The triplets, Eins, Zwei and Drei, were currently paying a lot of attention to the words of their fellow Chained, due to the three not knowing much about Tartarus, as their times as the Hydra was a bit blurry…

“Still, even if it’s blurry, we really need to tell you about some important things about Tartarus. Since Aaron had explained the Areas to you, we’ll explain the different ‘organizations’ that exist in Tartarus.” Mino pointed at the three as they nodded, inwardly groaning at having to study, but hey, Aaron promised to allow them prank targets if they listen.

“Right, now there are different categories for just about everyone, but I’m sure you three understand that the two biggest ones would be Chained and normal people, right?” Well… that was kind of obvious. Chained were rare though, despite what their group seemed to be…

One normal guy and seven Chained was a strange group setup, no doubt… heck, the fact that the normal guy was the leader was the strangest part…

Typhon was the main reason that Aaron could go uncontested though. He was strong enough that he could, with the knowledge of how and a lot of effort, defeat every single Chained in their group…

Aaron was a good leader though, despite his… eccentric nature.

“Help I’m a fish!” everyone ignored Aaron in swimming trunks swimming in an abandoned pool… well, not abandoned. The previous owners just took off when Mino stepped off the bus to try and talk.

Mino had never felt so sad about having his stature or bull-horns…

Anyway, they decided to ignore Aaron, who seemed to just be messing around in the water, with Typhon using a float to stay above the water and sleep…

Empusa kept complaining that while more Chained was a good thing for their group, it seemed that Typhon’s laziness was proportional to the amount of other Chained in the group.

“Now that’s the most simple way to look at it, but there are more gatherings of both Chained and normal humans all over, they can be split into Areas too, but let’s focus on the major ones that don’t care about that.”

Mino was a good lecturer when he tried apparently, though Cyclops sat a bit in the back with some form of alcohol making fun of him at any moment.

Cyclops was apparently an alcoholic… and a very major one at that, though Aaron hadn’t known this before they started talking more.

“Well, one major group in Tartarus would be the United Chained. It’s exactly as it sounds, and their base is in Area twelve, as expected.” Indeed, Aaron had given a nice and simple explanation of the Areas to the Hydra triplets so they knew what Area 12 was.

“The UC take in Chained that do not wish to go into other Areas, and help them out, they are basically the largest collection of Chained… because of how scared and lazy they are though, most of their Chained are weak. The exception being their leaders, Jormungand and Behemoth who are both crazy strong, even compared to Typhon.” Eins looked contemplative at Mino’s words before he raised his hand…

“Yes Eins, what’s your question?” Mino asked, ignoring Cyclops whooping about how he didn’t look like a proper teacher.

“Um, so they count all Chained in their group, right? So would we technically be part of that group?” Eins asked as Mino shook his head.

“No, not really… it’s a bit strange, they might think we would be in their group, but we know we aren’t. It’s a matter of perspective.” Mino explained and Eins got the idea, nodding in agreement.

“It’s actually a major problem outside of Tartarus, not just inside here. Many people consider any Spanish person to be a criminal due to the Spanish Fall of 2042.” No one else registered the occurrence except Aaron…

Aaron turned to Typhon, nudging him a bit as Typhon lifted his sun-glasses from his face, looking at Aaron with annoyance.

“Mino’s a good teacher, huh… maybe he wanted to be one?” Aaron asked as Typhon found it in him to nod, yes, he was pissed at Aaron for disturbing his nap, but what he just said was true…

“That isn’t why you did that though.” Typhon notes as Aaron nodded, climbing out of the pool; feeling underdressed in just shorts when he typically wore a full ensemble of jeans, boots, a shirt and a leather jacket.

“Nope, it wasn’t. I’m going to go check out the surroundings for a bit, seeing as we’re closing in on Area 8, and I want to see the layout before we get there.” Aaron waved as Typhon scoffed… then looked to where Typhon was walking.

“…Empusa.” Empusa was sitting nearby, wearing a bikini and relaxing as she sat up to pay attention to what Typhon would say… she was also hoping that he was looking at her while wishing he wasn’t looking.

“Yes? What is it?” Empusa was the de-facto next in command after Aaron and Typhon, due to her being the sanest in the group… and yes, that includes Mino who, while a good teacher, seemed to have anger issues at times.

“Go look after Aaron. I trust he can take care of himself, but he’s a trouble magnet.” Empusa sighed and nodded…

Typhon spoke the truth, Aaron had been in Tartarus for three months now and in just three months he got seven Chained to follow him, and he was planning on getting even more.

