A loud boom shook the tunnel as Will crashed into the Bishop. He didn't use any fancy tricks or feints that could be dodged, just pure power. He flared his field to the maximum and rammed into the Spider like a hammer.

The Spider cursed as it defended. "You're getting reckless as your time ends."

Will ignored the taunts and continued hammering away. He kept a close eye on his channels as he fought, noticing that the yellow signature was having a tougher time holding onto his field now that he was moving so wildly. Will wanted to exploit this momentary lapse to further separate the two fields, but the yellow signature proved to be remarkably tenacious. The moment he stopped channeling, it went back to chasing his natural field.

Will bit back a curse as sweat drenched his forehead. Even if he used overwhelming power to pry apart the two fields, they would just fuse back together a second later. He needed something more than brute force if he wanted to break free completely. Will's eyes darted about the tunnel, his heart hammering in his chest. As the clock ticked away, he grew more desperate.

"Is the reality of your situation dawning on you?" the Spider chittered in its many voices. "Are you finally coming to your senses?"

Will said nothing as he kept up the reckless assault. With each passing second, his energy levels dwindled. If he didn't find an answer soon, the Spider would gain full control over him.

"It's futile," the Spider chittered. "There's no way out of this. We both know how this ends. You will be one of us. The sooner you accept this fact, the better."

Will tried to shut out the Spider's words. This was all just a ploy to distract him. Its words were meaningless.

"You resist... That's good." The Spider casually deflected his blows as it made light conversation. "Survival is a natural instinct, and only the dead have eternal peace. So... what is the peace that you desire? Your one true wish? I can grant it to you."

Will's heart skipped a beat. His bones creaked as his channels burned with the effort to keep pushing his field.

"Is it money... fame? Maybe power?" The Spider wondered. "Go on, speak. I'm listening. It doesn't have to be in words. You can think it, and I'll feel it."

A chill went down Will's spine. Had the connection become so strong that it had started reading his mind, or was he so transparent that it was judging merely by his emotions?

Will controlled himself and focused solely on running the Spider through with his dagger. His concentration was so intense that he almost missed the Spider's next words.

"—Once the process starts, it cannot be undone. Delay as much as you like... Try and outrun it... It matters not. At the end of your path... at the end of your journey, all you will find... is me."

Will gritted his teeth. The creature's words seeped into him like the tar it was born out of. They scratched away at the walls of his mind, trying to get in.

"Nine thousand credits!" the Spider snapped, catching Will off guard. Confused by the sudden change in conversation, he missed the strike he aimed at the Spider.

"Not enough?" asked the Spider. "Alright, then how about ten thousand credits?"

Will took a sharp intake of breath as he realized what the creature was offering. Sensing the sudden change in his mood, a wide grin spread across the Spider's helmet as its lower jaw unhinged once again to display a twisted smile made of rows of serrated metal teeth.

"So you can be moved," it chittered. "Good. Eleven thousand credits!"

Will fought to keep his hands steady. His dagger shook as he attempted a sloppy lunge at the Spider. The yellow signature came alive at his sudden weakness and started to exert more control. As his energy levels dipped, the foreign field began to suppress his natural one.

"Twelve thousand credits," continued the Spider.

Sweat drenched Will's forehead. This wasn't good. The yellow signature kept getting stronger, and he was losing a lot more energy keeping it in check than maintaining the defensive field around him. If this continued, he was facing a much tighter time limit than he had initially considered.

"Fourteen thousand credits," the Spider snorted. "Don't tell me you're not interested in money. Every time I mention credits... Badum... Badum..." It thumped its chest in imitation of a heartbeat. "...I can hear it."

Through hazy eyes, Will fought the Spider. The tunnel warped and twisted as the yellow signature seeped into him. It was steadily building up, traveling up his spine toward his brain.

The Spider tilted its head to the side, eyeing him curiously. "You clearly want the money, and yet you say nothing."

Will stumbled back, unsteady on his feet. He grabbed hold of his field and started channeling again. The yellow signature was fended off for the moment, but he had burned through a lot of his internal reserves to purge his system, leaving him woozy as his energy dipped dangerously low.

"Is fourteen thousand not enough? Fine." The Spider snapped. "Give me a number, and I'll match it."

Breathing heavily, Will steadied himself. He was running on empty, and he didn't think he had enough power left to even fight. Without taking his eyes off the Spider, he bent low and grabbed another metal shard off the floor. Now with two daggers in hand, he held both of them at the ready, the blades pointed at the Spider.

"What?" the Spider hissed. A wave of impressions swept by Will too fast for him to decipher.

"You want the money," the Spider chittered angrily. "You want it so badly that I can taste it. Just take the damn credits and hand me the shard!"

Will said nothing and met the Spider's gaze without flinching.

"Free zones, free zones!" the Spider chuckled maniacally. "Always the case. Stubborn to the last."

Will watched its manic laughter subside before it went deadly still. The Spider regarded him one last time and raised its chin. "So be it."

