Author's Note: Alrighty, so it has been a hot minute. All I can say for that is that Writer's Block is a bit of a bitch. Other than that, I got engaged in December and accepted into grad school! Still not sure if I'm gonna do it due to money stuff, but we'll see. Also! I'm designing a new TTRPG system! Once the system is out and worldbuilding is done, I might try to start working on some actual novels, so maybe look forward to that!

I have a server now! Come join it, we're trying to make it a great community!

/GETMQWHQmZ

I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's cross-posted on Ao3 as well. Leave a review if you want to. I welcome the feedback! See you next time.

Oumo didn't really know what was going on. He was confident in his Beastmaster quirk and the bonds that he had made with each of the chimeras that Overhaul had made. And then all of that confidence faltered the moment that one of the vigilantes that Overhaul loathed took control of his bonded animal. Oumo had never had to reassert control over his friends before, and yet, just that happened.

And yet, that wasn't what hurt him the most. The thing that hurt him the most was the fact that he was leaving behind one of his bonded beasts. And it became all the more painful when he felt that bond sever. Oumo's beast bonds connected him to the beasts themselves, and that bond severing tore through his body like lightning.

So it was to no surprise that he fought back tears whenever he felt his connection with Gerald be ripped away in an instant. He had been running, but at that moment, he stumbled into the wall next to him. His head was pounding. He braced himself against the wall to keep himself from falling as he gasped for air.

He was used to his bonds being broken, yes. He had used his bonded animals in combat before, but that was a long time ago, and it didn't hurt this much. Was it the fact that these chimeras were made of more than one animal?

"Dammit…" He coughed into his hand. Blood. "Fuck…" He sighed. "This isn't good. I need… I need to protect my bonds… We have to leave…" He strained to keep walking.

Then another arc of lightning through his muscles. His bond with Doreen had just been broken too. He collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily.

"All of you…" Oumo said in his mind. Hopefully his strength wasn't too fractured that he couldn't communicate with his bonds. "All of you, leave as soon as you can. Don't attack them. Please… I can't have more of you… dying… on me…"

Oumo was unconscious by the time that a massive roar shook the complex as yet another arc flashed through his body.

A roar deeper and angrier than anything Dark Shadow could produce was heard through the underground labyrinth.

Fumikage shuddered. "A deep sorrow burns that creature's rage." He said.

"That was incredibly ominous." Shouta said.

"Do we know which direction it came from?" Himiko asked.

Kyouka kneeled down and plugged her jacks into the wall. "There's a lot of rumbling at our nine o'clock. Oh…" She focused some more. "And our two. And our six. There's a good number of footsteps directly ahead of us."

"Can you tell how many?" Izuku asked.

Kyouka shook her head. Then her eyes went wide. "Shit! They're coming towards us! Get ready for a fight!" She immediately took a step back and assumed a fighting stance. Everyone around her did the same.

Soon enough, the rest of the members of the current group began to hear the footsteps themselves. They all steeled themselves as another group of people came around the corner.

"Thank God you're all alright." Bubble Girl said as she, Nighteye, Centipeder, and some police round the corner.

"Overhaul isn't in the direction you came from?" Shouta asked.

"No, we've been running through here for about two minutes now. Shortly after you all were sent down, we were sent down a different, less vertical path. We encountered a monster of a strange variety. It looked like an alligator and a python put together." Nighteye explained.

"We've run into something like that too. What happened to Lemillion?" Fatgum asked.

"He went on ahead." Nighteye said. "We're trying to follow the same direction that he ran off in. That's this way."

"Then we keep going this way." Izuku said as he began to move.

"Right." The other members of Societas Requiem said almost in unison as they followed.

"Where are you going?" Rock Lock asked.

"We're not wasting any more time!" Izuku said, having broken into a run at this point. "We're taking him down!" Izuku turned back to face the direction he was running in. He activated his quirk, searching for any probabilities that would help him. After finding none that would change anything, he shook his head and kept running.

