Harpy was strong.

Harpy knew this, everyone in the Pantheon knew this, and practically everyone in Tartarus knew that Harpy was strong.

Among the new generation of Chained, Harpy was the strongest… bar one other.

“Big sis, is it true?” Harpy looked over from her perch to Siren, the little murderous idol frowning.

“Yeah. We lost four Areas. Sun Wukong and Jormungand are both dead… and…” Harpy didn’t like that those two died, but she could accept it, they weren’t members of the Pantheon.

They weren’t family… but the others…

“…We’re going to kill that guy, right?” Siren pointed out towards the wall of Area nine, watching their opponent approaching.

“Yeah, we’re going to kill that thing. You cool with that?” Harpy asked, a brow raised in question, only to get a scoff from the seven year old.

“Course. Kill it dead.” Siren whispered, and Harpy smirked, recalling the incident in which Siren began saying those things.

When the Pantheon first started recruiting again, after the famous battle that resulted in the deaths of the previous Cyclops and Cerberus, Siren was actually the second recruited after Dryad.

Seniority wise, Harpy was third among their group, then Cerberus, the Chimera, and finally Cyclops.

Those were a lot of ‘C’s’ for Harpy, but anyway, Harpy heard the story from Odysseus regarding Siren’s odd phrase.

Apparently, Siren was picked up barely two weeks after the Pantheon had recruited Dryad. She was found scavenging for food in Area two, her bright blue eyes immediately letting anyone know that she was a Cybernetic Chained.

Regardless of her age, and how much she needed help, Siren was a Chained. Immediately, anyone who would give her help would much rather run away and stay far away… Siren even mentioned one time someone approached her, asking if she was okay, only for the person to scream and run away when Siren turned and showed her eyes.

The Chained were feared, universally. Regardless of age and gender… so that left Siren to survive on her own, no one willing to get close to her on account of not knowing what she was capable of.

The first person to approach her was Aaron Hassan, Odysseus.

Siren was obviously sceptical, mistrusting, not knowing when the other boot would drop and Aaron would run away in terror…

That was until Siren met Aaron’s eyes, and witnessed their electric blue glow.

“You’re like me.” It was something Siren never knew she would say.

“Almost, but not quite. I’m Aaron, lots of people call me Odysseus though… what’s your name?” Siren had looked at the older man with curiosity…

“Siren. I’m Siren… I’m hungry… no one wants to help me.” Now, for a moment, consider that Aaron was typically the one saying this story.

Siren probably didn’t say that exactly, but the idea was there.

“Well, I have lots of food, and I look out for those like us.” Siren looked down, confused at the first true kindness she had ever been shown.

“…What about other people… people who are mean?” And at this, Siren looked up, expecting Aaron to simply say that he’d treat everyone the same.

“Well, screw them. I can’t help everyone, and those who go against me… well, I don’t like it, but, if I need to, we kill them dead.” And with a smile on his face, Aaron had Siren hooked.

Since then, Siren was a believer of Odysseus, Odysseus could make mistakes, and he was definitely human, but as far as Siren was concerned, Odysseus was the best person in the world.

…Of course, Odysseus wasn’t an amazing role model, as evidenced by the fact that Siren was into heavy metal and rock, swore, and advocated murder.

But unlike everyone else, Odysseus was there for her, and that was enough for Siren…

And now, Odysseus wanted to fight. To fight back against the people who put him in Tartarus, to fight back against those who hurt him, and all Siren could think was that she would fight as well.

“We don’t know… about the outside I mean.” Harpy started, floating slightly off the ground as she held Siren in her arms, a princess carry, as expected.

“But… seeing how much everyone who has been there wants to go back… I want to go with them too.” Harpy said, and Siren nodded in agreement.

That was enough for the both of them. To be there at the side of Odysseus as they witness the outside world for the first time.

“Hey, Ugallu, you piece of shit!” Siren called out as Harpy dropped her into a roll on a roof, something definitely hazardous had Siren been a normal seven year old.

