"The shield worked! I know it worked!" Becky came yelling about the same moment her cousins sat up and proved they weren't dead.

Pretty soon they were all on their feet, crying and hugging and and laughing before the endless questions started. Mason didn't have the heart to put a stop to it, and he wasn't sure what the plan was anyway.

"So what's the plan?" Seamus said, because of course he did.

Mason was inspecting the walls, but he didn't see much of anything except the ant tunnels. He sure as hell wasn't going to try and crawl down any of those, but other than go back to the bigger tunnels and explore, or dig, he didn't see a way to progress.

"And this is Mason, he's my...boyfriend." Becky's excited voice trailed off as Mason turned. She stared along with her cousins as he faced them and stepped forward.

"Mother Mary and Joseph," Willy whispered as Mason came closer.

"He don't, um, always look like this..." Becky said, going a little pink. "It's just his powers. He's a, uh, well, I don't rightly know what he is, but he turns back and all and he saved me before you, and plenty of other folk, and..."

"Hi." Mason said, putting out his hand for Willy to shake. The younger man took it, and Mason tried not to notice what looked like dark latex coating his own skin. He also had a jagged piece of spike-like bone sticking out of his forearm, which was dripping with bug goo and he vaguely remembered stabbing things with.

He also felt a bit too...tall, and large. Willy's hand looked somewhat small in his. He gripped it, but did his best not to squeeze.

"I, uh. Nice to meet ya," said Willy after a swallow. He was a good looking kid but skinny as a rail, with a sickly pallor and lips so dry he looked half dead. Mason took out a water bottle and some rations, and Phuong and Becky started doing the same.

"Ah hell I should have thought of it, you must be starving," Becky said, going even more pink as they made a collection.

It would have all been very logical except that Sarah was a good hundred pounds overweight. She didn't look sickly at all, though she attacked the rations with the same enthusiasm as Willy. She had a good deal of Becky's prettyness underneath all those extra pounds. But something about her restless eyes made Mason distrust her instantly.

"How long have you been trapped down here?" he asked as they gorged.

"Don't rightly know," said Willy, eyes closed as he chewed. "Any chance you have something a little...stronger?" he said, holding up the water bottle.

Mason exchanged a glance with Phuong. He tried to meet Becky's eyes but she was too busy watching her cousins.

"No," he said, then activated Ranger's Mark and started inspecting. He wasn't a doctor, though he suspected the power was giving him an intuitive understanding of whatever vitals he was looking at.

Willy's organs looked about a hundred years old. His lungs were dark, probably from a lifetime of smoking, his heart a little swollen, his liver not quite right.

When Mason's power touched Sarah, she froze like an animal in headlights. Then his power…shut down.

"That's a bit rude," she said, looking up briefly before her gaze bounced back to the rations. "Becky, can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?"

"No. You can't," Mason said, his natural suspicion blaring into full on paranoia. "I want both of you to take off your clothes. Now."

Becky stared at him with wide eyes, and her cousins just stared.

"What sort of...who the hell do you think you are?" Sarah turned from Becky to Mason and backed away.

"Phuong, strip Willy." Mason stepped towards Sarah. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. But I need to see if they've stuck those tree roots into you. So strip."

"Yes, Patron." Phuong stepped towards the younger man, and despite some protest soon had his ragged shirt over his head.

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"Now just a damn minute." Becky was getting red as she stepped in front of her cousin. "What the hell is wrong with you, Mason? You don't just strip a girl in front of a bunch of men. Who cares if they...what difference does that make? Hasn't she been through enough?"

Mason grasped for the piece of himself that Becky loved—the softer thing he could be back in the settlement behind walls and feeling a moment of safety, and not whatever Cerebus and this bloody apocalypse was turning him into.

"You have to trust me, Becky." He waved at the others to all turn around and look away. "She's resisting my...inspection. And there's something wrong here. I feel it. It might not be dangerous to us. But there's something."

Becky didn't look much happier, but she slowly nodded and turned to her cousin. "OK, honey, we can just cover you, and I'll stand right here. It'll be quick and then..."

Sarah reached out and grabbed Rebecca's throat.

Mason was moving in a blink, not sure what he planned except to remove any part of Sarah he had to, in whatever way he had to. A wave of arcane energy burst out from the pair of them, strong enough it knocked Mason back a step and probably tossed the others.

