Free and Unfettered 125 Suspicion And Disbelief

They would hang themselves on their own web, leaving them to suffocate and fall. For the first time in a while, Nine felt like she was reverting back to her previous self on Earth. Though she had not lost her edge back in Cosmos City, she had been playing with them with the kid's gloves on, because they were her people, after all.

On the other hand, this traitor to the Hopcaper tribe had no such reservations from her. Though she considered Justin, Matthew, and to an extent, their immediate family, Chow and Psyber, hers, it was not so for the tribe as a whole.

She had no responsibility to them, nor did she feel like she was fulfilling a duty. Instead, she was doing this because the interests of this traitor had greatly harmed those whom she considered hers, and that was just unacceptable in every way.

Nine could feel that Mephisto was getting close. Honestly, she didn't know what to make of the Wererabbit traitor. She didn't know if she should describe them as vigilant or just… to be honest, she got a few OCD vibes from this person. Almost as if left unchecked, they would check every single house at least once or twice before they came back again.

Nine waited patiently. She could do this all day. On the other hand, the rest of the inhabitants in this desolate house were not as patient.

They had busied themselves the past couple of days, renovating the interior of the abandoned house. To be honest, the inside of the house and the outside created such a stark contrast that one would have stepped out to look at the exterior once again to make sure their eyes weren't playing any tricks on them.

Nine honestly had no idea how they did it, but the interior of the house was rather inhabitable and cosy-feeling now. It was almost like… magic. Indulging in a sense of softness, she let out a small laugh at the terrible pun she made in her head, not noticing how everyone else looked at her, stunned.

Matthew struggled to look away with much effort. Inwardly, he patted his back at breaking away with record time. His Master was too terrifying. If only he could use that Charm himself, his life would be so much easier on missions. Unfortunately, they couldn't all be devastatingly handsome, so much so that people were draw in regardless of gender.

For a while, the poor assassin had even questioned his sense of sexuality, losing a couple of nights sleep over it before eventually coming to the conclusion that his Master's Charm was inevitable. He just had to accept it and move on (and maybe not make a fool out of himself in the process).

Settling back down, Matthew stared unflinchingly at the door, waiting for it to creak open by the traitor. They had left enough subtle clues that he wasn't afraid of the other realizing that something was off. Even if they did, the amount of people in this room would be able to take them down without any trouble.

Psyber got up and stood next to the door, leaning against the wall. She exchanged a glance with her brother, nodding, the instinctual understanding of her twin reassured her. No matter how the other entered, she had no doubt that the rest of the room would go from stillness to motion so quickly that it gave onlookers whiplash.

By the time the detestable traitor made their way to the door they behind, besides Nine, everyone else was wound tighter than a spring. Their muscles, though not tensed to ensure the maximum degree of flexibility, were ready to move at the slightest action. They were focused on the openings of the house they were located in.

Not only the door, the windows and chimney were also being watched.

Just when Nine thought that she should reassure them and let them know that they didn't have to be so tightly wound, the front door creaked open cautiously.

The door creaked open the slightest bit more, to reveal the one eye of the traitor. Just as the people within were about to take action to subdue the traitor, they saw his one eye roll back in his head as he collapsed to the floor.

Everyone, "???"

Stunned, everyone sans Nine looked at the downed body in befuddlement. This was not how they expected this to go. They had been all geared up for a fight as the traitor snarled and spat profanities at them, not have the traitor faint at their literal doorstep.

Nine's lips twitched at their reactions, feeling a bubbling sense of satisfaction that she felt like she had been rather deprived of since the start of 'Darkness Uprising'. She hadn't teased anyone in so long!

Scuttling in, Mephisto triumphantly hopped onto Nine's upturned palm, delighting in the head pats from her Master. She had delivered the prey right to Master's doorstep instead of making Master go out and get the prey! She did a good job!

"Good girl, Mephisto."

Mephisto preened.

Baffled, Psyber pressed two fingers to the traitor's neck before raising a brow. He was still alive. Nine's familiar must have knocked him out with a poison or something similar. The Crown Prince's familiar was eerily smart, in a way that she had not noticed Magic Beasts could be. Not only did Mephisto show a human-like intelligence, Rainier also displayed the same thing. It had caused her to wonder about the things she might have overlooked because of prejudice.

Callously, she flipped over the other person, letting their prone body thump on the floor. A bruise would be the least of that person's worries.

As Psyber caught sight of the other's features, she sucked in a sharp breath. She stilled in her motions, shock overriding her mind.

"That's Elder Mildred!" Justin cried out, looking at the other's unconscious form in disbelief.

"What… did we get the wrong person? Was he unconvinced that it was our bodies so he went looking for evidence?"

Matthew instantly shook his head. "That's definitely Mildred." Stepping forward, the veteran assassin bound the other with magic-disrupting ropes, keeping his hands apart and making sure that there was no looseness in the knots and ties before stepping back.

"It can't be?" Chow said faintly, almost in disbelief.

Matthew raised a brow, but before he could speak, Psyber cut him off. "Wake up, brother. No matter how he's treated us in the past, isn't the evidence in front of our very eyes right now? Don't let feelings cloud your judgement."

Chow stepped back slightly, looking chastised. "You're right, sis."

Matthew tied the Elder to the chair, before bolting the chair down to the floor. He took every precaution to prevent the other from slipping out of their fingers.

Though he looked like the picture of efficiency and indifference, inside was another story altogether. This was the man who had been at the forefront of speaking up for his innocence when no one else had believed him. He was the one person who was staunchly supporting him in the light rather than in the shadows, like Chow and Psyber had been.

Breathing in and out, Matthew shut out the wavering emotions within him. Everything would be revealed in time.

Gathering around, Psyber, Matthew and Chow did not take their eyes off the other's form for even a moment. Nine sat in the background. She would leave extracting the information up to them. After all, they were the ones with the highest stakes in this. She was only acting on their behalf.

Silently, Andrew and Valerie took Justin out of the house, hoping that a little bit of space would calm the other down more. They could see that he was hastily trying to prevent another outburst. Though he seemed to be fine with suddenly discovering that his father wasn't dead after all, he also hadn't dealt with the negative emotions yet, and seeing what was believed to be a respected figure in the Hopcaper tribe appear couldn't have been doing any favours to his emotional wellbeing.

Clearly, the other three adults were in no way capable of taking care of this preteen's emotional wellbeing at this time, for they were also unstable, but their Teacher was inside with them, so nothing too excessive would happen.

Justin looked back at the three adult figures in his life, hesitating, before deciding to leave the house for a while until his temper cooled.

Chapter end