"You failed, Mumbo. You blew your cover almost right away and now the resistance is growing even more suspicious!" Scar shouted from atop his ever-expanding throne, now filled with anything shiny or rare.

It seemed like all the vex/hermit hybrids were attracted to anything that sparkled. Enchanted gear, gems and minerals, or even just a simple iron shovel. If it was sparkly, they would bring it straight to Scar and drop it on the throne.

"I-I-I'm sorry, m-mayor Scar, I couldn't help myself! They were saying such horrible things about you!" Mumbo begged with tearful eyes, though Scar's icy glare didn't have a hint of mercy in it.

"You're lucky we had a backup plan with those enderpearls I had you move. Now, you're on dungeon duty until you prove your worth. We'll need you on watch when the entire resistance is teleported down there."

"Y-yes sir, anything to prove myself!" Mumbo said as his wings fluttered with hope, the mustached vex disappearing into a puff of blue smoke as he teleported into the dungeon.

Scar stood up, glancing to the dark corner of the room, Xisuma looking at one of his admin screens while monitoring the locations of all the resistance members. The loyal vex locked eyes with his leader, X nodding his head.

"All is ready. No private messages have been sent and all of the resistance members are far enough apart, meaning that they aren't secretly meeting. We can teleport them now." Xisuma reported to the mayor, Scar nodding his head as he opened his wings and flew down from his throne.

"Good. Prep the other hermits for a server wide meeting, I want to make an example of the resistance." Scar laughed with a cruel smile as he left the town hall, Xisuma following close behind the vex.

"A-are you sure about this, sir? I don't t-think I'm completely on board with the plan—"

Scar snapped his claw-like fingers together, the admin freezing in place as he did so. The mayor turned around to face Xisuma, his expression stone-cold as he approached the vex. His posture straightened, Scar's arms folding with his eyes narrowing at the admin.

"Xisuma, I'm protecting your server from that mycelium infection. I gave you power to stop them from tearing everything apart."

"A-and I am grateful for that, s-sir, b-b-but..." Xisuma's voice began to trail off, Scar raising an eyebrow.

"But what?"

"What we're doing, this plan, it could completely destroy the server, even more than this war could. The other hermits— the ones who don't understand— they'll see us as monsters." X mumbled with a quivering voice, Scar placing his hand on the admin's shoulder.

"Everything will turn out fine, you need to trust me." The mayor said with his icy glare locking with Xisuma's eyes, the Brit nervously nodding.

"Y-yes sir, of course.."

"Good," Scar replied blankly, turning away from Xisuma and holding his hands behind his back, staring out at the new and improved shopping district. "This'll stop everything from turning even worse, Xisuma."

"I-I hope so.." the admin muttered as his hands moved towards the miniature keyboard on his glove, typing into the chat to call a server-wide meeting in thirty minutes. He nodded at Scar once it was done. The mayor grinned.

"Perfect! Glad we could come to an understanding. Now get the rest of HEP prepared, and ensure that the resistance's cells are ready." He commanded while opening the large wings attached to his back, flying off as Xisuma opened his mouth to try and speak. The admin sighed unhappily.

He was loyal to HEP and to the mayor, Xisuma would do anything that Scar commanded, but that didn't mean that he didn't question his orders. The admin hated the resistance more than anything— but...their punishment..

Xisuma thought it was worse than death.

—

Grian woke up on the hard obsidian floor, no memory of entering the small box. He was laying on his back, unable to move, the builder's entire body was numb and frozen.

He sat in the dark, unable to cry for help or move to try and escape, frozen as time went on. It felt like ten minutes before the sound of breaking obsidian registered in his mind, the light from the outside world stinging his eyes.

Two voices were easy to recognize, Mumbo and Tango, but they were quiet to not let Grian overhear their conversation. The builder could tell that there were more voices, but he was forced to stare up at the ceiling, unable to glance at who they belonged to.

Mumbo walked into his line of sight, eyes glassy and dull, focused on nothing in particular. He took a knee next to Grian's limp body, wrapping a chain around his waist and wrists. With a snap of the Redstoner's claw-like fingers, feeling returned to the builder's body, but he felt shaky and drained of energy.

