Harpy. A creature with bird wings for arms with a human female upper body, usually possessing talons for feet like most birds of prey, the Harpy was a creature found in Greek Mythology, notably in relation to Jason and the Argonauts, and even afterwards in the Inferno by Dante Alighieri.

These were the words told to Harpy the day she was found by Odysseus, ruler of the Pantheon, all Greek Chained of Tartarus, as he explained to her the origin of her ‘name’.

That was a few months ago, and Harpy was currently really enjoying herself in Area two.

Granted, Harpy didn’t exactly fit in with the arsonists of the Area, in fact she fit in better within Area one due to her pre-disposition to thievery, but she didn’t like staying in that place for too long.

It got tiring competing with other thieves over things she rightfully stole.

As long as she let Odysseus know where she was, and what she was doing, Harpy was free to do as she pleased really, and she was thankful for that kind of freedom.

Harpy was actually thankful to Odysseus for the weight his name put behind her, the Pantheon was the most notorious branch of the Key due to the exploits of Odysseus, and if ever Harpy had a problem she could easily contact Odysseus or any of the other Pantheon members for help.

Other branches of the Key would also help Harpy out, none as enthusiastically as the Pantheon, but the thought was there…

The only problem was that when it came to Chained unaffiliated with the Key, such as the prick in front of Harpy’s cage right now.

“You know, it’s really annoying that you thought you could steal from me…” Harpy grimaced as a long, slimy tongue slithered between the jaws of the dragon…

Well, dragon ‘creature’ is closer, Dracone was large, but he wasn’t anywhere near the size of the larger Biological Chained, Leviathan, Behemoth, Jormungand, they were all much larger than this guy.

Dracone was still quite the scary character to just look at, and Harpy didn’t feel like being in his presence for much longer.

“Well I would have succeeded if you didn’t have the sense of smell of a Doberman.” Harpy muttered under her breath, not caring if she was heard by Dracone.

As a Greek Chained himself, Dracone should have been spoken to by Odysseus and Typhon, but apparently Dracone was the quiet type of Chained, one of those bastards that did a lot way back when, but got quiet when things around them got louder.

Harpy didn’t like people like that, to say the least. If you do something, do it proudly, but no, people like Dracone would do something and then stand back as if it had nothing to do with them.

“I heard that. You are rude for a morsel.” Dracone spoke again, clawing into the cement ground of the warehouse they were currently in.

It was one of the few buildings in Area two that wasn’t burnt to the ground. Dracone lived there, that’s why, even the pyromaniacs and destructive people of Area two refused to damage a building that would call what looked like a literal dragon to come after them.

Harpy wasn’t as scared as those guys obviously, Dracone really didn’t need that awesome guitar she stole, and he wasn’t even small enough to use it!

“Come over here and let this ‘morsel’ choke you out!” Harpy held up her fist above her head, her middle finger rose even higher as she shouted at the dragon glaring at her.

Odysseus always said that Harpy was a bit too… angry, to handle delicate situations.

Watching Dracone prepare to breathe fire into Harpy’s cage, Harpy realized that this might have been one of those delicate situations the boss was talking about.

Flexing her shoulder blades and whipping her arms in front of her, Harpy’s metallic forearms opened tiny vents on them, her wings unfolding through the gaps in the back of her clothes and moving in front of her, vents opening on the extremely light attachments to Harpy’s body.

When the blast of fire was released, it ended up going around Harpy instead of burning her to a crisp, the cage around her wasn’t going so well though…

That was a good thing to Harpy, and she smirked as she felt the fire ease up a bit, Dracone stopping in his attack to breathe, leaving Harpy the time to drop to a handstand, pushing herself upwards.

Harpy’s robotic feet went against, and then through the semi-melted metal as she focused on cooling the metal as she passed through the gap she made, a smirk on her face.

“You’re an idiot.” Harpy said blandly as she spun, her wings stretching outwards to keep her hovering in place…

Flying powers were awesome.

“Grr… I’m going to kill you!” Dracone roared, raising one of his claws to try and swat Harpy out of the sky, which was impossibility really.