The Bishop vanished with a thunderous boom, and Will barely had time to raise his right arm. The limb crumpled as it met the Spider's metal fist, sending Will flying into a dense array of stalagmites. He smashed through the pillars, shattering them before ragdolling across the tunnel floor. Metal shards rained down as the pillars toppled. One collided with another, setting off a chain reaction, and soon all the pillars were coming down.

A blood-curdling roar cut through the rising dust, making Will shudder. A series of impressions assaulted him, and he felt the Bishop's rage within the swirling dust cloud.

Will shakily got to his feet, his heart beating wildly in his chest. His whole body was a bruised mess, and the worst affected was his right arm, which hung limply by his side. Alarmed, Will tried to channel through the limb but stopped immediately when met with blinding pain.

The Bishop had somehow reversed the psion flow in the arm, burning it from the inside. Will didn't even have the strength to purge the Spider's residual energy from his system and watched as the field around his arm slowly sputtered to a stop, leaving the limb completely unprotected.

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Loud clanging footsteps jolted Will back to the present. Through the swirling dust, a dark humanoid shape stomped toward him, and Will felt a rising chill. He could feel it coming. His psion reserves were nearing their end, and he had a minute left before he gassed out. The yellow signature was still stuck to him, and he barely had enough power to keep standing, much less attempt to rip the foreign field off of him.

A stab of pain shot through his dead right arm, but he ignored it. If he didn't come up with a solution right now, he would lose a lot more than an arm.

Sweat beaded on his brow as Will thought furiously. The problem in front of him seemed insurmountable. Even if he did find the strength to pull apart the two fields, the separation would last only a few seconds. There was no point in a few moments of freedom if he was going to get caught again.

His right arm twinged again, and Will winced. The Bishop had done quite a number on it. The blow had been powerful, and judging by how vigorously the Spider was stomping toward him, it had plenty of energy left to spare. If only he had a bit of that power, he could...

Will stiffened as a crazy idea struck him. He stared past the swirling dust at the dark, shadowy figure headed toward him as his mind raced. Everything he knew about the Spider, the shard, and the signature flashed before him, and Will connected the dots. A reckless plan started taking shape. Based on his thoughts, it might be possible to break the hold of the yellow signature. It would only be for a few seconds, but it granted him an opportunity—an opportunity to reach out to something that had been waiting for him outside in the alleyway all this time. All he had to do was get to it before time ran out.

Will's jaw tightened as he straightened up and set his eyes on the approaching dark figure within the swirling dust cloud. The sharp clanging footsteps of the Spider cut through the rumble of the falling pillars, and out of the smoke and dust, the Bishop stepped forward, radiating danger.

Will watched the Spider with bloodshot eyes and began retreating toward the toppling pillars.

"You think you can hide?!" the Spider roared. The two made a mad dash down the tunnel, dodging the falling boulder-sized metal fragments. Will desperately looked around, searching for a place to make his last stand, and found a dense array of pillars that was still standing. It was closely knit, and the tight space could restrict the Spider's movements. Gritting his teeth, he made a beeline for it.

The Spider was hot on his heels as he approached the pillars. Will stumbled at the last second and tried to catch himself with his damaged right arm, but the limb refused to respond. Will crashed into the stalagmite, completely open to attack, which the Spider was all too eager to exploit.

Four metal arms raced toward Will as he turned to face the Spider. Heart beating wildly in his chest, he ducked under the first pair of arms, which speared through the pillars, sending chips of metal fragments everywhere. He was barely done with the dodge when the second pair of arms came for him. Will raised his left arm and blocked one of the arms. A triumphant smile spread across the Spider's faceplate as the last arm went for Will's right. There was no chance he could block with his disabled right arm.

Will watched with wide eyes as the Spider targeted his weakness. The Spider had always been able to predict when he attacked but never bothered with how he defended. It was understandable; there was so much information coming off him that it had to filter the signals in some fashion. His intent to harm was possibly the trigger it waited for. Unfortunately for it, there was no attack coming this time.

Will raised his right leg and placed his sharded knee right in the path of the incoming blow. A flash of incomprehension came from the Bishop right before they collided with a titanic boom.

A powerful shockwave traveled up his leg to the rest of his body, and Will felt the yellow signature falter for a brief instant before it flatlined completely. New sensations flooded in, and he smelled the stale Tower air mixed with burning metal and melted plastic. Everything around him had gone blurry, and he started seeing double. Both the tunnel and the alleyway flashed behind his eyelids, each trying to dominate the other.

Through hazy eyes, Will watched the narrow alley flicker in and out of sight and found himself lying face down on the side road. As the broken furniture in the alley resolved itself, his eyes landed on the one thing he had been searching for: dangling off the edge of a table three feet from him was the key fob.

With a wild look in his eyes, Will clawed himself out of the vision to reach the key. The Doctor's modulated pulse, programmed into his prosthetic, was his only salvation, and he had to get to it fast. The separation would last only a few more seconds before he'd be dragged back into the vision.

