Chapter 4

Back in his house, on the outskirts of Thebes, Hercules had returned home early.

"Meg, I'm home," he called, but got no response.

He started looking in all strategic places that Meg could be, but couldn't find her.

"Where could Meg be?" he wondered. "She always waits by the front door for me."

"Meg, did you say, boy?" hissed a voice from outside.

Jafar was standing outside at the front door using the same disguise he used when he sent Aladdin into the Cave of Wonders.

"I believe that was the name of the young lady who was kidnapped," he replied..

"Kidnapped?!" Hercules cried in disbelief.

"Yes!" Jafar replied. "Whisked away on a flying carpet to Agrabah! A young rogue named

Aladdin did the deed!"

Hercules was not amused.

"Well I don't know who this Aladdin is, but he's not going to lay one hand on my wife!"

He jumped on Pegasus and got on his way.

"Show no mercy boy!" Jafar mock cheered.

Suddenly, Hades appeared out of the shadows and tore off Jafar's disguise.

"What is this, a budget-cut?" He complained. "Hey, if you need some petty cash, just ask, okay?"

"Give me that!" Jafar demanded as he took the disguise back and got ready to make his exit. "It's up to your miserable minions now."

"Hey, trust me, deceit they can do," Hades promised.

Back in Agrabah, Aladdin returned to the palace, but Jasmine was nowhere in sight.

"Jasmine?" He called. "Jasmine, where are you?".

Pain and Panic watched as things went according to plan.

"Commence operation." Pain directed.

"Hero versus Hero!" Panic added.

Pain jumped on his shoulders and the two of them disguised themselves as Hercules.

"Forget every seeing your precious princess again, Aladdin! I, Hercules, the scourge of Thebes, took her!"

"What?" Aladdin demanded

"She'll make a fine prize for me to win!" Pain joked as he and Panic started off and Aladdin followed on the Magic Carpet, along with Genie.

"I think he went that way!" Aladdin directed. "Carpet, let's move!"

Pain and Panic hid in one of the buildings and removed their disguise.

"How was that?" Pain asked.

"Oh man, you nailed that voice!" Panic replied, giving a thumbs-up.

Just then, Hercules landed with Pegasus and Phil on a rooftop. He started glancing around.

"We gotta find this Aladdin creep," he muttered. "But where do we start?"

As he started looking around, he didn't notice he was standing on the Magic Carpet, who slipped up and make him fall on his back. The carpet flew around them and then went back to the rooftop where Aladdin and Genie were standing.

"Maybe he'll find us!" Phil pointed.

"Hercules! It takes a lot of nerve to kidnap someone's wife!" Aladdin shouted as he flew towards them.

"Nobody knows that better than you, Aladdin!" Hercules replied, charging at Aladdin.

Right in the nick of time, Aladdin moved out of Hercules's way, causing him to fall over the edge of the building.

"It's look, then leap." Phil muttered to himself. "How hard is that?! Look, leap!"

Hercules remembered what he'd learned and started looking around as he fell. He saw a window to another building close by and made himself go through. Aladdin and the Genie ran over to the edge of the other building to see where he went.

At the bottom, Hercules crashed through the wall and ran to the edge of the other building.

"I'll say this once!" He warned as he picked the building up and shook it around. "I'm in no mood to play games!"

Aladdin and Genie kept stumbling around, but eventually, Aladdin got back on his feet and jumped on Carpet.

"He's too strong to fight head-on." Aladdin decided. "I'll lead him away!"

He flew down towards Hercules.

"Come on Hercules, catch me if you can!" He teased.

Hercules decided to go along with his little game and dropped the building. He jumped on Pegasus and followed Aladdin, trying his best to catch up.

"That's the guy who took Meg! We've got to stop him!"

Aladdin thought for a moment.

"Maybe a run through the city'll wear him down!"

Up ahead were some clotheslines filled with sheets, clothes, and other items.

"Let's see how he does in the Alley of a Thousand Sheets!" Aladdin muttered.

He flew past the clotheslines easily, but Hercules wasn't so lucky for awhile. There was so little space, there was no time to analyze the situation or apply common sense.

"I knew that would work!" Aladdin exclaimed.

But Aladdin was wrong. Hercules snapped his way through the clotheslines, with the help of his godlike strength. Aladdin started thinking again.

"Okay, new plan! Head for that scaffolding!" He commanded as Carpet flew in that direction. But Hercules wasn't so far behind.

"I'm getting so tired of this!" He grumbled.

As Aladdin neared the scaffolding, he grabbed a rope to swing around and knock Hercules off Pegasus. Instead, he landed right in front of Hercules, whose fists were clenched.

"Uh oh." Aladdin muttered, looking up at the bigger, more muscular man.

Hercules swung a punch, Aladdin made a quick getaway, jumping onto another awning and then back onto carpet.

"Not gonna try that again." He decided. "This guy is strong. REALLY strong."

This gave him an idea.

"Hey...maybe we could use that."

He flew to an abandoned building and Hercules landed right behind him.

"Ha! Hiding?" Hercules teased.

"No. Just waiting for you to catch up." Aladdin teased back.

Hercules swung another punch, but missed and crashed into the wall.

"When I get my hands on you..." He grumbled, rubbing his head.

"If you get your hands on me, Jerkules." Aladdin teased, winking.

Even that little wink drew Hercules up the wall. He kept swinging punches at Aladdin, but missed every time.

"You know, everybody thinks they're being clever when they call me that. But it's NOT THAT FUNNY!"

"Maybe, but it so suits you." Aladdin teased. "Catch!"

Hercules noticed that his punches were making the building collapse. The ceiling was about to fall and he caught it just in time.

"I can get you out of this," Aladdin offered. "If you tell me where Jasmine is."

Hercules couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was too busy trying to hold up the ceiling.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" he insisted.

"Well, then you think about it under a ton of rubble. Bye!" Aladdin decided as he headed for the exit.

"I don't care about me, but.. let my wife Meg go!" Hercules demanded, still struggling with the ceiling.

Aladdin couldn't believe his ears.

"Your wife!? Uh oh, I think there's been a big mistake."

Sure enough, the whole building collapsed. Meg and Jasmine saw the whole thing from the Hades's lair.

"Hercules!"

"Aladdin!"

Hades and Jafar were laughing maniacally with their arms around each other's shoulders, happy to see their enemies fall.

Hades smiled after the laugh.

"Hey, you know this is kinda fun, ya I mean I like it... it's cleansing."