Noose and her team gathered at the entrance of the Hive-Cluster.

  Pink-gray flesh clung to human remains along the walls.

  “Take our teeth off the pillars; I don’t want to risk a collapse while we’re inside," Noose instructed Crowe.

  He nodded and set about disabling them.

  I won't let Onyx consider you disposable. You didn't leave me behind in the tunnels. Noose thought to her self.

  A deep, monstrous roar echoed from within the hive.

  They didn’t rush inside; that would expose them to the threat of Grievers.

  Inside the Hive-Cluster, each step felt like they were inside a living creature’s body—wet and sticky, with white veins pulsating around

  them.

  Noose had expected swarms of Grievers, but nothing stirred; only dismembered limbs lay scattered, oozing black and green fluids.

  As they ventured deeper into the hive,

  Crowe illuminated an area where biomass sprouted like branches reaching for the ceiling. Behind them, lurkers could be seen—

  —moving until another thunderous roar echoed nearby.

  The lurkers froze and then scurried away.

  “And Verran trusted Ryker and his men to manage this?” Fey remarked, eyeing the remnants of torn Grievers.

  Noose remained silent, her gaze fixed on the path where Karauro’s furious beast form had left destruction.

  Then, she spotted him among the flesh-branches.

  His snout was more pronounced, nearly animalistic.

  For some reason, memories of his face flashed in her mind.

  A confident grin.

  While anyone in his position would have begged.

  She shook off the recollections and carefully navigated behind the flesh branches.

  There he was—claws outstretched, grabbing, biting, tearing.

  Ichor stained everything around him.

  After dispatching his final kill, he panted, then turned his head toward a massive pillar in the center.

  Her thumb gently brushed against the rifle's under barrel chamber.

  Noose recognized that he had overlooked them entirely.

  His attention had always been fixated solely on the core.

  It reminded her of the week before, when he chose not to attack her.

  "Threat management" Noose whispered.

  Fey turned her gaze sharply to Noose, as if trying to comprehend what she had just said.

  Veins pulsed with a white light as Karauro approached it on all fours, his knees bent like a dog's.

  He moved with his front limbs swinging like those of a large primate, ichor whipping through the air as if it were hair.

  He stood before a bright white orb enveloped in translucent flesh.

  From the pitch black, another Queen swarmer emerged.

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  Karauro growled, dismissing it.

  His arm drove into the spot where the glowing orb been attached to veins.

  Ripping it out, without pause.

  Consumed it whole.

  His fiery orange eyes gleamed intensely, and for a brief moment, his ichor vines shimmered with a deep crimson hue.

  The Queen shrieked as she rushed at him.

  His tendrils punctured into the flesh floor and speared out into the Queens head.

  Noose observed his tendrils expanding from the base all the way to the tip.

  A booming sound emerged, like a blade being pulled from its sheath.

  Clean cut. Lifting its body, it convulsed.

  He pulled his tendrils back and, in a swift motion, lunged at the Queen.

  His forearms swelled as splintered, bone-like spikes erupted, impaling her midsection and splitting her apart.

  "Damn it, how the hell are we supposed to handle that?" Pike murmured.

  Noose typically had a solution.

  But not this time.

  Just as Fey was getting ready to fire her charge shot, Noose halted her.

  "Wait, look," she said, nodding to Karauro's direction.

  The ichor vines retracted, hissing and releasing steam. His eyes faded, and he shrank to his normal size.

  Some of his armor crumbled. His hair returned to its usual length.

  The skull mask disintegrated into ashes.

  Suddenly, the hive trembled; Noose and her squad steadied themselves.

  "Feels like a ton of blast charges," Crowe cursed, gripping a flesh branch.

  "Didn’t we remove ours?" Fey shouted.

  Noose narrowed her eyes, analyzing.

  As Karauro regained himself, he began to sway, and the meat floor split open.

  Noose surged forward, her boot thrusters in full blast.

  Karauro's unconscious body fell into the gap.

  Her squad deployed their Halo-wire net, keeping it non-lethal.

  They hung above the split ground.

  Lights cut in from behind; more Onyx soldiers moved toward the team.

  "Backup?" Crowe muttered, grappling with his drone, which hoisted Noose and Karauro.

  Shots fired.

  Noose felt the net loosen. She held Karauro tightly.

  The irony, she thought.

  Her gaze tracked bullets zipping past through the gap.

  Then it ripped apart, plunging Noose and Karauro into a free fall.

  She swiftly seized her knife and drove the blade into the fleshy wall, halting their plunge.

  As she held on firmly to Karauro, he finally managed to blink his eyes open.

  "It's great to see you're finally conscious. Care to swoon for me just for a moment?" Noose said with a strained tone.

  "Huh?" was all he managed to utter as she released her grip on him.

  "How dare you!" Karauro shouted.

  Two tendrils erupted from his lower back, anchoring themselves into the concrete.

  Karauro's eyes widened as he took in his surroundings.

