Chapter 18 – Welcoming Committee

Disclaimer: If you have not read Fred: Admin in Exile and/or Fred: Into the Multiverse yet. I suggest you read those stories first before reading this one.

(Minecraft: Story Mode and its characters belong to Telltale Games, not me.)

(FRED'S POV)

"Okay, I'm not the only one that finds all this silence freaky, right? This place is dead," commented Petra as they walked down the long, red lit corridor.

"Definitely strange," agreed Jack. "Though I imagine you might be relieved to have a little quiet right now, huh? I was almost expecting, I don't know, another huge boss battle or something when we got in here."

"Don't be fooled guys," said Jesse. "If it's this quiet on our way to de-power Romeo, then it's gotta be a trap."

"Well, I'm not seeing anything trap-ish yet, but I'll keep an eye out," Jack responded.

"Then again, only he ever comes up here, so I'm not surprised," Fred added. "But yes, keeping an eye out is wise!"

Eventually, they arrived at a giant room, where Fred saw a whole bunch of what appeared to be glass cells. Fred's attention was grabbed by the sounds of footsteps racing past them. That, was strange.

"Look who it is!" a voice called out, startling the group. Fred spun around and saw a man wearing a green dress shirt and black suspenders, playing with a few iron ingots in his hand. Next to him, Stampy appeared, wearing a familiar suit and gloves, being carried by five parrots. On the other side of green dress shirt was Stacy, wearing the same outfit as Stampy.

"COME OUT AND PLAAAAAAY!" Green dress shirt called out. Fred glanced around and saw that they were surrounded.

"Now hold on guys, you all have the wrong idea," Fred tried to plead. A grunting sound got his attention, and he spun around, to see Jesse being held in a human shield by none other than the White Pumpkin.

"Not another step, or he gets it!" growled the White Pumpkin, her distorted voice echoing around the giant room.

"Whoa, whoa!" Fred exclaimed. "Cassie, let's not do anything rash here!"

Cassie continued to hold Jesse with one hand, while she removed the pumpkin mask with the other.

"And look who finally decides to show his face," Cassie announced. "Do you even realize what Jesse is doing with those powers that you gave him, Fred?"

"Cassie, you've got-"

"Do you see the terror that your friend is putting the entire town through?" Cassie continued, interrupting Fred.

"I-"

"How very ironic, that the White Pumpkin is now the one trying to protect everyone!"

"CASSIE ROSE! WOULD YOU SHUT UP FOR TWO SECONDS AND LET ME EXPLAIN!?" screamed Fred.

"Oh, yeah! You've got quite some explaining to do, Fred!" Cassie retorted. "In case you haven't noticed, you trusted the wrong guy with your powers. Do you see what he's done to us?"

"Jesse's not the one that did this to you, it was Romeo," Fred pleaded.

"Ha! You really expect me to fall for that one?" scoffed Cassie. "That's hilarious!"

"No, no! I'm telling the truth here!"

"Okay, say I believe you, which I don't!" Cassie continued. "Say that Jesse isn't the one who did this, then how can you explain us clearly seeing Jesse here do those horrible things and laughing about them."

Fred scrambled through his inventory, before grabbing a certain portrait and throwing it on the ground. It was the portrait of Fred, Xara and Romeo together in their Admin Forms. Fred pointed towards Romeo.

"That's Romeo! Now, take a look at his eyes," Fred instructed. "Look familiar?"

"Wait? Are those the same eyes that we keep seeing Jesse use outside?" Cassie gasped.

"Exactly, and not only that, but Admins cannot fully disguise as other Admins," Fred finished. "What's really happening here, is that Romeo has disguised himself as Jesse, and is using that disguise to run this town his own way, which I'm sure many of you would quite disagree with."

"I… no!" stammered Cassie. "All those terrible things we thought Jesse did, that…. that wasn't really him?"

"Exactly, now would you kindly let him go, please?" Fred asked.

Cassie slowly loosened her hold over Jesse, who staggered away from her.

