Jesse leaned with her shoulder against the wall, watching with slightly raised eyebrows and an amused expression on her face, as Petra fought the wooden armour stand like it was her arch nemesis.

"Don't you think you should take it a little easy?" She asked. "You're only just recovering after all."

"Oh, please!" Petra didn't even look back at Jesse, slamming her sword into the armour stand again. "It's been two entire days already!"

"Yes, two days. Just two days, you won't get out of shape that quickly." Jesse responded, shaking her head and chuckling. "If you can't move your arm tomorrow, I'll be saying I told you so. Did you forget what your shoulder felt like after the fight?"

"You're saying that as if you were fine afterwards." Petra responded, turning around to face Jesse.

"You're right, I have been a little under the weather the past two days, but at least I am allowing myself some time to recover." Jesse said with a roll of her eyes. "Cut yourself some slack, Petra."

"You're so boring." Petra groaned, giving the armour stand another wack with Miss Butter, before tossing the golden sword onto the bed. She crossed her arms. "Everyone is, for that matter. We've all recovered enough, can't we start to at least plan our next move?"

"It's been 48 hours!" Jesse said in exasperation, falling down on Petra's bed.

"And 48 hours isn't enough?" Petra asked, slumping down on the bed beside Jesse and stroking Rascal's head. "How long did you have in mind?"

"Uh, I don't know - a week maybe?" Jesse said, rolling over and propping herself up on her elbows. "The command block isn't going anywhere."

"I know, but it has to be bugging you as well." Petra said with a groan. "I want that devil block gone!"

"You sound rather passionate about it." Jesse mumbled.

"Yeah, well, I am." Petra said almost grumpily. She sighed, shaking her head. "I don't like that the thing can have power over me. And you, I guess."

"I'm not fond of that part either." Jesse said, pulling a hand through her chestnut hair. "It's freaky, no two ways around it. But that just makes me want to mess with it less."

"Opposite effect here." Petra replied.

She turned her head to look at Jesse. "What do you say? When can we go bust that thing apart?"

"Might I remind you that we don't know how?" Jesse pointed out in frustration. "We can't just marge in there blindly."

Petra groaned, faceplanting into the mattress. Rascal tilted his head at her, not understanding what his owner was doing. She chuckled slightly as he began to nuzzle his nose into her hair, nudging her.

"Look, let's have a talk about this with the others, okay?" Jesse said when Petra lifted her head again. "See what they think, and whether Olivia has any idea on how we can at least shut down the command block, considering we can't destroy it."

"Okay, let's go find them then." Petra said matter-of-factly, sitting upright.

"I mean, I was going to suggest tonight at dinner, but this works to." Jesse replied with a chuckle, getting back up from the bed. "But you're left with the task of dragging Lukas away from his quill, as I believe he mentioned something about inspiration having struck.

Petra rolled her eyes. "Fine, deal." She said, breaking into a grin and immediately bolting out of the room.

Sighing, but smiling, Jesse walked out of the bedroom as well, walking off to go find Axel and Olivia. It wasn't hard at all both of them being exactly where Jesse had predicted – Olivia working in her lab and Axel having a snack in the kitchen.

By some miracle, Petra had also managed to drag Lukas into the living room, quill still in one hand and a grumpy look on his face. A grumpy look that quickly faded into one of surprise as Jesse and Petra began to talk.

"Hold up, hold up-" Olivia held her hands up. "You two want to go back there already?"

"Just her." Jesse said matter-of-factly, pointing her thumb at Petra.

"Petra, today is the first day you've actually been able to raise Miss Butter again, not to mention being the first day Jesse's actually felt well enough to stay up." Lukas said, leaning back against the wall and raising her eyebrow. "Don't you think you should give yourself another day or two at the least?"

"Before we talk about leaving the tree-house at all-" Jesse quickly chipped in, seeing Petra's eyes start to narrow at Lukas. "There's no point in going in there without a plan." She looked over at Olivia. "Do you have any idea how we could stop the command block?"

"That machine is a deadly weapon in the hands of the wrong person." Olivia responded seriously. "We need to find a way to destroy it, not just-"

"We know, we know." Petra said with a groan. "But right now, we're out of options, or should I say out of weapons? Point is, let us focus on keeping the thing from murdering us, before focussing on how to officially end it."

"Can't it just be like, switched off?" Axel asked, propping his elbow up on the couch's armrest and resting his chin in his hand.

"I'm afraid a command block isn't that simple." Olivia said, rubbing her temples. "In order to shut it down or turn it 'off', I'll need to open it and disconnect the redstone wiring inside."

"Can you do that?" Lukas asked her.

"I believe so." Olivia responded. "Problem is, I'd need a few moments without a zombie on my back."

"I actually haven't seen the mobs go close to the block itself." Petra said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "But even if they do, the rest of us could keep them off your back."

"What do you guys say?" Jesse asked, glancing over at all her friends. "Should we give this a go?"