Harpy was the only known Chained that could fly, something that made her really proud when she found out, and her skill with flying was really good too, even if it did take practice… so many crash landings…

It was really popular with Odysseus too, which was a very important plus in Harpy’s book.

“Why’re you acting like you could even kill me? And even if you did, do you really think the Pantheon would let you get away with killing me? They know that I’m here in Area two after all.” Harpy pointed out, twisting her wings and suddenly shooting backwards, watching the clawed arm of Dracone going past her with a roll of the eyes.

She was only really captured in the first place because she was surprised by the giant lizard Chained, and then stayed because she found out he was a Greek Chained like her going by the omega symbol collar he was wearing.

As a member of the Pantheon, even if she was a ‘junior’ member, she was expected to report important things back to Odysseus or one of the other important members of the group.

Reports were usually about what other Chained were doing, breakthroughs in using their abilities, what new cars and alcohols they could get for the stock at Olympus, the usual, and a bit more until Medusa started taking all of Harpy’s reports instead of Odysseus.

Probably because Harpy sent more than a few risqué photos of herself to the boss… it wasn’t her fault she liked Odysseus, she liked what she liked.

And a guy who could convince you the sky was brown with polka dots was kind of what Harpy liked. Not when he was convincing her, but watching him convince others of stupid things.

“You think I can’t hide from your boss? No one has heard of me in years!” Dracone probably thought he was being clever…

Harpy knew he wasn’t, not by a long shot.

Sure, Odysseus didn’t even know Dracone was an option amongst the Chained, but knowing that there was a Chained capable of killing Harpy would bring Odysseus here very quickly.

And where Odysseus went, you could bet the strongest of the Pantheon went as well, Typhon never let Odysseus go anywhere without him.

That was mostly because Typhon had the belief that if he left Odysseus alone for extended periods of time Odysseus might accidentally trigger the end of humanity or alternatively find a way to turn all humans into immortal beings, either or.

The scary part about all of that was that the majority of the Pantheon agreed with Typhon and supported that belief.

Anyway, what Harpy was getting at was that Dracone was an idiot for doing something that would draw the ire of a top-tier Chained.

Even with her ability to fly and kind of control wind around her, Harpy was still in the upper ranks of middle tier… maybe in the lower ranks of upper tier.

Typhon and any of his peers would swat Harpy from the sky and squish her like a bug, and Dracone wasn’t innately stronger than Harpy.

He had no wings despite being a dragon, and thus couldn’t fly. Dracone’s only real abilities seemed to be being big, scaly, and capable of breathing fire.

Manticore could do that last bit, so it wouldn’t surprise any of the top-tier Chained, and as for his size, to the strongest it just made Dracone a larger target.

“I’m sure you can hide from the guy that accidentally discovered the leader of the Mercenary Guild and is the de facto head of the Assassin’s Guild. I’m definitely not being sarcastic.” Harpy said simply, and if Dracone didn’t catch the sarcasm he had to have been an idiot.

With another roar, Dracone attempted to blast Harpy out of the air with another fireball, Harpy just laughed, taking a deep breath and shooting towards Dracone, twisting out of the way of the fireball, and flipping to kick Dracone in the skull, leaving the large Biological Chained to stumble backwards in pain.

“And if you can’t beat me in a fight, you definitely can’t take on the upper ranks. You’re a dead dragon.” Harpy said casually as her wings pulled her backwards, taking the chance to stare at Dracone.

Odysseus, before his contact with Harpy was limited by Medusa, taught Harpy quite a few basic things.

One of those things was that information was really important in all things, including fights.

Dracone had scales, tough ones at that, Harpy wouldn’t really be able to ‘cut’ through them even with her claws. Harpy’s decision to use kicks was good, as blunt force was more likely to go through Dracone’s scales.

The next problem was that even if blunt force went well through the scales, the sheer mass that Dracone had meant that even her powerful blows didn’t do too much to him, the best Harpy could do was stun him and make Dracone stumble backwards…

But, his scales did seem a bit damaged around the area of her kick…

Finding a possible solution to the fight, Harpy nodded, realizing she’d have to apologize to Odysseus for killing a Chained that could have been a part of the Pantheon…

Not that Odysseus would let Dracone do that without getting to know the lizard first, Odysseus would become friends even with people who tried to kill him, but he only did so under certain conditions and if Odysseus could sympathize with the other party.