“Hm… rude…” The large, floating being spoke, not that Siren knew where the voice was even coming from, not seeing anything resembling a face from the balloon like shape of Ugallu.

Yes, Ugallu was a ‘balloon’ in shape, floating in the sky with his size making him look like a hot-air balloon made of scaled flesh, it was definitely disturbing, especially because Ugallu was apparently a Biological Chained.

Aaron himself reportedly looked at Ugallu and then said ‘what the fuck that shouldn’t be possible’ but Siren was pretty sure that Odysseus said way worse.

“Who gives a shit if I’m rude?” Siren roared in response, her throat glowing slightly and hissing as her voice travelled, booming and shattering nearby windows…

And there was even a response, as hundreds of Siren fans yelled in return, their voices heard over the occasional explosion and gunshot.

“No Miss Siren!” Siren smirked, her fans were on her side, even if they couldn’t help much here.

“Zealots? A cult? Some crazy stuff goes on in this prison I guess… better kill you.” The lazy sounding voice of Ugallu rang out, not quite as damaging or loud as Siren’s, but nonetheless heard for quite a distance.

Siren immediately moved, not taking chances when the exact nature of Ugallu’s power escaped her, but there was little doubt that Ugallu changed air pressure in some way.

There was no reason such a huge form should float, and from time to time Siren and Harpy had noticed a strange haze around him…

Siren was proven right to get out of the way as Ugallu suddenly shrunk, falling towards where Siren had just been, slamming into and through the building before expanding once more.

Siren had been lucky enough to have a grappling hook, two actually, which she used as her weapons.

They were used similar to pickaxes and helped her get around, Aaron had made sure that Typhon had taught Siren how to use the things because Aaron didn’t want Siren to get hurt.

Having a way out of a fight was definitely necessary.

“Hey fuck face!” Siren heard, looking back at the expanding Ugallu and watching Harpy’s clawed legs slam into the top of Ugallu, the form of the Weather Beast rippling from the impact as the flying Chained kicked off, taking once more to the air.

“Shit… that hurt.” Harpy came close to Siren, letting the younger girl see immediately what her ‘big-sis’ meant, seeing the slightly glowing bottom of Harpy’s metallic foot.

“Hot? The haze… temperature?” Siren asked, and Harpy nodded.

Harpy was, on the inside, proud of Siren’s intelligence despite having little to do with it, the little diva frequently talking with Aaron about anything and everything, and the Lord of the Olympians would rarely if ever dumb anything down for Siren because he believed that teaching advanced subjects to a child heightened their ceiling in terms of learning.

Whether that was true or Siren was just that intelligent, the results spoke for themselves as Siren was smart enough to understand air pressure, temperature and more than a few other things which Harpy just vaguely understood.

“Nice kick. Didn’t do much, but I’ll admit it was good.” Ugallu’s lazy yet smug voice had Harpy grinding her teeth in annoyance, realizing that her flight didn’t work correctly when she was too close to him.

The Weather Beast floated into the air once more while Harpy motioned for Siren to jump into her arms, the smaller Chained doing so without much fanfare, leaving Harpy to take off into the air, much faster than Ugallu was.

“He’s hot to the touch, not to mention his skin seemed… wet.” Harpy pointed out, and Siren realized what was going on.

“So, he can control the surface temperature of his shell-like skin, as well as its moisture, so he is controlling the temperature and humidity around him, allowing him to float…” Harpy understood very little of Siren’s mumbling, only that Ugallu was the cause and that Siren understood how it worked.

Siren also admitted that hearing Siren mumble to herself like how Aaron sometimes did was something adorable.

“He expanded and such when he started rising too, and deflated when he wasn’t… he’s basically a kinetic bombardment system on his own.” This was Harpy speaking this time, because unlike the other bit, Harpy knew this because Aaron was the one who recommended she get used to dropping herself from a height to kill her opponents, using this term as a reference to her.

