*( mood song: "Woodkid - Iron" )

Erik: "but first... armor, are my kids okay?"

Power armor AI: *scanning... no significant harm detected, stimulants seem to have increased their pulse but nothing at dangerous levels*

Erik sighed relieved as he patted his belly, clanking the two metal surfaces together as he mumbled "thank the universe..." he then saw Inky struggling against the never ending crab waves "we can't keep going like this..."

Erik tapped his neck: "be ready to run this way on my order!"

"understood!"

Erik: [Rose, release the poison, I want those baby crabs to scream loud and clear]

Rose: [understood, poison release started!]

Erik observed the crabs, and although he didn't hear anything, he quickly noted their distress climbing fast, with crab men tearing each other apart to run to the origin of the sound.

Erik tapped his neck: "RUN TO THE RIGHT! NOW!!!"

The elders and soldiers nodded as they started running, with Timberly at the front, easily slaughtering the lesser crab men with wide swipes of her spear, while the soldiers advanced in a phalanx formation. The warriors carrying tower shields and plasma spears, while the hunters and scouts shot from behind, while the mutants stayed in the middle.

With Timberly and the other elders as the spearhead, it didn't take long for them to reunite with Erik.

Meanwhile, the tanky crab man ignored them as it dug at the wall.

Erik: "we gotta run! when that is opened we could all be poisoned to death!".

Rose: "come! this way!"

Everyone's faces got serious as they started running after Rose.

*SKREEE!*

They could hear the big tanky crab man's call behind them, as the drones followed after them, stopping their noise generation, leaving the screaming crab men alone.

They approached the other side of the cavern, the walls full of dark rocky tunnels.

Erik: [which way Rose?]

Rose: [hmm... not really sure...]

Erik: [just choose the one you feel right then! we don't have much time now...]

Rose: [...I understand... alright done] and she just run straight to the closest tunnel.

Shana swam beside Erik that was running with his back turbines helping him run faster.

Shana: "in what direction do we go after this?"

Erik: "first we need to escape the danger zone!"

Shana nodded: "understood!" looking back "swim faster soldiers! we need to escape this area!"

Amelia: "you heard her, swim harder! go! go! go!"

Meanwhile, back at the cavern, the big crab man along with thousands of lesser crab men around it had dug out the hole. The tanky crab man tried to squeeze his way inside, but he was too big, *skreek! krik kret!* so he gave instructions to the crab men around.

The crab men soon flooded the hallway and reached the young, but they couldn't identify the problem, there were no wounds so there shouldn't be any issues. At that very moment though, the crab men along with their young paused... they couldn't breathe! their gills were in pain! they tried to carry their young out of the hole but... alas... it was too late for all of them. Their organs started failing and they started falling dead in the thousands.

The tanky crab man clicked his mandibles emitting ultrasounds, as he orserved all of his family and subordinates dying all around, feeling a deep primal anger towards the invaders. He didn't know what the cause of the deaths was, but he still chose a tunnel and escaped, starting to feel his gills in pain already too, thankfully he was way sturdier.

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As he escaped he scanned the cave one last time, almost all his tribe members had died... *boom boom!* it hit the walls around it in frustration, it remembered the intruder's smell, it would make sure to hunt them and eat them all!.

On Erik's side, they finally arrived at another door and crossed it, finding themselves in a really strange room, the walls covered in a layer of gray strands as thin as hairs.

Erik: "what the hell..." and tried to touch it.

Rose: "wait, I will try first" she scanned the wall strands "they are made of protein chains and metals... " she then tried touching it "huh?" but her hand was stuck to it "it's sticky..."

Erik paled: "too many coincidences... it looks... like a tarantula nest to me..."

Rose shrugged: "so? that useless knowledge doesn't help"

Erik rolled his eyes: "it does, if whatever made these uses the threads to sense prey then they must have felt it when the door opened" he looked at both sides of the now once again closed door "a big chunk of silk was tore after all..."

Rose: "that... makes sense..."

Erik scoffed: "of course, now we need to advance quickly, taking our time would be useless"

Erik took the front, while the mutants cautiously tapped the floor to his side, the mutant kids also helped as they once again grabbed to Erik's back.

Probably trying to prove their usefulness, two older mutants then took the forward position advancing through the five meter wide tunnel.

