"And remember, you never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice, little Cass,"

These were the last words Cassandra Sullivan's father said to her as he lowered himself to her eye level, gently patting her head before leaving to explore one of the infamous danger zones that appeared after the unveiling.

Scientists and researchers believe these so-called danger zones to be biomes from entirely different worlds or realities transported to earth by the mysterious energy pulse that many people presume caused the unveiling.

Many people, both powerful and mundane, tried to explore the danger zones. But they all disappeared, likely dead, killed by whatever horrors that roamed these ominous lands.

And Alexander Sullivan, little Cass' father, despite being famous for his strength that was said to rival the Deterrent's own, was no different in that regard.

The death of such a powerful human being was, and a famous war hero was a significant loss for humanity, and many people mourned his passing. But it was little Cass who suffered the most heartache for losing her father and only relative.

Still, she was the daughter of one of the strongest human beings in the world, and she persevered, trying to live up to the last words her father had left her with before disappearing.

And as the daughter of a war hero to the OWR, she didn't have to worry about shelter, food, training, and most importantly, training to follow in her father's footsteps.

Cassandra had, of course, inherited her father's superhuman strength. But even Alexander himself didn't reach that level of power by relying on genes and mutations, but he had to work hard for it instead.

So Cassandra worked hard and focused solely on training herself to become as strong as her father while forgoing any chance of having a normal childhood.

The years went on with Cassandra training herself tirelessly, steadily growing stronger until she became able to defeat several dozens of armed, trained soldiers on her own, but that still wasn't enough for her.

In her mind, Cassandra could never imagine the day where she would become as strong as her father, who, like all fathers, always casts vast, seemingly unsurpassable shadows in their children's minds for them to look up to while growing up.

And Alexander's shadow was unusually vast in Little Cass' mind because of his achievements and how people viewed the man. But she did not let that bring her down as she continued to train tirelessly to surpass the unsurpassable shadow of her father.

It was also at this time that Cassandra finally made a friend after spending so many years training in the secret training facility, with the only people she talked to being her instructors.

Her new friend was a girl exactly the same age as her with long red hair and blue eyes, but she looked at least five years older than Cassandra for some reason.

And it was no surprise that the two girls quickly developed a rivalry between each other that slowly blossomed into a friendship over the next several years of training.

Cassandra's strength and friendship with the red-haired girl continued to grow over the next few years, which witnessed little Cass' development from a little girl chasing after her father's shadow into a strong, willful young woman.

However, things took a turn for the worse as Cassandra slowly grew aware of the cruel world she lived in as it gained color in her eyes that used to view the world in only two colors; white and black.

There were no absolutes in this world, no evil deed was without merit, and no good deed was without demerit, was the conclusion she came to after secretly digging up some of her father's history.

She found out about her father's history after sneaking into the archives section of the training facility, a restricted area containing the files of all individuals who trained in this facility, including her father.

Though she wasn't interested in this particular section of the training facility as she didn't know about its contents, Cassandra sneaked into it as a part of a bet she had with her new friend.

The bet happened after a session of stealth training that the two girls had an argument about which one was better at the subject, so they decided to settle their disagreement with a test to determine who was stealthier.

Cassandra's friend had challenged her to break into the archives, which she did with no trouble as she began investigating the room out of curiosity.

And she quickly found her father's file, browsing it immediately with levels of excitement she had not displayed since Cassandra was a child, only for her excitement and eagerness to turn into horror as she continued to read.

The nature of some of her father's actions, which the public did not know about, had horrified Cassandra into a state of disillusionment and caused her to question everything she had ever believed in while growing up.

Mass murder, destruction of entire cities, and the extinction of several species were some of the things her father did in the name of the greater good.

And that was not the end of Cassandra's shock, as she discovered that such atrocious actions were indeed beneficial to the survival and prosperity of humanity, all the while some of her father's heroic acts had, in fact, caused more harm than good.

These discoveries cast a heavy burden on young Cassandra's shoulders, causing her to isolate herself from her friend and trainers for an entire month, which she spent questioning all the efforts she had spent in trying to walk in her father's footsteps.