“So, the same as you, just bigger and slower.” Siren pointed out and Harpy huffed, not liking the correlation but acknowledging that it was there.

“Yeah. Because he has a bigger surface area, I can’t fly properly near him either…” Harpy looked down at Siren with a smirk.

“That being said… you make it difficult for me to fly… I bet you could make it really difficult for him.” Siren looked at the smirk and felt an evil grin come over her own face.

Granted, on Siren it was much cuter on account of her age, but still.

“I think I get what you’re saying… when he’s expanded he blocked your attack pretty easily… but what about when he is smaller?” Siren asked, and Harpy got where she was going with this.

“Hey… hey, don’t make this difficult… just stay still.” Ugallu muttered, floating in the air, sparks going off of him slightly, barely noticeable with the sun high in the sky, but Harpy still saw them and cursed under her breath.

So Ugallu was basically… a combination of Baal and Harpy, though clearly Ugallu couldn’t shoot off bolts of plasma or electricity because otherwise he’d have already hit Harpy and Siren with that.

Instead, the Weather Beast was a giant live wire… and as he sparked, he deflated, dropped, Harpy twisting away and watching as Ugallu landed, some unlucky fighters from both sides getting crushed to death beneath the Weather Beast as he landed.

“I’m only going to get one good hit before I’m paralyzed for a bit, so after I hit him, you better find a way to keep him off of me for a bit.” Siren nodded at Harpy’s request, the murderous idol already having an idea of what to do.

“Drop me off, far enough that he’ll take a bit of time to reach me.” Siren asked, pointing to a suitable building, getting carried by Harpy quickly to the location before Harpy took off once more.

“Take a deep breath… and focus…” Siren muttered, focusing as her neck hissed and whirred, portions of her neck jutting out and then retracting, her neck, her voice changing bit by bit as she did so, looking for the correct frequency…

Eventually the undulations of Siren’s neck stopped, glowing slightly as she finally opened her mouth.

The sound Siren released at that moment was pitched, a noise you could hear when all other noise disappeared, and it was pointed at Ugallu as he approached.

“W-what the…” Ugallu was shocked, his form deflating and yet he still wasn’t descending, the pitch of Siren’s sound being to the point where Ugallu couldn’t hear it with everything else going on in the Area.

Ugallu didn’t know what was keeping him aloft, just knowing that he was remaining afloat.

Siren recalled Aaron’s ‘lecture of theorizing’ in that Aaron stated that watching someone and learning how they worked, mentally and physically, was a good way to hold the advantage over others.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Ugallu was a Biological Chained. There was a very high chance that Ugallu himself didn’t know how his floatation worked, and just did it instinctually, much in the same way a person breathed automatically, but then when made conscious of it, did it differently.

So now, with Siren’s adjustment of air pressure, Ugallu’s body was adjusting its ‘buoyancy’ by deflating, yet keeping Ugallu in the air. So his body deflated even more in an attempt to fall, leaving Siren to just adjust the frequency once more, and her Cybernetic parts adjusting slowly to match Ugallu’s rate of deflation.

If Ugallu had conscious control over the effect, or knew a method to instantly deflate, Siren could have possibly been crushed.

But the Weather Beast did not know, and as such, he finally deflated to the point where his form could be seen, looking like a crocodile covered in loose scales which stretched over him…

And it was at this point that Siren did an abrupt adjustment over her voice, no longer needing to hide the pitch and hastily increasing both the volume and force she was outputting, Ugallu tumbling in mid-air as if in one of those tubes people could use to test sky diving in.

It was while the Weather Beast tumbled and sparked that Harpy dropped, both feet landing on where Ugallu’s spine should be, the force of Siren’s shout sending him against her.

There was a loud, sharp crack as Siren shut off her voice, the parts on her neck snapping together, once more hiding her Cybernetic nature as Ugallu and Harpy fell.

