Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater.

A/N: This chapter is a bit heavy on exposition but it's really the quickest way to introduce most of the OC's.

Kid stormed into the death room. His cape trailing wildly behind him as he walked briskly and with purpose to his center of command. As he passed through the final Tori gates leading to the center of the room, he took note of the numerous intelligence officers and agents working. His friends, the rest of Spartoi, as well as Stein and some of the other Death Scythes were also hard at work. Liz and Patty followed swiftly behind him, nervously exchanging glances with one another. They had never seen their meister this nervous before.

"I want to know who these people are! What have we found out?" He demanded. He parked himself, hands on his hips, in front of an array of floating screens. Across them were close up photographs of the perpetrators of the recent invasion of Shibusen. Yumi, tablet in hand, walked up to the death god as the first to respond to his orders.

"Shinigami-sama," She greeted before jumping straight to her report. "This is the information we have collected so far. The group calling themselves Pantheon invaded the academy grounds and stole an important medallion from your vault. They are comprised of seven individuals who appear to have a grudge or some kind of discontentment with the current state of the world. That, being the death god's order." She said. Kid gave her a side long glance. Yumi's thoroughness and tendency to state the obvious could be a burden sometimes. Yumi, however, seemed not to notice or not care and continued with her report.

"Their apparent leader is this man." She said, tapping on her pad. In a few moments, a picture of Deva's face came up on the screen surrounded by several smaller pictures of him from official press releases, paparazzi, and other sources. On the next screen over was a long list of text. A biography and assessment by Shibusen's intelligence office. "King Avatar Deva, the supreme authoritarian ruler of the eastern Asian nation of Shambala also known as Shangri-La. Twenty four years old, he ascended the throne at the age of eight." She explained.

"That's awfully young for a prince to take over." Kid noted.

"The Shambalans believe their kings are reincarnations of their god Vishiva. Every other generation the god reincarnates into one of the royal family's sons and ascends the throne once awakening to their true potential. Unfortunately, the Shambalans are also an isolationist country and little else is known about their royal family, the selection process, or anything else really. However, there have been rumors that are decades if not centuries old, that the kings of Shambala possess otherworldly abilities." Yumi said.

"Such as?"

"Well it appears as if King Deva demonstrated them last night." Yumi said. A video of last night played on the screens. It showed Black Star being propelled backwards by an unknown force emanating from the king. "One of his powers seems to be telekinesis. Other alleged abilities include telepathy, mind control, the ability to see the future, and countless other rumors. Since the people of his nation view him as a god they've ascribed all manner of godly powers and abilities to him. At this point it's impossible to ascertain which of them are true." Yumi explained.

"I just don't understand why he would do this. He and his country have had little to no contact with the outside world. His motivations can't possibly be what he claimed." Kid mused.

"Unknown sir. Given what we know about Shambala being an authoritarian regime it could be simply a lust for power." Yumi conjectured.

"Perhaps, but speculation won't get us anywhere. Let's move on. I want to know about the witch." Kid said. Yumi pressed on her tablet and the display screens switched to images of the witch. Surveillance footage showed her mingling about the crowds of festival goers.

"Unfortunately, sir we've made little progress in that regard. We've searched our database of witch offenders and known enemies but haven't found anything so far." Yumi said.

"Then contact Mabaa immediately and find out who she is!" Kid proclaimed.

"Don't bother." A voice came from behind them. They turned to see Kim Diehl walking up the steps with her weapon partner Jackie in tow. "I can tell you exactly who she is." She stated confidently.

"Her name is Lady Raven Tengu." Kim clarified. Yumi ran a search on her tablet, putting up all the results they had on that name. "She's been one of the staunchest opposers to the Shibusen-Witch alliance and peace treaty. Lady Tengu is an old and powerful witch that sits on the tribunal, but she never caused a lot of trouble until we showed up at their door. She has intense hatred for the academy, blaming us for the deaths of her sister and friends over the centuries. Over the last five years she's opposed all of our proposals to the witch tribunal." Kim said. "And made my job way harder…" She muttered.

Kid's face screwed up in anger.

"And why am I just hearing about her now? If she was that big of a threat to us shouldn't we have known sooner? You're supposed to be the liaison between us and the witches Kim! Which means you tell me when things are going south." Kid demanded.

