Rose suspects that Hera was probably expecting some sort of explosive reaction at her declaration.
That was decidedly not what happened.
Irritation was the emotion of choice- at least for the majority of the room. Groans of various length and volume filled the air, the occasional spurt of "creative" language popping up as everyone processed the fact that yet another chaos god was trying to destroy/conquer the globe. Sam, who was half out the door of the Rec Room (because if literal gods were fighting, he was getting the fuck out of the way) was the first to voice what the majority of the room was thinking.
"Man- another 'trickster'? Come on. Do all of them just get together and decide to go bat shit crazy and fuck with our planet? Is there a convention? Do they have meetings or something? Or do y'all just hand out 'trauma' like participation trophies, shove it into a repression pressure cooker, and then wait for it to explode at us?" Tony, half covered in armor and visibly pale, piped up.
"I have to agree with birdie there. This one isn't planning to open a hell portal into space, are they? Because- and I'm going to put this out there right now- not it." Hera, discernibly irritated by the apparent lackadaisical attitude in the room, spoke up.
"I do not believe that you all are fully grasping the situation." Thor, standing next to an almost dazed looking Jane, cut in, face and tone uncharacteristically solemn.
"Forgive me, Lady, but I am not sure that I fully understand it either. 'Chaos' is not inherently evil. Wanton murder and the destruction of a planet are outside of that scope." Hera tilted her head in acknowledgement, resting on her heels and crossing her arms before she responded.
"An excellent point- but you're willfully ignoring the other half of Eris' title. Discord is not about harmless pranks. Do not mistake her for your brother, princeling. Loki, even at his most unhinged, was a child when compared to Eris." The Queen scanned the room and, when she was satisfied that she had everyone's full attention, continued. "Loki, at his darkest point, attacked one of your cities- and willfully failed at it. Eris is a void beast. She was birthed by darkness. In a fit of boredom she incited a war that led to the genocide of an entire people." Hera grinned, though it was more of a baring of teeth than an actual smile. "Loki burned a city because he was being manipulated. Eris watched soldiers throw babes from a city wall for a laugh."
Rose, if she concentrated, felt like she could almost hear the screaming- like Aphrodite's memory was trying to claw its way to the surface.
She pushed it down so quickly that she almost gave herself whiplash.
She did not want to relive the Siege of Troy thankyouverymuch.
"Eris was not always so dark, sister." Hades voice cut through the solemn atmosphere, a deep melancholy edging his tone. Hera glanced at him, a tinge of warning lining her expression.
"Perhaps not so homicidal, but the girl was always trouble, Hades. Certainly not worthy of the seat our King granted her on Olympus. Daughter of Nyx or no, she was not an Olympian. She should have been locked in Tartarus like the rest of her ilk." Hades frowned, the armor on his body melting out of existence as he changed into his customary dark suit.
"She was different, Hera- but not bad. You and Aphrodite were always so critical of the girl. Were it not for Helios-" Hera scoffed, eyeing her brother's change of clothes with a critical eye as she collapsed back onto the sofa she'd made her grand entrance on, golden skirts spreading out like a halo as she laid regally back.
"Ah yes- Helios. Please, brother. Helios would have forgiven the snake that bit him. He was too kind- too naïve, for his own good. Look where that got him." Hera glanced in Damien's direction, a mocking smile tilting her lips. "He's so dead that he's been reincarnated twice." The current Sun God blinked in her direction, only really half paying attention to the discussion taking place in the room.
He'd been promised tacos- and so far all he'd gotten was drama (decidedly less tasty, though with a similar ability to make grown men cry).
"Not that I'm not super grateful to find out the name of the monster of the week," Tony cut in, still slightly pale looking, "And the 'tragic backstory' hints are pretty fascinating too- but, and I say this with all the respect I'm capable of- why the fuck are you here?"
He does have a good point.
I'm pretty sure "unsettling Rose's tenuous grasp on her own sexuality" isn't an actual reason to pop up.