From what Harpy had managed to find out, Dracone was not the kind of person Odysseus would accept into the Pantheon, as Odysseus preferred people who could treat normal humans fairly.

Those who torture, and debase other humans were typically either avoided or dealt with permanently.

“I will burn you with my flames, peel the skin from your flesh, reduce your bones to dust and devour you whole!” Harpy whistled as her wings stopped keeping her aloft, letting her drop under the tail swung by Dracone, her short hair feeling the breeze left behind.

“You got the whole dragon thing down pat eh? Still won’t help you though.” Harpy said blandly as she dropped to her feet, and then shooting forward into a flying kick, her wings stretched out behind her to provide propulsion.

When Harpy’s kick hit Dracone’s chest, the draconic Chained actually found his front limbs were being lifted off the ground slightly, the cracking sound of his scales ringing out through the mostly empty warehouse as he roared in pain.

Outside the warehouse, the humans who strayed close enough to hear the roars and the impacts took the wise decision to run away before they got involved with whatever made that noise… some idiots on the other hand got closer, phones appearing to take recordings of whatever was causing the sounds.

Harpy was unaware of what was happening outside, so she just kept fighting, having to dodge Dracone’s retaliating claw, wincing as one of her wings was clipped by the blow.

Harpy’s wings were very important to her even beyond their ability to let her fly… Harpy had to make sure they weren’t ever damaged to the point where they couldn’t repair themselves over time. It was important that they stay functional.

The attack that just barely clipped her wouldn’t stop Harpy from killing Dracone though.

Checking her wings and jumping backwards to dodge once more, Harpy confirmed that her wing could still let her fly, it would just be a bit harder for her to control the air around the tip of her left wing.

“Eh, he needs the handicap.” Harpy smirked, looking at the cracked scales on Dracone’s chest.

About ten, twenty minutes later, Harpy sat atop the corpse of Dracone, the Biological Chained having his chest cavity hollowed out after Harpy literally broke his scales, dug into his flesh, broke his sternum, and then stabbed his heart.

She practically did to him what he promised to do to her, so Harpy found it to be poetic justice.

Whatever that was, she heard Odysseus talk mention it once or twice.

Covered in blood as she was, Harpy determined that she needed new clothes and a shower. Before Harpy could do anything about that though, she heard a very familiar ringtone.

Finding her phone and taking a moment to appreciate the rock band singing about joining a black parade, Harpy wiped her thumb off on a nearby skirt before picking up the phone and swiping to accept the call.

Harpy pointedly did not think about why the dragon had a skirt in his pile of treasure. That way laid madness.

“Yo, Harpy the badass dragon slayer speaking.” Harpy said while looking over the pile of ‘treasure’ for things that would interest her…

Some of the clothes were usable… Harpy wasn’t going near the skirts though… she hated the breeze.

“Ah, so you’re having an interesting time there in Area two then?” The moment Harpy realized whose voice was on the other end of the phone her spine straightened subconsciously.

“A-a-ah, b-boss, I didn’t know you would be calling me…” Harpy said after a moment, really not having expected Odysseus to be the one to call her.

“I managed to get a phone other than the one Medusa confiscated, and I figured I’d let all the juniors know what’s going on.” Odysseus had a way of making Harpy nervous even when she shouldn’t be…

It was a wonder how she got the confidence to send those pictures to Odysseus, though Harpy was firm in her blaming of Dryad.

The crazy blonde got Harpy drunk and well… alcohol was called liquid courage for a reason.

“Ah. What is going on boss?” Harpy asked after taking a moment to calm herself and remember that Odysseus did not know she was currently covered in blood.

“I’ll get to that in a minute, but are you covered in blood like Siegfried was in his legend?” Harpy paused, suddenly feeling very uncertain in regards to Odysseus and his apparent ‘omnipotence’.

“…No.” Harpy said after a pause, Odysseus’ response was chuckling from the other end of the phone.

