Step In Time Chapter 20: A Lead In The Case, a disney fanfic

They soon arrived at the grand edifice, without drawing the attention of any female admirers, taking a secret back entrance. Also, the chilly weather discouraged the more dedicated lot.
Two heavily armored guards greeted them at the back of the manor. They weren't as large or intimidating as their charge, but they could hold their own just fine. Upon recognizing the resident hero, they pounded their fists to their breast, to salute his return.

"WELCOME BACK, SIR!"

Herc smiled, embarrassed, signaling their at-ease. "Uhh, thanks guys. Why don't you both take a breather."

They saluted once more, in gratitude. "THANK-YOU, SIR!"

As they entered, Torrin whispered close to Zebra's ear, answering her questioning stare. "Of course they're really not necessary, but Phil insists of the extra security. They're good at keeping the mobs down to a minimum."

Making their way down the long stretching hallway, with Hercules in the lead, the girls felt very small and insignificant, their steps echoing in the faint distance. Of course they had been inside large buildings, once living in a big city and all, but never before had they been welcomed guests.

"You....live here?" Meg asked, slightly impressed.

"Hard to believe isn't it?" Herc smirked, thinking about how far he'd come. "A nerdy nobody of humble beginnings finding himself here."

They came to a rest in the common room, where Herc invited them to sit upon the cushioned couch. Just as everyone was settling into their seats, a cheery little old woman with an apron tied around her waist, emerged from one of the many rooms criss-crossing the abode. She held a piece of parchment, sealed closed with an important looking seal. In quite a rush, she offered a quick curtsy.

"Mr. Hercules, Sir. A message has just arrived from the royal house of Thebes."

The hero smiled wearily. What could they possibly want now? "Thank-you, Marlena. I will see to it later." He turned to his guests. "Allow me to present, Marlena. Marlena, these are my friends."

She offered them their own welcomed curtsy.

Almost afraid to ask. "Uhhh, where's Phil?" Herc asked nervously, praying he wasn't about.

"Master Philoctetes is out at the moment."

He was relieved, leaning his head back with a sigh. "Good. Oh, Marlena, would you be so kind as to bring my guests some refreshments?"

Apparently she saw to the meals of the house.
"Certainly Sir."

The room fell silent for a few agonizing moments. Zebra's eyes wandered, trying to occupy her mind.
"My, what a magnificent Vase", she cooed, admiring Torrin's favorite hiding place.

"Oh that? It was a gift, a reward for aiding the kingdom of Corinth during a flood."

"I remember that", Torrin said, smiling mischievously. "Phil chewed you out for months when you mis-took that Porpoise for a distressed civilian."

Meg and Zebra smiled at the humor, politely hiding their grins beneath their hands.

Herc nodded, taking the banter, but there was a wicked gleam in his eye. "Yeah. I suppose he did. You know, Torrin, when I accepted the gift, I thought of you. Knowing it would be just your size."

Torrin frowned, not finding it fun anymore, now that the fun was directed at him.
Meg chortled, keeping the muscles in her face un-moving, hoping not to betray the humor she found in the hero's story.
Thankfully, by then, Marlena had returned, carrying a tray topped with delicious looking finger sandwiches and a pitcher of grape juice. She set their lunch down on the table before them so they could each partake.

"Those look wonderful!" Herc complimented. "Thank-you, Marlena."

"Yes, thank-you", echoed the rest.

After a pleasant meal, everyone felt re-energized, ready to go.

"Pegasus should be out in the stables", said Herc. "If everybody's ready."

In answer, the party rose to their feet to follow. Of course Meg wasn't looking forward to another encounter with the sky, but she had to remind herself that this would be the last time her feet would ever leave the solid, stable earth. She was almost giddy beyond reason.
They found the winged horse curled up upon the clean piles of straw on the stable floor, napping away. His master approached and scratched the creature behind his pointed ears. Pegasus yawned, delighted to see his best friend. However, his face fell when he caught sight of Meg.

The girl glared back. 'The feeling's mutual, ya feather shedder'

Herc brought the horse's attention back to himself. "Are you up for another trip? Think you could handle four passengers this time?"

