Disclaimer: I've never owned Justice League before, I don't own it now, and I don't imagine that'll change in the future.

So, here we go, another chapter for you all, this one with a little more action than the others so far.

Kudos to anyone who can spot the reference to a certain JLU episode in this chapter.

And as usual, thanks for Rebel-Renegade-Fett for beta-reading.

Enjoy!


For the Glory of Ares

Zatanna's eyes fluttered open to the sight of Hector lying in bed next to her, gently stroking her hair. "Good morning, beautiful," he said, content smile on his face.

"Good morning, handsome," she replied, giving him a soft kiss. Yawning as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she soon realized their near state of undress, as the two of them were wearing only their small-clothes. "Did we...?" she began.

"We only made out," he reassured her. "Although things did get hot and heavy, and I'm pretty sure we both copped a feel at least a few times."

Zatanna blushed a little as memories of the night spent in his arms started coming back to her. "I don't know..." she drawled, running a finger across his well defined chest. "I'm having a hard time remembering."

"Would you like me to help you with that?" Hector offered, leaning in close.

"I think I would," she shot back, cupping his face in her hands and kissing him again. Hector responded with enthusiasm, wrapping an arm around her back and-


"Zatanna?"

The mistress of magic jumped in her seat as she snapped out of her romantic daydream. It had been over two weeks since Hector's birthday, and although they'd both been busy (Hector helping Amaya's mother, Vladimir and his brothers, and putting extra hours at the farm before the cheerleading competition, not to mention his job; Zatanna with the last shows of her tour, day to day Justice League affairs, and a number of magical incidents she'd had to investigate), they'd at least found the time to keep in touch via phone calls. At the moment though, Zatanna was in a meeting with her fellow Leaguers, most of who were looking at her. "Sorry J'onn, I was just... day dreaming," she addressed Martian Manhunter.

"Must have been something nice, given how you were smiling," Wally said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Shut up!" she exclaimed, blushing profusely at how Mari, Dinah and Shayera were smirking at her.

"Something we should know about?" Ollie inquired curiously.

"No!"

"Ahem," J'onn cleared his throat, drawing attention back to himself. "Perhaps we could continue this meeting?"

"Right," Dinah agreed, giving Zatanna a look promising that the matter was only temporarily being set aside. "So..."


Once the meeting was adjourned, Batman found himself staring with suspicion in his eyes as Zatanna was promptly cornered and dragged out by Wally, Mari, Dinah and Shayera. "Diana, I need a word with you," he said, gaining Wonder Woman's attention.

"Certainly," she replied. "What can I help you with?" Batman waited until they were alone in the conference room before speaking up again.

"There's something going on with Wally, Shayera, Mari and Dinah that they specifically don't want me to know about. Considering her outburst earlier, it might have something to do with Zatanna."

"And I assume you'd like me to talk with one of them and find out just what they're up to, is that correct?"

"Yes."

Diana thought about this for a moment, after which a smile appeared on her face as she realized the unique position of power this put her in. "Very well. I'll do it, for a price."

"What do you want?"

"A date."

"... Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Bruce. I'll only help you if you go out with me."

"Why? Aren't you interested in knowing what they're up to?"

"Yes, a little," she admitted. "But not as much as I suspect you are."

One would almost think Batman was squirming as he debated with himself over this, though he ended up accepting her demand. "Dinner? And a movie?"

"It's a start."


Friday before the competition, Hector, the team and the coach had piled into a bus and were on their way to Bludhaven. Hector was sitting alone with a contemplative look on his face when his sister decided to join him. "Hey, bro. What's up with you?"

"Just thinking, that's all."

"I noticed that. I also noticed you have your earring, watch, belt, hat, bracelets, pen, and probably some other stuff I just can't see at the moment."

"Your powers of observation serve you well, young grasshopper."

Cassandra rolled her eyes at this and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Are you expecting trouble?"

"I'm always ready for trouble."

"Being ready for trouble is one thing, but you're equipped like you're planning to take on the Kraken."

"You know it's not actually called the Kraken, right? That's just Clash of the Titans messing with Perseus' story."

"Totally not the point here. Will you just tell me what's going on?"

