--Secret Storage Facility; Location Unknown--

William Duncan strode through the room housing the gestation chambers. His excitement distracting him from the frigid temperatures of the room. Jensen Skagg’s untimely death had forced him to travel to Oshan to tie up some loose ends, but the real reason he came was housed inside of the containers. It was a shame to lose Beta-01 the way he did, but it was an outdated and obsolete specimen. Its usefulness had run its course and he would have disposed of it anyway. He smiled proudly as he stood before four sealed containers. His greatest achievements and creations; His children. He touched a switch to activate the pods and release their contents. The pods opened and the nurturing fluid within them drained, revealing four comatose individuals housed within.

“Time to wake up,” he said as the beings inside began to stir.

Their eyes slowly opened to take in their surroundings before they stepped out of the pods, ripping off the tubes and wires they were connected to. The pinnacle of his APEX research, the Omega series, had originally consisted of three males and two female specimens. However, during an unfortunate incident at the original facility, one of his female creations, Omega-4, had escaped and all but destroyed her brethren in the process. He would have lost them all had he not been able to gather their remains and put them in gestation tanks. After those eight long years, they had finally recovered. Duncan took a moment to admire his creations as they stood before him. Omega-1 was a male of average build and height, with a head of auburn hair and silver eyes. Omega-2 was a much larger male, standing easily over six feet tall and having a muscular and burly build. He was bald and his eyes were brown. Omega-3 was similar to Omega-1, only that his hair was brown and his eyes were hazel. Lastly, Omega-5, being the only female was smaller than her counterparts. Her body was well developed, (as expected of his creation) and her hair was a dark red, with grey eyes. Their distinguishing features ended with this, as they all shared the same pale skin and the elaborate runic markings that covered every inch of their naked bodies like a set of tattoos. Despite their human appearance, their eyes lacked the light of life. They held an emptiness within them like one would find in a doll or mannequin, being mere imitations of the real thing.

“Father,” Omega-1 said, adjusting, regaining his wits. “This place is different than our home. Where are we?” he asked.

“That is not important,” Duncan replied dismissively. “I have awakened you all because I have need of you. The time to fulfill your purpose draws near,” He walked closer to his creations. “To mark this occasion I will give you all a gift.”

Omega-3 tilted his head inquisitively. “A gift? What kind of gift?” he asked.

“Names,” Duncan said. “You all were created from the essence of powerful Draconian deities, and are the physical manifestation of their greatness. You will be named based off of which spirit you personify.” He placed a hand on Omega-1’s shoulder. “From now on, Omega-1 you shall now be known as Baldur. Omega-2 you will be known as Ares. Omega-3 your name will be Tyr, and Omega-5 you are now Athena. You all-,”

“Where is she?” Athena interrupted. The others perked up at her disruption. “Omega-4, she betrayed us. She tried to kill us, her siblings.” Athena’s eyes and markings began to glow red. “Where IS SHE?!” unable to contain her anger anymore, she grabbed hold of her tank and ripped it free from the wall. With a great cry, she hurled the large tube like a javelin, sending it careening across the room and through the walls of the building to crash through one of the trucks outside.

“It seems your strength is returning,” William commented.

“I don’t care what happens,” Athena continued. “I just want the chance to rip that traitorous head of hers off myself!”

“Calm yourself, my Athena. You will get your chance soon enough.” William said. “You all still need time to regain your full abilities. So the first order of business is to get you all out of this, as well as getting you all some proper clothes to wear.” He gestured them towards the exit. As the homunculi began to file out, he pulled Tyr aside. “When you are dressed, I have a special task for you, my child.”

Tyr nodded. “What do you require of me?”

Duncan pulled up images of a young woman on his datapad. She had dark hair, piercings and visible tattoos on her arms. “This is Haru Shimomura. A young woman whom I have had contact with over the last few days. I need for you to pay her a visit?”

“What for?” Tyr asked, a bit confused.

A small smile came across Williams' face. “I need you to tie up some loose ends.”