Pretty sure that's just Hera's unlisted magical ability- "sexual confusion". "Am I straight? Am I gay? I don't know. I just want her to step on me."
…You're not wrong.
Said goddess grinned in Tony's direction, shooting Rose an almost amused look (much to her confusion/terror) before focusing on the billionaire again.
"It was brought to my attention by a little birdie-" She half-waved to Athena, snickering at her own pun before continuing. "That the greatest forces of protection on this planet were being wasted staring at stars and brutally assaulting would-be rapists." Hera shot Rose a wink, her lips curled with savage approval. "Very well done, by the way. I was going to give the little pig prostate cancer, but I quite enjoyed watching his arm snap like a rotisserie chicken leg." She shifted her focus to Steve and Bucky, dark glee lighting up her eyes. "And then, of course, that terrible accident at the prison. Such a shame." Athena cut her off, golden eyes flat and exasperated.
"Hera- the point, please." The Queen sniffed, rolling her eyes and settling more fully onto the sofa.
"Fine. The point, my dear Anthony, is that war is coming- and you are all woefully ill-prepared. More specifically, my family is ill-prepared. They require training-" This time, Hades cut her off, something almost like desperation creeping into his usually stoic expression.
"Hera- sister- there's no need for-" The Goddess jolted at the interruption, shoulders tightening with every word spewed from the King of the Underworld's mouth. The last protestation had barely left his lips when she was surging to her feet, eyes lighting up with rage, teal magic dancing like smoke around her fingers. The sudden explosion of anger was apparently too much for Steve and Bucky to take, prompting the two to combine forces to unceremoniously shove Rose behind them. Jane and (a very unamused) Darcy found themselves in similar positions, shoved behind rightfully anxious boyfriends as the goddess verbally exploded.
"'No need'? 'No need'?! Tell me, brother, when will there be a need? When Kronos comes marching out of bloody Tartarus?! Or will it be when he rips your little flower in two for the second time?" She harshly gestured at the "protected" goddesses. "Your King is cowering behind a damned Aesir! A Minotaur almost killed Aphrodite! A Kronos damned Minotaur! Where are their weapons? Their armor? Have you taught them anything? Or have you been so lost in your ineptitude that you were content to use them as meat shields for someone who should be more than capable of defending themselves?" Rather than be cowed, Hades puffed up defensively, gray eyes flashing darkly down at the dark haired woman.
"Rose did just fine-" Hera cut him off with a derisive laugh, hands flexing at her sides like she was only just stopping herself from strangling her sibling.
"Please. She was nearly murdered by a damned cow. You're incomprehensibly lucky that she didn't send something more substantial to kill her! Enlighten me, Hades- what would have happened if she'd sent something else? What if it had been a God-Killer?" All of the defensiveness fled from Hades face, his already deathly pale cheeks taking on a gray tinge, the shadows of fear creeping into his expression.
The echo of Aphrodite in Rose's head quaked.
"'God-Killer'?" Thor's voice broke the tense silence follow Hera's rhetorical question, one large hand coming up to rest protectively against Jane's back. Jane, appearing only slightly less sick than Rose was feeling, leaned into the touch, frowning as she glanced between her very concerned boyfriend and a grim Hera. "What manner of creature has earned the title 'God-Killer'?" Rage temporarily doused, Hera relaxed back on her feet, teal eyes scanning the room before alighting upon the bar at the far edge of the room. Ignoring the tense bodies in the room, she shuffled over to the bar, pushing past an all-but growling Bruce (and a definitely growling Sammy) with an almost exasperated sigh.
"Truthfully, brother, the sheer ignorance you've kept them under is nearly staggering. If I must be delegated to the role that should have been yours, I'm at least getting a drink out of it." She glanced down at the elaborate golden gown she was wearing with an irritated grimace. "And I'm most definitely changing out of this ancient thing. Hestia, may she guard Olympus well, is a master seamstress- truly divine work- but the gowns are so damned heavy." She shimmied her shoulders, almost like she was shrugging them, and Rose watched in awe as the gown seemingly faded away, a turquoise caped pantsuit taking its place. Her long hair faded with it, the short, chopped look that Rose remembered seeing in the jewelry story shimmering onto her head.
