Abolish Herobrine

A Private Meeting

"You did the right thing to call me here. Even if that's something that you should have done sooner."

The voice of their mysterious companion sounded both approving and irritated at the same time. Frowning, both of the players, their levels significantly reduced, exchanged a dark look.

"We did not know that he could change our settings. You didn't tell us! If you told us about that, then we would have asked a few more of our friends to join. Then we would have had him for sure!"

"I understand. He's progressing much faster than expected. He should not have been able to do that, yet."

"He stabbed me through my stomach! Twice! Do you know how much that hurt? We should totally sue! I probably gonna need to see a shrink or something. This is gonna give me PTSD or something! Frick this!" Marko complained, while their third companion only made an amused smile, his lips stretching a little beneath the shadow of his gray hoodie. The smile did not reach the man's gleaming red eyes, which held on the younger human with cold appraisal.

"You should have called me as soon as you understood that you were dealing with the real thing rather than a bot. He is far more devious and resourceful than a normal program. That's how he was designed to be."

"Pfft! We know that! Its just that..." The younger Player gave his older partner a hesitant look. "We thought we could really take him." He finished with frustrated huff. "Your weapons worked! We had him on the run! He was down for the count, no different than those bots! I mean, look!"

The image of the last footage appeared hovering before them in the air in form of an opaque square, where a one-armed man unsteadily stood in the darkness of a small space, his white eyes eerily illuminating his sneering face. Only two hearts remained blinking above his head out of ten, the rest of which showed black.

"He was not faking those stats! He was almost done for! And if it was not for that weirdo Player, we would have finished him for sure!" Marko scowled at the second figure in the distance. Looking very similar to the first figure, except his eyes blue and face twisted by fear, the man cowered, resisting the effort of two white eyed Endermen pushing him toward the gaping gateway. The man's terrified eyes looked in direction of the Players, his expression changing to obvious concern as his gaze shifted to the one-armed villain, who only moments ago held him hostage.

"I don't know what game he is playing, but he was helping that bot! He lied to us, pretending to be a local! And led us around for nothing, searching empty caves, while that dang glitch was chilling at his house that entire time! I cannot believe he wouldn't tell us about this. Even if his settings really did get jacked up that high... He should have told us!" Marko glared at the unknown player with an angry frown, though some uncertainty held in his tone of voice.

"Well, I don't know. Could be Stockholm syndrome. It's a really old term. When prisoners start to care about their captors and even help them."

"I know what it means! We are not stupid!" Marko exclaimed, turning to glare at their strange companion, instead. "But because of that dumb guy, we didn't get to that bot in time. He escaped! I got eaten by a fricken dragon? Do you know what its fricken like? Get chomped by a bunch of sharp, pointy teeth?"

Their companion huffed, his lips twitching in amusement. "No, cannot say that I do, no."

"Its not funny!" The younger man seethed, his hands clenched. "Adler, tell him! This is not OK! We didn't sign up for this! If I knew that it would be like this, I..."

"Would forfeit three million dollars in real life credit?" Their unknown companion hidden beneath his guise, skeptically quirked an eyebrow. Marko clenched his teeth shut, still fuming as he appeared to think about it.