"We?" Axel asked. "Bud, you know you can't go there."

"Well, I'm not staying home." Jesse quickly responded. Her shoulders sagged a tiny bit. "I'll stay outside while you guys go in."

"Petra? Maybe you should accompany Jesse." Lukas said.

"What?" Petra asked in horror.

"He's got a good point, we don't want you to be at a disadvantage with your shoulder." Olivia said. "Axel and Lukas should be able to keep the worst mobs at bay, long enough for me to work. After all, you and Lukas were able to go there on your own."

"But this was my idea!" Petra protested.

"I mean, if we do this next week, you can join them and put Miss Butter to use." Jesse pointed out, earning an eye roll from Petra.

"Fine." She mumbled. "I'll sit on the sidelines."

"So we're doing this tomorrow?" Olivia asked, seeking confirmation.

"Seems like it." Lukas responded, pushing himself off the wall and shrugging. "I'm not complaining. If that block's shut down, I'm sure I'll sleep better at night, knowing no mega zombies can come barging through the door."

"Knew you guys would see sense!" Petra said, excitedly punching the air. She already seemed to have forgotten about sulking over not being able to actually going in and fight."

"Well then." Jesse said with a chuckle and a shake of her head. "Rest and recovery aside, let's get ready for tomorrow, I guess."

-----------------------

Jesse rested her gleaming white blade in her lap, carefully running her hand across it. Her gaze almost slightly distant as she stared down at the weapon in her hands.

Jesse tentatively ran her fingers down it's razor sharp edge, seeing her own brown eyes reflected back at her. She blinked a few times, hating how she was able to see the fear in her gaze.

"Reading that sword pretty hard I see." Petra said, leaning with her uninjured shoulder against a tree.

"Mm." Jesse just hummed in response, once more stroking the smooth surface of the enchanted weapon.

"You know what makes you interesting, Jesse?" Petra asked, pushing herself off the tree and plopping down on the leafy ground beside Jesse. Rascal excitedly lay down beside her, wagging his tail.

"Fire away." Jesse muttered, still staring at her weapon.

"You can be happy and chilled out one moment, get lost in a train of thought, and then just look depressed the next moment." Petra said, throwing up her arms.

Jesse smiled, finally looking up from her sword. "You're right about me getting lost in thought, but looking depressed? Nah."

"Maybe I should buy you a mirror for your birthday then." Petra said,playfully rolling her eyes. "Wanna share what you were thinking of?" She shrugged. "I'm bored as hell, and if you don't keep me entertained – I'm going in there with the others!"

"Oh boy, now we don't want that happening, do we?" Jesse said with a laugh, putting her sword aside.

She picked up a stick, playfully tossing it into the shrubbery. Rascal bolted up from the ground, tail wagging excitedly as he sprinted after the stick.

"I was just thinking about my sword, more specifically where it came from." Jesse explained to Petra.

"Soren?" Petra asked, frowning. "I thought we were past thinking about that moron-"

"No." Jesse said with a chuckled. "The command block."

She held out her hand as Rascal came trotting back up to her, obediently dropping the stick into her hand. He wagged his tail as she gave him a praising pat on the head.

"Do you think my own sword could be deadly to me?" Jesse asked Petra softly.

"Huh, I actually haven't thought of that." Petra said casually. "You could always nick yourself with it, give it a test."

"Yeah, I'll do that if I actually have the time to sleep it off for two days." Jesse said with a roll of her eyes. "Was just kinda thinking about it, ya know? The mere thought of having possibly carried around a sword that could essentially be poisonous to me..."

"Yeah, that's creepy." Petra said, running her hand along Miss Butter. "I could never imagine being scared of my own weapon." To prove her point, she flicked the golden tip with her finger.

"You did not just do that." Jesse said in exasperation, as Petra carelessly wiped the bit of blood off her finger on her clothes.

"Please, if I can't handle that, how am I even still alive?" Petra responded with a chuckle. "At least my weapon isn't going to drain me-"

Petra's voice suddenly cut off, sitting upright in alarm. Jesse's head snapped in the direction her friend's gaze was fixed on, feeling her heart dropped when she saw Lukas running out of the cave and straight towards them.

"What happened?" Petra asked, on her feet in a split second.

"Did something go wrong, are everybody okay?" Jesse added anxiously.

"No, no, everybody's fine, but..." Lukas gulped, his blue eyes wide. "...it's gone."

"The command block!?" Jesse and Petra both asked in horror, exchanging glances with each other.

Looking back to only get a nod of confirmation from Lukas in return.

"I'm telling you, it isn't there!" Lukas said as he, Jesse, Petra and Rascal ran down the hallway, the light from his flashlight bobbing up and down.

"Well how did it get out?" Jesse gasped in between her running gasps.

"My thoughts exactly, it couldn't just have grown legs and walked off!" Petra added aggressively.