Harpy and Ugallu would both survive, Siren knew, but she needed to make sure Ugallu couldn’t attack Harpy in this time, so she ran and used her grappling hooks to jump down the side of the building, rushing over as both impacted the ground, bouncing away from each other.

“Son of a bitch…” Ugallu groaned while Siren managed to place herself between the Weather Beast and Harpy, the latter of which was ramrod straight and convulsing with clenched teeth, clearly still suffering from a case of electrocution.

Looking at Ugallu, Siren blinked as she saw the cracks on his back, then watched wide eyed as Ugallu shook, his neck flapping as his scales were literally shaken off.

Ugallu was still covered in scales around his reptilian face and limbs, but the rest of him looked like muscle without skin, and it was disgusting… mildly.

Siren had shouted someone into nothingness, leaving them a red smear on a wall, it took a lot to disgust her in terms of gore.

“Oh I’m sure she’s proud of that oh so noble sacrifice she just did, but it was clearly pointless.” Ugallu groaned, losing some of that laziness in his tone as his forelimbs dug slightly into the dusty ground.

“It wasn’t… you’re grounded, without your aerial ability we’ll have the upper hand.” Siren ignored Harpy’s groan, wondering if she had accidentally said a pun…

After acknowledging the poor ‘upper hand, aerial advantage’ pun, Siren looked at Ugallu, the Weather Beast’s muscles sparking slightly.

“Not if I kill her first. I haven’t seen a single Ascended on your side that can fly other than her…” Siren realized her opponent was right, but that didn’t matter.

Siren just wouldn’t let Harpy be killed.

“Try it and die.” Siren said, her neck whizzing and whirring as the parts moved, getting ready for her to use them, violently.

“Gladly!” Ugallu moved, and Siren realized she underestimated how fast something of his size could move, he was much smaller than his balloon form, but he was around the size of a car… so Siren wasn’t ready for his movement speed.

Siren still screamed, the wave of air pressure halting Ugallu and shoving him back more than a few metres, but it clearly wasn’t doing much else, and Siren realized why, seeing the sparks going across his body.

Without needing to control his altitude, Ugallu could now simply output his max temperature, and that weakened Siren’s attacks slightly.

“Nice try, but you don’t have the strength to kill me!” Ugallu roared, crawling forward, bit by bit even through Siren’s scream…

Siren also couldn’t keep it up forever, she had to stop to take a breath at some point…

The moment passed so slowly to Siren, watching as the lizard approached, all while Harpy still couldn’t move… and watching Ugallu approach, Siren could only hope that Harpy would move.

Instead, Siren’s breath ran out, the scream dying out, and Siren was left wide eyed as Ugallu gave a toothy ‘grin’, dashing forward at high speeds with a roar, leaping to devour her.

“Die!” Siren closed her eyes, scared and taking a deep breath, hoping she lasted long enough to shout at Ugallu one last time…

“Surprise Mother*beep*” Siren heard and opened her eyes wide, recognizing that voice instantly.

With her eyes open, Siren was greeted to the high speed collision of a flying car with Ugallu’s head, the Weather Beast sent spinning from the impact much as the car was, two people jumping out of said car mid spin.

“Wha…” Harpy managed, still shaking slightly as both Harpy and Siren saw Echidna and Typhon reach out with their respective weapons, attacking Ugallu’s skull and killing the Biological Chained near instantly, one of Echidna’s wire-blades sticking out of the skull of the Biological Chained while Typhon’s Nano-bot covered fist dug into the spine of Ugallu.

“…” Siren and Harpy both had no words for the extremely sudden and vicious execution of Ugallu, just staring…

Both were wanting a refund on their feelings of despair, Siren having fully prepared for death and then being saved in such a sudden, gruesome, and mildly comical way…

“Really, a call-back? Now?” Typhon asked, looking away from the definitely dead Ugallu towards the car which was now resting on the floor, Aaron getting out and shaking his head.

