The screen came back in to show Harper leading the way, Jesse racing across the ground on all eights with Cassie and Ivor full-out sprinting after them, sending up tiny dust clouds. Abruptly, Harper suddenly leaped into a hole in the ground, and the spider hybrid yelped as she swung a full ninety-degree turn, skidding to a halt in the nick of time. Half a second later, Ivor charged straight in, letting out a loud oof! as he belly-flopped to the ground. Not even a half-second later, Cassie followed suit and flopped right on top of Ivor. Ivor gasped for breath as he got squashed again, Winslow letting out a sudden yelp of complaint and making Cassie swear explosively as the lump of cat under her beanie spasmed a bit.
Ivor and Real-Cassie winced in perfect unison.
"Ouch..." and Jesse winced.
Ivor flopped over onto his back, giving Harper a sharp look. "A signal would've been nice," he complained up to her in a pained, yet somehow still rather sarcastic groan.
"Gotta tell you guys," Harper said, Jesse quickly hopping down into the hole and being careful not to stomp on anyone, "that was some pretty smart work distracting PAMA. Now we just need to get off the grid. Get back into hiding- that way we can figure out what to do next."
Ivor rolled his eyes from where he was now kneeling, Cassie crouching next to him and readjusting her now-rather-tattered beanie. "Some plan," he grumbled.
Real-Harper frowned.
Harper's eyes widened a little, before she shot him a glare. "You watch that sass, now," she scolded.
Several of the younger members of the audience got the giggles at that.
Onscreen, Ivor sheepishly cleared his throat. "Ahem. Yes, ma'am," he replied meekly.
The Order glanced at a steadily-reddening Real-Ivor in surprise. They'd half expected him to just snap right back at her.
"We don't need," Cassie said coldly, in a sort of snap as she glowered at Harper, "any help from you."
Real-Harper winced at that, and Aiden frowned and glanced over at Cassie in concern.
What on earth had caused all this?
"Rose?" Cassie looked around to see Jesse dusting copious amounts of sand off her arms. "We- kinda do. That machine's got our friends, and I've got no idea on how to stop it. Unless you've got an idea?" The spider hybrid gave a faint smile as she kept swatting sand off of herself, before frowning down at herself. "Okay, if we get out of this alive, I never want to see sand ever again."
Isa couldn't help but snort a bit at that, making Milo give her a slightly appraising look at the unelegant noise. He'd never imagined that the Founder could make that sort of sound.
Onscreen, Cassie's hard glare softened, and she averted her gaze to the floor. Jesse tilted her head, staring at the redhead in confusion. A moment later, Cassie noticed, glancing back up at Jesse. "Later," she mouthed.
Jesse stared at Cassie for a moment longer, before glancing away again, seeming to let the matter go.
For now.
"I might still be able to save them," Harper said, putting her hands up in slight surrender.
Lukas's arm tightened around Jesse a bit in shock, while Petra actually tried to get up, forgot that Jace and Reuben were still on her lap, and ended up knocking the three of them sideways into Lukas and Jesse, which knocked them to the floor.
This little moment made it that much harder for the audience to not laugh.
Onscreen, Harper's shoulders sagged a bit, an exhausted look coming over her face. "But I really need your help."
Otto frowned, glancing at Harper. Now that he looked at her closely, she looked almost... too exhausted for just being away for quite a few years. Even with 13 or 14 years on that count... her hair had been black back then. Now it was pure white.
Maybe she'd bitten off a little more than she could chew.
He wished he'd actually taken the time to go and visit her now.
Jesse glanced up at the groan of a zombie, before back down at Harper, her brow furrowing a bit in concern. "What... kind of help?" she asked at last, slowly.
Harper took a deep breath, glancing up as well, before looking back down at Jesse with a much more blank look on her face. "We need to get to my secret lab," she said, a bit more matter-of-factly than moments before.
Jesse frowned, glancing back at the zombies roaming stupidly past this little hole they were hiding in. "Well, let's get there FAST. These zombies aren't just stronger than any I've ever seen, they're also faster."
