"So the real question is, how did that thing sneak up on you?" Eve asked. "Since I thought you had a crazy domain power now." She was creating a necklace while she walked, as promised, a shiny silver wire that wrapped around the glittering Core.

Stanley was examining the corpse or pieces of it. "I don't know. It was just a piece of wood until it revealed itself… but it had Sara's Soul, Eve. I don't know if I would be able to tell the difference without having it change inside my domain." He was also examining everything around them with increased scrutiny for whatever good that would do.

"That's fucked, but I guess Caffeine seemed to know which was which." She glanced back at the pug, who was walking beside Angelina and keeping watch on the girl in her arms. Caffeine was acting very protective over Sara, and Stanley was all for it. Even though he missed the familiar warm bundle of fur in his lap…

"Yea, maybe they smell different, but who knows." Stanley stayed close to everyone, just in case there were more of the monsters. Two blades hovered overhead, ready to be launched at a moment's notice. He was also walking now and making sure to step on every railroad tie he passed. Angelina followed in his footsteps with Walter close behind, while Eve moved beside him.

One thing Stanley was searching for was identical copies. He hadn't been paying enough attention before to notice if the wooden Mimic had been identical to its neighbor, but from the way it copied both Sara and Caffeine, Stanley suspected it should have been. He also wasn't sure how big or small it could get; since its actual body was smaller than both Sara and the railroad tie but also larger than Caffeine's standard form.

"It didn't seem very smart, at least," Eve remarked, "attacking us like that."

"What if Sara just startled it when she fell," Stanley said, "What if we've already passed dozens of them, but they stayed hidden?"

What if they could do more than copy Souls? Like, say, for example, memories. Could they talk in human form? If they copied someone as wholly as it appeared, did that mean it could replace another human?

Stanley kept his darker speculations to himself, being very sure to control his mouth while feeling Zeke's Soul in the distance. What if he and Daryl had already run into more Mimics? Did they copy a person's abilities as well?

"Did it have Sara's powers?" Eve asked. Stanley was positive he hadn't shared his thoughts, so Eve must be running down the same line of thinking he was. "It definitely didn't copy Caffeine's actual power…"

She was right about that; it clearly hadn't. Otherwise, things would have gone much differently. But… "There was a Lair under the Tower," Stanley said, voicing his thoughts, "and Bartholomew mentioned something below us. What if it's like that? What if that monster was just a stray that wandered outside, and what if it's one of the weakest?"

"Where is Zeke?" Eve demanded, not enjoying this line of thought at all.

"He hasn't moved," Stanley said, pointing, "still near a bunch of people as far as I can tell." Zeke's Soul was a spot of gold among the cloud of Souls over there. Stanley couldn't pinpoint the exact distance and so wasn't positive that Zeke was actually in the crowd rather than somewhere behind or in front of them. Also, it felt like there might be another group of humans farther north and closer to Stanley.

"Do not fret, Miss," Walter said softly, "your brother is a capable young man, and if, as you suspect, Caffeine can sniff these creatures out, then I believe our wolfen friends should be able to as well." He paused before adding. "Also, the young master Adam should be with them, and I expect he may be able to detect them."

Eve's worry did not abate, but Stanley nodded in new understanding. "Of course, space magic would explain how they can grow or shrink…"

"As I am without my Domain at the moment, I cannot be certain, but I have witnessed his power enough that I believe it is something similar," Walter agreed.

"You better be right…" Eve finished the necklace and handed it off to Stanley. Then she pulled out their map and started looking between it and what could be seen through the grates overhead.

Stanley knew they had passed the location where the truck was parked already, but they hadn't gotten within range for him to see if it was still intact. He really hoped it was.

"We should be far enough south to go to the other subway," Eve said finally. "Do we wait for the next station or try to go out the ceiling?"

Stanley had already been thinking about that. The stations so far had all been heavily webbed and would probably only get worse. It was as if these tunnels were a kind of no man's land between the surface and the underground. The spiders didn't want to occupy this space but would attack if they noticed something down here. Stanley assumed that the Mimics were the most likely culprits to be the monsters below, especially since he wasn't detecting any Souls down there and knew that the Mimics could hide from him. The fact that he hadn't seen signs of any passable way down was… concerning. Could there be tunnels all over, only filled with Mimics pretending to be stone?

