“I’m just saying, Tartarus used to be a country known as Australia, though they now have land elsewhere, I want to know what happened to the kangaroo’s, I mean, those animals looked so awesome in the books.”

Once more, Typhon wished that Aaron would shut up and keep quiet, but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon apparently, as Aaron just loved to talk to any willing audience… or forced, such as Typhon and his deal with Aaron.

Typhon didn’t quite realize it, but he could have easily just gone his separate ways from Aaron, as there was nothing forcing him to stay with Aaron beyond Aaron being the one to give him the advice that allowed him to finally be free of the Cradle… so basically, his own pride caused him to suffer the endless prattle of Aaron.

“Do you ever shut up?” Typhon asked as they walked through the massive maze that made up Area 7, the murderer’s quarter of Tartarus… despite being called quarter, it was not, in fact, a quarter of the area of Tartarus, to Aaron’s surprise and Typhon’s face-palm at said surprise.

“Of course not, I mean, I know you’re an introvert but talking to someone else can be fun and healthy… oh, and your chains, those chains are awesome!” Typhon sighed…

Were it not for the fact that his hair was already a blinding white, he would think he’d gain grey hairs just from being in the presence of someone as talkative as Aaron was…

“Still, from your explanation of them, it makes little sense unless we account for nanotechnology, as that is the only feasible way I can imagine hyper dense anklets and bracelets being free-forming and capable of appearing to have more mass than it shows, meaning that, in anklet form, the nanotech is tightly packed together, but when forming them into chains or anything else, they spread out, making that both forms weigh the same, but the space they take up changes… quite a fascinating concept…”

And then when he wasn’t sounding like a child high on acid, Aaron was sounding as if he should host a scientific program on why black holes exist and how creating one would be possible with the current technology of Earth. It was confusing and Typhon, despite being quite smart himself, found it difficult to keep up at times.

Sure, he’d understand what Aaron was saying, for instance, he understood what he meant just now when he was talking about his chains weighing the same but somehow taking up less space when they weren’t in use, but the reason he found it hard to follow was due to how quick Aaron changed topics.

“And other than the hyper-density provided by tightly packing nanotech together, they also seem to be capable of healing you, but only you, and to a limited extent going by your words, as when they were hooked up to that wall they were permanently getting charged, but now they have a limited charge to heal you, meaning that-”

Oh how Typhon wished he could mute the babble of Aaron… for someone who acted so stupid, it was when he sounded smart that it was actually more difficult to deal with him…

“Stop talking for a moment…this place is weird.” Typhon noted as Aaron stopped babbling, quickly having a look around him, though he didn’t see or notice what Typhon did, and he knew Typhon was usually right in his observations.

It had been a week since they had gotten out of the Cradle, and since then, Typhon had saved Aaron’s life multiple times, including someone breaking into their room by window and more incidents happened as well…

To explain, they got into the room with a quick example of Aaron’s family talent, something which Typhon was impressed with, as he didn’t know how to pick locks beyond smashing the entire thing.

At this point Aaron trusted Typhon, so he’d listen.

“I mean… everywhere we’ve been so far has had groups of people milling around, doing whatever drugs or crime they felt like, some even just sitting around and talking… but there’s almost no one around here.” Typhon said, looking around for anything strange.

“I see… I get what you mean now, it’s quieter than normal… do you think it’s another ambush?” Aaron asked, hoping it wasn’t one, seeing as they had been ambushed before… Aaron was taken hostage for a bit, and was almost hit in the face by a nanotech chain for his trouble… the other guy got hit, but still.

“Possible, but not likely, I don’t feel as if there are a lot of people around us… though the air smells strange…” Typhon noted and Aaron was a bit confused, worried, but also confused…

Typhon apparently had heightened senses, as he had mentioned before, this translated to hearing, sight and smell, while his sense of taste was a bit average, beyond being able to tell exactly what he was eating down to its base components, and as for touch, he got shot every day for quite a while so his sense of touch was a bit confused at times.

But the important sense here was his sense of smell in this case, seeing as the air itself smelt strange, which meant that there was something wrong there.

