Hercules 9

Hercules 1/2

"GENMA SAOTOME'S TIME AND SPACE MISADVENTURES!"

by
Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi &
the playwright Euripides, who in no way should
take the blame for this mildly "twisted" version,
and that's no Bullfinch!)

Chapter Nine.

Bringing Down the Palace!





Hippolyta's views on sexual politics were formed at an early age when she was 
just a wee Lesser Goddess, the illegitimate child of Aphrodite and the War-God, 
Ares.  Of course at the time of her birth there was no hint or suspicions of the 
troubles that would follow when her mother's infidelity was discovered, and so 
she had a fairly happy childhood growing up on Mount Olympus as the patron of 
Battlefield Strategy and Tactics, a job she more-or-less grew into despite the 
professed desires of her then-parents that she should become a Healer goddess, 
like her cousin, Astra, or even Asclepius himself.  Even her big brother, Eros 
(or Cupid, as he later preferred to be called), though it was an odd line of 
work to fall into, more reminiscent of her Aunt Athena rather than a "proper" 
child born to the Love Goddess, Aphrodite.

Of course back then it had been her much-loved "Uncle Ares" who had been the 
primary role model in her life, the doting role model who had given her the 
first sword that she ever had to play with, as well as her first helmet, grieves 
and buckler-shield, to say nothing of those long hours that he used to play with 
her when her mother was otherwise "busy" (which was alarmingly frequent in those 
days).  Uncle Ares had smiled for her as he would smile for no one else and he 
was so dashing, handsome and gallant in those days, such a heroic figure out of 
legend for the part he had played in the revolution that overthrew the Titans, 
which had earned him his title as "War God," to say nothing of being the oldest 
child of Zeus and Hera.

Her doting "Uncle" had told her bloodcurdling stories about battles and wars, of 
men standing firm against impossible odds, dying in slaughter and being mourned 
as great heroes.  It was all perfect fluff for a young and impressionable girl 
in those days, and she had hung on every word of his bedtime stories, relishing 
in his lurid descriptions of all the violence and looking forward to the day 
when she would be old enough to wade shield first into battle.

Imagine her surprise, many, many years later, when it came to light that her 
beloved "Uncle" was in reality her biological father...and how much she had been 
ignorant of the goings-on of her elders.  Hippolyta had watched her childhood 
innocence fall away as an adult woman confronted by the scorn and ridicule of 
being born outside of wedlock.  The realization that her parents had---in 
effect---betrayed her, and that her trust had been for nothing, along with the 
added discovery that the man she had called her "father" was in fact her much-
maligned Uncle...all of this caused a very rude schism to form between herself 
and her elders, one that did not heal for many long decades.  Even when her true 
father had married her mother and "legitimized" their union, Hippolyta had not 
been able to clean the foul taste of their infidelity out of her mouth, not even 
when they gave her younger sisters to play with, first as doting elder, then as 
later "role model."

The moment when her life had changed was the day when she got bored with life on 
Olympus and chose to travel to Earth in order to do some carousing with the 
mortals.  At first she and her sisters had formed a kind of close-knit "Warband" 
and had some adventures among the short-lived men and women who treated the Gods 
with fear, awe and reverence (and no small amount of dread).  But after a while 
it had started to dawn upon Hippolyta and her fellow "Amazons" (the term then 
had been used in scorn, but later was adopted with pride as the collective name 
of the Scythians tribes whom they had adopted) that the mortal women of the 
world were not the equals to the men whom they encountered.  If anything women 
lived in virtual serfdom throughout most of the Ionian and Dorian-inhabited 
regions, while in the Aeolian hills to the north there remained some memory of a 
time when women were far more highly revered and held a status that was nearly 
equal.  This led, in turn, to a dramatic encounter with the Earth Mother, Gaea 
herself, who had explained---or rather "revealed"---the mysteries of women had 
surrendered their status to men and had forgotten the ancient kinship that they 
once had shared with the Goddess.  A covenant was formed on that day, and the 
Renunciate philosophy was born of this moment of shared wisdom.

Next she had confronted her father with her observations of the inequality of 
men and women, and to her dismay, Ares had voiced scathing contempt for the very 
idea of men and women living together as equals.  He could accept a woman as a 
warrior so long as she "minded her place" and agreed to give up her arms in 
favor of becoming a wife and mistress when she married a strong husband, but the 
idea of women taking the place of men in Council was "ludicrous" to his 
understanding.  He could allow that Hippolyta had a "fine talent for war," but a 
Warrior Princess was hardly a King's equal.  Goddesses were not bound by the 
same rules as mortals anyway, and so he had indulged his daughter's "penchant 
for violence" as might any proud father, seeing a reflection of himself in the 
image of his own daughter.

This was, to put it mildly, a frankly appalling admission in Hippolyta's eyes, 
and it caused her to totally reevaluate the God whom she had looked up to for so 
long.  She then dared the unthinkable and questioned her father's wisdom, saying 
that a Woman could be more than equal to the task of leading armies, that a 
woman could even be SUPERIOR to a man if given the right sort of training.

Ares had scoffed at this, so Hippolyta had challenged her father to a wager, and 
from that event was born the Amazon Nation.  All it had taken was a little time 
to scry the Earth until she had found the right sort of female candidates who 
were ripe for conversion to the Renunciate lifestyle, then she and her sisters 
had merged with chosen Avatars to become the Queens that they were today.  All 
through this her mother had been somewhat confused-but-supportive, not really 
understanding the drives that had made her daughters turn against her own peace-
loving ways by forsaking "The Underside of the Bed" in order to dominate men and 
prove themselves their masters.  Hippolyta did try to honor her mother in some 
ways, but she was too fierce at heart to play the role of the peacemaker.  
Instead she made allowances for Sex and Procreation that allowed her Renunciates 
to enjoy the celebration of life without having to be bound by the commitment to 
marry.

Of course Grandfather Zeus had been less than thrilled about this whole matter, 
and Hera herself was downright apoplectic about the idea of women renouncing 
formal Marriage altogether, so some allowances had to be made to appease these 
most Supreme of Gods, much though it undercut a key point of the Renunciate 
lifestyle.  Having to allow that a man strong enough to defeat an Amazon was 
worthy of becoming her husband did cut somewhat into their action, but...it had 
proven to be a good thing on the whole, bringing in fresh blood to prevent their 
gene pools from stagnating.  A strong man should naturally father strong 
offspring, and if he were to be "domesticated," why then an Amazon might count 
herself a lucky woman indeed, having her own "Brood Stallion" to ride most every 
evening.  Not all men were happy with this arrangement, of course, and often a 
man proved to be a little "too strong" to be contained within Amazon borders, 
and sometimes the Amazon would be compelled to join her husband in self-imposed 
exile, going off to live in foreign lands while promoting their ways and 
teachings in a less "confrontational" manner.