"I think the grates…" Stanley was feeling more ready to brave the surface again. "But I'm not sure how we'll get everyone up there."

"I can jump," Eve said, eyeing the distance. "Or make a ladder. Just say when."

Stanley tested the strength of the webbed-down grates. Only he tested it as far behind them as he could reach. The webs were decently strong but not impossible for him to break through. The real issue was what kind of attention doing so would draw down on them.

Unfortunately, Stanley felt an orb weaver responding to his breakout attempt. It stopped over the damaged grate for a time, simply content to watch as smaller arachnids replaced the webs and resecured the area. That was a problem, but it might still be doable… if they were fast.

Stanley had an idea, and this was an excellent time to test it. "Eve, give me your hand."

She looked suspiciously at his outstretched hand but complied with the request. Stanley gripped her hand as he flew higher… and lifted her off the ground. "I guess that works." It felt a bit like a loophole to be able to carry her this way, and he was tempted to pull her into his lap to see if it still held up. Stanley didn't do that, though; instead, he had Eve clasp her free hand with Angelina's and then lifted both of them off the ground.

He tried to think of ways that he could use this to his advantage in combat but quickly realized the flaw. While he could physically push or pull people out of danger or even body-check monsters to move them, it would mean relying on his much less robust flesh. Maybe useful in a pinch, but not really viable as a weapon. Here and now, however. "This is how we'll do it…"

A bit later, and a couple more blocks south, Stanley broke through another grate. He flew through immediately after, Walter in one hand and Angelina in the other. Adrian rode in his lap, and Caffeine floated ahead. Meanwhile, Eve jumped straight up through the opening after him.

Stanley felt like an idiot for not thinking of this sooner as they all flew relatively quickly down the street while wrapped in darkness, and Eve stayed with the flying people by way of a hand on Walter's leg.

Unfortunately, he was forced to set down sooner than he would have liked, thanks to the excessive number of webs strewn between buildings. "If I fly on my stomach, could they all just sit on my back and ride me like a magic carpet?" For that matter, could he just fly under the truck and carry it on his back? His body might not be up to that much… but he should have at least tried.

They regrouped into their former walking formation under cover of Stanley's light-bending and continued down the street. It was a long walk in the dark for the others, and Sara woke up halfway through.

Stanley stopped and let his sound muffling dissipate in a small radius directly around them when she woke and started panicking. However, he couldn't risk letting the light in.

"I'm here, baby," Angelina's voice helped immensely with the little girl's panic.

"The scary monster…" Sara said.

"You did good, baby girl. You… stopped it. I'm so proud of you!" Angelina hesitated for a second, likely still disturbed from seeing her innocent baby kill something, but she pulled through despite it and said exactly the right thing.

Stanley smiled at the feelings of relief and joy coming from Sara as she calmed down. Caffeine's whine and wet nose bumping into her soothed the rest of her worry, and she laughed. "Good doggie!"

Stanley's good mood faded when he noticed the large Soul that felt like an orb weaver getting suspiciously close to what he estimated was Zeke's location. It wasn't just wandering either; the Soul was searching for something.

Eve picked up on his tension first. "What is it?"

"Walter, take him." Stanley carefully returned Adrian into his arms.

"What is it, Stanley!?" Eve demanded with growing anxiety.

"Nothing yet," Stanley said, but… Zeke was anxious. "Keep moving."

They couldn't stay in the street, and Stanley started looking for somewhere to stash everyone, just in case. He was no longer as comfortable just leaving them in the subway if they could reach it in time, but maybe if Caffeine stayed behind…

Zeke started moving.

Eve's words became an unintelligible drawl as Stanley's mind sped up.

Zeke had left the bright cluster of Souls behind, and Stanley was pretty sure he could sense Daryl's little cloud of Souls around the point of golden light. Both were above ground now, nervous, and worse, the orb weaver had changed course to follow.