Typhon had to inwardly hope that Aaron wasn’t treating them like collectibles…

“Fine, I’ll check on him… you know, I think the Hydra’s are around thirty, but they stopped aging or something when they were together… so they look like they are fifteen… so they look like you.” Empusa knew Typhon didn’t like his appearance being mentioned, but Typhon at this point didn’t worry…

They were comrades; it was all said with no harmful meaning attached.

“And your point is that despite how he determines where we go, and what we do, he’s the youngest. And that it’s strange that we let the youngest lead us?” Typhon cut straight to the point, his talks with Aaron were, little by little, getting him used to the smaller nuances used by other people, so he caught what Empusa was trying to say.

“Yes… you mentioned it a bit before… but what were you talking about, when you mentioned that Aaron was still a good leader?” Empusa asked, shifting the inside of her nose a bit to better resemble a dog, and she caught the scent of Aaron…

Was it bad that she associated his scent with destruction?

“…Merit. I was talking about merit.” Typhon said, and once more Empusa blinked at his reply.

“Merit, talent, skill, call it what you will, but Aaron is a good leader because, looking at just these things, he is better than we Chained, at least when it comes to certain skills. By merit, the leader should be the one best at leading, the one who fights should be the best at fighting, it’s logical leading.” Typhon explained and Empusa got the idea…

Aaron could do a lot of things, drive, lead, make mutually beneficial deals, make explosives, and more… but if someone could do it better than he could, he’d step back and rather let them do it. Empusa finally got the idea, nodded, and went after Aaron.

She now slightly understood it… have the best person for the job, do the job. If Aaron wasn’t a good leader, he wouldn’t be the leader. But he was one, which is why Typhon accepted him in that position.

This was a roundabout and complicated way of saying that Aaron was suited for the role.

Back with the Hydra triplets and Mino, they were continuing their talk, having explained that the Spanish Fall was when the stock market of Spain fell, and everyone in the country was forced into neighbouring countries to find money, where many did not have a way to get work, forcing them into crime if they had no education…

A long incident, but they glossed over that for now while Mino explained the rest of the groups in Tartarus.

“Okay, so there was the United Chained as one group… let’s see… then one could consider the Toy Factory, headed by Toy Maker… in name only really.” Mino himself didn’t quite understanding the Toy Factory…

“What do you mean by that?” Zwei asked, and Mino sighed… not at the question, but at her way of talking to him… the only people the triplets thought of as above them would be Typhon, and after seeing Typhon listen to Aaron, Aaron as well.

It was because of that admiration that they referred to Typhon as Boss, and Aaron as Big Boss…

Typhon was quick to claim that he was not a woman, though he himself seemed a bit confused on why he said it… he blamed Aaron’s randomness for infecting him.

As for Aaron, he felt the urge to find an eye-patch and get into a cardboard box… it was weird for everyone.

“The Toy Factory is, as implied by the name, headed by Toy Maker, the overlord of Area 4… but he’s the leader only in name really. He’s the only Chained in the Toy Factory, the rest of the members are either his gruesome puppets or humans who worship him.” Mino explained, and Zwei blinked in fear at mention of Area 4… a place no member of the female gender liked, even as a Chained.

“The Toy Maker is a secluded being, he has no desire other than ruling his kingdom of ‘toys’ so he’d never make a group… so to put it in perspective, the normal humans worship him and deify him, but he doesn’t even know they exist likely… he’s insane after all.” Mino explained, and Zwei got the idea… a leader who didn’t make his group.

“Well, the Toy Factory is full of insane people, so while a group, we can’t really think of them as organized… let’s go to the next major group, the Mercenaries.” Mino added the name before thinking about how troublesome the Mercenaries were.

“Well, for the Mercenaries, I’m not entirely sure on their leader… I know they have one but I’m not sure who it is, just that it’s an overwhelmingly powerful Chained who forces other Chained to work for him… they never gather though… for a good reason which I’ll get to later.” Mino felt a cold sweat at the thought of why Chained don’t normally gather in groups…

Sure, they were in a group now, but Mino was under the assumption that, with Aaron’s mind and Typhon’s strength, they’d get through that danger…

“Ahem, the Mercenaries are just as they are named, Mercenaries. Within Tartarus money doesn’t exist so Tartarus works on the basis of favours and trade, though once someone tried money, it didn’t work out.” Mino explained and Drei blinked and raised his hand…

“To explain that, and I’m guessing that’s your question Drei, in Tartarus everyone is either a criminal or born in this place thinking crime is normal, economies can’t be built in a place like this where everything changes owners by the minute.” Mino explained at the group agreed, it was unlikely someone with an education on the economy would be in here and willing to make an economy… just so that criminals could use it.

