The Scion of Athena

by Arthur Hansen

Here starts the journey of a girl to goddess among a band of Scions! Special thanks to Don "Dolph", Erin "Janeka", Gabi "Dana" and Trent "Tsukyo" for allowing me to use versions of their characters for this story.

4. Times of Turmoil

Chapter 10: Happy Holiday Mayhem to You!

Dougal was whistling some awful tune in a very off-key manner. Missing a front tooth hurt his ability there a lot. He wandered over to where his sometime drinking buddy was tinkering on his Mustang again. "Yo," he called out. "I got those door-panels you wanted."

The big Aesir peeked out from under the hood. "Great. With that, I can make it so we can all easily fit in my car. I even UV blocked the windows especially for you."

"I guess Janeka and Sheila is working on some sort of anti-sunlight suit too," the dwarf said doubtfully.

"They like you," Dolph said as he patted the dwarve's back.

"Well, except when I leave Cheetos crumbs out. Or make something twice as fast as they can." Dougal looked a bit sheepish at that. He had to admit that this was one Aesir that he didn't mind. Most of the rest were right bastards, only wanting the dwarves to craft for them. But Dolph seemed to like forging things himself. So it was a novel experience crafting with an Aesir.

The door to the warehouse kicked open as the other scions made their presence known.

"Knock knock, birthday boy!" Janeka called out raucously. Behind her were Tsukyo, Sheila and Dana, all burdened with presents. The two Amazons, Samantha and Roxanne, were following behind looking bemused.

"Just because you aren't as strong as us doesn't mean we have to carry all the presents," Sheila grumbled under a pile as large as Dana's.

The dark-eyed daughter of Artemis just rolled her eyes. "Come on, it will be fun."

The big and supernaturally handsome Aesir was looking a bit confused. "I thought you guys were all going to be out of town with family for the week?" Christmas was only a few days away.

"Eh, I couldn't visit late while my grandparents are with the deprogrammers. So I didn't have anything better to do. I did finally convince my Grandpa to move out of the city. So I'm buying him a nice home in Alabama," the black teen said with a too wide grin.

"My old man is running a bar. Even with the night off, he won't be expecting to see me until about one o'clock," Dana noted while grinning.

"We're here with her, of course," Samantha said. "I brought the mistletoe!"

"Can anyone talk to it to promise to not hurt us?" Sheila asked a bit too innocently. "Are you going to summon up your Einherjar? I'm pretty sure I heard some bottles of beer in the grocery bag."

"Sure, why not." Dolph spun the Shovel, it's broad head covered in glowing runes, to slam down upon the ground. His five undead servants, gifts from dread Hel, arose through the concrete like it was merely water.

Sigurd looked around first. "A party?"

Fritz smiled, quite ghastly looking under his Nazi army helmet. "A different sort of mayhem, eh?"

That got all the Einherjar chuckling, even as the two Amazons started to set out the refreshments. Sheila had remembered Dougal's two favorite flavors of Doritos and his Cheetos, much to his delight. Dolph had grabbed a beer, muttering that it tasted better than the water (or soda that Janeka had made sure to grab.)

Sheila was drinking her bottled, flavored water when Dana, Janeka and herself all suddenly looked towards the main street. Was something else going on out there?

So they were the only ones not totally surprised when a lightning bolt blasted right through the north wall, swept through the eastern wall and then out the southern wall like some demented lightning gun.

"We're under attack!" Dana shouted, even as she punched a falling piece of the roof just before it could hit Samantha's head.

Dolph took a lightweight I-beam to his head, watching in bemusement as it bounced. Tsukyo had managed to react just in time, so had joined Janeka and Sheila in dancing between the falling debris.

"Retributionhasarrive, ChildrenoftheBetrayers," a booming voice called out in Ancient Atlantean. His skin was charcoal black and he wore armored sleeves and a helm that did not hide his lower face. A muzzled-face that was full of tusks and fangs with glowing blue eyes within the shadows of its helm.

Dougal just looked up at the fifty foot tall man-like being standing at the eastern wall. "What in the Nine Realms is that?" He was holding his left arm that had been broken when he used it to stop some debris from braining him.

"Assassins," Janeka shouted even as she spun and fired as a bare-chest Atlantean that had a gleaming black sword in his hand charged at her from the shadows.

"Attans, attack!" the leader ordered. The Atlantean assassins wore black jewelry, arms and leg guards along with fearsome animal head-dresses. "Baduraswantsustobathintheirblood!"

Dana just barely avoided the giant's metal club that turned to lightning as he swung, her glittering scythe deflecting two swords that sought her blood. Roxanne was not quite so lucky, but her bullet proof vest saved her life even as she spun from a cut that left a foot long cut in her chest across a breast.

Sheila and Janeka were firing as fast as they could in a controlled manner at the assassins, even as they leaped and twisted around the lightning bolt club that snapped through the air. Tsukyo snatched one of the Attans and tossed it in the way of the giant club even as Dolph snarled in fury as he grew to an astounding ten and a half foot tall.

"Man, being this much smaller than him sucks," the Aesir complained even as he finished pulling out his spear. He moved to block the downswing of the club, only for it to swerve to the side, bounce off the shattering concrete and then thunder into the side of his chest with the power of a thunderbolt. That caused him to roar in anger and pain.

The youngest scion frowned as she zoomed into the air on the wind, her bullets smashing into the demon's chest, but not to any great affect. She had the impression she would need a great deal larger caliber weapon to really hurt it. But it was out of the corner of her eye that she saw several things.

A bare-chested Asian with writhing Yakuza-style tatoos was over looking the area from a building about seven hundred feet away and two police cars and their officers looking away from the newly arrested convenience store robbers they had just apprehended only two blocks away. "This... is going to be messy," she muttered even as she dodged the giant's lighting-club, feeling her hair stand on end. "Guys, I'm going after the mastermind from Nazca!"

Kane Taoka frowned as the youngest scion appeared next to him. "Foolish girl. You attack your betters quite brazenly." He pulled out his katana, even as the black dragon tattoo upon his chest roared and then lashed out at her, smashing the air conditioner behind her. "Think quickly, girl. Are you a heroine?"

With that, the serpentine shadow dragon roared as it flew off at a fast slither, right towards the cops. One of the cops had the will to actually fire upon it as it rushed down.

The young girl gave the Scion of the Amatsukami a venomous glare, then rocketed off.

Cpl. Reggie Toyle was staring death in the face when a girl appeared next to him, picked up his patrol car by the bumper and intercepted the dragon of shadow with a crunch. He took a quick shot that bounced directly off of its' forehead.

"That gun is too small of a caliber! Let me handle it," the thin, tall teen said as she grunted in effort to push the dragon back. She was losing the contest of strength, as the dragon was much larger and a bit stronger.

Back down the street, flickers of silver and the cracks of bullets sent the giant demon staggering back even as a eleven foot tall Aesir climbed his much larger adversary like it was just a tree.

"Holy shit, this is real!" a thirty year old woman said, even as her eleven year old son was busy holding up his phone and taking pictures. She grabbed the boy and dragged him around the corner of the C-Store while the dragon finished shredding the cop car.

The young demigoddess leaped over the snapping snout of the dragon even as she channeled the distilled essence of war into the loaded bullet of Athena's Wit. She side-stepped and spun, the gun held perfectly down her left side and fired. It's inimical power blew a six inch whole right through the neck of the dragon that weeped nocturne ichor. The wound started to close slowly.

All six cops were now firing, mostly just aggravating the dragon. With a snarl, it lunged forward at the thin girl, who dropped backwards on her free hand and then flipped herself along the ground in a spin that ended right back on her feet with impossible poise. She gathered even more power to imbue into her gun's next two bullets. Crack-crack she went, causing a pained shriek as the oriental shadow-dragon realized he was in real danger of being killed. It streaked down the road to try to escape, heading towards an alley.

The daughter of Athena was only a moment behind him, passing the dragon in spite of his supernatural gait. The dragon had a moment to look surprised before she fired a final bullet into its head.

It started to dissipate immediately, melting away like shadows under the rising sun. In another blur, she appeared back at the cops. A quick glance showed her that her friends were still fighting. "Everyone here all right?"

"We're fine! Back up is on the way," the oldest cop called out.

---

Dolph was busy stabbing the gray-skinned demon as he held on tenaciously from its left shoulder-plate with one arm. Dana and Tsukyo were leaping from the nearby buildings to stab or punch it in some of its vitals while the boom of Janeka's, the Einherjar's, and the Amazon's guns kept up a steady amount of damage. It seemed to be healing just slightly slower than the damage that was coming in.

Dana's dark eyes, hooded under her shadow-mask, could see in the darkness as easily as anyone could under the noon sun spotted something high up in the sky. "Dolph, Tsukyo! Duck and cover!" she called out as she leaped away to bounce off the building across the street.

Both of the demigods trusted her, so moved quickly away just before a sonic boom hit the area. A V6 engine (infused with the inimical glowing red essence of war) struck the demon's shoulder in a rending attack that crippled him and sent him staggering to one knee from the super-sonic attack. Sheila skidded to a stop as she slid across the ground after an abrupt eighty degree turn.

"Huh, not just uselessly distracted after all," Janeka muttered slightly. "All right, people! All together! Let's finish him off!"

Dolph and Tsukyo knocked his remaining arm out from under him even as Dana with her Amazon sliced into the demon's chest. He was already gurgling as his obsidian bile leaked from fatal wounds, but Sheila and Janeka's bullets finished him off.

---

The front page of the San Francisco Chronicle had a very nice picture of Sheila holding a cop car with one hand as the shadow dragon bit and clawed into it.

"Wow, that's freaking really cool," Anton said as he looked over the picture.

Erwin had the news on at the breakfast table, where pictures and short cell-phone videos were plastered in snippets on the local news. "Well, I don't think I've ever heard of any modern demigods going quite so public," the lawyer noted dryly.

Lisa had a fairly severe frown on her face. "Is this going to be a problem?" she asked her adopted daughter.

"Not that I'm aware of," Sheila replied even as she finished several emails to her investment company with a carbon copy to her lawyer. "I mean, it's not like being publicly known for this is going to stop the monsters from attacking. It certainly didn't stop that demon last night."

That was when her charging smart phone rang with Janeka's ring tone.

"This is Sheila."

"Yo. Get dressed up in something nice. If we are going to be plastered on the front page, we might as well let our adoring public know the truth. 'sides, I got nothing to hide. I'll be by to pick you up in about two hours. Okay?" the daughter of Ares said. You could hear the smile in her voice.

"We're going to be holding a press conference?" Sheila deduced incredulously.

"Ayup. See you later."

The young demigoddess just stared at her phone in consternation. "I, uh, guess we are going to have a press conference."

"My friends are going to be sooo jealous." Anton looked like it too.

Sheila actually put some thought into her outfit. She was not going to wear a skirt or dress, so dug out a pair of dark slacks with a white blouse. She added a suit jacket and sturdy boots. She was, of course, wearing her armor under the outfit which actually made her look a little heavier.

