… The body croaked, its rasping human tongue echoed by a thousand tiny vibrations from machines clinging to every surface of the dim cavern. The blood red lights that glowed on each spider made it look like the walls themselves had eyes, and watched the exchange murderously.

“No. You are Technician Bergholt Stuttley of the Knights of the Storm,” stated Harkon, unflinching. “And I am here to assure you do not forget it.” The spiders skitterd back as he took another stride into the cavern, flanked by Aoishe, Talvi and Takhai. It had taken Talvi weeks to track Bergholt down to this dismal cavern. Its stench alone proved how little of Bergholt's humanity 'Hive' recalled.

“We do not forget. We remember the Bergholt Entity. We surpass. We are more.” The lights grew brighter with each word until the cave was bathed in a thick emergency red.

“You are nothing compared to us. Bergholt is ours and you will return him or face my wrath!” As Harkon spoke the final works sparks began snap across his skin, before earthing with a long beam into the formation of storm knights around him. A mesh of energy played between them, a network of its own.

“Irrelevant. The Bergholt Entity is now Hive. Leave this place or be consumed. You have no chance to survive. Make your time.” 'Time' was punctuated by a tiny click as the spider on Bergholt's shoulder whipped out a tiny three bladed stinger from its abdomen. A wave of clicks spread out from the mangled figure across the whole cavern, building into a roar as each spider extended its own curious tool.

Harkon's response was to lean forward a step, landing squarely on an overbold spider. Its body was crushed like mousebones, and it died with an electronic squeal.

The squeal echoed from every other spider, becoming a chitter, then an angry roar as they rushed down the walls, acrossed the floor, dropped from the ceiling live bloody liquid metal, converging on the four figures. Clambering over each other to be the first to sink metal into their flesh.

Then a greater roar burst from Harkon as he spread his arms wide, revealing the strange coiled mess of wires hidden beneath his cloak. Like a sword from a sheath a spire of metal stabbed into the sky behind him, and lightning crackled from each of Harkon's fingertips into it. Takhai grabbed the spire and another charge ran through his own claws into it. Aoishe stepped forward and grasped the spire herself, then Talvi, all lending an immense energy to it.

The spiders are upon them, crawling over their feet with legs like pins. With great sweeps of his arms, Harkon flings the forerunners aside, watching their tiny bodys explode as a mess of cogs against the wall. Aoishe stabs knives through their brittle bodies with surgeon's precision, and Talvi lays waste to ten at a time with crushing blows from a hammer.

They fight to the crescendo of a static charge. An acrid stench accompanies the hum, up past ear piercing, beyond pain. Cackling, Takhai flicks up a cover, revealing a beautiful, beautiful red button.

A huge wave of static washes over the room, leaping from spider to spider like a fox to the throat of chickens. The tiny creatures are catapulted into the air, the direction of the wave reversed. There is a blinding light and the spire melts into a metallic puddle, licking over Takhai's feet.

All is silent.

Harkon steps over the stunned, twitching shells, carelessly crushing a dozen more. He plucks up the unconscious body of Bergholt, slings him over a shoulder, and turns to leave.

“The Knights do not abandon their own.” He states as the quartet file out. Soon they would return to the academy where Intaglio waits to perform the delicate surgery needed to undo the madness Begholt had brought upon himself. Aoishe will assist, the memories of another Storm knight bound up in the beads on her wrist, hoping to remind Bergholt of his humanity… but the spiders have wormed their way deep inside of him, and only Intaglio's skilled hands have any hope of recovering the inventor from his bolted, clockwork coffin…

Bergholt was still unconscious when the Union and GPR forces invaded the confederacy. As the last of the Storm Knight defenses crumbled, he could do nothing. Capturing him was as simple as plucking eggs from a nest, and the Union troops did so with the care of a magpie. Months later, he was to appear in a GPC court, standing trial for the arachnid monster he had unleashed, never knew a day of freedom thereafter. However, no longer with enough humanity to survive without the Hive, he did not last long enough.

The Hive proved a much more difficult a beast to cage. The stranger Laan is quick to recognize the threat they pose to the maga-fragment, and attempts to wage a personal war against them. While he easily destroys the creatures wherever he finds them, he finds them wherever he looks. By the time he arrives at the confederacy the Hive has already spread well beyond, into the void, what little remains of the Fallen, the City… the Union.

Djared Crucius is charged with creating a successful countermeasure against the beasts, while Laan leads union troops in their extermination. Meanwhile the Mega-Fragment is forming, and the iron spokes at its core are an easy source of power for the spiders. In a desperate attempt to hold the swarm at bay, whole fragments, overrun, are deliberately sunk.

A risky solution is formed in time; A second hive, focused around the Union Storm Net, made of spiders that replicate by feeding on the original Hive. Where the two hives meet they destroy each other. Laan travels far and wide assuring that the hives do indeed meet. The back of the beast is broken.

But not its spirit. Remnants of the hive still lurk in the corners of the world, destroyed where they are found, nearly innert, seemingly waiting. For something.