"Yeah, you're..." Gill frowned at the screen. "You're definitely not kidding."
Harper hesitated for a moment, brow furrowing thoughtfully, before looking back up at them. "We'll need to split up. You head to the lab, while I lead these mobs away, got it?" At the looks she was getting, she pointed. "I'll use the back route. Throw 'em off our trail."
"Listen to me for a second here." Cassie stood up, since she was on a lower spot of the hole than Harper was, and stepped closer to the woman with her eyes narrowing. With Harper crouching on a raised spot of land, the two ended up at the same eye level, giving Harper an excellent view of Cassie's rapidly reddening eyes. "If you try to get out of helping Jesse and our friends out, I will gut you like a fish."
Real-Harper turned rather pale and a bit green. Ivor patted her on the back sympathetically.
Onscreen, Harper winced a bit under Cassie's now-bloodred gaze.
The spider hybrid looked between the two, before giving a weak cough to break the awkward silence. "O-okay... you're sure you'll be fine?" And she looked over at Harper, expression becoming more concerned.
"Yes, of course." Harper stood up, pointing in front of her. The group all turned to see this interesting rock structure towering in the distance. "Just start walking that way," she hopped out of the hole, and started running in the other direction. "And look for the 'big difference'- you'll see it!" And she went sprinting off into the distance, all the mobs chasing after her.
"I hope you don't die," Isa said quietly.
"Me too."
Everyone looked around in surprise when Mevia was the one who responded with that. Heck, even Mevia seemed surprised at the response herself.
Onscreen, Jesse poked her head out of the hole to stare in Harper's direction with confusion, before looking back down at the other two. "Either of you have any idea what she meant?"
They both shook their heads.
"Fantastic," the narrator mumbled.
Jesse glanced up, before hopping out of the hole, dropping to all eights, and scuttling along the desert at high speeds, Ivor and Cassie jumping out of the hole and following her.
The screen cut to show the three of them sprinting along (or, well, scuttling along for Jesse), Ivor panting a bit. "She is... intriguingly cryptic, isn't she?" Ivor huffed out.
Magnus's eyes suddenly lit up, and he elbowed Gabriel in the ribs, making the Warrior glance at him. Magnus jabbed a subtle finger in Harper and Ivor's direction, grinning widely as Ellegaard turned to look at him, before wiggling his eyebrows a bit. Now Soren had leaned over to see what the others were looking at.
Slowly, identical grins spread over their faces.
Onscreen, the spider hybrid just gave him a sort of shrug, before looking back ahead- and narrowing her eyes. "Waiiiiit a second..."
Ahead of them, there seemed to be a small... border between part of the landscape and the actual landscape.
"That looks a bit like a... painting? Is it a painting?" the narrator asked, Jesse glancing up at the narrator before back at the landscape.
The spider hybrid abruptly came to a screeching halt, while Ivor kept running towards it- before hitting it at full-force and stumbling back with a pained yelp, grabbing at his now certainly throbbing forehead. Cassie came to a stop as well, before skidding a little too hard, overbalancing, and toppling over with an explosive swear.
The audience winced a bit. That was going to hurt a bit.
"Okay, apparently it is," the narrator finished.
"It's... like an exact copy," Ivor managed, straightening back up as he clutched his throbbing forehead, before frowning at it a bit. "Or is it? Seems just a bit... off."
"Ohhhh, it's like one of those- um- find the difference pictures," Nell said abruptly, snapping her fingers. "Y'know, those ones for kids. Man, that's really cool, bro."
Harper blinked at Nell, as if uncertain to take that as a compliment... or an insult or something. "Er, thank you."
Onscreen, Cassie turned around, looking around behind them. "I, uh... I don't see any mobs yet." Cassie squinted, using her hand to shade her eyes. "I don't think."
"I guess it's a bit too bright for her to see properly," Stampy mumbled, frowning at the screen.
