The entire outpost sustained heavy damage in the baalcross's attack, much of its frame was deformed and the windows were completely shattered. Most of the equipment meant to aid them in their scientific endeavors now laid damaged or broken entirely. They blocked the windows with whatever they could find and barred the front door, its dented shape rendering it unable to close properly. Once the faint illusion of safety began to return, the group allowed themselves to breathe a little easier.

Averus was resting on a nearby edge of the room, looked after by Danny's concerned gaze. Marshall tried assuring the Doberman that Averus received all care possible and nothing was left to do, but Danny gently told him off every time and continued to sit by his coworker. His pains mostly healed, Rocky found the strength to stand again and entered the nap room to see an old, injured friend.

"This whole thing has gone awry," Rocky said, coming over to Ryder. "We lost our equipment, everyone is wounded, please tell me you have some kind of plan."

"My plan failed," the boy replied, breathing heavily and holding his wounded shoulder. "Now my weapons are empty and Parker is dead, what else could I possibly do?"

"I seem to remember you being quite tenacious when it came to those in need. The Ryder I knew never gave up."

"Yeah, well, times change," he sighed, looking away from the dog. "I'm not... I'm not as strong as I used to be."

"Why though? What did change?"

It was a sharp question that sent a painful twist of sorrow between them, Ryder let out a sigh as utter shame burned under his skin. He refused to say anything for a few seconds, until Rocky was moments away from entirely repeating the question. This was probably the only time he'd ever get a clear answer to the one thing he'd been dying to know, and he wasn't passing up the moment now.

Ryder slowly sat on the floor, sliding his back down the wall. "I guess I just... was in too deep. You help Archline once, and you're tied for life."

"We could've helped you."

"And I really don't doubt that," Ryder shook his head sadly. "But it wasn't what Dutch wanted. I contemplated why I, a living human, was allowing myself to get bossed around by a dog, but I guess in this day and age, true power can come from anyone. My hands were tied, Rocky. There was no going back."

Rocky looked to the ground, stewing in his own pot of guilt and shame. Flicking his eyes back to his old leader, he asked the question he never thought he'd ever say again.

"I need your help."

Ryder glanced back at him with an alarmed expression, bewildered at his words. "You... want my help? After everything?"

"Considering our situation, I don't think it's worth it to dwell on the past right now. And besides," the mix said with a sigh. "I think you're the only one who can do it."

The boy only stared in response, leaning back on the wall as if the question was foreign to him. He ran through the options in his head, silent as if he were scanning the room for invisible threats. Rocky had a point, what was anything worth holding on to past grudges? He always did seem to be the sensible one, at least compared to someone like Chase or Zuma. He hadn't even heard what the favor was yet, there was nothing wrong with simply throwing a dog a bone.

"Alright," Ryder said, holding his hands in resignation. "What is it?"

Leaning in lightly, Rocky spoke with a whisper, anxious for Dutch overhearing him. "I need to reach Chase. He could have the answer to all our problems and I can't talk to him. Dutch cut us off, but did he do the same to you?"

"Well he didn't exactly cut you off, he just tuned your collars to different frequencies," the boy reached up his vest, unclipping the idle radio from where it hung. "You can't manually tune a radio collar without a certain tool, so he wasn't worried about you getting around it. Handheld radios, however..." he clicked on his device, carefully tuning one of the knobs. "...obviously won't have that restriction. Give me a moment."

Rocky briefly returned to the main room while his old leader bridged the gap to his brother, checking in on the other survivors. "Is he okay?" he asked with a concerned tone, walking up to Danny.

"He's fine," the scientist brushed him off. "Your presence is not needed."

He had given Averus a sleeping agent, despite the aggressive protests from Marshall. Danny already had a strong argument; the husky needed something to ease his pains, and to be put in stable condition so tests could be run. The sleep probably also did well to heal his injuries, ultimately winning Danny the debate and sending Marshall sulking away.

"Okay first off, I literally saved his life," the captain said, taken aback at the abrasive answer. "Secondly, he told me something went down his throat, he could still be in danger."

"And that, I am still investigating with my personal skill," Danny replied, disinterested in his help. "Your medic has served his purpose, and now I need to find out what he swallowed."

"In all honesty, I'm not too confident in your abilities considering we're in this position right now."

"I understand you feel obligated to protect us," said the Doberman, giving Rocky an annoyed look. "But we have obligations of our own: to understand the Omnihive and its effects on us. We've already lost our chance to trap warriors and make more FRX, the least we can do is get some kind of result to Dutch before we tell him the bad news."

"Fine, fine," Rocky rolled his eyes, not willing to get into another argument right now. "Well by all means, don't let me interrupt your work..."

Turning to the only other friendly dog in the room, he walked to Marshall, sitting down beside him. "So, how you holding up?"