"M-Mumbo.." Grian choked with a hoarse voice, barely able to stutter out the taller Brit's name. The vex scoffed as he stood, tugging the chain and forcing the resistance leader to his feet.

"You're about to get everything that you deserve." Mumbo laughed while he dragged Grian out of the tiny obsidian box, the builder watching as the other resistance members were facing similar fates. They were all in chains, being pulled through the dungeon by the members of HEP, all either terrified or outraged.

Grian heard cussing and crying, some screaming from sheer pain, but he never looked up from the ground. Mumbo's words from the day before came back to him. How he was ruining everything. It all felt true now.

Trudging up the steps of the prison, daylight began to warm the area, Grian looking up as they approached the outside world. Light warmed his cheeks, but his insides felt cold as they twisted with fear.

"Your powerful mycelium resistance!" Scar introduced with a laugh as they reached the surface, the group standing on a stage in front of the rest of hermitcraft. Hypno and Beef shared a look of concern, Joe let out an audible gasp, Cleo pulled out her sword but was quickly stopped by TFC, the rest confused or terrified.

"The ones who thought they could stop me. But now—" Scar snapped his claws together, Mumbo harshly tugging on the chain and forcing Grian onto his knees. "Their leader knees before me!"

"P-please Sc-car.." Grian choked, his eyes pleading with the mayor. "Sp-pare them."

Scar laughed, "I am sparing them. I'll be undoing all the corruption and lies that you've been telling them. But you—" the mayor grinned, snapping his fingers once more, Xisuma standing loyal at his side. "—you won't be so lucky."

He looked to the admin. "Ban him. Permanently." He commanded, Xisuma nodding robotically while preparing the ban. Hermits in the crowd suddenly turned aggressive, pulling out weapons to try and stop X before he could ban their friend, but the over members of HEP simply waved their hands and all were frozen in place.

Grian looked up with tearful eyes, he and Mumbo locking eyes. The smaller Brit smiled as tears rolled down his face.

"You were right, Mumbo. I do ruin everything."

Before the taller male could open his mouth to respond, Grian disappeared within an instant, the chains that were formally wrapped around his body rattling against the wooden stage with a thud. Everyone was petrified while staring at the spot where Grian used to be. Scar just smiled as he glanced to the other resistance members.

"As for the rest of you, we will be reeducating you, cleansing you from that mycelium. In fact, we already did that do one of your members."

False walked up the steps that led down to the dungeon, a figure standing beside her. They looked ragged and worn out, their dark chestnut hair knotted and greasy. Their clothes were torn and dirty, face covered in scars, eyes nervous and paranoid.

"Iskall..?" Stress' voice was the first to speak, the Swede jumping at the sound of their name. Panicked and scared, the hermit looked at False for reassurance, the blonde nodding her head. Their posture was timid and nervous, Iskall shuffling over to Scar's side. The mayor placed his hand on the Swede's shoulder, making them flinch once more.

"Iskall here has fully recovered from any poisoning that the resistance may have caused. We'll be doing the rest to the other members before returning them back to society, completely freed from the mycelium that infects them."

"I-Iskall wasn't a member of the resistance!" Stress cried helplessly, her restraints holding her back as tears flooded down her face. "I swear on my life! Iskall even denied to join us!"

"I-I-its okay, Stress!" Iskall finally spoke, their voice happy yet fearful at the same time. They wore a wide smile, but their eyes begged for help. "HEP changed my life!"

Scar smiled, pulling out a block from their inventory, holding it out towards Iskall. The Swede took a step back, horrified by the purple mushroom block.

HEP had broken Iskall.

"Now, unless you all wish to join the resistance in their reeducation, I suggest you run off, back to your builds. And if any of you misbehave—" Scar motioned to Xisuma, the admin's expression hidden behind his visor.

All the hermits rushed off, some murmuring to one another, others terrified as they flew off to try and seek safety in their bases.

All but one.

Bdubs stood, speechless, unable to even think of the right words to say.

This wasn't the Scar that Bdubs knew.

It couldn't have been. Scar was kindhearted, he would never want to do this horrible things on purpose.

Unless Bdubs never really knew Scar at all.