Indignantly, Kim retorted back. "Hey I didn't know she was going to pull a stunt like this! Besides her opinion is definitely not the majority. I've already spoken to the rest of the tribunal and they've fully disavowed her and her actions." Kim defended herself. "She was always just the loud voice screaming from the corner. No-one ever really listened to her. The younger witches didn't share her animosity towards us, and the older witches are all tired of fighting and hiding from us." She said.

"Kid, calm down. Don't take it out on Kim, she didn't know this would happen." Liz said reassuringly from beside the young death god. Kid sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"You're right, I'm sorry." He apologized. "It's just this whole situation has me at my wit's end with frustration. What else do you know about her?" The tanuki witch frowned sadly.

"Not much else I'm afraid. She had a residence in the witch's realm, but it doesn't look like it's been used in a while. I haven't seen her in action personally, but I've heard her magic is powerful. She specializes in illusions and subterfuge, but I've heard she's a force to be reckoned with directly." Kim explained.

"All right. Let's see what else we can find out about her. Her plans, hideouts, people she associates with, any clue as to where she and the rest of them might head to." Kid ordered. Kim nodded and ran off to get in touch with the witch's realm.

"Moving on we have this man." Yumi said. A picture of a middle-aged Asian man, with a long and thin Fu Manchu style mustache, bald head, and long black ponytail popped up on the screen. He wore a red Gi lined with golden trim in almost every picture. On his back, in gold lining also, was the Chinese character for fist. He wore simple black pants and simple sandals. In some of the pictures he was surrounded by groups of similarly dressed men.

"Xiao Fang, aka Red Fist. A Chinese national and leader of the international hate group also known as The Red Fist." Yumi said.

"I've heard of this group before." Kid said thoughtfully. Beside them Tsubaki spoke up.

"So have I. My family gets hate letters and death threats from them every now and again." She explained.

"Yes, The Red Fist as a group is noted for their hatred and bigotry towards demon weapons. According to their official manifesto they find demon weapons to be unnatural, tainted, freaks that pervert mankind's ability to defend themselves. Their core belief is that 'man should rely on the strength of man' and that martial arts are the way to attain true strength. Furthermore, they believe that those who are not strong enough are not meant to survive in this world. They regard everything but the most basic of weapons as cowardly and promote hate crimes and violence against weapons and any who might have the blood of weapons running through them." Yumi explained. As she spoke the screens showcased various photos and videos of the groups many members. They were shown rioting, protesting, undergoing strict martial arts training, and spreading bigoted propaganda.

"As for the man himself, Fang is noted to be in his late thirties, but he is said to be exceptionally powerful." Yumi said. The screen switched to a display of two souls, one significantly larger than the other. "Red Fist is said to possess a Titan's Soul, something which was confirmed by those of us present with soul perception. A Titan's Soul is said to be very strong, equivalent to about 100 normal human souls." Yumi explained.

"Something about that sounds familiar…" Black Star said confused. Beside him, Tsubaki leaned in closer and spoke just above a whisper.

"Black Star don't you remember? That's the same kind of soul Mifune had." She spoke. A look of recognition came over the ninja's face.

"Oh yeah! That's right!" He shouted, smacking his fist onto his upturned palm. Tsubaki sighed dramatically. "Meh he doesn't look near as strong as Mifune though." He said with a dismissive wave.

"Looks can be deceiving Black Star, and you'd do well to not underestimate him." Yumi chastised while fixing her glasses. "Fang is well known as a renowned martial artist, having mastered several forms of Chinese kenpo, Jiu jitsu, Karate, and many others. His titan soul makes him naturally stronger than most others and he is even rumored to have mastered the techniques of soul force."

"And it's safe to assume that he's commanding an army of men that's equally well trained?" Soul spoke up.

"There's been no indications from our intelligence reports that the Red Fist Militia is making any movements out of the ordinary. However, it would be doubtful that a man like Fang would give up a position of power so easily. Additionally, he and his hate group are considered notable enemies of Shibusen as they stand against all of our teachings. This is the likely reason he has joined Pantheon and their attack against us." Yumi responded.