Two hours later, Sheila stepped out the front door and avoiding a few of the neighbors as she slid into the passenger side seat of Janeka's Cadillac. It was actually a fairly short drive to Janeka's office over at the Union Square.

"All these people are here for us?" the blonde said, feeling a bit intimidated. The square around the central obelisk was absolutely packed.

"Yo, girl, push us through this, would you? You are taller. Move it. Coming through," Janeka called out.

Sheila realized it was quite true. She was actually more than two inches taller, which she had picked up the fact that it frustrated the older teen. "Please move. Coming through." Then started to use just a bit of her strength and a fair bit of her too agile hands. She actually stopped two men from picking her pocket.

Dolph, Tsukyo and Dana were already there, giving some fans that were chanting DC against some other fans that were shouting Marvel some very odd looks.

"Heya, kiddo!" Dolph called out. He was dressed in his leathers and had put on a black shirt with the jacket over it.

Tsukyo was dressed fairly snazzy in an impeccable three-piece suit while Dana looked quite uncomfortable in her own sweater and slacks. Although it was more likely that she was about to be outed as a super-human cop.

The mayor had shown up and was giving the five demigods side-long looks, like he couldn't just figure things out quite yet. He did take a moment to shake their hands cordially. "So, ladies and gentlemen, are you ready? I'm just here to over see this fairly dramatic time."

"What the-!" Dana said, looking up.

"Tada! The life of the party is here!" winged man said as he landed right next to them. "Donny Rhodes, scion of the ever radiant Aphrodite has arrived." He was wearing a very expensive white silk... leisure suit? His short blond hair was impeccably coiffed and he actually had just a hint of makeup on. His wings (which worked and functioned and looked like) were attached to a harness he wore impeccably over his suit.

"Is it a god-damned male thing to be ten times prettier than us gals here?" Janeka asked bluntly. All three men were staggeringly handsome. The daughter of Ares was incredibly plain in comparison.

Dana and Sheila both actually were prettier than most supermodels, but compared to Dolph, Tsukyo, and the new arrival, they still almost looked plain themselves.

Donny just looked at her with a shit-eating grin. "I guess it is today."

"Um, nice to meet you, Mr. Rhodes. I'm Laura Givens. Let me introduce you and then I'll turn over the mike to you." The news anchor gave them a quick smile and stepped up to start speaking to the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming here on such short notice. Obviously we are all here to learn about these amazing, superhuman individuals."

The crowd actually roared out, drowning her voice.

"And without further adieu, here is Janeka White." The news reporter stepped back.

Janeka actually stood up and tilted the microphones down a little bit. "I'm not exactly sure why I got picked to speak. Like the nice reporter said, my name is Janeka White and I am a demigoddess. The daughter of Ares more specifically. While that gives us some cool powers, it also comes with the hefty penalty of the enmity of our parents foes. Strangely, I think dear old dad managed to piss off quite a few people."

That got a laugh as Janeka played the crowd with a silver tongue.

"But yeah, demigods exist. Not a mutant, not an alien-" she was saying to the crowds and the panoply of cameras to the whole world.

A window shattered as an antitank missile was fired from inside a building five hundred feet away. It managed to surprise all of them, even those with incredibly keen senses as they had not been expecting such an outrageous attack. Dolph actually did not even see it until it hit him dead in the chest as he was in the center of the ground and the back. The three demigoddesses had reacted with incredible reflexes to the unexpected attack, each leaping away to the extent of their abilities. Dana and Sheila jumped more than one hundred feet straight up while Janeka actually dived forward on the edge of the attack.

The explosion was massive, killing the mayor instantly. Linda Givens was bleeding to death even as Dolph looked around in shock. He himself had been unaffected, as reality had again hiccuped when he hadn't noticed the incoming attack. Tsukyo and Donny had actually imbued their skin with a strange bit of legend, shedding their skin even as they were blasted with lethal force. They ended up at the edge of the crowd looking only a little mussed from their clothing being shredded.

Sheila landed on the crater even as she reached for her amulet that carried the focus of her legendary healing ability. She split her focus between Linda and another victim on the edge of the explosion. "Dolph! Dana!" she called out, letting her frustration show.

Both of them pulled out their purloined relics. Dana had her little Atlantean statue while Dolph had his Chinese amulet. Even as they started their best to heal, Janeka was dashing across the heads of the crowd, covering the five hundred feet in just 1.1 seconds, leaping up into the room where the rocket had been fired from. Tsukyo and Donny were right behind her, thought it took them almost ten seconds to cover the distance.

All in all, they saved everyone but the mayor who had been far too close to the anti-armor weapon explosion. The frothing Christian Fundamentalist had been arrested, shouting the glories of god and death threats to all heretics. On CNN live, no less.

---

Sheila just glared at her younger step-sibling. "It was not fun. I nearly got blown up." She was back home at their small home. Her parents had been happy to find she was fine and then had said she looked very nice on TV, even if she had not had the chance to speak to the public.

A brand new reality news show was airing on the large TV in the living room. Linda Givens was anchoring the new show which was called Scion Watch, extolling the virtues of the heroes that had saved her life and asking for people to call in to a hotline with tips about the supernatural. Her phones had been ringing off the hook non-stop.

"But you looked so cool as you out jumped the explosion. It was like something right out of the movies, but more real," Anton babbled on loudly. "My friends think I'm the coolest kid on the block and we've got news reporters camped outside-"

Ding-dong went the doorbell again. Their mother headed to it quickly, muttering under her breath some very vile curses. She had not liked this sort of attention. So when she looked through the peakhole, her frown only got more serious. She unchained the heavy lock and deadbolt and then slid the door open.

"Can I help you officer?" she asked the two uniformed brown and gold San Francisco PD on her doorstep. "Please, come in."

Sargent Rubin Brown did not look happy to be here at all. "I'm afraid ma'am-"

"Sargent, just arrest her," the man in the suit behind him ordered. "We'll get this sorted out at the police station."

That was when Erwin showed up, taking in the suits and officers at the front door. "And what are we being arrested for?"

"Endangerment of a minor, child abuse, abandonment to start with. I can't believe that any parent would let their eleven year old daughter run around with illegal weapons to fight monsters," Jack Northrup said with a smarmy smile on his face. "As the Attorney General of California, it's my duty to make sure such a high profile case-"

"-gets you elected later on," Sheila cut in bluntly. "My parents don't have a choice in this. They were given a mandate by their goddess to raise me, but things got off the rails as something bad is going on. They are having to let me make my own way because they can not protect me from the monsters."

"That isn't for you to decide, little girl. Cuff her if she resists," he said with a sneer.

"So exactly where are you taking me for my 'protection'?" Sheila asked. "And how are they going to handle the zombies, vampires, assassins, giants and demons? Or are you going to put all those normal children and adults into danger trying to protect me from things you don't fully understand?"

The man from Child Services frowned at that. "My name is Matthew Warren. I'm sure if we keep you out of the limelight, you won't get attacked," he said in a tone that attempted to be reassuring, but really came across as condescending.

"You do realize the last time someone tried to 'protect me' by sending me on a wild goose chase I ended up fighting a demigoddess of death and murder along with her dozen zombie followers? I mean, Sergeant Brown was the responding officer. Janeka and the band actually showed up five minutes after him and his new partner."

Warren frowned at that. He was a very plain man who was under an awful lot of pressure right this moment. "Officer, is what she said true?"

"Yeah, we arrived to find her fighting off undead at a cemetery," Brown said as he tilted back his hat off of his dark brow.

"And last night? We were showing up to Dolph's eighteenth surprise birthday party. If you put me with normal people, you are just painting a target on them. I've been spending more and more time at our warehouse just for that reason." Sheila's eyes were hard and cold. "They aren't strong enough to pick up a car or fast enough to outrun the wind nor smarter than any mortal I've met."

"And we're not going anywhere," Erwin said as he slipped back around the corner. "The phone is for you, Mr. Northrup. It's the governor."

Jack Northrup's face had a priceless look of total surprise as he took the cordless phone. "What the hell did you do? Sergeant, I told you to arrest that man. What the fucking hell are you doing?"

"Mr. Northrup, I think I need to call my captain before we proceed. I'm not sure we are taking the right steps here," Rubin said carefully. He reached up for his radio, calling in to the station.

That was when Dana pulled up in her car. "Hey, Sheila? What's going on?" Flashes from the photographers and cameras were beneath her notice.

"The Attorney General showed up to supervise arresting my parents to bolster his image. I'm sure it's a re-election image thing. I thought we were going to meet tomorrow?"

"Something bad came up. If we don't get to the River of the Dead and to Atlantis, the world might end. We're meeting at Janeka's place. Need a lift?" she asked with a grin.

"No, I think it's time for an object lesson." The winds swirled around Sheila even as her hair glinted brightly in the sunlight. With a woosh, she rocketed into the air faster than most airplanes traveled.

---

Chapter 11: A Ride into the Eternal Night

"You know, just appearing in other countries is probably bound to upset someone," Tsukyo noted as the band of demigods appeared at a ruin in Egypt.

"We don't have time for that. Dana's prophecy really did state that if we didn't stop the Mirror of Alnottis, the Atlantean gods were going to be freed soon," the darkest-skinned demigoddess stated. In the bright light, she almost looked like obsidian.

"You know, some of us did not get to hear that..." Sheila drawled out.

"AstheBarrierwithinDeathcracksandbreaks; unboundcometheprodigalchildofthegodsandTitans. OutofFrostandIcecomesthearmiesthatmustnotbe, onlythepowerofthemirrorofAlnottiskeepstheworldonedge. TheTwinofAtlantismustbefoundandlost, settingforwardtheFall." Dana seemed quite stern as she spoke the words that thrummed with power. Dana seemed quite stern as she spoke the words that thrummed with power.

"I would have suggested trying to use the gate that Døråbning can supposedly open to the Helheim, but I think that I'm being targeted by some of the Norse gods." Some of the hints that Hel had been cruelly suggesting to him pointed to not only Odin and Loki, but perhaps other servators of Hel herself. Even his own birth had been hinted at as a pawn being moved into place on the bloody battlefield of the Aesir.

"So we're going to pick an entrance to the Underworld that shouldn't immediately get people to attack us just because of who we are. Pretty sure that the three of us are rocking the Greek boat a bit. And Susano-o has some serous enemies among the Amatsukami," Janeka noted. "And that pathway between the world is being guarded already."

"I still say we should have just fought our way to the gateway to Atlantis," Dolph said. "That would have been a good challenge."

"Time is of the essence," Dana said as she checked her full body armor as she readied her mask. "I actually asked the fates of prophecy if that was a wise course and got a definite 'no'."

"So we are looking to use the Pesedjet pathway and then randomly find the way to the Atlantean Prison?" Sheila asked in confusion.

"We might have to bribe a guide down there. Don't sell your soul, but I brought a lot of gold and silver, just to be safe." The dark daughter of Ares looked very serious. In fact, she took a moment to make sure everyone had at least ten gold and ten silver coins.