How…how did she get even hotter?
It's basically illegal.
If her and Pepper collaborated we'd all fucking die.
Satisfied with her wardrobe change, the dark-haired goddess began to dig through the bar, making intermittent pleased and disappointed noises at the selection. After a couple of seconds she let out an obnoxious groan, loudly slamming bottles as if to further emphasize her displeasure. Clicking her fingers impatiently on the counter, the Queen of Olympus slumped lazily over the bar, teal colored eyes blinking beseechingly at the supremely unamused billionaire standing near the middle of the room.
"I don't suppose you'd have any Ouzu, would you?" Tony grimaced, the oddest expression crossing his face before it settled into bland irritation.
"Nope. Sorry. I'm usually fully stocked on terrible Greek booze but I wasn't expecting guests. I'll definitely try to better stock the literal hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of alcohol next time." Hera scoffed, rolling her eyes at the man's bland response.
"Your 'fully stocked' cabinet makes me dearly miss Dionysus. Drunken philandering bastard that he was, he at least had some taste." Tony scowled, half crossing his armored arms defensively.
"There is Macallan Scotch back there!" Hera raised an unimpressed brow, uncapping what Rose thought might have been a bottle of gin- though the Japanese lettering on the front was throwing her off a little. The goddess took a sniff of the clear bottle and let out a pleased hum, fiddling around behind the bar for a moment before reappearing with a dry martini, an absolutely atrocious amount of olives perched on the rim.
"Yes, well, money does not often equal taste, my dear." Tony grimaced at the aristocratic purr, the odd, uncomfortable expression reappearing as he glanced between the dry martini (made from his Watenshi Gin) and the smirking goddess.
"Not that I'm not enjoying this lovely flashback to Sunday brunch with my mother- and I hate to repeat anything traitors say-" Athena grimaced at the pointed jab, something almost like apology flashing across her face- an apology that Tony blatantly ignored. "-but could you get to the damn point." Hera glanced around the room and, after taking in the various degrees of impatience on everyone's faces, finally got to her point.
"I'm sure that my brother enlightened you about our origins- Chaos birthed Gaia and then Gaia birthed the Titans and so on. The part that my dear brother likes to gloss over," She paused, popping a gin soaked olive into her mouth before continuing, "is that Chaos had other children. Creatures crafted in her image. Void Beasts that fed off of hatred and rage and pain. Some possessed intellect- were even helpful to us. Nyx, for example, helped us to push back the Titans in the first Great War. The rest, though?" She paused again, taking a sip before resuming her story. "Knew only hunger."
Aphrodite shuddered.
"There were any number of Beasts, all with various shapes and appetites- each with some name given to them by the cultures and peoples they tormented. My favorite, I think, and the broadest descriptor I've seen was made by one of your newer religions." The Queen smiled, though the expression lacked any real humor. "'Demons'. An apt name, I think. The Catholics do love to poach from Latin." She shrugged, placing her now empty cocktail glass on the bar top. "A digression for another time."
"Most demons are content to skulk in the shadows, feeding on the weak and helpless as parasites are wont to do. All except for one." Hera glanced around before pointedly staring at a slouched Damien. "One that developed a taste for the strong." The Sun God rolled his eyes.
"I'm assuming you're talking about Helios or whatever the hell his name was." Hera sighed.
"Only in part. This creature first started by feeding on nymphs. Paralyzing and then torturing the creatures for days, feeding on their pain before consuming their corpses. It then turned its many eyes to lesser deities- Eos. Selene. Nemesis. Dozens more whose names I simply don't care enough to remember." She glanced at Rose before focusing back on Damien. "The turning point came when one of the creatures was bound and turned towards Helios."
Beautiful. Perfect. Mine.
Rose unintentionally winced at the loud thought, pushing back the phantom feeling creeping at the back of her skull to focus more fully on Hera's story.