Stanley had an eternity to worry for Zeke as he watched his companions take agonizingly slow steps behind him. His Soul Awareness was on high alert, straining to pick up every iota of sensation that he could from the distant Souls. "I can be there in less than a second," Stanley told himself, "and be back here in the same second." They wouldn't even have time to get attacked if he was fast enough.

He felt the orb weaver's triumph as it attacked something… but Zeke was still only nervous and moving away from the spider. "Illusions! It's… like they're leading it away. Did it find the camp?" Stanley realized that he was overreacting. Zeke and Daryl could probably handle the giant spider just fine, especially with the wolves. It wasn't like the B Grade was moving… The orb weaver surged after the golden Soul, frustrated and angry…

It caught up again, and it felt pain!

Zeke was amused for a moment and then back to nervousness.

Souls converged on the orb weaver, then, like a black hole dragging everything inward, they swarmed toward Zeke.

The orb weaver attacked, triumph and violence in its Soul, and again it felt frustration. "Daryl's doing a number on it." The spider pounced toward Zeke, crossing the distance instantly, and Zeke felt a flash of pain before…

Zeke's Soul vanished!

"No… Impossible!" There was no way anything could take Zeke down that fast and without a struggle… It couldn't be… Stanley's imagination turned on him then. Was it over just like that? Was that just a Mimic of Zeke? Had it finally dropped the form to escape? Has Zeke been dead this whole time!?

Stanley was so close to losing it. The Slumbering pug in his Soul stirred, eyelids twitching…

And Zeke reappeared!

He was further from the orb weaver, back underground, and closer to Stanley than before. The orb weaver had stopped up on the surface. It was confused… and frustrated. "They teleported…" Stanley felt like an idiot as he desperately tried to calm down. Adam was probably with them, or it was the shadow wolf; either could have teleported, but Stanley guessed it was the wolf. "That Shadow Skill always had a small delay…" Stanley probably wouldn't even have noticed it if he wasn't making himself faster. "Idiot!"

Eve's metal-clad fingers were digging into his arm. "Tell me what the fuck is happening, or I…"

"It's fine!" Stanley eased up his acceleration. "I think they were leading an orb weaver away from one of the camps. Then they teleported… and I panicked."

His words did not mollify Eve, but she did ease up the crushing grip on his arm.

"He's closer now," Stanley said, and that helped.

"Let's fucking go then!" Stanley was in agreement, and moments later, Eve was carrying the others while Stanley once again held Adrian in his lap. She sprinted after him without hesitation in the dark as they ran for the subway ahead.

Zeke wasn't in pain, no surprise with his healing ability, but he was worried about something… They had appeared very near another cluster of humans, and Stanley thought he could feel the people converging on Zeke's location. "They better not be starting shit!"

Stanley got closer at what felt like a snail's pace, and as he did, he felt individual Souls more clearly. Including far too much aggression and hostility…

"Going down." Stanley ripped up the sidewalk grating and dropped into the subway below. Eve followed on his heels, barely squeezing through the gap with the people in her arms, and Stanley let the light back in before she reached the ground.

Eve landed easily on her feet, but Stanley had to muffle the screams from Angelina and Sara on the way down. He handed Adrian off to Walter and pointed down the tunnel toward Zeke's location. "He's that way, along with a bunch more humans. They might be hostile."

She took off running with death on her mind. Stanley nodded after her. "Go. I'll be right back."

The day was getting late, and the light was fading, so Adrian's flames lit up the underground far more than the grates overhead. "Come along, Miss." Walter took the light with him as he headed after Eve, and it pulled Angelina along with Sara, still clutched in her arms. It helped that the grates further down did not let any light through, probably blocked off to keep spiders out.

Stanley paused only to scratch Caffeine's head once before he, too, was gone, flying back outside and starting a killing spree. "Keep them safe, Caff." He saw the pug looking after him, and then Caffeine followed Sara.

The orb weaver that had been chasing Zeke was now charging this way, and Stanley felt like this was a perfect opportunity for some revenge. He killed the tiny spiders by the dozens and then hundreds as he flew in a straight line back the way they had come. As he'd hoped, the orb weaver changed course to intercept.