One of them cut a piece of silk from a wall then and came back, seemingly telling something to the mutant leader by Erik's aide. The mutant leader struggled for some moments, looking at Erik, and finally pointed forward with her spear, taking the lead herself along with the two others.

Amanda: "commander, is it sensible to let them take the lead?"

Erik: "well... they will disturb the threads less so..."

Amanda: "commander..."

Erik raised an eyebrow: "yes?"

Amanda pointed at his feet: "with you behind there's no point in being stealthy..."

Erik looked at his feet, the silk had stuck to the power armor's feet, but he just kept ripping it as he walked.

Erik: "Oh... that explains why it was a bit harder to walk... okay okay, if we meet with any danger we can just let the mutants point it first, it will be fine, we can just protect them in tim-"

But he was interrupted by the mutant leader's call as she had thrown a rock to his chest, pointing forward when she got his attention.

In the middle of the tunnel forward now there were two spiderfish but way smaller than those outside, as they were just barely two meters in length. The two critters observed the group curiously.

Erik observed their soulless black eyes and shivered: "they are really creepy... by how small they are though... they are either workers or younglings..."

*BANG! BANG!* suddenly two shots splattered the two critters.

Erik turned around and saw Inky holding her gun, a grimace of disgust on her face.

Erik: "why?!"

Inky was confused: "why not? they looked disgusting and creepy..."

Erik facepalmed: "...well, now they will know we are here for sure..."

---

Meanwhile, back at the shadow claw tribe, seven tunnelers had been captured, so seven crab men had qualified for upgrades and going to the surface, with a ceremony in their honor being celebrated.

Medals had been given to the first three, and among them were Thanya and Alkban, she had a triumphant smile on her face while he looked tired.

Thanya elbowed him and whispered to his ear: "smile honey, smile! you are making us look weak"

Alkban: "...maybe if you helped me drag those beasts I wouldn't be so- ugh!" grabbing his stomach as Thanya had elbowed his stomach again.

Thanya: "don't you love me? why would you make a lady do such a thing?... jeez you need to do better honey"

Alkban's face darkened, but he kept his mouth shut, he came from a humble family after all.

Thanya then spotted her parents in the crowd and smiled brightly as she saw what she thought were faces of disbelief, her father couldn't even look at her straight in the eyes, and that made her smile even more.

Trebetuk then approached supported by his wife Alhona, both with tired faces.

Alhona: "congratulations to you two, you must be really happy"

Thanya: "of course! it wasn't that hard, and... done with my own hands! what about THAT dad?!"

Trebetuk: "yes... I'm proud of you..., so what upgrades are you gonna ask for? your mother and I already thought of some for us and other's that could suit you two, we got them recommended by the queen herself so-"

Thanya stopped him as she rolled her eyes: "dad! just stop... jeez, you know... after thinking about it I like my body the way it is, I just wanted to prove to you that I don't need your help, I could get them with my own pincers!, so... I was thinking of not getting any upgrade-" but she shut up as she saw her father's face darken as he ground his teeth "w-what?"

Trebetuk: "hehe... hehehe... HUAHAHAHA! YOU DON'T WANT THEM! hehehe..."

Thanya: "dad..."

Trebetuk: "your own pincers you said?! your mother and I had to... entertain the queen for that opportunity, you did nothing!"

Thanya: "what?! how could-"

*slap* but her mother slapped her.

Thanya was in disbelief, her mother had never touched her, but now her mother Alhona had a serious face.

Alhona: "you will get those upgrades, WE earned them for you through a great effort, so you are now gonna get as many of them as the queen allows you, did you understand?"

Thanya shyly nodded.

Alhona: "good..." she then looked at Alkban "as for you-"

Alkban cut her doing a reverence though: "of course ma'am, I'm all in if those upgrades make me stronger".

Alhona and Trebetuk nodded approvingly.

Trebetuk: "good, at least you have some sense..., let's go home prepare, we need to get our luggage".

Thanya: "but-"

Alhona: "you heard your father, let's go!"

Thanya turned to Alkban: "honey you-"

Alkban ignored her though: "you heard them, lets go"

Thanya felt defeated as so stabbed the floor with her legs in frustration and finally followed after them.

Lots of people had seen the family discussion, among them was queen Erika(Rose), as she observed the plaza outside from a balcony in the royal palace.

She then murmured to herself: "as many as the queen gives huh~? interesting~"