"Eris was quite obsessed with the boy. She found out that he was having a rather torrid affair with Aphrodite and went mad. She bound one of the creatures to herself and then attacked the two in a glade they often frequented. Aphrodite just barely managed to escape, but Helios perished." She smirked, tapping absently on the counter. "Little bitch didn't leave unscathed. The Void Beast attacked her next. Poisoned her. Drove her madder than she already was. I fully expected for her to die, but I suppose her relation to the creature kept her alive. It didn't save her from losing her seat, however." Dark satisfaction flashed across her face. "Such a terrible shame."
"Not that this little exposition isn't fascinating," Tony cut in, "But you still haven't given us a name." Hera waved him off, shooting the shorter man an irritated glare.
"Patience, Anthony. Where was I?" She hummed before letting out a small "aha". "Right. It took the combined forces of the Pantheon to kill the creature, powerful as it was from its substantial meal- but kill it we did. The rest of its ilk scattered, hiding in the shadows and feeding off of lesser immortals." Sensing everyone's irritation she finally got to the point of her story. "We did not have a name for it, but the Persians came up with one that I rather like the sound of. They called it…." She trailed off, pausing for effect. "The Manticore."
There was a pause as everyone processed the Goddess' dramatic declaration before Sammy tentatively spoke.
"Isn't that the creature with the head of a lion, a goat, and a snake? Wait-" She cut off with a wince, cursing under her breath. "Shit- no- that's a Chimera." Hera gave her a small, approving grin.
"You're quite close- but no. The Chimera is a Void Beast, but a comparatively harmless one. Three heads tends to be very confusing in practice. Too many opinions." She grimaced, carefully thinking over a descriptor. "The Manticore is horrifying- something that truly has to be experienced in order to be fully understood- but the most apt description I can think of is that it has the face of a man, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion." She trailed off, the shadows of remembered terror passing behind her eyes. "The 'females' had wings."
That's going to be a hard no from me.
I draw the line at flying insects, please and thank you.
"Thank you for enlightening us, sister," Hades cut in, expression deliberately placid. "But I'm afraid that your story is purely academic. The Manticore were killed off thousands of years ago." Hera grimaced, jaw clenching tightly as she shot her brother a glare.
"Just like I was? No, brother- our hubris declared the creatures dead and gone. The Manticore and the other Void Beasts are all well and alive." She pursed her lips, eyebrows raising pointedly. "And they have a new Master- or Mistress, as the case may be. Someone tainted by their darkness. Someone who wants to watch this world burn." The placidity melted off of Hades' expression, shock and smothered fear replacing it with her every veiled reference.
"Eris is building an army." Hera scoffed at Hades' statement.
"Eris has an army- admittedly a rather small one, but more than enough to wipe out the entirety of this room." She squinted, doing a quick calculation in her head before elaborating. "Truthfully, this room and the entire island of Manhattan. The Pantheon as it is now? Incomplete? Untrained? Weak?" She slammed her hands on the counter, ignoring the cracks she made in the granite as she shot more fully upright. "They would be little more than food." Now looking wane and resigned to his fate, Hades ran a tired hand down his face, absently touching the necklace dangling just under his collarbones.
"You've made your point, sister. I'll begin training them within the week." Hera laughed derisively, standing up completely straight before decisively fixing the sleeves on her suit.
"Within the week? Oh, Hades- don't make me laugh. You've lost any and all say in how this will commence." She ran an assessing eye over the room, gaze lingering on the Pantheon members scattered throughout. A frown twitched at the edges of her lips, brows furrowing in disappointment as she took in the weak remnants of her family. "No- you're done, Hades. Athena and I shall be taking over now." When the King of the Underworld looked to be about to protest, Hera cut him off with a sharp glare. "Enough. You've lost your chance, brother. I will be handling training from now on and-" She took a deep breath, savage glee lighting up her features as she scanned the room again, only stopping when she caught Rose's eyes. The blonde swallowed dryly at the attention, mixed feelings of apprehension and excitement battling for space in her head as the Queen of Olympus finished.
"We start tomorrow."