“Okay, why are we taking so long here?” Aaron sighed, tired of hearing Nemea’s complaints as he turned and swatted her arm with his rolled up puzzle book.

“I need a vacation. Now please, let me work on my puzzles.” Aaron rolled his eyes as he considered his code-breaker… maybe three corresponded to the letter J?

“This is boring.” Aaron held in his instinctual shout as he turned from his position lying on the couch, looking to Nemea sitting at the table twirling a dagger.

“You know, you remind me of this Egyptian god.” Aaron said neutrally as Nemea perked up slightly, turning her head enough to glance at him.

“Oh, which one?” she asked, genuinely curious as Aaron turned back to his puzzle.

“Ah-nus, the Egyptian god of assholes.” Nemea was silent but for five seconds before bursting into laughter, ignoring the insult, she had never heard something so absurd before.

“That was creative…” Medusa said walking into the room with a cup of tea, leaving Aaron smiling as she placed it within reach.

“Thanks.” Aaron said as he reached for the cup, sitting up from his previous position as he looked over his puzzle.

It had been three weeks since encountering Nemea, and she wasn’t wrong, in those three weeks the most they did was move to Area nine, and that was it.

In fact, the day they finally found a spot to stay in Area nine, Aaron had requested the group split up inside of Area nine, and that’s what happened.

Typhon and Empusa went off, more like Empusa dragged him off, finally listening to Medusa’s advice… that was two weeks ago, and if Aaron was to be believed, their spirit animals may or may not be rabbits at current.

Cyclops would have struck out on his own, but he apparently wanted more book lessons and so decided to stick with Echidna, who was doing book raids and discovering the idea of reading books on phones.

Manticore had vanished, doing his own ninja thing, and while Nemea was new to the group and unaware of his habits, Medusa claimed that Manticore quite enjoyed looking for old movies and watching them, after Aaron convinced the man to watch Dragon Fist once.

Satyr found out he was given free reign and immediately looked for a place to, as he put it so eloquently: ‘I want to get so shit-faced I forget I exist!’ and left. They haven’t heard from him since, but it was Area nine, not a lot of violent things happened here beyond the basic thug stuff in Tartarus, and Satyr was still a powerful Chained.

Nemea had also done her own thing, but she occasionally visited both Cyclops and Echidna, or like now, Aaron and Medusa. If she wasn’t visiting them, she was training by herself, annoyed at having been defeated by an amateur martial artist.

As for Aaron and Medusa, those two were pretty much lazing their days away, at least when Nemea was around. When she wasn’t, they probably did R-rated things…

But that wasn’t Nemea’s business. And no matter how much Aaron and Medusa claimed they were both still virgins, no one would believe them.

“Nemea, if you’re so bored, you should have accepted our offer to stay in Area eight, or go to Area seven and look for Minotaur.” Medusa added as she seated herself, taking her own tea and sipping on it quietly, leaving Nemea’s coffee on the table as Nemea took it with a grunt of thanks.

“Yeah well I decided to head out with you all because from the rumours you got into shit in just about every Area you’ve been to… seems that was a lie.” Nemea complained even as she spiked her coffee.

Rum and coffee worked if you tried, but Nemea still couldn’t understand what Medusa did to the coffee to make it taste so well with Rum. When Nemea tried it herself it tasted a bit strange...

“Oh it wasn’t, it’s just that I’m waiting for the incident to come to us this time around.” Aaron said, making Nemea blink as she turned to look at him, turning her chair.

“…What do you mean by that?” Nemea asked, and Aaron sighed, putting his tea down as well as his puzzle and pencil.

“To explain… in every Area we go to, we usually find ourselves in trouble because we either blatantly go to look for it, or it will look for us. In Area nine, I decided on the latter.” Aaron said as Nemea listened with a frown on her face.

“That makes little to no sense, why wait for trouble? I admit, I joined because I wanted to be in the thick of it, but normally you avoid it don’t you?” Nemea asked as Medusa piped in.

“Oh yes, it never came up in conversation, but you don’t know about Aaron’s ability as a Chained, do you?” Medusa had already explained that Aaron was technically termed a ‘Lord’ but Nemea would have none of that.

