Chapter Text
Battat had a lot of power for a pippins. He had full access to the security cameras plus the camera he himself placed, but those were mainly for Tenna. So he could basically make everyone do whatever he wanted with a little bit of a blackmail in theory however his size being even smaller than a normal pippins meant he couldn't really do anything to zappers or shadow guys if he didn’t want his face plastered on a missing poster, even a particularly feisty pippins could cause him some trouble. He could use the Mike costume for people who were stronger than him, not even the most brain-dead zapper was dumb enough to mess with the only thing that mattered to Mr. Tenna, but he didn't want people questioning anything about Mike. There was also the fact that Mike was supposed to be Mr. Tenna’s personal bodyguard but he couldn't do that for the same reason. Pluey could do the bodyguard stuff but Mike having a shadow guy's gun being noticed and drawing suspicion wasn't a risk he was willing to take. Those were the reasons why he was currently watching the security cameras at 23 o’clock waiting for some zapper to slip up in such a big way that he could use it against them and turn them into his bodyguard and possibly even the third Mike. It had to be something pretty messy for them to not immediately run to Tenna and tell him Mike was a fraud, the chance of him believing him was low but not zero.
A camera caught a zapper messing with a pippins, nothing surprising, those knuckleheads always loved to mess with guys they perceived below them, however something interesting happened, another zapper approached him. Battat never interacted with the other one but them being noticeably larger than all the other zappers made them hard to miss and forget, their name was Jongler. But what were they doing? They never hang out with others and they only do what Tenna or Mike told them to.
“Hey, boss says we have a job outside.”
They said. Battat knew it was a lie because he always kept an extremely close eye on anything Tenna did and said but why would they lie?
Battat watched them from the cameras, the larger zapper led the other down a deserted path while going outside, as if making sure nobody saw them. When they arrived at the door at the west side of the studio that led to the outside Jongler opened the door for the other one and went after him. A few minutes had passed and Jongler had come back inside but not the other guy. Curiosity took the better of Battat so he grabbed his camera, stuffed it inside his inner pocket, and rushed to the outside, taking the same path they took.
The outside of the studio was a cold frozen wasteland with nothing but snow. Battat could see zapper footsteps going somewhere but it was snowing heavily so he had to be fast. Luckily he always carried a ball of green yarn on him, he tied one side of it to a pole while holding onto the other end so he wouldn't get lost and started running, following the footprints. He kept on running until he finally found the other zapper.
He was beaten to death. Battat spent no time taking a photo of the corpse, he even took one comparing the corpses hand to one of the dents on his body to show the dent was caused by someone with much bigger hands, there was no suspicion Jongler was the one responsible for that but it was nice to have extra prof.
When he was done taking photos of the body something caught his eye, an oddly shaped snow lump. Curiosity took the better of him again and he approached it. He shoved his hand inside and sensed something plastic. He moved his hand around and felt some dents and broken pieces of plastic.
Is that?
He thought to himself and immediately wiped off the snow. His suspicions were right, it was another zapper beaten to death. Of course he was waiting to see corpses here but he was waiting for the reason to be hypothermia or starvation, not murder. With this new found knowledge he looked around him more carefully and realized there were many, many more oddly shaped lumps. He checked a few more of them to make sure and they were all corpses. Of course there were some that were due to natural causes but most were murder. He couldn't even make an educated guess about how many they had killed. How long has this been going for, there were a lot of zappers that have gone missing for two years. This thing has been going on for two years and nobody has caught them, nobody but Battat knew there was a murderer that was on the loose.
It was the perfect blackmail.
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Jongler didn't like the other zappers. They were ruthless beasts who got enjoyment from exploiting the power they had over others. Those little pippins were their worst victims due to their small size but they weren't above messing with other zappers either. If a zapper was deemed weak or a pushover it was basically a death sentence. Jongler, despite being larger than all of them, used to be considered a pushover, one day they snapped and punched one of the assaulters so hard they needed revive mints. After that day no-one messed with them in fear of pushing their buttons too much. However they weren't done with the others just yet. Even tho this world forced them to toughen up and get meaner, they refused to adopt the “everyone for themselves” mentality. They believed even if the world was at it's cruelest, people should stick together and help each other, even if it was done as a secret.
“HEY, LARGE GUY!”
They heard a voice yell at them. They turned around to face the owner of the voice.
“Mr. Mike, whad do yous want from me?”
“Firstly, it’s ‘sir’ not ‘Mr. Mike’. Secondly, nothin’ much. I just need ya’ to patrol the outside of the studio. Go to the outside door at the west and wait there. The captain of the guards and five other guys will come, then you can all start the patrol together. Make sure to not wander far off from each other or you’ll get punished. Understood.”
“Whad?”
“Didn’t ya hear me?”
“No, I heard yous clear sir.”
“Great, so do your job.”
“But I’s have to ask, why would such a thing be necessary? Anyone who goes dere is certainly dead so putting guards dere feels like a waste.”
“Are ya’ questioning boss’ orders because if so I’ll go tell him right now.”
“No, no of course not. I just-”
“Great so shut your mouth and do as ya’ are told or is there something you don't want others to see?”
“...no, sir. I’s go sir…”
Mike smiled and went away, leaving Jongler alone. What were they supposed to do? They could've just not go there but they didn't wanna deal with Mr. Tenna and Mike. Their best option was to tag along and try to stir the others away from the bodies. They went to the door and waited for the others. When they came they all went outside.
