A/N: Honestly the quote for this chapter would be the whole song, but it really sets the tone and the pace for it. Although, the last stanza does add a foreboding touch to add that both heroes and villains have caused unforeseen consequences whether intentional or accidental. Beware the choices made, dear reader.

"I've been in this town so long,
So long to the city
I'm fit with the stuff
To ride in the rough,
And sunny down snuff, I'm alright
By the heroes and-

Heroes and villains
Just see what you've done."

- Heroes and Villains, By Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys

The bells hanging above the door began to chime, signaling that a customer had just stepped into his little shop. Mr. Acheron peered over the countertop of his medicinal cabinet and nearly did a double-take, causing the older man's spectacles to fall off his nose; thankfully they were on a beaded strap and simply fell onto his chest. "Uh-uh, Kyrios, we already paid you our dues for the month," the shaking, thin man whimpered at the sight of the tall figure who stood at the door, but once he placed his glasses back on his nose, Mr. Acheron released a groan of annoyance.

"Oh it's you," there was a heavy note of disdain in his voice as he went back to what he was originally doing. The shaking man stood all the more straighter, his facade slipping entirely as he began to ignore the approaching young man.

Hades dryly laughed as he began to lean on the wooden countertop next to the cashier, using the large machine to block the upper-half of his body in the case someone outside the drug store recognized him. "Don't worry, I won't be long. Kind of on the run here, so let's make this quick."

"If this is about more Lethe, tell that yutz ya call a father that making this stuff ain't easy," Mr. Acheron disappeared to the back of the store only to emerge with a single green bottle which he placed on the countertop in front of him. He normally gave the boy seven every week, but this past week had been quite eventful. "And when youse guys keep taking more than half of my profits for your silly protection costs, let him know it's his fault if my shop goes under."

Hades rolled his eyes at the shop owner's monologue. Every time he came in here, the old geezer would complain to him about his problems, and to be fair to him, he didn't have a lot of options on who to vent to especially since Kronos made it incredibly difficult to trust anyone. Mr. Acheron just so happened to know that after two summers of working at the old shop, that he hated his old man too.

"Yeah… So… Leuce here?" The boy's tone was oddly chipper, and after knowing the kid for some odd years it was out of character for him. Something had him higher than the notes of a piccolo the way he was bouncing, tapping his hand on the countertop like he was dynamite ready to explode.

Mr. Acheron, in a moment of frustration, threw up his arms. "Always askin' 'bout my girl, never askin' how Mr. Acheron is doin'!" The shop owner began to curse in Greek, and in his rage began to angrily organize the new shipment of medicines he had gotten this morning into the near empty shelves on the walls. "Y'know I got half my mind to send my girl off to school like her sisters, so she can meet a decent fellow- away from all this-"

"Sir," Hades ground his teeth in frustration, but after years of putting up with Mr. Acheron's constantly shifting moods, he was getting awfully good at it, but even his patience had limits. Right now he was on top of the world. Only one thing was stopping him from leaving this city for good, and it was finding Leuce. He didn't know her daily routine since they secretly met at night, so the shop was the first thing that came to mind. Too bad her father still hated him and fired him after he discovered his secret relationship with his daughter. "If you don't know where she is-"

"You got a lot of nerve askin' for her. It's going to get her killed one day- y'know that, punk?" Mr. Acheron's voice dropped into a serious whisper, his colored eyes bore into his. Those murky green blue eyes were the color of a wild, ancient river, and the river of woe that flowed from his eyes was something the young man felt caught in its currents.

"You're dreaming, old man," Hades shook his head, breaking the spell the shop keeper's eyes had on him. Snatching the bottle of Lethe from the countertop, Hades began to make his leave, but paused at the door. A frustrated sigh escaped from him. He couldn't leave things like this. He owed it to Leuce to give his former boss some decency of respect; even if the two of them never got along. "Sir, I'm gonna be frank. You don't like me, I get that. No one in your beady eyes deserves your little girl, but I'm taking her away from here. We've got places to see, dreams to chase, I've saved enough, and I'll work every day to give her a real h-"

The shopkeeper had the nerve to laugh in his face. "Boys your age are always runnin' 'round thinking you're like gods; like nothin' can't touch ya, but, it's always the people who run who got trouble at their heels. Don't drag her into your mess, ya, schlemiel. Your old man got the whole city into his mess, what're you gonna make, huh? You two can wait. She won't listen to me anymore," Mr. Acheron's angered voice began to turn into shouting, approaching Hades as he stood paralyzed at the door. "Young love, it's sweet, but there's a reason it's labeled young- cuz youth never lasts. Just like what happened to your ma-"

"Shut up," Hades whispered in a low timber, far from the usual tenor of his youthful voice.

"You think I'm scared of a little punk like you? Don't think I won't call one of the dons again," Mr. Acheron warned, his eyes narrowed as he held his ground in front of the boy that towered over him. "I think ya remember that little incident."

For the slightest moment, Hades instinctively placed his hand over his chest. His ribs had not forgotten. He could still feel the thick leather sole of his uncle Iapetus' shoe digging into his ribcage, pressing into him as he tried to breathe, his chest suffocating underneath his uncle's rock solid foot. Yet even if he could, the room had been full of that awful cigarette smoke as the rest of his uncles and his own father watched. He remembered the way his father had laughed through the whole ordeal, even flicking the ashes of his cigarette onto his face before he disappeared into those double doors that have always been closed off to him, leaving him at the mercy of the pitiless mountain that was his uncle.

Almost a year, and he still felt repercussions from that beating, but now, he felt everything but fear course in his veins. He wasn't a little boy anymore. Today he was a man, and a man did not know the meaning of fear. Especially when he knew what he was fighting for. It was why he never stopped seeing Leuce; even if it was in secret.

Hades had the audacity to release a dry laugh as his jaw crookedly shifted from side to side, "In fact I do. You made damn sure I didn't forget-"

Like the crack of a whip, Hades slammed the shop keeper down onto the wooden countertop where they had just been conversing. A surprised and pained moan escaped out of the older gentleman as he continued to lay there, squirming in his attempt to break out of the boy's hold, but Hades had him pinned like a worm on a hook. The grip the young man had on him was strong, but just as quickly as it had happened, the pressure on Mr. Acheron's shoulders and the angle his arm was bent were quickly released.

"I," Hades stretched the single word as he began to realize what he'd done. "I didn't mean," but the young man felt his shoulders deflate. He really was becoming more like his old man every day. "If Leuce doesn't come home tonight- you know why."

Mr. Acheron had barely lifted himself off the countertop to find that the young man was already gone. The bells atop his door now a dirge as their knell began to gradually decrescendo into silence. The old shop keeper listened to the sweet bells, a noise that reminded him of his own daughter. Staring out of his store front, Mr. Acheron noticed the bottle of Lethe that now stood at the front of the door. Without so much as a thought, the old man scooped it up and spun it in his hands.

Sometimes one whipping for a dog is never enough.

Slipping out of Mr. Acheron's old drugstore, Hades began to wander around Queens in search of Leuce. When she wasn't with her father, or at school; which he didn't have to consider since it was summer time; she was in the park. Either climbing trees or filling up her sketchbook with hundreds of drawings of each of the trees she took a liking to. That was the thing about parks in Queens, there were multiple, and that wasn't even taking into account how large each of the parks were.

Sure, most of them were on the decline at this point in time, with y'know a war going on- the Great War, but he needed to find her soon if he wanted them to get out today. At this point, he needed to, so as to avoid now two groups of people that would come after him: Kronos' cronies and his two older brothers.