---

"I need to figure out a way to summon the Deathmobile," the big Aesire complained as he drove a rental landrover down the dusty roads of Egypt, heading to the Valley of the Kings. The really old vehicle rattled as it croaked along, almost seeming to wheeze as it drove on the sandy trail.

"Yes, you do. I paid way too much to buy this piece of shit," Janeka complained as she held on in the passenger side. Janeka was a city girl, through and through. And would much rather have her office or workshop.

"Dolph, turn off here and take the left passage," the daughter of Artemis called out.

"What left passage? That's a solid cliff face!" he complained.

Janeka grabbed and spun the wheel abruptly as the driver stared fearlessly at the oncoming rock. He was not worried about bouncing off of it, though he wondered about how everyone else would deal with a crash.

"Whoa, wicked," Tsukyo said as they sailed though an ancient illusion and into the steep, slotted canyon.

The canyon opened up a bit, allowing them to see a huge and ancient temple built into the wall of the end of the canyon ahead. The Egyptian pillars held up a carving of Ra driving his chariot across the sky. A waterfall in one of the cliff faces cascaded across the sand and then into the huge, fifty foot wide entryway.

"The stone looks like it is scorched here. And that water... is black," Dolph noted, somehow feeling at ease with the concept of entering the afterlife... the Underworld. The land rover rattled as it hit a bump on the rough path, now travelling parallel to the flat black water.

The entrance swallowed the sun behind them, instantly shifting everything to a tunnel with a river at the center. The rover's head lights seemed barely travel ten feet in the darkness, though Dolph seemed unworried.

Dana seemed to be quite happy, looking around.

"Can you actually see anything out there?" Sheila asked Tsukyo in a low tone.

"Just a bit. But we don't seem to be going anywhere." He closed his eyes. "Hey guys, we aren't going anywhere. We're stuck."

"That's because we aren't traveling by river. I think we should pull over... there," Dana said, pointing into the darkness to a spot along the river.

"Huh. You are right," Dolph said cryptically.

"I hate when I can't see something. What is it?" Janeka grumbled.

"It's a dock," Dana explained.

The land rover sputtered a bit as Dolph skidded to a halt, then turned off the ignition. Janeka and Sheila both had a light, but there were the only ones that seemed to need the light.

The little wooden dock was sticking out into the water, quite incongruous. The water did not lap and looked unpleasant, though it carried no odor.

"Something is coming," Sheila said.

"I hear it too. Someone rowing a boat here with one oar," the daughter of Ares confirmed.

Dana cursed softly. "I hope it isn't him."

'Him' became apparent soon enough, as a twenty foot boat with a hooded and cloaked figure pulled up to the dock.

"Shit. Charon the Ferryman of the Dead?" Dolph muttered darkly. "Let me do the talking, okay?"

Dana nodded very quickly, followed cautiously by Sheila and Janeka.

Charon held out his skeletal hands, expecting his payment.

"You will take us to the Underworld of Atlantis?" Dolph asked as his appearance slipped into his horrifying manner; pasty-white skin and straw-like hair. His eyes made him look slightly unhinged.

The boatman stood slightly taller, studying the Son of Hel. He chuckled softly. "An Aesir seeking Atlantis? Such a thing does not exist... officially."

"I've already been there once... I wish you to take us there again. I have ten silver for your fee," the near-giant stated.

"And who seeks passage?"

Dana spoke at this point. "No one can... officially. After all, we are going no where."

Charon's laugh sounded like a rattle, horrible and low. "Pay your fee, Aesir and no ones."

They all piled into the boat and Charon was quickly rowing them through the pitch black stillness on rippling, Stygian darkness. The slosh of the oar was almost hypnotic over the next two hours.

"I am totally lost. I can follow a trail anywhere and see in the darkest nights..." Dana said in frustration suddenly. The daughter of Artemis prided herself on her keen senses.

"We're almost there," Dolph said as he looked ahead. "I think I even see the path that he took."

Charon seemed to make a rattling noise angrily as the ferry skidded into the blistering cold sand of the beach. That caused Janeka and Sheila to jump slightly, though they were glad they could see something again.

"Jeez, gals. I thought you were braver than that, being the daughters of Ares and Athena," Tsukyo spouted out incautiously.

The hiss from Charon was explosive. "Ares and Athena? And a girl that can follow any trail? Children of three of the gods that bound me?" Blazing pits of light errupted under Charon's hood. "Dodekatheon! Betrayers! Enslavers!" His chains that held him to his ferry rattled as his form started to grow with sickening pops and cracks. He was now over ten feet tall as his started to bend and twist, extending a muzzle full of teetch.

"Um... oops?" the son of Susano-O said.

"Tsukyo! There was a reason we let Dolph do most of the talking," Sheila snapped even as she leaped to the shore.

"Ha. I'm not worried," Dolph exclaimed with the fervor of battle. His blood sang, bidding him to show his worth against such a powerful foe. He slammed down his spear, only to blink in awe as it bounced off the form in front of him.

"DOLPH! He's too powerful! He's only slightly bound and used to be a god! It took Ares, Athena, Artemis and Apollo to defeat him!" Sheila was shouting out now. She had instantly sized the demon-godling up, realizing he was still on the cusp of divinity compared to her and her friends that had barely transitioned into demigods.

It was too late, as Charon's hideous claws reached out, opening him from hip to shoulder in one supernally sharp gash.

"Shit!" the Aesir gasped as he was suddenly whisked away on a wind even as Janeka and Dana started attacking Charon with pistol and sickle.

"His armor took it, but don't get into melee with him. His claws can shred a ghost eternally and shatter stone," Sheila shouted at Tsukyo who was about to charge in to punch him.

"Whoa!" The demigod of the Amatsukami was suddenly backing up, letting his gauntlets block Charon's fatal claws.

"Pull back from the water. He's chained to his ferry and can't leave it," Janeka called out authoritatively. Her pistol was firing, causing serious wounds.

Charon roared, a sound of despair and death as he grabbed his chains and started to pull his ferry behind him across the bank of the River Styx. "I will devour your souls!" The holes in his cloak healed up as the river behind him was suddenly frothing and bubbling.

"I think we should run. He's healing faster than we can hurt him," Dana noted a little worriedly.

Dolph had his spear out still, snarling at the demon as huge batwings unfurled. "I hate that."

He gasped in pain as Sheila picked him up over her shoulder and took off. Janeka, Dana and Tsukyo were only a moment behind her.

---

"That's the best I could do. Charon's claws seems to actually wound your soul and my healing is only able to stitch up base flesh," Sheila said an hour later.

"And Charon has finally given up. It looked like it was hurting himself to drag the ferry so far from the Styx. I had no idea he could even do that," Dana admitted.

"Well, now we know. And knowing is half the battle. You going to be okay, Dolph?" Janeka asked worriedly

"Yeah. I'm tougher than that. I can heal the wounds myself, but it's taking time." The big Aesir was now stitched back up, even as he forced his ichor to try to force his wound more closed. He had over a hundred stitches up his chest.

"Dana, can you try to spot us a feature in this frozen land? We need to get to the gateway," the youngest scion noted as she put away her medical kit.

"Oh, it's about fifty miles that way," Tsukyo said as he pointed off into the distance. "I can lead us to it easily."

"I guess you have a bit of traveller in you," Sheila thought aloud.

"Yup!"

They started to push through the gritty, black snow that melted in black streaks upon them, only to refreeze when the icy wind howled down upon them. Up ahead, they saw hills with broken spires and shattered towers.

"This must be lost Atlantis. Or parts of it," Janeka said as she scanned around.

They had to fight off several spectres, but here in the Underworld all of the demigods could actually affect them and the ancient ghosts were poor warriors. Tsukyo kept them moving to the main spire. Like Dolph, he seemed immune to fatigue. Janeka and Sheila were both starting to flag though.

"Hold up a second, guys. I know you three are like the energizer bunnies of demigods, but some of us are not quite as sturdy," the daughter of Ares called out.

Dana was feeling quite antsy. She pulled out a cup and rolled some bones. "Resting will be disastrous. Calamity will befall us and the world."

The youngest scion was feeling the burn of walking for hours. "There is a solution. Combat stimulants like pilots sometimes use. I'm glad I got you to get me a full combat medical kit." She pulled out the pack and started to unroll it. "Come here, Janeka." She started to carefully fill a syringe from three small bottles, using a slightly heavier needle than you would see in most hospitals.

The black woman was grumbling at that, but had to admit it was a good solution. Her fatigue and pain seemed to drop away rapidly. "Whoo. I could see why that's regulated. I'd kill for a six shot super-mocha."

Sheila finished administering her own dosage, frowning as she had to use a heavier needle. She would have to remember that she was actually a little more sturdy than Janeka.

"I found an entrance. The stench down there is bad, guys. I'm going to try and cloak us in shadows, but you still need to do your best to sneak," the daughter of Artemis said in a soft tone. "I saw a patrol of Atans earlier."

They all nodded and followed her down into the base of the central spire of Atlantis. Deeper and deeper they went, as Tsukyo and Dana guided them through the warrens. It was an hour later that they finally found the massive, underground cavern.

It was Sheila that heard the tinkling above them. What she saw caused her throat to clench. A goddess, fifty feet tall, was bound in iron chains engraved in runes and hanging from the very center and top of the cavern. Hanging from her feet was a mirror, round and perfect. It was imbued with a soft, red radiance.

The ground of the cavern was filled with the armies of Atlantis. Atans, demons and conscripted soldiers that milled around the portals as more of their servants

And she heard it breaking!

"Guys! Above us!" she shouted as the winds gathered her up and she shot into the air at near super-sonic speeds. Perhaps she could heal it! Or relieve the stress upon it with her strength.

"Whoa!" Tsukyo called out.

"Tsukyo, the rest of us can't fly!" Janeka shouted even as the armies below awoke to the danger.

The Amatsukami nodded even as he grabbed Dolph and Janeka. Dana jumped onto his back and then he shot into the air.

Sheila was holding the edges of the red mirror even as it started to develop fractures across its surface. "Come on. Its getting worse-"

"Dolph, think we can jury-rig-" Janeka was asking the larger demigod as the mirror failed.

The glass was fracturing like someone was tapping around the frame in a spiral from the outer edge to the center, suddenly and fast. It exploded inward, into an impossible space of every color imaginable. The five demigods were suddenly inside the space, looking into a hole that showed the underworld as the mirror exploded now outwards. Sheila took an immense number of shards, while each of the others in her band were hit by at least two.

With a roar like the end of the world, they were shot through time and space. The explosion traveled back through the rift, shattering the chain that it had hung onto and then exploding up to the chains that held the Titan Avatar of Darkness and Magic that burst like leaves in the wind. Demosia, Goddess of Mystery and Darkness floated down to the ground in the middle of the shattered armies of Atlantis, weeping for the loss of her nation and their worlds. Words of magic fell off her lips as she tried to summon her mother and father, brother and sisters to battle... to war!