"Gotham is not the nicest place, and Bludhaven is supposed to be worse. Admittedly it has Nightwing watching over it, but he's just one man. Bottom line: I'd rather be over prepared than not enough."

"I guess I can understand where you're coming from. Thanks for sharing this with me." She then gave him a playful punch on the shoulder and returned to her friends.


After the competition the next day, some of the cheerleading team, Cassandra included, had chosen to celebrate their victory over Bludhaven by going to the mall, with Hector accompanying them while their coach had elected to stay with the others. And despite having a number of teenage boys and girls to keep an eye on, his gaze did not miss Cassandra's futile attempt to sneak off to the bathroom with one of the boys. "Just where do you think you're going?" he asked. The two teenagers slowly turned around and saw him standing with his arms crossed, practically looming over them.

"W-we were j-just, um..." the boy stuttered, clearly intimidated by him.

"Don't answer, I was being rhetorical."

"Y-yes sir."

Hector then proceeded to have a silent conversation with his sister, who looked at him pleadingly, before he finally gave her a curt nod. He then turned back to the boy and in a manner both calm and controlled (but still intimidating), informed him that there would be consequences if he did even the slightest thing Cassandra didn't like. Satisfied that the boy wouldn't dare take things to far, Hector let them go and went to sit down on a bench, where he was joined by Cassandra's friend Sally.

"For the record, you are one scary dude sometimes," the teenager commented. "I mean, Myles is no wuss, but for a moment there I was sure he was going to wet his pants."

"He'll be fine. And in all honesty, he seems like a good kid, so I'm not that concerned about him."

"Ah ha, just playing the part of the overprotective scary big brother, eh?"

Hector merely shrugged at this, though he did have the ghost of a smile. "Something like that. Besides, it never hurts to be sure about these things."

"Man, I wish you were my big brother. I'd probably use you to keep my boyfriend in line... assuming I even had one."

"Well, if you ever feel the need, I'd be happy to- Look out!" Hector shouted, grabbing Sally and diving out of the way as a car was hurled through the wall, crushing the bench they'd just been sitting on. The one responsible for this was revealed to be a hulking purple monster on the streets outside.

"It's Blockbuster!" one of the now panicked bystanders cried out.

"Sally, gather the others and make for the south exit," Hector said firmly. "I'll grab Cassandra and Myles."

"Right!" A determined look on her face, Sally began to quickly round up her fellow cheerleaders while Hector ran to get his sister and the boy with her, but when he got there the boy was unconscious.

"What happened?"

"Myles slipped, hit his head on the sink and knocked himself out," Cassandra explained. "What's going on out there?"

"Super-villain," Hector said as he quickly checked the boy and determined that he was okay.

Peeking out into the hallway, Cassandra saw the rampaging villain crash through the roof in the middle of the mall. "Shit! Our escape route just got cut off," she stated, pulling back into the bathroom. "Wadda we do now?" Hector had already removed his shirt, shoes, socks and pants, then grabbed an outfit hidden in his bag. Seconds later, shirtless, wearing a Greek style war skirt/shorts and sandals, a custom utility belt and blue cape, and his stygian iron helmet, he grabbed his pen, twisted the cap twice and pulled it off, transforming it into a bronze sword. Even without armor or a shirt, he looked just like a soldier from Ancient Greece, ready to go to war. "Whoa..."

"Stay here," Hector ordered, his voice distorted by the helmet. "I'll take care of this."

"Be careful."

Hector crept into the hall, avoiding security cameras and taking care not to be seen until he was out in the open, so no one would notice where he'd come from. Blockbuster soon caught sight of him standing at the ready. Extending his free arm towards the villain, he motioned for him to 'bring it on'. Blockbuster charged at Hector like an angry bull, and once close enough, threw a hard right punch, which Hector dodged by leaning to the left. He then took advantage of the opening provided to slash his sword at the monster's side as it ran past. Either not realizing it had been injured, or simply ignoring the cut, the beast turned and tried to bring its fist down on Hector, only to bury it a foot deep in cement when he nimbly leaped out of the way, cutting it along the arm in the process. In the next couple minutes Hector scored a hit across the creature's stomach as he ducked under the next blow, sliced a shin following a failed stomp, drew three lines in its torso, gave a quick stab to an arm that came within a hair's breadth of his head and managed a deeper cut to the back of its leg, dropping the monolith to one knee.

