Pumpkin Base, Mountain range. (Rick POV)-

As I awoke, the first thing I saw was Kat at the door, looking outside. Clearly, she had awoke a lot earlier than me and was looking for a way to get out. Checking my inventory, thankfully, she didn't think to steal anything from me in order to defend herself.

"Morning sweet cheeks." I said, tossing the covers off and springing up to my feet.

"Where the fuck am I?" Kat asked. "Let me go!"

"First off, you're in one of our bases. Second off, no." I replied.

Kat gasped. "Oh no… this is bad…"

"How do you figure?" I asked.

"These people are going to kill me, aren't they… I didn't even do anything…" Kat replied, looking around the room in a panic. "I don't want to die in minecraft, please… I do–"

"You've got nothing to worry about." I replied.

"I have EVERYTHING to worry about!" Kat snapped.

"I ain't gonna hurt you." I said.

"You almost killed me last night." Kat replied sarcastically.

"Keyword, almost. I just gave you that potion because you wouldn't listen to me. It was a shame, I was looking forward to enlightening you on my status in the cult on our way back to this base, but no, I had to carry your ass here."

"Please man, I don't know what you guys want from me, but please. Let me go. I'll give you guys whatever you want. Diamonds, redstone, slave labor…"

"Hmm, that reminds me…" I said, approaching her. "That's what you're here for."

"The diamonds?" Kat guessed.

"What? No!" I replied. "We… no, I need you for something."

"And… what is that?" Kat asked. "Can we get it over with so I can get the hell out of here?"

"First off, this ain't going to be quick. You're gonna be with us for a while. But rest assured, none of us are going to hurt you."

"And how can I be so sure of that?" Kat asked.

"Because we actually have a need for you." I replied. "How well do you know AssHunter420?"

Kat chuckled a little. "First off, his name is Mike, and I'm only going to refer to him as Mike. Like I said though, I won't spill any beans."

"Oh, but you will." I replied. "In fact, you'll do that and much more."

"No." Kat replied.

"If you value your life, you will." I said. "Think logically Kat, you are in a locked room, I have the key. Around you, there are many more rooms and corridors full of people who have been instructed to kill any intruders. You're currently considered as one. If you decided to foolishly try and kill me or something to get the precious key to that door, and bolt out into the hallway, you wouldn't last 5 seconds."

Kat paused to think. "Shit."

"Exactly. Now…" I said, leaning against the wall. "Tell me what you know."

Kat sighed. "He was with his girlfriend, and I think two other dudes, I don't know where they were headed, but they were pretty much in and out."

"Are you aware of their crimes against us?"

"Crimes? You guys kill like 30 players and grief 4 villages a day. You can't say shit."

"That Mike guy killed one of our base leaders." I replied. "We are going to avenge him."

"Oh yeah, well that's tough."

"Why do you have to be so difficult with me girl? I'm trying to be friendly with you."

"I don't want anything to do with a killer." Kat replied.

"You know, to tell you the truth, I still have yet to kill anyone under the Pumpkin head label."

"Um… What?" Kat replied.

"Not all of us kill people, silly." I replied. "Some of us build bases. Bases like this one."

"You mean… you're this bases–"

"This base constructor. Bingo." I replied. "I'm also its co-leader."

"Oh god… what the hell have I gotten myself into…" Kat said, starting to tear up. "I should've just turned the damn trap on a-and this would all be o-over with…"

"Hey hey…" I said.

"Now I'm- I'm stuck here… with you…"

"If it makes you feel better, I'll make you a promise." I said.

"W-what?" Kat said, looking up at me.

"I solemnly swear that I will not hurt you." I said, holding my hand up to my chest.

Kat's eyes dried up a little bit. "Oh yeah, how can I be so sure?"

"Well, I guess you're just gonna have to trust me." I said, putting my hand on her shoulder, startling her. "As long as you play along, and do as I say, you have practically nothing to worry about."

Kat looked at me, a look of worry still in her eyes. It was obvious she still didn't trust me.

"O-okay…" she said.

"Alright, now, Imma open the door, and you're going to follow me so I can introduce you to the base leader and get things sorted out."

"Sorted out?"

"Nobody knows you're here. He has to know you're with me or else you won't be safe here." I said, approaching the door and placing a lever beside it. Pulling it, the latch on the door clicked, allowing me to open the door. Motioning for Kat to get closer, she approached me cautiously and I grabbed her hand.

"Uh… try not to look like you were just T-boned by a semi truck…" I suggested, leading her out of the room. As we passed through the hallway, we got stared down by a few of the other base members, as they all looked at Kat. A few were confused. Some saw that we were holding hands and gave me a thumbs up. Others, not so much. As I approached a door at the end of the hallway, I stopped for a second, looking at Kat.

"Play along." I said, opening the door and walking inside, letting go of her hand.

As she followed close behind, I was met with our base leader, Jim.

"Morning, Rick." He greeted me. "You preparing for the next incursion movement?"

"Where is it going to be?" I asked, approaching one of the chests and taking out a pumpkin head.

"Another base will be hitting the village near the desert biome, and we will be on standby." Jim answered. "I'm suspecting that the people responsible for the death of Brian could be situated there."