Sometimes, however, that tendency came back to bite them where it hurt, as in 
the case of Bellerophon, son of Eurymede, who had taken the lessons of his 
mother to heart and had grown up to become the scourge of the Amazons during 
their great Southerly invasion.  Then too there were tribes of men who lived 
along their borders who hated the Amazons with great fervor and counted it as 
nothing to slaughter one who strayed too far past their borders...a good thing 
those tribes tended to be so aggressive and disunited that they never could 
present an actual threat to the Amazons themselves.  And then there were the 
Centaurs, their sometimes-rude neighbors...

Hippolyta broke off on her silent reverie as she saw a group of people hailing 
her with salutations and greetings, and she smiled as she waved her war-lance 
back towards these farmers, who were a key backbone to the Amazon 
culture...landholders who lived under the protection of the Amazons, whose 
ancestors had been conquered many centuries ago and brought under the tutelage 
of the Renunciate way.  They were not true Amazons but constituted a large 
"underclass" of peasant "Freemen," living in small village communities that 
dotted along the Thracian border, this far north of the Sea of Propontis.

These people etched out a rude, hard live out of the soil, yielding just enough 
food to feed their young while "tithing" a quarter of each harvest to the 
Amazons in exchange for Renunciate protection.  Sometimes their harvests would 
fall short and instead they would offer their stronger daughters to be raised by 
the Renunciates through matronage, and in time---if their daughters lived to 
become Amazons themselves---they would receive some of the spoils that their 
daughters would victoriously bring home from periodic raids along the south.  It 
was considered a great honor to have an Amazon in the family, and it was from 
such tribes as these that many "husbands" were taken, if only for a season.  If 
a man was sturdy, good looking and had a clean set of teeth he might be visited 
by more than one Amazon in a season, and thus himself become the father to many 
Amazons of the next generation.  Hippolyta had always liked these people, who 
were basically hard working and honest, if much too peace-loving to be counted 
on as more than "Auxiliaries" should the Amazons be forced to constrict them to 
repel an invasion.

If an Amazon chose to retire from active service she could well become the 
Protector to such a tribal group as this and be honored by these craftsmen and 
farmers with a relatively comfortable existence.  Sometimes Hippolyta herself 
wondered what it would be like to just settle down and become such an honored 
village Matron, but her Immortality denied her the excuse of infirmity.  She was 
much too active a woman to settle down anyway, even if the thought of shedding 
her heavy duties as Queen did sometimes become enormously tempting.

Hippolyta set her mind back to the open "Queen's Road," already plotting out the 
route she might take to get her safely past the borders of their enemy "Tribal 
States," those that lived in open alliance with the Thracian Confederacy, 
Ionians who were allied with the far-distant Phrygians to the south of the Sea 
of Propontis.  It was a long way to Boetia, well due south of the Chalcidice 
lands east of Macedonia, past a dozen Aeolian and Ionian city-states until she 
would reach the lands just north of Attica, where she hoped to find her wayward 
"Husband."  At a steady pace she might get there within a fortnight, provided 
her horse could stand up to the stress of long travel.  Hippolyta had outlived a 
hundred War-Mares who were ancestors to the one she was now riding, and she knew 
the limits of the animal who faithfully carried her due southward.  She did not 
want to press the animal too far, even if she herself could easily endure a far 
more wicked pace than any horse, no matter how noble its lineage.

Ah, but to have a winged Pegasus, like Bellerophon himself, she irreverently 
mused, thinking of her long-departed enemy, who had been a worthy opponent, 
albeit one who "had gotten a bit above his britches..."

Just then a curious stirring along her nape hairs caused Hippolyta to stiffen, 
and then she slowed her War-Mare down to a mild trot and waited until she 
reached a crossroads just ahead of her, knowing even before she got there whom 
she would find waiting to meet her.

"Hail, Noble Queen," the Goddess spoke to her as Hecate stepped out from the 
shadows, "Well met indeed."

"And yourself, Goddess," Hippolyta replied, "To what do I owe an audience this 
time?"

"I see that you are taking the long route in order to get to Greece," Hecate 
remarked, her night-dark hair glistening with stars as her ageless smile took in 
the Renunciate ex-Goddess, "That could take quite a while and leave you open to 
assault by many an enemy.  You may be Immortal, but you are hardly invulnerable, 
and more than a few people out here would count your head as quite a trophy."

"Let them try to take it," Hippolyta smiled back, "Many have before, and I've 
tromped on the graves of every one of them, including their greatest."

"Spoken like a true Daughter of Ares," Hecate approved, "However...I have come 
to tell you that there has been a disturbing development in the quest of the 
Labors concerning your husband."

Hippolyta sat up more alertly in the saddle, "What say you, Mother of Night?"

"It's your grandmother, Hera," Hecate did not bother trying to hide a slight 
hint of exasperation, "She laid a trap for Herakles, but it has 
somewhat...backfired...but the results could well be catastrophic.  Since I 
cannot become directly involved in these proceedings, else I jeopardize my 
agreement with Zeus, I must send you along as my emissary, to say nothing of 
your looking out for your own best interests in your pursuit of your husband."

"Grandmother?" Hippolyta frowned, "What sort of trap has Hera launched this 
time?"

"It might take a while to explain," Hecate replied, "And time is elusive.  
Chronos does not relent his gift without price, so...shall I make it much easier 
for you to go to Thebes in order to head off a total disaster in the making?"

"Need you even ask?" Hippolyta cantered her horse a bit to hide her sudden 
nervousness, "I am ready to go to him now and protect my Man from any who might 
claim him, including my grandmother."

"Then step forward and I will convey you to the Palace," Hecate spread her cloak 
of night and revealed a starry passageway, "But be warned...in helping you now, 
I must not interfere again later...I cannot afford to give the impression of 
playing favorites, even if you are the one whose cause I have championed..."

"I accept these terms, Goddess," Hippolyta replied as she urged her War-Mare 
forward, "And I will need no other aid to take Herakles for my husband...I will 
persuade him on my own terms and prove myself the better suitor."

With that bold assertion she stepped through the cloak and vanished, leaving 
Hecate to smile as she softly murmured, "I just knew that you would say 
that...Hera had erred once too often this time, and this could well work out 
even better than I planned," she chuckled softly before she herself faded out 
into the lengthening shadows that were forming with the early arrival of 
sunset...