Speaking of his two older brothers, he was starting to feel a smidgen of guilt for tricking them into partaking of the Lethe moonshine that was meant for the three blind sisters, but how else would he have reacted if someone just straight up told him they had a plan to take down their father? Taking out their father- they had no idea what they were dealing with. If they somehow even managed to get past the whole mob of underlings- past the dons and troop of loyal goons he had, Kronos himself was not someone to underestimate. He was easily bigger than all three of them- yes, even bigger than Zeus, and he fought better than a well oiled machine. Quick and efficient he could make a group of ten men fall to their knees with nothing but his hands, and that was when he was in need of entertainment. There were other times, when he was dealing with his own goons that a lesson needed to be taught, and ultimately they were put through the torture that made sure they never defected again; that is if they were given that chance.

Though the idea of powers in this family was laughable to him, there were a few coincidences he couldn't ignore, and the more he thought of it, okay, maybe there was something in his family. Their father definitely had something, he couldn't explain what, but he would not argue that fact.

So in theory, okay Zeus and Poseidon may have some kind of parlor tricks up their sleeves, but so what? They get rid of Kronos they'd have even more problems to deal with. Underlings without a boss were like chickens with their heads cut off. They run around leaving an even bigger mess than anyone could anticipate. It was the primordial example of cutting off a hydra head, two more would take its place. Any number of Kronos' half-brothers would try and make themselves the new boss, and though they lacked the brains Kronos had, they had much more brutal ways of taking control should the underlings decide to pay fealty to another brother.

Kronos took care of that problem from the moment Grandpa Ouranos died, and in return for their unquestionable loyalty, he gave them sections of the city to lord over. With Iapetus taking care of the West Side, Hyperion the East, Coeus the North, and Krios the South side, they had every corner covered, and all of them ruled their own sections like tyrannical kings. They had numbers, connections, you name it, they had it. So what kind of crazy plan did Zeus and Poseidon even have?

The only thing he could recall from their short meeting was something about a guy name Iasion, and for some reason it was awfully familiar. Iasion, Hades repeated his name, letting it roll of his tongue. He vaguely remembered some schmo with that name, but who exactly? It wasn't a popular name, name like that would get a guy a free bowl of soup or something. But why did it strike him?

"Gah!" Hades let out a yelp of surprise as someone threw an apple at his head.

"Hiya, Hades," a girlish giggle accompanied the voice coming up above him.

"You didn't think of any other way getting my attention, babe?" Hades grimaced, rubbing the back of his head where the apple had hit him as he looked up at the willowy girl who lounged on the tree above him.

Leuce cheekily smirked, flipping back her short, curly forest green hair in a coy manner. "And miss that expression on your face?" She admired the tall lanky boy who was just starting to mature. With a wide set of shoulders and a strong chin the boy had hollow cheeks and expressive yellow eyes that had multiple layers of charcoal rings around them giving a good indication of how much he slept. Yet underneath that ruggedness, there was something oddly handsome about it, maybe not in the normal standards, but it was something the girl had come to admire after months of stealing glances.

Hades soon returned Leuce's grin despite the throbbing in the back of his head. "You are one crazy little minx. Now get down here, I got something to tell ya, babe."

"Hmm, but I'm so comfy up here," Leuce winked, leaning back into the trunk of the tree with her arms behind her head, an action that was a bit difficult in the white long-sleeved blouse she wore.

"Hey, your loss, babe, but I guess I'll have to walk all three of these mutts without you," Hades proceeded to pull out two of the dogs that were in his pockets and raised them high so she could see them. The pups were not too excited about being awoken once again, and especially more so at the awfully high-pitched squeal of excitement the girl on the tree made.

"Alright," she swung her legs down, the long billowing green skirt began to ride up enough to reveal her knee-length pantaloons. "I'm coming down, but you better not look up," she shot a poignant glare at him that would have seemed menacing if it weren't for the way her large green eyes always seemed to make her look more doe-eyed.

Hades snorted. "Don't tempt me," the young man lilted, but was sorely reprimanded as another apple was sent flying at his head. "Ouch- okay- okay, turning around," Hades began to rub the now red mark on his forehead in an attempt to placate his bruised skull. Babe really had an arm on her.

While Leuce tried to get down from the tree, Hades used this moment to let the pups stretch their legs. Setting them down on the ground, the young man placed them at his feet in the shadow of the trees.

The three young pups began to pitter-patter around the thin-bladed grass, exploring their new surroundings and unfamiliar scents, but they made sure to stay close together. Wherever one went the other two were quick to follow even if they had a hard time trying to decide what to do first. Yet what captured the three pups attention the most at the moment was the bright light that seemed to come from everywhere. Having lived all their short lives in the sewers, they did not know what to make of the giant star that took up a majority of the sky. Their watery eyes blinked up at the bright sky, trying to make sense of it all. They had never seen the sun before, but they enjoyed the warm sensation that filled their pelts thanks to the stray rays of sunshine that made it through the branches.

"That's right mutts, there's a whole world out there," Hades chuckled at the dogs' reactions of visible awe. Their tails and then their whole bodies began shake with overwhelming excitement. Their recently opened eyes were drawn to the massive trees that towered over them and to the expansive river that trickled by.

The warm summer breeze began to shake the branches of the trees thick with flowering yellow blooms, sending a couple leaves and even some flower petals down to the earth below. Autumn was not far off and with the increasing heat of the dog days of summers, the leaves were beginning to dry at the base of their stems, freeing some of them from the branches they called home.

Immediately, the three pups began to give chase after a wandering leaf that fluttered down somewhere near them, but after giving the suspicious object a thorough sniff and quick bite from each pup, their curiosity soon returned to the young man who had made his way over to where they were investigating. As soon as his shadow encompassed them, the three pups began to tumble towards him, tripping over each other and their own fumbling paws, promptly getting to work on the laces of his worn leather shoes.

Hades felt a wry smile worm its way across his face. "You dumb mutts," he bent down and scooped all three of the pups in his hands and set them down further away from his shoes. Knowing the three would get bored and try and attack his laces again, Hades took off his cap and placed it on top of their confused little heads.

The sound of a small thud coming from behind him caused Hades to turn around, but he barely had time to react as Leuce threw her arms around his neck.

"You miss me?" Leuce asked and before he could respond, the sneaky girl pecked him on the lips.

Hades snorted. "Hardly," the young man rolled his eyes at her affection. Though he was a sucker for it, he couldn't hide the slight embarrassment he felt every time she displayed it so out in the open. "The girl I'm looking for doesn't chuck apples every chance she gets."

"And miss the opportunity for free food?" The pearly-hued girl stood on her tip-toes ready to give the boy another kiss, but paused as she decided to tease him again and only blew at his waiting, puckering lips. "You don't sound like the Hades, I know," she removed her arms around the boy's neck and turned her attention to the playful pups.

"You're such a tease, but you're half right about that." Hades set himself next to Leuce, who was seated on the ground in a criss-cross position.

"Oh?" Leuce lifted a curious eyebrow, momentarily glancing at Hades, and away from the puppies she had set on top of her lap. "So you didn't get me these pups just for any silly old reason?" She began to pout her seashell pink lips at him.

"And who said I was giving 'em to you, huh?" Hades' eyes gleamed with mischief.

"Oh, you're no fun," Leuce stuck out her tongue at him. "I just figured since you told me you had something to tell me."

"I'm getting to that, babe, jeez Louis," the young man felt heat begin to bloom on his face, and in his haste, began to rub at his offending cheeks to hide his growing embarrassment. "Y'know how I said we'd run away from here as soon as I turned eighteen?"

"And when I turn seventeen," she lilted. "Papa, doesn't want me turning into mama, but we won't have to wait so long, my birthday's only three weeks after yours."