Jesse whipped back upright, regarding the painting carefully, before edging sideways to get a good look at the rest of the landscape. "Hmm..." And she took another step back, looking from the painting to the landscape, before lifting her hand to point at a cactus. "That cactus isn't in the painting." The spider hybrid trotted towards it, Ivor following behind her.
A loud, rather explosive expletive rang out behind Jesse, making the spider hybrid look over her shoulder- and then let out a loud groan. The camera spun to show what Cassie had just sweared at.
Monsters. Dozens of zombies and skeletons. Coming at them, and coming fast.
"Oh come on!" Em protested. "Can you not be in mortal danger for like five minutes?!"
The spider hybrid pretty much sprinted the rest of the way to the cactus, skidding past it far enough to see a trap door. "Okay- let's see what this does!"
Harper winced. "Ahhh, you might not want to open that with all those mobs there..."
"You're the one who told them to come here!" Ellegaard exclaimed, voice rising a bit in pitch.
Onscreen, Jesse flung open the trap door to find a lever, one of her lower arms shooting out and jerked upwards hastily.
There was suddenly a loud rumbling sound, and the three of them whirled around to show blocks trembling, before dropping away to reveal this huge, gaping hole with ground at the very bottom, quite a ways down.
"Oh. You won't die. Immediately."
Jesse's more relieved expression turned into one of dread. (Lukas winced and wrapped an arm around her shoulders tightly.)
"Did you really have to tell her that...?" Otto murmured, frowning at Hadrian with a rather deadpan look in his eyes. (Next to Hadrian, Mevia's expression was much the same.)
Onscreen, Cassie put her hands on her hips. "Huh. Guess she didn't lose her skill with redstone." Her expression softened slightly. Slightly, mind you, not much, but it did soften, and that was progress.
The three of them bolted for the whole a minute later, Jesse coming to a screeching halt at the edge and looking over it, biting her lip anxiously as she scanned the bottom of the hole. Ivor came to a stop next to Jesse, looking over his shoulder at the mobs and then back at Jesse so quickly that it looked a little ridiculous, even with his dark blue eyes filled with worry. "Hope you've got an idea for what comes next."
"Working on it...!" Jesse's eyes suddenly snapped to fix on something, and she pointed down into the hole. The screen spun to show a tiny pool of water in the very center of the pit, right at the bottom. "Um- I can see water, we can aim for that!" she reported.
"Well, if you're gonna do it, do it fast!" Maya exclaimed, anxiety written all over her face.
Onscreen-Jesse didn't need to be told twice. (Or, well, if she'd been able to hear Maya that would apply better. You get my point.) She leaped straight off the edge, squeezing her eyes shut instinctively as her hair whipped around, hitting her in the face a few times, air rushing past her, before-
SPLASH. She let out a little gasp as her head bobbed out of the water, hair having gotten completely soaked in the short amount of time she'd been in the pool, before scrambling out rapidly as Cassie proceeded to splash down, climbing out quickly with a soaking-wet Winslow sitting in her arms and looking none too happy, before Ivor hit the water with a slight yelp. He clambered out a moment later, shaking his hair quickly to get some of the water out of it.
Winslow proceeded to shake himself off, spraying Cassie with water and making her chuckle faintly.
The onscreen-girl was joined by half the audience.
Onscreen, Jesse looked around the sort of cavern they'd just landed in. Seconds later, a skeleton came crashing down, smashing to dust not even a full moment after hitting the ground. It was followed quickly by a couple of zombies and another skeleton.
Ivor frowned. "Looks like PAMA's throwing everything it's got at us."
"Well, at least none of them are landing in the water," Sparklez pointed out, smiling weakly in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Jace winced a bit, making Sparklez turn slightly pale as he realized something. "Oh, I- I just jinxed it, didn't I?"
"Errr.. yeah." Lizzie winced a bit. "Yeah you did, Jordan."
Onscreen, a zombie suddenly bounced off of a cobweb that was on the ground, landing on top of it. It was limp for a moment, before standing back up and lurching towards them rapidly.
