"Heh! You gotta love a good ole prisoner escape!"

"I wonder who it is this time? No one in bay 2 ever tries to escape! That's where all the honky donky high ranking prisoners are!"

"It'd be kind of cool if it was Kratos!!!! I haven't had to wrangle him back into his cell in ages!"

The controller of Station 100 waltzed her way towards Bay 2. The algernoon of the station followed her, sniffing the air to signal curiosity.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

"Meeeeeerooooow." The cat before Circe flicks its tail in anger. It sits defiantly in the middle of the hallway.

"Hey little tiger! Are you what broke out?"

"Meeeeeeeer....."

"I can't believe the alarms even go off for you anymore. Thought we turned them off considering the bars aren't even small enough to keep you in, pussycat!"

"Why are you giving me that look, tiger? What, are you tired of being painted up for shows? Maybe looking at catching my ole algernoon?" Circe scoops up her mechanical rodent friend in her hand.

"Long as I got this lil guy, you ain't ever getting control of this station. Not that you'd know what to do with it! You ain't smart enough to come up with any plans."

The painted tiger gets up, staring beyond Circe.

"Meeerow!" It glides under her, rubbing itself for a brief moment against one of her lanky legs before trotting forward.

"Heh! Bet you could smell the good lunch cycle a'cookin'! Go on, get! Might as well get something for all the ruckus you caused. Might as well check on the other prisoners while I'm at it."

Months of planning, months of festering. The Hound had been forced into this prison, this HELL. He has played very politely with the CLOWN'S GAMES, but no longer. A few nice smiles, a few kind conversations. He did not escape from O-6, just to be a play thing for another animal.

In his time, he has learned that there are monsters in the shape of AIs. Horrors that pretended to be machines, or, perhaps, trapped inside them. No matter how much one tries to kill them, they always come back. Except, for one special type of case. If these monsters kill each other, they they die for good. Only monsters can kill monsters, and no matter how much he bargained with the Kratos unit, forever imprisoned, it never would go against the Circe. So.........

The Hound put fate into his own hands. But, he needed the Kratos functioning for it to work. So he did. The core of a Kratos unit after all, is within one of its hands. With a bit of tinkering, he could keep it alive.

What The Hound has learned from years of torture, was that to defeat a monster, one had to become that monster. For the betterment of everyone, he would murder the jailer, free the prisoners from this never-ending game show, and then, he'll free every universe from the monster he detests the most. The Golden Tiger.

Circe only realized the danger as The Hound sprinted towards her. She couldn't react, nor defend herself. She could only shout- "G-God killer! Black Tiger!"

"................................"

"Every universe from now on will know freedom from Golden Tigers."

"I don't care how much they beg, how much they repent. I don't care if they have yet to blister, fester, and rot. It only take time for a tiger to become a blight, a disgusting, abusive, murderous, flea-covered stray. As long as I live, I will save the universe from just one of its hideous depraved beasts."