Blood dripped from his fingers as his nails bit into the asphalt. His right arm remained unresponsive, and he had to crawl toward the table with only one arm. Will reached for the fob with trembling fingers when an unwilling roar shook his very being.

"I don't think so!" the Spider screeched, and a giant metal hand clamped down on Will's leg.

Will desperately dug his fingers into the pavement, but it was no use. He was dragged out of the alley and back into the tunnel as the yellow signature began fusing back into his channels.

"Damn gutter rat!" the Spider raged. "Do you have any idea how many resources I burned to get to you?! And after all that, you think you can leave?"

The Bishop slammed Will onto the tunnel floor, and his split vision wavered. He desperately held on to the connection, but the yellow signature was relentless in its merger. The outside world grew dark as it fused, and Will's outstretched hand failed to reach the key fob.

"That's enough!" the Spider pinned his arms to the floor. "This farce is over."

Will struggled to breathe as the Spider drove its knee into his stomach. He fought to free his arms, but the Spider's vice-like grip remained unmoved. In his desperate struggle, Will ended up under the table. The key fob was right there in front of him. All he had to do was reach out and grab it.

"There is nothing that we hate more than sloppy work," the Spider growled. "And you have gone and f*cked us, haven't you?"

The Spider's second pair of arms wrapped around Will's neck and began to squeeze. "I'm going to enjoy ripping everything that you know out of that stubborn skull of yours."

Will choked as his vision flickered. The key dangled two feet in front of him, but it might as well have been miles away.

"And after that, we'll do a little bit of adjustment," the Spider chittered. "A little snip here and a little nudge there. The new you will love to join us."

Will's blood went cold as he fought against his fading consciousness. The outside world flickered wildly, and the alleyway began to melt away from the edges of his vision.

"Also, don't worry about your friends and family. They're coming as well," the Spider promised. "I'll find them."

Will froze as the Spider leaned in close. "In fact, you'll tell me about them yourself."

Will gritted his teeth and gave up on his arms. He tried to lift the Spider off him but only managed to shift his legs under the table. His foot banged uselessly against the table legs as he spasmed on the floor.

"Relax. This will all be over soon," the Spider chittered as it pulled a tremendous amount of energy from within its shell, and its field began to coalesce.

Will felt something coming. It built up like a crescendo to a finale, rising higher with each passing moment. It built and built, and his vision darkened. A shadow fell over him, and only then did he realize it was his own eyes. He had been out of breath for so long that he was blacking out.

A rattling breath leaked from his lips as he struggled. Will desperately moved his foot inch by inch as the world faded around him. As his vision blurred, he kept his eyes fixed on the table and channeled the last dregs of his reserves into his eyes, trying to hold the vision for just a second longer.

"Tenacious," the Spider muttered, its entire frame brimming with power as it scanned Will. "You'll make a wonderful host."

Will watched with bated breath as the Spider raised one clawed finger and placed it on his forehead with loving anticipation.

"Welcome to the Hive, brother!"

Will screamed as the metal talon pierced his skull. Blinding pain exploded from his temple as countless images rushed into his head. The feeble field he had been channeling to his eyes collapsed under the weight of the Bishop's yellow field. Will immediately cut off the psion flow to his left eye and focused solely on his right. As the two signatures clashed, blood dripped from his eye, but he held on, refusing to let go of the last connection to the outside world.

"Hush," the Spider murmured, pushing its claw in deeper as Will began to twitch wildly on the tunnel floor.

He was losing motor control, and the alleyway dimmed to a single point as tunnel vision set in. Only the table in front of him was visible. Will painstakingly fought against his twitching muscles and moved his foot into position.

His efforts didn’t go unnoticed. The Spider sensed the incoming danger and tightened its grip on his pinned arms. "What are you doing?"

With a defiant scream, Will used his last bit of strength to kick the table's underside, sending the key fob flying towards his face. Even when driven into a corner with no hope, he had never stopped thinking. Blood dripping from his eyes, he jerked his head forward and bit the key fob out of the air, triggering it.

"No! Nooo!" the Spider screeched as a powerful pulse slammed into Will. The mental world it had created shattered as the prosthetic sent pulse after pulse into the etherite shard. With each strike, the Spider rocked back as its shell began disintegrating into ash.

Will gasped as he found himself back in the alleyway with the shadowy figure of the Spider towering above him. A terrible rage burned in its eyes.

It grabbed his throat with two crumbling arms and spoke in a deadly whisper. "You win this round, little mouse. But I have your scent now. The Hive will not be denied."

With that final word, the Spider turned to dust, leaving Will alone in the alley. His face caked in blood, Will reached for his slate with a trembling hand and dialed his emergency contact.

"Will? Where are you? Can you hear me? Will?!" Remy's urgent calls were the last thing he heard before he drifted off into oblivion.

"Will?!"