And twisted reflections of the Gods of Atlantis answered, stepping through shattered and collapsing portals, holding them open with pure force of will and malice of spirit.

Behind each portal, apocalyptic visions of worlds ending could be seen. Planets colliding in the sky, rivers running red with blood and the oceans boiling as fire scorched everything.

"Revenge!" Badarus, Atlantean god of the Seas, demanded. "Rise! And let the shattered Island of Atlanis arise! Into the Overworld! Let us throw down all the gods... the betrayers!"

"REVENGE!" the Atlantean gods shouted out.

Green lightning struck from the black sky as the city of Atlantis started to break from its shackles in the Underworld.

---

"Ouch. That stung," Dolph complained as he stood up. He squinted up at the pale sun as he looked around at the field of winter grass, grown tall and shaggy. It looked like a bomb had gone off about thirty feet away from him, where a blonde-haired girl was laying at the center. "Everyone okay?"

"I'm fine," Tsukyo said woozily as he sat up. "Whooiee! That was fun."

"Ouch-ouch-ouch. Damn it, that bitching hurts," the daughter of Ares complained as she sat up. "Why do you guys have weird glowing lines on you?"

"Dolph's got two, so does Tsukyo. You have one and I think I have one. How about you, Sheila?" Dana called out.

There was no response to that.

"Shit. She was right on top of the explosion," Janeka said as she scrambled her her feet, pulling her hands away from where a strand of grass had tried to wrap her up. She dashed over in a flicker of speed. "Oh, man. She's covered in them." She put her hand on the owl necklace on Sheila's neck while studying her, forcing it to allow her to see the young girl's wounds. "Her... life force is weakening?" A red line flickered and faded.

Dana was frowning as she had done the same trick with the little statue of a woman on a wave of water. "I'm going to heal her before she fades away." She grimaced as she bent her legend to the task, sending a wave of life into the girl.

"Come on, girlie. Wake up," Tsukyo urged as he shook her shoulder as Dolph caught up as the slowest of the group. "Whoa, that was a weird feelings. You know how I can tell where I am? When I put my hand on her... I feel her in too many places... too many times. That's freaky, man!"

"Touch the line on your arm, Tsukyo. Tell me what you feel," the daughter of Artemis urged. As the mystic of the group, she was starting to get an idea.

"Right!" the son of Susano-o said as he touched, trying to get a feeling. "Huh. I get the feeling I'm someplace else, far away. Well, a me that is just... I don't know. Not exactly me, but still myself."

"Could it be like how gods of travellers could be in multiple places at times? Co-location. But why is she out?" Dana asked as she bent her mind to the task.

"Because she's in way too many places I bet. Each time a line fades, she gets weaker. We'll need to heal her up. Maybe even bolster her life force." Janeka put her words to action, touching the daughter of Athena's amulet again.

Sheila started breathing slightly easier.

"Ooh! My turn," Tsukyo said, duplicating her action.

"Don't die on us, brat," Dolph grumbled as he played with the Chinese healing sigil that he had stolen from a museum. His innate health magnified the power, healing twice as well as any of the other scions. With a small frown, he then bolstered Sheila's life force.

With a groan, Sheila opened her eyes. "What happened?" Flickers of dreams and images danced through her vision, confusing her.

"You went and did something heroic and nearly got yourself killed," the black Scion of Ares grumbled. "Quit that. You're too useful to have around."

The daughter of Athena winced as another line flickered out of existence. She instinctively healed herself, trying to mend her battered existence.

"Huh, the lines are fading a bit. I wonder," Tsukyo noted aloud, then blinked his eyes as he shape-shifted his form to change his hairstyle slightly and lighten his skin a bare amount. "Ha! You can cover them up."

Sheila got to her feet. "Where is the mirror?"

"Exploded. No fragments here except in us, I guess," Janeka said as she dragged Sheila to her feet. They all looked around.

"This land feels odd. Evil almost," Dana said as she bent her mystical awareness to scan the area.

"That's odd. We're in western New York state," Tsukyo noted. "It's sooo cool to be able to just know where you are."

Janeka glanced at her watch. "Except our time is off. And last I heard, New York State wasn't evil itself. Let's try to be inconspicuous, people. So try to cover up those red lines as best as possible.

---

"I don't think we are in Kansas any more, Toto," Janeka said about twenty minutes later as the group rounded the corner on the road to see a small village that had a Mad-Max style set of walls made of junk and cars surrounding it

"There are people with rifles manning the defense," Dana said, her keen eyes spotting the rough and tumble looking men and womn walking behind the wall. Only their upper bodies were visible.

Janeka had her computer up, frowning as she tried to connect to any networks. "No cell phone towers."

"That just means we need to actually talk to some people to find out what is going on," Tsukyo said with a grin.

"So let's casually walk up the road with out any visible weapons and see what our 'neighbors' here can tell us about why things don't look normal," Sheila said. She looked at them all and juggled things in her head. "I guess I'm the least threatening to them, so I'll try and talk to them."

"I do not look threatening," Janeka complained.

Dana did not look thrilled with the idea herself. "Kids are non-threatening by default. Let's just get moving. I want to get home or call Samantha."

The band of demigods walked up the cracked road under the keen gaze of suddenly worried defenders of the wall.

"That's far enough. What do you want?" called out a rough man of about fifty years old. He had a hunting rifle in his hand and looked like he knew how to use it.

"We're just a bit lost. What's with the wall?" Sheila asked casually. It looked like the wall had been there a few years.

"Only way to keep out some of the monsters. Has been like that since Hell Day. Where are you from from? You must be from out of the Blight," the old man called out.

"I think we might be from further than you think. Hell Day? Blight? I don't think we've ever heard of that before," she said carefully.

The old man (and his posse) were all looking at them carefully. "Well, it's daytime, so you sure aren't some new horror. How the hell did you miss the world nearly ending in 2007?"

"That's because our world didn't nearly end in that year. How the hell did we end up in an alternate reality?" Janeka complained.

"So you aren't monsters? Rosie, what do your crystals say?" the old man called out.

A plain young woman, with a serious expression was holding some crystals while concentrating on them. "I get a good feeling. Best I've had all month. You remember I've been warning you about that attack coming up that was going to destroy Clairmont? These people can help with it. I can feel it."

"Well, I guess that settles that. Let's get the gate open," the old man called out.

The gate was actually a school bus that had been armored along one side that they pulled forward and then parked backwards to block the way. Inside the town was the air of guarded hope and despair.

Dana looked around. "Sounds like things have been bad. Monsters? End of the world?"

"There is a hole in the center of the United States the seems to be breaking reality. Millions have died, or worse, as mythical monsters seem to be coming back. Vampires, werewolves, zombies are just the tip of the iceberg. All the little weird superstitions are real now. If you hear your name in the creak of the gate of a graveyard, your gonna die. You don't let strangers in after sunset. And the full moon let's you know when to start watching people for signs of the wolf." The old man seemed a bit frantic.

"Well, shit. That's pretty damn strange," the son of Susano-o said with his eyes wide in shock.

"Sometimes the monsters help. You aren't weird and supernatural, are you?" he demanded.

Sheila's eyes flicked over to Rosie. "Yes, actually. But we're generally the good sort. We fight monsters. It's a demigoddess's job, after all. All part of being a hero or heroine."

Dolph shrugged. "Yup."

"You got some proof of that?" the leader asked.

"Sure." Dolph then walked over to the bus and then lifted it up with some effort. "Man, that armor makes this a little heavy." He then set it back down carefully and then patted it.

"Those guns might annoy Dolph," Janeka said casually as they pointed their rifles at him. "And you don't want to annoy the son of Hel."

"Hell?" Rosie asked worriedly, as her sixth-sense was not being happy with the too-beautiful Aesir.

"Daughter of Loki? Goddess of the Dead of the Aesir," Janeka said smoothly. "Now the three of us ladies here are classic Greeks. I'm the daughter of Ares, Dana is the daughter of Artemis and Sheila is the daughter of Athena. They're adopted, I take it. And Tsukyo is out token Asian, being the son of Susano-o."

"Demigods," Rosie said in near breathless ecstasy. "Now their auras make perfect sense. More than human and so very bright and golden."

"And very lost. We fell down a rabbit hole somewhere. And we need to figure out a way back," the daughter of Ares explained. "You mind if we learn what we can?"

---

What they learned that evening was that the world seemed to be still in the process of ending. Vampires would try to sneak in under the cover of night, werewolves would lose control under the full moon and more. But sometimes the monster seemed to not act like a monster, but more like a person. After a simple stew and learning of horrors deeper into the Blight, they decided to help out.

Towns like Clairmont which were on the edge of the Blight could survive, though most people had moved out. It was a struggle as the heartland of the USA had been hard hit. A lot of farms and factories were in the midwest had almost been swallowed by the Blight, a perfectly circular area around the event. Day to day life was hard and they needed every edge they could get.

Dolph and Janeka both headed over to the town's generators. Parts for it just were not available, so they jury-rigged some tools and then built the replacements themselves. For the first time in months, powerful lights could be activated to scare away the nights predators. Tsukyo ended up doing some basic help with their water supply, tracing where an infection was. He actually ended up killing some sort of scaly predator that was hiding in one of the water tanks. Dana had ended up talking shop and helping Rosie with some of the 'wards' that the mage was able to put up on the walls.

Sheila found herself in the town's little hospital assisting with some of the more serious cases. The trio of doctors were overworked and almost lived there, helping the twenty or so very sick patients.

"Mark here got sliced up on his farm outside of town. His wife brought him in, but she had to go back out to try and save their harvest," Dr. Jamison said as he brought her to the next room with a bandaged up figure.

"Did they say what sort of animal attacked them?" Sheila asked as she looked over at him.

"No, and he's picked up a bad infection." The graying doctor looked very tired suddenly.

"Well, let's take care of the infection and then the lacerations. I can at least reduce them bruises. That will allow him to get back on his feet in the next few days," she said as she channeled her power through her relic, the Wisdom of Athena, which she held up. "He's the most seriously wounded."

One of the nurses who really looked like he needed a shave, came in. "How's old Mark?" he asked.

"Well, let's see." Jamison started to unwrap the injured man's arm, blinking in surprise as he realized that she really had just done what she had said she had. "Well, that's pretty amazing. How are you feeling, Mark?"

"Just a bit battered, but I would really love to get back to my family," the farmer said.

"Let's get you checked out then."

Sheila watched as the doctor went through the process to get Mark out. "So, how is being dead working out for you, Jeremy?" she asked casually.

The nurse's head snapped out. "Badly. How could you tell?"

The young demigoddess tapped the side of her forehead next to her eyes. "I can just see anyone's illnesses and ailments. Which you have none. And you don't smell like a human any more."

"You aren't attacking," the undead said in surprise. "I'm not here, doing any harm. I get flashes of my old life. And I hate it. I'm a person, not a monster."

"Does anyone suspect?"

