“…we’ll make it through, and I hope you are the one, I, share my life with… I don’t want to run away, but I can’t take it, I don’t understand…” Medusa looked to Aaron, who sat on his comfortable chair, his eyes closed as he listened to the music.

“…Aaron, we need to talk.” Medusa felt the music in her heart, wishing that Aaron had picked something else to listen to for the past half hour, the song playing on repeat as he looked to her with one eye open.

“Okay Medusa, let’s talk. What do you wish to talk about?” Aaron closed his eyes, deciding that she had already seen that he would carry out the conversation.

“The signs… you’re slipping back into those memories, aren’t you… those memories of-” Medusa was interrupted as Aaron spoke, his voice no longer relaxed and instead painfully neutral.

“Dawn? Yes, I’m thinking of those times… what gave it away? Me acting like I did before I met her, my sudden disposition for murder, or perhaps me listening to her favourite song?” Aaron asked, as Medusa bit her bottom lip before answering.

“All of the above. Why are you slipping back to those times… doesn’t it hurt?” Medusa asked as Aaron opened his eyes, leaning back into the chair as he looked to the ceiling.

“Of course it hurts… it hurts so much… almost more than I can take…” his face took on a pained look as Medusa frowned.

“Why? You could have solved this without doing that, without killing Vann, without manipulating everyone around you as if they were expendable puppets… without being the Aaron before Dawn.” She explained as Aaron smiled sadly, looking back to the ceiling.

“I could have, maybe… I could have captured Vann, defeated his Chained, persuaded them to our side, and reunited Typhon with Empusa… but that’s not being realistic.” Aaron said, making Medusa widen her eyes.

“I know that sounds strange coming from me, someone who likes to spit in the face of ‘realistic’ every day, but there comes a time when even I have to face reality.” He said, looking to Medusa with a frown on his face.

“Medusa, Lukas Vann is like me, the real me, isn’t he?” Aaron asked, if only to confirm it with someone who knew Aaron as well as he knew himself.

“He… I cannot deny that. The old you manipulated people emotionally and physically, with disregard for the other person as anything more than an object.”

Medusa was disgusted even as she spoke those words, knowing that despite their harsh nature, Aaron was the one who had those thoughts of himself, so he had long accepted it.

“And would the old me be captured and made silent?” Aaron asked, and Medusa kept quiet, knowing the answer was one that she herself did not like.

“No… the old you would not keep silent… you’d try and escape, to plot revenge and retribution on anyone who stood in the way of your wanderlust.” Medusa’s thoughts on Aaron differed into two… the Aaron after meeting Dawn Claire and the thoughts of Aaron before meeting her.

The Aaron after meeting Dawn was optimistic, wilful, against murder and while manipulative, would never do so when it would not benefit all parties involved.

The Aaron before then, on the other hand, was a vile person that existed as he wished, if he wanted something, he took it, if someone tried to stop him, they would die or be tortured into fear before being let go, and that Aaron was perpetually depressed and disturbed.

Were it not for the later form of Aaron, he would have died that day Medusa looked into his eyes. Were it not for the true memories of Aaron contemplating his hatred of himself, his wish to… to end it all, were it not for those, Medusa would have considered him even viler than some of the others she had killed.

Dawn Claire… it all came back to her… and her relationship with Aaron. The first person to ever get Aaron to relax around, the first person Aaron didn’t look at as a steaming pile of excrement.

Medusa, through Aaron’s memories and feelings, knew of the girl that had been Dawn, and how Aaron had met her around three years ago… and Medusa couldn’t help but feel what Aaron had felt from the girl.

Innocence, purity, something that just didn’t seem natural amongst humans anymore, especially not from a teen… but Dawn was innocent, pure, never thinking the worst of someone, always trying to look for the good in them.

Aaron had been forced to be in her presence for two weeks… and then he had stayed to understand her… and then he stayed because once he understood, he came to love her.