“Is it smoke, or something else?” Aaron asked, curious as to what could make Typhon as cautious as he was, only for Typhon to turn around and, with a straight face-

“It smells like intercourse.” Aaron just stared at the straight faced Typhon, inwardly wanting to either laugh or rage at how he hadn’t expected that reply at all.

“…Really? That’s the curious smell? I can’t smell anything though…” Aaron noted as Typhon was a bit worried… the smell he got was usually accompanied by the act, but in this case, he couldn’t hear any of the usual indicators of what was going on, nor could he see anything.

Yet he got the smell… that was an artificial smell then, he hadn’t been smelling intercourse, he had been smelling pheromones more likely…

Why would such a smell linger around an entire area like this though? Despite having been born in Tartarus, Typhon knew very little about what happened around Tartarus beyond the basic layout of where the areas were and what they were known for… so he didn’t know about this strange smell, or why this place was so empty…

“Oh how lovely… two little flies flew into my web…” a voice that could be described in a manner similar to dripping honey sounded out, as Typhon was quick to scan the roofs and small alleys around them, the entirety of Tartarus a massive maze of slums, the occasional swamp and a few older landmarks, though they were now in a slum area…

“Who are you, and what do you want with us?” Typhon asked, willing his nanotech chains to ready themselves to go into action, scowling at the echo caused by the maze of alley’s and buildings.

“I’m just a humble businesswoman… who happens to notice that a few strays have entered my home.” Aaron frowned a bit at her words, which indicated she had a home advantage.

“Well, we don’t want any trouble… we just want to get past this area.” Typhon responded to the voice, only to hear some vague giggling in response, though clearly Aaron did not hear it.

“Well, should have thought of that before you entered my nest… and besides, I hear that you’re a new Chained?” Typhon frowned at her words, before he widened his eyes, realization dawning.

“You’re a Chained as well, aren’t you?” Typhon asked quickly, needing to know whether or not he was right, and a laugh accompanied his accusation.

“Indeed I am… and well, Chained don’t mesh well each other at the best of times… I’m curious though…” All of a sudden, the voice wasn’t echoing anymore, and Typhon spun to see a woman… well, some of one.

The other Chained had only one leg, made of copper judging by the sheen of light on it, which seemed to somehow be organic in some manner, and as for her body, while she was bare, she had scales on some parts, fur on others and she grinned even as she held up a claw and grazed Typhon’s chin, leaning close, making Typhon scowl… what was Aaron doing?

“You’re a Chained… why do you look so human though?” Typhon swung out with his chain, even as the other Chained jumped back with an easy grace, before her one leg split into two, both looking similar to the legs of a mountain goats, though the process sickened Typhon as the flesh separated.

“I have my reasons… what did you do to Aaron though?” Typhon asked, noting Aaron sitting on the side, looking to the other Chained with a blush on his face, despite how grotesque she looked at current.

“Why, my charm of course… as you said moments ago, pheromones, they affect the mind subtly, and in a concentrated dose, or prolonged, well… let’s just say your friend will be having interesting dreams tonight, if he survives the day.” Typhon pointedly did not look at Aaron’s pants upon hearing her words, and growled at her.

“Well, I believe introductions are necessary, aren’t they, my dear… I am Empusa, the person in charge of all members of… well; the oldest profession is what it is known as I believe.” Typhon didn’t know what she meant, but given by her pheromones and he manner of speaking…

“Well, I am Typhon, King of Monsters… and might I add, you really think you can defeat me when your main ability doesn’t work on me?” Typhon asked as Empusa hid her smile behind a suddenly winged arm… her transforming wasn’t consistent.

“Why, I know I am not a combat-based Chained, but I am not a weakling you know? You’ll hurt a girl’s feelings.” Typhon picked Aaron up and held him over his shoulder in a fireman carry, knowing that, were the Chained to battle near Aaron, he’d be very likely to get hurt…

Though Typhon wished that his shoulder wasn’t getting poked by something…

“I care little for your feelings. Do you really wish to fight me?” Empusa frowned at his words, and Typhon knew he had something on her… namely, his title.

King of Monsters was not an empty title, at least, not within Tartarus, where a large portion of the Chained were named after Greek monsters, let alone him being named the King of Greek monsters… his combat skills would have to be high with a title like that.