"Dr. Jamison and Dr. Harris know. They let the sheriff know too. Anyone comes up missing, I'm the first suspect. But I caught two werewolves trying to sneak in. Are you... are you really a demigoddess?" Jeremy asked with a nervous gulp.

The eleven year old nodded. "I thought he was being cautious around you. Well, I guess we'll keep an eye on you, too."

---

The next morning dawned gray and dim, like the sun did not want to cut through the leafless forest and late fall sky. Their first indication that there was a problem was the sound of gunfire and a strange roar. Dolph staggered out of a house near the gate to the town, only to blink in surprise as the armored bus knocked out of the way by a ten thousand pound hog, eyes alight in anger.

"They sure grow them big up here in New York. I thought that was a saying more appropriate to Texas?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes carefully. Nope, still one huge, angry pig.

With a squeal of pure murderous madness, the huge sow charged at the befuddles Aesir as several of the militia fired their rifles at the monster from the wall. Despite being a sow, the pig was armed with four huge tusks, which it used to try and rip Dolph's stomach open and launched him over the local grocery store. "Whoa!"

Tsukyo thundered a punch to its snout with the power of the storm, actually causing the hog to take a step backwards. "What is it?"

"Nemean hog?" Sheila suggested as she dashed over from the hospital clinic a quarter mile down the road.

"Well, our Hercules just got launched," Janeka noted as she brandished her gun. "So I guess we have to hope that an ancient monster like this can be dealt with by more modern means."

"Give me a second," Dana called out as she zipped across the packed dirt near the town's entrance. Her silvery sickle wrapped around the Nemean hog's front hooves and she gave a great yank, knocking it onto its side. The ground shook under tons of pig as it kicked up a cloud of dust. "Now!"

The two demigoddesses of war thundered their pistols, actually causing small wounds. With a squeal of outrage, the hog stood back up and then healed the little pinpricks wounds. Dana actually got dragged towards it as she started to unwind her chained sickle.

"That is one seriously angry pig. Only thing that would make it perfect would be if he was white and black-! Welcome back, Dolph," Janeka called out in a ribald tone of humor as she continued to squeeze shots off with her hand-cannon.

"Pick on someone your own size!" he shouted as he used his mass, speed and momentum to cut a large gash in the legendary pig's shoulder from a three hundred foot jump. The earth shook as Dolph, quite a bit larger and heavier than when he left, landed next to the hog.

Sheila flickered over to in front of the pig and with careful timing, shot up its nose with a bullet imbued with the terror of war. "I guess even it's nose is armored."

The Nemean Hog charged at her, only to see her keep just ahead of it as she danced back faster than it could run. Bullets, a spear, a sickle and fists just bounced off the superbly tough creature as the youngest demigoddess maneuvered it back outside the town of Clairmont.

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous, guys!" Sheila called out.

"I'm going to sway it with the tides of the moon!" the daughter of the moon goddess Artemis called out as she dashed up to get into melee with the monster.

Tsukyo and Dolph both hit the hog in its massive flank at the same moment, actually knocking it sideways for two heavy footsteps on its cloven hooves. Janeka tried to get past its super-tough hide with a shot she imbued with the power of war.

Five minutes later, an eternity in this sort of fight, the young band of demigods had finished off the horror. The Nemean Hog was a ruin of stripped off flesh and shattered bones.

"Shooee. I think I'm going to barbecue that thing in recognition of how damn tough it was. Probably take most of the day," Janeka said finally.

"Sounds fun. Can I help?" Tsukyo asked eagerly.

Everyone was covered in scrapes, mostly from avoiding the titan spawn. Most of the people of town showed up as the mood turned festive. Pictures were taken and sent in. Dolph took massive strips of leather, cut by its broken off tusks to turn into a powerful armor. His hit from Charon had weighed on him and he had decided to take some proactive action.

---

The DC-10 rumbled through the air at low altitude. Dolph was sitting in the pilot's seat, flying with a casual skill born of a bit of super-human dexterity, reading text-books and an almost uncanny sense of piloting. Dana was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, picking up the basics of how-to while they travelled while Janeka was in the 'flight engineer's' seat.

The rest of the plane was basically empty. This was actually the third vehicle they had switched to in the last few days. The Astrovan had a serious case of 'crushed-itis' from an elemental hill, while everyone had agreed that driving in a truck had just not worked.

They were all quite sick and tired of creepy things. Choking vines from rose bushes, statues that animated as demonic angels, a small pond that had lured Dolph and Tsukyo in with a Siren's song and tried to drown them and finally a group of vampires that attacked them looking for some mythological 'true human' that was keeping the apocalypse away.

Lake Michigan was behind and under them them while Chicago was to the south; a set of dark spires in the night only lit by occasional lights and candles.

"DOLPH!" Janeka shouted out. "I think we might have a problem."

"What's going on?" he yelled back. His and Dana's eyes were scanning the area around, expecting to see fighter jets or missiles winging their way towards them.

"Something creepy. The walls are turning into flesh," the dark-skinned daughter of Ares called forward.

"Up here too," Dana noted. "I thought I was just getting more comfortable in the seat."

"I think we better bail," Tsukyo called out as he went to the door and started to force it open.

Sheila was at his side, pushing mightily. Dana and Tsukyo were actually just a bit stronger, but with all three of them, the door ripped open like a scabbed wound. With a woosh of air, Tsukyo and Dana were dragged out and almost hit the horizontal tail.

"Come on, Janeka!" the young blonde daughter of Athena called out.

"But what about Dolph?" Janeka shouted out as she started to move toward the front.

"Get out of here! I'm about to bust out through the emergency door in the nose," the huge Aesir called back.

The inside was rapidly filling up with growing and expanding organs as the DC-10 became more and animal-like by the moment. Sheila had her back to the flap, keeping it from growing back. Bile covered hands snatched out, cousin to cousin and then Sheila put her whole back into. They explodes into the air as the plane started to flap its massive, feathered wings.

"Shit, it turned into a Roc!" the daughter of Ares noted as the massive bird started to try and bite down on something in its mouth.

Two mighty hands had opened its mouth as Dolph countered it with pure power and muscle. Muscles and sinews creaked under the pressure as the edges of the razor sharp beak cut into his hands. He grew larger even as the Roc grew to match his increase. Black, feathered wings beat with the force of a small hurricane. "Come on! Let me go!" the straw-blond Aesir shouted even as he continued his escape by directly fighting the monster.

A petite shoulder slammed into his back, body-checking him into the air. The Roc snapped at Sheila and Janeka as they tumbled through the air.

"Ow." Sheila's shoulder throbbed from the high speed impact.

"Got you!" Janeka called out as she used her own inhuman dexterity to hold onto Sheila's hand and grasped Dolph with her feet. "Let's get out of here!"

Sheila took a moment to grab Dolph more securely then zoomed off in a jet stream and almost succeeded in breaking the sound barrier.

The massive Roc cawed loudly, but was far too slow to keep up with Sheila and Tsukyo as they flew under the power of an on-rushing storm into the night.

"Let's just keep going," Dana called out. "We're only about a hundred miles away from the impact point."

---

It looked like a storm of light that swirled around a five hundred foot wide hole in reality. Black-light, purples and other, more exotice colors heralded the the location with a pillar of light that rose miles into the sky. Too look upon the sight directly would have driven a normal person insane.

"What is that?" Tsukyo asked while holding Dana under one arm. "It's really messing up my sense of location. It's like nowhere and everywhere but not... I can't describe it right."

"What do you think, Sheila? Some sort of magical wormhole between dimensions?" the almost pitch-black daughter of Ares asked. She was being held on one side of Sheila, Dolph was on the other.

"One that goes into some sort of Titan Realm? Is this what our world can look forward to?" Dolph asked from their tall vantage point in the air.

"Military is on the radio, wondering what da hell we are. Let me..." Janeka called out, getting line of sight on a USAF plane that was circling high in the sky far behind them. "Got it. Sending their computers a message that we aren't a threat."

The youngest demigoddess was intently focused on piercing the veils between their space and the other side. "I think I see a focal point. A museum of some sort. I think we can get to it." Otherworldly energy from the shattered mirror hummed in her body as the lines lit up slightly.

"Let's do it," Dana said. "Most of the time if you can shatter the focus, the portal will collapse."

The two flyers charged into the vortex of magical light, fighting against strange forces as the portal tried to pull them away or fling them out of any sane existence. Winds howled, but when they came near the Daughter of Athena and Son of Susano-o, those gusts were tamed against their unreal Titanic masters.

"Throw me!" the suddenly larger Aesir shouted even as his spade-shaped spear appeared in his hand. He felt it appropriate to suddenly let his natural, horrid visage take over his form. Sheila's deceptively strong arm snapped the nearly five hundred pound semi-giant through the air.

Janeka and Sheila stared to fire their pistols that they empowered with the deadly force of War. The 1960's style museum almost exploded from the the three of them slamming their attacks home. The daughter of Artemis was only a moment behind him, dancing between the flying bricks and collapsing plaster.

A stunned demon, straight out of contemporary fiction, had only a moment to look up with his glowing red eyes before his crimson hide was cut open from hip to shoulder in a spray of fiery blood. Another two demons received the gift of two thunder empowered kicks curteousy of Tsukyo.

"Protect the Artifact! The Earth is destined to be ours! It is fated!" a green-scaled demon shouted, then grunted as copper-jacketed bullets from Janeka's gun silenced him forever.

Dana appeared from the shadows, feinting an attack that seemed to miss a twelve foot tall, six-armed snake-demoness. The silver syckle gouged out a cut right through three protective circles of magic. With words of power, she stunned a demon with bad luck; a curse of the evil eye that any warlock would have been proud to cast.

The blood-drenched golden statue of an alien angel shattered into hundreds of pieces across the rank and fetid interior of the museum as two booming gunshots rang out as one.

And then the Earth rumbled as motes of green sunlight, blue sparks and sheets of red lightning exploded. The poor building's roof would have pieces found as far away as Texas and as far north as the Artic ice sheet. But the horrendous, eye-wrenching pit into a netherworld of nightmares and madness popped like a soap bubble, leaving a stunned world behind.

Somehow those five strangers had flown in and destroyed something that had seemed unstoppable and as unfathomable as the magic realm it was created from.

The five demigods tried to stay together as the artificial space collapsed, but their strange red-marks upon their bodies pulled them apart. Each of them struggled for control of their new, sudden path.

Tsukyo would be the luckiest. With his connection to godly domains of the traveller he appeared back in upstate New Jersey. Dolph snatched out at the flickering shadows when he saw something that looked familiar, pulling himself to stop in the far northern part of Norway. Janeka and Dana both used their keen senses and superhuman agility and where able to pull themselves to two seperate areas of the Mediteranean Sea; Italy and Greece.

Sheila found herself buffeted extra hard by her innumerable extra hyper-dimensional fractures that existed within her body. With her expanded senses, she caught glimpses of herself in strange, far off lands and fantastical science and mythical realms. It almost overloaded her extraordinary senses, fully the equal (if in different breadth) of Janeka or Dana. Finally she spotted a dark realm that looked familiar.