[Title activated: First Blood]

"Stay back," whispered the same voice that had spoken to the giant mantis. Sarah's eyes rolled back, and Becky cried out as she put her hands to her temples. "Stay back or I'll break your mate's mind."

Mason felt a real stab of fear. His hands clenched as he struggled to decide. The thing could be lying. Buying itself time or just trying to trick him long enough to escape.

"What are you?" he said, activating Ranger's Mark again with just as much effect.

'Sarah' stepped behind Becky, putting her between them. For her part, Becky looked suddenly drunk and struggling to stand, completely unable to resist whatever was being done.

"Your mind is strong. Hers is weak," hissed the voice. Mason heard more skittering sounds, then the ant-creatures were again emerging from the tunnels.

"If you try and take her," Mason said, a cold thing in his gut taking over, "I'll take my chances and kill you. You're not taking her out of this room."

'Sarah's' eyes narrowed as it watched him. It paused and stared, maybe calculating its next move, maybe judging if he'd really do it. He hoped it figured out he would.

"The Great Tree is mine," it hissed. "I'll give you your mate if you leave, and promise never to return."

Mason truly missed having Blake beside him in that moment. Maybe his brother's mind powers could protect Becky, or maybe he could negotiate or bluff his way out of this.

Mason kept his face neutral. He didn't know how to be anything but what he was. The soft piece that Becky loved was screaming for attention, to do whatever he had to. But that wasn't the piece of him this new world demanded, the piece that kept him and everyone else alive.

"Your time in this tree was over the second I stepped inside," he said because that was the truth. "You can't stop me. You can't hide from me. Stay here and I'll slaughter my way through your brood, your slaves, and then I'll kill you."

He let that hang in the air a moment, then shrugged.

"Or you can leave. I don't care where you go. Give me the girl, and run for your life, and I won't hunt you down. That's your choice."

'Sarah' snarled, and another seething wave of arcane energy spiraled through the air.

[Apex Predator activated: Mental Domination resisted.]

Mason didn't even move, and 'Sarah' visibly slumped.

"I require this body."

Mason hesitated, but not for long. No doubt it was because he was an orphan, but his views on blood family wasn't nearly the same as most people's. Becky was his family by choice. Sarah was not.

That she was related to Becky meant she mattered to Mason more than a stranger, but not by much. The choice wasn't hard. He nodded.

"What?" Willy said behind. "You can't just...it can't just have her!"

Mason ignored him.

"I go through the tunnels," hissed the creature with Sarah’s mouth. "Do not follow."

Mason knew how this game worked well enough to know this thing couldn't escape without his permission. It was all a test, all a drama made by roboGod, and whatever the window dressing there'd be rules to how it worked. His decision was already made, and he'd accept the consequences.

"You're boring me now. Go quickly, or die."

Even so he readied to move. If he detected any more magic, any harm to Rebecca, he'd chase this thing as far as required. He followed as the creature backed away, step by step to the tunnels before it finally pushed Becky forward and vanished behind a cluster of the ants.

[Queen event: complete. Congratulations! You have cleared the Great Tree of the insectoid infestation. Group experience awarded. Reward: Friendlier relations with the North Tree Gnolls. Note: the Great Tree is not yet cleansed.]

Becky collapsed, and Mason caught her. The soft part of him practically collapsed with her, but he couldn't let it out. Not yet.

"You let it...take my sister," whispered Willy, dropping to the ground.

"It was her or Becky and I chose." Mason turned. "And if you think you're safe you're wrong. Because I'm guessing you knew, or at least suspected. So I have questions. And depending on the answers to those questions, you might wish you'd gone with your sister."

The young man put his face in his hands, and Mason turned back to Becky, splashing a little water from his flask on her cheeks. She soon sighed and opened her eyes, smiling when she saw him.

"I had the strangest dream," she said, cuddling into his arms.

He looked away and brushed some hair from her face. He suspected he now had to tell her a mind-controlling insectoid queen had taken her cousin, then explain they had to climb up through a giant pack of bloodthirsty gnolls.

"We aren't done," he said to Seamus and Phuong, still cradling Becky. Both men nodded without a word, and he was thankful for that. "I hope you're doing better than me," he whispered, thinking of both Blake and Streak.

Then he put away the weakness and stood, getting Becky to her feet. There was still work to be do.