"You almost Done, Mumbo..?"

"Y-yeah.." Mumbo said, growling under his breath. He had never felt so used before. He either listened to the two psychopaths, or his friends would suffer. Mumbo couldn't let that happen, he couldn't deal with the guilt. He had constructed a large underground prison using blackstone, and all sorts of dark blocks. On one side of the room, the wall was lined with cells, with Mumbo having constructed around 10 cells, each able to hold 2 people. The other wall was rather empty, only used to hold chests that Hels had taken the liberty of filling up with chains and weapons.

Speaking of Hels, the knight walked through the reinforced door, a golden key swinging around his finger. Hels had protected the hidden prison, making sure that nobody could get in or out, without Ex or Hels of course. Even Mumbo didn't know how to escape this place, which made the mustached hermit worry for his own safety.

"Now Mumbo, all you gotta do is send the hermits a photo of us in this prison. Got it?"

"So you're just going to trick everyone? Make them think they're safe?"

"We have more planned than you realize, Mumbo. Now just shut up and listen to everything we say."

"I don't wanna be some...some...puppet!"

Ex grabbed Mumbo's shirt collar, holding a netherite sword to his neck, and watching as the mustached hermit instantly shut up.

"Now, unless you want hell to rain down on you, you're going to help us out some more."

"F-........

Fine..."

~~~~~~~

"Mumbo!"

The mustached hermit looked up from his chest, his face morphing with fear before he grabbed a rocket, shooting off into the sky and disappearing into the jungle. Grian couldn't get another word in, watching as the smoke from his rocket began to fade away. Mumbo has sent multiple texts, showing photos of how he had locked up Hels and Ex, but something felt off. After that, he wouldn't respond to anything Grian or the others had sent, and anytime someone called out to him, he would drop everything (literally) and run as fast as he can.

Something was clearly wrong with the Redstoner, but nobody could focus on that right now. They had to focus on the admin, Xisuma. Since Hels and Ex were locked up, Xisuma could ban them with ease. But there was one problem. The admin wasn't waking up. He woke up once, but he was in a sort of trance. He mumbled a few words, none of which we could understand, before passing out once more. People had been taking shifts while watching him, with no sign of Xisuma waking up anytime soon.

Grian pulled out his communicator, letting out a breath as he stared down, Mumbo still hadn't seen his messages. Was he okay? What was wrong with him? Grian was just about to go after Mumbo, he needed to talk to the Redstoner. That is, until he heard fireworks from behind him, causing the small hermit to turn around, looking up and watching as Iskall slowly descended, landing on the grassy hill by Mumbo's base.

"Hey G, What are you doing here?"
"I was going to look for Mumbo, but then he took off when I saw him."

"I was coming to look for him too..he's definitely up to something."

"We need to go after him, whatever he's up too, it's clearly not good."

Iskall nodded, the Swede pulling their communicator out of their pocket and typing a few words on its screen, before their frown deepened. Grian walked a bit closer to the Swede, and Iskall showed the small hermit what they was so upset about.

TFC> X is up
TFC> But something isn't right.
TFC> everyone, my base, now

~~~~~~~

"Damn, these hermits really like blowing your communicator up with texts, don't they?"

"W-well Grian tends to worry-"

Ex didn't let Mumbo finish, throwing the small device onto the ground and stabbing his netherite sword through it, preventing Mumbo from ever using it again. All hope was crushed inside of the Redstoner, as now he really couldn't call for help. The chain around his ankle was really starting to bother the mustached hermit, but he couldn't do anything about it now, and if he did, he would surely be tortured by the two doppelgängers. So Mumbo shut his mouth, keeping his eyes glued to the piece of lined paper in front of him. Ex walked over, yanking the paper from his grasp and reading over the small blueprints, before ripping the paper in two, throwing the scraps onto the ground.

"You call that redstone? You're supposed to be designing death traps, not farms."

"I-I know Ex, but I'm no good at it-"

"He's no use Ex, this moron is useless. We should just kill him.."

"He'll respawn, Hels. Which is why we need to get my brother. But for now, let's focus on Mumbo."

Ex bent down, causing Mumbo to try to keep his distance, the mustached hermit pressing his back against the wall while visibly shaking. Mumbo was terrified, knowing exactly what these two were capable of. Ex looked to Hels, simply nodding at the knight. Hels pulled out a crimson potion, uncorking the top of it and moving towards the Redstoner, who was shaking even more now.

"I-I though you said you wouldn't use that on m-me!"
"It's called lying, Mumbo. You're going to get very used to it."

Before Mumbo could respond, Hels shoved the bottle into his mouth. A spicy liquid was burning Mumbo's throat, but Ex was holding a sword to his throat, rendering Mumbo useless compared to the two psychopaths standing before him. He wanted to spit the liquid out, he wanted to choke and die, oh so badly. Mumbo slightly choked as Hels yanked the bottle out of his mouth, the Redstoner barely able to handle what was rushing through his mind. Things were turning foggy, the world fading in and out, time and time again, before Mumbo could barely hear the voices that's were right next to him.

"Will this really work?"
"It has to. I'll make it work. Even if it means torturing Mumbo until he can prove useful."