It was strangely hard for Ender to get up the next morning. Creeps was again using his chest as a pillow, but something felt off.

Once he did, however, it seemed that the others may have agreed with him if he said something about it. A strange sense of dread hung in the morning air, and everyone and everything was eerily quiet. It seemed as though the world itself was also waiting for something terrible to happen.

Ender tried to shake this feeling off as much as possible, with how thick the feeling was in the air, as to not worry the others too much. Creeps was less cheery than normal, though, which bothered Ender. Although the child was still smiling as always, something about his eyes gave away his mood. As of now, the little creeper was eating breakfast, as were Ender and the others. Ender again noticed the unsettling silence, making attempts to start a conversation. No one answered him every time. Creeps sneezed and kept eating, the others simply ignored him.

After that, their schedules returned to normal, except Ender stayed home to keep an eye on Creeps. Creeps kept himself busy by drawing more stick figures. Ender watched, still feeling a tiny bit uneasy. The same feeling of dread from the morning loomed over him all day, and it got much worse once Herobrine and Steve arrived back home with several wounds.

Upon seeing the two Minecraftians in such bad condition, Creeps shrieked and fell off of the couch in shock. Ender stood up and questioned them.

"What happened to you two?!" He screamed, concerned. "It looks like you tried to high five a polar bear!"

Herobrine dismissed the comment and said, "We ran into a couple of science-y looking assholes on the way back from mining," as he yanked an arrow out of his arm and stared at the fresh blood dripping onto the carpet. Creeps ran over and healed him in a panicked manner, then went to Steve and healed him as well. Steve thanked Creeps and quietly started picking up the arrows Herobrine had pulled out of his arms and legs. They had been shot up with arrows quite severely. Creeps quietly watched

as Steve picked up the fallen arrows and headed over to the chest to put them away.

"What do you mean, 'science-y looking assholes'?" Ender questioned curiously. "You should be more specific. They might cause trouble later, and we should figure out their weaknesses before we fight them again. Having a strategy could-"

"You and your stupid strategies," Herobrine grumbled, interrupting Ender midsentence. "You're like a fun vampire. You suck ALL of the fun out of EVERY fight. Give me a break."

Ender crossed his arms. "Having fun during a fight won't matter if you blindly run into it with no battle plan and get killed right away," he replied. Herobrine said nothing in return. "But still. What did they look like?"

Steve chimed in to give a short description. "There were a whole bunch of them. They called themselves scientists… GENETIC scientists… and were claiming that they MADE Herobrine… of course, I know that can't be true, so I told them that it couldn't be true, I've known him my whole life. He IS my bro-"

His description was interrupted by someone literally kicking their door down. The children reacted with screams and Ender immediately launched an icicle straight through the intruder's arm. The would-be-threatening-figure reacted with a sharp cry of pain, then fired an arrow from their bow which harmlessly missed the group of children and bounced off of the window behind them, breaking in two.

Everyone in the room stood in silence for about another half second before they were surrounded by the very people Steve was describing just a mere minute earlier. "What the…?! They FOLLOWED us?!" Steve screeched, falling over in surprise and ducking behind Ender. The male player in front grinned. "I'm afraid so, children… ah, you have our creation with you."

Steve narrowed his eyes at the strangers. "Go away. My BROTHER doesn't belong to you."

A few of the scientists chuckled. The one in the lead, with the icicle still lodged deep into his right bicep, grinned even wider. "You think our CREATION, H3R0-BR1N3, would willingly stay here with you if he knew what power he possesses?" He asked Steve, not really expecting an answer… which was good, because he didn't get one before he began talking again. "Your 'brother' was taken from us and whisked away to a life not made for the purpose he was created for! All of the DNA samples that went into H3R0-BR1N3's creation have been laying dormant, being WASTED by the type of life it's been forced to live…"

Herobrine crossed his arms. "OK, what sort of drugs are you guys on?" He asked, which almost made Ender laugh. The leader in front looked embarrassed. "I- this is the truth, H3R0-"

The leader was cut off once more when Herobrine got fed up again and said, "That's not my name. That's just a long-as-hell code… FOR my name. My name is HEROBRINE. HERO. BRINE. Got it? You better not mispronounce it."

The leader grinned. "So we happened to create a smartass? Alright. But you're also wrong, H3R0-BR1N3. Your true name isn't a code, it's your serial number. Of course you wouldn't understand such matters, since your powers haven't even been activated yet. That's why we've come to take you back to the labs for more tests… to see if you're an actual success."

All of the children in the room fell silent. Creeps chimed in with a small, nervous, "...What…?"

He didn't get an answer to his started question, he was rudely shoved aside, causing the little creeper to fall backwards, which seemed to hurt his feelings. "You're 'sposed to say, 'excuse me,'" Creeps said quietly, looking a bit hurt. Ender patted Creeps's head to calm the younger child so that he didn't cry. The lead scientist grabbed Herobrine's hand tightly. "You ARE coming with us whether you like it or not. Your friends are, too… we've seen what the enderman and creeper are capable of. Those kinds of abilities that they have are extremely rare for their species. We'd like to perform some tests to see what makes them have such strange powers for their kind…"

Herobrine angrily brought his free elbow down on the man's forearm, hard. A loud snap of the leading scientist's radius and ulna breaking could be heard. The man screeched like a wounded ocelot and shoved Herobrine away. "How DARE you harm your creator!" He screamed, trying to fix his broken arm. Creeps cringed at the noise and ducked behind Ender. Ender formed his water shield immediately, blocking an arrow that was sent flying towards the two. A couple of the scientists started to back out of the door as Ender launched a few more icicles in their direction. The scientist who seemed to be leading the group looked frustrated to no end. He angrily jumped and kicked Herobrine in the face. Herobrine shrugged off the blow as Ender fought off a couple more.

The lead scientist suddenly looked as though he had enough. Herobrine smirked. "Had about enough yet? This is why you don't mess with the-"

He got cut off by another scientist covering his mouth and stabbing him in the neck with a needle attached to a syringe, injecting him with some sort of fluid. Ender knew it was some sort of tranquilizer because as soon as they finished injecting Herobrine with the stuff, he dropped to the floor limply with a thud. Creeps shrieked in terror. "HEROBRINE!" The creeper child yelped, horrified. The leading player picked Herobrine up and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Looking back, it WAS a pretty good idea not to make him immune to sedatives and tranquilizers," he said with an air of pride. "Now get the other three… we could use the Minecraftian child's DNA for another project. I've seen him fight. He's a natural-born warrior."

Ender stood his ground, shield in hand, protecting Creeps. I'm not going to let you get past me, he thought to himself, staring darts into the lead scientist.

Unfortunately, once he realized he had let his guard down, it was too late. Someone pinned Ender against the wall, gripping his face tightly with a gloved hand and jabbing him in the neck with the cold metal needle. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was feeling his face hitting the floor, and hearing Creeps scream his name.