Pegasus nodded. 'Anything to get this female out of the way.'

Herc smiled. "Great. Ok, all aboard."

With everyone atop Pegasus's back, in order from front to rear; Hercules, Meg, Zebra, Torrin, they launched into the Eastern sky.
Habit now, Meg grasped Herc's waist, growling a groan from the back of her throat, trying to picture herself lying on a bed of grass, face DOWN.
Following the coordinates that Rodak provided, they soon reached their destination.

"Look", Zebra pointed below. "That looks like the run-down shack from Rodak's description."

Meg was tempted to see for herself but she couldn't draw her eyes open, keeping their lids securely sealed.

Herc nodded. "Take're down, Pegasus!"
Obeying orders, the horse steered down. Hercules' heart gave a little jolt when he felt the presence of petite hands, once again, around his broad chest.

.....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

"What're we doing here again, Panic?" The two imps were rummaging through Mr. Saunder's shack.

Panic rolled his eyes. "We're here to see if we can find any useful whatchamacallits among all this junk for his project."

He kicked annoyingly at a nameless scrap. "What HERE is USEFUL?"

Panic never got to answer his partner when the whinny of a horse shrieked from the skies above.

TAKE COVER!" The overweight daemon hissed.
They quickly scrambled, stumbling over their long pointed tails, ducking behind a near-by Olive-Tree.

"I..is it over?" Meg whined, unaware that they were safely grounded.

"Don't worry, Meg. It's safe to open your eyes. Though, honestly, you're not missing much."

Curious, Meg did just that. And what she saw wasn't much at all, or a lot of nothing. Just a shack, about the size of a shed, with a load of junk littering the ground about. The shelter was a wreck, from its lack of care and weathered strain.

The evil pair watched and waited. "Let's get outta here!" Panic whispered urgently.

Pain held his friend at bay. "Wait. Not yet."

Gingerly, the girls moved in closer. Meg swept aside a discarded piece of unrecognizable rubble with the top-side of her foot, clearing the pathway. Both were feeling nervous, afraid of what they might find, or wouldn't find, inside. Would they find a rotting corpse within, nothing but a shattered tragedy?
The Men surveyed the area, keeping guard, not sure of the significance of the situation.

Meg shook off her apprehension and shrugged. "This is what we came here for, right? C'mon."

Before Herc could offer his chivalrous assistance, she pried away what was left of the door. Peeking inside, looking for signs of life within. "Hello? Anybody home?" She stepped inside with delicate foot-falls, while the others followed suite.

The inside wasn't much different than the outside. Dust layered any open surface. It was obvious that the empty space hadn't been occupied in years. The already small space seemed to be closing in on Meg, along with any hope she'd held for this lead. "There's nothing here", she announced to no one in particular, her voice empty. Zebra was almost just as devastated. She watched helplessly as Meg fell to her knees.
"HE'S not here...." It was like sinking into a void.

Herc's eyes continued to roam, trying in vain to find any evidence of Zebra's grandfather.

"Hey look." Everyone turned to where Torrin was found crouching before the fireplace. His fingers traced along a point in the floor.

"Scorch marks....." Hercules commented.

"So?" Meg said gruffly. "What about them?"

Torrin ignored Meg's little tantrum. "Well, for starters, these burns are too severely ingrained, without creating any further damage to the rest of the shack. They're too far from the hearth, I don't see why it didn't burn down the whole place..."

"Yeah, you're right." Zebra knelt down beside him.

He smiled, appreciating that she understood the way he thought.
Conscience of his gaze, she shyly lowered her head, trying to hide her glowing cheeks.

Meg smacked her forehead with the base of her palm. 'Not again! Waste. Of. Time. "So do tell, what's their significance to our problem? Don't leave us hanging by our ears."

"Oh!" Torrin cleared his throat, excusing his behavior. "I was just suggesting that perhaps there are greater forces at work here....."

It was clicking in Zebra's mind, too. "You think, maybe, he was.....taken?"

He nodded. "It looks that way....."

"You mean by a deity, or a monster?" Herc offered.

