"Are you sure about this, Sjin? What if Strawfingers comes in when we're in the middle of it? What then?" Kim bit her lip with worry.

"Don't worry, Kim. Your hearing is a lot better than mine. My hearing got a little worse after being around all those loud machines for so long… So you can be our lookout! … or is it our hearout?" He chuckled at his joke. "And don't worry! I'm sure I can figure it out! I'm a professional with machines!"

"Famous last words…" Kim muttered.

Even though Sjin was trying to stay optimistic, he knew that it was going to be a long shot. So many things could go wrong in the middle of their operation. Strawfingers could walk in at any time. Even though it was a long shot, it was still their best shot. They had to try. Or else. He didn't really want to think about what else could happen.

"Yeah, so let's get started." Sjin fished a diamond out of his back pocket.

"Wait!"

Sjin looked up at Kim. "What?"

"We need an operation name!" Kim grinned down at him. He couldn't help but sigh.

"Kim, this is a life or death sort of thing! We need to hurry, not worry about silly operation-"

"But it'll be fun! And everything is so serious, I thought a cool operation name would liven things up! Come on, you can work while we think of one!" Kim attempted to make big puppy eyes at Sjin. To be honest, he thought that they were kind of cute.

Sighing, he gave in. "Alright. You can talk while I work." He clutched the diamond and started cutting through the thick rope with the sharp side. The going was slow, but at least it was steady.

"Hm…" Kim mused. "Operation… Strawfingers?"

"Nope."

"Oh, okay… Um… Operation TNT!"

"I don't really want to be reminded that my farm's life is on the line."

"Okay, fine… Operation… Operation…"

As Kim was struggling to find a good Operation name, Sjin had hacked through the ropes with the shard of diamond. Slipping the diamond back into his pocket, he shook off the ropes. Then the farmer stood up, stretched, and smoothed off the wrinkles that gathered on his overalls.

"Hey, are you going to get me out too?"

"Yeah, just let me make a sword to make it easier." Sjin quickly created a workbench and worked quickly, his nimble hands placing, hammering, wielding diamonds and sticks together to create a shining diamond sword. Twirling the blade like he owned it his whole life, Sjin stepped behind Kim and quickly sliced through her bonds, leaving her hands uninjured.

"Thanks." His apprentice stepped away from the fencepost. Sjin had just turned away from her when she grabbed his shoulders and twirled him around to face her again. His cheeks started heating up a little, but if it was from her close presence or the general weather in the Nether, he couldn't tell.

"Sjin! Operation Sjindig! It's perfect!" Kim grinned happily. She let go of Sjin and hummed to herself, content with the name.

"Uh…" Sjin stammered. "Operation Sjindig is fine… I'm down with that." He coughed. "Alright, you stay on the hearout and tell me if Strawfingers is coming. I'm going to set up a computer and try to reach someone… I just hope it works in the Nether…"

"Alright, but can I have something to do? Just sitting here and looking at my bloody wrists for a few hours is going to be so boring…"

"Yeah, make us some diamond armor." Sjin handed Kim some wood and an armful of diamonds. "It probably won't do much, but it'll help."

"Yeah okay, I'll do that." Kim set up her own workbench and started crafting. Sjin turned to his own workbench. "Okay… how do you build a computer?"

"You don't know how to build a computer?" Kim asked disbelievingly. "What will we do now if you don't know how to build a computer?"

"Don't worry, Kim, I've got this." Sjin took out a strange-looking device out of his pocket. It was some kind of fancy piece of technology, but it was entirely see-through, except for the thin black frame.

She cocked her head to the side. "What's that?"

"This is a portable encyclopedia. Duncan gave it to all of us for Christmas a couple years back. Everyone has one. But since you're new, I guess you don't have one yet… Maybe he'll give you one for Christmas this year!"

"Yeah… maybe…" Kim said slowly. "But what does it do?"

Sjin turned it on. The screen flashed white and rows and rows of different items appeared on the surface. Kim stared at it, lost for words.

"It's touch screen, see?" Sjin swiped a finger on the screen. The rows changed to different items. "You tap on one item to see how to make it, or you double tap to see what it's used for."

"Wow… That's pretty cool! So what you're saying is that you can look up the recipe for a computer here?"

"Yep! There's even a search engine! Let's see… computer… Here we go! Stone around redstone dust with a glass pane. That's actually quite easy. Here we go…" Sjin quickly placed the blocks together and created a small computer. "Now for a monitor… and a wireless modem... and all the other bits… Bam! Done."

Kim looked up from her armor-making project to look at three blocky machines that resembled primitive computers.

"Uh… Sjin? Is that really the computer? Even your encyclopedia is fancier than that…" She muttered.

"Hey! We don't have enough time! This is just to get the job done… now I need to connect to Mushnet… Let's see here… Type type mothertrucker! Come on… please… someone reply…"

xxXxxXxx

CraftOS 1.5

Sjin:Please! Is anyone on? Please reply!

Sjin: Please!