“If not me, who? If not now, when? I changed it slightly, but John Lewis was onto something with that quote.” Aaron said with a smirk, drawing the attention of both Siren and Harpy.

“My feelings, my feelings! Give them back!” Harpy shouted, half in anger and half in confusion while Aaron, Typhon and Echidna looked to her… then to each other and shrugged.

It was the straw that broke the back of the camel as Siren and Harpy shouted at the three.

After a few minutes of this, everything was eventually calm enough for the five Chained to sit in a circle.

“So you were on your way here to get a lift from me, and you just happened to get on time to save us? That seems… cliché almost?” Harpy pointed out and Aaron smiled widely, ignoring Typhon scoffing and pointing at him.

“That idiot over there has the greatest, or worse sense of timing ever. Also something about ‘wizards never being late or early, always on time’.” Typhon recalled, hopping on the bandwagon in regards to recalling some of their previous adventures.

The other three Chained weren’t around for that, and so didn’t get it, but instead just sighed and agreed that it sounded like something Aaron would say.

“Okay, but if we need to be moving, what’s with the waiting period?” Harpy asked, noticing that three of the five heads of the Pantheon looked between them, sharing some unheard confusion.

“Harpy, you and Siren know about how we… lost some Areas?” Aaron struggled to say, and Harpy and Siren didn’t blame him, those losses weren’t even a day old, they were joking around a moment ago, but no one sitting here had any doubt that they’d be sad on and off again for quite a long time.

“Yeah…” Harpy responded, Siren nodding at her side to the question, and then Aaron removed his phone, swiping a bit on the touch screen.

“We lost four Areas. And yet… from what I’m seeing, only three Zeta Generators are under the control of Management.” That drew some wide eyes, knowing that the enemy had soldiers, even if the Chained couldn’t go in to access the Zeta Generators, they could still access the Zeta Generators…

So if there was an Area where the Pantheon lost someone, and yet the Zeta Generator wasn’t taken over…

“Is there any communication regarding that?” Harpy asked, seeing the question in Siren’s eyes, but the smaller Chained was quiet around Odysseus… unless he asked for a song.

“Yeah. Behemoth is dead. His skull was beat in.” Shock was an understandable reaction from the junior Chained, both Harpy and Siren going wide eyed and pale, realizing the power required to do such a thing.

“…Who… who could have done that? All the major Chained are part of the Key, the only ones with that kind of pure destructive power…” Harpy was actually amongst that small group capable of killing Behemoth, it would be difficult, but Harpy could have done it.

Still, having the power to do something and actually doing it is two different things. There were very few who could actually put their power to killing Behemoth and come out victorious.

“The only Chained with that kind of power is either fighting for us elsewhere or dead… I do have a suspicion on who it is, but I can’t see a reason for them to help us.” Aaron added, thinking about it, and then his expression slowly slacked, looking as if he had suddenly lost all thought.

No one said anything, recognizing it as Aaron accessing Odyssey of Victory.

“I think… I think it’s a Babylonian Chained that Gilgamesh never managed to access. She has those thirteen monsters, the three Biblical ones, Geist, and the seven deadly sins. The sins and Geist are dead, Behemoth is dead now, the thirteen are attacking the Areas along with Leviathan, and the final Biblical Chained isn’t even in Tartarus.” That last bit of information wasn’t known to anyone but the upper ranks of the Key, but at this point it really didn’t matter, there was no way that Chained would be able to arrive in time to help Gilgamesh anyway.

“But… if the only possibility is a Babylonian Chained…” Harpy began, and Aaron just looked at her, his face still neutral.

“There was a Babylonian Chained. They’re known about, but never seen, it was more a rumour than anything else.” There was a beat of silence.

“…Original Sin?” The ‘term’ for the Chained was uttered from Echidna first, but everyone had heard of the story.

Original Sin, dubbed Origin in some circles, was the daughter of Pride and Lust from the deadly Sins Chained, capable of manipulating bone and the biology of others from time to time.