“No, I thought it was that black stuff he covered his fists with in our fight, but then I saw kid white use them too.” Her nickname for Typhon had almost sparked a fight when Typhon had finally gotten the dye in his hair removed; it wasn’t until Aaron reminded Typhon that she liked fights that it died down.

“Those are Nano-bots, very tiny robots. You’re right that they’re not abilities though. See, Aaron’s ability is Odyssey of Victory. It’s useless in a fight, but it can help with planning.” Medusa explained, Nemea turning to Aaron for confirmation.

“Indeed, what happens is that if I get information, and have a goal, the plan itself will be generated from my knowledge, even things that I neglect are taken into account instead of leaving a hole in a plan because of a mistake.” Aaron explained, sipping his tea.

“Now I’m not exactly sure what bit of information is causing us to sit here for so long, but the plan is stating that waiting is for the best.” Nemea just stared at the man with annoyance in her eyes.

Which was quite common, she and Aaron didn’t get along at all, personality wise… someone as abrasive as her didn’t really work with someone as controlling/calm as Aaron.

“So your ability doesn’t say why, just that you need to wait, and you blindly accept it?” Nemea asked, clearly incredulous to the idea of waiting without being given a reason why, though Aaron just smirked.

“I have an idea why, but until it happens, I’m saying nothing.” Aaron stated with a smirk, clearly designed to piss off Nemea, who just growled before taking her cup and walking away… she was tired of talking to Aaron and it had only been a few minutes.

The next day she visited for her morning cup of coffee, only to see Aaron standing at his door smirking as he held a piece of paper in his hand.

“…That expression on your face worries me.” Nemea said as Aaron nodded, handing her the piece of paper, having already memorized what it said.

“Looks like waiting paid off. That’s an invitation from Charon, leader of the Assassin’s Guild to go visit him and discuss the Key and our relation to their guild.” Aaron stated leaving Nemea to shove past him into ‘his’ house.

Really, no one truly owned anything in Tartarus beyond their own lives, and even that was a bit ambiguous given Areas like Area seven where murder took place, Area four with slavery, and so on.

“You’re an asshole, even if you’re right, it just means you’re a right asshole.” Nemea clarified towards the end as she looked for her coffee.

Again, Medusa made some good coffee.

“I am guilty as charged, Nemea. I’ve already messaged the rest of our group, Echidna and Cyclops will meet up with us here. Typhon and Empusa are working on something else I asked them to check out.” Aaron stated, sipping on his own tea.

“Are you sure you didn’t leave those two so they could fuck whole day?” Nemea asked as Aaron chuckled, walking over to the table nearby where a plate of bread with melted cheese sat.

“Nah, knowing the two of them, even if one of them wanted to the other would be a bit too shy about it for that to work. They’ll take it slow, for their own reasons.” Aaron said, thinking to his knowledge of the two concerned parties.

Empusa had never had a romantic relationship that was serious, and she had only been a ‘courtesan’ because her friend had ended up in a snuff film situation and died.

Empusa only pretended to be one to find her friend’s murder and kill him, she was still a virgin after all that, and her friend dying in that manner by all rights should have put Empusa off the idea of sex for quite a while.

And Typhon was still busy figuring out emotions, he knew what they were, but how to react to what he felt was something he was still learning due to his lack of human contact for around fifteen years.

For these reasons, even if the two were dating now, the best that would be happening is kissing and maybe one of them being a bit grabby at times before it became a bit awkward.

Later, Aaron would find his observations to be correct, to Empusa’s embarrassment and Typhon’s confusion…

Typhon saw that Aaron wasn’t shy about his care for Medusa and whether he liked it or not, Typhon emulated Aaron in quite a few of his lifestyle choices, such as liking old music.

Back to the present, Nemea just shrugged and sipped her coffee, looking into a nearby room to see Medusa walk out in her combat outfit, which was… surprisingly modest?

Medusa often walked around in attire similar to Empusa, who wore shorts and tank tops often… though Nemea was seeing Medusa’s combat outfit for the first time.

Namely her cargo pants, afore mentioned tank top with an open jacket above to cover more, and boots… next to Aaron who was also wearing similar clothes, the two looked like a couple who liked military cosplay a bit too much.