Stanley wanted them to think something had emerged from the tunnel rather than gone inside, and it looked like his plan would work. The orb weaver was fast, and Stanley reached the previous subway tunnel just before it did, killing tiny spiders all the way. He ripped up another grate and then backed off to see what happened.

The orb weaver crashed to a stop at the open grate, literally. Its massive feet punched holes through the street and into the tunnel below as it stomped around, looking for a target. Thousands of small spiders followed behind and swarmed the surrounding area, as well as a few down into the subway itself.

Stanley hovered a block away, watching and waiting. He really wanted to kill this fucker, if only for scaring him earlier, but it wasn't worth a few Soul points. He also didn't know how many of these he could kill before it might draw out the boss, and it just wasn't worth the risk unless necessary.

Unfortunately, it became necessary.

Stanley was near enough to the ground that his domain touched upon it. So he felt the faintest of vibrations pass through a moment before the Orb Weaver turned back toward where he'd left the others. "Damn it, Eve!" Stanley felt Zeke's Soul light up and knew that she must have gone in guns blazing. Which might have been his fault for the parting words he'd left with Eve…

-1 Twin-Soul

-1 Twin-Soul

Stanley was faster this time when he did the blender impersonation inside the spider's head. It also had the desired effect of drawing all the attention to his location. Just hopefully not too much…

Three additional Orb Weavers came to investigate… but no B Grade. Stanley snatched the Core before they arrived and retreated to rejoin his friends. His only worry now was that he might be pushing the spiders into an assault on the underground. While he didn't mind at all if they went to war with the Mimics, it seemed that all of the humans still in the city would get caught in the crossfire…

Stanley followed from where he'd left the others and soon found the wall that marked the edge of the human camp. It had a massive hole blown through it. "Yea, maybe I should have chosen my words more carefully…" He went inside and found that, unlike the other camps, this one was not built inside the tunnel. Instead, they had set up in what he guessed was an abandoned station off to the side. The door leading in there was still intact, and most of the humans were behind that door.

He found the rest of them further up the tunnel, past another wall, this one not blown apart, and Stanley went through the open doorway into an odd scene.

Eve was armored up and punching someone back and forth across the space. A dozen more people were scattered around the tunnel in various states of injury and unconsciousness, with the conscious ones terrified and doing their best to pretend they were still unconscious.

His friends stood together at the far end of the conflict, with Zeke sitting beside the wolves and laughing as Caffeine climbed all over him excitedly. His golden aura was small but bright…

Walter stood close to Daryl, both of them leaning into each other and the egg between them.

Sara was staring up in awe at the massive Cunning Fang as the wolf ignored her and watched over everything going on. Beside her, Night Shadow was tiny and almost invisible in the shadows, and his Soul felt weary… almost strained. "His teleport…" Stanley would have to find a way to thank him for what had clearly been an unpleasant rescue.

"Are you fucking done yet!?" Eve shouted in between punches.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you, Bitch!" the man she was beating yelled, "and then I'm going to kill your bitch brother and shit down his…"

Mind Crush

Stanley decided to help wrap this up. Eve's punching halted when the man collapsed, and Stanley watched his Soul curiously as this was the first time using that Skill on another human. It felt decidedly unpleasant. For the man, not Stanley. "Good."

The man's torture wound down slowly until he finally opened his eyes. "Bitch…"

Mind Crush

This time Stanley didn't want to wait. "Zeke, can you heal him?"

Zeke escaped from Caffeine by siccing him on Princess and did as Stanley asked.

The man came out of his stupor almost immediately, and Stanley was there when his eyes opened. The man opened his mouth, and Stanley didn't wait for the threats to come before saying clearly, "Mind Crush." He wanted the man to know exactly who was responsible for his pain.

"Heal him again." Zeke did so, albeit reluctantly, as he realized what Stanley was doing.

"You…"

Mind Crush

"Heal him." Eve, on the other hand, was smiling viscously.

Mind Crush

It went on a few more times before the pain started to win out over the anger. Until finally, the man kept his mouth shut upon being healed. Stanley met his gaze, knowing the man could feel his Soul as he'd spread it to encompass the entire camp here in case his chaos on the surface spread any closer.

"Are you finished?" Stanley asked him. "I can keep going, or I can just kill you."

