Of Scheming and Taking Action

"Plans are of little importance, but planning is essential."

- Winston Churchill

Meg and Hercules were finally making their way back to his villa. They were in no hurry and Pegasus wasn't rushing either, which Meg was truly thankful for. The night was only starting to set in. It was so tranquil, peaceful even and the city-state of Thebes was sight to behold at this time of day.

Or maybe Meg's own mindset was a lot calmer than it had been before. Even if there had been some bumps on the road, the overall visit had gone better than Meg had originally anticipated. And her relationship with her youngest sister was finally starting to mend, much thank to her beloved.

"Thank you," Meg leaned towards her fiancé, pressing herself against his back.

"For what?" Hercules glanced back at her, a tender smile on his lips.

"For talking to my sister and helping to patch things up with her. I wasn't sure if that was even possible anymore," Meg confessed, feeling relieved to know that not all between Pyrrha and her had been lost.

"You don't have to thank me for that. She just wanted to be heard and to learn that her feelings matter too. Besides, I always knew that she would come around at some point. She's your sister after all," he explained, relishing the feeling of her so close to him.

"Well, there's the difference. Between the two of us, you are the optimist and I am not, Wonderboy," Meg quipped back.

"Being an optimist does pay of sometimes, doesn't it?" Hercules reminded her gently.

"Okay, I'll admit, I have to give you that," Meg agreed, smiling playfully.

"But thanks anyway, I appreciate it anyway," Meg repeated, wanting to let him know how much exactly she valued his support.

"Of course, you know I would do anything for you," he replied affectionately. And yes, Meg did know that he would truly do anything for her. Literally.

"Likewise, Wonderboy. Likewise," Meg told him honestly.

Hades had been busy with his plans and for once, his minions had succeeded in their mission. They had actually brought the mortal Hades had wished to meet to the Underworld. He was almost impressed with them (put not quite).

"So Barak, was it? I heard you, Barak, have quite the resume, hmph?" Hades flattered the mortal in question, giving him his take of a friendly smile.

"Yeah, well, if doing petty crimes and scamming people is what you would call something such as that, then sure," Barak shrugged off, not affected by his pleasantries.

The mortal had a dark, dirty hair hanging to his shoulders: his outlook was rather grimy as well, tattered clothes covering his large frame. The now dirt-covered tunic and the breeches suggested that he had been staying at Scythia for some time. Dark stubble was covering his jaw, old scars visible here and there. The guy had pretty much the appearance of petty criminal written all over him.

"Well, we could change that, now could we?" Hades smirked at him.

"What do you mean?" the man asked in a reserved manner.

"Me and my associate are planning of re-arranging certain cosmic rules. And if you would help us, we would be happy to pay it off to you. You wouldn't only be paid in drahkmas, you would gain power as well," Hades smirked when he noticed how the man straightened his posture, now intently listening. Good, the man had finally swallowed the bait.

"Okay, I'm listening. Go on," the man tried to appear calm and collected: Hades knew better than that.

"So, my associate has followers in Thebes. They already know partly of her plans: you're job is to find Zenia, their leader and convince her that you are there to help them. Then you simply lead them when the time comes. You see, this Zenia is no fighter, they need someone who has some experience on that part," Hades vaguely explained and the man narrowed his eyes.

"When the time comes? What does that mean?" The man asked, forcing him to elaborate.

"Weeell, the time of the attack, obviously. So, we're attacking Thebes: one army from the outside and another party from the inside. The party from the inside would be the one you're leading: a party of Cybele's followers," Hades explained, hoping the mortal would finally accept the deal.

"Why would I find this Zenia person and lead her party and not your followers, for example?" Barak asked and Hades fought the urge to sigh: did all mortals ask this many questions?

"Well, I ain't exactly the Mister Popularity among the mortals. Go and figure," Hades tried to brush it off, but the mortal wouldn't let it go.

"Lord of the Dead and not popular with the mortals? I wondered why?" The annoying mortal smirked at him and Hades felt his temper shortening, quickly. Why were all these petty mortals questioning his position lately?

"Hah, very funny, that is. So, are you in or are you out?" Hades was now basically gritting his teeth together as not to lose his calm.

"Well. I guess I'm in, then. I'm not a follower of Cybele myself, so how do I make those believers follow me?" Barak finally agreed and Hades let out an inner sigh of relief: finally they were getting somewhere. He snapped his fingers and a golden medallion appeared to Barak's hand to much to the man's surprise.

"Take that. The believers of Cybele will follow you, when you show them that symbol," Hades assured him.

"Neat. Thanks, I guess," Barak accepted the explanation, putting the medallion to the pocket of his tunic.

"So, my payment?" Barak stretched out his hand before Hades who was once again on a verge of a tantrum.

"You get your share after the attack," Hades replied his fake smile basically glued on his face now.

"I'm not working for free, you know. I do request something in advance in order to follow this plan,"

"You mortals are always so delirious with your money. Fine, have some drahkmas. Just make sure you follow my instructions to the tee, okay?" Hades grumbles as a poach of coins appeared on his hand.

"Neat. I will," Barak agreed weighing the bag in his hands as his mind was already lingering on his favorite tavern's wine and girls.

