From All Sides
Chapter 11
Who Is The Guilty Party?

The next day at the Security Agency

Rainy days happened even on Olympus. Hera had explained to Sam that the earthly vegetation Zeus had created to make gods and goddesses like her who had once lived as mortals feel at home needed to be watered. They also happened she told them when Zeus was in a bad mood. Today was a particularly stormy one because of his anger over the escape from the underworld and the suspicions that there were traitors in the midst of the Olympians. Lightening and thunder were frequent. Sam couldn't say she blamed Zeus for loosing his hold on his tightly controlled temper.

"Remind me to always stay on great grandfather's good side," Sam said to Hercules as they sat at the conference table at the office. They were the only occupants since everyone else was in the field tracking down leads. Hercules released a deep chuckle. "That was a particularly loud crack of thunder wasn't it?" Sam nodded. It was lucky she and Hercules were related even though distantly and that she was a happily married woman. He was such a devastatingly attractive man with those long golden locks, bulging muscles, and amazing blue eyes that he might have proved too much of a distraction to work with otherwise.

"The reason I've asked you here Hercules is I'm trying to get a handle on who might have helped Paige and why. I figured that since you've known so many of the players here on Olympus since the beginning you were a good resource person. "I'm here to help," Hercules assured her. "I'll answer whatever questions I can."

"Who would be under the impression that they would benefit, if the alliance of guardians somehow failed in their mission to protect human kind?" "Well the obvious is answer is Ares but to be honest I don't think he's the culprit. When we were on the brink of Armageddon he saw first hand the danger in crossing the Light. My half brother is a lot of things but stupid is not one of them. I also think that when Hera changed from evil to good, I think Ares albeit reluctantly realized he was backing a loosing team. He's vain enough to want to be a winner no matter what compromises he has to make. Plus I think he's been too depressed to wreak such havoc."

"I've noticed that," Sam replied. The few times she'd encountered the god of War he looked like he'd lost his best friend. "What has him so glum?" "It is the thousandth something anniversary of Strife's death. Despite the fact that Ares would never admit to it, I think he still misses him. "Who was Strife?" "Our nephew. He was in the same generation as Demos and Discord." "I haven't had the opportunity t meet them," Sam said.

"You aren't missing much," Hercules assured her. Demos is a cerebrally challenged pest and while Discord has a few more brains she definitely never attended charm school. She's a Gothic nightmare. Hercules smacked himself in the head reminding Sam of the old V8 juice commercials. "Discord and Demos why didn't I think of them before. I must be loosing my touch," he groaned. They could easily be the culprits here. They're not the types who like to see goodness triumph. I don't understand why they wouldn't take on the original gods or myself directly. We are the ones who campaigned to get back in the protection business. Why go after the Halliwells?"

"There could be a number of reasons," Sam said. Number one being even though this Discord and Demos might not be geniuses even they've probably figured out right now that attacking you and the higher gods and goddesses is virtually useless. I'm assuming they've tried to attack you before and been rebuffed. "Your assumption is correct," Hercules confirmed.

"It's also common to believe that the rookies are the weakest links in any team. Plus add to that the fact that the Halliwells have a huge Achilles heel at the moment named Paige, and in Discord's and Demos minds that could make them easier targets. In addition they might think that the Light will lose faith in you higher gods and goddesses if you fail at protecting the members of your own team and family. They might think that if he threatened to take away your powers that might be able to sway some members back towards the side of evil in order to keep them," Sam offered her theories. "Or they're trying to distract us from some bigger plan. They know how much we care about the Halliwells and that we will be doing everything we can to help them," Hercules commented.

"That's a distinct possibility," Sam agreed. "So do you know where they are at the moment?" she asked. "No but I will get Iolaus and we will start looking immediately. As if on command Iolaus entered the room. "Herc we've located Paige on the monitors. Apparently there is a house in San Francisco that was built by the same architect as the old Halliwell Manor and is very similar to it in appearance. Paige is in residence." "Are Discord and Demos with her?" Hercules asked. "Discord and Demos?" Iolaus asked puzzled. "We think they are the ones who broke her out," Sam explained. "It figures," Iolaus sighed. "They've never changed not even after thousands of years."

"You two go after them," Sam suggested. I'll contact the rest of the Security team and we will go after Paige. "Are you sure?" Hercules asked. "I'm positive. We may be rookies here but we are still damn good," she replied. "I like your attitude Sam," Hercules said with a grin. "So get going but be careful." "You too," Sam replied as she watched the two legendary heroes disappear through the portal back to Olympus.