"LIONESS!!!" Herakles cried as he backed away from the transformed Cleo, who had 
been moving to assist Ithicles, who was himself just then suffering the effects 
of a sudden drug-induced madness.

"Oh no," Genma winced, then raised his voice and said, "EVERYONE BACK AWAY!" and 
promptly followed his own advice by diving for cover.

"What in the name of the Archons?" Ithicles averred as he saw the panic-stricken 
expression of his half-brother.

"Herakles?" Maegara asked, concerned with the way her newly betrothed Man was 
giving the impression of someone experiences abject terror in the presence of a 
lioness.

"What the heck's gotten into him?" Chalciope asked.

"I dunno," Antiope replied, "You'd think he'd seen a mouse instead of that 
overgrown Were-kitty."

"What's gotten into him all of a sudden?" Atalanta wondered before hearing a 
voice within her mind say back (Beats me...maybe the guy just needs to get 
laid...)

The giant Boar, Eurypylus, gave a faintly confused sounding, "Bwe?" as Herakles 
ducked around behind him, but the overgrown tusker was having his own time 
controlling a panicked reaction at the sight of the transformed Sphinx moving to 
the side of Ithicles, who was clutching at his chest with every indication of  
being in extreme agony, swiftly losing himself to his dart-induced dementia.

Off to the side King Creon was staring with dismay at the behavior of his guests 
while Jocasta was just covering her eyes and groaning slightly upon seeing a 
well-hatched plan go to pieces within the space of mere seconds.

"Ooops," her designated Assassin, a man named Hecator, lowered his blowgun and 
said, "Did I err, my Queen?"

Jocasta shot a glance at the man and stage-whispered back, "Wrong brother.  
Report to the Royal Torturer after this is over."

"Oh," the Assassin said faintly.

Despite being in full-lioness mode, Cleo had no problems making herself 
understood as she asked, "Handsome?"

She was unprepared for when the huge man rounded on her with a savage backhand 
that caught the lioness along the side of her head and stunned her for several 
seconds, then he picked her five-hundred pound mass up with both hands and 
hurled her away at Eurypylus, startling the Boar, who hastily got out of the way 
and exposed a cringing Herakles, who looked up just in time to see the semi-
conscious lioness come hurtling at him.

Down he went as Cleo flopped over him and bore his mass down to the hardened 
floor, stunned and shaken by the awkward manner of her landing as Herakles just 
stared up at her with widened eyes, even as she converted back into her half-
womanly Sphinx form.

"Sphinx?" Creon blinked, "She's the Sphinx who has troubled my country?"

"Ah..." Cleo glanced down at Herakles, whose manly body she presently straddled, 
her large breasts pressed hard against his pectorals as she tried to think of 
something to say about her awkward situation, coming up with a lame, 
"So...you're his brother, eh?  Never would have guessed...say, is that a sword 
in your belt or are you just happy to meet me, tall, dark and Gorgeous?"

Instantly the leveled hostility of Maegara, Atalanta and even a much-annoyed 
Chalciope glared at the "couple" with heat enough to crack a marble statue, but 
Herakles was too far gone into his Mako-phobia, seeing the Lioness become a 
Woman having just been the capper to an otherwise very disturbing encounter.

With a cry of. "LIONESS!!!" he hurled her off and got to his feet, backing up to 
the wall in abject terror, the glaze coming over his eyes as his intelligence 
was submerged and the MADNESS slowly took over.

"Well now," Jocasta smiled to herself, "Maybe this isn't a total loss after all.  
So...the boy really does have a weakness..."

"What was that, Sister dear?" Creon asked.

"Oh, nothing," the Queen of Heaven and Thebes replied with a faintly airy 
expression.

"What's happening?" Antiope asked as she and Iolaus tried to wrestle with the 
enraged Ithicles, who was having none of their restraint and quite easily shook 
them off like they were children.

"Not good!" Iolaus declared as he was rudely shoved into a nearby wall for his 
troubles, "OW!  This guy plays rough, and he's nearly as strong as his brother!"

"That's because Iolaus trained with Herakles under me!" Genma shouted back from 
a safe alcove in the chamber, "Don't you remember that trick you played on him a 
long time ago with the Goddess Hera?"

"What was that?" Jocasta's ears perked up, a frown suddenly forming on her 
lovely, ageless features.

"Huh?" Iolaus blinked, "Oh...you mean that?  Oh no...now I remember, we've got 
trouble!"

"What's wrong?" Chalciope asked, only to be forced to use her spear to fend off 
a sudden attack by Ithicles, who lashed out at her in a savage, backhanded 
manner, knocking her hard enough that the Avatar of Artemis was sent tumbling 
backwards into another wall, and then went crashing through it.

"What the...?" Antiope blinked.

"He really is almost as strong as Herakles," Maegara marveled.

"No almost about it!" Iolaus called back, "When he was a small babe he drank 
from the mothers milk of Hera!"

"WHAT???" Jocasta reacted, "No way!"

"It was Dad's idea, Step-mom!" Iolaus insisted, "He wanted Herakles to have an 
able sparring partner growing up, and since Ithicles was born a mortal..."

"He's now an Immoral?" Chalciope groaned as she stumbled through the new doorway 
that she had given to the building, "Now he tells me..."

"A half-mortal Immortal?" Atalanta asked as she tried to use her two-handed war-
hammer to fend off the attacks of Ithicles, who was lashing out at her with no 
restraint in his skilled attacks and bearing, "He's so fast!  I can't find an 
opening...!"

"You won't!" Genma helpfully called out, "I trained the Boy almost as well as I 
trained..."

'RRRRROOOOAAARRRR!" cried Herakles all of a sudden, straightening out once again 
as the fear in his eyes was replaced by a new kind of madness.

"Uh oh, bye now!  Nice knowing you people!" Genma called over his shoulder as he 
headed for the exit.

Even Chalciope and Atalanta were startled by the sound of Herakles's savage, 
battle-mad war-cry, and then all at once he pounced upon Ithicles and the two of 
them went at it with no holds barred, lashing out with fists and claw-like hands 
with blows that rang like colliding boulders, causing the very ground beneath 
their feet to shake like the herald to an earthquake.

"What's happening?" Creon cried out in dismay, seeing the ceiling of his palace 
begin to crack under the strain.

"I do not believe this!" Maegara exclaimed, "The forces which those two are 
unleashing..."

"SIS, LOOK OUT!" Chalciope cried out in warning.

