Targeted

Prologue

Jesse's POV
     We run into the hall intent on following Ivor, but can't see him. Petra's the first one to speak up.
"Where'd he go?" she asked. I then saw a door, supposedly leading to the basement from where I was standing.
"There! Through that door," I responded. We all ran that direction, and when I was about to go in, Lukas's words stopped me.
"What do we do once we catch him?" he started. "I mean, there are a million ways to play this. But considering this isn't my fight, I'll follow your lead," he finished asking. I thought for a moment. Ivor has proven he's a piece of crap by scamming Petra. Plus, he's so shady! I mean, why would you need a wither skull? So I guess there's no point in playing nice.
     "Whatever we have to," I answered rather coldly. Not because I hold any grudge against Lukas at this point, I'm just pissed.
     "You're way more intense than I gave you credit for, Jesse," Lukas reacted with a smile, and something about that took me back for a second. Shrugging it off, I opened the door fully and we all went in.
     We creeped around, seeing if he was there. "I don't see him," I said. "Seems like this is in the basement, weird place to have a hideout," I continued. Axel then piped in with his own idea.
     "Oh man, I can't wait to steal all of this stuff," he said excitedly. Petra, however, didn't agree with his approach.
     "Axel, that's not what we're here to do," she responded.
     "But isn't that the best way to get back at him?" he argued back.
     "I don't wanna stoop to his level," she quickly replied.
     "I did say we should do whatever we have to," I said. I didn't know which side to take; on one hand, I'm pissed off at Ivor, on the other hand, I don't wanna upset Petra.
     "Exactly. And what we have to do is steal," Axel affirmed. I thought about it for another moment and realized that we're too short on time to be messing around.
     "We need to get out of here as soon as possible. So the faster we can find this skull, the faster we can get the hell out of here!" I said rather loudly so everyone can hear.
     "Best decision you've made all day," Petra said while walking off to look. I can tell I've made Axel mad, but this isn't the time to go looting.
     I start to walk around and notice a bookshelf full of enchanting books. I look at more and realize that this guy isn't just a crazy nut job, he's so lonely his only friends are spells and potions. How sad. Eh, not that sad. I'm not gonna start feeling bad for the guy who is dressed like he's a wizard from the Middle Ages.
     I run across Petra digging through a chest. I'm about to say something when she pulls it out, and it nearly cuts me in half.
     "Well, hello," she said to the sword while swinging it around like it's not big deal. "Eh, too heavy, and too soft," she said once she realized I was there.
     "But suuuuper flashy," I inputted. She was quickly to reply.
     "Yeah, I don't think this guy does much fighting. Hey, you still have that one stone sword, right?" she asked, and I became a little nervous before answering.
     "Nah, I had to give it to some jerk-wad butcher to save Rueben's life," I answered honestly.
     "Jeez. Well, I guess it was for a pretty good cause," she said before giving me it, even though I never asked for it in the first place. Whatever, it's a sword, it's fine. "That's two, you owe me," she finished. I simply nodded and walked away despite me not actually asking for anything.
     I walked over to see what Axel is doing before I quickly regret my decision. There he is, about to steal some random potion sitting on a...wait, is that a quartz block? And what is that glow?
     "You're not gonna believe me, but I swear I once had a dream about this," he started muttering off to me. "Okay, potion I know this is a big step but-" he continued on before I interrupted.
    "Axel, stop that and just find the skull," I reprimanded. But that didn't work. At all.
     "I am," he responded as he kept moving towards the potion, eventually taking it.
     "Nope, you're literally doing the exact opposite of what I told you to do," I complained while groaning. "There's no way he won't notice his fancy potion is missing," I then whispered. I start to go off in thought before Axel interrupts it rather rudely.
     "A good thief always covers his tracks," he said as he replaced with a potion he found by a lever. I rolled my eyes as he placed it. "Oh yeah, the perfect crime!" I whispered sarcastically. My eyes then wandered off to the lever, wondering what it was for. I pulled it down and the bookshelf Olivia was standing in front of fell into the floor, exposing a weird structure with a chest below it.
     "What the hell is all this stuff?" I asked to everyone in the room. Petra already knew.
     "Soul sand. It was everywhere in the Nether," she told me. "What about that block in the middle?" I added on. Olivia then stepped up closer to it.
     "I've never seen one of these before," she said as she gets closer, "I wonder if I could just take a closer look," she finished. She was about to put her hand to it before I stopped her.
     "Don't touch that, Olivia!" I warned. "I was just looking," she defended herself. I moved on and re-stated why we're here. "Don't forget what we're here for, find that skull," I said, and Olivia nodded. I then looked at the chest more closely.
     I opened the chest and didn't know what to say. "Uh, good news, weird news. I found the skull, but-" I said before Petra interrupted. "What the hell? Why'd I risk my neck for that skull if he's got two of them already? He was in such a hurry to get it too..." she said. I then got an extremely uneasy feeling. I wanted to leave ASAP.
     "We need to get out of here. Whatever this guy is doing, I don't wanna be around when he gets back," I said, particularly worried. However, Petra didn't exactly see it my way.
     "If he's doing something shady, we need to figure out what and why," she said. I was about to reply when Lukas spoke first, and confirmed the worst.
     "Wait a minute. I think I know what's going on here," he started. "Soul sand and 3 wither skulls. That's the recipe for a wither," he explained, and all our eyes went wide.
     "B-But a wither...that's-" Petra stuttered. "One of the worst monsters there is," Lukas finished for her, fear in his voice. I simply put had no idea how to react. A wither? What?! And what is the block in the middle gonna do? Make it a super wither? I have no idea what the hell is going on.
     "Well, we came here to find the skull and we found it," I stated, unsure of what was about to happen. "Maybe we should just grab it and get out of here, while we still can," Petra suggested. I was about to agree when I heard the door to the basement open and close. A wave of panic shot through me.
     "Uh, guys?" Lukas asked nervously. "Scatter!" Petra ordered out in a whisper, and we all ran to our hiding spots as I hid behind a chest. I began to hear footsteps entering the basement.
     Oh no.