Hades scoffed. "I noticed… But what if we didn't have time for that?" His voice began to lose its cheerful tone and became all the more serious as his body became rigid, his voice tight as he said, "What if our chance was now?"

"Now?!" Leuce's already large eyes became wider than saucers. "Oh Hades, you can't be serious. You're not of a-"

"Yeah, I am. My brothers are back in town, and they scrounged up some pretty legitimate documents confirming my real birthday. We don't have to wait. We can leave right now to Atlantic City, Chicago, hell, we could run to California! None of my miserable family's livin' over there."

Hades watched as Leuce's face darkened for the slightest second. Was that worry on her face? Fear? No, Leuce wasn't afraid of anything, she was overly confidant. So what was that shadow on her face?

Leuce quickly noticed Hades studying her, and her demeanor quickly changed into a look of concern- not of worry. "Hades, you can't be serious, what about money? Transportation? The puppies?! We don't have a plan!"

Hades breathed an internal sigh of relief. She was worried about their lack of a plan- not the idea of running away. Well, he knew how to placate her worries. After knowing her all this time, he knew how to treat a lady. "Excuse you, but I got a full-fledged plan in the makings, my sweet. You really think my Aunt Nyx and I lost touch all these years? That old bat is sneakier than me and that's saying something," He explained, but Leuce couldn't help but smile at the under current of admiration he had for the woman who raised him.

Hades never made it his priority to praise people, he was the direct opposite, finding new ways to ridicule and belittle those he found dull and slow-witted as soon as their backs were turned. It may have seemed cruel, but she knew it was his way of blowing off steam. So when he did find the rare few who managed to gain his praise it made even the shyest of girls feel special.

"Nyx has friends everywhere," Hades continued, but unbeknownst to him, Leuce still continued to mull over her own thoughts. "She'll help us get out of the city once the sun takes a hike and calls it a day."

Leuce began to bite her nails as indecision furrowed her brow, making her usually sweet face look all the more troubled. "Well that sounds all well and good, Mr. Cthonika, but I feel like I need a little assurance before I let my hair go flying behind me as we run off into the sunset."

Hades felt his heart leap into his throat. He knew this moment in the conversation was coming, but he was still feeling pretty overwhelmed with the revelation that he was a man today. Everything he had been looking forward to had landed in his lap in the span of two hours! He felt higher than the clouds in the sky, and as every second ticked by he knew their small window of opportunity was closing. Yet even he knew the importance of getting Leuce to come with him. She was his whole world, and he wasn't about to leave her behind like his brothers had done to him. He was going to start over, and if he had to start an honest-to-God family, then damnit he was going to do so.

Yet as Hades took in the loveliness that was Leuce, with her laughing eyes and smirking grin, the boy turned man felt all his previous confidence begin to melt away. "Al-alright," Hades mumbled in a small voice. Nervously he began to tug at his collar, his eyes searching for something- anything to use as a makeshift ring. "Close your eyes," he exclaimed in a small voice after loudly clearing his throat.

Leuce felt herself blink in surprise. Oh heavens to betsy, he wasn't joshing her.

The young man that looked liked he was about to throw up was deadly serious. Hades could talk big, a true silver tongue in every form. When he used to work at her father's shop- a job that his uncle Iapetus had set up for him every summer he came back from school. His time there showed his natural talent of being able to make anyone buy anything in the shop even when there were products that snake oil salesmen couldn't.

"You want me to what?"

"Close your eyes," Hades nonchalantly repeated, seemingly putting his nervousness in check, but he did not wait for her and covered her head with his discarded cap, making sure it covered her eyes.

"Oh alright," Leuce huffed.

Thinking fast, Hades looked up at the flowering poplar tree they had found solace under and jumped up as high as he could, and tore off the closest branch he could reach. In a hurry, the young man ripped off a leaf he acquired from the branch and began to roll the leaf on its velvety white underside. Hades was about to discard the rest of the branch, but his eyes caught the bright yellow petals of a flower that was nestled in the middle of the branch.

Oh what the hell.

Standing in front of the pearly white girl, Hades gently lifted her left hand and attempted to tie together the slippery leaf around one of her fingers.

Leuce couldn't help herself and removed the cap from her eyes, smirking as she watched him continue to struggle to tie it around her finger. "Need some help?"

"hEy! What did I say?!"

"Oh give me that," Leuce snapped and began to tie the leaf ring around her finger. "There! That wasn't too hard, huh?"

Hades rolled his eyes, ignoring her question. "So, whaddya say, Miss Acheron? Wanna run away with me?" The young man extended out the yellow flower from the poplar tree above her, but after a moment of hesitance he awkwardly lowered himself down to one knee.

Leuce couldn't help herself as she began to blush deeply and bit back the urge to laugh by covering her smirking mouth with her hand. The puppies in her lap began to squirm at the sound of Hades' voice and began to move off of her long skirt towards him. "You're meshuga, y'know that, right?"

Hades awkwardly chuckled. "To the untrained eye maybe."

Leuce shook her head, but not in disdain. She really loved this boy. Loved him the moment he opened his mouth, goading her into conversation with him. How shy she was then, unable to talk to him until a solid month had passed by when he began working along side her. "But I guess I'd be meshuga too if I didn't go along with youse four," she took the flower from Hades' extended hand.

"Ya mean it, babe?" Hades' face was extended into a wide grin.

Leuce almost couldn't believe how his usually sullen expression became so bright and cheery. How it filled her with hope! Maybe she'd see more of that in their new life, and though a part of her wanted to stay with her sisters and father, she was ready to throw it off to the side. Without replying, Leuce grabbed Hades by the collar of his shirt and brought his lips to her own.

Hades melted into her sweet lips, but the wide grin he wore was hard to shake off as he held her close to him.

The two of them would have continued the kiss had it not been for the puppies that were being squished between them.

With a disappointed sigh, Hades unlatched his lips from Leuce's, and picked up the pup that was yowling the loudest and brought it close to his face. "Hey, you," he lightly poked the pup's wet nose. "I'm in the middle of something here."

"You haven't named them yet, have you?"

"I've only had 'em for a week," Hades set the pup down with the rest of his littermates as they began to crawl to him instead. "I don't know 'em yet."

"I beg to differ," Leuce scoffed, feeling the slightest tinge of jealously at the pups' betrayal as they began to curl down to rest in Hades' lap. "Where'd you get 'em anyway?" She reached over and tenderly took one of the coal-colored pups out of Hades' lap, sending the other two pups into a frenzy once they noticed their brother was missing.

The two pups in Hades' lap began to loudly yowl at Leuce in their lame attempt at barking, demanding her to return their stolen littermate.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Hades lightly reprimanded and snatched the pup out of Leuce's hands, and put the pup back with the rest of his litter, immediately calming down the two crying pups. "Don't ya know ya can't separate the brothers?" He exclaimed without even thinking, and watched as the two pups began to rub their heads into the smaller pup now that they were reunited.

Huh…

Leuce felt embarrassment begin to bloom a bright pink shade upon her face. "Oh… I didn't know," the girl twittered as her shyness began to take hold of her once more.

"Well, now y'know," Hades intoned without a thought. His mind, beginning to think once more about his own brothers who were probably still stuck down in the sewers. They'd find their own way out again, they were in peak physical condition unlike the weird sisters, so they'd be fine in a couple of hours. A little half-seas over, maybe, but that was nothing a meal and some hot tea couldn't fix.

"Hey, is something the matter?"

Hades jumped at the sound of Leuce's dulcet voice. For a second he had forgotten she was even there. "I'm just thinking," he vaguely exclaimed.

"About?" Leuce pressed, placing her elbow on his knee and rested her chin on her hand, fluttering her long eyelashes at him.

Hades couldn't ignore her in this position, and even then he knew he shouldn't. "My brothers…" he muttered with a slight note of annoyance.

