Apologies for my poor writing skills and not writing this story as it should go. It reflects my tangled thought process. Thanks for sticking with the story to everyone who managed to make it thus far.

This chapter: Herobrine has quite a few messages waiting for him when he finally manages to access the System. He must renew his old contacts and review available information, before he can decide what to do next.

...

Sounds came. Waves lazily splashed. Rolling movement told him that he stood on a small ship, steadily making its way across a massive water expanse. The air around him held scents of moisture and salt.

Squinting his eyes open, Herobrine curiously observed the endless blue of calm sea. Sun brightly shone above, directly overhead. A breeze swept through his hair and against his clothes, touching his skin with pleasant cool relief, and pulled against faintly creaking, dull-white sails on wooden masts.

Herobrine's gaze swept around him and found his twin standing a few steps away. He, himself, had appeared on the edge of the stairs leading down to what was probably a cabin below the deck. Curious about this place, Herobrine studied his twin's broad back, wondering if the fellow had been this muscular the last time he saw him. The stance of the other man held quiet and steady power that for some reason reminded Herobrine of the earth.

Dressed in his usual teal shirt and blue trousers, his twin stood with his strong, calloused hands calmly resting on the wooden rails framing the vessel's side. He was looking into the distance, where Herobrine now glimpsed distant patches of approaching green, islands so covered with jungle vegetation that in some places the branches spilled right over into the water. In other places, tall rocky outcrops rose in black crags nearly straight up, with sandy beaches stretching in between. Dolphins dove in and out of streams left in the wake of the moving ship.

"I have always loved the sea. Did you know, Herobrine?"

A quietly spoken voice sounded very unlike the amused, mischievous tone that his twin used in the past. Herobrine curiously eyed him. This had also been the first time that his predecessor's remnant had used that name in addressing him.

The man before him turned and gave him a calm smile. Sky blue eyes held contentment. Herobrine unwillingly shifted, his breath catching within in surprise.

Steve?

The other man turned away and resumed watching the serene seascape. Above, distant seagulls circled, making their hunting calls.

No. This couldn't be Steve.

This human seemed older. His form and face had been more mature than those of the strange young player without memories. He was also calm and sure of himself, unlike Steve, who constantly hesitated and gave uneasy smiles.

He was probably dreaming again...

Immediately, the vision faded, leaving Herobrine in the darkness. Already awake, he could see the faint ticking of the timer in the corner of his vision, which told him that his scanning process had not yet finished. He must have fallen asleep again.

With his eyes still closed, Herobrine stretched and yawned.

What even brought this strange dream to his mind?

He wasn't even thinking of Steve when he once again began to drop off into a slumber. After finally gaining access to the System and glancing at the personal messages waiting there for him across several accounts, his eyes held on a very familiar name, which he hoped not to see again. He had immediately tried to dismiss that message to trash, but his power glitched. He then stared at it and scowled, seething at his current lack of power. He then dismissed his interface entirely to avoid the reminder and tried to calm down.

His emotions refused to cooperate, bursting in an overwhelming wave and bringing with them memories that he didn't want to remember.

He still ended up remembering. Events that chased him to this very server, which he now considered as his safest shelter and base, pulled him back against his will and forced him to experience it all again with nearly the same vivid detail.

Last time, he had also received a similar message.

"Had enough?..." His lips twisted in slight sneer, Herobrine's former overseer regarded him with disdain in his narrowed red eyes.

In his memory, Herobrine saw again the familiar, gray-skinned face and tried his best to fight against the helpless feeling that he often experienced when trapped in this human's power. Every muscle in his body tensed, expecting yet another overwhelming task, which he was doomed to fail and then suffer for it.

... Losing the last bit of sleepiness, Herobrine opened his eyes and silently called forth his interface screen, where a number of other messages waited. Most bore only three names, which he set his filter to allow to reach him directly. The fourth one, boldly shining on the very top, was from the Admin, who could override such settings if they wished.

They have not sent any messages to him in a long time, probably knowing that he would simply dismiss them.

They sent many such messages to him at first, right after he escaped, most of them threats, demanding that he return or else they would take measures and he would regret that he had not surrendered voluntarily. At first, fear of punishment that would surely follow his act of disobedience, kept him away. He still read their messages at first, just in case, but did not dare to answer. They would have traced him immediately if he did and at the time he didn't have the skills to prevent that. Then, he began deleting them without looking, believing that he was safe despite their threats.

If they really had the power to get to him, they would have done so already. That's what he reasoned.

Then came the first mod – the means they gave to players to summon any Herobrine copy that existed directly to their midst.