"Moving on." Yumi said switching the viewing screens. An image of the robot man popped up on the screen. The surveillance footage they had of the automata was incredibly detailed. The photographs showed a humanoid figure composed entirely of metal components. His torso and limbs were composed of white, smooth, rounded chassis. The joints connecting them were made of stainless-steel balls. His fingers and hands looked extremely complex. A looping video showed the digits on his hands shifting and changing form multiple times. Starting out as a normal looking human hand, covered with soft white rubber between the joints, and then transforming into sharp metallic claws, before finally shifting into some sort of pointed weapon discharging light and energy. Strictly speaking the machine had no abdomen. Instead, a metal column connected between his chest piece and a rounded triangular codpiece that made up his hips. His lower limbs were in similar appearance to his arms, although having an arched foot piece in place of a normal human foot. Overall, the machine's appearance was sleek and futuristic.

"The identity of this one is unconfirmed at the moment. However, we do have a lead." Yumi said tapping on her tablet. The photo on the screens soon enlarged and magnified onto the android's chest piece. The resolution enhanced and soon a symbol could be made out. A lower-case letter 'i' surrounded by a circle and connecting at its bottom, was stamped in shining silver. "This logo has been trademarked by one Dr. Isaac Asovamich, also known as Dr. I." Yumi explained. Soon another picture popped up next to the robot's. This image showed an older man with greying hair, a thick bushy mustache, and large glasses. He wore a lab coat, stained with spots of grease and oil. He stood behind a lab table, littered with mechanical parts. His face showed a smile, but upon closer examination, said smile appeared forced and his eyes showed a tired, weary expression.

"Ah Dr. I! He was a brilliant scientist." Stein said from behind them. Kid turned to look at the professor.

"You know this man, doctor?" He inquired.

"Not personally, I've never met the man." Stein replied shaking his head. "But I have read up on his work quite thoroughly. The man was an unparalleled genius." He said.

"Indeed, our research indicated that twenty to thirty years ago Dr. Asovamich was considered the top of his field in robotics and engineering. He was even considered a candidate for several Nobel prizes. However, it appears he was disgraced in a scandal years ago and has since disappeared. We believe that what we see on the screen may be a creation of his." Yumi said.

"I'm not so sure Miss Azusa." Stein spoke up, whilst twisting the screw in his head. Kid and Yumi turned to him attentively. "Allow me to explain. Isaac Asovamich was obsessed with creating what he envisioned as the perfect machine. He hypothesized that in order to create such a machine, it would need to have a soul of its own. So, his initial work was focused on creating an artificial soul. But when that didn't pan out, he switched his efforts to more… drastic measures." Stein said with trepidation. "He performed illegal, unethical experiments. Experiments that even gave me pause. But mainly he tried to find a way to transfer the souls of animals into machines. When his experiments were discovered he was disgraced by the scientific community. His scientific accolades were stripped from him, and he was banned from performing research ever again." He explained.

"What are you trying to say professor?" Kid asked.

"I'm saying that Dr. I may have finally succeeded. I believe that what we are seeing on that screen is in fact Dr. I." He finally said. All those listening in on the conversation were stunned into silence.

"Is- is such a thing even possible?" Maka asked hesitantly.

"That being unquestionably had a soul. I believe it highly likely that is the soul of the good doctor transplanted into a mechanical body." Stein reaffirmed.

"He may be correct Shinigami-sama." Yumi concurred. Kid turned his attention back to the Death Scythe. "The machine did display a soul wavelength. Furthermore, only a man of Dr. Asovamich's intelligence could have the capability to construct such a complex machine." She said. Kid nodded thoughtfully.

"All right, so for now we work under the assumption that the robot man is Dr.I. That means in order to construct that body, he had to have supplies, resources, a money trail." Kid surmised. "Spirit!" Kid commanded. The Death Scythe stood at attention.

"Yes Sir." Spirit said.

"I want you to look into any expenditures that the Shambala kingdom may have made over the last year that seem unordinary. I have a hunch that Deva may have bankrolled our doctor's efforts." Spirit nodded in confirmation and made his way over to a bank of computers to begin his task.

"Shall we continue sir?" Yumi asked. Kid nodded in affirmation. A few seconds later a new image was displayed on screen.