"Eh?" Maegara stared up just in time to see a piece of the ceiling come 
collapsing down upon her, "Oh---!"

And then a huge form moved with surprising speed and butted her to one side, 
easily brushing off the collapse of the stone roof as though it hardly even 
mattered, Eurypylus having sensed the urgency of the deed from his frantic 
mistress.

"OOOF!" Maegara cried as she sprawled safely on an undamaged portion of the 
floor, only to find King Creon had come to her aid.

"My dear...are you hurt, are you all right?" he cried over the sounds of 
breaking furniture and busted walls, the fight between the Man-Gods causing them 
to blunder into everything that got into their path, crashing through stone and 
mud-daubed mortar as though they were cardboard props for a movie set, palace 
guards sensibly giving them plenty of elbow-distance.

One guard, who was not so sensible as his fellows, tried confronting the two 
berserkers with round bronze shield over one arm and javelin readied in the 
other.  He tried to sneak up on Herakles, only to receive a savage claw-slash 
for his troubles.  The man staggered backwards before regaining his footing, 
only to stare in disbelief as his shield collapsed into fragments as though an 
invisible claw had slashed right through the metal, sparing the arm underneath, 
though it went blissfully numb a few seconds later.

"I'm fine," Maegara assured her mortal father as she pushed herself back to her 
feet, dusting her hands off and frowning slightly as she reckoned her near-
encounter with a chunk of mud-daub and straw-laced plaster, "But we've got to do 
something fast to bring them out of this battle rage before they destroy the 
entire palace..."

"No major feat that," Antiope remarked, "A good wind might well do that."

"The heck with the palace," Iolaus remarked, "I'm a little more worried about 
what those two might do to us!"

"Yeah, just the shockwave alone is hurting my ears," Chalciope winced.

"Your ears?" asked a fully human-seeming Cleo, "I'll be lucky if I'm not deaf 
when this is over!"

"But what are we going to do?" Atalanta wondered, holding her hammer at the 
ready, "In the state they're both in they could go at it until they drop, and 
I'm pretty sure neither one of them will even notice if the roof caves down on 
both of their heads."

"Maybe not," Maegara smiled, "But with you here our task may be a lot 
easier...Sister."

"Huh?" Atalanta looked puzzled at the redhead, "What do you mean?"

"Come on out, Aphi, that's your cue," Chalciope smiled, "Time to rise and shine, 
Sis."

"Sis?" Atalanta frowned, "What are you...?" all at once her eyes began to glow, 
and suddenly she took on an entirely different aspect, seeming to radiate all 
over as her feminine qualities were enhanced by more than a decimal point, and 
she suddenly seemed twice as statuesque and womanly as ever before, setting down 
her hammer and angling one hip as steeper angle than the other.

"So..." she drawled in a sensuous tone of voice, "You need me to cool things 
down here, do you?  Normally I'm more the type to heat 'em up, but I can do 
improvs..."

"Do your stuff, Sister dearest," Maegara smiled, then glanced sidelong at 
Chalciope and helpfully used a finger to close the Pig-herder's mouth.

"Whoah..." Cleo blinked, "Now that's an Avatar..."

"Who are these people?" Creon wondered, "Daughter...?"

"Not now, Daddy," Maegara urged, "Give 'em your stuff, Aphi...and by the way, 
nice body."

"Thanks," Atalanta replied with an exaggerated wiggle of both hips, "I'm only 
borrowing it, but I may take it for a little spin when this is over."

"Oh momma," Iolaus averred as he watched Atalanta approach the two struggling 
brothers, who were well on the way to giving the palace a much-needed facelift, 
"I just hope those guys aren't too far gone to even notice..."

"Don't say things like that, Uncle!" Antiope snapped, "You want to jinx things?"

Ithicles had thrown a punch that collapsed an entire wall, Herakles slashed 
through a support pillar, partially bringing down another section of the roof 
upon their heads, a minor fact to which neither man seemed to give much 
attention.  Ithicles picked up that fallen support pillar and tried to use it 
like a club, but Herakles reduced the wooden thing to  so many toothpicks with 
yet another slash of his hands, and then he grabbed Ithicles up and used him to 
create a picture window where a stone wall had previously been standing.  
Ithicles broke his brother's hold and was about to launch a renewed attack on 
his opponent when a golden haired presence made itself known in the space 
between them.

Placing a hand to either shoulder of the two brawny men she purred, "That's 
enough, boys...I think you're hot and sweaty enough for me.  What say we work 
things out and...have a sandwich...you provide the loaves, I'll provide the 
filling."

The effect on both men was astonishing...they froze up like statues, Ithicles 
blinking several times with a slightly bewildered expression, Herakles turning a 
quizzical stare at her and saying, "Mreow?"

"Hey!" Cleo protested, "That's my line!"

"Never mind, let her do her thing," Chalciope urged.

"Yes," Maegara agreed, "Aphi's major talent is to create a soothing aura that 
calms hostilities and makes men more inclined to seek pleasure over 
confrontation.  Even bitter enemies have been known to set differences aside 
when she gets into the middle of the action."

"Uh...my dear, are you feeling all right?" Creon asked of his normally demure 
and overly shy daughter...who---he had to admit---was looking rather eye-
catching in her torn outfit that left little to the imagination.

"No way," Jocasta frowned, "I won't have my fun get spoiled by that little 
Trollop this time..."

"Huh?" Antiope turned in time to see the queen draw back a hand, then all at 
once she cried out, "INCOMING!"

The ball of energy that formed in Jocasta's hands became the crackle of 
lightning, which struck the apace at Atalanta's feet and caused the possessed 
Blacksmith to jump back reflexively, breaking her hold and contact with the two 
men she had been attempting to "pacify."  It also caused Aphrodite to recede 
back into the background of her Avatar's mind, allowing a much-confused Atalanta 
to resurface.

"W-what?" she glanced around, "Where's my hammer---AWP!"

Ithicles back-handed her without even noticing she was there, the gesture 
automatic and reflexive as the poison in his system once more took over his mind 
and body, returning him to full berserker status.  Herakles reacted to this by 
roaring his defiance, and then the two brothers went at it again, both lurching 
into yet another support pillar and knocking the wooden beam loose from its 
foundations.

"Oh Tartarus!" Chalciope yelped as she pushed Antiope and Maegara out of the 
way, just barely managing to avoid being crushed herself as the pillar came 
crashing down where they had been standing.