And things only got even worse from there as she discovered THE OWR was trying to train her to become her father's successor, to take his place as a tool for them to use against their enemies instead of becoming the hero she thought her father was.

It was also then that Cassandra finally realized she was a prisoner in all but name inside this training facility, so she decided to escape and forge her own destiny.

And despite her best efforts to find her friend, she failed to do so as the girl in question had disappeared after accepting Cassandra's challenge of breaking into a restriction segment of the facility reserved for secret research.

So Cassandra had no choice but to escape on her own, and she did despite the difficulties she had faced because of all the attention the facility's personnel placed on her after she isolated herself.

But the freedom she longed for wasn't so easy to achieve as she quickly found herself hunted by the OWR agents all across the world.

She spent her days sleeping with only one eye closed, always on high alert as she slowly but surely got used to living by depending on herself instead of relying on the research facility's employees to do everything for her.

She lived in this manner for two years, doing mercenary work under false identities wherever and whenever she could while fighting off teams of agents sent by the OWR after her, causing her to develop a taste for blood and battle in the process.

And even that ended when she found herself surrounded by more people than she could handle after following a lead on a potential job that turned out to be a trap set for her by the OWR agents.

Though Cassandra fought fearlessly with all of her might, the agents' seemingly infinite number slowly wore her down and brought her to her knees.

And it was in such a dire time that her future boss showed up to save her life, making quick work of the agents who were after Cassandra with casual disregard.

"Hello, little Cass," the man said with a smirk, causally taking out a piece of cloth to wipe his gigantic prosthetic arm clean from the agents' blood.

"Who are you?" Cassandra asked, frowning in displeasure at the name the man used to address her. "Tyrant to my enemies, Ashura Okilo to my friends," the man replied, still smirking as he threw the piece of cloth away after wiping his hand clean.

"But you can call me uncle Ash," he added as he extended his hand, trying to help her up. "What the hell do you mean, I can call you uncle ash?" Cassandra replied with a cowl, slapping Ashura's hand away as she got up on her own.

"You don't remember me, do you?" Ashura asked with a sigh, retrieving a picture of himself carrying a baby Cassandra while standing next to her father while the three of them were smiling happily.

"You knew my father?" Cassandra asked with a complicated expression as she looked at the picture. "He was like a brother to me, but we had a minor philosophical disagreement," Ashura replied with a nostalgic smile on his face.

"So, what do you want from me?" Cassandra asked after several seconds she spent staring at the picture of her father and herself. "I promised your father that I would take care of you when he left to explore the danger zone," Ashura replied, reverting to his smirking expression.

"Take care of me?" Cassandra asked with a bemused smile. "Then where were you when the OWR was training me to become a killing machine all these years?" she asked with a scowl.

"I was taking care of you, of course," Ashura replied with a laugh. "The OWR has hundreds of training facilities littered all around their territories. Do you think it was a coincidence that you ended up in the same one your father trained in?" he asked while shaking his head.

"So you've left me to waste my life there so that I can discover the truth about my father?" Cassandra asked with a clenched fist. "You couldn't tell me that yourself?" she asked again as she began grinding her teeth against each other.

"Would you have believed me if I simply showed up and told you the truth about your father?" Ashura asked with a raised eyebrow, causing Cassandra to lower her head in thought.

"Don't be naïve, girl," Ashura remarked with a smile. "You are Alexander's daughter, and even if your father disagrees, you have to be strong!" Ashura stated.

"And so I left you to discover the truth and grow strong on your own, but I've always been protecting you from anything you couldn't handle," he explained with a smirk, causing Cassandra to take a deep breath, calming herself.

"I understand," Cassandra said with a sigh. "But I'm not calling you uncle ash," she added with a scowl, frowning in displeasure at the name.

"Good girl!" Ashura remarked with a smile. "Now let's get out of here and go home, but first...," he added, trailing off at the end of his sentence.

"You're going to need a code name where we're going. Do you have something in mind?" Ashura asked, pausing and waiting for Cassandra to think.

Cassandra looked around for several seconds, smirking as she noticed one agent's heart-monitoring device show a flat line indicating his death.

"Flatliner, because that's what I do. I flatline people!"