"Oh crap!" Petra exclaimed, eyes widening.
"Kill it!" Axel squeaked.
"Shove it into the water!" Harper shouted suddenly, eyes widening as she remembered something.
"Wh-? Why?" Soren asked, glancing over at Harper in confusion.
"Oh- crap, brace yourselves!" Jesse yelled, the spider hybrid starting backwards as the chipped zombie bore down on her, before all six of her arms lashed out and sent them all flying backwards- straight into the pool of water. Abruptly, sparks and little bolts of electricity shot everywhere, making the zombie sort of spasm, before the chip on the back of its head popped up, shooting away and rolling to a stop several feet away with metallic clanks. The zombie slowly floated to the surface... the eyes once again looking empty.
"Hey- the chip came off!" Olivia exclaimed, eyes widening.
Lukas heaved a relieved sigh- so the chip could be taken off.
Onscreen, Cassie's eyes widened a bit, a rather fluffy and damp Winslow sitting in her arms. "Its eyes changed!" she pointed out. "The second it hit the water!"
Jesse regarded it with slightly wide eyes for a moment, before giving Ivor a grin. "Hey. Hey, Ivor. Dare ya to poke it," she teased the older man gently.
Petra couldn't help but just outright snort at that, while the rest of the audience were either now giggling or repressing huge grins at the petite little girl, who was just grinning cheerfully. Leave it to Jesse to crack some sort of joke in this sort of situation.
Onscreen, Ivor just gave the spider hybrid a rather amused look. "No thank you. Even though it does look completely shut down."
Harper let out this long, relieved sigh. "It is indeed."
A/N: HA TAKE THAT PAMA WE KNOW YOUR WEAKNESS.
Anyway, this is gonna get really fun in a couple of chapters x3
RQTC: Have you ever just wanted to dance around your room to take a break? xD
Yes. All the time.
Responses to reviewers!
LunarStarsMoons: (grins) / There's a Hamilton song titled 'Burn' I think xD / (laughs) / Oh, and the Order's found out about it. Ohhh, Ivor's in for a world of teasing.
Toni42: (grins)
Dr . MKNoble: It's a whole new app!
LittleAngelbun: Indeed it will (grins)
pensuka: I'm not saying anything... x3
S4SH4L4SH4theGaMeR101: (grins) / Oh dear xD / Neither can I! :3
AquaK13: Oh no xD / I'm glad you liked it, ehehehe xD / Shake it Off with parody lyrics, or...? xD / (grins) Yeah, that'll be pretty cool. / Bai!
Kaos Ruin: Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh (grins) He probably won't curse in that moment.
CrystalTearsofFaith: As long as you don't start shipping 'em romantically xD / Well, but then it'd get into all the other worlds. / Huehuehuehue xD Glad to hear that!
InsaneAcrobat: (grins) Baby Reuben hybrid. / (grins) / It's the original Hybrid's new/updated sequel. I wouldn't start a sequel for HCM while I'm still writing HCM xD
Jack: (grins) / That's good!
BeliTheGhoti0304: I don't think you're the only one there xD / (laughs) I'm glad you're happy, and I don't think you're wrong there xD
Emily The Avenger: As long as you show up, I don't care if you're late :3
J.M.M.: (grins)
andie: I'm glad! :3
giriri: (laughs) / Oh, well, I'm glad you like it!
Darkbeast Dend: (grins) / My favorite season is autumn.
homeworkoverload: Aw, it's fine. It'll probably go pretty public if I can generate enough hype for it x3 / (grins) / (laughs)
sailor . mikuchan: (grins) / Alright, it's fine. :3
Infernius Flashfire: (grins) / (laughs)
Rabbits rule: (laughs)
Savannah-the-Caracal: The full impact of it hits later. Imagine being in shock. / (laughs)
Poptart Crumbs: That's good :3
That's all for this time! Bai!
x.X. A.L. X.x.
