Work Text:
Security Camera: 001
Location: Meeting room in the catacombs
Date: Redacted
File: 00000023_Lyarrah
The first to arrive was Pixlriffs. This was typical, as Pix is usually quite punctual. Pix takes a seat, casually pulls out his camera, and reviews the footage he collected over the course of this week.
The second person to arrive was ZloyXP. He was around five minutes late, which was rather unusual. Zloy usually likes to race Pix to see who would get to the meetings first. Zloy sits down on the floor, and works on a model of The Entity, which is almost complete.
Lyarrah was the last person to arrive. She was twenty-one minutes late, and breathless when she walked into the meeting room. She was holding on to an overflowing stack of papers, trying, and failing to keep them from falling over onto the floor.
"Lyarrah. You're late. For the 20th time." Pixlriffs said in a cold, exasperated voice. He didn't look up from his camera.
"I'm so sorry Pix! You see, I was just about halfway here, but the script for this week fell into the ancient plumbing of an old ruin, so I had to fish it out, and I couldn't come here with it all dirty, so I had to go home, but my elytra broke, meaning I had to walk, which caused me to twist my ankle, so I had to get medical treatment, and then I had to find a MineTube tutorial for how to clean and dry paper. While I did that, I also did the dishes which I forgot to do last night, then I realized I was late to this meeting, so I ran here as fast as I could, but I got lost in the catacombs, so it took awhile." Lyarrah rambled nervously. She wore a confident smile, but her body language betrayed her inner fear.
"I am disappointed in you Lyarrah. You came up with some ridiculous tall tale of an excuse instead of just accepting that you failed. On top of that, you had the audacity to call me, your superior, such an informal nickname." Pix said, a frown creasing his normally happy face. He still didn't look at Lyarrah. Pixlriffs casually took out some sort of remote. He pressed a button, and screams rang throughout the room, seemingly coming from an intercom that had recently been installed in the meeting room. Pix pressed the button again, and it stopped.
"This is why you're an unpaid intern with no friends, Lyarrah." Zloy muttered loudly, rolling his eyes as he spoke.
"Anyways, back to the meeting! So, first order of business, how should we cover the missing Hermits?" Pix said cheerfully, an almost manic smile stretching across his face. He pressed the button on his remote again. Cries of pain erupted from the intercom. Lyarrah had put her hands over her ears. Zloy didn't react. Pix pushed the button again and the room went quiet.
"Framing that Sheriff guy has definitely been a good distraction, but we haven't convinced the Hermits of his guiltiness yet. We need to decide whether we should double down on him being the kidnapper, or if we should go a different route." Zloy replied seriously.
"It's probably best to double down on the Sheriff. Lyarrah, gather information on good old Sheriff Jim. Dig up the skeletons in his closet, everyone has some. We'll make next the issue of The Hermitcraft Recap an expose on Jimmy. That should help convince at least some of the Hermits of his guilt." Pix giggled, as if the whole conversation was a joke instead of a plot to ruin an innocent man's life.
" That's it! I quit. This is illegal, and messed up, and I'm not even getting paid! I'm sick of being used and belittled. I don't care if quitting destroys my career. I'm going to the police with what I know, and you can't stop me!" Lyarrah yelled. She started to storm out of the meeting room, only to find Zloy blocking the door, holding a small carving knife.
"Oh Lyarrah. You poor sweet fool. No one is going to believe you. We are respected journalists with a good reputation. You are nothing but an unpaid intern. Who do you think the police would believe? The crazy disgruntled intern or us? Zloy and I can make everyone think you are crazy with just the click of a button." Pix spoke in a sickeningly sweet tone of voice. It made Lyarrah want to throw up. Zloy moved closer to her, and held the knife up to Lyarrah's neck, causing a small cut to be formed.
"Now Lyarrah, since you made the bad decision of trying to move against us, we're going to play a game! Doesn't that sound fun? Well, it'll be fun for us at least. You don't even need to do much! All you have to do is sit down in this chair over here and show us your teeth." Zloy said sinisterly. Lyarrah reluctantly sat down in a nearby chair. Zloy followed her to continue holding the knife at her throat, and Pix grabbed some dental wire and a drill from the corner of the room. Lyarrah saw this and started hyperventilating.
"Please don't hurt me, please I'll do anything. I promise." Lyarrah screamed in fear.
"Zloy, we should turn on some music! It would go great with Lyarrah's screams." Pix pressed the button on his remote, and shouts of pain emerged from the intercom. Lyarrah joined the cacophony of screams as Pix walked over to the chair she was sitting in.
"I think we're good to start drilling and sewing. Lyarrah, stop your whining and grow up if you want to survive this." Zloy pressed the knife deeper into her neck. Lyarrah's blood was starting to drop onto her sweater. Pix started drilling holes into her teeth, like he was drilling cavities out. He threaded the dental wire tightly through her teeth, effectively silencing her. When Pixlriffs finished, he stepped back with a satisfied smile on his face
"That should teach you a lesson about trying to cross us. Now go dig up some dirt on that pesky Sheriff. Remember, if you get caught then we'll pin all the blame on you." Zloy spoke in a deceptively kind tone of voice.
Later, as Lyarrah crawled out of the meeting room, tears staining her face, Pix called out mockingly,
"Loose lips sink ships!"
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