No More Olympus

Chapter 10

"I can't say enough how spectacular it is to see you," Hermes said with a giant goofy grin on his face.
"It's terrific to see you too," Athena agreed, "I just wish that it was under better circumstances."
"Why, what's the matter?" Hermes asked.
"Pandora's box has been opened," Athena explained, "Monsters are leaking out into the world. The longer we wait, the worse it gets."
"Are you serious?" Hermes questioned, looking around the room for confirmation, finding only serious looks from his fellow Olympians, "Alright, let's go close it."
This caught them off guard.
"Wait, you don't want proof or anything?" Aphrodite asked, her voice sounding slightly confused.
"Do you have proof?" Hermes asked, seemingly indifferent to the answer.
"I have a dead cyclops in my closet," Aphrodite said.
"I have a gorgon eye in my pocket," Ares added, pulling a small black pouch from his pants.
"Hold on," Athena exclaimed, pausing the conversation, "You kept it, you kept a gorgon eye?"
"Of course," Ares said, tossing the bag between his hands, "The eyes of a Gorgon are powerful, hence useful, and somehow it managed to survive being liquified by my fists."
"Give it to me," Athena demanded, extending her hand.
"No," Ares refused, "It is mine. I found it."
"I don't trust you with it," Athena explained, "You lose things, and if you lose this, we have a real mess on our hands."
"I do not lose things," Ares defended.
"You do kinda lose things," Aphrodite agreed, "I remember you coming back to Hephaestus to get a new chest plate almost every other week."
"Ares, where's your wallet?" Athena asked.
Ares patted down his pockets.
"Hermes probably stole it," Ares excused.
"I did not steal your wallet," Hermes denied, "Just because I'm a god of thieves doesn't mean I want your loose receipts and half-used gift cards. I've matured since we last spoke, thank you. I wear ties now. I pay taxes."
"Exactly my point," Athena argued, "Now gimme."
Ares reluctantly handed it over.
"How long would it take you to gather your stuff and get out of here?" Athena asked Hermes.
"If you remember, it doesn't take me long to do anything," Hermes grinned.
"Great," Athena nodded, "We're in a red truck at the back of the parking lot. Meet us there once you get a chance to slip away from your team."
"Sure thing," Hermes agreed, "It'll take me about fifteen minutes to make it through the press, I have to give 'em something, or they get real pissed."
"Great see you then," Athena said, turning to leave the office; she paused as she was about to open the door.
"Hermes, give Ares back his wallet," She demanded.
"Sure thing," Hermes said, tossing the piece of leather back to the slightly livid god of war.

"Fifteen minutes, my ass," Ares cursed, checking the console clock of his truck.
"He'll be here," Athena sighed, placing her forehead on the passenger door window.
"He could have been here five minutes ago like he promised," Ares argued, "His speed is wasted on him."
The truck once again grew silent, all except for the crinkling of various food wrappers from the back seat.
"Do you ever clean up back here?" Aphrodite asked from the back seat, pulling a bag of chips out from under herself, "This expiration date is from June of 1983."
"It's my truck," Ares said dryly, "I can do what I want with it."
"This truck's only five years old," Aphrodite realized after reading the tag on the seat.
"You couldn't take five minutes to clean it out with a garbage bag?" Athena argued.
"Coming from the woman whose backseat is likely filled with Cheerios," Ares retorted.
"She has kids with undeveloped fingers," Aphrodite asked, taking Athena's side as she tossed the thirty-year-old package in his face, "What's your excuse?"
A blast of wind filled the truck, blowing the various pieces of garbage through the truck, making the mess multiple times worse.
"What's whose excuse?" Hermes asked as he suddenly appeared in the back seat next to Aphrodite, "Wow, it's messy in here, don't you ever clean?"
"You're late," Ares sneered, picking off little pieces of tinfoil from his jeans.
"I'm sorry," Hermes apologized, "There was a brunette fan who just had to meet me."
"A fan?" Ares repeated in disbelief, "You made us wait so you could seduce a groupie?"
"I got her number," Hermes grinned.
"What's her name?" Aphrodite asked curiously.
"Lovely Chloe," Hermes bragged.
"Respect," Aphrodite nodded approvingly, "In my experience, girls with 'e' at the end of their names are nothing but trouble."
"Driver," Hermes said mockingly, pointing over Ares's shoulder, "Van Nuys airport."
Ares gave him one of his intense death glares through the rear-view mirror.
"Please..." Hermes added meekly.
Ares sparked the engine to life and steered his way onto the open road.
"Hey Hermes," Athena began, "I know it's been a while but are you still up to date on... local events."
"Do you mean am I still collecting stories like any good little messenger?" Hermes said playfully.
"Exactly," Athena nodded.
"Not to the same scale I used to be," Hermes shrugged, "But I still hear things from time to time, from circle to circle."
"What do you know about Wallace King?" She asked.
"Oh Wally, I met him through a friend of a friend of a cousin of a sister-in-law of one of my teammates. He said he was headed to Greece in search of buried treasure," Hermes rambled on, "That was a couple of weeks ago, haven't heard anything since, why do you ask?"
