The last time she'd been to Athens, it'd led to the worst blind date of her lifetime. Megara wished Hades could just leave Hercules alone and pick up some kind of hobby. Maybe pottery, since he could fire the clay himself. If Hades wanted to complain to her about his plan not working out, he probably should've arranged for her transportation.
It was much easier to drag her feet with such a tall pile of excuses. How unfortunate that the roads to Athens were packed with spice merchants, and that she had to walk so much of the way. It was a dreadful inconvenience when she ran into a bohemian pack of outcasts drinking pomegranate wine in a roadside cafe. By then, her feet hurt, and Megara had no problem contributing tales of living in Thebes to the conversation. Even among a pack of anemic-looking artistic types dressed all in black, Thebes outclassed their ennui.
One woman there, by the name of Electra, heard that Megara was on her way to Prometheus Academy, and it raised her hackles. "Why would you ever want to visit such an oppressive, creativity bankrupt institution?"
Megara raised her brow. She'd never heard it described that way, but she wouldn't expect a free-thinking polis like Athens to support a school like that for its prominent youth. "They're putting on a fundraiser with this new hero. Ever heard of Hercules?"
The mention of her acquaintance had the girl up in arms. A series of furies manifested out of nowhere while she ranted about how Hercules was a tool of oppression and a poser. Well, at least she was hearing one account of Wonder Boy that did something other than gush his praises, but she couldn't reconcile it with who he was. She'd have to throw out all that garbage data to make her final assessment.
Luckily for Megara, and perhaps not for Hercules, she hitched a ride on a chariot speeding away from Electra's furies, and soon she'd arrived in Athens.
By the time she found the auditorium, she was sure Hercules was halfway done with his speech, inspiring everyone in the city with his infectious charisma. Athens might not be as hero-starved as Thebes, but she had no doubts they'd be happy to hang on to everything he said.
Instead, she saw Prince Theseus, a not altogether repellant former suitor for her cousin Ismene, standing on stage. There was a woman next to him who could've doubled for Ismene onstage. He must have a type. The two of them were the ones stirring up the crowd's fervor. So where was the man of the hour?
As if summoned by her curiosity, Hercules burst onstage, looking like the audience members were one big mess of Hydra. "There's–" he started in a high-pitched, breathy cry, but cleared his throat, and put on his "hero" voice. "Remain calm, citizens! There are gorgons wandering the streets of Athens! I'm going to need you to close your eyes as soon as you hear them hissing, and leave the gorgon slaying to the professionals!"
Oh dear. Poor Hades. It seemed Medusa had gotten to Hercules in time to warn him. How dreadfully unfortunate.
Well, her job here was done. Might as well turn right back around and head back to Thebes and wait for the next scheme to fall apart.
"Wait!"
Uh oh.
Pegasus whinnied a sort of war cry, and Hercules was airborne.
Megara ducked under an awning, then crouched against the wall, away from any windows. She was not here on a social call. She'd done her bit, and now…
"Meg?" Hercules called from above.
Megara scrunched down further, even though there was no way he could've seen her.
"He really broke the lock! Get on with you now, miscreant! Students only!" The speaker was a balding, middle-aged man with what Megara could charitably refer to as a creatively shaped head. He stood atop a platform where he'd assembled a series of crystals and lenses in a bizarre contraption.
"You'd better hide, too! There are Gorgons on the loose, and Hercules is about to fight them!"
"Ahh, I've missed the occasional bout of heroics! He's such a good lad! Don't worry, my friend, he will vanquish the monsters in record time!"
"Is there a record?" Megara shook her head. "Never mind. You know him?"
"I was his shop class teacher and the father of his best friend! He's a good lad, but sometimes he doesn't want to expand his horizons. Prefers to focus only on what he's already good at!"
Understandable.
"So we, what? Wait in here for a few hours and hope the Gorgons don't find us?"
"I have no intention of standing by! The boy will need help! You should come along!"
"Oh, no. I don't think that's a good idea."
"Someone has to help me steer! We can practice on the Gorgons, but this is a monster-busting machine! Come along! Witness genius!"
This had not been part of the plan. Neither was riding on the contraption as it powered through the streets toward the sounds of conflict. Multiple times on the journey toward the sound of Hercules facing off against the monsters, Megara imagined herself leaping off the cart and leaving this fight to the people who weren't responsible for recruiting the monsters and then taking credit for it.
Yet, the time never presented itself. She careened toward her certain doom, navigating but unable to pause.
