Ted The Gladiator was so lost in a rage that he did not notice one more fighter had joined the fray. Bartholomew was still holding him from completely breaking free from the concrete. The tin man shouted something, but all words were lost in him, lost in the fire and desperation, and isolation. They had killed mother, they are killing him, they have to die with him. 

Until another migraine struck him again, cringing in the middle of the subsiding blaze, the mysterious voice is coming again, and every word he heard felt like there was a hammer beating his injured skull. 

"No... no Mother!" He bellowed, "You run from them... They here do bad to you! MATHA!!"  

There was another wave of sound and whispers. So strong it numbed the pain from Bartholomwew's axe attack. The great bear clutched his head. and did all he knew best when being put in a stressed environment; that was to let it all sorted out in a fit of rampage. He knew he was stupid, he knew he should listen to... mother?

A realization dawned even slower than usual, but it did, and it came with a new purpose. 

"Leave me alone!" he shouted, still in delirium, mad like possessed, but rather than trying to take down Bartholomew, he tried to escape from the Armored Undead's grapple this time by swatting him aside with what remained of his strength. It didn't work well, but that didn't stop Ted from clawing, and again pounding the rest of the concrete with his hardened forearm. 

____

Meanwhile, the group's attempt to escape from the laboratory was met with minimal obstacles.

Cedar's plea was lost in the fire, and even if it somewhat got through Ted's thickened skull, there was less reason for the Gladiator-Bear to heed his call. Or even to remain calm upon hearing such a proposition.

Sands opened paths for them to tread through the burning tiles, and considering that they had avoided further contact with the enraged Ted, they managed to reach the antechamber leading to the first basement... several moments earlier before Ted the Gladiator escaped from his concrete shackle and Bartholomew'swerestling, and proceeded to charge through, with all of his balding and smokey mass toward the empty tunnel leading toward Strritzel's mansion.