Kyouka was right behind him, following his lead. She had known Izuku for a long time. She trusted her hearing a lot, but she also trusted his intuition. And it wasn't exactly feasible for her to listen when they were running this fast, so Izuku's intuition it was.

After the third turn in the labyrinthian hallways, though, Kyouka didn't need to plug her jacks in to hear something that sent a chill down her spine. A slight, miniscule, and irregular ticking sound was heard. She had heard mechanical ticking noises before. She had learned to drown them out over time. But because of that familiarity, she knew that this was not mechanical. This was organic. It sounded like… something was tapping against the wall. Something rather sharp. She didn't know what exactly it was, but it freaked her out to no end.

She stopped running. Izuku, noticing this, stopped as well. Everyone behind her stopped too.

"Wh-Who's there?" She called out. She didn't mean to have her voice shake like it did.

"Hmmm…" A woman's hum echoed through the now silent hallways. Nothing changed in the air, but it just felt… stale now. And Kyouka could have sworn that it was warmer. "I wasn't expecting anyone to hear me." The ticking increased in volume drastically. A woman stepped out of the shadows. There were 6 insect-like spines coming out of her back that sporadically tapped on the walls as she moved. "Pitty." Her smirk that had just become visible grew into a monstrously grotesque fang-toothed smile.

The woman dashed forward with incredible speed. Several of her spines drug along the ground, creating an unholy cacophony of scraping. Thankfully, Izuku managed to lean out of the way just in time to dodge the piercing strike that instead skewered a police officer behind him.

"Fuck!" Midnight yelled as blood squirted onto her face and costume.

The cop's lifeless body slumped down on the spiked appendage that was going straight through this man's chest. The woman in front of them giggled. "Not the one that I wanted, but it'll do." The body was brought back to the woman. She licked her lips before biting into his neck. Another spray of blood.

Himiko acted first, unfazed by the blood. She dashed forward and tried to cut these appendages, but the figure moved out of the way before Himiko's blade made contact with the woman.

"Tsk. Tsk. Can't even let a woman finish her meal…" She sighed. She now hung from the ceiling as her spikes had impaled into the ceiling. Her spider-like legs moved her along the ceiling away from them.

"Everyone cover your mouths!" Midnight said, tearing off part of her costume. A pink gas soon began to fill the hallway.

Shouta activated his quirk as well. He couldn't get rid of mutant quirks, but he could sure as hell disable them from use temporarily. The woman and the corpse she was carrying fell from the ceiling onto the ground with a thud. Before she could get up and process what's going on, the gas flitted over her, and she soon passed out on the ground.

"What do we do with her?" Bubble Girl managed to ask before vomiting on the floor again.

"We need to make sure that she's not a threat anymore." Fatgum said. "Anyone got a way to keep her in one place until we get someone that can take her up?"

"I can hold her." Rock Lock stepped forward. He produced a piece of curved wrought iron. "I can lock this in place, and she won't be able to move it."

"Sounds like the most we've got." Midnight said.

"I think the best bet would be taking her up to the surface." Izuku said. "There's more people there. She's already killed one of us. She's too dangerous to just be at the mercy of one person's quirk."

"How're we gonna get back up to the surface? The hole we fell down ain't gonna be good fer climbin'." High Noon said.

"The path we came down is passable." Nighteye said.

"Then take her up that way!" Izuku urged.

"Look, kid. Out of everyone here except the students, you have the least experience." Rock Lock said, turning to look at Izuku. "You asked us, heroes, to listen to a bunch of spoiled kids who couldn't make it into any hero program so they did what they wanted because damn the consequences!" By the time he was done talking, he was standing above Izuku. "The best way to deal with her is to keep guard on her. Keep her contained and trapped until this whole thing is over."

Even though Rock Lock couldn't see it, Izuku was making eye contact with him the entire time, unbreaking in intensity.

"If you just have you and another person keeping her here, she's going to cause more problems." Izuku said. "Once she wakes up, what do you think happens?" He asked.

