I awoke slowly. Eyes fluttering, mind spinning.

The first thing I noticed were the wires locking my hands behind the back of the chair I was sat on. Blood had trickle down from my temple, now dry and cracking. I wasn’t in the ballroom anymore, that was for certain.

Walls: concrete. Light: scarce.

“Finally awake! How delightful. At first I thought you were dead.” The farmiliar voice echoed from the other side of the room, as the figure stepped into the warm candlelight. The dagger he once held was replaced by a china teacup, one that he sipped from delicately. Slowly, almost gracefully, he made his way across the room to me, placing the teacup onto a nearby crate and crouching to be eye level.

“You know why I didn’t kill you, Mr No-Rythm?” He grabbed my chin to force me to look at him. The mask, an unfamiliar shape, most likely representing a fox, only it was fully black.

I didn’t respond to his question. My mouth was dry and bitter.

He chuckled and whispered, “I need your help.”

My brow furrowed slightly as I tried to move but the wire cut into my skin, drawing hot blood.

“Oh, don’t be so hasty.” He placed a strong hand on my shoulder, “You don’t know what I’m going to ask yet!” He stood, using me as a support to get up, then wiped his hands on a handkerchief.

He gestured lazily behind me. I turned my head.

A shape? A body.

No - several. All tied, gagged and half-dead. My breath caught.

“Here’s how it works,” He began, looking pleased with himself. “You run to all of your little law friends, shaken and in distress. You tell them exactly this: ‘_Th-there’s a masked madman in there! He’s killed so many, and he’s going to kill more at the market in the square! We need to guard it with our lives! He’s not someone to be underestimated!’_” He laughed, “Got it? Remember to look scared, that’s important.”

I sneered, he truly was mad.

“You’re going to kill all these people, just to get a name for yourself?!” I spat, my voice still hoarse.

He began to pace in front of me. “Oh, no no no no no! For a detective you’re not as clever as what that badge deems you to be.” Smiling teasingly, he went on, “I want all of your little friends to guard the other side of the city, while I rob and kill the royal family. It’s quite simple isn’t it!”

He clapped his hands together with delight.

“And what makes you think I’ll do that?” Ignoring the wire biting into my wrists as I struggled more.

He leaned close to me, his mask mere inches from mine. “I don’t work alone, Detective. I have friends. Friends with matches, ready to burn down every building in the city on my command. Churches, schools, farms. Everything, up in flames.”

I looked down, weighing my options.

He grabbed my chin once more, narrowing his eyes at me. “No rush. I’ll leave you alone with your thoughts.”

Exiting through a door, he took his teacup, and began to him a tune, sauntering on beat.

I could still hear him when he sung, “This is going to be fun!”