He had never told her, and for a reason Medusa could understand given her own thoughts… he felt that he didn’t deserve her. Someone like him didn’t deserve a girl like Dawn, so he hadn’t told her…

Up until the day she died, he had not said anything hinting it, and yet, as she lay dying to a stab wound, she reached up and softly kissed Aaron, letting him know that she knew he liked her… and that she was waiting for him to say something.

It was too late, and Aaron had cried himself to sleep that night. The next day, he buried her. The day after that, the people who caused her death all died one by one. The third day after Dawn’s death, Aaron had changed, trying his hardest to become a person she could have accepted…

“Aaron… so you’ll become what you wished you weren’t, just to solve this issue?” Medusa asked with a frown on her face as Aaron stood from his chair, the song stopping as he finally stopped letting the song play.

“Medusa… I like you. A lot.” Aaron said and Medusa felt her breath hitch at his sudden confession, and while he’d normally look away, Aaron instead looked her in her eyes as he leaned close.

“I don’t want to regret saying nothing… I never want to regret that again.” Aaron said, and Medusa gulped as he stared at her eyes, knowing that Medusa could pick up surface thoughts like that…

And all she could pick up from Aaron’s thoughts were two lines, constantly repeating each other.

You are not Dawn. You do not have to be.

It was a small thing, but it meant a lot to her, even as Aaron leaned down and gently brushed her lips with his own, and then pulling away instead of continuing.

“I… I like you too… but is this really the time to do this?” Medusa asked wearily, as Aaron blinked before giving a soft chuckle at her words.

“Oh, I’ve just realized it wasn’t… that’s a death flag right there, isn’t it?” he asked as Medusa nodded with a raised eyebrow as Aaron rubbed the back of his head… his hair was getting long.

“Right… let’s just hope those don’t work in real life.” Aaron joked as Medusa stood from her chair, looking slightly up at Aaron as she leaned forward to kiss him, softly, not needing to do more. This was not a kiss of passion, but a kiss to convey that yes, she did reciprocate his feelings.

“I’m going to hope. Those words being said, sit down. I’m cutting your hair.” Aaron blinked before looking to the clock, reading at seven in the morning.

“Uh… the plan’s going to commence in an hour…” Aaron noted as Medusa rolled her eyes, shoving Aaron onto the chair, he was incapable of stopping her due to him having less strength as she flexed her fingers, her dagger like claws appearing.

“That movie… Scissor-hands? Right… sit down and accept your hair cut.” Aaron paled at her glare.

It was ten minutes later, and Aaron was glaring at a mirror with Medusa giggling behind her hand behind him. His hair was cut short, and it was kind of neat… but…

“Please, please cut that off.” Aaron pointed at the offending piece of hair, one long strand that Medusa had somehow persuaded to fight against gravity; right in the middle of his head, curling only slightly to show that gravity still existed.

“Why, it looks nice?” Medusa joked with a giggle even as Aaron turned and stomped his foot, pointing at the offending hair.

“It’s an idiot-hair! I am not an Anime character, I’m an actual person!” looking at the hair shaking around as he shook his head only made it funnier for Medusa as she finally decided to walk over and get rid of it.

After cleaning the hair off, Aaron stood, wearing his leather jacket, jeans and boots combo, deciding that while the suit would… ahem, suit the occasion, he would prefer to wear his unofficial uniform, much like Typhon still liked white clothes…

Well, Typhon would occasionally wear randomly bright clothes due to seeing too much white in his life, according to him, but white was still his go-to colour.

“Typhon… well, he’ll be here soon I guess… Medusa, let’s go.” Aaron stated as Medusa stood from her nearby position to follow him, no sign that they were now more than friends.

They didn’t need to show other people that, if they knew it, and that was all that mattered.

Upon leaving the building, Aaron and Medusa were met with the sight of Cyclops downing some whiskey as he glared at the two of them, the car at his back eerily familiar to Aaron as he stared at the GT-R.