“Would she be capable of that?” Siren asked, reminding the group about why the conversation had begun.

“Definitely. Empusa has a very similar power set, and she could definitely give herself enough brute force to match Typhon here, even if she doesn’t know how to yet. And supposedly Origin could control the biology of others, so she could have even weakened Behemoth before using enhanced strength.” Origin’s theoretical power was insane, a Top-tier Chained…

Theoretical because Aaron had never seen the daughter of Pride and Lust, but he could believe that this level of strength was possible for a Chained with those powers.

“So Origin helped us… why?” That… was a good question, one that Aaron still hadn’t answered.

“I can’t know until I meet her, since I don’t know her motivations or what drives her… But, if she knows about being a Babylonian Chained, or maybe she knew Jormungand and Behemoth, maybe she just knows we are trying to escape and would rather help us than the enemy, who knows. All we need to know really is that we got help from an unexpected source.” Aaron explained, wanting to know more but not having the time or ability to get said information.

“Huh… I wonder if there are any other Chained we don’t know exist…” Harpy wondered aloud, and it was a thought that the others possessed as well.

“Possibly… I mean, some of the Chained we had to… deal with, might have been replaced without our knowledge. I’m, like, eighty percent sure that Geist got a replacement.” Aaron pointed out, though it was with the knowledge that Geist was so weak for a Babylonian Chained that Gilgamesh likely didn’t care for that Chained.

Geist’s only power was a rip off ‘No sense of direction mist’ from just about any anime anyway.

And yes, Aaron sometimes thought in alliteration. It happened often even.

“But even then, most of those Chained would stay away, knowing we got rid of their predecessors.” Aaron ended the thought there, and the group agreed, no point in worrying beyond that point.

“Okay, all that said and done, what do you need me to do?” Harpy asked, already having a guess with how Aaron looked a bit sheepish.

“We kind of need you to take the three of us to the top of the nearest Wall. We’ll make our way inside, commandeer a flying car within the Wall, and then take it over to the servers.” Aaron added, explaining that they really couldn’t expect to get into the Wall from the ground floor.

In turn, the top of the Wall had next to no defences for three Chained, with the barrier of air pressure dispelled thanks to their hijacking of the Zeta Generators, Harpy was free to take them above.

“… Alright. One at a time though, I can’t carry a lot.” Harpy pointed out, Typhon stepping forward.

“I’ll go first, secure the landing point and whatever.” Typhon declared, Aaron and Echidna not arguing with the opinion, and Harpy stood, dusting off her jeans as she did so.

The action gave enough time for Aaron to stand up, and pat Harpy’s shoulder, looking to the man she had a crush on, Harpy blinked upon seeing his face, his eyes held little of the mirth he usually had when joking, and yet he still had a smile.

“By the way… if you were to take a moment before coming to fetch Echidna and I, it would be fine.” Harpy… wasn’t sure why he told her this, but she just nodded, getting ready for her flight, her wings spreading behind her as her feet left the ground.

With Typhon hanging on by her feet, Harpy took off, still not catching what Aaron had meant.

Harpy flew, her wings flapping from time to time, twitching slightly as she adjusted her flight, going a bit slow once she realized she was near where she would normally be stopped…

And then, once she flew past that point, Harpy’s eyes widened, and she moved faster, gaining speed, trusting in Typhon to hold on regardless of how fast she went…

And then she reached the top of the wall… And Harpy couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped her, not even having the ability to catch that Typhon had the exact same response.

“I’m so jealous…” Aaron whispered, Echidna giggling a bit as she realized why Aaron was saying that.

“It’s… so wide…” Harpy spoke, Typhon agreeing silently as his feet touched the top of the wall, Harpy landing to his side, both still staring.