Without the established grounds with traps and stationed mobs, even the higher-level versions of him quickly fell to the hands of low-level players, who then received the same loot and achievements as if they had defeated the final instance boss of a high-level location and became greedy for more. It affected him, too. Only as a glitch, not tied to any particular place, he had been denied the normal cooldown period of several days that other Herobrine copies received upon their defeat. He respawned instantly, directly to the next summoning totem.

For several days, he had become trapped in a row of endless deaths and respawns without any reprieve long enough for him to recover his strength and flee. The terrifying experience culminated in him encountering players, who had been aware of his preprogrammed weakness – obsidian was supposed to be the one material not pliant to his powers of transmutation, at least until a high enough level. They trapped him and proceeded to repeatedly sent him into a respawn, unable to break the cycle. The System itself finally interfered on his behalf, misinterpreting the event as cheating, and allowed him to respawn normally. He had been extremely fortunate the next respawn took him to a server without the Herobrine Summoning mod, owned by a young human who felt sympathetic toward his plight.

She offered to him to stay on her server for as long as he wished.

He was still greatly unnerved and fearful of what measures the Admin would take next. That's when he received yet another message – this time from his former keeper. Maybe they thought that it would have a greater impact? It did. He opened it, hoping to learn an explanation of what the Admin had done. And he learned it. They did all that just to teach him a lesson, to encourage him to return. That's what his overseer had said. He then even promised pardon and reinstatement. His owners were even willing to forgo punishment for the disobedient act that led to his escape, so long as he did not attempt to defy their will again.

He had almost responded, ready to crawl back to them and submit to their will. Almost.

Only he already had no trust in their promises. All humans could lie, that he already learned. What if once he surrendered, they would simply destroy him? There would be no one to hold them to account if they chose to disregard their promises to him – a mere glitched program. And they obviously had a handle on Notch.

He still tried to speak to Notch, despite failing to reach him many times before.

He built means, which Notch promised him would enable him to come directly to Herobrine's location, no matter where he might be in game.

And again, he received no response.

He stood by the massive beacon with his head and shoulders slumped, uselessly worrying. Was Notch's silence yet another consequence to his willful actions? Notch told him that it wouldn't happen, since they needed him for their game to work smoothly. But what if he was wrong? He was not faultless as Herobrine once assumed. He admitted that himself after he found Herobrine after his rebellious act, hiding from the human overseers who claimed him from Notch's hands several months before that. And learning what they did to Herobrine in that time, he sincerely regretted allowing them to ever take him. That had been so reassuring, as was his promise that it would not happen again. He promised to talk to the Admin and resolve the matter.

Instead, the next day he allowed him to escape. Which meant that he failed to convince them.

Did they do something to Notch or even punished him for that? What if they were punishing him still?

That last thought nearly pushed him to reply to their message, allowing them to know his location.

And then Anna, the human, who had offered him refuge in her server, had unexpectedly teleported nearby and began to chat, asking him questions along with random confiding about her own life. She wanted to learn about him. And he felt inclined to answer, simply because this gave him the excuse to delay his decision. In the end, he chose to ignore the message.

He stayed in hiding nearly a year after this, not daring to leave his new server at all. And even when he started to venture out once more, in guise of a player thanks to a new pseudo-player mode that allowed him to assume an avatar as if he was a player, he still carefully avoided provoking the Admin.

Then he accidentally became involved in more conflicts with them, but never too much so and certainly not enough to warrant their decision to destroy him. Their ignoring him even when he began acting on larger scale had convinced him that they no longer considered him a danger or simply did not have the power to take measures. He had become far stronger, after all.

Apparently not strong enough.

Was this entire thing yet another attempt on their behalf to force him to surrender? Or did they intend to simply destroy him, as they warned him many times before?

Herobrine scowled at the message, greatly tempted to erase it, but not daring to do so. Finally, he managed to gather his courage and with a gloomy look opened it.

"What are you even thinking, you dumb glitch!" His former overseer's irate tone immediately made him flinch.

"You really did it now! Now you got their attention! And not just them! Some serious people are here. With reviews. If they don't get you under their control and prove that you are just a rogue program, some people will be losing their jobs. And that includes me!"

Herobrine frowned. His former overseer's mood was far from grumpy yet lazy attitude he usually sported in their early interactions. An angry scowl twisted his gray face, showing bright, golden teeth. Red eyes nearly blazed.

"You should have stayed low! If you did that, it would have been fine. Even killing a few players was no big deal, since that was interesting and only drew in more of those idiots. More players willing to waste their money means more profit. And you were reeling them in! But changing settings? Trapping players in game?"

Herobrine's frown grew deeper with some confusion setting in.

Have those players complained of that so quickly? He just learned how to do that last night!

Wait... the attack against him came before he did that. And what did this human mean by 'trapping players in game'? He was getting the sense that this was not about the bluff to those two players about Steve, either.