“Sphinx never got around to handing out things after the auction, so I went back to get her. She’s a bit faster now.” Cyclops said as he wandered away to his position as Medusa and Aaron shared a look before shaking their heads.

“Right… Operation Read the First Word is a go… for sure this time.” Aaron stated to himself as he revved the car, Medusa rolling her eyes at his naming sense.

“Right… so the plan is that the rest of the group causes enough trouble to bring Vann’s Chained out of hiding, and then we go after him, with me, Sphinx, Cerberus and Empusa fighting Echidna.” Medusa said, holding onto the door as Arthur swerved around the corner, the G’s pulling her to the side.

“That’s pretty much the plan. Keep Echidna busy as I have a ‘discussion’ with Vann.” Aaron grinned darkly as he suddenly felt his cheeks being pinched, making him wince in pain as he struggled to keep the car straight.

“Stop it with that look. You don’t need to be like that around me, or any of the others.” Medusa warned Aaron as he rubbed his cheeks, now understanding why Echidna complained about married couples in his and Medusa’s vicinity.

“Fine, fine… hey, a bit of an odd topic changer, but how do you think Leviathan controlled blood of all things?” Aaron asked Medusa, hoping she had an idea different from his.

“That is a bit of an odd question… well, I’d think it was a lower form of cell manipulation, unlike Typhon’s which corrects DNA, his would allow him to move the cells that make it up into one direction, so instead of moving the building blocks, he’d move the whole thing in one direction.” Medusa spoke her own guess as Aaron tilted his head, ignoring the Italian shouts of anger as he drifted past someone attempting to cross the street.

“I was originally going to say that my thought involved electro-magnetism and the trace amounts of iron in the blood, but that seems to work out better… or perhaps a combination of the two?” Aaron asked as they arrived at their destination, where they found Empusa waiting for them, Sphinx and Cerberus in their own car.

Empusa had her eyes widened in glee as she got into the car after Aaron stopped. Despite the car not being large enough to carry everyone, she did actually like the car.

“Having it be both would be a bit strange don’t you think? I mean, if the electro-magnetism was true, wouldn’t Leviathan be able to control iron as well?” Empusa changed her mind, she wished she was out of the car, especially considering the conversation topic… Aaron and Medusa were discussing their weird science explanations for how Chained worked.

“Hi Empusa. You have a point there Medusa; though it could be tied to the unique electromagnetic field blood gives off?” At least Empusa was acknowledged, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t be for long.

“Hello Empusa. Blood contains iron, but it contains very small amounts of it, and quite a few other things… well, regardless of which one it is, though I admit your idea has some credit to it, both of our ideas explain how Leviathan was actually capable of surviving the way he did.” And there it was… the continuation…

“Ah. You’re right, no living creature other than a whale could survive at that size, and whales can’t move on land like Leviathan apparently can… he must subconsciously control the blood to allow him to move that massive body, much like Mino subconsciously allows his muscles to contain vibrations from blunt force.” Don’t get Empusa wrong, she understood quite a bit of what was said, but she didn’t quite like it… she could only handle such conversations in small doses.

“Right… but if he could control his own blood properly, he’d be capable of letting himself bleed a bit, then using that blood to fight and…” Oh Empusa wished she was with the others.

Meanwhile, Cyclops and Chimera were both wishing they weren’t doing what they were doing… namely, fighting Jiang-shi, one of the Cybernetic Chained under Vann’s employ.

Jiang, despite his name, was European, much in the same way Sphinx was actually Chinese and not Egyptian… once more, the people who created Chained struck with a joke.

Jiang was a tough fighter, though not enough to defeat Cyclops and Chimera, it was a matter of annoyance that Jiang hit like a train despite said hits coming as if done by a person practicing the robot.

Were Aaron to be there, he’d explain that Jiang was getting the force from his blows via a combination of his stability and the piston like way in which he launched his attacks, they all had much more force behind them than expected.

With this knowledge, they wish they could have traded places with Mino, who ended the fight with Sphinx by just standing there, once more proving that, as long as the enemy didn’t use bladed weapons, he was nigh unstoppable.