“Well… ordinarily, I’d make a deal with you and let you past, but you have knowledge that interests me…” she jumped forward, her winged arm suddenly gaining claws and losing the feathers as a chain shot out of Typhon’s right bracelet, the left arm catching it and supporting it as he blocked her attack, and she leaned close.

Oh, a bit of information lacking here, but Typhon was a bit sorry for having dropped Aaron, but seeing as Aaron was in la-la land he wouldn’t care.

“Why do you look normal, and the rest of us look like monsters?” She practically growled at him even as Typhon gave her a head-butt, making her shout in surprise.

“Well, that’s for me to know, and you to die to find out.” Typhon replied with a growl as Empusa once more jumped back, Typhon lashing out with a chain only for her to jump backwards onto a roof, a strange fog taking up the area… strange, because it wasn’t the normal white, clear fog, but instead a pink, bordering on red fog.

“Well, if you won’t tell me I guess I’ll just have to be persuasive… you won’t get away without telling me your secret.” Typhon growled as she jumped away once more, and he widened his eyes as suddenly he heard a whole lot of heartbeats approaching, making him frown… and wonder how they hid it.

Typhon had little time to wonder as suddenly a man appeared, swinging a hammer at him, as he rolled backwards, and almost tripped on Aaron’s body, making Typhon internally sigh at seeing Aaron’s glassy eyes and blanked out stare with a smile on his face.

With a quick drop, picking up Aaron, and running away was now Typhon’s only real option, considering he couldn’t trust Aaron to defend himself right now, and he was weighted down by said idiot.

With a sidestep and lashing out with one of his chains, another man was taken down, before being replaced with a woman and a knife of some sort, as Typhon jumped, crushing the woman’s shoulder as he kicked off said shoulder to jump onto the nearest roof, prepared to run away…

Only to find Empusa waiting with the head of a tiger, trying to bite down on Typhon, making him shoot a chain out, hooking it into wall and pulling himself in that direction… oh yeah, he could do that…

He really should remember things that got him away from being trapped for three years.

Now remembering his method for moving quickly, he shot out his chains, using them to pull himself forward and through the alley-ways, trying to find an open area in which he could possibly fight back, as it was with the narrow spaces, and her attacking methods-

Typhon almost lost control as a claw swiped at him from above, forcing him to drop a few centimetres, feeling his scalp being grazed just barely as he continued shooting forward…

Yeah, narrow spaces and with hampered vision was not an ideal way to fight an assassin type Chained, let alone her army of horny followers…

The fact that Typhon occasionally had to stop and fight back both man and women made him question her preferences for a bit.

So Typhon was desperately trying to find a way out of this maze of stuff, and knowing he couldn’t go up since Empusa was waiting, and while he was stronger that didn’t mean he was immortal and untouchable, and he was in a maze…

Typhon remembered that he and Aaron had moved through a smaller field to get into this place yesterday, so he headed in that direction, knowing that if it weren’t for Aaron being a relatively normal human…

Those lock-picking skills and that intelligence of his were most certainly not normal though… anyway, if it weren’t for Aaron then Typhon could probably move across the entirety of Tartarus within a week at the longest, possibly even three or four days.

So now, moving at full speed, Typhon knew it would take him just five minutes to reach a place that was two hours away at Aaron’s walking speed, though this method of movement was hurting his left arm and his legs, his right arm occupied keeping Aaron from falling off due to speed or G-force during his turns.

Of course, dodging the occasional claw, bite, and even on one occasion sheep-wool … It made Typhon wonder what the heck Empusa’s ability was. It was looking more and more like animal shape-shifting, with the pheromones being a secondary ability.

Dodging while carrying someone hampered Typhon quite a bit, though within ten minutes, he had made it to the small field, dumping Aaron on a boulder as Empusa appeared, now with a body similar to a Lion with the head of a human… if a Lion’s body was supposed to be as big as a bear.

“Ah… you hope to fight me in an open space?” Empusa noted and Typhon nodded, now letting his chains freely pool around him from his wrists, keeping the nanotech in his anklets tightly together.