With confusion, Herobrine tried to recall any events where he might have been blamed for displaying powers that would place him into a truly dangerous category. He could not think of any. He had been careful to stay within his role.

Herobrine winced. He had grown too lax. He should have been paying better attention.

"I've been personally tasked to locate you and bring you to heel. You are lucky that it was me who was on duty when those two idiots sent a message to our team. I managed to convince them to stay quiet for now, but it won't last long. At least you were smart enough to glitch their record. It's too late though! The word already spread! Not about this time, but about the other thing you did."

What?

"I just want to know what was going through your glitched mind! What in blazing heck! Ten players in coma? If it's not you, better let me know now! Or I don't know what they'll do when they get their hands on you. If you think what I did was bad, imagine when they start tearing your code apart. Bit by fricking bit!"

Herobrine froze as the familiar chilling sense of fear tried to lock his muscles. What was he talking about?

"Do you want this entire game shut down? Do you want them to erase Notch point-blank so we could get him on your case? Because they'll do it! They've done it before! His memories already got wiped clean twice because of you! Well you and the other Herobrine... We had to increase staff to make up for that! Without Notch, this entire game is starting to fall back apart and he is still not back up to norm!"

Herobrine clenched his hand, a sinking feeling in his stomach as his worst fears confirmed. This is why Notch was not answering him. He didn't even know how to react to that except with renewed sense of guilt that grew so much heavier in the place where he should have a heart.

"While you acted within norm and earned us profits, they were fine with that. But now? Get your virtual butt back here or kiss it goodbye! I'm not kidding! If you don't come back, they're going to remove you for sure. Might even if you do come back! Come back and explain that those bubble-making veggies is not your doing. Then I might be able to convince them that you're still worth keeping around. IF you had nothing to do with it. Call me as soon as you get this!"

Herobrine unwillingly jerked to answer the message but stopped. His overseer was not yet done.

"Oh, and if you are wondering why you cannot heal or access the System, don't bother! Its what their virus was meant to do. You won't be able to get it out of your system. Our entire team spent months working on that." A nasty smirk appeared on the Admin's gray lips as his earlier rage visibly calmed down, restoring his usual control.

"Your respawn point has also been reset. You die and you will respawn here, in our central lab. Just a little heads up... Call me. Don't let them get to you first."

The message abruptly ended. Herobrine stared at it for a moment longer, until the faint nervous trembling in his body began to subside.

How much of what he just heard had been just an empty threat? He was used to hearing similar tone and words before. Only the slip about what happened to Notch really bothered him. That, and what he was accused of.

Again, he felt pressed to answer the message but refrained from doing so. He needed time to think. He needed to figure out what events led to the decision of the Admin against him. Ten players hurt in real life? He definitely had nothing to do with that. It was probably some human hackers. Humans always led their own games and intrigues against their own kind. And they did not consider killing in real life as a consequential matter at all.

He was in serious danger because of those false accusations. Only he was no longer the naïve, unsure being that he had been four years ago, whom threats like these would intimidate into blind obedience. Despite their power over the game, these humans could not reach him directly. Not anymore. And it was thanks to their cruel methods that he even progressed to this level of power, far beyond what they knew.

He was not defeated, yet!

Scowling, Herobrine dismissed the message and turned his attention to other messages waiting in his personal storage.

Uneasily, Herobrine's white eyes held on the multiple video call demands bearing the waving flag with a steel wolf head, all addressed to Miguel Santiago. He could not answer them, yet, since he needed greater access to the System for that. Particularly, the module allowing him full Admin access to his player's interface. It appeared only when he reached a certain level of power, and he was nowhere near it.

Instead, he shifted his attention to the only person he trusted to speak directly. For a moment, he considered the very unartistic logo that Anna's brother picked to represent his small company. The Beather Guide, Co. showed only a crafting hammer sparking against an anvil. For some reason, Timothy decided that it was representative enough. Herobrine didn't even attempt to offer his opinion on that. What Timothy did on his own time was entirely his own decision, so long as he verified with Herobrine anything that had to do with him or one of the false human personas he adopted to act in the human world.

He didn't wish the repeat of what nearly happened two years ago.

Picking the very last of the many messages sent to him from Timothy's address, Herobrine opened it.

"Why are you not responding to your messages? I don't even know if you are all right or if they already killed you or something. Herobrine, pick up!" The young man roughed up his short, light hair and gave the screen a gloomy look. "Call me as soon as you get this." He hung up.