Well… that, or hitting him into mid-air where he was vulnerable. When Sphinx heard that he had complained that if he had known that was how the blunt force nullifying worked, he would have won.

Everyone agreed much to Mino’s consternation, seeing as Sphinx was such an excellent fighter he was defeating Medusa, who was only slightly below Typhon and Empusa’s new level of skill… Mino was strong, but in the same way a sledgehammer was strong in comparison to a scalpel.

Plus, Jiang had another annoying habit. His attacks all went after what was known as pressure points, attacking places which would hurt more or cause instability in the stance of his opponents.

“Stop kicking my knees in you little-” Cyclops curses were ignored as Jiang faced Chimera who fared better, spitting a bit of fire at Jiang who was forced to roll away, then jump to the side to dodge the scorpion tail.

On a side note, Aaron had sadly explained to Chimera that his name shouldn’t be that, as he more closely resembled a Manticore, a completely different mythological beast, and that likely the Chained creators had gotten the two mixed up…

Meaning that out there, could possibly be a Chained named Manticore, that was actually a three people in one having a snake head for a tail, a goat head and a lion head.

“Is he always so rude?” Jiang asked as he attempted launching an attack at Chimera who launched a swipe of his tail at Jiang.

“Quite, though he can be surprisingly well-mannered when the time comes… as long as he isn’t drunk.” Jiang didn’t quite know how to accept that, considering Cyclops was drinking in the middle of their fight.

A reminder on the more depressing side of the story, Cyclops only drank because it muddled his mind, and when he wasn’t drunk he only became more aware of his Cybernetic imbalance.

While they dealt with Jiang-shi, Mino and the triplets fought with the other Cyber-Chained under Vann’s command, who they now learned was Ronové, a member of the 72 Chained Djinn… though whether or not all 72 were still alive or ever created was a mystery.

Ronové was an interesting fighter, as he appeared to have no face, instead having a pitch black face-plate, and his fighting style was centred on a weapon which he carried with him everywhere, having entered Tartarus as a Chained with said weapon.

Said weapon was a staff for the most part, but on occasion a blade would pop out near one of the ends, becoming a massive scythe, which Mino would have to block with his axe.

“You know, you’re pretty interesting, for someone who doesn’t talk.” Mino said as he deflected another attack from taking out Zwei, while Eins ducked and tried to kick at Ronové and his legs.

Ronové dodged by planting his scythe into the ground and using it as leverage to kick Drei, who had leapt at him in an attempt to kick him.

The Triplets weren’t much for fighting, though they did fight very well with each other. Their specialty was in poisons and mass mayhem with their trickery, not fighting…

Ronové didn’t underestimate them though, because quantity was a quality of its own, and the teamwork between the three was exquisite, though they had yet to learn how to operate with Mino, which was the only reason Ronové hadn’t taken a solid hit yet.

These two fights were occurring at the same time as Aaron and his team arrived at Vann’s mansion, Empusa stumbling out the car and holding her head as Aaron and Medusa stepped out… still discussing the abilities of Chained.

“...it also confuses me that he can control blood from a distance, unlike Typhon who has to grab his enemy… perhaps an airborne manipulator that he sweats out or something?” Aaron and Medusa had not stopped discussing Leviathan’s ability, and while their discussion had given Empusa some creative ideas for herself, she still hated every minute of it.

Sphinx and Cerberus stepped out of their car, looking at Empusa with pity once they heard the conversation topic between Medusa and Aaron, who had finally stopped as they walked up to the gate.

Medusa opened said gate, unwilling to let Aaron step into danger for even a moment, and they witnessed Vann standing at the entrance to his mansion, next to him, no longer wearing her cloak, was Echidna.

Without the cloak it was painfully obvious that she was Typhon’s sister, with the same pale white hair and green eyes, the same child-like stature, the only differences were the gender and that Empusa had lines across what skin was visible… proof of her robotic enhancements.

