"Huh," Jesse said, putting her hands on her hips, "the water must've busted the connection, or something- like washing away the redstone."

Ivor's eyes lit up. "Which means PAMA's control CAN be broken, after all!"

"I've never been so happy to see a normal zombie in my life," Cassie sighed, as Jesse dodged to the side and-

A rotted hand swung up at her face, and Jesse just reacted- she bit down sharply on the hand.

A nasty taste filled her mouth, the taste of rotted flesh- before a different taste crept into her mouth. Sickly sweet...

Jesse spit, the zombie falling backwards and exploding into dust as a dark, muddy red substance spattered all over the floor and the rotten flesh that had just appeared.

"I didn't know you'd mastered the use of your venom, Jesse," Ivor said, sounding rather impressed.

Jesse spit again, getting some more of the goo out of her mouth. "Neither did I."

"So if we just chuck water all over Lukas and Petra's chips," Cassie reasoned, although she was now looking at the poison rather nervously, "we can get them back to normal, too!"

More monster sounds as they learned to land on the cobwebs. Jesse groaned and slingshotted two webs at them, sending them flying into the water as Cassie whipped out her axe. Another motion of her hand, and the cobweb that had formed vanished, landing in her hand. "Not that it'll stop the spiders, if PAMA's got any of those, or Petra, or Lukas, but hey, at least we don't have most other super-mobs invading, right?" Jesse sighed, retracting the webs and throwing them into the water as Cassie wreaked havoc on the skeleton and zombie that had fallen in.

"Okay, now what?" Jesse asked, flatly.

"Now, we block up the entrance!" And Cassie sheathed her axe, eyes going back to normal (gosh, that really was a bit creepy) as she went and toggled a lever nearby.

A loud rumbling, as pistons shifted aside, and a wall of sand fell from the ceiling, Ivor scurrying over to where Jesse and Cassie were standing, hundreds of sand blocks falling from the ceiling and forming a large wall that blocked entry. For now, anyway.

"Okay, that's most of the mobs taken care of," Jesse sighed, rubbing her head, "let's go see about the 'secret lab'."

"I just hope whatever's there can help us," Ivor mumbled, turning around and starting to walk along the sort of 'hallway.' "It would make helping Petra and Lukas a lot easier if there's something useful at this secret lab."

Jesse smirked a little bit at that. "Awww, you love us," she teased.

"No I don't!" Ivor said, his face turning faintly pink.

"Well, even if the lab is a bust, what we just learned about water disabling PAMA's chips is super useful," Cassie said, trying not to laugh at the little interaction between the dark-haired mentor and pupil.

"That kind of reminds me, what's your deal with her? The woman who built PAMA?" Jesse asked, looking at Cassie, noticing the small smile falling almost instantly.

Cassie was quiet, before sighing. "Well, you remember me leaving, right?"

"You and your aunt? Yeah, barely. Why?"

"Well, my aunt died six years later. She wasn't the healthiest person, she got sick. If that-" Cassie made a huffing sound, "if she'd just- convinced my aunt to stay, then maybe she would've gotten to a doctor or something in time and maybe she'd still be alive. Maybe the Old Builders," she spoke those two words as if they were sheer poison on her tongue, "would still have six members rather than only five." And she kicked moodily at the ground.

Jesse was quiet for a moment, before reaching out and squeezing Cassie's shoulder. "I'm so sorry," she said, sincerely.

Cassie glared at the ground, her glare barely softening, before she looked away. "Yeah, well... it doesn't really matter anymore. I'm just not very good at forgiving people," she spoke shortly.

Ivor was silent for a moment, before saying rather lightly, "I must say, that woman has been a most intriguing person so far. I'm still not entirely sure what to make of her."

Jesse gave Ivor a mischievous grin. "'Intriguing', Ivor? Why, whatever do you mean by that?" she asked, teasingly

"I- what? It's nothing," Ivor said, cheeks turning faintly pink, "I just mean that I can empathize when it comes to your creations getting out of hand. N-nothing more."

"Ahem," said a familiar voice, making Ivor jump six feet into the air, "careful with all that sputtering. You'll swallow your beard."

Jesse and Cassie both fell over, howling with laughter, while even Winslow seemed to snigger as Ivor's face turned ten more shades of red. "I- what? What'd you hear? It was nothing!"

The woman laughed, coming over to them from where she'd been standing. "Nice to see you, Jesse."

Jesse giggled as she stood back up, dusting her pants off. "Yeah, this is Ivor, and I think you know Cassie. Our friends that we left back there," her smile faded a bit, "are Petra and Lukas." She hesitated, before tilting your head, "and, I'm sorry, your name is...?"

"You can call me Harper," the woman said calmly, glancing at Cassie a bit nervously. Cassie just looked away, finding the cave ceiling very interesting.

"You could also explain why you lead PAMA's forces straight to my secret lab," Harper added, a bit of an annoyed expression coming over her face. "Seems to me I've got a whole lot of angry-computer-controlled monsters out there waiting to tear some new holes in my lab."

Jesse winced with a soft, sheepish laugh. "Ahaha, sorry about that. I didn't expect them to start following us. But at least only the spiders and our friends can make it through, now. Lukas knows how to ride spiders, so he could probably manage that..." Jesse tapped her lip before banishing the thought, it wasn't a pleasant one.

"Ah, it's not your fault," Harper said, waving it off, "I'm just a bit steamed. I didn't know PAMA would actually be able to follow us. What're you doing in this world anyway? You here to try to steal my secrets?"

"Of course not!"

"No!"

Jesse and Ivor spoke at the same time, sharply. Cassie shook her head rather quickly as well.

Harper just gave them a squint, before shrugging and turning around. "Just figured I'd ask- better safe than sorry and all that."

A/N: I always found that funny- she asks, and then just kinda goes 'okay, cool.'

DemonCatLady: Hehe xD Jessvor is fun. And there you go! There'll be more drama later :3

ThunderstarGames: Hey, thanks!

x.X. A.L. X.x