Incarnates Of Olympus

The Flames of Young Ares

The police car pulled up to the scene, and John rushed out of the driver's seat with gun in hand. Several officers followed him and got themselves in position. There were no civilians nearby, and that seemed to make things easier for the police. Yet John couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that things weren't as they appeared. He listened closely, hearing the shrill and otherworldly sounds of some sort of creature. There wasn't any time to waste, and John turned to address his officers.

"Harrison and Blake, hold this position and keep civilians out. Sorbo and Lawless, you're with me."

"Captain, are we actually going to arrest this guy?" Lawless asked.

Sorbo then asked, "Can he even be arrested?"

John didn't have a decisive answer and simply replied, "We'll cross that bring when we get to it. Let's go."

<><><><><><>

It only took half a second for Corey to drop the Zeus facade and acknowledge to the newcomer with a wry smirk, "I knew it."

Brad halted his attack to address Corey. "You knew about this? How'd you...?"

"Later, Brad. "We've got to take this thing down."

Brad looked toward the enraged Hydra, its multiple heads whipping everywhere. "Any ideas?"

"We've got to cut off the main head to kill it, but these other ones keep getting in the way." Corey explained.

"Okay, so we just cut them off one by one, right? You can take one half and I can take the other." Brad suggested.

Corey was about to reply when one of the heads tried to attack them, and Brad torched it to force it into retreat. "Cutting the false heads won't work; they'll just grow into two more. We've got to keep them from growing back."

Another of the heads lunged forward and the teenage boys-turned-gods barely avoided the attack. Then Brad said, "Cauterization; burning an open wound to prevent blood loss or infection."

"Or regrowth in this case. Brad, you're a genius." Corey said.

"I have my moments. You ready to do this?" Brad asked.

"Yeah, just follow my lead." Corey said as he ready his sword.

"Just one thing; call me Ares."

"You call me Zeus and you've got a deal."

After they shared a grin of agreement, Zeus and Ares made their move. The Hydra hissed and shrieked and lunged its many heads forward with reckless abandon. The two teenage Gods pushed forward, running and dodging and ducking under the heads as they whipped around and snapped at them. Zeus and Ares were able to avoid the Hydra's relentless attacks right up until the former was within reach of the main head. A false head came right at Zeus, which was exactly what he wanted.

Zeus leapt up and above the false head, which he then cut clean off with his blade. This action would ordinarily have been a bad move, but Zeus had Ares now. Ares rushed straight for the severed neck just as it started convulsing on the ground. He closed the distance and reached out, and a burst of fire shot forth. The fire engulfed the neck and burned it to cinders, completely searing the wound shut. The plan worked, but there were still nine head's remaining of the Hydra.

Zeus and Ares pressed their attack, moving and dodging in between every remaining attempt from the Hydra to stop them. The next three false heads met a similar fate to the first; Zeus sliced them off and Ares burned them to keep them from growing back. The Hydra hissed and shrieked in rage and tried to blow the teens away with its plasma attacks. Zeus and Ares managed to stay on the move and burned another stumped neck.