Chapter 32: Show Of Force

Hunter was the first to react to the blood curdling scream, so far he had been so focused on Caladrius that he had been blind to the world around him but that scream sent shivers down his spine. Turning to the source only made that feeling intensify as he saw Alex's arm laying on the ground at Jason's side.

"Oh my god." Shit this was bad, this was really bad, Alex may not have been the groups best fighter but he was still on a whole other level as himself from what Hunter could tell. How was he supposed to fight Hades when it seemed Alex hadn't even touched him? Minatsuki was apparently less concerned about this fact as she yelled out.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" She didn't care if he was stronger, she didn't care if he was Alex's brother, all she cared about right now was revenge. He had hurt one of few people she could say she genuinely cared for and he was gonna fucking pay. Jason had been preparing to stab Alex through the back when he heard the scream. Turning around he felt something come down on his knee cutting it almost in half then his head bounced off the ground as another strike cracked open his skull. It took him a moment to recover from that but the moment he did Minatsuki was standing over him. He barely managed to get back on his feet before her whip disemboweled him, then she slashed open his ribcage. Jason was about to fall when she sent whips around his ankles and wrists, keeping him suspended a foot off the ground. She continued to cut him open with seemingly endless rage. He was mildly impressed, this hurt. However he had better things to do then act as her punching bag and sent a blood bullet into her foot. She dropped him and knelt down to examine the wound. Deciding she could ignore this just a second too late she looked up and almost instantly had his hand around her throat. Reacting fast she severed his arm below the elbow. But the hand didn't stop slowly closing in on her throat. Panic started to spread across her face as she tried to pull and claw the hand off of her neck as a replacement was already forming. With a battle cry Hunter closed the distance trying to draw attention to himself from both Jason and his remaining allies. As he reached melee distance he threw a wide punch that Jason easily intercepted. But that was exactly what Hunter had planned on as he pushed his arm against Jason's spread his blood onto his enemy's sending as much blood as he could into the man's arm. But Jason didn't seize up like everyone else in fact he didn't seem bothered at all by the attack. Hunter's jaw dropped at this realization while Jason rolled his eyes.

"You didn't really think I'd give you a power that could hurt me did you?" Hunter throwing caution to the wind punched the older man in the face. Jason raised an eyebrow before throwing his own punch that staggered the teen, Hunter felt blood start to fill his mouth when an uppercut threw him back. After landing on his upper back Hunter could barely move, in Jason's eyes he didn't seem like a threat, and even if he was it didn't matter right now. Turning back to Minatsuki he sighed and prepared to finish her off. He didn't enjoy killing but she gave off the distinct impression that she was going to be a thorn in his side if he let her live. Her face was starting to turn blue, Jason saw no reason to keep this up and let his, forming his spike-blade hybrid he raised it up to end the girls life. But as he swung down with lightning speeds his arm came to a stop as Alex intercepted his attack by blocking with his barrier.

"You wanna hurt her?" Then Alex looked around with eyes that had started glowing. So he was powering up? He guessed he had done enough damage to force it. "You'll have to get through me!" Jason knew it was time to finish things, with a smirk Jason matched Alex's gaze saying.

"Fine." And with one slash Alex lost his other arm. Minatsuki couldn't tell exactly what happened from her spot on the ground but she knew the blood that suddenly fell was Alex's. She needed to help and was almost to her feet when blood hit her in the face. Not a branch of sin, blood, from the exit wound in Alex's chest. The spike-blade was only a few inches away from her face. The blade was then pulled out and Alex dropped like a bag of bricks. Hunter looked up meeting the blank stare on his friends face. Minatsuki was at his side shaking him begging for him to just stay with her. Hunters blood lit up and he threw another bolt at Jason with the same result. "I told you that doesn't work on me." Hunter didn't care, he was going to find some way to hurt this son of a bitch.

Alex found himself once again in the void, but this time he didn't feel anything. Not to say his injuries were gone or anything like that, no his arms were still very much gone. The other Alex stood near the bars of the cage with his arms crossed.

"I don't know whether to be proud of Jason or disappointed in you." Oh, so he had jokes now? Original Alex sat -or rather rolled- up and shot his doppleganger a dirty look.

"Are you really doing this now?" He let out what seemed to be a chuckle but it sounded... off? Alex didn't really know how to describe it he just knew it sent shivers down his spine.

"I'm not worried" Not worried? Jesus Christ this guy was crazy, or just the most apathetic thing on the face of the planet. Considering it was a voice in his head he assumed both.

"We are on the ground a few seconds away from literal fucking oblivion and you aren't worried?" The other Alex just smiled and asked

"You remember the last time this happened right?" Actually he didn't but that was besides the point.

"Let me guess, you want control again." Sighing Alex walked up to the cage and was about to push his stump into it when the other Alex effortlessly pushed a bar out of place and pulled him partway into the cage. Blood tendrils dug into him as he tried to scream

"It's time I remind Jason where he is on the food chain."