"Oh that's right. Are they helping you- oh," Leuce awkwardly smiled as a blush bloomed one her face as she corrected, "I mean us get out?"

Hades released a dry laugh. "Opposite, babe. They want me to stay- help them take down daddy dearest or something. Really wasn't paying attention at the time."

If Leuce wasn't already a pearly shade of white, she somehow achieved the impossible, becoming even paler than before. "Hades, do not joke about that," the girl harshly whispered into his ears, her eyes darting around like she had just been told they were being watched.

Hades snorted at her sudden change in tune. His feisty little girl rarely ever let fear overcome her, and seeing it so blatant struck the boy as odd. There was no one around here, but the mere mention of his brothers' overblown plan to dethrone Kronos' crooked empire was enough to get her visibly shaken. He didn't have that much sway, did he? Well she didn't have to worry, they'd be out of town before Kronos even sneezed, and then they could forget about everything.

Yet, Hades felt doubt begin to prick in his heart as he suddenly remembered what Zeus told him before he tricked them into drinking the Lethe moonshine. "We've tried running, Hades, but he always comes back."

"Yeah, right," Hades brushed off Leuce's unease, and even his own shrinking optimism. "C'mon, if my old man wanted to kill me, he would have done so after that stunt I pulled three month- oh sh-" The boy felt a cold feeling seep into his bones, like he was emerging from underneath a frozen pond. That sensation of realizing just how cold the water is hitting you as the North wind practically slapped you in your face. All of it came crashing down, the dots connecting faster than his own words.

He knew who Iasion was, crap, he even knew what the hell he found. Cursing under his breath, Hades slammed his fist into the grass beside him. "Damn it!"

"Hades?" Leuce and the pups flinched at his reaction, unabashedly concerned at his visible rage. "What's wrong?" She pressed despite the fear that was rising inside her.

"I know- I know, damnit, why did I forget?!" Hades' hands were clenching his spiky blue hair as his apprehension began to increase sevenfold. Jumping to his feet he began to utter a string of curses the likes of which Leuce had never heard him say before.

"Hades?" Leuce prodded once more, grabbing at Hades' hand as he rose, but her hand slipped out of his grasp as he reached his full height. "Hades, you're scaring me."

"I'm sorry- I'm sorry, I just," his voice began to falter as panic began to rise inside of him. "I know, damnit, they're right!"

Leuce jumped to her feet and made a grab for the sides of Hades' faded gray blazer, forcing him to face her. "Who's right? Hades, what's going on?!" She shouted with more fury than a girl her size could ever muster.

That seemed to snap Hades back to reality. "Leuce, I need you to run back to your father's shop," he placed his long hands on her slight shoulders, accidentally shaking her in the process. Such was his rising panic. "Get there as fast as you can, and do not stop to talk to anyone. Hell, keep my hat," he grabbed his cap off the ground and handed it to her. "When you get to your father's, tell him you two need to close shop- bar the door- hide down in the basement, and do not come out until I come get you. I still have a key I- uh borrowed from your old man, so you'll know it's me."

"I don't understand, I thought we were leaving-"

"Not right now," Hades interrupted her by putting a finger to her lips. "If this blows up in our face, I'll try and make a break for it and meet you at midnight. So be packed and ready to go. We're leaving the city tonight, but I gotta make things right if we're ever gonna live in peace," he brought her in close and pecked her forehead tenderly.

"Hades, what's going on?"

"The less you know, the better. Now I gotta go get my brothers," the young man picked up his pups and promptly stuffed them inside his tucked shirt.

"You can't be serious- you're going to help them? After what you just said?!" Leuce stared incredulously at Hades, her green eyes wide as she scoffed in what he could only describe as dumbfoundment.

"I know what I said!" The boy angrily fumed, "But I can't do what they did to me," Hades exclaimed with such conviction, the young girl felt herself at a loss for words, but resolution kept her rooted to the ground.

"Hades, you could die!" Leuce spat. "Do you understand me? Look what happened to the people who stood up to your father- they're never heard from again! Your mother, your grandparents, our families!" Her voice rose in pitch as she held back her emotions as best she could. "Are you really prepared to die for the two brothers who abandoned you?"

"Then I got something to look forward to," Hades stated in an oddly bitter tone, his jaw repositioning back into place in a resolute manner.

Leuce looked up into Hades' eyes, his ever expressive eyes and for once saw an emotion she had never seen him wear. Even as he closed them as he bent down to give her a final peck on her cheek, she cupped his hollow cheek allowing him to linger in her arms. "I hope you know that I love you, you, yutz," she felt him stiffen in her embrace, and it was then Leuce knew she had his full attention. "And you don't have to hide that you're afraid. Not from me."

Hades did not utter a word, but he felt his anger begin to simmer down. "I'm coming back to you- nothing's stopped me before."

"I know," Leuce leaned into him, pressing her ear into his chest, listening in to his drumming heartbeat. At first all she felt were the pups squirming underneath his shirt, but as they settled with her presence she tuned in to that steadying beat. Yes, her father had tried. His father had tried, but they always managed to find a way to each other. Now it was time to try again.

"Τα λέμε, Leuce," * Hades began to begrudgingly disentangle his arms from around her. "Don't forget we're skipping town at midnight."

"Hm," the girl began to coyly grin. "I'll be waiting at the door and in case you're wondering," she winked. "I'll be the girl with the glass slippers,"

The lopsided grin that Hades wore was a sweet sight to see as he took off, shooting one final glance over his shoulder before he disappeared from sight, leaving Leuce forever rooted underneath the poplar tree.

Hades ran.

He had no idea what kind of plan he was forming at the moment, but his main concern besides getting his brothers back were the pups bobbing in his shirt. Holding them to his chest, earned him odd stares from the many passerby's as he raced out of the park, though to be fair, the denizens of Queens had seen far stranger things in the past hour alone.

It wasn't until he was surrounded by a large crowd of people did Hades have to stop his sprinting, and instead did his best to wriggle through them, looking for gaps whenever he could to get closer to the side of town he had left his brothers in.

Stopping at an intersection, Hades paused to catch his breath and also to reorient himself. He was trying to avoid the areas he knew had the potential of getting more attention drawn to him than he needed at the moment, and unwanted attention meant drawing suspicion and news traveled fast in the city thanks to the grapevine Kronos controlled.

Alright four blocks past the butcher, take a left at the convent, jump the fence behind Typhon's block, and he'd be back in Skid Row in no time. And then the fun part would begin, Hades inwardly groaned, joining with the flow of the crowd as they collectively walked to the other side of the road. Yet he knew he had to do this. Any part he could play to get rid of his father's hold on him was worth it. Especially now that he had a plan in motion.

Staying at the back end of the crowd, Hades tried to minimize the amount of people behind him so as to limit the chance of someone sneaking up behind him. With his height he could spot any potential threat, and the pups in his shirt poked their heads out of his shirt, trying to help in his effort.

Yet that was no longer a concern as a battered yellow taxicab complete with half its windshield looking like a spider's web and its bumper falling off, turned the street corner in a tight perpendicular move that made the right side of the car's wheels momentarily lift off the ground before it bounced back down to earth. Hades' eyes went wide as the taxi dashed past him separating him from the rest of the crowd, but not before he noticed exactly who was riding in the passenger seat.

There, sitting rather uncomfortably, was his brother, Zeus, his coat off and in a shirt that looked completely soaked with what he could only imagine as sweat.

Well this changes things.

"Hey… TAXI!" Hades took off once again, but this time after the taxi cab as it drove ever faster away from him. Pushing past unlucky bystanders by shoving them out of his way, the boy didn't care as he ran onto the street; much to the chagrin of the many cars that began to honk at him as he did so. With one arm clutching the pups, Hades began to wildly swing his free arm to get the attention of the taxicab.