Taking up most of the screen was the enormous masked man. He was easily six feet and eight inches tall and profoundly muscular. However, much of his figure was obscured by baggy clothing, making him appear much rounder. He wore a large dirty leather overcoat that reached down below his hips. He wore a plain black shirt underneath the jacket. His pants were a pair of faded, ripped, denim jeans which were equally as dirty as the coat. His feet were adorned by a pair of large black steel toed boots, covered in mud and other debris. The man's skin was a sickly gray shade and his head was shaved bald and stubbly. But the most noticeable feature of the giant brute was undoubtedly his mask. A faded yellow mask, adorned with a classic smiley face, was strapped to his head. It was a stark contrast to the rest of his appearance which was menacing and threatening.

"Although it is unconfirmed, we believe this man to be one of Shibusen's top targets: Sad Jack." Yumi said solemnly. At the mention of his name, Kid and several other's eyes went wide with recognition.

"Who's Sad Jack?" Liz asked concerned.

"Sad Jack, he is an infamous serial killer and kishin egg that has been active for the last 10 years. He is ruthless, violent, vicious, and extremely powerful. He's managed to kill more than half of the weapon-meister pairs sent after him." Yumi explained seriously.

"He used to be one of DWMA's top priorities. Up until certain other enemies proved to be more of a threat." Kid added, referencing certain events.

"From what I remember," Ox spoke up. "They stopped putting his bounty up on the board. He was considered too dangerous for students to go after." He said.

"Yes, however that is not the only reason." Yumi added. "Unlike other kishin eggs, Sad Jack behaves rather uniquely. Firstly, despite reports of unintelligence, Sad Jack has managed to elude us for a decade. His attacks are frequently inconsistent, with the shortest time between two attacks being one month. He also moves around quite a bit, and despite his rather large size he is exceedingly difficult to track. In fact, this photograph is the only known image of him we have, and his identity is based purely on the numerous eyewitness descriptions of him we have from survivors." Yumi said.

"Speaking of survivors, Sad Jack's namesake stems from the meisters that have managed to come into contact with him and live. All of those who have encountered him and returned became incredibly depressed and borderline suicidal. He has hindered many good men and women through this effect. However exactly how he exerts it is unknown." Yumi explained.

"There is one last peculiarity about Sad Jack that is of the utmost importance." She continued. "Unlike his contemporaries, Sad Jack only targets demon weapons. How he chooses his victims is unknown, but he has travelled all across north America." Yumi said.

"Why only demon weapons?" Soul asked.

"That is because, through some strange method, he is able to steal the souls of the weapons he kills and use their weapon forms for himself." Yumi explained. A wave of differing emotions swept through the crowd at this revelation. Shock, disgust, anger, fear, the many people gathered in the death room were silent as these feelings overwhelmed them. "This of course, includes the many weapons we sent after him to capture his soul. Once it was confirmed what was happening to their remains, we immediately ceased any missions against him." Yumi said.

"All right." Kid said decisively. "I want retreat orders put on him. No one is to engage this… thing, in less than pairs of three. The safety of our people has to take priority." Kid said. "Let's continue Miss Azusa." He said.

This time two images came up on the screens simultaneously. On the left, a picture of the punk rock teenager, spiky purple hair and clad in black leather and denim. His mouth was open in a menacing grin and his eyes were wild with bloodlust. On the right, however, was a clearer picture of the last member of Pantheon. A cobbled together amalgamation of stones, wood, and boulders, all held in place by vines and roots. Its height was slightly smaller than that of Sad Jack's, and its shoulders were broad and powerful. At the place where a head would normally be, there instead was a stone wearing a wooden mask. The mask was expressionless, seemingly devoid of any emotion. But the beast's posture was clearly defensive. Ready to strike at any challenger.

"These are the last two members of Pantheon that attacked us sir. But we have so far been unable to learn any useful information about them. The one thing we do know is that the shape of their souls suggest they are not strictly human." Yumi explained. "The one on the left clearly had the soul of a monster. The soul of the one on the right is less clear cut. We have been unable to determine it's true nature." She finished.