"Now, we've came back, because I've got a way to defeat Romeo," said Fred.

"What's that?" asked Cassie.

"#POTATO451," Fred responded. "It's a password guarding a weapon I made, which has the ability to take Romeo's powers away. Right now, it's located in terminal space, and the only entrance that I currently know of happens to be right on top of us, on the roof of this tower."

"Yeah, okay," Cassie said. "You lost me at terminal space, but we're in. You just lead the way, and we'll have your back in defeating this Romeo person."

They continued on, to find stands containing all 10 sets of armor that Jesse owned.

"Well, would you look at this. Romeo's quite the Jesse memorabilia collector," Petra commented.

"I know we don't have much time, but it might be smart to suit up properly," said Jesse.

While Jesse and Petra suited up and Jack changed into his normal clothes, Fred flashed into his Admin form.

"Now, I'm going to scout ahead, to make sure that Romeo isn't about. Don't come up until I say!" instructed Fred as he continued on ahead.

Fred arrived at the top of the stairs, to find himself in some kind of office. Around, was various bookshelves and items, but he had an immediate problem.

Right at the desk at the front, was 'Jesse' (Romeo). He turned around and saw Fred standing in his office.

"Hello, Romeo!" Fred spat.

Romeo immediately responded by removing his disguise.

"Why, what's going through your mind now, Freddy? You still going to spew out more of your crap about something or another?" sneered Romeo.

"Ha, ha, ha!" deadpanned Fred. "No. In fact, I didn't even want to talk to you anyway."

"Then why are you up here?" Romeo questioned.

"Terminal Space," Fred answered. "That's why."

"Really? What, you lost something?"

Damn, Romeo's not going to make this easy. Think, Fred, think.

Before Fred could respond, Romeo got up and gestured for Fred to follow.

"Well really, I'm just glad that you actually followed through with our agreement," said Romeo. "Unfortunately the same can't be said for your friend Jesse."

"What?"

"There is a key difference between a good friend and a bad one," Romeo started. "Good friends do what you ask. They enjoy what you make for them. They never betray you. Jesse is a perfect example of what we call a bad friend. Other bad friends include, in no particular order: You, and Xara."

Great, more of Romeo's nonsense.

"Ultimately, all losers who refused to appreciate the gifts they'd been given. Now me, I won't stand for ingratitude, so I took my gifts away."

"You mean betrayed us and tried to kill us." Fred corrected.

"Call it whatever you want to call it. I could not care less. But then, then, just when I thought I'd found a promising new friend in Jesse, he goes and tries to bloody attack me! Such a disappointment. That is when I had a brilliant idea. The perfect way to weed out the bad friends from the good. To be appreciated. I became Jesse," Romeo recounted. "I was right, of course. The plan worked immediately. Jesse's good friends flocked to me, the better Jesse. Ah, and now poor Jesse is dead, having never learned his lesson. The saddest part of all, really, is that Jesse will never get to see how much better I've made Beacontown."

Fred was glad to hear that his ruse had worked.

"Yeah, sorry for butting in, but I wouldn't exactly call this better." Fred responded.

"What do you mean? Of course it's better. I've got these incredible awesome powers which the people absolutely adore! They love me!"

"Romeo, you moron! They don't love you! They're scared!" Fred snapped. "They're scared that if they don't look like they love you, you'll just teleport them out of existence!"

That got Romeo's attention. He grabbed Fred by the neck and pulled him down to his level. Admin eyes glaring into Admin eyes.

"Then maybe I should make them disappear then! All of them!" Romeo snarled, venomously.

"Fine, if you want to play god and micro-manage everyone just to satisfy your ego, then by all means, be my guest." Fred conceded. "But you can expect no help from me!"

Romeo started shaking, before huffing.

"Okay, fine! Maybe I am acting all fiery and controlling and such. It's just that… being Jesse is the WORST!"