Hercules had cornered the Gorgons at the juncture of two alleyways, both of which he'd blocked off with what looked like rubble. He had one by the neck, even though she was twice his size. The other was trying to intervene, but Pegasus was busy distracting her by drumming on the heads of her snake hair.
"Stheno, Euryale, we don't have to be savages like this!" Medusa was frantically waving her hands about. "Please stop this!"
She definitely wouldn't be winning Employee of the Month.
"If I have to kill them, I will!" Hercules growled. He lifted the gorgon he'd subdued already and slammed her into the other one.
"I understand, but please give them a chance," Medusa begged.
Hercules aimed his reflective shield so he wouldn't have to look directly into the eyes of the gorgons, and that was when he saw Megara riding in with his shop teacher. The dolt dropped his shield. "Meg? There you are! Oh, hi, Daedalus!"
"Get yer shield!" the raspy voice of Phil demanded from the shadows.
"Hercules, shield your eyes!" Daedalus shoved Megara off his invention cart, and with a swipe of flint, he lit a fire under his crystals. The light refracted through the ridges of the crystal and back at itself from the lenses while Megara backed away into the shadows.
A beam of light from the invention stung the Gorgons directly in their faces, while Daedalus laughed maniacally.
Hercules ducked and rolled toward them, reaching his feet so he could rush up to Megara. "I didn't expect you to be here!"
"Didn't you invite me?" Megara shielded her eyes, afraid to use Hades's glasses.
"No, I didn't, but… I'm glad to see you?"
"Hero! Time for hero-ing!" Daedalus cried.
"Oh, right! 'Scuse me!" He squeezed Megara's hand and charged back toward the Gorgons, picking up his shield as he went.
Medusa sidled up to Megara with her hands over her mouth.
The two of them stood in silent solidarity as Hercules vaulted toward the monsters with nothing but the momentum of his own highly-toned body. He slammed into one of them, grappled by her neck, and brought her backward to the ground with him.
The other swiped at them, but Pegasus snapped off one of her snake heads with his teeth, distracting her.
Hercules raised his sword and sliced through the monster's eyes.
"Stheno!" Medusa screamed next to Megara. She dropped to her knees and wept.
"She's blind. That doesn't make her dead," Megara tried to comfort her, but she was watching the other monster menace Hercules now that he was covered in her sister's blood.
The snakes that still had some life in them rallied to form a circle around Hercules. He backed away, making what sounded less like a heroic growl and more like a little boy confronted with a nightmare.
"The Hydra…" Megara whispered to herself. "You're allowed to slice these heads off!" she called to Hercules.
His grip tightened on his sword, which he slashed through the whole collection of snakes. He seemed to stand taller with them crumpled at his feet.
"You did great!" Megara called across the courtyard.
Hercules turned a brilliant smile in her direction that seemed brighter than Daedalus's machine to her.
"Stay focused. You got another one on your tail!" Phil called from his hiding place.
Euryale, more enraged than ever, roared down at Hercules.
Something human-sized flew from the shadowed alleyway, not on wings but on a rope. Whoever it was wore dark armor and a helmet with lenses in the eyeholes. He slashed several snakes off Euryale's head and gripped the stumps to hold him in place so he could slice through her neck from behind. His sword got lodged in her neck, but he definitely had her attention now.
Medusa wailed in sorrow, but the heroes were not slowing down. "I know they're wicked, and I know they wanted to kill people today, but…"
Megara set a hand on Medusa's shoulder, fixated on the other two gorgons. She traced their every movement, watched Hercules batter the snakes away, and completely ignored the other fighter.
"The beam doesn't seem to make a difference anymore!" Daedalus lamented. "They will petrify those boys in seconds!"
"No, they won't!" Megara ripped her sunglasses off, only to remember she couldn't throw them across at Hercules. There was something else she could do, though. "Hey, Medusa, can I borrow your glasses?"
"Wh–?" Medusa sniffled. "Oh, I guess…" She covered her eyes and handed the glasses off.
Megara took both sets of glasses and held them over the beam of light projected from Daedalus's machine. The blue and pink blended into a purple beam. When this hit the gorgons, the change was instantaneous. That same shade of purple spread across their faces, which froze in roars of rage in their last moments. They stood petrified in their final moments of fighting the heroes, but Megara had to admit that the purple was a nice touch.
"Is it over?" asked the surprise bonus warrior while he climbed down Euryale's back.
