A/N: Hey all. Holy fuckin' shit dude, I'm gone for a couple of months and the whole world is falling apart jfc. Anyways you've heard it from a thousand different places but I'm gonna do my part too; Wash your hands, stay away from old people, try not to spread your nasty germs everywhere, and don't gather like a Baboon orgy. Seriously, it's not as deadly as some pandemics but people can freakin' die. That's what important and not just something people are losing their minds for no reason about. Anyways I'm back with a chapter as you can see, I took some time off because I changed jobs into Private Security now and my hours -while being ass- are kinda awesome at the same time. Four days, forty-four hours and three off in a row between then. Not anything necessarily hard labor-wise, more of a mental thing. Let me tell you, people can be real assholes because they're full of themselves. At least I can call the cops since I work private property if they get too wild. That's nice. I work more hours on less days so hopefully I can start releasing more chapters for everyone. I'd like to shoot for two a week, just so I can get this story rolling and finished sometime soon. This week it'll just be one since I'm trying to get back into the groove of writing again. Sometimes you just lose interest for a while, you know? Not finishing this arc this chapter, it got much longer than I thought so it'll have to be the next one.

There comes a time in everyone's lives, a special 'fuck this' moment that changes a person's life from then on out. For Samuel, Badass extraordinaire and not (is) a momma's boy, that time is now.

...But only because a giant bear wearing armor like some kind of fucked up nightmare from an online MMORPG (jesus that's a lot) is currently chasing him around with his baby dangling from it's filthy, grimy, blood encrusted neck. Who cares if the gun is too? That's Samuel's blood (not really) and only he can get it dirty!

The giant Murderbear chases behind Samuel, crashing through steel beams, heavy equipment and mindless people like a fat kid after the ice-cream truck. The clobbering thud of it's charge makes Samuel guess only just a little to how much the thing weighs. At least a couple tons if he were to guess, maybe more. Don't ask him how he can guess like that, because he has no skill in it whatsoever. It's entirely a 'oh shit, that's an animal tank, has to be a couple tons maybe' thing. The metal plates seemingly grafted into the savage beast's flesh must weigh the same weight of a regular bear on top of the actual monster being easily twice the weight of a Kodiak.

Despite not being a mythical monster, Yogi -bloodfestering- Bear back their certainly makes the shit in his organs want to slip out more than most beasts he's fought in the past before, and he swears to every god in the world if you tell Samson that he'll rip off your arms and shove them in your eyes!

Now, given how every badass monster in history has a name written down somewhere, Samuel decides while he's running for his very life why not give it a name? Maybe he can reach out to it if he shows a little humanity? Now that begs the question, what should he name the beast?

"Yo! Samson-" He yells over the clobbering of the beast and what he guesses to be the distant sound of Samson and the wolf fighting, "I'm trying to think of a name for my beast! Got any ideas?!"

Samuel races to a steam support beam and runs up the metal for a couple steps, just enough to dodge and jump over the bear as it rams the beam, denting the hell out of it and maiming the metal, practically rending it to shreds.

...Wait a minute... Maim and Rend!

"AHA! I'VE GOT THE NAMES!"

Samson leaps over the railing of a collapsing scaffolding tower and shouts as he lands harshly on the back of the bear, perhaps named Maim, and grips onto the spiked collar of the demon bear as it starts bucking like mechanical bull. More shouts escape him as Main furiously beats itself against anything nearby, Samuel dodging with upmost concentration as he eyes his rifle dangling from the bear's neck.

Leaping into action as Maim rears up to slam its' back down onto the ground, Samuel jumps and grips his rifle and presses his legs against the bears chest plate with all the strength he can muster. With a heavy grunt, the metal pins attaching the leather strap to the stock of the gun break loose, launching Samuel back a dozen feet where he bashes his head against a console of some kind!

The Young God sees Samuel's consciousness withering from the intense collision and jumps into action. He releases himself from the collar of the bear and jumps away as Maim backflops onto the steel tiling, forming a large indent perfectly bear shaped. He makes to run towards Samuel only to be blindsided as a large shadow the size of a moose headbutts him and throws him away nearly fifteen feet.