"We think he found Pandora's box," Athena explained, "In fact, we believe he opened it and somehow absorbed its power and has been sending monsters after us."
"Wait, so he actually found Olympus?" Hermes asked in disbelief, "He got through the spell, so he's actually a descendent of Zeus?"
"Apparently," Ares shrugged.
"Wait, you knew?" Athena asked, "And you didn't do anything about it?"
"I thought he was kidding!" Hermes defended.
"Just because you don't take anything seriously doesn't mean the rest of the world doesn't," Athena lectured.
"I thought he would have just dug straight through the mountain like everyone else in the history of the world." Hermes argued, "I mean, how many of Dad's bloodlines could still be around?"
"It's Zeus," Athena reminded him, "He puts sex addicts and Aphrodite to shame."
"Hey!" Aphrodite objected, "No need to be mean about it."
"So we're headed to Greece," Athena sighed.
It had been a long time since she had seen Greece.
Almost two thousand years in fact, and it was very intentional.
The land held far too many emotions there for Athena to tolerate. Even looking at photos of temples she recognized or where Olympus used to be brought up memories that would haunt her the rest of the day.
"We just go in," Athena said, "Close the lid on the box and come back home, understand?"
"You know you can't just close the lid on that thing, right?" Hermes asked.
"What, why not?" Athena questioned, dreading the thought of spending more time in Greece than she had to.
"It has some sort of complex magic locking mechanism," Hermes explained, "I heard Dad mention it to Hephaestus when he thought no one else was around. Apparently, it's easy to open but almost impossible to close."
"Great," Ares sighed, "Yet another step. I am reminded why we used to send mortals to complete these quests."
"Well, who knows how to close the box?" Athena demanded,
"Who's still alive? As far as I know, only Dad," Hermes sighed, "Who knows, maybe he wrote it down somewhere."
"If we're lucky," Athena sighed.
Ares steered the truck to the airport security gate, using Hermes's security pass to gain access to the airfield.
"You're going to hangar eight," Hermes explained, "I already called ahead so they'll be ready for us. We leave in the morning when the flight staff arrives."
Ares pulled the truck into the number eight hangar, revealing Hermes' private jet to their eyes.
It was a brilliant white and gold machine shined to perfection with twin engines at the back and the name 'The Chariot' written on the side in cursive letters.
"I thought the name would be clever," Hermes explained as they climbed out of the truck, "Considering who owns it."
Athena noticed Ares looked very displeased.
"You're right, Hermes," She agreed, struggling to hide her smile at Ares's rage, "It's a very clever name."
"Thanks," he smiled, utterly oblivious to Athena's teasing.
"What do you even need a private plane for?" Ares demanded, as if poking holes in his ownership of the plane would date his jealousy, "You can fly faster than any plane."
"You know," Hermes shrugged, "Babes."
Aphrodite nodded in approval.
"Anyway," He moved on, clapping his hands together, "Let's get you all comfortable, see if we can grab some sleep before we take off. Ares, your truck should be able to fit in the cargo-,"
"Olympians..." a growling voice said.
The voice came from a cloaked figure standing outside the hangar. The stranger was large, seemingly taller than any man to have ever walked the earth. Oddly enough, it appeared the figure had no head to speak of, as his hood waved about in the wind utterly unrestricted by any sort of skull.
"This must be the monster sent for you, Hermes," Athena guessed, squaring up her shoulders and strengthening her stance, "Know any monsters born without heads?"
"None come to mind," Hermes shrugged, "But to be fair, I pissed off a lot of monsters, including Ares."
"Step aside," Ares demanded, "Leave the beast to me."
"I see you gods have fallen far from your thrones on Olympus," the stranger explained.
The god of war walked forward confidently. His black steel armour quickly materialized around him, along with the long flowing red cape and horse brush-tipped helmet it came with.
"I see you still rely far too much on theatrics," the stranger continued.
Ares materialized his sword Hound's Jaw in his hand.
"Let us see what you say after I slice your legs from your spine!" Ares shouted defiantly, swinging his blade at the stranger.
The stranger quickly leapt back with surprising speed, leaving the only thing for Ares to hit being the cloak he was wearing.
A being in the shape of a headless man was revealed, with gray skin and countless eyes covering his body from head to toe and a pair of massive hands.
"What I see? I see everything!" The beast roared, leaping forward and, in one swift motion grabbing Ares by the neck and throwing him into the sky farther than the eye could see.
"Ares!" Aphrodite called out in concern.
"Oh shit," Hermes sighed, his face turning pale as he recognized the beast.
Athena recognized him as well.
"Argus," she greeted, summoning the Owl's Talon and the Aegis Shield and holding them at the ready.
Argus Panoptes was a one-of-a-kind creature. He was a giant born with one hundred eyes allowing him to see in all directions at once.
He used to be the servant of Hera. Her most trusted henchman. it was that trust that earned him the position as the guard of Io. One of Zeus's lovers who had been transformed into a cow by the god of the sky in a futile attempt to hide her before being taken and held captive by the wrathful Hera, which was a long story in and of itself.
Zeus sent Hermes to retrieve Io from Argus's captivity.
