"Jesse," Ivor said, his usually hushed voice in a sort of squeak, "this situation is looking a little dire, don't you think?"

"A 'little' is putting it far too calmly," Cassie said, her own expression faintly panicked.

Jesse came to a stop in front of Petra, who started speaking. The voice that came out of Petra's mouth made chills go shooting up Jesse's spine. Hell, it made her spine freeze over altogether!

"Don't worry, Jesse. It doesn't hurt," PAMA-Petra spoke, voice echoing and sounding like Petra's... yet not.

"Welcome, Lukas," PAMA stated, as the ocelot hybrid stood in front of Jesse. His tail wasn't even twitching. It was just... blank. "Yay!"

"Your turn, Jesse," PAMA spoke.

Jesse struggled as her two friends grabbed ahold of her. "Get out of their heads!" she yelled, trying to get out of their grip without hurting them.

"But their heads are full of so much lovely information. It makes me happy. What adventures you've had. A killer mansion..."

Cassie shifted uncomfortably.

Suddenly, the computer made a rumbling sound as it began to process the information.

"Oh, crap, it's gonna figure the three of us are hybrids," Jesse grumbled. And then a thought occurred to her, and she glanced at Ivor and Cassie, who were kind of being held against their will nearby. "Every time PAMA gets new information, it seems to get a bit distracted while it 'processes' it."

"Yes," Ivor agreed, also in a rather hushed voice, "like a computer version of thinking."

"There's gotta be a way for us to distract it long enough for us to escape," Cassie said thoughtfully, narrowing her eyes at the "..." on the screen.

"A city in the sky... towns and mountains, eaten by a living storm..." More processing sounds.

Jesse stared at PAMA, before a small smirk came across her face, and she glanced at Ivor. "D- Ivor, remember one of our favorite activities back in the lab?"

Ivor stared uncomprehendingly at the raven-haired girl for a moment, before an identical smirk sneaked across his face. "Ah, yes. Riddles, logic puzzles, and paradoxes. Your favorite type."

"Yes!" Cassie whispered, green eyes lighting up, "we'll just ask PAMA something really confusing, get it all busy busy, and then hightail it out of here!"

"So, we need a paradox- a self-contradictory statement," Jesse said, casting back through her mind for a good one. It was hard; she hadn't had time to tell Ivor riddles or paradoxes in a long time.


"Jesse, I have a good one."

The spider hybrid looked down at Ivor from where she was hanging upside-down from the ceiling. Her fluffy black hair was trailing straight down. "I wanna hear it!" she said, cheerfully.

Ivor smirked at her and then said, calmly, "What I'm saying is a lie."

Jesse clapped her hands together after a couple moments of thought. "Ooh, that's a good one!" she thought for a second, and then clapped again. "Ooh! I think I have one!"

Ivor smiled at the little girl's enthusiasm. "Let's hear it," he said, putting his hands on his knees and giving the little girl his full attention.

Jesse beamed before stating her little paradox. "Trust me: trust no one!"


"Yes! I think that might work on PAMA!" Cassie agreed.

"What might work on me?"

All three of them looked at PAMA, before Jesse smirked and raised her voice. "Hey- PAMA! Trust me when I tell you: trust no one," she spoke, slowly enunciating her words.

PAMA's suspicioius look changed to a befuddled one, and then the "..." appeared on its screen.

"So, if I trust you, I should not trust anyone. But if I do not trust anyone, I do should not trust you." A question mark appeared on the screen.

"It's working!" Ivor and Cassie chorused, barely able to keep their voice quiet.

"So I should not follow your advice, and therefore not trust anyone. Meaning I should trust you, when you say trust no one." Smoke went hissing out of the screen, PAMA getting an even more confused look. "Error. This data is contradictory." And then the screen started flickering and spazzing out. "Does not not not not compute. Error. Diverting power."

Petra and Lukas released Jesse, as the other villagers released Ivor and Cassie.

"Nice work, new guys!" Jesse looked up at the figure of the woman standing about fifty feet away- the woman from the house earlier!