Cleo landed on top of the pillar and dodged several more falling beams as the 
hardened clay roof started to crash down all around them, wincing as she 
complained, "I'm all for a floor show and all that, but this is getting a little 
too intense, don't you think?"

"Step-mother," Iolaus was suddenly beside the smirking Jocasta, "Wasn't that 
just a bit excessive on your part?  You know Dad won't take too kindly to you 
directly trying to kill Herakles..."

"Don't spoil my fun, Hermes," Jocasta tartly replied, "I'll deal with my husband 
in good time, but for now I'm enjoying this too much to see it prematurely 
concluded."

"Would somebody please tell me what is going on here?" Creon plaintively 
demanded.

Rather than receive an answer to his question, a hand was laid on his shoulder 
and a womanly voice said, "Better let me handle this, Old Man...you're obviously 
out of your depths."

"Who?" Creon turned around and found himself confronted by a woman in armor, 
very tall and commanding in her presence, and his first impulse was to 
genuflect, confirming in his mind that she had to be the very embodiment of true 
born Goddess...




"Oh dear," Oedipus remarked as he and his entourage approached the fortress-like 
palace, "Sounds as if you people are under siege.  Are there any wars scheduled 
for this afternoon that you happen to know about?"

"Not me," said one of his newfound companions, scratching his beard, "King's 
don't usually tell us about stuff like that unless they mean to raise our 
taxes."

"Maybe the Athenians are at it again," another former bathing companion 
remarked, "I hear their king is a bit of a dotard and his nobles might be 
willing to stir up some troubles over the succession."

"Athenians," another man sniffed, "They'll stand around and argue all day about 
the meaning of a price of cheese, and when you ask one for a straight answer 
he'll usually give you four or five reasons why you should never have asked him 
in the first place."

"Philosophy," a fifth man snorted, "Give me a good war over a debate any day!  
At least they're more peaceful..."

"Um," Oedipus remarked, "Maybe we should come back at another time?  It seems as 
though there's a bit of a row going on in there."

"Oh, don't worry about that," the man at his shoulder remarked, "I'm sure the 
King's guards will handle it..."

"Then why are those chaps in armor running away from the palace instead of 
towards it?" Oedipus wondered.

"Um...maybe it's a festival?" another of his companions observed, "Those do get 
a little rowdy on occasions..."

"Um...it is getting a bit late," another man said, "Sun's setting on the horizon 
and all that, maybe we ought to come back a bit later?"

"Oh, nonsense," the first man insisted, "If there's trouble at the palace, then 
it's our patriotic duty as citizens to pitch in with the defenses, and if it's a 
party...well, it would be damned rude of Creon not to invite us, right?"

His companions seemed rather dubious on that point, but none seemed willing to 
refuse the call to either heroic action or "manly entertainment," so they 
resolved to approach the place with caution, just in case it turned out to be 
either one or the other.  If, indeed, it proved too much for them to handle, 
then the common consensus was that it was a matter for royalty, one that 
commoners would best leave alone for the moment.

(Of course altruism was not the entire motive for the first citizen's sudden 
interest in national defense or celebration, but we'll get to his real motives a 
bit later, shall we?)

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Oedipus said grimly, wondering how he had 
allowed himself to be talked into this situations...




"Who?" Creon asked as he checked the impulse to genuflect in the presence of the 
armored woman.

"Why don't we leave that question to be resolved later," the woman replied, "I 
have a husband to rescue, and I see that I have arrived here none too soon..."

By this point a substantial portion of the throne room lay in utter ruins, the 
other half of the chamber not appearing all that much better.  Those guards who 
had not fled and had tried to stay and defend the palace now littered the 
battlefield as a part of the collateral damage.  The others had just barely 
managed to keep out of the way of the falling debris while looking on in 
amazement at the two Tom Cats currently wrecking more havoc upon their 
surroundings than upon one another.

"The Goddess was right," Hippolyta sniffed as she took everything in with a 
glance, "Grandmother is up to her usual mischief...and speak of the Harpy 
herself.  Hmmm...with her present I suspect a bit of poison is at play 
here...but what type and upon whom has it been employed...?"

Right then Ithicles lunged for his brother and was rewarded with a powerful 
uppercut that sent the half-mortal crashing into a wall near to the Amazon 
Queen's position.  That gave Hippolyta a chance to study the man's eyes and see 
the slightly glazed look about them, pupils far wider than was natural in a 
human, which was a sure sign of an alkaloid at work within his system.

"So I was right...hmmm...a very manly specimen indeed...I didn't know my husband 
had a twin," she mused with a speculative expression.

Now Herakles lunged for his brother and wrapped his arms around him, bearing him 
up and over as he tumbled into a backward slam that drove the other man's head 
into the hard-packed ground, creating yet another crater.

"Oh my..." Hippolyta's eyes widened abruptly, "Now that definitely left an 
impression..."

"Huh?" Antiope suddenly took notice of her fellow Amazon and called out, "SIS!  
What's Big Sister Hippy doing here?"

"You mean how did she get here all of a sudden," Chalciope frowned.

"I suspect she's had assistance," Maegara remarked, "But never mind that, we 
could use her right now.  Queen Hippolyta!  Some assistance?"

"Hmm?" Hippolyta glanced back their way then said, "Oh yes...quite right...just 
admiring the show.  Ahem..."

Herakles stood back while his brother recovered, not so badly hurt by his fall 
that he would be slowed in any way from renewing the action.  He was just 
beginning to lunge forward when a figure moved swiftly around behind him, then 
all at once his legs were knocked out from under him and he found himself 
bearing backwards as a heavy figure fell on him, twisting one arm as she wrapped 
her legs around his captive member.

"I have him pinned!" Hippolyta cried out, "What now?"

"My turn!" Maegara said as she stepped forward, cupping her hands and forming a 
ball of golden light between them.  She took careful aim and plunged this energy 
ball into the chest of the struggling Ithicles, causing his body to stiffen as 
its radiance flowed all throughout his body.

"There now," she said, "That should take care of---!" all at once a hand rudely 
knocked her aside as Herakles loomed up over his fallen opponent, ready to renew 
the battle, the Lion Fist still full within his system.

"Stop him!" Iolaus cried as he moved to capture Herakles by one arm, Chalciope 
taking the other while Atalanta threw her arms around his waist from behind and 
Antiope selected a brawny leg to grip between her thighs.

Maegara, meanwhile, felt a sudden rude impact as her back struck a far wall, the 
pain momentarily shooting throughout her body before being replaced by a certain 
odd numbness.  She managed to push herself up to her feet and groaned, "Oh 
dear...I guess I should have seen that coming..."