But still being a teenager at the time, Hermes was not nearly strong enough to defeat the monster in combat, but being one of the most clever of the gods, he hatched a scheme.
He disguised himself as a simple farmer's boy and struck up a conversation with the giant, torturing him with a long, tedious, heavily extended version of the tale of how pan pipes were invented. Eventually, the giant fell asleep, allowing Hermes to slice the beast's head off and set Io free.
They all believed the beast was dead, including its master Hera,
Until now.
"Wallace King wishes to speak with you," Argus began, "He'll have to make do with your heads."
"Hermes, I thought you killed this thing!" Athena shouted angrily.
"I thought cutting off a head was enough," Hermes defended, "I didn't think the situation required me to check for a pulse."
"It will take more than decapitation to stop me," Argus bragged, his voice ringing through the air despite having no apparent mouth to speak of.
"Apparently," Athena sneered under her breath.
Hermes summoned his godly armour around himself, changing into a familiar white tunic with black trimmings, a pair of golden-winged boots, a leather messenger bag and a silver helmet with gold wings on the side.
"All right, Argus," he said, taking a runner's stance, "Time for round two!"
"Hermes, don't!" Athena warned as he dashed forward impossibly fast, striking Argus repeatedly like a thousand fist-sized bullets.
Argus screamed in pain before raising his foot and slamming it into the ground, creating a shockwave that caught Hermes's legs mid-step, tripping him and sending him tumbling out the hangar door.
While he was busy with her brother Athena took her opportunity and lunged forward and thrust her spear through the giant's left side, stabbing through one of his eyes and presumably his heart.
Argus stopped moving, his body growing limp and falling to his knees.
"Alright," Athena sighed as her spear disappeared, "Little piece of big sisterly advice if you're going to kill a giant, aim for the heart."
"I'll be sure to remember that next time I'm fighting a one hundred-eyed giant, oh wait... ninety-eight-eyed giant," Hermes joked.
"Yeah, that was fun," Aphrodite began sarcastically, "But what are we doing about Ares?"
Athena looked up at the still night sky.
"He'll come down eventually," Athena shrugged, allowing her spear to casually vanish, "If there's one thing I know about him, it's that he always turns up. He's like a bad rash."
Argus's massive hand suddenly grabbed Athena by the neck, quickly standing up as he slowly began to cut off her oxygen.
"If you were counting on my heart being in the normal place," Argus began, "Then your strategy was poor."
Athena attempted to struggle her way free, slowly pulling apart the giant's grip.
However, before she could do so, Argus slammed her into the concrete with such force that she could feel the bones in her spine begin to crack. Her legs went limp.
Argus took note of this, and his eyes curled as if they were smiling.
"Can you swim without legs?" He asked, "Let's ask your uncle,"
Argus grabbed Athena by her legs and flung her out toward open water.
"I got her!" Hermes exclaimed, shooting into the distance before Argus could grab him as well.
Without hesitation, Hermes ran onto the water, leaving behind enough force to drench beaches with large waves hundreds of meters away.
Athena struggled to compose herself enough to transform into an owl, feathers struggled to grow on the tops of her arms, and ultimately her injuries proved too much to maintain any sort of real transformation.
Hermes quickly caught up with the flying Athena, carefully considering his angle of ascent before launching into the sky and easily catching her.
Athena screamed out in pain as the impact reinvigorated the pain in her back.
"Sorry," Hermes apologized, using his ability to fly to stop the two of them in midair, hovering above the ocean.
Meanwhile, back at the hangar, Aphrodite was left all alone to deal with Argus.
"The brute, the princess and the pest..." Argus growled, turning toward Aphrodite, who had since changed into her Olympian armour, "And now..."
"Just little old me," Aphrodite smiled seductively, "Next to big strong you... my dear Argus."
The giant loosened his stance upon hearing Aphrodite's magic tongue.
"There's a good boy," the goddess smiled, slowly approaching Argus with a hypnotic sway in her hips and a pink fog on her breath, "And what a loyal soldier too, so patient, so gentle, so strong, I do hope your loyalty to me matches that of your loyalty to Queen Hera."
She placed a hand on his stunned shoulder and looked deep into the relaxed pair of eyes on his collarbone.
Those eyes immediately narrowed, catching Aphrodite off guard as Argus wrapped his massive hand around her torso.
"You think some magic words can stop me!" Argus shouted in a fury, "Like some pathetic mortal in one of your temples!"
"Men today have no manners," Aphrodite grunted, struggling to free her arm from his grip, "Did no one teach you it's not polite to grab a lady without her permission?"
She quickly pulled her arm free revealing her dagger clutched in her fist before she sent it into the middle of the giant's chest with all her might.
Argus roared in pain, letting go of Aphrodite as a reflex, allowing her to drag the blade through his skin and down to his pelvis, leaking blood all over the concrete.
Aphrodite looked up at the giant, expecting him to be overwhelmed by his injuries.
Instead, the giant backhanded her across the hangar and down into a pile of crates, shattering them and their contents on impact.
"No head, no heart, and no balls," Aphrodite began quickly, regaining her composure, "What a pitiful life you live, sweetie."