"Theo?" Heather's voice broke the silence of the room, and she was surprised to hear it trembling. The hacker's face was growing pale, his body motionless, slumped limply against the wall where he was pinned to the stone bricks. Taking a step back, Herobrine removed the blade with a quick jerk, and Theo crumpled to the floor, blood leaking steadily from the mortal wound in his neck.

And then he regenerated, the wound vanishing as he appeared upright, good as new.

"You're gonna regret that." Herobrine swung again, but Theo caught it on his sword and spun around, whacking him in the head with the hilt. Manfred attacked him before he could recover, ripping a long gash in Herobrine's shirt as he struck at his chest. Herobrine stumbled back, raising his sword to drive the Enderman away, but Theo teleported behind him and rams his elbow into his face, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Herobrine!" Heather lunged forward as Theo dropped his sword, aiming a fist at her husband's face, but Manfred caught her up and dragged her away as the boy threw punch after punch at Herobrine's already-battered body. "Stop it! THEO!" The queen yelled, scrambling to escape the Enderman's grasp as Herobrine tried in vain to defend himself from the assault. "STOP! HE'S DOWN, STOP IT!"

"Shut up!" Theo stopped, straightening up and throwing her a glare. "He almost killed me!"

"I know, but please, stop it! He was just trying to protect me, don't hurt him!" Heather gripped Manfred's arm so tight that her knuckles went white, not even trying to stop the tears flooding her eyes. Maybe, if nothing else, crying would snap Theo out of it.

It looks like it worked, as Theo narrowed his eyes but stepped back as her tears fell with a hss onto Manfred's arm.

"Release her." He ordered, and Manfred let go, allowing her to crumple forward to kneel at Herobrine's side.

"Herobrine." His eyes opened a slit, and he grimaced. His face and neck were starting to bruise from where Theo had hit him, and there was blood on his face - although she wasn't sure whose it was. She reached down to cup his cheek in her hand, and he offered her a tiny smile.

"Manfred," She heard Theo address the Enderman. "Take him back to his cell."

"No!" Heather protested, whirling around to intercept any attempt to take him away. "No, don't touch him, you'll hurt him worse!"

"Heather-" Herobrine whispered, but it only made her feel worse. Reaching out, she snatched up his diamond pick from the floor, holding it defensively in front of her.

"Don't touch him." Theo sighed, rolling his eyes.

"You're not nearly strong enough to challenge either of us, what are you gonna do?" The Nether queen hesitated, glancing down at the pick. Then she turned it around and pressed the bloodied blade to your own neck.

"Don't touch him."

"****, okay." Theo put both his hands up. "Alright, fine. I'm gonna go work on some stuff. Manfred, keep an eye on them, but don't interfere unless they do something dumb." The snarling mob gave him a single nod, then Theo walked off. Heather's eyes followed him until he left her field of view, then turned back to her husband. His eyes were closed again.

Slowly, Heather lowered her head onto his chest, watching Manfred warily out of the corner of her eye. It was awful not being able to trust him, but she had no idea what the extent of Theo's meddling was. She was pretty sure she could trust his word, though, so they should be safe for a little while. Slowly, she let her eyes drift closed, lulled into an uneasy sleep by the sound of Herobrine's heartbeat.

"He killed you?" Steve managed, dumbfounded. "How? You're Notch, for Notch's sake, and you had him outnumbered!"

"He took a lucky shot while I was trying to help Herobrine." Notch dragged a hand down his face. "This is why I prefer to work alone."

"Well, you can go back, right?" Alex looked up from the blade of her axe. "You should be able to continue the fight. He's trapped in there, right?"

"Undoubtedly he will have struck Herobrine down by now, and I'd prefer to have the element of surprise." Notch sighed, leaning his chin in his hand. "At least I can assure that he won't go anywhere - not with the teleport ban in place."

"But neither can Herobrine." Steve interjected quietly.

"It is his own fault for not escaping sooner." Sitting up straight, Notch opened a menu beside him and skimmed a log of information. "Two days should suffice to allow him to develop a sense of security, then I'll be back to finish the job."

"Well, that was easy." 303 stretched, dismissing the menu with a wave of his hand. Notch really thought he was so great, he didn't even realize that the scope of his powers wasn't much higher than 303's own.

Just to test it, 303 teleported to the Nether, then back. He was free. Unfortunately, Notch still knew the coordinates of his base, and could come back whenever he pleased. He'd have to do something about that.

With a gesture, 303 teleported into the void outside his base, gazing at the unassuming chunk of Endstone that housed his hideout. It was possible that he could move it. He wouldn't even have to go far, Notch wouldn't recognize it from the outside, right?

Reaching out, he selected the area his base was in, slowly dragging it through the silent void. He wondered absently if his prisoners would move with it, but they hadn't clipped through the wall yet so he was sure they'd be fine. When he'd moved it a good 200 blocks, he stopped.. That should be sufficient to keep Notch off his trail.

After a bit of a struggle to find the right coordinates, 303 teleported back inside to find Manfred watching the dozing couple on the floor. Herobrine's eyes flickered open at the sound of his teleportation, but there was no malice on his face, just exhaustion and pain. Apparently that was enough to take down his fighting spirit. He has no doubt, though, that if he messed with Heather that the nether king would find his second wind.

"Had enough?" 303 sunk down next to the fallen warrior, and his words earned him a silent sneer. "You know, I really do like Heather. She's a good kid. I'd really hate to have to hurt her. Really." Herobrine just fixed him with a withering look. "No backtalk?"

"Have you ever known me to be one for japes?" Herobrine rumbled, his voice lower than normal. "I have no reason to waste my breath."

"Fair enough." 303 cast a glance at Heather, who was asleep on her husband's chest. Her hair and clothes were disheveled, and there were tear tracks on her face, as well as a smear of dried blood from Herobrine's clothes. He was sorry she had to go through that, but it was more Notch's fault than his. He'd started the fight, after all.

Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he turned to see Manfred reaching out, cautiously carding his clawed fingers through Heather's hair. He still cared about her, good. He'd followed orders very well in the past fight, 303 had been starting to worry. The last thing he wanted was for Heather to be unhappy, he liked it when she smiled.

The thought made him blush, and even though he knew it was almost invisible against his black skin he hurriedly got to his feet and walked away. It… was weird to feel so much affection for a person like this. He couldn't remember the last time he actually liked another human.

Shaking the thoughts away, Theo made himself comfortable in a corner and set to work on Notch's firewalls again. As far as he knew, his interference so far had gone undetected. A few more days, and Notch would be gone.