“Anyway, the Mercenaries work for favours, trades and odd jobs done in exchange for protecting, escorting, fighting, whatever is needed, the Mercenaries would likely work to help out. They have quite a few Chained, but again, no one knows who their leader is.” Mino added and then held his chin in thought.

“Alright, for the next group, they would be the Assassin’s Guild… again, the naming sense of most people in Tartarus isn’t that good, but the name is what it means. This is similar to the United Chained in that it has lots of Chained, and only a handful of normal humans. Like the name suggests, they assassinate people for reasons similar to the Mercenaries. They both accept each other but also compete for customers.” Mino explained, and once more the Hydra triplets wondered why they had to know this… but they’d need the info, eventually.

“And as for the last major group that needs to be noted, they are called The Eyes of the Hunter.” Mino and Cyclops both shivered at the idea of this last group, though the triplets didn’t know why.

“Why are these, The Eyes of the Hunter, so scary?” Zwei asked, after glancing at Drei… Drei was the shy one between the three of them, despite all three being pranksters at heart.

“It’s who they represent that’s terrifying.” Mino looked quite disgruntled, but the fact that Cyclops stopped complaining in the background proved that there was indeed something up here.

“See, the Eyes of the Hunter is one of the many, many groups in this prison that contain no Chained to represent them, such as the Vatos Locos, the Conquistadors, the Crips and Bloods, Hard-Livings, there are many…” Mino seemed to think about how to word his next for his audience.

“You see, the Eyes of the Hunter are just that, ‘eyes’. It’s practically a spy organization designed to watch things. Their nominal leader is only known as Viktor, with a ‘k’. He runs the overall operation and gathers the information the other members find. Then he reports it to the scary part of this group.” Mino finally found his words, as he looked dead serious.

“The Hunter is what we Chained call him. Not many people see who it is, but he is well known for hunting down Chained and killing us… despite being a normal human.” Eins sat up from his slouch at Mino’s words before opening his mouth.

“Now hold on… a normal human, like Big Boss Aaron?” Eins asked and Mino looked a bit annoyed at his words as he looked away…

“We both know Aaron isn’t exactly normal, but I understand your meaning. Yes, the Hunter is a normal human. The problem comes in the fact that he is extremely skilled… that, and he has some pretty unique weaponry for Tartarus itself… guns.” Mino claimed and at this, the Hydra triplets blinked in surprise.

As children born into Tartarus, they had never seen guns, but they knew what they were from before they were turned into the Hydra… and the idea that there were in fact guns in Tartarus was something different to take in.

“Well, probably not guns as you understand them. He uses old school seventeenth century weaponry, flint-lock pistols, musket rifles and such… the issue is that he knows how to make such things, and he’s good at using them, not to mention he is actually skilled enough to survive fighting Chained.” Mino added before there was a splashing noise and suddenly Typhon was next to them on the top part of the bus, looking at Mino, water still dripping from his frame.

“…You said this guy, ‘The Hunter’… he has guns?” Typhon asked and Mino nodded, wondering what riled Typhon up, beyond the obvious danger of someone capable of killing Chained.

“…Last week, when we were leaving after the bus was made… I heard a gunshot.” Typhon admitted and Cyclops spat out his drink as he rolled onto the floor in surprise.

“Wait, he was that close to us? We got to leave; we need to get off this part of the planet!” Cyclops was panicking a bit, but his panicking was to be expected…

Within Area 6, he was protected by his workers who vouched for him and would fight the Hunter for him, but outside of Area 6 he wouldn’t have that protection.

“Calm down Cyclops. The Hunter was close by, that doesn’t mean he’ll attack us… besides, isn’t he old by now, I mean, hasn’t he been around since the start of Tartarus?” Mino asked, knowing that the Hunter’s story was that old, but Cyclops shook his head.

“The Hunter isn’t the same one as back then! There’s been more than one, so it’s probably someone capable of fighting us!” Cyclops was panicking before Typhon glared at him and he gulped… since finding out that Typhon had defeated Mino, Empusa, and planned the defeat of the Hydra, he had developed a healthy bit of fear (read: respect) for Typhon.

“Don’t panic. We get this information to Aaron, and we make a plan. That’s all we can do with the Hunter not being in front of us anyway.” Typhon seemed annoyed, jumping off the bus and getting back to the pool.

With Aaron, he had climbed high enough to see the distant part of the Area he was currently in, and the connecting area, so he had some more information…

Plus, he was kept from getting hurt due to Empusa following him around… not that she knew that he found out already, considering she was attempting to follow him in a secretive manner.

“Alright, so, if we go this way, then from there we can end up in Area nine, possibly ten…” Aaron spoke to himself and nodded, climbing down and preparing to walk back, as he shivered a bit at the setting sun and him still wearing shorts, as he knocked into someone.