“It’s been my dream to see that view for so long… but I’ve waited this long, I can wait longer.” Aaron said, and he could only imagine their reactions…

The wide blue of the ocean, the ripples of sunlight bouncing off, the bright sky with the occasional cloud floating along, stretching until the end of the horizon…

The only change from the blue was the green of what had to be Tasmania, the location of the servers of Tartarus… but for the two Chained, they were more focused on the ocean and the horizon.

Rather, this was the first time either Typhon or Harpy had seen a horizon, both having lived their entire lives having the ‘horizon’ marred by the sight of Tartarus’ Wall.

“…I can see why Aaron wants freedom so badly now…” Typhon spoke, and Harpy nodded in agreement, wiping away a tear as she turned, looking back, and into Tartarus, and seeing the stark contrast.

“Yeah… but we’re not free yet.” Indeed, they weren’t. Harpy looked at the bleak land of Tartarus, broken buildings, smoke rising from battles all over the prison, and the occasional explosion dotting the distance…

“We need to destroy this place before we can truly be free.” Harpy flared her wings, having let them furl in subconsciously while she had been taking in the sight of the ocean…

Now Harpy knew why Aaron laughed about the Auction House, previously Sydney Opera House, saying that the ‘ocean’ behind it was more of a lake at this point.

Harpy also felt a twinge of sadness, recalling those that had died in this battle, those that were dying at this very moment, never would they be able to see this sight…

But they had fought so hard for it, for freedom…

Landing in a crouch, Harpy took a moment before stretching, and then pointing at Aaron.

“You better get this right.” Harpy didn’t say anything more, already knowing that she was just adding onto the weight on Aaron’s shoulders…

But his sad smile said that Aaron knew already, even if she didn’t say anything, Harpy, and everyone else in the Key, were long since heaping their expectations onto him.

“You got it. Take Echidna up first, I need to talk to Siren for a bit.” Harpy nodded, recognizing the ‘out’ for what it was.

“Odysseus?” Siren asked, looking up at Aaron with confusion when Harpy left with Echidna.

“You can call me Aaron, or anything really Siren. I won’t mind.” Aaron said with a small smile, patting her head, the little rocker pouting at the action, but then realizing that Aaron was looking a bit… forlorn.

“…” Siren stared at Aaron as his hand was removed from her head, somehow just knowing what was going on here.

“…Goodbye, Siren.” Siren frowned, punching Aaron in the stomach immediately, the leader of the Key buckling in an exaggerated movement from the unexpected hit.

“No.” Siren had recognized what was going on for what it was. Aaron was worried… about whether he’d be able to get back.

“Damn, knew I gave you too much of an independent streak…” looking at Siren, Aaron sighed.

“Alright, listen, this is why…” And so Aaron explained his suspicions of what would be going on after he, Echidna and Typhon got to Tasmania.

“That’s stupid.” Siren said at the end of the explanation and Aaron chuckled, nodding in agreement.

“It probably is… but, you know how you always do your concerts live?" Aaron started, Siren nodding slowly after a moment.

“You do them live all the time, instead of taking recordings, and stop people from taking recordings, because you want to interact with your fans, in person. It wouldn’t be the same if you and your fans weren’t able to interact, right?” Siren frowned, seeing the connection… reluctantly.

“…Fine. It’s still stupid though.” Siren complained again, leaving Aaron laughing as Harpy landed, ready for her last trip.

“I think we agree on that. But it still has to be done.” Aaron pointed out, waving goodbye before grabbing onto Harpy’s legs… the other Chained looking at Siren with a ‘we will be talking’ look, Siren shaking her head, not willing to talk about what Aaron had told her.

When Aaron reached the top of the walls, the moment he could, he stopped looking towards the outside world, turning back to look into Tartarus.

“Not yet. I haven’t earned the view yet.” Aaron said with a sad smile, Harpy understanding as she left the three, going back into Tartarus.

Four PM, eight hours left for Breakout Day… and already, things had changed…

Now, there were those born in the prison who finally saw the outside world… now, with a taste for freedom?

They would never accept imprisonment again.