Timothy's face bore signs of stress. A large cup of caffeinated drink showed as always in the corner of the screen. He was probably skipping sleep again, working on the assignments he chose to improve his skill level. After attending several programming classes, which he chose for his life career, Timothy became a fairly competent beginner programmer, though with less natural skill than Herobrine. What came as intuitive knowledge to Herobrine, Timothy made up with specialized knowledge and unconventional ways of thinking, along with access to tools, which Herobrine lacked. He continued to show a lack of judgement, however, on occasion taking on iffy jobs, which Herobrine had several times been forced to help resolve. Perhaps it bode well that the last time that happened was over a year ago? Herobrine really had too many of his own concerns to also help the human with his.

Hazel, slightly reddened eyes, glared at Herobrine from a scowling face, where he suddenly noticed the beginning fuzz a light beard. The familiar style of it nearly made him scoff with sudden amusement. Was Timothy trying to imitate Herobrine's own look?

Herobrine clicked on the next message.

"Herobrine! Answer your darn messages!" This time the image was blank, bearing only an angry voice that sounded like he swallowed a few swearing words. That Timothy refrained from using them where Herobrine could hear reassured, since it meant he remembered that Herobrine found such language unpleasant. It reminded him too much of his overseer's outbursts, though he never deemed to share the reason for his preferences with this young human.

Still, Timothy's irate mood undoubtedly had to do with Herobrine's situation.

Herobrine reluctantly pushed back the reply button. Long distance beeps began to sound in the screen, while he reached to the bridge of his nose and rubbed, feeling the rising headache as all the troubling concerns began to pile on him once again.

One time he had decided to give in to wishful thinking. And here was the result of his carelessness and weakness!

A short moment later, the call got picked up and the screen popped open with the image of the same young human on it. Immediately, hazel eyes studied Herobrine's tattered and tired appearance and settled on his missing arm. Light eyebrows flew up.

"Your arm! What happened?" Timothy demanded with genuine concern, which somewhat soothed Herobrine's increasingly grumpy mood. He opened his mouth to answer.

"They found you already! I knew it!" Timothy accused. "I was trying to warn you about that! Why did you not answer messages?!"

Now, the young human's voice sounded angry and Herobrine shifted, feeling embarrassment joining the sense of guilt that just began to quiet down. He could clearly envision himself on a sunny meadow by his mansion, choosing to ignore all his responsibilities to enjoy a peaceful nap. He had purposefully switched off his interface, lulled into false serenity since nothing much happened for the past four months.

It had been Timothy's fervent complaints about not being able to take a break, which produced a similar sentiment in his own thoughts. Why couldn't he take a vacation, like normal virtual humans? The people in Steve's town frequently found opportunities to do just that. Fall Celebration festival, Harvest Festival, Mid-Winter Break, Winter Solstice, First Gifts of Spring.

"I took a vacation." Herobrine reluctantly admitted, not quite meeting Timothy's eyes. With his side vision, he could still see the young human's eyes widen, followed by a disbelieving grin.

"What?"

"I said, I decided to take some time off and relax!" His gaze shot up. "How was I supposed to know that they would decide to declare another hunt! I didn't even do anything special. I swear! At least... not recently!" Herobrine's tone turned defensive as he once again worried what in the blazes his former trainer was talking about.

Timothy suddenly snorted and visibly calmed down.

"Well, at least you are alive. You're not healing though... Did you already start up the diagnostic?" His tone shifted to businesslike. Herobrine nodded, skewing a brief, displeased look at his bandaged shoulder, before forcing his gaze away. The sight of his disability disturbed him even more now that he knew what it meant, if that Admin dog's threats were correct.

It was one thing to know that he was physically blind, since a permanent enchantment already solved that problem from beginning, if not his natural eye color. But if this condition became permanently wired into his code, what kind of a powerful, gaming boss would he be with just one arm?

Herobrine allowed his one human ally a remote access to his currently updating data.

"89%. Almost done." Timothy said with satisfaction. "Do you know what did that?" Again, he curiously eyed Herobrine's armless shoulder.

"A sword. With a virus attached." Herobrine explained, not bothering to hide his annoyance. "It was added to a normal enchantment. Sharpness."

"And who did that to you?" This time, Timothy frowned. The word 'virus' definitely got his attention.

"A couple of normal players. OP and geared up to the max. Their other weapons were strange. I've never seen anything like them before. Some sort of projectile weapons. Not from this game."

Herobrine sent him several images and videos and waited until Timothy took a good look at the material. After a long moment, the young man thoughtfully nodded.

"Looks like something modern. But are you sure they were not hackers?" He verified and Herobrine shook his head.

"Their settings were normal. I was able to check this time." Herobrine decided not to mention his newest skill about changing player settings just yet.

"Hmm. I think either way, the Admin will probably look the other way this time, so long as they finish their quest. Good thing you won. But facing them was stupid! You should have let your clone to do that, as before! Or was it not in a mansion?"

"I was there." Herobrine admitted with reluctance and Timothy grinned, giving him an obviously humorous look.