--Oshan University Apartments, 4 pm--

Yuko finished packing the last of her items in her duffle bag. It was a relief to return to the apartment, considering she had been spirited away last time with nothing more than what she was wearing to work that day. The feeling of knowing she had a decent supply of clothes and her feminine products brought her mind a sense of relief. She sat on her bed and reflectively looked around her room. There was no doubt she was scared. The events of the previous night and what had been revealed to her in the compound; showed her that the world she used to take so lightly was far more dangerous than she could have imagined. I’ve been pretty lucky so far, but what if my luck runs out? She let out a deep sigh as she lugged her bag out of her room into the common area. Maya was busy changing Haru’s bandages. The girl winced as the older woman gingerly applied ointment to her chest wound.

“You are lucky the wound was cauterized by the attack,” Maya said. “That will greatly reduce the chances of it getting infected. You should make a full recovery once we are able to treat you properly.”

“Well thank goodness for that because I don’t think any guy wants to marry a girl with a hole in her chest. At least I’d hope not,” Haru remarked. Haru’s belongings were already packed and arranged near the door.

“You’re looking much better,” She said taking a set by her friend on the couch. Akane who was moving some of Haru’s bags by the door spoke up. “Your friend is resilient, I am amazed that all she required was a steady supply of alcohol to control the pain.”

Yuko chuckled. “We’re college students. There isn’t much in this world alcohol WON’T cure for us.” She joked.

Suddenly the room shook like it was caught in an earthquake, and a loud Boom blared off outside. A few car alarms began to blare from the shaking, and screams and general commotion could be heard outside in the parking lot.

“Haru Shimomura! Come on out! I know you’re here! No use hiding.” A voice boomed from outside. Haru perked up in confusion and fear. “Who...who is that?” she asked. Maya and Akane had rushed to the door, taking defensive positions.

“Just come on outside! No need to hide like the rat you are!” The voice sounded male, relatively young as well.

“What do they want from me?” Haru asked.

“I do not know,” said Akane as she closed the door. “Maya take them, and get them to the hangar.”

“But mistress. I cannot leave you here alone. I can sense the bloodlust from here. Whoever he is, this foe is...strong.” Maya protested. Akane quickly moved the bags from the foyer, to toss them over the side of the balcony at the back of the apartment.

“All the more reason for you to protect them. If something like that is after Haru, I’m sure our enemy sent them. I will deal with him, now you all go!” Before anyone could protest, Akane had already rushed out the door and vaulted over the stairwell, to approach the man in the parking lot. He stood in a crater surrounded by smashed cars. A group of students was unconscious around him and other bystanders were running in fear. He wore a simple white undershirt and a pair of ragged pants. He looked like he had just woken up no too long ago. The man released the male student he had in a chokehold, once he noticed Akane approaching.

“Well, well, well what do we have here?” He turned to face her allowing Akane to take note of the strange markings covering his arms and torso. “You don’t match the description for a ‘Haru’. No, you’re different. Stronger. Prettier.” The stranger walked up to her to size her up. He stood a full head taller than her, yet Akane would not let herself be intimidated.

“The one you seek is not here,” she said. “You should move along.” She began to walk away when the stranger slapped his knee in realization.

“That's right! You’re one of those...Hattori father told me so much about. A long way from home aren’t you?” he said. Akane stopped in her tracks, turning back around to face the man, her eyes turned deadly.

“I have told you before, the one you seek is not here. Leave. I will not say it again.” She said stepping back towards the tattooed man. He chuckled.

“And here I thought you Hattori were supposed to be so much better, so much stronger, much more powerful than the common man. Yet here you are, hiding amongst these insects, like a coward.” He shoved Akane, hard. She took a few steps back, he was trying to provoke her. It was working.

“I have had a rough couple of days,” Akane said threateningly. “I do not want this fight and I assure you, neither do you.” The marked man leaned down to get to Akane’s level, a cocky grin on his face.