"Yes, I guess you should have, Niece."

"Eh?" the utter familiarity of that voice---and the chilling ennui it created---
caused her to look around and see the familiar form of Hades, her grim-faced but 
gentle-mannered uncle, "Uncle Hades?  But..."

"You're looking quite well, Athena," he smiled politely, then nodded, "Which, I 
fear, is more than could be said for your former host."

"My former...host?" Athena turned around and then blanched, for there lay the 
slumped body of Maegara, a trail of crimson drifting down the side of the wall 
with which her head had impacted, "No...!"

"Rather careless of you, actually," Hades remarked, "You should take better care 
of your Avatars.  A pity, really...this one had so much life," he added 
wistfully, "But then, I see a lot of that in this business..."

"Wait...no, you can't mean....!" Athena blanched, "But it's not fair!  I wasn't 
even done using her yet!"

"Fair doesn't really amount to much in my line of work, dear Niece," Hades said 
in a compassionate voice, "There's nothing fair at all about the ending, but it 
comes to all living things sooner or later..."

"No, I won't accept that!" Athena replied, "It was an accident, I dropped my 
guard for just an instant..."

"An instant is all it takes," Hades sighed, glancing around, "A pity...not too 
much work for me here.  Most of these will recover in good health, given time to 
heal a few broken bones and bruises.  Actually that's rather surprising, given 
the level of general destruction..."

Athena was not listening to her Uncle, bending down beside the body of the 
Princess Maegara and using her powers to scan the extent of injuries, "I can 
heal her back...it would only take a small fraction of my power..."

"Well, yes, I suppose you could repair the body," Hades replied, "But I'm 
afraid the Princess must come with me.  It's her time, you see...she was 
scheduled to die earlier this day, but you interfered with that and gave the 
child several hours more of life..."

"NO!" Athena turned a horrified look towards her uncle, "I can't let you take 
her...not like this!  It would mean Herakles was a murderer, that he took a 
life---whether by accident or not---without intentions!"

"Intentions also don't really amount to a whole lot in this line of business, 
dear Niece," Hades sighed as he pulled out a scroll and unrolled it, then stared 
at the names written down there before saying, "Yes...it's right here, she's on 
my list.  It was her time to go...not your fault, really, nor mine, nor even my 
Nephew.  I don't really make these decisions, you see...the Fates decide 
everything beforehand..."

"I don't care!" Athena cried as she again summoned her powers (far more easily 
now that she was back to being a full Goddess) and flooded Maegara's prone body 
with healing energies, instantly causing bones and muscles to knit as the 
tissues of her brain knitted back together and the blood stopped seeping onto 
the dirt floor of the ruined palace.  A moment later the body lay motionless-
but-intact, as good as before and ready for usage.

"Nicely done," Hades replied, "But a body without a soul is but an empty vessel, 
and I have the true essence of the Princess right here in my hand," he held one 
up to reveal a sparkling shade that took the form of Princess Maegara...

Meanwhile Herakles was thrashing about with the puny "Mortals" gripping his 
arms, trying to free himself even as Hippolyta got up from the now-motionless 
Ithicles, who was being attended to by a much concerned Cleo.

"What is wrong with my husband?" Hippolyta asked, "Why does he act this way?"

"Husband?" Atalanta grunted, "Since when?"

"He's under some kind of compulsion or geas or something!" Iolaus cried, "He 
thinks he's some kind of Lion, I think..."

"Thinks nothing!" Chalciope declared, "He's got the strength of a hundred lions!  
I can't even hold him still!  And if he slashes you with those claws of his..."

"It'll be real bad news!" Antiope agreed without having to point out the 
numerous claw-marks rent in various stone and wood objects.

"A Lion, you say?" Hippolyta smiled, "Shame on you, Auntie...are you telling me 
that you can't handle a mere lion?"

"Hey!" Cleo complained, "I resemble that remark!"

"What do you have in mind?" Chalciope grunted, "I'm open to suggestions---hey, 
Eurypylus!  Get your butt over here, I could use a little help!"

The mammoth boar just shook his tusked head and refused to come anywhere near 
the snarling Herakles, staying firmly wedged in a corridor that his huge bulk 
blocked out completely.

"Guess he's afraid of becoming the other white meat, eh?" Hippolyta sounded 
amused, but instead she walked up to the struggling Herakles and---heedless of 
the danger---stretched out a hand while making a soft throaty noise that got his 
attention.

"Mreow?" Herakles ceased struggling as he looked at that hand, then at the woman 
to whom it was attached.

"You don't really want to hurt anyone, do you Boy?" she asked in soothing tones, 
"You're just upset about things, but if you calm down you'll see that he can't 
hurt you now...no one wants to hurt you...in fact, you'll be feeling a lot 
better if you just take a moment and relax that tired body of yours..."

"Huh?" Chalciope asked as she felt the wildness in Herakles begin to recede, the 
crazed look in his eyes beginning to subside slightly.

Hippolyta did something very odd with her hand, moving it slowly in front of 
Herakles while maintaining eye contact, then slowly she brushed her fingers 
along the side of his cheek, past the slight bear that was growing along his 
chin, to cup the hairs of his mane and run those fingers around his earlobe in 
an openly affectionate manner.  She made a soft noise of acceptance and he 
responded with a deep-throated noise of approval..."

"What gives?" Atalanta said as she looked up from where she was holding 
Herakles, frowning a bit when she saw the way he was responding to having his 
ear lightly scratched.

"Whoah...talk about charming the beast out of a guy," Antiope remarked as she 
took a risk and released her grip around the thigh of the man-God.

"What are you doing?" Jocasta frowned.

"Stay out of this, Grandmother," Hippolyta managed to voice the words without 
the harshness that might break the spell of the moment, "I think you've done 
enough harm for one day."

"That's putting it mildly," Iolaus remarked as he surveyed the carnage that had 
been wrought upon the palace, "I didn't think it was possible for this place to 
look any worse but...huh?  SIS!" he suddenly cried, pointing across the room at 
the slumped body of Maegara.

"Mreow?" Herakles looked up, past Hippolyta's head to the redheaded girl whom 
his mind interpreted as "friendly."

Athena straightened up and stared at the miniature Princess standing upon the 
palm of her grim Uncle, then she said, "You have to give her back to me, 
Uncle...please.  I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you, but I need the 
child to animate her body..."

To her surprise it was Maegara herself who answered, "It's all right, Great Lady 
Athena...I'll be all right.  I was prepared to sacrifice myself to save my 
people from the Hydra, and now that this work is done I am ready to go to the 
fields of Elysium to be with my ancestors..."