"I bet you were in that player's server. Messing with that weird guy again?"

Herobrine frowned at him, almost certain of the thoughts that went through the young human's head. Only Timothy was wrong. He did not go to Steve's server because he developed some sort of amorous interest in him as Timothy joked on occasion.

He did play jokes on Steve simply because in some way, it allowed him to take out his frustration against the humans. They considered him only a toy, a figure of entertainment to hunt and gain loot. Even when he countered their plans and felt power in face of their frustrated yells, deep down he knew that it was only make-believe. His power was an illusion. Steve believed everything he told him. With him, Herobrine felt in control. And he allowed himself to be mean, because then, he had still been certain that Steve's continued game play with his high settings had been his own strange choice or perhaps the result of a mental disturbance of some kind. He didn't tell Timothy any details about that, dimly suspecting that his taking advantage of the player's state would evoke disapproval.

Steve remained so sincere, despite his continued testing and gests. Eventually, he began to feel guilty and ceased bothering him, starting to inobtrusively help him, instead. He would keep away mobs, or even change materials so Steve could find better resources in his mining. Still, the damage was done and now that young human visibly got nervous when Herobrine approached close. So he began to watch him from afar. And he stayed for weeks at a time in his server, because for some reason he could not explain, watching Steve go about his daily affairs felt strangely... peaceful.

There had been almost no players in the forsaken, simple parts of the world where Steve had settled. It had been a very nice change of pace and deluded him into thinking that he was safe there.

Such a fool!

He couldn't just live somewhere like a normal person, either the peaceful players like Steve or those virtual humans that belonged to Notch. Just when he thought that he was safe, the Admin suddenly decided to get rid of him for good. He still didn't understand why!

"I should not have spent so much time there. I was careless. Do not think that I do not know that already." Herobrine muttered.

"It's all right, man. We all make mistakes, right?" Timothy good-naturedly grinned. Herobrine glared at him, not hiding his own frustration.

"I don't understand why they did this! Why are they after me again?"

"Hmm. And you don't think that destroying an entire server just four months ago had anything to do with that?" Timothy gave him an odd look.

Herobrine huffed. "I was trying to retrieve an item that was rightfully mine."

"And the time before? Grindelberg zombie invasion was a big deal." Timothy insisted.

"You know that I had nothing to do with that. That was a hacker, who pretended to look like me. They started doing that, because I am convenient to blame. You know this, because then I was with you, helping you solve your problem."

"Well, yeah. I know that. But the Admin cannot tell. I guess they got too many complaints, so they probably decided to do something about it." Timothy shrugged, avoiding meeting Herobrine's eyes. Herobrine frowned.

"So, you think that it would be better if I surrender myself to them and let them lock me up again?" He scowled. Timothy uncomfortably shifted.

"No, I didn't say that." He raised his voice a little, but stubbornly stuck out his jaw. "I'm just saying. I get where they're coming from. And it would be better than... than if they removed you completely! You worked with them before. So it cannot be that bad! I've seen the videos where you fought players. They were not allowed to hurt you or kill you. They couldn't even fight you directly, unless you chose to do it yourself. You would use mobs and traps and that was all. It got even a little boring."

Herobrine did not deem his words with an answer, his face darkening. He couldn't tell him what really happened. For some reason, he couldn't.

And all this really reminded him of the conversation they had before! After this human nearly betrayed him!

Luckily, Anna's brother didn't have the guts to go through with what he planned. He wanted to sell Herobrine directly into the hands of some anonymous group, which offered the bid to the hackers in some underground employment board. He had even sent them videos that his sister saved, of Herobrine when he openly lived on their server, believing that he could trust them. He badly wanted to believe that he was not alone.

Timothy shamelessly took advantage of that. He did have some heart and changed his mind, though. At the very last minute!

Herobrine could still remember the feeling of confusion that washed through him when the young human woke him up and started to sob, starting with complaints and accusations that he was an immortal and so did not care what happened to them and that they weren't really his friends. All to justify why he did what he did. If it was not for Anna, whose health was even worse than Herobrine had assumed until Timothy revealed to him the specifics of her deteriorating condition and their options, Herobrine would have left their server right there and then, despite already considering it his home. He felt so betrayed.

Still, he chose to stay and did his best to help. Together with Timothy, they had found an acceptable solution. Anna was now in stasis, her body contained in a state that humans used to travel in deep space, while Timothy earned enough resources to carry out her treatment.

It was a less favorable option, but it was also less expensive. Even for that, they had to partner up and take on shared obligations. Now, Timothy provided Herobrine full access to the System and data, allowing him to use this server with Admin level authority. He also helped him find and install many technology emulating mods, which allowed Herobrine to learn and work, not only within the game, but taking on increasingly complex assignments under the guise of a free-lance, human hacker who was Timothy's online acquaintance, with Timothy serving as the middleman.