“Oh trust me, I do.” He attempted to throw a right hook at Akane, who caught the punch with her left hand. Bones in his hand began to crack under the girls iron grip and his arm snapped as she twisted it.

“I warned you.” She said and slammed her fist into the side of his face sending him tumbling to the ground. She walked over to him, as he struggled to stand on shaky knees. He was muttering the word ‘no’ over and over she forcefully pulled him to his feet. “You would not listen. You brought this upon yourself. Now tell me. Who sent you?” she asked. He looked up at her and let out a sigh of disappointment.

“Fine,” He said. “My turn!” He brought his fist hard into Akane’s gut, sending the girl sailing in the air across the parking lot. She bounced off one of the apartment roofs and fell hard to the ground behind a block of buildings. Just as the air returned to her lungs she quickly rolled away, as the man landed where her head would have been, leaving a large imprint where his foot touched down. Akane scrambled to her feet, instinctively reaching to her waist for her sword, only to find it was not there. Impossible. Could I have forgotten it inside? she thought. It was pointless to worry about it now. She would have to fight without it. The stranger shook his head as he circled Akane.

“What a letdown. Incredibly disappointing!” He cracked his neck and flexed his muscles before beckoning her forward.

“Come on then.” She sneered and launched forward probing his defense with quick jabs. He didn’t even bother to block her attacks as each punch connected, driving him back a few steps at a time.

“Are you even trying?” He mocked. His eyes and markings began to glow red as he surged forward with unnatural speed attempting to punch through his opponent. Akane sidestepped the missile-like strike and somersaulted away from the backhand that followed. He pounded the ground sending a shockwave in her direction that knocked her off her feet. He rushed forward while she was off balance, and caught her in the chin with an uppercut. He grabbed her feet and slammed her face-first into the ground before tossing her high in the air like a ragdoll. He shot into the air like a missile and tackled her onto the roof of an adjacent building, straddling her.

“Tell me where the girl is, and this stops. Real simple.” He said. Akane shifted her head to avoid a punch, that blasted a hole through the roof, a smile appeared on the man's face. “Well lookie what I found,”

Akane looked through the hole to see Maya, hoisting Haru on her shoulders to leap off of the balcony. They had landed on Yuko and Haru’s apartment. This was bad. Akane struck him in the stomach with a knee and flipped him on his back before raining a furious assault of punches to his face. Her final blow crashed the pair through the roof as well as all three floors of the building. The pair landed on the bottom floor in a heap. Akane's bones screamed in pain as she tried to stand. Her opponent was not the most technically sound fighter, but his overwhelming strength and speed more than made up for it. Every hit she took felt as if she was being run into by a freight train. Speaking of which. The stranger was already on his feet and bulldozed her, carrying her through the wall and into the parking lot outside before turning to slam her back into the ground. He delivered a swift kick to her face that sent her flying into the busy streets knocking over a few light posts in her wake.

“It seems I don’t need you after all,” he said. “Looks like I found the bug I was supposed to squash, let me just finish you off.” He walked towards Akane who slowly stood to her feet. When he got close enough she grabbed a fallen lamppost and used it to bat the man away. He flew into the oncoming traffic and pinballed off the side of semi-truck before crashing into Campus Commons apartment sign. She dashed forward, to send him them both through the complex main office. She groaned in pain as an elbow was brought down on her back, sending her to the floor.

“Look at you. Pathetic. You should never have left your forest, lass.” He stood before her, his clothes shredded to pieces, nasty cuts, and bruises covering his body. Soon, the strange marking on his body began to glow green and steam seeped from his wounds as they began to rapidly heal. In seconds he was good as new. He stood over Akane, whose breathing became labored. His cocky smile returned and he brandished his arms wide, goading the assassin once more.

“So love, care to try again?”

--Alleyways near Oshan University Apartments--

Maya and the girls trudged through the back alleys and side streets of Oshan, the distant sounds of the battle behind them.

“Is she going to be okay?” Yuko asked. “Mistress Akane is strong. She will be fine,” Maya said a hint of concern in her voice.