Aaron’s assumptions on how they worked was pretty spot on, and they assumed shape based on Typhon’s thoughts, though unfortunately he couldn’t do more than chains just yet, though he was practicing with it. The nanotech was tied to his mind, and if he had a clear image of what he wanted it to turn into, it would… but again, clear image.

Considering he had been chained for three years to a wall, chains were hilariously easy for him to picture, and he was working on other weaponry, possibly even a shield, but it wasn’t to be.

One lucky bit of information was that only he could use these nanotech devices, though apparently they weren’t meant to be his, considering he was a Bio-engineered Chained.

“Well of course… I fight better in the open… and besides, it’ll be much more difficult for you to try and surprise me in the open like this.” Typhon noted, even as the red mist stayed around them, much clearer due to the wind blowing it away, and it not lingering due to buildings blocking the wind.

“Right, right… what about your friend… I could always just attack him…” Empusa noted and Typhon gambled a bit as he gave a small smirk.

“Oh? You want to attack him, be my guest. He helped me out so I decided to help him, but that doesn’t mean I need him.” he spoke a bit of the truth, but didn’t mention that his pride wouldn’t let him just abandon the one who freed him.

Apparently that bit of truth was enough to faze Empusa, as she glanced at Aaron for a moment before focusing on Typhon once more.

“Very well… It’s your information I want anyway, not your friend.” Empusa growled and Typhon responded with settling into his combat stance, ready to fight…

“As for me, I just want you dead.” Typhon replied, and with a jab, shot a chain out, causing Empusa to jump to the side with her current feline grace, before her legs morphed once more, a hideous changing growth involving blood and flesh, and she pounced forward, causing Typhon to fall back with a scowl.

Strong he may be, and he was most certainly stronger than Empusa, but her weight itself was different, as attested to how much he struggled with holding her off with his chains earlier… he assumed it had to do with how she was somehow capable of being bigger than she should be.

A massive paw landed on his chest, almost but not quite knocking the wind out of Typhon as she roared at his face, trying to bite at said face with a new wolf head, and Typhon returned said bite with lashing out with one of his chains, injuring the beast above him, causing it to stumble back as he reached out and grabbed it by its massive throat… and with a heave, and indenting the ground he stood on, he lifted the massive beast and slammed it behind him, causing Empusa to yelp in both pain and surprise.

Typhon waved his arm, his nanotech responding to his command as the chain appeared, scaring into the side of Empusa, the physical force of the chain almost lifting her off the ground before she stood, jumping back, and once more she looked different, now with the head of a tiger and the body of what looked to be a massive eagle if it had legs instead of wings.

Typhon noticed a bit absently that her changes were inconsistent and seemingly against her will, given that she was a bit slower in this form, after all, eagles were not meant to run around on the ground, though even this bit of information was not enough to stop Typhon from dodging another charge, this time having dodged in time to score more lashes against her sides, more howls coming out against Empusa’s will.

The fact she had a Tiger head but was howling like a wolf was strange yes.

“Why, why go against me, why not just tell me what I want to know?” Empusa growled out, her form messily transforming once more, as Typhon glared at her, kicking out and sending a chain sweeping towards her head, as she easily ducked it, now having shrunk, her body going into the form of a lizard of some-kind, likely a komodo dragon, and her face turning back into her human one.

“I’m fighting you because you tried to harm me with your pseudo-mind control.” Typhon replied easily, knowing exactly why he didn’t want to help her.

Oh, and Typhon most certainly could help her, but she’d pay for trying to control him, let alone reducing Aaron to a catatonic dead weight.

“That’s it? I’m desperate!” the screamed back, her komodo dragon body losing its limbs except the fore-limbs, which became similar to massive praying mantis scythes, the lizard part remaining the same, and her upper part changing to be human…

“I could care less, try diplomacy next time first, top-less woman.” Typhon didn’t quite care that her breasts were in plain sight, he wasn’t asexual but there was a time and place to prove that men could focus on two things at once.

“Tell me, do you know how it feels?” Empusa screamed at Typhon, who dodged the massive scythe approaching his head by jumping back, having to duck under the next swing, and retaliating with a flip backwards, the motion causing a chain from an anklet to shoot out and hit her in the jaw.

Say what you will about her being weaker than a purely combat based Chained, but Typhon was impressed that she wasn’t already unconscious or dead.

