A private message came from Xisuma. Oh no, did the virus that controlled Xisuma know? Scar tentatively opened the message.

Xisuma> "Go to the event. Cub will probably die, but if he doesn't I want to ensure that he does. I was hoping more will fall."

Scar gulped down the lump in his throat. Shaking fingers pressed the screen to reply.

Scar> "Wouldn't miss it for the world. That foolish human will soon be captive."

Xisuma is typing

Xisuma is typing

Xisuma> "Good."

Scar released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. His cover hadn't been blown yet. Now it was time to figure out how to change his skin back to grey. Otherwise it would be blatantly obvious.

Scar put his head down on the workbench temporarily and clenched his fist to concentrate. When he looked back up, the color had drained from his skin.

"Eureka!" He cried out. He was ready.

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Cub walked over to the small group gathered by the stunt area. Tango messed with his unmistakable blond hair. His red eyes roved the area searching for unusual activity. Xisuma was leaning against a wall, chatting with Scar. Who knew what they were talking about? After the glitch, only X's visor remained colored, and at that a very gloomy green.

"Hello Tango, and grey skins," Cub announced, teasing Xisuma and Scar.

"Oh we're just gray skins now?" Scar playfully pouted nudging Xisuma with his elbow. "I even brought snacks!" He opened his bag and produced some sweet berries.

Tango glanced at the bubbling pit of lava. "So, Mr. Invincible. These are your challenges?" he sounded skeptical. Though knowing Tango, nothing was much of a challenge for him.

"Yep! Speaking of which I probably should start climbing. I have a loooong ways to go." Cub grabbed some of the berries for energy. As Cub slowly disappeared from sight, Xisuma turned to the others.

"I think he'll die." X put two diamonds down.

"Oh we're taking bets now, huh?" Tango raised an eyebrow. "Very well then. I think he'll survive. Might as well give Cubby some support."

Scar placed two diamonds next to Tango's. "I'll second that."

The three turned at a faint shout. Cub was about to do the first stunt.

"This will be interesting," Xisuma returned to his position on the wall.

Cub jumped. Squish. Boom. Squish. Thud. Cub was stuck on a single piece of stone in a pit of lava, at the worst time of day. As if the timing was brought by the virus, it was the dead of night. That was when everything deadly spawned.

On cue, Xisuma spotted a skeleton. The virus that controlled him made him twist his hand in a barely noticeable way. Scar noticed it though, but was forced to not do anything about it. Watching helplessly, Scar watched as a skeleton wandered slowly closer to Cub.

Thwang. A single shot knocked him into the boiling lava. Red and black spots filled Cub's vision. Another one became controlled by the virus.