“I’m more concerned with our apartment!” Haru said as she clung to Maya’s back. “They leveled half the complex before we left! We don’t have renters insurance, we’re fucked!”

“Haru! I think we have some more pressing issues, like maybe the crazed fucking superman trying to kill you!” Yuko yelled as she managed to lug her duffle bag on the sidewalk.

“You said you had a car waiting? How much further do we have to go? I don’t think my flats were made for long distance walks.”

Maya grit her teeth as she continued to walk. The girls’ constant complaining was beginning to give her a migraine. “Not too much further, it should be around the corner here.” As they rounded the city block, Yuko was relieved to find the large black sedan that had brought them from the hangar. The driver hurried over to help, the injured Haru to the vehicle.

“The plane is prepped and ready Miss. Maya, where is Mistress Akane?” the driver asked. Maya ushered Yuko inside the vehicle and shoved the bags into the trunk.

“She will meet us at our hangar. Now drive. We must leave at once!” She ordered.

The driver did not raise a complaint, as he revved the engine, and sped off away from the scene

--Oshan University Apartments--

Akane wiped the blood from her mouth as she continued to face off against the infallible stranger. They stood in the parking lot of the all but destroyed apartment complex, her opponent with a bored expression on his face. Nothing was working. She had beaten him, crushed him, run him through walls, but nothing kept him down. Every injury he sustained, every cut, every broken bone healed instantly. She had refrained from using her elemental abilities due to wanting to minimize collateral damage, but it seems that her for was giving her no choice. She was getting tired, holding back would only get her killed at this point. He paced before her, shaking his head.

“Ya’know lass, you could have just walked away. Left all of this alone, let us have the girl, and you woulda been fine. It’s a shame I had to rough up a pretty thing like you. A crime really,” He said

“You talk too much,” muttered Akane. She could hear the distant wail of sirens begin to approach, the buzz of helicopters overhead. She needed to end this quickly, and though she would have preferred to not show it in public. Oh well. “Ba’al, feed upon my soul and lend me your strength.” The sky began to darken, and she felt the beast awaken inside of her. His voice rumbled inside of her mind like rolling thunder

“It has been a while since you have called upon me, master. Are you about to destroy our wonderful body again?” Ba’al growled.

“My body demon. We need to fuse, there's a problem I need to deal with.”

The Storm dragon let out a low chuckle.“You still speak to a god, human. I’m surprised you aren’t reminded of your insolence considering you have been trying to fight one for the past hour.”

“What are you talking about?” She asked

“I can feel my own kind. The presence is different, corrupted, but whatever you are fighting is a living embodiment of a deity” Ba’al said.

“All the more reason we need to deal with him now. Stop wasting time and do it.” Akane commanded.

Without any further words, a bolt of lighting engulfed Akane, bathing her in a blinding light as she began to chant:

“O spirit of thunder, O God of storms. Become one with my soul and enforce my will!”

She felt her mind fade slightly as the deity she housed began to take control. Her pupils narrowed into reptilian slits, and blue diamond-hard scales covered her arms and legs like armor. Her canines lengthened into sharp fangs, and the nails on her hands and feet began to sharpen into claws. Her transformation finished when the long-prehensile tail sprouted from her abdomen. She was a bit taller, and her hair had taken on a blue glow. Lightning pulsed all around her as the stranger gave a low whistle.

“So you’ve got a transformation act. I heard you Hattori were monsters, but I had no idea you could actually turn into one,” he said. He was too busy chattering away to see the dragon-fused Akane disappear in a flash of lightning. The next thing he knew he was launched into the air, the ground rapidly disappearing beneath him. “What the--ARGH!” He was slammed into again by something hard and fast. His eyes could not see what it was, only a surge of electricity traveling through the surrounding clouds. The sound of thunder rapidly approaching until he was struck again, this time sending him careening back towards the ground, slamming into the earth like a meteor, creating a large explosion. Akane glided down from the heavens to hover over her downed opponent.