“HEY LOOK OVER THERE!”
One of the zappers yelled pointing at a pole. There was a green string tied to it.
“Interesting, I wonder where it leads to.”
The captain of the guards questioned. He gestured to the others to come along as he followed the string. He had to pull it a little since it was covered by snow, luckily he was able to do so without disturbing the path. It took a moment for Jongler to realise where they were heading.
“Um, captain yous sure it’s not a trap. A mysterious string leading us to somewhere seems pretty suspicious to me.”
Jongler said.
“You are right.”
The captain replied. Jongler relaxed for a moment.
“Ini mini mani you.”
The captain said pointing at another zapper in the group.
“You are going to be the one following the string, come back if you can and if you don't in 40 minutes we are going back.”
He said as he gave the string to the other zapper.
“If yous don't want dat I can go instead of yous.”
Everyone looked at Jongler dumbfounded.
“Why would you want that?”
“‘Cause I wanna do something nice, yous know help out each other.”
If anybody else has made that proposal they would immediately think they were hiding something but Jongler, even after punching someone, was still seen as a pushover so them asking to sacrifice themselves wouldn't be too suspicious. After that they could act like they find nothing and leave this whole mess behind.
“Are you calling me weak?”
The other zapper responded.
“Wha-”
“I DON'T NEED YOUR PITY, YOU IDIOT!”
He yelled and went to follow the string. It was the worst case scenario for Jongler, not only was someone about to find the bodies but they also offered to help even tho they were the one who suggested it was a trap in the first place, now it was obvious they were trying to stir the other away from something. The only thing they could do right now was pray he wouldn't be able to come back in time, but they knew it couldn't happen. The zapper came back in a rush and led them to the place where all the bodies were. Everybody was surprised, even Jongler. Most of the bodies seemed to be left in there for less than a day judging by the amount of snow on top of them but they only killed one guy yesterday. Come to think of it, why was there a string leading them here? They didn't question it before because they were busy trying to figure a way to get out of this mess. Their thoughts were cut by the sound of one of the zappers talking.
“Hey I saw this guy yesterday, he was fine at like 45 past 22.”
Not only was there a string leading them to the bodies, not only did the snow on the bodies have been wiped off beforehand but also one of the guys in the team saw the guy they killed yesterday minutes before. It couldn't have been a coincidence but there was also no situation that wouldn't make it not a coincidence. The simplest explanation was they were set up but by who and how, they were ordered to be here by Mike himself and the only person who he took orders from was Mr. Tenna, was someone able to affect their decision, but who could do such a thing, the only people the two care about was themselves and each other. They could be the one behind this but why would they, did they get a sick sense of entertainment from this?
The others of course realized there was a murderer but luckily they didn't realized the dents were too big for a regular zapper, yet. They decided on keeping it as a secret and only telling Mr. Tenna.
When the patrol was over, they all returned to the studio and a shadow guy threw himself to Jongler.
*There you are! I’ve been searching everywhere for you!*
He rang, everyone else looked at them. The shadowguy was Pluey.
*I've looked everywhere for you. You can't leave without a word after a night like that!*
“I’s so sorry but yous must be confusin’ me with someone.”
Jongler said while blushing. Pluey wasn't prone to violence like everyone else, instead he acted more cutesy and innocent. But he still needed a way to protect himself so he got others to do it for him. He didn't have money to exchange for protection nor did he ever said others would get something for protecting him but he had a reputation in the studio. Despite acting very innocently it was no secret that Pluey liked to have fun with others, adult fun to be specific, especially when someone did a favour for him.
*How can I confuse you with someone else silly. All the stuff we did last night makes you hard to forget. Plus you are bigger than all the other zappers, I bet you could even beat the others or do much much worse!*
Jongler was shocked by the last part. It could have been a coincidence but he had said it with such excitement it made Jongler suspicious.
“I’s sorry, but yous must be misremembering things, we weren't together last night.”
*You really don't remember? I was carrying some boxes to the storage closet at the west around 23 and you were passing by with a friend of yours when you saw me struggling you decided to help me and I think your friend went outside. When we were at the storage closet we made out until like midnight and you left and went to the bar.*
Now Jongler had no doubt in their mind. Pluey knew something. He had just given them a perfect alibi for where they were during murder, complete with them going to the bar which they actually did. But why would he do that the only logical conclusion Jongler could come up with was he was trying to gain something from them. Jongler didn't want to be forced into something but they also didn't want to get caught so they decided to play.
“Ugh… yous got me. I was just a little bit embarrassed, dat's all.”
*Awww, there was no need to be embarrassed, we didn't even see eachother naked. Speaking of which.”
He said as he reached for a black envelope in his pocket and gave it to Jongler.
*Since we didn't get to do anything I’ve taken some photos. See you later~.*
Pluey said as he left. There were two ways to interpret what he just said and neither matched his innocent tune. But Jongler had more pressing matters than wondering about his tune. They immediately rushed to a storage closet and opened the envelope.
As Jongler suspected, it was evidence of what they did. Photos of the dead bodies filled the envelope. Jongler took everything inside it out and found a note.
*Meet me in the tailoring room at 23 o’clock*