Duncanlovesdinos: Sjin is that u?

Sjin: Duncan! HELP ME!

Duncanlovesdinos: uh Sjin what's wrong calm down mate u need more pipes or something

Sjin: Strawfingers has a wireless remote and he can blow up my farm anytime!

Duncanlovesdinos: Well that's intense… Where r u

Sjin: I'm in the Nether with Kim. Strawfingers imprisoned us here

Duncanlovesdinos: What? How can I help? Wait who's Strawfingers again

Sjin: He's the evil scarecrow. Come over tomorrow night. Bring Rythian if you can.

Duncanlovesdinos: Rythian? U sure about tht

Sjin: Yes, we r going to need his knowledge. Not sure if there's just TNT or a nuke as well

Duncanlovesdinos: Holy shit this is like the nuke and Zoey all over again

Duncanlovesdinos: I'm on it

Sjin: Tell Rythian to bring the best armor and weapons he's got. Same for you.

Duncanlovesdinos:Yup.

Sjin: Remember the Sjindig I was talking about

Duncanlovesdinos: Yeah

Sjin: He's planning to blow everyone up at the party

Sjin: Dunno if Zoey can take another blast

Duncanlovesdinos: She's traumatized enough. I'll help.

Sjin: Good. Meet at the storehouse tomorrow night.

Duncanlovesdinos: Right.

User has disconnected. Session closed.

xxXxxXxx

Sjin sighed in relief. "Oh, this is good. Duncan and Rythian should be here tomorrow night."

"Cool! Um, Sjin? When did you learn how to work computers? It doesn't seem like a lot of people use them, or else they would probably be more developed…"

Sjin scratched his beard. "Hm… You have a good point. I first learned how to work computers through Zoey. She taught me the basics the last time she visited the compound…"

"She did? But I thought Zoey and Rythian hated you for blowing up the old world." Kim's eyebrows furrowed.

"Eh? But… but! Yeah, I did start the war… But that's all in the past now. Rythian, Duncan and I made a truce so something like that would not happen again. Zoey came over after the nuke… and she taught me computers during her stay."

"Hm. That's interesting… I kinda want to know more about that war…"

"Well, you can ask Duncan and Rythian after this is all over. I'm not so fond of talking about it…"

Kim, who had just finished the suits of armor, said, "Sure, I can do that. I finished the armor, Sjin. Now we just need to go the daytime routine again and we can raid Strawfinger's little hellhole. By the way, here's your clothes. I made myself a sword too." She tossed the heavy diamond gear to Sjin. He caught it with a grunt.

"Alright, don't wear this until tomorrow night. And don't show your sword." Sjin quickly destroyed the computer and the rest of the computer equipment with a diamond pickaxe. "We need to stay as normal as possible. If Strawfingers doesn't know about this, then that's good. Although I wonder what he gets up to when he's gone…"

"Maybe he goes around and kills creepers to make more TNT…"

"Yeah, maybe… I don't know if there's a nuke inside his hole… If there is… well then our farms are screwed."

"And Baby Sips… Oh shoot! Baby Sips! We haven't fed him in a while, and the grass inside the pen is so little! He must be starving!" Kim's voice grew more and more panicked.

Sjin quickly tried to comfort his apprentice. "Baby Sips is going to be fine. I'll feed him tomorrow so you won't have to worry, okay?"

"R-really?" Kim calmed down a little. "Thanks!"

"Yeah-" Sjin was cut short because Kim suddenly pulled him in for a hug. This time his face turned a handsome shade of red that matched Kim's dress. "Uh… Kim?"

"Oh! Sorry…" Kim quickly stepped away. "I'm just really happy you would do that for Baby Sips!"

"Of course I will! He is named after my boss, after all. Now, speaking of eating, I'm kind of hungry. Sandwich?" Sjin patted his apprentice's shoulder awkwardly and pulled out a neat bundle of steak sandwiches. The aroma of the seasoned meat and the toasted bread was enough to make the farmer's stomach growl.

Kim's eyes lit up. "Yes! I'm starving! Haven't eaten since yesterday! Thanks!" She accepted two steak sandwiches from Sjin and sat on the floor, eating away. Sjin sat next to her, and the two of them ate in silence.

When they were finished, Sjin stood up and dusted off the crumbs off his overalls and fingers. "We should get back to our positions. Can you tie my hands please?" He sat on the chair and looked at Kim expectantly.

"Sure," Kim shrugged. "But who will tie me up?"

"You just need to pretend that you are tied up. Strawfingers probably isn't going to check you anyways. And if he gets suspicious, I can always say something to get him to avert his attention. Hopefully that works."

"Hm, good idea." Kim walked up behind Sjin and tied his hands with the rope. Then she jumped up and wrapped her arms behind the fencepost. "How does this look?"

"Very convincing," Sjin admitted. Kim beamed. "Now we wait."

A/N: Took a tad bit longer to write, but it should be okay! School's starting ;-; so expect the chapters to come out a little slower. I'll try my best, I love writing these!

Havs, out!