"Oh yes, yes… I said it. I hate being him! His people, his friends? They're so needy, so clingy." Romeo admitted. "I have to listen to their stupid voices day after day after day just asking for things. I thought that being Jesse meant that people would do what I wanted to do! Like how people do with you! No one ever asks what I want! Ugh, it's all can I have iron? And can I have gold? And what are they using all that stuff for, anyway? Ugh, so annoying!"

"It's because that is not how being a leader works, Romeo," said Fred. "You're supposed to listen to people and help them if they need it. That's what I do. I don't just act all high and mighty with my powers and lock people up who don't agree with my ideas."

"Well yes, it's terribly disappointing, is what it is," Romeo sighed. "It's just… it was fun at first. Show them some super amazing display of my awesome powers, they'd laugh, I'd laugh. But soon they were just asking me to do that all the time."

"And again, that's why I don't just go showing off my powers like that." Fred answered.

"You know, you know what's funny? I'm starting to see something here. It's starting to feel like maybe I should just leave the management of Beacontown… to you!" said Romeo. "Since you obviously seem to know what the bloody hell you're doing, I'll just leave you to deal with Beacontown then. Yeah, maybe that is the best way to proceed."

"What's your angle here, Romeo?" Fred questioned. "Because forgive me if I feel like you're trying to trick me."

"Nope. No tricks, no angles, no games!" said Romeo. "Just good ol' Romeo, telling you like it is."

Fred narrowed his eyes.

"Well, this has all been terribly enlightening and I think we've all learned some great lessons here, that I will totally remember for next time."

"Next time?" questioned Fred.

"Yeah, the next world I'll build after I bedrock over this one," Romeo explained. "Oh, I'm going to get it totally right with that one!"

Romeo floated into the air and disappeared. Fred spun around and raced inside to grab the others, but before he could so much as breathe, Romeo appeared once again in-front of him.

"Whole new set of people, a whole new world!" mused Romeo. "Oh, I'll be a great leader, a great friend, next time around. You know, Freddy, I really should thank you for all these wonderful little lessons you've helped me to learn."

"Oh c'mon, Romeo," huffed Fred. "Let's not get hasty here. Are you really going to just leave another set of people in the dark like you did with our original world?"

"Sorry, but it's time to start fresh. Make a new world," responded Romeo. "However, if it makes you feel any better, I'll let you visit my new world."

Romeo winked at Fred.

"Ah well, toodles!"

Romeo disappeared again.

"Don't be a stranger." Fred repeated. "Yeah, I'm sure the next time we meet won't be confrontational."

Fred turned back towards the stairs.

"GET YOUR BUTTS UP HERE!" ordered Fred. "WE NEED TO GET MOVING, NOW!"

Jesse, Jack and Petra appeared along with Cassie and the others.

"What took you so long?" asked Jesse.

"It's Romeo," responded Fred. "That stubborn idiot's going to bedrock over this world."

"What?!" exclaimed Jack, Petra and Jesse together.

Right on cue, a deep rumbling was felt across the entire tower. Fred began to float a few feet into the air, to stop himself from falling over.

"C-can't you stop it somehow?" Jesse asked, hopefully.

Fred slowly shook his head. Looking up, he saw that bedrock was rapidly filling the sky. Looking down, Fred saw the look of horror on the faces of the Beacontown citizens as the bedrock blocked the sunlight, plunging the world into darkness.

"I don't know how to stop this. How are we going to stop this?" asked Jack frantically.

"We need to take his powers away, find the terminal space," Jesse responded.

"The roof. I recall that being the place where Romeo keeps his portal to the terminal place," Cassie spoke up.

"Jesse, you're with me! The rest of you stay here!" instructed Fred. "Let's go!"

Jesse and Fred raced behind Romeo's desk to open the door towards the roof.

"But what about us?" Petra asked.

"If we don't return within the hour, grab the portal atlas and the flint and steel, then relocate everyone to the Old Builder's world and tell Otto what's happened," Fred responded.

"C'mon, we need to get to that portal before the bedrock closes up!" Jesse exclaimed as he opened the doors. Jesse and Fred raced towards the roof, where Fred saw that Romeo was creating two layers of bedrock. Probably to build another Sunshine Institute. Fred saw a lit Terminal Space portal ahead of them.