"I think she won't be going anywhere because my quirk will stop her." Rock Lock retorted.

"People are more than just their fucking quirks!" Izuku yelled. He groaned in annoyance and turned away. "But you don't act like it! Sir Nighteye does. Bubble Girl does. Eraserhead does. I don't think I've seen anyone else here aside from my team and I actually fight. Heroes rely so much on their quirks. That's why if Eraserhead was a villain, he'd overtake most of the heroes today." Izuku ranted.

"Fine. I'll keep Bubble Girl here with me. We'll keep guard and send word for assistance." Rock Lock acquiesced.

"We've spent too much time on this." Nighteye shook his head. "We have to go."

"Bubble Girl is staying with me." Rock Lock said.

"Let it show that I don't agree with this." Izuku countered.

"We're aware." Rock Lock said. "Now get to the boss of this operation before he gets away." Rock Lock placed the metal bar around the woman's unconscious form and locked it in place. "That's not going anywhere. And neither is she. Get going already."

"But-" Izuku started.

"Snake Eyes!" Nighteye interrupted. "We don't have time for this."

Izuku didn't say anything, but he turned around and began to walk. The other members of Societas Requiem followed him. Shouto hesitated slightly. His gaze shifted between Rock Lock and Izuku. He sighed and turned to follow his new leader.

The pathways this far down weren't exactly labyrinthine like they had been before, but there were a lot of them, and they were long. The morale of the group had fallen quickly after leaving the two behind.

Izuku was pushing forward, unspeaking and in his head. Kyouka, of course, noticed this.

"Hey…" She said while they ran.

"Not now, Heartquake." Izuku said.

"Right…" She said quietly. She let Izuku gain a bit of ground on her as they continued to run.

"It's gonna be alright, Heartquake." Hitoshi said beside her as he ran. "We'll get him back to how he normally is. He's stressed."

"Yeah…" Kyouka breathed heavily. It was tough having this conversation while running like this, but they were making headway towards Overhaul. That was what was important here.

A screech blasted through the hallways, knocking them all to the floor.

"What was that?" Midnight asked.

"I'm not sure." Kyouka clutched her ears. "But it hurt."

"It's not important. We keep moving." Nighteye said.

A section of the ceiling rushed downwards. A wall now blocked their path. Izuku wasted no time in throwing out some dice bombs and blowing up the wall. The ground shook a few seconds after the explosion had gone off. And then again.

"Lemillion must have started fighting Overhaul." Nighteye said. "This should be over soon." He slowed down.

"We should still offer support." Izuku said.

"No!" Nighteye yelled. Everyone jumped at the raise in volume. Nighteye sighed. "Lemillion can take care of him, I know that. He's strong."

"We shouldn't just leave him to it, though. If something goes wrong…" Mei countered. "One bug in a system can destroy the whole thing."

"Backup doesn't sound like the worst idea, yknow." Fatgum said. "We were all called upon for a reason. Shouldn't we be helpin' when we can't even if he's for sure got it covered?"

The ground shook again. Kyouka stepped back as the ceiling became a wall in front of the group. Societas Requiem, Red Riot, Fatgum, Eraserhead, and Sir Nighteye were on one side of the wall, while the rest of the group were stuck on the other side.

"H-Hey, what happened?" Red Riot asked.

"Probably the same person that changed the walls as before." Shouta yelled at the wall.

"So what do we do?" Midnight asked.

Shouta shook his head. "I guess go back towards Rock Lock and Bubble Girl."

"Why not just break the wall?" Kyouka asked.

"I have a bad feeling." Shouta responded.

"Alright! We're going! Kick his ass for us!" Midnight yelled through the wall.

"We'll do our best." Nighteye said. "Be careful. We don't know what all is in this labyrinth. With less of us together, we really need to be careful now."

"Yes, sir." A policeman said.

"Alright, we're movin' out!" High Noon said, and soon the sounds of footsteps faded from everyone but Kyouka's hearing.

"You said you had a bad feeling, Eraserhead?" Nighteye asked.