Samson crashes into the tiled floor and rolls himself to continue his momentum. Using an old trick he learned from his brother Thomas, Samson rolls and perfectly uses the energy to spin back to his feet and conjure the hidden Ghisi-styled shield enchanted on his sleeve just in time to catch the gnashing, bleeding teeth of the armored wolf chasing him.

Snarling, growling and salivating, the agile counterpart to Maim grips the edges of Samson's shield and starts tugging and pulling on it and his arm the same a dog would during a particularly violent session of tug of war.

Rend, the 'wolf' Samson supposes, if this thing can even be considered a wolf, slams a paw down against the ground, grips Samson's shield and rears its' head in a dramatic arc, launching Samson in a high arc where he crashes thirty feet away onto the second level of the primary foundry. Samson uses the brief pause from his pursuit to rub his arm, the injury he received from the memory of Kronos's scythe is still healing, and the tug of war session with Rend only furthers his weakend ability of defense.

If Samson wants to survive this encounter, he needs to start going on the offensive! Only problem... Rend attacks fast and the only counter is too defend, something he can no longer do.

Samson watches as Maim slowly twists its body and rises again. Acting quickly Samson yoinks a blue flower from his jacket and tosses it, hitting Samuel in the head where the magic flower Rhea grafted into his clothes explodes into several gallons of cold water. The hot metal floors hiss and scream, some even snap from the cold shock as Samuel suddenly jolts back into full consciousness. He sees Maim approaching and jumps back to his feet, rifle aimed down sight and a splitting grin on his face.

"Let's see how well you bear this bitch!"

Somewhere, deep in the Earth and eating a bratwurst, a well dressed man feels a disturbance in the force. Luckily for him his old friend knows exactly what to say for him.

"Samuel, that wasn't funny!"

"FUCK YOU I'M HILARIOUS!"

Hylla winces as she feels a sharp pain pass through her gut for a split second. Mori gently grabs her shoulders and leans her against a cold, concrete wall as she catches her breath.

"Are you okay? Is it the... you know?"

The stalwart Queen simply waves her off and stands proudly as the pain and exhaustion passes, "I'm fine. Just a cramp. Well, that or my husbando made a shitty joke again. They literally can cause physical pain."

Mori scrunches her mouth to the side as she stifles a growing fit of giggles. Hylla, however, doesn't let up, "Don't hold it back, seriously. You should hear how he reacts when anyone criticizes his humor. 'Shut up I'm FUNNY!'" The poor, yet decently accurate mimic of Samuel bursts the dam. Mori and Hylla share a fit of giggles nearly identically to the group of blonde bimbos in high school who made fun of the weird kid in class within earshot.

Settling down back into comfortable silence Hylla continues leading her two-girl crew through the emergency tunnels, doing her best to appear stoic and not as lost as a grandmother in a Hot Topic.

The winding emergency escape tunnels Hylla's Amazonian engineers quietly built beneath the house is a winding series of long concrete tunnels dimly lit by embedded emergency lights at passing intervals. Much like a sewer, the tunnels are cramped and only just big enough for a few persons at a time to fit through though with th added benefit of lacking any horrendous smells of sewage waste.

Even with just barely any sorts of comfort, the tunnels are not a place Hylla was hoping ever to use. They're dark, cold, and purposefully designed to lead to many dead ends in case escapees had to try and lose pursuers. Of course this also means the ones fleeing could get lost too, and with no directional markings of any kind there's a very real possibility getting lost and starving to death.

Of course Samuel was the one who requested the tunnels be set up that way. At the time Hylla was fine with the idea, but trying in vain to memorize the single map, a map which was burned to ashes alongside her home, was a task she left to Samuel. Something she's really regretting at the current moment.

Suddenly, Hylla stops and crouches low to the ground, motion for Mori to do the same. She gets low and presses and ear against the cold concrete floor and closes her eyes. It's subtle, faint as the natural shiftings of the deep Earth miners can feel, but this is different. They're too close to the surface for this to be natural and too deep for it to be cars of the train system.