“Do you know how it feels to look the way I do, to only be capable of staying relatively human for less than ten minutes?” Empusa asked, slithering back, being replaced with a now naked woman, though the facial structure was different, and certain parts exaggerated to the extent that Typhon knew that it was a fake appearance instantly.

“I can’t even look like I once did, having to appear like this, I just wanted to be me again!” she screamed once more replacing her form, now turning into a lizard creature with wings reminiscent of a bat and a long scaled neck, and a head similar to a snake… she was going full dragon there, huh?

“Hey, I said it already; I might have helped you if you just asked. I don’t even care how you look, had you asked I would have probably listened… I mean, sure, not human, but what’s the big deal about that?” Typhon replied easily, making Empusa pause for a bit at his words, though Typhon began to run towards her.

“Well, either I kill you now, or you get to live and try talking this time.” He said easily, even as he spun, a chain flying towards Empusa’s still stunned face as she moved back, though Typhon noticed she seemed more sluggish than before, she still fought back, defending herself against his attacks…

“So, what changed?” Typhon asked, even as he ducked a massive claw, swinging out a chain catching the claw, and with a tug, pulling Empusa off-balance even as the human vocal cords on the now dragon shaped Empusa spoke.

“…I want to talk.” She said, even as Typhon easily rolled his eyes, and swung his chain, the piece of nanotech based metal wrapping around her draconic throat, and he jumped, another chain joining in, now both wrapped around said throat as he pulled himself forward, flying at her face…

And then gave her a solid punch to the face, toppling the massive Empusa, even as he used his chains to assist in his landing, and he just stared at where the ‘normal’ form of Empusa appeared, with one strange leg, a bit of animal all over, and a humanoid face, now slightly bruised on one side, though that would fade soon.

“Fine… let’s talk… though can you turn off your pheromone output?” Typhon asked, really annoyed with the stuff, only for an arm to fall over his shoulder making him blink in surprise at being snuck up on, only to see Aaron blushing and standing with a smile.

“I think she did, though man I still feel tingly.” With much revulsion at what he just said, Typhon landed a solid punch to his gut, forcing the retarded lock-picker/adventurer onto the floor in slightly faked agony.

“Right, you’re back to normal, and still messed up… though how you are both normal and messed up, is anyone’s guess but mine.” Typhon noted as he looked to Empusa, who was now just sitting there, and Typhon noted she healed faster than normal… all Bio-Chained were like that though…

“I deserved that… though Typhon… you should help her out… but before that…” Aaron stood once more, and Typhon would have thought Aaron could heal faster himself if it weren’t for the fact that Aaron clearly still held his stomach tenderly, and walked over to Empusa, kneeling before her to keep them on almost level viewpoints…

Then Aaron reached out with a hand, making Typhon widen his eyes and then glare at Aaron with annoyance in his mind.

“Aaron, are you serious? Why would we need her?” Typhon already had some idea of what was about to happen, given that it had happened to him as well, but he didn’t quite like the idea of someone who could so easily incapacitate one of them joining them like this, even if Typhon could easily kill said person.

“Typhon, I didn’t mention it yet, because it will take a while to reach that point, but I plan on breaking out of this place at one point… I’ll need people with skills to do so… she seems interesting. Besides, you were going to help her out anyway, weren’t you?” Typhon held back a growl at his words, looking away and sighing… Aaron had a point, despite how Typhon was against her joining.

“Uh, what are you two talking about?” Empusa was rightfully surprised at hearing what she just did… mostly because Aaron was clearly normal, since her pheromone ability would never work on a fellow Chained after all, and yet he had Typhon following him around and had just claimed he’d escape Tartarus of all places?

“Why, my dear Empusa, and yes, I might have been wonky but I still caught your name, I am talking about you joining us, in exchange for Typhon helping you out.” Empusa just stared at the hand extended towards her… then at Typhon, who pointedly looked away, wanting nothing to do with this.

“…What do you mean by joining you, exactly?” Empusa asked with some trepidation as Aaron looked up to the sky, and tilted his head.

“Well, you travel with us, if possible help us out, and after running around enough, we break out of Tartarus with your help… though if you are against something we’re doing, you do not have to do it. The only absolutes would be that you must help us escape Tartarus, and you must travel with us.”

