"Do you, have, any... eights?." The young woman asked, sitting across from Steve on the floor with her legs crossed, holding several old and wearing cards in her hands that weren't even all from the same deck. Steve groaned, he too sitting with his legs crossed, and handed her his three eights he had been saving up.

     He continued, "Do you, um.. have any fives?" Alex huffed, handing over two fives, handing him all he needed to finish his stack. "Ha!" He slammed all his fives down on the floor. "Beat that, Alex!!" He boasted, only making the lady roll her eyes.

     "Really?.. You don't have to be so cocky about it."

     "I'm not being cocky about it!" Steve snapped at her, only proving once again that he had some serious anger problems.

     "Sure, sure." Alex rolled her eyes, looking back down at her cards. They played several rounds more, until the small window no longer let in any light, and only a few distant torches down stone halls Steve couldn't see lit the room, barely.

     "You know what.. You're not as bad as the stories say you are." Alex said, rolling over in her "bed," facing the opposite wall. Steve just rested on top of his blankets, unlike Alex, who seemed a little desperate for the warmpth it would keep in her. He just looked up blankly at the scieling, playing around with the brightness of his eyes like an adjustable flashlight.

     "What stories?" Steve asked, not looking over at the other prisoner.

     "Tons to stories! You're, like, everywhere now! Everyone knows about Herobrine!" Alex said with a contained but louder than average volume. Steve's eyebrow just lifted a little.

     "..Too bad nobody knows about Steve..." Steve sighted, eyes almost flickering back to how they used to be.

     "Steve? Is that your real name?" Alex asked, looking over at him. Steve looked back for a single moment, seeing her looking at him, and his attitude changed completely.

     "Who asked you to ask?!" He rolled over abruptly, scowling at the lady's concern. Alex knew then that there was something wrong here.. and it likely had to do with this 'Steve' name of his.

     "You know.. I used to be normal too. I lived a perfecrly normal life, normal world, normal friends.-"

     "What makes you think I used to be normal?!" Steve snapped once again, sitting up so he could glare at her, hoping that would shut her up. Alex just stuck her tongue out at his anger towards her, not making the situation any better.

     "Well if you were never normal, maybe you are a virus. Or some self-proclaimed god of this game!" Is thst want you want to be seen as, hu?! Some, thing, some creature void of emotion?!-"

     "-YES! That is how I want to be seen! I AM a god! I AM a virus! I AM ruthless, and I AM void of emotion! And there is nothing anyone can do to STOP me!!" Steve proclaimed, standing on his bed.

     "...You don't seem emotionless to me." Alex said softly. "I think you are just a man. A man hurt, and needing help. Maybe, you need just as much help as-"

     "DON'T YOU DARE COMPARE YOURSELF TO ME! I AM HEROBRINE! I CAN KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND-"

     "I'm sitting, Doofis."

     "GHAA!!" Steve had had just about enough with Alex and her attitude, but for some reason kept himself from planning her death; and he didn't even know why!

     A series of heavily armored feet came marching down the halls in pursuit of the noise. Steve and Alex both looked to the wall of bars, seeing more than twenty well armored soldiers crowded in the halls, the ones closest pointing weapons in Steve's direction. Steve's vision began to cloud at the sight of so many angry faces.

     "Do not make any attempt to escape or harm, prisoner!" One of the blurry glowing dots shouted all the soldiers turned to glowing blurry creatures as colorful pixels chilled around the edges of his vision. The senses desensitized him further, acting his powers in ways that only showed themselves in troubling times.

     "Guys! Step back! I- I think he is going to attack!" Alex shouted, afraid for her own life.

     "Shut it, prisoner!" The voice which spoke back was obscured and warped by whatever had consumed Steve's mind, and it was only painful listening to them speak.

     "...You better run..." Herobrine said, an emotionless expression on his face. His eyes flickered slightly with the warning. ..Only the smart ones backed away.

     "Prisoner! Snap out of it this instant!" The soldier in charge of the rest shouted.

     "You are going to be so glad you are a player, who cannot actually feel the pain I am about to unleash upon your avatar.." Herobrine spoke, chillingly low.

     "Herobrine! STOP!! They are not worth it!" Alex pleaded from the opposite of the room, looking for something she can use as some kind of shield. But the voices only hurt his head.

     "SILENCE!!!" Herobrine erupted, a massive explosion being sent outward, knocking over walls and blasting the soldiers back. Sunlight beamed down into the now exposed cell, and an entire prison camp was revealed as Herobrine rose above it all, eyes darting for a place to flee. But then the pixels around his vision intensified as his instincts swapped to 'fight' instead of 'flight.'

     It was time to show those players why they should never imprison him.

     Not even thirty minutes later, it had been finished. Herobrine drug an old stone sword he found lying around as he searched for the last of his victims. He traveled like a machine, low on energy by now, but marching on for any remaining. He didn't need rest. He needed the EXP all forms of live gave him.

     "I will follow you, my lord! You hear me!? We will follow you and your cause if you just set me and my friend free!!" A deep, raspy voice broke from one of the cells. For some reason, the voice did not hurt his ears. The escaped looked over, seeing two beings. One was a dark purple robed skeleton, and beside it, cowering slightly, was some kind of warewolf.

     "I have no cause. Only to survive, and grow in power.." Herobrine spoke, his voice no longer mimicking thst of a human.

     "Then let us join you in your meaningless destruction! Both of us are very much so capable, and can be useful to you, I'm sure!" The skeleton spoke, the wolf-thing nodding quickly in agreement. "I am Dreadlord- and this is-"

     "-Why so hasty?" That question made the two stop and think for a moment.

     "Ww, we- want to be free." The robed skeleton spoke.

     "...Alright. Help me search for survivors." Herobrine agreed, sending forth his hand and unlocking the door with his mind. He hoped that on top of the previous explosions mixed with distant shouts from those being chased would help those two know not to mess with him. If they did happen to go against him, however, he imagined it being fun to find out what these two are capable of as they fight for the last remaining moments of their lives. Dreadlord and his friend did not seem at all like they wanted to attack him or anything, and they both excitedly opened the cell door and ran out in a hurry, overjoyed to be out of there. With his new following, Herobrine continued his search for survivors.

     "Over here, Lord!" Dreadlord pointed out to his new leader several minutes after being freed. The skeleton's bony arm pointed down at some nearby rubble which was beginning to move. Up from the rock sprung up a hand. That hand painfully lifted the upper half of the body, where a face finally appeared, looking out between the last few rocks on top of them. Spotting the figure, Herobrine froze. "Should we kill it?" Dreadlord asked.

     Silently, emotionlessly, Herobrine gazes upon the face, of Alex.