They had a working partnership, but Herobrine could not trust him fully, not after what he nearly did. He had a strong sense that Timothy would remain an ally so long as he depended on Herobrine. Still, Herobrine simply did not feel confident that if given a good enough reason, this human will not betray him again in the future, all while sincerely believing that he did the right thing.

He chose to overlook Timothy's act. For his sister's sake, since he owed her much. And also because he recognized that Timothy was still young and foolish at the time. In addition, Timothy claimed that the only reason he even considered selling Herobrine to that group was due to their attached statement that Herobrine's well-being and safety was their primary concern.

Herobrine didn't forget what happened, though.

Timothy's actions were proof that humans couldn't be trusted. Even now, he would resent many of Herobrine's actions, assuming the worst until Herobrine explained why he had to do it that way, and sometimes even then, he would continue to think his own ideas about Herobrine's motivations. This was because Timothy assumed that Herobrine was willing to lie, just as he was willing to do whenever it suited him. Granted, he mostly did it to protect their mutual arrangement, but... It really damaged any sense of trust Herobrine managed to gain toward this human.

Another thing was just that. Timothy was human. Herobrine was not. That alone placed between them a great divide.

Herobrine frowned at the young human, until Timothy looked away and uncomfortably shifted.

"What?" He asked defensively. Herobrine dropped his gaze.

"I do not wish to become anyone's slave. Even a well-treated one. I've told you this before." He said quietly.

"Better that than dead!" Timothy's raised tone made Herobrine flinch.

"Look what they already did to you! You're missing an arm! What if it was your head? Since you're not healing, I assume that this virus that they slipped into your program is at fault! That's why you couldn't answer me before, either!" Timothy shifted, his face changing as he guessed the same thing that Herobrine already did himself.

"I bet you that's why you couldn't log into the System! You cannot, not without our mods! That's what's what happened, right? Just watch and wait. That's what your diagnostic is going to say. And what if we cannot fix this? They probably had an entire team work on that and you think just the two of us can solve it? I have my own work to do besides working on that! I didn't sleep in almost... three days! And you think it was a good idea to take a vacation? It's totally unfair and you know it! Why must I always do all the work? Which one of us is human? You don't even need sleep. Or a vacation! You're just a program!"

Herobrine gave Timothy a gloomy look, a scowl appearing on his face against his own volition. Whether he wished to accept it or not, the human's accusation was not without merit. Guilt, nearly quiet, again began to rise.

Timothy rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean that..." He muttered. He looked up to give Herobrine a slightly guilty look and he responded with a small nod, choosing not to respond.

"It's just if what I think is true... We might not be able to fix this. Not without outside help. We'll need proper facilities, mods. Listen, I really think that we need to talk to Mr. Lerner! I think that if we explain, he..."

"No!" Herobrine cut off as a scowl twisted his features despite his attempts to remain calm.

"Herobrine, I really think..."

"No." Herobrine managed to restore his expressionless look and gave the young human a cold, warning glare. "If it comes to that, I will contact him myself. I appreciate your concern, but I'm capable of making my own decisions. Do not think that you can make them for me, or our relationship will end right here and now! Do not think that I've forgotten the time when you went behind my back and nearly betrayed me. I forgave you then, but I did not forget."

Herobrine could not help his tone turning hostile and saw Timothy blink a few times, before he blew out a frustrated breath, visibly giving up. He rubbed his already wild hair that needed a good wash and his entire form slightly slumped in discouragement. Definite hint of guilt appeared on his face, unfeigned, and reassured Herobrine that the only human that he ever managed to come to terms with, remained worthy of at least some measure of trust.

"I didn't do it, though. You remember that, too, right?" Timothy pointed out with defensive stubbornness. After a brief pause, he suddenly shifted, his stature perking up again as a familiar spark of excitement appeared in his hazel eyes.

"And you know? I have investigated that group. I found out who they are. And I don't think they are a scam, like you told me. They are legit. An actual player's clan, only weird. You want to know who they are?"

Timothy suddenly gave Herobrine a mischievous look. Relieved, Herobrine relaxed, welcoming the change in topic regardless of how foolish or irrelevant it might be.

Anna's brother remained true to his character, easily distracted by all game related things. Gaming alliances, rumors, secret quests, he remained as obsessed with them as he used to when Herobrine first came to know him. He probably still could be considered a child at his seventeen years of age, Herobrine reminded himself and softened his attitude. That probably showed in his face, because Timothy nearly jumped a little in his chair, taking it as permission to share whatever news he suddenly wanted to declare this strongly.