"Can't be too careful." Hercules gave each gorgon a firm, shattering punch that crumbled them into piles of iridescent rubble. "Sorry, Medusa."
Megara handed Medusa her glasses back. "I'm sorry, too…" Not that she could admit her role in recruiting the gorgons. She kept her head down. She was in no place to beg for Medusa's silence.
"I can't believe they're gone…" Medusa threw her arms around Megara and buried her face in her shoulder.
Megara stood perfectly still, uncertain how to handle this outpouring of emotion, not to mention the way Medusa's hair curled around her neck. If she moved, would they bite?
Over Medusa's shoulder, Megara watched Hercules bound toward her. He skidded to a halt, close enough for Megara to watch the war between his joy that he'd defeated the monsters and sorrow that the monsters were his friend's sisters. "I'm sorry, Medusa… It… It had to be done, though."
"I know…" Medusa looked up, adjusting her glasses. "But that doesn't make it any easier to…"
"Look at it this way: you're free. You've got a whole island to yourself, and you can do whatever you want with it. Not to mention, think of all the people they won't intentionally petrify anymore."
"Yeah… yeah, I know that's what's supposed to be important right now. But… if they'd had more of a chance, maybe they could've…"
"They weren't like you," Megara pointed out. "Your sisters, they may have been, but they were never there for you. They never would've been. Now you're free to fill your life with people who deserve to be in it."
Hercules stepped closer. "She's right… you should listen to Meg; she's so smart."
The other warrior joined them. "I hear Theseus is throwing a party tonight at his palace. There's still time to salvage your fundraising efforts."
"Well…" Hercules's eyes darted toward the other warrior, and he let out a quiet laugh. "I knew Theseus in high school, but I was never cool enough to go to any of his parties. I'd be real happy to get out of giving a speech."
Phil flew down on Pegasus. "Too bad about the school fundraiser, though."
"Actually, it doesn't have to be." Megara gestured toward the fallen Gorgons. "How valuable do you figure that stuff's bound to be? Can you say commemorative jewelry? We could call it Gorgonite."
"We…" Medusa started, but she couldn't go on. She pressed a hand to her forehead and leaned heavily against Megara. "Yeah… I guess we can…"
"Herc, get her to the party." Megara nudged the final gorgon toward the hero, still stained with her sisters's blood. "I've got something I need to check on. But I hope the two of you have a great time."
Hercules almost went cross-eyed looking at her. "I couldn't… I mean, I'd like to see you there…"
"You will," she promised, though she couldn't be sure if she'd still be alive by the time it started. If anything, she needed to tie up loose ends. Medusa deserved her second shot, after all. If her second shot meant getting her very own lovesick puppy to guard her from Hades, so be it.
"We'll have to get some help collecting these stones," said the masked warrior.
"Which is definitely not my department." Megara backed away slowly. "So nice to see everyone. I'll find you at the palace."
"Don't trouble yourself!" Phil called after her. "Nobody's forcing you to show up!"
"Phil…" Hercules warned, but Megara was already around the corner.
She hadn't gotten two blocks down the road when Hades appeared.
"So! Where's my life-sized statue of Hercules?"
"Probably getting carved at some marketplace in Thebes," Megara shrugged. "Plus, he's back on home turf, so he's surrounded by friends. Turns out, Daedalus had some wacky invention that saved Wonder Boy at the last minute. Now they're selling gorgon chunks to pay for the renovations at the school."
Hades roared in frustration, his orange flames illuminating the streets. "You can't be serious! Again?"
"Look, I'm just as surprised as you are. I had no idea that contraption would do anything. But now Herc's invited to a party, so there'll be witnesses if you try to pull any more nonsense."
Hades's eyes flickered. "How do you know about this party?"
"I was watching it all go down. He's going to celebrate his victory there. Too bad for you, I guess. Zeus will probably tune in to watch his son celebrate another hard-fought victory."
"No, no, tonight will be different," Hades snarled. "In the past, I'd have one idea at a time, and he'd recover. Not this time!"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you're about to see an encore performance. Just sit tight and be ready for the next step of the process!"
"Wait, you're leaving me here?" She'd almost prefer the Underworld to a party.
"Bingo! You're a smart girl. I'm sure you'll think of something." He leaned closer. "We're not playing for years here. You'd better not give me any reasons to think you're not a team player, Meg. There are always free spaces in Tartarus."
"I'll remember that." Megara kept her chin up, and her eyes narrowed until Hades vanished.
Whatever he had planned next, it couldn't be any worse than a party with royalty.