"But...don't you want to live?" Athena asked of the mortal soul.

"Of course I do," Maegara smiled up at Athena as if it were a foolish question, 
"More than you can know.  Life for mortals is very fleeting, after all, not like 
the eternal life of a Goddess.  I feel blessed that you shared your essence with 
me for even an hour...it gave me so much insight into what it means to be a 
Goddess, and to be mortal.  I thank you for that, and I thank you for everything 
you've done for me.  I truly do not deserve such kindness..."

"How can you say such a thing?" Athena gasped, "I was using you for my own 
ends..."

"But you never intended me any unkindness," Maegara replied, "You were even 
willing to share with me the man who is to be your husband.  I thank you for 
that with all my heart...you truly are a Great Lady, and one who has given me 
the greatest honor that I could have asked for..."

"The child will be well in Elysium," Hades replied, "She will not soon forget 
this life, I will see to that.  If you wish to use her body, then it is of no 
great concern of mine, and I wish you well, but it was her time to go, and so I 
must leave with her or not at all..."

"Wait," Athena's mind raced, "That can't be it...there must be another 
way...Uncle...if I could have but a moment of your time...?"

Hades sighed, then reached into his robes and pulled out an hourglass.  He 
pressed a stone set on the top and caused the sands to freeze up, even as a 
number of her relatives were in the process of rushing to her aid.  Athena saw 
that Herakles was at the head of this stampede, and that his eyes were cleared 
of battle-rage, looking slightly more focused and human.

"You have your moment," Hades replied, "State your case and then I will be on my 
way."

"Uncle," Athena said, "It is true that the fates schedule when a person is to be 
born, live and die, but we have sometimes acted to modify or even intervene in 
the case of those mortals with whom we share a special favor.  I understand that 
you are zealous about your work and very protective towards those mortals who 
come to you naturally in the course of time..."

"True," Hades replied, "I do enjoy my job, after a fashion.  You get to meet so 
many interesting people in this business, Kings, commoners, fools, wise men, 
great heroes, greater disappointments...I often wonder why you and the others on 
Olympus don't spend more time getting to know your mortal worshippers instead of 
blasting them into my realm whenever it suits your fancy..."

"Um...yes...well..." Athena said lamely, "While I can understand the importance 
of your work, I have need of this particular mortal and I do not wish to part 
with her this soon after our joining..."

"Oh yes," Hades replied, "That's right...you have that bet with Cousin Hecate 
over which of your sisters is to marry our Nephew.  I sympathize, really, but 
you must see that this incident effectively takes you out of the competition..."

"Who says it does?" Athena replied sharply, "Herakles wasn't acting on his own 
will...Hera was cheating, forcing him to go wild like that, and..."

"And I must reluctantly agree with you on this," Hades nodded, "I know my sister 
well...she is often quite petty and spiteful, though for that I think our 
brother is as much to blame."

"Yes...but...what happened just now wasn't supposed to be the way it turned 
out..." Athena continued to argue.

"I beg pardon?" Hades gently smiled, "Dear Niece, I believe that I know a bit 
more on that subject than you do."

"All right, granted," Athena nodded, "But I can't be taken out of the contest 
now...my brother is a man of great integrity and compassion.  He will blame 
himself if he finds out that he accidentally killed my mortal host.  I would not 
wish that on his hands...it is kinslaying, and you know what that would mean..."

"The Furies," Hades nodded, "They are a bit relentless on the blood-vengeance 
thing between close kin.  I suppose I could intercede with them to convince them 
that this truly was an accident..."

"But the true guilty party is Hera," Athena persisted, "And you know perfectly 
well that the Furies will never come for her no matter how much evil she does."

"Not if they want to keep their jobs, no," Hades nodded, "I agree with you, it 
is a very unfair system.  I regret that I had a part in creating the present 
order, but I can't just be making exceptions to the rules every time there is an 
injustice..."

"And why not?" Athena asked, "Why not make exceptions where there clearly is a 
gross injustice?  Uncle...your realm is vast and full of the souls of those who 
died but justly and unjustly..."

"Not as much as you think," Hades replied, "Quite a number of those have since 
reincarnated.  It's the natural cycle of birth, death and Karma..."

"Yes, granted," Athena waved the point away, "But surely Maegara was intended to 
know more about life than a quick death without first knowing either the love of 
a man or the pleasures that come with childbirth..."

"That is true," the soul of Maegara replied sadly, " I would had loved to have 
at least had one hour of love at the hands of that great hero who saved me..."

"I do regret being a spoilsport and a bit of a wet blanket here," Hades replied, 
"But dying unfulfilled, while tragic, is also a part of the cycle of life, and 
you would hardly be the first beautiful virgin who entered the fields of Elysium 
unblemished."

"Uncle," Athena said in exasperation, "Is there nothing I can say to convince 
you?"

"The child is in a state of bliss," Hades replied, "Elysium is hers for the 
asking, and I can guarantee a quick turnover into her next life...but...I'm 
afraid that's all the rules will allow me to offer..."

"Might I make a suggestion here, sweet Cousin?"

Athena's eyes suddenly narrowed, "What do you want, Hecate?"

"I believe that I have a stake in this affair," Hecate replied, "One of my 
functions is as Guardian to the Gates of the Dead, and I have often brought 
spirits from the underworld to the land of the living when they have important 
tasks that need to be fulfilled.  Hades...I believe what Athena is saying is 
that you have a full schedule on your hands, and I don'' believe you truly want 
to waste much time debating the relative merits of sparing one lone mortal."

"True," Hades sighed, "A person dies on an average of once every minute or so, 
and that's quite a heavy workload, so much so that I find myself increasingly 
delegating all but the important tasks to my sister, Thantalia of the 
Endless..."

"Yes, in fact, while you were tarrying here I believe a caravan of Achaen 
worshippers met an untimely death at the hands of desert raiders along the 
Phoenician coastline, true?" Hecate asked.

"Not those desert barbarians again?" Hades rolled his eyes, "Blast Lucifer and 
his cult of Hibiru!  Even on the other end of the world they give me nothing but 
grief..."

"So...perhaps you might be amenable to hearing a little proposal I have," Hecate 
smiled, "Allow Athena to keep the body of Princess Maegara for her own, and let 
them have a spiritual line so that the Princess will know and experience the 
life Athena lives in her honor.  If she is successful in her pursuit, then the 
Princess will be restored to flesh and have her life back, no strings attached.  
If otherwise...well, at least the child will know more of life than she does at 
the present, eh?"