The girls exchanged a weary glance. Monsters!

"But I can't decipher much else from what little evidence was left behind."

Meg was growing frustrated from all her hopes being instantly dashed on this fool-hearty lead. "So it's just another dead-end!"

Torrin shrugged, unsure of what to say. They had definitely found something, yes. But it didn't open up any other probable clues. Meg couldn't stay there any longer. She marched outside as if there hadn't been any breathable air within.

With the girl's approach, the devil spies changed shape, their bodies shifting into little insignificant, unnoticeable insects, clinging to the bark of the tree.

Meg braced herself against the trunk of a certain Olive-tree. Venting her defeat she punched the fruit tree's rough bark at its mighty spine, scraping her knuckles in the process. Small pools of blood surfaced the skin.

When her fist met the tree it rattled the disguised bugs to their fragile brains, jarring their teeth.

'That's it', she concluded.
They were stuck. What now? The rest watched sympathetically, only Zebra truly understanding. Unaware of the time passage, the sky above had turned into an artist's palette, magentas and golds were spreading across the heavens as the sun was guided to rest by the hand of Apollo.
Hercules watched helplessly as Meg continued to grieve for the future. Though oblivious of the root of her distress, he could almost feel her pain as his own coursing through his veins.

"I think it's time we should go back to the farm", said Zebra, disappointed. "We've done all we can, here."

Everyone agreed this would be best and departed.

When the hero and his posse finally disappeared, the demonic minions returned to their natural state. In his usual demeanor, Panic grabbed at Pain's rubbery, loose skin, living up to his name.

"That girl knows about Julius Sanders!"

Pain nodded.

"And the other girl, she was the one from the Agora! I think...... Now Hercules is involved!"

"We've gotta tell the boss."

Together, they spread their too small wings, and transported back to base headquarters.

The Underworld was as dead as ever. It's overlord sat slumped upon his Gothic throne, drumming his clawed fingers along its stone arm-rest. His straight jaw rested a top his balled fist as he watched the faint, gossamer spirits of the dearly departed, come to their end, weeping and wailing for mercy. Hades yawned at this usual spectacle. It wasn't any-body's guess that he was bored.
Patience was definitely not one of his strong suits. Then again, he had no strong suits to speak of, besides his dastardly intentions. And he was darn proud of it. He continued to wait, growing furiously agitated by the moment.
Then, without a moment to spare, Pain and Panic came bumbling into the throne room. Their words were of obvious distress but hard to follow, as one talked over the other. They bounced with excitement, demanding their master's attention. Their chaotic display only aggravated his glowing embers further. The continuous chatter reminded Hades of a bee's hive, swarming with activity.

"Enough!!!!!" He exploded, like the eruption of a lava-filled volcano.

The Imps froze, their mouths suspended on their next intended argument.

Hades inspected the two, noting that they carried nothing with them. "I see that you have, once again, returned empty handed...." His voice was calm and even but, the black coals of his eyes seemed to be on fire. "When I give you two an order..." He stalked toward the cowering figures, his arms extended, his fingers taught and sharp, intentions perfectly clear. "I. Expect. RESULTS!!!"

"Wait!" Panic squeaked bravely, shielded by his larger counter-part. "Wait, boss. Ok, we didn't bring back any useful tools or objects....."

"But we have news", Pain added hastily. "It involves, Hercules...."

The sound of that muscle-bound brat's name made the God shutter. How many times had that 'zero' gotten in his way? "This had better be worth the oxygen you breath, or I'll snuff it from your puny lungs."

Acknowledged. The pair took turns as they explained what they had witnessed at the the abandoned shack;

"We were searching through the old-man's belongings, just like you ordered." Panic made sure to include that last bit, to prove that they were devoted and obedient to their master's wishes.

"Yeah", Pain insisted. "Just minding our own business, not drawing attention to ourselves, when we heard the whinny of a horse bellow from overhead. None other, than Hercules' fly infested horse." (Though he was the most, well groomed stallion around) "At first, we thought we should ambush them, but it seemed more sensible to just hide away and spy on them."