"Zeus! You schmuck-"

Meanwhile in the cab, the preteen who could barely look over the steering wheel turned to the large man who sat uncomfortably in the seat that was much too small for him. "Hey, Z, d'you know that cat?"

Zeus cast a glance at the rearview mirror and released a hearty laugh. "In fact I do," he stated.

Hermes quirked a bemused eyebrow and began to steadily slow down the vehicle. A feat he could accomplish thanks to the boxes that were strapped to his feet.

"No, no don't slow down on his account," Zeus lightly reprimanded.

"Oh yeah, sure no thing," Hermes exclaimed with a smug grin as he slammed the brakes of the taxi. The tires underneath them began to squeal in defiance as Zeus' head connected with the windshield and Poseidon's unconscious body slid off the backseat and onto the floor of the cab.

"Hermes!" Zeus shouted more in disbelief than in pain.

"What?" The boy removed the goggles off his face and on top of his aviator helmet. "Ya never leave a newsie behind, sir. Retired or not."

Before Zeus could offer his opinion, the man turned towards his window where an out-of-breath Hades began to bang his fist against it.

"Hey, hey, hey, hello- let me in!"

"And why should I?" Zeus began to laboriously roll down his window with the crank on the cab door. "You left us down there for hours-"

"A lapse in judgment, really," Hades cut him off as he reached inside the car over the half-opened window and unlocked the car door. "Now where the hell is Iasion? Is he with you? Seriously, I need details now."

Zeus' eyes widened in surprise and in a daze opened the cab door and stepped out to allow Hades inside. "Do you know him?"

"Know him?" Hades chuckled at the sudden irony of the situation. "The yutz almost hired me. Course that was before he ran," the boy pushed the passenger seat and was halfway in the cab when he realized the back was already occupied by a slumbering Poseidon. Yet one look at his brother sent the boy reeling, "Holy smokes, what's on his face?!" Hades yelled in shock, backing into his oldest brother's broad chest.

"Just get in," Zeus tiredly exclaimed and forced his baby brother into the back of the yellow cab.

Without so much of a word, Hades stared in utter shock at the fish tail that was growing out of Poseidon's chin in front of his very eyes. "I've heard of monkeys with fish tails, but what's goin' on with him?!" Hades sat down as far away from his brother as possible, the over powering smell of brine beginning to overtake his senses.

"I don't know Hades, what is wrong with him?" Zeus deadpanned, and quickly went back into the cab.

"You know what I meant- what is that?" Hades gestured at the lower half of his face trying to make sense of it all, but he was starting to take credence about the powers his brothers supposedly had.

"We're getting sidetracked," Zeus ignored his little brother's question. "Hermes step on it. We need to get back to Demeter's."

"No- we're going to Iasion's old shop," Hades butted in.

"He's on the run, little brother. The last letter I got from him told me he was leaving San Fransisco, heading Northward."

"I know that, but did he tell you what he had?" Hades pressed, but his attention was currently drawn to the pups he was removing from his shirt and depositing them on the seat next to him.

Zeus' mouth hung open ready to reply, but hesitation stopped him from uttering a word for several seconds. "You know about the sundial?"

"Course, I do," Hades spat. "I'm the yutz that stole it from Kronos in the first place."

"You?!" Zeus had the gall to laugh in his face. "Really, little brother? You found an object of great power the likes of which mere mortals cannot fathom and you still don't believe us about our power?"

"It's just a little tchotchke- a pocket watch that doesn't even have any flaming springs or dials."

"The sundial?" Zeus reminded him.

"Sure- whatever you wanna call it," Hades shrugged. "And well I got my hands on it after - that doesn't matter," Hades changed his mind mid-sentence. "Let's just say booze was probably a contributing factor to it. So I did the only sensible thing at the time and I traded it for an apple, but it tasted terrible, all waxy and the thick skin got stuck in my teeth. Jeez, I swear I still got a hunk of it still logged in my throat," he grimaced at the memory of it all.

"You sure it was an apple?" Hermes twittered from where he sat in the driver's seat.

"Y'know looking back maybe it wasn't, but Iasion took the damned watch and I only came back cuz I remembered I saw the wanted sign at his window," Hades turned to Zeus who was giving him an expression that barely scratched the surface on how flabbergasted the man was.

His large eyes were stretched wide as his mouth hung open like a child ogling through a candy store window. "You traded the sundial for an apple?!" The burly man bellowed at his unfazed brother.

"Oh, I'm sorry d'ya think it was worth two apples?" Hades deadpanned.

"Little brother, that very object- that single piece of ancient history is what has brought the three of us together again. All of this has coincided into this final moment the final act- do you think it just happenstance that we have all had a hand in its sudden disappearance and not take our chance to right the wrongs done by those before us?"

"Oi, first off, skip the verse," Hades snapped. "This isn't the exposition chapter anymore. I only took it cuz it was right there, but that thing you're describing like an opium induced junkie is what's at his shop. You want it so bad- it's there." Well we can only hope, Hades mentally added. He still remembered the letter he received maybe a month ago thanks to a little finagling from his Great Aunt Nyx who had received it on his behalf. "And second- y'know what? Let's skip that part, there are children present," Hades casually patted the heads of the pups that had migrated to the top of Poseidon's stomach, though they were going to town licking the fish half of his brother's face.

"No, no, spit that out now!" He began to push the pups away in a hurried fashion.

"Hey, I'm not a kid," Hermes protested. "I'm ten now," the boy said matter-of-factually as he stuck his tongue out in defiance at the teenager.

It was at this very moment that Hades finally looked away from his dogs and took a good long look at the young driver, a small scrawny kid with blue skin who wore an old aviator's helmet that was bedecked with badly sewn-on stitches that reminded him of feathers on either side; which was all topped off with flight goggles that masked the boy's eyes. "Zeus, y'mind tellin' me why YOU'RE NOT DRIVING!"

"I can barely fit in this car, much less drive it!"

"And my ma would kill ya," Hermes added to which Zeus mumbled a half-hearted grunt that Hades took as a yes.

"Wait a sec- is he…?" Hades lazily gestured his thumb at the kid while Zeus took this moment to admire the scenery outside his window and not at his younger brother's head that leaned over his left shoulder. "Oh, he is," Hades began to chuckle at this revelation. His brother was what? Twenty-seven? Timeline checked out. "Alright, I need ya take a left down that block and head for the convent. The grocer's shop is right across from Anapos Way."

"Hey, anything you say, as long as the boss man gives the a-okay."

Hades felt the strangest shiver spread down his spine. Boss? Was this how Zeus was gonna take down their father? Fighting fire with fire? Didn't he learn the first time that kids had no place in a mob? If he wished to take this role, he wanted no part of it, but sometimes a necessary evil was the only way to combat the greater evil.

For now.

Zeus must have noticed that look of uncertainty pass across his face because he quickly changed his tune. "Go on Hermes, listen to what he says. He's my brother y'know," the large man pleasantly nodded.

Hades snorted. This guy was too trusting for his own good.

"Gee, I wish I had a brother," the boy muttered as the engine sputtered back into life.

"By the looks of things I wouldn't worry too much about that," Hades half-smirked at Zeus who was none the wiser, trying to reposition himself in his seat.

"Hades, you do know Demeter put it on the market recently, correct?"

"Who did what now?" Hades stared quizzically at his brother trying to figure out who this Demeter lady was.

"His wife. She's like a sister to me," Zeus explained. "In fact she'll be my sister-in-law soon. She's trying to sell it to pay for her grandmother's medicine and apartment fees. I've been staying with them for a couple weeks now and I've created quite the burden on her with-"

"Yeah don't care," Hades waved him off. "So it hasn't been sold yet, right?"