"What?" Athena asked, amazed at the generous proposal of the Witch Goddess.

"Intriguing," Hades replied, "But why do you arbitrate this on their behalf?  I 
thought that you were favoring Hippolyta..."

"I have already done a service for her by bringing her to Thebes," Hecate 
replied, "In fairness to the game that I have going, I must now do an equal 
favor to her competitors...it will make things more sporting that way and give 
Hippolyta that which she craves almost as much as a good man...some sporting 
competition."

"I see," Hades nods, "Well, in that case, I see no reason why I should object.  
I will tell you what...I will restore Maegara to partial life, allowing her 
spirit to know what is going on within her body, but it will---henceforth---be 
Athena who lives the live of the Princess Maegara."

"Indeed," Hecate turned back to Athena, "Is this agreeable to you?  I warn you, 
there is a price to be paid if you accept these terms that Hades has offered."

"Which is?" Athena asked.

"The flesh will become your flesh," Hades replied, "Your soul will be merged 
with that of the Princess.  You will retain much of your divine birthright and 
power,  but you must protect this body far better than you did the last time 
because if you die within in...then you will come to spend a time in my realm."

"Say...what?" Athena blinked.

"You will die as a mortal and become a resident of Elysium," Hecate replied, 
"For a time...say, a century or two, after which you will be restored to full 
Goddesshood...depending on how you conduct yourself from this moment onward."

"Those are the terms which brother Zeus offered to those titans seeking his 
parole," Hades replied, "So you see...there is precedence.  If a God or Titan 
wishes to experience life as a mortal, and dies a mortal death, then they are 
given a taste of what mortal death is like in my realm, after which they are 
restored to their former status...hopefully wiser and better for the 
experience."

"In doing this, however, you will be helping your mortal host to live," Hecate 
added, "By extending her life, by living her life as Maegara, you will be 
honoring her memory and giving her your memories to treasure when she moves 
beyond to her next incarnation."

"But choose carefully before you take me up on this offer, Niece," Hades 
cautioned, "Mortals can die from so many causes.  You will, effectively, be an 
Immortal, but if you lose your head or suffer grievous injury that is too great 
to be naturally healed...then you will become my guest for a time in Elysium and 
share the fate of the Princess."

"But there is not much time in which to choose," Hecate warned, "Hades must 
restore the timeflow and be about his duties, so think well before you reject or 
accept his offer.  No one will hold you to blame for refusing...it is a heavy 
burden for any Goddess to carry..."

"But it's the only one you offer me if I'm to remain in the game and continue my 
pursuit of Herakles, right?" Athena concluded, then when the Witch Queen nodded 
she sighed, "All right...I don't see any other way around it.  I'll become 
Maegara."

"Great Lady...how can I ever thank you?" Maegara asked.

"I'll think of something," Athena lamely smiled then stood erectly and added, 
"Will I still be able to assume the form of a Goddess?"

"For temporary purposes, yes," Hecate replied, "But the bulk of your divine 
essence will return to Mount Olympus."

"Then I'm ready," Athena replied, only to experience a strange disorientation as 
it felt as though she were being sucked through a straw and 
deposited...elsewhere...

"Sis, Sis, are you all right?" someone was shaking her, and Maegara opened her 
eyes, feeling slightly sore all over.

"Uh...what happened...?" she asked in momentary confusion.

"Oh, thank the Gods!" she found herself suddenly hugged tightly in a man's arms 
and marveled at how good he smelled, for all that he was hot and sweaty, "I 
thought I'd killed you!"

"Just about," Iolaus remarked, studying the pattern of one of the only walls to 
remain standing and wondering what had happened to the blood that he had spied 
there a moment beforehand.

"Herakles?" Maegara asked in a slightly muffled voice, oddly too reluctant to 
push him away in order to demand air, even if he was holding her so tight that 
her ribs threatened to buckle.

"Well now," Chalciope frowned, "You've come out of it at last, have you?"

"Huh?" Herakles sounded more than slightly bewildered, then turned and looked 
around at the palace before saying, "I...did...all...that?"

"You and the other guy," Antiope remarked, turning to the other woman standing 
beside her and saying, "How come you're not doing something about this, Sis?  
Your husband's hugging another woman..."

"I'll let it slide this time," Hippolyta replied, adding wryly, "Just don't make 
a habit of it, husband."

"Huh?" Herakles blinked, "H-Huhsssband...?"

And then his eyes rolled up in his head and he toppled backward, his arms going 
slack as he released a much-confused Maegara.

"Looks like he finally collapsed from exhaustion," Atalanta remarked, glancing 
around, "Now, will somebody please explain to me what just happened?"

"That's what I've been asking all along," Creon said disconsolately as he sat 
upon the ruins of a block of basalt that had been spared in all the struggle.

"Where is...Hera?" Maegara frowned as she glanced around and finally spotted 
Jocasta, "YOU---BITCH!  This is all your fault!"

"Sticks and stones, Step-daughter," Maegara folded her arms, "What are you going 
to do about it?"

"Nothing," Creon replied, suddenly straightening out as he seemed to grow in 
size and dimensions, his body suffused with energy as his nearly trimmed beard 
became recognizably crimson, "But I'll have a say in what happens next, Woman!"

"Hah?" Chalciope blinked.

"That voice..." Hippolyta grew pale.

"Ohshit," Iolaus winced, "It's Dad!"

"W-W-What...husband?" Jocasta suddenly looked very, very frightened, but as she 
started to back away she found her way blocked by Eurypylus.

Creon smiled in a manner familiar to those who were from Olympus and mused, 
"Honey...I'm Hoooooommme...!"



Continued.

Comments/Criticisms/Chaldean Soap Operas: shadowmane@ridgenet.net

Zeus decides to take a stand on the matter, but does this spell good or ill for 
the marital intentions of the various goddesses?  And what will Herakles say 
when he wakes up (other than "OUCH!")?  Will the Quest for the Twelve Labors 
continue?  Will Athena be able to claim him at last?  Do Hippolyta and the 
others even stand a chance?  And what will become of Jocasta/Hera now that her 
"loving" husband is back in the picture?  (For that matter, where did Genma get 
off to in all the excitement, and what about Oedipus?)  For these and many other 
questions yet to be asked and answered, stay tuned for: "For Love and Honor," or 
"Getting Be-Hind the Eight-Ball!"  Be there!





X
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If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction 
webpage at: http://millennium.fortunecity.com/firemansam/457/jimbader.html 
All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my 
other works.