The splash into the Stygian waters of the River Styx was heard for quite a distance.

---

Chapter 12: Return to the Darkness

The blonde daughter of Athena floated in stunned pain in the brackish water, pulled along by unrelenting currents. Breathing in the noxious waters set her coughing furiously and awoke her to the dangers. Even her unrelenting eyesight could not see far int he onyx gloom of the underworld. With nothing better than a hope, she set off crosswise to the current, hoping to find solid land.

Half an hour later, she pulled herself through the marshy banks, the cloying mud covering her in a truly disgusting mix of water, red clay and other things she dare not dwell on too much. "Who the heck are you?"

Hidden mostly behind a massive, weeping willow tree was a young man in a long trenchcoat. "What does it matter to you, Titan Spawn?"

"Hey!" she cried right back. "Do I really look that bad? Ick." She tried to squeegie off the worst of the muck.

"English? What they hell are you playing at... Hey, I know you. You're that kid that's part of that group of demigods from California." He stepped out, the hidden sword now visible in his hand. "Sharon, right?" With a wave, he made a clean stone path from the earth itself for her to walk on over and out of the muck. Fate bent to the moment as his Legend impressed itself upon them both.

"Sheila. Sheila Henderson. And who are you?" the very bedraggled girl asked warily even as she felt something change about him.

"Alexander Prestwick, son of Hades and Demigod of Dying," he replied, his voice not quite hiding a bitter tone at the pronouncement of his title.

The young girl pursed her lips in rapid thought, her blue-green eyes seeing things in his posture and picking up subtle emotions playing across his face. Her nearly unparalelled intellect made several quick conjectures. "Bad prophecy?"

"Quick on the uptake," Alexander replied slowly. "Yes. I have been prophesied to die at the hand of Charon the Boatman, yet I have to get past him to lend my father my sword to save his life and keep the Titans from Tartarus." He sat down on the gnarled roots of the willow tree to get out of the muck.

"You haven't been able to find a loophole?" the blonde asked as she tried to remove more of the muck from the fetid, swampy shore of the Styx.

"Not really. I think I've figured out a way to save Hades after consulting with Delphi." Alexander stood up, his black eyes shadowed under his raven shag of hair. "Marenethi at Delphi explained that it is just my sword that needs to be brought to Hades where it is required. But Charon knows that I walk these lands and hunts me. He believes that by using my blood, he can break his chains of servitude."

Sheila's keen nose noted the divine tell-tale scent of a fellow Dodekatheon; hot olive-oil and (strangely) the sound of a murmuring crowd. "You sound a bit... desperate."

Dark eyes studied her angrily. "Yes, I am. I have until tomorrow to get to my father's side to release him from a trap, else he will be slain. And with him out of the way, the island of heroes will fall sway to his conqueror." His eyes seemed to bore a hole into her soul. He suddenly pointed his sword at her, inches from her face. "So I am going to have to do something incredibly stupid for a family that mostly hates me. Sheila, daughter of Athena, will you carry my sword to my father?"

"Are you sure that is the best course?" the girl asked him carefully.

"It is the only course. I had despaired that with my death that everything would fall to ruin," he bemoaned. "If only I could make sure that you could make it there in time."

"I'm fast. Very fast, though not a patch on Uncle Hermes," she said, though silently added 'yet' to her phrase.

"Then we might have time. Take Hadecleus. It's a useful sword, though not the mightiest Relic in existence." Alexander carefully handed her his trusted sword. "It should, with a little luck, allow you to navigate the rivers. I don't suggest swimming in some of the nastier rivers. I seriously doubt that you picked up Achille's invulnerability."

"That's only one legend," she noted. Though the young demigoddess had no desire to to try and steal ambrosia or the nectar of the gods, then throw herself on a holy blaze to burn the mortality from her body. "Though maybe I should take a few vials of the water, just in case." She put her words to action, quickly using her expanding powers over the skies to craft a bottle from the mists and then filled it with the water Styx.

That caused Alexander to snicker. "So that's what young wisdom in action looks like? I guess it is a bit smart to grab something like that, just in case." He then held his own hand above the murky ground, growing another sword that looked identical to his Hadecleus. They both felt the weight of his legend bearing down upon them as they fell into a Fate-Binding. "I'll wear this openly, while you can use my swords power of invisibility to rush past Charon as I distract him."

"Why don't you use that power to hide from him?" Sheila asked carefully as she set her mind to try finding any way to save him. For some reason, she felt closer to him than she had even her cousin. The alien feelings, birthed by the Fate-Binding were hitting her weakly developed emotional maturity hard.

"Prophecy. I feel bound to it even as it weighs down upon men. And I can make my death mean something, rather than just be that fool of Hades' son.

"But perhaps both of us can defeat him. Or I can try to gather my band of heroes," she argued, knuckles tight on the sword.

"It is too late," the demigod of death and dying said. "He is nearly upon us. Hide from his sight. And prepare to run."

That was when she realized she could hear the sound of a boat upon the water. She struggled with the sword for a moment, but faded out of sight as the ferryman of the River Styx appeared in the dark of the distance. Charon's chains rattled as his skeletal arms pushed the boat towards them. The air itself seemed to gathering a heaviness of the gravity of importance.

"Alexander, Son of Hades. The ghosts of the rivers speak that your blood will free me," the raspy voice of the undead demon called out from under his hood. A snuffling noise came from under it. "The Fates told me you would no longer run. That you know this is your Doom."

"True enough, demon. But I'll spend it fighting you." The ground rumbled under the river as pillars arose within the river, tightening him to his Fate and Fate-Binding to Charon and Sheila. "The Doom of the Underworld fall to us!" He started to walk out to meet the ferry.

"Us?" Charon suddenly said, his snuffling picking up a fading scent. "Trickery! You were supposed to be alone! Lost! They promised!" Bat wings errupted from his back and his eyes took on an unholy radiance. "Die, Son of Hades so that all hope fails the Gods!"

Alexander let his new sword speak to him, sending a prayer to his young cousin. The earth formed up into a wave, only to be shattered by one wicked claw of the demon in front of him. "For Olympus! For the Gods!"

Those would be his last words. Sheila felt her heart break as Alexander Prestwick, Son of Hades, spent his life to save those that cared nothing for him. In a moment of kismet and balance, she was forced to care enough to balance the scales.

Every hero should be known and adored; even if for just one moment and one person.

---

The black waters of the River Styx spun beneath Sheila's feet as she willed everything she could to run faster. It was the sword clinking in her hand that reminded her of another Relic. The trophy that she had taken from her other murderous cousin. The Ring of Fleeting Health struggled against her wishes once, twice but the third time really was the charm.

Her feet suddenly sped up an amazing amount. If she had a mind, she would have been amazed at the plume of water being shot into the air behind her. Her keen, supernatural senses stretched out while holding the Hadecleus. She could feel what seemed to be a cold pit open in her stomach, calling her with an uncaring demand for all those things that were life.

In a very short time, she saw the banks of the river, teaming with what appeared to be warring armies. Hades' army of the dead, led by ancient heroes, battled against giants, Nemean monsters and the earth itself. Sheila gulped as she saw a huge figure on the banks, overlooking the battle.

On the far side, she saw a mass of limbs attacking as if an army itself, easily dispatching its foes. A Hekatonkheire? Free and fighting at the behest of the Titans?

She kept her distance from the mighty Titan, a monstrous mother that was birthing more monsters to fight in the battle. She stopped stock-still as several of the giants looked in her invisible direction.

"Did you feel the earth move there?" the Oni asked his compatriot in ancient Japanese.

"Yeah, but it stopped. Hades' probably sent another spy. That's why we're here, duh. None of his servants can fly here thanks to the mystic wards," his fellow Japanese demon noted.

So you can not fly and can not walk on the ground. That seemed a rather ingenious method to stop spies. But she was not here to spy, but to get past them and to the gates of the Acropolis. She suddenly grinned.

The young, invisble demigoddess suddenly dashed forward and then leaped to land as lightly as a spider on the first guards head. Her next leap took her over a hundred and sixty feet to land lightly on a twelve foot tall Cyclops that was roaring a challenge at the Greek heroes ahead of him.

In just two minutes, she was now dashing across the tassles of the helms of heroes to appear next to a grand figure wearing black-steel armor. "Lord Hades, King of the Underworld, I come bearing a sword in the name of Alexander," she called out as she appeared in front of him kneeling, the sword held out horizontally in her hands.

"So my foolish son failed? I knew he was weak," the forbidding God of Death said with a sneer. "That is my sword, fashioned from my own ichor and the darkest, hardest steels of my realms. But it can not break this barrier that traps me here and Coatlique's army over-matches my own. Especially with the One-Hundred-Handed." Black eyes glared at the amorpheus form that had helped overthrow the titans in the last war. Damn them for escaping Tartarus!

"Yet prophecy states that his sword would save your life, Dread Hades," she countered.

"Lord Hades, she speaks the truth as she knows it. You were the one that bargained with luminous Apollo for your son's gift of prophecy. The fact that it foretold his death only shows that it was a strong power," the vibrant, pretty goddess at his side noted. "Who are you, child, that comes bearing Alexander's sword?"

"I am Sheila, daughter of Athena. He begged that I bring the sword," she explained while she clamped down hard upon her anger at the way Alexander was being dismissed. "I had washed ashore of the Styx while trying to get back to my own world."

Persephone nodded. "Then perhaps you are the one that will wield the sword to garner our release?"

"Pah, she is barely a demigoddess. Even weaker than Alexander was. What made that maudlin women think to name him after that ancient hero is anyone's guess."

Sheila was really fighting to keep her instinctive dislike for this arrogant god from showing on her face. Like many Greek gods, what he wanted he took or stole with little regard. With a chill, she remembered that Hades would have let the world languish in perpetual winter to have just one goddess. "Perhaps it was Fate making sure that I was here to be of use, Lord Hades?"

The god grumbled, but nodded in agreement. He stepped into the gates as heroes and myrmidons retreated behind the white walls of his Acropolis. "I had not expected such an attack. And my skills are not directly pertaining to war, unlike Ares and Athena. And I do not have my brother's lightning bolts to lay low my foes." His voice barely bothered to try to hide his avarice for the powerful weapons.

The gates had barely slammed closed behind them when the giants started to pound on it. Heroes dropped massive reinforcing beams up against the back, but it was a futile effort.

"So there is a magical barrier around the Acropolis?" Sheila asked. "I assume you had a route to escape to some redoubt?"

Hades nodded. "Yes, but it through the heavy earth and it is warded by two Titans working in concert. If I only had time, I might be able to sneak out."

"And leave me to my death, husband?" Persephone asked candidly, one dark eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Bah, you know they will try to capture you. Then I can do what I did best until Hermes was born and steal you away again," the God of Death said dismissively.

"I'd rather not visit Tartarus as a prisoner, husband." Persephone did not look pleased at all. "Besides, you have still failed to steal my heart as you promised."

That got her a dark glare from the Death God.