He was still angry but managed to hold it in as he stared back defiantly.

"I don't mind a little fighting to blow off steam or settle grudges," Stanley said, "but threatening the lives of my friends is just begging to die."

"I… I was just talking shit," the man lied, "I didn't mean…"

Mind Crush

"I can see your Soul," Stanley said once the man was healed again, "last chance." Stanley could feel the effectiveness of his Skill waning on the man and suspected that he might have gained a resistance Skill. He intentionally didn't try to crush the man with his Soul, yet; he could save that for the execution. Plus, Zeke couldn't heal him back to consciousness if Stanley attacked his Soul.

The man must have realized that his situation was dire. Maybe he could feel Stanley's serious intent to end his life, or perhaps it was the Soul-coated knife hovering over Stanley's shoulder. Either way, he finally gave up the fight, though not without some serious effort on his part…

"You win. I'd rather not die for now."

"Good!" Stanley smiled. "Now, if you want to keep fighting with Eve here, then go ahead. Just don't get carried away with those threats."

He looked over at Eve, who crouched into a fighting stance and gestured with a gauntlet for him to come at her.

"No thanks. Bitch is tough," he said, staying on the ground, "I'll give her that."

Eve popped her helmet open to grin at the man. "Aww, I was just getting warmed up when my knight in shining armor felt the need to interfere!" She switched from a bloodthirsty grin at the man to glaring at Stanley.

"He was serious about his threats," Stanley said defensively. Eve had been handling the idiot well before he intervened, but… "I took offense to that."

"Hey, I'm sorry," the man said, holding up his hands, "I got a bit of a temper sometimes…"

"Why did you even start fighting?" Stanley asked Zeke.

"We had to run from one of the Orb Weavers," Zeke said, "and Night Shadow was really out of it after bringing us all down here. Then these guys appeared out of nowhere and started threatening us and demanding we leave. I tried to tell them that we just wanted to rest a bit, but…" He glanced at his sister with a small smile. "Then Eve came blasting through and started beating them all up."

"Anytime, anyplace, baby Bro." Eve glared around at the few conscious people who were cautiously climbing to their feet. "They're lucky I didn't just kill them!" They all froze in place.

Zeke sighed, but Stanley could tell he appreciated Eve's support, violent as it was. "We would have been fine. I think Cunning Fang had scared most of them off already."

"Yea," the man still sitting on the ground said, "Didn't expect that. Where did you guys even find that one…" He paused and squinted toward the wolf. "Holy shit! Is that a pug?"

Stanley smiled at the sight before them. Sara had managed to fly up and sit on the giant wolf's head near the ceiling, where she was giggling and rolling around in the fur. Meanwhile, Caffeine had grown to match her size and was whining for Sara to come play with him, which she did a moment later by leaping over to sit on his head instead.

Stanley worried that Angelina might be about to have a heart attack, where she stood white-knuckled and trembling below. Fortunately, Caffeine shrank down to a more friendly size after that to play with Sara. Angelina still stared up at the wolf with wide eyes as it ignored all the commotion.

Walter noticed, however, and he moved to her side with Daryl, introducing the two before pointing at Sara, who was flying and crashing through the tunnel after Caffeine. Stanley felt Daryl's surprised look his way when Walter must have told him that she was his Apprentice. "Me too, Daryl. Me too."

Meanwhile, Zeke had started making the rounds of the wounded people. Eve followed at his side, ready and more than willing to pound on anyone who looked at her brother wrong.

"What's your name?" Stanley asked the man still sitting on the ground. "And you don't need to stay down there." He was almost a hundred percent sure that the guy was finished fighting.

"I'm Erin, and that Skill you used on me really sucks…"

"I could have just started stabbing you," Stanley suggested.

"No… that knife is giving me the creeps." Erin glanced at the Soul-coated blade warily.

"Plus, I bet you got Mental Resistance out of that, didn't you?" Erin didn't respond other than to narrow his eyes at Stanley.

"You just might thank me for that someday," Stanley said, "I got the Skill from a monster that used it on us first."

Erin grimaced, then he saw the man approaching from inside the base and jumped to his feet. "Jacob, I was just…" He looked helplessly around at his fellows getting healed and ducked his head. "We got stomped."