"Black Roses! That's who they are! And their offer still stands. I checked!"

Herobrine quirked an eyebrow.

"You contacted them? Again?" He couldn't help sarcasm slipping into his voice. For some reason, Timothy's ears and cheeks gained a small blush.

"Actually, that was the thing I wanted to tell you. Like a week ago..." Timothy's voice slipped into an embarrassed mumble. "No, I didn't call them. They called me. I guess they found my nick. In the hacker board."

Herobrine nodded to him to proceed.

"Not because they found out that I know you, but because of that message you told me to send them. So, they would think that I borrowed those videos from Migo and it was he who knew you. It worked! So, its him that they now want to talk to. They promised me that if I could get them in touch with you, I mean him, they'll pay me good. Not as much Migo! But a good bit. Four thousand marks!"

Timothy's eyes now gleamed with the hungry air and faint jealousy mixed. "All if I just forward their message to you and you respond. I mean Migo! And they also told me that they are from Black Roses. Arianna wrote to me! The reigning leader's right Hand, herself!" Timothy gave Herobrine an expectant look, which changed to indignation when Herobrine continued to look at him with a flat face.

"Ugh, don't you ever check the player ratings? She is like the top fifty player! Used to be 6th! Just look at the message, please! I already forwarded it to you. Don't erase it without looking!" Timothy pled with so much expectation, curiosity, and childish admiration mixed that Herobrine allowed his amusement to show.

"She is a bit too old for you to consider as a potential mate, isn't she?"

With satisfaction, he observed the blush on young human's face explode, turning his ears and neck red.

"No! It's nothing like that. Ugh... Herobrine, you just don't get it! You are not programmed for such things, so you have no idea! Just cause I think they are hot, doesn't mean I want to... Ugh! Just stop! You're just messing with me! You are!" Timothy concluded and glared at Herobrine with accusing anger, doubtlessly using it to overcome his embarrassment. Herobrine well understood that use of the emotion and simply shrugged.

"I couldn't resist. All of you young players have an unhealthy fascination about that particular league. You do realize that they are only virtual avatars, right? What they really look like in real life is nothing like what they appear in game."

Timothy's eyes flared with curiosity. "Wait? You hacked their info? For real?!" He nearly jumped again. "You know who they are? Tell me!"

Herobrine smirked. "I didn't hack it. I just browsed the forums and compared it with regular System data that's available to anyone who bothers to use simple math. The leader of Black Roses established that clan over sixty-three years ago. That means that she, at least, must be seventy-five years old. Since the minimum required age of players to register their own account was twelve years old at that time. Similarly, your Arianna is at least 26. And that's if she began to log in at three years old as was the standard when first mention of her appears in player data. She might very well be older. You are only seventeen."

Timothy thoughtfully humphed. "Hmmm. Twenty-six is not that bad...I mean!..." He caught himself while his blush got even redder. "Stop kidding around! I was just curious! And you haven't met them in real life... I mean, in game! Right?" He prodded with mistrustful fascination.

"I haven't. Obviously, I would avoid meeting any players in top tier unless I want to head straight into respawn." Herobrine smirked and tried to fold his arms across his chest in an old habit. The gesture paused, to shift into an awkward attempt to grasp on to the edge of his tattered shirt. Distracted, Herobrine glanced there and a large hole in teal fabric suddenly claimed his attention. His skin showed through it, bearing fresh scars. His gaze held at it with rising displeasure.

Why did even his clothes have to reflect his poor physical state?

On one hand it was good that even when he respawned, he did so fully clothed. The game mechanics simply did not allow him any other state, no matter how damaged his clothes and body became. But that meant that even if he equipped new things, while still not feeling well according to his stats, his new clothes would soon reach the same state of wear and tear as what the System judged appropriate. That and his inability to alter his physical appearance, especially his odd eyes, basically precluded him from being able to adopt a normal disguise!

He used to have an item, a Traveler's Cloak, which was perhaps the only item of clothing that he ever found that could offer him a decent disguise. Yet he lost it to a skirmish with the Tritons! It probably hung in their treasure keep somewhere, not even used, since its stats were hidden to anyone but an NPC – that's what his predecessor's remnant had said. His attempts to rob them did not recover it, only caused another public incident.

This shirt was entirely new when he 'put it on' just a day ago!

"But you haven't seen them." Timothy's voice intruded, distracting him from idle thoughts. "Or else you would have known for sure. So, you don't really know how old they are."

Timothy's jaw stuck out in his usual stubborn way, unwilling to consider that the females of his childhood dreams could be old and ugly in their true biological forms. Herobrine nearly scoffed again but refrained. Who was he to judge the strongest human instincts when he had the hardest time struggling with his own, which were merely code? Going into a mind-clouding battle rage nearly every time he received a personal challenge had never worked in his favor. He stifled a sigh.