Tap tap tap

Frantic footfalls, has to be nigh a dozen, if Hylla were to guess. Following the general direction the Queen quietly races through the tunnels, making lefts, rights ups and downs until quiet, hissing voices laced with anger and fear can be hear echoing close by. Hylla's eyes narrow and the fury of a War Goddess' blood boils in her veins. Unlike most demigods born from particularly violent Gods, The Queen of the Amazons taught herself how to focus and control her fury.

Moving like a superhuman she expertly follows the echoing voices, somehow subconsciously triangulating a precise location in her brain. Mori follows behind as quietly as she can, the aura Hylla radiates is one of those 'don't fuck with me' ones that any woman with a half functioning brains knows to listen too.

Lost in her thoughts Mori doesn't notice Hylla stop until she bumps into her, almost voicing a protest before quickly clmaping her mouth shut as the voices are closer than ever.

Looking over Hylla's shoulder she can see why the Queen had stopped. Strewn to the side like a bag of refuse a familiar blonde haired daughter of Hygieia lies against the wall, body covered in bruises blood from what only could've been a tormented torture session.

Quick as a cat Hylla is by her side, fingers pressed against her neck searching for a pulse. It's there, but slow and weak. Hylla looks back to Mori who gives her a solemn shake of her head. Mori's abilities to heal flesh comes from a careful mixture of potions and sorcery, and her bag was lost in the fire not long ago.

"I'm sorry, Hylla, I can't heal her blood loss."

The Queen simply turns back to her falling comrade and gently wakes her, hoping that her old friend can give some answers as to what happened with her other Amazons. The demigod weakly cracks open her eyes, and even though her body is dying in her eyes Hylla can see the truest and purest of joy and relief.

"M-my Queen," She struggles out, voice hoarse from the blood pooling in her throat, "Th-they're traitors!"

Sarah weakly coughs, blood coming from her mouth that stains her teeth red, "Those bitches were cultists all along! Th-they dragged me down here and left me for dead. They're making off with everything in the safe, I saw it! I-I tried to stop them, but..." Her eyes begin dimming, all of the adrenaline keeping her going leaks out with the blood spilling from her wounds.

Hylla's eyes are stony, yet filled with an odd empowering nature despite her silence as one of her comrades slowly dies in her arms. Firmly, she takes one of Sarah's hands in her own and stares deeply into her hollow eyes, "Be with our sisters now. I hold your vows fulfilled."

It's not much, and to most her words seem to be a cold sendoff. But in the last flickering moment Hylla could see the greatest of pride swell in those crystal blue eyes. The faintest glimpse of a person completely content with life before the wavering end that follows.

Closing her eyes, Hylla silently mutters something Mori guesses to be a prayer of some sorts. Whatever it is it's clearly something for Amazons only. She gives Hylla a moment to herself before following the queen as she briskly moves past the now deceased body of her loyal warrior.

Taunting the bear was a bad idea. Shooting the bear in the eyes was a very bad idea. He expected the beast to have some kind of debilitating reaction to having its eyes explode (and a small part of him hoped it would die: No such luck). Maim didn't die, no, Maim got angry. Like a freight train it barreled after Samuel, somehow still knowing where he is at all times though the Son of Strife notes its' attacks are more clumsy than before.

Samuel dodges back as the demon bear leaps forward and smashes a paw down where he once was, the shockwave of the beasts' strength not only tearing the steel floof to bits but also colliding with his body and sending him spiraling back where he only just manages to stay on his feet before ducking down as the throws an impaled piece of sheet metal towards his head.

While thankful for the blessing he got from the Lady of the Lake Samuel knows he can't fight Maim as he's doing forever. Eventually he's going to make a mistake and it'll cost him his life. There's no beating around it. If he wants to end the fight it has to be now.

Looking around quickly he spots one of the giant smelters containing molten metal. An idea forms in his mind nearly instantly, and he's springing into action not soon after. Sensing his fleeing presence, Maim races after him, thundering like a stampede all by itself as it furiously gives chase.

Samuel scales up the winding catwalks surrounding the some fifty foot tall vat of molten metal as his pursuer follow. The catwalks croak and groan from the intense beating they receive from the rampaging beast but manage to maintain their stability. Samuel comes to a stop on a catwalk overlooking the white hot opening of the smelter below him. The intense heat rising with the fumes turns his face red and threatens to suffocate him, but he manages to keep himself awake just long enough.