"We'll be in touch with you, so to speak," Hades smiled maliciously to the man.

Finally, the next phase of their plan (of his plan) was initiated.

Cassandra had hoped to finish up some work related things while Meg and Hercules were at the palace. There were some divination scrolls before her that her customer had requested and such things, but there was no such luck. Icarus too had finally abandoned his original plan of constantly pestering her, as she had pointed out his place with few well placed verbal jabs.

So, the conditions had been mostly on her side when she had spread her scrolls out, ready to bury herself in her work for the time being. But something was amiss, she could feel it even before it hit her: the almost tingly sensation of pain on her temples, first almost unnoticeable, but getting stronger by each passing moment. The headache was followed by a sense of a nausea, rendering her into inability of doing anything really. So by the symptoms she already knew what was coming even before it happened.

Hercules and Meg had returned to their home only to find Cassandra, hunched on the couch as she felt impending vision approach. Her headaches were never good, usually they foreshadowed her visions of doom and suffering.

"Hey, something wrong?" Meg approached her, with a concerned look on her face.

"Uh-oh, Cassiesweet is in one of her moods," Icarus had entered the room as well, having a concerned look on his face as he studied Cassandra, who had doubled over in pain. Suddenly she sat rigidly up, a glossy, distant look on her face.

"She's having one of her visions," Hercules explained to her beloved.

"Beware, the Army of the Undead is approaching Thebes, the ancient mother and the traitorous brother are paving its path. If Thebes falls, all of the Hellenic world will follow eventually. Barak holds the symbol and the believers will follow him," Cassandra announced with a voice void of emotions as the distant look in her eyes remained.

The she snapped out of it, her eyes returning back to normal and groaning as she placed her hands to her forhead.

Meg quickly went to fetch some water and offered it to Cassandra, who quickly gulped it down.

For a moment, all of them remained silent.

"Okay, that was… Ominous," Meg huffed out, crossing her hands on her chest.

"An ancient mother and a traitorous brother? What does that exactly mean?" Hercules furrowed his brows.

"Beats me. Aren't mothers supposed to be loving and caring, not leading deadly armies?" Icarus deliberated.

"I have a pretty educated guess on how the traitor might be, considering it's an army of dead," Meg pointed out, irritation obviously showing on her face.

"Hades," Hercules, Icarus and Cassandra all spoke aloud at the same time.

"Yep. Ummm, so while you were away Herc, he paid me another visit," Meg sheepishly confessed, looking a bit uneasy.

"What? Are you okay? Did he hurt you? What happened?" Hercules pulled her closer to him as he bombarded her with questions.

"Easy there, tiger. I'm okay, he didn't really want anything, it was more weird than foreboding. But before leaving, he told me: "Don't say I didn't warn you." And I was left thinking what he might have meant with that. Could it have been this?" Meg pondered aloud.

"That sounds pretty much like it," Cassandra agreed. Hercules did say anything, but him cracking his knuckles was betraying his thoughts. Meg wanted to scoff, but at the same time, she was kind of moved that someone was constantly as concerned with her well-being as Hercules.

"But my father put all the Gods under this cosmic curfew, Hades shouldn't be doing this in the first place!" Hercules objected and Meg wasn't sure if she was annoyed or a little humored by the naivety of her beloved.

"We're talking about Hades here: does he seem like a guy who likes to play along the rules? The guy lives to defy orders given by your dad!" Meg shot him a meaningful look.

"You've got a point there, sister," Icarus nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I guess so," Hercules reluctantly agreed.

"The question remaining is who has he teamed up with this time? Who is this ancient mother? And who is this Barak, who holds the symbol? And who will follow him?" Meg pondered.

"Well, I have unfortunately crossed ways with Barak for few times. He's a petty criminal, always causing some sort of trouble. He does have a deep fondness for both women and drinking," Hercules drily noted.

"You don't happen to have an educated guess concerning his whereabouts?" Meg then asked and he nodded.

"I have an educated guess, as you said: he has a tavern, where he likes to hang out,"

"Okay, let's go then," Meg concluded, already moving towards the entrance of the villa.

"You mean like right now? Isn't it starting to get late?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've have been under the impression that this night of the time is actually the most common time to conduct some seedy plans?" Meg pointed out, arching a questioning eyebrow at her beloved

"Once again, sister's got a point," Icarus agreed.

"That does sound like a decent start," Cassandra pointed out and Icarus nodded his head eagerly.

"Okay, maybe you guys have a point, let's check it out then," Hercules finally gave in.

-A/N: Hey guys, I wanted to wish you happy Valentine's Day by releasing a new chapter! I'm not sure if I'm completely satisfied with this chapter, but hopefully it will do.

I've still been buried with work and I've also had some trouble sleeping, so I'm feeling completely drained at the moment. And yeah, my muses have been MIA lately, but I do try my best to keep updating once a month. I hate to complain, but I just want you to understand if there is any delay between the updates, it's mostly because of my situation. So yeah.

Thanks any ways for reading and here's the usual shout-out to reviewers:

- Disneylover12: Thank you for your kind words, they really touched me. So thank you once again, reviews like this keep me going. I'm glad you enjoy to the story so far!