"I will look at their message, of course." He redirected their discussion to original topic.

"However, I see no possible reason for why they would have an interest in me. Especially for an offer of such high amount. Like I said before, four million marks in real credits is an impossibly high sum."

"It's now six." Timothy readily supplied with a brilliant grin.

"Right... Even the Admin of this game would never be so generous. Like I said before, it has to be a scam. Or else it wouldn't be put up on a board in an illegal network."

"But what if it isn't? And best of all, they said that they only want to help you. It's not like they want you for something bad." Timothy's ears turned even more red for some reason and Herobrine watched him for a moment, before he understood. Then, he smirked.

"A clan of players who accepts only females into their ranks sends a teen wanna-be hacker a message, saying that they will pay him a sum that's ten times more than anything he can earn in a lifetime in exchange for..."

"Legally! Legally earn." Timothy interrupted to correct. Herobrine ignored him and continued.

"In exchange for helping them obtain a program that's rumored to be sentient. A program without any worthy skills that they could use, besides being a villain in a gory children's game with a g-level rating. It does raise questions as to what reason they would want such a program. I personally have no wish whatsoever to find out."

Timothy squirmed under Herobrine's sarcastic gaze and then shrugged, giving up.

"All right, all right! I was just saying... Never mind! Do look at that message though, will you? And if they say anything else, will you let me know? I mean, I am a fan and..."

Herobrine couldn't keep back an amused smile.

As far as he knew, Black Roses was not a particularly vicious clan, but they did specialize on high-rated raids. And those raids included Herobrine raids, which was a big minus in his eyes. They also were secretive and had private servers with R-rated level access, which caused many very dirty rumors spreading about their league being some sort of sensual cult.

If they wished to buy Herobrine for his role as a glitched Boss, he supposed that he could understand their motives if not the unreasonably high price. Still, he personally did not know any of them and had no intention of changing that fact. Who knew what really went on in the heads of these strange humans? Certainly not Herobrine, who preferred to stay away from large player groups unless he had no choice.

"You totally distracted me again. There is a reason why I've been trying to talk to you." Timothy's serious tone returned Herobrine's attention to him. "Did you talk to Mr. Lerner already?"

"Not yet. Why?"

"He's been trying to reach you! Well, not you... Migo! He's been all over my case for last three days! Answer him already!"

Herobrine frowned at the demanding tone.

"I've already completed all the tasks that he's asked me to complete. For the entire month. I also sent him a message, warning that I would be taking a vacation." Herobrine grumbled and tried to cross his arms again. With frustration, he lowered his remaining hand out of sight and firmly grasped on to his jeans to avoid repeating the gesture. Timothy held his annoyed gaze crossed with his own. Only along with his usual disgruntled attitude, worry clearly filled his expression, too.

"It's not about work. It's about you, Herobrine. He never gave up on trying to find you. And he really is not doing it for the money, you know that. He also offered me a reward. I told him that I didn't know you, but it was Migo, who could find you, but he never would, since he considered you a friend. Well, now he is bugging me that he wants to talk to Migo again. Probably because he thinks that now he can convince him to find you. He raised the reward, too. Nearly 200k. And I don't blame him. That Quest is really something."

"What Quest?" Herobrine badly wanted to rub the bridge of his nose. Timothy shifted and blinked, his eyes opening wide with new disbelief that quickly turned to dismay.

"You don't know that either?!"

"Cyrus, I just woke up. Literally. I opened your message first." Herobrine sighed wearily.

"Look at the forums!" Timothy exclaimed. "Never mind! I'll pull it up. Here!"

An image feed popped up in Herobrine's view and he silently accepted it, enlarging the view to another screen. With a lack of expression returning to his face, he stared at the massive advertisement showcased on the game wide announcement page ran by the Admin.

MASS PLAYER EVENT!

Bright letters invitingly glowed at him, surrounded by a changing collage of images where a fiery storm devoured peaceful small town houses while a monstrous coal-black, three-headed mob shot bluish skulls of flame at unusually mixed groupings of players representing all the different clans. Steele Wolves fought next to Nether Ravens, and Golden Lions stood by their rivals the Tritons.

Before Herobrine's attentive eyes, the images then changed to another famous incident of destruction, more recent, where bloodied players ran from rotting corpses chasing them with outstretched, clawing hands.

More images followed of Herobrine's past actions. And then all images joined together into one, where a tattered figure in teal and blue hovered in midair above the rising flames. The camera zoomed in closer on Herobrine's face, showing blazing white eyes observing the chaos he caused while a menacing, cruel smirk twisted his lips.

Letters formed beneath the image.

NEW QUEST!

ABOLISH HEROBRINE!