“The meeting is to be at twelve, noon, and at the central cell tower of Area nine.” Medusa told Nemea who just nodded, turning to Aaron who had already finished his food, mysteriously…

Then the knock on the door was heard and Aaron opened the door for Cyclops and Echidna, Nemea looking at the two with narrowed eyes.

If it weren’t for her knowledge that Echidna did not have any romantic interest at current, Nemea might have considered the strange relationship between the two… but no, it was more like a friendship spanning generations with how Echidna looked to be fifteen or sixteen and Cyclops looked to be in his late forties.

See, this is what happens when you travel with one couple and another is formed soon after you join said group, you start analysing everything looking for imaginary relationships.

Nemea felt that Cyclops x Echidna was oddly okay though…

“Hey, long time no see you two.” Cyclops chuckled as he shook Aaron’s hand in greeting, giving a nod to Medusa as he took a seat on the couch, Echidna remaining standing as she hugged Medusa.

Nemea got a fist bump instead. She preferred it anyway.

“Long time indeed… well, it’s still ten, and it doesn’t take too long to get to the tower, so we’ll leave around half past eleven.” Aaron said as Echidna looked over everyone in the room.

“It’s just us? What about my brother, Empusa and Manticore… who knows where Satyr is, but him too.” Echidna asked as Aaron nodded.

“Just us, Typhon and Empusa are working on something else, while Manticore straight up refused to be in Charon’s presence. I wasn’t going to force it. And last I heard Satyr was found passed out in some building while holding a stuffed unicorn.” No one was sure if Aaron was joking or not, and even if he wasn’t, it wouldn’t be a surprise… the truth is stranger than fiction.

Fiction has to make sense, at least a bit. The truth has no such issues.

“Alright, so it’s just us five… and this is supposed to just be a peaceful meeting?” Nemea asked as Cyclops chuckled.

“I doubt it, considering Aaron and Typhon refused their recruitment offer the last time we encountered their group.” Cyclops might have been drunk, and passed out for quite a while during the incident, but he knew about it.

“If it’s like that, why would we do what they ask?” Echidna asked as Aaron smirked at the question, sitting down for a moment before he answered.

“Nemea, preventing your opponent from doing as they wish is one way of winning a fight… another way is to let them do as they please.” Aaron took a sip from his tea before grinning once more.

“And after the enemy does as they please, crush them so well they never consider fighting you again.” Aaron’s words had the whole room smirking as they waited for the deadline.

At the mentioned time, their group left the building, leaving their Jeep behind as they moved through Area nine… none of them found the Area to be interesting though…

“Cybercrime…it seems kind of boring.” Nemea said as she saw someone walk past with a laptop case, which seemed kind of the norm in this place, almost everyone you walked past had a phone, a laptop, an I-pad, some form of device that they were constantly talking into, typing on, and who knows what else.

“Only on the surface, this is a crime field best left to those who like numbers and calculating… so obviously you’d find it boring.” Aaron’s words did not hesitate to insult Nemea’s intelligence, and Nemea just glared in return.

Talking and word games were Aaron’s territory, fighting him there was asking for a defeat.

“Aaron isn’t wrong, cybercrime is complicated, and despite how boring it looks cybercrime is one of the most dangerous crimes on a larger scale.” Medusa added, leaving the group to look to her.

She was more reliable than her boyfriend when it came to explaining things, since he was more likely to make fun of them or crack jokes.

“Think about it, it began in the late twentieth century, but by now we’re in the last quarter of the twenty first century. Electronics are a major part of the outside world, and lots of things are digital.” Medusa said as Nemea nodded.

“Okay, that I get, like music, movies, information, I think I remember people being able to just type in ‘how do I build a bomb’ and they could be terrorists if they wanted to.” Nemea recalled from her time outside of Tartarus, about twenty years back.

Like all Chained, she aged really well. Cyclops was just unlucky enough to be taken when he was already close in appearance to his current self, due to being born in Tartarus.

“Don’t forget the most important bit, online banking. If one can pull it off, one can siphon thousands of bank accounts simultaneously into fake accounts, one could theoretically cripple a country if you went after the richest people in said country.” Aaron added, and that stopped everyone but he and Medusa.