"Are we taking over the village, or blowing it up?" I asked, noticing Kat's eyes widening.

"Neither, actually." Jim replied "We just want the player responsible for Brian's death, then we will take him in, leave the village unharmed, and have our fun with him."

"Ah, I see." I replied. Just then, Jim noticed the unwelcome guest.

"Hey, who the hell is this?" Jim asked. "You know this girl?"

"Of course I do. She's my new girlfriend." I responded.

"And… you brought her into our base? Without letting me know first?" Jim responded. "There's classified shit in here! You can't just keep bringing your girlfriends or buddies or whatever in here!"

"I know, I know…" I started. "I would have told you before we came in, but it was late and my chat system was having trouble connecting—"

"Don't make excuses." Jim said. "I'll let it slide this one last time, but next time you bring someone in here, they're getting locked up and you ain't doing anything about it."

"Alright, I understand." I said.

"Good. Now, the invasion will happen in 2 days. We all need to be ready for if shit hits the fan and we have to go out and provide extra support."

"And that's only if they fight back, right?" I asked, as Kat came closer to me.

"Only if they fight back." Jim answered.

"I'll get the fellas ready."

"You don't have to. They were briefed while you were out talking to the leader. Speaking of which, I know he told you to go out and look for him last night, were you able to find him?"

"Well, obviously if I found him, he'd be here right now. But I believe that I have found someone that could get us closer to him."

"And who is that?" Jim asked. I pointed to Kat.

"Well, that's great." He replied. "Get as much info out of your girlfriend as you can. We'll need it."

"Can do." I said, making my way to the door, Kat following behind me.

"Oh, one more thing…"

"Yeah?" I asked, as Jim approached us, looking at Kat's hair. His eyes quickly dropped down as he scanned her body.

"Damn, your new girlfriend is hot…" Jim said, making Kat blush a little. "Do me a favor and make this one last."

We both chuckled as I opened the door. As we headed outside, Kat took a look at herself.

"Why did you say that?" She asked me.

"What are you talking about?" I responded.

"Why did you tell him I was your girlfriend?" She said, looking at her chest. "And that other guy…"

"What about the other guy?"

"What he said about me… that made me… uncomfortable."

As we continued walking, we made our way back to the room we started the morning in.

"I mean, he is right, you are pretty hot." I said, taking a look at her myself.

"D-don't look at me like that! It's… embarrassing…"

"You've got nothing to be ashamed about. You look great." I said, shifting my eyes off of her and onto the ender chest in the corner of the room. "Now, back to business."

"Wait. What?"

"Remember what I said, we need you for stuff."

"Well, what is it?"

"I'm going to need you…" I started, as I opened the chest and pulled out some weapons and armor. Tossing it to her, she collected it and stuffed it into her inventory, confused.

"I'm going to need you to fight."

"You… want me to fight with you guys?"

"No, actually. I want you to fight on Mike's side."

"The hell?"

"Earn their trust." I commanded. "Don't stop at nothing. If they trust you, they'll let you in on secrets, which will make it easier for us to stop their stupid resistance before it gains too much traction to be controlled."

"This plan of yours will never work." Kat replied.

"Just remember what position you are in. It's no position to be arguing with me."

"Fine." Kat replied. "How am I gonna do it…"

"Head over to the village the night before the invasion is supposed to happen. Join the convoy when they inevitably try to fight back." I instructed. "By the time we retreat, you'll be their best friend."

"One, I'm not sure that's how it works, and two, since when do you guys ever retreat?"

"This time is different." I answered. "We are going to retreat on purpose."

"Why?" Kat asked.

"I'm going to have a chat with the leader of the cult today. I'm going to let him in on this plan, and when he agrees, he will instruct the invading base to start attacking once you, Mike and the others start to retaliate, and pretend to lose to give them a false sense of victory. Then, when we retreat, the tradeoff will be that they will trust you. After that, we will use you from now on to gain Intel from the resistance leaders." I explained.

"So basically… you're using me as a puppet." Kat inferred, approaching me. Taking the stuff I have her back out, she handed it back to me. "I'm not doing that."

"You have to." I said, shoving the items away.

"I'm a redstone freak. You can literally just have me build redstone machines for you, I'm not going to double cross those players." Kat said.

I closed the chest and looked Kat directly in the eyes.

"You don't have much of a choice, Kat." I intimidated. "Look, I'm giving you a chance. A chance to live. Either you take it, or these base members will be disposing of your lifeless ragdoll by the end of today."

"So much for promising not to hurt me…" Kat said.

"I won't hurt you, but THEY might." I said, pointing out the door. "I don't want to let that happen. That's why I introduced you as my girlfriend, so none of them will suspect a thing." I answered.

"But now we have to act like we're in a relationship!" Kat said. "I've never been in one before! What the fuck am I supposed to do?!"

"Just play along with me." I replied. "I'll give you tips."

"Well, you better start now." Kat replied.

"First off…" I said, grabbing her hand. Kat was startled.

"You need to get used to this." I said, pointing to our interlocked hands. "Nobody's going to believe we're dating if you jump every time I try to touch you."

"I—"

"I'll try." Kat said, as she looked at her hand, interlocked with mine. "Are… all guys like this?"

"Pretty much." I said, letting go of her hand.