"I can see that," Jacob said icily. He was walking with a cane in place of his missing right leg and glaring at Stanley. "What are you doing? Turn that shit off." His Soul was stronger than Erin, but Stanley guessed that his missing leg was more important to his Class than it would be to himself.

"I am hiding all of our Souls in case the Orb Weavers come back this way," Stanley said, guessing what the man was complaining about.

"You're new here, aren't you?" Jacob said. "You're the ones stirring shit up on the surface."

Stanley nodded. "Pretty much." Jacob didn't like his answer, and Stanley didn't care.

"You're Jacob?" Zeke stepped up, his aura winking out as he did so. "I can heal your leg, but you will have to swear not to go after Emiliano and his people."

Jacob's Soul lit up at the mention of healing his leg, but his mood went black at Emiliano's name. "Those bastards killed my son! They deserve to die!"

"I don't know about any of that," Zeke said, "but I already healed them."

Stanley grabbed Caffeine and pulled him closer to the group from where he and Sara were drifting too far during their game of chase. Sara obligingly followed the suddenly flying pug excitedly.

"You healed them but refuse to heal me?" Jacob demanded.

"Not unless you swear an Oath," Zeke said. "I couldn't unheal them, but I did get an Oath before we left."

Daryl's Soul told a different story than Zeke's, and Stanley wondered what that was about. He also finally noticed something important that was missing. "Where is Adam?"

"I was just telling Walter that we haven't seen him since this morning," Daryl answered.

"Shit." Hopefully, he hadn't gone to the truck and run into the spiders…

"This is extortion! I don't need your damn healing!"

"Okay," Zeke shrugged, but Stanley could tell that he was disappointed as he went back to Night Shadow and poured more golden light into the wolf.

Eve was in a great mood since reuniting with Zeke, and she glanced around before going to Walter and asking for her stuff. "I can finish my work here if we're good?" She said the last part with a glance at Stanley.

"For now." His diversion seemed to be working so far.

"Like hell, you're staying here!" Jacob growled. "Get out of my territory, or I'll throw you out!"

"Seriously?" Eve laughed, "I'd like to see you try!"

Jacob glared at her and shifted on his one good leg. "If I wasn't wounded…"

"Zeke," Eve said, still smiling, "heal him up. I can always cut off his leg again after I beat the shit out of him."

Zeke was not thrilled with the idea, but he nevertheless did as she asked. The process took a few minutes, during which Eve continued to set up her work area and even started building another of the rocket blasters. When Jacob stood whole once more and kicked off his single shoe, Eve stood as well. "Ready to kick me out now?"

"You're going to regret letting that mouth run, Bitch."

"Ummm, Boss?" Erin said with a worried glance in Stanley's direction.

"Make me," Eve said.

Stanley did what he could to dampen sound and vibrations around the combatants, but it was a lesser effect when outside of his Domain. Sara had picked up on what was happening and watched excitedly alongside her less enthusiastic mother. Stanley drifted over to place himself between Sara and the fight. Not to block her from seeing it, but just in case something came this way.

Jacob charged Eve, and Stanley watched with the same curiosity as his Apprentice, all waiting to see what would happen.

From the first exchange, it appeared that Jacob was indeed a physical fighter, as Stanley had suspected. He moved in a blur of punches that Stanley wondered if Sara could even perceive. Eve dodged or blocked everything in the opening barrage before stepping back and disengaging.

"Giving up already, bitch?" Jacob taunted.

"Nah, just realized that I don't need all this." Eve shrugged, and her armor fell to the ground around her. She stepped forward again. "Now we can fight, you fucking shit-for-brains."

Jacob growled and charged again. Only this time, Eve didn't block any of his strikes. Instead, she practically danced around every blow, ducking and weaving until she suddenly planted a heavy right hook into the side of his head.

The impact rang with an almost metallic sound, and Jacob staggered sideways from the blow. However, he recovered quickly, shaking his head to clear it before coming at her again, only more cautiously this time.

It didn't matter. Eve still bobbed around between his strikes and then punched him in the head again in the same spot. She was grinning widely when he came back for more.