Cassie had a bit of a scowl on her face.

"But I'd get out of there fast if I were you- PAMA's a quicker learner than you'd think!"

Jesse nodded and started rushing down the steps while they weren't occupied, Ivor and Cassie quick to follow. "Paradox status: on hold," PAMA spoke, making another loud beeping sound, before it spotted Harper, and a happy look appeared on its face. "Gasp! My Creator! Have you finally agreed to merge with me!"

The momentary distraction gave the three of them (four if you counted the little bundle of calico fur under Cassie's beanie) enough time to make it to the bottom of the steps, the woman making an annoyed sound and Cassie muttering something very uncomplimentary under her breath. "Oh don't you start that again! Come on, you three! This way!"

Jesse did some quick calculating. "Ivor! On my back!"She quickly unfastened the cloak, tossing it back to Cassie, who wadded it up and shoved it into her pocket.

Ivor hopped on, locking into place, Jesse tossing Cassie an Ender Pearl. "Don't waste it," she instructed the girl, who nodded and put it in her pocket. "Go go go!" And she leapt down from the stairs, landing hard on the ground and scrambling away, all eight limbs engaging in movement as Petra and Lukas slammed into the ground behind them, now in hot pursuit. Literally, since Ivor flattened himself against Jesse's back as a fireball flew over his head.

Cassie did a perfect parkour roll, a complaining meow from Winslow: "Sorry Winslow!" and bolted after them, Lukas in hot pursuit, tail flapping as he raced after the red-haired girl.

Jesse raced up a wall, lunging to the side of some villagers and raced up the wall and into a room, where one of the villagers stumbled towards her and Ivor-

Cassie slammed into the villager from the side, knocking them sideways and giving Jesse a moment to react. Jesse jumped out the window and onto a nearby roof, Cassie following a bit more awkwardly, as they looked around at the crowd of villagers approaching them, from both above and below.

Jesse jumped into the air, did a rapid flip, landed back on all eights on the ground, Cassie doing a parkour roll as well, and veered back to run out of the town the way they came- except now several zombies were blocking their way. Terrific.

Jesse skidded to a stop just in time, whirled around- wait, no, the villagers were back that way- whirled around again and ran perpendicular to the attacking force, only to skid to a stop again above a large chasm.

Cassie whipped out her Ender Pearl, and looked at Jesse questioningly. Jesse looked down the chasm, before giving Cassie an awkward thumbs up. "I should be fine- you get down there quick!"

And with that Jesse crawled over the edge and travelled straight down the side of the chasm, Ivor holding her shoulders so tightly it actually hurt through her armor. Out of the corner of her peripheral vision, an Ender Pearl flew past her head and headed straight for the ground, Jesse calculating the last ten feet being safe to jump down and doing so, sprawling on her stomach as she did so. "Ouch," she complained, spitting out the mouthful of sand she'd nearly swallowed, Ivor being hasty to climb off and swat off some of the sand.

"It's a good thing I got used to that, otherwise I think my face would've gotten decorated with more scratches," Cassie sighed, dusting off some of the sand that had sprayed all over her socks and shorts.

"Mmph," Jesse nodded, spitting out more sand and dusting off her tongue. "Ugh, I think I've eaten enough sand in one lifetime."

"Ha!" the woman said, skidding to a stop in front of them and making all three of them jump, "maybe you've got a shot after all, Jesse, Cassie, and... new guy. Better stick with me, though!"

"Wow, she is amazing," Ivor said, cheerfully, before his eyes widened. "Oh no-"

"Run?" Cassie asked tiredly, crossing her arms.

"Run," Jesse agreed, so that's what they did.

A/N: Lol, some Harvor at the end xD

Yes, only Lukas and Petra got chipped, like normal. Be prepared for Cassie to do quite a lot of yelling once they reach Harper's secret lair, though xD

angelwings: Lol xD

GuestPerson13: Hehe xD And yes, that oughtta be fun

DemonCatLady: Lol, yep. 'Hot' pursuit xD

x.X. A.L. X.x