"Beats me!" Lukas simply responded as the four of them ran up to the hole in the wall.

Sure enough, not only was the place cleared of any mobs and silent as night, but there was no glowing light from the pulsing machine. Axel and Olivia both looked up as Lukas, Jesse and Petra came jogging up to them, stepping aside to reveal the empty spot where the command block had stood.

"How is this even possible?" Petra exclaimed furiously.

Jesse couldn't help but glance around the cave, it being her first time in there. Unlike the rest of the dungeon, the ground and walls were coarse, fresh stone. It was natural, no cobblestone.

Olivia had straight began pacing anxiously, Axel was just boredly fingering the side of his axe, Lukas was chewing his nails and Petra was glaring at the empty spot while silently fuming. Rascal sat by her side, calmer than he's ever been in there. He was starting to sniff the air, licking his lips like he smelled something tasty.

"The only logical explanation could be that somebody stole it, I suppose." Lukas finally said.

"If so, they'd have to know a thing or two about redstone. There's no picking up an active command block." Olivia said, turning back around to face the rest of them.

"And who would even know of this place?" Petra added. "I doubt Soren even told his workers where this is, and they were as dumb as sacks of potatoes."

Rascal got up from his spot begin to sniff along the ground while excitedly wagging his tail.

"This is worrisome." Jesse said softly. "A command block in the hands of the wrong people... It ended poorly for both Ivor and Soren."

"Rascal?" Petra suddenly asked, glancing over her shoulder as her sensitive ears picked up a noise nobody else heard. "The hell you eating??"

The others turned their gazes to the wolf as well, who was wagging his tail as he ate something off the ground at the speed of a vacuum cleaner. Petra slapped against her leg to get his attention, drawing Rascal away from whatever he was eating. He swallowed whatever was still in his mouth before reluctantly returning to his owner's side.

"Hey, those are crisps!" Axel said, bending slightly down. "Kinda looked like somebody spilled package of them. And-" He held up a tiny, gleaming object. "Whatever the hell this is."

"So the thief stopped to have a snack break, makes total sense." Lukas said with a roll of his eyes.

"Let me see that." Olivia held her hand out for the tiny tool, taking it from Axel and examining it closely. "This is a redstone tool, one that's usually in a set." She said softly. "I'd say somebody dropped it..."

"Got a name tag?" Petra asked sarcastically.

"I wish." Olivia mumbled, sticking the tool in her pocket. "It doesn't tell us any more than we know."

"So what do we do now?" Jesse asked. "We don't really have the mob problem to worry about, but I feel like this is a much more concerning matter."

"Yeah man, we could wake up to another wither storm for all we know!" Axel exclaimed, throwing up his arms.

Everybody were silent again, exchanging worried glances with each other. Not knowing what to do, or even remotely think at that moment.

Nobody knew for how long they stood there, at a loss for what to do. Just leaning against the walls, even sitting on the ground. Nobody wanting to admit that their hands were tied.

They had finally silently agreed to just leave. Riding back in the direction of home. Even Rascal seemed to pick up on the gloomy mood, trudging beside Petra's horse with his ears drooped and his tail no longer wagging.

Nobody really spoke as they stabled the horses, walking back inside the tree-house. As if nature decided to add to the feelings of hopelessness, the sky begun to cloud over above the trees, threatening that more rain was to come.

"I know this is bad." Olivia said as she worked with dinner on the stove. "But we're not going to get anywhere, worrying about it."

"Ironic coming from you." Petra muttered from where she sat at the dining table, her head resting on the wooden surface.

"There's nothing we can do at this point." Olivia pointed out softly. "Combing miles of jungle isn't really an option. Maybe we should just... wait."

"Yeah, look how well we handled the mobs the other day?" Jesse said as she too took a seat at the dining table. "We just have to be ready for anything." She smiled. "We're the Order of the Stone, remember! We faced so much evil already."

"Back at it with the optimism." Petra muttered, although she couldn't hide the smile tugging at her lips.

"You're right, tearing ourselves up over this isn't going to help us." Lukas said, propping his elbow on the table. "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, am I right?"

"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." Jesse repeated in confirmation, grinning.

Everybody smiled, nodding at each other. Axel even gave Jesse a playful slap on the back, causing her to choke on the juice she was drinking and promptly spraying Lukas opposite her in orange juice. The last of the tenseness in the air faded away as everybody laughed.

"I'm still not a 100% comfortable over the fact that somebody out there has a major advantage over us-" Petra said, grinning. "-But the five of us won't be taken down."

She put a hand out on the table. "Right?"

Jesse was quick to place her hand onto Petra's. Lukas soon followed suite, Olivia coming over place her hand on as well, and Axel placing his big hand on the top.

"Together, we can beat anything!"

___

Yay! Optimism! ...not for long-

I don't have a ton to say about this chapter, but I can promise that things aren't calming down yet. The Order only really have until the next chapter to wait-

Any theories?

See you all in chapter 10!