"Figured you'd want the pleasure of his undoing, yourself."

Hades thought nothing of their supposed thoughtfulness, they were cowards, though and through.

"But wait!" Panic blurted excitedly. "There's more! He brought along two women, one of whom was the girl who traded the slippers to the merchant in Arcadia."

For a moment, Hades had forgotten about the hero pain in his rear. Why would that girl be hanging around Julius's old stomping grounds?

"And...." The second Imp contributed the grand finale; "The other girl, in his company, mentioned Mr. Saunder's name....!"

Now the ruler of the dead was absolutely intrigued. There was no doubt about it; Julius Sander appear to not be the only stranger out of time, in their midst. But what was their connection? What did these women want with his golden boy? He didn't seem the type of man ladies would overcome time to bask in his utmost presence.
"Congratulations, boys. You've just earned another day among the living. Or living among the dead. Whichever."
As he swept away, leaving a cloud of desolation in his wake, the daemon minions breathed a sigh of profound relief. Granted to live another day, confined in the servitude of evil.

In his dreams, blurry memories of his former life forced their way into vision, the images almost torture. Julius Sanders lay on his bed of tattered blankets, twitching and moaning in his sleep. His brow was clammy with perspiration as if he were plagued with fever, though his teeth chattered from the damp underground.
After his wife had passed on, he had no one. His only daughter hated him, banning him forever from her life. He dreamed of the granddaughter he'd never know, wondering what she was like, all grown-up. He imagined her having a flock of Ebony hair, flaring around her lightly tanned skin, so like her grandmother's. He swore he could almost see her, so clear and precise in his mind. Then, the picture shattered into nothingness.
The sudden disturbance jolted the gentleman awake. The first object he focused on was the dark, ominous figure of the Dark Lord, who stood before him. They both gasped.

"Easy. Easy, Jules. It's just me, your ol' pal, Hades."

Once his heart-rate returned to a safer pace, his age becoming more apparent as it was harder to take in a breath, he began to relax.

"Bad dream, ol' boy?"

Julius nodded, holding his head in his hands.

"Wanna talk about it?"

Julius stared at the God, trying to find the sincerity in his words. But then he thought; what did it matter, whether or not he was truly interested or not? He wasn't about to get any better offers. And, sadly to say, Hades was the closest thing he had to a friend. So, he settled in, and prepared to pour out his troubles to the only living being around.
"Well, shortly after I married Layla, we had a baby daughter, who grew to hate me after her mother passed." His words choked with emotion at the mention of his wife.

Hades gave the occasional nod, to give the impression of true interest as he tried not to look bored.'What have I gotten myself into?' Then again, he loved tales of tragedy and loss.

"She shut me out of her life, until I delved into a state of deep depression. That's when my obsession for time travel reached its height, desperate for something to distract my pain wracked mind. I thought that if I saved or brought Layla back from her demise, we could become a family again. I could be a part of my little girl's life again, and become a model figure in my granddaughter's life."

That got the God's attention. As casual as he could manage, he steered the conversation onto the unseen, granddaughter. "Soooooo, your family continued into its third generation.....Just outta killer curiosity, how old would you estimate the young whipper-snapper to be about now, in your time?"

Julius had to think about that one. How long had he come to be there? Hades had to cool his impatience as the mortal continued to ponder and calculate, for if he blew his top now, he would indefinitely loose Julius's confidence and trust.

He started counting on his dirt encrusted fingers. "She would likely be in her early twenties. Gosh, have I been here that long?"
For the last little while, the inventor was loosing faith and endeavor. He didn't have the heart to continue on with his experiments. Hades had to come up with a solution to persuade Julius, to finish his machine before it was too late, and the mortal joined his realm of the dead. Permanently. His health had been slowly deteriorating as he became less intrigued by his life. Or, perhaps, he could find a more stable mind to pick-up where Julius had left off. Could these girls that Pain and Panic spoke of be blood relatives of Julius Sanders? Or was it mere coincidence? Either way, the God had to approach the situation delicately. He may have been eager, but he wasn't stupid.