“But couldn’t they account for the losses, trace the money, something?” Echidna asked, knowing of some of these concepts due to her reading habits and talking to other people over the time she spent out of her Cradle.

“For the first option, no they can’t, because like Einstein said, energy cannot be created or destroyed; only transferred.” Aaron stated, confusing some as Cyclops piped in.

“What you’re saying is that money is like energy? There’s always a set amount of it, and, ignoring destroying physical money, cyber money can only be transferred and not lost?” Cyclops asked as Aaron clicked his fingers.

“Exactly, the amount of currency a country has is never fixed, but it fluctuates, more money can be minted, but rarity increases value, something proven with Euros and Pounds, in comparison to a currency like the old Japanese Yen.” Aaron held a hand over his heart in remembrance of the great island nation.

They will be remembered for their Anime, the concept of Kawaii, and their ability to make porn of anything to such a point that the slightest hint of perverseness would probably cause a perverted comic book to appear.

Aaron was obviously slapped upside the head for his thoughts by Medusa, even if she was unaware of what he was thinking exactly.

“What happened to Japan? They get taken over or something?” Nemea asked, letting Echidna and Cyclops know that whatever incident happened was relatively recent in the world.

“They got an earthquake, they got a tsunami, and then considering how devastated they were, they got taken in by China. No one could do anything about it because the rest of the world was dealing with the NAC threatening to attack Brazil…” Aaron sighed in annoyance at the greed of humanity.

Due to advancements in atmospheric technology, water purification systems and the wars of the past few decades lowering the population, resources weren’t as scarce as before.

But humanity now knew the fear of thirst, where there was not enough water for humanity to survive; they knew the fear of hunger, with animals dying and crops not growing.

They even knew the fear of having no home, with the population going around eight point five billion, and those who were rich demanding large acres of land when some people slept in spaces the size of cupboards.

“Aaron, you’re getting angry again.” Medusa warned as Aaron looked to his hands, seeing them clenched as wisps of his Nano-bots tried to cover his fists as he sighed, calming himself.

Aaron had little to no faith in humanity at this point obviously.

“Remember… diamond in the rough.” The small phrase was enough to completely calm Aaron as they approached the building, even if Medusa rubbed circles on his back to calm him further.

Indeed. The many could be a steaming pile of crap for all he cared; he only cared for humanity for the rare moments one could find a diamond amongst all that crap.

For example, Dawn was one he considered, and she was the only reason that Aaron hadn’t ended up becoming any more sociopathic than he currently was.

“Excuse me, are you Odysseus?” Aaron blanked his face at the greeting from the man in the suit and sunglasses talking to him, aware that few knew his real name at this point…

In Tartarus, due to Chained, those who had names that didn’t quite fit in were treated with fear.

Who would you fear more, Destroyer of Worlds or Kevin?

What if Kevin was Destroyer of Worlds? Kevin would never be respected if everyone knew his name was Kevin.

And likewise, those who feared him and respected him would probably refer to him as Destroyer of Worlds over saying they feared/respected Kevin.

Similar case here, Aaron Hassan was unique in its own way, but he was sure there was at least a few other Aaron’s in Tartarus.

They just aren’t important enough to be in the plot is all…

Ignoring the collapsing fourth wall, Odysseus was more attention grabbing and ‘gallant’ sounding than Aaron.

“Yeah, that’s me. I know the invite said four others, so I brought my friends along.” Aaron said while gesturing to his friends as the man in a suit and sunglasses nodded.

Aaron absently wondered if he would be receiving a mind-wipe ala MIB at some point during his stay… they looked way too much like secret agents for Aaron to not consider that reference.

“Very well, come along.” The man was punctual at least, and Aaron nodded at that… even if the niceties were lost on Cyclops and Nemea, the first because he didn’t care and the second didn’t catch it.

Aaron enjoyed belittling Nemea. It was strange, and quite insulting to do so to a friend…

Aaron would be the first to defend her if someone else insulted her intelligence though. They were friends after all.

Even though Aaron and Nemea disliked each other a lot…

Their group followed obediently, and thankfully no one tried to do the ‘assassin’ thing of following behind in secret for an ambush or anything like that…

When they got to the top floor of the building, they were shown why.