Alex's eyes opened to see Minatsuki's shoulder just over his face. She sounded hysteric, sobbing into his shoulder. How cute, she really did care.

"Please... I can't do this without you." His face scrunched up, from what he had seen she seemed stronger than that, oh well. He wasn't interested in dealing with her yet anyway. Not bothering to warn her he sat up getting a gasp

"I'm going to put him in his place." Was he serious? He didn't have arms and he was going to put that guy in his place?

"Alex we can't even hurt him you need to-" He didn't wait for her to finish, she didn't know what she was talking about and he wasn't going to waste his time entertaining her.

"Watch me." Standing up Alex's arms reformed within seconds and were instantly covered in blood. "Please tell me you didn't think that was enough to kill me." Jason turned around with a glare that quickly turned to shock as he saw his twins eyes. They had gone from the iris's starting to glow to the pupil's themselves with a bright scarlet that could be seen from where he stood. Jason knew this was bad, how had he gone from around thirty percent to over seventy?

"No!" This couldn't have gone much worse, Alex was close to full power and if that happened it was over.

"Oh don't pretend you're that surprised." Jason grit his teeth at the taunt, he couldn't let his older brother get in his head. "You never could keep up with your big brother." Jason cleared the distance between them in the blink of an eye but as he landed a hit Alex didn't even flinch. "Hmm, well that was disappointing." Jason pulled his arm back reforming the spike-blade and tried once again to strike alex down with it. But it was blocked by his own. It wasn't his usual American Tanato however, but a almost scalpel shaped blade with a smaller version going halfway up his arm past the elbow. Jason growled and pushed against Alex but with no result.

"Stop toying with me and fight back!" So he wanted Alex to fight back? That was a refreshing change of pace.

"Well, if you insist." A Claw formed on his other arm, but like his new blade this was different. Firstly they weren't simple claws, his arms were covered with blood the resembled a large, exposed, spike covered muscle. And rather than covering all of his fingers there was now only three and a vestigial looking thumb. The remaining fingers were almost a foot long and six inches thick, rather than the smooth blade like fingers that had used to make his signature weapon these new ones were thicker and were serrated along the back. Jason's eyes went wide as this claw was plunged into his chest, one hitting him right in the heart as the other two his each of his lungs. Alex then lifted him off of the ground and held him up.

"Ta-maki, deactiv- my limiter!" Alex tilted his head, A limiter? Jason had let them put some sort of limiter in him?

"You let them collar you?" He didn't know why he was even asking, Jason had always done whatever he was told. Even when they were torturing him it he'd put up with it all just to please their 'Mother'. "This is why you can't beat me Jason, you let them decide what you're capable of rather than finding out for yourself."

"We can't destroy cities with temper tantrums!" Alex scoffed at this, why couldn't he? If the humans were going to lock him away and treat him like a guinea pig then they had better be prepared to suffer the consequences. If those consequences happened to be several thousand innocent lives so what? And besides, it technically wasn't him who had destroyed Tokyo. But that wasn't the point and he knew that, truth be told he just didn't care.

"We can do whatever we want." Jason coughed blood onto his brothers face. He couldn't tell if his limiter had been deactivated or not. His heart was practically split in half. Actually the fact that he wasn't dead probably meant it was off, which meant he just needed to keep Alex talking until he was strong enough actually stand a chance.

"And just what is it you really want?" Alex had to think about that for a second. Just what did he want? Revenge? No that would be too short sighted. World domination? No, he wasn't deluded enough to thing he could rule the world, at least not on his own. Then it clicked.

"I want to live in a world that doesn't look down on us for what we are." He looked around at the lights and cameras, they were being watched like animals. By a group of apes that he could squash like the bugs if they were in the same room as him. Yet HE was the animal? No, no he didn't think so. "If I have to create that world myself, then so be it." Jason narrowed his eyes, what a cliché. Did he get all of his idea's from comic book villains? Honestly It would have been pretty funny if Alex didn't actually have the potential to do what he claimed to want.

"You're just as crazy as when we were kids." Out of the corner of his eye Jason saw a figure coming at their side. "And just as gullible!" Kratos sucker punched Alex dropping him to one knee. Then an unseen kick to the jaw dislocated it and sent him to the ground. Jason's regeneration set in quickly but he knew it would take a minute before he was able to get back in the fight. Kratos understood this and stepped in between the twins.

"Boss, take a breather. I got this." Alex got up and turned around, his jaw stuck to the side. Yet he was somehow still able to speak.

"Taking me on all by yourself huh?" He then grabbed his jaw and forced it back into place with a wet crunch. "How gutless." Kratos raised an eyebrow before asking

"And just how is that gutless?" Alex parted his arms and formed his upgraded claws.

"Because, suicide is the cowards way out."