"It's not in the best shape. Last I asked her about it a lovely Chinese couple were trying to expand their laundry business and were hoping to-"

"Oi- again, none of these details matter, babe." Turning to Hermes, Hades lifted one of the ear flaps of the helmet and muttered. "Kid-"

"Hermes," the boy corrected.

"Alright, Herm, I've seen you drive, but can you get us there faster?"

The blue skinned boy's face broke out in a large grin as he repositioned his goggles. "Faster? You don't even know the meaning of fast!"

"Now, Hermes, your mother wants this taxi-"

But Hermes was fully concentrated on the road in front of him as he slammed his boot-strapped boxes onto the pedal. Both Hades and Zeus were knocked back into their seats at the forward momentum that the car was creating thanks to its manic driver as he gave the cab everything it had.

"Sorry, can't hear you!" The boy singsonged.

Hades made an instinctive grab for the pups as the car began to hit every hole, divot, pit, you name it, that kid hit every single one the way he swerved just to avoid cabs or wagons that were too slow for Hermes' taste. Yet with an incredible dexterity, or just shear luck, he managed to avoid hitting any pedestrians or objects on the road, but that same sentiment could not be shared with the curbs that he constantly hit as he turned corners.

Then as quickly as it had started, the cab came to a screeching halt, the tires screaming like a harpy the way they began to protest the sudden stop. "We're here!" Hermes happily announced to the brothers who were looking more green than before.

Even Poseidon was awake now, though looking much worse for wear than his older and younger brothers. "And that's why I created blowholes," the sailor dizzily muttered before his mind finally came to and sat up to find himself in the back of a cab. "Hades? What are you doing here?"

"Babe, I ask myself that every day, but, Jeez Luis," Hades grabbed onto Hermes' shoulder, trying his best to keep down his breakfast. "Ya drive like a bat outta hell- where'd he learn to drive like that?"

Though the question was pointed at Zeus, Hermes was the first one to speak up. "Practice, practice practice," Hermes sniggered. "The general public has been real generous letting me borrow their cars too. They even got a name for me from what I've heard."

Hades knew it well. Mechaniotes- the trickster. He'd seen some of his work all right. Officer Argus was up to his neck trying to solve the case as to who keeps crashing three cars each month, but there was never enough evidence to give the boys in blue a clue to start a proper investigation. Such a small case compared to the amount of organized crime going around you'd think the police would focus on that more, but they got paid off enough to focus their attentions on petty crimes and thievery.

Yet now that he knew it was a kid, Hades didn't know whether to be impressed or to check his pockets to make sure the cash he always carried was still there. "Uh-huh. So you're the little car thief that's got Argus in a bind."

"The very same," the boy smugly grinned. "But I'd hurry if I were you three, I'm pretty sure we were spotted by a couple smokies back there."

"The boy's right, c'mon the sooner we get out of here the better. Less eyes," the brawny man exclaimed forebodingly. "Po-po, you regain your bearings, we'll be quick."

Exiting out of the the cab, Hades was right behind Zeus as the two of them sprinted up the four steps. The shop sandwiched in between a bakery and a home store, stood out from the series of other little shops had not changed much, but just like Zeus had said, the windows and door were boarded up with a sign on the door showcasing the FOR SALE sign, but in between the gaps of the wooden planks, Hades could still make out the wanted ad in the window he was trying to answer three months earlier.

"See, completely untouched," Zeus proclaimed waving his massive forearm at the storefront.

"You sure about that?" Hades made his way to the door and opened it on its hinged side without any resistance.

"Hm, the screws are missing on this side," Zeus noted.

"Not too dissimilar from you, huh, big guy?"

Missing Hades' dig at him completely, Zeus repeated opening the door in fascination. "Why did you come back for us, Hades?"

Hades wasted no time and went through the opened door, trying his best to ignore the feeling of Zeus' eyes upon him. "You said it yourself. Dear old dad keeps coming back," the young man said without turning back to look at him. "I'd rather not have the guy show up again except at the local morgue if ya catch my drift."

"We share the same sentiment," Zeus accepted his sharp reply in stride. "It's time Kronos fesses up to his crimes even if the city refuses to do anything about it. We owe so much to the city who welcomed our clan. "

"Heh, you're so cute trying to make me believe you actually want to make a difference," Hades' cynical voice floated over the empty shop as he headed further into the back.

Zeus paused. His face and even his entire frame became rigid with solemnity as he regarded his youngest brother. His eyes met Hades' own and without a single note of hesitation in his voice exclaimed, "But I do."

The sincerity in his brother's voice caught Hades off-guard. After all these years growing up with the people in his father's family, it was easy to pick out a liar; even those who no-longer felt the sting of morality. The cool liars, you could pick them out even without the slightest flicker of their eyelashes, but the way Zeus held his gaze, every single one of Hades' instincts confirmed the honesty in his words.

"Hey, your call then. I'm not planning to stick around any time soon, anyway," Hades entered the back room and found himself surrounded by crates stacked on top of each other in small towers all across the room. Some of the crates had rotten fruit littered in the single crates around Hades' feet. Yet it was not what was in the crates that he was interested in, but what was beneath the dusty floorboards.

The things he did. Hades inwardly sighed as he got on his knees and began crawling across the small space, looking for the loose floorboard mentioned in the letter.

"How so, little brother? Plans for university?"

"Now you sound like Erebus," Hades miffed as his hands began to search, probing the wooden floorboards as best he could with his large brother breathing down his neck.

"Well do you? I wish I did, but I lack the patience for it," Zeus admitted as he leaned against the doorframe that separated the regular store front from the back room. "I apprenticed under so many- practically anyone who would take me in. Carpenters, electricians, an engineer once and after doing work at a railroad construction-"

Hades was half-listening at this point as his fingers snagged upon what he was searching for. With careful, deft fingers, Hades pulled away the loose floorboard he found near the blackened molds he assumed were once cherries. Yet the sight that greeted him made the young man jerk back as if he'd been slapped. Yet no physical force was enacted on him, just the mental pain that flashed deep inside him, resonating within him like the knells of a church bell. Uttering words that Zeus couldn't comprehend, Hades stumbled up to his feet in a daze; like waking up from a nightmare.

That was when reason came back to the young man, but not in the form that his oldest brother was expecting.

"We need ta get outta here."

"What's wrong?" Zeus called after his brother as he ran past him and out the store. Peering into the area underneath the boards, the large man reached into the hole and pulled out to his dismay not a pocket watch, but a revolver. "Hades? Maybe it's a mistake. Maybe there's another floorboard around here-"

Honk. Honk. Honk.

All explanations began to die on Zeus' lips as his head snapped to the sound of the cab's horn going off. That was Hermes' signal for trouble. Pocketing the revolver into his pants' pockets, Zeus ran out to face the scene and found the very sight he was hoping to avoid. All the weeks he stayed out of sight, clinging to the shadows like mice, were precariously being thrown out the window as the parked cars he had seen previously down the block roared with life and the long shafts of Tommy guns began to peak out from the small windows of their respective cars.

They were about to have some company alright.

"Zeus, get outta there, we got company," Hades shouted, his voice for once lacking any of the biting snark only to be eclipsed by his unadulterated panic.

"Hermes, start the cab!" Zeus roared as he ran down the steps and dashed into the cab faster than a bolt of lightning; a feat seemingly impossible for a man his size.

Hades was barely climbing into the cab as Zeus shoved him through and slammed the cab door behind him.

"Move it! Vamoose! Let's get outta here already!" Hades shouted at Hermes as he began to slowly back out of his parking spot.