“Don’t worry Harpy, it was kind of obvious that killing any dragon would be a bloody affair. Biological Chained I presume, you got a name for me?” Odysseus asked for the report, and Harpy looked at the still warm corpse in the warehouse.

“Dracone, he called himself. Greek Chained actually, full on fire breathing dragon, though he had no wings and he wasn’t as large as some of the larger Chained… heck, I think he was only a bit taller than mister Mino was back when he was still huge?” Harpy was uncertain about her comparison; she hadn’t seen Minotaur before he was Stabilized by Typhon after all.

“Well that’s interesting, the only famous Greek dragon I can think of… Medea of Colchis, there was a dragon that guarded the golden fleece, its teeth could be used to create skeletal warriors in legends… I doubt this one’s teeth did that?” Odysseus asked and Harpy blinked… that would be a strange ability, even for a Chained.

“No, just breathing fire. Speaking of which, I think I’m going to smell like smoke for a while.” Harpy complained, though she did not mention that the greatest sadness of the encounter would be the loss of her leather jacket.

She could get another one easily, but they were never the same… if Harpy could meet up with Odysseus she was sure he’d get her a good jacket, he had nice taste when it came to leather jackets.

“If you smelt like roses after killing a dragon you’d be on par with Typhon, so don’t worry about it Harpy, it’s still impressive.” Harpy felt the blush on her face, waiting a moment to respond so she wouldn’t make a fool of herself.

“Right, right… you aren’t mad that I killed him?” Harpy asked, just to make sure, Odysseus was making jokes, but Harpy knew that her boss could smile while kicking a downed person, metaphorically of course.

Odysseus was quite the loud and outgoing person, but that was just on the surface.

“Nah, everyone knows I dislike killing, but if you need to, I won’t stop you ever. Between you and someone I haven’t met, I’d pick you every time.” Harpy was well aware that Odysseus meant this in regards to every member of the Pantheon, each member knew Odysseus personally…

But Harpy could be forgiven for deluding herself into thinking that Odysseus spoke with special meanings behind his words. Even for just a little bit.

“…Thanks boss.” Harpy finally said after a moment, shuffling slightly where she stood.

“Don’t see why you’re thanking me, but you’re welcome Harpy. Oh, let’s get back to the original reason why I called you.” Harpy nodded, even if Odysseus couldn’t see her action…

Odysseus hated the habit though.

“Basically, the juniors have a new member, the newest Cyclops has entered the prison two days ago and he’s with Dryad and Manticore right now.” Harpy blinked, biting her bottom lip in thought.

“He’s the car guy, right? Boss, you’re bringing him into the Pantheon or what?” Harpy asked, knowing that Odysseus was an advocate of free will.

“Yes, Cyclops is ‘the car guy’. He’ll be moving with Manticore and Dryad as they drive around gathering you and the other juniors.” Harpy frowned, a bit confused, taking the moment to vocalize her thoughts.

“Isn’t that kind of redundant boss? I mean, we could all just head to Olympus separately… so there’s a reason you’re having us gather before we get there?” Harpy asked, hearing a chuckle.

“You’re quite smart Harpy. Yeah, I want Cyclops to get to know his fellow juniors before he meets up with me or the original members of the Pantheon.” Harpy knew she was going to regret asking, but-

“Why? I know it isn’t just to make sure he’s comfortable with us.” Harpy was cursing herself out internally, as she hadn’t wanted to actually ask that question.

“… Harpy, you know I gathered the members of the Pantheon right? Starting from Typhon?” Harpy did in fact know.

“You persuaded them to follow you in exchange for favours, or deals as you say boss. Other than Typhon, you persuaded most of the members of the Pantheon only after fighting them.” Well, Typhon fought and defeated most of the members of the Pantheon, but he did so under Odysseus’ orders.

“Exactly. Part of what makes a good deal is power, hence the fighting bit. If you are at a disadvantage and you offer a deal, you’d just get steamrolled or viewed as desperate… on the other hand, if you negotiate from a position of power, you are viewed as benevolent or fair.” This, this was why Harpy hadn’t wanted to actually ask her question.

Knowing the ‘science’ and ‘logic’ behind Odysseus’ actions took away the magic of them… the rose tinted glasses he placed on the eyes of others were removed the moment he explained that they were there.