“You’re different,” the tattooed man said as his spine reset itself. He forced himself to his feet to look up at the airborne assassin.

“So the homunculus has a brain after all,” Akane spoke. Her voice was different. A deep inhuman rumble echoed behind her words. “A poor tortured soul forced into the mold of a human. Fear not, for I shall free you from your misery soon enough.”

She raised a clawed hand toward the sky and the dark clouds began to swirl overhead. Lightning was drawn in from miles away converging in a large mass at the same point. The large sphere of pure energy lit up the sky like a sun, bathing the area in a blue light.

“As if I’d let you!” the man said as he leaped at her to try and stop the attack.

However, it was too late.

“Let your soul be cleansed in the tempest, ” Akane extended a palm toward her opponent.

“Bariq”

The last thing Tyr saw was a blinding flash of light before his world was engulfed in darkness.

The sky lit up as a massive beam of plasma parted the clouds and shot off towards the horizon. The lights in the city of Oshan flickered and failed as the beam passed over the skyline, before dissipating into a bolt of lightning and a roll of thunder. Car alarms began to blare and dogs began to bark all across the city as Akane felt Ba’al begin to relinquish control of her body.

“I have cleaned up your mess for you, little one. I advise you use your remaining time in this form to make your escape before the locals regain their wits,” the spirit said.

Akane would table the discussion about Ba’als tone for later, for now, he was right. Usually, she could maintain her fused form for around ten minutes. However, after firing off a blast of that magnitude it probably gave her maybe a minute of usable energy. Soon, she would be completely powerless. She quickly gathered her bearings pointed herself in the direction of their hangar and shot off through the sky at full speed, her body turning into pure electrical energy as she sped through the clouds.

--Oshan Harbor District 7:20 pm--

The VTOL was already gassed and prepped by the time the driver had brought Yuko and the others to the hangar, all that was needed was for them to board. As they began to transfer from the car to the aircraft a loud thunderclap passed overhead making the ground shake violently. Yuko’s hairs stood on end as the surrounding lights and electronics began to fail, luckily the car and aircraft were unaffected by the electromagnetic pulse.

“What was that? OW!” she asked while shocking herself touching the metal handle of the car door.

“It’s of no concern,” Maya said. “Into the jet quickly, we will leave as soon as mistress Akane arrives.” She shouldered Haru once again and helped her up the steps into the aircraft. As Yuko grabbed her bag from the trunk, a flash in the air caught her eye. She looked up to see a rapidly approaching blue streak, darting between the clouds. It seemed to pause a moment, almost as if it spotted Yuko and began to head right for her.

“Ms. Maya..what..is THAT?” She pointed at the sky much more alarmed. Before Maya could respond the light sped towards Yuko stopping mere feet from where she stood, a large gust of wind blew past her in its wake. It dissipated in a blinding flash, leaving only a tired looking Akane in its stead.

“Is...the plane..ready” she managed to say. Yuko was still a little freaked out by what she saw, but she managed to nod in confirmation.

“G...good,” No sooner had she appeared did Akane collapse face first on the ground, unconscious. Yuko stared at the unmoving girl with trepidation unsure of what to do.

“Don’t just stare at her child! Pick her up and bring her on board!” Maya shouted from the cabin.

Yuko reached down and mustered her strength to lift the girl to her feet, draping her arms over her shoulder. Yuko groaned Akane’s pure muscle gave her athletic form a deceptive weight as she lugged the girl on the plane, nearly collapsing as she dumped the assassin on the couch. Akane laid sprawled in the awkward position Yuko left her in. Her eyes remained tightly shut and her breathing was slow and quiet.

“Guess she’s down for the count.” Yuko thought as she plopped into her own seat. As the jet rose, she could see the lights begin to flicker back on across the city. The smoke rising from the pile of rubble that used to be her apartment complex. The area was swarmed with police choppers and fire rescue vehicles. Her home as she knew it, was gone. Shattered like the rubble on the ground and scattered into the horizon by the wind.