"Please, Hermes, do hurry!" Zeus jumped, banging his head against the roof of the cab as the first wave of bullets hit his door.

"Yes, sirs," Hermes nonchalantly exclaimed and just as before shifted into high gear as he slammed the driving pedal. All three of the passengers, pups excluded, jerked back into their seats as the car began to accelerate at an alarming rate. "Where to?"

"Yeah, where to, Zeus?" Hades pressed, flinching as the back windshield became bedecked with holes and shattered behind him.

In response, Poseidon grabbed Hades by his collar and forced him to lay down down so as to better protect him from the bullets that were raining down upon them. "Zeus, we were at Iasion's shop, they'll suspect Amalthea's apartment first," Poseidon shouted, shaking off the shards of glass that had fallen onto him.

"Then we need to get everyone out of there," Zeus decided with a strange finality to his voice. "Hermes, take us there."

"Great, but we still got company," Hades reminded him, as he set the cowering pups down on the floor of the cab.

"You got it," Hermes said amid the conversation, but there was a sudden wrench in their plans. "Uh-oh-"

With the back windshield completely shot out, there was nothing blocking the passage of bullets as they began to be-speckle the already spider-web design on the front windshield. Yet since they were aiming for the driver, Hermes could no longer see the road in front of him as now the spider web spread across the entire windshield. Never had Zeus been happier that Hermes was a child and thus too short to be hit.

A flurry of curses began to echo from both Hades and Poseidon, but Zeus was one step ahead of them. He never liked his seat in the first place, might as well take the seat with a view. Without any warning, Zeus reared back his elbow and smashed it into the already weakened windshield.

"Whaddya doin?!"

"Zeus, you'll hurt yourself!"

"Hermes needs to see, and we-" Zeus slammed his elbow back into the windshield, finally breaking through the glass. "Need to get them off our tail."

"But how- oh that yutz," Hades grumbled as Zeus continued to slam his shoulder until the windshield completely gave way and shattered completely.

Yet that was nothing as Zeus began to climb out of the cab and onto the roof.

"What's he doin'?!" Hades reached out to grab Poseidon's collar to drag him down like he had done for him, but missed it completely as his middle finger snagged onto the necklace he wore, and snapped the string. "Whoops," Hades brought the pendant in the shape of a shell upon the string closer to his eyes, but a slight glance up at his brother made the boy jump.

"Po-po, your face!"

"Huh?" Poseidon instinctively began a quick swab of his face, but his hand froze over his chin. In fact, he could feel a draft on his face, a feeling he was not familiar with unless…

The fish tail on his face was gone! It was just a normal pointed teal face; just like how he had this morning.

"Where did you get this?" Hades pressed to a baffled Poseidon.

"It was a gift from Ma, the day we ran-"

"And you've worn it since?!" Hades shouted, his question sounding more like a statement.

"No? I think when I turned eighteen, the day I enlisted."

That was why Kronos was obsessed with his pocket watch, Hades surmised. They weren't born with powers, it wasn't about reaching adulthood, it was little thingamabobs they got their powers from. Zeus probably had something similar, or maybe he was just unnaturally stupid. But that meant Kronos was powerless as long as he had that sun dial out of his reach, and judging by the revolver they had left in the floorboards to mock him, the very same he had used to- no, he couldn't think about that. It was solely a message. They knew he was teaming up with his brothers. They might've even found the sundial a long time ago or however long he got that letter.

This felt like the makings of a trap. Zeus had said it himself, mere happenstance had not brought them together- this was planned and not just by the Fates.

Hades silently prayed to whoever was listening. Please let Leuce be safe. Refocusing on the scene before him Hades watched in disbelief as Zeus proceeded to climb out the front windshield of the cab, his legs the only part of him he could see as the rest of him was on the roof.

"Hermes, the dipsy-doo maneuver if you will," Zeus commanded.

With a quick two-fingered salute, Hermes began to repeatedly slam his car horn to alert the people and cabs in front of them to move out the way as he began to teeter the cab in an irregular path so as to make it harder to aim or hit Zeus as he climbed to the roof.

"Zeus is going to fall out when Hermes makes another turn," Poseidon grimaced.

"To hell with this," Hades cursed and in a split second, blocked out the grating sound of bullets hitting metal and the blaring horn of the cab, and forced his breakfast down before it rose up in his throat again. He grabbed onto the seat in front of him and propelled himself to the front seat. Then grabbing onto his brother's legs to prevent him from slipping out of the cab, Hades looked up to find his brother peaking over the cab hood. "Zeus what the hell are you planning to do? One revolver against-"

"Please, I will never stoop to their level," Zeus chuckled despite the danger of the situation as crackles of electricity began to emerge from his finger tips. "Now, little brother, let me show you how your big brother takes care of business- IN A FLASH!"

Hades could not see what fully occurred as a bright white light filled his vision causing him to shut his eyes. An ear-splitting sound exploded in his ears as lightning struck one of the pursuing cars, causing the metal around and where it struck to melt at the shear heat of the bolt and successfully incapacitating it in its entirety.

Still, Hades did not let go. Tightening his hold on his brother as he felt the cab sharply turn to the right, Hades finally dared to open his eyes. The sound still echoed in his ears that for a second he couldn't even hear Poseidon shouting at Zeus.

"You're wasting your energy!"

"I'm protecting my family!" Zeus roared as he began to charge up a second bolt and fired it at the second car, though his aim was slightly off and hit the front part of the car where the engine was and caused the car to completely explode. With the last car remaining, the sound of bullets immediately died as they began to focus on the chase.

"Boss, we're almost there!" Hermes shouted.

"Good, just in time for one more!"

"Zeus!"

"Turn!" Hermes shouted as the sign of Crete street came into view. Turning the steering wheel as much as it could give, the car's left side began to lift off the ground. Hermes never slowed to turn, and it was this unexpected change in direction that threw off Zeus' aim into a direction he did not expect.

Instead of hitting the front of the car like he intended, the bolt struck the front right wheel of the encroaching car, destroying every micron of rubber on the tire. With nothing to cushion the wheel of the car, the metallic rim began to scrape the asphalt, making sparks fly and the engine became ablaze as the sparks ignited flames that began to spread like wildfire in a dry field.

Yet also with nothing properly balancing the car, they could not take out the turn they had set the car in as they too were turning onto Crete Street. Now the occupants of the car could do nothing as the car lurched uncontrollably and struck one of the telephone poles that lined the street head on and sent the pole careening downward onto the old brick apartment building.

Hermes watched completely stupefied, his right foot letting go of the gas and onto the rarely used brake as the pole fell. Some of the wires became disconnected thanks to the force of the fall and the dry wood began to be eaten away by the flames from the car as it climbed all the way to where the pole had left a small dent into the old crumbling building.

No one told him to stop, but eventually he did, the young boy completely mute as all three of the brothers ran out of the collapsing cab, but it was Zeus who acted first.

Physical exhaustion was etched in every crinkle of the oldest brother's handsome face as it was set into a deep frown. "We need to get the people out. Poseidon- you're first floor- Hades, second, I'll take the third. If any of you finish early help me out. Amalthea is old, Demeter is pregnant, and there are three children in that apartment along with Hera."

For once Hades didn't have it in him to argue, nor to criticize his oldest brother's hand in creating this mess, though he wanted to dearly. Taking one glance back at the open cab door where he saw his pups curled up together, the young man took off, trying to keep up with Zeus' long strides as Poseidon lumbered behind him.

Dashing up the stairs he found at the corner of the building, Hades nearly slipped on the slick tiles of the second story and did what he was told.

"HEY, EVERYBODY OUT! FIRE!" He shouted, banging onto every door along the hall. Going left and right, back and forth until he was satisfied that everyone was out at his floor. Hades did what he could to get people moving.