"I hate all of this," the Dalmatian said grimly. "Is anywhere in this shithole actually safe?"

"Oh wow, you actually said a swear for once," Rocky let a chuckle slip through his disdainful mood. "That's new for you."

"Whatever," the medic ignored him. "This place is having an effect on me."

"You aren't the only one, you know."

Marshall looked off to the damaged wall, scanning each individual crack and fracture from the attack. His expression turned thoughtful; his eyes filled with contemplation.

"Do you think the ACG is looking for us?" Rocky asked his brother. "They have to be, in their eyes we disappeared off the face of the planet," he stopped to look out one of the windows, casting his gaze over the Omnihive's forest. "And given how this place works, I'm starting to wonder if we actually did somehow. Bella wouldn't just let this slide; she has to be searching," his voice lowered to a sad mutter. "I just hope Strap, Paige, and Burton are managing without us."

"They're good soldiers, Rocky," Marshall said. "Do you have faith in them?"

"Of course I do, I've entrusted my life to them hundreds of times"

"Then they probably feel the same about us, and we shouldn't worry too much about them," said the medic's softened words, and he placed a paw on Rocky's shoulder.

A warm smile peeled through his pains, Rocky felt a brightening within him. "Glad to see you're still you, Marsh."

"I know I tend to break easily," Marshall said, showing a brief flash of guilt through his smile. "But I always try to bounce back, no matter what happens to me. What happened at the Lookout was... horrible, and I never liked talking about it. But it's not like anything good will come out of constantly reminding myself things used to be terrible. All I've ever wanted to do is make people happy, and even if I didn't fully trust the ACG in the beginning, if we ever get back to them I'll be the best medic they've ever seen."

"I'm sure you will," Rocky replied, silent joy spreading in his face. "I'd like to contact Bella, but I'll need another radio since mine is fixed on one frequency. I know Ryder isn't gonna call them for me, so I'll just have to wait for my chance," he snuck a glance back over to the nap room. "Hold on, I need to go do something."

The world had fallen eerily quiet once he slipped back to Ryder; Averus slept soundly, and the two medics wordlessly scanned their surroundings for any possible change. Something felt wrong, but no one had any idea how to pinpoint it. Perhaps it was simply just a time no one cared to say anything else, a moment of silence to adjust from the explosive baalcross encounter.

Ryder was still in his earlier position, although he was talking to someone on the radio. "I'm just doing a favor for someone, don't count me in on this."

"I never want to hear your voice," spat the hostile dog on the other end. "Especially not now."

Rocky patiently approached the boy where he sat on the floor, immediately recognizing Chase's voice. "I take it you found success?"

"Why do you want to talk to him anyway?" the boy dodged the question, although he handed the radio over without defiance.

"He's my family, Ryder, I want to make sure he's okay," Rocky pulled the radio closer, speaking into it. "Chase? You hear me?"

"Rocky?"

"Hey, how are you?" the mix wagged his tail, beaming with joy as his brother was confirmed alive. "It's great to hear from you, it's a pretty big mess up here."

Chase paused on the other end, taking a second before he spoke again. "Yeah... we're fine down here." His voice was in stark contrast to Rocky's happy mood, the shepherd sounding as if his own mother had just died. "Everything just... really sucks right now. But well... at least I have Everest with me."

"You alright?" Rocky lowered his ears, concern filling his words. "You don't sound okay."

"Just don't worry about me right now."

"Chase, I've worried about you every second since we separated," said the captain. "We've been through too much for me to just forget about you. Anyway, I wanted to share with you a few things I've learned," he crossed his paws, getting comfortable as he unloaded the collected information. "The Omnihive isn't invincible; I've been putting bullets in its eyes, and we managed to fight off this disgusting creature that jumped us. If we can strike somewhere vital, we have a chance at stopping all this."

"Rocky..." Chase muttered, sounding as if he were grimacing. "It's... it's not going to be that simple. I don't think we're gonna have as much of a shot as we think."

Ryder looked over, listening in on the conversation quietly.

"Of course we will, all we need is its vital organ!" argued the captain. "If this fuckin' meat planet has eyes and mouths, why can't it have a brain too? I was hoping you'd see something like that in the Nexus."

"I... I actually did."

"Wait, really!?" Rocky stood up, disbelief coursing through him followed by a rush of excitement. "What did you see? Its brain?"

Chase groaned into his radio collar, "there's a little more to it than that. It's not just a brain, it's a living being... and her name is Mother Genesis. I sorta... met her."

"You did?"

"I don't really want to talk about right now," Chase deflected. "But Genesis is the central brain of this entire thing, the power behind the hivemind. She said it herself, everything you see is an extension of her being."