Harpy was no exception. Logically, she knew that she had somewhat of a crush on Odysseus, and there was no way the man didn’t know it either.

He was likely using it to manipulate Harpy in subtle ways, but Harpy was too scared to ask if Odysseus was actually doing that…

In spite of all his manipulations, Odysseus spoke truthfully when asked. Harpy didn’t want the truth, for it might hurt.

“In Cyclops’ case, I don’t plan on threatening him at all, it’s unnecessary so I won’t. Instead I just plan on offering a place in the Pantheon, without strings, he could even leave if he wanted to. So, Harpy, knowing that I want him in the Pantheon, but will not threaten him, what do you think I’m doing?” And there the clue was. Harpy sighed knowing now what Odysseus was doing.

“If he could leave whenever he wanted to… you just need to make it so that he’ll never want to leave. You’re having him meet the juniors first so that he forms attachments to us.” Harpy said with a soft tone, but Odysseus still heard it on the other end of the phone.

“That’s it. He probably won’t even notice over the next few weeks, but Manticore and Dryad will keep him from interacting with other residents of Tartarus, instead he will only speak to you and the other juniors along with Manticore.” Harpy frowned a bit…

Odysseus was cutting off Cyclops’ other options without the younger Chained even knowing it… and that was just it.

If the manipulation was known, Odysseus came across as a manipulative monster… without it being known however, he came across as kind and fair.

Harpy found herself a bit put off by Odysseus’ dichotomy, but she could move past it.

She knew he was manipulative from the day they met after all… and so far, none of his manipulations had resulted in anything bad happening to those caught up in them.

The sole exceptions went to the original Cerberus and Cyclops, but Harpy could recognize the deaths of both as a result of enemy action, not the fault of Odysseus really.

Not to mention that the killer of Cerberus was then killed by Satyr… and Cyclops’ killer was next on their list.

Even if he manipulated them into joining the Pantheon, Odysseus truly did look out for all under his wing.

And that was the reason why, a week after killing Dracone, Harpy sat outside the warehouse as she watched a bright red double-decker bus float up towards her.

“Huh. A float bus, haven’t seen one of these in a while.” Harpy didn’t like flying vehicles oddly enough, when she flew under her own power she was fine, but inside vehicles she always ended up sick…

Harpy made sure to keep that a secret from Odysseus after Medusa found out and said that it was really ironic.

On a slightly unrelated note, when Odysseus did find out that Harpy got motion sickness in vehicles, he would draw a strange association between her sickness and her ‘Dragon-slayer’ title as well as how her name sounded similar to the word ‘happy’. But that’s a story for another time.

Watching the bus as it pulled to a stop in front of her, Harpy stood up, dusting off her jeans before stepping to the side, a blonde torpedo flying past her and falling onto the floor.

“Sup Dryad, you look like you doing alright.” Harpy said with a small smirk on her face, stepping backwards and out of Dryad’s reach when the boisterous Chained tried to crush her with a hug.

“Harpy, stop dodging my affection!” Dryad shouted, pouting and stomping her foot in a way that just screamed ‘childish’ leaving Harpy laughing as she finally opened her arms, accepting the hug.

Harpy wouldn’t be able to keep away from it forever, and Dryad knew this, so Harpy just decided to give up now.

After the hug was over, courtesy of Harpy slapping Dryad away after Dryad tried to get a bit touchy, Harpy nodded to Manticore before looking at Cyclops, the newest member of the Pantheon.

He was kind of non-descript. Other than one eye being Cybernetic Chained blue, the guy was really plain in general.

Well, that was just in basic appearances, but when you counted in his outfit and the other bits, he got a bit more interesting.

Overalls, a tool belt, steel toed boots, and a welding mask resting on his head almost like a peaked cap, the sleeves of the overall were also ripped off, showing off the robotic arms that Cyclops possessed, add in the grease on his face and on parts of his overalls and it painted the picture of a man who liked working with machinery.

Harpy gave the guy a nod, getting an odd nod in turn from the confused Chained.

