Chapter 15: School, Meet Taurus

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!" Rose booked it down the hallway, her hair in total disarray as she scrambled to get her school supplies into her bag. Hades sat at the kitchen table sipping at his espresso as he followed her frantic path past the doorway. She was only 20 minutes behind schedule, it wasn't like she just woke up.

The teen's footsteps stopped their frantic tapping before a frustrated cry echoed down the hallway.

Walking into the kitchen, Rose gracelessly fell into her chair and sighed. A black comb stuck out of the frizz of curls cascading down her back as she grabbed a pitcher of pomegranate juice off the table.

"Whoa, babe. Going for a new look?" Hades raised a brow.

Rose mumbled something incoherent under her breath before taking a gulp of her drink.

"Sorry, must have some brimstone in my ears or somethin," Hades flicked a little pebble away from him and looked at the young woman expectantly. The red-head glared at him a moment before sighing again.

"...The comb's stuck."

Hades looked at the pained expression on the girls face before falling over laughing.

Taurus came in looking tired and confused. The minotaur glanced from Hades (collapsed on the floor) and Rose (who looked like she'd gotten zapped by Zeus) and cocked his head.

"What'd I miss?"

"Miss Gorgon over here's got her comb stuck," Hades chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye. If looks could kill, Hades would've lost his immortality privileges right there. Taurus walked over to the dejected woman and inspected the damage before carefully working the comb out of the mass of red curls. With a couple twists of his wrist, he formed a fashionably messy bun and used the comb to hold it in place.

Rose touched the bun delicately. "Wow! Thanks Taurus!"

Hades sneered, mimicking Rose in a high pitched mumble, "'Wow, Thanks Taurus! Aren't you just precious...'" The minions giggled childishly under the table. Rose glanced over, having not quite heard what Hades has said, before shrugging it off and looking at the clock.

Her eyes widened comically before she screeched, "I'M LATE!'

...

"Hades, you're a god! City-state trooper Chipicles won't- scratch that- can't pull you over for speeding! So SPEED!" Rose nagged, making said god start to heat up. Sighing in defeat, the teen gave Hades some space and leaned against the side of the chariot. Rose had never been late to school. Figures it would be the one time I had to present with a group...

Pulling up to where Hades normally dropped her off, the red-head jumped out of the chariot as Dark Heart dashed past her toward the school building. Students darted out of the wolf's way as he careened through the gates, his tongue lolling out one side of his mouth in a fanged smile.

"You know, sometimes I think he likes school more than I do..." the teen sighed. Then with a wave she trotted down the hill.

...

Running into her Grecian Literature class, Rose found Cassandra, Icarus and Herc sitting in the usual spot.

"Hey, you ready for our presentation?" asked Hercules, looking fairly nervous as he peered around his two friends. This was a big deal for him, seeing as the presentation was about someone he knew.

"Yup!" Rose plopped down next to Cassandra and pulled a stack of small note cards out of her bag. "Notes on Athena right here." As she flipped through the notes, the redhead had a random, nagging feeling that it was going to be a very long day.

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Back in the Underworld, Hades was seated at his chessboard grinning to himself. Across from him sat a very nervous Taurus. Both were staring aimlessly at the board in what could be best described as 'awkward silence'.

Realizing there was another person in the room, the Lord of the Dead jerked his head up before putting on his best business smile.

"Heeeey, Taurus! Just the Minotaur I wanted to see! You thirsty? You look thirsty. Nectar?" The quick one-sided conversation made said minotaur's head whirl as he tried to keep up with what was being said.

"Uhh sure?"
The god of wealth poured the man a goblet before sitting back down and launching into his spiel.

"So I've got this little, ya know, thing goin' on in the works. Nothin' serious just a little... relocation and I'm having some issues with some people opposing the move. I need some muscle to get rid of 'em, and you're just the Minotaur to do it."
"What exactly do I have to do...?" The poor half-man asked looking mildly concerned at how fast the deal was being formulated.

"Eh, a little brawling here, some rampant destruction there; nothing too strenuous for someone of your caliber, " Hades assured, grinning as the minotaur relaxed just a bit at the compliment.

The half-man frowned for a second, looking slightly unsure.

"Did I happen to mention that there is a certain individual that you might... enjoy knocking around in this job description?

Taurus looked at the god curious before motioning him to continue.

It only took one word.

"Hercules. " Hades tossed out, a fanged smirk growing from ear to ear that could only be matched by the one on the young man's face.

"Where do I sign?"

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Adonis stepped down from the amphitheater stage to a roaring applause, his Zeus outfit flowing in the breeze. Rose couldn't help but scowl.

"I'm sorry, but why is he getting such a reaction? He didn't even present! He just stood there in that insulting get-up while one of his grunts did the hard work!" She griped, trying to figure out what was going on.

Icarus rolled his eyes, "Aah, the complexities of the Grecian social hierarchy. So gripping, so confusing..." The boy peered into the front row as Adonis handed out drachmas to everyone who clapped. "So lucrative."

Huffing in disgust, Hercules got up with his notes and started down the stairs. Suddenly, the poor teen went somersaulting down the steps, his notes clattering to the ground next to him. Rose and the rest of the group gasped as the boy groaned on the floor.
"Whoops, my apologies Hercules, my foot just stuck out there on its own," The prince called back over his shoulder, not even bothering to sound sincere. As he made his way to the top row, Rose almost flew past him. She would have made it too, if in her haste her ankle hadn't rolled out from under her, causing her to go careening toward the ground. A well-muscled arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her back from the brink, and she was almost grateful. Too bad Adonis couldn't just leave it at that.

"Careful. Wouldn't want that pretty face of yours to get a scar." He purred in her ear, before releasing the girl and returning to his seat.

Completely grossed out, Rose hurried down the stairs to where Cassandra and Icarus sat around Hercules, all the while trying to suppress a shiver of disgust.

Cassandra looked at her with an air of worry while Icarus completely panicked, scurrying around like a distressed rodent. The red-head knelt down next to the fallen boy and gently brushed his hair away from his forehead.

"Hey, Herc. Can you understand what I'm saying?" she questioned quietly, looking into his eyes. His pupils were huge and didn't really focus, but the teen nodded anyway. "Can you not move anything?" Herc moaned and twitched before shaking his head 'no'. "It looks like you have a concussion. Pretty bad one too. We're gonna get you to the infirmary, ok? You just have to stay awake for me." And with that, Rose motioned for Cassandra to give her a hand as she slowly lifted the boy from the floor and helped him to the nurse.

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Taurus crested the hill outside of Prometheus Academy and glared down at the school, taking in the sight of the ant-like students crawling lazily over the campus grounds.

What did Hades call it?

Oh, that's right.

Time for some 'rampant destruction'.