"I do. It has something to do with that woman." Shouta responded.

"I concur. Let's hope they're not too late." Nighteye sighed.

"Since we can't go back, we might as well keep going forward." Himiko said. Nighteye shot her a slight glare. She just shrugged. "Better than sitting here and waiting for us to be ambushed. Speaking from experience, this is a prime ambush situation."

"I concur." Shouta said. "We're sitting ducks here. We need to move." He turned around and began to walk away. Societas Requiem followed him.

Nighteye sighed before following them. "Did he forget what my vision saw?"

Midnight led the group back the way that they came from. Almost twenty minutes passed before they managed to reach near where they had left Bubble Girl and Rock Lock.

"Hey you two, we were blocked off. We've come back. Are you all alright?" She asked.

There was no response.

"Hello?" Midnight asked as she turned the corner and froze.

Right where they had left the villain and the two hero companions was the remains of a bloodbath. Blood splatter reached the ceiling. One of Rock Lock's arms was thrown further down the hallway, as was Bubble Girl's head; her face was cold and expressionless. Lopsided. Viscera and entrails covered the floor. Bloody bones were scattered along the ground and shoved into the walls, jutting out in some kind of pattern, almost as if some kind of macabre art exhibit. Along the wall was a single word written in blood: 'Arachne'.

A moment of silence hung in the air like the lingering stench that accompanied this grotesque scene.

Midnight didn't scream like some of her companions did. Nor did she wretch or throw up like some others. She didn't even get angry. She unconsciously took steps backwards. Her eyes darted around the room, taking in the scene around her. Her mind raced. And then it stopped. She didn't really do anything. She simply collapsed onto the ground, mind blank, emotions off. She stared ahead, unblinking. "He was right." Was all she said.

"Midnight? Are you alright?" A police officer asked.

"We should have listened. They were so young. They… we should have listened. We should have listened." Midnight rambled. She soon began to only repeat "We should have listened" over and over again.

"Why didn't we hear anything? Shouldn't we have heard a scream or a cry for help? Something?" Dart Point asked.

"If this villain, I'm assumin' her name is Arachne from the wall writin', is as skilled as she's shown herself to be, she could have gotten both of 'em before they even realized what was goin' on." High Noon said.

"Where… where are the rest of them?" Suneater asked.

"They might be further down this hallway. They might not be." Dart Point offered.

"We should get her out of here." High Noon said, gesturing to Midnight.

"I'll carry her. Let's get out of here." Suneater said quietly. He gently picked her up, and they began to walk out.

Midnight had gone silent by this point. She stared blankly in front of her, clutching her arms close to her chest as she was carried back up to the surface.

"We're getting close." Kyouka said as another massive blast caused the room to shudder.

A scream grabbed all of their attention. The group dashed forward through a door to see Lemillion and Overhaul standing across the room from each other. Lemillion was breathing heavily, but Overhaul looked like he wasn't tired at all. Blood was splattered around the room on the floor.

Izuku saw movement out of the corner of his eye. When he turned to look, he saw a robed figure dashing towards Lemillion. As this figure got close, Izuku called out. "Lemillion! Behind you!"

Lemillion turned and saw the man directly behind him, but his eyes quickly flicked back to Overhaul and the several rock spikes barreling towards him from multiple directions. He activated this quirk on himself as the spikes all intersected with his head. He ducked down as the spikes passed through him, but he couldn't see or hear anything anymore due to his quirk activating.

The man behind Lemillion was counting on this. From beneath his hood, a small arrow appeared and pierced Lemillion's back.

Immediately, Lemillion's movements slowed down. The hooded man tackled Lemillion to the ground.

"Now that he's been taken care of…" Overhaul said, eyes trailing over to Societas Requiem, specifically Izuku. Izuku felt Overhaul's eyes boring into his skull. "Let's get down to business." His hand touched the ground, and a massive ring of stone cut off Societas Requiem from the other people in the group. "Are you ready to atone for your sins?"