"Tell ya what, Jules, you've obviously got a lot on your mind right now. Why don't you just take it easy for today, eh? You can't concentrate properly when your mind is diverted on other matters."

Without any objections, the inventor lay horizontal, slipping into unconsciousness.

"PAIN! PANIC! Get in here, now!"

At the urgency of their master's bellow, the duo made haste to answer his summon. They screeched to an immediate halt just before his billowing robes.
"At your order, sire!" They stood at attention and saluted, ready at their master's command.

Hades folded his arms. "I want you two to listen as I vent and contemplate what we've learned. But do not speak unless unless requested to."

The Imps made the gesture of zipping their lips shut.

Satisfied with this, he proceeded to think aloud of his personal dilemma. "OK, we know that somehow these strange girls are connected with our guy. The question is...how? Would they heighten my plans, or become a nuisance?"

Pain and Panic fidgeted, trying not to draw attention to themselves. Nervously, Pain raised a claw for permission to speak. "You want us to finish them off, boss?" He crushed a fist into his open palm, displaying his enthusiasm.

Hades pondered the potential prospects of his suggestion, stroking his jaw thoughtfully. Tempting......."No", he decided. "No. Not yet. Just watch them, see what they're after, and inform me of any changes that come to play. If our situation calls for it, then we'll move in........for the KILL." He grinned wickedly as he cackled a deep, throaty chuckle. The Imps snickered along with him. Oh but it was so delicious to be so vicious.

Meg and Zebra lay awake in their beds, each going over in their minds the day's events. Meg's unpleasant mood lingered on. Hercules had dropped them off, arriving a little after sunset. He had expressed his sympathy for their altogether failure to locate Zebra's grandfather. And if they ever required his assistance again, they shouldn't hesitate to seek him out. Torrin repeated the same sentiments, his eyes focused on Zebra. Meg briskly broke-up their little bubble by reminding them of the late hour and ushering Zebra inside, after bidding their escorts a hasty farewell.
Once inside, they relayed their experience to Amphitryon and Alcmene. After a quick meal, everyone agreed that it had been a tiring day, and separated to their bedrooms.
Zebra wasn't as distraught as her friend, she was prepared to accept the possibility of their permanent stay in the past. Meg, obviously, would fight this until the end of their search was proven in vain. Until they found the rotting corpse of Julius Sanders himself, would she admit defeat.

"Meg?"

"What?" Her voice a little gruff with annoyance and fatigue.

"Do you think my grandfather still lives?"

Meg was silent for a moment, afraid. "He's......gotta be. Or.......we're......"

"Meg, why are you so determined to return to the future? I mean, I think life could be lived happily here. Look, we've got our basic essentials, and we don't have to worry about rent or the rising cost of tuition at school. We've got loving, supportive friends....."

Meg bolted upright, as if she'd figured it out. "Oh, I get it now, this is about Torrin!"

"What?! No.......I." She stopped herself. There was no denying her growing fondness for the young bodyguard.

"You've been so caught up by his flattery that it has blinded your common sense."

Zebra didn't feel bitter toward her friend for her accusation. If anything, she felt great sadness for Meg; her prejudice and inability to trust others kept any possible friendships from evolving. "Meg...." She began patiently, with sympathy. "I know it's hard for you to allow people to get close to you, but, if you'd give people a chance you'd realize that there are, indeed, good, decent people in this world. For instance, if you'd allow yourself to get to know, say, Hercules for example......"

That was Zebra's mistake. Meg clasped her head between her hands, unable to take much more. "Stop it, Zebra, I won't listen to any more of it!"

Zebra tried to reach out to Meg. "Please, Meg. I was only suggesting that we make the best of our current situation and take things in stride."

Unfortunately, Meg was done listening. "Enough. I'm too exhausted to argue with you further, tonight." She turned over on her side to face the wall.

"But.....Meg....I."

"Conversation closed, Zebra, goodnight!"

Disheartened, Zebra pressed her no further, hoping sleep would sooth her aggression. "Well, goodnight, Meg." Zebra tucked her woolen blanket to her chin, harboring against the growing chill of the season, and willed herself to sleep.