"I've already gotten ahold of Mobius. He's at work right now, but as soon as he's home, he'll join us. Anthony hasn't responded, and neither has Hound. Both are most likely at work, and knowing them, they'll be on soon." I can only nod as Alexa lowers her hand and a steam page vanishes. Joseph walks into the room, his head shaking. "Andrew is away from his computer for a few days, so he's unavailable." All eyes turn towards me now, and I sigh. I feel something trying to reassure me, but it was faint.

"Reginald is also out of town, but he has his laptop. He should be able to join in a few hours."

We all grow silent for a moment, trying not to voice the obvious, but Herobrine huffs.

"So another word, we're alone."

It wasn't a question.

In frustration, I rise from the chair I was in and move to the window. Anger was boiling inside of me, but I try to control it. The last thing I needed was to lose my cool. "Alright, let's recount what happened again and take note of everything." I move back to the table and reach for the book and quill. I start writing everything down.

"One, he doesn't know my real name. He called me by gamertag only, meaning he doesn't know who I am outside of the game."

Herobrine nods, moving to the table and standing across from me. "Which means the firewalls Mobius and I have created to protect you are holding up. As long as he can't learn that, we have time." Joseph and Alexa move in, running through it in their heads as well. "He didn't affect us, meaning he's closing in on you two, and you said he mentioned your code?" I clench my teeth, and give a slight nod. "He knows we are tied."

Alexa uncrosses her arms and leans against the table. "But that's it. He doesn't know much else." She grows quiet, her brain racing. I could almost see the steam coming out of her ears. "This doesn't make sense. What we know of him from Hero, he's calculating, smart. This almost feels like a show of his hands too soon."

Herobrine straightens, crossing his arms now. "She's right. This is sudden, and I'm not tickled about it one bit. He's hiding something, and I fear it might be another version of myself ready to delete us both." I shiver, feeling my side and cheek give a slight fizzle of phantom pain. Although that fight was nearly three years ago now, I could remember the pain and sensations like it was yesterday. 

"The firewall still has a looping recurrence, correct? Nothing has stopped it?" My eyes lock with Herobrine, and he gives a stern nod. He opens his left hand away from himself and the folders screen appears. "So far, so good. Nothing has impeded it, and it's still keeping your location in the real world safe. The VPN is holding well, too." He lowers his hand, making the screen vanish. I nod my head, satisfied with the answer.

Of course, we knew this would happen one day, but after years of going undetected, we started getting hopeful. A plan was already prepared, and everyone knew it, but we all hoped to never have to use it. 

I sigh, lowering myself into a chair and dropping my head to my hands. "Just when I started getting hopeful."

A hand is on my shoulder and I feel another lift my head a bit. Bright eyes lock with my own. "Hey, we can do this. We have a plan, and I won't let him hurt you."

I can only sigh and gently grab the hand on my shoulder. 

"I know. I was just hoping we would never need to use it."

Herobrine nods and moves back a bit so I can breath. "Okay, recap. He attacks us suddenly, without warning after three years of you being free." I turn back to the table and stand. I spread my hands out and lean against the wood. "Maybe he didn't anticipate us having a plan or anything to fend against him?" I look up, meeting everyone's eyes. Herobrine doesn't give any expression, but Alexa slightly nods. "It's possible. Based on how narcissistic he seems, he may have thought we would never be able to stand against him." Herobrine nods at this, but Joseph shakes his head. "Something still doesn't make sense. How did he figure it out?"

That's one question I was trying to ignore, but it was starting to plague my mind as well. How did he finally figure it out? What tipped him off to Herobrine being free? We had been so cautious, never revealing his identity anywhere and even giving him the idea to have blue eyes like the default 'Steve' skin so he wouldn't have to change more than he was comfortable with.

Of course, we always have a backup.

"I know we've checked, but now that he's shown up, maybe a hidden code was revealed?"

I feel Herobrine freeze, and our blood runs cold. With a steady breath, I see Herobrine lift his hand. The folders reappear and a file titled "HeroShadow.exe" floats up out of the screen. 

"Creative name idea."