“Greetings, Aaron Hassan… welcome to my humble-” Vann was interrupted by a sharp clap as Aaron yelled at him from across the entrance.

“Don’t do a monologue like some C-grade villain! It’s tacky and stupid… though in the honour of those tacky movies, ahem, aha there you are, Lukas Vann!” Aaron shouted in an obviously fake heroic voice as Vann’s jaw dropped as his eye began to twitch in anger, Sphinx muffling his laughter at Aaron’s mind games, having taken the initiative in the conversation.

“I am not doing a monologue… it’s a greeting.” He reaffirmed as Aaron shrugged, placing his hands in his jeans pockets in his standard ‘I am arrogant’ pose.

“Whatever, if it helps you sleep at night man, you do that. So, I think you know how this is going to go.” Aaron stated, and Vann raised an eyebrow at Aaron’s statement.

“We’re going to have a talk, you and I, about trying to murder someone who would have left you alone. We’re also going to talk about keeping secrets. And while we do that, the four Chained with me are going to be keeping Echidna busy.” Aaron stated, and Echidna’s eyes widened.

“You… you said it at the auction too… how do you know my name?” She asked as Aaron smirked, noticing Vann’s confused look.

“Well, I know it because your brother is looking for you, with my help.” Aaron’s words made Echidna’s eyes widen with hope as Vann began to scowl.

“Oh really? Where is he then, if you help him?” Vann asked as Echidna’s hope fell away, though Aaron could tell she was still attentive to his words.

“Well, he should be on his way… would probably get here in either an hour or ten minutes, depends on the need of a main character… the usually arrive last you know?” For all that he had harped on Vann for being a tacky C-grade villain; Aaron too was oddly genre savvy.

“Lies, you probably just heard of him and wish to deceive Echidna into joining forces with you!” Vann shouted, faux surety in his voice as Echidna glared at Aaron, Aaron palming his face with a sigh.

“Why, why does this always happen? It’s too cliché… the naïve little sibling working for the villain against the elder sibling who works with the good guy… well, this situation isn’t too cliché.” Aaron’s smirk darkened as he stepped forward, the four Chained gathering in front of him as he walked towards one of the sets of stairs leading to the mansion.

“After all… it’s only cliché if there’s a good guy here.” Aaron stated as Echidna attempted to attack him, only for Empusa’s arm to stretch and intercept the wire of Echidna’s blade, yanking Echidna towards the four Chained.

Her arm extended due to replacing the human bones in her arms with snake bones by the way.

The fight would have been amazing, had Aaron been watching. He would have seen Echidna alone fighting four enhanced humans, only one of which was lower-tier, namely Sphinx…

Echidna would flip out of the way of a breath of fire from Cerberus, all while blocking a punch from Medusa, a kick from Empusa and counter-attacking by sending a blade towards Sphinx all within the span of a second or two…

But he wasn’t looking at the fight… no he was looking at Vann, who looked to Aaron with annoyance.

“Shall we?” Aaron gestured to the door as Vann moved his jaw to the side, indicating that Aaron would have to enter first, and not him.

“I’m going to enjoy killing you.” Vann stated as Aaron looked over his shoulder at Vann, who was glaring at his back.

“Oh if you could I know you would… but can you… kill me, that is.” Aaron smirked as they walked inside, leaving the fights outside, and far into Area 11 continue.

The fights wouldn’t last long, with the exception of the fight against Echidna. Aaron had assigned his teams with the assumption of overestimation. He assumed that each of the Chained working for Vann were at the very least on the top end of Mid-tier amongst Chained.

The top grouping of Chained were all monsters in the sense of what they could do, including Jormungand, Behemoth, Leviathan, and apparently Baal from the 72 Djinn, named after the Ars Goetia/Lemegetion. Or if you want to sound boring, the Lesser Key of Solomon.

Echidna and Typhon would both be considered within that top grouping, but they both weren’t fighting at their best yet, having only been truly fighting for a few months for Typhon and a year or so for Echidna.