"All right well let's keep digging for info. Look into the background of all our known members for any connections between each other and them. Perhaps we can learn of their identities that way." Kid ordered, turning from the bank of monitors.

"As for the rest of you all I have new orders." Kid said authoritatively while approaching the rest of his teammates.

"I've looked back at some of my father's journals and discovered some important information. As you know, each of the 8 old ones created one medallion, representing one of the 8 sources of madness. In addition to the medallion that was stolen from us, representing Order, there are 7 other medallions. They are Rage, Knowledge, Power, Pain, Sorrow, Faith, and Fear." Kid announced.

"My father's papers revealed the locations for three of these medallions, those of Knowledge, Power, and Rage. We are working on locating the rest. Professor Stein has been assigned to create a device to try and pinpoint the madness emitted by the medallions so that we can find them." Kid said.

"Maka, Soul," Kid turned to the two of them. "You're being assigned to find the medallion of knowledge which should be hidden in the Library of Alexandria." Kid commanded. Soul smiled coolly and Maka nodded resolutely.

"We won't let you down." Maka said.

"Black Star and Tsubaki." Kid said. "You two will be going after the medallion of Power. It will be located in Greece at the colosseum of Heracles." Kid explained. Black Star grinned excitedly.

"You got it boss man! After all, who better to go retrieve this medallion of power than me? The most powerful meister in the world! Hahaha!" Black Star laughed proudly. A moment later Tsubaki hit him over the head, putting an end to his parade.

"We'll get it done Kid kun." Tsubaki said sweetly.

"Kim, you and Jacqueline will work with the witches to try and track down Lady Tengu. I want you to investigate her old residence for any clues. Ox and Harvar will accompany you for back up." Kid ordered.

"On it." Kim said while Ox and his partner high fived in the background.

"Sid sensei and Nygus sensei." Kid said. The weapon-meister pair saluted in unison. "I want the both of you on standby to perform reconnaissance of any potential bases of operation that Pantheon may have. Work with the intelligence department to try and locate any probable locations." He said.

"As you command Shinigami-sama." They replied in unison before going to perform their duties.

"Miss Marie, you will stay here and assist Miss Azusa and Spirit in their research. Try to find any probable locations for the rest of the medallions and lets try to learn more about our opponents." Kid said to the blonde woman. Marie nodded and walked over to where Yumi was standing reading reports.

"Killik," Kid said turning to the young man.

"What you got for me?" He asked cockily, crossing his arms.

"I need you and the twins to carry out a top secret mission for me." Kid said. A look of confusion came over the young man's face, as well as that of his colleagues.

"Huh?" He asked.

"You three are the only ones who can carry out this mission." Kid explained, placing a hand on his shoulder. Killik looked at the hand and back up to the death god and nodded resolutely. "Good, you'll be working along side Sid and Nygus. They've already been briefed on the mission, go to them for your orders." Kid said. Killik nodded and corralled the twins to follow after the older agents out of the death room.

"Kid?" Maka spoke up. The god of death turned towards his friend. "You said we knew the location of three of the medallions. Who are we sending after the third one?" She asked inquisitively. Kid sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Unfortunately, Liz, Patty, and I will be going after that one personally." Kid said.

"Why do you say it like that?" Liz asked with a suspicious tone.

"Because unfortunately the medallion of Rage resides with… Excalibur." Kid explained. His face and the faces of everyone else in close vicinity, twisted into the tell tale expression of disgust that accompanied any discussion of the Holy Sword.

"Excalibur knew my father very well. I'm hoping I can convince him to simply hand the medallion over to us." Kid clarified.

"Couldn't we just leave it with him? I'm sure that it's well guarded from Pantheon." Liz asked desperately.

"Unfortunately, we can't take that chance." Kid said. "We all have our mission assignments. I expect everyone to depart as soon as possible. Good luck to you all." He finished.

An interesting group if I do say so myself. I will be the first to say I did take some inspiration from the Akatsuki of Naruto fame. But who are the 2 remaining members and what are their stories? I guess you'll just have to read more to find out. Also in terms of the medallions and sources of madness, I tried to be as accurate to the canon as possible. It's also worth noting in this headcanon that Vajra isn't actually considered one of the 8 warlords, just the weapon of one of them.