“Hello, you must be Charon.” Aaron greeted with a measured smile looking at the Chained sitting opposite them behind a desk.

“And with a mouth like yours, you must be Odysseus, or Aaron Hassan.” The man in suit and tie, with slicked back hair and glasses countered, leaving Aaron and Charon staring at each other. Internally, Aaron pegged Charon as an intellectual.

“Hey, their names rhyme.” Came Nemea’s unhelpful input as she was shushed by Echidna, who was still part of the ‘Medusa, Empusa, Echidna’ problem.

The only proof that Charon and Aaron heard what was said was that both of their hands clenched momentarily…

“Well, as stated, I am Charon. Who are your compatriots Odysseus?” Charon seemed determined to not use Aaron’s real name now, and Aaron did not blame him at all… Nemea was either alright, or extremely annoying, there was no in-between.

“Right, with me are Medusa, Cyclops, Nemean Lion and Echidna.” Charon just stared at the group as Aaron looked to the man’s reaction before smirking.

“You were expecting Typhon too? Maybe you were expecting Manticore, or as you know him, Chimera?” Charon looked to his conversation partner, wondering what gave him away.

“They’re really small, but tells are obvious if you see them, it’s just a matter of interpreting them. Now granted, I was good at seeing them before, but now that I’m a Chained myself?” Aaron smirked, pointing at his own glowing blue eyes.

“You might as well be broadcasting your thoughts aloud for me to read.” Charon nodded with a begrudging smile on his face as he caught Medusa smiling as well.

“So you’re an expert at cold-reading… if I may interrupt our conversation though… Medusa, it’s been a while.” Charon said, and Medusa nodded in greeting towards her old boss.

“It has, Charon. Sorry I didn’t resign in person but… that might now have been good for my health.” She said, easily brushing away the fact that she would have been killed had she appeared in front of Charon alone.

“I understand that you made the sensible decision. I’ve had a year to consider your resignation from my guild and I’ve come to terms with it at this point. Know that if ever you leave Odysseus, I will kill you though.” Cyclops, Nemea and Echidna felt uncomfortable standing nearby as the other three people in the room calmly discussed threats and ‘betrayal’.

“That was implied, yes? Manticore understandably fears you enough to not step close by, though I am invested enough to ignore such things.” Medusa said with a glance to Aaron, who Charon faced, lacing his gloved hands over each other as he rested his elbows on his desk.

“Very well, that man was powerful, but I appreciated him more for his caution anyway.” Charon said, as most would find Manticore’s fear to be a bad trait, but in their line of work, it was acceptable.

An assassin had to kill, if they were caught, they’d die. Manticore had the power to survive such a thing, but he always acted as if he couldn’t. It was because of this cautious mind-set that Manticore was capable of good ‘work’ though.

“Now Odysseus, whether or not you are wondering why I asked you to come here, I’ll state the reason either way.” Aaron chuckled slightly, finding it interesting that Charon had pegged his personality so quickly.

“I called you here to discuss your plans for Tartarus… oh, and to ask about my dead prodigy, Geist.” Aaron’s eyes widened there, as did Medusa’s.

Understandably, Echidna never met the mentioned Chained, Nemea wasn’t part of the group yet and Cyclops was passed out for most of that incident.

“Wait, he’s dead?” Aaron asked as Charon raised an eyebrow.

“Given your surprise, I’ll assume he wasn’t killed by your group… granted, the first time I’ve heard of your group killing a Chained was Leraje about two months ago, so I guess it’s understandable…” Charon said before he extended his hand, pointing it at Aaron.

“Geist died during his assignment of recruiting you… given the enemies you make, one of them might have caught him trailing your group and haphazardly decided to kill him, that’s his fault.” Charon said, making Echidna frown.

“Wait, wasn’t he your prodigy? From what I hear, he was being trained to replace you eventually.” Echidna asked as Charon looked at her for the first time in this conversation.

Echidna paused as she looked into the glowing blue eyes of Charon, and yet even with that glow, his eyes looked so… lifeless.

“And so what if he was my prodigy? He’s dead now, so he’s worthless. And besides, I have no intention of dying.” Echidna growled as Aaron raised an arm to keep her from stepping forward.