"No need to lock your doors, people. This place is burning to the ground!"

Amid the grumbling old men and women who cursed at him both in English and in Greek, Hades urged them onwards as children cried as they were pulled away by their mothers and the smell of something burning was becoming more prevalent as each second passed.

"C'mon, everybody, get outta here. Lady, this is no time to grab your radiator," Hades began to play tug-a-war with the heavy metal object a struggling old women was trying to drag with her. Earning a cross glare and several rude gestures with her mouth and her hands, the old woman relented and disappeared down the stairs.

"Alright, I think that's everybody on my floor," Hades looked up the staircase as more people came running down as heavy black plumes began to emerge from the ceiling.

A tall beautiful woman with long strawberry blonde curls carrying a wailing red-skinned toddler being trailed by two children were the last to run down from the third floor. The four of them almost ran past him, but the woman paused as she recognized the young man. "Hold it girls," the woman shouted amid her son's screaming. "Hades, dear, is that you?"

"Hera, right?"

The woman smiled, a strange thing to see at a time like this. "The very same. Hurry, Zeus is upstairs," Hera exclaimed in a strained voice. "Demeter refuses to leave without our grandmother and he can't take them both. I've got her daughter and my children, please-"

"On it!" Hades ran up the stairs before she could finish.

"Cover your mouth, dear! Smoke inhalation kills before the flames!" Hera shouted before she grabbed Athena's hand whose other hand was holding onto Kore's.

Taking this advice to heart, Hades pulled his shirt collar up and over his nose as he ascended up the stairs. Opening the door that led to the third floor, Hades shuddered as thick black smoke escaped out of the hallway and into the staircase. His eyes began to water at the heat and the carbon in the air, but the young man pressed onwards.

What door, what door… Hades mentally repeated over and over, until he heard voices amid the sounds of the ceiling crumbling above him and the wood beginning to snap as the heat began to rise. Barely, just barely he could make out the tongues of red and yellow on the side where he guessed the telephone pole struck the building.

They needed to get out of here now.

Finally locating the apartment door, Hades found himself in a dingy little room that was lovingly decorated with an assortment of flowers in the patterns of quilts, rugs, and even curtains. Toys and books were splayed out on the small space which he walked over and headed into the bedroom where he located the source of the voices. One of which he could immediately recognize thanks to his brother's commanding voice.

"Yaya, I already told you I'm not leaving you," a large pregnant woman with short red hair and corn stalk green skin stood next to Zeus, clutching the old woman's gnarled hands who laid on her small bed with layers of blankets stacked on top of her.

"So stubborn- just like me," the old woman twittered, her voice ancient and gravelly but there underneath it all was a thick Greek accent.

"Hey, I can grab the old bag if you want," Hades made his presence known by his quip, earning a wry cackle from the old goat.

"Hades," Zeus intoned.

"Ah the third one," the old woman exclaimed, beckoning him forward with her wrinkled hands. "Your mother hid something in here for you, but I lost it so long ago."

"Pity," Hades quipped as he gently guided her wrinkled hands and wrapped them around his neck and then after putting his own arms underneath her, he oh so gently lifted the bony old woman into his arms. "Can we get outta here now? I personally don't want to end up anywhere near well-done."

Zeus nodded. "Demeter, let me carry you."

"I'd like to see you try," the pregnant woman snapped, her upturned nose flared her nostrils in defiance.

"I tried to negotiate," Zeus shrugged, but with his large muscular form, it was almost laughable how little she resisted as he picked her up.

"You're a lousy brother-in-law."

"Not yet," Amalthea cackled.

"Hades, after you," Zeus commanded.

Down the two brothers ran the three flights of stairs, the smoke inside their lungs burning them from the inside. Sweat began to drip down their foreheads and the back of their necks as the staircase became increasingly unsteady.

But they pushed onward, scrambling in the dark until they reached the first floor. Thankfully the doors to the apartment building were wide open, and there waiting for them was a watery-eyed Poseidon.

Rushing outside, Zeus immediately set down Demeter while Hades passed the old woman to Poseidon who took her with ready arms.

Coughing began to wrack Hades' body as he desperately tried to breathe in fresh, clean urban air. With his hands on his knees, Hades bent over and spit out the gunk in his throat trying to forget the sensation of smoke and the heat out of his system.

"You're coughing up a lung there, old sport," a short balding officer stood before him with a club in his hand.

"Wuh?" Hades was taken aback at the sight of the law. He was ready to beat feet at the sight of them, but Zeus' heavy hand on his shoulder stopped him from running.

"Don't scare the boy, Pan," Zeus' exhausted voice rang from behind him, his grip still tight.

"That's Officer Pan to you," the gruff officer snapped as a second officer who matched in appearance to him save for his large red nose stood beside him. "You forget, this ain't your city just yet."

"You know them?" Hades suspiciously shouted at his oldest brother, who barely regarded him with a glance.

"Kronos knows we're in town, we need a place to hide my family, can you take us somewhere safe?"

"Police can't offer you custody," the second officer spoke up this time. "Commissioner Kampê gets a whiff of your family and you'll be taking an extended stay if you don't take a six foot dirt nap."

"Phil, please," Zeus pleaded, something Hades didn't expect in such a proud figure. "This happens tonight, I'm sure you can hide us for a few-"

"Zeus," Demeter's soft voice came up behind the gathered group. "Hestia's back from Sicily, you know they won't touch us at the convent."

"Well, let us give ya a ride then," Officer Phil nodded once. "It's the least we can do."

"Hmph, I'm gonna get fired after this is over, and I won't even complain," Officer Pan grumbled as he trailed away from the group and to where the car had crashed that caused the fire. He had yet to block off the area, but with only two officers there was only so much they could do.

"Alright, people get outta here," Pan bleated, his shrill voice enough to rouse any curious bystanders save for one. "Hey, little girl, vamoose, this ain't for kids," the officer shooed the small blonde child who was staring intently at the smoldering husks of four corpses in the car.

As if breaking out of a trance, the girl began to back away, holding close the last gift she had received from her step-father.

Softly, so so softly if you listened close you could hear a withered, whispering voice coming from one of the corpses in the vehicle.

"Let me go, Kore… Let me go…"

*Until Next Time. Simple google search, any of my greek readers out there I'd love to hear if that is correct. Same with Yaya for grandmother.

It should be noted that Acheron was a minor god/titan before he was turned into a river. He helped out the Titans during the war as a water boy and Zeus punished him b/c of this and turned him into a river. So that's why he's kind of a minor villain in this. And ok so love me or hate me, yes, I made Leuce's father Acheron. I did it b/c poplar trees were supposed to grow on the banks of the Acheron after Hercules discovered them on one of his morning jaunts to the underworld. Also a Homeric epithet for a white poplar is Acherōïda, which explains the connection to them and river gods were known to father nymphs so whatever.

Also Hermes! Oh what a delightfully chaotic child. That's the one thing that I really miss on the Disney version of him, he is a boyish trickster, not so much the cool jazzy presence he has in the movie. So it was fun painting him as a kid, and of course he's a newsie! What else would he be? Not gonna lie half this chapter exists just so I can prove that Cerberus does serve a purpose for this story and totally not b/c I love him, pass it on. Hades has so much tired dad energy I am pumped.

Yeah, they have tokens where they get their power from *shrugs*. This was one of the concepts I was mulling around the most b/c I knew I wanted them to have some form of their powers, but not the full on god-mode so I settled after I began to think about whether or not I make the Hercules sequel with his own medallion thing.

As always please fave, follow, and review! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this! Oh and next chapter will be the last one for this fic! ~Or there might be an epilogue~ still trying to decide.

H-d out!