  Noose glanced at him still suspended from her knife.

  "You’re incredibly heavy," she remarked.

  Karauro yelled, "I didn't see you drop last time!"

  ---

  After they both descended to a lower level, Noose tried to reach out to her team. The signal went through.

  Noose (over the comms): "Fey, what’s going on? More Grievers?"

  Fey: "No... they were shooting at us. Looks like they're with Ryker. They wore his emblem."

  A soft grunt echoed through Fey's communicator.

  Noose: "Who’s been marked?"

  Fey; "Pike got shot while extracting intel; he's using them to clean up after his teams fuck up."

  Noose: "Damn... of course he would. Let's meet on the east side of the hive. Keep me updated on Pike’s status. Over."

  She exhaled slowly, turning to Karauro, who was standing nearby, stretching his right hand.

  He wasn't wearing a helmet; instead, he wore a worn-out suit that looked like a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces.

  Their gazes locked.

  "Before I get accused—" Karauro started to say.

  Noose quickly shook her head.

  "I already know," she replied.

  Karauro wore a puzzled expression.

  "What do you hope to achieve with this?" Karauro asked straightforwardly.

  Noose hesitated before responding.

  "I’m settling a debt; you rescued me in the Ash Mire-hive. I’m just trying to balance things out—" Noose didn't get the chance to finish as Karauro cut her off.

  "Balancing things out? I'm not convinced. You're taking a significant risk here, Noose." His tone was serious, devoid of any hint of sarcasm.

  Noose looked at him. He didn't waver.

  Until he looked away.

  "Whatever," Karauro finally said.

  "Whats your problem?" Noose replied irritated.

  "My issue is you putting yourself in danger when I'm not in the right state of mind. I really don't want to see you marked by it."

  Boots thudded against the dirt behind a curve.

  Noose seized her rifle as Karauro swiftly took cover.

  She settled next to him, passing him her pistol.

  "Are you aware they’re armed?" Karauro inquired.

  "Aim true and you’ll be okay, probably." She scoffed.

  "We've spotted the enemy!" an Onyx soldier yelled.

  Bullets zipped past the wall where both Noose and Karauro were concealed.

  ---

  Noose unleashed a barrage of bullets, taking down two of Ryker's men.

  She quickly ducked back into her cover, catching a glimpse of Karauro’s finger twitching—a telltale sign of his counting habit.

  “Just do what you have to do; you’re like a dog holding in its piss,” Noose snapped, frustration evident in her voice.

  Karauro merely grunted in response.

  Two crimson tendrils emerged once more.

  He advanced into the open, wrapping himself in his hardened ichor tendrils for defense.

  He fired off a few shots, striking one opponent right between the joints.

  He slid forward, anchoring himself in place.

  The tendrils expanded, securing his position as Noose slipped in beside him.

  Noose passed Karauro an item.

  "I thought they got rid of that!" he exclaimed.

  I made sure it stayed secure; it’s what saved us from the Elder, Noose answered, tossing him another magazine.

  "As I said before, I've always liked having you by my side," Karauro grinned. "You're an excellent handler."

  He allowed a slender vine to wrap around his arm and hand, securing the kinetic module onto his improvised gauntlet.

  With a powerful swing, he struck the anchor's tendril, breaking it apart into sharp fragments resembling glass, which erupted with energy.

  The shards flew away like shrapnel, piercing through Onyx's armor.

  "Let's move to that hallway. Can you lift this cover?" Noose asked, tossing smoke canisters.

  "I have a better idea!" Karauro replied.

  "Just do it, I can't think right now—" Noose was interrupted.

  Her body was pulled toward him.

  A tendril sank into the ground and burst out by the hallway bend.

  Another tendril coiled around the anchored one, drawing it forward before withdrawing and repeating the motion.

  His ichor began to dissolve as they slowed down.

  He set her down.

  She remained silent.

  Another piece of his armor dropped.

  "Nice," Noose finally remarked.

  ---

  Noose and Karauro stealthily navigated the dim hallway.

  A light flickered weakly.

  Noose's squad lingered by meat pillars, blast charges already planted.

  She signaled Crowe, who detonated the charges, sending flesh and debris scattering.

  Pike sat beside a pillar, nursing his wound.

  Noose approached him.

  "Ah, you got the mutt back, huh?" Pike chuckled softly.

  Karauro scanned the parking lot nearby.

  "We're leaving soon; just hold on," Noose reassured, nodding at Pike.

  She briefly noticed Karauro's searching gaze before it landed on him, focused intently.

  An image of his Fumed-Beast form flashed in her mind, but it vanished instantly.

  He adjusted his grip on something concealed.

  Cautiously, she approached to find a lifeless Onyx soldier sprawled out, its head detached.

  He was methodically extracting the soldier from the Pristine Nexon suit.

  "At least you're keeping busy...with a corpse," she remarked.

  He stayed silent, not turning.

  "I need it more than Mr. Headless Joe here," he growled.

  "Will Pike be okay?"