“Echidna, don’t. You know we can’t change the minds of others if they don’t want it.” Echidna frowned, stepping back… she was aware that Aaron didn’t agree with that view.

“Watch your crew Odysseus… I nearly lopped her head off.” Echidna was incredulous of Charon’s statement, but one look at Medusa’s pale face had her believing it.

“Sorry Charon, we don’t quite agree with your views of the dead, but we don’t have to like each other do we?” Aaron asked, and Charon nodded, a small smile on his face.

“Indeed. Anyway, knowing that Geist was not killed by you, it appears I won’t be able to ask any repayment for the slight… I’ll have to figure out who killed him later.” Charon said with a sigh and shake of his head, and Echidna just found her disgust with the man growing.

“Hopefully you figure it out. So, the other thing you wanted to talk about was my plans for Tartarus?” Aaron asked with a raised eyebrow, and Charon nodded.

“Yes, you see, what I know of your group is that you travel Tartarus, gathering Chained who are willing to work for your group, how you do so is something I’m unaware of, though the defeat of the Nemean Lion is common knowledge by now.” Charon gestured to Nemea who growled at the man for the reminder of her loss.

“But you see that information just raises more questions. Why are you travelling Tartarus? Why do you gather Chained? Why… do you possess Typhon and Echidna, who have the ability to boost the powers of Chained they touch?” Charon’s look at Echidna had her skin get goose bumps.

That wasn’t the look one gave a fellow human being… it felt as if she was being weighed for value, a thing instead of something living…

“Odysseus, you need to understand something. Tartarus is always in flux, but there is the occasional constant. The Assassin’s Guild, the Mercenaries, the United Chained in Area twelve, such groups are constants.” Aaron nodded, understanding that those groups had been around for a while before he had even entered Tartarus.

“And yet… you are changing things in Tartarus. Your exploits are legendary amongst normal humans, even if your name was relatively unknown, many knew of the human who had gotten more than ten Chained to work for him.” Charon said thinking to his own group.

The Assassin’s Guild had more Chained than that, but it was still an achievement… their Guild never gathered in full, and it was Chained monitoring other Chained.

Never before had a human held such a position of power in Tartarus. Ever since the Chained appeared, such would be impossible.

“Not only that, from what I recall, you somehow encountered Leviathan… and survived? Not only that, but reports state that it was a three-way fight between Typhon, the Hunter and Leviathan… and that it was Typhon that walked away.” Charon said with a raised eyebrow as Aaron grinned.

“And then you vanished after killing Lukas Vann, and here you are, a year later, as a Chained. Do you understand? You managed to practically destroy the Mercenaries leadership, and that was before you became capable of fighting.” Charon said, now pushing back his chair as he stood.

“Odysseus… whatever your plans are for Tartarus, you should abandon them and work for me, and I can guarantee a high position for you in this place.” Aaron looked at the man with wide eyes before he sighed.

“You… you’re really strange. I refuse.” Charon’s eyes narrowed as he sighed, reaching for a thin metallic baton on his desk… then he spun it, and a flick was heard as it extended into a staff, the end of one side growing a wide blade…

“That’s unfortunate.” Charon said as he walked from behind his desk as Aaron nodded.

“Yep, it really is unfortunate… for you.” Aaron said with nary a change in tone or expression. And that’s when the man ran into the room.

“Boss, we’re under attack!” The man in the suit got out before realizing the tension in the room.

“Odysseus, are you doing this?” Charon asked while pushing up his glasses as Aaron shook his head.

“No, it isn’t.” Aaron said clearly as Charon glared at him… clearly, Charon had no real reason to believe him though.

“But, Boss, there’re two Chained… they’re both Mechanical, and they refer to each other as Lu and Sol.” The man reported as Aaron’s eyes widened.

“I take it you know those two?” Charon asked as Aaron sighed while nodding, ignoring that Charon was close enough to harm him.

“Yeah… they’re not any every day Chained. They’re Lu Bu and Solomon, they work for Tartarus.” Charon’s eyes widened as he looked to Aaron for more explanations.

“Suffice to say, they’re after me because I’m a danger to them… not that I care.” Aaron said with a smirk, and now it was Charon who felt worried.

No person had the right to be that cocky knowing that he might die soon…

Not unless they were confident enough to survive.