The King and Queen of Monsters did not possess the time, or experience, of the other top ranked Chained, even if they were already near that point due to their sheer versatility.

Case in point, it had been twenty minutes since the fight with Jiang-shi had begun, and he had been defeated when Chimera placed his scorpion stinger on the throat of Jiang…

How they had gotten to that point, was a surprise to everyone but Cyclops, who had been losing and getting very hurt before he just gave up and walked away…

Then Cyclops came back with a piece of concrete stuck to a pole and taking a massive swing at Jiang when Jiang had forgotten about Cyclops’ presence.

It was really embarrassing for the usually professional Jiang when a drunkard was the cause of his defeat…

And with Ronové, he had actually been winning, to Mino’s consternation… Eins was impressed with the edgy silent look, Zwei seemed to be considering getting a staff as a weapon and Drei had a new hatred for pigeons…

What, a bird took a dump on him in the middle of their fight, not his fault he now hates them.

Too bad for Ronové that their fight just so happened to be on the straightest path between Area 9 and Area 11. It just so happened to be near that entrance. The giant circle of scared watchers was a massive hint to the fact that there was a fight between Chained going on.

All of this served as a massive signal for a speeding blur to crash into a building near Ronové, just as he was attempting to cut through Mino who he had finally injured.

The blur caused cracks as it slammed into the wall, before shooting out and towards Ronové. Ronové attempted to dodge, only for a piece of a black chain to latch onto the floor, pulling the blur back as if undergoing ricochet, hitting Ronové in the back of the head, knocking the Cybernetic Chained unconscious.

The blur stumbled a bit, looking like a panther of some kind, but way to metallic and artificial as the mouth piece moved away, allowing the person inside to vomit onto the floor.

“Oh… oh I’m never doing that again… nope, never…” The person inside the metallic suit spoke, hinting at his identity as the white hair spoke loudly.

“Boss! You’re alive!” Eins shouted in joy before getting slapped on his temple half-heartedly… said half-hearted slap was enough to make him spin in pain though.

“Shut up for a moment Thing one. Oh my insides…” Typhon hurled again, his body still unused to what he was doing just moments ago as he rolled over, his armour slowly vanishing to reveal sweatpants and a short sleeved white shirt.

“What was that Boss?” Drei was excited as he bounced on his feet. Typhon considered hitting him, but noticed the white/green stain on his shirt and decided to do nothing… he was humiliated enough.

“Don’t have a name for it yet Thing three… oh this burns…” Typhon coughed as a bit of red leaked from his mouth, startling the group as Zwei walked over and helped him stand, despite his protests.

“You’re injured, if you can’t get rid of me then you really need help… let’s go find Big Boss Aaron and Sis Empusa.” Typhon wondered… really wondered… did they all talk like that because they were old fashioned gangster thug kids?

“Fine… you can help… thing two. Where are… they?” Typhon asked as Mino looked to the downed form Ronové with an annoyed look… probably because they struggled for quite a while with Ronové, only for Typhon to take one step in and solve the problem.

Mino vowed to train more, maybe listen to Aaron’s advice… something about perpetual motion or something. But ignoring that, he looked to Typhon with a bit of worry.

“They are at Lukas Vann’s mansion… Echidna is there.” Mino warned and Typhon’s eyes widened, even as he clutched his skull with his free hand, the other being slung over Eins shoulder after Zwei passed him over.

“My… my sister? She’s there… take me there…” Typhon growled out as they nodded, taking him in the direction of the mansion…

Ronové’s scythe was stolen by Zwei, by the way. Rhymes are fun.

Meanwhile, within Lukas Vann’s mansion…

“So… still think I can’t kill you?” Vann asked the person sitting opposite him, who was clutching his side with a pained look as Aaron looked up, clutching the wound in his side.

“Oh… I think it’s a long shot… for both of us.” Aaron spoke with a wince even as he swallowed back the blood in his mouth… Yeah, discussions broke down.