Aaron’s words sounded too good to be true to Empusa, and she didn’t quite trust what he was saying, until Typhon stepped forward.

“He’s being straightforward, just so you know. He’s telling the truth. My deal with him is pretty similar.” Typhon stated, making Empusa stare at Typhon, wondering how Aaron could get a Chained as powerful as Typhon to join him.

“My deal was simple, he helps me find my sister, and get out of the place I was trapped in, and I travel with him, protect him… and apparently help him break out.” Typhon glared at Aaron at the end, Aaron simply rubbing the back of his messy hair with a sheepish grin on his face.

“Hey, I was going to mention it after we found your sister… besides, I don’t plan on breaking out alone, I want you with me… and you too, if you agree to this deal, Empusa.” Aaron said to remind Empusa of the choice she had yet to make, as she looked to Typhon, for one more confirmation.

“You can fix me right?” She asked, and he just sighed, before nodding, looking down at his own right hand after said sigh.

“It’s my ability. Like you can shape-shift and release pheromones, I can stabilize the transformations caused by our abilities. It makes you look human again, but you retain any abilities you may have, which is my understanding of it… in fact, you might get stronger, which is why I’m against this.” Typhon explained what his ‘Stabilization’ did, and Empusa realized why Typhon didn’t appear changed like the other Bio-Chained did…

It was because his very ability prevented the change, and made it obsolete, so even if he was supposed to have changed into something similar to her, his own ability would have kicked in to fix him.

“…Alright, I’ll take the deal…” Empusa said, and Typhon reached out a hand to her, ready to grab her skull.

“Very well… know that if you betray us, I will kill you.” Typhon said with a bit of annoyance leaking into his voice, as his hand grabbed her skull, making her freeze… then convulse as he did something to her…

She felt her body warm up, almost as if it was boiling, then suddenly rapidly cooling as she panted, before looking down…

She was naked. She was also very womanly and not at all animal like…

“Ahem…” Aaron pointedly looked away as Typhon rolled his eyes, looking away himself as he waited for her to hide herself… because the two of them weren’t exactly wearing much themselves, given that Aaron was still in his new prison getup, and Typhon was wearing a short-sleeved white shirt and long pants, and he had no shoes until he beat up someone who tried to ambush them and found the right size (size fives by U.K standard)

So they weren’t really in the position to give clothes to her, though she just stood, and looked at her own body, marvelling at seeing her human self once more… she could turn into a human form, sure, but it was clearly idealized on how ‘attractive’ women should look…

She wasn’t ugly, but she wasn’t a supermodel. She was arrested for being a prostitute and murdering a client who had abused a friend of hers after all.

She cried looking at her own hands, not feeling them changing… they still could, she checked when her hands changed to paws, but it no longer felt as if she was given a time-limit on her body…

She finally remembered that two men were nearby, and changed into a dog form, coughing, and they turned to find her as a dog with a human face, which was still strange to see.

She also loved the fact that changing didn’t feel painful like it once did for her… it felt natural now, despite the changes unnatural nature.

“Thank you… thanks to both of you… I’ll stick to my side of the deal, obviously.” She thanked them, still feeling tears going down her face even as Aaron smiled and Typhon looked away in annoyance.

“Why, you’re welcome Empusa… though we do have a request or two… would you happen to have clothes?” she blinked before she giggled at Aaron’s question, nodding, then turning.

“Follow me… I’ll get us some supplies… I’m not travelling with two near homeless looking people.” She said with a bit of a giggle even as Typhon glared at her and Aaron sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

Aaron looked to Typhon then raised an eyebrow though, making Typhon return the look.

“…Typhon… why didn’t you just carry me under your arm though?” Aaron remembered bits of what happened, and he clearly remembered the annoyance Typhon was grumbling about him with.

Typhon froze, and then thought a bit… indeed, Typhon was much stronger than his size suggested, and he could easily have carried Aaron under his arm…

“…I will destroy you, not now, but someday…” Typhon began lashing out at buildings in anger, even as Aaron laughed awkwardly, Empusa not even trying to hide her laugher at his pain… they might be worth working for.