“Oh, sorry there… hey, you dropped this.” Aaron kneeled down and picked up the strange cowboy like hat that went to the floor from knocking into the man, and stood looking at the man curiously…

Well, he was mostly looking at the man with hidden awe in his eyes… it was an awesome hat.

“Thanks… I don’t think you’re wearing the right clothes for the weather there.” The man replied, a small smirk appearing on his face, contorting his stubble a bit as he took the hat and placed it on his head.

“Nope, got back from swimming, the owners seemed nice though.” Aaron admitted and the guy shrugged at his words with a light chuckle in a baritone.

“Well, I hope it was fun then. What’s your name, by the way?” The man asked as Aaron blinked, as he smiled, extending a hand in greeting.

“The name’s Aaron Hassan, and yours?” Aaron asked as the man stretched out his own hand in response and they shook hands.

“The name’s Jaeger, strange name, but it’s the one my father gave me.” He chuckled at his own name as Aaron waved it off.

“Nah, it sounds cool actually… well, I better get going, since the people I’m travelling might be worried.” Aaron mentioned and Jaeger nodded with a smile.

“Sure, I have my own business to attend to anyway… I might see you around, Aaron.” The man tilted his hat down a bit in greeting and walked away, his coat blowing in the wind…

And Aaron froze in confusion when the wind blew his coat enough for Aaron to see a hint of silver on the waist of the man.

Before Aaron could say anything, the man had already walked away and Aaron couldn’t find it in him to follow him, instead deciding to go meet up with Typhon and the others to plan their route.

When Aaron was a bit away from where he had met Jaeger though, Empusa finally decided to come out from hiding, a pale face as she stared at Aaron with wide eyes.

“So, what’s wrong, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Aaron chuckled at her expression as she walked over and grabbed his shoulders.

“Do you know who you just spoke to?” She shouted at him while shaking his shoulders, making sure to control her strength so as to not harm him, as he looked confused at her words.

“Uh, Jaeger, seemed like a nice guy, had a cool outfit, but I’m guessing he was important?” Aaron asked as Empusa let go off him, throwing her hands into the air.

“Important? Yes, yes he’s important, he’s scary and important!” She shouted as Aaron sighed, disliking that he had to try and decipher her meaning.

“So why is he important? I’m smart, not psychic.” Aaron said easily and Empusa pointed at where Jaeger had walked away.

“The Hunter, that guy was the Hunter! He hunts Chained and kills us despite being a normal human!” Empusa shouted and Aaron widened his eyes, looking into the direction Jaeger had walked…

Aaron was conflicted, but his eyes hardened, making Empusa quiet down as he turned to her, his face serious, he was now ‘Serious Aaron’ as the original three Chained referred to him when he acted like this.

Still hard to take seriously when he wanted to trademark it…

“Come on, let’s get to the group, and explain everything you know about him while we walk.” Aaron ordered and Empusa obeyed subconsciously at the authority in his tone.

“Right, so the Hunter…” Empusa began to explain as they walked, and as he heard more, Aaron’s frown appeared, and got worse as they walked…

By the time they arrived with the rest of the group, who all seemed terrified of something, Aaron was looking… not quite angry, but very annoyed.

“So… the title has been around for a while, but there’s only ever one Hunter, and they hunt Chained down, especially when they gather in groups… and looking at us…” Aaron spoke aloud to himself, looking at his group of seven Chained and a human…

“Well, seems like we’re a massive target… we have to leave, now… I have the feeling that Jaeger was looking for us.” Aaron frowned, thinking about having to fight Jaeger… he seemed like a nice guy… and he had a cool outfit…

“Aaron, I take it you’ve heard about the Hunter as well? What are we going to do?” Typhon asked for Aaron’s opinion as Aaron thought, and nodded to himself.

“Alright, everyone, pack your stuff, we’re leaving, we are not fighting Jaeger… it seems a bit too dangerous, even in our current group.” Typhon frowned but nodded at his words.

Typhon didn’t see the reason why they had to fear a normal human with older guns; Typhon had been shot by turrets for over three years near daily after all… But it seemed Aaron either feared him or knew something the rest of them didn’t…

Though to Typhon, it didn’t matter what Aaron thought of him…

Jaeger was the Hunter, and they were the prey. Now they had to see how well they could keep away from the man who had, combined with the previous Hunters, had killed over fifty of the Chained. Aaron thought they’d be fine…

He should know by now not to tempt fate… it liked messing with him after all. He blinked and spoke before they left-

“By the way, anyone else know that Jaeger means Hunter in German?”