Everyone's eyes widened as they turned to stare at Ivor with open mouths, who was glaring at the screen as if he'd like to burn it.
"A... Wither?" Petra gaped at the chest, before looking back at Jesse. "But... that's-"
"One of the worst monsters there is!" Lukas burst out, blue-green eyes wide with horror.
"And he gets all of the ingredients, plus the Command Block," Gabriel said slowly, his face almost gray, "on the exact night of the keynote?"
Jesse stare uncomfortably down at the chest for a few moments. "Well, we came here to find the skull. We found it. Maybe we should just- grab it, and go. While we still can."
Too late. The sound of footsteps clacking on stone steps could be heard.
"Scatter!" Petra hissed.
Jesse reacted immediately as Reuben flipped the lever again, the bookshelf rising to block the Wither setup from sight, everyone fanning out into the shelves. She vaulted over a shelf into a small niche, ducking down as far as she could. Feet appeared onscreen as Jesse shrank even lower.
"Don't you recognize me?!" Ivor shouted, and for a horrifying moment everyone was sure that Ivor had spotted them.
Until he continued a moment later, "Or, wait... surprised to see me?!" He passed Petra onscreen right as he shouted the last two words, making the redhead flinch a bit.
Jesse turned to stare at Ivor, who'd gone back to sitting in his armchair. "Are you practicing villain lines?" she asked, slowly, eyebrow raised.
He grumbled slightly, not meeting anyone's eyes.
"Or, no, that's... 'didn't expect to see me, now did you?!'... THAT'S better."
The screen passed over Jesse, who was crouched but still listening, before following Ivor into the room where the Wither setup was. Axel was pressed up against the wall between a bookshelf, and Reuben was hiding on the potion shelf.
"Okay, how did he not see you?" Dan asked, practically perched on the edge of the couch in excitement.
Ivor paused in his tracks, before turning to look over his shoulder. However, there was nothing on the shelf.
Everyone in the room, except for Ivor and the three bullies, let out a tremendous sigh of relief.
Ivor walked past the fake-fancy potion. Reuben poked his head out from behind the stand, remaining quieter than a mouse. Ivor knelt down to look through a chest. Olivia straightened up to get a better look, but as she put her hands down on the shelf to help herself up, her hand bumped a potion bottle and knocked it to the floor, making it clink upon hitting the floor.
Ivor whipped back up and around, with narrowed eyes. "Who's there?" he asked, warily.
Lukas groaned. "Oh. So this is how I die. Fantastic."
Ivor made his way to where Olivia was hiding, having spotted the potion bottle on the floor, beginning to round the corner where Olivia was hiding in the same way Petra was, pressing her back against the bookshelves. The dark-skinned girl appeared to be muttering a prayer to Notch and Jeb and who knows who else?
"We're dead. We're dead!" Lukas threw his hands into the air, his voice having risen an octave or two in slight panic. "Nice to have known you all. I shall speak of you in heaven."
"What makes you so sure you're going to heaven? You're cute as hell- wait, what the hell just came out of my mouth. Forget it. FORGET IT," Jesse said, beginning to turn bright red at the gaping crowd. "I DIDN'T SAY THAT, SHUT UP, I'M SORRY I FLIRT WITH EVERY HUMAN BEING ON THE PLANET. I'M LIKE FRISK FROM UNDERTALE. SHUT UP." She whipped back around to stare at the screen.
Petra spoke up tentatively a minute later, the black-haired girl staring determinedly at the screen. "Um, Jesse-"
"NOPE."
Axel tried this time. "Jes-"
"NOPE."
"J-"
"NOPE. NO. END OF DISCUSSION. CAN WE MOVE ON NOW?" Jesse was being overly loud, her face was bright red, and she was shaking with embarrassment as she gazed resolutely at the screen. Lukas's face was rather pink too as he stared at the ceiling.
There was a full moment of silence as everyone processed this.
"Well, that was definitely flirting."
Honestly, Gill probably deserved the pillow both Lukas and Jesse proceeded to chuck at his face.
Onscreen, Jesse vaulted out of her hiding spot. "Hey, you!" she shouted.
Olivia let out a little sigh, deciding to let the awkward moment slide. "Thanks, Jesse. I mean, we still got caught, but he didn't find me."
Ivor spun around, glaring at Jesse. "What are you doing here?!" he demanded, before a look of horror crossed his face, and he asked, in a quieter voice, "What did you see?"
"Leave her alone!" Petra shouted, rushing out from behind the shelf. Axel did the same, stepping out and crossing his arms with a sharp glare at Ivor.
"Yeah, back off, pal."
Jesse sent the both of them a grateful look.
Ivor looked from Petra to Jesse, anger dawning on his features. "You two! Did you follow me here?"