Maim announces his presence with a heavy crash as a large, multi ton console of some kind is ripped from its housing and tossed far away. With heavy, grumbling breath the bear lumbers forward and turns to face Samuel. The catwalk is like an airport runway to Samuel, completely empty and long. Perfect place for a charge, if only the bear knew it was trap.

The Son of Strife heaves and coughs, the heat cracking the skin on his face and the fumes filling his lungs with poison, but he holds on as it's all he can do. Great victories require sacrifice, and if he gets a little poisoned to kill this goddamn bear then so be it!

The showdown is like something from an old myth. A beaten, bloodied warrior stand before a beast with blood dripping from its empty eye sockets. Before him the bear stands like a Titan to a man. So far away yet so impossibly big it can't be real.

"C'mon!" He screams with all his waning might, the heat and fumes becoming so unbearable a human man would've died many time over by now. Owing to his half-godliness Samuel survives, but only for moments longer if he doesn't act fast!

"Come get me! I'm right here!" Scrapping its' claws against the steel, sending a shower of sparks behind it Maim charges. Fifty feet turns to forty, then thirty. Twenty to ten when, to Samuel's horror, Maim slows down. The bear, while a creature possessed by raging spirits borne from Tartarus, is not an idiot. It could feel the heat in the air, feel the shifting catwalks precariously holding it up.

It guessed a foul machination and played Samuel. A trap within a trap. Now Samuel is stuck on the edge of a half collapsing catwalk mostly held up by cable attached to the ceiling. Oh, and he's also slowing being suffocated to death. Samuel's heart drops and a feeling he hasn't felt in a long time creeps up his spine.

Terror.

Sheer. Complete. Terror. He's had many close calls in the past, but to be so helpless in the face of certainty is a new one. This very well might be what kills him, and with his consciousness fading from the toxins in the air Samuel can't rely on quick action to save him now. Slowly he falls to a knee as the demon slowly, no carefully walks towards him. His vision begins to blur and he feels like the floor he kneels upon shifts beneath him. Just then, a thought breaks through the slurry that is his mind.

The catwalk is supported by wires attached to the ceiling, the primary support beneath is severely compromised and a multi-ton behemoth is putting a lot of pressure on already weak foundation. Samuel looks up and sees the cable pinned to the cavern ceiling, but he also sees they're loose.

With his waning might, Samuel drags himself over to the railing and braces his back, readying himself for one hell of a ride. Taking his trusty rifle in hand Samuel aims up, up past the looming bear and to the pins supporting basically all of the catwalk he's seated upon. With utter surety, he pulls the trigger and his shot strikes true. The pin holding one of the cables is shot right in the loop, making a hole that sends the cable flying free.

Instantly the platform shifts, the metal groaning as it slowly begins twisting from the lopsided tension forces. Metal screams like a car crash as the twisted foundation supports fail under the intense forces, combining Maim's intense weight speeds the process of collapse almost instantly.

The other pin is ripped from the cavern walls and in that instant anything holding the platform level fails completely. Samuel grips the railing with an iron hold as the once level platform dips down into a ramp aiming straight into a vat of molten metal while the back end of the platform remains attached to sturdier foundations, giving Samuel's platform a sixty degree angle down. Maim roars in fury as its weight works against it. The beast slides straight down the platform, aiming right for the molten metal below.

What must be divine punishment or just a cruel, final prank, Maim lashes a claw out and clips Samuel's shoulder, ripping a large gash in it while also causing him to loose grip on his rifle and drop it. Whatever weariness he once had is gone. Samuel instantly lets go of the railing he's holding on to and slides down the platform, following his rifle as it slides down alongside Maim into the slag below.

Samuel bellows a shout of despair as he reaches for his gun in vain. His arm catches a loose bit of destroyed railing just at the last moment, dangling the raving Son of Eris as he watches his baby fall down into a vat of molten metal alongside his enemy.

The greatest victories require sacrifices. All Samuel can do is shed tears of grief and anger as the cost for his continued life is one of the few things he has left that means anything to him.