However, Blockbuster proved resilient enough to force Hector to back away, then tore the door off the car he'd thrown earlier and hurled it at him like a frisbee. One could almost see it in slow-motion, Hector leaning back as if doing limbo while the door sailed above and embedded itself into the wall behind him. Springing up from this move, Hector grabbed a pellet from his belt and threw it at Blockbuster, blinding him when it went off with a flash right in his face. Hector ran straight at the super-villain who threw a wild punch, unable to properly see his opponent. Hector's response was to jump up high like a gymnast, spring off Blockbuster's arm with one hand, flip and pivot as he flew over its head, and cut a serious gash into its back as he landed. The purple monster stood still for a moment, then dropped flat on its face, wounded and unconscious, but alive.

A heavy silence reigned with the battle now over, those still present not making a sound as they stared in surprise and awe at the warrior who stood over the defeated villain. Hector looked back at one such group, raised his sword in the air and in a voice both loud and clear shouted: "Gia ti dóxa tou Ári!" (For the glory of Ares!) He then threw down a smoke bomb, covering the area in a thick cloud through which he ran back to Cassandra's side.


"You know, this isn't exactly what I had in mind when I pictured our next meeting," Dick Grayson said as he came up to Hector, dressed in a clean, sharp police uniform.

"You and me both, Dick, or should I call you 'Officer Grayson'?"

"Just 'Dick' is fine," he shot back good naturedly. "I understand you saved a young girl's life today."

"I just saw that car coming down and reacted instinctively."

"From what I've heard, with instincts like those you'd make one hell of a cop. You ever consider a job in law-enforcement?"

"No. For starters, I don't like guns. My father was a cop in the GCPD, and less than a year after he and my mother adopted me, he was shot in the head by a drunk driver who didn't like the idea of having his license suspended. In any case, since our mother's gone, my first foremost job remains taking care of my little sister."

"That's admirable of you. So, might as well get this out of the way. Do you mind telling me what happened?" Hector then proceeded to explain things from his point of view, with his chaperoning his sister and members of her cheer team, how he'd spotted the falling car, then the villain responsible for it, and about leaving Sally in charge of leading her schoolmates away while he went to get his sister and Myles. At this point, instead of relating events exactly as they'd happened, he claimed that with Blockbuster having made their exit unsafe, he'd stayed with Cassandra and Myles until everything had calmed down. And since Myles was unconscious during that time, Cassandra's statement corroborated with his version of events and nobody had seen where 'the mysterious warrior' had come from or disappeared to, there was little worry that anyone would be able to link the two figures together. Little, but not none.


Late Monday evening, Hector returned home from the farm to find a man with dark curly hair sitting at the table, as opposed to an empty apartment, given that Cassandra was babysitting overnight and would be going straight to school the next morning. The man in question was wearing a t-shirt with the Flash's symbol, shorts and a green dealer's visor. "Hector, my man!" he exclaimed joyously, a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"Hello Marc, interesting choice of shirt."

"Thanks, I acquired it just yesterday in Central City, right after I finished wandering around the biggest pit of thieves, crooks, thugs and weirdoes I've ever seen in my life."

"Gotham?"

"Yep! Such a charming place, that city is. So, you up for a game of Texas hold 'em?"

"Sure, why not?" Hector grabbed a bag of junk food from the cupboard (which he rarely pilfered from) and sat down as Marc shuffled the cards with preternatural speed and dexterity. As the game began, they played not with poker chips or money, but with potato chips, chocolates, hard candies and other unhealthy snacks.

"I like the earring by the way. Makes you look more... distinguished." Marc pushed a small mound of potato chips forward.

"Funny, Zatanna said the same thing." Hector put forth a slightly larger mound of chips.

"She's obviously got good taste if she's hot for you." Marc added half a dozen caramels.

"Have you been talking with Anna?" Hector added four mini chocolate bars.

"Maybe... so how was it?" Marc placed two Reese's cups in his pile and dealt the river card.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, we didn't go that far." Hector threw in several hard candies.

"Come on, even if you didn't go 'all the way', as people would say, surely you've got something to tell." Marc dropped a handful of smarties, then they both revealed their cards, his full house beating Hector's flush.