Herobrine scowls at Joseph, but looks back at the folder. He begins opening it up slowly, and I see each folder appear. One was labeled simply 'original' and the other was 'additional'. However, there was a new paper-like icon. It was a simple little icon, but the name made me boil in rage. 

"Tracker.png"

Herobrine pulls it up and holds it for a moment. I can feel his silent rage. On the outside, he was poised, steady. His face was calm and his stance strong. But on the inside, he was boiling. I was as well, and it wasn't helping us to stay calm. Rage and irritation were mingling with frustration and concern. None of us wanted to risk our lives again, but we knew the risk when I let Herobrine come into the real world.

We just got comfortable, and hopeful, and started planning a future.

The page suddenly ignites, turning to ash in Herobrine's hand. His eyes are narrow and a frown on his lips. 

"I should have checked it more often. I got sloppy, lazy-"

"Hero-"

"No! I got comfortable! I was content! I let the threat slip through!"

"Hero, please-"

"No. We're all in danger now because of me. Because I felt safe. Because I was finally..." Herobrine stops talking suddenly, and I see the tears forming in those bright eyes. I already know what he was going to say, and I feel my own eyes start to water. 

"Hero."

He finally looks at me, and I sigh.

"It's not your fault-"

"Yes it-"

"Shut up! And let me talk."

He closes his mouth and nods. I can see Alexa holding back a slight laugh, but I focus on the man in front of me. "I knew there was a chance this would happen. We all knew it. We all planned for it, and we all got careless as the years passed." Herobrine looks away and I sigh. 

"Look at me."

He keeps his head down, but I push him again.

"Hero, look at me."

He finally looks up, and I try to keep a kind and understanding look.

"If I never wanted to take this risk, I would have never left Minecraft the first time."

His eyes widen, and I see Alexa finally nod. Joseph crosses his arms but nods as well. "Look, a lot has happened in the past, but... You've changed. Aria trusts you, and that's enough for me to help."

Herobrine sucks in a breath, then closes his eyes. I just shake my head and laugh. I shuffle through the papers on the table and sigh. "Alright, enough wishy-washy. Let's focus. Right now, this looks like he wasn't anticipating anyone actually having backups or firewalls to keep him out, so we still have the home-field advantage." I turn to Alexa and Joseph, and Alexa moves to stand next to me. She pulls out a piece of paper with scribbles on it. "You probably shouldn't log back out. Even with the tracker possibly gone, we don't want to risk it being hidden in the background without Mobius here to help dig a bit more."

Herobrine nods and moves to stand on my left. He looks at the papers as well, reading over what I just wrote down and the plans we created for almost every possible circumstance. He pulls out a map from under everything and taps on 'The End' symbol. "We should make sure this is still secured. I'll go check the firewalls for the code in this section and make sure our backup escape route is still available." I nod and hand him one of the books from the table. "Make sure you follow it step by step."

He nods, then vanishes into a puff of white particles.

I turn to Alexa and Joseph. They were already going over plans and crafting recipes for weapons and bullets that could be used for possibly taking down Notch. Herobrine was able to give us an idea of what Notch's code might be, so we were quick to create weapons that could fend him off. With our experience with Entity as well, our arsenal was fairly well built. 

"It looks like we still need some obsidian, aluminum, and gather up more xp berry bushes." Joseph nods then opens his inventory. "I still have a few bushes in my bag, however, I'm fresh out of aluminum." A smirk is on his face as he closes his inventory. He turns to Alexa, who already has her pickaxe out. 

"Let's mine."

I nod to them, and they quickly leave. Now I'm alone in the room, but I couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. Something still wasn't sitting right with me about this whole first encounter. I pull up another book and start flipping through it. It was full of details from Herobrine about Notch. He was the expert on him, having been his sidekick in building this world since the beginning, so he filled many books to help us get an understanding of what might happen.

We've planned and prepared for as many possible outcomes as we could imagine, but something still feels off. The sensation of eyes boring into the back of my head makes me flip around. My sword materializes in my hand, and I feel my heart rate quicken.

There was nothing.

Not even a sheep out the window, or a bird perched on a branch.

Nothing.

I hold my chest with my free hand, trying to slow my heart rate and even out my breathing.

Something's not right... but what?