They passed through an ancient, massive Parthenon-like temple. Hades ignored the massive wealth of gilded statues, gem encrusted treasures and offerings that sat upon pillars in alcoves. His private quarters were opulant, decadent and almost wholly soulless. Past his bed chambers (and the huge round bed) he took them down a secret entrance in the wall.

Cobwebs nearly filled the steps that led down to a narrow passage that winded its way through the stone under the gaze of skulls imbedded in the wall. The passage widened and in front of them was another, open cavern. Around the entrance were glowing crystals that gleamed with an intelligence and malevolence that matched any evil Sheila had met.

Hades put his hand against the barrier, causing it to flicker with purple lightning. "They were cunning in how they created this. I can break through, but it will leave me weakened and ripe for counter attack. An aspect of myself must be used, but is not enough by itself."

CLANG! went Alexander's Hadecleus as it bounced off, causing Persephone to jump slightly.

"Hmm. Not that easy. So perhaps..." Sheila closed her blue-green eye while holding the sword carefully. "Yes, that could be it. They know you hold dominion here. So the requirement for something from you is a limitation placed there. but I have other powers." Lightning crackled over the sword as she charged it with the power of the Sky as her birthright from Zeus, similar to how Tsukyo fought with his fists and feet. Wither that was from Athena's allowance of using Zeus's lightning or her own quirk from her natural father was something she was unsure of.

Then a deep, angry red glow suffused it, surprising Hades as he narrowed his black eyes. "Lightning and implacable War? I see Athena's hand within this," he muttered softly to himself.

Hadecleus swept up in a high arc and then back down as Sheila put her back and all into the attack. The ironic twist that had been cursed upon the barrier, that it must be of Hades was met, but the power of the Storm proved itself inimical to Coatlique's power over the Earth. The Titan screeched her anger as her barrier was rent in one burst of power.

Hades laughed, dark and cruel. "Oh, what a jest. To owe the daughter of Athena. Persephone, let us be off-"

Coatlique arose from the ground in front of him, over twenty feet feet tall. "You will not escape, Hades. Now that you are weakened, you are finished." Somehow she made being a pregnant woman terrifying.

"We are not weakened, foul mother of monsters," Persephone called out even as her own powers of the Earth arose within her. "Are you ready to face us both at our full power without your armies?" With a wave, a landslide of rock lashed out to batter the Mother of the Azlanti.

Hades was already drawing on the powers of Darkness within his realms, blinding the Titan with his powers. Sheila charged forward, running across the boulder-strewn cavern and smashed Hadecleus down again, lightly scratching the Titan.

"This is a battle of gods. Be away with you," the God of the Dead ordered. "Return to the mortal realm... Now! Cerebrus will let you past his gate."

She wanted to argue, but she really was a flea in scale to their power. She took off in a flash, running past giants that ran to aid Coatlique, following the touch of Death within Hadecleus. Once again she ran upon the top of the River Styx, but then kept going past it and uphill. She soon found the three-headed guard dog, standing in front of an entrance over the bodies of six giants.

Two heads snapped up, snarling and it lunged forward to the length of its chain.

"Hades said that I would pass, but I think I will do more than that." The young demigoddess held out her hand as she healed his wounds. She blinked as she realized she barely managed to heal only a third of his wounds. "There, that is the best that I can do."

Cerebrus's third head had awoken, growling at her for a moment. Then it whined like some demented, overgrown puppy. She trotted off between its legs, not having to duck in the slightest to get past the mammoth hound.

---

Chapter 13: The Temporal Trail

It was a week after they had all returned back to the 'mortal' realm. Sheila had been staying at Janeka's warehouse in New York for the most part. A warrant had been issued for her arrest in California thanks to Attorney General Jack Northrup.

"Are you sure she is fine?" Tsukyo asked Dana at the door to her meditation room.

The daughter of Artemis cracked open one eye. "She's just being a teenager. I guess she ended up in the Underworld and had a bad experience. It's not like its a nice place, after all. "

"I suppose. But it's just a little odd that she would be moody. I thought that was Dolph's or your thing," the half-Asian noted as he toweled off some sweat from his martial arts practice.

Sheila ignored their conversation, even if she could hear it quite easily from her lab. Strange purple and green leafed plants were her interest as she worked on one of her 'make the world a better place' projects. She was trying to make a weed that was very efficient at pulling carbon out of the air. The trick was to make it stop before it changed things too far the other way.

So she bit back a curse as the power went out. "DOUGAL!" she shouted at the dwarf. "We told you to not use the high intensity arc-welder and the electric furnace as the same time!"

"I dinna do it!" the gruff dwarf shouted back. "I was just using the forge."

"Not me," called out Dolph as he carefully put away his tools. He had been working on his Death Mobile, adding new wheels which would allow it to drive through the ground.

Janeka's office door opened. "It's more than the warehouse. All the power on our block... no as far as I can see down here in the dock is out. Let me hit the emergency services to find out what's causing this," the daughter of Ares called back. She had her notebook and powering it up. "Gotta remember to add a bigger generator."

Everyone crowded into her office except Dougal, who avoided the open sunlight through her windows. The dwarf definitely did not want to be turned to stone.

"Power's out from here to Boston," Janeka muttered as she typed. "No, MIT's Cambridge Electron Accelerator is the center. And that's too damn big of a coincidence."

"The molybdenum-uranium accelerator coils?" Sheila asked in surprise. "I thought you were having trouble figuring out who was manufacturing those for the time displacement device?"

They had been tracking the threads of science discovery that they had stumbled over at Berkeley (though the youngest Scion was starting to suspect that might have been a lead to get them onto the trail).

"FEMA and emergency response teams have traced the over-draw on the electrical grid to a lab MIT-Bates Linear Accelerator Center. Dammit, I should have spotted that name. He's a leading scientist into temporal physics. I think we need to get there as fast as possible." Janeka stood up and slipped her notebook into a carry-pack. "Gear up, folks. We're heading to just north of Boston."

"Death Mobile is ready to go," Dolph called out eagerly. "We can drive right through the earth if need."

"Traffic lights are going to be out the entire way, so unless we want to get stuck in traffic we are going to have to do that or run all the way," Dana noted aloud.

"It's about two hundred miles, so maybe we should run, fly or whatever instead of just driving?" Janeka noted.

"Not flying!" Dougal called out. "And not being carried around in a box."

Dolph did not look very happy, though Tsukyo patted him on the shoulder. "I'd rather not fly too."

The daughter of Artemis had a smirk on her lips. "Don't worry, Dolph. I don't fly either, but I'm sure we can keep up with those three."

That should have been his clue to be worried, but the big Aesir was never the most observant. The battered looking Dwarf took the time to go hide in the warehouse before someone caught him up in that madness.

---

"I. Hate. You," he shouted in Dana's ear as her feet touched down in the center of Broadway.

Dana just grinned, crouched down again and then leaped. She had recently figured out that she could now jump thousands and thousands of feet (almost four and a half miles!) but had to be slightly careful on the landing.

"He was really asking for that, wasn't he?" the young, blonde Dodekatheon asked her older cousin that she was holding under her right arm.

Janeka just had this shit-eating grin at the poor Aesir's discomfort. "I think he didn't want to be carried by you or Tsukyo. Might hurt his manliness quota or somethin'."

Tsukyo was spinning and looping in the air, keeping up with the hulk-jumping daughter of Artemis. "Weeee!"

"I thought I was the kid," Sheila grumbled. "He's five years older than me!"

"That's only sixteen, ya know," the ebony-skinned Scion noted aloud. "You're way too serious for a kid, ya know that?"

"It's a serous world," she countered as they rocketed after the daughter of the moon goddess and her captive Aesir. "You'll have to distract Dolph from his dislike of this travel."

The daughter of Ares was glad her blush could not really be see due to the color of her skin.

The next hour passed in a blur as they picked up two traffic helicopters on their way north by north-east.

"You see that?" Sheila asked Janeka as they slowed down over the lab they had been heading to. Cop cars were lined up with a good dozen police pointing guns at something.

"Yeah, another quasi-mechanical Cyclops. It just standing in front of the door to the new annex. Which means we need to get past it to get into that lab ASAP, people," the daughter of Ares replied as she zoomed her vision in to study the one-eyed giant.

Dana actually threw Dolph at the perigee of her leap even as he swelled in size. Døråbning til Grav, The Shovel, was swung with precise timing, cleaving the surprised cybernetic monster's mechanical right arm off at the shoulder. He was actually an inch taller than the giant, hitting it again with a massive horizontal sweep that knocked it back ten feet.

"BONZAI TREE!" Tsukyo shouted, landing feet first with a clap of thunder on the Cyclop's head.

The Cyclops was staggering back as it feebly tried to fend off the two male Scions as they laid into it.

Sheila floated over to the officers that had responded. "You guys all right here?" she called out carefully.

"You are those demigods from Scion Watch?" the Boston Metro Police officer asked, startled as he realized his day was actually much more bizarre than he had thought.

"Ayup. Looks like the boys have finished administrating the beat-down on our cyber-cyclops. There might be more monsters, so stay behind us," Janeka said cheerfully.

Dana landed right next to them as they entered the shattered door. "Forgot that I'd throw myself off direction tossing Dolph like that," the daughter of Artemis complained.

"Conservation of momentum is a bastard like that," Janeka noted with a smirky grin.

They followed the Cyclop's trail into the basement and into a huge, two-hundred foot wide room filled with a massive, circular ring that had lightning crackling along the edge. Parts of it glowed molten; melted and damaged.

"They got it to work. Son of a bitch, they really got the displacement to work," the daughter of Ares said, thinking very unkind things. "I'm not sure I have fully deciphered the whole equation. I think I do have the basics down." Her chocolate eyes were studying the whole affair closely.

"So they got away? Man, we came all the way from New York," Tsukyo complained loudly.

"What do you think, Janeka? Think we can repair it?" Sheila said as her own eyes were taking in the machine. Coils, capacitors, transformers had been meticulously placed.

"Godly kit-bashing? Sounds like an interesting challenge," Dolph said with a nasty grin on his face.

Janeka nodded. "You're both right, we can do this. We're not going to let a little thing like impossible physics slow us down. Here's what we need to do..." the Scion of Ares started to explain.

Dana and Tsukyo could barely follow what the three of them started to expound upon, even as they started to pull apart and then cobble together a temporary fix. Dolph's mighty fingers worked with the deft power of the Earth as he molded scalded metal back into the correct shape and affixed Nordic runes with his fingernails that extolled its original works upon it.

Janeka had moved over to the computer system and copied what should have been the erased coordinates within the powerful system, the recreated the exact power and settings that had been used. The ichor within her blood sang in her mind, empowering her to bypass the inhuman security and rebuild the program they needed.

During this Sheila had been realigning coils and attaching her own Greek scribing that burned with her power as she helped Dolph rebuild the temporal accelerator.

The dark-haired daughter of Artemis had watched the trio in action for a bit, then started to assist them by directing Tsukyo and herself to lift and work within the well-oiled team. She bent her will and ichor, making them all work together in perfect harmony and drastically cutting down the time.