"Damn. And even though Zatanna and I didn't go 'all the way', one thing I learned from Anna is: 'A gentleman should not kiss and tell'."

"Pff, you're boring," Marc said as he collected his winnings.

"Noted." Both players kept chatting as the game went on, while at the same time fully trying to out-cheat each other.

"Well, it appears the odds are ever in my favor," Marc noted as he raked in the sweets, his stash clearly the bigger one.

"Hold that thought." Hector then got up and went back to the cupboard, from which he removed a container of candied pineapple chunks dribbled with chocolate.

"I remember those little bundles of deliciousness. They're almost like ambrosia."

"One last round?"

"You're on." A few minutes in, the ace of clubs and spades were staring up at them, along with the ten and jack of hearts. "Ready to lose?" Marc asked gleefully, since he'd already snuck the ace of hearts into his hand, where it sat next to the ace of diamonds, giving him four of a kind.

"No. What about you?" Hector shot back, punctuating his statement by flipping the ace of hearts. Marc looked at the table, then his hand, then the table, and then his hand again. A sour look appeared on his face, since he couldn't prove Hector was cheating without revealing himself as doing the same, and neither one of them would outright admit to cheating, even though both knew that fair play flew out the window when playing against one another.

"...Crap. I fold."

"I thought you might."

"Anything I can do to get my hands on that divine sweetness? I mean, besides stealing it from under your nose."

"Actually, I'll give it to you freely, along with everything else on the table, if you don't mind doing me a favor."

"No problem. What's the favor?"

"Just how far in did you get with Gotham's criminal element?"


Somewhere in Gotham City, Bane was in an abandoned factory repurposed for the distribution of the drug Venom. The criminal luchador watched over his henchmen as they lugged around barrels, when something suddenly hit one of the lights. Several other lights soon followed, causing the thugs to panic and reach for their weapons as they were almost covered in darkness. "What the hell's going on?" a younger man asked, practically shaking in his boots as he and three others stood clumped together.

"Wadda you think, dumbass? It's gotta be the Bat."

"Fucking hell, this sucks. Why the fuck does this fucking bat-prick have to make us fucking wait like-" The thug was cut off as another one screamed and fired off his gun somewhere else in the building, though it was quickly silenced. More gunfire erupted as a shadow flitted through the dark, taking down Bane's henchmen one by one.

One of the guys ran out towards the spot of light four men were occupying, having ditched his empty gun. "Fuck guys, let's get out of here bef- gyah!" The man was interrupted when a silver arrow sprouted from one of his legs, dropping him to the ground.

"That's not Batman," one of the men pointed to the arrow.

"Who cares who it is, just shoot him." The four henchmen's bravado soon went out the window as Hector stepped out of the shadows in his Ancient Greek warrior outfit, wielding his sword and shield as he advanced on them in a slow, intimidating manner, casually knocking out the man he'd just shot in the leg with a kick in the head. One of the thugs finally got his bearings straight and raised his weapon.

Hector suddenly charged at them, blocking their gunfire with his shield, and pounced on them like a lion on a helpless gazelle. He sliced one gun in half with his sword, kicked its owner into another guy, cut the third's arm bad enough that he couldn't help but drop his weapon and slammed his shield into the pit of the fourth guy's stomach, completely flooring him. Swinging his sword at the man whose friend he'd kicked into him, he knocked him out with the flat of the blade, bashed his shield into the injured one's face and struck the last one in the head with the pommel of his sword. Bane gave a slow clap at the display of violence, standing calm and seemingly unperturbed by the fact that this unknown warrior had just taken down all his henchmen.

"You fight well. Who are you?" Bane received only silence in response. "I asked you your name." Again Hector was silent. "I would like to know with whom I'm about to do battle, so I will ask one last time." Hector still said nothing, merely wiping his sword on one of the unconscious thugs' clothes. Bane then activated his Venom injector, his body growing, muscles bulging on tree trunk arms and legs, letting out a loud cry as the mega-steroid flowed through his veins. "Very well, prepare to die, nameless warrior."