"Okay, Jesse. Terminal Space can be very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Just follow my lead, and we should get through this fine."

"Okay," Jesse nodded.

And with that, Fred and Jesse raced into the portal.

(JESSE'S POV)

Jesse and Fred appeared out of the other side of the portal, to what appeared to be a strange floating building in the middle of nowhere.

"We made it, we're here!" panted Jesse.

"Indeed we have!" responded Fred. "Now, be careful not to fall down there, unless you want to be stuck forever!"

Jesse cautiously moved away from the edge. Fred cleared his throat.

"Admin Protocol!" said Fred.

"Admin Protocol Initiated!" responded Romeo's voice. Jesse drew his sword in response, but saw that Fred was talking to a jukebox. "You've selected Admin protocol."

"Wait, is this an automatic assistant or something?" asked Jesse.

"Yes, Romeo built it to assist us with navigating this space back when we first got our powers. This was one of the very first places he built using those powers," Fred said.

"Welcome to Terminal Space!" Romeo's voice welcomed as the walkway in-front of them began to light up.

"Well, shall we?" asked Fred, before walking ahead. Jesse shrugged and followed. Looking around, Jesse saw various collections, which seemed to resemble his past experiences with Romeo. He saw a reconstruction of the Prismarine Colossus, along with the Clock from his tower.

"Yeah, Romeo was like that. Almost every single one of our adventures that we had, he saved a memento of. He was a very nostalgic person," Fred remarked, seeing that Jesse was eying the constructions.

"The Automated Personal Assistant System was developed to aid the mighty Admin in menial tasks and help his friends navigate the Terminal Space," Romeo's voice continued on, explaining the assistant system.

"I remember me, and Xara teased Romeo sometimes over his ridiculous construction ideas," Fred recalled. "Those were the days."

Jesse and Fred reached the giant floating building, where the path opened up into a large room. Looking ahead, Jesse saw a machine with three glowing red colored redstone lamps at the far end of the room.

"That's the primary terminal," Fred pointed out.

They approached it.

"Please enter your password to begin a new program," Romeo's voice instructed.

Fred approached the chest next to the terminal.

"Waiting for material request,"

"Potatoes, please!" Fred requested.

"Acquiring… potatoes!"

The chest shook a little bit.

"Items dispensed! Thank you!"

Fred opened the chest and took out two potatoes. He threw the normal potato away, before placing the poison potato inside the item frame on the terminal. Jesse saw a diamond pickaxe appear in his hand, and he began to rapidly mine up some of the blocks inside the terminal, until all three lights turned green.

A thud rumbled throughout the room upon the third light turning green.

"Okay, a hologram of me is going to appear. Listen to him carefully," Fred said.

Right on cue, a hologram of Fred appeared in-front of Jesse and the real Fred.

"Xara… hi," Fred's hologram began. "If you're seeing this recording, well I guess the worst has happened, and you just put the word of Passage into the Primary Terminal. I wish the terminal could just take away Romeo's Admin powers, it'd be easier that way… but making this gauntlet was the best I could do."

Fred's hologram pulled out a glowing golden colored gauntlet. A tower appeared out of the ground in the middle of the room. Fred's hologram walked towards the tower and placed the golden gauntlet inside it.

"Put your hand into the pedestal to receive the gauntlet," Fred's hologram instructed. "It's got the power to make Romeo, normal again. It might take a few hits to remove his powers entirely, but it'll get the job done. Do you understand?"

Jesse nodded.

"Then good luck, Xara. You're… I think you might need it," responded Fred's Hologram.

"I'll let you have the honors," said the real Fred, stepping out of the way for Jesse to grab the gauntlet. As Jesse stepped up to place his hand inside the pedestal, the sound of teleporting, along with an angry voice made him freeze.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

Before Jesse could react, he felt something slam into his body, and everything went black.

Author's Notes: Well, we all know what's happening next chapter.

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