Stanley could feel Jacob's frustration and growing disbelief as he tried and failed to land a single blow on the more petite girl. Glows lit up on his hands and body, reminiscent of Nate's abilities, and other glows appeared to block Eve's strikes, but it was clearly a losing battle. He even tried to grapple her at one point but only ended up getting thrown into the ground and kicked in the face for his efforts.

Eve started laughing after that one, and Jacob really lost it.

It was the beginning of the end for him, and Eve took him apart as his swings only got wilder and easier to avoid. She finished it by breaking one of his arms at the elbow and then kicking his recently healed knee in the wrong direction.

Jacob rolled off his face onto his back to see Eve with a glowing cannon sprouting from her palm and pointing at his leg. "You lose. Ready to give the leg back?"

"Wait!" Jacob held up his one good arm. "You win! You can stay!"

"Jacob, Jacob, I already know that, but what about your leg?"

"I…" He struggled with the decision, but Stanley could tell it was already a lost cause. "I won't go after them!"

Eve smiled at her brother. "There you go, Zeke, wasn't that easy?"

Zeke stepped up to the downed man. "You have to Swear an Oath." The man grimaced, and Stanley wondered what he was missing.

"I Swear on the System that… I will not seek retribution on Emiliano or his people." Jacob growled out the last part and glared at Zeke. "Happy now?"

"Yes." Zeke knelt and started healing his newer and more minor injuries.

Eve laughed. "I knew you would want to keep your power after getting a taste." Jacob glared at her. "Now, you just need to learn how to fight."

Jacob opened his mouth, angry, but he calmed somewhat before nodding grudgingly. "You are good. What Class is that?"

Eve grinned wider at him. "I'm a crafter, and my little healer brother here could have beaten you down even faster than me."

"Bullshit!"

"Try it and see," Eve said, thoroughly enjoying his discomfort as she returned to work on her machines.

"I could spar if you want," Zeke said quietly, "I haven't gotten any practice since we left the city. I could even give you some pointers if you want…" He glanced at Erin nearby. "You too."

Jacob's Soul was warring between wounded pride and renewed disbelief, but in the end, pragmatic greed won out. "Yes… I'd appreciate… some pointers." He had to drag the words out, but he managed. "But let's get inside the walls first."

That started a procession back through the door, where Jacob glared at the massive hole on the far end before leading them into the actual camp.

You have Entered a Hidden Lair [Jacob's Camp].

"What's the thing with the Oaths?" Stanley asked Daryl, walking beside him.

"Yea, we were going to leave after he healed everyone, and they tried to kill him, but some damn giant spider started dumping little spiders everywhere…"

"They what?" Stanley growled.

"Really tall spider…" Daryl started before chuckling at Stanley's expression. "Relax. It was just a few misguided kids," Daryl said, waving it away. "Zeke has good bodyguards with these two." He pointed a thumb at the wolves behind him. "And I put the fear in them after that little stunt. I put some more fear in them when we returned, and then they told us about the System Oaths so I didn't have to kill anyone."

"Huh," Stanley glanced at Caffeine trotting after the flying Sara. "I Swear on the System to love and cherish Caffeine forever!"

Nothing happened. "Did I do it wrong?"

Daryl rolled his eyes. "As far as we know, it doesn't work on just anything. I doubt it would work on something that you would already be doing anyway."

"You could swear to always cherish me," Eve said with a cheeky smile. She was feeling a lot better, whether from finding Zeke or from beating the shit out of Jacob; Stanley wasn't sure.

"No… I think I want to keep my options open," Stanley said as seriously as he could. "But you could swear to me, I won't mind."

"No can do. I might need to shoot you if you do something stupid. Can't have an Oath getting in the way of that."

Daryl groaned. "Would you two just fuck and get it over with already?"

"Eww!" Stanley and Eve said in unison before turning to glare at each other.

"Stanley's a perverted old…" She glanced at him and then relented. "Kidding! He's more like a brother," Eve said, "an older brother. A really, really, older brother."

Stanley rolled his eyes this time, but he was smiling. "The little sister I never… had."

"I miss the spiders," Daryl said. "The quiet, peaceful spiders."