Fifteen minutes later, a modern and impossible miracle had been performed even as police, professors and news reporters all watched from the doorway.

"All aboard. Next stop, the Mythic Age," Janeka called out even as she moved to the little platform at the center of the ring. "Sorry for the next brown-out, but I set up a reboot sequence for all the power grids. It should only be about ten minutes."

"Chroniton particle flux is consistent," the youngest Scion called out.

"Got a vibration in the fifth junction, but it should last one full power shunt. Yo, guys at the door. You might want to back up in case this explodes," the Son of Hel shouted out over the protesting whine of the time accelerator.

"Choo choo! Time to board," Tsukyo called out excitedly.

"That was lame, Tsukyo," Dana said with a roll of her eyes.

"But you love me anyways, right?" the half-Asian asked in a faux-worried voice that got a laugh from the other four demigods.

The ring of meticulously designed temporal focusing transformers ratcheted up to full power and with a flash, the band of demigods were rocketed down a wormhole.

---

With a flash of blue, actinic lightning, they reappeared on the edge of an ancient port town even as a storm of biblical proportion raged across the waters. Lightning struck from the Storm even as the Flood rose up from the waters to batter at a Titan of pure darkness that roared defiance against them.

"Where are we?" the big Aesir asked as he looked around. The very air throbbed with power as Gods and Titans warred.

"Somewhere on the borders of Ancient Greece on the east end," Tsukyo replied helpfully. Being a Traveller was so useful at times.

"I've got the scent. Its hours old and moved off-" Dana called out, then snapped her head around to look at a shooting star that had been ejected from the storm. "Incoming!" A roaring wall of wind and water was roiling over the waters at them.

They all scattered as a hurricane had been spawned from the pure expression of the Storm and the star hit the ground with the force of a massive bomb.

The figure in pre-historic armor groaned in the two hundred foot crater he had created. In moments he was staggering to his feet.

"Father!" Janeka blurted out.

Dark-skinned Ares took note of the figure that had ducked behind boulders. "Who goes there? Speak, lest I think you are an enemy of the Gods!" He was speaking a more polished version of Ancient Greek than had ever been recorded.

"She just said you were her father, uncle," Sheila called out in Ancient Greek as she stepped out from behind the cracked boulder she had used as cover. "I am Sheila of the Dodekatheon."

"I'm Janeka. Hello father," the black demigoddess of war and artifice called out.

"Eh?" the burly warrior said as he took in the slight and short form before him.

"I am Dana, adopted daughter of Artemis, uncle," the final Greek demigoddess called out.

"Dolph of the Aesir," the biggest demigod called out.

"And I'm Tsukyo, son of Susano-o of the Amatsukami," the last scion called out.

"You are my child? How amazing. What brings you here to this battle and war?" the seven foot god of war demanded as he gripped his spear tightly. He seemed to be studying the strange, lithe figure of his daughter very intently.

"We are following someone from our lands and they passed through here. It is very important that we find them," Dana said glibly. "We do not want to be a bother, but this seems very important. We have traveled a very long time to a very far off land to find this trail."

Ares seemed unconcerned as he stretched out a bit, axe readied in his hand. "If you are foes to the Titans, then I care not. I shall have to talk to father about more of my siblings. Pfah. I can not wait until when and then and such are tamed. They should finish binding Chronus (and hence the Titan Realm of Infinity) into the deepest pits of Tartarus soon."

Sheila narrowed her eyes and then looked over at Janeka whose wide eyes were suddenly very, very hard and narrowed.

"Gotta be why. Someone knows this is the only time where a Titan that is time itself was captured," Janeka muttered.

"Mighty Ares, do we have your leave? Our trail grows cold," Sheila called out very politely, even as Janeka snorted derisively.

"I shall track you down later. I have to bring you before father," the god boomed out. "But I must be off. We must cow Nox this day." Ares took off in long, low stride.

"Let's go. The hunt is on," Dana called out coldly. Her persona as the implacable huntress was quite scary to see indeed. She had her mask that totally hid her face on and was still garbed in the black combat fatigues and boots.

They took off at a faster pace than Ares had run, only held back by Dolph's insistence to keep his boots mostly on the ground, though he did start taking huge leaps of over two hundred feet. Sheila tried to match that, but quickly found out that she could only jump to half his jump distance. It was a purely muscle-powered thing. Dana offered to teach him the trick of the much longer leaping.

Even so, they were making decent time.

---

As night fell, they stopped at the edge of a hill. In the distance they saw an island.

"If we keep going at our same speed and direction, it's headed right to that," the daughter of Artemis called out.

Janeka was studying the island with her many advanced and inhuman senses. "Place is riddled with caves. Huh. That's weird, but I see a large bronze trap-door, covered in symbols.

"On the south side of that second hill?" Sheila asked, realizing that must be what was reflecting the Sun there. She spun out her senses to view the location from above. "Looks like some entrance into the Underworld. At least according to the markings I see."

"Tartarus. Come on people, we need to catch up," Janeka called out. She stopped at the shore a moment later, looking over at the big, white-blond Aesir. "You gonna be able to handle this?"

"Yes," he said in frustration. The temperature suddenly dropped around him as he started to "skate" across the ice that formed in front of him.

Sheila, Janeka and Tsukyo ran across the water at their full speed and waited on the shore while Dana just leaped the distance.

"I'm so learning that jumping thing," Dolph muttered in complaint as he finally caught up.

They pushed through to the twenty-foot wide bronze door on top of a low part.

"This isn't just a door, but a warding that is trying to close this particular entrance," Dana realized as she read the mystical runes on it.

"That could be very useful at some point," the youngest Scion said as she quickly committed the design to memory. "But can we open it?"

"If someone just came through recently, I betcha we can. Dolph? Tsukyo? Dana? Sheila? Hell, everyone but me, basically, try to lift it at one side," Janeka called out, sounding frustrated.

"Here," Dana called out as she pointed at on edge of the circle. The trail led exactly here.

Dolph's fingers broke through the stone at the edge, even as his mighty back strained. The other three quickly jumped in and with a scream that sound like the damned in the wind, the sealed off entrance into the Underworld opened.

Dana sniffed at the ground, then almost growled in frustration. "We're falling further and further behind-"

"Damn it," Dolph interrupted. "Fine, Tsukyo, you can carry me." With a bit of concentration, Dolph was suddenly shorter than naturally possible for him.

"Don't worry, big guy, it's just for this chase," the flamboyant Son of Susano-o said. He got the big demigod on his back and then the four of them ran. Tsukyo actually lit the way with sunlight radiance, glowing eerily in the gloom as they all traveled much, much faster.

It was not long until they came to one of the myriad rivers, which they didn't even slow down in the slightest for, dashing across faster than most people could even blink. Dana's nose was flared as she tracked, a predatory gleam in her eyes.

Finally, up ahead, a massive black tower the size of a huge mesa hove out of the cloying mists of the underworld. They dashed between massive pillars that did not react to the children of their makers until they came up to a massive set of black steel doors.

"The gates of Tartarus. Somehow I doubt they will believe us that we are chasing someone from thousands of years in the future," Janeka muttered darkly.

Dana had not stopped, following the path right up the side of the massive fortress-prison of obsidian. The trail had led her to a small opening that was not visible from below at all.

"A secret passage?" More and more curious, Sheila thought to herself.

"That's... small," the part-giant Aesir said in tone that fumed with a heated annoyance.

He did eventually fit, even if he had to shrink himself to his smallest (a mere five foot ten) and let himself be dragged by his feet. His arms trailed behind him as he really hoped he did not get stuck.

Ten minutes later the demigods were creeping through the prison of the Titans and their Titanspawn. They were flickers of movement as Dana kept them following the path. Secret passages, hidden doorways and air vents that would be impassable to almost anyone else were managed without too great a fuss.

Dolph's great strength allowed for the forcing open of a stuck stone doorway, while several tricky puzzles were completed in competition between Janeka and Sheila. Dana pierced a magical puzzle with her mystical insight and Tsukyo bypassed one trap due to always knowing where he was and where he was planning to go.

The depths of Tartarus, even in this ancient and bygone day, where a dim and dark place filled with monsters. They path they followed into the cavernous pits below avoided the greater danger of the jailers; the Hekatonkheires, giants, dragons and soldiers.

"It went down into this pit just a six hours ago," Dana finally said.

"Guess there is no going back," Janeka replied with a look of frustrated concentration. Would it be Hermes or Athena, she wondered? Those were the only two possible suspect in her mind from all the clues. They all slid down the steep sides of the hole in the ground, hundreds of feet wide.

Chained to the wall and looming over them, even if he was sitting, was the battered Titan Chronus. "Have you come to taunt me for being defeated and chained, betrayer kin?" the bearded man-looking being demanded through his bruised lips. "Only because of Gaia siding with you has my ignominy come to pass... But this, too shall pass, as time is fleeting."

"No one is here?" Tsukyo asked in confusion as he looked around frantically.

Dana had walked close, under the gray eyes of the Titan. "The tail ended here, where a great magic was wrought."

"Ah, you followed my first visitor." Chronus laughed, a cruel thing that broke all things. "I do not know who they were, as they were cloaked in illusion. But they demanded of me my ichor and then finished the crafting of a short staff or a scepter. Then they used the power that all Gods feared and banned, locking it up for 'forever'. Then they disappeared through time."

"Dana, I need you to give us any clues to when they went," the daughter of Ares called asked of their most keen huntress.

The dark-haired daughter of Artemis nodded grimly even as she bent her mystical senses. Her insight into the occult, investigation and tracking bordered on the godly level. She chanted a spell, opening her Third Eye again. She desperately reached further into her ichor, latching on to a new power of the Moon that allowed her to test the distortion in time.

"Olympus, centuries from now. It's hard to understand from the time-" she started to say.

"Aye, only now are the currents of time tamed and locked off. But you are running out of that precious commodity. They are coming to finish my bindings, locking me away from any contact. Logos knows that people would covet my powers," the bound Titan said in a soft, booming voice. "Now that you've followed her trail, what will you do?"

Dolph narrowed his pale, blue eyes. "I can get us out of here. Døråbning til Grav has the power to open a gateway in and out of the Underworld." He summoned the spear from its shadow-space and gathered his might within his blood. The ground shook even as a portal appeared.

The youngest Scion had adroitly stepped behind Dana and Janeka as Dolph's gate into the mortal world was opening up. A soft wind picked up in a swirl the black all-colored ichor from Chronus's wounds into three vials.

Chronus started laughing even as Sheila pocketed her purloined blood of a greater Titan.

"You are a cunning breed. I look forward to when I meet you in your time, children of the traitor gods," Chronus shouted out at them while still laughing.

"Come on! I can't keep this open forever," the tallest demigod called out.

The others all dashed through and Dolph walked out last, letting the portal crumble even as dozens of fluid appendages flowed over the edge of the pit and grasped at the closed opening.