"You thought you could just screw us over and get away with it, didn't you?!" Petra demanded to know, gold irises practically ablaze with fury.
"Well... yes," Ivor admitted. "Yes, I did."
"We're here to prove you wrong," Jesse finished sharply, as her friends moved to stand in a semicircle around the dark-haired male.
Ivor sneered at the two of them. "What are you going to do about it? I have what I want, and you have exactly what you earned."
"I got you a Wither Skull!" Petra barked angrily at the male, "I should've been asking for way more than a diamond!"
"We're not stupid, Ivor!" Jesse snapped at the robed man, her fists clenching. "Soul Sand, and three Wither Skulls- you're building a freaking Wither!"
Ivor's eyes widened for a moment, before regaining his composure. "Huh. Smarter than you look."
Jesse frowned at him but didn't say anything.
Axel stepped forward, literally towering over Ivor as he glared at him. "Hey, nobody talks to my friends like that, and I mean NOBODY. Now shut your mouth, or else." He nearly spat the last two words in a fury.
Ivor growled and threw his hands into the air. "Enough! You've wasted enough of my time already," and he turned on his heel and sprinted off into the bookshelves, Jesse and the other four being quick to follow him.
They reached the spot near the stairs, looking around rapidly. Ivor had seemed to vanish from sight. "Where'd he go?!" Petra asked, searching around.
Suddenly, Ivor was standing behind four iron blocks stacked in a T, holding a pumpkin. "If you won't leave of your own volition," the black-haired man snarled, eyes sparking with anger.
"Ivor, no!" Gabriel shouted, eyes widening.
Jesse whirled around, a gasp tearing out of her throat as Ivor tipped the pumpkin into place, "I'll happily remove you myself!"
"Oh, snapcrackers," Olivia whispered, her face having gone several shades paler in fear.
"Show our friends the door, will you?" Ivor sneered at them, and the golem swung one of its massive arms at them. Screaming, all of them ducked out of the way as a gust of wind ruffled their hair and clothing as the iron arm whipped over their heads. Jesse dove away as the golem swung again, this time making contact violently with Olivia-
The dark-skinned girl suddenly bleeped out of sight, reappearing in a spray of purple and pink sparks a few feet out of the reach of the swinging arm.
"Whoa!" Axel exclaimed, straightening up.
Olivia looked bewildered, before diving away again as the golem regained its balance and swiped at her again, bellyflopping onto the stone floor with a grunt of pain.
The screen switched to Axel, backpedaling rapidly as the iron golem advanced on him, making this odd hissing sound in fear, eyes growing to the size of dinner plates. Suddenly, he started flashing white.
"Ah," Em said quietly. "That would- that explains a lot."
"What in the-" Olivia's comment was cut off, because a white-hot explosion slammed all of them back. Jesse's back slammed into the wall, making the black-haired girl grown in pain as she rubbed her throbbing head.
Everyone winced sympathetically at this.
Reuben let out a whine from where he was in her lap. Olivia had merely flipped over, since she'd been practically flattened on the floor, but Petra had gotten blasted to the foot of the stairs, eyes squeezed shut in pain. Axel was tense and standing there with shock, staring at the iron golem- which had gotten blasted into the opposite wall- and wisps of smoke curling off of his body.
"Did," Magnus spoke in the shocked silence that ensued, "did he just... explode?"
Hadrian slowly nodded, staring at the screen. "In... in a sense?"
Petra was the first to recover- she staggered to her feet before whirling around and bolting up the stairs. Olivia bleeped into place at the bottom of the steps, following suit. Axel recovered and raced after them after a moment's pause, Jesse scooping up her pink pig and rushing after them.
They burst into the back of the crowd at the keynote, Jesse setting Reuben down as she panted heavily, hands shaking a little bit. "I-is everyone okay?" she asked over Gabriel's distant voice, gasping for breath.
"I- I think so," Petra agreed. Olivia, however, had straightened up and started looking around, alarm registering in her eyes.
"Hey, wait-" Nell spoke up suddenly, her eyes narrowing. "Where's-?"
"Um... guys?" Olivia sounded frightened. Jesse lifted her head to look at Olivia, still panting.
The next two words made the entire audience's eyes widen, and for onscreen-Jesse's irises shrink to pinpricks in the whites of her eyes in horror.
"Where's Lukas?"
A/N: HAHAHA OMG I'M DYING AT THAT FLIRTING SCENE HAHAHA xD
That actually was not planned, I was writing the chapter and then that just popped into my head and I couldn't stop laughing. So I wrote it in xD
RQTC: Uh... what's your favorite moment in Hybrid?
AquaK13: Thank you! And I know, right? Amazing.
x.X. A.L. X.x
