(Lukas's POV)
We stood in the dark portal hallway, the portals casting just enough light to make out silhouettes of everyone.
I was sitting on the stone floor of the portal hallway, scraping the dried blood off my armor.
"I can't believe we lost Jesse!" Yelled Petra, ramming her side into the wall out of anger.
"Calm down." Soothed Milo, sounding worried. "We'll find some way to help Jesse... I mean, she can hold out pretty well by herself, can't she?"
"No." I mumbled, causing people to look at me. "Jesse is a good fighter, but she can't hold out against PAMA. Trust me- I know what she can do to you."
I want back to scraping the blood off of me.
"We can't just sit here and mope, we've got to-"Olivia spoke up.
"That's exactly what we should be doing!" Objected Axel.
"Olivia's right, Axel." Snapped Harper.
We've got to find a way to destroy PAMA, in a way that doesn't involve dragging more people into this mess. We've got to find a way to break her- without her realizing it."
Silence.
I stared at the shadowy faces of my friends, waiting for somebody to speak up.
"PAMA said that Jesse was valuable. Does anybody have an idea as to what that means?" Asked Ivor.
"I don't think any of us know, Ivor." Mumbled Harper. "The pieces of the puzzle just don't fit together."
Ivor stroked his beard, obviously thinking.
"Oh no." Muttered Ivor. "No, no, no- not Jesse!"
"What about Jesse?!" Yelled Iza, sounding panicked.
"PAMA might want a different body besides Miranda. He might be stripping Jesse of her humanity,
Bit by bit, until there's nothing left of her but PAMA."
I stood up, walking towards the group.
"Why would PAMA want Jesse?!" I yelled, except that I already knew why PAMA wanted Jesse.
"She's the face of good to so many people- if she were to go back to our world, or a place like sky city, she could gain their trust and crush it by making the people useful." Muttered Ivor.
This was awful.
I can't believe that Jesse could... Die...
"How would we even get started destroying PAMA?" Asked Axel, crossing his arms.
"With a special potion that I have." Purred Ivor, pulling out bottle of inky black liquid.
"What is that?" Asked Aiden, his eyes widening.
"This-" he gestured to the bottle. "Is a potion of instant death. A specialty of mine, it has a mixture of the deadliest potions, as well as other ingredients."
He held it up for us to see.
"Just a drop of this is enough to kill a person on contact." He soothed.
"And you just happen to be carrying that around with you in your pocket?" Asked Harper. "What if it breaks?"
"Oh, it won't break." Ivor smirked "the bottle is obsidian. You have to open the lid, and have the recipient drink it, for the potion to take effect."
So that's why the liquid looked black.
"We have to find a way to get PAMA to ingest this, and without hurting Jesse- we need to kill PAMA."
I thought about how Jesse had done so much to help us.
She deserved to be saved.
"But there's no way to get to her without getting chipped!" Argued Harper. "We aren't going to be able to get close to her- let alone get PAMA to drink the poison!"
"We need to trick her, to create a distraction." I muttered.
"But what could we do?" Asked Iza, looking scared.
I turned to her.
"We have to give up one of ourselves, so that we can become useful." I stated, trying to keep my voice calm.
Everybody looked at me, shocked.
"But that wouldn't help!" Objected Axel. "It'd just make us short in numbers, and-"
"No, it makes perfect sense." I growled, cutting him off. "If one of us goes and makes themselves useful, then they could try to fight back, and poison PAMA."
"That is actually an okay idea, but who would we get to volunteer?" Snarled Ivor.
"I'll do it. After all, I managed to stop myself from killing Jesse when PAMA brainwashed us- maybe I can do more than just that?" I asked, running my fingers through my hair.
"Lukas, you can't go. We won't let you." Snapped Harper, her tone sharp.
"I will go- and none of you can stop me."
Everybody had formed a circle around me, trapping me in the middle.
"Why would you want to do something that could kill you?" Asked Olivia, her chocolate brown eyes glowing n the dark.
"It might be our only chance." I paused, looking back at the unlit redstone portal. "I'll go in, PAMA will brainwash me, and I'll break free, poisoning her."
"But what if PAMA knows that the bottle is poisonous? She could make you drink it!" Argued Petra.
I looked at the ground.
"I hadn't thought of that..." I mumbled.
"Maybe we could do what we did last time, and kill PAMA?" Suggested Miah.
"It'd be too dangerous..." Growled Harper.
"Then what the heck are we supposed to do!" I yelled. "Stand around and wait for PAMA to figure out a way to kill us?!"
Suddenly, the portal sputtered, and lit up, Jesse walking through.
Her eyes were completely red, sending a bright red glow around the dim room.
She looked the same, except for the fact that she showed no emotion, her face looking... Robotic.
She raised her sword, and smirked.
"Hello again, friends." Purred Jesse, sounding just like PAMA. "Thought you could get rid of me?"
"Get out of Jesse!" Yelled Petra, pulling out her golden sword. "You stupid computer!"
"No..." Spat Jesse, "I like it here. And considering the fact that Jesse has almost got her humanity ripped to shreds already- I don't think you'd want her cold lifeless body back."
I had to think of something...
Think.
I was standing frozen, counting down in my head.
3... 2...
1.
Now.