Despite Bane being similar to Blockbuster in size, strength and such, Hector quickly found him to be a far more dangerous opponent, for whereas the latter had proven to be little more than a raging beast, the former had intelligence, cunning and patience. This was demonstrated when he snagged Hector's cape in one hand as the gods' trained warrior jumped over his head, slamming him into the floor. He then held him up and pulled back his other arm, only for Hector to promptly undo the clasp on his cape, dropping down just in time to avoid the super-sized fist and quickly put some distance between them. This bought him but a brief moment to breathe, as Bane came charging at him, forcing him to dive out of the way at the last second, which in turn resulted in Bane crashing into and becoming entangled with a large piece of machinery. Hector took advantage of this to throw his shield at Bane's head, only for him to rip his arm free and catch it in one hand, throwing it back so hard it firmly became embedded in a steel column.

Bane then fully extricated himself from the machine and proceeded to engage in a deadly game of dodge ball with his enemy, except that instead of balls, there were barrels of Venom. Hector managed to avoid getting hit, but was a little less lucky when one projectile came fast enough to force him to cut it in half with his sword, the splash of liquid blocking his sight just long enough for Bane smack him. Hector let himself go limp, though he still grunted in pain upon crashing to the floor some distance away. Fortunately he was still able to move when Bane took a giant leap, landing where he'd been a second ago. Wasting no time, he hurled his sword high above Bane, cutting a cable that dropped a crane's large, heavy hook onto the luchador's head. This gave Hector the opportunity to dash forward, activate his knives, dive at Bane's legs and drive the two silver blades through his feet. Hector transitioned the movement into rolling between the villain's legs, then jumped onto his back, grabbed the tube of Venom with both hands and ripped it clean out.

With Venom no longer pumping into his system, Bane's body began to turn back to normal, a cry of pain escaping his lips as Hector roughly removed the knives from his feet. Once the Gotham rogue was his usual size once more, he looked up at the warrior before him, who then simultaneously struck him on both sides of the head with the butt of his knives, rendering him unconscious. "Great job, my man," Marc said as he stepped out of the shadows.

"Thanks," Hector replied, gathering up his cloak and weapons, turning his shield back into a watch before he could remove it from the column.

"Now that you've had your fun, are you ready to head back home?" Marc asked once Hector had picked up the last of his gear.

"Not quite. There's still something I need to do here."


A few hours later the Batmobile arrived at site of the abandoned factory, where the GCPD had already cordoned off the area. Jumping out of the vehicle, Batman walked straight towards Commissioner Gordon, no one daring to impede his path. "What happened?"

"We received an anonymous tip telling us we'd find Bane and his crew right here," Gordon answered as they walked inside. "When we arrived, Bane and his men had all been knocked out, and the one responsible was nowhere to be found." A stretcher with Bane securely tied down wheeled past the commissioner and Batman, the unconscious villain's feet wrapped in bandages. "Far as we can tell, whoever did this busted most of the lights before attacking, probably to use the dark to get the jump on Bane's men. We haven't been able to question any of them yet, but, and this is still preliminary, their wounds appear to have mostly been inflicted by swords or knives, some of them maybe with arrows. I don't suppose you can make anything of it?"

"The man who took down Blockbuster in Bludhaven was dressed like a Greek warrior and fought with a sword. He also used a smoke bomb to get away after defeating him."

"Do you suppose this was his work as well?"

"Commissioner!" a cop called out, waving him over to his position. "You might want to have a look at this." Gordon and Batman walked over to the officer in question, who shone his flashlight at a piece of machinery where a message had been scratched into the side. Using one of his knives, Hector had written in Greek: Για τη δόξα του Άρη (For the glory of Ares)


As usual, if you don't mind leaving a review, that would be appreciated, and I hope you all liked it.

So, Hector has come out as a sort of super-hero (out of necessity) and he's kicked super-villain a**. BTW, if anyone has any ideas for what his 'super' alias should be, I'm open to suggestions, except for 'Gladiator', because several chapters ago he told Zatanna that that's his favorite movie, and if he used that name, then it would be a little too obvious). Also, I'm still debating on whether to make it so that Hector chooses his own alias, or have the media and other people do it for him.

If there are any questions, feel free to ask, but I make no promises as to whether I'll answer them, in case they relate to stuff happening in the future.

Till next time!