"Then she's the answer," Rocky narrowed his eyes, baffled on how Chase managed to gather so much information on this hidden threat. "We need to kill her."

"If she truly isn't unkillable like you say, then theoretically you could have a chance," Chase said, sounding rather bleak at the whole idea. "Hey Rocky? You might not hear from me for a while, I'm kinda... going through some things down here."

"That's fine, just stay safe," the captain said. "I'll talk to you later." He hung up the call, severing the only connection he had with his brother since they entered the realm.

Ryder was watching with a puzzled expression, although it quickly shifted to mild interest. "You're trying to destroy this place," he said, putting Rocky's whole plan together in his head.

"Are you going to try and stop me?"

"No," said the boy, apathetic at the idea. "But Dutch will, so prepare yourself for that."

"I'm not afraid of Dutch, Ryder."

"You really should be."

They exchanged some tense words, both silently challenging the other to fall back on their own plans. Ryder may have been under Archline's thumb, but he was a mere mercenary by the end of the day. He made no effort to defend the company's projects, only falling in where his pay allowed him to. Rocky still had not yet provided his former owner his trust, but he worried that sooner or later he'd have no choice.

"Hey guys," Marshall peeked into the room. "Averus is awake."

"Good," Rocky didn't look at him, holding his conversation with Ryder. "Just make sure he's okay."

The Dalmation rolled his eyes, walking up to his brother's ear. "No, he's awake... earlier than he was supposed to."

Both of them quickly stopped and turned toward Marshall, both wearing puzzled looks at his uncertain tone of voice. Awake earlier than he was intended? What was that supposed to mean, and why did Marshall sound so unsettled? Giving Ryder a weary look, the three of them returned to the central area where Averus was wide awake.

"This is unexpected," Danny said, looking over at him. "The sedatives aren't supposed to wear off yet."

"What does that mean?" Rocky asked him with a slight edge in his voice. "What, they're too weak or something?"

"No, I gave him exactly as I was supposed to. He's just... awake earlier than I thought he'd be."

A trivial anomaly that would usually mean nothing, a basic slice of randomness than anyone would be unable to account for. But this was the Omnihive, and uncertain variables here were not something Rocky felt could be brushed over.

"Averus?" Rocky tilted his head, leaning down to the husky. "You alright?"

The scientist turned at his name being said but didn't say anything in response. He only looked at Rocky with an expression of mild surprise, the awareness lost from his eyes. Marshall didn't approach, instead hanging around the far edge of the outpost and watching closely. Ryder stood slightly closer with his arms crossed yet keeping a few feet of breathing room in front of him. An unnerving air had filled the area, putting all occupants on edge before a threat no one could directly see.

"He's fine, probably just in shock from the event," Danny said aloud, already writing off the entire situation as solved. He puffed his chest proudly, taking responsibility for the saved life before anyone else in the room could speak up. He pushed past Rocky and stood over his coworker, ignoring the captain's annoyed growls. "Can you stand?"

Averus looked at him absently, an innocent confusion in his eyes like the world had rewritten its meaning to him.

"Averus?" Rocky asked again.

The room's occupants watched carefully as the husky shakily stood up, dazed with a winded posture. His weary eyes met each ally, scanning them each with an uneased expression, one of his paws beginning to shake.

"See? Like I said, he's fine," Danny turned around, facing the unnerved soldiers. "Can we move on now?"

Ryder outstretched his hand, his blood-stained face spreading with fear. "Danny-"

Beside his oblivious friend, Averus suddenly exploded into screaming, rearing with agony as his paw shredded apart. The limb popped like a balloon, spraying the floor with leathery red flesh and leaving an exposed skeleton. Elongated claws groped out, revealing themselves with all the glistening pride of a star-kissed celebrity walking the carpet. Danny was caught off guard, knocked over in the confusion while the soldiers immediately backed up, alarm and panic filling the room.

"Danny, get back!" Ryder yelled, pulling his sidearm, the only loaded weapon he had left.

"Hrraaaaahh!" Averus screamed as pain surged his entire body, stumbling over his own mutations. "Hnng- ghh- aaaaaaagghh!" Hunching his body over, Averus grabbed his own face in a staggered attempt to fight the metamorphosis. "Help- me... help- hnng- heh- hengh... nyyaaaaahhh!" His chest tore open like paper, spreading open in a crimson spray. The fingers came out first, tapping their tips along the sides of Averus's wound. They soon pushed out to embrace the world, emerging as two degloved hands made of pulsing muscle and soaked bone. They balled into fists, clenching with exertion and giving a mighty push forward, fully birthing out their stringy, bleeding arms in a grandiose spectacle. The limbs gently fell into a welcoming, inviting pose with the palms facing up, only to flick out their claws with gruesome malice. Averus was alive through it all, helpless to do anything to fight the ferox's control taking his body before it went for his mind.