“Yo, I’m Harpy, the rocker of the Pantheon. I’m a Cyber Chained and can fly. I also killed a dragon. Its corpse is in the warehouse.” Harpy said blandly, the newest member of the Pantheon, even if he didn’t quite know it yet, looked very confused by this.

So, after going into the warehouse and looking at Dracone’s rotting corpse, Harpy enlisted the help of the three to load some of Dracone’s loot onto the bus.

“What is your ability anyway?” Cyclops asked as they talked while moving the guitars, handheld consoles, and a few changes of clothes, alcohol, drugs, and some cigarettes onto the bus.

Harpy stole the latter very simply, lighting it up with some assistance from Manticore.

Taking a deep pull of the nicotine and sighing in relief, Harpy let her wings unfurl behind her, surprising Cyclops.

“Again, I can fly. My wings expel and take in air accordingly to move me around. I can’t fly above certain altitudes because of changes in air pressure though.” Harpy could have shared her weaknesses with Cyclops, but she wouldn’t.

Sharing your weaknesses sometimes made other people feel better about your presence. If you were dumber than they were, if you were uglier, if you were physically weaker, they would not feel threatened by you.

Harpy learnt that from one of those times she accidentally asked Odysseus a question that should not be asked.

But while doing so would make Cyclops more comfortable in her presence, thus helping Odysseus’ agenda, Harpy wouldn’t do so.

The only person who knew Harpy’s weakness was Odysseus. No one else knew, and it would stay that way.

After loading up the bus, Harpy sat on the open top section of the bus, feeling the wind in her hair as she sat and relaxed, puffing on the cigarette bit by bit.

If one looked closely, they would see smoke wafting upwards from the gaps in the back of her clothes where her wings would unfurl…

“Hey, Aaron, are you done yet?” Aaron Hassan, Odysseus, master lock-picker, adventurer, bringer of calamity and knower of the Coké recipe looked away from the dusty book in his hands to look at his best friend.

“Nope. You could go mess around with Empusa instead of hanging out here with me you know?” Aaron said, twisting his head and hearing a satisfying crack before he stood up from his chair, using the hand not holding a book to knock trace amounts of dust off of his suit.

“That isn’t happening. If I left you here alone you might accidentally trigger the breakout early.” Aaron pouted exaggeratingly at his white haired friend’s words.

“Typhon, even if I wanted to, that system won’t be activating for another three months. I couldn’t make it early even if I wanted to.” Aaron said, walking away from the holographic screens and looking at Typhon, the King of Monsters, sitting bored and throwing a tennis ball against the wall and catching it when it bounced back.

“So you say.” Typhon said with a pointed stare from his green eyes, making Aaron look away awkwardly as he scratched his cheek.

“Well I suppose if I actually tried I might be able to bypass that restriction, but it would really be pointless, if the Key isn’t ready for the fight coming up then why would I do that?” Aaron asked and then Typhon caught the ball, pausing in his throwing…

Aaron had a point.

“Alright, but you aren’t going to be sitting here. Come on, let’s go hang out at Olympus.” Typhon questioned the need to name their stronghold, but then realized that Aaron was the same guy who tried to give Typhon’s appearance when fighting seriously a name.

Seriously, why give a name to the form he took when fighting? Did it really need a name?

“Do we have to? Everyone there keeps looking at me like I’m some messiah or something.” Aaron didn’t like hanging around his own base actually due to how his followers treated him.

With the exception of the original members of the Pantheon, everyone, everyone treated Aaron like he was some god in human form, even people from the other two organizations in the Key.

His treatment was one factor, the fact that Olympus was Lukas Vann’s old home was another factor in why Aaron disliked being there.

The old home of the first man Aaron killed within Tartarus, the man who tricked and manipulated Typhon’s sister for about three years lived there, before Aaron left a knife in his lung of course.

“Yes, we do… Aaron… are we all going to come away alright from this?” Typhon asked, looking up at the place he and Aaron just left.

“I don’t know. Odyssey of Victory isn’t very clear on our survival rates because I don’t know all the enemies. All we can do is hope.” Aaron closed the door behind him.

The two most dangerous beings in Tartarus walked away from Uluru without sharing another word.