It was late at night in Yokohama as an unmarked limo drove through the streets to an unknown location.

In the back was an older man wearing a business suit, with pale skin, short brown hair, who was sitting with his head in his hand as he looked out the window as he was deep in thought.

This was Hashima, a representative from the Japanese Confidentiality Ministry, whose former responsibility was to oversee the DATS organization, before the position was stripped from him after he allowed Kurata to trick him into disbanding the group originally, and nearly allowed the mad man to unleash chaos on their world, had it not been for the timely intervention of those he had disbanded in the first place.

The older man had learnt from his mistakes, and supported DATS fully after that day, placing his complete trust within Chief Richard Sampson, and was there when the portals to the newly merged Digital World was first opened, greeting the others groups who worked with the Digimon as they and DATS began to work together.

The merger of the Digital Worlds and the partnership DATS shared with this other 'Digi-heroes' also opened the doorway for newer opportunities, as Hashima was often in contact with various other agencies from the others Earths that were connected to the Digital World, even Hypnos, with most of the groups feeling compliant with the idea of letting the Digi-heroes handle the problems from the new Digital World and keep the Earths safe.

However, that opinion changed two years ago, when a tear between timelines opened in the Digital World, and it was invaded by an army from an alternate timeline, led by a fallen version of the girl, Kari Kamiya, and several others that not only conquered their Digital World, but all the Earths of that timeline as well.

While that crisis had passed, and the events that would have led to that scenario has been averted, the question remained for each of the Earths' agencies, what do they do next time?

What do they do if Kamiya went rogue again, or any of the other Digi-heroes were tempted by a similar corruptive power? If the other heroes fall or are corrupted, what could the Earths do to protect themselves against such a potential threat?

Surprisingly, the answer might have come to them during the crisis, for as they were monitoring the Breach that had formed in the Digital World between the timelines, Hypnos recorded a strange, phantom signal that was repeating through the rift.

While not telling the Digi-heroes, and those close to them about the signal, groups from each of the Earths analyzed the signal, with those overseeing DATS coming to a surprising find, that the signal held in it the base code of what could be an artificial intelligence.

And thus Hashima was now on his way to the facility that was working on creating just that, a man made A.I. that would help the Earths in the event the Digital World became hostile and the Digi-heroes either fell or joined the potential threat.

But despite the promise such an advanced weapon could bring, Hashima had his doubts, for an A.I. in the Digital World would practically be a God, as he had seen from King Drasil all those years ago.

Likewise, his contact from Hypnos, who also had their own reservations, informed him about a similar A.I. his world had created, the Digital Reaper, or D-Reaper, which eventually not only tried to destroy the Digimon, but their Earth as well, having used the Tamer, Jeri Kato as a method to judge the Real World and though her negative emotions, believed extermination of all living organisms was the logical choice.

Despite this, however, the higher ups had given the project the green light, and Hashima was now arriving at the secret facility to see the first test run of the A.I., as the older man composed himself and stepped out of the car, following his detail towards the hidden elevator in the seemingly abandoned warehouse, before heading down to the facility below.

Inside, Hashima found a state of the art facility, with nearly a dozen people working on computers, all in white coats, visors and white masks, concealing their identities, while at the center of the room was a large glowing red sphere, seemingly made up of ones and zeroes, floating on a platform, the virtual representation of the A.I. as it remained in its standby mode.

Seeing the new arrival, one of the scientists, the apparent lead of the facility, approached Hashima, shaking his hand as he said. "Welcome, Sir, we're just about to begin."

"Good." Hashima said as one of the monitors turned on, revealing his contact from Hypnos, a tall, dark haired man in sunglasses that was once the Chief Cabinet Secretary of his Earth's Japan, having been in charge of overseeing Hypnos during their incidents with the Digital World, and was allowed to keep that job even after his time in office was over.

"Are we certain there is no danger? We still have no ideas as to the origin of the original signal." The man asked the chief scientist, who shook his head as though to say there was nothing to worry about.

"We checked multiple times, the signal only gave a basic code, nothing more, our Artificial Reality Extermination System is one of a kind." The scientist said in a confident reply.

While Hashima rolled his eyes at the name, he then let out at sigh as the acronym came to mind, A.R.E.S.

"Must we name this... thing after the God of War?" Hashima asked with some bitterness in his voice, already not liking how things were going.

"Respectfully, sir, if we have to use it, it's because we are at war." The scientist replied, causing Hashima to nod in reply, before allowing the scientist to go to work as they rest of the team prepared to activate the A.I. for the first time.

As the group talked and typed, inputting the final codes and data within their creation, the computer screens gained a symbol, which resembled a sword pointed upwards with flames circling it, before the virtual sphere began to pulse a little.

"Systems: Online... Commencing information retrieval." A.R.E.S. said, its voice deep and almost ominous, which did not sit well for Hashima or his Hypnos counterpart.

"Alright, let's start the first tests with..." The lead scientist started to say, feeling a small amount of pride that their work was coming to life, before panic swepped the group as their computers began to start shorting out.

"Data retrieval complete... primary targets... Humans... 'Digimon'... severing connections..." A.R.E.S. then said, the computers now exploding and the fire systems activating, concerns filling many of the staff.

"Shut it down, now!" Hashima yelled, with one of the scientists going to pull the plug on the platform that showed A.R.E.S, only for him to be electrocuted by a sudden surge of power from the outlets.

It was then that, much to Hashima's shock, a Digiport appeared behind the sphere, before it was sucked in, leaving the facility in ruins and many greatly harmed.

Had anyone took a moment to see one of the monitors before A.R.E.S. left and they shut down, they would have seen another symbol within A.R.E.S.', a red serpent, shaped like an L, with a glowing dot in the center.