Rocky jumped in front of Marshall, shielding the terrified medic and activating his weapon. "Ruff, ammunition!"

"That's enough!" Ryder shouted, firing his weapon at the once scientist. Sharp bangs pierced the air like fractured metal, three bullets meeting the husky's body, one even getting his head. Blood sprayed out from the shots, but the dog kept standing, defying the lethal attack by sheer will.

Clenching his teeth, Averus's pupils narrowed to slits, the world distorting with noise and chaos around him. Blood trickled down his head from the bullet wound, forming crimson streaks that seemed to vibrate from the biological matter inside them. The only piece of the husky left was his own voice, snarling with unintelligible gibberish unable to form sentences. "He- ahhhgh..." he cried, body violently shaking as the parasite took him. "Heh- heh- help me!" The husky stumbled in all directions, locked in a twisted battle with his own mind. His brand-new arms twitched at the exposure, flinching as if the air itself was burning their muscle.

He roared out with monstrous aggression, lunging at Danny with an outstretched arm. The mutated limb snatched the Doberman by the face, digging its claws around his skull until they cut through the flesh.

"Aaaaahh!" Danny cried out; his body being lifted from the ground with supernatural strength. "Get him off me!" The dog squirmed in the abrasive grip, trying to pull himself free from the bladed fingers squeezing around his head. "Let me go, let me go!"

"Jesus!" Ryder grimaced, firing his gun so rapidly the recoil was burning his wrist. Nearly a dozen bullets could've passed through the room, all collectively tearing through Averus but not one managing to drop him. Overcome with mindless drive, the husky squeezed his grip around Danny's hand, prompting a brief scream from the Doberman until his head popped like a boil. There was a sickening crunch of bone, splatters of red blasting through Averus's mutated claws. Danny went limp in the hold, his lifeless legs falling still underneath him. Without a second thought, Averus off-handedly dropped his victim, letting Danny's corpse fall into a bloodied, crunched heap. His head was still in place, only brutally caved in like a squeezed apple. Blood ran from every wound and orifice until it coated the floor, one of his eyes had even popped out, barely hanging on by its stem.

"Marshall, get outside!" Rocky ordered, terror flooding his veins at the carnage. The Dalmatian didn't need to be told twice, sprinting so quickly his paws slipped on the tile floor, racing off to climb through one of the broken windows.

"Nraaaaaaggh!" Averus howled with roaring fury, gurgling through the crimson sprays emitting from his body. Two writing tentacles tore out of his shoulder blades, extending high into the air. Two bullets whizzed past them; Ryder's aim was suffering the more his hands shook, fear eclipsing his body the more he stood before the horror. The tentacles shot forward like bullets themselves, tightly coiling around the necks of the two once-allies. Ryder cried out in exertion as he was lifted up by the neck, fingers clawing at the tightening hold. Rocky was also lifted off his feet, his airway forced closed and sending spikes of panic through his body.

They were strangled into the air, slowly hung from the neck as life drained from their eyes. The hollow call of asphyxia pulled at their lungs, bringing a low soothing feel to grace their deaths. At the last second, just hanging above death's field, Ryder pulled a knife from his belt and severed the tentacle, slicing through it in one desperate swing. He was promptly dropped to the ground, the monster recoiling with an electric burn of pain. The overwhelming shock paralyzed Averus's limbs, spiraling hesitation through its tentacle until it loosened around Rocky's neck. Hitting the floor in a dazed state, Rocky was overwhelmed with a fit of coughing, his body light on air from the near-death experience.

Writhing through the mental chaos clouding his nerves, Averus jumped backward gripping himself, a maddened look filling his eyes. Ryder pulled his gun and aimed it, anticipating a following attack, but Averus took a deep breath and roared out a deafening screech of defiance, before spinning around and jumping through a broken window, vanishing into the dogtree forest. Marshall witnessed it escape, bracing himself to run as if the creature were heading straight for him, only to slightly relax as Averus disappeared.

"Rocky," Ryder grimaced, running over to the downed animal. "Are you okay!?"

The captain didn't respond, his body still fighting to rebalance his breathing, the attack had been swift and abrasive, leaving the mix incapacitated.

"You're fine," the boy said, feeling Rocky's pulse on his neck. Faint relief encompassed him, although a trembling nervousness plagued his every movement. He leaned toward one of the windows and called out, "Marshall! Get in here, Rocky's needs attention." The Dalmatian already hated him enough, but hopefully now they could reach some sort of truce.

As the medic ran in, Ryder walked away for a moment and pulled his radio. "Dutch, the mission is a failure, we lost all the scientists," he said painfully, fearing what the future would bring. "There's nothing left for us to do out here... we're coming back."